Move to Big Ten

ACC LAWSUIT

In the latest development over whether the university will have to pay a $52 million exit fee to the ACC as it leaves for the Big Ten athletic conference, attorneys for the Maryland Board of Regents and the ACC argued before judges for the North Carolina Court of Appeals Thursday over whether the legal battle should occur in North Carolina or this state.

The university, which will leave the ACC for the Big Ten conference in July, has argued the fee is excessive, while the ACC maintains that 10 of 12 conference members approved it.

The exit fee lawsuit was put on hold until the North Carolina case is decided, after a Prince George’s County judge said two ongoing lawsuits could result in “inconsistent and/or competing determinations of fact and law,” The Diamondback previously reported.

The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruling might not be issued for several weeks or months.

UNIVERSITY NAMED TOP-10 PARTY SCHOOL

The university recently ranked 10th on Playboy magazine’s list of the country’s Top Party Schools of 2013.

Other schools on the list include the University of Southern California, Florida State University and West Virginia University, which takes the No. 1 spot.

The publication based its rankings on data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the NCAA and the U.S. Economic Census, as well as information gathered from social media.

UMES STUDENT SHOT

A University of Maryland Eastern Shore student was injured in a shooting incident Sunday in Princess Anne, Md.

Police said the student was trying to break up a fight and was shot in the leg, and a UMES spokesman said the student was released from the hospital after treatment, according to The Washington Post.

Police arrested and charged a 26-year-old man, Tyshon Gabriel Hobson Sr., with attempted first- and second-degree murder and first- and second-degree assault, according to Delmarva Public Radio.

PLAYWRITING

Students interested in the performing arts may soon have a new outlet for creative expression, as the university’s theatre, dance and performance studies school teams up with theater departments at other Big Ten schools to form the Big Ten Theatre Chairs, a playwriting initiative that aims to improve the representation of women playwrights in American theater.

The group hopes to promote the production of up to five new plays in order to draw attention to both the gender imbalance in the world of playwriting, as well as the need for students to study diverse scripts in university theater programs. As part of this goal, the group will commission women playwrights to write the first three plays.