SPORTS >> PAGE 8
College wins third straight
VARIETY >> PAGE 6
Tribe’s sharpshooters sink visiting Panthers in 75-63 victory at Kaplan Arena Monday.
Vol. 102, Iss. 36 | Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Comedian talks sex and drugs Ty Barnett brings his comedy routine to the College on Friday night.
The Flat Hat The Twice-Weekly Student Newspaper
of The College of William and Mary
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WILLIAMSBURG
HIGHER EDUCATION
Voices on higher ed
Conference expands Active Citizens Conference hosts 270 various attendees BY ELLIE KAUFMAN FLAT HAT CHIEF STAFF WRITER
ZE FU / THE FLAT HAT
BY MEREDITH RAMEY FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
FROM LEFT: MARIKA EMANUEL / THE FLAT HAT, COURTESY PHOTO / THE BRENNER BRIEF, ANITA JIANG / THE FLAT HAT
Chancellor Robert Gates ’65, President Barack Obama and College of William and Mary President Taylor Reveley address financial issues facing higher education.
Lack of federal funding challenges colleges and universities BY BEATRICE LOAYZA FLAT HAT STAFF WRITER
President Barack Obama addressed the soaring costs of higher education and called upon Congress to require accreditors to factor in price and value when determining how federal aid is distributed in his State of the Union Speech Feb. 12. “Taxpayers cannot continue to subsidize higher and higher costs of higher education,” Obama said. “Colleges must do their part to keep their costs down, and it’s our job to make sure they do.” Just a few days before at the College of William and Mary’s Charter Day celebration, Chancellor Robert Gates ’65 took the issue of costly higher education even further by noting the trend of dwindling state financial support
for public institutions like the College. “Public Universities have gone from being state-supported to state-assisted to statelocated,” Gates said. The declining trajectory of state financial involvement is a major departure from the large-scale investment in higher education seen in the Cold War era, yet the trend of dwindling government support for public higher education is a phenomenon due largely in part to the inescapable drawbacks of the federal system. Vice President of Communications and University Relations Brian Whitson indicates that the commonwealth’s inability to fund institutions of higher education are a result of the federal government’s deficiencies, to the extent that federal policies either speed up or slow down the overall economic recovery.
“Virginia is a state that will feel major impacts if the federal government moves to reduce spending significantly,” Whitson said in an email. “Lower federal spending means lower state tax revenues.” Whitson highlighted the gravity of the possible government sequestration that Gates deemed as one of the largest financial challenges. Whitson also noted that roughly one third of Virginia’s budget is funded by the federal government, meaning that any shift, up or down, can have a significant impact on public colleges and universities. The question of how universities and colleges deal with the shifts infiltrated Gates’ speech. See FUNDING page 3
In a hall frequently filled with minds focused on maximizing monetary profits, a flock of students and alumni from over 40 organizations gathered in the Mason School of Business to discuss how to maximize social profit. The College of William and Mary Active Citizens Conference brought together a crowd of roughly 270 attendees from both the professional and academic worlds of community engagement Feb. 15 and 16. “The point of a conference like this is to bring people together and give them a space to talk about best practices and challenges and to see what comes out of their own sense of active citizenship,” Office of Community Engagement Coordinator Elizabeth Miller ’11 said. Miller said this conference included more attendees and breakout session options than it did in previous years. In addition, its cost to students from the College was $25 per person, in comparison to $90 the year before. “We increased the capacity of the conference,” Miller said. “We worked hard this year to make sure we were making it accessible to the campus.” While the price was reduced for students at the College, they did not dominate the conference. Out of 270 attendees, only 90 were from the College. “[The College] certainly has a high level of engagement in communities. It is woven into our identity as the Tribe,” Miller said. “One of the great things about the conference is getting students from other campuses to talk about how they are engaged. There is a different culture on every campus.” Four awards from the Campus Engagement Election Project were presented Saturday. Zach Woodward ’14 accepted an award on behalf of the College for the best Student Assembly voter registration campaign. The three other colleges receiving awards were also represented. Miller, along with Coordinator for Education Programs in the Office of Community Engagement Austin Pryor, worked on the logistics and organization of the conference. Assistant Vice President for Student Engagement and Leadership for the Office of Community Engagement Drew Stelljes opened the conference Friday. See CITIZENS page 2
DINING
CAMPUS
Campus Dining hosts meetings
Third Dean of Students candidate speaks
Discusses state of College food services with students BY ELEANOR LAMB FLAT HAT ASSOC. NEWS EDITOR
Students who attended a recent dining consultation meeting brought a list of grievances nearly as long as the line to get a fresh burger at the Commons Dining Hall. Concerns ranged from uncooked meat, unripe and overripe fruit and the lengthy lines across the College of William and Mary’s dining halls. The consultation meeting on Feb. 13 featured representatives from Campus Dining, an independent consulting firm. In an effort to compile feedback, the meeting allowed the firm to get students’ views on the current food services on campus. The contract of the current dining services provider, Aramark, will expire June 30, 2014. The commonwealth of Virginia requires the College to bring in an outside consultation when renewing dining services contracts. This is done in order to gather as much See CONSULTATION page 3
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Former Associate Dean of Students Randy Williams interviews for new position
BY KATHERINE CHIGLINSKY FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
Dean of Students candidate Randy Williams Ph.D. ’13, who drove two and a half hours from Farmville, often twice a week, to work on his doctorate at the College of William and Mary spoke on his dedication to the College. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from Hampden-Sydney College, he worked as a math and physics high school teacher and then as an assistant dean of students at Hampden-Sydney. He came to the College as an associate dean of students before moving to North Carolina Wesleyan College as the vice president for student affairs and dean of students. At North Carolina Wesleyan College, Williams demonstrated his appreciation of adversity, as over 70 percent of students at North Carolina Wesleyan College receive Pell Grants. Dealing with students facing financial strains, he noted, helped him focus his efforts at the college.
KATHERINE CHIGLINSKY/ THE FLAT HAT
Randy Williams noted that his nickname, “Real Talk Randy,” speaks to his direct leadership style.
“How can I, as an educator, help this student navigate and coordinate all the obstacles and challenges, while maximizing on some resources, to get the education that
Inside OPINIONS
Inside VARIETY
The government’s future role in funding higher education
Partly rainy High 57, Low 31
President Obama and Chancellor Gates agree that something must be done to address the cost of education. Rethinking the College’s relationship to the government may be key. page 4
they very well deserve?” Williams said. Now returning to the College as a See DEAN page 2
Youth filmmaking competition debuts “Do-It-Young/Film-It-Yourself” contest challenges elementary, middle and high school students to create original short films as part of the Global Film Festival. page 5