THE RETRIEVER UMBC’s Student Newspaper INSIDE Volume 38, Issue 27 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 April 27, 2004 Disabled students org. Increased voter turnout News 02 holds inaugural event delays election results available by the Retriever’s press RYAN DORRILL “Growing up with a disability SUSAN ZAGAR I felt trapped,” she said. However time this week. Retriever Weekly Staff Writer Retriever Weekly Staff Writer once high school came she had a The delay was due the numer- Learning disabilities, physical lot of friends and family to sup- The polls of the Student ous amounts of UMBC students handicaps, and language barriers port her and with their help she Government Association closed coming together to vote for candi- on Friday, April 23, 2004 at 11:59 dates – a record-breaking turnout. are just some of the obstacles stu- see SISIA, page 3 dents on a diverse campus like p.m., but the results were not According to Lauren The science of laughter, UMBC have to cope with every Stillwagon, Student Election RSA Block Party and day. The Society of Inspiring Board Chair, “A preliminary count the death of the British Students with Individual Abilities indicates that there were 1,909 phone booth. (SISIA), held its kickoff ceremony votes cast. That total is a new in the University center last record for a UMBC student elec- Wednesday to discuss these issues. tion.” Last spring’s election Over 20 people attended the cere- record consisted of 1,255 voters. Opinion 08 mony and participated in the dis- The new count outdoes the other cussion on growing up with dis- by more than 50%. abilities, interacting with people More than 12,000 students – with disabilities, and achieving undergraduate and graduate - are personal goals. enrolled at UMBC. The meeting opened with “The record is causing a delay Meyerhoff scholar Michael Hunt in processing the results,” said singing “To Dream the Impossible Stillwagon, “which will be avail- Dream,” a performance that over- able early this week.” powered the echoes of the rock The use of Blackboard for Checkmate, fool! concert from the UC below. voting has created a new way for Talking ‘bout TV, Afterwards, SISIA president students to vote, possibly helping politics, celebrities, and founder Kavita Krishnaswamy to increase the number of votes – and chess. introduced freshman Christina but may also have been unpre- Gregg to recite the purpose of the pared for the high turnout. club while Heather O’Brien Freshman Rahil Khalik com- repeated it in sign language. mented, “I thought it was easier Features 18 Essentially, SISIA’s goal is to unify responding through Blackboard. the campus’ disabled population It’s convenient. Some people and to provide support and oppor- don’t even know what Common’s tunities for them. Main Street is,” Khalik said, refer- Afterwards Kavita gave a talk ring to the location of the voting about her experiences with her booths the SGA erected. own disability. She has spinal The election stands apart muscular atrophy, a disease that Stephanie Potter [Retriever Staff] from other elections not only with necessitates the use of a wheel- En garde: UMBC students face off in a jousting event at Quadmania. the use Blackboard as a voter See article, page 4. record, but also in the unique Features gets manic chair. At first the disease was a hindrance to her. see SGA, page 2 with mania on the quad. UMBC students march for right to choose SARAH PEVNER started out at 8 in the morning, Sports 27 Retriever Weekly Staff Writer were organized through the schools NOW Chapter. Acting as On Sunday, April 25, about spokesperson, Alison Buckley 40 UMBC students attended what worked with the NOW national the Washington Post described as chapter to set interested students the largest abortion rights march up with transportation. UMBC in history. NOW, along with Women in The March For Women’s Learning and Leadership (WILL) Lives on the Mall in Washington, and the Women’s Center, were D.C., was co-sponsored by the involved in a months-long Six seniors leave American Civil Liberties Union, attempt to raise awareness and Zimmerman, Dragoni Black Women’s Health Imperative, interest for the march. Sign-up Feminist Majority Foundation, rocks her last home sheets for the march were provid- NARAL Pro-Choice America, game, mens lacrosse ed in the women’s center and on National Organization for Women the WILL dorm floor. in a tight spot. (NOW), National Latina Institute Transportation to the march for Reproductive Health and itself was provided by each of the Planned Parenthood Federation of large-scale supporters. The num- America, and the rally brought ber of students traveling together ALSO: over a million people together for to the march determined the Joshua Lottich [Special