Thursday, April 05, 2018

The Cavalier Daily Vol. 128, Issue 26

Thursday, April 5, 2018

ISC Presents: Derby Days Reform Page 3

Katie Couric talks new docuseries page 4

‘Urinetown’ comes to U.Va. page 16

University monitoring social media page 19

Graphic by Matt Gillam

THE CAVALIER DAILY

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This week in brief

NEWS

Jake Gold | News Editor

Kayla Dunn elected Latinx Student Alliance president Second-year College student Kayla Dunn was elected Monday evening as the Latinx Student Alliance president for the 2018-19 school year. Dunn will succeed fourth-year College student Raquel Talbott in the position.

Approximately 30 LSA members were in attendance and also elected Valeria Lopez Vaszquez, a second-year College student and current LSA social chair, to serve as vice president of community engagement. Vazquez was elected by a two-thirds majority threshold due to the uncontested election for the position.

The role of vice president of advocacy was left vacant when no LSA members declared their candidacy for the position.

Dunn campaigned on a platform highlighting four major points — ensuring that the number of admitted students at the University is proportionately representative of the Latinx population of Virginia, working with other multicultural organizations to increase minority faculty members, collaborating with the University Student Council to increase Latinx representation and striving to be representative of community needs through more structured general body meetings.

Dunn also acknowledged the privilege that comes with her identity as a white, Puerto Rican woman, and vowed to use her voice for the good of the Latinx community at the University.

“I recognize my voice is more likely to be heard,” Dunn said. “I think it’s a really big role to highlight issues that don’t really involve me [and] bring up issues that other people are going through ... [I would] use my privilege to work with administration to make sure these issues are heard.”

Eddie Castillo, a fourth-year College student and outgoing vice president for advocacy, told The Cavalier Daily that this is the first time LSA has selected its leaders through an election process. Prior to the election, each candidate was allotted time for a five-minute speech and a five-minute question-and-answer session with the audience, moderated by representatives from the Minority Rights Coalition.

Castillo said that prior to the implementation of the election process, LSA used a system in which the outgoing fourth-year executive board members would personally select the incoming leadership following an application and interview process.

Vasquez also spoke about holding individuals in executive positions to higher standards of accountability in order to better foster leadership and development within LSA. “We have this title and we have the opportunity to have these titles to be [executive board] members, but sometimes we’re not there,” Vasquez said, adding that she’d like to “hold people accountable in our committees and be strict.”

City Council approves mixed-use development on Water Street Charlottesville City Council approved a special use permit for West2nd’s mixed-use development plan on Water Street at its meeting Monday.

As part of the terms for the permit, the developer for West2nd will contribute 16 off-site units to be available at below-market rates for 15 years.

The permit was passed in a 4-1 vote, with Mayor Nikuyah Walker dissenting. Walker said she opposed the measure as the number of higher-cost units would far outweigh the quantity of affordable housing units.

The permit allows West2nd to add GEREMIA DI MARO | THE CAVALIER DAILY an additional floor to the previous nine-story construction plan, despite City Councilor Wes Bellamy, who previously opposed granting a special use permit to the City regulations barring buildings West2nd development, voted to approve the permit during Monday’s meeting. above a certain height. With the additional floor, the mixed-use complex ing Fund. The second option proposed Woodard construct would increase its number of available units from 86 to 97. The construction will also contribute to 16 affordable housing units, available for 15 years for bethe renovation of the City Market, adding office and retail low-market rates offsite. Councilors opted for the second option. space, as well as underground parking.

“This is the step on the right direction,” Councilor Wes When West2nd first obtained approval from the City in July 2017, the proposal met the City’s height regulations. Bellamy said of the second proposal during Monday’s counIn the fall, West2nd developer Keith Woodard returned to cil meeting. He said the additional 16 units will help 16 famCouncil to request permission to add the additional floor ilies in need while spearheading future affordable housing and residential units. The additions exceeded limits set by projects. However, Walker said the project will lead to “mathe City, forcing Woodard to seek a special use permit from jor divides” in Charlottesville.

“While this deal is better than it was before … you will Council.

In that meeting, Council rejected the special use permit never get to a place of equity when you have almost a 100 by a 3-2 vote because of these concerns over affordable hous- units coming in at the price that they’re coming in, and ing — Woodard agreed to build 16 affordable units, held then on the other side of town you’re going to create 16 afat below-cost for just under five years, or eight units, held fordable units,” Walker said. “That is why people have been pushed out of the area.” under cost for 10 years.

Construction is expected to begin this summer and is West2nd complied to Council’s request for more affordable housing by proposing two different plans to the scheduled for completion by summer 2020.

Council on Monday. The first option proposed West2nd contribute $316,000 to the Charlottesville Affordable Hous-

Student Council approves new CIOs, confirms Representative Body chair

FORD EASLEY | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Vice president for organizations Ty Zirkle, chief of cabinet Taylor Overton and Student Council president Alex Cintron (from left) at this term’s first general body meeting.

After a transition ceremony Friday to swear in newly-elected leaders, the Student Council held its first meeting of the term Tuesday in which the Representative Body confirmed second-year College Student Ellie Brasacchio as the chair of the body and approved four new Contracted Independent Organizations.

Brasacchio was re-elected to serve as the chair during a meeting last Friday, but the position required a confirmation vote from all representatives during the first general body meeting. She was unanimously confirmed to the position with one abstention by proxy from third-year Commerce Student and Representative Billy Hicks.

Student Council also passed a bill to approve four new CIOs. The organizations granted CIO status were the Local Tea, the Minority Rights Coalition at North Grounds, Planned Parenthood Generation Action and the Virginia Review of Politics.

The Local Tea is an organization intended to showcase and discuss the poetry and prose of women based out of the creative writing department.

The Minority Rights Coalition at North Grounds was founded to create a community that fosters and embraces diversity on North Grounds, offer cultural sensitivity training and hold MRC-endorsed candidates for student governance positions accountable for their promises.

Planned Parenthood Generation Action works to educate the University Community on reproductive health and rights and increase pro-choice awareness and activism.

The Virginia Review of Politics is a non-partisan publication that publishes political content and seeks greater student engagement in politics.

The CIO approval bill passed unanimously with one abstention by proxy from Hicks.

Student Council also tabled a bill, which would change the title of the Community Service Committee to the Community Relations Committee and would create the Service Committee.

If passed, the bill would also define the committees and their specific roles. The Community Service Committee currently works to promote civic engagement while also working to strengthen ties with the City of Charlottesville and the student body.

The Community Relations Committee would work to promote civic engagement among the Student Body and work with the City and broader Charlottesville community on issues that concern students. The Service Committee is intended to promote public and community service, form relationships with University staff and faculty and support service organizations.

The bill will be addressed on during the next General Body meeting.

www.cavalierdaily.com • NEWS

THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2018

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ISC presents suggestions for Derby Days reform The proposed changes include more substantive fundraising events, expanded participation from non-Greek organizations Sophia McCrimmon | Staff Writer The Inter-Sorority Council released a list of suggestions Tuesday regarding the fraternity Sigma Chi’s annual philanthropy event, Derby Days, including a greater focus on charitable activities, expanding the event beyond ISC sororities and changes to certain competition rules. The week-long fundraiser has attracted controversy in the past for its reliance on sorority competition and potential objectification of female participants.

The suggestions were prompted by a significant amount of input from ISC chapter members expressing concerns about the Derby Days structure, according to Zoe Denenberg, a third-year College student and ISC president.

“I sent a form out to all ISC chapter women in which they could provide tangible suggestions of how to make Derby Days more inclusive … the goal being to write a letter to Sigma Chi detailing these suggestions,” Denenberg said in an email to The Cavalier Daily. “The majority of chapters, as well as the ISC Executive Board, voted to sign on to the letter, so we decided to sign it as ‘The Inter-Sorority Council.’”

The Psi Chapter of Sigma Chi issued a statement in response, saying the organization “enthusiastically support many of the proposed changes” to the structure of Derby Days.

Derby Days has been in existence at chapters across the country since 1933, but only became philanthropic in the 1960s. It was held at the University for the first time in 1988.

Proceeds from the Derby Days nationwide are donated to the Children’s Miracle Network, a North American nonprofit organization that raises funds for children’s hospitals and medical research. The University’s chapter donates specifically to the U.Va. Children’s Hospital to support children’s leukemia research. Sigma Chi has reportedly raised over $100,000 in the past four years.

Derby Days is structured around a series of competitive and philanthropic events in which sororities compete for points. This year, Derby Days took place from March 19 to March 24, featured a house decorations contest, lip sync competition, dodgeball tournament, coin drop, and “Hat Grab” contest. Points are awarded throughout the week based on competition victories and coin drive totals, as well as “best uniforms” in events like the planned Obstacle Course and Dodgeball Tournament.

The winning sorority cosigns Sigma Chi’s philanthropic donations.

This year, it was Alpha Phi, who signed the check to the Children’s

Miracle Network and U.Va. Children’s Hospital.

The Derby Days model has been critiqued by some as sexist and degrading due to the nature of its competitions. Former Pi Beta Phi member and University alumna Jia Tolentino wrote a widely-circulated article for Jezebel in 2015 describing Derby Days as “the most spectacular con in all of frat philanthropy.”

Tolentino criticized Sigma Chi for “[earning] an enormous institutional remission by getting thousands and thousands of sorority women to do all the work.”

In response to such critiques, ISC suggested Sigma Chi reorganize events which do not directly raise money for the University Children’s Hospital or Children’s Miracle Network. Such events include the decoration of the Sigma Chi house and a “Hat Grab Competition” — a contest where sororities compete to steal hats from pledging members and return them to the coin drop table. In their letter, the ISC asked that “such events be altered to include a money-raising component or be replaced with more productive alternatives, like reinstating the blood drive.”

The letter recommended entries in the social media competition be explicitly connected to raising donations, potentially through the use of an organization like Purpics.

Sean Fitzgerald, a third-year Batten student and Sigma Chi president, said the fraternity has sought to find a balance between direct fundraising and events to raise awareness.

“When you see kids running around with funny hats… it’s a sort of roundabout way to increase awareness and donations without overtly kind of asking for donations each time,” he said.

In addition, ISC requested Derby Days utilize an “opt-in” model for sorority participation, offering a “clear option to abstain or withdraw from the event” as to prevent sororities from feeling pressured to participate. Currently, the event uses an “opt-out” model under which sororities must take proactive steps to abstain from participating, though no sorority is actually forced to join.

“Under this current system, not participating in Derby Days alienates a chapter from the rest of the ISC community,” the letter says.

Another suggestion was to eliminate point rewards based on the quality of costumes.

“This aspect of the event perpetuates the idea that sorority women are being judged on their appearance,” the letter reads. “While sorority women may dress in costume if they so choose, it should not be rewarded with extra Derby Days points.”

The lip sync contest, a popular element of Derby Days events across the country, has attracted criticism for its objectification of female participants. In 2005, Sigma Chi reformed its sorority dance competition — the final event of the week — to include formal evaluative criteria and an impartial guest judge.

In recent years, the event has been replaced with an event where sororities each coach a pledging Sigma Chi member in a lip sync competition.

“It’s something that still exists at a lot of Sigma Chi chapters, but often it turned into something that was kind of suggestive or degrading,” Fitzgerald said. “About a decade ago, our chapter revised it just because it wasn’t something that was necessarily a positive facet of the philanthropy experience at times.”

ISC also suggested expanding participation in Derby Days to other Greek organizations, such as the National Panhellenic Council, the Multicultural Greek Council and the Inter-Fraternity Council, as well as non-greek student organizations.

The ISC specifically called on Sigma Chi to “lead by example” by partnering with another organization and entering a team into Derby Days 2019.

Fitzgerald said he is open to the prospect of expanded participation.

“When something’s been established for so long, people are sort of

hesitant to take that risk, Fitzgerald said. “But now that we’ve talked about it with the ISC community and as a house we are certainly excited about the opportunity to expand participation, we think that it would only facilitate greater community engagement and a more inclusive and empowering experience for everybody.”

Fitzgerald expressed satisfaction with the collaboration between Sigma Chi and the ISC. “It’s always good to get out of the echo chamber of our own ideas and to hear outside perspectives,” Fitzgerald said. “I hope that this doesn’t end with Derby Days… This is the sort of experience between councils and inside the Greek community that can be copied for other philanthropies and other chapters. We’re really excited about the opportunity to improve our own event.”

Denenberg agreed.

“Sigma Chi has been extremely supportive and receptive of this initiative. This discussion is a first step towards ensuring that all ISC and IFC philanthropies are aligned with our organizational values,” Denenberg said.

MEGAN VICKERY | THE CAVALIER DAILY

For one of the events during Derby Days, participating sororities decorate rooms in the Sigma Chi fraternity house and the top three, as evaluated by the fraternity, receive recognition.

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THE CAVALIER DAILY

NEWS • www.cavalierdaily.com

Zeta Beta Tau reopens at U.Va. after a two-year break ZBT is currently in the rechartering process to meet requirements mandated by its national headquarters Xieyang Qiao | Senior Writer Zeta Beta Taus U.Va.harterss to — the world’s first Jewish fraternity and a part of the U.Va. Greek Community since 1915 — reopened this spring at the University after a two-year hiatus. The Phi Epsilon chapter of ZBT is presently in the rechartering process to establish itself on Grounds become a full member of the Interfraternity Council at U.Va. Second-year Commerce student Alex Kash, president of the University’s ZBT chapter, said the initial dissolution was driven by a failure in recruitment, which led to a joint decision between the Phi Epsilon chapter and the international headquarters to shutter the chapter.

“The decision process of closure was more of a fizzling out of the Phi Epsilon Chapter,” Kash said. “Consultants were sent in the past to assist the Chapter and they failed to successfully recruit more members.”

While ZBT did not participate in

the IFC’s spring 2018 formal recruitment, the organization’s new leaders received permission from the University’s Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life to pursue an “open recruitment process” for the rest of the semester.

In open recruitment, ZBT is allowed to recruit members outside the formal recruitment period, where potential members of the Greek community visit houses and participate in events throughout the first two weeks of the Spring semester. Presently, Kash said the chapter has 12 members, and they’ve already confirmed one new recruit with others in the pipeline.

“Right now we have one new guy committed. He said yes … he’s accepted a bid and we’re going to initiate him at the end of the semester along with any potential recruits,” Kash said.

“I have a meeting on Friday with one more guy who’s interested, and we have one more guy who thinks he has six or seven interested.”

Joshua Holtzman, a second-year Engineering student and a member of ZBT, said in an interview with The Cavalier Daily that ZBT tends to get new interests every two days.

