What Can UMd.'s New President Do for College Park? A Q&A With City Councilman Marcus Afzali

On Monday evening, the University of Maryland . Patch sat down with District 4 City Councilman - and University of Maryland graduate student - Marcus Afzali to discuss the role the new president should play in the College Park community.

Patch:  From the perspective of both a student at UMd. and a member of the city council, what issues do you want to see the new president focus on?

Marcus Afzali: Obviously, the city's and the university's reputations are tied to each other. I think when the university's reputation advances, the city's reputation advances. We're really interconnected, so I think we both have a vested interest in seeing the other improve.

One of the first things I would ask the new university president to do would be to come out to some of the civic association meetings and just find out from the citizens what they think about city-university relations. There have been disagreements in the past, and there's been contention, just like with any town-gown relationship.

So I think he should find out what the residents think and try to get involved in the community, and find out about his new home. Because he will be a resident - he won't just be the president. The president's house is in our city limits, so he's going to be part of our community. 

Patch: What steps do you think he should take to alleviate tension between the university and the community?

MA: I think the most important thing is to just be open. As I said, I think it's really important that he gets out and learns as much as he can about the community of College Park. Obviously we've had a few issues over the last year. There's the current issue of the Purple Line; there have been past issues such as the admissions & amusement tax that obviously got a lot of people in the city upset. So I really think the first thing he needs to do is find out as much as he can about the community, get as involved as possible and listen to people. Before he deals with any specifics, I think he just needs to become informed and be someone who will be perceived as open and accessible and a part of the community. 

Patch: From your perspective, what were some of the shortcomings of the previous president?

MA: I don't know if I want to use the word shortcomings. I don't want to insult the man, but Dr. Mote definitely had a vision of what he wanted out of this university, and he was dedicated to pursuing that vision, no matter what. If he insulted some people or stepped on some toes in the process, so be it. There are positives and negatives to that, but one of the negatives was that a lot people thought he didn't care about student voices; a lot of people thought he didn't care about resident voices. Whether that's true or not is up to interpretation, but that's definitely the image he projected. And in the process, he insulted a lot of people.

Patch: What is the current relationship between the university and the community?

MA: There are positives and negatives. A lot of people in the city don't think that the university's been a very good neighbor. The city and university did work together on Paint Branch Elementary School, and the results of that are fantastic.

So I definitely think there are positives, but I think there are issues, like the A&A tax, the Purple Line and the Hillock. In general, I'd say it's a mixed bag.