"Choosing journalism as a profession in Iran is not like walking in a mine field. It is like stepping on a mine." These were the words of Roozbeh Mirebrahimi, Iranian reformist journalist and blogger, who spoke at the Miller Center of Public Affairs last night about the current state of censorship and the press in Iran. Before Mirebrahimi delivered his speech, Politics Prof.
In anticipation of the opening of polls today, the University Board of Elections held debates last night for various positions, including those on the College of Arts & Sciences Council, Student Council and the Engineering Student Council. "The debates are the only way interactive way for students to see the candidates," UBE Chair Steve Yang said.
At the first meeting of the semester, Student Council adopted a resolution to create an ad-hoc committee to explore students' perceptions of the inner-workings of Council.
Del. Frank Hargrove, R-Hanover, is facing criticism for his comments opposing the adoption of a resolution that would apologize to descendants of slaves on behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia. In an interview with the Charlottesville Daily Progress about the resolution Hargrove said black citizens should "get over" slavery. According to Hargrove's legislative aide Buddy Fowler, however, the delegate's words have been misunderstood. "He is not a racist," Fowler said.
Student Council will hold its last meeting of the calendar year next Tuesday in which Council members say they plan to carry over several projects and ideas implemented this fall into the spring semester. Council Executive Vice President Nicholas Jordan said he thought Council has improved from past years. "People are getting to know each other better," Jordan said, citing changes such as having committee chairs and representatives sit together at weekly meetings.
Student Council introduced two resolutions at its meeting last night which would create the annual Rules and Ethics Board as well as change the reimbursement policy for Council. According to Executive Vice President Nicholas Jordan, Council creates a Rules and Ethics Board each year. "Basically, it's a way to hold us accountable ... every year a Rules and Ethics Board is established," he said. The Rules and Ethics Board consists of students from the University who are not members of Council, Jordan said, explaining that nine total representatives will be on the board, with three schools having two representatives.
Five members of the Virginia General Assembly who graduated from the University participated in a legislator forum held in Wilson Hall last night. Sponsored by the Student Council Legislative Affairs Committee, the forum consisted of alumni serving in both the House of Delegates and the Senate.
With over 500 CIOs at the University, students around Grounds have many opportunities to get involved.
Student Council Diversity Initiatives chair Ryan McElveen presented a plan of action to de-Westernize University curriculum at the Student Council meeting last night. One way that Council plans to do this is to create an ad-hoc Diversity Initiatives subcommittee to determine where the curriculum of each major "is lacking," according to information distributed by McElveen in his "Curriculum De-Westernization Plan of Action." Each department chair will select a student to serve on the subcommittee, and each student will then work with fellow students in the major to propose a more global curriculum. "We're a Southern institution, and in order to compete with other institutions around the country, we need to offer a global curriculum," said McElveen. The Diversity Initiatives Committee also plans to put a referendum on this fall's election ballot. "It's a referendum to gauge student opinion on de-Westernization in general and to show the administration that this has student support," said McElveen. Other goals for the de-Westernization campaign include programs for African languages, a Queer Studies major and minor and more race-theory based courses. One problem McElveen highlighted was that minority organizations, such as the Vietnamese Student Association, must use Student Activity Fee funds to teach members their culture's language. "We have CIOs here teaching their members because the University can't," said McElveen, emphasizing the need for a wider variety of languages to be taught. Also, McElveen said race theory-based courses already offered at the University need to reach more students, especially conservative students. "Our problem is conservatives aren't taking that class because it's not coordinated with their viewpoints," he said. Additionally, a substantial change to College requirements was mentioned in connection with the de-Westernization program.
Student Council approved four pieces of legislation at their meeting last night, creating three ad-hoc committees and appointing a chair to the Building and Grounds Committee.
