Student Council voted unanimously last night to drop a proposed resolution to support a referendum imposing an increase in the student activities fee to fund Council’s Newspaper Readership Program.

The resolution was dropped because Council members agreed that a proposed deal with The New York Times may be more cost-effective and readily achievable. Plans to continue the popular newspaper program are now on hold until the next Council takes office after the completion of the upcoming University-wide elections.

The Newspaper Readership Program provided 1,300 issues of The New York Times and USA Today to students every day at various locations on Grounds, including Observatory Hill Dining Hall and Newcomb Hall, during its trial period last semester. The program proved to be “enormously popular,” Council President Matt Schrimper said, adding that a Council survey showed that 80 percent of the University community participated in the program by picking up a newspaper. He also said that the survey showed that the program has increased newspaper readership by 20 to 30 percent on Grounds.

Although Council members said they would like to continue the program, it will likely continue without USA Today. Schrimper and Architecture School Rep. Steven Reilly, the program’s lead organizer, have been working with both USA Today and The New York Times to continue the program, but The New York Times has been the most flexible, Schrimper said.

“USA Today had been very adamant that the program would need to proceed long-term as a student fee,” Schrimper said.

Funding USA Today distribution would cost about $60,000 annually, Schrimper said, whereas the proposed agreement with The New York Times would permit the distribution of the publication on Grounds for $25,000 a year. Schrimper noted that this charge is “very much within our budget” and would not, therefore, require a contribution from the student activities fee. Moreover, because the program is under management by both the Student Council and the Arts & Sciences Council, the continuation of the program would only cost Student Council between $13,000 and $15,000 a year.

Schrimper added that a possible deal with The New York Times would not require the University to sign a contract but would simply be a “pay-as-you go” plan. Reilly, meanwhile, noted that although the number of available newspapers paid for will ultimately be determined by the next Council when it plans its budget, the quantity will either be the same or slightly lower than the number distributed during the trial period.

Both Schrimper and Reilly opposed the imposition of a student fee to support the program. Reilly said it was something they “really want to avoid if possible,” adding that the fee would not likely be imposed if Student Council proceeds to work with The New York Times.

Some students were also opposed to an increase in student activities fees to fund the program. Engineering graduate student Vijay Srinivasan said he “wouldn’t be okay with it the fee because the newspapers aren’t as widely available” as he would like. In contrast, fourth-year College student Jeremy Camacho said he believes the fee would be a minor sum but admits that he “doesn’t read the newspaper very often” anyway.

Schrimper also said, the Board of Visitors, however would not be “too excited about raising student fees” to support the program, adding that proposing the idea to the Board would be a “very difficult process.”

In a slumping economic climate, the University has not been alone in suffering severe endowment losses, according to a new report of 796 schools released Monday. At the same time, though, the University’s endowment is still out-performing many other higher education institutions’ because the University’s has remained the country’s 20th largest rather than dropping in the rankings, stated Leonard Sandridge, University executive vice president and chief operating officer, in an e-mail.

“The economic downturn hurt everyone,” Sandridge stated, citing the report by the National Association of College and University Business Officers. “No one institution was singled out. All of our peer institutions experienced similar endowment losses … more than 400 institutions had investment returns that had dropped more than 20 percent.”

The long-term investment pool managed by the University Investment Management Company saw a 26-percent loss in value from July through December last year, University spokesperson Carol Wood said. That equates to a decline from $5.1 billion as of June 30 to $4.7 billion as of Sept. 30, to $3.9 billion as of Dec. 31, Wood noted. Harvard University, which topped the report’s endowment listings at $36.5 billion as of June 2008, and other top — primarily private — higher education institutions also reported significant losses during the same time period. According to a Harvard press release, that institution’s endowment lost approximately 22 percent from July 1 through Oct. 31.

Though other schools might suffer similarly, Sandridge stated that the University’s endowment has performed admirably considering the circumstances.

“Many of the institutions ranked above us are private institutions with endowments that have existed for many generations and have long histories of philanthropic giving,” Sandridge stated. “The University of Virginia came late to this environment because we relied so heavily on state support. When state support began to diminish, it became clear that in order to retain our excellence — and in fact build on it ­­— we would have to rely more heavily on additional revenue streams and build an endowment that would allow us to plan for the future.”