“In recent weeks, we have been looking at a number of guys … The process from there is to speak with a couple brothers internally,” Holtzman said. “Once we are at the community council, if that person would be a good addition to our brotherhood, we move straightly to the initiation process.”

Holtzman said he joined ZBT because of its inclusivity, where members share brotherhood while celebrating diversity.

“It is a safe community where people can come and enjoy themselves without worrying about many issues that are associated with fraternity life, both at U.Va and nationally,” Holtzman said. “ZBT is looking to be a fraternity that evolves very quickly inside different communities. We are

also looking to double our size in the Fall as a well-established fraternity.”

ZBT has been given “colony,” or probationary, status by its international headquarters and provisional status by IFC at the University. ZBT’s international headquarters manages activities surrounding the 94 ZBT chapters nationwide.

Over the summer, its house on Rugby Road will be renovated. If the group meets standards set by the international headquarters, including a minimum number of organization members and attendance to the mandatory annual conference in Los Angeles, it will be granted chapter status and authorization to use its house in the fall.

“They don’t want to hand the house over to a bunch of random people. They want to see another hundred years out of this, they don’t want to see this for one or two,” Kash said. “And that’s why some other colonies fail —

they’re getting the chapter status … without proving they can function or work for it.”

IFC president Ashwanth Samuel said in an email to The Cavalier Daily that the reopening of ZBT at the University will allow more students to join the long-standing tradition of Greek life on Grounds, especially given the high demand for membership and the limited number of fraternities.

“Over the past couple of years, a little over 50 percent of those who have rushed actually receive bids and join fraternities. That means there are around 400-500 kids every year who do not get the opportunity to join a fraternity,” Samuel said. “Simply put, ZBT has the opportunity to give more students the U.Va. Greek life experience.”

Katie Couric presents advanced screening of documentary University, Charlottesville communities gather to view first episode, “‘Re-Righting History’ Kate Bellows | Senior Associate Editor The Virginia Film Festival hosted journalist and broadcaster Katie Couric for screenings Wednesday of her upcoming documentary series, “America Inside Out with Katie Couric,” which were accompanied by panel discussions.

Couric presented the first episode, “Re-Righting History,” to students, faculty and staff at Culbreth Theatre, and to Charlottesville community members at the Paramount Theater later that evening.

Couric is a University alumna who served as Senior Resident of the Lawn in 1978-79 and majored in English with a focus on American Studies.

At the first screening, Couric presented a preview of the series and the first episode.

Couric said she spent the last eight months traveling across the country to interview Americans of a wide range of viewpoints and identities about controversial social and political issues.

“I learned so much from talking to [the people I interviewed], but so much more from listening to them,” Couric said.

“Re-Righting History” sheds light on the national debate over Confederate monuments and buildings named after Confederate generals. The episode opened with the condition of Charlottesville and the University before, during and after the events of Aug. 11 and 12 in which white nationalists marched through Grounds with torch-

es and held the deadly Unite the Right rally, respectively.

The publicly stated goals of these demonstrations was to protest a decision by the Charlottesville City Council in February 2017 to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Lee Park, now Emancipation Park.

The removal of the statue is currently undergoing litigation in the Charlottesville Circuit Court after a lawsuit was filed against the City and the City Council by the Monument Fund, Inc., the Virginia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc. and 11 other individuals.

Couric was present at both the Aug. 11 and 12 rallies. Violence broke out between protesters and counter-protesters Aug. 12 near Emancipation Park and along Market Street. One counter-protester, 32-year old Heather Heyer, died after a car plowed into a crowd of counter-protesters on Fourth Street.

At least 30 others were injured in the attack.

For the Charlottesville segment of the documentary, Couric interviewed people both for and against the removal of the statue — from Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler, to Gary Gallagher, a Civil War historian and University history professor, to Don Gathers, a local activist and former Chair of the now-defunct Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Monuments and Memorials in Charlottesville.

Couric expanded the conversation

to the national level, traveling to New Orleans, La., Montgomery, Ala. and Falls Church, Va. to have conversations about Confederate monuments, schools named after Confederate generals and memorials to recognize slaves and lynching victims. “[Reporting on the Confederate monuments] made me realize what these symbols mean with certain people, and how Confederate alt-right iconography has been interpreted differently by different Americans,” Couric said in an interview with The Cavalier Daily. “It certainly made me realize this is much more than just about statues.

It’s about history, it’s about ideology, it’s about how we view our past and how we’ve yet to acknowledge some of the uglier chapters.”

Following the screening of the episode at U.Va., Larry Sabato, Center for Politics director and politics professor, led a panel discussion with Gathers, Zyahna Bryant, a Charlottesville High School student who wrote the petition to have the Lee statue removed; Seth Wispelwey, United Church of Christ minister and a leader of Congregate Cville; and John Mason, an associate history professor and former vice chair of the Blue Ribbon Commission.

“I think that part of bringing this monument to the forefront as just a pinpoint image that we can use to say, like, 'We're trying to tear down inequality here,'” Bryant said. “It's hard to have several things in the abstract, so we can

CHRISTINA ANTON | THE CAVALIER DAILY

University alumna Katie Couric spoke to the audience in Culbreth Theatre on Grounds about her experience filming her new documentary series, “America Inside Out.”

start with the monument, because it doesn't need to be there."

Gathers said during the panel many issues depicted in Couric’s documentary are deep-rooted across the nation.

“Slaves landed on the shores of this country in 1607, and we've been fighting the same battles ever since ...The mere fact that we have to do a documentary like this is very telling of this country," he said.

Couric told The Cavalier Daily she hopes by watching the show, viewers will become more informed about divisive issues to have constructive conversations.

“The whole point of these episodes is to keep talking about these issues,” Couric said. “I’m hoping it will give

more background and some more information so when [viewers] think about their opinions or their feelings about Confederate statues and the names of buildings, that they’ll just have more information available from which they can draw their opinions and … continue to have conversations about this and other contentious, thorny issues that … deserve an airing of different opinions and perspectives.”

“America Inside Out” is set to premiere April 11 at 10 p.m. on National Geographic.

www.cavalierdaily.com • NEWS

THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2018

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City Council approves transfer of Brandon Avenue to U.Va. The decision comes after significant debate among the Council regarding potential compensation for the street Geremia Di Maro | Senior Associate Editor The Charlottesville City Council adopted an ordinance Monday night to transfer ownership of Brandon Avenue to the University — without requiring any formal compensation — which will support U.Va.’s plans to redevelop the area with a “green street,” upperclassmen student housing and a remodeled student health center. The measure passed in a 4-1 vote with Mayor Nikuyah Walker casting a dissenting vote.

The Council’s decision comes after significant debate — originally raised by Walker at a Council meeting in February — concerning whether the University should compensate the City of Charlottesville in some manner for the transfer of the street.

Brandon Avenue is located off of Jefferson Park Avenue between the University’s South Lawn complex and the University Health System.

Under the adopted ordinance, the City will vacate all of its public interests in the Brandon Avenue area — as well as a portion of nearby Monroe Lane and 15th Street — to allow for site work to be completed in preparation for redevelopment. The title of the land, including the street itself and the adjacent sidewalks, will be transferred to the University for the construction of new buildings and other improvements to the area.

Under the Brandon Avenue Master Plan, the University aims to redevelop several properties along the street — including the Elson Student Health Center and the Outpatient Surgery Center — to construct a “green” student community which would include academic spaces, student wellness facilities, new on-Grounds housing for over 300 students and a central “green street” to connect the South Lawn complex to the U.Va. Health System.

A “green street” is an environmentally friendly roadway which utilizes vegetation, soil and engineered systems to efficiently collect and cleanse rainwater at its source rather than being culled into drainage ways from impervious surfaces.

The majority of the properties located along the street are already owned by the University or the UVA Foundation — a nonprofit corporation which manages properties and financial services on behalf of the University.

During the February Council meeting, Walker requested that the City calculate the value of Brandon Avenue to inform the body’s discussion regarding how

much the University might be asked contribute for the right of ownership to the street. The City Assessor’s office originally estimated the value of the street to be $2.75 million but reduced the amount to $539,000 as the proposed ordinance requires Brandon Avenue to remain a functional street rather than be developed into another form of property.

In the event City Council had decided to vacate Brandon Avenue to the University conditional upon the payment of the $539,000 fee, University administration had already agreed to pay the amount in full, according to Interim City Attorney Lisa Robertson.

However, Robertson said, the funds would have been deducted from $5 million the University has already allocated — but not formally granted to the city — towards the City’s ongoing redevelopment of West Main Street and other projects based on U.Va’s current budget.

The City is currently in the midst of a $31 million project to redevelop West Main Street to include wider sidewalks, safer bike lanes and streetside vegetation.

Although University Deputy Spokesperson Wes Hester confirmed in an email to The Cavalier Daily that “the University has committed $5 million to the City in support of its projects in areas adjacent to the University Grounds,” it is unclear how or when these funds will be allocated to the City or how much will be directly utilized for the development of West Main Street.

At Monday’s meeting, Walker said the two projects should be considered independently of each other, while other councilors argued that the University's planned contribution to the development of West Main Street should be considered with regards to Brandon Avenue.

“U.Va. is still controlling the discussion here,” Walker said. “If you’re attempting to set a new direction, then those should be two separate conversations.”

Robertson also said the University could not have anticipated the Council’s consideration of imposing a fee for the transfer of Brandon Avenue as there was no precedent for such an arrangement.

“Another way to look at things is that during the negotiations in which the $5 million figure was arrived at, the prospect of paying half a million dollars for this [Brandon Avenue] really didn't occur to anyone participating in those negotiations because for the

COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

The Brandon Avenue “green street” master plan includes new on-Grounds student housing, the Elson Student Health Center, the Outpatient Surgery Center and new academic spaces.

prior 15 years of property transfers, no one had ever asked for compensation to be made,” Robertson said.

Walker defended the notion of requiring the University to compensate the city for Brandon Avenue, saying the University's plan to maintain the street was irrelevant to the conversation. Based on current estimates, the city will save $7,500 per year on maintenance costs for the street.

Councilor Mike Signer said the University’s financial commitment to West Main Street should be considered in the context of transferring ownership of Brandon Avenue to U.Va. “Getting them to capitulate and concede and come in with a serious amount of money … was complicated,” Signer said. “[It] required a ton of work, and I would love for there to be some recognition of the hard work and negotiation that went into this in the past.”

However, Walker said she would have considered asking questions of the University regarding property transfer and compensation during the original negotiations of the West Main Street development project.

“If I were in the room, I would have steered that conversation towards, ‘What have those property transfers looked like over the past 15 years and the benefit that they [the University] received already from them and not having people

ask those questions of the value and having to pay for it,” Walker said.

Councilors Kathy Galvin and Wes Bellamy argued that it was essential for the University to contribute the full amount of the $5 million for the West Main Street development to allow for the city and the University to jointly submit a Smart Scale application to the Virginia Department of Transportation, allowing for greater state funding.

Smart Scale is a scoring system utilized by VDOT to rank the validity of project funding requests by localities in Virginia based on how they would address congestion issues, increase accessibility to jobs, promote safety among other benefits. The City has already submitted one such request to VDOT in 2017, although it was not approved.

Walker said if the Council were to reject or postpone a vote on Brandon Avenue, it would halt the University's progress on the development and allow for continued negotiations.

“If Council decided not to vote tonight and went back to U.Va. and said … ‘Hey, this is what Council decided, that these [projects] are separate, and we would like for you to look at them as separate’ — then we haven't made a decision on Brandon Avenue yet, and so they can't move forward, and we’re back at the table,” Walker said.

In response, Signer said such an action would provoke unnecessary hostilities between the City and the University, potentially resulting in a loss of funding for the redevelopment of West Main Street.

Vice Mayor Heather Hill worried that requiring the University to compensate the city for Brandon Avenue could negatively influence future negotiations.

“I’m worried about the effect this would have every other time we go the table with them,” Hill said. “I am optimistic there's going to be a shift in their thinking and responsibilities to the community, I’m just not sure this is the fish I want to fry.”

Galvin added that the health of the relationship between the city and the University outweighed any limited benefits the city could glean from demanding payment for the Brandon Avenue property.

“I just feel like there’s so much that’s valuable about building a working relationship with the institution,” Galvin said. “This is a lot to jeopardize for something that has no value to us and in fact costs us money to maintain.”

Walker disagreed, noting she does believe the property has value.

“If it were that insignificant, we would not be having this discussion the way we’re having it,” Walker said.

F

FOCUS For nearly 10 years, the University’s Student Information System has loomed over many of the most important — and oftentimes most anxiety-inducing — events that mark a student’s time at the University. Not only is SIS where students find out their admission decision, it’s where they search for and register for classes, view final grades, pay tuition, access transcripts and eventually apply to graduate. Much of their personal information can be found on the system.

Many students, however, have long been displeased with SIS, describing the platform as outdated, inefficient and difficult to use.

Some say they want the platform to function more efficiently.

While some administrators concede that the interface of the website could use some enhancement, they ultimately view SIS as adept in carrying out the complicated and sensitive tasks it was designed to perform. However, they said that the University will most likely transition to a newer platform during the next several years.

A brief history of SIS In the early 2000s, University administrators decided to replace the ISIS platform – the rigid mainframe student record system the University had been using since the 1990s. ISIS could not manage the growing enrollment and had issues with registration, which caused administrators to seek a platform that could better handle online functionalities.

Students at the time were equally displeased with the ISIS platform. It routinely crashed during online course registration, infuriating students and faculty alike. The Cavalier Daily staff wrote in a 2003 editorial that “the Office of the University Registrar should dedicate significant resources to researching a registration system that addresses more major problems with ISIS that can't be fixed without a major overhaul.”

However, updating the system would be a big undertaking, requiring the cooperation and coordination of all of the University’s schools as well as faculty and administrative departments.

Moreover, implementing such a complex and dynamic platform with the specificities the University required to handle its sensitive data was not going to be cheap. The University, following a deliberative evaluation period, settled on Oracle PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, which after negotiations came with a $51.2

THE CAVALIER DAILY

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Students express thoughts, concerns about SIS Though the platform could use enhancement, administrators remain confident SIS can perform sensitive tasks Spencer Philps | Staff Writer million price tag.

In March 2008, the University began a phased rollout of SIS, with high school students interested in applying to the University being the first to use the new platform. Those who were accepted that year and subsequently matriculated at the University used SIS to apply for financial aid, check their acceptance status, pay tuition and enroll in courses for their upcoming first semester.

