The following four-part series chronicles the experiences of former University student Kathryn Russell, who, after accusing a fellow student of sexual assault in February of 2004, brought charges up with the University Sexual Assault Board.
The University recently acquired three apartment complexes in an effort to increase on-Grounds housing for upperclassmen. The purchase of the University Forum Apartments, located off Ivy Road, and apartment complexes located at 411 Brandon Avenue and 405 Valley Road will add a combined 261 beds to the University Housing Division. The University purchased the University Forum Apartments for $6.95 million.
University graduate programs in law, business, history and English performed particularly well in the annual U.S.
The Student Council Executive Committee called a special meeting yesterday to approve adjustments to previous Appropriations Committee allocations. The 2005-2006 academic-year budget will reflect increased funding for travel expenses and decreased funding for operational expenses, such as photocopies, as compared with earlier 2005-2006 budget estimates. The budget originally allocated 15 percent of funds for travel expenses.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate and current Lieutenant Governor Tim Kaine offered a challenge to participate in a series of monthly debates to his opponent, Republican and former Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, during a visit to Politics Prof.
The Inter-Fraternity Council recently accepted Alpha Epsilon Pi President Mike Goldsmith to fill the newly-created position of member-at-large. As the new member-at-large, Goldsmith's main responsibility is to act as a liaison between the governing board of the IFC and the presidents of individual chapters. "Goldsmith will have a seat on the governing board and help increase communication between the board and the presidents," IFC President Ross Kimbel said. According to Goldsmith, the member-at-large position came out of necessity to bridge the gap that exists between the IFC governing board and the presidents of the individual chapters. "Individual fraternity members do not always know what the IFC does and what kind of issues are out there," he said.
The outgoing Honor Committee released case statistics for its yearlong term last night, among them the fact that 40 percent of this year's cases were initiated by students. Student initiation rates showed a marked increase for this term. "It was closer to 12 percent last year," Special Assistant to the Honor Committee Nicole Eramo said. Approximately 32 percent of this year's cases were initiated by faculty members, 25 percent by TAs and four percent by administrators. "Faculty and TAs are in a unique position to discover honor violations and therefore have a naturally higher initiation rate," outgoing Vice chair for Trials Nick Staubach said. The increase in student initiations can be attributed to ongoing efforts on the part of the Committee for several years, newly elected Honor chair David Hobbs said. "Increasing student initiations has been a goal of the committee over the past few years," Hobbs said. The rise in student initiations comes as good news to the newly elected Honor Executive Committee, which has listed increasing student initiation rates among their major concerns for their upcoming term, the members of the Committee noted. These and other statistics were presented to and discussed by the outgoing Committee at last night's meeting. The statistics break down the results of investigations, post-investigation panels, trials and post-trial. They also list the attributes of defendants by race, gender, school, athletic status, international student status and offense. Defendant statistics, especially race and international student status are especially important in the Committee's ongoing investigation of the so-called "spotlighting" of minority groups and the "dimming" of majority groups. Prior years' numbers have shown that minority and international students have cases initiated against them at much higher rates proportional to majority. Of the 64 investigations carried on by the Committee this year, 28 went to trial, and 10 of those trials had guilty verdicts, a conviction rate of about 36 percent. The Honor Committee remarked that the investigation and trial statistics are also very useful to the Honor Committee in determining trends and anomalies. Representative Marisa Adelman pointed out that only cheating trials had guilty verdicts this year and all six combined lying and stealing defendants were found not guilty. Eramo said this was fairly typical compared to the statistics of previous years.
The Board of Visitors meeting that concluded Saturday included a spirited discussion about how to best market the University's most distinctive values and highlighted several competing and diverse visions for the long-term direction of the University.
