Flat Hat 02/03/2012

Vol. 101, Iss. 29 | Friday, February 3, 2012

The Flat Hat The Twice-Weekly Student Newspaper

of The College of William and Mary

Flathatnews.com | Follow us:

Charter day

Royal welcome for King by ken lin / FLAT HAT assoc. news Editor Airwaves across the country carried footage of the Sir Christopher Wren Building Thursday night as CNN news anchor John King broadcast live from the College of William and Mary.

“I’ve been on the campus before, and I’ve taken a little bit of a walk today. …but I know it from past visits; I’m eager to see even more of it,” King said. “It’s a nice, compact, beautiful campus, and it just speaks living history, and it’s just in one of the most extraordinary places in the country.”

King is the chief national

correspondent for CNN and hosts his own show, John King, USA. He has broadcast from across the nation and around the world, accompanying presidents abroad and visiting disaster-stricken areas. Prior to working in broadcasting, he worked in See King, page 3

TYLER DUNPHY / THE FLAT HAT

CNN television anchor John King hosts a live broadcast from the President’s House featuring a previously taped interview with Robert Gates ’65. Check out Flathatnews.com for an interview with King about his journalism career and hosting the recent Republican debate.

Congress

Student assembly

Professor testifies at Congressional hearing

Lack of attendance stirs tension

Zick addresses Occupy D.C.’s First Amendment rights at hearing on Hill BY chase hopkins flat hat assoc. news editor

Marshall-Wythe School of Law professor Timothy Zick put his expertise into action last week on Capitol Hill when he testified before a subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee regarding the First Amendment rights of Occupy D.C. protestors.

The congressional hearing was called to evaluate the extent to which the protestors’ civil rights and the need for public safety and reasonable sanitation were balanced. Zick specifically spoke to the established rights of protestors in public, outdoor spaces — his area of study.

“The lines are pretty well-drawn,” Zick said. “They [Occupy D.C. protestors] could occupy that space as long as [they] are not camping.

This is consistent with robust First Amendment rights.”

Zick drew some distinctions between the Occupy protestors and other types of protestors.

“Protest rights in public places are not absolute,” Zick testified, while also remarking that it was unusual for him to support the action of the government. “[This protest] raises some of the resource concerns that sit-ins and parades and marches do, but it is different in that … the movement seeks permanence of place.”

The District’s non-voting Delegate to Congress Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., expressed her concerns that the park control agency was merely using the concerns about health and sanitation in McPherson Square as a justification to limit the protestors’ ability to freely protest.

“I come from a generation that tried a new tactic, too,” Norton said.

“It’s a new tactic to try to change the United States of America … but during the civil rights protest, no one said that because of your health, we’re going to get you out of this place.”

U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., raised counter-concerns that the park agency had not acted boldly enough in enforcing existing law requiring the removal of persons camping in public parks like McPherson Square without a permit.

See ZICK, page 4

Index News Insight News News

Opinions Variety Variety Sports

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Today’s Weather

SA discusses attendance issues, chooses new Class of 2013 President

BY Meredith ramey Flat hat assoc. news editor

The passage of a solitary bill at the Student Assembly meeting Tuesday was met with a a room full of empty seats.

Chairman of the Senate Noah Kim ’13 spoke out against the tardiness and absences of many senators.

“Really, this is kind of getting ridiculous.

I’ve never heard of a Student Assembly senate like this,” Kim said. “I don’t know what to do at this point to make people show up to the full senate meeting on time and have decorum. If for whatever reason you cannot make this commitment, I encourage you to step aside.”

Senator Ben Huber ’12 asked Kim why he was directing his entreaty toward those senators present and not those who have been absent for longer periods of time.

“My comments were directed toward the entire senate. I think we’ve had a problem with engagement since this session started,” Kim said. “I think only a couple senators have actually been sponsoring pieces of legislation.”

Twomore senators arrived late.

“If we need to talk about your participation in this body and whether it should be sustained, we should, after this meeting,” Kim said to the two senators.

The senate then introduced Executive Chief of Staff Gabriel Walker J.D. ’13. Walker will be representing the executive board in place of Vice President Molly Bulman ’12 during her absence due to a class conflict.

Next, the senate unanimously passed The Project VOICE Partnership Act. This act will allocate $1,500 from the Student Assembly Activities Fund in addition to approximately $5,500 already raised for

DANA DYTANG / THE FLAT HAT

Chairman of the Senate Noah Kim ’13 leads the Student Assembly meeting on Tuesday, which was delayed due to poor attendance by the senators.

I Am W&M Week, some of which was donated by other student organizations.

These funds will aid in bringing TED Talks speaker Sarah Kay and the group Project Voice to campus. “[During I Am W&M Week,] there will be a series of panelists and the mosaic concert at the end of the week,” Undersecretary of Multicultural Affairs Amalhyn Shek ’13 said.

Senators, including Zach Marcus ’12, asked about the HARK website that SA President Kaveh Sadeghian ’12 has been

Inside opinions

Chartering a new partnership

Sunny High 54, Low 34

New chancellor, Robert Gates, has potential to start unprecedented interaction with the College of William and Mary and students. page 5

Inside VARIETY

pursuing. Marcus pointed out similarities between the idea and CollegeCambio.com, a website two freshmen created this fall. Kim reported that Sadeghian is currently having trouble contacting the William and Mary Legal Department.

On Wednesday morning, Kim announced the resignation of Class of 2013 President Tess DeAtley ’13 due to her study abroad plans.

Class of 2013 Vice President for Advocacy Morgan Dyson will assume the office of class of 2013 president.

Making it better

Speaker Dan Savage spoke to students on Wednesday about issues LGBTQ students face. Savage launched an online video project in 2010 to encourage LGBTQ teens to express their struggles. page 6

newsinsight “

The Flat Hat | Friday, February 3, 2011 | Page 2

THE BUZZ

All The News that’s unfit to print

A bill that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in-state hiring was defeated today in a session of the state Senate, The Virginian-Pilot reported.

Senator Adam Ebbin’s, D-30 bill was defeated 8-7 in the General Laws and Technology Committee, with votes along party lines in the Republican-held legislative chamber. The bill had the support of labor unions, teacher and public employee associations and the AARP. Opponents allege that the bill is unnecessary because they claim that gays and lesbians do not face discrimination now.

Both Governor Bob McDonnell and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will be speaking at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in mid-February, The Washington Post reported. Cuccinelli will receive the “Defender of the Constitution Award” at the event. The yearly conference is a gathering of conservative activists, lobbyists and politicians and will be held Feb. 9 to 11 in Washington.

President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign opened its Virginia state headquarters in Richmond Saturday, The Virginian-Pilot reported. This campaign office is his third to open in Virginia, following the opening of locations in Newport News and Fairfax County last month. Representative Bobby Scott (D) and Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones were in attendance. It is expected that the president’s campaign will focus especially on Virginia leading to this November, given its status as a battlegound state in the 2008 election.

“

THE PULSE

News Editor Katherine Chiglinsky News Editor Vanessa Remmers news@flathatnews.com

I always tell myself ... if I don’t learn something every day, I have failed, and the gift is meeting people and hearing their stories.

—John King, CNN Senior Political Correspondent

BEYOND THE ‘BURG

Law requires insurance plans at Catholic colleges to provide free birth control According to The New York Times, the Obama administration and Catholic colleges recently clashed when President Barack Obama made the decision last week that the new healthcare law would require insurance plans at Catholic colleges to cover birth control with copayments to employees. This rule also may be applied to students. Republicans and Democrats have drawn battle lines around the issue of freedom of religion. While the Obama administration relies on the fact that some students at Catholic colleges are not Catholic, citing a problem of the imposition of religion, some Republicans criticize the decision for impinging on the freedom of religion.

Police are investigating a burglary at Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul’s Virginia office in Norfolk. Six pre-paid cell phones and a television were reported stolen. The estimated value of the items is $265. So far, Paul has launched his state campaign with headquarters in Newport News, while rival Mitt Romney has not yet opened an office in the Commonwealth.

Both candidates will compete in the Virginia primary March 6.

Bob McDonnell has returned from a trip to Florida to campaign on Mitt Romney’s behalf. McDonnell endorsed Romney after friend and fellow Republican Governor’s Association member Rick Perry of Texas dropped out of the race. Romney’s Virginia leadership team is led by Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling.

A THOUSAND WORDS

COURTESY PHOTO / ATCHITY, PANORAMIO.COM

Fordham University is one of many Catholic colleges across the nation opposed to a new law requiring them to provide birth control products to students.

Harvard and Princeton face ethnic complaint A student in California has filed a complaint against Harvard University and Princeton University for discriminating against Asian Americans. The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights is investigating the complaint. The student, an Indian-American, was the top of his high school class, but he was rejected by both schools. According to The Washington Post, the civil rights agency will not discuss pending cases. The complaint was filed on Aug. 22, but the allegations were accepted for investigation on Jan. 11. Asian Americans make up 16 percent of undergraduates at Harvard and around 15.7 percent of undergraduates at Princeton.

