The Flat Hat 3-20-12 by The Flat Hat

Special STUDENT ASSEMBLY Election issue

Vol. 101, Iss. 39 | Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The Flat Hat The Twice-Weekly Student Newspaper

of The College of William and Mary

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STudent assembly

SA Presidential candidates take the stage 1. Dallen McNerney

2.Andrew Canakis

3.Curt Mills

4. Grace Colby

5. David Alpert

6. Noah Kim

&Stacey LaRiviere

&Andrew Salamone

&Alyssa Zhu

&Meghan Moore

by ARIEL COHEN Flat hat assoc. news editor

He swears it’s not a campaign tactic. Student Assembly presidential candidate David Allen McNerney ‘14, better known as Dallen, really has had green and gold braces his entire time at the College of William and Mary. Self-described “TWAMPs at heart,” McNerney and his runningmate Stacey LaRiviere ’14, have been involved with SA since freshman year, most recently with McNerney serving as a Class of 2014 Senator and LaRiviere as the Undersecretary to Public Affairs. “We’ve both been on Student Assembly long enough to really understand what is going on, yet not so far into it that we’re jaded and don’t understand all the problems. We see that there are a lot of changes that we can make,” McNerney said. Although McNerney and LaRiviere represent the only allsophomore ticket, they also boast four years of active SA participation. “Even though we’re both sophomores, we have a lot of collective experience and can support each other. Also, we will have time to sustain the changes and new policies after our term by working with those who follow us,” McNerney said. Increased transparency and accessibility between the SA and the student body serve as the driving point behind McNerney and

By ellie kaufman Flat hat chief staff writer

“Celebrate the experience” is the phrase emboldening the campaign of Grace Colby ’13 and Alyssa Zhou ’14 for Student Assembly president and vice president, respectively. By posting campaign flyers and Facebook updates to their website, Colby and Zhou have spread their belief that a focus on students enjoying their time at the College of William and Mary is the best way to improve the community overall. “Our overarching thing is just celebrating who we are and making everybody work toward a happier and healthier campus,” Colby said. “I don’t think you can ever guarantee that a campaign promise will be turned into a reality. The only guarantee I can make is that I genuinely care about this place, and I genuinely want to make this place a better place for students.” Through the creation of a peer counseling program on campus and a step-by-step breakdown of the SA budget, among other initiatives, Colby and Zhou hope to better student life on campus. “The SA is the governing body, and they have all of these resources that students can have,” Zhou said. “I want to make sure that students have all of the opportunities to make sure that everyone gets that feeling of home when they come here and to make sure they are truly enjoying their time at William and Mary.”

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Today’s Weather

Stormy High 79, Low 54

all photos by anita jiang / THE FLAT HAT

by BAILEY KIRKPATRICK Flat hat assoc. Variety editor

See canakis, page 3

by CHASE HOPKINS Flat hat assoc. news editor

To some, student body disillusionment has been the major issue that the Student Assembly has had to tackle in recent years, and it is exactly this sentiment that Curt Mills ’13 and Melanie Levine ’13 use as a jumping-off point in their campaign for SA president and vice president, respectively. Driven by the desire to represent their peers better by changing the students’ body politic, Mills and Levine invoke change as the major grounding point to their campaign. “We are running to change the organization,” Mills said. “Make no mistake, we are running to reform the organization.” The Mills and Levine campaign sees mismanaged and underutilized funds controlled by the SA as a priority for change. The SA is funded through student activities fees levied on every student at the College of William and Mary, totaling approximately $634,800 for the 2011-2012 academic year. “The organization has gone a long way in the past two years in improving its image, its branding and achieving a lot of what it is supposed to do,” Mills said. “But the SA is accomplishing very little compared to what it was doing two or three years ago. … There is plenty of money to go around; the Senate runs a surplus.”

More interviews with the candidates at

See mills, page 3

FLATHATNEWS.COM

by CHRIS McKENNA Flat hat CHIEF STAFF WRITER

by meredith ramey Flat hat assoc. news editor

David Alpert ’13 and Meghan Moore ’13 say that they are looking to run a more grown-up campaign. “There’s this really big temptation of political campaigns of any size to promise the moon,” Alpert said. “Our whole perspective is to make this a mature, adult campaign.” In light of this, Alpert and Moore say they aren’t going to make promises for sweeping changes, but instead focus on a number of goals that they believe will improve the College of William and Mary as a whole. Alpert and Moore have dubbed these goals their “Top Ten List.” The list, which technically includes 11 items since number nine is broken into two subsections, makes up the foundation of their platform. Objectives include the creation of “Tribeline,” a confidential mental health helpline manned by students to offer support for their classmates. “There’s a way that peers can relate to peers about the William and Mary experience,” Alpert said. “Mental health is something that I think this campus really needs to step [it] up on.” Tribeline would offer a late-night opportunity to talk to fellow

Noah Kim ’13 and Sky Sprayberry ’15 believe their blend of experience and fresh perspective is necessary to “take back your Student Assembly.” Kim currently chairs the SA Senate, where he wrote more than 40 percent of the legislation this session. Serving as chair of the Finance Committee in the past academic year, Kim also has served as a senator since his start at the College of William and Mary. Sprayberry currently serves as the Class of 2015 Vice President of Social Affairs, yet describes her freshman status as an opportunity to initiate change and innovation in the SA. “Some people might be jaded by the organization because they’ve been in it for so long. ... They find it harder to want to change it,” Sprayberry said. “I bring a new eye to look over [the system].” Kim agreed, stating that the SA needs to change in order to serve College students more effectively. “I’ve been in this for three years, so I’ve built up the experience base, but what the SA needs more than anything else is a fresh perspective,” Kim said. “We have this unique balance of strong experience and strong new vision, and that’s what’s going to turn this SA around.” For Kim and Sprayberry, the first step lies with increasing the

See Alpert, page 3

See kim, page 3

See Colby, page 3

Index News Insight News Opinions Sports Sports Variety Variety

&Sky Sprayberry

“Shake ‘N Bake,” an inseparable senior pair also known as Andrew Canakis ’14 and Andrew Salamone ’14, are in the running for Student Assembly president and vice president, respectively, with the intent of doing just what their slogan implies: shaking up the SA. Roommates and friends for the past three years, the Andrews know each other very well. They collectively decided that their main goal is to bring a new spin to campaigning at the College of William and Mary, adding in new ideas and techniques that they believe to be absent from the usual campaigns. “We have a really great connection. Other candidates may be picking people to run with them that they have just met, but we [Andrew and I] have a real sincere relationship,” Canakis said. “We want to bring something new to campus that hasn’t happened here yet.” Among their various plans for change, the Canakis-Salamone campaign advocates for the start of a fall philanthropy event, sponsored by the SA, along the lines of an ‘Amazing Race’ College edition. They

See mcnerney, page 3

&Melanie Levine

Inside opinions

Voting psychology

As Student Assembly elections approach, students must be sure to cast their votes based solely upon the issues at hand. page 4

Inside SPORTS

Tribe sweeps JMU on the road

The College won a series with JMU for the first time since 2005, sweeping the Dukes in Harrisonburg for the first time ever behind dominant pitching. page 5

newsinsight “

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, March 20, 2011 | Page 2

THE BUZZ

All The News that’s unfit to print

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the General Assembly approved legislation which would permit the selling of naming rights to various state roads and bridges across the state. The selling of these rights could generate up to $27.3 million in revenue in five years. In 20 years, the Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research estimates sales could accumulate as much as $273 million. State transportation officials are still identifying which roads and bridges will be sold. The program takes effect July 1.

