One semester after receiving new identification cards, some students have questioned why Social Security numbers are still in use.

The University distributed new ID cards with randomly-generated student identification numbers at the beginning of the semester as part of an effort to phase out Social Security numbers and make students’ personal information more secure, according to Shirley Payne, director for security coordination and policy in the Office of Information Technology and Communication.

“This was a major step in an initiative to minimize the use of Social Security numbers for business processes within the University,” Payne said, noting that the previous ID cards had sensitive information embedded in the magnetic strip on the back.

She stressed that it will take time to fully transition to University ID numbers, but that the University has already phased out Social Security numbers for some of its operations.

“Previously when a student signed on to ISIS, he or she had to give their Social Security number to gain access to that,” Payne said. “Now they have the option of gaining access through entering their University ID number instead of their Social Security number.”

Payne said the University initially had hoped to implement a new identification system during the transition to the course enrollment system that will replace ISIS. She added, however, that replacing ISIS is a long-term project and that the threat of identity theft made new University IDs an urgent necessity.

“It was something that we had wanted to do for a long time,” Payne said.

In reference to reports of accidental information leaks last year that compromised some students’ information Payne added, “It became really clear last year that the University just could not wait … that we needed to do something now.”

Despite the introduction of the new ID numbers, some students have noted that the University ID is still not accepted in all capacities.

“I think it was a good idea and the intentions of having a randomized number instead of a Social Security number was a good thing, but they’re not realizing it,” fourth-year College student Jasmine Kwon said.

Kwon said she understands that the transition will take time, but that the risks remain high for students who have to place their Social Security number on graduation or other administrative forms.

“It’s one thing to do these things over the Internet in a secure kind of way, but it’s another to have a piece of paper or many pieces of paper just laying around for people’s disposal,” Kwon said.

Payne said some aspects of University life will likely always require Social Security numbers because of federal requirements, such as employment and financial aid.

“If a student is getting financial aid, the federal agency that we work with on financial aid requires us to report financial aid based on Social Security number,” Payne said.

Payne added, however, that University ID numbers will eventually predominate wherever possible.

“We’re going to be looking at every form that collects Social Security numbers now and requiring some justification for that,” Payne said.

One of the biggest initiatives the Honor Committee focused on this semester was outreach, not just toward students but faculty as well. In addition, the Committee changed its investigations procedures resulting in shorter investigation time periods.

Committee Chair Ben Cooper cited the Committee’s improvements in its outreach efforts as one of its most significant accomplishments. The Committee worked to improve its orientation sessions for first-year and international students. “Dorm talks” were held in smaller and more personal groups, which facilitated discussion and generated more feedback, Cooper said.

“That was a huge accomplishment,” Vice Chair for Education Allie Moore said. “First-years got a better grasp of honor in a more intimate setting.”

Hoping to reach a different population of the University, the Committee created a program to fulfill the liability standard of the fraternal order agreement for the Greek community. The program covers academic integrity, conscientious retractions and the basic philosophy of the honor system and includes case studies specific to the Greek community. Nearly 30 percent of University graduates are involved in Greek life, allowing the Committee to reach out to a larger number of upper class students. The Committee presented five FOAs this semester, Moore said.

“It’s a way to increase relevancy of the system,” Moore said. “The FOA program is a great starting point to reach upperclassmen students.”

Students, however, were not the only ones targeted by outreach efforts. Honor also sought to reach out to faculty through the creation of flexible exams. The implementation of flexible exams would allow professors to administer an exam during a time period of their choice through Collab, the new course informational system that will replace Toolkit by 2009. With the new system, students would have the option of taking the exam anywhere they desired, rather than having to report to a classroom. Professors would then receive flexible exams on a rolling basis allowing more ease in grading.

According to Cooper, the Committee presented the Faculty Senate with the idea of flexible exams in November. Between 10 to 15 professors said they were interested in administering a flexible exam next semester.

