The Student Council Diversity Initiatives Committee has established Hooliday Dining, a new program to provide food and entertainment for students who will remain on Grounds for Thanksgiving Break.

As part of the program, The Crossroads at Observatory Hill Dining Hall will continue to serve students during the break and also will allow students to use meal plan swipes for the first time, said Aquiles Damiron, manager of the Hooliday Dining taskforce. In the past, students were only permitted to use their Plus Dollars during breaks on the academic calendar.

Additionally, students will be able to use their Plus Dollars when they order from Domino’s Pizza on both Millmont Street and Fifth Street.

“We wanted to provide something for students who were staying on Grounds … meaning food and entertainment, and basically a guide of everything that was available to [them] — for example, the routes of [University Transit Service],” he said. “Our whole purpose here is not only to coordinate events for students on Grounds but also make them aware of activities on Grounds.”

The Committee started planning the program late September when it sent surveys to multiple organizations to determine the interests of students staying at the University. Damiron said the Committee received about 200 responses, the majority of which came from international students and students whose homes in the United States are too far from Charlottesville to justify going back for the week.

The Office of the Dean of Students and University Dining collaborated with the Committee to help provide these services.

Assoc. Dean of Students Peter Yu was especially concerned about the lack of activities for students during Thanksgiving Breaks in the past and was keen to help with Hooliday Dining, Damiron said.

“Last year, Dean Yu came into the [International Residential College] on Thanksgiving and everyone was in their rooms, sleeping. There was nothing going on,” Damiron said. “He was very concerned about that. He thought students should have something to do during the holiday.”

With this year’s program, the IRC will host a movie night this Friday at 7 p.m., Damiron said.

Students generally reacted positively to Hooliday Dining, and third-year College student Simon Svirnovskiy said he might take advantage of it.

“I think I’d probably go to Crossroads. I’d probably look for things to do in the evenings, so if there were movies going on with U.Va. students, I’d check that out,” he said.

Specific information about the program will be released through Student Council, Resident Life and the Office of the Dean of Students mailing lists, Damiron said.

In the future, Student Council hopes to extend these services during both Fall and Spring Breaks, as well.

Much like other schools, the University’s Office of Admissions, located in Peabody Hall, above, has seen an increasing amount of applications recently. Photo by Will Brumas.

As colleges across the country prepare to admit the class of 2015, schools are reporting record numbers of applications. The University of California, Los Angeles, for example, received 57,670 applications from hopeful students, an applicant pool that has broken records for the school and has led UCLA to call itself “the most popular campus in the nation.”

Although the University has not yet totaled this year’s number of applications, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Greg Roberts said the University has seen an increasing trend in the number of applications it receives.

The University’s class of 2014 was selected out of 22,396 applications, which was 3 percent higher than the 21,000-plus applications received for the class of 2013. Similarly, from the class of 2013 to the class of 2012, the University reported a 16-percent increase from the number of applications the University received for the current third-year class.

Roberts attributed this increase in applications to a number of reasons, namely the University’s decision to use the Common Application in 2008 — the year that the class of 2013 applied — and an ever-rising anxiety among students vying for admission to increasingly selective colleges.

“Students are applying to more schools. Firstly, with the introduction of the Common Application, it has become easier to apply than it has been in the past,” he said. “There is also a feeling of uncertainty about the likelihood of admission. Students have a more difficult time determining which schools are safeties or reaches, and therefore they submit more applications, thinking this will increase their odds of acceptance to a top school.”

But even as students apply to more schools on their own, Roberts said schools are implementing more creative strategies to attract a greater pool of applicants.

To matriculate the nation’s top students, universities will purchase names of students from CollegeBoard based on self-reported GPAs, SAT and PSAT scores with the intent of reaching out to those students and encouraging them to apply, Roberts said. This is generally a common practice, he said, but some schools may purchase a broader range of student scores that would not be typically admitted — thus recruiting students with the purpose of later rejecting them. As a result, the school appears to be more selective statistically.

The CollegeBoard website offers the Enrollment Planning Service, which allows college administrators to search for the institutions that students are sending SAT scores to and where students are from. Another service called the Student Search Service allows schools access to students’ mailing and e-mail addresses.

Several University students noted that they were recipients of such marketing techniques when applying to colleges.

