Thursday, February 9, 2017

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2017

VOL. 127, ISSUE 37

HONORING FAULKNER

see EXHIBIT, page 6

COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

WHAT’S INSIDE AZIZ BROTHERS BACK IN U.S. PAGE 2

TEACH-IN ON REFUGEES PAGE 3

LEAD EDITORIAL: EXCESSIVE ARRESTS UNWARRANTED PAGE 7

LETTER: ADRESSING HIGH TEXTBOOK COSTS PAGE 8

BRINGING FARM TO TABLE PAGE 11

THE CAVALIER DAILY

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Brothers deported from Dulles, return to U.S. Charlottesville Legal Aid Justice Center argues case in federal court KATE BELLOWS AND BRIDGET STARRS | STAFF WRITERS

Tareq and Ammar Aqel Mohammed Aziz, two brothers who were detained and deported by customs officials at Dulles International Airport, arrived in the U.S. Monday morning after the Charlottesville Legal Aid Justice Center argued in federal court for their return.

“The Aziz brothers...have finally been permitted to arrive in the United States,” Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg legal director of the Immigrant Advocacy Program of LAJC said. “While it’s highly gratifying to have played a role in bringing these families together again, we know other families are facing uncertainty and fear as a result of this executive order and encourage them to seek assistance.”

The brothers were deported Jan. 28 after their visas were canceled in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order, which bans refugees and non-American citizens from seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the U.S. The brothers, who are from Yemen, were forced to return to Ethiopia, the origin of their flight,

and stayed there for a week.

“Their passports had been stamped ‘cancelled’ from the time they were here in the United States the week before,” LAJC executive director Mary Bauer said. “Getting them back in the country with the visas that said ‘cancelled’ on them was quite a challenging experience.”

The LAJC took on the Aziz brothers’ case, filing a complaint arguing that the brothers held immigrant visas and were actually granted lawful permanent resident status because of their father’s U.S. citizenship. This, the LAJC said, prohibited their deportation.

The LAJC appeared in federal court Feb. 3, while their clients were still overseas. Judge Leonie Brinkema, of the Eastern District of Virginia, presided over the case.

A couple from Sudan who were forced to return to Africa following the implementation of Trump’s executive order were also involved in the case. Tim Heaphy, a partner at Hunton and Williams, represented them.

“My clients were similarly situated,” Heaphy said. “One of them was on the same flight as the Aziz brothers, so rather than file our

own case, we moved to essentially join those brothers and intervene in the pending case that had already been assigned to Judge Brinkema.”

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring was also present at the Aziz hearing, giving the case a more elevated status, Heaphy said.

“This was one of the first cases where [the order has] been challenged, so there was a full room of people, some of whom were just curious about who was going to

show up, some of whom seemed like they had a direct stake in the outcome,” Heaphy said. “People that had friends or family members waiting to come into this country impacted by the order.

Bauer said despite the experience, the Aziz brothers were very positive when they returned to America and were able to see their father.

“Their father … had an American flag pinned on his jacket — he was positive after all this,” Bauer

said. “He said, ‘this is America, America is for everyone.’ And all these family members, cousins [and] various people came all holding American flags.”

Bauer said the brothers will go on with their lives and move to Michigan, where their father lives.

“They’re creating new lives in Michigan with their dad, who had waited for years to be reunited with them,’ Bauer said.

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The Aziz brothers were detained and deported from Dulles International Airport.

U.Va. phishing simulations to continue Most users passed simulation exercises last semester ISABEL BANTA AND MAGGIE SNOW | STAFF WRITERS The University’s Information Technology Services and the Information Security, Policy and Records Office will continue to use phishing simulation exercises to promote cyber safety and awareness for cyber scams.

Last semester one such exercise was conducted, and most students did not fall victim to the scam simulation, Chief Information Security Officer Jason C. Belford said in an email statement.

“We are optimistic about the results from last semester: some users fell for the phish, although most of did not,” Belford said.

“Those who got phished received immediate online training.”

Studies have shown that the number of people falling for phishing simulations will decrease over time with repeated awareness exercises, Belford said. The exercises are meant to protect students from internet hacking which can occur on fake Netbadge sites.

“One of the most common ways accounts are compromised are with emails like this that trick people to enter their password into a site that is not the site they think it is but is a mock-up site set to look like say the Netbadge login page,” Computer Science Prof. David Evans said.

In an email sent to students Feb. 7, Belford said the phishing simulation would be conducted so students could understand the risks of scamming.

“We want to help our users keep their information secure,” Belford said. “For example, if a cybercriminal were able to get a username and password, which they have been successful through using phishing techniques, then they have the same access the user does with the same username and password.”

The phishing simulation was initiated because student emails had been repeatedly targeted by fraudulent attackers, Belford said.

“Most of the recent breaches, phishing emails or email scams, were determined to be the source.” Belford said. “The University's goal is to educate people about how to better recognize fraudulent, malicious emails.”

The University is taking several other steps to ensure students are protected, Belford said. The University Board of Visitors has funded SecureUVA, a security program which empowers the University to implement projects to help reduce cyber risks.

“There are almost three dozen SecureUVA technical and non-technical projects that are being implemented to protect the U.Va. community from cyber attacks,” Belford said.

HANNAH MUSSI | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Students will receive more phishing simulation exercises to promote cyber security.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2017

www.cavalierdaily.com • NEWS

Teach-in addresses refugees, migration, borders

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Panel one of many held nationwide Wednesday DANIEL HOERAUF | SENIOR WRITER University professors from the politics, economics, history and philosophy departments, along with a professor from the University Law School, gathered with students for a teach-in on refugees, migration and borders Wednesday.

According to the politics department website, the teach-in was one of many happening across the country Wednesday “to familiarize students and our community in the state of the world’s borders, recent U.S. immigration policy changes and international migration.”

Professors from various departments gave brief presentations for the first hour of the teach-in. Topics ranged from the legality and ethics of President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders to the economic impact of immigration.

Students in attendance were then allowed to address the entire panel during a question and answer session which followed

the presentations.

The teach-in was organized by Asst. Prof. Murad Idris, Assoc.

Prof. Jennifer Rubenstein and Prof. David Leblang, all from the politics department. Rubenstein and Leblang, who are currently teaching the class, “Refugees, Migration and Borders,” decided to have the teach-in to bring a wealth of perspectives together to answer any questions that students might have.

“Rather than doing this just for our class, we thought, well, ‘we’ll open it up to the University community,’” Leblang said. “There are often times when there are events that really transcend the walls of our closed classroom and we figured this was one of those.”

Post doctoral fellow Lucila Figueroa spoke specifically on immigration enforcement and the concept of a border law.

