Sometime around sixth grade it hit me. Yes, IT. Puberty. I was the first girl in my sixth-grade class to be tortured by this genital hurricane. It seemed as though I went from the Punky Brewster girl accessorizing pink lacy dresses with yellow goulashes to the Kelly Kapowski teenager accidentally making a school girl outfit look sexy. It was at this time that I became a victim of bra snapping from obnoxious boys who stayed back a couple years and was introduced to the hormonal incubus PMS.

First I got my boobs and then I got my brains; boobs in the sixth grade and brains in the eighth. As an elder in middle school I started becoming intellectual and curious about sexuality. I lost interest in the wholesome “Sweet Valley High” sagas and started enjoying the subtle and devious writing of J.D. Salinger and Anne Rice.

Like every other impulse for survival, I identified sexuality as an instinctive need and not a superficial cognition. I was ashamed to be curious about sex because I had learned it was bad. I distinctly remember being told to close my eyes during the provocative scenes in the classic film “Pretty Woman” until I was sixteen. Likewise, pornography was absolutely forbidden and considered demonic (along with the other ballyhoo that comes with turning eighteen like cigarettes and jail). Not to mention, the only class I’d ever had about sex involved a video of two genitalia-shaped pancakes copulating.

Breakfast was never quite the same thanks to that cute (yet succulent) euphemism. Soon enough it became clear how sexuality has been distorted. So uncomfortable with sexuality is our society that masturbation is still considered by some to be evil and dangerous — a scary thought because according to the Discovery Health Channel, some 95 percent of men and 89 percent of women masturbate, therefore rendering the vast majority of the human population satanic.

A health and sexuality resource is absolutely necessary in our culture because we are often misguided in our perceptions of our sexuality, our bodies and our psyche. Coming from New York University, I am bemused by the sophomoric awkwardness that follows the word “vagina” or a conversation about pornography. It isn’t that sex cannot or should not be humored, but it is so rare to find comfort on the topic. This is a frightening reality.

Greenwich Village is the American Bohemia. It was not uncommon to hear of naked parties, gay parades and abortion protests. Like the Red Hot Chili Peppers album, Greenwich Village was engrossed in “Blood, Sugar, Sex [and] Magic” and it was in this bubble that I discovered some truth about sex. It is this valuable truth that I hope to offer in the column. The fact of the matter is that when I was at NYU, I never heard about rape or stalking but felt as though there was a distinct comfort regarding sex and gender that incubated sexual sophistication. Ironically, the University of Virginia, while virgin to the open-mindedness of sexuality is anything but virgin to sexuality itself. Whether you play sex like it is solitaire, poker or go fish, it is always more fun and worthwhile when you know the right way to play.

Now listen closely, so that you might stop waking up next to strangers, clenching your teeth from the pains of gonorrhea and invading the privacy of others bedrooms (or closets, as the case may be) and understand this: open your minds… not your legs.

The pressures of college — academics, clubs, employment and social lives — can be a heavy load for many students. For others, though, these pressures may seem insignificant because of a more serious burden: a life and death battle with cancer.

Although cancer afflicts only a small portion of the American college-student population, many students still are affected because a loved one is suffering from the disease.

According to the American Cancer Society Web site, cancer is a medical, social, psychological and economic issue that affects over half a million people and their families.

According to ACS estimates, one in three women and one in two men develop cancer during their lifetime. Fewer than two percent of the male and female population between zero and 39 years of age will develop cancer. Although lung cancer is the most common kind of cancer among the total population, 48 percent for the women will acquire breast cancer before their 40th birthday, according to the ACS.

The sister of fourth-year College student Jacquie Sandberg was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 21 during her senior year at Emory University.

Sandberg said her sister went through chemotherapy, radiation and surgery to eradicate the disease but still is undergoing chemotherapy treatments.

Sandberg said the “physical deterioration” was one of the hardest aspects of her sister’s chemotherapy treatment.

“It was very difficult to watch this internal balance manifest externally,” she said. “People would stare [at my sister's visible symptoms], and I felt myself getting very defensive and so angry at complete strangers.”

