When times are tough, it is comforting to know that there are people in your corner to support you, be they close friends, relatives or members of the community. It is in this spirit that Second Year Council has invited members of the Charlottesville community to show that they stand in the corner of America’s cancer victims — simply by dining on our Corner.

Tomorrow, from 5 to 10 p.m., 10 restaurants on University Avenue — Baja Bean Co., Jimmy John’s, Christian’s Pizza, Ni Hao Café, St. Maarten’s Café, Coupe Deville’s Restaurant, Buddhist Biker Bar, Qdoba Mexican Grill, College Inn and the Biltmore Grill — will donate a portion of the purchases made by customers who present CORNERED! fliers. Each of the participating venders has agreed to donate between $0.50 and $2.00 per meal purchased, with the exception of one restaurant, which will donate a percentage of all the meals purchased during the event.

All of the proceeds will go toward ongoing cancer studies by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the world’s largest voluntary health organization for funding blood cancer research.

“The idea is for students to go to the venders that are approved by us and the venders will donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society,” SYC Vice President Nancy Park said.

Co-sponsored by First-Year Council, Third-Year Council, Fourth-Year Trustees and Hoos for a Cure, CORNERED! will be the first cross-council project of its kind, Park said.

When SYC began organizing the event last April, the Council planned to ask only for a donation from each of the other student councils. SYC President Daniel Morrison, however, suggested that SYC reach out further to the other councils. “We wanted to make this event as big as possible and use the other councils as much as possible to reach the entire U.Va. community,” project manager Sarah Dibble said.

For seven months, Dibble, SYC committee chair Mohammad Rasool and a group of about 10 other SYC members have “done a lot of the legwork, looking for organizations to help sponsor the event and for venders interested in signing on,” Park said.

This past summer, they began marketing the event not only to students and staff at the University, but also to people in the larger Charlottesville community. “We’re trying to appeal to everyone through radio stations, the newspaper, word of mouth and through Facebook,” Rasool said. With the help of LLS, SYC placed advertisements with six local radio stations. “Our goal is making sure that everyone knows about CORNERED!,” he said. “Whether they are able to come or not on Tuesday, we can’t control but we want them to know about it.”

Rasool and Dibble said SYC is particularly excited about the event because LLS has personally affected one of its members.

“One of the girls on Second Year Council actually has a family member affected by it and she suggested LLS because she’s been working with them for a long time,” Dibble said.

The event, she added, “is not so much about getting a set dollar amount. Most of all, we want to get the word out about the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to as many people as possible.”

Building awareness about leukemia and lymphoma, two of the top-10 most common forms of cancer, is essential to treating the people who suffer from them, said Stephanie Newton, vice president of administration for Hoos for a Cure. “It’s the second-most common type of cancer for children,” Newton said. “Cancer affects a lot of people. There are a lot of students at U.Va. who have had cancer or know someone who has.”

Dibble enlisted the help of Newton and Hoos for a Cure “when she realized there was already a club dedicated to assisting cancer research groups like LLS,” Newton said. “We plan to help out on the night of the event and we’re expecting a big turnout.”

Rasool said representatives of Hoos for a Cure and SYC, as well as First Year Council, Third Year Council and Fourth Year Trustees, will present the donations made at CORNERED! to LLS on Wednesday at the organization’s annual Light the Night Walk at 7 p.m. in downtown Charlottesville. The 2-mile walk, which begins at the Charlottesville Pavilion, is “a symbolic event” during which participants carry a red balloon, [leukemia and lymphoma] survivors carry a white balloon and individuals who are walking in memory of someone carry a gold balloon, Newton said.

“In the end, we want to be able to give as much as we can and really hope to see that all of our hard work has paid off,” Rasool said.

Dibble, who hopes the turnout will “be in the thousands,” added that SYC made a Facebook event to which more than 900 people have already responded.

“Hopefully there won’t even be walking room on the Corner that night,” Rasool added.

Virginia football. It was on the verge of becoming an oxymoron after that infamous opening loss to William & Mary. But thanks to a miracle bigger than Lindsay Lohan’s career, my Cavs are now atop the ACC leaderboard. And Hokies everywhere are foaming at the mouth — because of their rabid squirrel dinners, of course.

Football season was, obviously, on my short list of reasons why not to study abroad this fall — along with missing both Halloween and the Chinese stone structure exhibit at the University’s art museum. I like to think I became a believer during my first year, during that downright ridiculous season we had with those nailbiting moments at the end of games, when we somehow managed to eke out the all-important W.

