aDaire BUrNSeD, BeN iSTvaN, alBerT TaNG & hONOr WOOD The Cavalier Daily
This week in-brief
CD Staff
Tony Bennett confirms his retirement
After his retirement was announced Oct. 17, Coach Tony Bennett held a press conference Friday inside John Paul Jones Arena, where he confirmed his immediate retirement.
Bennett explained that his decision was motivated by concerns about the currently chaotic structure of the NCAA’s Name, Image and Likeness policies.
“College athletics is not in a healthy spot, and it needs to be changed,” Bennett said.
Bennett said that during the recent Reading Days, he and his wife Laurel went on a trip, where he reflected on his career. He said that he realized that the sport was no longer the same as what he had loved throughout his life, and that he no longer felt he was “equipped” for the current state of college basketball. He said that after that trip he began to plan his retirement.
‘“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose,” Bennett said.
Bennett also confirmed that the interim head coach will be Ron Sanchez, who previously served as his associate head coach. Sanchez has been with the program for 11 seasons — with a five-year stint as the coach at Charlotte sandwiched in between. Sanchez also spent three years with Bennett at Washington State before joining the Cavaliers.
As Bennett closed the door on the greatest chapter of Virginia basketball history, he praised his staff and players with tears in his eyes.
“I’m so grateful, I want it to go so well for these guys,” Bennett said.
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New Class of 2028 leaders promise community-building initiatives, student outreach
First-year College students Sahasra Molleti and Hayden Matay were elected the Class of 2028’s president and vice president, respectively, in a runoff election conducted by the University Board of Elections. The duo defeated their respective opponents by a combined 815 votes. With roughly 43% of the Class of 2028 voting, this year’s New Student Election had the highest voter turnout since 2017.
The class president and vice president play a crucial role in representing the student voice, advocating for the needs of their class and planning events for their class. As the leaders of their class council, the president and vice president have the power to set the agenda and priorities for the organization. They serve as the primary liaison between the student body and the University administration, ensuring their class’s concerns and perspectives are heard.
Molleti and Matay said they hope to foster more cohesion within the Class of 2028 through the organization of more classwide events and community engagement, including a blood drive that would team up with the University Hospital, a “Battle of the Bands” event with student bands and a first-year formal. Molleti and Matay also hope to expose their class to upperclassmen through a peer mentor program that matches first-years with upperclassmen mentors.
CAVALIER DAILY
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10.18
10.22
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Construction begins on new Karsh Institute center
The project, which has a total budget of $82 million, is expected to be complete by late 2026
Finn Trainer | News Editor
After over a year of planning and deliberation, construction is now underway on a new center for the University’s Karsh Institute of Democracy, which will be located on the Ivy Corridor and will also provide programming space for the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. The center, which has a total project budget of $82 million, will serve as a hub for work promoting democratic ideals and values and will host events, conferences and film screenings, according to University spokesperson Bethanie Glover.
Currently based out of Bond House, the Karsh Institute is a University organization founded in 2021 with the stated purpose of confronting challenges to democracy through interdisciplinary scholarship and programming.
According to Melody Barnes, executive director of the Karsh Institute of Democracy, the upcoming space will help better achieve the institute’s goals of strengthening responsible governance and civic engagement. She said that the upcoming space will help the organization achieve these aims by
providing new spaces for interdisciplinary research, meetings and large-scale events.
“The Karsh Institute of Democracy’s new building will support the collaborative, research and programmatic components of the Institute’s work,” Barnes said.
Glover said that while the current Bond House location includes an event space, it is not sufficient for the Karsh Institute’s larger scale events, which they often host at other locations around Grounds instead. Glover added that the Karsh Institute’s Bond House location also does not offer enough meeting or collaboration space.
“As a pan-University institute, there is a need for space to convene and collaborate,” Glover said. “We look forward to the new building meeting these needs.”
Examples of programs and events that the Karsh Institute has hosted this semester include the Student Dialogue Fellowship — a program in which students from across the University convene monthly to discuss the upcoming 2024 U.S. elections — as well as talks
with federal government officials and faculty members, according to Barnes.
Much of the financial backing for the Karsh Institute’s work and expansion comes from Martha and Bruce Karsh, two School of Law alumni who donated $50 million in 2021 to establish the Karsh Institute and help fund the new center’s construction. According to Barnes, future donors will have the opportunity to donate to support the project in exchange for the ability to name spaces within the building.
The building itself is designed by Höweler + Yoon Architecture, a Boston-based firm that also designed the University’s Memorial to Enslaved Laborers, located near Brooks Hall. The Board of Visitors — who act as the Univrersity’s corporate board and oversee its long-term planning — approved the Karsh Institute of Democracy construction project June 2021 and the architecture firm’s design June 2023.
The Karsh Institute’s new center will be located on the Ivy Corridor, a University-owned 14.5 acre property of land that is the site of multiple construction projects, including
the recently completed School of Data Science. The 69,320 square foot, four-story building will feature an auditorium with an estimated 425-person capacity that will be capable of livestreaming in-person events for online viewers to tune in virtually.
In addition to hosting Karsh Institute programming, Glover said the University’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy will make use of the center’s research, meeting and event spaces. According to Glover, Batten will continue to operate centrally from Garrett Hall, which includes offices, study spaces and the Great Hall, a larger gathering space.
Batten students currently take classes at academic buildings across Grounds, and Glover noted that since the Karsh Institute building will only contain one classroom, this will continue to be the case even after the new center is complete. However, Glover said housing both the Karsh Institute and Batten on the same premises would also allow for interdisciplinary collaboration connecting public policy and leadership with pro-democracy efforts.
While the University has multiple developments planned for the Ivy Corridor beyond the Karsh Institute center, only one of the three projects under development on the University-owned parcel of land is complete.
The School of Data Science celebrated the grand opening of its building April, but the Virginia Guesthouse — an under-construction hotel and conference center — and the Karsh Institute are not expected to open until 2025 and 2026 respectively.
In terms of the University’s motivation for supporting this large-scale project, Glover said that as one of the nation’s leading public universities with a historical connection to American democracy, the University’s programming and values align with those of the Karsh Institute.
“Democracy is a key area of focus at U.Va., and many schools and centers throughout U.Va. are doing work in the democracy space,” Glover said. “The Karsh Institute of Democracy serves to unite and amplify the work being done and augment that work with its own.”
Sabato speaks on tight presidential race two weeks out
The political analyst and Center for Politics founder provided insight to The Cavalier Daily on which way he thinks the battleground states will lean
Ford McCracken | Senior Associate
With less than two weeks until the presidential election, many forecasters depict the election as a dead heat between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in seven key battleground states — Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.
Larry Sabato, director of the University’s renowned Center for Politics, also considers the races in these states to be tossups, as he conducts continuous, day-to-day analysis of the polls. However, he provided some insight to The Cavalier Daily into which way he currently thinks each of these states will “tilt,” ahead of the final prediction released by Sabato’s Crystal Ball — a project under the Center that provides nonpartisan election forecasts and analyses of trends in American politics.
According to Sabato, Georgia and Arizona show a lean towards Trump, while Nevada, Wisconsin and Michigan are looking to favor Harris — however, Pennsylvania and North Carolina remain complete tossups.
Sabato’s Crystal Ball is one of the most historically accurate forecasting
websites, calling nearly every state correctly in the 2008, 2012 and 2020 presidential contests. And after spending most of his lifetime forecasting, teaching and following politics, Sabato takes the calendar year off from teaching classes to travel and follow the election in-person. After many visits to the battlegrounds and constant poll-checking and news-watching, Sabato said the battlegrounds are not all complete coin-flips.
In recent weeks, Sabato has traveled to several battleground regions, including Asheville, N.C., competitive congressional districts in California, Atlanta, Ga. and Omaha, Neb. — which he said holds the potentially decisive electoral vote.
According to Sabato, Georgia and Arizona, which gave Biden his narrowest victories in 2020 and had previously not voted Democratic since the 1990s, could be leaning towards Trump due to a growth in the portion of middle and upper class Latinos — demographics that he says favor Republicans.
“Nevada and Arizona [have] such a large portion of Latinos, but when you look at where they are and how they
have moved economically … many are in the middle or even upper middle class,” Sabato said. “They are not entirely the same as four years ago.”
One possible reason for the increasing number of Latino Americans projected to vote Republican is the growth of Latino Americans’ household incomes prior to the pandemic, during Trump’s presidential administration. Polls from this election cycle have consistently shown both Latino and Black voters moving away from Democrats, even after Harris became the Democratic nominee.
On the other hand, the upper-Midwest battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan may lean slightly toward Harris, according to Sabato. While polls have significantly underestimated Trump’s support in these states during the past two presidential elections, Sabato said that Harris still has an edge.
Sabato also said that Nevada also has a Democratic advantage for being home to the Culinary Union — a union made up of workers in Las Vegas’ culinary industry. Democrats have historically been seen as more supportive of unions than Republicans, and Saba-
to said the Culinary Union has been very effective in turning out votes for Democrats in the state.
“The Culinary Union always makes Nevada more Democratic than it appears in pre-election polls,” Sabato said. “They are really good at organization and regimentation.”
While Sabato identified tilts for Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin and Michigan, he said Pennsylvania — the state that has the highest likelihood of pushing either candidate over the 270 electoral votes needed to win — and North Carolina are complete tossups.
However, Sabato pointed to gender as one factor that could give Harris an edge in these seemingly unpredictable states. According to Sabato, the “gender gap,” or the difference in voting behavior between men and women, could be a significant factor in the election. Sabato said more women are showing support for Harris and more men are showing support for Trump.
Polls this cycle have shown the largest gender gap in a presidential election in history. An August New York Times/Siena College poll reported a 35 point disparity, with women support-
ing Harris by a net 21 points,and men supporting Trump by a net 14 points. Previously, the largest gender gap in a presidential election was the 2016 election, at 26 points between the two candidates.
While Sabato said the gender gap could give Harris an edge — as in recent decades, women have registered to vote at higher rates than men — he said he does not believe the gap will play as large of a role in election results as polling currently shows.
As October rounds out, Sabato said that voters should follow the news closely over the next few weeks to stay tuned into all developing information in the final stretch before election day.
“You have to be on the case every day,” Sabato said. “This is not something where you can take two or three hours out of a day and say ‘I’ve mastered it for today.’ There’s no way you can.”
After the election, Sabato said he looks forward to resuming a “semi-normal life.”
“I’ve never had a normal life,” Sabato said. “But I’ll have a more normal life once it’s over.”
