News

Contraception sold on Grounds

Planned Parenthood's Emergency Contraception Van came to the University yesterday, sponsored by the student group Voices of Planned Parenthood. Emergency contraception, also known as the "morning-after pill," is a form of birth control that can prevent pregnancy by stopping ovulation or fertilization up to 120 hours after sexual intercourse. Although the Elson Student Health Center provides emergency contraception to students, members of VOX: Voices of Planned Parenthood said they felt it was important to create more awareness about the contraception. "We brought the van just to promote E.C.," VOX President Kimberly Goumenis said.

Committee picks Good Guy Room resident

Third-year College student Matthew Allen was notified Tuesday of his selection to spend the 2005-2006 school year residing in Room 15 of the West Lawn, an endowed room commonly known as the "Good Guy Room." "The only reason I can see myself being the 'good guy' is for people seeing that character in me because of my faith and the grace of God," Allen said. Allen currently serves as the Treasurer of Sigma Chi and is involved in the Committee for Abundant Life Christmas Banquet, Inter-Fraternity Fellowship and Reformed University Fellowship. Allen chose not to apply to live on the Lawn through the Lawn Selection Committee earlier this school year. "There are friends of mine that got on the Lawn through regular admissions that I thought would make better applications," Allen said.

University student leader earns Truman Scholarship

University third-year Catherine Neale is the recent recipient of a Truman Scholarship. "I'm extremely honored and grateful for all of the support I've had from the folks at U.Va., especially from Dean Nicole Hurd at the Center for Undergraduate Excellence and my other mentors, Ed Ayers and Pat Lampkin," Neale said. The Scholarship is annually given to 75 college juniors across the Commonwealth and totals over $30,000, according to a University press release. The Truman Scholarship Foundation selects students who display leadership and interest in government, public service and education, the release said. As a University student, Neale has taken on leadership roles including serving as the president of the Arts & Sciences Council and, most recently, being named as the student member of the Board of Visitors. The Truman Scholarship is especially intended for graduate study, the release said. Neale said she currently is planning to attend law school after graduating and hopes to pursue a career in the field of higher education, working as a law professor and eventually as an administrator. -- Compiled by Kathleen Meyers

Study finds upward growth in suicide rates

Count 20 people around you. According to a recent report conducted by researchers at the University of Iowa, one of those 20 people will attempt suicide while in college. "One of the key findings for me was that 5 percent of respondents have said they attempted suicide while in college," said John Westefeld, a professor of counseling psychology at the University of Iowa and the leading researcher of the study.

Report finds professors exhibit liberal leanings

Liberal and Democratic professors continue to largely outnumber conservatives and Republicans in four-year colleges and universities, especially at top-tier institutions, according to a study published in this month's edition of the Forum, an online political science journal. Of those surveyed, 72 percent of professors identified themselves as "left or liberal," while 15 percent considered themselves to be "right or conservative." In 1984, a different study found that only 39 percent of faculty considered themselves "liberal." The study compared this data with a similar survey taken of the U.S.

UJC appoints new senior support officers

The University Judiciary Committee prepared for an ambitious academic year with the appointment of three new support officers last night. UJC Chair-elect Tim Ormsby described last night's proceedings as "the most competitive selection that I can remember in the last several years." UJC appointed Sarah Abreu, Scott Jones and Ramsey Daher to the positions of senior educator, senior counselor, and senior investigator, respectively.

Rejuvenating U.Va.

While many students at this school will turn the big 2-0 during their stay here, a silent friend in our midst is inching closer to the big 2-0-0. From a distance, the Academical Village looks pristine and white, but up close, its age starts to show through.

College Board to offer diversity guideliness

After the University of Michigan affirmative action cases in 2003, the College Board decided to form a diversity collaborative group in order to assist colleges and universities nationwide in making legally and educationally sound policies on financial aid, recruitment and admissions. The manual on financial aid is scheduled to be released in mid-April to all College Board member universities, including the University, said Gretchen Rigol, College Board consultant and coordinator for the diversity collaborative. "We want to make [the manual] available as widely as we possibly can," Rigol said. The volume, entitled "Federal Law and Financial Aid: A framework for evaluating diversity related programs," is the first of three such manuals the College Board plans to release from now until 2006. While some University officials said they will reference the manual, they said the University is focused on a different type of financial aid diversity that falls within federal and state guidelines. "We and the General Counsel believe federal law prohibits this Office from using race as a factor in awarding aid," Financial Aid Office Director Yvonne Hubbard said.

Council amends attendance guidelines

At their meeting last night, Council unanimously passed both a bill amending Council's attendance policy and a resolution that respectfully recognizes the death of Commerce School Dean Ellen Marie Whitener, who died March 22 from meningitis. The bill that amended the attendance policy in the Council's bylaws established new attendance policies for Council members at their regular Tuesday meetings. Council tabled four bills for a week to be voted on next Tuesday as is standard procedure. The first of these bills is a resolution recommending revisions to the online course evaluation data collection procedure. Council also tabled a resolution to implement other forms of student identification instead of using a student's social security number. "The system is kind of old," Council Vice President of Administration Greg Jackson said. The bill, sponsored by Jackson, Vice President of Organizations Rebecca Keyworth and College rep.

