The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • A2

2 THE BALTIMORE SUN NEWS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2019 Councilwoman Shannon Sneed announced Thursday she is run- ning for City Council president initiating what is likely to be the first competitive race for the coun- top job inmore than adecade. Sneed, 38, an East Baltimore Democrat, planned her formal campaign kickoff for Sat- urday in a small park, near her Ellwood Park house, thatsheandneigh- bors helped create. urgent we have Sneed said in a interview. no better time Democratic City CouncilmanLeonPinkett of West Baltimore is al- ready in the race. And announcement came the same day that state Del.

Nick J. Mosby, a West Baltimore Democrat, said he was seriously considering a run for council president. With incumbent Council Presi- dent Brandon Scott running for mayor, the 2020 Democratic pri- mary will be the first time sitting elected officials have faced off against each other for council president since Stephanie Rawl- ings-Blakewon the seat in 2007. A former television journalist, Sneed has represented the coun- 13th district since 2016 when she unseated incumbent Warren Branch.She isknownfor introduc- ing progressive legislation, such as bills that protect city contractual employees from sudden layoffs; require all top officials in Balti- government to live within the city; and expand lactation accommodations for working moms who are nursing their ba- bies. Recently, Sneed introduced leg- islation that would end the practice of testing job applicants for marijuana use and the city law use of nondisparage- ment clauses in settling lawsuits with people who sue the police department alleging abuse or mis- conduct.

Though still in her first four-year term on the council, Sneed said she see any reason she should wait to run for higher office. She said some older politicians, such as former Demo- craticMayorCatherine resignedamidacorruptionscandal this year, have failed residents. should seen the seasoned people not do the right Sneed asked. Sneed is a graduate of Emerge Maryland, which encourages and trainswomen to go into politics. She has an ally in Scott.

They use the same fund- raiser, Colleen Martin- Lauer, and Scott has said Sneed would make a council presi- Sneed and her hus- band, Ramond, have a 2-year-old daughter, Rae, who is so often seen in City Hall been nick- named the Mileah Kromer, director of Field Politics Center, called Sneed of themore progressivewing of Kromer said the reputa- tion as an advocate for working moms could help galvanize female voters. she brought her baby to the City Council, it became an important moment for working a ton of policy differences between the candidates, things like thatwill matter to formercitycouncil- man and electrical engineer, said Thursdayhehadruledoutrunning for mayor and thinks best positionednowtoseekthetopspot on the council. inBaltimorecity, a trying time inourcity.Wehave to beveryclearabout that.Wehaveto be very open and honest about Mosby said in an interview. going to take time to look into this and comeupwith Mosby, who unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2016 before taking a seat in 2017 in the House of Delegates, was the lead sponsor of state legislation thatbars thecityof Baltimore from seizing homes for overdue water bills and a bill that would have bannedMaryland em- ployers from asking about a job criminal record until after an interview.RepublicanGov. LarryHoganvetoed the latter bill.

Sneed says running for City Council top post Another council member already in the race; state Del. Nick Mosby looks at entering fray By Luke Broadwater Sneed The U.S. Naval Academy is asking fans, alumni and others to stop throwing food and drinks at midshipmen as they march to Navy-MarineCorpsMemorial Sta- dium ahead of home football games. Therequestwasmade ina letter sent to alumni andpostedonsocial media. Naval Academy is very proud to be part of such a support- ive fan base.

Part of that pride comes from the opportunity to showcaseanevent that isunique to us as a military academy a uniformedmarch-over to the foot- ball stadium. This requires an expected level of decorum and professionalismwhenmarching in read a post from the Naval Academy Facebook page. ask that our fans help us in the snack please, toss candy, food, beverages to Naval Academy spokeswoman Cmdr. Alana Garas said the acade- my has asked fans to stop over the years but the tradition, which started with midshipmen handing outcandy littlemore thanwhat it should she said. In recent years, the tradition has expanded to include throwing or handing out larger food items like pretzels and hot dogs.

are still appreciative of what our fanbase is wanting to do Garas said. want our mids to engagewith Theacademyposted therequest Wednesday, three days before Navy football is set to play Air Force, one of its biggest rivals. Reaction was split, with some Facebook commentators applaud- ing the change while others be- moaned the loss of tradition. As of Thursday afternoon, the Facebook post had nearly 1,000 reactions, more than 200 comments and had been shared220 times. is the best part of the one commenter.

Another wrote, As someone who lives next to the stadium, it will be nice not to have to pull candyoffmy Academy alumni chimed in as well: loved it when I was a midshipman, everybody did, please throw one person wrote. Others expressed surprise that the tradition exists at all. Who does read one comment. is be- In the letter addressed to alum- ni, Commandant of Midshipmen Capt. Thomas R.

Buchanan asked fans to abstain from the tradition that dates to at least the late1990s. the and aside from ruin- eduniformsandtheBrigadeacting unprofessional, we need to re- memberthephysical securityenvi- ronment is far from what it was whenmany of us were those same midshipmen marching to the sta- ty and security of the Brigade, as well as our fans, is our number one Seawolf Brewery was one of several localbusinesses thatshared the Naval announce- ment. Navy Fans. Read this andpleaserefrain.Let’s respect the Academy the post said. Academy asks fans to end Food throwing a tradition before Navy football home games By Brooks DuBose A female African American Baltimore Police sergeant and a male Hispanic officer who said they were unfairly accused of discriminated against by col- leagues and treated differently becauseofa system within the department have filed separate lawsuits in federal court.

