As a fourth-year member of the Cavalier Marching Band, I wish to address the comments made in April by a Cavalier Daily columnist (“Questionable Spending”, April 10) and more recently by a University alumnus concerning the band’s drain on school funds.

After spending my entire collegiate career helping to create one of the most recognizable representations of school spirit on and off Grounds, I am personally affronted by the few individuals who find the funds spent on the band as “better spent elsewhere.”

Like the rest of the University, the Cavalier Marching Band has too been hit hard by current economic conditions. For the first time in its six year history, the band has been forced to do without many of the conveniences taken for granted at other schools. This includes shortening preseason band camp and limiting the number of away football games the band will be participating in.

This aside, it should be stressed that the band, which is the largest student organization on Grounds at almost 280 people, is not eating up University funds. The band runs almost completely on donations, with the vast majority coming from Mr. and Mrs. Carl Smith. With the rewards of Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s generosity being visible throughout all of the University community, not just in the band, I think it completely inappropriate for alumni to suggest the Smith’s donations should be directed elsewhere.

The Cavalier Marching Band is one of the best bands in the ACC, and arguably the nation, in spite of the limited music department offerings at the University. If the community wants a better music department, cutting the funding to one of the best ensembles on Grounds is not the way to do it. With the limited number of ensembles to help recruit for and build the music program at U.Va., the marching band is that much more important.

The band has even gathered national attention for the University. Last year we were featured in a French film, titled “Marching Band,” created by renowned French producer and writer Claude Miller. The film has received rave reviews, thus adding another dimension to the band’s wide range of accomplishments, and by association, to the University’s as well.

When addressing the statement that the band has not benefitted the University community, I ask you simply to step into Scott Stadium or JPJ on a game day. No, the band cannot make forty yard passes or make free throws, but try taking away that 12th man the next time a rival comes to town.

Most of you will remember the away game at Maryland in 2007, with Chris Long’s safety and our miraculous victory. If you had turned on the radio after the game, you would have heard a Terrapin radio station say that the Virginia band turned the stadium into a U.Va. home game – and thus created the momentum swing that led to the win. Or even last year, after we knocked off UNC, the football team was quoted as saying, “I knew we could do it, even the band was playing [Journey’s] “Don’t Stop Believin’.”

So alumni, the next time you link arms to sing the Good Old Song, try to imagine Scott Stadium or JPJ without the band, and see if you really think the money should be spent elsewhere.

The Learning Barge, a floating environmental education center designed and constructed by University students and faculty, will open to the public Sept. 14.
The project grew out of research that Architecture Prof. Phoebe Crisman began with the Elizabeth River Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making the Elizabeth River fishable and swimmable by 2020, said Danielle Willkens, student project manager and University alumna.
“Basically the project itself is really achieved through student coursework,” Crisman said, explaining that the work has been accomplished through a series of classes, design studios and technology seminars.
“It’s not an extracurricular project,” she said. “It’s been sort of integrated in with courses and it’s been going on since spring of 2006 in the initial research phase.”
The project has been an interdisciplinary effort, Willkens said, as the Architecture School collaborated with the Engineering School to develop systems for the barge and the Education School to develop the curriculum.
“It’s really been everyone, from engineers to teachers to other designers,” Willkens said. In addition to the Elizabeth River Project, the University also collaborated with a local naval designer, the Coast Guard and smaller groups and contractors.
University students and faculty were responsible for the research, including preliminary outlines, design process, detailed development of the design and construction.
“Literally we were down there yesterday pouring concrete,” Crisman said.
Construction on the barge is still in progress but will be completed before Sept. 14, Willkens said. The barge was put into the water last week, meaning that fragile items like windows and solar panels can be installed, she said.
The barge will consist of entirely sustainable systems, Willkens said, and is intended to serve as a field trip destination for fifth- through eighth-graders. The nonprofit is trying to teach children about changes they can make at home to improve the river’s health, Willkens said.
“When they’re on the barge, they’re going to learn about everything from sustainable tech to water filtration,” she said, “[and] have the opportunity to be on the river, which a lot of kids don’t have the chance to do in that area.”
For the project launch, the barge will be tugged in place to Portsmouth, outside the Elizabeth River Project office, and a large celebration will take place, Willkens said. Environmental Protection Agency officials are excited about the launch, she said, noting that they have come down and filmed the project a few times and that the Learning Barge has been a winner of the national sustainability contest, called P3.
Though the Elizabeth River Project will own and operate the barge, the University will stay involved with the project after the launch by evaluating what happens during the first year, Willkens said. This will include monitoring the systems that have been incorporated into it, such as energy collection and testing water quality, Willkens said. A grant from the National Endowment for the Arts also will enable Willkens to stay on with the project for a year, monitoring design-related aspects of the barge, backing the children’s art and architecture related projects and producing a small pamphlet collecting the art produced on the barge, she said.

