The Flat Hat February 20, 2018

Vol. 108, Iss. 1 | Tuesday, February 20, 2018

FACULTY

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FACULTY

PART III: DISCOVERING DAVID DESSLER

“THE VISION OF WILLIAM & MARY CONVEYED TO ME OVER THE PAST MONTHS,

BY EVERYONE I MET IN THIS COMMUNITY, IS SO COMPELLING.”

Read “A Standing I’ve Never Heard of in the Academic World,” part III of The Flat Hat’s investigation, on page 3 MEILAN SOLLY, SARAH SMITH FLAT HAT SENIOR STAFF WRITER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Termination policies According to court documents, correspondence and interviews, a key point of contention between the College of William and Mary and former government professor David Dessler is the timeline surrounding his case: While the College states that Dessler remained a tenured faculty member until his June 18, 2017, resignation, he says the Aug. 9, 2016, listing of his employee status as “inactive” was tantamount to wrongful termination.

College spokesperson Suzanne Seurattan said employees on short-term medical leave (see part III section on Dessler’s leave, which lasted from Oct. 26, 2015, to Aug. 9, 2016) have several options upon reaching the end of a leave period: apply for long-term disability, which may require documentation from a health professional; retire, if one has the service credit required; provide assurance of one’s readiness to return to work; or take no action.

The unusual circumstance of an employee not taking any of these actions would put an employee in inactive status

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College spokesperson Suzanne Seurattan

Opting for the last path, Seurattan said, results in the employee’s status changing from active to inactive.

“An individual cannot be considered an active employee if he or she is not working or using accrued paid leave,” she wrote in an email. “The unusual circumstance of an employee not taking any of these actions would put an employee in inactive status.”

The College’s Faculty Handbook, which outlines faculty rights, responsibilities and procedural information, does not mention inactive employee status. Based on the definition provided by Seurattan, however, inactive employees remain on the College’s staff and are entitled to return to work, apply for disability or retire. They are not eligible for pay and benefits.

Within two weeks of Dessler’s listing as an inactive employee, his pay, insurance benefits and College email access were cut off. Still, according to the College’s stated parameters, he remained a tenured faculty member.

Sept. 8, 2016, former Provost P. Geoffrey Feiss, Chancellor Professor of English Emeritus Terry Meyers and Chancellor Professor of Sociology Kate Slevin submitted a letter of support for Dessler to the provost and Faculty Assembly. In it, they wrote that the College had “effectively fired a senior member of the Faculty in violation of the letter and spirit of the Faculty Handbook.” To rectify this alleged violation, the emeritus faculty recommended that Dessler be immediately reinstated to his salaried position and given the due process rights outlined in the handbook.

“Here was a case of a faculty member who, whatever the originating causes …

See DESSLER page 3

-KATHERINE ROWE COURTESY PHOTO / STEPHEN SALPUKAS, COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY

College names Katherine Rowe President Reveley’s successor Renaissance scholar and digital humanities leader previously served as Smith College provost, dean of faculty SARAH SMITH // FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF When the College of William and Mary’s Board of Visitors unanimously voted to elect Katherine Rowe to serve as the College’s 28th president this morning, the months-long search to fill the soon-to-be empty seat came to an end. With this vote, Rowe also became the first woman in the College’s history chosen to serve as president.

Rowe will succeed College President Taylor Reveley, who will retire June 30 after two decades as a part of the College faculty, and one decade as president since he started in 2008.

After his announcement last April that he would retire after the 2017-2018 academic year, the College’s Presidential Search Committee began the process to find a new president.

“The Board is thrilled to make this announcement and welcome Katherine Rowe to the William & Mary family,” Rector Todd Stottlemyer ’85 said in a press statement.

“Katherine is a widely respected and recognized leader, teacher, researcher, scholar, innovator and entrepreneur, and she is a passionate and articulate advocate for the importance of the liberal arts and their critical intersections with technology and research. We had a difficult mission: to find a leader to whom Taylor Reveley could pass the reins.

In Katherine Rowe, we have found the ideal person to lead William & Mary at this point in the university’s history.”

Rowe has served as the provost and dean of faculty at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts since 2014. Her areas of research include Shakespeare, Milton, Spenser, medieval and renaissance drama and media history. Her academic passions include design thinking, entrepreneurship and the digital humanities. Before working at Smith, she was a member of the English faculty at Bryn Mawr College for 16 years and at Yale University for six.

“It is an honor to be called to serve as the 28th president at William & Mary,” Rowe said in a press statement. “Under President Taylor Reveley’s outstanding leadership over the past decade, William & Mary has become a model of intentional, mission-driven innovation in higher education.

The vision of William & Mary conveyed to me over the past months, by everyone I met in this community, is so compelling: a deep appreciation of history and tradition; a commitment to fostering inclusive communities of teaching, learning and research; and an understanding of the value of change and innovation to advance a liberal arts mission.

These commitments are essential to a university’s continued excellence in the 21st century. I am resolved to further that vision as we work together in the coming months and years.”

Rowe said that one reason she is drawn to the College

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is because she believes the College’s faculty and staff are dedicated to contributing to the community of learning.

“I am so excited to lead an institution that has — in addition to a premier academic program for undergraduates — distinguished graduate and professional schools, championship athletic teams and a strong alumni culture of engagement and philanthropy,” Rowe said in a press statement. “As someone who has spent 20 years at institutions with a deep commitment to educational access for students from all incomes and backgrounds, I am particularly drawn to William & Mary’s abiding commitment to serving the public interest. I look forward to working with — and learning from — the dedicated faculty and staff, talented students and William & Mary’s passionate alumni, parents and friends.”

During her tenure at Smith, Rowe has led nine-person senior team administering over 600 faculty members and staff. She has also increased diversity in faculty hiring, created a data science major and broke national fundraising records for women’s colleges. While there, she also served as the interim vice president for inclusion, diversity and equity.

“

William & Mary has become a model of intentional, mission-driven innovation in higher education.

Katherine Rowe

Reveley said that he believes in Rowe’s leadership capabilities and he is looking forward to what she will do in her new role.

“I look forward to Katherine Rowe’s presidency with great enthusiasm and confidence,” Reveley said in a press statement. “A proven leader, Dr. Rowe understands American higher education and appreciates the vital role played by historic universities rooted in the liberal arts. She knows as well that we must be intensely entrepreneurial these days, open to new possibilities and willing to change. She has a keen appreciation for the part that alumni, in league with the campus community, play in William & Mary’s progress.”

Rowe is also the co-founder and CEO of Luminary Digital Media, and has been a guest editor for the Shakespeare Quarterly, one of the first major humanities journals to experiment with open peer review. She has been recognized

Rainy, High 79, Low 61

by The New York Times and The Atlantic for this work.

“Dr. Rowe is a wonderful choice to lead William & Mary,” Chancellor Robert Gates ’65 said. “Taylor leaves a strong foundation upon which to build, and I look forward to supporting and working with Katherine as she moves the university forward.”

When Reveley initially announced his plans to retire, Stottlemyer appointed a 19-person presidential search committee, which was chaired by Vice Rector Thomas Watkins ’74. Recent graduate Yohance Whitaker ’16, Class of 2018 President Laini Boyd ’18, board members as well as faculty and staff members were included in this committee.

These committee members hosted over 150 listening sessions that involved almost 1,600 people. Watkins said that this feedback was helpful in narrowing the list of candidates to a group of finalists to recommend to the Board.

“At every turn, the committee found that Katherine’s experience and expertise complemented William & Mary’s strengths and the direction we heard from the community that the university needs to head in the future,” Watkins said.

“We truly believe she will be a transformational leader for this university.”

Watkins also cited her redesign of Smith’s curriculum, which placed a new focus on interdisciplinary studies, as one of her qualifications.

“Katherine recognizes what William & Mary’s COLL Curriculum affirms: that the liberal arts with its key questions, critical thinking and ability to communicate across disciplines puts students at an advantage, whatever fields they enter after graduation,” English department chair and member of the Presidential Search Committee Suzanne Raitt said in a press statement. “I look forward to working with her.”

Rowe began her academic career earning her bachelor’s degree in English and American literature from Carleton College and her master’s and Ph.D. from Harvard University.

She also completed graduate work in cinema and media studies at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

“This is exciting news for William & Mary and its students,” Boyd said in a press statement. “Dr. Rowe’s commitment to student achievement and her enthusiasm for the liberal arts are evident. I was impressed with the quality of her ideas and her dedication to promoting and sustaining the inclusive environment that our campus needs. I am optimistic that she will continue to build on the success of our university and carry us forward.”

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THE BUZZ

So how many of them know about him? How many of them understand the context of times within which he lived and try to enact the change he was seeking through nonviolent means? When we don’t consistently reinforce history, we run the risk of losing it.

— Mayor Paul Freiling ‘83 on the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and the City’s plans for a memorial in Williamsburg’s historic black triangle

‘This is what I need to be doing’

The Flat Hat Page 2 Spotlight

Music professor Sarah Frook ’07 reminisces about undergrad days in Ewell Hall, fascination with Soviet-era art, music MADELINE MONROE // FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR

Music professor Sarah Frook ’07 now teaches in the same rooms of Ewell Hall where she was once a student, splitting her time as a director at both the College of William and Mary and Christopher Newport University. However, Frook, who acknowledged she had a passion for music during her college days, was almost dissuaded from pursuing a career in the field.

“I had it in my head that because I loved it so much, I wasn’t allowed to major in it,” Frook said. “I was disabused from that notion fairly quickly because I realized I can’t escape this, I love it too much. It was something that I spent all of my time doing anyway. I said to Dr. Bartlet, who then became my advisor, ‘This is what I need to be doing.’”

Frook was originally born in Austria but spent most of her childhood in the northern Virginia suburbs of Centreville, where, after attending Chantilly High School, she found her way to the College.

“I applied early decision,” Frook said. “I made that decision actually when I came and visited a couple of different times. … The second time it felt very comfortable, almost homey. I remember walking into the music building and hearing some group singing in the hallway and being really excited about that.”

Frook, like many students, was drawn to the opportunity to double major, and thought about also majoring in linguistics.

Though she ended up only majoring in music, one of the reasons she chose the College was because of the variety of academic opportunities and alternative career paths it could provide.

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Learning how to balance my work with rest was something that I found difficult and still something that is a lifetime journey of learning. ... I see my students struggle with that as well.

— Sarah

SARAH RUIZ / THE FLAT HAT

CORRECTIONS The Flat Hat wishes to correct any fact printed incorrectly. Corrections may be submitted in email to the editor of the section in which the incorrect information was printed. Requests for corrections will be accepted at any time.

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“I liked the idea that I didn’t have to know exactly what I wanted to do yet,” Frook said. “I liked the idea that I could have a variety of experiences before I really made up my mind because I didn’t feel ready to decide. I had passions and I knew I loved learning … I knew I wanted to be challenged academically. And I knew I would get that here.”

While Frook embraced the College’s academic rigor during her time here, as a music director for the Christopher Wren Singers and a member of the Botetourt Chamber Singers, finding a balance was something with which she struggled.

“Because of that passion and because of that drive, sometimes business became a default mode of operation,” Frook said.