Because neither I nor any of my relatives were diehard Hoos or U.Va. alums prior to my acceptance, I would qualify myself as a pretty fairweather fan at the start of college. By the end of the season, however, even coach Al Groh seemed like a man shrouded in heroic myth. Ha! Sometimes I crack myself up.

I still remember being second row in the Sea of Orange for the nighttime Pitt game, when we started off with a touchdown on the first play and never looked back — kicking tail, 44-14. I remember going buck wild with the guys on my hall after we inched past Maryland in another epic night game, savoring every instant replay on ESPN2. I remember watching wide-eyed as one last field goal crept over the post against Wake Forest to secure yet one more tighter-than-an-Abercrombie & Fitch-shirt victory, the fifth of the season in which we won by two points or less. I remember locking eyes with Cav Man for the first time and my heart never being the same.

But what a difference a year makes. 2008 saw Chris Long move to the NFL, saw us lose our last four games of the season and saw a lot of the faith and luck that had been present 12 months earlier vanish faster than a dozen Krispy Kremes at Rosie’s latest housewarming party. My whole rationale for missing 2009 football could be broken down into a few sentences. One: “I have my whole life to watch it.” Two: “Well, we may have another bad season anyway.” Three: “All the hot cheerleaders already graduated.” I felt comfortable in my decision to leave — as comfortable as a man can be when faced with a semester of that other type of football.

But just when I thought I had settled into a time of no-looking-back, the bug hit again. The day of our season opener, I found myself feverishly typing in the Web address to the athletics page to see what was sure to be a thorough pounding. But when I read about that devastating loss, I felt the sharp pang every sports fan gets when he knows it can only get worse before it gets better. Turns out it had to get a lot worse, with two more consecutive losses. But we’re finally on the upturn. Even from across the Atlantic, I managed to watch some clips of the Maryland win that put us atop the ACC. It was uglier than a one-eyed pitbull in a kilt, but it got the job done. I felt pride for my team as well as remorse that I couldn’t be on Grounds celebrating with the rest of the tie-wearers and body-painters.

Most of all, though, I miss football at Virginia because it’s a microcosm of many of the things that I love about our school. Big athletics in outlandish stadiums. Eating food that only tastes better after one is slightly inebriated. Singing with good friends, singing with utter strangers. And knowing that no matter how badly he messes up, how atrocious his plays get, Groh will forever more be the coach of our football team.

To that I say, head to the nearest church, get settled into a pew and bow your head in prayer.

David is a guest columnist this week. He can be reached at d.replogle@cavalierdaily.com.

Student Health and Intrarvene will host a clinic for students to receive the flu shot and other vaccines today at the Aquatic and Fitness Center. Another clinic will be held Nov. 5 in the Newcomb Ballroom. Photo by Mallory Noe-Payne.

Student Health and vaccine company Intravene will hold vaccination clinics today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to provide the seasonal flu vaccine as well as other vaccines at the Aquatic and Fitness Center. Another round of vaccinations is also scheduled for Nov. 5 in the Newcomb Ballroom from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Though University officials had originally expected the H1N1 vaccine would be available for the Nov. 5 clinic, University Director of Nursing Sandra Murray and other Student Health associates now believe that this is “doubtful.”

“The supply has not kept up with demand,” Murray said. “Based on the original projections the vaccine was supposed to be ready by the end of October.”

The University shortage mirrors a national struggle for clinics and hospitals to provide the H1N1 vaccine to both health service workers and the general public. Last week, the White House declared the nation’s increasing swine flu activity and lack of H1N1 vaccines a national emergency. To date, Student Health has reported 555 cases of flu-like illness at the University.

Both clinics will still provide vaccinations for the seasonal flu in injection form and intranasal form as well as vaccinations for meningococcal meningitis, tetanus/diphtheria, tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis (Tdap) and M/M/R (mumps, measles and rubella). The clinic will also have the Twinrix (hepatitis A and B) vaccine as well as individual vaccines for hepatitis A and hepatitis B and Gardasil in stock. Prices for vaccines range from $25 for the seasonal flu vaccine to $150 for one injection of Gardasil.

Murray encouraged students who want a flu shot to attend one of the clinics instead of scheduling individual vaccination appointments with Student Health, where there is an increased chance of contracting an illness, she said.

For some students, however, getting vaccinated is not a top priority.

