“It’s very difficult to say that I’m happy or pleased to be here,” Law Prof. Anne Coughlin, who led the discussion, said. “The mood is a somber one. It’s very good for me to be here to talk about these issues.”

Huguely faces murder charges for the May 3, 2010 death of his ex-girlfriend, fourth-year College student Yeardley Love.

Coughlin explained the essentials of a murder trial before discussing Huguely’s specifically.

“I know this is not what you want, but, trust me, it’s what you need,” Coughlin said.

Student Council President Dan Morrison said Coughlin’s lecture enabled students to interpret the information they will receive about the trial.

“Ultimately, the point of this is to make sure that students are conversational about this on a topic that is obviously going to be pervasive in the next couple of weeks,” Morrison said. “[The lecture] gives them the knowledge that they need to decide how they want to engage the trial.”

Huguely’s case, Coughlin said, would likely focus on his state of mind.

“Our system puts a premium on identifying and proving of this culpable mental state,” she said.

Coughlin said it would be wrong, however, to prejudge Huguely’s guilt. She also explained the different types of murder charges brought against him by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

A grand jury indicted Huguely on first-degree murder charges. Proving first-degree murder requires the commonwealth’s lawyers to show that Huguely “deliberately, willfully, premeditatedly and feloniously” killed Love purposefully, or while engaged in an attempt to rob her. A conviction of first-degree murder in Virginia carries a sentence of 20 years to life in prison.

Second-degree murder, which would result in five to 40 years in prison, is committed without premeditation, but with malice and forethought.

“The defendant lacks a purpose to kill, but he did have a purpose to injure her badly,” Coughlin said.

Huguely could face a manslaughter conviction if his lawyers successfully offer evidence that Love provoked him into a passionate display of uncontrollable rage, which students in the audience suggested could be implied by the pair’s romantic history.

“I don’t like to speculate ever about what is likely to happen in a trial,” Coughlin said. “[But] this case is likely to raise very difficult questions about the distinction between murder and manslaughter.”

Huguely could also enter a plea bargain at any time, as more than 95 percent of criminal cases end in a plea bargain, Coughlin said.

The community may hope for a positive resolution to the events, which occurred a little less than two years ago. Coughlin said, however, that real success is never possible in criminal trials.

“The family will have a moment of relief, possibly even euphoria that their loved one has been vindicated, but that passes almost immediately with the realization that this case doesn’t restore, doesn’t bring back loved ones,” she said.

Third-year College student Whit Hunter, Student Council’s vice president for administration, launched the website, which has raised $3,500 so far. The initiative’s goal is to contribute to the estimated $51 million needed to repair the Rotunda.

Hunter said he collaborated with an anonymous Charlottesville donor “to put this online and give it back to people who really care at [the] University … and give them the opportunity to put their hands on something that is truly something memorable.”

“We have a quarter million [dollars of merchandise] on there right now [so] it’s a question of demand,” Hunter said. “[The] supply is there.”

The University hopes to fund the Rotunda restoration with $26.8 million from the state and plans to raise the remaining $23.8 million from private donations, such as revenues from restoreUVa.com.

“RestoreUVA [will] have an impact on raising our half of the Rotunda restoration,” Chief Facilities Officer Don Sundgren said. “The students really care about the University and about the academical villages, and I think that’s all very positive.”

Second-year Darden student Jon Carrier, a 2008 graduate of the Engineering school, also helped launch the website, which he said helped him realize the Rotunda’s value to the University and Charlottesville communities.

More than 600 items are now available for immediate purchase and also for bid-style auction on the website, with more being added each week.

The items listed for auction on restoreUVa.com include $32 postcards, an $82,000 drawing of Grounds, an 1852 sheepskin diploma, fraternity pictures and mugs from the 1950s, as well as original copies of old Corks and Curls, Hunter said.

“[The Rotunda] is the symbol of our University and the literal centerpiece of this place,” Hunter said. “It’s not just a building … it’s symbolic, and [this is] a small way we can give back.”

“Legalizing marijuana is probably not supported by 99 percent of the people here,” said Del. Dave Albo, R-Springfield, who did not vote on the resolution. “Del. Englin is a self-described ultra-liberal, and that’s the kind of stuff he believes in.”

Englin’s proposal cited studies showing “cannabis offers numerous health benefits for those suffering from multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, asthma, human immunodeficiency virus and other health disorders.”

