Slaying fallout: UVA, Casteen, lacrosse weathering a PR nightmare
UVA President John Casteen, Allen Groves, Craig Littlepage and Patricia Lampkin held a press conference two days after Yeardley Love's death.PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER
On May 2, the University of Virginia men's lacrosse team was the toast of the collegiate sports world, and university president John Casteen was preparing to preside over his final graduation. A day later, one student-athlete lay dead with another student-athlete accused of killing her. And that has changed lives on the two lacrosse teams–- and at the helm.
"I think he's suffering," says University spokesperson Carol Wood, noting that Casteen, the father of three daughters, "wants to find appropriate ways to prevent something like this from ever happening again."
Casteen had certainly made conquering the scourge of binge-drinking a hallmark of his 20-year presidency. After a notorious 1997 stairway death, Casteen helped launch a variety of responsible drinking programs including securing a $2.5 million donation four years ago to convince students that drinking to oblivion is not normal.
Ironically, fourth year lacrosse player George Huguely, who, according to an affidavit, has admitted to the violence that led to the death of women's lacrosse player Yeardley Love, has a history of drinking problems. With revelations that his coach knew about at least one act of drink-fueled violence, UVA may be facing the most serious PR emergency in Casteen's soon-to-end presidency.
"They need to protect their reputation and also have people understand that there's zero tolerance that the school has for conduct as extreme as that," says New Jersey-based public relations expert Chris Rosica.
Getting that message out may have been the main purpose of a suddenly arranged press conference on Wednesday, May 5, for which media members received only an hour's notice. At that event, Casteen joined athletic director Craig Littlepage and other top administrators to answer reporters' questions, and, it seemed to some, to deflect blame from the school for apparently not knowing anything about Huguely's criminal record.
That record includes a pair of November 2008 misdemeanor convictions for public drunkenness and resisting arrest in an altercation with a female police officer in Lexington that escalated to the point the officer used her Taser to subdue the 6'2" 209 pound athlete–- something Huguely later didn't remember.
One person notably absent from UVA's press event was men's lacrosse Coach Dom Starsia. From a PR perspective, says Rosica, Starsia's absence was a mistake.
"It does send a message that they're trying to conceal something," notes Rosica, "regardless of whether they are or not."
Spokesperson Wood, however, says Starsia has the university's "full support" and notes that women's lacrosse coach Julie Myers also wasn't present. The absences, Woods says, were not about avoiding the press.
"The coaches' first priority has been their student-athletes," says Wood. "As you can imagine, this is a very difficult time for the players of both the women's and men's teams, and they need the full attention of their coaches."
Indeed, the men's team won the ACC championship with a victory over archrival Duke and with a Saturday, May 15 victory over Mount St. Mary's in their first match of the NCAA tournament, the team retains a strong chance of winning its fourth title. That victory came a week after Coach Starsia suffered a further loss with the death of his 86-year-old father on Friday, May 7. He broke his media silence Sunday, May 9, after NCAA tournament selections and talked about the pain of the week.
"It's hard to put into words what this week has been like,” Starsia told sports reporters.“It's been tragic on so many levels. I was glad to be able to at least consider the lacrosse part of this again today."
Myers broke her silence to offer a eulogy at Love's May 8 funeral, for which several UVA men's lacrosse players served as pallbearers in what many saw as a sign of unity between the remaining members of the men's and women's teams. The men's team has also helped create a $500,000 scholarship fund, and both teams during their first NCAA tournament match wore t-shirts and uniform patches bearing Love's name. The women's team was also victorious in its opening match against Towson.
Yeardley Love is the cover story of last week's People magazine, and as the weeks go on, says Rosica, the media scrutiny may ebb and flow, but it won't disappear.
"The scrutiny can last weeks and even months depending on the case," says Rosica, noting the potential for a lengthy criminal prosecution, "There are different phases that generate new opportunities for publicity."
To counteract the negative press, says Rosica, author of Authentic Brand, UVA needs to raise awareness of domestic violence.
"I'd suggest that they create a genuine education effort to try and prevent this from happening in the future," says Rosica, noting that it won't be a quick fix. "They need to make sure it's sustained and that it's long term policy for the university."
Nearly two weeks into this crisis, outspoken UVA student activist Madeleine Conger says the school was too slow to stress domestic violence awareness in emails they sent to students. An email sent out by UVA Vice President Patricia Lampkin the day after the slaying, for instance, focused on safety tips to avoid stranger violence–- "relatively useless" and "utterly irrelevant," says Conger.
"Locking your doors and walking home with a friend," she notes, "will do little to help a victim if the friend that walks her home is the one who will later beat or kill her."
Two days later, Lampkin sent a second email to students, this time focused on the dangers of domestic violence and offering information on the school's domestic violence prevention resources–- a move that Conger applauds.
"I'd rather see the university be more proactive than reactive and err on the side of more information than secrecy," Conger says, acknowledging the school is walking a tightrope.
UVA isn't the only school to struggle with how to handle a sports-related crisis. The so-called Duke lacrosse scandal in 2006 thrust the entire team into the spotlight after three men's lacrosse team members were accused–- falsely as it turned out–- of raping a stripper the team had hired for a party.
Duke Coach Mike Pressler, forced to resign at the height of the media frenzy, sued the school, as did the three accused players, who demanded $30 million. All reached settlements of undisclosed sums. In 2008, 38 other former Duke players sued the school, the City of Durham, and various individuals for the alleged harm inflicted on them by the rush to judgment.
One of the 38 plaintiffs is a former Charlottesville resident, who says his thoughts are with the "entire UVA lacrosse family" as they struggle to perform under intense scrutiny.
"We are all hurting for the entire UVA lacrosse family during this heartbreaking situation," says Edward "Bo" Carrington. "I hope that the media and everyone else will allow the justice system to do its job and in the mean time, focus on remembering and honoring Yeardley Love." Carrington declined further comment citing the pending litigation.
Those Duke suits may be weighing on the minds of UVA administrators, says legal analyst David Heilberg, explaining that they serve a good legal reason for the school to withhold judgment of Coach Starsia's leadership until all the facts are out, even as many news stories are asking if Starsia should have known Huguely was prone to violent outbursts.
"Everybody wants you to do something," says Heilberg of the pressure UVA may feel to leap into action. "But sometimes the courageous thing is to wait and not rush to judgment."
The facts of the case will undoubtedly continue to come out as a group of newspapers have filed legal motions to unseal court documents relating to the investigation, and as Huguely heads to a preliminary hearing in June. For UVA, says Rosica, preparing for a long road of unwanted national coverage is key.
"It's not just going to be gone," he says. "It's going to continue to rear its head."
158 comments
That you clowns have to be so desperate as to have nothing else to zero in on other than a facebook delineation ID'ing myself as a grad student when I am about to get my second degree and have two certificates also. Thanks for brightening my day once more! btw, members of my activist group at PVCC have been accepted to UVA via the Guaranteed Admissions Agreement, as I could any time I felt like it. Go ahead, bang your heads against the wall even more! Remind yourselves also that while you spend hours combing thru the internet is search of dirty laundry about me, you're all silly cowards who hide behind your girly anonymous online monikers. Thanks again for a good laugh. My Little League team in NJ kicked ass, didn't it? Come to think of it, the one I coach right now does too.
As for your laughable attempts to defend UVA for lying to women about what causes breast cancer, and refute overwhelming science:
http://www.polycarp.org/statement_mayo_clinic_article.htm
Refute the above. Go ahead. Make my day. Does that look like "slight" to you? Can you rationally explain what it is about the endometrial and ovarian protecting effects that are so overwhelming, as compared to the liver, breast, and cervical causation effects of steroids that warrants the former two to be trumpeted and the later three (far deadlier) to be specifically ignored? Of course you won't. You don't care. Your killing lobby politics and eugenics beliefs require that you are AOK with destroying women's health by lying to them and providing them with breast cancer.
Parous premenopausal women are exactly who we are talking about at UVA. But that does not stop them from lying to them about breast cancer. They know that they will be long gone and far away by the time they are diagnosed. Why don't they just be fair and sell steroids to all their male athletes while they're at it? There again, the cancers probably won't come around for 10-20 years - so who cares?
I particularly like the thread some of you have pursued - now that you know something that I taught you - that it's no big deal if these steroids only cause a few breast cancers instead of the big numbers the science AND THE HISTORY already shows. You're AOK with it either way! The NCI, like the FDA, is fighting the truth regarding these things and only coming around slowly. The administration and the congress that they answer to has no interest in promoting science over politics. The story of how Hillary Clinton forced thru the first FDA drug decision in history without clinical trails is a good example of this. It was to get the morning after pills over the counter, women's health be damned.
Our co director Siobhan in Ireland has recently found that after the pill was legalized in the 1980's there - that the once very low Irish breast cancer rate has shot up right on schedule afterward. But I already know that no amount of medical science, common sense, or historical proof of causation will bring any of you to re evaluate things. Your politics cannot have that. It is instead for all the other people, the future victims in particular arriving to college bright eyes and naive, that we focus our efforts on.
Even a tiny spark of truth can burn down a city of lies.
@Sean
-Do you know what percentage of female students at UVa have requested, taken, or tried the pill? Is it significantly different than other public universities?
***
No, but Sean probably hasn't thought about those things, and if he did, he would just assume that diabolical university presidents at every public university were completely manipulating the media and in each case causing thousands of cases of cancer and birth defects that were never reported in the press or medical literature.
It’s important to see what has become of UVA in light of the partisan political folks that took it over 20 years ago. Drugs, promiscuity, drinking till blackout, abortions, hook up culture - these are all things that are encouraged by that culture, and completely and effectively given cover in the rare circumstance that one of them comes to light. This is really what defines the culture at UVA today.
***
As noted, this description shows that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. What "partisan political folks" took over U.Va. 20 years ago? Who on the political spectrum encourages "drinking till blackout" and "hook up culture"? How are you so superciliously ignorant of the greater party culture that existed at U.Va. prior to 20 years ago? If anything, the fraternity culture is a vestigial remnant of the U.Va. that existed before integration, co-education, expansion, and greater academic emphasis. How many dumb things can you say before even you realize that you have a problem?
@concerned: Thank you for your link, but please do not hand on inaccurate information. There is a JURISDICTION issue and believe me, I have worked hard to eliminate it. There are certain parts of the UVA campus that the jurisdiction falls to UVA campus police; other parts fall under the city of Charlottesville police. your statement that "there is always recourse in the legal system which trumps any university police department" is false. The Charlottesville police were willing to take the case but the UVA police refused to release jurisdiction. Yes, it sounds like I'm making this up, but I'm not. You have no idea how many people refused to do the right thing.
To remedy this situation, House Bill 154 was introduced during the 2006 Virginia Legislative Session by Delegate Ken Alexander, D-Norfolk. This Bill's focus was to mandate that local law enforcement have primary jurisdiction when felony crimes (rape and murder) occur on college campuses. Unfortunately, the Bill was absorbed into HB1036, requiring Campus Police to be better trained. The Lawmakers did not understand the complexities of HB154. I have a sponsor for this bill in the next session, Del Mamye Bacote of Hampton. Hopefully the bill will be made into law.
ITJ,
Unless you work for the Hook (who waited a long time as it was), you did NOT cover the shirt until the cops confirmed it was hers! Nobody did except the Hook.
You see, black shirts for females featuring an OLD, not so popular heavy metal band like Pantera just grow on trees around UVA. All the sorority girls go crazy for 50 year old metal rockers!
right ?
or is it something else?????
Speaking of Lalich, he transferred to Oregon, and was just arrested for drunken boating in Shasta Lake in Northern California. Google it.
[WHY won’t the police tell us what was in Huguely’s bloodstream that night. We all know they had to have tested it when they took him in. WHO do you think is making that become an ââ?¬Å?unstory” in this town like he has made so many other things an ââ?¬Å?unstory?”]
It will come out. He was obviously drunk and maybe on coke too.
re: Uva's "blackout culture"....if thats what you want to call it fine, but UVa has no monopoly on college kids who drink. "College's 'balckout culture'" would be more accurate. (Also, I would bet that the majority of UVa students have never blacked out in their life.)
Speaking of college social life, check out this story on the Pi Phi's formal at Miami (of Ohio). Pretty absurd
http://deadspin.com/5534166/miami-university-had-the-pukiest-poopiest-se...
@concerned: Have you been to my website and read my postings? Then you will know that we could not "press charges with the local police". I hope the Women's Center is more informed than to make a statement like that.