Aside from increased outreach efforts, the Committee also saw a significant decrease in the length of investigations after altering its investigations process in December of last year. The average length of investigation for cases reported after Jan. 17, 2007 decreased from 50.68 days to 24.89 days. This decrease is due to many transformations including the rescheduling of the Investigative panel, which now meets on the first day of investigation instead of waiting until the investigation has been completed.

Vice Chair for Investigations Linda Liu said because the investigations are significantly shorter, the accused student is under less stress as he or she find out sooner the results of the investigation.

Before the transformations, both the reporter of the honor offense and the accused student attended the I-panel, the panel responsible for reviewing the investigation’s finding, whereas after neither the reporter nor the accused student attends the I-panel. Liu said this transformation removes any burden from the reporter.

“It benefits both parties,” Liu said. “We thought it was very confrontational and unnecessary … [there is] more emphasis on investigators to gather evidence rather than rely on I-panel.”

Liu said the Committee will continue to collect more data next semester.

As for the spring semester, the Committee has quite a number of initiatives underway. The Committee plans to vote on bylaws regarding post-trial procedures and appeals and perhaps pass an amendment clarifying the Committee’s psychological evaluation process to include claims about learning disabilities. The current bylaws do not explicitly state whether a learning disability is a mental disorder, Cooper said.

The Committee is also looking to administer a student survey for the first time since 2002, said Josh Hess, vice chair for community relations. He added that the Committee has contacted University Parking and Transportation, University libraries and University dining asking them to alter some of their policies in order “to better reflect presumption of honesty students enjoy at U.Va.”

Also in the works is an “honor blog” for students to voice their opinions and offer suggestions online, Moore said.

In the words of Student Council President Lauren Tilton, Council has had its fair share of both triumphs and “tribulations” this past semester. For the next academic term, Council looks forward to approving a new set of bylaws and minor changes to its constitution that promise to put Council in order.

According to Tilton, Council’s successes this semester included making progress regarding student transportation issues and awareness of student safety through forums and by reviewing programs such as SafeRide.

“I think we’ve done a good job of informing students and including everyone’s voice at a University-wide level,” Tilton said, adding she was especially pleased with efforts by Council to respond to the work of the Commission on the Future of the University, including its environmental sustainability report. Prompted by confusion throughout the semester concerning bylaws and investigations of its members, Council has also made efforts to clean house. This has involved tightening procedures by creating a Rules and Ethics Board, according to Tilton. Other measures aimed at creating more efficient processes for the approval of contracted independent organizations also helped improved the way Council is run, according to Vice President for Organizations Catherine Tobin.

“It makes turn-around time [for CIOs] faster and less cumbersome,” Tobin said, adding that changes to appropriations rules have allowed Council to keep better tabs on how CIOs are spending money by imposing more limits on the time frame for spending appropriated funds.

Though Council has worked to make itself more efficient, the semester did have its troubles. The year began with questions about whether space allocation procedures had been followed correctly, as well as questions about who, in the absence of a Rules and Ethics Board, should deal with procedural problems. Issues later arose about whether the College was being underrepresented in Council. The Board was not appointed until later in the semester, after many issues had been resolved.

Tilton acknowledged that Council “could have done a better job,” adding “We all need to continue to learn from each other, as we all have trials and tribulations … as we work to interpret governing rules.”

According to Vice President for Administration Jack Wilson, Council has been working on new bylaws and minor changes to the constitution that will clear up conflicts between the current Council bylaws and constitution. The changes are intended to fix some of the problems encountered this semester and to ensure Council runs more smoothly in the coming term.

One change in bylaws deals with how schools are represented in Council.

“In general, the bylaws ensure that representation of the College is done equally and fairly so that one person in the College has the same vote as one person in the Law School or the E-School, and so on,” Wilson said, noting that College representation was one of “the bigger issues” Council faced this semester.