Other forms of cancer are especially prevalent among young people.

According to the Cornell University Department of Urology Web site, testicular cancer is mostly thought of as a “young man’s disease” with the majority of cases occurring between the ages of 15 and 35. While approximately 8,000 new cases of testicular cancer are diagnosed in the US every year, the disease is largely curable when treated appropriately.

“John,” a second-year University student who wished to remain anonymous, said he was diagnosed with testicular cancer last summer.

After noticing swelling, John said he went to his doctor the next day because he thought he had a hernia, but an appointment with a urologist the day after showed he had numerous cancer cells in his testicle. Within three days of noticing the swelling, John was in surgery to have his testicle removed.

“I was pretty fortunate,” he said. “Supposedly the kind of cancer I had can double in size every two weeks. If it had gone longer I may have had to get chemotherapy — possibly miss a semester of school.”

The ACS recommends that both men and women do self-exams and follow screening guidelines for early cancer detection.

The best time to perform a testicular examination is after a warm shower when the scrotum is relaxed, according to the ACS. For women, the best time for a breast examination is about a week after the end of a menstrual cycle.

“Check often — I found it by accident,” John said.

According to the ACS, if one feels any lumps, swelling, nodules or other changes, it is best to consult a doctor as soon as possible.

But aside from these testicular and breast cancer, college students are susceptible to other forms of cancer as well.

Fourth-year College student Adam Pardue was diagnosed with bone cancer in his femur during his junior year of high school. He said his knee began to hurt while he was training for football, and he went to a doctor to see if anything was wrong.

Pardue was diagnosed with the cancer after he had an MRI. Pardue then started chemotherapy therapy and underwent surgery to rid his body of the disease.

“The physical part in the hospital was almost unbearable at the time,” he said. “It’s something that you could get through because you had to get through it.”

In the coping portion of its Web site, the ACS emphasizes the importance for family and friends to “make an extra effort to reach out” to cancer patients.

Pardue said his family also helped him get through the hard times.

“It was just as hard for them as it was for me,” he said. “They were with me the whole time.”

John said his recovery process was helped greatly by his family, who was by his side while he lay in bed, unable to move.

He added that he can now joke about his experience, especially as he is now physically healthy and at the same risk of redeveloping the cancer as anyone else.

“It doesn’t really bother me anymore — at first I was kind of distressed about it,” John said. “I joke about it now, and people joke about it with me.”

Here at the University, “Fighting Overcoming, and Responding to Cancer Everywhere,” is a Contracted Independent Organization that provides awareness support and fund raising to the ACS, U.Va. Cancer Center and other patient support services.

“Most of the people in the club have family members or friends who have or have had cancer,” FORCE President Matthew Cranford said.

He added that the club provides emotional support for patients and their families.

“We try to keep things as positive as possible,” he said.

Technological advances in the medical field have offered new opportunities for cancer patients. The ACS spent $131 million in 2003 for researching cures for various types of cancer.

David Schiff, a neural oncologist at the University Medical Center, said he absolutely believes there are possibilities for new treatments in the future.

“There have been huge changes in the past 12 or 13 years,” Schiff said. “This new generation of drugs is much more selective.”

Schiff added that current treatments for cancer patients uniquely depend on each case and individual but include surgery, biopsy, radiation and chemotherapy.

Instead of depending on these treatments, the ACS offers suggestions for cancer prevention, including not smoking, eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly.

According to the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention, tobacco, diet and obesity are the top risk factors for developing cancer. Although some cancers are foreseeable, others are completely unpredictable.

“There was no rhyme or reason for this happening to my sister,” Sandberg said. “She was in great shape and young. Never play it safe — statistics are not necessarily on your side.”

Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in Americans, behind heart disease. Almost 23 percent of Americans who died in 2002 were victims of cancer, according to the ACS.

It was Senior Day at University Hall yesterday, but at the end of the game, the spotlight was shining on a Cavalier freshman.

