Thursday, March 28th, 2019

The Cavalier Daily

Vol. 129, Issue 24

Thursday, March 28, 2019

EMMA KLEIN | THE CAVALIER DAILY

ADVERTISEMENT

THE CAVALIER DAILY

N

2

This week in-brief

NEWS

CD News Staff

SCPS plans to cut half of its employees by May 20 The University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies is cutting about 39 staff positions over the next several months, reducing its workforce by approximately 50 percent by May 20. In an email to senior leadership last Friday, University Provost Tom Katsouleas and Chief Operating Officer J.J. Davis said the reorganization of faculty and staff “come[s] at a difficult time for the school” due to years of declining student enrollment and the resulting multimillion dollar loss of revenue.

Over the last seven years, enrollments for the school have declined by 68 percent, including a 15 percent drop in course registrations this year. In fall 2017 there were around 930 students enrolled in the school and that number fell to 829 in fall 2018, according to Alex Hernandez, dean of the School

of Continuing and Professional Studies. Comprised of 77 faculty members, 17 certificate programs and a post-baccalaureate pre-med program, the SCPS provides a range of interdisciplinary curricula. Subjects include business and health care management and information technology.

The University plans to finalize details about the reorganization over the next couple of months, but will offer assistance and career option planning to employees who are impacted by the new organizational structure. According to Melissa Frederick, vice president and chief human resources officer at U.Va., the University is currently offering career coaching services for employees until the end of May.

HANNAH TUTEN | THE CAVALIER DAILY

SCPS enrollment has declined by 68 percent over the last 7 years.

Jim Ryan issues statement regarding Charlottesville High School online threat

CHRISTINA ANTON | THE CAVALIER DAILY

CHS was closed March 21-22 due to a threat against minority students.

Following the discovery of an online threat against students of color at Charlottesville High School March 20, all Charlottesville City Public Schools were closed the following two days as the Charlottesville Police Department worked to determine the legitimacy of the threat. On Monday, University President Jim Ryan released a statement over social media in response to the threat, thanking those involved on all levels of the incident.

“To the teachers, administrators, police, and community leaders who have kept our children safe—thank you,” Ryan said in a social media statement. “You have made it clear, once again, that this community welcomes everyone, that we care about everyone, and that there is no place for hate.” Ryan acknowledged the “racially charged” language made in the threat, noting that it targeted specific ethnicities and racial groups at

Charlottesville High School. “We are, and always will be, in this together,” he said.

The threat was made on the web forum 4chan, which is a site frequented by white supremacists. The post threatened an “ethnic cleansing” — including racial slurs and threats to kill African- American and Hispanic students at Charlottesville High School and advising white students to stay home from school. A 17-year-old suspect was arrested early last Friday morning and charged with with threatening to commit serious bodily harm, as well as a harassment charge. The suspect, who lived in the area, was not actually student at Charlottesville High School as the threat stated. Students returned to Charlottesville High School Monday.

UJC elects Shannon Cason as committee chair The University Judiciary Committee met Saturday for its internal election of new voting members, where representatives elected third-year College student Shannon Cason as committee chair. Representatives also voted on the four vice chair positions for trials, sanctions, first years and graduate students.

Cason served on First Year Judiciary Council during her first year and as an educator her second year. Most recently, Shannon was on the UJC executive committee as senior educator. Educators in UJC comprise one of three support staff pools — along with investigators and counselors — and are appointed to the role through an application process, unlike representatives, who are elected by the student body. Educators are responsible for educating both the broader University community and individual students who are found guilty and sanctioned by UJC, in order

to collect feedback about the committee’s process.

As an educator, Cason was involved in promoting UJC’s mission in various contexts, such as advertising for recruitment and presenting to other student organizations on Grounds. These responsibilities aim to keep students who interact with UJC informed about the committee’s responsibilities and functions.

“I think one of the main things as chair is being the person that communicates our organization to all these other organizations and talking to administration and things like that,” Cason said. “And that’s sort of something I’ve already had to do, being an educator right now, and so I don’t think that’s going to be a very difficult transition for me.”

COURTESY UNIVERSITY JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

Cason served on FYJC her first year and as an educator her second year.

James Fields pleads guilty to federal hate crimes

COURTESY ALBERMARLE CHARLOTTESVILLE REGIONAL JAIL

Fields was the driver in the car attack that killed Heather Heyer.

James Fields Jr. — a white nationalist sympathizer and the driver in the car attack that killed Charlottesville resident Heather Heyer and injured dozens on Aug. 12, 2017 — pled guilty Wednesday afternoon to 29 out of 30 federal hate crime charges levied against him in order to avoid facing the death penalty. The 30th charge, which included a possible death sentence, was dropped as part of a deal with prosecutors. Fields was convicted in December of first-degree murder in Charlottesville’s Circuit Court.

In a statement released by the Justice Department, Fields reportedly admitted to driving “into the crowd of counter-protestors because of the actual and perceived race, color, national origin and religion of its members.”

The 29 hate crime charges all carry a maximum sentence of life in prison as well as a fine of $250,000.

“The defendant’s hate-inspired act of domestic terrorism not only devastated Heather Heyer’s wonderful family and the 28 peaceful protestors who were injured at the intersection of Fourth and Water Streets, but it also left an indelible mark on the City of Charlottesville, our state, and our country,” United States Attorney Thomas T. Cullen said in a statement released by the Justice Department.

Heather Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, told reporters that she was not upset by the deal Fields made with prosecutors.

“There’s no point in killing him,” she said. “It would not bring back Heather.”

www.cavalierdaily.com • NEWS

THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2019

3

Students confront Charlottesville’s housing crisis Student organizations engage with increase of homelessness in the city Jennifer Brice | Senior Writer The rate of homelessness in Charlottesville has nearly doubled in the past five years, and community groups have taken up the task of providing support for those who are left most vulnerable by local housing challenges.

In its central downtown location, The Haven serves as a low-barrier day shelter and starting point for those seeking a path to a sustainable housing arrangement. In the winter months — from October through the end of March — the local People And Congregations Engaged in Ministry organization transforms local churches into places of respite, providing evening meals and sleeping arrangements.

These services are physically distanced from the concentration of students on and around central Grounds — where many live comfortably either in residence halls, or in off-Grounds apartments that have been marketed toward students. Despite living this disparate reality, some students at the University have become aware of and involved in the greater Charlottesville community’s initiative for local affordable housing solutions.

Student initiatives Contracted Independent Organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity at U.Va. and the Madison House volunteer center, assist local organizations to make services more available and accessible to the city’s homeless population.

The University’s Habitat for Humanity chapter operates under the local Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville affiliate to fulfill the organization’s mission for “safe, decent affordable housing.”

Taylor Thompson, a second-year Architecture student and chapter president, said the CIO assists through volunteering, fundraising and advocacy. Thompson recently attended the Habitat on the Hill event in Washington, D.C., where he met with Congressman Denver Riggleman and legislative assistants of Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and engaged in discussion about affordable housing

advocacy.

Students also volunteer weekly and build alongside families to provide them with an affordable housing solution. Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville’s strategic plan calls for at least 20 homes to be built each year. With community support through volunteers and donations, combined with the family’s own “sweat equity,” these homes can be purchased with a zero-percent interest loan and low-rate monthly mortgage payments. According to the 2018 Impact Report, over 3,000 volunteers provided over 40,000 hours of service, and Charlottesville Habitat received over $2 million in private donations.

In order for a family to qualify for Habitat homeownership, they must show need for better housing, which may be due to threats such as environmental or crime hazards or unsafe, damaged or inadequate infrastructure.

Homelessness, housing instability, rent that is over 50 percent of the family’s income and overcrowdedness are also qualifying conditions.

“They have to complete 300 to 400 hundred hours of sweat equity, and so that normally translates to being on the build site,” Thompson said. “So when we as a club are volunteering, we get to be on-site with them and building with them and hearing their stories.”

Madison House also organizes a number of services that address homelessness and housing throughout the community, such as its Hoos Assisting with Life Obstacles and Housing Improvement programs. Volunteers with HALO partner directly with The Haven.

Matt Wajsgras, a fourth-year Engineering student and Madison House HALO program director, said his experience volunteering helped him better understand the Charlottesville community surrounding the University.

As a volunteer at The Haven, Wajsgras worked in the kitchen to serve hot meals to guests and at the front service

JACOB DEANE | THE CAVALIER DAILY

desk, where volunteers address any of the other needs of those who arrive at the shelter. Wajsgras said that this may range from providing amenities such as socks and toiletries, to directing guests to case workers who give specialized support on the path to stable housing arrangements.

“When you get a new guest that hasn’t been there before one of the first things they do is they’ll come up and ask about case managers and what options they have for affordable housing and stuff,” Wajsgras said. “So you do hear a lot about it, and you can tell it’s something that’s one of the primary issues.”

Wajsgras said his volunteering experiences gave him more insight to the effects of Charlottesville’s housing problem and added that it’s important for students to find a way to become more informed outside of the University.

“I think people get very caught up in the U.Va. community but don’t realize that the poverty rate’s twice the Virginia state average within Charlottesville — it’s like right around 25 percent — and homelessness is a huge problem in Charlottesville,” Wajsgras said. “And a lot of U.Va. students wouldn’t realize that.”

Wajsgras said many volunteers report that volunteering has helped them escape the “bubble” of University life. The Haven’s Executive Director Stephen Hitchcock said student volunteering has been the University’s largest contribution to the shelter.

Jayson Whitehead, executive director of PACEM said the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity provides significant help preparing sites. Volunteers will also come to serve meals to guests, and Whitehead noted that this participation is integral in running the sites, which have been reaching maximum capacity in recent years.

“It’s hard for me to imagine us functioning in quite the same way without that help,” Whitehead said.

“There’s always room [for help].”

Institutional impact Hitchcock added that besides student-organized volunteering, curricular programs at the University have benefitted the shelter. Of specific note were nursing cohorts that perform stints at the shelter throughout a semester and a philanthropy class offered through the Batten school, which gives students the opportunity to learn about public policy and nonprofits firsthand through grant making and fundraising. The class donated $10,000 in grants to The Haven in 2016 and $35,000 in 2017.

Whitehead noted that the University’s “geographic reach” is growing within Charlottesville. The new upperclassmen residence hall Bond House is currently under construction on Brandon Avenue, and the Board of Visitors approved two hotel construc-

tion projects — the new University Hotel and Conference Center along the Ivy Corridor and a renovated Darden Inn on North Grounds.

Whitehead said this expanding presence is an opportunity to initiate an active and outward discussion about its impact on the community.

Similarly, Hitchcock said the University, as an institution, has a significant role to play in addressing Charlottesville’s housing challenge.

“The trick is how we’re going to in the longterm address this affordable housing issue, and it will definitely require collaboration and partnership with the University, because the University is obviously the biggest employer, the biggest presence in the community,” Hitchcock said.

As a student at the University, Thompson echoed these sentiments and said the expansion of on-Grounds student housing is just one step in alleviating the issue, but he added, “We can’t build out of it — a lot of it lies within other places as well.” Thompson expressed hope for President Jim Ryan’s initiative to “build bridges” through contributions to the community.

“I’d really love to see the University as a whole step up — and not step up in the negative connotation of we aren’t doing enough already — but continue to do what we’re doing in reaching out to the community and getting to know the community and making opportunities for housing more available,” Thompson said. “And [asking] how do we utilize our academic track record as a way to potentially find some of those solutions.”

Bursting the ‘bubble’ Within the University’s student population, there is a varying degree of attention directed to Charlottesville’s struggle with housing and homelessness. Weighing options for housing presents a serious financial decision for students and their families.

First-year College student Jennifer Bobowski said she’s noticed homelessness throughout Charlottesville in her daily life as a University student. Bobowski noted the prevalence of homelessness off-Grounds — both on the Corner and on the Downtown Mall.

Bobowski said she wasn’t aware of members of the University taking specific action to address homelessness in the greater Charlottesville community.

“I know we’re involved in the community in other ways, but homelessness isn’t something that any of the students face,” Bobowski said. “So I think there’s just a clear separation in that sense.”

According to Bobowski’s observations, affordable housing is a problem that many students don’t typically have to face. Bobowski said she noticed more people opt for off-Grounds student housing than on-Grounds,

and she noted that the cost of living in University housing “isn’t modest.”

“With students, most people don’t complain too much about prices and don’t have a problem with paying for housing,” Bobowski said. “And I think there’s a sufficient amount of off-Grounds housing that is at more affordable housing — at least for students and their families.”

