The Flat Hat November 18 2014

SPORTS >> PAGE 8

VARIETY >> PAGE 5

College wins NCAA Regional

Before he was FBI Director

James Comey ’82 learned about religion and love at the College of William and Mary.

Hennessey finishes second overall as Tribe upsets three ranked programs.

Vol. 104, Iss. 21 | Tuesday, November 18, 2014

The Flat Hat The Twice-Weekly Student Newspaper

FACULTY

80 percent of College’s faculty are white College of William and Mary faculty by race — 2013

0

79 80

89 94

100

GRAPHIC BY ABBY BOYLE / THE FLAT HAT

The graphs above depict the percentage of faculty by reported race according to date from the Office of Institutional Research and the National Center for Educational Statistics.

College follows national trends on faculty diversity percentages ABBY BOYLE Flat Hat MANAGING EDITOR

Although colleges across the country pride themselves on the diverse groups of students they admit each year, most universities’ faculties are comprised of a majority of white professors.

The College of William and Mary is no exception.

According to 2013 data from the Office of Institutional Research, 511 of the College’s 632 full-time instructional staff are white. Of the remaining 121, 34 are Asian, 19 are black or African American, 16 are Hispanic/Latino, 7 are two or more races, and 1 is American Indian/ Alaska native. Twenty-three are nonresident aliens, and 21 are listed as “race and ethnicity unknown.”

The College’s numbers are comparable

to national averages. In fall 2011, of full-time instructional faculty whose race was known, 79 percent were white, 9 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander, 6 percent were black, 4 percent were Hispanic, and less than 1 percent were American Indian/Alaska natives or of two or more races, according to a report from the National Center for Education Statistics.

At the same time, however, universities across the country emphasize the diversity of their students. Administrators have reported that the College’s student body is increasingly diverse: In a Sept. 25 presentation to the Board of Visitors Committee on Academic Affairs, Interim Associate Provost for Enrollment and Dean of Admission Tim Wolfe ’95 M.Ed. ’01 said that the numbers of international and Asian students entering the College have risen over the years.

Dining

Sam Dreith Flat Hat STAFF WRITER

See ALARMS page 3

94 97 100

Other

0

Year sees 349 fire alarms so far

See RACE page 2

89

Percentage of faculty by race, nationally — 2011

Black

Alarm rates dropping off

The percentage of students of color has increased from 20 percent in the entering Class of 2008 to 30 percent in the entering Classes of 2016, 2017 and 2018.

“The trend is away from a white majority student body, and that makes it more important for the faculty to look like the students, to look like the world,” Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Kate Conley said.

However, Conley said that she does not think numbers necessarily tell the whole story.

Federally mandated categories on diversity do not take into account socioeconomic diversity, and do not include data on how many faculty members are LGBTQI, or how many are from first-generation college families, for example.

80

Hispanic

CAMPUS

The number of fire alarms set off at the College of William and Mary over the past three years continues to decline.

In 2012, there were 429 fire alarm activations on campus. The numbers showed a decrease in 2013, with 399 alarms activated.

As of Nov. 5, 349 alarms have been activated in 2014.

When an alarm is activated on campus, the alarm goes through the William and Mary police department, immediately notifying officers. The 911-dispatch center is then notified, and the fire department dispatches a team to the College. “[The Williamsburg Fire Department] has a very good working relationship with Fire Safety at the College, and a very good relationship with the William and Mary Police,” Eric Stone, Technical Assistant and Public Information Officer at the Williamsburg Fire Department, said.

The William and Mary Police usually arrive first and notify the Fire Department regarding the situation surrounding the alarm’s activation.

The most common cause for these activations is in relation to private kitchens. Eighteen percent of all 2013 alarm activations were private kitchen related, while 15 percent of the activations in 2014 so far have been related to private kitchens.

Every year, the biggest offender of private kitchen fire alarm activations is graduate housing, boasting 77 percent of the private kitchen alarms in 2013.

“Every year grad housing dominates the alarm activations,” Fire Safety Officer Bradley Meiers said. “And cooking dominates grad housing.”

Attempting to lower the number of alarm activations in graduate housing, Meiers and a professional chef held a program last year to promote cooking without high heat and smoke and to educate residents on how fire alarms are triggered.

“What we can do is very, very little,” Meiers said.

Fire alarms with unknown causes trail closely behind private kitchen alarms, accounting for 17 percent of all 2013 alarms and 16 percent in 2014 thus far. An activation is considered unknown when the police officers who arrive on the scene are unaware of what exactly set it off.

Other very common sources of fire alarm activations are communal kitchens, — which hosted 13 percent of triggered alarms in 2013 and 18 percent so far in 2014. These situations involve alarms being activated in residential hall kitchens.

White Asian

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CAMPUS

Dining Dollars multiply Police train in unoccupied College buildings Tribe Square income Vacant Dillard Complex used to practice yearly active shooter scenarios 2014 MOOYAH profits increase

IRIS HYON tHE FLAT HAT

Amelia Lucas The FLAT HAT

The Dillard Complex is more than just a former off-campus dorm — it’s also a site for active shooter police training.

After the Dillard residence halls were vacated in 2006, the Williamsburg Police Department asked the College of William and Mary if its officers could use the unoccupied buildings for training purposes. Chief of Police Dave Sloggie said that following the Columbine shooting in 1999, police response protocols changed from surrounding and containing the area before the SWAT team arrived to entering the school directly and looking for the threat.

Sloggie This exercise, called active shooter training, is performed annually in any local vacant buildings the police department can find.

Sodexo USA has brought many changes to the College of William and Mary this semester, but based on the number of Dining Dollars students are using, the addition of Tribe Square restaurants to the meal plan might be the most beloved new change.

Alpen Patel, the owner of Williamsburg MOOYAH and Kim Twine, the owner of Pita Pit, have both noticed an increase in business from College students “I’d say there’s been about a 60 percent increase in students from last year,” Patel said.

Twine said Pita Pit’s business from students has doubled or even tripled as a result of its inclusion on the meal plan.

Dining Dollars are now the main source of Pita Pit’s business, accounting for over $100,000 in revenue this semester.

According to Patel, the Tribe Square restaurateurs reached out to the College numerous times over the past few years about being included on the mandatory meal plan. After the College See DINING DOLLARS page 3

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and we don’t want to scare anybody by us being in there with our active weaponry. It’s good to have a different venue to practice specific tactics.”

See DILLARD page 3

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The Dillard Complex was vacated in 2006. These buildings are now used for active shooter training.

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“A vacant building is always good because you can yell and do what we usually do, when it comes to approaching an active shooter,” Sloggie said. “Anytime we can find a vacant building to utilize, we will do that for training purposes because it’s outside the public view

Used book store charms and delights

Mermaid Books is overflowing with rare classics and scribbled-in paperbacks for all book lovers. page 5

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The Flat Hat | Tuesday, November 18, 2014 | Page 2

THE DIGITAL DAY

Snapchats from Students

This week’s batch of Snapchats from Students shows that, while it may no longer be the talk of campus, Sodexo USA has still managed to catch one student completely off guard. Meanwhile, another hungry student chooses to avoid the dining halls and enjoy a delicious and nutritious meal at home, while a third student forgoes food altogether in favor of philosophic thought.

Don’t forget to share the highlights of your week by sending your pictures to The Flat Chat.

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theflatchat A THOUSAND WORDS

This week’s “Crim Bell Curve” looks into the layout of William and Mary’s academic majors just in the thick of registration. Find out which majors cover the most physical and academic ground by reading this and past blogs online at Flathatnews.com

In this week’s edition of “Reel Talk”, film blogger Matt Camarda reviews Christopher Nolan’s latest visual triumph, “Interstellar.”

