The results of the Report of the Virginia Climate Change Survey were released during a panel discussion held at the Miller Center of Public Affairs last night.

The survey, which was conducted through telephone calls to more than 660 Virginia residents during September, sought to measure public opinion concerning climate change within the commonwealth.

The panel consisted of the survey’s authors, Christopher Borick and Barry Rabe; L. Preston Bryant, Jr., Virginia secretary of natural resources and former Virginia general assembly member; Vivian Thomson, University assistant politics professor and director of the University’s Environmental Thought and Practice program; and John H. Gibbons, assistant to the president for science and technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under former President Bill Clinton.

Former Democratic Gov. Gerald Baliles, who is director of the Miller Center, introduced the panel and said the Virginia survey was conducted along with an identical survey concerning climate change for the United States. He noted that climate change is an issue facing local, state, national and international governments.

The Virginia survey, Rabe said, sought to gather a public voice about climate change both globally and locally while also expressing the public’s opinion on climate change policies that should be implemented by the commonwealth. Some of these policies concern clean coal, nuclear power and solar energy, as well as reducing greenhouse emissions.

Rabe said one reason for conducting the survey in Virginia is the ease with which interest in climate issues can be fostered at a local, rather than national, level.

“International collaboration and national collaboration seems hard to develop,” Rabe said. “And instead states are on the move for climate change.”

Despite Rabe’s assertion, when questioned about the level of “responsibility for taking actions to reduce global warming” for federal, state and local governments, 50 percent of Virginian responders said the federal government has “a great deal of responsibility,” while 36 percent and 29 percent said state and local governments, respectively, face that level of responsibility. Nineteen percent of responses indicated that local governments face “no responsibility” in this area. Though respondents varied in their beliefs about which level of government ought to assume responsibility, and how much, 61 percent said global warming is a “very serious problem” that 72 percent of respondents thought required “immediate” government action. These responses are tempered, though, by the fact 38 percent of survey respondents “strongly agree” that “it is my state’s responsibility to address the problem” if the federal government fails to address climate change issues.

Rabe said the Virginians surveyed believe there has been an overall increase in climate change during recent decades; 75 percent of those surveyed, and 71 percent of Americans citizens surveyed by the Pew Research Center in 2008, believe, from what they have “read and heard … there is solid evidence that the average temperature on Earth has been getting warmer,” according to the survey. Borick explained that the survey also found the major factor impacting this belief for those surveyed was personal experience with warmer local temperatures throughout the last decade; 25 percent of those surveyed responded that “warmer local temperatures/personal experience” was the “primary factor” behind their belief in rising global temperatures, according to the survey, followed by “melting glaciers and polar ice” at 21 percent.

Rabe also reported that the majority of those surveyed approved of the climate change policies presented in the survey; more than 49 percent of respondents “strongly” supported the “creation of [a] renewable portfolio standard,” “increased support for clean coal technology,” “increase[d] fuel efficiency standards for automobiles,” and “energy efficiency requirements for residential and commercial buildings.” On the other hand, 55 percent strongly opposed “increased gasoline taxes” and 37 percent strongly opposed “increased fossil fuel taxes.” Overall, only two proposed potential initiatives were strongly opposed by more than 20 percent of respondents, while nine proposals were strongly supported by at least 23 percent of respondents, seven of which at least 30 percent of respondents strongly supported. Rabe noted that these results could impact future policymaking in Virginia concerning climate change.

Gibbons noted that he believes it is important that citizens “merge belief and fact in order to create a consensus to create public policy,” which he said is what Borick and Rabe accomplished in their survey.

Charles Battig, a local retired doctor and discussion attendee, questioned this belief, noting that those surveyed are not scholars or scientists on the subject of climate change and therefore have misconceived notions about the climate change issue. Battig said he was most concerned that the people being questioned predominantly based their beliefs on their own experiences, meaning they are not the best people to incite the introduction of policy concerning climate change.

Borick and Rabe said, though, those surveyed still felt very strongly about improving efforts to decrease the carbon dioxide emissions and regulation of toxins they believe to have caused climate change, and their opinion should be heeded by the government.

The results of Borick’s and Rabe’s national survey will be revealed at the National Conference on Climate Governance hosted at the Miller Center Dec. 11 and 12.

Last night Student Council’s Safety and Wellness Committee announced the beginning of its “Lighten’ Up” campaign, which will work to provide more lighting in off-Grounds residential areas.

