IT IS NOT every day a teaching assistant tells you there is something you should not read­ — not to save time, but to save a future career. Last fall, however, at least one TA in the politics department sent a message to his sections warning them that discussing on their Facebook accounts the United States’ diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks could prevent them from getting jobs in the State Department. The message contained a link to a report about an email sent from the Office of Career Services at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs in which an anonymous alumnus in the State Department urged students to avoid discussing the cables, lest they seem unable to deal with confidential information.

This prohibitive attitude toward the leaks simply is not fair. International relations students who are sincerely interested in the field cannot help but be curious about the State Department’s operations, especially when the information ends up printed on the front page of The New York Times. Furthermore, open discussion is a necessity in education, as Columbia noted in its retraction of the ominous email. “Students have a right to discuss and debate any information in the public arena that they deem relevant to their studies… without fear of adverse consequences,” the retraction read.

The initial email probably was not motivated by a genuine concern for students’ futures, as was certainly the case with the University TAs’ warnings, but rather a desire to prevent the leak from spreading. This is part of a broader campaign of intimidation and threats against whistleblowers — potential, alleged or real. In fact, Time magazine says President Obama “is rapidly establishing a record as the most aggressive prosecutor of alleged government leakers in U.S. history.”

The case of 23-year-old Army Private Bradley Manning demonstrates the nation’s extreme treatment of alleged whistleblowers. Manning has been accused of sending hundreds of thousands of classified government documents to the WikiLeaks website. He has been held for months in solitary confinement, enduring conditions Amnesty International has called “inhumane.”

The Uniform Code of Military Justice, in accordance with which Manning is detained, bans using pretrial detention conditions to punish an alleged crime. Though the president stated that the Pentagon told him Manning was receiving adequate treatment, public outrage has been sufficient to have Manning moved to a facility that promises improved conditions. The “anti-suicide” measures that Manning has faced so far — including the removal of all his clothes but underwear — have been of questionable legality, to say the least.

Salon’s Glenn Greenwald asserts that the president’s acceptance of Manning’s treatment has two motivations. First, he is wearing Manning down to extract a confession that will implicate Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, making him vulnerable to American prosecution. Second, Obama is trying to set a frightening example: If you leak information, even to expose potential wrongdoing, expect to be placed in inhumane, torturous conditions indefinitely.

And yes, President Obama is aware this is happening. “We don’t let individuals make their own decisions about how the laws operate,” Obama said recently of Manning. “He broke the law.” So much for innocent until proven guilty. What little chance Manning had of a fair trial seems crushed by that statement: It would take a bold judge to deny the president his desired verdict.

The president is sensitive to criticism on this matter. State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley’s condemnation of Manning’s treatment as “counterproductive and stupid” forced his resignation. Hopefully in the upcoming campaign season, someone will ask Obama what he would tell his daughters if they worked for the government and wanted to blow the whistle on possible wrongdoings. How would he feel if they were being held in solitary confinement? If stressing constitutional prohibitions against cruel punishment and pretrial assumptions of guilt does not work, perhaps appeals to emotion will.

Some will argue that exposing classified information is tantamount to treason, and the potential damage done by information clearinghouses such as WikiLeaks justifies harsh treatment. If this were so, then it would be interesting to see the government attempt to censure the newspapers printing this information. Once when the government attempted to do that, the Supreme Court upheld The New York Times’s right to publish the Pentagon Papers because an embarrassed President Nixon could not prove their release would cause a “grave and irreparable” danger. Let us see if the Obama administration can show sufficient evidence that the recent leaks really pose such a threat to national security and not just the administration’s reputation.

This past Sunday, WikiLeaks leaked secret files about prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay prison camp that dozens of international newspapers have been publishing and analyzing. These direct looks into the insanity of our security state are well worth reading and seriously discussing.

And with just those two sentences, I think it is safe to say I have torpedoed my chances of getting a job in the State Department. I would not call this a huge personal loss, though — if the department really is trying to keep out students who are attentive to international news and concerned about the rule of law, then they will get subservient employees who ignore facts to protect careers or please bosses. A total disavowal of the absurd, de facto policy against discussing leaks is necessary to make the institution both effective and worth joining.

Sam Carrigan is a Viewpoint writer for The Cavalier Daily.

The Virginia men’s lacrosse teams enters its last regular season game of the season in a decidedly unfamiliar position — playing for its shot at a postseason.