Englin has a second marijuana bill awaiting review in the House Rules Committee, which calls for a study of the potential sale of marijuana at more than 330 Alcoholic Beverage Control stores in Virginia as a means of generating revenue.

Legislators such as Albo, however, seem unlikely to support Englin’s proposal.

“Selling [marijuana] at ABC stores is just a wacky idea,” Albo said.

Albo said he would support a bill allowing someone to expunge his record years after a first offense of marijuana possession.

“There are some things you can do to keep people from having a permanent criminal record for smoking a joint,” he said.

—compiled by Charlie Tyson

Police received traffic violation complaints from University areas, particularly University Avenue, Ivy Road and Emmet Street.

“We are taking a proactive approach in hopes of reducing the number of crashes in our community,” Roberts said. “We try to push this idea into the public and media in order to educate the public.”

As part of the initiative, police use volunteers as decoy pedestrians at crosswalks to catch drivers violating traffic laws.

Charlottesville Police issue citations then the Charlottesville General District Court determines the penalties violators face.

Victims of past traffic violations include joggers and an injured, wheelchair-bound pedestrian, Roberts said. No incidents have been reported this year, however.

The initiative, which ends Sunday, is part of Charlottesville Police’s traffic-enforcement plan, which concentrates on different areas of the City each week, Roberts said.

—compiled by Elizabeth Heifetz

The report looked at 15 public universities and 24 private institutions in Virginia and concluded that the cost of tuition and fees totals more than 40 percent of Virginia’s median household income at 17 private institutions.

Less than half of the institutions surveyed in the study graduate the majority of their students in four years.

The University, however, has a four-year graduation rate of 85 percent, ranking higher than the average Virginia institution surveyed in the study.

The study aims to give policymakers and the public information about colleges and universities in a clear and succinct manner, said Michael Poliakoff, ACTA policy director and co-author of the report.

“In this state, with its storied history in the birth of this nation, only two of these schools had a requirement for the foundational of history and government. This is a tragic neglect,” Poliakoff said. “It is disempowering to not understand how the civic process works in the U.S.”

The report also provides information about the challenges facing colleges and universities, and it compares schools with other institutions of higher learning.

“Our hope is that [the report] will give [families] a body of information that will help them make better choices between schools in Virginia,” Poliakoff said. “They’ll gravitate towards the ones that address their needs and keep tuitions as much in check as possible. It helps them be informed participants about informed discounts regarding higher education.”

Tuition costs at the University have risen 38 percent in the last six years.

University spokesperson Carol Wood, however, said in an email that the University receives less tuition and state support to educate an in-state undergraduate student today than it did in the 1989-90 academic year.

“When [the University] plan[s] the operating budget for the academic division each year, we have two major sources of revenue: the state appropriation and tuition,” Wood said. “Every time the state takes money from our appropriation — more than $50 million over a recent four-year period — we have to find ways to continue to tighten our belts and/or increase tuition.”

In comparison to similar universities for the 2009-10 academic year, the University received less state funding, Wood said.

According to Wood, the University received $8,601 per in-state student, while the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill received $26,034 and the University of Maryland received $17,620.

Wood said the University commits to making its education affordable to students in need of financial assistance through AccessUVa, the University’s financial aid program, which had a total cost of more than $92 million in the 2010-2011 academic year.

The University has several programs which financially benefit low-income students, but “there has to be access for the middle class as well without taking on large debt burdens,” Poliakoff said.

Poliakoff added, however, that seeming successes should not prevent schools from exploring other methods of reducing students’ expenses and improving their educational experiences.

“Public and private universities need to look at cost-effectiveness, and I don’t believe most institutions have even scratched the surface of what they can do to provide an affordable education,” Poliakoff said.

Researcher Rebecca Tippett said the state’s population grew 1.2 percent, while the nation’s population increased by only 1 percent.

Tippett said the majority of the growth occurred in Virginia’s cities.

“Consistent with national patterns, most growth is in the urban crescent,” Tippett said. “Most growth is in Richmond and Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach and Norfolk.”

Demographers used a regression-based model to gather data for the study, which looked at statistics including birth rates, death rates and housing construction to estimate the change in popultaion.

“This is an estimate, not yet a trend,” Tippett said. “[The growth] could be because people moved back to the cities, it could be because of commutes or gas prices — but we don’t know yet if it’s a serious trend.”

