One element of the University that makes inclusion particularly difficult is the physical layout of our school; for students, faculty, administrators or visitors who have accessibility needs, navigating the University’s terrain can often prove difficult.
So far, the investigation has been kept relatively under wraps. It’s not even clear whether the bureau is pursuing the accrediting council or the colleges under its accreditation. If the bureau is pursuing the accreditor, this would be an unprecedented shift in the bureau’s watchdog activity.
Punitive measures like expulsion may serve as negative reinforcement for students not to cheat — but that doesn’t have to be the only measure in place to stop cheating. Promoting a community of trust shouldn’t preclude us from taking small, preventative steps.
Despite cost and familial obstacles, students appear to get STI screenings in significant numbers.
In its current layout, the Downtown Mall — which is undeniably the social hub of Charlottesville, though University students may not always frequent it — is not particularly open.
University students may begin their college careers with anything in-between a comprehensive sex education or none at all. And this should certainly trouble us, as colleges are understood to be sexually active places where students may have multiple partners.
At a student government level, it is especially easy to implement measures for internal oversight, and the executive board of Student Council is responsible for adhering to the bylaws they have campaigned to enforce or improve.
When it comes to maintaining enough resources for these students, we should always think a step ahead, not find ourselves catching up.
As September comes to a close, the managing board recounts some notable numbers.
At the University, we see our own disturbing trends of voter turnout: in last year’s student elections, only 30.8 percent of the student body voted. That number was five points lower in 2014.
Essentially, schools are trapped in this system (though Reed, Diver argues, has thrived through its withdrawal from the U.S. News process). And at our University, which, in all likelihood, won’t withdraw itself from rankings any time soon, we have to navigate the desire to raise rankings and simultaneously not let them guide important decisions.
Yesterday’s news revealed many details we already knew or expected, but that remain troubling: that past University policies on sexual assault were not sufficient, and that students at the University experience sexual assault in unconscionable numbers.
If law enforcement has a more prominent role in universities’ cases, survivors may be hesitant to pursue charges, either due to their own trauma or because they don’t wish to launch a criminal investigation or harsher sanction than a school would provide. Of course, someone who has committed a rape deserves a criminal prosecution — but if a survivor won’t come forward for fear of criminal prosecution, with this bill, her rapist will get no prosecution at all, since the school can’t pursue its own adjudicative process.
Politicians, especially those who have access to perks like state-owned planes, often walk a difficult line between private and public use of their state-given resources.
While there are valid criticisms of Obama’s plan, his search tool is a welcome development for struggling families and students. Student loan debt in the United States has reached $1.2 trillion, but the new data the administration has released shows whether college graduates are successfully repaying their loans, giving students insight into whether a given school’s loan program will be financially feasible for them.
As a public school, the University of Virginia stands out amongst the elite, private institutions it competes against as more financially accessible to residents of its state. But though the University offers comparatively reasonable in-state tuition prices — subsidized by larger out-of-state tuition — this model still can’t make up for the unequal implications of education costs.
The General Assembly’s propensity to draw unfair district maps is already troubling, but it is especially troubling that legislators would essentially ignore a court order to address this inequality.
Retail store Natty Beau, a recent addition to the string of shops in the Corner area where many students eat and socialize, currently has a window display meant to entice its young clientele, featuring crumpled red solo cups scattered along the floor under its mannequins.
In fact, Greek life, since it has institutional checks and balances in place — as well as an entire University office devoted to regulating it — can be more easily held accountable for reported acts of hazing compared with CIOs or other student groups.
The board’s decision to divest — and to refrain from investing in private prison companies in the future — serves as a reminder of the varied impacts universities can have. While this past year we became consumed with issues over which our University has more direct control, the impacts of a given school can extend far beyond its physical campus or student body.
