The Flat Hat November 28, 2017

Vol. 107, Iss. 24 | Tuesday, November 28, 2017

The Flat Hat The Weekly Student Newspaper

of The College of William and Mary

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STUDENT LIFE

Grad students may s e k i h x a t p e e t s e fac Under proposed GOP plan, tuition waivers would be taxed as income ETHAN BROWN // FLAT HAT STAFF WRITER

A

fter several failed attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Republicans in Congress claimed victory two weeks ago with the passage of a tax reform bill in the House of Representatives. The Senate is now tasked with passing its own legislation; however, its narrow partisan split has made cross-party negotiation tenuous. Significant policy differences between the current House and Senate proposals leave intricacies of the national tax code in doubt.

The House’s proposal in particular has received criticism for its elimination of Section 117 of the national tax code, which concerns graduate students’ income. It stipulates that graduate students do not have to claim tuition waivers as part of their taxable income, and that their taxable income does not incorporate any academic funding provided by their institution.

Tuition waivers are offered to some graduate students when they work as teaching assistants, teach classes or do research. They work in exchange for not having to pay tuition, but they do not have access to this money. Tuition waivers simply mean that tuition is paid by the institution instead of the student. They are not paid out to the student as a stipend, but the removal of Section 117 would tax them as income.

Section 117’s removal could cause financial distress for graduate students at the College of William and Mary, whose taxes might sharply increase with the implementation of the House’s proposal.

The Mason School of Business, the School of Education, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the Marshall-Wythe School of Law are among the College’s most prominent graduate programs, and the impact of congressional tax reform on these programs could be substantial, although the potential impact on individual graduate students remains unclear. Rising tuition costs may have a detrimental impact on the programs’ abilities to attract, instruct and educate degree-seeking candidates.

Provost Michael Halleran said the College’s administration remains alert regarding tax reform and its effects on graduate students and academic programs. In an effort to maintain the current tax exemptions available to financially vulnerable postgraduates, the College has lobbied Virginia’s congressional representatives to oppose any potentially harmful tax increases.

Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) are not supportive of Republican-led legislation in the upper chamber and intend to oppose the Senate’s

most recent tax reform proposal. Representative Robert Wittman (R-Va.), whose district encompasses Williamsburg, voted in favor of the House bill earlier this month.

“We have been keeping our congressional delegation informed of [the College’s] concerns,” Halleran said in an email.

However, since the House of Representatives and the Senate have yet to agree on a final tax bill, it remains possible that the proposal changes to Section 117 will not be implemented. The Senate Finance Committee’s current legislative draft has left the tax code’s current provisions for graduate students untouched. Therefore, students and the College remain uncertain if any concrete action will take place.

The number of students who will be affected by the legislation’s passage is approximate number unclear, as it remains unknown which of graduate students at provisions will be included in the final the College who would congressional bill. However, if the House’s current bill were enacted, hundreds be impacted by the of students in the College’s graduate pending legislation programs would experience tax hikes.

“It would depend on what actually passes, but close to four hundred graduate students [would be impacted],” Halleran said in an email.

Law professor Eric Chason said that the House bill may also have additional adverse impacts on married graduate students and on graduate students claiming dependents.

“A grad student with a working spouse would probably feel a higher impact [under the bill] than a single grad student,” Chason said in an email.

Even in the event that the House’s proposal is fully implemented, immediate

400

See TAXES page 3

GRAPHIC BY MEILAN SOLLY / THE FLAT HAT

CAMPUS

Energy transformer catches fire, campus experiences widespread power failure

Botetourt Complex, Keck Lab may not have power until Friday, Botetourt residents evacuated to local hotels

The morning of Monday, Nov. 27, a Dominion Energy transformer located near the Botetourt Complex failed, causing a small fire and burning the primary and secondary conductors of the transformer unit. There were no injuries; however, most of the campus was without power for several hours, and the Botetourt Complex and Keck Lab remain without power.

According to College of William and Mary spokesperson Suzanne Seurattan, the power in the Botetourt Complex and Keck Lab will likely be out for several days.

Seurattan said that the outage was not preventable or due to any outside circumstances.

“At this point, every indication is that this was simply a case of equipment failure of the Dominion transformer, which unfortunately does sometimes occur,” Seurattan said in an email.

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Maggie Evans said that Botetourt residents will be staying in rooms at the Governor’s Inn and Woodlands Hotel until power is restored. They will be able to travel to campus via a shuttle

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At this point, every indication is that this was simply a case of equipment failure of the Dominion transformer, which unfortunately does sometimes occur.

COLLEGE SPOKESPERSON SUZANNE SEURATTAN

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service available from 3 p.m.-2 a.m. Nov. 27 and 7-1 a.m. starting Nov. 28.

“We are not sure how long it will take [for Botetourt to regain power],” Evans said in an email. “The transformer and conducting wires all need to be replaced, which will involve

potentially invasive digging for proper repairs.

The secondary lines that run between buildings will take time to replace. We are hopeful to have power restored sooner than Friday, but have asked students to plan for the full week in the event it takes longer to restore power. We know this is disruptive and want to the students to know we are working around the clock to address the situation. We appreciate their patience and ask that they continue to follow instructions in order to make the situation run as smoothly as possible.”

It is unclear how long the Botetourt Complex will be without power. Gillous Harris ’21, a Botetourt resident, was in Sadler when the power went out campus wide.

“The power went off, and I was confused, and the group chat was blowing up,” Harris said.

“People were like, the power’s out, there was a fire, and I was nervous.”

Harris was in class when the emergency call was sent out, and he was unable to answer it.

“My [resident assistant] told me we were

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Confirming a little’s consent for tuck-ins

2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10

Sunny, High 65, Low 44

going to be in a hotel for three to five days. I don’t know which hotel or if it’ll be three days or five days or beyond,” Harris said. “It seemed pretty unofficial.”

Harris’ biggest concern is the timing of the power outage.

“I have a lot of work right now, so it’s really inconvenient,” he said.

Claire McClintick ’21 agreed with Harris regarding the timing of the power outage and fire.

“I was driving back with my dad, and then I got all the texts, all like ‘Don’t got to your hall,’ and I was like ‘Cool! I need to move back in,’” McClintick said.

McClintick said she believed that the school did a good job in communicating with students and felt that the incident was more of an inconvenience.

“I don’t really care. I just want internet so I can do my homework and not go to Swem all the time and [find power] to charge my things,” McClintick said.

Katherine Yenzer ’21 believes tuck-ins for new members are a fun tradition, but the organizers should ask first. page 5

Tribe victorious in buzzer beater victory

Senior guard Oliver Tot secures College’s 79-77 victory over Monarchs with a clutch half-court shot. page 10

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The Flat Hat | Tuesday, November 28, 2017 | Page 2

THE BUZZ

I would like to stress that for every name or person that we know of there are countless others whose deaths we will never know about.

This could be because police departments or families misgender the trans person after death or because a particular person’s death did not garner any media attraction.

— Outgoing Lambda Alliance Co-President Trace Hernandez ‘18 on the Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil

Bouncing around world, into the College

The Flat Hat Page 2 Spotlight

Government professor Marcus Holmes talks academic background, bringing excitement into government classrooms MAX MINOGUE // FLAT HAT STAFF WRITER

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theflatchat A THOUSAND WORDS

A 2014 addition to the College of William his budding interest in how government and Mary’s government and international works. relations programs, professor Marcus “One of the things that irritates me Holmes said he works to bring a bright is that government workers oftentimes energy to the Williamsburg campus. are stigmatized as lazy and bureaucratic, “I get excited in class … I often find nine-to-five types of people,” Holmes the material that we’re teaching to be said. “I worked alongside these people, intrinsically interesting,” Holmes said. “So and in my experience, that’s not the case. yeah, I sort of jump around and I yell a lot, The problem they have is that they’re but that’s just because I find the stuff that highly constrained by the structure of the we’re doing super interesting and exciting.” government. There’s a level of bureaucracy Along with that, Holmes said he believes surrounding every single thing they want that teaching is a give and take. to do. And so, it gave me an appreciation “I respond to the enthusiasm of the in understanding that the government is a students,” Holmes said. “So, if the students highly sophisticated, smart thing.” are interested in something, that gives me This interest in Russia and international energy, so it’s like a feedback loop. I’m a affairs, combined with his new interest in big energy person.

I don’t want to be boring. If I’m boring, then my students are going to be bored, and I’ll be bored, and that’s not fun. I’d rather be a little more interesting, a little more energetic and entertaining, if I can, and then I’m more into it and so are my students.”

This energy and fervor for teaching and the subject material extends into Holmes’ work as a researcher. He has been published in nearly a dozen academic journals, has a book coming out in 2018 and travels around the world for academic — Government professor Marcus Holmes conferences.

