THE
BLUE &GRAY
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON STUDENT NEWSPAPER
PRESS
March 1, 2018
VOLUME 91 | ISSUE 17 SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE
1922
White supremacist group leaves its mark Due to the recent politically charged messages that have been found on the Spirit Rock, there have been heightened On the morning of February 18, tensions among UMW students, and stickers promoting a white nationalist political clubs such as the Young Demorganization were found at sites across ocrats and College Republicans, both campus. A schoolwide email was sent of whom wasted no time in condemnfollowing the ing the stickers events by Anna the Patriot “The ideas espoused by the and Billingsley adFront. dressing the inThe Young Patriot Front are completely cident. Democrats reantithetical to UMW’s “Sometime leased a statebetween Februment on their community values.” ary 17 and 18, club Facebook stickers from and Twitter a group called page on the -Anna Billingsley the Patriot night of FebruFront appeared ary 18. at several sites on our Fredericksburg “The University of Mary Washingcampus,” Billingsley stated. ton Young Dems are outraged that white In her email, Billingsley condemned supremacist groups have put up propathe incident. ganda across campus again. This is the “The ideas espoused by the Patrimost recent episode in a chain of simot Front are completely antithetical to ilar events starting last year when hate UMW’s community values.” Billingspeech was posted outside of Madison sley continued, “as a community that hall,” the post read. resists bigotry, racism, and exclusion, Shawnya Peterson, Vice President Mary Washington has no place for of the Young Democrats, was the first groups such as the Patriot Front. person to report the stickers presence On the group’s twitter account, they to campus police. Peterson had noticed boasted of the stickers being placed on the first sticker around 11 a.m., and she campus, posting in a tweet, “#Patriotwent on to find another sixteen spread Front activists spread the message at the across campus until the last one would University of Mary Washington, Virginbe removed at 6 p.m. She described the ia,” the tweet read. stickers as,
TONY BENSON Staff Writer
The spirit rock was vandalized with the mesage “Trump 2020 MAGA.”
Daniel Arango / Twitter
The rules of the spirit rock Ginny Bixby Viewpoints Editor
When Natalie Johns, president of the UMW Firearms Club, painted the spirit rock with some other members on Feb. 14, she had no idea that the message she painted would cause such an uproar among students. The junior, with her club, had organized a concealed carry and personal safety class to be held that Friday, and she wanted to use the rock to advertise it to students and faculty. But a few hours after members of the club painted it, the news of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, broke. The nature of the advertisement involving firearms juxtaposed against the mass shooting stirred up controversy among students, especially on social media, with suggestions that the advertisement was distasteful. In less than 24 hours, the rock had been painted over with the message “18 school shootings in 2018”, and the name of the Firearms Club had been crossed out with black paint. It is still unknown who did this. But Johns said the timing was all a coincidence, and that she and her club had taken special consideration to fol-
low the rules of the rock as listed in the UMW Student Handbook. The handbook states, “Absolutely no profanity or vulgarity is permitted. The Student Code of Conduct applies to the Spirit Rock. Only latex paint is permitted. Freshly painted messages should be allowed to remain in place for 24 hours before being repainted by another individual or group. The Spirit Rock belongs to students, who are ultimately responsible for it. If students dislike a message on the rock, it is their responsibility to repaint it. Questions regarding the Spirit Rock should be addressed to the SGA.” “ W e planned to paint on Monday but it was raining,” Johns said. So the club rescheduled to paint on Tuesday. But then on Monday evening, UMW Theatre painted the rock with an advertisement for “Dead Man’s Cell Phone”, so the members made a decision to observe the 24 hour courtesy period and wait until Wednesday. “We started around 12:00 pm or 12:30 pm on Wednesday,” she said. Over the week, the rock continued to be repainted, with College Republicans and Young Americans for Freedom painting a message in support of the victims of the shooting, and •ROCK | 10 Young Democrats paint
“I think I can speak for the majority of the Firearms Club members that we were really surprised about the incident, especially since we were promoting a personal safety/gun safety class.” -Natalie Johns
IN THIS
ISSUE
Dog DAYS
•PATRIOT FRONT | 2
Warm weather, workouts, and work Kyle Clarke Staff Writer
As the end of February approaches, Fredericksburg has proceeded to get through all four seasons within the month. Whether it be a frigid 30 degrees with freezing rain or sweltering 86 degrees and sunny, the February weather has been inconsistent. These dramatic shifts in temperature beg the question, how has the warm weather affected the students of Mary Washington, on a social, physical and academic level? Freshman Chris Fuller shared his insights into why the increasing temperature may help some students focus and study harder. “I just feel as it gets hotter and sunnier outside, students are going to feel more inclined to workout,” Fuller said. “When I work out, I feel like a sharper and more focused person, which in turn helps me focus on my work,” Fuller continued, “I also feel that studying and doing homework outside in the warmth, is a lot more enjoyable then being cooped up in a small dorm with little to no sunlight, it just makes it feel like less of a chore.” This general thought process, seemed to be the consensus throughout the university when talking with other students.
GUN SHOW
Griffin Bower / The Blue & Gray Press Some professors choose to hold classes outside in the nice weather.
Freshman Wyatt Spage, had quite the interesting take on the recent Summer-like temperatures. “I enjoy the warmer weather a lot, it’s much more relaxing and you just feel more productive, mainly because you can go outside and do school work or just hang out with some friends,” Spage said. Spage was quick to point out one of the negatives of warmer weather however., “More people are outside, so that means there’s going to be more missionaries bothering and harassing you every chance they get,” he continued, “it seems like once the temperature hits a certain point, •WEATHER | 2
RE- LAX
ASA and Chinese Language host Chinese New Year event.
Inside the Firearms Club’s concealed carry class.
Women’s lacrosse dominates early.
LIFE | 6
VIEWPOINTS | 4
SPORTS | 3