According to the Williamsburg Yorktown Daily, local chefs will be competing in the Willaimsburg Area Restaurant Association Iron Chef competition. The competition requires teams to create meals from a basket of limited ingredients. This year’s competition will include chefs from Berret’s, Buon Amici, Colonial Heritage, Kingsmill, Seasons, Second Street, Williamsburg Inn, Williamsburg Lodge and Windsormeade. The event is tonight from 6:30-9 p.m. at the Colonial Heritage. According to the Daily Press, a study has found that Virginia is home to one of the least transparent and most corrupt governments in the nation. The State Integrity Investigation is a data-driven assessment of transparency, accountability and anti-corruption mechanisms in states across the nation. Virginia ranked No. 47 in the nation, receiving one of eight failing grades. According to the spokesperson for the Center for Public Integrity Randy Barrett, Virginia did poorly in nine out of the 14 categories, pulling decent scores in procurement, internal auditing, redistricting and civil service management.

“

THE PULSE

News Editor Katherine Chiglinsky News Editor Ken Lin fhnews@gmail.com

That’s why you work so hard in the weight room. That’s why you get up at six in the morning to work out. —Baseball head coach Frank Leoni on senior leftfielder Tad Bower’s go-ahead home run in the second game against JMU

BEYOND THE ‘BURG

Students at Notre Dame push for GSA According to the Observer, the student newspaper of The University of Notre Dame, the university recently passed two resolutions supporting implements for improving gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender campus stuent life. The administration of the historically Catholic school, has rejected student proposals for the creation of a campus gay-straight alliance 15 times. The first passed resolution endorses the university’s recognition for a gay-straight alliance and the second proposes adding sexual orientation to the university’s non-discrimination clause. This marks the first time that the faculty senate has ever formally discussed LGBT issues. Students and staff at the university recently created a video called “It Needs to Get Better,” highlighting the rejected proposals to create a gay-straight alliance on campus.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Wendy’s has surpassed Burger King and become the second biggest hamburger chain in the United States. Wendy’s sales for 2011 totaled $8.5 billion while Burger King’s was $8.4 billion. McDonald’s remained at the top, bringing in $34.2 billion. Wendy’s began working to reinvent itself as a higher-end hamburger chain by introducing new items last fall.

A THOUSAND WORDS

COURTESY PHOTO / nd.edu

Students demonstrated at the University of Notre Dame for the improvement of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender student rights on campus.

Kids moving home According to the Washington Post, an increased proportion of college students are returning to their childhood homes after graduation. Over the past few years, 29 percent of graduates between the ages of 25 and 34 have moved back in with their parents at some point. Ninety-seven percent of recent graduates living at home reported that they do chores around the house, 75 percent contribute to household expenses and 36 percent pay rent. The main reasons cited for this trend were financial instability in a tough job market and student loans. Canadian St. Patrick’s Day riots Eight students were suspended from Fanshawe College in London, Ontario after a St. Patrick’s Day riot. According to CBC News, the riots caused about $100,000 in damage and a total of 13 individuals have been arrested. Though the violence took place off-campus, the college can impose academic penalties on the students because their off-campus actions might have affected the health and safety of others in the college community.

CITY POLICE BEAT

According to police, the students face a number of charges, including unlawful assembly, assaulting police and resisting arrest. London’s mayor said curfews for the neighborhood may become tougher and police presence may also increase. Authorities are continuing to comb through evidence in order to apprehend more individuals involved in the riots. Those who participated, especially students, were encouraged to turn themselves in. Virginia schools head to NCAA tournament This year, three Virginia schools have made it into the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament: Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Virginia and Norfolk State University have all begun to compete for the NCAA tournament title. After the first round, University of Virginia lost to Florida State (71-45). In surprising upsets, No. 15 Norfolk State beat No. 2 Missouri State (86-84) and No. 12 Virginia Commonwealth University beat No. 5 Wichita State University. Virginia Commonwealth University lost to Indiana on Saturday (63-61). Norfolk State went on to lose to Florida (84-50) on Sunday night.

Mar. 12 to Mar. 18 Mar. 12 — The burglary of a lawn mower was 1 Tuesday, reported at the 1020 block of Lafayette St. Mar. 12 — An individual was arrested for the 2 Tuesday, underage possession of alchohol on the 1200 block of

John Lee / the FLAT HAT

Lafayette Blvd.

CORRECTIONS

Mar. 15 — An individual was arrested for 3 Thursday, driving under the influence and a hit and run on the

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.

100 block of Chandler Rd. Mar. 16 — An individual was arrested for public 4 Friday, drunkenness and stealing women’s clothes on the 1200

The Flat Hat

block of Richmond Rd. Mar. 18 — Two individuals were arrested for 5 Sunday, disturbances, one for public drunkenness and the other for the obstruction of justice, on the 300 block of Richmond Rd.

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

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News in brief 11th Annual graduate research symposium

College website gets facelift

Professor presents paper in Nigeria

The College of William and Mary will host the 11th annual Graduate Research Symposium in the Sadler Center this weekend. The two-day academic conference will bring together 149 graduate student lectures and poster presentations from the College’s 10 graduate Arts and Sciences programs. This is in addition to 43 presenters from 18 visiting institutions. Over $6,900 in awards will be given for excellence in scholarship in the social sciences, humanities, natural and computational sciences, as well as mentoring others in these subjects. The event aims to encourage interdisciplinary exchange while uniting graduate students through common research experiences.

The College of William and Mary’s Creative Services team launched a new design for the College’s website for the first time in four years March 14th. Web designers said they aimed to keep the website up-to-date with current trends without changing too much of the old webpage’s layout. The new website includes many new features such as the ability to play videos and easily access more content. In addition, the website is now more adaptable for tablet and mobile devices, featuring a scroll-through option for large featured photos and news headlines. According to William and Mary News, the project members are proud of their ability to update the website while keeping with the tradition of the previous one.

College psychology professor Henry Langholtz travelled to the Federal Republic of Nigeria over spring break to present his paper, “The Psychology of Peacekeeping,” at a conference organized by Nigeria’s Society of Peace Studies and Practice. The international event, which took place at Jaji, Kaduna State, discussed ways to end the violence, terrorism and lawlessness that have infested the region. A specialist in United Nations diplomacy, the psychology of peacekeeping and peacekeeping training, Langholtz is also involved in a project focused on developing and distributing e-learning courses on U.N. peacekeeping. He also serves as the editor of the Journal of International Peacekeeping, founded in 1994.