This past year, that meant traveling around the United States and government, made pursuing international traveling to Scotland, England, Hong Kong relations the logical next step. and Taiwan.

Holmes went on to get his master’s Holmes’ interest in the study of degree from Georgetown University, international relations began with Russia. and his doctoral degree from Ohio State “I started college in 1998, and the Cold University.

War was obviously over, but Russia was still Looking back, Holmes said his path in this liminal zone,” Holmes said. “I got makes perfect sense, but he emphasized super into Russian culture and literature. I that at the time, this was not the case. was just a really big Russia guy.”

“There’s a tendency to think back on After graduating with his bachelor’s your life and make it sound like it was this degree from the University of Virginia, nice, neat, linear thing, where the dots all Holmes began working at Deloitte. connected perfectly,” Holmes said. “And it “It was just after September 11, and wasn’t like that.”

Deloitte had just been awarded a big At the same time, Holmes said he is contract to work for the Department of grateful that his path in life was relatively Homeland Security, which at the time smooth. didn’t exist,” Holmes said. “So, Deloitte’s “I’ve been incredibly lucky in a lot contract was to basically set up a of regards,” Holmes said. “Academia, government agency from the ground up. especially now, is notorious for being very And I was put on that project right from the difficult to get a job in. I’ve been lucky in a first day that I started my job.” sense that, when I’ve needed a job, there After two years, Holmes realized two are jobs available and that I’ve been well things about himself: one was a lack of qualified for, and I’ve been lucky enough interest in consulting work, the other was to get them.”

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Before coming to the College, Holmes worked as a professor at Fordham University, which he liked as a liberal arts institution, but wished it placed a greater emphasis on research.

“I wanted small classes, I wanted a nice college environment, collegial colleagues, smart students and a liberal arts kind of feel, but with more of a research component,” Holmes said. “Honestly, that doesn’t exist in too many places.”

The primary reason for the change of scenery, however, was Holmes’ new family.

“We have two children, a four-year-old and a six-year-old, just complete handfuls,” Holmes said.

New York was not the place for him to raise a family, but to Holmes, Williamsburg is perfect.

“The university campus is basically like my kids’ backyard,” Holmes said.

“Essentially, it’s their playground. Especially in the summertime when there’s fewer people around, we’ll just go to the Sunken Garden and just play around and go through the Matoaka trails.”

The campus is also the perfect place for Holmes’ passion for running. He often shares his routes with students, and always wants to hear about a new route.

“I’ve done a 60 [kilometer], so the next logical step up would be 50 miles,” Holmes said. “And then there’s the creme de la creme, the piece de resistance, the 100-mile run. So, my long-term goal is to run 100 miles.”

Career wise, Holmes’ goals revolve around his students. As part of his job at the College, Holmes works as the codirector of the Social Science Research Methods Center, where he directs the Political Psychology and International Relations lab.

He said he especially likes to work with freshmen and sophomores, both to fill the niche of early research opportunities and to provide a low-risk way for students to understand the research process and get experience.

“I would really like to see some of my students go on to publish their research or continue their research in some capacity,” Holmes said. “So, if 20 years from now, I get a letter from a student who said, ‘I just want to say that the experience I had in my freshman year or sophomore year of college — when I took this lab with you and started working on this — that that was helpful for me with what I’m doing now.’

That would be awesome.”

I respond to the enthusiasm of the students. So, if the students are interested in something, that gives me energy, so it’s like a feedback loop. I’m a big energy person. I don’t want to be boring. If I’m boring, then my students are going to be bored, and I’ll be bored, and that’s not fun. I’d rather be a little more interesting, a little more energetic and entertaining, if I can, and then I’m more into it and so are my students.

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

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POLICE BEAT

Nov. 23 - 27

1

Thursday, November 23 — Possession of marijuana was reported at the intersection of Richmond Road and Bypass Road.

2

Sunday, November 26 — A mental subject was reported on Commonwealth Avenue. No victims were listed from the incident.

3

Sunday, November 26 — Larceny from a building was reported on Richmond Road.

4

Monday, November 27 — Desiree Jasmine Kumuhone was arrested for driving with a suspended or revoked license on Bypass Road.

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Page 3

STUDENT LIFE

Lambda, SA host vigil to honor trans people killed Transgender Day of Remembrance part of annual week at the College MAGGIE MORE THE FLAT HAT

A small crowd gathered in silence on the steps of the Sunken Garden Nov. 20. The stairs were lined with the glow of electric candles. At the top stood a student reading a list of names into a microphone.

“I will be reading the list of trans people wrongfully killed in 2017,” Lambda Co-President Andrew Uhrig ’20 said at the event’s start.

The vigil was part of the Lambda Alliance and Student Assembly’s joint series of events during Transgender Awareness Week.

The week included a film screening, a talk with writer and activist Jacob Tobia and a gathering at the Triangle to raise money for the Transgender Assistance Program.

The College of William and Mary’s Nov. 20 event was one of a series of vigils held across the nation for National Transgender Day of Remembrance, observed annually across the world since 1999.

“I think it provides an opportunity for people to realize how fearful it can be, as a trans person, to exist in different spaces, because there are lots of people throughout the world who are killed because of anti-transgender violence,” Uhrig said.

The event used a website that listed the names of transgender people killed worldwide by the year in which they were killed. The lists, of which there were 10, spanned from 2007-2017. Several different speakers participated, switching off in between lists.

The list for 2017 included 287 individuals. The reading of the list took 15 minutes and 30 seconds to complete in its entirety; 54 of the people were not identified, and were instead recorded simply as “name unknown.” It was the longest list of the 10, all of which were read aloud at the College’s vigil.

Reading all 10 lists, from all 10 years, took an hour.

“I would like to stress that for every name or person that we know of there are countless others whose death we will never know about,” outgoing Lambda Co-President Trace Hernandez ’18 said in an email. “This could be because police departments or families misgender the trans person after death or because a particular person’s death did not garner any media attention.

Additionally, there are many names who were not even on the list that did garner attention, like Scout Schultz, the non-binary student at Georgia Tech who was murdered by campus police.”

A majority of the names listed at the event were Hispanic or Latinx in origin. An even greater majority were female or feminine.

This is part of an oft-noted trend, wherein trans women, especially trans women of color, are killed more often than both white trans people and people who are not trans.

MAGGIE MORE / THE FLAT HAT

Students read list of 287 names of transgender individuals who were killed worldwide in 2017. The list for 2017 was the longest since 2007, the earliest year the vigil recognized.

“It’s incredibly important to remember and recognize trans people, especially trans people of color, because they’re just disproportionately highly killed,” Lambda Co-President Sydney Scafidi ’19 said.

According to its coordinators, the vigil, and the awareness week of which it was a part, were an attempt to help students at the College to learn more about transgender people and their experiences. It also aimed to help people understand what can be done to help celebrate trans people and progress their rights going forward.

“I think trans rights are supported,” Uhrig said. “I don’t know if I would say that trans individuals are supported though.”

Uhrig said that recent policy changes, barring discrimination based on sexuality or gender identity, uphold rights, but that individual trans people don’t have many spaces to turn if they feel “smaller” forms of discrimination.

According to Hernandez, a lack of gender neutral housing for first-year students, inadequate preparedness for trans-specific healthcare needs on the part of the Student Health Center and coverage from the College’s healthcare plan, and misgendering by professors are ways that the College’s progress toward trans rights has been slow.

“I’m trans, I use they/them pronouns, I identify as gendernonconforming, and a lot of people get confused when I say that because people assume that if you’re trans, that you’re either a trans man or a trans woman,” Uhrig said. “But since I’m neither, I tell it that I’m trans in that I transcend the gender that I was assigned at birth. … The whole point of being trans is that you are assigned a gender at birth and you transition to a different gender.”

Both Uhrig and Hernandez noted that, despite the tragic nature of the vigil and the names behind the lists, they wanted people to realize that a transgender identity is not in and of itself a negative thing. “[The events] took a lot emotionally to do because it felt, for me as a trans person helping organize everything going on, that I was almost exploiting my own identity as a trans person to really put the information out there, and get people to come to these things,” Uhrig said. “Because I almost have to defer to the narrative of ‘Oh, being trans means that I have trauma, and because of that trauma you should respect what we have to say about trans people.’ It feels like there’s little room to actually celebrate and have that recognized.”

Hernandez agreed that emphasis should also be placed on the stories of trans people who are still alive.

“As important as it is to honor our dead, it is just as important to celebrate trans people,” Hernandez said. “I don’t want people to think about how daunting the task of dismantling transphobia is, but I want them to be galvanized to be more trans-inclusive in their everyday lives and lift up the voices and stories of trans people.”

