Staff Editorial: Rough Landing at Eagle Village
September 1, 2010
The hype and glamor of Eagle Landing is slowly dying as the first residents realize the reality.
From the highway, Eagle Landing looks like any college student’s dream: a gorgeous apartment building close to classes, parking, an ABC store and a grocery store. Residents can easily ride their bike across the bridge to get to campus or play a game of soccer on their very own turf field.
In reality, for almost $6,000 an academic year, students can expect extra parking costs, ridiculous fines for chipped paint, lukewarm shower water (assuming your shower even works), no bar stool seating, numerous fires, and an overall lack of communication and consistency.
Before move-in, students were shocked to find that an Eagle Landing parking pass would cost more than double what a normal residential parking pass costs. While students have an option to opt out of the Eagle Landing parking garage, this is not always an easy choice for students who have commitments to drive to early or late and are concerned with safety.
Upon move-in, students received mixed messages about everything from the banning of 3M hooks for hanging pictures to the allowance of automatic shut off toaster ovens and George Foreman grills.
The community assistants and other building staff had different answers when students asked about these items. Students were initially told that they could have toaster ovens, but then, only a week later during floor meetings, students were told the opposite. This decision was made because of the sensitive fire alarm system, but perhaps by fixing the system, daily appliances could be used.
While some miscommunication is understandable with a new staff and building, the list of problems continues to grow. Students were at first told to seal their own granite countertops to avoid staining and breaking, but then in an e-mail from Christine Porter, head of residence life, students were informed that the countertops are actually already sealed.
Many Eagle Landing residents have also been complaining about the showers. Many still do not have hot water, although according to Porter’s e-mail a solution has been found. Some handicapped apartments have drainage issues, and therefore do not have workable showers. These problems should have been addressed prior to move-in, not two weeks into classes.
On top of all the construction issues and rules, the residents have been treated like children who have misbehaved. During the hall meetings, the student building supervisors screamed at residents while waving bags of beer cans. Their message was meant to scare students into following the rules, but made residence life look rude and unwelcoming.
For the $2,800 a month an Eagle Landing apartment costs among four roommates, they could have rented their own house in downtown Fredericksburg, and avoided the entire headache of Eagle Village.
After building such an enormous and anticipated addition to UMW, the University and Foundation needs to make sure they are building a reputable standing for Eagle Landing and the university.
The University needs to look seriously at the way Eagle Landing is being run so that students will not regret their decision to live on campus and will not pass on these bad experiences to future residents.
Letter From the President
September 1, 2010
Dear Students,
Welcome back. It’s inspiring to see you make the campus come alive again after a relatively quiet summer. For those of you who are entering freshmen as the class of 2014, or who are transfers from other colleges, we welcome the diversity and fresh perspectives you bring to UMW. I’m predicting an exciting year filled with learning, living and the development of what will become lifelong friendships.
Many changes occurred over the summer. We opened Eagle Landing as our newest residence hall, we provided the new meal plans you asked for, we established new colleges of business and education, and we welcomed new deans, faculty and staff.
With new facilities and new people will come new traditions, but even so, we will maintain the culture, spirit and honored traditions that make Mary Washington such a special experience.
Let me use this opportunity to update you on a couple of the other projects underway on campus. First, you probably noticed the construction fence around Randolph and Mason Residence Halls.
The opening of Eagle Landing has enabled us to begin the much-needed renovation of all of our residence halls, and we are beginning with these two. This project will take close to two years to complete.
The Anderson Center, our new gymnasium, will be completed by next spring as will the renovation of Monroe Hall. Finally, our Dahlgren campus is under construction and will open in January of 2012. For those of you unfamiliar with Dahlgren, it is about twenty-seven miles east of here and is a Navy military base.
We are building this campus to meet the workforce development needs of the workers on the base and the surrounding region.
I look forward to engaging with you throughout the year. Please say hello when we see each other on campus walk, in Seacobeck, at sporting events or at social occasions.
I’m interested in what you think, and welcome your ideas about how to make our university better. My intention is to ask the Bullet to include a note from me to you periodically.