My daughter was bound by jurisdiction; Faulkner dorms fall under the jurisdiction of the campus police. She went to the police station and gave a statement, and then went to the UVA ER. She was not reluctant to press charges. The UVA Police failed to investigate the felony properly and there came my website, my participation in these boards, and my disdain for the people at UVA who are paid to help women who are in crisis.
If the UVA Police properly investigate and refer a case to the Commonwealth for prosecution, it would be a Criminal Case; the victim is merely a witness for the Commonwealth and has no attorney fees. There is no statute of limitations for prosecution. The Standard of Proof required in a criminal case for a guilty verdict would be "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt", meaning that the prosecutor must prove his/her case to the point that the jurors have no reasonable doubts in their minds that the defendant did whatever he/she is charged with having done. A guilty verdict would probably include jail time.
In a Civil Case, the victim must hire a lawyer to sue the defendant and prove that a crime was committed. The statute of limitations for filing a case is 2 years and may cost a victim $50,000-$150,000 to bring suit against the defendant, without any guarantee that the Court could recover attorney fees. Very few undergraduate females have that type of monetary reserve to pay an attorney and as a result, unless an attorney is willing to gamble that the percentage of damages won will cover all legal fees, most victims simply cannot afford the cost of taking the case to trial. Ironically, the legal fees for the accused can be paid for by his parent's Homeowners Insurance Company. Therefore, he can protract the litigation knowing he doesn't have to pay legal fees. The Standard of Proof required in a civil case for a guilty verdict would be "Preponderance of Evidence", which means that it is more likely than not that the victim's contention is true. A guilty verdict can not include jail time, only monetary compensation for proven damages.
I contacted the Women's Center and SARA -- they did not have to keep tabs on my daughter. I ASKED for help and the response given to me by CK is detailed in an earlier postabove.
Perhaps since 2004 and the effects of the DOE Findings, the policies have changed. But I know what we went through and if you were to call my daughter today, her comments would be stronger than mine. The Women's Center was not a useful agency to her when she was in crisis.
If you want to help the student body, you must have tough policies in place for violence against women. Yards of white ribbon and candle vigils are great for the moment's pain, but they don't solve the problem. The only way women will be safe is to remove predators/abusers from the campus. Thousands apply to attend UVA, kicking out a few men with problems won't affect the income of the University.
See what I mean, folks? Sean takes a student reporter's paraphrase of a policeman's non-denial of an internet rumor to be a proven fact.
This strikes me as the same sort of web-based expression of paranoia that characterizes the birthers, the 911 truthers, the Freepers, and other wing nuts _ad nauseum_.
"That you clowns have to be so desperate as to have nothing else to zero in on other than a facebook delineation ID’ing myself as a grad student when I am about to get my second degree and have two certificates also. Thanks for brightening my day once more! btw, members of my activist group at PVCC have been accepted to UVA via the Guaranteed Admissions Agreement, as I could any time I felt like it."
https://www.vccs.edu/Portals/0/ContentAreas/Transfer/uva.pdf
It's an agreement for undergraduate admissions. About to get a second associates degree perhaps? Also it shouldn't have to be pointed out that could have been granted acceptance and have been granted acceptance are far from being the same thing.
As things stand, by your own admission you aren't a UVA student. Your obsession is really a bit odd. You keep suggesting that you have an affiliation that you do not and your method is bizarre to say the least. You wrote in a post on another topic: "I have shared a bed with three female UVA students who were all way over my head in the body, mind, and soul departments. " What pray tell were you doing with the in bed if you are so birth control phobic and what sort of morality do you live by if any?
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/credibility
Oh, and course, most breast cancers are found in post-menopausal women.
Sean writes: "I dated a gal last year who came to visit me from Yale grad school (nursing). She got her undergrad degree from Brown."
Again he writes about his women!
Hmmmm writes: "And he’s listed as a ââ?¬Å?VCCS Grad Student ââ?¬Ë?10.” Isn’t VCCS the community college system? How do they have grad students?"
This is probably somewhere between a gross exaggeration and lie. The Virginia community colleges do not award graduate degrees. See:
http://www.schev.edu/students/VAgradschools.asp
A college graduate can take courses at a community college, but that still doesn't make a "graduate student."
Here are the programs at PVCC, which I believe this character said he attended:
http://tinyurl.com/28y9glv
Here's what the National Cancer Institute says:
A 1996 analysis of worldwide epidemiologic data conducted by the Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer found that women who were current or recent users of birth control pills had a slightly elevated risk of developing breast cancer. The risk was highest for women who started using OCs as teenagers. However, 10 or more years after women stopped using OCs, their risk of developing breast cancer returned to the same level as if they had never used birth control pills, regardless of family history of breast cancer, reproductive history, geographic area of residence, ethnic background, differences in study design, dose and type of hormone, or duration of use. In addition, breast cancers diagnosed in women after 10 or more years of not using OCs were less advanced than breast cancers diagnosed in women who had never used OCs. To conduct this analysis, the researchers examined the results of 54 studies. The analysis involved 53,297 women with breast cancer and 100,239 women without breast cancer. More than 200 researchers participated in this combined analysis of their original studies, which represented about 90 percent of the epidemiological studies throughout the world that had investigated the possible relationship between OCs and breast cancer (2).
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/oral-contraceptives
@JJ: Like you, we had no knowledge of the SAB and when I learned of it I was mortified. The Cavalier Daily had extensive coverage in 2004/2005 thanks to the Editor, Chris Wilson. He was also disgusted by the process.
@Sean: I agree with many of your beliefs, but your sharp tones have alienated many on the Boards. I don't know why you are so angry with Casteen - unless you had a run in with him. Perhaps you'd like to share the reason you are so anti-Casteen?
Susan: Here is the answer to your infamous question:
The Honor Committee is completely student run. The Honor Code is implemented by students, and voted on by students. Just last year a referendum attempt was made to end the single sanction, in other words an attempted was made to end zero tolerance--this was rejected solely on the basis of the student votes.
The answer to your infamous question is that your question is factually inaccurate. You are implying that the UVA administration supports zero tolerance for cheating. The truth, and fact, of the matter is that the UVA student body supports zero tolerance for cheating, and has no more influence over how the administration handles other matters as does the administration has over the Honor Code.
Also, have you considered the fact that FERPA's use as a shield is because FERPA mandates that it be used as a shield? With the previously problems of the Clery Act rectified, your focus should not be on UVA--it should be on FERPA.
Has anyone figured out why Sean thinks UVa is Hell and Casteen is Satan himself? He seems to be so angry....
Susan- I bet most students don't know much, if anything, about SAB. I could be wrong of course, though I doubt most males knew or bothered to learn much about it. Did your daughter know anything about it before her horrible experience with it? I never had any reason to deal with it personally, and none of my good girl friends were ever raped as far as I knew.
I knew about 1 in 4 and received similar awareness/education as a 1st year and later with my frat, which I thought was helpful in highlighting an issue that is often left in the shadows. But I don't recall learning or hearing about the SAB or how it operated...
For comparison, I didn't really know how UJC or Honor Code worked exactly, but then again I didn't expect to and didn't have to deal with them personally during my time at UVa. I was aware, of course, that those institutions existed.
Sexual assaults are just a part of what the Casteen Cloaking Device does a perfect job of covering up. They happen in the wee hours of the morning when students are blackout drunk and/or flying on any number of things. The white ribbon campaign is just their way of distracting attention away from the background culture that nurtures these tragedies and replaces it with the spun term of "gender violence" that meshes with their political agenda.
It is a pity that nobody in this town had the guts to stand up to him and his crew, even now as they seal normally public documents in a murder case - and can even seal their identity in doing so. It's all about damage control, and protecting their own. Instead of being booed offstage as such an evil man on Sunday, he will probably get a standing ovation from a very appreciate student body, the Greek system in particular. He had their back, and the party will continue - no matter how many bodies turn up, or rape victims are assaulted. The frats will be teeming with first year girls from the dorms drinking free liquor and having access to all sorts of other intoxicants again in August. Nothing will change.
Sean,
Bloom is 100% right. A denial does not equal an affirmation by any stretch of the imagination. ASKING if anything occurred there doesn't mean things DID occur there, that's the entire POINT in asking.
Susan - do you actually want the Honor Committee to have jurisdiction over rape? The Honor Committee and its single sanction are generally viewed as anachronistic and unreasonable by many faculty (as demonstrated by surveys), many of whom have said that they would not bother to pursue a case involving academic fraud there. Giving the Honor Committee jurisdiction over rape and sexual assault would make it even more difficult to convict anyone because of the single sanction. How would that make things better?
Sean, the newspaper's line ("He did not deny that fraternity parties may have occurred there") doesn't make for a state policeman's affirmation that fraternity parties were indeed held on the farm. You can see the difference, right? It's a logical fallacy.
Get real, man.
"It’s important to see what has become of UVA in light of the partisan political folks that took it over 20 years ago."
Umm...were you around here 20 years ago? The administration prior to this one may have treated abortion differently but I doubt the culture has changed much. People in college party. From all I have heard UVa used to be much wilder back in the late 70s and 80s (ever heard of Easters?) until the University clamped down. And in 90 there was that big drug bust which shut down several fraternities. It's generally tamer now than it was even a decade ago, believe it or not. Harder to get in, etc.
"Again, I think a lot of people graduated today with a great sense of relief that they ââ?¬Å?got out” unscathed, and did their best to help Casteen make everything just go away. But imagine if you will these graduates, many of whom have pretty useless degrees with regard to the job market - venturing out into other cities in the US now, and introducing themselves to employers and new friends.
The moment ââ?¬Å?UVA 2010”³ comes out of their mouths, people all over the country will be likely be thinking of Harrington and Love first, then silently presume that he/she partied like crazy while at UVA, with all we now know that entails."
Wow. Interesting, considering my firm has already hired some undergraduates form the McIntire school...which they do every spring along with recent grads from U of R, Gtown, Maryland, Penn, and other similar schools. Maybe we should have rescinded their offers after Huguely killed Love...
Rape is dealt with at U.Va. by the sexual assault board, an autonomous sub-unit of the University Judiciary Committee. The Judiciary Committee, unlike the Honor Committee, does not have a single sanction policy.
Susan: good work.
http://whiteribboncampaignuva.com -- student push for intimate-partner violence and sexual abuse awareness. the students care, lets hope UVA makes some real change.
@Sean: I agree with many of your beliefs, but your sharp tones have alienated many on the Boards.
Pot, meet kettle.
its coming , Negative National news is something UVA is NOT used to having to sweep under the rug .
Ummm, I guess you missed negative national news such as the Jeff/Echols scholars double murder in the 1980s, Operation Equinox in 1991, the baby switching incident at UVa hospital, etc.
Susan--As a sexual assault survivor I know that both you and your daughter are still feeling an immense amount of pain from the act committed against her. However, I'm going to call you out on your criticism of the Women's Center. That organization is completely grant funded and UVA does not give the center money to hire a full time LPC. Instead, it is run by a well respected LPC who is only grant funded to be part-time. It is staffed by a part-time counselor with an M.A. (license eligible) and a part-time intern (with an M.A., but not licensed). Places like the Women's Center are doing the best they can with the limited funds available. On the other hand, UVA sports teams regularly take chartered flights to games which costs the University a small fortune. Also, FYI, University officials cannot hide behind FERPA when it comes to a student's mental health. In fact, it is clearly stated in FERPA that privacy policies do not apply to faculty/staff (except for counselor's and doctor's) in cases of a mental health concern which can include rape and PTSD. I am also wondering if your daughter pressed charges with the local police? If she had, then she could have her day in a legitimate court rather than the laughable system set up by UVA. I know that many survivors are reluctant to press charges, however, if she did not then it is hard to expect UVA to do something about it when passing judgment on a felony is not the job of a University.
It would be great if all colleges and universities could keep tabs on their students 24/7. But this is unrealistic and a logistical impossibility. Right now we should all be focused on how to help the UVA student body that have been deeply affected by this tragedy and not on the suspected vast conspiracy of the UVA administration.
"The climate in UVA is perfect for growing rapist."
Nice to know. Not sure how its different than most college environments.
Jake-thanks for bringing a bit of clarity into this thread.
