News

News

News in Brief

March 1, 2002

The European-American Unity and Rights Organization has filed a complaint against Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo for his handling of a series of assaults against University students in the past several months. The group, which has called for Longo to classify the assaults as hate crimes, alleged that Longo negotiated with "black special interest groups" in violation of the Virginia constitution and asked that the Charlottesville Police Department perform an internal investigation against Longo. "EURO believes that state hate crime laws are being used to selectively prosecute whites, while ignoring racially motivated crimes when whites are victims," the organization said in a press release. Those charged with the assaults, which occurred between September 2001 and January 2002, all are African-American. Alderman hosts display on best-selling fiction Alderman Library no longer is reserved for obscure political science tracts and musty classics of literature.

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Casteen calls for new capital campaign

By Abby Fox | March 1, 2002

University President John T. Casteen III announced a new Capital Campaign project of $3 to $5 billion at a Faculty Senate meeting yesterday in the Newcomb Hall Commonwealth Room. Casteen said the University is becoming more independent of the state budget as grants to the University increase.

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CIO offices in Newcomb to be overhauled

By Martin Olivier | March 1, 2002

Student Council President Abby Fifer and Newcomb Hall officials met with representatives of Contracted Independent Organizations on Wednesday night to discuss ways to redesign CIO offices on the first floor of Newcomb Hall. The meeting was part of an ongoing effort by Student Council and Newcomb Hall Director William Ashby, in conjunction with a University efficiency initiative called Process Simplification to find ways to use the CIO offices better. Process Simplification was started in 1994 to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of University functions from employee hiring to running orientation programs. A Council working group also has been meeting with CIOs on an individual basis. After the offices are overhauled this summer, Room 164, which currently contains office space for about 50 CIOs, could serve all 400 CIOs at the University, Fifer said. "The way we allocate space right now doesn't make the best use of the space and doesn't take account of the diversity of CIOs there," she said. Some organizations use their space mainly for storage, while others actually work and receive phone calls in their offices, she said. Redesigning the space "is definitely needed," said Sheila Laderburg, chair of the Council student arts committee.

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Schilling to run for City Council

By Ben Sellers | March 1, 2002

Charlottesville Republicans nominated local businessman Rob Schilling as a candidate for the upcoming City Council election during a meeting last night at the Albemarle County Circuit Court. "I think he has a real chance of winning," said Robert Hodous, chairman of the Charlottesville Republican Committee. Schilling's personal appeal and position on issues could succeed in winning over traditionally Democratic voters, Hodous said. Schilling agreed with Hodous and noted that voters might not focus solely on party identification. "I'd like this race to be about issues and not about labeling," he said. Schilling's candidacy puts to rest speculation that the party would only run in the City Council race if two candidates came forward to fill the two Council seats up for election May 7. Though the committee will meet again Monday to see if a second candidate will come forward, Schilling said he believes he will be the only one. The absence of another Republican candidate would not deter Schilling's goal of "letting people hear different points of view and decide whom they want to vote for," he said. Topping his platform agenda were education reforms.

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Admissions offices seek to ward off plagiarized essays

By Jen Michaels | March 1, 2002

"My trip to France." "The roller coaster ride of college admissions." "A list of humorous, but mostly unbelievable, accomplishments." Each year Admissions Dean John A.

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Johnson pleads guilty to sex charge

By Jen Michaels | March 1, 2002

Former hospital orderly Rudolph T. Johnson Jr., accused of raping two psychiatric patients at the University Medical Center last spring, pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of aggravated sexual battery. Johnson, 47, of Charlottesville, entered an Alford guilty plea in the case. "An Alford plea is named for a Supreme Court case from the late 1960s," said Law Prof.

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Inflated muscles or inflated claims?

By Mykola Kovalenko | February 28, 2002

If you are a regular weightlifter, you probably know someone who uses sports supplements - you even might have tried them yourself. It is not just professional athletes anymore who modify their diet with supplements that many say enhance athletic performance and muscle growth. The sports supplements industry has exploded in response to an increasingly health-conscious public, selling $1 billion worth of products annually in the United States alone. The Food and Drug Administration does not regulate sports supplements - meaning the claims of many sport supplement companies could be unverified. This month, the controversy surrounding U.S.

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Students reject informed retraction

By Nick Chapin | February 28, 2002

Yesterday's election results brought an end to months of debate on the informed retraction, though the results suggest the issues it addressed will live on. Students cast 3,346 votes against and 2,223 votes in favor of the amendment, which needed a two-thirds majority to pass. "The most important thing is that students had the opportunity to voice their opinions," said College Honor Rep.

