In the week or so after the original article came out, I noticed many of my peers buzzing about it around campus. Whether they were simply acquaintances, classmates or friends of mine, the responses were largely the same — many are sick of the political bent that’s often forced upon Ring Dance yearly. Yes, the structure of Ring Dance when it was first founded was very similar to a traditional debutante ball. I personally don’t have a problem with these events in general — they possess a certain old-time charm that we often don’t find in today’s world — but for those who are opposed to the “patriarchal” origins of Ring Dance, I would remind them that the ceremony no longer holds the societal implications of a debutante ball. Rather, Ring Dance is a time for the junior women to gather with loved ones and celebrate their accomplishments as a class and as a part of the university. Without traditions, we wouldn’t have any way to keep our history alive. Ring Dance is a valuable link to the past, reminding us of the difficulties some of the first Westhampton women faced simply for daring to be college students. This tradition remembers their unity and encourages us to come together as a class much like they had to.

At its core, Ring Dance today is a fun event, and I think it’s what you make of it. You don’t have to spend a fortune to have a good experience. On Saturday night, I won’t be thinking about the political or social implications of this event; I just want to have fun dressing up and looking pretty, while spending time with my friends and family in a beautiful setting. The historic, ceremonial aspects of Ring Dance are part of what drove me to attend Richmond, as I’ve never experienced a tradition with quite as rich a history before. I’m excited to laugh a lot with my mom while getting ready for the night together. I’m thrilled for my dad to walk me down the stairs. I can’t wait to dance and celebrate and take tons of ridiculous pictures with my friends. Many who I’ve talked to have the same expectations, and I think it’s time we’re heard too. If Ring Dance isn’t your thing, for one reason or another, that’s the beauty of it — you don’t have to go.

The majority of junior women over the decades have recognized the special significance Ring Dance holds, yet they are overshadowed by those who don’t support this event. In the end, I can’t speak for anyone but myself. But as I watched the happy anticipation spread over my classmates’ faces as we arrived at the Jefferson for rehearsal, and as I saw different groups of girls talking together regardless of background, social group, race, economic status or sorority affiliation, I thought that the early Westhampton women had the right idea. Any tradition that continues to unite such a diverse group still holds some magic, and I’m proud to be a part of it. So, ladies: those of you who aren’t attending Ring Dance, I fully respect your choice, and I hope you have a nice evening. And to those of you who’ll be sporting your white dresses at the Jefferson Saturday — you’re gonna look fabulous. See you on the dance floor for one heck of a party, Westhampton style.

Contact The Collegian’s editor-in-chief at editor@thecollegianur.com

Contact cartoonist Peter Anton at peter.anton@richmond.edu

Yeomans said that getting the internship he had wanted had been logistically easy because he had known he could commute from his parents’ house. He said he had worked 40 hours a week, so he had not had time for a part-time job. He was fortunate to receive the David D. Burhans Civic Fellowship from the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement to supplement his unpaid internship, Yeomans said.

Commuting to New York City from Yeoman’s parents’ house helped with the cost of living expenses, he said.

In a recent Office of Alumni and Career Services survey, Richmond students indicated they were most interested in internships and jobs located in New York City or Washington, D.C., said Katybeth Lee, manager of Internship Programs at OACS.

Lee said her main goal was to determine how to help students have valuable experiences in the summer, so that they were prepared to be competitive for jobs.

Most for-profit companies paid their interns, with the exception of internships in media and entertainment industries, she said. Finance, accounting and marketing are fields with the greatest concentration of paid internships, she said. Non-profits and government internships vary with offering paid internships, Lee said.

“This has been identified as a big problem for students and especially as we focus on access and affordability as a part of the Richmond promise,” Lee said.

She said that a critical part of helping students with internships was figuring out how they could afford cost of living expenses.

In response to this problem, Lee said that OACS would launch a program called Spider Internship Funds. Money will be available to students seeking non-profit or government internships and will help cover housing, travel, food and other expenses, she said.