Check out this review and all other film blogs online at Flathatnews.com

“We hope that these maps can be useful during registration season. Not many people would choose to walk from Morton Hall to the Sir Christopher Wren Building (or jog, as the case may be) in only ten minutes. These maps could help you strategize your major classes to avoid having to arrive two minutes late, wheezing and flustered, to your religion and ethics class every week. Not that you should choose your major based on the building, but it is useful to know the amount of time public policy majors spend in Morton. Many people have a perfectly understandable aversion to that building in particular, so knowing that three-eighths of the requirements for a public policy major are in Morton is useful information. However, public policy demonstrates one of the most varied majors at the College of William and Mary, with an impressive span across departments. ”

“Director Christopher Nolan imbues the film with a sense of wonder, regret and hope. Perhaps, for some, there will be too much philosophizing and long-winded speeches about the power of love and the triumph of the human spirit. I know that over-explaining is a common criticism of Nolan, and it is often warranted, but here, it didn’t bother me. Cooper and his cohorts’ search for meaning and connection felt real. And hearing Michael Caine recite ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’ will never get old.

That said, the film is so busy that I was sometimes lost and confused. This problem is most apparent in the film’s second hour, when the viewer is treated to enough techno-babble to rival Star Trek. The irony is that, even with all the exposition, I often felt ‘Interstellar’ needed more explanation. Maybe I should have paid more attention in astronomy. I resisted the urge to check Wikipedia to figure out what was happening. ”

Students, professors discuss race among faculty RACE from page 1

TAYLOR HORST / THE FLAT HAT

CORRECTIONS The Flat Hat wishes to correct any facts printed incorrectly.

Corrections may be submitted by 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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Confusion can also stem from the categories themselves, as some faculty members may see themselves fitting into more than one box, Conley said.

As of 2013, the College’s fulltime instructional staff was reported as approximately 80 percent white, but Conley said the administration is making an effort to diversify the faculty.

She and the other Arts and Sciences Deans ask each search chair leading the inititative to find a new faculty member three questions: Who are the top three candidates? Who is the top female candidate? Who is the top candidate from an underrepresented group? If there is no female representation or representation of a minority group among the top candidates, Conley said that the deans will ask for justification as to why not.

Whenever the College hires a faculty member who is considered a member of a minority, Conley emphasized the importance of making sure that person is welcome on campus and in the community.

“It’s not just, ‘Okay, you got the job, you’re on your own now,’” Conley said. “But it’s, ‘Okay, you got the job, what can we do for you?’ Are our faculty who don’t feel that they’re part of a majority feeling like they’re supported to the extent they should be? We really want them to be.”

Frances L. and Edwin L. Cummings associate professor of history and Africana studies Robert Vinson, who has taught at the College since 2006, said he feels the College’s climate for faculty members of color has gotten progressively better over

the past nine years.

“Since I’ve been here, we haven’t had a great increase in faculty of color … but I can say that I think we’ve created a welcoming environment, increasingly so, for faculty members of color who have come since I’ve come,” he said.

Vinson credits the College’s Chief Diversity Officer, Fanchon Glover, as well as Vernon Hurte, Director of the Center for Student Diversity, with helping to foster this climate. Conley mentioned that Provost Michael Halleran has also aided the deans’ efforts to further diversify the faculty.

Beyond the administration, however, students also play an important role in shaping minority faculty members’ everyday experiences, both in and out of the classroom.

Associate professor of theater and Director of the program of Africana studies Francis Tanglao-Aguas teaches a course called “Sex and Race in Plays and Films: Dramatizing Diversity.”

He said he has been humbled by students’ interest in the class in recent years.

“Back in 2005, I would have to go door-to-door, soliciting enrollment, posting my own flyers, attending even club meetings to let students know I was here and what my classes were about,” Tanglao-Aguas said in an email. “But now, my waitlist is a multi-year waitlist. I think students, even prior to coming to W&M, ache to open up about their identities, and those of their peers, so that they can study themselves in relation to the world they seek to improve.”

Tanglao-Aguas said that to him, students model the creativity and passion needed to

diversify the College’s campus.

He currently has eight students pursuing a self-designed major in Asian American studies, but said he must also work to retain students of color who talk about transferring to other, more diverse schools.

In discussing the need for faculty members of different races, Tanglao-Aguas mentioned his own experience facing what he calls “cultural amnesia.” After moving to the United States as a teenager, he stopped performing — an activity he loved as a child — noting the lack of Asian stage and television actors he saw in US entertainment.

“Thus how can our students of color even imagine themselves running a laboratory experiment or even teaching a class if they never encounter a role model who looks like them?” TanglaoAguas said. “Indeed all our professors, regardless of color, are able and willing to mentor without discrimination, but our very base psychology tells us the importance of modeling.”

Vinson agreed.

“For black students, it’s very important for them to see themselves reflected in a person of authority,” he said. “Many times they’ll say I’m the first black professor they’ve ever had, or the first black teacher they’ve ever had. And that matters. I myself never had a black professor at all as an undergraduate, and I felt that acutely.”

For students, race can also be noticeable in the classroom.

Eric Martinez ’16 said he has had two non-white faculty members in his nearly three years at the College.

“If I took more Hispanic studies classes, I might relate

more to those professors because I’m Hispanic,” he said.

“As a science major, though, I don’t run into many non-white faculty. … It doesn’t really bother me, but it’d be nice to see more diversity.”

Alexis Canty ’15, who served as co-president of the College’s NAACP chapter last year, also said she sees room for improvement in terms of diversity among the faculty.

“I can think of countless times when I’ve been the only student of color in the classroom,” she said. “That really does have an effect on you. It’s hard as an African American student when you are discussing a racially charged issue in a classroom of students and professors that really don’t — and can’t — understand your perspective.

While I have enjoyed getting to know and interact with all of my professors, faculty and staff here at the College, I do wish that there [were] more minority representation in positions of power. … I’m not just talking about racial distinction, but cultural, spiritual, religious, etc.”

While many students and professors are not directly involved in most hiring processes, many expressed hope that the administration will continue its efforts to further diversify the faculty.

Canty added that all students should maintain a conversation on diversity both on and off campus.

“I would like to see students from all backgrounds advocating for positive change on this campus, because everyone needs to speak up in order for real progress to be made,” she said.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

The Flat Hat

Page 3

Student Life

Students seek study spaces on campus Rooms, lecture halls in academic buildings to stay open all night during finals Lizzy Flood flat hat Staff Writer

When finals arrive, most students at the College of William and Mary have a long to-do list of assignments, final papers and other tasks to complete. However, one item they may not realize to include is finding a place to finish their work.

Earl Gregg Swem Library remains the most popular haven for students trying to study, but often students find themselves competing for the best spaces to work.

Some students who are looking for a quieter place to study will get creative. Mildred Sink, the night supervisor at Swem Library, said that she has found people studying in stairwells and other unusual areas of Swem.

“Sometimes if we leave an office door open, we’ll find [students] studying in an office, especially in Tech Services,” Sink said.

Sink said the library is understanding of such students, because they know they are just looking for any available quiet space to study.

She mentioned the ground floor of Swem as another quiet area that fills up quickly during finals, even though it usually has fewer tables than the top three floors.

“During exams, we try to put out more tables and chairs,” Sink said. “And they get filled up [quickly].”

In the past year, the Reference Area on the first floor of Swem has been condensed to also make more room for tables.

“A lot of people prefer tables,” Austin Spivey ’16 said. “Those are the hot spots in Swem.”

Spivey cited a table and vicinity to an outlet as the two major criteria that students want when looking for a place to study. Maddy Kozoyed ’16 agreed.

