New CARD Act May Put Some Students in a Bind Students Work

the retrIever weekly UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALtimore county’s student NEWSPAPER 02.23.10 VOLUME 44 ISSUE 17 retrieverweekly.com Employ- New ees file CARD grievance Act may against put some Chartwells students Rima Kikani SENIOR STAFF WRITER in a bind Because of payment issues dat- ing back to the fall of 2008, a group Gavin Way of Commons employees has filed a EDITORIAL STAFF grievance against Chartwells, UMBC’s food services provider. Before they lost Recent federal legislation has put their contract, Sodexho, the preced- students in a financial bind; new ing service, had promised employees federal law will prevent anyone, a raise in July and in September. The under the age of 21 from receiv- Chartwells administration agreed to ing a credit card. At a time when honor the deal when they began work- more and more parents are unable ing with UMBC, but according to em- to support their children all the way ployees never fulfilled its promise. through college, students have had Both parties recently reached a set- one option, however dangerous, tlement in which Chartwells agreed to ACHSAH JOSEPH — TRW removed from their reach. Jerry disburse payments that had been over- (Left) Dance Education major Josephine Kalema and (right) Visual Arts major Melanie Feattz assist in the fundrais- Welch, CEO of nFinanSe, wrote, ing to aid Haiti’s earthquake victims. due for 18 months. Resident District “Anxious to make their way in the Manager for Chartwells, Tom DeLuca, world and not always aware of the mentioned, “We have come to an long-term financial consequences of amicable agreement… As is the case Students work together to their actions, anyone under the age with these negotiations, it took quite of 21 will be much more protected a while to come to an agreement and from the dangers of credit cards. that may be the cause of some of [the raise money for Haitian relief However, there are consequences associates’] concerns.” they may not like.” As a part of Compass Group North Tilly Ingleby put in the effort to help those who are committee will be utilizing all available Called the Credit Card Account- America, Chartwells caters to K-12 STAFF WRITER vulnerable because of this disaster. It’s sources to advertise their work. “We’ll be ability, Responsibility, and Dis- schools, small independent schools, as not as if they were only hit by the first using Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz, closure (CARD) Act of 2009, this well as colleges and universities. The In light of the earthquake that dev- earthquake, which was tragic enough, even The Retriever Weekly.” sweeping reform of credit laws will company has provided dining services astated Haiti on January 12, a number but they were still suffering from huge Despite the tragedy having occurred go into effect on Monday, February to UMBC for nearly two years. of UMBC organizations are coming to- aftershocks in the days after.” over a month ago, Ashraf is not wor- 22. The act was designed to make However, the union of Commons gether to raise funds for the distressed Ashraf has praised the efforts of fellow ried that the drives to raise money will the small print typical of many employees voiced more issues with country. students for wanting to help the effort. have lost momentum. “I feel as if there credit cards more transparent, mak- Chartwells not so long ago. During Groups including the Honors Coun- “We have an amazing group of people will still be momentum once the efforts ing it much clearer to the consumer the recent snowstorm, several associ- cil, the SGA, the Caribbean Club, and that are involved and ready to help. This start up. Every so often, Haiti pops back the full extent of fees and rates at- ates could not made it to work due to French Club, among others, are unit- is probably one of the most united efforts up into the news, and we still see how tached to the card. Key elements of the weather conditions. When they ing to raise awareness and money for UMBC has had in a while.” He added devastated that nation has become as a the act offered by the White House asked for vacation pay, Chartwells de- the country hit by the 7.0 earthquake. that students do not need to be a mem- result of the earthquake. There are still include banning retroactive rate nied them. “The Collective Bargaining Among those leading the efforts is fresh- ber of any of the involved societies to aid fundraising songs being released, and I increases, requiring consumers to Agreement that covers all members man Saqib M. Ashraf, a member of the the monetary relief. “Everything that we feel as if that’s one of the things that