December 2, 2013

Monday, December 2, 2013

Vol. 124, Issue 28

A Fitting End Virginia drops 10th straight to rival Hokies, finishes winless in ACC play for first time since 1981; wraps up 2-10 campaign

Porter Dickie | The Cavalier Daily

Senior Associate Editor

With less than two minutes remaining in the first half of Saturday’s season finale against Virginia Tech, Virginia senior defensive tackle Brent Urban and freshman linebacker Max Valles broke through the Virginia Tech offensive line and delivered a punishing hit on Hokie senior quarterback Logan Thomas. The ball skirted free, and Urban fell on it to give the Cavaliers possession on their opponent’s 34-yard line. Trailing 9-6, the Cavaliers had a chance to go into halftime with a lead against their hated rival.

Instead, Virginia (2-10, 0-8 ACC) went nowhere on three plays and failed to convert on a fourth-and-11,

handing the ball back to and fourth down stops, and Eli Harold said. “Not a lot of Virginia Tech. The Hokies that’s what good teams do. guys are. It is just something (8-4, 5-3 ACC) capitalized, They take the momentum, you have to deal with. It’s life. as Thomas found redshirt they seize it and make plays, You have to be resilient. I will freshman running back and we didn’t make plays, to- now attack everything like Trey Edmunds for a 26-yard day or this year.” it’s the last day of my life.” touchdown conThe Cavalier denection to go fense forced two up 16-6. That turnovers against the score was more Hokies — junior corthan enough for nerback DreQuan Virginia Tech, Hoskey had a thirdas the Cavaliers interception [The Hokies] take the momentum, they seize it and quarter found a way to — but the offense make plays, and we didn’t make plays, today or tack a disapfailed to capitalize on pointing end on either. Virginia has this year. to an already struggled to take addisappointing vantage of turnovers season, finishing with their With the loss, Virginia all year, scoring just 13 points ninth straight loss. finishes the season 2-10 and on 21 takeaways this season.

“That’s obviously a mo- winless in ACC play for the “[There were] a lot of guys mentum shifter that they first time since 1981. It was going in and out, a lot of guys took advantage of,” senior also the 10th consecutive loss seeing time and we just didn’t center Luke Bowanko said to Virginia Tech. The Cava- make enough big plays,” of the end of the first half. liers have now won just six Bowanko said. “Whether it “I think we failed to take ad- games in the last two years. vantage of a lot of opportuni“I’m not used to losing,” ties that we had on turnovers sophomore defensive end see FOOTBALL, page 83

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Michael Eilbacher

The Cavalier Daily

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The current Honor Committee spent the first part of its term implementing informed retraction, which was passed by the student body last spring. Committee Chair Evan Behrle, below center, and other Committee members, however, still face challenges to the honor system.

news

Honor today: Pressing issues, limited reform

Marshall Bronfin | The Cavalier Daily

Second installment of three-part series examines inconsistent jury verdicts, underreporting, limited student, lagging faculty buy-in Matthew Comey Assistant Managing Editor

The University’s honor system is at a pivotal point in its nearly 175-year history.

As the University has grown in size and diversity, the honor system, which relies on complete student buy-in, has become more and more difficult to administer, and has lost student confidence as a result. Among the top issues the system faces today are random student juries, which plague honor trials by reaching vastly inconsistent verdicts, and reporting rates for honor offenses, which reveal several disturbing issues about student and faculty confidence in honor.

In this second installment of a three-part series on the honor system at the University, we examine its current status. Last week we examined honor’s past.

Student Council President Eric McDaniel, a fourth-year College student, said University students support the “principle of honor,” but the enforcement process of the system had serious flaws.

“In [one] sense, honor is doing well,” McDaniel said. “[But] there are very substantial problems…

If we as a community can’t figure out to solve these problems, we will be in trouble.”

Last school year, the Honor Committee, led by then-Chair Stephen Nash, attempted to solve these problems through a massive outreach effort and a reform proposal entitled the Restore the Ideal Act. The act would have eliminated random student juries, replacing them with Committee jurors, and instituted the informed retraction, which allows accused students to admit guilt to an honor offense prior to an investigation and subsequently take two semesters away from the University.

Restore the Ideal failed, taking jury reform off the table for

the time being. The student body, however, did approve the socalled Bellamy Proposal, which instituted informed retraction.

Limited reporting and inconsistent juries are significant threats to the honor system — issues the Restore the Ideal Act was attempting to address — said current Honor Committee Chair Evan Behrle, a fourth-year College student. So far, the effects of last year’s efforts by the Committee are unclear. Informed retraction is still in its infancy and students and faculty alike are still calling for jury reform, signaling that there still work to be done.

Honor Committee ViceChair for Trials Conor O’Boyle, a fourth-year College student, said the previous Committee made some progress in strengthening the system, but some problems are just as relevant as ever, especially jury reform.

“I think Stephen [Nash] did as good a job as any chair I’ve ever seen in actually starting a conversation [about honor],” O’Boyle said. “The fact that one head of the proposal passed and one didn’t pretty accurately reflects the fact that one problem was solved but one problem in large part still remains.”

A Crisis of Confidence?

According to a 2012 survey conducted by the Committee, 23 percent of students felt they were afforded no benefits due to the honor system, up 11 percent from 2008 and larger than the highest mark in the past 13 years by about 7 percent. Only 33 percent of 2012 respondents felt they were afforded many benefits due to the system’s presence.

Nash, a 2013 graduate of the College, said the survey showed students generally had a positive view about the concept of the honor system, but there was a substantial gap between that concept and reality. “[In that survey] we found that honor is not completely bro-

ken and is working well in many ways,” Nash said. “On the other hand, we found a disconnect between the idea of honor and the system in practice... It’s not that people are hostile about the system — they still think very highly of it — they’re just losing confidence in its administration and its practical effects day in and day out.”

Nash also said limited faculty buy-in to the system is discouraging. Citing inconsistent honor trials, many professors opt not to report offending students to the Committee and instead decide to deal with violations themselves.

“During my time in the system ... I’ve seen a lot of faculty frustration,” O’Boyle said. “It’s really obvious that there are a lot of faculty members that report, go through the system and see really inconsistent verdicts and a long trial process, and choose never to report again, and sometimes even tell newer colleagues never to report.”

With both faculty and students wary about the ability of the honor system to protect and maintain the community of trust, Committee members have worked hard to restore confidence in it. Nash, who said his main focus during his tenure was to bridge the gap between the Committee and the student body, launched a mammoth outreach effort to solve the problem.

“Of students who attended honor educational events, I think they were twice as likely to know more about the system and twice as likely to think positively about the system,” Nash said. “That was a finding that hasn’t been done before and really showed the advantage of engagement.”

Reporting Rates

of confidence in the system is has been partially responsible for falling reporting rates in recent years, and the low reporting rates in turn cause individuals to lose faith. Nash also attributed the

falling rates in part to faculty dissatisfaction with trials results.

Low reporting rates “We used to have about 60 to 80 cases as year, and now we’re down to about 30 to 50 cases a year,” he said. “The problem exists not in that we having fewer reports, but that faculty who did report had very negative views leaving the honor system and were becoming detractors.”

But Nash insisted reporting rates were not the best measure of the honor system’s success, claiming an ideal honor system would not have any reporting, as everyone would act honorably. He emphasized this was another issue of student confidence.

“We thought [more confidence in the system] would in turn breed more reports, but then less reports, because we thought it would let the students feel more benefits, and the more benefits you feel the less likely, in my opinion, that you’re going to commit an act of lying cheating or stealing,” Nash said.

Disproportionately high reporting of athletes and minority students, as compared to non-athletes and white students, likely breeds further dissatisfaction. Nash and Behrle said minority students and student athletes in the system are not convicted at disproportionate rates, but both said the reporting issue is still of significant concern.

“Until we figure out why they are reported at a higher rate, it stands as a problem,” McDaniel said. “Those students shouldn’t be unfairly subjected to the process.”

Un-Informed Retraction

The first of the two packaged reforms in the Restore the Ideal Act — the informed retraction — had been discussed by previous Committees, but not in a manner consistent with the ideal of honor, according to Nash.

“No one on the Committee felt informed retraction would solve everything,” he said. “Problems

[past Committees] identified were too much focused on the policy of honor instead of the conceptual focus of honor. We thought we needed to reorient it towards a positive ideal. We felt conceptual informed retraction re-emphasized the positive focus on honor.”

Nash said the informed retraction his Committee proposed was meant to encourage honorable behavior, which is why accused students must file before the investigation process rather than using it to hedge risk once they saw the evidence collected.

“The focus should not be on the suspension,” he said. “The focus should be on the student reaffirming their place in the community of trust, doing the right thing and coming back to the University.”

During the outreach campaign last semester, opponents said informed retraction diminished the single sanction, in which any student found guilty of an honor offense is removed from the University. Nash, however, strongly disagrees.

“The single sanction that I believe in, and what I believe is the historic single sanction, is that we should have a community where when someone commits an honor offense, it’s so egregious and so violates those bonds of trust that we cannot think of any other consequence besides asking them to leave our community,” Nash said.

“That’s what the single sanction means, not that we should expel anyone who lies cheats or steals.”

Nash compared informed retraction to the decades-old conscientious retraction, which allows students to admit to an honor offense before being suspected by members of the community, and subsequently only face non-Committee determined consequences. Both informed and conscientious retraction, he

see HONOR, page 163

NEWS

Monday, December 2, 2013

Obenshain demands recount Loudoun demands Fairfax County revisions raise questions, Democrats seeks first-in-a-generation sweep Michael Drash Associate Editor

Mark Obenshain, the 2013 Republican nominee for Commonwealth attorney general, filed for a recount with the Richmond Circuit Court after the State Board of Elections certified last Monday that his opponent, Democrat Mark Herring, had won the election .

Herring, a state senator from Loudon County, defeated fellow state senator Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) by just 165 votes, according to the board. The margin is less than .01 percent of the total vote.

“It’s the closest race in Virginia history, and as we have seen in other races around the country with margins this slim, this result could easily change when all is said and done,” Obenshain posted on Facebook last week.

Herring declared victory on his website, but he accepted the recount Obenshain requested.

