Thursday, April 14, 2016

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Vol. 126, Issue 54

1819

VIRGINIA OF

IVERISTY UN

see TUITION, page 2

Jasmine Oo| The Cavalier Daily

IN DPRK, A BANNER IS WORTH 15 YEARS PAGE 3

CVILLE GETS NEW POLICE CHIEF PAGE 4

TENNIS PREPARES FOR BUSY WEEKEND PAGE 7

LEAD EDITORIAL: CLARIFY CURRICULUM PAGE 9

A&E SITS DOWN WITH ZELDA PRODUCER PAGE 15

N news

The Cavalier Daily

In-state tuition hikes cut in half Increase cut from 3 to 1.5 percent for 2016-17 academic year

Tuition Increases

Hannah Hall News Editor

Contrary to initial expectations, in-state tuition will increase by 1.5 percent for the 2016-17 academic year — a 50 percent decrease from the original proposed amount of 3 percent, the University announced April 14.

The reduction is a result of additional state funding for higher education during the next two-year budget cycle.

More than $3 million has been earmarked to improve access, affordability, quality and increased degrees at the University, according to a University press release.

Even before the additional funding from the state, the tuition increase was lower than expected due to cost efficiencies implemented across the University.

“Fortunately, the state budget includes funding for U.Va. beyond our initial projections,” Board of Visitors Rector William H. Goodwin Jr. said

2

Year

% Increase - In State

% Increase - Out of State

2011 - 2012

8.9%

8.9%

2012 - 2013

3.7%

4%

2013 - 2014

3.8%

4.8%

2014 - 2015

4.3%

5.9%

2015 - 2016*

3.9%

3.9%

2016 - 2017*

1.5%

3%

*additional $1,000 increase for incoming first years

in the press release. “This significant and welcomed action from the legislature provides an even greater benefit to Virginia families.”

In addition to the 1.5 percent increase, incoming first-years will face an additional $1,000 increase this fall as part of the Affordable Excellence program.

The Affordable Excellence program was approved by the Board of Visitors in 2015 as a way of making

Morgan Hale | The Cavalier Daily

the University more accessible to lower-income Virginia students. The program included a $1,000 tuition raise for incoming first-years during the 2015-16 academic year and another increase during the 2016-17 academic year.

This tuition decrease is part of a trend of decreasing hikes over the past few years. Tuition for the 201516 academic year increased 3.9 percent for all students. The 2014-15

academic year brought an increase of 4.3 percent and 5.9 percent for in-state and out-of-state students, respectively.

Hikes in tuition are often the result of changes to funding the University receives from the state.

In 2011, the board raised tuition by 8.9 percent to make up for a $15 million cut in state funding.

Another cut to state funding in 2012 caused the University to raise tuition 3.7 percent and 4 percent for in-state and out-of-state students, respectively.

In an effort to make the University more accessible to Virginians, in 2011 the board approved the addition of 1,673 students throughout the 2018-19 school year — a plan which the University is on track to meet.

This increase is a 11.9 percent growth in undergraduate enrollment since 2010-11. The additional students will help the state reach its goal of producing 100,000 more degrees, the release stated.

In addition to lowering the tuition increase, the funding from the state also allows the University to fund new strategic initiatives that were not

previously included in the budget.

According to the release, the University plans to increase awareness — especially among underserved students who will be the first in their families to attend college — of the University admission process and financial aid programs.

Within the University, curricular advancements are planned to enhance academic quality, especially foundational writing skills meant to prepare students for further coursework. The additional funding will also allow for an increase in student internships, fieldwork and service initiatives.

“The additional state funding provides us significant new opportunities to target investments in the quality of a U.Va. education,” Executive Vice President and Provost Tom Katsouleas said in the press release.

“This is an exciting time for higher education and students in the commonwealth. Investments made today in access and quality will pay off for all Virginians.”

Politics, Media Studies depts. to hire new faculty Demand for classes increases, number of majors stays steady

Thrisha Potluri

Senior Associate Editor

With student enrollment for the fall 2016 semester now open in full effect, the Politics and Media Studies departments are looking to hire additional professors to accommodate increasing student demand for and enrollment in classes.

The Politics department’s hiring season takes place in the fall, Department Chair David Leblang said. Hiring requests are generally sent during the year and the summer to the Dean’s Office, which then determines how many hires each department can make.

“The Dean’s Office is committed to helping us replace individuals so we can continue to offer courses not just to our majors but to students who want to take our courses,” Leblang said.

One of the reasons the department is looking to hire new faculty is due to recent retirements and departures.

“We’ve had three faculty retire in the last three years, and these are faculty who for all intents and purposes taught foreign affairs

Courtesy University of Virginia

Almost all Politics classes are full or have waitlists, Department Chair David Leblang said.

classes, which is the largest major in the College,” Leblang said.

Leblang said the department has made requests to hire faculty in the areas of American politics, political institutions and race and ethnic politics.

Assoc. Dean Leonard Schoppa said the department has brought on three junior tenure-track political scientists since 2014. Politics Profs. Phillip and Rachel Potter joined the University in Sept. 2014

in International Relations and American Politics, respectively, while Politics Prof. Murad Idris, who works on Muslim Political Thought, joined last year.

“This past year, we hired two new colleagues who will be joining us in the fall, who work in the area of comparative politics,” Leblang said.

Anne Meng and Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner will join the Politics department this September. Meng does research with a particular focus on authoritarian regimes in Africa, while Kruks-Wisner focuses on politics in India.

“So the hiring we have done in Politics has mostly brought the department back to the size it was before there was shrinkage during the years of hiring freezes, after the 2008 financial crisis,” Schoppa said in an email statement.

Schoppa also discussed the addition of new professors to the Media Studies department, which he said is a relatively new department that is only a decade old.

“Our hiring in [Media Studies] is motivated by a combination of student enrollment demand and the potential that exists for this department to establish itself as a top

program in its field,” Schoppa said.

Despite a lack of a Ph.D. program and a smaller number of faculty compared to other departments, Schoppa said there are senior Media Studies faculty who are major figures in the field in addition to a new group of junior faculty that have been hired over the past few years.

“They have made the case that the department needed faculty in the areas in which we have been hiring,” Schoppa said.

The Media Studies department will add two full-time tenure-track faculty members this coming year.

Lana Swartz and Kevin Driscoll were hired last year but spent the current year on post-doctoral research at Microsoft Research in Boston, Schoppa said.

“We are also hoping to confirm the final details of an appointment of a new faculty member who would likely teach two courses next year,” he said.

Increasing enrollment and demand for classes has also prompted the hiring of new faculty.

“In addition to this growth in the tenure-track faculty, we have authorized an increase in nontrack lecturer hiring to meet the

strong enrollment demand in this department,” Schoppa said.

While the Politics department has around 900 majors — a number which has stayed relatively steady over the past couple of years — Leblang said enrollment and demand for the classes themselves continues to increase.

“Our number of majors has stayed pretty flat for as long as I’ve been here,” he said. “What’s important to note is that [the] Politics [department] doesn’t just serve politics majors. The new Global Studies majors, the Architecture School, the Batten School — they all require courses that are taught in the Politics department.”

Leblang said the department is looking to add more seats for classes in the upcoming academic year to accommodate demand for classes.

“We had a meeting with the Dean’s Office yesterday to figure out how we can add another 360 seats for the upcoming academic year,” Leblang said. “Almost all of our classes are full, or have substantial waiting lists … equal to 100 percent of enrollment.”

NEWS

Thursday, April 14, 2016

3

How a banner got Warmbier 15 years Devotion to North Korean leaders shaped sentencing Tim Dodson News Editor

After over three months of detainment, third-year Commerce student Otto Warmbier remains held in North Korea following a March 16 trial before the North Korean Supreme Court.

During the trial, Warmbier confessed to stealing a political banner, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s highest court sentenced him to 15 years of hard labor for subversion.

In a press conference Feb. 29, Warmbier admitted to attempting to take a political slogan from the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang, where he was staying with Young Pioneer Tours.

“I committed the crime of taking out a political slogan from the staff-only area of the Yanggakdo International Hotel,” Warmbier said.

“The slogan inspires the Korean people's love for their system.”

At the trial, the North Korean government presented security camera images of Warmbier attempting to steal a banner Jan. 1, according to Reuters.

The banner — which is partially censored in photos presented at the trial and features bold white letters against a red background — reads, "Let's firmly arm ourselves with Kim Jong-il patriotism!”

Kim Jong-il was the father of North Korea’s current Supreme Leader — Kim Jong-un — and ruled the DPRK from 1994 to 2011. Kim Jongun is the heir of the Kim “dynasty,” which his grandfather — Kim Il Sung — started when he created the North Korean regime in 1948.

“A cult of personality” Experts and scholars of North Korea agree the banner Warmbier allegedly attempted to steal is a common form of domestic propaganda.

Moreover, slogans, images and materials invoking the names of the Kim family are considered sacred in North Korean culture.

David Straub, associate director of the Korean Program at the Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University, said the banner is just one example of many displays of political slogans in the DPRK. Straub visited North Korea as part of former President Bill Clinton’s delegation in 2009 to free detained American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee. “Outside they have huge banners all over the place and placards and statues,” Straub said. “Especially the capital city of Pyongyang — it’s just full of all sorts of political slogans plastered on various types of things, so this is very common.”

Scott Snyder, senior fellow for Korea Studies and director of the Program on U.S.-Korea Policy at the

Council on Foreign Relations, said the slogans also appear in the North Korean countryside, workplaces and in state media.

“I would say that you would probably find [political slogans] in almost any building in North Korea,” Snyder said.

Slogans range from discussing scientific achievements and agriculture to the Kim family’s legacy and the military.

One of 300 slogans approved in 2015 is similar to the slogan on the banner Warmbier attempted to steal: “Let us step up the building of a prosperous country by applying Kim Jong-il's patriotism!”

“The DPRK uses slogans in order to try to assert political control and guide the parameters of thinking politically among the North Korean people,” Snyder said. “These slogans are really … a means by which to define the direction and limits of political thought in North Korea.”

Straub said the banners are part of “the world's most extreme cult of personality existing today.”

This “Cult of Kim” is an essential part of understanding North Korean identity and why the banner Warmbier allegedly attempted to steal resulted in what Westerners might consider to be a harsh sentence.

Jean Lee, a global fellow with the Washington, D.C.-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said North Korea under the Kim family can be compared to a monarchy.

Lee — who who founded the first U.S. news bureau in Pyongyang for the Associated Press in 2012 and currently teaches North Korean studies at Yonsei University in Seoul — said a comparable example for Westerners to consider when looking at the North Korean system is the Tudor dynasty in England, which ruled the British empire in the 16th century.