“Off-Grounds safety is something that has definitely become a major priority for us this year,” Council President Matt Schrimper said. “Over half the student body lives there, and for any student to feel unsafe in any part of the community is a real concern for us.”

Katie Peabody, chair of the Safety and Wellness Committee, said her committee began work on this issue because it received concerns from students about safety when walking in off-Grounds housing areas at night.

“I know a lot of people who have expressed concern about the lighting in the off-Grounds housing areas, and especially the areas that are farther away from Central Grounds,” Peabody said.

To determine which areas need increased lighting, Council plans to rely on students reporting their lighting concerns through an application process.

If students wish to have lighting installed in their off-Grounds housing areas, they should submit an application online or fill out a paper application at the Council office, Peabody said. The application asks students to fill out information that includes the apartment address, the apartment management and the reason the student feels as though the lighting request is necessary.

“Students who are walking in off-Grounds areas and recognize that they think that the lighting is not sufficient — they should apply for this,” Peabody said.

Once students submit the application to Council, the Safety and Wellness Committee will contact a crime prevention officer, who will examine the property in question by walking through the area at different times during the night and evaluate the lighting, Peabody said.
Providing that Council receives a fair number of applications, the crime prevention officer will report back to Council within two weeks. Council will then contact the property owner and discuss light installation options, Schrimper said.

“The crime prevention officers will report directly back to us,” he said. “We want the primary flow of information to be going through us, and then we’ll reach back out the landlords. The essential idea is that once [the] crime prevention officer gets back in touch with us, we can ask landlords to provide lighting themselves or we can provide it for students.”

Third-year Engineering student Elizabeth Morris said she is skeptical that students will know enough about the program to actually take advantage of it. She noted that if Council wants the application process to be successful, it will have to seriously publicize that this is an option for students.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Morris said. “I live on Virginia Avenue and that is a sketchy, less well lit place, but [Council will] have to force students to [fill out the applications] somehow. If you just have a poster somewhere, students probably won’t respond.”

Charlottesville Apartments, LLC President John Crafaik said he supports initiatives that promote students’ safety, and noted that approaching lighting concerns through Student Council — rather than directly between resident and landlord — may more effectively address this issue.

“I think that sometimes the tenants would feel funny about asking landlords these things,” Crafaik said, noting that single student requests may not make as much of an impact as a collective effort, especially for lighting broader areas. Crafaik noted, though, that the city is responsible for most street lighting, and that altering single residences’ lighting may not be as effective as, for instance, increasing the wattage of street lights.

Schrimper said Council wanted to address the off-Grounds lighting issue through landlords initially because the city maintains a standard of lighting for residential areas; however, if lighting efforts between Council and landlords do not fulfill student expectations, Schrimper said, Council will communicate its concerns to the city.

Colin Hood, vice-chair of the Safety and Wellness Committee, said Council has set aside some funding for this project; however, it expects landlords to be willing to pay for the lighting in the majority of the cases.

“We’ve heard from some landlords, and they have said that they are willing to pay for the lights if this is brought up to their attention,” Hood said. “They’re willing to pay and install the lights; however, Student Council does have funds reserved to buy lights if necessary. If, for example, the landlord is not willing to pay for the light but is willing to install the light, Student Council will pay for the light.”

Hood also noted that Council does not have the means to fund the installation of every light.

A group of Architecture students recently presented its findings to the Piedmont Housing Alliance regarding which areas in the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County have experienced the greatest number of foreclosures in the past two years. PHA plans to use the information in an attempt to counteract local foreclosures.

So far, the fourth-year students in PLAC 401, “Neighborhood Planning Workshop,” have created a database about foreclosures spanning from June 2006 to September 2008 using information compiled from foreclosure Web sites, classified ads in The Daily Progress and calls to PHA from residents who are delinquent in their mortgage payments, said Nisha Botchwey, urban and environmental planning assistant professor.

Each student in the class researched research trustee sales and auctions that indicated foreclosures listed in The Daily Progress throughout a two-month period, said fourth-year Architecture student Sarah Bridger, who is enrolled in the class.

Students then used the database to map out the “hot spot” areas where foreclosures occur most often in and around Charlottesville, Botchwey said. She added that there was “a great deal of analysis” that occurred, including analyzing affordability, race and even car data. Students presented this aspect of the project to PHA last week, she added.