However, students and their families are by no means immune to the effects of the City’s affordable housing challenge. Second-year College student Lauren Harter said the housing market in Charlottesville influenced her decision to live on-Grounds this year, given the high cost of rent and utilities necessary to live in an offGrounds apartment.

Harter said living on-Grounds can make its residents feel disconnected from their peers who live in the offGrounds housing accomodations. This led Harter to turn to off-Grounds housing after this year, though the decision will still present a financial burden.

“It's very apparent to me that the cost of living off Grounds seems to be tailored toward students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds, which makes searching for housing difficult for students who want to live in more of a community, but are limited because of their financial situation,” Harter said in an email statement to The Cavalier Daily.

Harter also said that the issue of homelessness that persists outside of the University community is not as widely recognized as it should be by students.

“I don't think people are nearly as aware as they should be that it is an issue, and that it's an issue that should concern them, too,” Harter said.

Ryan announced March 7 that the University will be addressing demands to pay a living wage by increasing full-time workers’ pay to $15 per hour, starting Jan. 1 of next year. In the email sent to the University, Ryan mentioned that the affordable housing crisis is another local issue at the forefront of his community working group’s agenda.

“In the meantime, we’ll keep working on ways to make a difference on our own, including on the equally pressing topic of affordable housing,” Ryan said.

Affordable workforce housing was ranked along with wages and jobs as a top priority issue for the task force, which was commissioned in October of 2018 to stimulate a more positive relationship between the University and the greater Charlottesville community. Other priorities set for the task force included public and equitable healthcare and youth and education.

4

THE CAVALIER DAILY

NEWS • www.cavalierdaily.com

Examining U.Va.’s lack of faculty diversity The administration is working towards addressing the continued low rates of faculty diversity within U.Va. schools Sydney Herzog & Elizabeth Amorosi | Staff Writers Among students and faculty at the University, faculty diversity has been a historic issue that the University’s administration has said needs improvement in all departments.

“We can’t have a diverse student body unless we have a diverse faculty, and so they go hand in hand and we are working on both fronts, but you cannot have diverse students attend the University and not find people that look like them teaching,” said Board rector Frank M. “Rusty” Conner III. The Provost’s Office has also articulated that improving faculty diversity is a priority. The Provost’s Office has created a Diversity and Inclusion statement, implemented over the last few years, that focuses on creating a “living, learning, and work environment that supports— and challenges—our academic community.”

According to the statement, “The University must be a place in which all faculty, students, and staff are active participants in its work, where those groups historically excluded from participation in University life are present in numbers that prevent isolation of the spirit and of the mind.”

University spokesperson Anthony de Bruyn addressed how the University views diversifying its staff as “essential” to achieving its goals.

“We believe that a diverse, engaged faculty is critical to deliver excellent research, teaching and patient care,” De Bruyn said in an email to The Cavalier Daily According to Institutional Assessment and Studies Universal Data, around 24 percent of the total staff at the University is non-white, which includes employees identified as non-resident aliens.

Among the individual schools, many of the reports of total faculty remain similar to this 24 percent average such as the College of Arts and Sciences, which reports having 25.6 percent diversity. However, notable outliers include the School of Law, which reports only around 13.8 percent diversity, and the McIntire School of Commerce, which has about 15.7 percent diversity. On the opposite end, the data reports the School of Engineering and Applied Science as having the most diverse faculty on Grounds, with 30.3 percent of their staff being of nonwhite races.

The Board is only one of many sectors in the University’s administration that has a role in hiring faculty members. According to Conner, President Jim Ryan, the Provost’s office and the dean also help to hire faculty members.

“We have made it very clear that [faculty diversity] is a priority for

the University and we’ve hired people who share that priority,” Conner said. “We have hired a leadership that views diversity in all forms — gender, racial diversity, cultural, ethnic diversity — [and] across all points.”

The Board believes they have already made progress at the levels of both students and faculty. According to Conner, there has been a significant increase in the amount of diverse faculty hired in the last two to three years. Right now, however, those results can only be seen in among who they have hired, not in the aggregate faculty population.

“We’re encouraged by the hires and encouraged by the admissions results that we’ve achieved,” Conner said. “Lots of people have worked very hard. But you know we have more progress to make, so we continue to take it seriously and we will never be satisfied until we have a student population or a faculty population that is reflective of the world at large.”

Assoc. Prof. Marlene Daut, assoc. director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies said that in hiring faculty, department chairs and deans must “seek intentionally” to ensure they are focusing on literary scholars and also address the low proportion of African-American faculty at the University. “[I hope] that they don’t take someone who’s a sociologist of race and say that person belongs in the Woodson department because we’re doing sociology,” Daut said. “It would make it seem like the person who’s studying the sociology and race is somehow not a real sociologist or something, when not all sociologists of race would be people who would be trained in African-American Studies because African American Studies is a discipline with its own sense of beliefs and norms and readings and meanings.”

According to American Studies program director Sylvia Chong, the University has shown a desire to address the issue of diversity among faculty members.

“However, the limiting factor is [money],” Chong said in an email to The Cavalier Daily. “[Money] devoted to hiring in one area is [money] taken away from another area. At the same time, a case could be made that this is one of the most important priorities for the University, to become a truly modern and global institution.”

Nizar Hermes, assoc. prof. and chair of the Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures department, said many faculty who deal with topics related to ethnic studies in departments other

than those dedicated to ethnic studies often “have a kind of outdated, almost orientalist reality behind it.”

“Just because someone works in an area where they work on black people doesn’t mean they have been trained in this body of research we call African-American Studies,” Daut said.

Hermes said that he is satisfied with the ethnic diversity of faculty members within the MESALC department, but the same diversity is not present in other departments.

“If you go to the department of anthropology, the department of history, those who deal with North Africa or the Near East or India, they will most likely not be from the minority,” Hermes said.

In another email to The Cavalier Daily, Chong said the American Studies program “successfully oversaw the hiring of a new Assistant Professor (that means new tenure track) of Native American Studies with the Anthropology Department” this spring.

The Asst. Anthropology Prof.

Kasey Jernigan will begin with the department in the fall of 2019. Jernigan is of Native American heritage — specifically from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Jernigan currently serves as a postdoctoral fellow in Native American Studies at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.

Karl Kent, third-year College student and outgoing Asian Student Union President, disagrees that the University is doing everything they can to address faculty diversity. According to Kent, there is a lack of Asian professors across the University’s departments and it has an impact on students.

“If you’re an Asian student being taught your own history by someone who doesn’t look like you, it’s limiting,” Kent said. “A lot of minority students don’t have role models, so they won’t have role models who look like them, role models in subjects like humanities who look like them, which means that they are even less likely to enter those fields, which means there will be fewer professors in those [minority] groups from those fields.”

In October 2018, the Asian Leaders Council published a report entitled “We Are Not Invisible: A Report for Academic Reform,” calling for increased representation of both faculty and academic programs the University offers focused on Asian/ Asian Pacific Americans. The report advocates for the creation of an American Studies department — as opposed to a program.

The report is prefaced with information on the creation of the Asian-American/Pacific Island-

TYRA KREHBIEL | THE CAVALIER DAILY

er-American Studies minor 13 years ago. Since then, the report says, no substantial progress has been made in improving the program.

The report says 14 percent of the student population in the College identifies as Asian, but 8.46 percent of the faculty identifies as Asian.

According to Kent, the University is currently leaning on a “structural bias” towards white men and leaning away from minorities. He believes that the University needs to take the concerns of minority groups on Grounds seriously in order “to solve this problem anytime soon.”

“I think that the University’s current approach doesn’t go far enough, and I think that they’re sort of giving us little things but not necessarily fully committing to diversity in the way that they claim to,” Kent said.

“And I think that the University really needs to put their money where their mouth is and stop trying to dangle small carrots over us to distract us from the bigger picture.”

Jaya Nanda, second-year College student enrolled in Asst. Global Studies Prof. Sreerekha Mullassery Sathiamma’s “Work, Women's Work and Women Workers in South Asia” class, said that the personal experience diverse faculty members bring into the classroom is invaluable.

Originally from India, Sathiamma’s background includes activist work in women’s and civil rights struggles. Sathiamma said her experiences and research in India have added value to the global studies department through the addition of a non-Western viewpoint.

“She can explain to us a lot of things such as the real life implications of the caste system, the actual intricacies of rice farming and other things,” Nanda said in an email to The Cavalier Daily.

Nanda also said she believes that more non-white faculty with more personal global studies experience would add value to the department.

According to Prof. Richard Handler, director of the Global Studies program, the program’s lack of diversity stems from its lack of resources and its young age. The department was initially founded in 2009 as Global Development Studies and did not fully expand into the program it is today until 2014.

Sathiamma said the program no longer has the funding for her position, so she will most likely be leaving the University in May. “[Global Studies] needs to find the resources to expand its faculty,” Handler said in an email to The Cavalier Daily. “Expanding the faculty will allow us to further diversify it.”

Sathiamma said the Global Studies program would be a “completely different experience” for students if there were more non-white faculty members. She believes that her background as a minority female from India allows her to engage more with her students and that there should be other professors who can provide the same experience.

“I think Global Studies, like any other program, should definitely have more [diversity], and in fact much more than other programs, being global, and it’s unfortunate that we really don’t have that,” Sathiamma said.

University President Jim Ryan said in an interview with The Cavalier Daily last month that faculty diversity is “one of the most important issues facing U.Va.” He cited the efforts of the administration before his term officially began.

“If you look at the trend over the last several years, backing diversity has increased fairly significantly,” Ryan said. “It doesn't mean that we're where we want to be ... but I think one of Tom Katsouleas’ best accomplishments as Provost has been increasing the diversity of faculty. Again, there's more work to be done, but he deserves a lot of credit.”

www.cavalierdaily.com • NEWS

THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2019

5

U.Va. offers admission to 23.8 percent of 2023 applicants Legacy applicants admitted to U.Va. nearly double the rate of non-legacies Nik Popli | News Editor The University Office of Undergraduate Admission released its regular admissions decision offers for the Class of 2023 last Friday.

The University’s acceptance rate was 23.8 percent, with 9,726 offers of admission from a record-breaking pool of 40,869 applicants. Last year, the University had an offer rate of 26.5 percent.

In an interview with The Cavalier Daily, Dean of Admission Gregory Roberts said this year’s admitted class is the strongest academically and most diverse in the University’s history. Of those accepted, a record 37 percent are minorities — a 3.7 percent increase from last year. The admitted class is 48.35 percent white, 15.96 percent Asian, 7.57 percent Hispanic, 7.53 percent African American, 5.93 percent unknown, 5.72 percent multi-race, 0.03 percent Pacific Islander and 0.02 percent American Indian.

The University also extended 1,113 offers, or 11.44 percent of total offers, to students who would be the first in their families to attend college — an increase of 12.1 percent from last year’s first-generation applicants. The Office of Admission has not yet compiled data on economic diversity, but Roberts is “hopeful that this will be a class that will include more Pell-eligible students and students with financial need.”

In addition, more than half of the admitted Class of 2023 is from out of state, and 8.9 percent are international students representing a variety of countries — an increase of 10.5 percent from last year’s class. Roberts said he hopes the University will be able to enroll five percent of the class as foreign nationals.

The University’s offer rate for out-of-state students dropped from 21.4 percent last year to 18.8 percent, while the offer rate for in-state students dropped from 38 percent to 35.9 percent. Additionally, 31.3 percent of applicants were extended offers to the Architecture school, 27.4 percent of applicants to the Engineering school, 23.6 percent to the College, 15.5 percent to Curry and 10.6 percent to the Nursing school.

The mean SAT scores of accepted students also rose to 1438, an increase from 1430 last year. Students accepted to the Engineering School had the highest mean SAT score — 1471 — of any first-year school at the University. The mean SAT score for the College was 1433, 1402 for the Architecture School, 1370 for Curry and 1350 for the Nursing School. The middle-50-percent range of ACT scores was 32-34 for in-state applicants and 33-35 for out-of-state applicants.

MADDY SITA | THE CAVALIER DAILY

“We're looking for students who love to learn, who are self starters, who are willing to take some academic risk in college, students who are well prepared academically, students who want to be part of the broader University community and even Charlottesville, students who we think will make a difference on and off Grounds and in turn, students who will benefit from the opportunities that are provided here at U.Va.,” Roberts said.

In addition, the University extended 1,002 offers, or 10.3 percent of total offers, to legacy applicants whose parents attended the University — a decrease of 6.5 percent from last year.

“Last year was just an…unusually strong legacy class, but [this year] it wasn't a specific effort to decrease legacy as much as it was a specific effort to increase the number of offers to first-generation students,” Roberts said.

