City of Williamsburgʼs proposed Rent Ready program met with continued pushback
Thursday, Sept. 18, the City of Williamsburg held its second of three public input sessions for its proposed Rent Ready program at the College of William and Mary’s Sadler Center in Tidewater B. Students, landlords and property owners came to hear a revised version of the proposal and participate in a monitored Q-and-A session for the remainder of the 90 minutes allocated.
The three sessions (Aug. 28, Sept. 18 and Sept. 30) are identical in format, with the proposal updated after each round of input.
Tevya Williams Griffin, the City’s planning and codes compliance director, led the meeting. Griffin has overseen the development of Rent Ready Williamsburg since joining the City’s Planning Department in 2022.
“This is a proposed voluntary rental certification program developed to improve the quality, safety and community integration of off-campus housing near the College of William and Mary,” Griffin said.
In essence, landlords and property owners would permit the City to conduct a free home inspection, after which the property would be rated on roughly a 100-point scale based on its physical condition and available amenities. A score of at least 80 is required for a Rent Ready certification, while a score of 95 or higher is necessary to qualify for four-person occupancy.
She encouraged active participation throughout the meeting and opened the session with a QR code survey to be filled out by attendees both before and after.
“This program has been a long time in the making,” Griffin said. “And so now we’re at the point where we would like input from all of you about the program.”
The Rent Ready proposal began as one of 27 concepts identified by the City of Williamsburg’s Neighborhood Balance Committee, a group of students from the College, landlords and property owners, in 2019.
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It is the tenth Neighborhood Balance concept actualized since 2020 and has been included in the City’s 2021, 2023 and 2025 Goals, Initiatives, and Outcomes planning document.
The current program guidelines draw from the results of two focus groups — one of students and one of landlords — conducted in April 2023, as well as the results of a separate survey of around 300 people.
Rent Ready Williamsburg is also modeled after the successful Rent Ready Norfolk program, which requires local Navy sailors to live in Rent Ready-certified housing.
Williamsburg’s version centers on four stated priorities: safety, behavior, quality and preserving the character of neighborhoods. According to Griffin, improving off-campus student housing conditions, fostering better relationships between students and neighboring residents, and keeping the neighborhoods clean are all Rent Ready initiatives.
“We believe it strengthens neighborhoods by aligning the interests of students, landlords and long-time residents through safe, high-quality rental housing and shared educational opportunities,” Griffin said.
While it is entirely voluntary, the College would only endorse certified properties on its housing platforms if the program is implemented. The program is not open to all of Williamsburg, just the four designated districts near the College.
Despite these goals, Rent Ready Williamsburg has received mixed reactions, often skewing negative.
“In its current form, I’m definitely against Rent Ready,” Shane Bennett ’26 said. “I think with many changes, it could be beneficial for the community.”
The crux of the issue lies in its strict criteria for four-person occupancy. Today, 37 four-person occupancy properties have been certified by the City within the four proposed Rent Ready districts. Landlords and property owners believe the criteria
create unreasonably high barriers to gain four-person occupancy certification, leaving not enough incentive to join the program. Fewer people allowed on the property would spike rent prices, which would lead more students to look toward questionable housing options.
“Yes, I do think it's a common student opinion because it really seems to me like it serves to punish students for living off campus more than helping them,” Bennett said. “The big issue for me is affordability.”
Student Assembly President Zoe Wang B.A. ’25, M.P.P. ’26 acknowledged the ongoing issue of ghost tenants — individuals living on a property without having signed a lease — that could be escalated too.
“I think when you look at the details of the program, the core problem is that there are ghost tenants in Williamsburg,” Wang said. “And when students are ghost tenanting, they might encounter issues with their landlord that they are afraid to bring up.”
Landlords and property owners also raised objections to Section 5-312 of the draft proposal, which states that property owners, not tenants, will be held accountable for violations such as noise complaints. Each reported incident will drop their Rent Ready score by ten points..
Students, landlords and other Williamsburg residents care deeply about this program and its consequences for the off-campus housing market.
Walter Garrett ’29 came to the meeting to support his fraternity working with this program and to prepare for his own future housing decisions.
“I came tonight to support my brothers,” Garrett said. “I wanted to be there for them. And also, it’s definitely nice to get some of this information if I end up living off campus as an upperclassman.”
Law school hosts 38th annual Supreme Court preview featuring judges Institute of Bill of Rights Law holds moot court session, prepares journalists for law
Friday, Sept. 19, the College of William and Mary Law School opened the 38th annual Supreme Court Preview. Hosted by the Law School’s Institute of Bill of Rights Law, the event is a two-day annual conference that convenes judges, scholars, advocates and journalists to discuss the Supreme Court’s upcoming term. e preview began Friday afternoon with the annual Moot Court trial and continued through Saturday evening with a series of panels.
Before the event, the Institute of Bill of Rights Law highlighted its mission statement on its website.
“One of the principal missions of the Institute is to facilitate interaction between the professions of law and journalism,” its website said. “ rough a discussion of key cases on the Supreme Court’s docket at the start of each term, the annual Supreme Court Preview provides in-depth education for journalists on the underlying issues
to enhance press coverage of the decisions.”
e preview opened at 4:00 p.m. in the Law School’s McGlothlin Courtroom with a welcoming statement from Alfred Wilson and Mary I.W. Lee Professor and Director of the Institute of the Bill of Rights Law Allison Orr Larsen.
“Each fall, W&M is delighted to host the Supreme Court Preview,” Larsen said. “We have with us this weekend the nation’s top Supreme Court advocates and Supreme Court journalists, along with esteemed scholars who write about the court and some of our nation’s nest jurists from the US Court of Appeals.”
e keynote event of the preview is the annual moot court trial, a mock session of an upcoming Supreme Court case. is year’s annual trial was Chiles v. Salazar, which was outlined in a preview brie ng.
“In 2019, Colorado enacted a law banning licensed mental health professionals from engaging in ‘conversion therapy’ with minors, de ned as e orts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity,” Larsen said.
“Kaley Chiles, a licensed counselor and practicing Christian, challenged the law, arguing that it prevents her from providing counseling consistent with her religious beliefs.”
Practicing attorneys Jaime Santos and Ben Snyder advocated for the upholding of the law. Larsen delivered opening introductions for each mock defense attorney.
“Ben Snyder is a partner and appellate practice co-chair at Paul Hastings,” Larsen said.
“He joined that rm after a ve-year stint in the O ce of the Solicitor General. Ben clerked for Chief Justice Roberts and has argued before the court many times. Among his greatest hits, at least in my heart, he argued the Corner Post case for you ad law nerds.”
Larsen continued with an introduction of the second mock defense attorney.
“Jamie Santos is the co-chair of Goodwin’s Appellate and Supreme Court litigation practice, where she’s also a member of the firm's ERISA litigation, life sciences disputes groups, and the Dobbs Task Force,” Larsen said.
“She clerked for Raymond Fisher on the Ninth Circuit, and her work as an appellate litigator led her to be recognized as a DC Rising Star by the National Law Journal and Law 360.”
Ten special guest justices, professors and judicial experts acted as moot court justices. e Chief Justice was CNN’s Joan Biskupic. She served alongside Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Pamela Harris, Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Robin Rosenbaum and Supreme Court Director at the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection Kelsi Corkran.
Several other practicing judges also participated, in addition to Wall Street Journal Supreme Court correspondent Jess Bravin, Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law at Stanford University Pam Karlan and Davison Douglas Professor of Law Margaret Hu.
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RYAN GOODMAN / THE FLAT HAT
news insight
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Coming into William and Mary, one of the major reasons for coming here was because the research environment here is such a huge thing. It’s very popular. And I’ve always wanted to do research.
— Josie Koster ‘26
Board of Visitors holds first 2025-26 meeting this week
Wednesday, Sept. 24 to Friday, Sept. 26, the College of William and Mary’s Board of Visitors will convene for the rst time in the 2025-26 academic year in Blow Memorial Hall to discuss strategic planning, the campus comprehensive plan and new projects.
All of the Board’s eight committees will resume their business from the April meeting, while also incorporating takeaways from the summer retreat held at the Washington Center in July, which analyzed the evolving higher education policy landscape and suggested plans for future infrastructural development.
Among the Board’s goals for the 2025-26 academic year is the expansion of curriculum o erings related to arti cial intelligence under the supervision of the newly opened School of Computer, Data Science and Physics. Inaugural CDSP School Dean Dr. Douglas C. Schmidt ‘84, M.A. ‘86, who launched an interdisciplinary AI minor this fall, hopes to soon o er a B.A. in Arti cial Intelligence and a B.S. in Applied Arti cial Intelligence.
The session will begin Wednesday afternoon with the Subcommittee on Compensation and the Executive Committee. The Board will later meet for dinner hosted by Rector Charles E. Poston J.D. ‘74, P ‘02, ‘06. Thursday morning, the Committee on Administration, Buildings, and Grounds, Committee on Academic A airs, Committee on Student Experience and Committee on Athletics will meet. After a board-wide lunch with President Katherine Rowe’s cabinet, members of the Committee on Institutional Advancement and the Committee on Audit, Risk, Compliance will return to Blow Memorial Hall for their meetings.
Friday morning, the Board will conclude its quarterly session with the Committee on Financial A airs, followed by a full board meeting. During this session, student body president Zoe Wang ’26 is slated to deliver an address on student life. Rowe will also formally address the Board to conclude the session. SAM BELMAR / FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
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Anthony Okoye ’29 combines academic, creative pursuits as 2025 Beales Scholarship recipient
Okoye highlights lifelong love for mathematics, aspirations for career in neuropsychiatry
Anthony Okoye ’29 describes himself as an extremely logical person, so when applying for the Beales Scholarship — with students from 12 counties considered — winning it seemed unlikely.
“I remember turning it in, and I was like, there’s no way I’m going to get this scholarship,” Okoye said.
Eight months later, Okoye received a congratulatory email from the College of William and Mary notifying him that he was the Harriett Pittard Beales ’34 Scholarship recipient.
