Every experienced moviegoer cheers with excitement as the tradition of staying for Marvels’ post credit scenes comes to fruition. After the bit of fun is done, the screen cuts to black with one sentence appearing front and center: “Captain Marvel will Return in Avengers: Endgame,” as if we did not already anticipate it.

Avid fans and casual moviegoers are still waiting for the conclusion to the ten-plus year culmination of the battle between the Avengers and Thanos in “Avengers: Endgame,” scheduled to premiere later this year. To satiate the thirst for superhero action, Marvel Studios released “Captain Marvel,” debuting the powerhouse Captain Marvel aka Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) who is set to continue into Endgame and help in the awaited fight.

Captain Marvel’s solo origin adventure takes the opportunity to tell a story that pushes heavy lore and story building into the already established Marvel Cinematic Universe. Rather than telling the story from the present’s perspective and onward, “Captain Marvel” takes the plot into the 1990s and works backwards.

Set nearly twenty years before the first Marvel movie, the film uses the opportunity to establish some characters and plot devices that are relevant throughout the MCU. Costar Samuel L. Jackson reprises his role as Nick Fury, this time as a CGI-deaged agent in the 90s. All earlier instances of Nick Fury in the MCU shroud the character in heavy mystery and secrecy. During rough times in “Captain America: Winter Soldier,” Fury exclaims, “Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye.” With this early incarnation of Fury, we finally get to learn how he loses that eye. Goose the cat, later revealed to be an alien, scratches his eye leading to the famous eye-patch look.

Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) is another character we get to see in his earlier form. Coulson, Fury’s number 2, was part of the early Avengers Initiative which led to the formation of the Avengers. His heroism and bravery in stopping Loki in 2012’s “Avengers” led to his death and exit from the MCU. Having Coulson appear in the past deepens his importance to the original Avengers’ run and shows loyalty to the fans who have kept up with the MCU franchise.

The coveted MCU macguffin, the Tesseract, makes its 9th cinematic appearance in “Captain Marvel,” filling in gaps of time between its appearance in the 1940s during “Captain America: The First Avenger” and the modern timeline of 2012’s “Avengers.” The Tesseract’s involvement in multiple past films forms strong bonds that build the foundation of the entire MCU.

As a film, “Captain Marvel” takes plenty of shortcuts to service its eventual positive conclusion. The action at times suffers from issues common to Marvel’s films such as fighting a horde of faceless enemies and convenient attacks that completely wipe out opposition. Danvers herself also undergoes little development as the film progresses. Through the plot, we learn with Danvers about her true identity and origin. However, there is not much she stands for on her own. The heart and soul of the film rely on other characters like Danvers’ best friend, Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), who exude courage and passion.

Just as “Black Panther” was praised for its spotlight on African American empowerment, “Captain Marvel” intends to deliver a message that encourages female empowerment. The attempt is, however, poorly constructed and overall meaningless to the entire narrative. In Danvers’ flashbacks to her life on Earth, she experiences memories of sexism against her both as a child and an airman.

The film’s true antagonists, the Kree Starforce led by Yon-Rogg (Jude Law), try to convince Danvers that their plans to assimilate her into the Kree warriors would empower her. Their actions to empower her have no connection to her gender which has no connection to how or why she gained powers at all.

Regardless of its shortcomings, the film plays ball with all other Marvel Cinematic Universe films. It does a good job of introducing the complicated character of Carol Danvers while packing in loads of lore building to further cement the foundations of the MCU.

UMBC has enjoyed a prosperous relationship with the Fulbright Program since first participating in 1970. Since then, 70 UMBC students have been selected to be Fulbright Scholars and have been sent around the world to pursue graduate studies, conduct research and other projects. Gabi Salas, a senior global studies major, hopes to add to that number after being named a semifinalist for the award in January.

Salas’ research focuses on the impacts of stratified reproduction, which she defines as the “imbalances and inequality in the ability of different races, ethnicities, nationalities, classes and genders to reproduce and nurture their children.” She focuses specifically on the experiences of Latinx women by researching the type of contraception historically made available to them and the lasting impacts today.

