Chance The Rapper’s reputation for doing good deeds certainly proceeds him. It’s actually that same rep, hard-earned through million-dollar donations to public schools, and countless hours spent bettering his local community in Chicago, that students at the University of Virginia are pinning their hopes.
One of the speakers was Ryan Keen, who is starting his fourth year. “The greatest power we have to heal is our ability to support each other,” he said. “We have to show what we stand for and what it means to be inclusive. We will not stand for the hate that has been shown here.”
(By Serena Bancroft, a foreign affairs major in the class of 2019 at UVA) One student writes about the profound sadness she felt at seeing White Supremacists and Nazis march across her beloved school.
UVA librarian Tyler Magill was on UVA Grounds on Aug. 11, when he saw a large group of white nationalists gathering at Nameless Field. Magill said the confrontation got physical, and he was pushed at least once. He didn't think he'd been seriously injured, and attended the counterprotest on Saturday in Justice Park and Unite the Right rally organizer Jason Kessler's failed press conference on Sunday.
“Hate speech is not a recognized category under American law,” UVA law professor Leslie Kendrick said. That means local officials cannot ban neo-Nazis or white supremacists from rallying just because their speech is offensive.
Wendy Christensen, an associate professor of sociology at William Paterson University in New Jersey, is one of many professors across the country who are changing lesson plans in response to the events in Virginia. For some educators, incorporating Charlottesville into course material goes further than using the event as an example in the news; it’s a way to protest the white supremacy beyond the classroom, and to prevent the ideology of hate from reaching students.
In the aftermath of a gathering of white nationalists that at times turned violent, the University of Virginia is reviewing its rules about what can happen on its campus. The university will also hire a contractor to review its current safety infrastructure and more staff members and police officers “to ensure safety and security across Grounds as the semester begins.”
On college campuses, white supremacists and other far-right extremist groups see fertile ground to spread their messages and recruit followers. But for many colleges, last weekend's deadly attack at a rally near the University of Virginia exposed a new threat.
The University of Virginia is welcoming the class of 2021 to Grounds in the wake of the violence and national attention the Unite the Right rally brought to Charlottesville.
In an address to students and families on Friday, UVA President Teresa Sullivan welcomed “every person of every race, every gender, every national origin, every religious belief, every orientation and every other human variation.” Afterward, parents asked university administrators tough questions about the gun policy on campus, white supremacists and the likelihood of similar violence in the future.
Monday, 48 hours after protesting turned deadly on the streets of Charlottesville, the UVA football team locked arms with one another on the Rotunda’s steps. The photo, taken from the Lawn, has since appeared everywhere from these pages to USA Today.
Students are returning to the University of Virginia this week. The progressive college town was struck by violence when hundreds marched on campus, carrying torches and chanting Nazi slogans. That’s left some students and families concerned.
Leslie Blackhall, a doctor in the UVA Health System’s palliative care clinic, uncovered a wider problem: As more people die at home on hospice, some of the addictive drugs they are prescribed are ending up in the wrong hands.
Dr. Christopher Ruhm, who authored a recent UVA study on the severity of the opioid crisis, expects the death toll for 15- to 19-year-olds to rise.
Beta Bridge at the University of Virginia has been painted in honor of Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old woman killed by a car following the Unite the Right rally.
Ho-hum, maybe, if you happen to be a Cavalier, but for the third year in a row the University of Virginia has been ranked No. 1 for offering the best value among the commonwealth’s colleges and universities.
In the wake of riots in Charlottesville, University of Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall speaks out for the first time. In the wake of riots in Charlottesville that left one woman dead and many others injured during the protest and counter-protest of the removal of a Confederate statue, Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall has spoken for the first time. Mendenhall spoke after practice Tuesday about the state of his team during the turmoil.
Virginia coach Tony Bennett publicly responded on behalf of the university and the city of Charlottesville in the wake of violent altercations between neo-Nazis and counter-protesters which resulted in three deaths over the weekend.
Hours after neo-Nazis and khaki-clad white nationalists clashed with protesters in downtown Charlottesville on Saturday, a group of 80 black University of Virginia alumni wrote an open letter directed to the roughly 250 incoming black students scheduled to arrive the following week. “We are sure that recent events have not only increased your anxiety but perhaps caused you to question attending the university,” they wrote.
First, there were torches lighting Charlottesville’s night. Now, there are candles.