Virginia point guard Sharnee Zoll hit her lone field goal of the game with 29 seconds remaining on the clock to give the Cavaliers (19-9, 8-6 ACC) the decisive lead change in a close game against Wake Forest (14-13, 3-11). Zoll would add a free throw with 11.7 seconds remaining to secure the 57-54 win for Virginia. Zoll’s shooting at the end of the game erased what was an otherwise poor day of shooting for the point guard.

“I hadn’t been shooting well from the line, so all I heard from the sideline from [Virginia coach Debbie Ryan] was ‘Don’t miss it,’” Zoll said. “I have to think that I love free throws and just shoot them.”

Zoll’s shot with 29 seconds remaining came after a timeout was called with 17 seconds left on the shot clock. During that time, Ryan drew up a play to get her young star an open look.

“I just went and took the shot,” Zoll said. “I wasn’t thinking about what had happened in the past. I was thinking about hitting that shot for my team and for our seniors.”

The day was vindication of sorts for this year’s senior class, a class that last year endured Virginia’s first losing season since Ryan took over the Virginia program in the 1977-78 season. All five seniors started the game and were well received by the season-high crowd of 7,001.

“I was proud of our seniors being able to start with four post players and LaTonya [Blue] out there and play well,” Ryan said. “No matter what, they stayed in the game. We had to fight back three or four times, and I was really proud of the effort and resiliency we showed.”

A lot of the resilience Ryan spoke about came at the start of the second half when the Cavaliers scored the first 12 points of the half to erase a nine-point deficit. Virginia’s run was capped by sophomore Brenna McGuire’s only bucket of the game, a three pointer with 15:01 left to play. But the run was fueled as much by the Cavalier defense as by the offense. Virginia held the Demon Deacons scoreless until 5:10 in the half had passed.

“We talked about defense [at halftime],” senior forward Jocelyn Logan-Friend said. “They had scored 36 points in the first half, and we knew that we had to pick up our effort.”

In a hard-fought game in which a total of 38 fouls were called, no one took a harder foul than Zoll. Zoll played the final eight minutes of the game with a black eye after an inadvertent elbow to the face from Wake Forest’s Cotelia Bond-Young.

“She played with a lot of heart today, she really did,” Ryan said. “She really got popped in the eye pretty good. It was a war.”

As important as Zoll’s shots were at the end of the game, they were set up by a big shot from senior forward Kate Kreager. The Cavaliers tied the game at 54 when the senior stepped outside and hit only her third three-pointer of the season with three minutes left in the game.

“It was huge,” Ryan said. “The clock was going down, and she knows that she has the green light when the clock is going down. It was great to see a senior do that, especially a senior post player.”

The Cavaliers now will await the announcement of the ACC Tournament bracket tonight to see who they will play this weekend.

If the Manhattan Jaspers were expecting a hospitable welcome to accompany the warm weather during their trip south, they forgot to mention it to Virginia. Behind the return of senior attackman John Christmas, the Virginia men’s lacrosse team beat Manhattan College 18-2 Saturday at the Turf Field.

Christmas, who did not play in last Sunday’s win over Drexel due to a “team matter”, scored three goals while adding one assist.

Unlike their previous contests this season, Virginia finally was able to put together a complete game on both ends of the field.

“I thought it was the best second half we played since the preseason started,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. “We raised the level of our play in the second half, and we haven’t done that yet, so that was a good thing.”

For the Cavaliers, there were almost too many good things to count. There was the balanced offensive production, with juniors Matt Ward and Kyle Dixon each adding four points; there was midfielder Jack deVilliers dominating the face-offs, winning 12 of 15; and there was the stifling Virginia defense, which maintained a shutout well into the fourth quarter.

The Virginia offense took a quarter to get in gear, mustering only three goals during the first 15 minutes, but the Cavaliers scored four goals over a five-minute stretch in the second quarter which led to a 7-0 halftime cushion. Following the intermission, the attack began to work in sync with the unit of Christmas, Ward and freshman Ben Rubeor, providing a preview of things to come for Virginia fans over the rest of the season.

