Tag: Jim Ryan

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Ground-ed: UVA considers requiring second-years to live on campus

Rick Jones, a local property manager, believes it’s a myth that there’s pressure for students to sign leases early. (Photo: Eze Amos)

Every college student knows it’s coming. Do it right, and you’re securing an enjoyable experience for two semesters of your college career. Mess it up, and you may be looking at a 12-month sentence of living with that guy who never learned how to do the dishes.

Signing that first lease, even if it’s only to rent a shoebox apartment a few blocks away from campus, is a momentous decision. It’s one most UVA students start fretting about not long after they arrive at the university, hoping to secure a spot off Grounds for their second year. But now, as part of President Jim Ryan’s 2030 Strategic Plan, the Board of Visitors is considering a proposal to require students to live on Grounds for their first two years. It’s already getting some pushback.

The goal would be to alleviate the pressure that students—first-years in particular—feel to sign a lease before fully settling on a group of friends or potential roommates. It’s also part of a larger effort to create a residential community that students can stay connected with throughout their college careers.

One property manager estimates that 2,700 second-years currently choose to live off Grounds, and he believes this plan is a way of hand-holding an already over-protected generation.

Rick Jones is the vice chairman of the board for Management Services Corporation, a property management firm that owns dozens of student-housing complexes around Charlottesville, including Ash Tree Apartments and The Fred.

He wrote a letter to Ryan on June 18, calling the perceived pressure to sign a lease in September a “myth,” noting that even in June, Jones was able to find 29 units owned by his company alone that were within walking distance of the university and still available for the upcoming school year.

“I have been in the rental housing business for almost 50 years,” writes Jones, a ’70 alumnus. “I am very concerned about what I see as a great deal of misinformation about the availability of housing for students, as well as non-students…I can assure you that no one is forcing anyone to make a housing decision any earlier than they need or want to.”

While Jones admits the apartments and houses in higher demand do go quickly, he stresses that a large percentage of housing is still available well into the year. He sees this initiative as an effort by the university to coddle its students, many of whom are “just not as mature and able to handle life on their own,” he says.

Ryan has mailed a letter in response to Jones, but he hadn’t received it at press time.

Rising third-year Emily Hamilton, who moved off Grounds for her second year, says there’s a “social pressure” for students to finalize their living arrangements early so that they’re not left on the outside of a group of people trying to live together. The longer first-years wait to discuss with fellow classmates where they want to live and who they want to live with, the less likely they believe their chances are of securing a favorable housing situation.

“I think it’s more listening to what your peers are doing than feeling pressured to get on it before other things run out,” Hamilton says. “It’s created by the students and I know that you can find housing later in the year, like May or June for the next year.”

Hamilton also thinks most students would oppose being required to live on Grounds their second year.

Yet a residual benefit could be an increase in the availability of affordable housing. Michael Payne, one of the Democratic candidates for City Council, is a vocal proponent of taking an active approach to solving the local affordable housing crisis. He believes UVA’s decision would be a step in the right direction to opening up more opportunities for low-income residents to secure homes.

“You have a dynamic where a lot of students who are living off Grounds are purchasing homes and using them as rental properties that otherwise would be properties rented by residents of the Charlottesville community,” Payne says. “You just see the available housing stock restricted because it’s taken up by students.”

There are still several kinks to be ironed out before the university takes any sort of action. Jones notes that he’s open to starting a dialogue with UVA to work out an alternative solution. The Board of Visitors won’t cast any votes on the proposal until August at the earliest.

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Now what? UVA-community working group outlines priorities

The UVA-community working group made better pay for hourly university workers a priority, echoing years of student activism on the issue.

By Ali Sullivan

After four months of surveys, conversations, community gatherings and focus groups, the committee formed by University of Virginia President Jim Ryan to evaluate the relationship between the university and the surrounding community released its final report in February. UVA faculty members, a UVA law student, and Charlottesville community leaders comprised the 16-member working group that sought to define priority issues straining town-gown relations.

