Monday, April 20, 2015

Monday, April 20, 2015

Vol. 125, Issue 53

Jefferson Trust awards over $630,000 Grants awarded to 14 organizations Reade Pickert and Henry Pflager News Writers

Marshall Bronfin| The Cavalier Daily

Jefferson Trust Executive Director Wayne Cozart said the financial success of the trust has only been possible because of University alumni.

The Jefferson Trust held an award ceremony Friday in Pavilion III, honoring and granting money to organizations and efforts in the Charlottesville area that have worked to better and uphold the University community. The group will give grants in 2015 totaling over $630,000 to at least 14 initiatives.

At the Friday event, a series of speakers spoke to the importance of the Jefferson Trust. Steve Smiley, chair of the Alumni Association Board of Visitors, said it serves to challenge members of the community to better the University.

“The Jefferson Trust Board of Trustees, supported by the Alumni Association’s Board of Managers, challenges students, faculty and organizations to request funding for new initiatives that will enhance the University of Virginia as a pre-eminent, global institution of higher learning,” he said.

Jefferson Trust Grant Administrator Amy Bonner, said there are a number of factors in deciding exactly to whom and how much the trust grants.

The extent of funding, she said, can vary greatly depending on need.

“Grant funding amounts are decided by several factors: amount requested, total amount available to fund in each year, total pool of proposals, and strength of individual proposals,” Bonner said in an email. “Grant awards from the Jefferson Trust have ranged from $2,500 to $100,000, with an average grant size of $39,400.”

Bonner said University administrators were consulted during the grant review process.

“As part of the grant review process, information about top proposals under consideration are shared with the president, provost and COO [chief operating officer] of the University, and their comments are taken into consid-

see GRANT, page 4

Two University students receive Truman Scholarship Russell Bogue, Lia Cattaneo among 58 students nationwide to receive prestigious scholarship

Alison Phanthavong Senior Writer

Third-year students Lia Cattaneo and Russell Bogue were named Harry S. Truman Scholars this Wednesday. A total of 58 students across the nation in their third year of college received the scholarship, which will be awarded for the 2015-16 academic year. Each scholar will receive $30,000 to go toward their graduate educations.

Bogue, a third-year College student majoring in a politics honors program, said he is planning to pursue a dual de-

gree in law and public policy with the money granted to him by the scholarship. He is not locked in to these plans and says he is open to possible changes.

“There are a number of schools that offer these [dual degree programs],” Bogue said. “One [that] I’m looking at is that of Harvard Law School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government — that program is not only for obtaining the dual degrees, but also has an emphasis on the overlaps between the two fields. It’s not just another way to get two degrees as fast as possible.”

Cattaneo, a third-year College student double-majoring in civil and environmental engineering and environmental sciences, said the scholarship would allow her to pursue science in a policy context in an interdisciplinary subject. Before, she said, she might have solely had the option to pursue a scientific track.

“My passion is using policy to connect science to solutions for climate change and make them actionable,” Marshall Bronfin | The Cavalier Daily

see TRUMAN, page 4

Courtesy U.Va Student Council

Russell Bogue (left) and Lia Cattaneo (right) will each receive $30,000 toward their graduate education.

BLACK STUDENT ALLIANCE RELEASES PROPOSAL FOR BETTER UNIVERSITY | PAGE 3

N news

The Cavalier Daily

2

American Law Institute elects Law professors University now has 21 faculty members as part of the Institute Hannah Hall Senior Writer

University Law School Profs.

Richard Bonnie, Rachel Harmon and Brandon Garrett were recently elected to the American Law Institute.

The University now has 21 faculty members who are a part of the Institute. Harmon, Bonnie and Garrett will continue to teach at the University while also working with the ALI. The American Law Institute is a group of lawyers, judges and professors who work to clarify and improve the law, and members are chosen based on personal achievements and a desire to better the law. Dean of the School of Law Paul Mahoney said that being chosen for the ALI is a great accomplishment.

“Election to the ALI is a great honor and a mark of the respect in which the nominee is held by the legal profession,” Mahoney said.

Harmon said she was honored to be selected to be a part of the organization, and spoke to its rich history and its legal impact.

“The ALI is an extraordinary organization, which has worked for

nearly 100 years to influence and improve the development of the law,” Harmon said. “I am honored to be given the opportunity through it to work with exceptional scholars and practitioners on the legal regulation of policing, the subject to which I have devoted my career.”

Harmon said she has been asked participate in a multi-year project on police investigations as an associate reporter. Her responsibilities will include working on principles regarding remedies and accountability. Harmon said that she expects her work to align with her teaching and research at the law school, which continue to be her primary focus.

Before coming to the University, Harmon attended MIT, where she majored in Civil Engineering. After attending MIT, she received two master’s degrees from the London School of Economics, where she was a Marshall Scholar, prior to receiving her law degree from the Yale Law School.

After she finished school, Harmon worked as a clerk for Judge Guido Calabresi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Justice Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Su-

preme Court. Harmon then worked as a prosecutor for eight years, mostly in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

“I prosecuted hate crimes and cases involving deprivations of rights by public officials, including excessive force and sexual assaults,” Harmon said. “I came to U.Va. from the Justice Department in order to think more about how law influences the police and can best regulate policing.”

At the University, Harmon teaches a course on the Law of the Police, which investigates the interaction of federal, state and local laws that govern the police.

Garrett, who has been asked to work on the same project as Harmon, received his B.A. from Yale.

He then went on to attend Columbia Law School, where he was a Kent Scholar. After law school, Garrett clerked for Judge Pierre N. Leval of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit before working as an associate at Neufeld, Scheck & Brustin in New York City. Garrett is currently a visiting fellow at All Souls College in Oxford, England.

Garrett’s focus has been on wrongful convictions and DNA ex-

onerations, and he has written a few books on the subject. His teaching and research interests include criminal procedure, wrongful convictions, habeas corpus, corporate crime, scientific evidence, civil rights, civil procedure and constitutional law.

Bonnie attended Johns Hopkins University for his undergraduate degree and received his law degree from the University’s Law School.

Throughout his career, he has been heavily involved in public service and has served as associate director of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, among many other positions.

At the University, Bonnie is the Harrison Foundation Professor of Medicine and Law and director of the University’s Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy. Bonnie is also a public policy professor in the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and a professor of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences. Within the ALI, Bonnie will be working on a restatement of the law on children and youth.

Richard Bonnie and Brandon Garrett could not be reached for comment.

THE CAVALIER DAILY The Cavalier Daily

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

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

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

The Cavalier Daily is published Mondays and Thursdays in print and daily online at cavalierdaily.com. It is printed on at least 40 percent recycled paper. 2015 The Cavalier Daily Inc.

Have an opinion?

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

Questions/Comments

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

The public editor is available at publiceditor@cavalierdaily.com.

MANAGING BOARD Editor-in-Chief Julia Horowitz Managing Editor Chloe Heskett Executive Editor Dani Bernstein Operations Manager Lianne Provenzano Chief Financial Officer Allison Xu JUNIOR BOARD Assistant Managing Editors Thrisha Potluri Mitchell Wellman (SA) Harper Dodd (SA) Kathryn Fink (SA) Courtney Stith (SA) Jane Diamond (SA) Michael Reingold News Editors Owen Robinson Katherine Wilkin (SA) Ella Shoup

(SA) Kayla Eanes Sports Editors Matt Morris Ryan Taylor (SA) Robert Elder (SA) Matthew Wurzburger Opinion Editors Conor Kelly Gray Whisnant (SA) Mary Russo Focus Editor Sara Rourke Life Editors Allie Jensen Victoria Moran Arts & Entertainment Editors James Cassar Candace Carter (SA) Noah Zeidman (SA) Flo Overfelt Health and Science Editor Meg Thornberry (SA) Vanessa Braganza Production Editors Sloan Christopher

Jasmine Oo Mark Duda (Graphics) Anne Owen (SA) Caity Freud (SA) Sean Cassar Photography Editors Marshall Bronfin Porter Dickie (SA) Akash Khungar Video Editor Porter Dickie Online Manager Anna Sanfilippo (SA) Ellie Beahm Social Media Managers Manali Sontakke Dallas Simms Ads Manager Kirsten Steuber (Student Manager) Sascha Oswald Marketing Manager Jess Godt Business Managers Alex Rein Kay Agoglia

NEWS

Monday, April 20, 2015

3

Black Student Alliance releases proposal for better University ‘Toward a Better University’ outlines concerns, recommendations for change

Chloe Heskett and Kayla Eanes News Writers

The Black Student Alliance released a proposal titled “Towards a Better University” Friday evening, detailing concerns and recommendations to improve the lives of black students, faculty and workers at the University.

The proposal is 27 pages in length and lists 30 supporting black student organizations, including the University chapter of the NAACP, the Black Male Initiative and the Minority Rights Coalition, among others. It is broken into four key sections — regarding a culture of truth, the elimination of abuses, the proper allocation of resources and increasing black presence at the University.

Incoming BSA President Aryn Frazier, a second-year College student, said BSA began working on the proposal a few days after the bloody arrest of Martese Johnson on the Corner on Mar. 18.

“We all knew that there needed to be concrete recommendations regarding the abuse that was inflicted on Martese directly, but also the indirect causes like culture that the University very much so reinforc-

es,” Frazier said in an email. “The ideas that are included are a synthesization of the myriad concerns that came out of meetings in the wake of that attack, as well as the result of quite a bit of research done by many concerned students.”

By way of introduction, the proposal states that the University must first acknowledge its “horrific history in regards to its treatment of Black people,” and its failure to address these issues over several decades, and take on a leadership role by enacting tangible changes.

“The University of Virginia must take a lead on issues of diversity, inclusion, and racial equity in order to position itself as a model institution of higher learning,” the proposal reads. “In order to achieve this goal, tangible changes must be implemented. We urge the administration to commit and align with these action items and steps towards transformational change.”

Following the introduction, the proposal calls for the creation of a “Culture of Truth that permeates every corner of the University of Virginia, the City of Charlottesville, and the greater nation.”

In an interview following Johnson’s arrest, outgoing BSA President Joy Omenyi, a fourth-year College student, said without

ADVERTISEMENT

this culture of truth and honesty, it will be hard to move forward with tangible results.

“If we don’t operate from a standpoint of honesty and truth, we might as well not be doing this at all,” Omenyi said.

To further this culture of truth, BSA offers 10 tangible policy recommendations. These include the implementation of an online “cultural competency training module” mandatory for all students, a required period for public comment at Board of Visitors meetings, an in-depth study on the condition of black people at the University — similar to “An Audacious Faith,” released in 1987 — and greater awareness in the general student body, partly through the inclusion of more minority voices in coursework.

“That culture of truth needs to permeate inside and outside of the classroom,” Omenyi said. “If we’re not being truthful with ourselves, we will only continue in that downward spiral.”

The proposal also calls for an “Elimination of Abuses,” including both physical abuse and forms of economic and psychological abuses in the Charlottesville area.

The University is a major employer in the Charlottesville area but does not pay a living wage, which the proposal cites as an economic abuse.

In order to combat economic abuse, the proposal includes other requests, including an internal and external review as well as an “intentional study on the cost and effect of institutionalizing a living minimum wage” for all direct employees of the University, supplemental skill training for employees during summer months and an effort from President Teresa Sullivan to move toward the “revamping of the Staff Union and take steps towards improving the Staff Senate.”

“The biggest part of that is respecting the people who do all this work for us — respecting the people whose home we come into for four years and leave,” Omenyi said. “It’s an abusive relationship between the University and the Charlottesville community.”

The proposal also calls on Gov. Terry McAuliffe and the Virginia legislature to abolish the law enforcement mandate of the ABC, citing other states such as Pennsylvania, Delaware and Idaho, which have already taken steps to transfer alcohol control enforcement to existing departments and agencies.

Additionally, the proposal calls for “additional, thorough implicit biases and discrimination training” for the University, Charlottesville and Albemarle police departments and well as an introduction of stricter regulations regarding situations in which a police officer can make physical contact with a citizen.