According to admissions data obtained by The Cavalier Daily, 42 percent of legacy applicants for the Class of 2023 received an offer of admission — nearly twice the rate of non-legacies. The mean SAT score of admitted legacy applicants was 1448 — 11 points higher than non-legacy applicants — and 94 percent were in the top 10 percent of their high school class.

“At U.Va. legacy is one of many factors — has been such as long as I’ve been here, and I have not been involved in conversations to reexamine legacy, but we do meet with the University administra-

tion every year to talk about policies and strategies,” Roberts said.

“The fact of the matter is legacy is like first-generation, like race or geographic diversity or income diversity — it’s a part of the conversation when we’re trying to build this class.”

Last year, The Cavalier Daily reported that nearly 47 percent of legacy applicants received an offer of admission for the Class of 2022, while only a little over 25 percent of non-legacy applicants were offered admission.

In light of recent college admissions bribery scandals at nearly a dozen universities throughout the country — in which a number of wealthy parents are accused of paying millions to bribe college officials — the University’s Office of Admission says it does not have any connection with the Office of Advancement and is unaware as to whether a student’s family is a donor when reviewing applications.

However, Roberts added that at some point during the evaluation process, some students will get an extra look based on “institutional interest,” which includes children of donors, legacy applicants, first-generation applicants, committed athletes and children of faculty and staff.

“We consider a small number of cases every year that come to our attention that are of institutional interest, if you will,” Roberts said.

“Those could include anything from children of faculty and staff, development cases, legacy cases where a family has been highly

engaged with the University since graduating, and likewise it could include local students, and so there are many different types of institutional interests and priorities.”

“You're talking probably between out of 9800 offers — probably 50 to 75 get a second look,” Roberts added. “The cases that get reviewed a second time doesn't mean they're going to be admitted, and sometimes they were already admitted without that consideration.”

University spokesperson Anthony de Bruyn wrote in an email statement to The Cavalier Daily that the Office of Admission tracks up to 100 applicants each year using a “watch list,” which typically includes children or relatives of faculty or staff members, as well as applicants recommended by elected officials, Board of Visitors members and donors.

The University receives hundreds of unsolicited recommendations each year, which are one factor used to decide whether a student should be admitted — along with academic performance, test scores, extracurricular activities and community service involvement.

“Being on a watch list does not guarantee that an applicant will get in, as every student offered admission to UVA must be academically qualified to be here,” de Bruyn said. “All applicants go through the same admissions process, and all decisions are made solely by the staff of the Office of Admission. In some cases, we give

personal notice of admissions decisions to those with strong affinity for the University, particularly in cases where applications are being denied.”

In April 2017, The Cavalier Daily reported that applicants whose families are notable donors to the University were flagged for special consideration during the admissions process.

“Our goal is to recruit an exceptionally talented, diverse, resilient, and service-oriented group of students, regardless of their economic circumstances,” de Bruyn said.

According to Assoc. Dean Jeannine Lalonde’s “Notes from Peabody” admissions blog, admitted applicants will learn if they were also accepted into the Echols, Rodman and College Science Scholars programs on the online admissions portal. They will also receive a letter in the mail soon. Students not chosen for Echols, which is the College honors program, or Rodman, which is the Engineering honors program, may apply for admission during their first-year at the University.

An additional 5,489 applicants were offered a spot on the waiting list, and those who accept their spot will be notified after May 1.

Last year, only 13 students were admitted off the waiting list while 117 were admitted in 2017, 360 in 2016 and 402 in 2015.

The University’s enrolling class is targeted to be about 3,740 students. Students have until May 1 to accept their offers.

L

LIFE

THE CAVALIER DAILY

6

Placing power in the eyes of the tourist Fralin student docents nurture viewers’ connection with art through interactive tours Sierra Krug | Feature writer

STACEY EVANS PHOTOGRAPHY | THE CAVALIER DAILY

This year, the Fralin celebrates the 30th anniversary of its student docent program.

If you’ve ever toured the Fralin Museum of Art at the University, it’s likely you’ve come in contact with the museum’s admired student docents. This year, the Fralin celebrates its 30th anniversary of the Student Docent program, a program which serves as a channel for curious, enthusiastic students to discover, ignite and share their passion for art with students and members of the Charlottesville community by encouraging interaction and connection with the art.

The Student Docent program is a competitive group that strives to champion the role of art in people’s lives by attracting students with a curiosity and appreciation for the Fralin and its exhibits.

Docent coordinator Emily Lazaro speaks of the purpose these students serve once they join the team of art aficionados.

“Student docents teach conversation-based interactive tours of the works of art on view at the Fralin,” Lazaro said. “We have a number of school groups and groups from Central Virginia retirement communities, as well as general people from the community who schedule tours that the student docents lead.”

Prior to giving these personalized, 45 to 60 minute tours, student docents participate in a 12-week long training course, where they spend 2 hours a week in classes designed to look at the field of museum education. They learn how to best educate their

tourists by partaking in the classes, observing veteran docents, interacting with artists and practicing their run-throughs of the art tours.

Because the Fralin is an art museum, many of the approximately 60 student docents are art history or studio art majors, but this is by no means a prerequisite to becoming a Student Docent.

In fact, the University and museum pride themselves on the diversity in their student docents, as the program attracts driven students across varying fields of study, including architecture majors, engineering majors and premed students.

“If you have qualities where you can think quick on your feet, you enjoy working with children and students, you are teachable, flexible in your thinking, open to new ideas and willing to have meta-conversations about how people learn, that is what we look for,” Lazaro said.

The coordinators want students to be enthusiastic and appreciative of art, but they really seek to select those students who fall into the “lifelong learner” category and are always hungry for more knowledge. They want the student docents to gain a lot from the program while helping to educate and expand the mindset of their audiences.

“The student docents conjunct with education staff to lead tours as volunteers first and foremost, but they are also dynamic participants in the educational

work of the museum,” Lazaro said. “It’s this really significant partnership where University students give tours to elementary to high school student groups, so when [the younger students] come, they are seeing [University] students who study, but are also giving their time and energy to talk about art.”

Student docents help educate their community about art and culture, and the program strives to instill vital skills and values within their Docents as well — values they can carry for the rest of their lives.

“I think it’s a mutually beneficial relationship because not all docents go to work in art museums, but the skills they acquire as docents, leading groups of people, guiding conversation, actively listening, and being responsive to ideas from groups of people are skills that translate to any field,” Lazaro said.

Morgan Feldenkris, fourthyear College student and current student docent, spoke of how the often political and cultural elements of the art can challenge onlookers and Docents themselves.

“I’ve definitely learned how to be a more effective and emotive communicator of sometimes difficult or even controversial, challenging information,” Feldenkris said. “As someone whose major is very much within humanities and used to these tough discussions, it’s a whole other story when you have to talk about,

say cultural appropriation, with fourth graders.”

Once the student docents become approved as qualified tour guides, they can sign up to give tours whenever they want and in their own personal, stylized manner. A job with such power and responsibility does come with various challenges as the students take on such strong new roles within the prominent Fralin.

Fourth-year College student Sarah Vanlandingham has served the Fralin as a student docent for two years now and explained how the program challenges and motivates her.

“I’m a relatively affluent white woman, so when we have artists in museum who try to bring attention to different experiences I’m not familiar with, I need to be careful about how I talk about it, to do it justice for the art and the artist.” Vanlandingham said.

Student docents value artists and their creations to such a great extent. They actively seek to educate themselves –– to view the works through all lenses to ensure they can kindle an open, safe environment for audiences to experience the art, welcoming all perspectives as onlookers work to interpret each artists work.

“Each Docent does have his or her own blind spots in terms of their background for teaching works of art that interrogate different identities,” Feldenkris said. “It’s an excellent and interesting challenge to find that

middle-ground where your group can really discuss and deliberate on art and what sorts of art are especially relevant to them. It makes the viewing of art potentially more humanizing rather than academic.”

The student docents learn a great deal through the various teachings and lessons they experience throughout their training. As representatives of such a prominent landmark of the University as the Fralin, docents work to not simply give their knowledge to tourists, but rather to listen and to challenge onlookers, so they can really feel and connect with the art they are faced with.

Student docents strive to make every Fralin visitor’s experience the best it can be. They aspire to inspire every person in the room to feel something –– to have a connection –– with the art. They seek a more interactive, empowering experience for visitors –– an experience that stimulates onlookers and encourages them to step outside their own cognition and really try to feel each and every artist’s story.

“This isn’t just a program to impart our knowledge or perspectives,” Feldenkris said. “It’s a little more open-ended and deliberative. At the museum we hold lots of knowledge, but we dole it out strategically to give the power to our visitors.”

www.cavalierdaily.com • LIFE

THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2019

7

Must-trys items at Trader Joe’s Some of the yummiest Trader Joe’s options that you can still feel good about Maggie Trundle | Food Columnist Do you ever go to Trader Joe’s and feel slightly overwhelmed by the variety of specific unheard of snacks and foods, from dried okra to candied ginger? I know I do. I often ask my friends and family what their go-to Trader Joe’s options are and am never disappointed. Because I buy almost all of my groceries at Trader Joe’s, I have created a list of my favorite things to buy that are not terribly unhealthy.

It is easy to get caught into the trap of thinking some of the most delicious snacks at Trader Joe’s aren’t that bad for you just because of labeling and packaging, but the cookie butter and mochi balls are still desserts! So if you have a sweet tooth, go for it, but just know Trader Joe’s sugary indulgences aren’t any healthier than many other desserts.

One of the great things about Trader Joe’s is that their selection of snacks will satisfy the sweet tooth in all of us,

but don’t always amount to totally empty calories. One of my personal favorites are the Coconut Cashews. One of the ingredients for these delicious, sugary cashews is — drumroll — sugar.

But even with seven grams of sugar per serving, you still get four grams of protein and all the healthy fats that come with eating nuts like cashews. Better yet, these will actually fill you up more than a Peppermint Jo-Jo will.

I also love getting candied ginger.

With the added sugar, it is definitely not the healthiest option, but if you like ginger, these chewy bits are a super yummy and refreshing treat. Ginger is great for digestion and has tons of anti-inflammatory effects — soothing your tummy like nothing else.

The frozen food section at Trader Joe’s seems to take up half the store, so naturally I had to put some frozen items on this list. The frozen section ranges from frozen pizza and pigs-in-

a-blanket to frozen vegetables. If I am buying frozen foods, I try to make sure they aren’t too high in sodium or other unhealthy additives.

One of my favorite things to pick up for making easy dinners are the Trader Joe’s brand turkey burgers, which are only $4 for a box of four burgers. One of the great things about these is that there are only three ingredients — turkey, kosher salt and rosemary extract. I personally don’t have the time in between study sessions and class to be making my own turkey burgers, so this is a perfect guilt-free alternative. With only 180 calories per patty, these are great for easy dinners whether you want to stick them on a bun, use them in a salad or pair them with other sides.

The other frozen option I always get is my all-time favorite dessert. Like many people, I avoid dairy when I can and always get discouraged when I

want something like ice cream. Trader Joe’s is the answer to all my problems with their dark chocolate-covered frozen banana slices, creatively titled “Gone Bananas.” You can easily go for just one, or if you’re feeling ambitious, throw them back like chips. Trader Joe’s also makes frozen chocolate-covered strawberries if you don’t like bananas.

When it comes to produce, I actually don’t think Trader Joe’s excels.

Their berries are usually average in my opinion, so I often get those at other stores. I personally think Whole Foods and Kroger are two of the best grocery stores to get berries and other fruits.

But in the veggie realm — Trader Joe’s has some awesome options to add to your list of easy dinner ingredients. I love getting their big salad mix kits that range from kale-based to romaine-based mixes, and they come with dressing. This way, you can make

a salad that is not completely premade from a box and have your salad contain more than just plain spinach.

Another one of my go-tos are the zucchini noodles — or zoodles. Zoodles are a great light and refreshing way to cut the carbs but still feel like you’re eating pasta. I love pairing zoodles with either marinara sauce and Trader Joe’s frozen Turkey Meatballs, or even just with olive oil and some salt and pepper.

Trader Joe’s has so many hidden wonders, and I love finding new favorites to add to my shopping list.

Next time you are wandering down the aisles of Trader Joe’s, check out these options, you won’t be disappointed!

Seven-ingredient healthy double chocolate chip cookies I’ve never met a problem that chocolate couldn’t fix Isabel Salken | Food Columnist I’m going to be honest. For a while, in pursuit of a completely “healthy” lifestyle — one misguided by a lack of education, media and diet industries — I told myself I wasn’t a huge dessert person, let alone chocolate fanatic.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always loved chocolate. Chocolate banana bread, chocolate chip cookies and brownies — seriously, brownies — don’t get me started. But for a few years, I thought being healthy meant not allowing myself to eat some of the things I loved most.

