Free Republic

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- More than 200 years after they were written, about 5,000 previously unpublished documents of the founders of the United States -- including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and James Madison -- are now available to the public at no cost. The Documents Compass group of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities at the University of Virginia has spent much of the past year proofreading and transcribing thousands of pages of letters and other papers. The documents are available online for free at the University of Virginia Press' digital imprint called Rotunda. "It's an exciting project," said Penelope Kaiserlian, director...

Morgan Harrington was seen hitchhiking for a ride on the Copeley Road Bridge on the night of her disappearance, according to a police brief released Nov. 13. “After the 9:30 (p.m.) timeframe, we can’t seem to establish any other sightings of her,” said Corinne Geller, spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police. It was also released in the brief that she was wearing a Swarovski Crystal necklace on that night. Harrington might have received a ride or approached someone to borrow a cell phone, Geller said. “She was wearing it that night,” Geller said. “She dropped her purse and her cell...

Former President George W. Bush selects Miller Center’s Presidential Oral History Program to record presidency Scholars at the Miller Center of Public Affairs’ Presidential Oral History Program will soon begin to conduct audio interviews with members of former President George W. Bush’s administration, as well as foreign public officials. The 43rd president selected the Miller Center to document the official oral history of his two terms. As part of the project, University faculty and staff will conduct interviews with members of the former White House Cabinet, representatives of Congress, independent political advisers and foreign leaders — particularly those affected by...

American heavy metal band Metallica has stumped up 50,000 dollars in reward money for a fan who disappeared at one of their concerts, a campaign website said Monday. Police have been searching for blond-haired, blue-eyed Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, 20, since she went missing from a Metallica concert in Charlottesville, Virginia on the evening of Saturday, October 17.... "The Band Metallica is also adding an additional 50,000 dollars to the reward bringing it to 150,000 dollars for Morgan's safe return or information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Morgan's disappearance," it said....

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Police searched Tuesday for a Virginia Tech student who hasn't been seen since she was separated from her friends at a Metallica concert Saturday. Morgan Dana Harrington, 20, was last seen near the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville. Her parents said they talk to her every day and her disappearance is very out of character.

Gubernatorial candidates Creigh Deeds and Bob McDonnell have toured, tailgated and twittered to win an elusive, college-age voting bloc. Efforts from the campaigns, both Democrat and Republican, to improve student voter turn-out, however, may only go so far at the University, where apathy, registration confusion and pre-voting numbers seem to foreshadow a potentially low turnout. Charlottesville General Registrar Sheri Iachetta said gubernatorial races historically bring in fewer voters than presidential elections, and that this year, absentee turnout might fall to 40 percent, lower than what it has usually been in previous years.

If you are straight, white, and male, please stand up. Congratulations, you are more privileged than you probably ever realized. Because of your blessed birth, you are responsible for the victimization of thousands of your underprivileged peers. You may not be aware, but implicitly you hate, resent, and distrust everyone who does not look like you. How does this make you feel? No, do not answer. Instead, allow us to tell you how you should be feeling. You should be feeling extremely guilty and ashamed, and in order to move past your racist tendencies and make amends for being born...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — B.W. Webb had three interceptions and William & Mary shut down Virginia's new spread offense in a 26-14 win on Saturday.

Texas is beating TCU 5-0 so it looks like, but not over yet, Texas will advance to Omaha. Here are the brakets Semi-final Group ‘A’ Double Elimination Arizona St (5) v North Carolina (4) Southern Miss v Texas (1)/TCU winner Semi-final Group ‘B’ Double Elimination UVA v LSU (3) Arkansas v Cal St Fullerton (2) Champion ship (Best of 3) Group ‘A’ Double Elimination winner v Group ‘B’ Double Elimination winner Seeded teams eliminated UC Irvin (6) Oklahoma (7) Florida (8) Brief exclamation on how the semifinals work. In the four team groups, the winner of game 1 plays the...

The University of Virgina collects and compiles information about students' computer use. The information has been collected over the past decade by student employees of ITC, known as Student Consultants (SCs) and formerly, Computing Advisors (CAs), a group of first-year students hired to advise and assist their peers with computing. The data is based on SC and CA surveys of first-year residence halls each fall.