A study co-authored by University environmental sciences professor emeritus William Ruddiman concluded that the agricultural methods of ancient human populations may have had an effect on global climate change.
Ruddiman built his conclusion off of a hypothesis made more than five years ago, which stated that humans started having a measurable effect on carbon dioxide values as populations started practicing agriculture about 7,000 years ago. According to the hypothesis, this increase in carbon dioxide values resulted from the large-scale deforestation practiced at that time. Ruddiman also conjectured that methane was released into the atmosphere when humans started raising livestock and growing rice 5,000 years ago.
“One of the criticisms [for the original hypothesis] is very basic and it sounds very plausible,” Ruddiman said, noting that many experts doubted whether there were enough farmers at that time to have an effect on atmospheric carbon dioxide. Current estimates state that there were around 10 to 20 million people alive about 6,000 years ago, Ruddiman said.
Claiming that this population was too small to affect the global climate, however, would assume that past populations had the same environmental impact per person as does the modern population. This assumption is “simply not true,” Ruddiman said, noting that several archaeological and anthropological studies show that people in antiquity used much more land than people do today.
“Go back 6,000 years ago, the average farmer would go out into the woods, take an axe, girdle a notch into a tree [to kill it], girdle an acre’s worth of trees, they all die … go away for a few years, come back, set fire to them [and] burn them,” Ruddiman said.
This slash-and-burn approach gave early farmers a large quantity of fertile soil with plenty of sunlight but it encouraged farmers to simply abandon old fields and clear away more forest, Ruddiman said. Eventually, this method led to a usage of 10 times as much land per-capita as modern populations use.
“If there were 10 to 20 million people back then, but they had the effect of 10 people [today], that’s enough to just become detectable in the carbon dioxide curves, according to our calculations, and become more and more detectable over time,” Ruddiman said.
In the past, people chose to burn and clear land to such a large extent either because they did not understand how to replenish nutrients or because they simply did not want to do the labor, said co-author Erle Ellis, associate professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
“It’s a lot easier to burn a forest than build a field,” Ellis said, noting that because there was not a land shortage at the time, people used more land for less labor.
Although the study concluded that populations thousands of years ago began the process of altering the climate, “that doesn’t change what we’ve done today,” Ellis said.
“It took them thousands of years to do what we did in five years,” Ellis added, referring to the atmospheric release of greenhouse gases that could increase the planet’s overall temperature. “What they did was profound but is insignificant to what we’ve done today.”

