•    William Archer, The Commons
    •    Joel Dewyer, The Commons
    •    Michelle Drummond, Registrar’s Office
    •    Cheri Putro, DoIT
    •    Drema Wentz, The Commons

The new process will allow all users to sign into 25Live and view room schedules based on their myUMBC account. Those in departments who coordinate with event scheduling for submitting events will be able to do all of their advanced functions through any web-based system and won't need special software installed on their computer.

DoIT was interested 25Live based on the scalability, reliability, and business continuity since the solution is a cloud based Software as a Service (SaaS). The new system also provides a set of programming interfaces, called APIs, that will allow scheduling offices and DoIT to develop ways of sharing the events information through myUMBC and mobile.

Another benefit involved more product updates compared to the old R25 software, allowing 25Live to continue to add more features and improvements. “The nice thing about this is there are mandatory annual updates to the software,” said Kirby “because it’s in the cloud they are promising predictable response times, even during our peak usage periods.”

Other key figures supported the 25Live project as well. Chief Mark Sparks, head of Public Safety wanted more complete information in times of an emergency. The software will provide searches for class schedules with the correct room locations, and event searches by the time and day of the week.

Juliana Simpson, Assistant Director of Planning and Michael Dillon, Assistant Vice President of Institutional Research, Analysis & Decision Support (IRADS) will benefit from more complete data source for reporting purposes as the classroom and event data becomes part of UMBC’s data warehouse solution known as REX. 

SGA leads letter campaign to protest tuition hikes

Recent cuts in the state’s budget have left the University System of Maryland strapped for cash. These costs are expected to be passed on to students, and this prospect has prompted them to voice their concerns.

“Hey, do you want to be a good citizen?” sophomore global studies major Isabel Geisler asks her friend from behind a black plastic table. She is joking with him, but there’s a serious thought behind it. She and freshman global studies and computer science major, Alan Severinovsky, set up on Main Street in The Commons, working on an SGA letter writing campaign.

Their little table is covered in papers arranged around two laptops. Some still stand in neat stacks, others are loose and rumpled. Two boxes contain thick bundles of envelopes.

This effort is an attempt to bring students’ grievances about increases in college tuition to the attention of the state government. Each of the hundreds of sheets of paper is a form letter of concern, just waiting for a signature.

“Tuition hikes are happening,” said Severinovsky. “Seven percent is what’s out there right now. Some of us can pay that, others cannot.”

The letters are being sent in reaction to recent news regarding the state budget. The governor’s office cut funding to the University System of Maryland for the 2015 fiscal year as part of an initiative to reduce the state’s deficit. However, many in the community feel that the 40.3 million dollar cut in education funds is not fair to students who will have to pay the difference.

“What we’re doing is writing to Maryland state delegates to tell them, ‘Hey, can you help us out? Don’t put that many cuts on the education budget,’” said Severinovsky. He estimated that this cut could mean about 700 dollars in increased cost each semester for students. For many already struggling to afford expensive tuition and fees, this increase could be prohibitive.

The letter is a simple note at only two paragraphs, but it clearly and tersely addresses the problem: “These increases in tuition will have a monumental impact on students like me,” it reads.

Based on the address of each student who signs, Severinovsky and Geisler will direct the letters to the appropriate state representatives. “We need to get as many unique districts as possible,” said Severinovsky. They hope that this widespread show of dissent will demonstrate student attitudes toward the lack of university funding.

Their goal is to muster about 250 signatures, and they’re on the right track. After only 20 minutes, they have as many signed letters. They’ll be here all afternoon.

Severinovsky had little doubt that they would see support from the student body. “I don’t know who would be against stopping tuition hikes,” he said. Though it’s hard to disagree with him, it remains to be seen if the letters will impress their recipients.

 

Photo: James Gallagher

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The fencing club lunges with dedication and precision

As one of the many student organizations at UMBC, the fencing club prides itself on practicing hard and welcoming newcomers.

Broken into three different weapon categories, sabre, épée and foil, the fencing club sure is dedicated to the art of the sport and, believe it or not, was actually one of the first sports-related clubs here at UMBC. Practices usually start off with warm-ups and footwork. Under their respective coaches, each squad does practice drills, different exercises and matches against each other.

Sidney Hahm, the current president and sophomore information systems major, said, “Our current coaches are alumni and have participated in this club as well when they were students, so it really has quite a history.” She has been fencing for over a year now and competes as much as she can.

Hahm admitted that even though some matches may look a bit aggressive and dangerous, fencing is actually one of the the safest Olympic sports. “The blades’ flexibility absorbs a lot of the force that you see in a match,” she added. Fencing is even safer than badminton, and is known for having one of the lowest injury rates in Olympic competitions.

