The Walters Art Museum has a full time opening for a dynamic and energetic individual to work in the Museum Advancement Division as the Development & Prospect Research Coordinator. The Walters seeks someone for this role to manage and expand the pool of major donors, institutional donors, and committee and governance prospects through comprehensive and proactive research.

Jessica Hammond, the senior associate athletic director at UMBC, took the podium at SGA’s student fees forum and proposed $214,000 increases for undergraduate student’s athletic fees for the next fiscal year. The fee would be approximately a $38 addition to the $1,074 fee that full-time students have been charged for both semesters this year.

The mandatory fees that UMBC students pay, which are distinct from their tuition, finance many useful and sometimes robustly necessary services. For example, the technology fee is used by the university to pay for services like Blackboard and the computers students have access to on campus. The athletics fee stands alone by financing a service that is not accessible to all UMBC students, therefore, it should be eliminated.

Of the $214,000 in athletic fee increases now approved, Hammond stated that around seventy-five percent of that capital would go towards scholarships for student-athletes. Some amount of the remaining percentage would assumably go towards continuing to fund the other services that student-athletes have access to. The students that finance these services directly through their mandatory fees would continue to be barred from these student-athlete specific services, which include a private study area and a sports medicine center.

When probed during the forum about what contributions sports teams at UMBC  provide that academically enhance the university, Hammond brandished an iteration of “school pride and school spirit” to validate her cause. This is an argument that she echoed when asked for further comment on the issue days later.

“Retriever Athletics has become a source of pride with university leaders, local businesses and politicians and, most importantly, its undergraduate and graduate students,” stated Hammond.

For many students, the idea of the pride and spirit that emanates from sports teams must certainly take precedence in what they want from their college and the things they hold under importance in what is deemed the college experience. These students’ wants and needs must be acknowledged and taken into account when considering the budget, but the financial toll it takes on all students needs to heavily be considered.

For many UMBC students, their pride and spirit do not stem from retriever athletics. Emily Tillett, a junior psychology major, said, “I do not think I should be paying for another student to go to school. I understand giving some extra money and helping low-income students to go to school, but I can tell you I have never gone to a sports game and do not plan on it. I feel like I should only be paying for services that I require. I would pay an extra $500 a semester if they would put in another parking garage.”

Tillett is one of many UMBC students who do not take their school’s worth from its athletics. The university’s athletic teams do provide a sense of spirit and pride to our school for some of its students. However, at a price of more than $1,000 a year per student, which is almost one-tenth of full tuition and fees, it is neither fair nor economical to continue the mandatory athletic fee.

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If you went to collect trash on campus, what would you expect to find? Food waste and soda cans? During any given clean-up, eco-conscious students will stumble upon things like abandoned pipes, tires, fire hydrants or even toilets.

“We’ve collected enough chairs to have our own meeting,” said sophomore political science major Bergren Cliff. “And it’s not just folding chairs. We find nice upholstered ones, too.”

The Environmental Task Force ventures out every Wednesday and Friday for an hour-long campus clean-up. Each day, they focus on a single area like Herbert Run, Pig Pen Pond or some of the wooded areas around campus. They try to focus their efforts on areas where they haven’t spent as much time or where they notice trash.

In years past, the club did more projects outside the loop; however, changing leadership resulted in a shift in club direction. Now, ETF focuses their efforts on restoring on-campus spaces. The group plans to attend the People’s Climate March on April 29 in Washington, D.C.

While there are around 20 club members total, turnout for clean ups varies based on weather conditions and academic schedules. However, the club welcomes all interested students to join the group at any point, which departs from the stairs by the Yum Shoppe at 4:00 p.m. for each clean-up.

Club officers stressed that interested students need not be experts in environmental science: “[ETF] is basically for anyone who likes to go outside,” said ETF president, sophomore Zach Grzywacz. “Half of it is exploring campus.”

Several members are environmental science majors, but the group is diverse and includes art history, mechanical engineering and political science majors.

The group collects around 20 pounds of trash at their smallest clean-ups, but not all their findings end up in the dumpster. Sophomore biology major Matt Brown collects rebar, a metal used to stabilize concrete. Thanks to a blacksmithing course, he recycles the metal found at clean-ups and makes it in to keys and arrowheads.

Their benevolence is not limited to picking up trash; ETF members also control harmful invasive species. English ivy, an evergreen vine, wraps around trees eventually choking them to death. On their clean-ups, members cut the ivy with small saws. According to one member, cutting out a six-inch gap from the vine prevents further growth and saves the life of the affected tree.

Larry Hennessey, an associate director for quality management in Facilities Management, stumbled upon the students as they were cutting away the ivy. He expressed interest in their work and decided to join them. Now, the club makes use of his tools and vehicle to make the trash-hauling process more efficient. According to the students, he has become the “patron saint” of the organization.

“While picking up trash sounds like a lot of work, it’s actually fun,” said Grzywacz. “Being in ETF has been the highlight of my UMBC experience.”

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