Yale University releases sexual misconduct report According to the Yale Daily News, 52 cases of sexual harassment, assault and misconduct were reported to Yale

University officials between July 1 and December 31 of the past year. The report, released in a campus-wide email, marks the first time the university has released a report compiling sexual misconduct. According to University President Richard Levin, even though only a small percentage of the community is directly affected, the deeper concern lies in the violations of campus policies.

Claremont McKenna College admits to submitting fraudulent SAT scores For the past six years, Claremont McKenna College submitted false SAT scores to publications that use the data to determine college rankings, according to The New York Times. The small California school said that a senior administrator has admitted to falsifying the scores since 2005. Both the critical reading and math scores were generally inflated by an average of 10 to 20 points each, according to college President Pamela Gann.

CITY POLICE BEAT

Jan. 25 to Feb. 3 1

Wednesday, Jan. 25 — Repair parts were stolen from Facilities Management. The damage was estimated at $100.

2

Friday, Jan. 27 — An individual reported theft from a vehicle, with an estimated loss of $250.

3

Sunday, Jan. 29 — Vandalism was reported in the fraternity complex. The damage was estimated at $150.

tyler dunphy/ the FLAT HAT

CORRECTIONS The Flat Hat wishes to correct any facts printed incorrectly.

Corrections may be submitted by e-mail to the editor of the section in which the incorrect information was printed. Requests for corrections will be accepted at any time.

The Flat Hat ‘STABILITAS ET FIDES’ | ESTABLISHED OCT. 3, 1911 ‘STABILITAS ET FIDES’ | ESTABLISHED OCT. 3, 1911

25 Campus Center, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va. 23185 25Newsroom Campus (757) Center, The College of William Williamsburg, Va. 23185 221-3283 — Advertising Dept. and (757)Mary, 221-3283 / ads@flathatnews.com Newsroom (757) 221-3283 — Advertising Dept. (757) 221-3283 / ads@flathatnews.com Editor editor@flathatnews.com Opinions opinions@flathatnews.com News news@flathatnews.com Opinions opinions@flathatnews.com editor@flathatnews.com Editor Variety variety@flathatnews.com Sports Variety photos@flathatnews.com variety@flathatnews.com News sports@flathatnews.com news@flathatnews.com Photos Photos photos@flathatnews.com Sports sports@flathatnews.com

Mike Barnes Editor-in-Chief Mike Barnes Editor-in-Chief Becky Koenig Managing Editor — Jill Found Executive Editor Becky Koenig Ellie Managing Editor —Staff Jill Found Kaufman Chief WriterExecutive Editor Ellie Kaufman Chief Staff Writer Katherine Chiglinsky News Editor VanessaChiglinsky RemmersNews NewsEditor Editor Katherine Hailey Arnold Variety Editor Vanessa Remmers News Editor Katie Demeria Editor Hailey Arnold Variety Variety Editor Jared ForetekVariety SportsEditor Editor Katie Demeria Jared Sports Editor Ariel Foretek Cohen Assoc.

News Editor

Chase L. Hopkins Assoc. News Editor ArielKen Cohen Assoc. News News Editor Editor Lin Assoc.

Chase Hopkins Assoc. News News Editor Editor Maggie Kern Assoc.

LinAssoc.

Assoc. News News Editor Editor Meredith Ken Ramey Maggie Kern Assoc.

Assoc. News News Editor Editor Rob Marty Meredith RameySenior Assoc.News NewsWriter Editor Chris McKenna Rob MartyAssoc.

Assoc.Sports News Editor Editor Chris Weber Chris McKenna SeniorVariety News Editor Writer Abby Boyle Assoc.

WeberAssoc.

Assoc.Variety Sports Editor Editor BaileyChris Kirkpatrick Abby Boyle Assoc.

Assoc. Variety Variety Editor Editor Sarah Caspari Bailey Kirkpatrick Assoc. Variety Variety Editor Editor Sophie Mason Assoc.

Sarah Caspari Assoc.

Variety Editor Editor Ellen Wexler Assoc.

Opinions Sophie Assoc.

Variety Editor Editor Elliott Mason Hay Assoc.

Opinions Ellen Wexler Assoc.

Opinions Editor Zach Hardy Assoc.

Online Editor Elliott Hay Assoc.

Opinions Editor Harika Peddibhotla Assoc.

Online Editor Alex Bramsen Copy Editor

Elizabeth DeBusk Opinions Editor Stephanie Hubbard Copy Chief Elizabeth DeBusk Opinions Editor Katherine Hubbard Hoptay Copy Stephanie CopyChief Chief Michelle Gabro Photo Katherine Hoptay CopyEditor Chief Walter Hickey Michelle GabroOnline Photo Editor Walter Hickey Online Alex Bramsen Copy EditorEditor Colleen Leonard Copy Editor Betsy Goldemen Copy Editor Garrett Hendrickson Copy Editor Claire Hoffman CopyEditor Editor Lauren Becker Copy Colleen Leonard Copy Editor Liz McGlynn Copy Editor Lauren Elmore Becker Copy Megan Copy Editor Editor Megan Elmore CopyEditor Editor Meredith Luze Copy Meredith Luze Copy Editor Allison Hicks Cartoonist RachelAdair Steinberg Copy Editor Molly Cartoonist AllisonBrooks Hicks Cartoonist Rachel Cartoonist Molly Adair Rachel PulleyCartoonist Cartoonist Rachel Brooks Cartoonist Alex Cooper Editorial Writer Rachel Pulley Cartoonist Nara Yoon Business Manager Alex Cooper Editorial Writer Karin Krause Social Media Manager Nara Yoon Manager Anita Jiang Business Assoc. Photo Editor Karin Krause Social Media Manager John Lee Assoc. Photo Editor Anita Jiang Assoc. Photo Editor

News in brief Students receive Gilman Scholarships

Professor wins Brigham-Kanner Prize

Students participate in Water Walk

Two students at the College of William and Mary were awarded Gilman Scholarships to study abroad for the spring 2012 semester.

The scholarship is funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in the U.S. Department of State and is one of the most competitive scholarships awarded by the federal government. Johanna Hribal ’13, a Hispanic Studies and secondary education major, received a Gilman Scholarship to study abroad in La Plata, Argentina. Nicole McCauley ’13, an English major, received a Gilman scholarship to study abroad at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Earl Warren DeLano Professor James E. Krier at Michigan Law School was chosen as the 2012 recipient of Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize. The College of William and Mary Property Rights Project is an ongoing initiative to promote the exchange of ideas between scholars and members of the property rights bar through lectures and conferences. The professor will be recognized for his research and teaching in property, trusts and estates, behavioral law, and economics and pollution policy. Krier will accept his award at next year’s Ninth-Annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights conference Oct. 11-12.

Friday, Jan. 27, participants from the Mason School of Business MBA Program participated in the Water Walk across campus to raise awareness about the stark inequalities in water availability between the United States and developing nations.

More than 40 students carried gallon-and-a half blue buckets from Lake Matoaka to the main campus. The entire journey entailed a mile of walking while carrying a 13-pound bucket. The walk was meant to simulate the struggles that many women experience in developing countries as they attempt to bring water to their families.

Page 3

Friday, February 3, 2012

The Flat Hat

Awards

Bulman awarded annual Monroe Prize

Bulman receives Monroe Prize for Civic Engagement for her active role in campus organizations by kATHERINE CHIGLINSKY flat hat NEWS EDITOR

As a freshman, Molly Bulman ’12 joined her fellow Sharpe Scholars at a Neighborhood Council of Williamsburg meeting to discuss issues ranging from deer overpopulation to the three-person housing rule.

These early morning trips ignited her Bulman’s passion to work in the community and on campus.

Bulman, a public policy and finance major at the College of William and Mary, will receive the Monroe Prize for Civic Engagement at the Charter Day ceremony today.

The annual award, presented at the Charter Day ceremony, is given to a student who exemplifies strong leadership in the College community.

Bulman began her involvement with the community when she joined the Sharpe Community Scholars program.

In a course called “Citizenship in the Community,” Bulman and her fellow classmates attended meetings of the NCW to learn about the issues affecting the community.

“That kind of consumed me — that idea of people sitting around and talking about issues rather than one person delegating or deciding what would be law from then on,” Bulman said.

Bulman clung to the idea of active local involvement and began to delve into community service as a freshman by joining Campus Kitchens, a College organization designed to take excess food from local area restaurants and grocery stores and prepare or repackage it for low-income families in Williamsburg.

“She’s very driven with her ideas in that she’s always thinking about how we can grow, how we can get better,” Chelsea Estancona, advisor for Campus Kitchens, said. “Specifically, how we can connect with the people that we’re serving, [and] how we can get their input and grow. So she’s got both the vision and the drive to really make things happen.”

She began to work on the finances of Campus Kitchens, writing grants and fundraising.

In her junior year, she was chosen as student coordinator of the organization.

“What strikes me [about the organization] is that it’s a really smart idea. You’re taking an excess resource and allocating it to people who need it,” Bulman said. “It’s a really visible effort and addresses the issue at hand.”

Her involvement in the community and on campus does not end with Campus Kitchens.

