Vol. 108, Iss. 16 | Tuesday, October 23, 2018
The Flat Hat The Weekly Student Newspaper of
The College of William and Mary
Voter registration surges NextGen Virginia leads effort to register students and increase
Williamsburg voter turnout in November midterm elections as other organizations host speakers, promote voter awareness, canvassing FERNANDO CASTRO // THE FLAT HAT
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ver 1,000 students took a pause in their day to register to vote at the College of William and Mary this election cycle. This was largely due to the work of NextGen America, a progressive organization that tabled around campus. NextGen Virginia Communications Fellow Robert Ostrom discussed the long-term goals of NextGen and the importance of its relationship with its younger members and volunteers. “One of the biggest things that NextGen is doing is building up a big volunteer base and teaching them the skills of organizing, so after this, we want to have an exponential increase in the amount [of] people who know how to organize, who know how to knock doors, and register people to vote, so they can do it themselves, they can start training other people, because we really want this kind of younger generation, this youth demographic to be more politically Percent increase of active,” Ostrom said. “So that’s kind Virginian voter of our overarching registration in the 18-29 long-term goal.” age bracket in this As the voter election cycle registration deadline in Virginia passed Oct. 15, all efforts have been turned to ensuring a good voter turnout in the midterms, according to NextGen Virginia Campus Organizer Olivia Thomas. In an email, Ostrom said that NextGen Virginia helped 1,114 students at the College register during this election cycle. According to Ostrom, the organization has also helped over 25,000 people aged 18-29 register to vote in Virginia thanks to the work of over 800 active volunteers. According to an article from TargetSmart, Virginian voter registration in the 18-29 age bracket has increased 3.41 percent, and voter turnout in Virginia increased from 0.5 to 3.6 percent between the 2017 and 2018 primaries. Thomas talked about the importance of students having a plan for how and when they will
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physically get to the polls and vote on election day. “We’re really excited; we have a bunch of getout-the-vote type events planned for the coming weeks between now and the election,” Thomas said. “So, basically, we’ll be doing a lot of canvassing in the Williamsburg community, which again is sort of an exciting way to reach people who live off campus and still encourage them to vote.” For NextGen, efforts to increase voter registration and turnout among the youth isn’t just about tabling itself but who is doing it. NextGen Virginia Fellow Annaliese Estes ’21 talked about the importance of student volunteers running the tables on campus. “I think a big thing that resonates isn’t necessarily a method, but just the fact that it’s other college students doing it,” Estes said. “I think that they’re a lot more receptive than if it’s just an adult that comes here and works here ... when it’s your peer, I think you feel more comfortable doing that with them, and also because it’s someone you might recognize or see around or even be friends with, it’s harder to say no.” Thomas shed light on the action NextGen is taking outside of tabling and registering students, noting that the organization has collaborated with other student organizations and has had College professors help provide information to students. “We also do specifically on-campus things like reaching out to different clubs and organizations,” Thomas said. “We’ve partnered with other progressive groups on campus to do some of our larger events … and then we’ve also been doing things like speaking with professors, having them provide our information so that any students who might not pass us every day in Sadler or outside of Swem can reach out and get registered prior to the deadline.” NextGen is not the only program encouraging political participation on campus. Vote Chair of the Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote JD Damarillo ’21 talked about the growth of his organization as one that participates in pushing voter registration at the College. “As of the past few years, one of our members, Aakash Saraf ’19, did a lot of activist work for NextGen, and then in that, he reached out to this one organization, APIAVote,” Damarillo said.