“It is within Senator Obenshain’s right to pursue electoral victory to an ultimate conclusion beyond the original count, canvass and certification,” Herring said in a press release.

The last statewide recount followed the 2005 attorney general race between current governor Bob McDonnell and current state senator Creigh Deeds (D-Bath) — a race McDonnell won with an original margin of 360 votes. That recount only moved the margin 37 votes in Deeds’ favor, leaving McDonnell the winner.

The certification process for this year’s race took nearly three weeks and allegations of errors or misconduct have been made in several localities, including two of the largest counties in the state — Fairfax and Chesterfield.

Courtesy Obenshain Campaign

Courtesy Herring Campaign

A spokesman for the Fairfax Electoral Board said that the mistakes in the county were because of human error at one of the seven satellite voting stations. A machine had malfunctioned, but the computer chip was still in order and those working the machines made mistakes.

The errors were not noted on election night, but were discovered and corrected. The certified election result reflected those corrections, according to the spokesman.

The recount is expected to take place during a few-day period in mid-December. Lawyers for both candidates are working together to ensure that the process remains civil.

If Herring remains the victor after the recount, this will be the first time that the Democratic Party has swept the top elected state positions since 1970.

Courtesy Wikimedia

The Virginia Board of Elections declared Democrat Mark Herring (center) the winner over Republican Mark Obenshain (left), who demanded a recount last week. Sen. Creigh Deeds (right) was the last attorney general candidate to request a recount.

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more in-state students University’s competitive application rates disappoint both Virginian, out-of-state applicants, Roberts says Brendan Rogers Senior Writer

A recent legislative agenda approved by the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors proposes imposing a new requirement that at least 75 percent of students at state-funded schools be from within the state.

The northern Virginia county approved the measure after an applicant from the area with a 4.28 high-school GPA was rejected from the University,.

“We have 30,000 people applying for 3,500 spots,” University Dean of Admissions Greg Roberts said. “There’s a lot of disappointment both in- and out-of-state.”

Currently, a little less than 70 percent of University undergraduate students hail from Virginia. The extra 5 or so percent would create spots for approximately 730 additional in-state students, or about 180 for each year.

Though the idea of increasing the percentage of in-state students has been discussed outside of the University, the idea has garnered little traction among University admissions officers.

“We’ve had this sort of balance since I’ve been here and, from what I understand, decades before that,” said Roberts, who has worked at the admissions office for more than 10 years. “We fully expect to maintain the current balance of in- and out-ofstate students.”

Roberts also stressed the value and diversity that out-of-state students bring to the University’s student body. He pointed to the successes of the two fourthyear College students — Charlie Tyson and Evan Behrle — who were named Rhodes Scholars earlier this week, both of whom are from out-of-state.

“We think that out-of-state students make great contributions to U.Va.,” Roberts said.

“The out-of-state students enrich the lives of the in-state students, and vice versa.”

Currently, each of Virginia’s public universities requires a different balance of in-state and out-of-state students. William & Mary has more out-of-state students than the University, but Virginia Tech has fewer.

Roberts said that even though the University attracts many students from outside the state, it remains a state school committed to serving Virginians.

CIOs ask Student Council for combined $1,137,671.05 in funds Sailing, skiing, cycling clubs seek greatest contributions; Branch projects 20 percent of requests to be met in Spring semi-annual budget Owen Robinson Senior Writer

Student Council recently released a list of the 80 clubs requesting a combined total of $1,137,671.05 in funding for the spring semester. The individual requests ranged from just $500 to more than $100,000.

Council will review the requests “After that, we evaluate organizations’ other funding sources for these projects or if they are relying on Student Council solely for these funds,” fourth-year College student Branch said in an email. “The big question and focus really is what is the benefit of these funds for the student body and for these student organizations.”

The differences in amounts requested among the clubs is due to a number of factors, including

membership size, planned activities for the semester and nature of the club.and hopes to make all final appropriations by late December, said Neil Branch, Council’s vice president for organizations.

Branch said funding requests had to, first, fit the guidelines set down by the Board of Visitors and Student Council.

The Virginia Sailing Association is one example of a high-cost club. President Chris Stessing, a fourth-year Engineering student, said the sailing club, which is ranked among the top 25 nationally, needed Student Council dollars to remain competitive.

“Varsity and club sailing teams compete on the same level,” Stessing said in an email. “Fully funded varsity programs with multiple paid coaches compete against club teams with no coaching and no boats.”

The Virginia Alpine Ski and

Snowboard Team is in a similar of requests,” Branch said in an process near 20 percent but this situation, competing against both email. “The percentage may be is also when requests either come club and varsity teams, VASST much lower in the semi-annual close or go over $1 million.”

President Paul Moniuszko said.

Spring spending: Top 10 funding requests “The amount reSpring Spending: Top 10 CIO Funding Requests quested reflects the Virginia Polo Va. Rifle and The swell in membership Virginia Alpine Ski $37,860 Pistol Club Sailing [that the club experiand Snowboard Team $30,822 enced],” Moniuszko Assoc. $111,865 said in an email. $45,647 Ceramics Club Virginia Neither club, howRiding Team $44,000 ever, expects to have $42,276 all their requests met.

Council rarely funds all of clubs’ requests, and Branch said the Outdoors Club spring semi-annual Darden Photography Va. Womenʼs Cycling Club round normally had $33,804 Club Ultimate $59,093 a lower percentage of $57,700 Frisbee funding approved than $33,572 in other rounds.

“The percentage [Student Council] funds typically ranges from 20 to 45 percent

Anne Owen| The Cavalier Daily

CIOs requested $1,137,671.05, according to recently released budget information from Student Council. Multiple organizations requested more than $10,000 in funding, as shown above.

The Cavalier Daily

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LEAD EDITORIAL

A welcome addition

opinion

The Cavalier Daily announces its hiring of a full-time professional ads manager

Comment of the day “So...this was an article about the drinking going on within the U-Guides, but disguised as being about the “Family System” some organizations have?”

“Jenna,” responding to Elsie Gaw and Farrar Pace’s Nov. 25 article, “Family values.”

Have an opinion?

Write it down.

Join the Opinion section.

Or send a guest editorial to opinion@ cavalierdaily.com

The Cavalier Daily has had a tumultuous history — one that includes name changes (the paper was founded in 1890 as College Topics) and periodic sparring with administrators and nearly every other student organization on Grounds. But during the course of 123 years of publication, one aspect of our organization has, to the best of our knowledge, remained constant: our paper has always been run exclusively by current students.

Student leadership on The Cavalier Daily extends beyond writing and editing articles and snapping photos. Our student staff members keep our website running, manage our business operations and sell our advertisements. Our advertising representatives receive commission for the ads they sell.

All our other staff members are unpaid.

The Cavalier Daily receives no funding from the University. A registered nonprofit, we accrue our operating budget solely through the ads we sell.

Our student-only model chang-

es slightly this week. We’re pleased to welcome our first non-student staff member: Kirsten Steuber, a 2012 University graduate whom we’ve hired as a full-time advertising manager.

We see the professional ads manager position as a boon to the student leadership opportunities that The Cavalier Daily offers. By providing guidance to our student advertising representatives, our ads manager will make the paper a more stimulating and enriching place for students interested in the business side of media. And by helping us secure enough advertising revenue to stay afloat, Steuber will assist us in making The Cavalier Daily a place where the University’s aspiring journalists, photographers, artists and media moguls can congregate well into the future.

The Cavalier Daily isn’t the only college paper to seek a professional ads director to help drive growth in a hostile media market. The Daily Tar Heel, the much-lauded student paper at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, stopped accepting student fees in 1993. But

by the time it became financially independent, The Daily Tar Heel had had a full-time, non-student general manager overseeing business affairs for decades.

Other papers are catching up: Virginia Tech’s Educational Media Company, which manages Virginia Tech’s student media outlets, posted a job notice for a full-time “advertising adviser” just over a week ago.

Student publications that have small endowments — or, as in our case, no endowment whatsoever — live and die by the advertisements they sell. We hope that a professional ads manager will help boost our partnerships with local and national businesses that could benefit from advertising with us. These business relationships help us do what we love — publish articles and images for you to learn from and enjoy.

We are grateful to The Cavalier Daily Alumni Association for helping us make this crucial hire. And we are equally grateful to you, our readers, for sticking with us all the while.

THE CAVALIER DAILY CAVALIER DAILY STAFF Editor-in-chief Kaz Komolafe, @kazkomolafe Managing Editor Caroline Houck, @carolinehouck Executive Editor Charlie Tyson, @charlietyson1 Operations Manager Meghan Luff, @meghanluff Chief Financial Officer Kiki Bandlow Assistant Managing Editors Matthew Comey, @matthewcomey Andrew Elliott, @andrewc_elliott News Editors Emily Hutt, @emily_hutt Kelly Kaler, @kelly_kaler (S.A.) Joe Liss, @joemliss Sports Editors Fritz Metzinger, @fritzmetzinger Daniel Weltz, @danielweltz3 (S.A.) Zack Bartee, @zackbartee (S.A.) Michael Eilbacher, @mikeeilbacher Opinion Editors Katherine Ripley, @katherineripley Denise Taylor, @deni_tay47 (S.A.) Alex Yohanda Focus Editor Grace Hollis Life Editors Valerie Clemens, @valerietpp

Julia Horowitz, @juliakhorowitz Arts & Entertainment Editors Katie Cole, @katiepcole Conor Sheehey, @mcsheehey13 Health & Science Editor Monika Fallon Production Editors Mary Beth Desrosiers, @duhrowsure Rebecca Lim, @rebecca_lim Sylvia Oe, @sylviaoe16 Photography Editors Dillon Harding Jenna Truong, @jennajt21 (S.A.) Marshall Bronfin, @mbronfin Graphics Editors Stephen Rowe Peter Simonsen, @peetabread Video Editor Claire Wang Social Media Manager Greg Lewis, @grglewis Ads Manager Sascha Oswald Marketing Manager Anna Xie, @annameliorate (S.A.) Allison Xu Business Manager Matt Ammentorp, @chitownbeardown Claire Fenichel, @clairefeni Financial Controller Claire Fenichel, @clairefeni

The CD

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

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

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

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

2014 The Cavalier Daily Inc.

Have an opinion?