Coming off back-to-back losses to Duke, the Cavaliers (8-5) will host Penn (8-4) this weekend with a chance to prove they deserve to be playing in May. During the past five games, the Cavaliers have gone 1-4, dropping in the national rankings from No. 2 to No. 11 in a matter of weeks. Virginia’s slump may be the result of missing many of its key starters, including senior goalie Adam Ghitelman, senior midfiedlers Rhamel Bratton and Shamel Bratton to suspension, as well as redshirt junior defender Matt Lovejoy and junior attackman Steele Stanwick to injury.

Despite spraining his foot and bruising his calf, Stanwick has been a bright spot during the Cavaliers’ season, and won the ACC Player of the Year award last week. While Stanwick did play in last week’s 19-10 shellacking against Duke, he had limited effect, with no goals or assists. He will look to rebound this week against a No. 13 Penn team that has beaten the likes of Princeton, Yale and a team well-known to Virginia — Duke.

Junior attacker Chris Bocklet also will aim to dismantle the Quakers. He brings a 31-game scoring streak to Saturday’s game, the longest such streak in the country. The Cavaliers will look for him to extend the mark Saturday, as they try to avoid missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2003-04 season.

Faceoff is slated for 3 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium.

—compiled by Dean Overdyk

Junior infielder Kennedy Byxbee said the team hopes to push past the Wolfpack and position itself better for the ACC Tournament next month. Photo courtesy Virginia Athletics

Virginia softball plays its last regular season ACC series this weekend, but the team is not feeling nostalgic just yet. Instead of seeing this week’s trip to N.C. State as an end, the Cavaliers view it as a chance for a fresh start.

“It’s like a new season as we now start to prepare for the ACC Tournament,” assistant coach Heidi Freitager said. “This becomes more or a less a third preseason, where we had the fall season, and then the early part of January and February, and now we have a whole new season starting … Now we just have to turn it around.”

Virginia hopes its “third preseason” will be more like their first two, during which the Cavaliers beat three ranked opponents, than its play during the last two months. This year the Cavaliers (21-27,4-12 ACC) have suffered through injuries and inconsistency while posting a sub-.500 record. The team enters the weekend as losers of four straight games and currently finds itself stuck at the very bottom of the ACC standings.

N.C. State (24-21, 5-11 ACC), however, sits just one game ahead of the Cavaliers in the conference and is well within Virginia’s striking distance. As the conference tournament lurks around the corner, a last-second bump in the standings would pay dividends for the team.

“We want to get some momentum going into the ACC Tournament,” junior infielder Kennedy Byxbee said. “It’s really important for us to win two games this weekend so that we can put ourselves in a better position within the bracket of the tournament and give us a better opportunity to move through the tournament.”

A well-rounded Wolfpack team stands in Virginia’s way this weekend.

N.C. State’s offense does not feature one star, but instead relies on six batters with 30 or more hits, four batters with 20 or more RBIs and nine batters with 10 or more runs scored. The team even rotates between 18 players which have played double-digit games this season, and such versatility makes the Wolfpack difficult to scout, as opponents cannot predict who they will attack on any given night.

“I think the biggest challenge is that they are such a mixed bag of talent,” Freitager said. “You have speed here and there, you have power here and there, and you have players coming in and out. So you have to prepare for a lot of different scenarios to happen because they’re always going to be throwing something different at you.”

Virginia’s offense has been stagnant during its four-game losing streak, putting up a combined three runs during that span, but will look to get back on track against the ACC’s statistically third-worst pitching staff. The Wolfpack enter the weekend with a team ERA of 3.36, which is sixth in the conference, but also still more than a run better than Virginia’s 4.69 mark — the worst in the ACC.

Unlike its offense, N.C. State’s pitching staff has a definitive leader, as freshman Kayla Cox has thrown more than half of the team’s innings so far this year. The freshman is tops on the team with a 3.09 ERA, and more impressively, she is fourth in the ACC with 206 strikeouts — 11 behind Virginia sophomore ace Melanie Mitchell. The hurler’s penchant for punch-outs will force the Cavalier batters to be extra careful at the plate and may in turn help them get past their recent struggles.

“Its definitely important to get the offense back in the groove,” Freitager said. “It’s going be a matter of getting the ball in play especially against Cox because she has a bunch of strikeouts. So we may need to simplify our approach, and hopefully that will get the bats going again.”

And as the end of this tumultuous, up-and-down regular season nears, the Cavaliers are paying no heed to what has transpired thus far, only what lies ahead.

“We’re just going to go in there and give it our all,” Byxbee said. “We have nothing to lose and nothing else that happened [this season] matters. We’re just going to stick to us, play our game, and hopefully end on a high note going into the ACC Tournament.”

Neither junior pitcher Danny Hultzen nor junior hurler Scott Silverstein would have predicted the course their Virginia careers have taken.

