Finals may still be looming large in the near future for most students, but the University community has already begun to prep itself for the holiday season with anything and everything from Christmas lights dotting the dormscape to a cappella holiday concerts galore. Soon there’ll be the mass exodus out of Charlottesville, mostly up Route 29, when all thoughts will turn to home — and the good food and better sleep we can look forward to for the next couple of weeks.

So from all of us at The Cavalier Daily, we wish you a happy generic winter gift-giving holiday. We’ll catch you on the flip side in January.

Virginia third baseman Ryan Zimmerman has been awarded the USA Baseball Richard W. Case Athlete of the Year Award. Zimmerman, a sophomore, manned the hot corner for the Cavaliers and the USA Baseball National Team. The National team competed in the 2004 FISU World University Baseball Championships in Tainan, Taiwan. This summer, Zimmerman posted the highest batting average ever compiled by a member of the team (.468). Zimmerman also led the Cavaliers in batting last year, when he hit .361.

Zimmerman also led the USA Baseball National Team in home runs (4), RBI (27), doubles (12), run scored (25) and slugging percentage (.805). Zimmerman recorded five base hits in two different games as well.

Junior tight end Heath Miller was named the winner of the 2004 John Mackey Award yesterday. The award, instituted in 2000, is given annually to the nation’s best collegiate tight end. Miller won the award over Stanford’s Alex Smith and Mercedes Lewis of UCLA. Past Mackey Award winners include NFL players Dallas Clark and Kellen Winslow.

Miller had 36 receptions for 475 yards and five receiving touchdowns. The junior from Swords Creek, Va. was also a key component in Virginia’s run blocking schemes. Miller, also an All-American, has 20 career touchdowns, the most all-time for a tight end in the ACC. Miller’s award is the first major national recognition for a Cavalier player since Bill Dudley won the Maxwell Award in 1941. Miller will officially be awarded his Mackey Trophy on April 11, 2005.

The Virginia women’s basketball team (4-3) hosts a red-hot Old Dominion squad (3-1) tonight at 7 p.m. The Cavaliers, fresh off a convincing victory over Northwestern, must face an Old Dominion team that has won three straight games, including a victory over then-16th ranked Rutgers.

Virginia thus far has been led in scoring by senior forward Brandi Teamer with 15.5 points per game. She is followed by senior guard/forward LaTonya Blue (10.4 ppg) and senior forward Jocelyn Logan-Friend, (9.4 ppg).

The scoring has been very spread out, though, as five different players have either led or finished second in scoring in the Cavaliers’ eight games this season. In addition, no player has either led or finished second in scoring for two straight games.

The same cannot be said for Old Dominion. Their explosive offense — 76.5 points per game — has been led in scoring every game by senior guard Shareese Grant, who is scoring just under 20 points per contest. She is followed by sophomore forward Sherida Triggs at 11 points per game.

A key to the game for Virginia certainly should be finding a way to contain Grant and force her teammates to win the game. This job likely will be hoisted upon the shoulders of Blue, who was named to the All-ACC first-team defense last year and leads a Cavalier defense that only allows 58.8 points per game.

“My team needs me to score, but I don’t go out with the mentality that all I need to do is score,” Blue said. “I try to be an all-around player, same thing with Brandi. Whatever we have to do on a given night -– score, rebound, play defense, whatever — that’s what we’re going to go out there and do.”

Blue, Teamer and the rest of the Cavaliers will likely need to play some good defense tonight in order to stifle Old Dominion’s potent offense.

Old Dominion has a distinct size advantage down low with 6-foot-4 freshman forward/center Megan Pym and 6-foot-5 sophomore center Angela Brown, so rebounding should also be a key to the game for the Cavaliers.

Virginia has more 6-foot-plus players than the Monarchs, but the Cavaliers have no player receiving frequent minutes who quite matches the height of Pym or Brown. Leading rebounder Logan-Friend (8.4 rebounds per game), along with Teamer (7.4 rpg) and Blue (6.0 rpg), will likely have to crash the boards tonight if the Cavaliers hope to win their second in a row. Rebounding has not been a problem for the Cavs, who out-rebound opponents by an average margin of 9.3 rebounds per game, but the Monarchs height may pose more of a challenge than Virginia has seen.

As important as defense and rebounding are to the game tonight, do not be surprised to see some offensive fireworks.

“You’re going to see a lot of shooting, I can tell you that,” junior forward Tiffany Sardin said. “We do have a lot of great shooters. There’s going to be a lot of shots going up.”