“Learning how to balance my work with rest was something that I found difficult and still something that is a lifetime journey of learning. … I see my students struggle with that as well.”

Despite the challenges Frook faced, she said she appreciated the variety that the music department at the College offered. She was able to play instruments ranging from the recorder to the harpsichord, and found that the department prepared her well for her career after college.

“One of the great things about being a music major here is that you can do a little bit of everything,” Frook said. “You get a really wide breadth of experience, and I found that really useful going forward because I had some experience doing things and being in leadership positions that some of my peers who didn’t go to a liberal arts school didn’t get to have.”

COURTESY PHOTO / WM.EDU

Music professor Sarah Frook splits her time between the College and CNU.

After Frook graduated from the College, she worked in a variety of part-time jobs, including work in internet technology, marketing, teaching and choral-related jobs while she applied to graduate school.

Frook would later attend the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where she received her Master of Music in Conducting.

According to Frook, one of the perks of going to a liberal arts college was that she was able to use academic coursework unrelated to her profession to further her career. During the second semester of her senior year of College, she took a Russian literature course. The course would later help her with her work at Eastman.

“In grad school, we started singing Soviet-era literature,” Frook said.

“We started singing a piece from the same time period as the literature we’d read, and I was able to make some really interesting connections about art-making in the Soviet era and just having that breadth of knowledge makes you a better musician because you can understand the context of when the music was written and why, and I think that’s something really special about this place. I felt that my music professors really encouraged us to ask a lot of questions about the music we were learning and doing.”

When Frook moved back to Virginia after completing graduate school, she was able to create many connections through the Virginia Chorale, a professional choir in Norfolk, that helped her find the jobs she has now.

“Through that ensemble, I met my husband and also met the woman who was working at Christopher Newport University at the time,” Frook said. “I started working there, as an adjunct professor. I was also teaching voice at the University of Richmond as an adjunct professor. I heard from Dr. Bartlet that she needed somebody to fill in for her while she was department chair, and that is how I ended up here. ... This is my third-and-a-half year now.”

Today, Frook still sings for the Virginia Chorale, works for UR and serves as the current artistic director of the Virginia Choral Society.

Though Frook described having many different obligations as “hectic,” she values her variety of involvements because of the diversity of people and music that she is exposed to.

“I love all the students I get to work with,” Frook said. “I love making music in lots of different places and lots of different contexts. … I love getting to work with a variety of people. I don’t think it’s something that I will want to do forever — have six or seven different little things — I like the insight that it gives me into higher ed and the academic world.

I get to see different departments and how they function and different student bodies and different campus culture.”

For those interested in pursuing music as a career, Frook said that a career in the music field “is definitely something that you have to want.”

“But if you show up and do the work, it’s possible and it can be a really powerful and special thing,” Frook said.

POLICE BEAT

Feb. 13 - 15

1

Tuesday, February 13 — Household disturbance: verbal domestic charge reported at Patriot Lane at 7:14 p.m.

2

Wednesday, February 14 — Easy, driver: charge of driving under the influence of alcohol filed at Bypass Road and Richmond Road at 12:55 a.m.

3

Thursday, February 15 — Mysterious trouble: a suspicious incident was reported on Scotland Street at 11:39 a.m.

4

Thursday, February 15 — Fateful reunion: a report of found property at Merrimac Trail was filed between 3:40-6:42 p.m.

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Page 3

PART III: DISCOVERING DAVID DESSLER

“A STANDING THAT

I’VE NEVER HEARD OF IN THE ACADEMIC WORLD

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Dessler views “inactive” employee status as form of termination, College argues he remained tenured faculty member until June 2017 resignation MEILAN SOLLY // FLAT HAT SENIOR STAFF WRITER AND SARAH SMITH // FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF *NOTE: This is the third segment in a series on former professor David Dessler. It focuses on the College administration’s handling of his case based on stated procedures regarding faculty leave and termination. Next week, The Flat Hat will explore how Dessler’s story relates to the culture surrounding mental health at the College. Visit SoundCloud.com/theflathat to hear the podcast version of this series.

was in effect fired,” Meyers said. “[He was] removed from his position with loss of salary and benefits and told nevertheless that he still had a tenured status, a standing that I’ve never heard of in the academic world.”

In response to the emeritus faculty note, Provost Michael Halleran denied all allegations. “[Dessler] has not been terminated, but, without an indication of an ability to return to work and with the exhaustion of his paid medical leave, he was removed from the payroll as there is no other reasonable status for him as a tenured faculty member,” Halleran wrote in a Sept. 13, 2016, memo.

The distinction between an “inactive” status and termination is a complicated aspect of Dessler’s story, and it raises several additional questions: Why did Dessler who, in a July 26, 2016, letter told Chief Human Resources Officer John Poma that he had sought medical care and intended to resume

“

The reason they could not just say, ‘you’re fired’ is I had tenure, so they were dancing around that. They had to say, ‘you are employed but you aren’t active.’ ... I realized that going back was hopeless.

“

David Dessler

full-time teaching during the fall 2016 semester — decline to provide documentation that would facilitate his return to teaching? (See part III section on leave for further analysis of this issue.) If Dessler had, as he and the emeritus faculty members say, been effectively terminated, what procedural guidelines were ignored?

According to page 25 of the Faculty Handbook, the termination of a tenured faculty member can only be effected for adequate cause, including incompetence, misconduct and medical reasons.

Page 75 further states that administrative officers who find evidence that a faculty member is unable to perform his or her essential duties must discuss the problem with the employee and attempt to reach a satisfactory solution. If this fails, the provost submits a report to the Procedural Review Committee, which initiates an informal investigation. If the committee is also unable to reach a solution, the provost initiates a formal investigation overseen by the Faculty Hearing Committee.

“The burden of proof that the faculty member is no longer able to perform the essential duties of the position,” the handbook states, “even with reasonable accommodation, rests with the College and shall be satisfied only by clear and convincing evidence in the record considered as a whole.”

Because Dessler was classified as inactive, the College repeatedly told him he was ineligible for a hearing. Documents filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, however, show that following Dessler’s listing as inactive, the College “initiated proceedings under the Faculty Handbook to terminate [his] appointment as a tenured professor for medical reasons and misconduct.” Dessler subsequently resigned from his position June 18, 2017.

According to court documents, Dessler decided to resign to avoid continued harassment by the College.

After enduring five arrests and 77 days in jail, Dessler told The Flat Hat he was tired of living in constant fear.

“I thought I might be arrested again,” Dessler said. “I couldn’t figure out how to predict when I would get arrested, because I wasn’t breaking any laws, just [making] people mad.”

Overall, Dessler said he views the College’s Aug. 9, 2016, listing of his inactive employee status as “wordplay.”

“I lost all privileges of employment,” Dessler said.

“The reason they could not just say, ‘you’re fired’ is I had tenure, so they were dancing around that. They had to say, ‘you are employed but you just aren’t active.’ … I realized that going back was hopeless.”

Leave policies

Although the College of William and Mary states that former government professor David Dessler remained a tenured faculty member until his June 18, 2017, resignation, he has not been permitted on campus since November 2015 –– roughly the same time he began an extended period of medical leave.

Monday, Oct. 26, 2015, following a week of uncertainty over the future of Dessler’s government courses, then-department chair John McGlennon informed students that their professor had been placed on administrative leave and would be replaced by new instructors.

In an interview with The Flat Hat, Dessler said he did not know he had been placed on administrative leave until his students reached out to him.

Over the next several days, Dessler sent several emails he called “regrettable” to students, as well as to McGlennon. These emails, he said, were the result of a condition called acute psychiatric trauma, which kept him from thinking clearly.

In a Nov. 2 phone call with Provost Michael Halleran, Dessler agreed to go on medical leave.

The Family and Medical Leave Act entitled him to 120 days of unpaid leave, while the College’s leave policy enabled him to turn this unpaid leave into paid leave. Dessler said that his decision to go on medical leave was spurred by grief over the death of his sister and a desire to seek treatment. He had previously taken medical leave in spring 2007.

“Focusing on tasks like when I had to do research, prep a lecture, I had a hard time focusing,” Dessler said. “… What made me decide to go on the leave was in part I wanted to get treatment, and I decided I didn’t really have a choice because they’d put me on this leave and were not offering a dialogue to get back to work.”

The Faculty Handbook states that although the need for extended leave is often unanticipated, faculty members are required to notify the Office of the Provost. If medical inability to work extends or is expected to extend beyond three weeks, a physician’s statement verifying inability to work, including an anticipated return date, is required.

Dessler said that in January 2016, he felt ready to return to work. March 2, 2016, Chief Human Resources Officer John Poma wrote Dessler that his paid leave would end March 24, a Collegegranted extension from the original end date of March 4. In the letter, Poma said that if a qualified medical provider had deemed Dessler fit to work, he must submit an updated FMLA form. If he had not been certified to return, he was eligible to apply for long-term disability benefits.

March 8, Poma emailed once again, reminding Dessler that he had voluntarily taken medical leave and the onus of applying to return to work or seeking long-term disability benefits was on him. March 14, Poma told Dessler that he had three options: elect to retire, submit the FMLA certification or apply for long-term disability benefits. If Dessler selected none of those options,

his pay would end, and his health insurance would lapse March 31.

Just under two weeks later, the day his paid leave was set to end, Poma emailed Dessler once more, extending his paid leave to the end of the spring 2016 semester and reiterating the three options for proceeding.

FMLA return-to-work certification is also known as a “fitness-for-duty” certification, and an employer may only request it with regard to the particular health condition that required the employee to take FMLA leave. The employer may contact the employee’s health care provider to clarify and authenticate this certification.

According to Dessler, the certification document the College asked for did not fall under the legal parameters of FMLA policy. He said he offered to undergo a medical exam during both March and July but objected to filling out an “illegal” form.

“The process that actually occurred was not one that was fair or abided by the law because they kept saying you must turn in this form,” Dessler said. “I did a lot of governance work with the College [and] was a stickler for doing these policies correctly. I wasn’t resisting the exam, just resisting the illegal form.”

According to Dessler’s Nov. 5, 2015, leave paperwork, the reasons for his medical leave were grief and fatigue following the death of his sister and ongoing divorce settlement. The FMLA only allows employers to ask for fitness-for-duty paperwork for the specific medical condition for which an employee went on leave, which means that the College could only ask Dessler to submit paperwork regarding grief and fatigue. It is not clear for which condition Poma requested certification.

By the end of the spring 2016 semester, Dessler had not turned in the requested form. Within two weeks of Aug. 9, 2016, when his employee status was listed as “inactive,” his pay and all associated

“

The Faculty Handbook does not cover all employee policies, procedures and regulations that pertain to tenured and tenure eligible faculty.

“

DESSLER from page 1

College spokesperson Suzanne Seurattan

employee privileges ended. According to the College, however, he retained his tenure status.

Although he was listed as tenured but “inactive,” Dessler claims that this was effectively termination (see section on termination for more details).

“The reason they could not just say ‘you’re fired’ is because I had tenure, so they were dancing around that,” Dessler said. “They had to say you are employed but you just aren’t active, I didn’t get paid.”