“During finals, a lot of people will be on the floor crowded near the outlets,” Kozoyed said.

Spivey added that students who have trouble finding a place to study in Swem can take advantage of open academic buildings at night during finals week.

“One thing the College does really well is to keep the halls open after hours,” Spivey said.

Before finals begin, Jodi Fisler, assistant to vice president and director of Student Affairs Planning and Assessment, sends out an email about available academic buildings open for study spaces.

“Normally at the end of the semester, we try to make rooms available that normally aren’t so students can have a quiet place to study that’s not their room or the library,” Fisler said.

Rooms and lecture halls in academic buildings will stay open throughout the night. Interview rooms in the Cohen Career Center will also be open for study space during the day, according to Fisler, but cannot remain open throughout the night.

None of the rooms opened in academic or administrative buildings can be reserved, Fisler said. Any individual student or group is welcome to use any of the rooms where they can find space.

COURTESY PHOTO / WM.EDU

The group study room system in Swem allows students to make a reservation on the room for up to two hours.

“We’ll work with William and Mary Police to make sure they will be unlocked and then send out emails to the student body,” Fisler said.

The email also includes a reminder about how to reserve rooms in Swem. The group study rooms in Swem allow groups of students to make a

reservation on the room for up to two hours.

“They are very popular and seldom empty,” Sink said.

Students can expect to receive emails about open study spaces this semester in the last week of classes.

Police use emptied Dillard Complex for training Sloggie listed several other buildings as training spots, including old Eastern State Hospital buildings and the phone company C&P’s building on Boundary Street before it was knocked down. Sloggie said the police force also used vacant schools in the summer to reevaluate the training of the department’s officers.

“I think for Dillard, the last time we did it we used three different days and we put all of our officers through that training,” Sloggie said.

The only building from the College that is used for active shooter training is Munford Hall in the Dillard Complex. The police are not required to pay rent or lease the building from the College, as they only use the former residence hall once a year. Director of Planning, Design and Construction Wayne Boy said that the Dillard residence halls were former nurses’ dorms for the Eastern State Hospital. Senior Planner of the Office of Administration Martha Sheets elaborated on the history of these buildings.

“The College leased the property in the 70’s for student housing, and then acquired them from Eastern State in 1980,” Sheets said in an

“

Evidently we had a student housing need at that time that could not be satisfied with existing houses on campus. I do not know why Eastern State transferred the property to the College — but Eastern State would have had to declare the property and improvements (the building) as surplus in order to effect the transfer.

“

DILLARD from page 1

— Senior Planner of the Office of Administration Martha Sheet

email. “Evidently we had a student housing need at that time that could not be satisfied with existing houses on campus. I do not know why Eastern State transferred the property to the College — but Eastern State would have had to declare the property and improvements (the building) as surplus in order to effect the transfer.”

Vice President for Administration Anna B. Martin said that the Dillard residence halls were closed in 2006 once Jamestown North and South were completed. The former Vice President for Student Affairs, W. Samuel Sadler, was committed to bringing students back to the main campus instead of housing them two miles away. Once this goal was accomplished, the police took advantage of the vacant building.

Today, the Dillard Complex remains unoccupied except for limited storage use of Hughes Hall and annual visits by the police to train.

Martin’s extensive renovation efforts have not reached the former residence halls, leaving police a venue to perform their practical exercises.

“There’s active shooters in every situation, so any time we can use the actual buildings it’s good practice for us,” Sloggie said.

13 percent of triggered alarms occur in communal kitchens ALARMS from page 1

Twelve percent of the activations in 2013 and in 2014 so far are attributed to the fire alarm’s system. Although the system is designed not to set itself off when there is nothing wrong, the system can become impaired and may make it think it is on fire.

“I have no impaired or broken fire alarm systems in any building on this campus,” Meiers said.

If an alarm is broken or impaired, it is only allowed to be in such a state for eight hours, which is the equivalent of one workday.

Fire alarm activations due to water, contractor construction, contractor facilities and malicious intent together made up 25

percent of the activations in 2013, and so far have made up 25 percent of the activations in 2014.

A recent example of an accidental fire alarm activation — which made up 7 percent of the activations in 2013 and has made up 6 percent of the activations in 2014 — occurred Sunday when a student accidentally set off the alarm in her dorm room while microwaving cookie dough.

Residents and other occupants of a building are required to exit the building when a fire alarm sounds and face repercussions if they choose not to do so.

“For every student that [doesn’t exit], and chooses to do it, I have to write an [interdisciplinary report],” Meiers said.

Despite the fact it can be tempting to stay inside when a fire alarm goes off, exiting the building is imperative.

“I walk out of the shower and am going to my room and the alarm goes off … so I got dressed and went down five minutes [late],” Adeola Adesuyi ’18 said.

The number of actual reported fires shows no correlation to the alarm activations, given that there was one reported fire in 2012, zero in 2013, and have been four in 2014 so far.

One unique example of a fire reported in 2014 involved an electric recycling truck catching on fire outside of Ludwell.

“This is the very first documented fire from an electric vehicle on campus,” Meiers said.

Meal plan impacts local eateries Revenues decrease as students run low on Dining Dollars DINING DOLLARS from page 1

chose Sodexo USA as its dining services provider, negotiations between Tribe Square proprietors, the College and Sodexo allowed this idea to become a reality in July.

Joining the meal plan also modified Pita Pit’s and MOOYAH’s business in unforeseen ways.

“Before the meal plan, we were definitely student lunch business, and now, after the meal plan, we’re mostly student dinner business,” Twine said.

As the semester winds down and students run low or even run out of Dining Dollars, both Twine and Patel have noticed a decrease in students dining at Tribe Square.

“There’s some people that

you saw at the beginning of the school year that are nowhere to be found now,” Patel said.

“There’s a couple students that I saw once a week and still see them. And now we’re seeing students that we’ve never seen before that are trying to quickly spend all of their Dining Dollars.”

Patel P a t e l explained the only downside to the long lunchtime lines of College students is how they sometimes scare away Williamsburg residents, including professors. Twine noticed the same problem.

“We’ve had some professors

say that we’re so busy that it’s hard for them to wait in line,” Twine said.

Twine said that she expects t h a t business might drop off next s e m e s ter Twine because of the new dining options, such as the food truck, offered on campus.

However, some students are still enthusiastic about spending their Dining Dollars at the local establishments.

“I definitely go to MOOYAH and Pita Pit more than last year,” Alexis Plofchan ’16 said. “If I didn’t have Dining Dollars, I wouldn’t be coming as much.”

FILE PHOTO / THE FLAT HAT

A chimney fire destroyed a house adjacent to the Ludwell Apartments in 2012.

opinions

Opinions Editor Daria Grastara fhopinions@gmail.com // @theflathat

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, November 18, 2014 | Page 4

EDITORIAL CARTOON

STAFF EDITORIAL

Expand the plan A

BY BRIAN KAO, FLAT HAT GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Explore, discover and learn of New Town or grab a bite to eat at one of the numerous pancake restaurants on Richmond Road. Make an adventure out of it; you could end up having a great time and finding a new activity to do with friends. Worst comes to worst, you know where not to eat for future reference.

Campus by itself has a constant stream of entertainment — just glance at the bulletin boards walking into the Sadler Center. Aside from the array of events going on around campus, most of which THE FLAT HAT are free and incredibly easy to just pop into, there’s a club for almost everything. It doesn’t hurt to just stop by a meeting and see if it’s of College is supposed to be the best four years of your life, a time to interest to you. If it’s not, just move on to the next intriguing event find who you really are. However, there’s a catch: You have to actually you hear about. get out there and experiment to really find out your likes and dislikes.