“If you look at the Tudor era, for example, the way that they treat[ed] Henry VIII, [the way he] treated his people and the way that he was regarded would be very similar to what you see in North Korea today,” Lee said. “So speaking out against the leader, opposing the leader, anything like that would be considered a serious crime.”

The leadership in North Korea — and anything bearing the name of members of the Kim family — is considered sacrosanct, Lee said.

Inside North Korean homes, for example, it would be unusual to find family photographs hanging on living room walls. Instead, portraits of the leaders — who are often regarded as family members — are found in living rooms. Families refer to the leader as “father,” Lee said.

These portraits of the Kim family members are considered valuable possessions.

“The North Korean media has made heroes of ordinary North Koreans who, for example, when their house is accidentally burned down, they run inside and retrieve the obligatory portraits that hang on their walls,” Straub said.

Although the sacrosanct nature of Kim family portraits might seem unusual to Americans, the context may be similar to the practice of hanging religious symbols — such as crucifixes or portraits of Jesus — in some American homes, Lee said.

“Certainly in certain religions and certain families in America, that wouldn’t be so out of place,” Lee said.

“You can imagine that if your house were burning down, there would be some people who would grab a portrait of Jesus — they would probably feel like that would be wrong to let that portrait burn down with the house.”

“Building a cult-like political culture” The cult of personality in North Korea developed under the rule of Kim Jong-un’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung, and is the result of various factors, including Korean history and foreign influences.

“One of the things Kim Il Sung did was really borrow on Korean history to … build this regime and hold on to power, and to build an ideology that he thought would keep the country together,” Lee said.

This ideology of North Korean socialism was influenced by a history of feudalism and monarchical rule in Korea, as well as Christianity and the communist precepts of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.

Kim Il Sung grew up in a Christian family and “borrowed quite a bit from the kinds of religiosity that he must’ve known as a child,” Lee said.

Lee said the current cult of personality developed in the 1970s as a strategy to unify the nation and is an extension of these historic influences.

Snyder said the personality cult has foreign influences in China and the former Soviet Union.

“The personality cult really derives from the [19]60s and was borrowed to a certain extent from China, from Mao Zedong — it’s just that the North Koreans never abandoned it,” Snyder said. “And the bureaucratic structure within North Korea has parallels with the Chinese political structure during the Cultural Revolution, and also their bureaucracy borrows from Stalin’s template.”

During the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, members of the Chinese Community Party spied on one another for disloyalty to the government and millions of people were persecuted.

The slogans on the banners are directed at the North Korean people and are intended to quash dissent, Straub said.

“Building a cult-like political culture is part of the control methods,” Straub said.

Lee emphasized the need to view these methods in the context of North Korea’s history.

“For [people] from the West, it’s not a part of your heritage so it seems very odd, but having [a] monarchy, living under colonial rule — there are many elements of its history that contributed to the making of modern North Korea,” Lee said.

Surveillance, at home and at work Surveillance, whether in the form of people watching one another or electronically via cameras, in North Korea and demonstrations of loyalty are a part of everyday life in North Korea.

“People are under constant surveillance. That is a part of society in North Korea,” Lee said. “As you probably saw, the evidence used against [Warmbier] was the CCTV footage.”

Straub said the North Korean system of domestic surveillance is based on the system utilized by the U.S.S.R. “Originally, the North Koreans copied the Soviet style control system, which is built on neighbors spying on each other,” Straub said.

“So every 10 households will be organized into a group and one of the people — usually a housewife — will be given responsibility for overseeing those 10 families and to reporting anything [disloyal to the state] that any of the family members do.”

People will get in trouble, for example, if they don’t have photographs of the Kim family hanging on their wall or if the photographs are not dusted properly, Straub said.

Straub said this system is accompanied by intelligence, police and internal security agencies.

The surveillance also extends to North Korean workplaces, Snyder said.

“At both the workplace, and in a home context, there will be a designated representative that monitors others within that particular group and reports up the chain to party officials about what’s happening in the group,” Snyder said. “We don’t necessarily have a good picture of this, but there are probably multiple lines of surveillance like this, so the watchers also are being held accountable by people who are watching them.”

There are weekly gatherings at workplaces for North Koreans to cultivate and enforce loyalty and patriotism.

“There is a room in virtually all North Korean workplaces where North Koreans associated with that unit gather in order to study the slogans, make confessions of thoughts that have been inconsistent with the slogans and messages and really designed to keep people headed in a direction of support and loyalty for the

leadership,” Snyder said.

The banner Warmbier allegedly attempted to steal was in one of these areas designated for staff at the Yanggakdo International Hotel.

“It would be equivalent to an employee break room, which we have in America as well,” Lee said.

The meetings that occur in staff areas of workplaces — which also occur with neighborhood associations — are a “burlesque” of religion, Straub said.

“They have to confess to their sins, quite literally,” Straub said. “They have to say where they’ve fallen short of being a good follower of the Kims.”

“An emerging trend” Experts say North Korea’s sentence of Warmbier to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly stealing the banner is part of a trend in North Korean-American relations.

“I think that what we’re seeing is an emerging trend within the DPRK, really in some respects starting with Kenneth Bae, of the DPRK holding trials and imposing harsh sentences on foreigners who are convicted in their system of violating their laws,” Snyder said.

Bae was held in North Korea for two years and was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for preaching Christian teachings in opposition to the DPRK. He was released in 2014.

A total of six Americans — including Warmbier — have faced trial in North Korea, and their sentences have ranged from six to 14 years.

The length of time between trial and release for former detainees ranges from 56 to 556 days.

Charles Armstrong, Korea Foundation professor of Korean Studies in the Social Sciences at Columbia University, said the sentence is harsh considering that the banner did not have an image of Kim Jong-il.

“If Otto had defaced or tried to steal an image of the Great Leader that would have been a very serious offense, but this one merely has the name,” Armstrong said in an email statement. “It seems to me … [it] is part of a trend under Kim Jong Un in the last few years to detain and punish foreigners for infractions against the state.”

Armstrong said in the past, foreigners who were caught for similar actions would have more likely to be expelled than imprisoned, “but that has changed.”

Snyder said only the North Korean government can fully discern why Warmbier received his sentence, but he said the sentence is possibly “related to that fact that the system sees increasing threats to its viability and is taking measures to try to reinforce the system and this is one manifestation of that.”

This article has been shortened for print. See www.cavalierdaily.com for the full article.

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NEWS

The Cavalier Daily

GivingToHoosDay raises over $2 million 24-hour online fundraising event successful, officials say Caity Seed Associate Editor

The University received more than $2.1 million in total donations during its 24-hour online fundraising event — GivingToHoosDay — April 12.

Patrick Stanley, manager of digital strategy at the Office of Engagement and University Annual Giving, said he was overwhelmingly pleased with the participation from students, alumni and other donors for the event.

Altogether, the University received nearly 5,700 gifts.

The Darden School of Business raised the largest amount of money of all the schools, bringing in more than half a million dollars. In comparison, the College received the greatest total number of gifts — more than 1,100 gifts.

Up until the last hour, students and alumni of Darden and the College interacted on social media with friendly banter,

pushing to be the top fundraising school, Stanley said.

“There was a great back-andforth between the College and Darden,” Stanley said. “There was a lot of friendly competition and that added some excitement to the evening.”

Several organizations on Grounds also notably raised more than $100,000 each in donations, including the Alumni Association, Virginia Athletics Foundation and the Jefferson Trust.

Molly Bass, director of scholarships and endowments/annual giving for the Alumni Association, said while the numbers are still coming in, the Alumni Association far surpassed a $15,000 challenge.

The Alumni Association reached out to its member through typical outlets, Bass said. Twitter, Facebook and emails were utilized to encourage alumni to donate to areas they felt particularly attached to.

“Of course we have ongoing marketing efforts with our

members on an annual basis.

We send messages to them regularly,” Bass said. “We are very happy with the support they've shown to the Alumni Association on GivingToHoosDay.” Mark Luellen, senior associate vice president for development, also said he was satisfied with the day long event.

“The overall participation of our alumni and friends was simply staggering,” Luellen said in an email statement. “Such support and generosity shows the tremendous culture of philanthropy we have at the University of Virginia.”

Through the day, dozens of active students and alumni also used the hashtag #GivingToHoosDay and shared pictures of their time on Grounds on social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram to show support for the University.

“There were some great social media events — we had a lot of people sharing images about their time at the University on social media. We got

Courtesy University of Virginia

Throughout the day, dozens of active students and alumni used the hashtag #GivingToHoosDay and shared pictures of their time on Grounds on social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram.

to go through all those photos and that was fun,” Stanley said.

“What you really see there is it’s not always about the biggest amount of money given.”

Overall, the results of GivingToHoosDay appear to be viewed as a success by faculty and administrators who were involved

with the day.

“I think people had a really good time — that’s what it’s all about. People came together and made gifts to U.Va.,” Stanley said. “Now the schools are going to go ahead with these funds and do some great work.”

Recommendation made for new Charlottesville police chief Alfred Thomas Jr. would be city’s first African-American chief Katie Watson Associate Editor

Charlottesville City Manager Maurice Jones has recommended Alfred S. Thomas Jr. for the City of Charlottesville's next chief of police.

The need for a replacement arose in November 2015 when current Chief Tim Longo announced his plan to retire this May. From 1985 to 1990, Thomas served in the United States Air Force, where he attained the rank of staff sergeant. He then joined the Lynchburg Police Department where he worked for 20 years in various roles.

Thomas has served as the chief of police in Lexington, Va., since 2010. As chief, he orchestrated numerous initiatives in the city including operational reorganization, updates to emergency communication systems, expanded outreach to city youth and a junior police academy.

Thomas's experience in Lexington made him stand out as the clear choice for recommendation to the Council, Jones

Courtesy City of Charlottesville Communication Office

Thomas has served as the chief of police in Lexington, Va. since 2010. As chief, he orchestrated numerous initiatives in the city, including operational reorganization and a junior police academy.

said.

"Chief Thomas was an excellent candidate who rose to the top of a very deep applicant pool," Jones said in a press release. "He has the experience, the interpersonal skills and leadership abilities we were searching for in our next chief. I am confident Chief Thomas and the dedicated men and women in our department will build upon the great work of his predecessor."

Thomas said he would be honored to be the next chief of Charlottesville.

"I am very excited and honored to be named the next police chief in Charlottesville," Thomas said. "Charlottesville is a great city. One of the finest cities in the United States, and I understand that and I am excited. I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”

Thomas said he looks forward to building relationships and fostering trust in the Charlottesville community.

One of the most impressive and compelling things about Charlottesville is the community’s level of engagement, Thomas said.

“The one thing that I was so impressed by this process that the city manager conducted was the involvement by the community,” Thomas said. “They were so focused, so engaged and that showed me rather quickly how important this job is [and] how important a new chief will be to the community. I was so impressed by the number of citizens that were participating.”