Salas began her research studying the experiences of Mexican-American and Puerto Rican women with sterilization in the 1960s and 70s and compared her historical analysis with the experiences that women of these demographics have presently with contraception. She was able to begin her research by applying to an opportunity called The Leadership Alliance through Columbia University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, which she learned about from her advisor. Through this program, she completed her own research project, worked with a graduate faculty mentor, attended a GRE prep course and a graduate school workshop class and received a stipend for her time. Upon returning to UMBC, Salas approached a faculty member on campus to mentor her through an independent study. She presented her research at URCAD and at a conference in Utah, which undoubtedly bolstered her application to the Fulbright Program.

If selected as a Fulbright Scholar, she hopes to further her research in Puebla, Mexico. Salas says that in Mexico, she will be able to “ask different women of Puebla, Mexico what their experiences were in accessing contraception.” Salas hopes that this will help her determine whether or not there is a similar pattern of stratified reproduction among the women in Puebla and the Latinx women in the United States.

When asked what advice she would give to UMBC students hoping to do research in the humanities and social sciences, she says, “my advice would be to ask questions! Ask for more information from your professors, faculty, advisors and friends.” Professors are often looking for or know a colleague who is seeking help with their research, and there are lots of summer programs available for those with busy semester schedules. Salas’s initiative to seek out new opportunities and her dedication to her research has presented her with countless unique opportunities, and will hopefully send her to Mexico to continue her research.

Over the past two years, there have been increasing concerns over Baltimore County law enforcement’s use of sexual assault confidential release authorizations, which prompt survivors of sexual assault to waive their rights to an investigation. Here is how one UMBC student is making waves in the community to solve this problem.

Many UMBC students remember the controversy surrounding sexual assault claims on campus last spring. Recently, more light has been shed on this problem when Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski, Jr. called out Baltimore County law enforcement for its excessive use of sexual assault confidential release authorizations.

This is a practice in which law enforcement prompts sexual assault victims to waive their rights to an investigation, usually by stressing the bureaucracy, paperwork and general nuisance victims might incur by going through with an investigation. To a shaken survivor of sexual assault, being prompted to waive investigation rights by a law enforcement officer may seem like the best option.

Alarmed by the excessive use of this practice, Olszewski asked the Baltimore County police department to discontinue the use of sexual assault confidential release authorizations in February, citing a report that states members of the police department engaged in this practice over 150 times in the last two years alone. Olszewski then created a skilled task force to further investigate the situation, including UMBC student and president of We Believe You, Nadia BenAissa, gender and women’s studies, ’20.

After a close friend was a victim of sexual assault and BenAissa was the key witness, the two realized the lack of available resources for survivors of sexual assault on campus and became two of the founding members of We Believe You. Now the president, BenAissa calls her organization the “survivor advocate” of campus as an organization that will support and defend victims of sexual assault. She states that through her presidency of We Believe You, she has “met with many victims who have gone through the police,” adding, “There’s a definite issue with how information is passed from our police to Baltimore County police and how the Baltimore County police choose to handle that information.”

The task force is designed to investigate the current law enforcement practices used regarding sexual assault reports. It is projected to convene over the next six months to examine current investigation policies and review training for law enforcement officials involved in the response to sexual assault allegations. The task force will also ensure proper tracking is in place for these cases, assess available resources for investigations, and research and recommend new practices. BenAissa hopes that by the end of the six months, the task force will have “suggested best practices and research-based solutions to how [law enforcement] handles sexual assault.”

BenAissa serves as the student voice on the task force, but she is clear that she is representing the voices of college students in Baltimore County as a whole. She explains, “It made sense for a UMBC student to be involved … to talk about student needs that Baltimore County police are meeting and current attitudes UMBC students have on police.”

Other members of the task force include a program manager with the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Commander for the Baltimore City Police Department’s Special Victims Unit, a program manager at GBMC for the sexual assault forensic exam, and the CEO of TurnAround, Baltimore County’s rape crisis center. BenAissa says the members were chosen to “get all the key players in Baltimore County that work on this issue involved,” which will hopefully ensure citizens are well-represented.

