T HE F LAT H AT
Vol. 113, Iss. 14 | Wednesday, December 6, 2023
The Weekly Student Newspaper
of The College of William and Mary
flathatnews.com | @theflathat
PEERAWUT RUANGSAWASDI / THE FLAT HAT
COURTESY IMAGE / GOODY CLANCY
Board of Visitors votes to establish new school in Integrated Science Center IV Board approves school of computer science, applied science, data science and physics, administration cites student, faculty interest
PEERAWUT RUANGSAWASDI AND DANIEL KALISH // THE FLAT HAT Friday, Nov. 17, the board of visitors of the College of William and Mary voted to approve the establishment of a new school of computer science, applied science, data science and physics. Pending approval by the State Council for Higher Education of Virginia, the organizational restructuring will transition to give the four departments currently housed within the School of Arts and Sciences their own status as an independent school. The new school will have its own dean and will be located in the Integrated Science Center IV, officially launching in fall 2025. Overview of the New School In 2023, the departments comprising the new school conferred 184 degrees, making up 10.5% of Arts and Sciences graduating undergraduates. Its 48 graduate degrees comprised 39.3% of all graduate degrees and 80% of doctoral degrees conferred in Arts and Sciences this year. The admissions process to join the new school will take place during undergraduate students’ second year. Introductory courses will still be available to all interested students. History and Impetus Members of the board of visitors consulted a pre-read document providing background information on the new school compiled by the administration before the November board meeting. In the document, the administration cited student and employer demand, boosting the College’s national profile, strengthening research and faculty recruitment and promoting interdisciplinary collaborations as the primary reasons for creating the new school. According to the College’s website, formal discussions regarding establishing a new school for computing and data science began in spring 2022, when College Provost Peggy Agouris named an exploratory ad hoc design team.
She would later form a steering committee tasked with exploring and analyzing options to create a new school. The committee was composed of faculty members and members of the administration, including dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and chancellor professor of English Suzanne Raitt. According to the executive report by the committee, opponents of the initiative expressed concerns that a new data science-focused school might draw resources away from the rest of the School of Arts and Sciences and undermine the College’s traditional liberal arts strengths. Faculty Assembly liaison to the BOV committee chair and chancellor professor of physics David Armstrong echoed the concern before the board voted for the new school. “There is some concern amongst colleagues that perhaps this would siphon away resources in Arts and Sciences,” Armstrong said. “And there's also a concern perhaps that by placing people into a different academic structure would then cause some barriers for collaboration.” According to the BOV pre-read, the new school's departments have increased enrollment significantly more than other Arts and Sciences departments. The computer science and physics departments increased baccalaureate degree awards from 30 to 95 (216.7% increase) and 14 to 40 (185.7% increase), respectively, between 2013 and 2023. This compares to 5.4% growth in the same period for Arts and Sciences as a whole. “This school meets rocketing student interest and will prime graduates to think critically with data, at scale,” College President Katherine Rowe said in an email to students shortly after the board’s approval on Friday.
During the academic affairs committee meeting of the board of visitors on Thursday, Nov. 16, where the bill to approve the creation of the new school was introduced, Rowe cited a Student Assembly bill calling on the administration to mandate enrollment in data science classes as the first impetus for the creation of the new school. In an interview with The Flat Hat after the board voted to approve the plan for the new school, professor of computer science Andreas Stathopoulos also emphasized the need for coordinated graduate research programs for the rapidly developing fields of each of the four departments that make up the new school. “I want to double down on the fact that these four departments, the fact that they have Ph.D. programs — notice what their areas are,” Stathopoulos said. “Rapidly moving areas. if you don't have a Ph.D. program, you cannot catch up. You cannot be a computer scientist, physicist or data scientist and say, you know, I'm teaching what I was teaching in the 90's or the 00's. You have to move forward. And to do that, you have to catch up with research that is a little bit different from the structure of some other departments and the rest of Arts and Sciences.” In the same interview, chair of the physics department and professor of physics Jeff Nelson shed light on the physics department’s unanimous decision to consider joining in on the preliminary discussion of a new school of computing in the fall of 2022. Computation forms an integral part of physics research, with Nelson estimating that around twothirds of the department’s research is computationally based. READ MORE AT FLATHATNEWS.COM
CAMPUS
W&M Dissenters hosts Dr. Stephen Sheehi for campus teach-in, invites students, faculty College's Dissenters chapter partners with student organizations, hosts lecture on settler colonialism, its relation to Israeli-Palestinian conflict CLARE GIFFORD FLAT HAT NEWS ASSOC.