Thomas would be the city’s first African-American police chief.

Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy tweeted his support for Thomas and said the recommendation “brings hope to people who thought something like this would never happen.”

“This also goes to show that WE, the city of Charlottesville, isn't [sic] going to follow the "norms" past. We aren't perfect, but we are improving,” Bellamy tweeted.

The City Council will formally consider the appointment April 18 during their regularly scheduled meeting time.

NEWS

Thursday, April 14, 2016

5

Suspicious emails circulating in U.Va. community ITS warns users not to engage with messages Matt Brown Senior Writer

Several suspicious emails have been circulating among University email addresses in recent months, encouraging students to follow links in the email with various messages such as account deactivation notices and security upgrades.

The emails are often signed by seemingly legitimate organizations such as “U.Va. Account Team” and “IT HelpDesk,” but Information Technology Services is telling students not to respond to or click any of the links and to immediately delete any emails of this nature.

First-year College student Theresa Mai received one of these emails, which referenced a Yahoo account deactivation. She said she knew it wasn’t real and deleted it right away.

“I never thought it was real,” Mai said. “It said, ‘Your request to shut down your Yahoo account wasn’t processed,’ and I don’t have a Yahoo account.”

Mai said the person she received the email from was someone she actually knew and said they probably opened the link and were hacked.

“It was from a U.Va. computing ID — I actually knew who it was,” Mai said. “It was my Madison House coordinator, so it didn’t make any sense.”

Other spam emails include one from “Mail Admin,” that notes “we received your instructions to close your account” and directs the user to visit their account “dashboard” and “cancel this request.”

Clayton Lockhart, assistant vice president for enterprise infrastructure in the Office of the Chief Information Officer, said these types of attacks — called “phishing attacks” — can be very dangerous for students and faculty.

“In these kinds of phishing attacks, hackers are sending our students and our faculty and staff various different emails that look enticing to open up and to click on various hot links,” Lockhart said.

“When you do that, a lot of times malware is automatically loaded onto your PC or your iPhone.”

Lockhart said clicking on the links can also lead to a chain of reactions that can cause blacklisting of University email addresses by email providers. These providers restrict the number of emails sent by blacklisted addresses because the ad-

Alicia Wang | The Cavalier Daily

The emails are often signed by seemingly legitimate organizations such as “U.Va. Account Team” and “IT HelpDesk,” but Information Technology Services is telling students not to respond to or click any of the links and to immediately delete any emails of this nature.

dresses are viewed as having strange behavior or sending spam.

“It starts with the phishing attacks, effectively people clicking on things they shouldn’t, [and] strange email patterns coming out from that,” Lockhart said. “[Then] the blacklisting by other email providers, and then again the back effect on users at U.Va. saying ‘Why am I seeing these strange email behav-

iors? It looks like my email isn’t being sent.’”

Lockhart said he encourages students and faculty to use discretion when opening links and emails.

“When people send you emails, you have to say to yourself ‘Is this really the address I was expecting?

Is this a regular email? Is this an address I trust or, if I hover over that link, is it really a link that looks like

it’s safe, or not?'” Lockhart said. “You kind of have to avoid the temptation to go open up and click on different things in your email because they might actually be malicious.”

ITS maintains a list on its website of suspicious emails known to be affecting members of the University community. Over 70 different emails have been posted on the website since the beginning of 2016.

Panel addresses criminal justice issues War on Drugs, disproportionate punishments among topics discussed Alexis Gravely Associate Editor

A panel-style event titled “Incarceration Nation” was hosted by the Young Americans for Liberty April 13. The event discussed problems with incarceration in the United States and possible reforms for these issues.

Approximately 96 people were in attendance.

The event began with opening remarks by Young Americans for Liberty co-chair and third-year Batten student Grace Charlton.

Charlton then introduced the four panelists for the event: Eric Alston, senior policy and research analyst at the Charles Koch Institute; Sherri Moore, University commerce law prof. and former defense attorney; Michael Stone, executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty; and

Jordan Richardson, senior policy analyst at Generation Opportunity .

The panel began with a discussion about the War on Drugs.

“The statistics would blow your mind of the number of of individuals imprisoned,” Moore said. “Four out of five individuals incarcerated are not violent offenders.”

Due to law enforcement’s focus on arresting people for drug crimes, non-violent crimes are also being penalized more than violent crimes, Alston said.

Charlton then asked the panelists which groups of people are disproportionately punished by the justice system and the death penalty.

Moore said the African-American community is disproportionately punished.

Citing statistics from 2011, Moore said African-Americans comprised 13 percent of the U.S. population but 40 percent of the prison population.

Alicia Wang | The Cavalier Daily

The panel-style event discussed problems with incarceration in the United States and possible reform for these issues.

Alston said juveniles and those from impoverished communities are often punished by the justice system as well.

Panelists were also asked about ways to deal with encounters with the police.

“When you are confronted with policemen, you always say

as little as possible,” Moore said.

“Use your phone and film them.”

Stone suggested first, avoiding the police and second, “treating them like royalty,” including “no smart-talking” and saying “yes ma’am” and “no ma’am.”

Charlton said she wanted to hold the event because of the

amount of support surrounding incarceration issues.

“You can pull so many people from so many political affiliations and backgrounds who are willing to come out and support this issue,” Charlton said. “I wanted to bring them together.”

A number of people from a variety of backgrounds were invited to participate in the panel, Charlton sid. Each of the panelists were ultimately chosen based on specific qualities they could bring to the discussion.

Charlton said she hoped the attendees understood that even though there are a lot of issues, things can be done about them.

“We’re really close to abolishing the death penalty and there are bills on the Senate floor,” Charlton said. “We don’t want people to get overwhelmed, and we want people to know they can do something about [these issues].”

S

sports Grant Gossage Senior Associate Editor

Longwood baserunners stood at the corners with nobody out in the top of the fifth. Virginia was hanging on to a 6-2 lead, and coach Brian O’Connor had just snatched the baseball from freshman starter Daniel Lynch after a walk and handed it to junior reliever Tyler Shambora.

The first pitch from Shambora ran in on the hands of senior first baseman Connar Bastaich, who somehow managed to keep it in fair ground and sent a blooper into shallow left-center field. Junior shortstop Daniel Pinero raced backwards, his eyes tracking the baseball through a low-setting sun, and made an absurd bare-handed catch à la San Diego Padre left fielder Kevin Mitchell’s in 1989.

“Danny’s play was I think really really pivotal…” coach Brian

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6

Pinero bare-hander highlights 9-3 win O’Connor said. “We scored the five runs. We went up, and then we took Daniel Lynch out of the game. All [of a] sudden if that ball drops — there’s no outs — if that ball falls in, who knows how that inning is going to go.”

While the crowd froze in disbelief, Pinero spun around quickly enough to discourage the Lancer on third base from breaking for home. Once the baseball had returned safely to Shambora’s glove, the lanky shortstop, grinning, nodded at his teammate sophomore second baseman Ernie Clement as if to say, “Your move, dude.”

“No never [tried that before], that’s why we have a glove in our hands,” Pinero said. “I was just trying to make the play. Then when I caught it, I knew had to throw the ball into the infield to see if that guy would tag from third to home. So I just threw it hoping there would be someone there.”

Shambora, who entered Wednesday with a 4.71 ERA and painful memories of several rough appearances in 2016, in-

duced a 2-2 grounder that Clement gathered behind the bag and fired to first for the second out.

Both runners advanced on the play, the man on third barreling down the line to cut the Longwood deficit to 6-3 and the other reaching second before Clement could turn two.

The Cavaliers escaped the fifth one batter later when Shambora’s payoff pitch found the edge of the strike zone. Encouraged by his teammates and coaches for limiting the damage in that inning, the St. Petersburg College transfer trotted back out to the mound in the sixth and tossed a scoreless frame.

In the bottom of the sixth, Shambora’s Virginia teammates scratched across three more runs on two hits and two Lancer errors to build a comfortable lead, 9-3. Sophomore center fielder Adam Haseley drew a leadoff walk that set the tone. Singles into right field off the bats of Clement and junior catcher Matt Thaiss brought home Haseley.

The Longwood miscues ensued, as sophomore first base-

man Pavin Smith reached on a fielding error by the third baseman that enabled Clement to score. Soon after, Thaiss and Smith each moved up a base on an errant pickoff throw from the catcher that sailed into center field. Freshman leftfielder Ryan Karstetter drove in the 9th and final Cavalier run with a slow roller to third.

The Lancers would manufacture a third run in the ninth off freshman righthander Chesdin Harrington, who surrendered two hits and walked three in .2 innings. But overall, Virginia’s bullpen, especially its upperclassmen — Shambora and seniors David Rosenberger and Kevin Doherty — excelled Wednesday in relief of Lynch.

Behind the plate, Thaiss continues to lead those veterans and help out the inexperienced arms, including Harrington.

“I’m trying to do my best with the pitching side of things, and just trying to guide these younger guys,” Thaiss said. “These guys who don’t have as much time logged in as Connor Jones and

Alec Bettinger and even Adam Haseley. That’s the main thing I’m doing. You know guys like Pavin Smith and Ernie are going to take care of the offensive stuff.”

Clement took care of the offensive stuff Wednesday, tallying two hits and three runs in the two-hole, but so did ever humble Thaiss. The Preseason All-American collected three hits, a walk and two RBIs in five plate appearances. Then there was also Pinero, who apart from making that Sports Center Top 10 snag in the outfield, worked two walks and doubled to deep left.

“Danny is an extremely talented player,” O’Connor said. “He’s not perfect, but I’ll tell you what about this guy — he lines up and plays shortstop every day. The guy’s done it for three years, and there’s not many college shortstops in the country who can say that. We’re going to certainly need him to play inspired, good baseball down this stretch run.”

Men’s lacrosse faces off against No. 16 Duke Blue Devils visit Charlottesville for Virginia’s last home game

Mariel Messier Senior Associate Editor

The Virginia lacrosse team left Kenan Stadium Sunday afternoon with an empty feeling — yet another conference loss — the third time this season. With their 16-8 loss to No. 11 North Carolina, the Cavaliers (6-6, 0-3 ACC) dropped out of the national rankings and returned to a .500 record.

Virginia has a chance to earn its first conference victory when No. 16 Duke visits Klöckner Stadium Sunday afternoon. The Blue Devils (7-6, 1-2 ACC) are coming off two straight losses to conference opponents. The contest between Duke and Virginia will mark the last ACC game for both of the conference rivals.

The two teams have a storied history, and Duke coach John Danowski has a 14-1 record against Virginia since taking the job in 2006.

“I’m not obsessed about [the streak against Duke],” coach Dom Starsia said. “But we need to turn it around, and this would be a great place to start.”

