Thursday, October 9, 2014

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Vol. 125, Issue 14

Breaking down the University budget University holds $5 billion endowment, projects $2.8 billion 2015 budget as student enrollment continues to climb

College to revamp Board of Visitors meeting curriculumrecap after 40 years PAGE 3

University to extend Fifth Congressional same-sex partner benefits district race breakdown PAGE 3

TheLove journey of Khalek Connection: Shepherd Nathaniel and Darnisha PAGE14 6 PAGE

400

Academic Division Revenue Sources

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500

Amount of money in millions

400 300 200 100

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400

Academic Division Expenditures

350 300 250 200 150 100 50 T Stu rans de fer nt s Int Se ern r v ice Ge al D s ne eb r t al S Op era Adm ervic e i tio n o nistr ati fP o hy sic n al Fin Plan Aca anci t de al A mi c S id up Re Au port Se sear xilia rvi ch ri ce an es dP ub l Ins ic tru ctio n

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Anne Owen | The Cavalier Daily

Whatonit’sHerlike to ToHUMOR: Write Love Arms wearawareness a wolf T-shirt holds week PAGE 12

Q&A: BehindontheCall scenes Musicians bringof drama show tunes department to local patients PAGE 15

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Amount of money in millions

600

Amount of money in millions

In July, Forbes magazine listed the University as the 19th richest school in the country, with an endowment just surpassing $5 billion — good for the fifth richest public school in the nation.

Handling the annual budget, managing the endowment, and making sure payments are actually dispersed proves an extensive operation.

The approved budget for the current fiscal year — which began July 1 — calls for $2.8 billion in spending — a number higher than the GDP of more than 30 countries.

And, though cuts from state appropriations in September lessened this year's total revenues, the budget continues to grow each year.

Where It Comes From Operating budget revenues are broken down into three categories: the Medical Center, the Academic Division and the College at Wise.

Wise accounts for less than 2 percent of revenues. The rest are almost squarely divided between the Academic Division and the Medical Center.

The bulk of the University income made through the Medical Center comes from patient revenues, which accounted for about 45.2 percent of the total operating budget this fiscal year. Tuition and fees come in second at 19.2 percent of revenues.

The Academic Operating Budget receives $1.47 billion across seven categories, primarily coming from student tuition and fees (36.4

percent). To support increased un- erating Budget this fiscal year. The dergraduate enrollment in the class endowment, which is controlled by of 2018, the budget includes an the University of Virginia Investincrease in $6.6 million from tu- ment Management Company, saw ition revenues and $1.1 million of a 19 percent return on its long-term support from the Virginia General investments for fiscal year 2014, Assembly as compared to last year's exceeding the 13.4 percent benchfigures. mark set last fiscal year.

“When you look at the Aca“The 19 percent return for the demic Division, the 11 schools and fiscal year represents participation all the support operations, then in the equity market rally with dituition would supply the largest of versifying positions in credit, real any other single revenue source,” assets, fixed income and cash,” said said Colette Sheehy, vice president Lawrence Kochard, chief executive for management and budget. officer and chief investment officer.

Other significant sources of “Our short and long-term perforrevenue for the Academic Operat- mance compares favorably versus ing Budget include sponsored pro- our policy benchmark.” grams, at 19.3 percent, and UniverThe portfolio consists of two sity sales and services, an umbrella pools, the Short Term Pool and category which contributes 12.5 the Long Term Pool. The Short percent.

Term Pool remains highly liquid — State appropriations to the Uni- meaning it can be easily converted versity make up 10.3 percent of the to cash — in the form of easily sold 600 Operating Academic Divisionstocks.

Revenue Academic Budget folTenSources percent of the revenue lowing the $8.1 million reduction from the Short Term Pool goes implemented for fiscal year 2015. directly to University foundations 500 In the past fiscal year, the Univer- such as the Alumni Association, the sity received $9,518 per in-state Jefferson Scholars Foundation and student 400 — significantly less than the Rare Book School. the University of North Carolina, The Long Term Pool is more which received $22,131 per student diverse, and is comprised of eq300its state government, and the uity, real estate and fixed income. from University of Michigan, which re- The funding for the Long Term ceived 200$13,887 per in-state student. Pool comes primarily from dona“It really goes to the state’s policy tions and the long-term operating and approach to funding higher ed- reserve, and returns on investment 100 ” Sheehy said. “Certainly in are allocated to University-related ucation, North Carolina, they fund higher foundations, long-term operating education better than they do in reserves and back into the endow0 ” Virginia. ment.

The Endowment The Board of Visitors calculates One major source of annual revenue for the University is the endowment, which contributed see BUDGET, page 23 10.7 percent of the Academic Op-

Op Ba era lan tin ces g C ash Ex pe nd ab le Sta Gif te ts Ap pro En pri do ati wm on en s tD ist rib uti Sa on an les & dO S Sp ther ervic on es sor ed Pro gra ms Tui tio na nd Fe es

Associate Editor

Amount of money in millions

Katherine Wilkin

N news

Corrections In an article in the Oct. 6 issue of The Cavalier Daily about Student Council’s push for new mobile applications to promote student safety, the name of an application was misidentified. Virginia Commonwealth University has created a partnership with “LiveSafe,” not “Life Faith.”

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BUDGET Health System to spend $1.3 billion Continued from page 1 the portion of the endowment revenue allocated to the University budget each year using a set formula, which is designed to keep the percentage of revenue contributed between four and six percent. This calculation is based on the market value of the endowment from the previous year. UVIMCO is not directly involved with the budget planning.

“The endowment has performed very well the last few years, so the distribution percentage is dropping lower and lower in that range of 4 to 6 percent,” Sheehy said. “If it goes below 4 percent, we’d ask the board to consider some kind of adjustment that would put it back within that range. ... If it’s over 6 percent, the endowment is distributing too much.”

Planning the Budget Planning the University’s budget is a multi-step process. In the fall of the year prior, the Budget Office reviews a set of “assumptions” for the coming fiscal year with the Board, which include compensation for the next year and the cost of fringe benefits.

In the coming fiscal year, the University will transition out of its current budgeting model, known as incremental budgeting, in favor of an activity-based budgeting model.

This will allow the University to allocate funds to different schools based on the tuition revenue they bring based on student course enrollment — meaning if an Engineering student enrolls in a College course, for instance, his tuition dollars will be split accordingly.

In addition to collecting tuition revenues, schools also receive funding from gifts and endowments.

“The process is really a bottomup process, where the schools prepare their budgets, send them back into the central budget office where we put everything together, and the Board approves it at the end of the day,” Sheehy said.

While the budget is being formulated, the Board considers information from the state about appropriations and approves tuition and fee rates for students.

“By the time you get to the Board approving the final budget, they’ve pretty much approved or looked at all of the biggest pieces of the budget,” Sheehy said.

University President Teresa Sul-

livan is consulted throughout the planning and approval process as well.

“She influences the priorities that are funded above the base budget, [such as] the new things that are being done,” Sheehy said.

Changing the budget model will not be the only adjustment in the upcoming year.

“We are now trying to do multiyear financial planning, which we’ve never done before,” Sheehy said.

Where It All Goes Of the total operating budget, the Academic Division receives $1.5 billion, the Medical Center $1.3 billion and the College at Wise at $41.5 million.

Of the Academic Operating Budget, the most money is put toward instruction, which accounts for 26 percent of funds. The next highest expense is University research programs (20.1 percent).

Academic support, such as libraries and academic administration, sits at 10.2 percent, financial aid at 9.5 percent and student services at 3.1 percent.

The past year saw an increase in faculty salaries after significant pressure. In 2013-14, compensa-

tion made up 54.9 percent of the Academic Division budget, but 2014-15 projections jumped to 59.3 percent, or $870 million.

The 9.5 percent of the budget which goes toward financial aid contributes in part to AccessUVa. By eliminating grant-only aid packages for low-income students last year, the University reduced AccessUVa costs per student.

“We are committed to meeting 100 percent of the need for all of the students who demonstrate [it] … both for in-state students and out of state students,” Sheehy said.

“So we fund whatever needs to be funded for the students who arrive here and qualify for student aid.”

The Athletics Department budget, meanwhile, is $97.6 million, with 68 percent coming from its sales and services, and 31 percent coming from private funds, including gifts and transfers from the Virginia Athletics Foundation.

“Athletics is basically a selfsupporting operation,” Sheehy said.

“We’re lucky enough that we’re in a large conference [like] the ACC, and we have really good television contracts that the conference negotiates, and we share in the revenue from those.”

Percent Returns of Long Term Pool from 2010-2014

Market Values of Long Term Pool from 2010-2014 25% 20%

7000 Returns (in percent)

Market Value (in millions)

8000

6000 5000 4000 2010

15% 10% 5%

2011

2012

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2014

Year

0% 2010

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Anne Owen | The Cavalier Daily

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Thursday, October 9, 2014

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College to revamp curriculum for first time in 40 years Administrators, faculty consider underclassmen ‘cluster’ class organization, competency, area requirement reforms Caelainn Carney Senior Writer

At the College of Arts & Sciences’ faculty meeting Tuesday, faculty members discussed an ongoing initiative to reconstruct the undergraduate curriculum — focusing on potential reforms to the current competency and area requirements.

College Dean Ian Baucom said this would be the first time in 40 years the curriculum has undergone major changes. Small changes were made in 1991, when the historical area requirement was added, but the overall College curriculum has stayed the same since the 1970s.

Baucom said while the proposed changes will be large, they will not totally alter the way the College functions.

“One important reminder is that, when we say we are at a turning point with the undergraduate curriculum, we are not looking to [the] entire course of study,” Baucom said. “This does not affect majors. There is still departmental autonomy.”

Currently, area requirements mandate students complete 12

credits in math and science courses, six credits in the social sciences as well as in the humanities and three credits in both historical studies and non-western studies. Competency requirements include two writing requirements and a foreign language requirement which consists of up to four semesters of language instruction.

Baucom said the College is considering two plans for altering its curriculum in the coming years.

The first would simply re-evaluate the current competency and area requirements. The second would organize the early undergraduate experience around clusters.

“Clusters are courses that are organized around a big idea,” Baucom said. “Two faculty members would pilot around a big idea for a one-semester course. It would have a big organizing idea that brings 40 students together with two faculty members that has a degree of amplitude. The second and third semesters, the students would then be offered an array of courses that build on that course’s questions and then have a capstone in the fourth semester.”

Media Studies Prof. Bruce Williams, chair of the College’s Undergraduate Excellence Committee,

said many details still need to be worked out in the coming months.

His committee has been working on designing a pilot program for clusters to begin in fall 2016.

“We worked hard to get this pilot program to give a small number of students a different kind of ... experience,” Williams said. “We wanted to take more advantage of the residential experience at U.Va.” Baucom said while having these clusters could provide a rich experience for undergraduate students, it may be financially infeasible.

“We matriculate 2,750 students a year,” he said. “We would need 70 clusters.”

Baucom said, under current conditions, only a small percentage of students would be able to take advantage of the clusters.

“That would then leave the vast majority of our students with the second track,” he said. “Fundamentally, it leaves in place the existing set of requirements.”

The College also aims to address how students’ ability to test out of the first writing requirement impacts the effectiveness of the requirement.

“Because students can test out of it, there is a certain aura of the

College Dean Ian Baucom, left, is leading a discussion within the College of Arts & Sciences about reforming general requirements.

Courtesy virginia.edu

remedial,” Baucom said. “We want to go back to the question of writing as fundamental and not remedial.”

Another proposed change would alter the natural sciences and math area requirement. One proposal would divide the four required courses into two “quantitative reasoning” courses and two

general science and mathematics courses.