For Hultzen, his campaign as a Cavalier has far exceeded even his own expectation. For Silverstein, his three seasons with Virginia have fallen short of his potential.

The two lefties grew up together in Montgomery County, Md., and played against each other until they were 11 years old. From ages 12 to 14, Silverstein played on Hultzen’s team and the two formed a friendship that was rekindled when Virginia began to recruit the two.

But Hultzen believes that the recruiting process began earlier for Silverstein and that Virginia targeted his friend first.

“He was awesome, absolutely dominant,” Hultzen said. “His size, throwing that hard, with that kind of off-speed pitch and the command he had — [it] was something special.”

Although Hultzen currently dominates the headlines, four years ago, Silverstein was the bigger star.

“I remember opening the newspaper and seeing Scott’s name all over it,” Hultzen said. “On TV, they would have special showcases, and you’d read about him in magazines.”
Silverstein was the one named to the AFLAC All-American team after his junior season and the one tabbed as Maryland’s No. 1 recruit. But during their senior seasons, things began to change.
“We switched,” Hultzen said. “He had an unbelievable junior year; that’s when he started getting his name out there, and that’s kind of what happened to me our senior year — and he was hurt.”

‘And he was hurt’
During Silverstein’s senior year of high school, he suffered a torn labrum in his shoulder and underwent surgery that sidelined him for that season and the next. Silverstein worked hard to rehabilitate, going to the park every day to lift and work with trainers, but nothing happened. Silverstein’s arm did not improve, until finally, he knew he needed another operation.

“Nobody had to tell me that it was going to happen again,” Silverstein said. “I remember warming up for the charity game and there had been so many bad days before and I just knew that it felt the same, and I just had to have it done again. I broke down. That was my lowest day at the field.”

Hultzen recalled the pain of watching his friend come back from injury, only to head back to rehab.

“It was heartbreaking because you saw all the work he put in after the first surgery,” Hultzen said, “All the rehab, all the throwing, all the doctor visits, and you hope so much that he might get better. And then when he got hurt again, it was just crushing because you knew he would have to do it all again.”

At first, Silverstein worried he would not be able to stage another comeback.

“I remember coming back for the first game of rehab, [and] I was just like, ‘I really don’t want to go through this all over again,’” Silverstein said. “But with [your teammate’s] support, you do it. They were always there when I needed them the most, and that is something I can never repay them for.”

Silverstein’s arm always had been his blessing, a weapon he used to hurl a ball 94 miles per hour and carve through opposing lineups. But following the surgery, Silverstein could not even use the limb to put on shirts or tie his shoes.

“We just tried our best to be supportive and help him open cans, carry his backpack, drive him to places, do whatever you can,” Hultzen said. “You just try to understand what he was going through, because none of us had gone through anything remotely as bad as what he did.”

‘None of us had gone through anything remotely as bad…’
Hultzen never has experienced the same pitching lows as Silverstein. In fact, he has gone down quite a different road, netting an almost endless stream of collegiate accolades and experiencing countless high points. Hultzen was the 2009 ACC Freshman of the Year, the 2010 ACC Pitcher of the Year, an All-American and this season’s Baseball America’s Midseason Player of the Year.

Although only a junior, Hultzen already has set the school mark for career wins and career strikeouts and has the potential to be a top-three Major League draft pick.

Silverstein, who lives with Hultzen, easily could be tempted to compare himself to Hultzen, and perhaps even question whether he could have — or should have — been the one to reach such great heights. To Silverstein, Hultzen represents the standard toward which he is working.

“I’m obviously jealous,” Silverstein said. “But he’s earned everything he’s gotten … I’m trying to not compare myself to him, but instead I feed off him. I want to work as hard as him, hopefully reach my potential, and hopefully it’s somewhere near [Hultzen’s].”

Despite their diverging career paths, Hultzen and Silverstein only have grown closer, and Hultzen said the two roommates now “spend most hours of the day together.” The two never drifted apart, largely because Hultzen did not let them. With a talent like his, Hultzen could have been a player “who turned up the TV when it’s about him.” Instead, Silverstein said, “if the TV would come on now, he’d walk out of the room. He doesn’t want that kind of attention.”

“It would be worse if he was the arrogant type, and he was showing me the stuff he’s done, because I’ve seen it,” Silverstein said. “If I wanted to read it, I’d go read it. But he’s never shoved it in my face. He’s content with what he’s done and modest.”