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

Questions/Comments

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

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OPINION

Monday, December 2, 2013

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Free and direct discourse The Cavalier Daily should encourage more open-minded and honest dialogue from its readers

Public Editor

In my columns, I’ve focused almost entirely on the work produced

by The Cavalier Daily staff. The opinion pieces and news stories have been my particular focus, with an occasional look at organization and other sections of the paper. There are other, more interactive, parts of The Cavalier Daily, though.

Dear Editor...

While letters to the editor have all but disappeared, it seems they have been replaced by what become guest opinion columns and online comments. The guest op-eds show up in the Opinion section alongside the regular columnists’ work, are often of a similar length and offer members of the community an outlet for their own voices. I think The Cavalier Daily editors do a good job of opening up both the print edition and the

online space to those who have some- every website I’ve seen, many who thing to say. comment appear not to have read This was especially evident dur- the article or column in question or, ing the recent Virginia election dur- if they did, brought their own beliefs ing which several people wrote pieces to the piece and simply reacted to advocating for a particular candidate those beliefs rather than the inforor, in at least one case, insisting that students should vote regardless of their choice. I do think it would be helpful to note when There is important knowledge and perspective in the piece has some of the comments, and good interactions and been submitted conversations could really add to the overall body to The Cavalier Daily as a letof information that is The Cavalier Daily. ter or email or whether Cavalier Daily editors sought out the author to mation presented. I personally find it write the opinion. frustrating that so many commenters appear to strive to be snarky or seem The comments to have a particular agenda almost entirely separate from anything havThe online comments are some- ing to do with the story they are comthing of an adventure. As is the case menting on. with online comments on virtually There is important knowledge

“

Christopher Broom

and perspective in some of the comments, and good interactions and conversations could really add to the overall body of information that is The Cavalier Daily. But these opportunities appear to fizzle out in the face of predetermined conclusions. The writers in The Cavalier Daily, especially the opinion writers, seem earnest and work hard to present their arguments. Personally, I’d love to see more sustained dialogue launch from the comments sections; many of the topics covered in The Cavalier Daily are important and worth some thought.

Sincerely, anonymous I vacillate between thinking that, on the one hand, The Cavalier Daily should require online commenters to use their real names and, on the other hand, that anonymous commenting protects those who have criticism to offer that could compromise their job or position especially within the University. Real names would, hope-

fully, require commenters to be more thoughtful and careful in their writing and that, in turn, could lead to more robust dialogue. That said, I’ve also seen Facebook in the last year and so perhaps that too is a pipe dream. I’m also presuming that robust dialogue is the desired goal in online commentary. It may be that offering a platform for thoughtful exchanges while still allowing for sarcasm is actually the best combination.

I think allowing each commenter to choose whether to be anonymous is probably necessary to protect the ability of all to comment freely. What do you think about anonymous commenting? And does it matter to you whether op-ed columns are labeled as written by a regular columnist or a guest writer of some sort?

Christopher Broom is The Cavalier Daily’s public editor. He can be reached at publiceditor@cavalierdaily.com or on Twitter @CDPublicEditor.

Underworked and overpaid Market incentives are the best way to address the issue of overcompensated CEOs Opinion Columnist

On Sunday, voters in Switzerland soundly rejected one of the boldest regulations yet proposed for tackling astronomically high executive salaries. The bill, dubbed the 1:12 Initiative for Fair Pay, would have capped CEO salaries at 12 times that of the company’s lowest-paid worker. With all 26 cantons (member states) reporting, approximately 65 percent of Swiss voters rejected the measure, which was conceived in an atmosphere of growing wealth inequity in the small European nation.

There is hardly a citizen in the developed world who doesn’t see the unreasonably gratuitous salaries of top companies’ CEOs as problematic. According to Bloomberg News, the average ratio of CEO pay to average worker pay across industries in the S&P 500 is currently at 204 to one. Horror stories abound: former J.C. Penney Co. CEO Ron Johnson received a compensation package valued at 1,795 times the average pay of a department store worker in November 2011. Proponents of fair pay in Switzerland were quick to register their disappointment in the results of the country’s referendum on laws aimed at realigning this gross imbalance, which is not a uniquely American problem.

We should not, however, be so eager to join in the chagrin of 1:12 supporters. Top-down regulation from the government aimed at limiting CEO compensation fails to account for the reasons why we have seen executive salaries rise so quickly in the past few decades.

The simplest mechanism we can employ to understand this phenomenon is the market. CEOs are compensated not by how much more productive they are than the average worker — is it even physically possible to be 204 times more productive than another human being? — or even by the objective “value” they bring to the company. Rather, they are compensated so generously because there is high demand for CEOs. This demand drives up salaries, as boards compete to keep the people they’ve enlisted to run their massive corporations. Top executives are encouraged to follow the money rather than to exhibit company loyalty or “settle down.” In this environment, paying less than your competitors is untenable. In fact, best to pay a little more, just to be safe. You can follow the logic from there.

On a certain level, there is a great deal of sense behind this system. Governments should never be in the business of deciding how much a service or a product is valued; history has proven that markets do this better and more efficiently (think of China’s aban-

donment of command-and-control policies in the 1980s). Laws like the one proposed in Switzerland reflect a poor understanding of how to tackle a problem like CEO compensation. We have no reason to believe that the magic ratio of 12 to 1 is any better than, perhaps, 16 to 1, or even 24 to 1.

Arbitrary limitations are attrac-

“

Russell Bogue

There is hardly a citizen in the developed world who doesn’t see the unreasonably gratuitous salaries of top companies’ CEOs as problematic.

tive for their simplicity, but in practice they end up hampering natural business decisions. To reverse the troubling trend of multimillion dollar signing bonuses and Christmas stock options, we ought to work with the powerful impulses of the market.

To this end, the Securities and

Exchange Commission (SEC) of the United States passed a measure in September of this year that requires companies to make public the ratio of their CEO’s pay to the median worker’s pay. The thinking is simple: once the embarrassing gap is public knowledge, boards will face pressure to curb their generosity toward CEOs. It is a proposal designed to work explicitly within the pressures of the market: instead of mandating certain behavior from companies, the law helps to change their incentives, leaving them free to act as they wish. At first blush, it seems a promising step in the right direction.

But, as James Surowiecki of The New Yorker points out, the change has not had the desired effect. Instead, in a perverse reversal of expectations, the public disclosure of the ratios has encouraged to boards to pay their CEOs at a ratio at least as high as their competitors, often higher, in order to appear as though they can afford to outspend their competitors. The effect is similar to as if high-end restaurants were required to disclose the salaries of their top chef: every restaurant would compete to pay the most, because doing so implies that the restaurant can afford the highest quality. No one competes for the honor of the least-paid top executive.

What, then, is a government

to do? The solutions aren’t clear.

What we can conclude, though, is what not to do. Setting arbitrary caps is antithetical to the natural functioning of the market and can make the United States — or whichever company implements the measure — less competitive than other nations. Proposals aimed at increasing transparency, although well-intentioned, also fail to address the problem.

In fact, allowing boards a certain amount of discrepancy and secrecy in paying their CEOs may actually decrease pressure to outspend the corporation next door.

Moreover, proposals aimed at shifting the incentive structure facing companies may yield better results: one such idea would be to offer tax breaks to companies that set their own limits on executive pay. This rewards companies for taking steps to curb the rampant growth in executive compensation. By encouraging boards to make better compensation decisions, instead of imposing burdens from above, we may yet address growing wealth inequality in the United States.

Russell Bogue is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. His columns usually run Thursdays.

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OPINION

The Cavalier Daily

Piracy prevention Search engines should partner with the entertainment industry to block pirated content Forrest Brown Opinion Columnist

A French court recently ordered several search engines, including Google and Yahoo, to de-list several known pirating sites from their search results.

This move would prevent anyone from successfully finding pirated content and sites through those search engines. Organizations representing the television and film industry, such as the MPAA, have been pushing for these types of actions for years with little success, because these search engines have shown little interest or motivation to block or de-list pirating sites. But with the success of this court case in Europe, the chances of passing a similar measure in the U.S. will increase. I think it’s time companies like Google come to an

agreement with Hollywood and block major pirating sites.

I have always had conflicting feelings about pirated TV shows and movies. On the one hand, pirating content is illegal. While pirating has become accepted to such a wide degree that it isn’t really seen as morally wrong, the illegality still bothers me. I also think that I owe whatever movie or show I’m watching payment, so that the studios have a reason to make more material of that quality. If everyone only pirated TV shows, there would be nothing on TV. The quality of pirated content is usually low, and is never as good as the version you could get on iTunes for a few dollars. I also dislike having my computer assaulted with pop-up advertisements that generally leave it sluggish for a few hours afterward.

Despite all of these counts

against pirated entertainment, I still find myself looking up free streaming links online far more than I would like. Usually this is because some TV show I’ve become addicted to isn’t available in another easily accessible format. Sometimes it’s because I just don’t want to spend the money for a show I’m only marginally interested in. What’s consistent in these scenarios is that I’m justifying my actions either with my laziness or my thriftiness — I don’t want to make the effort to acquire the content legally. Should studios make their content easier to access in legal ways? Yes, particularly ones like HBO that demand a full subscription to their service to see any of their shows from the past year. But does that absolve me of guilt? No. At the end of the day, the studios producing TV and movies

are going to make a lot of money despite the presence of piracy.

The industry is built to handle some degree of illegal downloading. But TV shows on the verge of cancellation and movies created by artists who have to beg for every dollar they get cannot afford the loss of revenue and ratings created by pirating sites. And those are the people worth protecting by removing pirating sites from major search engines.

Removing these sites from search engines will not stop all illegal downloading. People who really want to will always be able to find a way, and those who already have favored pirating sites would still be able to access them without a search. But those who download for the same reasons I do now — laziness, primarily — will be dissuaded by the added effort this would require.

This would not put undue strain on the search engine’s finances either, especially if the entertainment industry foots the bill, as is the situation in the French case. A cooperation between the search engines and TV and film studios could help ensure that neither side gets too much leeway, as sites like Google could block a limited number of sites they confirm are providing illegal access to content. Illegal downloading isn’t a terrible crime, but for the sake of quality entertainment, allowing some checks on its propagation could be a good idea.