“[The attackmen] have to set the tone out there,” Christmas said. “We have to be the quarterback. I felt we did a really good job today, all three of us.”

Midway through the third quarter, Ward tallied the 100th point of his career at Virginia, a moment that was negated by his turnover-prone performance.

“For the past two games I’ve been a walking turnover,” Ward said. “I just have to get it out of my head and keep playing hard. I would’ve taken back all my goals today for no turnovers.”

Starsia shared Ward’s view.

“Matt, he makes plays. He’s that kind of player,” he said. “But his game isn’t quite there yet. He missed a couple of weeks early.”

Virginia’s pair of goalies continued their outstanding play against the Jaspers, allowing only two goals and recording seven saves. Michael Petit started and Kip Turner entered in the third quarter, maintaining the two-goalie system. While the goalies deserve credit, the defense limited Manhattan to just 22 shots overall, compared to 53 for Virginia.

With Denver University visiting for a 3 p.m. game today, the Cavaliers had no time to savor win number two.

“We’ll meet [Saturday night] and go over some stuff,” Starsia said. “We’re ready to go on Monday.”

For Virginia’s players, the memory of last seasons 9-7 loss to the Pioneers is still fresh in their memory.

“This is one we really want,” Christmas said. “We want to take it to them.”

Starsia echoed the players’ sentiments.

“There are some situations in athletics where a group of athletes feels like they faced another group of athletes and they just didn’t show them anything,” he said. “I think amongst our guys, there’s a feeling that this is a game that we’ve circled on the calendar for awhile.”

If the first two games of the season have proven anything, it’s that the Cavaliers will be firing on all cylinders against the Pioneers, ready to take revenge for a loss that wrecked their 2004 campaign almost before it even began.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A shot to Skip Prosser’s players is like the ring of a bell to Pavlov’s dogs: when it goes up, they had better salivate for the rebound, or else there will be a price to pay.

The Demon Deacons obeyed their instincts and their coach’s philosophy yesterday afternoon, out-rebounding Virginia 38-23, including 13-7 on the offensive end, en route to a 90-68 victory at Joel Coliseum.

“We missed a lot of shots, so we gave ourselves the opportunity to get offensive rebounds,” Prosser said. “We try to lead the conference in offensive rebounds — that’s an effort stat.”

Virginia (13-12, 4-10 ACC) went almost eight minutes without a field goal in the first half, resulting in a 13-point halftime deficit. But the Cavaliers made up ground early in the second half.

The Demon Deacons (24-4, 11-3) opened up the half with turnovers on their first three possessions, allowing the Cavaliers to capitalize with a 10-2 run to cut Wake Forest’s lead to five, 46-41, with 18 minutes remaining.

But the run proved inconsequential. Wake Forest shot 72 percent in the second half to push the lead back to double digits with 13 minutes to play. Virginia guard T.J. Bannister attributed Wake Forest’s husky shooting numbers to poor defensive play.

“A lot of it is us,” Bannister said. “There’s no excuse –- no reason anyone should shoot that well against us. We’ve just got to get better with our defense. But they’re a tough team to guard because they can score at every position.”

Devin Smith led the Cavaliers with 22 points. J.R. Reynolds added 15 points, and Bannister added six assists and tied a career high with 15 points.

The Cavaliers got a scare early in the second half when freshman point guard Sean Singletary re-twisted his oft-plagued right ankle. The freshman lay on the court in evident pain before being carried off by teammates. He had his ankle re-taped and returned to the game about three minutes later, only to pick up his fifth foul on a check to Wake Forest’s Taron Downey with 11 minutes remaining.

“They’re bigger and stronger than us at several of the positions,” Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. “They are so big and athletic. They were getting second shots and we kept getting in foul trouble.”

Foul trouble hurt the Cavaliers early. The backcourt duo of Downey and Chris Paul drew two fouls on Bannister and three on Singletary in the first half. Paul out-maneuvered the Virginia guards on offense, frustrating them into fouls.

“He’s really a good player,” Prosser said of Singletary. “I think his rhythm was just disrupted by foul trouble and injuries.”