According to the study, Albemarle County’s population grew 1.8 percent from April 2010 to July 2011, but County spokesperson Lee Catlin said the growth may not be a permanent trend.

“We don’t know if this is a one year phenomenon due to outside factors or if it will manifest itself next year or in the future,” Catlin said.

He also said he did not find the population changes very significant.

Charlottesville Vice Mayor Kristen Szakos said the growth, while seemingly small, is a healthy trend.

“I believe Charlottesville’s population density is a positive thing when we talk about an ability to sustain things like a public transport system,” she said.

Economics Prof. James Harrigan said the growth represents a slow and steady increase. “Population growth is good for Virginia,” he said. “It’s bad for congestion, but you have a circle of more supply and demand.”

Catlin said this cycle of supply and demand could contribute to the improvement of the Charlottesville community.

“You need a certain amount of people to come in to replace those that leave and provide new energy, but that has to balance against the character of the county,” Catlin said. “We like to see growth in a place that doesn’t threaten our community.”

A group of Democratic state residents filed the initial suit, claiming the redistricting plan is unconstitutional because the General Assembly had not drawn the congressional district lines within a year of the last completed population census as required by the Virginia Constitution.

Geoff Skelley, media relations coordinator at the University’s Center for Politics and former Cavalier Daily opinion columnist, said, “Attorney [General] Ken Cuccinelli tried to have the Virginia Supreme Court claim that the decision in the lower court in Richmond was unfounded, but the Virginia Supreme Court refused to halt the suit, so it will be allowed to continue.”

Skelley said the Circuit Court will now continue to review the constitutionality of the redistricting plan.

“The elected representatives of the citizens of Virginia have passed a redistricting plan through legislative process, and we will continue to seek to protect the result of that process,” according to a press release by the Attorney General’s office.

Cuccinelli filed for an emergency clause to move congressional primaries from June 12 to Aug. 21 since the district lines have not been approved, Cuccinelli said.

“Congressional primaries currently scheduled for June may be disrupted if the new district lines are not approved by the federal government with the short time frame remaining,” Cuccinelli said.

Skelley said he believed the bill postponing the primaries would pass because it would allow the court system more time to resolve the redistricting issue.

Democrats, Skelley added, would be willing to allow the postponement because he believes it would force former Senator and current Republican Senate candidate George Allen to waste two additional months spending money countering Republican opponent Bob Marshall.

The current redistricting lines, which were approved by Gov. Bob McDonnell in 2011, aim to protect all 11 Republican incumbents.

“[The redistricting plan] would make the Republican districts more Republican,” Skelley said.

Cuccinelli hoped, however, that federal approval would overrule the lawsuit.

“A suit for judicial pre-clearance (federal approval) has already been filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and the attorney general will also seek parallel administrative pre-clearance through the U.S. Department of Justice. Prompt administrative approval through the Department of Justice would make the suit with the federal district court moot,” according to a press release by the Attorney General’s office.

If both the Democrats and Republicans fail to compromise, however, the court would be forced to draw congressional district lines itself, Skelley said.

The advocacy group the Virginia Progressive Action Network organized the rally, which included presentations by History Prof. Claudrena Harold, Dr. Rick Turner, Charlottesville/Albemarle NAACP president and former Dean of African-American Affairs, and a variety of student leaders.

At the rally, students pledged to continue Dr. King’s fight against economic inequality by advocating for better wages for University employees.

Students active in the Living Wage Campaign, Queer and Allied Activism, the NAACP at U.Va. and the Memorial for Enslaved Laborers Committee spoke, each giving their organization’s views on King’s legacy.

Multiple speakers stressed the need to protect workers’ civil rights and to create economic justice by instituting living wages for University employees.

Among the speakers at the rally was Carl David Goette-Luciak, a second-year College student and member of the Living Wage Campaign.

“Many employees at U.Va. are receiving starvation wages,” Goette-Luciak said. “We have the resources, the question is: do we have the will?”

Turner said decades have passed since King fought for the creation of jobs which would offer a living wage, but added he has not seen many changes in either the local or federal spheres.

“More than 40 years later, we continue to fall woefully short of his vision,” Turner said.

Emily Filler, Graduate Arts & Sciences student, Living Wage campaigner and member of the Virginia Progressive Action, said almost all of the lowest paid employees are people of color or women.

“[These] employees are paid considerably below the poverty line even if they work 48 hours a week,” she said.