One way to make sure that you see things from a new perspective You have to get out of your comfort zone and truly be open to trying is to travel — look into study abroad. Talk to anyone you know who new things to discover another side of yourself. has done it; it’s not something you will end up regretting. Traveling Maybe a broader social scene is opens you up to a new culture and new ways of something you need in order to open up life. If anything, take it as a learning experience Often times, the thing you to different types of people. Go out to a see how other countries live. If visiting dread the most will turn out to to few parties. Make conversation. Late at another country is too much at once, look into be the most fun and you’ll find the DC programs offered by the school. It’s not night when people are simply living in the moment is one of the best times to make very far from Williamsburg but offers an entirely yourself actually enjoying it. your approach and create conversation. It new atmosphere. is a lot less stressful to approach someone at a party than it is just Often times, the thing you dread the most will turn out to be the sitting at a table in the dining hall; everyone is there looking for a good most fun and you’ll find yourself actually enjoying it. College is short; night. The worst thing that could happen is that you don’t hit it off and after this you are off to the world of finding a job and working on then you make conversation with the next person you meet — not a someone else’s schedule. You have the opportunity to make the most horrendous situation by any means. of these four years, so don’t waste them. Just because something Explore Williamsburg. We’re in one of the most historic places seems boring or uninteresting isn’t reason enough to dismiss it. If you in our country, so go find what’s out there. Colonial Williamsburg think that you haven’t found your place yet or are still looking, keep has plenty of open doors for you to walk through. All it takes is a day it up. There are plenty of options out there. The key is being open to pass, which is free to students. You might just surprise yourself and whatever it is that crosses your path and not just saying no without a learn something that strikes a new interest in you. If the history side second thought. Sure, class and studying are important, but that’s not of town doesn’t seem of interest to you, even though you should still all there is to college. Do something you would have never imagined give it a try, there’s always the transportation system to take you other yourself doing. It could turn out to be a lot more than just a wild idea. places. Go see what else the city has to offer: Go explore the shops Email Annie Sadler at afsadler@email.wm.edu.

Annie Sadler

“

dding the Tribe Square restaurants to the meal plan was perhaps the best thing Sodexo USA has done as the College of William and Mary’s dining services provider. The move benefitted both students and businesses through greater variety and increased sales; in the coming year, Sodexo and the College administration should look to add more restaurants to the meal plan, giving students more places to spend their Dining Dollars.

Students often feel extremely limited by Dining Dollars, with Dominos and Qdoba serving as the only real “off-campus” options. Ask around campus now, and many students will tell you they are all out of Dining Dollars — despite having more at their disposal than they did last year. With the Student Exchange’s currently limited offerings, students appreciate the additional restaurants on the meal plan and visit them regularly. Pita Pit, MOOYAH and The Crust all saw increased revenues this semester after being added to the meal plan as a Dining Dollars option.

And yet, there are still many places that Sodexo could add. Imagine if students could buy a Shorti at Wawa using Dining Dollars. Or how about a meal in Colonial Williamsburg? The Cheese Shop, Retro’s, Aromas and the Starbucks in Barnes and Noble are just a few popular venues for studying and socializing which students would like to frequent more often.

Lagging tourism could be hurting some of these businesses, and including them on the meal plan could help them attract more customers and increase revenues. After seeing the effect of receiving Dining Dollars on Tribe Square establishments, other businesses should jump at the opportunity to include this method of payment.

If Sodexo does not approach any other restaurants — and this may be very likely — we would encourage local restaurants to take the first step. Sodexo may not listen at first, but if enough owners express interest, joined with students demanding more options, Sodexo may relent. The Tribe Square restaurants took that first step, raising their qualms with the required on-campus resident meal plan last year and opening the Dining Dollars conversation with Sodexo.

But this effort shouldn’t be left in Sodexo’s and the establishments’ hands alone. The College administration should also make every effort to improve students’ Dining Dollars options, beginning with replacing the empty venue in Tribe Square, formerly occupied by Subway, and ensuring that the new vendor is also included on the meal plan.

Now, with the food truck’s arrival and Cosi’s impending opening next semester, students will have more ways than ever to spend their Dining Dollars.

That said, students want to support local businesses and, as an integral part of the community, the College should seek mutually beneficial relationships with these businesses as well.

The staff editorial represents the opinion of The Flat Hat. The editorial board, which is elected by The Flat Hat’s section editors and executive staff, consists of Abby Boyle, Matt Camarda, Zachary Frank, Meredith Ramey and Ellen Wexler. The Flat Hat welcomes submissions to the Opinions section. Limit letters to 250 words and columns to 650 words. Letters, columns, graphics and cartoons reflect the view of the author only. Email submissions to fhopinions@gmail.com.

“

LETTER TO THE EDITOR What is particularly laudable about the College of William and Mary is its new growth in sustainability awareness. Calandra Waters-Lake was just appointed to the new position of Sustainability Director, with the goal of institutionalizing and coordinating sustainability programs across the College. The Committee on Sustainability, formed in 2008, continues to implement and fund plans and initiatives regarding environmental awareness, including green speaker series and various student-run outreach projects. One

such project even involves reaching out to incoming students at orientation to begin education of the College’s environmental movements early in students’ university career. The list, quite simply, goes on and on.

The dedicated green mission of the College, as well as the motivation and determination of the students involved in this movement, is truly inspiring. There is, however, more work to be done. Responsible stewardship of creation has risen to a level of great moral urgency. Climate change represents a dire, urgent threat, and

now is the time to act in order to halt extensive and irreversible damage.

The College currently has the right momentum and inclination; I urge you to step it up, now.

As a powerful and well-known university, the College is in the unique position of being able to inspire other institutions with its own actions.

Resolute action on the College’s part can, and assuredly will, have farreaching ripple effects.

With an endowment of hundreds of millions of dollars per year, the College certainly has the resources

at its disposal to enact real change. I would ultimately like to see the College begin to heavily invest in sustainable energy sources, not just for personal use, but also for a wider audience. I would like to see divestment from fossil fuels now, while we still have time to make real change. I would like these movements to be the catalyst for a stronger university-wide movement for climate change that could in turn be inspiration for other institutions, as well as our local and national political leaders, to take up the cause. We have a moral duty to care for the earth we

have been given.

The College clearly has a strong and uniquely motivated body of students and faculty who have shown interest and promise in this area and would certainly support a stronger push in this direction. This is a particularly momentous and necessary cause, and we need to simply ramp up this interest and motivation to drive the movement.

The individuals of this school have united together to create real change. I hope to see it again soon.

— Emily Churchill, U.Va. ’15

Freshman year: Making new friends, but keeping the old Emily Chaumont THE FLAT HAT

Before I came to the College of William and Mary, many of the adults in my life — including my parents, teachers and dentist — told me that I would meet some of my lifelong friends in college. “You’ll meet the girls who will become your bridesmaids one day,” some said. It has always seemed that a mandatory part of the “college experience” is making the absolute best friends ever.

This can be an incredibly daunting idea. Many students entering the College went to school with the same group of people for up to 13 years. My circle expanded as school went on and I gradually made a few new friends each year, but there were few times in my life when I felt that I needed to make

an entirely new group of friends.

Upon entering college, this changed drastically.

In-state students such as myself generally know other students at the College from high school, but even then, it is unlikely that you are attending the same university as your high school best friend.

On move-in day, each new student was introduced to both a new home and a potential new group of best friends. New students participate in the whirlwind of pep and excitement of Orientation with their freshman hall, and for this first week without classes, everyone seems to be intensely focused on developing a stable friend group.

