The Flat Hat November 23 2021

T HE F LAT H AT

Vol. 111, Iss. 12 ¦ Tuesday, November 23, 2021

The Weekly Student Newspaper

of The College of William and Mary

flathatnews.com ¦ @theflathat

“I’m proud to see that

President Rowe's contract renewed

BOV unimously votes to extended Rowe's position to 2028 GEORGIA THOMS FLAT HAT CHIEF STAFF WRITER

Friday, Nov. 19, The College of William and Mary’s Board of Visitors unanimously voted to extend the contract of President Katherine A. Rowe through June 2028.

Rowe, who is the 28th president and first female president of the College, previously had a contract until June 2023. However, by unanimous vote, Rector John E. Littel P ’22 was authorized to finalize the terms of the agreement by the February 2022 Board of Visitors meeting.

“The Board is grateful to President Rowe for the partnership, work and visionary leadership she has demonstrated to advance the university during unprecedented times,” Littel wrote in a press release. “Big opportunities and big challenges lie ahead for William & Mary, and we have enormous confidence in where President Rowe will lead us in the future.”

As President, Rowe has overseen the For the Bold Campaign which successfully raised $1.04 billion including more than $300 million in scholarships.

The Board also noted that Rowe is essential to the success of Vision 2026, the plan of major actions and initiatives the College will pursue over the next five years.

“She combines academic and management experience, commitment to stellar teaching and research, success in improving student and faculty diversity and, most importantly, a compelling vision of the importance of liberal arts in today’s world and economy,” Littel wrote. “Those qualities have certainly been evident during the past few years as we successfully concluded the For the Bold campaign and addressed the challenges raised by the global pandemic.”

Vision 2026 includes expanding the College’s reach through scholarship and global connections, educating for impact via accessibility and career success and evolving to excel by providing more equitable learning environments.

“As we finalize Vision 2026, our new strategic plan, this fall, William & Mary must couple nimbleness and creativeness with our strong traditions of liberal arts education and civic responsibility,” Littel wrote. “President Rowe has proven that she is the right person to lead this work at our university. We are grateful to President Rowe for her commitment to continue to serve this university.”

After the decision during Friday’s meeting, Rowe said she was humbled by the Board’s confidence and grateful for another opportunity to continue working with the College.

“To our students, faculty, staff, parents and alumni, it’s a great honor to serve as your 28th president,” Rowe said. “We have made great strides together over the past three years. I am enthusiastic about the path we are traveling together.”

students are stepping up to fill that gap

“

BOV

GRAPHIC BY: CHARLES COLEMAN

COURTESY GRAPHIC / WILLIAM AND MARYH STUDENT AID

Students of the College form mutual aid housing for school community Anna Arnsberger // THE FLAT HAT

A new student-run initiative, WM Student Aid, aims to provide housing-insecure community members with places to stay over academic breaks. The organization relies on students to offer spaces for peers.

According to the College of William and Mary’s housing policy, all residence halls except the Graduate Complex, Tribe Square and the Colonial Williamsburg House are closed during winter break. Students, similarly, cannot access dorms over the summer unless they are enrolled in a course or pay a fee to remain in the Graduate Complex.

Those in need of housing due to unsafe home situations or houselessness may or may not receive exceptions.

WM Student Aid supports such students by connecting them with classmates who have space in their own homes. The organization’s Instagram, @wm.studentaid, has a link to two Google forms — one for people seeking housing and one for those offering it. Students who fill the form for a place to stay are matched with someone else who has extra room.

Organizer Ezzie Seigel ’23 created WM Student Aid in response to what they saw as a lack of sufficient housing resources provided by the College.

“There just simply are not enough supports for students who have tangible needs unmet,” Seigel said.

Seigel believes the current housing policy is physically dangerous for students who have nowhere to go and are left to fend for themselves over breaks.

“Housing is a human right,” Seigel said.

They added that if the College won’t act, “we as a community should be responsible for

fulfilling that human need.”

