March 20, 2012

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The Cavalier Daily Tuesday, March 20, 2012

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OpenGrounds project begins

OpenGrounds launched its first studio yesterday at 1400 W. Main Street.

The space, which features projectors and sound systems, aims to encourage research.

THIS ALSO ISN’T REAL

University opens collaborative, interdisciplinary research space offering social problems’ solutions

By Sarah Hunter Simanson Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

The Office of the Vice President for Research yesterday launched OpenGrounds, a studio space on the Corner geared toward collaborative research.

The center, featuring projectors and sound systems, is the first in a network of spaces the University hopes to open in an effort to encourage interdisciplinary thought.

“The idea is to provide a new way for faculty, students, external partners, community members to come together to take on major

Matt Bloom Cavalier Daily

questions we face as a society,” said William Sherman, the founding director of OpenGrounds and associate vice president for research.

The studio is constructed as a multi-use space with an open environment, featuring multiple projectors, sound systems and tables and chairs. The space is ideal for art exhibitions, concerts or small group work, Vice President for Research Thomas Skalak said.

Skalak said he hopes OpenPlease see OpenGrounds, Page A3

Obama backers open local office Reelection campaign establishes Charlottesville branch; hopes to boost volunteering efforts

By Abby Meredith and Anna Milligan

Cavalier Daily Associate Editor and Staff Writer The Barack Obama reelection campaign opened a Charlottesville office on the Downtown Mall Sunday to provide a center for Obama’s supporters to congregate and volunteer for the president’s 2012 bid.

Charlottesville Vice Mayor Kristin Szakos, a campaign volunteer, said more than 180 people attended the office’s opening.

“There is already so much excite-

ment,” Szakos said. “Because the Democrats know who our nominee is, it’s an advantage that we can start now.”

More than 1,000 volunteers have expressed interest in helping the campaign at its new office. Volunteers will make calls from the office’s phone bank, help register voters and go door to door to speak with people about Obama’s campaign.

“Volunteers who make calls and lick the envelopes and show up on Please see Obama, Page A3

Citizens discuss Council budget City resident Brandon Collins requests minimum wage increases, more public housing funding

By Joseph Liss

Cavalier Daily Associate Editor Charlottesville City Council held its first public hearing on next fiscal year’s proposed tax rate and City Manager Maurice Jones’ proposed budget yesterday evening.

City resident and former Council candidate Brandon Collins said current economic times demanded an increase of City services and therefore a hike in City taxes.

“I don’t see any problem with raising the tax rate... even a

small, tiny increase,” Collins said. “The time is now to put some money into people who are suffering from the economic crisis.”

Collins asked the City to increase its minimum wage to $13 dollars and to channel more funds into public housing.

Vice Mayor Kristin Szakos said she wanted to raise City taxes at some time in the future. At 95 cents for every $100 in property value, Charlottesville has the second-lowest tax rate of any city Please see City Council, Page A3

Matt Bloom | Cavalier Daily

The Obama campaign offices, which opened Sunday, will aid grassroots volunteering projects in Charlottesville.

NEWS

IN BRIEF

ROTC names new officer

At a change-of-command ceremony Friday afternoon, Capt. Michael Cashman officially replaced Capt. Timothy L. Watkins, a professor of naval science, as commanding officer of the University’s Naval ROTC program. Officials tapped Cashman, currently the commodore of the Helicopter Sea Combat Wing Atlantic in Norfolk, for the position last June.

In addition to leading the University’s selective 55-student unit, Cashman will teach courses in ethics and military leadership for fourth-year students the semester immediately before they begin active service.

Cashman said he is honored

Both the Navy and the University take part in the selection process. They require a commanding officer of the Naval ROTC to have a 3.5 GPA in a master’s program and a 3.0 graduating GPA in a bachelor’s program, Cashman said.

Watkins said he is glad to pass on command to a familiar figure, since he and Cashman have known each other for several years.

“This position is very sought after; there are guys practically standing in line to get it, and it’s always nice to have someone you know come after you,” Watkins said. “I would love to stay longer if the Navy would let me.”

—compiled by Monika Fallon

to adopt his role as mentor and teacher.

Watkins, who has served as commanding officer of the Naval ROTC since September 2009, is retiring after completing 30 years of service in the Navy.

Cashman, a 1986 graduate of the University of Maine’s Naval ROTC program, has served in the Navy for 26 years. He said his experience in the field makes him well-prepared to head the University’s unit.

“What I hope to bring [to the program] is 26 years as a military officer, what I have learned both in combat, relationships within the military [and] ethical decision making,” Cashman said.

Curry prof. talks Du Bois, education Alridge discusses thinker’s views during Education School’s Walter N. Ridley Distinguished Lecture Series

By Donald Sensabaugh Cavalier Daily Senior Writer

Matt Bloom | Cavalier Daily

Education Prof. Derrick Alridge spoke yesterday evening in Bavaro Hall about W.E.B. Du Bois as part of the Education School’s annual Walter N. Ridley Distinguished Lecture Series. Ridley was the first black University graduate.

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Education Prof. Derrick Alridge gave a speech yesterday afternoon as part of the Education School’s annual Walter N. Ridley Distinguished Lecture Series, which discussed W.E.B. Du Bois and his contribution to education.

Alridge described Du Bois, who helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, as “one of the most important African-

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American scholars of the 20th century.”

Alridge spoke of Du Bois’ view on race, black cultural immersion and his impact on the Civil Rights movement. Most importantly, however, Alridge said, “Du Bois believed that education was the most important tool in the freedom struggle.”

Du Bois at first sought to educate only what he called the “talented tenth,” a select group of

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Please see Ridley, Page A3

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NEWS

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 | The Cavalier Daily

Three-Day Weather Forecast

Provided by the Cavalier Weather Service

TODAY High of 75˚

TONIGHT Low of 53˚

TOMORROW High of 77˚

TOMORROW NIGHT Low of 54˚

THURSDAY High of 78˚

Partly sunny skies with chance of showers and possible afternoon thunderstorm.

Mostly cloudy with an east wind between 5-10 mph.

Partly sunny skies. North wind becoming south around 5 mph.

Partly cloudy skies with a light and variable wind.

Mostly sunny with a continuing light and variable wind.

Our weather this week will be shaped by an area of high pressure situated off the Atlantic Coast. Southerly flow around the high will draw in moisture and keep temperatures rising into the 70s. We’ll see alternating periods of cloudiness, drizzle and clearing over the next few days as we near the official start of Spring.

To receive Cavalier Weather Service forecasts via email, contact weather@virginia.edu.

OpenGrounds|Officials consider opening second studio Continued from page A1 Grounds will change the way research is conducted at the University, because the studio spaces encourage collaboration by offering a shared location in which ideas and projects can develop.

“We think it’s very important to have physical spaces that are a symbolic gesture, and create a physical ability for people to come together in new ways,” Skalak said.

Since the University has eleven separate schools with different focuses, Skalak said he hopes each school will one day have a nearby studio space which reflects its own “special flavor.”

Such spaces would encourage researchers from one school to share knowledge with people studying other disciplines, he added.

The studio is located on the Corner at 1400 West Main Street, which Sherman said was the

original entrance to the University.

“It is the traditional face [of the University]... yet [it] opens outward to the world because that’s where there’s a lot of walking traffic,” Skalak said.

The directors said the studio’s central location will make OpenGrounds more accessible while also symbolizing the initiative’s goal to fuse the University’s interests with those of the local Charlottesville community.

To mark its launch yesterday evening, OpenGrounds leaders hosted an event from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the studio.

“Tonight’s event is a bringingtogether of some of the most innovative people in the country,” Sherman said in his welcome address. “The theme will be: How do we work together to create new types of institutions that can produce real change in the world?”

English Prof. Rita Dove, environ-

mental activist Phillipe Cousteau and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Doug Garland, who is the director of the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, delivered 10-minute presentations after Sherman’s welcome address. A 30-minute interactive workshop led by John Abele, chair of the Boston Scientific Corporation, followed.

OpenGrounds leaders are now discussing opening a second studio space on North Grounds at the Darden School.

Obama|Downtown office eases University Democrats’ efforts Continued from page A1 people’s door steps and smile and greet folks — that’s the backbone of the campaign,” Virginia Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, said at the opening event. “It’s critical that we provide network for the volunteers.”

Deeds said it was “unusual” for a campaign center to open this early in the election season. The Charlottesville office is the seventh campaign center to open in Virginia this season.

“It signals the dedication to ensuring volunteers are engaged as soon as possible,” Deeds said.

“It also signals the strength and the confidence of the campaign.”

Volunteers for the Charlottesville office will put an emphasis on personal communication to rally support for the president’s campaign.

“The people make their choices about elections based on who

they talk to,” Szakos said. “It’s more effective than ads, than what they hear on the TV. It’s faceto-face and voice-to-voice contact that matters.”

Third-year College student James Schwab, the president of the University Democrats, said the Charlottesville office would facili-

tate the group’s involvement with Obama’s reelection campaign.