Proposed tax code change would implement tax on tuition waivers Plan would affect 400 College students TAX CODE from page 1

adverse financial impact for graduate students is unlikely. It remains possible that universities would revise their tuition and scholarship policies in the case of the bill’s implementation, as a sharp hike in educational fees would bode poorly for future enrollment.

Director of Admissions at the Mason School of Business Amanda Barth clarified that graduate schools at the College will still be capable of offering scholarships to graduate students even if Section 117 is disposed of, as scholarships will remain nontaxable regardless of recent legislation. “[Scholarships would not be affected by the bill because] the proposed tax is on programs that offer tuition waivers which require a work component [which scholarships do not],” Barth said in an email.

Scholarships are not contingent on students providing specificservicestotheiruniversity,andtheycanbeviewed as “lump sum” forms of funding. The potential taxation of tuition waivers as outlined in the House’s proposal may make them an unstable source of funding, so graduate programs may opt to grant financial scholarships instead.

“I suspect universities would convert their tuition waivers into scholarships, which remain tax-free [if the bill passes],” Chason said.

If it were to occur, this policy shift would allow students to continue exempting graduate school funding from their taxable income.

University administrations across the country would likely make changes to their existing tuition standards in order to prevent a mass exodus of financially constrained graduate students.

Negotiations in the Senate are expected to continue through the end of the month, and Senate leaders are planning to hold a vote on the chamber’s drafted legislation as early as Nov. 30. Several senators remain undecided, and lingering concerns over the legislation’s impact on the federal deficit threaten to derail its successful passage.

Congressional uncertainty aside, officials in the College’s administration and graduate students alike are preparing for significant changes in the case that tax reform is enacted.

“The potential impact [of the bill] is huge and would extend to graduate programs throughout the country,” Halleran said.

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The Flat Hat

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

ACADEMICS

Isabella Alexander shares film, talks travels Filmmaker presents stories of migrants entering Morocco from sub-Saharan Africa MAX MINOGUE FLAT HAT STAFF WRITER

Filmmaker, human rights activist and Emory University professor Isabella Alexander visited the College of William and Mary Friday, Nov. 17 to preview her film, “The Burning” and discuss her work with migrants in Morocco and the ongoing African migration crisis.

The title is based off the Moroccan-Arabic term for illegal immigration, “hrig,” which translates directly to “burning.”

“This signifies the physical burning of one’s material identity — so one’s passport, birth certificate and other state-issued ID cards,” Alexander said. “It also signifies this symbolic burning of one’s identity, or one’s past, in hopes that they will reach a better future on foreign soil.”

Alexander has been working back and forth between Morocco and the United States since she first arrived in Morocco in 2007 as a senior in college, specifically focusing on sub-Saharan migrants attempting to enter the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, which border Morocco.

“In the summer of 2014, I first made a temporary home for myself and began collecting the stories of sub-Saharan migrants who were being repatriated not to their countries of origin, but to this desolate strip of land in the desert,” Alexander said. “From here, they have no choice but to walk back into Morocco and begin the cycle of attempted crossings and illicit deportation once again.”

The film follows three of these individuals: a boy named

Bambino, who was 12 when filming began, a woman named Yasmine, who lost her husband when he tried the same crossing, and a man named Phino, who fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo and has now been trapped in Morocco for over 15 years.

Much of Alexander’s presentation focused on these migrants’ experiences living in what she describes as a liminal space for such an extended period. Boys and young men form groups called “Brotherhoods” along lines of nationality.

“They spend weeks and oftentimes months training for each crossing, just like one would train for an elite military mission,” Alexander said.

These Brotherhoods usually live in the Moroccan wilderness, surviving off food scraps foraged from the outdoors and from trash bins. These groups have formed their own culture, which includes taking on names as a form of an aspirational identity.

“These names commonly include the names of actual people or places. One boy, for instance, calls himself John Kennedy Jr. because he once saw a film about this American president, and said that he seems like a good man,” Alexander said.

Alexander’s presentation included pictures of the individuals in these groups, their makeshift homes, which are sometimes raided

by Moroccan authorities, and the rocks that they paint, a ritual done before each attempted crossing.

Mary Chen ’18 attended the presentation due to her passion for the crisis, having recently studied abroad in Morocco, where she focused on migrant children.

“I think [Alexander’s] presentation was really informational

in the sense that it was very visual,” Chen said. “She had very individualized examples. The thing I remembered most was the paintings, the graffiti on the rocks. I really felt like, “Wow, I’ve never seen anything like that before.” Actually seeing these examples was very shocking.”

The movie was almost completely filmed by Alexander herself, though she took a crew of two additional people on one trip. She said this was done so she could take more risks herself without putting any others at risk and out of cost concerns. The film is funded by private donations, small grants and Alexander’s own money.

“I put my life savings into this,” Alexander said. “I hope [‘The Burning’] reaches a broad public, and encourages them to think differently about the distinction we make between migrants and refugees, and realize the fact that there are racial and gendered motivations behind how people are categorized. I hope that it takes what is a really huge, global, overwhelming crisis, and humanizes it, so that we can remember that there are still individuals who are trapped here, even within the 65 million.”

The film is slated for release in the summer of 2018.

“On the highest level, I hope that this footage provides what the public needs to have a public outcry,” Alexander said. “I hope it provides evidence that’s needed about the rampant human rights violations in North Africa, and about the [European Union’s] involvement in them. I’m not even asking for a change in practices, but simply asking for our international human rights law to be respected in these spaces.”

ACADEMICS

Michael Wert gives guest lecture on samurai during Japan’s Edo period Lecture focuses on Wert’s research on how peasant class conceptualized, idealized swordsmanship ROBERT METAXATOS THE FLAT HAT

During a Nov. 16 guest lecture, Michael Wert, a professor at Marquette University, discussed how during the Edo period in Japan, swordsmanship closed the gap between samurai reality and swordsman fantasy.

He shared his research, which argues that samurai swordsman can be conceptualized through examining the fantasies of the peasant class. His guest lecture revolved around the question: Why did peasants participate in swordsmanship at all during this period?

According to Wert, the samurai and peasant identities converge via this fantasy; both sides established an ideal of what a warrior was, playing into the narrative of power during the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate.

The Tokugawa shogunate was the last feudal Japanese military government, and the period of their reign became known as the Edo period. During this period, samurai made up the warrior-caste and were toward the top of the class hierarchy. Additionally, samurai are strongly linked with swordsmanship because

they were the only ones allowed to carry long and short swords.

In examining this history, Wert said that although swordsmanship was a practice dominated by samurai, commoners began to participate in swordsmanship during the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate. He argues through his research that this became a vehicle for commoners and samurai to act out fantasies of what an ideal warrior was, which is a way to understand society and status leading up to the Meiji Revolution, which culminated with a return to imperial rule in Japan.

“When we typically think of fantasy, we think of [it] as opposed to reality … as an escape from the everyday,” Wert said. “But here I mean fantasy in the Jacques Lacanian sense of fantasy, which is that fantasy is actually a support of day-to-day life. It informs how we act and the stories we tell about ourselves.”

While Wert argues this vehicle for fantasy is critical in understanding the history of particular violence, he said he does not see fantasy playing a similar role in contemporary America. However, Wert said that he does see this fantasy acting out around the world.

“Terrorists, though there might be some invocation of Islam, are really motivated by other things,” Wert said. “They’re disaffected, anti-Western; they’re also being motivated by video games, movies, notions of physical [and] masculine identity.”

According to Wert, one philosophical way to approach this relationship between the commoner and the elite is that sometimes the elites react to the pressure that is associated with their higher status. Then, those who are elite might be tempted to participate in an activity that is associated with commoners to relieve the pressure.

“It seemed like the Boston bomber … he’s a college student who smokes pot and so there’s this pressure that I’m supposed to be, I have to be enjoying myself as a college student who smokes pot, but there are people around me engaged in more meaningful things,” Wert said. “Maybe I should be doing that.”

Allison Bolton ’20 has an interest in samurai history and said she believes that the lecture helped to explain the present through the discussion of the past.

“Like anything based in anthropology, you

get a better view of the present by examining the past,” Bolton said.

Another student in attendance said that Wert’s arguments provided new information and were interesting.

“His new argument about the convergence of samurai and commoners is pretty novel to me,” Bob Gough ’21 said. “I already think these two classes have difference, but I think these two classes actively participated in Japanese history together.”

Wert’s current research is a combination of his personal experience with swordsmanship in Japan and his intellectual interest in philosophers like Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan.

“They ask and attempt to answer the question, ‘Why do people do the things they do?’” Wert said. “That’s basically what I want to ask with swordsmanship. Why do people do swordsmanship? What does it benefit? [H] ow does it connect to their other activities in life, making money, their political interests for lack of a better term, their intellectual studies in poetry, etc.?”

