In a collaboration among administrators, faculty and students, the Center for Undergraduate Excellence will serve as the University’s headquarters for undergraduate research, fellowships and interdisciplinary majors.

The new center, housed in the basement of Garrett Hall, combines offices that formerly were separate, including the Fellowships Office and other departments that served as resources for undergraduates.

President John T. Casteen III, College Dean Edward L. Ayers and Provost Gene Block authorized the center, which opened for student use in late August.

Nicole Hurd, the director of the center, said the new organization is a natural outgrowth to support the work of undergraduate students.

Many of the University’s peer institutions already have similar offices, Hurd said.

In conjunction with the Undergraduate Research Network, the center will encourage and coordinate student research by setting up Web site forums and raising funds for student grants. Faculty members will be able to post job openings on the Web site, which students can access and respond to.

The center will continue the work of the former Fellowships Office in administering the Harrison Awards, annually awarded to 40 students for independent research projects.

Fourth-year College student Margaret Kramer, URN’s director of outreach, said the center will support and enhance URN.

URN is a student-run organization formed last year to guide students interested in undergraduate research and provide a forum for their work.

URN “works alongside [the Center for Undergraduate Excellence] with common goals to propel the University’s research forward,” she said.

Fourth-year College student Dustin Batson, editor of The Oculus, the URN’s biannual publication, said URN’s partnership with the center will ease their financial burdens.

“The only change is we will have more resources. We don’t have to worry about fundraising anymore,” Batson said.

The center also will sponsor a program called “Brain Food,” a weekly program that will provide a venue for students to present their research. The program will hold its inaugural meeting on Wednesday and host a lecture by F. Sherwood Rowland, the 1995 Nobel laureate in chemistry.

The center also has resources for students who want to design interdisciplinary majors, including counseling for students writing their theses.

The center’s fellowships program will teach students how to create academic plans to be competitive for major national awards such as the Rhodes, Marshall and Truman fellowships, Hurd said.

But while University students have had considerable success in winning fellowships, the most important aspect of the process for students is critical self-reflection, Hurd said.

“Students reflect about who they are, why they do what they do, why they choose majors, why they choose activities, and where they will go next,” Hurd said. “At U.Va., we are not in the grooming business, but are interested in fostering the possibilities for students.”

IMF protestors arrested for carrying explosives

Four protestors arrested Saturday during the demonstrations outside the International Monetary Fund building in Washington, D.C., yesterday were charged with carrying explosives.

Coffee cans full of nails and blasting caps were found along with smoke bombs in backpacks carried by the two men and two women, who were apprehended leaving an alley next to the IMF building. The four have refused to identify themselves to authorities.

Police said the devices could have caused extensive injury if detonated in a crowd of people. Some reports initially alleged protestors carried only fireworks, but police explained the nails and blasting caps were rigged for more sinister purposes.

Officials announced Sunday that they still were unsure what the protestors had planned to do with the explosives.

Protestors encountered heavy law enforcement presence in Washington over the weekend. Rallies were dramatically smaller than expected, with only a few thousand demonstrators turning out for events expected to draw 20,000.

Leaders of the demonstrations promised to shut down the city of Washington and cause enough chaos to seriously disrupt the IMF meetings. Instead, the demonstrations remained mostly small and peaceful, and the police contained the few rowdy protestors who showed up.

Despite the turnout, protest leaders declared the weekend a success, saying they had drawn attention to the important issues at stake in the IMF discussions and put pressure on IMF and global economic leaders.

IMF spokesmen announced the meetings were unaffected by protestor efforts. They denied claims that the rallies caused change in any policy decisions, including a change regarding international bankruptcies.

Demonstrators protested causes ranging from U.S. involvement in Iraq to international AIDS research. Events in Washington were mirrored in several European cities.

– Compiled by Nick Chapin

In the shadow of state budget cuts and with the prospect of $20 million in additional cuts in University funding, the Board of Visitors will meet Friday to discuss a proposal for a possible mid-year tuition increase for all University students.

The proposal would raise University tuition by $200 for the spring semester for both in-state and out-of-state students.

William H. Goodwin Jr., the chairman of the Board’s finance committee, said he did not think the proposal was unfair.