For more extroverted students, this can be incredibly easy and even fun to do. Some people are easily able to go up to people they don’t know and say, “Hi! I’m Emily and I like reading. What’s your favorite book?” and their friendships start smoothly, taking off from that conversation. For more introverted students, the prospect of having to go up to strangers and introduce oneself is overwhelming and terrifying. Playing ice-breaker games can be stressful. You have to decide which facts and personal details to reveal to these potential new

friends and which to keep to yourself for a while.

Orientation, and coming to college in general, puts many students out of their comfort zones, making introverts put on their extrovert hats for the whole week in a desperate effort to join a friend group while everyone is still in the same situation of not knowing anyone.

I am not against Orientation. Stepping outside of one’s comfort zone in this way is incredibly important. While I don’t think that the point of going to college is to find your bridesmaids and I don’t think that you necessarily have to lose touch with all of your best friends from high school, I do believe friendship is an incredibly essential part of college.

Students attending the College aren’t simply going to classes and then returning home. We are living in a community of students who all live, work and study together. College is the best time to find people who share one’s interests and values.

Obviously, this can be done by joining clubs and organizations, but it can also be done by socializing with one’s hallmates. Just by nature of attending the College, there are some common interests among the vast majority of students here. Above

all, we value academics and we value other people, especially other members of the Tribe.

We are “One Tribe, One Family,” but we’re a big, extended family. The close friends that we make are our immediate family at the College. They are the ones to whom we can turn in times of crisis, and that is why they are so important to have. Even the most shy, introverted and private people shouldn’t have to deal with crises themselves, unless they want to. Solitude is undeniably important, but the opportunity to break that solitude is just as essential.

Even those of us who hate the process of meeting new people shouldn’t overlook the vital benefits close friends provide.

Email Emily Chaumont at emchaumont@email. wm.edu.

GRAPHIC BY VIRGINIA STROBACH / THE FLAT HAT

variety

Variety Editor Tucker Higgins Variety Editor Devon Ivie flathat.variety@gmail.com // @theflathat

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, November 18, 2014 | Page 5

The FBI director looks back

From learning about death to finding love, a look at Comey’s college years AINE CAIN // flat hat NEWS editor

All photos courtesyof Wikimedia Commons

Comey said the best part of college was meeting and falling in love with his wife, Patrice. “I grew a lot as a person. ... I was a bit of a jerk when I met her. I joke that we changed each other. She made me a nicer person; I made her a meaner person.”

During his sophomore year at the College of William and Mary, FBI Director James Comey ’82 encountered a flyer that changed his entire academic trajectory.

“I was walking to a chemistry lab and there was a bulletin board,” Comey said. “I saw the word ‘death’ in big letters on the board. It was an advertisement for a course called Death.”

The class was in the religion department and taught by religion professor emeritus Hans Tiefel. At the time, Comey was a chemistry major. However, he said that the course’s description nonetheless intrigued him. He decided to fill a hole in his schedule with Death.

By senior year, Comey was a double major in religion and chemistry, writing a senior thesis on theologian Reinhold Niebuhr and televangelist Jerry Falwell, and on his way to the University of Chicago Law School. He credits his religion major with forcing him to be open-minded, understand various sides of an argument and focus on language.

“What the College taught me was to think well and try to understand other points of view,” Comey said. “It really lit a fire in me to do something to help other people.”

Comey first arrived at the College determined to follow a premed track. He grew up in Allendale, NJ. He applied to the College after hearing about it from a family friend who played basketball for the Tribe.

“I applied to a bunch of schools and it was the best one that accepted me,” Comey said. “Harvard, Princeton, Amherst blew me off and William and Mary accepted me. I visited and I loved the place.”

Comey’s freshman dorm was the now-closed Tyler Annex.

“It housed 17 male students in there with no RA,” Comey said. “It was a little bit like Lord of the Flies.

No adult supervision. Seventeen of us crammed in.

We had four guys living in the lounge. It was a freak show.”

Later on, he would live in the Bryan Complex.

At the time, it also housed the Law School Library,

which became his favorite study spot on campus.

“It was an awesome place to study because most of the undergrads were afraid to go there,” Comey said. “It was a bit like a hamster cage — sections connected by hallways down underneath the building. I used to love to go there.”

Much of his time was spent in the library studying for chemistry classes. Comey said he appreciated the analytical thinking, discipline and scholastic rigor he learned from his science courses. Nonetheless, he noted that completing his chemistry major was “agony.”

In the second semester of his senior year, he enrolled in an advanced biochemistry course at 8 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in order to complete his major requirements. At that point, Comey had already been accepted into law school.

“The only reason I didn’t fail that class was the guy in the top bunk in my triple in Bryan actually wanted to be a chemist,” Comey said. “He is a chemist today, in Canada. He would get up every morning, slide his legs over, actually grab me physically and say, ‘Come on, we have to go.’ So that’s how I ended up going to class at 8 a.m..”

Comey said that he once played a prank on his punctual roommate involving stationary Comey from the Dean of Discipline’s office and accusations regarding a lamp that had been smashed outside the Campus Center.

“He was very much a straight arrow,” Comey said.

“I aspired to be, I suppose. I am the Director of the FBI.” When not studying for class, Comey participated in intramural basketball, football and ultimate Frisbee, volunteered at a nursing home on Monticello Road, and wrote for The Flat Hat. “I started writing for The Flat Hat as a freshman,” Comey said. “My first hugely important article was about parking for football games. It was silly, but I was

very excited about it. I did news until I was a junior and then junior [year] started writing a column, the name of which I can’t remember. There was a columnist for The New York Times called Russell Baker who wrote humorous takes on serious events.

So I tried to be funny and a social commentator. At least I thought I was.”

He met his wife Patrice at the College, after she nominated him to run for the presidency of the Bryan Complex dorm council. Comey said that the details of their first encounter are still subject to controversy.

“She remembers meeting me as a freshman at a daiquiri party in the previously mentioned Lord of the Flies-esque Tyler Annex,” Comey said. “I don’t recall meeting her there.”

He had a better recollection of their subsequent interaction at a meeting designed to solicit candidates to run for office.

“She leaned over to someone I played basketball with at the gym and said, ‘Who’s that guy?’ and pointed at me,” Comey said. “I didn’t hear her, but she nominated me to run for president of the dorm council. We didn’t speak then, but I saw her at a dorm party a short time later. A mutual friend introduced us and we sat together on a couch. She let me talk about myself for three hours. Naturally, I walked away deeply in love with her, because she let me talk about myself, a habit which she has since fixed.”

Running unopposed, Comey won the Bryan Council election. He started dating Patrice a short time afterwards.

“That’s probably my last experience with elected politics and will be for my entire life,” Comey said.

“The best part was meeting and falling in love with my wife. … I grew a lot as a person. ... I was a bit of a jerk when I met her. I joke that we changed each other. She made me a nicer person; I made her a meaner person.”

Professor David Holmes knew Comey well as a student and taught both Patrice and their oldest

daughter Maureen Comey ’06. Comey signed up for two of his courses senior year, but Holmes was invited to serve as a visiting professor elsewhere. Comey still took a class on significant books in western religion and bonded with Holmes’s substitute, the late visiting professor John Woolverton.

“As a student, Jim was highly informed, genuine, and superbly prepared for class,” Holmes said in an email. “Faculty who taught him believed that he could have excelled at any college in the land.

In the area of religion, he was especially interested in the writings of Reinhold Niebuhr, an American Protestant theologian especially noted for his concern for social justice. He reached the finals for the Rhodes Scholarship as a senior.”

Since his days at the College, Comey served as the United States Deputy Attorney General during President George W. Bush’s administration. He is currently the seventh director of the FBI. “Jim Comey belongs to the great tradition of William and Mary alumni who serve as leaders of our nation,” College President Taylor Reveley said in an email. “He has made his alma mater enormously proud.”