Biology Prof. Michael P. Timko and his team of researchers identified a gene that provides resistance to parasitic plants, publishing their findings in last week’s issue of the journal, “Science.” The research may prove especially useful in bettering the lives of African farmers who depend on the cowpea plant for survival.
Using the “viral induced silencing method,” Timko was able to identify which gene in the cowpea plant was responsible for the plant’s resistance to the parasitic plant Striga, which drains plants of water and nutrients. Plants missing this specific gene from their genetic sequence showed lessened resistance to the parasite.
After isolating and identifying the gene, Timko’s team researched how the gene provides Striga resistance to the plant. Understanding the process through which the gene provides parasitic resistance “will help us understand how to make a more durable resistance,” Timko said.
Just as the human body must fight off new and evolving strains of the flu every year, the cowpea plants must adapt to the ever-evolving Striga plant, Timko said. Pathogens, such as Striga, can attain the ability to break down resistance, but a more durable resistance would be able to avoid this possibility. By researching the mechanism in which the gene provides resistance to the cowpea plant, researchers hope to “stay one step ahead of the parasite,” he said, and prevent the breakdown of the plant’s resistance.
The identification of this gene provides the basis for further research, which may one day improve the lives of people around the world.
Striga is most commonly found in Africa, India and Southeast Asia, Timko said. In these regions, particularly in Africa where the cowpea is an important crop, the food supply can be ravaged by Striga. When attacked by the Striga pathogen, the yield of the cowpea can be reduced up to 90 percent, research assistant Kan Huang said. The destruction of such a large quantity of crops can have a serious impact on the lives of African farmers.
Other modes of controlling the parasite, like the use of expensive chemicals, are less feasible, especially in remote locations. Rather than using alternative methods, “we want to put the resistance into the host itself so that when the pathogen attacks the host, it will be resistant,” Huang said.
The team is hopeful that the research will expand to include resistance against other Striga species.
“Eventually we are going to conquer the Striga problem,” Huang said.
—Kate Colwell contributed to this article.

Madison

New interim executive director Elizabeth Bass has worked for Madison House for the past six years. Photo by: Matt Howdershell

House recently appointed Elizabeth Bass as its interim executive director after former director Kelly Eplee resigned.
Bass has worked for the organization for the past six years, most recently serving as its associate director, and also was involved with Madison House as a University student.
“This organization has been a part of my life for over a decade,” Bass said.
Bass said she will continue to work with students and volunteer site staffs in addition to her new duties, which include working with the entire Madison House staff, the financial elements of the organization and complying with its Board of Directors.
Given the significant workload associated with her new position, Bass said current Asst. Director of Programs Karver Bolton will be tasked with some of the responsibilities, particularly working with students.
A definitive plan, though, has not yet been made to fill the executive director position permanently, Board of Directors co-chair Ryan Vaughan said.
“Elizabeth will be a strong internal candidate,” Vaughan said, “but we will evaluate external possibilities as well.”
The Board of Directors will meet Sept. 13, Vaughan said, at which time the board will discuss its timetable and approach for filling Eplee’s former position.
—compiled by Cameron Feller

The Health Resources and Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recently awarded the Nursing School three grants for graduate students, totaling about $200,000.
The HRSA evaluates how the money has been used in the past for the reapplication and consideration of future monies. The University has received these grants for the past five or six years, demonstrating the strength of the nursing program at the University, said Clay Hysell, assistant dean for graduate student services at the Nursing School.
One of the grants, the Advanced Education Nurse Traineeship, gives $22,751 to assist students who are primarily from areas lacking in resources and addresses nursing shortages and issues of health care disparity, Hysell said.
The Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students, meanwhile, award $98,897 to students who are from economically underprivileged backgrounds.
The third grant, called the Nurse Faculty Loan Program, provides $90,000 in loans, 85 percent of which are canceled if recipients decide to assume faculty positions after graduation.
“It helps make the faculty role look much more attractive, if you know that your loans will be canceled,” Hysell said, noting that the program is intended to address the nation’s current nursing shortage.
The grants “may not enroll more students but it will certainly allow those who are currently graduate students to go on with their aspirations and dreams with less debt,” he noted.
—compiled by Sara Guaglione and Katherine Raichlen

Senior Vic Hall, who averaged 6.4 yards per return last season, could be asked to continue his special teams responsibilities while also starting at quarterback. Photo by: Jason O. Watson

