Student Body

Some foreign-born students at Howard Community College enter professor Mary Beth Furst's business class, sit attentively through instruction and say next to nothing. Furst said that when they are called upon, "You would think they were going to die, because they're really uncomfortable speaking up. " She recently discovered one of the reasons behind the silence: Some students hail from countries where it is disrespectful to ask an instructor a question. Furst and other HCC faculty and staff are learning about the college's ever-diversifying student population — and coming up with better ways to break down cultural and communications gaps — through a professional development program called INSPIRES Global Perspectives.

Recently, our president at Towson University, Maravene Loeschke, has endured great scrutiny for her decision to discontinue the men's soccer and baseball teams. The most vocal of critics has been Comptroller Peter Franchot, who called for her resignation last week ("Franchot calls on president of Towson University to resign," April 18). As the Student Government Association president, I wish to express how happy I am that President Loeschke has stated that she will not resign and will continue to serve this campus and its students.

PHILADELPHIA - They call the NCAA men's basketball tournament "March Madness," but many people are angry about the perceived failure of student athletes in the classroom. Critics of the NCAA and student athletes are quick to point to low graduation rates for athletes, but they overlook something: On the average, these athletes are competitive with their peers in the regular student body when it comes to graduation rates. At face value, the statistics appear to be grim when it comes to student athletes and graduation rates.

I read Gina Eichman's letter praising parents' and teachers' commitment to their children's musical pursuits and in particular praising the efforts and ingenuity of the Howard County Gifted and Talented (GT) High School Orchestra. I second her praise and am an avid music supporter, as are my children. Unfortunately, the opportunity she references is not available to all young musicians in the county: Those students who attend private schools are prohibited from joining the county GT group.

In the wake of the April 20 shootings in Littleton, Colo., the nation has been forced to examine the interaction among teen-agerswithin our high schools.The latest "Outside the Lines" special, airing Monday at 7: 30 p.m., takes a look at the gap between high school athletes and the rest of the student body, one of the many themes in the midst of the Columbine tragedy.For lead reporter Shelley Smith, the topic is especially poignant, not only since the shootings took place not far from where she grew up, but, also because she is the mother of a 13-year-old daughter who is an athlete.

Naval Academy Superintendent John R. Ryan has proposed increasing the size of the military college's student body by 10 percent, to 4,400 midshipmen. Ryan told the academy's oversight panel Monday that an increase of 400 midshipmen would help offset what he said were fleetwide shortages of Navy and Marine officers. Though the academy may have to expand the faculty and buy new equipment, Ryan said that would be less expensive than producing new officers through college ROTC programs or the Naval Officer Candidate School.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Damon Brown feels duped. Like many of his classmates, he came to the Vanderbilt University Law School partly for its racial diversity: Its student body is 13 percent black, a higher proportion than at most other top law schools. Then Brown found out about the law review. The Vanderbilt Law Review - the most prestigious club at the school, and a springboard to the best clerkships and law firms - does not have a single black student among its 60 members. By one count, there have been only four African-Americans among the 750 students selected through its rigorous, merit-based selection process in the past 25 years.

COLLEGE PARK - Anyone who is surprised at the stir Tim Daly has caused at the University of Maryland and in the halls of power in Annapolis probably doesn't know about the flag football team. Daly, the UM student body president who has been hounding the governor about skyrocketing tuition, was captain of an intramural football team his freshman year. He took the job very seriously - he videotaped practice from an eighth-floor window and strode the sideline in a suit during games to call out plays.

Also, an article in yesterday's editions incorrectly reported the male-female ratios of Loyola's student body and of its student athletes. The student body is 55 percent female; 50 percent of the student athletes are females.The Sun regrets the errors.

By the time most other high schools began their ritual end-of-summer awakening, the teachers at Dundalk were already a week on the job, clustered in the stuffy classrooms of a tired school that so many others had written off as a lost cause. As the English department chair started up a flight of stairs, clutching a stack of results that revealed signs of progress, she stopped to share her frustration: How, after all the changes that had been made, did only about half the 10th-graders pass the state test on the first try?

