Bomb threats spur new plan
Alternate
class sites will be set
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Photo
by Jenny Gerow
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| With
mid-term exams disrupted due to a bomb threat March 9, these
students tested their wits in a game of chess while waiting
for buildings on the South Lawn to reopen. |
By Carol Wood
It
appeared to be one of those idyllic Lawn settings. Classes had moved
outside to enjoy an early spring day, groups spreading up to the
middle levels. Some students gathered in circles to participate
in animated discussions with professors, while others sat cross-legged
and hunched over to take exams.
A few
hundred feet away, toward the statue of Homer, the lower Lawn was
cordoned off with reams of yellow tape. Police officers kept everyone
but inspectors and their dogs from entering the horseshoe of academic
buildings.
On
three separate occasions earlier this month, threatening calls were
made to the University that resulted in the evacuation of the College
of Arts & Sciences. Each day the buildings remained closed for
nearly five hours while every room was searched.
Full story.
Budget deal allows BOV to set tuition
By Matt Kelly
The
University will have more control over tuition increases under the
final
budget approved by the General Assembly.
The
two-year, $50.5 billion spending plan also contains a one-time bonus
for classified state employees for fiscal year 2002-03 and sets
aside money for a pay raise in the second year.
Under
the plan, which Warner must approve or modify, the Board of Visitors
will be authorized to set in- and out-of-state undergraduate tuition
rates, ending the state-imposed tuition freeze introduced by George
Allen in 1996. Colette Sheehy, vice president for management and
budget, said the state recommends capping tuition hikes at 9 percent
a year. Her office will likely recommend increases of between 5
and 9 percent to the Board of Visitors at its April 4-6 meetings.
This week, Virginia Tech was the first of the state’s universities
to implement a tuition increase — 9 percent for both in-state
and out-of-state students. Full
story.
Parking garage plans move forward
By Matt Kelly
The
Board of Visitors building and grounds committee on March 7 approved
the preliminary design for a $17.5 million, 1,180-space parking
garage behind the Cavalier Inn.
The
garage, nine months in planning, is slated to begin construction
in June and should take a year to complete. It is intended to serve
University employees, students and visitors attending events at
U.Va. In the short term, it will replace the parking spaces lost
when the University builds the new arena on Massie Road.
The
five-story garage, first introduced at the June 2001 BOV meeting,
will be built along the CSX railroad tracks on a wooded site now
used to store mulch. There will be entrances and exits on both Emmet
Street and Ivy Road. At the recommendation of traffic consultants,
new traffic lights at these two sites will be synchronized with
the lights at the Emmet and Ivy intersection to help traffic flow.
Full story.
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