Virginia averages 65.6 points per game and shoots 42.5 percent from the field along with 32.3 percent from behind the arc. Teamer is shooting an impressive 53.8 percent from the field.

This type of scoring should allow the Cavaliers to stay in the game even if they experience a lapse in their defense against a strong Old Dominion team.

Students and administrators delved into major initiatives this year that hold the potential to change the University’s image and the student experience.

The charter proposal could give the University more financial autonomy.The diversity report recommendations promise a heightened focus on minority student life.Some students and faculty actively seek to end the honor system’s single sanction.Other students are rallying against the University’s confidentiality policy in sexual assault cases.The proposals bring much dialogue and sometimes hefty opposition.

Discussion about University issues, though, took place in a charged political atmosphere as students took sides in the presidential election and President George W. Bush won another term.

Closer to home, members of the University community followed the murder trial of a former student, remembered the fifth University president at his September death and mourned the deaths of two students.They also turned out in force at football games, setting the highest attendance record ever.

Students protest sexual assault policy

Sexual assault issues came to the forefront of the University community this semester, as open criticism of the University’s confidentiality policy in regards to Sexual Assault Board proceedings stirred students and staff alike.

Fourth-year Education student Annie Hylton, a reported victim of sexual assault in December 2001, openly criticized the SAB’s confidentiality policy.

“Every time we took a break or went home for the night I was reminded that I had agreed to keep the trial confidential,” Hylton said in a Nov. 8 article. “I’ve always been the type of person to stand up and speak about what happened to me, to encourage other people to speak out.”

The U.S. Department of Education found last July that a Georgetown University policy, which required rape victims to sign documents agreeing not to speak about the outcomes of campus court hearings before receiving the results, was in violation of federal law.

“Given what has transpired at Georgetown we are reviewing our policy and will change it,” Senior Associate Dean of Students Shamin Sisson said in a Nov. 1 article.

On Nov. 18, an estimated 400 students, faculty and staff members staged a silent demonstration to protest the confidentiality policy and to call for greater accountability for students who commit acts of sexual assault or rape.

Two weeks later, the Sexual Assault Leadership Council held a meeting to gather student input on the University’s sexual assault policies. The meeting served to create a draft that will be later sent to administration officials outlining possible changes to policy.

Charter status debate heats up

University officials stepped up their lobbying effort this semester for proposed legislation that would give the University more financial independence, as some University staff members questioned the implications of charter status.

Under the charter proposal, the University, the College of William & Mary and Virginia Tech would take less money from the state in exchange for more leeway in setting tuition costs and making other financial decisions.

The three universities are championing the charter legislation as a response to the Commonwealth’s inability to adequately fund higher education, President John T. Casteen, III said in several University-sponsored staff conferences. The University is in danger of losing its academic prestige if funding remains inadequate, administration officials say.

“There is an understanding [for legislators] for the need of the state to have flagship institutions,” Casteen said in at Nov. 18 charter briefing. “There’s also an understanding that they cannot afford it.”

The University held six such briefings to address faculty and staff concerns regarding how the charter legislation, if passed, will affect employees. Some employees still say they are concerned about the impact on their benefits and wages if they are no longer classified as state employees.

“This is a radical, big piece of legislature that will affect the workers here, students, parents, everybody,” Staff Union President Jan Cornell told students at a recent forum.

Legislation that would bestow charter status on the three universities will be formally debated in the General Assembly next month.

Former student found guilty of manslaughter

A Charlottesville jury found former University student Andrew Alston guilty of voluntary manslaughter Nov. 9, sentencing him the next day to three years in prison.

Alston, a third-year College student at the time, was arrested last year for the fatal stabbing on Nov. 8, 2003 of local volunteer firefighter, Walter Sisk, 22.

Alston’s trial, which began Nov. 3 and continued through his sentencing Nov. 10, included testimony from University students, friends of both Alston and Sisk, as well as criminal experts.

Both defense and prosecution witnesses described a night of tense confrontation on the Corner between the groups of friends Alston and Sisk had gone out with that night.

The intensity peaked during an altercation on the corner of Wertland and 14th Streets, where Sisk endured 18 stab wounds, including the fatal wound that entered the pericardial sack surrounding his heart.

During the last day of testimony, Alston unexpectedly took the stand and admitted that he initially brandished the knife that killed Sisk, but that he only acted in self-defense.

Defense witness Lt. Naval Officer John Correa testified that Alston received instruction in self-defense martial arts that could have resulted in Sisk’s stab wounds.