Returning upperclassmen enrolled for classes exclusively using SIS for the first time in March 2009 as the rest of the University made the full transition from ISIS to SIS. “The system went live on-time and on-budget, and it worked exactly as we had expected,” Tracy C. Pettit, who serves as the Director of Student Admissions Applications within the Information Technology Services department, said in an email to The Cavalier Daily.

At the time of the rollout, student opinions were mixed about the new platform. Some students filed complaints about the functionality of the platform, while others thought that SIS brought improvements to the course scheduling process.

For students wishing to use SIS on their phones, there also exists a mobile platform that allows students to access many of the same desktop functionalities on their portable devices.

SIS: 10 years later Hamza Belafia is a second-year transfer student studying Foreign Affairs and Spanish in the College. He has taken college-level courses in computer science, and sees himself as a relatively tech-savvy student. Despite this, a complete understanding of how to use the SIS online platform eludes him.

“It should be a lot easier considering the school we’re at,” Belafia said. “Everything else runs smoothly except for the one system that’s important to the students.”

Students say that the program has begun to shows signs of its age. Some find the layout of the homepage to be disorganized and difficult to navigate, and feel as if the design of the platform has grown antiquated.

“It feels like it’s not updated,” second-year College student Sejal Kapoor said.

Kapoor feels like most students — herself included — largely dislike the system.

“It’s not very user friendly,” Kapoor said. “There’s very small

text, with things you’d never know to click on unless someone told you that ‘this is where to find it.”

Belafia has had similar issues with the layout.

“There should be a better layout,” Belafia said. “You have to click so many times [just] to get your weekly schedule...You should able to enroll in classes while its on that same page.”

However, students say that the issues with the system go beyond merely aesthetic ones.

“It’s hard to navigate, it takes a long time for it to load, there’s always issues with it crashing, or undergoing maintenance hours,” Belafia said.

The frustrations involved in dealing with SIS for matters like course registration has paved the way for a proliferation of third-party sites that facilitate obtaining and reformatting the very information found on SIS. “Lou’s List”, a site developed by University physics professor Lou Bloomfield, mines the data — course names, descriptions, times, professors, locations — directly from SIS every hour and formats it in what some students think is a more user-friendly manner.

Moreover, SIS is the newly-matriculated student’s first interaction with the school — it’s where the student learns of their acceptance, puts down their deposit, and if they’re a transfer student, registers for classes — all before setting foot on Grounds.

While many students are able to get the hang of SIS as they progress in their studies at the University, some feel that learning to navigate it within the first few days of one’s first year or before even coming to school is a daunting endeavor.

Belafia’s troubles with SIS started immediately after coming to school. He had issues with gaining access to the system in the first place, and had to call the SIS help line multiple times to deal with issues regarding the financial payment services functionalities.

“It was a poor introduction to the school, because it was during orientation during the summer, when everyone was getting a feel for the system,” Belafia said.

Kapoor experienced similar frustrations with SIS within her first few days at U.Va. “At my orientation, they really didn’t help you [navigate SIS] that much. I had a friend who was a third year by the time I got here, and she did it for me and showed me the ropes,” Kapoor said.

The University’s Information

MADDY SITA, GRACE CODELLA AND JIE YING HUANG | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Technology Services Department, which oversees the platform, is generally satisfied with the platform, but acknowledges the issues students have with it.

“As a whole, yes, the school administration, departments and schools are satisfied with SIS,” Pettit said. “The one area we believe could use improvement is the student interface. Oracle has not done a great job of enhancing the look and feel of the interface from the student perspective.”

In order to help students navigate their way through the complexities of SIS, the school maintains a SIS Help Center for Students, featuring an extensive FAQ page with steps on how to use the platform, a 24/7 hotline students can use to call or chat for help, and even a YouTube channel with instructional videos on how to complete basic functions on SIS. While some students say that SIS is not user-friendly or lacks functionality, many are far more pleased with the school’s other applications such as U.Va.Collab, a platform students use to download files and resources from professors, check grades and upload assignments. “I definitely think that [U.Va.Collab] is a better program compared to SIS,” Belafia said. “It’s very easy to navigate, all the professors put their material on there, so it's a great way to find stuff that you need. There are different folders and tabs, so it’s an easier layout and easier to navigate. I’ve never had a problem with Collab.”

Maintaining security, looking forward The University has had several incidents of cyberattacks in past years. As recently as 2015, hackers were able to access personal and financial data of nearly 1,400 University faculty members through a “phishing” scheme.

As concerns over data privacy and security grow, the structure of SIS has evolved to incorporate more cyber safety measures. Since the cyberattacks, the school has taken steps to further safeguard the data of faculty and students, by requiring all students to set a two-step authentication process to access NetBadge protected accounts by April 16. In this process, students will have to verify their identification with a different device when they log in to their NetBadge accounts.

“The two-step authentication process provides additional security protection for users who may be victims of password phishing,” Pettit said.

However, while caution should always be exercised in dealing with sensitive information on the internet, ITS appears confident in the security of its systems.

“The SIS platform is highly secured to protect the sensitive data that it houses,” Pettit said.

“There will continue to be security programs to enhance the protection of data across all University systems — there are ongoing enhancements as the threat landscape changes.”

Though the platform is secure, the exact future of SIS remains unclear. No matter what the eventual plans for the platform entail, administrators say they are committed to making the improvements necessary to keep SIS as updated and safe as possible in the meantime.

“ITS will continue to improve and enhance SIS, until it is replaced, which is probably three to five years out,” Pettit said. “There are plans to replace most of the administrative systems — HR, Finance and SIS in the next few years … There are two vendors currently developing new student systems, and we are watching them closely.”

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THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2018

The Roundtable: Which teams are catching fire?

Answering the hottest questions about baseball, men’s lacrosse and more

SPORTS The Roundtable: Which spring sports teams are poised for success?

Answering the hottest questions about baseball, men’s lacrosse and more What was your biggest takeaway from this year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament?

Zach Zamoff, Senior Associate Editor: My biggest takeaway from this year's NCAA Tournament was, despite notable upsets, the dominance of college basketball's blue blood programs down the stretch.

Of course, the biggest upset of the tournament — and the one most agonizing in Charlottesville — was Virginia's historic loss against No. 16-seeded UMBC. The Retrievers became the first team to complete the No. 16 seed over No. 1 seed upset. Yet despite this upset and a number of notable runs by underdogs — including Loyola Chicago’s miraculous Final Four run — college basketball's historically dominant programs prevailed at the close. In particular, Michigan ended Loyola's Cinderella story, Kansas made it to the Final Four and Villanova won its second National Championship in three years. Villanova's dominance as the best program right now in college basketball counters the one-and-done narrative, with their team leaders being juniors Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges.

Emma D’Arpino, Senior Associate Editor: The biggest thing I’ve taken away from this tournament is that flukes happen. This loss didn’t change my perception of how good this Virginia basketball team was — they won over 90 percent of their games this season and absolutely dominated the ACC. Having said that, I do think this performance confirmed that Virginia needs to get more comforwtable under the national spotlight and they need to embrace high expectations rather than feel pressured by them.

Colin Cantwell, Associate Editor: Though some blame certainly falls on the Virginia defense for giving up 53 second-half points to a No. 16 seed, the lack of offensive production from the Cavaliers was what really made that game a blowout. The Cavaliers lacked a consistent threat who could provide a spark when the entire team was missing shots, which can partially be chalked up to the absence of the injured redshirt freshman guard De’Andre Hunter, who was that player much of the season. Still, one player’s injury shouldn’t be enough for the top-ranked team in the country to be blown out in the Round of 64. Virginia was unable to get quality shots to close the gap late in the game and was taking and missing desperate threes instead,

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CD Sports Staff and I think both the players and the system have some responsibility for that.

Alec Dougherty, Editor: I wrote a column several weeks ago comparing Virginia and Villanova, looking into who really is the best team in the country. As great of a run as Virginia had leading up to the NCAA Tournament, Villanova left no doubt as to who was the best team this season with a thoroughly dominant tournament run. Junior guard Jalen Brunson deserves player of the year honors for his game-changing play, and with an incredibly talented supporting cast that carried the Wildcats through the final rounds — including sophomore guard Donte DiVincenzo in the title game — Coach Jay Wright topped off a masterpiece of a season. As consistent as Virginia was, Villanova was the team destined to win it all.

Which spring sports teams, if any, have the best shot at winning an ACC Tournament?

ZZ: Unlike in previous years, there’s no clear choice. The ACC is an outstanding conference, and while most spring sports teams are performing well, none have a clear path to a conference title. That being said, the team with the best chance looks like Virginia’s women’s lacrosse team. Ranked No. 6 in the nation, the Cavaliers are currently 3-2 in ACC play, most recently falling in to No. 2 Maryland.

The scoring talent of junior attacker Avery Shoemaker and others is sure to put Virginia in position to contend in their conference tournament. The Golden Eagles are likely to be the primary obstacle in their path come the ACC Tournament.

ED: Rowing has dominated the ACC Tournament, winning 17 out of the 18 titles since the conference started. Even as the conference gets tougher, there is no reason to doubt that the Cavaliers won’t come out on top of the ACC for yet another year. There are some other sports that might have a shot at winning the trophy — women’s lacrosse is one — but with the difficult roads they face to getting there, it’s hard to say whether they’ll be able to get the job done.

CC: This has been a tough year for many of Virginia’s traditionally strong spring programs. Men’s tennis has lost many key performers from last season’s national championship team and already has three losses in the ACC, while baseball is struggling with injuries and inconsistency and is off to its slowest start ever. Women’s lacrosse, though it also has two losses in the ACC, is ranked No. 6 in the country, but top-ranked Boston College is unde-

feated this season so far. I don’t see any Virginia team on course to win the ACC Tournament this year, but women’s lacrosse is probably the closest to making a run come tournament time.

AD: I’ll agree with Emma on this one. Even if baseball and men’s tennis were in better position this year, the rowing team’s sheer dominance against ACC foes and other national talent should not be slept on. Just over the weekend, the Cavaliers took down No. 5 Michigan and No. 6 Ohio State in yet another big performance at a regatta, showing they can rise up to defeat top teams. Expect their hot play to continue into the postseason.

Will men’s lacrosse get a conference win?

ZZ: Absolutely. While men’s lacrosse fell short against Syracuse and Notre Dame earlier in the year, they certainly possess the talent and drive to end their fouryear victory drought in ACC play.

They lost to both the Orange and Irish by narrow margins, and have already picked up eight non-conference victories. The attacking trio of sophomore Michael Kraus, sophomore Dox Aitken and freshman Ian Laviano is deadly, and Virginia can score with the best of them. The Cavaliers’ challenge will be locking down at the defensive end, and other defensemen stepping up to help senior captain Scott Hooper.

Virginia should have a good shot to end their ACC woes this Saturday at Chapel Hill, as the Cavaliers take on a reeling North Carolina team that has lost its last five contests.

ED: Even though the conference is so challenging, I think Virginia will be able to walk away with a conference win this season. They only just missed out on winning against other ACC opponents and they clearly have the talent to take down skilled teams. North Carolina will be their best chance, given that the Tar Heels have been struggling.

And since they’ll get to face Duke at home — even though the Blue Devils are one of the best teams in the country — I wouldn’t be surprised if Virginia finds a way to win.

CC: Virginia visits North Carolina next Saturday, and I think this could be the game in which the Cavaliers finally win in the ACC. The Virginia team is talented, playing a close game against Johns Hopkins despite losing late and beating Richmond this past weekend, while North Carolina has lost five straight games, including against Richmond.

AD: With conference games against North Carolina and Duke remaining, the Cavaliers have two prime opportunities to steal a win.

COURTESY VIRGINIA ATHLETICS

Getting junior outfielderJake McCarthy back from injury will hep Virginia alleviate its offensive struggles.

The Tar Heels recent struggles make them vulnerable to a home loss this weekend, and while Duke has only lost twice this season, they have hardly looked dominant in ACC play, defeating North Carolina by only a goal. The X-factor for stopping both teams’ high-powered offenses will be freshman goalie Alex Rode, who has saved over 53 percent of the shots he has seen.

Rode established himself nicely as the Cavaliers’ starting goalie and is getting better by the week.

With six regular season series left, what does baseball need to do to turn their 4-8 ACC record into a winning one?

ZZ: Virginia baseball has struggled mightily this season, especially against ACC competition. A team normally among the nation’s best has had a painfully mediocre season, plagued by injuries and a lack of consistency. First, the Cavaliers need two of their best hitters to return from injury — junior preseason all-American outfielder Jake McCarthy has been out for a prolonged period of time, and senior catcher Caleb Knight will remain out to start this week. Virginia’s pitching, normally its saving grace, has not been consistent this year, despite posting a lower ERA (3.92) compared to last season (4.10). In order to resurrect their season and their postseason hopes, the Cavaliers need to heal up and generate more offensive consistency.

ED: This season has been a rough one for Virginia baseball, and the ACC has proved to be a major challenge for the Cavaliers. They still have some tough conference opponents to face, such as Clemson and Louisville, so it won’t be easy

for them to get the five series wins they’ll need to get to a winning conference record. However, if they do have a shot at getting it done, they’ll need to improve offensively. They had a seven-run homerun drought up until the first game of their series against Pittsburgh last weekend, and that is something that will need to change in order for them to pick up more wins.

CC: The baseball team has had awful luck with injuries this season, losing key outfielders Cameron Simmons for the entire year and Jake McCarthy for a few more weeks. Virginia’s starting pitching — especially junior Daniel Lynch and senior Derek Casey, has been excellent recently — and the Cavaliers have simply been coming up on the wrong end of some pitcher’s duels because the offense has not been able to produce. Once McCarthy recovers from his injury, hopefully the team will be able to pull out a few more of those close games.

AD: The offense needs to be fixed, which will be much easier said than done with so many injuries. Without the pitching depth necessary to keep games low-scoring, the offense has not been able to adjust and carry the team as it did last year. A power bat will likely have to emerge for Virginia to start winning games, since only three player posses a slugging percentage over .400 on the team. If that doesn’t happen, the team can look to use small ball to their advantage, if they can get a healthy McCarthy and sophomore infielder Cayman Richardson going on the basepaths.

The pair are a combined 14-14 on stolen base attempts this year.

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SPORTS • www.cavalierdaily.com

THE CAVALIER DAILY

Maggie Jackson leads women’s lacrosse with grit, humility The junior midfielder is leading the team in multiple categories for the second-straight season John Szymendera | Associate Editor Junior midfielder Maggie Jackson of the Virginia women's lacrosse team has provided major contributions to the team’s impressive 8-4 start to the season, but she is certainly not jumping to take the credit.

