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(03/30/09 6:04am)
Four Chi Phi brothers charged with abduction last September were sentenced Thursday to four days in jail after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct. Second-year College students Jordan Davis, Joseph Uzcategui, Chase Whitlow and Gabriel Rust-Tierney kidnapped an older fraternity brother and left him in Crozet last April, when they were then-pledges of Chi Phi fraternity. The four brothers pled guilty after charges were dropped from felony abduction to disorderly conduct, Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Claude Worrell said.Disorderly conduct is a class 1 misdemeanor punishable by 90 days in jail. Worrell said the case’s judge suspended 86 days of the sentence for what defense attorney Bud Treakle called a “fraternity prank” that was taken more seriously than it should have been. “The police investigated it as a serious crime,” Treakle said, explaining that because the incident was reported as an abduction, law enforcement officials opened an investigation of the case. “The actual facts were that it was something similar to hazing.”Worrell said concerned citizens viewed the incident as a serious crime and filed a police report. “Part of what made this so particularly important from our perspectives is [that] citizens saw this happen ... witnesses to the event saw it, went after the car that did this ... went looking for them to record their license plate,” Worrell said. “It wasn’t that the victim in the case made a report. Citizens made a report because they saw something that was shocking to them [and] they felt something needed to be done.” Worrell added that the victim was not a willing participant.“That person did not want to be abducted; it’s certainly something that he didn’t want to have happen,” Worrell said. “It’s important to recall that people have a right to be left alone and not dragged someplace they don’t want to be.”Treakle, though, said he interpreted the four brothers’ actions differently.“My own personal feeling is that it was a fraternity prank,” Treakle said. “If the alleged victim had been honest with the police from the beginning, it would not have gone this far.” Following the incident, the University’s Inter Fraternity Council Judiciary Committee investigated Chi Phi. Adam Parsell, IFC vice president for judiciary, said the case already has been handled.“The case has already been adjudicated within the IFCJC,” Parsell said. “As of right now, they [Chi Phi] are still a member of the IFC.” Parsell did not say if any sanctions were imposed on the fraternity but said the IFC strictly forbids hazing.“With respect to hazing, we defer to the state and University regulations as stated in our bylaws,” Parsell said.
(03/19/09 5:50am)
Police found toxic chemicals inside a ground floor apartment in the GrandMarc apartment complex at 15th Street Tuesday night after investigating reports of a strange odor coming from the apartment. The search yielded chemicals that could be used to make illegal drugs, including methamphetamine.Two 19-year-old male residents were present when police entered the apartment, Charlottesville Police Lieut. Don Campbell said, but no arrests were made. Two other residents of the apartment were not home at the time of the search, he added.Campbell said he could not confirm whether the residents are currently enrolled as University students. The GrandMarc apartment application, though, requires prospective residents to be students “enrolled in a degree program at a qualifying institution.”Campbell said police obtained a search warrant after conducting a preliminary investigation. “We found chemicals, and at that point, it was a matter of public safety,” Campbell said. “We called the state lab to come to separate the chemicals to make sure ... There would be no potential for fire hazard.”A team entered the building in HAZMAT suits to clean the apartment and send the recovered chemicals to the state lab for analysis, Campbell said. Investigating officials cannot yet confirm there was any criminal activity going on in the apartment, however, Campbell said.“We’re not sure we are following up on that point,” Campbell said. “Right now, we are looking from the point of public safety but we are also looking into suspicion of something more than just chemicals going on in the room.”Campbell said police officers found chemicals and precursor drugs that could be used manufacture methamphetamine, but said other illegal drugs, like marijuana or cocaine, were not found in the apartment. He declined to specify the specific chemicals found.Some of the surrounding apartments also were evacuated, Campbell said, adding that no one is currently living in the searched apartment. HAZMAT members secured the building and removed all toxic chemicals from the premises, he said.GrandMarc resident and second-year College student Kate Hoover said she found out about the police presence in the building around 1:30 a.m. when her roommate came home and saw policemen and fire trucks blocking the street. Hoover noted that the next time she heard about the incident was when she got an e-mail from GrandMarc officials around 4:00 a.m. stating that there were “noxious chemicals” in the apartment.In this e-mail, GrandMarc spokesperson Frances Thompson stated, “We are making every effort to ensure that the proper steps are taken.”Representatives of the apartment complex were unavailable as of press time.Campbell said police spent about 13 hours on the scene, from around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. The investigation is ongoing, he said.
(01/15/09 8:59am)
In response to pending commonwealth budget cuts preventing the Office of the Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences from funding events with guest speakers and guest artists, Arts & Sciences Council has launched a departmental grant program to help fund such events at the University. “The departmental program grants are meant to fund guest artists or special programs that departments want to put on,” ASC President Lindsey Turner said, adding that both students and faculty members can apply for these grants.Turner said Arts & Sciences Council decided to launch this program after meeting with Bruce Holsinger, associate dean for humanities and the arts, and Richard Myers, senior associate dean for administration and planning, to discuss ways in which the organization could “help address any areas that might be hurting due to budget cuts.” Turner explained that the administrators said they recently had to reject requests for guest speakers and artists because of budget cuts but noted that funding guest speakers and artists is one area in which Arts & Sciences Council could help make up for any shortfalls. “There is a definite desire and need for this type of funding ... we’re hoping to be able to step in and fill that need,” Turner said. “It’s a different type of co-sponsorship with a more departmental focus.” Although faculty members as well as students can apply for departmental program grants, Holsinger said the effort is purely student-run. “Really, the dean’s office was just there to give advice on how the Arts & Sciences Council could best approach departments and student groups and faculty about the availability of these funds,” Holsinger said. “We were there to help them facilitate their efforts to get the word out about their program.”Turner said applications for funding will be reviewed at the end of each month, noting that applicants can choose either to make a presentation or to have the materials from the application read at a general Arts & Sciences Council body meeting. Turner added that her organization will consider applications on a rolling basis and plans to use $10 per student who would benefit from a guest or event as a general benchmark for funding. Turner also said all applications will be considered, regardless of which department they would benefit. There is no quota for each department, she said.
