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NCAA tournament hopes fade
Tribe falls by one to Delaware in the final minutes of CAA Championship game, 75-74.
The Flat Hat Who’s next?
Vol. 103, Iss. 39 | Tuesday, March 11, 2014
The Twice-Weekly Student Newspaper
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of The College of William and Mary
CRIME
STUDENT ASSEMBLY
Marshall faces drug charges
Faces up to17 felony charges
Three pairs announce candidacy for Student Assembly presidential election. BY MADELINE BIELSKI FLAT HAT ASSOC. NEWS EDITOR
As spring break ends, campaigns starts to rev up heading into this year’s Student Assembly election season. Starting today the race began and campaigning will continue until election day, March 20. There are three candidate pairs running for president and vice-president for the 2014-2015 academic year. The candidates are Trevor Parkes ’15 and Liz Hernandez ’15, Colin Danly ’15 and Kendall Lorenzen ’15 and Carlton
’11–’12
Smith ’15 and Christopher Johnson ’15. Parkes currently serves as the Secretary of College Policy in the SA executive cabinet. He is also the former president of the Inter-Fraternity Council. Hernandez has not been involved with the SA in the past, but is a multi-cultural recruitment intern with the admissions department and a developmental ambassador at the College. The two met in environmental governance class their freshmen year. Parkes and Hernandez are looking to focus on the College’s relations with the city of Williamsburg. They also hope to give more power to the undergraduate council. Additionally, the pair aims to improve the transparency of the SA and to make themselves available to students. “We wouldn’t be the Student Assembly president and vice president — We would just be students with your best interest in mind,” Parkes said. The next ticket consists of Danly and Lorenzen, who have both worked in the SA over the course of their College careers. Danly serves as a senator for the class of 2015 and is also Chairman of the Finance and Budget committee. At the moment, Lorenzen is Secretary of Outreach in the
’12–’13
executive cabinet and has been involved with the SA since her freshman year. Danly and Lorenzen, who met through their involvement with the SA, are working off of a mission statement, which highlights collaboration, innovation and empowerment. The two also want to engage more students and organizations with the SA and use technology to reach out to and inform students. “We hope by the time of our administration, the assembly is a little more collaborative, a little more innovative and a lot more empowering to student organizations,” Danly said. The last candidate pair consists of Smith and Johnson, who met through the Center for Student Diversity’s PLUS program during their freshman year. Smith has served as the class of 2015 Vice President of Advocacy for the past three years. Johnson has not been involved with the SA in the
’13–’14
See ELECTION page 3
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’14–’15
A College of William and Mary student was arrested for 18 drug-related charges Sunday, Feb. 23. The charges relate to both possessing and selling drugs, primarily LSD. The Virginia Gazette reported that the student, former College football player Samuel Marshall ’17, purportedly sold one piece of LSD for $10 and 12 pieces for $100. The charges, which include 17 felony counts and one misdemeanor count, stem from activity conducted between Feb. 1 and Feb. 23 according to University Relations Director of News and Media Suzanne Seurattan. Eight charges are for the sale of Schedule 1 narcotics, eight are for the sale of Schedule 1 narcotics on a college campus, and one is for the possession of cocaine. The misdemeanor charge is for the possession of marijuana. Schedule 1 narcotics include those that have a high potential for abuse, those that are not accepted for medical use in the United States, and those that lack accepted safety conditions for use under medical supervision. The Virginia Gazette cited a report noting that a detective responded to a call from Yates Hall Sunday and met another officer and a student regarding another student who had been taken to the hospital for a LSD overdose. A student told police that his friend bought LSD on two pieces of one-quarter inch paper from Marshall. The Williamsburg-Yorktown Daily reported that Marshall was banned from campus as part of his bond terms. Marshall’s attorney, Pat Kelly, said Marshall was brought to the authorities after a student he allegedly sold drugs to had a seizure. Kelley said the hospitalized student has since been released from intensive care. During Friday’s bond hearing, Kelley told Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court
COURTESY PHOTO / WM.EDU
FILE PHOTOS / THE FLAT HAT
Previous Student Assembly presidents include Kaveh Sadeghian ‘12, Curt Mills ‘13 and Chase Koontz ‘14
BY MEREDITH RAMEY FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
See ARREST page 3
INTERNATIONAL
CAMPUS LIFE
Riots in Venezuela garner reaction at the College
Man watching porn in Swem raises
Student group launches campaign
BY BAILEY KIRKPATRICK FLAT HAT ASSOC. VARIETY EDITOR
BY SARAH CASPARI FLAT HAT CHIEF STAFF WRITER
A few weeks ago, a female student at the College of William and Mary witnessed an elderly gentleman allegedly watching porn on one of the public computers on the second floor of the Earl Gregg Swem Library. A picture of the activity posted on the Facebook page “Overheard at William and Mary” caused a stir amongst students of the College. The post garnered comments both in support of and in opposition to viewing porn in public. “I have never seen such an activity in public, which is why I found it so shocking and posted it on Overheard,” Nathalie Moore ’17 said. “At first I was confused and [thought] perhaps he had stumbled upon a bad site and gotten a virus. But it quickly became clear to me that he was avidly searching for pornography.