“We are in very difficult times,” he said. “I think the $200 is a reasonable figure, as long as students who have hardships” receive the necessary financial aid.

Goodwin said that, if they voted on the tuition raise, he suspected it would pass.

Board Secretary Alexander “Sandy” Gilliam Jr. said the Board has not yet officially addressed the topic.

“There has been no formal talk about [the tuition increase] thus far,” Gilliam said. Gilliam also said he knows of no Board members who have taken an official position on the proposal.

T. Keister Greer, chairman of the Board’s educational policy committee, said he had not yet decided how he would vote on a possible tuition increase.

“I would have to hear both sides of the argument before I could make a decision,” he said.

Colette Sheehy, vice president for management and budget, explained that if the Board passes a tuition increase, the University would raise about $3.4 million that would alleviate present funding inadequacies. The money would help the University cope with recent reductions in University housekeeping, library and printing services.

Sheehy went on to say that if the resolution passes, the University is prepared to help students who will need financial assistance as a result of the mid-year increase.

“Pell Grant recipients will receive an extra $200 tacked onto their award,” she said. When asked what would be done for students not receiving Pell grants, Sheehy said no definitive conclusions have been reached as of yet.

Greer explained that the Board has “the authority to raise tuition directly ourselves, as well as to permit the administration to raise it,” though Sheehy said the Board would simply be acting as a proxy, giving the administration authorization to raise tuition costs.

The question of proxy “is more of an implication issue,” Goodwin said. He added that the Board would probably raise the tuition itself.

“If we’re going to raise tuition, we’ll take the heat,” he said.

Despite several inches of rainfall last week, the area’s water crisis is still “very serious,” according to University and local water officials.

Richard Collins, chairman of the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority, said the rainfall did “not really change” Charlottesville’s water supply.

Thursday and Friday’s showers raised the Rivanna reservoir, the main source of University water, by almost 1 percent, or 22 million gallons. At the city’s current rate of consumption, this increase extends the supply of water by four or five days. With the reservoir at 53.9 percent of its capacity as of yesterday, Collins estimates the city has 80 to 85 days of water left.

Though the water situation is dire, University officials insist there is no truth to the “doomsday” rumors that the semester will end prematurely if water runs out completely.

Addressing the rumors, University Director of Utilities Cheryl Gomez said as far as she knows, no university in the nation has shut down because of a water shortage. The University is “not entertaining at all” any proposal to cut the fall term short, Gomez said. But if “push comes to shove” the school might take drastic action, she added.

Such action could include importing outside water and seeking help from military sources. Administrators have begun looking for sources of non-potable, or non-community water, and new energy-saving methods, Gomez said.

Since Aug. 15, the University has cut its weekly water use by 21 percent. On average, the University has cut consumption by 3 million gallons per day, according to utility department statistics.

Gomez said she is “truly impressed” by the number of students who have “really taken to heart” the seriousness of the water problem.

Faculty members also are curtailing their water use by limiting or suspending research that requires large amounts of water. Members of the physics and chemistry departments are trying to develop new water conservation methods.

In the meantime, the effects of the water shortage are evident around Grounds.

Jerry Brown, the arborist for the landscaping division, said his division’s water has been “cut back pretty far.”

“Now we’re taking water from about anywhere,” said Brown, who maintains the University’s trees.

Maintenance crews now are forced to use water that collects on air-conditioner chillers to water flowerbeds. One air conditioner unit by the Architecture school generates over 1,000 gallons of water a day, according to Brown.

Despite this resourcefulness, Brown admits the plant life is noticeably suffering. He pointed to the poor condition of the turf grass on the Lawn as the most visible effect of watering restrictions.

There is a feeling among area residents that University students are apathetic toward the water crisis, Collins said. The University is by far the largest consumer of city water, but Collins said he thought many citizens think students don’t have a vested interested in the area’s problems.

Gomez disagreed with this negative perception, saying that although there is a “handful of students” ignoring the gravity of the crisis, most are doing their part to conserve water.

While students might be confronting the water crisis for the first time this fall, the problem is not new to University and Charlottesville utility officials. The area is in the midst of a four-year drought, with rainfall down nearly 67 percent.

The Albemarle area usually receives 45 inches of rain per year, but for the past three years, it only has rained 13 to 15 inches annually.

