We’re mostly just glad that the gubernatorial race — one of the most toxic and intellectually unproductive in recent memory — is over. But unpleasant as the race was, the results point to some interesting developments in Virginia politics. They also confirm some traditional wisdom.
More U.S. college students die from suicide than from alcohol, according to a 2011 study commissioned by James Turner, executive director of Student Health at the University of Virginia. And one in 12 college students makes a suicide plan, a 2002 report co-sponsored by the National Mental Health Association found.
We write first and foremost to urge students to vote.
4: Number of deans who are stepping down at the end of the academic year (Meredith Woo of the College, Harry Harding of the Batten School, Kim Tanzer of the Architecture School and Steven DeKosky of the Medical School)
So CSU has devised a plan: to build an on-campus football stadium that will lure better athletes, increase sports revenue and attract more out-of-state students. Or so administrators hope. This plan seems unconventional. But it is in line with a cynical philosophy that too many mid-tier schools have bought into: that the pathway up the U.S. News & World report rankings consists of fancy buildings and bigger stadiums.
Brown’s life differed from the lives that many students lead. He had a daughter, and had to contend with all the responsibility that comes with being a parent and holding down a job. But in other ways he was a peer as much as Schulman, Goldsmith or Gilliam was. He was a happy 22-year-old who drew smiley faces on Sbarro pizza boxes. He was like us. Our willingness to see Brown as someone alien, someone detached from our concerns, points to a failure of imagination.
It’s hard to say what consultants do, exactly. (A Google search for “What do consultants do?” yields 217 million hits.) But friends who know Pete say that his consulting knowledge is limited, at least for someone with a graduate business degree. Although Pete’s views on ball sports, meat texture and cuddling are finely nuanced, he lacks expertise in a host of other areas. This is because Pete is a dog.
The incident seems farcical: the slapstick of the agents spinning off the car’s windshield as Daly sped away; the ludicrousness of the ABC thinking it needed six armed agents to handle some sorority girls buying LaCroix and cookie dough.
Now is a time of transition: a period when we can negotiate the terms for how partnerships between U.S. and Chinese institutions ought to work. The American universities, including the University of Virginia, that collaborate with Chinese schools should take a hard line on academic freedom.
Last Thursday an employee in Concordia College’s admissions office removed all copies of the school’s student newspaper from the college’s campus center. The day before, The Concordian had published a front-page story about students drinking alcohol before campus events.
The GW Hatchet, George Washington University’s independent student newspaper, scored a scoop Monday. It brought to light that the D.C.-based university had been misrepresenting its admissions policy for years. GW had regularly claimed that it did not factor financial need into admissions. But in fact, the university places hundreds of applicants on the waitlist each year because they cannot pay GW’s tuition.
Though the University has framed the Arts Trust as a way to support new artistic programs, the trust is as concerned with sustainability as it is with innovation. Without funding, programs do not maintain their levels of quality. They languish. The trust offers a safety net in a climate of budget shortfalls and increased skepticism toward the arts.
For the center to be a worthwhile part of the University ecosystem — not merely the whim of a rich donor — it needs to do serious academic work and engage the University community in productive ways. While the center’s attempt to expose a range of people to meditation suggests good intentions, having Chopra and Huffington headline the event does little to dispel suspicion toward contemplation or the “contemplative sciences.” In contrast to the research projects Germano mentioned in the news release, the New Age spirituality of Chopra and Huffington — while it may help some people find meaning — is anti-scientific.
A project to support students’ efforts to get into college by disseminating advice and information through text messaging seeks to address these problems. Ben Castleman, acting assistant professor of education at the University’s Center for Education Policy and Workforce Competitiveness, recently received a $225,000 grant for an initiative that delivers college-planning information to low-income students via text message.
As the prospect of the U.S. defaulting on its debt looms, the ongoing government shutdown has sent federal research efforts into uneasy hiatus.
The University of Wisconsin at La Crosse has issued an apology for an email a professor sent to students last week that blamed the government shutdown on the “Republican/tea party controlled House of Representatives.” Rachel Slocum, assistant professor of geography, sent the email to all of her students in an online class.
Ultimately we must modify the legal codes that pit due process against Title IX to the detriment of student sexual-assault survivors. But even in the context of a flawed system, we can work to improve the lives of students affected by sexual violence, and prevent other attacks.
The University placed 25th overall in the rankings the center posted online. Of the five disciplines the center surveyed, our faculty members supposedly wield the most influence in sociology (eighth) and politics (18th) and least in anthropology (64th).
Woo took on the deanship in a time of upheaval. So will her successor. The next dean of the College must be able to keep a clear head in a turbulent environment.
A more substantive threat to job prospects — and to online reputations more generally — comes from a different corner of the Web. For students who have been arrested, a sloppy Facebook profile is the least of their worries. The recent advent of for-profit mug shot websites threatens to box some students out of the job market.