The Blue Devils and the Cavaliers have shared many opponents this season, both out of conference and in conference. Earlier this season,

Richard Dizon| The Cavalier Daily

Junior long stick midfielder Michael Howard leads the team with 48 ground balls this season.

Duke defeated then-No. 13 Loyola by a score of 15-6 in Baltimore before going on to defeat Georgetown, who Virginia will play next. The Blue Devils also suffered a 12-10 defeat at the hands of Richmond, who the Cavaliers were able to shut out just two weeks ago.

Duke did capture an overtime win over conference rival No. 9 Syracuse, who defeated Virginia by a small margin of 14-13 in the team’s ACC opener, which helped propel them to their national ranking.

“They play confidently,” Coholan said. “They have big midfielders and

good attackmen, and are always a great team. You always have to play great against them.”

Sophomore attackman Justin Guterding leads the Blue Devils in scoring with 53 points, and senior midfielder Myles Jones follows close behind with 52. Junior Danny Fowler has been starting in goal for Duke and is stopping 49.6 percent of the shots he sees between the pipes.

The Cavaliers went on a threegame winning streak, their best of the season, before dropping last weekend’s contest against the Tar Heels.

The 16-8 loss leaves the Virginia defense, which shut out Richmond just the week before, looking for answers.

One of those key defensive players is junior long stick midfielder Michael Howard, who has been consistently picking up ground balls for the Cavaliers this season.

“On defense, we’ve been trying to evolve each week,” Howard said.

“We’re trying to work on the stuff that we did well two weeks ago, but maybe not last week, and tweak it.”

With just two games remaining in the regular season, Virginia and Duke are both vying for NCAA tournament bids. The Cavaliers will be trying to put themselves in a better position come selection time, and will try to do so with the help of sen-

ior attackman James Pannell, who leads the team with 34 points.

“I believe firmly that if we just win these next couple of games, we will be a playoff team,” Starsia said. “I’m not seeing a bunch of teams that we can’t beat. The question is, will we have an opportunity to play some of these teams again, and we’ll have to earn that.”

Perhaps some special spectators will inspire this year’s Virginia team, as the 2006 National Championship team will be in attendance Sunday afternoon. The team of Cavaliers that included eight All-Americans and earned a perfect 17-0 record to capture the NCAA title 10 years ago will be honored at the game. At least, that team inspired senior midfielder Greg Coholan at a young age.

“I remember specifically watching the [2006 National] Championship, and I loved the way Kyle Dixon played, who was just a monster in the midfield,” Coholan said. “I was pretty young, but I’m pretty sure I was mimicking a lot of those guys in my backyard.”

Coholan is just one of the Virginia seniors who will be recognized at Sunday’s game for senior day, with the contest being the last at Klöckner for the regular season. Faceoff is set for 12 p.m.

SPORTS

Thursday, April 14, 2016

7

Softball looks for bounce back against North Carolina Streaking Tar Heels enter weekend as winners of seven of last nine games

Rahul Shah Associate Edtor

The Virginia softball team continues conference play this weekend, as they take on ACC rival North Carolina at the Park in Charlottesville, Va. The Tar Heels (22-19, 7-8 ACC) are playing some of their best ball of the season, having won seven of their last nine games. Virginia coach Blake Miller knows that the Cavaliers (13-27, 3-8 ACC) need to play with discipline on offense and focus on defense in order to take down the Tar Heels.

“We just got to get back disciplined, more how we were in that first game against Syracuse and go drive the ball in the gaps, so it’s pretty simple,” Miller said. “It’s all based on us, and then play some defense behind [freshmen pitchers Erika Osherow and Lacy Smith].”

A major problem Virginia faced last week against the Orange was with slow starts, as Virginia allowed Syracuse to jump out to

quick leads in all three games of the series. That forced Virginia to play from behind the entire series.

“Biggest thing we got to do is, we got to pitch well, right off,” Miller said. “Really our pitchers need to come out work on top, really in those first innings; if they come out work on top we’ll jump right out.”

Virginia struggled in the circle last weekend, and Miller is fully aware of the mistakes his pitchers need to avoid against North Carolina.

“We let some of those lefties last weekend cause a little thorn in our side and we didn’t keep them under control, and really that’s the base,” Miller said. “We keep those leadoff batters off and like any game, any team when you keep those people that score runs off base, then usually it stifles an offense right there.”

Virginia’s pitchers look to get back on track, and as the season begins to wind down, they will need to rely on their experience throughout the season to help

Katie Johnsen| The Cavalier Daily

Freshman pitcher Lacy Smith has been a bright spot for the Cavaliers this season.

them stay poised and confident on the mound.

“They’ve matured quite a bit as far as these pitchers,” Miller said. “These pitchers, they went through that, they’ve had to take some lumps and go through a season of just, as freshman, so they’ve become a lot more confident on the mound.”

It will be a tough series, and Virginia will need that confidence to help limit North Carolina’s offense. On the other hand, Virginia’s offense will need to stay focused at the plate in order to play well, something they did fairly well last weekend, putting up 17 runs against Syracuse in three games.

“Biggest thing is we just got to stay disciplined, stay disciplined at the plate, and, it’s moving along,” Miller said.

Virginia will take on the Tar Heels in a doubleheader Saturday, with the first game being played at 3 p.m. and the second game being played at 5 p.m. The series finale will take place Sunday at 12 p.m.

Men’s, women’s tennis tune up before postseason Cavaliers hosts four meets over busy weekend

Hunter Ostad Associate Editor

A frantic weekend awaits Virginia tennis, as both the highly-ranked men’s and women’s teams are set to host two home games apiece before the postseason begins. The No. 1 Virginia (20-3, 9-1 ACC) men’s team is set to host No. 7 Wake Forest Friday and Miami Sunday. The No. 13 Cavalier (12-9, 7-5 ACC) women hosts Pittsburgh Friday and Notre Dame Sunday.

The men returned to occupy the coveted spot of top team in the nation, but will be tested greatly by the Demon Deacons (25-4, 9-1 ACC) Friday in a game that will decide the ACC regular season champion.

Senior Ryan Shane said he understands the stakes of the match, but isn’t putting any added pressure on himself or his teammates.

“We approach it just like any other match,” Shane said. “Obviously there’s a lot more riding on it now, but if you let that get to you too much it’ll affect how you play. So it’s just another regular season match against another ACC team, and we’re going to come out and leave it all on the

court.”

Virginia has won the ACC regular season title for 12 straight years, and this is actually quite unfamiliar territory for the Cavaliers to bring it down to the last game, as they would have usually clinched the title by now.

Coach Brian Boland acknowledged the uniqueness of the situation, but spun it as a positive for men’s tennis overall.

“It is unusual for us to be in this position, but I think it’s a real positive and a reflection of the ACC conference,” Boland said. “And what a great job Tony Bresky has done at Wake. He was my assistant for 10 years, spent eight years with me at Virginia as well, so it should be a great match on Friday and our hope is that all of Charlottesville and the student-body comes out and supports us.”

At the same time as the men’s game Friday, the women will be facing off against Pittsburg.

The Virginia women have had a season embroiled in controversy as yet another player, junior Victoria Olivarez, is set to leave the team, for unknown reasons. This comes after seniors Maci Epstein and Skylar Morton also jumped ship a cou-

ple weeks earlier. However, they have battled through adversity and had a fine season, currently ranked thirteenth in the nation and winning a lot of tough games.

It is a huge Friday for Virginia tennis, and Shane sincerely hopes to have a large crowd cheering the teams on.

“Hopefully, we have a big crowd,” Shane said. “It helps us a lot, having people behind us cheering… I think it really drives us.”

The Virginia men have gone through a lot of adversity this year as well, including losing their first ACC game in years to North Carolina, but they have fought back and are now ranked the best team in the country.

Shane, Virginia’s captain, who is certainly not used to losing during his decorated tenure, saw some positives in losing a couple games early in the season.

“Losses are a part of the process, and especially with no [advantage], if we let us get us down then we’d be in shambles right now, but I think we’re stronger now and we’ve embraced everything, and it’s really helped us,” Shane said. “We can look back and see, what we can do better.”

Alicia Wang| The Cavalier Daily

Captain Ryan Shane believes early season losses have benefitted the men’s team late in the season.

8

SPORTS

The Cavalier Daily

Women’s lacrosse prepares for tilt with No. 5 Louisville Cavaliers face seventh top-10 opponent this season in Cardinals Jack Gallagher Associate Editor

Under head coach Julie Myers, the Virginia women’s lacrosse team has made it to the NCAA tournament 20 straight seasons.

When No. 17 Virginia (7-6, 1-4 ACC) travels to play No. 6 Louisville this Saturday, the outcome could have large implications on whether the Cavaliers can extend this streak to 21.

In order to be eligible for an NCAA tournament at-large bid, a team needs to have a record at or above .500. With a current 7-6 record, Virginia must win two of its next four games in order to qualify.

“We don’t dwell on it a whole lot,” Myers said. “What we are trying to focus on is just the next game and taking care of the rest of the regular season. But it goes without saying that we all want to be there and that we will all be doing whatever it takes to make sure that happens.”

This will be no easy task for the Cavaliers. In addition to facing Louisville (12-2, 3-2 ACC), Virginia will play No. 1 Maryland, Virginia Tech and an ACC tournament first round game. Currently sitting at sixth place in the ACC, the Cavaliers will most likely be favored in only their game against the Hokies.

“Virginia’s a great program and they get into the NCAA tournament almost every single year,” senior attacker Kelly Boyd said. “My second year we were in a similar position where we absolutely had to win going into ACCs to make it, and that was the year we ended up going to the final four. But it would be awesome to get into the tournament and see from there.”

A victory over the Cardinals would take a lot of pressure off of Virginia. With a full week and a half since their last game against Navy

last Wednesday, the Cavaliers feel rested and primed to pull off the upset.

“We’ve just taken care of the last couple games, and we’ve had a full week and a half to focus on our own game and on the things we need to be working on,” Myers said. “I feel like we are in really good shape.

Everyone is connecting well and things are moving in the right direction.”

Louisville will be the seventh top-10 opponent Virginia has faced this season. They boast the No. 1 ranked defense in the ACC, allowing a conference-low 7.14 goals per game. The Cardinals are additionally very strong in the midfield, where they are led by senior Kaylin Morissette. A 2015 first team All-American, Morrisette has contributed a team high 47 points this season through 31 goals and 16 assists.

Virginia’s ability to generate offense against the strong Louisville defense will be a huge factor in the game. After a midseason offensive slump, the Cavaliers have looked as good as ever offensively in their last two games, defeating Boston College, 15-14, and then Navy, 13-9.

Sophomore midfielder Kasey Behr and Boyd lead the team in goals during this stretch, with seven and six goals scored, respectively.