According to College spokesperson Suzanne Seurattan, Dessler’s inactive status was the result of him not taking any of the recommended actions to return from his paid leave. She also said that there is no pay or benefit package associated with this status. One point of contention between the College and Dessler is that “inactive status” is not referenced in the Faculty Handbook.

“The Faculty Handbook does not cover all employee policies, procedures and regulations that pertain to tenured and tenure eligible faculty,” Seurattan said in an email.

GRAPHIC BY MEILAN SOLLY / THE FLAT HAT

Page 4

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

POLITICS

Stand Up Rally encourages political activism Peninsula Indivisible event discusses school-to-prison pipeline, gerrymandering MADELINE MONROE FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR

Peninsula Indivisible hosted the second annual Stand Up Rally and Expo at Bruton High School in Williamsburg Sunday, Feb. 18.

Nine speakers led a two-panel discussion on issues such as criminal justice reform, gerrymandering and racial justice while former political candidates provided insight. The activist expo featured 19 groups including OneVirginia2021, LGBT Life Center and Williamsburg-James City County Democrats.

Diann Smith, who helped organize the rally, said Peninsula Indivisible’s goal in overseeing the rally was to capitalize upon the fervor from the 2017 elections and use that to spur involvement for the upcoming elections this year.

“We would like to see everyone in the area engaged with local groups, local advocacy groups, as well as local charities to get involved and to get started in the community and work to make their communities better,” Smith said.

Newport News Mayor McKinley Price kicked off the rally with opening remarks, encouraging attendees to stay civically engaged.

“It is the constructive citizen input that brings to local government the perspective of the citizens and families that live and work here,” Price said.

95th District Virginia House of Representatives Delegate Marcia Price noted during the first panel speech that Virginia has made some progress in criminal justice reform but still has “far to go” due to the prevalence of the school-to-prison pipeline.

“As you all know, the school-to-prison pipeline is a thing,” Price said. “It is real. It is not a philosophical concept. Kids are being put in Virginia based on 2014 and 2015 numbers into the legal system and the court system for things that when you and I were young, we

just went to the principal for.”

Black Lives Matter Hampton Roads founder Kimberly Tucker, who founded the chapter after she feared her son with a mental illness would be shot after an encounter with police, emphasized the need to do more for vulnerable individuals. She also agreed with Price regarding the prominence of the school-to-prison pipeline, noting that as a former assistant principal in a predominantly white district, she had to fight to keep students in school. Tucker said that some teachers would even attempt to target students so Tucker would have to expel them.

“I had a teacher who told a black student that he’d never amount to anything because his parents were either incarcerated or drug users,” Tucker said. “It is absolutely true that we target the most vulnerable students in our schools. And yes, when they are expelled, or suspended, they are not home doing their homework — they’re in the streets, with the older kids who are getting into trouble. And so what we are definitely doing is creating a pipeline from school to prison that we must combat by legislation that limits the number of days that a student can be suspended and that kind of thing.”

Price also called attention to the issue of mass incarceration in the American prison system.

“Our country incarcerates at alarming rates that Congressman Scott will tell you that there’s data that even says that we incarcerate at such a rate that it is counterproductive to reducing crime because of the families that are being disintegrated, because of the family structures, the morals and the income and just what happens to people when they come back from jail not being able to find housing, jobs, healthcare, and recidivism rate goes up,” Price said.

As she addressed the aftermath of the Majory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida Feb. 14, Price said she had cried in frustration remembering the opposition she faced to

gun legislation she and her colleagues had proposed just two weeks earlier.

“When I get emails asking me, ‘Well what are you doing about gun violence?’ it’s a little insulting,” Price said. “Because we are trying. And in the House of Delegates, you need 140 people to vote on something that seven people can say ‘It’s never getting to the floor for a full vote.’ My bills died on a 5-2 party line vote and never got heard by the full floor. Most of you will never know how your delegate would have voted for it, because it just didn’t get there.”

OneVirginia2021 Executive Director Brian Cannon ’04 J.D. ’11 spoke on the problems facing representative democracy in Virginia and emphasized the issue of gerrymandering, which his organization is trying to reform. Cannon said he had heard people claim that Virginia’s recent “blue wave” was proof that gerrymandering does not work. He explained that was not the case. While Democrats in the House of Delegates were plus nine and received 49 percent of the seats, two years ago Republicans were also plus nine but received 66 percent of the seats.

“Not only is gerrymandering powerful, but it was powerful enough to withstand a nine-point democratic wave, which, I think as fans of democracy and fans of government, if any team has a ninepoint wave, they should be the ones with the gavel,” Cannon said.

Cannon said he believes that the issue of gerrymandering demonstrates that America has a problem with how its representative democracy system functions.

“The fact of doing nothing is not acceptable,” Cannon said. “And when 70 percent of Virginians or 70 percent of Americans want something to happen and your government doesn’t respond, you’re missing the representative part of a representative democracy. … There’s all these things that are pulling us artificially apart and letting our government not really reflect who we are.”

WILLIAMSBURG

NAACP, City leaders talk memorial for MLK, local civil rights activists Charlottesville events inspire completion of commemorative project originally conceived in 1980 LESLIE DAVIS FLAT HAT SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR

Twenty years after Martin Luther King Jr. visited Williamsburg in 1962 and spoke to members of the first Baptist Church in the United States, a sign was placed at a nearby intersection stating that it would be the future site for his memorial. The monument’s planning has not made instrumental strides since the mid-1980s — until December 2017.

Williamsburg National Association for the Advancement of Colored People President Brian Smalls, Williamsburg Mayor Paul Freiling ’83 and Vice-Mayor Scott Foster’10 J.D. ’14 have discussed the beginning plans for the project. Born out of these talks was a consensus that the memorial should not be a unilateral project carried out only by the City, but rather a community project led by the people of Williamsburg.

“I think that we all agree that in addition to building a monument, what we are looking for is an opportunity for community engagement,” Freiling said. “Through that process, more and more, we are hoping dialogue about issues of race and about society today.”

To encourage community participation in the

memorial’s planning, the three leaders have also agreed to develop a committee to lead the project.

“One of things that came out of that initial meeting was [that] we need to put together a committee to actually get the community involved because obviously this [is] going to be a community memorial,” Smalls said. “So, the community needed to play a role in what this project was going to look like.”

Since the initial talks, City Manager Marvin Collins and attorney John Garley have joined the project.

Rather than solely honoring King, the memorial will also recognize key local civil rights leaders and business owners who played an instrumental role during the civil rights era in Williamsburg.

The sign’s location, at the intersection of Scotland and Prince George streets, is where their businesses once stood.

“There’s a consensus seems to be is that it shouldn’t just a memorial to Dr. King — that should be a component of it — but it should also honor many of the black business owners that came up during the time of segregation,” Smalls said. “Where the sign is currently, that area is known as the Triangle, and that was the hub of black businesses

pre-civil rights and through the civil rights era, up until the late ’70s and early ’80s.”

While the project in still in its early stages, it has been supported by larger community organizations.

Freiling said that the Triangle Arts and Culture League is interested in possibly funding the project, in addition to a financial contribution by the City Council.

Despite the long wait for the memorial since the 1980s, Freiling is committed to seeing the project to fruition. While Foster wants the memorial completed in 2019, Freiling will consider the project a success if the community sees groundwork finished that same year.

“Especially as we are approaching the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved African to Jamestown in 1618 … if we don’t do it now, I don’t know when we are going to do it,” Freiling said.

He said he also recognizes the large generational gap between King’s time and that of the children of Williamsburg.

“No kid in school today was alive when Dr. King was alive,” Freiling said. “So how many of them know about him? How many of them understand the context of times within which he lived and try to enact the change he was seeking through

nonviolent means? When we don’t consistently reinforce history, we run the risk of losing it.”

Foster’s commitment to the project’s revival stems from the events that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, Aug. 11-12.

“Part of it was born out of what went on in Charlottesville,” Foster said. “I thought we needed to, as a city, move forward to recognize the importance of our African-American community.

There’s a great story here in the African-American community that needs to be better understood by the general public.”

Alexa Mason ’19, co- president of the College of William and Mary’s NAACP chapter, said she hopes that all of the community members contributing to the memorial consider the lasting impact the memorial could have on Williamsburg.

“As a chapter [of the NAACP], we hope that the memorial is constructed with the care and attention to detail as fitting of someone of Dr. King’s stature,” Mason said in an email. “We are excited that the memorial is coming to fruition after a long period of planning, and hope that the monument will inspire this generation of young leaders to continue King’s fight against discrimination, voter suppression, and other civil rights violations.”

ALUMNI

Society of 1918 invites women to contribute to alumnae initiatives Acceptance into organization requires new members to donate $10,000 over five years KIANA ESPINOZA FLAT HAT CHIEF OPERATIONS COORDINATOR

The newly founded Society of 1918 seeks to engage with women graduates of the College of William and Mary and encourage them to give significant contributions. Charter members of the Society of 1918 — any alumna who pledges $10,000, up front or over the course of five years — will be accepted until June 2018.

The Society of 1918 is the product of a nearly six-year endeavor on the part of the William and Mary Alumni Association and a small group of alumni who formed the Task Force on Women and Philanthropy. Together, they analyzed national data alongside their own focus group research of the College’s alumnae to devise a strategy to better engage women donors.

According to University Advancement writer Claire De Lisle, in order for one to join the Society of 1918, one must contribute a minimum of $10,000 in the form of a membership fee. De Lisle said that Duke University requires a $100,000 donation for a similar organization, while other universities do not require philanthropy but instead require participation.

“At $10,000 we really wanted to celebrate significant women’s philanthropy and to recognize and point out those women who are giving at their highest level of capacity,” De Lisle said. “Now that said, one of our subcommittees is membership: how do we engage women who can’t give at this level, maybe not as members of the Society, but how do we engage them?”

According to De Lisle, members of the organization are involving students and other alumnae who are not members of the Society through events, such as the “William and Mary Women: All Aboard!” event, which seeks to engage women through leadership and more moderate donations.

Vice Chair of the Society of 1918 Janet Atwater ’84 said that in order to account for potential problems of inaccessibility, the $10,000 donation is over a period of five years rather than up front. There is also an opt-in option for previous donors.

“Obviously that excludes folks that don’t have the ability to give $2,000 a year,” Atwater said. “We are making sure that we are doing

programming that is not just for Society members but will impact the greater community … such as the William and Mary weekend next September.”

Currently at the College, over half of the student body is comprised of women, with the most recent class of 2021 at 58 percent women.

Similarly, women represent 53 percent of alumni at the College.

According to Director of Alumni Initiatives Val Cushman and De Lisle, women graduates are more likely to make a donation of any amount than men, citing that they have given more on One Tribe One Day than men, but noting that on average, the amount women give is significantly lower than men.

“Men are more interested in the professional benefits of being philanthropic,” De Lisle said. “They’re more interested in the tax ramifications of being philanthropic, while women are more interested in the impact of the gift. So, they need to understand the vision of where they’re going, and they need to understand if they do give something what happens with those dollars, whether it’s one or a million is it making a difference. And that matters to women.”