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Page 3

SA presidential candidates lay out their campaign platforms

KIM from page 1

transparency of the SA. Other changes and innovations, according to the pair, will rise from an increased dialogue between students and their government. “The biggest problem everyone outside the SA can identify with is that it is not exactly transparent. … It’s not responding to what students actually care about,” Kim said. “Right now, it is not an organization helping students, and we need to take it back so students can see what it’s doing. … I’ve written over 40 percent of all the senate bills this session, and every single one of them worked to make this a more accessible, more transparent and more responsive organization.” A major source of obscurity for Kim and Sprayberry is the financial system. Even if a student is an exception to the rule of overall ignorance as to how much money the SA controls, these students still don’t know how to obtain and utilize this money for their organizations and events.

“We’re working with a $700,000 per year budget and a $100,000 per year surplus,” Kim said. “They’re kind of shocking numbers when you consider that students don’t know where all that money is going and they don’t see it actually helping them.” The team’s other initiatives fall under agendas to increase mental and sexual health resources, create a greener campus, and improve relations with the Williamsburg community. Mental and sexual health resources would come in the form of more counseling programs, generation of a mental health hotline, continued free STI testing, an increased effort to install free condom dispensers on campus and provision of subsidized HPV vaccines. In terms of creating a greener campus and improving relations with the Williamsburg community, the two plan to plant more trees and continue efforts to increase student representation in the city of Williamsburg.

MCNERNY from page 1

LaRiviere’s platform. “Right now, the Student Assembly is very topdown; we feel that we should go more grassroots and provide more opportunities to talk to students,” McNerney said. “For example, why can’t we have a monthly pizza and Chipotle night in Lodge 1 to allow students to talk about what they’re thinking?” As part of their initiative to increase student involvement in SA activities, they plan to create a Homecoming float initiative to get all student groups, not just Greek organizations, to get involved. “Although we are both members of Greek organizations, we don’t necessarily consider ourselves a ‘Greek ticket’ per se,” LaRiviere said. “Seventy-one percent of the students we would be representing aren’t Greek, and their opinions and support are just as important as the 29 percent that are a part of the Greek community.” To improve College-Greek relations and student life, the pair hopes to make the medical amnesty policy more specific so that entire organizations do not get in trouble for trying to help one intoxicated member who needs medical attention. “We believe that the medical amnesty policy is an education process. With all the negative feedback students are receiving from it, they may be hesitant to use it,” McNerney said. CANAKIS from page 1

also want to create an online forum or blog for students to submit ideas for change. “Currently, the Student Assembly has events that a large part of the school doesn’t know about. They need to have a greater presence,” Canakis said. “We’re sociable guys with new ideas who want to represent a larger part of the campus.” Their shock and awe campaign strategy has been hitting the sidewalks in full force since the beginning of last week with distributed T-shirts, a Facebook group and website, an approved YouTube video with montages of strong political figures and a photo of the two candidates. “We really want to have more frequent communication with smaller, punctuated messages,” Salamone said. “We don’t want to waste time telling people useless information, and, instead, we want people to hear the things

The pair also hopes to foster greater cultural awareness by creating an International Culture Fest involving every cultural organization on campus and the entire student body. With regard to civic participation, LaRiviere hopes to increase student awareness and involvement with College-related affairs in the Richmond legislature by making the Road to Richmond Project a class, similar to Health Opportunities for People Everywhere. McNerney has been working with Vice President for Student Affairs Ginger Ambler ‘88 Ph.D. ‘06 about installing basketball courts on campus, receiving approval for the rear of Dupont as the possible location. To foster widespread involvement within the SA, the pair proposes to branch out beyond those “typically” involved in SA affairs. If elected, they intend to create a diverse and qualified cabinet by sending out interest emails on Student Happenings and holding open forums, rather than simply reaching out to friends or to those already in SA. “Because I’ve been on Student Assembly for so long, I can articulate all the good that Student Assembly does, but many people can’t because so much of what we do is behind the scenes,” LaRiviere said. “Our main goal is really to be more transparent and accessible to students. We want the model to be more ‘how can we help you?,’ rather than you coming to us.”

they will actually care about.” This pair has talked about running for months. After taking years of classes together and developing what they consider a good working relationship, the two decided to jump at the opportunity, and they have been striving to get their names out into the community since. “We want to help the students enjoy it [the College] better,” Salamone said. “It isn’t to say that we don’t already love this school, but we want to know how we can improve our feelings and our pride for it by addressing the shortcomings.” One issue the two hope to tackle is parking. Through greater communication with city authorities to create residential passes with extended hours or designated spots for parking, Canakis hopes to ensure students’ timeliness to class and the avoidance of parking tickets. The Andrews want to apply this same concept when working

Peace Corps at W&M

Life is calling. How far will you go? 800.424.8580 peacecorps.gov For more information please contact Sherlene Ferguson at sferguson@ peacecorps.gov.

Kim and Sprayberry believe their earlier successes and experiences will help them accomplish this list of goals. “We’ve both demonstrated we have this record of student effectiveness on our ticket,” Kim said. “You know we can follow through because we actually have before. … There isn’t this learning curve. We have been working, and we’ve already identified the shortcomings of the SA and what obstacles there are.” Kim and Sprayberry believe they will represent all areas of campus, including those with which they are not directly associated. As a non-Greek ticket, the two say they respond to other areas of the student body. If elected, Kim also would be the first openly gay student body president at the College. “We really want to be representing every student on this campus,” Kim said. “We want a student assembly that is actually responsive to the diversity of interests and issues that people care about.”

Last year 37 William and Mary graduates began the experience of a lifetime by joining the Peace Corps. Come find out how you too change lives ...and your own. Friday, March 23 Information Table Education Recruiting Day School of Education 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Information Session & Panel Discussion Cohen Career Center 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

with College authorities to expand student enthusiasm and attendance to sporting events through assigned tailgating areas. “These are some of the things that we can really change, and these changes are things that will actually make the student body happy,” Canakis said. “These are the specific things connecting the school together, and our platform is about getting it all done.” However, new to the SA game, the pair has already been targeted as the underdog by some of their stiff competition with previous experience in SA. “That’s why we have our Mel Gibson ‘Patriot’ profile picture; no one thought they would win. We’re very qualified and being pegged as the underdog just makes us campaign harder,” Canakis said. “We can really make a big improvement. This is how it works, and this is how we do it — by adding new ideas to the old system. It will naturally work to improve the Student Assembly.”

MILLS from page 1

Both Mills and Levine pointed to unnecessary bureaucracy in the SA as the primary cause behind the alleged mismanagement of funds. Both Mills’s experience as a freshman and sophomore senator and Levine’s experience as a sophomore undersecretary for Greek life instigated this shared concern. “I realized there [as an SA undersecretary] the red tape and bureaucracy that really stood in the way of the potential that we have as student leaders, and I think that Curt and myself could really change that,” Levine said. In order to streamline the distribution of SA funds, Mills and Levine want to shift power from the SA to the organizations.

anita jiang / THE FLAT HAT

The half-dozen candidates for SA president await their chance to speak at the debate held in Commonwealth auditorium.