Karen Reifenberger, PHA Fair Housing and Special Projects director, said PHA aims to educate home-buyers about financial literacy to prevent people from getting into trouble.

Reifenberger said the students’ data showed several areas in Charlottesville have been more affected than others by foreclosures. The most affected areas included Fifeville, Star Hill, Belmont, Ridge Street and the area around 10th Street and Page Street, Botchwey said.
The number of foreclosures in Charlottesville and Albemarle County spiked in February 2008 at 35, Botchwey said, and since then has seemed to decrease and then level off, with 12 foreclosures in September 2008. Reifenberger noted that the spike may have been caused by inappropriate loan procedures and declining house values.

Botchwey said Charlottesville has a 2.1 percent rate of foreclosure for the two-year period covered by the class’ data. Architecture Prof. Bill Lucy explained this rate is fairly low, adding that states such as California, Nevada, Florida and Arizona have been hit particularly hard by the current financial crisis because the income in these states is not high enough to support the high housing values.

Reifenberger noted that the database gives PHA “the ability to focus education and outreach efforts to prevent foreclosures.” She also said the information compiled by the class will help PHA in its efforts to educate elected officials and other local authorities so they can make informed policy decisions regarding housing and foreclosures.

The second part of the semester-long project will involve predictions about where future foreclosures may occur and analysis of housing policies that might affect foreclosed properties, Botchwey said.

“We’ll look at policies across the nation to see what best practices exist and see how we can improve here in Charlottesville,” Botchwey said.

Bridger said after presenting the current data to PHA, the students have a better idea of what information is most useful to the organization. The next step, she said, is to “polish the data we found.”

Botchwey said she became interested in doing this project because students from last year “indicated that they weren’t sure how to respond as planners” to the recent high levels of foreclosures affecting communities. She said she applied for and was granted an academic community engagement fellowship through the provost’s office to fund the project.

Reifenberger noted that the results of the students’ findings will be very useful for PHA.

“It’s excellent that a University class is doing something so useful and practical for the community,” she said.

When you sit down in front of the television, do you ever change the channel when you want to turn up the volume instead?  Or have trouble finding the mute button on someone else’s TV remote? If so, these are examples of “user errors” found in everyday tasks, noted Assoc. Engineering Prof. Stephanie Guerlain, who has been conducting research in the field of cognitive engineering.

Guerlain, who presented a lecture last month at the 2008 Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, hosted by the National Academy of Engineering , said user error is relatively common and can stem from a lack of practical design and a lack of incorporation of important cognitive psychological factors. While user error varies across different products and systems, it can have devastating effects for “high-risk industries,” such as medical care, Guerlain said.

In the case of industries where computer-generated systems are used, problems can easily arise simply by pushing a button or clicking on the wrong command.

“You could make the mistake and not realize it,” she said.

Guerlain’s research focuses on observing how people interact with different products and on improving that interaction by developing more easily accessible interfaces.

“Some products are designed in such a way that they have user hazards, which means that the way that the system is designed leads to error,” Guerlain said.

She added that this is particularly relevant in the medical field, where patient safety is the highest concern.

“There are so many opportunities for us to improve our systems of care and our interfaces for care between us doctors and nurses,” said Margaret Plews-Ogan, clinical internal medicine associate professor and chief of the University’s Division of General Medicine. “Up to this point, doctors have been working harder to try and make health care safer, but we’re very interested in working with engineers,” she said. “If we want to do this well, we have to work as a team.”

There are many opportunities for better design for systems in the medical field; even simple things like an IV label can make a large difference, Plews-Ogan said. If the label is poorly designed, a nurse could hang the wrong bag by mistake, which might harm a patient, Plews-Ogan said, adding that clear and systematic label design could assist nursing staff to prevent such situations from occurring in the first place.

With problems like this in mind, the Medical School and University Medical Center collaborated to form the Institute for Patient Quality and Safety, which was “designed with the vision to bring together these different disciplines to improve our care for patients,” said Plews-Ogan, who is also the director of the institute. It was formed in January of the this year and incorporates faculty from the Medical School, Nursing School, Engineering School and potentially “everyone who has a stake in improving patient care.”

This program is unique and part of an emerging field, Plews-Ogan said.

“At the University, we’re farther along with this than many other institutions,” she noted.

To understand the cognitive engineering behind existing systems better, University researchers use a system of task analysis to observe initial usage, then design prototypes to create a better model, Guerlain said.