The fencing club’s collegiate season isn’t over just yet. “Our épée squad is currently undefeated and in last year’s Baltimore Washington Collegiate Conference, the foil squad took first place, so we’re looking to keep up that trend,” said Hahm. They compete in one team-based meet during each semester, both leading up to a championship where they compete individually.

“Every year we hold a tournament fundraiser called Charm City in which very high rated fencers come to fence,” she said proudly. In return for organizing this fundraiser, the fencing club is granted the opportunity to participate in it for free.

As far as attire goes, each fencer is required to suit up in a form-fitting jacket with a strap which goes between the legs. Underneath the jacket, they wear an underarm protector for safety. They must also wear a mask with a bib to protect the neck and a glove covering their dominant hand.

Of course, it wouldn’t be fencing without the weapons. Sabre bladework targets everything except for the hands, and is the most fast paced of the three. Much slower and more calculated, épée bladework is the only one where the two fencers can actually score at the same time while targeting the entire body. Lastly, slower than sabre but faster than épée, foil bladework solely targets the torso.

Steven Milano, the vice president and a sophomore graphic design major, said, “Personally, fencing is an amazing outlet for me both physically and competitively. I currently have my E rating in foil.” The United States Fencing Association has established 6 different ratings. From the lowest to highest rating, there is U, E, D, C, B and A. Beginners are classified as “U” which stands for “Unrated.”

After running the track and stretching a bit, Milano leads everyone in a series of lunges within a straight line. These lunges function as either an advance towards a target for an attack or a backwards motion away from a target for protection. Following Milano, BJ Swayne, the head coach, then signals each squad to get together and practice challenging each other to a match.

“We usually gain the most popularity during the fall Involvement Fest,” said Hahm. The fencing club is pretty open when it comes to new members or anyone who just wants to attend a practice or two out of curiosity. Practices typically take place in the Fitness Studio from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday night.

 

Photo: Jamie Heathcote

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(seb) talks about Kesha and Quadmania

Vice President of Programming and Head of Design and Marketing at (seb) gives a breakdown of what goes into planning Quadmania and what to expect from the upcoming festivities.

Quadmania is a highly anticipated social event in the spring for UMBC students, according to the student events board (seb). It is a huge festival spanning the entire weekend from April 24 to 26. This year, it will feature a dance party, the traditional carnival day and a Kesha concert to close out the festivities.

Ji Sung Kwon, Vice President of Programming and senior health administration and public policy major, explained that planning for Quadmania is such a large undertaking that the planning process actually begins in the fall semester.

Everyone who works at (seb) breaks into 3 or 4 groups to tackle different aspects of planning the event. “We have groups for planning what rides or inflatables to bring to the festival,” said Kwon. “For me, I’m in charge of food and hospitality.”

While those at (seb) can’t say for sure what rides to expect, as contracts for rides are not yet finalized, it is safe to expect obstacle courses, large inflatables and traditional carnival rides. (seb) is looking to have more rides than last year.

Kwon also shared that for food and hospitality, there will be 5 or 6 food trucks with vegetarian and vegan options available. There will also be more seating options than last year.

Kwon, whose favorite Kesha song is “Die Young,” explained what goes into the decision making when it comes to selecting an artist to perform at Quadmania. She mentioned that (seb) leaned more on student input this year than they have in the past.

During Involvement Fest, (seb) polled students to determine what kind of music they listen to and what genres they prefer.

“With having voting at Involvement Fest, it worked out better than last time,” Kwon said. “Based on that, we check artist availability and affordability.” (seb) also looked at booking Jason Derulo, Big Sean or Paramore, but Kesha still came out on top.

According to Kwon, (seb) has been getting more positive feedback than usual in relation to the Quadmania act. “Every year is kind of the same, there are a lot of positive reactions from people and still kind of some negative reaction,” she said. “But this year, we have a lot more positive reaction with Kesha. A lot of classmates have said they already bought their tickets on the first or second day of ticket sales.”

Aside from the concert and the Saturday festivities, there is a Friday activity that Kwon believes is often overlooked. This year’s Friday event is a paint party on Erickson Field that is free and open to everyone.

“There is going to be a cannon and people will be throwing paint at you and there’s going to be a DJ playing music. So, it’s just a party theme,” said Kwon.

If that didn’t paint the perfect picture, Angela Esposito, senior graphic design major, who is head of Design and Marketing at (seb) compared the paint party to a scene from a 2000 Hollywood film. She said, “It’s like the movie Sandra Bullock is in, Miss Congeniality, when they all go out to the bar and they’re throwing paint…Yeah, it’s gonna be like that.”

 

Photo: Courtesy of Patrick Alejandro

 

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