UBE holds runoff election after multiple errant ballots
Due to the errors, some students were asked to vote three times to select candidates as part of this month’s New Student Elections
Jackie
Bond | Senior Writer
While conducting its annual New Student Elections, The University Board of Elections released a link to a voting ballot Oct. 7 that omitted several eligible candidates from the options. Upon discovering this mistake, the UBE sent out a new ballot in which several races were not conducted through ranked choice voting as required by UBE policy, necessitating a runoff election to choose the winners for four NSE races.
In the 2024 NSE ballot, an annual set of elections for new students on Grounds, eligible students could vote for candidates in seven separate races — First Year Council President, FYC Vice President, Student Council First Year Representatives, Student Council Transfer Student Representative, Student Council Undergraduate International Student Representative, Graduate International Student Representative and UJC Data Science Representative.
The initial NSE ballot that failed to include several candidates’ names was withdrawn the same day of its release. The UBE announced the withdrawal of this ballot in an email to all students noting the mistake and providing a corrected 2024 NSE Elections voting link — this time with all candidates’ names on the ballot. The email encouraged all students to vote and revote using the new link provided and stated that the UBE did not believe restarting the vote would unfairly sway the election based on the number of votes cast at the time that the ballot was withdrawn.
The second ballot sent to students also contained an error, with four elections not conducted through ranked choice voting — a system where voters rank candidates in order of their preference instead of simply selecting one — which is required per UBE policy. This mistake ultimately led to the UBE holding a runoff election for those four positions.
According to Zach Lederer, UBE chair and fourth-year College student, the omission of candidates’ names from the initial voting link stemmed from an error in the candidate registration process, when all candidates were required to fill out an online form to register their candidacy. The application did not register all candidates who filled out the form, resulting in several names being left off of the original ballot, Lederer said.
“[Several candidates] had done all the proper steps, but they were erroneously removed from the form,” Lederer said. “When we ended up finding out, we were still
able to find their data and just put it back up on the ballot. Ultimately, because votes had already been cast, the decision was made to withdraw that initial ballot, [include] the few candidates who were missing from it and restart the voting to create a much better shot for everyone.”
Manuela Kodwo, first-year College student and newly elected First Year Council representative, stated that she was concerned this error in the voting ballot might deter students from voting, especially for a second time. According to Kodwo, the UBE paused voting before withdrawing the initial ballot, which resulted in several students reaching out to Kodwo asking why they were unable to vote. Kodwo said she appreciated the UBE email announcing the errant ballot, but stated that she was nervous that it might have affected her election chances.
“When I saw the second ballot … I was a little disappointed because in any election you want stability and consistent results,” Kodwo said. “I was kind of scared that maybe people wouldn’t vote again the second time around, and that could lower my chances [to win]. So I told as many people as I could that they have to vote again. I just wish that this error didn’t happen in the first place.”
Upon release of the second voting link, the UBE learned that several races were not being conducted through ranked choice voting which is required by UBE policy. According to a statement concerning NSE posted on the UBE website, the UBE considered either withdrawing the voting ballot again and restarting the election or choosing the winner based on which candidate received the most votes.
However, the UBE said they ultimately decided that holding a runoff election for the top two candidates in each of the affected races was the fairest way to proceed given UBE rules and restrictions.
“The election rules that are set on our website cannot be altered midway through the election. So procedurally, our hands were tied,” Lederer said. “The UBE does have the power to call a special election … so for races that were supposed to be ranked choice, but did not have over 50 percent of the vote go to one particular candidate, we decided to move on [with a] runoff.”
The ballots for the NSE runoffs included four races — FYC President, FYC Vice President, Student Council Transfer Representative and Graduate International Student Representative. As these races did not have candidates who received over 50 percent of the votes
required to win in a ranked choice voting election, they were therefore subject to a runoff election. This runoff election consisted of an additional voting period from Oct. 16 to Oct. 18 for the top two candidates in each of the four races. The runoff election concluded over a week after voting was initially slated to finish Oct. 9.
Lederer said he attributes this error to a miscommunication between the UBE and a third party polling platform, BigPulse. He said the FYC Representative race differs from other races, as there are three winners and voting must be conducted using a first past the post ballot — a procedure in which voters can only select a single winner rather than ranking candidates in order.
According to Lederer, the UBE reached out to candidates affected by this error who raised several concerns about the decision to conduct a runoff election — most notably, he said students were concerned about the stress and costs of the additional campaigning period that would accompany another election. In response to this feedback, the UBE suspended campaigning over Fall Reading Days from Oct. 12 to Oct. 15 in order to give candidates a break from campaigning while many students were away from
Grounds.
The UBE also offered all candidates $75 in reimbursement for campaign spending, as well as equal opportunity to advertise on UBE social media. According to Sahasra Molleti, newly elected FYC president and first-year College student, this reimbursement, though helpful, did not cover the cost of her campaign due to the intensified and elongated campaign process for the runoff election after a four day pause.
Molleti put up flyers, posted on social media, handed out ice cream and Raising Cane’s takeout and tabled for nine hours Oct. 17 to encourage prospective voters to vote in the runoff election.
“We did all these activities prior [to the first election], but once it got to the runoff, we did this times two,” Molleti said. “So it’s been a very high commitment thing … because it was just one-on-one versus another candidate, we put in a full effort.”
The UBE released the results of the runoff election Oct. 19. Molleti was selected as FYC president, her running mate first-year College student Hayden Matay was selected as FYC vice president, third-year College student Tracie Artis was selected as Student Council transfer representative, and Graduate Busi-
ness student Ashutosh Pandey was selected as graduate international student representative.
Despite some individuals having to vote multiple times over the course of the election, the runoff saw a higher voter turnout than the original election in three of its four races. According to Lederer, overall student engagement also increased, with four of the six races that were on the ballot last year experiencing a higher voter turnout in this year’s election.
Lederer offered a number of explanations for this increase, including the strong campaigning efforts of candidates, including UBE’s voter encouragement campaigns and increased interest in voting as a result of the upcoming national election.
“The UBE has been very committed to ensuring that this runoff has gone well. We had tabling [Oct. 17] to keep turnout high, and we want to work with all affected parties in the future to ensure no errors in general happen,” Lederer said.
The UBE will be conducting an internal review of the 2024 New Student Election that will be released by the end of the Fall semester.
LEXIE GAGNON THE CAVALIER DAILY
The initial NSE ballot that failed to include several candidates’ names was withdrawn the same day of its release.
SPORTS
How, and why, Tony Bennett retired
Citing the state of college basketball as the reason behind his decision, the legendary coach stunned the sporting world with his surprise departure
Michael Liebermann | Senior Associate
At 10:53 a.m. Friday, in a dining hall converted into a press conference room, a mounting hubbub suddenly died. There seemed no outward trigger. It just happened, as if the gravity of the approaching moment somehow struck all the assembled at precisely the same time. Here he comes.
Tony Bennett arrived to his retirement press conference at 11:03 a.m. He was late, by three minutes. He played at his own pace one final time.
The press conference capped a whirlwind period — 18 and a half hours from press release to press conference — in which shockwaves echoed through every corner of the college basketball universe and questions crisscrossed on social media.
All the program said in its 4:30 p.m. press release Thursday was that Bennett would announce his immediate retirement the following morning. That was the only detail given about the stunning retirement of one of the game’s most respected and successful figures just 20 days before the Cavaliers were set to face Campbell at home.
The timing, with the season so close, made the news totally flabbergasting. Speculation raced around social media about the reason for his sudden departure. Reports emerged that the cause was not a health reason, that it instead had to do with the sport’s changing landscape, but clarity would have to wait until the morning. Joy, as Bennett has said, comes in the morning.
Bennett choked up multiple times as he delivered a lengthy opening statement and then answered questions at the Friday press conference. Nothing dramatic had occurred, he said. He had simply realized, as have other legendary coaches recently, that his preferred style of running a program did not match the sport’s current landscape. His time had come.
“I realized I’m no longer the best coach to lead this program in this current environment,” Bennett said. “And if you’re going to do it, you’ve got to be all in. You’ve got to have everything.”
He had planned, as recently as last week’s ACC Tipoff, to continue coaching. But a vacation with his wife, Laurel, during the University’s Reading Days last weekend allowed time for decompression, a rare moment away from basketball to think.
He thought about his wife and
his kids. He thought about his aging parents, his sister and his other relationships. He thought about how the advent of name, image and likeness had chucked a grueling profession into overdrive, and how he needed to get out while he could still devote time and energy to family.
“That’s where I kind of came to the realization that I can’t do this,” Bennett said. “It’s not fair to these guys and this institution that I love so much to continue on when you know you’re not the right guy for the job.”
The processing still had a long way to go. But Bennett knew, and that was enough. He fidgeted when he sat down at the podium, all those eyes on him. He ruffled his jacket. His fingers shifted the microphone incrementally. He leaned backward and then forward again. He looked, above all, uncomfortable.
Which is perhaps the point. Bennett had grown uncomfortable in college basketball’s present landscape.
“I think I was equipped to do the job here the old way,” Bennett said. “That’s who I am, and that’s how it was.”
Esteemed coaching colleagues Mike Krzyzewski of Duke and Roy Williams of North Carolina have also left their respective institutions within the last three years. So have Jim Boeheim of Syracuse and Jay Wright of Villanova. Bennett mentioned all four names at various points, the names of coaching legends who left largely because of the advent of NIL payments that have demolished the amateur model and created the need for reform.
“There’s got to be collective bargaining,” Bennett said. “There has to be a restriction on the salary pool that teams can spend. There has to be transfer regulation restrictions. There has to be some limits on agent involvement with these young guys.”
Bennett, like the coaching lions before him, decided enough was enough. It was all too much. The modern game is basically unrecognizable from what it looked like five years ago — Bennett did not sign up for this.
Players used to have to sit out a year after transferring — not anymore, after the NCAA this year enshrined its COVID-era policy waiving the penalty year. Players used to exist strictly within an amateur model and not receive compensa-
tion — not anymore, starting in 2021 when the NCAA adopted NIL. Players used to stay at one school for their entire careers — not anymore, as schools lure transfers with promises of lucrative payments.
Those are just the basic changes, the turmoil on the surface. Beneath, the changes have roiled hierarchies, shifting the power from the coaches to the players and forcing a reevaluation of how to run a program. The job description has changed.
The changes have shunted aside the elder statesmen of the coaching profession, across college basketball but especially in the ACC. None of the remaining coaches in the conference have ever won a national title. That has not been the case since the 1981-82 season.
With their exodus comes a new guard of coaches, accepting of this landscape — unrecognizable just a few years ago — as the status quo.
“I understand how he’s feeling,” Duke Coach Jon Scheyer, still in his 30s, said at a press conference Saturday. “Obviously, any coach, you always want more family time. You always want more stability. But again, for me, it’s the environment we’re in.”
