University of Richmond police are investigating the simulated lynching of a miniature black doll as a possible hate crime.

“When I actually saw what had been done, it took my breath away,” said Walter Schoen, chairman of the university’s department of theater and dance, who discovered the figure hanging by a noose in a small studio theater.

Schoen described the green and red elf-like character as a Christmas decoration that has been around for at least the past two years. It was brought to school by a student as part of a fraternity initiation ceremony that involved giving a present, he said.

Just under 2 feet tall and considered female, the figure had become a good-luck charm, Schoen said, that was kept in the lighting booth.

“Some of the kids would even talk to it,” Schoen said.

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The University of Richmond held the first of two public hearings last night regarding the new football stadium proposed on campus. Neighbors are concerned that traffic for the stadium, which will hold almost 9,000 people, will be a problem.

NBC12 reports:

Right now, the Spiders play at the hard-to-fill stadium near Carytown. Construction on the new campus stadium can’t begin until the city of Richmond approves a special-use permit - which likely won’t happen until early June.

The Spiders hope to take to the new field in fall of 2010. A second public meeting is scheduled for April 29 at Weinstein Hall.

An article in yesterday’s Richmond-Times Dispatch is about how Tuckahoe Middle School  students may be refusing to wash their hands because there is no warm water in the bathrooms. Between the ice cold water and that they have to exit to the outdoors instead of a hallway on the campus-style school students are sometimes skipping washing their hands on the coldest days. Some say that could be contributing to more sickness. 

There’s a dirty little secret at some area schools.

Kids are not washing their hands after using the restroom — which, admittedly, is not breaking news.

But there’s an explanation.

One student at Tuckahoe Middle School in Henrico County, who wishes to remain anonymous lest her friends and parents think her unclean, admits it: If it’s too cold outside, even ordinarily fastidious students won’t wash after using the restroom.

Tuckahoe, like several other schools in the county, does not have warm running water in the restrooms. The campus-style architecture means students go directly from classrooms or restrooms to the outdoors. There are no interior halls. Three middle and three high schools are affected.

On chilly mornings, the choice between cleanliness and warmth can be difficult, and many prefer a few germs to icicles.

The University of Richmond has named its new chief academic officer.

Stephen Allred will join the university as its provost and vice president for academic affairs on July 1. He is executive associate provost and professor of public law and government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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The University of Richmond will hold two public meetings to update the community on plans to expand First Market Stadium, the campus multipurpose stadium.
The first will take place April 1 at 7 p.m. at Jepson Hall, Room 118. The second will be held April 29 at 7 p.m. at Weinstein Hall in the Brown-Alley Room.
To register to attend the sessions or for more information, call (804) 289-8694. For information about the stadium project, visit the First Market Stadium Expansion Info Center online .

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Crestview Elementary, the school I can see out my back door, made the news twice this morning. The it is completely coincidental. This is a tiny school, that hardly ever makes the news. Sort of ironic that both stories are technology related. I guess that speaks to Henrico County’s dedication to technology in education.
The first story made national news after it was picked up by MSNBC, after one of the stolen laptops helped police and school officials catch the suspected computer thief when he had his photo taken by the computer itself, using remote controls.

How does the technology work? A school resource officer was able to identify the student in the picture. That led police to a home on Three Chopt where they found three computers. Brandon Arias, 18, a student at Tucker High School is charged with grand larceny and burglary, both felonies.

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In other news, Crestview 3rd grade teacher, Claudia Ketchum, received at $2,000 Teach Award from Best Buy Co. Inc. to help integrate technology into the school’s curriculum.
Now that they have the arrested the suspected computer thief, that may be possible. [via]

And in other technology news in Henrico, Henrico County Schools “TechWarrior” defends the program, SchoolSpace, that teachers use to help integrate technology into the classroom safely.

A law student at the University of Richmond died Saturday afternoon after he fell off a cliff during a hiking trip to the popular Crabtree Falls, relatives said yesterday.

Robert Slimak, 26, was on a weekend camping trip with a group of Virginia Commonwealth University alumni when he slid down a rock and fell about 150 feet, said his sister Katherin Crossling.

Slimak, a native of Northern Virginia, had lived in the Richmond area since he came to VCU for his undergraduate studies in 1999.

He later went to the University of Richmond to pursue a law degree and was to graduate in May, said his wife, Holly Slimak, 24.

Crabtree Falls, a popular hiking destination in Nelson County off state Route 56, about two hours from Richmond, is “the highest vertical-drop cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi River,” according to the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the area.