“I saw the email and it was really a shock,” Okoye said. “It was a nice feeling. I kind of couldn’t believe it.”
The Beales Scholarship honors Harriett Pittard Beales ’34 and her son Walter R. Beales III for their community service. The College awards the merit-based scholarship to rst-year students from Southside Virginia.
Aside from being an honor, the Beales Scholarship mitigates the nancial burden of attending the College.
“It’s less pressure,” Okoye said. “I don’t always have to think ‘Oh, my parents have to pay this much.’ That weight, at least, is lifted partially. Not entirely. I wish it were entirely, but it’s better to carry 70 pounds instead of 100.”
Okoye plans on double-majoring in neuroscience and mathematics. He hopes to apply his neuroscience coursework to his future career as a neuropsychiatrist.
“I’m interested in the connection between the anatomical aspects of the brain, the nervous system and the way people think and act,” Okoye said. “It keeps advancing more and more. I want to be a part of that.”
His choice to pursue mathematics is less career-oriented, but still very important to him.
“For the math aspect, I think that’s purely personal,” Okoye said. “I don’t think it has any correlation to neuroscience. It’s just the way I want to structure my mind.”
This fascination with math is not new for Okoye.
“I think it started in eighth grade when I took algebra,” Okoye said. “Everything just kind of seemed to click. I don’t want to say puzzles, but more like a logical way of thinking that I thought really t the way I saw the world, so I really felt close to that.”
Outside of academics, Okoye had a wide range of extracurricular interests in high school. One of his most interesting pursuits was with the piano, where he decided to take over as the pianist at his church despite not yet knowing how to play.
“It all started because at my church we have a pianist and he graduated from high school, so he wasn’t really going to be there anymore,” Okoye said. “And it’s funny because there were pianists before him, they also graduated, and then he had to take over. Then he left, so there was no one else who could play at my church, so I decided to.”
Okoye taught himself how to play the piano through reading sheet music and attempting to play it. The process proved to be di cult.
“People don’t really think about how much goes into playing the piano,” Okoye said. “You need the right approach to the piece, the right dynamics, the right intonations and
to play the piece as it’s intended by the composer.”
His rst performance at his church re ected these challenges, as well as having to coordinate with the choir.
“It was kind of terrible,” Okoye said. “It was just a few weeks, actually, when I started to actually play, and then I got thrown into it. Honestly, it was a shock, and my memorization saved me from actually playing horri cally or not even playing at all.”
However, Okoye’s skills and con dence grew with time.
“There was one time where I was really focused,” Okoye said. “I was very serious about the songs I had to play. I guess my intensive focus kind of made me forget about the people that were there, and I actually played the piece like I was supposed to. After that, I felt content.”
Playing the piano allowed Okoye to tap into his creative side, while still utilizing the logical tools he loves.
“When I was younger, I wasn’t really that creative,” Okoye said. “So I never really had a creative outlet, and I guess music gave me that. I’ve really progressed so much more quickly because of the mere passion I have for the music. And I guess you could say the logical part of me really enjoys that complexity.”
When he wasn’t busy with piano, Okoye was participating in the scholastic bowl, a trivia-style academic competition.
“Since I was a kid, I loved reading di erent kinds of books and learning and absorbing all those facts,” Okoye said. “I never once imagined myself actually deploying that in some area whatsoever, but when I found out about scholastic bowl, I realized I could put it to practice.”
Okoye recalls learning about the game from upperclassmen when he joined his sophomore year of high school. By his senior year, he was able to do the same for newcomers.
“They looked up to me,” Okoye said. “It was very cute to see them, to be honest. I could share my knowledge with them and help them approach different questions, different ways, you can see them rather than what’s objectively shown.”
Teaching new team members helped Okoye find his own leadership style, allowing him to better serve his communities.
“When you’re leading other people, you’re in a forefront position,” Okoye said. “But what this taught me was that I’m not really much higher than them. My goal is not to put myself on a pedestal, but to reach down from that position to the people that I’m supposed to serve.”
Now at the College with the help of the Beales Scholarship, Okoye strives not only to serve around campus, but also in his personal relationships.
“I want to be an anchor for people,” Okoye said. “Someone that doesn’t sway too much. An anchor is something that holds other things in place, so if people are being assaulted by whatever storm of difficulty, having that person to rely on. I guess that’s what I’m going to be.”
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COURTESY IMAGE / ANTHONY OKOYE
Anthony Okoye ’29 invests time into learning the piano to unlock a sense of creative expression that he wants to apply in his neuroscience career.
Students present ndings at the 2025 fall undergraduate research symposium
Charles Center grants support independent undergraduate projects, students across disciplines express gratitude
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Friday, Sept. 19, the College of William and Mary’s Fall Undergraduate Research Symposium took place in the Earl Gregg Swem Library. This event was an opportunity for undergraduate students to present and discuss the research they have participated in on campus. Over 200 students shared their work at the event, which was well attended by students, faculty, staff and community members.
This event is hosted by the Roy R. Charles Center, the College of Arts and Sciences’ center for research, internships, honors programs and similar applied learning opportunities. Many of the presenters received funding from the Charles Center to conduct research this past summer. These grants offer dozens of students financial support to complete full-time work on their projects of interest over the summer.
“Getting the grant really allowed me to focus on this entirely over the summer,” Josie Koster ’26 said.
With the financial support from her honors fellowship, she spent the summer in Williamsburg conducting research necessary to write her honors thesis in the coming months.
“I don’t know if I would have been able to do this just in the year that I would have had for the honors thesis,” Koster said.
As a sociology major, Koster’s research focuses on how students at the College navigate political differences with their family members. As someone who has personally navigated these dynamics within her own family, she was curious to see how others approached them.
“I was talking about [my research] with more people, and everybody has a story. Everybody has their own experiences, and it’s so shaped by specific family situations,” she said.
Over the upcoming year, Koster plans to analyze the findings of the interviews she conducted over the summer and report them in her final honors thesis.
While Koster’s research was grounded in the social sciences, the symposium boasted a strong showing from student researchers in the STEM fields. For example, Aarthi Bharathan ’28 presented her research evaluating candidate genes for a role in E. coli cell division. With her first-year Monroe Scholar research grant, she spent a few weeks of her summer in Williamsburg conducting research under assistant professor of biology Sarah
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Anderson. She mentioned that the expansive research opportunities available to students were one of the main factors that drew her to apply to the College.
“Coming into William and Mary, one of my major reasons for coming here was because the research environment here is a huge thing. It’s very popular. And I’ve always wanted to do research,” she says.
Bharathan is not alone in this sentiment. Another student researcher, Brendan Anselmo ’26, told a similar story.
“I have been able to do research two separate times due to [the Monroe Scholars] program, once at the end of my freshman year and now at the end of my junior year, and it’s just been a really good opportunity,” he said. “And the opportunities for research was a big part of my decision to attend William and Mary over other universities, and it’s just been a great experience.”
Jessica Anderson holds campaign rally in College’s Ewell Hall
Students engage in Q&A session with Anderson, address concerns about recent acts of political violence
Wednesday, Sept. 17, Jessica Anderson, the Democratic Party candidate running for the 71st District in the Virginia House of Delegates, held a campaign rally in Ewell Hall.
The 71st District includes Williamsburg, the College of William and Mary and stretches north into parts of New Kent. Anderson is running against the Republican incumbent, Delegate Amanda Batten.
The Anderson Campaign, the College’s Young Democrats, Out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics at the College, Vox: Planned Parenthood Generation Action and Liberal Students League all collaborated to host the event.
The event began with remarks from Young Democrats President Adrian Ryan ’27.
Ryan offered his organization’s endorsement of Anderson. He highlighted Anderson’s support for education, small businesses and access to healthcare as key reasons why the Young Democrats support her.
Representatives from the other student organizations hosting the event also offered their endorsements of Anderson.
After they spoke, Anderson took the stage to discuss her connection to the 71st District.
“I started my family here,” she said. “I’ve been working here since I was 14 years old. I am very invested and rooted in this community in so many different ways.”
Anderson then critiqued her opponent, Batten.
“We have really horrific leadership right now,”
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she said.
Anderson further criticized Batten, stating that before the 71st district was redrawn to be more competitive, Batten was not an active figure in the community.
“My opponent has been very fortunate before the districts were redrawn to just float on her Republican name only,” Anderson said. “[Batten] didn’t have to be a constant in the community.
[She] didn’t have to show up, and people were noticing that.”
A nderson further explained how her experiences with education, the COVID-19 pandemic, social media and her involvement with various communities around the district inspired her to get into local politics.
Anderson recounted her first time running in the 71st district during the 2023 Virginia state elections, with what she believed to be a fairly grassroots campaign.
“After all the counts were counted, we lost by 667 votes,” she said. “Every vote counts.”
Anderson finished her remarks by expressing support for reproductive rights, specifically her desire to introduce a referendum that would enshrine reproductive access in the Virginia State Constitution. She then opened the floor to questions from the audience.
e audience asked questions about the redistricting ght between Texas and California, access to public transit in the 71st district, homelessness in Williamsburg, the state of the Democratic party, gun control, reproductive access, parking minimums and zoning requirements.
An audience member also asked Anderson about the recent Charlie Kirk assassination.
Anderson responded by condemning Kirk’s murder, but she disagreed with recent instances of people getting fired over expressing their opinions about the shooting.
“While I don’t agree with people celebrating it, I also recognize that people choosing how to grieve or not to grieve is a First Amendment right,” she said. “People should not be threatened to be rounded up or arrested or lose their jobs because they made a decision to say something on the internet.”
Cameron Schwartz ’28 came to watch the rally. He took interest in the event’s theatrics and explained his skeptical perspective.
“I like the whole rahrah of it, but I also found it to be a little bit disingenuous sometimes,” he said.
Cameron elaborated by explaining how it seemed contradictory to him for a candidate, like Anderson, to attack their opponent while simultaneously calling for open political debate and discussion.
“[Anderson] came out strong, fearmongering against the other opponent to make sure that she has your vote, then at the end of the speech [she explained how] we need to have open discussion, open debate, things of that nature,” he said. “It seems a little contradictory to me.”
