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Previous Stories: Fall 2006
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TOO CLOSE TO CALL
 The
day after the election, the U.S. Senate race in Virginia
is still too close to call. Democrat Jim Webb is ahead by about
8,000 votes with four of Virginia's 2,443 precincts
still not reporting results.
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More...
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Cancer Center Construction
 Massey Cancer Research Center is embarking on a massive
building campaign in the hopes of building its success as a
primary resource for cancer research. It will open its new
80,000-square-foot facility this winter. In late May, a weekend
was devoted to showcasing the research that will be conducted by
the new center located at College and East Marshall streets in
Richmond.
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Art Students and Faculty on the Move
 Students and faculty in VCU's art education,
communication arts, and kinetic imaging departments will
have a temporary home during the fall '06 semester.
They'll be working in the Franklin Street Gym while
their current Franklin Terrace location is renovated.
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Football at VCU?
Old Dominion University is about to
get a football team. The school plans to have the
program up and running by 2009. ODU hopes the team will
bring in revenue and create school spirit. The
announcement brings up the often asked question: why not
football at VCU?
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VCU bigger… and better?
 If VCU seems a bit more crowded
these days – it is! This year the school is welcoming
its largest student body ever. More than 30,000
students are enrolled this fall, including 3,550
freshmen. And this year, VCU is trying something
new to make campus life a little easier for those
first-time college students.
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More... |
Hypnosis – It’s All In The Mind
 Racing Ferrari’s, milking cows,
acting like the "fun police" – these are not things you
would do in a typical day. But September 6, VCU’s
University Student Commons & Activities Programs Office
invited hypnotist Tom Deluca to perform for students and
he had students doing just that.
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More... |
Scooters And Mopeds
Scooter sales have risen 500% from 1999, according to
the Motorcycle Industry Council. Richmond and VCU
students are picking up on the scooter trend. Scooters
and mopeds are inexpensive way for getting around the
city. Due to their smaller size, parking has also
become much easier to find, especially around campus.
Many however are unaware of the difference between the
two.
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More...
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RACE: Not an Even Playing Ground
VCU is
located in the heart of a diverse city, and has a very
diverse student body. Statistics show that about 66% of VCU’s graduate and undergraduate students are white, 20%
are African American, 11% are Asian, and about 3% are
Hispanic.
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More... |
VCU is Swinging!
A dance created during the roaring
twenties is grooving its way back to the future. At
Virginia Commonwealth University, the Swing Dance Club
offers free lesson to students and the public every
Friday evening. Nearly 25 participants came to the first
lessons in early September.
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more... |
Skipping Bike Safety
The crisp fall
weather means more bicyclists on the roads which the
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles says can lead to
an increase in bicycle-related accidents. The U.S.
Department of Transportation reports 720 bicyclists died
on the road in 2005.
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More... |
Facebook News-Feeds Friend or Foe?
 Logging
onto Facebook.com September 5, Sonny Desai was struck
with something out of the ordinary. He uses Facebook.com
to keep in contact with friends but this log in was
different. After typing in his user login and
password a page popped up detailing all the makeup and
breakups of his social network. It seemed cool at first
but now Desai feels Facebook has overstepped its
boundaries.
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More... |
Hungry... For a Change
 Let’s
face it; it happens to all of us. You get lazy and
before you know it, you’ve fallen into a food rut.
But if you live or work near VCU, it doesn’t have to be
that way. Within walking distance of the Monroe Park Campus
there are dozens of diverse eating places.
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More... |
Restricted Licenses Saving Lives
 Renita Jennings is a freshman at VCU and
received her learner’s permit while in high school. At 18 years
old, she’s not only enjoying college life, but she is enjoying
the freedom of driving with an unrestricted driver’s license.
“Once I turned 18, I was able to have more people in the car
with me and could stay out later.”
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More... |
New Women's Rugby Coach is a Sweet Guy
 The women’s rugby
team at VCU has a new coach – a player’s father who hopes to
teach the women advanced skills and lead them to the state
championship tournament at the end of the season.
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More... |
Not enough sex talk at VCU?
 Believe it or not, educators Shawn Decker and
Gwen Barringer are worried that college students aren’t
discussing safe sexual habits often enough. The two came to VCU
October 5 to host a forum on HIV/AIDS. And there’s clearly a
need for it – according to the Web site,
smartsex.org,
people under the age of 25 make up half of all new HIV
cases each year.
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More... |
A new journal at VCU urges action against genocide
The 20th century has been
labeled the "Age of Genocide," and now Virginia Commonwealth
University is helping publish a journal to document and oppose
such mass killings. Dr. Herbert Hirsch, a political
science professor at VCU, unveiled the journal last month. The
editorial office for Genocide Studies and Prevention is in the
L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs.
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More... |
VA students create robot competitors
 Ever wish you had a robot to do your work
for you? Many high school students across the state of
Virginia are putting that dream to reality as they work
alongside VCU engineering students to create competitive robots.
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More...