“It’s always easier to communicate with an organization when you know where they are based,” Schwab said. “It’s easier to get and drop off forms, to get and drop off lists, and it will really just serve us going forward.”

City Council | Low taxes balance high property values, Smith says Continued from page A1 in Virginia which provides full services to its citizens, she said.

“I see a potential time when I would want to talk about bringing them back up a little bit,” Szakos said.

Jones said property tax rates for the City have been decreasing since he started working for the City in the 1990s. The most recent decrease came in 2008, when the rate dropped from 99 cents per $100 to 95 cents per $100, Jones said.

Councilwoman Dede Smith said she thought increases in prop-

erty values throughout time had balanced out the tax decreases Szakos discussed.

“Our tax rate might be low, but our real estate prices are very high,” Smith said.

Jones said increasing funding for schools is one of his budget’s priorities. Since the state no longer counts University students as part of the City’s schoolage population, “the schools... took a significant hit” in the amount of government funding they receive, Jones said.

Jones said a better long-term strategy for increasing school funding is necessary because

he said the City is “using a lot of one-time money” to cover the decrease in state education funding this year.

Representatives from several nonprofit groups, including a group dedicated to improving literacy, also spoke before the Council to ask the body to continue funding them.

Council recently adopted a new way of determining funding for nonprofits which takes City priorities into account. The Council hoped to hold nonprofits more accountable when giving them funds, but some of the groups said technicalities prevented

them from receiving full funding.

Council members unanimously supported both the new method of allocating City resources to nonprofits and a desire to restore full funding to the nonprofits who needed it.

“This is a Council that has put a priority on job readiness,” Councilman Dave Norris said. Full funding for “work-readiness” programs should be restored, he said.

Szakos said she came to the Council meeting ready to defend how nonprofits were funded using the new system, as she

understands how situations such as staff changes in the middle of budget season could create problems for these groups.

“I came into this process ready to fight against second-guessing” those funding decisions, Szakos said. “I wouldn’t want to take [funds] away from other organizations” to restore these groups to full funding.

Jones said the Council has room to use a largely untouched pot of money set aside for Council projects to refund these nonprofits.

Further discussion of the budget will continue at public hearings during the next few weeks.

Ridley | Ridley’s legacy serves as example to black University students Continued from page A1 highly talented African-Americans. Alridge said, however, later in his life Du Bois believed “the purpose of education must not be to educate the most talented, but to educate everyone.”

Yesterday’s lecture honored its namesake, Walter N. Ridley, the first black man to graduate from the University and to receive a doctorate from a southern, predominantly white university. He said to a dean when he was considering applying to the University he saw “no reason

why a native son could not go to the state university,” according to the University’s Office of African American Affairs website.

Ridley started at the University in 1951, three years before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision. Ridley had already earned

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bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology.

Fourth-year College student Sarajanee Davis, the president of the Black Student Alliance, said Ridley’s legacy endures at the University.

“As the first black student to graduate, Walter Ridley empow-

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ered all of the student body to create change and shape the university,” Davis said.

Ridley later became the head of Virginia State College’s psychology department and served in the American Association of University Professors. He died in 1996.

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Opinion Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The Cavalier Daily “For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.”

—Thomas Jefferson

Matthew Cameron Editor-in-Chief Aaron Eisen Kaz Komolafe Executive Editor Managing Editor Gregory Lewis Anna Xie Operations Manager Chief Financial Officer

Only connect The new OpenGrounds initiative has the potential to advance the University’s vision for interdisciplinary collaboration The building of the future opened yesterday. Crosscutting, cutting-edge, the OpenGrounds Studio cut no corners but rather ribbons with a nod to tradition at what its website describes as “the historic Corner building” where it is located. It is sleek, it is fashionable, with a contemporary interior and outlook.

And what does it do? It does anything we want it to — serving as a digital lab, an academic playground — and yesterday it hosted black ties drinking, talking, adjusting themselves using the monitors stationed along the white, Kubrickian hall.

The OpenGrounds Studio is above all celebrated as a new space — as if space were something to be created — for interdisciplinary collaboration. The room can be reserved, allowing practitioners to use the facility and start projects. The revolutionary tables can transform into, among other things, a table. And we presume the chairs are movable.

In the Jeffersonian, First Amendment spirit, “Brainstorming visitors can jot ideas on walls covered in writeable paint,” according to UVa Today. Students, academics and community members will talk, run games and simulations, and do projects at this studio, which can be compared to a grown-up day care too easily.

This locale may have open doors but could prove inaccessible for the typical student. The modern trend of open-source collaboration goes against the modern trend of specialization. Moreover, while in theory people can contribute corroboratively to the OpenGrounds Studio, the building blocks of knowledge are still learned in front of books or screens,

alone, before they are collected together. The studio faces the same challenges of finding an audience as does any other, and this white, transparent spot on the Corner will need to find its identity between a pub for intellectual graffiti and a stiff faculty lounge.

Yet while we have reservations, there is room left for a party of optimism.

“At the University of Virginia, like many other institutions, interdisciplinary collaboration often leads to the formation of a permanent Center for the Study of Something.” This is good stuff from Inside Higher Ed. But most centers or institutes are organizational tools and not actual structures. The OpenGrounds Studio is just one aspect of the larger OpenGrounds vision which also has a digital presence. As a standalone act, OpenGrounds has a cloudy mission with up-in-the-air rhetoric. But having no objectives is part of the project’s emergent, free spirited culture. If taken as part and parcel of the University’s larger campaign for an education across disciplines and mediums, this is a promising development.

The best answer to an either/or question is both, and the University has responded to the competing digital landscape by adopting its best features, such as streamed lectures and enhanced communication, to our physical environment on Grounds. For all plans emulating the Internet, such as OpenGrounds or the return of Look Hoos Talking, there will be some borrowed rhetoric and derivative ideas about innovation. The University, however, is right to invest in such plans before it’s too late, while it still has credentials, infrastructure and our support.

Featured online reader comment “‘Using a fake ID, failing to pay rent, abuse of animals, bullying, selling and using illegal drugs, purchasing alcohol for underage people and assault.’

These happen every day at UVA, good luck trying to expel students for any of these. Student government nowadays is filled with sheltered children haha.”

“LOL,” responding to Valerie Clemens’ Mar. 19 article, “Honor plan expands role”

Letter to the editor If I only had a spine

The New York Times often publishes op-eds in which e-books are devoured. Ironically, I read these pieces — written by the same people who ignore that today “online” makes more business sense than “print” — on my New York Times app for the Blackberry. As an undergraduate on Grounds I hardly had time to deviate from my professors’ literary choices. As an alumnus, however, I’ve immersed myself into numerous titles, most of them in Kindle versions. My Kindle has changed my reading culture.

One, I get to read in any position without worrying about the pages hanging out. Two, the device automatically saves highlights and notes into a database I can later use for research. Three, and most importantly, I take my

e-library wherever I go. The only part I lament is that I wish I used my Kindle as an undergraduate, rather than carrying books from Bice to Cabell, Wilson to Clemons.

I understand many readers prefer the “smell” of pages and “touching” a book, as I enjoy writing a letter more than sending an email. But I choose to acknowledge the advantages of the latter and write a letter or two only every so often. Perhaps I blame my youth or my filosofía progresista, but I believe we must welcome the future while respecting the past. The people whining on The New York Times are not much different from those Greeks who were afraid that writing would limit humans’ memory.

AQUILES DAMIRONALCANTARA CLAS ‘11

Editorial Cartoon by Stephen Rowe

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tableau Editors Caroline Gecker, Conor Sheehey Senior Associate Editor Anna Vogelsinger Associate Editors Erin Abdelrazaq Kevin Vincenti

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OPINION

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 | The Cavalier Daily

Novel solutions

T

The Cavalier Daily would benefit from incorporating a page of short stories

HIS WEEK I want to make refreshing break from the often a bid for, and hear feed harsh reality in the rest of the back on, an idea I have for paper.

Returning to focus, here is The Cavalier Daily. To this end, I would appreciate anything that what I see a page of short fiction doing the reader can offer SAM NOVACK for The Cavain the way of advice. l i e r D a i l y.

Here, essentially, is OPINION COLUMNIST Such a page what I want: a short story page in our University’s could broaden the readership.

A short fiction piece would add newspaper.

The local newspaper in my a new dynamic to the paper. It hometown of Corpus Christi, could draw in new readers and Texas had such a page. Each give current readers another week, there was a new short reason to keep coming back. story on the back page of the Most people will eventually main section of the paper. Each get bogged down by constantly of these stories was of a distinct reading about University and nature — some were love sto- world events. Even the Life ries, others comedies or fables. section is all facts, even if those Each was enjoyable in its own facts are presented in a fun and way, but what I recall most personal manner. I would hope about reading these stories is that a fiction page would give the feeling of eating “dessert” readers the same sense of imagiwhich came from reading them. native escapism which my local I read the paper to catch up newspaper offered.