Various initiatives to mend UVA’s contentious relationship with its surrounding community preceded this effort, yet working group co-chairman Juandiego Wade-—chair of the Charlottesville City School Board—says he believes this effort will transpire differently.

The president is “committed to being a good neighbor,” Wade says, not only to residents of Charlottesville, but to “all the places that the university touches.”

“I’m hearing some very positive things from the community about what’s going on,” he says.

However, the results so far have been more than just good feelings. On March 7—less than a month after the publication of the group’s report—the university announced plans to increase wages for full-time workers to $15 an hour in 2020. Although the announcement follows quickly after the working group’s suggested wage increases, it also comes after decades of student-led activism pushing the university to increase wages for its lowest-paid workers.

The decision matters: Charlottesville offers some of the lowest economic mobility in the nation, and 25.9 percent of city residents live below the federal poverty threshold. As the largest employer in Charlottesville, UVA has immense influence on the surrounding labor market.

While the group outlined wages as the top priority for the university to address, the report also suggests UVA tackle issues related to jobs, health care, housing, and education. Jon Bowen, special advisor to the president for external affairs, notes that, unlike wages, UVA cannot take unilateral action on these issues—change will not happen overnight. Currently, he says, the university is studying possible solutions in collaboration with the community.

Wade noted that no formal accountability structure has been created to ensure the implementation of the group’s suggestions. The report recommended UVA establish an Office of Community Partnerships and Social Impact to monitor university-community initiatives and offer a channel through which Charlottesville residents can provide input to the university. Bowen says the university is working on finding “the most effective channel” for residents to provide input.

Meanwhile, the working group has not yet disbanded, though Wade says it is unsure of its next steps. For now, he says, “we’re still in the glow of the report.”

Ali Sullivan is a news writer at The Cavalier Daily.

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Running strong: A few words with UVA’s president at the end of his first year

Photos: Sanjay Suchak

UVA President Jim Ryan, a law school alum and former faculty member, took office August 1, just before the anniversary of the Unite the Right violence. As the year went on, he announced a new School of Data Science and watched the men’s basketball team take home its first-ever national championship.

A popular presence on Grounds, Ryan garnered a lot of support for raising the minimum hourly wage to $15 for full-time university employees by January 2020. His social media game is very active, especially on Twitter, where he invites the community to join him for regular morning runs.

As his first year draws to a close, we caught up with Ryan to talk about how it’s gone, life in Charlottesville, and what’s ahead.—Gracie Kreth

C-VILLE: What do you feel has been your greatest accomplishment this year?

Jim Ryan: Surviving! I’m kidding. This was an accomplishment by many people, not just me, but I’m proud that we were able to raise the minimum wage for UVA employees to $15 an hour. It was something I had wanted to do since taking office, and something a lot of people had been working towards for a long time. We’ve got more work to do, but the fact that we were able to get this done represents an important first step.

What do you wish you’d done differently?

Perhaps not being so enthusiastic with my costume for our office’s 1970s theme at the Trick-or-Treating on the Lawn. The combination of wig, glasses, and mustache might’ve scared some of the children. Please don’t Google it.

What do you think is the greatest challenge UVA faces in improving its relationship with community?

All good relationships are built on trust, and trust takes time. Our neighbors have heard plenty of promises from UVA over the years but haven’t always seen those promises lead to lasting change. Our challenge is to back up our words with actions, and to do it consistently enough that people begin to trust us when we say we care about something.

What do does a typical Saturday look like for you?

On most Saturdays this year I’ve been home with my family in Massachusetts. They are there for the year so our youngest son could finish his senior year of high school. Those days usually begin with a run in the woods with my wife, Katie, going to one of our kids’ soccer games in the afternoon, cooking dinner with Katie, and watching a movie with our family. It’s almost too glamorous for words, really.   

What’s your best Charlottesville memory?