BSA defines the proper allocation of resources as including, but not limited to, monetary funding and space allocation. It outlines the necessity of the University to create spaces in which minority students can “be seen as permanent and important fixtures.”

The proposal calls on the Board of Vis-

itors to allocate resources for expansion and renovation of the Luther P. Jackson Center and the Office of African American Affairs, which currently exists at what was originally deemed a temporary location almost 40 years ago, and increased financial support for organizations and programs which benefit minority students academically, socially and psychologically. BSA also calls on Sullivan and her cabinet for support of these measures.

The proposal also outlines efforts to increase black presence of students, faculty and staff on Grounds at the University, citing a steady decline in percentage of black students, with a number of 6.1 percent of the student body as of fall 2014.

Under the increase of black presence on Grounds, the proposal lists goals including a concordant percentage of black students with the percentage of black Virginia residents, a focus on increasing enrollment from areas of Virginia with low numbers of applicants and matriculations and a re-evaluation of recruitment strategies in the attempt to attract black student talent.

BSA also highlights financial burden and sticker price for the University as possible deterrents for attendance of minority students and calls for increased financial support for minority students, both current and incoming, and said hiring more black professors with relevant backgrounds across various departments “will ensure that, regardless of major, students are receiving a well-rounded education that includes various perspectives.”

“It’s not only recruiting but retaining,” Omenyi said. “If you’re recruiting all this black faculty, but they’re leaving after two years, what does that mean?”

Omenyi said a number of people in the Masters of Public Policy program in the Batten School expressed an interest in working with the organization regarding policy and logistics.

“We sat down with them to provide a foundation of what we were working with, they came back to us with what they had — which was a lot of research and synthesizing, then we came back and worked and expanded on it a bit more and added necessary particulars,” Omenyi said in an email.

Frazier said BSA hopes for everything outlined in their proposal to take place.

“Everything outlined in that document is doable; the only question is whether those in power have the will to truly change the University for the better,” Frazier said.

Frazier said if these proposals are carried out, the University can be a leader for other institutions of higher education, which she said exhibit the same issues of diversity and inclusion.

“The University cannot simply look to its peers in regards to improving its racial track record: these issues of diversity and inclusion exist across higher education,” Frazier said. “If U.Va. does this, then it will be a leader in higher academia that its peer institutions should model, and U.Va. will be much better equipped to attract more top students and top faculty.”

4

NEWS

The Cavalier Daily

GRANT Funds aid organizations promoting University ideals Continued from page 1 eration,” Bonner said.

One organization the Jefferson Trust recognized was the Teaching Resource Center’s Ignite, which received $49,760. Having received $10,000 more than the average grant, Dorothe Bach, the Ignite project director at the Teaching Resource Center, said she is very excited about what the financial support will allow.

“With support from the Jefferson Trust grant, the Teaching Resource Center is thrilled to launch its newest program, Ignite,” Bach said in a statement.

“Ignite capitalizes on the historic turnover of U.Va. faculty by preparing the next generation of professors to create superb academic learning experiences for their students.”

Over the past nine years, the Jefferson Trust has funded 123 other grants, the result of an endowment Smiley said he hopes will grow over the next five years.

“Currently, the Jefferson Trust has over $23 million in assets, and we hope to increase that endowment over the next five years, allowing the trust to provide at least one million dollars or more in grants each year,” Smiley said.

Jefferson Trust Executive Di-

rector Wayne Cozart said this financial success would not have been possible without the help of generous alumni who made it possible. He thanked all those active in the trust and discussed the importance of the Jefferson Trust now and in the future.

“University of Virginia alumni want their University to be strong, world-renowned and cutting-edge and in every respect a recognized leader in education, teaching and research,” Cozart said. “It is with 14 grants that the Jefferson Trust is about to disclose today on these recipients here, that the Trust believes that it can and will create that bold

example for the future.”

Mark Pinho, chair of the Jefferson Trust Board of Trustees, said the purpose of the trust is to accomplish just that, while at the same time supporting a diverse and ever-growing scope of endeavors.

“What we do is provide grants to students, faculty, alumni, and other friends of the school as they try to go out into new ventures at the University and we hope to be the catalyst of support for those ventures,” Pinho said. “The unrestricted nature of the endowment allows us to support a wide variety of programs — programs that enhance teaching and schol-

arship and research.”

Pinho said nearly five million dollars have been granted over the past nine years, funding projects from Pavilion seminars to individual student projects.

“Over the past nine years the Jefferson Trust has awarded over $4.8 million for 123 projects,” Pinho said. “There’s no restrictions on how we use our capital.

What we care about is: is this going to make a difference in the University continuum? And is it something that’s going to be ultimately sustainable? If we think it meets those two criteria, we want to support it with capital and with alumni support.”

TRUMAN Students say funds will allow them to pursue passions Continued from page 1 Cattaneo said. “I intend to pursue a graduate program that will allow for me to further pursue those interests. I’m excited to make climate change no longer a problem, which is idealistic, and while there’s no silver bullet for that, there are so many possibilities and solutions, and we just need to come together to make that happen.”

When asked what her advice would be to students applying for leadership positions and scholarships, she said she thought it was important to have a passion for the activities one participates in.

“Love what you do,” Cattaneo said. “If you don’t love what you do, you won’t do it, and you won’t do it well. People ask me how I squeeze in what I do; I enjoy it. I wake up every morning and I’m

excited to go to these meetings and pack my day with all of the things that I have to do.”

Cattaneo also said it was important to take the initiative to chase after things you want.

“U.Va is an amazing institute of higher education, and one to be actively involved in,” she said.

“Put yourself out there. Try the application process. It’s more informative than you think. Regardless of if you get the scholarship, you will learn something.

It’s an incredible experience.”

Bogue said he thought it was important to get an early start and discussed the significance of self-reflection and personal awareness during an application process.

“I feel like I sort of snuck in to be honest, but I would say to start early,” Bogue said. “The hardest part of the application process for me was this very

long self-reflective process, deciding what I wanted to say, and changing my mind, and tweaking things, and asking how I wanted to accomplish things, as well as my motivations for applying for the scholarship or for college in general.”

Bogue, who is a Jefferson Scholar and Echols Scholar, serves as the vice chair for trials on the Honor Executive Committee. He is also the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Seriatim and the public policy chair of One in Four.

Cattaneo, a Rodman Scholar, serves as the co-chair of the Student Council Sustainability Committee, a member of the Board of Directors of Madison House, president of the Club Figure Skating Team and an intern at the Brody Jewish Center.

Both Cattaneo and Bogue said they were excited to be a part of

a diverse community of exceptional students who are inspired to make changes through their passions.

“It’s an incredible opportunity to be a part of a cohort of brilliant and inspiring people that are making a difference in their own way,” Cattaneo said. “Being able to be a part of that community, and to be able to learn from all of these different people is more important to me than the title.”

University Politics Prof. Steven Rhoads has worked with Bogue to revise chapters of his book — “An Economist’s View of the World” — and said that Bogue is an exceptional leader and writer.

“He seems to always be incredibly interested, and he wants to hear all sides of every issue,” Rhoads said. “He is extremely bright, and one of the best writ-

ers I’ve ever had -— and I’ve been teaching since 1970…He’s quite remarkable.”

University Environmental Sciences Prof. Deborah Lawrence said Cattaneo is a quick thinker and has a great ability to present new ideas with great enthusiasm and clarity.

“When talking with Lia about ideas, or thinking about how to make something happen, she is rarely stumped,” Lawrence said in an email. “She has the ability to wade through muddy waters and pull something — unseen to us — from the bottom of a swirling torrent, or capture something flying quickly by. Then, she takes that idea, wipes it clean, polishes it up and shares it in a way that helps everyone around her see how beautiful or right it is. She is passionate, determined, and hopeful. She will be a change agent.”

Three Divest UMW protesters detained by police Group divestment proposal rejected by Mary Washington Board of Visitors Kathleen Smith Associate Editor

Three people were held in police custody after refusing to leave George Washington Hall at the University of Mary Washington Wednesday. Two students and one member of the community faced arrest following a demonstration in support of Divest UMW, a group campaigning for the school to withdraw its endowment from any companies that profit from the exploitation of fossil fuels.

Twenty people affiliated with Divest UMW staged a sit-in

of the President’s office beginning March 26 after the college’s Board of Visitors rejected a vote on forming a divestment subcommittee. According to a press released issued Monday, Divest UMW wants the BOV to take action towards full divestment by creating a divestment subcommittee that is committed to removing investments in coal by May 2016.

The administration issued a warning at 5 p.m. Wednesday, mandating that all students and community members evacuate the President’s office by 6:30 p.m.

The three individuals were taken

into custody after failing to adhere to the request.

The group has similar aims to Divest UVa, a campaign being run by the University’s Climate Action Society, which seeks to divest all of the University’s assets associated with fossil fuels. Firstyear College student Kendall King-Sellars, head of Divest UVa said divestment from fossil fuels is the fastest growing student divestment movement to date.

“With this campaign, U.Va. students are joining students from universities across the world in calling on their Board of Visitors to prioritize their future over an

obsolete status quo,” King-Sellars said in an email. “At the administrative level, a working group is drafting a sustainable finance proposal incorporating divestment and other measures to ensure that our University is greener in the long term.”

Aiming to support various divestment movements, Divest UVa works with groups from other campuses throughout the Commonwealth with DivestVA and the Virginia Student Environmental Coalition.

“Students from around the state helped plan the Divest UMW sit-in and held their own actions

this past week during Harvard's Heat Week,” King-Sellars said.

King-Sellers said Divest UVa is currently drafting a proposal to present to the Board of Visitors, one which she hopes will be ready by next semester.

“The working group includes professors and students from a wide-range of disciplines including environmental sciences and the commerce school,” King-Sellars said. “We hope to have the proposal finished and passed by the Sustainability Committee by the beginning of the fall semester.”

NEWS

Monday, April 20, 2015

5

Students hold annual Take Back the Night rally followed by vigil Events part of a week-long awareness campaign Timothy Petraco and Caityn Seed News Writers

Take Back The Night held a rally Thursday at Lambeth Field to discuss sexual violence before the group moved to the amphitheater for a vigil.

After opening with a performance from a cappella group The Flying V’s, the talk featured several speakers from the University community and beyond.

Keynote speaker Gordon Braxton — a 2002 graduate of the Commerce School and a member of One in Four during his time at the University — encouraged people to become involved in anti-violence causes and explained that even small commitments matter.

“If you listen to what is said, what is being asked of you isn’t always too hard,” Braxton said. “I’m not saying these things are easy, but they have low time commitment.”

Additionally, he advocated for people to reach out whenever they feel the need to, which convinced him of the importance of this idea.

“Our social training doesn’t always have our best interest in mind,” Braxton said. “Train yourself to become articulate in

spreading your cause.”

The other speakers featured similar themes, including Tom Lukas, an author who described his personal experiences with sexual assault and violence.

“You are the one’s who are going to make the difference,” Lukas said.

He also recognized wide range of resources University students have at their disposal that should be used to their best advantage.

The cast of Vagina Monologues performed twice, first presenting a message about owning one’s body, and then reading a poem written by a former University student containing the lyrics from popular songs that are particularly violent and demeaning.

Gil Harrington — the mother of Morgan Harrington, who disappeared while attending a concert at John Paul Jones arena in 2009 — spoke about the work she has done and the impact her daughter has had since her remains were discovered in 2010.

The aunt of Alexis Murphy, the victim of a similar crime, also spoke.

Program Coordinator for Prevention Nicole Thomas spoke about the Green Dot program and urged people to become involved.

“Violence doesn’t belong in our communities, and we all have a part to do,” Thomas said.

After the rally, participants walked to the amphitheater for TBTN’s annual vigil, the culmination of its week-long campaign to combat and raise awareness about sexual assault and misconduct.

The vigil opened with a song by the Virginia Women’s Chorus as well as a performance by the University a cappella group the Academical Village People. Survivors then had the opportunity to come forward, either anonymously or not, to share their personal stories in front of the community.