That is the mentality Virginia’s remaining coaches will have to embrace. Associate head coach Ron
Sanchez, who returned to Bennett’s staff last season after spending five years as head coach at Charlotte, will take over as interim head coach, piloting the program into its new era alongside longtime assistant coach Jason Williford.
Retiring now allowed Bennett to pass the torch to one of his own, something he said he has always wanted. Sanchez will remain interim coach throughout the season, and then things will open up.
Sanchez is a Bennett acolyte, entering his 11th season with the program. Things, therefore, may look similar on the court this season, a continuation of the present regime. Any tweaks will likely be revisions rather than overhauls.
Bennett also leaves behind Kyle Guy, Isaiah Wilkins and Chase Coleman, all former players who serve various roles in the program. He called them rising stars at the press conference. If they remain in the program past this season, they will help shepherd the program forward.
But they found out about the news only just before the public. Thursday’s practice was scheduled for 4 p.m. At 2:45 p.m., Guy said, Bennett entered the office and gathered his coaches in the conference room to inform them of his de-
cision. He told it to them straight.
“He didn’t sugarcoat,” Guy said. “Which I appreciated.”
The team canceled practice, but the court remained open for players to get their shots up. Every single player, according to Guy, stayed to work out. They handled it, assistant coach Isaiah Wilkins said, probably as well as they could have.
“We’ve got a good group of guys,” Wilkins said. “And they’re understanding.”
Bennett consulted with no coaching colleagues in making his decision. He talked to his father, a beloved Wisconsin coach responsible for much of his son’s style. But really this was between Bennett and his wife, a latent feeling metastasizing on a weekend trip as they talked and assessed his honest feelings.
This, perhaps most interestingly, is not the end for Bennett. He said he will still be around in some capacity to encourage and support the players and coaches. He and Williams have discussed ways he can stay involved and provide assistance, whether in an official role directly with the basketball team or in some other way. He seems, for now, content to watch the program he built flourish.
CLAIRE SMITH THE CAVALIER DAILY
Bennett steps away from the program after 15 years at the helm.
Tempering post-Bennett expectations for Virginia
With
Tony Bennett gone, the Cavaliers are bound to take a step back
Xander
Tilock and Ben Istvan | Sports Editors
When Tony Bennett retired last week, a wave of shock shot through the world of college basketball. There was confusion over the timing of the decision. There were conspiracies about what could possibly be the reason for it. There was a slew of former players, fellow coaches and unbelieving fans lining up to sing Bennett’s praises. But most importantly, there was one consensus question being asked — where do we go from here?
The answer may not be one that Cavalier fans want to hear. Because for all the winning Bennett did in Charlottesville over the last 15 years, it is likely that Virginia’s most successful period of the 21st century has already passed. The program still has the resources to hang around the middle of the ACC, but the days of its conference dominance and national prominence will be nearly impossible to replicate without its former cornerstone at the helm.
Cavalier fans have heard, seen and read plenty about Bennett’s coaching resume since he retired — 364 wins, six first-place ACC finishes, two ACC Tournament titles and a national championship. But beyond the trophies and the banners, perhaps his greatest achievement at Virginia was getting the program a seat at the table with North Carolina and Duke.
With Bennett in charge, beating the Tar Heels and competing with the Blue Devils became norms for the Cavaliers. Virginia is 13-8 in its last 21 games against North Carolina and has four wins over Duke since 2018. Bennett’s crew finished above the Tar Heels in the ACC standings six times in his final 11 seasons. They finished above the Blue Devils seven times in the same period.
That outstanding level of success makes the last four years look like a step back for the program, even though the Cavaliers went 53-24 in the ACC. They also made three NCAA Tournament appearances during that stretch. If a previous, Bennett-less version of Virginia played to that caliber, fans would have been lining up to root for it.
Now, as the Cavaliers enter a Bennett-less future, expectations need to be adjusted. Virginia’s time at or near the top of the college basketball world is over, and the thought that they can return there anytime soon is far-fetched. Bennett buoyed Virginia in a way that legendary coaches of other programs did not.
It might be promising for some fans to look at the models of Duke and North Carolina, a pair of ACC schools who recently lost all-time great coaches and held onto their positions at the apex of college basketball’s best conference. The Blue Devils won the ACC Tournament the
year after Mike Krzyzewski retired and have earned a top-5 seed in the NCAA Tournament twice with his successor, Jon Scheyer. Under Hubert Davis, the Tar Heels were a No. 1 seed last year, only three seasons after Roy Williams’ departure. Virginia is not going to be able to do the same.
Historically, this program is not in the same blueblood tier as North Carolina or Duke. As both of those schools transitioned away from their longtime coaches, their heirs were put in an easy position to win due to the historic prestige associated with each program.
The difference between Williams and Davis or Krzyzewski and Scheyer did not matter that much to the top-level recruits, who continued committing to both schools in waves despite the coaching changes. Because most of what matters for those incoming players is donning the storied Duke or North Carolina uniforms and receiving the large spotlight that comes with it.
That appeal is not there at Virginia. In contrast, Cavalier recruits were sold on the program because of Bennett in particular. He was renowned for his ability to bring in lesser-touted players and turn them into professional prospects, evidenced by the fact that Virginia currently has the most players in the NBA who were not top-25 recruits in their high school class.
The Cavaliers never signed a five-
star recruit out of high school when Bennett was at the helm. Without him, the program is not going to have nearly as much success by filling the roster with mid-level transfers and lower-ranked high school players in the hopes of developing them like Bennett did. Do not expect a strategy like that to carry over seamlessly from coach to coach, even if interim head coach Ron Sanchez — a longtime Bennett assistant with brief head coaching experience at Charlotte — shows similar recruiting prowess as the program’s leader.
Virginia’s player development philosophy is also outdated and appears to be much of why Bennett stepped away in the first place. In the new world of college athletics — one dominated by a free-flowing transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness — student-athletes are transferring more than ever and often prioritizing financial opportunities when deciding on a school.
That change in landscape has devalued Virginia’s standard multi-year development pitch and left the program scrambling to reshape most of its core personnel every season. Schools like Duke were already doing that before NIL and the transfer portal took over, but Virginia is new to the game and has thus struggled in recent years to keep up with the ACC’s best.
Clearly, the Cavaliers’ transition away from their greatest-ever
coach will not be as smooth as those of Duke and North Carolina were. However, there is another prominent program that also recently lost its longtime coach — Villanova, which endured a more similar transition to the one Virginia is going through right now.
Longtime coach Jay Wright surprisingly retired from his role with the Wildcats after the 2022 season — a campaign in which they went 30-8 and reached the Final Four. After two national titles and a slew of Big East championships under Wright, the next man up was Coach Kyle Neptune, a longtime Wright assistant who had brief experience in the head coaching role at Fordham — sound familiar?
Last year, in Neptune’s first season in the driver’s seat, Villanova went 17-17 in a pedestrian campaign that landed them sixth in the Big East Conference. Under Wright, the Wildcats had not finished worse than second in their conference since 2012-13.
Though Wright tended to bring in higher-level recruits at Villanova than Bennett did at Virginia, the coaches were alike in their emphasis on player development. Their model sold recruits not on the grand spotlight or fast-tracking it to the NBA, but on a long-term process and on the coach that made that process happen. That system can not easily survive a drastic coaching change.
Thus, basing this season’s expectations on a similar track to that of the Wildcats is a good bet. Virginia will certainly not be an ACC bottomfeeder, but the days of finishing inside the top three during the regular season are in the rearview mirror for now. In looking at the 2024-25 season, even making the NCAA Tournament would be a commendable accomplishment.
This season is essentially an extended audition for the entire program. Sanchez will get his fair chance to prove himself as a potential longterm coaching option for the Cavaliers, and many on this new-look roster will seek to assert themselves as the select stars for Virginia.
After that, the future gets even more clouded. Perhaps a gargantuan wave of transfers will enter or depart, a new coach will be brought in or the evolution of NIL will throw another joker into the voluminous deck of cards Virginia could play.
For now, though, the Cavaliers will prepare for their rapidly approaching season opener against Campbell Nov. 6. In the aftermath of the absolute whirlwind that Virginia men’s basketball endured over the past week, only two things are for certain — there is a Bennett-sized hole in this program’s heart, and the path forward will be a trying, lengthy journey.
MAC DOUCETTE THE CAVALIER DAILY
Virginia fans pack John Paul Jones Arena against Pittsburgh Feb. 13, 2024.
In the blink of an eye, Virginia men’s basketball faces a seemingly impossible task — replacing Tony Bennett. It is a daunting job, but Bennett, who announced his retirement last week, leaves the team in the trusted hands of Ron Sanchez, previously the associate head coach and now Bennett’s interim replacement. Sanchez has previous Division I head coaching experience and a good track record of recruiting, tools that will help as he replaces a coach who is the furthest thing from replaceable.
Sanchez was born in the Dominican Republic and grew up in the South Bronx, where he says basketball acted as a “positive addiction” in a difficult environment. He played collegiately at SUNY Oneonta, and while in graduate school at Indiana, he started his coaching career as a volunteer assistant with the Hoosiers and was involved in their 2002 Final Four run.
After graduating from Indiana, Sanchez entered the Bennett coaching tree at Washington State, where he served as director of operations under Dick Bennett, the Cougars’ head coach and Tony Bennett’s father. Following Tony’s ascension to
Who is Ron Sanchez?
An introduction to Virginia men’s basketball’s new interim head coach
Emory Huffman | Staff Writer
the head coaching position in 2006, Sanchez was elevated to assistant coach, where he remained until he followed Bennett to Charlottesville three years later.
Sanchez has since coached with the Cavaliers for 11 seasons, though not consecutively. His time on the staff, which stretched from 2009 until 2018 and resumed in 2023, coincided with much of Virginia’s success under Bennett. During Sanchez’s five-year absence, he held the head coaching role at Charlotte.
When Sanchez took over the 49ers, they were a struggling program. Charlotte was coming off a 6-23 campaign in 2017-18 and had not produced a winning season in four years. Despite the challenges inherent to such a job, Sanchez quickly righted the ship, guiding the 49ers to three winning seasons in his five years at the helm.
Under Sanchez’s guidance, Charlotte won its first postseason title, the 2023 College Basketball Invitational, and achieved a 22-14 record in his final season. However limited, his stint as a head coach was an unqualified success.
Sanchez emphasized in his first
press conference as interim head coach Wednesday that his time in Charlotte is already paying dividends in his new position.