I will try to keep it real–and brief–so that you will find it worthwhile. Please feel free to provide feedback, suggestions or ask questions about topics you would like me to address.
This is a great time in all our lives and an adventure that we will share together.
Sincerely,
President Rick Hurley
Opposing Viewpoints: Blocking Islamic community center is a disgusting violation of religious tolerence
September 1, 2010
By BRIAN AURICCHIO
Columnist
The earth gradually turns towards a new dawn, and as the sun pierces the New York skyline with unprecedented vitality, light moves down Lady Liberty’s face, reminding us of the very principles that have created a collective American experience. Perhaps the freedom she has promised hasn’t always been truthful, but a new burden of intolerance and ignorance begins to question her sincerity.
No American has forgotten the tragedies of Sept. 11, 2001; however, allowing this event to justify racial bigotry and impudent hatred is self-indulgent dogmatism and arrogance. Were there not innocent Muslim Americans killed in those towers? Did their families not feel the pain the way the rest of us did? Let us not attack the Islamic religion, nor apply responsibility to many, based on the actions of a few.
The true enemy is Al-Qaeda and may justice be served swiftly on behalf of their actions. There is no justice in condemning an entire religion based on gross distortions of Islam.
Muslim Americans participate in the same civic actions as the rest of us. To deny their right to build a house of worship, a right Americans have fought and died for, is simply un-American.
This is not a thirteen-story mosque, but a community center welcoming all New Yorkers, including a culinary school, as well as basketball courts and other areas for recreational use.
Of the thirteen stories, the top two stories will be centers for Islamic prayer. We are turning to our own neighbors with the self-righteous audacity to tell them they cannot build on private land as they choose.
We cannot support this disgusting violation of basic human rights. If we do not allow Muslim Americans to build this mosque, where is the line to end this racial bias? This is not a breeding ground for Islamic militant terrorists. This is not a beacon of victory for Al-Qaeda. In fact, you can hardly see Ground Zero from the community center.
There is already a mosque four blocks away from ground zero. Should that be removed as well? While we’re at it, why don’t we remove all mosques from the five boroughs of New York, or how about the entire state?
Islamophobia has taken a firm hold of our rationale.
According to a Time Magazine poll, 61% of Americans oppose the mosque being built in Manhattan. It seems that the Red Scare is no longer engraved in the minds of Americans, so we are once again ready to recreate publicly accepted prejudice and fear.
Already this mosque is turning into a political event. Republicans are questioning the silence of Democrats, while Democrats are questioning the tolerance of Republicans. Are there not larger issues that should take precedence? The War on Terror and our failing economy is worthy of such attention.
Keith Olbermann questions if Americans know why we invaded Iraq in the first place. Was it not our original intention to protect the Iraqi people from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein? We are sacrificing American lives to protect this predominantly Muslim population, while they can scarcely call themselves citizens on the domestic front.
The contradictions in US foreign policy are blatant, but this unjust Islamophobia inhibits the questioning of our true motives.
We have quickly forgotten that our ancestors, less than two generations ago, faced the same type of discrimination Muslim Americans must now endure. The majority of us have gradually fallen under the category of white, while those who do not fit the mold face the tribulations of racism.
The once oppressed have turned into the oppressors, losing any sympathies they might have had. Let us revitalize American equality with vigilance towards these injustices.
Opposing Viewpoints: Relocation of community center a necessity for positive relations between cultures
September 1, 2010
By CALVIN SHERWOOD
Columnist
Almost nine years ago, fanatical Islamic terrorists killed thousands of people when they crashed planes into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. and World Trade Centers in New York City.
The smoke and dust have cleared, and Americans have continued with their lives. However, our country is still dealing with the repercussions of the aftermath even after it seemed the wounds had healed.
For the last few weeks, this context for the proposed Islamic Community Center split America down cultural and ideological lines. Unless a compromise is reached, this issue will only deepen the scars of Muslim/American relations.
There is an Islamic Community Center being built for a growing Muslim neighborhood; so what? Building a Muslim community center at that location is perfectly within legal bounds.
