Senior Class Gift set to break record, $60,000 raised
The class of 2007 has already contributed $60,000 to the College, with an 18 percent participation rate. The class is on its way to setting a fundraising record, according to an e-mail that Sam Sadler sent to members of the Class of 2007. No other class has ever raised that much money before holiday break. The goal for the year is to achieve a 67percent participation rate, according to Sadler.
“The Class of 2007 just may well be the most incredible class the College has seen. It certainly is to me,” Sadler told seniors. “Private giving is the only way we can be certain of the kind of steady income the College needs if it is to achieve and sustain its place among the best universities of the world.”
— by Maxim Lott
Spain may call for the extradition of Math professor
Spain’s supreme court ruled Tuesday that war crimes charges could be issued against three American soldiers who fired a tank shell into the Palestine Hotel in Iraq, killing a Spanish journalist and a Ukrainian cameraman. One of those soldiers is Philip De Camp, math professor at the College.
The three could face extradition requests, but the BBC reports it is unlikely that they will be turned over. The United States maintains that the three soldiers thought they were being shot at from the hotel when they fired the tank shell.
— by Maxim Lott
Man who raped student given two life sentences
Christopher Michael Evans, who was convicted of raping a College student near the health center in 2001, was sentenced to two consecutive life terms.
During the sentencing the judge noted that Evans had a long criminal record with one other serious crime, according to the Daily Press. The case went unsolved for four years until DNA evidence linked the crime to Evans. He still maintains his innocence, and has said that he feels sorry for the victim.
— by Maxim Lott
Business School’s accounting program ranks in top 25
The accounting program at the College’s Mason School of Business is one of the top 25 in the nation according to the Public Accounting Report’s Annual Professor’s Survey, published Oct. 30.
The undergraduate and graduate accounting programs ranked 23rd and 24th, respectively, in what the PAR has called the most competitive year in its 25-year history. Both accounting programs were unranked in the previous PAR survey.
The annual survey asks faculty in schools nationwide to name the undergraduate and graduate programs offering degrees in accounting that they feel most consistently turn out students capable of someday attaining partner status.
“To be considered in the top 25 of both rankings is a true measure of the quality of our program, our faculty and our students,” Mason School of Business Dean Lawrence B. Pulley ’74 said.
— by Andy Henderson
Business School teams win national competition
Teams from the College’s Mason School of Business won top awards at the Deloitte Tax Case Study National Competition. For the second year in a row, the College has swept both the undergraduate and graduate Tax Challenge divisions of the competition.
The College is still the only university to win both the undergraduate and graduate divisions in a single year. This is the sixth win in the last seven years for the College’s undergraduate team.
“This history-making accomplishment is nothing short of miraculous,” Mason School of Business Dean Lawrence B. Pulley said in a press release. “They remind us yet again of the caliber of our students and faculty and make us all very proud.”
The Deloitte Foundation — a nonprofit arm of Deloitte & Touche USA LLP that supports teaching, research and curriculum innovation in accounting, business and related fields — sponsored the Tax Challenge.
Held on the third weekend of November in Orlando, Fla., the Tax Challenge finals put each of the College’s teams in a field of six finalists selected from an initial pool of over 40 colleges and universities. Teams had five hours to complete a theoretical case study that required them to analyze information, identify issues and consider real-world challenges. Each team prepared a solution to its case and submitted it to a panel of Deloitte judges for evaluation.
The $28,000 combined winnings will be divided into $1,000 scholarships for each student and $20,000 for the College.
“It took a lot of preparation and the workload was intense, but in the end it was all worth it,” Wiggins, a student who took part in the competition, said. “It was an experience that I will never forget.”
— by Andy Henderson