Some foreign-born students at Howard Community College enter professor Mary Beth Furst's business class, sit attentively through instruction and say next to nothing. Furst said that when they are called upon, "You would think they were going to die, because they're really uncomfortable speaking up. " She recently discovered one of the reasons behind the silence: Some students hail from countries where it is disrespectful to ask an instructor a question. Furst and other HCC faculty and staff are learning about the college's ever-diversifying student population — and coming up with better ways to break down cultural and communications gaps — through a professional development program called INSPIRES Global Perspectives.

Dawn Lindsay was walking across the Anne Arundel Community College campus on the first day of classes when she approached a student who appeared lost. "Can you tell me where the Florestano Building is?" asked the student, explaining that she was en route to the school's nursing orientation. "Sure I can," said Lindsay, pointing the student in the right direction. About 45 minutes later the two met again during the nursing orientation, and the student discovered that the woman who had given her directions was the school's new president, who spent the first day of classes engaged in impromptu meet-and-greets.

Twenty years after opening its first large residence for students, the Maryland Institute College of Art plans to build a $16.5 million addition that will increase the number of undergraduates living on campus and help revitalize Baltimore's North Avenue corridor and northern Bolton Hill. College officials intend to break ground this fall on Commons II, a five-story building with 62 apartments that can accommodate about 240 students. When it opens in the fall of 2013, MICA will have on-campus housing for more than 1,000 students, up from practically none in 1991 and enough for more than half of its undergraduates.

Glenelg High School is gearing up for its prom safe-driving events, which include a scheduled visit from NASCAR driver Kurt Busch. School officials said Busch will be a guest speaker at a schoolwide assembly April 23, the start of Glenelg's Prom Safety Week. It is one of several safety-related events that the school is offering throughout the year. Steve Willingham, Glenelg's student resource officer, said Busch is scheduled to talk about the importance of safe driving from his perspective as a professional driver and how speed is a factor in collisions, particularly those involving young people.

Howard Community College professor Fred Campbell is about to take his third group of students to the site of the Allied invasion of Europe during World War II, with the hope that, like students before them, the group with return with a perspective of Normandy they rarely get in American history classes. "Most Americans, and it's understandably so, look at World War II through the lens of America's participation. When we go over there … they see this in an international light, and it gives them a broader idea about the impact of this war," said Campbell, who heads the college's World War II study-abroad program.

A sexual encounter involving a girl and several members of a Baltimore County junior varsity boys football team has led to the cancellation of the team's Friday game and concern among parents, a school district official said Thursday. The incident — involving players and a female student at Essex's Kenwood High School — took place on school property and was consensual, according to district officials. School officials decided that, because of the encounter, the Kenwood Bluebirds junior varsity team should forfeit its game against Baltimore's Eastern Technical High School, said Phyllis Reese, spokeswoman for Baltimore County schools.

Baltimore County's school board has narrowed its search for a new superintendent and is focusing on three candidates, including two leaders of much smaller school districts in Pennsylvania and Michigan.Interim Superintendent Anthony G. Marchione is the third person being considered to lead the 102,000-student district, according board members who asked not to be identified.JoAnn B. Manning, superintendent of the 7,660-student Chester Upland school district outside Philadelphia, and Jeffery Grotsky, who runs the 30,000-student system in Grand Rapids, Mich.

ARLINGTON, Va. - The student body president at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, a Pakistani engineer who is facing deportation, will be allowed to remain in the United States until at least mid-July. Zaid Safdar appeared briefly yesterday before a federal immigration judge who continued his case to allow Safdar time to retain a lawyer to represent him. He was ordered to reappear July 17. "The thing I had hoped for was a continuance," Safdar said after the hearing.

By the time most other high schools began their ritual end-of-summer awakening, the teachers at Dundalk were already a week on the job, clustered in the stuffy classrooms of a tired school that so many others had written off as a lost cause. As the English department chair started up a flight of stairs, clutching a stack of results that revealed signs of progress, she stopped to share her frustration: How, after all the changes that had been made, did only about half the 10th-graders pass the state test on the first try?