Hailing from Alexandria, Va., Jackson is coming off a breakout sophomore season in which she was the only player in the ACC to lead her team in points, ground balls, draw controls and caused turnovers.

This season, she has continued where she left off — currently, she leads the team in assists, ground balls and draw controls and is second on the team in points and caused turnovers and fourth in goals.

“She’s always been a dominant player, no matter how old she was in high school she was the kid you were just drawn to,” Virginia Coach Julie Myers said. “You’d go watch somebody else, and all you’d be tracking is Maggie Jackson.”

Jackson was a dominant player in high school. At Georgetown Visitation Prep, she played four years of lacrosse and field hockey leading both teams as a captain her senior year.

She was also a two time First-Team All-American and led the Washington, D.C. region in 2015 with 146 points.

After a solid freshman season where she led the team in draw controls, Jackson really started to make an all-around impact her sophomore year. Jackson’s contributions in so many different areas of the game is what sets her apart. Statistics such as ground balls, draw controls and caused turnovers can often go unnoticed in the flow of a game, but they are essential towards creating more opportunities to score.

In lacrosse, possession is never a guarantee. Even after a goal possession is not necessarily changes like in football or basketball. A goal leads to a draw with the ball put back up for grabs. In a sport where possession must always be won, every ground ball, draw and turnover is amplified.

Jackson recognizes the importance of a constantly aggressive mindset. “[I try to go] hard and fast at the ball every chance I get the opportunity to,” Jackson said. “Everyone on our team sort of helps and supports us and pushes us to to be that girl to get that ball.”

Myers said that the team relies on Jackson’s hard work ethic for the team’s overall success.

“She does all the little things and the dirty work for everyone, and she wants no credit for it — she just wants

possession for her team,” Myers said.

Jackson could eventually find herself in the top 10 all time for the program in multiple categories. She is comfortably on pace for points and assists while goals and caused turnovers remain a possibility as well. She is already fourth all time in draw controls.

No matter where she ends up in the record books, however, her humble attitude and strong work ethic will always be among the best. Jackson does not worry about her own numbers, and her stats come from a desire to win, not to set records.

This unselfish attitude should not come as a surprise for a player who leads the team with 12 assists — five more than the next highest total.

“Maggie’s not all about herself, she’s much more whatever the team needs and whatever somebody needs me to do for them,” Myers said. “She serves her teammates more than she takes care of herself.”

Last season, Jackson said she did not even realize how impressive her stats were until someone told her.

This team-oriented mindset shows that she is always quick to credit her teammates for her success.

“The girls on our team sort of know when I’m looking to pass the

ball or [like] when the right time is to cut, so I think that we have a good chemistry in that sense," Jackson said.

This attitude helps contribute to her impressive work ethic. After a great season, complacency can set in for many — but not for Jackson. She again credits her teammates for continuing to push her to get better and her improvement has not gone unnoticed. Myers describes her as one the hardest workers she has had in the program.

“She continues to improve and to add to her game, which has been really nice because I think a lot of times when you’re that good, sometimes, you just kind of stay where you are,” Myers said. “But for Maggie, she keeps getting faster, stronger, quicker, smarter.”

Heading into the final stretch of the season, the team will continue to rely on Jackson to help achieve the goals she believes they are capable of achieving. The Cavaliers have five games left on their schedule including in-state matchups against No. 4 James Madison and No. 17 Virginia Tech.

Once through the regular season, the ACC Tournament begins in Durham, N.C.on April 26, and the NCAA Tournament follows close behind.

“I think that winning a champion-

ship would be something that everybody on our team is really working for — definitely ACC, we can definitely do that, and NCAAs would obviously be a dream come true, so I think that that’s our ultimate goal because we know we can do it,” Jackson said.

The Cavaliers are currently ranked No. 6 in the country, so a national championship is not out of the realm of possibilities. However, the team must first focus on the opportunity to win an ACC title. The team has lost to their primary competition in the regular season, North Carolina and Boston College. But when tournament time comes, anything can happen.

Myers knows that Jackson is an essential piece to improving and reaching their postseason goals.

“We want to keep having fun, we want to make sure that the whole team is kind of stepping up and rising as a team and doing a little bit better the next time out on the field,” Myers said, “but Maggie certainly leads the charge.”

IN PERKINS, MENDENHALL FOUND HIS ‘THOR-TERBACK’ The junior college transfer can light it up running and passing as the Cavaliers’ starting quarterback Succeeding as a college football coach often involves finding the right players to fit the system — those with special characteristics that help them thrive in different roles.

Since his incredible days at BYU, Virginia Coach Bronco Mendenhall has achieved great success by developing quarterbacks that fit his ideal vision. In preparation for his third season at the helm, Mendenhall set out to look for the right quarterback to fit his system.

As Mendenhall said before, he wants a “Thor-terback.”

In essence, Mendenhall has been searching for a bruising signal caller — a dual-threat that is hard to bring down on the run and can pick apart secondaries with the deep ball. While Kurt Benkert played admirably as the first quarterback of the Mendenhall era, he was more of a traditional pocket passer who didn’t have much of a gear for speed. With a more deeply-rooted system in place, Mendenhall had the opportunity to finally find his ideal quarterback.

Enter Bryce Perkins.

Much like Benkert, Perkins

comes in as a well-traveled veteran in the college game. Following a severe neck injury as a quarterback at Arizona State, Perkins looked to revitalize his career at a junior college, Arizona Western, where he led the Matadors to the NJCAA title game in 2017.

The Queen Creek, Ariz. native has the look of a potential game-changer for the Cavaliers in his two remaining years of eligibility. At six-foot-three and 216 pounds, Perkins possesses size similar to that of Benkert — but his agility sets him apart. As the brother of New York Giants running back Paul Perkins, the Cavaliers’ new quarterback has the genes to revamp the team’s lackluster running game.

Where Benkert was hesitant to take off and run, Perkins will not back down from making plays with his legs. He rushed 69 times for an average of 5.1 yards per carry, using both his big body and elusiveness to blow past defenders. His highlight film also shows his great awareness of pocket pressure — knowing just when to pull himself out of the pocket to avoid a sack.

Compared with the past two years, Mendenhall will be able to open his playbook even wider with Perkins’ ability to run. He will likely use many more designed runs and option plays to deceive defenses — something Virginia fans got a glimpse of last season with a package of running pays for sophomore quarterback De’Vante Cross.

Mendenhall will likely also utilize Perkins near the goal line, using his big body to plug through the teeth of defenses along with senior running back Jordan Ellis.

Perkins’ presence can immediately elevate a running game that struggled mightily in 2017. Virginia ranked an abysmal No. 127 out of 129 teams in the FBS with only 93.5 yards per game on the ground, with inconsistent play from Ellis and the offensive line making life extremely hard for Benkert and the passing attack.

Inserting Perkins gives the Cavaliers the means to develop a diverse rushing attack, where Perkins can stretch defenses laterally and Ellis can bruise through the middle. His talents can go a long way in making Virginia’s offense less predictable.

How well Perkins can replace Benkert’s solid passing numbers is where uncertainty lies. In his year at Arizona Western, Perkins passed for 131.1 yards per game, seven touchdowns and eight interceptions — not exactly gaudy numbers.

Despite the interceptions, he did display solid accuracy, completing 63.3 percent of his passes.

Where Perkins can really shine as a passer is serving up deep balls.

He possesses a rocket arm and his tape shows he’s not afraid to take shots downfield. He especially shows great accuracy on fade routes, getting the ball out of his hands quickly and placing it exceptionally well.

Perkins has the potential to be a daunting dual-threat quarterback in Mendenhall’s offense. Opposing defenses will undoubtedly have to respect the run against him, opening up passing options downfield for explosive plays — especially with speedy senior receiver Olamide Zaccheaus. When pass rush breaks a play up, Perkins can use his legs to escape pressure and accelerate downfield.

For an offense that went stag-

nant in the second half of last year due to an ineffective running game, Perkins can be the antidote for Mendenhall’s plan of attack. Mendenhall will have to do some reworking of his playbook to fit Perkins’ skill set — but for a team needing versatility from its quarterback, these will be welcomed changes.

Whether Perkins will take his team’s confidence in stride and keep the starting job through the spring and summer practices remains to be seen. For now, though, his presence has brought buzz back to the Virginia football program as fans eagerly await to see his potential.

And for Mendenhall, he gets to once again mold a Thor-terback into a superhero on the field.

ALEC DOUGHERTY is a Sports editor for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached by email at a.dougherty@cavalierdaily.com or on Twitter at @aduggs96.

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THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2018

U.Va. ice sports teams search for new rink Local ice rink closed for good April 1

LIFE The Main Street Arena on the Downtown Mall has held a prominent position in Charlottesville as the only ice skating rink in the local area since 1996. In addition to being open to the general public for ice skating, the rink served community sports teams and was a local venue for concerts, parties and other special events. Main Street Arena also served the needs of University ice sports teams, including the men's ice hockey club team, women's ice hockey club team and the figure skating club team.

However, after being sold last year, Main Street Arena officially closed its doors to the public this past Sunday, April 1. It was announced in March 2017 that Main Street Arena was purchased by Jaffray Woodriff and Taliaferro Junction, LLC, who plan on demolishing the rink and in its place, building a multi-use office building, called the Charlottesville Technology Center.

The closing of Main Street Arena will impact University clubs who have relied upon the rink for practices, games and shows. The men’s and women’s ice hockey club teams and the figure skating club team are all in the process of finding alternate arrangements.

Sarah Walshak, women’s ice hockey president and assistant captain, said that her team is planning on travelling to a rink in Short Pump near Rich-

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Shivani Lakshman | Feature Writer mond. Brenna Monk, president of the figure skating club team, reported that her team is also reaching out to rinks in Richmond and Lynchburg. Men’s ice hockey director of community outreach Joshua Katz, is not sure what his team will do yet but is hopeful that a new arena will be built in Charlottesville in the near future.

“This came very out of the blue, so I’m not sure on more details,” Monk said. “But that’s definitely an option that we’re going to look into because if U.Va. could build a rink that would be, I think, really awesome.”

None of the clubs have made definite arrangements yet with another rink, so the situation remains uncertain. If the clubs do have to practice at another rink during the upcoming year, they will face issues with transportation, practice time and additional expenses.

Moving to the rinks in Richmond or Lynchburg would require about an hour-long commute each way. The clubs would probably need to arrange carpools to travel to practices, games and competitions at these rinks, and transportation costs would increase.

Additionally, renting reserved time at the new rinks could be more expensive than at Main Street Arena.

The clubs primarily pay for their expenses with member dues and funding from the University. The men’s ice hockey team also has a few sponsors, and the women’s team also promotes

donations and holds fundraisers.

However, the University can only provide limited funding, so the clubs will likely need to increase member dues and fundraisers or find new sources of funding given possible expense increases, especially in transportation.

Finding new practice times that work for club members’ schedules will also pose difficulties if they have to travel out of Charlottesville. At Main Street Arena, the figure skating club practiced at 6 a.m., but with additional commuting time, this may no longer be possible. Practice time may also have to be cut if the teams have to spend longer travelling back and forth.

The women’s ice hockey club team practiced once a week at Main Street Arena but may be unable to practice this frequently at a rink farther away.

Katz is also worried about losing the support of the University community if his team has to travel to a farther location for home games.

“I think the main issue is just going to be that we’re going to lose a lot of our attendance and fan base,” Katz said. “That’s something the team is really going to look to improve on for the coming year.”

However, Katz is confident that his team will continue to practice and compete even in the midst of these challenges.

“If worse came to worse and we had to practice in Richmond, I think everyone’s dedicated to the team, and

CHANDLER COLLINS | THE CAVALIER DAILY

The closing Main Street Arena ice skating rink has impacted many University clubs that relied on it for various activities.

it wouldn’t be an issue,” Katz said. “We might have one fewer practice or it might cut back on some games, but it’s a strong core. And we’re all pretty dedicated to keeping the team alive.”

These sentiments were echoed by Walshak about the women’s ice hockey team.

“Most people seemed pretty dedicated to the idea that this is something they want to continue doing,” Walshak said. “It’s something they really love, so people seem willing to go the extra mile and to pay the extra money, espe-

cially because we have hopes of a new rink soon.”

Monk also expressed optimism in the face of this change.

“Obviously we are at U.Va. for academic purposes and the skating team is an amazing added plus and has really changed, I think, a lot of our collegiate experience, but it’s going to be a challenge,” Monk said. “But I think it’s possible, and I think we’ve created a good foundation for the club moving forward, which will help tremendously.”

How ‘The Boss Baby’ changed my life Yes, an animated, PG-rated movie really did teach me a lot Lucie Drahozal | Life Columnist If you know me, you know I love movies. I live for movies. I quote movies in every other sentence — often turning to whomever I’m in conversation with and asking, “Do you know what that’s from?” And more often than not, the person next to me looks at me like I’m crazy, matter-of-factly tells me no, that they don’t obtain the “useless” knowledge of movie quotes like I do and they carry on with their lives.

And I know, I may have a low threshold for what qualifies as a quality movie, but I promise — I was just as skeptical of “The Boss Baby” as all you readers probably were after seeing my headline. Basically, “The Boss Baby” is about how Tim Templeton — a normal, seven-year-old child of two adoring parents — gets an adopted “baby” brother who turns out to be anything but a normal baby. Tim comes to find out that his new brother is actually the Boss Baby — on a mission to stop the evil CEO of Tim’s parents’ company from following through his secret ploy.

Laugh now, but you go watch “The

Boss Baby,” and try to tell me it was not both hilarious and really meaningful.

Yes, I said meaningful. Like chalked full of deep, insightful themes.

“The Boss Baby” is a family movie.

Though at first Tim and the Boss Baby are pitted against each other for their parents’ attention, they come to realize that working together ultimately will help each attain their real goals.

Through this, they grow closer, and begin to develop a real familial bond that neither Tim nor the Boss Baby expected to occur.

I have two sisters — one older, one younger — and we are very close despite the seven year age difference between my older sister and my younger sister. If you need an indicator of our closeness, they understand all of my movie quotes — that’s saying something. We are also close with our parents, who were always on the sidelines of our games, clapping in the audience or rolling their eyes at us while we recite the entire trivia game episode of “Friends” — yes, our quoting goes be-

yond just movies.

After being at college for a few weeks, I struggled to keep my sisters and my parents updated on my life and maintain the close relationships with them over the phone. My family — probably like most families out there — works best when we are all together. We show affection by making fun of each other incessantly, which is a lot harder to do when your subject matter and time are limited.