Tiefel emphasized Comey’s continuing connection with the College.

“I think that students might like to know that Mr. Comey has been a generous supporter of the ethics program in the Religious Studies Department,” Tiefel said in an email. “Without his generosity, the Department might not have been able to offer a range of ethics courses. That points outside his years as student. But surely his commitments after college illumine who he was and is.”

Comey advised current students to keep an open mind about the courses they take.

“Sample widely. You’ll never get a chance to taste so many academic dishes,” Comey said. “Try to become a quality thinker … Life is a series of narrowing experiences, so you want to start as broad as you possibly can, before the funnel starts to narrow on you.”

CONFUSION CORNER

Care less: Tests don’t define you, so stop fooling yourself

Imagine a world in which you stress just a little bit less about every assignment you have to do. Now live in it.

Zoe Johnson

Confusion corner columnist

One of the greatest lessons I have learned over the past four years at the College of William and Mary (yes, I’m a senior, so trust me) is to care less. There’s a scene in the romantic comedy “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” where Paul Rudd’s character tries to teach Jason Segal’s character how to surf. Rudd tells Segal he’s doing too much and should thus “do less.”

If you’ve seen that movie and remember that scene, just apply that same lesson to caring and schoolwork and congrats,

you have just figured out the point of this article. You may stop reading. If you have no idea what I’m talking about yet, let me explain.

Care less; this doesn’t mean don’t care at all. I’m not advising you to drop everything, move to Tijuana, and have seven children — I mean that’s your prerogative, but certainly not advised.

Caring less means that you stop defining your life as the time before and after a big assignment. At the College, whatever the thing is that’s stressing us out — essays, exams, presentations, running out of Dining Dollars — we always tend to put it on a pedestal, like it is some untouchable life event that will, one way or another, change the outcome of our lives. Can we just take a second to realize how ridiculous that is? Before any major exam, I’ve heard plenty of people say, “This exam is going to ruin/kill/destroy me,” only to see them an hour after the exam

ends ordering a sandwich from Wawa.

Aren’t you supposed to be rebuilding your life somewhere right now? Wasn’t that test was it for you? Remember when you said, “This test is going to destroy me?”

That is the sarcastic inner-monologue and eye-roll that goes through my head time after time. I might understand if before every exam you signed a contract that said in the event that you fail, you agree to chop off both of your legs, or donate your first born child to medical research, or do some legitimately life-changing, bald Britney Spears, thing. However, unless I have missed something, or just passed every test (jokes), then I’m pretty sure that has never happened in the history of this college. Let’s all take a collective step back and care less.

Caring less is more than just curbing your hyperbole when you say a test is going to destroy you. It’s more about changing our perceptions and the way we

think. Can you imagine how much better you’d feel if you cared just a little bit less about each assignment? There’s no need to stress yourself down to pieces, feel better for a day or two, and then crumble apart like pastries (thanks, Ed Sheeran) all over again. Personally, I feel quite foolish if I let myself enter that unhealthy cycle because in reality, at the end of every assignment, I am still standing. So what was I so worried about? Did I really believe that one 50-minute test, in the grand scheme of my entire life, would change anything significantly? No. I think the real, underlying fear we all have is of failure. This is not a ground-breaking revelation, OK? I didn’t need Diane Sawyer and the crew from 20/20 to figure that one out. If we know that, at least to some extent, we’re all afraid of failure, can we just not be? Failure happens and it happens all the time. It has happened to you, and to me, and to your Uncle

John, your dog Skip and your cousin Mary. In fact, it has probably happened to everyone except Beyonce. Fearing failure is like fearing your toenails growing — it’s going to happen, we all have to deal with it, and as nasty as it may be to cut your talons down, you’ll be okay by the end of it. I promise.

When you care less, you will realize that failure doesn’t define you — but how you think about and deal with failure does. Are you going to allow yourself to believe that your life will fall apart because of an Econ 101 exam, or are you going to make like Taylor Swift and shake it off? I choose the latter because T-Swift has the jams these days and we should all use her as a tall, blonde reminder to smile a little more and care a little less.

Zoe Johnson is a Confusion Corner columnist who can be found on the Sunken Garden, relaxing in a pile of leaves.

Page 6

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, Novemer 18, 2014

Here’s how to spend your Saturdays with your professor. And with history.

Used books, under the sea

Chris Morrison // THE FLAT HAT

Mermaid Books is overflowing with stories, both in print and person

ASHLEY RICHARDSON / THE FLAT HAT

Mason said he loves discussing the various books in the store with customers. He particularly likes finding, displaying, discussing and selling first editions of books by F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway and Jack Kerouac.

emiLY CHAUMONT THE FLAT HAT

Every wall of Mermaid Books is lined with seemingly endless shelves of used books, which are filled with the markings of previous owners.

There are books ranging from old Virginia tourism guidebooks, to college student’s’ British literature textbooks, to someone’s grandmother’s cookbooks, to rare, out-of-print, first edition classic novels.

Mermaid Books is a used bookstore currently housed on Prince George Street.

It was opened in 1977 by Mary Lewis Chapman, an alumnus of the College of William and Mary, and is currently owned by Hatley Mason.

“Her vision in opening this store was to provide a good place to get used books that were in readable condition and I’ve tried to continue that goal,” Mason said.

Mason grew up in Richmond but came to Williamsburg often, and

frequented Mermaid Books before he bought it.

“I would often go down to Aromas to eat and then come down here to look at books,” he said.

In 2009, Mason discovered that the store was closing because the owner couldn’t find anyone to buy it. He didn’t want to see the store close, so he bought it.

“I’ve lived here in Williamsburg the past two summers and I’ve gotten to know Hatley and his wife really well,” Charlotte Jones ’15 said.

Jones’s experience is not atypical.

Mason makes an effort to get to know everyone who walks into his store.

“One of the things I like most about owning Mermaid is that I get to meet a whole lot of wonderful people,” he said.

“There’s a real tradition of bookstores supporting the local culture and community and I try to continue that.”

Mermaid Books can be difficult to find because entering involves descending a staircase on the side of I Must Say, an antique store also located

on Prince George Street. Nevertheless, many students of the College are still able to find and enjoy what Mason’s store offers.

“I heard about the store by word-ofmouth and some of my friends took me there the night before Fall Break,” Max Sterling ’18 said.

Mason said he tries to make Mermaid Books an inviting and welcoming environment for college students, locals and tourists alike.

Whether his customers want to find a specific book or simply browse the store, he says he tries to help them find a book they will enjoy.

“You can go into any section and he’ll be like, ‘I know this and that about what you’re looking for,’” Jones said.

Mason said he loves discussing the various books in the store with customers. He particularly likes finding, displaying, discussing and selling first editions of books by F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway and Jack Kerouac, but the books that he sells are varied in topic,

genre and author.

“I was really impressed with the quality, range and variety of the books at Mermaid,” said Sterling.

Mason sees himself not just as a bookstore owner, but as a collector.

He says his favorite books to collect for the store are out-of-print, first edition books by classic or offbeat authors, including first edition copies of Fitzgerald’s “This Side of Paradise” and Kerouac’s “Big Sur.” “I’m fond of books that were controversial or changed the literary landscape when they were published,” Mason said.

Helping customers find books that mean something to them, or remind them of a certain something, is one thing Mason particularly enjoys about owning Mermaid Books. He says it is particularly exciting for him when customers are able to find the exact same edition of a book that holds memories from their childhood.

“It’s nice to be able to give people back a memory,” Mason said.

