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Tribe defeats Hofstra 80-78
Dance ’til you drop
Senior guard Marcus Thornton’s last-second free throws clinch win in tight matchup
Prewitt, Tarpey College up ain78-62 in front of a packed Kaplan Arena. Students at thehelp College find pick a home over win 10 dance organizations.
Vol. 104, Iss. 32 | Tuesday, February 24, 2015
The Flat Hat The Twice-Weekly Student Newspaper
of The College of William and Mary
ALUMNI
College climbs back up in Peace Corps ranking , ed 5 k n Ra 04 20
Community honors Rangavajhula MADELINE BIELSKI FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
See PEACE CORPS page 3
See MEMORIAL page 3
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After eleven years in the top ten Peace Corps producers, the College dipped to the No. 22 slot in 2013. In 2014, the College climbed its way up to No. 12.
21 College alumni currently involved in Peace Corps The Peace Corps recently ranked the College of William and Mary twelfth among medium-sized schools for number of volunteers produced; the College has 21 alumni currently volunteering worldwide. This year’s ranking demonstrates a significant climb from the College’s 2014 rank of 22nd. Western Washington University topped this year’s list of Medium Colleges and Universities — defined as institutions with 5,000-15,000 undergraduates — with 47 volunteers. American University was second with 41, and George Washington University and the University of Virginia both had 36. Cornell University was listed fourth with
Students attend peer’s memorial
33 volunteers this year. “The Peace Corps provides an indispensable opportunity for young people out of college to put their unique skills to work making a difference for communities around the world,” Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet said. “Volunteers make lasting change by living and working at the grassroots level in their communities of service and using their talents to tackle some of the most critical challenges in international development.” Prior to 2015, the College saw a decline in its rank, following 11 straight years of placement in the top ten. This year marks the first positive movement in the College’s ranking since the
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EMILY NYE FLAT HAT CHIEF STAFF WRITER
CAMPUS
Students and community members gathered in the Sir Christopher Wren Building Chapel Friday afternoon to commemorate the life of Saipriya Rangavajhula ’17. Rangavajhula was found dead in a Ludwell apartment at the College of William and Mary Tuesday, Feb. 3. Senior Associate Dean of Students Reverend Vernon Hurte led Friday’s memorial service. He opened the memorial by reminding those in attendance that the ceremony was a celebration of life and a time to reflect on the life Rangavajhula led. “May her love, compassion and thoughtfulness forever encourage us and motivate us to impact the lives around us in the powerful and the positive ways in which she has impacted us,” Hurte said. College President Taylor Reveley addressed those present and reflected on the grief a college community feels when losing a member. “But when death comes suddenly, and it comes inexplicably with someone still very young … it’s especially difficult to grasp and to accept,” Reveley said. Five of Rangavajhula’s friends shared reflections. They spoke of her as a fierce friend who was honest and caring. Daniel Lantz ’16 shared his memories of Rangavajhula. Lantz lives in the Ludwell apartment across from where Rangavajhula lived. Lantz described his first encounter with the charismatic Rangavajhula. “She revealed this piercing honesty and tremendous amounts of unexpected wisdom,” Lantz said. “Her uncompromising honesty taught me a lot of things about myself.” He also described Rangavajhula as a source of emotional support, and as someone who was always there for her friends. Lantz’s roommate Matt Anderson ’16 also spoke of his friendship with her. Anderson chose 15 facts about Rangavajhula to share with those gathered. These facts ranged from her love of spaghetti and laughter to her love for her family. “She was a huge talker,” Anderson said. “She could talk and tell three completely different stories with only taking three breaths. But she also was a huge listener. She could listen to me tell three complete stories with only taking three breaths.” Anna Pelleti ’17 was Rangavajhula’s freshman roommate. Pelleti
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CAMPUS EVENTS
STUDENT ASSEMBLY
Poet talks Jefferson SA will vote on One Tribe Resolution
Smith recites poems on race, education
Senators tackle racial climate on campus, propose Bias Reporting System
KJ MORAN FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
AMELIA LUCAS FLAT HAT ASSOC. NEWS EDITOR
AMP’s Contemporary and Cultural Issues Committee brought Clint Smith III, a spoken word performance artist and doctoral candidate at Harvard University, to the College of William and Mary Saturday. Smith, a 2014 National Poetry Slam champion and high school teacher, performed his pieces in Lodge One to a crowded room. Earlier in the day, Smith was one of the keynote speakers at the Office of Community Engagement’s Active Citizen Conference. Smith’s poems focused on a wide range of topics, including his students, history, race and his experiences in academia. Many of Smith’s poems focused on his work as a teacher, touching on how the problems his students faced were representative of larger issues of race, immigration and poverty on the national level. His poem, “Place Matters,” emphasized the problem of food deserts for children in urban areas far from grocery stores. “So tell me that place doesn’t matter— / that the neighborhoods that are predominantly healthy / aren’t the ones that are predominantly wealthy,” Smith said in “Place Matters.” “When you’re not choosing / between buying your medicine or your groceries / health doesn’t have to be a luxury.” Students responded well to Smith’s poems. Some said that his words made them think differently about certain issues. “The performance by Clint Smith ‘Place Matters’ was both greatly emotional and eye-opening,” David Kilpatrick ’16 said. “I was not even aware of the issue and growing concern of food deserts. The analogy that DC kids have been going through an unrewarded war of daily struggles for health and safety to the warriors of ancient Egypt truly moved
The College of William and Mary’s Student Assembly will vote Feb. 24 on the One Tribe Resolution. This act addresses
See POET page 3
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SA Senators will vote today on One Tribe Resolution, which would create a Bias Reporting System.
that those issues weren’t just issues of the week, but something that William and Mary has struggled with for a longer time,” Sen. Chase Jordan ’15 said. The responses to the SA’s Racial Climate Survey also confirmed this sentiment. The first part of the resolution addresses issues on the College’s campus. The second part touches on actions that the SA believes will help the racial climate, including the implementation of a bias reporting system and inclusive programming. The bias reporting system which the resolution proposes would work similarly to the reporting process for Title IX incidents. Under the system, students who feel that they were discriminated against would have the opportunity to write a report about the incident and send it to the Diversity and Equal Opportunity office. “The way that I look at it, it’s putting power back into One Tribe, One Family,” Sen. Yohance Whitaker ’15 said. “It’s making sure that all members of the William and Mary community feel as though they are included and understand See RESOLUTION page 3
Inside Sports
Inside Opinions
Putting everyone at risk
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the racial climate on campus and racially charged incidents, such as inappropriate reactions to the “die-in” in Earl Gregg Swem Library last semester and racially insensitive party themes in January. “We recognize as a Student Assembly
Some have proposed allowing concealed carry on college campuses. Making such changes, however, would hurt both victims and the College community as a whole. page 4
Women’s tennis dominates
No. 55 Tribe defeats No. 69 North Carolina State and College of Charleston. page 7