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To be or not to be? That's the question
 VCU students Tiffany Baxter and Nicole
Welds are in love. The 21-year-old Baxter and 19-year-old Welds
have been together for almost a year, but they know there’s a
chance they may never have the same opportunities as other
couples if they stay in Virginia.
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More...
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Programs for minorities may be at risk
 It’s a
trend that started with the University of Michigan in
2003. Now a “reverse discrimination” lawsuit has been
filed against a VCU-supported summer camp for aspiring
minority journalists, and the fallout could affect
scholarships and other programs for minority students.
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More...
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By George, it’s the World Wide Webb
 Jim Webb, the
Democrat running for Virginia’s U.S. Senate seat, has 1,785
friends. That is according
to Webb’s MySpace page, which is maintained by Generation Webb,
a group authorized and paid for by the candidate’s campaign. Webb’s opponent
in the Nov. 7 election, Republican Sen. George Allen, has 324
friends between two unofficial MySpace pages.
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More...
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Breaking the silence against sexual assault
“Silence implies acceptance.” This slogan, etched on a T-shirt, embodies
the personal pain of victims of sexual assault and domestic
violence. The shirt was part of the Clothesline
Project, an exhibit held at VCU on Oct. 16. The project featured
T-shirts made by victims and their families to raise awareness
about sexual assault and domestic violence.
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More... |
Officially an Outbreak: The Mumps
 The University of Virginia and the College of
Williams Mary are dealing with an outbreak of mumps on
their campuses. According to the Thomas Jefferson
Health District, three of the fifteen people in the
Charlottesville area who have developed symptoms
consistent with mumps have been confirmed as having the
disease. One William and Mary student has been
diagnosed.
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More... |
VCU runners on their mark
 The
VCU Men’s Track and Field team is ready for their season to
begin. After winning the
CAA championships
last year, they have confidence in claiming that title again in
2007.
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Wishing U a PC Xmas
 The tree is decorated, the
lights are shining, stockings are hanging from the mantle, and a
warm fire is blazing. The signs are there that a holiday party
is about to begin. But once the guests arrive, what will you
say? Will it be, “Hello, Merry Christmas!” or simply, “Happy
Holidays!”?
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Stores see green on Black Friday
Cars backed up for a mile. Police in the street directing
traffic. Motorists parking in medians. And long lines to get
into popular stores.
That was the scene that awaited Jennie Pahl, a VCU student, when
she went to Prime Outlets in Williamsburg late Thanksgiving
night. Trying something new this year, Prime Outlets opened its
doors at the stroke of midnight for its Black Friday sale, and
lots of people came.
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Drunken driving prevention efforts target young
adults
 People between 21 and 35 are the primary focus of police in
enforcing drunken driving laws and preventing drunken driving
fatalities, according to the
Washington Regional Alcohol Program.
WRAP has been in action since 1982, with the mission of
educating the public and fighting drunken driving.
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VCU plugging its phones into the Internet
VCU says it will
save money by switching to an Internet-based phone system over
the next year, replacing current phones with new digital
equipment. About 90 percent
of VCU’s phone lines will be changed over to the Voice over
Internet Protocol (or VoIP) system, said Bill Jones, manager of
the ePhones project.
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Hooked on hookah
 Recently, the Chicago Tribune reported a growing trend among college
students that has health officials concerned. Young adults are
becoming big on hookah smoking, and research shows that it’s
worse than smoking cigarettes. Hookah bars are
cropping up close to college campuses; there are four within
walking distance of VCU.
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Let’s Go Rams!!!
 The
VCU Men’s Basketball team is off to a great start this
year. In their exhibition opener game, VCU beat Virginia State
University 84-78.
After falling to the Virginia Union
University basketball team for the past three years, they came
back during their second game of the exhibition season and beat
the Panthers 77-56.
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Mattaponi and Pamunkey tribes honor Gov. Kaine
 Most people gather with family and friends for the traditional
turkey for Thanksgiving. The governor for the Commonwealth of Virginia, Timothy Kaine,
was given buck deer and other gifts by the Mattaponi and
Pamunkey tribes at an annual ceremony, which honors the treaties
of 1646 and 1677.
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Restoring Sacred Heart Cathedral, With Leaps of Faith
 Atop Richmond’s
Sacred Heart Cathedral, 100 feet off the ground, Ben Camden
feels at his best. He navigates narrow scaffolding, swings on
and off ladders with ease and finds that jumping rooftop to
rooftop is the easiest way to get around his job site. Camden oversees
a specialized team renovating the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.
After nearly 100 hundred years, the iconic church on the edge of
the VCU campus is getting a face-lift.
Read More... |
Holiday Travel Tips
 Tis the season to be jolly, but
things can get pretty hectic when it comes to traveling this
time of year. So what can you do to reduce the stress? Plan
early! The
American Automobile Association reported that more
than five million people traveled by plane this Thanksgiving –
that’s up 3.2% from last year. And there’s no reason to think
that Christmas air travel won’t increase, too.
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