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(02/09/09 7:55am)
Student Council is in the process of creating a new committee: the Civic Engagement Committee. This committee can be nothing except redundant because civic engagement refers to the involvement of citizens in their community and because Council itself is already a body of civic engagement. The University Unity Project is another avenue for civic engagement, intended to bring community members together. Council should focus its shrinking resources on this project before it begins new ones. It is also surprising that Council would choose to create a new committee at this time, with elections just around the corner. This committee may or may not be supported by the new Council and the current Council should not allocate resources to a new project with so little time left in its term.Council currently has 11 standing committees and it seems unlikely there is any topic left untouched by these committees. According to Council President Matt Schrimper, the new committee will act on the ideas generated by its own committee members and the faculty-run Public Service Advisory Board. The Board is described by Schrimper as a think tank for long-term projects and a description on the University’s Web site describes the Board as “Students, faculty and staff working together to support public service and civic engagement.” There is no reason to create a committee for civic engagement when this Board already exists. Schrimper said because “Student Council has a budget” and resources, this new committee will help Council work to put the Board’s plans into action. While it is true that Council has resources, these resources are quickly disappearing and should not be devoted to a new committee when all of Council’s previous initiatives have not been fully realized. The best example of this is the Unity Project. Of the Unity Project as a whole, Schrimper said that, “Community engagement is the not the centerpiece.” This year’s Unity Project’s specific goal, ‘Beyond our Grounds, Within our Community,’ highlights community engagement. While it is true that future Unity Projects may not have as much focus on community engagement, it would seem to be a central component to any Unity Project’s success. According to Council’s Web site each year’s Unity project “will call for a collective focus on an issue that concerns every student.” It would be difficult for the student body to collectively focus on something without engaging in the community.At the end of its term, Council should not be creating new long-term initiatives. Instead, Council should be evaluating the success of current initiatives in the past year so as to make recommendations to the new Council about whether all the current initiatives should be continued. Council is undermining their successors by starting a new project with a shrinking budget. It will also be difficult for the committee to find an issue that the current standing committees do not cover. Council itself is designed to get students involved in whatever aspect of the University community they are passionate about and another committee does not need to be created to get students more generally involved.The creation of this committee will only be a drain on Council’s resources and in that sense will be a detriment to the many other initiatives Council has already committed itself to. With a new Council to be elected soon, the creation of this committee is ill-advised. If there is a truly demonstrated need for a committee on civic engagement, it should be created under the new Council once it has established the direction for Council in the coming year.
(02/09/09 7:10am)
The Virginia women’s tennis team had a busy weekend of ups and downs as it traveled to Ohio State Friday and Tennessee Sunday.The Cavaliers defeated the lady Buckeyes 4-3 thanks to a clutch victory from Virginia sophomore Neela Vaez. Vaez defeated Ohio State junior Christina Keesey in a lengthy three set dual that ended 5-7, 6-3, 7-5.Vaez was also half of the Virginia doubles team that won the first match of the day, adding to the Cavaliers’ overall victory. With senior Amanda Rales, the Virginia pair took down the Buckeyes’ Julie Blackmore and Paloma Escobedo 8-2, putting Virginia ahead early on.The Cavaliers also experienced a déjà-vu moment Sunday, however, after losing to Tennessee 2-5 for the second time in the past two weeks.Sunday’s match marked the first time this season that Virginia didn’t earn the initial doubles point, setting the tone for the rest of the match. Nevertheless, there were some bright spots. The Rales-Vaez doubles team maintained its power from Friday, winning a close 8-7 match, and Virginia outperformed Tennessee Sunday when freshman Lindsey Hardenbergh dominated Tennessee’s Rosalía Alda 6-0, 6-2 in singles play and freshman Emily Fraser beat Lady Vol Jennifer Meredith in similar fashion, 6-1, 6-3.The women’s tennis team will be back in action Feb. 21, when it hosts Marshall and Richmond in a double-header at the Boyd Tinsley Tennis Courts.—compiled by Chloe Newschwander
(02/06/09 7:58am)
The University’s endowment suffered yet another loss last month, continuing a downward-spiraling trend seen during each of the past six months. The percentage lost, however, was less than during previous periods.The endowment fund lost 0.8 percent — or about $31 million — of its total worth in December, according to a report published by the University of Virginia Investment Management Company, which manages University investments. Admitting that the current economic downturn is to blame for the additional losses, Yoke San L. Reynolds, University vice president and chief financial officer, emphasized that the University’s investment strategy remains strong. “We’re not doing as bad as the market as a whole,” she said.Reynolds also noted that though a $31 million loss might seem lamentable, it is less than the losses the University incurred during previous months. Moreover, she said the University’s losses were “comparable” to those seen at other higher education institutions during the same time period.—compiled by Kris Garriott
(02/05/09 7:07am)
Why is the University replacing ISIS with the Student Systems Project?Because the functionality and the underlying technology of ISIS are outdated now and they can’t meet either the current or the future administrative or academic needs of the University.What kinds of new features will SIS include, and how will the change benefit students?It’s primarily giving students more self-service functionality, more things they can do themselves through what’s called the ‘student center.’ Some of the things that you’ll be able to do that you couldn’t do before are if you have licenses or certifications — you can update that yourself — you can complete the financial aid application by going online, you can set up a payment contract, you can view award and loan information, accept, decline or modify financial awards. A lot of the enrollment stuff is the same as what you can do in ISIS, but there’s more finance functionality.What is the University doing to facilitate the change and help students and professors transition to the new system?We’ve been working really hard to make sure that this goes as smoothly as possible. As you know, we’ve worked with student focus groups and also faculty groups to develop these online demos of the faculty center and student center, which are the self-service components of the SIS. We’ve met with every school and are continuing to attend faculty meetings. We’ve got within each school core readiness groups, which are individuals in the schools who are the best people to figure out how to roll it out to their groups of faculty and students. And so we give them materials, and they can use that as a template or a model and reach out to their own faculty and students as they choose to ... [The College] is going and meeting with every single department’s faculty group. We’re creating student center guides and faculty center guides that are going to be available online and the faculty center guide will also be available in print. Those will have instructions on how to do different things in the SIS — for example, enroll, advise, grade, view accounts — and those are going to be posted to the Web in two formats. One is the complete guide and the other is function by function ... so that if you only want to look at, “Well how do I do this one thing?” you can open up to see that, or you can just look at the whole thing at once. We hope we get more articles [on the system]. We’re also going to put something in connections, put ads in The [Cavalier] Daily and Hoo View, we’re going to be handing out some things at Newcomb Hall, we’re going to have table tents in the dining halls just to get the word out that this is coming. On the portal, once it’s up and students and faculty are in, there’s going to be a link to how to get help. We’re creating short demos of specific functionality, such as putting your name on a class permission list, so in addition to having this .pdf version that you can see on the Web, there will also be a demo that takes you click by click how to do things. And the last thing we’re doing, which is actually one of the most critical, is ... You know how to go in, [how] you click the ISIS link on the U.Va. Web page to get into the system? Well there’s going to be this period of time where you’re going to be doing some things in ISIS and some things in the SIS. We’ll change [the link] to read ISIS/SIS, and when you click that link, it’s going to open up a Web page that’s going to tell you which page to go to, depending on what you want to do.Does your office have any concerns about the transition, or has it encountered any difficulties? If so, how were those difficulties addressed?So far there have been few difficulties because as we’ve rolled it out, it’s been pretty much small rollouts to centralized offices. So it isn’t that the functionality is small, but there have been fewer people involved, so it’s gone fairly smoothly. The March rollout when we do enrollment and advisement is going to be the most complex so far, and it’s going to affect faculty, students and staff. There’s going to be more people involved, and it’s going to straddle ISIS and the SIS for a period of time. We’re concerned about that, but the way we’re dealing with it is with this interim Web page that’s going to kind of provide a road map of what occurs where during the transition period. The other thing that’s going to be helpful is that Student Financial Services and [the University registrar] have been full partners with us during this implementation, so students and faculty can always go to them [for] additional guidance and assistance.Will SIS have scheduled downtimes like ISIS does?There will be scheduled downtimes but they’re going to be early in the morning, like maybe a couple mornings a week from 5 to 7. There could be longer times when we have to do what they call ‘patching,’ but those will be coordinated on Sunday mornings, so it shouldn’t inconvenience too many people. It will be posted when that will be taking place.Is there anything you wish the new system could do — but can’t do — because of available technology or resources? Are you satisfied with the final product?The bigger question rather than ‘are we satisfied’ is ‘are the people we’ve worked with satisfied,’ and what we’ve tried to do and in fact have done is engage hundreds of people in the University over the past few years to both define and be sure that we’re going to meet the requirements of the University. We have a lot of governance groups and focus groups, and they believe that the final product is going to meet their needs. Now obviously there’s going to be additional things people are going to want. There are already additional things they want, but we’ve all agreed that what we’ll do is keep track of those requests to consider after the new system is rolled out and we’ve settled in a bit with it.When can students expect to see SIS available online?Students are going to be given access the week of March 16, so very soon.Conducted by Shea Connelly
(02/05/09 7:04am)
Once again, spring elections are upon us. Elections will be held from Feb. 16 to Feb. 27. Many students do not know or care that spring elections are upcoming because the Honor Committee, University Judiciary Committee, Student Council and class councils have failed to remain relevant to the everyday life of students. The Honor Committee and UJC are entities most students try very hard to avoid during their time at the University. Student Council has many initiatives but most only affect a certain group of students. If student self-governance is to be said to exist at the University, it must be practiced at the most basic level of participation by electing those representatives who govern us.In the past The Cavalier Daily has criticized the University Board of Elections for not adequately publicizing elections. Turnout fell from 28 percent in the 2007 spring elections to 22 percent in 2008. Despite its responsibility for raising awareness of spring elections among the student body, ultimately this decrease in voter turnout can only be explained by voter apathy. For a university that so often extols the virtues of student self-governance, this is troubling. Only 22 percent of students played a role in electing the leaders student self-governance in the past year.If student self-governance is only meant to imply that the University’s judiciary organizations are run by students, that is very little to be proud of. By the time first-year students arrive at the University, almost all are legal adults. That students at this University take on adult responsibilities while students at other schools are governed by their professors is not so much a unique virtue of this University as it is a source of shame for everyone else. Student self-governance should mean that all students take part in administering the governance of the University and this is currently not the case. If students are going to vote in elections, they must first feel invested in the system of student self-governance. For the Honor Committee and UJC, this means allowing more student participation. While students are randomly selected for juries, with so many students this is unlikely to involve everyone during their time at the University. Education about these two entities should be re-worked so more students want to be involved. Honor education presentations currently lack the ability to get anyone excited about the Honor Committee who was not already interested in it. Students should feel more ownership of these organizations and in order for this to occur these organizations must work to show how they are relevant to students. Concerning Student Council, the University Unity Project, if successful, is the best avenue for increasing student involvement. The original goal of the Unity Project was to have as close to 100 percent participation as possible; the current voter apathy toward elections shows this is much needed at the University. If students feel more invested in the Honor Committee, UJC and Student Council, participation in elections will increase dramatically. We can only truly realize the ideal of student self-governance when all University students contribute to it.