COLBY from page 1

Colby and Zhou advocate for transparency and accessibility, two issues that have come to the forefront in critiques of the SA over the past year. “We are really about building on the momentum that the Student Assembly has gained this year,” Colby said. “We want to use that base of momentum and just continue to move forward.” To that end, many of their initiatives stress easier communication between the SA and students through social media and the SA website. After spending three years in the SA senate, Colby acknowledged that internal friction exists in the legislative branch. However, few incumbent senators are running in this year’s election. “I think there is a huge opportunity this year because so

few people are actually returning to [the SA] senate,” Colby said. “If the executive has that climate of collaborating and working together and listening to students’ ideas, we can hopefully get the senate to join our vision.” Together the ticket combines experience from both branches, with three years of senate experience from Colby and one year of executive experience from Zhou. In the past year Colby served as the Finance Chair of the Budget Appropriations Committee while Zhou held office as Undersecretary for Student Services. “I think a lot of people — almost everybody in this race — is very experienced with the SA and knows how the SA works, but I don’t think that is even the most important thing here,” Colby said. “It is more about being a very committed person and about having ideas and being able to turn those ideas

ALPERT from page 1

students — using fake names to ensure anonymity — about the unique challenges that face members of the College community. Alpert said that part of the inspiration for the help line came from the difficulties he experienced moving from his freshman dorm to life in the units, and a lack of people he could talk to during those difficulties. “It was surprisingly hard to transition into that,” he said. Another high-priority item on Moore and Alpert’s list is encouraging more collaboration between the SA and Res Life. Moore, who worked as a freshman Resident Advisor this year, said her experience with Res Life led her to consider the ways in which the two organizations could work together towards the shared goal of sponsoring campus-wide student events. “SA and Res Life are two notable entities on campus that I think could do a lot of good,” Alpert said. Other priorities include creating a Tribe service day, where students would be able to take a day off from class to participate in local service projects, a syllabus database to provide more course information to students during registration, and working with the Student Environment Action Coalition and other organizations to stop the construction of the nearby Surry coal plant. Alpert, who made an unsuccessful bid for SA president last year, said that he has made

“The fact is that the Student Assembly should probably be less powerful than it is,” Curt said. “[We want] very much an SA that knows its place … people on top of their organizations know their organizations better than anyone else, and I find that if you got into William and Mary, you are probably a pretty smart, pretty good person. If you have been elected by your organization, you can probably be trusted to effectively run it.” If elected, Mills and Levine want to see a notable increase in the funding of various student organizations. This concern is rooted in leadership experiences they have had in other campus groups. “I have really felt the lack of Student Assembly support for our [campus] organizations as a member of the executive board of the International Relations

into actions.” While both have experience working in the SA, Colby and Zhou point to their experiences working within a number of student organizations, both onand off-campus. “I just think that my passion for William and Mary and just all of the experiences I have had here in all of the different organizations I have been in have really made me the person that can take this organization to the next level,” Colby said. Zhou stressed the accessibility of both herself and Colby as an added strength to their ability to connect with students over the next year. “In general, our personalities are more down-to-earth,” Zhou said. “In that way, we can influence people to not go with the political friction, but rather to really understand the content of these ideas and that we really need to be helping the students.”

changes, both personally and politically, which he thinks will give him a better shot this time election year. “[Last year] I was all about the SA,” he said. “This year it’s something I’m really passionate about … but I’ve really explored other passions and interests. I think I come from a much more balanced place. I think I was just too focused.” Alpert and Moore pointed to their differences in background as a means to appeal to a wider base of the College community. Alpert has a history in student politics, having served as the president of the Class of 2013 for two years. Moore is an SA newcomer, but not an unfamiliar face on campus: she served as the student speaker at this year’s Charter Day ceremony and has been involved in a number of on-campus organizations, including her aforementioned position in Res Life. Alpert, a Los Angeles native and Religion and Government double major, shared his inspiration for running for SA president. “Government is something I’ve been interested in since I’ve been in elementary school,” he said. “I just really loved the ability to give back to the Student Assembly.” Moore, a Government and Sociology double major, said student government was not something she had really considered until spending a semester away at the College’s campus in Washington, D.C. “I didn’t really realize how powerful William and Mary is, and how much I missed it,” she said. “I just really want to give back and I think Student Assembly is a good way to do that.”

Club, for example,” Levine said. Despite the fact that neither Mills nor Levine has served the SA in any capacity during the current academic year, they believe that this distinction from the field of candidates will actually strengthen their campaign resume. “I think [our lack of presence in the Student Assembly] is a central advantage because leading the SA is not really about knowing the internal workings of the SA,” Mills said. “You do not really need all that much SA experience to do an effective job.” Given that both Mills and Levine are active members of their own Greek organizations, they are committed to supporting the College’s Greek life from the SA. “Greeks are here to stay,” Mills said. “But I think that student

leaders in Greek organizations need to have a bigger seat at the table. … If William and Mary is going to be tossing [out] Greek organizations left and right like it seems to be doing right now, there are not going to be any Greek organizations to fill the student housing.” Both candidates emphasize that their qualifications span a wider breadth of experiences than just the SA, a point that they believe further separates them from the crowd of aspiring SA leadership. “Curt and I represent such a wide portion of the population at William and Mary through our student organizations,” Levine said. “We have experience with leadership within those organizations and those experiences are transitory and can be used toward the Student Assembly as well.”

opinions Favorability ratings

Opinions Editor Ellen Wexler Assoc. Opinions Editor Elliott Hay fhopinions@gmail.com

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, March 20, 2012 | Page 4

Staff Editorial

Who are you voting for?

An able candidate O

Polls By WalteR Hickey

What’s wrong with the way we vote presidential candidate Ron Paul managed to stay in the running thanks to the support of a few very rich individuals who would gain a great deal from Paul’s presidency. Likewise, if you have a bone to pick with the massage chairs in Swem and you happened to see Curt Mills ’13 and Melanie Levine ’13 get up from the massage chairs looking disgruntled, are Associate Sports Editor you trying to tell me you’re not even going to think about voting for them? No, you’re not. Unfortunately, we make our decisions based on such trivial Before I start, I want to clarify that all of my examples are pursuits. The fact that we vote for one candidate over another fictitious and I, in no way, endorse or intend to support any one based on a familiar name is absurd. To vote for someone candidacy duo over another. These examples only serve to point because they have a well-laid out dorm room is borderline out the larger issue at hand. Now, to begin: insane. To support a duo because of that one time you saw Election season is upon us. Campaign posters flap on every them with that look on their face is outrageous. bulletin board as six pairs of students vie for two positions. Rather, we need our votes to reflect what’s actually at stake. Much like the national primaries, the initial game of who’s-who Instead of asking who’s who, ask ‘What can they do?’ Don’t dominates conversation and too often sways our vote. On a much smaller scale, the College of William and Mary take the easy route and vote because you once had dinner mirrors the way in which our nation acts during election season. with the friend of your friend’s friend who happens to be First, we start with a list of names and see if any catch our eye. Grace Colby ’13 or Alyssa Zhu ’14. Actually look at the platforms. Actually be an informed Look at Newt Gingrich — the Republican candidate enjoyed voter. It’s not hard — check out one of early momentum and support because those overcrowded bulletin boards and he caught our attention. How can you not Make sure that your vote is go to the advertised website. Vote for a with a name like Newt? candidate because you agree with their Try to tell me that when you first saw the grounded in fact and reason, stance, not because of with whom they list of candidates you didn’t immediately not recognizability. stand. If you saw David Alpert ’13 and scan the list looking for names you might Meghan Moore ’13 grab some food at recognize. Try to tell me that you’re not going to vote for Dallen McNerney ’14 and Stacey LaRiviere ’14 if Sadler Center Dining Hall, vote because you know the issues you happen to be their roommate or best friend or friend of their and not because they’re eating your favorite sandwich. Each and every candidate wants your vote, but don’t give friends. Just as in the national race, we look first to the easiest them your vote because you know that your fraternity brother option: Vote for who you know. played with Andrew Canakis ’13 and Andrew Salamone ’13 Next we look to see if the candidate’s characteristics match during one intramural season. our own. Mitt Romney is a prime example: The 70th governor They always say one vote can make a big difference. of Massachusetts won the Massachusetts primary with a Your vote might be the deciding vote: How pathetic would resounding 72.2 percent of the vote. Unless you had a real it be if you voted because you saw a certain candidate at problem with the duo, there’s a really good chance you’re going the Commons Dining Hall during dinner last night? Make to vote for Noah Kim ’13 and Sky Sprayberry ’15 if you live in sure that your vote is grounded in fact and reason, not either of their dorms. circumstance or recognizability. Finally, we line up the candidates and pick the one that we think can help us the most on a personal, selfish level. For years, Email Chris Weber at cmweber@email.wm.edu.