(12/04/08 7:25am)
A study released Dec. 3 by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education shows that higher education in the commonwealth of Virginia, as well as in the United States as a whole, needs to improve efforts to provide affordable education to remain competitive internationally.Stacey Zis, research associate with the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems and co-author of the study, said the study, “Measuring Up 2008,” is intended to be a national report card for higher education.The center releases a report on higher education in the United States as a whole, Zis said, as well as a report for each individual state. The states were graded on criteria such as how well they prepare students for college, opportunity for college enrollment for 18- to 24-year-olds, college affordability, degree and certificate completion, and the economic and societal benefits a state receives as the result of having well-educated residents, she said.The study was completed using current data from “reliable national sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Education,” according to the report.“We’ve made small gains in college preparation,” she said of the findings, “but these are being offset by declines in high school graduation.” She added that gains made in the enrollment of young adults in higher education are offset by declines in the enrollment of older adults.Despite increases in young adult enrollment in higher education, the United States still lags behind countries such as South Korea, Greece, Poland, Ireland, Belgium and Hungary, she said.The commonwealth of Virginia performed slightly better than the United States as a whole in terms of the percentage of 18- to 24-year-old adults enrolled in college and about the same in terms of the percentage of 25- to 49-year-old adults enrolled in college, the study states. Virginia performed slightly worse than the country as a whole in completion, or the number of certificates and degrees awarded per 100 students enrolled.The category in which Virginia performed the best was in benefits, the main measure of which is the percentage of residents with bachelor’s degrees; the commonwealth received an A in this category.“A very large proportion of residents have a bachelor’s degree,” the study states, “and this substantially strengthens the state economy. Virginia is a top performer on the economic benefits measure.”The category in which Virginia performed the worst was college affordability; the commonwealth received an F. “Families in Virginia devote a large share of family income, even after financial aid, to attend public two-year colleges,” according to the report, “and they devote a very large share of family income to attend public four-year colleges and universities.”Furthermore, the report shows that Virginia’s investment in need-based financial aid is very low when compared to the top-performing states.Though the commonwealth scored poorly in affordability, the University remains a leader in recognizing the importance of making higher education affordable, University Financial Aid Director Yvonne Hubbard said. “Financial aid has always been need-based at U.Va.,” Hubbard said. “We have very little merit-based aid because of the affordability issue.”The University administration works hard to ensure that finances do not play a role in a student’s decision of whether to attend the University, Hubbard said, by offering loan-free packages for low-income students and limiting the amount of need-based loans that other students will need to fund their educations.Hubbard said one problem she sees with studies such as the one recently released by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education is that they might scare off potential students.“What concerns me ... is that students start to believe they can’t go anywhere,” Hubbard said. “If students believe [financial aid] is not available, they don’t attempt to go anywhere. There are so many options and so many ways of making it happen.”The University is looking into expanding the AccessUVa program, University spokesperson Carol Wood said, and in the coming year the University has committed $62 million to the program, an increase from the $37 million set aside for the program five years ago.Wood added that the University hopes to continue to be considered one of the nation’s “best buy colleges” and the Board of Visitors will consider that goal when setting the University’s tuition in April. Wood noted, however, that tuition is a main source of funding for AccessUVa, faculty salaries and operating costs at the University.At this point it is important for people who work in higher education to continue considering need in hard financial times, Hubbard said.“I wouldn’t mind seeing a lot more federal aid going into grants and making sure the student loan system is strong,” she said.
(11/24/08 5:31am)
The Center for Politics and Congressional Quarterly Politics hosted the 10th annual American Democracy Conference at the University Friday with a keynote address from Senator-elect Mark Warner.In his address, the first since his election to the Senate, Warner spoke about the need for bipartisan cooperation.“The stakes are too high for our country to be about retribution, to be about payback,” Warner said. “It’s terribly important to find that common ground and find those bipartisan solutions ... There is a growing awareness that we’re all going to be in this together.”Warner also said there is currently a disconnect between the American people and traditional leadership, adding that voters this year rejected fear tactics and were concerned with efficiency in Washington.“I think this was an election that strongly embraced pragmatism over ideology,” Warner said. “I came out of this election cycle still very optimistic about our country.”Warner also stressed the need to address issues of energy and to create more jobs in the energy sector to reduce dependence on foreign oil.The rest of the conference featured three panel discussions that focused on analyzing the 2008 election and determining what will come next in the sphere of American politics. In the first panel, “Turning Points in the Primaries and Caucuses,” Democratic strategist Joe Trippi said a key turning point during the election occurred when Hillary Clinton said she would take campaign money from lobbyists. Trippi said this showed Hillary Clinton was “more of the same” in a “country hungry for change.”Christian Ferry, deputy campaign manager for John McCain, noted that another important moment occurred in July 2007 when McCain, not yet the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, supported the surge of troops to Iraq.“McCain said he’d rather lose a campaign than lose a war,” Ferry said, adding that this showed McCain’s judgment, insight and leadership. In the second panel, “Marathon 2008,” which focused on the effects of the election, panelist and Rep. Artur Davis. D-Ala., said Barack Obama’s presidency has the potential to erase some of the lingering racial prejudices still present in America.“If Obama governs well, it will dissolve those prejudices,” Davis said. The third panel, “Politics 2009, What Now?” also focused on the lasting implications of the 2008 election on the future of American politics.In this panel, Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway said she “feels no better about coverage of female candidates” after this election, based on press coverage of both Clinton and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Conway said she was unhappy with the coverage of women based on criticisms of their wardrobe and hairstyles.Jeff Johnson, BET political motivator and youth voting activist, however, said this election was good for black women in that Michelle Obama provided a “powerful image of a strong black woman.”