(02/05/09 6:47am)
There is no rest for the weary teams in the ACC as they work their way through an ever-challenging conference schedule.Such is the case for the Virginia women’s basketball team, which faces its second top-10 team in three games tonight as it attempts to take down No. 4 Duke (18-2, 6-1 ACC) in John Paul Jones Arena.The Cavaliers (18-4, 4-2 ACC) enter the game with plenty of momentum; the team followed last Friday’s come-from-behind upset of then-No. 8 Maryland with an 88-50 drubbing of Longwood Sunday. While Duke encountered a bump in the road last Thursday, suffering an overtime loss to ACC-upstart and then-No. 18 Florida State in Tallahassee, the Blue Devils rebounded nicely with a 69-58 defeat of Boston College Monday at home. With the win, Duke moves into a tie with the Seminoles atop the ACC.Duke is “a really good defensive team,” Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. “They’re very athletic, they have great size on the inside, and great shooters on the outside.”The Blue Devils are led by senior center Chante Black, who stands two inches taller than any Virginia starter and could pose matchup problems in the paint.“Chante Black is just a force in the post,” senior forward Lyndra Littles said. “We’re going to have to play defense, we’re going to have to box out, we’re going to have to rebound.”As Duke’s leading scorer with an average of 15.5 points per game, Black has been named one of 20 finalists for the Wooden Award, given annually to the most outstanding male and female collegiate basketball players in the country.Chante is “a great player,” Ryan said. “You won’t be able take everything away from her, but we can do our best to neutralize her.”The Cavaliers’ own senior center Aisha Mohammed, however, has shown an ability to play physical basketball this season. While bolstering Virginia’s offensive attack with 12.9 points per game, Mohammed has proven to be an even greater asset on the offensive boards for the Cavaliers. With the help of Mohammed’s team-leading 9.2 rebounds per game, the squad has managed 408 rebounds to its opponents’ 271 on the year.In addition to their front-court threat, the Blue Devils will attempt to spread the wealth on offense. Although Black is Duke’s only starter averaging double figures this season, four players are tallying more than eight points per game. The Cavalier defense will have to be vigilant to combat such a diverse offensive attack and must avoid zeroing in on any one player. In contrast, Virginia’s team is quite top-heavy, as the Cavaliers rely on junior guard Monica Wright and Littles for the bulk of their scoring. Littles earned her second ACC Player of the Week honor after averaging 23 points and 6.3 rebounds in the Cavaliers’ past three victories, while Wright has tallied 21.9 points per game thus far. Littles, Wright and Mohammed all rank in the top-10 in the ACC in points per game during conference play.Littles “has had a really good start in the ACC,” Ryan said. “She’s just a very dynamic player right now.” Virginia will need players such as sophomore forward Kelly Hartig (1.3 points per game and .292 field goal percentage) and senior guard Britnee Millner (4.4 points per game) to step up and provide more offensive production if it hopes to knock off the dangerous Blue Devils.“Someone will step up,” Ryan said when asked what would happen if Littles, Wright or Mohammed has a bad night. In addition to its own team members, Virginia will also look to feed off the intensity of what it hopes will be another raucous JPJ home crowd, like the one that played a key role in the team’s upset against Maryland. The players drew inspiration from the fans’ energy in their late-game rally Friday, and the crowds’ chants visibly rattled the Terrapin players en route to the Cavaliers’ 12th home win in 13 games this season. Ryan praised the home crowd’s efforts following the game and is hoping that the arena is similarly unwelcoming for the visiting Blue Devils. Ryan sent an e-mail to Virginia students yesterday urging as many fans as possible to attend the game.Regardless of the outcome of the Duke clash, the Cavaliers cannot afford to dwell on the game; the ACC gauntlet continues with rival Virginia Tech rolling into Charlottesville Sunday, followed by a road rematch with No. 6 Maryland Feb. 12.
