Forty student leaders participated in the University's second annual Day of Dialogue on Race in the Newcomb Hall South Meeting Room yesterday. The event was intended to encourage student groups to recruit minority students, to address racial stereotypes and to give an equal voice to overlooked minority groups, Assistant Dean of Students Daisy Rodriguez said.
Larry Summers resigned from his post as president of Harvard University on Tuesday, preempting a vote of no confidence by Arts and Sciences faculty at the school. While Summers reportedly retained the support of most students and faculty in other Harvard schools, some members of University faculty said he alienated too many of his constituents to continue as president and that his often inflammatory leadership style was incompatible with the academic world. University Law professor and former University President Robert O'Neil said Summers's failure was caused by a combination of an overly-ambitious agenda and a rude personality. Ultimately, he alienated too many of Harvard's Arts and Sciences faculty members -- a uniquely powerful constituency at Harvard, O'Neil said. "Harvard is the only major university that does not have some faculty governance body," he said.
With issues ranging from the wages of University employees and contractors to adding the word "triviality" in the Honor constitution, six spring referenda have been finalized and will appear on the ballot when polls open this Friday.
On last year's Bid Night, 15 of 16 members of the Inter-Sorority Council reported the sexual assault of at least one of their members, according to Michael Goldsmith, president of the IFC and ISC's Joint Committee on Sexual Assault. Last spring, members of the Inter-Fraternity Council and the Inter-Sorority Council created the Joint Committee on Sexual Assault partially in response to that finding, Goldsmith said. The Committee's agenda is "still in the formation stages," Goldsmith said. This year, Goldsmith sent an e-mail to committee members, all of whom are sorority and fraternity presidents, to encourage discussion and prevention of sexual assault by fraternity members on Bid Night. Future plans of the Committee include the formation of a fraternity-sorority presidential mediation council to facilitate dialogue between fraternity and sorority presidents and members. "The atmosphere within the Greek system is going to change," Goldsmith said. Lee Sparks, president of Delta Delta Delta sorority, said her sorority took actions to prevent Bid Night assaults, such as the institution of a tougher Sober Sisters Program. The program was adjusted "just so we knew that there were a definite number of women who were sober and out walking around making sure that women were as safe as they could be," she said. Brian Kohn, president of Theta Delta Chi fraternity, described similar actions taken by his fraternity on bid night to prevent assaults. "We have brothers in the party staying sober and kind of watching out for guys taking advantage of girls or girls getting really drunk," he said.
There are approximately 80 facebook groups at the University with the word "addict" or "anonymous" in the title.
Delegates Rob Bell, R-Albemarle, and William Janis, R-Glen Allen, are currently sponsoring a bill in the General Assembly that would protect criminal witnesses from liability whenever their testimonies or criminal identifications are made "with the good faith belief in its veracity." Some Virginia lawyers, however, say the content of the bill is already in practice. "It makes more clear what is already common law," Virginia attorney Tom Carter said. The bill comes in response to a lawsuit by Chris Matthew, a black Charlottesville resident who was accused of rape by a former University Law student.
For the fourth year in a row, the University of Virginia is the number one producer of Peace Corps volunteers among medium-sized universities, according to a Peace Corps press release, that came out yesterday. Eighty alumni currently serve as volunteers and 838 University alumni have served as Peace Corps volunteers since the institution's inception. University spokesperson Carol Wood attributes the high number of students involved in Peace Corps to University students' dedication to volunteerism.
I took one look at the pink ribbon-belt of Curtis Sittenfeld's "Prep" in bookstores last spring and cringed with the memory of so many shrieks and plaid kilts of my own prep school education.
The debate over illegal immigrants' access to higher public education continues this month in the Virginia Assembly.
Phi Delta Theta fraternity became the first member of the Inter-Fraternity Council to successfully apply for a Board of Visitor's loan to buy property Thursday, pending expected full Board approval on Feb.