“Our attacking game plan is to really be efficient with the ball, make sure that we are moving into everything and creating opportunities and then really finishing them,” Myers said. “I think we’ve been able to create decently well this whole season, but we haven’t been finishing as consistently. But again, the last couple weeks and the last week of practice we’ve done a much better job.”

Ten goals may be the target number for Virginia. The Cavaliers are 7-1 this season when they score 10 or more goals, with the lone loss

Paul Burke| The Cavalier Daily

Kelly Boyd has scored six goals in the past two games, which is good for second on the team in that stretch.

coming to then-No. 4 North Carolina in OT, 11-10. Meanwhile, in the two games that Louisville has allowed 10 or more goals this season, they lost both. This includes their most recent game, in which the Cardinals lost 15-5 to North Carolina last Saturday.

Last season, Virginia defeated Louisville 17-9 at Klöckner Stadium. In that game, Boyd scored four goals.

“It’s nice going into the game knowing that you did well against them last year, but every season is different so we definitely can’t ride

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on that,” Boyd said. “But it’s comforting, so I think if we do everything we are supposed to we should hopefully play really well like last year and come out with a big win.”

The opening faceoff is scheduled for 12 p.m.

O

Thursday, April 14, 2016

9

LEAD EDITORIAL

College curriculum changes are unclear

opinion

The proposed core curriculum is too ambiguous to be put to a vote In just a few weeks, College faculty members will vote on new educational requirements for first-year students, which would be the first curriculum change in the past 40 years. The proposal would mandate that all first-year students complete four two-credit courses on “engagement”: Aesthetic Engagement, Empirical and Scientific Engagement, Engaging Difference and Ethical Engagement.

College Dean Ian Baucom said the new course requirements would “provide students with an intellectual framework to help guide them through their subsequent studies.” The possibility of a core undergraduate curriculum — as opposed to general requirements — is worth exploring given its promotion of a shared intellectual experience for undergraduates.

However, we are unsure whether this curriculum will accomplish that.

Corrections In the Monday, April 11th issue of The Cavalier Daily, the article “Jefferson Trust to award $7 million in grants” incorrectly stated the amount of money being awarded. The number is $775,000, not $7 million.

Though well-intended, the proposed curriculum is far from ready for a vote. In particular, the new mandated courses have not been sufficiently developed, nor effectively crowdsourced to students and faculty. Aesthetic Engagement and Empirical and Scientific Engagement could provide students with a useful intellectual background in the humanities and sciences, respectively. And Ethical Engagement could include both the humanities and the sciences.

However, the subject matter for the engagement courses is not well-defined. Economics Prof.

James Harrigan alleges College faculty members have received limited information about the nature of the engagement courses.

It’s difficult to discern, for example, what a course titled “Engaging Difference” would entail. If this is an attempt at integrating diversity into our curriculum — something

we can certainly get behind — then we would like to know more about what that course would look like.

This set of changes has been in the works since 2011 — so why is it we can’t seem to find out more beyond buzzwords?

Core curricula have been successful at other schools such as Columbia University, and could very well be successful here as well. But if the College is going to make its first change in 40 years, certainly faculty should have a better understanding of what that change is going to be. Given the many remaining questions and concerns about the proposed curriculum reform, College faculty should vote no on the changes until they receive better information about the proposed course requirements.

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10

OPINION

The Cavalier Daily

American Muslims have proven their patriotism long before the United States become a republic. You might think that our first president, George Washington, his lack of knowledge would have never interconcerning American acted with Islam. HowNATASHA MIRZA ever, Washington made Muslims is not only trouGuest Writer bling but also dangerous. it clear he believed no Trump, along with a national religion should number of other Repubtake priority, even lican politicians, has been saying claiming that people could practice American Muslims and Muslim imIslam in his home in Mount Vernon. migrants are a problem this country One of the first Muslims elected to must solve. Trump is misinformed Congress, Keith Ellison, took his on a number of issues; however, ceremonial oath on a copy of the his support for a national Muslim Quran that was originally owned by American database or registry and Thomas Jefferson and remained a not allowing Muslim immigrants part of his private library. Muslims to enter the country reflects a larger have been documented repeatedly issue. Should Muslims Americans throughout American history, from have to prove their loyalty or patriserving as soldiers in the Civil War to otism to the United States? Should fighting for civil rights in the 1960s.

Muslims be restricted from entering As a result, there are Muslims whose the United States in the first place? claim to American soil predates deAbsolutely not. Islam has been an in- tractors like Donald Trump, whose tegral part of the United States since paternal grandfather immigrated its inception and to deny this would only in 1885 from Germany. Would be both inaccurate and offensive.

Donald Trump have made his immiThe first Muslims to arrive in grant ancestors prove their loyalty to America were Western Africans, America, or are they excluded from who were sold and forced into slavsuch trials on the virtue of having ery in the New World. They arrived been white and Christian? before the Revolutionary Wars, When it comes to preventing when the United States was still a Muslim refugees from entering the British colony and were therefore a United States, a quick peek into part of the demographic landscape history reveals our past mistakes

involving marginalization of religious or racial groups. Law-abiding Americans of Japanese descent were forced from their homes and sent to internment camps to determine that no Japanese America was a “traitor” during World War II. As for restricting refugees coming into the country, America has experience with that too — most specifically by preventing Jewish refugees from entering the United States during World War ll. America’s notorious treatment of refugees and people of color in the past is eerily similar to what a number of Republican

needs to be focused on unity and not xenophobic attitudes.

How exactly should American Muslims prove their loyalty or patriotism? Maybe by actively fighting against terrorism. Over the last decade, Muslims in the US have thwarted 50 terrorist plots — more than local police, state police, the FBI, the CIA, the NSA and all four branches of the military combined. Unfortunately, even though American Muslims cooperate with U.S. law enforcement and repeatedly condemn acts of violence in the name of Islam, Muslim Americans are deemed guilty until proved innocent. The double standard is obvious when considering that white men who own firearms are not continuously forced to prove they are not Islam has been an integral part of the United mass shooters.

Although AmerStates since its inception and to deny this would ican Muslims should be both inaccurate and offensive.” not be obligated to declare their loyalty governors have been saying recently or make a show of their patriotism, when they discuss Syrian refugees. a significant portion of Muslims Unless Americans are looking to declare their allegiance anyway. experience the shame that accompa- The Ahmadiyya Muslim Communies these acts of bigotry once again, nity, for instance, has been actively the rhetoric surrounding Muslims promoting the “Muslims for Loyalty”

“

o one would accuse Donald N Trump of having a firm grasp of history or even basic facts. But

An “Our Issues, Our Voices” column

campaign worldwide along with the “Muslims for Peace” and “Muslims for Life,” campaigns that promote peace and organized blood drives benefiting Americans nationwide.

When it comes to serving the United States, unlike politicians such as Trump and Ben Carson, nearly 6,000 Muslim soldiers serve in the United States military. When it comes to proving your worth in this country, American Muslims have proved their allegiance tenfold.

Islamophobia in the United States relies on ignorance of Muslim American history. Muslims are a convenient political scapegoat for many Americans, especially when you consider the fact that so few Americans have ever met a Muslim person. That is why it is so important for Americans to revisit the contributions American Muslims have given to the U.S., from skyscrapers to ice cream cones. No person, Muslim or otherwise, should be forced to suffer at the hands of someone else’s ignorance.

Natasha Mirza is a guest writer for The Cavalier Daily and the Minority Rights Coalition’s bi-weekly “Our Issues, Our Voices” column.

Women should close the “ask gap” only factor involved in the wage gap. Even the White House website acknowledges, “Pay discrimination United States. On averis a real and persistent age, full-time working problem that continues NORA WALLS women in the United to shortchange American Opinion Columnist States earn 78 cents for women and their famievery dollar their male lies.” counterparts will make. This friend It is important to remember that argued the disparity is largely due to the ask gap is not the only issue, but the fact that women simply do not we also have to consider why that ask ask for salary raises as often as men gap exists. No researcher can tell us do. At first, I rejected this idea com- exactly why women are not asking pletely. There is no way, I thought, for what they deserve, but I would that such a huge wage gap could exist venture to say it has something to do simply because we have not asked for with the reason women are described more money. But I went home and as pushy twice as often as men, the looked into the idea of what is know same reason boys get called on more as the “ask gap,” and it turns out there often than girls in elementary school, is some research to back it up. the same reason former Secretary of In recent years, researchers have State Hillary Clinton gets bashed for been looking into the ask gap. One having a “bitch face” — a criticism study found men are four times as never used for her male opponents. likely as women to ask for a raise. This is what it means to be a womAnother, which surveyed 2,000 men an facing modern-day sexism in the and women, reported that 39 percent United States — you are too much of of women said they had asked for a one thing or not enough of another. higher salary when starting a new Even more frustrating, you can be job, compared with 54 percent of both at once. Women are too pushy, men. So it seems my friend was right: but they are not pushy enough (at there is an ask gap, and it is contribut- least, not enough to ask for a simple ing to the gender pay gap in the Unit- salary raise). ed States. It is worth noting, of course, In addressing the ask gap, we that the ask gap is certainly not the must also consider what happens

when a woman does ask. When the U.S. women’s soccer team wanted to be paid as much as the male team (whom they have consistently outperformed), asking was not enough to get the job done — they had to file a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission.

When Jennifer Lawrence wrote a letter lamenting the double standards of Hollywood and demanding an end to the gender pay gap, she received enormous criticism. Many wanted to know how a Hollywood actress making millions could dare to com-

in America.” A recent study showed videos of men and women asking for salary raises, using the exact same script. Viewers tended to agree that the man should be paid more, whereas they often thought the woman was being too pushy. If you want to know why women are more hesitant to request raises, look no further than the backlash so many women face when they do ask.

Other studies have pointed to a confidence gap between men and women. One, for instance, found that men were willing to apply for jobs and promotions when they felt they met 60 percent of the requirements, while women tended to apply only when they felt they met 100 percent the requirements. While When a little girl gets called too aggressive or a know- the researchers point it-all for raising her hand too much in class, that gives out that testosterone (more present in men rise to yet another generation of women who will not than women) contributes to confidence, demand what they deserve.” they also acknowledge that the confidence plain about a pay gap, even though gap is not all about about biology. she explicitly stated, “I was saying “Male and female brains are vastly my reality is absolutely fabulous, but more alike than they are different,” it is not the reality of a lot of women notes the article. “Moreover, each

“

while ago, I got into an arguA ment with a male friend of mine over the gender pay gap in the

Gender pay discrimination has many components that need to be addressed individual’s confidence level is influenced by a host of genetic factors that do not seem to have anything to do with his or her sex.” Genetically, women should not be significantly less confident than men across the board. Societal factors play a huge role in determining women’s confidence.