is opt-in for over-limit fees, and dic- of the union does not provide for any UMBC Honors Council. His interest for end up doing will be communicated to keeping Haiti in the news. Once we start tating that new cards come with type of wages to be paid in such a situ- fundraising began after the crippling the students. The only excuse people our efforts, I think that awareness will clear explanations in plain language ation,” DeLuca explained. “Every as- Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. “I think will have for not helping is not wanting come back. Haiti will receive the help it of all features, fees, and rates. The sociate of the union that came to work it’s a basic human duty; we need to help too, we will do all that it takes to make deserves, and we will not allow it to be act even has an entire provision during the snow closings was given those affected by this disaster,” comments sure that UMBC knows what is going on, forgotten.” protecting students by mandating a job to do and the associates that Ashraf. “Aid is reaching Haiti but we still when it’s going on, and why they should Though the recent snow storms have “that card issuers and universities showed up did a tremendous job.” Yet need to help them. Everybody needs to help.” Ashraf adds that the fundraising stopped the groups from meeting to ce- disclose agreements with respect > see GRIEVANCE [5] > see HAITI [5] > see CREDIT RULES [5] NEWS 01 OPINION 06 ARTS 10 SPORTS 16 ONLINE It takes a A new way to Heavens to Men’s track and Vote for blizzard to think about Bessie, Martin field sweeps basketball fans close the science Scorsese, and heptathlon choice players campus fly Olympic InsIde outfits of the year 2 News 02.23.10 The RetrIever Weekly foreign desk A little about the city of Leiden Anissa Elmerraji phone shops, cafes and even a knock- ical Gardens and Rijksmuseum van FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT off of the Apple store: iFactors. Oudheden, the National Museum of Museums: ‘De Valk,’ or ‘the Falcon’ Antiquities. Leiden is a modest-sized city. (in English) is one of the remaining Food: In Leiden, it is possible to With about 100,000 inhabitants, it windmills of Leiden, and as such, find almost any type of food: Indone- is around one-sixth the size of Balti- has been turned into a museum. The sian, Greek, Japanese, Thai, French, more. But despite its small size, there museum is humble. Patrons can take American (there are two McDonald’s is never a lack of things to do. self-guided tours through the seven restaurants) and, of course, tradi- Shopping: On Wednesdays and stories of this preserved windmill tional Dutch. Many know of the Saturdays a farmer’s market is set that dates from 1743. The lower Dutch custom of eating French fries up along the canals in the city cen- floors have been preserved as the with mayonnaise. This idea becomes ter. Here, vendors pleasantly accost modest little home it was hundreds less nauseating when considering people for business as carnival music of years ago, apart, of course, from that Dutch Mayo is not the same as pours out of a wooden music box the portion that now contains the gift what Americans put on their sand- on wheels. Vendors sell fresh pro- shop. A few floors up, museum-goers wiches. However, another typical duce, big blocks of Gouda cheese, can watch a very thorough video Dutch food, bitterballen, are perhaps Stroopwafel cookies, freshly cut about the windmills of Holland. worthy of their name. Bitterbal- flowers, scarves, bags, baubles and Apart from seeing the preserved mill len are basically balls of deep-fried, even heavy metal t-shirts. A few steps grinding equipment on the top floor unidentifiable green goo. They taste can take you from the pungent sea- and reading the informative plaques, sort of like gravy, and every once in a food booths where the seagulls circle and climbing the not-so-sturdy but while you’ll be lucky enough to find malevolently overhead to the sweet- extremely steep wooden ladders a little chunk of mystery meat inside smelling booths filled with bouquets from floor to floor, is the just as the hot little ball. These deep fried of tulips and other local flowers. sturdy wooden platform that wraps delights are supposed to be dipped The market nearly extends onto itself around the exterior of De Valk, in mustard, which makes them only Haarlemmerstraat, the main shop- which provides whomever ventures slightly more bearable. Nevertheless, ping street in Leiden, or what could to stand on it one of the best views of it is probably safe to assume that the be considered the closest European the entire city of Leiden.

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