Though the University’s endowment has seen recent losses, Sandridge and Wood both noted that they consider the growth of the University’s endowment a success because of how far the endowment has come in a relatively short period of time. Using a conservative, long-term approach to investing, the UVIMCO staff has been actively seeking to grow the University’s endowment without creating undue risk primarily since the mid 1990s, Wood said, whereas private schools such as Harvard, “have had to rely on their endowments and know the value of aggressive fundraising campaigns much earlier on.”

That conservative approach, though, is a smart one, Sandridge and Wood added, and it is one that has allowed the University’s endowment to survive — and even grow — in tough economic times marked by a fluctuating stock market and state budget cuts.

“It would be nice if we could look into a crystal ball, but since we cannot, the staff of UVIMCO is watching the global economy, the markets and even our national political arena moment to moment to help them assess what they need to do in regards to placing the University in the best possible position for recovery,” Sandridge stated.

Increasing financial strain, however, has forced the University to rely more heavily on its endowment despite losses. Last June, the University’s Board of Visitors increased the percentage of the endowment that can be spent from 4.5 percent to 5 percent. That means $163,634,000 of the University’s $2 billion budget will come from the endowment during fiscal year 2008-09, Wood said, also noting that the Board may consider increasing or decreasing the allowed distribution, within limits, at this June’s meeting.

Endowment losses and potential payout changes will not, however, affect the University’s day-to-day operations nearly as much as the commonwealth’s pending budget cuts for 2008-09 and 2009-10, Wood stated in an e-mail.

Gov. Tim Kaine proposed a 2009-10 budget reduction of 8 percent, Wood stated, on top of the proposed 7-percent cut for this fiscal year, for a total $23 million reduction in funding for the University. If the reductions are approved, everything from tuition rates to capital renovation projects to Medical Center revenues could be more affected by the cuts than by endowment losses, Wood added, especially because there is no guarantee that state legislators will not approve more extensive cuts.

Though endowment losses and budget cuts may have a negative impact on certain programs and services, Sandridge and Wood said the University remains poised to continue pursuing its institutional goals. Meanwhile, smart fiscal management practices and continued fundraising efforts will be required to navigate the downturn successfully.

“While this is the worst economic downturn that I have experienced in my time at the University, I know that the University is a stable institution that will survive an economic crisis and emerge a stronger organization,” Sandridge stated.

University community members across Grounds have recently experienced a spike in problems with UVaCollab, which is being phased in as a replacement for Toolkit.

Second-year College student Ernest Kushevski said he has seen an array of problems with the system since returning from Winter Break.

“For me, it’s been taking a little longer to log in,” he said. He described the problems experienced as a “sort of a lag with NetBadge,” referring to the standardized University log-in system.

Though Kushevski said the problems have been minor and inconsistent, he also said they have affected some of his classes.

“One of my professors tried to access UVaCollab during class, but he couldn’t log in,” he said.

First-year College student Kamille Seward encountered similar issues. She said she has been able to log in consistently but has not always been able to view materials or postings for each class.

“I had a claim due for my ENWR class and I couldn’t access my classes on UVaCollab,” Seward said, adding that her instructor has been forced to use mass e-mails instead of UVaCollab to distribute materials for the class.

Other students, however, said their use of UVaCollab has not been affected. Second-year College student Rebecca McGraw, for example, said she had yet to experience a problem.

Mike McPherson, University associate vice president and deputy chief information officer, meanwhile, said the Information Technology and Communication staff is “acutely aware of the problem” and is attempting to respond as quickly as possible. He said the UVaCollab issues were affecting “stability and performance” throughout the entire system and noted ITC staff members believe they have found the problem and are currently testing a software patch for the system to make it sure it will both solve the problems and avoid causing any additional issues before distributing it.

The current problems resulted from actions by individual users that “triggered a malformed communication with the database,” McPherson said. The subsequent high load on the server, he explained, caused the server to shut down.

McPherson said he hopes to see the patch released in the next few days and, in the meantime, McPherson recommended students experiencing UVaCollab difficulties save their work often.

The Inter-Sorority Council saw a decrease in the number of girls involved in this year’s formal Spring Rush process in contrast to previous years, during which a steady increase in participation had been observed.

ISC President Stuart Berkeley said 819 women registered for recruitment this year, about 785 of whom began the recruitment process and about 540 of whom received bids or snap bids, which are invitations to join a sorority that did not meet its recruitment quota after initial bids were accepted or denied. Those numbers represent a slight but meaningful decline from last year, said Ashleigh Carson, ISC vice president for recruitment, who also noted that open recruitment will continue to take place at a number of houses that still have openings.

Last year, 603 of the 829 women registered to rush received bids.