Bulman served as a teaching fellow for Director of the Roy R. Charles Center Joel Schwartz’s Sharpe Community Scholars class, “Democracy and Deliberation.”

She was also a resident in the Community Scholars House and, as a senior, serves as a program assistant.

Her passion for civic engagement also led her down an academic path toward an honors thesis in public policy.

Whether mentoring fellow students or advancing her own research for her honors thesis, Bulman continues to actively pursue the issue of community engagement.

“Molly exhibits a balanced passion for civic engagement,” Monica Griffin, coordinator of the Sharpe Community Scholars program, said in an email. “She is not likely to shy away from a critical debate about public policy, but ever respectful and facilitative of multiple views and experiences.

As a role model to first-year students in her senior year, she brings a level of maturity to the notion of passion with an intellectual purpose and intellect that has not lost passion.”

Bulman continued to show her passion for democratic engagement and public service as the Student Assembly’s Vice President.

“She always does justice to who she is,” SA President Kaveh Sadeghian ’12 said. “She’s constantly asking questions of things around her and of herself. She pushes boundaries because she constantly questions.”

As vice president, Bulman wanted to help organize student volunteer groups and even arranged for a meeting of all the major tutoring

john lee / THE FLAT HAT

Vice President of the Student Assembly Molly Bulman ‘12 is to receive the Monroe Prize for Civic Engagement at Charter Day.

groups on campus.

“It gave me a lot of insight into how to collaborate with group,” Bulman said. “I tried to have them communicate a little bit more. The role of vice president has been that style of piecing things together.”

Bulman’s contributions to the College have earned her the Monroe Award, and her passion

to build the conversation about civic engagement has made her an active voice on campus.

“Molly is humble in her approach and in action,” Drew Stelljes, director of the Office of Community Engagement and Scholarship, said in an email. “She wants community engagement and engaged scholarship to feel like a reasonable activity for students.”

faculty

Dean of Arts and Sciences Applicant stresses synergy forum questions candidates Dartmouth associate dean defends liberal arts Wallace stresses value of faculty research by sarah caspari flat hat assoc. variety editor

As the College of William and Mary continues its search for a new dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences, candidate Sally Wallace added one more CV to the pool in a public forum Thursday.

Wallace holds a Ph.D. in economics from Syracuse University and, in addition to being prolific in academic publications, she has held positions at universities and in economic settings all over the world.

Her international experience includes economics-related work in Asia, Europe, Central America, Africa and the Caribbean.

Currently, she is the chair of the department of economics at Georgia State University.

“A dean should foster an environment that contributes to the depth and breadth of education and research and success of faculty, staff and students,” Wallace said.

After identifying challenges that the College is currently facing, Wallace presented her vision for

sarah caspari / THE FLAT HAT

Wallace is one of five Dean of Arts and Sciences finalists.

its future.

“The overarching context in my mind is not to change the game — not to make things different, not to change what William and Mary is to anybody — but rather to look at intensifying the strengths of teaching, research and collaboration,” Wallace said.

Some faculty members expressed concern about the potential effect a greater emphasis on research would have on the quality of teaching at the College.

“When we say things like ‘intensifying strengths,’ for example, in research, oftentimes that’s shorthand for, ‘let’s increase publications,’” assistant professor of Hispanic Studies John Riofrio said. “A really quick way to increase our research profile is just to have people publish more. When you start to do that, you start to jeopardize what it means to teach well.”

Wallace assured the audience that her goal was merely to maximize the value and effects of faculty research.

“When I talk about intensifying strengths here, it’s not so much increasing the number of research articles that have to be published — that’s really not my perception of the direction that things should go; I don’t think that’s the tenor of the discussions that I’ve had,” Wallace said. “It’s more from the notion of making them more valuable to whatever extent that could be.”

As a reflection of her own international experience, Wallace said she would like to promote an “outward focus.”

“What I think I could bring to the store here is this kind of outward focus, talking about internationalization,” she said. “And the very last meeting we had, we all agreed that globalization is kind of a buzzword — it’s one of those things that maybe it’s very hard to write down a specific definition, but we know what we mean by globalization, and there’s all sorts of ways to go with it .... If people were not excited about internationalization and globalization, then it would not be a place for me, but I don’t sense that that’s the issue; I sense that people are very excited about those possibilities.”

Wallace is one of five finalists selected by the search committee from a larger pool of applicants.

The committee will submit at least three names this month to Provost Michael Halleran, who will choose the new dean.

According to the College, the Dean of Arts and Sciences oversees 450 faculty, 5,780 students, 80 staff members, 12 graduate programs and 35 undergraduate departments and interdisciplinary programs and a budget of $58 million dollars.

by Vanessa remmers flat hat news editor

The hiring process for one of the most important administrative positions at the College of William and Mary is public and multi-faceted, qualities that were demonstrated during the vetting of the second Dean of Arts and Sciences candidate Tuesday.

Candidate Kate Conley comes from a background in the liberal arts. She has served as a French professor and the associate dean of the faculty for the Arts and Humanities at Dartmouth College.

“At its core, a liberal arts education must stay grounded in history,” Conley said. “Every liberal arts university strives to maintain learning in the past along with creating a spark for moving forward in the future. The successful liberal arts education cultivates the imagination.”

Adapting to changes in what students desire to study was one of Conley’s top priorities, along with the integration of technology and sustainability into campus life.

“Changes to the curriculum must be made to respond to new populations and generational changes,” Conley said.

Financial hardship was one topic raised by concerned faculty.

Recalling the financial difficulties universities faced in the mid-1970s during another economic downtown, Conley expressed optimism about the College’s capability to weather the current economic situation.

Yet she was reluctant to name what specifically she would do in regard to startup funds for finding new faculty and the extent of her support for the new fine arts complex.

Conley was equally diplomatic when it came to a question about Obama’s recent proposal for a scorecard for universities, raising the issue of federal and state oversight of universities.

“There is a very good process at the College of William and Mary that already assesses how each of the departments are doing,” Conley said.

When Conley’s lack of scholarly or teaching experience in the sciences came under fire, she stressed her experience working alongside such faculty and the benefit of their research.

“It is true that my background is in French and the liberal arts and I don’t have much experience teaching or working in the science,” Conley said.

“One of the highlights of my job at Dartmouth University was learning about the scholarly work of my colleagues. Strong research institutions like William and Mary are beneficial to teaching because a faculty member who is very excited about his or her own work is going to bring that excitement into the classroom.”

Faculty members asked Conley to be more

Caroline wren martin / THE FLAT HAT

Conley is one of five Dean of Arts and Sciences finalists.

descriptive about her decision-making process as an associate, which Conley described as primarily consultative. Conley cited her and her predecessor’s work as putting the “arts” back in “liberal arts” at Dartmouth by fighting for enhanced facilities and greater resources for smaller majors.

In addition to serving as an Associate Dean for Dartmouth, Conley headed the Dartmouth Department of French and Italian. Her experience as a professor witin the Dartmouth French department commenced in 1998. Conley also graduated cum laude from Harvard University in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and holds two Master of Arts degrees in French from the University of Colorado and the University of Pennsylvania.

This appointment to the Dean of Arts and Sciences is perhaps more significant than in earlier years since the dean will oversee the first curriculm review in 20 years in addition to the generation of a new financial model.

Deans from the various departments at the College report to the Dean of Arts and Sciences.

Faculty and forum attendees were capable of evaluating the candidates on online evaluation forms following the forum.

Page 4

Friday, February 3, 2012

The Flat Hat

career center

Government employees discuss their career paths Career center invites employees from the State Department to speak with students about possible government careers by ken lin Flat hat ASSOC. NEWS EDITOR

Being a science major does not necessarily lead to a career in the lab — it could lead to a career in government service or global research opportunities.

The Sherman and Gloria H. Cohen Career Center hosted a presentation Tuesday entitled “Careers at the Intersection of Science, Government and/or International: Two Winding Paths.”

Two Department of State employees led the program. Senior advisor Elizabeth Lyons and management analyst Kathryn Pharr ’06 highlighted the career opportunities for science-oriented students not just at the State Department, but also at myriad other federal agencies.

“One of the things about working in the government of the United States is it’s a lot like a university .… It’s kind of like, we do this over here, and this over here, and there’s the science and the chemistry and the biology,” Lyons said. “It’s very disaggregated. It’s concentrated in agencies that have very different missions, and that’s a good thing because they specialize; it’s a bad thing because they specialize. One of the real challenges is how you coordinate this, and how do you do the cross-cutting of things, and that’s a challenge in any system.”

Both Lyons and Pharr emphasized their unconventional career paths prior to working at the State Department. Lyons originally graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology before going on to

earn a doctorate in ecology, after which she taught at medical and botany schools. It was only after living in Kenya, however, that her international view of science came into focus.

“A career isn’t a rigid path — you should be creative and daring because it is your path,” Lyons said. “It’s not too late to change, find out what you like and go for it.”

Pharr graduated from the College of William and Mary with a degree in chemistry and international relations and made the natural transition to graduate school. After earning her master’s in chemistry, however, she decided to take a break from laboratory duties to work abroad, first as an English teacher in Israel and then as an IT software instructor in places as diverse as Ghana, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Indonesia.

