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Alternative Perspectives

Stoves to breath by When Claudia Ramirez smiles, her big brown eyes mask the violent history they have seen. Born and raised during the protracted civil war that wracked Guatemala for 36 years, she witnessed the disappearance of friends, family, priests and professors. Armed conflict was a fact of everyday life where she grew up -- a region known for its rebel sympathies. She speaks of hiding under her bed as a child, terrified of what the masked men downstairs might do to her family. This smile greeted me and 13 other University students March 2 as we disembarked from a Boeing 737, stepping into a hot and dusty afternoon in Guatemala City.

The case for Alternative Spring Break

THIS MARCH, almost 500 individuals participated in Alternative Spring Break with a goal of entrenching their community service mindset, broadening their outlooks and encouraging themselves to take their experiences further into their lives beyond college. All these key goals have been neglected by critics of the program who point to its inadequacies of "being only one week" and serving as "resume fillers" and "sequels to the white man's burden." These criticisms are as incorrect as they are ignorant, and represent narrow perceptions that the program seeks to erase.

The real value of ASB

NEARLY 500 University students volunteered through Alternative Spring Break this year. ASB at the University, now in its fifteenth year, has provided opportunities for thousands of volunteers to spend school breaks in an "alternative" way. The original mission of the organization was based on providing students an option beyond drinking, sun-bathing, or couch-surfing during spring break. In the past three years, ASB has modified that mission to reflect the changing priorities of University students. Our mission is now two-fold: 1) we bring together students from different social circles in order to 2) educate about and serve the global community. Our volunteer corps includes fourth-year fraternity presidents, a first-year trapeze artist, and an exercise physiology grad student. Our service projects include literacy training in Uruguay, invasive species removal in Arizona, and computer education for underprivileged youth in Charlottesville.

Saving the world or patronizing it

ALTERNATIVE Spring Break is a manifestation of white man's guilt. Privileged University students make it their duty to pick up for a week to find themselves in adverse circumstances and come back to their palatial surroundings feeling like more moral beings. Through their experiences in foreign lands students purport to engage in meaningful cultural exchange and make significant improvements in local communities, but fall short of this goal because of a shortage of money and time and their focus on egocentric, feel-good team-building efforts.

Educating through service

WHETHER or not you find it in the dictionary, service as performed through Alternative Spring Break is more than helpful aid or activity. If you glance through last year's demographic breakdown, the distribution of the applicant pool with relation to race and socio-economic status is notably absent. I can tell you from the pictures that most participants are white. ASB isn't inexpensive to boot. So, I ask, who goes on these trips? You may have suspected: white and well-off students. These demographics alone trigger my worst fear -- that ASB embodies no more than the perpetuation of an American delusion: a self-aggrandizing vision of the concerned, elite left, that our best option for eradicating poverty is helping those poor people whenever we can, if only for a week on our spring break. There is such a thing as misdirected and selfish service, and it with concern over this possibility that I write.

Gallivanting around the globe

The remnants of another winter weekend are thaw-ing away, and the University is gearing up for mid-terms. Many students, however, have neither bad weather nor tests on their minds. Instead, they eagerly anticipate sunny beaches, snowy mountains, service projects or the comforts of home to be found next week during Spring Break.

A Healthy Break

With midterms and papers consuming the lives of University students at the moment, the idea of next week's Spring Break seems like an oasis on the horizon. But before hitting the beach, Europe, home or an Alternative Spring Break worksite, students should be aware of certain health concerns related to the holiday and take the necessary precautions.

Arts and Sciences Council President

Julian Campbell CLAS III Major: Anthropology Hometown: San Francisco, Ca.

Engineering Council President

Alison Aguero SEAS III Major: Systems Engineering Hometown: Oak Hill, Va.

Stud Co. President

Dan Dooley CLAS III Major: Classics Hometown: Fairfax, Va.

Rushing around Grounds

Girls do it all week long

'Tis the season for humanitarianism

IMAGINE losing your home and possessions, having to flee your home and then, if you were able to return at all, having to live in a trailer in your front yard. Then imagine living there for the next 14 months in a neighborhood nearly devoid of life. For many people on the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Katrina made this nightmare a reality last year, and it remains a reality as efforts to clean up and rebuild have proceeded at a painfully slow pace.

Saving honor, again

THIS YEAR, the Honor Committee finds itself in a tough spot. Again it must consider the effects of increasing distance between faculty and the Committee; between students and Committee; and between the community as a whole and the idea of honor once again.

Everybody wants to be... an RA

Every year, new students join the University community and a new group of students are selected to serve on Resident Staff as Resident Advisors.

Mowing the Lawnies

The Lawn, in addition to being Charlottesville's most famous nudist gathering point, also happens to be the University's most prestigious on-Grounds housing. Only the best and brightest get to live there, and the Lawn always ends up looking like the University's version of the Hamptons. If Hereford were Pittsburgh, then the Lawn would be Laguna Beach. Every year, the Lawn is populated with a rich, diverse and broad group from all walks of white people's lives -- just kidding. Well, half-kidding.

With energy and buoyancy, Loose Fur is devilishly accesible

Loose Fur's debut quietly nestled itself into the dusty annals of my record collection promptly after its release in the spring of 2003. As the lovechild of Wilco architect Jeff Tweedy, avant-garde drumming wunderkind Glen Kotche, and ubiquitous musician/producer/laptop composer Jim O'Rourke, the self-titled LP arrived with a thoroughbred's pedigree.

Not everyone left the University for Spring Break last week, and some students who chose to stay encountered difficulties adjusting to the closures of Newcomb Hall, Runk and O-Hill.

The Spring Break Effect

Here at my research facility, also known as "Club Clemons" to lay people, I've been doing some background research on the effects of Spring Break on the student psyche.

Alive and kickin'

Since the University Pep Band left the varsity sports scene two years ago, their presence continues to show around Grounds, and they are still an active part of the University community.

BOV to review administration perceptions

Today the Board of Visitors will continue the process of developing long-term priorities for the University, taking into account the opportunities afforded by greater autonomy under the Higher Education Restructuring Act and the upcoming $3 billion Capital Campaign, when the Special Committee on Planning meets for the third time.