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Students criticize W&L admin. in wake of reported attacks

Recent reports of attacks on two openly gay law students at Washington & Lee University, one of whom is a University graduate, have resulted in criticism of Washington & Lee's response to the incident. Diane Meier, a second-year Washington & Lee law student and one of the openly gay students who said she was verbally and physically abused, described attacks against a fellow law student, who has chosen to remain anonymous. Meier said last Saturday her friend was walking home from a party where he had been verbally attacked.


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Sullivan to serve as UJC chair

The University Judiciary Committee elected third-year College student Connor Sullivan as chair of its executive board in its elections last night. Additional members of the executive board include second-year College student Merriam Mikhail as vice chair for first years, second-year Law student Seth Ragosta as vice chair for trials and third-year College student Dean de la Peña as vice chair for sanctions. "The new Committee is made up of a very talented and dedicated group," outgoing chair Raleigh Anne Blank said.


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Faculty Senate discusses prof. titles

The Faculty Senate held a working session yesterday where members focused on faculty titles, the Commission on the Future of the University and the role of faculty in the process of creating new schools and initiatives within the University. During the fall semester, Provost Gene Block approached the Academic Affairs Committee and asked that they review the issue of non-tenured faculty members holding professional titles, according to Faculty Senate Chair Kenneth Schwartz. "What is confusing is that when you give people the same title it becomes unclear as to what defines a professor," Schwartz said. According to Medical School Prof.


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A-school planning class recognized by award from City Planning Commission

An Architecture School faculty member and class recently received an award from Charlottesville's Planning Commission recognizing the architecture class's work in helping to create an environmental chapter for the city's Comprehensive Plan. The 2007 Eldon Fields Wood Design Professional of the Year Award will go to Karen Firehock, a senior associate at the University's Institute for Environmental Negotiation, and the students in her graduate planning class for adding an environmental focus to the city's planning, according to Charlottesville Environmental Administrator Kristel Riddervold. Firehock said the class, "Green Cities, Green Lands," teaches students the basic principles of environmental planning. "The city needed assistance in writing an environmental chapter for the new Comprehensive Plan," Firehock said. With this in mind, Firehock said her class investigated how to best protect the city's streams by adding wooden buffers and how to change the trail network to improve animal pathways. The class looked at the tree canopy for the whole city, using aerial photos to identify all the trees in the city, and found the city has 31.4 percent tree canopy coverage, Firehock said. According to Firehock, this percentage is much lower than the 40 percent coverage recommended by the National Arbor Day Foundation.


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Study notes weaker performance among legacies

A recent study conducted at Princeton University reported that "legacy students admitted with lower than average SAT scores to elite institutions have higher drop-out rates and significantly lower grades than minority students and athletes," according to Steven Barnes, spokesperson for the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. The survey was based on a sample of students from 28 U.S.


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Sweeney potential choice for Lawn pavilion

A change to the Pavilion Assignment policy at last month's Board of Visitor's meeting would enable Bob Sweeney, senior vice president for development and public affairs, to reside in one of pavilions soon eligible for reassignment.


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CTS to extend free bus rides to members of U.Va. community

The Charlottesville Transit System is introducing several changes to improve Charlottesville's public transportation routes and services, including a decision to allow members of the University to ride CTS buses at no charge and yesterday's opening of a new downtown transit station. According to Charlottesville Transit Service Manager Bill Watterson, "because congestion has grown, the CTS routes have experienced delays and unnecessary duplicate routes." These changes come in compliance with a transit report published last August that enumerates several suggestions to improve the public transportation system for Charlottesville residents. The report included a suggestion to eliminate the free trolley routes along McCormick and Alderman Roads.


News

College Board to review AP syllabi

High school teachers of Advanced Placement courses have until June 1 to submit their syllabi to the College Board for approval as part of an initiative launched this past January to ensure material in AP classes nationwide is taught consistently. College Board spokesperson Jennifer Topiel said this decision was made to provide teachers and administrators with guidelines that must be in place for AP courses to ensure AP teachers have the resources they need and to help admissions officers better assess the difficulty of a student's curriculum. Under this new measure a teacher must submit his or her syllabus for the College Board's approval in order for a course to be designated as AP on a student transcript, Topiel said.


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