THE CAVALIER DAILY Vol. 131, Issue 14 Thursday, March 18, 2021 MARTHA WILDING | THE CAVALIER DAILY 2019 CHAMPS Virginia returns to March Madness almost two years after NCAA title Pages 9-13 2 | www.cavalierdaily.com The Cavalier Daily NEWS Jewish students denounce Student This week in-brief Council candidate comments CD News Staff Jewish student leaders denounced recently-surfaced antisemitic comments made by Gavin Oxley, Student Council presidential candidate and third-year College student, in a letter Wednesday. In the comments, which were made in response to a pro-life Instagram Inter-Sorority Council announces plans to post, Oxley compared abortion to the Holocaust, calling abortion “the greatest genocide of all time.” resume in-person activities The letter was written by Jewish student leaders and has garnered 50 signatures from individuals representing organizations including the Jewish Leadership Council, the Jewish The Inter-Sorority Council announced in a statement Friday that they will resume in-per- Law Students Association, J Street U, CavPAC, Challah for Hunger and Hoos for Israel. son activities in strict compliance with University and state health guidelines. The statement “Antisemitism is on a stark and terrifying rise throughout the United States,” the letter was circulated internally by Clare Scully, ISC president and third-year Commerce student, and said. “In the face of such hate, it is our shared responsibility — both Jewish and non-Jewish comes after both the Inter-Fraternity Council and ISC banned in-person gatherings Feb. 26 — to call out antisemitism wherever it exists. Speech such as Mr. Oxley’s is dangerous and after both organizations faced criticism on social media for permitting in-person recruitment serves to perpetuate antisemitism in our community. Antisemitism, in all of its forms, has events. no place at the University of Virginia.” “Your due diligence over the past two weeks played an important role in overcoming the pre- In a statement to The Cavalier Daily, Oxley said that he stands by his comments. vious surge and seeing numbers subside,” the statement read. “Taking such measures are difficult, “When read in full context, it is clear that the comparison used was not to diminish the but the numerous downward trends are optimistic indications that we are on the right track.” tragedy that was the Holocaust, taking the lives of 6 million innocent children of God,” Ox- The IFC continues to maintain a ban on all in-person gatherings through the end of March. ley said. “This comment was instead clearly meant to promote the seriousness of abortion, In the statement, the ISC told members not to “support or attend” these events as any in-person which claims 125,000 innocent lives of the children of God every day. A life is a life. Simply fraternity events are in violation of IFC policy. put, there have been more deaths counted from abortion than the Holocaust.” U.Va. increases outdoor gathering limit to U.Va. reports 1,680 total spring cases, of 10, indoor gathering limit will remain at six which 1,447 are students The University increased its outdoor gathering limit to 10 individuals following declining case Since Jan. 1, the University’s COVID-19 tracker has reported 1,680 positive cases of coro- counts and positivity rates in the last several weeks, according to a Spring 2021 Update email sent navirus in the University community, which includes faculty, staff, students and contracted March 11. The gathering limit for indoor events will remain at six and beginning Friday, U.Va. employees. University students make up 1,447 of these positive cases. Feb. 16 marked the Dining facilities will also begin to operate at 30 percent capacity and students may sit together in highest number of daily reported cases since Jan. 1, recording 230 positive cases in the Uni- groups of four, an increase from the previous limit of two. versity community. Provided that organizations have a COVID-19 mitigation plan in place, students, faculty and Since the spike in cases the week of Feb. 15 — when the University reached a record-high staff are also permitted to volunteer with groups operating within the Blue Ridge Health Dis- percent positivity rate of 4.12 percent and a seven-day average of 112.3 cases per day — cases trict. Previously, the University limited volunteer activity to vaccinated individuals volunteering have steadily declined. As of Wednesday, 40 cases are active. There is currently a 0.18 percent as emergency medical technicians or firefighters. seven-day average positivity rate, which refers to the percentage of people who obtained Despite the relaxed restrictions, University leadership warned that it is still just as important positive test results out of all people tested, and a seven-day average of 3.7 new cases per day. for University community members to continue following masking requirements, social distanc- These numbers are only reflective of students who have tested positive through the Stu- ing guidelines, gathering limitations and travel restrictions — even if one has been vaccinated dent Health & Wellness or the U.Va. Health Clinic. for the virus. The dashboard also reports that 2 percent of the student quarantine rooms are currently “These changes are good news and a direct response to the much-improved conditions at occupied while 1 percent of the student isolation rooms are occupied. U.Va.,” the email said. “They are not a sign, however, that we are completely out of the woods. The threat of another spike in cases remains real, and if trends worsen, we will have to impose more strict public health measures again.” 