BOV approves 18 resolutions Nov. 15-17, delays voting on two until Feb. session Passed resolutions award tenure to professors, approve planned construction projects such as transferring land for Shenkman Jewish Center EMILY CHAUMONT FLAT HAT MANAGING EDITOR

The College of William and Mary’s Board of Visitors met Nov. 15-17 and discussed 20 resolutions, 18 of which were passed and two of which were deferred until the February session.

Resolution 1: The Richard Bland College Committee discussed a resolution to name the athletic field at Richard Bland “Willcox Field,” after Flora Willcox Berkeley ’33.

Resolution 2: The Investments Subcommittee of the Committee on Financial Affairs approved this revision to the Investment and Spending Policy for Endowment. The BOV periodically revises this policy; the last revision took place in April 2015.

Resolution 3: The Audit and Compliance Committee approved the 2018 Internal Audit Work Plan for the College and

EMILY CHAUMONT / THE FLAT HAT

The Board of Visitors passed 18 resolutions during the Nov. 15-17 committee meetings.

Richard Bland. This annual assessment includes a review of the Information Technology Disaster Recovery Plan, a student employment audit, a fleet vehicle gas card process review and a dining services audit, among other audits and reviews.

Resolution 4: The Committee on Academic Affairs decided to award academic tenure to history professors Simon Middleton and Adrienne Petty.

Resolution 5: The Committee on Academic Affairs dealt with this resolution regarding designated professorships in closed session.

Resolution 6: The Board recognized the retirement of business professor Richard Ash. Ash has been at the College since 1999, has served as an advisor to NASA and currently serves as the executive director of the Alan B. Miller Center for Entrepreneurship at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business.

Resolution 7: The Board recognized the retirement of Howard Busbee ’65, J.D. ’67, M.L.T. ’68. Busbee has extensive involvement in the world of tax planning and currently serves as both an accounting professor and vice chair of the William and Mary Real Estate Foundation.

Resolution 8: The Board recognized the retirement of computer science professor Deborah Noonan M.S. ’81, who has been at the College for 33 years. She has worked to make the College a better place for non-tenure-eligible faculty and was a founding member of the Special Interest Housing Committee on campus.

Resolution 9: The Committee on Administration, Buildings and Grounds approved the acquisition of a piece of property adjacent to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. The property will allow a buffer between VIMS and nearby private homes.

Resolution 10: The Board approved this resolution for the demolition of Hoxton Hall at VIMS. The building was determined to be unsuitable for renovation or reuse.

Resolution 11: The Committee on Administration, Buildings and Grounds approved the naming of Donald W. Davis Hall, a building on the VIMS campus. Davis is considered the founder of VIMS, as he advocated for a separation of marine research and government regulation and founded the VIMS precursor, Virginia Fisheries Laboratory in 1940.

Resolutions 12-13: These resolutions were to amend the regulations regarding weapons and open flames on campus. The Board decided to defer discussion about these resolutions until February in order to gather more information.

Resolution 14: The Committee on Buildings, Administration

and Grounds approved this resolution to transfer the property of 406 and 410 Jamestown Road to the Real Estate Foundation.

This transfer will allow the Real Estate Foundation to build the Shenkman Jewish Student Center on that property.

Managing the property through the Real Estate Foundation will allow the center to be built according to City of Williamsburg regulations and will not require plans to go through the state government.

Resolution 15: Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Sam Jones created the position of Maintenance Code Official to ensure that campus buildings are safe, well maintained and up to code. It was determined that hiring a new individual to take on this job would be redundant, so the title of Maintenance Code Official will now be an additional title applied to the Chief Facilities Officer.

Resolution 16: The City of Williamsburg and the College will be working together to create a multi-use bike and pedestrian path along the College Woods. The path currently extends past Campus Recreation and cuts across to the School of Education, but this joint project will extend the path all the way to New Town.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $889,449, but the College is only responsible for 20 percent, or $179,890. This resolution was passed to allow the College to move forward as this project progresses.

Resolution 17: This resolution was approved by the Committee on Buildings, Administration and Grounds to construct a facility at Busch Field to provide locker room facilities for the women’s field hockey team and public restrooms. Funding will come from private donations.

Resolution 18: The Committee on Financial Affairs approved the continuation of the William and Mary Promise. This policy guarantees in-state students the same annual tuition for all four undergraduate years. In-state tuition for the class of 2022 is set for $17,434 per year. This is a $1,064 increase from in-state students of the class of 2021. The BOV will approve fees, room and board in the April 2018 session.

Resolution 19: This resolution confirms that the Board received the Unaudited Consolidated Financial Report for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2017. This report includes information for the College, VIMS and Richard Bland.

Resolution 20: This resolution confirms that the Board received the Unaudited Financial Report of Intercollegiate Athletics for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2017.

opinions

Opinions Editor Brendan Doyle Opinions Editor Kiana Espinoza fhopinions@gmail.com // @theflathat

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, November 28, 2017 | Page 5

STAFF COLUMN

Establishing consent for traditional tuck-ins

Katherine Yenzer THE FLAT HAT

The top 10 sex acts that will result in you pulling a muscle — this was the theme of my first tuck-in, a theme that resulted in three boys acting out sex positions with one another (fully clothed, don’t worry) in the middle of my dorm room. The boys moaned and grinded while my friends and I laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation in front of us.

Before arriving at the College of William and Mary, I, like the majority of students, had no idea what a tuck-in was. I was first introduced to the term during my good friend’s clue week when her future big sent a group to serenade her before bed.

For all who don’t know, tuck-ins are pre-bedtime performances by a group of people which range from a serenade or a skit to the performance of sex acts. While tuck-ins are by no means exclusive to the Greek life community, the overwhelming majority of them happen during clue week, so tuck-ins have become associated with the sororities and fraternities on campus.

Most tuck-ins are completely harmless. They are intended to be funny and entertaining for both the performers and their audiences. However, there are some that prove to be more inappropriate and awkward than they are fun. These sexually explicit tuck-ins have resulted in the College sending out a survey to members of sororities regarding this tradition. In the survey, the College implied its concern that tuck-ins are a form of hazing. While I definitely would not consider my tuck-in experience as hazing, there are situations in which they could result in hazing.

Before my tuck-in happened, my future big asked whether or not I would be comfortable with a more explicit tuck in.

She explained what the performance would include and encouraged me to bring friends to make the experience more fun and less uncomfortable. While my tuck-in was definitely awkward and a little embarrassing, it was ultimately funny, and my friends and I had a good time laughing at the boys as they “performed.” No one felt taken advantage of or was upset by the experience.

However, when girls who are unaware of the situation are given explicit tuck-ins, problems arise. Many people do not feel comfortable in that type of situation and find having to experience something like I did very upsetting. People have wildly different tastes in humor, and there is obviously nothing wrong with that, but it cannot be assumed that everyone will find something funny solely because we do.

If the College is going to continue this tradition of tuck-ins, specifically the raunchier ones, consent from the receiver of the tuck-in must be given. We cannot send groups of boys or girls to act out sex acts in front of unsuspecting individuals. So, if you are considering giving your future little or new member of your club a tuck-in, ask them if they want one first. Otherwise, we risk making people we care about extremely uncomfortable and upset over something that is supposed to be fun. If permission from the tuck-in receiver is not given, tuck-ins do come dangerously close to hazing.

However, this is an issue that will best be handled by individual sororities, fraternities and clubs. If the College attempts to get involved, it could result in the mandated end of all tuck-ins, which is ultimately unnecessary. I have enough faith in the student community to believe that this is a problem we can solve on our own. If someone does not want a tuck-in, do not give them a tuck-in; it’s as simple as that.

Email Katherine Yenzer at keyenzer@email.wm.edu.

LUCY AUGUSTINE / THE FLAT HAT

Nov. 12, a banner reading “WM and frat protect rapists” was hung from the side of Crim Dell bridge. It was not removed from the bridge for several days.

STAFF COLUMN

Crim Dell banner incites debate, not change

Ethan Brown

FLAT HAT STAFF WRITER

As students at the College of William and Mary, we all value our institution as a haven of academic discourse and collaborative education. The College’s encouragement of intellectual exploration and individual expression is among its strongest features as a university, and I never regret becoming a member of such a talented and passionate community.

Recently, in an exercise of that expression, a banner reading “[William and Mary] protects rapists” was hung beneath the Crim Dell. It stayed there for several days and was visible to throngs of students, faculty and visitors to the College prior to its removal.

Rape at the College and at other universities across the United States is a severe and significant problem. There are countless students, many of whom remain in the shadows, who have been victimized, maligned and marginalized by sexual assault.

There continue to be far too many incidents and far too few cases of punitive action against aggressors. In the last three years, more than 20 rapes have been reported on campus; it is unquestionable that additional cases of sexual assault lie unreported and unprosecuted.

