The Cavalier Daily staff has damaged the trust readers had in the paper. The main point of the paper is to be an independent voice at the University of Virginia. The paper can’t be that if no one trusts it and if no one is paying attention. The April Fools edition of the paper has done harm to the Cavalier Daily and to its readers.
Regardless of your intentions, the Trail of Tears, the Civil Rights Movement, discrimination against women and any other social topic we are faced with overcoming are not your sources for April Fools’ columns. Those articles have only continued to push this institution into a dark corner. Tell me: if this was Apr. 2, a normal day, would you have published these articles anyway? If the answer is no, then April Fools’ Day is not an excuse to justify the publication of such offensive material.
If after reading all this you still think the articles shouldn’t have been published, that is your right. This does not, however, make The Cavalier Daily sexist, racist or evil as it has been portrayed. Enemies of our enemies are no longer our friends unless they conform completely to every standard of perfect political correctness, a standard that increasingly shrinks the pool of acceptable discourse.
We need a lottery system. I imagine something like the one used for scheduling basketball games, except with students listing out their intended classes in order of priority. Rather than Sabre points — which give a person more ‘names in the bucket’ come ticket-allocating time for sports games — we’d give people more names in the bucket for their preferred classes.
To be clear, I don’t mean to say that the Guide Service shouldn’t receive a space on Grounds to perform its functions as a tour-giving organization. I think the Guide Service is one of the most necessary organizations on Grounds particularly given its role in preserving the history of our University. Over the past few years, the Guide Service has made significant strides in addressing slavery at the University in its historical tours. Additionally, tour guides are often the first faces that prospective students see when they come to Charlottesville.
These alternatives should not become primary methods of execution. Hanging, though the most popular form of capital punishment for the majority of U.S. history, sometimes leads to prolonged strangulation or decapitation, and electrocution sometimes leads to inmates catching on fire or needing multiple jolts. It is the gruesome nature of these botched executions that led the majority of U.S. states to declare these alternatives unconstitutional, and the American people agree.
The managing board of The Cavalier Daily would like to issue a sincere apology for the publication of two pieces — “ABC officers tackle Native American student outside Bodo’s Bagels” and “Zeta Psi hosts ‘Rosa Parks’ party” — in our April Fools edition which was released this morning.
For all of the good that I know the panel achieved, I don’t believe that it is beyond reproach. The panel was not what I wanted it to be, and I realize that may be unimportant. I know it may seem condescending for me to suggest improvements to black student leaders’ protest and activism tactics, when I am so far removed from the struggles they face on a daily basis.
Driven by this desire to “win” in their committees, students engage in debates that are highly educational in nature, reinforcing information on complex world issues in a fashion that trumps traditional classroom assignments. An extensive evaluation of the Urban Debate League in New York City found that this style of learning through debate and problem solving has incredible perks for students across a variety of different personal characteristics, including academic performance, communication, creativity and self-concept.
There are a great number of examples of movements that failed because of a lack of effective organization. This is what I am afraid of happening for the problem of police brutality in America. If there is no effective organization in the form of lobbying groups to enact proposed policies, there can be no effective change.
Our University is no stranger to board-driven ousters. In 2012, University President Teresa Sullivan was unexpectedly fired from her position, and, in response to widespread protests, the Board of Visitors ultimately reinstated her. We write today to urge the governing board at Ole Miss to do the same.
Even with these shortcomings, the most reprehensible one in Sachs’ piece is her choice to deflect accusations made against Israel by pointing to the injustices and human rights violations committed by ISIS and Arab/Muslim governments in the region. By doing this, Sachs sets the bar pathetically low for the “beacon of democracy” she believes in. One moral failure by no means excuses another.
I completely support policemen and what they stand for, but I also know the job of the police, or in this case that of an ABC officer, is to resolve the given situation with the least amount of physical force required. Carrying an openly visible firearm does not accomplish this goal, and furthermore unnecessarily asserting physical dominance over someone only creates more fear in the public.
This protocol for addressing a student who is in danger holds for any and all resources an individual would use on Grounds: Peer Health Educators, CAPS, Helpline — even professors, and this is a good thing; we are here to help resolve dire situations and to protect students to the best of our ability. Yet, for the vast majority of students who are not immediately in danger, our resources are totally confidential and designed to support the student as best as possible.
I was accused of felony abduction with intent to defile and felony rape of my ex-girlfriend. At that moment, I faced the harrowing possibility of two life sentences for a crime I did not commit. Once in jail, I learned that, in conjunction with the criminal charges, I was also put on an interim suspension and faced charges through the University Judiciary Committee, even though the University had contact neither with the complainant — who has never been enrolled at U.Va. — nor the Fairfax County police.
A vote on tuition changes requires significant consideration; for all Board members not to feel fully prepared for such a vote is troubling. Even Meg Gould, the non-voting student representative to the Board, pointed to the lack of transparency in the Board’s decision as a reason “students feel that they weren’t given sufficient time to understand the policy and [felt] unheard or unrepresented.”
As with any financial policy, this one is not foolproof, nor was the manner in which it was communicated. I personally think the specific proposal should have been publicly available earlier than it was. If students felt unheard, I take responsibility. All of us, myself included, should constantly evaluate and reevaluate how we communicate, but we should not let that obscure the benefits of the policy itself.
The issue is not just the stigma that exists on Grounds, but the stigma that afflicted students believe exists on Grounds. It is their perception of a stigma that decides whether or not they will be comfortable admitting to their problem and seeking help. So though it is absolutely necessary for events like the Mental Wellness Day to continue, the people suffering now need a more immediate solution that allows them to receive the care they need without having to face their fear of stigmatization.
The final reason the U.S. military base has not been disbanded as of yet is that it serves to project U.S. power overseas, protecting economic and political interests. Yet, is this base still a source of American power? The people of Okinawa want it gone, and it only seems to provide a steady stream of bad press.
Indeed, whatever risk there may be that sponsored content could damage the trust of readers in the independence and objectivity of the news and editorial writing, that risk is clearly outweighed by the certainty that losing financial independence and seeking money from the University itself would almost completely negate any possibility of readers believing that the paper remained objective where the University was concerned.