She described her work as “science diplomacy.”

Pharr also emphasized how the U.S. government is distinguished from other nations’ governments in that multiple federal agencies need to hire science experts, rather than having one single agency purely devoted to scientific funding and research.

With the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy serving as a central hub for federal scientific policy, agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and NASA remain heavily based on the work of scientists, while other agencies as diverse as the Department of Defense and the Department of Commerce are also heavily reliant on the work of science experts.

john lee / THE FLAT HAT

State Department employees Elizabeth Lyons and Kathryn Pharr ’06 visited the Cohen Career Center Tuesday to talk with students.

administration

First law professor receives Jefferson Award Charter Day will include presentation of award to Laura Heymann

by Ellie Kaufman Flat hat chief staff writer

Laura Heymann will be the first law professor honored at the Charter Day Ceremony for her excellence in teaching with the Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award.

The award recognizes a teacher whose “personal character, concern as a teacher, and influence has demonstrated the stimulation and inspiration of learning for the betterment of the individual and society as exemplified by the life of Thomas Jefferson.”

“Since the day she arrived on campus she has been a very successful teacher,” Dean of the Marshall-Wythe School of Law School Dave Douglas, who nominated Heymann for the award, said. “She is very challenging but she has a tremendous knack for being both challenging, interesting and cutting edge.”

Heymann began teaching at the law school in 2005 after teaching at the George Washington University Law School. In her years at the College of William and Mary, she has received numerous distinctions. She was chosen to receive the Walter L. William Jr. Memorial Teaching Award

in 2008 and was granted tenure and promoted to professor of law in 2011.

“The students in her class know that she is very interested in their learning. You are always on your toes in her class,” Douglas said. “She is really good at illustrating legal concepts through mass media in ways that make the classes challenging but also make the classes sort of fun because they are examples people can relate to.”

Heymann teaches torts law to first-year law students and intellectual property to upper-level law students.

“I am getting to work with students who just started law school, so it is not only introducing them to the subject matter but introducing them to law school,” Heymann said. “The other classes are great because the subject matter is fun. I really do enjoy working with students in all aspects of their lives. It is great to see them off to a good start in their legal careers and follow them after they graduate.”

Douglas says that Heymann’s passion for her students has been evident since the beginning of her time in Williamsburg.

“She is infectious with the enthusiasm about her teaching,” Douglas said. “If a student has

success in the law school, they will quite often get a note from Laura even if it wasn’t related to her class or something to do with her.”

Heymann believes that her commitment to teaching in the classroom is a reflection of the students she teaches at the law school, and these qualities are what drew her to her career at the law school originally.

“The staff, the administration, the students all just seemed like really great people that I wanted to spend time with,” Heymann said. “It is a school that really holds its own in research, but teaching is one of the things that is core to William and Mary’s mission. That was really important to me.”

With an already impressive academic background — she earned her undergraduate degree at Yale University and received her law degree from the University of California-Berkeley — Heymann views this award as an honor mostly because of all of the award winners who have preceded her.

“It was really hard to believe,” Heymann said.

“I know a number of the folks who have won it in previous years. They are all amazing teachers and really great people, and it is nice to be among that group.”

Professor testifies Zick qualifies protest rights with court precedence ZICK from page1

“[National Parks Service Director Jonathan Jarvis ’75], you are the focus here because you are in fact turning a blind eye to four months of law breaking. … Do you have discretion to ignore overtly criminal activity?” Issa said during the hearing.

Both concerns were countered in part by Zick, who commented that the park agency can enforce reasonable time, place and manner restrictions during the Occupy D.C. events.

Zick was referencing the 1984 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence, in which the court asserted that “the regulation forbidding sleeping mats meets the requirements for a reasonable time, place, or manner restriction of expression, whether oral, written, or symbolized in conduct .… The challenged regulation is also sustainable as meeting the standards for a valid regulation of expressive conduct.”

Zick further alluded to the other potential concerns on the part of the National Parks Service in Washington that the possible forced eviction of the Occupy D.C. protestors could become scenes of violence that occurred both in New York and Los Angeles last year and resulted in many arrests during the protests.

King hosts live broadcast for “John King, USA” on CNN at President’s House KING from page 1

print journalism, rising to the position of chief political correspondent for The Associated Press before being approached by CNN to become a White House correspondent. King has remained at CNN for the past 14 years.

“I get to ask a lot of questions, but the best part of my job is listening, whether it’s to a president or a candidate for president, a senator or a candidate for the senate… or either somebody who just found a job or just lost a job, or somebody who just

lost a child after the tsunami,” King said.

“You meet people, and you learn from them. You learn hopefully about some joy in their lives; you learn often about pain in their lives .… I call journalism the curiosity business, and I’m a curious person, so I get to ask questions; and my questions aren’t important, the answers are important. So I always tell myself … if I don’t learn something every day, I have failed, and the gift is meeting people and hearing their stories.”

King’s work has become more widely known in the last few months with the

onset of the Republican presidential primaries and caucuses. King specializes in political news and has moderated several candidate debates, which has put him in the difficult position of questioning candidates on some of the more serious allegations their opponents have leveled against them.

“I have had some combative exchanges in past interviews, both in my print and broadcast service, never anything quite on that level,” King said, referring specifically to a well publicized exchange with former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich at a South Carolina debate last month. “If you do what I do for a living, you have to understand … sometimes you’re going to get attacked. Some people watching will agree with you 100 percent, some will disagree with you 100 percent, and a lot

will be somewhere in the middle, and that comes with the territory.”

The 6 p.m. broadcast attracted hundreds of spectators, including both students and city residents, as well as a number of activists. Supporters of Ron Paul were the most visible, and members of the Occupy Williamsburg movement were also on hand to make their messages known. Activists carried an array of signs, and a few even climbed the tree in front of the President’s House several times for greater coverage. Despite his packed schedule, King took the time after the broadcast to pose for pictures with many of the students who remained.

“It was very crowded. It was pretty surprising to see that many people there, actually .... We couldn’t really hear what he was saying throughout the

entire broadcast, but the production crew tried to keep us under control,” Aditya Yellajosyula ’13 said. “I’ve always seen people in New York City for Good Morning America, and it was always cool to see those kinds of things, and it was a neat opportunity for me to be there and participate in that event.”

King made himself available for interviews to campus news organizations after finishing the taping of his interview with incoming Chancellor Robert Gates ’65, one of the key reasons for his visit to the campus. Gates, flanked by no fewer than a half-dozen security agents, was seen leaving the Wren Building following the interview and will be returning to campus Friday for the Charter Day Ceremony, during which he will be officially installed as the College’s next chancellor.

NOAH WILLARD / THE FLAT HAT

CNN senior political correspondent John King broadcasts live from at the College on Thursday evening. His guests included Robert Gates ’65 and U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., during the hour-long broadcast that aired from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on CNN.

opinions

Opinions Editor Elizabeth DeBusk Assoc. Opinions Editor Elliott Hay opinions@flathatnews.com

The Flat Hat | Friday, February 3, 2012 | Page 5

Editorial cartoon

Staff Editorial

Disassembled O

By Molly Adair, Flat Hat Cartoonist

Chancellor opens gate for opportunity The quartet of modern-era chancellors (Burger, Thatcher, Kissinger and O’Connor) has left its mark on the College in different ways. Burger’s son donated the late chief justice’s collection of personal and professional papers to the College; the Warren E. Burger Collection will open in 2026 and permanently reside in Williamsburg. British Prime Minister Flat Hat Staff Columnist Margaret Thatcher, who served from 1993 until 2000, made six trips to the College while chancellor and bookended her term with two Charter Day addresses.

Robert Gates ’65 has the opportunity to have the greatest So, why am I especially bullish on Gates? It’s not just impact of any chancellor to date. Today, College of William and because Gates fits the pedigree of his predecessors so well.

Mary President Reveley and Board of Visitors Rector Jeffery B. During his illustrious public service career, Gates was the Trammell ’73 will formally invest Gates as the College’s 24th director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the first chancellor at this year’s Charter Day Ceremony. I expect to big Secretary of Defense to serve under presidents of different things from Gates during his seven-year term. political parties.

For those of us unaware that the College had a chancellor, you Gates has such great potential as chancellor because of his may be wondering, what exactly does the chancellor do? What commitment to higher education and his connection to the can we hope to see from Chancellor Gates?

To do these questions justice, we must look back at the College’s College. Gates served as president of Texas A&M University 319 years. According to the Royal Charter, the chancellor should from 2002 to 2006. During that period, Gates rejected an serve as the College’s formal representative to the British crown offer for the position of director of National Intelligence, proving the lifelong civil servant’s while also filling the role of main faculty appreciation of academia. recruiter. Apparently, reading between the Gates has great potential The 1965 Algernon Sydney Sullivan lines of the Charter, the chancellor was Award winner has always kept the supposed to do all this without ever seeing because of his commitment College close to his heart, returning to the College, because none of them ever to higher education.

Williamsburg to address the College stepped foot in Williamsburg, for Charter Day in 1998 and for After the American Revolution, the Commencement in 2007.

