The Collegian
Monday, April 28, 2025

News


News

Proposal to lower rim draws mixed reactions

The University of Connecticut's head women's basketball coach, Geno Auriemma, is proposing that the rim for women's collegiate basketball be lowered seven inches. Auriemma has won seven NCAA championships, 19 Big East Regular Season Championships and a gold medal, coaching the women's 2012 Olympic basketball team. Auriemma announced the idea in an article in The Hartford Courant, stating that there would be fewer missed layups because the players would be closer to the rim when shooting.


News

Admissions office skips Westhampton side of campus on tour

At the start of last semester, the Office of Admissions informed tour guides that they would begin taking prospective students and families on a different route through campus to make tours shorter and more efficient, said senior tour guide Austin Carter. The new route begins at the admissions office, travels through the academic buildings on the Richmond side of campus, crosses the Tyler Hanes Commons, covers the Forum and essentially ends at the Heilman Dining Center, Carter said, where tours cross the lower commons and wind their way through the dorms back to admissions. Prospective students now do not see the Modlin Center for the Arts, the Westhampton Deanery, North Court, the Greek Theatre or the Weinstein Center for Recreation and Wellness. Carter said when she had first heard the news in a tour guide meeting, she had been upset, asking immediately how they were going to cover the arts on campus. "Ultimately, I think it's probably a better tour because it's more concise and easier for guests and prospectives," Carter said.


News

Obama wins election, UR students show mixed reactions

The announcement that Barack Obama will serve a second term as U.S. president after beating challenger Mitt Romney warranted a mixed reaction from the University of Richmond community on Tuesday. "Well, Romney is a garbage person, so I'd say I'm pretty happy," senior Armon Modirian said.


News

Homecoming Weekend brings alumni and students together

Alumni returned to campus this past weekend, joining students and faculty to celebrate Homecoming and participate in a bonfire, tailgate, football game and other festivities. "I would say Homecoming has always been about the football game and enthusiasm with alums coming back," said Steve Bisese, director for student development.


News

International Month should give students new perspective

Senior Hadya Abdul Satar was recently approached by a Spanish international student to talk about the relationship between international and American students at Richmond, she said. "She said it was eye-opening that Americans are so busy during the week," Abdul Satar said.


News

Sorority cottages open Saturday after decades of anticipation

The new sorority and student activities cottages opened their doors to students and alumni on Saturday afternoon after three years of planning and decades of anticipation. Especially for students in sororities, the cottages have become the realization of a long-time dream to give each chapter a space on campus it can call its own. "They haven't had a place to just be women and be sisters," said Alison Bartel Keller, director of student activities. Since 1989, when the sororities were first chartered on campus, Keller's role was keeping the dream of an activities center alive, so that when the opportunity came to create one, Keller said, they would be ready. With the appointments of Edward Ayers as president and Steve Bisese as vice president for student development three years ago, the opportunity arrived, Keller said.


Track & Field

Soccer alumni will fight on following press conference

The press conference hosted by University of Richmond soccer alumni on Friday presented a question of right and wrong, said men's soccer coach Leigh Cowlishaw. Maybe the answer will not be reinstating soccer and track, but the decision certainly needs to be scrutinized with all the facts presented, he said. Soccer alumnus Scott Byrnes, '91, led off his speech by acknowledging that people might have seen the amount of work that has gone into fighting the decision to cut the men's soccer and men's track and field teams as overkill.


Track & Field

Live Blog: Carry the Flag Press Conference

Computer dying so I'll end this now. Thanks for joining me, I'll provide a quick recap soon with any new information that may come. "You can put new people in their slots," Byrnes says in response to a comment about President Ayers and other board members. Byrnes answers my question about the Washington Post article released yesterday, saying it didn't include all the information he had hoped it would. "We're not gonna stop," Byrnes answers to a question from RTD. Byrnes now taking questions with two other soccer alumni, one of which is Jim Brady, '85. Byrnes finishes his speech, to a standing ovation, by pulling out a Richmond flag and saying, "Carry the Flag, boys." "I ask you to withhold your donations to the University of Richmond until the Board of Trustees makes this right." Byrnes now asking the board to reinstate the soccer and track programs as soon as possible. "You had an organized group of soccer alumni banging on your door to help, and you ignored us," Byrnes says, in spirit to Ayers. Byrnes says that if the soccer alumni had any idea the program was in jeopardy, they would've brought their arguments straight to the Board of Trustees before the decision was finalized, and the "lacrosse inner circle" couldn't afford that to happen. Major Donor refused to engage with soccer alumni because "it would be inappropriate" because he is a member of the Board of Trustees, Byrnes said. "Eliminating a men's sport will not be an option," Byrnes says, quoting an email about a conversation another soccer alumni had with VP of advancement Tom Gutenberger last summer. Neither Ayers or Miller here right now I don't believe.


Track & Field

Alumni highlighting deceit in effort to revive track and soccer

The alumni of the recently cut Richmond men's soccer and track and field teams have continued their strategic planning efforts, with large parts of those efforts culminating right before Homecoming Weekend. On Tuesday, eight track alumni published and distributed a 28-page paper, titled "An Examination of the University of Richmond's 2012 Athletic Department Reconfiguration." In the paper, the alumni highlight why outdoor track should be reinstated, citing sources for all research and claims, while indoor track and soccer should be given an opportunity to raise the funds needed to remain along with the addition of a women's sport. "We're just trying to organize everything that we've heard from Dr. [Edward] Ayers and his chief of staff [Lori Schuyler] and [Athletic Director] Jim Miller," said Jon Molz, 2008 track alumnus and current assistant coach for the track and cross country teams.


News

Transgender violence memorial tree transplanted to campus

The week before fall break, the commemorative tree for the Transgender Day of Remembrance was transplanted from the Gay Community Center of Richmond, which is located downtown, to the University of Richmond campus. Before the transplant, the tree had been planted outside of the community center in remembrance of those who had lost their lives to transgender violence, said Erik Lampmann, co-facilitator of the Student Alliance for Sexual Diversity (SASD) and an LGBTQ student coordinator with the office of the Common Ground. There is also a commemoration every year on Nov.


News

NBC's Today Show attracts political statements

About 75 students and community members lined up in front of Jepson Hall at 5:45 a.m. on Sunday to demonstrate their political views on "The Today Show." Planned Parenthood and the RVA Beard League were the first groups to arrive, political signs in tow. Signs for Planned Parenthood read, "Protect Women's Health," and members of the organization wore pink shirts that matched the signs.


News

Modlin transformed into haunted house for Halloween

By 7 p.m. on Tuesday, members of the University Players had transformed Cousins Studio Theatre in the Modlin Center for the Arts into an abandoned insane asylum. For $3 on Tuesday and Wednesday night, students could wind their way through handmade corridors and find their peers struggling out of straitjackets, operating on each other and bursting around corners with drills and hatchets. Alex Turner and Mary Clohan, both sophomore University Players, said the idea of creating a student-run haunted house on campus had been passed down from player to player for years. "We have a pretty booked schedule for space and events in the Theatre Department," Turner said, "so it never actually was realized.


Football

Sophomore football player a leader for moral, athletic reasons

Sophomore linebacker Eric Wright has become a respected leader on the University of Richmond's football team, not only because of his talent, but also because of his moral character and religious devotion. "The Sunday right before I was coming to Richmond, I received the Holy Ghost and was baptized in Jesus' name," Wright said.