Sgt. Jasmin Rowlett alleged in a complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court that the department has uateda long-standingpatternand practice of discrimination against African American female offi- after she said she was wrongly accused of having a sexual relationship with Officer Luis Garcia. complaint said hewas harassed similarly on the basis of race and national origin. Rowlett joined thedepartment in 2009 and Garcia in 2014.

Both remain on the force and were assigned to the Central District when the discrimination began, the lawsuits said. Dionna Maria Lewis, who is representing both officers, said unfounded rumors have hurt reputation and her safety as a police officer who must rely on other officers for backupon certain calls. The complaints said the de- partment has en- gaged in actions that reinforced the system, where it isacceptable forCaucasianmen to engage in conduct, even if it violates policy, without being held By contrast, the lawsuits allege, African American women and Hispanic males are to punitive measures, adverse and hostile treatment, and put out of work for being rumored to have been engaging in actions that Cau- casian males and females were openly engaging The complaints allege that Rowlett was subject to rumors of sexual involving Garcia. When Rowlett and Garcia reported the harass- ment to supervisors, the com- plaints said no actionwas taken. has had a significant impact on Lewis said of the rumors against Rowlett.

undermines your authority, espe- cially as a woman, especially supervising men. They are not going to give you the respect you Lewis said Rowlett, who is a single mother of three children, struggled after shewas placed on unpaid leave after reporting the allegations internally. The department was the only named defendant in both com- plaints. Police spokesmanMatt Jablow declined to comment, citing de- partment policy not to comment on ongoing litigation. Rowlett and Garcia said they were charged internally with fraternization based upon the rumors only, the complaints said.

When a white male officer was known to have a relationship with a white female subordinate, they did not face harassment or internal affairs complaints against them, the complaints al- leged. When Rowlett complained about the harassment to a lieu- tenant, Rowlett said the lieuten- visor, gonna have to deal with people talking about according to the lawsuit. The complaint said Rowlett was on unpaid adminis- trative leave because she was experiencing distress from the harassment andwas left without pay for nine months because she was found unfit for duty. Rowlett was only able to return towork after providing an independentmedicalassessment, and forced administrative leave was magically the complaint said. Rowlett andGarcia are seeking backpayandcompensatorydam- ages.

Police sergeant, officer claim harassment on job, file lawsuits By Jessica Anderson Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan uses heavy machinery to begin demolition of several buildings at the former Baltimore City jail Thursday. He is being guided by Chico Ruano of Celtic Demolition. PAMELA SUN Jail breaking The U.S. Department of Edu- cation has opened an investiga- tion into whether the University of Maryland is properly report- ing its foreign gifts and contracts to the federal government, new documents show, part of a broader clampdown on uni- versity reporting practices.

ProvostMaryAnnRankinsent a letter to senior university offi- cials thisweek informing themof the probe. The Education De- partment wants College Park administrators to turn over a slew of documents by the end of the month. Among the requests: all records of gifts and contracts with a foreign entity since 2014, specifically those concerning China, Qatar andRussia. A Sept. 26 letter to university presidentWallaceLohstates that the department is the current reporting practices not fully all of these agreements.

University spokeswoman Katie Lawson wrote in an emailed statement that the university learned we were not reporting this information, we worked quickly to come into have been in compliance since January 2019, which was the next reporting deadline after we discovered we were not in she wrote. plan to work with federal offi- cials in a transparent and timely manner to fully resolve these Education Department offi- cials declined to comment. The University of Maryland is one of a handful of schools, including Georgetown and Rut- gers universities, the department is investigating. College adminis- trators across the country say been a lack of clarity from the federal government regard- ing how schools should report foreigngifts, leading to confusion and inconsistencies. hard to know if missing the mark if you know where the mark said Steven Bloom, director of gov- ernment relations at the Ameri- can Council on Education.

law is ambiguous and DeputySecretaryofEducation Mitchell Zais testified before a Senate subcommittee in February, acknowledging that the department has not issued formal regulations on the statute concerning foreigngift reporting. Instead he said, the department has issued various guidance to schools on their reporting re- sponsibilities. But the last guid- ance letter was sent 15 years ago, inOctober 2004. About 3,700 institutions are required to follow this guidance, Zais said, yet fewer than said in their most recent reports that they had received any foreign gifts or contracts. There appears to be big variations in how schools choose to report.

government spend- ing onU.S. schools is effectively a black hole, as there is a lack of reporting detailing the various sources of foreign government according to a recent Senate report on impact on theU.S. education system. The University of Maryland investigationcomesamidheight- ened concern about foreign en- influence on American schools, with a particular focus onChina. College Park is home to the first-ever to open in the United States.

Dozens of these Chinese govern- ment-funded centers now exist on language education and cul- tural programming. Nearly of schools that received more than $250,000 from the Chinese entity that manages the Confucius Insti- tutes failed to properly report it to the Education Department, according to the Senate report. A federal website that lists foreign gifts from 2012 through 2018 shows none reported by the University of Maryland. have been trying to comply, and about what their obligations Bloom said. absence of that, hard to know what supposed to University of reporting of foreign gifts under federal investigation By Talia Richman.