Wilson also said new regulations aim to ensure the continual presence of the Rules and Ethics Board, requiring that the board for the next year must always be appointed in the spring. Wilson said this will ensure the board “will be there the entire year, so that if there is an issue, there will be a Rules and Ethics Board to take care of it.”

Other issues dealt with by the Bylaws Committee include updating procedures for space allocations and for electing Council’s executive vice president, a position the new constitution mandates is elected within Council instead of by the student body at large as in previous years.

Wilson said the new bylaws would be more organized and more concise than the current bylaws.

“The problems [with the current bylaws] were that you couldn’t find anything and you couldn’t really read them, there wasn’t any flexibility,” Wilson said. “So what [the committee said] was OK, let’s help you find them and let’s make them flexible enough so that we can get whatever we need to do done so that we can give everybody an opportunity to voice their opinion and don’t prevent good things from being done.”

Gov. Tim Kaine will join the University community Monday to cut the ribbon on the ecoMOD/SEAM house, an energy efficient affordable housing module and historical preservation project spearheaded by University students and faculty.

“It’s an event that highlights the work that U.Va. students are doing: students building affordable housing that’s environmentally friendly,” Kaine spokesman Jeff Tiller said. “In September we [Kaine's administration] launched a Virginia energy plan — one of the goals was education and certainly having a home that is environmentally friendly is important … [in] reducing carbon emissions, consumer education on home projects is something we would like to highlight.”

This project is the third iteration of the program, but still follows the basic principles of affordable green housing, according to John Quale, ecoMOD project director and assistant professor of architecture.

The goal is “to bring sustainability to affordable housing,” Quale said. “To date … energy-efficient design has been reserved for the wealthy, but those with lower incomes benefit the most because if you reduce their utility bill that’s that much more money in their pocket.”

According to Quale, an interdisciplinary team of graduate and undergraduate architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, historical preservation and planning students have been working on the project and now anticipate the governor’s visit.

“It’s a really exciting thing for our students to get this kind of acknowledgement from the governor — they’ve been working really hard for over a year on this,” Quale said.

This year’s design focused on adding a modular addition to an existing house and making it handicap accessible.

Quale also noted that the project has a historical aspect, tracking the history of aspects of affordable housing in the Charlottesville community.

“The problem is a serious one in terms of affordablehousing in Charlottesville,” Quale said. “Incomes are stagnant … and housing is much higher than it was five years ago.”

Tiller said Kaine’s administration has realized both the importance of affordable housing and its environmental impacts.

“Affordable housing is a big issue in Charlottesville,” Tiller said. “In this project … what they’ve done in their design will be able to be reproduced at an affordable price.”

The house will accommodate a local family as a part of the ecoMOD’s evaluation and continual study. The ecoMOD program will start another project next fall, Quale said, with the hope of gaining funding for more projects in the future.

The two committees in search of a new College dean and dean of students will start the first round of interviews in January. In the meantime, both interim deans say they are satisfied with what they achieved during their first semester.

All of the current dean searches are on track, Provost Arthur Garson wrote in an e-mail, noting that he is “pleased that the initial words are of large numbers of extremely well-qualified women and men.”

According to Pat Lampkin, vice president of student affairs, the next step in the search for the Dean of Students will be to form a search committee comprised of faculty and students.

“[The search committee] will begin requesting applications and nominations and the intent will be to have the search conclude shortly before Spring Break and have a dean by July 1,” she said.

According to Interim Dean of Students Allen Groves, his first semester as Dean of Students has gone well.

“One of the things that was a key objective for me was to see who was doing what in the office and see if I could better align skills with duties,” Groves said.

Groves added that the goal was to make the Dean of Student’s office more accessible and responsive to students.

“I wanted to make this place the first place students thought of when they wanted help,” Groves said. “I am very pleased with how that is going.”

Groves noted that while he has been given the authority of a dean, he is unable to make “sweeping changes” as an interim dean.

“I don’t want to presume to do something that the new dean would feel binded to do,” Groves said.

Interim College Dean Karen Ryan agreed that there have been certain limitations to being an interim dean.