Leslie Stevenson, director of Career Services for OACS, said the funds would provide money to students with non-profit and government internships because the National Association of Colleges and Employers and the Department of Labor were currently reviewing the legitimacy of unpaid internships at for-profit companies.

For the first year, funds will be able to assist about 10 students, depending on application requests, Lee said. But the number is expected to grow over time, she said.

When asked to give advice to students stressed about living expenses during their internship, Stevenson said she recommended that students “cast a wide net” when seeking jobs and internships.

Ben Sommerfeld, a 2010 graduate, benefited from not limiting himself to New York City or Washington D.C., when searching for an internship, he said.

“I was going the business route and knew how valuable an internship was … I honestly thought the jobs I was looking for were only in Philadelphia, New York City or somewhere out East,” Sommerfeld, a Wisconsin native, said.

“When I think of the Twin Cities and Minneapolis, I think ‘Oh that’s not business,’ ” he said.

Sommerfeld was pleasantly surprised when he found a paid business analyst internship in the summer of 2009 with Target in Minneapolis, a half hour from his parents’ Wisconsin home, he said. After his internship, he received a job offer and currently works as a business analyst at Target Corp. in Minneapolis, he said.

“One of the things that is really important is that students fixate on the word ‘internship,’” Lee said. “And it’s not the word ‘internship’ that gets employers excited; it’s related experience that demonstrates the skills that are important in that field or position.”

Danielle Veilleux, manager of Regional Recruitment for Virginia and West Virginia at Teach For America, said TFA looked for a skill set that would include leadership and achievement, perseverance in the face of challenges and obstacles, strong critical thinking skills, the ability to listen and motivate others, strong organizational skills and the ability to effectively manage multiple responsibilities at once.

Veilleux said that these skills could be developed in a variety of settings, whether at an internship, job or extra-curricular activity.

To address the issue of cost of living expenses for students seeking internships, Stevenson said that OACS had created Lee’s position, manager of internship programs, in December 2011 to reflect the institutional priority of increasing access and affordability to all students seeking internships.

Contact staff writer Madeline Small at madeline.small@richmond.edu

I met some very interesting people and have definitely made long-lasting friendships with other students from abroad as well as fellow Richmond students. In addition, University in a foreign country can be very different from Richmond.

Although the course work was not as intense throughout the semester, it was definitely stressful toward the end. There was a comment from a woman who claimed that she only went to class six times, but I had a different experience.

Although deadlines abroad are more relaxed and people are generally not as stressed as at Richmond, it is also very difficult to do as well as we are accustomed to. Last week, the final grades came out from abroad and several friends and I were praying and hoping that we had passed all of our classes.

Don’t get me wrong, being abroad was a fantastic opportunity that I would gladly repeat, but the European grading system is structured in a way that half of all students fail the class.

Thus, I do not agree with the comments or implications that education abroad is easier or less rigorous in any way. I do believe that it is a different kind of rigor, and every semester there are Richmond students who come back from abroad without passing all of their classes. I hope that future students do not have the misconception that studying abroad equates to partying abroad.

1. The University of Richmond’s campus hosts many events that have off campus attendees, as did this one.

2. During the social event, an altercation developed; the host organization’s members did an outstanding job of fulfilling all risk management expectations, as well as using the police officers who were on duty.

3. The university has supported and will continue to support student organizations in hosting events on campus that benefit members of the university and greater Richmond communities.

4. The university will continue to explore ways to ensure our campus events are safe and serve the best interest of students and the larger university community.

The university appreciates the proactive steps that many members of the university community (e.g. Alpha Phi Alpha, URPD) displayed during this past weekend’s events. We are also encouraged by members of the community who have demonstrated compassion around the resolution of this complex issue. As a result, we hope the facts regarding this situation provide a better understanding of what occurred.

Finally, we understand that incomplete facts about violence in our community prompt a desire for fuller, more accurate information. Out of respect for the diversity and strength of our community, we all must resist the use of stereotypes and conjecture to fill in the gaps of our understanding.