Baucom said new hires in the College should give faculty and administrators more room to work with in reshaping requirements.

“This is a difficult process,” Baucom said. “It is important to say that we are going to disagree with each other.”

University extends spousal benefits to same-sex partners Supreme Court’s decision to reject appeal petition legalizes LGBTQ marriages throughout the state Katherine Wilkin Associate Editor

The University announced Tuesday same-sex spouses of all benefit-eligible faculty and staff will be allowed to enroll in the University Health Plan.

The decision comes after the Supreme Court decided Monday it would not hear several appeals The University announced on Tuesday that, following the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear a case striking down Virginia’s gay marriage ban, it would allow same-sex partners to enroll in the University’s Health Plan.

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

to federal court decisions which found same-sex marriage bans — including Virginia's — unconstitutional.

The Court’s decision allowed same-sex couples in Virginia to obtain legal marriage licenses beginning Monday afternoon.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe issued an Executive Order Tuesday mandating all state agencies, including institutions of higher education,

to expand all spousal benefits to same-sex partners.

“My administration will act quickly to continue to bring all of our policies and practices into compliance so that we can give married same-sex couples the full array of benefits they deserve,” he said in the Executive Order.

In the wake of the Supreme Court decision and McAuliffe’s order, Susan Carkeek, the University’s

chief human resources officer, distributed a statement to all benefitseligible staff and faculty regarding changes in policy.

“As a result of decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court and the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, same-sex spouses are now eligible for coverage through the U.Va. Health Plan,” she said in the email.

“This also applies to same-sex marriages performed in other states.

Children of same-sex spouses are eligible for coverage as step-children.”

University Health Plan benefits are now available for all couples, regardless of sex, effective on the first of the month following the marriage. For couples who have already obtained marriage licenses from other states, “this change in eligibility allows you to add your spouse immediately as a mid-year qualifying event with a Nov. 1 effective date,” Carkeek said.

Following a change last summer, the an employee's spouse may only enroll in the University's Health Plan if he or she does not have access to an "affordable health coverage of minimum value through his or her employer," and this standard still applies to same-sex spouses,

Carkeek said in the email.

Queer Student Union President Sarah Leser, a fourth-year College student, said she the Supreme Court's decision came at an excellent time.

“National Coming Out day is this weekend, so this ruling comes at a very exciting time for the LGBTQ community,” Leser said in an email. “For many, this decision highlights progress in the LGBTQ struggle for equality.”

Though the ruling is positive news for LGBTQ individuals, Leser said the University and the Charlottesville community still have progress to make.

“We must continue working for things like gender-neutral housing and an LGBTQ identifier question on the admissions application, and it is up to students to reach out to University officials to let them know these are issues we care about,” she said.

Leser hopes the Supreme Court’s decision will provide a springboard for further progress.

“In the broader community, marriage equality does not address issues such as trans rights, anti-discrimination, or LGBTQ homelessness,” she said.

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Virginia Tech enacts transgender discrimination ban Gender identity protections extend to William & Mary, James Madison, Norfolk State, Old Dominion University Caitlyn Seed Staff Writer

Virginia Tech announced a policy change last week which will protect transgender individuals as part of the school’s comprehensive antidiscriminatory statement.

Five state universities in Virginia have policies banning discrimination against transgender students, faculty and staff. According to an online survey administered by the Roanoke Times, nondiscriminatory policies at the College of William & Mary, James Madison University, Norfolk State University and Old Dominion University specifically include protection for gender identity and expression.

Virginia Commonwealth University President Michael Rao sent an email this week to students, staff and faculty announcing the school’s intention to broaden its non-discrimination statute to include gender identity, which would expand protection to transgender people.

The new language must be approved by the university's Board of Visitors before it is officially adopted.

There is no policy currently in place at the University prohibiting discrimination against transgender and gender identity.

In January 2014, Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed “Executive Order Number 1: Prohibiting Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity,” preventing discrimination at the state government level. This order, however, does not necessarily extend to institutions such as state universities. Though some schools have adopted protections for gender identity and expression, they are not legally required to.

“The idea percolated up from student groups, faculty groups and administration groups,” Virginia Tech Provost Mark McNamee said.

“The students were especially active in proposing this and advocating for it.”

The proposal passed through a committee, the school's University Council consisting of students, faculty and staff, and finally through the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

“It had terrific support,” McNamee said. “People feel really good about the University taking a very proactive step.”

McNamee said he was unaware of any incidents regarding discrimination against transgender students, faculty or staff at Virginia Tech, but he said the student body expressed a desire to proactively prevent an issue from arising. The policy seems to be as much an effort to support diversity as it is a protection of a particular group of people.

“We are implementing a new model for inclusion and diversity,” McNamee said. “We are in the process now of developing how it will operate this year and what it will accomplish.”

McNamee said he hopes other universities will follow suit.

The University’s anti-discriminatory policy protects several characteristics and statuses, but gender identity and expression are not included among these.

“I’m very proud of our Virginia Tech friends for really paving the way for such decision making in the state of Virginia,” LGBTQ Student Services Coordinator Scott Rheinheimer said.

Resources available to transgender students, faculty and staff at the University include the LGBTQ Cen-

ter, men's and women’s counseling, an anonymous and confidential telephone help line and support groups.

“Speaking from the student perspective, to know that your university not only supports you but that they’ll put it in writing is really im-

portant,” Rheinheimer said.

A subcommittee group in the LGBTQ Center was formed this semester to focus specifically on transgender issues at the University.

The committee includes student and staff representatives.

Virginia Tech announced it was adding an explicit ban on transgender discrimination to its school’s comprehensive policy. Virginia Tech joins several other Virginia schools in the effort.

Kelsey Grant | The Cavalier Daily

Virginia’s Congressional district map ruled unconstitutional Republican state legislature unconstitutionally drew third district to concentrate African-American votes, judge says Chloe Heskett

Senior Associate Editor

A panel of federal judges Tuesday ruled Virginia’s congressional district map unconstitutional because of racial gerrymandering in the 3rd District.

The ruling held that the unusual lines of the Democratic-controlled 3rd District were drawn intentionally to concentrate African-Americans in the district — a violation of the 14th Amendment.

Center for Politics spokesperson Geoffrey Skelley said the ruling would not have any immediate effects.

“This ruling will only affect the map starting with the 2016 election,” Skelley said in an email. “Presumably, the General Assembly will meet and decide on new lines, perhaps in the next legislative session in January 2015.”

The decision, handed down in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, requires the General Assembly to produce a new map by April 2015.

The 3rd District is Virginia’s only

district with a majority of AfricanVirginia’s controversial congres- that redistricting should be done American residents, who account sional district map has garnered in- “by an impartial, independent comfor 56.3 percent of the district's vot- creased attention in the last several mission, using non-partisan criteria, ing-age popthat invites ulation. The public par3rd District's ticipation borders and is fully reach across transparent." southeastern Last OcVirginia and tober, 3rd include parts District resiof Richdents Dawn mond, NewCurry Page, port News Gloria Perand Norfolk. sonhuballah Demoand James crat Robert Farkas filed “Bobby” a complaint Scott has against the held the 3rd Virginia District seat State Board Courtesy Wikimedia Commons since 1993 of Elections, as one of A federal judge ruled the the Virginia legislature had unconstitutionally drawn its third Congressional district c l a i m i n g only three to concentrate African-American voters. The district, above, extends from Richmond to Norfolk. racial gerryCongressiomandering nal Demom ot i v at e d crats from Virginia. Republicans years. the drawing of district lines in the currently hold seven of Virginia’s Gregory Lucyk, a member of 2011 redistricting cycle in violation 11 districts. The 7th District seat is OneVirginia2021, a Charlottesville- of their equal rights. currently vacant, but was held by based organization founded in early Skelley said redistricting could Republican Eric Cantor until he re- 2013 which advocates non-partisan shake things up between party lines. signed in August. redistricting, said in a press release “Given that the current map pro-

tects many more GOP incumbents than Democratic incumbents and the fact that a new map will almost surely further spread out strongly Democratic black voters, Democrats probably stand to gain at least to some degree with new lines,” Skelley said.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe released a statement in support of the ruling, calling it an “opportunity to emerge with a map that reflects the best interests of Virginia families, not the political interests of the people drawing the lines.”

Skelley said Virginians should expect a compromise to emerge from the eventual redrawn district map.

“With divided control of government in Richmond — Republicans control both chambers in the General Assembly and Democrats the governorship — neither side is likely to get exactly what they want with a new Congressional map,” Skelley said. “So some sort of compromise map is probably to be expected. If no compromise occurs for some reason, the courts would end up drawing the lines.”

NEWS

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Student Council holds voter registration drive

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Legislative Affairs Committee leads effort, has trouble tracking student sign-up, voting location history, Co-Chair Cohen says Hanan Yazid and Samantha Josey-Borden

Elections online registration system, which are typically used to track voter registration.

Student Council's Legislative Affairs Committee has spearheaded a voter registration drive in recent weeks to garner attention about next month’s midterm elections.

The committee aims to make voter registration as easy and simple as possible for students, who typically have low turnout in midterm elections, and partnered with Virginia21, the Department of Housing and Residence Life and the Center for Politics for the project.

Tracking who can register and who already has will be a challenge for the Committee, said second-year Law student Zach Cohen, one of the committee’s cochairs. Out-of-state students may not have declared Virginia residency, and in-state students often register with their hometown rather than in Charlottesville.

On a logistical level, the committee does not have access to services such as TurboVote and the State Board of

“Our goal is on coverage, making sure that students that want to register have easy ways to go about that,” Cohen said. “Because voting is habitual, if we can have students vote once — be it in the commonwealth or out-of-state, in person or absentee — the chance of them continuing to vote [across] their lifetime is dramatically increased.”

As part of the initiative, Council sent an email to the first-year class about the initiative.

“We were ecstatic to see that hundreds of first year students had clicked a link to register to vote on-Grounds within a day of our sending an email to the first-year class,” Cohen said.

Cohen said students can now use their University IDs to satisfy the voter-ID requirements.

In an article for Politics Prof. Larry Sabato’s weekly newspaper, Sabato’s Crystal Ball, Center for Politics spokesperson Geoffrey Skelley said young voters make up

News Writers

only 14 percent of the midterm electorate, compared to one-fifth of the electorate during presidential elections.

“Every midterm election, … elderly voters are more likely to cast votes in both presidential and midterm years than their younger counterparts,” Skelley said. “But the youth vote could matter in a contest like the one in the 10th Congressional District in Northern Virginia, which is really the only truly competitive federal

Porter Dickie | The Cavalier Daily

Senior associate dean for education to replace Dunlap, handle curriculum changes Senior Writer

University officials announced Dr. Randolph J. Canterbury accepted his appointment to Interim Medical School Dean earlier this week. His term will begin Dec. 1, 2014.

Canterbury, the senior associate dean for education at the Medical School, will replace Medical School Dean Nancy Dunlap, who is stepping down after 18-months in the position.

Dunlap said in an email that she came to the Medical School during a period of turnover and was allotted an 18-month period to ensure everything went smoothly.

“Randy is a thoughtful individual who understands the issues that are being addressed,” Dunlap said. “I have no doubt that the transition to Randy's leadership will be smooth. The other senior associate deans are very talented and will help Randy if issues arise. We have completed a strategic planning process and are implementing our

initiatives. Teams are in place to help carry out our plans.”

Dr. Richard Shannon, the executive vice president for Health Affairs, said in an email that Canterbury has been close advisor to the dean for more than a decade, and is taking on the role out of a deep sense of duty to the University.

Shannon said the interim position was not a “lame duck position” and would require skilled leadership.

