Thursday, February 2, 2017

BLACK HISTORY MONTH VOL. 127, ISSUE 35

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

THE FIGHT CONTINUES see BSA, page 6

COURTESY CLAUDRENA HAROLD, BLACK FIRE AT U.VA.

WHAT’S INSIDE HISTORY OF BLACK GREEK LIFE PAGE 3

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH PERRIELLO PAGE 4

U.VA. BLACK HISTORY MOMENTS PAGE 7

MEN’S BASKETBALL BEATS IN-STATE RIVAL PAGE 8

LEAD EDITORIAL: REMEMBERING CIVIL RIGHTS PAGE 11

THE CAVALIER DAILY

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Bill for U.Va. immigration compliance tabled Opponents concerned HB 2001 would require public colleges to assist in detaining, deporting students ISABEL BANTA | SENIOR WRITER This week, House Bill 2001 was tabled in the Virginia State Senate.

Sponsored by Del. Charles Poindexter (R-Glade Hill), the HB 2001 would require the University to cooperate with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement on enforcing federal law.

Tabled by the Higher Education subcommittee of the Committee on Education, the bill would add to the section of Virginia state law dealing with universities’ protection of student information.

This comes at a time when some universities around the country are considering becoming sanctuary campuses, meaning they would protect undocumented students by limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement officials.

“The bill would require university employees, including professors, [Board of Visitors] members, administration, to collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in detaining/deportation people on campus,” third-year Curry student Paola Sanchez Valdez, president of DREAMers on Grounds, said in an email statement.

At a Student Council meeting Tuesday, University President Teresa Sullivan said the bill was ambiguous and although it was tabled, it still has a possibility of coming back.

“This doesn’t mean the bill is dead, but it is very unusual for a whole committee to take it off the table,” Sullivan said.

According to Penny Cabaniss, the University assistant vice president for operations and director of state relations, the subcommittee’s decision could be a look into what the full committee will decide to do with it.

“The full committee typically adheres to the subcommittee’s recommendation,” Cabaniss said in a statement. “If the full committee does not take up the bill by next Tuesday, which is the deadline for bills to crossover to the other chamber, the bill will officially no longer be viable.”

Sanchez Valdez said the bill would not allow immigrant students to feel secure when the University and its employees would be required to work with immigration laws and detaining students.

“DREAmers/DACAmented students on Grounds would be directly affected by this bill because they would no longer feel safe in a space that is meant for learning and growing intellectually,” Sanchez Valdez said.

However, the University has stated the privacy of students on Grounds is paramount.

“We’re really quite serious about

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

HB 2001 would require the University to cooperate with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement on enforcing federal law.

protecting the privacy of our students,” Sullivan said at a Student Council meeting Tuesday. “We protect the privacy of all our students, up to the point that someone shows up with a court order.”

According to Sanchez Valdez, the bill would go against the values of fair and accessible higher education.

“DREAMers would be stripped from their futures and hard work if

they were to be deported at the one place they thought they were safe,” Sanchez Valdez said. “Higher education institutions should not be places of terror, but instead, places of support and intellectual growth.”

The bill, if passed, would affect how immigrant students would interact with friends, professors and faculty on Grounds, Sanchez Valdez said.

“What most people fail to ac-

knowledge is this bill would affect the U.Va. community as a whole.

Allies of DREAMers would also be fearful of losing their friends, students, and colleagues due to deportation,” Sanchez Valdez said.

“Professors or administrators who would not want to comply with ICE would be put in a very difficult spot.”

Poindexter’s office did not return a request for comment Tuesday.

Carter Woodson Institute on track for department status State approval next step in process MEGHAN TONNER | SENIOR WRITER

OLIVIA JOHNSON | THE CAVALIER DAILY

There is a high demand for the African-American and African Studies major and minor.

Since the unanimous vote by College faculty in October, the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies has reached the final step in becoming a department.

The institute has passed through all University hurdles and now awaits for approval from the State Council on Higher Education.

According to Thomas Katsouleas, the executive vice president and provost of the University, there were several elements that signaled the institute was ready to become a department — including students’ growing demand for the African-American and African Studies major and minor and the developing strength and success of the institute.

“The third thing was that we had an external review that took

place last April and that external review by leading scholars in African studies from around the country evaluated the program and identified the opportunity to create a department that would be of the quality and caliber that U.Va. would be looking for in a department,” Katsouleas said.

Although it is unclear when the State Council on Higher Education will announce its decision, the institute has spent the last year hiring more faculty in order to meet the demands of a department immediately.

“We have recruited strong new faculty in the preparation for becoming a department to allow the department to have a running start,” Katsouleas said.

“There has been a lot of planning and discussion among faculty themselves as well.”

Many higher level decisions, such as selecting a chair for the new department, will fall under the jurisdiction of the College Dean Ian Baucom, who did not return request for comment Wednesday.

Third-year College student and Black Student Alliance President Bryanna Miller expressed what the departmentalization of the Institute means not only for the institute itself, but also for the status of African-American Studies on Grounds.

“The benefits of it becoming a department are two-fold. One is that it allows the department to have the ability to hire faculty independently,” Miller said.

“Secondly it also elevates the field of African American studies at the University of Virginia and that is a key development overall.”

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

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Black sororities, fraternities enjoy rich history on Grounds Greek-lettered organizations played large part in Black History Month, Civil Rights Movement, leaders say KATE BELLOWS | ASSOCIATE EDITOR The National Pan-Hellenic Council, an umbrella organization for the nine historically black Greek-lettered organizations, kicked off Black History Month with an event at Nau Hall Wednesday night.

The event, titled “Great Minds Think Alike,” began with the showing of an episode of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” which depicted Will Smith and Carlton Banks pledging a fictional black fraternity. Brett Harrell, a fourth-year College student, then opened up the floor for comment and began the presentation.

Harrell, a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, is the president of the NPHC, which represents seven Greek-lettered organizations — fraternities and sororities — on Grounds. Harrell was heavily involved in planning the event.

“We came up with the event at one of our last meetings,” Harrell said. “I put together a committee for the event, and we came up with the flier, the idea for it [and] what exactly each person is saying.”

Members gave presentations about well-known brothers and sisters of their fraternities and sororities, such as writer Zora Neale Hurston, of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. and activist Huey P. Newton, of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. Leaders of the fraternities said the organizations played a large part in the establishment of Black History Month.

Stafford Brown, a fourthyear College student, said Black History Month actually started with fraternities. Brown is the president of Omega Psi Phi, a black fraternity.

“Dr. Carter G. Woodson started Black History Month, and he was a member of Omega Psi Phi,” Brown said. “Without Omega Psi Phi, there [would be] no Black History month.”

Brown said fraternities have been very involved in civil rights movements and helped shape civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., who was a brother of NPHC member Alpha Phi Alpha.

“Huge names, and people who have made a huge impact on the world, are part of these organizations,” Brown said.

“These organizations have given them that structure and that ability to excel.”

Jacob Uskavitch, a fourthyear College student and president of Alpha Phi Alpha, added that many revered figures in

black history were fraternity and sorority members.

“Congressman John Lewis is a member of Phi Beta Sigma,” Uskavitch said. “Many of our people were at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement, as well as at the forefront of technological advancement, whether that be in medicine, law, education as well.”

The first black Greek-lettered organization on Grounds was the Lambda Zeta chapter of

Greek letter organizations at predominantly white institutions that provide a space for us together to come together as brothers and/or sisters, and uplift each other and uplift the community,” Uskavitch said.

Uskavitch said that students wanted to have the black Greek-lettered experience, vowing to have chartered chapters at the University.

“While the University was still increasing its black popula-

program to encourage the youth to attend higher education as a road to advancement,” Uskavitch said. “We do this at Clark Elementary School. We go there every single Friday and mentor as an entire chapter.”

Omega Psi Phi, Brown said, volunteers weekly at the Music Resource Center in Charlottesville, interacting with local high school students as they record music.

“It’s just a great interaction

fraternity or sorority or if you don’t quote unquote ‘fit into the black community,’ then you can’t be in a historically black sorority or fraternity, that’s simply just not the case,” Uskavitch said.

Fraternity leaders also said they are open to growth in black Greek life on Grounds. Brandt Welch, a third-year Engineer student and president of Kappa Alpha Phi, said there are currently two inactive NPHC chap-

BENJAMIN BURKE | THE CAVALIER DAILY

The NPHC hosted an event entitled “Great Minds Think Alike” to kick off Black History Month on Wednesday night. Members gave presentations on notable brothers and sisters of their fraternities and sororities.

Omega Psi Phi, founded Sept. 7, 1973. Brown said members include previous University Rector George Martin, as well as presidents and vice presidents of the Black Student Alliance.

Black fraternities initially began as a space for black students at predominantly white universities, like for Alpha Phi Alpha at Cornell University in 1906, Uskavitch said.

“That has been the case for many college chapters of black

tion, we still had issues of retention in regards to black students, academic performance, social activity, as well as community service in the greater Charlottesville community,” Uskavitch said. “That’s why it was greatly necessary for Alpha, as well as other historically black fraternities, to be founded here at the University.”

“Our biggest component is Go to High School Go to College, which is a mentoring-type

because it’s not the typical community service where you’re preaching at the kids and telling them, ‘You need to do this, you need to do that,’” Brown said.