Watching “The Boss Baby” during my first semester made me realize just how much I missed my family. I missed the comfort of my parents. I missed making fun of my sisters. I even missed them making fun of me, and I never thought that day would come.

This movie opened my eyes to cherishing those familial bonds that I have been forced to develop over the past 18 years. Most students have felt homesick at one point or another, and weirdly enough, watching “The Boss Baby” evoked those feelings for me.

But “The Boss Baby” taught me more than just the need to keep my family in

touch with my hellacious life.

“The Boss Baby” taught me to find friends that feel like family — people that are comfortable with constant quoting, laughing and making jokes that aren’t funny and that can “dish it out,” as well as accept it when I make fun of them. No, I don’t go searching for friends thinking, “Okay, who reminds me of my family?” Instead, this movie taught me to put forth a little effort in pursuing friendships with people I’ve met who I could see my family really liking.

Sure, that may sound like common sense, but this revelation is something that I never considered before watching this incredibly deep and introspective film.

Before I left for school, I truly never understood when my older sister would say that she considers her college — Virginia Tech, unfortunately — her new home. I actually got pretty offended when she would say that considering the fact that, at the time, I was still in good “ol’ NOVA,” twiddling my thumbs waiting patiently for

her to come back and hang out with me. But now being in college, I understand what she means — not because I know Charlottesville as well as I know Northern Virginia, but because I have friendships here that make me feel at home.

In this way, “The Boss Baby” really did change my life. It brought me a new appreciation for my family — which I definitely had before, but I didn’t realize how great that appreciation really was — and it also brought me to make friendships that remind me of my family.

It is hard being away from home, but I discovered that Charlottesville and the University could be my home if I just found people that made it feel that way. To put it plainly, “I’ve learned it’s not where you are, it's who you’re with.”

And so now I ask you, readers, do you know where that quote is from?

(It’s from “Aquamarine.” If you didn’t know that, you are just like the majority of people I talk to.)

10

THE CAVALIER DAILY

LIFE • www.cavalierdaily.com

If you love yourself, eat at Junction Belmont’s newest food to die for Sadie Goodman | Food Columnist The newest addition to the vibrant Belmont food scene, Junction, is a phenomenal mix of familiarity and innovation. Junction is also the newest restaurant opened by Adam Frazier, local restaurateur and owner of the The Local in Belmont. Junction offers a variety of Southwestern inspired dishes using fresh and often local ingredients.

The building has been standing since 1900 and has gone through many renovations since its construction.

The current space is wonderful. The environment is bright and open with glowing natural wood and touches of rustic elegance. The music was upbeat and just loud enough that it could be appreciated by the diners. I especially enjoyed the beaded cow skulls and the truly vintage Pepsi-Cola sign painted on the wall. All of the meticulously chosen details add to the energizing, inviting ambiance of Junction.

I made a reservation with ease on OpenTable.com, and my mom and I were seated immediately upon entry. We went at 6 p.m. on a Saturday evening — it was quite vacant when

we arrived, but by the time we finished our meal most of the tables in the dining area were full. There is ample seating so, with a reservation, large parties could sit with no trouble.

The servers were attentive despite the growing number of diners, and the food came out surprisingly quickly.

Just opening the menu at Junction made my stomach growl. The menu boasts a well-balanced combination of comfortably familiar foods, such as tortilla chips and guacamole and creative new dishes like the local rabbit, andouille and chipotle étouffée. The assortment ensures everyone, whether adventurous or by the book, can find a bite to satisfy their preference. It was so hard to pick between all the options, but we finally decided.

I ordered my favorite appetizer in all of Charlottesville, the Mexican street corn, and my mom started with the charred baby carrots. The corn was sweet and fresh with just enough bite, and it was complimented well by the creamy sauce and bits of fresh cilantro. There was a hint of heat from the

chili-lime dressing, and the bits of char around the edges of the kernels tasted smokey and summery. The charred baby carrots were juicy and paired perfectly with the smooth, tangy caromont goat cheese.

Some of the appetizers conveniently come in three different sizes, so that they could be eaten as an individual order or shared easily between three to four or five to six people. The small size of the carrots was more than enough for the two of us, but the corn was just so good I knew couldn’t stop at one piece and ordered a medium portion.

For my main course, I chose the Brazilian beer braised chicken, and my mom picked the chili-rubbed grilled atlantic salmon. The chicken was served over a broth full of warm cooked veggies with some creamy, cheesy green chile grits keeping the two lightly charred chicken thighs afloat. The chicken was tender and the broth added wonderful flavor and moisture to the dish.

The standout of the two entrees

was the salmon. The fish was cooked perfectly through and the rub was zesty and hot but not quite spicy.

There was a jumbo lump crab-avocado salad on top of the fish that gave the salmon an incredible texture. The combination of crab and salmon is not a pairing that I’ve encountered before but it was excellent, giving just enough of a seaside feeling but not tasting overwhelmingly fishy.

Junction is definitely higher-end dining with the prices for an appetizer ranging from $3 to $12, and the prices for main dishes between $15 and $27 dollars. The food is delicious but definitely not a casual dinner — it would be a great place to eat with family and friends for an upscale night in Charlottesville.

SADIE GOODMAN | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Junction offers a variety of Southwestern inspired dishes.

Have your parents treat you to Oakhart Social Although it comes at a steep price for students, Oakhart Social is the perfect place to enjoy a night out with your family Marlena Becker | Food Columnist It has officially happened — I have reached my breaking point with the University Dining. Something changed after spring break, and the usual salad bar and peanut butter toast — I so diligently ate every day since the beginning of the year — now seem intolerable. Luckily, I have the best roommate ever, who has the best mom ever, who took us to a much-needed dinner at Oakhart Social last Friday night.

Oakhart Social is not a place I would have gone on my own for a few reasons. As a first year, I do not have a car, and it is located pretty far down Main Street without a convenient trolley stop nearby. I will also add that even if you do have a car, finding street parking on West Main can take a ridiculous amount of time and energy.

Secondly, it’s expensive. Everything on the menu ranges from about $11 to $15,

which may seem manageable at a first glance. But when our server informed us that the menu was entirely shared plates, and she recommended two dishes per person, it became clear that Oakhart Social is a strictly when-theparents-come-to-town place for me.

That being said, I would highly recommend Oakhart Social to anyone who is willing and able to drop $30 per person on dinner. We had an incredibly relaxing experience from the moment we arrived. The day was warm, so we were very excited to sit outside.

They have a lovely patio in front of the restaurant, with spacious rustic wooden tables, hanging fairy lights and a heater by every table. We ended up being very thankful for these heaters as it got colder, and our server even brought out blankets for all of us when it was clear we were freezing. This was an incredibly thoughtful touch that

MARLENA BECKER | THE CAVALIER DAILY

One of the highlights of the meal was the shaved salad which was a sweet salad with arugula, fennel and apple.

I will definitely remember the next time anyone asks me for a restaurant recommendation.

Because we sat outside, I cannot fully speak to the atmosphere inside.

However, I will say that it smelled absolutely divine and was filled with well dressed people having lots of fun. It was very loud inside and the exposed brick and vintage bar stools made me wonder if I was cool enough to eat here — but in a good way. The patio was much more relaxed, as we could easily hear each other without yelling, and no one seemed to really mind that I was wearing Nike shorts and a tee shirt. Needless to say this dinner was not planned, and I would definitely recommend dressing nicer than I did when eating at Oakhart.

If you are someone who needs to get to know their server on an emotional level before you order drinks, the service at Oakhart Social may seem less than ideal to you. However, I loved it. Our server was friendly, knowledgeable and efficient, without being too chatty. In my opinion, this is how service should be. As a server myself, I believe that eating at a restaurant should be more about the food and less about hearing every detail of your server’s day, and at Oakhart they seemed to share this mentality.

As I previously mentioned, the menu consists of small shared plates that come out one at a time when they are ready. But to be clear, this is not a tapas place. It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what type of food Oakhart So-

cial serves. They have a variety of vegetable appetizers, fancy toasts, larger plates like hanger steak and catfish, as well as woodfired personal pizzas. The menu is filled with surprising-but-delightful flavor combinations and local and fresh produce.

Our meal had three stand out dishes and the first was the shaved salad.

A sweet salad with arugula, fennel and apple. Although I am usually hesitant to choose a sweet salad — they tend to remind me too much of the West Range Colonnade Classic — this one did not disappoint. The fennel and apple both added a unique, subtle flavor and the sweetness was cut nicely by the watermelon radishes. Bread crumbs added the necessary crunch — and were a great alternative to croutons — and the salad was tossed with the perfect amount of homemade dressing.

The next highlight of the meal was the grilled octopus with butter beans, red endive, mizuna, grapefruit vinaigrette, aioli and garlic bread crumbs.

This was my first experience with octopus in non-calamari form, and although I was initially a little alarmed by the very visible suction cups, it turns out I’m a big fan.

Charred on the outside but very tender on the inside, the octopus was cooked perfectly — in my clearly not expert opinion. The salty flavor was excellent and complemented perfectly by the tartness of the vinaigrette on the fresh greens. I love aioli, but hate when it tastes like mayonnaise.

Oakhart knew exactly how to avoid that problem — it was creamy and flavorful without feeling heavy. The butter beans, which resembled very large lima beans, were also surprisingly tasty.

My favorite dish of the night was the preserved mushroom pizza. The personal pizza consisted of a homemade crust, tomato sauce, arugula pesto, red onion, gouda, mozzarella and of course, preserved mushrooms.

To be honest, this pizza sounded like something I would have loved without the mushrooms, and they seemed like a random addition that could potentially ruin the always wonderful margherita pizza.

I could not have been more wrong.

The sweet vinegar-esque flavor of the mushrooms complemented the saltiness of the pesto perfectly without overwhelming the pizza. You could taste each flavor separately in every bite — sweet tomato sauce, salty pesto, creamy cheese, sour mushrooms — but they also combined together beautifully. I would go back to Oakhart just for this pizza in a heartbeat.

Overall, I would say Oakhart Social is worth every dollar you spend there.

The food is fresh, healthy, flavorful and unique, and the atmosphere will make you want to sit and chat for hours after you’ve licked every plate clean.

www.cavalierdaily.com • LIFE

THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2018

11

Top 10 best places to cry on Grounds Sometimes you just have to let it out

1

Piano practice rooms

In case you’ve never really explored Old Cabell — besides that time you had to sit i n there for Days on the Lawn — there are some little piano practice rooms in the basement that are small, secluded and virtually soundproof. You face away from the glass door when you sit at the piano, so no one will be able to see the tears streaming down your face because of March Madness bracket. You don’t even have to bring sheet music, and your heaving will just look like you’re really into your playing. Maybe you can even blast some sad piano music on your phone in case anyone gets too close to the door and to increase the ambiance.

2

Landscaping of Arts Grounds

If you walk past Campbell Hall and the rest of the A-School buildings, you will find yourself looking at some sculptures and a whole bunch of plants, so why not lay down in the tall grass and lament your sorrows? It can be hard finding out that the person you swore was your soulmate is in a relationship. Maybe you arrived to your midterm 15 minutes late and missed an entire question — this may have happened to me — and it’s too much to hold in until you get home. Arts Grounds is right beside some frats, and there is always new litter after they hold a party. So, maybe you’ll be lucky enough to found a half-empty Natty Light to help you forget your blunders.

3

Clem 1

I have a theory that Clem 1 is not a real place, like the 19th floor in those Wayside School books. There’s something about the ancient furniture and fluorescent lights that causes a level of dissociation like no other. It exists on an entirely different plane of reality than the rest of the world, so if you go cry there — it’ll be like it didn’t happen at all. Everyone down in there is also suffering at the thought of all the impending tests, exams and projects that come with the end of the year, so you’re likely to gain some sympathetic looks. If nothing else, at least no one will bother you.

4

5

Ashley Botkin | Top 10 Writer

The pool

If you must cry but you also need to get your daily workout in, then head on down to the AFC or North Grounds pool and just happen to get chlorine in your eyes. I honestly don’t know how we opened our eyes underwater when we were kids because that stuff stings like crazy now, but luckily that works to your advantage for once. If anyone asks what’s wrong, instead of explaining to them that your pet fish just died, tell them that your eyes are really sensitive to chlorine and you forgot your goggles today. They won’t think twice about it.

6

The biology greenhouse

This nifty, little trick works similarly to the pool excuse, but instead of chlorine bothering your eyes, it’s all the pollen in the air. In fact, you don’t even have to go inside the biology greenhouse to get away with crying these days with all the plants waking up and distributing their weird plant dandruff everywhere. But if you don’t want anyone to hear your sobs, then it’s probably best to head into the greenhouse anyways. Not to mention, I’ve never seen anyone in there so your chances of being disturbed are actually pretty low. Cry as long and as hard as you want!

7

Trin

Contrary to that Camila Cabello song, there should be crying in the club because that is the best place to do it.

If you’ve been in Trin on the weekends, you know that it is one hot mess of bodies, awful house music and sticky floors.

With all of these distractions combined with the extremely drunk patrons, no one will notice you crying into your drink at the thought of that test you just failed or your lost JUUL — which is definitely something to be crying about, if you ask me. You can always retake a class, but you can never get back that 50 bucks.

9

Newcomb Dining Hall

So if you cry in Newcomb, you will be in front of a bunch of people, but most importantly, you will be in front of Miss Kathy, and I’m sure she will do whatever is in her power to make you feel better. Also, dining halls are usually 75 percent first years, and it’s important to give them a taste of what being an upperclassman is like. Perhaps, they’ll even take pity on you and swipe you in. If you’re lucky, no one will question why you’re crying because they’ll automatically assume you’re upset over how under-seasoned the food is once again.

10

Your bed

I can’t think of a better place to wallow than your bed, honestly. It has everything you could ever need, and I can guarantee that your laptop is close by. Maybe you can watch videos of cute little puppies that are just too dang small or people doing good deeds and just have a day to yourself to ugly cry. Or maybe the thought of getting out of bed and sitting through boring classes is enough to make you cry, and you don’t need the videos at all. Either way, enjoy your mental health day and let it all out.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Chapel

If you’re one of those people who’s really good at silent crying, then the Chapel is for you. If anyone comes in and sees you hunched over in one of the pews, there is no way they are going to bother you for fear of interrupting a prayer or meditation or plea to the universe. Just be careful you don’t fly into the Chapel on the day of a wedding or sorority initiation because that would be even worse than just standing outside and wailing at every passerby.