Junior guard Justin Gray led the Demon Deacons with 20 points. Eric Williams and Paul each added 17, and Vytas Danelius added 13 on his senior night.

Virginia’s hopes of extending its season are dour with only two games remaining in the regular season. Bannister, for one, is looking to his higher faith for confidence.

“I’m a Christian and I believe that God’s going to help us come through and I have faith,” Bannister said. “Like coach Gillen tells us, ‘Never give up, never give up,’ … And we have to motivate our seniors to keep working hard because they want to end the season with a bang.”

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.

In Virginia’s 90-68 loss to Wake Forest Sunday, three classic movie story lines played out on the hardwood.

First, there was the traditional samurai movie motif of a student returning to defeat his master.

As almost everyone knows by now, Wake coach Skip Prosser served as an assistant to Pete Gillen for eight years at Xavier before replacing Gillen as head coach in 1994.

Now Prosser is piloting one of the nation’s top programs, a team that is currently ranked No.6 in the country and was picked by many pundits to win the ACC at the beginning of the year. The Deacons are second in the conference at 11-3, and with a solid run to finish out the year could make a solid case for a number one seed in the NCAA tournament.

Prosser’s former mentor is following an entirely different road. After a fast start to his tenure at Virginia, Gillen’s job security has been the program’s running story for past three seasons.

Gillen’s troubles continued yesterday with the Cavaliers’ seventh ACC road loss. Despite the Cavaliers’ mid-season resurgence (a three-game winning streak prior to the North Carolina loss eleven days ago), they are in danger of slipping below .500 overall with just two games left on the regular season schedule.

Gillen’s best coaching move of the year — spreading out the offense and slowing down the game — still didn’t put the Cavaliers in position to knock off the Deacons. Foul trouble plagued Virginia, especially Sean Singletary, perhaps Virginia’s hardest working player, who fouled out with almost eleven minutes left in the second half.

Prosser doesn’t seem to relish the role of winning big over his former boss.

“It’s always hard when you have to coach against a really dear friend,” Prosser said after the Deacon win.

The second theme that played out seems to be a staple of all sports movies. I like to refer to it as the “mid-movie montage.” This is where the majority of the regular season is condensed to about three minutes of footage in which the star player or a team seems completely unstoppable. In Hoosiers, Jimmy Chitwood and the rest of the squad exploded through several different teams before the next dramatic problem hit them.

Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, no Virginia player had an outing that would be included in that kind of highlight reel. Wake point guard Chris Paul’s performance in the first half of the game certainly could be part of his own “mid-movie montage,” however.

Paul scored or helped his team in almost every facet of the game early on. He knocked down a lay-up, then a leaner in the lane as well as a mid-range jumper. The sophomore also crossed over a Cavalier guard before finding a wide-open Justin Gray for three. Paul finished the highlight reel with a steal and a breakaway dunk, his first of the season, all in the first 7 minutes of the game.

Paul finished with 17 points, five assists and four steals, just another day at the office for the National Player of the Year candidate.

Sure, the student defeats his master story line is compelling and everyone enjoys seeing a great player do what he does best. But whether it’s “Rudy,” “Little Giants” or the kids from “The Sandlot,” everyone loves an underdog, and despite the Deacons’ big win, they also provided the game’s “Rudy-esque” story line.

With two minutes left in the game, Wake’s John Buck, a junior forward with a .1 points per game average, trotted onto the court to the delight of the entire Demon Deacon’ student section.

With 25 seconds on the clock, fellow junior Brian Jessen stole the ball from Cavalier reserve Billy Campbell. Jessen pushed the ball ahead to Buck who dunked it to finish off the fast break, putting an exclamation point on the Deacon win, as well as rubbing salt in the Cavaliers’ wounds. Buck received perhaps the loudest cheer from the Wake faithful during the entire game after the dunk.

“As I was running back up the court, I was thinking, did the shot clock go off? Did I travel?,” Buck said. “That’s a huge thrill that I’ll never forget.”