“The unfinished work of the SOM [Medical School] strategic plan and important administrative restructuring will begin under Randy’s leadership,” Shannon said.

Canterbury said he has been meeting with Dunlap for the past 18 months as part of the Medical School’s management team. While the strategic plan represents an ongoing project which started nine months ago under Dunlap’s watch, implementation will continue under Canterbury.

“We have an institutional plan that was developed by members of the Medical School

that we are a constituency from which they need support.”

During a visit to the University in September, Sen. Mark Warner said students need to vote during elections to see key changes in issues which interest them, such as student debt.

“One of the only things that could affect policies [created in Washington] or transform them is to increase voter-turnout among young individuals,” Warner said during the speech.

Student Council, left, is holding an ongoing voter registration drive.

The Legislative Affiars Committee is leading the initiative.

Canterbury named interim Medical dean Henry Pflager

race in Virginia this cycle.”

Cohen said if youth start to vote in large numbers during the midterm elections and not just during presidential elections, young voters will increasingly become recognized as an important part of the electorate.

“Students collectively can make a substantial difference, particularly in the state and local elections that will occur next year,” Cohen said. “By voting, especially in large numbers, students send our elected officials the message

community with a strategy to move forward,” Canterbury said. “I think my job will be — I won’t say simple, but it’ll [be] pretty clear, and that is to implement that plan over the next 7-8 months.”

The plan includes education fellowships for faculty to improve teaching and a potential dual degree with the Education School, which Canterbury said they plan to start next summer.

According to the announcement Shannon made earlier this week, the Medical School is continuing an ongoing national search process to find a new permanent dean to succeed Canterbury. Dr. Karen Johnston and Prof. Gary Owens co-chair the search advisory committee. Shannon said he hopes the committee and the administration will find a new dean by July 2015.

When the dean position is filled, Canterbury will return to his current position as the Medical School's senior associate dean for education.

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Shepherd, hailing from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, is fourth on the team with 310 all-purpose yards, and has one rushing and two receiving touchdowns.

sports

Porter Dickie| The Cavalier Daily

The journey of Khalek Shepherd

Halfway through his final season, redshirt senior maintains close relationship with parents, looks to leave mark on the field Matthew Morris Senior Associate Editor

Khalek Shepherd’s mother Monica knows football well and her oldest son even better. So when Khalek dropped a punt against UCLA in Virginia’s season opener Aug. 30 at Scott Stadium, his mother made sure he heard about it.

“She said, ‘Come on, man, you've been catching the ball since you was seven. That’s unacceptable,’” Shepherd said, sitting at the press-room podium inside John Paul Jones Arena the Monday before the Cavaliers (42, 2-0 ACC) dealt Kent State a 45-13 trouncing Sept. 27.

Monica also had words for Khalek

after Virginia’s 23-21 upending of then-No. 21 Louisville. This time, she was worried for her punt-returning son, a fifth-year senior set for graduate classes.

“She said, ‘You know, you scared me running up like that. You should have fair-catched or something because I didn't know what was going to happen,’” Shepherd said.

Shepherd, whose chief gridiron occupation is running back — he comprises one-third of a dangerous triumvirate alongside powerful senior Kevin Parks and cat-quick sophomore Taquan “Smoke” Mizzell — gets plenty of feedback from his father Leslie as well.

Leslie also knows of what he speaks: he played seven seasons in

the NFL, scoring 26 touchdowns as a wide receiver for the Redskins, Browns and Dolphins from 19942000.

Leslie watches all of Khalek’s games — even if he’s in the Mountain Lion stands watching Khalek's brother Chaudlier, a redshirt freshman defensive back at Concord University. If he can’t watch Khalek in real time, he TiVos the game and catches it at home. By Sunday night, Leslie — who texts Khalek every game-day morning and whom Khalek said he calls after every game — is always ready to impart some paternal pigskin wisdom.

Listening to Shepherd discussing his father, it appears Leslie’s support is nothing if not unconditional.

“He’s always been that guy that always guided me and [has] always been in the back burner and always been in the background but [has] always been in my ear,” Shepherd said.

“He always told me he wanted me to enjoy my career.”

“In my ear” seems particularly important in Shepherd’s development as a Division I college football player. Leslie, Khalek said, was not afraid to put his personal stamp on his son’s athletic progression.

“He’s basically the reason why I’m who I am and where I am today, because he stayed on top of me to make sure my head was straight — made sure I worked hard to get where I wanted to be,” Shepherd said.

Shepherd is the kind of player

with whom coaches love to work: adaptable, humble, battle-tested and all about team. He’s one of 22 seniors on the Cavalier roster, and though he’s not as vocal as, say, middle linebacker Henry Coley, he nonetheless contributes positively to the team’s culture.

“He’s a selfless guy,” coach Mike London said. “Khalek has done a nice job of taking whatever role there is and embracing it and trying to help the team win.”

Shepherd is part of a crowded backfield to be sure, but he doesn’t mind. After all, that backfield is

see FOOTBALL, page 83

State of the Hoo-nion e have reached the midpoint W in the 2014-15 college football season, and Virginia sits at 4-2.

sidering a rookie quarterback would be behind center.

Though there has been some roAs the team enjoys its tation at the left tackle bye week, let's take a position — three Cavalook at how the various liers have had signifiposition groups have cant playing time here performed through the — the lineup has stayed first six weeks of the fairly consistent since year with our first-ever the UCLA game with State of the Hoo-nion sophomore Ryan Doull Address. at left guard, sophoOffensive Line more Ross Burbank at I will begin with center, senior Conner what was clearly VirDavis at right guard and RYAN TAYLOR ginia’s biggest ambigusophomore Eric Smith Senior Associate Editor ity coming into this at right tackle. season. Losing Morgan It's also appropriMoses and Luke Bowanko to the ate to include senior tight end Zach NFL Draft this past year was an Swanson here, as he has not been enormous blow — especially con- much of a receiving threat thus

far. Swanson and counterpart junior Rob Burns total just 54 yards through the first six games — they've proven killer blockers, though.

This young group averages nearly 300 pounds (excluding Swanson) and has performed quite admirably despite its bleak projections at the start of the year. They have allowed just five sacks — three of which came against a ranked Louisville team.

Even better than protecting their young quarterback, the line has helped make room for the stacked Cavalier backfield to churn away on the ground. All put together (including sweeps by receivers, because that’s still a rush) Virginia is averaging 177 yards per game running the football. That’ll get the job done,

especially with Kevin Parks running like he did a week ago.

Running backs This has far and away been the best part of Virginia’s offense in 2014. The Cavalier backfield boasts three competent runners, each adaptable players who come with their own specialty.

Senior Kevin Parks is the workhorse of the group. I wrote in depth about his career after his dominant performance against Pittsburgh.

The senior can flat-out play and he proves that week-in and week-out.

When this season is all said and done, he likely will be top-five in Virginia history in career rushing yards (he currently sits at No. 7 with 2901 yards).

Fellow senior Khalek Shepherd follows in Parks' mold, in that he can run between the tackles but also has the speed to hurt opponents outside.

Shepherd is a talented return man as well and does a great job for Virginia. (See our feature to learn more about Shepherd.)

Finally, another player who has been in the spotlight this season: sophomore Smoke Mizzell. He is one of the most versatile athletes on the Virginia roster and can play almost anywhere on the field. He may be strongest in the slot for jet sweeps and quick routes down the field, but he had an immensely successful

see TAYLOR, page 8

SPORTS

Thursday, October 9, 2014

7

Cavs face Eagles in Thursday clash After first ranked win of season, women’s soccer seeks 27th-straight home victory Jacob Hochberger Associate Editor

Fresh off a thrilling 2-1 road win against No. 14 Notre Dame Sunday, the fourth-ranked Virginia women’s soccer team returns home Thursday looking to extend its school-record 26-game home winning streak.

The Cavaliers (11-1-0, 3-1-0 ACC) take on a struggling Boston College (8-5-0, 1-3-0 ACC) team which has dropped three of its last four games coming into Charlottesville. But as is the case in any matchup against an ACC squad, the Cavaliers can’t let their guard down based on win-loss record.

“The focus first and foremost is BC,” associate coach Ron Raab said, “BC is a quality side, they’ve got a couple players who are special and I think they’re going to be a formidable challenge for us so the focus is preparing for that game and then doing the things necessary to prepare.”

Historically, the game site has loosely determined the outcome of Virginia-Boston College games.

Though Virginia has consistently been the stronger team, the Eagles have taken four of the last eight matchups, including three wins in

Newton, Massachusetts, on their own field. With Thursday’s matchup at home — the first game at Klöckner Stadium in two weeks — the Cavaliers’ chances of taking down a pesky Boston College team look good.

“Going on the road and seeing the difference in just sheer amount of people that are out at our games compared to other team’s games, I think we just appreciate it so much more now," sophomore goalkeeper Morgan Stearns said. "[We’re] excited to come home to that and play in front of the home crowds.”

Stearns and the Cavaliers’ defense have thrived at Klöckner, and their play has consistently improved throughout the season. Now ranked second in the ACC in goals against average with just .50 goals per game, the back line has made a point this season of keeping its goal a hallowed place, expecting to shutout everyone they play.

“The biggest thing is our will to not give up goals,” Stearns said, “We definitely pride ourselves on being one of the strongest back lines in the country and knowing that giving up goals is going to happen eventually but … it’s very bothersome if it does.”

Though the defense has seen much success this season, it has taken

much of the season thus far to develop a degree of cohesiveness and chemistry — no easy task considering Virginia added nine new players this season and lost nearly half of its College Cup starting lineup from last season.

“The biggest thing that’s changed over the course of the year is the integration of the new players,” Raab said. “[We're developing] a little more of the comfort level of all of our players in terms of getting used to each other, their strengths, their weaknesses, incorporating our style of play throughout the team, and that’s a process, it doesn’t happen overnight. I think we’re starting to see some of the results of their hard work.”

Virginia’s improvement has been led by its upperclassmen leaders, especially junior forward Brittany Ratcliffe, whose memorable 90 minute tap-in against Notre Dame gave the Cavaliers their eleventh win.

“It happened so slowly,” Ratcliffe said, “I passed it into the net and it was the slowest goal of my life. It was awesome because we definitely deserved to win that game, so getting the win and traveling on the road after being on a long trip, we definitely needed it.”

Though the ACC Player of the

Porter Dickie | The Cavalier Daily

Sophomore goalkeeper Morgan Stearns has been solid in net for the Cavaliers, only allowing a 0.51 goals against average through 12 games this season.

Week, Ratcliffe, and Virginia took down Notre Dame last weekend, it was only the first win this season against a ranked opponent, after losing to fifth-ranked Florida State Sept.

28.

“Notre Dame is a quality team and a quality result is always something that gives players a little bit of confidence,” Raab said, “I think we had a solid performance for 90 minutes [and] that’ll give them a little bit of confidence in their ability to play against good teams, and going forward I think we’ll see a continuation of that.”

With this Thursday's matchup, the Cavaliers now begin the final-

season push toward the NCAA tournament — playing against an Eagles squad which lost junior forward and preseason Hermann Trophy watch list member McKenzie Meehan to a preseason off-field injury.

“The motivation is to get to Florida, to the final four, keep doing what we need to do, keep playing Virginia soccer,” Ratcliffe said. "At the end of the day we want to be playing in December, so that’s what we’ve got to be focused on.”

Kickoff for the first game of Virginia’s two-game homestand is at 7 p.m. in Klöckner Stadium.

