BEFORE last week I was a mere sympathizer of the Living Wage Campaign -- supportive but silent. Only after attending the rallies and camping outside Madison Hall did I realize the level of organization and intellect of the campaign's leaders.
WITH GAS prices soaring over three dollars gallon, the headlines "pain at the pump" have been broadcasted ad nauseam and Democrats have placed the blame for the high prices squarely on the shoulders of President Bush and former Exxon CEO Lee Raymond (who just received a $400 million retirement package). What is lacking is recognition of the complexity of the current conditions and the many sources of the conundrum, including Democrats and extreme environmentalists.
THE COLUMBINE tragedy mayseem like the distant past to many University students, but it appears some high school students have used it as inspiration to vent their own frustrations.
LAST WEEK, a student activist group made a commendable effort to address an important problem at the University.
SINCE early 2003, government-sponsored attacks on the black African populations of the Darfur region of Sudan have left 400,000 dead, 2.2 million displaced and 50 percent of Darfur's population reliant on humanitarian aid that is increasingly dangerous and difficult to deliver.
ON TUESDAY, May 2, Charlottesville voters face a crucial choice -- a choice between moving forward or going backward. I urge Charlottesville citizens, especially students, to continue moving forward by voting to re-elect City Councilor Rob Schilling next Tuesday. Charlottesville and its citizens are well served by his steady, dedicated and responsive leadership -- qualities which, quite frankly, have been far too rare on City Council in past years. In the face of being in a 4-1 minority, Schilling has steadily stood up for reason and fiscal responsibility in City Hall. He has consistently fought for reasonable spending and smart planning. Affordable housing is the hot topic of the moment, and it is an important issue, but it must be addressed at all levels. Affordable housing is in reality affordable living. The high cost of living in Charlottesville is directly proportional to the high cost of city government. Schilling championed the elimination of the decal on cars registered in the city. This smart planning saves Charlottesville taxpayers over $40,000 annually. His dedication is demonstrated every week -- he is the only Charlottesville City Councilor since 2002 to have a 100 percent attendance record at regularly scheduled City Council meetings. Four years ago, when Rob Schilling defied conventional wisdom and won a seat on City Council in an area which had been under one-party rule for a decade and a half, he set goals for his time representing the citizens that had urged him to run. One of those goals was to bring accountability to Charlottesville's school system through an elected school board. Through Rob Schilling's dedication to all citizens of Charlottesville, he led a bi-partisan effort to collect more than 3,000 signatures of registered voters in Charlottesville, personally collecting well over 800 himself. Schilling's dedication did not end with the question getting on the ballot in November 2005, he campaigned for it tirelessly while other councilors did everything but openly oppose it. With over 73 percent of the city voting yes, we will also have our first School Board elections in Charlottesville next Tuesday, thanks in large part to the dedication of Schilling. Rob Schilling's responsiveness to local citizens is unparalleled. You cannot attend a forum or a debate without hearing from or meeting in the hallway someone whose life has been touched by Schilling's sense of duty to Charlottesville. More often than not, these are people who have contacted other councilors and never got help. Countless crumbling sidewalks have been repaired, concerned listened to, and phone calls returned -- these are things that Charlottesville citizens have not been used to receiving from their elected leaders, and I think it would be a terrible step backward to not return the man who has earned a reputation as a citizen advocate to City Council. Schilling's experience as a father, small business owner, teacher, musician and current city councilor all blend together to give him the qualities and skills needed to represent the diverse citizenry of Charlottesville. For the long-time citizens worried about being taxed out of their homes, Schilling has pushed to reduce the tax rate by 12 cents over the past 4 years when there was only a 2 cent decrease in the 20 years prior to his election.
IN THE 2002 Charlottesville City Council elections, only 25 University students voted. There are now over 2,000 University students registered to vote in Charlottesville and with the May 2 election day just around the corner, the onus lies with us to improve greatly upon that voter turnout of not even two percent. Although some demean local elections as less important, a quick glimpse at the political landscape this year shows that nothing could be further from the truth.
LAST WEEK, members of the Hindu Student Council and Indian Student Association rose in uproar over a April 14 "TCB" comic run by Eric Kilanski and Kellen Eilerts depicting the interpretation that Hinduism was a pagan religion with violent, slave-driving, animalistic gods feared by their backward peoples.
YET ANOTHER of the University's long-standing traditions is being threatened this year -- and no its not ties and sundresses at football games or random attacks on fraternities.
"WE'LL EITHER colonize Iraq for thirty years and commit even more sins or leave now," Lt. Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski told me in a phone interview following her visit to the University.
OUR GENERATION has unprecedented access to online information. We grew up ina time when the Internet seemed to get better every year, as dial-up e-mail providers gave way to broadband and the unlimited possibility of the World Wide Web.
DESPITE the staff's efforts, many members of minority communities on Grounds still say the paper has problems, stemming largely from what they view as racist or inconsiderate opinion pieces and comics.
WOMEN have a great time at the University. Chivalrous young men open doors for them, buy meals for them and give them great ego satisfaction, especially around this time of year, when sweats come off and skirts get shorter.
AS I write these words, it becomes increasingly difficult to believe that this is my last column in The Cavalier Daily.
I MUST forewarn the reader, this is yet another column about the Living Wage Campaign. But before you skip to sudoku, I say in my own defense that this column says nothing about the figure $10.72, economics or conceptions of social justice.It deals instead with a simple claim made by the University administration: that they lack the legal authority to institute a living wage for all University employees by nature of their status as a public university beholden to the will of the state.
CAREFUL terminology and broad generalizations are the Inter-Fraternity Council's best defenses. Perhaps critics of the IFC tend to generalize, but if an IFC supporter would like to make that claim he will find himself using a double-edged sword.
ANYONE familiar with the anarchist punk band Anti-Flag would be confused to see the group standing next to a member of Congress, promoting a common goal.
WITH EASTER observance last weekend, I was rather surprised by the number of acquaintances and friends who stayed on Grounds.
TOO MANY people are quick to dismiss the Living Wage Campaign with the simplistic, ECON 201 argument: An increase in the wage will lead to a decrease in quantity of labor demanded.
IN THE comic sequel to the Danish cartoon saga, the University is currently registering its own version of excessive uproar over an equally simple expression of free speech.