During this period, the University has been successful in cutting water usage despite expanded construction, water line replacement along McCormick Road and an increase in the number of faculty. The University has cut its water use by 15 percent over the past five years.

To combat future droughts, the University is looking at long-term water conservation solutions. Officials are exploring the construction of new regional storm water management facilities and methods of re-circulating water.

Last Saturday, University students willingly dragged themselves out of bed to take practice exams at 10 a.m. — and to help a good cause.

The University chapter of the Golden Key International Honour Society organized the graduate school entrance exams practice tests in New Cabell Hall, to give students practice with standardized tests and to raise money for charity.

Approximately 80 students attended the event, which charged $5 to take a practice version of the LSAT, GRE, GMAT or MCAT tests to be scored by Kaplan, a national test preparatory organization.

The Charlottesville Kaplan center provided the testing materials and proctors for the event, which raised $345 to be donated to Special Friends, a student-run service organization geared toward helping Charlottesville students with special learning needs.

“We were able to provide the exam for the students and to donate to a good cause at the same time,” Golden Key Treasurer Jay Rosenberger said.

Doug Myers, president of the University’s Golden Key chapter, said the money raised by the event will serve an important role.

“We were aiming to help an organization that doesn’t have significant funding,” Myers said. “We didn’t want our donation to just be a drop in a bucket.”

With the aid of the donation, Special Friends President Suzy Quartuccio said she ultimately hopes to increase the size and impact of the organization.

“We want to expand from the elementary level to include middle and high school students,” Quartuccio said. “We would also like to use the money to help recruit more volunteers.”

Special Friends, founded in the fall of 2000 by Fifth-year Education student Mary Ellen Bizzarri, claims a membership of approximately 50 volunteers. The organization coordinates volunteer services for a local organization called Friendly Faces, which provides attention to elementary students in special education programs.

Special Friends also provides volunteers for Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, the Virginia Institute of Autism and the Special Olympics.

Quartuccio said Special Friends aims to widen awareness of the needs of those they help.

“The students and the teachers are so thankful for our help,” Quartuccio said. “We want to educate others about the needs of students in the community.”

Members of the Honor Committee’s Diversity Advisory Board say they are working hard to change the face of the honor system.

After their first meeting of the academic year, DAB members are rallying to bring minority student representation and the Committee together through increased outreach.

“Our goal is to improve the experience of minority students with the Honor Committee,” DAB Chairman Saket Narula said. “The face of the Honor Committee is thought of as white, and we want to scratch that out.”

The Committee formed the DAB two years ago, after the honor system review commission recommended that the Committee address the issue of racial bias.

Since Narula was elected DAB chair in April, he has focused the efforts of the board on building working relationships between minority student organizations and honor.

“We want to reach out to minority students with other minority students,” Narula said. “We want to show that not just whites are enthusiastic about honor.”

The DAB is comprised of students, faculty and alumni who form a core group focused on advising and monitoring the Committee. They host a forum open to all community members interested in offering suggestions.

Narula has solicited the aid and advice of many student leaders, including heads of minority student organizations.

“We want to get more active recruitment from minority organizations,” said Maha Abejuela, president of the Asian Student Union and member of the DAB. “We would also like to get suggestions from various ethnic and cultural organizations on who should get involved with the Honor Committee.”

At their first meeting of the school year on Friday, DAB members discussed many of their primary goals.

Narula explained that their current efforts are focused on revising the honor advisor selection process to consider diversity more, as well as co-sponsoring events to bring honor counselors and minority groups together.

“I think the DAB has done an excellent job of addressing important issues,” Committee Chairman Christopher Smith said. “Much has been accomplished and there is much more to do.”

The DAB is currently in the process of recruiting advisors and building its pool of resources. Narula was enthusiastic that his organization would be “very strong within a month.”

Diversity awareness has been a long-term interest of the Committee. Those involved have stressed the need for efforts by both the Committee and the minority community to make changes.

“Right now a lot of minority students probably have a bad perception of honor, that it is a white, male organization,” Abejuela said. “But over the last few years there has been a much more active effort to get more participation. It’s an issue for both sides — while honor needs to recruit, it’s the minority students who need to get involved.”