“I have tried not to make decisions that will tie the hands of the new dean, but you still have to plan proactively for the future,” Ryan said.

According to Ryan, the College has gone “full steam ahead” this semester and she feels that it is “in a really good place.”

She noted some of the things she has worked on this semester include new hires, working with the Provost’s office on a new science building, continuing the South Lawn Project and improving undergraduate advising.

“I think we have really improved lower division advising,” Ryan said.

As far as showing any interest in becoming a candidate for the permanent College Dean, Ryan said she is only concentrating on her current commitment.

“At this point, what I have committed to is through the end of this year,” Ryan said.

According to Groves, he is waiting until the upcoming break to assess the possibility of becoming a candidate for the permanent Dean of Students.

“Over break I will talk to colleagues, students and my family to see if people feel that I would be a good and effective Dean of Students,” Groves said. “If the answer is yes, I would be a candidate. If no, I wouldn’t.”

For the Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams, exam week provides more of a break than Winter Break. Indeed, once finals end, the Cavaliers will enter one of their most intense training periods of the season.

“We are going into four weeks of high intensity and high volume — probably as tough a training stretch as we have had since October,” Virginia coach Mark Bernardino said. “It is a pivotal time for us to re-establish our aerobic foundation and then get right into a lot of speed work and race-based work.”

Unlike the month of rest most of the student body will enjoy, the Cavalier swimmers will only have about 10 days before they get right back in the pool.

“We will stay until [Dec. 21] and have our annual Christmas practice the day that we leave, which is a lot of fun but challenging at the same time,” senior Kenton Harris said. “Then we are back here by January second.”

Shortly after returning to Charlottesville, the Cavaliers will depart for Costa Rica for a training trip. Over the course of a week in Central America, practice will be held twice a day at an elevation of 3,500 feet.

“We haven’t done an international trip in quite some time, so everyone is really enthusiastic and really excited,” Bernardino said. “I don’t know that the elevation will matter or if the oxygen is really any thinner than it is in Charlottesville, but maybe we will get some very subtle benefits from training at that height.”

The trip also provides the Cavaliers with the opportunity to leave the distractions of Charlottesville behind and focus 100 percent on becoming stronger swimmers. It also promotes team bonding and unity as the team gears up for the second half of the season.

The women’s team in particular is looking forward to practice time in Costa Rica.

“I am so excited to be going and swimming together and pushing each other and encouraging each other,” freshman Claire Crippen said. “We spend four to five hours together every day already, so we know each other pretty well. But in Costa Rica, it is going to be 24 hours a day for eight days, and it’ll be a chance to learn so much more about each other and to set some more team goals.”

Although this year was touted as a rebuilding year for the Virginia women, the team has already exceeded all expectations. This past weekend the team fell to No. 1 Georgia by a narrow margin, and 14 Cavalier women posted NCAA “B” qualifying times.

In recognition of her performance at the Georgia Invitational, Crippen was named ACC Co-Performer of the Week Tuesday along with Georgia Tech diver Stephanie England. Crippen won the 400 individual medley with an NCAA “A” qualifying time of 4:11.87, the fastest time in the ACC so far this season and the third fastest time in league history. She also posted three other NCAA “B” qualifying marks.

“Honestly I went into the meet not knowing what to expect,” Crippen said. “This was my first opportunity to be rested and swim all my best events with a fast suit and just see how fast I could go. I am happy with how it went — I pretty much swam all of my best times, and it makes me look forward to ACCs and NCAAs.”

Given Crippen’s performance and the solid second place showings of both teams last weekend, Bernardino said he feels he has a solid foundation on which to build over break.

“Winter Break allows us to ensure we have a good last half of the season,” Bernardino said. “Going away, we will be all to ourselves so the team can push one another without any distractions, and we can see what we can accomplish.”