Seigel has had their own experiences with this issue. Last winter break, their complicated home life prevented them from returning to their hometown. Care Support Services directed Seigel to the Wesley House, where Pastor Max Blalock gave them a room to stay.

Wesley House is one of the few resources that provide students with housing. According to Care Support Services Director Rachel McDonald, her office works with a number of community organizations.

“Care Support Services has collaborated with Residence Life, Auxiliary Services, the Campus Food Pantry at the Wesley House, Community Ministries, the Heart Fund and other offices to support students experiencing food and housing insecurity,” McDonald said.

However, these are auxiliary services, and there is no central system in place to aid housing-insecure students during breaks.

While grateful for the community at Wesley House, Segiel recognized that more options are needed.

“Sometimes if there's long-term issues with housing, you don't want to necessarily have to go back to the same place over and over again,” Segiel said.

Seigel started WM Student Aid on Nov. 10, but has already seen significant engagement with the network. In a matter of four days, the Instagram account surpassed 100 followers and many students have been filling out both forms.

For Aubrey Lay ’23, offering housing was an easy decision. Lay expects to have open rooms in his home during Thanksgiving and winter breaks, and his family was eager

to be a support for others. Like Seigel, Lay expressed dissatisfaction with the College’s housing policy.

“It just feels a bit unfair that there’d be people in our community who don’t have a space to be, and that we have a safe place to be, and we’re just not offering that,” Lay said.

Associate Vice President for Campus Living Maggie Burkhart Evans explained that the current housing policy is meant to give staff members time to rest and focus on personal wellness. Additionally, Evans says the price of rent is set to account for reduced expenses of housekeeping and utilities over breaks; allowing students to stay during this period would increase the costs either they individually or all students have to pay.

Nevertheless, Evans said the College has tried to remain receptive to students’ needs.

“We are reviewing our policies for the longer term, as more students communicate needs for housing over the extended break,” Evans said.

The College recently relaxed closures during Thanksgiving and spring breaks.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, exceptions were also made for international students who faced travel restrictions.

Seigel still thinks there needs to be more support for housing-insecure students, but they acknowledged that this universitywide problem cannot just be solved by Care Support Services or Residence Life.

As a result, WM Student Aid has no affiliation with the College, and is meant to circumvent the institution entirely. The network’s mutual aid design simply relies on See STUDENT AID page 8

ART

Muscarelle hosts lectures featuring Indigenous artists and their work Cara and Diego Romero discuss their artworks, foundation in Native identities and communities ALEXANDRA BYRNE AND SHELBY WOODWARD THE FLAT HAT

Tuesday, Nov. 16 through Wednesday, Nov. 17, married visual artists Cara and Diego Romero visited the College of William and Mary for a series of talks in which they discussed their work, which were sponsored by the Muscarelle Museum of Art. The artists are based in Santa Fe, New Mexico — Cara Romero is a Chemehuevi photographer and Diego Romero is a Cochiti Pueblo ceramicist. Both their work seeks to challenge common misconceptions of contemporary Native communities.

Cara Romero began the visit on Monday morning by meeting with Senior Lecturer of Anthropology Danielle Moretti-Langholz’s Introduction to Native Studies class.

Moretti-Langholtz oversees the College’s Native Studies program and is also curator of Native American art at the Muscarelle and

INDEX News Opinions Variety Sports News

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the director of the American Indian Resource Center on campus. The class toured the Muscarelle’s current exhibition, “Shared Ideologies,” which showcases several superstars of contemporary Native American art, including Cara Romero alongside T.C. Cannon, Emmi Whitehorse and others.

In her discussion with the class, Cara Romero shared personal anecdotes and statistics to highlight the dehumanizing effects of racism and cultural appropriation on the day-to-day lives of those within Indigenous communities. She provided a simple system, “the Three S’s,” for being able to recognize racist practices, even when they may appear to be more “subtle,” which stand for source, similarity and significance.