(11/20/08 8:09am)
In its first emergency warning since April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech experienced problems with its alert system last week when sending out a campus-wide emergency notice concerning reports of gunshots heard on campus.Larry Hincker, Virginia Tech associate vice president for university relations, said someone reported a sound like gunfire near a dormitory Thursday. When police arrived on the scene, they secured and searched the building, Hincker said, though police later discovered the sound was from a nail gun cartridge being exploded.After the police arrived, Hincker said, the university activated the alert system, which consists of four main channels: e-mail to the university community, 200 classroom alert signs, a warning on Tech’s Web site and a message delivered to mobile phones. Hincker said the vendor Virginia Tech uses to send alerts to mobile phones experienced difficulties, and the message was not delivered to some members of the university community.“That contractor’s equipment froze up about halfway through the first of the three messages that I sent,” Hincker said. “It was a malfunction of the vendor’s equipment or processes.” Hincker said he does not know how many people were affected by this malfunction but stressed the importance of using multiple communication methods. In light of the malfunction, Hincker said Virginia Tech has not made any decisions about whether it will keep its current vendor or about what will be done to fix the system.The emergency alert system was tested Oct. 8, Hincker said, but was not used to warn of an emergency before last Thursday.The University of Virginia is planning a test of its emergency alert system this afternoon starting around 2:30, Director of Emergency Preparedness Marjorie Sidebottom said. She noted this test is not a response to Virginia Tech’s malfunction but rather “has been planned for a while.”The test will involve sirens and a public announcement followed by a mass text message and e-mail to the University community, Sidebottom said. “We’re going to be monitoring the systems to see how things are going out to make sure we’re not identifying any issues,” Sidebottom said. “We’ll have an all-clear by 3 [p.m], maybe earlier.”
(11/17/08 6:41am)
Hundreds of students lined the walkway near the University Chapel Friday night in a candlelight protest of the Westboro Baptist Church’s planned picketing of “The Laramie Project,” a performance sponsored by Queer and Allied Activism as part of Proud to Be Out Week.The WBC — a group based in Topeka, Kan. whose slogan is “God hates Fags” — sparked plans for a counterprotest when it announced it would be picketing “The Laramie Project,” a play based on the death of University of Wyoming freshman Matthew Shepard in a 1998 gay-hate crime. In a statement released Nov. 8, the WBC announced its plans to picket at the University, writing, “Matt Shepard has been in Hell now for 6 years ... All else about Matt is trivial and irrelevant. You may join him soon. Deal with it.”Members of the WBC, however, did not show up Friday evening.When asked why the WBC did not follow through on plans to picket the performance at the University, WBC spokesperson Shirley Phelps-Roper stated in an e-mail, “We had the opportunity to turn aside from that and go picket Obama’s grand mama’s funeral. Now if you were us, which would you pick?”QuAA President Heather Welborn said the University administration notified her last Monday that the WBC might be coming, and QuAA planned a counterprotest.“We wanted to have something that would be empowering and show solidarity to show we don’t support the hateful rhetoric of the Westboro Baptist Church,” Welborn said, adding that QuAA planned to build a human wall to protect those who were coming to see the Laramie Project.Welborn said about 500 people came to the counterprotest, where participants passed out candles and sang the “Good Ol’ Song.” Welborn said she suspected WBC was not going to show up when members of the organization had not arrived by their planned start time of 6:30 p.m.“I think it was just so empowering that many people came out, and they didn’t leave [when the WBC didn’t come],” Welborn said. “They wanted to show that they were supportive of the show ... it was even more empowering without the Westboro Baptist Church there.”Welborn said in the past there have been protests against other QuAA-sponsored programs, and most of these protests have come from groups outside of the University. Welborn added that she is grateful for all the support the University community showed by going to the show Friday night.“It will be one of the things I walk away remembering U.Va. for,” Welborn said. “There is support within the U.Va. community ... I felt like everyone that came out and stayed shows how committed the community is to erasing hate.”Others, however, were disappointed by WBC’s absence.“I was disappointed that the Westboro Baptist Church didn’t actually show up,” protest participant Alex Wilkerson said. “However, I was very excited to see the overwhelming community support.”
(11/13/08 6:21am)
In the November issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, University researchers in the endocrinology department published their discovery of a way to increase growth hormone levels in the elderly that may lead to advances in reversing the physical effects of aging.Asst. Endocrinology Prof. Ralf Nass and Prof. Michael Thorner conducted a double-blind placebo study at the University’s General Clinical Research Center of 65 healthy older adults ranging from 60 to 81 years of age. The patients who received treatment were given a drug called MK 677, which has been known to increase growth hormone levels, Nass said.Thorner explained that growth hormone secretion declines with age, and he and Nass sought to discover whether that is correlated with muscle loss and whether restoring growth hormones would correspond with a growth in muscle mass. Thorner said the goal of this study was “to determine whether MK 677 ... is able to stimulate growth hormones like that seen in young people and prevent the loss of muscle mass that occurs with aging.”Nass said the study also sought to discover whether a drug could help reverse “the multi-systemic decline which occurs with aging,” such as the reduction of muscle mass. Thorner said he and Nass were able to restore the growth hormones of patients to that of healthy 20- to 30-year-olds. Thorner added that while a normal older person loses a pound of muscle mass in a year, participants in the study increased their muscle mass by an average of two pounds. Nass said the MK 677 was well-tolerated in patients with only mild side effects. According to Nass’ report, these effects included mild and brief general swelling and a temporary appetite increase.Thorner said he is pleased with the results of the study, but more research need to be completed in the future. “A lot more work needs to be done,” Thorner said. “Now studies need to be done in frailer older people to see whether we can actually have an impact on their strength and function and to prevent them becoming frail and prevent them having to need assisted living.”Nass also noted the need for additional studies to advance the long-term goal of helping the elderly lead more independent lifestyles. “This study is one step into that, a promising step,” Nass said. “But there need to be additional studies.”