Sincerely,
Dr. Steve Bisese, VP for Student Development
Chief Dave McCoy, Assoc. VP for Public Safety & Chief of Police
Dr. Glyn Hughes, Director, Common Ground
Alison B. Keller, Interim Director, Student Activities
Anthony Crenshaw, Asst. Director, Student Organizations & Leadership

On Jan. 18, many Richmond students navigated their web browsers to Wikipedia to look up a quick fact or to verify a date. Senior Caitlin Kear, who was confused about a term in her reading that morning, said she had searched for a definition on Google.

“Obviously the first thing that pops up is Wikipedia,” she said, “so I clicked on that. It was exactly 12:01.”

Kear was one minute too late. Wikipedia would not be a resource for anyone that day. Instead of the usual Wikipedia page, she was met with a black screen emblazoned with white script that demanded the site’s visitors to “Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge” and encouraged them to “Make [their] voice heard.”

This message was in protest of SOPA, introduced in Congress on Oct. 26, 2011, and PIPA, introduced on May 12, 2011, according to the Library of Congress website.

Kear said she had had a general idea of what SOPA was.

“I knew it was about limiting the Internet, but I didn’t know in what capacity,” she said.

Junior Madison Riede also saw the blackout.

She said, “I would sign a petition against it, and I would pay money to not have it passed.”

Despite her willingness to protest, she said she had not known exactly what the bill was proposing — just that it was going to censor the Internet.

Chris Cotropia and Kristen Osenga, law professors at the University of Richmond, signed the open letter to Congress posted on Google and raised concerns over the harmful possibilities of these bills. Both of these bills are no longer active in Congress, but there is a fear that they will return with minor changes, Cotropia said.

As concerned citizens, Richmond students should be aware of this legislation, because it could limit what they would be able to search for here on campus, Cotropia said.

“If we can’t trust the Google search results, it kind of hurts the integrity of how the Internet operates,” Cotropia said.

The focus of these acts was on foreign websites that posted copyrighted or pirated material. Because the websites were based in other countries, the government did not have jurisdiction over what they were posting, Cotropia said.

“The Content Industry’s perspective is, well, one of the ways we might be able to get at these foreign sites is to basically make it difficult for those in the United States to get to them,” he said. “So SOPA and PIPA were mechanisms to try to give the industry authority to force those who kind of help operate the Internet’s backbone to make it tough for us.”

If SOPA or PIPA were put in place, the government would be able to tell an Internet provider, such as Verizon, or even the University of Richmond, that it needed to remove the foreign websites that were problematic from its Domain Name Service listings, Cotropia said.

This would keep the pirated or copyrighted material from circulating in the United States. The impact on students would be limited, unless they were running a foreign site, he said.

Despite this rationale, he still had major concerns with these acts.

“Your site’s been taken down, and now you’re the one who bears the burden,” he said. “Normally it’s the other way, even in the comparable situation of, say, a notice and take down of a YouTube video. There, there’s a mechanism already in place where the company has to send a letter to YouTube: ‘There’s a song in this video that we’ve got the copyright for.’

“Under the current law, YouTube then has to tell you as the uploader, ‘There’s been this protest. Do you have a response?’ And there’s a mechanism in place before it just gets yanked.”

SOPA and PIPA force this process to be removed from the equation, he said.

Cotropia said his second concern was that the legislation was “going after an ant with an elephant gun.” Rather than taking down the illegal parts of a website, the entire domain name would be erased from the listing, he said. If a student were accessing legitimate material on a site that also had pirated or copyrighted material, he or she would lose all access.

He also said that anyone who wanted to get to the websites still could, because they still exist; they just lose their web address and ability to be easily searched.

Cotropia also said that he hoped the publicity of these bills would draw attention toward the actions of the government domestically where domains are already being taken down.

Contact staff writer Maria Rajtik at maria.rajtik@richmond.edu

1. Appreciation.
We all have an innate need to feel that we matter and to have it confirmed by the people around us. From praise and encouragement from our parents or boss, to thoughtful gestures from a significant other, to an “I miss you” text from a friend we haven’t seen in a while, we crave it. According to WEGO Health’s website, “Teenagers who felt like they ‘mattered’ were less likely to engage in delinquent behavior.”

