A new report shared with the UN Secretary-General by an independent team of climate scientists conveys a simple message: capitalism as a worldwide economic system cannot deal with the onset of human-induced climate change.

In many ways, this report is a manifesto for scientists who are feeling the crunch as time runs out to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, as well as scientists who are fed up with the ineffective methodology of “eco-friendly” trends and fashions which seem to define what little response capitalist countries have managed so far.

Zach Clifton, a student in UMBC’s environmental sciences master’s program who also works with the United States Geological Survey, gives a more personal perspective as to this line of thought. The opinions shared here are his own and not reflective of the policies of the USGS or United States government.

“If I had it my way,” he begins, “immediate conversion to some form of eco-communism. I don’t care the exact methodology for this. Just do it.”

Indeed, this report even disparages the idea of “carbon pricing” in the form of an emission tax as not going far enough. This is to say nothing of the paltry measures currently being debated in some communities, such as straw bans—which are, in Clifton’s words, “the dumbest possible…thing.”

Instead of ineffective personal lifestyle changes, structural change is the key to combating climate change. As a 2017 report from the Carbon Majors Database shows, 100 companies have been the source of over 70% of the world’s carbon emissions since 1988. This leads the UN report to surmise that the most effective method of combating carbon emissions is to socialize the greatest international polluters.

These reforms need to be far-reaching and immediate, with a national budget comparable to that of the Department of Defense. This would include an immediate and universally enforced mandate for all companies to transition to totally renewable energy by 2025, an immediate public seizure of the assets of fossil fuel companies through the use of eminent domain and an immediate restructuring of the agricultural industry to cut down on large-scale meatpacking.

This is not without precedent. In the past, the US government has used similar measures to promote the growth of these very industries, taking land from millions of citizens and at least as many among native populations in the process. In many ways, this would just be a reversal of those previous policies — a reversal supported by many environmentalists, including Clifton.

This certainly seems drastic, but it is important to remember what is at stake. Research shows that unless there is an international adoption of these structural changes within two years, it will be all but impossible to keep climate change below 1.5º C. The consequences of this rise would be dire, leading to the deaths of hundreds of millions from famines, wars and natural disasters.

With all of this in mind, it is clearly time to stop arguing over lifestyle choices and start discussing the practical steps needed to replace the international economic structure with one that will address the climate crisis.

This is a work of satire.

Ever since last semester, students have been leaving UMBC by the masses. A sense of betrayal, hurt and disgust pervade every inch of the campus. Some students, too dumbstruck to even comment, have retreated to their dorm rooms and locked themselves up. The Registrar’s Office has been swamped filing all the paperwork of students dropping out.

“It isn’t fair,” said Robert Dogtree, a senior studying economics, as he stood in the long line to the Registrar’s Office, sweeping back around past the pond onto academic row. “I came here to learn, not indulge in banal celebrations of pointless displays of physical prowess.” When asked to clarify, Dogtree simply shook his head.

Allow me to fill in the blanks where these unfortunate souls are unable. While many would guess that last semester’s great basketball victory over the University of Virginia would be a matter of celebration, this assumption could not be further from the truth. As they say, the title of greatness comes with a heavy price. For many, this price was too much to pay.

After the high-profile upset, students have been in a state of mourning over the death of their image as a school of physically inept introverts. “UMBC is supposed to be a school for nerds,” said one particularly bereft student. “Nerds don’t beat the number one seed in basketball.”

To defy the new standard of excellence in sports, many students have taken up a protest of the RAC in the form of a boycott. Today, one would be hard-pressed to find anyone other than athletes entering the building.

This particular protest act, however, has been going on even before UMBC won against UVA. Especially dedicated students have been boycotting the RAC since they first set foot on campus. “We were just, uh, practicing,” said Dogtree. “A preemptive protest for times like now.”

The students are not the only ones upset — even the maintenance staff is in a state of protest. In a commitment to fighting the image of an institute excelling in athletics, the workers at the RAC committed acts of sabotage to destroy the gym, hoping that would keep the athletes from improving their skills. “It’s easier working at a school for losers,” they explained. “They don’t even use the gym, really. Why not fill it with water?”

While the flooding did ruin the floor of one of the basketball courts, the saboteurs forgot to ensure the destruction of the other two basketball courts in a costly oversight. Not only will the athletes still be able to practice, but the money used to repair the court was taken directly from the academic scholarship funds. The result? UMBC will be spending less money now on academic-focused individuals for years to come in order to ensure their athletic facilities remain up to snuff.

Yes — all over campus, sorrow and devastation pervade the atmosphere. However, the grief felt by most is still nothing compared to that of the freshman and transfers who expected UMBC to be an affluent sports school and instead only received incompetence and mediocrity.