Amelia Nemitz, Take Back the Night co-chair for the vigil, said the event is above all focused on establishing a system of support.

“The vigil provides a safe and anonymous space for survivors of sexual violence to share their stories with the community,” Nemitz said. “It [also] gives the community a chance to provide their support and learn more about the issue.”

Take Back the Night also works in coordination with the Sexual Assault Resource Agency, which provides advocates each year to support speakers and audience members who wish to receive counsel.

Erica Robertson, major events chair for the Sexual Violence Prevention Coalition, said the event is one of the most emotional and

engaging of the week-long campaign. SVPC is the umbrella organization which brings together various advocacy groups on grounds, such as One Less and One in Four.

“It’s one of many events that we have during the week — but I think it’s one of the most touching and empowering because it’s very personal and you feel that connection even if you don’t know who it is,” Robertson said.

Survivors who chose to speak at the event had the option to do so either from within or outside a covered tent to preserve anonymity. SARA and Take Back the Night volunteers also offered to read any stories should an individual not feel comfortable speaking up by him- or herself.

Nemitz said she is amazed by the courage of those who come forward to speak and grateful for the support the vigil itself provides.

“We just want to offer a big thank you to all the survivors to those in the audience and those who speak,” Nemitz said. “We really admire their courage in coming forward and again, we appreciate the audience especially because their support is really crucial for us to create the community of support for survivors at the University.”

First-year College student

Madi Baril, a member of the Take Back the Night Open Arts Board, said she believes having the vigil is especially important for the University this year.

“The events that have happened [on Grounds this semester]...have only been brief moments of awareness,” Baril said.

“Take Back the Night is supporting a movement that is sustainable, and to come out and support actual survivors rather than the idea of survivors is really important to me.”

Baril said the vigil itself is both hopeful and heartbreaking for her.

“It felt really heavy and I’m actually kind of scared that this is something that happens so frequently,” Baril said. “Even though I’ve read so much about it and tried to keep informed its terrifying to think that sexual assault happens to one in four women on college campuses.”

Baril also stressed the overall message of hope and support the vigil sends to the community, not only for survivors, but for allies as well.

“I think it was very powerful evening for everybody,” Baril said. “I really hope those messages reach all those people who they were supposed to meet, including supporters and survivors and also perpetrators.”

ADVERTISEMENT

John Pappas| The Cavalier Daily

Students gather and rally to raise awareness for survivors of sexual violence and to promote a community of support.

S

sports Robert Elder

Senior Associate Editor

Only a season ago Cavalier fans got their first taste of T.J. Thorpe.

And it wasn’t a good one.

In an Oct. 25 matchup against North Carolina in the South’s Oldest Rivalry, a wide-open, thenUNC wide receiver Thorpe caught a 16-yard third-down pass and raced in for the go-ahead touchdown with 4:05 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers couldn’t answer, falling 28-27.

But in a twist for the 2015 foot-

The Cavalier Daily

6

Cavs play Orange-Blue spring game UNC transfer Thorpe shines in intrasquad scrimmage, trimmed-down Brown records 3.5 tackles for loss

ball season, Virginia is hoping the senior makes similar plays in Scott Stadium. Only this time, they will be greeted with cheers and perhaps a playing of the Good Ol’ Song.

Thorpe, a transfer with immediate eligibility, made his presence known early in Virginia’s annual Orange-Blue spring football game.

On the first drive, the former Tar Heel took a jet sweep to the right for 47 yards. A few plays later, he caught a 20-yard pass before hauling in a 12-yard touchdown.

On the sixth drive of the game, he also drew a pass-interference penalty on senior cornerback Demetrious Nicholson, eventual-

ly setting up a 44-yard field goal by junior kicker Dylan Sims. Although punt returns were not incorporated into the spring game, Thorpe is also the favorite to take that job come training camp in August.

“He’s a dynamic player,” coach Mike London said. “We want to try to find ways to get him the ball.

He’s been a guy that’s been pretty consistent throughout camp being able to make plays.”

But the signal caller who will throw him the ball still remains

see FOOTBALL, page 8

Porter Dickie | The Cavalier Daily

Senior wide receiver T.J. Thorpe made a trio of big plays on the scrimmage’s opening drive. He gained 47 yards on a jet sweep, caught a 20-yard pass and hauled in a 12-yard touchdown.

Men’s lacrosse tops Hoyas, 12-9 Lukacovic’s seven points, German’s hat trick propel Virginia on Senior Day

Robert Elder

Senior Associate Editor

Before Virginia entertained Georgetown in the teams’ first-ever regular-season meeting, nine Cavalier seniors were honored, many of whom were suiting up for their final regular-season contest at Klöckner Stadium.

But from the opening whistle, one underclassman stole the show.

Sophomore attackman Ryan Lukacovic, who tallied four goals and dished out three assists on the afternoon, overcame a slow

start and meticulously picked apart the Georgetown zone, allowing No. 9 Virginia (9-4, 0-4 ACC) to pull away and earn a much-needed 12-9 victory against the No. 14 Hoyas (8-5, 3-1 Big East).

Senior midfielder Tyler German added a hat trick while senior attackman Owen Van Arsdale put up a goal and two assists in their Senior Day performances.

“I think the zone definitely helped me out,” Lukacovic said.

“Being behind and not really having too much pressure on me, I was able to find the guys inside.”

The Cavaliers began the game slowly, with Georgetown clear-

Zoe Toone | The Cavalier Daily

Sophomore attackman Ryan Lukacovic picked apart the Georgetown zone Saturday at home. He finished with four goals and three assists, and Virginia used a 7-0 run to earn the win.

ly starting off with more energy and focus. The Hoyas took advantage, starting the game on a 3-0 run and outshooting Virginia 11-6 in the first quarter.

But junior attackman Greg Coholan finally put Virginia on the board with 2:07 to play on a running, stick-side high shot.

Van Arsdale brought Virginia to within one after his low bouncer slipped past Georgetown freshman goalie Nick Marrocco with 39 seconds to play in the first.

Three minutes later at the 12:39 mark of the second quarter, Lukacovic curled around the crease and put in a low-angle shot to even the game at three.

Still, Georgetown appeared to be controlling the game, especially after an ensuing 2-0 run gave it a 5-3 lead. At that point, the Hoyas held a 21-9 shot advantage.

But from there forward, the Cavaliers seized command. Virginia took the final 11 shots to finish the half on a 5-0 run.

Lukacovic, who finished the half with a hat trick along with two assists, began the streak by scoring on a transition pass from Van Arsdale.

The equalizer provided highlight-worthy material — a hidden-ball trick by sophomore attackman Joe French allowed sophomore midfielder Zed Williams to score an easy, uncontested goal.

“Zed [Williams] and I both have a background in the indoor game,” French said. “I think that correlates to the way that we play. It was just an opportunistic

play and Zed did a great job.”

Lukacovic, German and Williams scored the next three goals for Virginia in the half ’s final 2:52, allowing the Cavaliers to take an 8-5 lead into the third quarter.

“I thought the difference [in the second quarter] was the play in the middle of the field,” coach Dom Starsia said. “We started to pick the ball up off the ground. I thought our faceoff guys and our wings were good.”

The Cavaliers started the third quarter exactly how they ended the second — with a couple of quick goals.

Just over four minutes in, the Cavaliers found nylon twice within 15 seconds. On his third assist of the afternoon, Lukacovic found German on the crease at the 10:34 mark right before Lukacovic netted his fourth goal of the day.

Georgetown sophomore midfielder Devon Lewis finally ended the 7-0 Virginia run with a goal with 8:13 to play in the third. The Hoyas added one more goal to pull within three when the fourth quarter began.

However, Virginia sophomore defensive midfielder Carlson Milikin started the fourth quarter by netting a fast-break strike — his first career goal — following a failure to advance penalty against Georgetown.

The Hoyas had opportunities to close the deficit, but a total of 14 turnovers — including 10 caused by Virginia — ended too many second-half Hoya possessions. And just as importantly,

Virginia sophomore goalie Matt Barrett, who stopped 11 shots, recorded multiple second-half saves on open looks at the net.

“If we needed to switch a matchup, we switched,” senior defenseman Davi Sacco said. “We made some adjustments at halftime. We also went zone, which slowed down their offense.”

Before all was said and done, German recorded his hat trick with 4:22 remaining — a fitting end to a four-year stint in Charlottesville.

“I’m glad I was on the receiving end of it,” German said.

The Hoyas added two goals in the final 1:29 to cut the Virginia lead to three, but by then, as evidenced by Georgetown’s lack of on-ball pressure during Virginia’s final possession, the game had been decided.

The Cavaliers outshot the Hoyas 40-34, including a 20-13 edge in the last two periods. To cap off the complete team victory, redshirt freshman midfielder Jason Murphy won 13 of 18 faceoffs to give Virginia a 15-10 edge in that category.

“I thought it was a real team win overall,” Starsia said. “When you’re playing against a team that’s playing a zone, nobody can decide that they’re going to do it on their own. You have to take what they give you. I thought we did a good job of that.”

The Cavaliers will next face Pennsylvania April 25 in the ACC/Penn Challenge after failing to reach the ACC tournament. Opening faceoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

SPORTS

Monday, April 20, 2015

7

Baseball quells Coastal Division-leading Miami Young team combines timely hitting, clutch pitching to take two of three from No. 9 Hurricanes at Davenport Field Matthew Wurzburger Senior Associate Editor

Fighting for their playoff lives, No. 21 Virginia baseball won a crucial home series against ninthranked Miami. Playing with a new edge, the Cavaliers (24-15, 9-12 ACC) answered the call in big situations throughout the weekend.

Virginia took control of the series by taking the first game, 5-4.

“That was, I think, the best team win that we’ve had all season,” coach Brian O’Connor said. “It was a total team effort.”

Virginia desperately needed production from its bullpen in the series opener. Junior starter Nathan Kirby left after only three innings with a strained left lat muscle, which derailed what was shaping up to be a fine performance from Kirby — he had allowed no runs, two hits and one walk while striking out two.

In stepped junior David Rosenberger. The left-handed reliever worked 2.2 innings and allowed one run on four hits. His gritty performance earned him the win, his first of the year.

“I wasn’t ready for it, sure, but I don’t think it affected anything,” Rosenberger said.

Rosenberger’s teammates scored runs in innings three, four and five to build a 4-1 advantage.

In the third, freshman center fielder Adam Haseley drew a oneout walk and came home on a hardhit double into left-center by sophomore shortstop Daniel Pinero.

An inning later, junior right fielder Joe McCarthy reached on a leadoff single and scored on a two-out, two-strike single by junior Kevin Doherty.

Junior catcher Robbie Coman provided the offense in the fifth inning. He doubled down the left-field line to score two.

Coman is as locked in as humanly possible at the plate. He would eventually go 7-12 in three games against the Hurricanes (30-11, 15-6 ACC) and has 10 hits in his last 12 at-bats.

“Sometimes it takes a little while to get back into the swing of things,” Coman said of his early-season injury. “It’s good to get some hits, get some confidence back and feel comfortable up there.”

Miami scored two runs off sophomore Alec Bettinger in the top of the seventh to pull within one, which prompted O’Connor to call on junior Josh Sborz for the seven-out save.

Sborz escaped that jam, worked around a walk in the eighth and surrendered one unearned run in the ninth to close out the victory.

The Cavaliers mounted a fourrun eighth-inning rally to clinch the series Saturday, 5-2.

Sophomore starter Connor Jones came out dealing. His stuff was electric — he struck out the side in the

Kelsey Grant | The Cavalier Daily

Junior right fielder Joe McCarthy smacked three hits and scored two runs in Friday’s series opener. Virginia won the game 5-4 to get a jump on the Hurricanes.

first, and he would not look back from there. The Chesapeake, Virginia native matched his career-high 7.2 innings and set a new personal best with 11 strikeouts. He allowed two runs, one earned, on six hits and two walks.

