Author: Scott Weaver

News Quiz answers

News Quiz, the answers

1. When Clara Belle Wheeler says, "I could go stand out in the middle of 64, but that would not be smart," what is she metaphorically referencing?
    a. Political fence sitting.
    b. 1990s hit movie "The Program."
    c. Land use tax reform.
    d. Existential fact of life’s impermanence.

2. What event was held on Saturday to help the homeless?
    a. Bowl-a-thon.
    b. Tax-the-excessively-rich-a-thon.
    c. Provide-mental-health-and-addiction-treatment-a-thon.
    d. Pay-a-living-wage-a-thon.

3.  How many pounds of strawberries were served over graduation weekend at UVA?
    a. Five, to a select few berry scholars.
    b. 200.
    c. 300.
    d. 400.

P.S. — If you haven’t read Will Goldsmith’s story on the backstory behind the water supply-plan controversy (and his post on last night’s meeting), check them out.

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Voting rights elusive for ex-felons

In the coming summer months, when Virginia Organizing Project (VOP) organizer Harold Folley knocks on doors and talks to folks about the 2008 elections, inevitably some will tell him that they aren’t able to vote. And just maybe, Folley will lean in and pry a bit, stick his nose in their business, and discover that a felony conviction, even decades old, has taken away someone’s civil rights.

The Sentencing Project, a national organization that works on criminal justice issues, estimates that 5.3 million Americans—one in 41 adults—have lost their voting rights because of a felony conviction. And while each state has its own laws regarding the restoration of a felon’s civil rights, Virginia has one of the harshest sets of laws that make restoring your civil rights after a felony conviction a slog through a bureaucratic wasteland.

Civil rights include the right to vote, hold public office, serve on a jury and serve as a notary public. They do not include the right to possess a firearm.


Virginia has one of the nation’s harshest policies for felons who wish to regain the rights to vote, serve on a jury and hold public office.

“We encourage people all we can,” says Sheri Iachetta, Charlottesville’s general registrar. “But that’s about all we can do. It’s a really daunting procedure.”

Virginia and Kentucky are the only two states that do not automatically restore convicted felons’ civil rights. Most states restore these rights upon the completion of a prison sentence, probation or parole. In Virginia, felons convicted of a nonviolent offense must wait three years after completing all court obligations—sentencing, fines and probation—then file an application for the restoration of rights to the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

If your conviction is for a violent offense —or a drug manufacturing or distribution offense—the process is much more difficult.

The nonviolent offender’s application is two pages. The violent application is 12. Iachetta calls the violent felony forms cumbersome. “They’re horrible,” she says.

After waiting five years after all court obligations, a person convicted of a violent felony must obtain a burdensome collection of paperwork: a letter from your most recent probation or parole officer, copies of your pre- or post-sentence report, certified copies of every order of conviction and sentencing orders, three letters of reference and, to top it off, a personal letter to the Governor explaining your convictions and how your life has changed.

Iachetta says that roughly half of the people she sees who start the process don’t complete it.

“There’s got to be an easier way,” says Iachetta. “I don’t know at this point what it is. The process can be streamlined. That being said, until it happens, we’ve got to deal with what we’ve got.”

Folley says that VOP will have 50 interns canvassing the state this summer, hoping to knock on 300,000 doors. Each will have restoration applications with them for anyone unable to vote because of a felony, violent or nonviolent. “We’ll have all the information for them that they’ll need.”

And if they are in Charlottesville, chances are they will be directed to Iachetta. Folley says her office has been extremely helpful to people navigating the state labyrinth of civil rights restoration.

Applicants drop by to use the phone, making the long-distance call to Richmond to check on applications that sometimes seem to go nowhere as the October 6 deadline to register to vote in the 2008 elections grows nearer. The Virginia League of Women Voters is also making restoration of civil rights one of its priority issues.

Iachetta says a six-month wait is typical.

“I’m seeing it a little longer than six months,” she says, “but I also know that there are a lot of people going through this process.”