8

CHLOE TRAN | THE CAVALIER DAILY

The Bodo’s line

The Bodo’s line can be daunting each morning. It seems like you always run into your nemesis, last three exes and a professor while you’re just trying to blend in enough to get your bagel and get out the door. One way to ensure none of these people will try to talk to you is to have tears streaming down your face. Sure, it will be embarrassing at first, but everyone will have forgotten by the end of the day, and you will be pacified with a delicious breakfast. Bonus points if you’re also hungover and willing to cry in line.

MATT GILLAM | THE CAVALIER DAILY

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O

12

LEAD EDITORIAL

End stop and frisk

OPINION

The policy only furthers distrust between minority communities and law enforcement

A

police report about the use of stop and frisk in Charlottesville was discussed last month in a City Council meeting. The implications of the report are stunning, with African-Americans making up a disproportionate number of citizens stopped — 71 percent in 2017.

This mirrors the racial disparity found in stop and frisk policies in other cities around the United States, such as New York and Los Angeles. In response, the Daily Progress Editorial Board lamented these troubling statistics and the state of race relations in this country, stating that, “As a society, and as a law enforcement community reflecting society, we’ve got to do better than we’ve done in the past.”

We could not agree more with this sentiment. However, when the editorial board discussed the policy’s disproportionate effects, it did not mention stop and frisk’s inherent flaws as a law enforcement tactic. It is clear that in order to address issues of mistrust between minority groups

and the police, ineffective policies like stop and frisk must be discarded.

The main reason Charlottesville should do away with its stop and frisk policy is because it is ineffective. Many supporters of this policy, including President Donald Trump, point to New York as an example of the success of stop and frisk in reducing crime. However, this claim leaves out several facts that disprove the suggestion that these policies are in any way effective.

A Washington Post analysis comparing stop and frisk incidents in New York with FBI crime data shows that there is almost no connection between these policies and a subsequent drop in crime. Crime started dropping in New York before stop and frisk was utilized to its fullest extent. Furthermore, after a federal judge demanded that the program be scaled back, crime continued to drop, making any link between drops in crime and stop and frisk dubious at best.

In addition, many supporters of stop and frisk point to Chicago as evidence of the necessity of this policy. Data shows that in Chicago, violent crime actually increased after their stop and frisk program was scaled back.

This analysis, however, ignores the fact that New York reduced their stop and frisk program at the same time as Chicago, and they saw crime remain at historically low levels. Additionally, many other major cities did not see a comparable increase in crime. This evidence proves that stop and frisk is not the be-allend-all, and that crime in cities are caused by a number of factors that cannot simply be explained by the use of a stop and frisk program.

Those who are primarily affected by this policy are experiencing a decrease in their levels of trust in law enforcement. A Gallup poll recorded trust in police dropping between 2012 and 2014 and 2015 and 2017 amongst several groups, including young people and racial minorities.

This is troubling because such a large percentage of stop and frisk incidents affect racial minorities, with few of them resulting in any charges — 70 to 80 percent of detentions lead to no arrest or summons in Charlottesville.

With so few incidents of arrest and no clear evidence of the efficacy of this program, it is troubling that it continues in Charlottesville. Instead of tackling crime, stop and frisk sows distrust in the minority communities it disproportionately affects, which is at odds with what should be occurring between citizens and their police departments. Trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve is key to any effective policing strategy, and a breakdown in that relationship is worrisome for any community.

It is clear that police officers have an incredibly difficult job.

Law enforcement officials put themselves on the line for our communities every single day, while making a good faith effort to build relationships in the

communities they serve. Unfortunately, stop and frisk policies undermine efforts to build that trust. It is alarming that this policy unfairly targets minorities — especially when trust in the police among these groups has declined. Effective relationships cannot be built between law enforcement and community members as long as some feel they are being placed under a disproportionate amount of scrutiny for almost no real tangible results.

Due to its inefficacy and impact on minority communities, it is imperative that Charlotteville ends its use of stop and frisk. Local leaders should use their platforms to address these concerns.

THE CAVALIER DAILY EDITORIAL BOARD is composed of the executive editor, editor in chief and three at-large members of the paper. The board can be reached at eb@cavalierdaily.com.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Production Editors Mark Felice Sonia Gupta Zach Beim (SA) Elizabeth Lee Print Graphics Editors Matt Gillam Aisha Singh Photography Editors Christina Anton Sarah Lindamood (SA) Chandler Collins Video Editors Aidan McWeeney (SA) Raymundo Mora Engineering Manager Katie Vinson Social Media Managers Ashley Botkin Libby Scully Translation Editors Burgard Lu Yuqi Cheng (SA) Felipe Buitrago (SA) Natalia Chavez Marketing & Advertising Managers Avantika Mehra Sales Representivies Lydia Kim Abhi Opesh Business Manager Kelly Mays

www.cavalierdaily.com • OPINION

THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2018

13

ALLOW SORORITIES TO PARTY

L

By allowing sororities to serve alcohol within their houses, women have an opportunity to smash sexist dry policies

etAlcohol undeniably drives

the social lives of thousands of University students. Because of this, students flock to fraternity parties, which present an easy way to get alcohol. Fraternities benefit from this exchange — they hold a monopoly on easy-access alcohol, allowing them to accumulate unrivaled social power on Grounds. This forces both Greek women and many University women in general to attend fraternity-initiated parties to drink. Given this reality, the National Panhellenic Conference — the governing umbrella organization for sororities — should reverse its rule banning alcohol within sororities in order to restore power back to women to make their own decisions concerning when and where they can drink.

The NPC enforces this zero-alcohol rule upon its 26 constituent sororities by threatening fines or probation upon the particular house in question. However, the reasoning behind enforcing this ban is nebulous at best. For example, many students believe the urban legend that sorority houses would be brothels under law if they acquire alcohol within the house. This belief is blatantly false —

the NPC remains the only enforcer of sororities’ dry status.

The real reason NPC wants sororities to stay dry boils down to money — it’s exceptionally cheaper to insure sororities devoid of alcohol. The

its bottom line over women’s right to autonomy. Moreover, the sorority system in and of itself was created to promote and protect women against a backdrop of patriarchy. In light of the NPC alcohol restrictions, soror-

At this point in time, sororities have no privilege to drink on their own premises.

price differential is significant. Cindy Stellhorn — an insurance broker that works with many sororities — states that “insurance policies cost $25 to $50 a year per sorority member,” while “fraternity brothers pay up to $180.” Because of this, the NPC is incentivized to strip women of their right to drink within the safety of their own home in order to suppress costs.

This is troubling for multiple reasons. While the NPC touts itself as an institution for female empowerment, ultimately the establishment values

ities are infantilized, rather than reaffirmed in the feminist principles that brought forth their founding.

There is a massive display of internalized misogyny, which steadily impacts more women over time, as the NPC reported that its membership jumped 58 percent from 2007 to 2015.

Given the lack of competition within the Greek system for alcohol, fraternities dominate the campus party scene at many universities.

While these parties are free and require no ID, the risk many women take to drink within fraternity houses

is high. A 2007 study by the Department of Justice concluded that women who attended fraternity parties were significantly more likely to be sexually assaulted. And while clearly not all fraternity men will commit violence against their female peers, there’s still imbalance in social power, given the difference of freedom between the two Greek systems. Sorority women have no option but to be dependent on fraternity events, given no other choices within their own institutions.

Thanks to select sororities that have broken free from NPC, such as Dartmouth’s Sigma Delta, there are now examples of liberated sororities who are empowered to make their own choices about alcohol consumption on their property. In a reverse of the norm at universities, Sigma Delta parties feature “female bartenders, female members at the doors and women designated to remain sober and monitor the scene.” Because of this, Sigma Delta’s social chair claims that many women are “much more comfortable coming to our sisters for help if they need it, rather than men having almost all the power.” She goes on to state “that dynamic is one

of the key reasons fraternity members feel so entitled to women’s bodies, because women have no ownership of the social scene. You can’t kick a guy out of his own house.”

At this point in time, sororities have no privilege to drink on their own premises. This only benefits the NPC, which benefits from a better bottom line, but leaves the average sorority sister suffering the consequences. University sororities should petition the NPC to reverse its current mandate for dry sororities. The reality of modern sororities’ antiquated rules has become the material of actual comedy — look no further than the film Neighbors 2. In the movie, one of the main characters states after learning the NPC rules, “This is sexist and restrictive system.”

The sad reality of the situation is that she’s absolutely right. It’s time for NPC to actually empower women.

KATHERINE SMITH is the Senior Associate Opinion Editor for The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at k.smith@cavalierdaily.com.

POLITICAL DEMONIZATION HURTS AMERICA The division sown by the March for Our Lives and counter-protests will not solve the problems plaguing the U.S.

W

ith noble intentions, the student-led demonstrations known as “March for Our Lives” on March 24 carried a message of preventing gun violence. Following the recent shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the 800 demonstrations across the country challenged the status quo regarding gun control in the U.S. Unfortunately, these demonstrations, along with subsequent counter-protests, challenged something else as well — any hope of compromise. Senseless attempts at scoring points with political bases, angered claims lacking logical foundations and fierce emotional responses created more division than change.

Attacks on character were presented repeatedly by participants of the March for Our Lives. Of these, a prominent attack included a sign assaulting Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) faith rather than debating his ideals or considering his past gun-control action. On a sign picturing his face, attacks such as “#KidKiller” or “#NRAbitch” were written below.

Seeking to target his Catholic faith, typically associated with beliefs in peace, the attacks further depicted blood on his forehead in the shape of a cross, with “#AshBloodyWednesday” beneath. Such ad hominem claims were not exclusive to proponents of March for Our Lives,

however. Counter-protesters taking to state capitals across the country targeted individuals as well. Those who disagreed at their pro-gun events were labeled ‘un-American.’ Laura Ingraham, a prominent Fox News host, even went after Parkland survivor David Hogg for being rejected from four colleges he applied to.

The attacks on character at recent rallies transcend the issue of gun-control. Demonizing political rhetoric has thrived throughout the past decade. Such rhetoric, which aims to divide or enrage others, creates detrimental repercussions. These consequences include dashing dreams of compromise, sowing distrust within society and creating an “us versus them” mentality. Divisive rhetoric makes the American people an enemy to itself.

Divisive rhetoric sorts individuals into two groups: those who are right and those who are wrong. One solution is upheld as the only correct direction forward, while all other solutions — and those who support them — are deemed wrong and abhorred. The solution promoted by divisive rhetoric is considered ultimate and certain, sparing the idea from any consideration or judgment. Two parties cannot settle on a solution if they are constantly painting each other’s ideas as impossible or detri-

mental. In this situation, only one course of direction is right. If the two parties attack the other as atrocious or heinous, instead of their ideas, even less room is made for creating a joint

Fortunately, there are ways of rebuilding the bridges broken by divisiveness. The first step in reconciliation, specifically regarding party politics, is realizing the key similarity

Attacks on character were presented repeatedly by participants of the March for Our Lives.

solution.

The damage caused by divisiveness does not end here. Divisiveness transcends the sole issue of gun-control, as divisiveness sows seeds of distrust in all issues. If Republicans are willing to stand idly by as “pro-mass shooters,” why should anything different be expected regarding police brutality? If Democrats are willing to stand idly by as “baby-killers,” why should anything different be expected regarding immigration? Painting the other group as morally corrupt erases credibility on any issue — hurting compromise across the entire board. The longer demonization continues, the less likely compromise or reconciliation will ever occur.

between Republicans and Democrats.

Although their policies may differ, both parties merely seek to do what is best for the American people.

Driven by the want for peace and prosperity, the two parties envision a country free from danger. No logical Republican or Democrat truly desires to see mass shootings occur. The two parties simply promote different methods of achieving the same goal — for students to attend school without worrying about their safety from a lunatic with a deadly weapon.

The second step to overcoming demonization is realizing that the country can only move forward together. Never does a sole ideology control the creation of all progress

in the country. Politically, legislation is birthed from a combination of different ideas, opinions and worldviews. Locally, change is driven by community leaders from all different backgrounds. Personally, the intellectual growth of an individual is heavily influenced by their interactions with ideas different than their own.

This process is reflective of the country as a whole, as America has historically existed as a mixing pot of cultural and intellectual diversity.

America must continue to serve as a ground where the development of ideas can occur — no matter how different they are. Interestingly, mixing such ideas together creates some of the best solutions, attuned to the every detail and angle of a complex issue. Therefore, we must reconcile with those divided against us, realizing the only way change is created is together.

As former President Barack Obama explained, “A good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good sentence; or a good piece of music.

Everybody can recognize it. They say, 'Huh. It works. It makes sense.'”

MATTHEW NALLS is a Senior Opinion Columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at opinion@ cavalierdaily.com

H

HUMOR ConAgra foods, owners of popular canned Sloppy Joe brand “Manwich” announced on Saturday the release of a new product: “Womanwich: Manwich for Her.” This announcement came after numerous claims of misogyny and discrimination in the company’s branding. A spokesman for ConAgra and the head of the company’s Sloppy Joe department said that the new product would be “100% organic, made using all-natural, grassfed beef and pesticide-free ingredients.” It will also, according to the spokesman, “be dyed bright pink” and contain “the highest allowable

THE CAVALIER DAILY

14

‘MANWICH’ CREATORS DEBUT ‘WOMANWICH’ amount of edible glitter” in a food product. “You can only put so much in before you’re legally obligated to call it a toy,” said the spokesman.

Local woman and paralegal Ivy Walker had this to say about the new product launch, “Frankly, it’s humiliating. I don’t need a man in a suit to tell me what I can and can’t eat. I’ve never eaten a Manwich, nor have I ever wanted to, and I will probably never eat one of these either. It’s insulting to think that women will be tricked into buying something just because it’s pink or made especially ‘for her.’”

Walker’s sentiments echo those of many other women and men who are outraged and offended by the new product.

The product’s can will have an easy-to-open pop-tab made, according to ConAgra Research and Development, for “a more slen-

der, delicate hand.” Its design will be simple: white with light pink accents, and in cursive lettering, “Womanwich: Manwich for Her,” along with words such as “natural,” “smart” and “yummy.” Consumers may find the product in grocery stores next to the light yogurt, in between Skinny Cow snack food products and Kashi granola bars.

“You know,” the director of ConAgra’s marketing and potato chip division said, “stuff women like.”

Despite widespread criticism, many have spoken out in favor of ConAgra’s decision. Target General Manager Laura Danforth, said of the company’s move, “Well it’s about darn time. I’ve been listening to my husband make terrible Manwich jokes for years, and I was helpless to stop it. There are too many products out there already that cater to the men of the world. I

want to buy this, because it’s made especially for me.”

