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University of Maryland

This is a logo for University of Maryland, College Park. (link)
Website:

umd.edu/
Location:

College Park, MD
Tax ID:

52-6002033
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Type:

Public University

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The University of Maryland (UMD) is the flagship public state university for the state of Maryland. Its flagship campus, often referred to simply as the University of Maryland, is the University of Maryland, College Park. 1

Overview

The University of Maryland is part of the University System of Maryland, which was created in 1988 to be a statewide higher education system bringing all state universities and colleges under one board of trustees. 2

The University of Maryland, College Park is the flagship school of the state’s university system, and refers to itself as “The Flagship Institution of the State of Maryland.” 1 It has more than 40,000 students and offers 106 undergraduate majors, 118 master’s programs, and 85 doctoral programs. 3

Activities and Policies

COVID-19 Pandemic

The University of Maryland responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by closing the school one day early before its planned Spring Break on March 12, 2020. 4 The university went to online education for the duration of the school year, before implementing a hybrid online/in-person model in the fall of 2021. 5

In April 2021, the university announced that it would be requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for students, faculty, and staff on its campuses, as well as full-time masking in all public spaces. 6 In January 2022, university policies were updated to require all students living on campus to receive a COVID vaccine “booster” shot. 7

In July 2021, then-Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and UMD President Daryll Pines announced a “VaxU” program to award $50,000 college scholarships to 20 Maryland middle school and high school students who had received the COVID-19 vaccine, in an effort to increase vaccination rates among younger people in the state. 8

Later that year, the university implemented a new COVID-19 policy requiring any student living on campus to leave school property and “isolate at their permanent home or another off-campus location if they test positive.” 9 Students who were not able to return home and instead had to rent hotel rooms at their own expense criticized the policy, which was later investigated by the U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. 10 The university later reversed its policy, allowing students who tested positive for COVID to remain on campus. 11

The university’s COVID vaccine and booster requirements remained in force until February 2023. 12

Transgender Identification

The University of Maryland’s University Health Center offers a “Gender Affirming Care Program” that will start or continue hormone replacement therapy for students on request. 13 The cost of the services is covered under the university’s Student Health Insurance Plan. 13

The university’s policy is that “your gender identity or expression is how you identify,” and students can change their official gender in university records at any time by updating their own profile in the university’s online system. 14

The university’s official policy is that people using locker rooms, restrooms, or other gender-segregated campus facilities may not be denied access based on their gender in university records, or required to show identification to access a gender-segregated facility. 15

DEI Programs

A June 2024 review of annual diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) reports from the University of Maryland’s campuses by the Maryland Association of Scholars identified what its authors characterized as Constitutional and legal violations, including issues of compelled speech and equal protection under the law. 16 17 The report’s authors also noted that the university’s DEI programs were arguably in conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College, which banned affirmative action in higher education. 18

A 2022 review of public data by Fox News found that the University of Maryland was among the top six universities for spending on DEI initiatives, noting that the university employed 71 people in DEI roles and that its top DEI official, vice president of diversity and inclusion Georgina Dodge, made $358,000 a year. 19

Controversies Around President Darryll Pines

University of Maryland, College Park president Darryll Pines, who joined the university in 1995 as a mechanical engineering professor and became president in July 2020, has faced allegations of enabling antisemitism at the university, engaging in plagiarism in his published research, and of using artificial intelligence tools to generate work he publicly attributed to UMD scholars. 20 21

Misrepresentations of Scholarship and Pro-Palestinian Bias

In August 2024, Pines approved the use of university property on October 7 by anti-Israeli and pro-Hamas activists to mark the one-year anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel. 20 The decision was widely criticized by the university’s Jewish community and others, many of whom criticized Pines for an insufficient response to anti-Israel protests in November 2023 that had included chants of “There is only one solution: Intifada revolution!” and the message “Holocaust 2.0” chalked on a university sidewalk. 22

Pines responded to criticism from one Maryland resident who analogized the Palestinian flag to the Confederate flag by citing a “general consensus opinion” from “Middle East Scholars and Historians on our campus” that the flag was not an anti-Israeli symbol. 20 However, a Daily Wire investigation found that the alleged scholarship had likely been generated by ChatGPT artificial intelligence software rather than by university scholars as Pines had claimed. 20

Other emails from Pines responding to critics of his decision included threats to involve the university’s police department if they did not stop emailing members of the university’s antisemitism task force. 20

On September 1, the regents of the University System of Maryland overruled Pines and issued a prohibition against student groups holding events on October 7 related to the conflict in Israel and Gaza. 23

Plagiarism Allegations

After uncovering Pines’s likely use of ChatGPT, a subsequent investigation by the Daily Wire found that roughly 1,500 words of a 5,000-word paper by Pines and a co-author were apparently taken without attribution from the 1996 work of an Australian college student. 24 25

Pines claimed that the “recurrent language” was in the introductory sections of his paper and had no impact on its findings, and called for the university’s Office of Research Integrity to investigate his scholarship and release a public report. 21 In October 2024, the regents of the University System of Maryland approved the review, to be supervised by an outside law firm. 26