Susan-I am sorry for your pain. My niece was sexually assaulted a few years back and, quite frankly, has never seemed to be the same happy go lucky person she was in the past. Just because scars can't be seen do not mean they are not there. I think I know who raped your daughter and I occasionally see him (or his double-not sure which) at the gym now and then. I didn't like him at school but I had no idea about his reputation until a few years after graduation. It may give you some comfort to know that people know what he is accused of. I don't doubt it takes enormous will power to hold back from you or your husband may want to do to him. I can only imagine the untold suffering this incident has caused you and your daughter. My prayers go out to you.
Re: the honor code. The honor code is not meant, and was never meant, to cover all codes of conduct or serious crimes such as rape. That should be left up to the administration and the police. Personally, I think the honor code should be scrapped as it belonged to a different era but I know many hold it too dear to get rid of it.
I hope this new president will meet with you and hear how your daughter was treated by the system meant to bring her justice.
What Sean doesn't realize is that there are only two Department of Forensic Science labs in the entire state and they're backlogged.
Ok, Sean. Nice little vendetta you have going there. You sure you took your psych meds? I am sure Casteen personally called the judge, demand the order sealed, called the police to "cover-up" all UVA arrests even though Judiciary Committee here sees these cases consistently, called the media to demand their silence. You sure make a lot of sense.
Aren't the reasonable measures a)dramatically improving the SAB and b)making it more likely for rape and sexual assault cases to also be pursued by city or county Commonwealth's Attorney. The SAB could serve a purpose in providing punishment for perpetrators and protection for victims in terms of the university community, especially in cases in which the Commonwealth Attorney's office did not have sufficient evidence to get a criminal conviction.
I think that things along the lines of criticizing the well intentioned white ribbon campaign that students, alumni, and the university support are a distraction. I also think that we'll see substantive change on a and b in the next six months with the new administration.
@Susan- I can't imagine the pain of having a daughter sexually assaulted i'm deeply sorry for what you have had to go through, and my heart goes out to you and your family.
Teflon Casteen wants to blame others, and his staff and faithful followers cover for himcover for him. The school is not responsible for the murder, but they are responsible for covering up acts of violence against women.
Carol Wood says she thinks Casteen is suffering. For years I tried to arrange a meeting with Casteen and myself so that he would understand how much a campus rape victim suffers when the University turns a blind eye to their crime. He ignored me ââ?¬â?? and now he wants sympathy. Go to hell, I say!
For those of you who feel that the University does do a good job of protecting women, then answer my infamous question: UVA supports a Zero Tolerance policy for Cheating, but not for Rape. WHY?
A lot of you are sick of reading what I write - but I will keep writing until you understand. My daughter’s rapist raped another coed 6 months after my daughter reported her rape. He was found guilty by a sexual assault board and not sanctioned. He was allowed to remain on campus and graduate ââ?¬Å?on time”. The trauma he inflicted upon my daughter was unbearable. The fact that he repeated the crime and was allowed to remain on campus is absolutely unbelieveable to most people. My daughter's case was not unique - it is the way UVA handles crimes against women. And Casteen should be ashamed, very ashamed that he refused to acknowledge that the UVA policies were not in compliance with Federal Law, and even more ashamed that he hired staff that are incapable of dealing with the issues head-on.
Casteen’s comments at the Press conference ring hollow with every woman who has turned to you for help or been a victim of violence on your campus.
Here’s another issue to ponder: Since 2001, no one found guilty of sexual assault has been suspended or expelled despite the student and media attention focused on this issue. It is an unacceptable fact to learn that as the crime statistics for the number of reported rape and sexual assault cases continues to increase, not one person has been expelled from the University for committing acts of sexual assault, even when found guilty by a Sexual Assault Board.
Review the Clery Act tables on the UVA police website: http://www.virginia.edu/uvapolice/stats.html
In 2008, the last reporting year, the Clery Act table shows 7 Forcible Sex offenses reported to campus police and 7 Forcible Sex offenses reported to other agencies. That’s a total of 14 rapes reported by students. Were any students sanctioned or expelled? Were any arrests made? For all we know, GH could have been reported to the Dean’s office for sexual assault and the woman was turned away. We will never know because those records are not made public. The numbers of reported rapes is real and shocking. Since they are handled as administrative matters, and the school uses FERPA as a shield to not disclose this information, the campus is a ââ?¬Å?safe place” for those individuals who commit rape. Murder was just the next step.
Sean was ranting about Casteen covering up the death of a fraternity member a few months back, saying Casteen was making sure the results of the medical examination were being covered up and had prevented all media outlets from covering the death. Apparently, the irony of making such a claim under an article about the death that appeared on the FRONT PAGE of the Cav Daily escaped our valiant keyboard warrior. In the midst of making said accusations over multiple posts, he also made statements regarding illegal drug use, drug addiction, and other such things even though he doesn't know the kid or anyone in his frat.
The father of the deceased young man later came on the thread to tell Sean he came home to find his wife crying hysterically after reading all of Sean's posts under the article about her deceased son (which of course all of her relatives and friends probably read). The boy's father(who happens to be a medical professional), while expressing his anger and disbelief, also pointed out that it takes 3-5 months before results are available in cases that are not suspected homicides.
Keep it up, Sean. You'll get a medal one day
No, I want the local police to have jurisdiction over rape. But that's never going to happen at UVA.
The SAB is a last alternative for women when the legal system fails them. Despite the fact that the system is a joke, even when the SAB determined individuals were guilty of committing rape, the SAB failed to sanction or expel the student. That is unacceptable.
The comparison with the honor committee single sanction is to illustrate that if you are guilty of cheating, you can't be part of UVA. But rape someone, you get to graduate. That's a proven fact.
I don't care what forum is used, but rapists should be eliminated from the campus. Revamp the SAB, use the honor committee, turn it over to the local police - the bottom line is that sexual assault is tolerated on the UVA campus and nothing, NOTHING, has been done to change the school's policies and eliminate predators from the campus.
The reason there has been such debate over Honor these past few years is that people don't have Honor. Men and Women cannot stand up and admit wrongdoing. Everyone has an excuse. Leadership and Honor must start at the top, and unfortunately, Casteen & Co have no Honor. Otherwise they wouldn't have this PR campaign going to keep his legacy intact.
@Hmmm: you won't see any major change. If JJ can go thru 4 years there and not know what a joke the SAB is, then the administration has everyone snookered that it works. A new President may ask for a review, but unless she brings in the Dept of Education, and a few independent sources, no one on her staff will reveal to her that their practices are inadequate. They've had 5 years to do so and not one staff member has initiated a revision to the process and not one student (since Annie & Kathryn revealed their story to The Hook in 2005) has been willing to share their story to the public.
The White Ribbon campaign is a distraction - a distraction to the real problem on the table.
To hummm,
Hopefully you are right, but it's a little late for the women who have already been raped and the two who are dead.
S. Jones
its coming , Negative National news is something UVA is NOT used to having to sweep under the rug .
The time is here to protect our children and for locals to wake the H up . Morgans death opened the door in this area for making positive change .
I am in the process of posting at findmorgan.com with some ideas to bring positive change if the admins will let me in , funny I have never made a public post but I am banned . I am beginning to think people are in this fight for the safety of our children for the notoriety . We will see what happens , I will build them up or tear them down ! If I come to the opinion the corruption goes to the top , I will tear them down from the top . They can have blink from blink on crime forward this to clog up VSP and I will wait to be arrested as I have before funny thing is I am still running off at the mouth and they are writing stories about info us locals have new for months .
Morgans case as with Miss loves tragedy has awakened a sleeping giant .UVA should be the pioneers of protecting our children , UVA has everything it takes to make positive change.
Stand behind the truth and the rest will fall in place .
Oh and on another note , a fellow child rapist died today , check out the Staunton newsleader . this man in a wheelchair raped his daughter because he was frustrated he was in a wheelchair after falling off a garage roof . I forget nothing and this happened 13 years ago !
http://www.newsleader.com/article/20100521/OBITUARIES/5210337/Jerry+L.+E...
oh and before going off half cocked I know the facts http://sex-offender.vsp.virginia.gov/sor/offenderDetails.html?regId=10281
Dakota
S,Jones
oh in your last post would you be referencing the Catholic churches ! Va has become a safe haven for pedophiles ! We are trying to out do Vermont I guess.
Dakota
Sean from the CD, where he makes a regular pest of himself. His boasting about his power over women is a regular insertion into whatever thread he might decide to derail.
"I have dozens of good friends who now or in the recent past have attended or worked at UVA. I have assisted a few UVA organizations with a few projects. I have spilled my blood defending a UVA professor ââ?¬â?? a close friend ââ?¬â?? from an attacker on the downtown mall. I share a tiny 2 bedroom apartment with a female UVA undergraduate student. I coach a city Little League team with a UVA professor. I have shared a bed with three female UVA students who were all way over my head in the body, mind, and soul departments. I love the AFC, the JPJ, and all the libraries. I have volunteered hundreds of hours with a UVA fellowship. I attend UVA soccer, hoops, and football games and sing the good ole song with my alumni tailgate buddies."
http://www.cavalierdaily.com/2009/11/19/safety-first-2/
Breast cancer ââ?¬â?? For women, breast cancer is the leading type of cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related death. Mammography screening can prevent deaths from breast cancer. Mortality rates in Northern Ireland, where nationally sponsored screening programmes are well established, have fallen by more than 20% between 1994 and 2000. In the Republic of Ireland, breast cancer mortality rates are the same in 2000 as they were in 1994.
***
Yeah, breast cancer is really skyrocketing in Ireland. Of course, Sean doesn't have the capacity to understand that the number of breast cancer cases often increases when a country improves its screening and detection of the disease through measures such as mammograms.
In this context, the meta-analysis by Kahlenborn et al13 in the current issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings allows us to take stock of the current state of our knowledge of OC use and premenopausal breast cancer risk, particularly in relationship to first full-term pregnancy. They conducted a meta-analysis of 39 independent case-control studies that had most cases diagnosed since 1980 to better evaluate the association with breast cancer in the context of more contemporary use patterns. Overall, they found that compared to never use, ever use of OCs was associated with a small but statistically significant increased risk of breast cancer (odds ratio [OR], 1.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09-1.29), although significant heterogeneity across individual studies could not be readily explained. These results are generally comparable to the Oxford pooled analysis published in 1996,5 which was based on pooled original data from 54 epidemiological studies (case-control and cohort) representing 53,297 women with breast cancer and 100,239 control patients and was thought to represent about 90% of the epidemiological information on the topic available at that time. In that analysis, a weaker overall risk of breast cancer was found for ever use compared with never OC use (OR, 1.07). The difference in risk between these 2 analyses is likely due in part to the studies included. In the Oxford pooled analysis, 66% of cases were 45 years or older at the time of diagnosis, and 50% of the cases were diagnosed before 1984. In contrast, the current meta-analysis included only premenopausal women (or women <50 years), women who were diagnosed as having breast cancer mainly after 1980, and an additional 6 studies whose recruitment period ended in 1996 or later. Of note, when the results of the Oxford pooled analysis were stratified by menopausal status, evidence showed that risk was somewhat greater for premenopausal (OR, 1.22) vs post-menopausal (OR, 1.08) women for recent (<5 years) OCusers, although this did not hold for more distant former use.5
***
Wait, so the odds ratio is only about 1.2 for premenopausal women who have recently used oral contraceptives, and more like 1.07 for women overall?
I know that Sean isn't smart to understand the age distribution of breast cancer cases, but he's somehow getting even more clueless and arrogant as time goes by.
1. Why are you this obsessed with the University of Virginia if A. you are not enrolled, and B. you have absolutely no connection with it? I would be fine if a former student or someone similar is on here ranting, but from someone with absolutely no connection to UVA to be doing is frankly ridiculous.
2. http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/content/81/10/1287.full Yes, the increase of breast cancer is very slight. Furthermore, Kahlenborn did not address the effect of time since last OC-use, and from Oxford analysis, the risk of breast cancer decrease as time passes since last OC-use. The excess number of cases ranging from 0.5 to 4.7 cases for 10,000 women is, indeed, very small, compared to the benefits OC pills have given women.
3. You accuse every single MD, PHD, and everyone who disagree with you to be part of the eugenics lobby? There is a reason why no one takes you seriously. At the end of the day, Kahlenborn himself called for more studies. The absolute risk of breast cancer increase is too small compared to medical, social and economic benefits, and for you to deny that is shortsighted.
4. As the metaanalysis showed, your referencing of Irish women's breast cancer rate shooting up is patent nonsense.
Try again.