The class was then asked to participate in an activity that asked them to examine certain symbols and practices through these lenses to determine whether or not they were

Inside Opinions

NHL s response to sexual assault allegations should not be accepted Sam Pasman ’25 writes about recent sexual assault allegations within the NHL against Brad Aldrich on victim Kyle Beach. page 4

examples of cultural appropriation, with the end goal of recognizing such instances in the future. This was one of the many ways Cara Romero encouraged the class to review their own internal biases to consciously become better allies to Indigenous communities.

Monday night, President of the American Indian Students Association Matthew Solomon read the College’s land acknowledgement, which recognizes the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway), Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Mattaponi, Monacan, Nansemond, Nottoway, Pamunkey, Patawomeck, Upper Mattaponi and Rappahannock tribes as the original inhabitants of the College’s land. Cara Romero then began her public talk in the Sadler Center’s Commonwealth Auditorium with a greeting both in English and in Chemehuevi.

“I am a language learner, so allow me to introduce myself in Chemehuevi,” Cara

Romero said. “Mikwas. Hello.”

There are over 150 languages spoken by Native American groups today, though due to centuries of forced adaptation of English in the American education system, many are endangered. The Brafferton Indian School, on the College’s campus, is one such example of an institution intended to “anglicize” Native people. Fewer than 20 people are known to speak Chemehuevi as a first language, leading UNESCO to define it as a “critically endangered language” in which “the youngest speakers are grandparents and older, and they speak the language partially and infrequently.”

Recent efforts at language revitalization, led by tribes and Native activists, have sought to teach new generations of Chemehuevi people the language, which is so critical to the culture that had been deliberately erased See ART page 8

Inside Variety

Inside Sports

The College's Theatre Department presents famous play The Imaginary Invalid at Kimball Theatre page 5

Eight straight points from Riley Casey propelled the College win in overtime over George Mason (3-2) on Friday, Nov. 19. page 7

Imagining a forbidden love story

Tribe beats George Mason

“

THE FLAT HAT ¦ Tuesday, November 23, 2021 ¦ Page 2

THE BUZZ

Certainly, one of the themes that emerge are the idea of cultural landscape. The idea that we as Indigenous people and all Indigenous peoples, all peoples of the world are Indigenous to a space and to a place, and that for the Native people of North America and globally, our bones come from the cultural landscapes that we re from.

That we re ontologically tied to these landscapes and that we re inseparable from the landscapes.

̶ Cara Romero

FLAT HAT NEWS BRIEF

es

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newsinsight

News Editor Alexandra Byrne News Editor Charles Coleman News Editor Molly Parks fhnews@gmail.com

BOV TALKS COVID-19, RENOVATIONS, PASS-FAIL, VISION 2026 Nov. 18-19, the College of William and Mary’s Board of Visitors convened, discussing issues of COVID-19 progress, campus renovations, pass-fail and the Vision 2026 plan.

Vision 2026 is the College’s new strategic planning, which will cover the five year span from 2021-2026.

Its three goals — “expand W&M’s reach,” “educate for impact,” and “evolve to excel” — prioritize achieving carbon neutrality by 2030, modernizing campus, increasing diversity of the student body, expanding engineering and computational sciences and promoting community engagement.

In terms of COVID, Chief Operating Officer Amy Sebring said cases are low and she does not expect a postThanksgiving break rise. Furthermore, she is working on advertising booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine, for which all adults are now eligible.

The Board also recieved updates on campus-wide construction. The finish date for the Memorial to the Enslaved, which is currently under construction, has been pushed back to sometime in early 2022. The performing arts center is on schedule and the Sadler West expansion will be complete by next summer, though supply chain issues due to the pandemic have slowed progress across the board. The Muscarelle Museum of Art expansion and Kaplan Arena are in design phases, while renovations have been proposed for Monroe and Old Dominion residence halls.

READ MORE AT FLATHATNEWS.COM ALEXANDRA BYRNE / FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR

A THOUSAND WORDS

MOLLY PARKS / THE FLAT HAT

CORRECTIONS The Flat Hat wishes to correct any fact printed incorrectly. Corrections may be submitted in email 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

On the Origins of House Dressing

Karen Broaddus speaks on time at the College, Cheese Shop house dressing origins CHLOE JONES // THE FLAT HAT

COURTESY PHOTO / KAREN BROADDUS

Karen Broaddus 78 worked at the Cheese Shop in Colonial Williamsburg while attending the College and was there for the creation of the famous House Dressing.