I have come a long way since then and have learned a lot through my rocky relationship with food and having a balanced lifestyle.One of the more important things I learned is to embrace my love for dessert. And chocolate. I can happily say now that, if chocolate or dessert is not involved,

I don’t want it.

That being said, one of my favorite hobbies is taking traditional recipes I love and attempting to make a version with wholesome ingredients. Simple recipes are often the best and easier to make half the time. While I love a delicious and complex cookie recipe, we are college students. We don’t always have time for that when the hunger clock strikes.

What makes this recipe healthier is that I substituted refined sugar for maple syrup, a natural alternative with important antioxidants and minerals like zinc and potassium. The lower glycemic index compared to refined sugars means it has a less drastic impact on your blood sugar. The recipe also uses tahini instead in place of butter, which while grass-fed butter is not bad in moderation, the tahini is a great

Ingredients: -3/4-1 cup tahini -1/2 cup almond flour -1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder — I like the Trader -Joe’s brand -1/2 cup maple syrup -1 cup chocolate chips -1 egg -1 tsp baking soda

source of heart healthy fatty acids such omega-3 and omega-6.

Almond flour is also used in this recipe as opposed to white flour of traditional recipes and lends its own rich, buttery flavor. This makes the recipe gluten-free, filled with more protein and fewer carbohydrates.

I want to note that just because a recipe is healthy does not mean it has fewer calories. While these recipes often end up having a lesser total because of the shorter ingredient list, this is not the focus. Those who are not always as educated on nutrition get caught up in trying to find the lowest-calorie option, but these options can be filled with artificial ingredients that are no better for your body and can sometimes even be worse.

I love this recipe because there are only a few ingredients, and it takes

under an hour to whip together — 30 minutes of which is just chilling the batter. I should mention that these aren’t just shot-in-the-dark cookies.

Every time I make them, I feel warm and fuzzy inside because of how silky and smooth they are. Last week, one of my favorite fitness instructors made my recipe on Facebook Live as a part of a Cookie Club he does — he tries recipes people send him over the course of a month, live streams the cooking process and, finally, rates the dish. He gave this recipe a 10 out of 10! These cookies really are that good.

Instructions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Mix all the ingredients, except the egg and baking soda, in a large bowl. Then refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. The batter should be relatively thick, but refrigerating is key to keeping the pillowy shape of these cookies.

3. After 30 minutes, take the dough out and mix in the egg and baking soda.

4. Place cookies on parchment lined baking sheet — they should scoop out to make 10-12 cookies — and bake for about 13-14 minutes or until you start to see them get golden on top.

5. Make sure you enjoy a couple while they are still warm!

NIKITA SIVAKUMAR | THE CAVALIER DAILY

8

THE CAVALIER DAILY

LIFE • www.cavalierdaily.com

Top 10 ways to embrace spring Prepare for pollen, parties and unreliable weather patterns Paige Waterhouse | Top 10 Writer

Go hiking Spring has finally sprung! And there is no better way to celebrate its arrival than to go immerse yourself in nature. Get lost in the knotted map of O’Hill Trails or wake up early for a Humpback Rock sunrise hike. Smell the fresh, pollen-polluted air. Sing with the birds while swatting away mosquitoes.

Enjoy sweating profusely underneath a bright, sunny sky, only to be soaked minutes later by an unexpected April shower.

Experience all these famous attractions only in “The Great Outdoors.”

Watch the race at Foxfield If you don’t mind a few inches of squishy, muddy grass ruining your cute spring shoes, then head to the races! A day at Foxfield could be fun — if it’s not sweltering hot or pouring rain. Either way, how often do you get to see horses? And no, driving by a field on a long car trip doesn’t count. So brave the mud, and try to make it to the spring race.

Take a stroll through the East and West Gardens Immerse yourself in nature again? Yes, but note the use of the word “stroll.”

This one is for all you fellow nature lovers who aren’t up for a vigorous climb, but still want to appreciate Mother Nature’s spring collection. Seek out the gardens that line both the east and west sides of the Lawn. Enjoy a casual tour of the flora, sit down and study a while or maybe lay on a sun-soaked blanket and take a nap.

Party at Tom Tom Festival The annual Tom Tom Festival hits the Downtown Mall April 8-14, and there is so much to do! There will be art, food and music, with each category having a variety of contests, workshops and presentations. Get competitive, learn a new skill or just enjoy a day in the Charlotteville community.

Visit IX Art Park IX Art Park is definitely worth a visit if you need a break from spring semester studies. Take some Insta-worthy pictures with your friends up against a colorful mural or attend one of the multitudes of events they have scheduled for the warmer days ahead.

Don’t consider yourself an aesthete? Grab yourself some tacos at Brazos while your friends appreciate the aesthetics. They may be more cultured than you, but you’re the one with a happy stomach.

Enjoy a picnic on the Lawn Take part in a classic University tradition by packing up some food, snagging an old blanket, grabbing a friend and heading to the heart of Grounds — the Lawn. Spread out on the grassy field underneath the shadow of the Rotunda while enjoying a meal surrounded by your fellow Hoos. You’ll feel happy, prestigious and most of all, a sense of belonging. Just don’t embarrass yourself by trying — and failing — to throw a rogue frisbee back to its owner.

Shop around Charlottesville City Market If you didn’t make it to Charlottesville City Market this past fall, you must make it a priority this spring. Shop around for some crafty gifts or try some delicious, homemade pastries.

Come out and support small, local businesses while interacting with some of the nicest people you will ever meet. The sea of colorful popup tents returns in April and is open each Saturday morning.

Stock up on tissues Pollen is coming — the allergy victims remember. Now is the time to stock up on tissues, eye drops and any type of allergy medication you can find. The fresh air and blue skies may seem pleasant, but the sneezing and itchy eyes can strike at anytime. We must be ready.

Wear spring clothes

Realize the school year is coming to a close

Warmer weather calls for a wardrobe shift, so it’s time to bring out the bright colors. Embrace the shorts, sandals and sundresses you put away last fall in preparation for winter. Although, some of you never made the switch — how you managed to hold onto your coral shorts through 30 degree weather is beyond me, but I guess you proved something?

Spring serves as the harbinger of summer’s close proximity. Another school year has almost come and gone, and though we still have a few weeks left, time seems to be ticking faster than ever. So, if you’re feeling sad about leaving your University home soon, take advantage of the precious time you have left here. Try your best to soak up the spring surrounded by your friends.

ANGELA CHEN & LAUREN MOHAN | THE CAVALIER DAILY

S

SPORTS

THE CAVALIER DAILY

9

‘We made it’: The ‘Guys in Ties’ talk Virginia Two lifelong Wahoos give their thoughts on the Cavaliers as March Madness continues Zach Zamoff | Sports Editor

March Madness has meant March melancholy for Cavaliers fans in recent years.

Virginia has made it to the NCAA Tournament for the last five consecutive years, but has experienced early exits in all of those years. Despite being a No. 1 seed in three of those five years, the Cavaliers haven’t made it to the Final Four under Coach Tony Bennett.

They are now just two games away from reaching that milestone.

But long-time Wahoos have been able to put these recent struggles in perspective.

Before the more recent success of Virginia basketball, March didn’t even exist. The Cavaliers were a mediocre ACC team that rarely made the postseason. Under Bennett, the agonies of March aside, being a Virginia basketball fan has brought Cavaliers fans across the country immense joy.

Despite some knocks in March, fans are proud of the program Bennett has built. Wahoos love everything about it — the suffocating defense, the five pillars and the class that Bennett and his players embody.

Dustin Jones and Rob Elder, hosts of the “Guys in Ties” Virginia sports podcast, emulate what being a Wahoo is all about.

Jones and Elder are lifelong Wahoos. Jones is a Charlottesville native who has gone to Cavaliers basketball games his whole life and was the President of Hoo Crew. Elder, who has followed Virginia sports his whole life, was the 127th Sports Editor of The Cavalier Daily.

Now, they both live and work in Northern Virginia — Jones as a teacher and Elder as a banker — but being a Virginia sports fan remains a crucial part of who they are.

Jones recounts going to “all the basketball and football games” growing up. He even recalls going to games at University Hall as a kid, before the Cavaliers moved to John Paul Jones Arena in 2006.

“I remember the atmosphere more than anything,” Jones said. “It was a small gym, really hot, kind of like Castle Coliseum at Blacksburg.

Really hot, really intimate environment.”

Elder, a “third generation Wahoo,” recalls going to Virginia sports games throughout his childhood, from which he developed a real passion for the Cavaliers.

“It just became a part of what I valued, what mattered to me,” Elder said. “It was part of my identity.”

Naturally, when both guys ended up at the University, they took their fandom to the next level.

“When I got to college it was kind of a no-brainer that I write for

COURTESY DUSTIN JONES

Dustin Jones (pictured second from left) sports his traditional gameday outfit with other Hoo Crew members.

The Cavalier Daily,” Elder said.

He also joined Hoo Crew at the end of his first year along with Jones, who became very involved in Virginia’s official student section.

Jones quickly showed his passion for Virginia sports and rose through the ranks of Hoo Crew to become President as a fourth-year. He embodied Wahoo pride in the student section, standing out among other animated Cavaliers fans at John Paul Jones Arena.

“You can’t really miss him,” Andrew Benvenuto, current Vice President of Hoo Crew, said of his first interaction with Jones. “I noticed him just [because] of his hair. Big hair and he had the headband on.”

During his time in Hoo Crew, Jones, who had witnessed a great deal of Virginia basketball mediocrity in his youth, witnessed the growth of a national powerhouse under Bennett.

“That first year against Duke — that was my second year when we had GameDay for the first time, and it was an incredible atmosphere because this had never happened in Charlottesville before,” Jones said.

“It was the ‘we made it’ moment.”

As someone who has gone to Virginia basketball games his whole life, Jones knew the gravity of the moment. He remembers the agonizing mediocrity he witnessed at U-Hall.

He attributes the rise of Virginia basketball to one man — Tony Bennett. Over the last six years

under Bennett, the Cavaliers have gone 89-19 in ACC play, winning four regular season titles.

“It’s been really fun as a lifelong fan to see Tony [Bennett] bring the program from where it was to where it is now, because where it was was not a good place,” Jones said.

Both Jones and Elder are proud of what Virginia basketball has become and were able to witness many of the Cavaliers’ great moments during their time at the University.

Elder also became involved with Hoo Crew, especially in his fourth year, in which he became good friends with Jones. The two became tight in their identity as lifelong Wahoos.

After they left school, however, both missed that part of their identity.

“What was a huge part of my life for four to five years … was a void in my life after graduating,” Elder said.

That’s when they decided to start a podcast. They called it “Guys in Ties,” reflecting the Virginia football tradition of “guys in ties, girls in pearls.” They made the podcast in their own image, attempting to share their pride in their beloved Wahoos.

“The ultimate goal is that we love U.Va. sports, and we want to have fun and contribute to the dialogue in some way,” Elder said.

After starting the podcast this past summer, the Guys in Ties have already amassed a substantial

following and have Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat accounts. Their Twitter account, @GuysInTiesPod, already has over 500 followers. You can check out their podcast here.

They have discussed a variety of topics, including the football and basketball season, and have had a variety of unique segments.

One of those segments was about the UMBC loss, a defeat that Cavaliers fans still grapple with, especially as March Madness approaches.

“The UMBC loss was devastating,” Jones said. “There’s probably not a day that goes by that I don’t think about it, at least in passing.”

Through the podcast episode, they, like other Virginia fans, have been able to put the loss in perspective.

“Regardless of what happened, losing to a 16 is part of our story,” Elder said. “It’s part of our story [and] there’s no avoiding it and the sooner you can accept it and make it a part of your own story as a fan, the better.”

Virginia Coach Tony Bennett shared Elder’s sentiments in reflecting on the loss.

“I think I look at things differently now, actually better, because of that experience,” Bennett said.

At the end of the day, the loss to UMBC was just one game in what was an incredibly successful season, which was part of an incredible stretch of seasons in which Virginia has become a consistent national

contender.

“You take the pain with being able to say we are consistently in the conversation for a No. 1 seed, and that’s something that’s incredible.” Jones said. “That’s something that most programs don’t have.”

This year’s team is the only team that hasn’t lost to a team outside the top 25, and is No. 1 in both BPI and KenPom. Led by the big three — junior guards Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome and sophomore guard De’Andre Hunter— Virginia is a complete team. In addition to a traditionally stellar defense, this year’s Cavaliers team has a great offense — per KenPom.com, Virginia is second in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency.