BenAissa is hopeful that, by the end of the six months, progress can be tracked by an increase in reported cases of sexual assault, proving “faith can be restored in police and their ability to actually go after people who commit these crimes.” Her ambition and dedication as a student advocate for survivors of sexual assault aims to provide hope that this issue will begin to see more coverage. If all goes according to plan, her work in the task force will provide “stepping stones for people to improve on because there’s always room for growth and always work to be done.”

For the past month, Jody Shipper and Cherie Scricca, a team of sexual misconduct consultants hired as a part of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Retriever Courage initiative, have been interviewing students, faculty and staff to gain a better understanding of the climate on campus as it relates to Title IX processes and procedures. In the coming months, they will be using the information obtained to “provide a written report of the findings and recommendations for improvements,” according to the Solicitation for Title IX Consultant Services sent out by the university on Oct. 16, 2018.

As noted in a previous article, Shipper and Scricca are part of a larger firm called Grand River Solutions, founded in Nov. 2018, which aims, according to its website, “to achieve a level of compliance and reporting consistent with the spirit of the law while also gaining significant measurable improvements in efficiency and process.” Prior to joining GRS, they owned and operated the non-profit Project IX, which had the same goal. They also both have experience working at universities in Title IX and admissions departments. Shipper cites this as one of the reasons that they are equipped to provide suggestions to institutions; they have experienced Title IX cases from an administrative perspective.

In an effort to learn more about the university, Shipper and Scricca have held two public information gathering sessions in which they have invited input about how to best address sexual misconduct on the UMBC campus. They have also conducted private meetings with student organization representatives and have invited anyone unwilling or unable to participate in these sessions to reach out via a Google form. As of March 1, when The Retriever spoke with Shipper and Scricca, no one had used the form. Along with conducting these interviews, their research also involves reading “all documents that we can get our hands on related to the process or related to education and training,” according to Scricca.

They are looking to use these interviews to gain a full understanding of what solutions will be most effective at UMBC. They expressed their tendency to “craft something that’s doable,” offering university-specific and nuanced suggestions. “What works for one school might not work for another,” Shipper explained. “An itty bitty school in the middle of nowhere? Their needs are different.” In hearing the perspectives of “everything from the police to the president,” as Scricca summarized, the team hopes to get as close to a full picture as possible of UMBC’s campus culture.

Shipper and Scricca expressed a particular interest in investigating how information regarding sexual misconduct is communicated between administrators and students. They noted that, while information may be readily available on UMBC’s websites, that information has no value if no one knows where or how to find it. At this point in the process, Shipper and Scricca were not able to make any immediate suggestions to remedy this situation.

Shipper and Scricca’s work is focused solely on issues directly related to Title IX. Therefore, despite campus-wide concerns regarding the UMBC police department, they will not be working with campus police, except on matters pertaining to Title IX investigations. Additionally, Shipper and Scricca will not be advising UMBC on its rulings in any prior Title IX cases; rather, they will be focusing on conducting “a comprehensive review and assessment of current University processes, policies, procedures and practices regarding prevention efforts and response to campus sexual misconduct and interpersonal/relationship violence,” according to the Solicitation for Title IX Consultant Services.

After their research is complete, Shipper and Scricca will submit a final report to the university detailing their findings and suggestions. UMBC is paying Shipper and Scricca $55,000 for their consultancy work.

Julia Arbutus contributed to this article.

They never said it would be easy, but they did say it would be exciting. After battling through two rounds of fatiguing overtime, UMBC men’s basketball bested Hartford 90-85 to advance to the America East championship game and defend their title.

While the Retrievers set a comfortable lead after the first half, never trailing, the Hawks ramped their offense and began to close the gap with six minutes left in gameplay. The final moments of regulation time were decided by fouls, with UMBC and Hartford alternating from the free throw line. With 16 seconds left, the Hawks pulled ahead by one. Junior guard K.J. Jackson, sociology, answered the call and sunk one out of his two free throws to tie up the game with 3.7 seconds left, forcing the game to overtime and keeping Retriever Nation on the edge of their seats.