“I was trying to be aggressive,” Jones said. “I thought I got in a really good rhythm and flow there and tried to attack guys. I told people I was going to go out there guns a-blazing.”

Jones’ 118 pitches saved an already taxed Virginia bullpen.

“I didn’t talk to him about what he needed to do in this game,” O’Connor said. “Connor is a bright kid… He knows he’s going to have to pitch deep into this game.”

Hurricanes junior lefty Andrew Suarez matched Jones pitch-forpitch early on. He attacked the zone and allowed only one unearned run through 5.2 innings while striking out five. In fact, Jones left the game in line for the loss.

That all changed in the eighth inning. The Cavaliers sent 10 men to the plate and scored four runs against sophomore closer Bryan Garcia, who did not retire any of the five batters he faced.

Once again, Coman was right there in the action. He started the inning by smacking a double into left and later scored when freshman Jack Gerstenmaier was beaned with the bases loaded. The next batter, Haseley, blew it open with a huge two-RBI single, which put Virginia ahead for good.

A day removed from his seven-out performance, Sborz pitched a perfect ninth inning to record the save.

Doherty, who entered in relief of Jones in the eighth, picked up his second win of the year.

Sunday’s finale was yet another frustrating outing for junior Brandon

Waddell. Waddell, a 2015 preseason second-team All-American, Waddell could not get out of the fourth inning and was tagged for eight runs, seven earned, on seven hits and five walks.

“To go out there and perform like that, it’s like you’re letting everyone else down,” Waddell said. “To be honest, there’s not much worse of a feeling, but games like these, you’ve got to learn from them. They show you a lot. There are a lot of lessons in them.”

Sunday’s battering handed Waddell his fourth loss of the year and inflated his ERA to 5.18.

“All those things you got away with before come back to get you,” Waddell said.

Virginia’s offense was able to score five runs in the second inning off junior starter Enrique Sosa to grab an early 5-4 lead. The Cavaliers batted around in the inning, and the first four batters reached. Pinero singled home both Cody and Gerstenmaier.

But the Cavaliers would not keep the lead for long. Miami spread four runs across the next two frames to pull ahead, 8-5.

Following the early offensive barrage both teams’ bullpens settled the game down. Both freshman Tommy Doyle and Doherty threw 2.1 innings of scoreless ball, and Bettinger recorded the final two outs.

For the Hurricanes, four relievers combined for 3.4 innings of one-run ball. Garcia atoned for his blown save in the previous game by setting down Virginia in order in the ninth inning to seal the 8-6 victory.

The Cavaliers now look ahead to two midweek games with Longwood and Liberty before traveling to NC State over the weekend. Virginia’s pitching staff remains in a state of flux until more becomes known about the status of Kirby.

Women’s lacrosse downs Tech on senior day, 17-10 Bocklet racks up career-high six goals, Swan dishes out four assists, Blue scores four times in regular-season finale Chanhong Luu Associate Editor

The seniors on the No. 5 Virginia women’s lacrosse team have led their team to victory time after time this season, and it was no different Friday when they were honored before Virginia’s regular-season finale against Virginia Tech in the team’s annual senior day ceremony.

By night’s end, the seniors had scored 14 of Virginia’s 17 goals as the Cavaliers (11-5, 4-3 ACC) won 17-10 in a rain-delayed game at

Klöckner Stadium.

"I thought we did a nice job of starting strong,” coach Julie Myers said. “Even though it wasn't perfect, we were resilient and stayed with it. We moved the ball well, made some plays and transitioned the ball cleanly. I give Virginia Tech a lot of credit. They came out of the locker room at halftime and played a much better second half.”

One of those seniors, attacker and reigning ACC Offensive Player of the Week Casey Bocklet, had another career day by scoring six goals, a career high, and assisting on another. Bocklet put up four

goals and three assists last Sunday against Louisville.

After the teams exchanged goals to start the game, Virginia went on a 9-1 run to close the half. The run featured two stellar behind-the-back goals from Bocklet. After receiving the ball up high from senior defender Morgan Stephens, Bocklet did what she could with her stick in that position to score Virginia’s third goal of the game at the 16:10 mark.

“I’ve been practicing them

see W LACROSSE, page 83

Zoe Toone| The Cavalier Daily

Senior attacker Casey Bocklet tormented the Hokies Friday evening. She scored a career-high six goals and added an assist in her final regular-season game.

8

SPORTS

The Cavalier Daily

Women’s golf steamrolls competition, claims first ACC title The Virginia women’s golf team put on a show Thursday-Saturday at the ACC championships in Greensboro, North Carolina. The No. 11 Cavaliers captured their first-ever conference title in dominant fashion — Virginia outshot second-place No. 5 Duke by 26 strokes — while becoming the first team from outside North Carolina

to claim an ACC crown.

“We’ve been close so many times, and to do it this year with a special group of young ladies and the way they did it by performing under the pressure — it was unbelievable to watch,” coach Kim Lewellen said.

Virginia improved throughout the three-day, 54-hole tournament

while posting the 11-team field’s lowest score in every round. The Cavaliers led Florida State by a single stroke after Thursday’s opener but ran away from the competition with a 9-under 279 Friday and an 8-under 280 Saturday at Sedgefield Country Club.

Senior Briana Mao paced Virginia, firing a 10-under 216 to con-

clude Saturday’s final round atop the leaderboard alongside Duke freshman Leona Maguire. The Folsom, California native fell to Maguire in a two-hole playoff to finish the tournament in second place.

Junior Lauren Coughlin and sophomore Lauren Diaz-Yi joined Mao in the top five, shooting 6-under 210 to tie for fourth. Freshman

Lyberty Anderson placed seventh at 4-under 212, while junior Elizabeth Szokol finished 20th at 2-over 218.

Virginia will compete in the NCAA regionals May 7-9 before traveling to Brandenton, Florida for the NCAA championships in late May. —compiled by Matthew Morris

FOOTBALL London prioritizes developing strong ground game Continued from page 6 unclear. Neither of the two junior quarterbacks competing for the starting job — Greyson Lambert and Matt Johns — provided any separation as spring practices concluded.

Lambert, who took the first snaps with the first-team offense, completed six of 14 passes for 79 yards. He tossed a touchdown on the opening drive to Thorpe, but also had a well underthrown deep ball intercepted by sophomore safety Quin Blanding.

Meanwhile, Johns connected on 11 of 23 passes, but for just 66 yards. His highlight was a 27-yard touchdown pass to sophomore tight end Brendan Marshall, although the ball was underthrown and nearly batted away.

“We have to do a better job

of trying to keep the intensity up with our offense,” Lambert said.

“We started off hot — we have to keep that intensity up throughout the whole game.”

The goal, however, is not to have to rely on the passing game.

As London has reiterated throughout his tenure at Virginia, his goal is for the Cavaliers to develop a power-run oriented scheme.

“We wanted to establish an identity running the ball,” London said.

Coming out of spring practices, it appears Virginia will lean on a three-headed running back trio of sophomore Daniel Hamm, junior Taquan Mizzell and redshirt freshman Jordan Ellis.

Mizzell led all ball carriers with 83 yards on nine carries, although he did cough up a ball that was returned for a touchdown. Ellis, who at 220 pounds is considered

the best power-runner, amassed 72 yards on the afternoon. Hamm, who took the first carry of the game, finished with 40 yards on 11 carries and also took a screen pass 12 yards to convert a third down.

“We’re all pretty well-rounded in our abilities,” Hamm said. “We can all protect. We can all run the ball. We can all run a route. So we can all do everything we need to do to be successful.”

But while the big names out of spring camp were all on offense, the defense, perhaps more so than their offensive counterparts, needed the spring repetitions to build much-needed depth.

In addition to the graduation of linebackers Henry Coley and Daquan Romero along with safety Anthony Harris, defensive end Eli Harold and linebacker Max Valles both declared for the NFL draft, leaving gaping holes in an aggres-

sive defense.

Furthermore, senior defensive line mainstays David Dean and Mike Moore each missed spring practice due to injuries, and the projected starting mike-linebacker for next season, sophomore Micah Kiser, did not play in the spring game due to a knee injury sustained last week during practice.

But those subtractions meant additions in repetitions for those buried on the depth chart a season ago, especially sophomore defensive end Andrew Brown.

The 2013 Gatorade national high school player of the year took up boxing in the offseason in an effort to shed fat for muscle and improve his quickness. With injuries along the defensive line, Brown found a home on the starting unit this spring. Saturday, he amassed half a sack and led the team with 3.5 tackles for loss.

W LACROSSE Virginia to host ACC Championships Continued from page 7 more because sometimes it does make a lot of sense,” Bocklet said. “I had a bad angle, so I just kind of went for it.”

After Virginia Tech scored its first goal in nearly 22 minutes, Bocklet responded with her second behind-theback goal to give Virginia a 10-2 lead at halftime.

Both of Bocklet’s behind-the-back goals came off Virginia Tech turnovers caused by junior defender Sarah Gillespie. In the half, the Hokies had a total of nine turnovers compared to the Cavaliers’ four. The Cavaliers also picked up 10 of 16 ground balls and outshot the Hokies 23-8 after winning all but two of 13 draw controls.

After a dominating first half, the Cavaliers were able to play seven substitutes in the second half and get their whole team into the game. The Hokies outscored them 8-7 in the period while also outshooting the Cavaliers 18-10 and winning 12 draw controls to Virginia’s four.

“We were able to play a lot of people,” Myers said. “We’ve played people out of position. We let them shoot too many times. They take 18 shots, so they should be scoring a bunch of goals. It was nice for everyone to contribute and get some time on game day.”

The two teams combined for a total of five goals in the first five minutes of the second half, and nearly half of the 15 goals in the period came within a minute after a draw control.

However, neither team would score for the next 10 minutes after a Bocklet score brought Virginia’s lead up to nine with 10:22 remaining. Virginia freshman goalie Rachel Vander Kolk saved all four of Virginia Tech’s shots in that span.

After picking up a ground ball with 4:35 remaining, the Cavaliers ran the clock down to 41 seconds before turning the ball over and allowing the Hokies to score with 16 seconds to go.

With 16 seconds left, the Hokies still had fight in them after not allowing Virginia to go up by 10 all game and allowing the clock to run during stoppages. They won the draw control

and drew a foul to score their second free-position goal of the game with two seconds on the clock.

Virginia Tech senior attacker Cawley Bromley scored both of those last-minute goals to record a hat trick for the game. Senior attacker Megan Will led the Hokies in scoring with five goals and an assist.

In addition to Bocklet, Virginia was led by senior midfielder Courtney Swan, who provided four assists and two goals. Swan also won eight draw controls for the Cavaliers by holding her stick high and grabbing those draws that flew up. Senior attacker Liza Blue racked up four goals and an assist for Virginia.

“The emotions definitely hit me today,” Swan said. “Our first years decorated the locker room and seeing everything like that and then making a cute poem for the game and writing us special notes definitely hit me more, but I’m still so excited to play more games at Klöckner.”

The Cavaliers return to Klöckner to begin postseason play Thursday in the quarterfinal round of the ACC Tournament held in Charlottesville.

“Andrew [Brown] has done a really good job of trying to catch up to what he lacked last year,” London said. “What a lineman needs most of the time is more reps. Having a healthy spring allowed him to have all of those reps. His learning curve is starting to catch up with his ability.”

Over the next week, London and his staff will watch film and meet with each player individually to discuss his role on the team.

Plenty of questions remain to be answered, most notably at quarterback.

But it appears Virginia might have found the explosive weapon it has long lacked at wide receiver in Thorpe, who after three seasons donning Tar Heel blue is happy to give the orange jerseys a try.

“I felt a little bright,” Thorpe said. “But I feel like I can make it look pretty good.”

ADVERTISEMENT

O

opinion

Monday, April 20, 2015

9

LEAD EDITORIAL

Student groups handled ‘American Sniper’ right College campuses should learn from the Muslim Student Association’s response

Comment of the day “An overwhelming majority of scholarships are financial-need based, and that is a great thing. However, when merit based scholarships look into financial need, those scholarships become financial-need based. Therefore, to ensure the integrity of a merit based scholarship, financial-need CANNOT be a factor in consideration.”