Tragically, though, I fear the banner failed to advance its goal of holding the College’s administration accountable.

It was easier for us, as students and bystanders, to occupy ourselves with dissecting the banner’s slogan rather than

initiating a thoughtful discussion. We wasted time debating the merits of a single phrase rather than discussing how to address the problem. I admire the banner’s attempt at starting a dialogue, but its shock value muddled its message.

There are incredible obstacles that impede our progress toward eliminating rape and sexual violence. Our country is plagued by a regimented culture of patriarchal oppression, evident from our adoration of toxic masculinity to the coercive, intimidating behaviors of President Donald Trump.

I can only imagine the suffering experienced by whoever hung the banner upon the Crim Dell, and I am sure their actions were motivated by valid frustration and genuine desperation.

However, I worry that prospective students visiting the College may have reconsidered their intention to join the Tribe after seeing the Crim Dell cloaked in cloth. I loathe the prospect of losing such bright, capable minds because of a single banner, especially since they could have devoted their energies toward solving our campus’s problems (including sexual assault) if they had not been swayed away.

I fear for the students, who upon seeing the Crim Dell were awash with haunting recollections of their past, and for those who were unwillingly reminded of their own emotional wounds.

It seems spurious to subject students to such harsh and harmful memories, even for the sake of policy advancement.

There is work to be done.

I refuse to accept that sexual assault is an irrepressible part of our community, and it is vital to hold our College accountable for punishing those responsible. Allowing aggressors to escape unscathed should not be tolerated, and I do not advocate for inaction when dealing with such a serious issue.

The banner undeniably started a conversation, but unfortunately it morphed into one more focused on sloganeering than sexual assault. Meaningful action must stem from all of us, and I doubt that a mere banner will be enough to spark it.

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

“

I fear the banner failed to advance its goal of holding the College’s administration accountable.

COMMENTS @THEFLATHAT

“

This is terrible news, these classes taught me lifelong lessons that I carried with me to medical school and beyond. I could never thank the professors of my activities classes enough for the adventure! This is a disservice to the student body.

— Christina Cox on “The Adventure Ends: A Farewell to the College’s Beloved Kinesiology Activities Courses”

“

This is just sad all around. Taking Kayaking with Kim Whitley was one of my best memories at W&M. It’s classes like these that contribute to making W&M graduates better rounded members of society.

— Chris Hancock on “The Adventure Ends: A Farewell to the College’s Beloved Kinesiology Activities Courses”

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Page 6

Banner may be unavailable, but college life goes on nonetheless Ifeoma Ayika THE FLAT HAT

3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second, and …

Banner unavailable.

Registration is, perhaps, one of the worst times for Banner to crash. The moment Banner crashes, really, so does your heart. As a freshman, my first thought was, “My life is ending; I will not graduate.” The screams of anguish could be heard in the halls of the Botetourt Complex at the ungodly hour of 7 a.m.

The morning casts a dim shadow over the rest of the day.

Freshmen seem to haunt the College of William and Mary rather than live in it, convinced the number of years to graduate will take much, much longer than anticipated. It strikes a fear in the hearts of freshmen comparable to latenight exam studying.

Registration is arguably the scariest time for a freshman, but it is less so as the years go on. In the beginning of the school year, as freshman were registering, everyone from OAs to RAs to faculty and staff helped us feel comfortable in the registration process. These same people stayed after to comfort students who did not get their desired classes.

Although the process was scary, the safety net underneath made it more bearable.

When we registered for our second semester classes, the safety net was gone but the tightrope that is registration still remained. There was little reminder to set up a meeting with our pre-major advisers, and no kind OAs to help wake

“

I noticed that upperclassmen still complained, still felt upset, still vented, but not with the same fear that seemed to stop the hearts of all freshmen. Eventually, they knew that they were going to take the full amount of credits with the necessary classes. us up in the morning or to comfort us when the classes we wanted filled up.

This forced a maturity over the freshman class. Students put several alarms on their phones to be up on time, and they vented to one another about closed classes and the constant crashing of Banner. The same sense of dread resulting from seeing Banner crash or from not getting into classes was absent now for most students. Of course, some students didn’t rise to the challenge and slept through several alarms or panicked over classes that they could not take. Then, friends and family were there as their safety net rather than OAs. It seems like the freshmen needed a reminder that they were going to make it. There is no greater reminder to us than the upperclassmen that went through the same process and are (for the most part) still alive.

When I spoke to upperclassmen about registering, the laissez-faire attitude tipped me off to the fact that registration is not as earth shattering as it was back in September. Banner always crashes, add/drop and emailing professors are lifesavers for getting into classes and friends are a great resource if you want to vent about the process.

This did not mean that getting into your eighth-choice class was easy to swallow. However, knowing that during add/drop you can get the second or third choice helped alleviate some of the stress. I noticed that upperclassmen still complained, still felt upset, still vented, but not with the same fear that seemed to stop the hearts of all freshmen. Eventually, they knew that they were going to take the full amount of credits with the necessary classes.

They knew they were going to graduate with the major that they wanted.

This helped alleviate my fear and made registering much more tolerable. Of course, Banner could benefit from some changes to fix its problems, but I could still manage. And to all my fellow freshmen, just remember, when you see those dreadful words, “Banner unavailable,” it is not actually the end of the world.

Email Ifeoma Ayika at ivayika@email.wm.edu.

COURTESY PHOTO/ CLIPART LIBRARY

Students’ small-scale Thanksgiving can be just as enjoyable

Kevin Richeson THE FLAT HAT

“We’re hosting 40 people at my house!”

“I’m going to the Bahamas with my family!”

“I’m having three separate dinners!”

I certainly hear a fair share of people around referring to these kinds of Thanksgiving plans in the days and weeks leading up to the holiday season. It can be difficult to hear about extravagant, adventurous plans when you know that your own are quite the opposite. No one reacts with great excitement when I say, “I’m going to my sister’s house in Hanover, Virginia, for Thanksgiving with nine or 10 people.”

Although plans with my mom, brother, sister and their immediate families are not exactly front-page news, I still look forward to holiday gettogethers. I have discovered the amazing parts of small, simple holiday dinners.

I live in Henrico, Virginia, a city located west of Richmond just over an hour from the College. My older sister and brother both live 25-30 minutes northwest of me, so all of my family is concentrated in central Virginia. No matter who hosts a holiday meal, it is a short drive for everyone else.

When I come home from college, I just want to rest and recharge my batteries after a grueling stretch of school.

It would be cool to get to go on a long road trip to somewhere far away or extravagant, but it is really nice to have the extra time to relax and work through infinite loads of laundry instead of having to travel.

I also get to spend more time at home in my own bed rather than scrambling to make plans to stay in a hotel.

I have been at adult parties with 40 or more people before, and it’s chaos. You never know where things are, there’s not enough room to sit and you only know a handful of people.

You end up searching for people you know for 30 minutes, only to realize that most of the food is already gone.

These kinds of get-togethers allow you to see people you would not usually see and talk to many different people, but they lack a certain intimacy that I think pairs well with the holidays. While family get-togethers with four girls under the age of 12 and some excited dogs can be chaotic in a different way, it’s a lot easier to have conversations with people that you know and really care about. You know when and where to get food and everyone can sit together. I enjoy being able to spend quality time with quality people rather than have brief exchanges with 50 people I haven’t seen in a year and won’t see for another year.

Having multiple Thanksgivings means more food, which sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? This can be a great thing and a way to have several small or medium gatherings with family and friends. However, this can stretch over two or three days of a short break or make Thanksgiving a marathon from morning until late in the night. This can be exciting but equally stressful and exhausting. During my family’s holiday meals, everyone can take their time eating and socializing without having to worry about rushing off (unless some of my nieces need to go to bed because it’s getting late).

Holidays are not a rushed formality, and everyone can savor the food and time spent together.

It was not always easy for me to hear about holiday plans that were “better” than mine, but I have realized that my plans are always wonderful, too. I am thankful to have a roof over my head for the holidays and a family, small as it may be, that cares about me.

As we move from Thanksgiving toward the new year, I hope that everyone can find the bright spots in their holiday celebrations and simply enjoy time with family and friends, no matter what form it may come in.

Email Keven Richeson at kmricheson@email.wm.edu

“

It was not always easy for me to hear about other people’s holiday plans that were ‘better’ than mine, but I have realized that my plans are always wonderful, too.

“

COMMENTS @THEFLATHAT

Completely agree about the labeling ­­­— I have an extraordinarily allergic son, with peanuts near the top of the list for him. But, even with labelling, it’s worth knowing that a highly refined peanut oil (the typical commercial grade frying oil) is not required to be labelled as an allergen, as most people who are allergic to peanuts do not react to highly refined peanut oil ...