“Immigration enforcement is now more expensive than all other law enforcement departments put together,” Figueroa said. “It

may have actually increased the number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S.” One of the goals of the teachin was to help attendees realize the complexity of the issues, Asst.

Bioethics Prof. Sahar Akhtar said.

“Hopefully [this] helped students and the public have an opportunity to ask really important and complicated questions that they might not be able to ask inside the classroom or among their peers,” Akhtar said. “I don’t know that there’s any single moral or political response that we should have towards the current immigration order. I have a range of moral concerns.”

In addition to getting answers to their questions, Leblang said he wanted to make sure students left knowing there are others people who have similar questions about legislature.

“I want them to leave ... with the knowledge that there are other students that have other

MEGHA KARTHIKEYAN | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Post doctoral fellow Lucila Figueroa speaking at the teach-in.

questions, and if they're uncomfortable with the policies that are coming from Washington to let them know that they aren’t alone,” Leblang said.

Leblang also said he hopes to see more of these types of events

in the future.

“I’m a political scientist so any time you get people interested, active and engaged in talking about politics, I’m all in favor of it,” Leblang said.

Delegate revises controversial financial aid bill Student leader calls this a ‘victory for students,’ some groups still oppose amended bill KATJA CRESANT | STAFF WRITER Del. David Albo (R-Springfield) has revised HB 1410 — a bill meant to limit out-of-state enrollment and the allocation of tuition dollars going towards financial aid programs at Virginia’s public universities. The revision was read in front of committee for the first time Friday.

The revisions allow for a higher percentage of out-of-state student enrollment than the original bill. It also requires Virginia public universities with more than 30 percent out-of-state enrollment to put remaining tuition revenue towards in-state students’ financial aid.

This differs from the original bill, which aimed to prohibit any in-state tuition revenue from going towards financial aid and a maximum of five percent of out-of-state tuition revenue from going towards financial aid for non-Virginian students. These requirements were removed in the amended bill.

Last week, University President Teresa Sullivan called HB 1410 “a cause for concern,” noting that the clause restricting the amount of out-of-state tuition that could be used for financial aid “pulls the rug out from under AccessUVA.”

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Del. Albo credited the bill’s revision to compromise.

AccessUVA guarantees the University will meet 100 percent of admitted students’ demonstrated financial need. The purpose of this program is to make sure the best-qualified candidates have the opportunity to study at the University, regardless of financial status.

“U.Va. remains firmly committed to AccessUVA as one of the

University's valuable tools to better ensure access and affordability for our students,” University Deputy Spokesperson Matt Charles said in an email statement.

However, he declined to comment further on HB 1410, citing University practice not to speak on pending legislation.

Second-year College student Zaakir Tameez, director of state

relations and legislative affairs for Student Council, said in an email to The Cavalier Daily that he was shocked when he read the first draft of Albo’s bill.

“The bill threatened to shatter AccessUVA — the program that allows so many low-income students to attend this University,” Tameez said. “We knew this bill was dangerous to so many of the students that Student Council is elected to serve.”

Student Council passed a resolution in opposition to HB 1410.

According to Tameez, a large coalition of student leaders from a variety of organizations across Grounds came together to lobby to change the language in HB 1410. Groups including United for Undergraduate Socioeconomic Diversity and the Minority Rights Coalition organized a phone bank, an email writing campaign and a petition with nearly 1,000 signatures that was sent to the subcommittee that handled the bill.

UFUSED could not be reached for comment and MRC did not return a request for comment.

Albo voluntarily withdrew the financial aid ban from HB 1410 Monday. Tameez called it “a victo-

ry for students.”

Albo also agreed to raise the cap on out-of-state students from 25 percent to 30 percent. In an email to The Cavalier Daily, he cited compromise as the determining factor for the 30 percent cap, but said he did not know how integral student lobbying was to the bill revision.

“I wanted 25 percent, but agreed to a higher [number],” Albo said.

According to Albo, the compromise was also reached by “trying to find a way to keep tuition low and limit the excessive number of out of state students in a way that U.Va. and W&M [the College of William and Mary] can live with.”

Tameez said some student groups are not entirely satisfied with the revised version of the bill, and will continue to oppose it. The amended language still complicates the tuition process for any out-of-state student over the 30 percent cap.

The amended bill passed the House of Delegates Tuesday with 97 votes. The Virginia State Senate will now consider the proposed legislation.

THE CAVALIER DAILY

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No. 12 men’s basketball takes on Virginia Tech Cavaliers travel to Blacksburg for round two of Commonwealth Clash EMMA D’ARPINO | STAFF WRITER Round two of the Commonwealth Clash is set to take place Sunday, as No.12 Virginia heads to Blacksburg to take on Virginia Tech (16-6, 5-5 ACC).

The Cavaliers (18-5, 8-3 ACC) are coming off a big bounce-back win Monday against Louisville, in which Virginia defeated the No. 4 team in the nation by 16 points.

The game marked Virginia’s second victory of the season against the Cardinals (19-5, 7-4 ACC) and it was the most recent win of four-straight for the Cavaliers in this matchup.

“We just played good basketball,”coach Tony Bennett said. “We knew after the Syracuse game, we had to come home and play because every game is significant at this stage in ACC play. I think we felt the importance of it, as you do every game.”

Although Virginia trailed by two points at halftime, the Cavaliers proceeded to go on a 22-5 run in the second half that Louisville could not respond to.

Senior guard London Perrantes — who is averaging 12.2 points per game — led his team in scoring with 18 points. Junior forward Isaiah Wilkins also had a big night, recording his first collegiate double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Not only did Wilkins put up great numbers for Virginia, but his mentality was largely responsible for energizing his team.

“I feel like I’ve been that guy since

I got here,” Wilkins said. “I’ve always had energy in some way, shape or form. I wear my heart on my sleeve, and that’s who I am.”

Wilkins was one of three of Virginia’s big men to make a solid contribution to the win, with sophomore Jack Salt and redshirt freshman Mamadi Diakite also having big nights.

“I felt like we needed rim protection because people are trying to attack us off the dribble,” Bennett said.

“To have Jack [Salt] back there and then Mamadi [Diakite] and Isaiah [Wilkins] — that can clean up some mistakes. I thought there were some big plays where maybe they did get into our paint, but we were bothering them defensively. That was good.”

Although Diakite hasn’t seen much playing time, he has tried to cash in on his opportunities.

“I’ve learned a lot from playing and not playing in games,” Diakite said. “I have the mindset when I’m not playing to get more focused and even better. I’m ready to go the second they call me … before you step up on that court you have to be ready to play.”

Having success from both their forwards and guards will give the Cavaliers confidence as they prepare for the Hokies, whom they dominated with a 71-48 win less than two weeks ago.