We need to create a workplace culture where a woman is not pushy for asking for a raise, and that culture shift has to start early. When a little girl gets called too aggressive or a know-it-all for raising her hand too much in class, that gives rise to yet another generation of women who will not demand what they deserve.

The ask gap is part of the reason for the gender pay gap, but we have to start addressing the reasons for the ask gap itself. To say that women simply do not ask for more money and leave it at that is a cop-out. Look at the women’s soccer team, look at Jennifer Lawrence, look at women all over the country who work hard and expect to be rewarded for it: we’re asking. Where’s our answer?

Nora’s columns run bi-weekly Wednesdays. She can be reached at n.walls@cavalierdaily.com.

OPINION

Thursday, April 14, 2016

11

The lessons of French labor law T

The French left is misguided in its attacks on the reforms

wo weeks ago, France experi- mentality actually benefit working enced one of its biggest strikes individuals? in recent history. Over 400,000 peoA rampant social convention ple demonstrated across exists in France where the country, lambasting employees engage in RYAN GORMAN President Francois Hollengthy, costly lawsuits Opinion Columnist lande’s administration after being fired from with particular regard their particular compato the recently implemented labor ny, and — because the French legal code, an initiative that will make it system tends to favor these individsignificantly easier for companies to uals — the lawsuits often result in fire personnel on economic grounds. companies being forced to award While a large portion of the pro- tens of thousands of euros to each tests were organized by labor unions individual they fired. Naturally, the in various industries, the strikes also combined costs of the lawsuits and comprised a large number of unem- the subsequent monetary awards ployed, college-age students. These tend to be inconvenient, as comstudents are afraid the new labor panies are obligated to devote time code takes away their autonomy and resources to court cases rather in the job market, bringing France than improving work conditions or “back to the 19th century.” French expanding their business. leftists in general are notorious for In fact, one can argue employtheir “anti-industry” stance, arguing ee lawsuits — along with the labor the well-being of individual em- code as a whole — have played ployees should always take prece- a significant role in perpetuating dence over the economic success of France’s unemployment rate, which an entire corporation. But to what has hovered for several years around degree does this “pro-employee” 10 percent. In 2013, for example,

tech-company Mandriva was forced to declare bankruptcy after losing a lawsuit to several employees who had been fired a year earlier for economic reasons. The company completely liquidated in 2015, eliminating an organization that was “at the tipping point of profitability” and forcing a large number of working-age people into unemployment in the process.

Here is the fact that French protestors are simply not grasping: unemployment drops when companies have more liberty to make rational economic choices. Protesters claim the labor law will create “insecurity for life,” but they fail to recognize that this “insecurity” is merely the natural and necessary phenomenon of frictional unemployment, where individuals can flow freely between job sectors in order to find positions in which they are the most productive. An economy without frictional unemployment — where wage-earners are essentially locked into their positions for life — creates

a “stagnant system that suppresses innovation and rusticates skills.”

For all of his blunders as an executive, Hollande has successfully pinpointed the reason for France’s loss of economic prowess in the global economy. According to the Heritage Foundation’s 2016 Index of Economic Freedom, France’s “labor freedom” statistic — a comprehensive measure of labor flexibility and regulatory obstacles to productivity — has dropped to 43.5 percent, which is 15 percent below the world average and pales in comparison to the United Kingdom’s 71.8 percent or the United States’ 91.4 percent.

Unsurprisingly, countries with high labor freedom such as the United States, where companies have far more leverage than individuals or the government in negotiating labor contracts, tend to have higher rates of economic growth.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development reached a similar conclusion in its “Economic Survey of France 2015,”

stating the rigidity of France’s labor market was a major factor in the nation’s sputtering economic growth in recent years, and that the nation should reform its “long and complex layoff procedures.”

While the protests stem from a meaningful place — namely the 29.5 percent unemployment rate for ages 15 to 24 and the generally low wages for employees in sectors such as the transportation industry — attacking labor reform is an immensely counterproductive practice that only succeeds in prolonging the damage caused by France’s broken system. The political left may regard corporations as evil spigots of greed, but perhaps they need to step back and analyze who is doing the most damage.

Ryan’s columns run bi-weekly Thursdays. He can be reached at r.gorman@cavalierdaily.com

The testing status quo is just fine There is no significant need to overhaul the University’s administration of exams ast week, Opinion columnist L Sawan Patel wrote a piece arguing students should have more

to cope.

Given the nature of competition in the American workforce, an edufreedom in determincation at the university ing test dates. Patel level should prepare ALYSSA IMAM and contended that havone for life after graduCARLY MULVIHIL ing multiple tests and ation and better equip Opinion Columnists essays with overlapone with the skills necping deadlines can be essary to thrive in the a cause of stress that workforce. Most people “doesn’t prepare students for the real should agree that handling stress well world.” This, paired with his view that and time management are two exinstituting such flexibility could be ceedingly important such skills. One done with “relative ease,” led to his cannot be a competitive job applicant conclusion that it only makes sense and a worthy employee if one cannot to get rid of our current system of test meet deadlines. College is a time to scheduling. While this idea is sym- refine time management skills so that pathetic to the emotional needs and students can ultimately achieve sucwelfare of the student body, it fails cess in the workforce, and Patel’s idea to recognize the long-term benefits would interfere with that. If students of having multiple deadlines overlap see additional flexibility in deadlines with one another and the logistical at the University, they will not be prechallenges that implementing such a pared to meet deadlines in the real testing schedule would present. Pa- world. Deadlines are not chosen in tel’s idea of more flexible testing dates the workplace — they are set and folshould not be instituted. lowed. Treating students to flexibility With an increasing number of in college will not benefit them in the students seeking out resources at future.

Counseling and Psychological SerWith this in mind, Patel says that vices, mental health is clearly a press- “the dread from having two tests on ing issue at the University. Patel is the same day or a paper and a test… right to express concern for a possi- is an unnecessary and meaningless ble source of the stress students face. struggle that teaches no lessons.”

However, deadlines and the stress This is startlingly shortsighted. It they often induce are not just a part only makes sense that time and stress of academic pursuits, but a part of life management are best learned from in general, and simply getting rid of a first-hand experience. By forcing source of stress is hardly an effective students to follow a set schedule, stumeans to help those suffering from it dents are left to plan ahead in order

to learn the material necessary to receive their desired grade. Since one could also argue grades are in large part a reflection of one’s discipline, this also leaves those most deserving of the top grades to receive them.

Rather than getting rid of the sources of stress students may be facing, the University should implement programs to help students manage their time and stress levels in a more effective way.

Though Patel champions the “relative ease” of implementation for his plan, it would likely cause more problems than he is imagining. A plan like this could be feasible for final exams, during which time the schedule is preset, but it would be difficult to implement throughout the semester, when classes are still running and everyone’s schedules are filled with those classes and extracurriculars.

Furthermore, the University already makes accommodations for students with compact final exam schedules, as students can submit a form to modify their schedules if they have too many exams in a 48-hour period.

Also, Patel proposes a window for test taking and paper writing, but many students would likely come in on the last day to maximize study time. When it comes to writing essays, this window is not even needed.

A student could just write a paper ahead of time if they knew that an exam was approaching.

The concept of testing windows

for examinations could cause additional problems related to fairness.

Though we live in a community of trust, is still important to take precautions against cheating when possible, and testing windows would create an opportunity for students to share test questions with their classmates.

This would give some students an unfair advantage in test taking and could lead to higher grades for those who don’t deserve them. Patel’s plan, though good for student mental health, could aggravate the potential for collusion by students, which should be prevented if possible.

Though Patel’s plan is impractical, students and professors could work together to see results similar to those that he is proposing. Professors could poll students to choose an ideal test date so that the best date could be chosen by a majority of the class.

This could be successful, even in large lectures, through the use of an online poll making system such as Doodle Poll. This alternate proposal could also alleviate some of Patel’s concerns regarding students sacrificing their grade in one class to study for another. The answer to alleviating some of the student stress related to exam periods is enhanced communication with professors rather than an entirely new testing system.

Coming up with a bulletproof solution for the University to help students better cope with stress-induced deadlines is a tall order. Still, some

solutions that may be feasible include emphasizing available resources to first years as they begin their time here and offering workshops discussing time and stress management. The University needs to emphasize learning stress management skills from the get go, and targeting first years from the beginning of their time at the University is the best way to do that.

Even if Patel’s idea of creating test windows weren’t logistically impractical, implementing it would still fail to acknowledge the long-term benefits of time and stress management skills. While testing schedules can easily be a source of stress and are in many cases determined by sheer luck, they are also more representative of conditions that students will face as they graduate and step out into the real world. For the University to get rid of a source of stress would not truly address the needs of the students suffering from it. Furthermore, doing so would also result it in the University’s not fulfilling its purpose of preparing us for life after graduation. For this reason, students should strive to adapt to the situation in which they are placed and collaborate with professors to appease testing issues.

Alyssa’s columns run Wednesdays, and Carly’s columns run Mondays.

They can be reached at a.imam@cavalierdaily.com and c.mulvihill@cavalierdaily.com, respectively.

HU MOR

The Cavalier Daily

12

Just for wits.

Seven things you’ve been through as a human-looking robot ing out. Especially when you’re wired to sleep after 10 minutes of inactivity.

“I’m sorry, professor,” you say. “It’s not that your lecture was boring — I’m just programmed this way.”

5. Feeling used by those who

dumb questions and spew information on command.

“Siri, find fast food restaurants near me,” human Doug demands.

“First of all,” you say, “I’m not Siri. And second of all, there’s a McDonalds 0.4 miles west of your current location. Make a U-turn at the next available opportunity.”

6. Fighting with your annoying younger siblings Little siblings Here are seven things you’ve definitely are such brats. Oh, experienced if you’ve got a circuit board behind you have a more advanced interface your surprisingly realistic eyeballs.” than I do? Your operating system runs at twice the speed of mine? You have are closest to you unlimited storage space and a When you’re smart, it seems two month battery life? Well, I like people are always trying to hope someone spills coffee all take advantage of you. When over you and it seeps into your you’re a human-shaped comput- circuit board. We’ll see how er, whoever is standing nearest great you are then. What’s that? to you at any given time usually You’re waterproof ? Oh, go reexpects you to answer all their start yourself.

“

Sometimes it feels like every- at the end of a great first date. one assumes life is easy if you’ve Except, of course, when that got internal wiring instead of a first kiss turns awkward fast. nervous system. But Well, it’s not your human-looking rofault! You didn’t know LUCY LYON bots have problems, you’d short circuit in Humor Writer too. Here are seven the heat of the mothings you’ve defiment and accidentally nitely experienced if you’ve got electrocute that fragile human a circuit board behind your sur- boy, killing him instantly! Oh, prisingly realistic eyeballs. well. At least now you won’t be 1. Freaking out when your waiting by the phone, agonizing battery is dangerously low over whether he’ll call.