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

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After four years, small gains for AccessUVA

In April, Yvonne Hubbard sat down at a dinner for the first group of students that had received financial aid all four years under AccessUVA, the University’s financial aid program. One student was going to Johns Hopkins medical school. Another landed a job at General Motors. Another was off to the Peace Corps.

Previous coverage:

AccessUVA almost at “full implementation”
180 full scholarships given to newest class

Opening the door
Can a low-income financial aid program stem the trend at UVA?

A very strong commitment
What AccessUVA, an ambitious aid program, has to offer

AccessUVA will have a budget next year that tops out at almost $62 million, and the financial aid program that began in 2004 has left its infancy. Yet despite the program’s leaps in funding from its initial $20 million, Hubbard, UVA’s director of financial aid, says attracting low-income students to UVA still remains a challenge.

“People in Southwest Virginia tend to believe that they can’t go to the University of Virginia,” she says. “It’s a lot easier to convince a person from the Norfolk or D.C. area. Or it used to be. What’s interesting is that’s beginning to change.”

UVA still lags behind other elite public schools in the percentage of students who receive Pell Grants, a federal grant from middle- to low-income students. While UVA reached a high in 1997-98 of 10.5 percent, that percentage dropped to 7.5 percent in 2005-06 in 2005.

Thanks in part to AccessUVA (and UVA’s marketing of the program), that number has risen to 8.8 percent this year. But other public schools, such as those in the California university system, boast percentages near and in the 20s.

“The trend has started going in the other direction, but it’s only a 3-year trend,” says Hubbard. “We still get criticized for being low when you look at everybody else.”

When UVA rolled out AccessUVA, it was an announcement that the University intended to spar with the elite universities of the nation. But it lacks two things: substantial funding from the state that other public schools enjoy and decades of big-money fundraisings that swell private-school endowments.


“The trend [of low income students at UVA] has started going in the other direction, but it’s only a 3-year trend,” says Yvonne Hubbard, UVA director of financial aid. “We still get criticized for being low when you look at everybody else.”

The biggest challenge for AccessUVA, says Hubbard, is getting the word out about the program. And measuring its success in four years can be difficult. One way to look at it is through the lens of the number of applications UVA receives from low-income students.

In 2003, 4.7 percent of applicants came from families with an income within 200 percent of the federal poverty level. In 2007, that percentage rose to 5.3 percent.

But with the price of a UVA education ever increasing, including next year’s 7.3 percent hike for in-state students, the total student debt burden is also on the rise. In 2002-03, an undergrad degree would put you, on average, $13,476 in debt. That increased to $18,075 in 2006-07.

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

News Quiz

Here it is, this week’s news quiz. As always, leave your answers in the comments. I’ll post the answer key tomorrow. And of course, the first person with three correct answers gets a vegan hotdog.*

1. When Clara Belle Wheeler says, "I could go stand out in the middle of 64, but that would not be smart," what is she metaphorically referencing?
    a. Political fence sitting.
    b. 1990s hit movie "The Program."
    c. Land use tax reform.
    d. Existential fact of life’s impermanence.

2. What event was held on Saturday to help the homeless?
    a. Bowl-a-thon.
    b. Tax-the-excessively-rich-a-thon.
    c. Provide-mental-health-and-addiction-treatment-a-thon.
    d. Pay-a-living-wage-a-thon.

3.  How many pounds of strawberries were served over graduation weekend at UVA?
    a. Five, to a select few berry scholars.
    b. 200.
    c. 300.
    d. 400.

*Yes, they exist.

[UPDATE 5/19] Staff Union at UVA opens membership to faculty

The Staff Union at UVA (SUUVA) launched a new campaign to sign up faculty members today on the Corner. The union is six years old, and traditionally, says Jan Cornell, SUUVA president, it has been only for UVA staff. Now, though, it has opened its membership to faculty.

"We need their support," says Cornell. "America, we’re in bad shape. People are struggling. UVA pays $9.56 an hour. What is that? There are so many issues for the union to take on."