Everyone who has stepped foot into The Cheese Shop in Colonial Williamsburg is most likely familiar with their Original House Dressing, the “secret ingredient that has kept our regulars coming back year after year” according to The Cheese Shop’s website. Alumna of the College Dr. Karen Broaddus ’78 was rumored to be the creator of this dressing through experimentation while she worked at The Cheese Shop during her time as an undergraduate.

When asked about her time at the College, Broaddus had a story to tell about her unique introduction to the college during her first semester.

The summer before her freshman year, she spent her time traveling in Pakistan and Afghanistan with her close friend and her family. It was an eye-opening experience for her to travel and come back to the College.

She remembers how her peers were going through sorority recruitment and how she felt a sense of independence from her time abroad that her peers had not yet gained.

“I had this really eye opening experience living in Kabul, traveling across the Khyber Pass and going to Peshawar or Islamabad,” Broaddus said. “We traveled through India too. Then when I came to William and Mary, it was an adjustment. Everybody was in rush. There were a lot of people saying ‘I’ve never been away from my parents for a week.’

So the biggest adjustment was that first semester after I had a lot of independence for the summer.”

Despite the adjustment period, Broaddus says that she quickly found a great group of friends, specifically people belonging to the English and theatre departments. During her sophomore year, she began to work at The Cheese Shop, where she spent a bulk of her summers and a few days a week during the academic year. There she met wonderful people whom she worked with, two of which became her roommates later on in college.

Graduating in 1978, Broaddus and her friends found it difficult to secure jobs once they completed their undergraduate degrees.

Broaddus waited tables before working as a librarian in Outer Banks, North Carolina. She then transferred to work for the National Park Service, specifically at the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kitty Hawk. After the park closed down, she came back to Williamsburg and helped open the Trellis Bar and Grill with many of the people she worked with while at The Cheese Shop.

With her bachelor’s in English and a minor in anthropology from the College, Broaddus eventually went on to attend the University of Virginia where she received her doctorate in reading education, English

education and clinical psychology. After teaching for five years as a graduate student at UVA, she then taught as a lecturer for a year. She is noted for helping run the McGuffey Reading Services Center.

She then went on to teach at the University of Tulsa and then James Madison University. During her time teaching at the university level, she was primarily working with students who wanted to teach English or those who needed to know how to teach skills like writing, reading or physics. She additionally taught graduate courses in how to be a reading teacher and/or specialist.

After teaching at the university level, she decided to go back to teaching full-time. She currently teaches English at the Woodberry Forest School, a private, all-boys boarding school. She has gone on to see multiple students she taught attend the College.

Concerning the rumor of The Cheese Shop’s original House Dressing, Broaddus had indeed worked for approximately two and a half years at the Cheese Shop during her undergraduate studies.

“Even though we were sophomores and juniors in college, they expected us to know about all sorts of different cheeses and wines,” Broaddus said. “That was a wonderful thing about Tom and Mary Ellen Power. They taught us and they wanted us to be part of the wine club. It was just an incredible learning experience. I actually lived with a couple of the other girls one summer who worked there and one was an Italian cook. I love to cook and I learned a lot more about cooking there, and a lot about food.”

The employees were taught all sorts of information and were also encouraged to expand their involvement at The Cheese Shop, including joining the Wine Club that was held there.

During her undergraduate time working at the Cheese Shop, the restaurant began expanding their menu and products. They started selling sandwiches, a current staple of the well-known restaurant, when previously they exclusively sold wine, cheese and bread. They also began experimenting with their House Dressing recipe, which was completed before Broaddus graduated from William and Mary.

According to Broaddus, she is not the original inventor of the House Dressing, and instead, she says the inventor of the dressing would be about six various employees of the Cheese Shop who were experimenting with flavors and components during one of their shifts.

