Students elect Tilton president
By Franny Corneliussen | March 1, 2007Students elected third-year College student Lauren Tilton to serve as Student Council president last night. "I think this will be a really exciting upcoming year," Tilton said.
Students elected third-year College student Lauren Tilton to serve as Student Council president last night. "I think this will be a really exciting upcoming year," Tilton said.
While students approved referenda to change the Student Council constitution and to add more College representatives to the Honor Committee, the referendum to change the single sanction system failed to pass. The result for a referendum changing the Arts & Sciences Council constitution was not available because of a ballot error that allowed students outside the College to vote on the amendment. "The results are still pending for referendum one," said Steve Yang, University Board of Elections chair. A UBE release stated, "Upon completion of polling, all votes from outside the College had to be assumed to be 'No' votes.
The University Board of Elections announced the newly elected Honor and University Judiciary committee members last night.
Class and school council officers were announced last night by the University Board of Elections. Current Third-Year Council president Christine Devlin was elected president of the Fourth-Year Trustees. "I am honored to take on this job, and really excited to do it again next year," Devlin said.
The Harry Bramhall Gilbert Charitable Trust of Virginia Beach announced Monday it will donate one million dollars to the University for fourth-year students who graduated from a public school in the Chesapeake district.
Allegations of a possible relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings are rooted in a centuries-old rumor first spread in 1802 by James T.
As the polls close at 6 p.m. today, students have begun to weigh in on the changes implemented during the spring elections. Steve Yang, University Board of Election's chair, said, "We're working hard to enforce rules and regulations for all candidates." UBE has increased publicity this year and is encouraging students to vote using flyers, banners, e-mails sent to schools and class years and Facebook, Yang added. "We've especially increased advertising on Facebook because we understand that's where a lot of students spend time," Yang said. Despite the increase in publicity of the elections themselves, individual candidates seem to be campaigning less. "I haven't seen as many [fliers and chalk] as I have in past years, part of that might just be with the weather," Yang said. In addition to more election publicity, UBE has extended the period during which students can vote from six days to one week.
A hearing was held yesterday at the Charlottesville Federal Court in the case of former University employee Dena Bowers, who brought suit against the University last June.
Sunday the Honor Committee released its analysis of the faculty survey conducted in spring 2005 after choosing to interpret the data independent of the Center for Survey Research, which compiled the data. The response addresses concerns of faculty understanding of the system, support for Honor, the role of Honor in the classroom, cheating at the University, faculty experiences with Honor, fair treatment of students and faculty interaction with the system. Though the survey was conducted by the CSR, Committee members elected to interpret the data themselves in order to use the results to determine where improvements could be made. "We weren't looking for a response that would just interpret the data," Vice Chair for Community Relations A-J Aronstein said.
Student Council discussed three resolutions last night, including a proposal to create a new Certified Independent Organization to coordinate neighborhood watches in off-Grounds areas where many students live. College Rep.
As the college acceptance waiting game continues for high school seniors, both applicants and prospective students continue to utilize some of the electronic resources provided by the Office of Admissions regarding application and admission processes. "We want to get information to prospective students," Dean of Admissions Jack Blackburn said.
The Virginia General Assembly's short session officially closed Saturday. This session saw passage of 958 bills, including a transportation bill and a budget bill that could have an effect on higher education funding. The transportation bill will take money from the general fund, comprised of revenue collected by the state through the sales tax and income tax, according to House Speaker William Howell, R-Stafford. The general fund also subsidizes K-12 education and health and human services, among other services the Commonwealth provides its citizens, Howell said. Despite recent uncertainty about funding of the transportation bill, Howell noted that funding of the bill will only take one half of one percent of the general fund, still leaving sufficient resources for other areas. Del.
In Dec. 2005, National Delta Zeta sorority representatives dismissed several of DePauw University's Delta Zeta chapter members "because the women said they did not embody what the national members wanted," Director of Media Relations Kenneth Owen said. According to a Feb.
The National Center for Education Statistics recently released a study that shows a nationwide decrease in high school seniors' reading proficiency since 1992. The study, titled "The Nation's Report Card," examined transcripts from a sample of 21,000 high school seniors from 900 schools across the country and compared them to students' performances on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The NAEP test is "a broad-stroke snapshot based on what experts believe students should know and do in a particular subject," said Stephanie Germeraad, National Assessment Governing Board public affairs specialist. The study shows that the percentage of high school seniors reading at or above the level designated "proficient" has fallen from 40 percent in 1992 to 35 percent in 2005. "The bottom line that we found was that while it appears that high school students seem to be doing all the right things in school, [such as] taking tougher courses, getting better grades and earning more credits during their time in high school, there is not a corollary increase in NAEP scores for 12th-graders," Germeraad said. The study also observed what Germeraad called "lackluster" mathematics scores.
Researchers at the University are currently playing a key role in the discovery of the causes of Alzheimer's disease and have come one step closer to better understanding the disease. "We are trying to understand the process that kills the cells in Alzheimer's," Biology Prof.
Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates selected a new minority leader Saturday, the last day of the 2007 General Assembly's winter session, to prepare the party for this year's upcoming election season. Former House Minority Leader Franklin P.
Four years ago today, the University was rocked by reports that Daisy Lundy, then Student Council presidential candidate, had been assaulted in an apparently racially motivated incident.
Questions regarding the University Board of Elections' policy on campaign spending arose last week after it was discovered that several candidates were using Facebook advertising without specifically citing who paid for the postings. Ryan Taylor, third-year College student and Student Council executive vice presidential candidate, said he was contacted Tuesday via e-mail by Steve Yang, chair of University Board of Elections, about the way in which he posted and cited advertisements on Facebook. Taylor said Yang did not think the "posted by" designation at the bottom of the flyer clearly illustrated the fact that it was "paid for by" the candidate. "I did not declare that I had paid for the Facebook flyer itself even though it specifically said I posted it," Taylor said.
As the Capital Campaign gradually narrows its focus to target larger, individual donors, University faculty and administrators are discussing the use of private funds in the possible creation of several new professional schools. Current ideas include the creation of schools of public health, public policy, global sustainability and environmental science, according to Bob Sweeney, senior vice president for development and public affairs. "A number of initiatives are being discussed, which include schools along with a lot of other possibilities, but these are now just at the stage of discussion," Provost Gene Block said.
The University's Greek community unveiled a Habitat for Humanity house Friday built as part of a cooperative effort by the Inter-Fraternity Council, the Inter-Sorority Council, the National Pan-Hellenic Council, the Multicultural Greek Council and Charlottesville Habitat for Humanity. Aaron Laushway, dean of fraternity and sorority life, said the house unveiled Friday is the fourth built with involvement from the Greek community and the second built with cooperation from all four councils. "It was great," Laushway said.