The Blue & Gray Press

Page 1

THE

BLUE &GRAY

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON STUDENT NEWSPAPER

PRESS

September 20, 2018

VOLUME 92 | ISSUE 3 SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE

UMW takes precautions in preparation for Hurricane Florence

1922

RACHEL COOPER Staff Writer

families and debated whether or not they should go home for the hurricane four day weekend. As around 1.7 million people Junior English major Elisabeth were told to evacuate their homes in DellaRova chose to stay at the states of South Carolina, North UMW because of traffic and train Carolina and Virginia in preparation cancellations even though the hurricane for Hurricane Florence, the University was supposed to hit UMW more than of Mary Washington prepared her home in New Jersey. “I’m afraid for possible heavy wind, rain and that if I leave, I will get stuck at home damage to the university. On Monday, and will not be able to get back by the Sep. 19, Hurricane Florence was a time campus reopens,” said DellaRova. Category 4 storm and on a path to hit “I thought about taking a train home, South Carolina, North Carolina and but all the trains are cancelled and Virginia. So the tracks will in preliminary probably be preparation, on “University administrators acted impassable at Monday night, with an abundance of caution and the end of the UMW cancelled weekend.” were guided by recommendations all classes for Some from our emergency and public students left Thursday, Sep. 13 and Friday, school to be safety experts.” Sep. 14. with their “University families. -Anna Billingsley administrators “I decided acted with to go home an abundance of caution and were because of parents’ weekend being guided by recommendations from our cancelled due to the school closing,” emergency and public safety experts,” said freshman Claire Coleman. said Anna Billingsley, Associate Vice Although her town was expecting to President of University Relations, be hit, she took advantage of the four in an email. “These decisions were day weekend to visit her family. Other reinforced by state officials. The students were happy to leave before the announcement of school closing was storm and unsafe driving conditions. intentionally made early in the week “I was already planning to come so that students would have time to home this weekend, so since the school consult with their families on the best closed campus I was able to leave course of action.” before the rain hit,” said senior math “In 2003, Hurricane Isabel caused major Meagan Wilkinson. the school to shut down for two to three For students like DellaRova who days,” said Ruth Lovelace, Director of chose to stay on campus, the safety of Emergency Management and Safety. these students was the main priority of Hurricane Isabel is the last time the university. UMW closed for a hurricane. “We will have •HURRICANE | 2 Many students talked with their extra staffing

Retail dining options updated following survey feedback matt LEIBOWITZ Staff Writer

The new semester has brought many updates to the dining options available to students. Sushi has been made available in the Nest and Li’l Joe’s has made additions to their Starbucks menu. The Underground, renamed the Underground Café, has both changed their hours and menu while also being newly managed by students. Rose Benedict, the Unit Marketing Coordinator for the University of Mary Washington Dining Services, said that none of these changes were made without deep consideration of the community. “Last year we conducted some in-depth surveys of UMW student dining preferences and learned that

IN THIS

ISSUE

there was a big demand for sushi,” she said. This survey led to the decision to bring Hissho Sushi to the Nest. “They are experts in this field and their product is always of the highest quality,” said Benedict. She also added that student response has been overwhelmingly positive. “[Hissho Sushi] either sell[s] out or come[s] very close to selling out of their products every day,” she said. Senior international affairs major Chloe Chindgren was very excited about the new addition of sushi. “I have tried it and I get it almost every week,” she said. Despite its success, other students weren’t thrilled with the change in pricing and the removal of last year’s Hot Spot, which Hissho

MUSIC PLAYLIST

•DINING | 11

Off-campus students can still be disciplined by UMW Police.

Griffin Bower / The Blue & Gray Press

Students question UMW’s policy on off-campus conduct violations ALEX FRIEDRICH Senior Writer

One day in the middle of the fall semester of 2016, Kevin Covino, a junior at the University of Mary Washington, got an unexpected knock on his off-campus door. It was the Fredericksburg police. Covino had invited a few friends over to pass the time and listen to music in his backyard, and by using a portable speaker, Covino thought it would be a contained event that would not disturb the neighbors. However, due to the noise, the police did end up being called by a neighbor. After speaking with Covino, the police walked toward the backyard to find the group of students. Being at the scene in person, the police believed the event deserved no noise ordinance citation, and left without issuing one. However, that next morning, Covino received a judicial summons from the Office of Student Conduct and Responsibility at the University of Mary Washington, regarding an offcampus violation of the student noise ordinance. While he had not received any citation from the Fredericksburg City Police Department, he still received a judicial review summons and sanction from the university. “It was real weird,” said Covino. “The police almost seemed confused that they were even called. But in my student email, the next morning, I saw that judicial summons from the disciplinary office.” Covino is not alone when it comes to being reprimanded by Mary Washington for a violation of the student code of conduct while offcampus. According to a Freedom of Information Act request, in the past three years, the Office of Student Conduct and Responsibility has dealt with 40 different cases of off-campus students violating the code of conduct, in some form or another. A single case pertains to a single student’s infraction of UMW’s code of conduct. While one of these cases may involve a student with a single off-campus code of conduct violation, many of these

TINY DESKS

cases involve a student violating more than one UMW rule of conduct in one occurrence. In total, these different cases are comprised of 66 counts of charges for students violating the university’s code of conduct offcampus. Just over 1/3 of these total charges involved an off-campus noise ordinance violation or disorderly conduct. As Mary Washington’s Code of Student Conduct informs students that the campus police are allowed to partner with off-campus law enforcement, an important question emerges: is it fair for the university to discipline an off-campus violation? The partnership between the Fredericksburg Police Department and the University of Mary Washington is not the only one like it in the country. At many other universities and colleges throughout the country, there are other partnerships between institutions and local law enforcement to tackle off-campus student disturbance and conduct violations. According to a City Paper article which covered the disciplinary partnership between other universities and their respective towns, “moving off campus, it seems, would be a logical way to avoid having to deal with public safety.” The article goes on to state, “but thanks to each university’s student code of conduct, as a student of the university you are liable to be punished by the university even if you are living off campus.” For the past eight years UMW’s Office of Student Conduct and Responsibility and the Fredericksburg Police Department have maintained a partnership in regard to dealing with off-campus student violations, and they do not plan to sever ties anytime soon. “The partnership between the two organizations started in response to the university’s growing student body,” said Chief Michael Hall of the University of Mary Washington Campus Police Department. In an effort to minimize the negative impact the university could place on its outside environment, a town and gown relationship was created between

•NOISE ORDINANCE | 10

WINNING RUGBY

What are UMW students listening to?

Students complain about Trinkle furniture.

Rugby seeks another championship season.

LIFE | 9

VIEWPOINTS | 4

SPORTS | 12


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