Employees who feel appreciated are more likely to show up to work on time, work late, put in extra time outside of work, be less stressed make decisions in the company’s interest, and waste less time doing remedial tasks, according to the website Virtual Tea Party. When we feel that we’re leaving a mark on those around us we’re happier, better, more productive people. It’s proven.

2. Pride.
From scoring a touchdown to beating out other people for an internship, the intense self-satisfaction that comes with accomplishment makes us happy. Especially in the world today, where the standard keeps rising for beauty, intelligence, athletics, etc., it feels like a pretty daunting task to try and stand out. Our expectations for the ordinary person have risen, so to feel as though you might have surpassed the average Joe in some area of life is satisfying.

3. Good food.
This category may have some exceptions, but for the most part, a person’s favorite dish makes him or her happy. When you want to do something nice for someone and you’re too poor to take them anywhere, you make dinner, don’t you?

Scientifically, there are foods that affect our physiology and make us physically happy, and others that provide happiness on a psychological level, according to the website TLC Family. Foods like fish, bananas, grapefruit, wheat bread, cherries, garlic, pumpkins, milk and chicken are proven to lift spirits (although I don’t know who eats pumpkins), according to the website China Culture. Apart from the science, though, sitting down to a delicious meal – even if you’re cold, lost and alone in the middle of nowhere – is bound to ignite pleasure. Imagine taking a bath full of blueberry mini muffins. How would that not make you happy? C’mon.

4. Beauty.
“A new series of studies shows that attractive people earn more money and marry better-looking spouses, and that economic benefits of being good-looking make them happier than their homely counterparts,” according to TIME’s website. I know people don’t like to admit that looks matter, but they do, especially today, and there’s nothing we can do about it. As David Hamermesh wrote for USA Today, “For a woman, it just matters to walk down the street being good-looking. It hurts to walk down the street being bad-looking . . . For a man, beauty’s direct relation to happiness is not as great. It will give you a better-looking wife, a higher-earning wife and – most important – extra earnings.” Even for the lot of us that aren’t supermodel status, getting a pedicure, wearing makeup or just doing anything that makes us feel a bit more attractive makes us happier. Aside from personal beauty, beautiful landscapes, art and even pieces of jewelry stimulate happiness sensors. “It turns out that identifying and appreciating beauty in the everyday is a happiness strategy,” according to the Association for Psychological Service “… It allows us to experience awe and wonder – to be elevated.” And to feel elevated from the gritty world around us for even just a few moments a day – it brings a smile to our faces.

5. Comfort.
Everyone has an image in his or her mind of the most comfortable place on earth. Mine is on the biggest couch in my house, wearing my seductive furry socks and watching the Kardashians. We all need little havens of physical comfort.

But, the other aspect of comfort is mental. Mental comfort comes with feeling relaxed, stress-free, content. For example, unless you’re the most outgoing person on earth, there’s always going to be a situation where you don’t know anybody and have to make friends, no matter how old you are. And it’s usually lonely and awkward. But, once you’ve found your niche where people think your cat jokes are funny and you can be yourself, it’s a sense of relief. Solving a problem or having your worries melt away initiates a clear mind, with space for happiness to settle and take root.

I can’t speak for everyone. Still, I can observe and report, and because of my lengthy experience on this earth and my natural all-knowing nature, I am probably right. Happiness is not so distant and unreachable. It’s right at our fingertips, hovering in the simplest of things like a heartfelt hug or a bath of mini muffins, we just need to reach out and grab it.

Scott Peters, director of annual giving, said the fund provided immediate assistance for financial aid packages and student programming.

This fund also finances first-aid supplies, summer research, online database subscriptions, the Spider Shuttle, on-campus career expos and the annual Business Pitch competition, Peters said.

There were 14,527 donors for the 2010-2011 academic year, up from 13,455 in 2009-2010, according to annual fund statistics.

