News

Here we grow again...

Fifteen years after the University hospital first moved into its towering eight-story home just south of the Rotunda, the portion of Grounds known as the health systems precinct is once again slated for drastic change. The University's Main Hospital, built at a cost of approximately $230 million in the late 80's, is now undergoing an $87 million expansion and renovation, and more projects are on the way. In a largely procedural move last Friday, the Building and Grounds Committee of the Board of Visitors approved a revision in the University's master plan to accommodate nearly $150 million in additional construction over the next decade. "What we're trying to do is look at the footprint and have it make sense to those who use it," Board Member Mark J.

Group OKs new early-action plan

The National Association for College Admission Counseling voted this past week to permit member colleges to implement "single-choice early-action plans," which allow students to submit non-binding early admissions applications but prevents them from applying early to other schools. The vote seeks to bring uniformity to an admissions system dominated by several binding and nonbinding deadlines.

BSA issues proposals to improve diversity

At the Black Student Alliance's second public meeting for its "Zero Tolerance for Ignorance" campaign last night, BSA officers released a list of recommendations to improve race relations at the University. Isaac Agbeshie-Noye, BSA vice president of networking, reviewed the list of recommendations drafted at a Sept.

Council supports reinstatement of T.A.

In a vote that almost did not take place last night, Student Council introduced and passed a resolution to support the reinstatement of recently dismissed English Department teaching assistant Justin Gifford. Gifford was relieved from his teaching position Monday in response to an incident in which he and 23 University students in his detective fiction class were arrested for trespassing at a former tuberculosis hospital owned by the University Foundation. Under standard Council procedure, resolutions are introduced, tabled automatically for one week and then voted upon by the representative body at the next Council meeting. Last night, Council initially voted down a motion to suspend its rules, which would have allowed Council to take an immediate vote. "I think it is important for Council to have the opportunity to express our view on this matter in a timely manner," said Executive Vice President Whitney Garrison, who sponsored the resolution. A subsequent motion to suspend the tabling rule passed, which opened debate on the resolution. Garrison and Council President Noah Sullivan were among the most vocal proponents of the resolution. "This is a complicated issue," Sullivan said.

Growing Pains

As the University continues to grow in all directions, its presence is increasingly being felt by the city. Though the University owns enough land to meet its immediate expansion needs, using such resources often requires removing existing tenants from their businesses on University property. To facilitate construction of a temporary core laboratory facility on Main Street, the University is planning to tear down a nearby Papa John's once its lease runs out by the end of the year. Similarly, to support the hospital's current expansion, in 2002 the University purchased and removed two well-known nightclubs including Trax, a two-decade old music venue where the Dave Matthews Band once regularly played. "Everything that's run-down, they're picking up," said Elizabeth Coles, a fiscal tech senior in the Medical School and executive vice president of the staff union at the University of Virginia. For those who will staff the new structures, finding affordable housing in the nearby Charlottesville can be difficult, Coles added. "What about affordable housing for employees who are going to be servicing these buildings?" she said.

Faculty, students discuss Honor issues at rountable

Insufficient student ownership of the honor system and the hotly-contested single sanction issue dominated an informal roundtable discussion between a group of faculty members and students last night in Jefferson Hall. The discussion was co-sponsored by the Honor Committee and the Second-Year Council. "The point of a program like tonight is to remind students that there are living issues going on with honor every day," Second-Year Council President Ross Baird said. Seven professors from the College, the Darden School, the Engineering School, the Commerce School and the Nursing School addressed their feelings about the honor system. Astronomy Prof.

Board approves amphitheater plan

The revised architectural plan for the future amphitheater at the east end of the Downtown Mall got the green light from the Charlottesville Board of Architectural Review last night after months of reworking and detail clarification. The BAR passed a motion to approve the current plans for the amphitheater at a special meeting requested by the project's architects from FTL Design Engineering Studio and Donna Walcavage Landscape Architecture and Urban Design. However, the BAR has requested that the architects provide additional plans and alternatives pertaining to railings, lighting and the final coordination of design elements. Architects originally submitted a plan for the new amphitheater to the BAR in June. "Pieces of the plan were okay," BAR Chair Joan Fenton said.