“It really was just an experiment. I mean, throwing things together. It was fun. It didn’t happen in one day and it might for all I knew, it might be a little bit different now,” Broaddus said.

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Dr. Karen Broaddus used her College English degree to become a professor of reading, writing and English at several institutions and now teaches at an all-boys school..

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THE FLAT HAT ¦ Tuesday, November 23, 2021 ¦ Page 3

STAFF COLUMN

STAFF COLUMN

Business school registration gives unfair advantages, Arts & Sciences should follow example Taylor Robertson

FLAT HAT BUSINESS MANAGER

I feel bad for almost every student when registration comes around. It’s a headache: an early wake up with no assurances of getting any of the classes that you need. You’ll spend a couple good hours trying to figure out the perfect schedule, writing down CRNs and finding good-enough professors. All of this the night before registration, if you’re like me. Because if you’re not a senior, you’ll watch as the days pass as classes fill up and go from OPEN to CLOSED. And then you’ll have to go through the unpredictable process of seeking overrides when inevitably your well-crafted schedule falls apart.

Unless you’re in the business school, that is. Honestly, it’s an extreme privilege: registration is easy. Instead of a professor being your advisor, every single business school student has one of either two advisors, Susan Grainger or Megan Seabury. Of all advisors on campus I’d argue they’re the most helpful, well-informed and … powerful. Powerful is an interesting way to put it, but it’s true. Unlike professors, their sole job is to be our major advisors, ensure we graduate on time and get us into the classes we need. They don’t have to teach courses in addition to those responsibilities. Maybe that’s why we business school students feel well cared for. It’s somebody’s actual job to look out for us.

If your 7 a.m. registration comes around and you somehow don’t get the classes you need, you just have to send your trusted advisor an email and it’s all fixed. No overrides needed. You’ll just be put into the classes you should have in your schedule. That’s power.

And headache prevention.

I’ve even had a fellow finance friend who said he slept through registration, but it all worked out fine. Advisor to the rescue.

So, I feel bad for every student who’s not in the business school when registration comes around. I wish you all had wonderful advisors who knew the ins and outs of course selection, meeting graduation requirements and had the power to snap their fingers and fix a shoddy schedule. It’s a privilege to be a business school student.

One of my professors even told my class last week that the classes as posted on Courselist intentionally have a smaller student cap on them than professors are actually willing to teach. I’m sure this is to leave room for the two business school advisors to field through the dozens of emails they receive and figure out who truly needs to get into what classes.

Flexibility. If that happens to be seven students more, or four, or they need to create a new section of a class … well, that’s what seems to happen.

I’ve taken many creative writing courses at the College, for example. I once inquired about getting into the waitlist for a creative writing non-fiction course. I was told I could be number 19 on the waiting list. The course only taught 15! There could be an entire second section, but was it created? No. I don’t want to blame the creative writing department, they’re amazing.

But the power the business school has to self-regulate and serve its students is woefully unmatched by other departments.

If only every department could have the power to create more sections in line with student demand.

If only every student on campus had an advisor whose priority was to get them into the classes they needed and had the power to ensure that happened.

I’m not saying join the business school, even though it’s lovely. I’m saying we need to be asking the question: why do so many other departments have to kow-tow to what the College says they can offer?

That creative writing professor with 19 students wanting in?

He said to me, “I’ve asked Arts & Sciences to consider adding another section, but the odds are not good.”

If Arts & Sciences professors feel like they’re going to be shut down for attempting to meet student demand for classes … who is taking up the responsibilities of getting students the classes they want and need?

Why does the business school get to take care of its students and other departments get no self-determination?

Taylor Robertson ‘23 is from Lynchburg, Virginia. A finance major and accounting concentration, he is the business manager of The Flat Hat and a founder of the writer’s circle on campus, Novelquest. Email Taylor at trobertson@email. wm.edu.

Student health resources are needed to address seasonal depression as days grow colder Kayla Parkins THE FLAT HAT

The College of William and Mary’s campus is blanketed in jewel-toned leaves this fall.