This is where my kids spent the bulk of their childhoods, so all my favorite memories involve them. My favorite recent memory has to be coming back to Charlottesville after watching the men’s basketball team win the national championship. There was this incredible sense of pride and accomplishment—it felt like we had all won something.

What are you looking forward to this summer?

I will be going to London for a UVA event, which should be fun. Aside from that, spending time with my family, fly fishing, surfing, and reading some things other than email.

What’s your favorite book?

I’m going to focus on fiction here. It’s almost always the most recent one I’ve read, so that would currently be All the Light We Cannot See [by Anthony Doerr]. But Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig is one of the only fictional books—aside from Goodnight Moon—that I’ve read more than once, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera is a novel that has stayed with me for a long time.

 

President Ryan’s Charlottesville picks

Running route

Ridge Road

Bodo’s order

Chicken salad on an everything bagel with horseradish.

Tradition

The Charlottesville Ten Miler. The course isn’t easy, but it feels like the whole city comes out to either run or support.

Our challenge is to back up our words with actions, and to do it consistently enough that people begin to trust us when we say we care about something.

Gracie Kreth is the editor-in-chief of The Cavalier Daily.

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Indigenous inclusion: Advocates call for UVA American Indian studies center

UVA alum Guy Lopez (fourth from left) has convened a committee of other alumni and faculty to support the creation of an Indigenous Studies Center at the university. Over the weekend, they hosted a symposium to spread awareness and solicit advice on how to proceed. Photo by Eze Amos

Some issues don’t just go away if you ignore them.

Aside from a brief appearance at the May 6 City Council meeting, the last time we heard from UVA alum Guy Lopez was 2002, when the university was considering whether to invest $4 million in the University of Arizona’s Mount Graham Observatory to build a giant telescope on sacred San Carlos Apache land. UVA would then have permission to use it seven nights a year.   

Despite massive resistance from local and faraway American Indians like Lopez, who grew up on South Dakota’s Crow Creek Sioux Reservation, UVA proceeded with the agreement, and promised to mitigate its impact in a number of ways, including “increasing Native American representation at UVA by actively recruiting Native American students and faculty, and by enhancing scholarly research in Native American studies,” according to an October 2002 issue of Inside UVA Online.

Lopez says UVA hasn’t lived up to its promises, and an online tool shows that only 14 Native American students and five faculty were at the school in 2018. Now, he’s calling for an Indigenous Studies Center on Grounds, which he says is the brainchild of the committee of faculty and alumni he convened and Vice Provost Louis Nelson.

“It makes no sense that potentially one of the greatest American universities has had so little inclusion of American Indian scholars and indigenous people,” says Lopez. “The university is missing out on a rich world of knowledge and insight into life on this continent.”

Lopez says other universities have done a better job, and points to Stanford University, where there’s a Native American Cultural Center and annual powwow that draws more than 50,000 people. But “UVA doesn’t know basic facts about American Indian participation at the university,” he says, like who was the first American Indian graduate.

UVA spokesperson Anthony de Bruyn says increasing minority representation, among both faculty and students, is a strategic priority for the university. He says admission representatives have attended powwows and have been involved in the Pathkeepers for Indigenous Knowledge Native Youth Leadership Camp.

Programs on Native American history, culture, and social, legal, and political rights are under consideration, he adds.

Over the weekend, Lopez and his UVA-based committee hosted a symposium to facilitate conversations about the university’s relationship with its indigenous people, gain interest in an Indigenous Studies Center, and solicit advice from others on how to proceed with building it.

Among them was former San Carlos Apache tribal chairman Wendsler Nosie, who flew in from Arizona for the symposium. He says the observatory is “still a major issue back home,” where it adversely affects a sacred space called Dzil nchaa si’an in the Sonoran Desert, a critical habitat of the red squirrel and a place of worship and prayer for his tribe.

Now that conversation about the telescope is resurfacing, Wendsler says they want to be heard.