By the time Virginia Tech comes to town, Vic Hall might be lining up for the game winning field goal.
For now, Virginia coach Al Groh is content to name Hall the team’s starting punt returner. Never mind that Hall is also the leading candidate to be the team’s starting quarterback; that starting quarterbacks rarely do anything other than play quarterback; that returning punts often involves head-on collisions with 200-pound giants running full-speed with the sole purpose of laying the returner flat on his back.
Hall may run the first punt back for a 60-yard, dazzling touchdown. Or, he may tear his ACL and never play college football again.
Certainly, Hall already faces the possibility of injury as a running quarterback, but putting him in the position to return punts only exacerbates the problem inherent to his style of play.
But after enduring a disappointing 5-7 season last year, during which Virginia ranked last in the ACC in both scoring offense (16.1 points per game) and total offense (299.8 yards per game), and 10th in punt return average (6.6 yards per game), Groh appears willing to take some risks if it means boosting offensive production.
“Vic’s our best punt returner,” Groh said. “So when it’s time to return punts, that’s all that’s at heart, that’s at issue. We have a chance to score on that play; I want to put our guy back there who gives us our best chance to do that. We want to handle the ball cleanly — to do otherwise, we jeopardize our chance to win.”
Heading into his last season at Virginia, Hall seems determined to be the Cavaliers’ Renaissance man, doing whatever it takes to win.
“I’m just taking it one day at a time, taking every moment in and leaving it all on the field,” Hall said. “‘Cause no matter what happens — if I make it to the next level or not — I can never get college football back.”
Perhaps it is this sense of urgency that has inspired Hall to take on his new roles with such vigor.
“He wants a few other jobs, too,” Groh said, “if we’d let him have them.”
But no matter how badly Hall wants to be Virginia’s superhero this season, he is not immune to the basic human condition of fatigue. Even Hall acknowledges the difficulty associated with returning punts and immediately lining up under center on first down.
“Definitely I’m limited,” Hall said. “If I have to, I could go play quarterback, but we have other guys obviously who could play quarterback in that situation.”
“That situation” will occur every time the opposing team punts.
“That’s one thing we know for sure,” Groh said. “We’ll have Vic back there every time [they punt].”
If this is indeed the case, Groh and offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon may have to give more snaps to junior Marc Verica or senior Jameel Sewell, raising a couple of potential problems. First — featuring multiple quarterbacks in a single series could disrupt any offensive rhythm the team builds. Moreover, the use of Sewell or Verica on first down may actually make the offense more predictable. Any attentive defense should recognize that when the starting quarterback is on the sideline, the offense is more likely to hand the ball off to a running back.
Despite these potential problems, if Hall does become an effective returner, he will have a chance to ignite the offense with big plays — the likes of which Virginia saw few and far between last year.
“It’s a position that I’ve learned,” Hall said. “And once you learn something, you have fun doing it, ‘cause it’s catch and run.”
That could be the mantra of the 2009 Virginia football team: Run, Hall, run.

