Author: Cara Salpini

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Syracuse stuns Cavaliers in Elite Eight upset

Fans gather at the airport in the wee hours Monday to welcome the Cavs and Coach Tony Bennett back from a weekend in Chicago that had the highs of winning the Sweet 16 over Iowa State and the lows of losing to Syracuse in the Elite Eight. Photo Matt Riley

In an unlikely second-half comeback, the Syracuse Orange took down top-seed Virginia 68-62 in the Elite Eight Sunday, ending the Cavaliers’ postseason play. Of Bennett’s four tournament appearances with Virginia, this year’s Elite Eight was the deepest postseason run the team has made.

“We will have some tough nights because you’re so close you could taste it,” said Coach Tony Bennett in a post-game press conference, “but absolutely joy will come in the morning for what these guys have established for Virginia basketball.”

For third-year student Max Ober, who attends every home game he can, the team’s exit was a mixed bag of emotions.

“We made it farther this year than the past two, but it’s disappointing to lose to a team that we know we can beat,” Ober says, referring to the Cavaliers’ 73-65 win over Syracuse in the regular season.

In their Elite Eight rematch, the Cavs built up a 14-point lead at halftime and appeared to have firm control over 10th-seeded opponent Syracuse. For the majority of the second half Virginia maintained the lead, but a three-pointer by Syracuse’s Malachi Richardson at the seven-minute mark began a 15-0 run that left the Hoos trailing 64-58 with three minutes to play.

With seniors Anthony Gill and Malcolm Brogdon both scoring below their averages, making only 10 and 12 points, respectively, the Cavaliers struggled to keep up their offense in the second half. Committing a tournament-high 13 turnovers only fueled Syracuse’s fire, directly leading to 15 of Syracuse’s points.

“I was calm for a while until I realized our defense was not getting stops,” Ober recalls of the last 10 minutes, “and the offense was being pushed off their rhythm by the press. Everything started to lean in favor of Syracuse.”

Despite Virginia’s disappointing tournament exit, Bennett’s Cavaliers have given UVA arguably three of its best seasons, recording 89 wins to surpass 1981-1983’s 88 wins. In 2014, the Cavs finished first in the ACC for the first time since 1981 and also won the ACC tournament for the first time since 1976. They received a No.1 seed in the NCAA tournament and reached the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 1995’s Elite Eight run.

The 2015 Cavaliers clinched the ACC regular-season title for the second year in a row and earned a 2-seed in the NCAA.

This year’s 2016 season brought a new slew of “firsts” for Bennett’s team, with Malcolm Brogdon being the first player to earn both ACC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, with the Cavaliers going undefeated at home for the first time since 1982 and, of course, with the Cavalier’s first appearance in the Elite Eight since 1995.

As the season ends, seniors Malcolm Brogdon, Anthony Gill, Mike Tobey, Evan Nolte, and Caid Kirven will graduate with 112 career wins, matching the school record set by the senior class of 1983. Despite their undeniable legacy, Ober worries about what the future will look like for the Cavaliers.

“I thought this was the year for UVA,” Ober says. “They are losing key seniors, the go-to scorers. Luckily Coach Bennett has been building a program of depth, so there are players to step up, but they will have to take on new roles. Without Malcolm, I wonder who will be the go-to scorer.”

 

 

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Bennett’s Cavaliers make Elite Eight for first time since 1995

Coach Tony Bennett takes his Cavs to Elite Eight. Photo: Jack Looney

With a commanding win over No. 4-seed Iowa State, head Coach Tony Bennett and the Virginia Cavaliers will advance to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1995. This marks the furthest postseason appearance during Bennett’s era at UVA.

An 84-71 win propelled the Cavaliers past the Cyclones on Friday’s game, with senior Anthony Gill scoring 23 points to lead the team to victory. The team was unable to control Iowa State leading scorer Georges Niang, who came away with 30 points and 8 rebounds, but key contributions from seniors Mike Tobey and Malcolm Brogdon helped seal Virginia’s success, putting up 18 and 12 points respectively.