Back to business
Silverstein made his first start as a Cavalier last Wednesday. It was a moment Silverstein had worked three years to achieve, but one delayed by another disturbing injury. Richmond’s freshman shortstop Mike Small fractured his fibula and dislocated his ankle, reminding Silverstein that “one play can change things forever.”

Silverstein reflected on the day when he learned he would have another operation and still uses that moment to keep the game in perspective.

“Every time I have a bad day throwing, I can always think that I’ve had worse days at the field,” he said. “[I] turn it into a positive. I know there have been worse days and that was the lowest one.”

Silverstein still has not seen his best days at the field. His coach, Brian O’Connor, acknowledged that the lefty has yet to return to his high school potential.

“Out of high school, the kid threw 90 to 94 miles per hour and I think he’s got a chance … to be where he was … but he’s not there yet, and he knows that,” O’Connor said.

Silverstein also realizes, however, that he cannot judge himself by past results.

“I’m not as focused on getting back to where I was, I just want to get better for where I am,” Silverstein said. “I’m 20 years old now, and I want to be the best 20-year-old I can be and not look back to where I was when I was 17.”

The lefty tossed three shutout innings Wednesday, lowering his ERA to 3.86 and furthering his progress from the past three years. Despite the setbacks, Silverstein believes that his 20-year-old self can once again excite professional scouts.

“That’s what’s keeping me going, knowing that the ceiling is still there and I’m not done,” Silverstein said. “This isn’t my last run … I know there’s another year, and hopefully there’s more after that. Hopefully I’ll do well enough to have a chance at the next level.”

Silverstein also has another chance to play in the postseason. Less than a year ago, he laid awake at night, haunted by the team’s loss against a left-handed-heavy Oklahoma team during the Super Regionals. Virginia likely could have used the lefty’s arm to tilt the advantage in its favor.

“During the Super Regionals, I was watching us get beat pretty bad that third game, and I was disappointed that if I was healthy, hopefully I would be there,” Silverstein said. “The team struggled with lefties, and I lost a lot of sleep over that series.”

This year, however, Silverstein looks to embrace a chance to help Hultzen and the teammates that helped him when he “needed them the most.”

“Going to Omaha [in 2009] was awesome, but I want to go this year,” Silverstein said. “I want to participate and be able to go out there on the mound and hopefully contribute, because that’s what the goal is. The goal is to get there, but the goal is also to give back to the team.”

If you were living under a rock for the past three days, I’ve got some news for you. U.S. District Court Judge Susan Nelson issued a 94-page ruling Monday evening regarding the recent NFL work stoppage in which she sided with the players. Nelson ordered that the lockout be lifted because of the illegality of the NFL owners’ attempt to keep the athletes from working.

Upon hearing that they were allowed to go back to work, NFL players did just that — they headed to team facilities to resume their jobs.

But what they found was simply ridiculous. Strength coaches were told they had they day off, security guards prevented the players from working out and doors were locked. A video shown on SportsCenter — for hours and hours on end — showed the Pittsburgh Steelers squad searching for an unlocked door to their facility so that they officially could begin off-season training.

Well, something just doesn’t sound right here. The owners claimed that they merely were trying to ascertain what set of rules would now govern the league. The men in charge supposedly just needed a day to figure that out.

Three days later, nothing has changed. I simply don’t understand why the owners are dead-set on preventing their players, their most valuable assets, from using the teams’ facilities — a move that only will benefit the owners during regular and postseason play.

The NFL owners finally have been exposed for their hypocrisy. Throughout the entire negotiation process, the owners consistently have stretched the truth, especially in declaring they gave the players a fantastic deal without ever opening up their books.

Now, I’m not saying that both sides don’t have their fair share of issues or that it’s an easy problem to fix. This is a matter of millionaires arguing with billionaires about how to split the NFL’s $9 billion of annual revenue, after all.

But, as a fan of the NFL and someone who wants to see football in the near future, I see only one solution to this problem: both sides need to negotiate a deal.

It’s not rocket science, people. They need to sit down, face to face, and work these issues out. When both sides are listening to their lawyers instead of their own fans, only legal bills — not solutions — are raised.

I refuse to believe there are not common sense solutions to many of the issues that divide these two groups. There is no way that people can’t manage to find a way to split $9 billion equitably.

And if they can’t sit down and make it work, the NFL might just suffer the same fate as the MLB. Unclear and unresolved problems only yield a lack of fan interest and support.

The NHL, meanwhile, only managed to survive a lockout because the fans understood why the league was failing.

In my opinion, $9 billion does not spell failure.

With its NCAA Tournament hopes hanging in the balance, the No. 11 Virginia women’s lacrosse team suffered a devastating 16-14 loss against No. 12 James Madison yesterday afternoon. The Cavaliers’ inability to eke out a win during the high-scoring affair places them in jeopardy of missing postseason play for the first time since 1995.