Meanwhile, 3 frats got caught by the C-Ville police with a ridiculous amount of cocaine in 1991, back before he could squash such stories.
***
"Ridiculous" is the right word, but not in the way that Sean meant.
"For all the police ballyhoo about dealing with the campus area drug menace, they didn't come up with much. Fifteen months of investigating turned up 33 people, most of them charged with delivery of less than a half-pound of marijuana. Of the 15 people arrested in the first sweep, 14 were busted for dorm room-scale pot sales, while two faced cocaine distribution charges, and one poor soul was indicted for misdemeanor distribution of less than half an ounce. One was indicted for both marijuana and ecstasy sales. JADE warriors also turned up about $20,000 in cash and drugs -- a paltry average of some $600 per indicted individual. Additionally, JADE conceded that it had smashed no drug ring, only made a serious of unconnected arrests."
"But drug reformers weren't the only ones complaining. In an opinion piece in the UVA Cavalier Daily, associate editor Alec Solotorovsky, ripped into the operation: 'Either drugs are not a major problem at the University, or JADE is not competent to investigate the problem of drugs at the University,' wrote Solotorovsky. 'If 33 indictments and $22,000 worth of narcotics are the extent of the University's drug problem, then our law enforcement resources could be put to better use. But if those seizures and indictments are representative of a larger drug problem, they're a sorry prize for 15 months' work.'"
Wow I just thought Sean was a zealot, I didn't realize he was actually spouting false information.
I bet UVA and thousands of other doctors recommend drinking milk too. It's linked to prostrate cancer. OUTRAGE.
@Sean:
Still waiting for you to respond to us refuting your BS about the defense attorney and the records sealing. You've already been proven 100% wrong, stop spouting off the same argument.
Sean, I looked at the Mayo Clinic forest plot. It seems reasonable, although it is for pre-menopausal women. Everyone but you knows that the association between oral contraceptives and breast cancer is higher for younger women and declines after use stops. A more useful result would be the overall association between oral contraceptives and breast cancer, which is much smaller in magnitude.
Susan--I've only read your posts on this page. I am not familiar with your website. I do not work at the Women's Center and do not want anyone to think I am representing them. However, I am a mental health professional and have many contacts in the Women's Center all of whom are caring individuals who are trying to do as much as they can with extremely limited resources. Your daughter's situation is awful, but I would hate for others to believe there is nothing they can do if an assault occurs on campus as there is always recourse in the legal system which trumps any university police department.
http://womenscenter.virginia.edu/sdvs/assault/legalrights.htm
"The frats will be teeming with first year girls from the dorms drinking free liquor and having access to all sorts of other intoxicants again in August. Nothing will change."
It's called college. What do you suggest to change this?
I'll agree. And I would hope that these centers would constantly reassess their services to insure they are timely, accurate, and responsive. I have been very open with the Center's Director and have shared our negative experience with her on several occasions. But she has never admitted that the system failed my daughter. If changes have been made, based on my negative experience, then I would be glad to hear about them.
"A student who is experiencing domestic violence/sexual assault or knows someone who is should contact one of these organizations." And what will they do? That should be spelled out very clearly. You can't ask for women to come forward if nothing will be done with the information. My daughter's rapist needed mental health help and he never received it. Dean Rue and VP Lampkin both told me that they could not refer him to a counselor based upon my daughter's comments. So, when a woman reports that a man has psych problems, who will approach him? Who will chat with him to validate the woman's comments? That is what I want to know. Heck, the cops waited 10 days to interview him after my daughter reported her rape. Ten days is unacceptable. And there is the root of my skepticism that anything will ever change at UVA. I would expect Women's groups to be highly offended that the UVA cops don't take rape reports seriously.
The link you cite states that the Commonwealth will prosecute if .... that "IF" is the key ... IF there is sufficient evidence. IF the UVA cops do their job properly....
My family has moved on from the experience and everyone is doing fine. However, I will continue to speak out to warn others that the culture of violence against women is just as prevalent today as it was in 2004. Until the jurisdictional laws are changed, and predators are removed from the campus, women will continue to be assaulted and raped at UVA.
Casteen made no attempt to contact the Lexington Police Department before he pretended in the press conference that he would have done anything other than what he usually does with such information: cover it up to protect the image of "he university." The entire "strikes me as odd" statement is a lie, plain and simple. They had no idea Huguely was a UVA student. Ask any UVA cop off the record and they will gush with details of how many drunk in public arrests have involved UVA students resisting arrest right here on campus.
Name for all of us a SINGLE incident where a UVA student HERE in Charlottesville has been publicly named in a DIP and/or violent incident that did NOT end with a dead body.. Are you seriously suggesting there have been NONE in the past two decades??
Thanks for pointing out how deaths of students at every other university in the country get covered by bringing up the tragedy at GWU a few days ago: Full coverage in a national newspaper, cause of death included, within 36 hours.
But not here!
6 weeks later. ZERO coverage in the C-Ville Weekly, the Hook, NBC29, or the Daily Progress. One very carefully worded 5 sentence blurb buried in the Newsplex and UVA websites.
In order for coverage to ever become "endless," it needs to actually begin. Casteen & co. have only one priority at present: deflect attention away from what they have been doing for 20 years around here, and get the hell out before too many people find out about all of it.
"the University maintains good communication with other departments and tries to monitor incidents involving students in other local jurisdictions.”
***
Where's the lie, Sean?
The entire ââ?¬Å?strikes me as odd” statement is a lie, plain and simple.
***
Where's the lie, Sean?
They had no idea Huguely was a UVA student.
***
Who? Lexington police? So they were supposed to notify U.Va. even though they didn't know that he was a U.Va. student? Or Casteen was supposed to be clairvoyant and know the legal status of all 20,000 U.Va. students?
Ask any UVA cop off the record and they will gush with details of how many drunk in public arrests have involved UVA students resisting arrest right here on campus.
Name for all of us a SINGLE incident where a UVA student HERE in Charlottesville has been publicly named in a DIP and/or violent incident that did NOT end with a dead body.. Are you seriously suggesting there have been NONE in the past two decades??
***
There have been plenty of cases of U.Va. students involving alcohol and violence that get reported. They usually are U.Va. athletes because most people have no desire to continually read accounts of college students being arrested for public intoxication. It's not a cover-up, just lack of interest in a banal story.
You know, many college students would be embarrassed to be thoroughly provincial and uneducated.
Not Sean at U.Va.!
Many college students would be ashamed if they could not write or formulate coherent arguments.
Not Sean at U.Va.!
Most people would get the hint if their reporting was considered to be sub-par even for the Cavalier Daily.
Not Sean at U.Va.!
Women need to learn how to choose boyfriends from their mothers. This is not the schools responsibility. As much as I despise the coverup the school can only go so far. If parents do not instill proper valuee in their daughters they will continue to choose losers.
The school needs to step in when these losers cross boundaries. The parents need to send their daughters to school with the judgement it takes to avoid animals.
If these guys didn't get their way they would change their methods.
Sean isn't a UVa student. His name is Sean Cannan and he's pretty ragefully obsessed with John Casteen. Hmm, rage + obsession...
Personal protection. Every little bit helps and can get you out of some very sticky situations. Even if your mother approved of your choice of partner, she does not know about the potential dark side of that idividual. His was obvious by looking at his past, but there are others who you don't find out about till something tragic happens. www.highteksecurity.com
Can't come up with a single name, can you guys??
Of course you can't. You have NEVER read one in this town. Casteen's comments in the press conference were in direct contradiction to his own policy. Plus he made no attempt to even contact the Lexington Police even after this incident happened. He does what he usually does instead. Just try and divert people's attention elsewhere. And the local media goes along with it. The Hook won't even dare mention UVA's own stated policy regarding incidents in other jurisdictions. Perhaps this would be a good time to look on top of this web page and have look at those advertisements flashing in and out. Casteen is not responsible for Ms. Love's death. But the culture of cover up and the "we got your back" tradition at UVA is all his. And that includes the massive fraud in medical misinformation given out at student health.
Instead of perhaps debating how a college president contradicting his own policy and trying to blame a police department for not telling him something they never knew in the first place... Instead of coming up with a single name of a locally arrested UVA student... instead of reminding themselves that Huguely's record has been public information that UVA could have gotten anytime they cared to look online for it... the diversion even among those whose priority remains keeping bad news about UVA out of the media is very predictable. Just shoot the messenger.
Does ANYONE honestly believe that Casteen EVER called ONE college and told them about a drunk in public arrest here of one of their students? Does ANYONE really believe that UVA students have been involved in ZERO drunken, violent arrests on the corner or downtown in the past 20 years besides the two that have dead bodies at the end of them?
No, of course not. Nobody is silly enough to believe either of those things. The point is that there are a LOT of people in this town that are AOK with any and all cover ups so long as they keep this fantasy notion of UVA's superiority and studious, academic reputation alive in their own minds - and think others around the country are still buying it. If that has been true at any time the last 20 years, it sure isn't anymore. And that is what really embitters them. Huguely had every reason to believe that he would get away with beating Ms. Love to within an inch of her life. Zero other assaults by UVA kids make news around here - and that is far from any kind of accident.
Meanwhile, there is no lacrosse coach at the press conference. Of course not. There is no discussion of Huguely's fraternity, or what happened there that could have alerted everyone to how out of control he was. There is just yet another big secret to be kept, and there are plenty of students who were there that night keeping it. None of them will dare step forward and take on this hushed madness, even now.
There is no interest in perhaps finding out which fraternities held parties recently at the farm where Morgan Harrington's body was found. There is no interest or pressure for anyone on the west range of the lawn to volunteer for a lineup or a DNA test. There is not even any coverage at all in 3 newspapers and one TV network of an otherwise healthy 21 year old student dropping dead.
Nah..
Not here.. That only happens everywhere else when young women are murdered.
And that is just fine with most people on the western end of this town.
Trust me... we're still pushing for any and all information about the Love (and for that matter the Harrington) stories, but are being blocked by police and prosecutors with zero interest in sharing those details and little to no legal leverage for us to do anything about it.
Witness today's hearing about the secret order to seal *normally public* documents in the Love-Huguely matter... and a judge who is delaying any decision about the legality of it for another week.
I don't expect everybody to appreciate what we do and how we do it; but to suggest we're in the pockets of UVA is a laugh.
The university is a provider of services..nothing more, nothing less. They bear no more responsibility than the best buy that sold GHV his iphone. If he were under 18 or living on campus, the dynamic changes, but absent that, they bear NO responsibility. If people don't like that, kick UVA out of Charlottesville and see what happens to this town. GH V did a horrible thing, but there are horrible people out there, and they're going to do what they do regardless. GH V was an adult, living on his own, and he is solely responsible for his actions.
"Name for all of us a SINGLE incident where a UVA student HERE in Charlottesville has been publicly named in a DIP and/or violent incident that did NOT end with a dead body."
Didn't the QB in 2008, Peter Lalich, get a an alcohol related charge in C'ville?
"Women need to learn how to choose boyfriends from their mothers. This is not the schools responsibility. As much as I despise the coverup the school can only go so far. If parents do not instill proper valuee in their daughters they will continue to choose losers."
Although I agree that schools are not responsible for "teaching" us poor, meek little girls how to choose boyfriends, do you really think mothers are responsible for "instilling values" that will help us? What college-aged girl wants to date a guy her mommy would approve of? And apparently he was an "ex". Is it her fault she didn't choose wisely? No- must have been her mother's.
I'm confused...how are Casteen's comments in "direct contradiction" with UVa's policies that you quoted? Maybe my grasp of English isn't what it used to be, which would be rather unfortunate considering I teach English.
"Name for all of us a SINGLE incident where a UVA student HERE in Charlottesville has been publicly named in a DIP"
I wasn't aware there was such a demand to know the names of all the persons in a college town cited for alcohol violations...lol. Other than athletes or prominent students (maybe class presidents) I don't see how it would be at all worthy of mention.
Looks like the UVA Cover Up trolls are working around the clock to keep Casteen's legacy and UVA's reputation in tact. Good luck with that.
Winning at any cost is costly. Cover ups only suppress things for so long.
The truth will out . . . it always does, just takes some time.
The outside media is going to keep at this until they get to the bottom of it, then good bye UVA's "stellar" reputation.
@Dude
"Or Casteen was supposed to be clairvoyant and know the legal status of all 20,000 U.Va. students?"