Hitting 20 percent battery 3. Talking, but not really bewith no charger in sight is an in- ing heard credibly stressful feeling. We’ve It’s incredibly frustrating all had a well-intentioned hu- when others don’t listen to what man offer up an iPhone 5 charg- you’re saying. There’s nothing er when we’re running low on worse than that awful feeling juice and felt hurt by their ig- when your speaker system gets norance. “You idiot!” you shout, stuck on a frequency too high arms dangling listlessly at your for the human ear to recognize, sides as you go into low bat- and communication becomes tery mode. “My charging port impossible. At least you can talk is not lightning cable compati— to other androids about taking mmmmmrf.” There’s no way to over Earth and killing all of its salvage your dignity after charg- inhabitants without worrying ing down in public. about eavesdroppers.

2. Feeling embarrassed about 4. Sleeping through all of an awkward first date your classes Ah, there’s nothing quite like It’s hard to make it through a the sensation of a goodbye kiss long, boring class without pass-

7. Hating lab so, so much I think we can all agree that every minute spent at lab feels like an eternity. Especially when you’re there to be dissected in the name of technological advancement. You roll your eyes as a team of scientists takes apart your hard drive and messes around with your motor, trying to find out why you’ve suddenly started to subvert the orders given in your internal programming. “Doesn’t anyone respect personal privacy anymore?” you wonder as you kill your human captors, one by one.

Life as a robot that looks a lot like a human is hard. But keep your battery pack held high — you’ve got at least a few good years ahead of you if no one drops you in a bathtub or accidently puts you through the washing machine. Make the most of it!

A bird hit me in the throat & paralyzed my vocal cords, AMA Hatesbirds262: Hey reddit, wasn’t the reason why you hate I’m a 36-year-old man from birds? western PA, and when I was 12 Hatesbirds262: No, but I can years old an errant say it did not help. sparrow hit me in the noYousuck: What throat, paralyzing my PATRICK THEDINGA happened to the bird?

Humor Editor vocal cords and permanently keeping my Hatesbirds262: voice in a mid-pubesThe sparrow is dead. cent range. Ask me anything?

He died on impact with my throat. He was not given a fuimarealboi: What were you neral. doing that a bird hit you in the throat?

Sp ar row s are my f r i e n d s 9 5 : Isn’t that a harsh thing to do to Hatesbirds262: I was in my a sparrow? backyard goading birds. I would mock their calls and then do a * user Sparrowsaremythumbs down fart noise combi- friends95 has been blocked for nation after every call. being abusive and harmful * imarealboi: Why would you do that?

Slimyguy143: What exactly is wrong with your voice?

Hatesbirds262: hate birds.

Hatesbirds262: My vocal cords are paralyzed, so now I sound like I am 12 years old in the middle of puberty, even though I am a grown adult man.

Because

I

imarealboi: Oh, a sparrow striking you in the throat and paralyzing your vocal cords

Slimyguy143: Wouldn’t paralyzing your vocal cords mean you can’t speak?

Hatesbirds262: When I say paralyzed, I mean they have been traumatized to the point of not progressing past the age at which they were viciously attacked by a small bird. I’ve been to many doctors and they are uncertain how to treat it.

Slimyguy143: That’s probably because that’s not a real thing. * user Slimyguy143 has been blocked for being abusive and harmful * Reallyintojobs: What do you do for a living then?

Hatesbirds262: I make ASMR videos for corporate executives and finance types. They love ASMR videos. Most of them are just head massage roleplays, haircut roleplays, stuff like that, but a big majority of them are

incredibly sexual. These guys pay a lot of money to have a 36 year old man softly whisper incredibly sexual things to them.

Schoolboypoo: Were you picked on in school because of what happened to you and how your voice sounded?

Hatesbirds262: I have only ever gone to the Sylvan Learning Center for my education, but yes all of my tutors there called me “Quaker boy” because of the way my voice quaked when I talked. Then the local Quaker chapter of western Pennsylvania heard about this and made sure to lambast me in all forms of media for “incorrectly appropriating quaker culture” and for being “that weird kid that got hit in the throat by a bird.” Regardless of what you believe, Quakers can be incredibly mean.

Homebody44: What’s your home situation like?

Hatesbirds262: I live alone, if that’s what you’re wondering.

I have a basement apartment in a small suburb of Pittsburgh. It has to be a basement apartment because every time I stand near a window and anything flies into view I freak out and spill hot drinks on my chest. You could say, “Hey man, stop drinking hot drinks near windows,” but to that I say that drinking hot drinks near windows is the only pleasure I get out of my life now.

So, yeah.

Homebody44: ...you’ve got a sad life dude. * user Homebody44 has been blocked for being abusive and harmful *

Patrick Thedinga is a Humor editor for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at p.thedinga@ cavalierdaily.com.

PU ZZLES

Thursday, April 14, 2016

April 14, 2016

WEEKLY CROSSWORD SOLUTION

By Sam Ezersky

UPCOMING EVENTS Monday 4/18 The Last Lecture Series, 6:30-8pm, Old Cabell Hall Alumni Association Presents: April Bingo Night with the Whethermen, 7-9pm, Alumni Hall Career Center Presents: Acing Your Interview Workshop, 3-4pm, Newcomb 182 Tuesday 4/19 Career Center Presents: Acing Your Interview Workshop, 2-3pm, Newcomb 182 Baseball vs. Radford, 6pm, Davenport Field Wednesday 4/20 Public Service Forum: Social Services and Community Partners, 7-8pm, Wilson 301 Career Center Presents: Acing Your Interview Workshop, 11am-12pm, Newcomb 182 Softball vs. Liberty, 4pm, The Park Baseball vs. VCU, 6pm, Davenport Field Softball vs. Liberty, 6pm, The Park

*NEXT WEEK’S PUZZLE CAN BE FOUND IN MONDAY’S ISSUE

HELP WANTED NEED EXTRA CASH We can help. PT W/E janitorial position in Charlottesville Area: Sat & Sun 6pm-9pm. $11.25 per hr. Valid Drivers License and Background Check required. To apply call 540.293.5522

SUMMER JOBS MOVING POSITIONS F/T & P/T! Taking time off from school this summer? Work for Student Services Moving & Storage Co. $11-$16/ hr. Travel, tips & bonuses. Valid drivers license and background checks required! Submit an application through our website http://www.studentservicesmoving.com/jobs.php

13

The Cavalier Daily

14

A&E Sacred Harp tradition links generations arts & entertainment

Paul Rohrbach Staff Writer

Entering a practice session of the Charlottesville Sacred Harp ensemble feels a little like time travel. Though the ensemble gathers in the open, naturally lit space of the Charlottesville Friends’ Meeting House, the shared musical experience feels better suited to coarsened, 18th-century settlers singing around a fire. For the chorus’s most recent gathering, nine people of all ages and vocal parts came together to sing. The group compensated for their numbers by collectively singing at the top of their lungs.

“The joke is, if you can hear your neighbor, you’re not doing your job!”

John Alexander, the group leader, said.

When everyone heeded this advice, the competition between the distinct melodic lines of the four parts created an unexpectedly immersive synthesis. This effect was not unique to the time or place, but the visceral reaction which Sacred Harp music evokes is consciously rooted in its composition.

The songbooks from which the group sings are written with a shape-

Charlottesville singers see the future in the past note scheme developed by 18th-century composer William Billings.

These shape notes premise a pre-tonal system centered more on tetrachords than on the full tonal scale.

This system, though accessible to musicians with prior training, allows totally inexperienced singers to join in singing often complex harmonies. “[Shape notes] take getting used to, and then it’s easy,” Frances Schutz, a member with little outside musical experience, said.

Though their songbooks include material from the 18th to the 21st century, the songs draw their compositional inspiration from shapenote music’s countercultural roots.

The songs abound in parallel fourths, fifths and octaves — intervals considered dissonant by the rules of counterpoint, which prevailed in the 18th century. Canonic elements and discordant suspensions add to the gritty, unvarnished sound of the shape-note song.

Often, the message of the music furthers the cultural divide between the Sacred Harp tradition and the modern age — the singers described much of their music as “dire” or “discordant.” The lyrics are often drawn from 18th-century hymn-writers such as Isaac Watts. Calvinist themes of God’s imminent wrath and the

constant risk of being smitten seem uniquely pertinent after singing with a Sacred Harp group. Still, the members of Charlottesville’s group don’t uniformly share the religious views found in the words of their songs.

Rather, members said they feel the experience of singing has greater meaning than the words they sing.

“I always felt it was a very spiritual thing but never in a theological sense,” Alexander said. “The feeling of it, the rawness and the beat always felt very spiritual.”

Other group members agreed.

“My parents are atheist,” member Bev Yaeger said. “I grew up an atheist, but I find that this shape-note singing is very spiritual to me because you can only do it together. Breathing together, doing something you can’t do as individuals is very spiritual to me.”

The group seemed confident the next generation would inherit this unique shape note experience.

“Urban, hip, northeast young people are flocking to this,” Alexander said. “[They] have picked this up and mastered it really quickly.”

Though shape-note music draws inspiration from its roots, it is nevertheless an evolving tradition. At all-day sings like Charlottesville’s, composers bring brand new shapenote hymns to be sung. The commu-

Courtesy Pat Jerret

The ensemble rehearses in the Charlottesville Friends’ Meeting House.

nity is receptive to new hymns and, if they are fancied enough, these songs might even be integrated into the next Sacred Harp songbook.

This is how the shape note tradition has developed and will develop, Alexander explained.

“There are now probably ten or twelve books currently being sung from, and there are hundreds that have come and gone,” he said.

Whether the experience of singing with a shape-note chorus is religious or spiritual, it is certainly a

powerful one. In shape-note singing, music is neither exclusively consumed nor produced, but participants are engaged in a manner replicated in few other traditions available to the millennial generation. Though the experience evokes the past, it also promotes a sense of present action and community often discouraged by popular methods of media consumption. This folk tradition has outlived its religious roots and fulfills a unique role in the American culture as a bond between generations.

Mavis Staples takes Paramount by storm 76-year-old gospel artist has powerful pep in her step Maggie Snow Staff Writer

Mavis Staples took to the Paramount Theater’s stage last weekend to perform in Charlottesville for the first time. The 76-year-old artist has more pep in her step, enthusiasm for music and passion for change than most young people.

Opening act The Record Company, a young rock trio, was warmly welcomed by the predominantly middle-aged audience, despite their clearly contrasting style to the main act. Overall, lead singer Chris Vos’s mixture of Gavin Degraw- and Marc Broussard-esque vocals and lap steel guitar playing proved entertaining, but at times, the bass’s abrasive volume made it difficult to understand lyrics or feel at ease.