Although all the numbers are pointing in the right direction for this year’s Virginia team, which will be favored in Thursday night’s matchup against No. 12 seed Oregon, March Madness has no guarantees — the Cavaliers’ experience last year proved that.

No matter what happens the rest of the way, it will be part of Virginia fans’ story. And the Guys in Ties will be around to break it down.

10

THE CAVALIER DAILY

SPORTS • www.cavalierdaily.com

Supporting players must keep rolling against Oregon Diakite and company will continue to be indispensable in Sweet Sixteen matchup Alec Dougherty | Sports Columnist When most people envisioned Virginia’s road to redemption in the NCAA Tournament this season, their minds likely flashed to the team’s Big Three willing the Cavaliers to victory game after game. All season, junior guards Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome and sophomore guard De’Andre Hunter have led Virginia (31-3, 16-2 ACC) past its strongest competition with remarkable consistency.

In Virginia’s two tournament victories, however, the supporting cast has proved to be just as valuable.

When the No. 1 seed Cavaliers take on a red-hot No. 12 seed Oregon in a Sweet Sixteen date Thursday, the supporting players all have skills to help push Virginia to the Elite Eight. The Ducks (25-12, 10-3 Pac-12) have the size and defensive prowess to upset the Cavaliers, so the team must once again have all hands on deck.

Looking at the supporting players’ contributions so far, I analyze how each can once again make their mark in the Thursday night showdown.

Junior forward Mamadi Diakite: Breaking the zone and protecting the paint Without much debate, Diakite has been the most important player on Virginia’s roster in the tournament because of his presence in the paint. He has scored a total of 31 points across the matchups while protecting the rim with nine rebounds in each game.

Adding to Diakite’s tournament value has been the fact that the Cavaliers have not been themselves from three-point range. After shooting over 40 percent from deep during the season, the Cavaliers have hovered around 30 percent during the NCAA Tournament. Once Diakite started scoring inside against Gardner-Webb, the game swung in Virginia’s favor immediately.

The Cavaliers likely won’t be able to get completely comfortable from long range against the Ducks. Their pressure zone is built to lock off perimeter shooting, leading to the team ranking sixth in the country in threepoint defense. Diakite can help get the Cavaliers comfortable pushing the ball inside to score one-on-one and can possibly pass from the post to the perimeter to open up the three-ball to Guy, Jerome and Hunter.

Coach Tony Bennett will likely also need Diakite to lock down defensively as he has so far in March Madness. After a rough start against Gardner-Webb, Diakite clamped down and limited the Bulldogs’ inside scoring before posting the best defensive rating of any Cavalier against Oklahoma.

With four of Oregon’s starters standing at 6-foot-9, Diakite’s size will be needed to protect inside looks. The Ducks have a duo of forwards in senior Paul White and sophomore Kenny Wooten who shoot over 60 percent at

the rim, so Diakite will likely be tasked with shutting both down if they look to push the ball late in the shot clock.

Junior guard Braxton Key: Rebounding and driving to the hoop While Key’s minutes have been scattered by Bennett based on matchups, he showed against Oklahoma just how valuable he can be in crunch time.

The junior scored nine points without missing a shot and pulled down nine rebounds in 21 minutes.

Key’s presence as a rebounder has been felt all season as he leads the team with 5.5 per game. Though he is slightly undersized as a guard, Key’s great hands and jump at the basket have allowed him to claw for some tough boards, which can prove to make a huge difference against Oregon’s length.

Offensively, Alabama transfer has struggled with finishing at the rim this season, shooting just under 50 percent.

However, the Oklahoma game may be a sign Key turned a corner. He often likes to push the ball in transition or drive when the lane is open, and his ability to convert buckets in both areas can help Virginia break the tight zone.

Sophomore forward Jay Huff: Stretch the floor There aren’t many players in college basketball that accomplish more in limited minutes than Huff. In just nine minutes against Oklahoma, Huff scored five points — on a three-pointer and a thunderous driving dunk — en route to posting the highest offensive rating on the team.

With the stature of a center and the range of a guard, Huff can be used to space out the Ducks’ zone by drawing their big men outside. Oregon’s game tape shows it prefers to have multiple big men in the paint to keep teams from scoring easy baskets, but that may prove impossible with a floor-stretcher like Huff. Using his unique set of tools to his advantage can help make the Ducks’ zone uncomfortable and create one-on-one looks for Diakite and Hunter in a more open paint.

Freshman guard Kihei Clark: Ball-pressure defense With his short stature and occasionally questionable decision-making garnering some criticism from Cavalier fans, Clark has responded with two very solid tournament games. After locking down the shift guards on Gardner-Webb and contributing four assists and five rebounds, the freshman scored nine points Sunday as he slashed the Sooners’ defense.

Bennett may task Clark with locking down Oregon’s most important player — junior point guard Peyton Pritchard. Pritchard has scored 37 points in two tournament games and dished out 15 assists as the team’s only true ball-handler. The 6-foot-2

Pritchard won’t be a complete matchup problem for the 5-foot-9 Clark, who has played solid pressure defense against similarly sized players this season. Pritchard takes over half of his shots from deep but only makes around a third of them, so Clark’s pressure can help force him into bad shots as well as limit his ball handling

comfort on the perimeter.

Oregon is not your average No. 12 seed, as they’ve vaulted themselves to the 29th ranked team in KenPom during a 10-game winning streak. Coach Dana Altman will be planning to shut down Virginia’s star players, but big, early contributions from Virginia’s supporting cast can help thwart the

Ducks from an upset bid.

Virginia next plays Oregon Thursday. Tip-off is currently scheduled for 9:57 p.m at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.

ADVERTISEMENTS

Cavalier_Daily_5x3_PRINT_FINAL.pdf 1 1/20/2019 12:49:23 PM

FREE YOUR FACE

FROM GLASSES AND CONTACTS

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

The Latest Techniques The Latest Technology Individualized Treatment

CMY

K

SCHEDULE YOUR FREE CONSULT AT

UVALASIK.COM

www.cavalierdaily.com • ADVERTISEMENTS

THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2019

the suns

e! hin

Enjoy

2

11

THE CAVALIER DAILY

O

LEAD EDITORIAL

Reform the class sign-up process

OPINION

S

12

In order to ease the burden of course registration on students, the credit limit, advising process and SIS website must be improved

ince class sign-up times were posted at the start of this week, many students have started preparing to register for fall courses. This typically involves a ludicrous amount of research and planning involving several different sites that allow students to carefully balance their schedules and requirements with the rigor of their courses. While this is an incredibly stressful time of the year for students, the particulars of the University’s course registration process make it a substantial burden for students that we believe must be addressed.

One particular aspect of the course registration process that draws ire from students is the credit limit. Currently, students in the College are limited to 15 credits when they initially register for courses and are only allowed to register for a maximum of 17 credits after everyone has had a chance to select courses. Some students registering for courses this semester may have to wait until August in order to finish assembling their class

schedule. This presents a dilemma for students who have mandatory courses for their majors or general education requirements that are four credits and cause their fifth class to put them over 15 credits and thus unable to enroll in it until the incoming class signs up in the summer.

Since this system may leave students enrolled in only four courses, this puts them at a disadvantage to those who are enrolled in five and have managed to stay at or below the credit limit. Considering that there are slim pickings in some departments to begin with, having a required class designated as four credits could be a significant setback for students who are trying to complete several requirements and take classes that align with their interests. It is essential that the University lift the credit limit to 17 during the initial course registration period in order to address this issue.

Another aspect of the course registration process that is ripe for reform is the University’s advising system. A faculty member, who is

in a department related to the first year’s interests, helps them navigate the course registration process and ensures that students are finishing their requirements on time. These advisors are also responsible for meeting with and lifting students’ hold on their SIS account so they can register for classes.

While it is important to note that the vast majority of these advisors are doing their very best to help students, the system as it stands now is incredibly flawed. Although the advising program is designed to match students with professors in a similar field, many first-years are unaware of their prospective majors, meaning their interests may change over time. Furthermore, even if the student maintains the same major interest, advisors are often in similar — but not the same — department. Therefore, many of these advisors are limited in the advice they can give to new students, who are likely already struggling to navigate this complex process.

This process improves somewhat when students finally declare their

major and are assigned an advisor in that department — however, this also presents some problems. Several departments at the University are so large that students may be paired with an advisor who does not specialize in the same concentration as the student and may not be able to give them sufficient advice. For example, in the Politics department, it is entirely possible that an American politics major could be paired with a foreign affairs professor who may have a limited ability to guide the students through their particular course of study.

Additionally, some advisors never make an effort to meet with their advisees and instead lift the students’ hold over email, which defeats the purpose of having an advisor in the first place.

Lastly, it is essential that the University address some of the issues with Student Information System, the online platform through which students sign up for classes.

The website is so poorly constructed and difficult to navigate that some have referred to it as “the land

of a thousand clicks.” Given this complexity, it is common to hear horror stories of some students accidently dropping courses when they were trying to switch their discussion, only to be relegated to the back of a 100 person waiting list.

The University should dedicate resources to updating SIS to make it more user-friendly.

All of these problems indicate one important reality — that the course sign up process must be reformed. Choosing and enrolling in courses is already incredibly stressful for students and these obstacles only make the process more challenging. It is up to the University to finally address these glaring issues in order to ease the burden on students who suffer through the process every semester.

THE CAVALIER DAILY EDITORIAL BOARD is composed of the Executive Editor, the Editor-in-Chief, the two Opinion Editors and their Senior Associate. The board can be reached at eb@cavalierdaily.com.

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.

FOLLOW US @CAVALIERDAILY WWW.CAVALIERDAILY.COM

MANAGING BOARD Editor-in-Chief Gracie Kreth Managing Editor Abby Clukey Executive Editor Jacob Asch Operations Manager Aisha Singh Chief Financial Officer Sonia Gupta EDITORIAL BOARD Jacob Asch Gracie Kreth Audrey Fahlberg Gavin Scott Hailey Yowell JUNIOR BOARD Assistant Managing Editors Aaron Rose Ashley Botkin (SA) Alec Husted (SA) Abby Sacks (SA) Arsema Asefaw (SA) Emma Bradford (SA) Caroline Daniel

News Editors Nafisa Mazumdar Nik Popli (SA) Caroline Stoerker Sports Editors Zach Zamoff Colin Cantwell (SA) Alex Maniatis (SA) Vignesh Mulay Life Editors Pauline Povitsky Natalie Seo Arts & Entertainment Editors Kate Granruth Robin Schwartzkopf (SA) Elliot Van Noy Health & Science Editors Vyshnavi Pendala Zoe Ziff Magazine Editor Meagan O’Rourke Opinion Editors Audrey Fahlberg Gavin Scott (SA) Hailey Yowell Humor Editor Ben Miller Cartoon Editor Gabby Fuller

Production Editors Carolyn Lane Nikita Sivakumar Ankit Agrawal Graphics Editor Maddy Sita Tyra Krehbiel Photography Editors Riley Walsh Emma Klein (SA) Sophie Roehse (SA) Archana Shekharan Video Editor Rachel Liesendahl Social Media Managers Libby Scully Sierra Krug Translation Editors Wilson Tosta Lucy Xiang (SA) Sylvia Wang (SA) Ruohan Xiao (SA) Josefina Waquin (SA) Maria Aguilar (SA) John Barton Finance Manager Malcolm Mashig Business Manager Kelly Mays Senior Advertising Representative Bianca Johnson

www.cavalierdaily.com • OPINION

THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2019

13

VIRGINIA NEEDS RECALL ELECTIONS With no way to recall their Executive Branch, Virginia voters have to deal with morally bankrupt leadership that they didn’t know they were voting for

T

he past two months in Virginia politics have left the fate of the Commonwealth in very uncertain hands. With Gov. Ralph Northam, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and Attorney General Mark Herring all engulfed in scandals, their ability to effectively lead the Commonwealth going forward has evaporated. All three have faced bipartisan calls for resignation or investigation, and in the face of much adversary, all three have resisted these calls.

Speaker of the House of Delegates Kirk Cox, who is the next in line if all three Democrats were to resign or be removed from office, expressed the General Assembly’s hesitation to begin impeachment proceedings by stating, “you have to consider that to some degree you're overturning an election." Speaker Cox is exactly right in this regard, but at the same time, it is also impossible to know how Virginians would have voted in 2017 had they known about these controversies. The way to solve this seeming discrepancy is to amend the Virginia Code or Constitution to clearly highlight a process by which recall elections can be held in the Commonwealth.