(11/03/08 8:27am)
As the country’s economic troubles continue, University students are getting a good deal, according to Kiplinger, which placed the University third in its 2008-09 Best Values in Public Colleges rankings.Kiplinger Senior Associate Editor Jane Bennett Clark said Kiplinger — a personal finance and business forecasting company — bases its ranking on cost and quality measures, using criteria such as test scores of incoming freshmen, student-to-faculty ratio and graduation rates, as well as total in-state and out-of-state costs. Clark said the University has a 93-percent six-year graduation rate and one of the lowest costs for in-state students after financial aid.“Quality is the most important criterion, because it’s not a bargain if you’re not getting [a] good education,” Clark said. “Cost is important especially in these bad economic times. We look for great quality at an affordable price.”Clark said the University has consistently been ranked in the top five of Kiplinger’s annual report. This year, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Florida claimed the first two spots.University spokesperson Carol Wood said though the University is uncertain how important undergraduate rankings are to incoming students and their families, those families will be looking for the best values now more than ever, and the University may see more in-state applications.“If you look at the state of Virginia, we have such a great array of higher-education opportunities across the state,” Wood said. “Applications to our school and our sister state schools might go up.” Wood added that students will also look for the best financial aid package, noting that because of the recent economic downturn, the University has begun to prepare for the possibility of having to enlarge the AccessUVa budget for next year.Wood said the University considers these ranking placements important but does not actively seek high rankings.“If you do the right things with academic programs and good financial management and continue to have a great undergraduate experience, the rankings will follow,” Wood said. “We keep an eye on them but you don’t manage to the rankings ... we will continue to do the good job that we do and continue to be responsible in managing the University’s finances, and we hope the University will continue to be top-ranked.”
(10/30/08 9:17am)
The University’s Office of Environmental Health & Safety was evacuated Tuesday at about noon by University and Virginia state police, as well as HAZMAT officials and fire officials, after a suspicious letter was delivered to the building, University Police Lieut. Melissa Fielding said. Fielding said the letter was identified as suspicious based on the writing on the envelope as well the envelope’s unknown contents. The letter was addressed to the University of Virginia and did not contain a specific address, Fielding said. Fielding said the letter was brought to the Office of Environmental Health & Safety for testing at the laboratory and was found not to contain any powders, spores or other hazardous materials.Ralph Allen, director of the Office of Environmental Health & Safety, said the building, which is located near Slaughter Recreation Center, was closed from 12:05 p.m. until after 8 p.m. He noted that several employees had to remain outside and wait for alternate transportation because they were not permitted back into the building to retrieve their belongings. Allen added that no serious emergencies came about as a result of this incident.Fielding acknowledged that some may have been troubled by yesterday’s events but defended the evacuation.“It’s just better to handle it that way and inconvenience some folks as opposed to have something more serious happen ... If you let people into a potentially contaminated area you have a bigger emergency in that respect,” Fielding said. “The fortunate side ... is that no one was hurt.”Allen also commended the actions of police.“They followed their protocol and everything was done safely,” Allen said. “It turned out to be very good practice for everyone.”Allen added that after several envelopes with powder were sent to banks last week, people are nervous about potentially suspicious materials.Fielding said this was not the first suspicious letter received by the University and Tuesday’s evacuation also was not the first of its kind but could not comment as to the frequency of these types of incidents.
(10/20/08 4:17am)
Employees of the University Medical Center and Medical School are no longer permitted to receive gifts from companies that do business with the University Health System, according to a new University policy.Steve Wasserman, Medical School assistant dean for research, said the policy is designed to eliminate financial conflicts of interest for employees and to “create an environment in which patients, funding agencies and the general public are convinced that there are no external influences on what you are doing in the various missions you are fulfilling for the University.”Wasserman said pharmaceutical companies and device manufacturers, among others, in the past would offer gifts such as pens, notepads and tote bags to employees. Wasserman added that companies also often provided lunch for employees as a “way to buy access to faculty and residents ... to talk about their companies’ drugs.” This too, will be prohibited under the new policy. Urology Prof. Raymond Costabile said there has been concern over the past few years that advertising directly to service providers will influence the delivery of medical care and the products being prescribed.“I like to know that my doctor’s giving me what I should get based on her expertise rather than being influenced by the pen she used that morning,” Costabile said. Costabile added that the best support for this concern comes from the actions of the companies themselves, which continue to spend money on Health System employees.Costabile said the policy includes a stipulation that will allow companies to continue donations of items that are considered educational — such as books for medical residents, Wasserman noted — as well as free samples of drugs for patients.“If it is of nominal value and there is a definite advantage a patient can get from it ... then that’s still allowed,” Costabile said. “We have to work with vendors and want to work with them, but we have to do it in a way that’s best for patients and students and research efforts.”Wasserman added that gift-giving is universal in the business world, but there are more risk factors in the medical industry.“The stakes are much higher when you’re dealing with clinical care, clinical research and biomedical research, which is supposed to result in new therapies coming out,” Wasserman said. “We want to make sure these are not tarnished.” The University is one of a number of institutions that have prohibited this type of activity, Wasserman said, following health systems at institutions such as Yale, Stanford and Pittsburgh.Costabile said he expects other medical institutions across the country to implement similar policies.