“John” in response to Emily McDuff ’s Apr. 17 article, “Merit scholars don’t need more money.”

This past Friday and Saturday, University Programs Council presented the movie “American Sniper” as part of its weekly movie series. The movie has been criticized for allegedly condoning anti-Muslim and anti-Middle Eastern stereotypes, and at the University of Michigan a showing was cancelled (and subsequently rescheduled alongside an education panel) because of the resulting student outcry. Compared to the University of Michigan — and in general — both UPC and the Muslim Student Association, which issued a response to the showing, demonstrated a good way to approach contentious art on a college campus.

When word of UPC’s showing spread at the University, the MSA — which is an honorary contractually independent organization under the Middle Eastern Leadership

Council — released a statement. The MSA did not ask for UPC not to screen the film; it did not protest the event; rather, it expressed the sentiment that the film “could create an intolerant environment” and that UPC should “be conscientious of the implications that the viewing might hold.”

The MSA requested a facilitated discussion on the movie’s depiction of Muslims and continued promoting Islam Awareness Week, which starts today and lasts until Apr. 24.

At the end of UPC’s screening Saturday, Sustained Dialogue facilitated a discussion between those who attended the film to discuss its impacts.

For the MSA to respond as it did could not have been easy — when offensive materials are presented in an academic setting (even, or perhaps especially, if by students), it is hard not to be angry, as many students at the University of

Michigan were. But the reality of the situation calls for something like what Sustained Dialogue can offer. “American Sniper” was critically acclaimed and made over $540 million worldwide; it was the highest-grossing film of 2014 in the United States. If UPC did not show it, students can surely see it elsewhere.

It would be unrealistic to censor the showing of the film given its widespread viewership. Instead, by turning the viewing into an opportunity for dialogue about the state of Muslims in America and globally and how the film contributes to perceptions of Muslims, the MSA made it possible for the film to be contextualized. Students who may not otherwise question the presentation of Muslims and Middle Eastern individuals in the film had the opportunity to do so this weekend.

In fact, it was probably better

for students to watch “American Sniper” in this setting — a setting that ultimately forced them to think critically — than to see it at a movie theater where they may not view the movie the same way.

Censorship has its place, but if a movie is already being widely viewed in our community, we don’t achieve much by censoring that movie just on our Grounds. Making Grounds the central place for watching and critiquing such a movie can, instead, accomplish a lot in the way of spreading awareness, challenging preexisting beliefs and making audience members critical, and not passive, viewers. The MSA approached this situation in the most constructive way possible, and its response reveals what we should hope for college campuses — that they be a place of discovery, and not one of avoidance.

Making better use of the Opinion section ne of the foundational Cavalier Daily that get the most problems with the April attention from readers, at least Fools’ edition of the Cava- in terms of comments and letlier Daily was that it ters, are Opinion seemed to be written CHRISTOPHER BROOM columns. I think almost entirely for this is, in part, bePublic Editor the people writing cause news articles, it. The jokes seemed by their very nalike in-jokes and many clearly ture, are less controversial and didn’t translate to the readers offer less fodder for criticism. as intended. This is something Beyond that, though, OpinI presume all publications have ion columns also draw readers’ to deal with and not just for spe- interest because it gives them cial joke issues; making sure that a place to think about where what gets published is interest- their own opinion fits into the ing to and accessible for read- author’s description of an issue ers, not just for the writers and or problem. The best Opinion editors doing the work. I im- columns offer both space for the agine this is especially difficult reader to take an interest in and in a not-for-profit, collegiate think about as well as a possipublication where there may be ble solution to the problem the less objective feedback than in author presents. If Opinion collarger, for-profit organizations umns aren’t about things readers where subscription rates, ad- will find engaging, the potential vertising dollars and page hits solutions may not matter at all. are more able to tell the story The last couple of weeks in of how the publication is doing The Cavalier Daily’s Opinion in attracting and maintaining pages have included a lot of readers. inside baseball. That is to say, Frequently, the pieces in The there have been several piec-

es that seem written mostly for those who work for The Cavalier Daily. Ashley Spinks offered columns in the last two weeks that are strongly critical of the Managing Board. First, Spinks wrote about the decision to use Brand Link and offered a great deal of granular information about internal paper decision making.

I’m not sure that information is

sions in the wake of its retraction of some pieces. Some of the criticism was well founded, to my way of thinking. Pulling the PDF copy of the issue may have been a bit much. But I am also not sure that inspecting every action of the Managing Board every week in the Opinion pages is helpful for readers. For instance, critiquing the Managing Board for pulling the link to the April Fools’ issue at the top of each page of the website missed the mark as that link would been pulled The last couple of weeks in The Cavalier Daliy’s have for faculty salary Opinion pages have included a lot of inside data regardless of any controversy. baseball.”

I understand the impetus of those helpful to readers. who work for The Cavalier DaiThe following week, this past ly to try to improve the paper Wednesday, Spinks wrote about through the use of their space in the April Fools’ edition itself, the Opinion pages. That space, offering more specific criticism though, isn’t mainly for the use of the Managing Board’s deci- of the improvement of the pa-

“

O

The Opinion pages should not be used to critique internal issues at the paper per. While I do think there is criticism to offer, granular level information about everything done at the paper doesn’t seem to attract much reader attention or interaction.

To do a good job in news coverage, one needs to be able to write clearly and choose topics that are important to readers. To do a good job in offering opinions that are salient to readers, one must write well, give the reader a reason to care about the topic outside of only what the writer believes is important.

Recent op-eds haven’t appeared to offer readers much that they wish to engage with.

Christopher Broom is the Public Editor for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at publiceditor@cavalierdaily.com or on Twitter at @CDPublicEditor.

10

OPINION

The Cavalier Daily

Implement a diversity requirement ast month, columnist Sasha that is applicable to one’s group Wan wrote an article titled identity. In the case of black and “Don't exaggerate systemic racism” Hispanic undergraduates, many in response to the lead of these students often editorial by the Managfear performing poorly ALEXANDER ing Board. The desigon exams because of the ADAMES nated title is misleading possibility of unintenViewpoint Writer because it implies she tionally living up to the acknowledges the realistereotypical and ludity of systemic racial bias. She does crous caricature of being incompenot admit that it is extant; instead, tent. The students who anxiously she repudiates its presence. ruminate over the possibility tend Wan explains it would be unfair to perform worse than those who to characterize the University as do not face such an issue. Through suffering from systemic racialism our privileging of one group, we on account of the presence of mi- suggest this group is more deservnorities in our community. But this ing or capable and, therefore, supresence does not prevent whites or perior. The fact that the University other minorities from reinforcing exists in the context of American racist systems. society and that most of its memWe live in a society that perpet- bers — staff, faculty and students uates a culture that privileges others — come from various parts of the on the basis of race and, therefore, country make them prone to subreinforces the privilege of one race consciously perpetuating systemic above others through daily behav- racism in some shape or form. Am ior that is regularly glossed over. I saying that people are actively racFor example, when people of color ist? No, I am not. While some peoaccomplish great things (i.e., ad- ple explicitly uphold racist ideals, mission into top-tier schools), their many others do so by way of subtle efforts become vulnerable to being behaviors. dismissed on account of affirmative These subtle behaviours are action. This example also extends what contribute to and maintain into the classroom in the form of systemic racism. Individual acts of stereotype threats — which refers racial bigotry do not transpire in a to one’s fear of fulfilling a stereotype vacuum. In present-day America,

the media serve as one of the main institutions that does the work of inculcating racial prejudice within people. For example, when black bodies are relentlessly presented as criminals on TV, our brains begin to associate being black with a predisposition for criminality. The portrait of the black body as a criminal

dents toward racism is a product of systemic racism. The Managing Board is correct to do so, because the passivity is on account of the normalization of the belittlement, dehumanization and mockery of black people. To combat passivity, the Managing Board calls for a diversity requirement, which Wan counters as unnecessary by virtue of students being obligated to take a non-Western perspective course.

This requirement is ineffective because students continue ...The University should implement and enforce to experience and witness racism witha diversity requirement because we cannot in our community, combat racism without talking about it.” which include racist Yik Yak responses.

Though it certainly becomes a societal norm through should not be the administration’s the media’s proliferation of the im- only attempt at fighting discrimiage. Consequently, this influences nation, the University should immany people’s behavior, including plement and enforce a diversity the increase in likelihood of police requirement, because we cannot officers shooting black people on combat racism without talking the basis of their race. Despite this, about it. In order to change things most people will never consciously at a macrosociological level, we admit to engaging in practices that must start at the microsociological preserve racial biases. level. We do not live in a post-racial In its editorial, the Managing society and, therefore, we must do Board suggests the passivity of stu- our best to combat systemic racism

“

L

Systemic racism cannont be combated effectively without first talking about it through the implementation of policies and keep the dialogue on race alive.

Wan’s repudiation of systemic racism on Grounds demonstrates her unfamiliarity with the subject.

Considering that University students are a product of American society, which privileges whites over non-whites, like any other members of greater society, they are also prone to perpetuating racialism through their behaviour. I highly encourage Wan and all others who share similar views to enroll in a sociology course (i.e., Systems of Inequality by Sabrina Pendergrass) or brush up on some great studies on race such as “Racism without Racists” by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva and “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander. If we are to combat racial prejudice, then we must understand that individual acts of racism are products of systemic racism. Therefore, a diversity requirement is a good first step in attempting to alleviate the inimical impact of systemic racism.

Alexander Adames is a Viewpoint writer.

Merit scholars don’t need more money he two largest merit schol- years ago, both Gray-Carrington arships a rising fourth-year recipients, Evan Behrle and Costudent at the University of Vir- lette Elizabeth Martin, were Jefferginia can receive are the son Scholars; and Blake Gray-Carrington and Blaze, another Jefferson EMILY MCDUFF Sky Alland awards. Both Scholar, was a finalGuest Viewpoint scholarships pay for ist. Last year, Caroline full tuition — whether Parker, another Jefferin-state or out-of-state — as well son Scholar, was a finalist for the as room and board during the re- Gray-Carrington. And this year, cipient’s fourth year. The charac- Porter Nenon, who is also a Jefferteristics that the Gray-Carrington son Scholar, was a Gray-Carrington scholarship honors are “personal finalist. As of 2012, the Jefferson integrity, achievement, leadership Scholars Foundation had accrued and humility,” while the Sky Alland nine Gray-Carrington recipients, a rewards “leadership, achievement, fact which the Foundation boasts in enterprising spirit, humility, and its 2012 annual report. devotion to the University.” I find The Jefferson Scholarship covers it remarkably shocking that both full tuition, room, board, books, scholarships claim “humility” as and some living expenses for four one of their qualifying factors — years, in addition to providing and the Gray-Carrington even goes funding for study abroad opporon to include “personal integrity” tunities and other educational en— when year after year Jefferson richment programs. While both the Scholars are considered for and Sky Alland and Gray-Carrington awarded these scholarships. are awarded based on merit, I find This year’s Sky Alland recipient it unsettling that students who have was Caroline Herre, a Jefferson already received full scholarships Scholar. Last year, Kate Travis, an- are even accepting nominations for other Jefferson Scholar, was a Sky scholarships that countless other Alland finalist, and the year before, well-qualified applicants actualAnnie Ungrady, another Jefferson ly need. This year’s winner of the Scholar, was also a finalist. Two Sky Alland scholarship, Caroline

Herre, did decline the money, but it is now too late — that funding will just go back into the endowment, rather than assist a worthy student in financial need. When one of the qualifying factors for both scholarships is humility, I find it unnerving that Jefferson Scholars, who are going through the selection process for these scholarships purely for the honor and prestige, are nominated and awarded the Sky Alland and

This may mean someone wins more than one award. Unless it's a question or a [criterion] a committee asks to avoid, there is no effort made to remove scholars of other programs.” She went on to state that “changing their process is doubtful.”