Alston could have been convicted of second-degree murder, a charge that carries up to 40 years in prison.

Charlottesville Circuit Judge Edward Hogshire will give his final sentencing Feb. 16, imposing a sentence either equal to or less than the three years the jury recommended.

Bush wins reelection

The result of the 2004 presidential election between incumbent George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry came down to one state hanging in the balance: Ohio.

While the Democratic Party watched the election results unfold in Boston and the Republicans from Washington, D.C., the nation again ended election night with uncertainty — several major television networks had yet to call the decisive Ohio for either candidate.

With Ohio initially placed in the Bush column, the Kerry campaign publicly contested the outcome of the state, citing thousands of provisional ballots yet to be counted.

Appearing before the Boston crowd, Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards said on Nov. 2, “We’ve waited four years for this victory. We can wait one more night.”

But on Wednesday, the results were clear. Kerry conceded the race, and Bush was to serve as president for four more years.

“America has spoken, and I’m humbled by the trust and the confidence of my fellow citizens,” Bush said after the election. “With that trust comes a duty to serve all Americans, and I will do my best to fulfill that duty every day as your president.”

Single sanction called into question

The debate over the single sanction seems to surface every four years or so, and this semester was no exception. The controversial sanction came under fire once again but with more intensity this semester, as the movement to reform the sanction was launched with increased momentum.

At the helm of the sanction debate was the Sanction Reform Committee, an Honor ad hoc committee charged with analyzing both the pros and the cons of the single sanction and looking into alternative sanction policies. The SRC currently is developing a reformed sanction policy to recommend to the Honor Committee for a possible vote by the student body in the spring.

This semester also saw the faculty raise its voice a little louder on the sanction issue through several statements issued by the Academic Affairs Committee of the Faculty Senate and the Arts and Sciences Council. In a statement released Nov. 14, the Academic Affairs Committee said it hopes students will develop and adopt a reformed sanction policy to ultimately strengthen the University’s honor system. The Arts and Sciences Council has recommended that students supplement the single sanction with a forgiveness clause.

The single sanction conversation was not just contained within the Honor Committee and the faculty, however, as two student groups formed this semester with the purpose of weighing in on the issue. Hoos Against Single Sanction officially was established as a CIO with the goal of bringing an end to the single sanction, while Students for the Preservation of Honor was formed to maintain long-standing traditions of honor at the University, particularly the single sanction.

Diversity report released

The President’s Commission on Diversity and Equity released a full report Oct. 2 examining the climate and culture of diversity at the University. President John T. Casteen, III and his Commission presented the report at the full Board of Visitor’s meeting this fall.

The report included information about the history of diversity at the University and specific measures to improve the University’s climate and culture of diversity. The 20 recommendations cited in the report include diversifying faculty and staff, increasing diversity education through the first-year residential experience and appointing a Chief Officer for Diversity and Equity.

According to University Spokesperson Carol Wood, the President and the Committee have begun implementing some of the measures.

“The search is underway for the Chief Officer for Diversity and Equity,” Wood said. “The President has made assignments to deans and vice presidents following up on different pieces of the diversity report.”

Students react to report of racially motivated crime

The release of the President’s Commission of Diversity and Equity report came in the wake of an alleged racially motivated crime against fourth-year College student Amey Adkins.

Adkins, who is black, reported to police Sept. 8 that she had discovered a racial epithet written on the front of her car’s hood.

Patricia Lampkin, vice president for student affairs, purchased an ad in The Cavalier Daily that ran Sept. 10, condemning the vandalism. A week later, Adkins wrote a guest column describing the incident and encouraging the administration to take action.

Students, who were upset by the incident, the administration’s response and The Cavalier Daily’s decision not to run a news story on the day following the reported vandalism, voiced their opinions at a town meeting held Sept. 23. The meeting was organized by Zero Tolerance, a newly formed organization that subsequently held several meetings over the course of the semester to address issues of diversity at the University.

The police have not officially reported any breakthroughs in the case.

Football attendance higher than ever

The members of the Cavalier football team weren’t the only ones with a record-setting season at Scott Stadium this year.

Virginia football fans set a Scott Stadium record at the Nov. 13 game against Miami, with 63,701 people in attendance.

Despite the typical drunk-in-public and other minor misdemeanor arrests, football attendance at Scott Stadium rose this year with little accompanying increase in crowd rowdiness and disorder, Charlottesville Police Sgt. Steve Dillon said after the season-closing Miami game.