“It’s interactive, and it’s mentorship at the same time.”

Uskavitch said the fraternities and sororities welcome people of all backgrounds and ethnicities.

“I think this whole concept of because you’re not black, you can’t be in a historically black

ters.

“I would like to see those become active again so that everybody has [an] option,” Welch said. “Although each organization has a fundamental purpose of uplifting the black community, there are difference[s] between them so that every black student or every student can find what they are looking for in their respective organization.”

Katie Nicholson contributed reporting to this article.

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Perriello talks college affordability in exclusive interview Democratic gubernatorial candidate wants to create more pathways to education, employment ANNA HIGGINS | NEWS EDITOR Tom Perriello, a gubernatorial candidate campaigning for the Democratic Party’s nomination, sat down with The Cavalier Daily Thursday to discuss his goals for college affordability, President Donald Trump’s executive order and campaigning.

Perriello previously served as the US Representative for Virginia’s fifth district from 2009 to 2011. He has also worked as the U.S. Special Representative for the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review from 2014 to 2015 and U.S.Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2015 to 2016.

Perriello said his priorities on higher education include creating more opportunities for students to access schooling options like community college as well as career and technical training, in addition to four-year universities. He said creating more pathways to education and employment would also help with the student debt crisis.

“One of the best ways to cut student debt dramatically is to have people follow some of these other path-

HANNAH MUSSI | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Perriello previously served in Congress.

ways in,” Perriello said. “So for me I benefitted from a great four-year university and we want to make that an affordable and accessible option for more Virginians, but also for those who may want to move more quickly into well-paying jobs, apprenticeships or technical programs, that’s

important as well.”

Perriello said his time in and after Congress are demonstrations of his dedication to college affordability.

Perriello said he co-authored a tax credit for four-year universities and community colleges while in Congress and continued working towards reducing student debt at a non-profit afterwards.

“I didn’t take the big lobbying job after Congress,” Perriello said. “I ran a nonprofit advocacy group and college affordability and reducing student debt was one of the main things that we worked on the at the Center for American Progress.”

In light of President Trump’s executive order — “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry to the United States” — Perriello said he has met with DREAMers to let them know people in power support them and want to keep communities safe for everybody.

If elected Governor, Perriello would have the power to appoint members to the University’s Board of Visitors. He said he would conduct the appointment process with

students, faculty and the community and consider the value potential members could bring to the University.

“Money has way too much influence in all of our politics, and Virginia has the unique challenge of unlimited financial contributions, which is unusual,” Perriello said. “That has certainly meant we’ve had a less than meritocratic process of points, and we would want to make sure the people who are nominated are the people who maximize value to the University of Virginia.”

According to a recent poll from Roanoke College, Perriello and opponent Lt. Governor Ralph Northam both have 12 percent of support from

likely democratic primary voters while 74 percent remain undecided.

Although Northam has the support of prominent Virginia Democrats, Perriello said he believes the success his campaign has seen so far is impressive considering he announced his candidacy three weeks ago.

“We know when we get in front of voters they come our way, so the issue is whether we can work hard enough

to get in front of enough people to hear our message,” Perriello said. “I think people are excited for someone who’s spent a lifetime fighting for basic fairness, that has passed up higher-paying gigs to keep working on making the commonwealth and our country a stronger place, and we’ve seen that hunger.”

Perriello, who had an event planned with the Minority Rights Coalition and the Black Student Alliance Wednesday, said he planned to use the event as a chance to listen to young voters.

“I think the younger generation is always at the cutting edge of the next generation of ideas and so it’s a good opportunity to [listen], and perhaps share some lessons from my last twenty years of trying to fight for these issues,” he said. The Republican and Democratic primaries will take place June 13. State senators Bryce Reeves (Spotsylvania) and Jill Vogel (Fauquier), and Del. Glenn Davis (Virginia Beach) are competing for the Republican nomination.

Lawsuit filed to prevent sale of Foxfield Plaintiffs want to ensure races will continue ANNA POLLARD | SENIOR WRITER A group of Albemarle residents and community members have filed a lawsuit against Foxfield Racing Association with the intention to prevent any potential sale of the racecourse and surrounding land.

The eight plaintiffs in the case — John Birdsall, Harry Burn, Reynolds Cowles, Landon and Kiwi Hilliard, John G. Macfarlane III, Dudley Macfarlane and Jack Sanford Jr. — are residents who either own land near the Foxfield property or have been involved in the equine services provided at Foxfield.

Attorneys at Troutman Sanders filed the suit Dec. 30 in Albemarle Circuit Court. Ashley Taylor, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, said the point of the lawsuit is to ensure the land continue to be used for the purpose for which it was given.

The land, which is held in trust by Foxfield Racing Association, is not currently up for sale, but the plaintiffs are concerned about what would happen if it was sold since the property was provided in a trust.

The status of the land has been in question since Foxfield Racing Association went into a transition after long-time association president Benjamin Dick died in August 2015. His brother, Thomas Dick, has since assumed the role as acting president.

Mariann S. de Tejeda, who owned the land until her death in 1983, bequeathed the property to Foxfield Racing in her will with the intention that it continue as a location of equestrian services and recreation.

“I have but one wish for the remainder of my lifetime and after my death, and that is to apply all my time, energies and financial resources to the perpetuation of the Foxfield Races in Albemarle County for the recreation, education and enjoyment of the people of Albemarle County and their friends and visitors and of Virginia who appreciate equestrian sports, competition and related activities,” de Tejeda wrote in her will.

The plaintiffs argue that they are beneficiaries of the trust as

concerned citizens and involved community members, and claim the land must continue to be used in the manner in which it was provided via the trust. They are against the sale of the property because it could change the use of the land, Taylor said.

“Because it is a property held in trust, the key question is whether or not the plaintiffs in this case are the intended beneficiaries under the trust,” Taylor

said. “They [believe they are] by virtue of the fact that they’ve been involved with the property for many years, supporting it in many ways, supporting the association and that they’ve been lovers of the equestrian sports for many years.”

Even though the property isn’t currently for sale, plaintiffs see the purpose of the lawsuit as a way to bring attention to an unresolved issue.

“We haven’t made a specific allegation that there is a buyer in the wings, but this is a property that is a prominent property,” Taylor said. “Rather than engaging in any speculation, we thought it best to bring the issue before the court.”

The 2017 spring races are scheduled for April 29.

Foxfield attorney James Summers did not return a request for comment.

COURTESY FOXFIELD RACES

Albemarle residents are fighting to keep the Foxfield Racing Association’s land from being sold.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

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President Sullivan discusses Trump immigration order Sullivan says HB 1410 ‘ruins AccessUVA’ THOMAS ROADES | SENIOR WRITER University President Teresa Sullivan attended Student Council’s weekly meeting Tuesday to discuss President Donald Trump’s recent executive order on immigration as it pertains to the University community. She also updated the members on news from the state legislature, including a bill that would reduce the funding available for financial aid.

“I thought I’d organize this into talking about federal, state and local issues,” Sullivan said to open her remarks.

She began with the federal level, explaining the University’s response to Trump’s executive order blocking immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries. She emphasized the University’s concern for its students and faculty, saying the University’s immediate response was to ensure their safety.

“The first thing we did was reach out to the University community,” Sullivan said.

The University has advised students from the affected countries to avoid traveling abroad until more details about the executive order are sorted out.

“We just can’t guarantee they’d be able to get back,” she explained.

However, Sullivan reiterated the University’s stance on sharing students’ private information, including immigration or citizenship status.

She said no student’s information will be shared unless the University is legally required to release it.

“We’re really quite serious about protecting the privacy of our students,” Sullivan said. “We protect the privacy of all our students, up to the point that someone shows up with a

court order.”

Austin Gogal, a third-year College student and Student Council representative, asked Sullivan if any students or faculty are currently abroad and affected by the order.

“We believe that we’ve got everybody back,” Sullivan replied, though she added the University is still working to confirm this.

Brett Curtis, a third-year Curry student and chair of the representative body, asked Sullivan if she or the University would be taking a public stance on Trump’s executive order.

Sullivan explained it was unlikely the University would be taking a stance in favor of or against the order, for a variety of reasons. She said it would likely be ineffective, as many universities are written off as liberal institutions.

She also emphasized the importance of students — rather than large institutions — reaching out to lawmakers.

“When they hear from constituents, they pay attention,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan then moved on to discuss state level issues, specifically House Bill 1410, which would prevent Virginia’s public colleges from using in-state students’ tuition to fund financial aid. The bill would also prohibit schools from using more than five percent of out-of-state students’ tuition for the same purpose.

Sullivan said several community members had reached out to the University with concerns about the bill, since it would post a great challenge to the University’s AccessUVA financial aid program.

Sullivan reassured council mem-

bers that the University is following the bill — along with others that could affect the University — very closely.

She specifically said HB1410 is a cause for concern.

“This is one, I’ll tell you candidly, that we are worried about,” Sullivan said, emphasizing the negative impact it would have on the University’s financial aid. “I’m worried about it for U.Va, but I’m also worried about it for a lot of other schools.”

