A (Very) Brief History

This site was started on October 8^th of 2007, although, the first post was published on October 10^th of 2007.

General

More than the administrators, community input is the driving force of this site. When commenting, please observe the posting guidelines.

If you notice anything that you feel is in error or something you would like us to double-check feel free to comment. We will not hesitate to admit our mistake; it has happened before and it will happen again.

The Founding Four

This site might not have been possible without all four founding members of the UMBCunderground team:

The spark. Treeveins has a real hunger for making a difference. He was very involved with UMBC throughout his tenure here and will continue to be involved through this site. All of his articles are thought provoking and very personal. If he were to write a book, it would be the kind that you would read until 3am even if you have to get up at 5:30am for work. Treeveins graduated in May of 2008; Work In Peace.

The kindling. He loves to contribute to the Humor section of the site although most of his articles have a great deal of truth to them. Ralph is a versatile author and has a zeal for innovation. He loves to stand up for the underdog. Since a young age, he has wanted to be a mob boss, but he does not believe in violence.

The oxygen. Short is a natural born trouble-maker. He has a real talent for creating articles that incite a great deal of discussion afterward. Short has a passion for bringing big crowds to the athletic events here on campus and has proven himself to be average at it. He is always looking for ways to improve the campus and the way things are run here at UMBC. Caution: Contents may be sexy.

The pyromaniac. Without him, it would have been very difficult to keep this site going as efficiently as it has. IBeCheerful is our OIT. He is the technologically savvy miracle-worker who learned internet programming while designing the new site. Alert! Keyboard not detected. Press F1 to continue.

Posting Guidelines

We are not very strict about comments on articles or what can be posted as an article here on the site. This is a forum for personal expression and collective thought. We enjoy very much having everyone’s input.

Comments and criticisms about Professors, Administrators and Student Leaders should be limited to their professional conduct. Generally the personal lives of these people will be off limits for discussion unless it intersects with UMBC campus life.

Spam comments will be deleted, as will comments that are unnecessarily profane.

You assume legal responsibility for the comments that you post.

Anonymity

We would like to remain anonymous because our goal is to promote the mission of UMBC Underground instead of promoting ourselves as individual writers. UU does its best to represent the pulse of the UMBC student body. As such, we believe what’s being said is more important than who is saying it. We would also like to illustrate that individual, anonymous voices can be agents of change.

A Word From Treeveins

In July of 2007, I had an idea for a website where college students could share experiences and advice. The idea was originally envisioned to provide young men a place to share things like restaurant recommendations, advice on buying engagement rings, fun date ideas in Baltimore, and don’t-make-the-same-mistake-I-did stories. By September, a senior with graduation in sight, I was looking for something big to sink my teeth in for my last year. I’d found my way into SGA, SEB, Summer Orientation, Greek Life, Intramural sports, Residential Life and had worked at least 2 jobs since Sophomore year. But I was looking to do something really important for the school I’d come to really appreciate and enjoy on my way out.

The final idea really came together in ah-ha fashion. My intent wasn’t necessarily to rival the Retriever, just present news that people were really passionate about reading, news that really mattered to UMBC students, and stories that sometimes were outside the scope of the Retriever’s coverage. Quite luckily, I approached RALPH? who said he thought some kind of change was needed, too. He introduced me to Short and IBeCheerful, and together the four of us did our best to cover the news at UMBC. Often the stories we covered were on things that would never be found in the Retriever. An interview with the person who ran the hush-hush file-sharing network DC++ that had been shut down in Spring 2008, stories from alumni of how UMBC used to be, opinion pieces on professors to take and to avoid, advice on the best places to buy textbooks (or not!), and even controversial topics such as a scattering of anti-rape posters and the proposed ROTC program in Spring 2008.

One of the best functions about UMBC Underground is students, faculty and staff could engage in discussion. This is one of the things we all really value most about our site; even though it’s behind computer screens, UU allows students to have conversations and express opinions they simply wouldn’t otherwise. We think this is extremely valuable to progress UMBC to be the best school it can possibly be.

This October will be our 1st birthday. Our readership has certainly grown, our site has new features and a new look, and new writers are sliding in as older students like myself graduate and move into the next stage of life, but we hope the original mission of providing the news that matters and improving UMBC through discussion and free exchange of ideas will continue. A huge thank you to all students, staff, faculty, administrators, family, and friends for reading, contributing and supporting UU. You all make UU what it is today.

-treeveins