While preventing its construction would dangerously border on infringing upon religious freedom, it is obvious that the commissioners of this project were seriously lacking in political acumen and foresight. 9/11 is possibly the most sensitive subject for Americans. Any serious discussion or brainstorming by the builders should have predicted potential backlash in their initial equations.
Such a strong reaction indicates that America is not ready to see the religious symbols they used against them in war near what is considered to be ‘sacred ground’.
This is not a tiny, angry minority either. Polls now show that 71 percent oppose the building of the center, and 46 percent of Americans hold an ‘unfavorable view’ of Islam in general.
Protests on both sides are growing. Political smearing and the traditional pointing-of-fingers as to who is ‘un-American’ will likely follow.
This is a pity, since no long-term solutions will come from the current radicalization of the masses. Everyone could suffer from the consequences.
Hate crimes against Muslims may increase. Homegrown terrorism could increase to conditions similar to Europe (where it is a terribly large threat to national security).
So far, this Islamic building project has been the spark that unleashed a wave of hysteria now affecting communities’ miles away from Ground Zero. This is a moment needing political acumen.
Relations are tense, and it requires attempts to soothe these heated tensions. Otherwise, building the community project would be a hollow and Pyrrhic victory that drives the wedge deeper between mainstream America and its Muslim community.
America should not strive for this outcome. I hope the builders of the Islamic Center, as well as the politicians who opposed it, realize that.
This is not just about the ‘mosque’, as many Americans think it is. The public outcry proves that. Both sides must address and condemn the deeper issue of distrust and lack of tolerance, and that will require reconciliation and compromise.
Maybe that means delaying the construction, potential relocation or maybe an inter-faith community center instead. We must do whatever we can do to dissuade hatred and radicalization in our country, regardless of the cost.
Therefore, while the Islamic Community Center has every right to continue building, I would urge them to seriously reconsider and possibly relocate it. Law and freedom do not require this action, but political sensitivity to the raw emotions in play demands it.
Letter to the Editor: Town Hall Reveals McDonnell’s Backward Energy Stance
September 1, 2010
Bob McDonnell’s town hall meeting last Tuesday solidified two things for me: that he is a brilliant and gifted politician and that he has a backward outlook on environmental issues.
While most of the discussion focused around the privatization of ABC liquor stores, several questions brought up the governor’s environmental policy.
Despite the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, McDonnell said he remains committed to pursuing drilling off Virginia’s coast.
Ignoring the lessons of the BP disaster is irresponsible and calling it “a fluke” is foolish.
While drilling would bring in many new jobs, so would investment in cleaner energy alternatives.
Virginia cannot afford to lose the thousands of tourists who visit our beaches. Nor can we afford to pay for the massive clean up an oil spill would require.
Cara MacDonald is a Senior
Sexclamations: In Dorm Sex, Roommate Communication a Must
September 1, 2010
By ERIN HILL
For some students, returning to school presents new barriers and limits to their sexual activity. For others, it opens a completely new realm of opportunities and locations to experiment with sex.
Whatever the case, one thing is certain; all students come to UMW with different levels of openness regarding sex, as well as varied experiences with sexual activities. Since you will probably be sharing a room with at least one other person, I highly recommend that you and your roommates set the ground rules regarding sexual activity in your shared living space as soon as possible. A conversation about ‘dorm sex rules’ will only get more awkward and difficult if you wait.
You do not need to state explicitly your sexual desires. Rather, you and your roommate should decide what sexual activities you will tolerate in your room and when. I highly recommend developing some sort of communication system or signal for private, sexual matters, such as a code illustration on the dorm room door. You could draw a banana on your dry-erase board, signaling that your roommate should call before entering the room. If you are comfortable having your roommate know something sexual is occurring in the room, the clearest way to communicate is via text message or in person.
Tell your roommate in advance if you plan to do something that might require some alone time in the room. Remember, your roommate would much rather leave the room than be awoken by the sounds of a bed creaking rhythmically. Moreover, having sex with a third party in the room ruins the heat of the moment. Agonizing over whether or not your roommate can hear your lovemaking takes away the pleasure and intimacy of coitus.