Asian Student Union elects new officers

The Asian Student Union elected new officers last night. Michael Tan was elected vice president for organizations, Yasha Mathur was elected secretary, Drew Austria was elected president, Julie Chen was elected vice president for administration and Rohan Shewakramani was elected treasurer.

Report on City police highlights race issues

A special Charlottesville grand jury has made six recommendations for improving relations between the City Police Department and the community, particularly African-Americans.

Early action applications decrease nationally

The number of colleges across the country that reported decreasing numbers of students applying through early action has nearly quadrupled, jumping from 10 percent in 2003 to 37 percent in 2004, according to the State of College Admission report, released this month by the National Association of College Admissions Counseling. The reason fewer students are using the early action processes offered by a number of colleges is unclear, said Jessica Lautz, Research Assistant with NACAC and co-author of the report. Additional research will have to be conducted about these results, including more detailed questions pertaining to early action on this year's survey, Lautz said.

THE CALM AFTER THE STORM

UTS set to begin extended bus service trial

The University Transit Service will offer weekend late-night service in a new pilot program, which will run for four weekends, beginning April 7. "We found that there was a great need for transportation for Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights," said Clayton Powers, Department of Transportation co-chair for the Student Council Student Life Committee.

Student fans could receive priority seating

The Student Council Athletics Affairs Committee will propose a resolution tonight for the creation of a student-fan group called the Hoo Crew. Members of the Hoo Crew will benefit from being able to sit together in a reserved priority seating section during all basketball and football home games. "It has been a big problem when gates open because people who are rushing and fighting for the good seats in the front rows have been injured," said Student Council Engineering representative Keith Favreau, who sponsored the resolution proposing the Hoo Crew. The creation of the Hoo Crew will help eliminate the dangerous rush for seating because member fans will be guaranteed a premier seat, Favreau said. Other advantages of becoming a member of the Hoo crew will include eating dinners with coaches and players and going on road trips for away games, Favreau said. "Hoo Crew will be the result of a lot of hard work to create tangible benefits for students and holding fans accountable for their attendance," Council Executive Vice President Whitney Garrison said. In addition to enhancing fan seating at home games, the main purpose of the Hoo Crew is to increase student involvement and promote school spirit, Favreau said. "The Hoo Crew will improve the appearance of UVA Athletics so that everyone will have on the same T-shirt and be unified in their cheers," he said. The Hoo Crew will be a powerful publicity tool for the University, said Graham Tucker, Council Athletic Affairs Committee chair. "I really and truly feel that this will change the University as a whole, not just our athletics," Tucker said.

Warner signs historic environment bills

Gov. Mark R. Warner signed eight pieces of environmental legislation into law this week, setting aside over $100 million for land and water protection, including the improvement of the Chesapeake Bay. Warner spokesperson Ellen Qualls said the amount is the most that any legislature has set aside for environmental funding in the Commonwealth's history. Qualls said the effort was bipartisan, but the process of finalizing the various bills was long and arduous. "You have to bring together not only Republicans and Democrats, but business groups and environmentalists," Qualls said. She added that the Chesapeake Bay is a serious historic issue for the state because its ecological problems affect a large population. "The health of the Chesapeake Bay is not only in all of our interests, in the surrounding Bay states, from a quality of life standpoint, from an ecological standpoint, but it is also an economic engine for our coastal community," she said. Senator John Watkins (R-Midlothian) authored several environmental compliance bills as well as a bill to create a nutrient trading program. "This has probably been one of the most significant years from the standpoint of legislative and budgetary actions for the environment," Watkins said. The programs created by these bills would give credits to companies with upgraded equipment.

Robo-pessimism: Hubble's last frontier

We are entering an age of introspection that requires all scientists to ponder, "Am I tomorrow's scrap metal?

Police lobby for salary increases

The Charlottesville City Council held its first public hearing of the 2005-2006 budget Monday. According to Vice Mayor Kevin Lynch, members of the Charlottesville Police Department made up a sizable portion of the audience because they sought to voice their financial concerns. "The police are looking for more money this year and looking for more benefits, and they have appealed to City Council," Lynch said.

Anthropogenic Warming

Although there has been much political strife over the concept of global warming and the greenhouse effect, the scientific community often is portrayed as divided when in actuality, there is a great degree of consensus.

Report states PSAT biases some students

An article forthcoming in the National Crosstalk reports that a University of California faculty committee has recently censured the National Merit Scholarship's dependence on PSAT scores. The report finds that the program discriminates against minority applicants and students from low-income families who, on average, score considerably worse on standardized tests than do their white, Asian-American and wealthier peers. "The scores on the SAT have a lot to do with the person's economic status, and that is going to have an enormous impact on poor students, black or white," African-American Affairs Dean M.