Before this year, Carson said the number of women rushing had been increasing significantly from year to year.

“Last year it seemed to reach its peak,” Carson said.

To learn more about the reasons for this year’s lower participation rate, the ISC will complete a post-recruitment evaluation, said Michael Citro, assistant dean of fraternity and sorority life. Part of this evaluation will involve looking at reasons why individuals chose to join or not join sororities, Citro added, noting that, “the ISC evaluates the recruitment process on an annual basis in an effort to better the process and the experience for both chapters and new members.”

Reasons for decreased participation may include the recent economic downturn, Berkeley said, although financial constraints are always a concern when women are considering whether to join a sorority.

“Sorority expenses can be tough — especially new member fees — and that is why the ISC is hoping to expand our offerings,” Berkeley said, adding that ISC scholarships are something the next ISC executive board will look to develop.

These scholarships would complement scholarships already in place within individual chapters, Berkeley said, and would aim to offset some of the cost of joining a Greek organization.

Berkeley noted, though, that the exact amount of sorority expenses that the potential scholarship might cover is still undecided.

“We would hope to have what we are prepared to offer by the end of this semester,” she added.

The University will announce the next director of its Art Museum Thursday afternoon in the museum, University spokesperson Carol Wood said yesterday. The museum’s current interim director, Elizabeth Hutton Turner — who also serves as University’s first vice provost for the arts — and University Provost Arthur Garson will speak at the event, which is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.

—compiled by Thomas Madrecki

The School of Continuing and Professional Studies’ evening classes normally held in Charlottesville were cancelled yesterday afternoon because of the inclement weather, University spokesperson Carol Wood said. Classes at the Falls Church campus were also cancelled.
SCPS Senior Administrative Assistant Carol Brown said many SCPS students live farther from the University and drive to class, making it difficult for them to reach Grounds.

“They aren’t just walking from their dorms,” Brown said.

The rest of the University, however, remained on a normal operating schedule. Wood said it is rare that University classes are cancelled.

“We are here to serve the academic institution,” Wood said, noting that classes usually are cancelled only when Facilities Management personnel are unable to get to the University.

—compiled by Laura Hoffman

“Nerve-wracking.”

The one-word answer was all Virginia freshman Reese Milner needed to convey what it was like to play in his very first collegiate tennis match last Sunday against Belmont.

Although the rookie’s debut in the No. 5 Cavaliers’ 5-2 victory against the Bruins may not have gone entirely according to script — Milner paired with fellow freshman Drew Courtney to notch a win in doubles but fell in his singles match — the experience was memorable nevertheless for the newcomer from California.

“I was just a little too nervous for singles,” Milner said. “But it was a really fun experience regardless, winning or losing.”

Fresh off leading Crossroads High School (Los Angeles) to a state title, as well as a successful summer on the juniors’ circuit, Milner is one of six promising new faces to join coach Brian Boland’s renowned tennis program.

Freshman David Nguyen also received his first taste of college tennis action in the match against Belmont, while Courtney, perhaps the most highly touted of this year’s recruits, has already played three matches in the Cavaliers’ top six singles positions this spring. Steven Rooda, Santiago Villegas and Philippe Oudshoorn help round out what Boland called “the deepest first-year class I’ve ever recruited.”

“They’ve all developed individually over this past fall,” Boland said. “We’ve seen great strides in their games, and they’ve really matured. They’ve had an excellent transition, both in their academics and in their tennis here at Virginia.”

While they may have handled the transition well thus far, it has not always been easy. A typical day in the life of a Virginia tennis player leaves little room for rest or relaxation; after a full morning of classes, the athletes shuttle off to “individuals,” or private lessons with a personal coach, before taking part in a full team workout. After practice, the squad usually lifts weights, leaving just enough time for dinner, a little bit of studying and much-needed “passing out,” Milner said.

Though Boland expects his freshmen to work hard on the court every day, he demands excellence in the classroom, as well. Last year’s squad boasted an average 3.2 GPA and a perfect graduation rate, Boland said.

“It’s definitely tougher academically,” Courtney said. “In high school, you could miss school and not miss a whole lot, but here, you have to adjust to such a high academic standard.”

Courtney and Milner, however, have found their own solution to tackling the grind that comes with being a scholar-athlete. The roommates signed up for the same courses, and while they insist they have not split up the workload, “two heads are better than one,” Milner said, when it comes to understanding lectures and readings.

