At last night's Student Council meeting, Council Executive Vice President Darius Nabors proposed a revision of the constitution that would shorten the language in Council's constitution as well as phase out the position of vice president for administration. Council did not reach quorum at the meeting and the measure was not able to be voted on.
President Bush's proposed budget for 2007 would make significant cuts to financial aid programs, putting an additional burden on colleges and universities to provide affordable education, said Director of Financial Services Yvonne Hubbard. The president's cuts to financial aid programs consists of shifting federal funding from grants to loans, which has been the general trend with the federal government for about 20 years, Admissions Dean John Blackburn said. In this new budget the president has proposed eliminating the Perkins loan, which provides students with low-interest repayment and forgiveness options. The government doesn't always decrease spending on financial aid, but the increases never come in the forms of grants, whereas in the past Pell grants made up a significant portion of a student's financial package, Blackburn added. According to Blackburn, the proposed decrease in federal grant support will not hinder the University's ability to provide financial resources to its students. Hubbard added that the Pell grant and Supplemental Educational Opportunity grant have both remained unchanged for about four years, which means that as educational costs increase these grants cover less of the burden. The larger issue facing the country is that balancing the federal budget and providing affordable higher education are goals that stand in contrast with one another, she said. "The issue is that the president is trying to balance the budget, and we have a continued concern about providing affordable education," but cutting funding hurts a university's ability to lower its costs, Hubbard added. President John T.
The American Bar Association (ABA) approved a measure on Saturday that redefined its accreditation requirements and diversity standards for law schools nationwide. A revision to Standard 211, or the Equal Opportunity and Diversity standard, was passed in Chicago by the ABA's Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. The revision calls for law schools to show they are taking "concrete action" to diversify both their students and faculty, said William Rakes, chair-elect of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the ABA. "Its not that much of a change, its more a matter of clarification," Rakes said. Law schools, rather than pledging to implement "equal opportunity and diversity", must now show that they are making adequate attempts to do so, including things such as appointing a diversity officer, hosting forums or making diversity an integral part of recruitment, Rakes said.
The Charlottesville Police Department began a citizens' survey Friday in hopes of obtaining more community input, said Timothy Longo, chief of Charlottesville police. The Charlottesville Police Department distributed the survey as part of a city-wide initiative to increase customer service dialogue between citizens of Charlottesville and the city government, said Ric Barrick, director of communications for the City of Charlottesville. "All the departments are evaluating what types of services they give to citizens," Barrick said.
The preliminary nominations deadline for thoseseeking to apply for candidacyin University-wide elections passed last Friday, with nine days remaining for students to submit applications, said Chris Jones, vice-chair of the University Board of Elections. According to Jones, the 51 students that turned in their applications last Friday will be eligible for the endorsement process, in which 12 different organizations throughout the University, including the Cavalier Daily will interview the candidates and decide whether to endorse them. The nominations process will end Thursday Feb 23, although candidates must be nominated by Friday Feb.
Virginians who are in love pay more attention to politics than those who are not in love, according to a survey released yesterday by the University of Virginia Center for Politics. According to the survey, 81 percent of adults in the Commonwealth are in love.
The Honor Committee voted unanimously Sunday night to send a proposal to the student body that would change the wording of the seriousness clause of the Honor Constitution.
As U.S. athletes compete in the Torino Olympics, Paul Meier, a University alumnus and athletic trainer for the U.S.
At a press conference last Friday the Albemarle County Police Department announced a coalition of law enforcement officials and other organizations created cut down on the "drunkenness and debauchery" of the upcoming Apr.
The University of Virginia Health System received a $5 million gift Feb. 9 from the Smithfield-Luter Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides need-based scholarships to the dependents of retired employees of the Smithfield Foods, Inc., group of companies, stated a University press release. The grant, issued in honor Palmer Weber, a former executive of Smithfield-Luter Foundation, will be issued in $1 million increments over a period of several years. The grant will help the University Cancer Center recruit a cancer prevention expert and increase the University's commitment to cancer prevention research, according to the press release. Both Medical School Arthur Garson, Jr., and Michael J.
The University Judiciary Committee discussed a proposal to enhance sanctions for hate motivated crimes Sunday night. The proposal was suggested by the Ad Hoc Committee for Hate Crimes that was established after 70 percent of the voting student body voted in favor last spring of a referendum which sought stronger sanctions on individuals convicted of hate crimes.
Gov. Tim Kaine called for increased funding to the Commonwealth's higher education program in his keynote speech to College of William & Mary students during their Charter Day Ceremony Saturday. Saying knowledge was the "currency of our time," Kaine called for the state to plug the gap between the state's funding obligation and the actual appropriations to higher education. "Those of us in leadership positions should meet our obligations," Kaine said.
Over the past year, the University's Law School has followed a national trend of decreased application rates, according to Law School Dean John C.
Gov. Tim Kaine joined over 140 business, educational and political leaders in endorsing advertisements appearing in Wednesday's Washington Post and Wall Street Journal that support increased spending on scientific research and education. The ads were a part of the National Innovation Initiative and were sponsored by the Council on Competitiveness, a non-profit organization that looks at economic policy issues. "The ads themselves are part of a public outreach initiative that is driven by the importance of the innovation and competitiveness of the U.S.
The Virginia Senate unanimously passed a bill Tuesday which would create the Community College Transfer Grant Program Fund, according to the General Assembly's legislative database. The fund will permit students who graduate from community colleges to go on to four-year, in-state colleges and universities and continue paying the same tuition that they had paid at their former schools.
A study has found that 27.5 percent of women in the Commonwealth have levels of mercury that are over the Environmental Protection Agency's allowable threshold of one microgram per gram, Sierra Club spokesman Joshua Low said. The study, released Wednesday, tested hair samples of 180 women from around the state, 40 of which were women from Charlottesville, Low said. The study targeted women because mercury is classified as a developmental neurotoxin that is most harmful to unborn children, he said. Mercury can cause cerebral palsy and mental retardation and can slow the onset of walking and speaking in children that are exposed to mercury as fetuses, he added. Coal-firing plants are the largest source of unregulated mercury, Low said. Mercury comes from impurities in coal that are released into the atmosphere during combustion, said Ralph Allen, director of the University's office of environmental health and safety. Most coal-burning plants, including the plant located on Grounds that is used to heat University buildings, are equipped with some sort of filtering device, but they are not always fully effective for every pollutant, he added. Once the mercury has been released into the atmosphere, it falls in rain and collects into bodies of water; fish then ingest the mercury and people ingest the fish, Low said. "I am not surprised to see some amount of mercury in all people," Allen said. Bodies of water are commonly found to contain mercury since its dangerous side effects were unknown for many years and its regulation is a fairly recent development, Allen said. Mercury remains in human systems and treatment can be invasive and normally not worthwhile unless mercury levels are very high, Low said. Second-year College student Ashley Stedholme was a participant in the survey who tested at 0.84 micrograms per gram, Low said. The results are very close to the EPA's mercury threshold, and there is nothing that can be done to get rid of it, Stedholme said. "I know I have to be more cautious concerning my fish consumption, because I don't want to increase my levels any further," she said. Stedholme added that her mercury levels could become a concern should she ever decide to have a family. Low said the Sierra Club is now working on lobbying Virginia Gov.
In a news conference held yesterday, the Charlottesville School Board announced the selection of Rosa Atkins as the new superintendent of schools. According to Charlottesville School Board Chair Julie Gronlund, Atkins currently holds the position of assistant superintendent of schools in Caroline County School District, located just north of Richmond.
Thousands of religious and political leaders, family and friends packed the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga.
