News

Virginia's Festival of the Book draws record-breaking audience

Virginia's 12th Festival of the Book, hosted in Charlottesville by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, drew a record audience of over 26,000 to its 250 literary events, said Nancy Damon, program director of the festival. The Festival, an annual celebration of reading and writing, featured around 300 writers in venues varying from the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library to the Downtown Mall. The five-day event, free to the public, began March 22 and featured readings by several University professors, including creative writing Professors Rita Dove and Gregory Orr. In one event, three University graduates each read from their new books of poetry. "The Festival celebrates writing, celebrates writers and creates an opportunity for writers and readers to interact," Orr said. Creative Writing Prof.

Highly touted freshmen impressive so far

Critics say college athletics programs negate academics

As the NCAA basketball tournament continues, interest groups are discussing the increasing commercialization of college sports and the effects on student-athletes. One such organization is the Drake Group, an organization of faculty members from colleges and universities all over the country, whose purpose is to help faculty and staff "defend academic integrity in the college sport industry", according to their Web site. The group held a conference during last weekend's Final Four basketball games to discuss the situation of academics and commercialization of college sports, said Michael Malec, executive committee member of The Drake Group. Citing the commercial aspects of college sports, Malec said, "There's hundreds of millions of dollars going to broadcast the Final Four.

CIAG conference continues

A roundtable conference of politicians, representatives of the media and formerpresidential administration members met yesterday morning to discuss terrorism and the press in a public event hosted by the Critical Incident Analysis Group in a partnership with the Miller Center for Public affairs. The conference, held at the Miller Center, was moderated by Margaret Warner, of PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. "I wanted to bring out from the people around the table insights on how they handled unexpected incidents of the past," Warner said. The 19 person panel was internationally represented with Tom Kelly, the press secretary for British Prime Minisiter Tony Blair, as well as Lord John Alderdice, Northern Ireland General Assembly speaker. Other panelists included former State Department spokesman Hodding Carter, former Presidential press secretaries Ron Nessen and Jerry terHorst, Jim Angle of Fox News, former U.S.

Weekend's HONOR TRIAL RECAP

Sunday, April 2 One undergraduate student in the Engineering School was found guilty and three undergraduates in the Engineering School were found not guilty of unauthorized collaboration in an upper-level course by a panel of random students.

Honor transitions to new executive board

The Honor Committee transitioned to new executive board yesterday. "Our committee has no more roles -- we're not allowed to sit in on trials," former Honor Committee Chair David Hobbs said.

Correction

The April 3 News article "Occupants of next year's seven endowed Lawn rooms selected" paraphrased 2006-2007 Room 7 resident Christen Smith as saying, "The room's resident and the president of the [Jefferson] Society are the only officers to serve for one year." The article should have said that Smith said the Room 7 resident and historian are the only year-long officer positions in Jefferson Society.

Zeta Psi may face action from IFC

The Inter-Fraternity Council Judiciary Committee has recommended that the Zeta Psi fraternity lose its recognition by the IFC following the arrest of a first-year student who was driving under the influence following a Zeta Psi rush event, Zeta Psi president Andrew Quinn said. Barring the success of an appeal for the IFCJC to hear the case again, the IFC's president's council will vote Thursday on whether to take action on the recommendations. First-year Josh Cowden was arrested for DUI in December when he was driving home from a Zeta Psi rush event off Grounds, Quinn said. According to a Charlottesville police report, Cowden had a blood alcohol content level of .22 and was charged with a class one misdemeanor Dec.

U.Va. admits 36 percent of applicants

The University offered admission to 36 percent of the 16,252 applicants this year, down two percent from last year's admission rate of 38 percent of 15,900 applicants.

Occupants of next year's seven endowed Lawn rooms selected

The residents of the endowed Lawn rooms have been selected for 2006-2007,Lawn Head Resident Jennifer Allen said. Seven of the 54 Lawn rooms are not filled in the regular selection process and have been designated to particular organizations, Allen said.