“We really think about the design and the users’ perspectives. Knowing how and why a system or product is supposed to carry out a task is crucial to its design from an engineering standpoint,” she said. “If you don’t understand how it’s supposed to work, it’s hard to have a workable design.”

According to Guerlain’s research, one of the problems with most products today is that their systems do not “fit” with people’s pre-existing knowledge and their expectations for how products organize that knowledge. There are some cognitive activities that are fairly standard across human capabilities, and it is therefore beneficial for systems to incorporate these trends, Guerlain said.

Memory capacity is also an important factor, she said, because “so many designs don’t take into account the limitations on short-term memory.” There are restrictions on short-term memory, she said, and when presented with too much information, people become quickly overwhelmed.

“In short-term memory you can hold only a limited numbers of things – about seven things,” Psychology Chair Dennis Proffitt said. The things a person can retain are also dependent upon the type and size of the items stored, he said, noting that “unless you rehearse or reinstate the memory, it will be lost in 20 minutes.”

There is often significant overlap between human and technical factors, Guerlain said. Finding an interface that is both practical and incorporates psychological principles requires a cross-disciplinary approach, she said.

“The people that do it best are the people who bring in cognitive psychologists at the very start,” Proffitt said, noting that principles of cognitive psychology need to be introduced at the start of a project design, rather than waiting until something goes wrong.

Overall, Guerlain said, cognitive engineering is a relatively new field and there is still much to learn.

“It’s very broad-spectrum,” she said.

Midweek Virginia men’s soccer games are supposed to be less than challenging than conference matchups. That adage was severely tested last night during Virginia’s 2-2 double overtime draw against visiting Longwood. In a game more notable for its injuries, sloppy play, fouls and two red cards, the Cavaliers gained two second-half goals from sophomore midfielder Jimmy Simpson and held a 2-0 lead more than 75 minutes into the game. Virginia, however, let Longwood back into the game with two late goals that sent the match into overtime.  With the draw Virginia is now 8-4-1 overall (4-1 ACC).

“There is nothing good I can say about this game tonight,” Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. “We were unorganized, undisciplined and just uninspired.”

During both overtime periods, Virginia enjoyed several good scoring opportunities, including an apparent goal in the seventh minute of the second overtime that was nullified by an offsides call. Despite Virginia’s chances, the Cavaliers were unable to pull out a game-winning goal, and the game ended in a tie.

“I’m happy with my performance, but it’s still disappointing,” Simpson said. “It feels like a loss. We should always beat Longwood.”
The draw also came with an unfortunate consequence — an injury to star freshman midfielder Tony Tchani. Tchani — who leads Virginia in goals and points and is the unofficial free kick specialist — sustained an injury halfway through the first half and had to be assisted off the field by team trainers.

Virginia and Longwood both began the game slowly. Neither team was able to establish early momentum, and the first 10 minutes saw only back-and-forth action. In the 14th minute, midfielder Chase Neinken made an exciting run down the field that nearly resulted in a Virginia goal. Neinken dribbled the ball past two Longwood defenders all the way to the top of the box, where he passed the ball to midfielder Jonathan Villanueva. Villanueva pushed his shot attempt wide despite an open look at the goal from 20 yards out.

Villanueva’s attempt demonstrated the difficulties Virginia’s offense has had converting scoring opportunities into goals throughout the season. Virginia and Longwood both continued to struggle offensively, and neither team was able to establish consistency.

Then, with 18 minutes remaining in the opening half, Tchani went down with what appeared to be a right-knee injury in Virginia’s defensive zone. After sustaining the injury, Tchani lay on the field as play continued around him. Longwood intentionally kicked the ball out of bounds to stop play and give the trainers a chance to come onto the field. Tchani’s injury sent a chill up and down the spines of Virginia fans and players already devastated by freshman forward Chris Agorsor’s painful early season injury.

The second half began in much the same way the first ended; however, Virginia gathered itself together five minutes into the half and created a terrific scoring opportunity. Junior forward Matt Mitchell sent a pass to Neinken, who was positioned directly in front of the goal, not more than five yards out. Neinken one-timed the ball toward the net but Longwood goalkeeper Joel Helmick made a diving save and wrapped up the ball to prevent any chance of a rebound. It was Virginia’s best scoring chance up to that point in the game, but once again, the Cavaliers were unable to take advantage of the opportunity.