(10/09/08 8:00am)
Several universities have started implementing technology that allows students to take exams on computers while disabling other applications to prevent students from cheating. Some University of Virginia researchers are currently working to create a secure system that would allow students to take computerized tests in a similar manner.Software Secure President Doug Winneg, whose company makes one such program, Securexam, said the software creates a secure word-processing environment that permits students to perform functions pertinent to their exams, such as spreadsheet analysis, on a computer. At the same time, the software restricts the environment to prevent students from chatting with their friends or consulting their notes. Winneg also said the software has another component for distance learning that enables students to take exams in their dorm rooms and have a webcam monitor their exam environments. This, Winneg said, would “eliminate the need to go to a proctored exam environment” and would ensure that “exams administered online have the same academic integrity.”University Asst. Mathematics Prof. Christian Gromoll said he, along with colleague Michael Hill, are currently using a University grant to experiment with a system where students can take exams online with the possibility of improving their work by reattempting problems answered incorrectly.For this, Gromoll said, students go to a computer laboratory to take their exams and the computers go into kiosk mode — only allowing students to interact with the exam system. With this system, though, students are able to self-schedule exams, and Gromoll said he believes this makes exams more convenient for them.“Students can pick whenever they want to take the exams,” Gromoll said. “Many find exam situations stressful; something may come up in their personal lives or extracurricular lives which causes them to have less than ideal performance on exams ... The goal of this system is to try to more accurately measure students’ abilities.”First-year College student Vikram Pole said he likes the idea of being able to self-schedule exams but expressed concern about an unrestricted system.“I think it could be a good idea if you can’t cheat,” Pole said.Third-year College student Diane Quick also had concerns about the potential for cheating but was open to the idea of a monitored computer lab where students could take exams. Quick also said she would want a proctor in the room to ensure fairness in the event of a computer malfunction.Third-year College student Nancy Chae, on the other hand, said she would not be in favor of computerized exams, no matter the form. “I don’t like anything electronic,” Chae said. “It’s easier to just write it down and take it all at once.”The University also provides an option for online testing through Collab, the new course management system, Portal Webmaster Trisha Gordon said, explaining that Collab’s testing function would not restrict other applications. Gordon said the University is not actively looking to use such a program but would consider doing so if there were a request to investigate a more secure system.“I’m sure that we would be more than willing to take a look at any product if there was an expressed need for it here at U.Va.,” Gordon said, adding that professors concerned with cheating might “prefer a system like Securexam to more open systems.”
(10/02/08 5:58am)
The University is currently in the preliminary planning phase for a new children’s outpatient building that will be part of the University Health System.Senior Facility Planner Luis Carrazana said he hopes the building, which will be called the Barry and Bill Battle Building, will begin construction toward the end of 2010 and will contain about 180,000 square feet.The building will provide multidisciplinary outpatient services so children will be able to see all of their healthcare providers in one location, said Nancy McDaniel, Children’s Medical Center medical director.“We have many outpatient clinics that serve children — All over the Health Grounds for the University, there’s a goal to put all of our outpatient clinics in one building so children come to one place to see their general pediatrician, orthopedist, plastic surgeon,” McDaniel said. “Sometimes children who have complex or chronic medical conditions would have to go to three or four different places in one day to get their health care.” McDaniel also said she hopes this addition will improve access to health services for patients as well as the care patients receive. She added that she hopes to have mental health providers available, as well.The building — which will house exam rooms and offer outpatient surgeries — will be located on West Main Street with an alternative entrance on Jefferson Park Avenue and will be connected to the Health System via a system of bridges, Carrazana explained. He added that, per zoning requirements in the City of Charlottesville, there will be a retail vendor in the building as well.Carrazana said there are no current designs for the building, and there are still funding issues to be addressed. The last price estimate for the building — more than $50 million — was made more than five years ago and is liable to change, according to McDaniel.
(10/01/08 10:03am)
In a move that mirrored action taken at a number of other law schools, Harvard Law School decided last week to abandon its old grading system, eliminating the use of letter grades. In an e-mail to the Law School student body, Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan said the new grading classifications will be Honors, Pass, Low Pass and Fail.The new system will apply to students entering Harvard Law School in fall 2009 and possibly current students, as well.Yale and Stanford’s law schools have also made similar transitions in their grading systems; Yale’s new grading system has been in place for a few years, while Stanford’s new scale went into effect this semester.According to Stanford Law School’s statement about the issue, the previous grading system “conveyed a false sense of precision in describing differences among students, especially to employers.”In addition to changing the grading system, Stanford Law also is eliminating its “Graduation with Distinction” honors that were based on grades and will instead recognize students for outstanding performances in individual classes. This recognition will be marked on students’ transcript and will allow future employers to compare students’ performance.At the University of Virginia, Law School Dean Paul Mahoney said officials have no intention of adopting one of the newly developed grading systems and will continue to use letter grades. Mahoney also said he also does not believe others schools will adopt the new system, adding that he is doubtful the new system will be advantageous to students in the lower half of their class.Mahoney added that he believes Harvard’s decision to transition to a grading system similar to Stanford and Yale’s comes from a sense of competition.“I think Harvard believes it was in severe competition with Yale and Stanford, and they must have believed they were losing some students for having a different grading system,” Mahoney said.Yale is in a different position than Harvard and Stanford, Mahoney said, because it has always been the top-ranked law school according to U.S. News & World Report; even students with low grades at Yale Law School will be attractive to employers.“I’m skeptical it will produce any advantage for Harvard students,” Mahoney said.Second-year Law student Adam Richards, who completed his first year of law school at the University of Virginia and now attends Stanford Law School, said he thinks law school exams are an arbitrary measure of how well one has mastered a given material. The new grading system, he said, “takes away the pressure of putting too much weight on something that is arbitrary.”Richards added that the new system may create a disadvantage for those students who want to distinguish themselves from their peers.At Harvard, Robert Allen, editor-in-chief of Harvard Law Review, said he believes the change will be positive.“Over three years you’ll still see a distinction based on the number of passes and high passes,” Allen said. “With that in mind, I don’t think employers or judges who are hiring students for clerkships will have trouble differentiating among the most qualified applicants.”