Mason tries to fill the store with books that people can’t find elsewhere in Williamsburg. While the William and Mary Bookstore offers new copies of classic novels, Mason said that Mermaid Books tries to provide a more affordable alternative for students with older copies of the same classics, in addition to the more expensive and rarer books geared more toward collectors.

“I can see how it could be overwhelming for some people. There are books everywhere and almost no room to move,” Sterling said. “But it’s a very tempting and nice environment for a book lover.”

Mason is thankful for every person who comes into, browses or enjoys his store and wants to keep helping people in Williamsburg explore their love for books.

“I love talking to people and hearing their stories,” he said. “This store is a place of stories. Everybody who comes in here has their own story and I love connecting with them.”

The art of jewelry-making is alive on DoG street A husband-and-wife team at DoG street’s The Precious Gem mixes metals, stones and history emiLY STONE FLAT HAT Assoc. Variety Editor

Walking into The Precious Gem on DoG Street, one feels like they’re entering a museum collection of precious stones. While the infamous “Hope Diamond” is not on display, some of Reggie Akdogan’s pieces do indeed feature gems the size of quarters.

Originally from Turkey, Akdogan became aquainted with jewelry making when he was seven years old. After receiving a medical degree in Turkey, he came to the U.S., where his uncle gave him an extensive education in the art of jewelry making.

“By growing up and working summers in [The Grand Bazaar], he learned how to make jewelry and how to sell to clients from around the world,” said Akdogan’s wife, Lisa Akdogan.

Mrs. Akdogan manages the sales and marketing for the store’s two locations, giving her husband the space to create his one-of-a-kind pieces. Up the stairs from the pristine sales floor, Mr. Akdogan’s workshop is a very different scene. Priceless gems are paired with small pencil sketches of the elaborate necklaces, rings or bracelets they are destined to become. A paper bag of fast sketches, stashed underneath a workbench, holds dozens of rough drawings on napkins and scraps of paper.

On his workbench, gold pansies mix with peacocks which are waiting to be set with dozens of brilliant gems.

“There are some designs that are based on Byzantine culture, because Reggie is originally from Istanbul,” Mrs. Akdogan said. “Sometimes we’ll be sitting at home and he’ll notice a particular pattern on one of our oriental rugs, and he’ll sketch that. He also did a line based on flowers in the historic area of Colonial Williamsburg.”

The gems also inspire Reggie, who travels to Thailand, Africa and South America to find stones

that are both high quality and large.

“Color is my favorite; I don’t like diamonds as much, unless they are larger,” he said as he took an Alexandrite ring around the store to show how the color changes in different lights. “Everybody goes with diamonds, but I’m not particularly fond of diamonds. I think color has a mystical quality.

Colored gems hold a lot of emotion, and they talk to you.”

The Precious Gem has a customer base extending far beyond Williamsburg. Clients come from all over the country for Akdogan’s quality products and expertise.

Carol Carkner is retired and has worked at the store part time for the past seven years. She calls herself one of Reggie’s biggest customers, and wears his pieces regularly.

“Many of the customers are repeat customers from the area. The area starts in DC, Maryland and New Jersey, extending all the way to Florida. Some people will fly in just to get pieces.”

Mrs. Akdogan says that students come to The Precious Gem most often for graduation gifts and engagement rings.

“We have done graduation gifts every year since we’ve opened,” she said. “Usually it’s people who just want something different. Students don’t come in to buy a lot when they’re in college, but they do come in to look and talk, so we get to know them, and then they bring their parents in when they come visit. We do things from standard hand-engraved signet rings to pieces of jewelry with their favorite stone, like a pendant they’re going to wear for the rest of their life. Engagement rings tend to be more for graduate students. We usually sell three or four a year to seniors who are graduating.”

In addition to selling engagement rings, The Precious Gem helped one student with his proposal.

“Several years ago, we had one guy from the [Mason School of Business] ask us for ideas about

ASHLEY RICHARDSON / THE FLAT HAT

In addition to selling engagement rings, The Precious Gem helped one student, a business major, with his proposal.

how to propose to his girlfriend,” Mrs. Akdogan said. ”We told him to take her to The Trellis for dinner.

We close at six, but we usually keep our windows all lit up at night. At that time, we had flashing videos showing our jewelry, so people would walk by and watch the videos. We told him to write the proposal sign, and we put it right in front of the video, so when they were walking on the way to The Trellis, they could look in the window at the video and she would see the proposal sign. That was one of our most fun experiences.”

Mr. Akdogan enjoys going the extra mile for the younger students, who he hopes will become

lifetime customers. He says that students will come in to have watches repaired, and despite the fact that he doesn’t typically do those services he likes to connect with the students and do these favors in hopes they will come back when they’re older.

Mr. Akdogan’s success has afforded him the ability to give back to the College, as well as secondary schools in the area. He enjoys giving elementary school students tours of his workshop on the second floor, saying that they love to see the process of casting gold. He is also planning on working with the Mason School of Business to expand his business online.

sports Tribe pulls the upset

Sports Editor Mick Sloan Sports Editor Chris Weber flathatsports@gmail.com @FlatHatSports

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, November 18, 2014 | Page 7

CROSS COUNTRY

Unranked College defeats three top-20 opponents to punch ticket to NCAA final TYLER SHAW FLAT HAT STAFF WRITER The William and Mary women’s cross country team headed to the southeast regional championships in Louisville knowing the team was a huge underdog, as sports experts predicted the Colonial Athletic Conference Champions would finish in 5th place or lower.

Defying expectations, the team pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the year.

The Tribe beat three nationally ranked teams and several other powerhouse programs to finish first overall in the event.

The College will advance to nationals next week.

Tournament favorites No. 11 North Carolina, No. 14 Virginia and No. 18 North Carolina State were all expected to beat the Tribe. But, thanks to five runners finishing in the top 25 of the event, the College finished first with a 74-point score. The second place finisher, Virginia, ended the day with 82 points, eight behind the Tribe.

North Carolina, finishing 3rd, scored 94 points on the day, a full 20 points behind the College.

“I think, in some ways, we felt pretty

under-ranked,” assistant women’s coach Natalie Hall said. “But that’s where we kind of shrugged off the rankings and said, ‘What we do during the day is what matters,’ and so I think that’s what we really went after.”

Redshirt junior Carolyn Hennessey led the Tribe, finishing at 20:14.7.

She finished with the second-fastest time for the event.

Hennessey Hennessey, winner of the CAA cross country title, was named to the all region team for the first time in her career. She reflected on her performance.

“A lot of little things [went well], I think,” Hennessey said. “The biggest thing, though, is being a senior — having that sense of urgency and wanting to accomplish the goals I set out my freshman year. You only have so much time to do it, so you might as well make the most of the opportunity.”

Junior Meghan McGovern, freshman Regan Rome and senior Dylan Hassett were all also named to the all-region

team. For Rome and Hassett, who finished 14th and 15th, respectively, it was their first appearance on the all-region team. McGovern, the team’s captain, finished 18th and has placed on the allregion list in consecutive years. Junior AllAmerican Emily Stites was the fifth and final member of the Tribe to place in the top 25, finishing 25th on the day.

This is the first time the women’s team has won at regionals. The College will advance to the NCAA Championships for the third year in a row. The championships take place in Terre Haute, Ind. Nov. 22.

The event kicks off at noon, and can be streamed live on NCAA.com.

“If the girls go out and do what they are capable of doing, the sky’s the limit for them,” director of track Stephen Walsh said. “It’s all about managing the stress, managing the race over the next couple of days, and getting them ready for it. I think they have shown, time and time again, that they can do it. This next Saturday is another chance to show it.”