Volleyball hits the road for ACC games against UNC, Va. Tech Off to a 3-1 start in conference play, Virginia hopes to end road woes against No. 12 Tar Heels, commonwealth rival Hokies in weekend contests Alix Glynn Associate Editor

The Virginia women’s volleyball team will play its first two ACC road games this weekend, traveling to take on 12th-ranked North Carolina Friday and in-state foe Virginia Tech Sunday.

The Cavaliers (10-7, 3-1) have won three of their first four

conference games, including a 3-1 win against Louisville last Saturday, and they’re looking to continue their early success.

“We know we want to be better, and we know we want stay on top of the ACC and prove ourselves,” sophomore outside hitter Haley Kole said.

But to do so Virginia must overcome its struggles away from home. The Cavaliers won their first

Courtesy Virginia Athletics

After a stellar freshman season which saw her finish second on the team with 430 kills, sophomore Haley Kole has 86 kills through 42 sets in 2014.

road game of the season, 3-0, against Marshall in the Thunder Invite, but they are 0-3 on other teams’ home courts since and 3-3 at neutral sites.

In the most recent road game, a Tuesday night match two weeks ago against Liberty, Virginia fell in five sets after holding a 2-1 lead. The team wants to end its road woes in the next two games, but it won’t come against easy competition. “[Both games] are on the road,” coach Dennis Hohenshelt said.

“We’re going to have to learn how win on the road a little bit. It’s two matches against two good teams, and we’re going to have to be ready to play.”

Virginia currently sits fourth in the ACC, just below the Tar Heels (12-2, 3-1), who have won three consecutive games after getting shut out in their conference opener against ACC leader No. 4 Florida State.

“UNC’s really good right now,” Hohenshelt said. “I think they’re one of the top three teams in the league.”

North Carolina’s senior libero Ece Taner leads the ACC in aces per set, and junior middle blockers Victoria McPherson and Paige Neuenfeldt rank third and fourth in blocks per set, respectively. Last year, the Cavaliers lost to the Tar Heels twice,

and they are just 14-43 in the alltime series. But the team remains optimistic that North Carolina is beatable.

“We’re definitely excited to play UNC away and maybe steal a win from them,” Kole said.

After Friday’s game, the Cavaliers will head to Blacksburg to face rival Virginia Tech (8-8, 1-2). The Hokies have lost at home against Louisville and at Wake Forest, both teams Virginia has defeated.

“Virginia Tech had a real nice win Saturday against NC State to get their first ACC win of the season,” Hohenshelt said. “They’re really good. It’s a Virginia-Virginia Tech matchup and everyone’s going to be hungry for it.”

This season, Virginia Tech has looked to sophomore outside hitter Lindsey Owens on offense.

Owens leads the team in kills at 211, while two other players — senior middle blocker Kathryn Caine and sophomore outside hitter Amanda McKinzie — each have more than 100 kills on the year. The Hokies rank eighth in the conference in both hitting percentage and opponent hitting percentage, perfectly middleof-the-pack, and their defense at the net hasn’t been the best, 11th out of 15

teams in the ACC at 2.19 blocks per set.

The Cavaliers have some major issues of their own to fix this weekend, with a particular focus on improving their defensive play and fixing their streaky-serving woes. At .235, Virginia is allowing the second-worst hitting percentage to opponents among all ACC teams, trailed only

by Notre Dame at .241. The Cavaliers have also been extremely error-prone from the service stripe, committing 167 service errors this season — 41 more than their opponents.

“We get pretty hot for about five or six straight points and then we start to lose our focus,” Hohenshelt said.

“Serving is the one individual thing in this game that you can control. We serve every day and we’ll continue to serve and try to get better at it.”

This third weekend of ACC play will be a strong indicator of where the Cavaliers stand in the conference realm.

“We all want to win,” sophomore libero Karlie Suber said. “We all have the same mindset going into this weekend — win at all costs. “ Game time against North Carolina is set for 6 p.m., while Sunday’s game at 1 p.m. against Virginia Tech will be broadcast online on ESPN 3.

8

SPORTS

The Cavalier Daily

FOOTBALL Shepherd looks to leave mark without being standout Continued from page 6

churning out 129.9 rushing yards per game with Shepherd, Parks and Mizzell all gaining four-plus yards per carry for a Virginia team aiming to capture the Coastal Division crown.

The trio has kept opposing defenses on their toes: Mizzell posted 61 yards against Kent State, Shepherd 73

at altitude versus Brigham Young and Parks a game-defining 169 against Pittsburgh.

“That’s the good thing about having three great running backs is that you don’t have to depend on just one,” Shepherd said.

Shepherd knew the value of a three-pronged rushing attack long before he enrolled at Virginia. He knew even before his days at Gwynn

Park High School in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

He knew even in elementary school.

“It’s a real funny story because 85 pounds — I would go back to Little League, 85 pounds — I was in a backfield with Stephon Morris, that was a corner at Penn State, and Devon Smith, that was a receiver at Marshall,” Shepherd said. “So that was

a pretty dynamic backfield at what, I don’t know, we were in third [or] fourth grade.”

Now, Shepherd is in the second half of his final collegiate season — the last seven-and-a-half minutes of the fourth quarter, if one reduces his career to a single game. He’s looking to go out strong, but not just from an individual standpoint. He’s not a “feature back” and never has been one in

Virginia — and he doesn’t mind.

“I just want to end my career on a good note and say that I was part of a great team,” Shepherd said. “So, the carries and the being a feature back [have] never been my intentions coming here. My intentions were to be a part of a great team and get a great education while I was here. And that’s been happening, so I’m pretty satisfied about that.”

TAYLOR Cavalier defense has greatly impressed through first six games Continued from page 6 high school career as a tailback and has proven capable of taking carries when Parks needs a breather.

Virginia is a running team at heart — and has been a successful one so far. To all you Fairchild doubters, I apologize: the up-thegut runs are here to stay. But if the Cavaliers keep winning, maybe he’s been right all along.

Receivers This group has proven more surprising than any of the others.

The Cavaliers aren’t exactly feared for their vertical, defense-spreading abilities. But this receiving corps has done the job well.

Seniors Miles Gooch and Darius Jennings and junior Canaan Severin have all been solid targets for sophomore quarterbacks Greyson Lambert and Matt Johns to find. Gooch in particular seems to make plays on every single third down, which is absolutely critical with a young

quarterback.

These guys have also become increasingly more involved as the season has worn, which is a great sign.

If they start to get the respect they deserve, the field will only open up more for Virginia’s bread-and-butter-and-jelly (Parks, Shepherd and Mizzell).

Quarterback(s) This category is hard. For one, I’m not sure if anyone actually knows who Virginia’s quarterback is. This is exactly the kind of thing I said shouldn’t be happening in my first column of the season, “Stop the Ride.” (That was the self-promotional plug, I swear…mostly because I’m out of columns to reference.)

It's obvious the offense simply plays differently under Matt Johns, however. He takes more shots downfield, and the Cavaliers seem to move the ball more effectively with him under center.

Still, there is nothing really wrong with how Greyson Lambert has played thus far, and there is a

distinct possibility London will reinsert him as the starter after the bye-week.

For the sake of this column though, I’m going to say Johns is who Virginia is sticking with, simply based on his performances in the fourth quarter against BYU and throughout the last two weeks. On the year, he’s thrown for 687 yards on a 58.8 percent completion percentage. The sophomore has seven touchdowns to five interceptions.

Not great, but not bad — and he has gotten the job done with a 2-0 record as a starter.

Defensive line and linebackers In a one-word summary: terrifying.

This front seven is the real deal, absolutely terrorizing every opponent Virginia has faced. Led by senior middle linebacker Henry Coley with six, the unit has 23 sacks. To put this in layman’s terms: you don’t have time to throw the ball against the Cavaliers.

Not only do they get after the

passer, but they can stop the run as well. The most yards Virginia has given up to an opposing team on the ground this year is 145, and that was mostly because BYU’s quarterback, Taysom Hill, is annoyingly athletic.

Hill and the Cougars were also responsible for two of the season-total five rushing touchdowns this unit has given up through SIX games.

Secondary If I have to pick a weak spot on the defense, which I don’t particularly want to (see: terrifying), it has to be the secondary. They have given up nearly 1,500 yards passing, about 250 yards per game up to this point.

But Virginia has only allowed seven touchdowns through the air, seemingly employing a bend-but-don’tbreak strategy.

There is hope for this group, though — it could not ask for a better leader. Senior Anthony Harris is one of the nation’s best safeties. Harris is on too many Preseason Player of the Year watch lists to count, and I have no doubt he has taken fresh-

man standout Quin Blanding and the rest of the DB’s under his wing.

The Cavaliers are in good hands in this area, and seem fully capable of improving as the season progresses.

Special Teams They’ve given up one touchdown on a kickoff coverage breakdown against BYU, which is…OK. Also, the Cavaliers have only allowed one punt to be sort-of blocked kick. The star of this group is obviously junior placekicker Ian Frye, who crushes the ball and is currently 12/13 on field goals for the year. So, yeah — keep it up specialists.

Closing Remarks If the team works together and summons what is best in it, feet firmly planted in the first six games and eyes cast toward the next six, I believe a trip to the ACC Championship game is in its reach (NEWSFLASH: the Cavaliers are tied for first in the Coastal Division.)

May the college football gods bless the Virginia Cavaliers.

O

Thursday, October 9, 2014

9

LEAD EDITORIAL

High-flying flags

opinion

Banning the Confederate flag restricts students’ freedom of expression

Comment of the day

“It’s all easy when we talk about it, but the practice is completely different.

Everyone wants to get into the same groups because not only are they the most prestigious, they are the ones to which the administration pays attention. When I was at UVA, we would have to beg Student Council to give us and leftover pennies they had left from appropriations after the big clubs got the big bucks. They wouldn’t even give us money for a pack of pens. The big guests, even UVA professors, deans, and staff, will gladly go to certain organizations but not others, making not only visibility but appeal go completely off-balance.

When the University itself puts on all these events and traditions around a handful of organizations, it is clear that those will be the most visible, the most included, and the most competitive ones. After all, who wants to join a club that has few members, is barely allowed to function by StudCo and the administration, and will barely have any sort of impact at UVA?” “2013er” responding to Kaelyn Quinn’s Oct. 2 article “The competition effect”

Controversy has erupted at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania over a Confederate flag hung by two students in their dorm room. The students did remove the flag, but the issue has not quieted down. Many students are criticizing the college for its silence and inaction, have staged protests, and are demanding Bryn Mawr ban the flag from its campus.

The students who hung the flag described it as a symbol of their “southern pride,” but many minority students interpreted the symbol as one of racial intolerance, and felt their place at the college was threatened by its presence.

But students who grew up in southern states with different educational backgrounds may see the Confederate flag is a cultural symbol removed from any history of racial tension. South Carolina still flies the flag on statehouse grounds, but the state government of South Carolina would not sanction segregation or other overtly racist legisla-

tion. For some, the flag can be an expression of identity which does not necessarily carry a racist connotation.

To that point, the location of this controversy is critical.

It would be difficult to imagine massive protests demanding the Confederate flag be banned from the University. It undoubtedly hangs in some dorm rooms on Grounds, though it impossible to tell how frequently. The overwhelmingly negative reaction to the flag at Bryn Mawr, a northeastern school, is likely the result of a greater number of students having been educated differently about the flag.

The argument that the Confederate flag can invoke attitudes of racial intolerance is certainly legitimate. But one cannot assume that a student intends to send that message when hanging the flag. It may be controversial, but displaying a Confederate flag is an act of expression which a college or university does not have the power to limit, just as it would not have the power to

limit the expression of controversial political views which could potentially offend certain students. For example, if a student hung in a dorm window a campaign poster for Ken Cuccinelli, who has expressed opinions that gay people are “soulless” and “destructive,” LGBTQ individuals could argue the poster is disturbing to them. But a university would not have the authority to prohibit Cuccinelli campaign posters.