College didn’t seem to know what to do with the position. The But just in case our new chancellor needs any help in leaving post was filled with two former United States presidents (George his mark on the College, I have a few ideas. While 17 of the 43 Washington and John Tyler) two ex-presidents of the College, a U.S. presidents have visited the College, none have come since Virginia governor and a historian who had served on the BOV. George H. W. Bush in 1995 — perhaps Gates can recruit one The chancellor position also remained vacant for stretches of of his old bosses to deliver a Commencement address. If he years ranging from two to 60. ever moved back to the East Coast, I’m sure Gates would have But in 1986, the BOV appointed former Supreme Court Chief much knowledge to dispense, be it through a guest lecture or by Justice Warren E. Burger and the role of chancellor crystallized. teaching a class. And I certainly hope that this isn’t the last time Burger and the three chancellors who succeeded him all came Gates addresses the College. Whatever the chosen route, I’m from a public office of considerable prestige and served as sure both the College and our chancellor will gain much from goodwill ambassadors for the College. Chancellors officiated at the partnership. Welcome home, Chancellor Gates. commencements and Charter Days and generally helped to raise the profile of the College.

Email David Alpert at daalpert@email.wm.edu.

David Alpert

“

“

Street Beat

What is your opinion of the Student Assembly?

“I do not knowgame. much about the “The football Go Tribe!”

Student Assembly, but I would expect them to give a voice to the students rather than only acting on theirSam ownMeadows opinions.” ’12 Sarah Stubbs ’14

“If “The I had homecoming one complaint, stepitshow would and “I know they exist, but it seems be after a lack party of transparency that the Blackand Student their existence does not matter lack Organization of communication puts on.”with the much to me.” student body.”

Cheryl Williams ’13 Meagen Shawn Monahan Burley ’13‘13 Huxley Powell ’14 ­— photos and interviews by Anita Jiang and Michelle Gabro

ne of the unavoidable facts about being part of a campus organization — or any organization, for that matter — is that each group comes to be associated with certain stereotypes or common behaviors. In the case of the Student Assembly at the College of William and Mary, the senate has enjoyed a generally positive reputation, but one periodically tainted by a perceived lack of involvement or interest. The perception of the SA as an inactive and ineffective body has been recently reaffirmed by a series of actions and behaviors within all three branches of the assembly.

This past week, Chairman of the Senate Noah Kim ’13 admonished his fellow senators for a lack of dedication, asking them to take their roles as student ambassadors more seriously, specifically calling attention to senators who arrived late — or not at all.

While we might disagree with Kim’s method of publicly calling out members of the SA, we certainly agree with his message. The role and responsibilities of the SA are extensive, and if all members of the SA take active roles, the senate can act as a great source of positive change within the College.

Instead, it appears that interest in the SA has waned considerably, as reflected by the number of students wishing to run for SA office and the behavior of those who currently hold office. For years, we have heard campaigns centered on changing the culture of the SA. Some members of the SA, Kim included, certainly appear to take their roles seriously and appear ready to participate actively in one of our campus’s most influential student organizations.

Students who run for the SA are making a promise to the student body to work to improve student life at the College, and those who fail to try to do so are doing a great disservice to the students who elected them. Unfortunately, as long as the vast majority of seats in the SA meetings are empty, the vicious cycle of inactivity will continue.

Another issue that has plagued the SA over the years is the amount of resignation. Such resignations exemplify a lack of commitment on the part of the SA. While SA officials may have very legitimate reasons for resigning, we still believe that the key to halting the cycle of inactivity is to ensure the SA has stable, committed and strongly motivated leadership. If senators and class officers are simply there to pad their resumes, and if they do not actively participate in their roles, the high turnover rate will continue to be a major problem for the organization.

We want to see results and a change in how SA members are acting. It’s the final push for senior leadership to make an actual difference in this school. Remember why you wanted to be a part of the SA, and if you ran to put a leadership role on your resume, find something other than a position is built upon the trust of your fellow students.

All it takes is one group of young, determined senators to change the culture of an organization. We certainly hope the new semester brings a less lethargic attitude to one of the College’s premier student organizations.

The staff editorial represents the opinion of The Flat Hat. The editorial board, which is elected by The Flat Hat’s section editors and executive staff, consists of Mike Barnes, Jill Found, Ellie Kaufman, Elizabeth DeBusk and Alex Cooper.

The Flat Hat welcomes submissions to the Opinions section. Limit letters to 250 words and columns to 650 words. Letters, columns, graphics and cartoons reflect the view of the author only. Email submissions to opinions@flathatnews.com.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Welcoming Chancellor Robert Gates To the Editor: The investment of Chancellor Robert Gates ‘65 this Saturday is a milestone in the College of William and Mary’s ascent into the realm of international affairs. Students at the College already study abroad in greater proportion than any other public university, the College’s Model United Nations team is arguably the best in the world, undergraduates conduct internationally focused research in outstanding numbers, and we welcomed our largest-ever class of international students this year. In the tradition of internationalist alumni such as Thomas Jefferson 1762 (the first Secretary of State) and James Monroe 1776 (ushered the United States firmly into world affairs), Gates highlights the strong global focus of the College. The International Relations Club would like to commend the Board of Visitors for their choice and welcome Gates back to Williamsburg.

We hope that his presence will continue to

inspire the widely popular international service trips, encourage even more record-breaking Peace Corps participants and Fulbright recipients, and lead to the further development of international resource at the College — as seen in the new Sultan Qaboos bin Said professorship of Middle Eastern Studies, the new Confucius Institute, and the new joint-degree program with the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

However, Gates should serve as more than a symbol of these accomplishments. The world is undergoing rapid political and economic change.

The College is well positioned to continue to train the leaders who guide the United States and the international community into a better tomorrow — but more can always be done. The College’s international programs must continue to grow and adapt to a changing future; we hope that Gates will help lead the College as it firmly establishes itself at the pinnacle of international universities.

— John F. Kirn, III President, International Relations Club

Banking on cheaper tuition: Overhaul of financial aid rich with potential Elizabeth DeBusk

Few things possess

Flat Hat Opinions Editor

As any student at the College of William and Mary knows, a college education is extremely expensive. Even at a school that is consistently heralded as a “great value,” tuition prices increase every year. In a speech at the University of Michigan, President Barack Obama announced a plan to overhaul the financial aid system to reward colleges that reduce tuition costs to make higher education more affordable for students.

While Obama’s plan does come with risks to the quality of education, student-loan debt now outranks creditcard debt, and the potential decreases

in the cost of tuition far outweigh any concerns opponents may have.

At first glance, this plan puts the College into a difficult situation. Due to all of the decreases in state funding, the College is running out of ways to cut operating costs. The College needs to be able to maintain its facilities, hire the most qualified faculty members, and further research opportunities, and all of these objectives cost money.

The huge problems of available parking and housing on campus are evidence enough that the College cannot afford to greatly increase admissions to help bring down prices.

I am opposed to any plan that will hurt the College’s reputation — after all, if I’m paying this much for a degree, I want it to be valuable.

As part of Obama’s plan, however, the Race to the Top Program would receive $1 billion in federal grant money

to reward states that work to decrease college costs. In Virginia, this roughly translates to increasing state funding to colleges. The Commonwealth is known for its outstanding public universities, but the delegates in Richmond are not doing anything to maintain the state’s prestigious schools. Virginia currently ranks No. 38 nationally in state and local appropriations for students. With the incentive of federal grant money, state delegates may finally be enticed to increase state funding to education. As a result of the increase in state funding, the College could cut tuition, lowering the price of education in Virginia.

Lower tuition prices will attract more in-state and more out-of-state students, who according to College President Taylor Reveley are already paying as much as they possibly can, to the College, which would only serve to improve the College’s quality.

Obama’s plan seeks to return college tuition rates to what they were before the economic recession, which presents an optimistic picture of the economy— even if it is nothing more than an illusion — as he heads into the November presidential elections.

If passed, this plan could not only end the painful annual tuition hikes at the College, but it also could make the College more attractive to a wider range of students.

Email Elizabeth DeBusk at epdebusk@email.wm.edu.

Graphic by Rachel Brooks / the Flat hat

variety

Variety Editor Hailey Arnold Variety Editor Katie Demeria variety@flathatnews.com

The Flat Hat | Friday, February 3, 2012 | Page 6

LAUREN SU / THE FLAT HAT

In an event sponsored by AMP, speaker Dan Savage engaged in a discussion with students on Wednesday about the variety of issues LGBTQ teenagers face in everyday college life.

An open talk

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY / ITGETSBETTER.ORG

Internet icon speaks with students about challenges faced by LGBTQ teens

BY RAYMOND KO THE FLAT HAT

In 2010, Dan Savage and his husband Terry initiated the “It Gets Better” antibullying campaign. The project began with Savage’s response to the 2010 suicide of Billy Lucas, a teenager who was bullied for being gay. Outraged at the bullying which pushed Billy to his suicide, Savage decided to encourage LGBTQ teenagers to talk about their struggles via a YouTube video.

“Every population has an obligation towards its youth,” Savage said. “For too long the LGBT community avoided that responsibility for fear of accusation of ‘recruitment’ or ‘pedophile.’”

