During the past few days there has been a flurry of reporting about the campaign that Workers and Students United has spearheaded to encourage the University to guarantee its lowest paid workers an indexed living wage.
The Minority Rights Coalition announced its new executive committee Monday and is set to transition this Thursday.
"It's not fair," I tearily protested, "It's just a stupid popularity contest." I was embarrassingly defeated in the 6th grade student council election.
The living wage campaign seems to be making a comeback. Currently, the University imposes its own minimum wage of $10.14 per hour for employees directly employed by the University, although Workers and Students United claim that some workers who should be making this amount, such as individuals working for subcontractors, are in fact paid less.
The possession and use of marijuana for recreational purposes is illegal in America, but anyone who has spent even a brief time at the University knows that it is a highly visible substance both on Grounds and in the surrounding community.
Gov. Bob McDonnell signed his ninth executive order last Friday, establishing the Governor's Commission on Higher Education Reform - a committee dedicated to higher education reform, innovation and investment.
A few weeks ago, Gerald L. Baliles, director of the Miller Center of Public Affairs, told a Roanoke ballroom full of Virginia newspaper people about a report called "Old Media, New Media and the Challenge to Democratic Governance." You can read it at the Miller Center's Web site, if you like. For the past year, the center has studied and hosted discussions about the decline of American newspapers, what effect that might have on American government and what might be done about it.
Recently, major celebrities in the fashion industry have taken it upon themselves to speak out against the use of unrealistic models in their campaigns.
Chivalry is dead. This phrase usually carries a negative connotation as men are becoming less and less knightly in their conduct.
With the great number of crises facing the American people today, environmental legislation often gets shunted aside by congress.
The March 26 editorial cartoon by Jane Mattimoe about the measure to legalize and tax cannabis in California, evokes the tired stereotype that medicinal use is nothing more than a smokescreen for "recreational" pot smoking.
The Workers and Students United organization held a forum this Saturday to discuss the living wage campaign and how it pertains to University.
Leading up to the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, I was one of the more than 40 million uninsured Americans ... and I didn't mind it that way.
Last month, controversy erupted following the volatile remarks of Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William, when he stated that after a woman has an abortion, "nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children." Marshall also referenced the Old Testament practice of dedicating firstborn children to God, adding that "there's a special punishment" when those first pregnancies are aborted. Much has been made of the exact wording of Marshall's statement, to determine whether he was implying that children with disabilities are God's punishment for a prior abortion.
The Honor Committee held a forum Wednesday night to discuss honor and academic ethics within the University community.
The celebrated conservationist and steward of the American wilderness, Theodore Roosevelt once said, "We have fallen heirs to the most glorious heritage a people ever received, and each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune." As 26th president of the United States, Roosevelt helped preserve over 230 million acres of American wilderness for future generations.
Representative Patrick Kennedy's little temper tantrum against the media week was dismissed by critics without a second thought.
In rules of Civility & Decent Behavior, Mr. George Washington emphasizes that "every action done in company ought to be done with some sign of respect to those that are present." Civility, fundamentally, is a gesture of respect toward others.
Although the City of Charlottesville passed a living wage ordinance ensuring that municipal workers and contracted employees receive a minimum wage of $11.44 per hour, the University of Virginia currently guarantees its employees a minimum wage of only $10.14 per hour.
If you are 15 years old in this country, you can't drive, vote or get married, but you can be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