Though a university does not have the power to limit the free expression of students, the students of that university do have the power to enact meaningful change through education and dialogue. Demanding the students who hung the flag make a public apology, as the NAACP chapter at Bryn Mawr did, is not effective without making an effort to educate the community about why the presence of the flag might threaten African American students at the college. Civil discussion where both sides attempt to understand

where the other is coming from would produce a more meaningful resolution than demands made based on premature assumptions about malicious intent.

There are certain symbols whose meanings are not contested, like a flag with a KKK symbol — a group whose expressed mission is racism. A university would have authority to remove such a symbol because it unquestionably makes an assertion of white supremacy, which would create a hostile environment for minority students.

Colleges and universities have an obligation to ensure students of all backgrounds feel welcome on their campuses, but they cannot overly constrain their students’ freedom of expression. In a case where a symbol can have different interpretations depending on your identity and upbringing, discussion among students about the issue must take the place of protests, rules and mandates.

Naughty Netflix Television series can be better appreciated when shown in weekly installments rather than in full season releases on the Internet Viewpoint Writer

The popular online television and movie streaming service Netflix produced its first ever original, web-only content with the successful television series House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey, which it released the entire first season of on February 1, 2013. Shortly afterwards, Netflix released the fourth season of Arrested Development and the launch of Orange is the New Black in the same manner. To illustrate exactly how successful Netflix’s gambit to release entire television seasons on one day has been, when the student body shuffles into John Paul Jones Arena October 18 to hear Kevin Spacey’s Speaker for the Arts address, we aren’t going to be waiting for a reference to Se7en, American Beauty or The Usual Suspects.

We’re going to be waiting for a House of Cards reference. We’re going to be waiting for a little of Spacey’s Underwood southern drawl. So yes, Netflix has done well for itself. The question is, is

Netflix doing well for us?

In the excitement of the internet age we’ve forgotten what makes a television series so compelling to watch. We’re too hastily sacrificing television’s charm for the short-term convenience of immediately having an entire season of television for our viewing.

give us time to appreciate the series. We have time to properly ponder each episode, and our excitement for the next one ferments over the week. We have time to excitedly discuss each development with friends or to form ridiculous theories for next week’s episode. Where is that experience with the one-day release television season? Where is the sense of time and place when you binge watch House of Every subtlety of the show was ground down by the Cards over a day week? I rerapidity with which I consumed it, and I didn’t have or member breezy, the time to associate memories with the show. yellow October weeks watching Boardwalk Even though the weekly-release Empire, each exploit and danger format of most television series blooming in my memory over is continued in the current day the weeks. I can’t say the same to maximize advertising revenue for House of Cards. I remember and incentivize continued cable a basement and a couch. I reand premium channel payments, member saying “yes” every time this profit-minded convention is Netflix asked if I’d like to watch integral to what makes television another episode. But I can’t reexciting. member what I felt at each plot Weekly releases importantly turn. I can’t remember what else

“

Brennan Edel

was going on with my life at that time. Every subtlety of the show was ground down by the rapidity with which I consumed it, and I didn’t have the time to associate memories with the show. House of Cards stands by itself in my mind, a vague mass, unassociated with any of the trials, victories, and feelings of the season of my life that enrich every other television series.

The obvious solution to the problems of binge-watching the show is to watch one episode a week or every few days — a good idea, but one with numerous problems. First, it assumes I have a superhuman degree of selfcontrol, and waiting to watch the episodes puts me at risk of having the plot spoiled. But most importantly, not watching episodes at release forfeits the thrill of bearing witness with thousands of others to the show’s first viewing. When you watch a newly airing episode, the excitement of the actual content is compounded by the knowledge that there are thousands of others seeing and hearing the same shots and sounds, feeling the same joys,

dooms, and stabs of grief that you are. This is why the movie theaters are still in part making money. We are all social beings; we crave solidarity.

And so, while I definitely will keep watching House of Cards, a bit of me wishes they followed the cable television format. Cable providers are generally awful, and it’s tough keeping a commitment to watch a weekly show — so Netflix is making a step forward in one way. But the step back, I fear, is that because of the problems I outlined above, Netflix’s original programming will never enter the cultural fabric the way other shows have before. Lost and The Sopranos are so representative of their ages in part because we as a culture experienced them together. You can’t in earnest talk of late 1990s culture without giving a nod to The Sopranos. Whether House of Cards will reach that point remains dubious. But in my opinion, without the weekly release scheme, no matter how well Kevin Spacey acts, House of Cards will never be remembered as the show that defined our current age.

10

OPINION

The Cavalier Daily

Missing the mark

Whisnant’s recent column on liberalism fundamentally misunderstands what it is to be conservative

L

ast Wednesday, my fellow col- bution are the best tools of combatumnist (and my close friend) ting poverty. Conservatives often Gray Whisnant penned a column respond by pointing out that about on the ills of the “socially liberal, fis- two-thirds of poverty reduction cal conservative,” or, as stems from economic Whisnant calls it, “the growth. Conservatives, neoliberal.” Through his relying on extensive praise of social liberalstatistical evidence, emism and his condemnaphasize growth over retion of fiscal conservadistribution as a means tism, he heavily implies to alleviating poverty. that the fiscal conservaAs for the implication tive, aside from being that fiscal conservatives simply wrong on matsomehow are indifferent ters of public policy, to the plight of the poor, practices “upper-class noted economist Arthur JOHN CONNOLLY identity politics” and Brooks has demonstratOpinion Columnist may be “indifferent” to ed that conservatives war and poverty. Aside actually donate more to from presupposing fiscal conserva- charity than liberals. tives to be incorrect (or downright Beyond the implicit ideological immoral), he describes events or ac- criticism, Whisnant misconstrues tions as “ideological” when that label the nature of “liberal” and “conseris unnecessary, or even wrong. We vative” ideology itself. For instance, should reject the notion that fiscal Whisnant suggests that when the conservatism is wrong and immoral university condemns hate speech and caution against misconstruing on Beta Bridge, or when commentathe nature of ideology. tors respond with outrage at an ofThe insinuation that fiscal con- fensive comment on Fox News, this servatives do not care about pov- is a byproduct of “social liberalism.” erty is wrong, and even offensive. Nothing could be further from the Contrary to some threads of con- truth. To suggest that intolerance of temporary liberal thought, there hate speech is socially liberal (and is no “right” way to tackle poverty. thereby, is hate speech itself a prodLiberals like to make the case that uct of social conservatism?) is an government intervention in the mar- unfair classification. I would argue ketplace, hefty spending and redistri- that opposition to hate speech is not

inherently ideological whatsoever — to claim that it is liberal, and therefore claim the moral high ground for contemporary liberalism, is dubious.

Whisnant continues to assign ideology to unsuspecting targets through his characterization of the University itself as neoliberal. As evidence for the University’s supposed “fiscal conservatism,” Whisnant points out that the University “spares no expense” on the McIntire School of Commerce. There are many problematic elements with this statement (not the least being that it is highly conjectural to describe a business education as inherently emblematic of a political ideology), but his base assumption that the University “spares no expense” on the Commerce School is incorrect. This University is home to one of the nation’s best undergraduate business schools, but it is not as if the University is absorbing all the costs. In fact, the Commerce School charges students $2000 more per semester than the College, for both in-state and out of state students.

Whisnant also misses the ideological mark by expressing the simplistic notion that conservatives are for an interventionist foreign policy while true liberals are for a measured, neo-isolationist approach.

This generalization overlooks important divisions within conserva-

tism. As I wrote in my most recent column, important voices within the conservative movement, including William F. Buckley, opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Many conservatives, skeptical of government’s ability to reshape the world in its preferred image, would support an essentially libertarian view of foreign policy, the view that Whisnant seems to advocate for in his column.

Therefore, to place this cautious, non-interventionist foreign policy platform under the ideological umbrella of liberalism is again claiming some sort of moral high ground for modern liberalism, in addition to overlooking important nuances within the conservative movement.

The point of this column is not to call out Gray Whisnant. It is merely to caution that his column, characteristic of the ideological left, makes a number of dangerous assumptions that might not pass the smell test, most importantly the assumption that fiscal conservatism is somehow invalid or immoral. Whisnant’s column was written as a sort of call to arms to the moderate left, exhorting them to the far end of the ideological spectrum, and even accusing them of hypocrisy or indifference. I disagree with this analysis, though I do not find inherent fault with wellintentioned push for change.

But Whisnant’s column was

not merely a well-intentioned push for change; it was also a casual denunciation of conservatism, from a policy and morality standpoint. Under this analysis, what is the reader supposed to make of conservatism?

Where does it leave the person who believes (as I do) that economic growth, and not redistribution, is the choice method of alleviating poverty? To listen to some on the left, that would make this person heartless or immoral. And what of the social conservative? Is the social conservative intrinsically hateful? Some might argue yes, but the 35 percent of Americans who self-identify as socially conservative (about 30 percent self-identifying as liberal) would certainly take issue with that notion.

Whisnant’s column was not intended as a swipe at conservatism.

But in utilizing many of the offhanded insults that Rachel Maddow and friends use to disparage conservatives, and in assigning ideology to widely-held beliefs, I believe that he — and more broadly, many of the contemporary liberal commentators who lazily and inaccurately stereotype conservatism — may have missed the mark.

John’s columns run biweekly thursdays. He can be reached at j.connolly@ cavalierdaily.com.

The Importance of COLA

COLA courses should be a requirement for every first-year student at the University Viewpoint Writer

College can be a big transition from high school. First semester of first year can seem daunting, but to make this transition easier at the University, the College of Arts and Sciences introduced a series of courses called COLA courses, which stands for College Advising Seminar, that are defined as optional one credit courses — topics chosen by the professor — with about 80 percent of class time devoted to course material and 20 percent devoted to group advising. The usefulness of COLA courses makes a persuasive case for requiring them of all first-year College students.

One of the most important experiences that a COLA class provides is the opportunity for the average first-year to get into an intimate, discussion-based class. Most first-years start out with schedules full of large lecture halls and broad introductorylevel courses. This change is from the average 20-30 person high school class, full of people they know, to a 100+ person lecture in which they are lucky to speak once a month, if at all. Large lecture halls and imper-

sonal classes, though necessary, are intimidating. To alleviate some of the shock from moving from small high school classes to large lectures in college, first-years should be required to make the relatively small commitment to a COLA so they can have at least one opportunity a week to have their voices heard and recognized.

first-years, and when this very focused course material is combined with the vast array of options, firstyears become much more engaged in the course when compared to other classes. The reason is simple: COLA courses focus on a narrow topic, and that topic is one that the student is interested in.

COLA classes also provide the opportunity for weekly, direct communication with academic advisors because the professor in charge To alleviate some of the shock from moving from of the COLA is also the academic small high school classes to large lectures in advisor for everycollege, first-years should be required to make the one in that class. relatively small commitment to a COLA so they can Normally, many students don’t feel have at least one opportunity a week to have their like their assigned voices heard and recognized. advisor is someone they can come to when they have Many of these first-years find questions both academic and nontheir COLAs to be one of their most academic. Having a COLA changes interesting and thought provok- that because through it the academic ing classes because of their diversity advisor and student interact freand the specificity of course materi- quently, creating a personal connecals. They are much more narrow in tion that allows students to be more scope than courses usually taken by comfortable going to their COLA

“

Sawan Patel

instructors with questions than they would be going to a randomly assigned academic advisor with whom students usually aren’t very familiar.