Gillette Stadium - at Foxborough, Ma Semifinal #1 Saturday May 23rd, 2009 - 12pm EDT ESPN 2 (3) Duke at (2) Syracuse Semifinal #2 Saturday May 23rd, 2009 - 2:30 pm EDT ESPN 2 (5) Cornell at (1) Virginia Championship, Monday May 25th, 2009 - Noon EDT ESPN Semifinal Winner #1 v Semifinal Winner #2

Equality Virginia is deeply shocked and saddened by the hate-motivated attack on a UVa student and his friend that occurred this past weekend on the Charlottesville campus. Allen W. Groves, Associate Vice President and Dean of Students, issued the following statement: “Early Saturday morning, April 4, at approximately 3 a.m. in the Stadium Road area, a U.Va. student and his guest were violently assaulted, without warning, by five males described by the victim as Caucasians between the ages of 16 and 20. The attackers uttered several homophobic slurs immediately prior to and during the attack. The attackers smashed the victim's...

One of the most obvious areas of interest within the statistics were the numbers that dealt specifically with reporting. According to the statistics, a total of 64 cases were brought before the past Committee. Of these cases, 27 reports were brought against white students, 21 against black students, 11 against Asian and/or Asian-American students, four against Latinos and four against students of unknown race. “When I saw [the statistics], I was a little bit surprised at the disproportionate number of minority students reported compared to [white] students,” said Vice Chair for Investigations Mary Siegel, a third-year College student. “Looking at...

Republicans appear to have another repeat candidate in 2010, as former Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.) has filed to reclaim the seat he lost in November. Goode filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) — a move that allows him to raise money for the race — but he told The Hill that he hasn't made a final decision about running again in 2010. He said he filed because he received several “unsolicited” campaign contributions. Once a candidate receives $5,000, he or she must file a statement of candidacy with the FEC. “I’m filing that because a few people have...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's pick for the No. 2 post at the Environmental Protection Agency is removing himself from consideration. Jon Cannon, a professor of environmental law at the University of Virginia, says he is withdrawing as the nominee for deputy EPA administrator because of scrutiny surrounding the America's Clean Water Foundation.

Multiple Law students have filed reports against University Law Prof. Doug Leslie, accusing him of making offensive comments, using harsh language and giving preferential treatment to particular students. An investigation about the concerns is now underway, Law School Dean Paul Mahoney said. . . . “I am alleged to discriminate against African Americans by not allowing them to talk in class or by failing to accord them respect when they do,” Leslie stated in the e-mail. “I am alleged to be anti-Jewish. I am alleged to use sexually-charged, inappropriate hypotheticals in class. Finally, I am rude.” . . .

Ahemd Bedier who last year had "stepped down" as the Executive Director of the Tampa Bay office of The Council on American Islamic Relations, has now started up a new Islamic front group called The United Voices of America to help advance his Islamic agenda.

On Feb. 14 2009, I was charged with two crimes, § 18.2-308.1:2 and § 18.2-308.2:2. The misdemeanor first: § 18.2-308.1:2. Purchase, possession or transportation of firearm by persons adjudicated legally incompetent or mentally incapacitated; penalty. It shall be unlawful for any person who has been adjudicated (i) legally incompetent pursuant to former § 37.1-128.02 or former § 37.1-134, (ii) mentally incapacitated pursuant to former § 37.1-128.1 or former § 37.1-132 I wasn't adjudicated any of that stuff in italics because the statutes that this law is pursuant to expired in 2005. or (iii) incapacitated pursuant to Chapter 10 (§ 37.2-1000...

Higher education can be a financial disaster. Especially with the return on degrees down and student loan sharks on the prowl. BY KATHY KRISTOF As steadily as ivy creeps up the walls of its well-groomed campuses, the education industrial complex has cultivated the image of college as a sure-fire path to a life of social and economic privilege. Joel Kellum says he's living proof that the claim is a lie. A 40-year-old Los Angeles resident, Kellum did everything he was supposed to do to get ahead in life. He worked hard as a high schooler, got into the University of...

To members of the University community, The coming together of a nation at the same time every four years for presidential inaugurations -- as dictated by the Constitution for noon on Jan. 20 -- is an educational moment that binds us as a nation and a people. Next week we will have the opportunity to witness the Inauguration of Barack Obama as 44th president of the United States. In order to allow our students, as well as other members of our community, to participate in this exercise in democracy, the University will suspend classes between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m....