Beyond the purely cosmetic differences between Manwich and Womanwich, ConAgra is testing never-before-used processes to ensure the success of the new product.

“After conducting several scientific tests,” one researcher said, “we found that many men think women find the aroma of ground beef and diced tomatoes to be ‘hyper-masculine.’ Therefore, we developed a special culinary perfume for the Womanwich specially intended to mask these odors. We still have a few FDA hoops to jump through, but as long as we issue a warning not to eat more than one sandwich every three weeks, we think we’ll be fine.”

Others have been more ambivalent towards the new product, like high school English teacher and man, Jeremy Sherman. “Manwich,

Womanwich, it’s just too much.”

Sherman said. I think if ConAgra really wanted to be progressive, they’d release the Personwich, no gimmicks, no tricks. Now that’s something that I could really sink my teeth into.”

Time will tell if the Womanwich lives up to its developers’ lofty expectations, or if the product will fade into feminine snack food obscurity. But for now, ConAgra is optimistic. According to inside sources, the company has already started work on a low-calorie “Diet Womanwich” to be released in early 2019.

JESS MILLER is a Humor columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at humor@cavalierdaily. com.

YOU’RE FIRED A White House insider informed us that the mishap began when President Donald Trump walked past a mirror in the hallway and started loudly complaining about all the gross old people who are currently employed in the Executive Branch.

“I am trying to get rid of all of them,” Trump said. “They’re so gross. I want them out. Like that guy,” he continued, gesturing at the mirror. “Who is he?! The world will stop laughing at us if everyone who worked here was fit like me. Like that guy. He’s even worse than mushy mouth Mitch McConnell.”

Then, our source reported that an aide walking with a group informed the president that he was not looking through a window into another hallway but rather into a mirror.

The president quickly became angry, turning to the aide and saying, “You’re fired, and whoever that guy is, he’s fired too!”

Stunned silence filled the hall.

The aide the president had just fired turned slowly and walked away. Witnesses to the incident reported hearing him murmur the word “freedom” repeatedly under his breath.

“Why isn’t that other guy leaving?!”

Trump questioned the staff gathered in the hall with him. “Are you too old to hear like Sanders or are you too stupid like Priebus? Well?!”

Vice President Mike Pence was the first to finally break the silence.

“Sir, that's a mirror. You just fired yourself.”

Through a vent on the hall floor, Senior Advisor Jared Kushner’s pallid face could be seen. His eyes nearly bulging out of his head, it seemed as though the excitement was pulling his skin tighter than it normally was on his Voldemort-type skull. Atop a table in the hallway, a decorative vase began to rattle — out of it crawled Attorney General Jeff Sessions to witness the

C

CARTOON

Hungry Hoos

BY WALTER SHARON

events that would follow.

“Could it be?” both Kushner and Sessions thought. “Could this finally be the end of him?”

The president’s eyes flitted back and forth, stopping once on the man in the mirror. The anger seemed to dissipate for a moment, and a type of pain shone through — a pain that seemed to ask, ‘Is this what I am? When did I become so physically repulsive?’

His expression hardened as he paced forward with new resolve.

Pence followed quickly at his heels, trying desperately to not look at the president’s ass because he promised God and Mother that he would stop doing that. Sessions and Kushner also slithered along the carpet to keep up, leaving a trail of rot and bile.

The president stepped in front of the nearest TV, which was only 15 feet away due to the new Presidential Appeasement Program. The program was designed to increase positive stimulus

to the president's brain at frequent intervals. He stared at the television hoping for guidance and solace. He paled into a lighter shade than he had been in years as Sean Hannity yelled, “the president is never wrong and never makes mistakes.”

At this point, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer entered the room, and he has told us his account of what happened from there.

“Well, I walked in and it was instantly clear to me what had transpired, see,” Schumer said. “The president had invoked his full power to remove himself from office and I think that is his first decision we can all respect,” he said with a smirk.

Schumer said that White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders entered the room and tried to regain control of the situation, which was a difficult task because all of the commotion had caused Kushner to begin molting.

As Schumer reports, “His skin was coming off all over him, it was truly horrifying.”

“Well, Sarah, how do you expect us to believe that?” Schumer continued.

“It makes sense, firing himself, he fires everyone who disagrees with him and he contradicts himself all the time!”

With the White House now on total lockdown it is unclear at this time whether President Trump’s words will be taken to their fullest extent, or if Special Counsel Robert Mueller has any comment on the validity of the incident. One thing is certain — there is no chaos.

EMMA KLEIN is a Humor columnist for The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at humor@cavalierdaily. com.

THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2018

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WEEKLY CROSSWORD PUZZLE Dan Goff | Arts and Entertainment Editor

PUZZLES

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

EVENTS

Thursday 4/5 Urinetown, 8 p.m. - 10:15 p.m., Culbreth Theater Friday 4/6 Men’s Tennis vs. Miami, 3 p.m., Snyder Tennis Courts Baseball vs. Virginia Tech, 6 p.m., Davenport Field Track and Field and Cross Country vs. Maryland, Bucknell, and Georgetown, Lannigan Field UPC Presents: Lady Bird, 7 p.m., Multipurpose Room in the Rotunda Urinetown, 8 p.m. - 10:15 p.m., Culbreth Theater Saturday 4/7 Women’s Lacrosse vs. Penn State, 1 p.m., Klockner Stadium Baseball vs. Virginia Tech, 4 p.m., Davenport Field UPC Presents: Lady Bird, 9 p.m., Newcomb Theater Urinetown, 2 p.m. - 4:15 p.m., Culbreth Theater Sunday 4/8 Men’s Tennis vs. Florida State, 1 p.m., Snyder Tennis Courts Baseball vs. Virginia Tech, 1 p.m., Snyder Tennis Courts March for Science, 11:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., Downtown Pavilion Monday 4/9 Fight the Stigma: Free Yoga with Corner Juice, 9:30 a.m. 10:30 a.m., 1515 Fight the Stigma: Voices of UVA, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m., Boylan Heights Batten Hour: with Leonard Sandridge, 11:30 a.m. - 12 p.m., Batten School Tuesday 4/10 Fight the Stigma: SARA Dialogue, 6 p.m. - 7 p.m., Open Grounds Wednesday 4/11 Fight the Stigma: Study Break at Clemons, 8 p.m. - 10 p.m., Clemons Library

*THIS IS THE SOLUTION TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE S A D I S T

S P R I T

E V I N C E S

C O N S U L T

T W E E D L E

P I R A N H A

A N O T H E R

R E D C O A T

15

E D R O R T S L U M M S B U R A D E A L N A H E T U S E T E R S

O M I C R O N

S K I N H E A D

R E F U S E S D I R R E U P P R O

H I S T

A N S E L M

L A T R I A

L I S I B P R O K N I S S R O A O M I N E S

T W E N T Y

T O U R S

A P S E S

O B E S E

2

3

4

5

11

12

13

14

15

16

20

17 22

21

25

30 33 36

23

24

31

32 35 38 45

39

52

53

58

59

33. Fever spread by mosquitos 36. "Cash or ___?"

6. The U.Va. ___ Department is currently showing 13-across

38. What a dog might do to water in a dish — two words

11. Colorless, highly flammable liquid

42. Entice, especially into a trap

12. Foreigner who is a head of business in China — also the title of a 1966 Clavell novel

44. However 46. Employ

54

61

cal life force 4. ___ to a garden 5. Classic American cookie 6. Netflix show about a red-suited, blind superhero 7. Capital of Latvia — or, with -toni, a type of pasta 8. Comment or brief reference that makes an illuminating point

14. Silvery-white

48. Also referred to as an 18-wheeler, or a prefix meaning "somewhat"

15. Large, dark-colored antelope

9. Brown paper used for folders — variant spelling

49. Egg-based condiment

16. A deer, a female deer

10. Putting up an amount in poker

51. A guest in a house, perhaps

18. Grows tired

12. Comparative adj. meaning yellow-brown

53. Brief periods of time

20. Matron goddess of Ireland

15. Precious stone

56. Doesn't cook — two words

17. Adam's mate

22. Offer items for sale, often through a machine

57. Brendan Novak and Jacob Asch are editors of the ___ section

24. Short film excerpt

58. Dignified, majestic

25. "Wet" word that makes many uncomfortable

59. Wood used to make furniture, often woven

27. Famous NY canal, and anagram of 20-across 28. Bone in human forearm 29. Relating to one's birth 31. What one does to an engine 32. Droops

60. Hallucinogenic drug 61. "Bet Ain't Worth the Hand" singer ___ Bridges

19. Resorts that offer hot baths and massages 21. Suffix that designates a superlative 23. Mistake in a text 26. ___ Impala — band known for "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" 30. Boy or young man

Down

34. Patrick Henry wanted this or death

1. What a high school class might have 20 years after graduation

35. Sound one might make at the dentist

2. 19th century kingdom in Tuscany 3. Chinese philosophi-

50

55

47. Duty or responsibility

13. "___town" — a play showing this week

41

49

57

60

40

46

48

56

1. Right-hand page of an open book

10

28

44

51

9

19

34

43

8

18

37

47

Across

7

27

26 29

42

6

36. Relating to the earth — in my opinion, it's even more unpleasant than 25-across

37. Withstands something 39. Red sweet pepper 40. Relating to the second-farthest planet 41. Fourth-year student playing Hope in 13-across — ___ Evans 42. Previous six-across production from this semester — "___ a Bitch" 43. Relating to eastern European Christians 45. Indonesian island 48. Spiritual content of a human or animal 50. Saudi Arabian TV provider 52. Pushed or touched with a certain body part — "___ the line" 54. Oct. birthstone 55. Tiny bit

THE CAVALIER DAILY

A& E

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Urinetown: ‘Not your typical musical’ Drama department presents an unusual spring show

ARTS &

ENTERTAINMENT

Thomas Roades | Arts and Entertainment Editor

COURTESY MICHAEL BAILEY

The Drama Department’s production “Urinetown,” an uncommon but acclaimed show, is running through Saturday, April 7. Director Robert Chapel and leads Jack Gereski and Payton Moledor gave some insight into the show’s genius.

“A tyrant has taken over the city … and he has set up a system where everyone has to pay to pee,” “Urinetown’s” director Robert Chapel said.

It may not sound like anything one would expect from a musical, but nonetheless, the Department of Drama’s spring offering opened last weekend to an excellent audience reception. The show, which tells the story of an oppressed underclass that rises up against a pee-taxing tyrant, is running Tuesday to Friday of this week, with a final matinee show Saturday.

If the opening weekend was any indication, the cast members and directors agree the quirky, unique musical will be a hit. Third-year College student Jack Gereski, who plays one of the show’s leads, Bobby Strong, said “Urinetown” is unlike any other musical he’s seen.

“Opening night was crazy,” Gereski said. “The cast is loving [the show] and the audience will too.”

Robert Chapel, the former chair of the University’s Department of

Drama, has returned from retirement to direct the production — one that he said is “not your typical musical.” He agreed with Gereski’s assessment of the opening weekend.

“They were amazing, the audience went nuts, both nights,” he said. “I’ve been directing a lot of shows for many years, and I don’t recall having an audience be so scream-crazy about the show. It was great fun.”

Though it’s an unusual show in many ways, Chapel thought it would still strike a chord with the audience, especially among students. He noted that the show’s fictional town is placed in such dire straits as the result of a 20-year drought — a sort of issue which plagues parts of the real world today.

“It’s ecologically very current, in terms of water shortages and what the world is going through,” he said.

First-year College student Payton Moledor, another lead actor starring as Hope Cladwell, shared similar sentiments, as did Gereski,

who said the show is “very relevant right now.”

“I think ‘Urinetown’ is very different from a lot of shows that have been done at U.Va. in the past few years because it addresses important issues,” Moledor said. “The music is wonderful and the choreography is fun and it’s exciting to watch, but at the same time you leave questioning your life.”

She also noted there are plenty of fresh faces onstage in this production.

“There are a lot of people who haven’t performed in a U.Va. drama show before but are so talented,” Moledor said. Moledor, a first-year, and Gereski, a third-year, has never performed before for the Department of Drama, but Chapel quelled any doubts as to their experience or ability.

“Both of these actors are real theatre people,” he said. “They’re very at home onstage ... There was never a question in my mind that they’d be able to handle the roles, and they have.”

Chapel described his directorial approach to the show as slightly hands-off — “more of an editor,” he said, guiding the actors’ choices onstage, rather than a director making the decisions for them. This approach is best, he said, with talented actors who will make good choices on their own.

“I was very blessed with having a really tremendous group of actors,” Chapel said. “I love to trust actors who have good instincts, and these people do.”

Moledor said she’d appreciated Chapel’s open-minded approach, explaining that having more artistic control made her actions on stage feel more natural.

“This is my favorite thing that I’ve worked on in a really long time,” she said. “This entire semester I’ve been in a place where I felt like I could make artistic decisions, which doesn’t always happen when you’re rehearsing for a show.”

While “Urinetown” is so quirky and outside-the-box that it almost defies description, the cast mem-

bers and director are certain of one thing — just how enjoyable the show is, both as an audience member and a performer.

“It’s so much fun,” Moledor said.

“There were a couple moments [on opening night] where we had to hold for laughs and weren’t expecting to.”

Chapel was no less enthused.

“I think that especially the University community will respond to this in a good way,” he said. “We’d love to have full houses at every show.”

“Urinetown” will be showing at 8:00 p.m. in Culbreth theater weekdays through April 6, with a final Saturday matinee April 7 at 2:00 p.m.

www.cavalierdaily.com • ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2018

17

Cigarettes After Sex sells moody heartbreak The sappy, sad boy niche band brought their signature sound to The Jefferson Elliot Van Noy | Staff Writer

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Greg Gonzalez is the frontman of Cigarettes After Sex, a sentimental, sometimes depressing indie rock group, who played a characteristic set at The Jefferson Saturday.

If you’re ever curious about what silk might sound like, or what happens when you draw out music to its simplest form, attend a Cigarettes After Sex concert.

“Concert” may be a misnomer — rather, the Saturday night show at The Jefferson was advertised as “An Evening with Cigarettes After Sex,” giving the entire experience the sound of an intimate date instead of a performance. It was a sharing of personal reminiscence with minimalist stage decorations — a simple black background underneath four white stage lights, the same color scheme as their collection of singles and first fulllength album, released in 2017.

Every member of the band was dressed in complete black to match their scene and the mood that began with the first subtle guitar riff. The color defines

the band’s brand and in case it wasn’t already clear from the setup, “K.,” a song on their setlist, addresses a love interest with the line, “Think I like you best when you're dressed in black from head to toe.”

