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A bridge between centuries

Four years, eight semesters and countless tests and papers ago, the Class of 2002 began their journey through college that would span across two centuries

Many left home without a care in the world, worrying most about staying in touch with that high school sweetheart or getting along with new roommates.

As they stuffed all their worldly belongings into suitcases, u-halls and the family car, few could imagine the events they would experience over the next four years that would shape their lives forever.

Friends would come and go. Long-standing University entities would be threatened and a nation would be shocked by an unimaginable tragedy.

But through it all the Class of 2002 stood strong, leaving the University with a new sense of themselves and of the world around them.

The First Year: 1998-99

The Medical Center's "baby switch" was grabbing national and international headlines when the Class of 2002 first moved on Grounds in 1998.

During the summer, hospital officials discovered that Rebecca Grace Chittum and Callie Marie Jewel Conley had been switched at birth in 1995.

The mistake was found when Paula Johnson, who had been raising Callie as her daughter, ordered a paternity test to demand child support from her ex-boyfriend. The test confirmed that neither Johnson nor the ex-boyfriend was Callie's biological parents. The child actually was the daughter of Tamara Whitney Rogers and Kevin Chittum, who died in a car accident July 4, 1998 just days before hospital officials could notify them of the error.

The courts later decided to let the families retain custody of the child they had raised - Callie with Johnson and Rebecca with her grandparents. The Rogers and Chittums then settled with the Commonwealth for $2 million.

Johnson, however, was not satisfied with the courts ruling or the settlement. She embarked on a legal crusade suing everyone from the University Hospital to the company that manufactured the identification bracelets used on the newborns. After years of legal battles, Johnson finally won a $2.3 million settlement from the Commonwealth in April 2001.

The beginning of the fall semester also marked the debut of Big White Tent in Newcomb Plaza. At the end of the last school year, a University-wide task force on alcohol abuse report had called for more alcohol-free events on Grounds. As a result, the University erected the $17,000 tent to house the newly organized Sunset Concert Series - which brought a musical act to Newcomb Plaza every Thursday night. Along with Big White Tent, the University began constructing the Tuttle Coffee House and brought movies to the Aquatic and Fitness Center.

While some new additions greeted students that fall, other traditions were eliminated from the semester's schedule of events. For the first time, fall Greek rush would be deferred to the Spring. While Greek houses seemed to fair well in the deferred rush, the Inter-Fraternity Council passed a resolution in April asking for a return to fall rush. Robert T. Canevari, dean of students at the time, declined the request.

While students were debating about the merits of a deferred rush process, the Board of Visitors was having its own discussions regarding changes at the University.

In September, the University announced tentative plans for a co-educational satellite campus in the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar. The Board expressed concerns about how the University's student self-governance and anti-discrimination policies would be implemented on the new campus. But after many debates, the Board approved the plan by a slim margin of votes. Although the project got the final go ahead from the General Assembly, the initiative fell through the following summer over disagreements on American accreditation policies.

The Board also wrestled with a request that year from Clinch Valley College to change its name to the University of Virginia-Wise.

Flooded by angry e-mails from alumni, the Board passed a resolution denying the school's request to include the "University of Virginia" in the new name. However, a bill in the General Assembly offered a compromise, changing the name to the University of Virginia's College at Wise.

In October, students faced the reality of a sometimes-cruel world, when a University student was raped under Beta Bridge. The crime prompted a heightened awareness of safety around Grounds and the creation of the Rugby Watch Group.

Peace returned to Grounds in November, when eight of the world's most renowned peace advocates gathered at the University for the Nobel Peace Laureates Conference. The event - featuring His Holiness the Dalai Lama - prompted many students to camp out at Scott Stadium for tickets.

In February, the Center for Equal Opportunity released a report criticizing the University's use of race in admissions. The study showed that black students were 45 times more likely to be accepted than white students. In response to criticism, University President John T. Casteen III appointed a special Board committee to review the University's use of race in admissions.

That same month, Second-team All-ACC running back Antowine Womack, as well as Cavalier football players Adrian Burnim, John Duckett and Devon Simmons were arrested and charged with assaulting two fourth-year students in front of Kerchof Hall. Womack later was convicted of misdemeanor assault and battery and fined $1,000, but University Judiciary Committee charges against Womack were dropped. Following the incident, Womack went on a yearlong leave of absence, but returned to the field in 2000.

