For many it has been a rocky semester. While students were still flooding the University Bookstore and reuniting with old friends in the limbo before classes began, the budget cuts were already striking: Libraries closed earlier and printers quietly disappeared from the libraries while page quotas were implemented.
Comfort, however, was not to be found in a long, hot shower. Reservoir levels sunk as the city experienced severe water shortages. Trays disappeared from dining halls, water rates went up for off-Grounds housing, and restaurants stopped serving tap water.
What follows are some of the top headline makers of the semester, budget cuts and water shortages among them. If there is a common thread, it is that, in the face of shortages, potential war in Iraq and heightened racial awareness, students, faculty and administrators have taken the initiative to do everything possible to make the best of it.
Water, water everywhere
The hot, dry months of July and August left the Charlottesville area reservoirs dangerously depleted this fall, necessitating drastic cuts to water usage across the region. In addition to mandatory cutbacks for all businesses, car washes were forced to close entirely.
Charlottesville City Council decided to place a surcharge on all water consumption over 4,500 gallons per household per month.However, this surcharge would later be increased to a 50 percent surcharge on all water usage.
Meanwhile, the University launched a massive campaign to encourage students to conserve. Student recycling coordinators expanded their job to include water conservation, organizing a T-shirt design contest and offering other ideas for dorm residents to reduce their water consumption.
Though rumors circulated that students would be sent home if the situation did not improve -- some even specified a date, Nov. 30 -- University officials announced that the rumor was unfounded.
Although recent rainfall and conservation efforts did curb the immediate danger posed by the drought, the crisis is not over, according to Charlottesville Public Utility Manager Jim Palmborg.
"We've got a drought situation that's been going on for three or four years," Palmborg said. "We need several months of above average rainfall" to overcome the situation.
Palmborg said that, although the reservoirs are near capacity, the groundwater that supports them is still low.
However, City Council relaxed some of the water restrictions on Oct. 31.
Empty pockets
While the reservoir was drying up over the past few months, so too was the University's budget, as the University received bad financial news from the state government in Richmond.
In August, Gov. Mark R. Warner announced the state was facing a $1.5 billion budget deficit and that every state agency, including colleges and universities, would have to submit plans for budget cuts.
Warner laid out budget cuts in an Oct. 15 speech that was televised around the Commonwealth. The cuts saved the state $857 million over the next two years, but not enough to close the budget gap.
The University's state funding was cut 12 percent while some agencies had their budgets cut by as much as 15 percent.
The effects of these cuts did not go unnoticed, however, affecting students in a number of tangible ways.
The faculty hiring freeze remained in effect over the semester, putting additional strain on professors and graduate students.
Over the course of the semester students also endured new printing charges, reductions in cleaning services at Brown College and Gooch-Dillard, cuts in library hours, the elimination of phone ISIS, and the elimination of the paper version of the Course Offering Directory. However, some of these cuts were changed mid-semester.
Library hours were restored, some cleaning services were reinstated temporarily, and printed versions of the Course Offering Directories were made available on a limited basis.
Yet perhaps the budget crisis' biggest impact on students came in the form of a mid-year tuition increase. The Board of Visitors voted in October to add a $385 tuition surcharge for all students for the spring 2003 semester.
The surcharge "has offset about 30 percent of the damage that would otherwise have been done by these cuts," University President John T. Casteen III said.
More still remains to be seen, as on Dec. 20 Warner will announce another round of cuts when he submits his budget proposal to the state legislature.
A Glimmer of hope
Amid the depletion of the water and budget, many students still had hope that some help was on its way, and it did in fact arrive on Nov. 5 when Virginia voters overwhelmingly approved a General Obligation Bond for higher education.
"It indicates their strong support for the system of higher education in Virginia," said Collette Sheehy, vice president of management and budget.
The bonds will supply $900 million in funds to public colleges and universities around the state, including $68.3 million to the University.
The University will use a large portion of the money to construct a new Engineering research building, a new Arts and Sciences building and a new research medical facility, as well as to renovate other buildings.
"These funds begin to deal with some of the deficiencies that have accumulated during the 12 years in which the General Assembly had no functional system for financing buildings or maintaining them," Casteen said.
As early as the June Board of Visitors meeting, Casteen announced that he would personally campaign for the referendum. In addition to his efforts, several student groups, including Student Council and University Programs Council, arranged the "Rock 'N Rally," which featured such bands as 2 skinnee j's and O.A.R., as well as opportunities for students to register to vote.
In plain view
In October, the University bore witness to the first open honor trial in two years.
Third-year College student Adam Boyd, accused of cheating on an astronomy test last spring, chose to open his honor trial to the public, allowing community members to sit in on the proceedings.
In a pre-trial hearing on Oct. 13, Boyd's counsel argued that the system was working in an unfair manner and that investigators irreparably damaged his case by failing to contact key witnesses and pursue all pertinent information in the case.
