Flat Hat 1-29-13

Page 1

The Flat Hat

Vol. 102, Iss. 30 | Tuesday, January 29, 2013

The Twice-Weekly Student Newspaper

Noah wilard / THE FLAT HAT

Flathatnews.com | Follow us:

of The College of William and Mary

campus

academics

Hunter Smith ’51 establishes endowment to benefit freshman seminars

set off at Units

Alumna donates $10 million Smoke bomb

by katherine chiglinsky flat hat news editor

Freshman seminars will receive a financial boost with the recent donation of $10 million from the Hunter Smith Family Foundation. The Foundation created the Hunter J. Smith Endowment for Freshman Seminars to support the 15-student classes first started at the College of William and Mary in 1993. “The idea of making a gift in support of freshman seminars appealed to me on many levels,” Hunter Smith ’51 said in a press release. “The seminars fit the profile of William & Mary very well and give freshmen important experiences that develop independent thinking

and writing skills.” Professor of English and Writing Resources Center Director Sharon Zuber helps to organize freshman seminars and noted that the donation will have a large impact on the College community. “As I’m sure the donors intended, everyone will benefit from this donation,” Zuber said in an email. “Students will have a wide variety of courses to choose from, faculty will have support for training to incorporate writing, oral communication, and research skills, and the College benefits from offering students an opportunity to get to know faculty and understand the scholarly expectations of our College that

will lead to achievement in undergraduate research.” Freshman seminars are often designed to introduce students to undergraduate research at the College. “It’s heartening, if unsurprising, to see students make the most of our seminars’ intense discussion, sustained research, and close work on writing — often from their first day at the college,” government professor Jackson Sasser ’98 said in an email. “These challenges are inimitable in other first-year settings and, I think, harbingers for later success at the College and beyond.” See donation page 3

Fire alarm shuts down dance party

by katherine chiglinsky and meredith ramey flat hat news editors

A smoke bomb at Unit F set off the fire alarm and shut down Sigma Chi’s dance party, Jock Jams, just after midnight on Saturday. Fire and police units responded to the scene to find a detonated smoke bomb, a device that when lit, burns slowly and creates large quantities of smoke. According to College of William and Mary Police Chief Don Challis, the incident occurred inside of the building but caused no damage to facilities. The incident is still under investigation, and no one has been formally charged. Members of Sigma Chi declined to comment. Check back with The Flat Hat for more on this developing story.

Alumni

Men’s basketball

Johnson ’04 joins race Alumnus plans to run for VA House of Delegates by bailey kirkpatrick flat hat assoc. news editor

all photos by noah willard / THE FLAT HAT

Look out below

Sophomore guard Marcus Thornton elevates for a dunk against Towson Saturday. Thornton’s dunk was the highlight of a big hoops weekend for the Tribe. The men’s team snapped an eight game losing streak with a 63-56 victory over the Tigers. Thornton and junior guard Brandon Britt secured the win with a series of late game plays. The women meanwhile, won their second game in a row with a 73-69 victory over Old Dominion Sunday, its second win over ODU since 1979. To read the full stories, see page 8.

General assembly

Virginia redistricting bill to alter Williamsburg’s district Bill plans to remove Williamsburg from the first district and place it in the third by ellie kaufman flat hat chief staff writer

While Senator Harry L. Marsh III, D-16, traveled to Washington, D.C. to watch the inauguration of President Barack Obama, Virginia State Senate

Index

News Insight News Opinions Variety Variety Sports Sports

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Republicans pushed a bill through the Senate to redistrict Virginia’s already heavily gerrymandered districts. The bill creates a minority district along the North Carolina state line, emptying Democratic support from surrounding districts and

Today’s Weather

concentrating it in one area. The new map would remove Williamsburg from the district of Sen. John Miller’s, D-1, and put the city in that of Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment, R-3. Norment was a driving force in passing this legislation.

The State Senate passed the bill 20-19 with a Republican majority. It will reach the floor of the House today. While Republicans maintain a strong majority in the State House of

Inside opinions

Recognizing registration

A few changes to our current course registration system could make the process extraordinarily simpler. page 4 Mostly cloudy High 64, Low 31

See redistricting page 3

Inside VARIETY

Alumnus Monte Johnson ’04 announced his plan to run for the Virginia House of Delegates in the 10th district which includes Clarke, Fairfax, Fauquier, Frederick, Loudoun, Prince William, and Warren Counties. The Virginia native has been trying to garner support from fellow classmates and alumni of the College of William and Mary in order to support his campaign. “I would love support [from] the school,” Johnson said. “This endeavor will need a lot of resources to be successful and it would mean a lot to me if William and Mary could be a big part of this campaign. … The school has a rich tradition in all levels of government, Johnson and I would love to highlight that tradition as a delegate.” As an alumnus of the College and a brother of the Delta Phi fraternity, Johnson has already begun to receive support from many of his fraternity brothers and alumni. “I was really impressed that he was getting involved in the political arena in Virginia,” Delta Phi alumnus Taylor Phillips ’03 said. “I knew he had been involved in both of the Obama campaigns, so he had already set some groundwork, but I am really impressed that he was willing to take the next step in campaigning and becoming a member [of the government].” Johnson’s career in politics and government began when he was still attending the College. As a student, he participated in the William and Mary in Washington Program, was a member of the Young Democrats and graduated with a major in public policy. Johnson currently works as a project manager at Booz Allen Hamilton, a strategy and technology consulting firm for the U.S. government. “As a delegate, I would like to make strides in core areas like transportation, education, jobs and healthcare,” Johnson said. “Also, I want to make a strong push for equality. The current General Assembly is really trying to set us back in that regard.”

All the world’s a stage

Sky Jarrett ’16 has performed on stages from his hometown of Chappaqua, New York to Broadway and now the mainstage of Phi Betta Kappa Memorial Hall. page 5


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