(By Joseph E. Davis, research professor of sociology) “Operation Varsity Blues,” the 2019 college admissions scandal, returned to the news earlier this year when a Netflix documentary provided a fresh opportunity to decry abuses of privilege and the selfishness of parents seeking to boast of their children’s achievements. Comforting accounts, to be sure: We are not like those celebrity cheaters! But not very illuminating. When we consider how parenthood has changed in recent years, we may find we are not so different after all.
“Jumping Man,” a relief sculpture carved in pine, is a curious relic of an advertising campaign. Under the shadow of a looming skyscraper, we see a young businessman, depicted life-size, as he earnestly jumps on the open bottom drawer of a vertical file cabinet. There could hardly be a better opening to “Skyscraper Gothic,” the small but charming exhibition now on display at the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia.
(Subscription may be required) A landscape architect whose work focuses on unloved and degraded spaces has just been awarded the profession’s new top prize. Julie Bargmann, founder of D.I.R.T. Studio and a professor at the University of Virginia, is the inaugural laureate of the $100,000 Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize.
A study from the University of Virginia published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that counties in ex-Confederate states with more Confederate memorials had more lynchings.
UVA Law alumna Kelsey Hazzard, an attorney and the founder and president of the group Secular Pro-Life, is one of the signers of an amicus brief supporting Mississippi’s pro-life law.
Popular financial startup Litquidity hired its first full-time employee, a former “FBoy Island” contestant and investment banker named Mark Moran, the company said Tuesday. Thirty-year-old Moran, who graduated from the University of Virginia’s law school and has worked at Centerview Partners and Credit Suisse, updated his bio on Twitter and Instagram to “Employee No. 1 at Liquidity.” He is now the head of growth and operations at the firm.
One of America’s top political scientists says Foulkes has some significant strengths and at least one challenge – the shadow of former Rhode Island governor and now U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “The best way to build name recognition is with money and so you know she’s in a position where if she’s interested in running for governor and she’s interested in quickly sort of rising to the top of that potential candidate or candidate list, she has the resources to make that happen,” said Jennifer Lawless, who chairs UVA’s political science department. “The challenges are a couple. The...
President Joe Biden’s dragging numbers are taking a toll on McAuliffe, who now must convince skeptical Democrats that he’s not more of the same with all talk and no action. “The D.C. Democrats have lost all sense of urgency,” says Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia. “If they don’t pass something in the next 10 days, then they stand to lose Virginia, and if they lose Virginia, their fundraising is going to fall off, and the pundits will go into orbit” about the implications for next year’s midterms, and beyond.
(Video) The governor’s race in Virginia is tightening with less than three weeks to go before election day. New CBS News polling shows former governor and Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe holds a narrow lead over Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin. Larry Sabato, director of UVA’s Center for Politics, joins “CBSN AM” with more on this race.
The right for local government workers to unionize must be permitted by a local ordinance or by a resolution. For teachers, that means the local school board has to vote to approve a resolution. “This elective approach to bargaining with unions gives organized labor half a loaf in Virginia,” said Rip Verkerke, director of employment and labor law studies at the University of Virginia law school. “But that’s half a loaf more than they had under the preexisting ban on all public employee collective bargaining.”
Legal scholars like University of Virginia’s Paul Mahoney say the push for better ESG standards may transcend the typical boundaries of fiduciary responsibility. “BlackRock in particular has been quite clear in their messaging that they believe that using ESG factors across its portfolio will help them deliver better returns,” the law professor told CNBC.
Left-leaning agency observers say it would be a no-brainer to name Jessica Rosenworcel, who has been popular among many Democrats since joining the FCC in 2012 and is known for coining the term “Homework Gap” to describe the divide in parents’ online connectivity. “I’m super frustrated,” said University of Virginia professor Christopher Ali, who researches broadband. “I feel that she is trying to lead an agency with both hands and both feet tied behind her legs because she can’t really get anything done.”
An American lawyer who has backed religious freedoms, winning big cases at the Supreme Court, says trying to get a religious exemption to vaccine mandates is a losing battle. UVA law professor Douglas Laycock successfully fought for a baker who refused to create a cake for a gay couple and for a business that wouldn’t cover emergency contraceptives for employees. But he says those claiming religious exemptions to COVID-19 vaccine mandates could easily be denied.
Douglas Laycock, professor at UVA School of Law and an expert on religious liberty law, said companies have ways to verify religious exemptions requests, although the process can be complicated. To prevail against a person attempting to avoid vaccine requirements on religious grounds, the government has to demonstrate a “compelling interest” in the vaccine, Laycock explained. “This is a very easy case for compelling government interest,” he said, noting the higher number of COVID-19 deaths in states with low vaccination rates versus states with high rates.
(Commentary by assistant professor Shiran Victoria Shen, a political scientist and environmental engineer and a Hoover National Fellow) From heat domes in the Pacific Northwest to floods in Henan, China, 2021 has been a year riddled with extreme weather events. Identifying appropriate ways to tackle climate change is more crucial and timelier than ever.
Anthony Poindexter, who has been elected to the 2020 College Football Hall of Fame, will be honored by the University of Virginia and The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame during Saturday’s game at Scott Stadium between UVA and Duke.
Virginia basketball traveled to Charlotte on Tuesday for the ACC Tipoff media event. The Cavaliers were represented by head coachTony Bennettforward Kadin Shedrick and guard Reece Beekman. Here is everything said during their time at the podium.
All five candidates for the Charlottesville School Board will field questions from the community during a forum Thursday, the only one scheduled so far. The Black Parents Association and CCS Joint PTO are hosting the virtual forum, which will start at 6:30 p.m. Youth Nex, a center at the University of Virginia focused on positive youth development, is supporting the forum as well.
Earlier in October, a survey by the UVA’s nonpartisan Center for Politics pointed to a desire among some for the country to be split into red and blue halves.
(Commentary) A falsehood-fed fire is engulfing American democracy, where more than half of Trump voters – and four out of 10 Biden voters – support secession from the union. Those startling numbers are from an online survey by the UVA Center for Politics in partnership with Project Home Fire, an initiative “dedicated to finding common ground in American politics.”