Turner said many of these low-paid employees feel the University work environment does not allow them to develop their quality of life.

“We receive many calls in the NAACP office from low-wage workers who complain that no office [nor] the University helps them when they encounter issues of discrimination or when they complain about low wages,” Turner said. “They call the NAACP out of desperation and because they fear what might happen if they voice their grievances within the University.”

Goette-Luciak said the percentage of blacks employed by the University has dropped over time, while the percentage of blacks in the lowest wage bracket rose.

“Since the University has been remembering Dr. King all month, it’s important that [we] remember all of Dr. King’s message, which includes economic justice,” Filler said.

In 1963 King stood on the same steps where yesterday’s activists took place, Turner said.

“When Dr. King spoke here he was not a hero,” Goette-Luciak said. “He was a troublemaker. Dr. King is no longer controversial, but issues like [the] living wage still are. We must keep fighting for his dream where he has left off.”

McDonnell spokesperson Jeff Caldwell said the cap was part of McDonnell’s attempt to slow the rising cost of tuition for Virginia residents, which has doubled in the past 10 years.

“Tuitions cannot just continue to rise,” Caldwell said.

Michael Strine, University vice president and chief operating officer, said the cost of a University education, adjusted for inflation, has remained the same since 1980.

The University is working to make college more affordable for “middle-income” students not assisted by federal programs, Sullivan said in her statement at the Subcommittee meeting.

“All of us need to have a conversation about how to fund financial aid,” Sullivan said. “The language in the budget prematurely curtails that conversation by restricting the use of tuition for financial aid.”

Strine said the University is working to control costs and make college more affordable for those in need of financial assistance.

“We have expressed willingness to engage with the state in a thorough discussion of pricing and access, as well as to hold constant the percentage of in-state tuition used for financial aid in the intervening period while that larger discussion occurs,” Strine said in an email,

McDonnell has been working with universities across Virginia to allocate $100 million in higher education funding to create “100,000 new degrees” in Virginia in the next 15 years, Caldwell said.

Caldwell said McDonnell has worked closely with the presidents of public and private universities to continue state investments in higher education, while simultaneously controlling rising costs.

The University, however, has noticed a substantial drop in state assistance for students during the past decade, Strine said.

“In a context of declining state support, the University of Virginia is receiving less in tuition and state support to educate an in-state undergraduate student on an inflation-adjusted basis today than it was in 1989-90,” Strine said in his email.

The University has the third-highest in-state tuition among Virginia schools behind the Virginia Military Institute, at $13,184, and William and Mary, at $13,132, according to a report released in July of last year by the State Council on Higher Education. The report put the cost of attending the University at around $2,000 more than the average in-state four-year institution.

Courtesy Gage Skidmore

Gov. Bob McDonnell yesterday expressed support for a State Senate bill which would require women to complete ultrasound imaging before they can request informed consent for an abortion.

McDonnell plans to support Senate Bill 484, proposed by State Sen. Jill Vogel, R-Winchester, earlier in January.

“[McDonnell] believes this will provide the woman with even more information to make an informed decision,” McDonnell spokesperson Jeff Caldwell said.

University Center for Politics spokesperson  Kyle Kondik said the bill reflects the current political and ideological divides in the state legislature.

“I think that what we are talking about here is that this is a conservative piece of legislation, and now Republicans in Virginia have control,” Kondik said.  “Since this is a priority for the Senate, they’re trying to move forward with these social issues and legislation, and Democrats aren’t very happy about it.”

After completing an ultrasound, women would not be required to look at the image, which State Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, said makes the proposed bill superfluous.

“There is no medically necessary reason to get an ultrasound,” Deeds said. “[Even] if a young woman is pregnant and finds out that the baby she is carrying is deceased and needs an abortion for the miscarriage, she would too be required to have an ultrasound although the fetus is no longer alive.”

Asst. Religious Studies Prof. Matthew Hedstrom said the bill undermined women’s right to choose.

“It’s patronizing to women because it assumes that they don’t know what they’re doing,” Hedstrom said. “It’s just another expense to make the process more complicated.”

The bill would penalize physicians who refuse to comply with the ultrasound requirement by fining them $2,500.

McDonnell supported a similar bill when it entered the General Assembly about 10 years ago because he expected it would benefit women.

The bill was expected to clear the Senate yesterday and move to the Republican-controlled House, but was delayed for further discussion, Kondik said.

The Senate is expected to vote on the bill today.