In Virginia’s past two NCAA appearances, Bennett led the Cavaliers to one Sweet 16 and one second round exit, both years falling to Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans.  But with the Spartans knocked off early this year by 15-seed Middle Tennessee, Virginia will take on No. 10-seed ACC opponent Syracuse in the Elite Eight.

Second-year student Alex Andrews, who watches the Cavaliers religiously, says that Virginia’s impressive Sweet 16 win over Iowa State is a promising sign for a team that has struggled with postseason play in the past.

“It was really encouraging to see such a dominant start to the game, as well as a strong finish,” Andrews says. “There’s something special about these Hoos.”

Virginia was the third No. 1 seed to advance to the Elite Eight, following Oregon and Kansas, and was joined later that night by final 1-seed North Carolina. Of all four top seeds in the Elite Eight, the Cavaliers are up against the lowest-ranked team, with North Carolina up against 6th-seeded Notre Dame. Oregon and Kansas were both felled by 2-seeds Oklahoma and Villanova, respectively, on Saturday.

In addition to the advantage the Cavaliers gain from playing a lower-ranked team, Virginia also squared off against Syracuse earlier this season, beating them in conference play by a score of 73-65. While upsets are not uncommon in March Madness, Andrews feels confident in Bennett’s team going forward in the tournament.

“I have a lot of faith in this Virginia team. They have the most dominant defense in all of basketball, and score enough to take down even the strongest of offenses. I like their chances,” Andrews says.

Should the Cavaliers defeat Syracuse this weekend, they’ll stay on familiar ground, taking on either ACC foe North Carolina or Notre Dame in the Final Four. While Bennett’s team won both of their regular season matches against Notre Dame and North Carolina, Virginia fell to UNC in the championship game of the ACC tournament, leaving a difficult road ahead for the Cavs.

The Cavaliers remain at the United Center in Chicago for the Elite Eight, where they will tip off against the Syracuse Orange at 6:09pm tonight.

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Pioneer spirit for Cavs and their coach

UVA’s new football coach Bronco Mendenhall moved from Utah and is living in an RV in Ivy. Photo Cara Salpini

UVA’s football team starts spring training this week under new head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who is residing in an RV in Ivy with his wife Holly and three sons, Cutter, Breaker and Raeder.

The family of five is adjusting to life in an RV while they await a renovation to their new home that could take up to four or six months, according to the Daily Progress.

The new digs in Ivy were listed on Zillow for $1.4 million and feature 28 acres, a nearly 5,000-square-foot house, a six-stall horse barn, a pond and “magnificent mountain views,” according to the listing.

While the coach is roughing it, so is the team. Unlike past players, the current Cavaliers enter spring training with no numbers on their backs, no Virginia gear to sport around grounds and a coach who says they have to “earn” their time on the football field.

.“What I have learned relatively quickly is that this team is not resistant,” Mendenhall says at a March 21 press conference. “They’re eager, they’re hungry. I didn’t know really where they would be and I’ve been really impressed with how hard they want to work, how willing they are to embrace the level of detail that we’ve asked for.’”

Under Mendenhall, each player will have to earn his right to have a number on his back, to wear Virginia gear and even to participate in spring practice.

To qualify for spring training, each player had to complete a tempo run within a timeframe set by Mendenhall. He estimates that 90 per cent of the team qualified, but the remaining players were given an additional opportunity to meet the requirements this past Saturday.

“Eighty percent of the team or more showed up to support the guys that hadn’t made their times,” says Mendenhall, who emphasizes the camaraderie building in the team. “The guys who then qualified, there was dogpiling and it was like fans charging the field after a win.”

He says, “So if you put it in context, these guys are fighting like crazy actually to get to work harder once they put on gear and that’s the paradigm shift I’m hoping for. Football is supposed to be the reward.”

Spring training for the Cavaliers began Tuesday, March 22.