That trend, however, was quickly reversed when Simpson scored the first goal of the night. In the 57th minute, Simpson received a well-struck corner kick from Villanueva. Simpson — who stands 6-feet, 3-inches tall — stood alone and headed the ball into the back of the net.

About five minutes later Simpson struck again when he collected a pass from junior midfielder Neil Barlow five yards in front of the Longwood goal. Simpson sidestepped a defender and blasted the ball off Helmick and into the goal. Simpson’s second goal of the game gave Virginia a 2-0 lead with less than 30 minutes to play.

Two late Longwood goals — both of which were scored on headers — tied the game up and sent it into overtime.

The revolution is upon us.

No, I’m not talking about massive political or social upheaval. I don’t think we’ll see farmers take up arms against the Redcoats anytime soon, and it’s unlikely that any aristocratic Frenchmen will get decapitated.

The revolution of which I speak is the dissemination of the spread offense throughout the ranks of college football. What once was a gimmick is now the gold standard, that which measures all else offensive in the game.

Seeds of this revolution were sown first on the plains of Nebraska, under the legendary Tom Osborne. His offensive philosophy was simple: Make the defense play from sideline to sideline, get to the corner and get there faster than anyone else. Tommie Frazier was the first dual-threat quarterback, the mold that gave us Kordell Stewart, Akili Smith, Michael Vick and Vince Young.

Osborne’s philosophy blossomed across the country with Nebraska’s success. In the Pacific Northwest, at Portland State University, Mouse Davis found in the spread his offensive salvation. By making a defense account for more receivers and backs, Davis discovered he could negate size and strength with speed and precision.

For much of the 1980s and ‘90s, major conference teams resisted breaking out of their I-formation norm. This spread thing was just a passing fad they all dismissed or at best something that would work for the Mountain West teams of the world. Never in the SEC or Big Ten could it work, not in such a bruising, smash-mouth conference.

But then something strange started happening. Those mediocre teams you schedule for Homecomings and season openers started making games competitive. Even worse, they started winning. Massive, tear-your-limbs-off linebackers were getting blown away by tiny speedster wideouts. Those “video game” offenses were all of a sudden very real, with teams starting to average 40, even 50 points a game.

The spread began to trickle into the BCS conferences. Oklahoma State and Texas Tech in the Big 12, Clemson in the ACC, West Virginia in the Big East. That trickle turned into a steady stream. And before too long, the dams gave way.

In this season’s inaugural BCS rankings, 12 of the top 15 teams run some variation of the spread. Four of the last seven Heisman Trophy winners have been the quarterback of a spread system. Now that even Auburn and Michigan have left behind their old ways and picked up the spread, we can officially say it’s made it.

But the spread is changing more than just the way offense is played. Tommy Tuberville, coach of the Auburn Tigers, said time and again that part of the reason his team was going spread was because it simply couldn’t compete in the recruiting world when it still ran its old-school offense. The best high school players want the system that best shows off their talents, and the spread does exactly that.

The recruiting impact of the spread hasn’t been felt more acutely than in Ann Arbor this season. With Rich Rodriguez importing his unfathomably successful offense from West Virginia, Michigan was considered a front-runner in the Terrelle Pryor sweepstakes. But when Pryor decided to opt instead for Jim Tressel’s version of the spread at Ohio State, he left Rodriguez and the Michigan Wolverines in a bind they have yet to get out of this year. Putting Rodriguez’s offense in the hands of former coach Lloyd Carr’s personnel is akin to handing the keys of a Ferrari off to Caveman Bob.

Defensive coaches have had to rack their brains for some sort of counterpunch. After two decades of being rocked on their heels, the defensive answer again came from the mid-major conferences like the Mountain West. The offense puts out five receivers? Fine, we’ll send out five defensive backs.

Instead of the 4-3 or 3-4, with seven men in the box, teams starting running six-man variations, most commonly the 4-2-5 or the 3-3-5. Safety/linebacker hybrids replaced the Bosworth-esque monsters that once prowled the middle of the field.

The offense once designed to take down the big boys has now been taken up by them. Crazy variations, such as Nevada’s pistol formation (think shotgun, but with the running back behind the quarterback instead of beside him), have begun to crop up once more in the same places that gave rise to the modern spread phenomenon. The craziest, though, belongs to Piedmont High School, in Piedmont, Calif.
If you think Texas Tech or Hawaii spreads out a defense, picture an offense with 11 eligible receivers.

