This year’s fraternity rush is expected, by some, to be the safest and most supervised recruitment in recent years. Inter-Fraternity Council President-elect Ben Gorman, a third-year College student, said the negative coverage of Greek life by Rolling Stone and other media outlets has, in fact, led to a slight decrease in rush signups.
The University will begin to accept applications for Resident Advisors in the next two weeks — with Focused Area applications due Jan. 16 and First Year and Upperclass Area applications due Jan. 17. Applicants, who will receive decisions in March, will complete a written application and undergo group and individual interviews to determine who will supervise on-Grounds housing.
Even as administrators and advocates work to promote a dialogue around policy and cultural change moving forward, questions linger about the accuracy of the Rolling Stone account. As Jackie's narrative is dissected, the extent of these "inconsistencies," and the status of the ongoing police investigation, are murky.
In the aftermath of the disappearance and death of second-year College student Hannah Graham, University students, Charlottesville citizens and city officials have found themselves increasingly concerned with personal safety.
A collaborative effort between the University, charity organizations and research groups brought a swath of engaged professors, politicians and aid workers to Grounds last month for a panel to discuss the Islamic State, the violence the organization perpetrates against women and various strategies the international community can employ to alleviate the challenges victims face.
In 2013, 10 percent of University undergraduates went into Consulting Services, --the second most popular industry for students according to the University Career Services First Destinations Report, a report based on survey data of undergraduate plans upon graduation. UCS Director of Employer Relations, David Lapinski, described consulting as a “catch-all” for University undergraduates, attracting those from all schools and areas of study.
As September comes to a close, most upperclassmen have re-entered the academic mode. First years are continuing to acclimate to a new environment.
Each language department approaches the competency requirement differently, however. Where some departments emphasize immediately teaching in the target language ? conducting the entire course in the language within the first semester ? many others focus on developing grammar before speaking.
This fall Dede Goldsmith launched the Amend the RAVE Act Campaign to amend legislation affecting safety measures at raves and electronic dance music (EDM) festivals. Her daughter, Shelley Goldsmith, was a second year Jefferson Scholar at the University when she died at an EDM concert in Washington D.C. on August 31 of last year.
Alderman Library, the heart of the University library system, houses approximately three million volumes — valued together at $104 million — and serves as a major study space for students. The library is beginning to show signs of age, however, and renovation planning is already underway.
The fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, a reportedly unarmed, African-American citizen of Ferguson, Missouri, has brought law enforcement and police brutality to the forefront of national interest. Members of the University and greater Charlottesville community have been vocal in protests of police actions in Ferguson and prejudice in law enforcement across the country.
Eighteen people sit on the University Board of Visitors. Only seventeen, however, have voting power on the Board and one — fourth-year College student Meg Gould — is there to help ensure the Board understands the breadth of the student experience when making their decisions. “You are essentially serving as a sounding board for a lot of these issues that affect students,” Gould said.
Amid a flurry of public backlash, the Board of Visitors’ special committee on governance and engagement released a revised version of its draft Statement of Expectations last Wednesday. State law requires the Board to produce on ethics policy.
To say funding issues affect every organization on Grounds is to state the obvious, but how groups, specifically large ones with consistently high expenditures, approach the issue can vary widely. The Honor Committee and the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society, for instance, both use large endowments to support various organizational programs.
Last month, antitrust attorney Jeffrey Kessler filed a lawsuit against the NCAA and five major college conferences on behalf of two football and two basketball players at Clemson, the University of Texas at El Paso, Rutgers and the University of California Berkeley — students Martin Jenkins, Kevin Perry, J.J. Moore and William Tyndall, respectively. With the exception of Jenkins, a junior, the four have completed their NCAA eligibility and ended their college athletic careers.
Construction fencing will completely surround the Rotunda on all sides beginning May 19, blocking almost all access to the lawn from the north side.
“Needles don’t really bug me,” said Lauren Odegaard, a first-year in the School of Nursing. Odegaard was just one of many donors who did not mind needles at an ROTC blood drive on March 27th. The event, organized by Kaitlyn McQuade, a fourth-year Nursing student in Army ROTC, collected blood specifically for active military personnel, veterans, and their families, the second such drive McQuade has organized at UVa. McQuade said that she was inspired by an Armed Services Blood Program drive she saw in Washington state while undergoing ROTC training there.
This past fall, the Fourth Year 5K had over 930 registrants, who were able to enjoy the nice weather along with guests like Cav Man and Dean Groves. President Teresa Sullivan recognized fourth-year winners of the event at the football game. During the event, participants are provided with statistics and information about low-risk drinking through games and merchandise.
![“[Posse and QuestBridge] are national programs that are designed to attract high achieving low-income students,” said Dean of Admissions Greg Roberts. “Each year we enroll about 10 of each, so that’s 20 out of an entire class. These are two programs which are designed to help us identify, attract and enroll high achieving students from underrepresented [populations] who have overcome great obstacles.”](https://snworksceo.imgix.net/cav/050d78ec-4710-4628-b2db-92075c10a946.sized-1000x1000.jpg?w=1000&ar=4%3A3&fit=crop&crop=faces&facepad=3&auto=format)
Though many students obtain aid packages through AccessUVa, the University’s flagship financial aid program, and a select few are awarded merit scholarships through the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, outside sources of funding play an important role for many University students.
In fall 2010, the Gooch-Dillard residence area had a problem: the UTS bus schedule was a mess. One frustrated student posted his concerns on SpeakUpUVA.com, a website run by Student Council that lists student-generated proposals to change University policies, and sent his proposed solution around on the Gooch-Dillard listserv to encourage people to vote for his idea. As the idea quickly became the top post on the website for that month, a UTS subsequently implemented a new, more efficient bus schedule for the Gooch-Dillard area.