Chris Weber

“

ver the past year, the Student Assembly has faced overwhelming criticism for scandals and for the organization’s apparent inability to accomplish anything successfully. Frustrations over the organization surfaced at Sunday night’s debate as candidates cited the need for change and reform to make the SA a more cohesive body. The platform presented by Noah Kim ’13 and Sky Sprayberry ’15 creates a possibility not only to effectively reform the SA but to create an efficiently functioning assembly for the next year. Kim has already shown a huge amount of commitment in his drive to improve the SA. His personal dedication to the organization is clear from his record of introducing 40 percent of the SA bills during the last year. As SA chairman this year, Kim was prepared to criticize members of the SA who did not take their positions seriously and were not proving constructive to the organization. While his comments may have garnered some backlash, he showed that he was a leader who expected all members of the SA to take their positions seriously, and he continues to show that he has the drive needed to make the organization into all that it must be. These actions exemplify Kim as a leader who is capable of taking charge even in problematic times. Kim’s background as a chairperson of the SA Financial Committee should reflect a thorough knowledge of what must be done in order to resolve the problem of misallocation of funding. Kim has already worked to improve this problem through the Spending Transparency Act, which strives to make the SA more accountable to the student body. As SA president, Kim would have the authority to continue his actions toward resolving these problems by bringing the issue to the forefront as an organizationwide issue and increasing individual communication. In addition to these sweeping reforms, Kim’s platform boasts new programs and policies that will immediately serve students on campus. One of the most appealing program changes that Sprayberry and Kim wish to introduce concerns mental health counseling. These changes would create a hotline for students who need immediate help, as well as a peer counseling program. The blend of grassroots work and top-down changes to programming make Kim the strongest choice for SA president. Kim has the experience not only to know how the SA works, but also to understand problems in the organization that need to be addressed. Furthermore, Kim appears to care deeply about the issues facing the SA. His past dedication shows that he is willing to fight the battles necessary to create a more functional organization. These tools will enable him to hit the ground running so that the SA can better serve the needs of the student body faster. We believe that Kim will not only be able to lead a stronger SA next year, but that he will also leave a lasting legacy of an SA that is useful and capable of meeting the student body’s needs. Editor’s Note: Elizabeth DeBusk recused herself from the meeting due to a conflict of interest.

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 Katherine Chiglinsky, Elizabeth DeBusk, Katie Demeria, Jill Found and Vanessa Remmers. 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 fhopinions@gmail.com.

Street Beat

What are you looking for in a Student Assembly president?

“It’s not transparent at all. They have an idea but I’d like to see that and where the money goes.”

“It seems like our representative senators are trying to get more feedback, but no one is giving it.”

JW Seo ’14

Jessica Edington ’15

“I want someone who is honest and will allocate the money so students can see it.”

Kris Hill-Clemons ’13

“Reliability. I feel like no one really knows about SA.”

Chris Lennox ’13

“It would be easier to express concerns if they were more approachable.”

“Someone who’s accessible. It would be nice if [the SA President was] someone I could relate to.”

Rachel Benavides ’14

Kyu Kang ’14

— photos and interviews by Elliott Hay and Katie Demeria

Strength in numbers: Large candidate pool indicates decrease in apathy Derek Bluemling

Few things possess

Flat Hat Staff Columnist

I can remember talking about the basics of politics and the structure of elections in the United States in my elementary school social studies classes. There was always an emphasis on the two-party system: the Democrats versus the Republicans. Third parties received little attention, and their influence was discounted in basic discussions of state and national elections. At the College of William and Mary, however, the upcoming elections for Student Assembly president and vice president present a distinctly different scenario than the standard two-party

conflicts that seem to dominate the national news for the upcoming 2012 presidential election. This year, there are six separate tickets competing for the student body vote. This number is markedly greater than the past couple of years, which have averaged two to three president-vice president tickets. In my opinion, this surge in candidates displays an increased interest in the operations and decisions of the SA. In my experience as a student who is not directly involved in the SA, I hear almost no discussion regarding the decisions that they make. There seems to be a dichotomy between students intimately involved in the SA and the student body as a whole, which seems for the most part uninterested in the decisions of those that they elected to represent their interests. The SA acts as the voice of students when communicating to both the administration and the

Williamsburg community, and it has control over hundreds of thousands of dollars in student activities fees that we pay every year. We should remember not to underestimate the influence of the president and vice president. This year seems to indicate a shift in this attitude. The sole fact of having so many candidates in this year’s election shows that more students are bringing their unique voices and thoughts to the table. Candidates have begun to develop websites and utilize social media to convey their detailed platforms to the student body in an effort to make the actions and decisions of the SA more accessible and transparent to students. In the end, however, these efforts require the student body to recognize their importance. Students must take advantage of this new infusion of energy by taking the time to compare the platforms of each ticket in order to decide

which one most accurately reflects their opinions on the direction SA should take in the future. We were all accepted to the College because of our intelligence and problem-solving abilities, so lets not embarrass ourselves by remaining apathetic about our election process.

I encourage each and every student to take the time to show that they care that their exorbitant student activities fee is spent wisely on the things about which they care. E-mail Derek Bluemling at drbluemling@email.wm.edu.

Graphic by Allison Hicks / the Flat hat

sports

Sports Editor Mike Barnes Sports Editor Jared Foretek flathatsports@gmail.com

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, March 20, 2012 | Page 5

BASEBALL

CLEAN SWEEP FILE PHOTO / THE FLAT HAT

The College’s pitching staff provided three days of outstanding pitching, which resulted in a three-game sweep of the conference-rival Dukes. It was the Tribe’s first series win over James Madison since 2005 and the team’s first road sweep over the Dukes ever.