Sam Newell ’28 also showed up to the event to support Anderson. He explained why he believes this House of Delegates race is important in the broader election landscape.
“Virginia is a huge bellwether for the 2026
midterms and for the rest of the nation,” he said.
Newell expressed support for Anderson because he believes that Democratic control of the Virginia House of Delegates would be an effective way to work against Republican policies on the federal level.
“When Republicans control all three branches of the federal government, it is really up to the states to be the last line of defense to protect your freedoms,” he said.
After the event, Ryan explained further why he thinks students should care about this election.
He referenced recent federal cuts to universities and explained that he believed it was important to elect someone like Anderson to protect this funding from possible additional cuts on the state level.
“The [Virginia] General Assembly provides a lot of funds to the College, and it is more important than ever that we have a proeducation majority in the House of Delegates,” Ryan said.
He thinks that Anderson would be the best candidate to protect this funding for education.
“Democrats are currently the party that supports funding for education, and because of that, it’s important that we elect [Anderson] to the House,” Ryan said.
Newell also felt this election was important to students and encouraged people to get involved.
“Nobody has ever made a decision by not being in the room,” he said. “You have to be in the room, you have to show up and you have to make your voice heard.”
school panel discusses emergency SCOTUS immigration rulings
Additional panels convene to cover election law, executive orders, civil rights, impact of internet
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Snyder and Santos each presented their arguments. e mock verdict ruled that the 2019 Colorado law was upheld under rational-basis review. e pending case’s o cial oral arguments at the Supreme Court are scheduled for Oct. 7.
Following the mock trial, Joan Biskupic opened the rst panel discussion of the weekend, discussing the implications of Trump v. Casa. e 2025 case followed the issuing of Executive Order 14160, which limited birthright citizenship for the children of immigrants. Many federal district courts issued nationwide injunctions, invalidating the executive order. e Supreme Court later ruled
that federal district courts had exceeded their authority by issuing nationwide injunctions against the order. Panelist Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law Melissa Murray related this discourse to the recent emergency ruling that followed Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo. is emergency ruling sanctioned the use of apparent ethnicity, employment, location and language spoken as justi cation for detainment by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. is is not the status quo,” Murray said. “ is is not America. Allowing ICE patrols to go throughout Los Angeles picking up people who appear to look like they could be undocumented, that is not America.”
Additional panels continued through Saturday evening. Topics included election law, litigation over executive orders, judicial deliberation, civil rights and e ects of the internet on Supreme Court rulings. e law school also held a break-out session for attendees to explore speci c subject matters that interested them within administrative, immigration and criminal law.
As the event concluded, Larsen shared nal comments for student attendees.
“Every year when this weekend comes, I find myself overwhelmed and a little bit in disbelief that these people come to Williamsburg every year,” Larsen said. “And so I just want to say, enjoy it. This is the good stuff.”
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Students exhibited research findings from almost every field. d emonstrating the wide range of opportunities available for stud ents at the Col lege.
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Larsen shared her appreciation for the guests who visited the law school to speak there.
LIAM GLAVIN FLAT HAT NEWS ASSOC.
Students at college exhibit summer research projects at symposium
Researchers explain summer projects from multiple STEM fields at the College
Anselmo’s research focused on the benefits of carbon reduction initiatives for healthcare spending in the United States. He presented a variety of different approaches to mitigate carbon emissions, taking into account the perspectives of all major stakeholders in the issue: the public, private and healthcare sectors.
“I used what I’ve learned in the classroom about critical thinking and looking at problems from multiple disciplines, multiple perspectives, and it has been a really great opportunity for me to help
solve problems and share that knowledge with other students and faculty,” Anselmo said.
Also in attendance at this event were dozens of professors who supported the presenters throughout their research. Associate Chair and McLeod Tyler Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Doug Young showed up to support the four student researchers whom he supervised over the summer.
He expressed his appreciation for the Charles Center research funding as a critical source of support for emerging undergraduate researchers. He also noted
the importance of the research symposium itself as a way to increase awareness of the research that goes on at the College.
“And this [event] is also really nice, just to see the diversity of research that happens,” Young said. “Because so many times, people think research is just in the sciences, and we mix our little beakers together. But in fact, almost every department does research, and it’s great for students just to see, even freshmen or sophomores who haven’t started that, to kind of figure out what is happening on campus and what’s interesting.”
Student Assembly discusses student DEI concerns, rent program
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Tuesday, Sept. 16, College President Katherine Rowe visited the Student Assembly Senate to discuss accessibility, housing, student experience and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Rowe stressed the importance of developing campus infrastructure that prioritizes accessibility and facilitates cross-campus transportation for students and faculty.
“I think it would be good to have new infrastructure, including both accessibility and parking to get people closer to the spaces they need to be learning in and living in and have more points of entry that make a lot of sense,” Rowe said.
Rowe addressed concerns about student housing, for both undergraduate and graduate students, amidst the increased cost of living in the City of Williamsburg. Rowe discussed further collaboration with the City to ensure safe and affordable housing off-campus.
“If Rent Ready goes through, we will publish their list of Rent Ready apartments and houses as ones that we endorse,” Rowe said. “People will make sure that parents also have access to that list.”
When faced with a question from Sen. Tyson Liverman ’27 on the future of diversity and inclusion amidst a federal administration that has vowed to erase every diversity, equity, and inclusion program across the country, Rowe focused on how the College of William and Mary has shifted to a broader approach.
“In 2021, we made, during the pandemic, a real shift in our approach,” Rowe said. “We started looking for systemic improvements that would capture so many people that it’s more people than we knew who
need support, or access.”
Rowe referenced initiatives to prioritize holistic student well-being, like free Fitness and Wellness classes through the Bee McLeod Recreation Center and the Wellness Center. Rowe also referenced the initiative that shifted the TutorZone to be free of cost.
“We’re thinking about the most expansive version of inclusion and belonging that we can,” Rowe said.
“And look for every place where there’s obstacles that we’re not seeing.”
Chair of the Finance Committee Sen. Ryan Silien ’28 provided the Quarterly Finance Update. Silien emphasized the growing number of registered student organizations requesting Organization Budget Allocation Process funding, causing the funding allotments for Student Assembly bills to decrease.
Silien advocated for a more financially mindful approach, taking into consideration the annual events continually hosted by SA and the necessity of Reserves funds.
The senate passed the Subsidize Plan B and DME Bill sponsored by Sen. Nina Argel ’28, Class President Devaughn Henry ’28, Sen. Mackenna Wyckoff ’28 and Sen. Ryan Ponmakha ’28.
The senate passed the bill with an contentious amendment to remove Section B of Resolve 1, removing the section subsidizing Durable Medical Equipment for students.
Multiple senators expressed concern over SA funds going towards an issue that did not seem necessarily pertinent to the well-being of the student body.
The Senate also passed The Powwow Cultural Recognition Act, sponsored by Liverman. This bill allocates funding for the planning and implementation of a recognition and celebration of
Indigenous Peoples’ Day with the Native American and Indigenous Student Association.
The executive announced plans to re-establish a Busch Gardens Day next fall. If implemented, Busch Gardens Day would offer a limited number of discounted tickets to the local amusement park to students and staff for one day during the Fall
2026 semester. The executive
Eva’s Apple #9: Swinging in the rain
My heart rate is currently 150 bpm. Well, at least that’s what the StairMaster machine that I’m on right now says. I am going to check it periodically throughout this writing process and keep you updated. The people next to me watching me furiously type away on my phone probably think I’m a screenager. If only they knew I was writing this column right now. I’m not a screenager. I’m an artist.
Also, every time I finish a paragraph I have to up the level of my StairMaster climb. Time for level eight. 716 steps in, and I’m not getting off this thing until I’ve wrapped the column for this week. Ima speed run this.
The question for this week is as follows:
“how do i cope with the torrential downpours and newlyformed rivers on campus[?]”
As I read this question, my black Goga Mat Skechers are stomping the soul out of this StairMaster machine. Why is this detail about my black Goga Mat Skechers necessary? Because, dear reader, I don’t normally wear my black Goga Mat Skechers to do physical activity. My favorite shoes are my pink Skechers slip ins, but I can’t wear those today because they’re SOAKING WET. Why, you ask, are they soaking wet? Because I, an unsuspecting victim of rainwater vandalism, found myself on a one-way road to Loserville. I had to get to the Sadler Center from the Sunken Garden in the pouring rain, and I am too much of a brand loyalist to wear anything but Skechers. I
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was confident that I could traverse the puddle-ridden terrain that is our campus in my trusty sneakers. I, for the very first (and quite likely the very last) time in my life, was wrong. There was no way to my destination except through the puddle. So I sacrificed my shoes and my socks and, with them, my dignity.
Sidebar: I’m at 176 bpm. I hate you guys. I hate this StairMaster. I do this for you and for the love of the craft, but in this moment I question whether you were ever worth any of it. The price of fame is far too high. And yet, I’ve already amassed too much aura debt to give my column up too.
So I climb.
Alright, back to your question. You want to know how to cope with the rain? You gotta fight through the pain. Now, I’m not going to tell you how to get through the storm unscathed. As I just vividly narrated, I wasn’t even able to do that, so you, dear reader, are hopeless. But the question isn’t asking how to succeed. It’s asking how to cope. I can teach you how to do that. Here’s how I did it:
If it looks like there’ll be rain on your way to class, slip on some sneakers. It is imperative that you appear dangerously nonchalant to the rest of the campus community. Do not change your behavior for the weather. Wade right through the puddles as your shoes absorb the stormwater runoff. Stare right in the eyes of any passerby to assert dominance. Leave your shoes to dry and put on an objectively less epic pair of kicks (a Skechers Goga
Willy and Mary #13
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Mat walking shoe, for example). Wait inside your dorm until the rain stops and has fully evaporated. This might take days, and that’s okay. Do whatever it takes to stay out of the public eye. It’s a miracle you could keep up the cool guy masquerade even for one swim through Sunken. No need to risk slipping up.
