News

Iraqi official speaks on country's progress

Last night, Quidad Talabani, son of the current Iraqi president and representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government to the United States, discussed the current political, social and economic progress being made in Iraq despite problems such as oil, internal conflicts and disputes with neighboring countries. Talabani said he hoped the United States will continue to aid Iraq and that Iraq would eventually be able to sustain a democratic government. Alex Hannagan, president of the University's Students Defending Democracy,explained the importance of Talabani's talk, stating he had an immediate understanding of Iraq's situation. Talabani "knows the stuff that is really going on," Hannagan said.

Clarification

In yesterday's News article "Honor releases faculty survey," it was stated that 42.7 percent of respondents expressed "their moderate support with reservations" for the Honor system.

Tidings of comfort and toys

Zelikow to resign from State Department, return to University

Philip Zelikow, counselor to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and former head of the 9/11 Commission, recently announced his plans to resign from his government post and return to his previous teaching position at the University. The former director of the Miller Center of Public Affairs plans to return to his teaching post at the University at the beginning of next year. According to Zelikow's letter of resignation, his leave will take effect Jan.

Honor releases faculty survey

The Honor Committee released the results of its faculty survey Sunday. The results demonstrated mixed opinions about the current system. The survey was commissioned by last year's Committee and was conducted in February and March 2006.

University renews CBS multimedia agreement

Following a successful eight-year relationship with CBS Collegiate Sports Properties, the University has signed a new 10-year multimedia agreement with CBS valued at more than $33 million. The monetary commitments will primarily provide funding for new video boards for stadiums on Grounds. "There is already a new video board in Klöckner Stadium and there will be a new one in the baseball stadium by spring," said Jon Oliver, University executive associate athletics director.

U.Va. students score high on CPA exam

The University tied for 22nd nationally in performance on the Certified Public Accountant exam, according to recently released statistics from the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. The 2006 edition of "Candidate Performance on the Uniform CPA Examination" ranked schools based on pass rate and divided the results based on the degree qualifications of candidates.

LET THE SUN SHINE DOWN

Ed. Trust finds U.Va. not accessible to some students

The University and other state universities nationwide are failing to provide adequate access to minority and low-income students, according to a study by the Education Trust. The study examined flagship public universities from each state, rating financial aid practices toward minority and low-income students, said Danette Gerald, senior research associate for the Trust and co-author of the report. "We wanted to use flagship universities to highlight the inequities in higher education," Gerald said.

Darden to host Innovation Challenge

Innovation Challenge, the largest "crowdcasting" event in the nation, comes to the Darden School this weekend with international student teams presenting solutions to major corporations' problems. "Instead of turning to their in-house marketing teams ... some major corporations are going directly to the next generation of business leaders, students, and presenting them with real business problems and challenging them to give solutions," Darden spokesperson Steve Evans said.

Organizations look to curb practice of "fourth-year fifth"

Several University organizations are working to tackle the emerging "fourth-year fifth" drinking trend this week by sponsoring awareness campaigns and offering alternative activities for fourth years. The practice involves consuming a fifth of alcohol -- approximately 17 shots of liquor -- before the season's last home football game.

NIJ awards grant to profs

The National Institute of Justice has recently awarded two University professors a grant of nearly $300,000 to study patterns of financial abuse of the elderly across the Commonwealth. Law Prof.

AAMC launches plans to increase diversity

The Association of American Medical Colleges recently kicked off its campaign to combat the declining number of minority applicants to medical schools. Through this campaign, the program aims to address two main obstacles identified by minority undergraduates who considered applying to medical school -- the MCATs and financial aid. According to Elisa Siegel, senior vice president for communications at the AAMC, focus group participants said performing well on the MCATs and finding good financial aid packages are constant hurdles when they consider applying to medical school. In one portion of the program, titled "Meet the Doctor," the AAMC offers ads in which doctors discuss how they overcame similar obstacles when applying to and completing medical school.

Student org. promotes 'smoke-free' bill

Yesterday morning the University hosted a "Smokefree Rally" at Jordan Hall promoting knowledge about the effects of secondhand smoke. The rally was sponsored by Virginians for a Healthy Future, an organization associated with the American Cancer Society, and Ignite, a national student organization founded at the University that works to keep tobacco companies accountable. "Our main goal is to put through a 'smoke-free' bill that would eliminate smoking in work places such as restaurants, bowling allies and even corporate offices," said Katie Pepe, American Cancer Society Smokefree campaign coordinator. In order to endorse their smoke-free bill, Virginians for a Healthy Future have created the Smokefree Virginia Now Tour which has rallied in Richmond, Newport News, Fredericksburg, Arlington and Roanoke in addition to Charlottesville. Although yesterday's rally had low attendance, they have had success in other cities and are raising awareness, according to Pepe. "We've got the momentum and we'll see how far we can take it," said State Sen.

Kaine in Europe promoting Va.

Gov. Tim Kaine departed the country Saturday, Nov. 11, to undertake a seven-day international trade mission to Europe and promote the Jamestown 2007 celebration. Kaine will visit Sweden, Denmark, England and Germany where Kaine will meet with companies based in Europe who have existing operations in Virginia and with companies looking to establish a presence in the United States. Kaine's visit happened to coincide with the announcement of Queen Elizabeth that she and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, will visit Virginia in May 2007 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the settlement at Jamestown. In a telephone conference Kaine said he was excited about his "productive" visit with regard to commercial development in Virginia.

College students lack high-tech research skills

According to a recent study by Educational Testing Service, today's college students show a deficiency in information technology literacy.

Bill to criminalize harassment of animal researchers

The U.S. House of Representatives approved new legislation Monday that would make it a crime to harass or threaten animal researchers and their families.

Seeking his face on grounds

Neurology prof. wins grant to study seizures

Neurology Prof. Jaideep Kapur has received a five-year, $2.3 million research grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to fund his research in the treatment of nerve agent-induced seizures.

College reps address sexual assault issue

Three members of the University community joined representatives of 14 other colleges to discuss the issue of sexual assault at Washington & Lee last weekend. The conference, organized by W&L senior Matthew Loar and W&L counselor Dr. Jennifer Sayre, was intended to provide a forum for discussion about successful and unsuccessful experiences dealing with the issue of sexual assault on different campuses, according to Loar. Chris Elliott, assistant dean of students from the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, and University students Andrew Tuttle, vice president of 1 in 4, and Amanda Penabad, co-chair of the Sexual Assault Leadership Council, gave a presentation about the design of sustainable and effective programs for fraternities and sororities. Tuttle said the University representatives' presentation included information about a new interactive fraternity education program that was first implemented at the University last year. "We wanted to share that with other peer education groups [and] receive their feedback so we can do better," Tuttle said. Loar said events at the conference provided opportunities for attendees to work in peer groups and for students and administrators to work together. The discussion allowed participants to learn more about how other schools deal with the issue of sexual assault, Penabad noted. "It was nice to hear different perspectives of what's going on at different schools," Penabad said. Elliott noted that the chance to communicate with members of other communities led to "some pretty rich dialogue about how administrators and students can both take some proactive steps." Loar said he would like to see similar conferences regularly held in the future, as some participants expressed interest in meeting again to discuss their progress. Elliott echoed this sentiment, noting that student peer groups have frequent leadership turnover and could benefit from the conversations produced at such conferences.