It’s called the A-11 offense and relies on a technicality in the rules originally designed for punt formations. Two quarterbacks line up seven yards behind the center, who is flanked by two tight ends. Dual sets of three wide receivers spread to either side of the field. Run out of the no-huddle, the offense gives defenses exactly zero time to figure out who is eligible and who is covered up by others on the line of scrimmage. Once the ball is snapped, pandemonium ensues as the defense gets bombarded with reverses and options and passing routes.

For all the changes and improvements teams make, they keep circling back around the same basic principles Osborne used to raise Nebraska to powerhouse status. An extra wrinkle here or gadget play there all starts from the same basic premise.

Speed kills. And you can’t coach speed.

If you had to describe Virginia’s football season so far in one word, what would that word be?

I’ve been asking people that question since Saturday’s game, and there have been quite a few interesting choices. Here are a bunch of the people I asked and the responses they gave.

“Schizophrenic” — Fourth-year College student Jenn Briggs

“Stupefying” — Charlottesville resident Khourey Royal

“Surprising” — First-year College student Justin McKee

“Surprising” — Second-year Engineering student Shanna Hoar

“Inconceivable” — Cavalier basketball forward Jerome Meyinsse

“Indescribable” — Third-year College student Colin Jones

“Honor” — Third-year College student Josh Knight

“Awesome” — First-year College student Bonnie Stender

“Improving” — Cavalier baseball outfielder Jarrett Parker

“Bipolar” — College student Laura Sennewald

“OmigodIcantbelieveit” — Third-year College student Mason Fisher

“Unpredictable” — Charlottesville resident Darby Wootten

“Unpredictable” — Former Cavalier basketball forward Andy Burns

“Unpredictable” — Second-year College student Anna Thurber

“Expressive” — ESPN columnist Rick Reilly

“Turnaround” — Second-year Engineering student Ryan Bulaclac

“Inconsistent” — Second-year College student Erin Jackson

“Resilient” — Cavalier football quarterback Marc Verica

“Heart—attack” — Joni Pearson, University parent and lifelong fan

“…” — Mascot Cav Man

“Precarious” — College student Monique Perry

“Cavalicious” — Phil Morris, Charlottesville resident and marching band member

“Roller—coaster” — Second-year College student Max Friedfeld

“Roller—coaster” — Third-year Engineering student Jack Bird. Cavalier Daily sports associate editor

“Roller—coaster” — Second-year College student Laura Chesser

“Ferris—wheel” — Third-year Engineering student Sean Colyer

“Comeback” — First-year Engineering student Daniel Epstein

“VER—I—CA!” — Second-year College student Anthony Conty

“WTF” — Fourth-year College student Kyle Graham

“Perseverance” — Virginia volleyball coach Lee Maes

“Perseverance” — Sharneé Zoll, former Cavalier women’s basketball point guard

“Inferior [to the Redskins’]” — Third-year College student Martin Volaric

“Rebirth” — Second-year College student Patrick Barrett

“Rocky Balboa” — Second-year Engineering student Ben Trank

“Underestimated” — Virginia volleyball middle blocker Shannon Davis

“Fluctuating” — First-year Engineering student Raza Mir

“Emergence” — Second-year College student Sedale McCall,

“Courageous” — Former Cavalier tennis player Somdev Devvarman

“Absurd” — Cavalier fan, Jordan Hurley, William & Mary student

“Circus” — First-year College student Danny Moylan

“Firegrohnow” — College student Alex Hough

“Invigorating” — Second-year College student Catherine Zampetti

“Long—less” — Second-year College student Dan Stalcup, me

“Dynamic” — Dana Stalcup, my dad

“Boring” — Maria Stalcup, my 3-year-old sister

“They have a football team?” — Cindy Stalcup, my mom

“Ridiculous” — Third-year Commerce student Amy Chang

“Come—from—behind” — First-year Engineering student Andrew Sasai

“Eclectic” — ‘Hoo Crew President Kevin Dowlen

“Confusing” — ‘Hoo Crew Vice President Daniel Schear

“Confounding” — ‘Hoo Crew Hype Chair Matt Cooper

“Capricious” — College student Amanda Galloway

“Fortuitous” — Kendahl Voelker, Cavalier volleyball right side hitter

“Unexpected” – Graduate Education student Kara Himelfarb

“Surviving” – Graduate Education student Billy Flickinger

“Revived” – Graduate Education student Tommy Edwards

“Underrated” – College student Andrew McCampbell

Thanks to the hundreds of the students, fans, athletes and others who contributed, and here’s to the rest of the season bringing more good words to this Cavalier football team.