Tribe sweeps James Madison in Harrisonburg for first time ever with dominant pitching and clutch hitting BY JARED FORETEK FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR

BASEBALL Friday

After stumbling through its first conference series of the season and losing two of three to Northeastern, William and Mary took a two-game win streak on I-64 West for a three-game set with in-state conference rival, James Madison. The history between the two squads runs deep. Coming into the weekend, the teams had met 84 times, with JMU owning a 55-29 lead before Friday’s game. For the first time ever, though, the Tribe swept the Dukes in Harrisonburg, winning a series against JMU for the first time since 2005. Propelled by dominant pitching and timely hitting, the Tribe won by scores of 5-0, 3-1 and 5-2. “We’ve had a tough go against JMU the last few years,” head coach Frank Leoni said. “Obviously, we feel pretty good. … Although our hitting wasn’t the best, we got enough clutch hits and pitched and played very good defense all weekend. We’re very pleased with it.” While the Tribe’s offense had its best night of

SATURDAY sunday

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the weekend Friday, the story from the College’s s e r i e s opening 5-0 win was the performance of senior s t a r t i n g pitcher Matt

Davenport. The righty took the ball and turned in a masterpiece, tossing a complete game shutout, allowing just three base runners and striking out eight. Davenport worked efficiently throughout the night, needing just 116 pitches to go the distance against the Dukes, who hold the fifthbest team batting average in the CAA. On the year, Davenport has posted a microscopic 1.03 ERA with 32 strikeouts and just a .65 WHIP. The top-notch pitching was needed until the sixth, when the College finally broke through with

the first three runs of the game. Three Tribe walks loaded the bases before a throwing error on a squeeze bunt brought in senior left fielder Tadd Bower and freshman first baseman Michael Katz. Junior shortstop Ryan Williams then singled to left field, driving in senior catcher Chris Forsten to put the Tribe up 3-0. Katz then drove in Bower on a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning before junior center fielder Ryan Bown doubled to score junior second baseman Kevin Nutter. Finally, Davenport notched his sixth consecutive 1-2-3 inning to secure the 5-0 victory. The second game was close in the early going as well, as senior starting pitcher Cole Shain went pitch-for-pitch with JMU’s Patrick Toohers in the opening innings. The Dukes finally got on the board in the fifth, taking a 1-0 lead and forcing the lefty Shain out, as Leoni turned the game over to senior righty Jay McCarthy. “The thing with JMU is they were really hitting the ball much better against left-handed pitching, so we got Cole out of there when they almost came to life in those middle innings,” Leoni said.

“Jay McCarthy came in and just was dominant against them.” Toohers left after the sixth, and the College’s bats didn’t miss him, quickly jumping on JMU reliever Michael Howeton. Katz led off the inning with a double and eventually came around to tie things up with an RBI groundout. With the game up for grabs in the eighth, one big hit made the difference. After Brown opened the frame with a single, Bower stepped to the plate with one out. Having struck out twice earlier in the game, the senior power-hitter quickly found himself at a two-strike disadvantage, but battled to push it to a full count. Finally, he launched an opposite-field home run to give the Tribe a decisive 3-1 lead. “He struck out looking the two previous at bats, but he hung with it and took a pitch on the outside corner and sent it over the fence,” Leoni said. “I asked the guys after the game, ‘Have you ever felt that feeling [that you felt] when he hit that home run at any party you’ve ever gone to?’ See BASEBALL page 6

LACROSSE

No. 6 Florida too much for Tribe as College falls 21-8

Tribe loses to top-ten opponent for fifth time this season, dropping to 2-6 overall on the year BY MIKE BARNES FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR

While No. 6 Florida strode into Williamsburg on the heels of a threegame win streak and a slew of impressive offense performances, William and Mary hoped to halt its recent losing skid and send the Gators back to the Swamp empty-handed. Instead, Florida (8-2) scored early and often in the first half, amassing an 11 point halftime lead that would ultimately morph into a 21-8 home

defeat for the College. The loss, which drops the Tribe to 2-6 on the year, is its fifth to a top-10 team this season. “I think they are a strong team, they have a strong defense, and they beat us in speed,” head coach Brooke Ireland said. “They pressured us, and we didn’t capitalize on the opportunities given to us.” The Gators came out of the gate with an aggressive style of play and never looked back, scoring five goals in the first six minutes of play. Florida’s Brittany Dashiell and Gabi Wiegland contributed

NOAH WILLIARD / THE FLAT HAT

Sophomore attacker Taelor Salmon contributed three goals in the Tribe’s loss to Florida Saturday.

the first two goals of the game before the Tribe was able to establish possession of the ball. With 26 minutes, 15 seconds remaining in the opening period, Florida’s Shannon Gilroy scored the first of several Gator goals off Tribe turnovers. Florida’s Kitty Cullen forced a turnover near the Florida goal, thwarting a Tribe scoring opportunity. She then raced up the field, dishing the ball to Gilroy, who then sent it flying past freshman goalkeeper Lucy Ferguson. The Gators then went on to score two more goals before Ireland called timeout with the scoreboard showing a 5-0 Florida advantage. Following the timeout, freshman attacker Kaleigh Noon scored the first Tribe goal of the day. Noon slipped through the Florida defense, spun away from one last Gator defender and sent a shot past Florida goalkeeper Cara Canington for the score. While Noon’s goal could have represented a turning point in the game, Florida halted any College momentum. The Gators quickly rattled off two more goals to obtain a 7-1 advantage. With 19:36 remaining, the College scored again. Noon took the ball and sprinted behind the Florida goal, firing a pass to junior attacker Kyrstin Mackrides, who was running straight toward Canington. Mackrides caught the pass, and immediately fired it past Canington for the score. Following Mackrides’ goal, Florida

LACROSSE

FLORIDA GATORS

W&M TRIBE

once again clamped down, rattling off six straight unanswered goals over the next five minutes. Following Nicole Graziano’s goal at the 12:22 mark, Ireland opted for a goalie change, substituting Ferguson for sophomore keeper Colleen Nofi. “When I brought our starting keeper out, I thought our defense wasn’t stepping up to the plate in terms of what we need to be doing,” Ireland said. “Lucy was getting peppered by the ball, and we wanted to take her out for a little bit, give her a mental break, and then get her back in there.” Throughout the whole game, Florida was able to exploit holes in the Tribe defense with its team speed. Neither of the College’s goalkeepers could hold off the Gators, as Ferguson allowed 14 goals and made five saves while Nofi allowed seven and saved three. The College then scored the final two goals of the half, both of them by sophomore attacker Taelor Salmon. Salmon’s pair of goals cut slightly into the Gators’ lead and left the Tribe down 13-4 at halftime. Florida had another offensive explosion after play resumed, scoring

seven unanswered goals to begin the half. With 4:41 remaining, freshman attacker Ellen Shaffrey scored the first of her two goals, and added another goal two minutes later. Salmon and Noon both scored goals in the final 1:18, which accounted for the 21-8 final score. The Gators pressured the Tribe with a suffocating style of defense. College attackers found it difficult to penetrate the Florida defense, and when they managed to, frequently turned the ball over in the face of pressure from the Gators. The Tribe committed seven turnovers in the first half and never seemed to develop any offensive rhythm. The College managed 13 shots on the game, compared to Florida’s 34. Individually, Salmon led the way for the Tribe with three goals while Noon and Shaffrey both added two goals apiece. Noon also led the College with two assists. “Kaleigh definitely stepped up to the plate,” Ireland said. “It doesn’t matter who we are playing, she sticks to the gameplan and gets the job done.” Despite the loss, Ireland believes the College’s challenging non-conference slate has helped strengthen the team and hopes the lessons the squad has learned in the early going will help it during the conference schedule. “We have started out tough and I think we came out strong and ready to play and we played a lot of defense in the past two games and I feel like it can only go up from here,” Ireland said.