Albemarle County police are investigating two assaults that occurred last Thursday within 13 hours of one another.

The two assaults, which occurred in the Ivy Gardens apartment complex off Ivy Road and in the Georgetown Greens apartments off Barracks Road, both were made on young women in their homes.

Albemarle County police believe the same person might have committed both crimes.

“The incident locations are within four or five miles of each other and are similar in nature as far as neighborhood dynamics,” Albemarle County Police Sgt. Peter Mainzer said. “Ivy Gardens is an apartment complex and Georgetown Greens are townhomes. So we’re looking at that particular aspect.”

Albemarle County police are handling the investigation, but Charlottesville police were alerted to the incident.

In the first incident “the suspect climbed onto the third floor balcony. He attacked a female and stole money. The second incident happened in the afternoon in a neighborhood near Albemarle High School and was a simple assault,” Charlottesville Police Sgt. Dave Jones said.

According to Mainzer, the first incident occurred at about 2 a.m. Thursday morning in the Ivy Gardens apartment complex. The suspect entered the bedroom of a sleeping woman, punched her in the head and sexually assaulted her.

The man also stole a small, undisclosed amount of cash. The victim was treated at the Uniersity Medical Center. County police confirmed that she received a black eye in the incident.

The second attack occurred at about 3:15 p.m. Thursday in a townhouse apartment community on Georgetown Green Road where a man tricked a 27-year-old female resident into allowing him to enter her apartment.

Soon after, the man acted like he was leaving but instead punched the victim in the head several times and then ran away.

County police suspect that the man ran away after noticing the woman’s roommate was home.

The victim was treated for cuts and bruises by rescue personnel.

Police have no suspects in either incident, but believe the incidents may be related.

“Several things have happened that indicate that it may be the same suspect,” Mainzer said.

The first victim described her assailant as a light-skinned black man, 5 feet 11 inches to 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighing 170 to 200 pounds. The second woman described her assailant as a black man, 5 feet 8 to 5 feet 10 inches tall, 160 to 175 pounds with facial hair.

Although police are investigating possible links between the assaults, they are not yet certain of a connection.

“The time of day was completely different, and the suspect information was pretty vague on the first incident,” Mainzer said. “The only obvious connection is that the neighborhoods are within four or five miles of each other.”

Mainzer encourages young women living in apartments to be extra vigilant about safety.

“Do the common sense type things like locking your door, even if you live on an upper level,” Mainzer said. “Don’t assume that because you live off the ground level that you can leave your doors and windows insecure.”

Anyone with information on the assault incidents should call Albemarle police at 296-5807 or Crimestoppers at 977-4000.

On a cool night in Charlottesville, the Virginia men’s soccer team heated up Klockner Stadium with a 4-0 shutout of ACC foe N.C. State. The victory marked the first shutout of the season and the first conference win for the Cavaliers, as well as the end of the team’s four-game losing streak.

Virginia (4-4, 1-2 ACC) dominated the Wolfpack (2-6, 0-3) with a relentless offensive attack, outshooting the visitors 21-9 behind the strong play of forward Alecko Eskandarian. Eskandarian netted the Cavaliers’ first two goals of the night, connecting on teammate Rob Wright’s deflected attempt in the 23rd minute and on Jacob LeBlanc’s cross in the 35th minute. The junior said his early scoring explosion was fueled by a desire to lift the team from its losing ways.

“I was frustrated after the last four games,” Eskandarian said. “After the last loss, I just sat silent on the bus, looking out the window. I didn’t talk to anyone or answer my cell phone. I was sick of meetings [to try and solve the problem]. You can talk all you want, but the bottom line is that you have to step on the field and play together, and that is what we did tonight.”

The determination to record a win in the face of adversity was evident in each of the Virginia players, but none more than Wright. Wright felt the duty of senior leadership calling, and the need to make an impact on the field for the Cavaliers.

“I went in [Coach George Gelnovatch's office] on Friday and basically said, ‘I want to turn things around for us,’” Wright said. “This team was in need of a spark.”

Convinced, Gelnovatch inserted Wright into the starting lineup, and Wright answered by providing the promised spark. With 37 seconds remaining in the first half, Wright headed an Eskandarian assist past Wolfpack goalkeeper Mitchell Watson to send Virginia to the locker room with a 3-0 lead over N.C. State.