- - He will be congressman by a margin of 727 votes Congressman-elect Tom Perriello promised to continue his “double shift” working for the 5th District’s needs in Washington after being certified the winner of the congressional race Wednesday by a court in Albemarle County. A three-judge panel certified the final margin of victory at 727 votes, with 158,810 for Perriello and 158,083 for Republican incumbent Virgil Goode Jr. The recount found 250 vote changes, with Goode having a net gain of 18 votes. The recount began Tuesday with local election officials rechecking results in the district’s 22 localities. They...

Facing the loss of his seat, U.S. Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. said Thursday that all late-arriving absentee ballots cast by U.S. troops overseas should be counted as part of next week’s recount in his 5th District race. A federal judge in Richmond ruled Tuesday that Virginia’s State Board of Elections violated the law by mailing out absentee ballots to military voters too late for them to send back their ballot by Election Day. However, the judge added that the 4,750 such ballots across the state need not be counted, as they would not change the outcome of any race...

The State Board of Elections has certified challenger Tom Perriello as the winner over Republican Congressman Virgil Goode. The board today certified Perriello as the winner by 745 votes in the 5th District congressional race. Goode is entitled to a recount if he chooses.

Citing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s technological savvy and technology policies, Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt expressed his support for the Illinois senator yesterday at the Law School. Schmidt and Obama’s technology advisor Julius Genachowski made a stop in Charlottesville yesterday in an effort to garner support for the presidential candidate and his technology policies. The pair spoke on a wide variety of issues from income disparity to using the Internet as a means for civic engagement, but the primary focus was Obama’s technology policies.

Unfortunately, there has been a growing trend of bashing and vilifying Islam and Muslims recently. Regardless of whether this is done for political reasons or not, disseminating anti-Islamic movies and speaking against Islam in the media and in numerous universities around the country only results in the spread of hate and hostility toward Muslims. So when we first learned that David Horowitz was going to be speaking here at the University, we were obviously saddened by the fact that yet another speaker was going to be coming to spread his hateful message, instilling even more fear and hostility. ...

<p>NEW YORK — NBC News reporter Luke Russert said he made a "dumb" misstatement on the "Today" show Wednesday when he suggested that smart people supported Barack Obama for president.</p> <p>Almost immediately, Russert took a hazing in the Web world. Wrote Tim Graham of the conservative Media Research Center on the NewsBusters blog: "Out of the mouths of young, untrained reporters come the unspoken beliefs of the liberal media."</p>

Barack Obama’s surrogate for religious matters told a small Lynchburg gathering Tuesday that an Obama presidency would decrease the country’s “level of fear and division and loathing” that exists across religious, ethnic and cultural lines. Shaun Casey, the Democratic candidate’s evangelical outreach coordinator, also told about 15 people in a forum at the Starlight Café on Fifth Street that Obama’s policies would reduce the number of abortions in America. In addition, Casey said, Obama would give all religious groups, including Christians and Muslims, more access to policy making than any White House in history. “His administration will model the kind...

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain can help his chances by vowing to serve only one term — a recognition of his relatively advanced age and a promise that his time in the White House wouldn't be tainted by the politics of seeking a second term. That's according to Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics and a professor whose "Crystal Ball" Internet site bills itself as "the Web's most accurate political analysis."

VIRGINIA, June 27, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a research brief this month, Bradford Wilcox, a sociology professor at the University of Virginia, analyzed three national studies in order to discover if "there is any evidence that religion is playing a role in encouraging a strong family orientation among contemporary American men?"   His research led him to conclude that men who regularly attend Christian services are engaged in happier and stronger marriages and are more involved in the lives of their children than men who do not. "70 percent of husbands who attend church regularly report they are 'very happy'...

U.S. District Judge F. Bradford Stillman this morning ruled that the College must turn over the names of 20 students suspected of downloading music illegally to the Recording Industry Association of America. The RIAA plans to sue the students for copyright infringement after they allegedly downloaded music on peer-to-peer music sharing programs such as Limewire. 7 students have already settled independently, paying between $3,000 and $5,000 each. The suit had previously been denied by U.S. District Judge Walter D. Kelley Jr. Kelley recently retired, and the RIAA asked Stillman to overturn his ruling. According to RIAA lawyer Katheryn Coggon, the...

