Thursday, February 22, 2018

The Cavalier Daily Vol. 128, Issue 21

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Inspecting U.Va. Dining page 18

MATT GILLAM AND SARAH LINDAMOOD | THE CAVALIER DAILY

The Castle to go meat-free page 4

StudCo President endorsement page 11

‘Black Panther’ review page 17

THE CAVALIER DAILY

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This week in-brief

NEWS

Maggie Servais | News Editor

Student Council tables bill on consequences of an Honor or UJC charge for its members

CHRISTINA ANTON | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Chief of Cabinet Liam Wolf and Student Council President Sarah Kenny at a meeting.

Student Council discussed a four-part bill at its general body meeting Tuesday that is intended to, in part, correct numerical and categorical errors within the bylaws while also clarifying what should happen if a member of Student Council is found guilty of an Honor or UJC charge.

According to Mary Alice Kukoski, a second-year College student and chair of the Rules and Ethics Committee, there are no explicit guidelines on handling UJC and Honor charges within Student Council.

If the bill is enacted, any member of the Council found guilty of an Honor or UJC charge must immediately step down from their position on Student Council.

While the amendment would provide clarity on the issue, Ian Ware, a thirdyear College student and Student Council representative, raised concerns regarding UJC’s confidentiality policy and how that can be upheld if members are required to relinquish their position.

According to the UJC Constitution, all personally identifiable information relating to an investigation and trial will be “kept confidential to the extent permitted by law.”

Sarah Kenny, a fourth-year College student and Student Council president, addressed Ware’s concerns on UJC’s confidentiality policy.

“I think that we would just ask all members that when they go through our boot camp process they familiarize themselves with the bylaws and on their honor, if they were convicted of a UJC offense, they would take it upon themselves to remove themselves,” Kenny said.

In response to Kenny’s suggestion, Ware proposed further changes to the bill in order to ensure confidentiality. “[If] Student Council members become aware of the reasons someone was removed from Student Council, if it were a UJC charge, that they are forced to adhere to the same rules UJC members are forced to adhere to, which is that they cannot talk about the information they know about the case,” Ware said.

Due to discretionary concerns, the bill was unanimously tabled by members present. Representatives Nathan John, a third-year Batten student, Avery Gagne, a first-year College student, Josh Crane, a second-year student in the School of Continuing and Professional Studies and Cat Wyatt, fourth-year College student, were not in attendance during Tuesday’s meeting and abstained from voting on the bill by proxy. The bill will be readdressed in next Tuesday’s meeting at 6:30pm in the Newcomb South Meeting Room.

Kenny also addressed the Representative Body about a reported firearm incident at Boylan Heights, where a man displayed a firearm to bouncers after being prevented from re-entering the bar Jan. 29. The University did not issue a warning to students the night of the event which led some students to raise questions. Boylan Heights, however, lies outside of the spaces outlined in the Clery Act which would require a University-wide notification.

There remain some questions regarding the event due to conflicting reports by Charlottesville and University police, the University and Boylan Heights employees.

“Two Boylan employees shared with me their account was dramatically different than [the] University’s official statement, so we’re trying to get to the bottom of these discrepancies,” Kenny said. “I will keep you posted on next steps for holding our police departments accountable.”

Honor Committee continues discussion of proposed Informed Retraction reform The Honor Committee continued discussion Sunday of a proposed reform to the Informed Retraction process. The proposal was introduced to the Committee last weekend by Devin Rossin, a fourth-year College student and Honor Committee chair.

The new proposal would allow students to include multiple singular offenses under one IR, even if the offenses occurred under different contexts.

Under the current IR system, a student who has been reported to the Committee for an alleged Honor violation is permitted to admit to their offense and take a full two-semester leave of absence. An IR can only cover one alleged offense unless multiple offenses are clearly linked by a “single nexus of events.”

The Committee did not make any formal decision Sunday about the IR reform process but agreed to continue discussion of the potential changes at their next meeting.

The Committee briefly discussed upcoming University elections, which will be held Feb. 21-23. Voting booths established in conjunction with University Judiciary Committee and Uni-

ANDREW WALSH | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Honor Rep Christopher Benos addressed the Committee.

versity Board of Elections will be established at numerous locations throughout Grounds to increase voter turnout.

The Honor Committee's next general body meeting will be held in conjunction with the University Judiciary Committee Feb. 25 at 6:30 p.m.

City Council holds public hearing on renaming of Emancipation, Justice Parks

GEREMIA DI MARO | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Charlottesville resident Mary Carey issued a petition calling for the renaming of Emancipation and Justice Parks which inspired the public hearing Monday.

During a public hearing for the renaming of Emancipation and Justice Parks Tuesday night, the Charlottesville City Council decided that the city will seek names from the local community by putting the matter to a public vote. Councilors noted that neither Lee, Jackson nor Emancipation will be accepted as suggestions.

According to Mayor Nikuyah Walker, city staff will be opening polls for name suggestions online and sending surveys through utility bills. There will also be a suggestions-specific voice mailbox that will be checked regularly. City Manager Maurice Jones said the process of receiving the results could take up to two months.

The Council will then cull the suggestions and resubmit the top contenders to the community for a final vote.

The Council voted to remove the Lee and Jackson statues in February and September 2017, respectively, and to hold a naming contest for the parks in spring

2017. The top contenders were sent to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board for consideration in May 2017. The board then submitted its choices to the Historic Resources Committee, who offered recommendations to the Council.

In June 2017, Council opted to choose names that weren’t on a shortlist provided by members of the community, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and the Historic Resources Committee.

The Council originally decided to hold the hearing and discuss the renaming of the parks after a petition was circulated by local activist Mary Carey which called for a renaming of Emancipation Park.

City staff will soon begin soliciting names for both parks, although it is not clear when the online submission form available to the public will be launched.

However, Jones said that he hopes the first step of the process will conclude by the end of April.

www.cavalierdaily.com • NEWS

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2018

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‘Vanity Fair Confidential’ addresses sexual assault at U.Va. New episode features assault survivor Liz Seccuro, discusses fallout from ‘A Rape on Campus’ Eleanor Barto | Associate Editor The Feb. 5 season four premiere of “Vanity Fair Confidential” — a television series on Investigation Discovery that delves into crime stories covered by the magazine — brought cases of sexual assault at the University once again into the national spotlight. The episode, titled “Shadows on the Lawn,” included voiced-over narratives and first-person interviews with University alumna Liz Seccuro, who was sexually assaulted during her first year at University in 1984 and received an apology from one of her attackers 21 years later. The episode also dealt with the repercussions of the now-retracted 2014 article in Rolling Stone Magazine that told the alleged story of a University student and the gang-rape she endured at a U.Va. fraternity.

“I was being told from all over that … people were telling my story,” Seccuro said in an interview with The Cavalier Daily. “I was sort of like, ‘Well wait a minute, if anyone is going to tell my story, it should be me.’”

In 2011, Seccuro published her memoir, “Crash Into Me: A Survivor’s Search for Justice,” the same year the University underwent Title IX review for mishandling cases of sexual assault.

Seccuro is now a victim’s rights advocate, the founder of STARS (Sisters Together Assisting Rape Survivors) and she lobbies for better legislation to protect victims of violence. She spends a majority of her time speaking on college campuses, but also communicates with law firms, law enforcement agencies and the Department of Health and Human Services, among others, about her advocacy.

“I’ve been speaking up since this happened,” Seccuro said. “It wasn’t so much for me to be heard — it was in the beginning, absolutely — and then it turned very quickly into, ‘I want other people to have a voice and to see that it’s ok to speak out. I am here really for people telling their stories.”

The episode addressed many concerns over the reporting and handling of sexual assault cases. According to University Spokesperson Anthony de Bruyn, the U.Va. administration was aware of Vanity Fair’s production and coverage of these two stories.

“The University is committed to ensuring a safe, nondiscriminatory educational and work environment and takes seriously any allegation of conduct that would violate University policy,” de Bruyn said in an email to The Cavalier Daily. “The University will continue to confront sexual violence and implement substantive reforms to improve culture, prevent violence, and respond to acts of violence when they occur.”

The episode began with Securro’s story in September 2005, when she received an apology letter from the man who raped her while she was a student at the University. The letter

was signed, “Most sincerely yours, Will Beebe.”

Seccuro enrolled at the University in 1984. On Oct. 5, she attended a fraternity rush party at Phi Kappa Psi with a group of her friends. It was there that she was drugged, raped by three brothers — two of whom were later accused and one convicted — and left bloodied and unconscious.

She met with then-Dean of Students Robert Canevari almost 72 hours after the assault. Canevari informed Seccuro she could not report the incident to the Charlottesville Police Department, claiming the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity was under the jurisdiction of University Police Department. He therefore recommended she file the report internally.

Seccuro filed multiple reports with the University Police, yet Beebe transferred out of the University later that year and Seccuro’s case was shelved.

“It suddenly dawned on me that no one was going to help me,” Seccuro said in the episode.

Seccuro graduated from the University in 1988. She received Beebe’s letter 21 years after the assault.

Beebe’s admission prompted Seccuro to report him to the authorities.

She met with detectives in December 2005 and Beebe was arrested Jan. 4, 2007. Over the course of the trial process, Seccuro said she discovered ways in which the University mishandled her case, such as the Canevari falsely informing her the fraternity was under the jurisdiction of the UPD. Beebe pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated sexual battery Nov. 14, 2006.

Although the University did not formally follow up on her case, Seccuro found a community of support among students and faculty and, as an undergraduate, began to speak out about her experience.

Seccuro said she worked with a faculty member while she was a student to record anonymous audio tapes describing what happened to her and to communicate her story to the student body.

“I think that’s a really important part of U.Va. is the idea that there are all kinds of students and for each thing that we care about there was a resource,” Securro said. “I feel very grateful for the people who helped me along the way to find my small voice then.”

The episode also dealt with a more recent controversy on Grounds — the publishing of the 2014 Rolling Stone Magazine article “A Rape on Campus,” detailing the alleged gang-rape of a student referred to as “Jackie” at the same Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house Seccuro was assaulted in.

The episode addressed the emotional reactions on Grounds to such

a visceral story published on such a high-profile platform.

“You saw Greek life come to a complete halt,” said Laura French, a reporter for WTVR, during the program. “You saw protests. People were enraged. Everyone joined in against the University at that time.”

In January 2015, an investigation by the CPD found no evidence of the rape alleged in the article. In April 2015, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism published a report identifying many factual errors in the article. Rolling Stone subsequently retracted the story.

Former Assoc. Dean of Students Nicole Eramo, who is pictured and mentioned in the article, filed a $7.5 million defamation lawsuit against the author of the article, Sabrina Erdely, Rolling Stone Magazine and its publishing company, Wenner Media Inc. in May 2015. The case was settled in March 2017, after the jury unanimously sided with Eramo and granted her $3 million in damages in November 2016.

The chapter of Phi Kappa Psi also filed a defamation lawsuit against

Rolling Stone, requesting $25 million. The case was settled in June 2017, awarding the fraternity $1.26 million.

A third and final defamation lawsuit filed by three members of Phi Kappa Psi against Rolling Stone was settled in December. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed in court.Sarah Ellison, a University alumna and writer for The Washington Post, explored the events of 2015 at the University in an article for Vanity Fair magazine titled, “After a Rape Story, a Murder, and Lawsuits: What’s Next for the University of Virginia?”

The article referenced Seccuro’s case in addition to focusing on three shocking events that occurred on Grounds in 2015 — the murder of second-year College student Hannah Graham, the brutal arrest of then-third-year College student Martese Johnson and the impact of Jackie’s false narrative and what it meant for sexual advocacy groups on Grounds.

“The main tragedy that came out of Jackie’s story was there was this sense of doubt that came with every story of a woman coming forward and alleging rape,” Ellison said in the episode.

In an interview with The Cavalier Daily, Ellison discussed the concerns of many activists on Grounds following the Rolling Stone article. Activists expressed how focusing exclusively on this traumatic assault might make victims in the more common “gray area” of assault hesitate to come forward with their stories.

“Focusing on this incredibly traumatic gang-rape… exclusively would make other people who had experienced would you might call more ‘normal’ sexual assault or rape to have felt that their stories weren’t important enough or serious enough to come forward,” Ellison said. “So there’s obviously a big gap in reporting.”

Ellison said she believes the conversation regarding social and administrative treatment of sexual misconduct will continue to evolve as more stories come to light and are discussed in earnest.

“I think the more we talk about it, the more people will come to a more nuanced understanding of what is ok and what is not ok,” Ellison said. “I think we still have a long ways to go.”

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THE CAVALIER DAILY

NEWS • www.cavalierdaily.com

DREAMers on Grounds creates booklet on DACA The collection of stories will be taken to Washington, D.C. March 2 to be distributed to members of Congress Eleanor Barto | Associate Editor DREAMers on Grounds is in the process of developing a collection of stories and testimonies of DREAMers at the University to share the experiences of DACA recipients with the local community.

DREAMers on Grounds is an organization at the University that was granted CIO status March 2016 and aims to protect undocumented students at the University and inform the local community of the issues they face.

Students from the organization will take the booklets to Washington, D.C. March 2 — three days before the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is scheduled to expire — and distribute them to members of Congress and lobbyists in the hopes of swaying their opinions in favor of preserving the DACA program.

On Sept. 5, 2017 President Donald Trump announced that his administration was revoking the DACA program, giving Congress a six-month delay to propose alternative legislation.

“Congress now has the opportunity to advance responsible immigration reform that puts American jobs and American security first,” Trump said in an official statement. “Before we ask what is fair to illegal immigrants,

we must also ask what is fair to American families, students, taxpayers, and jobseekers.”

DACA — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — was created on June 15, 2012 under the former President Barack Obama’s administration and was intended to prevent individuals who arrived in the United States as minors from being deported because of their status as undocumented immigrants.

Called “DREAMers” after the failed DREAM bill in 2001 designed to give undocumented immigrants a path to permanent legal status, these individuals have had to meet a variety of criteria to qualify for DACA status. For example, DACA recipients must be younger than 30 years old, arrived before their 16th birthday, be enrolled in either school or the military and not have a record of criminal activity. If qualified, recipients were granted work permits, certain rights and a renewable reprieve from deportation.