“The thing that hurt us most was that our turnover rate was way too high for as slow of a game as that

was,” Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams said after the loss. “22 percent of the time we gave the ball to them without a shot, and that’s mathematically incredibly hard to overcome.”

Despite the Cavaliers’ powerful win, road games in the ACC have proved to be grueling challenges. Virginia is familiar with this, with two of their three conference losses being away games. To add to the difficulty of playing on the road for Virginia, Virginia Tech has shown it is very comfortable playing in Blacksburg — boasting a 12-1 record at Cassell Coliseum.

Bennett knows the intensity each game in the ACC holds, and he constantly reminds his team of that.

“Because everybody’s capable of knocking each other off in this league, I said, ‘Every game, you’re playing for your basketball season,’” Bennett said. “Now we’re getting to the second half and every game has major significance for a lot of reasons.

Embrace that, appreciate it and play that way, and then we’ll pick up no matter what happens.”

The situation for the game Sunday is similar to when Virginia faced Virginia Tech on the road last year, and although the Cavaliers were favored as the better team, they lost to the Hokies in a 68-70 game.

Senior forward Zach LeDay had a big presence in that game last year, recording 22 points. LeDay — who is leading the Hokies in scoring this season with an average of 15.9 points

RICHARD DIZON | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Junior forward Isaiah Wilkins recorded his first career double-double Monday night.

per game — also managed to get 12 points and six rebounds in the first matchup against Virginia.The Hokies — who are putting up an average of 79.7 points a game — are also very capable of generating offense through senior guard Seth Allen and sophomore guard Ahmed Hill, with each averaging 12.5 points per game.

Thus, with vengeance on their mind and a home crowd to cheer

them on, Virginia Tech will make for a very challenging opponent for the Cavaliers.

Tipoff in Blacksburg is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Following the match, Virginia will prepare for one of the toughest weeks of its season as it hosts No. 18 Duke Wednesday night and then travels to No. 8 North Carolina Saturday.

No. 15 Virginia opens season against No. 5 Loyola Virginia begins new era under Lars Tiffany RAUL SHAH | SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR

COURTESY VIRGINIA ATHLETICS

Tiffany’ first game with U.Va. is Saturday.

After a long and eventful offseason, the No. 15 Virginia men’s lacrosse team will finally play in its season opener this Saturday in a highly-anticipated matchup against one of the top teams in the country — No. 5 Loyola.

After 24 seasons with former coach Dom Starsia leading the Cavaliers, the men’s lacrosse team will have a new leader this season, with coach Lars Tiffany taking the reins.

The former Brown University coach will give the team a new look, bringing his up-tempo, fast paced system to Charlottesville.

Virginia has spent the offseason conditioning and getting ready to play a full season in this new system, and Tiffany said it has progressed well.

“Our practices are very fast, very up-tempo,” Tiffany said. “We go so

fast in practice we don’t need to do sprints at the end, and I’ve seen the difference between the guys doing drills in October, versus doing drills now in February … they’re not [just] surviving the drill — they’re thriving in sort of these tougher drills.”

Tiffany said the Virginia players have worked hard to get comfortable with the up-tempo pace.

“They’ve been trying to embrace it since day one,” Tiffany said. “There have been moments where they revert back to old habits, old ways … [but] that’s natural.”

However, Tiffany said that the scrimmages on Virginia’s schedule have allowed the team to work out the kinks of the new system.

“I’m glad we had a few scrimmages — not all sports have scrimmages and I’m glad we had a few to kind of get through some of that rust,” Tiffa-

ny said. “The last scrimmage we had against Maryland, we actually got to see more of a consistent effort … that was a good step and a lot of good buy in that day.”

Tiffany also noted his team is enthusiastic for the start of the season.

“Emotionally, the excitement is here, and we’re ready,” Tiffany said.

Tiffany talked about how although the starting goalie for the team will probably be junior goalie Will Railey, the position is not set in stone.

“We still have a couple more days of practice here,” Tiffany said. “We have a depth chart … and [it] changes based on … practice.

Tiffany was quick to state that he doesn’t need perfection from his goalie — he just wants consistency and positivity.

“We don’t need [perfection], we

don’t need greatness,” Tiffany said. “I just need [consistency], and I need a positive mental attitude.”

During the preseason, Tiffany said that Virginia had often not been at 100 percent come match time.

“We practice so hard that we’re not always in great shape by Saturday’s scrimmage, and that’s intentional,” Tiffany said.

He stated that his team had practiced a bit slower to avoid being burnt out for the actual match in preparation for Saturday’s season opener..

Though he said it hasn’t been easy — especially for a coach that loves to practice as hard as possible at all time — he knows it’s for the good of the team.

Virginia will take on Loyola in Baltimore, Md. Saturday at 1 p.m. to kick off the season.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2017

www.cavalierdaily.com • SPORTS

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Women’s basketball takes on No. 16 Miami on road Virginia aims to keep NCAA Tournament hopes alive against ranked opponent ALEC DOUGHERTY | SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR

CALLIE COLLINS | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Freshman guard Dominique Toussaint earned ACC Freshman of the Week honors.

It has been a season of many ups and downs for the Virginia women’s basketball team. But, with its goal of making the NCAA Tournament still in reach, the team is looking to get on a roll at the end of its season.

The Cavaliers (15-8, 4-6 ACC) trav-

el to Coral Gables, Fla. Thursday to take on the Miami Hurricanes (176, 6-5 ACC) for its next challenge.

Last week’s two game slate was a microcosm of Virginia’s boom-orbust season, with the team winning an overtime thriller against Geor-

gia Tech Thursday before losing to a dominant Duke squad Sunday.

Problems arose when the Cavaliers let up a large second half lead to the Yellow Jackets due to turnovers.

“I thought we played very well in the first half against Georgia Tech,” coach Joanne Boyle said. “But [in the second half], we got stagnant and did not do well moving the ball, so we struggled to score.”

The turnover issues carried over to Virginia’s matchup against Duke.

“In the Duke game, again, we came out of the gates okay, but they caused turnovers with their zone,” Boyle said. “I think the theme goes back to taking care of the ball and getting movement against the zone.”

The Cavaliers average 65.5 points per game but could only muster 51 points against Duke and needed overtime to get 65 points against Georgia Tech against some tough zones. Boyle said she always preaches to her team that defense creates offense, and the Cavaliers have taken that message to heart in trying to improve.

“I just want to be able to shut down their key players, keep them from scoring [and] make them have a worse shooting percentage,” freshman guard Dominique Toussaint said. “I think that’s going to

lead [to] better rebounding on the defensive end, which will lead [to] offensive scores.”

Though she is only a freshman, Toussaint has settled nicely into a starting role with the Cavaliers, and she has seen her game steadily improve with increasing play time.