Another assault case also caught the University's attention this year. The UJC expelled Richard Smith, Harrison Tigrett and Bradley Kintz for the 1997 assault of then first-year student Alexander "Sandy" Kory on the Ruffner footbridge.

The three expelled students - all members of Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity - appealed to the Judicial Review Board because none of the defendants had appeared at their trial. The JRB remanded the case back to the UJC, which voted to send the case to William W. Harmon, then vice president for student affairs.

Harmon appointed a panel to hear the case. After receiving panel recommendations, Casteen suspended Smith for two years, Tigrett for one year and Kintz for one semester.

But this would not be the end of the Smith, Tigrett and Kintz saga. With lawsuits looming in the not-so-distant future, the University community would continue to be bombarded with news from the trio.

Meanwhile, five Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity pledges were arrested in Lexington for breaking and entering in the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity house at Washington & Lee. Police found 11 letters in the student's car instructing them to commit crimes, which included breaking into the Phi Psi houses at Washington & Lee and Duke as well as stealing flags from Augusta National Golf Course.

In sports, the Cavaliers were disappointed in the football postseason when Todd Braveman missed a potentially game winning field goal with 19 seconds left in the Peach Bowl.

The Virginia lacrosse team, however, made up for the fall's disappointments by winning both the ACC and NCAA championships.

The Second Year: 1999-2000

The issue of race in the admissions process, which had been raised the previous year, once again was cast into the University limelight.

The Board's special committee that was assigned to investigate the racial issue recommended the implementation of a summer program to recruit minority high school and middle school students.

The proposal came under fire because some feared this new program might replace the use of race in admissions. To compound these fears, the committee's chairman, Board member Terrance P. Ross, made a disparaging remark to The Daily Progress about the University's standards for minority applicants.

The statement sent the University community reeling, prompting students to organize an "October camp" on the Lawn in protest of what they saw as an attack on minority students at the University. Lugging camping equipment and signs, protesters set out for the Lawn on a cold and rainy October 4, only to be turned away by the inclement weather. But the cold and rain would not stop the protesters. The "October camp" set up shop on the Lawn later that month.

With the racial issue grabbing both local and national attention, Casteen was prompted to action and altered the way race was used in admissions. The previous system, which had raised concerns, assigned numerical ratings for both academic factors and nonacademic factors, such as race.

The new system still made race a factor in the process, but it no longer would use the quantitative scoring system.

Race was not the only aspect of the admissions process that was attacked that year. In the fall, The Cavalier Daily obtained documents outlining a tracking system for labeling applicants' families as potentially wealthy donors. The University later released statistics that showed tracked applicants were as academically qualified as other first-year students.

As news of the admissions process slowly faded, the University community turned its focus back to Richard Smith and the "Sandy Kory case."

Smith still had grabbed headlines during the summer for filing a $1.25 million lawsuit against the University for his suspension and the handling of his UJC case.

In the fall, the two other students involved, Tigrett and Kintz, each filed lawsuits against the University. Tigrett filed for $1.5 million, while Kintz followed Smith's lead and sought $1.25 million in reparations.

The issue of race in admissions was revitalized in the spring when there was a drop in admissions numbers, especially the numbers of minority applicants. Overall admissions dropped 16 percent, while 25 percent less black applicants were admitted to the University that year.

The Phi Delta Theta Fraternity also was in the news, when a second-year pledge was taken to the hospital with alcohol poisoning. The student had drunk a fifth of rum in 30 minutes as part of what some saw as a hazing incident. The student recovered in the hospital and claimed he had drunk the alcohol under his own accord. University officials, however, were not entirely convinced and suspended Phi Delta Theta's Fraternal Organization Agreement, which establishes a relationship between a fraternity and the University. But the fraternity's problems did not end there. The fraternity's national charter was revoked after officials from the national office investigated the incident.

Phi Delta Theta later joined the Multi- Cultural Greek council and changed their letters to Phi Delta Alpha. The national chapter later recolonized a new group of Phi Delta Thetas at the University.

In April, it was like d

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