Cushman said that for many female donors, giving is about building relationships. “[For women] it’s about building these relationships with students, but also faculty, the staff, the peers, being able to connect with other alumni and forging those bonds, and really seeing the impact of their gift on people,” Cushman said.

Chair of the Society of 1918 Fran Engoron ’70, who is also a board member involved in philanthropy with the Raymond A. Mason School of Business, said that she donates with students in mind.

“My criteria [are] more student-focused,” Engoron said. “If we want to significantly increase philanthropy from women, we have to increase student engagement.”

Atwater said that the Society plans on advocating for women in positions of leadership, including faculty positions.

“I think one of the things we’re really trying to do is increase parity on the various leadership boards around campus, making sure we’re advocating for women in senior leadership positions, advocating for greater numbers of women professors, et cetera,” Atwater said.

Vice President of University Advancement Mathew Lambert ’99

said that the College is among the first five universities in the country to focus specifically on women’s philanthropy and is currently being studied for best practices in fundraising.

“Our goal is to grow engagement, which leads to growing leadership, which results in growing philanthropy,” Lambert said in an email.

GRAPHIC BY MAX MINOGUE / THE FLAT HAT

opinions

Opinions Editor Ethan Brown Opinions Editor Katherine Yenzer fhopinions@gmail.com // @theflathat

The Flat Hat

| Tuesday, February 20, 2018 | Page 5

GUEST COLUMN

Spring recruitment proves beneficial for freshmen

Anna Boustany FLAT HAT GUEST WRITER

JAE CHO / THE FLAT HAT

STAFF COLUMN

Saying farewell to the staff of The Flat Hat

Isabel Larroca

OUTGOING FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

We often say to those who are interested in joining The Flat Hat that each person’s level of commitment is totally up to them — their time working on the paper is what they make of it. Admittedly, this is primarily meant as a reassurance that signing up for our email list isn’t akin to a blood oath. You won’t find yourself shackled to a desk in a dark, likely mold-infested office in the basement of Campus Center.

And yet, as some of us prepare to take our leave of said basement, I can’t help but think on the time we collectively put into this paper each week. Our time at the paper is what we make of it — and we certainly make the most of it. Late nights in the office are spent blasting early-2000s playlists, discussing movies, watching endless YouTube videos and debating Buzzfeed “would you rather” quizzes.

Whether tracking down interviews, editing videos and podcasts, designing pages, distributing papers across campus, etc., we put a lot into what we do. At times it seems thankless, yet, without fail, each person shows up and goes above and beyond. It’s seeing that consistent effort and enthusiasm that helps those of us who are leaving to let go.

It is with great confidence that I hand over the reins to the paper’s 108th Editorin-Chief, Sarah Smith ’19. The tireless dedication she showed in her time with the News section will contribute enormously to her new position, which has its unique responsibilities and challenges. Her passion for journalism and efforts to seek out new opportunities for the paper as a whole will be vital to The Flat Hat as it expands and evolves.

Taking over the position of managing editor is Nia Kitchin ’20. Having spent her time balancing the responsibilities of News editor, freshman RA, and member of Honor Council, I know she will handle her new role with aplomb. Her ability to stick to her guns while remaining fair will be an invaluable trait as she leads the News and Opinions sections.

Alyssa Grzesiak ’20 will be overseeing Sports and Variety in her new position as executive editor. Having led the Sports section with a steady hand as its first female editor in years, I know she will find exciting new directions to take both of her sections. I can’t wait to see what she and her section editors come up with (and how her trash-can basketball game improves even further with another year of practice).

Back from his time abroad, Sean Willner ’19 will be taking over as digital media editor. He has already demonstrated great initiative and enthusiasm in finding digital components for print stories, along with a healthy appreciation for “Dogs of DoG Street” videos. I look forward to seeing what his collaboration with other sections produces. .Transitioning over from her previous position as Opinions editor, Kiana Espinoza ’19 will be taking on the paper’s newest position, operations coordinator. Whether facing the weekly battle of getting everyone on staff to distribute the weekly issue (I recommend the “threaten to share middle school Facebook photos on Slack” tactic) or leading our annual intern program, I am certain she’s up to the task.

Jumping right in after serving as a News intern, Max Minogue ’21 will take over as chief staff writer. His passion and sense for news will serve him well.

The News section has two worthy new editors in Leonor Grave ’19 and Madeline Monroe ’19. The two are already bringing fresh perspectives to the section and actively pursuing stories that will inform students and bring the overlooked to the forefront of our reporting.

Katherine Yenzer ’21 and Ethan Brown ’21 have taken up the honor and challenge of running the Opinions section as freshmen. Having experienced this personally and having watched them transition into this role, I am already impressed with their ability to find wide-ranging topics and views on campus.

The Variety section will benefit immensely from the talent and hard work of Heather Baier ’20 and Carmen Honker ’21. Their capability and imagination when it comes to design, combined with their ability to find unique story opportunities, is sure to lead to some truly impressive work.

Two former Opinions editors will make the leap over to Sports as Brendan Doyle ’20 and Julia Stumbaugh ’19 become its new section editors. I look forward to seeing how their passion for arguing over hockey is put into running and reimagining the section overall.

As The Flat Hat looks for new ways to build on its online presence, our Online editors Peter Eckel ’19 and Talia Wiener ’20, Blogs editor Abby Graham ’20 and Social Media editor Leslie Davis ’21 will all be essential. Their creativity and innovation will bring fresh life to the sections.

Kyra Solomon ’19 and Gracie Harris ’21 will serve as Photo editors, continuing to provide the paper with snapshots of the (often swampy) world of campus life.

In the world of copy editing, the triumvirate of Lauren Bavis ’19, Rachel Wilmans ’19 and Kate Sandberg ’19 remains strong. May their reign remain as efficient and capable as ever, and may their encounters with Oxford commas remain scarce.

Moises Romero ’19 will continue his incredible dedication to his role as business manager, keeping the paper on track financially from across the Atlantic.

And now to recognize the seniors who weathered many a change, including a transition to once-a-week printing, a restructured intern program and a new website.

Emily Chaumont ’18 and Sarah Ruiz ’18, we’ve seen many a 2 a.m. office “night” in our time. You were office DJs, Disney experts, Campus Golf stars, fellow “Star Wars” fanatics and YouTube video connoisseurs. However, I’m most grateful for your calm in a crisis and tolerance of many, many a rant.

Sam Dreith ’18, Amelia Lucas ’18 and Iris Hyon ’18 not only kept the social media accounts running and interviewed dogs on camera, but also brought the best hair, best office decor and some of the wittiest banter to be heard.

Caroline Nutter ’18, despite her many involvements across campus, still found time to pursue stories that needed to be told.

A man of many talents, Josh Luckenbaugh ’18 served as The Flat Hat’s resident cinephile, writing movie reviews alongside his basketball commentaries.

The News section would not have been the same this semester without Meilan Solly ’18. She brought high-quality reporting alongside truly incredible page designs. While she was missed during her two years at the University of St Andrews, the talent and ideas she brought back with her were unmatched this year.

It has been my honor and pleasure to work with such an incredible group of people. I can only hope that those who follow have the same amazing experience.

Stabilitas et fides.

Email Isabel Larroca at imlarroca@email.wm.edu.

“

At times it seems thankless, yet without fail, each person shows up and goes above and beyond.

It’s seeing that consistent effort and enthusiasm that helps those of us who are leaving to let go.

Orientation at the College of William and Mary was one of the best weeks of my life. Simultaneously, it was incredibly stressful. Did I want to join a club sport? What extracurriculars did I want to do? What classes was I going to sign up for? What were my backup classes? At the very least, I thought I knew that I did not want to participate in Greek life on campus. But after I ended up going to “Meet the Greeks,” I was surprisingly torn. My grandmother had been in a sorority and highly recommended it, and everyone I had met who was in sorority seemed to love their experience.

“Maybe I would try this sorority thing out,” I thought to myself. However, as I looked into signing up for recruitment, I realized that it was all happening the first and second weekends of classes. I was going to a football game, a family wedding and celebrating my birthday within the first few weeks of school, all while trying to figure out how to take college classes. I was already so overwhelmed that I decided to wait a year to participate in recruitment. I am looking forward to going through the recruitment process in the upcoming fall and joining a sorority, but I wish that the College had full spring recruitment instead of our current complete fall recruitment and partial spring recruitment.

“

I know that I personally have changed a great deal from the person I was in high school, and I think that it was important for me to take the time to get to know myself in college before I made a lifelong commitment to a sorority.

Other schools, like the University of Virginia, have all sorority recruitment take place in the spring. Freshmen still get an opportunity to make Greek life a part of their first year, but they also have time to get to know both themselves at college and the differences between sororities. Some of my friends here have dropped out of Greek life because they joined the wrong sorority for them, due to the fact that they had so little time before recruitment.

I know that I personally have changed a great deal from the person I was in high school, and I think that it was important for me to take the time to get to know myself in college before I made a lifelong commitment to a sorority.

However, I would have loved nothing more than to go through recruitment this semester and have had the chance to be in a sorority my freshman year. While it is true that, occasionally, a few sororities have spring recruitment, that does not really compare to the full fall recruitment that occurs here.

Personally, the sororities that I am considering joining did not have spring recruitment, so I have to wait until this upcoming fall to participate in recruitment.

While waiting a year to join is not the end of the world, I do feel like I have missed out by not participating in Greek life my freshman year. Though it gives me no joy to praise UVA for anything, I think that in this one small area, they and other colleges that do spring recruitment have the edge on us.

Email Anna Boustany at aeboustany@email.wm.edu.

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Page 6

While tempting to students, Presidents Day break would be unnecessary, superfluous

Anthony Madalone

FLAT HAT OPINIONS ASSOC. EDITOR

GRAPHIC BY ANGELA VISISHTA / THE FLAT HAT

More transparency needed in presidential search

Ethan Brown

FLAT HAT OPINIONS EDITOR

The Presidential Search Committee is striving to find a replacement for President Taylor Reveley by his expected retirement in June. The Committee is making noble attempts to communicate the intricacies of the selection process to students and faculty; members have published several reports detailing the leadership profiles and aspirations of their preferred candidates. I value the Committee’s transparency regarding its expectations for the 28th president of the College. I certainly feel assured that our next president will possess rewarding and redeeming qualities due to the Committee’s intensive vetting procedures.

Unfortunately, the Committee has also been surprisingly lax in publicizing updates of the candidate selection process. The timeline on the Committee’s webpage is vague and nonspecific. For winter/ spring 2018, it merely says that the Committee will “conduct candidate interviews” and “recommend finalists” before finally submitting nominations to the College’s Board of Visitors. There are few details related to the timing of an official announcement as well, leaving students and faculty in the lurch; even the broad category of winter/spring is unclear and subject to debate.

The Presidential Search Committee deserves a certain degree of discretion as it chooses the College’s next president, and I can respect its desire to conduct an unobtrusive search. However, I wish the Committee would derive more inspiration from our college’s traditions of transparency and access to knowledge and publicize details about its preferred candidates before it moves forward to consideration by the Board of Visitors.