The need for recall elections is first seen by the fact that these controversies have already impacted the executive branch’s ability to lead the

Commonwealth, both in moral terms and in effective governance. Both Northam and Herring have admitted that by wearing blackface, they took an incredibly racist action that they are now deeply sorry for. At the same time, neither found it relevant to talk about their past actions until confronted with evidence. Both have run statewide campaigns not only supposedly built on values of equality and inclusion, but then-candidate Northam

whom are have accepted invitations to testify before the House — if either one the sexual assault claims against him is corroborated or proven, he too would lack the moral authority to lead.

Not only have these executive branch members deceived the electorate, but they also have shown that they can not effectively govern the Commonwealth because of these scandals.

Another example that highlights these individuals' inability to lead can

what the Governor proposed, but in the long run, the Commonwealth needs a Governor who won’t cave on negotiations in order to change the media cycle. The Governor’s inability to govern has caused him to be disinvited from speaking at multiple events and has led to fierce criticism of those accepting his appointments. The Governor, along with the Lt. Governor and Attorney General, have avoided public appearances since early Febru-

“With Gov. Ralph Northam, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and Attorney General Mark Herring all engulfed in scandals, their ability to effectively lead the Commonwealth going forward has evaporated.” went as far as to call his opponent’s rhetoric “racist” and “fear mongering.”

Both campaigns made fighting racism and bigotry central to their message, while at the same time concealing from the voters of Virginia that they had themselves committed deeply and offensive actions. If they had be truthful with Virginia voters and still been elected to these statewide positions, the situation would be different, but as it stands, they deliberately misinformed the electorate.

While we still need to hear more from Fairfax’s accusers — both of

be demonstrated by this year’s state budget, in which the Governor negotiated with Republican Leadership during the height of his scandal revolving around his racist yearbook photo.

Due to this scandal, Northam lacked the leverage to defend his positions and caved on nearly all of his priorities, and the final budget compromise “[did] not include any of the spending that Northam proposed in the budget plan he introduced in December.” As a Republican, I personally am happy that the budget that is much closer to what Speaker Cox proposed than

ary, and none of the three will be able to represent the Commonwealth they way they could have two months ago.

Despite their lack of moral authority and effective governance, there is no way to currently remove these members of the executive branch from office if impeachment is off the table.

While Virginia Code 24.2-233 provides guidelines for recall elections the local level, there are no such provisions existing for statewide officials. Given this lack of a clarity, it is crucial that the General Assembly amend the Virginia Code or Constitution to codify

a process for recall elections to occur for statewide officials, giving Virginia voters the power to act in situations such as the one they are in right now.

While the Legislative Session just ended, it would still be possible for the General Assembly to call a special session where they could debate and pass specific criteria for recall elections. Both Republicans and Democrats should have the opportunity to nominate their candidates to lead the Commonwealth, and Virginia voters should have the opportunity to choose their executive branch in light of these recent embarrassments. If Virginia voters choose Northam, Fairfax and Herring again in spite of these scandals, they can claim that they still have the authority to hold office. But voters should not be simply conned into electing officials who withheld crucial information about their past in order to gain elected office, and they deserve the chance to elect more suitable leadership for the Commonwealth.

ADAM KIMELMAN is a Viewpoint Writer for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily. com.

IMPROVE ACCESS TO MENSTRUAL HYGIENE Initiatives that destigmatize discussion of and increase access to services for menstrual health are critical to a healthy University community

S

tudent Council announced on Thursday the continuation of the pilot program providing free menstrual hygiene products in certain, high-traffic areas around Grounds, including 1515, Newcomb Hall and Nau and Gibson Halls. This announcement came only one day after Gov. Ralph Northam signed a bill to decrease sales tax on feminine hygiene products. Given the extent they each have addressed the problems of gender discrimination associated with menstrual hygiene products, Student Council has been more successful than the Commonwealth in participating in a positive national trend seeking to increase both accessibility and awareness of menstrual health.

Council’s initiative began almost a year ago as part of a cooperative effort with the Inter-Sorority Council, where both groups organized and ran trials to determine the demand for menstrual hygiene products in high-traffic areas around Grounds.

This trial run follows programs at other universities, including at James Madison University and Brown University.

At the state level, Virginia’s law is only a half-measure of success. The “tampon tax” term is a slight misno-

mer, as no states have laws directly targeting taxes at feminine hygiene products, but instead, many states do not list feminine hygiene products on the list of necessities, such as food and prescription medications — including Viagra — exempt from sales tax. As of November, ten U.S. states have passed

vantage of women’s necessary bodily functions for the state’s profit.

Virginia’s law was initially introduced as a complete elimination of sales tax on menstrual hygiene products by former Delegate and current Senator Jennifer Boysko (D-Fairfax), but altered to a cut of the sales tax to

issues are certainly a worthy concern for the governor and the legislature, particularly in states with large budget deficits like California, the solution to budgetary crisis cannot be profiting off of legal discrimination against half of the population of the state.

Student Council’s initiatives, if

“To fully address and end the gender discrimination inherent in the current policy, the legislature must end the sales tax on feminine hygiene products because a lower discriminatory tax is still a discriminatory tax.” bills adding feminine hygiene products to the list of exempted products, while five others states do not have sales tax.

As advocates who call these policies part of “period equity” point out, these laws are a commonsense measure to address obvious discrimination. Menstruation is not a choice in the lives of those with female bodies, yet the products required to deal with menstruation are not considered necessities while performance-enhancing medications for men are. This discrepancy is obviously unfair and discriminatory in the way it takes ad-

only 2.5 percent to match a bill introduced by Del. Kathy Byron (R-Bedford). While only a partial reduction in tax costs does not address the discrimination at issue in this discussion, it does lessen the effects of that discrimination to some extent. The Virginia legislature and Northam have at least done a better job addressing it than California’s former governor Jerry Brown, who vetoed a bill that had unanimously passed the California legislature eliminating the tampon tax in 2016 because of the $20 million loss to state revenue that would have occurred as a result. While budgetary

carried past the trial period, will better address this example of gender discrimination than the Virginia state legislature’s recent half-measure. To fully address and end the gender discrimination inherent in the current policy, the legislature must end the sales tax on feminine hygiene products because a lower discriminatory tax is still a discriminatory tax. By contrast, providing free menstrual hygiene products in relevant locations around Grounds matches other health initiatives provided by the University, which supplies other products such as condoms for free. Just as it is fitting

and appropriate that the University distributes condoms, it is equally appropriate — and resolves issues of gender discrimination — to provide free menstrual hygiene products.

As I recently wrote, issues affecting women should be more widely discussed and publicized, so our society can work to solve problems affecting half our population. Menstrual health continues to be a topic of stigma and shame across the world despite its natural role in the health of women’s bodies. Education and initiatives increasing access to this healthcare both fight this stigma and support women’s fight for equal access to healthcare.

Council’s initiative should continue to be supported, promoting menstrual health in the same way as sexual health in the University community. Virginia lawmakers need to follow the example of students and privilege menstrual health in the same ways they privilege other health necessities to ensure equality for women and women’s health issues.

KATHERINE VITI is a Viewpoint Writer for The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily.com.

H

HUMOR The Trump administration recently proposed a gag rule that would adversely affect Planned Parenthood.

The administration has made some proposed changes to Title X that would basically ban medical professionals from referring persons and patients for an abortion. The gag rule muffles any conversations about abortions alongside many other types of preventative health care. These changes have the potential to suffocate Planned Parenthood and all the people using it by dangling funding above the non-profit’s head.

I don’t want to show all of my political cards at once, but you wouldn’t be totally wrong if you assumed that I assumed this ruling came straight from some bro up in DC with a pea for a brain. However, you would be wrong to assume I was assuming. As a matter of fact, it does come from

C

CARTOON

THE CAVALIER DAILY

14

Let’s talk about the gag rule some bro up in DC with a pea for a brain! I am fed up with America’s inability to see the light! Women are people, people have a right over their bodies, bodies need the care provided at Planned Parenthood. Let the people do what they want with their bodies. Leave Planned Parenthood and the people using it alone!

Now this is no laughing matter, but humor sometimes offers new ways to convey arguments. I want to talk a little but about why the gag rule shouldn’t exist.

1. My genetics are unique. My uterus is specific to me. Think about a 2008 Jaguar XKR Limited Edition Convertible that you can buy for $7,000 on craigslist in the Fort Lauderdale, Fla. area. That swooner of a car is unlike any other. The limited edition, the year, the make, all give it its own clout when it comes to uniqueness. You can’t go bundling it together with a Toyota Camry, or even the 2009 Jaguar XKR Limited Edition

convertible. It stands alone! My uterus cannot be generalized about when it comes to specific policy. It is its own unique organ, and one story does not always tell them all. A gag rule unfortunately turns it into an organ that can be generalized about.

2. Your partner choosing not to talk to you for three days because they’re mad at you for taking sarcasm one step too far is fine. Indefinitely requiring doctors to stay silent about a part of women’s health is TERRIFYING. Not being able to discuss all possible medical options with your doctor or a medical profession is so so so so so dangerous. Not talking gets us into trouble a lot. There is probably some Disney movie that teaches us that lesson.

3. What if we implemented the gag rule in other parts of our country’s policies? What if they implemented a gag rule with ambassadors? You’re in a foreign country, there is a threat to your person, so you go to your embas-

sy to seek help. NOPE they can’t help you. They can’t talk to you about your options. I guess you’re stuck dangerously figuring that one out? What if the Environmental Protection Agency couldn’t notify you about dangerous toxins or hazards near your home? Oh wait, that probably already happens. What if NPR couldn’t give its listeners any real information about what is actually happening? It would either be a really silent news show, or look a lot like a prime time Fox New broadcast. What if the government told University that in order to receive any further funding, it had to stop teaching evolutionism? There goes our biology department, physics department, chemistry department, all of the engineering school, the math department, maybe the music department and even most of the religious studies department.

My uterus is literally mine, the same goes for every woman out there.

Not yours, Trump and Pence, not

yours. You can’t make decisions for me or her or her or her or them or him. What I want to do with my body cannot be dictated by some man in a suit that has never and never will give birth! It not even that they will never give birth or that they don’t have the same organs as me. It’s that they feel it is more important to control woman than to let people speak to their doctor. Gag rules have a scary history, and they have plagued America and many other countries for a long time.

In the past, gag rules have suppressed incredibly important discussions. It is unnerving that its doing the same today.

CATE STREISSGUTH is a Humor Columnist at The Cavalier Daily.

She can be reached at humor@cavalierdaily.com.

Beware the Ides of March Madness Walter Sharon | Cartoonist

www.cavalierdaily.com • PUZZLES

P

WEEKLY CROSSWORD PUZZLE Dan Goff | Puzzle Master

PUZZLES

* THE SOLUTION TO THIS PUZZLE CAN BE FOUND IN THE NEXT ISSUE

Across 5 11-across will be a speaker at this Founder's Festival — two words 7 Between two objects, it can produce heat 9 Domenico Dolce or Vera Wang 10 Parties you probably wouldn't tell your parents about 11 Her sculptural work is on display in 19-down through July 7 13 Pass or go by, of time 15 Noticeable, or labeled 17 If you're of age and you go to 19-down's Final Friday events, you can get ___ off their free alcohol 19 Informal, unpretentious — when describing a person 21 Type of vegetable oil 22 "Catch them ___" — by surprise 23 Necessary for a good photo 24 Cut a line into a surface Down 1 Begin something, as a conversation — two words 2 Make ___ — reparations 3 SI unit of mass 4 Label of disgrace — Christian roots 6 They're not just for farmers anymore — just ask Urban Outfitters 7 Go without 8 Shepard Fairey started this "imperative" clothing brand 12 Reconsider 14 Expressing something clearly or forcefully

1 5

2

6

3

4

7

9

8

10

11 12 13

14

17

15

18

16

19

20 21

22

23

16 Emerson argued for the "self" version of this 17 Am I the only one who thinks the sculpture in front of 19-down looks like a giant ___?

18 1980s British rock group Fine ___ Cannibals 19 Building on Rugby Road that has a giant 17-down in front of it 20 Cloth or silk garment worn by some South Asian women

24

* SOLUTION FROM LAST ISSUE

B S F E S T I M U T O R N A A N E M I O F I Z Z O Z P R E A M E R I N T E R A L E M I L I E A

O R Y V A L E P O N E I C U R U B B E R N E H I S G A D I S D A I U O D L E A V O U C F I L B L E S I T U A Z C M E Z Z O L O B E U U O S O N G B I O T E

H Y M A C K I N S T H P S A P E E R D

15

THE CAVALIER DAILY

A& E ARTS AND

Charisma, uniqueness, nerve — and racism?

