Starting tomorrow, the U.S. Congress will begin analyzing the Student Aid Fiscal Responsibility Act, a bill that hopes to simplify federal financial aid processes, consolidate universities under the Department of Education's direct lender program and include measures to make college more affordable for students.
[caption id="attachment_30276" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Council Members met last night to discuss its new CIO consulting program.
From 9 a.m. to 12 p.m today, the University will conduct Operation Move! Hoos, an evacuation drill at Scott Stadium. The University is hosting the drill to evaluate how quickly people can be evacuated out of the stadium in case of threatening weather during a football game or other emergency event and to practice returning to the stadium in an orderly fashion, University spokesperson Carol Wood said. Operation Move!
The University administration has recommended that instructors make course materials available online so that students infected with the H1N1 virus may quarantine themselves without missing class material. The suggestion came after a number of government agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recommended that teaching resources be available on the Internet for infected students, Student Health Executive Director James Turner said.
[caption id="attachment_30217" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="University President John T. Casteen, III announced the campaign's $2 billion milestone.
[caption id="attachment_30226" align="alignleft" width="258" caption="Reusable to-go containers are now available at any dining hall, as well as other dining locations on Grounds like Crossroads.
The Charlottesville Republican Committee released its party platform at a press conference last Thursday with the theme "Empowering People ... Constraining Government." The move surprised some Democratic officials, as there is no Republican candidate running in November's City Council elections. Charlottesville Republican Committee Chairman Charles Weber explained that the committee's goal in releasing the platform was to encourage debate among Albemarle residents about important city topics and educate the public.
The Law School recently opened a clinic to help low-income families resolve disputes outside of the court system, said Kimberly Emery, clinic co-instructor and assistant dean for pro bono and public interest. The Family Alternative Dispute Resolution Clinic originally began as a pilot pro bono clinic and transitioned to an academic credit-granting clinic at the beginning of this semester, Emery said. The clinic will work to resolve disputes through mediation and collaborative practice, said Richard Balnave, clinic co-instructor and law school professor. The juvenile courts refer mediation cases to the clinic and its partner, the Mediation Center of Charlottesville, Balnave said.
The Special Committee on Diversity met Friday afternoon to present the University's 2009 admission statistics to the Board of Visitors. The total number of applications rose by 17 percent, an increase Dean of Admissions Greg Roberts said may have resulted from the University's use of the common application.
[caption id="attachment_30182" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The Honor Committee held its weekly meeting last night to continue its discussion about making investigative decisions more transparent.
The University's Magnetic Resonance Guided Focused Ultrasound Surgery Center - one of the world's most advanced ultrasound facilities - will open its doors for the first time today. University Radiation Oncology Prof.
Frank Batten, Sr., who donated $100 million in 2007 to establish the University's Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, passed away Sept.
The University recently partnered with Google to set up Vmail, a new alumni e-mail system that launched last Wednesday.
The University Board of Visitors Finance Committee approved a 5.5 percent endowment spending distribution rate for the 2009-10 fiscal year after meeting to discuss the status of the University's monetary investments yesterday afternoon. In difficult economic times, the University's endowment helps provide some financial stability to support initiatives as commonwealth funding fluctuates, particularly in light of Gov.
[caption id="attachment_30121" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="City Council met Tuesday night to discuss and eventually pass a resolution to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer citizens from discrimination at their jobs.
The Virginia Department of Corrections recently decided to cancel a local bookstore's link to a program that provided reading materials to Virginia's inmates because of a concern that contraband items may be hidden in the pages. The 20-year-old Books Behind Bars program allowed Charlottesville's Quest Bookshop to donate books to inmates at the commonwealth's penal institutes in an effort to improve prison literacy rates. "Every item coming in to a facility has to be checked by officers," said Michael Leninger, director of communications for the Virginia Department of Connections.
[caption id="attachment_30123" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="William "Bill" Abbot served as the chief editor for The Papers of George Washington with the University Library.
Gov. Tim Kaine's proposed state funding cuts will result in a $10.3 million budget reduction for the University and higher tuition costs for students next year, said Colette Sheehy, vice president for management and budget. The cuts are part of a statewide initiative that Kaine proposed to close a $1.35 billion budget gap for 2010, Kaine spokesperson Gordon Hickey said.
[caption id="attachment_29862" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The Alpha Epsilon Pi house on Grady Avenue is boarded up after the national organization required a restructuring of the Mu Chapter.
Laurence Verga announced last Thursday that he is officially running for Virginia's fifth district congressional seat in 2010, making him the third Republican to enter the race. Verga, founder of a real estate company called Verga Consulting and an Albemarle County resident, said he is running for office because he is disappointed in the direction that President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress are taking the country. "We need to have citizens [in office] that are passionate about politics, not business as usual in D.C.," Verga said, noting that his primary issue is the economy and job creation, which he hopes to achieve by cutting taxes.