Sullivan said the second clause of HB 1410, which would prohibit public universities from using more than five percent of the revenue from outof-state students’ tuition towards outof-state students’ financial aid, would effectively end AccessUVA. “[That clause] ruins AccessUVA, that just pulls the rug out from under it,” Sullivan said. “My hope is that in the long run we’re going to be able to endow AccessUVA … but we’re a long way from getting there. Right now we have to use tuition money to help meet some of the promises we’ve made under AccessUVA.” She said state senators who support the bill believe it’s unfair to charge different tuitions for people of different incomes, though Sullivan disagreed with that view.

“I believe this bill is shortsighted,” she said.

Sullivan went on to talk about more local issues as well, including the search committee that will be tasked with finding her replacement before her contract expires in 2018.

She reassured the council members the committee will take student opinion into account, and mentioned the committee that chose her after her

SARAH LINDAMOOD | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Sullivan said she hopes the University can someday endow AccessUVA.

predecessor’s stepped down also included some student members.

“I have certainly encouraged them to seek some student input,” she said.

Sullivan also announced to the council an upcoming enrollment increase of 100 students. The Board of Visitors approved the increase in January.

While acknowledging the unpopularity of this decision among students, Sullivan said only half of the increase would be in the form of traditional first-year students living in dorms.

The other half, she said, would

be transfer students, adults pursuing professional degrees and even some online students.

“Many of those students never come to Grounds, except for the day they walk the Lawn for Final Exercises,” Sullivan said.

In another attempt to prevent any overcrowding, Sullivan said many of the new students will be attending the Architecture and Engineering schools, which have more space to accommodate newcomers.

“It minimizes the effect on the College, where the crowding has been the greatest,” Sullivan explained.

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The importance of the Black Student Alliance at U.Va. Organization remains at heart of student engagement CAITY SEED | SENIOR NEWS WRITER

RICHARD DIZON | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Students attend BSA’s Black Ball, a recently revived tradition at the University.

Assoc. Prof. Claudrena Harold said the University’s Black Student Alliance is “without question” the most important organization on Grounds.

The University’s history with racial integration and equality has been a complex one — one that the Black Student Alliance has been at the forefront of since its inception in the 1968-69 academic year.

The First Black Students at U.Va. The first black student to attend the University was Gregory H. Swanson, who was admitted to the Law School in 1950 only after he filed a legal suit to gain entry.

The Board of Visitors originally rejected Swanson’s application on the basis that “the Constitution and the laws of the State of Virginia provide that white and colored shall not be taught in the same schools,” according to their written response.

Despite eventually being granted entry into the Law School, the twenty-five year old did not graduate due to the racial hostility and isolation he experienced while on Grounds. The University’s first black graduate was Walter N. Ridley, who was accepted in 1951 and received his degree in 1953.

The BSA was created more than a decade later to represent the growing population of black students on Grounds. Originally known as the Black Students for Freedom, the BSF was a student initiative which has had a variety of goals related to both the University community and the broader Charlottesville community.

“There can be no understanding of the integration of African-Americans into this University without looking at the Black Students for Freedom and the BSA,” Harold said.

“They are central to the story of racial transformation at U.Va.” BSA’s beginnings College graduate John Charles Thomas was one of the first presidents of the BSA during his undergraduate years from 1968 to 1972, and was actively involved in instituting some of the original programs of

the BSA. “We looked at ourselves as a voice that needed to be asserted at U.Va.,” Thomas said. “So we were always at the forefront at arguing for black courses, black professors and more black students. We were pushing for integrating U.Va.” Though Thomas said he remembers having a positive relationship with many faculty members and the administration — who he recalls as being receptive to many of the broad goals of the BSA — the University was not always as progressive as it hoped to be.

A University-wide referendum in the early 1970s indicated most students would endorse, or go on strike for, increasing the percentage of black students to 20 percent, but in 1969 the University was only 1.3 percent black.

“I can remember basically demanding that U.Va. change,” Thomas said.

The BSA worked actively to recruit more black students and professors, institute an African-American studies program and also address particular issues around Grounds.

When the Cavaliers scored a touchdown during football games, students would first sing the Southern song “Dixie” before the “The Good Ol’ Song” and a man mounted on a horse would carry a Confederate flag around the stadium.

Thomas said he and BSA members were vocal in adamantly protesting the use of the Confederate flag, which they argued has an irrevocable tie to slavery and racial segregation.

By the time Thomas graduated in 1972, he said this particular tradition was obsolete.

The BSA was also active in traveling to local and Virginia high schools to encourage young black high school students to apply to and attend the University.

Thomas said he was formally hired by the administration to visit schools — where he would meet with guidance counselors and speak at assemblies in an effort to recruit future

black students.

“U.Va. was very well educated and very international. We had scholars from all over the world,” Thomas said. “These people in Charlottesville — they were interested in changing the world and I was just one of the young kids who they happened to come upon in that moment who might play a role in that.”

Great Leaders Become Great Figures After graduating from the College in 1972, Thomas attended the University’s Law School. Upon earning his J.D., Thomas practiced law with a private firm for several years before being appointed to the Virginia Supreme Court.

Thomas was the first African-American justice to sit on Virginia’s highest court and also the youngest. His portrait currently hangs in the atrium of the Law School.

But Thomas is only one of the BSA’s distinguished and esteemed alumni — a fact which Harold has emphasized as one of the greatest legacies of the BSA. “Like any organization the Black Student Alliance has experienced its share of changes [and] transformations,” Harold said. “It has at times been reflective of the times and it is at times transcended the times. It has pushed the University, but it has also been a critical training ground for African-American leaders who have gone on to do some amazing things.”

Like Thomas, Leroy R. Hassell, a 1977 College graduate and BSA member, became a justice on the Virginia Supreme Court. Hassell was the court’s first black Chief Justice, serving two terms from 2003 to 2011.

Deborah Saunders-White, who was the president of the BSA in the 1970s, became the first female Chancellor at North Carolina Central University, a historically black college, in 2013.

“The thing about the history of BSA is I am always finding these figures of import,” Harold said.

Current BSA President Bryanna

Miller, a fourth-year College student, said she feels some of the most exciting events are ones that engage underclassmen to build leadership skills.

For example, the BSA recently hosted its second Black Leadership Academy — a four-day-long retreat targeted at underclassmen to participate in student run workshops.

Future programs are then designed by those attendees of the academy, like the Black Man Brunch or charity functions for the homeless.

“Those are the most exciting because it’s coming from the next generation of students that are going to lead at the University,” Miller said.

The BSA Today According to 2016 figures, the University’s undergraduate student body is 6.4 percent black, which equals a little more than 1,000 students. Every black student at the University is a member of the BSA, although regular attendance to meetings and events varies, Miller said.

The BSA has several subcommittees focused on topics like academic and career development, leadership development and political action. The organization has dozens of events on Grounds each academic year — ranging from small study groups to leadership programs to the Black Ball, which boasts more than 400 attendees.

One particular annual event, Black Culture Week, has been put on annually by the BSA since 1970.

It celebrated its 45th anniversary in 2015.

The BSA has also participated in several major protests in recent months — another legacy of the organization which remains strong both here on Grounds and in the greater Charlottesville community.

From Thomas’s protest of the use of the Confederate flag during his time at the University to current initiatives, the BSA has always had an active voice in shaping the social climate on Grounds.

In the 1970s, the BSA was a key student organization protesting for

divestment of the University from its stockholdings in South Africa during apartheid and advocating in support of affirmative action. The BSA has also episodically been involved in protesting for a higher living wage for workers at the University for decades as well as against instances of police brutality against blacks.

In response to the violent arrest of then-third-year College student Martese Johnson in March 2015, Black Dot — with the support of the BSA — rallied hundreds of students, faculty and community members in protest of the discord between law enforcement and black people in both locally and nationally.

In September 2016, the BSA staged a die-in outside of Old Cabell Hall to protest police brutality and show support for the national Black Lives Matter movement.

The BSA also frequently co-sponsors events with other organizations and engages with other student voices to combat specific social or political concerns.

Overall, Miller said she thinks black students need to be engaged and actively supported here by not only other students, but faculty and administration as well.

“Black students need to be reassured that they matter and that their issues matter,” Miller said. “Their issues are being valued, their accomplishments are being valued.”

The BSA for decades now has been a central part of connecting and engaging students. The BSA is the anchor of black U.Va. and the wider University community, Harold said.

“That an organization can celebrate 48 years of history and can say that there has never been a year or there has been an extended period where they have not been in existence — is remarkable,” Harold added.

COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA MITCHELL VAUGHN | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Students particpate in a die-in during September 2016 to protest recent police brutality.

Former Justice John Charles Thomas was one of BSA’s first presidents.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

10 major moments in black history at U.Va.

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A look at African-American student life, 1950-1976 GRACIE KRETH AND JULIE BOND | LIFE EDITORS

1. First black student Gregory H. Swanson, a Martinsville attorney, was the first African-American individual to ever be admitted to U.Va. He matriculated into the Law School Sept. 15, 1950, only after the Board of Visitors heard a federal court order requiring his admission. There was no doubt about his qualifications, as he had been approved by the Law School’s faculty.

Instead, the BOV cited state laws required segregation in educational institutions in their refusal to admit Swanson.

Swanson later dropped out of U.Va. due to an overwhelming amount of racial harassment.

2. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks at Old Cabell Hall In the spring of 1963, MLK came to speak on Grounds, an event that saw approximately 900 people in attendance. The Cavalier Daily reported King’s speech outlined his goals to double African-American voter registration in the South. “Segregation is a cancer … which must be removed,” he told the audience.

3. Student Council bans organizations from discriminatory businesses In its May 3, 1967 issue, The Cavalier Daily wrote that all businesses “pursuing a policy of discrimination” would be “off limits” for University organizations, following Student Council’s passage of “a ban on local businesses refusing to serve anyone for racial reasons.”

5. Student coalition composes list of proposals and demands for the student body In February of 1969, students from all areas of the University put together an 11-point program detailing actions they wished the school to take. A day later, the group held a march of over 1,000 individuals around the colonnades of the Lawn, followed by a presentation of this program on the steps of the Rotunda. The 11 points included three demands — waiving the $10 application fee and required photograph, appointment of a full-time African American Assistant Dean of Admissions within the next two months and a public statement from the Director of Athletics about his intent to recruit Black athletes and hire Black coaches — and eight strong recommendations.

The group asked the Student Council to support these proposals.

6. Students propose Afro-American Studies Program In March of 1969, the Black Students for Freedom delivered their proposal for an Afro-American Studies Program to University President Edgar F. Shannon and the departments heads that would be involved in creating such a program. The proposal stressed the importance of highlighting African American cultural contributions to American civilization, and history, sociology, economics, politics and the arts would all be primary areas of emphasis.

7. Student Council investigates non-academic employment practices at the University In the spring of 1969, issues with the hiring practices and payment of black individuals in non-academic fields were brought to the Student Council by student, Buildings and Grounds department employee and janitorial supervisor Robert Banks. Banks pointed to a lack of hiring opportunities for black individuals when the same positions were open for white applicants, discrimination in assigning shifts and a five cent pay difference per hour.

Six Student Council members formed a committee to further investigate these claims.

8. First black Student Council president elected In 1969, graduate student James Roebuck was elected Student Council President for the 196970 academic year. Roebuck had previously served on Student Council and was an advocate for racial equality. Additionally, Roebuck had served Student Council President Virginia Union University during his time there as an undergraduate.

9. First Black Cultural Week In 1971, the University held its first Black Culture Week, from Feb. 14-20. Each day’s event was focused on a different portion of “the black experience.” The week began with a speech from civil rights leader Julian Bond, who eventually become a professor at the University in 1992.

The Black Students for Freedom hosted the event in an attempt to unify African American students within the University and within the state.

10. University establishes Office of African American Affairs In the spring of 1976, Dr. William M. Harris, Sr. became the first Dean of the Office of African American Affairs, which was temporarily placed at 4 Dawson’s Row. A little less than a year later, the office was moved to the Luther P. Jackson House, named in honor of a Virginian social rights activists.

The office was conceptualized as the Office of Minority Affairs.

4. First black faculty member With the assistance of a grant from the Curry Desegregation Center, the University hired Nathan Johnson, its first African American faculty member in 1967. The Curry Desegregation Center was one of 27 government authorized national educational centers established to address the desegregation of public schools.

DISHA JAIN | THE CAVALIER DAILY

THE CAVALIER DAILY

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No. 9 Virginia gobbles up Virginia Tech, 71-48 Men’s basketball moves up in conference standings with a victory over in-state rival MARIEL MESSIER | SPORTS EDITOR No. 9 Virginia dismantled its in-state rival Virginia Tech, 7148, in a Wednesday night showdown. The Cavaliers (17-4, 7-2 ACC) showed off their defensive prowess against the Hokies (16-6, 5-5 ACC) and added a solid victory to their tough ACC schedule.

“The ACC is so competitive,” coach Tony Bennett said. “You have to be ready. You have to be ready at home. I talked about collectively being as competitive and playing to win at the best of our ability, because if you don’t, you’ll be in trouble. Every game we play from here on out is highly-charged.”

The Cavaliers certainly came out highly-charged and ready to play. Virginia started off hot with a 10-0 run to open play against Virginia Tech and

get the packed crowd roaring at John Paul Jones Arena. The Cavaliers held the Hokies to 21 points and just 27.8 percent field goal shooting in the first half. Virginia forced the Hokies to commit seven turnovers, and went into the intermission leading 35-21.

“I think just being intentional about getting back is something we’ve worked on and something coach preaches,” junior guard Devon Hall said. “So being intentional about sending three guys back and two to the glass was really big for us.”

Virginia and Virginia Tech exchanged a series of back-toback three-pointers to open up the second half before their respective defenses seemed to find their rhythm. The Cavaliers stayed on top with the combined offensive spark of Hall and jun-

ior forward Isaiah Wilkins.

At the under 16 timeout, Hall had recorded 14 points, while Wilkins had tallied 13 points and failed to miss a shot — going 12 for 12 in his last two games combined. Wilkins’ 12-consecutive made baskets tied a Virginia school record set in the 1977-78 season by guard Bobby Stokes.

Both Wilkins and Hall reached their career-high point totals by the final blow of the whistle. Wilkins finished with 15 points and Hall recorded 17 points to lead the Cavaliers.

Both juniors also grabbed nine rebounds apiece, and each player was just one rebound away from earning a double-double.

When asked in the post-game press conference if his aunt had texted him to inform him that he was just one rebound away from such a feat, Hall reacted in

CALLIE COLLINS | THE CAVALIER DAILY

surprise.

“Was I again?” Hall said.

“No, I haven’t even looked at my phone yet ... I’m sure she might’ve.”

Senior point guard London Perrantes followed closely behind his teammates with 14 points, and junior guard Marial Shayok chipped into the scoring effort with nine points of his own.

“I felt like I just needed to be aggressive and I just wanted to get to the paint,” Perrantes said.

“So these last couple of days.

I’ve been working on the midrange jump shot a little bit more.

I wanted to be in attack mode, and I got some open looks.”

Virginia used those open looks to go on a 9-0 run to stretch their lead in the second half. The Cavaliers led by as many as 26 points in the second half when they reached a 67-43 lead with just under two minutes left in the game. Virginia dominated the Hokies on both sides of the ball, and they took away any Hokie hope at second chances by out-rebounding Virginia Tech, 37-22. The Cavaliers ultimately let time expire to finish with a 71-48 victory.

Virginia got the chance to showcase Bennett’s packline

defense as it held Virginia Tech to 48 points, which was good for its lowest-scoring game of the 2016-17 season. The Hokies’ next lowest-scoring contest came in a 62-61 win over Georgia Tech. Overall, the Cavaliers managed to keep Virginia Tech to just 35.7 percent field goal shooting. The Hokies only managed to cash in on three out of 20 three-point attempts, and committed 14 turnovers over the course of the game.

“I think that’s how [Virginia] plays,” Virginia Tech head coach Buzz Williams said. “Twenty two percent of the time we gave the ball to them without a shot, and that’s mathematically incredibly hard to overcome.”

Senior guard Seth Allen led the Hokies in scoring with 14 points, and the only other Virginia Tech player to reach double digits was senior forward Zach LeDay, who scored 12 points.

The Cavaliers now have just two days to prepare for their next matchup. Virginia will hit the road again and travel to Syracuse to take on the Orange (149, 6-4 ACC) Saturday at noon.

ALEXA PATEL | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Junior guard Devon Hall led the Cavaliers in scoring with 17 points, a career high. The Virginia Beach native also grabbed nine rebounds. Senior point guard London Perrantes added to the scoring with 14 points of his own.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

www.cavalierdaily.com • SPORTS

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No. 1 Virginia kicks off 2017 season The Cavaliers look to continue recent success with matches against Vanderbilt, No. 14 Kentucky, Louisville RAHUL SHAH | SENIOR ASSOCIATE The No. 1 Virginia men’s tennis team will commence its 2017 campaign with a busy weekend — playing three matches against three different opponents in three-straight days.

The two-time defending national champions will begin their regular season with a match against Vanderbilt Friday, followed by a match against No. 15 Kentucky Saturday and concluding with a conference match against Louisville Sunday.

Coach Brian Boland said the Cavaliers are ready to get back on to the courts.

“They’ve been preparing for a long time,” Boland said. “They had an unbelievable summer, and they worked hard throughout the fall … we couldn’t be more excited to start [the season] on Friday.”

Boland said the quality of the team’s practices has been very high. The players have embraced the program’s lofty standards and have taken it upon themselves to make sure that every one of them is prepared to work hard in practice.

“The standard is incredibly high [and] these guys hold each other accountable in the way that they go about their business day in and day out,” Boland said. “If you come to practice ill- prepared, you really stick out … they’ve really bought into the system and the culture.”

Boland added that these practices have produced a lot of high-quality tennis in addition to improvement.

“They do nothing but make each other better every day,” Boland said. “Some of the best sets that I see all year are right here in practice.”

One difference that’s been evident in practice this offseason is the reduced size of Virginia’s team. The Cavaliers only have nine players on the roster this year — eight of which are eligible, with freshman Ammar Alhogbani taking a redshirt year.

“I definitely think it’s different … last year and the year before that, we had a bunch of success, but this year, we probably have the smallest team Brian’s ever had in his career here at Virginia,” senior Luca Corinteli said.