 

 

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Cavaliers head to the Windy City for Sweet 16 showdown

UVA Coach Tony Bennett has recovered from his collapse during the Hampton game on St. Patrick's Day. Photo Cara Salpini

With a second round win against No. 9-seed Butler, Tony Bennett’s Cavaliers will head to Chicago this weekend to take on No. 4-seed Iowa State in the Sweet 16. They join fellow ACC opponents Syracuse, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Duke and Miami in the round, a record for the most teams from any conference still competing for the national championship title.

This will mark the second time in three years the Cavs have reached the Sweet 16, the furthest the Hoos have gone in NCAA tournament play under Bennett’s tenure.

After cinching a No. 1 seed in the Midwest region, UVA downed 16-seed Hampton 81-45 in the first round of tournament play March 17 to advance to a second-round matchup with the Butler Bulldogs March 19.

In a much closer contest with Butler, the Cavaliers pulled away to win 77-69, led by seniors Malcolm Brogdon and Anthony Gill, who grabbed 22 and 19 points respectively. Despite Virginia’s stars, the team had key points from off the bench as well, with Mike Tobey and Marial Shayok contributing 10 and 12 points each.

In a pre-Sweet 16 press conference, Bennett said both Shayok and Devon Hall gave the team “good stretches of basketball” post-season, and that Shayok “always tries hard defensively,” Bennett said. “And we needed all of that.”

He also addressed the threat of Iowa State’s Georges Niang, who averages 20.2 points per game, and how the Cavaliers will address the difficulties that the Cyclones pose.

“I think you have to try to make them earn [their baskets],” Bennett says. “They have other guys who are very talented, who shoot 40 or above from the three-point line with good spacing, they score in transition, they score posting up inside out. I think you’re going to have to probably have a lot of guys trying to guard [Niang]. He’s that good.”

Should the Cavaliers advance to the Elite Eight, they will face either 11-seed Gonzaga or 10-seed ACC rival Syracuse. The Cavaliers and the Cyclones tip off at the United Center in Chicago at 7:10pm Friday.

Watch a clip of the press conference here:

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UVA student sentenced to prison in North Korea

Caption Otto Warmbier was paraded before media in North Korea after his conviction for “hostile acts.” Photo from ABC News

UVA third-year Otto Warmbier, 21, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea March 16 for allegedly attempting to steal a propaganda poster from the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang, where he was staying as part of a tourist group arranged by Young Pioneer Tours.

Todd Sechser, an associate professor in the Woodrow Wilson Department of Politics at the University of Virginia, says that since 2009, about one or two American citizens have been detained every year by North Korea for political reasons and he outlines the main goals in such arrests.

“The North Koreans typically gain two things from these episodes,” Sechser says in an e-mail. “First, usually there is a visit from a high-level U.S. official or former president. Second, North Korea often claims an apology from the U.S. negotiator, which then is usually denied by the United States. Both the visit and alleged apology allow the North Korean government to score political points at home for antagonizing the United States.”

Warmbier was shown tearfully admitting to the attempted theft in a North Korean court. According to CNN, he had wanted the poster as a trophy for a church member in Ohio, and allegedly said the Z Society, a secret society at UVA, had encouraged him to steal the poster in exchange for membership.

The West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church says in a press release, “We hope and pray for forgiveness by the North Korea officials for any perceived transgressions by the young man, and for his quick and safe return to his family.” The release adds that other comments would not be “appropriate or helpful” at this time.

Despite Warmbier’s confessions, Sechser says it is difficult to confirm whether he actually committed a crime or not.

“It is standard practice for North Korea to parade detainees in front of the media. Warmbier’s confession was undoubtedly coerced. Prior detainees have reported that their North Korean captors choreographed their confessions down to the smallest detail,” Sechser says.

He also notes that the charges against Warmbier are “unusual,” with most Americans detained for illegal entry or religious activity.

Although the 21-year-old faces a 15-year sentence, Sechser says that even in cases with heavy sentences, “these detentions usually last a few months or less.”

Friends of Warmbier’s declined comment in keeping with the family’s wishes for privacy.