“I’m using those experiences right now,” Sanchez said. “Having to galvanize energy every day, having to take young men that are in a transition space and try to unite them to pursue a specific goal. Every single year that I was at Charlotte, I learned something new that I will most certainly use during my time here.”
Though he learned a lot while away from Bennett, Sanchez does not plan on overhauling the program. He said that the coaching staff was already working on some changes for next season before Friday’s announcement, and that he intends to implement those while keeping much else the same.
“This institution is still here,” Sanchez said. “The leadership may have changed, but the program and the culture here will not.”
Sanchez’s coaching style matches well with Bennett’s based on available statistics. The 2022-23 49ers ranked 10th out of 11 Conference USA teams in both points per game and pace of play, which measures a team’s average
number of offensive possessions per 40 minutes. Virginia, which always played via a methodical pace under Bennett, ranked dead last in the ACC in both categories last season.
Also similar to the Cavaliers, Charlotte sported a robust defense while Sanchez was in town — the team allowed just 62.6 points per game in 2022-23, which put them second in the conference. That defensive strength was good enough to give the 49ers the fourth-best average point differential in the C-USA despite a lackluster offense — a familiar dynamic for Virginia fans.
Additionally, Sanchez has a knack for recruiting that Bennett himself recognized in 2023. In each of his final three years with the 49ers, Sanchez signed the top recruiting class in Conference USA. Charlotte’s CBI title in 2022-23 was the only season of his tenure that the team was made up entirely of his recruits.
Per NCAA rules, a 30-day transfer portal opened for Virginia players the day after Bennett’s exit. But no Cavaliers have entered the portal since, and it is worth noting that Sanchez played a key role in bringing in several of Virginia’s current players.
Virginia can still make a bowl game
The road to postseason football will be arduous, but there is reason for optimism
Casey Reims | Staff Writer
Coming off a tough loss at No. 10 Clemson, it is easy to understand why Virginia football fans may be feeling discouraged about their team’s odds of making a bowl game. Trailing 38-10 after three quarters, it simply looked like the Cavaliers were outmatched in every way. The offense sputtered, and besides an early interception, the defense was hopeless to stop the Tigers. Overall, it was not a pretty sight. However, this does not mark the beginning of the end for Virginia, as some are suggesting.
Despite likely being underdogs the rest of the way — save for a favorable matchup Saturday against North Carolina — the Cavaliers match up well with their future opponents. It will not be easy, but there is reason to believe they can scrounge out two more wins on the year and play in a bowl game for the first time since 2019. The pieces are already in place.
After giving up 48 total points to Clemson, there are feelings of unease surrounding the Cavalier defense. But this was against a high-powered Tigers attack that has averaged 42 points per game since their week one loss to then-
No. 1 Georgia, including a 59-point display against NC State. The road ahead is much easier for Virginia, as the offenses it faces next are not nearly as dangerous. Several upcoming opponents have weak passing defenses, and the Cavaliers themselves are more talented than their 4-3 record may indicate. There is also the fact that Virginia’s defense has shown throughout the season that it can come through when it matters. It happened Sept. 7 at Wake Forest with a forced fumble in the fourth quarter that sealed a 31-30 win, and again Oct. 5 in a 24-14 victory versus Boston College, only this time Virginia took it back for six points as well.
About two weeks ago against Louisville, even though the Cavaliers ultimately lost, they held the Cardinals to their lowest point total of the year. Despite ultimately losing that game, team defense has proven to be solid more often than not.
As a whole, the Cavaliers’ run defense ranks sixth in the ACC. While Virginia has struggled against the pass, there are talented playmakers in the secondary like senior safety Jonas
Sanker and graduate safety Antonio Clary, who should be returning from injury soon. In the coming weeks, against a slate of ACC rivals, expect the Cavalier defense to reach its peak form — consistent stops and timely turnovers.
Just like its defensive counterpart, the offense has the pieces in place to succeed. That starts with sophomore quarterback Anthony Colandrea, whose growth this season has been promising. Though he tossed two interceptions in back-to-back games versus Wake Forest and Maryland, Virginia’s signal-caller has not thrown one in the four games since. His prowess has carried the Cavaliers to the 36th best passing offense in the nation, which ranks one spot ahead of Alabama. As Colandrea continues to learn from his experience as the unquestioned starter, expect that ranking to rise by the end of this season.
Virginia’s impressive receiving corps will help with that as well. Senior receiver Malachi Fields is on pace for over 1,000 receiving yards and senior tight end Tyler Neville has also added quality production, acting
as a security blanket for the offense when they need it. Having such reliable pass-catchers eases the burden for Colandrea and gives opposing defenses constant threats to beware of.
Notably, three teams coming up on Virginia’s schedule struggle defending the pass — North Carolina, No. 19 Pittsburgh and No. 22 Southern Methodist. Out of 133 qualified teams, the Tar Heels are 99th in passing yards allowed per game, the Panthers rank 104th and the Mustangs are 90th. Virginia itself ranks 120th, but if any of the three games become a shootout, the Cavaliers will like their odds of stealing a victory or two with Colandrea under center.
The Cavalier running backs are nothing to scoff at, either. Behind the two-headed monster of graduate student Kobe Pace and junior Xavier Brown, Virginia has shown it can pound the rock with effectiveness at times.
Against Coastal Carolina, the team ran for a staggering 384 yards, including Brown racking up 171 yards by himself. The Cavaliers will need this type of outing in their regular season
In his first address to the players as head coach, he emphasized that they were recruited for the program and not just for Bennett.
“I wanted to tell them that they were loved, that Tony’s departure doesn’t remove that level of appreciation for them as student-athletes here,” Sanchez said.
As Virginia turns the page on Bennett, it is an understatement to say that Sanchez has big shoes to fill. The good news is that he was in Charlottesville for two ACC Tournament titles and three No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. Perhaps he can usher in a new era of success, continuing a legacy that began almost 20 years ago at Washington State.
As the interim head coach, Sanchez will take the wheel for the 2024-25 season — then, per Athletic Director Carla Williams, the search for a new head coach begins. Sanchez, however, brushed off the insecurity attached to the interim label.
“I’m here to serve this institution,” Sanchez said, “For however long it is.”
finale in Blacksburg if they want a chance of taking down Virginia Tech — the Hokies’ main defensive weakness is the run. Look for a run-heavy gameplan from Virginia in this matchup. If Pace and Brown can thrive and Colandrea breaks off a few of his own runs, there is potential for a historic upset triumph against the Hokies.
If all of these individual components can come together, Virginia poses a legitimate threat to any team it faces. With North Carolina appearing to be the only remaining opponent Virginia will be favored against, that leaves four chances for the Cavaliers to steal a win as an underdog.
If the Cavaliers have proven anything this year, it is that they can give themselves a chance to win down the stretch. With the defense finding its footing and Colandrea more steady than ever, Virginia is going to win two of its final five games. Do not lose hope — the 2024 season is far from over.
Hoos are always several steps ahead. Look great, and feel good, by giving to UVA today.
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Top 10 Halloween costumes for your college friend group
With Halloween just around the corner, here are 10 affordable, easy-to-coordinate costumes for you and your friends
Emily Barrie | Life Staffer
Every year, the minute October hits, texts begin popping up on my phone with the annual question, “What are we doing for Halloween?” I usually sit back and wait until one of my friends proposes a brilliant idea, knowing that we will likely end up throwing on a pair of fairy wings for the 100th time. But this year, I’ve compiled a list of group costume ideas to save us — and any college friend group — some brainstorming time. Fit for duos, trios and even larger groups, these costumes can easily be pulled off by the time Halloweekend rolls around next Thursday, and they might even result in a killer Instagram post.
1. Tinder, Bumble and Hinge
If you want to bag more than candy this year, nothing signals your intentions more than dressing up as dating apps. With these costumes on, you have the perfect excuse to dole out pick-up lines throughout the night, like asking people which way they would swipe on you. These costumes can also be easily fashioned, as they require only T-shirts, sharpies and construction paper. Tinder can be a white shirt with a green heart and a red “X,” Bumble can be a bright yellow top with black stripes and Hinge can be a white shirt with a black “H.” You can also paste your name, age and hobbies onto your outfits to resemble a dating profile.
The “Inside Out” emotions
If you watched “Inside Out 2” this summer like I did, this costume might bring you back to the Halloweens of your childhood, when beloved movie characters would roam your neighborhood cul-de-sac. As nostalgic as it sounds, no age is too old to dress as Disney or Pixar characters. You and your friends can dress as up to nine emotions from “Inside Out 2,” and you’ll likely have some fun deciding who is who in the group. Each emotion is easily recognizable by their color — yellow for Joy, green for Disgust and so on — so all you would need is a monochrome outfit. Some characters might have accessories, such as glasses for Sadness or a tie for Anger, but almost every character can be recreated using what’s already in your closet.
3.
Characters from the Land of Oz
From L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” to the “Wicked” movie set to release next month, this magical world features classic, recognizable characters that can be easily portrayed. Whether you feel like donning Dorothy’s blue dress and red shoes or the Scarecrow’s overalls and straw hat, there is a Land of Oz character for everybody. Dressing as one of the witches, such as the Wicked Witch of the West, would be particularly on-theme for a Halloween party.
4. Kiss, Marry, Kill
Like the game of the same name — where someone names three people and the other person chooses which of the three to hypothetically kiss, marry and kill — this costume can lead to some entertaining results. For “kiss,” you could wear a red outfit with lipstick kisses all over your body. For “marry,” you could wear a groom’s tuxedo or a bride’s white dress and veil, complete with a wedding band on your ring finger. And, for “kill,” you could carry a fake knife and don an all-black outfit spotted with dark, blood-like stains. While people might question who you are individually, together, you and two friends will make an alluring trio with this group costume.
5.
Your favorite artists
If you’ve ever wondered about whether your favorite singers and rappers performed together in a different universe, you can see it happen with this costume. You and your friends can form your dream concert lineup, recreating iconic looks such as Lady Gaga’s meat dress or Elvis Presley’s blazers. You can even go as pairs of artists who are feuding in real life, such as Drake and Kendrick Lamar or Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion. Regardless of who you dress as, with this costume, you and your friend will channel your idols’ stage-presence and cool, confident persona.
Fast food mascots
Halloween is the perfect time to transform into some American cultural icons — the stars of fast food chains. Want to be Kentucky’s most decorated gentleman? Don some round glasses, a white shirt and a bowtie and become Colonel Sanders. Want to feel cutesy? Put your hair up into pigtail braids and sport a blue dress to become Wendy. Got spite toward chicken? Tape some black paper circles to an all-white outfit and hold an “Eat Mor Chikin” sign to become the Chick-fil-a cow. Every member of the group can choose a different character, but together, you’ll be a band of the most finger-lickin’ good celebrities. 6.