The idea of the booklet began with Saúl Sandoval Navarrete, a fourth-year College Student and member of DREAMers on Grounds. Almost immediately after Trump announced his plan to rescind the DACA program was rescinded in 2017, Navarrete had the idea to record and tell

the stories of DREAMers in some way.

“We have a greater reach in the community,” said Rawda Fawaz, a third-year College student and vice president of DREAMers on Grounds. “And so I reached out to people I know who’ve been supporting us and advocating with us, and asked them if anyone would be interested in sharing their stories.”

“We’ve had the incredible opportunity to meet these really great people who are hard-working people, some of whom are students, some are working full time, and just get to know who they are,” Fawaz added.

To be completed by the end of February, the booklet will be printed and distributed in Washington, D.C. March 2. DREAMers on Grounds has obtained funding to print 100 copies of the booklets.

“At this point we have 12 stories,” Navarrete said. “And in this week, we’re making a huge push, so minimum, as of right now, we wanna have a minimum of 20 stories.”

According to Navarrete, the project is on track to surpass that number, with the booklet ideally containing as many stories as possible.

The goal of the project is to not only collect and publish the

stories of DREAMers, both on Grounds and off, but to also make sure that the booklets end up in the hands of members of Congress. “[This is] a way of essentially saying we are literally giving you the most intimate part of our lives, we are sharing our stories, we are sharing parts of ourselves with you to convince you to actually take a stand … and provide people with a stable path to citizenship,” Fawaz said.

Fawaz said she hopes that the booklet will increase empathy for DREAMers and personalize the issue of DACA status as the subject is often detached from those who are personally affected by it.

“People refer to what’s going on as like ‘the DACA issue’ or ‘the immigration issue’, kind of forgetting that there are 11 million lives happening behind it,” Fawaz said. “We just want people to remember that they’re playing with lives, that every time they refuse to pass a bill, every time that they call people illegal or call them criminals, they’re literally talking about students and employees and families and children.”

The expiration of DACA will destabilize the reported 800,000 people who currently benefit from the program. In light of this potential fallout, this book-

let project aims to emphasize humanizing the DREAMers and making sure that their stories are told and heard.

“With the ending of the program … it’s that ‘othering’, and it’s that ‘you don’t belong here, you’re foreign, you’re an alien’ and it’s all this rhetoric that constantly is thrown upon dreamers,” Navarrete said. “Essentially, that this isn’t your place, this is not where [we] belong.”

“But at the end of the day, it really is,” Navarrete added. “It is our community, and our place where we’ve grown to love, and it’s all that we know.”

The organization is currently considering putting the DREAMers booklet online once the March 2 distribution has been completed to allow the public to see and read the stories of these individuals.

“These stories are so important because we become less of that ‘other’ and we become bodies,” Navarrete said. “We become human. And I think through these stories, we can show that.”

“It’s something that we’ve got to do,” Navarrete said.

The Castle to become meat-free after renovations The food destination will reopen in fall 2018 with open floor plan, expanded outdoor seating Jake Gold | Associate Editor The Castle — a dining hall and hangout spot located in the basement of the first-year dorm Bonnycastle House — is currently under architectural and culinary renovation along with other dorms located along McCormick Road. The space is set to reopen with the start of the 2018 fall semester and will feature a vegan and vegetarian menu. Aramark, the University’s dining service, is working with the University Facilities Management in the reconstruction.

Moving away from its past cuisine — comfort food like sandwiches, hamburgers and french fries — The Castle will serve a la carte and healthier alternatives.

The proposed menu is presently being tested at the Observatory Hill dining hall. The Castle will also be losing its attached con-

venience store, which sold grocery and snack items.

“Driven from student feedback, we have tailored the new Castle menu to feature mindful and healthy offerings,” Aramark marketing manager Scott Aebersold said in an email to The Cavalier Daily. “This includes an entirely plant-based menu that focuses on guest customizability. The menu platforms include a variety of whole grain bowls, panini sandwiches and entrée salad selections.”

For students on meatless diets — like fourth-year College student Brianna Young — the renovation brings increased diversity in meal options.

“Personally, I’m usually able to find things to eat pretty easily around Grounds, especially being able to customize things like at

Subway,” Young said. “It sounds like it’s going to be awesome to have more variety of vegetarian options and I feel like it’s a step in the right direction.”

Other students, especially those with fond memories of The Castle, aren’t as enthusiastic about the changes brought by the renovation.

“I’ll miss having a fun place to go that wasn’t trying to put on a shiny face,” third-year Commerce student Elizabeth Muratore said.

“While I’m glad that Old Dorms is getting a facelift, I do think it's a shame that what was once a fun first-year hangout is apparently being replaced by an all-vegan restaurant that won't really cater to all first years, and I don't think the money spent on this project was really necessary."

Beyond changes to the cuisine,

the renovation also includes a design and user experience facelift.

According to Aebersold, some of the alterations will include a new ordering system, an open floor plan and increased-comfort dining.

“Castle will feature indoor/ outdoor seating with a fully automated kiosk ordering system,” Aebersold said. “Each table will be outfitted with an order tablet for ease of use. The space will also feature an open floor plan kitchen and floor to ceiling windows to offer an amazing view of The Dell. Additionally, the Castle will have a one-of-a-kind mindful dining space, inclusive of soft seating and suggested reading materials.”

The Castle’s makeover comes in a multi-part project to renovate several dorms on McCor-

mick Road — the Kent, Dabney, Bonnycastle, Emmet, Page, Humphreys, Echols, Hancock, Metcalf and Lefevre houses. The project also overhauls the Bonnycastle cul-de-sac to create a safer outdoor eating area for The Castle.

“Student feedback shaped the direction we went for the new Castle,” Aebersold said, “but the main reason for the renovation was … [Bonnycastle] being renovated and adding new middle AC units.”

All McCormick Road construction is set to be completed

by May 2020.

www.cavalierdaily.com • NEWS

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2018

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Copeley Road practice field proposed for softball stadium The proposed stadium received criticism in past months due to its original recommended location at Lambeth Field Jake Gold | Associate Editor University Architect Alice Raucher will suggest a soccer and lacrosse practice field near Klockner Stadium and Davenport Field as the location for a proposed softball stadium to the Buildings and Grounds Committee of the Board of Visitors next Thursday. If the Board approves the plans, Raucher hopes the new stadium will be open

by February 2020, in time for the first game of the season.

"We are in the earliest of stages,” Raucher said in an interview Wednesday. “We are just recommending the site. We have the architect consultant

on board already that was approved at the December [Board of Visitors] meeting, and so if the BOV approves the site, we will move forward with the enabling projects and figure out the exact schedule."

Initial proposals for the softball stadium last fall designated Lambeth Field as the recommended location. Some students and community members said they felt ignored in the proposal process and resisted the suggestion, arguing there would be significant parking, lighting and property value implications.

The BOV deferred a decision on the site of the proposed stadium in December following criticism from the community. Last month, Lambeth Field was removed from consideration and the Office of the University Architect set out to find a new location for the stadium.

Raucher’s team narrowed the suggestions shortlist to three options — the southernmost softball field at The Park on North Grounds and either the East or West side of the intersection of Copeley Road and Massie Road near Klockner Stadium. The east side

would put the stadium in an existing parking lot, while the west side would displace a varsity soccer and lacrosse practice field. Raucher is proposing the west side.

“We're engaged in a master plan with athletics, especially with our new, fantastic athletics director, to really think about how we're utilizing this whole area,” Raucher said. “The fact that this is already a practice field, it can share a lot of facilities — it can share the entry, the ticket booth and it becomes really one complex.”

If the Board accepts the architect’s

location proposal, the next step will be what Raucher called “enabling projects,” such as finding a new location for the dislocated practice field to support existing varsity teams.

“We all think that this is a pretty great outcome that involved a lot of input from stakeholders and neighbors,” Raucher said. “I think we learned a lot about the process. I learned a lot about the process.”

Raucher will present to the Board at 1:15 p.m. on March 1 in the Board Room of the Rotunda.

U.Va. alumni to speak at TEDxUVA conference The conference will be held at the Rotunda for the first time since its inception Kara Peters and Emma Bradford | Staff Writers TEDxUVA will host its annual conference at the Rotunda for the first time Saturday and will include several presentations on a wide variety of subjects by alumni speakers and guests.

The theme of this year’s conference is “5 Seconds of Courage.” The event will be open to students and the University community.

TED is a nonprofit media organization that began in 1984 with the purpose of discussing various topics related to technology, entertainment and design with empowering speakers who often share personal stories to emphasize their point.

TEDxUVA was established in 2013 and is a program designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. The TEDxUVA conference is independently organized for and by the local Charlottesville and University communities, including sponsors such as the McIntire School of Commerce, the Inter-Sorority Council, the Graduate Hotel and the U.Va. Parents Fund.

Although the TEDxUVA program has held conferences at the University in the past according to Zane Homsi, a third-year Commerce student and co-curator of the TEDxUVA program, this year’s conference will be the first time it has been be located in the Rotunda. Due to its location, TEDxUVA expects there to be a more competitive demand for tickets.

Homsi said the Rotunda allows for students to have a better experience during the conference.

“One of the things we talked about was [getting a bigger venue],” Homsi said. “But then we made the decision that this conference is for students to open their eyes a little bit … what’s

more central than the first library we have at U.Va, the Rotunda.”

There will be seven talks at this year’s event, with speakers from different backgrounds addressing a variety of issues that are often of personal importance. At last year’s conference, titled “Therefore I am”, speakers gave their specific talks after which filling in the statement, “I am …’therefore I am’”.

Sarah Corning, a second-year College student and the speaker selection co-chair of TEDxUVA, said this year’s speaker lineup is more diverse than ever before.

“We have a lot more women and a lot more diversity,” Corning said. “I wanted to make sure we had a really strong speaker lineup, and I really think we do.”

Through extensive research, Corning has been developing the speaker lineup for the upcoming conference since June 2017. Corning said many of the speakers at the conference are University alumni who will be discussing their research and other projects.

Speakers at Saturday’s conference will include Colston Carr, a Class of 2002 University alumnus and account executive at Google; Frank Stephens, a member of the Board of Directors of Special Olympics Virginia and the 2016 winner of the Quincy Jones Excellence in Advocacy Award by the Global Down Syndrome Foundation; Tim Davis, a professor of psychology at the University and executive director for Resilience and Leadership Development.

Carey Albertine and Saira Rao, University alumni and founders of In This Together Media, an organization which aims to increase diversity and representation in multiple forms of media, will be speaking at the

event as well. Partha Unnava, CEO of BWHealth — a company founded

by Unnava which works to provide affordable and innovative products to benefit the fields of sports medicine and healthcare — will be also speaking, in addition to Bradford and Bryan Manning, who founded Two Blind Brothers, a charitable clothing label.

As with previous conferences, this year’s event will feature a student speaker from the University who was selected through an application process to the TED program.

Every year, the conference features student speakers from the University who compose their own TED talk on a specific topic. Students apply to be a speaker and after undergoing a review process, several students are selected to compete in the student speaker competition at Boylan Heights on the Corner. During the competition, each student delivers a talk on a subject of personal importance, and one individual is then chosen to speak at the conference. The student speaker competition for the 2018 conference was held in November 2017.

First-year College student George Messenger was selected to deliver a talk at this year’s conference and will discuss the connection between hiphop music and classic epic poetry.

Messenger said he looks forward to giving his TED talk and changing the perspective of how music is interpreted.

“I’ve been waiting to give this out forever,” Messenger said. “It’s not something that I should just be experiencing because it really enhances the music-listening experience. And it enhances a world experience as well.”

Homsi said the speakers for this year’s conference all have a personal connection to this year’s theme, “5 Sec-

onds of Courage.”

“This year’s ‘5 Seconds of Courage’... it really came down to the fact [that] a lot of us...love a good story and oftentimes the best stories come from being a little uncomfortable sometimes,” Homsi said. “And so, a lot of the speakers we sourced, all for the most part had a degree of courage that enabled them to push themselves out

to engage with topics of conversation and discussion they are not typically exposed to in daily life.

“TED…is a way for people to step outside their comfort zone and go to a real life conference,” Durham said. “A lot of people don’t get to do that in college and engage in material that…you aren’t engaged with in your everyday life [and] you can really only concep-

CHANDLER COLLINS | THE CAVALIER DAILY

TEDxUVA was established in 2013 and will be hosted in the Rotunda for the first time this Saturday.

of their comfort zone in a way that has fundamentally changed the way they are today.”

Augusta Durham, a third-year College student and chair of Logistics for TEDxUVA, said there are many activities planned for those who attend the conference.

“We try to engage the audience with the speakers during intermission,” Durham said. “This year we’re going to be doing challenges, since every TED talk has a theme.”

Durham added that the conference will provide a venue for students

tualize ideas when you’re talking with people about them.”

Durham said the conference also allows for engagement and interaction between the local and University communities and enables listeners to develop a deeper connection to a generally broad topic.

“TED is a way for people to step outside their comfort zone and go to a real-life conference,” Durham said.

“You can really only conceptualize ideas when you’re talking about them..

TED is a way for people to really grapple with these ideas.”

L

LIFE As we have all heard numerous times while growing up, breakfast is the most important meal of day.

While this may be true, once you get to college, you quickly learn that brunch is the most important meal of the weekend. Not too far from Grounds, tucked away in the Rose Hill neighborhood, you will find a small restaurant named MarieBette often overflowing on the weekends during prime brunch hours.

We previously reviewed MarieBette and its amazing bread, but the restaurant has more to offer than its bread. MarieBette is a charming European-style bakery and cafe that serves handmade bread and pastries as well as breakfast, lunch and weekend brunch all made from seasonal, locally sourced ingredients.

Although the wait for brunch at MarieBette can be slightly on the longer side, it is absolutely worth it. Of all of the places to get brunch in town, this is definitely one that I consistently recommend to friends and would visit over and over again.

Not only is the food incredible, but the restaurant itself is charming and inviting. When you first walk in, the smell of freshly ground coffee mixes with the sweet aroma of bread and immediately draws you in. The restaurant itself consists of two parts — a bakery and a café. If the line for

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No one does french toast quite like MarieBette Brunch at MarieBette Café & Bakery is a meal you won’t easily forget Emily Kalafian | Food Columnist brunch in the café is too overwhelming, you can still stop by the bakery and enjoy some coffee and pastries for little to no wait. But, if you do have a bit of extra time one weekend, brave the wait for a relaxing and delectable brunch.