The stress of all this acting and hiding has probably got you feeling tense. Walk yourself over to The Rec and attend a session of Foam Roll Friday with Kim. Once you’ve loosened up, you’ll have forgotten all the embarrassment of the past few days ever happened.
Before leaving The Rec, accidentally look down at your second favorite pair of shoes, reminding yourself that you did, in fact, live through the aforementioned embarrassment of the past few days. Let the anger consume you. The best coping mechanism is rage. Repeat this affirmation after me: “the campus puddles will never stop me again.” Do you really mean that? Say it with your chest. “THE CAMPUS PUDDLES WILL NEVER STOP ME AGAIN.”
Let’s capitalize on this energy. It’s time to build some muscle so next rain storm you can jump high and far enough to clear every puddle. What’s the scientifically-proven quickest way to beef up your quads and hammies? The StairMaster.
Once you’ve started climbing, you can choose one of three ways to occupy yourself. One: write me fan mail (use voice to text so the rest of the Rec can hear how much you love me). Two: apply to “Shark Tank” on my behalf. Three: make a LinkedIn page and let me be your first connection. Whatever you choose, don’t stop climbing until your legs have grown to eight times their original size.
My phone’s now at 4% and my tree trunk legs are bounding up this StairMaster at a whopping level 21. Don’t believe me? I have photo proof.
Whew. Here we are, at the end of this week’s column. I’ve climbed a little over 3,061 steps, and my heart rate is currently 189 bpm. The only river here today is my sweat and tears. Keep asking me stuff, and I’ll see you in two weeks.
Eva Jaber ‘28 (she/her) is a prospective English or international relations major. She is a member of the Cleftomaniacs, an a cappella group, an ESL tutor and hopes to encourage peace-minded advocacy on campus. Contact her at ehjaber@wm.edu.
If you had told me during my freshman year that I’d one day be excited for sorority recruitment, I would’ve laughed (politely) and then gone back to hiding in my dorm, psyching myself up to walk into the next house with a forced smile and sweaty palms. Spoiler alert: I wasn’t exactly what you’d call ‘confident’ when I went through recruitment as a potential new member. I felt like I was walking into a two-week-long audition where every room had brighter teeth, better hair and more coordinated clapping than the last. I spent more time obsessing over what to wear and how to answer “So, what’s your major?” than I did actually enjoying the process. I thought confidence meant performing, smiling big, talking a lot and pretending to be comfortable in my own skin when I absolutely wasn’t.
During the second weekend of recruitment, I realized that, if I wanted to find my home, I had to stop caring. I was so tired of trying to act the way I thought they wanted me to act that I just started trying to enjoy myself. I asked silly questions, I made jokes, I shared more about myself and about the things that I wanted to share rather than what I thought they wanted me to share. That second weekend was my favorite weekend of recruitment and remains so to this day. Only then was I able to find myself and my comfort zone in a house that I would then later call home.
Being on the other side of recruitment for two years now, I realize how wrong I was to be the way I was that first weekend, and how the recruitment process actually gave me the confidence I was so desperately faking.
Once I started recruiting Potential New Members myself, I wasn’t focused on impressing someone; I was focused on making someone feel at home. I saw the nerves in their eyes and remembered what that felt like. And the most beautiful part? I didn’t care if they had a perfectly polished answer or the trendiest outfit. I cared if they were genuine. I cared if they were kind. I cared if I could see them being my future sister, laughing on the couch during movie nights or crying on the floor during finals week. It hit me hard: almost everyone going through sorority recruitment spends so much time pretending to be someone they think sororities want, when all they ever wanted was someone real.
There’s this weird myth that recruitment is all about competition: who’s the ‘top house,’ who has the best outfits, who’s going to get
invited back to the most houses. But from the inside, it feels nothing like that. It feels like a connection. It feels like having a meaningful conversation with someone you’ve never met before and thinking, “Wow. I want her around.”
As a sister, I learned to see every PNM not as someone to evaluate, but as someone to meet. That shift changed how I saw myself, too. I no longer felt the pressure to be perfect; I felt empowered to be myself. Because being “enough” didn’t mean being the best. It meant being authentic, being grounded and being kind. I was lucky enough to find a chapter that helped me find my inner confidence, but my only regret is that I didn’t see it before the process even began.
We talk a lot about confidence as if it’s something you either have or you don’t. But for me, recruitment built my selfassurance, brick by brick. It taught me to walk into a room and own my presence because I knew I brought something to the table, even if that something was just me.
And now, I see recruitment as a chance to help someone else feel that. To look a nervous girl in the eye and show her, “Hey, you don’t have to be anyone but yourself here. That’s enough.” I won’t lie, recruitment is still exhausting. If these last two weeks have taught me anything, it’s that recruitment is hard, whether you’re a PNM or not. My feet still hurt, my voice still goes hoarse. And yes, we still clap and chant. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Because through all the small talk, dress up and chants, I found something I didn’t expect: confidence rooted in connection, compassion and community. And if you’re a PNM who dropped out because you were wondering if you’re “too quiet” or “not sorority material,” hear me out: you don’t have to become someone else to fit in. You just have to be brave enough to be yourself. The rest will follow. It is not too late to try again if you feel you missed an opportunity. But just know that if I can find my confidence through sorority recruitment, so can you.
Last year as I was being interviewed for an internship, I was asked a question: What would you do if you could do anything in life? As an international relations major, maybe I was supposed to say something different. Something along the lines of, “I want to be a diplomat,” or, “I would love to work in the foreign service.” But after a bit of thought I decided to be honest and say that it had been my lifelong dream to write a novel. The sacrifices we make for the sake of convenience — the topic has been on my mind a lot lately. Some of my friends say they’re worried about not having enough academic extracurriculars, about not getting the best grades, about not being as involved as other people on campus. That made me wonder… What do we do things for? Who is it that we do them for? Ourselves? Our resume? Of course, as a friend of mine pointed out, ideally those two would overlap. But do they? And what should we do if they don’t?
For some context, I’ve always wanted to be a writer. “I will write a book someday, I have so many ideas,” I would confidently say to anyone who would listen. Bit by bit, however, the spark died out, like many of them do. Slowly but surely, as I was told it would be impractical and unprofitable to be a writer, I decided to do something ‘better.’ I turned from one major to the next, trying on various costumes it seemed, looking in the mirror and seeing if I recognized myself in any of them. Finally, I landed on international relations. And still, something during
What do you things for?
Lana Altunashvili FLAT HAT OPINIONS ASSOC.
that interview stopped me, and I couldn’t lie. I wanted to be true to myself, and at the very least, in this perfect hypothetical world where nothing depends on what I do, where money doesn’t matter, I wanted to say that I would indeed write a story worth telling to the world. But why does that matter? What does this have to do with resumes or academics?
Over a heartfelt conversation, my best friend pointed out to me that I haven’t really done anything I’ve truly wanted to do over the past few years. Somehow, every time I wanted to do something I had dreamt of, life had simply got-
Charlie Kirk: Our turning point
Hunter Steele White
It seems we are criticized daily for our opinions, whether it be the food we like, our take on sports or our politics. I certainly, and at times loudly, criticize the same in others. I would be surprised if you, dear reader, have not done so as well. This is nothing out of the ordinary.
Human beings love to argue about right and wrong. Is mustard or ketchup a better condiment? Is LeBron James really better than Michael Jordan? Should you be proud to be an American?
Especially in politics, you are inevitably going to dig in for what you value, and to defend what you feel the other side is challenging. Disagreement is a sacred part of the human experience. You learn, you change and you either refine your argument or realize you are wrong. However, political disagreement has progressively and unceasingly shifted away from courteous dialogue and into genuine malice. In recent days, and for the majority of our formative years, there has been an erosion of the sacredness of disagreement into pure separation. When sides stop arguing and start harming, we all suffer.
The watershed moment of this extreme separation tragically struck Sept. 10, when Charlie Kirk, a passionate but peaceful conservative activist, was murdered over his political opinions. When Kirk was killed, some of my friends and colleagues, who personally knew and worked with the man, sobbed. Upsettingly, I know many who celebrated or tacitly defended his death. And so many more were numb or ambivalent. Someone I know said nonchalantly, “I guess this is just the way things are now.”
In light of all this, I wrestled with a question. In a world of increasingly volatile rhetoric and ever-deepening division, would I ever physically harm someone who disagreed with me? Take a moment to ask yourself this question, and genuinely consider that proposition.
I do not believe we ask ourselves such questions nearly enough. The sad and horrible reality we find ourselves in is that many of our fellow humans are committing atrocious violations of dignity and life because we disagree with them so strongly. Wars, brawls and killings all, at their core, start as disagreements. Rather than having a civil conversation, we are literally shooting each other in broad daylight over the direction we want our values, our country and our world to go. Kirk’s death cannot be underplayed, but we also must realize this is a culmination of a larger crisis: we are tearing ourselves apart.
This dynamic is exponentially and rapidly worsening in our everyday lives.
We are constantly exposed to heinous violence on our phones and to news stories designed with the explicit intent to agitate us toward the “other.” Our digi-
ten in the way. I thought of going to university elsewhere but couldn’t, thought of taking a gap year but couldn’t. I thought of studying English and Classics, but I didn’t. Every time, practicality would somehow seep into my hopes and dreams. And though I like where I ended up, though I enjoy doing what I do and the classes that I’m taking… I can’t help but long for more. And finally, after a long time, I’m doing something about it — study abroad.
Having submitted all of my essays and soon my application, I realize that I have so much to look forward to. After saying, “I want to study
tal world is built by algorithms incentivizing us to hate. Our world is, in a roundabout way, becoming opposed to disagreement and in favor of total separation between “us” and “them.”
Social media and online spaces make it so that we only ever have to expose ourselves to those who agree with us. This spurs us to amplify and radicalize the worst aspects of ourselves. There is no room to compromise. There is no room for negotiation. In this world, the other becomes the enemy.
The assassin who killed Kirk, the one who shot President Trump, the one who killed Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota, and the most recent school shooter in Colorado were all radicalized entirely or in part by extremist groups on social media. The worst part of this paradigm is that it forces us to forget each other’s humanity. Like him or hate him, Charlie Kirk was a 31-year-old father and husband who was an ordinary man in many respects. He was fallible, he could be wrong and he was only human, like you and me.