For those of you who don’t read my awesome sports column every week — that is, for everyone except my dad and my editor — let me share the back story. At the beginning of last year, I made a set of bold football predictions and dubbed myself the “non-prophet” because it seemed like a funny play on words at the time.
People called me crazy for making some of the predictions I made — North Carolina winning the ACC? Terrell Owens being selected as the NFL’s Most Valuable Player?
A few months later, I revisited my predictions to see just how many I got right. I think it totaled zero correct guesses. Nevertheless, I cheated and spun every prediction and result to make myself seem truly Delphian. I also expressed my love for Tony Romo.
A year later, football season again cometh. The time is nigh for the non-prophet to once again make a fool of himself.
Before I get started, I’ll remind you that I’m intentionally going for high-risk picks. In Commerce terms, the potential yield is “Dan looks like a genius” and the potential loss is “Dan still looks like an idiot.”
Now, on with the prophecies.
Prediction 1: Jameel Sewell will be an All-ACC honorable mention.
So, the Virginia senior quarterback who most expect to start the season as a backup will end up one of the best players in the conference?
Yep! First, I think Vic Hall, the probable starter, will be benched by the fourth week. He hasn’t played quarterback regularly in four years! Hall was great in high school, but the NCAA is a faster, tougher game.
Sewell, on the other hand, is seasoned and has ice in his veins. Anyone who watched the 2007 season can attest to this. He hasn’t played in a year but he’ll return quickly in tip-top shape. As far as I can see, he’s the team’s only hope for a winning season.
Also, Sewell is a great story. He drops out of Virginia because of bad grades. Then he studies his rear off, starts tutoring kids and claws his way back into Virginia for one more year of glory. He’s also a stand-up, nice guy, so I’m rooting for him.
Prediction 2: The Washington Redskins will win the Super Bowl.
There’s no way I’m serious. I’m just a Skins fanboy, right?
Yeah, you got me. I don’t really think this team can win big. The Redskins can’t even scrape their way into the playoffs, even though their schedule is easy and every part of their roster is better than it was during their run to the playoffs in 2007.
But even if the Redskins somehow slink their way into the playoffs, there’s no way they could make a dash for the Lombardi Trophy. Defense-first teams with hugely talented defensive lines never perform well in the playoffs.
The only exceptions to that pattern are the Steelers in 2008 and 2006, the Giants in 2007, the Buccaneers in 2002 and the Ravens in 2001. In general, though, teams that play good defense never compete for a title. Right?
Prediction 3: N.C. State will win the ACC this year.
Smart money is on the Hokies, with Georgia Tech and Florida State as the common fallback picks. My pet pick from last year, North Carolina, is even in the mix as far as most people are concerned.
Don’t count out the Wolfpack, though. N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien is now in his third year with the team and thus is working mostly with his own players. Remember, O’Brien is the guy who brought the once-woeful Boston College to a No. 1 national ranking for a week in 2005.
The Wolfpack also has one of the most promising and best returning quarterbacks in the league with sophomore Russell Wilson. Combine that with a mostly-intact O-line and seven returning starters on each side of the ball, and you have a team that could squeak out a berth in the ACC championship game.
Prediction 4: Al Groh will be fired within one month of the final snap of the football season.
This prediction might be too likely to be included with the rest of these. Groh’s not on thin ice; he’s already treading icy waters, counting the days until he gets his pink slip and can move on to bigger and better things.
An unlikely bowl game would complicate the issue, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. Groh’s a goner.
Prediction 5: Chad Ocho Cinco will lead the league in receiving touchdowns?
I thoroughly believe everyone’s favorite wide receiver from Cincinnati, who hilariously changed his last name to a non-existent Spanish number last year — “ochenta y cinco” would be the accurate translation into 85 — will find the Midas touch now that his new name is on his jersey.
The runnerup will be Randy Moss, but there’s nothing bold in that. Why fantasy football experts believe Larry Fitzgerald will put up bigger numbers than Moss with a healthy Tom Brady is beyond me.
Prediction 5: I will make and lose a bet against the Dallas Cowboys.
Last year, I made this same prediction, and it was the only one I got spot on. See, I hate the Cowboys and often put things more valuable than money — pride, dignity — on the line against them. And it seems the Redskins, who I always foolishly bet on, find a way to lose at least one game each year against the Cowboys, so I have a good feeling it will happen again.
So, just for future reference, even if I am obligated to state otherwise because of an unfortunate Redskins-Cowboys result: Tony Romo is not my homeboy.

Sophomore Simone Asque’s ACC All-Freshman Team performance last season will be a tough act to follow for this year’s newcomers. Photo by: Bennett Sorbo

Virginia volleyball coach Lee Maes certainly knows how to reel them in.
The Cavaliers’ incoming recruiting class — comprised of Rachel Gray, Tobi Farrar and Jessica O’Shoney — is the most talented in program history, ranked first in the conference and 15th nationally. After finishing a mediocre 17-15 last season and losing three starters to graduation, Maes will look to the team’s newcomers to make an immediate impact.
“We expect them to be contributors this year,” said Maes, who is in only his second year with the team.
Gray, a PrepVolleyball.com All-American and a native of Kansas, is arguably the most important rookie of the group as she will be asked to fill the team’s empty position at setter. With great hands and an impressive ability to control the flow of the game, Gray will help set the team’s offensive pace, assisting outside hitter Simone Asque — who was named to last year’s ACC All-Freshman Team — as well as senior middle hitter Lauren Dickson.
Farrar, a 6-foot-3, three-time All-Texas selection in high school, could potentially use her height to help Gray’s offense, in addition to being a strong blocker for the Cavalier defense. Fellow Texan newcomer O’Shoney also will be a powerful middle hitter and blocker for Virginia. As the nation’s No. 27 recruit coming out of high school, Maes hopes that O’Shoney will mesh well with the rest of her recruiting class.
“To me, it seems like they’ve taken the time to really try to acclimate very well,” Asque said.
After a full year adapting to Maes’ coaching style, the Cavaliers’ only preseason concern has been with helping the new additions adjust.
“For the first-years, it’s being able to adapt to change and being comfortable to change,” Maes said.
Transitioning from high school to Maes’ complex system should come fairly easily for this talented group, however. At the season-opening Texas A&M Invitational in College Station, Texas this past weekend, the freshmen trio got its first taste of collegiate volleyball, starting in all three tournament games. Though Virginia dropped its first two matches against Northern Iowa and the host Aggies Friday, the squad captured its first win in a 3-0 sweep of Iona Saturday.
Gray showed she is adjusting well to the college game, notching 74 assists and the third highest serving percentage of the weekend. Farrar and O’Shoney followed suit, combining for 16 blocks and 26 kills to contribute on both offense and defense.
Virginia will look to these freshmen to mature quickly and gain confidence through upcoming tournament games in preparation for conference play in mid-September.

