Vol. 109, Iss. 24 | Tuesday, February 11, 2020
The Flat Hat The Weekly Student Newspaper
of The College of William and Mary
Flathatnews.com | Follow us:
HOUSING
Students struggle with Jefferson flood issues Facility difficulties lead to insurance claims, frustration ETHAN BROWN FLAT HAT MANAGING EDITOR
The evening of Saturday, Feb. 1, Mazie Doss’s ’22 roommate walked out of her first-floor room in Jefferson Hall for a quick drink of water from the hall’s drinking fountain. After opening her door, she realized that water was closer than she thought, as liquid two inches deep seeped in from the hallway and surrounded her ankles. Jefferson’s flooding last week prompted the evacuation of students in basement rooms and in some first-floor rooms. Doss, one of the few students on the first floor who was not relocated, said that fans and renovation equipment were brought into the building soon after the flooding. Additionally, Doss said that the College of William and Mary contracted RME Events, an external security provider, to monitor Jefferson throughout the recovery process. According to Doss, the staffers were contracted to ensure that no one entered Jefferson illicitly to steal property from the abandoned rooms in the basement and on the first floor. Doss said staffers did not appear to have a consistent protocol for identifying Jefferson residents, meaning that she had to frequently justify her behavior to them while continuing to reside in Jefferson. Eventually, one event staffer was stationed just outside Doss’s door. “At one point, there was one stationed directly outside my door that I had to talk to every time I wanted to enter and exit, including when I was going to shower or going to the bathroom,” Doss said. “It didn’t matter when, they were always there.” Doss said she was startled by the security personnel’s presence in Jefferson. “The first day they were there, I did not know, so I came into my door and was trying to change clothes, and then I heard really loud banging so I put my clothes back on, opened the door and there was an events person asking me ‘what’s my name’”, Doss said. “… It was kind of alarming.” While Doss was grateful for not having to relocate last week, she said she was disappointed in the College’s efforts to maintain a sense of normalcy for individuals left on Jefferson’s first floor. As recovery equipment was left in front of her door, Doss felt that her continued residence in Jefferson felt like an oversight, and that the College had essentially forgotten that a few students were still actively living on the first floor. “I really feel like because I wasn’t evacuated, I See FLOOD page 4
STUDENT ATHLETE ARRESTED, RELEASED ON BAIL Kicker for the Tribe Football team George Eberle ‘22 was arrested this past weekend, as confirmed by representatives of the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail. According to Williamsburg police spokesman John Heilman, Eberle was arrested Feb. 8 following a 2:45 a.m. call from the 200 block of Matoaka Court. Eberle was arrested on suspicion of felony breaking and entering and misdeamenor sexual battery. Heilman said there were no reported injuries or damages at the time of the arrest, and that the initial investigation stated that Eberle went into another student’s home without her permission and alledgedly sexually assaulted her. The two did not know each other. Representatives from the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail also confirmed Eberle’s release on a $10,000 bond Monday, Feb. 10. College spokesperson Suzanne Clavet said that the College knows of the arrest and is complying with the requisite authorities. “The university is aware of the student arrest and we have been cooperating with the appropriate authorities,” Clavet said in an email. “In accordance with federal privacy laws and university policy, we do not comment on student disciplinary matters.” - Flat Hat Managing Editor Ethan Brown and Flat Hat News Editor Leslie Davis
JAMIE HOLT / THE FLAT HAT
Gates’s visit met with activist resistance
College students protest outside Charter Day talk EMMA FORD // FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
As students and members of the Williamsburg community lined up to attend a talk titled “Crucibles of Leadership: U.S. Foreign Policy Past, Present and Future” the evening of Thursday, Feb. 6, a group of students assembled in the Sadler Center to protest College of William and Mary Chancellor Robert Gates ’65, L.H.D. ’98. The protesters opposed Gates for his role during the conflicts in the Middle East and in Latin America while acting as CIA Director and as U.S. Secretary of Defense under former Presidents George W. Bush and former President Barack Obama. Gates, who was also on campus for Feb. 7’s Charter Day festivities, spoke at the talk along with Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. Not affiliated with any student organizations, the students spoke out about Gates’s part in the Iraq War. Some students referred to Gates as a war criminal and handed out flyers to individuals in line that started “Robert Gates has Blood on his Hands.” The flyers listed out war crime charges against Gates that included “prosecuting a war of aggression,” “bombing civilian populations” and “directed illegal kidnapping and torture.” Sidney Miralao ’22 said that the students wanted to protest the event to engage with other students who attended the talk and to make them aware of Gates’s history. Miralao said they also wanted to make the statement that they