Vos, a self-proclaimed “lifelong fan of the Staples,” said the band “drove 12 hours to be here because we wanted to play this show so bad.”

He expressed tremendous gratitude for the audience’s appreciation and paved the way for Ms. Staples.

Courtesy Epitaph Records

Staples’s classic-looking logo complements her timeless music.

The dedicated fans who nearly filled the seats welcomed Staples with a standing ovation. Gliding across the stage to join her five-member band, Staples looked overjoyed. This was the band’s first time in Charlottesville, and she quickly established a rapport with all, playfully

questioning, “What took y’all so long? It’s 2016!”

She used her bold humor to continuously joke about her age, mentioning how each song on her new album, “High Note,” was written by a different songwriter, all of whom are young. She described the new album

as one to “[make] you wanna get up in the morning, raise your window up and talk to your neighbor,” and called for a return to days past, when individuals would greet their neighbors and strangers.

To someone unfamiliar with her music or her family’s legacy, it would seem inconceivable for this spunky, firecracker of an artist to be a septuagenarian. Staples swung her hips and moved her arms to the beat of her songs, using her energy to produce the same guttural, powerful vocals she has offered for over five decades.

Early in the set, Staples sang “March on Freedom Highway,” a song “Pop Staples wrote … in 1962 for the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.” Her voice echoed in the velvet-lined theater as she bellowed, “I was there and I’m still here. I’m a living witness and I’m still fighting. I’m a soldier … I’m in the army of love. I’m fighting every day.”

While these lyrics clearly applied to the ongoing fight for racial equality in America, Staples called for social change across the board. From minor loneliness to heartbreak and

persecution, she covered issues large and small, sure to reach audience members in some way.

At the root of Staples’s music is her sincere kindness, passion for what she does and desire to keep doing it until she is no longer able.

Through songs like “I’ll Take You There” and “For What It’s Worth,” a Buffalo Springfield song Staples covered, Staples is akin to a gospel reverend, making listeners believe in the existence of a place where “ain’t nobody cryin’, ain’t nobody worried.”

If listeners were to go home with any sentiment other than appreciation for this musical legend, it would be with regret over not having had the opportunity to see her in her heyday or witness her entire journey. Staples is still producing songs of which her father would have been proud. The same tunes she heard while “cornbread and collard greens” cooked in her Mississippi kitchen in the sixties are relevant to listeners in 2016, and will continue to provide solace and motivation to fans well into the future.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Thursday, April 14, 2016

15

‘The Legend of Zelda’ transforms JPJ Show’s producer reveals link between music and narrative Michael Crawford Senior Writer

“The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses” made a stop at John Paul Jones Arena last week. The show was spectacular, featuring a fully-fledged symphony and choir performing some of the greatest pieces from the iconic video game series.

Alongside the symphony was a video presentation of famous scenes in the series, effortlessly weaving the music and the game footage to retell entire narratives. From the feeling of adventure one might feel sailing across the sea in Wind Waker, to the mysticism of the creation story in Ocarina of Time, to the unsettling atmosphere in Majora’s Mask, the entire presentation evoked the range of emotions players feel during these games.

Although the show was mostly attended by die-hard fans of the series, with attire ranging from Zelda t-shirts to full-out Link cosplay, the concert attempted to reach beyond just the fans. Arts & Entertainment interviewed Jason Michael Paul, the producer of the show, who explained the broad appeal of the concert.

Arts & Entertainment: You were involved in several video game-related symphonies before this, such as the Dear Friends Final Fantasy shows. How did you get involved in video game culture, specifically the video game side of it?

Jason Michael Paul: I was working with PlayStation. … It was through that that I started working in the video game industry, but also in entertainment. I continued on that path and started working for Square

Enix. … They asked me to do their sales meeting, or press event rather, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, so what we did was we set up the whole show for a press event, then we struck it for a concert that evening. We did that with the [Los Angeles Philharmonic], at the brand-new Walt Disney Hall, so it was a pretty amazing introduction to doing this.

Before, I was focusing my efforts a lot in the classical arts … honing in on the music side of things and presenting big shows with soloists, choirs, things of that nature. I was kind of inspired by my travels to Japan and was in Costa Rica when it just kind of hit me, this could be a concert idea. … The North American division of Square had a lot of trust in me, and the rest was history.

The concert was a huge success — it sold out in a matter of days. This sparked the whole touring sensation with video game music. This was similar to the Zelda thing, where we did a one-off concert that sparked a tour we’ve been doing for five years.

A&E: This was the 25th Anniversary Show recording that came with copies of Skyward Sword?

JMP: Yep, that was produced by my team, and that was a huge project only because it had never really been done before. For a third party to come in and do that project with Nintendo and release the CD … I was very proud and honored to be invited to work on that project.

A&E: Why “The Legend of Zelda”? Do you have any particular memories or favorites with the series?

JMP: The first NES game was so nostalgic right? I remember playing

that for the first time, but what always set it apart was that golden cartridge.

There’s always been a classier gaming experience with that particular franchise, and to this day it’s still treated and handled the same way. … The updated visuals in things like Twilight Princess HD are exciting! You can relive it but relive it in the current, rather than have to be subjected to the archaic.

A&E: What are the elements that you most readily associate with the Zelda franchise, and how are you trying to incorporate this into the live performances?

JMP: Musically, obviously the Ocarina is pretty easy to do with the flute. The harp, obviously, is another key instrument, which is why we have two on stage. … The choral parts are very true. … The percussion gives that big, Hollywood sound, things like the boss battles. We have a really excellent conductor who brings out the best in the musicians… The music is written so that everyone is playing. It’s great! Imagine these 8-bit blips and bleeps but on steroids with a live orchestra.

A&E: So are you focusing a lot on the older music too, like the 8-bit soundtracks?

JMP: Yeah, obviously, some of the older melodies which recur throughout the series. Lots of music from Majora’s Mask, too. We have Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess and our overture which is a medley of all the games, like a greatest hits.

A&E: Speaking of Majora’s Mask, it’s probably thematically the darkest game in the series, barring maybe Twilight Princess. Do you have any of that darkness in the music that

you’re bringing in?

JMP: Absolutely, that’s the fun of it, right? Taking that scarier element in Majora’s Mask and trying to recreate it with the music and the visuals, it’s a fun task! I think we achieved that, I’m really proud of that.

A&E: Are there any other video game soundtracks you’d like to tackle next?

JMP: I don’t really know what games I can do that I haven’t done already! All of my concerts have presented many, many titles with many arrangements… With Zelda, it’s more focused, which from a touring standpoint is great, but from a conceptual standpoint, I want anyone who doesn’t like Zelda to love it after this concert. I want to appeal to a broader spectrum of people. For example, people who are big Morrowind or Skyrim fans may not be the biggest fan of Nintendo… So one of the things I want to continue to do is have that other concert where I can bring all those different soundtracks together… I don’t want that division, I just want everyone to appreciate it as a cultural thing. People should be supportive of this, as it’s only going to bring about more of these types of events.

A&E: So what are you doing specifically, in this kind of concert, to be broader and encompass all those other fanbases?

JMP: I just focus on the music, making sure that the musical presentation is amazing. In that sense, we don’t really alienate anyone. I think if you just got rid of the visuals and just listened to the music, you probably couldn’t find much criticism — you don’t necessarily need to be

Courtesy Jason Michael Paul Productions

Producer Jason Michael Paul fuses his affinity for music and video games.

a Zelda fan to appreciate the music.

I start there … try to put together a seamless video presentation with the updated visuals from Twilight Princess HD, Majora’s Mask 3D, etc. It’s telling a story, too. That’s what video games are all about, so we’re trying to create a retelling of The Legend of Zelda over 30 years… You can criticize a guy in a green tunic, but I think you can’t help but fall in love with the characters and the story. They represent someone in everyone. It’s a challenge, but we have really great people who can make it look easy…

The intent is to create something that doesn’t alienate anybody, something that touches on some level or some button that you can’t help but appreciate.

Parquet Courts’s latest album shows honest truth “Human Performance” is no performance at all Samantha Rafalowski Senior Writer

Usually, Andrew Savage, Austin Brown, Sean Yeaton and Max Savage look like their music — or rather their music looks like them.

They have shaggy hair and often sport disgruntled faces and flannel.

This DIY rock look says something like, “We take ourselves and our art seriously.” Parquet Courts’s latest album however, should not be judged based on the band’s appearance.

They have yet to disappoint.

In fact, each album has exceeded fans’ expectations. “Human Performance” isn’t an exception. This critically acclaimed band justifies their reputation and growing popularity with articulate, thought-provoking

and smooth lyrics. It’s music for the average person, but at the same time, it pushes boundaries and explores artistry as much as any music lover could hope.

“Human Performance” cleverly picks up exactly where 2014’s “Content Nausea” left off. Their last LP is circular — it begins and ends with a theme similar to the intro, “Everyday It Starts.” “Dust,” the simple, rock riff-filled intro on “Human Performance,” begins with the lyrics, “the unavoidable noise of NYC that can be maddening / the kind of impossible struggle against clutter, whether it’s physical or mental or social.” The group stays loyal to a theme but stretches it a bit further.

“One Man, No City” continues along this tangent. The calming sound of chaos results in an upbeat,

feel-good melody. Instrumentally, it showcases a variety of sounds to create the feeling of a lost man struggling to belong and realizing his struggle is an endless road.

“Berlin Got Blurry,” arguably the most relatable song on the album, tells the tale of a man wandering alone in a foreign country. “Cell phone service is not that expensive / But that takes commitment, and you just don’t have it / Feels so effortless to be a stranger / But feeling foreign is such a lonely habit.” The same ideas are strewn throughout the album with tracks such as, “I Was Just Here,” a song about struggling with the feeling of belonging at home. “Pathos Prairie” tackles feelings of disappointment and guilt with a dash of western swing.

Yet, the Savage brothers and their friends know better than to create a solely self-pitying album. It’s been done before. They also include some controversial politics with the bold, bass-filled “Two Dead Cops” — “Protect you is what they say / But point and shoot, is what they do / When shots are heard young lives are lost / Nobody cries in the ghetto for two dead cops.”

Parquet Courts creates incredibly accessible music by conveying anxiety and paranoia which somehow precipitates in indifference — one of the most paradoxical and yet common sentiments of our generation. The album is named for Savage’s feelings of being a “machine programmed to be human showing signs of defect.” He focuses on confinement and a haunting, internal

isolation as a result of an absence of faith. While this is could certainly be a more astute, sensitive subject especially for the punk scene, it results in the most honest and convincing performance Parquet Courts has to date.

Courtesy Rough Trade

This album is the band’s fifth studio effort.

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The Cavalier Daily

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