Just the same, the person who sits across from you, who is viscerally disagreeing with you, has a mother and a father. They have people in their lives that they love and could not bear to be without. They laugh, they cry, they dream. They are not the enemy. They are human with a soul, just like us. If you don’t like their ideas, tell them. If you disagree with the way they think, tell them. Take one step towards making a connection with that person and not isolating yourself in a silo of extremism and hatred. If everyone could do this, our world would be much better.
If you find yourself as one of those people who celebrated when he died, reflect on yourself. Ask yourself if the road of radicalism and inhumanity is one you wish to follow, with all its consequences. If you are on that road, there is time to turn back, so hurry up.
For those of us who are furious after his death, both fellow conservatives and all those appalled by senseless vio-
lence, we must reflect on ourselves. Our outrage must be precise and just, not unfettered and indiscriminate.
It’s worth noting that I personally was not a fan of Charlie Kirk. Even as a conservative, I disagreed with him on many of his methods. However, I admired that he treated others with dignity, even when arguing with them. So I urge you not to stoop to callousness or cruelty. Do what Kirk did: disagree passionately and try to preserve the other person’s humanity.
Those of us who are young may not remember a time when our country wasn’t so polarized. But it’s not meant to be this way. Nothing about anything happening in today’s world is normal. The hate, the suffering and this worsening separation are robbing us of our collective humanity.
So I ask you: help stop this wickedness. Mourn this loss, whether you agreed with Kirk or not. Then, go hug the person whose opinions you cannot stand. Pray for your opponents. Get out of the online silo and be willing to challenge your own perspectives. Do not stop disagreeing with each other, and disagree with curiosity and dignity.
Our country and so many in it are following a road of inhumanity and violence, so be a guide for peace. Debate loudly and forcefully, then enjoy a meal with your adversary. Stand up for your values without doing harm. Seek wrong and right it. Seek hurt and heal it. Let this act be the final gasp of a tumultuous time in our history. May it be remembered as a turning point away from evil toward justice, away from hatred toward love, away from separation toward a more united nation.
HunterSteeleWhite‘27 isa prospectivegovernmentandhistory major.HeistheIssuesDirectorof YoungIndependentsandworksfor AyannaWilliamsforWilliamsburgCity Council.Theviewsinthispieceare entirelyhisownanddonotrepresent eitherorganization.Contacthimat hswhite01@wm.edu.
abroad for a semester,” I will actually be doing it, and there is probably no feeling better than that. But even now, I found myself doubting the decision. Should I do the St. Andrews program instead? After all, it is more competitive… It would look better. It would look better on my resume. But again, as cliché as it may sound, I had to ask myself: who am I doing this for?
Sometimes this simple truth escapes us, but people value those who know more than them not only in their area of expertise but also in a realm completely different from what they normally do. People value different experiences. If I were an employer, after hundreds of the same almostcloned applicants, I would look for the ones that have taken risks and done something different. We don’t all have to have the same internships, the same extracurriculars, the same activities. True, it’s good to show you can lead a team. It’s good to show you know how to do experiments. And I’m not saying you shouldn’t do any of those things. But remember to also do something purely for yourself. Go practice the piano in the music hall, write a short story, learn some words in your native language that you may have forgotten — do something that will not go onto your resume but something that you will be proud of yourself for having done. And don’t wait like me… but if you did, it’s also never too late to start. Lana Altunashvili ’27 is a prospective international relations major. She is a James Monroe Scholar and a member of Club Tennis. Contact her at laltunashvili@wm.edu.
This isn’t a rebuttal, really … at least not in the traditional sense. It’s not a debate, I’m not facing off with anyone and I agree with most of the points Hunter Steele White ’27 makes in his piece. We are polarized as a nation. It is far too easy — as it has always been — and far too common, now, for people to turn to political violence or the threat of political violence. However, there are several points I critically disagree with. White makes the argument that the assassination of Charlie Kirk marks a “watershed moment” in our political landscape. I don’t think it does. The watershed moment, if there was one at all, came when Minnesota state lawmakers were targeted, and in one of the cases, killed in their home. It came when there were plots to kidnap the governor of Michigan, and it came when the U.S. Capitol was stormed Jan. 6. You could even say it came in 2015 when Dylann Roof opened fire on a church in Charleston, S.C. Kirk was a continuation of this cycle of violence and hatred that we find ourselves in as a country. It wasn’t the beginning and it won’t be the last of political violence unless things change. To the extent that this is a watershed moment, it is a watershed moment for freedom of speech in this country, as teachers in Virginia who have spoken about Kirk’s death in ways that President Trump and his followers have found objectionable on their social media have been threatened with the loss of their teaching licenses.
What has made this moment different is the martyr status that Trump and his followers have conferred on Kirk. Gov. Youngkin ordered the flags to be flown at half staff in the state of Virginia. Trump did the same. Trump did not do the same for Rep. Melissa Hortman, although he said he would have “if he was asked” by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. As if this is something that anyone has ever needed to ask a president to do. The Minnesota governor has no power over that decision. Charlie Kirk was not an elected official. What makes him entitled to treatment that someone who died as a result of the same political violence didn’t get?
White also called Kirk a “peaceful activist.” I guess technically he was. He never committed violence, but his rhetoric was as hateful and violent and painful as a physical blow could be. He called the Civil Rights Act a mistake, and said, in reference to crime rates, that “Blacks go around for fun to target white people.” He has made similar statements regarding Jewish communities. He said that Jewish communities “push hatred against whites.” By no means was he a
“peaceful activist.”
White said that Kirk treated people with dignity. When you talk about people like this, with this divisive language, large groups of people who live in the United States, there can be no dignity. It’s derisive fear mongering. I have no idea about Kirk in one-onone interactions, but a person is the sum of his actions and his words, and Kirk has said plenty. Did he deserve to die for it? Absolutely not, but he shouldn’t be honored … because he only “treats people with dignity” if you overlook evidence.
Do I agree with what happened to Charlie Kirk? Under no circumstances. His views deserve to be derided, but no one deserves to die. But his death should not push us to whitewash who he was and what he said. His death should not be the bellwether for what “our turning point” is. The children in Colorado who died the same day he did are just as much of a possible “turning point.”
There should be no tolerance for political violence; we should be allowed to disagree with each other. But our turning point should not be decided by a man who spread fear and division, who spoke just as often of what we should be afraid of as he ever did of solutions. It feels to me as though, in the service of the larger point he makes, which I agree with, White has painted an incomplete picture of Charlie Kirk, because if you step back and consider it, he is not the example we should be using. He’s not our turning point, what he is is the most recent statistic in a culture of division. So I agree with White, but he should find another person to make his turning point. Mollie Shiflett ’26 is a double majorinhistoryandlinguistics, not that she knows what to do with that.SheiscaptainofWomen’s ClubSoccerGoldfortheCollegeof WilliamandMaryandisanavidfan ofmostsports—exceptgolf.Email Mollieatmrshiflett@wm.edu.
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Mollie Shi ett
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lt's a "Hoot"
Bird Club offers peaceful sanctuary for bird watchers of all ex perience levels
Between lectures and labs, papers and problem sets, students at the College of William and Mary are notoriously busy. Amidst all of their academics, students engage in clubs across disciplines, which offer a change of pace and sense of balance. Such is the case with the College’s Bird Club.
Founded in 2014, the club’s aim is to provide a space for vaguely outdoorsy people and hardcore birders alike to find common ground through on- and off-campus birding adventures.
“You don’t even have to like birds,” executive board member Charlotte Toomey ’26 said. “You can just enjoy nature.”
This laid-back attitude means that there’s a range of skills and experience at any given Bird Club meeting,
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ELLA GREENE // CHIEF FEATURES WRITER
building a diverse community that learns from each other.
“We get people who are more casual, like me and Miranda [Parrish] and lots of other people who just kind of go for the social or being outside element,” executive board member Libby Eick ’26 said. “But we also had somebody who was a graduate student in ornithology coming one year. We’ve gotten photographers.”
Every Friday at 3:30 p.m., the club gathers near the Crim Dell to go on a walk together. Venturing through the woods to the Martha Wren Briggs Amphitheatre or the Keck Environmental Field Laboratory, members look at, listen for and try to identify the birds around them, which is no easy feat.
“We have the Merlin ID app, which is an app that we use to listen to bird calls,” Toomey said. “If we hear a bird calling, we can look it up for reference.”
Outside of technology, the club also depends on their own community expertise for help in identifying birds.
“We also have a group chat where we can send in pictures of birds, and then the group can ID them,” Toomey said.
With practice, members slowly start to build up their own skills.
“I’d say I’m pretty good with the birds on campus,” executive board member Miranda Parrish ’26 said. “If we were to leave the state or something, it’s a different story.”
Outside of their weekly walks, Bird Club also hosts special events, giving members with higher affinity for bird watching to engage that passion in a more serious way. They also provide members with opportunities to broaden the range of birds that they see.
Once a year, the club goes on a “Rarity Roundup” adventure to Cape Charles, Va.
“We just bird for 24 hours straight and find as many species as possible,” Toomey said.
The event is a favorite for many club members.
“It’s a day of hardcore bird watching,” Parrish said. “We start at 5 a.m. and end at 10:30 p.m. We get a hotel. It’s pretty serious.”
Planning this year’s trip is a main focus for the executive board right now. Amidst all the logistics, members are looking forward to seeing birds different from the ones they’re accustomed to seeing on campus.
“The American Woodcock is this really cute little bird that literally goes like, ‘meep,’” Toomey said. “I saw it when we went on the Cape Charles trip my sophomore year. But it literally looks like a football and just flies over
your head. And I want to see it doing its little worm walk. It’s extremely cute.”
If venturing all the way to Cape Charles isn’t up your alley, Bird Club also hosts special events on campus.
“We also do Owloween, which is when we go out on Halloween and look for owls, which for the past two years have been very successful,” Parrish said. “We get great views of barn owls.”