In addition to helping one another understand course materials, the freshmen have pushed each other to become better players as well. Although all six come from very diverse backgrounds — Rooda hails from the Netherlands, and Courtney from Northern Virginia — they share similar reasons for becoming Cavaliers.

“I knew [the University} had such a rich tennis tradition,” Courtney said. “Once I started talking to [Boland], I knew it was the right place.”

Courtney, a former Robinson Ram, with his big serve, great reach and ability to finish points at the net, is just another freshman in a long line of solid recruits who have come through Virginia’s tennis program during Boland’s seven-year tenure as coach. The coach looks for all-around men first and good players second, not only locally but also abroad. This year’s squad includes five players from overseas.

“The best players are not only from the United States but from around the world,” Boland said. “It’s a nice balance, but most importantly, we have good people who do a good job of getting out there and representing the University of Virginia in the way that it deserves.”

The pride Boland’s players take in playing for such a storied program is perhaps best evidenced by the close relationship between the upperclassmen and the newcomers on the squad. Since the beginning of the school year, older Cavaliers, such as team captains junior Houston Barrick and senior Dominic Inglot, have served as invaluable mentors to the gaggle of freshmen.

Inglot and Barrick “as well as all the other top veterans, have really taken these freshmen under their wings,” Boland said. “I give a lot of credit to the veteran players who really opened their arms and did a nice job of leading them and showing them the way.”

With role models such as Inglot and Barrick to ensure the young Cavaliers “steer away from trouble and head toward success,” as Milner said, and Boland to assist them in the transition to the collegiate game, the freshmen are just left with the task of taming the initial butterflies associated with making it to the big-time.

“College tennis matters a lot more than high school tennis,” Courtney said.  “Before, if you lost, it was just yourself. Now if you lose, you might lose it for 10 or 15 guys.”

Often clouded by the thrill of victory on the playing field in collegiate athletics today is the “student” in the term “student-athlete.” Danny and Kyle Artusio, identical twins on the Virginia wrestling team, however, uphold their titles as student-athletes while maintaining positive attitudes and strong work ethics.

“If we are going to put our money where our mouth is and say we value character, they should mean a whole lot to the team because they are two of the most high-character guys I have ever met in my life,” coach Steve Garland said of the Artusios. “I am not talking about guys that I have coached; I am talking about people in general that I have ever met.”

The Artusios are first-year Education School graduate students pursuing their teaching certificates to become high school math teachers. The two brothers began their collegiate careers at Lord Fairfax Community College before coming to the University.

“Wrestling was my biggest interest in high school,” Kyle Artusio said. “I also wanted to go to a good academic school. U.Va. fit both of those so it was a perfect match.”

Danny joined Kyle at Virginia when he was not accepted to James Madison’s music program. While at Virginia, the Artusio brothers have left their mark not only on the mat, but in the classroom and through community service. The two have also been named to the ACC Academic Honor Roll two of the last three years, continuing their academic success from their time at James Wood High School in Winchester, Va., where both were named valedictorians.

Outside of the classroom, the brothers are very involved with their church, teaching Sunday school every week, and Kyle is a member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

While “student” gets lost in the term “student-athlete” for some, it nearly overshadows the “athlete” part for these brothers because they are so involved in their academics and other extracurricular activities. Danny and Kyle — who wrestle at 165 and 157 pounds, respectively — have not posted particularly impressive career records — Danny: 26-21, Kyle: 22-27. However, the brothers’ contributions to the team go beyond wins and losses. The wrestling team awarded Kyle the first John Pegues Character Award last year, which was established to honor a wrestler who was not starting but still showed character and set an example for everyone else, Garland said.

“I personally hope my daughter grows up to be like those two someday,” he said. “I think the world of them.”

As with many sets of identical twins, the brothers have similar tendencies and styles.

“It sounds cliché, but they are both pretty much the same wrestler except that one leads right leg and one leads left leg,” Garland said.
And, as with nearly all identical twins, it is difficult to distinguish between them, but Garland has found a way.

“Their characteristics of how they present themselves are a lot different once you get to know them,” Garland said. “You know immediately it’s Kyle because of the seriousness on his face. Danny, as soon as you see him, he smiles ear to ear.”

Each brother tries to separate himself from the other. Kyle has said he is smarter, taller and better-looking. Danny meanwhile, said he is the better wrestler because he is in the heavier weight class at the moment. The competitive nature of their relationship is not lost on Garland, though he knows the Artusios keep things in perspective.

“They scrap a little bit, but there is a deep love and respect there, too,” Garland said.

Their dedication to others spills over from their personal relationship with each other.  