Lawyers representing five plaintiffs in a $10 million federal lawsuit alleging UMBC and Baltimore County’s mishandling of sexual assault cases have filed a memorandum opposing UMBC Police Chief Paul Dillon’s motion to dismiss a count against him.

The 16-page memorandum, filed late Friday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, alleges that Dillon was a part of a county- and statewide “conspiracy” to “[deny] women of their civil rights in order to suppress reports of rape and sexual assault for personal and professional gain.” An amended complaint filed Oct. 17 by the five plaintiffs provides additional allegations against Dillon and claims that he intentionally dissuaded a student from filing a police report after she reported her rape to the UMBC campus police in 2015.

Lawyers in the Maryland attorney general’s office, which is representing Dillon, filed a motion Oct. 5, asking the federal judge in the case to dismiss the claim against him in the original lawsuit, filed Sept. 10. The motion included affidavits from Dillon — who was UMBC’s deputy chief of police at the time of the 2015 incident — and Rina Rhyne, who worked at UMBC as the Voices Against Violence program coordinator in 2015. The program aimed to provide support for victims of sexual assault and rape on campus, connecting them to resources and helping them in the process of reporting their assault, if they chose.

Title IX is a federal civil rights law stating that no person should be discriminated against on the basis of sex under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. The law includes any reports of sexual assault. Institutions of higher education are required to publish campus crime statistics, including sexual assault, within a yearly Clery Report.

Rhyne, who is now the Deputy Title IX coordinator for Goucher College, stated within her affidavit that “at no time did Deputy Chief Dillon attempt to influence [the student] in her choice as to whether to file University Title IX charges, criminal charges or both.”

Additionally, within an e-mail communication, she writes, “I found him to be a professional who valued integrity in police work and he demonstrated this with his actions when we worked together on multiple sexual assault and intimate partner violence cases at UMBC.”

The plaintiffs’ lawyers, Rignal W. Baldwin V and Stephen C. Rigg, argue that Dillon’s request for dismissal no longer applies since the lawsuit now includes more allegations and three additional plaintiffs. They also argue in their filing that the Dillon request for summary judgment should be denied, as there has not been sufficient time for discovery.

The five plaintiffs – four former UMBC students and a graduate student from the University of Maryland at Baltimore – allege in the lawsuit that they were sexually assaulted on the UMBC campus between 2014 and 2017, and that officials from both the university and Baltimore County deliberately misclassified the incident reports to keep sexual assault statistics low.

The court filing filed on Oct. 19 alleges that Dillon’s Clery reporting is “unclear” and “facially deficient,” citing a misclassification of forcible fondling as rape. According to the filing, an assault was classified as “forcible fondling,” when by 2015 standards, it should have been classified as “rape.”

One of the original two plaintiffs in the case submitted an affidavit along with the new court filing, stating, “My family has a copy of UMBC’s Clery statistics from 2015, and it is not the same one Defendant Dillon attached to his motion to dismiss.”

That plaintiff maintains she was raped in 2015 by another UMBC student in a dormitory hall. That report of rape was never included in the 2015 Clery Report, the filing alleges.

Furthermore, the plaintiffs’ lawyers argue in the filing, Dillon is not entitled to qualified immunity due to the amended complaint’s allegations that Dillon “knowingly violated the law for malicious reasons.”

The Attorney General’s Office has declined to comment on any ongoing litigation.

For students and staff rushing to and from class, the ability to buy their office supplies quickly is essential for being prepared for their day. Mark Beachy, a freshman studying Asian studies, summed up the situation: “Obviously, we are here to go to school and so we need school supplies and a convenient way to get them.”

Despite this need, UMBC’s primary way to supply students with quick access to office supplies comes in the form of the UMBC Bookstore, which is only open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. While the bookstore attempts to offer students office supplies throughout the year, it is not serving its intended purpose well enough for many students.

Students at UMBC feel as though the prices of office supplies on campus within the UMBC Bookstore are too high, especially for the lack of variety in the store’s offerings. As a result, they often buy the same items online through other retailers or at stores such as Walmart or Target. When asked, however, many students admit that if there was a cheaper and more efficient option made available, they would probably buy more of their supplies on campus.

One of the ways that students suggested would be more effective in getting them to buy supplies on campus would be to make goods more accessible and to have more options in the school bookstore sold at a lower rate. Furthermore, students suggested that although the store has an online shop open to students, the school should extend the physical hours that the bookstore is open to better accommodate students’ schedules.