No, but Littlepage, Miller, Oliver and ALL UVA coaches are supposed to know what's going on with their student-athletes -- in school, out of school, on the field, etc. -- 24/7. There are NCAA rules, there are team rules, there's the honor system, there's the law, etc. The folks in the Athletic Department OWN that responsibility. Turning a blind eye or accepting bad behavior is problematic and they should be held accountable.
Many other coaches UVA coaches do their job. Why not Starsia?
And if Starsia wasn't doing his job, then Littlepage, Miller and Oliver are on the hook for that.
Given all the past problems with football players and some other UVA student-athletes, one would think they would have been on top of what the student-athletes were up to. Apparently not . . . too busy worried about reassigning seats, dwindling season ticket sales, falling attendance, twisting arms to raise money, etc. Simply too busy, busy, busy to make sure that student-athletes do not behave in a manner that reflects poorly on the University.
This business about requiring police departments in other jurisdictions to notify UVA (or any college in Virginia)about arrests of their students has interesting implications. What about jurisdictions in other states, e.g. a UVA student gets arrested for public intoxication out-of-state during spring break or while on vacation overseas? How can you require those police departments to notify UVA (assuming they or even in-state PDs even knew the arrested individual is a UVA student)? Why stop at notifying colleges? Why not require PDs to notify employers of all those they arrest? How about churches those arrested belong to? What about the presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law? Can you imagine the lawsuits against PDs, employers or colleges if the arrested individual gets fired or kicked out of school and is later found not guilty or the case is dismissed? All these knee-jerk reactions after a tragedy like this are probably normal given the benefit of 20/20 hindsight and the need to "do something" to prevent a similar event in the future.
Liberty: "poor meek little girls" is not what we are talking about. She was hardly poor little or meek, but she was no match for a 6 foot 210 pound man.
Women have been taught to think they are safe because of 911, the only problem is... how are you going to get to the phone when an animal has you by the throat.
Sigfreid and Roy got attacked by a tiger... that they voluntarily got into the ring with. 911 wouldn't have helped them either.
Women need to learn the risk/reward ratio for dating losers like this.
It just might save their life.. or even someone elses if the guy decides to change.
While everyone here has some good points..it all points back to the individual. HE made the decision to go to Yeardley's house that night, HE made the decision to hit her, etc, etc. Did the coaches, friends, faculty and staff KNOW he is capable of such an act? The jury is still out on this one...20/20 on hindsight says yes, but all the facts are not known by us. While we would all like to have "laws" and "rules" in place to "keep this from ever happening again", the sad part is that it will regardless of the laws and rules with complete disregard of the social status of either individual. Can we at least try? Sure!!! We can hold the athletes to a higher standard as they should be. They should be an example for ALL the student body. So if they go around boozing and druging all the time, what message are they sending? We can hold the coach accountable for the athlete's actions if there is a known issue (especially if the coach tells the players "Keep your drinking to one night a week"...is that a proper message to send???)...We actually can "what if" ourselves to death and lock things down so tight we penalize the innocent in an attempt to keep the guilty from acting out. And that is exactly what it will be, an attempt. If a person's brain is wired to do this type of thing (and we can see that George's seemed to be that way) then they will act out REGARDLESS of the consequences. So in closing, I like the most of you, are extremely angry that this happened at all. I would LOVE to give the creep about 10 mins in a cell, completely helpless to defend himself just as Yeardly was and let the rest of the girl's lacross team beat the crap out of him for vengence. But it won't bring Yeardley back and it probably won't change George either. And I agree he has some SERIOUS issues that SHOULD have been identified and dealt with. I do think that having a class that is required for BOTH females and males (there are female abusers too) to be able to recognize the traits of an abuser would be beneficial and hopefully would prevent such horrible crime from repeating itself. As things move forward, I hope that all find a peace in this and wish rest of the graduating class of 2010 Godspeed for healing and remembering this lovely girl the way she would want to be remembered...as Yeardley Love.
@Matt - just googled it..yet another young talented athlete gets in trouble due to alcohol....wonder if they will ever learn the word "moderation".....I doubt it. Thanks for the info, will be interesting to see what OSU coach does.
To me this seems like no one else's fault but George Hughley's, he's the monster that killed an innocent girl, he's the one with the problems. Everyone just wants a higher system to blame than just a person. Absent mind control or time machines, there's not much UVA can do to stop crimes before they happen.
Sad, disgusting crimes such as this are a fact of life and happen everywhere, unless the government finds some way to monitor every house, person, pet, and brain cell, it's going to stay that way.
This situation is messed up beyond all control, it's not UVA lacrosse's fault, it's not campus police's fault, it's not Casteen's. It George Hughley's fault and he's going to have to live with it the rest of his life in a jail cell.
A young, beautiful, talented girl is dead for no reason, can we focus on that fact, instead of passing blame and dwelling on theoreticals?
My heartfelt condolences to the Love family, I can't imagine the pain you must be going through, your loss is felt by all of us whether we show it or not.
Deleted by moderator.
Does it really matter what Huguely's BAC was? Being drunk is no excuse for murder. He was 21 and could purchase/consume booze/beer/wine legally and, if he did, wasn't even on UVA property when he did so. As if any of that matters other than the doubtful possibility he was too drunk to legally waive his Miranda rights. He's gonna pay big time and no amount of fictional pressure from his out-of-state parents on local prosecutors (like they'd really give a rat's rump what those parents say) will make a damned bit of difference. Especially with national attention to be focused on this case, the Commonwealth's Attorney will not be made a fool.
@Jake: The administration turns a blind eye to this felony crime. If the administration treated rape as a felony, then we wouldn't be having this discussion. When a woman goes to the UVA Police or the UVA ER and reports a rape, the school should turn the issue over to the proper authorities. However, in my daughter's case, they refused to release jurisdiction. The UVA detective told the accused that this was nothing more than an "administrative matter". Why would a cop call a felony an "administrative matter"? Because she was trained to do so, because that's what she's always done when she was assigned to rape cases. The cop didn't investigate, she decided the case was not going to be referred to the Commonwealth and did not do her job collecting evidence. Her failure to do her job correctly is just one corner of the whole picture we are trying to paint that shows the culture of violence against women at UVA. Casteen is the leader of this group - he had to be the one to say "No violence on my campus" then make sure his words were turned into action.
@Jake: FERPA example: I contacted Claire Kaplan 3 weeks after my daughter's rape. I told her my daughter was afraid to leave her room, afraid to go to class. I asked for help. She said FERPA did not allow her to go to my daughter unless my daughter contacted her for help. That was a huge line of BS. When a student is emotionally distressed, help should be given. Didn't we come to that conclusion after Cho killed people at VA Tech? When a young woman is raped, we cannot say FERPA prohibits the administration from assisting the student. Women in crisis cannot beg for help.
The article above states: "To counteract the negative press, says Rosica, author of Authentic Brand, UVA needs to raise awareness of domestic violence."
According to the Daily Progress, attendees at graduation this weekend will don white ribbons as a "pledge to reject domestic violence". The white ribbon campaign at UVa came about after a group of 30 concerned students, faculty and community members gathered last week to come up with a response to Love's death. The ribbons are being paid for by $2,000 from a pool of private funds in the Office of Student Affairs that finances student-led initiatives, a UVa spokeswoman said. Along with wearing the white ribbons on their gowns at graduation, they decided, the organizers would encourage supporters to take action in other ways, such as DONATING MONEY to UVa's Women's Center, which provides help for students who are victims of sexual and domestic violence.
DONATING MONEY. That's what it's all about. No committee of parents and former victims who know the failures of the existing system coming together to work on a better way of doing business. Just more money for a useless Women's Center that wants to put out flyers about domestic violence. Who do they help? They are a nice to have group of feel good people who do nothing to implement policy or demand a violence free environment for all women. They don't stop rape, they don't ask for predators to be removed from the campus. They are feminists with several agendas, and rape is not their priority. Yup, business as usual at the UVA campus.
OOps, before Jake jumps on it - the Women's Center cannot stop rape, I shall reword that and say "they don't have a proactive agenda with the students to address rape issues."
@Hmmm - question - are you a student at UVA?
Just what needed - more doggerel verse.
@Hmmm - Per the UVA Honor website: Each student is charged with the responsibility to refrain from dishonorable conduct. By today's standard, an honor offense is defined as an intentional act of lying, cheating or stealing which warrants permanent dismissal from the University. Three criteria determine whether or not an honor offense has occurred:
* Act: Was the act of lying, cheating or stealing committed?
* Intent: Was the act committed willfully or intentionally?
* Non-triviality: Would open toleration of such an act violate or erode the community of trust?
All the elements apply to rape. Rapists lie. They steal a person's soul. They willfully commit the act. Allowing a rapist to walk the grounds erodes the community of trust.
Who killed Morgan UVA?
Spring in Cville
Flowers, the lawn
Rugby Road
The corner
Hey remember those bones? That girl?
Well she wasnt from the University anyway
And we need to take care of our own
So, too bad for her
Let’s get on with our lives
That was some night wasnt it?
Kind of a rush
She shouldnt have been out
She was probably drinking
So, she deserved it
She wasnt from the University anyway
And we need to take very good care of our own
Those guys are usually decent
And she probably deserved it
Too bad for her
We take care of our own
Go Wahoo
the trend continues Another girl dead.
Susan you are correct and keep fighting. If the administration didnt allow this type of behavior to go on, we may not have seen the last murder at UVA. The people who are fighting you on these and other boards just want to go back to business as usual. Interesting that in the conservative muslim law a woman's testimony is half the value of a man's. Looks as though at UVA, it isn't even that. All the smarmy speeches about "We have lost one of our own" doesn't hide the fact that 1. people knew he was beating her and didn't do anything, and 2. the University is very busy distancing itself from any liability on this (as on otherfemale-violence issues). Gil Harrington said there was a killer loose in Charlottesville. There was one and there still is another one loose. 241OK
I am sure that the Sexual Assault Board needs to be dramatically reformed if not revamped altogether, but its purpose and authority are quite different from those of the Honor Committee. Comparing the university's treatment of cheating and sexual assault just tends to confuse the issue for people not familiar with the setup of the Honor Committee and UJC.
@JJ - well, everyone knew back then because he was running for Student Council President when he raped my daughter. (People told my daughter they weren't surprised that he raped her - just as they probably told Yeardley Love that "George is like that".) Dean Rue did not want to disrupt the elections and stalled my daughter from taking action. I am sure the UVA Police mishandled the investigation because of the StudCo elections. THAT would have made some headlines, wouldn't it?
My ex-husband died, so he's waiting at the Pearly Gates for C to get there. That is where his final judgement will come.
@Hmmm - The Sexual Assault Board is a joke. Unless you are a victim, you would not know what a joke the SAB truly is. It's a joke because the victim must face her attacker and defend herself (does that ever happen in civil court?). She is not allowed to have family or friends in the room for support. She is not allowed to respond to untruthful testimony or innuendoes made by the accused. The SAB is an unfair, biased process designed to deter victims from following through with a trial. A Freedom of Information Act request confirmed that the panel that heard my daughter's case was not trained in sexual assault awareness nor had they been trained in victim post-traumatic stress disorder. The Panel Chair limited the evidence my daughter could present but allowed the young man to spontaneously introduce evidence throughout the procedure. The Panel Chair, Dean Shamin Sisson, was not without prejudice. The panel was instructed to use the higher Standard of Proof of "Clear and Convincing" for a finding of guilty, which is a violation of Title IX Federal law. The panel chair advised my daughter that she would face Honor Charges if she publicly spoke about the trial or the results, a direct violation of the Clery Act.
The Panel made assumptions that were so far off the mark - for example, one panel member asked my daughter that since she was "not crying", was she really traumatized? Is that a proper question? No. It was not a board of peers - it was run by Dean Sisson and the panel members included a grad student, a psych professor, and two administrative professionals who worked for Casteen. How unbiased is that? The psych professor was not even paying attention - after 6 hours of testimony, he asked my daugter "So how long have you two been dating". They never dated, never had a relationship. The Board was a flat out joke and the students should demand the system to be changed.
But...I guess that was not under Casteen. My apologies.
"Name for all of us a SINGLE incident where a UVA student HERE in Charlottesville has been publicly named in a DIP and/or violent incident that did NOT end with a dead body.. Are you seriously suggesting there have been NONE in the past two decades??"
One year over two decades (1989)- when I was a first year student, our Honor Committee Chair had to step down due to at least one DIP, accompanied by assaulting a police officer and maybe a DUI. It was covered in the Washington Post and locally. There were no dead bodies.