Former Charlottesville drag queen discusses discrimination within the drag community

ENTERTAINMENT .Recently, the show “RuPaul's Drag Race” — now in it’s eleventh season — has come under fire for being racially biased. In 2018, writer and performer Phillip Henry published an article on the LGBT based platform them, critiquing the show’s namesake lack of action, writing that “queens of color who compete will continue to pay the price for Rupaul’s silence.” The most current instance fans have pointed out centers around the winners of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” season four. The top four of the most recent “All Stars” consisted of three queens of color — Naomi Smalls, Monét X Change, Monique Heart — and a Caucasian queen — Trinity the Tuck.

Monét X Change and Trinity the Tuck both won — the first time in the series two queens were crowned.

Many fans expressed anger because three of the four top queens were black, but a white queen still received the crown. Of the 14 winners from “Drag Race” and “All Stars,” seven were white and seven identified as a different race. Regardless of this fact, this is not the first time viewers called out the show for racism.

Multiple queens have spoken out against both racism on the show and the fandom after leaving “Drag Race.”

Season two winner, Tyra Sanchez, went on the online LGBT focused talk show “Hey Qween” and discussed how there remains an expectation for black queens to perform certain stereotypes to appear palatable for viewers. Katya Zamolodchikova of season seven discussed the double standards towards queens of color saying, “There is a significant racial component to the way that Jasmine and Acid were both treated during the show, on the show and more specifically, after the elimination.” The most vocal on this topic is drag queen The Vixen, who has voiced concerns about how RuPaul fails to address the issue of race on the show.

To look further into racism within the drag community, Arts and Entertainment sat down for an interview with Clinton Johnson, a former drag queen who performed under the name Jennifer D’ville. Johnson worked as an entertainer for 41 years, headlining local Charlottesville clubs such as The Silver Fox, Triangles and Club 216 for over a decade.

When asked if he believed “RuPaul’s Drag Race” contributes to racism within the drag community, he disagreed.

“I don’t think it’s true. I think there’s a certain amount of racism in everything you do, everything,” Johnson said. “I don’t see where RuPaul’s Drag Race would contribute anything racially because everybody is treated the same.”

Despite this, Johnson provided an insightful look into drag history.

When describing his personal expe-

16

Darryle Aldridge | Staff Writer

TYRA KREHBIEL | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Despite progress in terms of visibility and acceptance, the drag community is still somewhat haunted by racism and discrimination.

riences as an entertainer, he noted racism, while present, played a minute role in comparison to classism.

Johnson says classism was particularly pervasive within drag families — a group of drag queens headed by a drag mother who cared for and mentored her drag daughters. In the past, drag mothers acted as the chosen family for members of the LGBT community who were displaced by their biological family.

“It was more like the have and the have nots,” he said. “Oh, you have less than I have, or you’re not as well known, so you’re less than. So more than even the color issue was the ability to be known. It was a competitive type thing.”

He also mentioned the privileges afforded to white queens because of their race and class.

“Racism played a small part because if you were a well-dressed Caucasian female impersonator or

illusionist, you stood a better chance of getting in,” Johnson said. “A lot of them did not understand that it's all about entertainment. It’s not about how beautiful you are … if you have no talent, you lose the audience still.”

This statement echoes the sentiments of The Vixen. When asked by Entertainment Weekly if to receive bookings queens of color must be likable, she responded, “Yes, just because our reactions are judged harsher …

People judge my reactions, but they don’t take into account what I’m reacting to.”

Outside of racism, Johnson touches on another prejudice within the LGBT community saying, “One of the prejudices in the drag community is you have to make a decision. If you want to be gay, that’s fine, but if you want to be gay and do drag, we have a problem.”

This speaks to the misogyny perpetuated by many gay men. A substan-

tial number of gay men shun feminine appearance and behaviors due to the close association with womanhood in a society that still perceives women to be inferior. In reality, much is owed to those activists who did not fall in line with societal gender norms such as drag queens, transgender individuals, butch lesbians, etc. Individuals from these groups were the first on the frontlines to fight for the rights of LGBT people.

Perhaps the most valuable piece of information Johnson shared was not about racism nor his experiences, but about how to move forward. His recommendation? Love. Love is what the gay community needs to “bridge the gap,” to eliminate internal division.

“When you love yourself, you thoroughly are able to love somebody else, and love can conquer all.”

The contributions of RuPaul to the LGBT community are innumerable.

He has given drag queens a platform

to showcase their talents, and helped gay culture to infiltrate American society. One can hardly scroll down their social media feed without seeing words like “slay,” “werk” or other verbiage originating from LGBT individuals.

However, there is still a long way to go. Issues of misogyny, racism, transphobia and more persist to this day. Rupaul’s shows may serve as the only exposure the masses have with the LGBT community, and yet they struggle to rectify said problems within their own microcosms.

At the end of every episode, RuPaul says, “if you can’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?” These remarks closely mirror to those of Clinton Johnson. If only RuPaul practiced what they both preached.

THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2019

www.cavalierdaily.com • ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

17

‘The Public’ finds a home at the Festival of the Book Film co-presented by VFF included a panel with Emilio Estevez, relevant community members Dan Goff | Senior Writer Decades after he played a troubled jock suffering through detention in a high school library, Emilio Estevez has returned to a library — this time, to tell a very different sort of story. “The Public,” which Estevez wrote, produced, directed and starred in, received a special screening Friday, March 22, at the Paramount Theater. Co-sponsored by the Virginia Festival of the Book and the Virginia Film Festival, the event also featured an appearance by Estevez himself, who spoke alongside a panel of community leaders moderated by The Washington Post film critic Ann Hornaday.

Long before the film began, the Paramount was packed and not just because of the celebrity factor. Given the subject matter of “The Public,” the demographics of the audience were more diverse than is typical for Festival events — whether book- or film-related. Employees from The Haven, a local, multi-resource day shelter, Charlottesville’s On Our Own, a peer support and recovery center, and Jefferson-Madison Regional Library attended “The Public” in droves.

This latter category was celebrated when Jane Kulow, director of The Festival of the Book, gave opening remarks on the film and its content.

“All librarians please stand,” Kulow said, and across the theater, a scattering of the public employees complied.

The audience gave them thunderous applause, which turned into an impromptu standing ovation when Kulow added, “Everyone who’s ever been helped by a librarian, please stand.” By the time the hubbub had died down and audience members returned to their seats, they were in the ideal frame of mind to watch a movie that is, in many ways, a love letter to librarians.

“The Public” follows Stuart Goodson (Estevez), a mild-mannered supervisor at Cincinnati’s Main Library, over the course of two particularly chilly days and nights in the city.

Goodson maintains a friendly relationship with the group of homeless men who use the space of the library daily as a shelter. When leader of the group Jackson (an excellent Michael Kenneth Williams) approaches Goodson with an appeal to stay overnight in the library, the somewhat timid librarian is faced with a choice — turn dozens of homeless men out into the likely lethal cold or barricade them, along with himself, into the library, an act that almost guarantees he’ll lose his job. Of course, he makes the more humane choice, and thus the plot — at times funny, moving and thought-provoking — is set into motion.

Estevez shines quietly as the understated lead of “The Public.” The film often resorts to humor of an almost slapstick variety, so the guiding

presence of Goodson’s character helps provide a little more dramatic balance.

His is also the most nuanced character by far in “The Public” — many of the supporting roles feel unrealistic or sketched-out in comparison. Christian Slater, for instance, plays the laughably villainous Josh Davis, a prosecutor vying for mayor who has no qualms about sending the homeless men back to the streets. The movie’s dialogue, sometimes stilted, is at its most implausible whenever Davis opens his mouth.

Likewise, the character of Angela (Taylor Schilling) is a frustrating waste of a talented actress. As Goodson’s half-hearted love interest and the only reason the movie’s timeline is two days instead of one — the night before Goodson locks himself in the library, he gets it on with Angela — her role is confused and ultimately unnecessary.

Many other characters — Detective Bill Ramstead (Alec Baldwin), a crisis negotiator with a personal stake in the matter, a self-centered local TV reporter (Gabrielle Union) who skews the story in her favor, Goodson’s social justice-focused coworker Myra (Jena Malone) — at first round out and then overstuff the cast. The story Estevez wants to tell is an important one, but it doesn’t need to be such a complex one. While watching, it’s hard not to imagine, and maybe wish for a

stripped-down version of the tale — one that takes place in a 24 hour period, say, and jettisons a quarter of its cast.

Despite the flaws of “The Public,” the movie is well-made on a production level, entertaining and clearly genuine. There should have been no doubt in viewers’ minds that Estevez cares deeply about the content of this story — and even if there was, the filmmaker himself walked onstage post-credits to better explain just how much “The Public” means to him.

When prompted by Hornaday to discuss his political motivations, Estevez referred to his family as formative influences — specifically, his father Martin Sheen, fellow actor and activist. “My father has been arrested 66 to 68 times, depending on who you ask,” Estevez said. He said that while at first, his father’s peaceful demonstrations and subsequent incarcerations baffled him, he grew to realize their power and cited “nonviolent civil disobedience” as one of the most effective ways to deliver a political message.

A few minutes into their conversation, Estevez and Hornaday were joined onstage by Cyndi Richardson, esteemed staff member of On Our Own, Herb Dickerson, outreach coordinator and shift supervisor of The Haven and JMRL Director David Plunkett. Each member of the com-

munity congratulated Estevez on “The Public” and confirmed, from personal experience, its authenticity.

Richardson praised the film’s focus on portraying the homeless population as people rather than a problem.

“We are all the same,” she said.

Dickerson, a former addict and homeless person himself, was blown away by the realistic depictions of both those in need and those who are willing to help. “My everyday life — it’s what you depicted in the film,” he said.

Plunkett, meanwhile, praised Estevez for “how well [he] hit on the professional ethos of being a librarian.”

Estevez, in turn, discussed the research he had done in libraries and what he had noticed about the “sacred” librarian-patron relationship, comparing it to what is shared between a doctor and patient or a lawyer and client.

Throughout the talk, Estevez kept emphasizing the importance of libraries and the people who work in them — which, for a crowd with an impressive showing of librarians, prompted near-continuous applause. Just before leaving the stage, he shouted his parting message to the audience. “Occupy your library. Donate to your library.”

Illustrators share “The Power of Graphic Novels” Graphic novels panel at the Festival of the Book displays the key to modern literary culture Ria Sardesai | Staff Writer Most of the panels at the Virginia Festival of the Book — which took place March 20-24 in various venues around Charlottesville — surround the idea of a traditional print novel.

However, graphic novels are slowly entering the mainstream, and “The Power of Graphic Novels” was an event that showed that graphic novels are the perfect gateway to attaining what artist James Sturm called “visual literacy.”

The panel, which convened Saturday at the McGuffey Art Center, consisted of three artists whose novels catered to varied audiences. Three accomplished cartoonists — James Sturm, author of “Off Season,” Ken Krimstein (“The 3 Escapes of Hannah Arendt”) and Brooklyn Allen, illustrator of the “Lumberjanes” series — sat with Warren Craghead, a local artist, to discuss their views on the power of graphic novels.

Each artist noted that the idea of using pictures to comprehend and

translate the world around them motivated them to pursue cartooning. Both Krimstein and Sturm cited “Peanuts” by Charles Schulz as being a huge inspiration for them, as it took an abstract drawing and gave it a story and a life. According to Krimstein, pictures are a great tool for narration. In an age where we often learn through what we see, this is a perfect way to translate an intricate topic simply.

In the book “The 3 Escapes of Hannah Arendt,” Krimstein uses single panels to explain large portions of Hannah Arendt’s philosophy and manages to make it digestible for the non-philosophical average reader. Allen also echoed this sentiment by talking about how he manages to pack entire scenes into a singular panel so as to keep the action flowing and the “frantic energy” intact.

Arts and Entertainment had the opportunity to sit with Krimstein and Sturm to talk about their specific

views on the world of cartoons and graphic novels. Both of them have written books regarding very dark topics, specifically dealing with politics — and in Krimstein’s case, the Holocaust.

“I was going through a hard time in my life, and I make comics just to process the world,” Sturm said. “Being able to break it down and put it in neat little orderly boxes on a page is very reassuring and gives me a sense of agency and control we often don’t have in life.”

The format of a graphic novel allows so much more to be said in so much less. A single panel can provide context through narration as well as emotion through the artwork. The idea of mixing narration and points of view can create a new angle many traditional novels lack.

“The way that you can play with the narrative point of view creates a tension that brings the viewer, the reader, into it,” Krimstein said.

“You are kind of mixing what you are showing and what you are telling and somehow hoping that the sum becomes greater than the parts,” Sturm added.

