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THE CAVALIER DAILY
NEWS • www.cavalierdaily.com
A different kind of Lawn room Eight of 54 Lawn rooms reserved for specific organizations, endowments ANKITA SATPATHY | ASSOCIATE EDITOR Of the 54 Lawn rooms at the University, eight rooms are set aside for specific organizations. The Honor Committee, Kappa Sigma fraternity, the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society and the Trigon Engineering Society all nominate students to live in Lawn rooms specifically designated for that purpose. There are also two memorial lawn rooms — the John K. Crispell room and the the Gus Blagden room. The Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity is the only organization which nominates an undergraduate student to live on the Range, an area which is otherwise reserved for graduate students. There is also a room reserved for the Lawn’s senior resident, a resident advisor chosen by Housing and Residence Life. University Dean of Students Allen Groves chairs the Lawn Selection Process Organizing Committee, and has the final say about many of the selection processes for endowed and reserved lawn rooms. “There are four rooms that are en-
dowed, meaning that a gift was made to the University years ago to reserve them for a specific purpose,” Groves said in an email statement. “There are four rooms that are deemed to be reserved, based upon letter agreements entered into by the University many years ago.” While all Lawn residents must go through a selection process, the process for residents of endowed and reserved rooms differs from the standard application process. Room 1 West — the John K. Crispell room — and Room 15 West —the Gus Blagden room — are both endowed rooms which have committees who choose their residents. The Blagden room is also known as the “Good Guy Room.” According to the Blagden room selection committee, a resident of 15 West is someone who “[s]elflessly commits their time to serving the University community, maintains good moral character, … displays genuine concern and care for fellow students … [and] carries these fine qualities with the utmost
humility.” The other two endowed rooms are Room 37 West, which is traditionally given to the chair of the Honor Committee, and Room 26 East, which is given to the senior resident of the Lawn. Room 17 West is reserved for the Trigon Engineering Society, Room 7 West is reserved for the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society, Room 46 East is reserved for Kappa Sigma Fraternity and room 47 West Range is reserved for Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. The residents of these rooms are chosen from members of the relevant organizations who submit the standard application to live on the Lawn. The University selection committee typically choose the residents of reserved rooms. However, in the event that two members of a reserving organization are accepted to live on the Lawn, the organization in question decides which member lives in the reserved room. DeAnza Cook, current senior resident of the Lawn and College
student, said there are a few features which set living in a reserved or endowed room apart, one being that the residents do not pay for the room. “Sometimes, the room comes with additional features,” Cook said in an email statement. “For example, the Crispell room has a special bridge cabinet that was made for the endowed room resident's use.”
Groves said most of the endowed and reserved Lawn rooms were dedicated years ago and are longstanding traditions. “The present position of the University is to create no new endowed or reserved rooms, but to honor those arrangements made in the past,” Groves said.
LAUREN HORNSBY | THE CAVALIER DAILY
Endowed and reserved Lawn rooms are longstanding traditions, Groves said.
Dittmar, Garrett debate at Batten Fifth district candidates share thoughts on student debt, higher education CATHERINE WIEDMANN | ASSOCIATE EDITOR The Batten School hosted a debate Wednesday night between candidates running for Virginia's fifth congressional district. Batten Dean Allan C. Stam and Prof. Gerald Warburg moderated the debate and asked questions regarding domestic and foreign policy. Dittmar and Garrett were asked about the role of state and federal government support for public universities. “If you were to try to track the number of amazing things that get done at places like the University of Virginia by virtue of the investment of federal and state-backed scholars, you’d spend the rest of your life doing it,” Garrett said.
He said he believes universities should have a mission to train leaders in order to establish a world-class economy that works long-term, and at both the state and federal level. Dittmar spoke about the underfunding of higher education and the disadvantages it could create in the future. “We’re just lucky that we have institutions that have their own fundraising abilities,” Dittmar said. “We need to keep up, make sure our state senators and our delegates know this. I think that one of the things that is abysmal is the way they’ve allowed tuition to rise — we’re trying to educate people here for our future and future generations.”
KATE BELLOWS | THE CAVALIER DAILY
Republican Tom Garrett (left) and Democrat Jane Dittmar (right) at Wednesday’s debate.
The second portion of the debate involved questions from the audience. Audience members asked the candidates about their plans to make college more affordable and accessible. “When the federal government in the name of fairness said we’re going to go at the student loans industry to make sure that any person, with any money, can study anything for any amount of time, they created essentially an arms race between universities,” Garrett said. “They’re competing for a limited pool of talented students.” Instead of this, he suggested recognizing “the ability of individuals to repay loans based on what they might choose to study.” Garrett also advocated a “Student Security” plan developed by University alumnus Elliot Harding. The program would allow graduates to defer student loans for up to 10 years with the understanding that their social security payments would be deferred by the length of time that they chose to push back their loans. Dittmar shared an anecdote of a woman she knows in Albemarle County who took on a second job to pay her student loans. “She pays six and three quarters
percent interest — mortgages now are around three and a quarter, three and three quarters. It’s just not right,” Dittmar said. Dittmar suggested creating a program similar to the G.I. Bill for supporting higher education. “What we need to do is look at what [Garrett] did, he served our country and then went to school on the G.I. Bill,” Dittmar said. “We need to have a civilian equivalent to that. We need to look at the numbers and how that would work. If you’re willing to serve your country and then go to college without debt, if you’re willing to go into debt and then serve in particular areas after to have it taken away, I think that’s the way our country needs to go.” In an interview with The Cavalier Daily, Garrett stressed Student Security. “There is a real, looming, dark cloud when you graduate,” Garrett said. “You’re a good student, you’re a smart person, you’re here [at UVa]. And everybody here is, but nobody’s getting a small business loan when they’ve got $100,000 in debt. Nobody’s buying a car when they’re got that much debt, nobody’s buying a house,and that’s hurting our economy.” The program is about choice, Garrett said.
“What we’re doing is not forcing anybody to do anything, but letting students make a decision for themselves — and I think that’s what America’s all about,” Garrett said. Dittmar told The Cavalier Daily she wants students to understand her engagement with the University’s community, both in the past and present. “I think that one of the things that I wanted to do was stay near the University when I graduated… that’s what that job creation is all about,” Dittmar said, referencing her priority to create jobs in the district. “What we want to do is make sure that our great students and intellects move out and maybe even come to Washington to help us change it up and move our nation forward.” Dittmar was part of the fourth class at the University that included women, and has a daughter currently in her fourth year. Garrett grew up about 20 minutes from Grounds. The candidates emphasized the importance of voting in the upcoming election. “It is so important to vote in November,” Dittmar said. “This should be the first presidential election for many students, and so this would be an exciting time for them to help put their footprint on the future of the country.”