The barn owl on campus is particularly special to Bird Club.
“We have such good memories as a club of seeing that bird right when we need it most,” Parrish said.
The club also isn’t solitary. Their executive board is working on potentially collaborating with Student Environmental Action Coalition and College faculty for other special events.
“I want to make a Bird Club tree tour mashup happen, because I know SEAC does tree tours,” Toomey said. “I think Doug DeBerry usually leads it. He’s one of the environmental professors on campus. He identifies trees, and you go on a little nature walk.”
If Bird Club activities sound interesting, it’s not too late to join them. In fact, the later in the semester you join, the more birds you might see.
“We’re kind of in the dead time right now,” Parrish said. “The hotter it is, the less birds. When it gets colder, we’ll start seeing more.”
This might seem counterintuitive, but it actually makes a lot of sense to birders.
“Since we’re going in the afternoon, we’re actually going in a pretty dead part of the day, because it’s really hot at 3:30 to 4pm, right?” Eick said. “So the birds are like, ‘screw this, I don’t want to be here.’ So they’re usually out in the morning or right when the sun is setting. But when it gets colder, more birds come out during the day.”
From campus walks to Cape Charles adventures, barn owls to cardinals to Great Herons to American Woodcocks and everything in between, the culture of excitement that Bird Club has fostered has been extremely valuable to its members.
“Sometimes I tell people that I’m into bird watching, and they’re like, ‘that’s a grandma thing to do,’” Toomey said. “So it’s very nice to find a community of people who also like bird watching, that you can yap to about birds and they’re not going to be bored. I think it’s just cool to have a community of people.”
If joining this community sounds interesting to you, follow @wmbirdclub on Instagram for updates.
Mark Oshiro, New York Times bestselling author, knows their stuff when it comes to middle grade novels. They recently collaborated with author Rick Riordan, known for his fantasy series Percy Jackson, on two novels focusing on Riordan’s beloved characters, Nico di Angelo and Will Solace, with the second book having just come out Sept. 23. Oshiro has been nominated for a Lambda Literary Award, received a Schneider Family Book Award and appeared on several shortlists such as the NPR Best Books of 2020.
“Sometimes the most mundane moments from my life, I can write a story out of,” Oshiro said.
The College of William and Mary welcomed Oshiro as part of the Hayes Writer series, sponsored by the English and creative writing departments Sept. 10. Professor Addie Tsai moderated the event, and Olivia Marshall ’26 interviewed Oshiro, with Marshall having been a fan of their work for years.
Oshiro has become intertwined with the Percy Jackson fandom, collaborating with Rick Riordan on “The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure,” released in May 2023, and the newly-released sequel “The Court of the Dead.” Riordan approached
Oshiro to collaborate on Nico and Will’s story, given Oshiro’s experience writing books from a queer perspective. He hoped they could bring that sense of realism to the story.
Oshiro described the collaboration experience as “surreal,” especially because Riordan’s stories came with a pre-existing fandom and characters.
“There are points of it that were very scary because these are beloved characters that someone else wrote, and now they’re in my hands, and I want to do them right,” Oshiro said.
Within their individual work, Oshiro has also explored queerness through the lens of middle grade fantasy and fiction.
Oshiro explained that they focused on that genre particularly to help middle grade readers explore complex themes from the perspective of someone experiencing the world at a young age.
Oshiro felt there was a lot of themself in the protagonist, Xochitl, of their fantasy novel, “Each of Us a Desert.” In addition to writing a thoroughly relatable character, Oshiro set out in that novel to write a more autobiographical character than they had before.
“There are moments, thoughts, emotions that this main character has that are very close to what I have experienced,” Oshiro said. “I don’t know that I’ll want to do it again, but it is actually the book I’m most proud of.”
Marshall also saw herself in Xochitl’s character, saying that “Each of Us a Desert” was an impactful read for her because of Xochitl’s relatable struggles as an eldest daughter.
“The societal and family pressure that she’s under, especially at the beginning of the book, and thinking she has no one to turn to, is something I’ve felt before,” Marshall said.
“Each of Us a Desert” follows a common theme in Oshiro’s books of belonging and found family. Marshall mentioned this while interviewing Oshiro at the event, elaborating later that she particularly resonated with the idea of the characters finding a sense of belonging and themselves in the process.
“By the end of the book, they truly are and understand themselves,” Marshall said. “I feel like that’s something so important, especially in the developmental years of college.”
Oshiro named their experiences growing
up queer in Southern California as the reason why belonging and found family are such a large element of their books. This was also a reason why they chose to write middle grade novels, as it is such a transitional period in people’s lives.
“For me, middle grade is that sweet spot of, you’re just starting to figure out your place in your local community, in your family, with your friends,” Oshiro said.
Even before middle school, Oshiro began to find themself, having found a deep love for writing at a young age. Oshiro knew they were interested in writing from the age of eight, when they picked up a copy of Stephen King’s “It” out of a box of books their older sister had left behind when she moved out. They describe the feeling of reading “It” as a high they have been chasing ever since, with both reading and writing their own books.
“I was having those feelings of ‘this feels magical, how is this human able to write words and put a picture in my mind that feels so vivid and alive?’” Oshiro said.
Oshiro began writing chapter books based on the Goosebumps series, their first taste of writing horror, at the age of 10. This turned into a series they dubbed “Terrifying Tales” that they distributed at their elementary school for other students to check out from the library.
“I don’t think I processed that at the time, but looking back, I’m like, ‘Oh, I was receiving positive reinforcement, this is something that I’m good at,’” Oshiro said.
Knowing they wanted to pursue writing in any form, Oshiro became a journalist and pop culture writer after college, writing book and TV reviews. It was not until their first book was published at age 34 that they realized a childhood dream was coming true.
“I had what felt like not a full life,” Oshiro said. “It wasn’t like I was done with life, but it was very much this dream I had since I was a kid hasn’t happened yet. And so I think even as I got the book deal, even as that book was being edited, I’m like, it’s not real. It had to actually come out.”
Oshiro emphasized that even though they had an idea of what they wanted to do in the future, following through on it later in life did not invalidate the fact that they achieved it eventually.
“I think there’s this idea that you have to be
in the career you’re going to have for the rest of your life the second you leave college, and if you don’t, it’ll never happen,” Oshiro said. Now that they have started writing books, they have not stopped. When it comes to their drafting process, Oshiro thrives on organized chaos. Their story ideas begin with a pinned note listing the ideas as well as the date, time, their location and current feelings. From there, they get the outline down as well as the last sentence of the book.
Music fuels the entire process. Oshiro uses playlists for each mood and book, adding to them while drafting to get into the flow of writing.
“If I’m out in public, I always make sure to bring my headphones so that I can just have music playing, but it allows me to get into the mood or the headspace a lot easier,” Oshiro said.
Even though the drafting process itself usually takes 30-60 days, and editing takes longer, Oshiro emphasized that the point of writing is to enjoy the process. Their outlook on writing is that sometimes work you would deem ‘good enough’ gets you to the next step and, ultimately, towards a work that you’re proud of.
“I want to write good books and good stories that people enjoy, but I don’t need them to be perfect, especially drafts that no one is going to see,” Oshiro said. “I get why perfectionism happens, but maybe we can let it go.”
COURTESY IMAGE / BIRD CLUB TRIBELINK
CAROLINE PIRSCH // FLAT HAT VARIETY ASSOC.
COURTESY IMAGE / ADDIE TSAI
Community bonds with science at Sci-Fri
ISC event entertains students, families, community members
JULIANA NELSON // THE FLAT HAT
Friday, Sept. 19 was the College of William and Mary’s third annual Sci-Fri event. This event offers a unique opportunity for college and K-12 students, faculty, community members and families to come together and explore what our school’s science departments have to offer.
For two and a half hours, the doors of the Integrated Science Center opened to anyone and everyone, and the building bustled with activities. From scavenger hunts to poster talks to lab demonstrations to building tours, there was something for everyone to enjoy at this event — even if they aren’t typically a science lover.
The idea for Sci-Fri came to Tyler Meldrum, associate professor of chemistry and director of undergraduate research, after working as a postdoctoral researcher in Germany.
“I saw that, in the city where I was, they had a big open university night where people would come out to tour labs and things,” Meldrum said. “I had the idea that, maybe, we could just get all of the science that’s happening in the ISC together to do a big community event for the campus community, but also for the Williamsburg community.”
Meldrum organized the first Sci-Fri in the fall of 2023, and has grown the event each year since. The first year of organizing Sci-Fri included a lot of logistical questions, mostly focusing around how the event would work and how they could pull it off.
“It was basically eight months of preparation to figure out, how do we get the marketing materials, how do we get the publicity, how do we get the volunteers, how do we recruit for the lab tours?” Meldrum said.
Many people involved noted that the event has only continued to grow and change, both within the inner circle and in terms of outside participants. There are now many more labs open during the event, offering tours, demonstrations and information about their research. There is even ice cream made using liquid nitrogen that visitors can snack on.
Meldrum said that, this year, for the first time ever, so many students were interested in sharing their research that two poster sessions were held, allowing space and time for each of the 26 undergraduates and labs that wanted to present their work.
The variety of labs that could be toured offered something for everyone who came to the event. With 23 sessions spanning the fields of biology, chemistry, applied sciences, computer science, data science, psychology and neuroscience,
there was no shortage of new information and experiences. Labs taught topics such as tissue engineering, hands-on chemistry experiments, yeast evolution, AI in healthcare, brain activity, the memory of plants and so much more.
Sydney Foxx ’28 attended the event, and had a good time exploring the different displays.
“I liked the touch tank, the Allen Lab touch tank. And I also liked seeing the games that the stations had for the kids in the main atrium of the ISC, that was really cute to see because they had little wheels and candy and stuff, and the kids were having a lot of fun,” Foxx said.
A popular and recurring attraction of Sci-Fri is Jon Allen’s marine invertebrate touch tank. All three years of Sci-Fri, Allen, associate professor of biology, jumped at the chance to show off some of the organisms that reside in his lab. Along with offering up an abundance of starfish, urchins, crabs, sand dollars and other fun critters, Allen shared his thoughts on the event.
