Life

Life

Rushing around Grounds

By Cavalier Daily Staff | February 5, 2007

Girls do it all week long Every spring, more than 1600 Inter-Sorority Council members and sorority hopefuls gather in Charlottesville three days before classes begin to engage in the rush process that allows sororities to select their new members.Former ISC president Massie Payne said, over 750 women participated in recruitment this year, and between 500 and 540 women accepted bids. According to first-year College student Nancy Graves, the process starts with "round robins" in which each participant visits the 15 ISC sororities for a short period of time. Graves said this was the worst part of the process for her because the day lasted so long. During the second phase of rush, known as "themes," sorority houses decide which potential new members to invite back,while participants narrow down their lists and return to only ten houses. "Themes was my favorite day in the process," Graves said.

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Life

Decreeing diversity

By Lindsey Wagner | February 2, 2007

T o some, affirmative action in college admissions is a useful tool to create a student body of diverse faces, beliefs and experiences. To others, affirmative action is a policy of reverse discrimination that infringes upon students' rights. "I think there is a sense of frustration with the idea of affirmative action because [some applicants] are doing all that [they] can, and even if you do more, you may not get in" because of racial preferences, second-year College student Grayson Lambert said. Asian Student Union President Patrick Lee said he does not believe students' rights are violated by a policy of affirmative action. "Just because you had these test scores doesn't mean you're going to be the best," Lee said.

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Life

Waistlines and wigs

By Maggie Jones | February 2, 2007

Where do you wear your pants? This is not a trivial question. If I asked this question 20 years ago, you might answer, "Above my belly button," and then turn up the Dire Straits tape playing in your Walkman.

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Life

Overheard at U.Va.

By Ed Cao | February 2, 2007

If you're on Facebook at all, you've probably heard of the group called "Overheard at U.Va." Students all over Grounds get online and post funny quotes they have heard from passers-by, usually taken out of context.

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Life

Affirming the affirmative

By Lindsey Wagner | February 1, 2007

Recall the unified effort to wear black ribbons, the Grounds-wide "Reject Hatred" campaign and the fact that the University boasts the highest black student graduation rate of any public college or university in the country.

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Life

Great expectations! A long, smooth journey ...

By Erik Silk | February 1, 2007

That's seriously what a fortune cookie I once got at Runk read. Well howdy, time-travelers! My name's Erik Silk, and I'm not going to be anywhere near any of you for the next three and a half months.

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Life

On the forefront of history.

By Bailee Barfield | February 1, 2007

While most professors typically provide students with a semester of insightful instruction and a few office hours a week, Civil War Professor Gary Gallagher takes the concept of student-professor interaction to the next level by leading an interactive battlefield visit. "I've always done the field trip," Gallagher said.

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Life

Close encounters of the radiator kind

By Connor Sullivan | February 1, 2007

It was late at night last week, and I was sitting in my friend's Lawn room, talking aimlessly about the world and enjoying the beauty of a warm room in the middle of a cold Charlottesville night.

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Life

Lean and green

By Lauren Caldwell | January 31, 2007

A couple of generations ago, environmentalism was associated with Birkenstocks, free love and granola.

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Life

From the Capitol to the Rotunda

By Bailee Barfield | January 31, 2007

Many students eagerly enrolled in the History of World War II this semester after learning that Philip Zelikow, director of the 9/11 Commission, was going to teach the course. "First, when I signed up for classes, there was no professor name down," second-year College student Cameron Jones said.

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Life

If you are annoying don't read this column

By Mary Baroch | January 31, 2007

At the dawn of this new semester, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss (and vent) openly about certain aspects of class etiquette that go unmentioned in a general sense.

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Life

Crisis on ISIS?

By Dan Dooley | January 31, 2007

Priority registration at the University will be altered so scholars and athletes will be able to register before their classmates only, rather than before the whole undergraduate population.

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Life

Dumber than ever

By Eric Ast | January 30, 2007

Occurrences of gross stupidity are among those unique events that can either be maddeningly frustrating or absolutely hilarious, depending on your role in the event.

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Life

Spectrum Theater presents

By Samantha Lowery | January 30, 2007

"It's never just fluff," said fourth-year student Megan Ross, the director of this year's production of "The Vagina Monologues," with regard to the content of Spectrum Theater shows. Ross said the group has produced such shows as "The Bad Seed" and "The Importance of Being Earnest" on stage in the past and strives to create socially challenging and provocative drama for its audiences, as opposed to "just fluff," or something simple and straightforward such as sheer comedy. "We want it to be interesting and to make people think," Ross said. The cast of ten actors for "The Vagina Monologues" was chosen at auditions held last weekend. Ross said she helped with "Monologues" during the first semester of her second year and got a part in the group's production of "Arcadia" that spring.

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Life

Off-Grounds and Overwhelmed?

By Kelly Underwood | January 30, 2007

Off-Grounds housing may be some students' first step into the real world, and without the right information, it can be a slippery slope into late fees, landlord fights and roommate blues. The University provides assistance to make this transition into independent living a smooth and easy one for all students.

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Life

An open application for a Lawn room

By Jim Russell | January 30, 2007

I've applied for a Lawn room every year at this University, and every year my efforts to procure myself a spot of immortal glory have been rebuffed by a Lawn committee grown fat with self-importance.

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Life

RISE-ing

By Samantha Lowery | January 29, 2007

It's quite a riddle for the average overcommitted University student: an activity that everyone at the University participates in on a daily basis, yet also an activity that doesn't make it onto students' lists of extracurriculars or their resumes.

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Life

Three Degrees of Winnie

By Winnie Chao | January 29, 2007

I am more popular than Kevin Bacon. For Kevin Bacon, it's six degrees of separation, six steps from every person in Hollywood.

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Life

Red Hoo-t Chili Peppers

By Brendan Collins | January 29, 2007

By all accounts I should be fired for coming up with a title that stupid. But this isn't the Post, this is the Cav Daily.

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Life

Office space

By Nicole Ponticorvo | January 26, 2007

With an undergraduate University community totaling about 13,000, it seems quite easy for a student to become lost in the crowd. One possibility to defend oneself from anonymity is to attend the "office hour" -- a term that has been ingrained in all University students upon their entrance into college life. While most professors and TAs encourage their students to take advantage of office hours on some level -- for questions, concerns or just personal interaction beyond the classroom -- many students never show. Whether students feel as though they are imposing with unimportant concerns or too nervous or intimidated to approach their distinguished professors, it's necessary to ponder just what a student is missing in doing so. "I've had a really positive experience with office hours," said first-year College student Courtney Mallow, who went to all her professors' office hours at least once last semester.