Forrest Brown is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily.

His columns usually run Thursdays.

Genuine ridiculousness Though often over-the-top, Kanye West’s genuine personality is actually refreshing Opinion Columnist

When I told my parents that I would be going to Kanye West’s “Yeezus” tour, their reaction was predictable: “Um, what? Why?” That’s a fair reaction. To huge portions of the public, Kanye comes across, as Jimmy Kimmel said, “as kind of a jerk.” There was the time when he interrupted Taylor Swift, the time when he ranted over Twitter about Kimmel’s lighthearted piece poking fun at a Kanye interview, and the time he told the world, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

Many people, like my parents, think Kanye is a jerk, arrogant or possibly off his rocker .

This column will not attempt to defend Kanye on any of these fronts — many of his actions are inexcusably inappropriate. And yet, for whatever reason, a huge number of people find Kanye tolerable, even endearing, as a person. During the Yeezus concert, as I watched Kanye come out of

a mountain, meet with “White Jesus” (an actor who came out to “bless” Kanye before his song “Jesus Walks”) or rant for 10 minutes on the various maladies in his life, I began to wonder why people are so attracted to this insecure yet talented man. Yet all of his faults

at the Yeezus show that, “People think I’m crazy … but they don’t understand that I am smarter than all of them,” many took that to be a refreshing piece of honesty from a celebrity — honesty that simultaneously hinted at the deep insecurities that have plagued Kanye for his whole career.

It is impossible to imagine Kanye engaging in a faux-fight with one of his friends to atI think the reason that Kanye is so compelling to publicity, people is that he is authentic — a rare characteristic tract as 50 Cent did for a pop culture giant. via Twitter with his buddy Floyd M a y w e a t h e r. could not prevent 20,000 people Kanye does not pull those sorts from screaming themselves hoarse of shenanigans. In an era where during the concert. so many celebrities engage in silI think the reason that Kanye ly stunts to attract attention, an is so compelling is that he is au- era where so much music sounds thentic — a rare characteristic for largely the same, Kanye possesses a pop culture giant. As Kanye said the courage to create music that on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, “I have sounds like nothing anyone has never done a publicity stunt in my ever heard in our lives. With each life.” Everything he does is genu- turn of his career, he expands or ine. And so when Kanye professed shifts his artistic output in an un-

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John Connolly

predictable, wildly entertaining, usually brilliant, possibly insane, wholly authentic way. His career arc stretches from the soulful brilliance of “The College Dropout” to the mournful, dehumanizing auto-tune of “808s and Heartbreak” — which, by the way, practically invented the subset of hiphop that Frank Ocean and Drake now occupy. And there is “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” a gratuitous display of Kanye’s skill as a musician and a producer. And finally, we have “Yeezus,” which only adds to his impressive body of work.

While some rappers churn out the same mindnumbingly bland tracks in which they speak, paradoxically, of being men of the people as well as tired of all the attention, nothing Kanye has created is so contrived. And in the wider landscape of American society, Kanye’s honesty and authenticity stands out. In his interview with 60 Minutes last year, historian David McCullough cited “authenticity” as the characteristic prevalent in the great politicians of American history, but lacking in politi-

cians today. “Every candidate running for any office,” McCullough said, “ought to study the Harry Truman 1948 campaign. I think what's important about it, he ran by being himself. And he said ‘I'm going to go out there and say what I mean.’ Can you imagine? A politician taking that as his approach?

And people loved it.”

You might not agree with everything — or anything — that comes out of Kanye West’s mouth.

And you might think that Kanye does not understand some proper norms of society: that it can be inappropriate to speak one’s honest opinions, especially when those opinions are hurtful to others.

These are valid points. But his truthfulness and his unflinching tendency to say exactly what he believes are the qualities that help explain his wild popularity, and these are qualities that anyone can admire.

John Connolly is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. His columns usually run Thursdays.

OPINION

Monday, December 2, 2013

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An unfair advantage The University should not increase its in-state population Senior Associate Editor

Last week, The Cavalier Daily’s managing board wrote an article about the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors’ desire to see legislation passed that limits the number of out-of-state students admitted to the University and other public Virginia universities.

The managing board raised a number of valid points, referencing mainly the financial problems that would result from such a decision and the benefit that out-of-state students bring to Virginia schools. One point that could have been expanded upon to greater effect, however, was the idea that students should reduce their feelings of entitlement toward acceptance at their state universities.

Admittedly, as an out-of-state student, I do not know enough about other Virginia universities to make well-informed statements about how this legislation will affect students at all those schools. I will mainly be talking about the effects of this legislation within the context of the University. Students at Virginia Tech or the College of William & Mary, for example, may not be opposed to the idea of limiting out-of-state students.

The managing board was correct when it said that Loudoun’s legislation “betrays a sense of entitlement about college admissions that some Northern Virginians seem to feel.”

This feeling — most strongly publicized by, though definitely not exclusive to, Loudoun County — that Virginia state universities should be focused to such a high degree on accepting in-state students is a pervasive one. Coming from out-of-state, I noticed early on that the odds are too highly stacked in favor of in-state students. This is especially true at the University, which is respected on a nationwide scale and draws tens of thousands of out-of-state applica-

University or any of the other state schools in my home state of Indiana.

Granted, the argument that state universities should show a preference for in-state students because those schools receive funding from state tax dollars is a cogent one. And I agree that if a state school is receiving a massive amount of money from the state, then it should perhaps show a slight preference for in-state students. The key word here, though, is slight. The state funding argument alone is not sufficient to justify the ridiculous in-state proportions to which many state universities must adhere. At the after I would argue that the University’s duty to favor in- University, all, only 6 percent state students is already strongly fulfilled through of total funding is provided by the in-state tuition. state. It would seem more reasonable to have tions. that money be reflected in a student The main problem with state ratio that still gives in-state students universities is that they too strongly an advantage, yet not an overwhelmskew admissions based purely on ing one — perhaps 51 percent inwhere an applicant resides. It is un- state to 49 percent out-of-state, or likely that incoming college students maybe lower. Even 40 percent of the chose where their families would entire student body hailing from Virlive. The fact that students who hap- ginia still gives native high schoolers pened to have grown up in Virginia a significant advantage. face a much easier admissions proIn addition, although state unicess to the University is somewhat versities could be considered to have unfair. Similarly, I do not think that a duty to educate their respective I should have gotten much prefer- state populations, that duty should ence at Indiana University, Purdue not be strong enough that in-state

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Alex Yahanda

students feel entitled to admission to a state university, even if they have grades and test scores that are relatively good compared to others from their state. The college admissions process is now more competitive than ever before, and there is nothing that indicates that this trend will subside in the near future. With many talented students applying to a high number of schools, state universities are no doubt becoming increasingly inundated with qualified applicants from both in-state and out-of-state. Students must realize that admissions is not — nor should be considered — guaranteed.

I would argue that the University’s duty to favor in-state students is already strongly fulfilled through instate tuition. In-state students at the University receive an education at bargain prices compared to students from outside of Virginia. The same is true for other state institutions.

Moreover, having many respected universities provides additional benefits for a state beyond educating students that attend those schools.

There are research or employment opportunities, for instance, that become possible through large academic institutions. Attracting more intellectual capital cannot harm a state. Even if students are from elsewhere, their achievements in college could very well benefit the state of Virginia, and many may choose to reside in the state after school.

One’s location in the country should only marginally affect what

college they wish to attend. I have benefitted immensely through my time at the University, and I know that other out-of-state students could do the same. Many deserving out-ofstate students, however, will be denied from the University so that its in-state quota may be reached. This is disappointing, especially when — and this is not to insult those from Virginia — I have, overall, met more impressive students from out-ofstate than from Virginia.

The Loudoun County legislation apparently stemmed from incidents in which high-achieving Virginia high school students were denied from the University. It is unfortunate whenever promising students are deprived of a chance to attend the schools to which they aspire. And sometimes the rationale behind a rejection is not entire clear. But the mentality that a student should expect acceptance to a state university is a dangerous one. For every in-state student that is refused a spot at the University, there are more from outof-state who experience the same fate. Increasing the quota of in-state students to avoid outrage over rejections is not a wise maneuver. Indeed, the University would do well to lower its in-state requirements and give out-of-state students a more even opportunity to conduct their learning on Grounds.

Alex Yahanda is a senior associate editor for the Cavalier Daily.

Read the fine print Physical textbooks provide an experience that the digital screen cannot Opinion Columnist

sI’ve never been much of a technology guy. I take notes in class with a notebook and a pencil. I have never read a book on a Kindle or a Nook.

And I didn’t have an iPhone or laptop until I came to college. Yet I cannot help but notice that whenever I enter a lecture hall, I see scores of screens light up the room. As finals approach, I expect plenty of students studying will turn to their laptops rather than their notebooks and textbooks.

Last year, the University became one of five schools nationwide to pilot an electronic textbook program to determine whether digital textbooks can eventually replace traditional ones.

This pilot program received a mixed review in Alex Yahanda’s February 2012 opinion piece “Forcing the subject,” which argued that the initiative wrongly forced students to purchase e-textbooks rather than giving options.

Nevertheless, the digital-textbook initiative has now spread to more than 50

colleges and universities following the fall 2012, spring 2013 and fall 2013 pilot programs.

I suspect that in the coming years electronic textbooks will become more and more integrated into the University’s curricula, but I remain doubtful as to the necessity of schools to completely switch to e-textbooks. Contrary to a recent survey showing that 63 percent of college students “believe tablets will effectively replace textbooks within the next five years,” the research results from the pilot program showed that there are still improvements to be made. Difficult readability, lack of use without Internet connection and only one-semester availability were a few of the problems listed.

Physical textbooks should remain a part of students’ studies for the sake of productivity and because there are plenty of things that can go wrong with a laptop: it can freeze, run out of batteries, stop working or lose Wi-Fi. Maybe it’s because my elementary school education built a foundation more around physical books rather than computers, but I prefer to hold a book in my hands and turn the pages.