 

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Goal in sight: Local soccer team hopes to kick up support

Hassan Kaisoum (right), owner of Aromas Café, jumped at the chance to sponsor the local amateur adult soccer team managed by David Deaton (left). Kaisoum says soccer “saved” him as a child, and he hopes Charlottesville will begin to embrace the sport on a broader level. Photo by Ryan Jones

It may not be the FIFA World Cup, but an amateur adult soccer team in Charlottesville is gearing up for a major competition on a national level. Aromas Café FC, a team comprised of players who hail from all over the globe, hopes to bring soccer to the forefront in Charlottesville through its participation in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

The Lamar Hunt Cup is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in the United States, which pits professional, semi-professional and amateur soccer teams against each other, with only 14 slots for amateur teams. Aromas Café FC qualified about a month ago, the first Virginia team to do so in more than two decades, and will be playing its first cup game May 11.

Aromas manager David Deaton hopes to show through his team’s qualification the potential that Charlottesville has as a soccer town, and he cites the large international community as one of its benefits.

“What’s unique about Charlottesville is that we’re one of the few places that’s actually a university town as well as a refugee center,” Deaton says. “So, driven by the university, we have this huge international community, but then thanks to the refugee center we have even more.”

Aromas Café FC is evidence of this diversity, with players from countries such as Colombia, Kenya, Iran and the United States. Aromas’ owner Hassan Kaisoum was orphaned in Morocco at age of 11. He says soccer “saved” him as a child, and he wants to pass on the power of the sport.

“I took out all of my frustration in soccer,” Kaisoum says. “In my country, when it came to 5 o’clock, there was no difference between rich or poor. We’d have people playing from every background. The only thing I used to look at was the shoes.”

Kaisoum played soccer professionally in France and Canada, and when Deaton approached him to be the team’s sponsor, his answer was easy.

“They needed my help, so I did it,” Kaisoum says.

“We told Hassan that we needed a sponsor and he just said, ‘What do you need?’” Deaton adds. He says Kaisoum is a constant reminder of the community spirit that soccer builds.

In addition to the wide range of nationalities on the team, Aromas Café FC also is made up of players who have highly diverse soccer careers. While the majority of the team played soccer at the collegiate level, three are retired professional soccer players.

Despite a local concentration of elite soccer players, Deaton laments that the infrastructure in Charlottesville is not up to par.

“It really needs a very serious look from our community leaders,” he says. “The state average for youth participation in soccer leagues is 10 percent, and we have 20 percent in Charlottesville [according to Soccer Organization Charlottesville Area]. Yet there’s not a single lit, publicly accessible field to play soccer on. There are over eight publicly funded tennis courts here. There’s not a single soccer facility in the community that does that.”

Although the team struggles with field space (games and practices are held at Charlottesville High School), Kaisoum stresses the ability that soccer has to unify the Charlottesville community. When he’s not at Barracks Road Shopping Center running Aromas Café, which he opened 19 years ago, he’s attending the soccer team’s games and practices.

“Soccer is always a way to bring people together, and it’s amazing to have that integration and have people from every background or religion and every ethnicity playing,” Kaisoum says. “When they go to the field, they all become unified and it’s fantastic to see that.”

Deaton adds that although the team is looking forward to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, where it could play against a Major League Soccer team such as D.C. United, the team’s sights remain focused on spreading community spirit in Charlottesville.

“We’re trying to impart a passion of camaraderie—that’s what’s driving this, all of this,” Deaton says. “We’re trying to demonstrate, even to ourselves as much as anyone else, that we can do a lot as a team. But in the end it’s actually the camaraderie of the sport that pushes us toward that level of excellence.”

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Virginia clinches No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament

Seniors Anthony Gill and Malcolm Brogdon flank Coach Tony Bennett in Monday's press conference. No. 1 seed UVA plays No. 16 seed Hampton on Thursday.

Despite falling to North Carolina in the ACC Tournament finale Saturday, Virginia earned the No. 1 seed in the Midwest region in the NCAA Tournament over Big Ten Tournament champion Michigan State, marking the second time in three years that Tony Bennett’s Cavaliers have snagged a top seed in the NCAA tourney.