MarieBette offers a carefully crafted menu containing all of the brunch classics from pancakes to quiche to baked eggs. It’s hard to go wrong no matter what you order but every time I go, I have to order the French toast.

Of all of the classic breakfast foods out there, I have never really enjoyed just eating eggs. I know they are a staple breakfast and I’ve tried them cooked all sorts of ways — scrambled, boiled, poached, over easy — they just aren't very appealing to me. But, take a piece of bread and cook it in eggs, milk and cinnamon, and it is completely irresistible. French toast is, at least to me, the best breakfast food and possibly one of my most favorite foods ever.

As it is one of my favorites, I would venture to say that I have pretty high standards for French toast. My mom passed along a very excellent French toast recipe to me, and I am quite content with it, so if I am going to order French toast at a restaurant, it has to be extra special.

MarieBette serves an extra spe-

cial French toast. It is honestly so good that I wish I could eat it every day. It all starts with two very thick slices of freshly baked brioche bread.

This bread is then turned into perfectly cooked French toast stuffed with banana cream cheese. It is served topped with Nutella butter and powdered sugar.

If you are not a banana or Nutella fan, this French toast may not be your favorite. However, I have convinced a friend who does not usually like bananas to try a bite and even she thought it was good. The banana filling is not too sweet, nor too overpoweringly cream cheese flavored. The tang of the cream cheese is balanced by the sweetness of bananas and once paired with the Nutella on top, it makes for the perfect combination. This French toast is decadent and absolutely delicious.

Every bite is a perfect blend of bread to filling to topping, and you can even add syrup if you need some additional sweetness.

If you have never tried MarieBette and are searching for a new brunch spot, it is definitely worth a visit. The variety of mouthwatering options are generally affordable and the restaurant’s atmosphere is comfortable and casual with subtle nods to a European-style café. The stuffed French toast costs $10 and is

definitely big enough that you could take home leftovers — although

there is no shame in eating it all at once.

EMILY KALAFIAN | THE CAVALIER DAILY

MarieBette serves an extra special French toast.

HotCakes — so much more than just a free latte A cozy café and bakery that caters to U.Va. students Molly Wright | Food Columnist At the beginning of each semester, you can find most University students catching up with friends or getting ahead on their studying with a free latte from HotCakes Gourmet — a café and bakery located in the Barracks Shopping Center.

HotCakes is easily accessible for students given that you can get to Barracks either by bus or a five minute drive. With an ample amount of tables in the café, HotCakes can also be a great place to do some studying with great food and coffee. It is also typically filled with Charlottesville locals having breakfast or coffee dates, which is nice if you want to get out of the University bubble.

Most students know HotCakes for their freebie program.

The month of September gets you 30 days of free lattes and from Jan. 27 to Feb. 10, there were an additional 15 days of free lattes to start your second semester off right. This deal is for any University student, teacher or staff

member who signs up through their freebie program shows them their Freebie card at the register.

Although HotCakes does serve a mean latte and I highly encourage going every single day to get a free caffeine fix from their free latte program, the café and bakery has so much more delicious food and even better savings that everyone should be aware of.

Let’s start with the most important meal of the day — breakfast. The HotCakes bakery has you covered for any kind of pastry you could desire. If you’re looking for something savory to start off your day, I would suggest the ham and cheese croissant. The croissant has the perfect, flaky outside but soft, chewy inside, which complements the salty, warm ham and melted cheese. This dish will fill you up until lunch, especially if you eat it with a HotCakes latte or any of their drink specialties. A slice of their quiche or an egg sandwich any way you want it is also a good breakfast option, but a

standout on their menu is the chorizo, black bean, egg and cheddar burrito.

This breakfast burrito has tempted me more than once when I’ve gone to HotCakes — next time I’m brunching there, it’s going to be my breakfast meal of choice.

If you like your breakfast sweet, I would recommend the dried cherry scone or the pumpkin muffin. The scone itself is dense, buttery and sweet, but the cherries in the scone give it a little tang. I would love it if they served the scone with more cherries to make it fruitier, but that’s just me. A staple at HotCakes, the pumpkin muffin is delicious all year round with the sweet spice of the pumpkin complemented by a little crunch from the nuts. The pumpkin muffin is light and airy in its texture, but I recommend ordering two for breakfast so you’re not hungry an hour after you eat it.

Now if you want to get extra sweet, HotCakes has a killer S’mores French toast that is stuffed s’mores-style

with melted chocolate or Nutella and marshmallow fluff. For only $3.99 a piece, you’ll likely want to double up.

For lunch, HotCakes has a great selection of sandwiches, salads and soups to choose from on their menu. A classic café meal, the tarragon chicken salad is incredible with chunky pieces of chicken, a light spread of mayonnaise and small bits of celery. HotCakes serves it on sunflower wheat bread or over lettuce with a fresh fruit salad, and I recommend this for for the perfect light lunch. The meal is also pretty inexpensive as the price ranges between $5 to $9 between the sandwich and salad plate.

Two other standouts on the menu are the cider marinated chicken sandwich with blue cheese and bacon on Focaccia bread and the fried green tomato BLT. If you have an enormous sweet tooth, like me, the bakery counter at HotCakes will have your mouth watering. For all the chocolate lovers out

there, dive into a piece of their Chocolate Sin cake, which is a flourless cake with a fudgy texture. If you feel like you want a bit of Italy for your dessert, the tiramisu will not disappoint. Also all of the cakes and pies at HotCakes can be served as single slices or they can be purchased as a whole cake if you’re looking to get a delicious dessert for a special occasion. They also have dessert pastries such as chocolate eclairs, fruit tartlets and cupcakes, if you want a small, sweet treat to go with your afternoon coffee.

Besides the free lattes at the start of each semester, the HotCakes freebie program for University students, faculty and staff also gets you discounts from their menu each month. These deals make it a very popular spot for us cheap college kids. If you’re not part of the HotCakes freebie program, I wouldn’t hesitate to sign up because who doesn’t like free food?

www.cavalierdaily.com • LIFE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2018

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Top 10 coolest people at U.Va. that aren’t Thomas Jefferson Guess what? You are surrounded by amazing people

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Ashley Botkin | Top Ten Writer

Ashley, the barista from Starbucks

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Ashley from Starbucks has got her coffee routine on lock. She is never fazed by the long lines that seem to wrap around the entire room, even though the look of all those people sends me into a frenzy of second-hand anxiety for the baristas. She can literally do anything — she’s in a different place every day, whether she’s preparing food, taking orders or barista-ing. She always makes my drink just right, and I am certain that Starbucks would fall apart without her.

CavDog and CavPup Baxter and Jack, known as CavDog and CavPup, respectively, are staples of the University community, both human and canine. They belong to Dean Jeanine Lalonde, the associate dean of admissions, and they go with her everywhere and take lots and lots of pictures. What I wouldn’t do to pet their lucious, golden locks or shake their manicured paws.

These dogs are better Wahoos than I am, and I would even bet they have more apparel than I do.

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This lady went to SPACE, the Final Frontier, the Ultimate Void, the source of all my nightmares, four times. She has logged 975 hours in space, which is just about 487 two-hour naps in my book. What an absolute icon to choose to launch herself into a place that we can only see four percent of and have no idea how the heck it works. Then, although she could have retired and lived a super awesome life full of relaxing and giving speeches here and there to make a living, she came back to the University to teach our alcoholic, sleep-deprived souls.

I’ll admit as a so-called journalist I may be a little biased, but she is literally so cool. She has reported for almost every major news network in her long career, and she is currently reporting at the Olympics in Pyeongchang. Couric has had a variety of adventures in her life and even had the guts to undergo a colonoscopy and mammogram on live television, which is so brave but also so weird at the same time. Obviously, she has a busy schedule, but she still found time to join us for the Bicentennial Launch Celebration last semester. We can only dream of living a life as wild and successful as Katie Couric’s someday, but I hope your colon never ends up on live TV.

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You were probably so distracted by Thomas Jefferson that you forgot that one of today’s comedy greats graduated from here. That’s right! Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live actress, star of “30 Rock” and partner to Amy Poehler might have sat in the same seat you sit in right now as you read this article. She was a Lawn-streaking, “Good-‘Ol-Song”-singing Wahoo just like you, and look at where she is now.

So maybe dreams do really come true.

You guys know who I’m talking about, right? He has long white and gray hair with a beard and mustache to match. He’s always rocking some bling, and he never hesitates to sing along to the radio at full force. I would even bet you that his hair is healthier than mine. With his singing voice, he could definitely join some hard-rock barbershop quartet or something. Keep doing you, my dude, and keep making my day.

Kathryn Thornton

Katie Couric

Tina Fey

That one Northline bus driver

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The dumpling truck owners Bless them. Bless them and their beautiful dumplings and Thai iced tea and egg fried rice.

They have perfected their trade to the point where it is a privilege to stand in that line and wait almost 20 minutes for food because as soon as it hits your tongue, the day’s worries and strifes simply melt away. Their food is so life-changing that I would argue they are more influential than Thomas Jefferson in my everyday life. Stay golden, my sweet little pork dumplings.

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Miss Kathy Miss Kathy can brighten anyone’s day with just one hug. She loves everything about everyone. That’s why her smile is so big. She’s full of happiness. In fact, she’s so cheerful that I heard her smile is insured for $10,000. I hear she does toothpaste commercials … in Japan. One time, she met Oprah on a plane. She told her she was nice. I trust her with my life. I would honestly let her be the grandmother to my future children.

Sorry, Mom.

John Nau I know approximately zero things about John Nau except for the fact that he donated the money for the Nau Center for Civil War History, and the most beautiful building on Grounds – except our lovely Rotunda, of course — is named after him. Its sprawling windows, beautiful staircases and quick access to Starbucks is truly inspiring to my meager, meaningless life. He probably didn’t have much to do with the architectural choices, so maybe I should be praising the designer instead, but either way, we are all so fortunate to interact with this building on a day-to-day basis.

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Me What have I accomplished, you ask? So much.

I got out of bed today. I went up a flight of stairs and only got mildly winded. There was a piece of lettuce on my sandwich at lunch. I’ve seen so much at this school — from a naked man riding a skateboard to a lady in a wheelchair rolling herself across JPA — that I am basically an expert.

My cat and I are pretty much the face of The Cavalier Daily, and I’m humble to boot. I know it must be intimidating to go to school with such a star, but I promise I’m just like everyone else – just a little bit funnier.

JIE YING HUANG AND MADDY SITA | THE CAVALIER DAILY

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THE CAVALIER DAILY

LIFE • www.cavalierdaily.com

Dear Chloe Kim Thank you from a fellow Korean-American Aly Lee | Life Columnist Dear Ms. Chloe Kim, Hey there.

I know you’re probably busy winning gold medals and stuff but just wanted to send you a quick “hello.” I don’t have many idols in my life besides maybe the approval of my parents and dark chocolate but you, young lady, have earned my worship. I was the girl who came dead last in every high school cross country meet, so you are an inspiration.

And as someone who’s dreamt of dying my black hair a sultry gold since age 13, you are a true vision.

Growing up, I always loved the Olympics — the world unifying for two short weeks in the name of unearthly athleticism.

Yet it was always somewhat of a Korean-American identity crisis each time I flipped on the screen.

I screamed for the American Shawn Johnson bounding down the balance beam one year. Then

the next, I wept over the Korean Kim Yuna and the gold medal I thought she deserved. I continually volleyed between my yellow skin and my American heart.

Don’t even ask me how confusing it got when I moved to Kenya for six years. Thus, I prepared for the most wrenching existential crisis yet when I heard the 2018 Olympics were bound for South Korea.

But then you, Chloe, stepped in. When I first heard a Korean-American would be representing the United States in Pyeongchang, I choked up a little bit. How beautiful that an American-born Korean would be traveling to her distant homeland to represent her other home, America? I finally had someone I could cheer on without denying one half of myself.

Watching the Opening Ceremony from my couch at home, I remember the bittersweet re-

alization that this was where I was from — the hanboks, or the Korean traditional dress, the tigers, the drums and fan-dances — this was me. Those indefatigable dancers shimmying in the background were my brothers and sisters. Yet at the same time, when Team USA strolled into the sweet trills of “Gangnam Style,” how could I keep from shouting my support? This was me too.

But then you, Chloe, walked in with your beautiful blonde hair and glowing smile and I knew you were with me. You sat in the midst of Team USA and watched the history of your ancestors unfold before you. I’m sure you felt the same as me — this inner turmoil of “Am I American or Korean? Who am I really representing?”

But then, you got on the snow.

The extent of my snowboarding expertise starts and ends on

a Wii Fit board, but you, girl — you got it. You did the impossible. Two 1080s back-to-back plus a little more. I hardly know what that means, but my heart knew this was historic. Historic in the snowboarding world but also in the Asian-American world.

I always thought my Asian-American identity was somewhat limiting. Stereotypes told me that to be Asian-American was to go to medical or law school. Then with the loads of money earned you could pay back the sacrifice of your immigrant parents. The media told me that to be an Asian-American female was to be soft, quiet or sexually exotic.

But you, Chloe Kim, told me otherwise.

You showed the world that to be an Asian-American female doesn’t always mean being a docile doctor. You reminded

the world that Asian-Americans play sports, that they can dye their hair and that they can win sports. When you stood on that medal stand, you didn’t just represent America or Korea, but you represented Asia-America. You testified that you can be entirely American yet come from a different culture. You taught that you don’t have to deny one part of yourself to be a full person. And you proved that Asia-America is filled with all kinds of people on all ends of the spectrum.

I don’t think you cried up on that stand, but in the first floor of Clem, procrastinating for my Organic Chemistry Exam, I cried for you. So from the bottom of my heart, I thank you Ms. Chloe Kim. You make me proud to be Korean-American.

Sincerely, Alyson Hyun-Ju Lee

The necessity of putting yourself out there There’s more than just the tip of the iceberg Ellie Hanson | Life Columnist The single coolest thing about my fifth grade experience was that my classroom had a massive library in it — with bookshelves upon bookshelves of different types of books that we could check out from the teacher, take home and read. And on the side of one of the bookshelves was one of those inspirational posters that every middle school classroom seemed to have, the ones with nature scenes and some sort of entirely unrelated “power word” written across it — like a river that says “MOTIVATION.” The one in my classroom had a cross-section of an iceberg on it, and while the part of the iceberg poking out of the water seemed massive, it only took up the very top of the poster, since it turns out that like 85 percent of icebergs are underwater. I think it said something like “IMAGINATION” across the bottom.

