Legacy preference in college admissions has become a hot topic of late. John Edwards, a senator from North Carolina and a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, has been a strong and consistent critic of such programs, calling them “a birthright out of 18th-century British aristocracy, not 21st-century American democracy.” Recently, Texas A&M University announced that it was discontinuing the use of alumni-based preferences in admissions.

Legacy preference gives selected students an undeserved advantage. According to CNN.com, these practices are a throwback to the 19th Century, when they were an attempt to limit the enrollment of Jewish students. In the interest of fairness and combating social injustice, the University should end its practice of legacy preferences in admissions.

Alumni-based admissions only further social divisions. Graduates of better schools will have more resources to give to their sons and daughters — from sending them through a better school system to paying for SAT courses. Legacy preferences make it easier for the privileged to get into college, and harder for disadvantaged students to be accepted. Additionally, this practice is biased against minorities, who were barred from many elite schools until just a generation ago. If a student’s father or grandfather was banned from attending a school, it’s just unfair to give a benefit specifically to people whose ancestors weren’t discriminated against.

Many use affirmative action and legacy preferences in the same breath, usually in the context of condemning the latter. It is true that both are advantages given to applicants other than merit, but there are many significant differences between the two practices. Affirmative action programs give preference to those who have been historically discriminated against. Likewise, affirmative action gives an advantage to those who may make unique contributions to a university community; experts and studies have consistently asserted the benefits of a diverse student body.

On the other hand, legacy students don’t necessarily have any particular perspective to contribute, and they haven’t been the victims of established and institutionalized discrimination. Rather, these students already have a leg up on their fellow students, and it makes no sense to give them another. It’s certainly consistent to support affirmative action and oppose legacy admissions.

One argument for legacy admissions is that giving preference to the sons and daughters of alumni cultivates a climate of support for a university. That is, students of alumni are more likely to appreciate the various benefits of a school, and will contribute more to the university. This idea is absurd. A student who’s the first in his or her family to attend college would be just as likely, if not more likely, to appreciate the benefits of a college degree and a community of higher education.

The more common justification for legacy admissions is that it encourages alumni giving. The worry by many is that if children of alumni aren’t given an advantage, there will be less incentive for alumni to donate money. This argument certainly carries more weight now, with the University more reliant on alumni giving than ever before. In the end, however, financial concerns cannot trump fairness. Legacy admissions are unjust, plain and simple. Schools don’t have any interest in seeing a student body with a considerable number of legacy students, let alone a compelling one.

Alumni-based admissions give preference to those who need it the least. The practice impedes, not furthers, the achievement of equality; it just assures that those with societal and economic power have an additional advantage. Giving preference to legacy students is nepotism in the worst sense of the word, and it’s far past time that the University reexamine this admissions practice.

As the Harrison Awards enter their fifth year, the Center for Undergraduate Excellence and the Faculty Senate announced yesterday the awards will now be open to first-year students.

Previously only second- and third-year students could apply for a Harrison Award, which funds an undergraduate research project during the summer or academic year after the awards are given.

“We think this is a great opportunity to help students as early as the first year to fit research into their curriculum,” said Nicole Hurd, assistant dean and director of the Center for Undergraduate Excellence.

This year also is the first year that the Center for Undergraduate Excellence will oversee the application and awards process. Previously, the Faculty Senate, which introduced the awards at the University, had overseen the awards.

“A lot of times what the Faculty Senate does is get a program started and then passes it off to another group,” Faculty Senate Chair Robert E. Davis said.

Hurd said the Center was happy to help students with all aspects of the awards process, from the application procedure to an undergraduate research symposium following the completion of the projects.

“The Center sees ourselves stewarding the entire Harrison process,” Hurd said.

After students submit a short application, which must include a letter from a faculty sponsor, a committee consisting of six members from the Faculty Senate Research and Scholarship Committee and six University faculty members previously involved with the Harrison Awards will review the applications and select which research projects are to receive awards.

In past years, the committee has selected 40 winners each year from an average of about 100 applicants. Each winner receives up to $3,000 and their faculty sponsor receives $1,000. This year, applications are due in early February and the awards will be announced in mid-March.

Members of the Research and Scholarship Committee said students’ knowledge of their field and ability to communicate that knowledge in their application, as well as the project’s significance and feasibility, are factors in determining which projects to select.

Davis added that the committee tries to spread awards across different schools and majors.