The sun this time of year says goodnight a bit earlier than the month previous. While fall presents endless excitement for pumpkin spice and encroaching jolly music, something barren and hollow creeps into many fellow twamps.

Seasonal depression has arrived with guns blazing, especially during midterm season.

I would like then to cordially invite each reader to ask a friend, professor or yourself how they are doing. It is no surprise that some of our outdated dorms can be quite stuffy, lack airflow and provide insufficient natural lighting. All of these factors can contribute to seasonal depression. Especially during a pandemic, it may feel especially difficult for College students to find friends or feel incorporated and valued on campus. With the endless grind of a twamp, what is one supposed to do?

According to a prospective cohort study by the European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, there is a high comorbidity of Social Anxiety Disorder and Agoraphobia within the repeated seasonal [major depressive episodes] MDE. One way to feel more included in the campus is to study in a heavily foot-trafficked location including The Daily Grind, Sadler Center or Aromas Cafe at Swem. If you are looking for a space with more natural light and a quiet reserve, then the McLeod Tyler Wellness Center has a large open space that gets direct light all day with a natural view. Investing in an air purifier, or plant growth light can provide you with a fresher rejuvenated dorm.

I find it peculiar how our administration prides itself on the wellness of students but has yet to speak on behalf of this immense issue. While we have care reporting, the Counseling Center and campus recreational activities in place by the administration, there have been years of public disapproval and lack of efficacy with these resources. I fail to see the drive and motivation

from the administration to promote the growth and betterment of these programs.

Where do we go from here? Faculty, staff and students must advocate for Student Accessibility

GRAPHIC BY ARIANNA STEWART / THE FLAT HAT

Services to recognize seasonal depression as a common mental health issue among many students. According to a prospective cohort study by the European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, there is a “high comorbidity of Social Anxiety Disorder and Agoraphobia within the repeated seasonal [major depressive episodes] MDE.” This is conducive to many students experiencing seasonal depression feeling isolated and unable to reach out for help. Thus, there is a clear need for faculty and administrative support.

The administration needs to ensure that faculty puts the safety and well-being of the student first.

One idea is having intermediate wellness days where classes are not in a session throughout the semester specifically surrounding exam periods with conducive wellness activities. Wellness activities can range from stress management workshops to an investment or monetary resources into bettering individual and group therapy options. Available care packages at various points on campus for students to pick up that hold encouraging messages and treats as an act of service for students. Reducing the stigma surrounding mental health specifically with administration by deeply listening to students’ concerns and needs.

As we enter the home stretch of the fall semester together, remember your well-being should always be your top priority. Take time for self-care, take a walk even if you initially don’t want to, go to social activities and make it comfortable to talk about feeling some winter blues.

Kayla Parkins ’24 is majoring in kinesiology with a focus in public health and a minor in creative writing. She is a plant lover with an affinity for books. Her mission is to use her voice for advocacy and journalism surrounding public health issues in order to give a voice to untold stories. Email Kayla at kdparkins@email.wm.edu.

To view citations visit flathatnews.com.

Fuzzy 4: Fuzzy meets Ramda Lambda Bamda COMIC BY ARIANNA STEWART / THE FLAT HAT

THE FLAT HAT

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

STAFF COLUMN

Page 4

STAFF COLUMN

Thanksgiving break is the ideal cure Thanksgiving should not for homesickness and missing family be an overlooked holiday

Bushra Bablu

FLAT HAT ASSOC. OPINIONS

feel welcomed in the College community.

One of my favorite pastimes is watching movies and having sleepovers with my friends. Some other activities I enjoy embarking on include yoga, exercising, listening to music and even poetry. Even though it has only been my second year here, I am most definitely thankful for all the people I have met this semester.

Last but not least, I can’t be thankful without mentioning food and fashion.

Currently, my favorite place to dine on campus is the Boehly Cafe in Alan B. Miller Hall. They have a variety of options, and occasionally switch up their food choices.

I am also thankful for The Daily Grind and other cafes such as Aromas and Illy in Colonial Williamsburg, that provide the best lattes and pastries. In terms of fashion, I am thankful for sweaters, fluffy socks, matte hair clips, black boots and flare jeans.