— Juliet Benda Thomas on “Adressing food allergy concerns at Marketplace”

variety

Variety Editor Akemi Tamanaha Variety Editor Heather Baier flathat.variety@gmail.com // @theflathat

The Flat Hat

| Tuesday, November 28, 2017 | Page 7

GIS finds space on campus CGA uses spatial data to map everything from Middle Earth to the ocean floor NAOMI GRUBER // THE FLAT HAT

F

rom combatting public health crises in Africa to creating maps of Middle Earth, Geographic Information Systems are an up-andcoming force on campus. Leading the way in GIS research, events and education is the Center for Geospatial Analysis, which is housed on the second floor of the Earl Gregg Swem Library.

Since its founding in 2008, the CGA has worked with both students and faculty on spatial data-driven research projects, introduced introductory and advanced topics GIS courses and helped bring the excitement and benefits of GIS technology to a wider audience. The CGA is a resource available to any member of the College community.

“Our main goal is to support faculty and students on their research projects,” Director of the CGA Robert Rose said. “So, if a student’s working on Geographic Information Systems, either on a short project or a long project, they come in here and work with us in order to get some support on that.”

Despite its beginnings in the geology department, the CGA strives to help students and faculty from across majors and interests.

“We are non-denominational,” Rose said. “So, one of the reasons we’re housed in the library is because we aren’t tied to a specific department.”

The accessibility and wide applicability of GIS has led to

“

It’s a class that more and more students recognize that they

need to take ... because once

they’re done with their academ-

ic career here and go on they’re

likely to use GIS ... We’re seeing

students from all different disci-

plines who are recognizing that

Geographic Information Systems

may play a role in their future career.

–Robert Rose research projects in economics, government, biology and even English, where GIS was used to create a map of Middle Earth based on information found in the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The use of GIS in the English department shows how GIS is not just for the sciences — one goal of the CGA is to move beyond scientific research in order to integrate GIS into fields traditionally unfamiliar with the many uses of spatial technology, highlighting its importance as a way to share geographic information.

One way the CGA introduces GIS to the College community is through events called mapathons. Nov. 15, a collaborative effort between the CGA, the student-run organization YouthMappers and the State Department’s HIV/AIDS relief program held a free event where students worked with GIS technology to map satellite imagery of urban and rural areas in Côte d’Ivoire.

After validation, the maps created at this mapathon are to be used in data-driven initiatives combatting HIV/AIDS in the local area.

“The mapathon was really kind of this perfect way for us to show American students about this issue,” one of the organizers of the event Anissa Chams-Eddine ’18 said.

“The maps we are making will be used. They are very much needed to help local aid workers there.”

“Expand mapping into the local community, spreading awareness of what people here can do to support people on the ground elsewhere,” YouthMappers president Brian Barnisin ’18 said of the club’s role on campus.

The mapathon hosted Nov. 15 was packed with students eager to help with the project, whether or not they had previous GIS experience. After a brief introduction to the project, students immediately set to work using OpenStreetMap, an open-source technology that allows users to help with projects targeting public health, disaster relief, economic development and environmental sustainability.

One of the goals of the mapathon was to give participants the opportunity to experience firsthand how accessible spatial technology can be.

“It’s easier to get involved than you think,” said Chams-Eddine. “I literally just learned how to use OpenStreetMap. We just sat down and I did it. It took 20 minutes. This is a skill you can pick up that has a profound effect.”

For those interested in learning more about GIS, the CGA provides introductory courses.

“It’s a class that more and more students recognize that they need to take,” Rose said. “Because once they’re done with their academic career here and go on they’re likely to use GIS …

We’re seeing students from all different disciplines who are recognizing that Geographic Information Systems may play a role in their future career.”

The skills gained through GIS education also reach beyond

the ability to use GIS software.

“We’re going to teach students

how to answer questions using spatial data, recognizing that more and more people are collecting and making available these spatial data sets,” Rose said.

In the near future, the CGA plans to launch a GIS certificate program at the College, allowing students to earn their certification while studying at the College. Due to their small space and the high levels of interest from students, the CGA is, according to Rose, “already kind of busting at the seams.” In the future, Rose hopes the CGA will be able to offer more courses and more opportunities to connect GIS technology with faculty and students.

“GIS is not a spectator sport,” Rose said. “It’s really something you learn by doing.”

From organizations such as YouthMappers, CGA courses, mapathons and more, there are countless ways to get involved.

As a newcomer to GIS herself, Chams-Eddine reminds students just how accessible GIS can be and how easy it is to learn them.

“They can sit back, watch “Stranger Things” and map while doing it and do some good,” Chams-Eddine said.

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Page 8

Nuanced News

COURTESY GRAPHIC / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Soledad O’Brien gives public lecture on journalism career AKEMI TAMANAHA FLAT HAT VARIETY EDITOR

Nov. 16, hundreds of people filled the Commonwealth Auditorium to listen to Soledad O’Brien speak. O’Brien, an award-winning journalist, was named the College of William and Mary’s Hunter B. Andrews Distinguished Fellow in American Politics. Her lecture was also a part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first African-American residential students.

She began her lecture by acknowledging Janet Brown Strafer ’71, Karen Ely ’71 and Lynn Briley ’71 — the first three African-American residential students — who were in attendance.

“I hope that you three understand how important your story is for everyone here,” O’Brien said. “How the fact that your story was told and continues to be told and celebrated is so meaningful and important, especially to the students who are here at this university.”

She encouraged students to speak with the three women about their experiences.

Throughout the lecture, O’Brien talked about her career as a journalist. O’Brien began working in television news as a production assistant for WBZTV in Boston, Massachusetts. She joked that her first job in television news was removing staples from bulletin boards on all three floors of the WBZTV station. O’Brien wasn’t bothered by the busy work; she was happy to be part of the team. Her time in Boston, she said, taught her about the power of storytelling.

“It’s clear that the power was in leveraging certain voices and certain perspectives,” O’Brien said. “The power was in the hands of the producers, who would decide not just what stories would make air, but the point of view, how we would cover them. They would decide how much time people got, whose narrative was elevated, whose story would be left out altogether.”

In 1993, O’Brien began working as an on-air reporter for a local television news station in San Francisco, California. Eventually she worked her way up to chief bureau reporter for the station in Oakland, California. While working in Oakland, O’Brien covered stories that she said were staples of local news. She later came to realize that there was something missing in her coverage.

“Mostly my stories lacked context,” O’Brien said. “Poor people were just poor. Women who drowned their children were just crazy.

We didn’t dig into understanding people, and I’m ashamed to say I did not try to understand people’s perspectives.”

She recalled a time when she and her team camped outside of a family’s home on Christmas morning. A boy who lived at the house

had shot his sister with the BB gun he had received for Christmas that morning. O’Brien and her team were sent to get a live shot for the 11 o’clock morning news. The mother came outside to ask the camera crews to leave, but no one moved.

“We wouldn’t let her story get in the way of a good headline — ‘A Christmas Tragedy’ — and I am ashamed,” O’Brien said. “We didn’t try to understand anything about this woman or her life. We were covering a dramatic headline.”

Working in Oakland taught O’Brien a lot about the importance of nuanced reporting. She recalled a time when an accident in Marin, California, forced people from the wealthier parts of the San Francisco Bay Area to commute through Oakland, a city known for its high crime rates. Several executive and senior producers came to work complaining about the dangerous drive without realizing that there were people in the room who lived and worked in Oakland.

Their obtuseness reminded O’Brien that if you let somebody tell your story through their lens, you shouldn’t be surprised if it lacks complexity.

CAROLINE NUTTER / THE FLAT HAT

O’Brien has worked for several news outlets like MSNBC, NBC News and CNN.

“If you let somebody tell your story, there’s a pretty good chance you won’t even recognize yourself in that story,” O’Brien said. “So I am all about taking back your voice and telling your own story.

And in this political environment, I think it is essential even if you’re exhausted, even if you’re tired. Never stop insisting that you have a story to tell that matters.”

Her advice resonated with several audience members like Mikayla Sherman ’18.

“I loved how she emphasized that we have to tell our own story,” Sherman said. “I know that wasn’t her entire talk, but the part that

stood out to me the most was if you don’t tell your own story for yourself, it can get twisted.”

Following her own advice, O’Brien shared her own family’s story with the audience. O’Brien’s mother is black and Cuban, and her father is white and Australian. Their romance began at John Hopkins University in the late 1950s, a time period in which restaurants would not serve them together on their first date. They married in Washington, D.C., and illegally lived together in Maryland because interracial marriage was banned in the state. Friends advised them not to have children, but they didn’t listen.

O’Brien recalled asking her mother what it was like to raise her older siblings in the 1960s. Her mother told her that sometimes people in the streets would spit on them.