The team boasts a 26-7 record and is ranked third nationally in scoring defense, holding its opponents to only 59.7 points per game. Led by fifth-year senior Malcolm Brogdon, who was named an unprecedented ACC Player of the Year and ACC Defensive Player of the Year, the Cavaliers have a strong senior class in Brogdon, Anthony Gill, Mike Tobey and Evan Nolte—all of whom will be looking for their first national championship title this year.

Joining Virginia at the top of the bracket are fellow No. 1 seeds Kansas, North Carolina and Oregon. But the other top seeds aren’t Virginia’s only competition. For the third year in a row, Michigan State (29-5) has been placed in the same region as Virginia, raising Cavalier fans’ concerns about another early tournament exit.

In 2014, the fourth-seeded Spartans took down No. 1 seed Virginia in the Sweet 16 with a nail-biting 61-59 win.

The next year boded even worse for the Hoos, with Michigan State knocking Virginia out in the second round of the tournament. A rematch will occur this year if both teams make it to the Elite Eight.

At a pre-NCAA tournament press conference Monday, Brogdon emphasized that Michigan State was not yet on the team’s mind.

“It’s important for us to take this one game at a time and not worry about the past, and not get too far ahead of ourselves and worry about Michigan State or other teams, just take it one game at a time and worry about Hampton and do the best we can,” Brogdon says.

Although Coach Tony Bennett says a good performance in the NCAA would be a “terrific way” to end the season, he just wants the team to play hard.

“We’re gonna lay it on the line and play to the utmost of our abilities and as hard as we can,” Bennett says. “I have confidence in these guys. I think they’ve paid the price and worked hard, but everybody at this stage has—all the teams you play have.”

Virginia’s first game will be against No. 16 seed Hampton in the first round of the tournament at 3:10pm Thursday  in Raleigh, North Carolina.

 

 

 

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Historical hangout: UVA renovates Rotunda to fit student study needs

UVA’s historic preservation architect Jody Lahendro says the construction work is 76 percent done and the changes are meant to reinstate the Rotunda as a center for student life. Staff photo

Driving down University Avenue, you might notice the Rotunda’s usual cluster of scaffolding has decreased considerably. Although the UNESCO World Heritage Site is still under construction, UVA’s design team has completed the majority of its renovations, and the project is on schedule to be finished by the end of July.

The first phase included installing a new oculus and copper roof. The second phase began in spring 2014 and expands classroom space in the Rotunda, increases access and enhances programming options at a cost of roughly $42.5 million.

UVA’s historic preservation architect Jody Lahendro says the construction work is 76 percent done and the changes are meant to reinstate the Rotunda as a center for student life.

“What all of us, and the university design team, hope this project does is to bring students back into the Rotunda to have it become an active part of the daily life of the students, a daily part of the education experience,” Lahendro says,

In Thomas Jefferson’s original 1821 designs for the Rotunda, the building was meant to be the university’s main library, a natural hub for student activity. When Alderman Library became the main library on grounds in 1930, it slowly shifted student study space outside of the Rotunda.

The renovations to the Rotunda’s interior add several new areas specifically designed for student use.

“We’re opening three new student classrooms, new study spaces, and the hours will be extended for students to use,” Lahendro explains. “And we’re enhancing the Dome Room for the students to use as a study space—it will be set up for that purpose.”

While the inside of the Rotunda will remain a construction site for the next five months, Lahendro says that final exercises for the Class of 2016 will not be affected. For the big day in May, the construction team will take down the fences on both sides of the Rotunda and students will be able to process up the north portico steps, around the terraces of the Rotunda, and down the south portico steps.

The two-year-long renovations have not been all smooth sailing. Some of the outdoor work on the utilities between the Rotunda and University Avenue caused unexpected trouble.

As part of the second phase, four new utility lines had to be added, running perpendicular to utilities that had been installed as early as the 19th century. Difficulties with installation pushed this part of the project back by six months.

“We found many of the utility lines in different locations than the maps had shown,” Lahendro says. “We had to eventually go underneath all of those existing utilities and when we did that we hit rock.”