I recognize that this is overly skep- lege students that spend too much time tical. There is, however, no distraction on social networks. greater on Earth to me than a laptop.

My dilemmas with screens go furWhen on a laptop, I can’t get five minutes into my homework without going on the Internet.

An increase in the use of digital textbooks for classes would also lead to Productivity doesn’t seem like a suitable reason to an increase in stu- keep textbooks around, but when I break it down, dents’ time spent I continuously come back to the excuse that a on laptops, leading to more chances for physical textbook ‘feels’ better. distractions.

A 2013 survey revealed that the average American ther. Because digital textbooks cannot spends two hours and 19 minutes a be resold, their prices should be much day on the Internet. This means that lower than they currently are. Just as I’m not the only one that feels the urge some books on a Kindle or Nook cost a to open Safari, Firefox, Internet Ex- few bucks, digital textbooks should by plorer or Chrome when I’m attempting no means be a slight mark-up off the to write a 10-page paper. Thus, physi- original textbook. Not to mention that cal textbooks provide productivity that it can be tougher to take notes or markdigital textbooks cannot. This does not up a textbook that is digital. apply to elementary students that only Breaking off my rant for a second: use digital textbooks in class but rather there are also undeniable benefits to to middle school, high school and col- digital education systems. E-textbooks

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Jared Fogel

lower the costs of textbooks for both schools and students. Through the web, teachers can add tools such as flashcards, quizzes, videos and notes.

Ultimately, digital textbooks have the potential for increased efficiency in and outside the classroom.

On the other hand, until students are brought up in elementary, middle, and high school using e-textbooks, it does not make sense to fully implement them at the college level because students simply are not used to them.

Although some students may adapt to technology better than others, other students, like me, are stubborn and still want to rely on the familiar traditional textbooks. I believe physical textbooks must remain as long as there are both enough students that prefer to use them and enough negatives to going digital. It’s hard to tell how much “enough” is, but for the time being, physical textbooks will remain the major force at universities.

Jared Fogel is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily.

S

sports Two years ago, I remember making the trip back to Charlottesville for the Virginia TechVirginia game. Still a wide-eyed first-year, I was unaware of how spoiled I was as a Cavalier fan during the 2011 season. With a trip to the ACC Championship on the line, Virginia was humiliated 38-0 at Scott Stadium.

Virginia was not playing for a conference championship berth this time around. The Cavaliers did not even have a chance to keep its archrival from bowl eligibility, as it did in 2012 before losing 17-14 in Blacksburg.

No, this game — normally the biggest game of the year for many Cavalier fans — was only for pride. Apparently, coach Mike London had decided to turn his attention to next season rather than take his best shot at a hated rival.

Earlier in the week, London announced that redshirt freshman quarterback Greyson Lambert would play against the Hokies, in addition to usual starter David Watford, though he was evasive about when and how often Lambert would see the field.

It’s understandable that London wanted Lambert to get a few final reps before spring practice.

The Cavalier Daily

8

Down without a fight Watford has not been the quar- throughout the last two seasons, terback his coaches expected him and despite finishing winless in to be, while Lambert — who had the ACC and with just two wins played in six games — compiled overall, I am still thankful the two impressive performances in team largely made it through the his last two appearances, finish- season without a weekly quaring 13-of-19 for 134 yards last terback controversy. Saturday, week at Miami and 8-of-13 for however, was the wrong time to 75 yards and a touchthrow Lambert into down against North the fire.

Carolina.

Lambert led five But Lambert endrives, four of which tered those games afwere less than 10 ter they were already yards or negative. well out of reach — His best drive, which down 38-20 with 7:21 amassed 45 yards, left to play against the came courtesy of a Hurricanes and 42-7 48-yard run by Kevin the fourth quarter in Parks, which was against the Tar Heels. quickly negated on ZACK BARTEE Clearly London did the ensuing play by a SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR not believe Lambert Lambert interception. was the team’s best He was simply not option to win those ready to shoulder the games, but rather that those ap- burden of leading a late 10-point pearances were learning oppor- comeback against — and it pains tunities for the coach’s potential me to say this — one of the best quarterback of the future. defenses in the ACC. Watford Naturally then, when Lam- may not have been lighting up bert entered the game at the end Virginia Tech’s defense, but of the third quarter, it sent the he had much more experience message that the game was over. against comparable competition Though the Cavaliers’ hopes and was better suited to handle technically ended when Lambert the pressure of the game’s final was sacked on fourth-and-25 minutes. with less than a minute to play, Had London rotated Lambert London effectively threw in the into the game earlier, the move towel when he sat Watford for may have appeared as an attempt the remainder of the game, down to catch Virginia Tech off-guard. just 16-6.

Had the Hokies scored another I was highly critical of Vir- touchdown in the fourth quarter ginia’s two-quarterback platoon to go up by 17, playing Lambert

would have been understandable. Given Watford’s recent mediocre play, London could have even considered starting Lambert to allow him to get his bearings early in the game.

But sitting your starting quarterback with more than a quarter to play in such a closely contested game is even worse than London’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-11 in the second quarter or his reluctance to call a timeout at the end of last year’s Commonwealth Cup. It is almost unfathomable that he could expect a redshirt freshman to come off the bench cold and change the entire course of the game. In the final opportunity of an otherwise wasted season, London was already thinking about next year.

“We have to address the things that cause us to lose games,” London said. “Players need to understand their position isn’t guaranteed next year. Coaches need to look at systems and schemes.

We need to hold our head up and look straight ahead and forward.”

Looking straight ahead, the team must face a grim prospect: 2014 could be worse than 2013.

Heading into spring practice, there will be coaches on the hot seat again, likely another quarterback duel — at least without Phillip Sims this time — and an offensive line and defensive unit seeking new contributors after the graduation of key leaders.

With only eight seniors on the roster — the second fewest in the nation — Virginia will return a wealth of young talent. Yet seven of those departing seniors were starters. The departures of Luke Bowanko and Morgan Moses on the offensive line and their defensive counterparts Jake Snyder and Brent Urban will leave large voids to fill on both sides of the ball. Tim Smith, the team’s primary deep threat, has played his final down as a Cavalier, as have captain Rijo Walker and starting fullback and team cut-up Billy Skrobacz.

So although it has been apparent for some time now that the season was beyond saving, the fans and the team deserved better than what they saw Saturday. London picked a baffling time to look towards the future and send in his backup quarterback, and the debate over his decision-making and the team’s prospects going forward will rage on in the coming months.

After yet another disappointing Virginia football season, the broken record played on.

“We want to take this season and remember how bad we all felt,” Watford said. “We do not want this to happen again. We need to get better and go up and beyond what we have been doing. We need to push each other and have each other’s back. We need to remember why we are here.”

FOOTBALL Parks becomes first 1,000-yard Virginia rusher since ‘04 Continued from page 1 was coming off of a turnover to seize the momentum ... or to stop moving backwards, guys need to step up and make a play.”

Neither team was particularly productive on offense, and Virginia’s defense appeared up to the challenge of keeping the game close. The Cavalier defense held Virginia Tech to three field goals — including a successful stand on the one yard line — before the game’s lone touchdown in the first half, and then held the Hokies scoreless for the entire second half.

“I think for the most part

we were solid,” Urban said. “We gave up too many big plays, but we were solid when we needed to be. I’m proud of my guys.”

The offense, however, was not nearly as sharp. Sophomore quarterback David Watford started the game under center, but was unimpressive, going 13for-23 for 122 yards. He reeled off a 20-yard run early in the first quarter, but struggled to show that athleticism again later in the game.

“They pressured us and got after us,” Watford said. “I made a couple errant throws because of it. The pressure was in my face and I had to get it out before I wanted to and it caused me to be inaccurate. They did that a lot to

us on third downs.”

As promised, coach Mike London gave Greyson Lambert a more extended look under center in the team’s season finale, turning to the redshirt freshman late in the third quarter. Lambert fared no better than Watford, however, completing just 4-of16 passes for 54 yards with an interception.

“He had his opportunity and did a nice job in some spurts,” London said. “But toward the end, Virginia Tech did a great job on the pass rush situation.

[Freshman guard] Eric Smith had his hands full. Tech made plays when we couldn’t. Greyson will have plenty of opportunities moving forward.”

If there was any bright spot on offense, it was junior tailback Kevin Parks, who finished with 105 yards in the game to eclipse the 1,000 yard mark for the season. He is the first Virginia rusher since Alvin Pearman in 2004 to rush for more than 1,000 yards.

“That’s about as big as it gets for an offensive lineman, and that’s all we can really hang our hats on,” Bowanko said. “We were sort of counting it down on the sideline, and hopefully that becomes somewhat of a tradition here where a guy rushes for 1,000 yards. I’m proud of him.

He earned every single yard and gets a lot of yards after contact.”

Parks was cognizant of the

achievement, but his excitement was tempered by the loss.

“I know it means a lot to [the offensive linemen],” Parks said.

“For me, I’d rather have a win any day, but that’s the way things go sometimes.”

Now two losing seasons removed from a bowl berth, London sits in a precarious situation. Athletic director Craig Littlepage has voiced his support for London and said he will return for a fifth season at the University, but there is growing discontent among the Cavalier fan base. London, however, is simply concerned with doing his job.

“I’m looking forward to getting next year’s team prepared,” London said.

SPORTS

Monday, December 2, 2013

9

Shorthanded Virginia stuns Marquette, advances Cavaliers weather opening minute ejection, earn NCAA Tournament quarterfinal berth with 3-1 victory against Golden Eagles Sunday Matthew Morris Associate Editor

Less than a minute into Sunday’s NCAA Tournament Round of 16 game against Marquette,

junior Cavalier defender Matt Brown mishandled a pass near midfield. Marquette sophomore forward C. Nortey pounced on the miscue and sprinted downfield on a breakaway.

Brown pursued the Golden Ea-

Michal Barnett | The Cavalier Daily

Sophomore forward Darius Madison gave his team a 2-0 lead in the 47th minute with a goal off a cross from junior midfielder Eric Bird. It was Madison’s sixth goal of the season.

gles’ leading scorer, catching him with a slide tackle five yards from the Virginia box. Brown, Virginia’s last defender back, received a red card on the play, leaving the Cavaliers in a tricky position for the rest of the game.

