News

News In Brief

Authors sign on for Virginia Book Festival The ninth annual Virginia Festival of the Book, scheduled for March 18-23, announced last week the names of several authors who have agreed to participate. Novelists Lee Smith, Jill McCorkle and George Singleton will discuss Southern fiction at the headlining event at Culbreath Theater. "Crime Wave," at the Omni Hotel March 22, will feature mystery and thriller novelists, including Stuart Kaminsky, Rita Mae Brown, S.J.

New publications explore cultural voices

The numerous student-run publications that line the entrances to libraries and dining halls included two new publications this year, both based in cultural groups looking to add their voice to the literary community. Last spring marked the creation of Sur, a magazine written in English, Spanish and Portuguese that focuses on Latin America.

Officials discuss eliminating three credit courses

Deans and faculty reviewing the College's curriculum this year have begun to discuss the possible elimination of three-credit courses in favor of four-credit courses, which would reduce the number of courses required to graduate. If this idea is implemented, students would complete their 120 credit hours by taking 30 four-credit courses.

SEASON OF LIGHTS

IFC to try KA and Zeta Psi fraternities

The Inter-Fraternity Council announced its decision yesterday to bring both Kappa Alpha Order and Zeta Psi fraternities to trial for charges of racially offensive acts. Allegations of improper conduct first surfaced Nov.

Meningitis vaccine taken from shelves

The pharmaceutical company Aventis Pasteur Inc. issued a nationwide recall yesterday of its meningococcal vaccine, which may have been administered to University students who received the vaccine after Jan.

Students hold 5K to prevent fourth-year fifth

Before going to Scott Stadium and cheering the Cavaliers to victory over Maryland on Saturday, many students participated in events aimed to deter them from drinking the fourth-year fifth. In the fourth-year fifth, as tradition goes, fourth-year students attempt to drink four-fifths of a liter of alcohol before their final home football game. Events geared toward preventing the continuation of this tradition included the 11th annual Fourth-Year 5K, which included more than 400 runners, and a free tailgate in the Amphitheater. With specific statistics still unavailable, however, it remains unclear whether the Fourth-Year 5K and subsequent tailgate had any impact on the number of students partaking in the fourth-year fifth.

Bloomfield honor trials finish, 20 found guilty

More than a year and a half after Physics Prof. Louis Bloomfield initiated the 158-case plagiarism investigation that drew national attention to the University's honor system, committee members announced yesterday that the last of the resulting honor trials have been completed. Of the 158 students whose cases were processed, 59 were formally accused of an honor offense.

NEWSIN BRIEF

U.Penn students granted right to form a union A Nov. 21 decision by the National Labor Relations board will allow 1,000 graduate assistants at the University of Pennsylvania to form a union.

Family Resource Center opens to assist low-income families

The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority, which provides housing for low-income families in the area, opened its Family Resource Center at 803 Hardy Dr., off 10th Street yesterday.

Edwards calls for end to early admissions

Potential 2004 presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., called for making the first year of school at public colleges and universities free and for ending early admissions policies, in a speech at the University of Maryland on Friday, Nov.

Women's health class enjoys successful start

What began as the brainchild of three women now is the first class at the University devoted specifically to women's health. The course, "Women's Health: A Global Perspective," GNUR/SWAG 510, was offered for the first time this semester. The class's three instructors come from different backgrounds: College graduate student Julia Ahmed previously had founded women's health clinics in Bangladesh, Education graduate student Breyette Lorntz has worked in global health and Nursing Prof.

News in Brief

Virginia Tech rescinds offer to lesbian partner of new dean After originally offering a teaching position to Shelli Fowler, an English professor at Washington State University, as part of a package plan to recruit her lesbian partner, Karen DePauw as graduate dean, the board of visitors at Virginia Tech rescinded the offer at its most recent meeting. The board reversed its offer after Fowler had signed an employment contract with Virginia Tech. The decision, which board members chalked up to budget difficulties, has sparked protest and debate at Virginia Tech, which recently has made a concerted push to hire more female and minority faculty members. Missing woman safe at home, unharmed Zawadi Katina, a 23-year-old Charlottesville resident who had been reported missing since last Monday night, returned safely to her family in Charlottesville on Thursday afternoon.