As one of the nerdiest 10-yearolds ever, I spent a lot of time in that library, checking out books and staring at the poster of that iceberg, thinking to myself something along the lines of “damn, that’s some major ice under the surface.”

Last weekend, I went out with a group of girls who I consider to

be some of my best friends here at the University. We were on our way to the Corner from a fraternity mixer when we decided that we needed a quick pit stop at Grandmarc to hit the restroom — and while we fully intended to make this a five minute excursion, the four of us soon found ourselves snuggled up in my friend’s bed, talking and sharing stories that we hadn’t told each other before.

That night, I learned that it’s a scary thing to realize there are parts of your friends’ lives that you had absolutely no knowledge of. It seemed that everyone had an experience that they needed to talk about — whether it was something that happened at a frat party gone horribly awry, the looming possibility of parents’ divorce or the heartbreak that accompanies being the collateral damage of someone else’s addiction. And it’s when you hear things like that that you simply wish you had known about them earlier.

We talked for hours, never made it to the Corner, and as I walked back to my apartment at 3:30 a.m., I realized that as devastating as everyone’s stories were, I was so grateful that they

had opened up and shared with me. These are the people that I’ve come to regard as my family here on the East Coast, and I felt so much closer to them once they had the courage to tell me about the parts of their lives that are often kept under wraps.

Another Life Columnist, Lily Brock, wrote an incredible article about relapse and recovery on Grounds recently, and I think it’s a great example of how having the courage to be vulnerable and share your story can be a powerful thing. But, not all of us are comfortable enough to share the most intimate aspects of our lives on such a large scale, and not all of us can turn our struggles into a witty, heart-wrenching and ultimately inspiring article like Lily can. So, if you have something you need to get off your chest, I suggest you consider reaching out to a friend or two.

Growing up is hard. Now that we’re 18, 19 and 20 years old, I think we often neglect to acknowledge that growing up is something we’re still doing every day. But life is easier with friends who will stand by and support you, and they can only fully do that if you are willing to share your story with them. If their

friendship is worth anything, they’ll be there to give you a hug, hear you out and help carry you forward. You may even find that someone else in your life is suffering a similar narrative.

To those of you that don’t have any obvious skeletons in your clos et, I implore you to pursue empathy. Seek understanding, build upon your friendships and

recognize that everyone is a bit more broken and complicated than they initially appear to be.

Most of all though, keep in mind that everyone has a story — you likely just don’t know it yet, because the majority of people only ever show you “the tip of the iceberg.”

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2018

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Profiling Virginia’s NFL draft-hopeful seniors Micah Kiser, Quin Blanding, Kurt Benkert, Andrew Brown look to put another Cavalier in the NFL

SPORTS

CD Sports Staff

ANDREW BROWN

KURT BENKERT

COURTESY VIRGINIA ATHLETICS

NICK ZUGRIS | THE CAVALIER DAILY

QUIN BLANDING

MICAH KISER

CALLIE COLLINS | THE CAVALIER DAILY

RICHARD DIZON | THE CAVALIER DAILY

The Virginia football team has a host of graduating seniors with the potential to get drafted, but just where and when they might land is subject to uncertainty.

After the 2017 NFL Draft saw the Virginia football program’s 33 year streak of having a player drafted end, the program has a very favorable chance to start a new streak this year.

Not one, but four graduating Cavaliers have gotten buzz around them as analysts have begun to break down the 2018 draft class. While surprises always pop up on draft day — and Virginia’s draft-hopeful prospects have some uncertainties around them — profiling each of the seniors can shed some light on when and where they might land.

ers have a young and exciting defense, headlined by rising star defensive end Joey Bosa and formidable cornerback Casey Hayward. However, the team struggled to contain the run last season, giving up 131.1 yards per game on the ground last year, second worst in the league. Adding a run-stuffer like Kiser can prove a key piece to building out the team’s defense. Pairing him with Bosa can allow the Chargers to generate a great deal of pressure up the middle.

Round Projection: 2-3

Inside Linebacker Micah Kiser Measurables: 6-foot-2, 240 lbs.

Analysis: Four years as Virginia’s leader in the front seven has made Kiser a tackling force in the ACC. The Baltimore native led the ACC in tackles in 2016 and 2017, with his intense physicality giving him the edge over softer runners. His size and explosiveness makes him an elite run-stuffer up the middle, and he has shown a knack for getting to the quarterback as well, amassing five sacks in 2017. A common knock on Kiser by scouts has been his lack of wire-to-wire athleticism, which limits him from getting to the edge and making big run stops. Kiser’s leadership ability is a major intangible for teams to consider, however, as his football IQ has shaped him into an anchoring force for the Virginia defense.

Team Fit: The Los Angeles Charg-

Safety Quin Blanding Measurables: 6-foot-2, 210 lbs.

Analysis: Quin Blanding is a veteran of playing the safety position, having done so at a high level for Virginia under two different coaches. He started consistently from his freshman to senior season, overseeing a revival of the program which eventually led the Cavaliers to a bowl game in his senior year. Blanding is Virginia’s all-time leader in tackles with 495, a figure which places him at No. 6 all-time in ACC history. As a player, Blanding is a ball hawk and excellent tackler, performing very well in run defense. His leadership skills will be crucial in anchoring an NFL defense, though some weaknesses in coverage may make teams hesitant to take him early in the draft.

Team Fit: The Oakland Raiders’ de-

fense has been atrocious the past two years, with glaring weaknesses in the front seven. The secondary, however, has been especially weak, allowing opposing quarterbacks to tear apart the Raiders. Blanding would be, if nothing else, a crucial add for depth in a secondary that has been plagued by injuries. The Raiders’ second-round pick in 2017, safety Obi Melifonwu, hardly saw the field due to injury, and the Raiders’ lack of depth — combined with veteran safety Reggie Nelson’s poor year — led to persistent problems for their secondary. Blanding could be cultivated into a potential replacement for Nelson at free safety, which he played at Virginia, and could provide an important voice of leadership to change the culture of a struggling defense.

Round Projection: 4-6 Quarterback Kurt Benkert Measurables: 6-foot-4, 215 lbs.

Analysis: Emerging as a real NFL prospect after an impressive 2017 season in which he broke Virginia’s single season record for yards passing and completions, Kurt Benkert finally demonstrated his natural talent as a gunslinger, racking up nine 200-plus yard passing games last season. Benkert’s arm talent led the Cavaliers back to a bowl game for the first time since 2011, as his touchdown strike to Andre Levrone led Virginia to victory over

Georgia Tech. The main knock on Benkert, in addition to footwork, has been inconsistency. While he dominated the game against an outstanding Miami Hurricanes defense, starting the game 17/18 with 262 yards passing and three touchdowns, he flopped in the bowl game against Navy, posting only 145 yards passing in a game in which the Cavaliers scored only one touchdown. Despite his flaws, however, Benkert’s style translates well for the NFL game — particularly for a West Coast-style offense.

Team Fit: The Denver Broncos, initially projected to be Super Bowl contenders last year, fell off the map with a lack of consistency at the quarterback position. Benkert could be the answer for the Broncos, especially because of their wealth of draft picks.

With 10 picks, the Broncos should be able to use multiple picks to address their void at the quarterback position, taking Benkert as a risky option to develop. The talent is definitely there for Benkert, and more importantly, he should fit into the West Coast scheme of Broncos’ new offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave.

Round Projection: 4-7 Defensive End Andrew Brown Measurables: 6-foot-4, 285 lbs.

Analysis: After a slow start to his career at Virginia coming in as a fivestar recruit out of Chesapeake, Va.,

Brown burst out as a junior and continued to be productive into his senior season. He totalled 10.5 sacks and 26.5 tackles for loss in his college career.

Brown’s huge frame makes him a force as a pass rusher, and his quick first step allows him to blow by defenders if he gets the right jump. His field awareness gives him the ability to jump gaps on the line of scrimmage and disrupt running plays with his lateral movement. Teams may point to his lack of consistency and perceived lack of mental toughness in certain situations as a red flag. Brown has the propensity to lose his composure late in the game, as shown in his ejection against Virginia Tech in the final home game of his career.

Team Fit: The San Francisco 49ers are a team on the upswing with young star quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo under center, but its defense lacks a true dominant unit. The team finished among the bottom of the league with only 30 sacks, but have a promising young pass rusher in 2017 No. 3 overall pick Solomon Thomas. Pairing the bulkier Brown on the other end of the trenches can give the 49ers a scary onetwo punch of quarterback disruptors as he and Thomas develop together.

Round Projection: 3-4

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THE CAVALIER DAILY

SPORTS • www.cavalierdaily.com

Run and gun: The revitalization of men’s lacrosse Coach Lars Tiffany’s electric style of play has ignited the resurgence of the men’s lacrosse program Zach Zamoff | Senior Associate Editor Inspired by his roots in upstate New York — close to the Native American origins of the sport — Virginia men’s lacrosse Coach Lars Tiffany has a steadfast belief in the authenticity of his style. He grew up playing free-flowing, all-out attack lacrosse, and has stayed true to this approach as a coach.men “We’re not trying to win games 6-5 — we’re trying to win games 16-15,” Tiffany said of his team’s playing style.Tiffany has always espoused a run-and-gun brand of lacrosse, making every game a competition of offensive firepower. At Brown, he preached this high pace style of lacrosse, and he has brought the same system to Virginia.

In Tiffany’s final year at Brown in 2016, his Final Four team led the nation with 16.3 goals per game.

Throughout his first year as coach at Virginia, he established a similar level of offensive dominance, with his team finishing with the No. 3 offense in the nation.

Tiffany was hired at Virginia for his run-and-gun system and men-

tality. His style doesn’t only apply to the way his team plays lacrosse.

In fact, Tiffany does everything at a frenetic pace, from running up and down the sideline during games as if he were actually playing to speaking to reporters. It is this style — this contagious energy — that has begun to reignite a storied Virginia lacrosse program.

Although Tiffany’s style may be the antithesis of Virginia men’s basketball Coach Tony Bennett’s packline defense, they share a youthful energy and vision of the way the sport should be played that has the potential to establish a great program. Also like Bennett, Tiffany has an unorthodox recruiting style, valuing principles over starpower. Instead of recruiting freshmen, which many of the nation’s top programs are doing, Tiffany waits until players have matured, doing most of his recruiting during players’ junior and senior years.

“We need more time to get to know them — what kind of student they are, what kind of player they

are, and what kind of young man they are,” Tiffany said.

Recruiting of both good students and good athletes — also valued by Bennett and other Virginia athletics programs — entails sacrifice, but ultimately more buy-in and unity. Just like Virginia’s No. 1 men’s basketball team this year, Virginia’s men’s lacrosse team has a unique identity — built on the run-and-gun — that has unified its players tremendously.

Junior defenseman Zach Ambrosino spoke to the importance of experience in Tiffany’s system in solidifying the team’s sense of identity and collective motivation.

“We’re all moving towards the same goal, and that’s something he’s really emphasized,” Ambrosino said. “We’re all on the same page, our chemistry is fantastic this year … it’s our second year in his system, so everyone’s that much more bought into his style of run-andgun play.”

The way this identity is ce-

mented — and ultimately the way it will lead to wins and a return to greatness for Virginia lacrosse — is through developing a culture.

This has been a major focus of Tiffany in his second year. Every Tuesday, the team has culture meetings that focus on unity, commitment and accountability.

“We are going through a book about the [famous New Zealand rugby team] All Blacks called “Legacy” by James Kerr … Essentially what it is about is the men recognizing what others have been through and sharing their ideas with each other,” Tiffany said.

Critically, these talks have not only led to unity, but also accountability — which Tiffany views as essential for any successful group of individuals.

“It’s empowering the men of our program to have more ownership,” Tiffany said. “We want the last guy on our bench of the 41 we have rostered to know that he can hold anyone else accountable for his actions or behaviors.”

All these factors — unity, commitment and accountability — are marks of greatness in a team’s culture. And while Virginia isn’t there yet, the Cavaliers are showing signs of excellence.

Virginia’s thrilling, double-overtime home opener victory against the Loyola Maryland Greyhounds certainly demonstrated the resilience of a unified team, as the Cavaliers roared back from five goals down. Saturday’s game and Thursday’s practice showed a team with a different kind of mentality from last year’s team.

“I’ve been here for three years, and this is across the board the first time everyone has looked at each other in the locker room and said, ‘We really have something intangible going on this year,” Ambrosino said of the team’s potential.

While it’s not certain that the cultural energy that Tiffany has injected into this program will translate to greatness this year, he has undeniably breathed new life into Virginia lacrosse.

GIVING DIVING ITS DUE Diving performances often decide meets for the Cavalier swim and dive teams Throughout the winter season, I’ve been covering the men’s and women’s swim and dive teams. A lot of the time, diving gets forgotten in casual conversation — but the consistently strong performances of Virginia’s divers, especially the women, have been a major part of their success this season.

At a typical dual meet during the regular season, the diving competition takes place before any of the swimming events. The stands are empty — though they will be packed later in the day — the pool deck is not lined with swimmers from both teams and the atmosphere is strangely quiet. The only people around the pool are the few divers from either team, some meet officials, the occasional journalist and the two diving coaches, who serve as judges for the meet.

Generally, each diver has six attempts in each event. The scores from each dive are totaled for the final event score, and the diver with the highest total score wins.

The three diving events in NCAA competition are the one meter, the three meter and the platform.

However, most dual meets do not include a platform event.

The points accrued in diving are added to the swimming scores and often can decide the balance of a

meet. And throughout the regular season, Virginia’s women’s divers — especially sophomore Sydney Dusel and junior Kylie Towbin — were instrumental in the women’s team’s 10-0 record in dual meets.

Towbin was named ACC Diver of the Week twice this season, including on Jan. 23 following two meets against North Carolina State and North Carolina in which she finished first in the three-meter dive both times. Against North Carolina, she set a Virginia record with a score of 355.05. Dusel also won the one-meter dive against North Carolina State.

At the women’s ACC Championships this past weekend, Virginia divers again helped their swimming teammates to a title, as the Cavaliers won their 10th ACC championship in 11 seasons.