VIRGINIA - The objective of a new video game is to stop the spread of Christianity and Islam by brutally killing biblical prophets, says the game’s atheist creator. A graduate student at the University of Virginia created the game --which has not yet been released-- in order to give a voice to atheists, according to WSLS Television News. The grad-student wishes to remain anonymous for “fear of his safety.” His request is understandable --considering at one point in his game players win by beheading the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. Nearly a year ago, an even less bold stunt resulted in death...

Knox report From the Firearms Coalition The Pen is Mightier...and More Dangerous by Jeff Knox (May 6, 2008) When Steven Barber turned in his midterm creative writing assignment at the University of Virginia's College at Wise (UVA-Wise), he was hoping for a good grade to complement his 3.9 grade point average. Instead, Barber was expelled from school, locked in a mental institution for three days, and had his concealed carry permit revoked. Barber's fictional story was a first person narrative of a troubled college student consumed by depression, paranoia, drug addiction, and alcoholism as he struggles with one of tragedy's...

When Steven Barber turned in a short story this semester for his creative-writing class at the University of Virginia's College at Wise, his instructor was alarmed. The 23-year-old student had produced an imagined account of someone on the edge of a violent breakdown, touching on suicide and murder. ...

The journey to Mecca, formally known as the Hajj, is a dream for Muslims all over the world, who believe they should make the pilgrimage once during their lifetimes. Unfortunately, this dream is not always attainable -- so the Muslim Student Association decided to bring Mecca to Charlottesville.

The student newspaper at the University of Virginia published a cartoon mocking Christians and Christianity after determining it met its own "criteria" at The Cavalier Daily, but later jerked it and has been backpedaling ever since. The illustration – and another earlier cartoon – were the subject of an alert from the American Family Association, which urged readers to take advantage of a special website procedure it set up to send an e-mail to Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, with a copy to Daniel LaVista, the executive director of the state Council of Higher Education for Virginia. "Last week, the University...

Undergraduate student Steven Daniel Barber learned yesterday that his appeal to the University's College at Wise regarding his expulsion was denied. Barber recently was told he was not welcome on Wise's campus after the discovery of three guns in his car located on campus. Barber admitted he possessed the weapons when police questioned him after concerned students and a professor raised concerns about a short story Barber wrote for a creative writing class. Barber said he was placed under a temporary detention order, and after "three solid days of observing," doctors determined that he was not a threat to himself...

Steven Daniel Barber, 23, says a culture of fear has displaced rational thought. The Iraq War veteran's comments came Tuesday, shortly after learning his expulsion from the University of Virginia at Wise had been upheld. He has been prohibited from attending classes since Feb. 29 -- the day after sharing a story in which a character contemplates murdering his professor, then turns to thoughts of suicide. Barber wrote the piece for his creative writing class. "It's the nanny state ran amock; political correctness to the extreme," said Barber in a phone interview with timesnews.net. "Nobody goes after Stephen King, nobody...

Steve Barber knew his fictional essay about a suicidal student bent on murder would generate quite a buzz within his creative-writing class at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise. It was the expulsion from school and the weekend spent locked up in a mental health ward for observation that caught the 23-year-old freshman and former U.S. Navy sailor off guard. The three guns that campus police later report finding in his car while parked in a school lot Feb. 29 didn’t help his cause either. “I never intended for him [the creative-writing professor] to feel threatened by it. I...

A drug that could do for women what Viagra has done for men is being tested at the University of Virginia. The drug is a testosterone-laden ointment called LibiGel and it's intended to boost the libido of women who have lost interest in sex. It will be prescribed at UVa in coming months to women who are suffering from hypoactive sexual desire disorder. The condition is believed to affect one-third of American women. "It is the most common sexual problem that women have," said Dr. Anita Clayton, a psychiatrist with the UVa Health System and author of the 2007 book...

WASHINGTON -- A small group of US experts stubbornly insist that, contrary to what the vast majority of their colleagues believe, humans may not be responsible for the warming of the planet Earth. These experts believe that global warming is a natural phenomenon, and they point to reams of data they say supports their assertions. These conclusions are in sharp contradiction to those of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which reached its conclusions using largely similar data. The UN body of about 3,000 experts, including several renown US scientists, jointly won the award with former US...