A fiction page would not only with what was going on, locally, nationally and globally, but have the benefit of drawing in catching up with world events is readers; it would draw in writrarely a heartwarming experi- ers. I took a fiction-writing class ence. For this reason, the short last semester, and I can vouch story took on a double role of for the writing abilities of fellow a simple entertainment and a University students, many of

whom I can easily see jumping Those of us who work for The at the chance to see their work Cavalier Daily are in a better in The Cavalier Daily. And for position than most to pursue a the twenty or so classmates I career in journalism. The cregot to know, there are classes of ative writing gig is even harder to get many more. Cre“A fiction page would not estabative writers here lished in, at the University only have the benefit of and a ficdo not have many o p p o r t u n i t i e s drawing in readers; it would tion page draw in writers.” c o u l d to exhibit their give such work — there writers a are competitive literary reviews which publish leg up.

A number of famous authors roughly once a semester, but that is about the limit when it have been supported through comes to legitimate opportuni- newspapers. Edgar Allen Poe’s ties to showcase student writ- “The Raven” was first published ing. Because of this, a weekly, in a weekly newspaper called biweekly or even monthly fic- the New York Mirror. “The Red tion page would likely appear Badge of Courage” by Stephen very attractive to them. The Crane had similar beginnings.

University has a creative writ- Newspaper publications are ing club comprised of students more dynamic than they might looking to hone their writing appear and can go a long way skills, and a fiction page would for aspiring writers.

And it is not only readers and grant these students a chance to be a part of our University’s writers who would be helped out by the addition of a fiction page. paper in a creative capacity.

Furthermore, such a page Whether the page is weekly or could act as the chance many monthly, writers would be comaspiring writers need to get their peting to see their work pubname out to a larger community. lished in a legitimate source.

Such a competitive atmosphere would draw positive attention to The Cavalier Daily.

I will admit, The Cavalier Daily is fairly rigid in structure. We have meetings to amend our paper’s constitution, a document which effectively dictates how the paper is structured. I am a stickler for tradition, but in a time where traditional printed newspapers are falling behind equivalent electronic media, there is something to be said for integrating a more flexible aspect to The Cavalier Daily.

I am certain I have not proposed the idea in its perfect form. Maybe it would be best if each week was a different theme, or maybe different writers could contribute to one continuous novel. And I do not imagine it will be an easily implemented change. All I know for sure is that I would love to see such a page and the work of those who would fill it.

Sam Novack’s column appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily.

He can be reached at s.novack@cavalierdaily.com.

Putting in a good word

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Americans should not limit themselves to English because of the practical and conceptual benefits of learning a second language

WEEK AGO I was chatting the language itself, cultural conwith some upperclass- cepts, colloquial expressions men who claimed that and implied word-meanings because English is spoken in can get lost in translation.

Take Korean for example. virtually every professional and Instead of academic domain, the “subjectlearning a foreign DENISE TAYLOR verb-object” language as an OPINION COLUMNIST construction American is a fruitthat exists less pursuit.

As outraged as I was, I under- in English and most Western stood their point. The dominance languages, Korean sentences of English in the United States are composed in the order of covers such a vast expanse that “subject-object-verb.” Studies it is less of a priority to learn have shown that those who are another language here than it fluent in such languages use would be in a different country. their brains differently to put This reality, paired with the fact forth an idea, as the verb comes that an English education is after the statement.

But it is not just about how semi-mandatory for the rest of the world, fuels the mentality of the brain processes that makes “Why should I learn when they language such a vital tool. Jared Diamond of the University of already have?”

The way I see it, however, is California, Los Angeles conthat a language doesn’t need ducted research which sugto have a “practical” value to gested bilinguals – Korean or be a practical asset. Knowledge not — have an improved mental of a foreign language allows performance in actions such as you to articulate your thoughts word processing and multitaskwith a different economy of ing.

And though bilingual speakwords, enlarging and adjusting your mind to new courses of ers may know two languages expression. Without speaking from an early age, Diamond

is quick to point out that even cal “dos” and “don’ts” in my taking up a language later in native languages.

I have since been a student of life can greatly improve your mental capabilities. As another French and German here at the study by Vanderbilt University University and would argue that both pursuits demonstrated, contribthe process of “Knowledge of a foreign have uted to my learning a differlanguage allows you to education in ent language — whether at five articulate your thoughts other, practiways. The or 50 — awarded with a different economy cal U.S. educacognitive benefits which range from of words, enlarging and tional system, math to reading adjusting your mind to m e a n w h i l e , has grown proficiency. new courses of increasDespite having expression.” ingly negligrown up bilingent toward gual, I myself cannot say if I have experi- languages. According to one enced such effects first-hand. I national survey conducted in was used to switching between 2011, only an estimated 41 E n g l i s h a n d T u r k i s h e v e n percent of secondary school before I started school, and still students were enrolled in a have not come to think of this foreign language. What is conproficiency as anything spe- cerning is that globalization cial. What really impacted me, and technology are causing though, was when I started to more of a demand than ever for formally learn French in eighth those who are multilingual, and grade. Up until that point I had so speaking something besides never internalized a grammar English is not such a “fruitless lesson, and yet by learning the pursuit” after all.

Even so, it would ultimately ways of French, I was able to better recognize the grammati- hurt us to justify the learning

of languages on a cost-benefit basis. As a college student I admit it is hard to escape the cultural stereotypes associated with those who speak a certain language. Yet we need to avoid the notions that Japanese and Arabic are “employable” while German is “good for engineering” and Latin is “completely useless.” In truth, any language is a good language if you are committed to learning it.

With an education system which relies so heavily on exploring ideas for oneself, personal contributions and independent research, it seems that language study is just a rote memorization of that which has already been discovered. Yet if we think of language as a tool for the brain to interact with itself rather than with others, the advantages of learning one extend far beyond the level of rote memorization, and into the realm of self-improvement.

Denise Taylor’s column appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily.

She can be reached at d.taylor@cavalierdaily.com.

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Nation&World Tuesday, March 20, 2012 DOW JONES

NASDAQ

S&P 500

Nikkei 225

+6.51 Points

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13,239.13

1,409

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National Gas Average: $3.842

83.403 Yen = $ 1

1 Euro = $ 1.3235

10,141.99

1 British Pound = $ 1.5891

Health care hearings loom Supreme Court to consider constitutionality arguments next week; activists begin to mobilize

By N.C. Aizenman The Washington Post

Simon Denyer | Washington Post

INdia cars

General Motors is expanding its vehicle assembly plant in the state of Gujarat, India. The business-friendly state is attracting investment from U.S. carmakers keen to tap into the fast-expanding Indian market.

Syrian unrest continues Central Damascus gun battle erupts; government, rebels offer conflicting accounts

By Liz Sly

The Washington Post A rare gun battle broke out early yesterday between rebels and Syrian security forces in an upscale neighborhood of central Damascus, taking the violence that has ravaged many other parts of Syria to the heart of the capital and undermining government claims that it is asserting control after a year of unrest.

Residents of the western Mezzeh neighborhood, which is home to foreign embassies, government offices and senior officials, described hearing explosions and gunfire over several hours, starting early Monday morning.

Many said this was the fiercest fighting yet in the capital since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule began a

year ago.

Video footage posted on YouTube showed a burned-out apartment on the top floor of a sixstory building, with bullet and shrapnel scars in the stairwell indicating a fierce battle.

The government and the rebels gave conflicting accounts of what had occurred. The official Syrian Arab News Agency said the battles erupted when government forces stormed a “terrorist” hideout in an apartment building in the area. It said two gunmen and a member of the security forces were killed, but it gave no further details.

The rebel Free Syrian Army said, however, that its fighters had launched an attack on the Political Security Directorate, a branch of the government security forces, using rocket-propelled

grenades and machine guns.

Some assertions by the opposition force appeared improbable.

Col. Malik al-Kurdi, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army interviewed at the military refugee camp in Turkey that serves as a de facto headquarters for the rebel group, said that 87 government soldiers were killed in the assault and that no rebels died.

Rami Abdulrahman of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it did appear, however, that armed rebels had carried out an attack in the symbolically significant area, targeting the home of a major general with a rocket-propelled grenade and then taking refuge in a nearby apartment building, where they held out against the security forces for three hours.

Expect demonstrators to brandish placards reading “Hands off my health care!” and demanding a repeal of the 2010 health-care law. Expect doctors in white lab coats and patients who have suffered at the hands of insurance companies to hold news conferences lauding the law’s consumer protections and pleading for its preservation.

When the Supreme Court holds three days of hearings on the constitutionality of the law next week, supporters and opponents will be reaching for broader political targets.

Backers see a moment to educate and sell Americans on a law that continues to confuse and divide them, and that has become a key issue in the presidential campaign.

Opponents will direct their energy toward Congress, the potential next front in the fight if the court upholds the law.

“Even if some of the law is (ruled) constitutional, it doesn’t mean it has to stay in place. It can be changed, it can be amended,” said Jennifer Stefano, director of the Pennsylvania chapter of the conservative organization Americans for Prosperity, and who is organizing several hundred protestors from her state.