Towbin and Dusel finished fourth and seventh, respectively, in the platform, and senior Corey Johnson finished 12th. Dusel finished sixth and Johnson finished 15th in the three-meter, and Towbin finished eighth in the one-meter.

Following the tragic death of incoming freshman diver Josh Richardson over the summer, the Virginia men’s diving team was left with just two divers — freshman

Tristan Gess and sophomore Bryce Shelton. Both Gess and Shelton missed meets this season, as well, leading to some close losses for the Cavaliers when their opponents were able to capture most or all of the diving points.

For instance, Virginia lost to Louisville in November by a score of 197.5 to 166.5. Gess and Shelton were out with health issues — leaving all 32 points from diving events to Louisville, who won by 31 points. Though diving takes place mostly behind closed doors, it is impossible to deny that it doesn’t matter.

I’ve certainly been guilty of saying I cover the “swim team” or that I’m going to a “swim meet.” But after following this team all season, I’ve been trying to break that habit. Not only are Virginia’s divers immensely talented and deserve to be recognized for their diving skill, the impact diving scores have on a meet is not something to take lightly.

COLIN CANTWELL is an associate editor for The Cavalier Daily.

He can be reached at cpc3ba@virginia. edu.

COURTESY UVA TODAY

Sophmore Kylie Towbin highlights a talented team of Cavalier divers that helped orchestrate am ACC title over the weekend.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2018

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LEAD EDITORIAL

Student Council President endorsement

OPINION

The Cavalier Daily Editorial Board endorses Alex Cintron

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ndividual endorsement interviews and the Student Council Presidential Candidate Forum provided The Cavalier Daily Editorial Board with rich insight into the platforms of Alex Cintron, Jalon Daniels and Eddie Lin. Each candidate expressed a distinct vision for the Council’s role in the University community, and the board was impressed by several aspects of each platform. The board evaluated each candidate’s goals and concrete policy proposals enumerated in their platforms, interviews and participation in the forum. The board is endorsing Cintron in light of his vision for a more accessible and action-oriented Council.

Cintron’s experience as Vice President for Administration has prepared him well for the presidency. Charged with managing the inner-workings of the Council, Cintron learned to promote programs that addressed issues affecting students’ daily lives and long-term experience at the University.

These programs include his work with Legislative Advisory Board, which has given students a stronger political voice, as well as his work as chair of Student Legal Services regarding immigration cases and their implications.

The VPA’s task of composing and regulating the Council’s budget would also aid Cintron as president — an understanding of the Council’s financial capabilities is essential to prioritizing practical goals. Though each of the candidates bring leadership experience to this election, Cintron’s background best equips him for the presidency.

Cintron’s vision for the Council would facilitate meaningful engagement with underrepresented communities through programs such as diverse student representation in the faculty hiring process and a freely available closet of professional attire. Cintron has demonstrated his willingness to critique the system — for example, in a recent interview, he said the Council should have signed onto the demands

of the March to Reclaim our Grounds earlier and that the Council, “should have been more policy-focused on how we supported” the demands. Although Cintron’s past actions does not necessarily imply that he will continue to hold himself to that same standard, he has acknowledged the student body’s desire for a more accountable Council and plans to shape the Council into an “active instigator of policy change.”

Several concrete policy initiatives ground Cintron’s goals in reality. He would prioritize accessibility to feminine hygiene products for both students and workers, and would research multiple ways of doing so in order to remain cost efficient while providing this necessary service. In addition, Cintron plans to implement a chair and vice chair structure to committees in order to better hold Council members accountable. Through these and other tangible actions, Cintron’s administration would effectively accomplish its goals.

Lin’s candidacy is defined by its focus on “student voice, everywhere.”

This message is a strong testament to Lin’s desire to “benefit all students,” however this lofty goal is undermined by vague policy. Under Lin’s policies, the Council would play a relatively passive role in University life. Bolstering listening tours, Speak Up UVA and the public comment period of general body meetings would not put the Council in control of its actions — rather, the Council would rely on the University community taking action to advocate for their concerns. The board believes that the Council should actively seek out community involvement, rather than simply provide a forum for the public to act. In addition, Lin’s promise to increase committee chairs’ autonomy would undermine the Council’s ability to function as a unified body. While this policy may give committees the opportunity to address a wider range of issues, Lin’s ability to accomplish his goals may be

limited.

While Daniels offered a passionate account of the role of the Council in University life, the board is concerned about his effectiveness as president.

His platform relies on vague goals, such as increased student safety without concrete policies to back them up.

In addition, the board is concerned about his institutional knowledge as a first-year. One important duty of the president is to appoint committee chairs, and his lack of familiarity with the Council would inhibit his ability to perform this task.

Through high-reaching goals and concrete policies, Cintron is well-positioned to serve as Council president.

The board was impressed by his ability to articulate his platform, as well as his professionalism in his campaign.

Although Lin and Daniels bring valuable insights to the presidency, Cintron would best serve the University community.

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.

The Cavalier Daily is published Thursdays in print and daily online at cavalierdaily. com. It is printed on at least 40 percent recycled paper. 2016 The Cavalier Daily Inc.

HAVE AN OPINION? The Cavalier Daily welcomes letters to the editor and guest columns. Writers must provide full name, telephone number and University affiliation, if appropriate. Letters should not exceed 250 words in length and columns should not exceed 700. The Cavalier Daily does not guarantee publication of submissions and may edit all material for content and grammar. Submit to opinion@cavalierdaily.com or P.O. Box 400703, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4703

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS To better serve readers, The Cavalier Daily has a public editor to respond to questions and concerns regarding its practices. The public editor writes a column published every week on the opinion pages based on reader feedback and his independent observations. He also welcomes queries pertaining to journalism and the newspaper industry in general. The public editor is available at publiceditor@cavalierdaily.com.

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MANAGING BOARD Editor-in-Chief Tim Dodson Managing Editor Ben Tobin Executive Editor Jake Lichtenstein Operations Manager Avishek Pandey Chief Financial Officer Nate Bolon EDITORIAL BOARD Jake Lichtenstein Tim Dodson Jacob Asch Niki Hendi Katherine Smith JUNIOR BOARD Assistant Managing Editors Alexis Gravely Gracie Kreth (SA) Bridget Curley (SA) Alec Husted (SA) Alix Nguyen (SA) Aaron Rose (SA) Anne Whitney

News Editors Kate Bellows Maggie Servais (SA) Geremia Di Maro Sports Editors Alec Dougherty Jake Blank (SA) Emma D’arpino (SA) Zach Zamoff Life Editors Julie Bond Natalie Seo Arts & Entertainment Editors Dan Goff Thomas Roades (SA) Darby Delaney (SA) Ben Hitchcock Health & Science Editors Tina Chai Ruhee Shah Focus Editor Abby Clukey Opinion Editors Brendan Novak Jacob Asch (SA) Katherine Smith Humor Editor Veronica Sirotic Cartoon Editor Mira du Plessis

Production Editors Mark Felice Sonia Gupta Zach Beim (SA) Elizabeth Lee Print Graphics Editors Matt Gillam Aisha Singh Photography Editors Christina Anton Sarah Lindamood (SA) Nick Zugris Video Editors Aidan McWeeny Engineering Manager Katie Vinson Social Media Managers Ashley Botkin Libby Scully Marketing & Advertising Managers Avantika Mehra Business Manager Kelly Mays

Want to respond?

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

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THE CAVALIER DAILY

OPINION • www.cavalierdaily.com

LEAD EDITORIAL

Student Council Vice President for Administration endorsement The Cavalier Daily Editorial Board endorses Sydney Bradley

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he Cavalier Daily Editorial Board has chosen to endorse Sydney Bradley for Student Council Vice President of Administration. In selecting the VPA, the board looked at several factors, such as a thorough understanding of the position and organization, clear goals for the upcoming term and dedication to the role. We believe that Bradley is the candidate who most thoroughly fulfills these qualities.

Bradley has ample experience within the Council, having been a part of the organization since her first year. Throughout her past three years on the Council, she has served as a representative for the College of Arts and Sciences, the chair of several ad hoc committees and is currently the Chair of the Academic Affairs Committee. Within that committee, she has been further

involved with faculty and administration working on academic policies, marrying her “academic experience with student leadership experience.” By working her way up through the different branches of the Council, Bradley has been able to see the two functioning parts of Student Council that work to make policies — the representatives and the cabinet — and where they overlap.

She acknowledged the perceived lack of communication between the Representative Body and the executive board, saying that she has seen “a lot of frustrating tension over the past two years” but now knows what has worked and what hasn’t among the two groups. Bradley shows a willingness to work with representatives too, mentioning some expenditures that many representatives believe are superfluous

and expressing hope to find some solutions for the budget.

Bradley, with firm procedures in place in her platform already, plans on tackling problems within the Council starting from the beginning of her term. She believes that currently the Council’s most pressing issue is that it is seen as an elitist and exclusive organization by other students and plans on addressing these concerns head on. Her platform involves making the Council more open to those who want to apply to Council committees by working with the chairs to create a reformed application process and going directly to community groups and CIOs to recruit — potentially even adding a temporary recruitment chair. Bradley also wants to work on increasing innovative projects for committees to establish connections

with students, saying they’re the primary items that should be funded. She again touched on what she believes can be a current problem with the disconnect between representatives and the executive board, that the representatives are not voting for these projects to be funded since they may not know why these projects are necessary in the first place. Regardless, Bradley plans on pushing forward these activities to actively bring new initiatives to students and increase their interaction with the Council.

Bradley’s other activities only add to her qualifications this role. With her American Studies and Government majors, Bradley is particularly focused on telling the truth of Charlottesville history, showing her commitment to the greater surrounding commu-

nity and connecting the Council and the University to the city.

Bradley was impressed with the Council’s initiative to lobby for bills and legislation, an act that she believes shows that students can actually affect policy. However, Bradley was able to differentiate herself from the previous term by calling for an enhanced connection to students by directly meeting with CIOs and individuals instead of solely showing support over social media. Overall, Bradley’s experience within the Council, willingness to connect with students and substantive platform make her the best choice for VPA.

EFFECTIVE REPRESENTATION IS NECESSARY Communication, accessibility and accountability are all essential components of student government

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he key to any democratic system of government remains constant no matter what size, shape or form that system may take.

The success of a democracy rests on its representative nature. The actions of a governing body, even one as hyper-local as Student Council, must accurately reflect the interests of the people it represents. To establish this, a representative must foster communication with their constituents, and for this communication to occur, a representative must be accessible. Without this accessibility, there will be no way for citizens to express their concerns.

However, these points are moot unless a representative can be held accountable, as communication holds no weight unless consequences exist. Therefore, communication, accessibility and accountability are necessary for effective representation, otherwise the representative body will degrade into an apathetic structure that fails to reflect student interest.

An effective representative must maintain a level of communication with their community. The purpose of a representative is to serve in the best interest of their constituency, and without regular levels of communication, this interest is lost. An isolated representative will grow out of touch with the constantly evolving public. Consistent communication not only prevents apathy but fosters allyship with a com-

munity. Representatives who do groups designed to target specific herent in student government. The not talk to their constituents may issues at the University. By ena- essence of accountability consists attempt to seize a cause for them- bling student participation, rep- of knowledgeable constituents and selves. Instead of filling a support- resentatives make a more in-tune internal regulation. Internal regulaing role, the Council may attempt council. At the same time, however, tion may take the form of the basic to turn itself into the figurehead of the dependence on student partic- attendance requirements enshrined the movement. This is not the role ipation exacerbates the greatest is- in Student Council bylaws that enof government. The Council must sues with accessibility. The greatest sure representatives at least show ally with the needs and wants of flaw of the Council is that the only up. Meanwhile, constituents keep minority organizations, signing on students with influence are those their representatives accountable to their needs rather than prescrib- who have the time and resources to by keeping tabs on representatives ing a solution. An example of the participate in student government. through news coverage and pubeffective execution of the allyship However, this is not an inherent lic voting records. While these acrole is the endorsement of the BSA quality of the system and is pos- countability systems exist, they are demands. The Council signed onto sible to change. The recent estab- inadequate in their current form. the demands of Attempts to a coalition of inform the pubminority organlic hinge on the izations instead external newsAccountability measures are important in order to of attempting letter, a Univerensure communication and accessibility. to craft their sity-wide email own list. Furthat can easily thermore, it be ignored or never became missed.

The “Student Counattendance recil’s Demands,” as the organization lishment of office hours represent quirements mentioned previously ensured the authors of the demands important steps taken to remedy only require general body meeting remained the chief heralds of the this weakness of the system. Rep- attendance, so a representative movement. resentatives can solve the problems could do nothing else and face no Quality representation also with accessibility through policies consequences. Greater steps must means maintaining accessibility. and by becoming the ones to ini- be taken to inform the student The ability to engage in communi- tiate the conversation with those body and ensure representatives do cation is worthless if no opportuni- who are marginalized. By doing so, more than simply show up Tuesday ties for dialogue exist. One manner they expand the horizon of student nights. What it means to be a true, by which a representative fosters government and enhance its repre- quality representative is to expand accessibility is by providing oppor- sentative nature. accountability even if it means intunities for student participation The arguments outlined above creasing the strictness of a system in student government. In recent rely on representatives taking initi- by which one must abide. Good times, the Council has established ative. For this to occur, there must representation acts against one’s many ad-hoc committees and focus be an accountability mechanism in- potential apathy by establishing

systems that will force accessibility and communication through accountability.

Communication between representatives and the student body maintains an effective pursuit of student interest. This communication must be built upon the accessibility of the institution, as communication cannot occur if one cannot interact with their representative.

While the Council encourages accessibility through student participation, this makes it difficult for those that cannot participate to have a voice. Yet both communication and accessibility depend on representatives taking initiative in their offices. Therefore, accountability measures designed to craft an informed student body and active representatives must exist. However, current incarnations of accountability systems desperately need to be reformed. Accountability measures are important in order to ensure communication and accessibility. All three of these points are what make the Council a reflection of student interest, and they must be prioritized to preserve student self-governance.

AVERY GAGNE is a first-year College student and a Student Council representative.

www.cavalierdaily.com • OPINION

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2018

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Editor: Student self-governance does not stop at the ballot box The Cavalier Daily cannot hold our leaders accountable without your help

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ur tradition of student self-governance continues this week as we cast our votes in numerous races and referenda. But student self-governance does not stop at the ballot box.