References

  1. “University of Maryland Strategic Plan.” University of Maryland, February 2022. https://strategicplan.umd.edu/.
  2. “About the University System of Maryland.” University System of Maryland. Accessed November 11, 2024. https://www.usmd.edu/about_usm/.
  3. “Rankings and Fast Facts.” University of Maryland, September 25, 2024. https://umd.edu/node/11.
  4. “UMD Cancels Classes Friday as Maryland Activates National Guard.” The Diamondback, March 12, 2020. https://dbknews.com/2020/03/12/umd-coronavirus-pandemic-maryland-route-1-classes-virus-spread-covid-19-college-park/.
  5. “USM Institutions Plan a Fall Semester of Hybrid In-Person and Remote Instruction.” University System of Maryland, May 29, 2020. https://www.usmd.edu/newsroom/news/2049
  6. “USM Chancellor Jay A. Perman Issues Covid Vaccination Mandate for USM Students, Faculty, and Staff.” University System of Maryland, April 23, 2021. https://www.usmd.edu/newsroom/news/2154.
  7.  “USM Requires COVID Boosters for Residential Students.” University System of Maryland, January 7, 2022. https://www.usmd.edu/newsroom/news/2217.
  8. Farrell, Liam. “‘VaxU’ to Award $1m in Scholarships to Vaccinated Young Marylanders.” Maryland Today, July 7, 2021. https://today.umd.edu/vaxu-award-1m-scholarships-vaccinated-young-marylanders-cd77b882-7358-4cdb-9963-0a34d6bc4046.
  9. Donaldson, Jenyne. “University of Maryland Implements New Covid-19 Policy.” WBAL, September 6, 2023. https://www.wbaltv.com/article/university-of-maryland-new-covid-19-policy/45027185.
  10. Valera, Dennis. “U.S. House Committee Investigating University of Maryland Covid-19 Policy.” CBS News, October 16, 2023. https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/u-s-house-committee-investigating-university-of-maryland-covid-19-policy/.
  11. Freeman, Caitlyn. “University of Maryland Changes Campus Quarantine Policy, Responds to US House Investigation.” Baltimore Sun, November 2, 2023. https://www.baltimoresun.com/2023/11/02/university-of-maryland-changes-campus-quarantine-policy-responds-to-us-house-investigation/.
  12. Marinopoulos, Spyridon. “Proof of Covid-19 Vaccinations No Longer Required.” Maryland Today, February 9, 2023. https://today.umd.edu/proof-of-covid-19-vaccinations-no-longer-required.
  13. “Gender Affirming Healthcare.” University Health Center. Accessed November 11, 2024. https://health.umd.edu/gender.
  14. Skulnik, Irit. “Trans UMD Students Say They Struggled to Find Gender-Inclusive Housing.” The Diamondback, March 15, 2024. https://dbknews.com/2024/03/15/trans-students-gender-inclusive-housing/.
  15. “Trans Resources.” LGBTQ+ Equity Center. Accessed November 11, 2024. https://lgbtq.umd.edu/trans-resources-policies.
  16. Maryland Association of Scholars. “DEI and Maryland College Campuses.” National Association of Scholars, June 22, 2024. https://www.nas.org/reports/dei-and-maryland-college-campuses/full-report.
  17. “Our Community.” Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Accessed November 11, 2024. https://diversity.umd.edu/.
  18. Wu, Wenyuan. “Dei’s Inevitable Descent into Legal Trouble.” Minding The Campus, August 8, 2024. https://www.mindingthecampus.org/2024/08/07/deis-inevitable-descent-into-legal-trouble/.
  19. Schoffstall, Joe. “Top Dei Staff at Public Universities Pocket Massive Salaries as Experts Question Motives of Initiatives.” Fox News, March 30, 2022. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/top-dei-staff-at-public-universities-pocket-massive-salaries-as-experts-question-motives-of-initiatives.
  20. Rosiak, Luke. “University of Maryland President Plagiarized from Chatgpt to Justify Anti-Israel Oct. 7 Rally.” University Of Maryland President Plagiarized From ChatGPT To Justify Anti-Israel Oct. 7 Rally, September 9, 2024. https://www.dailywire.com/news/university-of-maryland-president-plagiarized-from-chatgpt-to-justify-anti-israel-oct-7-rally.
  21. Round, Ian. “UMD President Asks for Investigation after Plagiarism Accusation.” Maryland Daily Record, September 19, 2024. https://thedailyrecord.com/2024/09/19/umd-president-asks-for-investigation-after-being-accused-of-plagiarism/.
  22. Bilger , Micaiah. “‘Holocaust 2.0’ Written at U. Maryland pro-Palestinian Protest.” The College Fix, November 13, 2023. https://www.thecollegefix.com/holocaust-2-0-written-at-u-maryland-pro-palestinian-protest/.
  23. Lurie, Mike. “The University System of Maryland on Marking October 7.” The University System of Maryland, September 1, 2024. https://www.usmd.edu/newsroom/news/2427.
  24. Rosiak, Luke. “University of Maryland President Copied Rocket Science Paper from Aussie Student.” University of Maryland President Copied Rocket Science Paper From Aussie Student, September 17, 2024. https://www.dailywire.com/news/university-of-maryland-president-copied-rocket-science-paper-from-aussie-student.
  25. Saul, Stephanie. “Plagiarism Claims Are Brought against University of Maryland’s President.” The New York Times, September 20, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/20/us/plagiarism-university-of-maryland-president-darryll-pines.html
  26. “Independent and Impartial Review.” University System of Maryland, October 25, 2024. https://www.usmd.edu/newsroom/news/2443.
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University of Maryland


College Park, MD