3.11 3.12 3.15 3.17 Liu, Oxley discuss campaign visions at Student Council presidential candidate forum Third-year College students Abel Liu and Gavin Oxley fielded leadership being the most pressing issue at the University. The final question of the debate asked the candidates to differ- questions from The Cavalier Daily and community members at the When asked about freedom of speech on Grounds and in Stu- entiate themselves from their opponent. Liu pointed to his knowl- fifth annual Student Council presidential candidate forum Mon- dent Council, Liu brought up the new Lawn room policies that edge about the tactics and mechanics behind making policies, day night, which was co-hosted by The Cavalier Daily, University were implemented after some alumni and community members having served as Student Council representative prior to running Board of Elections and the U.Va. Democracy Initiative’s Student last fall called for the removal of Lawn room signs that contained for president and successfully lobbied and passed legislation in the Advisory Council. profanity and criticized the University’s history of enslavement. past. Liu also emphasized his platform that aims to involve mar- Throughout the forum, Liu and Oxley addressed their leader- Liu expressed his desire to meet with the Vice President and Chief ginalized student groups in Student Council and claimed he is “the ship priorities, dynamics within Student Council and the role of Student Affairs Officer and Dean of Students to reevaluate the only candidate in recent student council history” well trusted by student self-governance in promoting diversity and inclusion and new policies and placed particular emphasis on freedom of politi- these groups. supporting students during the pandemic. cal speech, referencing his goal of creating a new Arts and Political Oxley pushed back against Liu’s point by defending his own The two agreed that mental health is one of the top three issues Education Fund. qualifications. He claimed that he had never interacted with Liu facing students today. Liu stated that mental health is his top prior- Oxley stressed his desire for Student Council to be a “center before this debate and that Liu was in no position to speak on his ity followed by college affordability and the inability of students to for free speech,” which he claimed it hasn’t been for the past year qualifications. He urged voters to message him if they had concerns influence policy decisions. Oxley, on the other hand, believes that because “people who are involved in [Student Council] place them- about his qualifications and ended by stating that he was “coming disjunction of the social environment and a lack of qualified lead- selves on a higher standard and are trying to tell people what is in to fix our school without tearing it apart.” ership are two other important issues, with the lack of qualified protected speech and what isn’t protected speech.” NEWS Thursday, March 18, 2021 | 3 The following candidates did not respond to their respective surveys: STUDENT COUNCIL — Tristan Williams, Gabriela Hernandez, Bela Bhatnagar, Nina Santana, Jakob Martinez, Tyler Busch, Booker Johnson, Christian Ephriam, Akshitha Kalavakonda, Robert Brown, Jay Moody, Cooper Scher | UJC — Ania Szantruczek, Nabeel Raza, Noa Kipnis, Allegra Stewart, Samy Dahman, Nijat Khanbabayev, Donna Reynolds, Austin Amacher, Adam Younger, Max Nardi | HONOR — Savannah Holmes, Lucian Mirra, Kunal Chauhan, Joshua Fogel, Caitlin Kreinheder, Meghan Wingert, Christopher Benos, Deepa Patel, Robert Brown, Christina Rodriguez 4 | www.cavalierdaily.com NEWS Student Council presidential candidates share platforms The voting period began Wednesday at 10 a.m. and will close Friday at 4 p.m. Jee-Ho Kim | Staff Writer Two Student Council presidential versity was, Oxley focused on lack of candidates — third-year College stu- mental health resources and in-fight- dents Abel Liu Gavin Oxley — began ing within Student Council. campaigning Friday. Oxley is cam- At a meeting March 2, Nickolaus paigning as a solo candidate while Liu Cabrera, first-year College student is on the same ticket as uncontested and Student Council representative, candidates third-year College Cecilia abstained from a vote on a resolution Cain, who is running for vice president that denounced violence against the for administrations and second-year Asian Pacific Islander Desi American College student Ryan Cieslukowski, community and announced his inten- who is running for vice president for tion to propose legislation protecting organizations.