There are many other things that I am thankful for, maybe I can share them hopefully next year. Until then I hope this semester turns out the best, especially for those who are experiencing it for the first time.

Bushra Bablu ‘24 is planning to double major in government and economics. Bushra serves as an Associate Opinions Editor for The Flat Hat Newspaper and the Business Manager for Flat Hat Magazine. Outside of The Flat Hat, Bushra is also involved with One for the World and Women in Business.

Email Bushra at bebablu@email.wm.edu.

This will be my second fall semester at the College of William and Mary, and I can already see differences from last year. In fall 2020, the semester ended on Nov. 14, exactly a week before Thanksgiving. Due to this, we had a condensed schedule and a longer winter break that was extended to over a month. However, this year is different, and Thanksgiving break and winter break are just about four weeks apart. During my fall semester at the College this year, I have been able to experience and reflect on many things and have decided to share some stuff that I am extremely thankful for.

Coming into the College, I found myself feeling homesick on some days and wished to go back home. However, that is not always feasible and I catch myself FaceTiming my parents and siblings. Last night, I decided to FaceTime my parents and discuss my plans for coming home for Thanksgiving break. “I plan to come sometime earlier next week!”

I said. My mom replied, “Can’t you come anytime earlier?” I wish I could. I am also very close to my younger brother, who is currently a senior in high school, and my older sister, who is currently a senior in college. I am thankful for my big sister because she always helps me if I need it and has always been there for me when I dealt with difficult circumstances. I am thankful for my little brother because he gives the best advice in any given situation, and he can also cheer me up when I am feeling blue. My green parakeets are also something that I am thankful for, they put a smile on my face whenever I interact with them. My family gives me a sense of belonging because we all share a strong kinship with one another.

The friendships that GRAPHIC BY TARA VASANTH AND HEADSHOTS I have created here in

BY ANGELA VASISHTA / THE FLAT HAT Williamsburg have made me

Caitlin Noe

FLAT HAT ASSOC. OPINIONS

Thanksgiving is an underrated holiday. In fact, it’s the best.

But by the time Nov. 1 rolls around, many people are already talking about the December holidays. Some even start listening to Christmas music. One minute it’s Halloween and the next it’s Christmas? What? Thanksgiving deserves more recognition.

Thanksgiving is like Christmas but with less pressure and fewer expectations. You don’t need to worry about finding the perfect presents or worry about all the decorations you need to put up before the relatives get in. It is also not overly commercialized or overhyped. It’s more casual and there is not the immense pressure build-up experienced during Christmas. In general, there is less pomp and circumstance surrounding the holiday. I find it much more relaxing.

Thanksgiving is simply the holiday for food and family. You enjoy the time you have with your relatives over a turkey and the most important part of your meal, the stuffing. I am also just a sucker for the Thanksgiving Day Parade and National Dog Show. I look forward to watching both every year. It’s also the only holiday where it is socially acceptable to take a nap and be lazy from the inevitable food coma.

On top of that, Thanksgiving is during one of the most beautiful times of the year, fall. I much prefer the weather in fall to the weather during the winter. And who doesn’t love fall leaves? It is a gorgeous time of year. Many of my favorite family photos were taken during Thanksgiving.

It’s quite literally a stunning holiday.

Another reason to love Thanksgiving is it always comes around at just the right time. The point in the year, where I think we could all agree we are in desperate need of a break. It gives us a moment to rest and recover in the company of our families. Then when it’s over, we don’t have to wait much longer for winter break. Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday season and more good times to come.

Although it can be cringy to go around a table saying what you’re thankful for, there is something pretty special about reflecting on the good things in life. It’s just pretty darn wholesome if you think about it. It’s the one day a year where we are forced to appreciate what we have instead of commiserating about what we do not. I often leave the Thanksgiving dinner table in better spirits than when I sat down.