My peers and I would delight in the opportunity to respond to the Committee’s proposed contenders, and the College would surely benefit from as much student input as possible regarding the selection of its 28th leader. The president of the College is a vital and symbolic figure. I hope that in the future, students will play a more active role in facilitating the selection of our next president; that can start tomorrow with the enhanced public engagement of our search committee.

Email Ethan Brown at ewbrown@email.wm.edu.

“

The College of William and Mary is no stranger to tradition. Some of the College’s heralded habits are formal: our annual Charter Day ceremonies are elaborate, boasting wellscripted speeches and scepters from the 18th century. The freshman class’s stroll through the Christopher Wren Building during Convocation is sacrosanct, just as the pledging of the Honor Code requires a certain appreciation for tradition and poise.

Obviously, we have plenty of casual customs as well: the Yule Log ceremony is a perennial winter favorite, and who hasn’t gone to the President’s house for Halloween trick-or-treating at least once or twice during their time in Williamsburg? For anyone interested in witnessing some of the College’s more risqué pastimes, spend more than 10 minutes on the Sunken Garden late Friday night and you’ll catch a glimpse of my most beloved tradition (especially when it’s not ghastly cold outside).

The College’s reverence for tradition is intense and well-known. Our admiration of the past and our love of tradition are focal points of our campus-wide community. However, there are no greater traditions in our college than a respect for the freedom of information and a thirst for transparency; the College’s Presidential Search Committee must do more to epitomize those traditions as well as our campus-specific ones.

The Committee has been surprisingly lax at publicizing updates of the candidate selection process.

Monologues spark dialogue about violence towards women

Jacquelyn Miner, Nicole Alanko FLAT HAT GUEST WRITERS

Last year, I left the performance of “A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer” (MMRP) at the College of William and Mary both absolutely awestruck and devastated — in a good way. MMRP is a provocative series of monologues that highlights violence against women in all forms and raises money for Avalon, a local domestic violence shelter. MMRP’s monologues discuss domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking and even violence associated with geo-political conflict.

The monologues are reflective of, and are written by, women of all backgrounds, races and socio-economic statuses. The monologues that are ultimately performed are chosen by the directors with a theme in mind, making them all the more powerful.

As a viewer, this program can be triggering. There is no way around that; the content is difficult. The language is real — sometimes too real — and vibrant. Many of us, women and men, have survived or are currently living through these scenarios.

We live through unwanted sexual contact in bars and dorm rooms. We live through relationships that hollow us out and make

us feel alone. In many ways, the show can be therapeutic, as it reminds us as survivors that we are not alone.

As a fellow survivor, the performance last year offered me solace and solidarity.

It allowed me a moment of comfort and validation for my feelings and insecurities.

That is why it was so important for me to get involved with it this year. If this year’s production can have that effect on at least one other survivor, I believe the show will be a huge success.

This year, I have been fortunate enough to get involved with the production and direction. This has given me the opportunity to explore the monologues more intimately and to closely shape the campus-wide discussion around gender-based violence.

In light of the #MeToo movement and the events that have occurred since last year’s performance, this year’s production strives to reflect the ground-breaking awakening that we are all experiencing in today’s popular culture.

The show features six monologues that will carry the audience through the insecure moment of realization that something

seems wrong, to the moment of awakening and trusting yourself, and finally ending with an empowered call for revolution. This story arc may be familiar to other survivors — this is the arc of how I came to be an activist for survivors of violence.

The women in this year’s production explore the nuances of these monologues and bring these words to life. Each actress brings her own interpretation to the monologue, just as each survivor brings her own experience and culture to understanding the violence she has experienced.

No two survivors will have the same story of overcoming violence, just as no two actresses will portray the response to violence in the same way. Through this show, we hope that everyone in our audience walks away feeling empowered to take a stand against violence in their own subset of the Tribe, and that everyone will be part of a tide for change.

Email Nicole Alanko at jnalanko@email.wm.edu, or email Jacquelyn Miner at jnminer@email.wm.edu.

The College of William and Mary prides itself on its presidential roots. Starting as early as my first preapplication information session for the College, I heard some form of the statement “three American presidents went here” uttered, and since then, I have heard it ad nauseum. This is for good reason, as it is a fact to be extremely proud of.

Following this, it would only make sense for our school to celebrate Presidents Day as a small break in February.

We already have a fall break similarly placed in the first semester, and George Washington, the very man whose birthday is celebrated for Presidents Day, got his surveyor’s license from the College. It all makes perfect sense.

However, I cannot advocate for the creation of a Presidents Day break. I am not against this break because of any form of politics or a distaste for being away from classes and scholarly responsibilities. I appreciate time to breathe and relax just as much as everyone else. I just don’t think that the students of the College need a break in February to do so.

“

By the time Presidents Day weekend comes around, another breather just seems superfluous considering how recent our last one was.

There is no calendar-based reason for the College to have a fall break. This year, the break happened to fall upon the weekend of “Bald and Free Day,” “National Chicken Cacciatore Day,” and “National Cut Up Your Credit Card Day,” all of which are holidays that hardly seem like things the College would give students a weekend off to celebrate.

Fall break’s importance is not in its intrinsic meaning, but in what it does for students, especially freshmen. It is nice for upperclassmen to go back home for a bit in October.

For first-year students coming off of a lifetime of living at home, being able to go back home after a little more than a month of school serves as a way to grab things previously thought unnecessary, get another taste of home cooking after the drastic adjustment to dining halls and, most importantly, regain a sense of comfort and confidence that can easily be lost in the massive transition to dormitory life.

Coming off of a month-long break back to college is nowhere near as monumental a shift as coming back after four months, or, for first year students, around 216 months.

While summer break serves as a chance to live a life outside of college for an extended period of time, winter break serves as more of a quick breather before the rest of the school year.

By the time Presidents Day weekend comes around, another breather just seems superfluous considering how recent our last one was. Re-acclimating into life at the College should pretty much be achieved already, with a whole, recent semester being under our collective belts.

I wholeheartedly believe we should celebrate our Founding Fathers, even more so at a school that our Founding Fathers once inhabited. Let us do it, however, not from home but from the very place they once dwelled.

Email Anthony Madalone at asmadalone@email.wm.edu.

“

COMMENTS @THEFLATHAT

I survived four years of Morton. It’s fine.

– Amy Katancik Jordan on “Underrepresented majors are deserving of equally inclusive spaces”

variety

Variety Editor Heather Baier Variety Editor Carmen Honker flathat.variety@gmail.com // @theflathat

The Flat Hat

| Tuesday, February 20, 2018 | Page 7

11th annual Global Film Festival commemorates world of cinema

LEONOR GRAVE, ROBIN BRADLEY // FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR, THE FLAT HAT message about how we perceive people who are different from us, and about how we as a society treat those people,” Samantha Pitz ’19 said.

The weekend was also an opportunity for film and media studies majors to get hands-on experience with organizing a festival. Anna Campion ’19 was one of three Festival interns this year. She was also one of the featured filmmakers. She was part of College Brochure, the winning team in the 2018 24 Speed filmmaking competition organized by the Reeder Media Center earlier in February.

Campion’s team’s short film, “Gloria: Mime Unknown,” a character study in the day of life of a mime featuring a stellar Christopher Walken impression from Sophia Brodnax ’20, won both the Jury and Audience Awards at the competition. The winning student and alumni 24 Speed films were screened at the Festival itself.

Victory in the 24 Speed victory competition this year was no small feat: more than 36 student teams participated, the highest number in the competition’s 13 years.

“We were stoked,” competition champion Campion said. “I think it’s especially cool to be doing this and talking with people who are in the industry who I think are so cool and to say, ‘Actually, I won 24 Speed,’ and they’ll say, ‘I also did 24 Speed and I hated all my films.’”

This is Campion’s second year volunteering with the Festival. In 2017 she was a part of the student advisory council. This year she was involved with the workshops and panels.

It was heartening, Campion said, that the workshops and screenings were well-attended by students and community members alike. Friday’s screening of “Phantom Thread,” the Daniel Day-Lewis British drama he alleges is his last film, was the fullest Campion said she has ever seen at the Kimball.

This enthusiastic turnout is in part, Campion said, because Williamsburg is in the middle of something of a film festival desert. So, when an event of this scale happens, it draws a part of the community that doesn’t often see its interests in the literal, or proverbial, spotlight.

“You wouldn’t think that William and Mary equates with successful media alumni, but they really do,” Campion said. “A lot more students were engaged this year — and the community as a whole was too.”

‘A

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opinions of Bosnia’s first peacetime generation since the devastating ethnic conflicts of the ‘90s and sought to include the viewpoints of both urbanites and those living in Bosnia’s quiet rural villages.

After viewing the film, Russian studies student Reid Nagurka ’20 mused about what he learned.

“I thought the most interesting part of the film was when one of the young Bosnian men described the hardships that capitalism brought upon post-Soviet Eastern Europe,” Nagurka said.

In the question-and-answer session that followed the film, writer and director Emir Kapetanovic told the crowd that the goal of the film was not to tell the children what to say, but to give them the chance to say what they wanted to.

Stackhouse and Sykes said partnering with faculty and on-campus initiatives provides wonderful opportunities for the Festival.

“It’s really fun having [faculty] interests pop up on the big screen and having them talk about their work and sharing it with both students and the general public,” Stackhouse said.

Friday afternoon saw the screening of “Through a Lens Darkly,” a documentary which explores the role that photography has played in forming AfricanAmerican identity. The screening was hosted by professor Jacquelyn McLendon and followed by a panel discussion with professors Suzette Spencer, Chinua Thelwell and Mei Mei Sanford.

The Festival featured many alumni who returned this year to lead workshops. Part of Stackhouse and Sykes’ outreach efforts include seeking out alumni in the entertainment industry. This year, one of those alumni was Milan Chakraborty ’00, who produced the film “My Friend Dahmer,” which follows cannibal serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in his senior year of high school.

As Chakraborty — a fedora-clad former accounting major and brother of Pi Kappa Alpha — led the questionand-answer session after the film screening Friday night, students asked him about the moral implications of making a movie about a figure as condemnable as Dahmer.

“We always try to tread a line because real lives were affected by what Jeffrey Dahmer did,” Chakraborty said.

But not talking about Dahmer’s crimes, Chakraborty argued, only makes it more likely that horrific situations like the ones involving Dahmer will happen again, and storytelling through film can be used as a medium for educating people.

Saturday afternoon, a wave of festivity swept through the theater as the crowd clapped along to the Russian Music Ensemble’s Slavic melodies. The light-hearted atmosphere during the performance contrasted sharply with the haunting film that followed. “Zoology” is a simultaneously grotesque and beautiful quasi-horror exploration of otherness and the thin divide between man and beast.

In this independent Russian film, a middle-aged zookeeper named Natasha abruptly sprouts a tail from the base of her spine and consequently struggles to accept herself and find love in a deeply superstitious unnamed rural town.

“I liked the movie, and I thought it had a strong

e d, al ’ a n d they’ll say, ‘I

W

hen it comes to the College of William and Mary, a thriving film community might not be the first thing on people’s minds.

