Editor in chief
The past week was my first (and only) spring break as editor in chief of The Diamondback. Coming back to the daily newspaper and classes grind, I felt different. Obviously that’s the point of a break, but ever since coming back, I’ve felt like the end of the semester is rapidly approaching.
I know there are nearly two months left in the semester, but I can’t stop thinking about how I’ll be stepping down at the end of April. The next editor in chief will ascend and run the paper for the final couple of weeks of the semester. Then The Diamondback will publish on Thursdays over the summer and come back in full force for the fall, as usual.
On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal wrote about how long “lame duck” periods at companies can create confusion and uncertainty. That’s not exactly the case at The Diamondback, for which no one really works more than four academic years, but it’s been on my mind nonetheless. I want to ensure the publication moves forward on the right footing for the next year (and for the next 10 years) after I leave. But I also want to allow next year’s staff to have the chance to make the sometimes wonderful, sometimes difficult decisions I’ve had to make throughout this year.
The Diamondback is a university of its own. The teachers are students, of course, and there are no college credits awarded (there used to be, but that’s a different column). No editorial staff member has been around for very long, relative to most newspaper companies. By the time anyone “graduates” from The Diamondback, I hope he or she has gained valuable knowledge about what it means to be a journalist and to work for a daily newspaper.
I hope I’ve gained that knowledge. I think I have. If my high school senior self were to look at me today, I hope the person I was would be proud of the person I am. I know The Diamondback is largely responsible for whatever change has been wrought, good or bad.
This spring break wasn’t the only “last” for me recently. Every graduating senior experiences this, but it’s odd to think that in a few months, I’ll be done with school forever. I wonder how my years at The Diamondback would have gone had I not also been a student throughout the entire experience. Maybe they would have been better, more productive, more professional.
But there’s something powerful and unique about amateurism. (The NCAA certainly thinks so.) As I’ve written, the experience of being in a newsroom filled with people figuring it out as they go is something that can never be replicated.
David Simon — creator of The Wire, renowned journalist and former editor in chief of The Diamondback — once said of working at this publication: “It was the only time in my life when we really didn’t have to answer to anybody. All of us were in charge. It was very sincere; we were convinced we were carrying on something fundamental and traditional that mattered.”
Next week, the board of Maryland Media Inc., the nonprofit charitable trust that owns The Diamondback and other campus publications, will vote on the next editor in chief of The Diamondback. I suppose I’ll be a lame duck after that. But I’ll do my best to continue doing something fundamental and traditional that matters.
Here’s what struck me throughout the week:
Monday
In a gripping piece, Joshua Needelman recounts how Terps wrestler Jimmy Sheptock fell at Penn State, 7-2, in the final match of his career.
—Joshua Needelman
A state bill would cost the University System of Maryland for its smoking ban. Its backers argue that the system is preventing people from buying cigarettes and thus denying the state tax revenue from those potential purchases.
—Jim Bach
Tuesday
Our staff editorial took issue with that state bill, arguing, “It’s ludicrous to take money from education to support a tobacco industry that sold 293 billion cigarettes in 2011 and helps lead to more than 480,000 deaths annually nationwide.”
Elsewhere… A high-performance air filtration system whirred softly throughout the orange-tinted room. A scientist peered out from plastic goggles at a reaction spurred inside a machine that cost more than $100,000. Another researcher took notes on a sheet of slippery, latex-saturated paper.
At FabLab, a nanotechnology center tucked away in its own wing on the second floor of the Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building, cleanliness is next to godliness — and perhaps only a nanometer or so away.
—Joe Antoshak
As the NIT bracket was unveiled on ESPNU more than a week ago, anyone who watched the Terrapins men’s basketball team this season experienced a familiar feeling.
The show went later as more teams got bids to the second-tier postseason tournament, and the Terps’ chances became smaller and smaller with each new name that flashed on the screen.
And in the end, the Terps once again were left painfully short. This time, though, there was no game left to rebound in. The season was over.
—Daniel Gallen
The early part of Brenda Frese’s coaching career was filled with changes of address and moves from program to program. But now in her 12th season as Terrapins women’s basketball coach, Frese has found stability — along with great success — in College Park. Read “IN THE PRECIOUS MOMENT,” an excellent feature by Paul Pierre-Louis, here.
Wednesday
This May, Gov. Martin O’Malley will join the list of famous athletes, politicians, journalists and academics who have delivered the commencement address at this university.
—Ellie Silverman
Former Terrapins men’s basketball coach Gary Williams, who led the program to its lone national championship in 2002, is part of an eight-member class to be inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, the voting committee announced Tuesday morning.
—Aaron Kasinitz
The university’s first sexual misconduct and Title IX compliance director took office March 19 after months of planning.
University officials hired Catherine Carroll, who has more than 20 years of legal experience in areas of sexual and domestic violence, to lead a newly created office intended to improve education and response to cases of sexual misconduct.
—Jon Banister
Lauren Nurse wrote about the importance of editorial independence and diversity of viewpoints on The Diamondback’s opinion page. At the risk of patting myself on the back too much, I have to agree with her points and I’m glad she wrote the column. I’ve defended publishing conservative columns by The Diamondback’s Tiffany Burba before, and I might have to do so again in the future. Nurse recognizes that vigorous debate only helps a strong university community.
Thursday
The Department of Transportation Services must reinstate its canceled second appeals policy, Student Government Association student affairs vice president Josh Ratner writes in a guest column. The department’s reasoning is shaky at best and betrays a distrust of the student body, Ratner writes.
Elsewhere… Though he went through extensive training before his journey to space, astronaut Luca Parmitano wasn’t prepared for a malfunction in his suit during a space walk.
While working on a project outside the International Space Station in July 2013, he wasn’t sure what to do when he felt cool water on the back of his neck. Quickly, the water began to accumulate, and he realized he couldn’t see.
Parmitano, an astronaut with the European Space Agency, and NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg returned to Earth in November after almost six months on the ISS. Last night, they shared their experiences as flight engineers for 166 days on Expeditions 36 and 37 to about 200 audience members in the Biosciences Research Building. They orbited Earth 2,656 times and traveled more than 70 million miles, all in the name of science — and perhaps much more.
—Grace Toohey
More than a month after a massive cybersecurity breach on the campus, university President Wallace Loh testified yesterday before a U.S. Senate committee about the challenges universities face in addressing data protection issues.
Friday
Opinion
The editorial board, two columnists and a cartoonist share their takes on both this university’s data breach and President Obama’s recent decision to change the NSA monitoring program.
News
Ten ACC schools and ESPN were asked to hand over documents concerning this university’s move to the Big Ten in a new development in the ACC’s lawsuit against this university. See more in this week’s news roundup.
—Laura Blasey
The university’s outdated library materials are thrown away, library officials said, because they cannot be given to the campus community.
—Joe Antoshak
Facilities Management held an information session on the upcoming closure of Campus Drive for the construction of the Purple Line.
Diversions
Has the Internet changed consumption of art for better or for worse? And what’s in an artistic meme-filled exhibit? Check out the diversions section’s Friday Internet package.
Sports
The No. 4-seed Terrapins women’s basketball team travels to Louisville, Ky., to play No. 1-seed Tennessee in the Sweet 16 of NCAA Tournament on Sunday. To preview the game, staff writer Paul Pierre-Louis has a story on Terps center Malina Howard, who has provided solid contributions in this season’s NCAA Tournament after struggling to make an impact on games in the big dance a year ago.
See you next week.