The event, planned by AMP, was intended to present issues to students that they may not otherwise be aware of.

“At AMP, we want to create events that foster discussion and open communication on campus,” AMP

Contemporary and Cultural Issues Committee Chair Chelsea Moubarak ’12 said.

There was a great deal of response from students when AMP announced that Savage would be coming to the College of William and Mary. Lively discussions took place among College students regarding Savage on the Facebook page in the runup to the talk. The discussion focused mainly on whether Savage is bi-phobic, and whether he should be “bombed” with glitter at the event.

“The challenge used to be that such messages of encouragement would be blocked by homophobic school authorities or parents,” Savage said.

“YouTube changed that. It allows messages of hope and support to be delivered to struggling teenagers.”

Initially Savage aimed to have 100 video responses so that the campaign would reflect the diversity of the LGBTQ population.

“The hope was that every LGBT teenager can find a video by someone he [or] she could relate to,” Savage said.

Within five days, Savage’s video inspired 600 responses. During that time, he and his husband watched all of videos to screen their content.

“We didn’t eat, we didn’t sleep, we didn’t shower, and we didn’t have sex,” Savage said. “We wanted to make sure that no anti-gay messages were posted to our YouTube channel.”

Two years later, the campaign has over 50,000 videos from the United States and abroad including Vietnam, Great Britain and Chile.

“It has saved lives,” Savage said. “Two years ago I received an email from a 15-year-old girl who came out to her family as a lesbian. When her parents forced her into reparative therapy, she heartened herself by watching “It Gets Better” videos on YouTube, in her bedroom, under her blanket. These

on the record

SNOW PATROL

“Fallen Empires” is not another movie about Sparta. It’s not even a movie, and it’s much better than ancient Rome. After six months of putting countless hours and heart into its new project, Snow Patrol, the Northern Irish alternative rock band popular for songs such as “Chasing Cars,” has debuted its newest album.

The first outstanding track, “Called Out in the Dark,” with an inspiring chorus of “We are listening/and we’re not blind / this is your life / this is your time,” was released Sept. 2, 2011, as an extended play track to prelude the rest of the album. The track is not yet as popular as the classic “Chasing Cars,” but it has still surpassed the popularity of any other song from the band’s previous album in just three months.

This newest repertoire of songs has elements of the classic Snow Patrol; each song is reminiscent of the band’s previous songs and indistinct from the next. However, as similar as they all seem to be, the album as a whole is truly one of their best.

The band’s new sound can be likened to that of Kings of Leon; a little rougher around the edges, with background metal and harder drum beats than in previous albums. Although there are a few slower songs on the album, they do not take away anything from the feel of the album.

The crooning voice of lead vocalist Gary Lightbody does not disappoint, and the overall cohesiveness of the band can really be felt. His echoing vocals in “The President” are the best they have been since the release of “Chasing Cars,” and the song has a very similar effect.

For this album, the band really took a different approach — not only to their sound but also

not condemn slavery, but asserts that shellfish is an abomination. One can accept that his [or] her religion is wrong on some matters, and enjoy the traditions of the religion.”

Members of the audience generally responded positively to Savage, with frequent bursts of applause.

“The talk was really good,” Mikki McCall ’13 said. “Dan Savage came across as passionate about his cause and people.”

Associate Director of the Center for Student Diversity Margaret Cook found the talk educational in that it provided personal context to issues that LGBTQ teens face. Morris Chen ’14 said the event should help to the College a more tolerant community by showing that bullying affects all people, gay and straight, male and female. For the future, he hopes that AMP will bring more LGBTQ speakers to campus to show the diversity of the LGBTQ community.

NADA SURF

Fallen Empires

BY BAILEY KIRKPATRICK FLAT HAT ASSOC. VARIETY EDITOR

videos gave her hope for her future, and also hope that her family will one day accept her as she is.”

In the question and answer session, a student in the audience said he came out to his family just two weeks ago, and his parents reacted negatively. Savage advised the student to give his parents one year to come to terms with who he is.

“Let them ask questions, however outrageous they may sound,” Savage said.

“Be patient. Be compassionate. And after one year, they can decide if they will accept you as you are, or they would never see you again.”

Another student told the audience that to come to terms with his sexuality, he had to leave his church. He asked Savage what he would say to LGBTQ people who do not want to leave their religious communities, even when those communities are hostile to their sexuality.

“Not everything in a religion makes sense,” Savage said. “The Bible does

The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy

with their lyrics. Another standout song from the album, “In The End,” has very memorable opening lyrics: “It’s the price I guess / For the lies I’ve told / That the truth it no longer thrills me.” The thought process and attention to detail in this album are noticeable, and the word amazing simply does not adequately describe the album.

One of my favorites from the album really worth listening to is the song “This Isn’t Everything You Are,” a song with haunting lyrics about true heartbreak: “And in one little moment / It all implodes / This isn’t everything you are.” The songs seem to be leaning more toward heartbreak rock, but there aren’t many who can’t understand that feeling.

The band has had a very memorable career since its start in 1994, with nominations for Best New Band, Best Headliner, Best British Group, among many others over the years, all of which they have deserved. Each album surpasses the quality of the next.

Although the band has been working for over 15 years, age makes little difference, and it continues to exceed expectations and define the standards of the popular alternative rock trends.

The band started their “Fallen Empires Tour” Jan. 20, which will not hit the United States until late March and will continue through late May. The anticipation for this album was definitely in order; the music is of the same caliber it has always been, and the band is solid in their sense of self, never changing or bowing to popular demand.

The Snow Patrol empire has shown no signs of falling or releasing the large influence it has in the alternative rock genre in the 21st century, but I haven’t heard any complaints. Party on, Snow Patrol.

COURTESY PHOTO / LAST.FM

BY HAILEY ARNOLD FLAT HAT VARIETY EDITOR

It’s fair to say that Nada Surf’s music has plateaued in the past few years. “The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy,” released Jan. 24, is filled from beginning to end with catchy pop songs with choppy guitars which sound so similar that without paying careful attention, it is hard to tell when one song ends and the next begins. Nada Surf’s most recent release prior to “Astronomy” — ignoring “If I Had a Hi-Fi,” an album composed entirely of cover tracks — was “Lucky” in 2008. The band filled “Lucky” with song after song of the same continuously upbeat, chiming guitar riffs and eradicated the versatility that made “The Weight is a Gift,” released in 2005, the kind of album you could listen to on repeat for days.

“The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy” follows in the footsteps of “Lucky;” The listening experience begins with the speedy pop opener “Clear Eye Clouded Mind,” starting off the entire album with a loud, resonating guitar stroke. While the entire album would be an above-average pop album with catchy melodies guaranteed to stick in your head for days, when compared to the band’s earlier releases it can easily leave their fans missing the band they used to know and love.

The only song that can make listeners feel like they’re truly back in the golden days of Nada Surf is “When I Was Young,” a track placed unfortunately early in the album for such a slow song. The song opens with two minutes of acoustic buildup before it gets into full swing, a pattern found often in Nada Surf’s earlier releases. The song peaks and brings back the now-common sound of electric and synthesized guitars with crashing cymbals in the background. However, Nada Surf’s early roots are

still discernable as singer-guitarist Matthew Caws comments on the absurdity of real life, a theme common to many of their songs, by focusing on the nostalgia of childhood. The track ends with the repeated line, “When I was young, I didn’t know if I was better off asleep or up / Now that I’ve grown up, I wonder what was that world I was dreaming of.”

This theme has never changed about Nada Surf throughout all of their ups and downs. The band manages to intertwine spontaneous lines of thought-provoking lyrics with poppy guitar riffs, the kind that sit so strongly with you that you find yourself rewinding the song to make sure you listen to and remember the entire thing.

The standout “No Snow On The Mountain” truly would be the ideal closing track for any other album if a song as representative of Nada Surf as “The Future” didn’t follow it. Hooky and energetic from the start, “No Snow On The Mountain” combines the classic elements of Nada Surf songs and acts as a perfect summation of all previous tracks in the album, all while adding a feeling of completion when it finally finishes. Then, the real gem of the album begins immediately.

Again following the lyrical theme of disconnect with reality, the closing track “The Future” is filled with lines like, “we’re just imitations and hooks / Bits that you remember / Nothing else gets another look / The future’s empty in its way.” To make the message of the song, album and band itself virtually impossible to miss, “Astronomy” ends with the candid line “I cannot believe the future is happening to me.”

While fans hoping for the songs they fell in love with from Nada Surf’s earlier work may be disappointed, “Astronomy” is nothing near a bad release. The music provides a calm that makes you sit back and wonder what the band will release next.

COURTESY PHOTO / HTBACKDROPS.COM

Friday, February 3, 2012

The Flat Hat

Page 7

CONFUSION CORNER

Dating life on campus Dasha Godunova

confusion corner columnist

COURTESY PHOTO / SUPPORT.DELL.COM

Class of 2016 actively engages in unofficial Facebook group

BY KATIE DEMERIA FLAT HAT VARIETY EDITOR

they are not getting the same information that other students are receiving. Christiana Kallon ’11 recently took over the Admission Office’s social networks and regularly posts information A comment on the Facebook group for the Early Decision students may find helpful.