7.
The Spice Girls
If you’re in a group of five looking to reference a throwback era in pop culture, you can go out as the Spice Girls in the late 1990s or early 2000s. I have seen this costume idea done before, and it never seems to miss. The fun part about this costume is not only dressing as an iconic girl group but also picking which group member you and your friends will be. Each of the five women — Mel B, Melanie C, Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell and Victoria Beckham — has her own unique style. Whether you recreate the casual look of Sporty Spice or the sleek, feminine style of Posh Spice, you’ll “Wannabe” no one else but the Spice Girls for Halloween.
8. “The Bachelor” or “The Bachelorette”
Another costume relevant to pop culture, dressing as someone from the reality TV shows “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” will make you easily recognizable on Halloween. Students can achieve this look by wearing formal wear, such as suits and long dresses. The key to making this outfit resemble the show is to carry a rose, which is what the lead uses to indicate who may stay on the show. This costume is perfect if you and your friends already have formal wear and want to dress fancy for the night. Carrying more roses gives you all the more reasons to strike up conversations with any party goers who catch your eye.
9.
U.S. Olympians
As the United States — and the University — sent so many athletes to the Paris Olympics this summer, you can show off your patriotism and school spirit by dressing as an Olympian. You have more than a handful of viral Paris Olympians to dress as, including the Australian breakdancer Raygun and the U.S. gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik, also known as “Pommel Horse Guy.” Given the dominance of Virginia women’s swimming at this Olympics, you could also rock a swimsuit if you’re up to braving the cold weather. This costume might be the only time you’ll be able to rightfully wear a gold medal.
10.
Bouncers
If you’re going out on the Corner on Halloween, think of how funny it would be to turn the table on the bouncers by dressing exactly like them. You and your friends could go out as generic club bouncers by dressing in all black, or you could get your hands on some bright orange T-shirts like the ones worn by bouncers at Trinity On The Corner. To complete the look, all you need to do is wear a cheeky grin, have some fake IDs on you to snap in half and, if someone asks who you are, respond by telling them to recite their address.
MACKENZIE BULLOCK THE CAVALIER DAILY
The Clean Plate Project gets to cooking for U.Va. Health
With limited healthcare volunteering opportunities, students have found their own way to serve the medical community through cooking
Abby Snowdon | Features Writer
As many undergraduates face difficulties obtaining sought-after volunteer positions at U.Va. Health, students concerned about accessing medical service opportunities have taken matters into their own hands. In January, four students founded the Clean Plate Project, a student-led organization in which members cook meals for the families of patients at U.Va. Children’s Hospital. Unlike medical service programs that require certification or training, the CPP asks that students only demonstrate a willingness to help provide comfort to dozens of families at U.Va. Health.
Every Saturday at 10 a.m., members of the CPP prepare a lunch for the patrons of the Ronald McDonald House Charities Charlottesville, a temporary residence for families of pediatric patients receiving long-term medical care. In the RMH kitchen, students review the recipe of the day, prepare ingredients, then slice, chop and sear until the meal is ready. At noon, students serve the food to families passing through the house or pack the meals in the RMH kitchen to be enjoyed later.
Kunaal Agarwal, president of the CPP and fourth-year College
student, combined a love for cooking and a desire to connect with people when he founded the CPP with three other students. For him, making a meal for someone else is about more than physical nourishment — it is an act of service that can brighten the days of patients and their relatives.
“Throughout my life, I’ve been cooking for myself, and in college, I found that it’s a great way to bring people together and form deeper relationships,” Agarwal said.
“I realized that I can use food and cooking — and the power of a nice meal — to provide the family of the patients comfort.”
Within the first year the CPP has been running, Agarwal said CPP members have already bonded with several patrons of the RMH.
As families may stay at the RMH for months at a time, students have the chance to connect with them regularly. Agarwal recalled how one family — whose child had been hospitalized with leukemia for the past four and a half months — expressed their gratitude for CPP members’ cooking and presence.
“They hadn’t had a good bowl of pasta in the entire time they’d been there, and we made lasagna that
day,” Agarwal said. “I just remember them telling me how much this reminded them of home, Sunday dinners and grandma’s cooking.”
For the families staying at the RMH, the CPP’s work is more than just a meal. It is a reminder of the comfort of home, something they may not have the luxury to experience while their child is in the hospital. Bridgette Butynski, RMH outreach and events senior manager, said the CPP offers families a brief moment of respite from the stress and uncertainty of life at the hospital by taking just one worry — the question of where they will get their next meal — off their plates.
“We’re very thankful, and we’re very blessed to have [CPP] because it alleviates a stressor for our families.” Butynski said. “They can come back from the hospital and have a home-cooked meal.”
Besides providing comfort through meals, Agarwal said one of the foundational goals of the CPP was to expand health-related opportunities for students. Agarawal said he noticed that most students only engage with U.Va. Health through shadowing or volunteering in the hospital, and he wanted to find a different way to connect
students with patients.
“There was a slight gap in the diversity of available clinical experiences at U.Va.,” Agarwal said. “I thought people would be interested in an alternative to traditional volunteering at a hospital.”
As the CPP neither caps its membership nor requires any specialized training, the organization differs from other undergraduate medical service programs at the University. Ramsey Beladia, founding member of the CPP and fourth-year College student, explained how organizations such as Madison House limit the number of undergraduates who may participate in their medical services programs, leaving students feeling excluded from health opportunities on Grounds.
Additionally, Beladia said undergraduates must often jump through several hoops — including an application, interview, background check and training period — to volunteer at U.Va. Health. Other medical opportunities, such as Emergency Medical Technicians and Certified Nursing Assistants, also require certification and extensive training. In light of these requirements, Beladia said the CPP
The lasts are piling up
I’m a fourth-year. I can’t believe it. I don’t want to talk about it.
Grace Scott | Senior Associate
These past few years, I have found nothing more annoying than someone who introduced themself as a fourthyear student and tacked on the seemingly obligatory “I don’t want to talk about it” at the end — as if being in the final year of college was the equivalent of qualifying for AARP or getting fitted for dentures. So imagine my surprise throughout this fall as I have continuously introduced myself by saying, “I’m Grace. I’m from the Boston area. I’m a fourth-year. I can’t believe it. I don’t want to talk about it.”
While being a fourth-year student is, in fact, not the equivalent of qualifying for social security, sometimes it feels just the same. And it’s something we oldheads don’t want to think about, let alone admit to a classroom full of — often younger — peers. Navigating my final fall on Grounds, however, has forced me to acknowledge the frightening reality of my limited days left at the University. Over the past month, I have realized that making the most of these fleeting moments means just living in them, rather than painfully focusing on trying to appreciate them.
This past summer, recent graduates continuously reminded me that graduation creeps up on you out of nowhere. One day you’ll be reading on the Lawn and sunning on Mad Bowl, and the next day life will pluck you from the world of Tuesdays at Trin and Fridays at frats and drop you into the realm of conference calls and corporate lunches, all in the blink of an eye.
After hearing these warnings, I was determined to outsmart this phenomenon. Coming back to the University in August, I was convinced I would soak in every moment possible, be acutely aware of time ticking by and appreciate every day to the fullest, so that the inevitable end couldn’t startle me, even if it tried.
I operated under this mindset for the first month of the semester. At Block Party, I reminded myself that it was the last time I would ever see Wertland Street flooded with foolish first-year students. A few days later, I sent my mom my annual first day of school photo, incessantly reminding myself that this was likely the last
photo I would ever send her of the sort. At my last football home opener, I focused on the fact that the rest of the crowd would have one, two, even three, more of these first football games, and for me, this was it.
You know what I didn’t do the first month of this semester? Have fun at Block Party, have a fun first day of class or have fun at the home-opener. I felt like something was off in the air — the intangible feeling of euphoria that defined my love for the University had disappeared. I felt like I was watching everyone else have fun, wondering why I was no longer enjoying all the things that usually make me feel the most like myself.
Then I realized — my insistence on staying one step ahead of Father Time was the problem, not the solution. Constantly reminding myself of the fleeting nature of these moments prevented me from immersing myself within them. For the first month of the semester, instead of enjoying some of my favorite traditions at the University for the last time, I wasted my time focusing on the fact that they
were my lasts.
You can’t really “appreciate” a moment if you’re too busy worrying about properly appreciating it. Trying to enjoy a college party while your internal monologue is pestering, “You better be appreciating this because you’ll be at a boring desk job soon!” is probably worse than actually being at a boring desk job.
The reason I have loved my time at the University so deeply is because in all of my favorite moments — my favorite parties, my favorite classes, my favorite sporting events — I wasn’t busy thinking about how much fun I was having. I was just having fun. I love everything about my last year of college so far, besides the fact that it’s the last one. So why should I let the threat of the “last” keep me from enjoying the rest of my University experience?
There’s a romantic naivety to the feeling that life at the University is so all-encompassing, so riveting, so intoxicating that you can’t possibly imagine it ending. The feeling that all that exists, and all that ever will exist, is right here on Grounds. I don’t care if grad-
founders wanted to create a space for students to get involved in U.Va. Health without obtaining additional certification.
“We thought there must be more avenues to serve medically at U.Va. … without certification,” Beladia said. “We wanted to find another way to serve these families.”
After applying to become a Contracted Independent Organization this semester, the CPP is currently awaiting official approval from Student Council. In the meantime, CPP members continue to bring comfort to families through meals and fill gaps in health-related opportunities for students. Agarwal said they plan to extend their services to cook for pediatric patients of U.Va. Children’s Hospital in addition to their families. Butynski commended students for their commitment to forging their own path of service at U.Va. Health.
“The students are in awe of the families’ strength, and the families are in awe of these students who are young and willing to give up their time and give back to the community,” Butynski said.
uation creeps up on me — I’d rather relish in that naivety for one more year than allow the dread of graduation to strip the feeling away from me prematurely.
Sitting on the Rotunda steps writing this, I can’t help but picture myself here again in a mere seven months, walking down these steps as a student for the last time, draped in my cap and gown. I will leave the best four years of my life behind me, with the rest of the world lying ahead of me.
And when I paint my journey to Final Exercises in that light, it sounds beautiful and inspiring and all of that. And it is, but it is also terrifying. The ticking graduation clock in the back of my head will be loud sometimes, no matter how hard I try to suppress it. Because I’m a fourth year. I can’t believe it. And I don’t want to talk about it. But that’s no excuse for not living deeply within every day I have left until that clock’s alarm rings. Time to go to Coupes!