While Student Council and the University have been working to reform this flawed advising system with programs such as Student Council’s ULink program, which provides peer advisors for incoming students in addition to College Council and other advising groups, the best route for helping first-years is still through the direct interactions between faculty and students in COLA classes.

This personal connection isn’t limited to the professor; it also includes a deeper connection with the other students in that particular COLA class. This is due to the convergence of students who have similar interests in the course material they have opted to learn, as well as the ability of the COLA atmosphere to facilitate meaningful conversation between students. Students will move beyond the mundane topics discussed with those who sit next to them in a large lecture hall to subjects more personal and significant. This deeper conversation will help firstyear students make friends that they share passions with and can easily relate to.

Logistically, it would be difficult to increase the amount of COLA classes to the large number required for every first-year College student to be in a COLA in one semester. It is not, however, impossible, because of the reduction in student registration in other classes. The addition of a this requirement isn’t going to make every student decide to take one fewer class, but many students will likely drop a class to make room for their COLA and have their desired amount of credits. Additionally, COLA classes are designed to be relatively small commitments for professors. The slight nuisance of a few extra hours of work a week for professors is worth the increased benefits COLAs provide for University students.

These COLA classes are designed to ease the transition between high school and college but are limited in their capacity to make a difference because they are optional. To improve the experience of every firstyear College student, COLA classes should be made into first semester requirements, so that everyone can experience this tremendous opportunity to make friends, interact with their advisors, and, most importantly, to have their voices be heard.

OPINION

Thursday, October 9, 2014

11

Perpetuating misunderstanding Bill Maher does the progressive movement a disservice when he mischaracterizes Islam

ill Maher has made it his callB ing card over the years to foment controversy by making what

tradition he claims to champion and instead gives “progressive” cover to the all-too-real problems of Islamohe calls “politically incorrect” argu- phobia and racism. ments. While someWith recent betimes this tendency heading videos from positions him as a brave ISIS shown on loop in dissenter against the the media, old tropes conventional wisdom, like Maher’s about the other times Maher just unique savagery of the gets it wrong in ugly Muslim world have ways. On a recent edibeen given new life. As tion of his show “Real much as alarmist and Time with Bill Maher,” xenophobic media covthe comedian ripped erage seems to suggest GRAY WHISNANT into liberals for their reotherwise, 72 percent of Opinion Columnist fusal to criticize the IsMuslims worldwide belamic world for its suplieve violence against ciposed attacks on liberal vilians is never justified. values like freedom of speech and As New York Times columnist Nick religion. According to Maher, the Kristof pointed out in the segment Muslim world as a whole has “too with Maher, claiming Muslims are much in common with ISIS” and uniquely inclined towards violence as such, multiculturalism and toler- on a global scale recalls many arance should draw the line at accep- guments about African-Americans tance of what he labels an “Islamic” that white racists have made over worldview. The following week, Ma- the years. If Maher can recognize her went even further by comparing that blaming a person’s socially Muslims to a murderous “mafia” constructed race for violence in his that issues hits on dissenters. Sadly, or her American community is bigMaher’s characterization of what he oted, it’s frustrating that he cannot calls the Muslim world is a reaction- make the same leap for adherents ary break from the Enlightenment of a religion in a part of the world

that has experienced exceptional external violence and war in recent decades.

None of this is to say that all violence in the Middle East is an illusion, just that its scale and causes are widely misunderstood. A brief survey of the history of the Middle East helps dissect some of the nuances of the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the ways in which it has been unwittingly enabled by Western powers. The most famous example is the Iranian coup of 1953.

Angered by democratically-elected Prime Minister Mossadegh’s attempts to nationalize the oil industry, the CIA and British MI6 fed on domestic turmoil and helped engineer a coup that installed the Shah as pro-Western absolute monarch.

Over the following decades leading up to the 1979 Revolution, American intelligence officials helped SAVAK, the Iranian secret police, torture and imprison leftist opponents of the regime that left political Islam as one of the few remaining outlets for political dissent. When we criticize the Iranian regime today for its nightmarish security apparatus and political repression, we should remember what role the United States

had in enabling it and steering the country away from democratic progress and towards theocracy.

A similar story of Islamic fundamentalism fueled by Western malfeasance can be seen in Afghanistan.

Today, Afghanistan is viewed as the great failed state of the Middle East and a hotbed of jihadists. As Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek points out, Afghanistan approximately thirty years ago was a country with a “strong secular tradition” and only saw growth in political Islam after being drawn into global power struggles first by the Soviet Union and then by the United States. As Žižek pointed out in the context of the Ukrainian crises of the past year, “it is the aggressive attempt to export liberal permissiveness that causes fundamentalism to fight back vehemently and assert itself.” The more the West misguidedly tries to impose its liberal values (and access to oil fields) through force and violent disruption, the further away from realization of those values we will be.

So are there any alternatives to Maher’s simplistic condemnation of the religion of 1.5 billion mostly nonviolent people and an equally

unsatisfying moral relativism? As American citizens, there is only so much we can do alone to bring about the change we’d like to see in the developing world, as history is rife with examples of Westerners swooping in to “civilize” nonwhite people to disastrous effects.

That said, we can and should call out the policies of our own governments that are antithetical to our values and that history has shown will only incite more violence and hate. While condemning ISIS for its unspeakable brutality, we should simultaneously question why one of the United States’s closest allies is a Saudi Arabian government that beheaded eight people over just the past month to fight them. Violence is violence, and it is worthy of opposition no matter what its ideological source. In seeing nuance and studying history, we can move beyond a limited notion of tolerance towards something far more satisfying: understanding.

Gray’s columns run Wednesdays.

He can be reached at g.whisnant@ cavalierdaily.com.

Bringing home the green Darden students have proven that profitable business models and sustainability are compatible Viewpoint Writer

With climate threats looming, it’s no wonder we Millennials have shown increased concern for human impact on the environment. And yet hope for meaningful environmental policy continues to slip away into the great divide between staunch conservatives and demanding liberals. If we could learn to depoliticize grave issues of environmental degradation by reconciling party values, then perhaps we could grease up the old political engine and deliver a future that would make Jefferson proud.

Most people would agree that both money and nature have value. After all, the health of human economy depends on the integrity of its earth. Fortunately, our species is beginning to realize that we can no longer profit from the destruction of our own roots. Can a more progressive definition of wealth help restore the productive debate that once powered our nation forward?

What if values of sustainability, prudence and environmentalism made for financially favorable business models? Exciting new developments at the Darden School of Business are showing that you can make the green and save it too.

Second year Darden student

Alexander Bazhinov has made eco- the Darden Impact Venture Fund consciousness the vein of his career. — a new group serving “innovative Putting i.Lab’s nexus for innova- for-profit enterprises focused on tion to good use, he has started his generating financial and social or own company called Dream Power. environmental returns.” If venture The idea is simple — eliminate the capital can reap profits from promisupfront costs of clean energy tech- ing new initiatives by staking ownnologies to help local businesses ership in these companies, why not become more energy self-sufficient. apply the same principles to more Dream Power installs eco-friendly progressive entrepreneurship? Point utilities like LED, Solar and Smart Thermostat and collects a temporary percentage of incremental energy savings. By coupling incurred costs to increased client profitability, Dream Power’s business proves more meaningful than a Exciting new developments at the Darden one-time exchange. “SusSchool of Business are showing that you tainability makes economic can make the green and save it too. sense,” says Bazhinov, “Prudent energy investment brings greater purpose to the transaction. It’s win-win for all.” being, there’s money to be made in Bazhinov is one among many strengthening our social and enviDarden students promoting busi- ronmental fabrics. ness models imbued with a richer Bazhinov, Langdon and other green. Nearly a quarter of the stu- Darden leaders in sustainable busident body participates in the school’s ness have recognized new dimenchapter of Net Impact — the nation’s sions of market value. “Customers leading non-profit organization fo- increasingly care about the environcused on inspiring business students mental and social implications of to transform environmental and so- their purchases,” says Elizabeth Tual, cial concerns into career opportuni- president of Net Impact at Darden. ties. Rob Langdon, Vice President As American consumers become for the University chapter, manages more aware of environmental chal-

“

Will Evans

lenges, business must ultimately meet this demand by pushing supply towards a greener economy. Darden has me convinced that MBA-business students will be among the first to bring home the green.

Net Impact at the University is among many business programs across the country catching on to new opportunities emerging with a more sustainable economy. A new market for environmental consciousness burgeons as people realize that our reliance on dirty energy is incompatible with a healthy planet. Besides, why invest billions in the dangerous extraction of finite resources like oil and gas when there’s a seemingly infinite supply of wind and sunshine right outside?

The American workforce is learning to adapt as environmental and social concerns gain precedence over quarterly gains. Profiting at the expense of the people and planet is becoming increasingly taboo. However, it takes an educated workforce to turn that reality into an opportunity. At Darden, that innovative spirit begins with a cup of coffee.

For years, Darden’s First Coffee tradition generated volumes of wasted paper by bringing its entire community together each morning for a communal cup of joe. In 2012, students decided to tackle the problem as part of the Net Impact case com-

petition. The Refreshing First Coffee (RFC) initiative has since made reusable mugs the new Darden standard, turning the morning assembly into a celebration of sustainability.

Coffee has become Darden’s symbol for sustainable business — endless energy for a greener future. Perhaps the broader University could manage a similar operation. After all, our communal caffeine fix is a ripe opportunity for channeling sustained energy towards smarter consumption.

Darden’s dedication to promoting progressive business shows that there is money to be made in helping our environment. Sure, sustainability on a small scale does little to address the political inertia crippling the United States from enacting meaningful environmental policy. However, sustainability coupled with entrepreneurship and economic incentive has the power to make our transition to a greener economy more palatable to parties across the divide.

Darden’s lesson is clear: shortterm profit-driven interests should be replaced by long-term value-driven objectives. While we Millennials have the will to make that change, it might take a cup of coffee to stir our energy into action. As Darden can attest — capital, like caffeine, has never been more sustainable.

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OPINION

The Cavalier Daily

I’m not afraid of Ebola What’s everyone afraid of? It’s just Ebola.

Cam Smith Humor Writer

Let me preface this by stating my continued bewilderment that it is 2014 and we’re legitimately talking about Ebola as a thing we might have to deal with…again.

I say again because recently, prominent doctors, scientist, pathologists and researchers have released findings that suggest the Black Death, the disease that swept through and ravaged Europe killing an estimated 75 to 200 million people in the 14th century (thanks, Wikipedia), resembles the Ebola virus more so than what scientist earlier attributed to the bubonic plague. If that’s true, then that means we as a human race have had multiple centuries to find a cure. What the hell have we been doing?! Going to the moon? Why, to prove to Russia that we’re cooler than them?! So that Alan Shepard could work on his golf swing? Really? Unless the cure for Ebola is on the moon we should probably focus on our Earth problems for now. Here’s how I assume the conversation would play out if my doctor told me I had Ebola.

Doctor: Yeah, so…you’ve got Ebola.

Me: Like…Ebola Ebola?

Doctor: Yes. Me: But I live in America.

Doesn’t privilege make me immune?

Doctor: No, and that’s a horrible thing to say.

Me: Sorry.

(Long pause) Me: Do you think maybe it’s Polio?

Doctor: It’s definitely not Polio.

Me: Dang. Okay. Have you seen that Nicki Minaj “Anaconda” video yet?

All I’m saying is that planetary space travel can wait. But I digress…because regardless, Ebola shouldn’t scare us. I’ll explain.

Hemorrhaging both internally and externally does sound pretty miserable. Personally I’ve never had a nosebleed but even that looks uncomfortable, so I’m sure bleeding from every orifice is a tad more discomforting. Also, the fact that Ebola has a scary high mortality rate (between 25 and 90 percent) is terrifying.