Money is raised by phonathon callers and staff contacting prospective donors daily, Peters said. Callers talk about the institution, as well as their personal backgrounds. They connect with alumni and ask if they are able to donate, he said.

“I’ve been told by quite a few alums that they enjoy talking to the students,” Peters said. “They share some of the same experiences, which is meaningful.”

Peters also sees a great importance in alumni speaking to other alumni to boost donations, he said.

“We have hundreds of alums who volunteer annually to talk to their classmates, Greek friends and teammates,” he said. Peters sees this as the most effective way to raise money, he said.

Linda Evans, assistant director of media and public relations, donates money annually, she said. “I feel pride in my alma mater ,and it’s important for alumni to help out because we were also helped,” she said.
Jenna Baer, assistant director of annual giving, works with recent graduates who make donations. It is a way to give back and show pride, Baer said.

The vast majority of people who give to the university donate through the annual fund and can direct the money to a department or student organization of their choosing, Peters said. “One hundred percent of the money is coming in to support the students,” he said. “In the past few years the fund has grown despite economic conditions. It is a testament to how alumni feel about the university.”

This version corrects the amount raised in previous years, from “This number is a $5.1 million increase.”

Contact staff writer Laila Hart at laila.hart@richmond.edu

“If the Patriots lose to the Giants again, I might kill myself,” he said.

By now anyone who has been paying attention knows the story. With less than 20 seconds to play, down by three, the Baltimore Ravens sent kicker Billy Cundiff onto the field to attempt a field goal that would most likely have sent the game into overtime. He lined it up and drilled it wide left, missing and sending the New England Patriots to its fifth Super Bowl in the past 11 years.

Later that night, the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers played in rain-soaked Candlestick Park to see who would earn the right to play the Patriots. With less than seven minutes to play in overtime, the Giants recovered Kyle Williams’ fumble deep in 49er territory, setting up Lawrence Tynes’ 31-yard field goal to send the Giants on to Super Bowl XLVI.

As many know, four years ago these two teams met in Super Bowl XLII. The Patriots came into the game with an 18-0 record, needing only a victory in the Super Bowl to finish a perfect season, and solidify its legacy as the greatest football team ever. But it lost that game 17-14.

Now the team and its fans, are ready for vengeance.

“It would be one thing if they had just had a good season,” Rigoli said. “If they had been 12-4 or something it would have been bad, but nothing compared to how miserable it was watching that perfect season get ruined.”

This sentiment is pretty common among Patriots fans.

“If the Patriots lose to them again, I’m going to go lie down in traffic,” senior Mike Shrum said. “I’ve never felt as horrible as I did when they lost that game. It was like someone reached into my chest, ripped out my heart and set it on fire. I was physically ill.”

As for Giants fans, they don’t mind being underdogs again.

“Last time we were bigger underdogs than we are now, and look how that turned out,” senior Robbie Williams said. “I couldn’t care less about that. Their team this year is definitely not as good as the team four years ago. I like our chances heading into this matchup a lot more than I did in the last game.”

Tensions will be running high for many over the next week. Richmond is home to many fans of both the Giants and Patriots.

Williams said he would be watching the game at his house. “We won’t be hosting a party or anything,” he said. “Giants fans only. I don’t want anyone who doesn’t want to see the Giants win within five miles of me.”

Rigoli said: “I don’t even want to see a Giants fan for the next week. As far as I’m concerned, they don’t exist.”

This matchup doesn’t create problems only for fans of the two teams.

“I probably won’t watch the game,” senior Jets fan Ryan Lichtenfeld said. “This is a worst case scenario for me. With the Patriots being our biggest divisional rivals and the Giants being our cross town rivals, these are definitely my two least favorite teams. It sucks that I have to deal with this again.”

Despite Lichtenfeld’s anger, Giants and Patriots fans are ready for this matchup.

“This is the time when you absolutely hate that there are two weeks between the AFC Championship game and the Super Bowl,” Rigoli said. “It gives you too much time to think about ‘what if.’”
Williams said, “I’m just amped for the game.”

Contact staff writer Matt Dunn at matt.dunn@richmond.edu