Peace
POST TODAY FROM FINDMORGAN.COM from Gil Harrinton
Maybe they are starting to get it. To listen to the clamor of voices that ask for/demand acknowledgement and justice for the crimes against them.
I love the ââ?¬Å?white ribbon campaign against violence” to be distributed at graduation at UVA this week. There must be more attention given to violence on campus, and 25 thousand white ribbons is an awful lot of stuff to sweep under the rug.
Kent State, 4 dead changed the direction of the nation. At UVA 6 dead, nothing. How can this be? Here in Virginia we literally are having kids heads placed at our feet and we do”Š.nothing?
One factor sociologists use to evaluate the development of a culture is to assess how that group cares for its women and children. Your statistics on this don’t look good. Parents send their precious children to college to gain skills for life; not to have their lives snatched away.
A prestigious degree is nice, but we as parents need to factor into the cost of that prestigious degree, will our kid make it out alive?
2 4 1
"I’ve heard it was a whole lot more than alcohol. Keep in mind Casteen and Littlepage are on record as saying they drug test their lacrosse players. Everyone at UVA knows that is not true, but NONE of them will dare come out and say it."
EVERYONE knows its true, eh? And NO ONE will dare come out and say it...except you???
All DIV I athletes are subject to drug testing by the NCAA. Should UVa have its own drug testing system in addition to that? Not exactly cheap.
Sealed documents protecting people from knowing what Huguely was flying on arranged by a secret order on behalf of someone (Casteen).. ANOTHER murder investigation suddenly shrouded in secrecy, and the media "being blocked by police and prosecutors with zero interest in sharing those details and little to no legal leverage for us to do anything about it."
And what is the response of this local media to being stonewalled AGAIN? Well, a gushing, glowing, front page interview with none other than Casteen himself - of course!
Casteen has achieved a kind of North Korean despot's control over this town, and especially it's media.
The Casteen Cloaking Device, enabled before your eyes. Watch Huguely Toxicology report and other details in ANOTHER student murder investigation vanish, right before your eyes..
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene/from-the-courthouse/court-b...
"The order explaining why those records are closed to the public was itself sealed by a judge -- an action that violates state law and Virginia Supreme Court guidelines, according to a petition filed May 11 by The Washington Post and other news organizations."
See what I mean, folks? Even if the cops are asking STUDENTS to call them and give them info about who was at Anchorage Farm the last few years... Even if they are talking about frat parties there.....
then that, of course, means that the cops don't know what they are talking about! Because, of course, there is no way that there could be a murderer going to UVA. Oh, wait, we gotta amend that now to "more than one murderer per year" going to UVA..
OK. Got it.
ITJ,
Unless you work for the Hook (who waited a long time as it was), you did NOT cover the shirt until the cops confirmed it was hers! Nobody did except the Hook.
***
Sean, you're wrong (surprise, surprise). The C-ville Weekly first published a piece on their website saying that the shirt had been discovered. It was right after Harrington's body was discovered but before police confirmed that the shirt was Harrington's.
http://www.c-ville.com/index.php?cat=1991704080566501&act=post&pid=12032...
http://readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2010/04/15/pantera-find-shirt-...
If they covered, then tell us what issue was the article was printed in? What date? What page?
Same goes for covering a student dropping dead in the SERP house 6 weeks ago.
What issue, what date, what page?
C-Ville Weekly is the worst of the local bunch pretending for a moment that they are journalists. Note their glowing, gushing editorial about him last week - and their front page interview with the creep this week.
Casteen's very consistent and continuing support for in house abortions at his publicly funded school and cover ups of all drug use at same is what really makes the eyelashes flutter in appreciation of him in the C-Ville Weekly offices.
@Susan: Rape IS an administrative issue when it comes down to the student's continued status in the University. The Va. Code 18.2-10 lays out the penalties for felony crimes. It does not include removing a student from an institution. That is outside the criminal justice system's power, and must be handled by the University.
So again, when you are comparing cheating and rape, you are comparing apples and oranges. One is handled by the students, who they alone get to decide whether or not zero tolerance applies, and one is handled by the administration.
How is FERPA being inappropriately utilized? FERPA requires consent in order to disclose elements of their records. If a student doesn't consent, they're protected. When I was an RA at a different undergrad, we couldn't even disclose whether or not the student lived on campus due to FERPA.
@Jake: My question is: UVA supports Zero Tolerance for Cheating, but not for Rape? Why?
Are you saying that rape is an administrative problem and the Honor Code need not apply? In Virginia, rape is a felony crime and should never be handled as an administrative matter. That's my point.
I have no issue with FERPA - when used properly.
The Sexual Assault Board sounds like something from a dark absurdist novel. How the hell is a young woman who just went through the most traumatic experience of her life put in a position like that? Her alleged RAPIST gets to look her in the eye, confront her and ask her questions?
Why is there a seperate SAB? Shouldn't it handled by the police only? What is the purpose of the SAB?
If a 18 year old living in apartment was raped by a 19 year old neighbor, she would have the police?DA handle the investigation. It should be the same for UVa.
It certainly sounds like the SAB effectively limits and minimizes the chances of a rapist being held accountable. I wonder if that is its (unstated) purpose-protect UVa?
I have no idea that is how rape cases are handled. I gotta run I got more to say later on.
You clearly still hold a great deal of hurt and anger over the situation your family endured which is understandable. However, the information I provided is not inaccurate. I realize that trying to discuss this topic in a posting that a handful of people will read is futile. What is important is that places like the Women's Center and CAPS are available to students who want to talk to someone about mental health issues they are facing. In this case, a student who is experiencing domestic violence/sexual assault or knows someone who is should contact one of these organizations (in addition to the police) for help in dealing with their psychological trauma.
"The link you cite states that the Commonwealth will prosecute if ”Š. that ââ?¬Å?IF” is the key ”Š IF there is sufficient evidence. IF the UVA cops do their job properly”Š."
What message do we send rapists if you prosecute a case that absolutely cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt: Do it and you'll be found not guilty by the highest possibly standard?
It looks to me that the local Commonwealth's Attorneys should be demanding that U.Va. police conduct competent investigations (which they often seem ill equipped to do generally) or that the local police departments have jurisdiction over the the investigations. The CA's are supposed to be tough on crime - what's their take on this?
@Hmmm-Remember the Camblos vs Lunsford Albemarle Commonwealth Attorney race. During one of their fiery debates they debated over the way my daughter's case was handled. Ms Lunsford asked for my help, won her seat, and I never heard from her again ..... Disappointing.
@Jake: your answer is in Hmmm's statement. I don't advocate prosecuting without the evidence. IF the UVA cops had done their job, there WOULD HAVE BEEN evidence. Det Coles didn't interview anyone who had been with my daughter that night or in the days following the rape. The rapist's story did not match my daughter's - but Coles decided he was telling her the truth, so she ended the investigation and left my daughter a voice mail on her cell saying "I don't see any reason to take this to the Commonwealth. Good Luck." Three weeks later, after my calls to Lt Gibson, she was removed from the case and Det Marshall was assigned. He acquired new evidence, took pictures, interviewed people, and told me that there was no doubt in his mind that my daughter was raped. He never submitted a police report. Not one of Marshall's comments or findings was put in writing. Is that proper protocol? What does a person do when the police mishandle an investigation?
The CA and the University want a positive relationship. They aren't going to step on each other.
If any group wants to speak with me, drop me a note at .
*************************************
These boards have turned into my story ---- let's get back to the real story ---- should UVA make changes or continue to deflect the blame onto others?
UVa disciplinary boards have no business handling felony cases. End of discussion.
If the University wants to have a policy for handling students who have been convicted of serious crimes by the courts that is fine.
Lets say at a workplace an employee sexually assaults a co-worker. After he is convicted in court his employment is terminated, fine. But don't have a supervisor or HR person hearing the case and ruling against the victim and then forbidding her to discuss the case under penalty of dismissal. But that is what the UVa SAB board does.
I have long had high regard for the Womens Center, for Claire Kaplan, for SARA, etc. I like to think that their failure to act is because their hands are tied by powers from above. The University administration could make things very difficult for them.
Susan, I admire your courage for posting here, and all I can say is keep on fighting!
Maybe UVA does need to be hit by a huge lawsuit by someone who was victimized and who did not receive justice.
Deleted by moderator.
Sean, I was looking at your website: uvalies.org
The problem with saying that "uvalies" is that "Uva," as opposed to just a part of UVa, is a huge university of many pieces. So you're accusing 20,000 people of all ages, races, and occupations, who are undergraduates, graduate students, professors, custodians, physicians, etc. of lying. Without picking out even one person by name, it means nothing to say that "uvalies." It's like saying "Americans lie!"
So by insulting tens of thousands of people at once, you're not really insulting anyone, accusing anyone of anything, or proving that anyone has done anything at all, right?
No one is going to be offended by your website, because if doesn't accuse anyone of anything. There are always two sides to every medical treatment, right?
Although I don't like the fact that President Casteen seemed to be anti-athletics, maybe it's good that he stood up to sports. Someone has to. UVa is a real university, not a sports factory like Duke where the fans run the school!
I think that Sean would have fit in better academically and socially at Liberty University.
@hmmm-you're just one of casteen's lackeys.
how much is he paying you to discredit the valiant keyboard crusader known around these parts as "sean"?
Hmmm, you express how I feel exactly. Sean just does not like the University, for whatever reason. And his reference to those on the "far left" totally offbase.
I am pro-choice, pro women's rights,belong to NOW, and have posted previously how the fraternity culture contributes to the oppression of women.
Its those on the Right that have been an obstacle to women's rights, attacking groups like Planned Parenthood,trying to overturn Roe vs. Wade, calling lesbian mothers unfit parents ,and so on.
In some ways when UVa was an all-male school the problem was worse-because excessive drinking that went along with the fraternity culture was not seen as a problem. And imagine how many women who were brought in from women's colleges must have been sexually assaulted. At least now alcohol and substance abuse is at least seen as a problem, not something to be accepted. And how the University finally realized that Easters was a disaster waiting to happen and abolished it.
Actually, we got the goods on him via a Freedom of Information Act request to Richmond last year. It took him about 18 months to import someone willing to do the beheadings, so they actually started in 1991. They got 309 in despite starting late that year. Given the medical numbers, at least 2 or 3 of those UVA alumni have given birth extremely preterm since then to children with developmental disabilities. Probably many more.
In 1990, he was busy building Elson, the Teen Death Center, and organizing the Peer Death Educators to coordinate everything. It was from the beginning a very coordinated effort, and led to the resignation of some at the hospital who retained their medical ethics. Meanwhile, 3 frats got caught by the C-Ville police with a ridiculous amount of cocaine in 1991, back before he could squash such stories.
Roe/Wade was a court precedent based on a lie that a woman was told to tell about a rape by NARAL/PP activists. It is not a law. Jane Roe herself has petitioned the court to overturn it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQzdMv6nW4o
As for the medical literature, we've done our homework:
http://uvalies.org/birthdefects.html
Notice that nobody can refute any of the facts I have put up here, except that Casteen worked for Robb in Richmond, not DC - which I daresay is not that significant a mistake, but a mistake nonetheless.
That's the best they can do to divert/distract/ignore/confuse the history and science related to their opposition to human rights.
@Sean
-Do you know what percentage of female students at UVa have requested, taken, or tried the pill? Is it significantly different than other public universities?
-"so many dead students"
How many students died during his tenure?
20 years with 20,000 students a year=a lot of young people. There were bound to be deaths by natural and unnatural causes. Were the number of deaths during his time here stastically significant? What I mean is, does this number differ from the total number of deaths from comparable population groups over the same time span?
Casteen worked for Chuck Robb in DC. nuff said.
***
You really have no clue. Robb became a US Senator in 1989. Casteen was president of U-Conn at that time and then became U.Va.'s president. Casteen served as Virginia's Secretary of Education when Robb was governor. It will probably surprise you, but the capital of Virginia is Richmond.
Thousands of female alumni will now get breast cancer and have children preterm with birth defects to raise thanks to him and his doctors and nurses who have rejected Nuremberg and the UDHR and embraced the policy of Hitler and Mengele regarding abortion. They give away powerful steroids every day and make no mention that they cause ectopic pregnancy, stroke, and breast cancer. They know their victims will keep quiet, and they control local media anyway.
***
You really need professional help, Sean.