Additionally, as college students in very close and constant contact with each other, coupled with our constant need to make out with one another means that if any of us contracted it we’d all be screwed. I’d have Ebola within a week, possibly minutes depending on who contracted it. But guys — don’t be scared. It won’t happen.

Okay it might. But probably not, fingers crossed. But just in case let’s go through the possible scenarios. I’ve attempted to quantify how many people would be diagnosed with Ebola based on where patient zero originated in

four distinct scenarios. Projecting the spread based on any singular, random person is too difficult to quantify because who knows how many people that sole person comes in contact with on a daily basis. However, if it’s someone around Grounds who for example, serves the student population on a daily basis, the projection of the spreading might be easier to quantify. Therefore I chose specific locations and

then created a hierarchy based on what I believe our fear level should be. Sound good? Sweet.

Scenario #1: A Starbucks* employee contracts the disease and sneezes in the coffee beans.

Fear level: Concerned but not overly.

Okay, this is bad but still containable. If the viral epicenter is at Starbucks, and given that the pumpkin spice latte is back on the menu, that means every sorority girl and basic white girl will contract the disease. This scenario is still horrible but easily containable. Quarantine is still possible by way of forcing sorority girls into their respective sorority houses. Admittedly it will be cramped, uncomfortable, and passive aggressive sticky notes will cover every inch of the walls, but again, the goal is to contain and treat.

HU MOR

Just for wits.

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

*Does not apply to the Starbucks in Nau Hall. If so, every

Political and Social Thought major is gone.

Scenario #2: Dean Groves contracts it and doesn’t wash his hands.

Fear level: Slightly panicking.

This simply cannot happen.

That man holds the world record for high fives. Dean Groves, I’m talking to you directly: wash your hands every day, constantly, if you can manage that. Otherwise it’s essentially a massacre by high-fiving (although that would probably be a record as well).

Scenario #3: A Bodo’s employee contracts the disease and also sneezes in the food Fear level: Mayhem, Pandemonium, Anarchy.

The entire student population and half of the faculty are dead within the week. A Bodo’s epicenter would wreck our small community and the worst part is that people would keep going.

“Hi, yeah, let me get an everything bagel with turkey, avocado, mayo and Ebola. $3.55, what a steal!”

Scenario #4: Ms. Kathy gets Ebola Fear level: Clearly there is no god.

If that saint of a woman gets Ebola then we all deserve to get Ebola. If Ms. Kathy gets Ebola I would happily let her give me her Ebola. If Ms. Kathy having Ebola is wrong then I don’t want to be right.

So those are four real life scenarios in which we could all get Ebola. And there’s good news and bad news: the bad news is that Ebola is a real threat in our contemporary society. According to CNN, the first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States has died. The good news, I have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about.

What it’s like to wear this wolf shirt Nick Shabaz Humor Writer

My dad buys a lot of weird stuff. He’s addicting to buying glass bowls, especially blue ones. He fills them with shells he found on the beach. This is exciting for him, until he realizes that there is no more surface room in the house for the bowls he keeps buying. He also has a very flimsy concept of the ironic.

This leads him into making all sorts of other purchases. The point of this story is that he went to Pennsylvania or one of those states and came back with two wolf shirts.

It fell to me to decide which of these wolf shirts is the worse

shirt. The first one is a three wolf moon shirt, but it’s not the one you see on Amazon if you

search that phrase. It’s some other design that happens to have three wolves and

a moon. The other one is a shirt with two wolves standing

Courtesy Jim Groom, Flickr Creative Commons

upright wearing camo gear and holding assault weapons with the backdrop of the truck they drove here in. You might be thinking “woah, that’s super cool” or “I don’t believe for a second that exists. It’s simply too dumb to be real” or “obviously that’s the far worse shirt,” but hold on, dear reader. Let me explain why the first shirt is the worse one.

First off, the second shirt is clearly the dumbest shirt, perhaps of all time. But it knows that this is what it is. The shirt does not pretend for a moment to be classy in any way. This shirt knows that it came from

the fiery pits of Walmart. The first shirt is not as ostentatious, but you get the sense from looking at it that whatever idiot drew those wolves howling at the moon thought he created real art, and the designers of the shirt thought they were bringing the world a product that isn’t totally stupid. That’s why I always wear it with a cardigan or a blazer. It presents itself as an item of class, and I often forget that I'm wearing a stupid wolf shirt. This is not possible with the second shirt. The first shirt is worse because it has tricked me into making it a part of my casual wardrobe, rather than something I save for parties.

This is crucial to understand.

G

Thursday, October 9, 2014

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The Cavalier Daily

14

A&E New Weezer album proves successful arts & entertainment

‘Everything Will Be Alright In The End’ appeals to devoted fans, new listeners

Noah Zeidman Staff Writer

Being a Weezer fan can be difficult.

Some can’t get past the seeming perfection of the band’s 1994 self-titled debut (lovingly referred to as “The Blue Album”).

Others are hung up on the grungier sound and gloriously selfdeprecating lyrics of sophomore album “Pinkerton.”

Most people agree the band’s 2009 album “Raditude” was mediocre, though a guest appearance from Lil Wayne and a song mostly in Hindi definitely r e s o nated with certain eighth graders at the time (admittedly, “ O K , b****, i t ’s

Weezer and it’s Weezy” is still a fantastic line). The five people who listened to the band’s last album, 2010’s “Hurley,” probably have strong feelings about it, too.

Weezer fans can finally breathe easy for a while, though, because after 20 years of ups and downs, the band has hit a definite hit. “Everything Will Be Alright In The End” is a triumphant return to the band’s roots — even if it falls short of some of the band's historic highlights.

Lead single “Back to the Shack” pretty accurately summarizes the band’s trials, tribulations, and triumphs. With lines like “I had to go make a few mistakes so I could f i n d o u t who I a m ,”

it's easy to visualize Rivers Cuomo re-entering his mythic 1994 garage after 20 years, blowing the dust off X-Men and KISS posters, and remembering what made Weezer so great in the first place.

On several songs, including “Eulogy for a Rock Band,” the band showcases some of its finest guitar playing in ages. The song also proves Rivers still has a tremendous set of vocal chords, as he screeches in a high falsetto.

Lyrically, the band is moving back into stronger territory.

“Hurley” sported a song built entirely around the fact that the word “socks” sounds like the word “sex.” It sounded eerily like a Weird Al parody of a Weezer song, down to the hackneyed vocal delivery, except Weezer wrote and recorded it.

Now, on songs

like “Cleopatra,” Rivers sounds like the grown-up version of the angsty young man who in 1996 sang “that’s just a stupid dream that I won’t realize/ cause I can’t even look in your eyes without shaking / and I ain’t fakin’, you bring home the turkey and I’ll bring home the bacon.”

Today, he sings “all the wine we tasted, all the love we made / All the strumming lyres will decorate your grave / All the ecstasy is gone gone, gone away.”

This line may be a bit more refined, but it comes across with the very same lovelorn desperation.

“Everything Will Be Alright In The End” has its fair share of light-hearted moments, like mid-album track “The British Are Coming.” It also packs some serious “Pinkerton”-style heaviness and guitar shredding, particularly on the album-closing songs that make up the “Futurescope Trilogy.”

Though the overarching concept behind these songs is a bit foggy, the sea of heavy metal guitars which open “The Waste Land” are nothing short of majestic. The songs are an incredible way to end an album, anthemic and bursting with shouted backup vocals and harmonized guitar solos. The final moments of the album are a wall of feedback and fret tapping. It’s extravagant, but it’s beautifully appropriate for Weezer — brandishing an outright rejection of their previous forays into the watered-down mainstream.

“Everything Will Be Alright In The End” is an album which should delight virtually all Weezer fans, and it also serves as a decent entry point for newcomers. It’s Weezer doing what they did best and what they should have been doing all along: playing quirky, brilliant rock music.

Courtesy Analog

‘Dr. Who’ is epitome of television done right As new series hits its stride, rotation of fresh characters keeps the series engaging, exciting Flo Overfelt Associate Editor

“Doctor Who” returned in August with a new iteration of its time-traveling, world-saving titular character. Older and more serious, but just as clever, the new Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi, injects the now four-decade-old show with renewed energy.

The 12th Doctor provides a drastic and much needed shift in the “Doctor Who” series, which was relaunched in 2005 with the ninth Doctor, played

by Christopher Eccleston. A welcomed addition, Eccleston was serious yet quirky, but his character ultimately lacked depth and any truly defining character traits. His stint only

lasted a single season.

The 10th Doctor, played by David Tennant, was the perfect embodiment of the role. He was powerful in the subtlest of ways. Taking hold of situations with the cool ease of a Time Lord while maintaining Eccleston's eccentricity, fun and spontaneity. Unlike Eccleston, Tennant had the time to mature the character into the iconic Doctor most people think of today.

But the show's essence comes from a continually changing cast — and after three seasons Tenant was replaced by the 11th Doctor, Matt Smith.

Smith's Doctor was more or less an extension of Tenant's character — just as fun, and as quirky as ever. But after an additional three series, the Doc-

tor's character was beginning to grow dull.

This cued the introduction of the series' first married companions — Rory and Amy Pond, played by Arthur Darvill and Karen Gillan, respectively — and coincided with a well-received widening of the show's focus onto the Doctor’s companions.

Enter season eight and the 12th Doctor — Capaldi.

Capaldi is almost the diametric opposite of the past Doctors. His character has a dry sense of humour, a controlled and sarcastic manner with a startling callousness toward human life. He’s not young and cute but old, jaded and just a little confusing.

His relationship with his companion, Clara Oswald (Jen-

na Coleman) — who first enters the series as Smith's companion — is equally unique. Rather than traveling with Clara, the Doctor pops into her life and pulls her away to go off on adventures. Clara’s life is followed independently from the Doctor’s — something never before seen in “Doctor Who,” which opens a whole host of exciting plot lines.

After 7 seasons of similar Doctor portrayals, the writers nailed a fresh take on the iconic character by changing not only the Doctor, but the entire context surrounding the show.

This is television writing done right — it takes chances, breaks from tradition and knows when a tired character is ready to be retired.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Scythian makes heritage heard Candace Carter Senior Writer

In its first Charlottesville performance, D.C.-based string band Scythian brought the house down this past week at The Southern, located on the Downtown Mall.

This appearance has been a long time coming, band member BenDavid Warner said. Warner, a Charlottesville resident, has been trying to bring the band here for the past three years.

Frontmen Alexander and Danylo Fedoryka pair traditional Americana style with their Ukrainian heritage, which, when coupled with Alexander’s knowledge of Celtic folk, creates a thoroughly exciting and emotional performance which is more than welcome in the Charlottesville music scene.

The name "Scythian" comes from a group of nomadic Ukrainian horsemen who thrived before fourth century BC, Alexander said. Known for inventing the stirrup, these people are said to have met with early Celtic peoples and created a cultural “melting pot.” “[We] didn’t want to be locked in to [any particular style],” Alexander said, making this ancient, free-form society an appealing namesafe for the

group.

The Fedoryka brothers are classically trained by their mother, a Julliard alumna. They began their musical careers playing on the streets of Washington, D.C. — experiences Danylo said gave him and Alexander their ability to engage and interact with audiences while onstage.

A pivotal moment in the group's development came when Alexander traveled to Ireland for four months to learn and perform the art of early Celtic music. Upon his return to the United States, the rest of the band spent some time “learning all the old standards” from him. Danylo refers to this as a sort of “apprenticeship” — the group wasn’t writing its own music, just honing its skills in this traditional style.

“First it was all Celtic, 100 percent Celtic,” Danylo said. The style was transforming Scythian’s dynamic and people were responding well, he said.