For the Virginia wrestling team the holiday break offers a chance to relax both academically and on the mat. After competing at the Nittany Lion Open Dec. 2, the Cavaliers do not have another dual or open tournament until the Southern Scuffle, which takes place in Greensboro, N.C. Dec. 29 to 30.

“We need it,” Virginia coach Steve Garland said. “We’ve got to work a lot of technique. We’ve got to continue to improve.”

The team will work on technique through repetitious mat drills, intra-squad wrestling and other workouts the wrestlers have gone through every week already this season. Such systemized workouts are necessary to inculcate the instinct and skill needed to succeed in collegiate wrestling.

The difference this break offers is that the team has a chance to get back into the weight room.

“The fun about the break is the guys starting hitting the weights again,” Garland said. “It’s about regenerating your body, getting that muscle mass back, just really being healthy, eating right.”

The practices become a bit more relaxed, producing an atmosphere Garland said should be conducive to improvement.

“Coming to practice, the pressure’s not there,” Garland said. “Your guys can really just work on for three weeks straight nothing but improving as much as [they] can.”

Despite taking a break academically, the Cavaliers still work on the mental aspects of wrestling in addition to fine-tuning their individual style. The extra time gives the wrestlers a chance to watch film of their matches from the first part of the season.

Break is time to focus on “just a lot of the finer points of how you wrestle,” junior Rocco Caponi said. “Just changing up a few things on your shots or your set-ups. You go over a lot of film and find out what you did wrong and take that time and try to fix that.”

The Cavaliers will try to get in as much work as they can during those four weeks, because once the end of December rolls around, they will be jumping right back into the fire.

“We get right back into the grind again for the Southern Scuffle, which is one of the toughest tournaments in the country,” Garland said.

Virginia participated in the Southern Scuffle last season, finishing 17th of 32 teams. If many of the same teams come to this year’s tournament, the Cavaliers have a chance to improve their overall team finish. Last year’s roster included many teams Virginia has already wrestled and succeeded against this season, such as Cornell, Edinboro, Navy, Lehigh, Binghamton and VMI.

The Cavaliers garnered individual successes last year as well. Junior Eric Albright, then a sixth-seeded sophomore, made it to the semifinals at 133 pounds before losing to the second seed. Albright finished fourth, losing to fourth-seeded sophomore Joe Baker of Navy. Caponi, then a fourth-seeded sophomore, lost in the quarterfinals at 184 pounds to the fifth-seeded sophomore Eric Chine of Kent State. Caponi beat Chine in a rematch for fifth place.

The X-factor for the Cavaliers this year will be the talented but relatively inexperienced underclassmen. Other than the Nittany Lion Open, the toughest challenges the young Cavaliers have faced were at then-No. 5 Michigan and unranked Lehigh at the Northeast Duals. Of the 20 matches in the duals against the Wolverines and Mountain Hawks, nine freshmen and seven sophomores wrestled for the Cavaliers. Although Virginia only won five of those 16 matches, Garland viewed the matches positively.

“Watching [freshman] Michael Chaires in particular when he beat the Lehigh kid, it was amazing how good he just stayed in position — he was hitting the right things we work on,” Garland said. “That’s something we work on as a team, mat returns and grinding the guy and being tougher than the guy. So I couldn’t be happier with those guys.”

If all goes as planned, the work during break will reinforce the skill and experience this young Cavalier team has acquired in the past month and lead to success at the Southern Scuffle and beyond.

Following a tough 75-45 loss to national powerhouse Connecticut Wednesday, the players on the Virginia women’s basketball team dive into final exams like every other University student.

The final exam period is a time during which no athletic teams play games; however, that does not mean practices are not a priority. Though these practices are abbreviated, they are still effective.

“We are going to get better,” Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. “We are going to work to get better during that break period. Even though we give them a lot of time off, we have very short but very animated and concentrated practices where they can come in and get their shooting done, work on some things we need to work on and maybe put some new things in and then go. It’s about an hour and 15 minutes is all they get during exams, but it’s very concentrated. It’s a very good time to get them seasoned in some areas we want them to be better in.”

