In an attempt to halt drunk driving between the 900 and 1000 blocks of Main Street, VCU Police will be establishing a sobriety checkpoint from 11 p.m. Friday to 3 a.m. Saturday morning.  Drunk drivers are advised to use Broad Street instead.  Media and other official folks wanting to watch cops bust drunk people should contact the VCU Police who will let you know where to get the best seats.

VCU’s President Eugine Trani has announced he will be resigning effective July 1, 2009:

He had previously planned to step down in 2010, but will now leave the post July 1, 2009, and become a professor at the university.

VCU officials have not confirmed his plans, but he has scheduled an 11 a.m. news conference today to make a major announcement

His earlier-than-planned resignation as president comes as his administration is under fire for its handling of the Rodney Monroe degree scandal. Monroe, Richmond’s former police chief, was awarded an undergraduate degree from VCU last year after earning just six credit hours at the university, despite VCU’s required 30 credit hours.

Trani, 68, has been recuperating from a quintuple coronary artery bypass surgery he had last month.

VCU Rector Thomas G. Rosenthal said today that Trani had made the decision to retire early over the weekend. He said the announcement has nothing to do with recent controversies that have roiled VCU — “Zip, zero, zilch.”

“This was his decision,” Rosenthal said. “It is 100 percent health related.”

Trani has done a number of great things for VCU during his tenure. It’ll be interesting how much of his vision out lasts him.

Read Trani’s letter after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

VCU is going to have its monthly siren test today.  Not sure if the media turnout will be similar to the last few times, but there’s currently a helicopter circling the campus.  Though that might be more tied to the excitement at University of Richmond yesterday than anything else.

VCU and basketball coach Anthony Grant have agreed to a contract extension that would keep Grant at VCU through 2014.  Good for VCU and hopefully really good for Grant

Jon Baliles says Ukrops is going to be shutting down it’s store at Harrison and Grace.  Man, there goes the closest salad bar.

19 year old Tyler Binsted was shot in the back in Byrd Park this morning after being robbed of his car keys:

Binsted, a sophomore sculpture major at VCU, was walking in the park with a friend when they were approached by two males, one armed with a gun. Binsted and his friend were robbed of their car keys, and he was shot in the back as they walked away.

The suspects fled in Binsted’s car, a navy blue Honda Accord, with Virginia license plate PHA 787. Police described the suspects as black males, between 14 and 17 years old, who were last seen driving toward South Richmond by the Boulevard Bridge.

Please be on the look out for these people and be careful.  And please keep Tyler’s family and friends in your prayers.  Tragic.

VCU beat Akron 57-52 and on national television no less.

The Russians aren’t coming!  From VCU:

This is a reminder that at noon tomorrow, Wednesday, Feb. 6, VCU will conduct a test of emergency sirens on its Monroe Park and MCV Campuses. Ten sirens will wail for two minutes, pause for about a minute, and then sound a one-minute “all-clear” even tone to end the test.

The full siren system will be tested along with text messages and other emergency communications channels, including digital signs, e-mails and Web site information.

This test is distinguishable from the first-Wednesday-of-the-month checks of the siren system that consist of 15-second bursts, and from other short bursts of the sirens that may occur occasionally during maintenance of the system.

In a real emergency, sirens will sound for four (4) minutes to signal that an immediate, life-threatening emergency has occurred or is imminent. The purpose of the siren is to alert people outside of campus buildings to immediately seek shelter and additional information. People in campus buildings should remain where they are and seek additional information about what is happening and how to respond. People off-campus should not come to campus but should seek additional information. Once the campus environment is determined to be safe, the “all clear” or even tone siren will be activated for two minutes.

Text messages will be VCU’s primary channel for rapid communications and information about emergencies and closings and delays for inclement weather. If you haven’t done so already, I urge you to sign up right now at www.vcu.edu/alert/notify.

VCU uses this clunky, not always working system called Banner to allow students to view their status, register for classes, get a copy of their transcripts, and all sorts of other things. They moved to this system a while back and keep adding features that don’t exactly work right. Now they’ve added a disclaimer I must accept before continuing:

Individuals using University technology resources agree to abide by applicable federal, state and University usage policies and standards, and agree to act in a responsible, ethical, and legal manner. For additional information please refer to the computing policies, including Computer and Network Resources Use and Information Security, located at http://www.ts.vcu.edu/policies and the Rights of Students Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) located at http://www.vcu.edu/enroll/rar/rights.html.

Use of these resources constitutes consent to monitoring such use. Users acknowledge that their activities may be monitored and that any misuse may be subject to University disciplinary action and legal prosecution. Although the University recognizes the ideals of privacy and confidentiality, users must be aware that any data contained in University systems may potentially be disclosed to authorized persons under provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, other state and federal laws and regulations, University policies or for appropriate University business needs.

Agreement to these terms of usage must be renewed each calendar year. If you agree, click Continue. Otherwise, please click Exit.

Which makes me wonder, who did what with Banner in the past to make this necessary? Maybe it’s because I’m all innocent and couldn’t possibly conceive what someone would do once they’re in Banner, but is this really needed? Ah well. Off to click “Continue”.

The air raid sirens atop VCU’s James Branch Cabell Library have gone off twice today.  Earlier today VCU claimed that last night’s false alarm was because of someone working on something or another on the roof setting it off.  No word on what today’s alerts were caused by.

The lack of response by students out on the street is to be expected.

Way to waste money, VCU.

VCU will be testing the emergency notification system at noon on Wednesday, Feburary 6th.

It’s halftime in the game between the Rams and Hurricanes in Puerto Rico and it’s not pretty. 

Miami is up over VCU 36-21.

VCU has 11 fouls to Miami’s 8 and no one on the Rams squad has more than 6 points.  VCU was more of a second half team last season, if that holds true here they might have a shot, but a 15 point deficit and so many fouls sure isn’t gonna help.

You can keep an eye on the game’s progress at ESPN here or you can listen in through WKAT 1360 Miami (just click “listen live”).

VCU loses, 69-63.  They were as close as four in the closing seconds but Miami held on.  Eric Maynor opened up late, scoring 23 of his 27 points in the second half.  Ah well.

The second half has just started in VCU vs. Houston down in Puerto Rico.  Houston is up 33-30.  Keep an eye on the box score here or you can listen live online here.

11:20am UPDATE: VCU wins 73-72.