The only movie theme that seemed absent from the game was the “miraculous upset.” With just N.C. State and Florida State left on the conference slate, both teams the Cavaliers beat earlier in the year, Virginia fans will have to wait until the ACC tournament to see if Gillen and the Cavaliers can put together that story line.

Following a double-header sweep of the Fordham Rams Saturday, the Virginia baseball team sent senior right-handed starting pitcher Jeff Kamrath to the mound on Sunday, with all signs pointing to another home series sweep of a non-conference foe. However, Kamrath struggled with his control during a first inning in which the Rams scored three runs. The Cavaliers’ offense was ineffectual and unable to sustain a comeback, as Virginia (8-3) fell to Fordham by a score of 3-2.

“There were a lot of wasted scoring opportunities,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “We left nine guys on base and we just could not get a two-out hit. I’m still not happy with our offensive execution. Today it cost us a ball game.”

After his rough first inning of work, Kamrath settled down and pitched a gem until he was removed following seven innings of work. Beginning with a strikeout of Fordham catcher John Mollicone to end the third inning, Kamrath retired 13 straight Fordham hitters.

“[During the first inning] I wasn’t hitting my spots or throwing the ball through the strike zone,” Kamrath said. “I couldn’t get ahead of hitters, and that was my fault. If you fall behind hitters and put them in better hitting counts, you become more predictable.”

The Cavaliers were unsuccessful at the plate in clutch situations. Fordham starting pitcher Cory Riordan pitched six strong innings, stymieing the Virginia hitters, especially when there were runners in scoring position. In the fifth and seventh innings, the Cavaliers put runners in scoring position but were unable to capitalize.

Junior third-baseman Ryan Zimmerman infused the crowd with a burst of energy in the sixth inning by leading off with a double down the left-field line. Right-fielder Sean Doolittle, who also pitched an inning of solid relief later in the game, moved Zimmerman to third base with a dribbler back to the pitcher that effectively served as a swinging sacrifice bunt.

Designated hitter Ryan Hudson followed with another groundball to Riordan, who checked Zimmerman at third before retiring Hudson at first. Freshman first-baseman Brandon Guyer dug into the batter’s box and hit a groundball to the third baseman. Guyer hustled down the line and barely beat the throw from Matt Lovetere. Zimmerman scored on the play and Fordham head coach Nick Restaino exploded out of the dugout to argue to no avail with the first base umpire.

The inning ended with Guyer getting gunned down at second by Mollicone during a steal attempt.

Freshman right-hander Thomas Davis entered the game in relief for the Rams in the seventh inning. He worked his way out of a scoring threat in the seventh before retiring the Cavaliers in order in the eighth.

Davis returned to the mound in the ninth, and Virginia did not lose quietly. Center-fielder Matt Street drove in catcher Scott Headd with a sacrifice fly to left. With runners on first and second with two outs, sophomore Tim Henry, who had replaced an injured Tom Hagans earlier in the game, stepped to the plate. A base-hit would have tied the game, but Henry hit a sharp groundball back to Davis and was thrown out at first base to end the game.

The Cavaliers travel to the University of Richmond Tuesday for their last match-up before next weekend’s trip to Wake Forest to commence conference play.

Miller Center of Public Affairs Director Philip D. Zelikow was appointed counselor of the U.S. Department of State in an announcement made by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Friday.

“I think he was as surprised as anyone when Secretary Rice invited him to take this appointment,” said George H. Gilliam, director of special programs at the Miller Center. “He’s dedicated to the University of Virginia and the Miller Center, but he’s also a very strong patriot, and it’s hard to say no in this time of war.”

The position of counselor has existed since the early 1900s but has not been filled since the Clinton Administration.

“Secretary Rice wanted to have somebody in there to handle special assignments,” Gilliam said.

Zelikow will report directly to Secretary Rice and the deputy secretary of state, traveling to different parts of the globe to assess situations and provide information to countries. He has already been sent to Iraq to evaluate the conditions, Gilliam said.

Zelikow has resigned from his position as Miller Center director. He will apply for a leave of absence from the University history department, where he is a professor of diplomatic politics, University President John T. Casteen, III said.