Their differing goals are reflected in the types of events each side is planning.

A coalition of several dozen groups, ranging from advocacy organizations such as Families USA and Health Care for America Now, to faith leaders, physicians associations and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), are seeking to maximize their exposure to media outlets

across the country.

They will bring in 27 talk-radio hosts who broadcast to 48 states, setting them up in a building across the street from the court.

A steady stream of guests have been scheduled including members of Congress, prominent policy advocates who favor the health-care law, and at least a dozen of who the activists have dubbed “real people” with stories about how the statute directly benefits them.

They also will be made available to other journalists at a nearby media tent and will headline news conferences on the court steps each morning before the hearings begin.

The plan has the backing of the Obama administration, which recently hosted a meeting to help activists coordinate their efforts.

The SEIU and other groups in the coalition are reaching out to their membership to round out the news conferences with a crowd of placard-waving supporters. But organizers say their emphasis is on creating multiple opportunities for those with the most compelling perspectives to communicate directly with the public.

“The whole purpose is to humanize this,” said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. It’s an effort that has kept the group’s director of communications, Dave Lemmon, at his Washington office late into the evening over the past several weeks.

On a recent morning, he sat with another staffer whittling down a list of doctors and nurses interested in speaking at the first morning news conference, which is intended to highlight views from the medical community.

School shooting kills four Jews French Pres. Sarkozy visits Toulouse; requests moment of silence marking ‘national tragedy’

By Andrea Rothman Bloomberg News

Four people were killed and one seriously injured in a shooting at a school in a residential neighborhood of Toulouse in the worst attack on a Jewish target in France since 1982.

The assaults followed shootings that left three soldiers of North African descent dead and a fourth military parachutist in a critical condition last week in Toulouse and nearby Montauban.

The French prosecutor’s office said in a statement that the shootings yesterday and last week will be investigated together as “acts of terrorism.”

French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited the school, Ozar Hatorah, while the interior ministry said it is reinforcing security at Jewish schools. The shootings come 35 days before the first round of the French presidential election and may move security higher on the list of voters’ concerns. Schools across France will observe a minute’s silence tomorrow, Sarkozy said.

“This is a national tragedy,” Sarkozy said. “Everything will be done to find out who is responsible and to make him pay for his crimes. Hatred mustn’t win.”

The killer, who escaped on a scooter after randomly shooting people at the school this morning, had two weapons and fired at “everything in sight,” Michel Valet, the state prosecutor for Toulouse, told reporters. Valet didn’t comment on whether the killings were by the same person as last week, except to say that one of the weapons was of the same caliber.

The same weapon was used in the incidents, Agence FrancePresse reported, citing an unidentified investigation officer.

The killer got off his scooter, walked into the school’s courtyard and began shooting, schools officials said. A teacher and his 3- and 6-year-old children, and the 8-year-old daughter of the school’s director were killed. A 17-year-old was seriously hurt and is in critical condition.

The three children killed weren’t students at the school. They were shot at about 8 a.m. in the school’s courtyard, while waiting for a ride to their own primary school.

A security film at the school shows that the killer grabbed one of the children by the hair before shooting her, school officials said.

“She was a little flower,” Yvan Levy, who dined Sunday with the family of the school’s director, said of the 8-year-old who was killed. “It’s clear the man doesn’t have a conscience. He can’t distinguish good from evil.”

The school, on a quiet street with rows of homes and trees with pink blossoms, is housed in two one-story yellow-and-orange stucco buildings separated by a courtyard.

The establishment, which has a middle school and a high school, has 200 children between about 11 and 18 years of age. Dozens of people outside the school wept and huddled together. An orthodox Jewish man in black was carried out of the school as was a weeping older woman, who was led out by four people.

“It was terrible,” Charles Ben Semoun, a parent of a child at the school, said on i-tele television.

Tim Osborn | Washington Post

climate

Relative sea-level rise near Leeville, LA., during the past 100 years has left this cemetery near Highway 1 underwater, highlighting the challenge to the region’s infrastructure in the years ahead.

U.S. adopts cyberweapons Pentagon accelerates defensive technology development, officials say

By Ellen Nakashima The Washington Post

The Pentagon is accelerating efforts to develop a new generation of cyberweapons capable of disrupting enemy military networks, even when those networks are not connected to the Internet, according to current and former U.S. officials.

The possibility of a confrontation with Iran or Syria has highlighted for American military planners the value of cyberweapons that can be used against an enemy whose most important targets, such as air defense systems, do not rely on Internet-based networks. But adapting such cyberweapons can take months or even years of arduous techni-

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cal work.

When U.S. military planners were looking for ways to disable Libya’s air defense system before NATO aerial attacks last year, they discussed using cybertechnology. But the idea was quickly dismissed because there was no effective option available, said current and former U.S. officials.

They estimated that crafting a cyberweapon would have taken about a year, including the time needed to assess the target system for vulnerabilities.

“We weren’t ready to do that in Libya,” said a former U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the discussion’s sensitivity. “We’re not ready to do that now, either.”

Last year, to speed up the devel-

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opment of cyberweapons, as well as defensive technology, then-Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn and Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, then vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, placed $500 million over five years into the budget of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, one of the Defense Department’s premier research organizations.

The agency also has launched new cyber-development initiatives, including a “fast-track” program.

“We need cyber options that can be executed at the speed, scale and pace” of other military weapons, Kaigham Gabriel, DARPA deputy director, said in testimony last month to Congress.

Sports

SECTION

INSIDE: Life Classified Comics

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

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www.cavalierdaily.com

The Cavalier Daily

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

SWIM AND DIVE

Virginia ousts Spiders Cavaliers look to make splash Moorer’s passing, bench play earn women WNIT victory against Richmond 68-55

After women achieve 17th-place finish, men’s squad sends six qualifiers to NCAAs this week

By Ian Rappaport Sports Editor

At the ACC Championships last month, the Virginia women’s swimming and diving team set a high standard en route to a fifth straight conference championship. One week later, the men’s squad matched the feat with a fifth straight win of its own.

When the Cavalier men hit the water Thursday for the NCAA Championship, they will again attempt to emulate the success of the Virginia women, who recently ended a commendable season with a 17th-place finish in last week’s women’s NCAA Championship.

“A lot of the girls had huge step-up swims,” senior diver Briggy Imbriglia said. “It’s huge motivation [for the men’s team].”

The women fed off a hand-

ful of key performances to post a solid showing against a deep and talented field of the nation’s finest swimmers.

During the opening session Thursday, sophomore Rachel Naurath and freshman Ellen Williamson helped Virginia collect 10 points while also earning All-America Honorable Mention recognition.

Naurath’s 4:37.87 swim in the 500 freestyle was good for 10th place and broke her own school record for the event, while Williamson nabbed 14th place in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:58.92 in the consolation final.

The 800 freestyle relay team of Naurath, sophomore Caroline Kenney, freshman Emily Dicus and Williamson took ninth Friday, going 7:03.68. SophoPlease see Swim & Dive, Page B3

Jenna Truong | Cavalier Daily

Sophomore guard Ataira Franklin shot 3-of-7 from behind the arc yesterday in the second round of the WNIT, giving her a team-high 50 treys for the season on 32.1 percent shooting.

By Daniel Weltz

Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor The Virginia women’s basketball team flipped the script on sharpshooting Richmond yesterday evening by capitalizing on seven three-pointers to advance to the third round of the WNIT Tournament with a 68-55 victory.

Senior guard Ariana Moorer tallied 16 points and a career-high tying eight assists, and sophomore guard Ataira Franklin added 14 points for the Cavaliers (24-10, 9-7 ACC), who will play in the WNIT third round for the second consecutive season.

Bench play proved key for Virginia in the first half, when the reserves helped spark a 10-0 run to give the Cavaliers their largest lead of the half at 22-12. Junior

forward Telia McCall started the streak with four straight points in the paint, and sophomore forward Jazmin Pitts’ block got the team going during the transition before Moorer assisted Franklin on one of her three three-pointers to cap the early spurt. “[Moorer] always has an eye on her shooters,” coach Joanne Boyle said. “She’s a combo guard, but when it comes to things like that, she really becomes a great point guard. We had great open looks because of her penetration.”

The Spiders (23-9, 9-5 A-10) rallied to even the score at 28-all with less than a minute to play in the first half, but junior guard Lexie Gerson drilled a buzzer-beating three off Moorer’s fifth assist of the first half to push Virginia’s lead back out to 32-28 at the break.

Eight seconds into the second half, Moorer drove the baseline before swinging a cross-court pass into the corner for another Franklin three-pointer. The pair collaborated again with 17 minutes 19 seconds remaining when Moorer dished to Franklin for another trey to cap a 14-2 run, earning a 42-30 lead for the Cavaliers.

Richmond did not get any closer than eight the rest of the game while Moorer shouldered the offensive load down the stretch, scoring 12 of Virginia’s final 18 points, at one point scoring 10 straight.

