The University Judiciary Committee elected third-year College student Tim Ormsby as Committee Chairman for the 2005-2006 school year in a meeting last night. "I am very excited," Ormsby said.
Replacement of Alderman Road dormitories was discussed by the University Board of Visitors' Student Affairs and Athletic Committee at their meeting Monday. The Committee adopted a resolution stating that "most of the residence halls on Alderman Road must be replaced" and that the BOV "endorses and supports" the replacement of Alderman Road residences. In addition, the Committee outlined plans to add 400 beds for first-year student housing and 250 beds for upperclassmen housing -- including newly acquired Brandon Avenue and Valley Road apartments -- according to a University Relations press release. The Committee recommended that first-year students continue to live in dorms primarily occupied by students of the same academic level. "We support the notion that all first years should live in University housing," Committee Chair Thomas Farrell, II said.
The Inter-Fraternity Council Judiciary Committee appointed its seven executive board members Sunday and is currently in the process of selecting a pool of support officers, including judges, counselors and investigators. A written exam for the selection process was administered to IFCJC candidates yesterday and interviews will be conducted next week. The IFC is seeking to strengthen its Judiciary Committee by a series of education initiatives aimed at reaching all the individual fraternity men in the IFC, IFC President Ross Kimbel said. The 16 members of the governing board have been divided into teams, each to present the new procedures of the Judiciary Committee to four or five fraternities. "It is a major undertaking to coordinate and make all the presentations, but we have received positive response from the fraternity presidents," Vice President for Judiciary Dom Genest said. The presentation will highlight sections eight and nine of the IFCJC's Standards of Conduct, which pertain to parties and social events and rush regulations respectively.
Wreaths wrapped in black ribbons are hung from the doors of Monroe Hall to mourn the death of Ellen Marie Whitener, senior associate dean and professor at the McIntire School of Commerce, who passed away Tuesday morning. Prof.
Lindsay Borek and Joseph Thompson, both University students, were convicted of driving under the influence yesterday in cases that have questioned the jurisdictions of City and University Police. Borek and Thompson were arrested in January.
Madison House has announced the newly-elected student candidates of its Board of Directors, according to Heather Flow, co-chair of the 2004-2005 Board.
The U.Va. Collegiate Mock Trial A-Team placed second in its division at the Stetson National Tournament held in St.
Last night a new non-partisan student organization, Americans for Informed Democracy (AID), hosted a town-hall meeting titled "U.S.
President John T. Casteen, III gave his 15th annual State of the University address yesterday in Old Cabell Hall, addressing an audience of over 200 people. In his speech, Casteen reviewed the progress that the University has made in academics, finances and community relations over recent years.
Gov. Mark R. Warner announced Monday that he would propose an amendment to the state budget for 2006 that would maintain financial aid for out-of-state graduate students. "The governor thinks it makes no sense to compete with other institutions for the top students if we can't offer them the financial aid," Warner spokesperson Ellen Qualls said. In the state of Virginia, the budget overrides all other laws, but the Governor is able to amend specific language within the budget, as Warner plans to do with this amendment, Quall said. Ethan Sribnick, president of the Graduate Student Labor Union, said he and members of his organization were happy with the developments.
The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, an independent, non-profit organization, is working with the National Forum to develop a method for measuring each state's "educational capital." The desire to measure college graduates' ability to solve problems, communicate effectively and think critically has existed for many years, yet progress finally is being made according to Margaret Miller, director of the National Forum and a professor in the Education School. "What happened is that employers have been saying for a long time they weren't quite sure what a college degree warranted, or what skills they would bring into the workplace," Miller said.
Charlottesville may be considered one of the best places to live in America, but not for everyone.