(02/05/09 6:43am)
College football’s National Letter of Intent Day was held yesterday, and Virginia coach Al Groh officially announced his 2009 recruiting class, totaling 25 student-athletes.Headlining the class is 6-foot-7, 330-pound offensive lineman Morgan Moses of Meadowbrook High School in Richmond. Moses is listed as the nation’s No. 5 offensive tackle, according to rivals.com, and was a “Parade” and “SuperPrep” All-American.Groh noted that the program’s geographical proximity to Moses helped build the player-coach relationship early on in the process, something he said was “the single most important thing” in recruiting.Another big snag for the Cavaliers was wide receiver Tim Smith from Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake, Va. Smith is listed as the No. 38 wide receiver in the nation on rivals.com but is ranked as high as No. 14 by “SuperPrep.”Other four-star players that the Cavaliers picked up include offensive lineman Oday Aboushi (Staten Island, N.Y.), quarterback Quintin Hunter (Orange County High School in Orange, Va.) and running back Dominique Wallace (Chancellor High School in Fredericksburg, Va.).“It’s a class that makes us a lot taller on both sides of the ball,” Groh said, mentioning the number of 6-foot-6 and 6-foot-7 players signed this year. “It’s a class that makes a lot faster. Speed on the edges has not been a cornerstone of Virginia teams long before we were here. This class brings cumulatively, more speed here than has been the case, and we certainly intend to take advantage of that.”Groh also noted the importance the late Admissions Dean John Blackburn had in putting together the strong class.“A collaborative effort by the late Jack Blackburn and his successor, Greg Roberts, and the admissions office [helped in putting the class together],” Groh said. “Dean Blackburn, as you all know, passed away a few weeks ago and right up to the very end performed with courage and dedication to his task and passed that responsibility on to Greg Roberts, who followed up with it. We had maybe the greatest level of collaboration we’ve ever had with [the admissions office].”Sixteen out of the 25 recruits hail from Virginia, an increase from last season’s signings. Groh also noted the importance of having assistant head coach Bob Pruett on his staff; Pruett was the head coach at Marshall for nine years and has “probably one of the more well-known names in the state of Virginia.”—compiled by Aaron Perryman
(02/04/09 6:25am)
Law School Prof. David Martin will take a two-year leave from teaching to serve as the principal deputy general counsel of the United States Department of Homeland Security.Martin is an expert in immigration law as well as refugee law and served as general counsel of the Immigration and Naturalization Service during the Clinton administration.Law School Prof. George Rutherglen explained that Martin is well experienced in many aspects of his new position because of his work during the Clinton administration. Many of Martin’s previous duties are now integrated into the Department of Homeland Security, Rutherglen said.Martin must now deal with the legal aspects of transportation security and disaster response, as well as immigration issues, Rutherglen said.“If it were my security and freedom at stake, I would prefer David Martin, above any other, to know how to balance the two,” Rutherglen said.Martin, who was not available for comment, will be working with his former student and 1983 Law School graduate Janet Napolitano, who now serves as the Secretary of Homeland Security.—compiled by Matthew Denton-Edmundson
(02/04/09 5:57am)
With Student Council elections fast approaching, this is an ideal time to evaluate what the University Unity Project has accomplished over the past year and whether it is worth continuing in the future. After the better part of a year, the Unity Project does not appear to have accomplished very much outside of Student Council’s own initiatives. This year a referendum will allow students to choose the next theme for the Unity Project and this has the potential to bring many more individuals and organizations together. With increased participation, which will require a major push from Council, the Unity Project has the potential to be successful.According to a post from April 7, 2008 on Council’s Web site, “The aim of this Unity Project would be to have as close to 100% student participation as possible on a designated annual effort.” The most successful aspects of this past year’s Unity Project have come directly from Council, but grants have been awarded to help contracted independent organizations contribute to the project as well. Rob Atkinson, chair of the University Unity Project Ad-Hoc Committee, said the Unity Project is intended to provide a grassroots level at which to approach Council for support of new projects. He also said Council’s intention is to work with groups on a one-time basis under the umbrella of the Unity Project. Because the theme of the Unity Project changes every year, many initiatives financed indirectly by Council this year will not be eligible for support next year. Council’s own initiatives which fall under the umbrella of the Unity Project will continue, but if other non-Council initiatives are to continue, the burden of supporting them will fall to individual CIOs. Therefore, under its current structure, any initiative spawned by the Unity Project can only count on support from Council for one year. The theme for this past year was “Beyond our Grounds, Within our Community”. This theme was chosen by Council itself for the first year of the Unity Project. In the future, however, the theme is to be changed on a yearly basis and in the upcoming spring election students will be able to choose from four themes for next year’s Unity Project put to referendum. The themes are Environmental Sustainability, Economic Diversity, International Aspects and Conflicts, and the Arts. This referendum is a chance for students to choose a goal they would like to unify behind. This will allow separate organizations to bring their individual ideas together in the manner originally envisioned by the Unity Project. By having greater input from the student body on the theme for the Unity Project, students will be more likely to take ownership of the theme once it is in place. The success, however, of the Unity Project depends not only on student selection but also the visibility of the projects it encompasses and this requires advertising and outreach by Council. If no one is aware of the accomplishments of the Unity Project, it will be more difficult to entice new students to contribute. Up to this point this has not been an issue because Council has supported so many of the projects itself, but if more organizations are to get involved, the Unity Project must have a more visible presence on Grounds. The Unity Project has new potential to succeed when students choose which project they would like to pursue, but if Council initiatives continue to be the bulk of the Unity Project, it may be time to reconsider its worth as a tool for student engagement.
(02/03/09 7:36am)
Yesterday the managing board outlined its goals for the coming term, one of which was connecting with our readers. The Cavalier Daily is committed to achieving this goal and will begin by implementing a new way to connect with readers today on our Web site, something we call ‘feedback for the editor.’ This is a two-week trial run which will allow The Cavalier Daily to feel out new ways for readers to respond to current content and suggest new content. This year, The Cavalier Daily will conduct a readership survey, a formal survey measuring reader response to content. In addition to the readership survey, it is possible for readers to post public comments on our online articles. These forms of feedback, while informative, are entirely reactionary and as far as new content is concerned, do little to provide direction. We would like to see different kinds of feedback, not only suggestions for improving current features and columns, but also ideas for new types of articles, columns, weekly features or even entirely new sections that readers might be interested in seeing. This new feature will be for suggestions intended only for the eyes of the editors, unlike the public comments and letters to the editor, which are eligible for publication. A link will be available at the bottom of each article tomorrow and every weekday for the next two weeks for readers to send in feedback. The feedback form will be very similar to the current form for letters to the editor and will require no registration, making it simple for anyone to send in ideas. This is only the first of The Cavalier Daily’s initiatives for increasing the connection with our readership. After the two-week trial period, The Cavalier Daily will set additional goals and seek to expand our content based on where our readers think we are lacking. We hope that this new venue for feedback will allow readers to play a more active role in The Cavalier Daily. Our most comprehensive form of feedback will be the readership survey which will take place later this spring. As we stated yesterday, The Cavalier Daily serves the University community and can do this best when we know more about what readers want. This first initiative begins a year-long process of increasing our readership connection.