However, the Committee declined Boyd's motion to dismiss the case, and set an Oct. 19 trial date. A randomly selected student jury of 11 found Boyd guilty after a 12-hour trial and two and a half hours of deliberation. Boyd was asked to leave the University community.
Though he had the option to appeal the decision, Boyd's current status has not been made public.
"I think it proved to be an excellent educational opportunity for the community," Honor Committee Chairman Christopher Smith said.
Looking outward
Although the University had enough on its plate locally to keep both students and faculty busy, they still found time to focus on national issues as well.
Political groups around Grounds geared up for the Nov. 5 midterm elections, while a coalition of student groups met its goal of registering "2002 voters in 2002."
A local election made the news in September when some faculty members complained that an invitation to a Meredith Richards campaign fundraiser sponsored by the University Democrats was circulated through the University's messenger mail system. Richards was running for the 5th District Congressional seat against Congressman Virgil Goode.
University policy says messenger mail is only for University-related correspondence.
"We got reimbursed for the service," said Mail Services Manager Jack Parker.
University Democrats President Ian Amelkin described the incident as an "honest mistake."
Richards later lost the Nov. 5 election to Goode.
Along with looking at national elections, the University community stayed abreast on foreign policy issues pertaining to a possible war with Iraq.
On Nov. 18 in the Rotunda, University History Prof. Elizabeth Thompson and Miami University Political Science Prof. Adeed Dawisha debated the merits of a war with Iraq.
Students and faculty also held an anti-war rally entitled "Dissent is Patriotic" on Nov. 20, while the College Republicans also distributed literature in support of war.
"Issues of war are always important because lives are at stake," Foreign Affairs Professor William B. Quandt said.
'Hoos Silent'
The night of Oct. 23 brought with it the rhythmic sound of newspapers hitting the floor of The Cavalier Daily office. Over 400 students -- mostly but not exclusively black -- had gathered in the basement of Newcomb Hall to protest what they felt was unfair coverage of the black community in the newspaper.
That day, Anthony Dick's opinion column criticized the content of the Griot Society's Web site, which he claimed promoted racial tensions. The Griot Society leaders countered that their organization aims to educate students about African-American issues.
But leaders of the protest -- titled "Hoos Silent" because the protesters opted not to speak -- said the march was not merely a response to Dick's column.
"People recognize the idea of opinions," said Tim Lovelace, the student representative to the Board of Visitors and one of the protest's organizers. But the Opinion page "in the minds of a lot of people, unfairly singled out black organizations when they talked about minority issues."
Cavalier Daily Editor-in-Chief Brandon Almond said he felt the "Hoos Silent" protest made people "more aware of what role The Cavalier Daily can and does play in the University Community," adding that it recognized "the need for a constant discussion about the continuation of this role." Almond and the three other members of The Cavalier Daily managing board met with black leaders afterward, including Griot Society President Jesica Wagstaff and Lovelace, to discuss some of the issues addressed at the protest.
Party problems
Almost three weeks into November, photographs from a Halloween party jointly sponsored by the Kappa Alpha Order and Zeta Psi fraternities began to circulate over the Internet and through e-mail.
The photographs depicted one person dressed as a blackfaced Uncle Sam, while two others painted their faces brown and dressed as tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams.
The pictures prompted the fraternities' national chapters to investigate the incident, and both houses were suspended by the Inter-Fraternity Council at the University.
Kappa Alpha's national chapter decided to clear them from any national punishments because the investigation found that the event was held at the Zeta Psi house and no Kappa Alpha brothers appeared in the pictures. Zeta Psi also was cleared by their national chapter.
Both fraternities, however, still were under investigation with the IFC and were sent to trial on Dec. 2.
The IFC found both fraternities not guilty of disorderly conduct, citing the fact that these actions fell under constitutionally protected free speech. The IFC, however, issued a recommendation that strongly encouraged both fraternities to educate themselves regarding racial sensitivity -- something both Kappa Alpha and Zeta Psi have said they will do.
IFC President Phil Trout said that, although the IFC cannot force either fraternity to do anything because of the not-guilty verdict, "informally we will certainly follow up" on their recommendations.
The Inter-Sorority Council also investigated Kappa Kappa Gamma and Kappa Alpha Theta sororities because they were present at the party. However, in separate trials held Dec. 4, both sororities were found not guilty of violating the non-discrimination clause in their Fraternal Order Agreement.
Okem Nwogu, vice chair of the Black Fraternal Council, said he thought the incident at the party sparked many students' interest in race relations at the University.
"I believe this incident heightened awareness and put the responsibility on fraternities and sororities" to be more sensitive to racial issues, Nwogu said. "It was a legitimate reason to be up in arms."
Trout said the presidents of each fraternity will meet soon to discuss the possibility of amending the IFC's bylaws.
While the semester was wrought with many trials and tribulations, the University has certainly been there before. Despite shortages and differences, student, faculty and staff were able to come together recognize the need to grow as part of Jefferson's academic community.
(Associate Editor Nick Chapin contributed to this report.)
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