BETA BRIDGE is an icon of the University. Repainted at least once a day, sometimes more, it has become a window into the busy social lives and group events of the student body.
WELCOME back to school everyone, and to the first years and transfer students out there, welcome to the University (yes, our university is humbly referred to as the University). As people stream back into Charlottesville for fall semester and engage in the maddening customs of getting ready for school, one must be reminded that there should be a protocol to how the first days before classes are handled.
AS THE University community is all too aware, recent state budget crises have drastically reduced funding to public colleges and universities nationwide. The University has generally embraced tuition hikes as a necessary evil to prevent a tragic decline in the quality of education and prestige.
AT OBERLIN High School in Ohio, a group of parents is protesting the school's decision to allow a course in "black history" to be taught by a white teacher.
WHILE the sounds of blaring horns and muffler-free motorcycles in the distance takes a bit of getting used to, there is a certain magic about living in a large, congested city.
RECENT sports page headlines have been resplendent with theories and postulations on how the new Atlantic Coast Conference line-up will affect collegiate sports in the mid-Atlantic.
AS A COLLEGE student and a music lover, the words I am about to write do not come easily. But kids, all the free music trading has got to go. Before you start moaning and groaning, hear me out.
IN HIGH school, as in one's previous educational experience (which probably encompasses your life since you can remember), there was a certain way of doing things.
ABOUT a year and a half ago, partly inspired, I believe, by my frenzied attempt to find direction for the rest of my life, I wrote a column advising students like me to be pro-active in the quest to declare a major.
AHH, THE fraternity party. It has become the ultimate symbol of the debauchery possible in a parent-free environment.
THESE MONTHS away from academic strains have made me particularly cognizant of the fact that the University offers endless outlets for student involvement through service and leadership.
"WE WILL be friends forever." "You are going to be a bridesmaid in my wedding." "We will never lose touch." My high school senior book is flooded with comments like this.
SO YOU'RE not from Virginia. Welcome to the Thirty-five Percent Club, because only about 35 percent of us come from somewhere outside of the Old Dominion, which is one of Virginia's nicknames.
ON THEIR way to class many incoming first-year students might be surprised by the multitude of nationalities represented by the University's changing population.
THE STUDENT experience: "So you're going to U.Va
"WE HAD an honor system at my high school, but then everyone kept cheating and it went away." These are the words I heard from a group of incoming first years as I was introducing the University's honor system to them earlier this summer.
FOR THREE years I have been writing for this paper, and for three years I have been giving the same advice in my annual mail-out column.
As an institution dedicated to the critical enhancement of the mind, a university should provide a unique arena for open dialog, freedom of thought and the unfettered debate of all controversial ideas.
THE AVERAGE student spends nearly one and half of their four years here at the University partaking in one single activity: sleep.
IHAVE a confession to make: I am an engineer. Yes, they really do let us write (occasionally). All joking aside, welcome to U.Va.