“I’m always surprised at how much traffic there is,” Allen said. “I was somewhat skeptical the first time they did it. I was like, ‘Is anyone going to come? Will people be interested?’ And I’ve been very pleasantly surprised every year. It seems like there’s more people, there are more stations in the ISC. It gets bigger and better every year, which is awesome, because it’s super rewarding.”
Allen also noted the abundance of community members who take advantage of this fun evening. It is an opportunity for members outside of the College community to learn more about science and about what the school and its students do. There were people of all ages strolling through the winding halls of the ISC: families with babies and children, middle and high school students, groups of friends, university students who came to support their classmates, community members who came to support their friends in the faculty, College faculty from other departments and more.
An overwhelming sense of community is something that College students feel at many campus events, but Sci-Fri offers a unique experience from the crowd that it draws in. It also offers an opportunity for colleagues from different departments to come together and create an exciting and informative event that sparks so much joy in the community.
Meldrum told a story of a high schooler who came to visit Sci-Fri one year, and grew progressively more excited when talking to a student who worked in one of the labs.
“[He said], ‘I didn’t know that there was such
good STEM here. I’m definitely going to look into applying to William and Mary.’ It’s like, that’s the point,” Meldrum said.
The event exists to get people excited about science and learning more about what the College has to offer. Professors and students alike noted how fulfilling it is to see kids come out of their shells and get excited about what they’re seeing, which was apparent at every station throughout the building.
With such a large event, student volunteers are crucial to the success of the evening. Not only are they needed for presenting their own research or the work of the labs that they are involved in, but many students help with directions and ushering throughout the building, helping everyone find what piques their interest.
“[I enjoy] watching undergraduates interact with other people because that’s an opportunity for me to kind of see them get excited as teachers in a way,” Allen said. “Normally, their role is sitting in the classroom learning things, so it’s fun to watch them reflect that excitement back to people.”
This event gives students a unique opportunity to share what they love and dedicate many hours of their time to with people who may not have any prior interest in science. The joy from students getting to teach others could be heard loudly echoing throughout the halls. Kids with smiling faces darted from one classroom to the next, eager to keep learning more.
Sci-Fri is one of the only times that all of the scientific disciplines can come together at one place and time to offer so much information and enthusiasm alike. Based on the past three years, and with so much love for the event from both students and staff involved, as well as community members, it feels safe to say that Sci-Fri will only continue to grow into something more enthralling and vibrant as the years go on.
Tribe Talks: SADLER ice cream machine
Mary for the fall semester, no one anticipated the change awaiting them that lay just beyond the doors of Sadler: a brand-new and drastically improved ice cream machine. As students noticed the upgrade, excitement swelled and a new life sparked into Sadler. Very quickly, eager students lined up to try the new sweet treat and were surprised with its stark contrast from last year’s. Previously, Sadler o ered acceptable ice cream with a modest array of toppings. However, the machine was extremely susceptible to damages and frequently required repairs that sometimes took days to complete, a tragedy for students who looked forward to the treat daily. Additionally, the ice cream had a reputation for tasting oddly watery and thin, and the topping options were often repetitive and sparse.
The new machine, however, offers ice cream that is richer, thicker and tastier than its predecessor, embodying the true characteristics of traditional soft serve ice cream. The topping containers have remained full and now cater to a wider variety of different tastes and preferences.
The much-needed upgrade has caused demand for the dessert to skyrocket, producing long lines of students awaiting their turn to take part in the new Sadler ice cream experience. Despite this increase, the machine has remained sturdy
with no malfunctions.
“I thought that it was exquisite,” Lily Westhelle ’27 said. “I thought that it was creamy and delicious and was not reminiscent of the froyo vibes from last year.”
Westhelle was all too familiar with the mechanical difficulties the machine faced previously, and she was hesitant to believe anything was actually going to change. However, she was pleasantly surprised with the upgrade, and on a scale from one to 10, she gives this year’s ice cream an eight while giving last year’s between a six and a seven.
Multiple students added to this positivity, rating the dessert an eight out of 10. Andrew Funk ’28, who was likewise not expecting the change, has come to far prefer the ice cream produced by the new machine.
“It’s way more like ice cream, and it’s less like soup,” Funk said. Brianna Kerns, a cashier at Sadler, also shared her thoughts on the new machine. Kerns learned about the change at the start of the fall semester and claimed it has become quite popular among the student body. She often witnesses the long lines of students that stretch out from both sides of the machine and snake through the dining hall waiting for their ice cream.
Despite the vast majority of positive opinions, every change is bound to be met with some
pushback. For example, Kerns admits that she actually prefers the old ice cream machine.
“The new one is more creamier. The old one, I can’t put my finger on it. I like the old one better than I do like the new one,” Kerns said. “It tastes like a whipped cream more than an ice cream.”
Similarly, Taran Jeevan
Whether you choose chocolate or vanilla, a cup or a cone, two toppings or 10, a visit to the Sadler Center’s ice cream machine is the cherry on top after any meal, study session or late night adventure. As students and faculty returned to the College of William and
sports
Rehabbed
ready, Hamilton Howes will not go down
was definitely hard sitting there watching and not being able to play.”
Junior defender and midfielder Hamilton Howes is an imposing figure on the soccer field.
At 6’3” and 190 pounds, the Virginia Beach native carries himself with the air of a player who refuses to be rattled. This season, he ranks second on the team in goals scored, an impressive feat for someone whose positions often demand defensive effort and intensity.
Yet behind that strength lies the heartbreak of an injury he suffered during an October 2024 game against Elon. Less than a year ago, Howes was sidelined by a painful posterior cruciate ligament tear. On what seemed like a routine play, his season ended in an instant.
“On a corner kick against Elon, one of the defenders actually fell on my knee, and I felt something,” Howes recalled. “I got up and then ran, and then my knee kind of gave out. I knew something was wrong.”
The timing could not have been worse. When the injury happened, Howes was a sophomore, a year often critical in the development of college athletes. Typically, players refine their skills in their second years, earning starting roles and building toward leadership opportunities in later seasons. Instead, Howes faced months of immobility and recovery sessions.
William and Mary finished the 2024 season with a 5-10-1 record. The campaign featured “some good moments,” as Howes puts it, but its outcome was ultimately disappointing. For Howes, the emotions associated with the Tribe’s performance were exacerbated by the frustrating experience of being unable to compete alongside his teammates.
“It sucks just having to sit on the bench and not being able to … do what you love,” he said. “I’ve been playing soccer my whole life. So, it
Howes tried returning in the spring, wearing a brace and testing the stability of his knee, but it quickly became clear he wasn’t ready. The setback was disheartening, but he made the difficult decision to step back once more and dedicate himself fully to rehabilitation.
“I ended up coming back in the spring and wasn’t ready, even coming back with a brace,” Howes said. “So, I actually took the whole spring off to rehab more.”
His discipline and patience carried him into the summer, when he finally began to feel like himself again. Playing in a semi-professional league, he returned to the game without the brace for the first time since the injury and was able to compete without feeling any pain.
The path back was not one he walked alone. Howes credits his parents as crucial figures in his recovery process.
“Some of the biggest support I had was definitely my parents, especially over the summer,” Howes said. “They helped me rehab at [Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters], and it was like two to three times a week — working with a trainer one on one.”
Howes also expressed gratitude towards his teammates, who rallied behind him, checked on him and made sure he was ready to get back on the field when the time came.
“My teammates [were] always reaching out, seeing if I [was] good and keeping up with me,” Howes said. “That was another big support. They were always there for me if I needed to talk.”
By the time preseason rolled around, Howes was ready, having spent months carefully building back his strength.
“I rehabbed every day and lifted. I did as much as I could to come back faster,” Howes said. “I came back for preseason, and everything went well.”
Still, the memory of the injury lingers. Even during warm-ups, Howes remains acutely aware of what can happen when the body gives way. He now takes extra care to protect himself.
“I have to warm up my knee so it’s not stiff and tight,” Howes said. “That’s a big thing for me. I’ll roll out, I’ll use a little Icy Hot. I know I could get hurt again, so I think a big role is keeping it healthy.”
Despite his extended absence from the field, Howes describes his current form as better than ever, a sentiment William and Mary head coach Chris Norris ’95 echoed when Howes
scored a goal against Rutgers Sept. 1.
“When I first came back from the spring, I couldn’t move the same,” Howes said. “Now being able to do that feels great, and I feel very, very good — like 120%.”
With the 2025 season underway, Howes has clear goals: consistency, durability and persistence, wanting to “play the whole season without getting hurt” as well as play 90 minutes a game “without going down.”
So far, Howes has met the expectations he set for himself, starting in all of William and Mary’s games while ranking second on the team in goals. Although it is not a role he gets to fill often, Howes enjoys acting as an attacker.
“It feels great,” Howes said. “I love to get into the box and attack when I can. As much defending as I do, I do love to get up and get forward. It’s really cool and I hope to get some more.”
Despite the individual successes of Howes and others, William and Mary (0-4-3, 0-2-1, CAA) has endured a rough start and is still searching for its first win. However, Howes remains confident that his squad is on the verge of turning things around.
“Getting our first win — that’s a huge thing,” Howes said. “I think we are good enough. We’ve
had a little bit of a tough start, but I want to get that first one. I think if we get some motivation and confidence, we can do it.”
Tuesday, Sept. 23, William and Mary will face in-state rival Old Dominion (2-3-2, 0-1 Sun Belt) at Martin Family Stadium in Williamsburg, Va., a matchup that could
Still winless, Tribe soccer claims draw against undefeated
Senior forward Sam Delgado equalizes to preserve the 1-1 tie at home as defense shines
JACOB TOBMAN THE FLAT HAT
Two blowout losses in quick succession would drain some teams’ confidence, giving them an excuse to throw in the towel. Under the leadership of head coach Chris Norris ’95, William and Mary men’s soccer is not one of those teams.
Following a 5-0 loss to Coastal Athletic Association foe UNC Wilmington (2-2-2, 2-1 CAA) Sept.