The construction team most recently has been working on closing up ceilings and walls inside the Rotunda, putting brick in the Rotunda’s new elevator, cleaning up the marble balustrades and paving the terraces. Although much of this work was planned to safeguard the historical site, Lahendro stresses again that the students are at the heart of the renovations.

“They are the most important part of this project,” Lahendro says, “Our hope is to make the Rotunda part of the students’ educational experience and get them back in there again.”

“What all of us, and the university design team, hope this project does is to bring students back into the Rotunda to have it become an active part of the daily life of the students, a daily part of the education experience,” UVA’s historic preservation architect Jody Lahendro says.

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Save the books: UVA undergrads object to possible book removal

Fourth-year English major Vanessa Braganza worries the renovations to Alderman will permanently remove a large amount of Alderman’s collections to an off-site location. Photo by Amy Jackson

In this digital age, many speculate that printed literature is on the decline, with Kindles, iPhone apps and Google Books able to supply previously printed materials. However, this view of a digitized reading future holds little weight at the University of Virginia, where faculty and students alike are fighting to “save the books” at Alderman Library.

Alderman Library, opened in 1938, has not been renovated since the late ’60s, and plans are currently in the works for a renovation that would address health and safety issues, such as modernizing the fire suppression systems, as well as plumbing and electrical. In the wake of these proposed renovations, some UVA students fear that Alderman Library’s roughly 2.5 million books, government documents and newspapers are in danger.

Fourth-year English major Vanessa Braganza worries the renovations to Alderman will permanently remove a large amount of Alderman’s collections to an off-site location.

“It’s been proposed that only 800,000 of the 2 million books here might be left,” Braganza says. “And although this is only speculation, it’s an alarming speculation to even consider.”

Braganza, whose petition to Keep the Books in Alderman has garnered more than 580 undergraduate signatures, says that removing books from Alderman would undermine one of the primary functions of a library.

“The library is several things,” Braganza says. “It’s the equivalent of a laboratory to a researcher. It’s a sort of museum where you can come and touch things. And while the book as artifact is only one facet of the library, the primary function of a library is to come and browse the books.”

Former university president and current English professor John Casteen agrees that the physicality of a book is important, especially for incoming professors.

“There were people who came to UVA specifically because we had a spectacular collection and who would build upon these special kinds of collections,” Casteen says. “[The renovation] has huge implications for how we teach our courses and how we attract new faculty with the strength of our collections.”

Interim university librarian Martha Sites says the students’ and faculty members’ fear of a large-scale removal of books from Alderman Library is relatively unfounded.

“The thing that I just can’t overstate is that there is no plan yet,” Sites says, adding that the library renovations are still “working documents” and that nothing will be confirmed until the state legislature approves or denies funding for the project (full renovations could cost as much as $160 million). “When people speculate about [the renovations],” Sites says, “it can create a kind of hysteria that is just not necessary when an open dialogue is forthcoming.”

Sites also says rumors have arisen that Alderman will digitize its books and remove the physical copies, which she says is not part of the plans. According to Sites, 78 percent of Alderman’s collections are under copyright, making it nearly impossible to digitize these works and make them publicly available online, thus requiring them to stay where they are.

Even if these books were available online, Braganza emphasizes how different searching online is from searching in person.

“How often do you go in search of a book and you look around you in the stacks and find related things, or you find that the book you wanted was not what you thought it would be?” Braganza asks, adding that the ability to browse through the stacks is paramount to student research.

Sites does say that books will have to be removed temporarily for renovations to take place. She points to a corroded piece of plumbing as evidence that these renovations are necessary.

In order to protect the books from dirt and dust, plans are in the works to move them to a storage library on Ivy Road, where students would be able to check them out in person or request a book, which would be shuttled to Grounds that day.

Above all, Sites says that the staff of Alderman Library has no intention of permanently removing large numbers of books.

“I can’t tell you how bothered some of our staff were at the assumption that librarians don’t care about books,” Sites says. “That’s why most of our people are here —because we do care about books.”

