University of Mary Washington

News

Fredericksburg Drops Charges Against 9 Arrested in Anti-Israel Protest

By Uriah Kiser

On Monday, June 10, and Tuesday, June 11, Fredericksburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Elizabeth K. Humphries dropped charges against the nine students arrested and charged with trespassing during an anti-Israel campus protest on April 27. Humphries opted to prosecute three more individuals arrested on that date who were not students. Each was sentenced to 20 hours of community service.

The protestors ignored commands to leave the area after officers declared an unlawful assembly, also known as a riot. The University of Mary Washington has stonewalled this news organization in its many attempts to learn the identities of those charged. Humphries failed to include the identities in a lengthy four-page statement about her decision.

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Business

UMW’s Small Business Development Center helps local businesses grow and expand

By Mike Salmon
UMW's Small Business Development Center has worked with Olde Towne Butcher

Making it as a small business today can be difficult, but small business leaders in the Fredericksburg area can look to the University of Mary Washington’s Small Business Development Center for lessons on succeeding. The center guides future entrepreneurs in pursuit of economic growth through education, consulting, connecting, and supportive research.

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Politics

New poll shows tight presidential race in Virginia

By Uriah Kiser
Donald Trump campaigns at the Prince William County Fairgrounds in 2015.

In a recent political survey conducted by John Zogby Strategies, the competition between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump appears to be heating up in Virginia, with Trump holding a narrow lead.

The poll, conducted from April 13 to April 21, 2024, involved 23,683 likely voters across the U.S., 586 of whom were from Virginia.

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News

UMW Theater selling season passes

By Uriah Kiser
[Photo: UMW Theatre]

“We can’t wait to bring you along on the journey that is our 2024-25 Season. We have so many engaging conversations in store—a reimagining of the haunting words of a young Jewish girl during the Holocaust, a group of earnest nuns just trying to do their zany and fun-filled best, a script-flipping tale of young women who question one of Arthur Miller’s greatest works, and the origin story of the boy who wouldn’t grow up told in a musical and magical way—this is a season you won’t want to miss!

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News

Hope for area rivers flows from Fredericksburg film festival

By Mike Salmon
All proceeds from the event went to the Friends of the Rappahannock group. [Photo: Mike Salmon]

Fredericksburg and the Rappahannock River have a rich history, and this bond was prominent at the recent Wild & Scenic Film Festival at the University of Mary Washington. River enthusiasts and filmmakers highlighted the positive effects that rivers bring to an area.

Ten films were selected to show the needs of various rivers, and each approached an environmental theme or message. Amongst the first films viewed, a theme surrounded the idea that the well-being of a fish upstream could predict the well-being of other fish hundreds of miles away downstream. The brook trout and the striped bass were used as one example. “As those fish go, so go our stripers down in Kent Island,” said a Maryland fisherman in a film called “A Journey Upstream.” Water quality is an issue here, too. “The biggest threat to the Chesapeake Bay is water quality,” said one of the narrators.

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Features

High-tech hunt for Mary Ball Washington’s grave

By Mike Salmon
Dr. Katherine Parker, a professor with the Department of Historic Preservation at the University of Mary Washington. [Photo: Mike Salmon]

George Washington’s mother, Mary Ball Washington, died in 1789 and was buried in Fredericksburg near a monument that resembles the Washington Monument but on a lesser scale.

The exact location of the actual grave remains unknown though, so in steps the GSSI Ground Penetrating Radar apparatus manned by historians from Washington Heritage Museums and a professor from Mary Washington University to investigate this colonial mystery.

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News

Fredericksburg Civil Rights Trail joins prestigious U.S. collection

By Uriah Kiser
[Photo: University of Mary Washington]

Fredericksburg and the University of Mary Washington jointly announced on Thursday, Feb. 8, a significant milestone: the inclusion of the Fredericksburg Civil Rights Trail into the esteemed U.S. Civil Rights Trail, joining a collection of landmarks spanning 15 states.

Named “Freedom, A Work in Progress,” the Fredericksburg Civil Rights Trail stands out as the sole addition this year that comprises a series of interconnected stops, totaling 21 locations that enrich the national narrative of the Civil Rights Movement.

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