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News in brief

By Cavalier Daily Staff | February 28, 2002

Charlottesville may restrict water use Fearing water shortages, the Charlottesville Department of Public Works says it may be within 60 days of imposing mandatory restrictions on water use. The Albemarle County service authority and the Charlottesville department of public works currently are asking water-users to reduce their consumption by 10 percent. An ongoing, three-year drought has caused the area's three reservoirs to drop to 76.8 percent of capacity. Some authorities are saying that the water deficit is not completely due to the drought but rather the reservoirs' water capacity. Silt from neighboring woods has slipped into South Fork Rivanna Reservoir, one of the area's three reservoirs thus causing a major water-storing loss. Expansion of this reservoir could help avoid severe repercussions from the drought, said Larry Tropea, executive director of the Rivanna water and sewer authority, in a Daily Progress article. Tropea presented his proposal for expansion to Rivanna's board of directors this week. Rivanna hopes to present a proposal in April to Charlottesville City Council and the county Board of Supervisors outlining their plans for a reservoir growth, Tropea added. Rivanna water and sewer authority oversees the area's reservoirs.

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Police hunt for Barracks burglar

By Jenn Roberts | February 28, 2002

Charlottesville police currently are conducting a search for a suspect involved in a robbery Tuesday night at the Barracks Road Shopping Center. According to Charlottesville police, the theft occurred in the Barnes & Noble Bookstore at approximately 10 p.m. The incident was reported as an armed robbery. The suspect in the Barnes and Noble bookstore robbery reportedly lifted his jacket and displayed a small, dark handgun during the theft, Charlottesville police Sgt.

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Inquiring minds

By Cavalier Daily Staff | February 28, 2002

What's with the warm weather? According to Environmental Science Prof. Robert Davis, the jet stream is to blame for the balmy temperatures. Without getting too technical, the jet stream essentially separates cold arctic air from warm tropical air. During most winters a jet stream trough, or southward bulge in the jet stream that meanders across the northern hemisphere, settles in over Virginia, keeping the warm southern air at bay while Canadian air masses invade from the North.

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Community addresses attacks, race relations

By Abby Fox | February 28, 2002

In response to the recent assaults on University students, community activists, church members and University administrators gathered at the Mount Zion Baptist Church last night to discuss race relations and the lack of interaction between the University and Charlottesville at large. Last night's meeting was one in a series of meetings that began three weeks ago when Rev.

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New center forms to maintain cultural diversity

By Sharon Lynch | February 28, 2002

In an effort to preserve the cultural diversity of the South Atlantic region, Virginia Tech and the University have set aside their usual competitiveness to join with the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.

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UJC, Honor Committee chosen

By Nick Chapin | February 28, 2002

After weeks of competitive campaigning, the student body elected next year's Honor and University Judiciary Committee leaders yesterday. Duncan Brook, Brad Robinson and Christopher Smith will serve as the three College Honor Committee Reps from a pool of 14 candidates. "We are going to have an outstanding Committee next year," said Brook, who led the race with 1,459 votes.

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Council president race ends in run-off

By Alexis Unkovic | February 28, 2002

The results are in. Almost. With echoes of the 2000 presidential campaign ringing in the air, the elections committee announced last night that there will be a run-off for Student Council president. Third-year College students Steven Reinemund and Micah Schwartz will run-off for Council's most coveted position.

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Texas A&M researchers produce first feline facsimile

By Juliana Chan | February 28, 2002

The list includes sheep, mice, cows, goats, pigs and just recently, cats -- Noah would have been very pleased. In December of last year, scientists at Texas A&M University cloned a calico cat wittily named "CC" for "carbon copy" or "copy cat." Though she is the first domestic pet to be cloned, CC represents nothing new as the latest in a line of six cloned species. Nothing is different about the cloning process either -- Texas A&M researchers followed the same routine of painstakingly fusing numerous adult cells with an egg whose genetic material had been removed. In fact, bringing CC into the world wasn

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Council votes for state bond resolution

By Jenn Roberts | February 27, 2002

Student Council members passed a resolution last night urging Gov. Mark R. Warner to support increased University funding through bond bills. The bond bills already passed the Virginia House and Senate earlier this month, but require Warner's signature before going on the statewide ballot in this fall's general election. Senate Bill 31 and House Bill 99, also known as the "Commonwealth of Virginia Educational Facilities Bond Act of 2002," would provide $48.7 million for University construction projects.

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Finding Common Ground

By Ben Sellers | February 27, 2002

Unless they grew up in the area, few University students will ever fully become part of the Charlottesville com munity.

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Death at Maryland prompts fraternity closure

By Juliana Chan | February 27, 2002

After a University of Maryland-College Park freshman apparently drank himself to death, the national Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity decided to close Maryland's local chapter over the weekend. Prince George's County, Md., police and university officials are continuing their investigation behind the untimely death of 19-year-old Daniel Reardon, a freshman from Northwest Washington, D.C. Reardon was found unconscious in the fraternity's house in the early morning hours of Feb.

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Telescope may harm anthropology research

By Adrienne So and Michael Loatman | February 27, 2002

The astronomy department's plans to work with the Mount Graham Large Binocular Telescope not only has sparked criticism outside the University from environmentalists and American Indian groups, but also within the University's anthropology department. Retired Anthropology Prof.