Page 6

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The Flat Hat

College notches JMU road sweep

WOMEN’S TENNIS

BASEBALL from page 5

FILE PHOTO / THE FLAT HAT

Junior Anik Cepeda and sophomore Hope Johnson fell to U.Va.’s Erin Vierra and Hana Tomlajnovic in doubles play. Cepeda then defeated Tomlajnovic in singles play.

Strong singles play sends U.Va. past Tribe College manages just one point over Virginia; loss sends squad to 4-11 overall record BY CHRIS WEBER FLAT HAT ASSOC. SPORTS EDITOR

William and Mary entered Sunday’s match against No. 7 Virginia after splitting its two matches in the past week. The College knocked off Wisconsin at home last Sunday, but then had its momentum halted in a 5-2 defeat to N.C. State Wednesday. The Tribe’s attempt to knock off Virginia came up short as the College lost all but one of its matches, resulting in a 6-1 defeat. The match moved the Cavaliers to 12-2 overall and dropped the College to 4-11. “U.Va. is definitely not an unbeatable team, despite their ranking and record,” head coach Meredith Geiger-Walton said. “Even without a full lineup, which I have yet to have had this entire season, we were still in a position to win. There’s no doubt we’ve probably suffered more losses given the fact that we’ve been fighting through some of these matches without a full lineup.” Virginia lost the first match of the day, as the College’s nationally ranked No. 39 doubles tandem of sophomore Maria Belaya and sophomore Jeltje

Loomans defeated the No. 16 doubles team of senior Emily Fraser and sophomore Li Xi. After the opening set ended in a tie, the College’s duo won the tiebreaker to take the match 8-7 (4). The Cavaliers then recovered to win the next two matches, capturing the doubles point. U.Va.’s Erin Vierra and Hana Tomljanovic downed junior Anik Cepeda and sophomore Hope Johnson, 8-2 at the No. 2 spot, while senior Katie Kargl and senior Toni Ford, 8-3 at the No. 3 spot, gave the Cavaliers a 2-1 doubles victory. Despite the Cavaliers doubles victory, the Belaya-Loomans win counted for the duo’s 16th win of the season, and third win over a top-25 nationally ranked group. Moving into singles play, Belaya lost to No. 15 Emily Fraser, 7-5, 6-3, in the No. 1 seed match up. The No. 2 seeds provided some excitement, as Virginia’s No. 42 senior Lindsey Herdenbergh struggled to get past Loomans. Herdenbergh won the first set 6-2, but Loomans stormed back to claim the second set with an identical 6-2 score, setting up a crucial final set. Herdenbergh prevailed in the

third set, dropping Loomans by a 6-4 count. The rest of the Tribe fared no better, as each match saw Virginia cruise to a win. No. 90 Xi handed Johnson a 6-0, 6-1 loss in the No. 3 position. Virginia’s Vierra handled Kargl with relative ease, earning a 6-1, 6-1, straight set victory in the No. 5 position. Finally, U.Va.’s Caryssa Peretz defeated sophomore Sydney Smith to round out the Cavaliers’s victory. The College’s lone point came from Cepeda’s win over Tomljanovic. Cepeda dropped the first set 6-4, and was leading the second set 2-1 when Tomljanovic was forced to retire, providing the College with a victory. The Tribe returns home for a match against Virginia Tech before playing host to Ivy League foes Columbia and Harvard over the weekend. “It was evident to us that a team ranked top10 in the country is not unbeatable and we are so close to being a team in the top-10 in the country,” Geiger-Walton said. “We just need a few things to fall our way and there is no doubt we will be a different team with a full line up.”

They all looked at me like, ‘Of course not.’ That’s why you work so hard in the weight room. That’s why you get up at 6 in the morning to work out.” Senior reliever John Farrell then shut the door in the ninth for his fourth save of the year. The Dukes looked determined to get their first conference win of the season and stave off a sweep Sunday, scoring two in the first inning. After the College got on the board with a run in the second on freshman right fielder Josh Smith’s RBI lineout, junior starting pitcher Matt Wainman left the game after struggling through three innings of work. The Tribe then tied things up in the fifth when Katz hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to drive in Brown. An inning later, the College took the lead with three runs. Williams led off with a solo home run before senior designated hitter Sean Aiken singled. Smith then doubled to score Aiken. To cap things off, Nutter picked up his third hit of the night, scoring Smith with an RBI single to centerfield. Nutter, a walk-on who didn’t make the team in his freshman season, and played club baseball instead, has quickly established himself as one of the best hitters on the team with a .297 average on the year and a .351 OBP. “It’s really unfortunate that the first year he came out for the team, he hurt his ankle and wasn’t healthy during tryouts. If I had known then what I know now about how he conducts himself and plays hard everyday, it would’ve been different,” Leoni said. “There’s nobody that plays harder than Kevin Nutter. He plays the game the right way and plays hard all the time. He’s been a godsend, and he’s turning into quite a leader.” With the 5-2 lead, the game turned to the hands of the Tribe’s bullpen. Having taken over for Wainman in the fourth, junior pitcher Brett Koehler got his first action since hurting his throwing index finger trying to make a play on a comebacker a month ago. Koehler eventually picked up the win, tossing 2.1 shutout innings. McCarthy, junior reliever John Sheehan and Farrell threw a combined 3.2 shutout innings to close out the game and complete the sweep. “It’s really a testament to the talent we have and the depth,” Leoni said of the College’s pitching. “The job our coaches have been doing. … All the coaches have done a great job of getting the players to buy into what we’re trying to do here.” The Tribe will return to action when it travels to take on Norfolk State Wednesday.