Following a renovation that was completed in 2000, Scott Stadium’s official capacity reached 61,500.

However, since the 2003 football season, enthusiastic fans have been coming out in numbers that slightly exceed capacity.

Fifth University president dies

Frank L. Hereford, Jr., the University’s fifth president, died Sept. 21 in Charlottesville at age 81. As president, Hereford was known for his ability to attract talented faculty. He also led one of the University’s most successful capital campaigns.

“Frank Hereford contributed in every important way to the University’s development and progress over the course of 35-plus years,” current University President John T. Casteen, III said.

After receiving two degrees from the University, Hereford served as a researcher, professor of physics, provost and dean before he was elected president of the University in 1973.

“He made a difference in our personal lives, at the University and in the Commonwealth,” said W. Dexter Whitehead, alumni professor of physics emeritus. “The differences he made were wide ranging.”

A memorial service for Hereford was held at the University Nov. 20.

– Compiled by Matt Galati, Sarah R. Gatsos, Timothy H. Lee, Kathleen Meyers, Lauren Todd Pappa and Shannon Sturcken

Winter Break this year is not only a time for family, friends and festivities. For some students, it also marks the opportunity to take unique courses at the University.

As of this week, 170 students are signed up for the brand new January Term, and 62 more students are registered for study abroad courses.

“We are right in the middle of what we aimed for,” said Milton Adams, vice provost for academic programs. “We deliberately tried to start off very small to handle problems as they come up.”

Adams said he expects the University will offer a wider variety of classes and more classes abroad in the coming years.

“Once we get through the pilot, I expect the program to grow,” Adams said.

The University will consider student course evaluations and professor feedback to strengthen the program, Adams said.

Politics Prof. David Waldner will teach a politics seminar titled “Nation Building in Iraq: Past, Present and Future.” The class filled up by 9 a.m. on the first day of registration.

“The January Term is an excellent opportunity to teach a more focused, specific and contemporary class I would not normally teach during the semester,” Waldner said.

The class will demonstrate how the political science students study in the classroom has application to real-world events, Waldner said.

“One vision I have is to demonstrate the relevance of social science,” Waldner said. Students will “bring new insights to bear on intriguing problems.”

Waldner said the number of students who chose to take a course during the January Term is a testament to the motivation of the University’s students.

“I am impressed students are going to give up part of their break to take this interesting but demanding class,” Waldner said.

Spanish Prof. David T. Gies will teach one of three courses offered abroad. Gies’ class, “The Cinema in Spain, Spain in the Cinema,” will be taught in Valencia, and it will introduce a group of 12 students to the art of Spanish film.

“I am excited about this opportunity to take students and do this kind of work in an intense, almost laboratory setting,” Gies said. “This is a highly motivated group of students.”

The students will experience Spanish culture firsthand in a way that is not possible in the classroom. Host families will house the students, and the class will visit local Spanish museums, Gies said.

“The course is in situ, which adds a whole dimension,” Gies said. “We are going to speak only in Spanish the entire time.”

Gies said the Spanish department plans to expand the number of courses offered in the coming January terms to include destinations such as Chile and Argentina.

Choral Director Michael Slon will take a majority of the University Singers on a concert tour of the Southeast during the term. The students will perform in five cities, and they will participate in workshops at high schools at some of the sites.

“Students will get a firsthand perspective of participating as performers on a daily basis,” Slon said. “I think they will really internalize the music in a way they could not otherwise.”

Slon said the first portion of the class will focus on the scholarly aspect of music. Students will study composers and different musical periods. During the second part of the class, students will learn how to adjust to different concert venues on the tour.

Whether students are debating current events, viewing films in Spain or touring around the United States, the January Term is a unique time for students to devote their energies to a single topic, Slon said.

“When we remove all other activities that demand students’ attention, they can just enjoy the music,” Slon said.

If exams aren’t enough to complain about, students this year must adapt holiday plans and endure intensified shopping mobs, thanks to the lengthened fall exam week.

The 2004 fall semester exam schedule, which ends Dec. 21, is a full six days longer than last year’s fall exam schedule, which ended Dec. 15.

Students expressed general annoyance about the effect the extended exam schedule will have on their Winter Break plans, citing problems finding enough time to spend with family and friends and having little time to finish gift shopping.

“Who wants to be here Christmas week?” second-year Engineering student Mike Pilat asked.

Some students said they had to make costly and inconvenient travel changes. Third-year College student Dan Baris said tickets cost more as major seasonal holidays approach.

