By Maggie Thornton Cavalier Daily Associate Editor The word "fraternity" typically brings many images to mind -- girls on Rugby Road wearing stiletto heels in January, pastel popped colors, fraternity parties that last all weekend.
The Jefferson Scholars Foundation has made its annual scholarship offers to 44 students selected by a committee composed of alumni, faculty and administrators, according to Alex Inman, a representative for the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, which is affiliated with the Alumni Association. The Jefferson Scholars selection weekend began last Thursday and concluded with interviews Sunday morning. Inman described the weekend as a four-day event which served not only to select the winners but also to let all 96 finalists become acquainted with the University and build relationships among themselves. The schedule of events included both testing and evaluation of the nominees as well as information sessions and dinners, Inman said. A Jefferson Scholarship covers the full cost of attending the University, including books, room, board and other expenses. James Wright, president of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, said in general they "have been offering between 40 and 44 or 45" scholarships while the number of scholars who matriculate the University has been between 30 and 35 students. Inman said the numbers vary from year to year because, although a number of specific scholarships exist, the committee does not work from a quota. The Jefferson Scholars program focuses on three qualities: leadership, scholarship and citizenship, Inman said. Inman also said while a "strong majority become Echols or Rodman Scholars," not all Jefferson Scholars are selected for the Echols and Rodman programs.
Saturday, March 18 An undergraduate student in the College was found not guilty of cheating on a test in an introductory level course by a panel of random students.
Plans to expand the Hillel Jewish Student Union at the University were announced Sunday evening at a dinner sponsored by Hillel and the University Library in honor of University President John T.
The new executive board of University Programs Council was officially transitioned into their new positions yesterday morning. According to the press release, UPC's executive board initiated second-year College student Brian Gavron as its new chair, second-year College student Lauren Tilton as vice chair, second-year College student Krystal Lott as marketing and promotions chair, and second-year college student Mai Hassan as membership chair. UPC is an organization that directs programming for all students, said Lauren Tilton, the new vice chair for UPC.
Ronald M. Dworkin, the Frank Henry Sommer Professor of Law at the New York University School of Law and professor of jurisprudence at Oxford University, will receive the 2006 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Law at the Founder's Day ceremony Wednesday, April 12. Professor Dworkin was chosen by a committee within the University Law School.
At the kickoff event for Muslim Awareness Week, Imam Siraj Wahajj spoke at the University in Wilson Hall last night about free speech in light of the recent Danish cartoon controversy. Wahajj is a prominent speaker and world-renowned member of the Muslim-American community, according to the Muslim Students Association. Wahajj is imam of the Masjid At-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn, N.Y., and also serves as a board member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Islamic Society of North America. In his talk, Wahajj said people must ask several questions as they consider freedom of speech. "Whenever you talk about freedom of speech, I ask three questions," he said.
Honor Committee members discussed a possible change in the Committee's by-laws dealing with conflicts of interest of Committee members, honor advisors and counsel. Conflicts of interest include any situation in which an Honor Committee member, advisor or counsel has reported the case in question or had the case in question reported against him or her.
Cornell University freshman Matthew Pearlstone was found dead Friday morning in the Cauthen residence hall where he had been the guest of a first-year University student. University Police sergeant Melissa Fielding said the cause of death has yet to be determined. "Any death is investigated as suspicious," Fielding said, noting that in this case, there were "no outward signs of anything criminal." Pearlstone's body was transported from the University Medical Center to the medical examiner's office in Richmond for an autopsy, University Health Systems spokesman David Foreman said. Pearlstone was a computer science and electrical engineering major at Cornell, according to his mother, Rebecca Pearlstone.
As high school seniors eagerly await college acceptance letters in the coming weeks, debate continues over a component of applications that is increasingly absent--class rank. Recent findings indicate that 39 percent of high schools have abandoned class rank.
Four University graduate students will be awarded with Faculty Senate Dissertation-Year Fellowships, which are given to support research and graduate student teaching. The four fellowships are valued at $25,000 each and include tuition referral, health insurance and a stipend.
Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy emphasized the importance of lawyers and lawmakers in public service in his keynote address at the Law School's conference on public service and the law.
The Virginia Quarterly Review has been nominated this week for six awards by the American Society of Magazine Editors, according to VQR editor Tim Genoways. Two nominations are for essays, two for fiction, one in the review and criticism category and one in general excellence for magazines with a circulation under 100,000. "This year the thing that is just amazing and exciting for us is six nominations," Genoways said.
For the 12th year in a row, the University's graduation rate for African-American students, at 86 percent, is the highest of any state university, according to an article published in this week's issue of the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. The University is followed by other public colleges such as the University of California at Berkeley, with a 70 percent graduation rate among African-American students and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a rate of 69 percent. Large public universities educate 75 percent of all African-American college students, according to a press release from the University, making the state school black graduation rate a significant benchmark. The peer advisor program contributes to the University's strong showing, University spokesperson Carol Wood said.
On Monday, the University Nursing School held a conference, bringing together over 80 nursing education professionals representing 30 different academic and health care institutions for the first ever statewide conference on the use of simulation technology in nursing education. The conference was held by Laedal, the producers of the SimMan patient simulator, according to a press release.
The results of a survey conducted by the University's Center for Alcohol and Substance Education (CASE) and Center for Survey Research were recently released and reveal that a majority of faculty members and teaching assistants would be willing to help students address issues with alcohol and other drugs but are interested in learning more about resources that are available to students. The survey was distributed to 600 randomly selected faculty members and 150 randomly selected teaching assistants in November of 2004. The release of survey results was postponed until the completion of CASE's Web site this past January. "We wanted faculty and staff to have resources available," Assistant Director of CASE Paige Hawkins said.
The process of restructuring higher education in Virginia is making progress, according to University sources. The restructuring aims to change the way the public universities of the Commonwealth, including the University, Virginia Tech and the College of William and Mary, approach funding as state support of public universities continues to dwindle. In 1985, funding for higher education represented approximately 17 percent of the state's general fund budget; in 2004, state appropriations were just 10 percent of the state general fund budget. According to the University's Web site, the changes would make the University more autonomous and thus able to make more decisions about the direction of funds and tuition that were previously impossible.