The men’s team also had a successful day at Louisville. Coming off its 15th consecutive conference championship — the second longest active streak in the

nation — the Tribe was slated to finish 16th. Instead, it managed to finish 12th overall in the 33-team event.

Junior Ryan Gousse was the Tribe’s top performer, finishing in 31:18.9 for 47th place. Four members of the College finished in the top 100 on the day, and all of the College’s runners finished in the top 140.

The men’s cross country season has come to a close, and many of its members will begin focusing on the indoor track

and field season. The College’s first meet will be the Christopher Newport Holiday Invitational Dec. 6.

Led by an excellent performance by the women’s team, the College’s cross country teams had another great season.

The men and women’s teams are both powerhouses, combining for a total of 57 conference championships. The women’s team will look to continue its dominance by winning the program’s first-ever national championship.

COURTESY PHOTO / TRIBE ATHLETICS

The women’s cross country team won the southeast regional for the first time in school history.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

FOOTBALL

Gators devour the Tribe in Gainsville

No. 7 Florida too strong for College JACK POWERS FLAT HAT ASSOC. SPORTS EDITOR

COURTESY PHOTO / TRIBE ATHLETICS

Junior running back Mikal Abdul-Saboor sprinted for 141 yards and three touchdowns in the College’s dominant 37-14 win over Towson.

Tribe sprints to win over Towson

College piles up 203 rushing yards in 37-14 dominant victory MICK SLOAN FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR A season with plenty of twists and turns took another sharp bend Saturday, as William and Mary rolled into Towson, Md. and trounced the Tigers 37-14. The College (7-4, 4-3 CAA) scored touchdowns on four of its first five possessions, running Towson (4-7, 2-5 CAA) out of its own building.

“I thought we played pretty well,” head coach Jimmye Laycock told Tribe Athletics. “I was really pleased, obviously, with the start that we had … and then as the game progressed, on both sides of the ball. We played a good game.”

The Tribe racked up 203 rushing yards, including 141 by junior running back Mikal Abdul-Saboor. Abdul-Saboor leads the Colonial Athletic Association in rushing yards per game with 116.1, and his 1,161 yards this year are the 10th highest single season total in the College’s history. AbdulSaboor also added three rushing touchdowns to blitz the Tigers into submission.

The Tribe started off at a sprint, as sophomore quarterback Steve Cluley completed three passes for 53 yards on the College’s first drive, ending with a 27-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Tre McBride. AbdulSaboor added two touchdowns later in the first quarter, propelling the Tribe to a 21-0 lead. For its part, the College’s defense held Towson to just 40 yards in the opening period.

That first quarter effectively decided the contest.

Though Towson’s Darius Victor ran in a touchdown to cut the Tribe lead to 21-7 early in the second quarter, the College immediately responded with a 67-yard drive that devoured seven minutes of game clock and ended with Abdul-Saboor’s third touchdown. After a subsequent Towson drive stalled at midfield, the first half ended with the College up 28-7.

“I think the Towson defense thought we were going

to pound [the ball] right away, so we were able to soften them up a little bit by throwing the ball on that first drive,” Abdul-Saboor told Tribe Athletics. “The rest of the half we just played aggressively at the line of scrimmage, and I was able to get some space.”

Towson’s misfortune continued after halftime, as return man Joseph Derrick fumbled the third quarter’s opening kickoff at his own 37. The Tribe turned that mistake into a field goal from senior kicker John Carpenter and a 31-7 lead. After another Towson drive stalled, the Tribe once again drove into Towson territory and extended its lead to 34-7 with another field goal.

Though Towson finally added a second touchdown in the fourth quarter and closed the gap to 34-14, that score marked the Tigers’ final points of the game. Carpenter booted his third field goal of the day a few minutes later, but the fourth quarter was largely meaningless as the game wound down to its 37-14 final score.

The two teams finished with 307 yards apiece, but the College forced three turnovers and avoided any miscues.

Cluley completed 10 of 17 passes for 104 yards, a touchdown and no turnovers. He hasn’t thrown an interception since the Tribe’s Oct. 11 loss at New Hampshire.

The game also featured the return of senior tight end Bo Revell, who injured his leg against Virginia Tech Aug. 30 and was not expected to play again this year. Revell caught one pass for 19 yards.

The victory was the Tribe’s first against Towson since 2009, and it kept the College’s hopes for a Football Championship Subdivision postseaon berth alive. It is unclear exactly what circumstances can punch the Tribe’s ticket to the playoffs, but the College must certainly win over Richmond, its final opponent of the regular season.

The College hosts Richmond Saturday night at Zable Stadium. The Tribe will be looking to avenge a 31-20 loss to the Spiders in last year’s season finale. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

William and Mary’s 68-45 loss at No. 7 Florida in Friday’s season opener offered few clear conclusions for fans looking for insight into what to expect from this team.

The contest was all but settled by the end of the first half, after the Gators went on a seemingly easy 15-0 run. For the first 20 minutes of the game, the Tribe was thoroughly outplayed against one of the most talented teams in the country.

Florida played its second string lineup following halftime, while the Tribe played with more focus, leading to a 27Thornton 26 second half scoring advantage.

Sophomore forward Omar Prewitt, coming off last season’s Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Year campaign, topped all scorers with 15 points on seven baskets in 15 shots.

Senior guard Marcus Thornton struggled for most of the night, hitting just three of 11 attempts.

The Gators oriented their first half defense around limiting Thornton’s effectiveness by double-teaming him every time he touched the ball.

Thornton was routinely frustrated on drives, and he forced well-guarded shots from around the perimeter.

“Well, he’s going to see it all year long,” head coach Tony Shaver said. “He’s got a lot of pre-season accolades, which are well-deserved.

But it’s a new year, and we have got to earn new things. Every time he comes off a ball-screen, every time he tries to penetrate, there are going to be two or three guys on him.”

In what was a disappointment for a player who comes into this season as one of the most touted guards in the mid-majors, Thornton committed three turnovers and scored just four points in the first half.

With Thornton struggling and junior forward Terry Tarpey and freshman guard Mike Schlottmann

out with injuries, the Tribe had few offensive options to counteract Florida’s outstanding athleticism.

The Tribe only made two of its 22 three-point attempts in the game, as its players were relegated to longrange shooting while being kept out of the lane. The College relied heavily on its shooting prowess last season, and long range shots figure to feature even more prominently in this season’s offense.

“If we don’t shoot the ball better than that, we’re going to have trouble scoring the ball,” Shaver said. “We believe in shooting the three. Some of those were wide-open shots we missed, but some of them were bad shot-selection[s] as well.”

Junior center Sean Sheldon played for 25 minutes and contributed five rebounds to the effort. However, Florida’s big men were able to consistently outmaneuver Sheldon in the post for easy points. Overall, the Gators’ size, strength, and speed proved far too much for the College to handle Friday, but many Tribe players gained important experience in the loss.

Freshman guard Oliver Tot, who hails from Bratislava, Slovakia and played on the Slovakian national team during the summer, led the team with six rebounds. Freshman forward Jack Whitman, who redshirted last season after sustaining an early injury, combined with senior forward Tom Schalk to spell Sheldon down low.

Each contributed four points.

“A lot of young players for us [were] on the floor,” Shaver said. “We started a freshman, two sophomores, a junior, and a senior. So we know we’ll get better as the season goes on. It was a tough place to play an opening game, but I wasn’t real pleased with our performance.”

Shaver reflected on how the experience in Gainesville might affect the team and its long season.

“The key to this whole thing is that it’ll be a good experience if we can learn from it,” Shaver said. “That’s the key for us right now: to learn and get better.”

The College’s home opener is tonight against Howard. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

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Tuesday, November 18, 2014

The Flat Hat