At the Black Alumni Alliance Saturday, hosted by the Black Student Alliance, the main focus of the day was a discussion with alumni about possibly forming a black alumni advisory board for the BSA. "The weekend was a way to get the black alumni involved in the black experience here at U.Va.," BSA Alumni Affairs Co-Chair Aaron Blake said. More than 40 black alumni attended, Blake said, as well as student members from the University's various black organizations who were invited to participate in the event. "We believe that there is no one who can support the black student experience better than alums because they know exactly what we go through and they can help us achieve a lot," BSA President Myra Franklin said. At the event, alumni and students conversed about the BSA's past and present place in the University and what it was like when the alumni were students at the University. During the discussion of the BSA's proposal for the creation of the advisory board, BSA members received feedback from the alumni. "Overwhelmingly, alumni expressed their support," Franklin said.
The Board of Visitors deferred formally setting next year's tuition, as they usually do, at their spring meeting which ended Saturday.
The following four-part series chronicles the experiences of former University student Kathryn Russell, who, after accusing a fellow student of sexual assault in February of 2004, brought charges up with the University Sexual Assault Board.
Today's april fools issue of the Cavalier Daily is only available in print.
Gov. Mark R. Warner unveiled his proposed amendments to the modified charter legislation yesterday. "The changes that were made were structural changes," Secretary of Finance John Bennett said.
A divided Supreme Court expanded Title IX Monday to protect anyone who blows the whistle on sex discrimination in federally funded educational programs from retaliation. Title IX, which was enacted by Congress in 1972, prohibits schools from engaging in discriminatory practices.
This week, the Arts & Sciences Council is sponsoring College Week, an annual week of free events for students in the College of Arts & Sciences. Plans for College Week include academic events such as majors' fairs for the humanities and the sciences as well as social events including a student-faculty trivia night and the College Carnival. "College Week is essentially a week of fun and interesting events designed to bring students and faculty together," Arts & Sciences Council President-elect David Reid said. All of the College Week events are open to the entire University but are geared especially to students in the College. "One of the purposes of College Week is to foster a unique identity within the University and to provide for the welfare of students in the College," said Eugenio Labadie, First and Second Years' Affairs chair. College Week began Monday with Faculty Student Trivia Night at the Mellow Mushroom, when a team from the Jefferson Society placed first in the trivia contest. "I thought Trivia Night went well," Labadie said.
Planned Parenthood's Emergency Contraception Van came to the University yesterday, sponsored by the student group Voices of Planned Parenthood. Emergency contraception, also known as the "morning-after pill," is a form of birth control that can prevent pregnancy by stopping ovulation or fertilization up to 120 hours after sexual intercourse. Although the Elson Student Health Center provides emergency contraception to students, members of VOX: Voices of Planned Parenthood said they felt it was important to create more awareness about the contraception. "We brought the van just to promote E.C.," VOX President Kimberly Goumenis said.
Third-year College student Matthew Allen was notified Tuesday of his selection to spend the 2005-2006 school year residing in Room 15 of the West Lawn, an endowed room commonly known as the "Good Guy Room." "The only reason I can see myself being the 'good guy' is for people seeing that character in me because of my faith and the grace of God," Allen said. Allen currently serves as the Treasurer of Sigma Chi and is involved in the Committee for Abundant Life Christmas Banquet, Inter-Fraternity Fellowship and Reformed University Fellowship. Allen chose not to apply to live on the Lawn through the Lawn Selection Committee earlier this school year. "There are friends of mine that got on the Lawn through regular admissions that I thought would make better applications," Allen said.
University third-year Catherine Neale is the recent recipient of a Truman Scholarship. "I'm extremely honored and grateful for all of the support I've had from the folks at U.Va., especially from Dean Nicole Hurd at the Center for Undergraduate Excellence and my other mentors, Ed Ayers and Pat Lampkin," Neale said. The Scholarship is annually given to 75 college juniors across the Commonwealth and totals over $30,000, according to a University press release. The Truman Scholarship Foundation selects students who display leadership and interest in government, public service and education, the release said. As a University student, Neale has taken on leadership roles including serving as the president of the Arts & Sciences Council and, most recently, being named as the student member of the Board of Visitors. The Truman Scholarship is especially intended for graduate study, the release said. Neale said she currently is planning to attend law school after graduating and hopes to pursue a career in the field of higher education, working as a law professor and eventually as an administrator. -- Compiled by Kathleen Meyers
