With final exams lurking and winter break just around the corner, it is easy for students to forget the events of the past semester.
Just as the Cavalier football team prepares for a return trip to the Continental Tire Bowl, some important headlines from last year have remained in the news while others have been replaced by a new crop of issues and concerns.
The extreme droughts and water shortages of 2002 were overtaken this semester by record rainfall and a hurricane which caused the cancellation of classes and significant damage to Grounds.
Diversity remained a hot topic on Grounds this semester, following several racially-charged incidents last year. A proposed mandatory online diversity exercise prompted intense debate among students over the past few months.
Unprecedented acts of violence also rocked the University community this fall. Football player Carson Ward suffered serious injuries after an altercation at a Halloween party, and a local firefighter was stabbed to death near the Corner last month, resulting in murder charges against a University student.
The impact of issues and events which occurred in and around University Grounds this fall likely will be felt for years to come.
The diversity question
Following a slew of racially motivated incidents and loud cries for reform, the fall semester began with a series of conversations on the state of diversity and equity at the University. Groups across Grounds met and continue to meet to debate how best the University can foster a welcoming environment and support a diverse student body.
Last spring, the Board of Visitors announced the formation of a special committee to make a top-down review of diversity. The committee, headed by Board member Warren Thompson, has been meeting since the summer to investigate University policy.
When the creation of the committee first was discussed in March, Thompson advised his fellow Board members to take a strong stance against discrimination.
“We all have to face the fact that we, as a University, are being challenged in ways that we have not been challenged before,” he said in a March 25 article in The Cavalier Daily. “Unless we take aggressive steps, it will damage the reputation of our University and the power of our brand.”
In addition to and in partnership with the Board committee, a presidential commission met in September to begin studying current academic and social cultures, with special attention to the experiences of women and minority students.
The President’s Commission on Diversity and Equity, co-chaired by Angela Davis, associate dean of students for Residence Life, and Politics Prof. Michael Smith, will deliver an oral report of its findings to the Board in May and a written report during 2004 fall semester. The commission is comprised of students, parents, administrators, faculty members and community leaders.
While currently work is in its “middle phase,” the commission will “come together in a January retreat to share our initial findings and information [and] to continue to focus and fine tune our direction,” Davis said.
When it rains, it pours…
Hurricane Isabel tore through Central Virginia Sept. 18 and 19, forcing the University to shut down for a day and a half and leaving thousands statewide without power for days.
For the University, the storm’s damage and cleanup costs were estimated at $500,000.
Buildings and fields flooded, and power lines and trees fell, including the University’s oldest tree — a 190-year-old white oak tree which previously stood on University Avenue between Brooks Hall and the Rotunda.
“Isabel took a heavy toll on the University compared to past storms,” said Robert H. Carman, superintendent of Facilities Management building services.
The primary concern for building services is water damage as a result of flooding. Buildings damaged from flooding included Jordan Hall, Thornton Hall, the Physics building, Alderman Library and Monroe Hall, Carman said.
As a preventative measure, landscaping employees did some sandbagging around buildings prone to flooding.
Dining and housing services also prepared ahead of time for the possibility of extended power outages.
In preparation for the storm, the University cancelled classes after 1 p.m. Sept. 18 and all day Sept. 19, providing students with a long weekend.
The Health System ran on two generators for about 11 hours after losing power the afternoon of Isabel’s arrival.
At the height of the power failure 50,000 out 55,000 local Dominion Power clients were without electricity.
Operation Spring Break Down
Student drug dealers have been on alert since an October drug bust which resulted in the arrests of 17 suspected dealers after more than a year-long exploration by the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement Task Force.
Narcotics worth an estimated $20,000, including marijuana, cocaine, opium, ecstasy and mushrooms, were seized during the investigation, codenamed “Operation Spring Break Down.”
In addition to those already apprehended, arrest warrants remain for 16 other suspects who may still be at large. Charlottesville Police Sgt. C.R. Smith said no new arrests have been made since October, though the investigation is ongoing. There is no indication that those involved were in prior association with each other, she added.
The recent arrests are part of a continuing effort to control local narcotics activity, Smith said.
In the latest operation, police used such creative tactics as sending invitations to students for a fake secret society and raiding local bars and restaurants in search of suspects.
A Halloween turned tragic
Several violent incidents shocked the University community this semester, one of the more disturbing being the alleged assault of second-year College student Carson Ward early in the morning Nov. 1.