He and other Apaches, including acting tribal chairman Tao Etpison, requested a meeting with UVA President Jim Ryan over the weekend, and in a letter to Ryan, Etpison noted the school’s alleged “commitment to inclusion, diversity, and mutual respect,” after the events of August 11 and 12, 2017.

Ryan agreed to meet with the representatives of the tribe in a May 3 email, but it got overlooked, leaving the Arizonans to believe he declined to respond. Though they missed the opportunity for a meeting during their most recent visit, Wendsler says he’ll be back.

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Controversial calculations: Alderman renovation moves forward

Some UVA professors fear the Alderman Library renovation will seriously hinder research at the university. Photo by Eze Amos

Governor Ralph Northam approved the University of Virginia’s proposal to renovate Alderman Library on March 24, sending the $160 million project into development.

The renovation, which has been planned since 2016, involves removing a significant percentage of the library’s books and turning its cramped 10-floor layout into a more spacious five floors to meet modern fire codes. It will also increase the number of entrances and extend a bridge to the adjacent Clemons Library, to make it easier to move between the two buildings.

According to a December statement from UVA Library, over half of the roughly 1.6 million volumes currently housed in Alderman will return when the renovation’s finished, while the remainder will be redistributed to either Clemons or the Ivy Stacks, a storage facility one mile off Grounds.

Faculty and students have raised concerns about the project’s impact on research, with many criticizing the methodology used by Dean of Libraries John Unsworth to calculate the estimated loss of on-site books.

Tensions escalated in spring 2018, after a steering committee predicted an 18 percent reduction in Alderman’s on-site collections, which many professors say is inaccurate. Some, such as UVA professor of English John Bugbee, have estimated the university’s plan will result in a 45 percent reduction.

The dispute boils down to a disagreement over how to calculate the number of books that can fit in a foot of shelving.

Unsworth used an Association of Research Libraries algorithm that calculates 10 books per foot of shelving, while faculty point to academic sources that estimate eight books per foot of shelving is more precise.

In addition, the proposal also incorrectly claims that books will be stored in the basement, which is reserved for processing, says Bugbee. “It also does not account for growth space—the leftover space in a shelf left for new materials.”

In late May, Bugbee and fellow UVA English professor John Parker gathered over 500 signatures opposing the reduction of books at Alderman. Bugbee then relayed his concern that the Board of Visitors was misled them when it approved the project in a November meeting with UVA President Jim Ryan.

“I told them I would be happy if we’re only going to lose 18 percent of books,” Bugbee says, “but we would need to adjust the project to get there.”

He anonymously contacted the Association of Research Libraries, and a spokesperson told him the 10-books-a-foot metric was for a survey, not for any sort of capital project, he says.

Despite that information, Ryan continued to support Unsworth, who says this is the best option he has. “The only alternative that is not an estimate is to fill the library with books and then count them,” Unsworth says. “We’re not in a position to do that yet.”

Books will begin being moved out of Alderman this summer, and the first floor of Clemons will be closed until August, according to the library’s website. Construction will begin in 2020 and be completed in 2023.

Correction: The $160 million cost of the project was inaccurately reported as $305 million in the original story, based on a typo in a press release about the budget from Delegate Steve Landes.

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In brief: Plogging craze, Crozet shuttle, marathon man, and more

Plogging and other Earth Day events

A combination of jogging while picking up trash—who wouldn’t want to go plogging? Easter Sunday, from 1 to 5pm, is your chance.

“Instead of hunting for Easter eggs, we’re hunting for litter,” says organizer and self-proclaimed tree-hugger Brady Earnhart. He’s never been plogging, but was immediately intrigued when he read about the European craze in The New Yorker.

Earnhart says his event will probably be more of a stroll than a jog, and will start and end at Rapture on the Downtown Mall. “Get some exercise
while you’re making Charlottesville a prettier place, and hang out with a crowd who feels the way you do about it,” he says.