“CollegeBoard sent me a lot of e-mails based on the major I had told them I was interested in. I got a lot of e-mails from schools that would send me information about that major, but I started to ignore them,” first-year College student Isabella Noyen said.

Fourth-year Engineering student Donna Bryant also said many colleges targeted her based on information that seemed to come from CollegeBoard.

“It seemed like every day that I got something from either CollegeBoard or from a college that had received information from them,” she said.

Some schools, Roberts noted, attempt to increase applicant numbers by sending out ‘Snap Apps,’ or applications that are sent to students with their biographical information already filled out or that come with offers of waived essays or application fees. To finish the application, the student simply sends it back to the school.

Roberts said the University avoids using such methods to attract students.

“Here at U.Va. we do not use these types of practices in admissions,” he said. “We don’t believe in shortcuts or deception.”

The University’s deadline for applying to become a member of the class of 2015 is Jan. 1, 2011.

Many of the books that were housed in the Ivy Stacks have been placed in boxes located across Grounds and the state of Virginia, such as these stored in Alderman Library. Photo by Grant Mathews.

The University’s ongoing renovation of the Ivy Stacks — an off-Grounds shelving site managed by the University Library system — has placed the bulk of the facility’s 750,000 items in warehouses across the state.

But as shelves groan under the weight of the University’s book collection, the Ivy Stacks renovation is “critical” for the continued growth of the University Library’s collection, Director of Interlibrary Services Paul Rittelmeyer said.

The renovation of the stacks began July 1, Rittelmeyer said. The facility, located about two miles from Central Grounds on Old Ivy Road, opened in 1995 to house rarely circulated library items that Alderman and Clemons Libraries, already filled to capacity, could not hold.

But fifteen years later, the Ivy Stacks have also run out of shelving space. “Shelving space is an issue for all major research libraries, and we’re no exception,” Rittelmeyer said.

To help alleviate this problem, the University plans to install mobile shelves in the Ivy Stacks to double the site’s capacity.

“In an ideal world, the plan would be to build a second facility,” Rittelmeyer said. He estimated that building a second warehouse would have cost $15 million. Installing a new shelving system, however, will cost the University a projected $4,882,000.

The last of the facility’s existing shelves came down yesterday, and the materials normally held at Ivy Stacks have been relocated. Some items are currently in the closed stacks of Alderman — that is, areas of the library not open to public browsing, although patrons may request items that librarians then retrieve. More fragile materials are being held at the State Records Center at the Library of Virginia in Richmond.

The majority of items from the stacks, however, have been relocated to a warehouse in Orange, Va., Rittelmeyer said, rendering them unavailable and forcing the University Library to request these items from other libraries when needed. But despite this additional challenge, Rittelmeyer said the library staff would go through both the “usual” and “unusual motions” of the interlibrary loan process — including contacting authors directly — to satisfy book-hungry patrons.

“We’ve had these stacks closed since July, for four — going on five — months,” he said. “We’ve been ably to satisfy almost every request with just a few bumps in the road.”

Third-year Law student Andrew Winerman experienced one of those bumps. When working on a research paper for his Urban Law and Policy class, he searched for a master’s thesis normally housed in the Ivy Stacks.

“There was no way for them to get it — they’re in boxes all over the state,” Winerman said. “A lot of masters’ theses are in the Ivy Stacks, and they’re all inaccessible now.”

He said he was told it would be 18 months before he could have the source he was looking for. Eventually, he sent an e-mail the author to obtain a copy himself.

“[Masters’ theses] are classes of books that are predictably unique to the U.Va. collection,” Winerman said. “They should have taken special care to make sure those were kept out of the books they shipped to inaccessible locations around Virginia for 18 months.”

Despite the temporary inaccessibility caused by the renovation, Rittelmeyer said he thought “most, if not every request” for Ivy Stack items will be satisfied because they are not frequently in circulation. He estimated that the site receives about 350 requests per month.

Rittelmeyer said he hopes the renovated stacks will be “up and running” by February 2012.

“We’ll be moving into the 21st century with this project,” he said.

The University Transit Service has announced that it will run an altered bus schedule during Thanksgiving Break.

UTS buses will run full service until 8 p.m. tonight, after which it will begin its Holiday Service schedule — Northline, Inner U-Loop and Outer U-Loop will serve stops at 30-minute intervals — until 12:30 a.m.