(02/03/09 7:18am)
The athletic department announced Friday that it will retire No. 44, which belonged to 2008 University graduate and basketball star Sean Singletary, during the halftime of the Cavaliers’ Feb. 15 game against Clemson.Singletary stands as one of the most decorated players in recent Virginia basketball history. A three-time All-ACC player and one of only five players in the program’s history to score at least 2,000 points, Singletary led the Cavaliers through the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament in the 2006-2007 season, helping the team earn a fourth seed in the NCAA Tournament. In the 2008 NBA Draft, the Sacramento Kings selected Singletary in the second round; Singletary now plays point guard for the Charlotte Bobcats, averaging 2.4 points in 33 NBA games.The Virginia men’s basketball team has retired six other numbers: 3, 14, 20, 40, 41 and 50.—compiled by Dan Stalcup
(02/03/09 7:09am)
The Cavaliers broke three pool records Sunday in Pittsburgh, as the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams took down the Panthers, 142-96 and 131-103, respectively.Virginia senior Pat Mellors and sophomore Claire Crippen both set pool records in the 400 IM. Crippen touched at 4:17.69, while Mellors clocked in at 3:49.15. Junior Mei Christensen added to the Cavaliers’ record-setting performance with her 54.65 mark in the 100 back and also had a stand-out performance in the 50 free, finishing in 23.62.Though no other records fell in Pittsburgh, Virginia also managed to sweep both the men’s and women’s 200 medley relays, as well as the women’s 100-, 200- and 1000-yard freestyle events, and the 100 fly.Meanwhile, the Virginia men took first place in the 100, 200, 500 and 1000 freestyles, 100 fly and 100 back.Having defeated the Panthers, the Cavaliers’ next hurdle will be the ACC Championships later this month in College Park, Md.— compiled by Chloe Newschwander
(02/03/09 7:05am)
The Virginia women’s tennis team split its weekend matches against Tennessee and Utah. The No. 28 Cavaliers (3-1) fell 5-2 to No. 23 Tennessee (3-1) in the ITA National Indoor Championships qualifying round Saturday. Both of Virginia’s ranked singles athletes, No. 42 Jennifer Stevens and No. 82 Emily Fraser, were upset and fell in two sets.Virginia rebounded Sunday, however, with a 5-2 win against No. 47 Utah (1-3), during which Stevens again suffered an upset and freshman Lindsey Hardenbergh fell to the Utes’ Erin Monson. Virginia nevertheless rolled to victory, though, claiming victory in each of the meet’s remaining singles matches against Utah players.—compiled by Dan Stalcup
(02/02/09 10:39am)
The Virginia wrestling team lost to Virginia Tech 21-12 Saturday in Richmond, Va. The Cavalier mat men won the meet’s first two bouts but proved unable to sustain that momentum throughout the rest of the match. Sophomore Chris Henrich, ranked ninth in the country at 174 pounds by InterMat, and junior Brent Jones, ranked 20th at 197 pounds, both scored wins, with Henrich improving to 30-1 on the season after winning his 10th straight match. Prior to the loss against Virginia Tech, Virginia beat George Mason Friday, winning matches in eight of 10 weight classes on the way to a 28-6 rout. Jones upset No. 8 sophomore Cayle Byers, while senior Rocco Caponi, ranked 16th at 184 pounds, and Henrich also posted wins.—compiled by Ben Gomez
(02/02/09 10:35am)
The 120th managing board has several goals for the new term, the first of which is to make sure the paper continues to come out five days a week. If you’re reading this, then we succeeded. Beyond that, our main goal for this year is continual innovation. We want to focus on new media applications and also rework old ones. This can only be accomplished by better connecting with our readership, getting feedback to see what readers like and dislike. Additionally, the managing board also wants greater accountability for The Cavalier Daily and for the organizations we cover. We know our readers demand fair and balanced reporting, and we desire to give it to them. Improving our relationship with the University community as a whole will help hold the paper accountable for its operation and hopefully allow The Cavalier Daily to hold organizations more accountable as well.The Cavalier Daily serves the University community and can do that most effectively when we know what readers want. One of our goals this year is to explore new opportunities, and also to implement new ways for readers to provide feedback about what works and what does not. Some of the new initiatives we will try include expanding our online content to include a tableau and sports blog, athletics coverage to include a greater variety of sports teams and news coverage with more features and investigative pieces. On our Web site, we intend to add photo albums for events and games we cover and video coverage of some events. The opinion section is also going to link columns to outside sources such as CNN to get readers outside of the University bubble.Some of these ideas have come from our staff, others from our readers. In order to make it easier to establish a two-way conversation with our readers, we are going to rework the format of letters to the editor to include comments to the editor. These are not responses to news or opinion pieces, but thoughts about the content we are currently running and ideas for future content. These will be submitted on our Web site and help further the connection between The Cavalier Daily and its readers. With these changes of our own, we ask in return that the organizations we cover become more open to being accountable to us. The Cavalier Daily’s goal of fair and balanced reporting is impeded when community members becomes tight-lipped about controversial issues. When organizations commit to being accountable to The Cavalier Daily, they affirm that commitment to the entire University. One way to improve our relations with the University community is to ensure that our reporting accurately reflects all sides of a story. If one side does not share their story, this becomes much harder.The managing board hopes that this year will bring The Cavalier Daily and its readers closer, both by offering new and innovative content and increasing feedback. It is always the hope of The Cavalier Daily to be held accountable by our readers, and we hope the organizations we cover will share this goal in the coming year.