Participants will break into smaller groups and collect as much garbage as they can from the designated zones, which can be found on a map on the Facebook event page, “Easter Plogging: A Holiday Litter Hunt.”

Bring your smartphone and plastic grocery bags (for collecting) if you’ve got ’em, says Earnhart.

And if you’re in the mood for more environmentally-friendly (and plogging!) events, here are just a few options:

Plog with the prez

Join UVA President Jim Ryan on April 19 at 7am at Madison Hall for running and litter pickup, one of more than 20 university-sponsored Earth Week events. A full schedule can be found at sustainability.virginia.edu.

Break out your bike helmet

Piedmont Environmental Council and other groups are leading a casual ride April 19 at 5:30pm through neighborhood streets, along bike lanes,
and greenways, with an optional social hour and advocacy brainstorming session to follow. Meet at Peloton Station.

Lace up your hiking boots

Join Wild Virginia on a guided two- to three-mile hike at Montpelier April 27 from 10am to noon. The cost is $10 with a $5 recommended donation to Wild Virginia, and those interested can sign up by searching “Nature Exploration Hike at Montpelier” on Eventbrite.

Quote of the week

“[Discriminatory symbols] certainly include Confederate imagery, which evokes a time when black people were enslaved, sold, beaten, and even killed at the whim of their masters.”—Educator/activist Walt Heinecke to the Albemarle School Board April 11

In brief

Don’t go

A petition started by UVA alumna Lacey Kohlmoos asks the men’s basketball team not to visit the White House in the wake of their NCAA championship win, and at press time, the online document had 10,900 of the 11,000 requested John Hancocks. But here’s the catch: While the winner may traditionally be extended an invitation to the president’s abode, as of yet, the Cavaliers have not been invited.

Rebel students

Since Albemarle Superintendent Matt Haas banned white supremacist and Nazi imagery on clothing as disruptive, six students have been counseled, Haas told the school board April 11. The first, reported as wearing a hat with Confederate imagery, also had on a Confederate T-shirt. That student spent several days at home.

Eze Amos

Riot free

Charlottesville police reported minimal mayhem as Hoos celebrated UVA’s national basketball championship into the wee hours of April 9. Police made three misdemeanor arrests for drunk in public, trespassing, and assault. UVA police reported three calls for vandalism, and fire and rescue responded to seven burned sofas/bonfires.

Crozet express

JAUNT is planning to launch a new bus service from Crozet to UVA and Sentara Martha Jefferson starting August 5, with other stops to allow riders to connect with transit options, according to the Progress. JAUNT, which is still seeking input, aims to keep the ride to no more than 45 minutes and will charge $2 each way.

Good pork

Virginia’s U.S. senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine get $43 million in federal funding from HUD for affordable housing in Virginia, including $875,000 for Charlottesville Redevelopment & Housing Authority.

Ryan’s run

UVA prez Jim Ryan ran his ninth Boston Marathon April 15 in honor of 26 teachers, one for every mile. Donors contributed $260 to get an educator who had made a difference listed on Ryan’s shirt.

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In brief: Neo-Nazi battle, minimum wage raise, Landes and Galvin decide, and more

Jeff Schoep, longtime head of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement, says he’s still in charge. AP Images for the Southern Poverty Law Center

Who’s head neo-Nazi?

James Hart Stern, a black activist, claims he had taken over the National Socialist Movement and filed a motion February 28 accepting liability in the August 12-related lawsuit Sines v. Kessler. But the longtime head of the neo-Nazi group, Jeff Schoep, sent C-VILLE an email March 8 saying Stern had no legal standing with the org. Meanwhile, a judge has given Schoep until March 18 to find a lawyer.

UVA raises minimum wage

The university will up its minimum wage to $15 an hour for 1,400 full-time employees January 1. That means 60 percent of the lowest-paid workers will see a boost. The rest are contract workers and the school says it’s still working on that.