Buses will only run on the Green Route and the Stadium/Hospital Shuttle tomorrow from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. From 6 to 9:30 a.m. Green Route buses will service stops every 10 minutes; from 9:30 a.m. until 8 p.m., buses will run on 15-minute intervals.

UTS will discontinue service Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Service will resume Holiday Service again Sunday — Northline, Inner U-Loop and Outer U-Loop buses will service stops from 8:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. every 30 minutes.

Full service will resume next Monday for the first day of classes.

—compiled by Tom Christensen

Junior defensive tackle Nick Jenkins hopes to improve a rush-defense that is the 14th worst in the nation in rushing yards allowed. During last week’s matchup with Boston College, two Eagles ran for 100 or more yards en route to a 17-13 victory. Photo by Jack Prominski.

Two clocks hang on the wall of the Virginia football team’s locker room all season long. One counts down the hours and minutes until the Cavaliers’ next game, while the other displays how much time remains until the annual battle for the Commonwealth Cup between Virginia and Virginia Tech.

Both clocks will hit triple zero this Saturday as the Cavaliers run out onto the field for the final game of coach Mike London’s first season. With a victory against the No. 13 Hokies, the Cavaliers would bring home the Commonwealth Cup for the first time since 2003 — when current Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub held the reins — and emerge from Lane Stadium victorious for the first time since 1998.

Virginia (4-7, 1-6 ACC) seemingly does not have much to play for apart from its pride as the squad already has been statistically eliminated from bowl game and ACC championship contention. But the Cavaliers said not having a postseason ahead of them has not stopped them from preparing for Saturday’s game with just as much determination as they would with any other matchup.

“This is our bowl game,” junior defensive tackle Nick Jenkins said. “That’s how we’re treating it. I don’t think many people have given us a chance in a lot of games, and I think that’s been motivation all season. It’s our seniors’ last game, and we want to send them out on a high note.”

The Cavaliers will need to play like bowl-contenders if they hope to upset the Hokies (9-2, 7-0 ACC) and snap a 12-game losing streak in November that dates back to 2007. After losing its first two games this season against Boise State and James Madison, Virginia Tech has rattled off nine consecutive victories — including seven against ACC opponents — en route to the ACC Coastal Division title.

Senior quarterback Marc Verica and his wide receiving corps should have their hands full with a Virginia Tech secondary that ranks eighth in the nation in pass efficiency defense and second in the nation in interceptions with 19. Sophomore cornerback Jayron Hosley leads the Hokie secondary — and the nation — with eight interceptions.

“When the ball’s in the air, [Hosley has] the mentality that it belongs to [him],” London said. “You always have to be conscious of where ball hawks are because they go after the ball. He’s a very complete player.”

On defense, the Cavaliers will need to demonstrate some ball-hawking skills of their own to stop the Hokies’ three-headed ground game. Senior quarterback Tyrod Taylor, redshirt sophomore tailback Ryan Williams and redshirt junior Darren Evans have combined for nearly 1,700 rushing yards on the season. In addition to scoring four times with his legs, Taylor also has thrown for 2,082 yards and 19 touchdowns, compared to only four interceptions.

“There’s no way you can say you can defend him like this, like that, because he has all the tools,” London said. “He’s an athletic guy that makes things happen for him, and he’s become a really good quarterback in terms of the passing game and things.”

Jenkins said the Virginia defensive front seven is ready to step up to the challenge of keeping Taylor in the pocket and thwarting the attempts of Williams and Evans to plow their way downfield. The Cavaliers are currently the 15th worst team in the nation in rushing yards allowed, surrendering 203.9 yards per game. During last weekend’s 17-13 loss against Boston College, Virginia allowed two Eagle tailbacks to rush for more than 100 yards each.

Despite the challenges that await Virginia in Blacksburg, the squad is hopeful that it can close out the season with a win as London continues to lay the program’s new foundation.

“I don’t want to say one game can make or break your season, but I think it would definitely be a great way to send the seniors out with a win against our biggest rival,” sophomore linebacker Steve Greer said. “We’re definitely taking big steps as a program, and we’re going in the right direction. To get a win here would be huge [in helping rebuild the program].”

Kickoff is slated for noon Saturday.

Redshirt junior Ryan Collins finished in 32nd place at the NCAA Championships yesterday, becoming just the sixth Cavalier ever to receive All-American honors. Photo courtesy Virginia Media Relations.