“I wasn’t aggressive in the first half; I was kind of passive,” Moorer said. “I went into what I call ‘point guard mode,’ where I was just

Courtesy Virginia Athletics

Senior diver Briggy Imbriglia is primed to shine on the national stage after winning his first-ever NCAA Zone Championship earlier this month.

Please see W Bball, Page B3

Cracking the brackets

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K, everyone: Raise your hand if your bracket is now officially better used as kindling than as a mechanism for successful gambling. Wow, that many of you? Don’t worry, I’m right there with you. After watching both Duke and Missouri fall to No. 15 seeds and Virginia send its JV team to its opening game, my bracket is now dead last in almost every one of my pools — including, for the umpteenth year in a row, my mother’s, who watches approximately one game of college basketball a year. Luckily for me and for all of you, after carefully studying the first two

rounds of this year’s tournament, then our fair state has produced I believe I’ve finally cracked the a surprise team nearly every year. In 2010 , code. That’s 11th-seeded Old right, cut out Dominion upset this column sixth-seededNotre and stash it Dame in the openaway for next ing round. EveryMarch, and the one remembers competition VCU’s magical run won’t know last year, and this what hit them. year it was NorRule No. MATT DITON folk State’s turn 1: Never bet against a mid-major school from to wear the glass slipper. Three years in a row — that makes a Virginia in the first round.

We all remember George Mason trend. While this rule doesn’t in 2006, the biggest Cinderella translate to ACC teams, if the Wilstory in recent memory, but since liam & Mary Tribe somehow win

the Colonial Athletic Conference next year and find themselves in the tournament, I know who I’ll be picking.

Rule No. 2: Always pick Gonzaga to win its opening game.

Every year I fall victim to this rule. No matter how highly ranked they are, everyone always loves Gonzaga to be their sleeper, and every year I feel the need to rebel and go against the trend.

The Bulldogs play in a weak conference. They never have transcendently great players — Adam Morrison’s disgrace of a moustache eliminates him from consideration. They’re from

SPORTS

Junior Stephen Bruno went 3-for-12 in the series against Florida State.

The Virginia baseball team failed to top No. 4 Florida State this weekend, tossing away a number of opportunities for redemption en route to a demoralizing three-game sweep.

Virginia (11-8-1, 2-4 ACC) held multi-

Please see Diton, Page B3

IN BRIEF

Bullpen flops against FSU

Thomas Bynum | Cavalier Daily

Washington state. Everything always makes me think they’re an overrated team which makes the tournament simply because people love saying “Gonzaga.”

Yet seemingly every year the Zags win at least one game. Since the 2009 tournament this has been the case, and that streak would have been longer if not for Stephen Curry’s magical run in 2008.

Rest assured, the very first thing I’ll do next year is fill in the Bulldogs for a win.

Rule No. 3: Never pick an Ivy

run leads in each game — including eighth-inning leads Sunday and Monday — but saw an atrocious bullpen performance derail its chances in each game against the Seminoles (17-2, 6-0 ACC).

The Cavaliers jumped ahead 3-0 in the opener Saturday, scoring two runs in the first on consecutive hits by junior third baseman Stephen Bruno, freshman outfielder Mike Papi and senior first baseman Jared King and adding a run in the fourth on a single by junior shortstop Chris Taylor.

In the bottom half of the fourth, however, an error by Taylor allowed three unearned runs to cross against senior lefty Scott Silverstein. Florida State then scored seven more unanswered runs against a usually stellar Cavalier bullpen, knocking around senior Shane Halley, sophomore Austin Young and freshman Nathaniel Abel in the final five innings to cruise to a 12-3 victory.

Bullpen woes continued in the rematch Sunday as Cavalier relievers squandered junior right-hander

Branden Kline’s 6.1 inning shutout gem by blowing a 3-1 eighth-inning lead. Sophomore reliever Kyle Crockett surrendered three runs in one inning of work, leaving the bases loaded for senior closer Justin Thompson in the eighth with one out. Seminole cleanup hitter junior first baseman Jayce Boyd doubled to score two, tying the game before redshirt sophomore catcher Stephen McGee’s fielder’s choice staked Florida State to a 4-3 triumph.

In the finale last night, Virginia used a four-run third to surge ahead 5-2 and held the lead until the bottom of the eighth. Crockett and Young combined to allow three runs in the inning, with Seminoles junior outfielder Seth Miller slugging the go-ahead two run-single off Young.

The Cavaliers failed to produce a base-runner in the ninth and fell 7-5.

Virginia returns home to face VMI Wednesday 5 p.m. and hopes to extend a four-game home win streak.

—compiled by Daniel Weltz

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Cavs prolong slump, lose 9-7 The No. 10 Virginia women’s lacrosse team continued its recent struggles Saturday, dropping a 9-7 decision against No. 16 Princeton on the road. The Cavaliers (4-4, 0-2 ACC) have now lost four matchups in a five-game stretch dating back to March 2.

Virginia and Princeton (3-2, 0-1 Ivy) appeared evenly matched from the get-go, as the two teams traded goals back and forth en route to a 4-4 tie at halftime. But the Tigers’ attack surged following intermission, stringing together a 3-0 run during the first seven minutes of the second half.

Virginia senior attacker Josie Owen converted on a free position shot with 19 minutes 32 seconds remaining to cut Princeton’s cushy lead to two

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scores. The Tigers, however, quickly countered on one of senior midfielder Cassie Pyle’s game-high three goals to regain a three-goal lead.

The Cavaliers inched to within two points with four minutes remaining in regulation but never came any closer to catching up to their northern rivals.

The Cavaliers edged the Tigers in the shot and ground ball battles 27-21 and 20-19, respectively. Owen led Virginia with two goals and two assists , and five other Cavaliers chipped in one goal apiece.

Virginia returns to action tomorrow evening when it hosts No. 20 James Madison.

The opening draw is scheduled for 7 p.m.

—compiled by Stacy Kruczkowski

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Life

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 Courtesy england.edu

Global�Studies� International students discuss academic adjustments, educational differences

By REBECCA KIM | CAVALIER DAILY STAFF WRITER For many international students, excitement about studying abroad offsets a difficult adjustment to U.S. culture. In many foreign countries, U.S. colleges appear attractive because of their academic rigor and opportunities to join clubs and take a wide variety of classes.

First-year College student Yash Agarwal, who is from Mumbai, India, said colleges near his hometown focus more on memorization of facts and socialization than engaged learning.

“The teachers are not very knowledgeable at most institutions, and the students are not very bothered by that,” Agarwal said. “You’re just going to school to hang out with friends.”

This problem is not unique to Indian higher education institutions; first-year College student Irene Burgoa said she wanted to escape the trap of apathy which Bolivian students often fall into.

“Bolivia is too much fun,” Burgoa said. “Sometimes I feel like mediocrity and partying are the rules, and although everybody enjoys that from time to time, I want to be in an atmosphere that encourages me to be the best I can be. There is so much about the world, real stuff, that people in Bolivia don’t seem to pay attention to.”

First-year College student Flor Guerra, who is originally from Nicaragua, said in comparison to Nicaraguan colleges, the United States offers so many more opportunities to prepare her for her future.

“College in Nicaragua is not good at all,” Guerra said. “There are only two acceptable universities. If I had gone to college in Nicaragua I would live at home and the classes would be easy. Only ten students out of the 85 in my graduating class stayed in Nicaragua.”

Once international students decide to attend

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the University, they still face the daunting task of orientation where they have to choose from a broad range of classes which can be overwhelming for some students.

“In India, flexibility was not just lacking, but also discouraged,” Agarwal said. “You went to college to go into a particular stream.”

Agarwal said while choosing classes was difficult, he gambled and signed up for a sociology course. He is now considering majoring or minoring in the subject.

Solenne Colcombet, a Commerce student from France, said she took classes in a variety of departments which she wouldn’t have had a chance to take back home in Paris to learn more about the United States.

While many international students are able to adapt quickly to the wide array of classes, some had difficulties adjusting to other aspects of U.S. college life. Coming from a starkly different educational system, some international students said they found the discussion sections, large lectures and academic life at the University quite challenging.

“The system is different in America,” Agarwal said. “There are lectures and discussions, and you actually participate. You have to force yourself to speak, especially when you have class participation points. You have to find something to say simply for the sake of speaking. Traditionally [in India], the students keep quiet and the teacher just talks for the full period.”

Colcombet said classes in the United States require students to be constantly engaged, as they do not revolve solely around the instructor.

“You have to participate a lot in your classes, which we don’t do so much [in France],” Col-

Alarming observations

e c e n t l y , I h a v e just for a little.” Clearly these f o u n d m y s e l f lyrics refer to the process of i n a t e r r i t o r y w h i c h hitting snooze and wanting threatens more souls to go back to sleep “just for a than a dementor’s kiss and little.” From these two lines, I more livers than a fourth-year have to believe my roommate fifth. It is the land of all things puts thought into every aspect evil: the land of ice-breaker of her life. She also lives with a generally optimistic attitude, activities.