Corinteli said Virginia has been able to use the smaller roster size to its advantage.

“I also think that there’s an advantage that comes with [the small size], just because I feel like this group is really, really close and there’s a lot of things that go on in practice that are a lot more manageable now since there’s less guys on the team,” Corinteli said.

Virginia is coming into the season with sky-high expectations as the reigning two-time national champions and the pre-

season No. 1.

“I think they’ve done a pretty good job managing [the expectations],” Boland said. “You need to embrace that to be great, so we can’t really avoid it.”

To continue to be recognized as the nation’s top team, the Cavaliers need to remain hungry and focused, Boland said.

“I always tell the guys that we want to be [first] all the time,”

Boland said. “We want to be the best every single day.”

However, Boland understands that the season is just beginning and that there is a lot of work to be done. In order to accomplish the goals that they have, the Cavaliers will need to continue to work.

“It’s a long season — there’s a lot of work to do,” Boland said.

“We got to stay healthy, keep

working hard and coming together as a team … so far we’re off to a great start.”

Virginia will play Vanderbilt (6-2, 0-0 SEC) Friday in Nashville Tenn., No. 14 Kentucky (5-1, 0-0 SEC) Saturday in Lexington, Ky., and then Louisville (2-1, 0-0 ACC) Sunday in Louisville, Ky.

COURTESY VIRGINIA ATHLETICS

Senior Luca Corinteli played a key role in helping the Cavaliers win the National Championship in 2016.

Virginia set to take on ACC rivals this weekend After coming off two ACC defeats, Virginia wrestling looks to get back on track against North Carolina, Duke HUNTER OSTAD | ASSOCIATE EDITOR After two tough matches in as many weeks against top ten opponents Virginia Tech and NC State, Virginia has a chance to get back on their feet in ACC play.

After the aforementioned defeats, the Cavaliers (8-5, 0-2 ACC) currently are without an ACC win, and that must change going forward. It will not be easy, however, as Virginia is set to have a pair of dual matches this weekend against North Carolina (6-5, 1-2 ACC) and Duke (3-6, 0-2 ACC).

Going into this pair of matches, Virginia wants to come in with a blank slate and show their mettle.

“After losses, our approach doesn't change,” senior Will Ma-

son said. “Every ACC duel is a competitive dual … we don’t say or do anything differently. … We go into every dual meet with the same mentality and the focus.”

It’s currently in the dog days of the season, and everyone is feeling less than 100% due to both the intensity of the meets and the training required of a collegiate wrestler. Coach Steve Garland will not have any excuses, and expects his team to continue to operate at a high level.

“Everything is preparation for the national championship, so you can’t get better than the grind we’ve been going through,” Garland said. “If you feel bad, it’s good, we don’t want anyone feeling perfect in February.”

Looking forward to Virginia’s weekend opponents, North Carolina is coming off a huge win against No. 24 Pittsburgh and Duke is coming off a loss to Virginia Tech, a team that defeated the Cavaliers last week as well.

Coach Garland knows every ACC match will be a grind, but he believes that his team has been performing well and is well-positioned to leave the weekend with a pair of wins.

“Chapel Hill boasts a ton of great players and returning all-Americans. Duke boasts some great guys as well, so it’ll definitely be a challenge,” Garland said. “I’m telling my guys to go out there and have fun … we’ve been getting close in these

big matches and the scoreboards have not been indicative of how close we’ve been getting.”

In terms of things the team needs to work on, Mason believes there is room for improvement, and every time a wrestler steps on the mat is an opportunity.

“We are continuing to work on little positions that we had trouble with individually,” Mason said. “We want to use the full seven minutes we are on the mat to improve … we need to use those seven minutes to score as much as possible and keep getting better.”

While North Carolina and Duke are not necessarily the best teams on paper and should not be as big a challenge as Vir-

ginia Tech and North Carolina State posed, it is important for the team not to overlook any ACC competition.

“They’re always good, competitive team with kids who are going to wrestle hard for 7 minutes,” said Mason. I know we can expect a hard-fought, tough weekend and an exciting one.

While on paper, their teams may not be as tough as others, both are big dual meets for us that are going to be competitive.”

Virginia’s match against North Carolina will take place Saturday at 7 p.m. in Chapel Hill, N.C., and Virginia’s match against Duke will start Sunday at 2 p.m. in Durham, N.C.

10

THE CAVALIER DAILY

SPORTS • www.cavalierdaily.com

Women’s basketball takes on Georgia Tech at home The Cavaliers hope to take down conference foe Yellow Jackets ALEC DOUGHERTY | SENIOR ASSOCIATE The Virginia women’s basketball team gets a break from its gauntlet of ranked opponents when it takes on Georgia Tech (13-8, 2-6 ACC) Thursday at John Paul Jones Arena.

The Cavaliers (14-7, 3-5 ACC) come into the game off of a tough loss to then-No. 8 Notre Dame Sunday. Despite the loss, the team played tough throughout and took many positives from the experience.

“Even though we got down in that game and had to come back three times, [the team’s] body language and effort really showed that they were in it,” coach Joanne Boyle said. “It was a tough environment with 9,000 fans, so I was really pleased with our effort and how we kept our heads in the game.”

Despite the tough play, Boyle highlighted improvements that needed to be made moving forward while reflecting on the game.

“We just have moment when we’re tired and we don’t do a great job of understanding time and score,” Boyle said. “We’ll take a quick shot at an inopportune time, turn the ball over. We just need to work on closing out games and playing better in four-minute segments.”

One critical aspect that has helped keep Virginia in games is its balanced scoring since the start of ACC play. Four Cavaliers reached double digits against Notre Dame — a now common occurrence for the team. Freshman guard Jocelyn Willoughby, whose team-leading 16 points and nine rebounds earned her ACC Player of the Week honors, said she is grateful for the amount of scoring depth the Cavaliers have shown thus far.

“It’s really nice because there’s not any pressure on one person to feel that they have to score,” Willoughby said. “And you know that you have a balanced attack on the offensive end [which is] a really nice thing to have.”

Boyle said sees a lot of value in the Cavaliers’ scoring balance and thinks it can create a big problem for the rest of the teams they face.

“Any time you have good balance on offense, you’re harder to scout [and] you can’t just lay off of

one person,” Boyle said.

The Notre Dame matchup was just one out of eight ranked teams that the Cavaliers play in their final 10 games — a brutal stretch that began against Virginia Tech last week.

As a veteran coach, Boyle has been through this gauntlet before and knows what it will take from her team to get those big wins.

“I think as long as our effort and rebounding are there, we can play with anybody in the conference … we just need to be able to finish out games,” Boyle said. “Our defense, rebounding and effort feed into our offense. Having five out of our last eight games at home will help as long as we can hold down our home floor.”

Willoughby offered a similar assessment, stating that a high effort level is key to winning.

“The biggest key is bringing energy and effort every day so we can get those rebounds and loose balls each game, which bring extra plays and more valuable possessions,” Willoughby said. “Not every shot is going to go in, but if you control defense and effort [the game] will go smoothly.”

Even though Georgia Tech isn’t a ranked team, Boyle knows that the Yellow Jackets will be a tough out because of their aggressive style of play. “[The Yellow Jackets] are scrappy, they play physical, and they’re a great rebounding team, especially on offense,” Boyle said. “They’re one of the most physical teams in the conference, so matching that intensity with defense and rebounding will be the key.”

The Yellow Jackets are a mediocre shooting team, averaging a 39 percent from the field, but they create many opportunities with their rebounding game. Sophomore guard Kaylan Pugh leads the team with 11.8 points per game, and junior forward Zaire O’Neill follows her closely with 11.6, proving that the Yellow Jackets have scoring options on the inside and outside.

Despite the tough challenge that Georgia Tech brings, Virginia has the luxury of playing on a home court that was electrifying in the team’s monster win against Virginia

Tech last week.

“I think our audience has been following us and seeing our growth over the last few games,” Willoughby said. “I’m really excited for these next few games.”

Boyle sees the Georgia Tech game as one that can spark a streak for the Cavaliers.

“We’re a complete team, and we’ve got a lot of pieces,” Boyle said.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do,

we have a lot of growth, but we have the pieces here to really make a run in February.”

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena.

SARAH LINDAMOOD | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Freshman guard Jocelyn Willoughby earned ACC Player of the Week honors for her performance against Notre Dame last week.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

11

COMMENT OF THE DAY “At your peril. Elections have consequences, and we have elected a President who may order federal funds withheld if UVA will not cooperate with the Federal Government.”

“Lilywhiteazz” responding to The Editorial Board’s Jan. 30 article, “U.Va. should withhold students’ immigration status”

LEAD EDITORIAL

Remembering U.Va. during the Civil Rights Movement The administration must not be selective in reckoning with racist aspects of its history

I

n 1960, Wesley Harris and Virginius Thornton arrived at the University. Harris was a black undergraduate pursuing a degree in aeronautical engineering, and Thornton was the first black graduate student to enter the doctoral program at the University. The community, which maintained a culture of racism throughout the 1960s, was hostile to black students around Grounds — impeding many of them from either attending or completing their education at the University.

