News

Professor responds to Hajizada release; Milli also freed

A Richmond professor has responded to last Thursday's release of Adnan Hajizada, an alumnus who was arrested in July 2009 on charges of hooliganism and causing bodily harm. Department of political science chairman Vincent Wang, who organized a letter from Richmond professors in support of Hajizada, said he had been elated to hear news of his release. "I don't know if our letter helped, but I think that the international attention this case generated made it impossible for the autocratic Azeri regime to completely disregard outside pressure," Wang said.

Gottwald observatory and telescope unveiled

The physics department has unveiled the observatory and telescope on the Gottwald Science Center roof donated by University of Richmond trustee emerita Martha Carpenter. Ted Bunn, a physics professor involved with the telescope installation, said the telescope would be available to the wider campus community, not limited to the physics department. "We will use the telescope in classes," he said.

Debate team meets with Ayers and Allred, sent to Newcomb

Six University of Richmond students on the debate team met with President Edward Ayers and Provost Steve Allred last week to propose an alternate form of funding for the debate team. The students proposed an interdisciplinary policy debate program in which funding would come from all of Richmond's schools, not just the school of Arts & Sciences, which houses the rhetoric and communication studies department. Senior Ashley Fortner, a four-year debater, and sophomore Christine Parker, both of whom attended the meeting, said the president and provost wanted to resolve the issue in time for the next debate year. "They were willing to weigh the fact that the rhetoric and communication department wants to use their resources where they want to, but that shouldn't mean the debate team should completely disappear," Fortner said. The report the debaters presented to Ayers and Allred included comparative debate budgets from Richmond's peer institutions, letters from alumni and other debate supporters, the merits of having a full-time coach, as well as a reference to a book written about the benefits of policy debate. Instead of reducing the debate budget to a student club, which could receive funding as low as $1,000, the debate team proposed an increase of its current budget to expand on the team's past success. "Instead of taking this moment as a regression," Parker said, "maybe this is an opportunity for us to move forward." The debaters expected to hear back from the president and provost after they spoke to the deans of all of Richmond's schools, as was discussed at the meeting, but Allred referred the debate team back to Arts & Sciences Dean Andrew Newcomb, who was originally involved in downgrading the policy debate team to parliamentary club level. "[Provost Allred] seemed to indicate that since we started by talking with Dean Newcomb, it would be best for us to continue that dialogue rather than start a new one with him and the president," Parker said. Fortner added: "It is important for us to know that we are being heard and not sent back down the ladder as a way of pacifying us without any concrete steps toward change.

Ex-con enrolled in Richmond's School of Continuing Studies

Rodney White entered prison in 1991 and served more than 15 years for drug dealing. But next December he plans to graduate from the University of Richmond's School of Continuing Studies. White, 46, was a member of a Richmond-area gang called the "West End Crew" from 1987 to 1991.

Cartoon: 11/18/10 (Rihanna)

Contact staff writer Fred Shaia at fred.shaia@richmond.edu

UR takes on 40 other schools in energy reduction competition

The people behind the UR Energy Wars want students to know that reducing energy consumption is as easy as turning off the lights. The three-week-long competition, from Nov.

Police Report: 11/18/10

Vandalism Nov. 9, 4:36 p.m. The side-view mirror on a Westhampton College student's Jeep was damaged in the 1800 block of the apartments. Nov.

Stop Hunger Now program to come to UR Feb. 19

One child dies every six seconds from a hunger-related cause. One $10.50 meal in the Heilman Dining Center could feed 252 starving children in poor, tribal Orissa, India. A leadership team of University of Richmond students, staff and faculty will host a Stop Hunger Now meal packaging event Feb.

Amid violence, alumnus aids victims in Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo has been plagued by violence since civil war first broke out more than a decade ago.

Print Edition PDF: 11/11/10

Click here to download the November 11, 2010, full PDF edition of The Collegian.

Photo Gallery: International Month Opening Ceremony

International Month festivities begin with an official opening ceremony at the Carole Weinstein International Center on Friday. Contact photographer Eliza Morse at eliza.morse@richmond.edu

Roommates take a different kind of Vegas gamble

The neon lights of Las Vegas, Nev., have wielded a magnetic attraction over generations of those who dream of fortune and lust.

President Ayers' salary not number one at Richmond

The University of Richmond employee who made the most money during the 2008-2009 academic year was someone most students have never even heard of. Srinivas Pulavarti made more money, including benefits, than President Edward Ayers ($710,472), head basketball coach Christopher Mooney ($362,339), and professor of psychology and President Emeritus William Cooper ($450,034). Pulavarti was paid $811,553 including benefits during the 2008-2009 academic year for his management of the university's endowment and other institutional investments as president of Spider Management Co. (see page 8 and page 43 of the tax document) Each year, the University of Richmond files a public report with the IRS that shows, among other things, the school's net assets and liabilities, net revenue, university endowment and compensation information for top officers and directors, as well as the highest-paid employees of the university who are not officers or directors.

Business school drops Master of Accountancy program

The University of Richmond's Master of Accountancy program will not be accepting applications for the 2011-2012 year and it has not yet been decided whether the program will continue after the suspended year. The decision to suspend the program for one year was made by a vote of the 11 faculty members of the accounting department in late September. The program started during 2006 when Virginia began requiring accountants to have 150 semester hours to become a certified public accountant, Paul Clikeman, associate professor of accounting, said. "We started the program with the thought that many of our students would need a fifth year in order to get 150 semester hours," Clikeman said. "The students, instead of staying for a fifth year, figured out that if they come in with nine hours of advanced placement, which many of them do, and they take a May term, which many of them do and they take five units every semester, which many of them do, they can get to 150 hours without having to stay for a fifth year." Ten students were enrolled in the program the first year of its existence, one the second year, 10 the third year, 11 the fourth year and seven this year, Clikeman said. "We made the decision [to suspend the program] taking into account the fact that we teach undergraduate courses that range in size from 20 to 28," he said.

Facilities plans to fix more UFA door issues

Police Report: 11/11/10

Vandalism Nov. 1, 2:34 a.m. The driver-side mirror on a Richmond College student's Chevy Impala was damaged in X-lot.

ROTC visits nursing homes, honors veterans

The University of Richmond's Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) is honoring Veterans Day by visiting veterans in a local nursing home and presenting the colors at the School of Law's Veterans Day Ceremony and at the first basketball game against The Citadel, which is also military appreciation night. Sophomore ROTC cadet Colin Billings said he had a new appreciation for veterans and what they had done and realized the serious commitment he had made to serve in the armed forces after graduation. "Last year, I don't remember participating in any events," Billings said.

Former president Heilman revisits war zone

"If something happens today, do you want to us to resuscitate?" That was the question posed to almost a dozen World War II veterans as they boarded a cargo plane to revisit the black-sand beaches where they had landed under fire from Japanese forces 65 years ago. University of Richmond Chancellor E.

WGSS academic chair to be named for WILL founder

The students involved in the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies program will soon have their own academic chairwoman who will act as director of the program and be able to cross-list his or her classes. The chair will be named in honor of former dean, Stephanie Bennett-Smith, who founded the WILL (Women Involved in Living and Learning) program 30 years ago. The idea of creating a Westhampton chair was first introduced almost a decade ago when current Westhampton College Dean Juliette Landphair came to the university as assistant director of the WILL program. Landphair worked to come up with what she referred to as "the biggest dream world possible" for female students when the idea of an academic chair was proposed.

Cartoon: 11/4/10

Contact cartoonist Kristy Burkhardt at kristy.burkhardt@richmond.edu