Her team-leading 16 points against Georgia Tech and 10 points against Duke earned her ACC Freshman of the Week honors — an accolade that Cavalier freshman guard Jocelyn Willoughby won the week before.

Boyle has found two reliable starters in Toussaint and Willoughby — who are both only in their freshman years. This will bode well for not just the future, but also for the rest of this season. “[Toussaint and Willoughby] have played a lot of minutes from day one, and they’re growing,” Boyle said. “Any time you can give young [players] minutes, they can mature, and you hope they can learn from mistakes and see success.”

Maturity and experience will be invaluable for the freshman duo as they take on a high-energy Miami team on the road. The Hurricanes hung tight with the ACC frontrunner Florida State in a close 8166 loss, and before that rattled off three-consecutive wins.

“Miami is one of the more athletic teams in the conference — they want to make [the game] a track meet,” Boyle said. “We need to keep the game at half court but still push up tempo. It’s more of taking care of the ball, limiting turnovers and keeping them to one shot.”

The turnover battle may be the deciding factor in the game. Although the Hurricanes force 18.4 turnovers per game, they also give the ball up 16.7 times per game.

Virginia’s ability to exploit this weakness, along with limiting its own mistakes, could make for a Cavalier upset.

The Cavaliers will need to play at a high level to beat many of the teams they face in the final few weeks of the regular season — knowing an NCAA Tournament bid could be in jeopardy if they slip up. This sense of urgency could fuel the Cavaliers as they face some tough assignments.

“Going into the tournament you just have to have consistent play, and you have to go out each night to try to build some momentum going into the tournament,” Toussaint said. “We’ve just got to pick it up,” Tipoff against Miami is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday in Coral Gables, Fla.

‘Can I Kick It’ offers promising lineup The Southern shines much-needed spotlight on local rap talent ROSE MONTGOMERY | SENIOR WRITER Charlottesville’s rap scene, though promising, remains largely unexplored by students and locals alike. Tonight, the Student Hip-Hop Organization promotes hip-hop culture with its local hip-hop showcase, “Can I Kick It?”. Held at The Southern Cafe and Music Hall, the showcase will feature the local talents of Keese, J-Willz, Sondai and Danny L’z.

SHHO has supported local acts in the past, but this event stands out for its heavy spotlight on up-andcoming artists from the Charlottesville area. Audiences are guaranteed a positive, high-energy show given the sheer talent of the rappers, whose unique flows and vivid lyricism will easily light up The Southern.

Though these artists are relatively under the radar, their tracks speak for themselves. A quick perusal of Keese’s Soundcloud presents him as a confident wordsmith with a passion for hip-hop. With his recently

released EP “False Hope", Keese brings plenty of fresh material to this showcase. His lyrical focus on personal hardship and ambition will undoubtedly capture the audience’s attention.

J-Willz also demonstrates new heat in the form of his latest project “Raw Gold.” Known as “Virginia’s Golden Child,” his easy flow and R&B fusion make him a distinct musical force.

When asked by SHHO about his artistic purpose, J-Willz replied, “I want to be like a Fetty Wap. Everywhere. I wanna be like a Drake. I wanna be on the radio.”

Through this showcase, SHHO shares J-Willz’s talents with the Charlottesville community, getting him one step closer to his goals.

As another refreshing addition to the line-up, Sondai offers a sound that is characterized by his individualism and energy. His dynamic beats and clever verses translate

into exceedingly captivating tracks for listeners to enjoy. Eager fans can look out for his upcoming album “Wallflower,” which is set to release in mid-March.

“The content is synonymous with my growth as a person in general and my growth as an artist,” Sondai said to SHHO. With his music, Danny L’z delivers classic vibes, clean samples and striking imagery sure to engage audiences — but his penchant for storytelling shines as his most memorable attribute. His commentary on life in Charlottesville paints him as laid-back and relatable in a way that attracts listeners.

By shining a spotlight on these local rappers, SHHO’s “Can I Kick It?” will provide a much-needed platform for their unmistakable skills. Tickets can be bought online or at the door. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and the show starts at 8:00 p.m.

COURTESY JWILLZ

J-Willz is one of four rappers to be featured in The Southern’s showcase “Can I Kick It?”.

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THE CAVALIER DAILY

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT • www.cavalierdaily.com

Immortality of written words ‘Faulkner: Life and Works’ explores the legacy of first writer-in-residence at U.Va. DAN GOFF | ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR As Junot Díaz finishes his time as the University’s writer-in-residence, the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library winds back the clock 60 years to highlight the first writer-in-residence at the University — the prolific and enigmatic William Faulkner. “Faulkner: Life and Works” is an immersive exhibition detailing the author’s history both on- and off-Grounds. The exhibit opened Feb. 6 and will remain open to the public until July 7.

One of the most prominent components of the exhibition is a display containing copies of a number of Faulkner's more-famous novels. First editions of each work paired with brief summaries of the fiction and, in some special cases, handwritten manuscripts of the novels’ first drafts fill a large case in the center of the small room.

Even for those unfamiliar with Faulkner’s work, there is something thrilling about seeing the first efforts of one of America’s best known-authors, painstakingly written out in dark blue print. An added layer of interest is that some of these manuscripts were written while Faulkner was the writer-in-residence at the University — from 1957 until his sudden death in 1962.

Surprisingly, the only lacking

element of “Faulkner: Life and Works” is a more in-depth exploration of the author’s time at the University — most of the exhibition focuses on his life before his residency. Faulkner only visited the University in the twilight of his life

when nearly all of his major works had already been published. As a result, the exhibition feels more like a celebration of Faulkner as an author rather than an examination of Faulkner within the context of the University.

COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

A new library exhibition explores the life of esteemed writer William Faulkner.

It is tempting to claim Faulkner as one of the University’s own, but the school’s role in his life was tangential at best. Much the same is true of Edgar Allan Poe — despite the mini-museum on the Range and the (now-extinct) Eddy’s Tavern, Poe spent less than a year at the University and spent a good chunk of that time accruing massive gambling debts. The University has a residential community named after Faulkner, but the degree to which the man and the school really influenced each other is a question not answered by the exhibition.

The exhibition succeeds in providing an exhaustive, engaging inspection of the most recurring and important themes in Faulkner’s work. Perhaps the most relevant of these — both when he was alive and to this day — is race. Accordingly, the exhibition has an entire case dedicated to explaining Faulkner’s conflicted ideas about the issues of slavery, Jim Crow laws and segregation.

Race was inextricably tied to Faulkner from birth — named after his great-grandfather, a Confederate soldier, Faulkner was raised on stories of the Civil War. In his novels, he adopted what was seen as a middle-of-the-road approach

to the issue of slavery that alienated his fellow Southerners but underwhelmed the more progressive North.