Two University of Virginia students snatched a man off a street corner in the Tysons Corner area, tied him up in a Falls Church motel bathroom and demanded a $500,000 ransom, police said yesterday.

Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, R-Pa., spoke last night at the University about confronting what he described as the threat of radical Islam and fighting "the war against Islamic fascism." The program, aimed at raising awareness, also sparked controversy among University student groups who criticized Santorum's stance. Santorum began his speech by addressing what he considers the two greatest obstacles the United States now faces in foreign policy: first, the dwindling support of the American people in sustaining the war on Islamic fundamentalism and second, the failure of the Muslim world to confront fundamentalism. According to Santorum, the lack of...

Nov. 9, 2007 — Scientists at the University of Virginia have discovered a new class of hydrogen storage materials that could make the storage and transportation of energy much more efficient — and affordable — through higher-performing hydrogen fuel cells. Bellave S. Shivaram and Adam B. Phillips, the U.Va. physicists who invented the new materials, will present their finding at 8 p.m., Monday, Nov. 12, at the International Symposium on Materials Issues in a Hydrogen Economy at the Omni Hotel in Richmond, Va. “In terms of hydrogen absorption, these materials could prove a world record,” Phillips said. “Most materials today...

The Lawn at the University of Virginia. Take a look before the sun goes down! http://www.virginia.edu/rcam/real.html ML/NJ

Oct. 10, 2007 — Jalane Schmidt joins the University of Virginia as an assistant professor of religious studiesn this fall. She studies African diaspora religions of Latin America and the Caribbean to better understand how the legacy of slavery and colonialism has shaped contemporary belief systems. Schmidt received her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2005 and previously taught at Oberlin College. Her research employs an up-and-coming religious studies ethnographic methodology that combines anthropological theory with field work as well as the more conventional examination of historical religious texts. “Especially in religious studies, scholars have traditionally studied official texual reports,” says...

Police have charged an Albemarle County man in two attacks that were previously linked by DNA to a serial rapist responsible for seven sexual assaults over the past decade. Authorities said Nathan Antonio Washington, 40, is also a suspect in the five other attacks linked to the investigation, but did not say whether they believe he is the serial rapist.

RICHMOND, Va. — A man who confessed to raping a woman as he apologized two decades later as part of the Alcoholics Anonymous program is scheduled to be released from jail after serving six months of an 18-month sentence, officials said Wednesday. William Beebe, 42, pleaded guilty in November to one count of aggravated sexual battery for his attack on Liz Seccuro while at the University of Virginia. In March, a judge ordered a 10-year prison sentence with all but 18 months suspended. Seccuro was shocked when informed Tuesday by Beebe's parole officer of his impending release. She said she...

To the dismay of his victim, a man convicted last year of sexually assaulting a University of Virginia classmate in 1984 is scheduled to get out of jail after serving only six months of an 18-month sentence. William N. Beebe, 42, pleaded guilty in November to one charge of aggravated sexually battery and was sentenced in March to 10 years in prison with all but 18 months suspended. Beebe’s projected release date is now Sept. 17, according to Virginia Department of Corrections records. News of the impending release shocked and angered his victim, 40-year-old Liz Seccuro of Greenwich, Conn.“I never...

Rocky collected money for the Mafia. A typical bagman, he was immersed in the material world of fast cars, quick cash and getting ahead by butting heads. One day, he was shot in the chest and left for dead on the street. He survived, though, and lived to tell of an experience that changed his life. "He described a blissful, typical near-death experience—seeing the light, communicating with a deity and seeing deceased relatives," says Bruce Greyson, a U.Va.-trained psychiatrist who interviewed Rocky after the shooting. "He came back with typical near-death aftereffects. He felt that cooperation and love were the...

IT IS with great horror that I read Lindsay Huggins' incredibly irresponsible and error-filled column regarding Commonwealth v. Beebe ("The painful consequences of silence," Mar. 16). While I am sure every current Wahoo wants to wave the flag of school pride, such editorial laziness should not be allowed as it does not in any way help other students. That said, I am glad attention is being brought to the horror of rape. Huggins, however, needs to get some of the facts straight and stop this disgusting and disturbing "blame the victim" stance. That serves no one and shows just how...