(09/29/08 4:57am)
FREDERICKSBURG,Va. — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and running mate Joe Biden spoke at a rally at the University of Mary Washington Saturday, attracting a crowd of 26,000.Biden began his speech by citing Friday’s debate as proof that Republican presidential candidate John McCain is “out of touch with the American people,” claiming that “McCain’s judgment has been flat wrong” on issues such as the War in Iraq and homeland security.When Obama spoke, he focused on the “troubling” economic situation, noting that 600,000 workers have lost their jobs since January, home values are falling, there are a record number of foreclosures, and it has never been harder to retire.“In so many cities and towns across America, the precious dream so many generations fought for is slowly slipping away,” Obama said.Obama stressed that in the 40 minutes he and McCain spent debating the economy Friday, McCain did not address the concerns of working-class families.“John McCain had a lot to say about me,” Obama said, “but he had nothing to say about you.”Scott Hirons, vice chairman of Stafford County Republican committee, said yesterday that Obama’s appeals to the working class will have no effect on voters in the area and dismissed McCain’s lack of references to the working class in the debate.“The Democrats try to segment people into different classifications, try to develop a class warfare,” Hirons said. “Republicans, and John McCain in particular, talk to all Americans and work for the good of the entire country.”During the rally, Obama also spoke of his plans to reinvigorate the ‘American dream,’ promising to cut taxes for 95 percent of working families, making tax rates lower than they were under Ronald Reagan and promising affordable healthcare for all Americans.Obama also promised to improve the standards of education and to ensure every young American can afford to go to college, especially those who commit to serving their community or country.“If you invest in America, then we will invest in you,” Obama said.Though Obama made many promises to the American people during his speech, Daniel Keyserling, deputy director of communications at the University’s Center for Politics and former executive editor of The Cavalier Daily, noted that while the president can propose legislation and offer his opinion on legislation, it is ultimately up to the legislative branch to enact it. “The president doesn’t pass legislation, the Congress does, so any of those [claims] have to be taken with a grain of salt,” Keyserling said.Obama ended the rally by calling the members of the crowd to action and predicting his victory in the state.“We will win Virginia, we will win this general election,” Obama said. “You and I together, we will change the country, and we will change the world.”Hirons said Obama’s assertion that he will win Virginia is “laughable” and said there is little evidence to suggest it is possible. Hirons said the Republican base in Virginia is strong and active.According to an e-mail to the Obama campaign from UMW Police Chief Jay Snipes, 12,000 people attended the rally inside the gates of Ball Circle, the campus’ main square, and an additional 14,000 watched from outside the perimeter.
(09/22/08 4:00am)
At Saturday night’s seventh-annual Mead Endowment awards dinner, 10 University faculty members received funding for “dream” proposals to develop classes they would like to teach. The endowment also received a $777,777.77 grant from the Seven Society to continue funding such proposals in the future.Ernest “Boots” Mead, a retired professor Emeritus of Music, attended the event surrounded by former students who established the endowment to continue his legacy of student-faculty interaction.“It came about that Mead is beloved by decades of former students,” Endowment Chair Tom Darbyshire said. “A group of us had been talking for some time about doing something in his honor; endowing a chair, contributing to the wing of a building or putting up a plaque didn’t seem to be the right fit for what he meant to us.”Darbyshire said there is a growing worry that meaningful relations between students and faculty are fading because of larger class sizes and pressure on faculty to publish, conduct research and win grants.Darbyshire added that the goal of the endowment is to “help pass the torch from legendary faculty members like Mr. Mead to inspire the younger faculty.”In the past, Darbyshire said, the Mead Endowment was only able to fund some of the “dream proposals” but this year, with increased funding, the endowment offered funding to all 10 of Saturday’s Mead honored faculty. Also, in honor of this year’s seventh Mead awards dinner, the Seven Society sent a letter announcing a gift of $777,777.77 to the endowment. This year’s honored faculty were Asst. Chemistry Prof. Linda Columbus, Assoc. Psychology Prof. and Cognitive Science Program Director Alev Erisir, Assoc. Philosophy Prof. Mitchell Green, Assoc. Environmental Sciences Prof. Deborah Lawrence, Asst. Business Administration Prof. Mary Margaret Frank, Asst. French language and literatures Prof. Deborah McGrady, Margarita Nafpaktitis assistant professor of Slavic languages and literatures, Assoc. Biology Prof. Ignacio Provencio, Assoc. Sound Design Prof. Michael Rasbury and Chad Wellmon, assistant professor of Germanic languages and literatures.Rasbury, one of the Endowment’s honored faculty, said he was “completely honored” to be given the award. Rasbury said his dream idea was inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s quote that “Architecture is ‘frozen music’” and said he hopes to explore the way sound relates to various artistic disciplines.“My dream idea is to lead a multidisciplinary team of students through the process of developing a purely aesthetic and subjective method for converting an object into sound or music,” Rasbury wrote in his proposal. “What would a building sound like if the architect had been a composer using vibrations as the medium of expression instead of lines and shapes?”Rasbury said he hopes students in his dream class will come to understand the similarities in the creation of all forms of artistic media.One of last year’s honorees, Assoc. Religious Studies Prof. Heather Warren said the fulfillment of her dream class allowed her and her students to “get to know each other in ways we could never have dreamed.”Through the endowment, Warren taught a class last spring about the history of pilgrimage, and she and her students completed a pilgrimage through the Appalachian Mountains to Katahdin, its northern peak, Warren said.Mead said when he was a professor at the University, several rising fourth-year students approached him and asked him if he would be willing to get together in a small group to discuss issues and matters important to the students. Mead said he agreed, not thinking the students would follow through, but they did and he has been teaching the class ever since the early 1970s.“Even when I formally retired as a professor in ‘96, students came to me that fall and said ‘When is the seminar?’ and I said, ‘Well, I’m retired now,’” Mead said. “The students had no patience with that at all — they went to the dean, set up the seminar and I’ve been giving it continuously.”Mead said he still offers the course during the spring semester and values the interaction with the students.“What is terribly interesting about it is the independence students will show if you give them the opportunity,” Mead said.