Casteen worked for Chuck Robb in DC. nuff said. He also completely revamped the student health service to transform it into the dishonest, pill pushing, and beheading machine that it is today. Thousands of female alumni will now get breast cancer and have children preterm with birth defects to raise thanks to him and his doctors and nurses who have rejected Nuremberg and the UDHR and embraced the policy of Hitler and Mengele regarding abortion. They give away powerful steroids every day and make no mention that they cause ectopic pregnancy, stroke, and breast cancer. They know their victims will keep quiet, and they control local media anyway.
So........ How many murders have there been at Liberty this past year? How many bodies in the morgue? How many sexual assaults? How many drunk in public arrests? How many assaults on police? How many rapes? What do you think those numbers look like at Eastern Mennonite University? Does anyone REALLY want to compare the numbers at schools with a different culture with UVA?
I didn't think so..
As for the sexual abuse and rape cover ups, medical misinformation, and destruction of womens health as well as their children at Planned Parenthood - all my friend Lila Rose has done is simply repeat the words that PP staffers have said on tape completely out of their own free will. Since they have no comeback that is rational or scientific in nature, all they can do is try and suggest that repeating PP's own words and playing video of their own pro rape, pro death, pro birth defects is somehow "attacking" them.
The UVA Health System engages in exactly the same things. At least everyone knows what PP is up to behind its walls, and who comes out of their buildings in the medical waste garbage. But UVA is a state funded university, and people who actually support human rights and have a conscience who go there and/or spend their money there are kept completely in the dark as to what Mr. Casteen started therein 1991.
Fortunately, they are having quite a problem now inside the hospital. Nurses of conscience are refusing to even prep someone for an elective abortion. A manager took me and one of my activist group members up to where they do the dirty deeds on the 8th. floor for a photo shoot recently. They are having to reschedule abortions for particular days when a series of people are on duty at the same time. There's only one ghoul, bottom feeder "doctor" who will do the beheadings at UVA, and just a few nurses who will help count the fingers and toes - and make sure the severed head is intact.
www.uvalies.org/peerdeath
Covering up aftermaths, manipulating local media, obstructing justice, and fostering and protecting the culture that contributed to so many dead students is John Casteen's legacy at UVA. It goes hand in hand with his secret in house abortions program.
Let’s review, shall we?
Here is opinion # 1:
ââ?¬Å?It will be necessary to open special institutions for abortions and doctors must be able to help out there in case there is any question of this being a breach of their professional ethics.”
Adolph Hitler.
Here is opinion # 2:
ââ?¬Å?WHEREAS the child, by reason of his or her physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth”
United Nations Declaration of The Rights of the Child
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Keep in mind that the latter was written in large part as a direct response to human rights abuses of the axis powers during WW2, and performing abortions is one of the things doctors were convicted of ââ?¬â?? and executed for ââ?¬â?? at the Nuremberg trials. There is no escaping from this stark contrast, no matter how fervent you are in not wanting to think about it. There is absolutely no middle ground whatsoever between Hitler’s policy and the UDHR, and that includes the Declaration of Geneva which was also reaffirmed in response to the Nazi Doctor’s Trial:
ââ?¬Å?I will maintain the utmost respect for human life, from the time of its conception; even under threat, I will not use my medical knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity; I will practice my profession with conscience and dignity”
So when Mr. Casteen brought in house beheadings to UVA hospital - it was just one part of covering the culture at his school - the one he wanted to protect. And in doing so he rejected Geneva, the UDHR, and Nuremberg - all of which were specifically written to see to it that Nazi medicine would never return to planet earth. The foundations of the abortion movement, politically and medically, were in the Third Reich - and were the natural outcome of the eugenics movement that was also quite popular at UVA between the world wars.
You can try to divert attention away from history just like you try and do the same now with modern science and medicine. But none of it will magically become true - or vanish - simply because you want it to.
This can be seen in the same light as the Harrington details being kept quiet, the frat guy dropping dead not being news somehow, and the documents being seized last week in the Huguley/Love case. The repercussions at UVA are simply not spoken of. That way, the culture gets protected, and continues. Notice that, even now, there is a cloak of silence as to what fraternity Huguley was in (DEKE), what happened there a few weeks back, what he was doing in the hours before the killing - and so on. The bodies piling up at UVA this past year did not change anything. "Just keep it quiet" has survived, and commencement came and went without a hitch.
Oh, and, Casteen is not retiring. He is continuing his tradition the last 20 years by going to work for Altria and selling cigarettes to teenagers.
Sean, Casteen didn't bring abortion to U.Va. Medical Center. It was legalized by the US Supreme Court in 1973.
I have a current friend who was a member of one of the houses that got busted with 8 kilos of coke.
Notice, still, nobody can refute any of the history or the science noted/linked above.. =o)
But it should be mentioned that for C-Ville druggies and dope smokers - no amount of rape, torture, and killing in Mexico or Columbia will EVER dissuade them from getting high and financing it.
They will go on and on about about human rights, as long as it has nothing to do with the human rights accords I listed, or interferes with their drug habits. These are some seriously callous and cruel people.
"Performing abortions is one of the things doctors were convicted of ââ?¬â?? and executed for ââ?¬â?? at the Nuremberg trials"
Do you have a source for this? To my knowledge no one at any of the nuremberg trials was convicted, or executed, for performing an abortion on a willing patient.
You never answered or addressed any of my questions...
-Do you know what percentage of female students at UVa have requested, taken, or tried the pill? Is it significantly different than other public universities?
(The same goes for abortions)
-”so many dead students”
How many students died during his tenure?
20 years with 20,000 students a year=a lot of young people. There were bound to be deaths by natural and unnatural causes. Were the number of deaths during his time here stastically significant? What I mean is, does this number differ from the total number of deaths from comparable population groups over the same time span?
Sean, as usual, knows absolutely nothing about history:
"Legalization of abortion was first widely discussed in Germany during the early 20th century. During the Weimar Republic, this discussion led to a reduction in the maximum penalty for abortion, and in 1927 to the legalization - by court decision - of abortion in cases of grave danger to the life of the mother.
In Nazi Germany, the penalties for abortion were increased again. From 1943, abortion was threatened with the death penalty. [1] On the other hand, abortion was at times forced upon members of parts of society that were considered undesirable."
Abortions were among the crimes listed in the judgments in the Nuremberg trials. The infamous Dr. Mengele pioneered more efficient and "safe" ways of completing the procedure while doing them at Auschwitz. Many years after the war, he was arrested in Argentina for performing an abortion on a woman who later also died herself.
http://www.uffl.org/vol%203/hunt3.pdf
3 students have died in the past academic year at UVA. 2, probably 3, of them needlessly. Is there another school of similar size where that has happened this past year?
As for the steroids, student health admitted a few years ago that the number of female students on them was in excess of 60%. They STILL market them as cancer inhibitors many years after they were proven to cause breast cancer, liver cancer, and cervical cancer. The protective effects regarding uterine and ovarian cancer are no where near the numbers of the previous three.
The Mayo clinic concluded that a college aged parous women on them was increasing her breast cancer risk 40%. When the pill arrived in 1960 - one in 25 women got breast cancer in the US. Now it is at one in 8. This is the same regime of misinformation and the destruction of women's health that Planned Parenthood partakes in. UVA copied their business plan. It's quite a scam if you can sell tens of thousands of steroids to unsuspecting women, and then years later make more money treating the breast cancer you gave them.
Left column here:
http://www.uvalies.org/breastcancer.html
This, too, is Mr. Casteen's legacy at UVA.
3 students have died in the past academic year at UVA. 2, probably 3, of them needlessly. Is there another school of similar size where that has happened this past year?
***
How dumb are you?
Sorry, but you seem to be very misinformed, Sean. As the National Cancer Institute of NIH says, studies of the effects of oral contraceptives on breast cancer have been inconsistent, and there are possible short-term effects. This is nothing like the bally-hoo you are making this out to be.
And yes, Cornell University has had more deaths than University of Virginia this past semester. Sorry to burst your bubbles. Maybe you can go hide now?
Clearly this issue has something to do with the Love killing, but I digress.
The American Cancer Society cites two large scale researches done by Harvard and Denmark that specifies no linkage between abortion and breast cancer. The NEJM cites studies that shown no linkage between oral contraceptives and breast cancer.
Women take the pill for a reason, and that is to not get pregnant. If you want to get pregnant so much, a sex change operation is always possible.
No amount of medical science or historical facts will disuade the killing lobby from their views. Their politics trumps their science - no matter what. They can do nothing but divert, distract, ignore, and try to change the subject.
It matters not how many peer reviewed meta analyses you cite. It matters not how many women have died and are dying as we speak. It matters not how the rates of breast cancer have risen catastrophically since 1960. The Mayo Clinic is crazy. The WHO is paranoid. The N.E. England Journal of Medicine is worthless.
All that matters to them is that people not notice, and women remain in the dark. Informing them of grave threats to their health may just be bad for them at the ballot box, and be really bad for steroid and abortion profits also.
It's a national mental illness that makes cancer causing steroids a crime for men, but "health care" for women.
http://bcpinstitute.org/steroid_brochure.htm
http://breastcancer.about.com/b/2010/01/08/abortion-birth-control-pills.htm
Well, a common theory is that Huguely had "Roid Rage" when he did this. But again we hear people trying to tell us that steroids only cause cancer in men, not women.
Perhaps the graph on this page can wake people up to what a META analysis is??
http://polycarp.org/statement_mayo_clinic_article.htm
Probably not, but it's worth it for the others that might come here and get educated to what so many around here want to keep them from knowing. And that included John Casteen the last 20 years.
Also, these steroids work both before and after conception. Another fact that UVA makes sure not to tell their students. It's called breakthrough ovulation, and it happens more often the longer you're on them.
As for the connection of abortion to breast cancer, it is not disputed in any way that a college aged woman delaying first full term pregnancy is increasing her breast cancer risk. Even the undisputed facts never get told to UVA women, however. As our websites mentions, the other connection - while making perfect sense by way of what happens to breast cells when a pregnancy is suddenly, violently, terminated - is in dispute, but the overwhelming data is coming out anyway. It is the political nature of this issue, and the NCI and FDA itself, that has stalled it. Perhaps another graph will help:
http://polycarp.org/overviewabortionbreastcancer.htm
The data presented by these doctors who support human rights is very thorough, and compelling - but I am sure that plenty of people will simply just refuse to take their blinders off and attack me instead. There's really not much else they can come back with, after all.
It's OK. I like it.
No, this medical misinformation is not exclusive to UVA. It is, indeed, very popular - and profitable. The abortion and pharmaceutical industries are exceptionally powerful with their campaign money. The point here is that UVA under Casteen wanted a piece of the profits themselves, and had no business doing so as a state funded institution where 59% of the voters just elected a very pro life governor.
Lionel-Not a single doctor was executed at the any of the Nuremburg trials for performing abortions on willing patients. He's misinformed.
"UVA copied their business plan. It’s quite a scam if you can sell tens of thousands of steroids to unsuspecting women, and then years later make more money treating the breast cancer you gave them."
LOL!
Sean, you wrote, "3 students have died in the past academic year at UVA. 2, probably 3, of them needlessly. Is there another school of similar size where that has happened this past year?"
Cornell is similarly sized (about 20,000 total each). Cornell had eleven student deaths this past academic year. Six of them were suicides and five were illness/accidents.
You ask questions, hoping no one does the research to prove you wrong. You are L.A.Z.Y.
Huguely's "Roid Rage" has nothing to do with cancer in either men or women. As usual, you try to draw a tragedy into a pet campaign for abortions and birth control pills, which doesn't concern you anyways (at least, I do not think you are taking them).
http://www.acsevents.org/docroot/cri/content/cri_2_6x_can_having_an_abor...
As the American Cancer Society (clearly more notable than "your websites") concludes in 2009, the public is not well-served by false alarms. Please stop spreading false alarms.
So what's the deal with this Cannan fellow? He even has a crackpot Facebook gorup with an impressive 40 followers:
http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=12881078955#!/group.php?gid=12881078955&v=wall
And he's listed as a "VCCS Grad Student '10." Isn't VCCS the community college system? How do they have grad students?
Apparently the tragic numbers from Cornell are surprising to you, at least, since you didn't know them when you threw out your "is there another school of similar size where that has happened this year?"