“She said something that I think has always shaped the way I thought about reporting,” O’Brien said. “She said, she calls me Lovey, so she said, ‘Well you know Lovey, we knew America was better than that.’ And I always loved that line because to me it meant, it felt like she was saying we would be part of helping America get to where it needed to be.”

O’Brien has carried her commitment to telling nuanced stories with her throughout her entire career, but she acknowledges that it is a difficult goal to achieve. Throughout the lecture, she showed clips from three documentaries that she produced: “Black in America,” “Black and Blue” and “Beyond Bravery: the Women in 9/11.” She used each documentary as an example of the importance of telling nuanced stories.

Throughout the lecture, O’Brien touched on issues of race, gender and poverty. She emphasized the importance of having conversations about those issues, even if they are uncomfortable.

After the lecture, the audience had the opportunity to ask O’Brien questions. One student, who is an aspiring journalist, asked O’Brien for advice on having a conversation about a controversial topic with a person who is very close-minded. O’Brien told the student that the trick is to keep that person talking by telling them that what they had said was very interesting. She said the key is to listen to them and try to understand why they feel the way that they feel.

O’Brien’s advice to the student stuck with other members of the audience, like Aliyah Wooten ’18. Wooten appreciated that O’Brien encouraged the audience to listen to people who held opposing views.

“I think that element is missing from a lot of the conversations that we’re having,” Wooten said. “And I think the campus could benefit from taking that approach, especially when dealing with a lot of the issues we’re facing here.”

Mentoring on the Merrimac Students strive to establish relationships with residents of the Merrimac Center ANTHONY MADALONE THE FLAT HAT

Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday students in the Merrimac Mentors Club travel fifteen minutes off campus to visit the Merrimac Juvenile Detention centor. While there, they participate in a wide array of activities and exercises to “mentor” the young people living there.

Despite what the club’s name would suggest, its members are not simply tutoring their mentees, nor are they creating the typical teacher-student relationship. The group’s members strive to establish relationships with the Center’s residents in order to give them a chance to step away from the struggles of daily life in a juvenile detention center.

“Mentoring to me is going in and trying to relate to them,” Kristen Popham ’20 said. “Learn a bit about them, learn from them … and hopefully just establish connections.”

Shannon Dutchie ’19 said there are specific guidelines for how members interact with the Center’s residents.

“We don’t tutor … we don’t give advice, life advice,” Dutchie said. “I think sometimes people get confused by the name. We do not call them kids, that is a no-no, and we do not call them

inmates, that is a bigger no-no.”

In order to try and establish these connections, the mentors create a wide arrangement of activities to do while at the Center, striking a balance between games meant as light-hearted fun and activities designed to break both mentors and mentees out of their comfort zones and provoke thoughtful discussions.

“My goal this year was to come up with activities that they would not expect and probably have not encountered,” Dutchie said. “My favorite one recently is I held a jokes contest … I spent hours combing through good, but awful jokes, and I wrote them down on flash cards … They ended up coming up with their own jokes and they were better than mine.”

The use of material designed to connect with the mentees rather than tutor them echoes the sentiment of one of the club’s main goals — the effort to make students at the College more aware that the residents of Merrimac are just as human as the students mentoring them and everyone else at the College.

“A big thing that we look for is that if someone … talks about it as if the residents are like zoo animals, wanna go in and like, see what their life is like and … to see how different their lives are,” Leah Roemer ’19 said. “The goal of our organization

is to show people that we’re actually very similar and that we can really connect to them in all sorts of ways and oftentimes the only difference is they might have come from a less advantaged background.”

Roemer, a sociology major interested in pursuing a career in law and justice, says that the club has taught her about what life is like in a juvenile detention center beyond what classes at the College can teach, a sentiment echoed by other members of the club as well, including Popham.

“I have learned in class that we have a perception of criminals, and that perception is problematic and false, but like then to just meet a group full of kids that, you think, like this could be anyone, you know,” she said. “We can’t really separate ourselves so much from the people that are convicted, especially as kids.”

Although members feel the firsthand experience provided by the club is invaluable, education about the justice system within the club goes further than just experiences mentoring.

Roemer, who acts as the club’s current coordinator, is responsible for a weekly presentation on an issue within the justice system to expand knowledge, linking websites within the presentations to allow members to further their knowledge even more. In

this way, the club acts as a way for its members to expand their knowledge about the justice system through both hands-on and hands-off learning.

It’s the hands-on learning, however, that members find to be the club’s most fulfilling aspect.

“Sometimes when you’re in college and you’re on this career track, you spend most of your time on what other people think about you,” Dutchie said. “But, when you go into the Center, they’re open, they’re willing to work with you, and there’s no judgment, no expectation of who you’re supposed to be.”

Popham said mentoring at the Center helps her to step away from the College’s small campus.

“You get trapped in the bubble of college sometimes,” Popham said. “That’s been the biggest privilege, I think, just getting a break and putting things in perspective in my own life.”

Whether providing a chance for the Center’s residents to connect with them, learning about the different parts of the justice system or gaining perspective in their own lives, the members of the Merrimac Mentors are committed to not only educating themselves about the humanity of people within the prison system, but working to enhance their lives and learn from them as well.

For more information about the club, contact merrimacmentors@email.wm.edu.

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The Flat Hat

| Tuesday, November 28, 2017 | Page 9

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

College moves to 4-1 Tribe has four score in double figures KEVIN RICHESON

FLAT HAT ASSOC. SPORTS EDITOR

After an overtime triumph against East Carolina earlier in the week, William and Mary claimed its second victory of the week 7049 over Loyola Saturday at Kaplan Arena. The College jumped out to a quick advantage and did not look back, leading from start to finish.

The Tribe was paced by Reynolds a balanced scoring effort, with four players — sophomore forward Victoria Reynolds, junior guard Bianca Boggs, senior guard Jenna Green and senior center Abby Rendle — finishing in double figures.

The College (4-1) quickly took a commanding lead in the first quarter. Boggs made a layup just eight seconds into the game off an assist from Green. Green also assisted on freshman guard Nyla Pollard’s three-pointer to stretch the lead to 5-0. Rendle made a layup with 8 minutes, 9 seconds to play in the quarter to cap the 7-0 start for the Tribe. The Greyhounds (2-4) scored five of the next seven points to cut the College’s advantage to 9-5 with 6:36 remaining. The four-point deficit would be the closest the Greyhounds would get to the Tribe for the rest of the game.

The College stretched its lead to double-digits with a 10-0 run in the middle of the quarter. Boggs scored

five points, including her first threepointer of the game, as a part of the College’s scoring run. Junior guard Misha Jones drained a three of her own to cap the 10-0 spurt and give the College a 19-5 lead with just over two minutes left in the quarter. The Tribe maintained its 14-point lead until the end of the quarter, leading 22-8 at the conclusion of the first 10 minutes.

The College continued to increase its lead in the second quarter. With just over six minutes remaining in the half, Green nailed a three-pointer to give the Tribe a 32-12 lead. The three was part of Green’s balanced effort of 10 points, seven assists and three rebounds.

The next eight Tribe points all came from sophomore guard Nari Garner.

She spurred the Tribe to its largest lead thus far, 34-12, with a jumper with just under five minutes to play in the quarter.

After the Greyhounds scored, Garner answered by reestablishing the College’s 22-point lead with another jumper. She added another four points for the Tribe later in the quarter with two breakaway layups, the latter putting the Tribe up 4017 with 1:19 remaining in the half.

Garner finished with eight points in just 16 minutes of action. At the half, the College doubled up the Greyhounds, 42-21.

The Greyhounds opened the third quarter with a scoring run of their own, a 9-2 spurt to cut the College’s lead to 44-30. Loyola guard Molly Taylor drilled a three-pointer to get within 16 points, before guard

CaLee Gelbaugh added a jumper to make the score 44-30 with just over seven minutes remaining in the quarter.

Barely over a minute later, the College reestablished an 18-point lead after Rendle drained a short jumper. Rendle was one rebound short of a double-double for the game, contributing 10 points and nine boards. The Greyhounds cut the deficit to 14 once more, but the College responded again. Reynolds hit a three-pointer with four minutes left in the quarter to push the lead to 20 again, 56-36. Reynolds had 13 points to lead the Tribe and pitched in seven rebounds.

The Tribe and the Greyhounds went to the fourth quarter with the College leading 62-41. Each team only managed to score eight points in the final 10 minutes. The College was able to give some of its substitutes more minutes with a large lead and the game essentially decided. Freshmen guards Libby Underwood and Bailey Eichner each made a free throw in the fourth quarter for the College, as the Tribe cruised to a 70-49 victory over the Greyhounds.