Graphic novels can also take a story past the limits of what a print novel could possibly do. “[In my book] the characters all have dog heads, and I don’t really bring attention to it, and I can’t imagine how I would do that in prose,” Sturm said.

All three cartoonists use methods of abstraction and elements of the fantastical to add depth to the story in a way that prose would make too structured. The element of translated reality allows the reader to place herself into the story and “a higher level of meaning,” according to Krimstein.

The panel also dealt both with the economic and the technical aspects behind illustrating. All three panelists agreed — do not go into cartooning for the money. They all stated how

they got involved for the passion of it, not for glory and fame. Krimstein added how he loved drawing, but the idea of also occasionally getting money for his work is also great.

The three also agreed that each graphic novel should be treated as its own separate project and that graphic novels cannot be generalized.

Whether it be the topic, the method of creation or the publishing process, the graphic novel is an utterly personal passion project.

In this day and age, where most humor is translated into images via memes, the idea of a graphic novel seems to be the perfect entryway into modern communication. The combination of words, pictures and points of view is simple for both children and adults to understand, and by creating a print version of this variant of modern culture, it can diversify and spread this idea to a much larger portion of the world.

H&S HEALTH & SCIENCE

THE CAVALIER DAILY

18

Biocore tackles NFL injuries Jeff Crandall and Richard Kent have led research teams in reducing the many injuries seen in football Lucie Rutherford | Staff Writer

After the NFL Combine, the employees of Biocore, a faculty-founded engineering research company, have been quite busy.

Throughout 12 years of collaboration, Biocore — founded by University mechanical engineering professors Jeff Crandall and Richard Kent — has partnered with the University’s Center for Applied Biomechanics to improve the safety of football through equipment testing and experimenting with test dummies, head impact simulators and mouthguard sensors to track players’ movement on the field.

This research has influenced the NFL, going so far as to change game rules to improve safety.

With the aim of improving the quality of life of players through injury mitigation, the Center for Applied Biomechanics conducts tests which look at the human body’s mechanical response to impact. While they started out only looking into automobile crashes, the Center has since included both military and sports injury as well. One such research project, which was brought to them by the Department of Defense, led to the creation of an underbody blast simulator to improve the safety of military tanks.

Crandall and Kent are the director and deputy director, respectively, of the Center for Applied Biomechanics. Thirty years after its conception, Crandall is now director of the multidisciplinary team, made up of mechanical and biomedical engineering graduate students, as well as faculty from mechanical engineering and the medical school.

“If you look at its core, what the Center tries to do is figure out how the body responds to different forces and how we can make counter measures that will reduce those forces and prevent injury,” Crandall said.

Approximately 12 years ago, the NFL approached the Center about researching methods to reduce the high number of injuries seen in football, with a focus on

ANGELA CHEN | THE CAVALIER DAILY

lower limb injuries such as ankle sprains and turf toe. In response, Biocore and the Center began assessing the ability of cleats to stiffen at certain angles that would protect the foot from injury. These cleat testings then led to body padding projects including knee and shoulder pads, and finally, head injury research to reduce concussion occurrences.

To tackle this new aspect of injury, Crandall and the research team paired with NFL videographers to look into each concussive scenario that occurred in the NFL from 2015 to 2018. From there, they created a small sensor that fits into the mouthguard of players, used to gain a clearer understanding of what was happening on the field.

Due to the team’s close relationship with the University’s football team, the mouthguard sensors were pilot tested with the players last season during games and will be tested by four NFL teams this coming season.

According to Erin Sánchez, Class of 2017 alumna and Biocore employee, the sensors will help create position-specific helmets in the future. “[The sensors show] how impacts affect each player and how their heads move during an impact,” Sánchez said. “A wide receiver might have one big hit whereas an offensive lineman will have a lot of little hits. That'll help us get to position-specific [helmets].”

In addition to creating position-specific helmets, the data analysis done by Biocore has led to rule changes within the NFL from last season to this season.

Because kickoffs hold the highest number of concussive incidents, the kicking team can no longer have a running start, and players can no longer lower their head to initiate contact. The research has also led to the prohibition of 10 helmet types, as well as the creation of a helmet-ranking system that educates players on how to best protect themselves.

According to Crandall, the work they have done has led to a 29 percent reduction in regular season game concussions in the last year alone. Of the returning NFL players, 55 percent have upgraded their helmets, and helmet manufacturers have begun building better helmet models.

“We went from having 41 percent of the NFL in [top helmets] all the way up to 74 percent,” Crandall said. “I think that's one of the big factors, in addition to

the rules, that led to the injury reduction.

Through the mouthguard sensors and an expansion of the data analytics side of their research, Biocore and the Center for Applied Biomechanics are continuing towards “the next

generation of helmet.” With new data on player position and location, speed and equipment worn during impact — all collected through observing game footage — the research team is quantifying what happens on the field and turning that understanding

into necessary safety measures.

"Overall, we are trying to make football safer while keeping the integrity of the sport,” Sánchez said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Semen Samples Needed

ContraVac is looking for men 18 years and older to provide semen samples for Quality Control in the manufacture of SpermCheck® home diagnostic kits. Your sample will not be used to fertilize any eggs. These kits allow users to determine their fertility status conveniently in the privacy of their home. Growing out of research at UVA, ContraVac markets SpermCheck® Fertility and SpermCheck Vasectomy in pharmacies and online throughout the U.S. and internationally.

Donors will be given a collection tube, asked to collect the sample at home and bring it to the laboratory on a specific morning.

Donors will be paid $50 for each sample.

For more information call 434-960-7231 or email eleary@spermcheck.com.

www.cavalierdaily.com • HEALTH & SCIENCE

THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2019

19

Deppmann Lab investigates eating disorders Third-year College student and Harrison Award recipient Dove-Anna Johnson works with lab members to study functions of the p75 molecule Elise Fisher | Staff Writer Third-year College student Dove-Anna Johnson was one of about 40 students who won a Harrison Undergraduate Research Award last year. She proposed a project under the supervision of Assoc. Biology Prof. Christopher Deppmann titled “Investigating the sufficiency of p75NTR for weight loss.” Johnson was inspired by the research already conducted at the University on this molecule and its role in weight loss to create her own project.

“Dr. Laura Sipe’s … research on the role of p75NTR in weight loss sounded extremely interesting because it was connected to human health problems stemming from unsuccessful weight regulation,” Johnson said.

The molecule p75 is a receptor for neurotrophins, which are proteins involved in regulating development of the nervous system and maintaining its function. Known functions of p75 include signaling for neuron differentiation, survival and death, but new studies have suggested that the molecule may take on roles outside the nervous system, particularly by controlling how much energy is burned from fat cells.

Each academic year, Harrison

Undergraduate Research Awards are granted to fund projects to be carried out in the following summer and following school year by current first-, second- and third-years at the University. The awards can grant up to $4,000 per recipient to be used for their research, and the funds are made possible by the donations of David Harrison III, a graduate of the University who was heavily involved in the Law School.

In the Deppmann Lab, Johnson works closely with doctoral student Brandon Podyma and second-year College student Courtny Cushman. The lab team’s procedure involves first modifying a mouse’s genes to remove the p75 molecule, usually from its expression in the hypothalamus. Then, to study how the p75 molecule may control how much food is consumed by the mice, they employ a technique known as time-restricted feeding. In this method, the mice are provided with one meal per day, and their food consumption and movement is monitored by the lab members.

Their hypothalamus activity is monitored and the researchers pay attention to which neurons or genes are turned on at differ-

ent stages of the process. The goal of these trials is to determine how the restricted feeding changes the mice’s body weight and food consumption patterns.

“Strikingly, we found that mice that didn’t have p75 ate significantly less food than mice that did, and that we could explain this by p75’s action in … the hypothalamus,” said Podyma. This finding is an important addition to the knowledge already attained about the p75 molecule, as it could have valuable effects on the way conditions such as obesity or weight loss programs are approached for humans.

However, successes such as these are not always easy to come by in the lab, and both Johnson and Podyma agreed that the work poses its share of challenges.

“There’s no guidebook, no Google search and no one else you can turn to who knows the answers,” Podyma said. “It sometimes takes a lot of failure to find the right path to go down, and that can be tough to deal with.”

He explained that particularly in this project, new challenges arise in the fact that their main subjects cannot be asked why they are behaving a certain way, and it

is up to the researchers to ascertain the answers simply through what can be measured.

“What can be very challenging about my research is that there are so many relevant questions yet to be answered about this topic, but to understand the complexity of the brain, you must first start at its most simple inner-workings and build up, such as my focus on the one p75 neurotrophin receptor,” said Cushman in an email to the Cavalier Daily.

Despite these challenges, members of the team understand the implications their research can have on the greater communities of the University and Charlottesville. With members of her own family suffering from conditions like diabetes, obesity and hypertension, as well as a large number of college students worried about the “Freshman 15,” Johnson explained that she feels her research is especially important.

“Determining the role of p75NTR in regulating food intake will increase our knowledge about metabolic pathways and aid us in developing better treatment strategies for obesity, anorexia and other ailments associated with weight management,” she

said.

Podyma described how their findings could be especially useful in the scientific understanding of eating disorders. People suffering from anorexia nervosa often possess decreased hunger signals and, as a result, do not consume enough calories.

The discovery that the loss of the p75 molecule in mice causes them to eat less suggests that the increase of the molecule in humans suffering from eating disorders could aid in their recovery by increasing hunger signals.

Although the team states that the process is not yet near clinical applications, their research has created hope for future use in this area.

“We really think of p75 kind of like the thermostat in your home, that it can modulate your hunger up and down to tune food intake and body weight to be just right,” said Podyma. “In the meantime, we’ll continue working to understand more about what p75 is doing.”

Peer Education programs work to impact students Peer Health Educators promote health and wellness issues through positive programs Pumoli Malapati | Staff Writer Under Health Promotion and Wellbeing in the Department of Student Health, Peer Health Educators —

a group of about 45 students who are trained in behavior change theory and health promotion — work to promote

ADVERTISEMENT

a positive culture of physical, spiritual and mental well-being around Grounds. The Peer Health Education program was started in the 1970s when women were first admitted into the University in order to increase access to birth control and raise awareness for reproductive health.

Peer Education is split into ADAPT Peer Educators and PHEs. Peer Health Education Coordinator Amanda Cheetham explained that the focus of the program varies, with ADAPT Peer Educators mainly focusing on educating students on alcohol and drug use and PHEs focusing on college health and wellness.

According to Cheetham, the applications for both programs were available for rising second-year and thirdyear students who can commit to taking a required three-credit course, EDHS 3240 — Peer Health Education — during the upcoming fall semester.

Roxanna Mosavian, second-year College student and current PHE, explained that she initially applied to

the program because of her interests in mental health and sex education.

“I applied to PHE because I have always been passionate about mental health and sex ed and I wanted to help bring positive messages and resources to the UVA community,” Mosavian said in an email to The Cavalier Daily.

According to Nicki Hussini, thirdyear College student and current PHE, PHEs specifically work to facilitate health outreach programs for various organizations and patient education sessions on topics such as stress management, mental wellness, nutrition and sexual health.

Mosavian explained that PHEs often hold events such as the Mental Wellness Screening Day for students.

According to Mosavian, peer education is important because students are able to relate to the experiences of other students, and they are more comfortable discussing their problems with their peers.

“Peer education, in some instances, has shown to be more effective than

adult education in establishing norms and changing attitudes towards various health behaviors,” Hussini said in an email to The Cavalier Daily.

“Being able to provide a level of understanding that even the most well intentioned adults may not be able to provide makes peer education a really valuable avenue for behavioral health change.”

In the next few years, Cheetham explained that the new Student Health and Wellness Center will help create more space for these programs while exponentially increasing the program’s reach to students. Each year, they also work to respond to changes within the issues faced by students.

“We are always just trying to respond to changes in our culture in the issues that are being faced by college students, so we are constantly looking at the results of our surveys and looking at national trends and using that to steer the direction of our programming,” Cheetham said.

20

THE CAVALIER DAILY

ADVERTISEMENTS • www.cavalierdaily.com

BOLD IMPACTFUL SMART

YOUR

We invest in

The Jefferson Trust funds student, faculty, and staff proposals that enhance or expand the University. If you have an idea that will improve the student experience, make UVA a better place, and need funding to make it happen, please visit jeffersontrust.org.

ideas

NEW INNOVATIVE CREATIVE

2019 Jefferson Trust student grantees will transform the Rotunda Dome Room ceiling with projected constellations, fulfilling Jefferson’s vision of using the space as a planetarium.