MARYLAND RANKS HIGH

Maryland's New Title As "'No. 1 Counterculture School' Leaves Some to
Question Campus Reputation

Thirty years ago, College Park students were more likely to find
shops selling bongs and rolling paper than burritos or Starbucks
coffee, and McKeldin Mall was often dotted with long-haired hippies
conducting hazy smoke-ins rather than bikini-clad girls getting suntans.

But according to High Times monthly magazine -- the weed-smokers'
bible -- the university may not be so far behind those free-love days
of puff-puff-pass with its recent designation as the No. 1
counterculture school in the nation. High Times doesn't use the tired
old standard of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, however: The critical
factor in the ranking decision was last semester's ballot referendum
that asked students whether the university should loosen penalties
for marijuana possession on the campus.

For sophomores Matt Zernhelt and Stacia Cosner, and 66 percent of
student voters, the answer was a resounding yes. In its "Guide to
Higher Education," High Times specifically recognized the activism of
Zernhelt, president of the campus' National Organization for Reform
of Marijuana Laws and Cosner, president of the campus' Students for a
Sensible Drug Policy, in their quest to lessen the university's
punishments for students caught with marijuana.

Their efforts catapulted the university to the top of High Times'
annual college list, which this year focused on activist campuses but
has in past years ranked schools in order of stoner-ness. More openly
cannabis-loving colleges -- such as the University of Missouri,
Columbia and the University of Colorado, Boulder -- were overshadowed
as Maryland received top honors.

"[The campus policy is] something that needs to be changed," Cosner
said. "It's not just a random case we cook up because we're stoners."

But, to other students, that's exactly what the High Times honor
demonstrates -- merely another indication of Maryland's Princeton
Review-ranked status as a party school and a lack of true
counterculture behavior.

"'Counterculture' used to mean you went against the trend; you were
political, you didn't just do everything you saw on TV or what people
told you was cool," said Daniel Lewkowicz, a junior history major and
president of the campus group Community Roots. "Basically what I see
at Maryland is exactly what I see on MTV ... when we're smoking, it's
not like we're having political debates. We're smoking weed so that
we can get high -- it has nothing to do with anything more [than that]."

In the 1960s, the university was rocked by students in Vietnam War or
civil rights protests, and the student body was so dedicated to their
causes that hundreds stripped nude en-masse on Route 1, university
archivist Anne Turkos said.

Recently, however, that atmosphere has changed drastically, she added.

"When I think of a school like Berkeley, I think of hippies and
counterculture and Haight-Ashbury and that whole atmosphere," Turkos
said. "I think a lot of that was true here -- hippies hanging out at
the mall and doing their thing. But I don't see it as predominantly
part of the culture here anymore."

Instead, any student activism has been overshadowed by Maryland's
omnipresent reputation as a party school, Lewkowicz said.

"When is Budweiser going to list us as something? Are we the
Alcoholics Anonymous school?" he said. "[The High Times article] is
something you'll giggle at and look at and say, 'Oh, yes, that is
Maryland, isn't it?' But is it something to be proud of?"

Nevertheless, Cosner believes other aspects of student behavior --
not the marijuana proposal -- lower the reputation of the campus.

"What contributes to our image as a party school is our riots and
outlandish behavior at sporting events," she said. "This is based on
activism, not on partying."

Although Zernhelt does not think the counterculture moniker applies
to the whole campus, he is proud that his year of hard work will live
on in fame, he said.

"Even though we're just small groups on campus ... I think we care
enough to balance out the apathetic," he said. "Not a large
percentage of us are counterculture kids -- like we have a lot of
frat kids, which is cool, do what you want to do -- but those who do
see themselves as counterculture kids are doing what they have to do, too."

[Sidebar]

HAZY RANKING

With an emphasis on activism, High Times magazine ranked pot-friendly
schools.

1. MARYLAND

2. University of California, Santa Barbara

3. Missouri

4. Colorado

5. Central Florida

6. Rhode Island

7. SUNY New Paltz

8. McGill University, Montreal

9. Florida State

10. Brown University

SOURCE: HIGH TIMES