College of William and Mary class of 2016 about “We want to connect [with] students with dorm decor received 1,200 comments. Within two social media and the website, so that they know days, a post about setting up arranged marriages what’s going on around campus outside of the between Early Decision students received 273 admission office,” Kallon said. responses. One student created a theme song for The activity on this unofficial page is the Early Decision group to the tune of the song unprecedented, with a great deal of activity that “Sexy and I Know It” by the band LMFAO. the official page is not seeing. In the past, students In any other situation, this activity would have rarely created a community as tightly-knit be seen as a positive example of how excited as this with interactions jumping to other social students are to have been accepted into the networks like Tumblr.com College. But when it turns out “I think the difference that the particular page they are is, now more and more posting on is run by a company W&M Admissions The Flat Hat students are getting used to that wants them to pay for their The issue isn’t that we’re trying to eliminate them, but it’s just growing up with that kind of services, called Roomsurf.com, that early decision students are so eager to get moving that we don’t want them to give money or credence to something that isn’t interaction,” Livingston said. the story changes. officially William and Mary’s.

“And we’ve seen more and As most students are aware, —Wendy Livingston more submissions where the Office of Undergraduate 37 people like this. Comment . See Friendship . 21 hours ago near Williamsburg, VA they link their Facebook Admissions creates a Facebook page to show more about group for newly accepted themselves. I think they’re students every year. Usually, they waited to create the group until all students said. “There’s probably no real danger — these just getting more active because it’s just much had been accepted. Starting last year, however, students have grown up in this age and know more ingrained within who they are.”

Although Roomsurf.com’s group has they decided to make the page accessible earlier how to handle themselves online. We just want them to be cautious of it. This company is trying received a lot of attention from students, the for Early Decision students. official page is still becoming more active. The “We were receiving a substantial amount of to make money.”

The page itself has received a massive amount fact that these two groups of students are feedback from the Early Decision kids,” Senior Assistant Dean of Admissions Wendy Livingston of attention from Early Decision students. coming in separated may be outweighed ’03 M.Ed. ’09 said. “They wanted us to create On average, comments posted on Friday will by the fact that strong bonds are already it earlier because they’re always so eager after have 26 ‘Likes’ and 25 additional comments flourishing within the groups.

“Facebook is always changing,” Kallon

by Sunday, a phenomenon that rarely happens they’ve been accepted.”

The students’ eagerness to get to the College on the official page. Students have created a said. “We always have to figure out how can be understood. But it appears that this time microcosm of high school life, complete with we want to reach out to students and the excitement of the Early Decision students in cliques and social drama, in which they post how we want to incorporate things unrelated to the College, from discussions those changes into our particular has sent them in a different direction.

Roomsurf.com is the roommate-finding of the State of the Union Addresss to whether interactions. It’s good to see them so involved, equivalent of eHarmony.com or Match.com. anyone else likes zumba.

“The issue isn’t that we’re trying to eliminate and when you get 57 Students sign up and fill out a questionnaire that the company then uses to match them with them, but it’s just that Early Decision students are likes on something, other students from their university. Participants so eager to get moving that we don’t want them that makes you must sign up using Facebook, and, although it is to give money or credence to something that feel good.” free to register, they must pay to take the actual isn’t officially William and Mary’s,” Livingston questionnaire. Since the group comes up before said. “We don’t want them to get wrapped up in the official page during a search, it is inevitable something that they shouldn’t get wrapped up in.”

The page may be a tool for the company to start that some students signed up without knowing its registration process, but since many students they were not part of the official group. “[Roomsurf] is a group that’s trying to drum up do not realize that it is not the official College page, CO

UR

TE

SY

PH

OT

O/

oem pr

omo .com

business by trying to get students to want to join and find a compatible roommate,” Wolfe said.

“This has been a recurring problem, even on our Facebook page. Places like that post videos and ads and generally just spam the official page.”

There are, of course, side effects for those students who are not part of the official page.

Apart from not getting all the information that the College regularly posts, they are posting on the page of a company that would ideally like them to pay to take their questionnaire.

“I would think that they’re just doing it as a way to get access to these students and hit them up with whatever their requests are,” Wolfe

Watch

Enjoy

Tonight from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., non-profit Sponsored by the College of William and organization City Arts Mary French and Francophone Cafe is presenting special Film Festival (WM4F), White musical guests Bagels Material will play tonight from & Fralox Klezmer Band 6:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. at the at the Grace Covenant Kimball Theatre. A French film Presbyterian Church, with subtitles, White Material located at 1677 Jamestown documents a white French Road. The goal of this expatriate living in a politically event is to bring attention chaotic African nation. General to and support creativity admission costs $3 and students in the local area. The event pay $2, or patrons can purchase display art by local artists a WM4F movie and dinner pass and free refreshments for $10 to watch the film and that will be sponsored in dine at participating restaurants part by Harbour Coffee like the Blue Talon Bistro, the in New Town. Contact Trellis, Aromas, and the Fat info@cityartscafe.org Canary. Go to Frenchfilm2012. or call 757-220-0147 for blogs.wm.edu for more COURTESY PHOTO / HOLLYWOODCHICAGO.COM additional information. information on the program.

If you are one of the students lucky enough to have found a significant other in the .05 percent of eligible bachelors and bachelorettes on this campus, I salute you wholeheartedly in your success. For the rest of us, whether involved in sports, Greek life or any of the other hundreds of organizations on our campus, I’d like to take this time to remind you that relationships often call for many more sacrifices than you should ever be willing to make as a young college student.

First and foremost, if you are involved with a member of the opposite sex, privacy is wholly absent. For example, any hookup, date or relationship you may have on this campus is almost always a three-way love triangle between you, your significant other and 5,000 of your closest Facebook friends. In our colonial corner of the world, you can almost always be certain that everyone knows everyone else, and even if they do not, the next student you see on your way to class either: 1) has Facebook stalked you, 2) is currently in the process of it or 3) has heard enough about you to know your favorite ninja turtle, the first concert you went to with your parents and, of course, your favorite Wawa purchase.

Another downside I’d love to cite is the monogamy factor: Most of us have the rest of our lives to look forward to being married to one person, or even worse, being married to no one and buying a puppy or kitten every time we’re feeling a little lonely. So, if you are for any reason one of those students “looking for a relationship,” think again — college is the only time that looking slutty at a party makes emds up making you more friends, not more enemies.

If you’re one of the hopefuls still thinking the benefits of a relationship outweighs the costs, let’s think about that very last term: the costs. Combined with the recent rise in gas prices (although slightly unrelated), Valentine’s Day, birthdays, movie theater expenses and dinner dates make splitting the check not only acceptable, but also mandatory nowadays. If you’re a caffeine addict, your Starbucks habit will have to be the first thing to go.

Last but not least, College of William and Mary students never seem to have enough free time. So if you happen to have any ambitions of running a half-marathon, finally writing that perfect government paper or catching up on all of the episodes of The Bachelor, Parks and Recreation or Game of Thrones that you may have missed, please rethink your aspirations. While spending time with a person you like may be wonderful, it also happens during the only time you may have had for yourself this week. Personally, I’m all about that “me time” sort of thing.

Unfortunately, while I would love nothing more than to continue with more uplifting pessimism about campus relationships, I am afraid I often overestimate student appreciation for my imagination and creativity. If, however, you found any part of this humorous, my job is done. Not only have I just wasted 10 minutes of your life with absolute nonsense, but I have possibly succeeded in making you think about cute puppies without going on StumbleUpon. Now go on my dearest and most committed students: Swem on, munch on, Wawa on, or whatever it is that you most love.

Dasha Godunova is a Confusion Corner columnist and is currently watching the Hangover.

With Las Vegas, tigers and strippers on her mind, she disclaims that the next column will most likely cite all three.

Listen

Play

Tomorrow evening at 7 p.m., Dr. Jamie C. Barlett will conduct at A Swingin’ Affair, the Annual Gala with the College of William and Mary Botetourt Chamber Singers. Come to the Kimball Theatre to hear Harris Simon on the piano and harmonica, watch Dr. Paul Bhasin direct the W&M Jazz Ensemble and hear the Wham Bam Big Band.

Admission will cost $15, with the exception of $10 for student rush seats (purchased tomorrow). Proceeds benefit the scholarship fund of the W&M Choral International Tour.

Join AMP in Lodge 1 at 9 p.m. tonight to participate in the first Late Nite trivia of the semester. Competitors can choose from categories including Music of the ’90s, Star Wars, Love/Adultery/Prostitution, Superbowl/This Football Season, Sharks and Oscars/Movies of the Year. Play for fun or to win food, mugs and prizes. If the Late Nite trivia conjures up your late night appetite, take advantage of the Crim Deli’s made-to-order Boar’s Head sandwiches.

Located in Lodge 1, the Crim Deli serves from 8 p.m. until midnight and accepts W&M Express, flex points, cash, and credit.