“I’ve never coached down a man for 89 minutes,” coach George Gelnovatch said.

Rather than panic, the eighthseeded Virginia men’s soccer team opted to adjust. Gelnovatch quickly subbed in sophomore defender Zach Carroll to strengthen the back line, and the Cavaliers made a concerted effort to get the ball as far away from their box as possible. Even junior goalkeeper Calle Brown joined in the effort, booming kicks well beyond the midline.

“You’ve just got to turn the page, crumple the game-plan and get on with it,” Gelnovatch said.

Two hours after Brown’s ejection, Virginia (12-5-5, 4-3-4 ACC) walked off the turf at Klöckner Stadium with a 3-1 victory that gave them a spot in the NCAA Tournament’s quarterfinal round.

The Cavaliers displayed the same no-excuses attitude that helped them overcome a 1-3 start to the season and rise to ninth nationally in the season-ending coaches poll.

“We always come back,” sophomore forward Darius Madison said.

Marquette (13-6-2, 6-2-1 Big East) had an opportunity to score

in the 20th minute when chaos descended on the Virginia box off a Golden Eagles corner kick. Calle Brown, though, came up with two reaction saves in quick succession, earning a roar of approval from the Cavalier faithful.

Four minutes later, sophomore defender Scott Thomsen knocked a free kick into the right-hand upper-90 for a 1-0 Virginia lead.

“I knew if I got enough pace on it, the goalie wouldn’t have a chance,” Thomsen said.

Thomsen came off the bench in Virginia’s second-round win against St. John’s, but he was in the starting lineup against Marquette.

His goal was his first since the Cavaliers’ season-opener against Louisville, and it could hardly have come in a bigger moment.

“That goal just made us feel like we could do it a man down,” Gelnovatch said.

The Cavaliers extended their lead in the 47th minute when junior midfielder Eric Bird crossed the ball as he neared the Marquette end line. Madison, filling the middle lane, volleyed the pass in stride, and his touch was good enough to beat Marquette redshirt junior goalkeeper Charlie Lyon, the Big East Co-Goalkeeper of the Year.

Marquette got on the scoreboard in the 53rd minute when sophomore defender Axel Sjoberg funneled the ball through the

Cavalier back line to Nortey, who slid his shot under Brown to cut the deficit to one. With the goal, the Golden Eagles got back within striking distance of Virginia.

“It’s deflating,” Gelnovatch said.

“The momentum changes. You’re tired.”

But one minute later, Virginia sophomore midfielder Marcus Salandy-Defour tumbled to the turf in the Marquette box off an aggressive tackle, and the Cavaliers were awarded a penalty kick. Fellow sophomore midfielder Todd Wharton scored on the chance to restore Virginia’s two-goal edge.

Virginia held on from there, with Calle Brown getting his hands on nearly every jump-ball in the box and the Cavalier defenders clearing the ball away when their goalkeeper could not get to it.

Following the game, the team radiated confidence — and with good reason: they had defeated the nation’s No. 11 team despite playing 10 on 11 for all but 57 seconds.

“With this group, we never count ourselves out,” Thomsen said.

Virginia will play the winner of UCLA, the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, and unseeded Connecticut. The Cavaliers did not sound daunted by either prospect.

“Whoever we play, if we play our game, we feel like we can beat them,” Madison said.

U.Va. reaches NCAA College Cup The No. 1 and top-seeded Virginia women’s soccer team defeated Michigan Friday to earn a trip to the College Cup for the first time since 1991.

With the 2-1 victory, the Cavaliers also became the first team to score multiple goals against the Wolverines all season.

Virginia (24-1) dominated possession for the vast majority of the contest, and Michigan rarely held possession in its attacking third. The strong play of the Cavalier midfield paid off in the 24th minute when sophomore forward Makenzy Doniak played a beautiful through ball to star junior midfielder Morgan Brian, who fired the ball

past the Michigan keeper for her school-record eighth career NCAA Tournament goal.

The lead did not last long, however, as Michigan (18-4-1) responded just four minutes later. Wolverine senior midfielder Meghan Toohey was able to find space inside the box and beat Cavalier freshman goalkeeper Morgan Stearns to tie the game at one goal apiece.

Toohey’s tally in the 28th minute proved to be Michigan’s last true scoring opportunity of the match.

The teams remained tied going into halftime, but Virginia was clearly dominating the game’s pace. The second half

was no different as the Cavaliers immediately gained — and retained — possession in the Wolverine half of the field. The unrelenting pressure finally cracked Michigan’s defense in the 68th minute when senior defender Molly Menchel tapped home a cross from junior midfielder Danielle Colaprico to put Virginia ahead for good.

The Cavaliers will face UCLA in a semifinal matchup Friday in Cary, N.C. The winner will face an ACC foe in the title game as Florida State and the Hokies battle for a spot in the championship matchup in the other half of the bracket.

—compiled by Ryan Taylor

Marshall Bronfin | The Cavalier Daily

Junior midfielder Morgan Brian scored in the 24th minute to give Virginia a 1-0 lead against Michigan Friday. The Wolverines answered four minutes later, but the Cavaliers notched the game-winning goal in the 68th minute.

10

SPORTS

The Cavalier Daily

Streaking Cavaliers win Virginia drops Junkanoo Jam games Corpus Christi Challenge The Virginia women’s basketball team traveled to Grand Bahama Island over Thanksgiving weekend to compete against a tough field at the Junkanoo Jam Tournament.

The Cavaliers lost a pair of hard-fought games to No. 3 Tennessee and Kansas State to finish November on a threegame slide.

Virginia (3-4) jumped out to a 7-0 lead against the powerhouse Lady Vols (7-0) in the first three minutes of their Thanksgiving day matchup.

The Cavaliers maintained their advantage against Tennessee until junior guard Ariel Massengale’s layup a minute and a half into the second half.

The eventual tournament champion Tennessee later reeled off a 10-0 run to turn a

tie game into a 55-45 lead with 13:26 on the clock. Virginia battled back to pull within five on sophomore guard Faith Randolph’s 3-pointer with 1:26 remaining, but the Cavaliers misfired on their final four shots to seal the loss.

Senior guard Ataira Franklin poured in 25 points for Virginia — including 19 in the first half — while Tennessee senior guard Meighan Simmons knocked down eight 3-pointers en route to a 32-point outing for Tennessee.

Virginia returned to the court Friday for the consolation game against Kansas State (3-3), and once again watched a late rally fall short for a disappointing 49-46 loss. The Cavaliers went into the break trailing 21-18 after making

just seven shots from the field, five of which came from junior forward Sarah Imovbioh, who kept the matchup close by scoring 12 points in the period on 5-of-10 shooting.

With the Cavaliers trailing 47-40 with 4:15 remaining, senior guard Kelsey Wolfe took over, scoring five unanswered points to whittle the Wildcat lead to two with just under two minutes remaining. Virginia faltered down the stretch, however, making just 1-of-4 free throw attempts and missing two potential gametying three-pointers in the final minute.

Virginia plays Michigan Thursday evening at John Paul Jones Arena in an ACC/Big Ten Challenge game.

—compiled by Matthew Morris

Kelsey Grant | The Cavalier Daily

Sophomore forward Justin Anderson scored 23 points against Missouri State Saturday, including 17 in the first half. The bench tallied 46 points in the game to lead Virginia to its sixth straight victory.

Buoyed by huge efforts from sophomore reserve forwards Justin Anderson and Mike Tobey, the Virginia men’s basketball team cruised to an 83-63 win Saturday against Missouri State to win the Corpus Christi Challenge in Texas. The pair combined for 37 points and eight rebounds to erase an early deficit and lift the Cavaliers to their sixth straight victory.

Virginia (7-1) reached the final with a thrilling 76-73 win Friday against Southern Methodist (6-2) — coached by Basketball Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown — and faced Missouri State (6-1) after the Bears beat Texas A&M in their semifinal.

Coach Tony Bennett altered his starting lineup Saturday for the first time since since Nov. 19, starting sophomore forward Anthony Gill in place of Tobey.

Virginia struggled early against Missouri State — a 3-pointer by senior guard Joe Harris was the Cavaliers’ only score for the first six and

a half minutes of the game. Trailing 11-3 with 13:54 left in the first half, the Cavaliers took a timeout to regroup. Virginia looked like a different team from then on, finishing the half on a 30-11 run to enter the break leading 32-22. Anderson had 17 points in the first half alone and finished with 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting.

Virginia continued to pull away in the second half as they scored 51 points in the period. Harris, Tobey and sophomore guard Malcolm Brogdon were all in double figures with 15, 14 and 13 points, respectively. Gill had eight points and eight rebounds, helping Virginia to a 38-22 rebounding edge.

The Cavaliers will return to action Wednesday when they host No. 10 Wisconsin as part of the ACC-Big 10 Challenge. Bennett’s father, Dick, coached the Badgers from 1995 to 2001.

—compiled by Mike Eilbacher

Marshall Bronfin | The Cavalier Daily

Senior guard Kelsey Wolfe helped lead a comeback bid against Kansas State Friday, scoring five straight points to bring Virginia within two.

The Cavaliers could not climb all the way back though, as they finished 0-2 in a disappointing appearance at the Junkanoo Jam Tournament.

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Monday, December 2, 2013

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L life

The Cavalier Daily

12

Students research democracy with State Department program Diplomacy Lab’s pilot year gives undergraduates hands-on experience solving world problems

Allie Jensen Feature Writer

For third-year College students Daniel Rosenfeld and Sky Miller, working on research for the State Department counts as a normal after-class activity.

Their work comes through the Diplomacy Lab, which was created by the State Department to give college students and faculty experience solving challenges currently facing department officials. Currently, the lab — which is in its pilot year — exists only at the University and William & Mary.

“The idea is to give students actionable, tangible projects that the State Department is working on and let the students work to create solutions,” Rosenfeld said.

Most students participate in Diplomacy Lab as a class requirement. Professors of politics, anthropology and sociology have included Diplomacy Lab projects in their courses as a way for students to apply their learning to real-life situations.