This is the most distinguishable aspect of the music by Cigarettes After Sex — verging-on-desperate lyrics that make exceptional love, or sometimes just lust, songs. There wasn’t much dancing at all in the theater, merely a simple, collective swaying, but there didn’t need to be because of the dream-like atmosphere captured

by Greg Gonzalez’s notable voice — it was enough to chill spines, no dancing required.

There was no denying the intense presence of his talent — it sounded even more cosmic in person, echoing throughout the Jefferson, than it does on record-

ings. The band does what they do very well, and while slow, chill “ambient-pop” can be repetitive and slightly derivative of Joy Division’s slower songs, attendees were so transfixed that lighters sailed above heads during the enthused encore for one more song about heartbreak — or, as Gonzalez said, “getting wasted.”

Cigarettes After Sex was started in El Paso, Texas in 2008. It is rumored that the idea behind their sound came about during an experimentation of recording spacey songs in a stairwell.

Eventually the band released their first EP “I.” in 2012 with a cover that features a black and white photograph of a woman’s shoulders arching backward. The aesthetic that accompanies their name seems to be just as important as their music.

“Cigarettes After Sex” paints a picture of a romanticized cas-

ualness so many young listeners of indie crave — a call back to a time before post-romance laziness didn’t end on cell phones but in sharing something together, even if it is an addictive, cancer-causing habit. Their promotion of this bittersweet nostalgia fits right alongside indie performers of today and tomorrow such as Alvvays and Frankie Cosmos. Ten years after their formation, the band seems to have maintained the hazy, stairwell moment that discovered this genre of love songs played against soft sounds that masterfully pair with Gonzalez’s androgynous voice, one which has seemingly escaped the effects of his band’s namesake. His commitment to his music was seen by the urgency with which Gonzalez gripped the microphone while singing about a lover in “Opera House.”

The show switched all night,

from sensual to sad to both — to a myriad of emotions at once.

After playing a minimalist and composed yet pleasantly sensual set of an hour, it ended with “Apocalypse.”

“They’re like the Four Horsemen of the Sad Boy Apopalypse,” someone in the crowd said, addressing the intense ridiculousness that sometimes accompanies such splendidly exposed indie music.

The crowd turned towards the streets for post-Cigarettes after Sex cigarettes lit by the lighters that had earlier waved inside the venue, most of them wearing black. The figure of the backlit lead singer barely moved his body the entire show, swaying only to maintain rhythm, but the street dwellers had to gather their composure after a concert that moved even the most casual of fans.

THE CAVALIER DAILY

H&S HEALTH & SCIENCE

Imagine living in a world where people had 3D-printed bones and organs. At the University, plastic surgeon Dr. Jonathan Black and Design Lab engineer Dwight Dart are exploring the intersection between medicine and engineering to one day accomplish just that.

Black’s work as a surgeon involves working on challenging cases, including kids with complex problems. However, he has been using a new emerging technology 3D printing skulls to prepare for surgery and combat these challenges.

This technology provides a means for surgeons to prepare for difficult surgeries, allowing them to practice on a model with a patient’s exact anatomy. This method permits them to plan the surgery procedure precisely, which then improves patient outcomes and treatments.

“I think [3D printing] is go-

18

3D printing skulls to prepare for surgery Surgeon also uses 3D printed skulls to teach new medical techniques Rohni Awasthi | Staff Writer ing to allow us … to plan a patient-specific operation and anticipate the exact abnormality we are going to see,” Black said.

Being able to practice on an identical model has allowed surgeons to complete their operations faster and with less patient trauma. It also allows surgeons to prepare for problems that might arise during the surgery and decide how to accurately handle them.

Black took on this technology not only to prepare for surgery but also to teach students and residents surgery methods.

“I treat patients that have complex problems and they tend to be kids,” Black said. “And a frequent model to teach students and residents is on a cadaver [to] show them different aspects to surgery. But no cadaver exists to what I’m treating because they tend not to be pediatric patients and don’t have the pathology I

am treating. So, I thought if we took the scan that showed their problems, I could print it out and use it as a model.”

The skulls are printed by Dwight Dart in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Black and Dart use computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scans to create images of patients’ skulls.

These machines are then programmed to print life-size models that have the exact shape of the patient’s skull. “[The models] are exactly like a human’s geometry because of the software we are using and the technique we use,” Dart said.

“We take a CT or an MRI scan and bring that into the software … We tell it to clean all that stuff up and delete anything we don’t want to use … Once we 3D print, it’s the exact patient’s geometry.”

The skulls are exactly to scale and can take anywhere from 12 to

40 hours to print, depending on if its a child’s or adult’s skull. The skulls are made out of Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene plastic.

This technology has helped Black prepare for a variety of surgeries, the most common being reshaping the skull, caused by craniosynostosis, a disease that alters the normal growth pattern of the skull.

The models have also been used to treat Short Le Fort 1 lengthening, a type of upper jaw lengthening, and Mandibular Distraction, a lower jaw lengthening.

In the past few years, technology and medicine have come together to create many new solutions to problems. Looking to the future, this intersection of 3D printing and medicine may only be the beginning of surgical innovations.

With 3D printed organs, the problem of donor shortage for

transplant organs could be diminished as patients would no longer have to wait for donors.

This is a potential innovation of 3D printing, in addition to providing more accurate and planned surgery, reduced surgery time and new teaching methods in residency.

“This is the tip of the iceberg of where 3D printing is going to venture into medicine,” Dart said. “We’re going to see … 3D printers that actually print bones … And that’ll be the first stage of where we’ll start implementing 3D printed stuff, and it will go all the way up to the point in 10-30 years we will see 3D printed organs we have transplanted in.”

To JUUL or not to JUUL? Students and faculty examine health implications of JUULing Irena Kesselring | Senior Writer College students are turning to JUULing, a proposed alternative to smoking, as a new way to get the same high that traditional cigarettes offer.

While researchers still don’t understand the precise health effects of the product, the JUUL was initially developed to help smokers quit and is now being used as the latest fad in various university settings.

A JUUL is a type of e-cigarette that creates an aerosol to activate ingredients with a regulated heating element.

“JUULing” is meant to be an alternative to cigarette-smoking, and the JUULpods all contain nicotine (59 mg/ mL per pod), coming in eight different flavors, including “Crème Brûlée” and “Virginia Tobacco.” Compared to a normal cigarette, each JUULpod is equivalent to a pack of cigarettes, or approximately 200 puffs.

A form of vaping, JUULing is the latest trend with college students because of the perception that it’s healthier than smoking other tobacco products or more illicit drugs. In fact, the creators of the JUUL invented the product in order to work with the needs of smokers trying to quit, while preventing youths under age 21 from purchasing their products.

One first-year College student, who asked for anonymity, talked about why he JUULs.

“I don’t necessarily use it regularly — it’s more a medium for me in a lot of ways,” he said. “And it helps a lot with settling out some of my ADHD and stuff. Nicotine has actually been shown to reduce ADHD impacts, so it’s actually part of why a lot of people get into it.”

While nicotine is a stimulant — a compound that temporarily increases nervous system activity — that mirrors the effects of Ritalin, a common drug used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, some students JUUL for other reasons.

“There’s so much of this live fast, die young mentality that people kind of forget what that means,” the same student said. “Even when we talk about advertising against tobacco … the biggest issue we have is trying to counter the sleek and chic. And every time you do that, they come up with something new — that’s been the way that capitalism has worked for centuries.”

Christopher P. Holstege, the executive director of Student Health, said in an email to The Cavalier Daily that while research is frequently conducted on the prevalence and causes of traditional cigarette use, e-cigarettes remain somewhat of a mystery.

“Factors predictive of the onset of e-cigarette use are not well under-

stood, despite being examined extensively for conventional cigarettes and other substances,” Holstege said.

According to Holstege, his colleagues at the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University have recently conducted a study demonstrating that males, individuals who have never smoked marijuana, and those with impulsive tendencies are more likely to being using e-cigarettes.

Holstege also said some e-cigarette manufacturers may specifically design their products to target younger adults by manufacturing thousands of different flavors and free product samples, promoting them on social media and advertising them using celebrity spokespeople.

Public Health Prof. Robert C. Klesges also said some college students may choose to smoke JUULs to fit in with the crowd, much like they would choose to binge drink in social settings involving alcohol.

According to Klesges, while more research on the differences between e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes must be conducted, certain studies show that some e-vapors have negative health effects.

“We know that a specific chain of e-cigarette vapor has been shown at least in some animals to change

DNA,” Klesges said. “There are some indications that it seriously irritates the membranes in the lungs and that sort of thing. So if I were to hazard a guess about conclusion, I would probably say e-cigarettes are safer than cigarettes, but they’re not safe.”

Second-year College student Wil McLaughlin wrote in an email to The Cavalier Daily about his perspective on JUULs and the possible implications for people who experience secondhand e-cigarette smoking.

“If I’m in Clem 2 studying for a test, I should not see a group of loud white guys ‘JUULing’ at the table next to me,” McLaughlin said. “It’d be a health risk for somebody with asthma or other respiratory troubles. We don’t allow smoking in these places, so JUULs shouldn’t be abused there either.”

Aside from criticizing the behavior of people who choose to vape or JUUL in public spaces, McLaughlin also mentioned that any kind of smoke in your respiratory system isn’t healthy, and that it’s important for the Food and Drug Administration to determine the exact risks and impose regulations.

Klesges said the FDA has been attempting to regulate e-cigarettes such as the JUUL but has faced legal challenges.

“The FDA is trying to get control of e-cigarettes, but the problem is that every e-cigarette company except for one are owned by the major tobacco companies,” Klesges said. “So they’re gonna roll out their lawyers and take the FDA to court, and the FDA has a long history of losing those cases.

You’ve got multi-million dollar lawyers against lawyers working for the FDA making 60 grand a year.”

According to Holstege, more studies need to be conducted on the relationship between advertising and impact on young populations in order to properly evaluate the effects of e-cigarette use. Ultimately, it cannot be known whether JUULing or any other kind of vaping is less harmful than other traditional cigarette usage.

“Future research is needed to assess the relative importance of beliefs in influencing uptake of e-cigarettes and how these beliefs are formed in the first place,” Holstege said. “Specifically, we need more detailed analyses among susceptible populations including youth and young adults who are targeted by e-cigarette companies … We need more research about means to correct misinformation about e-cigarette harms and benefits.”

www.cavalierdaily.com • HEALTH & SCIENCE

THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2018

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Questions raised over U.Va.’s social media monitoring University signs contract with Social Sentinel to identify potential threats posted on online Vyshnavi Pendala | Staff Writer

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Since last September, the University Police Department has partnered with Social Sentinel, a social media scanning company, to monitor social media posts of people in the Charlottesville area in order to identify potential threats. But some members of the University community are raising concerns about the monitoring activities.

The contract with Social Sentinel will cost the University approximately $18,500 annually.

This company browses through public social media posts to “identify potential public safety threats and to help provide situational awareness for safety concerns,” University Community Service and Crime Prevention Coordinate Officer Benjamin Rexrode said in an email statement.

According to Rexrode, this contract with Social Sentinel was made “following the recommendation of outside consultants hired by the University to perform a review of the University’s overall safety and security infrastructure following the events of last August.” The recommendations came from co-founders of Margolis Healy & Associates — CEO of Social Sentinel Gary J. Margolis and Board of Directors Member for Social Sentinel Ste-

ven J. Healy — after the Aug. 11 torchlit rally of Grounds.

Rexrode said this surveillance system is one measure the University is taking to increase safety and prepare for future tragedies on grounds.

However, some University students and faculty believe that Social Sentinel may not be the most effective way to identify threats.

According to Siva Vaidhyanathan, a Media Studies professor and director of the Center for Media and Citizenship, Social Sentinel searches posts based on a geographic location. For example, the company will set up Twitter accounts and follow every active Twitter account within the geographic area. Their software will comb through all of the accounts and flag posts that contain keywords such as “bomb,” “threat” or “white supremacists.” A secondary algorithm further distinguishes whether these flagged posts are actual threats.

“This whole practice is silly,” Vaidhyanathan said. “You have to hope that person has location services on and is willing to share location. You know many people don’t do that, especially those who want to do harm to others …

So, there would be many threats not discovered by Social Senti-

nel.”

Vaidhyanathan said that organizations such as Social Sentinel are a “black box,” an electronic device whose mechanisms are hidden from the user. He said the problem relies on the fact that most radical people do not publicly post their plans or actions on social media accounts such as Twitter or Instagram, but rather post on platforms such as Discord, an anonymous gaming platform.

“We can’t be in a position to judge whether Social Sentinel works or not because it is a black box,” Vaidhyanathan said.

“And that is the problem in itself. Governmental organizations should not get into business with companies like Social Sentinel.

They could be ripping us off, and we would have no way of knowing it.”

Second-year College student Patrick Baratta expressed skepticism towards the monitoring of social media posts.

“I think the logic behind it is to look at this metadata to find out what is going on, but I don’t think social media is the right platform for that,” Baratta said.

According to Vaidhyanathan, the main problem is that the University focuses on responding to threats rather than searching

for them.

“The problem with August 11 and 12 was that actual human beings watching activity on Discord alerted the University that there was an impending invasion, and the University did not take that seriously,” Vaidhyanathan said. “So, that is just a completely different problem.”

First-year College student Allison Gottlieb said the monitoring efforts may be a positive step forward.

“This plan, although not executed in the most effective manner, does prove that at least the University is moving in the right direction,” first-year College student Allison Gottlieb said. “They are taking action, and recognizing that this is a pertinent problem, which must be addressed in order to ensure safety and inclusivity on Grounds and in the Charlottesville area. However, this isn’t the end of the road — it should only be the beginning.”

Baratta said he thinks U.Va. should have explicitly sent an email to University community members describing what Social Sentinel was planning to do, rather than release the news through the press.

“We get emails when there is a robbery at GrandMarc, even though it might not affect us di-

rectly and may make us feel unsafe,” Baratta said. “But if we are not getting an email when we are having our social media looked at by the school, I think it is a little ‘iffy.’”

Although no official report of the program’s progress has been released, some people within the University have doubts about its efficiency.

“It strikes me as a poor use of University funds, because we can’t know how well it works,” Vaidhyanathan said. “We are never going to get a report on how well it works. We can’t trust them because the algorithm is proprietary and secret, and we can’t know whether it is under-identifying or over-identifying potential threats.”

Social Sentinel did not return a request for comment by press time.

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