News

U.Va. dean to serve on investigative panel

Members of the University community have been recruited by Gov. Tim Kaine to serve on an investigative panel aimed at examining the response to conditions surrounding the Virginia Tech shootings. Last Friday, the governor appointed Medical School Assistant Dean Marcus Martin and Diane Strickland, Law School alumna and former dean of Student Legal Services, to the panel.Martin and Strickland are joining what will be an eight-member commission led by former Virginia State Police Superintendent Gerald Massengill. The panel will examine the particular circumstances before, during and after the events on the Tech campus last Monday, said Kevin Hall, press secretary for Gov.

U.Va. dean to serve on investigative panel

Members of the University community have been recruited by Gov. Tim Kaine to serve on an investigative panel aimed at examining the response to conditions surrounding the Virginia Tech shootings. Last Friday, the governor appointed Medical School Assistant Dean Marcus Martin and Diane Strickland, Law School alumna and former dean of Student Legal Services, to the panel.Martin and Strickland are joining what will be an eight-member commission led by former Virginia State Police Superintendent Gerald Massengill. The panel will examine the particular circumstances before, during and after the events on the Tech campus last Monday, said Kevin Hall, press secretary for Gov.

Dean finalists bring varied qualifications

After months of interviews, a committee has narrowed the field down to four finalists in the search to fill the position being vacated by College Dean Edward Ayers. The four remaining candidates for the position are University Environmental Science Prof.

Failure of student jurors to report postpones trial

The failure of randomly selected student jurors to report for duty caused the Honor Committee to postpone a trial this past Sunday. This is the first time in the past six years a lack of jurors has prevented an Honor trial from taking place, Honor Committee Executive Secretary Mary White said. The honor constitution requires at least two students on the jury to be from the school of the student being tried.

Reactions to Cho's ethnicity spark concern

In contrast to the outpouring of support for the Virginia Tech community in the wake of last week's attacks, some are concerned for a potential backlash against the Asian-American community because of gunman Seung-Hui Cho's South Korean roots. In an e-mail to Asian and Asian Pacific American students Thursday, Assistant Dean of Students Sarah Wilcox expressed personal shock at the killer's origin. "I am stunned by this senseless act of violence by an individual who hails from my country of birth," she stated. Wilcox outlined various sources of support in the University community and offered suggestions about how to deal with the media.

STUDENTS ENJOY EARTH DAY OUTDOORS

Corner restaurant revises dress code

Jaberwoke is beginning to overhaul its image, in part by implementing a revised dress code, co-owner Anderson McClure said. "A dress code will be reinstated in the next couple of weeks," McClure said. Last month the co-owner of the Corner restaurant and bar came under fire when he instituted a dress code that was perceived by some as discriminating against black patrons. In an interview yesterday, McClure said the dress code was not racially motivated. "My intentions were never to offend anyone, but I had to base this dress code on six years of experience in the Charlottesville restaurant community," he said. In response to the public outcry against the dress code McClure held a well-attended open forum for concerned members of the public.

Prof. questions gun restrictions for mentally ill

The Virginia Tech gunman should have been prevented from purchasing a firearm after he was found to be a danger to himself by a Virginia court in late 2005, according to a University professor. Prof.

Digital politics databases aim to inform public

In an age characterized by low voter turnouts and the popularity of the Internet, efforts are underway to improve the public's understanding of politics through various Web-based digital projects. A series of panel discussions this month are highlighting progress in developing Virginia-based digital databases geared toward making political information more accessible to the public. This month's panel discussions, sponsored by the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership, are focusing on three recently developed and updated Web-based digital projects: the Virginia Public Access Project, the Richmond Sunlight blog and the Virginia Elections and State Elected Officials Database Project. University Politics Prof.

Decision regarding single sanction ad hoc committee elicits response

Some students have expressed dismay about the Honor Committee's decision not to form the single sanction ad hoc committee.

Honor to consider new U.Va. 101 class for incoming students

Students may have even more opportunities to discuss honor with the formation of a new Honor ad hoc committee investigating the potential for an introductory U.Va.

Expressing support

Students rally against religious protestors at Tech funerals

Students across the nation are taking to Facebook in response to planned anti-gay protests at the funerals of Virginia Tech shooting victims. Shirley Phelps-Roper, attorney for the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., confirmed that the organization is planning to protest at the funerals of Tech students killed in Monday's shootings. Virginia Tech junior Victor Kasoff expressed his anger at WBC leader Fred Phelps' decision to protest. Virginia Tech "should do anything in their power to stop this guy from coming," Kasoff said. At press time, one open Facebook group, "Stop Fred Phelps & WBC from protesting at fallen VT students funerals!!," created to stop the WBC funeral protests had 32,923 members and had at one point gained more than 1,000 new members in an hour. Phelps-Roper placed the blame for the Tech killings on tolerance for homosexuality, saying the attack was a result of "those young people sitting in their classrooms being taught rebellion against God [and] being taught that God is a liar ... He says 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind,' and you're teaching it.

StudCo allocations elicit mixed reactions

Student leaders expressed mixed reactions after Student Council presented its budget allocations last night for the 2007-08 school year.

Search for College dean down to four

The search to replace College Dean Edward Ayers has come to a head this week as the four finalists are visiting the University for on-Grounds interviews. Since January a search committee chaired by Religious Studies Prof.

Shooter sends chilling media package to NBC

"I did it, I had to." The man identified as the Virginia Tech shooter, Cho Seung Hui, uttered these words in a video released yesterday by NBC News.

Course proposals to be more flexible

Students bored by the same classes offered year after year now have an opportunity to shape their academic fate and more easily create new classes. Student Council's Academic Affairs committee, working in conjunction with Associate College Dean Gordon Stewart, created the Student Initiated Course Proposals program earlier this month to make proposing a class easier, according to Academic Affairs Co-Chair Kathryn Serra.

Study aims to improve teacher efficacy in classroom

eachers who seem highly qualified on paper are not always the most effective in the classroom, according to a study published last week. The study -- completed by University Education Prof.

Putting it into words

Refugee depicts crisis

The genocide situation in Darfur is escalating, and American students are the only ones stepping up to stop the violence, according to Mohamed Yahya, a Darfur refugee who found political asylum in the United States in 2002. Yahya, who also founded the Charlottesville-based Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy, said he "believe[s] if our leaders in the superpowers were doing half of what you [students] do, we could have stopped the genocide years ago.