Friday, Dec. 1, the College of William and Mary’s W&M Dissenters hosted Sultan Qaboos bin Said Chair of Middle East Studies and professor of Arabic Studies Dr. Stephen Sheehi for a teach-in on settler colonialism. The teach-in focused on the social constraints set by settler colonialism, Sheehi’s perception of Zionism and the current events of the IsraeliPalestinian conflict. Assistant professor of sociology and gender, sexuality and women’s studies Diya Bose briefly spoke as well. The W&M Dissenters are a chapter of the national Dissenters youth movement, “We are Dissenters.” Co-president of the College's chapter Saniya Han ’24 described the group’s purpose on campus. “We are a coalition, we are a collective of students,” Han said. “And all we are is that we’re against institutionalized oppression of all forms. And we’re also, most importantly, a safe space on this campus for communities that have been historically and presently are still being mistreated by institutional powers on this campus and beyond it.” A student organizer began the teach-in with the College’s Land Acknowledgement and its Statement on Slavery and its Legacies prior to presenting its speaker, Sheehi.
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Sheehi first shared that he intentionally did not plan anything formal. For a casual Friday afternoon discussion, Sheehi said he had not expected such a large turn-out of students and professors. While addressing the broader topic of settler colonialism, Sheehi was upfront that he was speaking about Palestine and Israel as a settlercolonial society. “When we talk about Israel as a settler-colonial society, we have to understand we are not exclusivizing it,” Sheehi said. “We’re historizing it. We’re contextualizing it. There are many other settler-colonial societies, and in many ways Israel mimics that.” Sheehi asserted that settler colonialism is not identified by an event but rather is an enforced infrastructure. “It’s the structure by which the settler state built its authority,” Sheehi said. “And the logic of all settler-colonial states is fundamentally to eliminate the Indigenous person.” Sheehi focused on Zionist ideology in Israel and its role in settler colonialism. He was clear about his use of the term, citing other possible interpretations. “I’m talking about Zionism as a political ideology that was founded at the end of the 19th century, largely by secular European Jews,” Sheehi said. As a non-Jewish person, Sheehi was unwilling to speak on what Zionism means or does not
mean to Jewish people. However, Sheehi argued that, as an expert in the field, it is a fact that people have lived in Palestine territory well before 1948. “When I talk about Palestine, I’m talking about all of Palestine,” Sheehi said. “What is meant when they say, ‘river to the sea’ is that there are Palestinian people. They have been there for centuries. It is a dynamic and diverse culture and society. And it’s that claim, the existence of those people, which is negated.” Bose then shared her connection to the IsraelPalestine conflict. In South Asia, where her family is from, colonial policy generated famines that directly impacted her grandparents. Bose quoted a powerful monologue by Alaa Hajjaj from the Gaza Mono-Logues collected in 2010. Following the talk, Sheehi and Bose answered several audience questions. Students expressed their safety concerns and asked for tips on how to educate family and friends. Sheehi felt that just action on the part of the College administration is crucial for student safety. “It’s tough,” Sheehi said. “We have to hold our, we have to push our administrators to be able to treat us fairly and to advocate for us.” Attendants reflected on the purpose of the event, noting the sense of solidarity between members of different organizations. “A lot of cultural organizations on campus have advertised this event because global struggles,
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struggles of oppression, struggles of colonialism affect people of color disproportionately, and we’re all affected by that,” attendee Carolyn Reid ’27 said. “And so that’s why I think you see a lot of people showing up for events like this because we understand what it is to be under siege or under colonial rule.” Several student organizations supported W&M Dissenters by sponsoring the event, including the College's Middle Eastern Student Association, the Asian American Student Initiative, Students for Justice in Palestine, Political Latinxs United for Movement and Action in Society, Black Student Organization and more. Audience members appreciated Sheehi’s lecture, noting the value of the information he shared. “I think it’s really powerful that Professor Sheehi was willing to speak about this issue, especially being like one of the only professors that I’ve heard actually take a vocal stance against genocide and against violence and Gaza and Palestine throughout the Middle East,” attendee Lena Bullard ’26 said. Reid attended the event, hoping to stay informed on the evolving conflict. “I think when we’re engaging in conversations around the clock, it’s very important to be educated and to come in with a holistic perspective,” Reid said.
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