The administrator also pointed out that “often, students with the greatest need will not benefit from a scholarship because they are receiving grants which do not have to be repaid, unlike a loan,” and that the Alumni Association does offer needbased scholarships.

After multiple tuition hikes, and changes to the AccessUVA proI find it unnerving that Jefferson Scholars. . . gram that drive even are nominated and awarded the Sky Alland and the neediest to take out loans, the stateGray-Carrington so frequently.” ment above is now defunct. And as far as Gray-Carrington so frequently. need-based scholarships, the only In response to this concern, non-specific (not dependent on an administrator at the Alum- major, ethnicity, hometown, etc.) ni Association, said, “I've spoken scholarships based on need that the to committees in the past about Alumni Association offers are the duplication and many believe $5,000 per year Legacy Scholarship they want to honor and claim the for incoming first-year students, a best and brightest as their own. benefit only available for students

“

T

Jefferson Scholars should not be recipients of more merit scholarships who have an alumni parent, and the $2,000 Alumni Student Cooperative Scholarship for community service. While both are noteworthy scholarships, it goes without saying that neither comes close to covering an entire year of tuition, room and board.

Yes, the Gray-Carrington and Sky Alland scholarships are awarded based on merit, but the award for these scholarships should not pay a full year’s tuition if the recipients already have all of college covered. If both scholarships claim to choose their recipients at least partially based on humility, this conclusion is not difficult to reach.

I myself am an out-of-state student with a younger sister in college and a younger brother on the way to college. My family — and so many other families — has to prudently plan how to fund an expensive yet critical college education, while so many Jefferson Scholars win another gold star for their resume.

Emily McDuff is a third-year in the Engineering School.

OPINION

Monday, April 20, 2015

11

The transformative power of higher education R

Despite the costs, college is still worth it

ecently, the Board of Visitors uisite for even entry-level positions. Kevin Carey has gone a step furat the University approved a Those without it will find themselves ther, prophesying the end of college 3.9 percent tuition hike for existing vying for the same positions as their and the emergence of a tech-driven in-state students, with more educated counter- “University of Everywhere,” which further increases for parts. A degree, particu- would rectify the gross inequalities of TAMAR ZIFF freshmen entering the larly from a reputable opportunity and income preserved Viewpoint Writer University throughout institution, will provide by the existing system. This univerthe next five years. In a leg up in the job search, sity would purportedly provide its current dollar values, tuition for pub- but there is no guarantee: the market students with adequate training to lic four-year universities in Virginia is fickle, and many occupations are acquire a decently well-paying job has practically doubled in a decade, becoming either redundant or digi- and moderate prosperity without the with comparable increases across tally outsourced. time or economic commitment of a the country. As of 2012, students are The concentration of information conventional college education. paying more out of pocket for public and democratization of access and Yet to conceive of college educaeducation than the state is, as federal skill development introduced by the tion as, in the words of one critic, “a grants for low-income households Internet, compounded by the rising system driven entirely by profits and struggle to cover the rising sticker cost of universities and the emer- quantitative outputs” is reductive. A cost of education, which remains gence of an increasunmitigated due to state reluctance ingly young “profesto allocate tax dollars to education sional” — tech-savvy subsidies. Is it worth it?

— class has led to a Yes. Attending college compels us barrage of criticism to conceptualize learning as desirable toward the traditional choice, and attach qualitative value to four-year university the pursuit of knowledge because it is education. Last sumA university should not just be a funnel to an central to our identity as students. mer, William DereThis may not seem like a prag- siewicz’s “Excellent occupation, with a few liberal arts classes thrown matically sound argument; in the Sheep” accused Ivy into the mix for color.”

United States, which has the highest League institutions of income inequality among Western producing cadres of democracies, college education is unthinking, lucre-driven students university should not just be a funnel becoming financially untenable for who trudge through life as “blink- to an occupation, with a few libermany families, perpetuating income ered overachievers” and graduate al arts classes thrown into the mix imbalance in a system where a Bach- to fill the ranks of corporate middle for color. Such a notion is wedded elor’s degree is an unspoken prereq- management. More recently, author to a parochial view of success, and

is unrewarding both for would-be students and those who teach them.

What the university does — and four years may seem either frighteningly long or woefully short for such a task — is teach young people to learn, and to want to learn.

We can work as much or as little as we like, but it is in a field of our choosing — whether you spend your four years playing beer pong in a fraternity house, in the editing room of the student newspaper or diligently studying in the library, you must choose to declare at least a stated interest in one or more subjects. You are in charge of charting a course for your learning, and pressed — through basic requirements — to explore beyond what you believe you know to like or dislike. Yes, you might take classes you think aren’t “relevant” to how you conceive of yourself or what you seek to invest time doing in the future, but the idea that university courses should be grounded in practicality or timeliness is a relatively new one, brought to life more by avarice and ambition by universities and research institutes than consideration of the well-being of their students. Traditionally, as sociologist Robert A. Nisbet puts it, universities followed “the academic dogma,” which stated, “Knowledge

is important. Just that. Not ‘relevant’ knowledge; not ‘practical’ knowledge... Knowledge!” According to this ethos, one could immerse himself in Latin for four years and emerge unscathed. Until the mid-20th century, universities did not feel pressured to provide courses dealing with trending social issues or contemporary figures. This is not necessarily better than our modern system; arguably, the university curriculum became more diverse just as its student demographics did.

What is most important is that young, mutable minds be placed in a context of concentrated academia and given the imperative to learn at least the fundamentals of a spread of subjects and the specifics of a few.

What skills develop concomitant to that depend on the student. College is not necessarily a means to self-discovery, or job acquisition or moral edification. But it serves as a boon for the possibility for all. French philosopher Alain Badiou writes, “Nothing is promised to us.” No — but what is required of us at university is a basic curiosity that, if accompanied by the right set of factors, may hold promise.

Tamar Ziff is a Viewpoint writer.

“

U.Va. is infringing on the rights of student athletes he University’s code of ethics and commend your initiative if you requires University leadership did so. to treat all students equally. The But if you happen to wear the code says the University Cavaliers jersey on game is committed to “guarTONY KLAUSING days, not only may you anteeing equal oppornot promote yourself Guest Viewpoint tunity and nondiscrimfor personal gain, but ination with respect to you will be shamed and University services, programs, ac- shunned by the University for even tivities and employment.” daring to do so.

However, the University conTake, for example, the case of tinuously restricts the rights of one a crowdfunding website I helped group of students: students who build: FanPay.org. Our website play National Collegiate Athletic crowdfunds graduation incentives Association sports. The University’s for college students and college membership in the NCAA means athletes. Students must graduate to the University is complicit in keep- access the funds, thereby motivating alive one of the greatest surviv- ing them to finish their degree. The ing instances of institutionalized goals of our website are not complidiscrimination in America. cated: to help college athletes get an University athletes are prohib- education and get a down payment ited by NCAA rules from profiting on their lives after college sports. from their own skills, name and However, in November of last likeness. Every other University stu- year, the University’s athletic dedent, even those on full scholarship, partment sent us a cease and deis afforded that fundamental civil sist letter. The letter noted that our right. So long as you have not been graduation incentives may be in named a “student-athlete,” you can violation of NCAA Bylaw 12.5.2.2, get paid by the University and en- which prohibits athletes from profjoy a free meal without a guilty con- iting from their personal brand. science. You could even sell your Ironically, another arcane NCAA autograph or start a crowdfunding bylaw, 12.1.2.1.4.3.3, specifically page for your personal ambitions. allows for financial incentives for The University may even applaud college athletes who earn Olympic

medals. Do NCAA members care more about the education of its athletes or athletic glory?

We at FanPay question why U.Va. is so opposed to crowdfunded graduation incentives, as U.Va. is not immune to the huge social and economic ills found in college sports today.

For example, U.Va. boasts a stellar 93 percent federal graduation rate. By comparison, the five-year average graduation rate of the main

undermine the University’s insistence that it takes the education and well-being of its athletes seriously.

Sky-high salaries for U.Va.’s coaches make the situation look even more exploitative. Virginia’s basketball coach rakes in nearly $2.2 million per year, and the football coach makes $3.2 million. The NCAA limits the number of players who can receive scholarships at 13 for mens basketball and 85 for football. If these salaries were halved and split with the athletes, each of the 13 mens scholarship basketball players would earn over $84,000 per year and each of the 85 scholarship football Do NCAA members care more about the players would earn education of its athletes or athletic glory?” almost $19,000 per year.

Race is deeply revenue-generating sports at U.Va., embedded in these issues. While men’s basketball and football, on NCAA policies are equally discrimaverage stand at roughly just 44 inatory against all races, they dispercent and 66 percent, respec- proportionately harm young black tively. Statistics like these, which men. Only 6-10 percent of U.Va. show that every incoming mens students are African-American or basketball player is just half as multiracial, but the racial composilikely to graduate from U.Va. than tions of the two revenue-generating their non-athlete peers, seriously sports teams are both well over 50

“

T

By denying students graduation incentives, the NCAA and U.Va. are discriminating against them percent African-American.

The tentacles of the NCAA monopoly stretch far and wide across its almost 1,300 member colleges and universities and across all of their corporate, government, and non-profit partners. Not only do these counterproductive rules harm students personally and financially, but their Byzantine rigidity also serves to stifle innovative and proactive improvements like FanPay. Rather than adopting a progressive and forward-thinking approach to reforming college sports, leading institutions like U.Va. have found it convenient to hide behind the scapegoat of NCAA rules in order to avoid tough questions about the ongoing abuse of the civil rights of college athletes on their campuses.

U.Va.’s code of ethics also states that “Complaints of discrimination, harassment and retaliation are investigated and when warranted appropriate corrective action is taken.” President Sullivan, I urge you to investigate this complaint and be brave in taking corrective action.

Tony Klausing is the co-founder of FanPay.org.

12

OPINION

The Cavalier Daily

PARTING SHOTS

Fourth years reflect on their experience as Cavalier Daily editors

T

here’s a phenomenon called the Media Alienation Effect — you show the exact same news clip to people who belong to different political parties, and all of them say the clip is biased against their political views.

I tried to remember this on the hard days, when we put in the most work and got the harshest criticism.

This is a business where the amount of flack you get far exceeds the amount of praise. It’s not an illustrious job; it’s an incredibly humble one. Most of the people who passed me on the street, who saw me at the gym, who sat in class with me, probably never knew I was the one writing all the paper’s lead editorials. In a managing board position, you bust your ass five days a week (sometimes more) to create something that a lot of people take for granted.

But the few times we were told that we were needed — those made it all worth it. The fall semester was tumultuous to say the least, and traumatizing to say the most. We were invited to events other media outlets were excluded from. We were trusted to cover the issues that tore this community apart, because we are students first before we are the media. And throughout our production process we grieved just as much as the rest of

ANDREW ELLIOTT

125th Managing Editor

Monday, Sept. 26: “I deepened my infiltration into the Cav Daily staff.”

Thursday, Sept. 29: “I made nerdy friends. At the Cav Daily, naturally.”

Thursday, Oct. 6: “I had a fun copy editing shift. And packed for Fall Break!"

It is important to understand that The Cavalier Daily was running in some pretty steep competition for a spot on my list of reasons I was glad those days. Other entries include

turning in my first college paper, going to a college party (“and only being 83 percent awkward”), and playing Sporcle with my friend from high school.

I joined The Cavalier Daily because I loved working on my high school paper, because I wanted to write but could not convince myself I was good enough to pursue it, and because a particularly exceptional assistant managing editor, Kat Raichlen, complimented my use of em-dashes and had also read John Green books.

(Our friendship was a foregone conclusion.)

The past eight semesters afforded me an incredible number of opportunities — to speak with people I never thought I would, write articles about topics that mattered, pursue stories and ideas that were interesting and that people wanted to read. But none of those are why I am so indebted to The Cavalier Daily. I am indebted to this organization because it gave me a home.

It gave me a place where my voice mattered. It gave me a place where I was surrounded by people filled with seemingly impossible amounts of talent, intelligence, drive and compas-

sion. It gave me a place to find love.