to the Retriever Weekly] more than five hours. Who’s choice?: UMBC students marched in DC this week to protest see MARCH, page 3 college news 02 The UMBC marchers, who women’s reproductive rights. world news 03 Four Day trw.umbc.edu classifieds 30 410.455.1260 Forecast tues: 62/40o wed: 66/47o thu: 75/52o fri: 78/56o 2 News April 27, 2004 THE RETRIEVER BehindtheScenes Psychology professor explores the secrets College News of laughter on campus As Wealthy Fill Top Colleges, New Efforts to Level the Field SHIRA HELETZ ple at the student union, the malls, and His book has been reviewed by Discover Retriever Weekly Staff Writer streets. They noted what was said to sup- magazine and Scientific American, among Laughter is a natural human behav- posedly cause the laughter and who others. NN ARBOR, Mich. (New York ior. Although what we laugh at changes as laughed, the speaker or the audience. To Besides studying laughter, Provine Times) — At prestigious universities time goes on, the actual act of laughter is his surprise, most laughter occurred not in has newly started learning a Brazilian around the country, from flagship state ancient. Dr. Robert Provine, psychology response to a joke, or anything slightly form of jujitsu. Before, he studied other colleges to the Ivy League, more and more professor, has spent the last 10 years of his funny. Instead, people laughed after boring martial arts and used to be the advisor for students from upper-income families are life studying this everyday human behav- comments like, “I have to go to class.” the UMBC Tae Kwan do club. Provine edging out those from the middle class, ior. Also, the speaker was twice as more likely also played the saxophone in a jazz quar- according to university data. Provine attended grew up in Tulsa, to laugh themselves than the audience. All tet for about five years. The change is fast becoming one of Oklahoma and attended University of of his research findings were explained in the biggest issues in higher education. Oklahoma as an undergraduate. He went his best-selling book, “Laughter: A More members of this year’s fresh- to Washington University for his PhD. Scientific Investigation.” man class at the University of Michigan Quick Questions: He came to UMBC in 1974, when the Provine was also interested in how have parents making at least $200,000 a University was still starting out, “I had laughter has the ability to tell how people year than have parents making less than heard of a lot of the faculty here by repu- fell towards one another, “Since it’s not the national median of about $53,000, 1. What is your favorite joke? tation, but not of the campus. UMBC consciously controlled, you’re able to get according to a survey of Michigan stu- was a place where you could do the insights about what people think of one dents. At the most selective private univer- research so you can teach what you do.” another. You see a female laughing with a sities across the country, more fathers of Ah! So many jokes, so little time. I have Provine teaches psychology courses male, you can tell that she’s interested.” freshmen are doctors than are hourly no particular favorite but Sensation and Perception along with a Provine also found that laughter is also workers, teachers, clergy members, farm- get a large weekly sample—each of my unique class called the Psychology of influenced by gender. Males are predomi- ers or members of the military — com- Laughter and Humor course class Laughter and Humor. In this class, nately the ‘laugh-getters’ and females tend bined. meetings begins with at least two jokes Provine shares his conclusions from his to laugh more with males than other Experts say the change in the student from students. research done on the patterns of laughter. females. It may be why a sense of humor is population is a result of both steep tuition Provine first worked in neurophysiol- so important to a woman or that there increases and the phenomenal efforts ogy research, working on learning more aren’t many female comedians. many wealthy parents put into preparing 2. What is your favorite place to about neural mechanisms of behavior; To Provine, laughter can tell a lot their children to apply to the best schools. studying how the brain influences behav- about not only the social context but also travel to? It is easy to see here, where BMW 3-series ior. After years of concentration on this, how the brain works. “My objective by sedans are everywhere and students pay up Provine moved his research towards a studying laughter was to choose a topic to $800 a month to live off campus, common everyday occurrence: laughter. often neglected by others, but a great France and England/Scotland enough to rent an entire house in parts of “It’s an interesting behavior.