The reigning ACC champion Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams are looking to harness some of their individual talent for another dominant season in conference and national competition.

Last year, the men and women captured ACC titles. The women crushed second-place finisher North Carolina by 228 points to take Virginia’s sixth ACC women’s championship and then went on to place 20th in the NCAA Championships. The men also took first by defeating North Carolina by a 273-point margin. This marked the men’s 11th ACC championship, and the ninth title in 10 years for the Virginia men, who finished 15th in the NCAA Championships.

This year the teams will not only rely on returning veterans from last year’s team but also feature a number of swimmers who are recent international competitors. These swimmers bring a unique variety of experiences to Virginia.

Highly touted freshman Erika Stewart will get her first collegiate swimming experience this weekend. Stewart swam for Colombia in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, finishing 32nd overall at 2:18.54 in the 200 Individual Medley. This time was a personal record for Stewart by more than a second.

“I’m really appreciative that I’m able to experience such a high-level meet with the best athletes in the world,” Stewart said. “I still have a lot of work to do even though I swam at the Olympics because I am starting from the bottom and working my way to the top.”

Stewart joins a very dominant group of female swimmers in the Individual Medley. This race is arguably one of the toughest races for a swimmer and demands a very talented and competitive individual who can swim each of the four strokes: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. Last year in the ACC Championships, Virginia took the top four spots in the 200 Individual Medley finals. Stewart will look to help continue Virginia’s power in this particular race.

Another competitor who will bring back a great deal of experience to Virginia is senior Ryan Hurley, who returns for his final season after taking last year off to compete for the U.S. National Team and to train for the Olympic trials. Even though he just missed qualifying for the U.S. at Olympic trials, he made it to the finals in the 200-meter breast as he finished seventh overall with a time of 2:13.90. He will also lead the Virginia men as one of the captains this year.

Sophomore Scot Robison has already begun an impressive season, having been selected to the 2009 World University Games Team to compete in the 100 and 200 free as well as the 400 and 800 free relay teams.

“It really means a lot to me to be chosen for the World University Games,” Robison said. “One of my goals ever since I stepped foot on campus was to make an international team to represent U.Va. and the United States.”

Robison made the roster by competing in the 2008 USA Swimming U.S. Open Championships in Minneapolis, Minn, this past summer. He finished third in both the 100-meter free and the 200-meter free, placing him as a top swimmer to be chosen for the team. He is one of 26 of the country’s top swimmers named to compete for the United States in Belgrade, Serbia next July.

A plethora of talent and experience combined with hard work and dedication are the attributes used to describe the swimmers and divers this season for Virginia. They will look to repeat a top performance in both the ACC and the NCAA. The goal will be difficult to reach, but Virginia has the potential to accomplish such achievements.

“We would love to repeat as a conference champion,” head coach Mark Bernardino said. “But it is one of the hardest things to do. Everybody wants to win, but you can’t become a champion by accident. Becoming a champion takes careful planning, close attention to detail, dedication, hard work and team chemistry. We will swim our best and hopefully be mentally, emotionally and physically ready to compete.”

There’s no better education than learning on the job. A class of 12 fourth-year students in the Architecture School is doing just that, working to provide Charlottesville officials with data that will help them understand the city’s housing woes. The students are essentially doing what they have been studying for years now, and in the process they are providing a service to the community. This approach should be adopted by more classes in all of the University’s undergraduate schools.

The class project arose as a response to student requests, professor Nisha Botchwey said. Students in the urban and environmental planning department asked how they could apply their skills to the current housing situation in Charlottesville.

It is not unusual for student projects in the Architecture School to deal with real issues. “That’s the norm for planning courses,” Botchwey said, adding that in her time at the University she has organized projects working in tandem with a number of local non-profit organizations.

The benefits of this type of learning are obvious. Rather than dealing purely in theory or creating artificial problems to solve, students can get real-world experience while learning. If they are doing the work anyway, why not do something useful?

The issue of collaboration among instructors and outside entities, even non-profit organizations, does raise some ethical questions. If professors are not careful, they could easily end up using their students as free labor for the organizations with which they are working. The housing project does not seem to have done this, as the information gleaned from the project will be useful to a large number of people, not just the Piedmont Housing Alliance, with which Botchwey worked to shape the project’s goals.