Five minutes were added to the clock and, after a taxing back and forth, UMBC tied again with Brandon Horvath ‘21, financial economics, sinking both of his free throws. Starting with the second overtime, the Retrievers found their footing and pulled ahead, capitalizing on foul shots and pulling out a five-point victory.

“It was a crazy game, but this is what March is all about,” reflects Horvath.

Team mentality

Just after the win, Jackson spoke with the Baltimore Sun’s Edward Lee about the players’ team mentality. “I’ve got Joe, I’ve got Brandon, I’ve got everyone here with me playing just as hard,” he said. “It’s not time to be tired…It’s time to go make plays, and that’s what I did.”

Leading the pack, Jackson accounted for 21 of the Retrievers’ points, with R.J. Eytle-Rock ‘22, psychology, netting 16; Horvath posting up 14; and Joe Sherburne ‘18, financial economics and Arkel Lamar ‘21, sociology, each contributing 12.

Sherburne has been a force both on and off the court during his career at UMBC. He was recently named the 2018-19 Google Cloud Academic All-America® Team Member of the Year for Division I men’s basketball. In addition to his All-American of the Year accolade, Sherburne was also named to the America East All-Academic Team for the third time in his career and to the America East First Team for the first time.

Ready for Vermont

Retriever Nation won’t have a chance to catch their breath from last night’s adrenaline-filled win as there’s still one more victory in this tournament to claim. UMBC travels to Vermont to take on the Catamounts for the second year, to battle it out for the America East Championship title.

The final game is on Saturday, March 16, at 11 a.m. at the Patrick Gymnasium in Burlington. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2, with Retriever watch parties across the nation. UMBC will host a free family-friendly watch party in the Event Center for anyone interested, including community fans. Students interested in attending the game in Vermont have until 2 p.m. on March 14 to secure their spots. More information available here.

Banner image: Brandon Horvath dunks for two during UMBC’s semifinal for the America East. All photos by Maryland Demond ’11 for UMBC.

• It's a great opportunity to gain leadership experience, especially for those interested in becoming a Resident Assistant (RA), Tour Guide, and/or Orientation Peer Advisor (OPA) in the future!
• You can be one of the first to meet the next class of Retrievers
  
• You'll have a chance to promote your own club or student organization
• Get free food and UMBC swag!
  

• Attend a 1-hour training session
• You must live in a traditional on-campus residential hall and be able to host a student in your room
  
• Accompany your guest to a variety of UMBC events (based on their interest), including the RSA Block Party, Musical Theater Club's spring production, (seb) Magic Show, ASU's Layaleena,(seb) Movie Night, Late Night Dining, and more
• You'll need to remain on campus with your visiting student for the duration of the program
  

Baring their hearts, souls and drama – but not their names – students of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County found catharsis in anonymously posting to Facebook this past month. Then, almost as quickly as UMBC Confessions and later UMBC Tea had sprung up, both pages were deactivated by their admins. The student body has since been left to wonder about the admissions made, the page creators and the ethics of encouraging anonymous confessions on social media.

“It was literally a 24 to 48-hour flash in the pan for Confessions. It was there, and then it was gone. Tea lasted for a week after, and I’m pissed off that it’s gone, too,” says one sophomore psychology major. Similar to his interactions with both Facebook pages, he has requested anonymity for this article.

“First impression of the [UMBC Confessions] page were that it was fun, and pretty funny at times! Some people used it to compliment their friends, and that was really wholesome,” shares information technology senior Samuel Becker, “But there was always a gut feeling that it would go downhill fast.”

The subject matter soon became more risqué, to the initial delight of its readers. “It was sex stories and funny things I’ve done on campus. Having sex in my roommate’s bed, having him walk in on us drunk, shitting in the library pond, that sort of thing. I just thought they were funny stories I didn’t want my name attached to,” the previously quoted psychology major explains of his confessions. Denying anything on either page amounted to cyberbullying, he claims, “It was fun.”