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
How fraternity DJs are soundtracking U.Va. nightlife
The University’s frat DJs put parties on the right track by blending original mixes with beloved hits
Benjamin Apostol and Delores Cyrus | Staff Writer, Arts & Entertainment Editor
The pulse within any fraternity party on Grounds beats at the command of the DJ, and for many fraternities, this DJ is one of their very own. Every weekend, these brothers are tasked with filling the basement with much more than just background noise — rather the perfect mix that will keep students dancing well into the early hours of the morning. However, being a frat DJ is much more than just playing music — it also means being part of a community dedicated to creating lively atmospheres with immersive sets.
Unlike the playlist and aux cord method that some on-Grounds parties opt for, a DJ mixes and manipulates tracks to enhance the listening experience for party goers.
According to Jack “Jacko” Reichert — seasoned frat DJ and fourth-year College student — this added technical element is what makes the atmosphere of a party with a DJ so dynamic and engaging.
“DJing at fraternities is awesome because it’s a really fun aspect of house music, and it’s just people in a sweaty basement dancing until the night ends,” Reichert said. “It’s kind of like having a live band and something you can interact with.”
Reichert said his interest in DJing began back when he was in middle school, but it was not until his sophomore year of high school that he was able to buy his own board — a piece of equipment with control and software that DJs use to mix tracks — and start developing his signature technique. This passion did not falter when he arrived at the University, where he has been able to show off his skills and make a name for himself by DJing at parties on Grounds.
“You get started smaller and play a few good parties, and then people are like, ‘this kid knows what he’s doing’, and start to notice,” Reichert said.
Now, Reichert DJs weekly for his fraternity, St. Elmo Hall. As an avid fan of house music and heavily inspired by dance and electronic music artists like Odd Mob, through DJing Reichert is able to share his love for the genre with the party scene on Grounds.
The feeling is mutual for Grey Holmen, DJ and fourth-year College student, who stepped behind the decks — the set of controls and mixers at the center of the DJ booth — for the first time just last fall before heading off to Spain to study abroad for a whole semester. Picking up the practice at an impressive pace, he
now performs “all kinds of house” at parties for his fraternity Phi Kappa Psi week after week.
“I had been watching our house DJ play for a while. I finally thought it would be cool to know how to DJ before going abroad.” Holmen said.
“That just grew and grew into me being able to play at Phi Psi now, which is awesome.”
Like Reichert, Holmen believes that the presence of a DJ elevates a party’s atmosphere to a much higher degree than the same handful of songs in a queue could.
“[Having a DJ] is part of what makes Phi Psi parties so enjoyable,” said Holmen. “The live music aspect gives it more of a unique sound. It becomes a much more unpredictable listening experience as opposed to individual songs in a queue.”
Reichert said that part of this unpredictability lies in catering to the crowd’s tastes while also playing the up-tempo house music he enjoys. He said that finding this perfect balance often demands clever and creative approaches to making this blend seamless.
For Reichert, the job is all about being attuned and open to the shifting energy of the party goers in the room. Reichert said that part of this means not being afraid to improvise mid-set, going off script in order to meet the needs of the crowd.
“There’s a huge thing about reading the crowd, you come in with a playlist, and in the middle of it you’re like, ‘I gotta switch it up’,” said Reichert. “I go a little bit in between a song that people like and know, and a version or remix that I can tweak to keep the energy I want.”
Holmen takes a different approach, explaining that he prefers to build momentum with a recognizable song before shifting back into a groove that fits his preferred set. Once his crowd is hooked, he can gradually raise the complexity of the mix to keep everyone on their feet.
“Sometimes all it takes is a generic sing-along aux song to get people going again. Sometimes all you really need is a ‘Party in the U.S.A.,’” Holmen said. “That energy spreads, and more people start to walk in.”
For Reichert, the art of DJing lies in the ability to blend a variety of genres together into one high-energy set. Whether he’s mixing house with top-40 pop for his own fraternity or fusing EDM with country for Zeta Psi, the objective is always to fuel the energy of the room.
“Zete is more southern music [for example], you know it depends on
where kids are from,” Reichert said. “You always try to get the vibe of the room.”
While music preferences and DJ styles may vary from house to house, and brother to brother, one thing is constant in every setlist.
“There are different subgenres between frats, but in general, you just need to [play] songs that girls will know,” Reichert said.
While tailoring the music to the crowd is crucial, what truly keeps the beats flowing is the strong sense of camaraderie among the DJs themselves. Holmen said the frat DJs on Grounds are strongly connected through their passion for the craft. He said that the community of frat DJs at the University is an extremely supportive one where opportunities like gigs are shared and collaboration is highly encouraged.
This collaboration ranges from opening for one another at gigs, to coming together to perform joint sets — which can even happen spontaneously.
“I’ve DJ’d with [and] met a bunch of frat DJs,” Holmen said. “There’s definitely a sort of community. I’ll be DJing, and then Jacko or somebody at a different frat will come and get behind the stand with me. It’s really free-flowing and open for all the DJs that know each other.”
Holmen and Reichert were
roommates while studying abroad in Madrid, and because of their DJ capabilities — and a connection gained through a Spanish exchange student — they got the opportunity to take what they’ve learned from DJing at the University to the European music scene. The two were able to book gigs at local clubs and bars, but also larger venues like the Rubikon — a nightclub in the center of the city.
“DJing at clubs is sweet because they have the best sound systems, and they trust you to play whatever you want,” said Reichert. “You can show off unique songs and remixes that you put a lot of effort into … I opened at Rubikon, which is a pretty big club in Madrid, and I did well, so I got chances at a few other clubs too. It was really fun.”
While in Spain, Holmen said he had to adapt his University party set for European crowds.
“The crowds in Europe are more into ‘straight house‘ music, and at U.Va. you do expect to hear ‘frat music,’” Holmen said. “People [in Madrid] don’t know the song ‘Mr. Brightside’.”
While DJing at clubs and bars — whether off-Grounds or across the ocean in Europe — can serve as a handy source of income, Reichert said that his ambition to spin is not currently about the money, but more
about the music and memories.
“Some people I know play the bars more for money, but if you play for money, you play for who hires you,” Reichert said. “I’m only in college once, and I just kind of want to have fun here. I do it more so for the music and fun. I’ll take 50 bucks and some free beer.”
With Halloween right around the corner, Reichert and Holmen are excitedly preparing their own themed music. Performing remixes of songs like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” with the Ghostbusters theme, Holmen said they will be sure to please the countless costumed partygoers on Grounds.
“The Halloween remixes are coming soon, for sure,” said Holmen. “They can be gimmicky, but it’s so much fun to hear … when people come in costume for something, it’s cool to have similar songs.”
Through crowd-moving sets, Reichert, Holmen and the wider frat DJ community are electrifying parties across Grounds. United by their shared passion for music and their brotherhoods, their ingenuity behind the boards keeps partygoers on their feet all night long. Regardless of the genre or room, their mission remains the same — to bring the crowd an unforgettable night.
COURTESY JACK REICHERT
Like Reichert, Holmen believes that the presence of a DJ elevates a party’s atmosphere to a much higher degree than the same handful of songs in a queue could.
Broken Records app strikes a chord with devout music listeners
University alumnus Anis Rashid’s innovative new social network sparks conversations between friends
Macgregor Francis | Staff Writer
While the music industry demands commitment to artistry and creativity, artists also must navigate its business side, often leveraging social media as a tool for crafting an image and marketing their work.
Class of 2013 Commerce alumnus
Anis Rashid has combined his business savvy and passion for music to create a unique social network app, Broken Records, which launched this past May.
According to Rashid, the app is designed to embrace the concept of music as a powerful social tool that can bridge gaps between people.
Rashid, who was working as an investment banking analyst, took the high-risk step of leaving his position at Goldman Sachs to follow his intuition and pursue entrepreneurship full-time — a decision he attributes to advice he received from Class of 2005 Commerce alumnus and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian over lunch on Grounds.
Visiting the University on a promotional tour for his book “Without Their Permission,” Rashid said that Ohanian gave him unfiltered advice on his choice between committing to investment banking and pursuing an entrepreneurial idea.
“He was basically like, this idea
[for a website] sucks. You shouldn’t work on it, but you also shouldn’t go back to Goldman … I don’t think anyone had left the [Goldman Sachs] program before their two years were up and after Goldman, pretty much everything I’ve done has been like high-risk, non-traditional.”
A few years later, Rashid founded The Archive Company, a Brooklyn, N.Y. based startup that produced several other applications preceding Broken Records, each focusing on interpersonal relationships.
His most recent app, Broken Records, is designed to foster organic communities and create connections between music enthusiasts across the globe. Just a few months old, the app has evolved into a widely popular platform — evidenced by a continued presence among Apple’s top charts for music applications.
Broken Records allows users to rate, review, and share music that interests them, building a social experience around their music taste. Users can create profiles and can curate a collection of songs by “claiming” tracks when they listen to them. The earlier a user claims a song relative to other people, the more valuable for a profile’s status it becomes.
Rashid said the competition to
identify top tier music before other users simulates a skill-based experience that attracts and retains many users on the platform. The app also integrates new releases from streaming services onto its platform, ensuring continuous new content to drive user engagement. To increase competition, Rashid said the app controls how many users can claim a song each day, incentivizing them to be the first to discover a track.
While many music apps already promote sharing and discovery, Broken Records offers a unique social element — users can see who “put them on” to specific songs and artists, encouraging recognition for music recommendations and allowing users to relate with people who have the same musical interests as they do.
Rashid said he wanted to create the platform because even though there exists an abundance of online avenues for connection, existing social media apps fail to adequately leverage music as a way to forge relationships.
“How do we make friends on the internet?” Rashid said. “They don’t have to be your closest friend ever, but what is the basis of friendship? And looking at my life and talking
to a lot of young people, music is a huge part of your social identity and the way that you connect with other people.”
He said he thinks that individuals, specifically young people, interact with close friends and family as much as ever through messaging systems, but lack connection with acquaintances on their social periphery. Rashid said that these connections are actually central to an individual’s sense of identity, belonging and well-being.
“Maybe the problem is not that we don’t have good enough ways of connecting with the people we care about most,” Rashid said. “Maybe the actual problem is [that] people just don’t have enough people that they’re connecting with.”
Charlie Bischoff, a University of New Hampshire student and Broken Records user, said in a written statement that he downloaded the app over the summer and uses it often. Bischoff said that Broken Records has become a part of his daily routine.
“Every morning when I do the [New York Times] Wordle, I claim a song on Broken Records,” Bischoff said. “Seeing everyone’s favorite songs is the perfect remedy for a music drought.”