Senior political science major Divya Varde commented, “I know there’s only like one standard notebook in there. There’s not many options for folders and stuff, and some teachers have preferences for what they need for classes.”

Additionally, some students believe that installing vending machines selling items such as pencils, erasers and headphones at similar prices to the food items that vending machines offer now might give students a more convenient, cheaper alternative to the bookstore’s merchandise.

“I think we have enough food vending machines and some of them definitely could be switched out for school supplies,” sophomore computer science major and Spanish minor Eli Claggett said. “They would get more use if they were school supplies because you can get snacks at Outtakes, the Commons, from D-hall, all over the place.”

UMBC does its best to meet students’ hunger needs, but when it comes to having equally accessible supplies for students and staff, the university is lacking. With only the UMBC Bookstore and a few vending machines offering stationery, it is clear that the school needs a new approach to help students get access to the supplies they need.

Details can be found on our website at: http://wcmfa.org/call-for-entries/

The Winter 2019 Orientation season is approaching and the Office for Academic and Pre-Professional Advising is looking for new members to join its team of orientation advisors! 

 Faculty, staff and graduate students are invited to apply. 

Graduate students and 9½-month faculty members will receive up to $100.00 per session.

12-month faculty members' compensations will be sent to their departments.

Staff members are not eligible to receive additional compensation, but they will have an opportunity to improve their advising competencies, work with a diverse body of students, and enhance their leadership and interpersonal skills.  

 Comprehensive training will be provided for all orientation advisors.  

 Want to learn more about this opportunity? Attend an info session:

October 29, 2018     12:00pm-12:45pm   SHER 220

November 7, 2018   12:00pm-12:45pm   SHER 220

November 19, 2018 12:00pm-12:45pm   SHER 220

November 28, 2018 12:00pm-12:45pm   SHER 220

 Applications can be submitted HERE. The deadline to apply is Monday, December 3^rd.

Contact Ericka Thompson, Asst. Director, OAPA at ethompson@umbc.edu or (410)455-5788 with questions.

This fall marks the first time that UMBC has tried using an alternative parking permit method. Instead of the usual hang tags that are placed on your rearview mirror, all commuters and residents have to do now is digitally request and be granted a virtual parking pass. While the number of students with permits has increased greatly, the number of parking spots has not been adjusted appropriately to accommodate all of the new vehicles. This leaves commuters two options: circle the parking lots until they find a space or find an alternative transportation method.

UMBC Parking Services recently posted a short article called “Fall Semester Commuter Student Parking Tips” in the wake of the parking dilemma. Tips include getting your parking permit, getting to campus early to have enough time to find parking, carpooling and a reminder that Lots 22, 25, 29 and the Stadium Lot are good places to find spots when parking is most difficult to find during the day.

One option is taking the UMBC shuttle buses. The buses are free of cost to students, have six routes, run frequently and have extensive operating hours. Routes include Courtney Road, Arundel, Catonsville, Arbutus/MARC, Route 40 and Downtown buses. The buses come, on average, once or twice an hour from about 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., depending on the route. They also run on weekends, although much less frequently. Not only are the buses useful for commuting to and from campus, but also for leisure purposes, getting groceries and more.

There is also a tracking app for the UMBC buses, Rider, but it is not always accurate, so it must be used in conjunction with the bus timetables.

Another public transportation option is buying an MTA bus pass. Off-Campus Student Services, or OCSS, is located in The Commons and sells monthly MTA passes for $52.90. The MTA All Access College Transit Pass can be used for unlimited trips on the MTA Local Bus, Light Rail and Metro Subway.

Zimride is a ridesharing/carpooling service that exclusively serves UMBC students, staff and faculty. Akin to services like Uber and Lyft, Zimride drivers get paid for their transportation services, riders can “request” a ride and drivers can “post” a ride when they are ready to drive. All carpoolers may park in Lot 4, “Casual Carpool,” before 10:30 a.m.

Zipcar, a better-known name, is a car-borrowing service that has two locations on campus, one at the Administration Drive Garage and the other by Susquehanna Hall. The company charges a per-hour fee, as well as a per-day fee. An upside to the per-day deal is that the cost includes 180 miles per day, gas, and insurance. Their college student program, Students with Drive, offers scholarships, group donations and Zipcar credit.

Electric vehicle users can make use of UMBC’s two charging spots in the Stadium Lot which can be used free of charge. Furthermore, UMBC has numerous bike racks throughout campus along with a bikeshare program, RetrieverFleet. All staff, faculty, and students are eligible for the program, a single-day free bike rental from the RAC. However, each day that the bike is not returned will cost $17.

Community members can find more information about transportation options via UMBC’s website.