To make the discussion easier between you and your roommate(s), I have laid out a few dorm sex rules you may want to consider.
If your roommate is not actively and willingly engaging in you and your partner’s copulation, do not have sex while they are present—even if they are sleeping. Do not have sex while your roommate is in the room unless you have his/her permission.
Do not have sex in your roommate’s section of the room. In other words, do not have sex on his/her bed or desk. Your roommate will not find those sexual fluids on their sheets and chair as erotic as you and your sexual partner do.
Do not hog the room. This applies not only for sex, but also as a general guideline. Having a non-sexual ‘hermit crab’ roommate royally stinks; as does having a nymphomaniac constantly occupying the room. Give your roommate ample time alone in the room, regardless of whether or not sexual activities occur during that time.
Reassess these rules throughout the year. Make sure your arrangements for sexual activities are working well for everyone in the shared living space. The dialogue regarding sex between you and your roommates will become easier as you get to know one another better. Do not hold back when it comes to talking about sex, especially dorm sex rules. Explicitly state whether you are okay with certain activities.
Be proactive! It is much easier to say, “How do you feel about this,” or “what if…?” than “I did this last night. Was that okay?” Chances are, if you ask your roommate how they feel about it after the fact, they will not tell you their genuine feelings about the issue.
Perhaps reading this article or thinking about having this discussion with your roommate makes you uneasy. If so, consider the possible outcomes of avoiding the discussion and making assumptions about what your roommate’s feelings are regarding sexual activity. If you do not talk about it, you are more likely to walk in on the act or wake up to passionate moans in the middle of the night. Simply having the conversation is much less awkward.
Do not postpone your discussion about dorm sex, for setting these rules during foreplay is neither stimulating nor sexy. Having this conversation with your roommate will not only make sex more intimate, it will make sex safer. Talking to your roommate about sex makes storing condoms and other forms of protection in the room less awkward. Overall, communication about sexual activities in the dorm room is essential in maintaining a pleasant, comfortable living space.
If you need help getting the conversation started or are gridlocked by conflicting viewpoints on the matter, ask you RA for some ideas on how to handle the situation.
Boy Girl Ratio Makes Mr. Right Hard to Find
September 1, 2010
BY STEPHANIE LICHIELLO
Guest Columnist
Mary Washington has a reputation for being a top-ranked public university and has been described as aesthetically pleasing by both students and residents in the area.
However, what our school appears to lack are eligible men. I think I speak for many ladies when I say that the 65:35 girl-to-boy ratio is just not cutting it.
All too often, we find ourselves talking to an attractive, intelligent and outgoing guy only to discover that he has a long distance relationship with his high school sweetheart back home.
Then you have the opposite extreme: you meet a fun, exciting guy who turns out to have some intense issues with commitment that you just are not ready to tackle. Why then, do we continue to search for “Mr. Right?”
It seems to me that relationships at Mary Washington are much like a long drawn out season of “The Bachelor.” For four years, we find ourselves meeting new people and experiencing new things.
There will always be the he said-she said drama, the sob stories of ex-lovers and backstabbing cheaters, and the various strategies of playing the game we call dating.
Thus, we encounter a situation where the men possess the ability to be as picky as they so please, whereas the women are not granted this same privilege.
If you are not willing to settle, there are a few rules to keep in mind. First, as a girl, it is important to weed out the men that are already taken in order to avoid being labeled a home wrecker.
Secondly, you must never consider the guys who have no intention of taking you on a real date. For the record, inviting me to meet you at a frat party and serving me jungle juice all night is no girl’s idea of a date.
Finally, if you hope to avoid being called a cougar, I suggest you wait until the freshmen are at least of legal age before making your move.
If you have not noticed this discouraging trend, next time you find yourself in class look around the room.
More often than not you will be surrounded by girls. You may stumble upon a psychology class with two boys, a French class with five, and if you are lucky, a dance improv class that is swarming with testosterone and tights.
Although with an average class size of 22, having only a couple guys is not giving us much to work with. Ladies, I am not saying that it is impossible to find “Mr. Right” in college, but these circumstances pose a challenge that must be overcome.