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1,114
Amount of College students who have been registered by NextGen Virginia in this election cycle
“APIAVote is the Asian Pacific Islander American voting organization in DC, and they basically do voter registration as well as get people to be politically active, specifically in the Asian-American part of the United States.” Damarillo said that as midterm season has progressed, he has noticed more enthusiasm among voters, and he emphasized the importance of reaching out to voters through voter education events. “I personally believe that more voter education events, stuff like that, are important to do, and that’s something I think that NextGen has worked on in part to do,” Damarillo said. “I think that’s one way to reach to those students, just more voter education events, and why their voice really matters, and from that, I either go person to person, or I have close friends that I’d say, ‘Hey, if your friend doesn’t believe in this kind of vote, [or] why their vote matters, it does, [and] here’s an explanationforwhy.’So,it’salotofpersonalrelationships and partnerships with other organizations.” Young Democrats Secretary Louisa Janssen ’21 noted that her organization does not participate directly in voter registration and instead focuses on spreading awareness about local races. “We still do as much as we can to promote voting and changing registration in less competitive areas or those who do not have frequent elections,” Janssen said. “We’re a part of the 2nd District, which is currently one of the most competitive districts in Virginia for the congressional race. We just really try to stress the importance of voting in this district specifically.” Because NextGen prioritizes voter registration, Janssen said that Young Democrats, which focuses instead on canvassing, does not work with them directly. However, she emphasized the importance of collaborating with NextGen to improve overall education about voting at the College. “We still try to maintain a good relationship with them, because we recognize they’re doing something very important that we can’t actually offer as an organization, so we try to promote their events, and inform people about them,” Janssen said. “… Even though we’re not directly working alongside them, we’re still making sure that our members of our organization are aware of what they are doing and how they can help out.” GRAPHIC BY NIA KITCHIN / THE FLAT HAT
STUDENT LIFE
Statistics show FYE Orientation staff does not accurately represent student population Percentage of Orientation Aides in Fraternity and Sorority Life decreases, racial disparity apparent WILLIAM ALLEN FLAT HAT CHIEF STAFF WRITER
At the start of every college semester, hundreds of new students are introduced to the College of William and Mary through the Orientation process. The formative weeks of a new student’s orientation are handled through the office of First Year Experience through their campus-hired student orientation staff. The Orientation Aides and Orientation Area Directors — over 200 chanting, enthusiastic students who make up this staff — serve as the first example of the face of a well-adjusted student at the College. Among the fall 2018 group of OAs, members of Fraternity and Sorority Life and white students were both examples of populations which are represented at disproportionately high rates compared to the general campus population. FSL includes the Interfraternity Council, Multicultural Greek Council, National PanHellenic Council and Panhellenic Council. Representation of factors like gender identity, sexual orientation, economic class, hobbies and race all impact a student’s experience on campus. Among OADs — students who coordinate the recruitment, application, interviewing and selection processes of OAs — the role played by diverse representation is not ignored. “I think that the obvious reason [representation is
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important] is it’s a lot easier if you see someone who looks like you, especially if you uncomfortable adjusting to college,” OAD Sikander Zakriya ’19 said. “I’ll use myself as an example — as the son of immigrants, it’s hard if you only have a staff of white kids.” This concern about representation is something the FYE staff is conscious of as well. “So many students are concerned about, ‘If I’m going to fit in,’” Director of the Office of First Year Experience Lauren Garrett ’02 said. “‘Am I going to have to be the trail blazer, again?’” In 2014, a Flat Hat report showed a disproportionate number of members of FSL represented in the Orientation Staff. That year, approximately 75 percent of students chosen to serve as OAs were also members of social fraternities or sororities at the College. At the time, this was disproportionate as only 27-30 percent of the larger student body were members of FSL life in 2014. Currently, only 28 percent of the student body are members of FSL, and 54 percent of the OA offers for fall 2018 were made to members of FSL. The perception of OAs as predominately fraternity or sorority members persists throughout the campus community. Henry Blackburn ’20, who has been involved in FYE as an OA for the last two years, said his first impressions of the program aligned with this perception. “Until this year, my conception of FYE was [that it’s
a] cool student organization, but it’s a Greek haven,” Blackburn said. “Until this year, when I saw a huge difference in the entire representation of it.” This might be due to the fact that, while Fraternity and Sorority Life members are still overrepresented in relation to the broader campus population, they represent a smaller proportion than they did in 2014. Data provided by the Office of First Year Experience that uses information from Banner show shifts in the demographics of students who applied and were offered positions as OAs compared to previous years. Forty-eight percent of applicants out of a pool of 572 candidates in 2018 were current members of FSL. Fifty-four percent of extended offers were made to members of FSL organizations while 46 percent of students given offers were not current members of FSL out of a pool of 221 offers, not including students who may have declined their offers later. This is a 21 percent decrease since 2014. Other notable demographics were visible in the candidate and offer data. For example, 70 percent of applicants were legally identified as female and 60 percent of the final 221 offers were given to legally identified as female individuals. The OA application provides no option for self-reporting of gender identity, so non-legally defined gender identities of applicants were not known to the school as part of the OA application.
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“The majority of our candidates are female or at least legal sex female,” Garrett said. “There are some larger proportions that you’re going to see naturally that happen in the data. I think sometimes that tends to be personality-driven or interest-driven.” In regards to race and ethnicity, students of color are underrepresented among OA candidates. From self-reported data on ethnicity, only 5 percent of the candidates self-identified as African American, 11 percent of the applicants self-identified as Asian, five percent of the applicants self-identified as multi race and a majority of 73 percent self-identified as white. Final OA staff offers were mostly given to white applicants, with 74 percent of offers given to selfidentified white candidates. In comparison, only 4 percent of final offers were given to self-identified African-American applicants, 10 percent to selfidentified Asian candidates and 6 percent to selfidentified multi race candidates. “I don’t think there would be any surprise if I said, you know, the applicant pool looks rather shallow when you look at students of color, when we look at students who perhaps are not in the majority when it comes to gender identification, sexual orientation, sexual identity,” Garrett said. “And those aren’t questions necessarily that come on the application. I think there
Kimberly Lores ’22 says that going barefoot in the Earl Gregg Swem Library is a bizarre and unhygienic activity for such a well-traveled area. page 6
Art donation brightens Swem halls Juan Conde ’86 explains his decision to donate works by artist Roser Bru, revealing their arduous journey from Chile to Earl Gregg Swem Library. page 7
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