One question which con- always wanting something to tinually pops up during these believe in. The most salient sadistic experiments is: “Why character trait I learned from do you get up in the morning?” her alarm clock, however, is Someone inevitably retorts her obsession for Parachute, snarkily: “Uhh, my alarm. which borders on unhealthy.

Choosing a song as an alarm Duh.” Considering my involvements at the University, I am means you will forever associdoomed to repeat ice-break- ate that piece of music with anxiety and ers, accepting their results as It’s a Punderful Life thoughts of getting out of warm, universal truths. comfy sheets to Therefore, I embark on a long, have come to the c o l d d a y. Yo u opinion that a must really want person’s alarm to listen to a song choice is all-reif you subject it to vealing. Getting that. to know someThen there are one’s life story the people who and, you know, p e r s o n a l i t y ELIZABETH STONEHILL choose a terrible mainstream song. might also help, As if you don’t hear “We Are but only minimally.

If someone sets a song as Young” enough when you walk an alarm, he is asking to be on the Corner or Rugby. Do judged. Riddle me this: What’s you really need to set it as your worse than a roommate press- alarm? Especially on a Saturing the snooze button five day morning when you probtimes? When said roommate’s ably do not want to remember alarm happens to blare Para- the previous night, let alone chute’s “Something to Believe face a blasting reminder of In” at full volume after each it vibrating next to your ear. snooze. My roommate just so I know people might see this happens to fall into this cat- type of alarm as an uplifting egory, which I think reveals a way to start the day, but I guess I am too cynical to understand lot about her.

For one, she is a thoughtful this rationale.

For my alarm, I chose the person whose computer search history probably yields a mil- banal Blackberry tone. This lion “Parachute lyrics” results. generic choice does not, I The song starts, “You wake up hope, characterize my personevery morning looking for your ality; however, my method of answer.” How appropriate for waking up does. For example, an alarm clock. It gets even I set three alarm clocks all at better as the chorus chants, different times because I have “You say, ‘keep my head from going down’/Just for a little, Please see Stonehill, Page B6

combet said. “You have to raise your hand and speak out loud, not make a lot of mistakes, and say something interesting.”

Not only did some international students feel unprepared for the amount of participation required in discussions, some said they were shocked by the intense academic demands college life imposes.

“It’s... more rigorous and more challenging at U.Va., but you have a lot of resources that really help you,” first-year Engineering student Mohammed Shafi said. “In Saudi Arabia, there are really bad professors and you have to study on your own. You’re doing a lot of hard work, but you’re not learning a lot because you’re doing it by yourself. Here, you’re learning more and there are a lot of people that are willing to help you.”

Shafi said while the material he was learning at the University is more challenging than his studies in Saudi Arabia, resources offered by the University made the learning process much easier.

Some international students also said the extracurricular activities available outside the classroom provided the opportunity to explore interests, passions and potential career options.

“In India, students do not take part in anything meaningful,” Agarwal said. “People just don’t care.”

At the University, however, Agarwal said he has become involved with a number of organizations, including the McIntire Investment Institute and the Virginia Photography Club.

Shafi said going to college in the United States meant “every day is a new adventure.”

“My life over the last six months is growing exponentially in every single aspect,” Shafi said.

Just say yes

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ou know it’s the month Diet Mountain Dew, I chose after Spring Break when something less tangible. One of you get no work done my all-time favorite quotes was said by author because you’re Neale Donald too busy looking Urban Legends Wa l s c h : “ L i f e through photos begins at the end of 800 of your of your comfort closest friends zone.” While I in exotic places. had an amazing And you defifirst five semesnitely know it’s ters at college, I soon after Spring really wanted to Break when half push my comfort of those albums zone during the are entitled last three. After “YOLO” or “you all, you’re only in only live once,” college once — mine included.

KATIE URBAN “YOICO,” anyone?

While I underAnd so far, saying stand the sudden popularity of “YOLO” has cre- yes to things I would have norated a bit of backlash, I like the mally said no to has impacted sentiment. My New Year’s reso- my life in such a positive way.

One of the first things I said lution, for example, is to say yes more, which fits in nicely with yes to this year was a production assistant position at NBC29, the idea you only live once.

Instead of opting for a cliché which I absolutely love. In the New Year’s resolution, such as past, I think I would have played going to the gym every day, or it safe and run for reelection as some resolution I know I could production editor of The Cavanever fulfill, such as giving up lier Daily. The editorship was a

S

Please see Urban, Page B6

Gran, Grandaddy’s house

u n d a y, I s m e l l e d Gran and Granddaddy’s house. I smelled old wood and oriental rugs and TV trays on the sun porch. I smelled floral print curtains and a too-hard mattress and black-and-white photos captioned “Debutante Ball.” I smelled my youth, and this smell extended beyond the old wood walls and threadbare carpets out into the yard, and I smelled saltwater. I smelled rose bushes and towering magnolia trees and slick mud leading down to the water’s edge. I smelled all of this. Then I stopped and looked in a mirror, and I was twenty years old and 150 miles from where I’d just been.

I was not wandering the narrow hallways of my grandparents’

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position I loved and would have been happy to do again, but it would have been the comfortable choice. By saying yes to a new opportunity, I not only have a few extra dollars in my bank account, but I also have knowledge and experience which will help me better achieve my longterm career goals.

Of course, not everything I say yes to is as important as deciding whether or not to take a job.

In February, for example, three of my housemates and I were trying to decide if we should go out Thursday night. While weighing the costs and benefits of going out — something only University students would do — I decided, in accordance with my resolution, that we had to say “yes” to going out. After getting ready, we headed toward the Corner and eventually found ourselves upstairs in the Backyard. After sitting down at a table, several guys came up to

antebellum home in Newport father’s parents, were in their News, Va. Nor was I with my eighties when I was a kid. With matching white grandparents heads of hair and who passed Things I Don’t Know tanned, wrinkled away years skin, they were a ago. I was in a For Sure novel addition to country club my inner circle, eating brunch. which was so intiBut those old mately interwoven wooden walls among my immediand floral print ate family members curtains were (and pets). not in CharlotG o i n g t o G ra n tesville. They and Granddaddy’s couldn’t have meant hide and been. I have seek behind big oak forgotten so trees with my sister, many things, a n d t h o s e CONNELLY HARDAWAY brother and father.

It meant dipping smells made me remember.

Gran and Granddaddy, my Please see Hardaway, Page B6

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SPORTS

AROUND THE ACC of No. 8 seed Creighton, the sophomore All-ACC second team guard fractured the wrist on his non-shooting right hand after hitting the deck on a hard foul... N.C. State, 11th seed in the Midwest region, upset No. 6 seed San Diego State 79-65 and shocked third-seeded Georgetown 66-63 to advance to its

A potentially crushing injury to star point guard Kendall Marshall, whose average of 9.8 assists per game ranks second in the nation, marred Midwest region top-seed North Carolina’s stampede to the Sweet 16 last weekend in Greensboro. In the second half of the Tar Heels’ (31-5, 14-2 ACC) 87-73 trouncing

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SPORTS

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 | The Cavalier Daily

first Sweet 16 since 2005. N.C. State will square off with No. 2 seed Kansas Friday in St. Louis... South region No. 2 seed Duke’s season abruptly ended Friday with a 75-70 defeat to Lehigh. The Blue Devils (27-7, 13-3 ACC) struggled to corral Mountain Hawks’ (27-8, 11-3 Patriot) budding star C.J.

McCollum, who exploded for 30 points in the biggest win in Lehigh’s history... Florida State, seeded third in the East region, fell short of making the sweet 16 for a second time in a row when a late turnover led to a 62-56 third round loss to sixthseeded Cincinnati Sunday. The Seminoles (25-10, 12-4 ACC)

had won six straight games entering Sunday’s tilt and were a trendy pick to advance into the tournament’s later rounds.

But a steal and dunk by Dion Dixon of the Bearcats (26-10, 12-6 Big East) with 1 minute 33 seconds remaining put Cincinnati up for good.

—compiled by Fritz Metzinger

W Bball | Man-to-man defense spurs Cavalier triumph Continued from page B1 looking for the open player and not really looking to score. Coach just kept telling me to be aggressive and get to the rim.”

Both teams applied full-court pressure extensively throughout the night, but Boyle decided to preemptively abandon the Cavaliers’ vaunted zone defense in favor of man-to-man in the half court. Virginia, which led the ACC in total scoring defense, mixed and matched with both the zone and man defenses throughout the night to effectively keep the

Spiders and their distinct spread offense off-balance.

“For us, zone is our bread and butter, but they’re such a good three-point shooting team that we didn’t want to sit there,” Boyle said. “We wanted to make them have to attack the basket, and then we did a good job not fouling them.”

Richmond made just four-of-13 three-pointers, shot 41.5 percent from the field and committed 20 turnovers as the Cavaliers gave the Spiders’ offense fits with their constant pressure and physicality inside. Only senior guard

Abby Oliver managed to offer a consistent offensive option for Richmond by repeatedly scoring over taller Cavalier defenders on spectacular drives and nailing mid-range jumpers to keep her team competitive in her final collegiate game. Oliver finished with 16 points.