“I wasn’t planning on getting any of them,” second-year College student Jon Armstrong said. “I figured if I got swine flu I would get treated anyway. I could just go to Student Health.”

Peer Health educator Laura Long, though, said getting vaccinated is more of a public health issue than an individual health concern.

“It may be a pain and you may hate needles, but it’s worth it for those around you,” she said. Murray added that the flu can vary in seriousness from person to person.

“I think that no one really knows how they’ll respond to the illness,” she said. “There are some [reactions] that are devastating. But you just don’t know if you’re one of the people who will be severely ill.”

For the most up-to-date information about the H1N1 vaccination and its potential availability on Grounds, officials suggested visiting the Student Health Web site.

“If [the H1N1 vaccine] is available, though, we’ll make every effort to publicize it,” Murray said.

The Honor Committee discussed two proposed amendments that could allow students found guilty of an honor offense during the Semester at Sea program a second trial in Charlottesville. Photo by Bennett Sorbo.

Last night, the Honor Committee continued its ongoing discussion about a re-examination and possible amendment of its current Semester at Sea processes.

The meeting began with community concerns from Brent Routman, father of Allison Routman, who was dismissed from the summer 2008 Semester at Sea voyage after being accused of plagiarizing a movie synopsis for a paper.

Though Mr. Routman addressed many concerns about his daughter’s experience aboard the ship, he stressed that many of the students participating in the program are not University students, and therefore have a different understanding of what constitutes an honor offense. In the past, the Committee has sought to address this issue by ensuring that students are formally educated about the Committee’s policies and procedures in the Voyager’s Handbook, which is given to all students enrolled in Semester at Sea and contains the rules governing the application of honor policies during the program.

To address the concern that the program and University are two distinct communities, the Committee reviewed a new proposal, presented by Graduate School representatives Alexander Cohen and Edward Lee, and continued to discuss an older proposal, presented to the Committee by Chair David Truetzel. Both possible changes would give students convicted of an honor offense aboard the ship the opportunity for another honor trial at the University.

Under the Committee’s current Semester at Sea policy, if a student is found guilty of an academic honor offense, he is expelled from the program and expelled from the University if he is enrolled at the University as a student. If the expelled student is a non-University student, he is barred from applying to the University in the future. The honor investigation and trial aboard the ship is investigated by the registrar and University officials, and students aboard the ship serve on the jury except for in rare circumstances.

Under Cohen and Lee’s proposal, any University student accused of an honor offense aboard the ship would be automatically alerted to the Committee in Charlottesville, and two separate trials would be held — one by the Semester at Sea program, and one by the Committee at the University. For a non-University student, he or she would only go through the process aboard the ship and would be allowed to apply to the University later, even if found guilty.

Under Truetzel’s proposal, if a University or non-University student is found guilty of an honor offense on the ship, then he or she has 30 days to “request additional proceedings with the Honor Committee” in Charlottesville to re-investigate the case. If the Committee in Charlottesville finds that an honor offense did not occur and drops the case before it makes its way to a second trial or the student is found not guilty during a second trial, then he or she is readmitted back to the University and/or allowed to apply to the University in the future.

“I think they’re both pretty good proposals,” Cohen said, noting that both proposals provide University students with the opportunity to be dismissed only by University students. Under the current system, it is possible that non-University students — perhaps thought of as being less familiar with the honor code — could serve as jurors and be charged with the code’s application.

But, Cohen added that he believes his proposal is “very faithful to the principle of single sanction” because each community — either the Semester at Sea community or the University — gets to decide whether a student is “worthy to be a part of” that particular community, to a greater degree than Truetzel’s.

“I don’t want Harvard students kicking people out of U.Va. [or have] Harvard students telling people that they can never apply to U.Va.,” Cohen said.

Cohen also noted, however, that he recognizes certain weaknesses in his proposal, such as the fact that a student may feel added stress or strain about having to go through two separate honor trials, a concern other committee members addressed as well. Cohen also said that he plans to change his proposal so that University students’ trials at the University do not take place until after they have returned to Charlottesville from the voyage.

Truetzel said one of the benefits of his proposal is that it brings the punishments into line with the level of due process being administered for both University and non-University students aboard the ship.

“We’re trying to give a process that we think is fair,” Truetzel said. “Everybody gets the same options throughout the entire process.”

Either proposal is better than the current policy, Cohen said. The committee voted not to vote on the amendments at this time, however, and discussion about them will continue next week.