(02/02/09 10:29am)
KevinSecond-year College studentWhat extracurriculars do you participate in?Marching band, wind ensemble, rushing PSPWhat do you like to do in your free time?Listen to Coldplay, watch “The Office,” read ghost storiesWhat are the physical and personality attributes you are looking for in a date?Good smile and laugh, sense of humor, long hairWhat are your religious affiliations?I grew up Lutheran; now I have something like a Zen life philosophy.What are your favorite TV shows?“The Office,” “Brothers and Sisters,” “Life,” “The West Wing,” “Mythbusters,” “Scrubs”What are your favorite movies and actors?“Crash,” “I am Legend,” “Into the Wild,” the Bourne Series, Don Cheadle, Martin Sheen, George ClooneyWhat music do you like?Almost anything but rap; Coldplay, OneRepublic, Death Cab, Ben Folds, ChicagoWhat are your favorite foods?Omelets, lasagna, almost all Thai foodWhat are your favorite books and authors?Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, Da Vinci Code — but I prefer short storiesDescribe your ideal date.Dinner, walking around somewhere (like sightseeing, the Downtown Mall, etc.)What are deal breakers?Won’t date a smoker — otherwise I’m pretty open Are you outgoing or shy?ShyWhat do you want to do when you graduate?No idea. Possibly teach or grad school...?Where do you see yourself in 10 years?In Italy, or rather, that’s where I’d like to be...If you were a member of the circus, who would you be and why?I would want to work with tigers. I’d probably be deathly scared of them but I’ve always wanted to get one to jump through a ring of fire!Describe yourself in one sentence.I tend to be somewhat shy and quiet around people — especially in large groups — but once I get to know someone, we can really go on talking for hours.JasmineThird-year College student What extracurriculars do you participate in?I have two jobs, so naming extracurriculars is kind of hard... but U.Va. activities include Persian Cultural Society and several pre-medical clubs. Outside of that, I like volunteering at the SPCA.What do you like to do in your free time? Relax. I just have way too much on my plate to be entirely active outside of the norm. Although, when not in school, I enjoy movies, soccer, snowboarding and spending time with family/friends.What are the physical and personality attributes you are looking for in a date?Tall, handsome, medium-build, charming, witty, open-minded, motivated, understanding and logical. (What a list... no wonder it’s so hard!)What are your religious affiliations?I have none. My father is Muslim and my mother is Catholic.What are your favorite TV shows?“Monk,” “CSI,” “Psych,” “The L Word,” “Arrested Development,” “Home Movies,” “Mr. Show,” “Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!”, “Will it Blend?” and “Chappelle’s Show.”What are your favorite movies and actors?Too many to count... Movies: “Léon (The Professional),” “The Fifth Element,” “Pineapple Express,” “Amélie,” “City of God,” “Super Troopers,” “Donnie Darko,” “The Boondock Saints,” “Fight Club,” “Requiem for a Dream,” “Love Me if You Dare (Jeux D’Enfants)” and “Femme Fatale.” Actors: Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, Jean Reno, Mathieu Kassovitz, Audrey Tautou, Steve Carell and Ralph Fiennes.What music do you like?Again... too many! Radiohead, Bob Marley, Coldplay, Gotye, Sigur Rós, !!!, The Beatles, Yes, Massive Attack, Aphex Twin, Benny Benassi and DeVotchKa.What’s your favorite food?Tough one... generally, any Persian dish!What are your favorite books and authors?“Fahrenheit 451” and “The Martian Chronicles” by Ray Bradbury, “1984” by George OrwellDescribe your ideal date.First things first... I prefer for someone else to plan, so uh, this question is kind of hard. I guess cooking dinner and watching a movie or maybe going out to snowboard. I am pretty open to ideas, though.What are deal breakers?I do not date narrow-minded, rude, unappreciative, greedy or foul individuals.Do you smoke?SociallyAre you outgoing or shy?I would say outgoing (although I switch sometimes).What do you want to do when you graduate?Take a year off to work in a clinical environment abroad, then come back to the U.S. for medical school.Where do you see yourself in 10 years?In the middle of my medical residency somewhere in the U.S.!If you were a member of the circus, who would you be and why?I would be the person who breathes fire. Why? Do you even have to ask?Describe yourself in one sentence.I consider myself somewhat of an awkward individual (but always with the best intentions) and thus do not expect anyone else to be perfect — they should just be honest.Date: Sunday, Jan. 25Time: 6 p.m.Location: The Virginian Kevin: I was nervous before the date, but not so much about the date itself. I was more nervous about what would show up in this article, actually. I was worried that we would have felt two completely different ways about the night. One of us might have had a completely horrible time and the other would be looking for a second date.Jasmine: The thing I thought most was that I don’t really do dates in general. So a blind date was just way out there for me. And plus I had a friend who did this, and the people didn’t really get along. I was worried I would be stuck. I was really worried he was going to be a Republican. Happily, he was not, so we were fine.Kevin: Two minutes after I left, she called to offer me a ride. She knew it was really cold outside. So I told her where I was and she came and picked me up on Beta Bridge. I got into the car and it was really smoky. That was my first impression. It was weird because I put that as one of my deal-breakers. But she explained that one of her friends was smoking in there, so it wasn’t as bad as it first seemed.Jasmine: As I was leaving the library, I asked where he was and if he wanted a ride because it was really cold. So I went and picked him up on Beta Bridge. I felt really bad, too, because I had been partying with some friends over the weekend and they smoke a lot. I’m not a big fan of the stench of cigarettes so right after I introduced myself I said “Sorry about the smell!” That probably made him back off a bit because he thought I was a tobacco-chewing farm ho.Kevin: I didn’t have any expectations as to what she would look like, so there was no way I would be surprised. I can’t remember what she was wearing. I shouldn’t have said that. OK, she was wearing a coat, a purple coat. She looked nice. I didn’t compliment her on how she looked but I felt like I should have. I also probably shouldn’t have said that.Jasmine: He’s a really sweet guy. A lot of people aren’t good at first impressions, they continually talk about themselves, and he didn’t do that, so that was good. The point of a date is to meet someone and find out stuff about them. He’s a good-looking guy. I can’t remember what pants he was wearing. He wasn’t wearing gym shorts or anything. It wasn’t like he just got off the couch from watching football. Kevin: We went in and got a seat and we talked as we looked over the menus. She’s a vegetarian so I told her that if she couldn’t find something on the menu we could go somewhere else. I got a steak and cheese, and she got a macaroni, which she thought was the entrée but it wasn’t when they brought it out. It was this really, really tiny dish of macaroni and cheese and it looked more