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THE CAVALIER DAILY
NEWS • www.cavalierdaily.com
Law School holds First Amendment rights event Instances of harassment have increased since election DAVID SCHUTTE | ASSOCIATE EDITOR Several Law School professors, students and former lawyers hosted an educational information session designed to inform students and faculty of their First Amendment rights and how to deal with verbal encounters that may seem threatening. Within the first week following the presidential election, the Southern Poverty Law Center registered 437 instances of verbal harassment, intimidation and physical encounters. These instances were related to political affiliation, race, immigration status, sexual orientation, sex and religion. “People are beginning to think about how to deal with these kinds of situations in a public setting, what is the appropriate response, what rights do you have under state and federal law,” Brian Owensby, Center for Global Inquiry director, said at the event. “So I thought it
made some sense to start a conversation about that so people can be more informed.” The session, which lasted for approximately an hour, covered topics ranging from general constitutional rights to specific rights concerning Virginia’s freedom of speech provisions. Law Prof. Josh Bowers warned about the fine line between exercising free speech and violating the law. “We have the ability to express ourselves. Necessarily we need to tolerate the expressions of others even when those expressions are morally troubling and downright abhorrent in some context,” Bowers said. “But there’s a line in which speech cuts over into action, and when speech is action is when it’s potentially problematic.” Law Prof. Leslie Kendrick, whose research focuses primari-
ly on freedom of expression, said speech is only criminal when a true threat can be proven. “The First Amendment protects much offensive speech, even a great deal of what many people would call ‘hate speech,’” Kendrick said in an email statement. “Offensive speech is generally protected, unless it falls into certain defined categories, such as true threats and incitement, which may be punished as crimes.” Bowers said at the event that when typical criminal conduct is done to intentionally inflict harm on someone based on their race, religion or ethnicity, that person may be subjected to a longer sentence. Law students Anna Rao, Amber Strickland and Tex Pasley explained what constitutes battery, assault and vandalism in the state of Virginia.
“If you are patted on the back and you say to that person, ‘don’t do that again,’ that’s not a battery because it wasn’t done in a rude or vengeful manner,” Strickland said. “But if they do that after you told them to stop that’s clearly something that was done vengefully.” Assault, on the other hand, is when someone does something with the intention of instilling fear in another person. Strickland added that even wearing a mask in a public space or on someone else’s private property is illegal unless it is related to a cultural event or holiday. The KKK hood is entirely banned in Virginia. Vandalism is the intent to infringe on people’s right to use a space and damage a property, Rao said. Pasley added that certain actions do not necessarily fall under
the general definitions of either battery, assault or vandalism still constitute violations of Virginia statute. Certain statutes ban the burning of a cross, hanging of a noose and drawing of a swastika on public or private property. Kendrick said while it is important for students to know basic First Amendment rights, students shouldn’t be hesitant to report instances that may be in violation of amendment rights, even if it won’t necessarily lead to a conviction. “Don't assume that if something happens to you there is nothing you can do about it,” Kendrick said. “If you're uncertain about whether you have witnessed or been the victim of a crime, report what happened to the University or the police.”
Cavalier Daily elects 128th staff Third-year College student Mike Reingold elected editor-in-chief CATHERINE WIEDMANN | ASSOCIATE EDITOR The Cavalier Daily held its elections for the 128th term Dec. 3 with uncontested Managing Board elections. Third-year College student Mike Reingold was elected editor-in-chief. He previously served as one of two assistant managing editors and was a senior copy associate before that. Reingold said he wants the paper to become “digital-first” and intends to focus on bringing digital content to the forefront of the paper, as well as making the print version more accessible to the University community. In order to better represent the University community, Reingold said he wants recruitment to focus on creating a more diverse staff. Second-year College student Tim Dodson was elected managing editor. Before being elected managing editor, Dodson served as one of two news editors. The managing editor’s responsibilities consist of overseeing the literary sections of the paper as well as the social media, graphics and video sections. “One thing that I want to work on during my term as managing editor is cross-section collaboration and trying to pair up different sections and writers with different interests to pursue some really interesting features and pieces,” Dodson said. The role of executive editor will be filled by second-year College student Carlos Lopez. Lopez sat as a selected
From left to right: Parker, Lopez, Reingold, Dodson and Dacanay.
member of the Editorial Board in the 127th term, alongside authoring a weekly Opinion column. In overseeing subjective content — the Opinion and Humor sections — Lopez said he wants to focus on face time between writers and editors. For the Opinion section, “We’re looking into ways of resuscitating the section,” Lopez said. “We’re looking forward to getting new people, creating new stuff and making sure we’re producing good content throughout the section.” The executive editor also chairs the Editorial Board, members of which write and edit the paper’s lead
editorials three times a week. “We’re looking to provide consistent, factually based opinions that represent — hopefully — the views of the entire paper and the student body as a whole,” Lopez said. Third-year College student Grant Parker will serve as the chief financial officer. Parker served as one of two business and marketing managers in the 127th term. Parker said he is looking forward to expanding The Cavalier Daily’s digital presence. “I’d like to work on expanding our digital advertising,” Parker said. “It’s more of a continuation from the previous term and really building on it.”
The role of operations manager will be filled by third-year College student Danielle Dacanay. Dacanay previously served as one of three production editors. “What I’m most looking forward to is trying to find ways for the section to collaborate with each other,” Dacanay said. Dacanay said she plans on continuing the work of the previous operations manager, but adapting the job to be more efficient. Elections for literary positions on the Junior Board saw many highly contested elections, though some still went uncontested. Second-year College student Ben Tobin and third-year Curry student Lillian Gaertner will serve as the next assistant managing editors. Third-year College students Anna Higgins and Hailey Ross will serve as News editors in the upcoming term. Previously a News editor, third-year College student Hannah Hall will now serve as Focus editor. Second-year College student Julie Bond and first-year College student Gracie Kreth will serve as the next Life editors. Third-year College student Jessica Chandrasekhar and second-year College student Kate Lewis will serve as the new Health and Science editors — the first leadership transition the section has seen in three years. Third-year College student Ben Hitchcock and first-year College stu-
dent Dan Goff will take on the roles of Arts and Entertainment editors. Third-year College student Lucas Halse and first-year College student Amber Liu will serve as Graphics editors along with third-year Engineering student Sean Cassar, who will oversee online graphics. Third-year College student Rebecca Malaret and second-year College student Sinta Taylor will serve as the next Video editors. Third-year College student Shaelea Carroll and first-year College student Ashley Botkin will be the managers for the Social Media section. Third-year College student Lucy Siegel and first-year College student Brendan Novak will serve as Opinion editors. Third-year College student Brennan Lee will serve as the next Humor editor. The Operations Staff saw both contested and uncontested elections. Cassar will reassume his role as Production editor, along with newly elected second-year College student Victoria Giron and first-year College student Disha Jain. Third-year Engineering student Richard Dizon and third-year College student Hannah Mussi will serve as the next Photo editors. Second-year Engineering student Leo Dominguez will continue his role as Engineering Manager. The term will officially transition Jan. 20, 2017.