The Virginia men’s and women’s cross country teams concluded their seasons yesterday at the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., where redshirt junior Ryan Collins led the men to a 17th-place finish, and the women placed 21st overall.

At last year’s national race, Collins finished 41st overall — one place shy of All-American status. With this bitter ending to the 2009 campaign in mind, Collins maintained all season long that his goal was to earn the All-American title that eluded him a year ago.

Collins finished the 10k course yesterday with a time of 30 minutes, 24.9 seconds, good for 32nd place and becoming just the sixth Cavalier ever to receive the All-American honor on the men’s side.

“It’s really special,” Collins said. “It’s a tough race and you never really know what’s going to happen … And after last year, getting 41st — the first guy that’s not an All-American — it just kind of gave me a lot more drive this year. It just really means a lot to me.”

Powered by Collins’ performance, the men bounced back from their fourth-place finish at the ACC Championships and last week’s disappointing sixth-place finish at Regionals, after which they dropped out of the national rankings for the first time all season. Virginia was the first Southeast Region team and second ACC team to place. Florida State finished runner-up to NCAA champion Oklahoma State.

Coming in second for the men was senior Emil Heineking, who finished in 71st place in 30:52.3. Redshirt sophomore Sean Keveren finished third for the Cavaliers, taking 82nd place in 30:57.7, while junior Sintayehu Taye claimed 107th in 31:16.2. Freshman Chris Foley finished for Virginia at 172nd-place. Nearly 250 athletes representing 31 schools competed in the race.

The meet marked Heineking’s last cross country race, and he ends his career with the program as the first two-time All-American in the sport, the ninth conference athlete to win two ACC individual championships and just the second-ever Cavalier male to compete in four NCAA cross country championships. And although his presence surely will be missed next season, the team has full confidence in its returning young runners.

“Losing Emil is obviously a big loss,” Collins said. “Every race that you go into you know he’s going to perform and finish well and give his all to the finish line. But we just have to move past it and have some new guys step up … Everyone else is coming back next year, and we have a lot of young talent.”

The women, meanwhile, entered the race coming off a regional championship win for just the second time in program history. Leading the way for Virginia yesterday was redshirt senior Stephanie Garcia, who finished the 8k course in 84th place with a time of 21:13.8 seconds, ending her successful cross country career on a bittersweet note. The team’s recent success proved to be a catch-22 of sorts — it increased the team’s expectations heading into the national race but may also explain the runners’ slightly disappointing 21st-place finish. Villanova captured the title, followed by runner-up Florida State.

“It’s definitely not how we wanted to finish the season and not how I wanted to finish my career in cross country,” Garcia said. “It was a hard day and a hard race. We just came off being regional champions only about eight or nine days ago, and I think it took it’s toll on us … Not everyone was on their ‘A’ game.”

Coming in second for Virginia was sophomore Barbara Strehler, who placed 86th in 21:14.2. Junior Morgane Gay crossed the finish line next for the Cavaliers in 21:32.2, good for 126th place. Freshmen Katherine Walker and Ariel Karabinus finished 132nd and 182nd, respectively. All four runners will return next season, giving the team a seemingly bright future.

“If they can all stay healthy and train smart like they have been doing all year, they can be a really strong team,” Garcia said. “I’m really confident about their future together.”

It’s the top of the first inning in the first game of the season and Charlie Brown is standing on a pitcher’s mound covered in dandelions. His team has lost 98 straight games — all by shutout. His infield includes a dog at shortstop, a dust cloud at third and a second baseman who would much rather twirl around his blanket than turn a double play. These worries weigh heavily on Charlie Brown’s heart. Even in his warm-up tosses, the round-headed kid is pressing. Schroeder, who has made a seamless transition from Beethoven to the backstop, trots out to the mound to calm down his pitcher. The timeless exchange goes like this.

Schroeder: “All right, Charlie Brown. Let’s get our signals straight. One finger will mean the high straight ball; two fingers will mean the low straight ball.”

Charlie Brown: “What about my curveball, and my slider, and my knuckle ball, and my sidearm, and my submarine pitch?”

Schroeder: “One finger will mean the high straight ball, and two fingers will mean the low straight ball.”