Two members of the Faculty Senate spoke at Sunday's Honor Committee meeting to promote a faculty survey on the honor system. Kenneth Schwartz, chair of the Academic Affairs Committee of the Faculty Senate, and Academic Affairs Committee member Ann Hamric spoke in favor of a survey that would illuminate faculty views on the issue. "We are trying to come to grips with ways of discussing faculty opinions on honor," Schwartz said. The Academic Affairs Committee recommended such a survey to the Faculty Senate in response to recent criticism of the honor system by some faculty members. Hamric said the Faculty Senate wants to get an objective view of faculty opinions on the honor system. "Right now, we're getting a lot of opinions and anecdotal evidence," Hamric said. The Faculty Senate voted unanimously to put the survey in the hands of the Honor Committee. "Because it's a student-run system, any data-gathering needs to be run by the students in the interest of student self-governance," Hamric said. The Honor Committee now will have to decide how to address the issue. "Basically, the Senate just handed it to the students, and it's up to the students what happens now," Hamric said. Several Honor Committee members offered suggestions for survey content. Recently-elected Vice-Chair for Investigations Lauren Ross suggested that questions should be added to the survey which polled faculty knowledge about the honor system. "It seemed that in many areas, the questions were opinion-based," Ross said. Another suggested question for the survey concerned the preparedness of the faculty to address honor issues. "A lot of the faculty have not had a lot of exposure to the Honor Committee views and the views of the student body," outgoing Honor Committee Chair Meghan Sullivan said. Both Schwartz and Hamric urged the Honor Committee to act quickly on the survey. "The irons are hot -- you can get a lot of response out of the faculty right now," Schwartz said. Under the Faculty Senate's proposal, the University's Center for Survey Research would conduct the survey. "These folks are experts at this, and they work throughout the Commonwealth," Schwartz said. Both the Honor Committee and the Faculty Senate representatives were interested in discussing the cost of the survey, estimated between $17,000 and $24,000. "I think the specific cost is something we're going to be concerned about as a committee," Honor Committee member Matt Miller said. Schwartz said the Faculty Senate had already spoken to the University Provost about funding. "There's very little around this University that is more important than honor," Schwartz said.
In an attempt to save money, the Student Council Appropriations Committee has adopted a new process of allocating funds to qualified Contracted Independent Organizations.
Member organizations of the Black Fraternal Council unanimously voted last night to join the National Pan-Hellenic Council, Inc., the umbrella organization for the nine historically black Greek letter fraternities and sororities. "Because of the increased accountability that we have to go through with the NPHC, it will create more of a stable structure," BFC co-Chair Brandon Green said.
By Catherine Conkle Cavalier Daily Staff Writer Last night, a student presentation entitled "Trailblazers: A History and Life of U.Va.
A Multicultural Greek Council committee recently completed rewriting its constitution and bylaws and will meet tonight to finalize the changes before presenting it to the MGC Presidents Council for approval. Members of the MGC felt the need to have a revised edition of the constitution and bylaws to better accommodate the growth of the organization, MGC Parliamentarian Margaret Schiller said. Some of the major changes made in the constitution are clarifying the difference between an associate member and a probationary member, said Christina Ridgway, MGC vice president and head of the Constitution Committee. "The terms 'associate member' and 'probationary member' were used interchangeably with the old constitution," Ridgway said. In the new constitution, the associate member refers to an organization under research of becoming a member of the MGC, while a probationary member refers to one that is already an active organization on a probationary period due to misconduct. Another change in the constitution is a revision to the MGC mission statement to include three more goals. "We want our purpose to cover all of our objectives in terms of what we believe in and what our organization stands for," Ridgway said. Other changes proposed in the new constitution pertain to the leadership positions and the voting procedure. The new constitution establishes a one-year term for executive board members and a semester term for chair positions.
Gov. Mark R. Warner unveiled a third generation broadband fiber-optic network connecting all of Virginia's university's to national and international research networks in the Dome Room of the Rotunda yesterday. The new network was hailed for its significance in increasing the competitiveness of Virginia universities in conducting ground-breaking research and receiving federal research grants. "If the Commonwealth is to be competitive, we must make our universities our intellectual capacity creators," Warner said.