As Venezuelan demonstrators have taken to the streets to protest President Nicolas Maduro, several Venezuelan students and allies at the College of William and Mary have launched their own campaign. The William and Mary Students for Venezuela is a subset of the group SOS Venezuela. Members aim to educate students about the violence and scarcity that have intensified in Venezuela since Maduro was elected following former president Hugo Chavez’s death just over a year ago. “The economic problems, the shortages of basic goods — it’s never been this bad,” Students for Venezuela member Ayumi Matsuda ’17 said. In addition to the presidency, Maduro inherited an alarming crime rate. Inflation and shortages of food and medical supplies have also caused many Venezuelans to question their government.
See VENEZUELA page 3
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Karina Brocco French ’16, another Students for Venezuela member, said she doubts Maduro’s ability to lead because he lacks political experience and higher education. “We want peace for Venezuela,” Brocco French said. “Both the opposition and Maduro’s supporters, we’re all facing the same problems. We’re all facing the same violence and economic shortages, but personally I believe that Maduro should step down and let someone in a better position in terms of education take over.” However, since Maduro was democratically elected, there is also a vocal group that affirms his right to the presidency, and specifically denounces the violence used to curb protestors as well as and the protestors’ condemnation of a legitimate government. “If we’re going to say that we believe in democracy, we have to follow institutional processes,” Silvia Tandeciarz, Chair of
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Library officials, students weigh in thoughts on digital privacy policy,
See SWEM page 3
UPDATE: DARREN SHARPER CHARGES INCREASE Former NFL player Darren Sharper ’97 has been charged with two counts of rape by use of drugs in Los Angeles. Sharper is currently being held without bail in a Los Angeles jail as a result of an arrest warrant for two counts of aggravated rape in New Orleans. Sharper is also being investigated in connection with three more rape cases Sharper in Nevada, Florida and Arizona. Prior to the New Orleans arrest warrant, Sharper was out on a $1 million bail.
“It was all consensual contact with women who wanted to be in his company,” one of Sharper’s defense attorneys, Leonard Levine, said to CNN. Sharper is pleading not guilty. Sharper is also charged with four counts of furnishing a controlled substance and one count of possession of a controlled substance. “He hangs out with them in clubs, takes them back — It’s the same story,” Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Stacy Okun-Wiese said. “He gives them a shot. They blackout. The next day they have no idea what happened the previous night.” The drugs allegedly involved in the case are morphine and zolpidem, the latter of which is used in the prescription sleep aid
Inside OPINIONS
Ambien. Sharper has an Ambien prescription. The defense objected to Sharper being held without bail, stating that it is unconstitutional for him to be held when he already posted bail. Additionally, he has not been formally charged in New Orleans. Sharper submitted DNA samples to New Orleans police officials, and agreed to turn himself in if formally charged. Sharper played for the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints from 1997 to 2010 after graduating from the College of William and Mary. He has been suspended without pay from his job as a NFL Network analyst. — Amanda Sikiraca, The Flat Hat
Inside VARIETY
Duke student’s involvement in porn causes controversy Thunderstorms High 67, Low 30
Admittedly, it was very frightening.” Swem’s staff is currently discussing changing the configuration of public computers at the library, although students’ needs and concerns — not the recent incident — prompted the discussion. Swem is a public institution and is open to the general public, not just to members of the student body. Physical and electronic resources are available for anyone to use while inside the library. Members of the public can purchase visitor library cards for $100 a year, allowing them to check out items. “We are a library open to everyone, ” Associate Dean of Research and Public Services Lisa Nickel said. “William and Mary students and faculty are our primary users, but the community at large is also a part of our clientele. We don’t deny use because of homelessness or age or appearance.”
Due to the power of social media, a Duke student faced harrassment and bullying from peers for a personal decision. page 4
Bananas — anywhere, anytime
New student-run twitter account posts photos of unassuming students eating bananas grows in popularity. page 5