Yet, for one weekend every year, the film community, past and present, takes over the Kimball Theater for the Global Film Festival. For the 11th time, the Festival brought together students, faculty, alumni and community members Feb. 15-18 for four days of film screenings, workshops and panels that brought global cinema to the forefront of this small colonial town.

2018 coincides with the commemoration of 50 years of African-American residential students at the College and the 20th anniversary of the William and Mary American Bosnian Collaboration. The Festival organizers collaborated with the committee for the 50th anniversary of African Americans in residence, the Institute for the Theory and Practice of International Relations, the Russian and post-Soviet studies department and the international relations department to host film screenings thematically linked to these initiatives.

Thursday night kicked things off with a focus on China.

The Confucius Institute hosted a screening of “Cook up a Storm,” a Chinese film about a culinary competition and rivalry between two great chefs. The screening included special guest Peter Chang, the award-winning chef and namesake of the restaurant just down Richmond Road.

For second-year Festival organizers Liz Sykes ’06 and Adam Stackhouse ’04, the ability to build upon last year’s collaboration with students and faculty made things a little easier. The positive feelings around outreach and putting together events was mutual.

This is the first Festival since the College took over the lease at the Kimball Theater, and tickets for any event at the Kimball were free for students. Sykes explained that the latter change was a direct response to feedback from last year’s Festival, and that fundraising efforts this year were conscious of the Festival being able to attain that goal. It showed — the screening and workshops were well-attended by students and community members alike.

The Festival screened “Children of Peace,” a documentary about life in Bosnia for the first generation of children born after the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s.

The American Bosnian Collaboration, formerly known as the Bosnia Project, is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary. ABC sends College students to Sarajevo over the summer to teach children English and media production skills.

“The Bosnia [programming] has been really meaningful for the alums who have come back,” Stackhouse said. “We’ve heard that it’s really nice to [come back to] campus to not just see the College but to have this thing that meant a lot to you during your time on campus, reunite with those people and talk about it to the people who are doing it now.”

Government professor and former human rights officer Paula Pickering, who mentors the awardwinning project, introduced “Children of Peace.” Before the screening of the film, the mini-documentary “ABC Project 2017” was shown, featuring interviews with the children from Sarajevo who took part in the program.

The film itself was an exploration of the lives and

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The Flat Hat

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Page 8

Dress to Impress

Facebook page fuels students’ fashion desires

NAO MI GR UBER // FLAT HAT VARIETY ASSOC. EDITOR

S

hopping isn’t easy for college students. The Williamsburg Premium Outlets are over half an hour away by public transportation.

Online shopping racks up quite the credit card bill and it is more likely to find next year’s ugly Christmas sweater at Goodwill than any new trend you’ve had your eye on. Luckily, the College of William and Mary students have another option — “william and mary ppl selling their clothing.”

The Facebook group “william and mary ppl selling their clothing” acts as an open marketplace for students to buy and sell their new, used or otherwise unidentified fashion finds that range from clothing to phone cases to homemade items. Once admitted to the group, members with items to sell are able to post photographs of their goods, set prices and message interested buyers. On the flip side, members can quickly comment their interest on posts, ask questions and seal the deal.

The group was founded in the fall of 2016 by Emily

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“I p ro too bably pro muc buy Holtzman ’18 in order thin bably h. I to create a b we gs on uy convenient, e c inclusive space eve k or on e a for students to buy and sell clothing. we ry oth ce e Prior to creating the e k like . … r group, Holtzman had been a member of a like a gam It’s similar group exclusive to t e o first be . I sorority members. p com erso the “There was a site at m William and Mary, but it was n kno ent t kind of exclusively within w, i . I d o the Greek community,” add t’s kin on’t Holtzman said. “It was like d ‘Shop Greek’ or something – A icting of along those lines. And so I . s ” h Som lyn was just like, you know, why me n not create a group that’s kind rs ’2 of inclusive to everyone on 0 campus.”

Since its creation, the page has grown beyond Holtzman’s expectations, and it now has over 2,800 members — nearly a third of the College’s population.

“I kind of just expected it to be just a small little group on campus,” Holtzman

said. “But then everyone started adding their friends, and it kind of grew from there, just from people adding their own networks and people.”

Since the group is based on Facebook, it’s easy to share the group with friends — all it takes is a few clicks and a short waiting period as your membership is verified.

For Trinity Torres ’18, a frequent buyer in the group, “william and mary ppl selling their clothing” is the perfect way to spice up her closet.

“I’ve always been really big into thrift shopping,” Torres said. “I just thought it was an affordable way to kind of update my closet.”

When asked about which shopping method she prefers, Torres emphasized the ease of access that comes with “william and mary ppl selling their clothing.” With all the buyers and sellers already living in close proximity, the process is as simple as setting up a time and place to meet, usually Swemromas or Cosi.

“I think it’s a lot easier for a busy student to kind of just scroll through and find stuff they like and then arrange to get it that day or the next day,” Torres said. “It’s so much easier to just meet up with someone and give them cash or Venmo and leave.”

Venmo, a mobile payment app, has become the most popular method of transaction for “william

and mary ppl selling their clothing.”

Instead of relying on a source of cash for the transactions, students simply have to exchange usernames. Venmo certainly encourages the spending of money on a whim, but it does feed the shopping addiction of many of the College’s fashionistas.

“I probably buy too much,” Ashlynn Sommers ’20 said. “I probably buy things once a week or once every other week — it’s really bad. It’s like a game. I like to be the first person to comment. I don’t know, it’s kind of addicting.”

Because of Facebook’s notification system, eager shoppers simply have to change their settings to get real-time updates on new posts. More often than not, comments espousing enthusiastic interest appear within minutes of a post going live. Luckily for group members that don’t want to check their phone every few minutes, hardly a day goes by without new posts with fresh items to purchase.

Despite its premise as a space to buy and sell clothing, “william and mary ppl

st ust u j of be j d n “I ki d it to group n te ittle t the c e l exp small us. Bu rted , a amp e sta nds c ie n on veryo heir fr grew t e of from g n d i n add d it ki e, just their an ther ding and d fromople a works pe n net ple.” an ’20 ow peo ltzm selling their clothing” Ho y l i has become Em a source of – community at the College. It is a space where students come together, especially in ways they might never have gotten a chance to before.

Since founding the group, Holtzman has crossed paths with people she never would have imagined meeting before.

“I think it promotes a lot more social interaction,” Holtzman said. “I’ve been able to meet a lot of people just through them being interested in my clothes and meeting up with them.”

After noticing some shared interests on a Facebook profile, Sommers met up with the person to exchange clothes and ended up forming a lasting connection.

“I think it’s cool to meet new people, and I’ve actually joined some new clubs because of it,” Sommers said. “I guess I’ve made new friends because of the page.”

At its core, “william and mary ppl selling their clothing” relies on growth and change, but not just with its membership numbers.

“I went through a kind of transitionary phase mid-college where I was kind of just trying to [get] ‘out with the old, in with the new,’” Holtzman said. “I think in college you’re really finding yourself and your style’s changing. … It’s a platform where people can exchange their styles, which is really awesome.”

As for the future, Holtzman assures that the group will remain standing even after her graduation. For those desiring more from “william and mary ppl selling their clothing,” Holtzman already has ideas about introducing communal events and meeting points, which will help to solve the problem of trying to align busy schedules. In addition, Holtzman wants to expand the group beyond the College’s main campus by creating alumni branches in places like Washington, D.C.

CONFUSION CORNER

To-do lists: are they really worth it anymore?

Obsessing over intricacies of time management is not advised and counterproductive

Ellie Moonan

CONFUSION CORNER COLUMNIST

How many to-do lists does it take for a student to actually get their work done?

Lately, to-do lists seem like they have been causing more harm than good. All of my attempts at daily calendars have been complete and utter failures. The lifespans of my planners range from one week to one month, only seeing the light of day when I decide to take a “fresh start” and find another basic blank book on sale at Staples.

It takes me about a half hour to sit down

and write every single event I have to do. By the time I finish writing down list upon list of emails, reminders and pieces of homework, I am exhausted and overwhelmed with the seemingly endless tasks that need to be done. Instead of being a productive human and getting started on completing the list I just created, I reward myself by taking a break. That, ultimately, adds to the unhealthy cycle of death, writing to-do lists, not completing what I need to and then having only more stuff to pile on for the next day. Just like a toxic individual, if the stress of having them in your life is too much, why bother continuing the relationship? Wouldn’t we all be better without the constant reminder of all the things we are failing to do on a daily basis?

To be fair, to-do lists aren’t the worst thing to have ever happened to the human race. In fact, having mini check-ins with yourself can be part of

a healthy routine. Even if you don’t get everything done, the act of simply decluttering your brain is therapeutic. There is nothing terrible about planning out a busy day. However, the harm of to-do lists appears when you are unable to start your workload because of the written reminder of all the things you should be focusing on.

It is so easy to lose your mind in the sea of unfinished products. If it is easier on your mind, ditch to-do lists for a bit and try ‘I did’ lists (inspired by my lovely roommate). You could even write a to-do list and then immediately paint over it and make it some sort of cool art installation piece. This way you will be able to clear your head without having a list of words to live by every day.

So, what is the final consensus? To-do lists or no to-do lists? Maybe we should trust our brains and give ourselves time to focus on one event

before calmly transitioning to another. That way we keep ourselves on track without needing a piece of paper or a virtual list to depend on. If something is forgotten, don’t beat yourself up over it. Your time is occupied with things you intentionally do 100 percent of the time, even if that means getting warped into the weird part of YouTube for six hours. I am sure that it brought you laughter that was necessary. Things get done when they get done, and even if they don’t, oh well. Sometimes being a master at time management means giving yourself time to see a project through with care, instead of haphazardly completing tasks in order to deal with an impossible workload.

Ellie Moonan is a Confusion Corner columnist who thinks you should not spend too much time worrying about the construction of your to-do lists.

sportsinside

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, February 20, 2018 | Page 9

BASEBALL

Tribe fights hard, swept in tight season-opening set College drops three close games against Atlantic Coast Conference opponent Clemson JULIA STUMBAUGH FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR William and Mary came within one run of tying its opening series against the Clemson Tigers in a second-game comeback but fell just short in a scoreless ninth inning. In a tight set of one-run games where every hit mattered, Clemson swept a close series to see the Tribe start its season 0-3.

The Tribe’s season opener started well Thursday at Clemson when senior outfielder Ryan Hall opened by scoring a three-run home run in the fifth inning. Things were looking good for the College as it came into the ninth inning, up 4-1 against the Tigers. However, Clemson answered with a wild ninth, scoring twice on a single from senior Robert Jolly and then once more on a wild pitch to complete its comeback and tie the game at 4-4. The Tribe wasn’t able to find a response in the extra inning, getting sophomore infielder Patrick Ryan to first in vain before striking out. Senior Chris Williams’ single for Clemson put the game away, 5-4, sending the Tribe into Friday looking to tie up the series.