“We are looking to show the breadth of research that’s being done by undergraduates,” he said.

Some past winners said their Harrison research project is connected to other research, often thesis work.

Leah Rosenberg, a third-year College student and a Harrison Award winner from last year, said she applied for an award because she already had been planning a research project for the upcoming summer.

“My thesis is going to have connections with the work that I did for my Harrison,” Rosenberg said.

Hurd emphasized the beneficial role the awards have played during and after students’ undergraduate education.

“We see that it’s helping students in a lot of ways, whether it’s applying to graduate school, law school or helping students in the job market,” Hurd said. “It builds crucial skills that are useful after one’s tenure at U.Va.”

With the pungent smell of gas permeating the chilly air, thousands of faculty, staff and students were evacuated from University buildings surrounding the new Observatory Hill Dining Hall construction site yesterday afternoon because of a backhoe striking a high pressure natural gas main there.

The accident occurred at approximately 1:49 p.m. and Charlottesville fire department personnel were on the scene roughly two minutes later, Charlottesville Fire Department Battalion Chief Raymond James said.

The intersection of Alderman and McCormick Roads, including portions of each road in each direction, immediately were closed to traffic.

Mike Dulaney, a construction worker who witnessed the accident, said a minor explosion could have followed the backhoe’s collision with the gas main. Dulaney added that he was then directed to immediately evacuate the construction site along with his coworkers.

James said the fire department, upon its arrival, evacuated buildings surrounding the area of the gas leak including the Treehouse snack bar, the Astronomy building, Gilmer Hall, the Chemistry building and several Alderman Road dormitories by pulling fire alarms in order to force building occupants to leave as quickly as possible.

Dean Caulfield, O-Hill employee and safety inspector, said evacuation procedures at the popular dining facility went smoothly.

“The unit was evacuated as quickly as possible,” Caulfield said. “As soon as we got the information, we notified all our customers to leave.”

Fourth-year Astronomy graduate student Jeffrey Anderson echoed the sentiments of many evacuated building occupants when he complained about yesterday’s frigid temperatures standing in the Facilities Management parking lot with fellow students and faculty.

“It stinks,” Anderson said. “It’s cold out there. If I were in classes right now, I’d still be really happy.”

Biology Prof. Deforest Mellon said he was writing an important grant proposal when the blaring of fire alarms in Gilmer Hall forced him to leave his office.

“The alarms went on and we all left,” Mellon said. “There was a pretty intense smell of gas” outside.

Students from Gilmer Hall and the Chemistry building gathered outside the Page House dormitory following the building evacuations, while construction workers from the O-Hill building site passed time together in front of the Slaughter gymnasium.

O-Hill employees, along with many students taking refuge from the cold outside, gathered in the lobby and cafe of the Aquatic & Fitness Center, which remained open during the entire episode.

At the peak of the incident, four engine companies, a ladder company and two battalion chiefs were on the scene, but that number was quickly reduced once sufficient order was restored to the situation, James said.

Around 3:30 p.m. all occupants were allowed to return to their buildings, including the current O-Hill dining hall immediately adjacent to the construction site. In addition, the Charlottesville gas department already had commenced work to permanently fix the broken main by that time, he said.

With no injuries reported yesterday, the largest casualty of the construction debacle might have been the freshly-prepared lunch foods forced to go to waste in the closed O-Hill dining hall.

“Our food is sitting on the table and we had a good lunch today too,” O-Hill employee Trina Mills said while waiting in the AFC cafe to return to work.

It’s the beginning of a new semester and for many students that means a handful of course action forms and a spot on a waiting list. This alternative form of course enrollment continues to be popular this spring as students face rejections from ISIS and professors attempt to accommodate anxious majors.

According to Richard Handler, associate dean for College undergraduate academic programs, oversubscribed classes are a perennial problem.

“There’s always this problem as enrollment goes up slowly and state financial support remains inadequate,” Handler said. “We worry about it all the time.”

Yet while acknowledging that current enrollment is “not a great situation,” Handler said he has yet to see long lines of panicked students.

“Students can’t always get the courses they want at the times they want them,” Handler said, but “we’ve never yet had a student who couldn’t graduate because they couldn’t complete their major.”

Class enrollment is limited by a number of factors.

“We want to have as many people in classes as we can accommodate,” Faculty Senate Chair Robert E. Davis said. “The limiting factor is most often the resources in classes, the TAs and graders.”