Forum series focuses on U.S., Islamic relations

Foreign policy experts came to the Rotunda Dome Room last night as part of a national town hall-style forum series called "Hope Not Hate," which seeks to broaden cultural perspectives between Americans and Muslims in the wake of the Sept.

A STAR IS BORN

Forum participants praise 'hybrid' appropriations idea

Members of Student Council hosted an appropriations reform forum last night, kicking off a series of public discussions that will eventually lead to the establishment of a new system of allocating the Student Activities Fund. "There has been talk of reforming the appropriations system because it was created for a smaller number of student groups," Council Vice President for Organizations Rebecca Keyworth said.

GMU cancels Moore visit

Michael Moore is no longer scheduled to speak at George Mason University after the university canceled his visit Thursday. Moore was scheduled to visit GMU Oct.

Local man charged with assault and battery at Culbreth Theater

38-year-old Thomas Clark of Rock Creek Road was charged with assault and battery, trespassing and obstruction of justice Friday after he allegedly grabbed a female student in a Culbreth Theater restroom, according to Sgt.

University-wide course evals in works

A new pilot program set for implementation in fall 2005 will allow all students access to former course evaluations for professors whose classes they are considering. The program will be Web-based and most likely run through ITC, according to Student Council President Noah Sullivan and J.

Detective fiction TA fired after class arrests

English graduate student Justin Gifford was fired from his teaching assistant position yesterday, following his arrest and the arrests of 23 students in his detective fiction class Sept.

New sports medicine facility approved, set for completion in 2005

The Board of Visitors approved this weekend a new $1.7 million sports medicine facility, set to be built on the University's North Grounds to accommodate over-crowding in the current athletic department facility. "As the demands have increased, I think the University and the Athletic Department are trying to accommodate the athletes," Head Athletic Trainer Ethan Saliba said. Saliba said the McCue Sports Medicine Center was originally designed to serve the football program but today works with all the of the University's athletic departments. "Because the athletic center was so long under one roof, it became diversified," Saliba said of the McCue Center, which was constructed on the North Grounds in 1991. Officials hope the new facility will allow the McCue Center to focus on football again. "Hopefully expanding the facilities would decompress the volume," Saliba said. The North Grounds at Massie Road and Emmett Street house the core of the University's athletic programs.

HONOR TRIAL RECAP

Month of September During the month of September five students were found not guilty in honor trials by random student juries of their peers. Saturday, October 2 Two undergraduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences were tried for unauthorized collaboration on a test in an introductory-level class.

Democrats rally for Kerry, Weed

Democratic prospects have been historically bleak in Virginia, but several events this weekend were geared toward energizing local Democrats in an effort to reverse a 40-year Republican voting trend in the Commonwealth. University students and local Democrats of all ages turned out at The Park Saturday morning to race and attend a rally featuring Gov.

Students allege attacks early Sat. on Rugby Road

Two students allegedly were assaulted early Saturday morning around 1 a.m. on the corner of Grady Avenue and Rugby Road in what could be one of a series of related assaults. First-year College students Will Searcy and Warren Waterman were waiting for a friend to leave a party when a car carrying three men pulled up and a young black male jumped out and confronted them, according to Searcy and Waterman. Charlottesville police reports confirmed the basic accounts of Searcy and Waterman. Searcy said the man kept trying to pick a fight with him.

$10.5 million gift given to E-school, U.Va. library

Ann Lee Brown, widow of Engineering School alumni Charles L. Brown, gave $10.5 million to the University Saturday. Five million dollars will go to the Engineering School, $500,000 will endow an engineering scholarship and $5 million will be used to create an endowment for the Engineering library in Clark Hall.

Conference explores nuclear alternatives

Students and community activists assembled in Clark Hall Saturday to learn about the health, safety and environmental risks of nuclear power and to gather support for a safe, clean energy future in Virginia. Titled "Virginia at the Crossroads -- Which Energy Future?" the conference was organized around Dominion Power's proposal to build two new nuclear reactors at North Anna, a nuclear facility near Charlottesville. This would be one of the first reactors built in the United States since the meltdown at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in 1979. Elena Day, a conference organizer from People's Alliance for Clean Energy, said she wanted young people to start thinking about alternatives to our future energy needs.