(09/15/08 6:51am)
Recent updates to the Higher Education Act of 1965 require colleges and universities to take a more proactive role in detecting and preventing illegal peer-to-peer file sharing and illegal downloads of copyrighted material. Exactly what the law will require of colleges and universities, though, has not yet been determined by the Department of Education.Right here, right nowThe University currently uses bandwidth monitoring, Chief Information Officer Michael McPherson said, to detect unusual activity that creates excessive network traffic. McPherson said the overall goal in bandwidth management is to “control the damage that might be done by a machine that is being used improperly.”To prevent one machine from “swamping” the network, McPherson said, the Information Technology and Communication office caps the amount of network traffic that can go through dormitories at any particular time. Anything that goes over that cap would cause someone to intervene. As a result of monitoring, he noted, ITC sometimes detects a machine engaging in illegal file sharing.“If we detect a usage of our network that is not consistent with our acceptable use policy, we would contact the person we believe is responsible for that machine,” McPherson said. “[We would] talk to them about how [their] usage is not consistent with University policy and ... make sure they understand the consequences.”ITC does not, however, actively look for copyright infringement or illegal file sharing on the network, McPherson said, because the Digital Millennium Copyright Act states that Internet service providers are not responsible for any copyright infringement by their users. ITC is obligated, however, to assist copyright holders when they believe infringements have occurred on the University network, he said.Copyright holders can issue a DMCA takedown notice to an Internet service provider, notifying the provider that they believe copyright infringement is taking place on the provider’s network. When this happens, McPherson said, ITC passes that information on to the person ITC believes is using the IP address in question. That person can either acknowledge having participated in copyright infringement and remove the copyrighted content from the machine or deny that he or she has done anything wrong, which would lead to correspondence between the accused person and the copyright holder.The recording industry, for example, has sent Internet providers pre-litigation letters to pass on to people using IP addresses that have violated copyright, McPherson said. He added that such letters are used to encourage out-of-court settlements of what could otherwise become lawsuits.McPherson added that when it comes to illegal file sharing or “stealing music,” ITC has not referred students to the Honor Committee in the past and does not plan to in the future.“Honor violations are something we don’t get involved in,” McPherson said. New law, new rules?Under the new regulations being developed, the role colleges and universities play in monitoring illegal activity on campus networks may change.The revisions to the Higher Education Act have been signed into law, but the Department of Education will determine how the law will be implemented, said Steve Worona, director of policy and networking programs for Educause, an association for people who run computers and networks. The first provision of the revision, Worona said, requires every U.S. college and university to provide students with information about the litigious landscape of copyright infringement, including the policies and possible legal penalties specific to that college or university.The second provision has two relevant parts, Worona said. The first requires every campus to develop a plan to combat infringement effectively; the second requires colleges and universities to provide legal alternatives to peer-to-peer file sharing.Worona added that before the Department of Education establishes final regulations, it will be “engaging in negotiated rule making,” holding five or six public hearings around the country at which the department will “receive input from interested parties.”The department will then release draft regulations and eventually issue the final regulations, Worona said. For these regulations to be enforceable by July 1 of a given year, he said, they must be issued by Nov. 1 of the previous year. As a result, final regulations will likely not be in place until July 2010, Worona said. Worona added that the final regulations will likely give colleges and universities some flexibility in implementing the law.“The plan is explicitly designed to give each campus the ability to come up with its own plan based on its own considerations — what it considers appropriate,” he said. “Everything Congress has written indicates a great deal of flexibility. It is now purely up to the Department of Education to determine how to interpret all of that.”McPherson noted that for the University, the law “does appear to place responsibility on us to get more proactively involved in preventing copyright infringement.”McPherson said the University’s main method of preventing illegal file sharing is education, noting that all first-year students are required to pass a responsible computing test before they can access their accounts. McPherson said he believes education is the most important response to the issue of file sharing.“If the law requires us to take technical measures, we would comply with the law,” McPherson said. “Our preference would be to deal with this issue through education and community standards first.”McPherson also said the Higher Education Act would likely make the University responsible for all students’ network use, regardless of whether they live on or off Grounds, but noted that will not become clear until the drafting process for the new regulations.McPherson added that the University will be participating in the discussions about the implementation of the new regulations and will be tracking the development of the regulations.Is Big Brother watching? Although the University does not use software that monitors more than bandwidth usage, some colleges and universities use software that can track all applications run by IP addresses on the network.Mary Hecht-Kissell, director of public relations for Exinda networks, a network appliances vendor, said her company provides traffic monitoring and bandwidth shaping technology to colleges and universities to “monitor traffic on campus networks so people know what it is that is traveling on the network,” adding that Exinda’s product “has the ability to detect whether anything is happening pertaining to peer-to-peer file sharing.”Hecht-Kissell said when a campus network manager sees that illegal file sharing is occurring, he or she can identify what IP address is using the application and block it.“IT staff at the school has a certain level of obligation to make sure illegal things are not happening on their network,” Hecht-Kissell said. The goal of this software, Hecht-Kissell said, is to make sure a network runs efficiently. She noted that the software can tell when a certain IP address has logged in and what applications they are using and can even examine URLs accessed. Hecht-Kissell said that though Exinda’s software closely monitors activity, it is not intended to be “spy” software.“In no way are we trying to monitor the lives of the students and their choices in what they consider to be great art and recording,” Hecht-Kissell said. “It would be up to the university to set their own policy on how they want to handle that, our product could help them in determining inappropriate sites.”First-year College student Marcus Hall expressed mixed emotions about various means of monitoring Internet traffic.“I think that it’s important because we’re all using that network and there could be one computer misusing the network, so for purposes of security there’s validity,” Hall said. “Then there’s that invasion of privacy ... when you think about it, we are adults.”Hall added that even if strict restrictions were put in place to prevent illegal downloads, some would likely find a loophole in the system.McPherson said the University has no plans to implement software similar to Exinda’s, noting that the University’s current system “doesn’t care what you’re doing” and only monitors bytes per second.“Anything that gets us into monitoring what people are doing with their networks makes us uncomfortable — we’re much more comfortable with educating citizens rather than something that involves software and active monitoring,” McPherson said.
