(Commentary) Protected classes include cases involving race, age, gender and ancestry. Being president isn’t a protected class, regardless of how often one tweets about “presidential harassment.” “There is no law prohibiting discriminating against presidents,” said Frederick Schauer, a law professor at the University of Virginia.
UVA law professor Rachel Harmon, who studies police interaction with the public, says there are also "substantive" reasons for the police backing of Trump. She cites the administration's early opposition to federal "pattern and practice" reviews of allegations of excessive force by police departments. Harmon says police liked the administration's message that "individual police officers were being tainted and undermined, and there was undermining of the effectiveness of law enforcement by these overly aggressive investigations of police departments." She says she doesn't agree with that view.
Just eight days from leaving office, Trump is facing the biggest crisis of his presidency, with efforts to remove him snowballing. Perhaps his inciting a mob was the final straw, and with Trump out of the White House his power may erode. “On the other hand, rank and file Republicans still seem very loyal to the president, and many believe his nonsense about a stolen election,” said Kyle Kondik of UVA’s Center for Politics.
J. Miles Coleman, the associate editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball at the UVA Center for Politics, said that Democrats have benefited from the conglomeration of voters in population centers like Atlanta. "The Democrats have done very well in states like Georgia where they have one metro that can dominate," he said.
Social media companies like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitch suspended President Donald Trump's accounts after last Wednesday's deadly attack on the Capitol. Concern followed about whether the big tech companies violated the leader of the free world's First Amendment rights. A University of Virginia School of Law professor weighs in. "Because the deplatforming from Twitter and Facebook is the action of private companies and the First Amendment only applies to state actors, that is to the federal government or the state governments, and because Twitter and Facebook and other social media...
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine sat down with the UVA Center for Politics Director Larry Sabato and recounted his experience during last week’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Jalane Schmidt, a Charlottesville-based anti-racist organizer who teaches religious studies at the University of Virginia, also remembers her warnings often going unacknowledged. “We got dismissed. You get dismissed if you use the ‘F word,’” Schmidt told HuffPost of using the term “fascism” to describe the president and the MAGA movement he created.
(Commentary co-written by Carolyn M. Callahan, Commonwealth Professor of Education Emeritus) Students come from diverse backgrounds, speak different languages, have different strengths and personal challenges, and have had very different preschool and family experiences. Far too many are denied access to opportunity based on where they live or the color of their skin. It was within this complex context that the authors of the December/January special issue explored ways to improve the education of advanced learners. Nearly every article was critical of the current state of affairs, but more im...
Visiting rules are changing at the UVA Health. This comes in response to an increase in COVID-19 cases around Charlottesville and across Virginia. The health system is prohibiting visitors to its inpatient units, emergency department, outpatient clinics, and outpatient procedural areas starting Wednesday.
(Book review) Saikrishna Prakash, the James Monroe Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Virginia, has written a terrific book. In “The Living Presidency: An Originalist Argument Against Its Ever-Expanding Powers,” Prakash provides a wide-ranging and deeply researched account of the expansive understanding of presidential power today and how it compares to the Constitution’s original meaning.
Five pilot research projects have received funding from the integrated Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia. According to a release, iTHRIV awarded $200,000 to the multi-institutional research projects at the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Inova Health System and Carilion Clinic.
The University of Virginia School of Nursing saw a rise in its early action and decision applications for the fall. According to the school, it had 1,930 applications come in for the BSN program. This is 653 more applications than what it had compared to last year. Austin Stajduhar, assistant dean of admission for UVA School of Nursing, says a factor in this rise is that many applicants are finding their calling during a crisis.
The UVA School of Nursing says the program saw a significant increase in applicants this year. That, while a student group is seeking to increase the amount of diversity in years to come.
The University of Virginia took another big step in its COVID-19 testing efforts. Full-time employees actively working on Grounds are now eligible for its voluntary asymptomatic virus testing program using saliva.
It was Phinney Sachs’ first day on the job as an intern in the office of Rep. James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the third-ranking Democrat in the House. Little did Sachs realize it would turn out to be the most momentous day of his life. The 19-year-old Pembroke Hill graduate, a first-year student at UVA, and his father, Kansas City lawyer Adam Sachs [a UVA alumnus], were in Clyburn’s office last Wednesday when a crowd of supporters of President Trump approached the Capitol.
University of Virginia President Jim Ryan has announced a $16 million investment to support the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies.
The pandemic caused some financial problems for Virginia’s higher education system. The good news is that Gov. Ralph Northam has a plan to solve them. On Tuesday, members of the Virginia Higher Education Subcommittee learned how exactly he proposes doing that.
From helping his neurobiology labmates with coding for their experiments to going on spontaneous adventures with his friends, Michael Mutersbaugh brought light and joy to all he did. “In his short 23 years he absolutely lived life to its fullest extent, and shared with others how to do the same,” wrote his parents, Ann and James Mutersbaugh. Mutersbaugh, a 2019 UVA alumnus who died in a car accident Dec. 12, was a first-year doctoral student in Duke’s neurobiology program.
When the soon-to-be-ex-wife of one of his clients threw her husband’s entire collection of tropical fish out on their front lawn, Mark B. Sandground Sr. told his client to collect and freeze them immediately for use as evidence at trial. He once advised another well-heeled client seeking a divorce to serve her husband nothing but frozen food for dinner for three months, to encourage the speedy end to the soured marriage. Sandground, a Washington-area divorce lawyer (and UVA Law graduate) who drew media attention for his Machiavellian embrace of winning at all costs, died Dec. 30.
Just when Charlottesville School Board member Juandiego Wade thought he would soon be finished with local politics, the COVID-19 pandemic inspired him to remain in public service – and now he is seeking to serve from a different seat. On Monday, his birthday, Wade [a UVA alumnus] formally announced his candidacy for the Charlottesville City Council.