These stories are part of an underemphasized aspect of the University's history: the administration’s resistance to integration, which was not completed until several years after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling mandating the desegregation of schools. As the University makes efforts to memorialize and acknowledge its history with slavery, it should also devote resources to recognizing the administration’s discriminatory practices during its periods of segregation and integration.

Given the myriad of ways in which the University recognizes and discusses elements of its institutional history, one would expect this period to be well-documented and frequently discussed.

Instead, the bulk of easily-accessible information about the University’s resistance to integration and its inability to foster a welcoming environment for black students throughout the 1960s comes from limited sources, such as a website created in 2003. The University should take steps to amplify the platform of speakers

and groups — such as the Black Student Alliance — which educate students about this history outside of a classroom setting.

During the 1960s, the University actively impeded the course of equal rights in education. The realities of this period must be given the same attention afforded to other aspects of its history. Increased student awareness about this time period would give a deeper appreciation for the struggles black people had to go through to attend this University.

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OPINION • www.cavalierdaily.com

THE CAVALIER DAILY

A NEW WAY TO CUT TEXTBOOK COSTS Open source textbooks are key in decreasing financial burden imposed on students

W

ith the end of syllabus week, most students have already spent several hundred dollars on bulky textbooks for their new classes. Coupled with the cost of tuition, living accommodation fees and food expenses, the often exorbitant prices associated with textbooks seem like the final straws that break the camel’s back. In a technologically savvy age, it’s time that we bring open sourcing to textbooks so that everyone can have access to course materials and can channel their fiscal resources to more immediate needs.

According to recent research, the average textbook cost has risen 1,041 percent since 1977.

With the average college student in the United States spending as much as $1,200 on textbooks throughout their college career, textbook companies must be stopped or, at least, significantly hindered from continuing such a trend. However, NBC believes that the trend will continue — especially since universities and schools require students to purchase textbooks.

With high demand, companies which manufacture textbooks have no incentive to cut costs or provide subsidies. Instead, they are driven to increase the price tag since students are “captive

from enrolling in the class, studies demonstrate that more and more students are simply opting not to purchase the textbook and instead search for an online version of the required text-

Applying the concept of open source to textbooks would solve most problems associated with high textbook costs.

consumers,” in that they are essentially required to purchase all textbooks mandated by the instructor.

For some students, the soaring costs of textbooks mean employing a frugal approach to deciding which classes they should take each semester. What results is a limit as to which classes financially-strained students can take — a phenomenon that is not right and desperately needs to be amended. However, even if students are not deterred

book. While the latter option does not explicitly seem deleterious, online textbooks may not always be the correct version nor accurate representations of their physical counterpart.

According to multiple students and parents, open source textbooks could be the solution to the rising costs of physical textbooks as well as to the “barriers of entry” that these costs impose. Open source was originally intended for software developers to make coding sets

visible and amenable by anyone with a computer and an internet connection. In this way, any software developer from any part of the world could work on the same set of code. This dramatically revolutionized the way burgeoning software developers could learn from and contribute to the trade.

Applying the concept of open source to textbooks would solve most problems associated with high textbook costs. Open source textbooks are created under an open license, meaning they can be acquired electronically and are much more available to students with a budget.

Because many instructors already base the sequence of their course around the required textbook, the introduction and mainstream utilization of open source textbooks would cause little to no inconvenience to professors.

Openstax, a non-profit that produces peer-reviewed and reputable online textbooks, claims to have saved over 700,000 students $66 million with open source textbooks. Furthermore,

college students could save an average of $128 per course with open source books. And yet, OpenStax and other similar organizations seem to suffer fiscally, especially when tasked with new initiatives to bring more open source textbooks to more students throughout the globe.

It is time for policymakers and academia to help catalyze open source textbook growth as well as assuage the fiscal difficulties that non-profits like OpenStax deal with. With such support, all students can find solace in the acquisition of knowledge rather than becoming consumed with anxiety about whether or not they can afford their insurmountably expensive textbooks.

SEAN SEQUEIRA is an Opinion columnist for the Cavalier Daily.

He can be reached at s.sequeira@ cavalierdaily.com

PAUL RYAN IS JUST AS DANGEROUS AS TRUMP Paul Ryan’s tolerance of Trumpism masks a broader goal to redefine the role of the federal government

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ith the fallout from the Muslim ban, the nation has begun to grapple with the consequences of empowering a right-wing extremist to a position of unimaginable power. I’m not referring to our Breitbart-addled chief executive but rather to one of his greatest supporters — House Speaker Paul Ryan.

Liberals have rightly focused on the danger President Trump poses to their priorities, but in different ways, Ryan’s agenda is just as great an affront to basic decency as Trump’s. Ryan may avoid some of Trump’s more insensitive and divisive rhetorical moves, but as the president steals headlines with Twitter feuds and alternative facts, the Speaker is quietly moving to undo the very fabric of the American social contract.

Most recently, Ryan received attention for his support of one of Trump’s most overtly racist executive orders. While most critics have berated Ryan for alleged spinelessness, his defense of the administration is actually part of a calculated strategy to secure passage of legislation that would all but undo the status quo which has persisted since the New Deal.

As Jonathan Chait points out, “It is inaccurate to paint Ryan as a soulless careerist. Ryan is…

deeply committed to liberating the affluent from the burdens of progressive taxation.” If you have dedicated your entire career to gutting taxes on the rich and the social programs those taxes help fund, it makes perfect sense why you might support a man who

dian revolution. It goes without saying that repeal would spell catastrophe for this country’s poor and middle classes. In The Week, Ryan Cooper examines various studies of Obamacare’s effects on the previously uninsured before concluding, “The exact num-

Repealing the Affordable Care Act, the mere discussion of which has already generated mass backlash, would be just the first stage of the Speaker’s Randian revolution. admits to sexual assault on videotape or attacks religious freedom just days into office. These indignities, for a man who has described himself as fighting for the “maker” rich against the “taker” poor, are a small price to pay for the chance to be given full latitude to enact what would be the “largest redistribution of income from the bottom to the top in modern U.S. history.”

Repealing the Affordable Care Act, the mere discussion of which has already generated mass backlash, would be just the first stage of the Speaker’s Ran-

ber of onrushing deaths pales in comparison with the ironclad certainty that it will be in the tens of thousands….for every death, there will be dozens of people enduring illness they can't afford to treat, or being bankrupted by emergency care they cannot afford.” Legislation repealing the law, Cooper writes, would be “tantamount to mass murder,” even as Republicans make head fakes about replacing the system with “something terrific” while lacking any discernible plan at all.

Ryan and his allies have also telegraphed that eliminating

Obamacare would be just the beginning of their offensive on social insurance. Republicans would likely apply the approach they used during welfare reform (which increased extreme poverty by 150 percent) to Medicaid, by attaching work requirements and block granting it to states. Block grants in might seem innocuous at first glance, but according to National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling, block granting the program would be tantamount to a 40 percent cut over ten years, leading to 14-21 million people losing health insurance on top of those that would already be losing it through Obamacare repeal.

After looting Medicaid to fund his tax cuts, Ryan would then target food stamps, a lifeline for millions of food-insecure Americans, for $150 billion in cuts, or 20 percent of the program’s projected budget over the next ten years.

Even these cuts only scratch the surface of what Republicans under Ryan’s leadership would do to the safety net — Social Security Disability Insurance, WIC, Pell Grants and other crucial programs would almost certainly be headed for the chopping block.

Though it would be a massive political lift for a party that relies

heavily on seniors for votes, Ryan has signalled that he might even pursue Medicare privatization, leaving many of the elderly with vouchers rather than guaranteed insurance.

Taken together, Ryan’s policies represent a frontal assault on America’s most vulnerable at a time when the 16 million children are living in poverty and the country is experiencing levels of income inequality unseen since the 1920s. All of this goes without even contemplating the effects of legislation that would mark the “apocalypse” for the labor movement or defund Planned Parenthood, not to mention the Speaker’s role in normalizing and protecting Trump’s agenda from criticism. Ryan can joke about dabbing all he wants — when it comes to his actual policy agenda, he is every bit a threat to democratic values as the president so many Americans are now in the streets resisting.

GRAY WHISNANT is an Opinion columnist for the Cavalier Daily.

He can be reached at g.whisnant@ cavalierdaily.com

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

www.cavalierdaily.com • OPINION

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TRUMP THE REVOLUTIONARY

President Trump’s nationalistic agenda betrays core values of the U.S.

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he wars of 18th century Europe were fought by professional armies over limited territorial disputes. They were between kings, respective of each other’s right to rule, pushing the boundaries of the balance of power on the basis of ruthless calculations of their interests, yet never quite breaking through them. This situation changed irrevocably after the French Revolution brought Napoleon I to power and with him a war not of militaries, but of entire peoples.

Napoleon was not after concessions but rather exporting the revolution, and his writ, to all of Europe. He proclaimed the ideals of the French Revolution to be universal, leveraging the first citizen-drafted army from the continent’s most respected landbased military power to back the unlimited claims of his personal rule. It took years for the other great powers to recognize that Napoleon was playing by an entirely different set of rules. After his candidacy and one week of his presidency, it should be clear to all that Donald Trump is deliberately overturning today’s set

of rules in a revolutionary effort to create a more isolated, more fearful and less compassionate America.

system and the public servants who sat behind him to provide their support, accusing them of exploiting the nation and pros-

In fact, it would border on intellectual dishonesty not to assess that after a week in office, President Donald Trump is shaping up to be just as much of a revolutionary figure as Napoleon.