13 and a 7-0 setback at the hands of No. 2 North Carolina State
(7-0-1, 1-0-1 ACC) Sept. 16, the Tribe (0-4-3, 0-2-1 CAA) moved its season back in a positive direction Saturday, Sept. 20, claiming a 1-1 draw against Elon (5-0-2, 2-0-1 CAA) at Martin Family Stadium in Williamsburg, Va.
For Norris, the matchup was all about turning the page from the two disheartening defeats and focusing on the challenges ahead.
“Sometimes you have to just throw those things away and reset yourselves physiologically and mentally,” Norris said.
After conceding three and four first-half goals against UNCW and NC State respectively, the first 45 minutes were far more stable for William and Mary. The Tribe had a few promising forays into the Phoenix half: in the fifth minute, senior forward Lucas Caldas tested graduate student goalkeeper Jackson Leavitt in the Elon net, and in the 44th minute, junior midfielder Alexandros Katsari-
Hoefer attempted a shot that flew past the net.
William and Mary also turned in a productive defensive effort, staying compact as the Elon wingers and fullbacks delivered the ball into the box from out wide. The Tribe did not allow the Phoenix to attempt a shot during the period, a fact that pleased Norris.
“We were happy with the way we performed in the first half,” Norris said. “Our focus primarily after the week we had was not conceding goals.”
Led by junior midfielder Jahmir Flowers, who was able to get past his defender on multiple occasions, the Phoenix came out more energized in the second half. Elon broke through in the 49th minute — junior goalkeeper Ryan Eapen blocked a shot from junior forward Jordin Wilson, but junior midfielder Martin Kozak recovered the rebound and fired it past Eapen, giving the Phoenix a 1-0 advantage.
While the week’s earlier games saw the Tribe struggle to remain competitive after falling behind, that was far from the case Saturday, as the Green and Gold immediately pushed for an equalizer.
In the 68th minute, senior midfielder Diogo Branco delivered the moment the Tribe was looking for, swerving into the Elon box and winning a penalty. Senior forward Sam Delgado took the kick, sending Leavitt the wrong way before calmly placing it in the
back of the net.
Norris said he and his staff moved Branco into a more advanced midfield role before the game, getting the Portugal native closer to the box and into positions where he could attack the Elon backline. The decision paid off in spades, allowing William and Mary to leave the match with a point.
With the score level at 1-1, both sides chased a game-winner in the closing minutes, coming close on multiple occasions — two different Elon corners nearly ended up in the Tribe’s net.
Defending set pieces has been one of Norris’ concerns throughout the season and remains a major point of emphasis for the Tribe coach, as they nearly doomed his squad to a loss.
“We’re worried about set pieces every game, and [Elon’s] got some
big guys and gets good service,” Norris said.
The Tribe came inches away from a last-second goal of its own as Delgado forced Leavitt to make an 89th-minute save after he found his way behind the Elon backline, but the game ended in a deadlock.
With William and Mary’s difficult week now behind it, Norris expressed his hope that his squad will carry the early-game acumen and defensive solidity it displayed against Elon into the second half of the season.
“Our ability to start the game well and to defend well early on, especially, and to stick to a good defensive plan,” Norris said.
be
RICHARD CHILDRESS / THE FLAT HAT
Howes controls the ball in a recent game against UMBC.
The Tribe will
back in action at Martin Family Stadium Tuesday, Sept. 23, against in-state rival Old Dominion (2-3-2, 0-1 Sun Belt).
KYLIE TOTTEN / THE FLAT HAT
The Tribe will next see action on Tuesday when it hosts the Monarchs of Old Dominion.
KYLIE TOTTEN / THE FLAT HAT
Howes has stepped up into a large role in his junior season.
KYLIE TOTTEN / THE FLAT HAT Tribe soccer has yet to find a win this season, but Norris was optimistic after the draw at home.
RYAN GOODMAN / THE FLAT HAT
After appearing in nine games as a freshman, Howes tore his posterior cruciate ligament during his sophomore season.
sports
London records 100th career win as William and Mary improves to 2-2 Tribe overcomes rain delay, clobbers Charleston Southern
of practice.
What does a crowd of 8,500 people sound like?
Saturday, Sept. 20, William and Mary football (2-2, 1-0 CAA) found out. The Zable Stadium stands were filled with green and gold as the Tribe defeated Charleston Southern (0-4, 0-1 OVCBig South) 34-7, turning an explosive offensive showing into a lopsided victory. For the second consecutive home game, William and Mary fans withstood harsh weather conditions, stood in the rain and conquered humidity, unfazed by a delayed start time due to storms.
The win marked the 100th of Tribe football head coach Mike London’s career, a milestone that made him visibly emotional.
“I know in this profession we count wins and losses,” London said. “It’s important. But I’m supposed to pour into other people and know that we all have to operate in our gifts. And what a great opportunity to celebrate with these guys, my family, [my] team.”
London’s squad faced little resistance from the visiting Buccaneers. On the shoulders of freshman running back Hakeem Watters, who finished with 119 rushing yards on 13 carries, CSU accumulated 163 rushing yards to the Tribe’s 151.
Otherwise, William and Mary dominated both sides of the ball, getting back on track after its Sept. 13 blowout loss to Virginia (31, 1-0 ACC). The Green and Gold held the ball for 36 minutes, four seconds, compared to CSU’s 23 minutes, 56 seconds. The Tribe racked up 449 yards to its opponents’ 239, and converted 28 first downs to the Buccaneers’ 10. William and Mary’s long, successful drives limited CSU’s possession time and crushed the visitors’ morale.
The Tribe took a 14-7 lead going into halftime, after third-down failures and an unsuccessful fake field goal prevented it from claiming a larger advantage. Despite these mistakes, William and Mary excelled during the game’s second half. After the break, the Tribe outgained the Buccaneers 247-140, limited CSU to 4.8 yards per play and held redshirt sophomore quarterback Zolten Osborne to 30 passing yards.
The Tribe did not stifle Osborne alone — it wreaked havoc on the entire CSU offense, forcing and recovering two fumbles during the third quarter. In the same period, William and Mary replicated its defensive excellence on the other side of the ball: sophomore tight end Jackson Blee hauled in two touchdown passes to push the Tribe’s lead to 20 points.
The touchdowns, the first of Blee’s collegiate career, made the win especially meaningful to the underclassman.
“It was absolutely amazing,” Blee said. “Just getting that play from the sideline, that the first touchdown I knew was coming to me — I knew I had to make a play, and luckily, that’s what happened. I was ecstatic.”
One of Blee’s scores was from seven yards out, while the other was from 63 yards out. London attributed Blee’s success to his speed and his ability to accumulate yards after the catch.
“We talked about YACs — yards after catch,” London said. “That’s what happened particularly on [Blee’s] long run. I didn’t know he was that fast. This dude’s fast, you know. But it was pretty neat to watch, pay attention to the details and then watch the success of that materialize.”
Saturday’s game was part of William and Mary’s Hall of Fame Weekend, which honored former men’s basketball head coach Tony Shaver and former football player B.W. Webb ’12, among seven others. As the Tribe reflected on its history, it saw strength in its future. Blee, freshman wide receiver Alfred Honesty and junior wide receiver Joseph Johnson each recorded their first career scores, with Honesty’s touchdown giving William and Mary an early 7-0 advantage and Johnson’s touchdown sealing the Tribe’s victory in the fourth quarter. Junior quarterback Tyler Hughes, in his first year as a starter, had his undisputed best game of the campaign, throwing a season-high four touchdowns.
Hughes’ 296 passing yards and 51 rushing yards led William and Mary to a bounce-back win. He completed 22 of his 33 pass attempts, or 66.7%, demonstrating both his arm strength and the strength of the wide receiver corps. The Tribe’s offensive play was crucial in securing its victory against CSU’s run-heavy offense. London credited his team’s performance to a stellar week
“The emphasis going into this week, it’s just the details of coaching,” London said. “There’s a lot of things that you don’t see on paper that could’ve gone differently. Going over the corrections and repping that all throughout the week, and watching film — we took that very seriously, and that caused us to have a great week.”
While the game marked just another early-season victory for William and Mary, it represented much more for London. As he looked back on his career, London reflected on his life experiences, making clear that his 100th win represents more than just a milestone on the football field.
“I’ve been a police officer,” London said. “I’ve been — trigger pulled and gun not go off. I’ve been a bone marrow donor to my daughter, saved her life when the odds were 10,000-to-1 that a parent could be a match to their own child. So there are things that have happened in this journey to the 100th win that it’s important to me to give back, to be a servant leader and enjoy the ride.”
According to London, he is grateful to coach at a place like William and Mary, where he can help develop college students into future leaders. London wore his late father’s dog tags at the press conference, honoring a man he said showed him how to give back to the people around him.
“These are my father’s dog tags,” London said. “He passed away a little bit ago. Military man that taught me everything I need, how to be a coach, what a father looks like with his family, as a husband, and so I’m supposed to give back to all the people.”
The Tribe hopes to use the experience it gained against CSU Saturday, Sept. 27, when it travels to face No. 12 Villanova (1-2, 0-1 CAA) at Villanova Stadium in Villanova, Pa. As the Wildcats were picked third in the Coastal Athletic Association preseason poll, the matchup will prove especially important.
Now on the journey to 200 wins, London said his squad will focus on the controllables during the week ahead.
“We just gotta keep stacking the opportunities, the wins, the corrections, the things that you can control,” London said. “Control the controllables. It’s a road game, they’re a good team, you know, they’re a nationally ranked team. So take care of it and make the corrections of this game, and then go on a game plan to get ready to play a top 20 team.”
JONAH
Despite facing its second rain delay in as many home games, Wil liam and Mary defeated Charleston Southern 34-7 Saturday, Sept. 20. Graduate student offensive lineman Ryan McKenna (75) prepares to snap the ball against the Buccaneersʼ defensive front.
The Tribe performed well in the trenches, giving up just two sacks, recording four quarterback hurries and racking up five tackles for loss. Behind its offensive