As a member of the sports media, there are times when I feel disconnected with mainstream sports reporting (read: ESPN), and times when I roll my eyes at the things athletes and coaches say. The past few weeks have included both these situations, headlined by Brett Favre and Rick Pitino.
First, I am sick and tired of everything Brett Favre. I know you are, too, so I will keep this part brief. But seriously, ESPN, do we really need up-to-the-second reporting about this guy? We all know that he waffled for many months, retired, unretired, retired, unretired, upset a few franchises, etc. But considering ESPN’s obsession with the new Vikings quarterback, a Pedro Gomez-type might as well follow Favre around à la Barry Bonds a few years ago. After all, Favre and Bonds have a lot more in common now than people realize: old athletes with inflated egos and tarnished reputations.
I applaud “Sports Illustrated” for declaring this week’s issue “Favre Free,” as per an icon on the cover, and I enjoyed the magazine’s satirical article portraying the Tavaris Jackson vs. Sage Rosenfels quarterback battle as the biggest story in Vikings camp. I just pray that when the football season begins, pregame and highlight shows don’t exclusively focus on Favre.
The more important issue of the week, though, is that someone needs to call out Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino’s many stupid comments. This past week, he tried to fault the media for reporting his sex scandal with Karen Sypher — who happens to be the wife of Louisville’s equipment manager ­— the same day as U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy’s passing.
“It’s a pretty sad day,” Pitino said in the press conference. “On a day when Ted Kennedy died, we broke into news here in Louisville with Karen Sypher tapes.”
Yes, it is a sad day, that you have given the media grief for reporting this mess of a situation that you created. Sorry, Rick, but news is news, and you are a high-profile figure. While Kennedy deserves to be recognized for his service to this country, you deserve to be recognized for making bad judgments and following them up with ridiculous comments.
The thing is, this wasn’t the first time Pitino tried to cover up his scandal. Twice in the past three months, Pitino likened his situation to the terrorist attacks that occurred Sept. 11, 2001. June 12, he told the media, “Times aren’t easy, but if I can get through Sept. 11, I can get through anything in my life. And I got through Sept. 11 and there’s nothing ever going to come close to that.”
Pitino’s brother-in-law was killed in the World Trade Center attacks, and that was a difficult time for the coach, as it was for the thousands of others who lost family that day. Nevertheless, it was hard for anyone to accept Pitino’s statement, as attempting to compare the mental anguish of having an affair to Sept. 11 is a horrible stretch of the imagination, even if it was just a lapse in judgment.
But, in an Aug. 12 statement to the media, Pitino took his awful analogy one step further when he said, “When Sept. 11 hit, you needed a community to get you over it. In New York City, it was easy because everybody knew the devastation of that and they got each other over it. In Louisville, the impact wasn’t felt like New York City, but I needed this community to help me get over it.”
This is unacceptable. How many people need to tell you, “Don’t bring up Sept. 11 again,” before it sinks in? More to the point, how ignorant must you be to compare a scandal you brought on yourself to a national tragedy? TWICE! And then, just for good measure, you throw in the Ted Kennedy line. Unreal.
If Pitino isn’t ashamed of himself enough for having an affair in a restaurant with the wife of one of his colleagues — and then lying about many details of what happened — he should certainly be ashamed of the way he has dealt with the media in recent months.