The Law School's Innocence Project Clinic, an organization which investigates wrongful conviction cases in Virginia, is working to exonerate Bennett Barbour, a Williamsburg man convicted in 1978 of raping a College of William & Mary student.
Students from low-income backgrounds are increasingly unaware of sources of additional financial aid and regularly overestimate academic costs because of misconceptions stemming from media coverage of the high cost of attending college, according to a paper released Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The study, "Information Constraints and Financial Aid Policy," highlighted problems students face when evaluating the financial cost of college.
The Student Council's Building and Grounds Committee unveiled its new Grounds-oriented construction website yesterday evening at the Student Council general body meeting. Third-year Architecture student Nell Connors said the Committee began work on the website at the beginning of last semester to help students find information about the University's construction projects more easily. "I think our main goal was to make it Google-searchable," Connors said. Connors said the site aims to educate students about "current, future and past construction projects" and to inform the community about changes in ongoing projects.
Attorneys began selecting jurors yesterday for the murder trial of former University student and lacrosse player George Huguely. Huguely faces first-degree murder charges for the death of University student and lacrosse player Yeardley Love.
Members of Charlottesville City Council voted yesterday to create a Council-appointed human rights task force to review the proposed Charlottesville human rights commission and report their findings to the Council in 10 months. Most Council members have voiced support for the creation of a human rights commission, which would aim to address discrimination complaints in the City. Mayor Satyendra Huja, Vice Mayor Kristin Szakos, Council member Kathy Galvin and Council member Dede Smith each voted in favor of City Manager Maurice Jones' recommendation to review the human rights commission before creating it, while Council member and former mayor Dave Norris wanted more immediate action. Huja said the commission would work with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to educate the public about discrimination and mediate discussions about discrimination complaints in the workplace and housing market. Some members of the Dialogue on Race, a city-backed grassroots initiative to discuss and suggest solutions for race relations problems in Charlottesville, the Legal Aid Justice Center and Virginia Organizing called for the creation of an active anti-discrimination commission and commission director this fiscal year to break what Dialogue on Race leader Walt Heinecke called its 25-year cycle of study groups and initiatives. "We determined that folks around town wanted [a commission] with some enforcement teeth," Heinecke said. Szakos said her time as a board member for the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People showed her that Charlottesville needs a human rights commission to deal with discrimination issues. At the meeting, Szakos successfully encouraged Council members to move the task force's timeline up by two months from the original 12-month timetable proposed by Jones. Szakos said she hopes the Council will continue to discuss the commission, but she wants the City to begin addressing discrimination immediately. "What I would like to do during this particular year, partly due to our budget situation ... is to form a commission ... and commit ourselves to the process," Szakos said before the Council meeting.
The Virginia House of Delegates passed a Republican-backed bill 71-28 Friday, which would allow private adoption agencies to deny child adoption by individuals based on their religious or moral beliefs, including views on homosexuality. Sen.
Poor levels of college enrollment, disengagement, underachievement and low graduation rates rank among the most pressing problems facing black males in the United States.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin today in the trial of former University lacrosse player George Huguely.
Virginia Senate Bill 323, which would lift the commonwealth's current 18-year-old one-a-month gun law and allow gun permit holders to buy more than one handgun per month, looks set to pass in the Republican-run state Senate Monday.
Former U.S. Ambassador for War Crimes Issues David Scheffer spoke at the University's Law School Friday about his experiences during his four-year term as U.S.
The Honor Committee continued to discuss possible changes to its bylaws yesterday evening which would introduce "informed retraction" to honor cases. Batten School Rep.
As former University student and lacrosse player George Huguely’s Feb.
Students announced plans Wednesday to auction historical University items online at a website created last month called restoreUVa.com. Third-year College student Whit Hunter, Student Council's vice president for administration, launched the website, which has raised $3,500 so far.
A bill proposed by Del. David Englin, D-Alexandria, requesting Gov. Bob McDonnell to petition the federal Drug Enforcement Agency to allow the use of marijuana for legitimate medical reasons failed in the House Rules Committee Tuesday evening. "Legalizing marijuana is probably not supported by 99 percent of the people here," said Del.
Charlottesville Police issued five to seven citations this week as part of an initiative to curb jaywalking, Charlottesville Police Lt.
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni published a report Monday which found that administrative costs and tuition are rising, while educational spending is decreasing. The report looked at 15 public universities and 24 private institutions in Virginia and concluded that the cost of tuition and fees totals more than 40 percent of Virginia's median household income at 17 private institutions. Less than half of the institutions surveyed in the study graduate the majority of their students in four years. The University, however, has a four-year graduation rate of 85 percent, ranking higher than the average Virginia institution surveyed in the study. The study aims to give policymakers and the public information about colleges and universities in a clear and succinct manner, said Michael Poliakoff, ACTA policy director and co-author of the report. "In this state, with its storied history in the birth of this nation, only two of these schools had a requirement for the foundational of history and government.
A study by the University's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service released Monday found Virginia's population grew faster than the national average between April 2010 and July 2011. Researcher Rebecca Tippett said the state's population grew 1.2 percent, while the nation's population increased by only 1 percent. Tippett said the majority of the growth occurred in Virginia's cities. "Consistent with national patterns, most growth is in the urban crescent," Tippett said.
The Virginia Supreme Court remanded the review of the General Assembly's newly redrawn congressional district lines back to the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond Tuesday, claiming that the lower court had failed to adequately review the evidence. A group of Democratic state residents filed the initial suit, claiming the redistricting plan is unconstitutional because the General Assembly had not drawn the congressional district lines within a year of the last completed population census as required by the Virginia Constitution. Geoff Skelley, media relations coordinator at the University's Center for Politics and former Cavalier Daily opinion columnist, said, "Attorney [General] Ken Cuccinelli tried to have the Virginia Supreme Court claim that the decision in the lower court in Richmond was unfounded, but the Virginia Supreme Court refused to halt the suit, so it will be allowed to continue." Skelley said the Circuit Court will now continue to review the constitutionality of the redistricting plan. "The elected representatives of the citizens of Virginia have passed a redistricting plan through legislative process, and we will continue to seek to protect the result of that process," according to a press release by the Attorney General's office. Cuccinelli filed for an emergency clause to move congressional primaries from June 12 to Aug.
Students and community leaders spoke yesterday afternoon at a rally on the Rotunda steps to celebrate "The Real Legacy of Martin Luther King" and emphasize the importance of continuing King's fight against economic injustice. The advocacy group the Virginia Progressive Action Network organized the rally, which included presentations by History Prof.
University President Teresa Sullivan opposed Gov.