UVA spokesperson Carol Wood disputes the $9.56-an-hour number, which was also printed on flyers handed out at the rally. According to Wood, UVA’s pay band starts at $10.14 an hour. With the addition of benefits, Wood says via e-mail, the number is $13.87 an hour.


Jan Cornell, SUUVA president, says she expects
to sign up 20 faculty members this week.

Cornell says she expects at least 20 faculty to sign up this week. Within 30 minutes of launching the campaign in front of Bodo’s Bagels, she held roughly 10 sign-up sheets from new members.

Latin American History Professor Herbert "Tico" Braun* was one of the faculty members who signed up. Handing his sheet to Cornell, he told her "It feels great to be a part of something larger than my own little existence."

*Braun was incorrectly identified as Herbert "Tito" Brown in an earlier version of this post.

The web on Webb

Allow me to continue the lovefest that has recently swelled around Virginia Senator Jim Webb (C-VILLE joins in here). As the Democratic primary plays itself out (ohgodpleaseend), VP talk about Webb has increased.

Local blogger Jack Landers at Rule .303 argues that Webb could be of real use to Barack Obama and gives the example of how Webb continues to hammer John McCain with his GI Bill. It’s a pretty common sentiment that Webb would balance out the Dem ticket with his military experience, something (the only thing?) that McCain is running hard on. Says Landers:

"Jim Webb as a running mate would make the perfect weapon against John McCain for Barack Obama. And it is those same skills that have made him such a perfect weapon that would also enable him to serve as an extraordinarily capable Vice President, turning administration proposals into reality in both the military and the Senate. Hopefully, we’ll get that new GI bill passed along the way."

Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic notes the timing of Webb’s new book, and Slate does a lap around the Internet and picks out what some bloggers have to say about Webb vis-a-vis the VP slot.

And then there’s Dan Savage of The Stranger (yes, that Dan Savage), who floats the Obama-Webb ticket idea. The comments at the bottom of Savage’s post offer some good pro/con rationale for offering the VP slot to Webb. Personally, I’d hate to see a special election in Virginia for Webb’s newly vacated seat for two reasons. First, for a freshman senator, Webb seems to swing a big stick on the Hill. Second, can you think of another Democratic candidate that Virginia would elect in his place?

Water fight

Back in February, I wrote about the rift between environmental groups over the water supply plan, a riff that revolved around the idea of dredging. That seems to have died down since then, huh?

Or it’s become something of a water supply plan flashpoint.

This week Will Goldsmith takes a hard look at the talk around dredging, who’s pushing it and what the real costs may be.  A 2004 report from Gannett Fleming puts the cost of dredging—as part of the water supply plan, an important distinction—at anywhere from $128 million to $145 million. That depends on how much of the sediment can be sold.

The current water supply plan runs roughly $142. But some consultants say they can dredge for much less than that and take care of our water supply necessities (which enviro groups can’t agree upon either).

Will’s got a cover story on the way. In the meantime, let the dredging wars continue.

Pencils down

Just received an e-mail from Edward Gaynor, the head of Collection Development at the Special Collections Library at UVA, about the UVA Quiz on this week’s cover. I didn’t tell Gaynor this, but I’ve always harbored dreams of becoming a librarian, especially since they’ve become so cool. So it was a little like getting a letter from a rock star. Who works in a library. Or something like that.

Anyway, he offered three clarifications to the quiz, which make the stories behind the questions that much more interesting to me.

Concerning the earliest documented streaking of the Lawn (question #10), Mr. Gaynor added this:

"The earliest documented streaking episode is from 1895. William Poindexter Moore, in a letter to his mother, recounts the story of a student who won a $10 bet by a running naked in 16 degree weather three miles up to the reservoir and back."

No word on if this involved kissing the ass end of the Homer statue. He also has the name of the first African American student to apply to UVA (#12):

"The ‘unnamed’ African American student who applied to UVa in 1935 was Alice Carlotta Jackson, a Richmond native and civil rights activist.  Her papers were donated to the UVa Library in 2003 by her son."