According to the exhibition, he described slavery as the South’s “founding sin,” but he also criticized the North for failing to consider the perspective of the financially ruined Southern states. These dichotomies — slavery and freedom, wealth and ruin, morality and depravity — occupy some of Faulkner’s most famous stories and haunt his most unforgettable characters.

Despite its minor shortcomings, the exhibition does a wonderful job of shining light on Faulkner’s deep and remarkable wisdom. The best encouragement to attend is to provide a taste of that wisdom, which the exhibit features in the shape of a quote from Faulkner’s 1950 Nobel Prize speech.

“I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail,” Faulkner said in the speech. “He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things.”

Lady Gaga jumps off edge ‘Zero Sugar’ halftime show could have been worse PAUL ROHRBACH | SENIOR WRITER Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl halftime show was surprisingly palatable, especially given the rumors that she would deliver a “definitive” statement on politics. Still, the sheer amount of praise thrown at her has effectively triggered the collective gag reflex of music highbrows everywhere.

The high school years of many Super Bowl viewers had been unwittingly intoxicated

by Gaga’s postmodern cocktail of Dadaism and glam rock. By comparison, the muted hedonism of Gaga’s performance Sunday offered a sweeter aftertaste than Pepsi’s “Zero Sugar” — the sponsor of the halftime show.

The flashy, conspicuously pantless costumes and show-stealing microphone holder succeeded — at least compared to the meat dresses from last year.

For a singer whose past artistic statements have been

intermittently inscrutable, absurd and horrifying, the return to Guthrie’s wholesome hymn “This Land Is Your Land” gave hope for the nation during a tough period. Gaga’s adequate musicianship and amateur Cirque du Soleil stunt work (P!nk, for the record, does it better) were perfectly suited to an audience ready to be wowed by satisfactory things.

The Super Bowl as a whole is an ideal platform for Gaga — her forceful, unsentimental maximalism would be suffocated by any smaller venue. Her attempts at sentiment in the show, though, were almost as laughable as her effort to demonstrate proficiency at the piano during “A Million Reasons.” Gaga was in her truest element flashing a keytar during the show’s aggressive rendition of “Just Dance.”

Though Gaga’s performance has been lauded as “empower-

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Lady Gaga performed adequately, if not superbly at the Super Bowl halftime show.

ing,” viewers could question how relevant her self-proclaimed goal “to make you feel good” is in this day and age. A parallel question, of course, is whether it is reasonable to expect something meaningful to be featured

in the Super Bowl’s orgy of late capitalism.

The tradition of glam rock has always been more concerned with obscuring or deconstructing meaning, as opposed to finding it. David Bowie, for in-

stance, espoused a profound aimlessness, once remarking, “I’m always amazed that people take what I say seriously. I don’t even take what I am seriously.”

Gaga’s performance, like Bowie’s canonical Ziggy Stardust act, though absolutely galvanising, was never remotely purposeful.

Gaga, in many ways, is best understood as consumerism’s own coping mechanism. As the ratings show, she admirably succeeded in her role. Though music highbrows, as mentioned earlier, may point to Prince’s, U2’s or Beyonce’s transgressive halftime shows as enduring classics, the ratings — in their infinite wisdom — seem to lean towards Gaga.

Sitting comfortably as the second-most viewed halftime show in the Super Bowl’s history, Gaga’s “Zero Sugar” show packed enough flavor for a marketable quorum of viewers.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2017 COMMENT OF THE DAY “The quiet ones, who want to get the education that has become so expensive, suffer the most. Students should study. Quietly.”

Law75 in response to Ledit “U.Va. students must speak up on future president”

LEAD EDITORIAL

Excessive arrests are unwarranted Police departments should consider using alternative law enforcement measures

O

ver 12 million people are arrested in the United States each year. While arrest has been a fundamental tool of the American criminal justice system, the detrimental impacts of an arrest on the suspect, their family and their community are not necessarily warranted by the severity of the crime. The Charlottesville and University police departments should work closely with community groups and service providers to use non-coercive measures and fewer arrests to deal with the kinds of disruptive behavior police are usually tasked with solving.

Arrests have traditionally been valued as a way to let communities know the identity of a suspect and to assure them the suspect won’t do more harm while under cus-

tody. However, a large portion of the people arrested don’t threaten public safety. Being arrested primarily makes them more likely to become repeat offenders, without remedying the underlying causes of the actual infraction.

There are many alternatives which police departments could explore and implement. The most obvious solutions involve low-level offenders. Richmond, for example, is one of many cities with several crisis drop-off centers. These dropoff centers emphasize an individual’s safety and recovery, rather than punishment. Instead of resolving non-violent immediate problems by making an arrest, police officers could use these drop-off centers as an alternative resource. Moreover, police could expand the use

of citations and summonses for a broader range of minor offenses.

Limiting arrests isn’t simply a matter of restricting what a police officer can do. There needs to be active participation by community members in identifying public safety goals and developing alternative ways for achieving them. At the very least, police departments should reevaluate which arrests are necessary and which are not.

While this is not a full, systemic solution, this is something to consider in order to decrease the number of arrests and to generally improve the current state of the criminal justice system.

THE CAVALIER DAILY THE CAVALIER DAILY The Cavalier Daily is a financially and editorially independent news organization staffed and managed entirely by students of the University of Virginia.

The opinions expressed in The Cavalier Daily are not necessarily those of the students, faculty, staff or administration of the University of Virginia. Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the editorial board. Cartoons and columns represent the views of the authors. The managing board of The Cavalier Daily has sole authority over and responsibility for all content.

No part of The Cavalier Daily or The Cavalier Daily online edition may be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without the written consent of the editor-in-chief.

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OPINION • www.cavalierdaily.com

ACADEMIC BOYCOTT OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS MISGUIDED Although protest has noble intentions, it would likely do more harm than good

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resident Trump’s executive order banning citizens of seven countries from enterin g the U.S. has generated widespread blowback from protesters around the globe. As part of this resistance, thousands of professors and academics recently signed on to a petition for an academic boycott of conferences held in the United States, supposedly in solidarity with individuals affected by Trump’s executive decision. The justification for such a drastic move is not unreasonable. The ban has driven a hard barrier through what were open borders, leaving some unable to enter the country and other’s unwilling to leave for fear that they will not be able to return. However, I feel that the possible benefits to be accrued from the boycott are both limited in scope and highly doubtful in their likelihood of fruition.

Proponents of the boycott argue that it is not just a sym-

bolic gesture but an act of solidarity for those whose lives have truly been upended by the ban, and feel it would be wrong to travel to the U.S. when their colleagues are unable to do so.

