When Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia in 1819, he wanted to create what he called “an academical village.” Jefferson envisioned students living in close quarters, sharing ideas face-to-face. “Exchange a diversity of viewpoints and experiences and work, you know, person-to-person with some of the most talented and experienced faculty anywhere on the globe,” said UVA Assistant Vice President Brian Coy. With the pandemic, that philosophy is now dangerous.
An estimated 4,000 enslaved people – including construction workers, craftsmen, domestic servants, gardeners, cooks – labored at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville between its founding in 1819 and the South’s defeat in the Civil War in 1865. Only 578 of their names are known (at least so far). Another 311 were known by their jobs or their relation to others: e.g., bricklayer, mother, son, niece. Now a new Memorial to Enslaved Laborers recalls the university’s slave past, as well as honoring the contributions of these 4,000 people.
The University of Virginia may launch a new scholarship to benefit descendants of slave laborers who built the campus over 200 years ago.
Lana Swartz, a UVA assistant professor of media studies, talks about her book, “New Money: How Payment Became Social Media,” the history and future of money, Silicon Valley’s fixation with payments, and the underlying systems that move our money around that we may not realize.
(Commentary by Siva Vaidhyanathan, professor of media studies) We might loook back at 2020 as the year of maximum screen time. Severed by the pandemic from face-to-face interactions, we have been chained to our devices, making more video and watching more video than ever before. This ubiquity of moving images has become the chief way many of us view the world. And it’s dangerous.
Q&A with UVA President Jim Ryan on the eve of the 2020-21 academic year.
Joseph Edwin Gibson, B.A., J.D., C.P.A., University of Virginia, McIntire School of Commerce, Peat, Marwick, Mitchell Professor Emeritus of Professional Accounting, died Aug. 17 at age 96 in Charlottesville.
President Donald Trump on Monday touted a new CNN poll released Sunday that showed he had surged to within 4 percentage points of Joe Biden, but two other recent polls showed the former vice president maintaining a much larger lead, which experts said underscores the importance of not depending on any one survey in trying to gauge the state of the race. Larry Sabato, director of the UVA Center for Politics, said the polls that had Biden with a double-digit lead were "probably too high and CNN's was almost certainly too low."
ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN use the firm Edison Research to collect voting data for their election night calls. An election night that extends into days or weeks involving Trump, who has already assailed the process, means viewers could still be in for a rocky ride. “I am concerned about that because we are much more polarized than we were in 2000,” said Larry Sabato, director of UVA’s Center for Politics. “It doesn’t take much to inflame people anymore, and the TV coverage is going to be reflecting social media, which is going to be reflecting the TV coverage, so they’re going to be feeding into on...
(Commentary) A civil action was filed Aug. 14. And in an intriguing move by the United States, the named defendants are not people or companies. The defendants are 155 bitcoin accounts. There are two key reasons a prosecutor might file an in rem civil action against cryptocurrency accounts, according to George Rutherglen, a law professor at the University of Virginia.
Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819, this college and its Jeffersonian architecture have landed on many "most beautiful campus" lists. The Academical Village was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with its 1826 Rotunda its most iconic structure.
A recent report draws attention to the extreme energy burden facing hundreds of low-income and people of color in the community. The report highlights that 236 of the 851 households with extreme energy burdens are in the 10th and Page and Venable neighborhoods, both east of the University of Virginia. College students and minority and lower-income families have long lived side-by-side in these areas.
The University of Virginia’s statue of George Rogers Clark has been vandalized. In a news release, UVA Police wrote that red paint was splashed across the statue overnight. The vandalism was discovered around 5:23 a.m. Monday and no suspects have been identified.
Disinfecting surfaces is just one of the ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and with students coming back to the University of Virginia in a few weeks, the custodial staff at the University is ready to take on this new challenge.
Many first-year University of Virginia students living on Grounds will have to navigate socializing and transitioning during a pandemic. That’s why Nicole Ruzak, the director of Counseling and Psychological Services, is weighing in on how first year students can stay connected.
(Commentary by Ian Solomon, dean of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy) I was always amazed by the way my late father could read rocks. Dad taught history and loved geology. When I found a piece of igneous Basalt on the beach one day, he read in it a lesson for me about volcanic eruptions and the creation of mountains.
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s lead over President Donald Trump in swing states and national polls may be a good sign for Democrats hoping the enthusiasm trickles down to the battle for control over the Senate. Republicans hold a majority of the seats up for reelection, giving Democrats a lot more opportunities to break their current 53-47 majority. Kyle Kondik, managing editor of the Crystal Ball, a political analysis newsletter at the University of Virginia, said Biden is decently positioned in at least four states – Arizona, Colorado, Maine and North Ca...
The biggest new superstar in politics is poised to test her history-making appeal as the Democratic National Convention goes all virtual for the first time ever Monday amid the coronavirus pandemic. As the least-known pol among the party’s heavy hitters, Harris may well be the biggest drawing card of the convention, said Larry Sabato, a political analyst at the University of Virginia. “Curiosity about her may drive the audience numbers up for her speech,” Sabato said.
Trump’s reelection campaign began the year with a tailwind. Unemployment was low and the economy was strong. “He could point to positive economic numbers and peace and prosperity,” said Kyle Kondik, political analyst at UVA’s Center for Politics. “COVID-19 changed all that.”
Six months into the pandemic, the number of COVID-19 tests available in the Thomas Jefferson Health District has increased substantially, though doctors and public health officials watch the numbers closely to ensure that supplies will last. Dr. Amy Mathers, an infectious-disease physician and associate director of clinical microbiology at the University of Virginia, said test providers need to maintain a quick turnaround time for results.