did not see Gates as fit to discuss foreign policy to college-aged students. “Some students don’t even know who he is,” Miralao said. “Bottom line, we wanted students to know that he has been involved in a lot of terrible things this country has done and that’s all you need to know and you should recognize that as you’re going to see him speak, especially about something about leadership, right, and foreign policy. You need to understand his background and what his beliefs really are about that.” Miralao added that plans to protest began Feb. 3 and that their shared goal was to hold a lowrisk protest to get the message out there without providing any justification for the College with a reason to hold them in violation of conduct. “The intention was always to disrupt it in a way that was low-risk for us because there has been occurrences in the past where the administration has taken action against students who have taken it
further than that,” Miralao said. “And so our intention was never to go into the venue or sort of speak at him directly or anything. It was always a targeting of the people going and the audience and making sure they were aware of who Robert Gates is, what he’s done and how we feel about him. And you know, having them understand that he is our chancellor, they are giving him this platform even though he’s done all of these other things that are not so great. That was always our intention to target the audience that was going, specifically students making them understand that this man is your chancellor. You have power to go or not go and this is why you shouldn’t.” Kelsey Wright ’22 explained that the protest came together quickly with a variety of different students who had different ideas over what the protest would look like. However, she said that each student agreed that the protest should be compliant with university policy as the students did not want to receive any backlash from the College’s administration. At the event, students who were protesting yelled “Hey, ho, Robert Gates has got to go,” repeated the word “shame” and “W and M: war and murder” to communicate their message, along with statements made by some of the protestors and flyers and signs. “There was little engagement of the people in line with us,” Wright said in an email. “Some older community members harassed us, but some students who were just passing joined us and staff members gestured in solidarity which was inspiring.” Although the protest was not led by any student organization, W&M Students United posted the protest on their Facebook page via livestream. The organization also made a post a day later Feb. 7, which stated that protesters were harassed either by the College’s administration or by individuals as the administration did not do anything to remedy the situation. “Even though all of the administration’s instructions were complied with and no rules broken, students were filmed without consent and harassed, either by the administration itself or by some outsiders as the administration watched on,” the Facebook post said. “One man who refused to identify himself even went so far as to follow students out (after we were asked not to disrupt and chose to leave as soon as the event started while
Kaplan renovations bolster athletic image
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chanting) a n d aggressively push against students with his phone in hand in order to film their faces. It was grossly inappropriate and made students who were there peacefully feel unsafe and violated. This person also made snarky and targeted comments at students.” In the same post, W&M Students United asked that the administration work with them or to identify the man and hold him accountable for his actions. “That a compliant protest was treated this way indicates that it really is not about the rules or respect for the administration,” the Facebook post said. “They will propagate fascism at every opportunity. Administrators claim to want to protect the rights of students. Even though there is nothing that warrants faith in this sentiment, we still extend a hand to the administration and even the police and say that they can take a step toward making things right and responding to the injustice by identifying the unknown man and holding him accountable.” In response to the protest, the College spokesperson Suzanne Clavet said that students are welcome to protest as long as they remain respectful. She did not comment on the post made by W&M Students United. “The university encourages all forms of peaceful expression, which is everyone’s right under the First Amendment,” Clavet said in an email. “We have an engaged student body that often expresses their views about a number of issues on and off campus. What cannot occur is the disruption of events or the regular course of business. When Thursday’s protest outside the auditorium became a disruption, the individuals demonstrating were told they could not disrupt the event and if they wanted to continue they would need to relocate. The group relocated.” Miralao explained that throughout the protest there was high security, but they were never engaged See GATES page 4
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GRAPHIC BY CHARLES COLEMAN / THE FLAT HAT
Carine Pacheco ‘23 says that improved athletic facilities will enhance the overall prestige of the College. page 5
Tribe wins third straight at UNCW The Women’s basketball team won their 10th road game to move into third place in the Colonial Athletic Association. page 9