Furthermore, they hope this act will push American universities toward a more vocal and solid opposition to the travel ban. However, it’s questionable whether this will increase the resolve of universities to oppose the ban. Already, 27,000 academics, among them 51 Nobel Laureates, have put their names to a separate petition opposing the executive order. It’s also possible that such an aggressive move will instigate infighting in the international academic community at a time when unity is needed.

Looking beyond these immediate concerns and assuming the boycott inspires universities to line up as one in their opposition to the ban, I still find it hard to foresee any meaningful

change resulting from the ban.

It’s unlikely that Trump gives so much weight to the views of academics he would consider reversing himself, were the ban not already blocked by judicial decree. Universities are already one of the areas where reasoned opposition to the ban will come

Moreover, this boycott will serve to further isolate academics that are stranded in the U.S. and unable to leave the country due to the possibility that they may not be allowed back in. It is an outlet for those looking to vent their anger, not a move

The administration is intent on curtailing our relations with the outside world; a boycott will help them build a wall between us and our foreign counterparts. from. As one opponent of the boycott notes, at times like this “universities have the potential to encourage critical ideas and organize resistance,” and isolating them from the international community will stifle global cooperation at a time when it is desperately needed.

toward a lasting solution. Those looking to fight against the intent of the order should focus on doing everything possible to make participation in conferences possible for those unable to physically travel. Video conferencing and web-based participation are not the same as a

physical presence, but still foster connections and allow for the continued flow of ideas across national boundaries.

The boycott is intended as a protest, and in that light it can be seen as an admirable demonstration of support for those affected. But should the boycott become widespread, the eventual outcome would be an insulated world anathema to the free exchange of ideas. In times of division we must emphasize building new connections and maintaining those we have, not reducing them. The administration is intent on curtailing our relations with the outside world; a boycott will help them build a wall between us and our foreign counterparts.

ALEX MINK is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily.

He can be reached at a.mink@ cavalierdaily.com.

ADDRESSING HIGH TEXTBOOK COSTS Letter to the Editor from U.Va. Library

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r. Berman and Mr. Sequeira rightly highlight the local and national impacts of an issue the University takes seriously — affordable access to required course materials.

Both editorialists clearly did their research, and the data are unambiguous: the costs of textbooks and other required course materials directly affect course enrollments, grades and graduation rates for all students, but with a particularly acute impact on students already facing economic challenges. Proprietary textbooks also prevent faculty from adapting, updating, remixing and otherwise improving on their content.

When the Library began exploring this issue in the fall, librarians spoke with University students who told disturbing stories about the impact of textbook costs — courses they dropped, grades that suffered, even entire courses of study they avoided, all because of high costs of materials.

We were determined to help ease this burden. We began by looking at how students already

to be having a disparate impact from course to course, and a relatively minor impact on access

Textbooks aren’t the only course materials students need. Faculty make robust use of library electronic materials — journal articles, e-books — in Collab, potentially saving students substantial sums on printed course packs.

use the Library to access course materials. The Library identified 107 textbooks from our collection available on reserve at the Library during the spring 2016 semester. Of the 68 books for undergraduate courses, more than half were never checked out. Demand for the remaining titles was highly variable, from fewer than five check-outs for 13 texts, to 63 checkouts for a single text. The current approach seems

overall (though the impact may be substantial for each individual student we serve). We need to find ways to do better.

Textbooks aren’t the only course materials students need.

Faculty make robust use of library electronic materials — journal articles, e-books — in Collab, potentially saving students substantial sums on printed course packs. For many disciplines, however, at least the

introductory courses are still taught with textbooks, and will be for the foreseeable future.

Much more can be done.

Armed with the data from our research, we are exploring a range of options, such as including increased purchases of e-book versions of frequently-assigned textbooks, with unlimited simultaneous users, reaching out to faculty to raise awareness of Library course reserve services, which provide direct links to online materials already in the Library’s collections (books, articles, software and more) and increasing promotion of the adoption and creation of open resources — which are free to download, edit and share.

On the last point, Mr. Sequeira rightly points to national and international collaborations on open source software as a model for open learning materials.

Indeed, there is already a movement afoot to support educational resources specifically designed

Want to respond?

Submit a letter to the editor to opinion@cavalierdaily.com

to be affordable or free, accessible and reusable: Open Educational Resources. Our peer institutions are investing time, money and expertise in OER both as an answer to unsustainable increases in textbook and course material costs and as a way to free teachers to experiment with teaching materials. The hope is that this will spark innovation in the field in the same way that open source software has led to an explosion of innovation in software. We hope to join our peers soon with services and programs that encourage wider adoption of OER. We welcome the help and support of the University student community.

BRANDON BUTLER is the Director of Information Policy DAVE GHAMANDI is Open Publishing Librarian ELLEN RAMSEY is Director, Scholarly Repository Services

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2017

www.cavalierdaily.com • OPINION

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STEM CELL RESEARCH MUST REMAIN IN FOREGROUND It is unclear where stem cell research will fall in the Trump administration’s line of immediacy

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s President Trump’s cabinet ossifies into its final form, several Americans predict that many policy consistencies of the past are now at risk. One place of consistency is the landscape of stem cell research. The impacts Trump’s administration might have on biomedical science are still uncertain. Indeed, some cabinet appointments have incited fear in Americans who rely on stem cell therapy or perform research or work at institutions where stem cell research is a vital component of grant monies and general revenue.

While uniformly and staunchly conservative, the Trump administration must ensure continuity within stem cell research not only to protect jobs and research institutions from bankruptcy, but to also preserve a therapy that might actually be a panacea for a gamut of maladies.

Stem cells, while controversial and ethically precarious to the public, should be researched and ultimately implemented as a therapeutic for patients that simply have no alternative. Specifically, stem cells are opponents against embryonic stem cells, which no longer account

for the majority of stem cell research. Currently, the majority is made up of induced pluripotent stem cells, somatic cells which

the cells back into embryonic stem cells.

However, the question arises as to why embryonic stem cells

On a macroscale, stem cells provide a conduit through which to build full pancreas for diabetic patients or hearts for heart failure patients, from the ground up. can regress to an embryonic state through regenerative and genetic engineering. With the seminal work of Drs. Takahash and Yamanaka, the ethical rigors associated with embryonic stem cells need not be dealt with. iPSCs are actually adult somatic cells — like those found on your skin — which revert back to their embryonic state through transcription factors or proteins necessary to develop or progress the fate or state of a cell to a new state. In this case, the Yamanaka factors are four transcription factors are those necessary to combine with adult somatic cells in order to revert

are so insatiably invaluable and why they have immense potential to solve the world’s most enigmatic medical maladies. Indeed, after a zygote forms, the subsequent cells follow a pathway based upon environmental and biological cues similar to how a student follows a pathway to become a doctor, lawyer or businessman. Stem cells are categorized according to the broadness of cell they can become — embryonic stem cells are the most versatile whereas adult stem cells, like those found in your bone marrow, are comparatively discrete in their differentiation scope. So, with

embryonic stem cells, appropriate cues, and research, we could theoretically program these stem cells to become pancreas, heart, brain or liver cells. On a macroscale, stem cells provide a conduit through which to build full pancreas for diabetic patients or hearts for heart failure patients, from the ground up.