Let’s examine his rhetoric.

His inaugural address, the first of such addresses in the nation’s history to feature the words “carnage” and “tombstones,” was a dark paean to the nationalism and nihilism of his supporters.

He proclaimed “America First” to allies and partners who depend on America’s commitment to their security and a rules-based international order, sending a message to that same order’s worst transgressors that its principal enforcer would be abdicating its responsibilities. He denounced the entire political

pering as the American people suffered. A day later, he disregarded and disdained facts concerning inaugural crowd sizes that undermine his narrative of unqualified triumph, legitimizing the worst tendencies of a divided nation. He has declared the media “the opposition party,” echoing authoritarians past and present.

If his rhetoric was and has been revolutionary, then his actions have been equally disruptive in the week since he transitioned from private citizen to U.S. President. He officially

killed TPP, ceding the Asia Pacific region’s economic and strategic framework to the upcoming Chinese alternative. He made glib references to torture and resurrecting CIA black sites across the world. He is keeping a tab of all crimes committed in the United States by undocumented immigrants, just as the Nazis kept tabs of crimes committed

by Jews. He ordered government agencies to stop providing updates to the public through social media, fearful of the implications that such data can have in swaying public opinion. He has made preparations for a 20 percent border tax levied against trade with Mexico to pay for his boondoggle of a wall. He promoted his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, the former editor-in-chief of the white nationalist Breitbart website, to permanent membership of the National Security Council, downgrading the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence from the NSC at the same time. He implemented a “temporary” travel ban from seven Muslim-majority nations without prior warning or con-

sultation with the relevant agencies, as well as a “temporary” shutdown of the U.S. refugee program. This was done on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, sowing chaos and confusion at airports and breaking the hearts of families’ across the country, declaring the United States a cruel, selfish, fearful nation and himself a coward.

In short order, the President has determined that America abandon its core values of openness and pluralism, its commitment to freedom and basic decency, its belief that morality should play an instrumental role in determining all aspects of a nation’s policies. The word should go forth from this point on that standing up to this administration is everyone’s duty as American citizens. We cannot let this revolution acquire the legitimacy it seeks.

OLIVIER WEISS is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily.

He can be reached at o.weiss@cavalierdaily.com.

NFL COMMISSIONER RULES LIKE AN IRON-FISTED KING

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oger Goodell’s track record shows he abuses his power as head of the NFLFew things are more quintessentially American than standing up to tyrants. Those who persecute innocents, rule arbitrarily and capriciously, dismiss settled science as a hoax and lie with impunity deserve not only our silent scorn, but our overt disapproval.

America touts a decorated record of defeating dictators, but unfortunately our nation is not immune to tyrants, and we now have one in our midst. This despot’s vast fortune and power must not deter us. This weekend, we must carry on the venerable American tradition of tormenting tyrants and register our displeasure with this clownish but fascistic overlord. It is unlikely we can drive him from power, but together we can make a statement.

We can cheer on the New England Patriots, and by aiding their victory we can humiliate America’s true menace: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Some may recoil from this pronouncement. No doubt influenced

by Goodell’s “Pravda,” ESPN, many view Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the Patriots as America’s most prominent scourge. But as the Washington Post’s Sally Jenkins has meticulously documented, Roger Goodell is the true villain of Deflategate. Due to ESPN’s shoddy re-

Roger Goodell’s track record shows he abuses his power as head of the NFL

porting and Goodell’s brazen lying, Americans have been duped into believing Tom Brady is history’s biggest cheat. Yet a closer look at recent history compels you to recognize American liberty faces a far greater threat from Roger Goodell than one team falsely portrayed as habitual cheaters.

I’m only half-joking.

For those who tuned out the Deflategate saga before informed consensus turned in favor of Brady and against Goodell, a quick recap: A vindictive Goodell and jealous sports media quickly branded Tom Brady a cheater after ESPN’s Chris Mortensen erroneously reported that the Patriots’ footballs in the 2015 AFC Championship game were “significantly” underinflated.

The story captivated both sports and news networks, and after lengthy hearings and court battles, Brady eventually served a four game suspension. Assuming most non-Patriot fans stopped following this story around the time an ESPN host actually began crying on TV, the image of Brady as a lying cheater likely crystallized in the public’s view.

This commonplace view obscures the inconvenient fact that the NFL under Goodell acted with a dizzying amount of malice and incompetence. First, Mortensen’s report served as the catalyst for the media blitz on Brady’s reputation,

yet the numbers he reported were false. Worse still, three of the four Colts’ footballs were also underinflated, yet this knowledge was not made public until the NFL-commissioned Wells’ Report concluded.

The NFL had all this exculpatory information at the time, yet sat on it while one of their premier star’s reputation unnecessarily suffered.

Add incompetence to this malice, because the NFL and apparently

cember, for instance, the New York Giants reported two underinflated Pittsburgh Steelers’ footballs; hardly a murmur from the League.

Yet that is nothing compared to Goodell’s treatment of domestic abuse. After Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punched his fiancee in a casino elevator and proceeded to drag her unconscious body away from the scene of the crime, Goodell punished Rice

Goodell is largely unaccountable and thus appears immune to suffering consequences for his actions.

everyone in the media were ignorant about what every car owner should know: air pressure drops in cold weather, irrespective of tampering. This should have immediately dispelled any claims of cheating, but even as countless scientists and lawyers excoriated the NFL for persecuting the league’s best quarterback despite scientific evidence exonerating Brady, Goodell pressed his case.What makes this worthy of the righteous indignation of every liberty-loving American is what Goodell did not deem worthy to vigorously investigate. Just last De-

with a mere two game suspension.

It wasn’t until after TMZ leaked the video that Goodell increased Rice’s punishment to an indefinite suspension, insisting he had not seen the tape. As Sports Illustrated shows, that claim was an absurd lie.

Add the fact that Goodell initially punished an innocent man more severely than a domestic abuser to Goodell’s other abuses and misadventures: His mishandling of Bountygate, his nonsensical punishment of the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys for spending too much on salaries in a year without

a salary cap and, most egregiously, the League’s attempted cover up of the link between concussions and brain disease. Put simply, Goodell has proven to rule like an iron-fisted king at the helm of the NFL, arbitrarily punishing his perceived enemies and capriciously damaging the short and long-term interests of his subjects.

Goodell is largely unaccountable and thus appears immune to suffering consequences for his actions.

But there is one punishment within reach, that all dictator-deploring people should hope comes to fruition: that Roger Goodell is forced to stand on the podium after Super Bowl LI; that he must smile for the cameras as his battered but unconquered nemesis Tom Brady lifts the Lombardi and Super Bowl MVP trophies; and that Brady, though far too polite to do this, grabs a microphone and completes Goodell’s humiliation by announcing to the world that Roger looks a little deflated.

MATT WINESETT is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at m.winesett@cavalierdaily.com.

THE CAVALIER DAILY

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

Small but mighty

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‘The Sounds and Silences of Black Girlhood’ captures complexities of female black youth ARABA DENNIS | STAFF WRITER

One of the most revolutionary acts for black women in American history has been to readily and fearlessly take up space. The subtle exclamation of “The Sounds and Silences of Black Girlhood” — a mini-exhibit in the Special Collections Library curated by Prof. Corinne Field’s Fall 2016 WGS 4559 students — exists as an undeniable reminder of the inherent resistance black women express from a young age.

“The Sounds and Silences of Black Girlhood” is established through three exhibits: “Identity, Representation and Misrepresentation”; “Ownership, Authorship and Voice”; and, naturally, “Resistance.” Each artifact of the exhibit was curated by a different student of the WGS 4559 cohort, offering a variety of voices to match the diversity of the narrative of black girlhood.

“The Sounds and Silences” is nothing more or less than it claims to be. The exhibit displays pain — something that is almost latent to black girlhoods around the world — in its most visceral literary and artistic forms. At the same time, when cycling through each segment of the work in its entirety, one feels the “Hallelujah Anyhow” of blackness, the “Still I Rise” and the whole

so much greater than the sum of its parts fraught with subjugation and agony.

The section of the exhibit devoted to “identity, representation and misrepresentation” contains an eclectic mix of the aforementioned visual and literary elements. Its contents survey the impacts of colorism, ascribed promiscuity and the eventual discovery of womanism at which many black girls arrive.

One notably powerful photo, presented by fourth-year College student and student curator Emma McCallie, depicts a young Bernice Wright holding a platter of large tomatoes.

Bernice stares straight ahead at the capturer of the photo without a smile on her face but with evident strength in her body. What a true testament to the claim of identity and representation of black girlhood — muted strength and reticent resilience.

“Ownership, authorship and voice” is perhaps the most poignant category in its effective description of the struggles within the phenomenon of black girlhood. This segment displays no photos or art, but rather a collection of written works, both primary and secondary sources. As the only part of the exhibit with a visual component, student curator Jordan Moorefield’s contribution is striking.

A photo depicts two smiling, young

COURTESY LUCAS DVORSCAK

“The Sounds and Silences of Black Girlhood” serves as a tribute to the inherent resistance of young black women.

black women who were subjected to forced sterilization in 1963 by the Fauquier County Maternity Clinic.