With an incoming freshmen class of 950 students and a goal of increasing the total number of students enrolled in the future, one can only hope that men will rise to the occasion.
Thought You Knew
August 19, 2010
If you’re looking for wisdom from a UMW senior, just stop reading right now.
By no means am I qualified to offer advice about anything other than overcoming a Thursday-night concussion in time for Friday’s trip to UVA. Or possibly, how to avoid suicide after two consecutive all-nighters.
I don’t intend to talk about sex every week, and I’m certainly not trying to get political. But, I do hope to amuse you and, more importantly, myself.
This summer, I had the opportunity to live in Houston and work at an art gallery. The experiences I had were amazing, I befriended some great people, blah, blah, blah. To be really cliché, it made me realize that I have no clue about what I want to do with the rest of my life.
I’m talking existential crises levels of uncertainty.
For as long as I’ve been cognizant of the facts that I will have a future and that my parents won’t be funding my lavish lifestyle forever, I’ve wanted to marry a rich (preferably not that old) guy, pop out a kid or two, and join the PTA or whatever it is housewives do once they’ve bought everything at Nordstrom.
I was going to hire a good nanny, buy a Mercedes, take up tennis, and maybe flip a table and pull out someone’s weave when the Real Housewives of Fredericksburg begins filming.
What can I say? I’m lazy, hedonistic, and, obviously, a sucker for true love.
Over the summer, I met a ton of potential future husbands. They were all nice enough and rich enough (can you ever really be rich enough?), but they were also mad boring.
I pride myself on my ability to feign interest in anything, but you try listening to these people drone on about their favorite World Series or about how Obama has been such a monumental disappointment all summer.
Cool. Dad, I’ll be in the bathroom shot-gunning the beers I have in my purse, but when I get back, please, please, please tell me more about your recent trip to the cardiologist. Ugh.
Every time my friends texted me about their adventures at home, I found myself wishing I was bumming around with them in Fredericksburg (I know, right?). By the time I was packing to come home, no amount of free drinks, food or security for my future would have been enough to keep me interested in those old bros.
All I really wanted out of the summer was to find a man with whom I could spend the rest of his life and instead I got a clue.
Obviously, I can’t abandon my dreams due to a few set-backs. However, for the moment, I’m resigned to the realization that I would rather be sitting around my apartment with my crazy, fun, poor friends than, well, doing anything with these dull and stuffy rich guys.
If we can excuse how trite they are for a moment, I’m willing to acknowledge that The Beatles may have been onto something with that line in She’s Leaving Home. “Fun is the one thing that money can’t buy,” floated through my brain nearly every time I had to force a smile and try to remain conscious at yet another uptight cocktail party. Sure, money buys food, alcohol, and, well, virtually everything else you need to facilitate fun, but when it comes down to it, maybe it’s who you’re with, not what you’re doing that actually matters.
Who knew?
Staff Editorial: Year Begins with Snow and Ends with Hurley
April 22, 2010
This year has been anything but quiet for UMW and the Bullet. Amid record snowstorms and shifting administrations, the Bullet had an avalanche of university news.
With over 19,000 visits to our Web site this semester, the university was kept informed daily on the latest in presidential machinations and Board of Visitor decisions.
The semester started quietly, though. We reported on the construction of the bridge over Route 1 and the changes to housing policy. The calmness was short lived.
February brought record snowfalls to Fredericksburg, shutting down campus and almost halting the Bullet. With editors stranded and classes cancelled, the Bullet managed to get an edition on the newsstands.
A few weeks later, the Bullet was hit by another storm—a Friday night phone call announcing that Judy Hample was resigning, effective June 30. This was a big problem since we did not have a print issue that week due to midterms and Spring Break.
The Bullet editors responded to one of the most difficult weeks of the semester with a four-page special edition that captured the community’s response. With great cohesion, the editors collected revealing quotes from former presidents and deans, as well as getting the first interview with Hample after she announced the resignation. The viewpoints section was filled with angry responses and tough questions about the future, as well as a timeline showing the last eight presidents.