And on more than a few nights, it offered me a place to sleep (to future staffers: I do not recommend it).

We like to tell ourselves on staff that we chose the hardest path we

forum, we have to wear those mistakes with a level of publicity unfamiliar to most who are still navigating the waters of college. But despite our shortcomings, we are never want for passion. I loved walking into the office and being among a group of dedicated and talented peers — that’s what kept me coming back and what makes the thought of doing I am indebted to this organization because it anything else seem laughable. gave me a home.”

There are too many people to thank for my could have for college — surely run- time on staff. In brief, thank you my ning for the Honor Committee would fellow 125th Managing Board memoffer more prestige and fewer sleepless bers, Rebecca, Peter, Katherine and nights. But even in asking ourselves Lianne, for caring about this paper as why we signed up for the public rid- much as I did. Thank you to Julia and icule of comment sections or the Kelly — I could not have asked for a maddening deadlines of print publi- stronger pair of individuals to work cations, we know that we would have side-by-side with for the past year. it no other way.

Thank you Matt and Joe, even for the The Cavalier Daily staff has its headaches. Thank you Michael, for flaws — I certainly carried my fair trying to keep me grounded. Thank share of them as managing editor. you Caroline for your guidance, for We made, and will continue to make, your idealism and for your friendship. more mistakes than we care to admit. And thank you high school me, for And with a wide audience and open making the right choice.

Solid ground to stand on

KATHERINE RIPLEY 125th Executive Editor

the student body. Every word, every sentence, every story, every page, was assembled with the hope of healing.

I don’t want to drift too far from The Cavalier Daily narrative, but it’s hard not to talk about my own situation here. I was sexually assaulted by an ex-boyfriend’s fraternity brother in the fall of my third year. For months I minimized the incident, until the effects of the trauma overtook me. My recovery process is ongoing, and the Rolling Stone tragedy didn’t help. For me it was, in every sense, just too close to home. But what kept me getting

out of bed every morning during that time was my duty to the paper, and the knowledge that my experience could help rather than hinder me in performing that duty. I wrote every editorial with the passion derived from my pain, and the reason derived from my experience and its aftermath.

This isn’t to say that people who haven’t experienced trauma can’t write about sexual assault, but to be told by my fellow MB members that they couldn’t have imagined anyone else writing those editorials meant the world to me. And the fact that they were written primarily by a survivor was definitely valuable, for the position in which we were situated.

Most people who read those editorials didn’t know the status of the primary author, and that’s probably why we still had critics who accused us of minimizing, pandering and being disrespectful to survivors, which only proves the point I made in my first paragraph. But I never wanted recognition, I only wanted to give us solid ground to stand on. Because in such a tumultuous time, we needed that as much as anyone.

I often became frustrated, wondering if people were really digesting what we were trying to tell them. If I hear one more person ask why the

University expels people for cheating but not rape, I’ll have a conniption (and I’ll refer you to this editorial). I still struggle to find anything good that came out of this fiasco, and I still

before I even graduated college. My goal, going forward, is to be that happy again.

I’ve been trying this new self-care technique where at the end of every day, I write down at least three things that I’m proud of. Some days it’s easy; some days not so much. But when I was executive editor, I never would have had a hard time The few times we were told that we were needed with that. Every day — those made it all worth it.” for two semesters I produced something — very few people can don’t know how to answer the ques- say that. I tried my best to do some tion, “So, U.Va. had a tough year, what good in a world that was already imwas that like?” perfect, and then was shattered. As How much time do I have? people are still working to pick up the Toward the end of my term, I felt pieces, I’m learning that at some point, like I was finishing a marathon — on you have to set the burden down — autopilot, pushing myself through the not give up on it completely, but just last five miles, looking forward to hav- place it somewhere and walk away for ing some relief. But now that I’ve fin- a little while. ished, and I’m looking back, I realize I’m on my way to a new chapter that I too took for granted my time on in my life, and I still don’t know what the paper. Every morning I woke up, it consists of. But The Cavalier Daily and I could look forward to a day of will always be more than the most doing what I did best — writing and valuable line on my resume. And as editing. Some people go through their a soon-to-be graduate who majored entire lives without ever finding a job in political science and English, that’s that truly satisfies them. I found one saying a hell of a lot.

“

have never known U.Va. without The Cavalier Daily. I emailed asking to join the copy editing staff in June of 2011, before I walked across my high school graduation stage or signed up for classes. I signed up again at the Activities Fair, and again at the Open House. In retrospect, Cavalier Daily recruitment might need some streamlining.

In my iCalendar — which I dutifully kept updated for approximately six weeks of my college career — I used to write at the end of each day one reason I was glad that day had happened. (It was a move I made to assuage the concerns that I would forever be that kid eating alone in Newcomb, or further that being that kid was indicative of my failure to meet the complex social demands of college). About one-third of my “Today I’m Glad I…” posts were about The Cavalier Daily: Monday, Sept 5: “I moderately enjoyed my first Cav Daily shift. Yay for new people!”

Tuesday, Sept 6: “I did some extra CD editing.”

Thursday, Sept. 22: “I did a six-hour CD copy shift. …Need I say more?”

“

I

Making the right choice

L

Monday, April 20, 2015

Year: Second School: Commerce U.Va. Involvement: Intervarsity, Beta Theta Pi, Madison House, facility attendant at North Grounds, Student Council.

Hometown: Harrisonburg Ideal Date: I want a cross between Hermione Granger and Jennifer Aniston — or either one of them individually. That’s cool too.

Ideal Date Personality: Sincere, warm, joyful, interesting, kind, good-humored, thoughtful, ethical.

Ideal Date Activity: We would go out to eat somewhere in Belmont or on the Downtown Mall. Then, [we would go] swing dancing under the stars. Finally, we would end the night eating froyo while watching “The Office.”

Deal breakers? Anyone who is really mean or super into themselves.

Describe a typical weekend: I usually play sports, hang out with friends, perhaps go to a social gathering, go to church and do work.

Hobbies: Playing sports, listening to country music, running, being outdoors, buying clothes from Goodwill, eating at Cookout.

What makes you a good catch? Well, I can’t think of any features that are deal breakers, so that counts for something right?

Describe yourself in one sentence: If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.

life

LOVE CONNECTION:

ANDREW KIRSTEN After an awkward greeting, two second years bond over dinner Alex Stock Love Guru

Andrew and Kirsten met on Friday at 8:30 p.m. and went to Café Caturra on the Corner.

Andrew: Some friends told me about [Love Connection] and I thought it’d be fun.

Kirsten: I was stressed when I found out I was chosen — I had so much going on this week already, but I figured I’d take the chance while I had it.

Andrew: I [had] never been on a blind date before. I thought it’d be pretty casual and a fun chance to share a meal and just get to know someone else.

Kirsten: I didn’t really have any expectations — I figured that was the best way to not get disappointed.

Andrew: I was hoping to get there a little earlier, but I was coming from a concert. I went up to her and gave her a hug and introduced myself.

Kirsten: Andrew seemed very nice.

He went in for the hug immediately — I admired his initiative.

Andrew: She was pretty and nice. I went in for the hug, and she went in for the handshake, so that was a bit awkward, but I felt like that was our only awkward moment.

Kirsten: We ended up in front of Café Caturra. I had been there at home but not here, so we figured we’d give it a try.

Andrew: I think the conversation went really well. There weren’t too many awkward gaps and it wasn’t [like] she talked the whole time or I talked the whole time.

Kirsten: We covered most of the small-talk topics — family, friends, school, hobbies, etc. I think [the conversation] was pretty balanced.

Andrew: We’re both from Virginia [and] we [have] pretty similar taste in music and movies.

Kirsten: I didn’t really feel any flirting going on — there was more of a friend vibe. I’m not always the best at picking up on that, though.

Andrew: I thought she was really nice and I had a good time, but I think we’ll just be friends or at least awkward acquaintances.

Kirsten: I could see myself going out with him again as a friend for sure and possibly as a second date.

Andrew: I paid for the meal and then I talked with her and walked her back to Lambeth.

Kirsten: He walked me back to my apartment and gave me a hug and said goodbye. Later that night I got his number from someone else because I couldn’t find him on Facebook.

Andrew: I had a good time and I thought [the] conversation was good, so I’d give the date a 7.5.

Kirsten: I’d rate the date an 8. I had good food, good conversation, and I had a good time.

13

ANDREW

Courtesy Andrew

Year: Second School: Engineering Major: Computer Science U.Va. Involvement: Going to sporting events, date functions and giving tours to future engineering students.

Hometown: Powhatan, Virginia Ideal Date: In-shape, average height or tall, no hair color preference! Open to anything.

Ideal Date Personality: Funny and smart, a little goofy, outgoing.

Ideal date Activity: Dinner and an a capella concert Deal breakers? Bad table manners and bad grammar Describe a typical weekend: Catching up on sleep, attending various sporting events and going out on the town with my friends!

Hobbies: Singing, yoga, Netflix, Starbucks.

What makes you a good catch? [I make] lots of pop culture references, [I’m] laid-back, intelligent, a good-listener, girly and cute!

What makes you a less-than-perfect catch? [I] can be a grammar-nazi.

What's your favorite pick-up line? Baby, you are so fine I could put you on a plate and sop you up like a biscuit.

Describe yourself in one sentence: I'm the Elle Woods of the E-School.

KIRSTEN Courtesy Kirsten

WANT TO BE FEATURED ON

LOVE CONNECTION? { DOWNLOAD THE SURVEY AT WWW.CAVALIERDAILY.COM/SECTION/LIFE }

14

LIFE

The Cavalier Daily

Students, but teachers too Student-taught classes allow for further exploration of academic interests

Danaite Soquar Feature Writer

Like many University students, third-year Engineering student Matthew Baron and fourth-year College student Miranda Gwin balance various extracurricular activities with demanding schoolwork. However, Baron and Gwin are unique in their roles as student teachers. Through the Cavalier Education Program, these students instruct a course for their peers, combining academic interests with a passion for teaching. Along with third-year College student Usnish Majumdar, Baron teaches “Change by Design” — a course available to all students except those in the Engineering school.

The class offers students access to resources and technology they might not experience in their typical coursework. In developing the class, Baron was inspired by Engineering Prof. Dana Elzey’s TED Talk, which encourages university

curriculums to incorporate interdisciplinary learning to meet the demands of society.

“A lot of education is deconstructive, where you break apart a topic and analyze it, which is very common in the College, but there is not a lot of product that comes out of that understanding,” Baron said. “I wanted to have a constructive education where people see how to apply the skills they learned.”

Baron concludes his course with a four-week project, which allows students to apply newfound technical and problem solving skills. To have his peers take the work seriously, Baron focuses his class around student development.

“The way we present the class is we are not here to make you learn a specific set of information, but rather to provide individual attention and support,” Baron said.

“We don’t want people to be afraid and we want them to view us as resources, which is how I think we get students to take us seriously.”

Like Baron, Gwin sought to engage her students through interactive methods when she taught her class “All Things Fitzgerald.” Gwin’s class was inspired by her appreciation for Fitzgerald’s literary work and her interest in its film adaptations.

“I tried to vary the syllabus to keep it engaging,” Gwin said.

“I scheduled three guest lectures throughout the semester and made the class discussion-based. I planned for in-class assignments to be done with a partner and tried to balance film and literary analysis.”

Gwin sought to situate the class within a larger narrative — American cultural aspirations and societal changes of the 1920s, when Fitzgerald was most active. Gwin’s class touched on themes within Fitzgerald’s work, including love, social inequality and race, which also resonate with today’s youth.

“Understanding these themes not only increases the reader’s understanding of modern American literature, but also illuminates the

reader’s understanding of his or her place in society,” Gwin said.

Gwin said her experience as a student-teacher parallels her professional goals.

“I’m looking into wilderness therapy and backpacking jobs for next year, so I would be working directly with youth, teaching them about wilderness safety and how to respect nature,” Gwin said. “At its core, wilderness therapy is a form of teaching. I don’t think I would have known how much I love working with students and young people if I had not taught All Things Fitzgerald.”