QSU selects new Officers

News in Brief

Students eligible to ride CTS free of charge for the month of April During the month of April University students, faculty and staff with a valid student or faculty/staff ID will be eligible to ride free of charge on all Charlottesville Transit Service (CTS) bus routes. This CTS-University Transit Service Ridership program will be run on a trial basis from April 1 to April 30, according to the UTS Web site. Currently, the University and the City of Charlottesville are working together to create a permanent program that will allow University ID holders to ride CTS buses without acquiring a transfer ticket from a UTS bus driver, UTS Operations Supervisor Juwhan Lee said. According to Lee, until a deal is completed, UTS riders can use the month of April as an opportunity to use the CTS services without having to pay the fare. "Having this program will make it easier for drivers because they will not have to hand out transfer tickets," Lee said. According to a City of Charlottesville press release, the trial program is funded by the University. First-year College student Whit Hagerman said she intends to "take advantage of the CTS bus routes in April" because a transfer ticket is not needed to get to the mall. --compiled by Catherine Chambers

CIAG gathers experts for annual conference

The Critical Incident Analysis Group gathered a number of nationally and internationally regarded figures yesterday evening to begin their annual conference on the impact of critical incidents, held this year at the University of Virginia Art Museum. CIAG's mission is to bring together a wide range of experts to discuss and react to crises of national security, terrorism and public preparedness at their annual conferences in Charlottesville, as indicated on CIAG's Web site. In attendance at the conference were prominent members of CIAG's advisory board, including Lord John Alderdice, a member of the British House of Lords, and Edwin Meese, III, who served as attorney general under President Ronald Reagan. Last night's conference was Meese's second visit to Charlottesville in two months and he said he appreciated being involved with CIAG because of the unique perspective it gathers. CIAG "is one of the first [organizations] to work on terrorism with different disciplines involved," Meese said. The conference included experts with a wide variety of backgrounds, including academia, government, media and the private sector.

University may offer five-year master's program in public policy

Some faculty members at the University are trying to create a five-year master's degree program in public policy that would begin in fall 2007, said Education School Dean David Breneman, co-chair of the public policy committee. "The program has not been approved yet," Breneman said.

University graduate programs receive top national rankings

Five of the University's graduate programs took top rankings in this year's U.S. News & World Report's edition of America's Best Graduate Schools. The Law School, Darden School, Medical School, Education School and Engineering School all placed within the top 40 graduate programs of their kinds. The Law School retained its eighth place ranking from last year, while the Darden School of business moved up from 14th to 13th place, tying with New York University. "We're very pleased that the enhancements to our educational programs have been recognized in this latest rise in rankings," Darden School Dean Robert F.

MRC, IFC, ISC discuss diversity

Members of the Minority Rights Coalition, Inter-Fraternity Council and Inter-Sorority Council came together on Wednesday and Thursday evenings last week to discuss issues facing the minority and Greek communities on Grounds. The program, called the "The Next Step," was designed to provide information about what actions are being taken to improve minority-related issues on Grounds as well as to inform students of how to get involved, MRC Chair Adrienne Patton said. The program is a follow-up to last semester's "The First Step," which focused primarily on education about minority issues, Patton said. Representatives of each group within the MRC as well as representatives from the IFC and ISC gave presentations about their organizations, including information about the history of each organization, University resources available to group members and issues facing each community. Some organizations' representatives voiced their concerns about inadequate resources for their groups on Grounds. Black Student Alliance President Aaron Blake noted that the University has only 123 black faculty members, of whom only 23 are tenured or tenure-tracked. Asian Student Union president Patrick Lee, LaAlianza President Patrick Martinez and Queer Student Union President Kevin Wu expressed their organizations' respective wishes that an Asian Pacific American Studies major, Latino studies department and Queer Studies minor be created. "We're one of the few universities in the country that doesn't have an established [APAS] program," Lee said. Bernard Harkless, the IFC's vice president for party patrol, spoke on behalf of the IFC Thursday night, noting that the IFC also faces stereotypes. Harkless said one should not make generalizations about the IFC as a whole, since it is made up of 32 distinct organizations, yet students involved in Greek life are often assumed to be rich, racist and unwilling to give back to the community. "We're working to change those stereotypes," Harkless said, noting, for example, that many students involved with Greek life also actively participate in community service in conjunction with the Office of African-American Affairs. Patton noted at the conclusion of the presentation that students should take advantage of the University in order to broaden their understanding of diversity. "Go out and take some classes," Patton said.

News in Brief

Fifth student this year opts for open honor trial; follows guilty verdict in open trial on Sunday The fifth student this academic year has opted to have an open honor trial, which will be held April 9. According to Vice chair for Trials Stewart Ackerly, the Honor Committee is not permitted to release any information about the student before the trial. Ackerly added that the student is allowed to switch to a closed trial up until the trial begins.

Gilday files intent to appeal

Steve Gilday, the third-year Engineering student convicted in an open honor trial Sunday, filed his intent to appeal yesterday. On Sunday, a jury of 10 random students found Gilday not guilty of cheating by falsifying a page of a BIOL 301 exam which he submitted for a re-grade.

University student wins Truman Scholarship

College third-year Ross Baird was awarded a Truman Scholarship, the Harry S. Truman Foundation announced yesterday.