Quote of the week

“As a university, we should live our values—and part of that means making sure that no one who works at UVA should live in poverty.”—UVA President Jim Ryan

Landes looks for new job

Steve Landes

Delegate Steve Landes will not seek a 13th term representing the 25th District. Instead, he’s running for Augusta County clerk of circuit court, which pays $138,000 compared to the $17,640 part-time legislators make in General Assembly. Albemarle farmer Richard Fox, Augusta Supervisor and former county Dem chair Marshall Pattie, and Bridgewater GOP member Chris Runion will face off at an April 27 firehouse primary for the Republican nomination.

 

 

Kathy Galvin

So does Galvin

As Delegate David Toscano prepares to step down from his seat in the House of Delegates, another familiar face is gearing up for a campaign to replace him in the 57th District. City councilor of eight years Kathy Galvin will challenge UVA professor Sally Hudson for the Democratic nomination.

Surprise resignation

Barry Neulen took the job as head of the Emergency Communications Center six months ago, when the team of 911 dispatchers was severely understaffed and desperate for help. He’s faced criticism for multiple decisions, including hiring former military buddies to help train new recruits—which employees applauded, and Police Chief RaShall Brackney questioned. Neulen abruptly resigned March 11, and UVA’s executive director of emergency management, Tom Berry, will serve in the interim.

Recycle this!

With a few new changes in the local recycling scene, it can be hard to keep up with where to toss your antifreeze, and where not to store your styrofoam.

In:

The Ivy Material Utilization Center—er, the dump—now has expanded recycling services, which are free to city and county residents. You may now recycle the following:

  • Compostable food waste
  • Newsprint and magazines
  • Motor oil
  • Antifreeze
  • Corrugated cardboard
  • Glass food and beverage containers
  • Mixed brown paper
  • Aluminum beverage cans and steel cans

Out:

But come July, the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority will no longer accept No. 3 through No. 7 plastics at the McIntire Recycling Center, at least until there’s a market for them again. According to a RSWA staff report, the Chinese market is closed and there’s no viable domestic one. So if you’ve recently “recycled” those plastics in town, they’ve likely been shipped to Raleigh, North Carolina—and tossed in the trash. Here’s a sampling of what won’t be accepted come summer:

  • PVC pipe
  • Sandwich and grocery bags
  • Styrofoam
  • Squeezable condiment bottles
  • Tupperware
  • Yogurt containers
  • Prescription bottles
  • Bottle caps
  • Plastic cutlery
  • Baby bottles

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Whopping donation: $120 million funds UVA’s new School of Data Science

Jaffray Woodriff’s $120 donation to UVA will go towards a new School of Data Science that will build upon the existing Data Science Institute. Jonathan Haynes

By Jonathan Haynes

Jaffray Woodriff, who made a fortune using data science in the investment world, has bestowed upon his alma mater its largest donation ever to create a School of Data Science. It will build on the university’s existing Institute of Data Science, which was created with a $10 million donation from Woodriff in 2014.

UVA President Jim Ryan held a press conference in the dome of the Rotunda Friday to announce the new school and the $120 million seed money.

Woodriff, who plans to remake the west end of the Downtown Mall with an office building called CODE—Center of Developing Entrepreneurs—is a 1991 graduate of the McIntire School of Commerce and founder and CEO of the Charlottesville-based Quantitative Investment Management, a $3 billion hedge fund. “Responsibly applying data science is one of the greatest opportunities of our lifetime,” he said in the Dome Room.

Phil Bourne, director and interim dean of the of UVA’s Data Science Institute, said the school must both “drive and respond appropriately” to the technological revolution. “It’s weaving social responsibility into all we do.”

Woodriff and his wife, Merrill Woodriff, also a UVA alum, donated the money through their 501(c)(3), the Quantitative Foundation.

A variety of sources will match the donation, bringing the program’s total to $200 million. The project has not received government funding.

UVA’s current Data Science Institute is a “pan-university” that offers master’s degree and research programs. Woodriff’s donation will enable the school to add doctoral and undergraduate degrees, as well as certificate programs.