Politics Department Chair Robert Fatton agreed, saying the problem of overfull classes has nothing to do with what professors would like to do.

“There are not enough faculty members and not enough graduate students and money to add classes,” Fatton explained.

While the problem has plagued the politics department for years, Fatton said he hopes it will be alleviated next year with the addition of one or two new faculty members.

Currently, almost all politics classes are “crowded” and many seat more students than regular enrollment numbers stipulate.

“It’s not an ideal situation, but it’s not a situation that would prevent someone from getting their degree in politics,” Fatton said. “The problem is that they don’t get into their first choice classes in many cases.”

Psychology Department Chair Timothy Wilson said this semester enrollment is in “okay shape,” saying psychology majors have been able to get into the courses they need to fulfill their requirements.

“We always have courses that are overenrolled,” Wilson said. “Our main concern is that majors have what they need to graduate.”

A priority on placing department majors can leave underclassmen frustrated.

Second-year College student Hala Matar said she had trouble finding available classes — until she changed her prospective major.

“I went into an econ class and it was ridiculous how many people were on the waiting list, and it was ridiculous even after the professor expanded the class by 25 people,” Matar said.

Matar said she had more success finding spots in drama courses; success she attributed to fewer department majors — and luck.

Work is progressing steadily and on schedule for a Feb. 20 grand opening of the new diversity center, currently in construction on the third floor of Newcomb Hall, officials associated with the project said yesterday.

“We hope that, assuming no last minute glitches, construction will be completed on Feb. 15,” said Bill Ashby, associate dean of students and director of Newcomb Hall. “They started installing the flooring today, all the painting is done, the electrical work is all done.”

He added that furniture and audiovisual equipment for the space, including a 61-inch plasma television, should be installed by early February.

Ashby made clear that the space would not serve as office space in any way, shape or form, but rather serve as a welcoming and inviting space designed to bring people together.

“It’ll be a programming venue,” he said. “The seating capacity will be probably between 65 and 75 if you get rows of chairs in there.”

According to Shamim Sisson, a dean in the office of student life and chair of the diversity center’s advisory committee, events already being planned for the new space include weekly lounge nights and a variety of unique speakers intended to provoke discussion among people who might not normally interact with each other.

Minority Coalition Chair M. Bruce agreed with Sisson’s hopes for the center.

“I think that the center has a lot of potential to serve as a place for a lot of provocative thought,” Bruce said. “Hopefully, it will be strong resource for the community.”

When the room is not being reserved for specific programming or used for group meetings it will be available to serve as an “urban chic” lounge and a resource center where a number of periodicals, videos and DVDs will be available for student perusal, Ashby said.

Sisson advised that groups interested in utilizing the new space after it opens are able to reserve it for meetings and presentations by contacting the Newcomb Hall reservations desk. There is one condition, though, she said for groups who desire to use the space when they make a reservation.

“People who reserve space for the center will be asked to talk about how their event is related to the mission of the center,” Sisson said. “Students in any group who want to reserve space can find that mission statement about the center on the [Newcomb Hall] Web site.”

While much work has been completed on the center, one component — its naming — remains to be decided upon.

“We’re still actively seeking some sort of name for the center itself,” Student Council President Daisy Lundy said.

Students who would like to submit a possible name for the center or artwork to decorate its walls must do so by Friday, Sisson said. The center’s name will be revealed at its grand opening celebration Feb. 20.

The Iowa Caucuses last night marked the official start of the race to select the Democratic candidate who will face off with President George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election.

Student groups around Grounds are joining in the action, campaigning for the candidate of their choice and making plans to step up the intensity as Virginia’s Feb. 10 primary approaches.

The University Democrats will send a bus to New Hampshire Thursday loaded with 50 students ready to campaign.

“We’re looking forward to spending four days doing to the best we can getting out the vote,” said Katie Cristol, president of Cavs for Kerry, which is sending five members to New Hampshire to work for Senator John Kerry for the weekend.

Upon their return, organizations such as the John Edwards Cavaliers intend to focus on the Virginia primary.

“When we get back, we’ll be handing out a lot of literature and information around Newcomb and on the Lawn,” John Edwards Cavaliers President Matt Sonneborn said. Last semester the group garnered 332 signatures to put Edwards on the ballot in Virginia, bringing in more than half the names required for his inclusion.

Other organizations are coordinating information sessions and looking to attract prominent speakers. The Hoos for Lieberman campaign is hoping to entertain Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine.