Cassie Le agrees with Becker’s assessment. “I initially thought it would be spicy and fun, until I started seeing nasty, racist and false things written with people’s full names sometimes included,” expresses the recent graduate. She was one of the first to question the place of the page within the community, declaring its behavior felt more appropriate for a high school than for a university. “I was just reminding people that we’re all supposed to be adults, and we shouldn’t do uncool things,” she explains.

A 2015 study in France found that, while 68.7 percent of those surveyed believed anonymous posting represented more viewpoints, 83 percent thought it fostered hate speech, as reported by the French radio station RFI. Shortly after UMBC Confessions went live, there were posts on the school meme page decrying it for cyberbullying, and it was soon deactivated. UMBC Tea subsequently arose to fill the void, before meeting the same fate days later.

“The only people that really got called out were actually shitty people – like pedophiles, stalkers and cheating exes. But once again, people got scared of the potential for cyberbullying, and it got taken down. It’s a shame,” laments the psychology major. He has his own theories as to who created the pages, implicating anyone from an Honors College sophomore to admins of the university meme page. Now, although he enjoyed both pages, he views the university as “way too sensitive” to ever let another reboot endure.

Becker, who is also a co-creator and current admin of the school’s meme page, does not believe the pages should be revived. “It crashed and burned with spam, and turned into a toxic rumor mill,” he contends, and some of the surviving screenshots indeed showcase a degree of vitriol. “Because in their nature, people feel shielded behind a spotlighted veil of anonymity, and say things that they would not typically say in a more public setting. So people use this to say compliments to their friends, post jokes, saucy revelations, be jerks or even sometimes post legitimate complaints. But mostly just be jerks,” he says.

These are not the first confessional-style pages for the university, as Becker cites similarly failed Twitter counterparts from 2013 and 2017. “Failure sort of seems intrinsic with these platforms,” he says. Just as they are bound to die, they are likely bound to spawn new creations from time to time, marking another feature in UMBC’s increasingly social media-dominated history.

After 35 years of service as a staff member at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Executive Administrative Assistant Teresa Lupinek has decided to retire. In a message sent out to the UMBC community on March 1, President Freeman Hrabowski announced that Lupinek would retire on April 1, describing her as someone who “approached each of her roles with incredible professionalism, integrity, and poise.” A farewell reception was held in the Library Gallery on March 6 to celebrate her time of service at the university.

Lupinek’s career at UMBC began in January of 1984, when she took her role as an office secretary in the Biological Sciences building. She would type up letters that then-Chairman Keith Porter dictated, and also typed exams and grants for other faculty members. This work allowed her to learn how to type on a word processor, a machine similar to a typewriter but with the technological editing capabilities of the Word or Google Docs applications. “I didn’t even know where to turn it on until I was trained,” recalls Lupinek. Although she admits her tasks were serious, Lupinek enjoyed the university’s environment, describing it “as a fun place to work.”

She eventually transitioned to work in the Career Center, where she took charge of business duties and training students and staff, as well as leading graphic print production for Career Center events. Then in 2012, she became the Executive Administrative Assistant to President Hrabowski, where she “excelled in supporting the President’s Office with scheduling and the creation of meeting briefings and agendas in a highly demanding, fast-paced environment,” according to a message sent out by Hrabowski. Hrabowski also credits Lupinek for collaborating with campus leaders regarding the recognition of non-exempt staff within the Plan of Organization, “resulting in the creation of the Non-Exempt Excluded Staff Senate shared governance group.”

During her time here at UMBC, something that really stood out to Lupinek was, as she recalls, “the ongoing culture of UMBC under good leadership — first with Chancellor Michael Hooker and then with President Freeman Hrabowski — to inclusively contribute to the success of our students.” While Lupinek notes that UMBC has had its trials, she believes that the university nevertheless has held strong to these beliefs.

As for her retirement plans, Lupinek says, “I look forward to enjoying more time with family and cultivating long neglected interests.” Lupinek also hopes to see new talent stepping up to take over her role as Executive Administrative Assistant. Meanwhile, she will miss the friendships she has established over her time at UMBC, as well as witnessing “students developing their paths to accomplishing good things.” As for the legacy she plans on leaving behind, Lupinek commented on it being one of “respect, encouragement and ongoing love for learning.”