The practices will be useful as the Cavaliers gear up for seven games scheduled during Winter Break: Davidson at home Dec. 20, two games at home in the Marriott Cavalier Classic played Dec. 28 to 29, at Rider Jan. 2, at Wake Forest Jan. 6, Rhode Island at home Jan. 9 and Virginia Tech at home Jan. 13.

In the Marriott Cavalier Classic, Virginia faces Delaware State in the second game of the first round at 7 p.m. Dec. 28. The first game, between Marshall and Missouri, takes place at 4:30 p.m. The third-place game is Dec. 29 at 4:30 p.m.; the championship game takes place at 7 p.m. Virginia will face either Marshall or Missouri in one of those two games depending on the outcome of the first game against Delaware State.

The Cavaliers’ first ACC contest at Wake Forest could prove to be a challenging one against a tough Demon Deacons team that currently holds a record of 8-1. Last year, the Cavaliers defeated Wake Forest in their only meeting 77-70 at John Paul Jones Arena. This year’s meeting is also the only game the two will play against each other this season.

Virginia opens its ACC home schedule against Virginia Tech. The Hokies, like the Demon Deacons, are currently 8-1. The Cavaliers lost to Virginia Tech last year at home 60-58 but won in Blacksburg 79-76.

Beginning the ACC slate of games with two seemingly strong teams should not be a problem for the Cavaliers, however. Their schedule thus far has been very challenging, with the Cavaliers meeting the likes of George Washington, Texas, Minnesota and Connecticut.

“It’s great to have these [tough games] early in the season so that we learn early,” sophomore guard Monica Wright said, adding that such contests mean players “tend to not make the same mistakes at the end of the season, which is more important.”

Wright’s play is one force that has propelled Virginia to early season success despite the unforgiving set of opponents. Wright was named ACC Player of the Week this week and is now averaging 16.1 points per game after a slow start to the year.

“I just try to start on the defensive end and get it started down there,” Wright said. “Our post players get it going offensively, which really opens it up for us at guard. So it is really easy from there.”

Virginia, currently standing at 6-4, has won five of its last seven games and will look to sustain its momentum throughout Winter Break.

After a deflating loss to Syracuse on Wednesday, the Virginia men’s basketball team will look to get back on track tonight as it hosts the Longwood Lancers at 7 p.m.

Fortunately for Virginia, Longwood does not have a historically great basketball team, and after recently moving into Division I, it has gone through expected growing pains. The Lancers currently have a record of 2-8 and have suffered lopsided defeats to Liberty, Indiana and Kent State. Indiana easily dispatched Longwood 100-49 in mid-November in Bloomington, Ind., which could bode well for the Cavaliers.

Tonight’s match-up will certainly lack the energy and passion that was on display Wednesday night. Senior guard Sean Singletary, senior forward Adrian Joseph and junior forward Mamadi Diane all brought an energized John Paul Jones Arena to its feet time and again as all three players hit big shots throughout the game. In the end, however, Virginia’s efforts were not enough. Syracuse used its patented 2-3 zone to shut down Virginia’s perimeter shooters. Singletary, in particular, had an off game as he was held to only 10 points on 3-14 shooting. Singletary, who is normally a great free-throw shooter, made only 2-8 free throws on the night, which may have cost Virginia the game.

“We wanted to keep someone near Singletary all the time,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “I thought we did a good job of defending and we just got to their shooters.”

Tonight’s match-up should be less of a test for Virginia. As is usually the case in sports, however, nothing is guaranteed, and Virginia will need to come out ready to play without lingering memories of Wednesday’s loss. Virginia must be careful not to play down to the level of Longwood — a letdown can be common for teams playing against obviously less-talented squads. Longwood, however, does boast one dangerous scorer. The Lancers are led by 6-foot-6 junior forward Kirk Williams who averages 18 points per game.