“It’ll be an extra $100 for a plane ticket,” Baris said. “I have to travel across the country.”

Professors found that the extended exam schedule did not crimp their holiday plans as much as it made getting grades in on time that much more difficult.

They added they have been approached by just a small number of students who had conflicts with the finals schedule.

“I have international students who have had to buy their tickets home a year ago,” said Music Prof. Scott DeVeaux, whose History of Jazz students will their take final Dec. 20. “I’ve had to give incompletes because I’m not allowed to give the exam early.”

Professors said they were able to find out early in the semester when the final exams for their classes would be scheduled and presented this information to their students in advance so that scheduling conflicts could be avoided.

“Since the registrar’s office posted final exam schedules before the beginning of the semester, I was able to make an announcement on the first day of class drawing attention to the late final date,” Astronomy Prof. Michael Skrutskie said. “That approach seems to have worked.”

Philosophy Prof. Paul Humphreys said although the extended exam schedule did not affect his Winter Break plans, ample time was not given to grade the exams.

“It’s a real problem in terms of getting grades in by the deadline time,” said Humphreys, whose Symbolic Logic students will take their Dec. 21. “I have students who are graduating and whose grades have to be in 24 hours after the exam. I wish they hadn’t pushed it back this far.”

And holiday shopping? Some students said they are dreading the madness they will have to brave while trying to shop for gifts on the last few days before one of the season’s major holidays.

“Shopping during the day before Christmas will be intense,” said second-year College student Elliot Neal.

Second-year Engineering student Brian Hickey sighed and shook his head at the thought of holiday shopping in Northern Virginia.

“I will be doing all of my shopping on the 23rd and 24th, the worst days of the month to do said shopping,” Hickey said. “There will be many a gift from the U.Va. bookstore.”

The University received a $623,000 grant yesterday from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation to train recent college graduates to work as “college guides” in Virginia communities.

The initiative is part of a larger grant package the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation announced yesterday — $966,613 to set up and bolster college access programs across Virginia.

“These grants will give more of Virginia’s students, particularly highly capable students with financial need, the chance to fulfill their dreams of going to college,” Foundation Executive Director Matthew J. Quinn said in a press release. “We also believe that U.Va. can establish a national model that shows how institutions of higher education and local communities can work together to help more qualified students earn postsecondary degrees.”

The University will recruit and train college guides from this year’s graduating class. After an eight-week training program, the 20 selected students will work at the fledgling college access programs to help maneuver students through application and financial aid processes and to encourage high school students to go on to college.

Nicole Hurd, assistant dean and the director of the University’s Center for Undergraduate Excellence, said the University will begin actively recruiting fourth years in January. Prospective college guides will interview both with University faculty and staff and with staff from public high schools.

“It’s very much an organic, vibrant relationship between the University and the communities,” Hurd said. “It matches up perfectly with our vision as a public institution that we should be doing outreach to every person in the Commonwealth.”

The Foundation considered proposals from Virginia school districts and yesterday awarded about $90,000 each to organizations in three counties charged with establishing college access programs.

Among the recipients is the new Fairfax Scholarship Fund, which will use its funding to send part-time “financial aid champions” into the county’s seven highest-poverty high schools.

“Fairfax has a reputation of being a wealthy county, but the fact is that 33,000 students are on free and reduced price meals,” said the fund’s Executive Director Christian N. Braunlich.

Braunlich said Fairfax County had hoped to establish a scholarship fund for several years but could not obtain funding to start a program.

“The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has recognized a very important need,” Braunlich said. “I think it’s going to have a tremendous impact on Fairfax County.”

The Foundation also awarded grants to support existing scholarship and college access programs, including in Charlottesville and Albemarle.

In Virginia basketball lore, the name Ralph Sampson stands out prominently.On defense, the 7-foot-4 center served as the Director of Homeland Security for U-Hall, leading the Cavaliers in blocked shots in every one of his four years. On offense, Sampson led the team in scoring his junior and senior campaigns. In 1981, he led Virginia to its first Final Four appearance. It is hard for any Virginia player to live up to Sampson’s legacy, and it is especially difficult for those who have inherited his mantle at the position of center.

The Cavaliers have three players who can play the number five. Most notable of these big men is 6-foot-9 senior Elton Brown. Brown has averaged a double-double so far this season, pulling down 10 rebounds and scoring 15.6 points per game.