Unlike most other students

working with the program, Rosenfeld and Miller are also completing their own independent study. Their research requires them to work closely with Tomicah Tillemann, the senior advisor to the Secretary for Civil Society and Emerging Democracies, via video chat. Tillemann visited Grounds earlier in the semester to meet with the pair, as well as the other students and faculty involved in Diplomacy Lab. Rosenfeld and Miller’s project involves developing an implementation strategy for the remodeling of the Community of Democracies, an intergovernmental organization which brings together established organizations around the world to provide support for emerging democracies and civil societies.

“We are doing case studies on intergovernmental organizations that are successful in the kinds of qualities the Community of Democracies wants in this new model,” Miller said. “We are doing what we can to find implementable, best practices in those case studies.”

Rosenfeld and Miller believe Diplomacy Lab gives them experience which will likely lend itself to a future career.

“We both are really, really passionate about civic engagement and democracy,” Rosenfeld said. “We love the chance to get out in the real world, work with a real world partner and do something really concrete.”

Because they also work with State Department advisors, Rosenfeld and Miller have to make sure everyone involved in their project has a common understanding of the research being conducted.

“I think [the hardest part] for me has just been trying to make sure all the different stakeholders are on the same page,” Rosenfeld said. “It’s been making sure we all know what we are trying to do and moving forward in the same direction.”

Issues like these, and others, will be considered as the State Department goes forward with the Diplomacy Lab. After this year, the program will be tweaked based on student and professor feedback and then implemented

Daniel Addison | The Cavalier Daily

Third-year College students Daniel Rosenfeld (left) and Sky Miller (right) are conducting research with the State Department’s pilot program, the Democracy Lab.

at other universities.

Upon the completion of their study, Rosenfeld and Miller’s research will become part of a United States report given to a Community of Democracies Working Group, which consists of a number of countries who will work together to ultimately restructure the Community of Democracies. Tillemann even mentioned Rosenfeld and Mill-

er’s project in a conversation with Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama, and says the president values the work of Community of Democracies as a whole.

“I’m a very idealistic person, so the idea of working to improve an organization like this — that is working to support and promote democracy and make it better — is really cool,” Miller said.

Thankful for Charlottesville Students enjoy last week’s vacation on Grounds with families, friends

Virginia Hart Feature Writer

While many University students left early last week and

dispersed across the globe for Thanksgiving, for a variety of reasons, many students chose to say — the distance home was too far, job shifts had to be maintained and a home foot-

Courtesy Ebob Besong

Economics Prof. Kenneth Elzinga invited students to his house for Thanksgiving dinner. Second-year College student Ebob Besong, who attended the dinner, enjoyed his dogs as well as his wife’s sweet potatoes.

ball game beckoned to loyal spectators. Such a decision didn’t prevent the following students, however, from seeking comfort in their own ways.

Celeste Ansley —

Fourthstudent from

year College Maryland Why she stayed in Charlottesville: I was here over break because I work as a tour guide at Monticello. The choice was either working a series of days around Thanksgiving or Christmas time.

How she celebrated Thanksgiving: Since I couldn’t go home for break, my mom decided to drive down from Baltimore and help make Thanksgiving dinner. Two of my friends were also in town, so they came over, brought some food and we all had dinner together at my apartment.

Why it was her favorite Thanksgiving: It wasn’t filled with the stress of travel. The

rest of my family lives in Texas, which is not worth the trip this time of year, so it is usually just me and my parents.

Ebob Besong —

Secondyear College student from England Why she stayed in Charlottesville: My family is currently in Uganda, and it made no sense to fly all the way there for a total of four days. I’m going soon enough anyway.

What she thought of Thanksgiving before celebrating it: I had family in the United States and they would always call during Thanksgiving, so I knew it existed and I understood that it was a holiday. I did not understand the history and importance behind it until I actually moved to the U.S. What she thought about Thanksgiving after experiencing it: I think it's almost a rite of passage when you move here. It's such a fundamental

part of American history and culture, so once I had my first Thanksgiving and truly appreciated it, I felt like I had become even more integrated into American society.

Riley Hazard — First-year College student from Oregon Why he stayed in Charlottesville: Financially, it didn’t make much sense [to go home], because I’ll be going home in two weeks anyway. It’s an awful flight. It’s six hours and it takes up a whole day.

What he did over break: I’m on the rowing team and there are a couple of guys on the team in Charlottesville. We were going to work out and a few of them invited me over to their houses to hang out.

His favorite dish: My favorite [dish] on Thanksgiving is definitely pumpkin pie. I had see GOBBLE, page 14

LIFE

Monday, December 2, 2013

13

Engaged at age 6 Afghani College student overcomes oppressive social circumstances to become women’s rights advocate Darby Witherspoon Feature Writer

At age 6, most children are counting to 30, learning to read or maximizing tag time before dinner. The childhood of thirdyear College student Gaisu Yari, however, was much different.

Before she reached her seventh birthday, Yari — at that time living in Afghanistan — was engaged to be married.

“I did not know anything about it,” Yari said. “There was a warlord that came to my family and forced [them] to let me marry their son. He is from the area and he is still there. I am always scared to talk about him because he is still in power in Afghanistan.”

Yari said she considers her parents liberal — she described her father as “educated” and said her mother has a third-grade education — and does not believe they would have engaged in such an archaic tradition had regional power dynamics not held such weight.

“Due to the property that we have in Afghanistan ... there was pressure that we needed to do that,” Yari said. “They already knew us before the [Soviet war in Afghanistan] started. We had some sort of connection with them — but not as a warlord, not as a person who could just ... destroy your life.”

This experience lended Yari the courage to advocate for women’s rights while still living in Afghanistan. In seventh grade, she began volunteering to teach women to read and write.

Then, in ninth grade, she became involved with Internews, a news organization with an Afghan sector that provides 110 FM stations throughout the country. In a typically maledominated profession, Yari was the only woman employed at the station.

“I wrote them a letter,” Yari said. “I was really upset there were no women in the radio sta-

Courtesy Gaisu Yari

tion, and I thought it was really important to have women in the radio. Their voices are so important. They talked about me on their show and they read [something I wrote]. A week after that, I went and I visited them… and

they asked me if I wanted to work with them.”

Though she initially intended to only complete six months of volunteering, Yari ultimately held her job for three years and was given her own show in the process. Her show, however, generated significant local opposition, culminating in threats by religious leaders and, later, the Taliban.

“As a woman, it was so hard for me,” Yari said. “I noticed people were talking to me and my mom and saying, ‘Oh, your daughter is working with all these men. It is not okay. She is guiding other girls in a bad way.

She has convinced my daughters to do all this craziness.’”

Despite rising criticism, Yari’s mom — the primary caretaker for five sons and five daughters — continued to stand behind her.

“One day, I told my mom I wasn’t going to work in the radio anymore,” Yari said. “She turned around and she said, ‘Gaisu, I am washing your clothes every week and I am cooking for you because I want to hear your voice from the radio. If you don’t go, I’m not going to do those things anymore.’ And I said, ‘That’s fine, I will go and work there.’”

Eventually, it was the show which gave Yari her opportunity to go to the United States.

“In 2007, I got this chance,” Yari said. “I was a part of a group of 1,000 people who got together to welcome these two American women to the village community. They recognized me as a woman who was struggling and

working as a journalist, and they had a program send me here.”

For Yari, moving to the United States was an escape. With her wedding ceremony scheduled to occur right after graduation, travelling to the U.S. provided Yari a narrow escape from that fate.

“It was so close,” she said.

“Every time I think about it, I am so glad that I got out of [it]. I am so glad that I got this chance to go to community college and that I have my own voice right now. My education is so important to me, and I am so thirsty for that every time I go to class.”

Upon arriving in the U.S., Yari set to work completing the relevant paperwork to attend school. Soon, she began taking English as a Second Language classes at Northern Virginia Community College, and in 2009 she enrolled in a two-year program at Piedmont Community College in Charlottesville.

Yari, now 26, transferred to the University this semester after completing her program at Piedmont, though she admits she struggled with both English and math.

“I was so nervous from the beginning, because I thought maybe my English level is not as good to compete with U.Va. students and I would not feel comfortable enough,” Yari said.

“When I noticed that everybody is listening to my voice and everybody is thinking that it is such a unique voice and [showed a] different experience, it encouraged me more. I feel much more comfortable in the classes.”

Now that Yari is settled, she

plans to focus her energy on reaching her biggest goal: helping women in Afghanistan. To reach this end, Yari plans to double major in Women, Gender and Sexuality and Middle Eastern Studies and then apply to law school.

“I think in order to help women in Afghanistan, it’s important for me to know Sharia law, international law and how to put those two together to have better [tools] to help women in Afghanistan,” she said. “I don’t think I’ll work as a journalist, but one day I hope to have an organization that will go and help women. If I think it’s not possible, then I can go back to the universities and teach.”

Women, Gender and Sexuality Prof. Cori Field, who teaches Yari’s introduction to gender studies course, said she expects she will have a great impact on the University community.

“She brings a multifaceted perspective into the classroom, and she is using her time at U.Va. to equip herself to go out and create change both in the U.S. and Afghanistan,” Field said.

Yari attends class five days a week and works three days a week at Starbucks. Although she has found it difficult to balance a job and school, Yari is constantly inspired by the opportunities she has in the U.S. “My life is always in Afghanistan,” Yari said. “Sometimes, when I think about the lifestyles, it is like Afghans are living in the ancient world. I feel responsible, because they do not have the same chances that I did, and I have this chance.”

Courtesy Gaisu Yari

14

LIFE

The Cavalier Daily

GOBBLE Students save costs, attend U.Va. athletic events Continued from page 14 pumpkin cheesecake, which was even better.

Amanda Laskey —

Fourth-year Commerce student from New Jersey Why she stayed in Charlottesville: My family is spread out all over — my parents are in Philadelphia and my sister is in Ohio. I also work at Splendora’s on the Downtown Mall and wanted to be able to work over break. Finally, I wanted to go to the final football game of my U.Va. career.

How she celebrated: This Thanksgiving I celebrated Thanksgivukkah— combining the celebrations of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving. My sister and I made an entire Thanksgiving meal with a Jewish twist.