As members of this community, student self-governance challenges us to hold our leaders and institutions accountable for their promises and actions. The Cavalier Daily provides an important

SARAH LINDAMOOD | THE CAVALIER DAILY

The Cavalier Daily hosted a forum with the three candidates for Student Council president Monday evening.

avenue for our community to ensure this system is properly functioning and responding to student needs — and we can’t do it alone.

As the newspaper of record at the University, The Cavalier Daily has long documented student life and leadership. When the newspaper was founded under the name College Topics in 1890, its editors wrote that, “We have associated with ourselves the ablest corps of reporters in the world.”

“Toward the faculty we will maintain a dignified independence, while politically, impartiality will be our chief characteristic,” the paper’s editors wrote in January 1890. “Without prejudice and without fear we will criticise all factions and parties where their conduct is reprehensible.”

The Cavalier Daily has greatly changed over time, but the principles of editorial independence and robust reporting remain constant. In this system of stu-

dent self-governance, you’ll find us covering the details of weekly Student Council, Honor Committee and University Judiciary Committee meetings. We delve into the Board of Visitors agendas, file Freedom of Information Act requests and work to get student leaders and administrators on the record.

After this week’s student elections, The Cavalier Daily is committed to reporting on our elected leaders and holding them accountable. But we cannot pursue truth by ourselves.

We are your community paper. We depend on your news tips, your letters to the editor and your feedback.

What can the paper be doing better? Is there a story we are not covering? What interesting projects or initiatives are underway, but going unnoticed? Where is the University succeeding and where is it falling short? Are student leaders fulfilling their responsibilities? Are there voices

in this community being silenced and voices being over-amplified?

A system of student self-governance demands that we reflect on, discuss and critique such questions.

My hope is that The Cavalier Daily can serve as a platform for this kind of community-building to take place, and that our readers will continue to engage with us to make this vision a reality.

Civic engagement and local news consumption are closely tied, and independent student journalism has a role to play in informing and supporting our system of student self-governance — both during this week’s elections and in the year to come.

As readers, writers and editors, we must work together to keep student leaders accountable.

TIM DODSON is the editor-in-chief of The Cavalier Daily.

He can be reached at editor@cavalierdaily.com.

UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS ARE IMPORTANT Final exams and midterms teach students marketable skills that will be useful for their futures

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n recent years, education scholars and students alike have called for the abolishment of the examination-based educational system at colleges and universities around the nation.

These scholars cited a number of reasons exams should be abolished, including their lack of post-graduation relevance. Phil Hedayatnia, a researcher at Rice University, recently argued that the skills students use for examinations are not useful to their future employers. Furthermore, he proposed that higher education as a whole should seek to change its formula and focus more on preparing students for the workforce. Though this criticism may be correct for certain examinations, students gain practical skills from their university examinations that will carry them through years of post-graduate work.

One reason university examinations are beneficial is that they are a good way to prepare students for high-stress situations in the workplace. After graduating from universities, students will likely deal with proposals, presentations, projects and other important tasks for their prospective jobs. For certain

jobs, these tasks may be the dif- tions are similar to the short ing under pressure. ference between a pay raise and pieces of writing required in Examinations also help prea punishment from an employ- the workplace. Additionally, pare students for the time maner. University examinations are writing-based examinations are agement skills required for largely criticized for the pressure beneficial because they prepare success in the post-collegiate that they place on students, but students to execute high-qual- working environment. The exam if a student learns how to excel ity pieces of writing in stress- schedule at many universities is under pressure in college, that ful situations, often with time fairly similar to the type of work skill could easily be applied to a restrictions. Many employers schedule that students could see post-university job. Final exams value writing skills when hiring in any number of fields. Budgin particular are often worth students out of college. In a 2011 eting time in order to create the anywhere from 30 to 60 percent Washington Post article, Joyce best product possible is a skill of a student’s that must be grade and learned in orthey present der to achieve a “make-itsuccess in the Final exams and midterms help students practice or-break-it” workplace. Fiorganizing their tasks and prepare them to manage situation in nal exams and the classroom. midterms help their time wisely.

Given that students pracmany jobs, tice organizing particulartheir tasks and ly those in prepare them the business to manage world, are so high pressure, stu- E.A. Russell, of the University their time wisely. Exams also predents can use their university ex- of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith pare students to deliver a large ams as a way to prepare for the School of Business, explained product under a strict deadline. inevitably stressful work envi- that writing skills help differen- While one could argue that sturonment many of them will enter tiate between candidates on job dents learn this skill from other after graduation. applications and argued that the assignments throughout the seEssay-based exams also pres- age of the internet has caused a mester, the weight and imporent an opportunity for students deficit of writing skills in the job tance associated with final exto hone their writing skills. The market. Though final exams and ams and midterms give students quick and concise answers re- midterms only occur a few times an added incentive to do well. quired for many short-answer a semester, they represent a key Though the exam schedule in questions on final examina- way for students to practice writ- college can seem grueling, it is an

ideal way for students to prepare to manage their time in a professional environment, where mistakes result in larger consequences than a lower grade.

Though traditional final exams are not as practical as an internship or externship, they help students leave college with skills necessary for the workforce. One cannot underestimate the value of the stress and time management skills that students develop throughout their four years in college. The importance of the writing skills that students gain as a result of essay-based examinations should also not be understated. While final exams and midterms are often only discussed through the lens of the content knowledge they test, university examinations are a learning experience for students in other areas as well. Final exams help students develop important skills and, therefore, should not be eliminated from university curricula.

CARLY MULVIHILL is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at c.mulvihill@cavalierdaily.com.

THE CAVALIER DAILY

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Lost “Hoo Civilization” uncovered

HUMOR *Originally published in the Comrade Daily on Feb. 22, 5092 in Russian. Translated by Ivan Korsakoff.

According to legend, the great civilization of the Hoo people was destroyed over 3000 years ago by the Great Beer Flood of 2020 CE. For centuries, the subgroup of ancient Americans has been dismissed as pure myth.

Until now.

Last Monday, in the eastern part of modern People’s Republic of Amerussia, intrepid archaeologist Montana Bones discovered the ruins of the an-

cient city of Hooville, which had been preserved in an underground lake of beer, confirming the myth of the Great Beer Flood. A Professor of Russo-American History at the University of New Moscow, Bones has become a celebrity amongst scholars and the layman alike. We contacted Professor Bones to comment on the Hoo people.

“Our knowledge of the Hoo people is steeped in myth,” said Bones.

“It is difficult to determine the truth from stories. However, there are some things we know. We know that their capital city of Hooville was founded on July 4, 1776 CE by Founding Fashionista T.J. Maxx. We also know that their scholars were completely celibate, indicated by the name of their campus, “University of Virgins.”

“Despite having an enormous cam-

pus,” Bones continued, “the Hoo were, as a whole, more interested in honoring their deities with ritual drinking of coffee in the morning and beer at night. In fact, the Hoo renamed their campus “Coffee Grounds” in order to show their devotion. Moreover, the Hoo became illiterate and actually forgot how to spell ‘Who,’ their original clan name, because they spent all their time ritualistically imbibing their beer and coffee.”

As Professor Bones mentioned, the Hoo were a very religious people.

The patron deity of the Hoo was a mother-goddess known as Miz-Kathy.

The modern religion of Buttkicking is speculated to have been descended from her cult. Miz-Kathy was honored in the exquisite Temple of New Comb.

The Temple of Old Comb has yet to

be uncovered. Minor Hoo deities include the messenger god Wheelie Kid and war goddess Tonya Bennett.

“Like all ancient civilizations,” explained Bones, “the Hoo often found themselves in violent conflicts with their neighbors, such as the barbarous Hokies to the southwest or the mysterious clan known only as ‘The Tribe’ to the southeast.” A number of mystic traditions were designed to win wars. For example, chanting the “Good Ol’ Song” before battle supposedly brought good luck by invoking Tonya Bennett. The Hoo also intimidated their enemies by donning their traditional war attire of guys-in-ties and girls-in-pearls. The meaning of their war cry, “Wahoowa,” is unknown, though it appears that it was intended to confuse enemies by imitating the

sound of crying infants.

The superiority of the Hoos in war is evidenced by the discovery of the “Slush Fund,” a hidden trove of ancient American currency found buried near the Regent Queen Tee Sully’s palace.

This impressive treasury was likely plundered from their weaker vassals.

“More research must be done on the Hoo,” proclaimed Professor Bones.

“We have so much to learn from them, despite their primitive nature. Their extinction immediately preceded the fall of the declining American Empire, giving us a rare look into life before Russian occupation in America.”

APOLLO YONG is a humor columnist for the Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at humor@cavalierdaily.com

The real reason people are playing Fortnite Are you too tolerant towards yourself? Do you often have that odious feeling of self-love? Are you trying your best to hate yourself, but luck keeps your self-esteem afloat? Don’t you worry, I feel your comfort and ease.

Earlier this month, I approached a friend looking for a way to rectify this problem. In simple terms, he explained what was troubling me and offered me an easy, free solution, which I’m here to relay to y’all.

These awful symptoms and more are simply explained by a lack of self-contempt. Lucky for us, our medication is only one “Free Download” button away — Fortnite Battle Royale.

If you haven’t heard of Fortnite, you probably have a life. The virtual sensation has usurped popularity from more traditional, paid, shoot-and-kill games like Call of Duty. Epic, the company that designed Fortnite, recently announced that it has now amassed

over 40 million downloads of the game.

The vast majority of this Fortnite mob is in the same predicament as you and I — they too are sufferers of contentment and are looking for a way to purge themselves. And there is no better avenue through which we can reconnect with our roots of self-disgust than this stupid, freakin’ game.

The free Battle Royale version of Fortnite features a free-for-all game mode where each player is pitted against 99 others. Players gather in a waiting area, and are then dropped onto an island by a flying blue school bus suspended from a hot-air balloon.

Players skydive to reach specific locations on the map and collect loot — including guns, shield potions and health items — ultimately aiming to brutally murder their opponents and collect their loot. You can also chop down literally anything to gather resources — providing either wood, brick or steel — which you can build

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CARTOON

Donald Quixote

BY WALTER SHARON

your own structures. The last player standing is the victor.

Again, you may have trepidations about this system. According the raw numbers, you’d have a 1 percent chance of winning and falling further and further away from depression. But those numbers are skewed!

In reality, there is a select group of players who spend their entire lives on this game, and those guys pretty much always win — you can tell who they are because they own special paid customization packages for their avatars.

I’ve played at least 500 times, and I’ve only won once! Essentially, my final opponent outsmarted me by jumping to his death from like, 200 feet, leaving me with the bitter taste of victory in my mouth.

Fortunately, the other 499 times I’ve played have gone exactly how I wanted. The multitude of ways through which I’ve died were sensual and arousing. Usually, I just get a shot-

gun shell to the face or get shredded by an assault rifle — those straightforward, predictable deaths do please me to no end.

But what really gets me going are the unexpected and unlikely deaths.

One time I watched my friend get obliterated by a minigun from a guy who landed right next to him with a parachute — truly orgasmic. Another good one was when I tried to throw a grenade at an opponent, but it hit a tree and bounced right back at me.

Consequently, I was blown to pieces.

That was one of the most satisfying experiences of my young life.

The best part of the game is that you always think you have a chance to win, and pretty much always, that hope is violently ripped away from you by some 12-year-old addict. Unlike other things people use to resist their self-love, like drugs and alcohol, the stimulating effects of Fortnite do not diminish over time.

No, every time you die will be

as excruciatingly delightful as the first. Plus, Fortnite only has one mild side-effect: the happiness you may experience after a win. The rest are all positive — restlessness, feeling of dread, increased irritability, susceptibility to illness, loss of vision, more potent self-loathing and much more!

Fortnite has reinvigorated my sense of self-hatred. I cannot recommend it any more wholeheartedly to all people who suffer from the horrid love I felt toward myself before playing. I promise that if you download Fortnite, it will do the same for you.

SPONSORED BY EPIC GAMES

NICHOLAS JUAN is a humer columnist for the Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at humor@cavalierdaily.com

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2018

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WEEKLY CROSSWORD PUZZLE Dan Goff | Arts and Entertainment Editor

PUZZLES

*THE SOLUTION TO THIS PUZZLE CAN BE FOUND IN NEXT WEEK’S ISSUE 1

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*THIS IS THE SOLUTION TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE S H A D E

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Thursday Acting in a Crisis, 4:30 pm, Multicultural Student Center Relay for Life’s Date Auction, 9:30 pm, Boylan Heights Third Year Council Presents: Grad School Prep, 5 pm, PAC Friday Men’s Tennis vs. Mercer, 11 am, Snyder Tennis Center Women’s Tennis vs. Richmond, 3 pm, Boar’s Head Baseball vs. Eastern Kentucky, 3 pm, Davenport Field Final Friday, 5:30 pm, The Fralin Museum of Art UPC Presents: Winter Movies, 7 pm, Newcomb Theater Saturday Baseball vs. Eastern Kentucky, 1 pm, Davenport Field Men’s Lacrosse vs. Princeton, 1 pm, Klockner Stadium TEDxUVA’s 2018 Conference, 2 pm, The Rotunda Sunday Tuesday Baseball vs. VMI, 3 pm, Davenport Field Wednesday Softball vs. Campbell, 5 pm, The Park Women’s Lacrosse vs. William and Mary, 5 pm, Klockner Stadium Things I Wish I Knew: Rebecca Leonard, 5 pm, Multicultural Student Center

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Across 1. As a verb, drench in water; as a noun, slang for a drunk person 6. Grab tightly with one's hand 11. Mark a surface with small dots — often artistic 13. The number of student leadership positions without any candidates — ___-seven 14. What you might sing to a baby to get it to sleep 15. Crazier 16. This type of person is often "secret" 17. Temporary 19. Some printers also have this option 20. "___ the Wild" — Krakauer book about Chris McCandless 22. Something you write, maybe in a pad 23. Goose or duck sounds 25. Consume 26. 24-hour library 27. Term of indifference — also a Death Grips track 29. Not neat 32. What you might call a renewal of faith 34. Type of plant you can make pie from 37. Sweet potato 39. "The First ___" — classic Christmas track 40. Type of platform 42. One of the committees for which elections are taking place 46. Just a little — two words 47. Formerly used name for Thailand 48. Female horse 49. What one does to sugar 51. One of the earliest Christian civilizations — in Eurasia 54. What you might do to the body of a loved one 55. Tallied up 56. Austrian composer Johann ___ II 57. Small fluffy animals 58. Not most

Down 1. Another of the groups for which elections are held this week 2. Cornelius Vanderbilt was one of the original ones of these 3. Communications means for satellites 4. Light way of boxing 5. Major river of Central Europe 6. Khaki fabric 7. Pleasant, gentle accent 8. A trait student musician Kate Bollinger might have — do some A&E research for this one 9. Group containing steroid alcohols 10. Shiny yellow mineral, often cubic 11. ___-and-burn — method of clearing forest 12. Eagle's nest 13. Trump's social media platform of choice 18. ___ Gym — not the AFC 21. Southwest African country 24. Member of South Slavic ethnic group 28. A telemarketer might wear one of these 30. Pigpen 31. Title for former monarch of Iran 33. Stews food in closed container 34. "Twilight" star ___ Pattinson 35. Young, female cow 36. With "II," popular cosmetic line 38. Measurement of mass and velocity — plural form 39. Those who might rat out drug users 41. Slap with hand 43. City in Upper Brittany, France 44. Agatha Christie novel "Murder on the ___ Express" — also a 2017 film starring Kenneth Branagh 45. Peruses a book, maybe 50. The hall where Cav Daily held a forum for onedown Monday 52. Muddy water by stirring up sediment 53. Unable to speak

CORRECTIONS In the lead editorial entitled, “Honor Committee endorsements,” in the Feb. 15 editon of The Cavalier Daily, the editorial misstated that Jesse Alloy had conducted research on spotlight reporting. Alloy actually proposed the research as a component of his platform. In addition, Caitlin Knowles’s name was misspelled as “Caitlyn Knowles.”