like a side dish than anything else, so I felt kind of guilty that I had a whole sandwich in front of me and she had a wimpy side dish.Jasmine: On the menu it came as an entrée, $13. But when they brought the food, they brought a little bowl and I thought it must be a side dish. But it was my main dish. We checked the menu and couldn’t find a $4 macaroni anywhere on the menu, which is what they charged us. It was weird. It was awkward. The cool thing was at the end of the night we looked at the bill, and the macaroni was so cheap and the water was free so we looked at the menu for dessert and there was a really good sounding chocolate cake, and I told him I liked chocolate and he ordered the cake. It was really good. Much better than the macaroni.Kevin: She was really nice, we started out talking about school in general, what year we were, how we applied and crazy mascots schools have. We also ended up talking about computers for a while. That part of the conversation went a little bit longer than I would’ve liked. But I wouldn’t say it ever got really dull. We could at least relate to each other, each other’s interests. I mentioned my favorite movie, “I Am Legend,” and we talked about that for a while. Even though it’s not one of her favorites, we had at least both seen it and we just talked about it.Jasmine: I didn’t feel like we had any awkward pauses at all. I think we had a good time joking about the fact that it was such an awkward thing to be on a blind date. I don’t think we actually had a lot of things in common, but that was what made it so interesting. It was nice to know that I could socialize with people who are different in a lot of ways. It could have gone a lot worse, like if Kevin was a different individual, aka a Republican, or something as daunting for me. I had a good time though. Kevin: Afterwards, she drove me home to Lambeth. We said good night and exchanged last names so we could look each other up on Facebook. We both established that we text so we decided we would text eventually. And that was it. There was no hug or kiss good night.Jasmine: I felt that if it went badly for him he would be like “Time to go!” But he didn’t and we talked for a bit and grabbed our coats and I drove him back to Lambeth. I’m kind of awkward anyway, so I didn’t want to make it more awkward by potentially molesting my date. I would say overall it was a 6 or 7. First of all, he was really easy to get along with. It wasn’t like I ever told him something I liked and he was said “Oh, that sucks.” He listened and empathized with a lot of stuff. It could have been a lot worse. We’re already Facebook friends. We had each other’s numbers so he texted me that night and said he had a good time, but I didn’t see the text. So I responded the next day and said we should go see a football game.Kevin: I would say it’s an 8 out of 10, which I feel is really good for a blind date, but there wasn’t any kind of spark. It could have been better but as far as a blind date goes, it was good. It went pretty well. I texted her a couple hours after I got back home saying I had a good time and that we should hang out again sometime. She texted me back the next morning, and said that eventually she’d like to see a football game and so maybe she’ll see me at one. I thought it was weird that she responded like that because football games aren’t until next semester. And I’m in the marching band, so the most she would see of me would be when I’m on the field. So I’m not quite sure how she would go about finding me at the football game. But I guess she has a plan for that. After the interview, Jasmine texted Kevin to let him know that she didn’t realize there weren’t any football games in the spring. Besides being Facebook friends, they’ve texted a couple times and talked on the phone once.
(01/30/09 8:59am)
A year in the life of The Cavalier Daily is never what one expects, and it is always an incredible thing to observe. By the end of the year, it is hard to remember how one felt at the beginning and what one hoped to accomplish. As our year as the Managing Board ends, all we can say for sure is that we were privileged to work with some of the most talented students on Grounds and to see first-hand what happens when a staff made up of students under the age of 22 runs a business.We entered our offices with ambitious and specific plans. Looking back at our first editorial from last January, we see a number of individual goals that did not work out how we had hoped — but we also see a set of ideals that our staff has furthered during the past year.We sought throughout the course of our term to expand our content to give our readers even more of a reason to pick up our paper. The feature stories our News staff turned out — the most controversial of which dealt with complex issues of Honor Committee policy — helped us meet that goal. Innovative content like the Life section’s biweekly “Marketplace” section provided information relevant to many of our readers during these uncertain economic times, while the new “Love Connection” page has developed quite a fan base.We mentioned in January that we wanted to involve the University community beyond our staff in the production of our paper. The Opinion section’s “Views Around Grounds” feature added the opinions of non-staff members to the section. Our relationship with Hoos News has brought non-staff members into our very office space, as have our efforts to build relationships with student leaders and administrators.Not every challenge we faced was anticipated in January, however. Yet another controversy over a cartoon forced us to reconsider our policies in the spring, but the resulting change has thus far served to protect both our artists and the quality of our product. The new Web site we unveiled in the summer has been riddled with problems, but we have slowly dealt with them as they arose. We addressed inefficiencies in our editing process and created a new schedule that allows our staff to complete their tasks much earlier than in the past.Through all of this progress and change, our staff continued to produce comprehensive coverage every day. In the fall, we had a front-row seat to history as we covered the campaign and election of our nation’s 44th president. Our reporters’ work brought to light stories about changes on the Corner, the football team’s failings on and off the field, honor trials on Semester at Sea and many, many others that have sparked discussion. Asking the questions that hold our leaders accountable is the most important role of The Cavalier Daily, and our staff proved themselves worthy of that responsibility.In our first editorial, we noted that a newspaper has a symbiotic relationship with its readers, and we asked ours to let us know when we have made mistakes. Perhaps we should have known better than to think our readers needed to be asked. Though it is sometimes discouraging, we would not have learned as much without the feedback of our readers, and we thank you for it.Looking back on all that took place over the past year, we realize that every one of this newspaper’s 119 years has been a struggle. Though it is hard now to step back and let others lead it through the next year, we are proud to have been part of the history of this dynamic institution — and we feel secure promising many more years of excellence.