The excitement continued as Hample announced that she would step down three months earlier than planned.
Amid the chaos, the University reversed course on a decision to withhold phone records related to an emergency report Hample filed with campus police. After the Bullet filed an information request and was denied twice, we contacted the Student Press Law Center to seek legal advice. The University released the video and phone call to the Bullet in March.
The next few weeks brought about a much-needed change in administration and mood at the university. Hurley was named as acting president, then named as the president in less than a month.
The Bullet reported that Khalil Yazdi, the vice president for information technologies, had been investigated for not appropriately following Virginia laws when purchasing computer software. As one of Hurley’s first decisions as acting president, Yazdi was demoted. Yazdi resigned a week later.
All of this news has attracted over 10,000 new visitors to our Web site this semester, and the Bullet hopes to continue attracting new readers. This semester we had readers as far away as Madagascar, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, as well as readers from every state in the United States. Last week, the Bullet won an award for ‘Outstanding Web site’ through the Office of Student Activities and Community Services.
With a new administration in place and already noticeable changes at UMW, the Bullet will continue updating the campus next year. Good luck with final exams and the Bullet will be back in August.
Money Spent on Big Oil Could be Better Spent on Renewable Resources
April 21, 2010
By BRIAN AURICCHIO
Guest Columnist
When inaccuracy and manipulation become the foundation of popular opinion, it’s time to call into question those who spew these “truths.” If the average American citizen knew the actual environmental ramifications of offshore drilling, they would not blindly follow the whim of dogmatic politicians, who largely cater to corporate avarice.
With the election of Barack Obama, the American people saw a new epoch of political responsibility, an idea radically different from the past eight years of American politics. However, the change Obama fought so ardently for is seemingly not the change he promised during his campaign.
It seems Obama has sold out to political pressure, while not enforcing the liberal values he promised would heal the wounds of America. Any American who ostensibly calls themselves a Democrat may follow the President’s empty rhetoric, but those who truly concern themselves with this country’s environmental issues cannot find comfort in the words of Obama’s offshore drilling plan.
The momentum for the environmental movement in this country began in 1969, in Santa Barbara, Calif., where an offshore oil platform suffered an inconceivable spill. For eleven days, oil spewed from the platform, releasing an estimated 200,000 galloons of oil, spreading 800 square miles. The oil caused massive lung hemorrhages in dolphins, poisoned any animal that ingested it, destroyed whale breeding grounds and killed an estimated 4,000 seabirds.
Yet some claim “environmentalists have little to worry about” when discussing offshore drilling. Even with advances in technology, there is no guarantee that these oil platforms will not leak or spill. Since this event in 1969, a moratorium was installed that effectively banned most offshore drilling operations in the United States. President Bush as well as Senator John McCain both supported ending the moratorium and to begin offshore drilling.
While campaigning, Obama stated, “what wouldn’t do a thing to lower gas prices is John McCain’s new proposal, a proposal adopted by George Bush as well, to open up Florida’s coastline to offshore drilling.” He also stated there would be “long term consequences for our coastlines, and no short-term benefits, since it would take at least 10 years to get any oil. Well the politics may have changed, but the facts have not.”
It seems the politics have changed for President Obama. He continues to say “offshore drilling will not lower gas prices” and “we won’t see a drop of oil until 2017. You wouldn’t see any full production until 2030.” The U.S. Energy Administration released data in 2009 that stated lifting the moratorium would have no impact by 2020, and by 2030 projections suggest it could lower gas only by an estimated 3 cents.
Why spend taxpayer money irresponsibly to appease big oil companies, when the money could be spent investing in renewable energy resources? They would be an effective method of ending our dependence on foreign oil. This plan seems to be a feeble attempt to gain Republican support, especially with midterm elections in the near future.
Whom does it concern that this is happening? It seems the American citizen has retreated into the realms of complacency and subservience. Perhaps when refineries are built in Norfolk we will accept the inevitable realization of our apathy. Perhaps when Virginia waterways become as polluted as Cancer Ally, on Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, will we stop and ask how this happened. Until then, let us submit to our own ignorance.
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