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The Official Newsletter of The University of Maryland's Black Student Newspaper
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April 30, 2026 | Volume 1 | Issue 11
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I hope y'all's spring is coming along nicely. Read on to see an inside look at how the two Student Government Association tickets got disqualified, the Nyumburu ambassador protest last week and a photo essay of the 2026 Spring Drag show.
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See you one last time next week for our last newsletter of the semester!
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-Nina Wilson, 2026 Multi-Media Editor (We're still working on a name...)
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2025-2026 Editor-in-Chief
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RollTerps Presidential Candidate, Peyton Steinberg, released two reports from the Student Government Association’s election commission that led to the disqualification of the two major tickets in the 2026 election.
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The governing body responsible for advocating for the University of Maryland’s undergraduate students will go into the summer with only two elected officials out of 29, despite the 3,044 student votes.
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In an April 21 email to undergraduate students, the elections commission announced a special election this fall to fill the 27 vacant seats and the formation of a committee to ensure continuity in the interim.
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Steinberg released the reports to the SGA general Slack channel on Tuesday.
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“It shows [JusticeUMD was] a non-rule-abiding ticket from the beginning,” Steinberg said in a statement.
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JusticeUMD provided The Black Explosion with the report by the commission dated March 11. The report details the commission’s rationale for its penalty and sanction. The ticket declined to release the report for other violations, citing privacy concerns.
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JusticeUMD Presidential Candidate Amira Abujuma and Vice President of Financial Affairs Candidate Nick DiSpirito provided their account of the actions that led to the four violations in this year’s election.
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🔗: Read more here
✍️: Razak Diallo
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Calls for transparency, accountability and better support from University of Maryland students and Nyumburu Cultural Student Ambassadors echoed from the steps of the Administration Building on Wednesday afternoon following the miscommunication between the ambassadors and university staff.
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“A lot of the time, the administration makes decisions that directly go against the interests of what the students want,” said Mohammed Salih, a Nyumburu student ambassador. “We have to pick up the pieces after.”
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🔗: Read more here
✍️, 📸: Sydney Dizárd
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The Spring 2026 drag show, hosted by Student Entertainment Events, was a night of “queer joy and subversions of normative gender and sexuality” on April 17. The show included “RuPaul’s Drag Race” contestant Luxx Noir and other local performers, including Host Miss Toto, Venus Valhalla, Tiara Missou and student performer Sinistaire.
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Local drag queen Tiara Missou performs in the audience during the SEE Spring Drag Show at Stamp Student Union on April 17, 2026. (Jessica Wu/The Black Explosion)
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The Black Explosion Newspaper is now live on the radio for The AfterShock Live. Join us every week for news recaps and interviews with Black UMD students. Listen live on the radio at 90.5 FM or tune in digitally here.
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That's all for this week. See you next Thursday!
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