(01/29/09 8:37am)
As the 119th Managing Board’s term nears its end, it is time to continue The Cavalier Daily’s semiannual tradition of recognizing those individuals and groups who have made our newspaper worth reading over the past semester with our “Pink Flamingo” awards.The “Loose Lips Sink Ships” Award goes to Jess Huang, who has kept tight control over information coming out of the Honor Committee. She recently met with faculty on board Semester at Sea to “educate” them about the honor system. We hope she told them the Honor Committee may deny Semester at Sea students their right to a student jury.The “Lunch Pail” Award goes to the athletic department, whose efforts to convert the University’s athletic programs into a clone of Virginia Tech’s intensified this year with a ban on signs at athletic events. Add that strict control over student expression to the “Sea of Orange,” the marching band and the lack of a halftime tailgate “pass out” and the only thing the Hokies had this year that the University didn’t was a winning football team.The “Sound and Fury” Award goes to the University Unity Project, which despite Student Council’s numerous press releases and unveiling ceremonies ended up affecting most students’ lives very little. Perhaps it would have had more success unifying students if it took some cues from the Athletic Affairs Committee’s protests this fall.The “I’m Sorry, You’re Not on the List” Award goes to Dean of Students Allen Groves for requiring wristbands for tailgaters on the Lawn, as if the Lawn weren’t elitist enough without the bouncers.The “Glory of the U.Va.” Award is shared by the women’s soccer, swimming, men’s and women’s tennis, field hockey, and women’s basketball teams, all of whom once again have far outperformed some of the more publicized sports. The “Spay and Neuter” Award goes to Bob Barker, who donated $1 million to the Law School to establish an animal law program. Apparently, the University’s bid for the program was closest without going over.The “Evel Knievel” Award goes to the daredevil UTS bus driver our photographers captured in action dodging a flaming manhole on McCormick Road. Before seeing this photo, we thought the biggest danger UTS drivers faced was from drunk passengers who didn’t like their music.The “Economic Stimulus” Award goes to Toni Munch, Ann Schare, Bonnie Ford, Jennifer Bonenfant and Melissa Gormes, who have helped keep The Cavalier Daily’s books in order while we wait for our government bailout.And finally, the “Straitjacket” Award goes to the 119th staff of The Cavalier Daily, who must be crazy to have worked as hard as they did. We are fortunate to work with some of the best the University has to offer, and we will sincerely miss seeing them every day.
(01/29/09 7:58am)
Thriller coming to BroadwayThe Nederlander Organization, owner of the historic Broadway theater, has recently acquired the rights to adapt Michael Jackson’s iconic “Thriller” music video to the stage. It is unclear who is behind this adaptation, though it has been confirmed that songs from both the “Thriller” and “Off the Wall” albums will be incorporated into the production. Furthermore, Jackson himself is expected to be involved. James Nederlander has been highly enthusiastic about the potential of the project. —by ethan hamlinArrested Development film ... still in the makingFor all Arrested Development fans (of which there are obviously many in the tableau staff) — never fear! Hopes for an AD film are STILL haunting fans, as Jeffrey Tambor (George Bluth) commented at a Hellboy 2 promotion in November, “It’s a go. I just actually this week talked to Mitch Hurwitz, so we’re doing it.” Although there are still questions as to a completed script, a majority of the original AD actors confirm these speculations, and Mitch Hurwitz and Ron Howard have reportedly closed a deal with Fox Searchlight and Imagine Studios. The only detriment to the film? Michael Cera, indie cult favorite and the irresistible George-Michael Bluth, is still skeptical about the film ever surfacing. —by stephanie garciaThe Bloody Beetroots release 2009 teaser mixYour favorite Venom-masked, electro duo has just released its new teaser mix in hopes of drawing more crowds on its European tour with Steve Aoki, famed West Coast DJ and founder of Dim Mak records. The mix sounds promising and offers a collection ranging from pop’s anti-diva Pink to Canadian DJ Tiga. While the Beetroots have not quite broken through to the United States yet, they seem to be in the same situation that Justice was in a few years ago. Once The Bloody Beetroots create a full-length album on the Dim Mak label, you’ll be sure to hear their remixes of The All-American Rejects and Timbaland in the hippest nightclubs.—by campbell bird
(01/28/09 6:39am)
The University will announce the next director of its Art Museum Thursday afternoon in the museum, University spokesperson Carol Wood said yesterday. The museum’s current interim director, Elizabeth Hutton Turner — who also serves as University’s first vice provost for the arts — and University Provost Arthur Garson will speak at the event, which is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.—compiled by Thomas Madrecki