Essentially, with stem cells, we can turn the tide in a seemingly perennial battle with virulent pathologies.

And while iPSCs can adopt the embryonic state, they are not as versatile as their embryonic counterparts since the Yamanaka factors have a finite potential to regress the adult somatic cells back. Additionally, if iPSCs are derived from another source and then implanted into a human, the host body could fight back against the iPSC, which it will recognize as a foreign agent, causing unwanted immunologic ramifications.

Granted, while the discovery of iPSC was a phenomenal one, there is a long road ahead in order to make them a mainstream therapy and to ensure that they are morphologically, molecularly, and functionally identical to

their embryonic counterparts.

During the Obama administration, research institutions like the National Institute of Health were not only provided the opportunity to research using stem cells, but were also less impeded than they were in the Bush administration in the quantity and quality of research they were able to undertake.

With the new administration, it has become necessary that they scrap their conservative agenda against stem cells and biomedical research by demonstrating to the public they care (and see) their constituents as people in need of stem cell research. The administration must recognize the ultimate paradox that the only way to defeat unscrupulous stem cell utilization is to fund research to find novel ways to circumvent such controversy.

SEAN SEQUEIRA is an Opinion columnist for the Cavalier Daily.

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

JEFFERSON’S COMPLICATED LEGACY

Although U.Va. founder’s legacy is complicated, overarching ideals established for our young nation should not be dismissed

L

ast semester, after students and faculty signed a letter asking University President Teresa Sullivan to stop pointing to Jefferson as a “moral compass” following an email she sent to students on Nov. 9, the discussion that ensued took on national proportions. The question of the value of quoting Jefferson in the wake of Trump’s election to the presidency became representative of a wider conversation about language in American discourse. Reactions to the letter broke along the same tired lines.

Conservatives denounced the student and faculty signatories as products of a “politically correct” culture that seeks to eradicate the monuments of a storied past under a heap of 21st century moral scrutiny. Liberals rose in defense of the letter and pointed to the horrors that Jefferson committed both politically and personally, complicit in the expansion of slavery and indefensible in his ownership of slaves. After a period of reflection, I think it is of paramount importance that the University community acknowledge just how morally tainted Thomas Jefferson is in light of his well-documented abuses.

But I believe it is equally important that we not discard the wisdom of the man who, monstrous flaws and

all, contributed most to the codification of American ideals in our system of government. Now more than ever do we need to be grounded in the clarity of his vision.

Those who wrote for The Cavalier Daily on this topic last semester adopted cogent if maximalist posi-

racism or slaveholding as people did back then is deplorably apologist, much of their analysis is correct and not mutually exclusive. Jefferson sought to be an embodiment of Enlightenment philosophy and adhere to the natural rights social contract theory. These American

The story of Jefferson is that of a man who owned slaves and was instrumental in shaping the values of the world’s greatest experiment in self-government.

tions, and they each helped frame the discussion. Samantha Clarkson and Sharon Stein argued that the University can no longer afford to selectively embrace Jefferson’s legacy, and that it is better for the sake of fostering “honest conversations about our national and institutional histories” to challenge Jefferson’s legacy rather than defend it. Prof.

Robert Turner claims Jefferson contributed to the cause of human freedom, was a “reluctant racist” and makes the familiar argument that he was a man of his time.

Though the idea of relativizing

principles have never been more eloquently distilled than through Jefferson’s pen, in the opening sentences of the Declaration of Independence, or in the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. The country fell short of that lofty vision for the exact reasons that Jefferson can be condemned without qualification: blatant, horrible, mean-spirited hypocrisy.

The story of Jefferson is the story of America. We are a nation, guided in large part by the moral power of this irredeemable man’s words, “conceived in liberty and dedicat-

ed to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Yet we were and are hopelessly far from making that promissory note come true. It came at the cost of hypocrisy, but that philosophical lodestar empowered Americans to strive to achieve a more perfect union. It provided a renewing source of validation for every generation to expand the definition of freedom and citizenship. The story of Jefferson is that of a man who owned slaves and was instrumental in shaping the values of the world’s greatest experiment in self-government.

The story of America is of a country that owned slaves, fought a civil war to keep them, segregated the newly freed slaves into de facto oppression and control for 100 years after that, and still cannot come to understand that the Civil Rights Act did not erase 400 years of structural racism with the signing of a bill into law. But slowly, frustratingly, painstakingly we are getting better. As Martin Luther King, Jr. put it, “the arc of the moral universe bends towards justice.”

This optimistic outlook is fundamentally Jeffersonian. Jefferson helped set up the philosophical and institutional structure necessary for the grueling process of over two hundred years of reform that we

can now look back on, still unsatisfied but grateful for where we are.

This cannot and does not soften the harsh fact that Thomas Jefferson practiced the very tyranny he sought to eradicate. But this should not mean that University officials have to stop referring to Jefferson.

He codified the best of Enlightenment political philosophy into the moral and political cornerstone of American democracy, and we are all better off for it. If anything, his legacy and his continued presence should serve as a reminder of the complexity and difficulty that America must face if the country ever is to live out the “full meaning of its creed.” How can we ever commit ourselves to bridging the divides of the country if our solution to dealing with the troubled past is to cast it aside in disgust and not learn from its glimmers of brilliance?

OLIVIER WEISS is an Opinion columnist for the Cavalier Daily.

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

THE CAVALIER DAILY

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Telehealth center breaks down barriers U.Va. telemedicine program allows patients, practitioners to consult with specialists KATE LEWIS | HEALTH AND SCIENCE EDITOR

The University’s Karen S. Rheuban Center for Telehealth has saved Virginians over 16 million miles of travel in its more than two-decade history of combating disparities in the access and timeliness of healthcare.

Telemedicine is broadly defined as the use of advanced technologies to improve the quality of healthcare.

It allows for remote treatment or consultation between specialists and patients or other medical providers.

The University’s Telehealth Center was co-founded 22 years ago by its namesake — Dr. Karen Rheuban, who is a pediatric cardiologist in the University Health System.

The Center now provides services in over 60 specialties and subspecialties — with 152 local partners in Virginia and 22 international programs — such as the Tanzanian Women’s Global Health Initiative and a surgical case teleconference in Rwanda.

