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First Lady of Poland to visit University

Polish First Lady Jolanta Kwasniewska will visit Grounds Oct. 24. As part of her American cultural visit, she will make a stop at Alderman Library's Special Collections section. Kwasniewska, who will be accompanied by Slavic professor Darius Tolczyk, plans to view the papers of Tadeusz Kosciuszko.


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Council reports loss of money in alleged theft

Student Council Vice President for Administration Will Sowers informed the University Police Department yesterday afternoon that an undisclosed amount of cash awaiting deposit had been removed from his desk in the Council offices. Although neither the University Police Department nor Council members would disclose the amount taken in the alleged theft due to the ongoing investigation, Council Chief Financial Officer Peter Ackerson said "the loss will have no material impact on the financial strength or operating ability of Student Council." Ackerson made a statement to Council last night regarding the incident. The statement said Sowers noticed the funds were missing before fall break and attempted to locate the money himself before informing any of the other executive officers.


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Panel on blackface discusses law, history

The Jefferson Literary and Debating Society hosted a panel discussion last night entitled "Blackface and the First Amendment" to address both historical and constitutional issues surrounding blackface. The panel was purposely timed to occur just prior to Halloween, about one year after the controversial blackface incident at a joint Halloween party thrown by Kappa Alpha and Zeta Psi fraternities, said Wyeth Ruthven, programming director for the Center for the Study of Race and Law and Jefferson Society member. The Center, founded last spring to facilitate discussion of racial issues and the law, and to increase dialogue between the Law School and the rest of the University community, co-sponsored the event along with the Law for Us Student Mentoring Program, Ruthven said. "The panel is meant to explore two questions: The historical context of blackface and why it is offensive and [whether or not] blackface is considered protected speech under the First Amendment," he said. Panel organizers said they aimed to frame the debate on blackface and provide some background to contextualize the controversy. "If not malice, then there is a lot of ignorance surrounding blackface," Ruthven said.


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ISC votes to expand leadership eligibility

In a unanimous decision, the chapter presidents of the Inter-Sorority Council's 16 sororities voted last night at their weekly Presidents Council meeting to reform ISC Executive Board election procedures in order to expand the pool of women eligible to become ISC leaders. The changes were primarily focused on the top five positions of the ISC Executive Board: President and Vice Presidents for Judiciary, Recruitment, Finance and Administration, ISC President Cahill Zoeller said. Prior to last night's decision, only ISC Executive Board members, chapter representatives and ISC Judiciary Committee counselors and investigators were eligible to run for all five Executive Board positions, said Chris McGill, program coordinator for the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life. In addition to those four classes of eligible candidates, chapter presidents now can run for ISC president and chapter treasurers now can run for vice president for finance, McGill said. The candidate pool also expanded for the position of vice president for administration.


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Drill tests Va. terror attack preparedness

As the country continues to combat terrorism at home and abroad, Virginia launched a statewide bioterrorism drill Sunday to test the overall readiness of regional hospitals and health departments in the event of another terrorist attack on Virginia soil. States are required to perform antiterrorism drills in order to receive federal grant monies from the Centers for Disease Control.


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COUCH POTATOES ON A MISSION

Theta Chi fraternity members (from left) Tom Perez-Lopez, Greg Hurst, Dave Morais and Tristan Davis gathered on a couch in the Amphitheater yesterday as part of an ongoing philanthropic event to raise money for the homeless.


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UJC votes down extension of statute of limitations

After two years of contentious debate, the University Judiciary Committee voted down a proposed referendum to extend the statute of limitations -- the amount of time following an alleged crime during which a person can file a complaint -- from 45 to 180 days in cases of physical assault. The change would have required an amendment to the committee's constitution, a move that must be approved by a majority of students in an election. The committee's judge pool voted 10-4, with one judge abstaining and six judges absent, not to send the proposal to the fall election for a student vote.


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FSU game attracts record crowd

If Saturday's football game against Florida State is any indication of the future, the time-honored tradition of ties, jackets and sun dresses may be competing with a new "sea of orange" in the stands. With a record-setting attendance of 62,875, University athletic officials said they were pleased by the turnout and acknowledged student responsiveness to their ongoing campaign to get students to wear orange at games. "It's something the players can see, something they can hear and something they can feel," Athletic Director Craig Littlepage said.


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ISC brainstorms possible changes to Big Sis Week

Members of the Inter-Sorority Council executive board, sorority presidents and other ISC representatives held a forum yesterday to discuss the purpose of Big Sis Week, address concerns and propose potential reforms to improve the event. ISC President Cahill Zoeller said ISC board members and sorority sisters voiced similar issues and concerns with the event. Big Sis Week takes place about a month after pledges accept bids but before they are initiated into their sororities.


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Anti-JADE chalkings, fliers criticize drug bust

Bright green flyers deriding the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement Task Force as "JADED" and chalkings of marijuana leaves blanketed Grounds last Friday around the Bryan Hall walkway and the Ruffner Hall pedestrian bridge. Some of the fliers featured a large picture of the serial rapist in an attempt to argue that funds allocated for the "Operation Spring Break Down" drug bust would have been better spent finding the serial rapist, who remains at large. A chalking on the side of Ruffner Hall had the Web address of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws written below a picture of a marijuana leaf. Although remnants of pro-Marijuana chalkings still remained on some University buildings yesterday, the fliers all had been removed from the Bryan Hall walkway. University Police Capt.


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Group seeks to redefine concept of honor

When students and faculty think of honor, they too quickly associate it with the trials and sanctions of the University Honor Committee, according to the University members who created Envision Integrity, an initiative they are seeking to endow this year. "We're afraid University students have narrowed their definition of honor to what they can get away with, or what they can get caught for," said Nicole Eramo, special assistant to the Honor Committee and a member of EI. EI looks to incorporate University faculty and staff, along with students, into an extended dialogue about ethics, integrity and what it calls "little-h honor." "We want to make sure conversation occurs on how we live our lives in an honorable way every day," said Pat Lampkin, vice president for student affairs, who initiated the program.


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Warner calls for higher college enrollments

Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner revealed new pieces of his Education for a Lifetime initiative, setting goals for Virginia colleges and universities to increase degrees by 10,000 each year and to increase yearly research budgets to $1 billion annually, in a speech at the College of William & Mary Tuesday. Warner said he hoped these changes would be in effect by 2010. Currently, Virginia's public colleges and universities collectively award 47,000 degrees each year.

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The University’s Orientation and Transition programs are vital to supporting first year and transfer students throughout their entire transition to college. But much of their work goes into planning summer orientation sessions. Funlola Fagbohun, associate director of the first year experience, describes her experience working with OTP and how she strives to create a welcoming environment for first-years during orientation and beyond. Along with her role as associate director, summer Orientation leaders and OTP staff work continually to provide a safe and memorable experience for incoming students.