Soros offers insight into his financial success

He survived both the Nazi and Soviet occupations of Hungary to become one of the world's wealthiest people.

Students lobby for new diversity requirement

In response to concerns about multicultural awareness on Grounds, several minority student leaders have discussed the introduction of a multicultural education requirement to increase sensitivity toward diversity in the University community. Fourth-year College student Michelle Morse, one of the students attempting to implement the diversity education requirement, explained that by making diversity a core value, such as honor or student self-governance, the University community will grow more aware of the perspectives of students different from themselves. "Honor and the University Judiciary Committee get lots of funding, but diversity is something that the University" does not officially recognize as of yet and therefore "does not get the funding it needs," she said. Concerned students haveworked with The Coalition, a group of student representatives from minority groups on Grounds, to implement a multicultural education requirement for all students. The requirement would be different from the non-Western perspectives requirement, focusing primarily on diversity issues faced within the United States. Although the development of the requirement remains in its early stages, two routes now are being discussed.One is a class based upon a current Education School course -- EDLF 555, Multicultural Education, taught by Education Prof.

Police link recent sexual assault to past crimes

Using DNA analysis, a Nov. 11 sexual assault on a Charlottesville woman has been positively linked to four other unsolved cases spanning the last five years, the Charlottesville Police Department announced at a press conference Friday. The Virginia Division of Forensic Science determined the common genetic thread in the cases by comparing the DNA profile of the Nov.

CELEBRATION

IFC completes investigation of Kappa Alpha

The Inter-Fraternity Council's week long investigation of Kappa Alpha and Zeta Psi fraternities, pertaining to the racially offensive costumes portrayed at a fraternity-sponsored Halloween party, may end today. The two fraternities were suspended from the council last week after the IFC learned of photographs from the party that showed guests dressed in blackface. Zach Terwilliger, IFC vice president for judiciary, said the investigation is almost completed. "The investigation of Kappa Alpha has been completed and the report is finished," Terwilliger said, adding that "the report is 90 percent finished for Zeta Psi, we're just waiting for a statement from one individual." He said once the reports are completed he will submit them to IFC President Phil Trout, most likely sometime this afternoon.

University restarts spring registration

Despite reassurances that students would be able to register for classes after a three-day postponement, officials opted to shut down the ISIS system and wipe out all of its processed registration yesterday. The Office of the Provost and University deans made the decision around noon. Their announcement was not a result of technical malfunctions, but a response to student complaints of registration inequity, said Don Reynard, ITC director of applications and data systems. According to Reynard, ISIS was blocked yesterday so that the Registrar's Office could undo student registration that already had been entered into the system, and then reprioritize registration dates. Earlier in the week, ISIS faced a memory management problem, but ITC administrators don't "anticipate any future problems," Reynard said. University Registrar Carol Stanley said registration could be activated as early as Monday, but Student Council President Micah Schwartz said registration likely will be delayed until after the Thanksgiving holiday. If this occurred, registration could overlap this semester's final exams, Schwartz said. Although such a scenario would be "less than perfect, it's worth cleaning the slate," he said. Stanley said she estimates over 100 students have submitted complaints to the Registrar's Office, the Office of the Provost and ITC, urging administrators to start over the registration process. "The student voice is always a concern and a factor," Stanley said. In addition, officials received input from the Registrar's Office, the Office of the Provost and student representatives, she said. Although the decision largely was made to appease students, not everyone will be satisfied by the decision, Stanley added. "We're hopeful it'll take us back to a situation where a majority of people are satisfied," Stanley said. According to Schwartz, complications with ITC earlier this week enabled students of lower registration priority to "slip through the cracks." "This was unfair not only to Rodman and Echols scholars, but to fourth years who have been waiting for priority," Schwartz said.

News in Brief

U.S. youth flunk world geography quiz Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 placed ahead of only Mexicans on a quiz given to youth in nine countries. Only one in seven Americans could find Iraq on a blank world map, and just 17 percent could find Afghanistan.