“He is such a big part of my life,” Kyle Artusio said. “I got to take a piece of home with me. It’s hard to say what I would be like without him.”

This past Saturday, N.C. State women’s basketball coach Kay Yow died at the age of 66, ending a bout with cancer that began in 1987.

Yow was N.C. State’s first head coach and led them to the ACC’s first women’s basketball title in 1978. In her 34 years at the helm in Raleigh, she won more than 700 games, the third-winningest women’s head coach in NCAA history.

For more than 20 years, Yow fought as hard as anyone could against breast cancer. She took time out of the hectic life of being a college basketball coach to speak out and educate the public. She was a tireless fundraiser and advocate for cancer research, her on-court tenacity spilling over into what was, without hyperbole, the fight of her life.

Unfortunately, hers is a story seen all too often, both in sports and in our everyday lives. In 2008, more than 560,000 Americans died of cancer and more than 1.4 million were diagnosed with some form of it. In Virginia alone, the past year brought 35,000 new cases of cancer, and almost 14,000 deaths.

It’s a disease that has somehow cut through to virtually everyone. For me and my family, it was losing my grandmother when I was in middle school, then my grandfather beating it into remission only a few years later. The same day Coach Yow passed, more than 700 people showed up at Westminster Church on Rugby Road to honor the life of Jack Blackburn, the University’s longtime dean of admissions and an influential mentor of mine.

Our own women’s basketball coach, Debbie Ryan, has stared down this demon before, beating pancreatic cancer into remission after being diagnosed in 2000. Though Ryan and Yow were rivals and competitors for almost 30 years, Ryan credits Yow as being “the soul of our coaching group in the ACC.”

For N.C. State, this is a story athletes have seen and lived before: a beloved coach, a protracted fight against cancer and a life ended far too soon. Jim Valvano coached the Wolfpack men’s team for the entirety of the 1980s, winning multiple ACC titles and the 1983 NCAA championship. He died in 1993 — only 47 years old.

Between his retirement from coaching in 1990 and his death three years later, Valvano was a renowned motivational speaker. If you haven’t seen his acceptance speech at the 1993 ESPYs, when he received the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, get on YouTube and find it now.

That night he had to be helped on and off the stage by Dick Vitale and Mike Krzyzewski, yet he stood and delivered one of the greatest orations of what it means to be involved in sports and what it means to lead a fulfilled life. His speech made the audience live his advice: Each day we should think, we should laugh and we should cry. If you do those things, he said, “that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.”

But beyond just its rhetorical power and sage advice, his speech endures because it included the announcement of the founding of the V Foundation for Cancer Research. For the last 15 years, the V Foundation has been a star warrior in the fight to stop cancer. Each year it puts on numerous sports-related awareness and fundraising events, including two tournaments in Madison Square Garden.

The V Foundation is but one of hundreds of cancer-related organizations in this country. While they may have different names and different logos and slogans, they all have the same common endgame in mind: stop this beast of a disease dead in its tracks.

In a country with so many universities and hospitals and research facilities, there’s no reason we can’t beat this. But the scientists and doctors in labs can’t win the fight alone. They need energetic and focused people to speak up for the war they’re waging. In both the public and private spheres of life, the fight to beat cancer needs more advocates.

So find a way to get involved. For your birthday or Christmas or whenever your family gives gifts, pass on the things and the stuff, and ask your family to make charitable donations in your name. Send them to jimmyv.org. Have them watch the speech and read the stories.

Do it for Coach V and Coach Yow. Do it for the Jack Blackburns and Eva Mae Owens Wileys in your life. This is too important to sit on the sidelines. This is the time to get in the game.

About 15 minutes after the final buzzer went off Nov. 22, 2008 on Virginia football’s disappointing 13-3 loss to Clemson, something more amazing than the rest of the game day combined transpired on the field of Scott Stadium.

Matt Taskey, a charter member of the Cavalier Marching Band, climbed up on a podium in front of more than 200 of his band mates, bid them farewell and received the loudest and longest standing ovation anyone this side of Dave Matthews has received for being part of a band in Charlottesville.

The 2008 season — CMB’s and Taskey’s fifth — marked the final year the trumpet section leader would suit up in an orange, blue and white uniform, put that silly feather in a big blue hat and march a half-time show in front of 60,000 people.

Taskey, whose official CMB membership ended this month, was one of the most special and interesting members of a band filled with special and interesting people. There are a lot of things that separate him from the rest of the members.