Favorite dish: My favorite Thanksgiving dish is homemade cranberry sauce, and I was able to once again enjoy it this year.

Brittany Ratcliffe — Second-year

College student from New Jersey Why she stayed in Charlottesville: Our game [for women’s soccer] was on Friday, so it was much more convenient to stay in Charlottesville and celebrate Thanksgiving here rather than spending a lot of travel time going home.

What she normally does on Thanksgiving: My mom, dad and I spend most of the day hanging out and eventually have Thanksgiving dinner. Then we usually go to my aunt's house in Phila-

delphia and spend time with our extended family there.

What she did this Thanksgiving: The day before Thanksgiving was our off day, so we had a huge team dinner with all the Thanksgiving food you could imagine. We had turkey, stuffing, cranberries, biscuits, potatoes and vegetables. Then, on the actual Thanksgiving Day, we had practice in the afternoon. Some of our team had family in town, so they ate dinner with their family members while the rest of us had meals with our friends and the rest of our teammates.

Maya Sadagopal —

Third-year Commerce student from Minnesota Why she stayed in Charlottesville: I was just home for fall break, so I didn’t think it was worth it to buy a plane ticket home. I knew I’d be really busy the week before break and would want to relax and catch up on sleep, so I decided to stay here.

What she did for Thanksgiving: My friend Zoe is from Charlottesville and she invited me to join her family.

What she did with the rest of her break: I ran the Earlysville Turkey Trot on Thursday, watched the women's soccer team win the NCAA quarterfinals on Friday and [went] to the U.Va.-Tech game on Saturday. it’s almost like a rite of passage when you move here. It’s such a fundamental part of American history and culture, so once I had my first Thanksgiving and truly appreciated it, I felt like I had become even more integrated into American society.

Courtesy Maya Sadagopal

Third-year Commerce student Maya Sadagopal participated in the Turkey Trot the day before Thanksgiving, a 5K sponsored by the Boar’s Head and benefiting the University’s Children’s Hospital.

Monday, December 2, 2013

15

A&E Don’t judge a book(store) by its cover ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Julia Skorcz Senior Writer

Charlottesville is known for having one of the highest number of restaurants per capita — the Huffington Post ranked us number 14 in the nation — but what’s hidden among these eateries is even more spectacular. No, I don’t mean bars. I’m talking about bookstores.

Take, for example, Heartwood Books, located only a stone’s throw away from Take-It-Away deli and the Pigeon Hole on Elliewood Avenue. Owned by Paul Collinge, this bookstore was established in 1975 and specializes in what Collinge described as “serious” material.

“We’re not a big seller of John Grisham; we are a big seller of William Faulkner,” Collinge said.

To someone like me, who feels haunted by “Twilight” and “Fifty Shades of Grey” mere moments after exiting a Barnes & Noble, this revelation came as a breath of fresh air. Collinge’s experience as a used book salesman dates back to 1969 when he got a part time job in a bookstore as a student at Georgetown.

“I was very good at it,” he said from behind the wooden counter, an island among the surrounding sea of books. “I could remember authors and titles and where we

put everything.”

At that time, the bookstore business was “memory-based;” that is, there were no computers to catalogue stores’ inventories.

There still is no computer system at Heartwood, and that aspect facilitates a meaningful browsing experience.

“People – especially students – shouldn’t be intimidated by bookstores, “ Collinge said. “They should feel comfortable to take their time and browse.” Only by browsing may we stumble upon unlikely treasures.

Like Collinge, Blue Whale Books owner Scott Fennessey is associated with the rare book school at the university. Both of these establishments hold rare and antiquarian books not found anywhere else in the city. Blue Whale Books is especially unique in that it deals with antique prints and maps in addition to the usual assortment of books.

Dave Taylor, owner of Read it Again, Sam on the Downtown Mall shares Collinge’s belief that local bookstores derive their success from creating relationships with their customers. The employees of these shops are passionate about their jobs and they love sharing their knowledge of books.

“Each bookstore has its own niche,” Taylor said. His store spe-

cializes in art books and mysteries.

“It’s an odd combination,” he said, “but I love both.” Taylor’s love of books is evident in the way he eagerly offers assistance and recommendations to every customer who walks through the door.

Read it Again, Sam has been in business for 26 years, the last 15 of which have been in the Downtown Mall location. Taylor observed that his clientele consists primarily of female students from the University, noting that “most guys are too busy playing video games.” Slightly discouraged, Taylor recognizes that used and rare bookstores are becoming archaic.

“This shop is the Blockbuster of its time,” he said. “More people prefer eBooks [and other electronic reading devices].”

Though this method of reading is convenient, much of the reading experience is lost in translation through the screens of laptops, Kindles, or Nooks. Oakley’s Gently Used Books, for example, has a homey feel that is impossible to experience in an online store.

This shop holds 15,000 books and is tucked away in the York Place building off of the Downtown Mall, where it has operated for 18 years. Chris Oakley is a delightful woman who was eager to speak about her shop.

“We have specialties in his-

tory, science fiction, and children’s books,” she said, “but we also have a good science section, travel, classics, and foreign language [resources].” This extensive collection necessitated an additional 35 cases two years ago.

An avid reader since age thirteen when she started reading the New York Times Book Review, Oakley loves to see her customers “get just as excited over the books as [she is].” One of her favorite programs is the Virginia Festival of the Book – especially the kids’ book swap.

Whether she’s ensuring the store is wheelchair-accessible or making titles visible for the seeing-impaired, Oakley strives to ensure that every customer has the opportunity to fall in love with books in the same way she has. That extra effort leaves a lasting impression.

Not even Siri can feign the enthusiasm of an actual sales clerk, Amazon.com cannot exude the scent of well-worn pages, and I highly doubt that many Barnes & Nobles have a Corgi named Gizmo that wanders around the store. Local bookstores have so much more than dusty pages to offer, and

spending an hour in one of these shops is more enlightening than an entire semester of college reading. So treat yourself and spend an afternoon exploring some of Charlottesville’s best-kept secrets.

Photo by Sam Howzit

A healthy dose of Opera Viva University’s student opera company hosts open mic night to warm up cold winter evening Becca Stein Senior Writer

The Saturday night before break may have been bitterly cold and unpleasant, but Opera Viva, the University’s own student-run opera company, gave students a chance to warm themselves up with music, tea and cookies at a free open-mic event in Maury Hall.

Although the group’s focus is obviously opera music, they welcomed performers from every genre. General Director and President Emmett Crawford, a fourth-year College student, said that the group wanted the event to be all-inclusive, and for artistic details to be “left totally up

Photo courtesy of evanforester, flickr photo commons

to performers.”

“We didn’t want to limit the artists,” Crawford said.

The group was certainly successful in that goal. Song selections ranged from the beloved classic, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” to Old Crow Medicine Show’s country hit, “Wagon Wheel.” Other performances included “Falling Slowly” from the film “Once” and “Ashokan Farewell,” a folksy waltz famously featured in the PBS series “The Civil War.” The evening ended with a strong rendition of a comedic number from the musical “Oklahoma,” truly encapsulating Opera Viva’s mission to “make opera accessible”.

Audience turnout was small, but it lent a personal, intimate aspect to the event. Performers were not

shy about introducing their pieces casually and a natural rapport developed quickly between the musicians and the audience members.

Though Maury Hall was not the group’s first choice of venue — like other performing arts groups, Opera Viva experienced difficulties reserving performance and rehearsal space this semester — it provided a large stage and tiered seating that ensured that the performance was enjoyable from anywhere in the room.

Opera Viva puts on about one show each semester. Past productions include “H.M.S. Pinafore,” “Hansel and Gretel” and “The Elixir of Love,” and this season, the organization will be producing “Mikado.”

16

NEWS

The Cavalier Daily

HONOR Nash, McDaniel say jury reform vital to future success Continued from page 2 clarified in an email, allow “certain actions to reaffirm a student's place in the community of trust, and does not change the single sanction for those who are found

guilty of committing an Honor Offense.”

According to the Committee’s website, six students have taken informed retractions since its implementation last spring.

Jury Reform

To address the issue of inconsistent jury verdicts head on, the second component of the Committee’s proposal was jury reform.

Currently, students can opt for an all-Committee jury, a random student jury or a mix of the two.

The act would have mandated allCommittee juries for every trial, but the student body rejected the proposal.

Nash said his Committee believed jury reform and informed retraction were important to solve confidence issues in the

honor system in tandem. Though informed retraction would encourage honorable behavior, jury reform would allow students to believe in the process.

“We knew it would be politically difficult to sell students on all-Committee juries, but we thought at the end of the day, we have an obligation and a responsibility to put forward the optimal solution,” Nash said. “We truly believed this was the best solution for the honor system.”

Nash opposed jury reform in his earlier years on the Committee, but once he became chair and began to watch the confidential trials unfold, he position changed.

“Almost immediately after I began serving as chair and seeing what happened in jury deliberations, my view changed very quickly,” he said.

McDaniel said even though jury reform is critical for the future success of the honor system, he does not think the student body would approve all-Committee juries were it proposed again.

“I don’t know the best way to tackle jury reform,” he said. “I think it’s a hard problem to solve, because it’s hard to show students [that the process is] inconsistent while maintaining confidentiality in the individual trials. What do you say to people in order to make changes? If you said we’re going to have an all-Committee jury, a lot of people take that to mean that they’re more likely to convict, but I don’t think that’s actually the case.”

A Diligent Effort

Though the problems of reporting rates and inconsistent juries threaten the honor system, especially if persistent, there has been no lack of effort in seeking solutions. O’Boyle said Nash’s efforts started movement towards a better system, even if Restore the Ideal’s solutions were not approved by the student body. “[The vote last spring] was really inspiring, just because it showed that a lot of students were really invested in [honor],” O’Boyle said. “I think the students started to recognize the problem, though I don’t think [the students thought] the solution Stephen’s Committee proposed was the right one... I have been really happy with the students, at least in my bubble ... in showing that they do care and that they want to learn about the problems and try to figure out the best way to solve them.”

Later this week, in the third and final installment of this series, we will take a closer look at the various solutions proposed to help bring the reality of honor closer to the ideal.