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About 15 years ago, back in 1993, I was on the Lecture Committee at Virginia Commonwealth University. No, we didn’t lecture people…I think it was just a poorly named group. We actually were a committee of students who gathered together to choose speakers to come to the university and talk to us. For a short while there, I was the chair and vice chair of the committee. We brought Malcolm X’s daughter, Atillah Shabazz, Alan Ginsberg, Nadine Strossen, Chuck D and more to the university to speak to the students. The fringe benefit was we also got to take these folks out to dinner and pick their brain. Of all the folks we picked, I’d say Chuck D was the most popular. And while I did get to take him out, because of his popularity, I didn’t get to say much….there must have been 10 people taking him out, instead of the 3 we had who wanted to escort Alan Ginsberg.
Anyhow, 15 year later, it seem Chuck D is still relevant….and now, even the University of Richmond wants to hear what he has to say, and invited him to their leadership forum. Something I can’t say I thought I’d ever see. Actually, his comment seem remarkably similar to what I heard about 15 years ago. Almost identical, I’d say. I guess we were pretty cutting edge back at VCU in 1993.

“It takes real minds and real people to do real things,” said the rapper/author/activist/political commentator/producer and advocate for the Internet.

“Americans are short on geography and history, especially black folks who don’t know who we are or where we come from,” he said during a visit to the University of Richmond’s Jepson Leadership Forum yesterday.

Knowledge — especially history — he said, is power. But using it may make one unpopular.

“We’re in a country that doesn’t give props for intelligence,” he said.

“Young, intelligent people stay quiet. In the last 15 years, the bully who used to get a dunce cap is getting a crown and is rewarded.”

Commercial radio and television are responsible for a lot of the dumbing down, he said. Corporations, he said, profit by keeping consumers ignorant. But he believes they can overcome it.

Education is the solution, he said. “Study black music, and you’ll get black history by default.

If you take a look at UR’s Jepson Leadership Forum’s past lineup, there are lots of great events that they’ve recently held. Next up:

Lani Guinier, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School
Wednesday, April 2, 7 p.m.
Jepson Alumni Center

The first black woman to be appointed to a tenured professorship at Harvard Law is the author of numerous articles on democratic theory, political representation, educational equity and issues of race and gender. A leading voice for political reform, she advocates rethinking race and class and changing the way we look at affirmative action. She is the author of Lift Every Voice: Turning a Civil Rights Setback into a New Vision of Social Justice, The Tyranny of the Majority: Fundamental Fairness in Representative Democracy, co-author of Who’s Qualified? and co-author of The Miner’s Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy. Book signing

Billy K. Cannaday, Jr., Superintendent of Public Instruction for Virginia, has declared tomorrow Tornado Preparedness Day.

Schools statewide will practice a tornado drill tomorrow at 9:45 a.m. (if there should be a true emergency the drill will be postponed until Wednesday the 19th.)
Schools may choose an alternate time, but it is a requirement to have at least one drill per year. Personally, I know I’ll be warning my kids to be ready for the drill, and remind them, it is just for practice.

In Virginia, tornadoes can occur throughout the state, any time of year, with little or no warning. Recent years have brought record-breaking numbers of tornadoes to the Commonwealth. Tornado preparedness is more important than ever.

Click here for more info on tornado preparedness and local emergencies.

Gov. Tim Kaine’s Start Strong Initiativeis finally getting its legs, even if it seems to be a wobbly start. Kaine asked the General Assembly for $56 million dollars, and was granted only $22 million to start expanding the Virginia Preschool Initiative program that eventually would offer universal preschool to any 4-year-old in Virginia whose parent’s desired it — for free. So, for this years budget that brings Virginia’s preschool expenditure to $122 million.

What will that mean to our area? Well, both Richmond and Henrico will be adding additional classroom spaces for Pre-k students.

Henrico County has about 100 children in the initiative. Jean Murray, assistant superintendent for instruction for Henrico, said the district plans to add 68 more slots to Pre-K for this fall. The biggest factor preventing more children from entering was classroom space, she said.

Richmond city schools will add 36 Pre-K spots this fall for a total of 881, and the state money would help buy supplies and outfit an anticipated Pre-K classroom, said Ron Robertson, coordinator for the Pre-K program.

The Times-Dispatch reports. One of those additional classes in Richmond will be located at Libbie and Patterson at Community High School. All programs take children with the highest need first. In Richmond, many factors are taken into consideration including: developmental delays, 2 working parents (or one working parent, and one in full time school), single family households, family history of incarceration, or substance or physical abuse, and many more factors, including income.
Still, aside from funding, the two major problems that continue to be obstacles for the program include classroom space (the funding can’t be used to build facilities for the programs) and transportation (the 4-year-olds in the program aren’t allowed to ride the school bus and many of the parents don’t have cars, or find that the lack of transportation means that they can’t participate in VPI).

Additionally, now that the percentage that a locality will have to pay is capped at 50 percent, New Kent, Colonial Heights and Sussex may all find the money to add programs.

For more information on the City’s preschool program go to their website.