The College opened scoring once again Friday with a one-run homer from junior catcher Hunter Smith. Back-and-forth runs from both teams sent the College into the eighth inning with a four-run deficit, 7-3. The College faced down three Clemson pitchers to put up three runs on two singles; when Clemson failed to answer back, it entered the ninth only one run behind. Clemson pitcher Mat Clark made it a short affair and three quick outs (ground out, foul out and strike out) meant there would be no shot at extra innings for the Tribe as it fell 7-6.

The series’ third game was a low-scoring affair. Clemson won 2-1 with runs in the second and fourth innings, whereas the Tribe was only able to answer with one in the sixth as Clemson swept the series in the third one-run game in a row.

After sophomore pitcher Wade Strain opened the strong start to the College’s first game, freshman pitcher Jacob Haney got his first start as pitcher for the Tribe; he threw for four innings and allowed two runs. In addition to Haney and Strain, junior pitcher Bodie Sheehan, sophomore pitcher Jamie Sara and senior pitcher Charlie Fletcher all pitched multiple innings for the College. Fletcher, the star of last

COURTESY PHOTO / TRIBE ATHLETICS

Junior catcher Hunter Smith hit a solo homer to open the scoring in the second game of the College’s three-game series at Clemson, which the College eventually lost 7-6.

season’s bullpen for the Tribe, served as a relief pitcher in two crucial innings of the first and third games of the series. Sheehan, the most experienced pitcher left on the team after an offseason pitching overhaul, pitched for seven innings while allowing only a 1.29 ERA. The College led 4-1 in those opening seven innings to the series while Sheehan was on the mound.

Junior infielder Zach Pearson shined throughout the series; his four hits and two runs from 11 times at bat led to the best batting

percentage on the team. He’ll see if he can maintain a number close to his current .364 as the season wears on. Last season he averaged .190.

Another series standout was Hall, who led the team with four runs batted in and helped mount the impressive eighth-inning comeback attempt in the second game of the series.

Last season, the College went 18-7 at home. It hopes to get its first win of the season against Virginia Commonwealth at home in Williamsburg Monday, Feb. 20 at 4 p.m.

MEN’S TENNIS

WOMEN’S TENNIS

College splits Midwest road swing

Ducks, Jayhawks top Tribe in Kansas

Tribe loses to Westen Michigan, beats Valparaiso

Four-game win streak broken by No. 24 Oregon

ALYSSA GRZESIAK FLAT HAT EXECUTIVE EDITOR

BRENDAN DOYLE FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR

Saturday, William and Mary traveled to Kalamazoo to face off against Western Michigan.

The Tribe (6-2) faltered on the road, falling 6-1 to the Broncos (8-1). Senior Alec Miller’s thirdset victory at the No. 2 spot marked the College’s only point of the contest.

Doubles play ended in favor of the Broncos, as they won all three matches. The Tribe duo of senior Lars de Boer and junior Tristan Bautil fell 6-3 at the No. 3 spot against Kris Knof and Lenhard Haupt. Freshman Michael Chen and senior Christian Cargill dropped their match at the No. 2 spot to Broncos Jannik Opitz and Kennosuke Nouchi. Miller and freshman Louis Newman took on Maik Steiner and Eric Olivarez at the No. 1 spot, ultimately falling 7-5.

The Broncos dominated singles play, winning five straight singles matches before Miller was able to secure the Tribe’s sole point in his match at the No. 2 spot against Stiner.

Newman fell at the No. 4 spot 6-1, 6-4 to Opitz. Soon after, Cargill lost 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 1 spot against Stiner. The Broncos thirdstraight victory came at the No. 3 spot with de Boer falling 6-1, 6-4 to Haupt. This loss at the No. 3 spot put the Tribe down 4-0, marking Western Michigan’s success in the matchup.

The Broncos continued their triumph in singles play with a win at the No. 5 spot, as freshman Finbar Talcott fell 6-2, 7-7 against Olivarez. At the No. 6 spot, freshman Sebastian Quiros took the first set against Matej Svjetlicic 7-5 before losing the second set 6-4. In a hard-fought third set, Quiros fell 10-8, increasing Western

Michigan’s lead to 5-0.

At the No. 2 spot, Miller took on Kennosuke Nouchi. After a close 7-6 first set, Miller dropped the second set 6-2. The tiebreaker set commenced, and Miller came out on top in a 10-6 victory.

Sunday, the College came off Saturday’s loss with a 5-2 triumph over Valparaiso (2-5). The Tribe dominated singles play, again unable to claim the doubles point.

The Crusaders took an early 1-0 lead by securing the doubles point with wins at the top two spots. Tribe duo Miller and Newman fell to Valparaiso 6-4 at the No. 1 spot, followed by the defeat of Chen and Cargill 6-1 at the No. 2 spot.

The match between pair de Boer and Bautil and Crusaders Brian Pecyna and Franklin Brozovich at the No. 3 spot was abandoned at 5-3 in favor of the Tribe.

Cargill came out on top at the No. 1 spot against Chad Kissell after dropping the first set 6-3. Cargill defeated Kissell in two close final sets, 7-5, 6-3, to claim his victory at the top spot.

Miller won his third-straight match at the No. 2 spot 6-2, both sets against Brandon Anacona.

Newman defeated Crusader Gardner 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 4 spot, followed by a 6-2, 7-5 victory

by Talcott at the No. 5 spot to clinch the Tribe victory. Quiros finished up the College’s wins with a successful tiebreaker victory at the No. 6 spot. Despite dropping a close first set 7-6, Quiros retaliated with a 6-2 second-set factory followed by a 6-0 takeover of a third set. At the No. 3 spot, de Boer fell to Kenyatte 6-3 both sets.

The Tribe will return home to welcome Yale to the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center Feb. 24 at 11 a.m.

Looking to build on a strong start to its season, William and Mary trekked to the Jayhawk Tennis Center on the campus of Kansas University for two non-conference matches. The Tribe (5-5) was unable take down either of its power conference opponents, losing 7-0 to No. 24 Oregon (6-3) Saturday and 5-2 to Kansas (4-2) Sunday.

The College started hot in doubles against Oregon. The team of junior Lauren Goodman and senior Cecily Wuenscher made quick work of the Ducks at the No. 2 spot, 6-1. However, that was one of few bright spots for the Tribe. Oregon’s Julia Lilien and Daniela Nasser swiftly beat the Tribe’s team of sophomore Natalia Perry and junior Clara Tanielian, 6-4, at the No. 3 slot.

The Ducks then claimed the doubles point in a hard-fought set, as the Ducks’ duo of Shweta Sangwan and Alyssa Tobita, the 10th-ranked doubles team in the country, came out on top of the College’s team of sophomore Rosie Cheng and senior Olivia Thaler, 7-6 (3) at the No. 1 spot.

Oregon swept singles, winning every meet in straight sets. Finishing first was Oregon’s Paiton Wagner, who beat Thaler 6-2, 6-4 at the No. 6 spot. At the No. 5 spot, Goodman fell to Lilien 6-1, 6-2.

Clinching the Ducks’ victory was Sangwan, who defeated Tanielian 6-1, 6-3 at the No. 3 spot.

WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS

Waldman secures bronze in all-around Tribe places second in dual meet against Yale EMILY CHAUMONT FLAT HAT SENIOR STAFF WRITER

COURTESY PHOTO / TRIBE ATHLETICS

Senior Christian Cargill helped lead the Tribe to a 5-2 victory over Valparaiso, winning his singles match 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Oregon wrapped up all three remaining matches, with Cheng, Perry and senior Ekaterina Stepanova, respectively, all suffering defeats.

Sunday, the Tribe looked to bounce back against Kansas. However, yet again the College lost the doubles point.

At the No. 3 spot, the Tribe’s team of Tanielian and sophomore Charlotte Madson lost 6-1 to Kansas’ Maria Toran Ribes and Despoina Vogasari.

Cheng and Thaler soon followed for the Tribe, falling 6-1 to Kansas’ Anastasia Rychagova and Nina Khmelnitckaia at the No. 1 slot. The No. 2 spot match was stopped with Goodman and Wuenscher down 5-2.

The Tribe also had a tough time in singles play.

Thaler made easy work of the Jayhawks’ Tatiana Nikolaeva, winning the match in the No. 6 spot 6-1, 6-2. The College’s fortune soon turned, as Tanielian fell 6-3, 6-2 in the No. 2 spot. Cheng then lost to Rychagova, the second-ranked singles player in the country, at the No. 1 spot, 6-0, 6-3.

The Jayhawks then secured the victory, as Ribes beat Goodman 7-5, 6-2. After the outcome was decided, Stepanova lost in a third-set tiebreaker (6-3, 5-7, 10-6), and Perry won in three sets (6-3, 2-6, 6-4), giving the Tribe a second point in the process.

The College will return home after its weekend trip to Kansas. Sunday, the Tribe will take on Georgetown at 11 a.m. and Richmond at 4 p.m. in two nonconference matchups.

Saturday, the William and Mary women traveled to New Haven, Connecticut, to take on Yale in a dual meet. The Tribe (193.000) fell to the Bulldogs (194.700) by a mere 1.7 points, posting its lowest team score since its first meet of the season against Towson over a month ago.

Despite the overall result, gymnasts from the College managed to post personal bests and made it to the podium in several events.

On vault, freshman Katie Waldman won the event with a career-high score of 9.825. Sophomore Erika Marr posted a score of 9.725 Waldman to help the Tribe to a 48.425, beating Yale for the team score on that event.

Junior Aaliyah Kerr took first on floor, scoring a 9.875. Waldman, with a 9.750, also helped the

College to its score of 48.300.

On bars, several members of the Tribe made significant contributions to the 48.500 points the College posted. Sophomore Evan Pakshong tied for second and equaled a career high when she posted a 9.800. Waldman (9.725), sophomore Caroline Caponi (9.775) and sophomore Erika Marr (9.700) contributed to the Tribe’s overall score.

Junior Madison Dwyer led the way for the College on beam with a 9.725. Waldman posted a 9.650 to add to the College’s team score of 47.775.

The Tribe had two competitors in the allaround. Waldman took third, posting a careerhigh score of 38.950. Sophomore Taylor White followed Waldman, taking fourth place and scoring 37.800.

This week, the College will try to best NC State.

The Tribe last saw the Wolfpack Jan. 20, taking third in a tri-meet with an overall score of 193.300.

The rematch will be a dual meet in Raleigh, North Carolina, Saturday, Feb. 24.

sports

Sports Editor Brendan Doyle Sports Editor Julia Stumbaugh flathatsports@gmail.com @FlatHatSports

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, February 20, 2018 | Page 10

MEN’S BASKETBALL

SWIMMING

Top seed lost Tribe stays in CAA top five KEVIN RICHESON FLAT HAT SPORTS ASSOC. EDITOR

COURTESY PHOTO / TRIBE ATHLETICS

Tribe coaching staff jumps in with the team to celebrate the team’s fourth straight CAA championship; women’s swimming got edged out by JMU to claim a close second place.

Four in a row

Men claim fourth straight CAA title, women place second EMILY CHAUMONT FLAT HAT SENIOR STAFF WRITER Last week, William and Mary once again showed its prowess at the Colonial Athletic Association championship. The men won their fourth-straight championship title, dominating the pool and beating out second-place finisher Drexel by well over 200 points. The women were edged into second place by James Madison, but both teams saw swimmers break records, set personal bests and qualify for the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship.

