Free Republic

The University of Maryland's football program is at rock bottom once again, sitting at 2-5 and having just fired head coach Mike Locksley. Attendance is also near the bottom, with their average of 42,264 fans through four home games sitting 15th out of 18 teams in the Big Ten. With the Terrapins in dire straits, the university's athletic department is deciding to lure students in with the promise of giving away one semester's worth of tuition. To win, Maryland students who claim their tickets for Saturday's game against Illinois will need to scan a QR code on the video board...

Students at the University of Maryland, College Park could have the cost of sex-change surgery covered by their health insurance next school year, joining a nationwide trend of private- and public-sector employers offering the benefit. Insurance firms vying to cover the roughly 3,100 students who use the university health plan have been asked to structure proposals to cover sex reassignment surgery. The university expects to choose an insurance provider for the 2014-2015 school year this month. Transgender-rights advocates say that because surgical gender reassignment is so rare, offering the benefit comes with minimal cost and could be a powerful recruitment...

President Barack Obama will be in attendance Sunday evening when Maryland takes on Oregon State at Comcast Center in College Park, White House press secretary Jay Carney announced at a briefing with the media on Friday afternoon. Obama, publicly acknowledged as an avid fan of basketball, is the brother-in-law of Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson. -snip- Robinson has coached at Oregon State since 2008 and is the brother of First Lady Michelle Obama. During Robinson’s time with the Beavers, he has amassed a record of 77-88 and has yet to make an appearance in the NCAA tournament.