It’s the simple things that count. This is true of school, sports, family, friends — life. When you start overthinking, overcompensating or trying to be something you aren’t, even the most well-intentioned gesture can take a turn for the worse. Of course, even with the sage advice of Schroeder, Charlie Brown and the gang suffered their 99th shutout loss in a row. Based on the game’s final score, I wouldn’t be surprised if the slaughter rule was invented immediately after “A Boy Named Charlie Brown” made its television debut in 1969. Nevertheless, the important message shines through, and it has stuck with me since I first watched “A Boy Named Charlie Brown” with my family more than a decade ago. Now, with the Thanksgiving holiday upon us and Christmas a mere month away, I want to apply that message to the art of holiday gift-giving.

Disclaimer: I have always loved literature. You may not be as big a bookworm, but you can’t deny that reading for pleasure gets that much better after a semester of reading that was probably anything but pleasurable.

Here are my top five recommendations for simple, sports-related gifts that you can find — all without leaving the comforts of your local Barnes & Noble.

“Moneyball” by Michael Lewis: I have been lucky enough to enjoy two transcendental moments in life. The first came when I learned that my childhood passion for paleontology would not translate into a viable career path because all of the dinosaur bones have already been — you know — discovered. The second came after I read “Moneyball.” There are oodles of baseball books about great games, players, managers and even the dark side of the game — “Ball Four” by Jim Bouton is another unforgettable read. But none of them will fundamentally change the way you view the game like Lewis’ bestseller. If you love baseball, numbers and especially if you love both, do yourself a favor and indulge in the accessible and engrossing story of Billy Beane, the Oakland A’s and baseball’s higher power — sabermetrics.

“The Book of Basketball” by Bill Simmons: I realize the hypocrisy of stumping for a pro basketball book a week after I criticized the NBA. But if “The Book of Basketball” isn’t a veritable bible of basketball in terms of influence, it certainly is in length — more than 700 pages. Whether you love or hate the NBA, Simmons’ colorful commentary on the history of pro hoops is a must-have. He writes with equal parts dedicated research and unapologetic opinion, all infused with the wit, humor and pop culture potpourri of a classic Sports Guy column. From interviewing Isiah Thomas to selecting a starting lineup for a “Space Jam”-style basketball game against alien invaders, this has it all. With apologies to Rick Reilly — he’ll get his due soon enough — Simmons is the signature sportswriter of 2010, and this will likely be his magnum opus.

“Friday Night Lights” by H.G. Bissinger: The book! Not the movie — though it definitely does the novel justice. Not the TV show — even if Matt Saracen is my boy. The book — a non-fiction account of the 1988 Odessa-Permian high school football team, which inspired the motion picture and TV show, is the gift of choice for the discerning Panther Football fan. Bissinger’s journalistic microscope vividly uncovers the fascinating — and frightening — world of Texas high school football culture. If you still aren’t sold, consider the Harry Potter example. No matter how saucy the Harry-Hermione kiss is in the new “Deathly Hallows” movie, the Potter films will never be more than an addendum to the true Hogwarts experience found inside J.K. Rowling’s tomes. So too with “Friday Night Lights.” Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose!

“The Life of Reilly” by Rick Reilly: Despite its bestseller status, I rarely see this collection on any top sports book lists. I can’t explain this, but I can do my part to give such a formative text its due. Bill Simmons may be the most influential sportswriter today but he is hardly a unanimous favorite — if the favorite at all. In contrast, Reilly lapped the field during the 1990s as the back-page columnist for Sports Illustrated. Lately, Reilly — now with ESPN — has been labeled a fading star, but re-reading this collection of his best early columns for SI keeps me hopeful that a resurgence may be just around the corner. In 800 words, Reilly can elicit laughter, tears, enlightenment and inspiration; by the end of this book, he will remind you why he will always be the gold standard.

“A Boy Named Charlie Brown”: It’s not a book, but you can find a DVD of the television special at any Barnes & Noble — as promised. Like “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” this family-friendly classic is chock-full of laughs, lovable characters and life lessons — and all three would make perfect holiday gifts. You may even start a holiday viewing tradition in your household.

This Thanksgiving, try to give simple gifts and enjoy simple pleasures. Turn off your cell phone and admire the autumn splendor when you walk across Grounds. Offer to help the parents cook and clean up after dinner, even if it threatens your post-turkey “pass-out-on-the-couch-watching-football” tradition. And whatever you do, don’t forget that one’s the high straight ball, two’s the low straight ball. Life throws enough curveballs as it is.