News
WebstUR: A new fiercer, but friendly spider
By Elizabeth Ygartua | June 4, 2011Two large red LED eyes leered fiercely out of the darkened Camp Concert Hall as alumni clapped and whistled.
Two large red LED eyes leered fiercely out of the darkened Camp Concert Hall as alumni clapped and whistled.
The University of Richmond will implement new pilot projects around campus to determine savings on energy-usage costs with projects such as electric and water-heating solar panels on the University Forest Apartments. Apartment numbers 1606 and 1607 will likely be the chosen buildings to have new photovoltaic (PV) and water-heating solar panels installed this summer around June 1st.
Senior physics and math major Jeff Zheng presented his math honors thesis, "Rank One Perturbations of Self-Adjoint Operators and Applications" in a 40-minute PowerPoint presentation and question-and-answer session to the math and physics departments of the University of Richmond last Monday. Zheng has been studying physics and math since high school in Nanjing, China, he said, and has always done well.
In early April, the announcement of CEO Curtis Carlson as the speaker at the 2011 commencement was met with mixed responses from seniors. Senior Nicole LePere said she had heard Carlson's name mentioned around campus recently, but had to look him up online to know exactly who he was. "He is more than just a CEO of a tiny company, which is what I heard," she said, looking at his Wikipedia page. "He has a lot of experience.
The University of Richmond Board of Trustees voted Thursday in favor of adding gender identity and gender expression to the school's non-discrimination policy. The affirmative vote makes Richmond only the third private college or university in Virginia to do so, behind Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Va.
Members of GreenUR organized a Skype video call with Tim DeChristopher, an environmentalist who was recently convicted of two felonies, to get students thinking about civil disobedience in the face of the climate crisis. A group of 15 students met in the Queally Hall auditorium at 5 p.m.
Former Governor and University of Richmond law professor Tim Kaine is running for a seat in the Senate and plans on using what Virginians have taught him during his years in public service to get him there. Kaine began his political career as city councilman in 1994 and then moved on to hold the offices of mayor and governor.
Clickhere to download the April 21, 2011, full PDF edition of The Collegian.
Vandalism April 13, 10:45 a.m. The right rear tail- light of a WC student's 2004 Volkswagen was damaged in the Special Events Lot.
The textbook affordability crisis at the university bookstore has caused students to go elsewhere to purchase their books. Roger Brooks, manager of the university bookstore, said he had been at the bookstore for 30 years and thought the books were "very high-priced." "I'm aware that there are a number of places students can try to buy books," Brooks said.
Nearly 50 students, staff members and professors attended a reception to honor professor Lee Carleton in the Whitehurst Living Room Thursday afternoon. Steve Bisese, the vice president for student development, and Andy Gurka, the director of living and learning programs, organized the event to recognize Carleton's contributions to the University of Richmond.
Bank of America paid the University of Richmond $89,773 in 2009 as part of a controversial credit card program under which the university sold the bank student, faculty, staff and alumni contact information. The program, which was initially started between Maryland Bank, National Association and the university, was continued by Bank of America when it bought MBNA in 2006. The so-called affinity agreement, which ended June 30, 2010, allowed students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the university to have credit cards that sported a University of Richmond logo, said Louie Love, the director of treasury services at Richmond. Part of the agreement called for the university to give its database of contacts to Bank of America for solicitation. The database included names of students, faculty, staff and alumni and their addresses and telephone numbers.
Some University of Richmond students add pets to their on-campus housing inventories each year. One senior, who chose to remain anonymous, lives in the University Forest Apartments with his pet hamster, Edward van Schoon Hoven Kingsley. The senior described the special bond he shared with his pet as Kingsley's father figure.
At first glance, the website for the Digital Scholarship Lab looks unaffiliated with the University of Richmond.
"Be a green Spider, save electricity, save the Earth." These stickers around campus seem to apply to everywhere on campus but the dorms, where lights stay on 24 hours a day and cannot be turned off. "There are a lot of lights that are left on all the time that we don't need," said junior Hannah Kelley, who lives in Moore Hall. John Hoogakker, associate vice president for facilities, explained that "the building code requires a minimum level of illumination throughout residence hall corridors 24/7." Even though motion detectors are not allowed yet, he thinks they would be a good idea. Junior Michelle Johnson, who is an environmental studies minor, said after doing an energy audit of Lakeview and Thomas halls, it became evident why the dorms were constantly lit. "The hallway lights can't be turned off for legal reasons and in case of an emergency," she said.
Applicants to the University of Richmond are on the rise. The number of applications for admission to the university have increased 73 percent since 2006 and 9 percent since last year. This year, more than 9,400 students applied to the university.
A team of three political science majors won $1,600 for designing a House of Delegates map that placed first in the 2011 Virginia College and University Redistricting Competition. Political science professor Daniel Palazzolo served as faculty adviser and sponsor for the winning team that included Caleb Routhier, Karin Eastby and Andrew Slater. On April 4, Routhier spoke in front of the Privileges and Elections Committee at the Virginia General Assembly where the map was ultimately rejected. "They already had the map they liked and had put 200 hours into, and it had tighter population variance and they refused it on those grounds," Routhier said.
The University of Richmond Board of Trustees will vote Thursday, April 21 on whether the university will adopt gender identity and gender expression into its non-discrimination policy.
Philip's Continental Lounge, better known as Phil's among Richmond students, will be forced to relocate when its lease expires on June 30, 2011.
Physics professor Dr. Jerry Gilfoyle discussed the importance of being educated about nuclear weapons and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty to a group of students and faculty in his lecture on Wednesday. Approximately 25 students and faculty members came to hear Gilfoyle's lecture, "Putting the Genie Back in the Bottle: The Science of Nuclear Non-Proliferation." Gilfoyle explained the significance of the nuclear bomb and why college students and citizens of the United States should be concerned with this issue. Gilfoyle said his interest in nuclear weapons had gone back a long time, and he had spent 2001 working with the federal government in Washington, D.C. There, Gilfoyle did an assessment of the test-ban treaty and submitted it to President Bill Clinton.