Reflecting on his time at the University, Rashid credited his education in the McIntire School of Commerce, specifically the faculty, for forging his entrepreneurial spirit. Specifically, Rashid credits Mark White, assoc. prof. of Commerce, for framing his approach to entrepreneurship by emphasizing skepticism and independent thinking in class — things which Rashid says he considers critical for success in today’s tangled startup sector.
While the immediate future of Broken Records is cloudy due to the reactionary nature of startup management, Rashid maintains a lofty but in-tune long term outlook.
“I think longer term, my hope would be [Broken Records] becomes where the world talks about music,” Rashid said. “What I mean by that is the culturally relevant conversations about music are happening here.”
Those interested in joining the platform can download Broken Records for free on the iPhone App Store.
Funky Fads brings students’ jewelry dreams to life
Shelby Brachmann creates handmade and customizable accessory options for University students through her entrepreneurial startup
Delaney Coppola | Staff Writer
If you are looking for a statement accessory to enhance your outfit or a striking piece of jewelry to enliven your everyday style, Funky Fads may be just what you need. Fourth-year Commerce student Shelby Brachmann founded the handmade jewelry business as a way of helping others find the perfect piece to match their personality. Combining her business background with her passion for fashion and self-expression, Brachmann’s jewelry collection features items full of customizable options and character.
Growing up outside of Chicago, Brachmann brought her hometown hobby of making jewelry to Charlottesville. She said that her entrepreneurial journey started when she began selling jewelry with a friend in middle school and further developed when she was in high school.
Brachmann’s Instagram and Etsy site showcase a vast selection of beaded and wired jewelry, including earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings in both silver and gold. The personal and customizable features of Funky Fads, however, truly set the brand apart. One of the most popular items, the charm jewelry, allows customers to pick from a variety of charms to add to a blank chain.
Brachmann says charm jewelry is so popular because it presents an interactive opportunity for customers to create their own unique pieces and connect the jewelry to important values and elements in their own lives.
“I’ve found that people love purchasing jewelry that has personal significance. It just makes it more meaningful,” Brachmann said.
“I’ve always loved fashion and I started making my own jewelry in 8th grade. There would be mornings before school where I was making a necklace to match my outfit,” Brachmann said. “In high school, I went my own direction with [the business] and sold to people I was friends with, random people, friends of friends. People would see their friend wearing something [I made] and be like ‘Oh, that’s cute, where’d you get it?’”
With charms galore — including but not limited to hearts, seashells, celestial bodies and Greek letters — each customer can showcase elements close to their own heart in wearing a handcrafted and custom piece.
Third-year Batten student Madi Wangensteen said that Brachmann offered her in-person assistance in designing custom jewelry. She said she loves not only the product, but the process of watching it come together.
“Shelby was so helpful in helping me design the perfect bracelet, and it was awesome getting to see her make it right in front of me. I now wear it every day as a signature piece,” Wangensteen said.
While Funky Fads jewelry is mostly sold on Etsy, it has also been accessible to students on Grounds in the form of pop-ups in collaboration with student-run organizations. Browsing in-person, customers can see firsthand how each item suits them, while also having the chance to meet the creator and chat about
her favorite options.
For example, Brachmann has worked with the Futures in Fashion Association, an organization for students who like to express themselves through clothes, and Swap at U.Va., a group that hosts clothing swaps on Grounds, to help her products reach a broader group of fashion-interested students.
Partnering with sororities and supporting their philanthropic efforts by returning a portion of sales to their respective causes of choice has also helped Funky Fads reach students at the University. In her recent collaboration with the Alpha Phi Sorority, a percentage of sales went back to supporting the Alpha Phi Foundation, a philanthropic initiative of the sorority. According to Brachmann, selling her jewelry at events with Greek Life organizations is mutually beneficial for both Funky Fads and a sorority’s philanthropic endeavors.
“[Partnering with Alpha Phi] was a win-win [situation]. I supported their philanthropy, the girls in the
sorority got to shop and it was a fun experience for me making stuff on the spot for people,” Brachmann said.
While Brachmann said she is not entirely sure what the future holds for Funky Fads, her passion for the business and commitment to the brand leaves room for infinite opportunities down the road.
“I feel like a lot of times people turn what they’re passionate about into a profit and they lose the passion — but that hasn’t happened to me,” Brachmann said. “I still love it. I love how jewelry keeps evolving, and I am able to adapt to the trends and add my own twists.”
Carrying on childhood dreams and passions, Funky Fads has allowed Brachmann to not only access a creative outlet, but also carve out her own entrepreneurial space on Grounds. For students interested in browsing the collection, keep your eyes out for future popups, or check out @funkyfads on Instagram or Etsy.
ACROSS
1 “Sex Education” star Butterfield
4 Playground retort
9 Common sofa shape
12 Lost vital fluid
13 Kitchen strainer
14 Henry ____ (monarch with six wives)
16 Pet food brand owned by Purina
17 What color analyses reveal
19 Tennis match unit
20 Window-closing key
21 Most foul
22 Gen Zer who might have fake freckles and winged eyeliner
24 Hosp. areas
26 T. Kelce and R. Gronkowski
27 Put out the fire, pull up the stakes, etc.
29 Keebler mascot
31 NSFW read
34 Develops anacusis
37 Letters before an alias
38 About to happen ... or a literal description of the circled letters
42 Twin played by Dove Cameron on Disney Channel
43 State officers
44 Leopold’s partner in the 1924 “crime of the century”
46 Month with “Mean Girls” Day: abbr.
47 Cuts off
51 Kanga’s kid
53 Wildcats sch. of the Big-12
55 Paintball impact sound
56 Sink the cue ball, say
59 Back muscle, for short
61 Org. with a PreCheck option
62 Sore losers
64 Physicist Niels with an atomic model
65 “Wabbit” hunter Elmer
66 Eye opener?
67 Miner’s finds
68 Gym periods
69 Smudge
70 Bobs and beehives
1 Claim without proof 2 Tank type
3 Fuss
4 Taiwanese laptop manufacturer
5 Chop up finely
6 “The Simpsons” neighbor
7 Ignore one’s 66-Across, say
8 Prefix between giga- and peta-
9 Conjures up
10 Hockey official
11 White ones are small
12 Comment following a good take, maybe
15 “Das ___ gut!” (Oktoberfest cry)
18 This blows!
20 Long Island town with a Triple Crown racetrack
23 Pasta sauce brand
25 Spicy cinnamon candies
28 Name on Napoleon Dynamite’s shirt
30 Confronts
32 Instrument played by Grace VanderWaal on AGT 33 Paving goo
35 World capital that shares its name with a syndrome
36 Roughly 62% of Virginia 38 100% 39 2011 movie about a blue macaw named Blu
40 Reversed, as a veto
41 Letters on an invite
45 Surfing needs
48 Tequila brand with a bull logo
49 Poison-ivy reactions
50 Three make up Orion’s belt
52 Extra innings or fifth quarters, for short
Extremely
UV-blocking measure
Political takeover
Tax pros
CARTOON
Attack of the Acorns
60 Video genre that might feature foil crunching and fingernail tapping 63 “Diet Pepsi” singer Addison 64 Gym bro’s pride
The Real Masked Threat
Jasmine Xiang | Cartoonist
Caitlin Shifflett | Cartoonist
Quinn Connor | Puzzle Master
OPINION
LEAD EDITORIAL
2030 should not take precedence over 2024
There are reports that upperclassmen residences are having a mold problem. This is not the first time that this problem has arisen, and it will likely not be the last. Nevertheless, it is unacceptable. What is particularly shocking about this recurrence is that mold is just the tip of the iceberg. Despite the subpar living conditions for some students on Grounds, the University has recently made a series of decisions that deprioritize the maintenance of spaces which contribute to student well-being, in favor of new spaces that paper over existing cracks. In order to promote the health of its students, the University must place a priority on the maintenance of spaces that already exist.
The issue of maintenance is not isolated to mold in residences. Consider the inaccessibility of Grounds’ physical landscape. Many buildings on Grounds are the antithesis of physically accessible, something which represents a barrier to student well-being. The Academical
The 2030 plan is great, though prioritizing the health of existing students would be good
Village, John W. Warner Hall and many of the dorms are constructed with able-bodied people in mind. While renovating these spaces might not be glamorous, the inaccessibility is unacceptable. Accessibility does not only mean ensuring that new construction meets accessibility standards, but also retrofitting existing buildings to meet those same expectations.
Additionally, some older buildings have fallen behind in cleanliness. Brown College residents will remember the sewage flood in 2023. And Bice House residents will remember the flood at the end of last spring which covered the ground floor in half a foot of water. And let’s not even open the can of worms — perhaps literally — that is the Woody-Cauthen dormitories. In short, the current mold problem in Bice House is emblematic of a broader trend of problematic living conditions which suggest that the University is focusing on the new, at the expense of the old.
This lack of investment could rhetorically be justified by using expansion for the explicit purpose of creating spaces which improve student well-being. And to some degree, this has been prioritized in spaces like the Contemplative Commons. However, generally speaking, even the University’s expansion of buildings foregrounds projects which do not contribute, and many actually detract, from student health and well-being.
Consider the new dining locations in Gaston House and Ramazani House. Instead of constructing a complete grocery store in this space — something experts argue would greatly help reduce food insecurity and food inaccessibility on Grounds — the University filled this space with unhealthy and overpriced food options. This sort of expansion is framed as beneficial for student well-being but actually undermines this very concept. As the demand for on-Grounds dining options increases, it is crucial that the Univer-
sity commits to making healthy food accessible and affordable — rather than flashy and convenient.
Perhaps it is easier for the school to find funding for new buildings, and its expansion goals may well be rooted in a desire to improve the student experience on Grounds. Nevertheless, they can not, and should not, do so at the expense of what is here now. The University has articulated a vision for the future which is largely compelling in its focus upon both the student body and the Charlottesville community. However, this plan implicitly demands an extensive expansion of the University and its physical spaces. To be clear, the expansion in and of itself is not the issue — although, it does raise a few concerns. Rather, the issue is that it seems as though the University cannot walk and chew gum at the same time.
While some of the decisions prompted by the 2030 plan, which aims to make the University the best public university in five years, can be
construed as contributing to student well-being long term, it is imperative that it does not come at the expense of current student health. This is not to say that the University has completely ignored student well-being. It has taken commendable steps in improving energy efficiency in buildings across Grounds and in widening sidewalks on McCormick Road to improve pedestrian safety. These successes, however, do not detract from the severity of issues like mold, physical inaccessibility and poor food quality. Problems such as these represent legitimate obstacles to current student well-being and must be treated as such. The University cannot let its focus on the future obscure its present responsibilities.
