News

Rocketmen and women

Beijing - China hopes to conduct a spacewalk in 2007 and might recruit women into its next group of astronaut candidates, a senior space program official said Monday following the safe completion of the nation's second manned mission. The Shenzhou 6 flight ended the first stage of China's plan, which focused on development of space vehicles, said Tang Xianming, director of the China Space Engineering Office.

On-Grounds housing due date extended

Housing administration extended the on-Grounds housing application due date for the 2006-2007 academic year a month to Nov.

Correction

A subhead in Oct. 20 News article, "Man charged with peeping near U.Va.," incorrectly identified the suspect as Randall S.

Playing for a cause

Council moves to aid transfers

Student Council unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday to help eliminate difficulties many transfer students face in applying to interdisciplinary majors and other special academic programs at the University. According to the Resolution to Support Fair Treatment of Transfer Students in the Application Process of Academic Programs, some transfer students are concerned about the degree of fairness they are subjected to in the application processes to these programs. College Rep.

Suicides surpass homicides in Virginia

A study on violent deaths released in September showed that more Virginians died from suicides than from homicides in 2003 -- the most recent year for which statistics on such deaths have been compiled. According to the study, conducted by the Medical Examiner's Office for the Commonwealth conducted in conjunction with the National Violent Death Registration System, there were 1,332 violent deaths in Virginia in 2003.

Study indicates tuitions continue to rise

Overall tuition and costs for public and private colleges have continued to rise at a mild rate this year while low-income families with children in college are facing a greater financial burden as financial aid programs at the collegiate and federal level increasingly benefit middle-income families.

News briefs

University engineering group wins computer chip competition A group of six University electrical engineering graduate students won first place in Phase One of the 2004-2006 SRC/SIA Design Challenge, a contest sponsored by the semiconductor industry to improve the design of integrated computer chips. The purpose of the contest is to create low-power designs for highly integrated circuits.

Project probes campus IT issues

Although a recent survey conducted by the Campus Computing Project at various universities suggested security is a top concern for campus technology leaders, ITC officials said they don't prioritize between information technology concerns. The Campus Computing Project, an organization devoted to studying the role of information technology in higher education, reported that the top information technology issue among universities was network and data security, far ahead of the runner-up, instructional integration.

Students face new GRE

Beginning next October, the Graduate Record Exam, the entrance exam for graduate school, will undergo changes in its length and question format.

Playing On the Lawn

Correction

The subheadline of the Oct. 19 News article,

Man charged with peeping near U.Va.

Thirty-five-year-old Charlottesville resident Frederick Jermaine Ayers was served charges for peeping and spying into private residences in the University area while he was in court Tuesday for the sentencing of a similar previous incident. Ayers allegedly spied into a residence of four University students Oct.

Professor responds to cheating

A professor in the mechanical engineering department changed the syllabus for his class last week partially as a result of suspected cheating on homework problem sets. Mechanical Engineering Prof.

God on Grounds

While there has been much recent attention in promoting racial tolerance and diversity on Grounds, seemingly very little light has been shed regarding the different religious backgrounds of University students. Various religious groups in the University have become increasingly active in promoting their ideas, correcting misconceptions and raising awareness of the differences in faith. Religious Diversity and Tolerance University Law Prof.

here comes the sun

City debates increasing vendor rates

The Charlottesville City Council discussed increasing vendor rates and changing Downtown Mall regulations in a public hearing at Monday's Council meeting. The Council proposed creating specific lots for vendors as well as increasing rent from its current annual flat rate of $400 to a range of $600 to $1,200 annually based on location and table size. "The primary reason is concern by Downtown Mall businesses that vendors are paying next to nothing while businesses pay power, heating and air, so it would even out the competition," Director of Neighborhood Development Services Jim Tolbert said. Some vendors at the meeting voiced concerns about the price increase because they said they believe it will keep many vendors from continuing to sell their wares on the Mall. "There are a lot of different vendors that travel to the Downtown Mall, and there are a lot [of] artists and talented people who aren't going to come this year because of the rate increase," Beadworld vendor Kristen Bodensick said. Tolbert said rates were based on what other similar communities -- Boulder and Burlington -- charge vendors. "Those communities charged about $1,800, but we didn't want to charge that much," Tolbert said.

Former student pleads guilty to extortion

A former University graduate student in the nuclear engineering program pleaded guilty to extortion in Charlottesville Federal Court Monday for charges stemming from his time at the University. After negotiating a plea agreement with the prosecution, Charles Bly was charged with extortion, one of five charges originally brought against him. Extortion "is a law that is uniquely federal in that it involves placing a letter in the U.S.

Group expresses desire for traditional style

In response to the open letter issued in September by 24 members of the University's Architecture School faculty, another group ran an advertisement in Monday's Cavalier Daily expressing its desire to preserve a traditional style of architecture at the University. The group consisted of national and international proponents of traditional architecture who believe the architectural styles found on Central Grounds, especially the Lawn, are "paramount examples of the classical tradition," and that Modernist architecture represents an intentional divergence from this traditional style of Central Grounds. "There is no place in the United States that is more meaningful for architects than the University of Virginia -- the Jeffersonian Grounds and the legacy of Jefferson," said Carroll Westfall, an architecture professor at the University of Notre Dame and a former member of the University Architecture School faculty. Westfall, who was one of the signatories of the ad, said the point of the ad was to express a concern that some building designs for the University are no longer honoring a traditional style of architecture and are instead calling for more modern styles. In an effort to overcome arguments against traditional architecture, the advertisement stated that buildings of a traditional style are able to accommodate modern-day levels of students and technology. Westfall said there are many universities that have built science labs, dormitories and libraries that blend with the traditional style while also containing the newest technology. "When the flushing toilet came in, we didn't reform the way we build buildings, so the flushing toilet would become an expression of architecture," Westfall said.

Campaigns discuss role of negative ads

After the final debate of the gubernatorial race two weeks ago, campaign spokespeople and University professors continue to discuss the impact of negativity upon the gubernatorial race. At the end of the debate, University Politics Prof.