October 22,1998
News
Terrapin threatens
professor over grade
from FREEDOM, page 1
Christine Tatum
Tribune Media Services
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Po
lice have arrested a former student
of the University of Maryland at
College Park on assault and weap
ons charges after a math professor
reported that the student threatened
him with a gun and insisted that he
get an “A” in the class.
Investigators aren’t releasing
the professor’s name, but they said
his sharp eye for detail was instru
mental in helping police with their
investigation of his claims.
Campus police charged 22-
year-old Stephen Clancy Hill, an
economics major, with first-degree
assault, carrying a concealed deadly
weapon, carrying that weapon on
campus and using a handgun to
commit a felony.
If convicted on all four
charges, he could spend up to 51
years in prison. Hill remained in jail
on Tuesday with no bond.
According to a police report,
Hill requested a meeting with the
professor on October 12. The two
agreed to meet around noon. When
Hill arrived he asked the professor’s
officemate to leave so he could have
a private discussion with Uie pro
fessed’.
The professor told police that
Hill lifted his jacket to reveal a
handgun tucked in a shoulder hol
ster as he talked about needing an
“A” in the math course and his
expectations that the professor
would give him one.
“Mr. Hill further told the vic
tim that he was going to give him an
‘A’ or Mr. Hill would make the
victim disappear, leaving no evi
dence,” a police report stated.
The professor told police that
Hill warned him not to say anything
about their conversation and then
left the office.
After the professor reported
his encounter with Hill, police dis
covered that Hill had recently pur
chased a gun closely matching the
description the professor had pro
vided.
Investigators got search war
rants for Hill’s off-campus home
and car and kept both under surveil
lance.
On October 14 soon after Hill
drove away from his house, police
pulled him over. Officers arrested
Hill and found a loaded 9-milimeter
semiautomatic handgun and three
loaded ammunition clips on the seat
next to him, police said.
After searching Hill’s house,
police also reported finding a shoul
der holster very similar to the one
the professor said he had seen Hill
wearing.
Police said they would send
the case to the state’s attorney’s
office for review.
Meanwhile, Hill was dropped
from the school’s enrollment on
Monday.
School spokesman George
Cathcart said federal privacy laws
prevented him or any other univer
sity official from discussing the cir
cumstances surrounding Hill’s de
parture.
but we also have the obliga
tion to communicate it responsibly,”
said Braye.
Recently questions about the
right to intellectual property have
arisen. Examples of this include
who has the right to research done
on the campus or using the
college’s facilities. Usually an un
derstanding is reached between the
faculty member and the college.
Basically the academic state
ment is being revised to ensure ev
eryone has the right to speak their
mind as long as they do it responsi
bly.
Academic Update
Mary Wise
Asst. Dean for Academic
Affairs
When students at last year’s
Academic Summit said they wanted
classes to be more challenging, they
couldn’thave imagined the firestorm
they would ignite. Since that April
morning, faculty, students, admin
istrators and staff, have been echo
ing the battle cry of “Challenge,”
much as the calvary of old would
have shouted “Charge!” while can
tering into combat. As I’ve listened
to discussions of what “challenge”
means, I am reminded of a battle
between students and faculty where
each tries to shift the responsibility
for creating challenge to the other,
like tossing off a red-hot cannon
ball.
Students responding to “what
is challenge?” see it as a faculty
responsibility. They want faculty to
present material that is just above
their current knowledge level so that
they have to stretch. Students may
complain about the effort involved
in completing challenging material,
but they are proud when they’ve
achieved success. Challenge is not
more work, but somehow smarter
work, assignments that target their
individual needs. Faculty should
provide that for them. One of my
students wrote, “The teacher has
the power to make the class as
challenging as he/she wants to.”
Some faculty I’ve heard, on
the other hand, observe that while
they can create an ocean of chal
lenge and bring the proverbial stu
dent to its edge, they cannot make
him or her drink. Challenge, they
report, is largely student gener
ated, fueled by preparation for
classes, an engaged and inquiring
mind, and a desire for understand
ing that provides internal motiva
tion. How can a single faculty
member know the “challenge
point” for every student in his or her
classes?
I think both groups are right.
When I reflect on what “challenge”
means, I am reminded of what hap
pens when one prepares a cake. In
gredients such as flour, sugar, eggs
and butter, begin as separate objects.
Alone, like the parts of challenge
possessed by students and by teach
ers, they hold only the potential for
baking. But mix them together, and
they form something entirely new,
something that no longer looks at all
like the original parts of the mixture.
I like to think of teaching as a kind of
baking. Come, bring your intellec
tual ingredients to join mine. To
gether we can create a challenging
mixture, a real piece of cake.
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