A star-studded lineup spoke at the event, including U.S. Representative Denver Riggleman and Governor Ralph Northam, who was met with a standing ovation when he took the podium. Senator Mark Warner, still in Washington because of the government shutdown, sent a video message.

According to Bloomberg News, Woodriff was also the major donor establishing the university’s $12.4 million squash center, which opened in 2013.

 

 

Correction January 28: An editor incorrectly described CODE as a tech incubator in the original version. It is an office building.

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In brief: Pesticide problems, a POWF at the Pavilion, and a poll procession

Pete Myers gives us the real dirt on pesticides.

Pesticide dangers with Pete Myers

As a local biologist and founder of the nonprofit Environmental Health Sciences, Pete Myers clearly knows a thing or two about environmental health. On Thursday, October 25, from 9am to noon, he’ll join three other experts at the Paramount to give us “The Real Dirt on Pesticides” (spoiler: it’s worse than you think).

If you can’t make the forum, where attendees will also learn alternative and sustainable methods of dealing with garden pests and weeds, here are three things Myers says you ought to know about the substances created to kill:

  1. Because of wind, drift, water runoff from pesticide- sprayed fields, and the way that the sun’s heat evaporates the pesticide off the surfaces where they are sprayed, it is virtually impossible to limit their application to the pest they are being used to kill. This harms beneficial organisms, including people.
  2. Almost no square inch on the planet is without measurable amounts of pesticides, and every human has measurable levels of pesticides in them.
  3. The methods used by regulatory agencies to test for pesticide safety have deep and fatal flaws, so our understanding of what is safe, and what is not, is very limited. Among them:
  • Pesticide manufacturers submit test results, not regulatory agencies, and results are often withheld from independent scrutiny with claims of confidential business interests.
  • The tests are carried out on the ‘active ingredient,’ the one chemical thought to do the killing. But a pesticide is a mixture with  many other chemicals specifically added to the product to make it more powerful. The product as sold is never tested in the process of determining its safety.
Nikuyah Walker. Photo by Eze Amos

Quote of the week: “How civil and orderly were the community members who auctioned off black bodies in Court Square?” —Mayor Nikuyah Walker responds to a Daily Progress op-ed on bullying at City Council meetings

Mayor takes aim at Galvin… and Baggby’s?

In a Facebook response to the Progress editorial on heckling at City Council meetings, Mayor Walker accused Councilor Kathy Galvin of “white (civil) rage,” and described the “tyranny” that has ruled the city under the guise of civility: “I’m cruel and oppressive and unreasonable, but I do it in a suit and tie or a dress, while I eat Baggby’s. And I don’t yell…I slyly smirk.”

Big bucks from Bronco

Bronco Mendenhall. Photo by Jackson Smith

Bronco Mendenhall’s family ponied up $500K for new football operations center. UVA says it’s the largest gift made to the university by a head coach, but Mendenhall is also the university’s highest paid coach ever, pulling down around $3.5 million annually.

Free UVA tuition

Jim Ryan seems to be pretty popular among the students he now officially presides over, and he racked up even more brownie points at his October 19 inauguration, where he said in-state students with families earning less than $80,000 a year will be able to attend the university tuition-free.

Big tent replaced

A portable off-grid washing facility. Click to enlarge.

The bad news is that construction to replace the original fabric roof of the Sprint Pavilion will cut off all pedestrian access through the venue (and the tunnel under Ninth Street) until March. The good news is that the fabric will get a new life as a “portable off-grid washing facility,” which creates a reusable and environmentally friendly way to do laundry in refugee camps, according to Pavilion manager Kirby Hutto.

Deeds settles

State Senator Creigh Deeds settled a wrongful death lawsuit against former mental health evaluator Michael Gentry for $950,000 for allowing his son, Gus, to leave the hospital after determining he was a danger to himself and others. Gus stabbed his father multiple times before killing himself on November 18, 2013.