The Tribe will look to improve on its 4-1 record with a busy schedule this week. Monday, the College will welcome Davidson to Kaplan Arena for another non-conference matchup. The Tribe will then travel to in-state rival Richmond for a Wednesday afternoon game.

The College will finish the week with another road test Saturday in Pennsylvania against St. Francis.

GRAPHIC BY MEILAN SOLLY / THE FLAT HAT

MEN’S SOCCER

College falls in NCAAs Tribe plays Columbia to second overtime in season finale CATHERINE SCHEFER FLAT HAT STAFF WRITER

COURTESY PHOTOS / TRIBE ATHLETICS

Junior forward Antonio Bustamante, the CAA Conference Player of the Year, led the Tribe in a competitive match.

Thursday, William and Mary hosted Columbia at Martin Family Stadium and suffered a 2-1 loss, which eliminated the College from the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament and concluded the season for College.

The Tribe (11-5-5, 3-2-3 CAA) fell late in the second period of overtime to the Tigers (12-2-3).

“Obviously we’re disappointed, but I thought it was a heck of a soccer game,” head coach Chris Norris said. “[They were] two really good teams that gave it everything they had. I think when we look back we’ll know we gave a heck of an effort.”

The Tribe was able to take the lead originally, scoring before the end of the first half.

In the 31st minute, sophomore midfielder Reeves Trott passed the ball to junior forward Ryder Bell. Bell ripped a shot from the 30-yard line.

The ball ricocheted off the post and sunk into the back of the net. This marked Bell’s seventh goal of the season as the College took the lead.

“I thought we started a little slow from nerves but we settled in after the goal,” Bell said. “Once we got that goal we started dominating the game.

In the second half I think it was more of the same. It ebbs and flows and the momentum shifts but I thought we had the majority of the momentum throughout the game.”

The College moved into the second half with a one goal

advantage.

The Lions found the equalizer in the 77th minute off a set piece. Defender Nike Azuma sent a lofted ball toward the face of the goal. Defender Zach Morant netted the ball with a header toward the ground, bringing the game to a 1-1 tie.

“After they got their goal I think we got a little frantic,” senior goalkeeper Phil Breno said. “We got a little more nervous and couldn’t connect some things, but I still think we were still dominating.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get anything out of it.”

The game moved into its first period of overtime, which did not produce a goal for either team.

The Lions found the game winning goal during the second period of overtime in the 103rd minute off another corner kick that mirrored their first goal.

Midfielder John Denis directed the ball to the far post where defender Alex Bagerl stood ready and headed the ball toward the goal. The ball rebounded off the post toward the middle of the six-yard box where forward Kynan Rocks tapped it in for the game winning goal, ending the match.

Although the College was unable to find a favorable outcome in this game, the team found much success throughout the season’s entirety.

As a team, the Tribe scored a total of 41 goals this season while only giving up 24.

Junior forward Antonio Bustamante was also recognized as Colonial Athletic Association

Player of the Year. Bustamante is the sixth player in the College’s history to attain this honor and the first one since 2009 when Andrew Hoxie earned this title.

“The fact that [Bustamante] keeps getting better [stands out to me],” Norris said. “He’s been really impactful since he arrived as a freshman. He had a great year last year and he has built on that. His goal tallies for his first three years are five, 10 and 15. The fact that he wants it badly and he works really hard at it, that he’s humble about it even though he is the guy getting all the headlines, he understands that there is nothing he can do that will come in a solo effort. He knows that everything he does is built on the platform of all the work that his teammates are doing.

He’s a tremendous pleasure to coach and I’m thankful that we have him for one more year.”

As a whole, the team worked together throughout the season to overcome five losses and five ties in order to advance late into the season.

“I’m really proud of this group,” said Norris. “We put together a really tough schedule. In the end we were able to start playing well and go on a run and get to this point.

You can see tonight the fight in this group is tremendous and they wanted it really badly.

They work very hard for each other and they care for each other on and off the field. It’s obviously disappointing but I’m really happy with where this team ended up at the end of the season in terms of who they are and how they play.”

sports

Sports Editor Alyssa Grzesiak Sports Editor Chris Travis flathatsports@gmail.com @FlatHatSports

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, November 28, 2017 | Page 10

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Tribe’s buzzer beater victory

COURTESY PHOTO / TRIBE ATHLETICS

With the Tribe down 77-76 to Old Dominion with seconds remaining in the contest, senior guard Oliver Tot scored the game winning points on a 50-foot half-court shot, giving the College a 79-77 victory over the Hampton Roads rival.

College conquers Monarchs in hard-fought 79-77 victory thanks to Tot’s half-court shot KEVIN RICHESON FLAT HAT ASSOC. SPORTS EDITOR

Graphic by Meilan Solly / THE FLAT HAT

After a dominating 103-54 victory at home against Shenandoah earlier in the week, William and Mary welcomed in-state rival Old Dominion to Kaplan Arena for a Saturday night matchup.

The College was able to steal a 79-77 victory in a tightly contested game, thanks to some late-game heroics from senior guard Oliver Tot. The Tribe was led in scoring by senior guard David Cohn.

Sophomore forward Justin Pierce also helped to secure the victory with a double-double.

The Monarchs (4-2) opened the game shooting well, but two early three-pointers helped the College (3-2) keep pace. Pierce started the scoring for the Tribe with a three-pointer to cut ODU’s early lead to 4-3. Less than a minute later, with 17 minutes, 28 seconds remaining in the first half, senior guard Connor Burchfield followed suit, hitting a three of his own to tie the game at six.

The Tribe took its first lead of the game, 8-6, on a layup by sophomore forward Nathan Knight.

The Monarchs immediately tied the score, but Knight countered with another layup to give the College a 10-8 advantage with 16:25 left in the half.

Cohn and Burchfield hit threes on back-toback possessions to push the Tribe to a 16-10 lead. Burchfield finished with 10 points and three assists in 31 minutes of action for the College.

The six-point advantage would prove to be the College’s largest of the game.

The Monarchs answered with a 10-point run to regain the lead, which they would not relinquish for the remainder of the first half. The run featured eight points scored in the paint, where the Monarchs dominated the undersized Tribe.

For the game, ODU outscored the College 46-22 in the painted area. Monarch guard B.J. Stith had four of the 10 points during the scoring run, part of his game-high 26 points on the night.

The College was able to respond and tie the game at 20 with just over seven minutes remaining in the half on a dunk by Pierce. However, the Monarchs responded with an 8-0 spurt, giving them a 28-20 advantage with 4:35 to play until halftime. Stith gave ODU their largest lead of the game with just over a minute left in the half, 3425. Pierce responded with two points of his own to cut the lead to seven. The College was unable to convert on its last shot of the half and went to the locker room trailing 34-27.

Neither team was able to take control early

in the second half. With just over 13 minutes remaining in the game, Pierce hit another three to cut the Monarchs’ lead to 46-43, the first time the Tribe had been within one possession in the second half. Pierce finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds for the game, recording a doubledouble in the College’s comeback victory.

Around the midway point of the second period, Knight scored four straight for the Tribe.

However, the College still had not held a lead in the second half. Knight contributed 14 points in 27 minutes but saw somewhat limited action due to foul trouble throughout the game.

The College trailed 54-51 with nine minutes left before it went on a 9-0 run to reclaim the lead. Sophomore guard Matt Milon drained a three-pointer to tie the game at 54 before giving the College its first lead of the second half, 57-54, with another three with 7:28 to play.

As the clock ticked under six minutes, the Monarchs answered with two threes of their own to tie the game at 60 with 5:21 left. With four minutes remaining, Cohn hit a three to give the Tribe the lead again, 65-62. Cohn was deadly from three for the game, converting on five of his six attempts, accounting for 15 of his 25 points.

ODU briefly took the lead back with 2:21 to play before Cohn responded with another three to give the College a 71-69 advantage at the twominute mark.

The College shot just under 75 percent in the second half, scoring 52 points on just 23 shots.

Cohn’s three was answered at the other end by Stith, who drained one of his own to give the Monarchs a one-point lead with 1:35 remaining in the game. The two teams traded buckets before Cohn knocked down two clutch free throws to put the Tribe on top 76-75 with 44 seconds remaining.

Cohn lost a costly turnover with just under 10 seconds to play, allowing the Monarchs to score the go-ahead basket with just 1.5 seconds left.

Trailing 77-76, Pierce took the ball to inbound for the Tribe. He passed the ball to Tot, who took one dribble along the left sideline and launched a desperation half-court shot. Tot’s shot fell through the net as the buzzer sounded. He had not scored all game, but he made a half-court buzzer beater to give the College a dramatic 7977 home victory.

The College looks to stretch its winning streak to three games when it takes on Marshall at home Wednesday. The Tribe will then travel to Savannah State over the weekend to start a threegame road trip.