Fourth-year planning students always do a project similar to this one, Botchwey said. Projects that focus on applying skills to Charlottesville are too rare in other schools, however. Professors in all disciplines should think about how their classes could extend outside of the classroom and produce real, useful research.

Students can make this happen themselves. Projects for which students get to choose the topic offer an opportunity for students to focus on local issues and accomplish something beyond a good grade. Students should be encouraged to conduct thesis research on problems their efforts can help solve.

Student Council’s Student-Initiated Courses offers one opportunity for undergraduate students interested in a real-world issue to address it with professor help. With several student organizations dedicated to social issues on Grounds and in Charlottesville, students clearly have the drive to work on real problems outside the classroom; professors should work with them in order to, as Botchwey put it, “bridge theory to practice.”

THERE’S nothing like turning on Saturday Night Live at the end of another long week of hearing political attack after political attack. Just when Sarah Palin’s run-on sentences become so nonsensical that you almost sympathize with her total inability to sound intelligent, Tina Fey’s dead-on impersonation of her reminds you that you are not alone in your frustration. Just as the incessant arguing of television’s most annoyingly opinionated political pundits makes you tighten your fists in irritation, the familiar sound of The Daily Show’s theme music fills the air — and you — with relief.

Ever since the presidential campaign began, and arguably much earlier than that, we have relied on comedians, YouTube videos, political cartoons and satirical blogs to remind us exactly how much of a farce this entire period has been. In the space separating the left and right wings, the liberals from the conservatives, political humor beckons to both sides. So why do we continue to take politics so seriously when it appears that in the absence of seriousness, we can all come together and laugh at how ridiculous our political institutions have become?

That is not to say I condone embracing “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” as your only news source. There is something to be said for actually picking up a newspaper and reading more than just the headlines. However, when the news inevitably gets to be too much, political comedians come to the rescue. Not only do they help us find something to laugh at, but they also offer us comfort by reminding us that ridiculous statements, whether they are racist, misogynist, naïve or misguided, make the most sensible of us cringe in disbelief and shame. They illuminate the absurdity of these comments, and in doing so, they allow us to come together in laughter.

Not only is the most pressing news dealt with and processed by comedians and humorists through various forms of media: Sometimes the most pressing news revolves around these very media. The announcement that Sarah Palin — yes, the actual candidate, not one of the many YouTube impersonators — would appear on Saturday Night Live became one of the only breaking news stories that didn’t involve the economy, Bill Ayers or the War in Iraq. According to the Associated Press, her appearance on the show gave NBC its highest ratings in 14 years.

Even the two major presidential candidates have been able to shed their partisan exteriors in pursuit of a little fun, attracting the attention of the news media at the same time. Both Barack Obama and John McCain recently exchanged jabs at the Al Smith Dinner, a charity event at which presidential candidates who attend have traditionally given comedic speeches. Both men were in fine form, and it was almost refreshing to see McCain finally smile naturally instead of forcing a spectacularly creepy half-grin. Reviewing the Smith Dinner, Wall Street Journal columnist Laura Meckler wrote, “Both men offered good-natured and well-crafted nods to their own foibles as well as gently placed digs at their opponents. The result was a remarkable night of comity in a presidential campaign that has been at times brutally tough.” If only we could have a few more remarkable nights.

Today, we tend to paint critics and comedians like Jon Stewart and Tina Fey as heroes who are far more representative of our worldview than actual politicians and political experts. Perhaps this is because politics is such a dirty game, and we question the motives of anyone who opts to play it. Or perhaps it is because deep down, we understand the absurdity of it all, and that the game is not so much dirty as it is ridiculous. Regardless of why — personally, I’m a proponent of the latter explanation —  the fact is that for a lot of Americans, the light at the end of the electoral tunnel is not just the victory of either Barack Obama or John McCain. Instead, the light is found in listening to those who truly speak to us, whose message is clear and blunt, straightforward and free of hidden agendas.

This belief in the freeing nature of humor is what will hopefully help bandage the rifts that have been growing throughout the country — political rifts, racial rifts, ethnic rifts, class rifts. The election of a new president, whoever he may be, will no doubt incite a variety of reactions among Americans. I doubt very strongly, however, that it will ever be able to incite one single reaction among us all: laughter.

Amelia Meyer’s column appears Wednesday in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at a.meyer@cavalierdaily.com.