THE CAVALIER DAILY EDITORIAL BOARD is composed of the Executive Editor, the Editor-in-Chief, the two Opinion Editors, their Senior Associates and an Opinion Columnist. The board can be reached at eb@cavalierdaily.com.
U.Va. must implement a mandatory personal finance course
The University has a responsibility to prepare students with the financial skills necessary to succeed post-graduation
One of the few positives of the 2008 financial crisis has been the increased state legislative focus on personal financial literacy courses. In fact, 35 states now mandate a personal finance course. This includes Virginia, which since 2011 has mandated that high school students take a one-credit course on the subject to graduate high school. While such high school personal finance courses help students gain rudimentary knowledge of the economy, the University also has a responsibility to help expand such knowledge. Therefore, the University must implement a mandatory first-year personal finance literacy course to provide students with the necessary skills for college and thereafter.
While personal finance is relevant at all points in one’s life, it becomes especially high stakes for students. This is in large part due to the complexity of obtaining and managing loans. AccessU.Va, the University’s need-based financial aid system, has made the University one of the most affordable public institutions in the country, but the average University student is still graduating with approximately $17,500 in
federal loans. This excludes any form of private or Parent PLUS loans and broader credit card debt, suggesting that the real number for student debt is much higher. Many students, then, must immediately balance transitioning to college with the new challenges of managing these
students, young people still remain a prime target due to their relatively limited exposure to credit management. A mandatory personal finance course at the University would help students navigate educational loans and draw awareness to potential debt traps posed by credit card com-
effectively explain the phenomena of compounding interest — the economic phenomenon underlying saving practices — then the class will be far more valuable to students’ long-term financial outcomes than the vast majority of classes offered at the school.
While personal finance is relevant at all points in one’s life, it becomes especially high stakes for students.”
complicated finances. The University, being the root cause for students’ heightened personal finance needs, must act on its responsibility to equip students with the requisite skills. The University’s financial aid still makes an undergraduate degree a strong value proposition. Nevertheless, students are not only burdened by debt, but also by navigating the many financial aid offerings by private credit institutions. While credit card companies have some limitations that restrict them from previous predatory credit practices aimed at entering college
panies, and how to get out of them. In these ways, implementing a mandatory personal finance class would be a straightforward way of giving students a greater understanding of student loans and credit card debt, but there would be other benefits as well. For instance, a personal finance course could teach students how to evaluate job offers based on health benefits. The course could also explore strategies to build wealth, helping students translate their degree into intergenerational prosperity. Even if the University does nothing in this class except
It is true that integrating a mandatory personal finance course into the overall curriculum is difficult given the scale of having every firstyear student enrolled. However, the University already has a successful three-credit, COMM 2730, “Personal Finance,” that could be a guiding point for a one-credit. Other Virginia public universities, such as Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia State University, already offer “first-year success courses” and other classes aimed at developing the core competencies. These courses help in both easing the transition
to college and in building key lifelong skills.
University administration must begin to understand the role that education plays in the development of the whole individual, including personal financial literacy. Given the rise in student loan debt over the past 30 years, it is important that students have strong knowledge of how to manage personal finances. The long-term benefits to the University and its students drastically outweigh any potential alternative uses of the curriculum and resources.
Through this course, the University would invest in not only its own students, but would also strengthen our society, as students absorb this knowledge and then enact its components in a way that promotes broader societal welfare throughout the remainder of their lives. In graduating financially educated students, the University equips a new generation with the skills necessary to thrive in a complex economic world.
JONATHAN SCANLON is a viewpoint writer for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily.com.
Flipped classroom models subtract from effective education
Classes like APMA 2130, “Ordinary Differential Equations,” rely on flawed teaching models — it is time to rethink them
The University claims to be a leader in education. As a result, students are subjected to the latest pedagogical advancements. While some ventures pay off, others fall short. An example of the latter is the flipped classroom model, where students take notes on lectures prior to class, then work through problems in class with the assistance of the teacher.
The goal of the flipped class model is to encourage engagement by linking the material learned directly to the time put in. While a creative change, this class structure sets students up to fail, and is a dangerous educational precedent to set.
One effective learning strategy is “see one, do one, teach one.”
This strategy breaks down the introduction of content into stages — the student watches the teacher demonstrate the concept, then performs practice problems themselves, then teaches themselves or other students the content. Many students learn best through this method of learning because of the separation of learning into distinct stages. Moreover, this is a strategy which theoretically can be adapted to fit the needs of multiple students, something
at which flipped classrooms fall short.
Flipped class models fail to organize learning into these defined stages, instead overwhelming students with a large volume of content in a short span of time. Moreover, the flipped class structure is one size fits all, something which contradicts research on teaching styles. Countless studies on the
dational course for higher-level mathematics. In ODE, each class is preceded with a worksheet that guides the student through new content, which is graded on completion — having something written down, even if it is not relevant. Then, during class, groups work together to complete a worksheet graded on accuracy. Lastly, a written homework packet is assigned
guarantee long-term retention of content and sets a poor foundation for cumulative learning. Classes like this one set students up to fail. It is not just that students are getting bad grades. The flipped class model also leads to an increased reliance on the internet and generative artificial intelligence. A motivator in many honor
It is not just that students are getting bad grades. The flipped class model also leads to an increased reliance on the internet and generative artificial intelligence.”
most effective teaching styles all come up with the same result — a mix of many teaching styles seems to be most effective. In contrast, flipped class models rely upon one style of teaching that is minimally adaptive, particularly to the needs of students who require additional support.
Consider a local example — many students in the School of Engineering and Applied Science must take APMA 2130, “Ordinary Differential Equations,” a required math class and foun -
weekly, summarizing the contents of the unit into one assignment. What makes ODE particularly poorly managed is the lack of supplementary lecture material — the only introduction to new material is through the pre-class worksheets. The current structure of ODE crams all learning into a 50-minute session. Students must then teach themselves the content through their in-class worksheet. Cramming all of this “learning” into 50-minutes only to rinse and repeat four times a week fails to
violations stems from feeling lost and overwhelmed in the course — something which is likely to occur in classes where students are solely responsible for their learning. The amount of material covered in flipped classes discourages the process of learning and forces the student to turn to these easier solutions just to keep up. Overall, by increasing stress and decreasing knowledge acquisition, the flipped classroom structure discourages learning and creates an environment where academic dishonesty can occur.
HUMOR
Given these deeply concerning pitfalls, the University should consider doing away with the flipped class structure. Many University students are required to take courses with a flipped model, in both the College and the Engineering school. It is not fair nor productive to force students to take pedagogically flawed classes, the repercussions of which will follow them through their academic and professional careers.
But if the University remains unwilling to commit to such change, one concrete tweak that can be made, even within flipped classroom models, is the assimilation of lecture content into class. This would increase the efficiency and success of in-class work, as students will be able to focus on mastery rather than just learning the basics. The bottom line is that courses must set students up for success, and flipped classes, as they currently stand, will never accomplish this.
HEER PATEL is a viewpoint writer for The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily.com.
Board of Visitors to host inaugural Fortnite tournament
Editor’s note: This article is a humor column.
Wednesday, the Board of Visitors announced the first-ever University-wide Fortnite tournament. The event will be televised at Scott Stadium for the University community to watch. The date is to be decided.
A year ago, texts surfaced from Board member U. Bertram Ellis Jr., declaring there was “going to be a battle royale for the soul of the University.” At first, many brushed this aside, thinking Ellis just intended to weaponize his position of power to advance personal aims. However, after videos leaked of his thousand-dollar Fortnite skin collection, people knew a tournament was in the works. And the prize was the University’s soul.
Sign-ups were initially slow as many found a soul of honor to be unenticing. To drive up engagement, the McIntire Investment Institute was tasked with valuating the soul’s economic worth.
“I judge things based solely on
how they can benefit me,” MII president J.P. Stanley said. “The University’s soul is worth at least 500 times that of my watch or 500 million dollars.”
After MII released its report, some readers took issue with the monetization. Pushing back on the notion that culture and happiness are worth more than money, Stanley responded to opposing claims in a reel posted to the MII Instagram.
“You loser $%@!%&$ critics don’t know $%#!” Stanley said. “I know business! My girlfriend is worth 250 dollars. My ex-girlfriend was worth 100 dollars. I made that trade. That’s business!”
The assessment has significantly increased engagement. Thousands of students, faculty and alumni have expressed interest in competing and viewing.
Due to the overwhelming number of competitors, teams of two must first qualify for the competition itself. Duos can earn one of the 50 spots in the tournament through two qualification streams.
The first path requires competitors to score points through eliminations. Teams will have 10 games to score as many points as possible and the top 40 teams will get a bid to the televised grand finale. Nevertheless, there is another path.
The 10 remaining teams will qualify through a bidding and brown-nosing — BAB — process outlined by Vice Provost of Inequity Flanny Flannigan.
“It’s really not reasonable to decide all the spots based on merit,” Flannigan said. “This qualification method will score teams on money donated, favor curried and names dropped.”
After qualifying, teams will play in a final series of five Fortnite games. The team with the best average placement will win it all.
Though the Board has heralded the tournament format, very few are fully on board. Second-year College student Jonah Parkinsons has taken issues with the design.
“It’s like totally unfair,” Parkinsons said. “Some of these people got their jobs because of social grifting and
money giving! You’re putting pros against bros.”
The Board has been shockingly unreceptive to opposing viewpoints, and the current format is likely to remain.
Students have been busy training for a shot at the money. Shurian Agrateplaya, Jefferson Society member and second-year College student, has dedicated over 50 hours a week to training.
“I usually use one diaper a day to minimize bathroom time and maximize efficiency,” Agrateplaya said. “But with my training schedule, it’s gone up to three per day. This tournament is almost as stressful as when I had to talk to a girl.”
The Office of Student Affairs reported that in-class attendance decreased to 54 percent from its five-year high of 73 percent. Further, Housing and Residence Life has noted a 37 percent downturn in program attendance. Students are too preoccupied with full-boxes and cranking 90s to do much else.
An underground network of
bookies and bets has cropped up. Felt Loving, bookie and fourth-year College student, is the current head of the operation.
“Yeah we got a whole list of over/ unders and parlays and everything else,” Loving said. “I got 20 bands of bets set. For a guy like me, it’s nothing. Personally, my parlay has Jim Ryan and his wife placing at least tenth, and the Board team eliminating at least three UGuide members. It’s for sure a lock.”
The overwhelming support for an individual player winning it all has Board members wondering who they should be serving in this battle royale — the University, the students or themselves?
The Board will be holding a secret closed session meeting to decide their most publicly important task.
SEBASTIAN GHERSI is a humor columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at humor@cavalierdaily.com
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