THE CAVALIER DAILY

A& E

Animation Show of Shows comes to C’ville Lineup of animated shorts is more politically relevant than ever

ARTS &

ENTERTAINMENT The past year in feature films has been one for the record books.

The big screen has produced a host of history-making moments, from Jordan Peele becoming the first African-American writer/director to surpass $100 million at the box office to Rachel Morrison becoming the first woman ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Cinematography.

For a culture so obsessed with shortening everything into a 280-character social media soundbite, public discourse has centralized around feature-length films and largely ignored the art form of the animated short.

The Animation Show of Shows aims to change that.

The Animation Show of Shows is put forth annually by Acme Filmworks Inc., a company that was founded in 1990 by film producer Ron Diamond. The intent of Acme Filmworks Inc. is to produce and highlight visual content from artists, creators and animators looking to explore unique forms of storytelling. In 1998, Diamond created The Animation Show of Shows to showcase the best animated short films of all time to industry professionals. This year, Diamond’s curated picks are available to the Charlottesville community as part of the Virginia Film Festival. The 16 animated shorts were made available to the public during an exclusive showing Feb. 20 at the Violet Crown Cinema on the Downtown Mall.

The films for this year’s release are deeply resonant, given the current political climate in which the United States is embroiled. These short films stand out, reflecting a society unsure of its future and role in global politics.

There are a few main themes that carry throughout the 16 shorts, the large ones being humankind’s relationship with nature, oppression and liberation and the meaning of life. Overall, the shorts seek to explore the role each living organism plays in the grand scheme of the universe.

Despite these broadly serious themes, there is humor and beauty to be found in the films as well. That is the true beauty of The Animation Show of Shows — the show is a blend of humor, art, history and philosophy, equal parts educational and entertaining, a must see for anyone seeking to be a film buff or an informed citizen.

Below is a brief synopsis of each of the 16 films featured in The Animation Show of Shows in order of appearance.

“Can You Do It” Directed by French director Quentin Baillieux, “Can You Do It” is an artfully produced social commentary. The animation is done through Harlem Renaissance-style art, featuring cool tones and geometric interpretations of the human form. The animation style seems to serve as a symbol reflective of

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Kate Granruth | Staff Writer the subject matter of the piece, which revolves around African-American trailblazers and simultaneously introduces the idea the mere existence is a form of resistance. The only sound in the film is the song “Can You Do It”

by Charles X, which hammers home the titular question in a powerful and poignant manner.

“Tiny Big” “Tiny Big,” by Belgian director Lia Bertels, is an abstract exploration of the desire of humans to find a purpose in life. The film shows various artistic interpretation of humans seeking love, money and entertainment and begs the resonant question of “What do we lose when we are in constant chase?”

“Next Door” “Next Door,” from American director Pete Docter, comments on the way in which childhood wonder dissipates into strict routine and rigidity as humans grow older. The film revolves around a square old man who just wants to watch his TV and his roundcheeked neighbor, a little girl with a larger-than-life imagination. The short is touching and genuine and calls to mind a sort of harmony found through exploration of the imagination.

“The Alan Dimension” “The Alan Dimension,” from Jac Clinch of the U.K., comes as a welltimed moment of levity a fourth of the way through the entire program.

Alan is by all accounts a simple man, a retired accountant living in suburbia with his wife Wendy — except that Alan is a psychic. He becomes obsessed with his pre-cognizant visions to his wife’s chagrin, and lets his life completely devolve as he attempts to prove his powers. “The Alan Dimension” is pure fun, a silly romp with romance grounded in reality.

“Beautiful like Elsewhere” “Beautiful like Elsewhere,” from Canadian director Elise Simard, is a hauntingly gorgeous production exploring the cycle of life and the temporary nature of all things. “Can beauty be found in destruction?” the film asks. The film’s intent is summed up in one arresting line at the very beginning — “I tell you someone will remember us in the future.”

“Hangman” “Hangman,” from Paul Julian and Les Goldman of the United States, is fascinating in equal parts for its subject matter and its historical context.

“Hangman” is a restored animated short from the 1960s public school curriculum and is arguably the most politically relevant to today. The film depicts a town under siege from the Hangman, who built a giant gallows in the town square and is hanging innocent people left and right. The film is a social commentary on complicity in one’s own destruction, emphasized by the haunting words, “And we gave him way,” from the narrator.

“The Battle of San Romano” “The Battle of San Romano,” by Swiss director Georges Schwizgebel, brings to life the painting of the same name by Paolo Uccello. The chaotic and jumbled animation style is deeply resonant, seeming to speak to the endless cycle of violence in war. It’s impossible for a viewer to focus on any given form or character, perhaps referencing the anonymity of war. Blood splatter is animated to morph into fresh soldiers, and the audience is left with one question — what are these people dying for?

“Gokurosama” “Gokurosama” is a group effort from French directors Clémentine Frère, Aurore Gal, Yukiko Meignien, Anna Mertz, Robin Migliorelli and Romain Salvini. The film is another uplifting, funny moment in the show as a whole. Set in a Japanese shopping center, the short revolves around an elderly shopkeeper and her young employee as they prepare to open for the day. But their plans are thwarted when the shopkeeper throws her back out. The employee doesn’t know how to help — until a benevolent man in a teddy bear suit steps in.

“Dear Basketball” “Dear Basketball,” from American director Glen Keane, is currently a nominee for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short. The film revolves around and is narrated by basketball legend Kobe Bryant and is a new interpretation of a modern romance. Written as though Bryant is reading a letter to the game, the short is a love story between a man and the sport that gave him everything.

“Island” “Island,” by German directors Max Mörtl and Robert Löbel, is an adorably educational claymation that explores the synchronicity found in the natural world. The short personifies all natural elements, from rocks to volcanos to trees, bringing nature to life in a musically driven narrative.

“Unsatisfying” “Unsatisfying,” from Parallel Studio in France, is just that. Literally. The film is a compilation of things that are objectively unsatisfying — a basketball circling the rim and falling off, a soup spoon sliding and submerging into a bowl of soup, a line of dominos that stop falling halfway through. The retro-style animation set to a soundtrack of dramatic violins is funny and frustrating at the same time.

“The Burden” “The Burden,” from Swedish director Niki Lindroth von Bahr, is kind of like a melancholy fever dream. The short is a musical exploring the lives of various night shift workers, but all of the characters appear to be lifelike animal puppets. The hotel concierge is a singing fish, the McDonald’s janitors are tap-dancing mice, the telemarket-

COURTESY RON DIAMOND

The 19th Annual Animation Show of Shows brought creative fun to the Violet Crown Tuesday.

ers are singing monkeys and the night shift employee at the grocery door is a dog doing spoken word. Despite the absurdity of it all, “The Burden” is a powerful film that looks at survival from a new lens — a negative one, at that. Does the necessity to make money to live hamper one’s ability to find happiness? “The Burden” says yes.

“Les Abeilles Domestiques” (“Domestic Bees”) “Les Abeilles Domestiques,” from Canada’s Alexanne Desrosiers, is an abstract representation of the interconnectivity of the human experience, an exploration of the shared experiences everyone has in a lifetime. The film stakes the claim that everyone is just bumbling around, following the same patterns of joy and heartbreak, embarrassment and love, ultimately reaching the conclusion that we are all just bored animals looking for companionship.

“Our Wonderful Nature: The Common Chameleon” “Our Wonderful Nature: The Common Chameleon,” from German director Tomer Eshed, is a laugh-outloud mockumentary about a chameleon that can’t stop eating — even when the bugs he’s going after are twice his size. It’s a hilarious and cute short film with “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” vibes that is a joy for audiences of all

ages.

“Casino” “Casino,” from Canada’s Steven Woloshen, is the most abstract short.

The narration is told through colorful flashes of brushstrokes and curved lines. It’s chaos, but with a pattern that gives an impression of inebriation to the viewer. In this short, the items in the casino are the main characters. The playing cards dance, the dice argue and the blackjack table seems to grin.

“Everything” The final short in the program comes from American director David OReilly. The animation style is choppy and is part of a Minecraft-style video game. It almost feels as though the viewer is moving around the world, clicking on different objects and organisms to zoom in on. Based on the work of late philosopher Alan Watts, the short explores the interconnectedness of everything in the universe and the way that perspective defines reality.

www.cavalierdaily.com • ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2018

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‘Black Panther’ has claws, and they dig deep The latest Marvel movie is a stunning success Gregory Lee | Senior Writer

COURTESY MARVEL STUDIOS

“Black Panther” is one of Marvel’s most successful features to date, combining the classic action and special effects with a rich cultural backdrop.

It’s tempting to settle for celebrating the fact that “Black Panther” exists at all. Even before the Marvel Cinematic Universe accelerated the release of superhero movies, there was a solid selection of revered comic book movies featuring white heroes.

Consequently, there have always been fewer movies with black heroes, and almost never as well received or fondly remembered. On timing alone, “Black Panther” is a

milestone as the last solo live-action superhero movie to feature a hero of African descent, not counting “Hancock” from 2008 or “Blade: Trinity” from 2004.

But more than that, Africa is felt everywhere in this movie — most of the major cast are people of color, the primary setting is in Africa and the film’s visual designs are inspired by African culture. It’s an impressive leap forward in African representa-

tion, and in a sense, the film merely being good might have been reason enough to celebrate.

But discussion of the film must move past celebration, because “Black Panther” is far beyond good or representative; “Black Panther” is a fantastic superhero film, one that is not just of Africa but explicitly about Africans, as the film is heavily thematically invested in real-world racial dynamics and the historical plight

Donʼt forget to

of black people across the globe.

The film is primarily set in the fictional African country of Wakanda, a technologically advanced utopia that has isolated itself in secret from the rest of the world for millennia. Prince T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) serves Wakanda as the titular Black Panther, a ceremonial warrior with unique enhancements. Following the death of his father during the events of “Captain America: Civil War,” T’Challa must don the mantle of king and all of the responsibilities it carries. Further complicating matters is the appearance of Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), a murderous man with a complicated past and eyes set on Wakanda. What follows is a dramatic conflict of royal strife that is far more reminiscent of a Shakespeare play than of any other superhero film, a strong central plot line around which all else is built.

Recurring minor Marvel villain Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) returns for a threatening but fun partner for Killmonger, T’Challa’s genius sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) is surprisingly charming as a technical assistant, and Wakandan general Okoye (Danai Gurira) draws out some of the more exotic elements. The cast is too broad to fully list in detail here, but it’s nuanced and varied enough that nobody feels redundant. Boseman gives a great performance that expertly crosses the gap between T’Challa’s clever, almost comfortable side as a hero and his more anxious but still stoic side as a king. But the strongest performance may be Jordan’s — however grandiose you imagine a villain named Killmonger to be, Jordan delivers, but at the same time he feels like the most human and emotionally powerful Marvel villain to date. Together, the cast form a distinctly African lens through which real-world racial disparities are viewed, and it is from this lens that the movie tackles issues of modern black identity and societal roles.

On the production side, the soundtrack is nothing short of electrifying, hopping from

VOTE

classic, dramatic orchestral sounds, to tribal drum beats, to pulse-pounding hip-hop tracks from acclaimed artist Kendrick Lamar. It’s a great soundtrack, and director Ryan Coogler uses it to its full potential, as scenes feel edited around the music to emphasize changes in perspective and mood.

Visually, the film’s blend of sci-fi elements, African-inspired designs and a rich color palette forms a beautiful, Afrofuturistic world. And again, in the capable hands of Coogler and cinematographer Rachel Morrison, the movie’s composition can be downright gorgeous. While some of the sci-fi elements are functionally similar to elements found in many other sci-fi films, the presentation is so unique that they feel fresh again. The one area where the visuals do falter in is the CGI. Especially towards the end where the movie’s use of CGI is heaviest, some of the animated textures seem very rubbery and some movements feel rather odd.

It wouldn’t be a superhero movie without some exciting action, and “Black Panther” certainly has a healthy portion of that. The film has a solid balance between sci-fi gadgetry and choreographed combat. Again, the presentation is very unique, but in the case of the action, the presentation may be something of a crutch to compensate for the fact that it’s not particularly great. It’s never bad, the choreography is fine, and the concepts for the various gadgets are cool, but it’s the one area of the film that could often be described as “typical for a Marvel movie.”

Good but not particularly great, and ultimately not the best part of the film by far.

There are other minor nitpicks to make — the stakes may be a little hard to grasp during the third act, especially depending on how deep your knowledge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe goes. But none of them can shake the film’s absurdly sturdy foundations or blemish its outstanding qualities. “Black Panther” is a wonderful superhero film and an achievement in Afrofuturistic fiction.