By the numbers:

Volumes in Alderman (including books, documents and serials): 2.5 million

Volumes added per year: 35,000

Seats in Alderman (for studying purposes): 1,447

Estimated cost for necessary renovations: Between $40 million and $100 million

Estimated cost for full renovations (including restoration of certain spaces): $160 million

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Volunteer effort: UVA Medical Center denies ex-offender’s application

Julius Henry poses for a portrait outside of the volunteer services office in the main wing of the UVA Health Center early Friday morning, February 12, 2016. Henry received cancer treatment later that morning and is speaking out to raise awareness of the Medical Center's policies on disallowing volunteers with a criminal record after being rejected by volunteer services. Photo by Ryan Jones

Julius Henry was first sent to prison when he was 14 years old. After a 30-year reincarceration cycle, including charges ranging from trespassing to possession of drugs with the intent to distribute, Henry was released for the last time in 2006. Ten years later, he owns his own business and wants to give back, but his recent volunteering efforts have been rebuffed.

In January, Henry applied to volunteer at UVA Medical Center’s Escort & Wayfinding program, which directs patients through the hospital who might not know their way around.

When he had not heard back about his application after two weeks, he visited the volunteer coordinator to ask about it and was told he had been rejected. He says it was “a slap in my face as an ex-offender.”

He wanted to find out why UVA would not accept him and asked for a list of UVA’s qualifications for volunteers. Instead he received a new application.

“[The application] does not have the information on what kinds of qualifications they expect from their volunteers,” Henry says. “It does say that they ask for a background check. But it does not say that ‘we do not accept ex-offenders.’”

Eric Swensen, spokesperson for UVA Health System, says that on a volunteer application, all convictions found through a criminal background check are evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

“We consider: the seriousness and frequency of any offense(s), the length of time since the offense(s), subsequent work history, the nature and responsibilities of the position and the honesty of the applicant in completing the application form,” Swensen writes in an e-mail.

Henry says that during his 10 years out of prison, he has started a home business, J&J Hand Car Wash and Detailing Services, volunteered at The Haven, volunteered with a peer support counseling program, had his voting rights restored and is now a member of Believers & Achievers, an ex-felon support group. The UVA Medical Center is the only volunteer work for which he has been rejected, he says.

“We are not asking you to accept rapists and murderers,” Henry says. “We are asking you to accept nonviolent ex-offenders to come and volunteer for therapeutic reasons.” He says he wants the opportunity to show the world and his family he can “do the right thing” after coming home.

Jim Shea, 77, spent one year in federal prison for refusing to pay taxes during the Vietnam War, and says his felony has followed him his entire life.

He agrees with Henry that there is a general stigma against ex-convicts.

“Imagine finding yourself week after week, year after year, a victim of this undeniable rebuff,” Shea says. “It keeps people on the outskirts of society. It keeps people from feeling like this is their country and their society.”

When ex-convicts such as Henry are denied opportunities, it creates a “kangaroo court” where private citizens “assume the right to continue punishing someone who has already paid their debt through court,” says Shea.

Swensen disagrees, and says that although ex-offender volunteers are not common at the UVA Medical Center, the opportunity to volunteer is still there.

“In the past six months to a year, we’ve probably only had a handful of applications from ex-offenders,” Swensen says, “but there is not a blanket prohibition on accepting them. We do enlist people who have things come up on their background check.”

The UVA Medical Center is not the only organization with strict guidelines for ex-offenders. The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, for instance, says on its website that those who have been found guilty of violent offenses, robbery, drug possession and other charges will not be accepted as volunteers.

Henry says he understands the need for these guidelines when allowing ex-convicts to volunteer, and he wants to open a dialogue between Believers & Achievers and UVA that will help more ex-convicts meet those qualifications.

“We are willing to listen,” Henry says. “We are willing to accept any type of guidelines so that this will be an opportunity not just for one ex-offender, but for all ex-offenders, no matter of race, color or creed. That’s all we’re asking for—an opportunity.”