Vol. 107, Iss. 27 | Tuesday, January 30, 2018
The Flat Hat The Weekly Student Newspaper
of The College of William and Mary
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WILLIAMSBURG
Chick-fil-A set to open fall 2018 Fast-food restaurant fills Tribe Square vacancy left by Pita Pit SARAH SMITH // FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
W
hen classes resume for the fall 2018 semester, Tribe Square, which has been vacant since Aug. 9, 2017, when The Crust was evicted, will have its first new resident: Chick-fil-A. “Students have been asking for Chick-fil-A for some time, and I hope this shows we have been listening,” Executive Director of the William and Mary Real Estate Foundation Nancy Buchanan said in a press statement. “As soon as we heard there was an opportunity at Tribe Square, we began working to make this a reality.” Chick-fil-A will move into Tribe Square’s Suite 101, formerly occupied by Pita Pit, and will be open Monday through Saturday. This location will accept Dining Dollars as well as Express and will be open to both the campus community and the public. According to Matt Sullivan, who works for Chick-fil-A’s New Restaurant Growth Department, Chick-fil-A is eager to open in the College of William and Mary community. “We are excited to join the William & Mary campus and look forward to serving students, staff and faculty great tasting food and remarkable service,” Sullivan said in a press statement. This isn’t the first time Chick-fil-A products will be available on campus. Historically, Chick-fil-A sandwiches were available at Marketplace. Between the fall 2014 and spring 2015 semesters, these sandwiches were
not an option for students, but they returned to campus in March 2015. However, after seven weeks where students could buy the sandwiches Tuesdays and Thursdays, Dining Services discontinued the promotion because it found it to be unsustainable. While it is not yet clear what the Real Estate Foundation will do with the remaining three vacant spaces, formerly home to restaurants including Mooyah, The Crust and Subway, Chick-fil-A will join campus dining options next academic year. The former owners of these businesses have attributed their decline to high rent prices, low business over summer months, a partnership with Sodexo and mandatory meal plans for students living on campus. The Crust, which closed Aug. 9, was the most recent of Tribe Square’s businesses to leave the property. At the time, The Crust’s former owner Paul Marsh said the rent was too high, leading to The Crust’s eviction. Before their eviction, Marsh and his business partner were paying approximately $6,400 a month, which became a challenge over the summer months. “The rent’s extremely high,” Marsh said at the time. “I mean, the rent per square footage is ridiculous.” Additionally, Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration Sam Jones said that he and the William and Mary Real Estate Foundation are aware that over the summer, the businesses in Tribe Square are not receiving the amount of customers once anticipated, because students make up the bulk of visitors these restaurants receive. Tourists, they have learned, typically do not visit Tribe Square’s businesses. Pita Pit, Mooyah and Subway all faced similar fates. According to former Mooyah owner Alpen Patel, when the College made meal plans mandatory for students living in on-campus housing, it became difficult for third party restaurants like Mooyah to succeed. In 2011, the Sadler Center was undergoing an expansion and, to cover costs, the College rolled out mandatory meal plans for students living on campus. By 2014, Tribe Square restaurants negotiated with Sodexo to accept Dining Dollars, but Subway had already gone out of business in June 2014, leaving one-fourth of the See CHICK-FIL-A page 3
$6,400 The Crust’s monthly rent prior to its August 2017 closing
3
Number of vacant spaces left in Tribe Square following Chick-fil-A’s opening
101
Suite number of the space Chick-fil-A will occupy as of fall 2018; formerly the home of Pita Pit
GRAPHIC BY MEILAN SOLLY / THE FLAT HAT
Anti-abortion display vandalized Jan. 21 Charter Day comedian announced Advocates for Life plans to reinstall memorial on campus
Roy Wood Jr. to perform at show Feb. 10
SARAH SMITH FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
SARAH SMITH FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
ADVOCATES FOR LIFE PRESIDENT KATHERINE BECK J.D. ’19
average number of daily abortions in the United States, and signs featuring anti-abortion messages. According to Seurattan, the students are planning to reinstall the display. Katherine Beck J.D. ’19, who serves as Advocates for Life’s
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We wanted to bring an awareness to all the lives that have been lost.
president and who was the organizer of the demonstration, said that the display was done to bring awareness to what she sees as the biggest civil rights issue of the modern day. “We wanted to bring an awareness to all the lives that have been lost,” Beck said. “With each life that has been lost, a mother and a father’s lives have been impacted. We got 3,000 popsicle sticks that represented abortions that occur every day, 60 million abortions on average.” Beck said that she first learned that the display had been removed when an undergraduate student emailed her informing her that the display was no longer on the Sunken Garden. After seeing for herself that it was gone, she called a dean at the Marshall Wythe School of Law, who encouraged Beck and her group to go to the police. “There were about three
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Last Sunday, on the eve of the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized abortion, students from Advocates for Life set up a display on the Sunken Garden. Later that evening, the display was removed, and the William and Mary Police Department has opened an investigation into the vandalism. According to College of William and Mary Spokesperson Suzanne Seurattan, Advocates for Life, a group of graduate students who identify as anti-abortion, followed proper protocol to organize this demonstration, had worked with the office of Student Affairs and had received permission for its display. “It is very unfortunate that someone decided to destroy that display,” Seurattan said in an email. “Vandalism is never an acceptable form of expression.
We have been in touch with the student organizer of the display to express our own disappointment and to offer our support.” The display consisted of approximately 3,000 popsicle sticks, used to represent the
See VANDALISM page 4
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Earlier this week, the College of William and Mary announced that Roy Wood Jr., a comedian and correspondent on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah,” will perform Feb. 10 as part of Charter Day weekend. This performance will mark the third year that the College has hosted a comedy show to commemorate the anniversary of the College’s royal charter. In 2016, Student Assembly partnered with Alma Mater Productions to host Bo Burnham over Charter Day weekend. Prior to this year, the College had hosted a “Charter Day Concert,” but often struggled to find big-name artists, because the weekend had fallen close to award shows like the Grammys. In 2016, SA and AMP pushed the concert further into the spring semester, and allocated funds to bring a comedian to campus instead. This year’s show is scheduled for 8 p.m. in Commonwealth Auditorium Feb. 10 and doors will open at 7 p.m. Tickets will only be sold at the door on a first-come, first-served basis. Admission is free for students, $5 for faculty and staff and $10
for the general public. When Burnham performed in 2016, and when Damon Wayans Jr., a cast member on the show “New Girl,” performed in 2017, the shows were held in Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall’s auditorium. Additionally, in past years, SA’s senate used reserve funding and passed legislation to put on these events. This year, the Charter Day comedian was included in SA’s annual budget. Wood was a top-three finalist in the seventh season of NBC’s “Last Comic Standing,” has performed on “Def Comedy Jam,” “Conan,” “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” In 2017, his first standup special, “Father Figure,” premiered on Comedy Central. Wood began his comedy career while attending Florida A&M University and released his first full comedy CD in 2013. Wood has appeared on TBS’s “Sullivan & Son” for three seasons and is a regular contributor to ESPN’s “Sports Nation.” He is also known as a comedian for his prank calls on morning radio shows such as the “Bob and Tom Show.”
Anna Boustany ’21 is frustrated by the awkwardness and lack of clarity in the College of William and Mary’s dating scene. page 6
Summer Heat, Summer Beats
Ben Whitman ’20 and Ayush Johsi ’20 spend their summer traveling, rehearsing and performing with the Jersey Surf Drum corps. page 7