Through the Center’s partnership with the Swinfen Charitable Trust,

University Health practitioners also provide free, store-and-forward consultations for medical professionals in over 70 countries. This type of telemedicine allows practitioners to store medical images and data, send it to one of the Center’s specialists and receive feedback outside of real-time.

“There’s no billing that happens with that,” Rheuban said. “The same is true for the work we’re doing in Rwanda [and] for the work we’re doing in Uganda — this is more in support of our educational and research missions, but what we do with telemedicine is charitable here.”

The Center also provides educational services to patients and providers looking to incorporate telemedicine into their own care.

“I like to say [that] necessity is the mother of invention,” Rheuban said.

“So where our patients have need, where there are workforce shortages, where we can develop partnerships with communities across the Commonwealth of Virginia and indeed other countries as well, our goal was to be there and to find creative solutions … to support that vision.”

The Office of Telemedicine, directed by David C. Gordon, oversees the clinical operations of the Telehealth Center.

Those operations run the gamut, from neonatal and high-risk obstetric services all the way to the management of chronic diseases and end-oflife care. Two of the most-used services within that spectrum are stroke care and mental health treatment, Gordon said.

Stroke neurologists at the University’s health system are able to guide partner providers in identifying the type of stroke from which a patient is suffering whether it is caused by a blocked blood vessel or ruptured vessel in the brain — and the appropriate treatment method, such as medication that would dissolve the clot-blocking the vessel.

“If you are a rural patient and you are part of our tele-stroke program, you get clot-busting medication at the same rate that you would if you were living in Charlottesville and you showed up in our emergency department for evaluation,” Rheuban said.

“We’ve eliminated a lot of the dis-

parities in access to care through the program.”

In the future, Gordon said that the Center hopes to improve upon outcomes by equipping ambulances with iPads. Through this, a stroke neurologist can assess whether or not a patient is having a stroke even before the ambulance reaches the hospital, allowing the patient to go straight into a CT scan and receive clot-busting medication faster.

“When you’re having a stroke, time is brain,” Gordon said. “If you can administer the [drug] within a set time of three hours, then you can save lives, save limbs [and] save families incredible heartache by being able to treat the patient earlier.”

Telemedicine is also well-suited to the needs of psychiatric patients, Gordon said. Since opening, the Center has had over 28,000 tele-psychiatry encounters and decreased patient no-shows by 30 percent.

“This is a tool that makes sense for mental health providers because at the core is a personal relationship, the ability to see each other and [to] have a private conversation,” Gordon said.

“That’s a large part of what we do for kids, for adults [and] for emergency psych patients.”

With regards to expansion, Rheuban said that she has 90 new projects on the table and that the Center will stay involved in public policy decisions affecting patient access to telemedicine.

“One of the places that we have worked very vigorously is in developing strong public policies that support safe, high-quality telemedicine services,” Rheuban said. “[We are] working with the Medicaid agency, working with Medicare [and] working with the insurance companies to make sure that we create sustainable models of care that will continue to support this and that we do the right thing for our patients.”

Both Rheuban and Gordon said telemedicine has the potential to relieve many disparities in the access and timeliness of critical health care.

“Our goal is equivalency of care, and [it is] our belief that patients anywhere should have access to the care that they need,” Gordon said.

Sustainability initiative brings farm to table Student team works to create hydroponic farming systems TINA CHAI | STAFF WRITER Olesen was first introduced to hydroponic farming — a method of growing plants typically in production towers with nutrient solutions in water instead of soil — through a class in the McIntire School of Commerce.

“The class actually had nothing to do with the environment,” Olesen said. “But one of the case studies we did was on hydroponic farming and how sustainable it was. And I loved that idea so I was basically like ‘I want one.’”

Olesen, however, could not find an acceptable purchase option for the apparatus. His objective then became to create a smaller, refined hydroponic system convenient for home use.

“I looked online, and everything was so expensive and so complicated,” Olesen said. “It’s done a lot industrially, but no one’s tried to crack it at the home use level. Learning more about it, I was like ‘this stuff shouldn’t be that way.’ So I went home and decided I could do it.”

After finalizing his design at the beginning of the fall semester, Olesen formed a team with three other University students through HackCville to build a functional prototype. Soon thereafter, he applied and received

support from the Green Initiatives Funding Tomorrow. This supplied Olesen with $6,500 — the largest amount ever given to a student — to construct these systems.

“The system has a six-by-four feet area, and the idea of these systems is that they produce enough yield that you could fit 94 plants on one system,” Olesen said. “What we’ve also done is automated all of the technical measurements — pH, electrical conductivity and temperature — so, unlike other systems, it takes away all [of] the technical problems. You just read a screen, add your nutrients and go. So it’s this semi-automated hydroponic system.”

In addition to precisely calculating and automating the mechanical environment, Olesen and team members also sought to find a firstrate light source. LED Grow Lights met their expectations.

“The LED Grow Lights emit the right wavelength for photosynthesis, so it’s like it’s constantly a sunny day for the plants,” Olesen said. “Along with perfect concentration, the perfect amount of nutrients for the plant’s optimum growth is dissolved in water at the right conductivity … the metaphor I like to use is that it’s

like an IV drip to the plants; they’re loaded up on nutrients, growing 24/7.”

With such optimal environments, plants grow rapidly in hydroponic systems.

“Hydroponics itself uses 90 percent less water than conventional agriculture and produces 10-times the yield as conventional farming and soil,” Olesen said. “So you don’t use soil — you dissolve nutrients in water. And all the food can be produced without GMOs, pesticides and inorganic fertilizers.”

Olesen hopes his sustainability initiative will move beyond these hydroponic system displays, inspiring students to think about the future of food production in general.

First-year College student Sydney Williams believes these hydroponic systems have increased her knowledge pertaining to sustainability issues and preservation efforts.

“The idea of possibly having a garden in my own home wasn’t an idea I had before,” William said. “But now that I see what positive effects this project could have, I think it’s definitely a possibility.”

In the future, Olesen intends to bring his project into people’s homes.

To do this, he wants to create a company selling these hydroponic farms and to receive enough funding to supply families with these gardens, allowing them to grow food sustainably year-round.

“Every house comes with a fridge and an oven,” Olesen said. You wouldn’t think twice about spend-

ing thousands of dollars on those appliances. Why shouldn’t you just have a plug-and-go home appliance that grows all your fresh vegetables?

To have these microfarms in houses would pretty much give a new meaning to farm-to-table. That’s the future.”

COURTESY ALEXANDER OLESON

Five hydroponic displays were set up in Observatory Hill Dining Hall, Newcomb Dining Hall and Clark Hall.

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