However, the transition from high school to college was difficult for Brown, as it is with many centers. Big men who are accustomed to dominating weak opponents in high school no longer have that luxury with the increased athleticism of the players they face on the college level.

“I know when I came in, I was 280 pounds, and I could barely run up the court,” Brown said. “The college court is longer, the game is much quicker and there is a lot more athleticism on the court. It’s a big difference between college and high school.”

Brown is now listed at a slim 255 pounds. Opponents have great respect for his talent. Appalachian State players referred to Brown as Elton Brand, an NBA star with the L.A. Clippers.

“If you get Elton Brown one-on-one in the post, he can score on anyone in the country,” Appalachian State coach Houston Fancher said.

Brown has a protégé at the center position in freshman Tunji Soroye. Soroye, a native of Nigeria, has seen limited action so far this year but will be counted upon to fill the void underneath the basket after Brown graduates.

“Tunji is already athletic, he just has to get stronger,” Brown said. “He’s going to be a great player. He’s always bugging me ‘Elton, Elton, show me some of your moves,’ and I teach him a little bit. I think that his development is going to be a real key for the future of Virginia.”

Soroye relishes the opportunity to learn from Brown.

“I’ve learned a lot,” Soroye said. “Coming to the ACC is a new experience for me, and working with Elton has really helped me.”

Sophomore Donte Minter can also play at the center position. Minter has shown flashes of potential, but his development has been slowed by a knee injury.

While none of these players can be expected to develop into the next Ralph Sampson, Brown serves as a model for how to mature into a productive and dominant player in the paint. And maybe after 20 years of Virginia players trying to be like Ralph Sampson, one of these men has what it takes to create a new legacy for future Virginia players to emulate.

Finals — that dreaded time of the year that makes even the most capable student shudder — brings with it not only stress and mania but also that common recurring theme of many college students’ lives: the all-nighter.

“Since I am so distracted during the day, pulling an all-nighter is definitely my savior,” second-year College student Yasemin Erseven said. “Especially around finals time, I do it all the time.”

Students said there are many ways to handle these long nights with no sleep.

“It really depends on how much work I need to do,” second-year College student Nancy Amling said. “If I am studying a lot, I will take a break, shower and then go back to studying. But if I don’t have to stay up late, say pull an all-nighter, I will take smaller breaks and have a tea.”

Although students said that tea is a favorite among caffeinated drinks, nothing can replace coffee.

“Coffee definitely kicks ass,” Erseven said. “I mean, I know a lot of people drink tea, but when you are standing in line at Greenberry’s or something, you always hear people asking for some version of a coffee drink. I say amen to black coffee.”

Fourth-year College student Michelle Johnson said she usually prefers espresso, but lately she has been a fiend for another form of caffeine.

“I know it’s so bad, but lately I have been popping those caffeine pills,” Johnson said. “But that’s usually only if it’s necessary, only if I have a really long night ahead.”

Third-year College student Valessa Lipscomb said she prefers taking a nap for the late-night stress.

“I’m not really big on caffeine,” Lipscomb said. “My friends say I’m an insomniac, so I’m usually fine ’til 4 [a.m.] anyways. After that I usually take an hour nap, but of course sometimes that doesn’t work because I just don’t wake up from it.”

In addition to support from caffeinated drinks, many students said late-night snacks help during an all-nighter.

“I definitely do eat food when I am studying late at night,” second-year College student Mamie Belle said. “Especially if I’m really frustrated, it helps me burn off a little steam.”

Erseven said she has observed a lot of fast food being consumed at the library.

“I have definitely seen a lot of people order pizza or Chinese food to Clemons,” she said. “Oh and then there are the more ambitious people who actually go to Littlejohn’s and get something to eat.”

Students express different preferences on the location of all-nighters.

“I get more accomplished at the library, so I usually go there when I just need to get stuff done,” Amling said. “I like being home, but there are too many distractions and too much temptation to procrastinate.”

Belle, on the other hand, said she prefers studying at home.

“I am not big on the library, I just go home,” Belle said. “I can’t stand being there; it just really stresses me out.”

Many students said stress indeed is a big factor in late-night studying.

“I am definitely under pressure, but that’s when I get most of my work done, so it’s okay for me,” Johnson said. “I think that’s why I choose to study that late.”

Students also said the effects of high levels of stress are not always positive, or normal, for that matter.

“I know a lot of people get really stressed and go psychotic, but there are some people who take it lightly,” Erseven said. “Like those guys who streaked Clemons’ second floor last year. That was just classic.”