As for the first Board of Visitors meeting (#21):

"The first meeting of the Board of Visitors was on May 5, 1817 and was attended by Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, James Madison, and John Hartwell Cocke. (I sincerely wish I could think of something funny to say about this, but alas, I’m blocked.)"
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Red dirt alert!


Amid the great swatch of red dirt, five houses are springing up in Belvedere. The 675-unit development, which has billed itself as a green project, is beginning a five- to six-year build-out. Cass Kawecki of Stonehaus, Belvedere’s developer, says the initial five houses will be move-in ready by June. The village green will be opening in mid-summer, and a community owner’s association is germinating. “We’re at that point where it’s transitioning from an idea and concept to a real, active, lively place,” says Kawecki. Plans for the SOCA soccer complex will be in front of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday. There is still work to be done, though. Stonehaus has sold 55 lots to two builders. Kawecki says over 20 percent of those lots are under contract or reserved.

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

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Tuition goes up while Feds eye endowments

As Virginia universities’ tuitions continue to climb, they do so amid calls from Republican U.S. Senator Charles Grassley, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, for universities to spend more of their endowments to make college more affordable.

The total price of education for in-state students at UVA will increase next year by 7.3 percent. Meanwhile, from 2006 to 2007, UVA’s endowment netted $560 million.

UVA is hardly alone in tuition increases. Virginia Tech increased in-state costs for 2008-2009 by 10.8 percent. George Mason University announced last week that its in-state price tag will jump 9.8 percent. While the state’s universities cite decreasing financial support from Richmond as a reason for the increases, there is mounting pressure from the federal government for colleges to dip into endowments to help cover the spiraling cost of higher education.


“Parents and students have a right to expect these universities with big endowments to end the hoarding and start the helping with skyrocketing tuition costs,” said Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) after Yale upped its endowment spending.

In June, UVA’s Board of Visitors will decide if it will increase the payout from the University’s endowment. In fiscal years 2006 and 2007, the Board approved payouts of 4 percent of the endowment’s market value in the previous year, $87.4 million in 2006 and $97 million in 2007. Grassley has floated the idea of requiring universities to spend at least 5 percent of their endowments each year.

Carol Wood, spokesperson for UVA, says the University hasn’t felt any pressure from Grassley’s probe to increase payouts from the endowment.

“The University is extremely thoughtful in how it uses its endowment,” she says, and points out that 72 percent of the funds are restricted by donors for designated purposes. “While the endowment has reached $5 billion,” Wood says, “you’re not free to use that money. Our responsibility is to invest it wisely in order to build a perpetual source of strength for the University.”

Other universities, however, aren’t as immune to the pressure from the feds. Yale recently announced that it would begin spending more money each year from its $22.5 billion endowment, a change that is in part, said Yale President Rick Levin, a response to Grassley’s criticism.

At its core, Grassley’s criticism questions why students face rising tuition costs while university coffers continue to swell. UVA’s endowment does partially fund AccessUVA, a University financial aid program. This school year, 11.5 percent of AccessUVA money comes from the distribution of unrestricted endowment funds, those not designated for specific use. The two largest expenditures of endowment funds go toward instruction (48 percent) and financial aid (25 percent).

The program is also funded by tuition. Wood says 3.7 percent of the coming tuition increase is tied to both AccessUVA and salaries.

Four years ago, the Board and UVA committed $20 million a year to AccessUVA. Since then, that commitment has grown—next year’s project budget for AccessUVA will increase by $2 million from last year, topping out at almost $62 million.

If the Board decides next month to increase endowment distribution, it will likely point to a desire to fund recommendations from the President’s Commission on the Future and not to pressure from Grassley.

“A number of Board members feel very strongly that this is the time to increase the endowment,” says Wood. “The Board is thinking that [the recommendations] would be a good use of endowment money.”

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.