James Madison capitalized on early offensive opportunities, jumping out to an early 3-0 lead just less than three minutes into the matchup. Behind a solid attack, the Dukes managed to build a three-goal lead by halftime.

But the Cavaliers (9-7), bolstered by first-time starter freshman attacker Katie Slater, managed to trim the Dukes’ lead to two goals midway through the second half.

With the score frozen at 11-9 in favor of James Madison, the Dukes responded to Slater’s second-half spurt by scoring five of the next six goals to take a commanding 16-10 advantage. That lead eventually held up as James Madison managed to stave off a late four-goal push by the Cavaliers. Slater finished the game with a team-high four scores, while junior attacker Josie Owen added three goals of her own. Owen now boasts 39 goals on the season, one behind junior attacker Charlie Finnigan for the team lead.

The loss marked the fifth time this season that Virginia conceded 15 or more goals during a single game.

The Cavaliers now return home to face No. 5 Northwestern Saturday in their final regular season game. The opening draw is scheduled for noon.

—compiled by Ian Rappaport

Nearly nine months after taking office, Teresa A. Sullivan officially was inaugurated as University president April 15. Although the lengthy interim was not designed to be a trial period for Sullivan, it gave the University almost an entire academic year to observe her leadership style before formally welcoming her to the post.

Based on her involvement in the community, grasp of the University’s character and responsiveness to student concerns, it is clear that Sullivan’s first year has been successful. Yet as summer approaches and the luster of her inauguration ceremonies wears off, Sullivan faces a number of challenges that could define both her presidency and the future of the University. If she maintains the open-minded and practical approach that has characterized her term thus far, then employees, alumni and students have reason to be optimistic moving forward.

Sullivan has worked to foster a sense of community at the University since her arrival last August. She initiated the Day of Dialogue Sept. 24, which provided students with an opportunity to discuss issues of violence and abuse at the University. She also established her commitment to community outreach by participating in “Cavaliers Care: A Day of Service” following her inauguration. By actively involving herself in these events rather than merely planning and endorsing them, Sullivan set a precedent for engagement that she should continue to meet in the future.

Moreover, Sullivan has been mindful of protecting the University’s core identity when crafting plans to increase degree conferral in accordance with a goal set by Gov. Bob McDonnell. She has recognized that as a tightly-knit, medium-sized public institution, the University is distinct from the University of Michigan, a school of nearly 59,000 students where she served as provost. Accordingly, she has been exploring ways to boost the number of degrees issued without substantially expanding enrollment. Among the possibilities is a “three plus one” academic plan in which students would obtain a bachelor’s degree in three years and a master’s in their fourth year. Sullivan believes that this will allow students to enjoy the full four years of college while also opening up spots for new undergraduates more quickly.

Perhaps the most telling aspect of Sullivan’s first year, though, has been her willingness to work directly with students and address their concerns. Sullivan twice has met with the Living Wage Campaign, for example, in an attempt to make progress toward its policy objectives. Additionally, she took substantive action in accordance with the group’s principles by announcing an increase in the University’s minimum wage and cash subsidy for low-wage employees that will take effect July 1.

Decisions of even greater significance are upcoming for Sullivan. By June 1 she plans to select a replacement for Leonard Sandridge, the outgoing executive vice president and chief operating officer who has been at the University for 44 years. Soon thereafter, she will have to replace University Provost Arthur Garson. The individuals who Sullivan selects to fill these roles will have major impacts on the functioning of her administration in the coming years, and their creativity and vision will determine the University’s future ability to implement effective programs such as Sandridge’s brainchild, AccessUVa.

Sullivan also must cope with the state-wide wage freeze for public employees that is keeping salaries at the University down for the fourth consecutive year. Finding ways to retain talented faculty and equitably compensate lower-level staff will be difficult until the state’s financial situation improves. Sullivan has sought to accomplish the former by assenting to a $3,000 tuition differential third-year Commerce students will begin paying in the fall. In addition to increasing the minimum wage for low-level employees, she plans to seek greater assistance on their behalf from the Board of Visitors when she presents her first budget this June. Another looming financial issue is the Dec. 31 deadline for the University’s Capital Campaign, which is only about three-fourths of the way to meeting its fundraising goal of $3 billion.

As Sullivan becomes immersed in resolving these problems, she almost inevitably will have less time for community involvement and engagement with students. To make decisions that secure the University’s future, though, she must strike the right balance between authority and the down-to-earth openness that has made her first year an encouraging one.