(09/09/08 5:00am)
Four students who were pledging Chi Phi fraternity last spring are currently facing charges for felony abduction by force/intimidation for the alleged April 12 kidnapping of a fellow University student. College students Chase Whitlow, Jordan Davis, Gabriel Rust-Tierney and Joseph Uzcategui were arrested upon their return to the University this fall, Charlottesville Police Capt. Bryant Bibb said, noting that the police were aware of the alleged abductors for some time.The victim of the abduction — a white male University student who is approximately 20 years old — told police he was walking down Rugby Road when he was “approached by two males who secured his hands and feet with packing tape, put him in a car, drove a few minutes and put him out of the car onto some asphalt,” according to Bibb.Bibb said the police received a call shortly after midnight April 13 saying the victim had been abandoned in the Crozet area. The victim sustained some injuries in the incident. Based on the evidence, Bibb added, this abduction was planned in advance.“Looking at the facts you would have to conclude that it was probably premeditated unless you were riding around in your car with packing tape as a matter of routine,” Bibb said. Bibb added that he believes the suspects in this case would most likely consider the incident more of a practical joke than an offense of a serious nature. “The four suspects would say that this was more of a prank than it was a crime of assault and kidnapping; they felt like maybe it would be humorous,” Bibb said. “The victim didn’t think it was and nor do we.”Inter-Fraternity Council President Taylor Richardson said the IFC is currently investigating the incident, but would not comment further. Michael Citro, assistant dean in the office of fraternity and sorority life, said his office is aware of the incident and noted that the case has been referred to the Inter-Fraternity Council Judiciary Committee.“We are working with the fraternity to settle this and they have been quite cooperative and compliant with all of our requests,” Citro said.Whitlow and Rust-Tierney could not be reached for comment. Davis and Uzcategui declined comment. Charlottesville General District Court documents available online indicate that the alleged parties are free on bail and have yet to hire legal representation. Their next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 23 at 1 p.m.University Judiciary Committee Chair Merriam Mikhail said she could not say whether a case has been filed with the UJC, but said cases can be pursued concurrently by both the IFCJC and the UJC because the two organizations operate independently of each other. University spokesperson Carol Wood confirmed the four arrested students remain University students but would not comment on their ongoing cases.Chi Phi President Cullen Hitt could not be reached for comment, despite numerous attempts via e-mail and telephone.
(09/08/08 9:50am)
The American Political Science Association recently held a conference during which scholars discussed the merits of American politics as a field of study and considered the possibility of abolishing the field altogether.APSA Executive Director Michael Brintnall said he did not believe this discussion implied that the field should be abolished in a literal sense, but rather that the scope of American politics should be broadened to include a wider range of world views. Brintnall said politics professors David Mayhew, from Yale University, and Mary Hawkesworth, from Rutgers University, led this forum discussion, which also featured Rogers Smith and Anne Norton from the University of Pennsylvania.“I suppose the single most significant reason the conversation occurs is whether American politics is thought of often enough in the larger context of the world as a whole,” Brintnall said. “How do we assure ourselves ... we don’t end up thinking or appearing to tell students that events in the world have no relevance to American politics or American politics is not relevant to understanding things in the rest of the world.”Brintnall said while some scholars suggest the field of American politics is too narrow and focuses too little on the politics of the rest of the world, defenders of the status quo argue that it is important for students to understand politics as it affects them and how it surrounds them.Smith said each professor involved in the discussion suggested different ideas about the field of American politics.Hawkesworth, Smith said, suggested that focusing on American politics without comparing it to global political and economic structures could contribute to accounts of American exceptionalism. “She thought teaching American politics as a separate field had some damaging intellectual consequences,” Smith said.Norton, meanwhile, against the preservation of American politics as a subfield, Smith said, while Mayhew defended American politics, claiming that America is a significant world power and deserves considerable attention.Smith said his view is that the structure of political science as a whole needs to be revised “to focus on the kinds of problems and issues [significant] in the 21st century.”Though there are currently no plans to discontinue study of American politics here at the University, American Politics Prof. David O’Brien also emphasized the need to broaden the perspective of American politics.“I think it is true that in the last decade ... it seems like race, gender and public opinion have ridden to the forefront of American politics,” O’Brien said. “I think it is important for American politics people not to limit themselves but to look globally and internationally in their writing, research and even teaching.”
(09/04/08 4:10am)
New research about law schools’ affirmative action conducted by professors from Princeton University and the University of Toronto seeks to evaluate the “mismatch” hypothesis, a theory that claims affirmative action could actually be detrimental to its would-be beneficiaries. This hypothesis, explained Jesse Rothstein, Princeton University assistant professor of economics and public affairs, claims that affirmative action lets minority students, specifically black students, into schools that are too difficult for them, causing them to perform poorly and drop out. The research, conducted by Rothstein and Albert Yoon, University of Toronto professor of law, aimed to evaluate this theory using data from students who entered law school in 1991.“We found that there’s not very much evidence that would tend to support the mismatch hypothesis,” Rothstein said. “If you compare black students that attend very selective schools to ones that attend less selective schools but look like they could have attended very selective schools, students in more selective schools do better on every measure” including graduation rates, bar exam pass rates and job placement. Rothstein said his research also sought to evaluate another tenet of the hypothesis that claims affirmative action at law schools actually reduces the number of black lawyers. “We find that the exact opposite is true: We find that if you got rid of affirmative action, the number of black lawyers would fall dramatically,” Rothstein said. “It turns out that there are no ‘unselective’ law schools. The first effect of getting rid of affirmative action is that there are a lot of black students who go to law school now who would not [otherwise] get into any law school.”Here at the University, Law School Dean Paul Mahoney said he could not articulate what diversity at the University’s Law School would be like without affirmative action without having the same information from other law schools across the country. “We are able, as currently standing, to attract every year a group of African-American students whom we feel good about, whom we feel are able to succeed at the University of Virginia,” Mahoney said. “Whether that would be the case or not under some other system would really depend on how it looked at every other school, on what other schools’ policies were.”Mahoney added that the University has not done any specific study as to the performance of students by race, but noted the Law School only accepts students who admissions officials believe will do well. “We do take race and other forms of diversity into account in admissions,” Mahoney said, “but we do not admit any student who we think cannot do the work and succeed at our Law School.”