Need a ride to vote?

Don’t let a lack of transportation keep you from voting in the November 6 midterms.

An all-volunteer group called CAR2Vote, founded by Gail Hyder Wiley in 2013, provides free rides for voters to get an ID, submit an absentee ballot, or vote on election day. Approximately 75 drivers are on call this year.

Says Hyder Wiley about the upcoming election, “There’s a lot of pent-up frustration and polarization, and one of the best ways to make your voice heard is to vote.”

Sign up for a ride to vote at car2vote.weebly.com or call 260-1547.

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‘Grace and dignity’: Former UVA president Robert O’Neil remembered as constitutional icon

Robert O’Neil was president of UVA from 1985 to 1990 and a renowned constitutional scholar. Michael Bailey

It’s no surprise that Robert O’Neil, the University of Virginia’s sixth president, who died September 30, leaves behind an accomplished life, particularly in constitutional law. But what friends keep mentioning is his generosity, kindness, and concern for others—something that was reflected in his efforts to open the university to more diversity during his term in office.

A prominent defender of the First Amendment, especially free speech and freedom of religion, O’Neil founded the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression in 1990. The nonprofit organization defends First Amendment rights and annually gives out “Jefferson Muzzles” to call out “especially egregious or ridiculous affronts to free expression.”

UVA President Jim Ryan said O’Neil was a friend and mentor to him at the university’s law school, where they were colleagues. “I’ll never forget and always appreciate the great kindness he showed to me when I was just starting my career,” Ryan told UVA Today.

Boston born and Harvard educated, O’Neil came to Charlottesville in 1985 from the University of Wisconsin, where he served as president. He was UVA’s first president with no Southern ties.

His five-year tenure was short by UVA standards, and in 2012, he described to this reporter the Board of Visitors’ desire for change and the orderly transition of his departure—in sharp contrast to that year’s abrupt ouster of Teresa Sullivan, who was subsequently reinstated.

Although issues with the board arose during his first year, O’Neil said, “Both my coming and going were very smooth.”

UVA law professor Dick Howard, author of Virginia’s Constitution, met O’Neil in the early ’60s when they were both Supreme Court clerks—O’Neil for Justice William Brennan and Howard for Justice Hugo Black. “He really stood out,” says Howard. “I had enormous respect for him.”

O’Neil’s arrival at UVA in 1985 came during a time of transition, when it was still perceived as a place of privilege for students from comfortable backgrounds, says Howard. O’Neil took steps toward diversity. “He cared about the university being an open forum for people of other races and ethnic and religious backgrounds,” says Howard.

On a personal level, Howard says, “I admired his kindness, his humility, his sense of self. I never saw him posture or preen.”

O’Neil continued to teach constitutional law throughout his administrative careers. Josh Wheeler, who succeeded O’Neil as director of the Thomas Jefferson Center, first met him when he took his Freedom of Speech and Press course as a law student. “One aspect of his character that really defined everything he did was his generosity, particularly with his students,” but also everyone who sought his input on the First Amendment, says Wheeler.

The Thomas Jefferson Center was a “tremendous part of his legacy,” says Wheeler. “The center was Bob O’Neil. I feel privileged to have worked with him for 19 of the 21 years he was at the center.”

During that time, O’Neil established himself as one of the most respected defenders of free speech, says Wheeler, and the center weighed in on close to 200 cases. “Having his name on the brief immediately commanded the respect of other jurists.”

Howard agrees that O’Neil left his mark on free speech, open society, and religious freedom. “He was enormously respected throughout the country for constitutional law,” Howard says. But his character garnered respect as well.

“Grace and dignity were two of his prime qualities,” observes Howard. “For someone in a high position, that’s often a rarity.”

O’Neil, 83, died in his Washington, D.C., home surrounded by his wife of 51 years, Karen, and their four children. His family will hold a memorial  November 18 at the Cosmos Club in Washington.