“Rob Wright put his money where is mouth was,” Gelnovatch said. “Not only with his goal, but with the intangibles. He stayed positive and showed leadership. He did a fantastic job in all aspects. He was the spirit of our team today.”

In spite of the scoreboard, both teams remained intense and physical as second-half play began. Thirteen minutes into the second period, both Eskandarian and Wolfpack defender Kyle Fragakis received yellow cards after tough play escalated to shoving. Cavalier freshman forward Paul Johnson was sent in to replace Eskandarian and recorded his first collegiate assist in the 73rd minute by sending a cross to fellow freshman forward Phillip Long. Long knocked in the pass for his first collegiate goal.

Gelnovatch had high praise for his second half replacements, as well as for his defense in a match where the offense commanded much of the attention.

Midfielder “Ryan Kelly is playing sharper every day, and [goalkeeper] David Comfort had a key save early,” Gelnovatch said, attributing additional credit for Virginia’s victory to their home field advantage.

Cavalier players also were grateful for the support of the 3,733 fans that crowded Kl

ckner Saturday night.

“We love Kl

ckner,” Eskandarian said. “This place is why we all came to play here. It’s an awesome atmosphere, we go out and have a lot of fun here.”

Free of the pressures that road games bring, Virginia found a way to end their four-game slide. Virginia will return to action at Kl

ckner on Wednesday night, facing the Thundering Herd of Marshall at 7 p.m.

Field hockey is a team sport, and never is this more apparent than after a particularly humiliating loss. When a team loses 11-0 — as No. 18 Virginia (5-4) did yesterday to No. 4 Old Dominion (9-2) — it is impossible to point to an individual player or play as the sole reason for the beating. The loss belongs to everyone and to no one at the same moment.

The Cavaliers traveled to Old Dominion yesterday fresh off a 3-2 upset of No. 14 Berkeley on Friday. But less than 10 minutes into the game, the Monarchs scored the first of 11 goals on the day, never looking back and leaving Virginia in their dust.

By halftime Old Dominion had stretched its lead to 2-0, but the high-octane Monarchs did not kick into gear until the beginning of the second half.

Within the first five minutes after intermission, Old Dominion had doubled its lead to 4-0. A few minutes after their fourth goal, the Monarchs increased the lead to five, effectively ending the game.

Then, in a 7-minute span that began with 15 minutes remaining in the match, ODU scored a flurry of five goals. The Monarchs tacked on their final goal late in the match, making the final tally 11-0.

“Our game plan was just to play hard, play with emotion, play as a team,” Old Dominion freshman forward Rosalinda Banuelos said.

The Monarchs controlled virtually every facet of the match. Virginia rarely advanced the ball past midfield, generating almost no offensive attack for the game.

“We didn’t control the things that we could today,” Virginia Coach Jessica Wilk said. “We have to learn to do that every time we step out on the field. We can’t control our opponent. We need to learn to be disciplined for 70 minutes and stick to a game plan.”

For the game, Virginia did not attempt a single shot on goal and only managed one corner opportunity. On Virginia’s one corner attempt, Monarch midfielder Lotte Bant intercepted Kelli Hill’s hit and cleared the ball quickly to the ODU side of the field.

By contrast, Old Dominion took 23 shots on goal — 15 in the second half — and gained 12 penalty corners. The Monarchs also took two penalty strokes against the Cavaliers, scoring on both attempts.

In total, six players scored goals and seven scored points. Leading the way with two goals and three assists was junior forward Angie Loy, who also has notched the most assists and points for the Monarchs this season. Bant, midfielder Tiffany Snow and midfielder Melissa Leonetti also scored multiple times in the match.

“They’re very fundamentally sound,” Wilk said. “Their skills are very, very sharp. They’re very low, they’re very strong, and they’re very disciplined. All those things are things we want out of our team. They do those things quite well.”

The Cavaliers must now regroup before taking on Radford at home this Wednesday.

“We’ve got to maintain focus 70 minutes of the game,” junior goalie Emily White said. “Individual, small things make a difference.”

“This wasn’t our best game ever, but we can build from this,” she added. “We have it in us to build from this.”