The image is jarring, a startling presence of joy in an unspeakable void of violence.

It is clear that the culmination of the exhibit is found in “Resistance.”

The description of the segment begins with a quote by Toni Morrison, herself a literary curator of the sounds and silences of black girlhood. The exhibit pays homage to

the advocacy work of Julian Bond, a deceased civil rights activist and UVA professor who penned an essay, curated in the exhibit and titled “Self-Defense Against Rape: The Joanne Little Case.” The essay was in support of a black girl who faced life imprisonment for killing her rapist in self-defense.

The “Resistance” segment concludes the exhibit perfectly — while pain persists with rage by its side, so is there hope. So is there laughter. So is

there a will to be a girl, to be black and to be alive in the most breathtaking of ways that can be captured not only in the genius of a temporary display such as “The Sounds and Silences of Black Girlhood,” but permanently in the spirits of countless black girls.

“The Sounds and Silences of Black Girlhood” will remain in the Special Collections Library until March 24, one week after the Global Black Girlhood conference held in the same place from March 17-18.

Milo lets his soul fly at the Chapel The ‘Black Orpheus’ and openers Keese, Dazeases bring their own unique styles to Grounds ADAM BEDDAWI | SENIOR WRITER The U.Va. Chapel was packed with eager students last Friday.

Before the rapper Milo took the stage, fellow rapper Keese and singer-songwriter Dazeases kicked off the performance. As overqualified

openers, both performers demonstrated their own distinctive art to set up the main show.

Keese, a 26-year-old Charlottesville native, brought his brand of wordy storytelling over more con-

COURTESY WXTJ 100.1 FM STUDENT RADIO

Milo, following openers Dizeases and Keese, performed at the Chapel last Friday.

ventional beats and flows, while Dazeases delivered an infectious — and at times jarring — musical experience. Both artists had decent fan bases present, but it was clear most of the contingent was there to see Milo.

The entire “rap show”, as Milo called it once he finally took the stage, kept the traditional concert ritual at arm’s length.

“Here there are no rules, and as a black man in America, there aren’t many times where I can be free,” Milo said about his shows.

So Milo did just that — he threw out the rules. He addressed the crowd with rhetorical questions that segued into songs. He allowed the instrumentals to run while dancing through them without rapping a single word. He recited bar for bar an old E-40 verse before asking the mostly Millennial crowd if they remembered which song it came from. And he even mimicked the cadence of Chubb Rock and rapped about Method Man as if he were a

father figure.

Through a rambling yet charming monologue, Milo professed his love for rap as art form — or what he refers to as “the philosophical arm of black art [and] black culture.” He is steeped in this culture, and clearly, he is in the process of carving his place in it. He claims to be “professional rapper” trained by “the best rappers in the world” — such as Busdriver, Open Mike Eagle, Nocando and Myka 9.

“I do this sh—t mostly for me, but thanks for coming out,” Milo said at one point early in the show, simultaneously lauding and undercutting his fans’ participation.

Milo consistently plays with the distinction between artist and audience like this. Perhaps he does this to remove himself from the absurdity of performing, but he certainly wants to maintain honesty, too.

His devoted fans don’t see his professed detachment as such. Rather, they view it as a display of the urgency for which he raps. His set’s first

two songs were new “workshopped” pieces, and they were phenomenal — his most incisive rapping by far.

In these songs, he rails about therapy through “neutered truths” and calls life “a chore list.”

To the devoted Milo follower it comes as no surprise his set only contained songs dating back to his 2015 album “so the flies don’t come.”

Milo is years removed from having dropped out of college to pursue rap in Los Angeles before leaving to start his own Milwaukee-based record label Ruby Yacht in 2015.

Milo’s experiences as “a strong black man two-stepping through banality” helped create an artist hardened by alienation and loss while unbound by philosophical thoughts.

At one point, he said tellingly, “I could keep rapping, or I could not.

Both are my favorite. If you ask me, it’s all my favorite.” Milo’s performances are processes — unfoldings of musicality and philosophy.

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THE CAVALIER DAILY

LIFE • www.cavalierdaily.com

‘Life Without Sound’ brings both welcome growth, familiar favorites Cloud Nothings’ latest is loud, open LOU MALMGREN | STAFF WRITER

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Cloud Nothings’ album “Life Without Sound” exemplifies the group’s growth.

In the oversaturated world of modern indie rock, it takes something special to stand out

from the bespectacled, beanie-wearing and beard-toting masses who fill the opening act

slots of every dive bar in America. Yet, if there is any band that has proven its ability to distinguish itself from the crowd, it would have to be Cleveland-rock outfit Cloud Nothings.

Since its debut in 2010 with the poppy sounds of “Turning On”, the band has explored an incredible range of sounds, landing everywhere from the grungy lo-fi jams of “Here and Nowhere Else” to the early emo sounds of “Attack on Memory.”

That being said, “Life Without Sound” may be one of the band’s most stylistically varied albums yet.

Instrumentally, “Life Without Sound” has all the hallmarks of Cloud Nothings’ discography, putting forth the usual ensemble of electric guitars, bass and drums alongside lead singer Dylan Baldi’s vocals. In fact, aside from some flitting appearances by a piano on tracks like “Up to the Surface,” there isn’t much deviation from Cloud Nothings’ standard instrumentation. Despite this, “Life Without Sound” presents one of the band’s best

efforts at a full spectrum of diverse sound.

Tracks like “Strange Year” blend growling basslines and drum crashes with Baldi’s hoarse, screaming vocals to create a distinctly sinister experience. Conversely, tracks like “Things are Right with You” exude comfort and positivity in a borderline pop-rock style, layering on upbeat power chords in its guitar section to match Baldi’s smoother, gentler vocal delivery. Tracks like “Darkened Rings” even bring back memories of the band’s previous punk rock style with its speedy guitars and vitriol-filled shouting and singing.

However, it is not only in its production that “Life Without Sound” displays artistic growth on Cloud Nothings’ part, as the album’s lyrics are different from anything else in the band’s discography. While past endeavors like “Here and Nowhere Else” were chock-full of angsty verses about the internal struggles one undergoes in early life, “Life Without Sound” embraces a far

wider scope of thought in its lyrics.

On “Modern Act,” Baldi confesses he “can’t stand” the title’s concept, targeting his unease of aspects of modern society with questions like “Whose war is this, what god is that?” Earlier, on the track “Internal World,” Baldi breaks down the faking of outer-appearance to conform to dubious societal standards. This kind of subject matter reaches far beyond that of the band’s past — which was contained within a largely personal sphere — by drawing back their songwriting in order to create a lens that examines life more holistically.

There is no doubt that “Life Without Sound” demonstrates some tremendous growth on the part of Cloud Nothings. It may not craft personal connections to the degree of “Attack on Memory” or have the raw lo-fi production energy of “Here and Nowhere Else”. But, for its variety in tone, lyrical content and style, it shouldn’t be overlooked.

U.Va. School of Medicine looking ahead from eugenics roots Newly named Pinn Hall previously a center for eugenics research, support NISHA DABHI | STAFF WRITER The field of eugenics — commonly discredited as a pseudoscience — has deep roots at the School of Medicine. Pinn Hall, was previously named after Harvey Jordan, former Dean of the Department of Medicine.

Jordan was a prominent eugenics researcher and a renowned leader of the national eugenics movement.

Popular in the early 1900s, eugenics is a set of beliefs and practices that aims to improve the genetics quality of the human population by deeming certain humans as genetically superior to others. Eugenic theory amplified segregation regarding race, class and disability across the U.S. The attention garnered in the field led to Virginia’s Eugenical Sterilization Law in 1927, which attempted to forcibly sterilize those believed to be more inferior than others. Populations most affected by this law includ-

ed poor and uneducated African Americans and other minorities.

The popularity of eugenics drew then-University President Edwin Alderman to hire Jordan and Robert Bean to conduct research on eugenics at the University.

However, the renaming of Jordan Hall to Pinn Hall finally erases the small remnants of the University’s little-known association with the study of eugenics.

“The renaming of Jordan Hall as Pinn Hall was really about looking ahead — as we get ready to celebrate U.Va.’s bicentennial — to identify someone who embodies the attributes the students in the School of Medicine aspire towards,” Eric Swenson, University Health System Public Information Officer, said.

Vivian Pinn matriculated at the School of Medicine in Fall 1963 — a time when white men dominated its composition.

When Pinn entered the audito-

rium on her first day, she soon realized that she was the only female and the only African American student.

“There were no other women or people of color in the class,” Pinn said. It was a very strange feeling — I can still remember that.”

At first, Pinn said she felt discouraged and considered abandoning her studies. But when two of her classmates invited her into their anatomy lab group, Pinn felt included and ended up staying, eventually graduating from the School of Medicine.

However, Pinn faced challenges for being different. When obstacles arose, Pinn refused to give up but reminded herself that she was at the University for a reason — to be a physician.

Pinn advises others facing adversity to remind themselves of their own purpose for pursuing a task, just as she did.

“It was just knowing that I

was there for a purpose, and I had come so far that I wasn’t going to let anyone keep me from

doing what I could do,” she said.

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Historically, eugenic theory focuses on inferiorities based on race, class and disability.