Police responded to an assist rescue call at the 600-block of Preston Place at around 1:20 a.m. that Saturday morning, where they found Ward unconscious in the street after being struck in the head and falling to the pavement.
Charlottesville Police later charged fourth-year College students Kurt P. Rupprecht and John P. Selph with malicious wounding and class 3 felony charges for their involvement in the altercation outside the Sigma Chi fraternity house early Saturday morning, which resulted in Ward’s hospitalization.
Ward and Sigma Chi members allegedly had engaged in an argument that lasted for over a half an hour after Ward and two friends attempted to enter an invitation-only party to which neither Ward nor his friends were invited guests, according to a Charlottesville Police Department press release dated Nov. 3.
Ward underwent emergency surgery to remove two blood clots in his brain and remained unconscious for several days after the alleged incident, according to two of Ward’s close friends.
Charlottesville Police Det. Lee Sidebottom said there are no other developments in the case and the court date hasn’t been set although she did comment on Ward’s current condition.
“I’ve been in touch with his family — he’s getting better,” Sidebottom said.
Homicide charges
This semester saw the first murder charge against a current University student in 18 years following the only reported homicide in Charlottesville this year.
Early in the morning of Nov. 8, Charlottesville Police responded to an incident at the corner of 14th and Wertland Streets where they found 22-year-old local firefighter Walker Sisk suffering from multiple stab wounds. Sisk then was transferred to the University Medical Center where he was pronounced dead soon thereafter.
A blood trail led police to third-year College student Andrew Alston, who was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in relation to the incident and now is being held in the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail without bond.
Alston was acquitted of an unrelated assault and battery charge brought by his former girlfriend in a hearing Nov. 21.
Charlottesville Police Capt. Chip Harding said the murder investigation is ongoing and would probably continue until the case goes to trial. Alston currently is scheduled to appear for a hearing in January.
The last University student convicted of murder, Jens Soering, a first-year student and Jefferson Scholar at the time of the crime, was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in 1990. Soering has recently published a new book, “The Way of the Prisoner: Breaking the Chains of Self Through Centering Prayer and Centering Practice,” which details his experience during the trial and in prison.
Long-awaited garage opens
In spite of initial neighbor concern, weather delays and worker injuries, the Emmet/Ivy Parking Garage opened its gates Nov. 12.
The garage shelters 1,200 parking spots open to all students, faculty and staff holding blue and any S permits. The spots replace the 1,150 places lost when the North Massie parking lot closed Nov. 15 to make way for construction of the John Paul Jones multipurpose arena.
Since opening day, traffic into and out of, the new garage has been increasing slowly. According to University Parking and Transportation Director Rebecca White, only 120 spots were filled the first day. Since Thanksgiving however, average daily usage has swelled to over 400 cars.
White said permit holders have started to use the garage on a daily basis and others have come in for football, basketball and soccer games.
Charges for event day parking range from $5 for basketball games to $10 for football games.
As a result of the garage opening, the blue, green and Central Grounds bus routes have been rerouted to stop at the garage.
While White said the garage’s smooth operations are “a huge, huge relief,” she noted that neighbors remain concerned about event traffic and light pollution.
A new system for student elections
When students voted in the fall elections this semester, they faced a series of referenda crucial to the concept of student self-governance at the University.
Eighty-nine percent of students who voted approved the proposed constitutional changes to implement a new organization to oversee student elections called the University Board of Elections. These changes fundamentally altered the way in which student elections will be conducted at the University.
The centerpiece of the reform movement was the creation of the UBE, an independent body analogous to the Federal Election Commission. The previous system consisted of an elections committee of Council members which oversaw its elections and those of other University offices.
Will Sowers, Council vice president for administration, said detaching Council from the elections removes the stigma of favoritism and corruption that has permeated elections in the past.
“Never before have so many student groups from all over the University come together to produce such a sweeping change in their governance,” Sowers said. “Voter turn-out and the widespread approval for the UBE shows that student self-governance works, and that students continue to be involved in their own future at the University.”
The problem-plagued spring elections last year prompted the office of University Vice President for Student Affairs Pat Lampkin to publish a 35-page report auditing the 2003 Student Council elections process. The controversies also motivated Council to create the Elections Reform Ad Hoc Committee to further investigate possible solutions.
Now the final duty remaining for Council is to help get the UBE started.