Later, the brothers decided to explore their own heritage and experiment with Eastern European sounds and instruments, like the accordion, which Danylo now plays onstage.

The sound these influences create is “more of a mission statement than a genre,” Danylo said, bringing together the old and the new in a way which appeals to a vast range of generations and cultures.

DC-based string band’s enthusiastic world music wows The Southern audience

The brothers have created an allinclusive style and feel, making the communal purposes of early Celtic and Eastern European music feel modern and fresh — what Danylo calls “magic.”

Indeed, magic is the perfect word. With the instrumentalists constantly switching between bass guitar, fiddles, banjo and mandolin, and playing each at extraordinary speeds, the performance requires not just the band’s concentration, but its total immersion into these instruments. They obviously enjoy themselves onstage; with bright smiles and raucous shouting, band members were simultaneously exclusive and intimately inclusive, much to the admiration of the crowd. Though Scythian appeared lost in its own world of passionate music-playing, members also interacted with their audience.

The group’s repertoire ranged from reimagined folk classics, tense ballads, purely orchestral melodies, and even a few covers of country songs, like Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler.” Some choices were dark and dramatic — like Ukrainian folk tune “Hatsulka Ksenia” — while some were light and happy, like “Dance All Night.” One was even wholly Irish in

subject and tone: Warner’s rendition of “There Were Roses.”

The album which kicked off Scythian’s tour, “Jump

at the Sun,” works “better than any other album to interweave all the different genres that [they] play,” Danylo said.

It was the natural direction for their music to go, he said, and the album absolutely flows with the members’ natural talent and experience. After 10 years of playing together as a band, Danylo said it feels like the first year again.

The album has even proved quite popular in Ireland, Danylo said.

The Fedoryka brothers take no issue with this — just after its per-

Behind the scenes of ‘Every Tongue Confess’

Drama department show starts its run Thursday, Oct. 9 at the Ruth Caplin Theatre Arts & Entertainment: What A&E: What was your favorite shoulds the audiences expect to part of working on "Every Tongue Confess"? see in "Every Tongue Confess"?

U.Va. drama production “Confesses” more questions than answers “Every Tongue Confess” starts its run Thursday, Oct. 9 at the Ruth Caplin Theatre Vondrae McCoy, Senior Writer This Thursday, the drama department will begin the run of its first production of the season: “Every Tongue Confess,” directed

by Assoc. Drama Prof. Theresa Davis.

Arts & Entertainment sat down with two of the show's actresses, third-year College students Amanda Diamond and Madeleine Lawson, to discuss their characters and what audiences can expect when the show opens at the Caplin Theatre.

Lawson: ETC is a story about family, faith, prejudice, guilt, hate and love in a small town in Alabama. It's almost in the fashion of classic epics, which makes it very difficult to pick out just one major theme. It weaves together several story lines and time overlaps a lot, but basically it follows the burnings of black churches in the South during the 1990s. The goal is really to raise more questions than answers.

D: My favorite thing about working with this show is dealing with the idea of magical realism and how our acting of these moments help[s] to tell a story with many twists and turns that aren't always intuitive — and more specifically learning about that as an actor.

L: Singing! I love all the blues and gospel music in this show. It really gives the piece the visceral, spiritual aspect that can't be fully A&E: What is your role in the realized with just the text. show?

A&E: What was the most Diamond: I play Missionary challenging part of and Tender Meeks, the missionary diving into these of the church and a social worker, c h a r a c t e r s / roles? [respectively].

L: I play Benny Pride, a 15-yearold girl who has grown up with her mom in Kentucky before being forced to move in with her father in Alabama. My role is great because I'm really sort of the mother to my mom. There is a lot of role reversal going on.

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L: My character has a huge journey over the course of the play. I literally grow up as the play progresses. A lot happens, and it's really hard to process, deal with it, and stay fully present. Due to events in the play — no spoilers!

— I go into shock and actually lose my voice. It's been very challenging dealing with that internal struggle in a way that is engaged and alive on stage.

A&E: How has being in the show impacted you as an actor?

L: This show has opened me to the possibility of magic, miracle and unseen mystery in my day-to-day life. I don't want to predict audience reactions, but I hope they come willing to embrace the magic and maybe carry some of

formance at The Southern, the band embarked on a “fan trip” in Ireland, traveling with 90 fans to play shows.

Danylo and Alexander were particularly excited to play at The Lakehouse in Tuosist, Ireland, a huge barn-style

Courtesy

Bandca

mp dance hall.

After the set at The Southern, Danylo said the group is working hard to build a Charlottesville following, but its clear their style and energy are already firmly rooted in the hearts of many local music-lovers and concert-goers.

Scythian will play at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. in December, with a return to Charlottesville unscheduled but likely imminent.

Vondrae McCoy Senior Writer

it home with them too. I think at the core of this play there is a lot of love, and I want people to feel that.

A&E: Anything else you'd like to share?

D: I would share with the audience that Marcus Gardley — [the] playwright — doesn't answer questions with the play, he raises questions the audience should answer. So be engaged as an audience member, you're a part of the storytelling. An audience member’s engagement will allow them to get the best experience and fullest potential from the piece.

“Every Tongue Confess” will be showing Oct. 9-11, 15-17 at 8 p.m., with a matinee Oct. 19 at 2 p.m.

Free tickets are available to University students through the Arts Box Office.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

The Cavalier Daily

Great ‘Anatomy’ Candace Carter Senior Writer

Arts and Entertainment recently caught up with Kyle Woolard, lead singer of Charlottesville-based folk-rock group The Anatomy of Frank. The band will play The Southern on Oct. 16, much to the community’s excitement. Woolard traces the band’s intriguing journey from creation to their current state of fame.

Arts & Entertainment: For our readers who may not be familiar, can you give us a little background information on The Anatomy of Frank?

Kyle Woolard: I … started playing music with Erik while we were both taking a music production course with Ted Coffey at U.Va. I took about six months to find the rest of the members, because I had to be sure they were serious about touring. …

Being in a band is the dream of many, but it's quite a bit more involved than most people are prepared for. But the right guys have found their way into the band,

Charlottesville indie band The Anatomy of Frank shares music, global perspective

and we've been touring and recording ever since. … We've got our dream lineup now.

AE: You’re touring this fall to promote your first full-length album, “Pangaea,” which has a fantastic rhythm and energy to it. Where do you get inspiration?

KW: The songs for “Pangaea” came from so many different places. … I had come up with the idea to write an album for every continent in high school, but I didn't quite have a collection of songs about any one place; that's why “Pangaea” is what it is. It now feels very young to me, as if we were trying to discover who we were. Luckily, the songs do follow a very clear progression over the course of the album.

As for inspiration, the idea for a song can come from anywhere or nowhere at all. Some songs are about people we've met, some are about islands up in the Arctic, some are about the town where I grew up.

AE: As you just noted, you hope to write and record an album about each continent — even Antarctica. What brought you all to set this goal for your-

selves?

KW: In the 11th grade, I got inexplicably obsessed with Sri Lanka and India. I had no idea why I did, or how to scratch the itch, but it was absolutely maddening for me. It manifested itself in strange ways; I started eating a lot of mangoes and craving thunderstorms, because they made me feel like I was there. … Then, in 12th grade, it was Antarctica. That one was pretty lost on most people, and I really couldn't explain it much further than saying, "It's a whole continent, and no one even thinks about it!" … Music is the only way I could find to express complex feelings (like the urge to be lonely, or the desire to suffer through a cold winter) without worrying too much about wording.

AE: You’ve already written the “Antarctica” album, but haven’t recorded it, correct? Can you tell us about the creative process you went through when writing it?

KW: You've done your research. (Although there is one live take of an Antarctica song,

Мирный, hiding on the Internet.) … I lived in Brown [College at U.Va.] through my first and second year, and the Antarctica craving grew pretty strong during that time. … I needed to be somewhere dark, cold and alone for a while. So I stayed in my room in Peters and didn't turn any lights on, and didn't use any hot water. It was simultaneously depressing and gratifying, and I wrote all day, every day. It was a very unique experience, and I can't properly express what it was like, but that's what the music is for I guess. … I still really love brutal weather and dark winters, and I'm very excited to record on Antarctica.

AE: You all are no strangers to life on the road by now, having toured all over Europe and North America; how does it feel performing in Charlottesville?

KW: We count our Charlottesville shows among the best that we've played, and we always look forward to them with special excitement and, for me at least, a good bit of nervousness.

Our fans are wonderful, and the energy is always through the

Courtesy Band Camp

The Anatomy of Frank’s last release “Pangaea” is definitely boosted by a live setting.

roof. October 16 is particularly exciting because we get to bring another great Icelandic artist to Charlottesville. His name is Svavar Knútur, and he's huge in Europe, and is one of our favorite musicians in the world.

AE: Where is The Anatomy of Frank headed in the future?

KW: We have a lot of plans, obviously. We're going to release our “North America” album at some point in the near future, and then it's off to other continents. But if you "like" The Anatomy of Frank on Facebook, you may find something a bit wild happening tonight (Thursday, Oct. 9) on Grounds. We only ask that you keep it quiet. Stay tuned!

‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ parks at The Paramount Theater Tennessee Williams’ classic production broadcast in downtown Charlottesville Charles Hancock Staff Writer

Sunday, Sept. 28, The Paramount Theater screened the London National Theatre’s production of Tennessee Williams’s classic “A Streetcar Named Desire,” known as the fastest-selling production in the history of London’s Young Vic Theatre. Despite problems inherent in

presenting a live show on film, the broadcast made clear why the production itself is so popular.

While the show was immortalized in Elia Kazan’s 1951 film adaptation, starring Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando, a live show is a different beast entirely. Staging consisted of a revolving rectangular stage in the round, with the longer ends reaching the audience’s feet.

The stage even rotated at various points in the show, lending each audience member varied views of the action — a staging te chnique unique to “Streetcar’s” production history.

Overall, it

worked to create a certain intimacy between the audience and the show’s violent, dark material.

The actors, meanwhile, carried the show with great performances.

Blanche’s hypocrisy is brought to life

by Gillian Anderson, who effortlessly shows the lead’s southern aristocratic demeanor to be skin deep — an interesting attitude, especially considering the character’s troubled past and the way she looks down on her sister Stella’s life in New Orleans. Anderson shapes a terrifying but captivating journey as the audience puzzles through what about Blanche is real and what is not.

Ben Foster’s Stanley, meanwhile, is a great opponent for Blanche.

Foster embraces the horrifying animal impulses which define Stanley — especially in the infamous poker scene. One moment he is violently assaulting Stella (Vanessa Kirby), and the next he is on the ground, screaming and crying for her. It is impossible not to get chills.

Courtesy National Theater

The London National Theatre came to Charlottescville - albeit via videorecording - last Sunday.

Kirby gives a solid performance as Stella, though she sometimes slips from her southern accent into a British one for a word or two — at times a little distracting. This was not enough to mar the show’s reputation, however, as the ensemble was consistently powerful.

Despite the high production quality, some of its drama was definitely lost in watching the show on film. The staging was clearly designed to produce uncomfortable intimacy with action on the stage — something which lost of its punch on film.

Likewise, the in-the-round staging naturally means any audience member has a skewed view of the

action at any given time. This staging can have great effect in a live setting, presenting a consistent if biased view of the action — and again did not translate to film. Instead of providing a consistent “best view” of the action, the film seemed to shift between providing this ideal view and picking an arbitrary vantage point, ultimately distracting from the stage performance.

Despite these format-related shortcomings, the production was a great success, with the Paramount Theater offering a wonderful opportunity for Charlottesville residents to see the work of a prestigious London theater right in their hometown.