“We’d like to get a high-profile endorser to come to U.Va.,” said Ilan Kaufer, a campus coordinator for Lieberman.

Sean Moynahan, president of Hoos for Wesley Clark, said his organization plans to save most of its resources until the primary day itself, when the members will make phone calls and turn out at the polls for some last-minute politicking.

Hoos for Howard Dean, already a presence on Grounds after staging well-attended “meet-ups” last semester, so far has drawn the largest membership of any University organization supporting a specific candidate. The Dean group claims more than 100 members, while organizations for Clark, Edwards, Kerry and Lieberman maintain from five to 30 members.

Hoos for Howard Dean President Dave Wasserman was campaigning in Iowa at press time and could not be reached for comment.

Regardless of their membership numbers, student groups passionately proclaimed support for their respective candidates.

“He inspires people,” Sonneborn said of Edwards. “He’s popular among women, minorities and rich white men. He’s absolutely the right candidate for the job.”

Cristol said she appreciated Kerry’s background.

“He’s a brilliant man with great policy ideas,” she said. “I’d love to see Bush try to paint him as a wuss, with his three purple hearts from Vietnam.”

Moynahan also emphasized military experience, but he focused on Clark rather than Kerry.

“His experience, his record as a military figure greatly influenced my choice,” Moynahan said. “He has the best chance of beating Bush.”

Kaufer lauded Lieberman’s conservative lean and foreign policy expertise.

“He has the most experience on the foreign affairs committee,” Kaufer said, adding, “It’s a great experience to get involved in national politics on a local level.”

University Health System researchers discovered they could prevent diabetes from recurring in diabetic mice by transplanting insulin-manufacturing islet cells and then administering an anti-inflammatory drug called Lisofylline, according to a University Health System press release.

Researchers knew that transplantation was promising in treating type 1 diabetes. But the body destroyed islet cells without immune system-suppressing drugs.

The newly-created drug Lisofylline prevents cell destruction without the need for immune suppressants.

Researchers said their next step will be to test the drug in humans who have received islet cell transplants.

The University Art Museum will open its doors Friday for a new exhibit: “American Collage — Telephones.” The display is a montage of film clips organized to represent a telephone conversation, according to a University press release.

Coinciding with the film compilation, an art exhibition entitled simply “American Collage” will display artwork from the University’s permanent collection as well as items on loan.

The works trace the history of collage in the United States over several decades.

The two exhibits are a result of a partnership between the University’s American Studies program and the Washington, D.C., Phillips Collection, the first modern art museum in the country. Some items in the art museum exhibit are on loan from Phillips.

Two University professors involved in the exhibit, Art Prof. Matthew Affron and English Prof. Stephen Cushman, have created a seminar on collage for their fourth-year art and American studies students.

The film exhibit ends Feb. 29 and the art display will remain through August.

Senior guard Alana Beard will be the first woman in the storied history of the Duke basketball program to have her jersey retired.

After a ceremony scheduled to take place prior to the Blue Devils’ Saturday contest against Tennessee, Beard’s No. 20 jersey will hang in Cameron Indoor Stadium next to 11 men’s jerseys. The company Beard enters includes former Duke stars Johnny Dawkins, Christian Laettner, Grant Hill and Shane Battier.

“This is a great step for women’s basketball at Duke and I hope to see more jerseys hung along side mine in the future,” Beard told ESPN.com.

The 5’11″ senior from Shreveport, La. was the 2003 National Player of the Year and a two-time selection as ACC Player of the Year. She is the all-time leading scorer among Duke women with 2,311 career points.

Beard is currently averaging 19.7 points per game, 5.0 rebounds per game and 4.4 assists per game for the top-ranked Blue Devils, who have not lost since their season opener against then No. 3 Texas.

Virginia’s Scott Moore was named ACC Wrestler of the Week for the third time this season and second straight week. Moore, an All-American, is ranked No. 2 in the country at 141-pounds and is a perfect 30-0 in matches this season. Moore has doubled the former school record for pins in a season, with 21 of his 30 wins coming by fall. Midway through one season, Moore is tied for tenth in all-time career wins at Virginia.

The graduate student has taken first place in all six tournaments he has competed in this season, winning the Michigan State Open, Cornell’s Body Bar Invitational, the Mat Town USA Invitational, the Collegiate Beast of the East, UNC Greensboro’s Southern Scuffle and the Virginia Intercollegiate State Wrestling Championships.