Virginia will be looking forward to tonight’s game in order to get itself back on track. Singletary’s shooting woes against Syracuse were mirrored by the rest of the team. Freshman guard Jeff Jones struggled to find his shot and wound up with only four points. As a team, Virginia was limited to 40-percent shooting from the field and 34-percent shooting from three-point range. Both numbers are below Virginia’s season averages. Additionally, Virginia only made 45 percent of its free-throws, which have been a source of pride for Virginia basketball over the years.

But Wednesday’s struggles should not overshadow Virginia’s recent success. The Cavaliers defeated a ranked squad in Arizona last month and hold a record of 6-2.

Still, after an eight-day break, Virginia, and particularly Singletary, looked out of rhythm against Syracuse.

“Start to finish [Sean] didn’t really have any game rhythm,” Virginia coach Dave Leitao said.

Tonight’s game against Longwood should provide the Cavaliers with a springboard to end the semester on a high note and restore the team’s rhythm.

INSPIRED by the “Twelve Days of Christmas,” I brainstormed what my University could do for me this holiday season. Here are 12 things that would either make it on my wish list, or that have got me excited about the next two weeks.

Twelve construction-free days: A University-wide moratorium on construction during the entire last week of classes and the finals period would be a huge boon to already harried students. Regularly this semester, three of my five classes have been disturbed by noise from construction, and the last thing the student body needs during the last two weeks of the semester is the distraction of someone banging on a pipe or sawing concrete. It might send some of the more high-strung among us over the edge.

Eleven days without 8 a.m. classes. The single greatest silver lining surrounding our exam period is the fact that students can largely set their own schedules. This, of course, means no shoving out of bed at 7 a.m. for a lecture. All bets are off for early morning exams, however.

Ten wins for the football team. A victory over Texas Tech would break into double-digit wins for the first time in years, would help redeem the early season loss to Wyoming, and would help cleanse my palate of the bad taste left by the Virginia Tech debacle.

Nine hours of sleep. While a lost cause during much of the regular semester, this myth becomes reality on off-days during exam time. And it is ever so sweet.

Eight extra hours of Alderman Library time. The most useful library for many liberal arts majors as well as my personal favorite, Alderman’s exam period hours remain roughly the same as their non-crisis period hours. The University ought to keep it open around the clock during exam periods, as some of us need the extra time in our optimal study space. At the very least, it ought to keep pace with Clark, which stays open during the regular semester until 2 a.m.

Seven wins for the men’s basketball team. Last year’s NCAA tournament run provided some of the highlights of the spring semester. A run of victories from now through the end of the Christmas holidays would be a great step toward doing it again, especially if the Cavaliers can knock off Duke in Durham on January 13 before facing Virginia Tech at home for a little revenge.

Six successful finals for those poor souls that have to take 18 credits. My hat is off to you. Godspeed.

Five improved course evaluations. The current system for evaluating courses may provide some useful information to the faculty and the University administration, but frankly it serves little purpose in aiding students in selecting classes. Some individual departments have more flexible and more informative evaluation forms, particularly the English department, the information from which would be much more useful to students than the current format.

Four inches of snow. I can dream, can’t I? Snow during finals provides an exciting study break, and the relatively free days without classes and activities might actually allow students to enjoy it. Unfortunately it also causes chaos when one doesn’t know if his or her exam has been canceled.?

Less than three weeks until Christmas. If exams have you down, just focus that thought, Peter Pan-like in your mind, and watch your spirits soar.

Two exams on one day. It might be a little rough the night before the exams and at the time you are taking them, but the ability to complain to your friends about how bad your day was cannot be overestimated.

One week of total relaxation with family. I would wish this for every student over the next few weeks. Spend some time with your parents and siblings, because they’ve missed you at least as much as you’ve missed them.

Merry Christmas, University community. I wish everyone a safe trip home, and I hope everyone’s holidays are a blessed time filled with cheer, family and much happiness.

Robby Colby’s column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at rcolby@cavalierdaily.com.