I dated a gal last year who came to visit me from Yale grad school (nursing). She got her undergrad degree from Brown. She confirmed that the Ivy League is absolutely crawling with kids from prep schools who bring their heavy drug habits to college - and that most students therein do them to some extent. The tragic numbers from Cornell are not surprising. Another looney left partisan school, like the rest of the Ivy League. I'm betting Liberty and Eastern Mennonite have much better records.. It's all about the culture that you let flourish - or don't.
I'm betting Huguley was flying on something when this happened. I've heard he was 8 balling, but I dunno. These crimes don't happen at 2 pm. He may just have been blackout drunk, though. He certainly was before. This is why I think the documents have been sealed. Huguely will cop a plea, and when he does - what was in his bloodstream that night forever remains a secret. He was probably doing whatever he was doing with plenty of other students that night, and the other nights he attacked people. Nobody will say a word. Not even now. Not even Ms. Love's friends. Casteen has their back, and spun this one death into a "gender violence" schtick. The dead guys - and that Hokie Morgan Harrington - got none of his attention - other than to keep things as quiet as possible in all cases.
Well, clearly you have never been to a college if you think this "party culture" is abnormal... heh. And Ivy Leagues are loony schools now? Too bad all of their graduates make more than you, who is sitting on your computer typing random nonsense.
And no, the attack did not happen at 2 pm. Good of you to point that out.
William and Mary had 4 suicides in one year a few years back, if I remember correctly.
I've never heard anyone refer to our website as one that insults and accuses every members of the UVA community. Indeed, the members thereof in both the school and the hospital that I meet and plan with have never mentioned such a silly notion to me.
I think you just somehow figured out a way to miss what everybody else gets. That is, that is is the UVA administration, and the medical professionals that they have put it place to do their dirty work wo are the legitimate targets that we are shining a light on. And that includes the Peer "Health" Educators. Indeed, we mention quite a few of them by name on this page:
http://uvalies.org/peerdeath.html
I made a decision a few months ago not to provide the name of the guy at UVA hospital who actually does the beheadings and signs the dishonest consent form.
The point, which the vast majority of people seem to get, is that UVA as an institution is dishonest every day with regard to its policy of medical misinformation. It was actually a challenge to arrange the website into one that could cover all the lies they tell their own students every day without making the hompage look cluttered.
There are not two sides to every medical treatment. Women should never be given cigarettes and vodka to help them with their morning sickness.
Nor should women be kept in the dark as to grave threats to their health on behalf of profits, and a political agenda.
Nor should a university be actively causing needless birth defects.
But UVA is doing both of the latter things.
I doubt that the few of our group members who attend UVA who even have the guts to show themselves on our facebook group do so because they feel our website insults them and all their colleagues. Nor do the many others who keep a lower profile publicly to avoid damage to their grades or jobs.
Sean's just excited because someone finally raised a point that he could actually refute, unlike the accurate eviscerations of his exaggerated medical and epidemiologic claims.
It’s worth asking everyone one more time, and this includes the local media.. Why the hell would the UVA administration be allowed to suggest that they would have done something about Huguely’s arrest in in Lexington in 2008 when they cover up and do nothing about similar arrests of their students on their own campus ââ?¬â?? and do a perfect job of making sure that the local media does not cover any of it?
Somebody on the Cavalier Daily site actually took the time to go right to the UVA Police’s website and find their specific policy - and thus the administration’s own policy - on these matters:
ââ?¬Å?The University does not record statistics for crimes involving students that occur in other jurisdictions and are investigated by other local police agencies. Such criminal offenses are recorded by the jurisdiction where the crime occurs, however the University maintains good communication with other departments and tries to monitor incidents involving students in other local jurisdictions.”
http://www.virginia.edu/uvapolice/stats.html
There’s their own policy that Casteen & co. were hoping nobody would find, and proof of their lies in that press conference the other day. Note too that the local media "missed" it also. Missed as in, very purposely and obediently.
I'll give the Hook credit for daring to step out of line with Casteen regarding the Harrington investigation and actually print some evidence in a missing person's case as news - albeit late and reluctantly. That's more than you can say for Cathy Harding and the uber obedient C-Ville Weekly, or the other paper and networks in town. But even the Hook "misses" the really obvious stuff. They still, somehow, think a 21 year old student dropping dead in a frat house 6 weeks ago is, um, not news.. No, of course not. Why would that be news?
ssshhhhhhh..... just don't say anything... The Creep of Carr's Hill is almost outta here, and will be selling cigarettes to teenagers soon. Those folks on the west range of the lawn just have a few days left, too.
The stated policy that you quote does not contradict what was said in the press conference. It says that U.Va. does not keep statistics of crimes committed by students in other jurisdictions, unlike statistics for crimes committed on-grounds.
A GW student died over the weekend. I'm sure that you think its coverage or lack thereof is part of some massive U.Va. coverup. After all, who wouldn't want to read endless coverage about a death in a U.Va. fraternity house?
WHY won’t the police tell us what was in Huguely’s bloodstream that night. We all know they had to have tested it when they took him in. WHO do you think is making that become an ââ?¬Å?unstory” in this town like he has made so many other things an ââ?¬Å?unstory?”
***
Gee, maybe those test results will be used as evidence in a criminal trial.
The media in town are already back to doing what he tells them to. The only hope for positive change at this point is even ONE independent national journalist who can get a cop, a medical examiner, or someone inside Casteen ’s War Room to tell him or her the truth.
***
Sean, you're exhibiting all of the classic signs of paranoia. And pray tell, why won't any "independent national journalists" break this incredibly important story and expose this massive cover-up orchestrated by sinister forces? A small paper in Virginia recently won the Pulitzer for public service for exposing corruption. Maybe you can save us, Sean, with your amazing reporting and writing and win a Pulitzer in the process!
Hmmm, you're exhibiting all the characteristics of someone who very much wants everything to just be swept under the rug and never talked about. Three very young adults died at UVA this year, and all you are focused on is knowing as LITTLE as possible about all three. Hmmm, indeed.. Perhaps you could get a job at C-Ville Weekly - or NBC 29 ?
Toxicology results are routinely given to the media by prosecutors when it supports their case that the perp was out of control. Cops and prosecutors tend to get along. Hell, we even know what was in Michael Jackson's blood long before the trial starts.
But graduation is this weekend, after all.. Nobody at news desks around here wants to know what was in Huguely's blood. And Mr. Casteen does not want them to report on it if they do. He has 5 days left to keep the focus entirely on "gender violence," and what a hero he is saying it's bad. But Morgan Harrington won't be getting any such consideration. Mr. Casteen refused even to sign the Letter of Condolences that the VT president penned after her body was found at a remote farm where UVA frats had parties. Even the Cavalier Daily dared to cover that tidbit. Nobody else dared. I suspect you are quite happy with that.
If you have alternate reasons as to why the Harrington sighting on the lawn, the Pantera shirt found on 15th., a fraternity guy dropping dead on Rugby Road 6 weeks ago, or Huguely's BAC was of no interest and not news to TV networks and newspapers in a small city - then perhaps you could share that with us all. Please be specific, and include whether or not you were happy that these stories (evidence in 2 murder investigations at UVA and a 21 year old dropping dead at UVA) were not covered here as they would have been anywhere else.
In-Town Journalist,
Thanks for your candor, but really now..... WHO would it be that would be making sure you are all stonewalled until 2 days after graduation ??? Al Weed? Sissy Spacek? The Tooth Fairy?!
(pssst..take a look at who is giving the commencement address)
Please take a stab at the questions I asked Hmmm in my previous post also. How is it that YOUR news team somehow missed a 21 year old dropping dead in a frat house at UVA? Or a shirt exactly matching that of a missing woman in danger found in UVA-land?
gee..... Lots of crazy coincidences where news that would be BIG news anywhere else just simply vanishes around here, huh?
Did you see Cathy Harding's gushing praise for Casteen in this week's C-Ville Weekly issue?
Deleted by moderator.
We could have done better with the 21 year old. We covered the shirt. And lots more. I can't speak for Cathy.
@Sean "There is no interest in perhaps finding out which fraternities held parties recently at the farm where Morgan Harrington’s body was found"
Which fraternities had parties there and when? These events might only exist in Sean's delusions.
ââ?¬Å?It’s fair to say that if you’re a student, be that [at] U.Va. or any other university for that matter, and you participated in any other activities that involved Anchorage Farms, please call the number that I gave,” Rader said, adding that relevant activities may have taken place in years past. Hunting has taken place on the property, Rader said. He did not deny that fraternity parties may have occurred there or that activities may have occurred without the permission of the owners.
People familiar with North Garden or Anchorage Farms are encouraged to call 434-709-1685, Rader said.
http://www.cavalierdaily.com/2010/02/08/harrington-brief/
May I just reiterate the point that why are we focusing on who to blame when we already have the killer caught when we should be focused on the fact that a young beautiful woman is dead.
It really is a shame that it almost seems like everyone is so focused on UVA policy's faults (which I'm sure they are there, i haven't personally read the text) that they have forgotton about yeardley.
Sean, while some of your concerns may or may not be valid; the tragedy isn't casteen's supposed policies, it's the fact a young girl named Yeardley Love is dead in the prime of her life due to a senseless act of violence. I'm sure many people agree with me, stop. Just stop. now isn't the time, Casteen is leaving, what's done is done, the evidence in this high profile of a case (I'm looking at Yeardley's face on people magazine) will eventually be released, after the national press feeding frenzy is over. Respect the privacy of the Love family, every detail of the case doesn't need to be plastered on the news, so just stop.
Well, in addition to the online posts, it looks to be:
Issue #22.05 :: 02/02/2010 - 02/08/2010
http://www.c-ville.com/index.php?cat=121304064644348&z_Issue_ID=11800102...
Oh, and let me get this straight, U.Va. Medical Center performs medical procedures? The insight just keeps coming from Sean.
I love that people like Sean feel ENTITLED to know what Huguely's toxicology report says, as if it has any bearing whatsoever on his life. Sean can't handle the fact that at the end of the day these details are simply none of his business. Your own morbid curiosity isn't the concern of a prosecutor or a judge.
Wait until the trial. Patience is a virtue. If you want to be on the inside, join the police academy, the Department of Forensics Science, or become a prosecutor. Otherwise, chill out.
Correction to earlier: Perhaps since 2004 and the effects of the DOE Findings, the FERPA laws are better understood. (There have been no policy changes.)
See, Sean still doesn't get it that what he is touting as "the truth" is in reality, still not supported by many medical professionals, who all have more expertise than he does, including the NIH and the ACS. None of these esteemed organizations support Sean's claims, and to the contrary of what he is saying, there are studies that do not show what Sean is purporting to be increase in cancer.
Yes, you are pro-life, we get it, you want to stick your nose into women's business even though you do not have an uterus. Make your website simpler by changing the hostname to uvaisprochoice.com.
And really, I love how you are ranting about abortion and birth-control pills, and sticking your personal political agenda in completely unrelated news about Yeardley Love and George Huguely. How very very very appropriate.
HeHe, you clowns can't refute anything. All you can do is just hope nobody notices. If the science regarding birth defects and breast cancer is a fallacy, then so is the science regarding lung cancer and smoking. You might as well start selling thalidomide at Elson Student Center again while you're at it.
None of you can refute the two graphs I linked to, or the Mayo Clinic META analysis, or the conclusions reached by "pro choice researcher" Caroline Moreau. NONE of you. If you can, have at it. What is wrong with them? Where are the things that make them fundamentally flawed? Where is the bad science? Tell us all where the huge gap between what even a 7 year old could see looking at them, and what you clowns seem to know that makes them so flawed?
You support birth defects. You support Hitler's policy and reject the UDHR and Geneva. You support breast cancer. One in 8 as opposed to one in 25 in 1960 is fine by you. You are AOK with tearing someone's head off if only you decide for them that they are "unwanted" or "parasites." Nothing new about that..
It is relevant here as this is just another way that Mr. Casteen and his administration have been covering things up - and damaging the well being of the UVA student body in the process. Shielding and protecting the drug culture and violent offenders at UVA is yet another way.
If our data or claims were false or misleading, we would have been dragged to court two years ago. But it is Mr. Casteen who should be in court for destroying so many lives and destroying the health of his female students for so long by putting his politics and profits way ahead of medical honesty. It's completely fitting and in line with his tradition here that he is now trying to keep anyone from knowing what was in his student's bloodstream - even if they might have beat someone to death. It's what they've been doing with drugs and sexual assaults at UVA for 20 years.