In the 200 IM finals Thursday evening, the top four finishers, including two members of the Tribe, all qualified for the NCAA championship. Sophomore Ben Skopic took third with a lifetime best and school record-breaker of 1:46.36. Freshman Jake Kealy swam in 1:49.00, placing fourth with a lifetime best of his own. Senior Conrad Zamparello (1:49.99) and sophomore Lee Bradley (1:51.34) likewise ended up with the best scores of their careers in this event, placing seventh and 11th, respectively.

The Tribe completely swept the podium in the 50 free finals for the second year in a row. Sophomore Colin Wright took first with a time of 19.76, the fourthfastest time in school history. Wright, sophomore Ian Thompson and sophomore Jack Doherty all qualified for the NCAA championships.

In the 100 fly finals Friday, Doherty took second and qualified for the NCAA championships with his 48.17, which is the 10th-fastest time in school history.

Thompson swam a lifetime best 48.35 for third place in this event. Wright’s lifetime best time of 1:37.80 in the 200 free finals was the sixth-fastest in school history and was good enough to qualify him for the NCAA championships.

In the 100 backstroke finals, sophomore Colin Demers qualified for the NCAA championships with his second-place finish, clocking in at 48.24. Jake Kealy took third, swimming the event in 49.15.

Friday night, the Tribe once again broke relay records with the 400 medley relay team of Demers, freshman Devin McNulty, Doherty and Wright. The relay team placed first, with a time of 3:13.29 that broke both the school and CAA records. By the end of the night, the Tribe had extended its overall lead even further and was leading second-place Drexel 619-518.

Saturday morning, the College doubled this lead during the preliminary and advanced all 21

swimmers put in the pool on to finals.

In the 1,650 freestyle finals, junior Carter Kale took first, his 15:30.01 finish clocking in as the fifth-fastest in school history and qualifying him for the NCAA championships. Sophomore Chris Balbo finished in 15:34.06, leaving him in third place with the eighthfastest time in College history.

Saturday morning in the 200 back finals, Jake Kealy placed second with an NCAA-qualifying time of 1:45.92. In the 100 free finals, Wright posted an NCAA-qualifying time of his own, his 44.21 secondplace finish clocking in as the fourth-fastest time in school history.

The College saw athletes place third in both of the last two individual events of the meet. Junior Brooks Peterson swam the 200 breast for a lifetime best of 2:01.39. In the 200 butterfly, Tommy Kealy qualified for the NCAA championships with the ninth-fastest time in Tribe history, clocking in at 1:47.53.

The last event of the conference championship marked another win. The College’s 400 free relay team of Doherty, Wright, senior Kyle Neri and Thompson made history with its first-place time of 2:56.51. This event marked a CAA and school record as the Tribe became the first men’s team in the CAA to ever take first place in all five relays in the same meet.

Ending on that historic win, the men came out of their championship run with 946 points, beating out Drexel (703), Towson (566), UNC-Wilmington (525) and Delaware (349). Head coach Matt Crispino ’02 was awarded the honor of men’s swim coach of the year for the fifth straight time.

The women had similarly strong performances throughout the meet, but ended up in second place as they were unable to make up for the points first-place James Madison gained in the meet’s diving events. The College does not have any divers on either the men’s or women’s teams. While the men overcame the deficit created by other teams’ divers, the women fell just short.

In the 800 free relay Wednesday, the Tribe took first place with a time of 7:15.12. The team of freshman Megan Bull, junior Morgan Smith, freshman Tara Tiernan and junior Maria Oceguera propelled the College to a victory in the 800 for only the fifth time in the history of Tribe swimming. Since the men also won the 800 free, this meet marks the first time since 2001 that the same

school has won both the men’s and women’s 800s.

Bull gained the College’s only conference title on Thursday, taking first in the 500 freestyle finals. Her time of 4:46.92 broke the school record, qualified her for the NCAA championship and shattered her lifetime best by more than two seconds.

In the 400 IM finals Friday, Smith’s lifetime best won her the gold, marking the first time the Tribe has won that event since 2007. Mack was the leader for the College in the 100 butterfly, placing second with a time of 54.83.

Although the women earned more points in swimming events than any other school in attendance, the Tribe was unable to surpass the diving points that put the Dukes ahead. After Tribe victories in both 2016 and 2017, the Dukes stole the CAA this year with 656 points, the College taking second with 583 points. However, the Tribe came out ahead of the other five teams in attendance.

The swimmers who qualified for the NCAA championships will represent the College in March.

The women will compete in Columbus, Ohio March 14-17 and the men will travel to Minneapolis, Minnesota to compete March 21-24.

Despite dominating Delaware, William and Mary’s loss to Charleston Feb. 8 dropped the Tribe out of the top two in the Colonial Athletic Association for the first time this season. Last week, the College had road games against two of the other top teams in the conference. With victories in these two matches, the Tribe would have placed itself in the conversation for a first or second seed at the conference tournament.

However, the College fell behind early against Hofstra and was unable to make a comeback. Two days later, the Tribe fought from behind again — this time taking the lead down the stretch. Nevertheless, Northeastern made a layup at the buzzer to edge out the College 69-67. With these back-to-back losses, the Tribe sits in fourth place in the CAA and has been mathematically eliminated from claiming one of the top two seeds in the conference tournament.

Thursday, the College (16-11, 9-7 CAA) took on Hofstra (17-11, 10-6 CAA) in Hempstead, New York. In the opening minutes, sophomore forwards Nathan Knight and Justin Pierce combined for the first five points for the College, giving it a 5-2 advantage. However, Pride guard Eli Pemberton drained a three on the ensuing possession to tie the game. The College never took the lead again.

With just under a minute to play, Pierce hit a jumper to bring the Tribe within four points, 80-76.

Pierce led the Tribe this match with 24 points and 14 boards. On Hofstra’s next possession, the College chose to play defense instead of fouling the Pride, and guard Justin Wright-Foreman made the Tribe pay with a three-pointer to put the game away with 30 seconds remaining. The College ultimately fell 9084, falling into a tie with the Pride for third place in the CAA. Two days later, the Tribe concluded its road trip at Northeastern. The Huskies (19-9, 12-4 CAA) dominated the College earlier in the season at Kaplan Arena, winning 90-70. This time, the game came down to the last second. Just like Thursday night, the College claimed a slim lead early and then trailed for a majority of the rest of the game.

The Huskies led by 10 at one point in the opening 20 minutes, but the College fought back to within three points at halftime despite being hurt by 10 turnovers in the first half.

With the game even at 67 as time wound down, the Tribe forced the Huskies into an empty possession and got the ball back with a chance to take the lead with a potentially game-winning shot.

However, sophomore guard Matt Milon missed a three, and the Huskies called time-out with just over five seconds remaining. Guard Vasa Pusica got the ball off the inbound pass and drove all the way to the basket for a game-winning layup as time expired.

The Huskies claimed a 69-67 win, led by Pusica’s 19 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Next week, the College will wrap up its regular season by looking to end a two-game losing streak.

The Tribe has gone 4-7 in its last 11 games, after opening CAA play with five consecutive victories. It looks to get back on track before the CAA tournament with its final two games of the regular season.

The College will play at home Thursday against North CarolinaWilmington and Saturday against Charleston. The Tribe beat the Seahawks in a tight contest on the road earlier this season but lost to the league-leading Cougars by five points two weeks ago. Depending on what Hofstra and Towson do, the College will finish in the top five of the CAA tournament. The College will not finish outside of the top six and therefore will avoid the play-in games March 3. The Tribe’s first game in the CAA tournament will be March 4 against an undetermined opponent.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Tribe sees tough weekend losses to conference opponents Back-to-back double-digit losses to UNC-Wilmington, Drexel lower College CAA record below .500 JOSH LUCKENBAUGH FLAT HAT SENIOR STAFF WRITER William and Mary endured a rough weekend, falling at home to UNC-Wilmington 64-49 before suffering a 54-34 loss on the road to Drexel Sunday. With the two defeats, the Tribe fell below .500 in Colonial Athletic Association play.

The Tribe (16-10, 7-8 CAA) came into Friday night’s matchup heavily favored, the Seahawks (9-17, 2-13) entering the game as the conference’s worst team. However, it was UNC-Wilmington which left Kaplan Arena victorious.

“Very disappointing loss tonight,” head coach Ed Swanson said.

“Hats got to go off to UNCW, they came in ready to play and executed their game plan … We got out of character, we got out of playing as a team. We got into individual basketball, and we didn’t play good team basketball on both ends of the floor.”

The Tribe opened the game with a strong first quarter (9-16, 2-12), outscoring the Seahawks 17-8 in the period. Much of the College’s early success came from capitalizing on UNC-Wilmington’s mistakes, turning the Seahawks’ seven first-quarter turnovers into eight points.

“In the first quarter, we were playing who we are,” Swanson said.

“We were getting deflections, quick rebounds, pushes up the floor, good shots. We were moving the ball well.”

Things got worse for the Tribe as the third quarter began. UNCWilmington outscored the College 16-5 through the first 7:15 of the period, the Tribe making just two field goals over that span.

Senior center Abby Rendle played a major part in the comeback bid, scoring seven of her team-high 15 points in the third quarter.

Rendle opened fourth-quarter scoring with two free throws to bring the Tribe within four with just under eight minutes to play, but the College offense went ice cold the rest of the way, making just two of 15 field goal attempts in the fourth quarter. The Seahawks took advantage, outscoring the College 17-8 in the final 10 minutes to claim the 64-49 upset victory.

“I thought that we would be able to put together one good quarter, but it was just more of the same [in the fourth quarter],” Swanson said. “We got away from playing good, team basketball. We got to get better at communicating on defense, and I didn’t see on offense anybody trying to set anybody up offensively, making that extra pass.”

The Tribe shot just 30.5 percent from the field in the game, well below its season average of 43.3 percent. The College’s leading scorer, junior guard Bianca Boggs, finished 1-16 in Friday night’s

loss, while UNC-Wilmington forward Jenny DeGraaf led all scorers with 17 points.

The shooting woes continued for the Tribe Sunday against Drexel (20-6, 12-2 CAA). The College shot just 26.5 percent from the field, failing to record a double-digit point total in any quarter.

After the Tribe jumped to a 6-3 lead in the opening minutes, the Dragons outscored the College 15-3 the rest of the first quarter, doing much of their damage inside. Drexel scored 32 points in the paint Sunday afternoon, to go along with 14 offensive rebounds and 12 second-chance points.

Down by 14 entering the fourth quarter and unable to create much offense, the College failed to mount a late-game comeback and fell 54-34. Boggs finished as the only Tribe player in double figures with 12, matching the point total of Drexel’s top scorer Bailey Greenberg.

“We have to start playing more as a team,” Swanson told Tribe Athletics. “We’re playing individually. Our chemistry offensively is off, defensively our intensity is off … we got to collectively take a look at ourselves the next couple days and get back to work on Tuesday [at practice].”

The Tribe will look to snap this two-game skid when it returns to action Friday at Kaplan Arena, taking on CAA foe Delaware. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.