“I think we lost to a really good basketball team,” Richmond coach Michael Shafer said. “I think there’s no question we lost to an NCAA-type basketball team in Virginia.”

For Boyle’s squad, switching to man defense had a positive side

effect: alleviating the rebounding woes which have plagued the team all season. Boyle chided her team after Thursday’s overtime win against Howard — in which the team was outrebounded 52-44 — but the boards yesterday evening told a different story, as Virginia outrebounded Richmond 38-30 and improved to 16-0 when winning the battle on the glass.

“It’s been an emphasis; we talked about it for two days,” Boyle said.

“I think the message got through.”

McCall paced the team with 10 boards and scored nine of Virginia’s 21 bench points. The post

player even flashed prowess from long-range, spotting up for just her fifth successful three-pointer of the season to extend the Cavaliers’ lead to 45-32 in the second half.

“I know off the bench, we’re going to need quality minutes and I just need to stay focused and do what I have to do,” McCall said.

“The coaches were harping on rebounding so I knew I needed to do that.”

Virginia will host Appalachian State Thursday, a team it dismantled 80-48 in the season-opener Nov. 11.

Swim & Dive| Relay team provides Virginia’s NCAA best shot Continued from page B1 more Charlotte Clarke posted a 14th-place swim in the 100 backstroke with a time of 52.96.

Virginia ended the second day of competition in 18th place with 31 points.

The Cavaliers saved their best for last, though, as they nearly doubled their score Saturday to finish with a total of 60. Williamson and junior Meredith Cavalier finished sixth and eighth with times of 1:54.04 and 1:55.36 respectively in the 200 backstroke, becoming the only Cavaliers to join the All-America first team this season with their topeight performances.

Freshman Alison Haulsee followed with a 16th-place swim in the 200 butterfly, finishing in 1:58.80. The 400 freestyle relay team composed of Cavalier, freshman Emily Lloyd, Naurath and senior Kelly Flynn touched in 3:18.11 for another 16th-place finish.

Virginia was the highest-placing

ACC team, just ahead of Virginia Tech and North Carolina in 18th and 19th places, respectively.

“We followed [the women’s team] very closely,” senior Peter Geissinger said. “It was great to see them swim so well, and it gives us confidence as well.”

The overall team champion, California, finished with 412.5 points.

Now it will be the men’s turn as they bring five swimmers and one diver to Federal Way, Wash. for the equivalent of college swimming’s Super Bowl.

Highlighting the contingent of Cavaliers qualifying for the NCAA Championships is Imbriglia, Virginia’s second-ever national qualifier in diving. After claiming the program’s first-ever individual NCAA Zone Championship earlier this month, Imbriglia will compete in all three major diving events — the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards, as well as the platform — as he strives to carry the torch for a diving program craving the sort of peren-

nial excellence which defined Virginia swimming guided by head coach Mark Bernardino.

“It’s definitely an honor to make it, and I’m going to do the best I can,” Imbriglia said.

Junior Tom Barrett and senior David Karasek will join their teammates at the meet after competing in Olympic trials for their home countries during the weekend. Barrett raced at the Australian trials while Karasek participated in the Swiss trials.

Karasek won one race and took second in two others to likely punch his ticket to London. The physical toll of two major meets less than a week apart on two vital team contributors remains a potential concern for the Cavaliers.

Karasek, Geissinger and junior Brady Fox are the only Virginia swimmers to qualify as individuals. Geissinger will have the most opportunities to tally points for the team, since he competes in three individual events, as well as the 800 freestyle relay.

Fox broke into the championships field as the 14th-seeded entrant in the 200 backstroke.

Geissinger’s best event may be the 200 freestyle, in which he is ranked No. 12. Geissinger will also have opportunities in the 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle, in which he earned the 14th and 17th seeds, respectively.

“I’ve never finaled in an individual event, so I hope to make it to the finals this year,” Geissinger said. “I want to go for it in the 100 free and 200 free, and then we’ll see what happens.”

Karasek is the strongest contender to make the championship final out of the preliminaries, as he is seeded sixth in the 200 freestyle and eighth in the 200 individual medley. He has already shown an ability to step up even while feeling the weight of high expectations, proving his resilience by winning conference titles in both events and offering a strong performance at Olympic trials.

Sophomore Parker Camp will

join Karasek, Geissinger and Barrett on the 800 freestyle relay squad, which may well outshine any individual Virginia performer. The relay enters as the No. 2 team in the country with a smoking 6:18.35 seed time from the ACC Championships. No. 1 Michigan and No. 3 Stanford will challenge Virginia’s quartet for the championship.

“The teams below us are very talented too, and we know they can swim faster,” Geissinger said. “But we’re talented also, and we’re ready to have a good race so it’ll be good to go up against those teams.”

The Cavalier men are eager to match the women’s formidable display last week.

“I could not be more excited, and I know this is [diving coach] Rich [MacDonald]’s first NCAA diver,” Imbriglia said. “I think overall the team is just super optimistic, and it really shows where the diving program was, where it is now and definitely where it’s heading.”

Diton | Emotions muddle March Madness bracket judgment Continued from page B1 League team.

Heading into this tournament, the Harvard Crimson was the best story. For the first time in many decades, Harvard qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Combined with Linsanity sweeping the NBA and Barack Obama looking good in reelection polls, the mood seemed perfect for a deep run into the tournament. Har-

vard had been ranked for most of the year, so its talent was undeniable. Yet like so many Ivy League schools before them, the Crimson bowed out of the tournament in the opening weekend after losing to Vanderbilt. This century, only one Ivy League team has won its opening round game — Cornell in 2009. While we all like rooting for the true student-athletes who emerge from the Ivy League, do yourself a favor and trust them

with leading your business, not your bracket.

Rule No. 4: Check your heart at the door.

This is the most basic of gambling tenets, but I violated it this year. When picking anything — from brackets to fantasy teams — it’s crucial you think with your head, not your heart. Any neutral observer could have seen the signs predicting an early Virginia exit from the tourna-

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ment. The Cavaliers barely had enough healthy bodies to field a team, and while their defense was still top-notch, their offense had been anemic for quite some time. There was no way they could have defeated Florida, but I was so excited to have them in the field I picked them to win in every one of my brackets, throwing points down the drain in the process. Next year, pick your brackets looking at statistics and

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not names. While your heart may hurt, your bracket will thank you.

There you have it. Four simple rules to a better bracket. Of course, now I’ve written them, it’s almost a sure thing all of them will be useless by the time next year’s March Madness rolls around. So if you’re still looking for help next March, I’ve got one final piece of advice: ask my mother.

B4

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Comics

B5

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

H

(NO SUBJECT) BY JANE MATTIMOE

OROSCOPES

ARIES (March 21-April 19). You have the sense that the world is full of promise and that you’re just the one to make good. It’s as though the sky was painted for you alone and the angels are awaiting your orders.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Everything cannot be important to you at once, although it may feel that way as this new season opens before you. There’s a wonderful sense of urgency to your mood. You want to know, do and be “it all.”

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You have a clear intention for the day and a stellar sense of direction to help you head toward it. You’re also willing to change your tactics or jump onto a different path whenever necessary.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). In some way, you’ll feel like a professional basketball player stepping up to the free-throw line. The pressure is on, but it’s also your chance to be a star and save the day.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You’re constantly learning and growing, and sometimes you just want to stop and take stock of where you are.

Love helps you do this. Having someone to talk to and share special moments with will help you to realize your many blessings.

A BUNCH OF BANANAS BY GARRETT MAJDIC & JACK WINTHROP

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Your concern about social standing is well founded. Image is important, and so is reputation. You’ll be deciding how you want to be perceived in the new season and making fresh decisions.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). The imbalance in your life will be set right. You’re realizing more and more that just because things aren’t quite the way you want them to be doesn’t mean they are not perfect in the grand scheme.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). You’ll love the particular brand of distraction that seeks you out today. You may decide that it’s not a diversion at all, but rather a delightful bit of meaning that’s been purposefully put in your path.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Sometimes you talk off of the top of your head, and it doesn’t come out the way you want it to. People hear your heart, though, and it’s in the right place.

So anything you say that’s a little off won’t count for much.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). A little plan might fall through, but the big picture is still intact. In some way, the pressure is off of you now. This is your chance to make a new deal.

Above all, you have hope.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). There’s much to gain from keeping up with loved ones. They may vent about topics that are irrelevant to you, and yet you can appreciate the fact that others have different priorities and interests.

RENAISSANCING BY TIM PRICE

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (March 20). Believing impossible things takes practice. You’re just the kind of dreamer who will practice often, and your belief will bring about miraculous results. Your harmonious personal life makes it possible for fun. You should actually give quality attention to your work. You’ll excel and be promoted. Moves and renovations happen in May. Virgo and Cancer people adore you.