Baron, who also hopes to teach in the future, said his experience provided useful insight into possible career paths.

“Teaching is about learning from other people and there is no one good teaching style for everyone,” Baron said. “The class is small, so there is a lot of individual attention. It’s cool to be able to cultivate a skill of how people can learn and cater to that.”

Mitchell Vaughn | The Cavalier Daily

Third-year Engineering student Matthew Baron co-teaches a class for his fellow students.

Empowerment Through Fashion showcases talent Fashion show recognizes National Sexual Assault Awareness Month Joslyn Chesson Feature Writer

Helping Advocate Rights Through Stories organized Empowerment Through Fashion this past week — a showcase in recognition of National Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

The event served to underscore fashion’s relationship with self expression and recovery from trauma.

“The whole premise of this week is reclaiming the meaning of our bodies and our sexuality by what we choose to wear,” third-year Commerce student Elyse Eilerman said. “I think fashion is a good vehicle to do that because survivors often feel like they don’t have control over their bodies or that it has been taken away from them.”

The event consisted of a fashion show featuring University students as models. Eilerman said the show’s opening was inspired by chrysalis — the transformational stage of a butterfly’s life — and featured models entering in outfits of white followed by those in increasingly vibrant

colors. The second scene took an avant-garde angle, and the third focused on the extreme personal styles of the models. The showcase closed with the models wearing blank t-shirts on which they wrote what beauty and fashion means to them.

“The ideology behind this is that no matter what someone is wearing, whether it be a revealing outfit, it doesn’t mean that anyone has the right to sexually assault you,” fourth-year College student Ola Bam said. “So, just having power and domain over what you wear and expressing yourself in any way that you want.”

Throughout the event, students delivered song and spoken word performances to raise awareness of sexual violence.

“I feel like fashion is very relevant to sexual assault awareness as it is a means to express yourself and expressing yourself is something that is extremely important, especially when you face a trauma, or something that happens to your body,” Bam said.

Third-year Engineering student Sri Kodakalla said the event also aimed at addressing the val-

ue of “owning” one’s body.

“The main goal is just being able to have power and domain over your own body and being able to celebrate your body and see it for how it is, instead of trying to conform yourself to media standards of beauty — just be yourself and be whoever you want to be,” Kodakalla said.

Members of HARTS are planning to screen the documentary they created depicting University students answering questions about their fashion choices.

“We just went around the community and asked people questions about what their style means to them and how their body empowers them and what else empowers them in their life,” Kodakalla said.

Although the event was new to Grounds this year, members hope it will gain traction in years to come.

“I hope to have this as a project every semester not just once a year, because I think it’s a project that can be ongoing and just opens up a discussion to just talk about not necessarily just sexbased violence or sexual assault, but also just issues facing [the]

Xiaoqi Li | The Cavalier Daily

Helping Advocate Rights Through Stories organized the Empowerment Through Fashion showcase as part of National Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

18 to mid-30 year old age group,” Kodakalla said. “It’s important to constantly bring up the issue because there are a lot of people who simply don’t know where to turn to.”

Kodakalla said in the end, it’s not about how many attend the event but rather how many attendees feel empowered after the

experience.

“I think that the goal is that the people who are involved in the event will gain a sense of confidence in what we are doing and the message we are sending,” Kodakalla said. “I hope that everyone feels a little bit more comfortable and a little bit more welcome in the community here.”

LIFE

Monday, April 20, 2015 Annie Mester Life Columnist

1. Horse Enthusiast One of the rarer types you’ll meet, this person is at Foxfield for an uncommon reason. While most participants are dedicated to dressing as preppy as possible and attending an intimate daytime soirée with twelve thousand of their closest friends, the horse enthusiast has eyes on a different prize. Maybe he or she rode horses as a child, maybe he or she is really into Seabiscuit, or maybe he or she is just delusional. Either way, this person will most likely be found hanging over a fence and shouting whenever a horse walks by. Anticipate a trite, “I saw a horse!” Instagram caption.

2. Napper While this person may have been just as enthusiastic as the horse enthusiast at an earlier point in the day, the napper has used up all of said energy. Career aspirations for these people include Sleepy’s mattress tester, and definitely do not include a professional horse racer. As the day of Foxfield always hits a minimum temperature of five million degrees Fahrenheit, it’d probably be a smart idea to wake this friend up and move him or her to a more suitable sleeping environment.

3. Person who won’t get off the pickup truck There are a few different reasons this person may select the bed of a pickup truck as his or her platform of choice. Off the top of my head — and totally not speaking from personal experience — I can think of a few. For one, this person might be of particularly short stature and just want to spend a few minutes not being asked how the weather is down there. Alternatively, this person may have lost

all her friends and is using said surface to enhance her range of vision. Or this person may simply be seeking a highly visible area to demonstrate her dance moves she was told were pretty funny once.

Again, not speaking from any sort of personal experience.

4. Wanderer This is the type of person

will not be helpful at this particular moment. Try walkie talkies, or call his parents and ask to borrow that child leash.

5. Screamer This person is having fun and is not afraid to let everyone know it.

This person has seen a horse and is not afraid to let everyone know it. This person has found that one girl in his

THE TOP 10

PEOPLE

a calculated way to get herself in perfect position for step two.

She will then hand her phone to an unsuspecting stranger who is minding his own business and demand he takes your picture. Simple, yet effective. An effortless way to feign popularity by uploading all twelve million pictures to Facebook within an hour of returning home. This attendee will definitely keep you posted if she succeeds at pissing off her ex-boyfriend.

7. Sunburned There are two things that have stuck with me from my childhood: to always chew with my mouth closed and to always put on sunscreen before leaving the house, even if it is the middle of winter. I dare you to find someone whose mother didn’t tell him or her UV rays are even

YOU MEET AT

FOXFIELD

15

8. American Idol This person won’t stop singing.

Much like the television show’s participants, this person is probably not very good. He or she is also probably waving a phone around trying to get you to record the solo. Unlike the television show, though, you’re not going to dial 1-800-Vote-Two, but rather 1-800-Please-Stop. If only you had Ryan Seacrest and a stage band to tastefully escort these ones off their imagined stages. That’s three no’s from the judges. Next.

9. Over-enthusiast This person cannot stop telling everyone within a two-mile radius how this is the best day of her life, ever. It is just SO nice out, everyone looks SO good, the ride here was totally bearable and oh my god, doesn’t this grass just look incredible? We should hire whoever did this grass to redo the grass on the Lawn, because that grass they put down yesterday to replace the grass from last week wasn’t nearly as good as the grass they had the week before. Construction isn’t that bad, and this day is amazing!

10. Bathroom person

whose parents once had to strongly consider investing in one of those absurd child leashes designed to be a questionable substitute for a watchful eye. One minute he’s your partner in crime doing the Cha Cha Slide on the bed of a pickup truck, and the next he’s nowhere to be found.

The lack of cell phone service at Foxfield and its surrounding areas

French class and is really, really, not afraid to let her and everyone know it. Being around the Screamer will elicit strong feelings of secondhand embarrassment and the desire for a human volume control button.

6. Camera-obsessed Every time this person sees someone she knows, she gives that person the two-step greeting.

First, the “Hi! How are you?” delivered with a smile and the casual arm-around-the-shoulder-halfhug. Beware: this half-hug is not a display of affection, but rather

ADVERTISEMENT

stronger through the clouds. The sunburnt Foxfield-goer is of the contingency of those who rolled his eyes at his mom and didn’t ever listen to what she had to say. With a face as red as his salmon-colored shorts, this person will definitely be peeling during finals next week. Things he’ll need to ace the test: a number two pencil and a bottle of aloe.

You know this friend — the one who always, always has to pee. Taking one sip of water in Clemons merits a 20-minute campaign to get you up from your cubicle to go to the bathroom with her. At Foxfield, this problem manifests on a larger scale.

So enthused by her giant lemonade, she drags you to the never ending lines for the bathroom.

Though I’m convinced whoever runs Foxfield plants people in said bathrooms so the line moves about twenty times slower than it should, your friend is not phased by such evil. The worst part? By the time she makes it to the bathroom, she’s already planning the next drink that’ll land her right back in line in 10 minutes.

16

LIFE

The Cavalier Daily

Students host annual Africa Day Organization of African Students draws over 300 guests Margaret Mason Feature Writer

The Organization of African Students hosted its annual Africa Day celebration this Saturday. The evening of entertainment and history saw over 300 students in attendance.

This year’s show, themed “The Sun Will Rise,” provided a visual overview of different periods in African history. Beginning with the Kingdom of Kush and working through colonialism and apartheid, the program ended with a positive look at the modern prominence of Africa and the continent’s future. “[The show is] called ‘The Sun Will Rise’ because it’s a metaphor for positivity on the continent, [hope for] the continent following a positive trajectory from now on,” fourth-year College student Clarisse Awamengwi, OAS treasurer and Africa Day organizer said. “It’s to foreshadow that the African continent is great and there is greatness coming to it. It has had greatness before and it will have greatness again and the greatness that comes will be better than what it had before.”

The show incorporated numerous forms of expression, including

fashion, dancing, poetry, acting, music and food. Students used small performances to create a cultural snapshot of Africa throughout its history.

“I really think [Africa Day is] about taking ownership of the African story and really engaging the University community in a way that not only gives them something fun to do but also informs them in a positive light and gives Africans themselves the voice to author their own stories,”Awamengwi said.

Through the celebration, OAS members hoped to debunk misconceptions about African culture by showcasing the diversity within the continent.

“The concept behind the show [is] really showing people African culture and showing people that Africa is not a monolithic place, it’s a place that has gone through many vicissitudes,” Awamengwi said. “It’s a place of many peoples, many languages, many cultures and that’s really what they experience at the show.”

This year’s show also raised money for SOS Children’s Villages in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.

Clothes featured in the show were put up for auction, with all the proceeds going to the charity.

“We’re moving into better stages [in the Ebola outbreak] and the count has gone down so what we wanted to do was shift our focus to children who have been orphaned by the Ebola outbreak,” second-year College student and OAS Service Chair Ivory Ibuaka said. “We like to keep [our] service component relevant.”

The organization took up the cause this year after recognizing a lack of concern in the United States for the seriousness of the Ebola outbreak, Ibuaka said.

“A lot of people on [executive] board are West African,” Ibuaka said. “It hits close to home for us. We weren’t at all impressed with U.Va.’s reaction to Ebola’s breakout, even the entire country’s reaction. People made jokes and in our culture thought something about Ebola was funny. That’s why we decided that it’d be a good campaign to initiate to raise conscientiousness and awareness and funds.”

Overall, OAS seeks to bring about an increased cultural understanding at the University and recognition of the prominence of Africa.

“It was very important for me to find an African community here,” Awamengwi said. “I also joined because I don’t want OAS to be just

ADVERTISEMENT

Marshall Bronfin | The Cavalier Daily

This year’s Africa Day offered a cultural snapshot of the continent’s history through dancing, poetry, acting, music, food and fashion.

something that Africans get involved with, but something that the University community at large is really invested in. Africa has shaped the histories, politics [and] economies of so many other continents…

It’s really essential that people connect with Africa and realize the importance of the continent.”

Following Africa Day, OAS leaders hope those in attendance feel a connection with Africa and continue the conversation.

“You’re really sharing your culture with other people and they’re kind of understanding where you’re coming from,” fourth-year Batten student and OAS President Jennifer Oppong said. “We really just want people to have some kind of takeaway. We want people to leave with

something, see where we come from and what we’re all about.”

Through Africa Day and other efforts at the University, OAS hopes to appeal not only to those who identify closely with Africa, but also to all students within the larger University community.

“Leaving from Africa day, people are definitely going to have a realization that U.Va. is just a very small portion of humanity or what human beings do,” Awamengwi said. “People will be more open-minded and more enthusiastic about going out into the world. At the end of the day, the human spirit prevails and it’s really about humanity and the human spirit. It’s about realizing that these people who live thousands of miles away are really the same as us.”