COURTESY PHOTO / WEB.WM.EDU

sports

SPORTS IN BRIEF

Quotable

Sports Editor Jared Foretek Assoc. Sports Editor Chris Weber flathatsports@gmail.com

The Flat Hat | Friday, February 3, 2012 | Page 8

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Same story, different city

“I’m proud of that. I don’t think moral victories mean a lot, but I think our guys proved that we can compete with anybody in this league.”

— Men’s basketball head coach Tony Shaver on the Tribe keeping it close in two games against Virginia Commonwealth this season, in which the College lost by one in overtime on Jan. 19 and then fell by nine points Wednesday.

Stat box

83.3

The percent from the floor that freshman guard Marcus Thornton shot in the Tribe’s 87-78 loss to VCU Wednesday. Thornton finished with a season-high 28 points.

upcoming games Men’s TENNIS Tribe vs. Yale 10 a.m. Sat., Williamsburg After winning two of three matches in its spring home opener at the Tribe Kickoff Tournament, the College will play host to the Bulldogs. The Tribe will hope to reverse its fortunes against the Ivy League after suffering a 4-0 shellacking at the hands of Dartmouth Sunday. Yale will most definitely be a challenge, though, as the Bulldogs are coming off two straight 7-0 victories.

men’s Basketball Tribe at UNC-Wilmington 7 p.m. Sat., Wilmington, N.C. The Tribe (4-20, 2-10 CAA) will look to put an end to its seven game losing streak when it goes south to take on the Seahawks.

The Tribe lost a squeaker, 6866, the last time the two teams played Jan. 21 in Williamsburg.

The College will look to freshman guard Marcus Thornton and senior forward Quinn McDowell, who scored 18 points and grabbed five rebounds in that game, to lead the way.

women’s Basketball Tribe at UNC-Wilmington 2 p.m. Sun., Wilmington, N.C. The conference schedule has not been kind to the Tribe so far this season as the College currently sits in a tie for 10th in the CAA with a 2-8 conference record.

Things may not get much easier when the Tribe travels south to take on the fifth-place Seahawks.

Wilmington is in the middle of the pack in scoring offense, but the College will need to improve its defensive effort as the team’s allowed 77 or more in seven of its last eight games. yards on passing the web per game

Get more sports coverage at

FLATHATNEWS.COM Photos Videos Blogs Box scores

See more photos and the full video of the post-game press conferences from the Tribe’s loss to VCU, and read sports editor Jared Foretek’s take on freshman guard Marcus Thornton’s rookie year on The Pressbox blog.

HAYLEY TYMESON / THE FLAT HAT

Sophomore guard Brandon Britt finished with 19 points on 6 of 15 shooting as well as four rebounds, four assists and three steals in the Tribe’s 87-78 loss at home to Virginia Commonwealth Wednesday.

Thornton’s 28 points not enough as College falls at home to VCU, 87-78

BY BLAKE HUNT FLAT HAT STAFF WRITER

In a rematch of the Jan. 19 overtime thriller in Richmond, William and Mary once again came up short against Virginia Commonwealth at Kaplan Arena Wednesday, losing 87-78 despite another resilient effort versus the Rams.

The Tribe (4-20, 2-10 CAA) trailed by as many as 19 points early in the second half, as a confident VCU team (19-5, 10-2 CAA) found its stride after hitting six of 11 firsthalf threes. The Rams’ signature frenetic style of play also had the Tribe on its heels at times, as VCU managed a game-changing 21 points off turnovers.

But the College, undaunted, regrouped in the second half, outscoring the Rams 32-20 over a critical 10 minute stretch. The offensive outburst cut the lead to seven with five minutes remaining, and was sparked by the backcourt duo of sophomore guard Brandon Britt and freshman guard Marcus Thornton. Britt scored 19 points to complement Thornton’s red-hot shooting night. The freshman went an impressive 10-12 from the field, including 5-6 from beyond the arc for a season-best 28 points, as the two See more on this game at

FLATHATNEWS.COM Photos

Press conference video

Box score

underclassmen kept the College in striking distance. But the hole was dug too deep, and VCU stemmed the Tribe tide with its superior speed and athleticism.

Head coach Tony Shaver was still encouraged by his team twice going toe-to-toe with one of the CAA’s best.

“I’m proud of that,” Shaver said. “I don’t think moral victories mean a lot, but I think our guys proved that we can compete with anybody in this league.”

Shaver’s team — without senior guard Kendrix Brown, who suffered a concussion — came out to prove just that, sprinting to a 9-3 lead thanks to back-to-back threes from Thornton and Britt. Britt followed up with one of his game-high three steals, and converted the layup despite being fouled.

But all good teams eventually make a run, and VCU made its midway through the first half, scoring 13 unanswered to steal back momentum from the home Tribe.

Britt hit another three to answer, before blowing by a Rams defender for a layup.

VCU was just getting started though, and with a six point lead with five minutes to go in the half, the Rams rolled out their full-court press to close out the first in a 7-0 flurry that left the College in a 14-point hole before it ever knew what hit it. Such decisive lapses have plagued the Tribe for much of the season.

“Coach talks about ‘game slippage’ all the time,” Britt said. “We can’t have stretches like that … and expect to crawl back in the second half.”

Shaver saw the letdown as being the difference between

a win and a loss.

“We dug a hole a little too deep to get out of,” he said. “I thought it was the key to the ballgame. We had a couple really sloppy turnovers …. They got a couple very easy baskets.”

The Tribe wouldn’t be back within single digits until there were five minutes left in the contest, when senior forward Quinn McDowell knocked down a three-ball. Not long after, Britt collected another steal and found a streaking Thornton whose two-handed dunk injected some much-needed energy into the College.

VCU continued to force the issue though, and got to the free-throw line to ice the victory. Thornton managed to knock down two more late threes to score the Tribe’s final 10 points, and also give the College a season-high 12 threepointers in the losing effort.

A large shooting disparity plagued the Tribe throughout. McDowell, the College’s leading scorer, missed a number of wide open looks from downtown, finishing the game with eight points on 2 of 7 shooting as the team shot 47.3 percent from the floor. The rams, led once again by forward Juvonte Reddic — who finished with 20 points — shot 53.2 percent.

In the wake of seven straight conference losses, Shaver said he’s staying focused on the big picture.

“We’re shooting for March. Hopefully we’ll be in good shape by then” he said.

The Tribe will return to action when it heads to North Carolina to take on UNC-Wilmington Saturday.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

College’s defense falters again in 82-75 loss Conference skid continues as Hofstra deals the Tribe its eighth CAA loss of the season

BY JARED FORETEK FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR

William and Mary’s defensive struggles continued Thursday as the Tribe dropped its second straight at the hands of Hofstra, 82-75, on the road.

For the fifth time in its last seven games, the College (9-12, 2-8 CAA) lost a game in which it scored more than 70 points, once again losing the rebounding battle 48-41 and allowing the Pride (16-5, 8-2 CAA) to grab 20 offensive rebounds, which turned into 19 secondchance points.

Like so many teams before it, the Tribe struggled to find an answer for Hofstra’s six-foot forward Shante Evans, who came in averaging 17.8 points per game and 10.3 rebounds. Evans logged another double-double, scoring 19 points and pulling down 10 boards.

The Tribe got its own front-court production, as junior forward Emily Correal scored 14 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, while junior center Jaclyn McKenna led the College with 16 points of her own.

The Tribe suffered yet another slow start, falling behind 11-2 with 16 minutes, 38 seconds left in the first half. After a McKenna layup and a three-pointer from the College’s all-time leader in threes, junior guard Janine Aldridge, the College was back within four. A few minutes later, the Tribe broke through, grabbing an 1817 advantage with a trey from senior guard Katherine DeHenzel at the 9:38 mark in the first. DeHenzel would finish the night with 12 points on 3 of 11 shooting.

The two teams would trade leads until the College ripped off a 6-0 run of its own to jump out to a 26-21 lead.

But neither team could really separate itself, and the Tribe took a 36-33 lead into the locker room.

The College nursed its small lead until, with 16:39 remaining in the contest, a Marie Malone jumper gave

NOAH WILLARD / THE FLAT HAT

Sophomore guard Brandon Britt led the Tribe in scoring Thursday, finishing with 14 points on 3 of 8 shooting from the field.

the Pride a 40-39 lead it wouldn’t relinquish. Hofstra would push its lead to four before Aldridge hit a jump shot of her own, once again making it a one-score game in the early goings of the second half.

But then the turnover bug bit, and two College turnovers helped an 11-4 Hofstra run. Suddenly, the Tribe’s halftime lead had disappeared and the Pride held a nine-point lead with 11 minutes to go.

After that, the Tribe never got closer than five points behind and the Pride stretched its lead to as much as 11 en route to outscoring the College 49-39 in the second period.

The Tribe actually outshot Hofstra, knocking down 45.3 percent of its field goal attempts while the Pride shot just 41.8 percent.

Now three games under .500, the College finds itself tied for 10th place in the conference and just one game up on last-placed Georgia State.

If anything, facing Hofstra serves as a reminder of the importance of seeding for the conference championship, which kicks off March 8. Last season, the Pride put an end to the 11th-seeded College’s season with an 89-67 drubbing the opening round of the single-elimination tournament.