For starters, Taskey graduated from James Madison in 2000 and hasn’t been a student in years. He pursued CMB in 2003 when he read an article that an old colleague of his, Bill Pease, was establishing a new marching band for the University of Virginia. Unsure whether Pease would remember him, Taskey contacted him. Pease enthusiastically extended the offer to let Taskey participate.

At first, Taskey didn’t plan to step out on the field with the band. He just wanted to lend some support. Even when Pease offered him the opportunity to march with the students, Taskey wasn’t sure what to do. Registration day of the first band camp, he sat in his car in the parking lot debating whether to walk in and sign up. Taskey said he almost turned around, headed back to 64 and drove home.

Fortunately for the band, Taskey made those steps from the car to the door of the hotel. Since that decision, his impact on the fledgling marching band — and on Virginia athletics and the University as a whole — has been enormous. The band’s impact on Taskey has been pretty big, too, he said.

“I’ve really enjoyed it,” Taskey said. “I love being on the ground floor of new things. You can build the foundation for it and see it growing.”

The band, however, is not Taskey’s sole commitment; he has a full-time job. He’s married and settled down, working on a career, which, right now, is helping run business matters at Rockingham Memorial Hospital in Harrisonburg, Va.

The effort of fitting band practices and the commutes into his 40-hour work week has been worth it.

“I love meeting new people,” Taskey said. “I love sharing what I know with people.”

As much as he’s gotten out of playing in the band, he’s given back even more. His intensity on the field has helped create a hard-working attitude for CMB that has become part of the band’s identity. He’s done it all in his years with the band: he’s performed solos, he’s run the biggest section in the band for four years and he’s helped develop the band’s process of communication between leadership and members.

In his second season in the CMB, Taskey became section leader. He was immediately recognized for being very good at the job; that very season, he won the band’s award for Best Section Leader.

The greatest contribution Taskey has made to the band in the past five years, though, comes from something deeper than running rehearsals. Every person he meets — and, by Pease’s estimate, Taskey has probably gotten to know more of his fellow members than any other CMB marcher to date — is introduced to someone who can keep the marching forms from crashing into each other on the field as well as a deeply empathic and loyal friend.

Tyler Romeo, a third year trumpet player in CMB, remembers back in 2006 when he had just graduated from high school and been admitted into U.Va. When he signed up for the marching band, Taskey gave him a call, introduced himself and immediately welcomed Romeo to the band.

“He always does a great job of making people feel welcome,” Romeo said.

Taskey is someone who will stick by you through your coldest winter. If a friend of his is fighting a battle and losing, Taskey is the one leading in reinforcements with horns blazing.

It’s not just the big gestures that he gets right, either. Taskey makes sure everyone thanks volunteers and bus drivers. He’ll always be the first to break awkwardness and tension with a silly icebreaker question, some of which he made famous across the band. For example: “If you were a kitchen utensil, what would you be and why?”

His habit of being a pillar of support can be traced back to when he was in high school and needed that support himself. When he was outed as a homosexual in 11th grade, his dad shunned him, his mom struggled to understand and he felt isolated from his classmates.

But Taskey said his sister was always there to comfort him and prevented him from breaking down. His junior year was a rough one, Taskey said, remembering that his parents sent him to a psychiatrist in an attempt to “fix” him. One day at school, he exploded at a fellow student who had been giving him a hard time.

Thanks in part to the support and understanding of his sister, he made it through to his senior year, when things calmed down and “everything became normal.” His friends at school stopped making a big deal about it, and his mother eventually grew to accept and embrace having a gay son.

Taskey says he’s now closer than ever to his sister and his mother. And though he says his relationship with his father remains tense at times, Taskey still keeps in touch. Taskey, along with his husband, Brandon Cline, even got lunch with Taskey’s father a few months ago.

The ability to push through tough times and adapt to any given situation is one of the skills Taskey brings with him to the band as a section leader. It’s traits like these that will help him as he moves on to the next phase of his life: starting a family of his own with Brandon.

As Taskey makes preparations to adopt a child with Brandon and his life takes a new direction, he has decided to stop marching for good. That doesn’t mean he’ll disappear from CMB altogether, though. He’s quick to assure the band members who applauded and thanked him back at the Clemson game in November, and again this January at the Band Prom, which was his final event as an official member of the CMB, that he’ll stick around for a while longer.

“I’ve got a feeling I’ll be involved for the rest of my life in some capacity,” Taskey said.

Dan Stalcup was a member of the Cavalier Marching Band from Aug. 2007 to Dec. 2008.