SPORTS>> PAGE 8
VARIETY >> PAGE 7
Tribe Tribetriathlete thrashes Hofstra SPORTS >> PAGE 8
Emma Langley ’17 balances classes with world championship triathlons. Prewitt, help College pick up a 78-62 winthe in front of aatpacked Dixon’s Tarpey six three-pointers key a 100-79 rout for College KaplanKaplan Arena.Arena.
Vol. 104, Iss. 31 | Friday, February 20, 2015
And the Oscar goes to... The Flat Hat staff places predictions for the winners of this year’s Academy Awards.
The Flat Hat The Twice-Weekly Student Newspaper
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“But this was freshman year, “the rose-colored glasses I thought, and people would through which I first learn. Things would viewed the College get better.”
Film Festival builds presence ‘The Hunting Ground’ premieres AMANDA WILLIAMS Flat hat assoc. news editor
The College of William and Mary’s eighth annual Global Film Festival will run Feb. 19-22 at the Kimball Theatre. GFF began in 2008 as a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Williamsburg Theater — renamed the Kimball Theatre in 2001. The Wendy and Emery Reves Center for International Studies and the Roy R. Charles Center are the Festival’s primary sponsors; however, more and more sponsors have contributed over time. For the last two years, the Williamsburg Area Arts Commission has awarded the Festival a grant that has allowed GFF to grow. Recently, Canon Virginia, Inc. has also donated money to bring in more filmmakers and cameras to support film studies’ own production projects, as well as to use as prizes in the student film competition. Support from Canon Virginia, Inc. allowed the festival to launch student workshops starting in 2013 called DIY/FIY — Do-It-Young/Film-It-Yourself. The 2008 Festival, called “A Festival of Film History,” was locally focused and only included the pre-series films in conjunction with the one-credit film class. The 2009 Festival more closely resembles what GFF is today: a global festival with a broad programming theme. Visiting assistant professor of film and media studies and Director of the William and Mary Global Film Festival Timothy Barnard has worked with the Festival since its inception and said he believes 2009 was an integral year for its development. “We kind of started to establish some things that we remain committed to, which was bringing in filmmakers and trying to bring in filmmakers from different parts of the world, but then also we realized that we wanted to include special live performances and special parties — in between films we would have receptions,” Barnard said. Each year the team has worked to bring in awardSee GFF page 4
“the College must do better” “suggested to me that I was at William and Mary only due to affirmative action”
Students speak out
disappeared”
“as pained as we were, we tried to ignore these incidents”
“asked why I did not get a ‘real job’”
bY meilan solly // flat hat assoc. news editor
“people of color at this school are not just here to pad statistics”
The quotes featured are from 24 student letters written to the Board of Visitors and administration regarding racist incidents on campus. See page 2 for full excerpts.
Students propose Bias Response Team, Zero Tolerance Policy In an effort to address the current racial climate at the College of William and Mary, Taylor Mack ’15 and Brittney Harrington ’15 have created the Call to Community Action: A Request for Administrative Response to Racial Bias Instances. Directed toward the administration and the Board of Visitors, the document seeks to confront administrative inaction and promote a safer racial environment on campus. In the call to action, Mack and Harrington present two proposals for administrative responses to bias incidents. They also included a series of 24 personal letters from students and alumni. The letters recount instances of racism and racial bias on campus. The first proposal, the Zero Tolerance Policy, categorizes bias incidents as student conduct violations to be investigated under the
current student conduct process. “More likely than not, a student conduct violation will result in a warning, community service or education on the offense,” the call to action states. “The goal of the William and Mary Bias Zero Tolerance Policy is not to punitively punish students who commit acts of bias out of ignorance and innocent intent.” This proposal could prove problematic, however, according to Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center. “I’m sure this is a well-intended policy but we know from experience how dysfunctional campus disciplinary systems are, and we really need to
STUDENT GROUP
See COMMUNITY page 3
STUDENT LIFE
American Indian Student Assoc. revived THON dances for Students of all faiths join together to celebrate American Indian culture 10 hours straight SARAH CASPARI FLAT HAT CHIEF STAFF WRITER
After a two-year hiatus, the American Indian Student Association at the College of William and Mary resurfaced last fall. Now
operating under the title of American Indian Student Association, the organization aims to educate the College community about Native American culture and issues tribes face today. At a Center for Student Diversity event at
the beginning of last semester, Mackenzie Neal ’18 saw a sign for NASA, but was told the organization no longer existed since all of its members graduated in 2012. Neal, who is part Quapaw, revived the club to connect with an unfamiliar part of her heritage, and is now the organization’s president. “The Quapaw tribe is actually in Oklahoma,” Neal said. “And I grew up in Virginia, away from that area … so I just knew that my mom had moccasins on the Christmas tree every year, and I didn’t really know what that was for.” Neal said she feels as though she missed out on the opportunity to attend powwows when she was younger, but is making up for it with the club’s upcoming Native Dance and Drum Demonstration. The event will take place March 28 in Trinkle Hall and will feature demonstrations of traditional music and dance, as well as a raffle and Native American vendors selling crafts like beaded items and pottery. Proceeds will benefit the Virginia Indian Tribal Alliance for Life, which advocates for native people throughout the Commonwealth, and the
SARAH CASPARI / THE FLAT HAT American Indian Student Association president Mackenzie Neal ‘18 demonstrates for members how to make a dreamcatcher.
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ALISON ROHRER THE Flat hat
One-hundred-and-seventy-seven students participated in the College of William and Mary’s inaugural TribeTHON, a 10hour dance marathon held to raise money for the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters. The event, which took place Feb. 14, raised a total of $13, 279.24, exceeding TribeTHON’s goal of $10,000. The idea for TribeTHON formed when executive directors Eileen Dolan ’16 and Thomas Fergus ’16 were freshmen, after Dolan attended a dance marathon at Pennsylvania State University. “We really wanted this event to tie together the whole William and Mary community, so that includes different clubs and the faculty because that will make us have the biggest impact,” Dolan said. Co-executive director Thomas Fergus ’16 explained that TribeTHON was successful in its first year in comparison with other school’s first dance marathon events. “The first ever dance marathon was at Indiana University and their first-year yield was a couple thousand dollars so on a campus as small as ours, we were extremely happy with the turnout and how much money we raised. … With schools of our size, that is a tremendous amount of money,” Fergus said. To start TribeTHON on the College’s campus, the TribeTHON
See AISA page 3
See THON page 4
Inside Variety
Inside Opinions
Choosing how to conduct our discourse
Mostly sunny High 21, Low 9
Raise over 13,000 for hospitals
On both a campus and national level, word choice and political correctness are treated as simple matters of sensitivity. page 5
Laughing in Lodge 1
Comedian and College alumna Sara Schaefer ‘00 entertains with a standup routine. page 6