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variety

Variety Editor Abby Boyle Variety Editor Sarah Caspari flathat.variety@gmail.com

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, March 20, 2012 | Page 7

Campus Buddies DASH to promote awareness New club aids children with disabilities BY SARAH CASPARI FLAT HAT VARIETY EDITOR

Ellie Walsh ’12 cares about helping children with disabilities, so when she could not find an outlet for this passion on campus, she decided to start a club of her own. The result was Campus Buddies, a club designed to raise awareness about disabilities, which is currently thriving at the College of William and Mary. On Sunday, the group hosted its first awareness event: the Diverse Abilities Scavenger Hunt Challenge, or the DASH Challenge. “We founded it [Campus Buddies] in the fall of this [academic] year based on an absence that we felt on campus of a space for discussion, collaboration, information, these sorts of things,” Walsh said. “A bunch of us had volunteered with the Buddy Art and Buddy Ball programs for the past four years and didn’t really have a complementary space on campus to talk about what we were learning or to learn more or bring programs — specifically sign language classes, very remedial events like this — to promote awareness. These were just holes we felt, and we wanted to fill them. We’re all seniors, and so we started it in the fall, and we’ve passed the mantle off to a wonderful new exec board now.” The goal of the DASH Challenge was to create awareness and inspire conversation about disabilities. Participants signed up in teams and visited seven stations set up in Washington Hall. Each station addressed a different aspect of disability awareness. “We have an autism station, and we have one for visual impairment, so people are going to be blindfolded, and they have to try and tell what something is that they’re touching without being able to see it, so different things like that,” Riley Newland ’14, the secretary for Campus Buddies,

said. “We have a station that’s about learning disabilities, and we have a jeopardy game with celebrities and people that have disabilities and fun facts and stuff like that.” Newland also stressed the importance of providing a channel through which students have the opportunity to become more involved in working with disabled children. “I think for me a big part of it is trying to just get more people involved with volunteering with those kids because it’s a wonderful thing to be able to do, and it’s really fun, too,” Newland said. Traveling between stations, DASH Challenge participants experienced a variety of disabilityrelated activities. At one station, participants worked on a puzzle that, when completed, displayed a message about autism awareness. At another station, they played computer games to explore the role of video games in improving motor skills in children with disabilities. At the station for physical disability and visual impairment, participants were shown how to see through the eyes of the blind. They were blindfolded and challenged to identify certain objects, and they also learned to write in Braille. “Our section is on visual impairment and physical disability, and what we are doing is we’re blindfolding and then testing them based off of how they use their senses and how crucial it is to be able to see, but it’s not necessary; you don’t have to have it,” Campus Buddies member Sherri Grierson ’15 said. “And then we’re also doing stuff with writing in Braille — of course, it’s a little different — just spelling their name out and how certain letters are formed.” Participant Aidan Desena ’13 first became interested in learning about disabilities on a Branch Out National trip to Camp Baker, a camp for developmentally disabled children. “You realize that people are people — there’s

Marika Emanuel / THE FLAT HAT

A team from the DASH event sponsored by Campus Buddies on Sunday is putting together one of the messages from the scavenger hunt. The event had many similar stations set up throughout Washington Hall for students to visit.

not really any difference whether they can do something or can’t do anything — [a] ‘people first’ sort of mindset is important, so I think this event is important in promoting awareness of these things that I was so lucky to learn on my Camp Baker trip, and it’s made me more passionate about learning more about people with disabilities and their hardships,” Desena said. Another important part of the event was addressing the idea that the College is not as accommodating to those with disabilities as it could be and that the disabled may not receive enough attention from the campus community as a whole. “Most people, when they walk through this campus, don’t realize that you couldn’t navigate through here if you were in a wheelchair, which means that anyone who is physically impaired could not come to this university,” Morgan Barker ’12, Campus Buddies co-founder and vice president of programming, said. “It’s a matter of recognition and awareness. People don’t think about disability, at least not in daily conversation, so we want that to be a conversation on this campus.” Maureen Howard ’14, a DASH Challenge participant, agreed that more attention should be given to disabilities at the College. “It’s all about raising awareness to the campus

community about different disabilities on campus, and I think that we all need to realize that William and Mary isn’t exactly handicap-friendly, but hopefully with the knowledge given by this campus DASH, we’ll be able to think about it in the future,” Howard said. In addition to the seven stations, the DASH Challenge featured entertainment provided by student groups on campus, including the Spotlight Showchoir in addition to several a cappella groups. All participants received prizes at the end of the event. Campus Buddies will be offering two more opportunities for students at the College to get involved this semester through Buddy Art and Buddy Ball, two programs that pair College students with special needs children. The events will take place on March 24 and March 31 respectively. The DASH Challenge also will become an annual event. “I think what I hope most will come out of this event is that people on campus will have the same sort of opportunities to learn and grow as I have,” Walsh said. “It’s really enriched my college experience in a way that nothing on campus has, and I hope that I can expose more students to it and that they’ll understand it more.”

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

An injury should not stop the fun Janice Van Behind closed doors Columnist

The human body can do some amazing things. Our bodies help us to perform at elite levels, they look amazingly delectable, and they bend but do not break — for the most part. Sometimes, our bodies betray us and break at the worst time of our young, supple lives. But don’t get cranky about your handicaps: Get creative with your newfound challenges. If you’re accident-prone, you’re bound to have at least one broken bone in your lifetime. The possibility of injury reaches its peak in college. Brick paths combined with late-night inebriation create a recipe for disaster. But don’t let your broken bones stop you from scratching your two itches: the one in your pants, the other in your arm cast. Keep muscle movement to a minimum. Give your broken bones and ligaments a rest. If you have a sprained wrist, cross handjobs off the list. Broken leg? Standing sex might not be as your best option. Be aware of your range of motion. Keep your expectations reasonable. It’s not like you’re going to be pulling off some freaky Cirque du Soleil tricks with a fractured spine. Simply explain to your partner that the doctor told you to lay off the Viennese Oyster for a few months. Any kind-hearted person will surely understand. If you’ve had the misfortune to catch one of the collegiate viruses, consider yourself one of many. Mono, stomach flu or even a head cold can put a damper on your otherwise steamy sessions. But even sick people need some loving, too. To infect your partner with your poison without transmitting those nasty germs, opt for sex positions that keep your partner’s face far away from yours: doggy style, reverse cowgirl, lapdance; the options are endless. And who even likes the stupid non-sexual stuff, like kissing and cuddling, anyhow? Endless nights of reading books and liking posts on Facebook can take a toll on your eyesight. On one hand, if your boo looks better with the lights off, your lack of 20/20 vision might be the best alternative to a good old paper bag over the head. If you have poor eyesight, treat your blurry vision like a kinky game. Try out the

tried-and-true elementary school game Hot and Cold. Only this time, it’s X-rated. Here are the rules: Your partner selects a part on his or her body. You must find the bodypart only by kissing up and down and all around. If your partner says “hot,” then you’re getting closer to the object; vice versa for “cold.” Be sure to turn on your AC beforehand because temperatures will surely rise. Nothing kills the bedroom mood more than broken bits. Call it what you want. Whiskey dick. Dry taco. But don’t let these deceivingly quirky names fool you. The inability to get aroused does not feel good physically or emotionally for either side of the party. The College of William and Mary experience instills superb work ethic in students: We refuse to quit until we get the blowjob done. But save your head from all the pointless drilling and just call it a night. After a certain point of time, there’s no amount of rubbing and licking that will salvage the raw carnage already amassed. If your morning wood won’t rise and shine at any time of the day, consider employing a little extra help. Try out lubrication, sex toys, watching porn and all that other cliche stuff that sex columns claim will spice up your love life. But really — try out these bedroom boosters. You should not be expected to produce waterfalls of fluid all the time. And a broken heart? Sorry. Can’t fix that one for you. Some things must mend on their own. Janice Van is a Behind Closed Doors columnist and she always makes sure to save her Cirque du Soleil tricks for days when she is feeling healthy.

MOLLY ADAIR / THE FLAT HAT

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“Rocky and Bullwinkle, because nobody considers them super heroes, but they always prevail over the villain.” – Salamone

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McNerney ’14

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