THE CAVALIER DAILY

H&S HEALTH & SCIENCE

University dining facilities incurred 86 total violations during health department inspections in 2017, according to a review of Thomas Jefferson Health District health inspection reports by The Cavalier Daily.

Data was gathered from 17 onGrounds facilities and seven health system facilities. While most facilities had between zero and four violations at each inspection, Observatory Hill Dining Hall had eight violations during a March 13 inspection, and Crossroads had ten violations during an Oct. 18 inspection.

According to Eric Myers, an environmental health supervisor with the Virginia Department of Health, while there is no real average number of violations due to the diverse range of food preparation sites that the Department of Health inspects, he estimates that an average number of priority violations per inspection would fall between one and four.

Myers said there is not a cutoff number of violations that will result in closing a facility. However, a single instance of an “imminent health hazard,” such as a sewage backflow or power outage, could result in administrative suspension of the food-service permit.

He also notes that violations are “a snapshot in time”, and circumstances such as a recent change in management or newly trained staff can be reflected in the number of violations found.

“When facilities have higher number of violations, usually the inspector will ask for a written compliance plan and then conduct a follow-up inspection to verify that good changes are being made,” Myers said.

Violations fall into three categories — priority, priority foundation

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U.Va. dining incurs 86 violations in 2017 Aramark and Thomas Jefferson Health District work to keep U.Va. students safe from foodborne illness Irena Kesselring | Senior Writer Ruhee Shah | Health and Science Editor and core. Priority violations refer to provisions that contribute “directly to the elimination, prevention or reduction to an acceptable level, hazards associated with foodborne illness or injury.” These are the most serious violations and include infractions such as holding food at the incorrect temperature and failing to prevent contamination. These were also the most common violation — 50 percent of violations found were considered “priority.”

Priority foundation violations regard provisions meant to support or facilitate one or more priority items, while core violations refer to provisions relating to more general sanitation and maintenance.

Scott Aebersold, marketing manager for Aramark, spoke about the importance of maintaining safety standards and working towards promoting practices to provide the best dining experience to University students.

“Everything we do as UVA Dining starts with a culture of safety first,” Aebersold said in an email.

“Our approach to food safety spans the entire flow of product from traceability, receiving, storage, preparation and finally serving of the product. Our continuous training cycle includes national education certifications in addition to local training and development for all staff members.”

All employees are required to review food preparation and safety procedures during regular meetings, prepare food according to specified recipes and production processes and use quality control processes. In addition, they need to monitor all temperature logs, sanitation schedules and employee hygiene standards, as well as ensure that all dining services comply with health codes.

Myers also said annual inspec-

SARAH LINDAMOOD | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Most facilities had between zero and four violations at each inspection.

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UNIVERSITY DINING FACILITIES WITH 86 HEALTH VIOLATIONS IN 2017

46 were priority

Violations fall into 3 categories:

Priority Priority Foundation Core

Source: VA Health Department AKHILA DANAM, MARGARET KIM AND CHLOE TRAN | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Priority violations are the most serious and refer to provisions that contribute directly to the elimination of hazards associated with foodborne illness.

tions ensure that no imminent food safety issues are being ignored.

“Our primary goal is to work well with each food service operator and to prevent foodborne illness, to pass along updated science information,” Myers said. “We’re a subsidized audit for them, but it’s required under their permits to get periodic inspections. So we come in and our goal is to help them identify anything that could be a danger or risk factor.”

During inspections, inspectors present their official ID and ask for a manager or operator to accompany them in order to ask about daily practices in the facility. Inspectors help workers identify the “Big Five” — the leading causes of foodborne illness — during inspections.

The “Big Five” include maintaining proper hot and cold holding temperatures, enforcing employee handwashing, preventing contamination of equipment or cross-contamination onto clean food, maintaining proper cooking temperatures and ensuring that food comes from approved sources.

“We want to be community partners,” Myers said. “And the U.Va. community is a very important partnership for us because of the size — there’s lots of students and staff.

The responsibility if something goes wrong can be multiplied, so I think there’s understanding on all sides about the importance of that.”

Health inspections are required at each of the 24 University dining facilities every year, and most of the infractions were corrected on the spot. For example, at Runk Dining Hall, there were two inspections last year. One was on April 10, and one violation was found — the lettuce and hummus were being kept at im-

proper temperatures. The operator removed the products since they were rendered inedible, and called maintenance to repair the unit during the inspection.

Another inspection of Runk on Aug. 22 had similar issues of holding food at improper temperatures, as well as obstruction of a handwashing sink and possible contamination of food — tongs for bread were not provided at the self-serve sandwich station. When food isn’t held at the proper temperature, there is an increased chance of bacteria growing to risky levels, and food contamination can easily lead to the spread of pathogens.

Observatory Hill Dining Hall had six inspections in 2017, with issues including obstruction of a handwashing sink and improper holding temperature for food in the salad bar and in the hot holding box.

On Nov. 13, macaroni noodles and cooked pork were held at improper temperatures, and the meat slicer and the soup kettle had food debris left on the inside.

At the Oct. 18 inspection when Crossroads had 10 violations, four of the violations were priority, two were priority foundation and four were core. The priority violations were that food on display was not being protected from contamination, rice was not reheated within two hours to eliminate bacteria, ingredients in the burrito prep unit were held at improper temperatures and pizza and chicken tenders were not labeled with their serve-by time.

Kate Fitzgerald, a fourth-year Engineering student, spoke about her experience with University dining facilities.

“U.Va. dining gives students a lot

of freedom to choose their meals — it's just that sometimes your choices are kung pao tacos and beans over spaghetti,” Fitzgerald said.

Despite the creative culinary concepts and consistent health inspections, Fitzgerald noted that she and her friends have had a few negative experiences with University dining.

“My friends and I have been served raw chicken several times — one of them even coined herself a ‘Newcomb vegetarian’ because she won't eat meat in the dining halls anymore,” Fitzgerald said. “I was also here for the ‘Obola’ epidemic my first year, which was when the norovirus spread through O-Hill. One of my friends had to be wheeled out of her room on a stretcher.”

Fitzgerald was referring to a November 2014 incident, when 15 students were sent to the emergency department for gastrointestinal illness and some students speculated this was linked to dining hall food.

According to Aebersold, University dining complies with all the advisories set by the Food and Drug Administration and follows set rules to prevent foodborne illnesses and promote safe consumption.

“Every day is about providing the best possible experience to all of our students, faculty and staff,” Aebersold said. “Our team members take pride in what they do every day and want to make sure that their guests are taken care of because they know we are here for them.”

www.cavalierdaily.com • HEALTH & SCIENCE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2018

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Studies find females may have higher rate of concussions Researchers investigated sex differences and concussion management in a comprehensive review of literature Nisha Dabhi | Senior Writer In a comprehensive review of literature published in the journal Clinics in Sports Medicine, researchers in the Curry School of Education found that females may have a higher rate of concussions compared to their male counterparts.

Concussions are a moderate form of traumatic brain injury that temporarily affects brain chemistry. These brain injuries are commonly caused by blows to the head in motor vehicle collisions, falls, sports, injuries and bicycle accidents. In the last decade, concussions have risen about 200 percent among teenagers aged 14 to 19 and in 2013 resulted in approximately 2.8 million emergency department visits, hospitalizations and deaths in the United States.

The effects of such a brain injury can be significant, altering the brain’s physiology for hours or even years. Concussions can lead to the release of excess excitatory signals in the brain, creating an imbalance of ions like

potassium and calcium.

Through these physiological effects emerge symptoms such as headaches, nausea, amnesia, sensitivity to light and weakness.

However, symptoms vary among people and, at times, can go unnoticed. As a result, providers may fail to diagnose patients who do not express symptoms, since diagnosis is based on patient report of symptoms rather than a definitive test.

“Because we diagnose concussion based on symptoms, they wouldn’t be diagnosed with a concussion if they didn’t have any symptoms,” Kinesiology Prof. Susan Saliba said.

Over the past several years, there has also been research published on the correlation between sex differences and incidence and severity of concussions.

Asst. Kinesiology Prof. Jacob Resch and his team in the Curry School sought to coalesce the approximately 157 different studies on concussions in order to provide an overview of this

research, looking at predisposing and potential hormonal factors associated with concussions and differences in performance size between males and females.

“There were inconsistencies in the literature and our team wanted to take an unbiased evidence-based approach to address common factors that people associate with concussions as well,” Resch said. “We wanted to see okay what does the literature say about males and females in response to injury.”

The review found that females have a higher rate of concussions compared to their male counterparts partaking in the same sport. At the same time, females also have a higher symptom burden, in that they report more severe symptoms, and they may take longer to recover from the head injury as well.

These higher incidences may be due to the increased likelihood that females are more likely to report their injuries. In addition, Resch said females may not

actually take significantly longer to recover from concussion related injuries.

“One of the things I found interesting was the idea that women take longer than males to recover,” Resch said. “In some cases that was absolutely true but if you look at the data in aggregate form, you can see that women do take longer than males to recover [but] it was not substantially longer — maybe it was a few more days.”

In light of these results, Resch suggests that, rather than focusing on sex differences, providers who treat, diagnose and manage concussions should take a more individualized approach. In that, providers should track symptoms and provide a treatment plan that caters to the individual patient and the severity of his or her symptoms, instead of basing treatment heavily on the sex of the patient.

“The idea is that we are going to track your symptoms — and yes there is evidence out there

saying that women take longer to recover — however, we are going to take a very individualized approach,” Resch said.

Resch and his team plan to continue reviewing literature on concussions, especially looking at hormones related to sport concussion injuries as well as looking at the presence of the brain injury in different populations.

With the continued research, Resch hopes to provide a clearer picture for parents and patients about concussion injuries.

“One of the nice things about this review is that even though the media will portray concussions as an extremely negative thing, a majority of injuries are set to recover within a relatively short period of time,” Resch said.

“There are good outcomes for a majority of patients who have a concussion.”

University Physics professor creates new earplug Professor Lou Bloomfield designs shape memory material to aid ear protection Divya Viswanathan | Senior Writer University Physics Prof. Lou Bloomfield has created a new shape memory material, MemorySil, to construct comfortable earbuds. Drawing inspiration from Silly Putty, Bloomfield looked to make a material that would be adaptive and moldable on a long-time scale, but firm and solid-like on a short-time scale.

“Imagine a rubber that is so

soft that it’s own weight smushes it, but it doesn’t seem soft when you poke at it,” Bloomfield said.

“It has a layer of shape memory on the top, whatever shape it is currently in, it will defend almost to the death.”

Entrepreneur Rudy McEntire recently moved from a quiet area in Colorado to San Francisco and would routinely wear foam earplugs on his commutes. Due to the

COURTESY RUDY MCENTIRE

The material that Bloomfield created is a silicon rubber modelled after Silly Putty.

discomfort he experienced daily, he decided to seek out material to make his own earplugs and contacted Bloomfield after finding his work with shape memory material online. After making several prototypes, Bloomfield eventually found a consistency that he believed would be most adaptable to people’s ears.

“EarJellies work by slowly and gently expanding in the ear canal to create a soft seal … EarJellies will not fall out the same way foam earplugs will, too,” McEntire said in an email to the Cavalier Daily.

The material that Bloomfield created is a silicon rubber modelled after Silly Putty. He found that Silly Putty is made of polymer chains linked together by cross-links, chemical bonds.

Most rubbers require very low temperatures for the cross-links to hinder fluidity, making them very mobile materials.

Most rubbers consist of permanent cross-links. However, in Bloomfield’s shape memory material, the silicon material consists of temporary cross-links.

This allows the material to mold to the shape of a person’s ear more easily, making the earbuds customized to each owner.

“They are perpetually changing partners with the polymer chains so when you pull it flows,” Bloomfield said. “What you are seeing is the network evolving.”

McEntire says that EarJellies also prove to be reusable, making them more environmentally friendly than the commercial foam earplugs that may appear to be cheaper.

Bloomfield and McEntire hope that their product will benefit groups such as swimmers, light sleepers and individuals with chronic ear injuries.

The EarJellies have been found to protect users from around 25 decibels of sound and can also be worn to protect the ears at loud sporting events or at rock concerts, which often leave individuals with ringing ears and permanent ear damage.

In the next few weeks, EarJellies will be featured in a campaign on Kickstarter, a company that works as a funding platform

for new creative products. Individuals can find companies like EarJellies on Kickstarter and become backers of the company. In exchange, companies send their materials to their backers first.

EarJellies will ship to these backers around April. Bloomfield hopes that EarJellies will be able to be sold on online websites such as Amazon by this summer and include five different sizes to fit various ear types and sizes.

Although they are sticking to earbuds for now, Bloomfield hopes that in the future his shape memory material can be used in a variety of other items such as shoes, crutches, eyeglasses, bicycle seats and even on prosthetic limbs to provide comfort.

“The value of this whole operation with Rudy has been not just the earplugs, but to do something of value that makes the world a better place,” Bloomfield said.

20

THE CAVALIER DAILY

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JUNE 15TH

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HIGH INTENSITY FOCUSED ULTRASOUND (HIFU)

CLINICAL TRIAL

The UVA Department of Surgery seeks women ages 18 or older with a breast lump that is a fibroadenoma for a research study involving an investigational nonsurgical treatment.

Study related procedures will be provided at no cost: ●

●

Mammogram if you are 35 years old or older (if not done as a part of your routine care) Ultrasound (if not done as a part of your routine care)

●

Core needle tissue biopsy (if not done as a part of your routine care)

● ●

●

HIFU procedure Follow-up clinic visits at two or three days, one week, six months, and one year Follow-up ultrasounds at two or three days, one week, six months, and one year

COMPENSATION: ●

You may be compensated up to $400 for finishing this study ($100 after each of the four required follow-up visits after your HIFU procedure).

For more information, call 434.243.0315 or email uvastac@virginia.edu.

IRB HSR #19437 Principal Investigator: David Brenin, MD

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The purpose of the study is to test an investigational device to treat breast fibroadenomas in women. Fibroadenomas are benign (noncancerous) tumors of the breast.

The investigational device, using high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), aims to destroy tumor cells. The procedure is done on an outpatient basis and does not require general anesthesia. This study will require six study visits over 12 months. The HIFU study procedure will last four to six hours; each follow-up visit is expected to take about an hour.