The University currently is preparing to find a replacement director, Casteen said. An interim director should be announced around the time of the next Board of Visitors meeting.

“We have already begun paperwork preparatory to the search for a new permanent director,” Casteen said.

In the meantime, the Miller Center’s five program managers who are responsible for the day-to-day program administration will run the Miller Center. Gilliam said the five program managers managed the Miller Center in the same capacity when Zelikow was on leave working on the 9/11 Commission.

Zelikow’s contributions to the 9/11 Commission brought him to the national forefront. He also released a book with Condoleezza Rice in 1995.

“Philip and I have worked together for years and I value his counsel and expertise,” Rice said in a statement, as reported in The Daily Progress. “I appreciate his willingness to take on this assignment.”

At the University, Zelikow is responsible for upgrading the Miller Center’s public programs and publications, Casteen said.

His major projects with the Miller Center have been to improve the forum program and the presidential history program. He pioneered the presidential recording project and the americanpresident.org program.

Zelikow “turned it into a center with four major national programs,” Gilliam said. “He took it to the next level.”

Zelikow’s professorship will be missed, Gilliam said.

“The classes that he has taught have been immensely popular classes,” he said.

Zelikow’s acceptance of his appointment is in sync with the larger goals of the University, Casteen said.

“Service of this kind is an element of the third component of the University’s mission — public service,” he said.

Gilliam said his appointment is a positive reflection on the University as a whole.

“It is a tremendously high honor when someone from the University gets selected for a position as high and important and powerful as this one will be,” he said. “It brings credit to this University to have faculty that are this highly regarded not only nationally but around the world.”

Zelikow could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The Honor Committee and the Faculty Senate Academic Affairs Committee have recently begun discussing the creation of an honor survey directed at faculty members to gauge their perception of the honor system.

Initially, an Academic Affairs subcommittee was charged with addressing faculty perspectives on honor, and the committee considered drafting a formal survey concerning faculty’s attitudes regarding the honor system during the fall semester. At the last Faculty Senate meeting, however, the Faculty Senate’s Executive Council advised neither the Senate nor any of its committees or subcommittees to undertake the survey on its own, Academic Affairs Committee Chair Kenneth Schwartz said.

Rather than the Faculty Senate conducting the survey on its own, the Executive Council recommended working in conjunction with the Honor Committee, Schwartz said.

“It will be a student-initiated survey of faculty perceptions,” Schwartz said.

University Center for Research Director Tom Guterbock said he began working with the Faculty Senate to create a framework for the survey last semester.

“The idea behind the survey is to find out faculty experiences with the honor system and the opinions about how to maintain and change it in any way,” Guterbock said.

During an Academic Affairs Committee meeting last semester, students at the meeting suggested performing a survey in order to garner more precise faculty member views on the Honor Committee instead of anecdotes.

In an effort to develop survey material, Guterbock said faculty members and students recently held a meeting in which the group generated a list of topics a potential survey should cover. Since the survey still is in its initial phase, Guterbock said a specific list of topics has not yet been decided upon.

Honor Committee Chair Meghan Sullivan said she recently has been working with the Academic Affairs Committee to discuss how the Honor Committee could participate in a student-initiated survey of faculty attitudes.

“I think they want a lot of student support, so they decided to go through the [Honor] Committee,” Sullivan said.

The Honor Committee has not been able to discuss the survey in detail because it currently is occupied with spring elections and transition to new members, Sullivan said. She added that Honor Committee members will decide if they would like to become involved with the survey, and, if so, the survey then will become one of the their priorities for this semester.

When the survey is completed, Guterbock said he would like the survey to be distributed to all faculty members and teaching assistants.

“It is important to get opinions from the full faculty,” Guterbock said. “We do not have a clear, solid data on what a large number of faculty feel. It is a student-run system, but without the faculty’s support, it cannot work.”

Schwartz said if the Honor Committee decides to participate in the survey, it could be distributed to the faculty this spring, and the newly-elected Honor Committee would consider the data.