Your lucky numbers are: 40, 50, 23, 41 and 39.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). You’re going into a new season, but you won’t forget your heritage. You’ll attract good fortune as you pay homage to the ghosts who have inspired the person you are today.

GREEK LIFE BY MATT HENSELL

DJANGEO BY STEPHEN ROWE

THE ADVENTURES OF THE AMAZING <THE> A-MAN BY EMILIO ESTEBAN

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 The New York Times Syndication Salesthrough Corporation 9.

LAST SOLUTION:

620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018

BEAR NECESSITIES BY MAXIMILIAN MEESE & ALEX STOTT

For Information Call: 1-800-972-3550 Solution, tips and computer program at www.sudoku.com

MOSTLY HARMLESS BY PETER SIMONSEN

For Release Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Edited by Will Shortz Across 1 TV shopper’s channel 4 Quaint “Oh, don’t be silly!”

9 Cathode’s counterpart 14 Part of AT&T: Abbr.

15 Period in history 16 Examiner of sunken ships, perhaps 17 Glass of “This American Life” 18 Neighbor of Venice 20 Some makeup 22 RR stop 23 Tweak some text 24 Western Indians 26 Kanye West’s genre 28 Cocktails made with Southern Comfort, sloe gin, amaretto and orange juice

TWO IN THE BUSH BY STEVE BALIK & DANA CASTNER

36 Anti-bullfighting org.

37 Thing 38 Sign before Virgo 39 With 42-Across, one who might memorize 64Across?

41 Lower, as the lights 42 See 39-Across 44 Charlottesville sch.

45 “Rats!”

48 Wren den 49 Perfect Sleeper and others 52 Alias 53 Flat bottom?

54 40 acres, maybe 57 N N N, to Greeks 60 Small bus 64 Classical trio found inside 18-, 28- and 49Across 67 Simple vow

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE

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C A B S

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F A W N

L U A U

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L L O A I E L B E A D D O N B I A G A R R O A T E D D I I T I N G N T A R E S A U R L O N B O O K S P R E I E U G E D M O

M O U S Y A F T R O A L D

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M I S R A T R U D O V I D D E N O R G O S C A E S A N D O R E G R W I N I E R E R A

E R O D E

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I D E A

R O A R

A T M S

A D A M

P O S E

O W E N

68 What “cheese” produces 69 New Brunswick neighbor 70 Merry 71 Sign of availability 72 Indelicate 73 Medical plan option, for short Down 1 Common makeup applicator 2 Florida’s ___ Beach 3 Crab serving 4 Old Spanish coin 5 “I’m tired of your lies” 6 Baby doll 7 Takes steps 8 “Guess ___?”

9 Hubbub 10 School night bedtime, maybe 11 Poet banished by the emperor Augustus 12 Prefix with bel 13 Quod ___ demonstrandum 19 The Marquis de Sade delivered his eulogy 21 United Arab Emirates member 25 Actress Bullock 27 ___ nitrate 28 100 29 Time off 30 Oil from flower petals 31 Time in the service

1

2

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4

14

5

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9

22

24 29

30

26 31

40 45

49

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No. 0214

57

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60 66

61 67

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Puzzle by Paula Gamache

32 Boundaries

33 “The Lord of the Rings” race 34 Pee Wee of baseball

35 Does some prelaundry work 40 Fargo’s state: Abbr.

43 First stage

46 Big appliance maker 47 Paris and Hector, e.g.

50 “Hot” dish 51 They hold power 54 Partner of hard 55 Cannonballs and such 56 Make muddy

58 “The Few, the Proud …” grp.

59 Coal-rich region of Germany 61 Approaching 62 Cheese coated in red wax 63 Fad item of 1962 65 Bumped into 66 Hamm of soccer

For answers, call 1-900-285-5656, $1.49 a minute; or, with a credit card, 1-800-814-5554.

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B6

LIFE

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 | The Cavalier Daily

Stonehill |Alarm choice reveals user’s personality Continued from page B2 an intense paranoia about missing morning classes or meetings. I hit snooze on all three clocks, get confused

about which alarm is actually ringing, and inevitably wake up because I have to pee. Looks like I subscribe to a body-over-mind mentality.

If life, as they say, is really

about the little things, then getting to know someone really comes down to analyzing his alarm-clock decisions. If you are not sure about roommate compatibility, ask, “Why do

you get up in the morning?”

You might also want to consider asking about drinking, sleeping and daily life habits, but those are more optional and much less likely to be

alarming.

E.P.’s column runs biweekly Tuesdays. She can be reached at e.stonehill@cavalierdaily. com.

Urban | Attitude offers rewarding, humorous experiences Continued from page B2 us. A few of them trickled in and out, but one stayed with us the entire night. We tried to shake him off for more than two hours.

We tried everything: girl talk, talking about people he didn’t know, asking him if he wanted to find his friends and telling him we were about to go somewhere else. Nothing worked — he was

a stage-five clinger. After we kindly told him that no, he could not sleep on our couch, we finally ditched him and were free once again. If we hadn’t said yes and instead stayed in watching television or “doing homework,” we wouldn’t have such a great story to tell about the clinger we picked up at the Backyard that night.

My favorite part of the week also comes from my new say

“yes” philosophy. At first I was hesitant about regular Friday lunches with my friends, because I enjoy eating brunch at my house, and I am not the kind of person who eats two meals in less than an hour. But by sitting at brunch and sneaking a few tater tots, I save room for my real lunch and get to enjoy the best of both worlds. Now, every Friday about noon, four of my friends

and I set forth on our Charlottesville food crawl. Whether it’s La Michoacana Deli, Belmont BBQ or Market Street Market, I love exploring more of what Charlottesville has to offer for a standing lunch date with some of my favorite people at the University.

By saying yes more and pushing my comfort zone, I am gaining new experiences and memories which I wouldn’t have otherwise.

While I sometimes do say no to going out and still stay in to watch a “Mad Men” marathon or make pumpkin ice cream, I am much more willing to say yes to new things than I ever have been in the past. After all, you only live once.

Katie’s column runs biweekly Tuesdays. She can be reached at k.urban@cavalierdaily.com.

Hardaway | Grandparents’ relationship sparks nostalgia Continued from page B2 potato chips in a fancy concoction of ketchup and mayonnaise. It meant using manners and being polite, which was perhaps more alien to the Hardaway kids than two very old people.

I was in awe of my grandparents. Gran’s stoicism and Granddaddy’s soft heart balanced one another. I remember bits and pieces of their lives in relation to my own; I observed rather than interacted. They always drank white wine with two ice cubes.

Granddaddy would occasionally look at Gran and comment on how sweet she was, and my father would laugh because Gran was more sour than sweet. Daddy called his parents by their first names: Helen and Cas (short for Caswell). The way he enunciated

each name taught me you could love your parents differently, but with the same fervor.

Why don’t we remember everything that has ever happened to us? Why don’t my feet tell me about stepping on those hard gumballs which fall from trees, even though it happened a decade ago? Why don’t my hands remind me what silk scarves feel like, especially when you use ten of them to dress your small frame and dance around your aunt’s childhood bedroom? Why isn’t there room for a game of “the floor is lava” in which the rugs are forever away from one another? If I have room for the girl who sits next to me in class, why can’t my mind squeeze in my grandparents, who still exist, in country clubs in Charlottesville?

Sunday, I smelled Gran and Granddaddy’s house. My mind went outside and looked up at the big trees, judging the area of land covered by their branches’ shade. I thought about Daddy as a young boy in this yard, tested one day for allergies only to discover he was “allergic” to the sun. Convinced of the validity of this diagnosis, Daddy used to run between trees to avoid the poisonous rays.

I always laugh when I remember this story, or when my father chooses to re-tell it, emphasizing the youthful earnestness and innovation he employed to stay safe.

I feel safe in the shade of these memories, and I wonder how long it would take for me to become entirely immersed in them, lost in a painfully still moment of recollection. I miss the

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simplicity of going to and being in my grandparents’ house. If I let myself, I believe I could spend days in my mind, sitting on the stool in front of Gran’s vanity, twirling around and around until it was my sister’s turn, then going again.

Perhaps we do not revisit our past because it has indeed passed.

If I stayed in my grandparents’ home too long I would ask myself why I did not go more often, why I failed to visit them as much as I should have in their nursing homes, why I let myself observe them when I should have been interacting with them.

A country club in Charlottesville does not have to be iced tea and finger sandwiches on an overcast Sunday afternoon. It can be years of happiness and boredom and sadness and guilt all delicately

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embroidered on a floral curtain.

Why don’t we remember everything which has ever happened to us, at every moment in time?

I think we need to leave room for more moments, so we can tell new stories after we tell all the old ones.

This is a story about Gran and Granddaddy and their creaky old yellow house where Daddy once washed a cat in the washing machine and where my sister and I fell into countless pools of lava. Gran, mouth set and face straight, would say something bluntly, and Granddaddy would pat her hand, and a decade later I may not always remember, but I will certainly never forget.

Connelly’s column runs biweekly Tuesdays. She can be reached at c.hardaway@cavalierdaily.com.