This Thanksgiving has an even more special significance for my family. This will be my first Thanksgiving with my grandparents since the pandemic. I certainly feel I have a lot of things to be thankful for this year. This holiday is just another reminder of that.

Caitlin Noe ‘24 is a Government and Psychology double major.

She is also a member of Amnesty International and Film Society.

She participated in the DC Summer Institute American Politics program this summer. Email Caitlin at cjnoe@email.wm.edu.

STAFF COLUMN

NHL’s response to sexual assault allegations should not be accepted Sam Pasman THE FLAT HAT

Content Warning: This article mentions sexual assault.

In May 2010, the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League were deep into a playoff run. To fill out the roster, they called up a prospect, Kyle Beach.

What should have been Beach’s dream — playing in the NHL playoffs — turned into a nightmare when he was sexually assaulted by the team’s video coach Brad Aldrich.

When Beach reported this to the front office, as he should have done, they met to decide if the accusations were credible and what should be done with Aldrich if they were. In the meeting, they decided that the accusations were indeed credible. Yet Aldrich was not fired from the team. Nor was he even asked to resign. Nor was he even sent home on leave. He kept working in his capacity as video coach, having daily interactions with the players and with Beach, until after the season was over and he quietly left the team. All of this was only revealed to the public when Beach sued the Blackhawks in 2020. In late October 2021, Stan Bowman and all of the other men who attended that now-infamous meeting were either fired by the Blackhawks or forced to resign by the NHL. All except one: Kevin Cheveldayoff. Cheveldayoff, now the

general manager of the Winnipeg Jets, was allowed to remain in his job. In its press release explaining this decision, the NHL stated that : “As an Assistant General Manager at the time, Cheveldayoff, who reported directly to Stan Bowman, was the lowest ranking Club official in the room, and his position included no oversight responsibilities over the Club’s coaching staff. He was among the last to be included in the meeting; he was learning of the subject matter for the first time in the presence of his boss (then-GM Stan Bowman), his boss’ boss (then-CEO John McDonough) and the Head Coach (Joel Quenneville), who was Brad Aldrich’s direct superior; he had limited familiarity with the personnel involved; and he was essentially an observer to the discussion of possible next steps, which discussion, apparently, ended with Cheveldayoff believing that the matter was going to be investigated.”

Now, I fully understand why anyone

familiar with the NHL and its lax treatment of misbehavior (see Evander Kane’s domestic violence allegations, various other GMs and players accused of sexual assault, and the league’s utter inability to address racism in the sport) would find this more than a little suspicious. But since everyone else involved in this case was forced out, and only Cheveldayoff remains employed, we can give the league the benefit of the doubt here. He was not fired because he performed what was required of him, which was learning of the assault and coming away from the meeting confident that the matter would be investigated by superiors.

But while Cheveldayoff might have done all he was required to do, he most certainly did not do what he should have done. He should have checked to see if there was actually an investigation. He should have gone to the Chicago Police Department and informed them as to what happened. He even could have gone to Beach, explained

Doing the right thing, however, is not something to be done halfway or have any gray area.

the meeting, and told him that he thought the team would act on the allegations. He did none of these things. He did his strict duty and nothing more. Legally, he may be in the right. By the NHL’s reporting rules, he may be in the right. What cannot be doubted is that morally, strictly by anyone’s conscience, he is in the wrong.

It is unlikely that any of us here at the College of William and Mary will be NHL general managers. But what we should remember, what we must remember, is that there is sometimes a difference between doing only what is required of us and doing what is morally right. Sexual assault is, rightfully, a topic of strong emphasis on this campus. All of us — students, faculty and administration — know what we are required to do if we find ourselves in situations we are bound to report. Doing the right thing, however, is not something to be done halfway or have any “gray area.”

You do it fully or not at all. Should we ever find ourselves in a situation like that of Cheveldayoff, let us follow our morals, and not just our required duties. Unlike him, then we truly will be doing the right thing.

Sam Pasman ‘25 is currently undecided as to a major. In addition to The Flat Hat, Sam participates in the running club, Team Blitz, and is the scholarship chair of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. Email Sam at spasman@email.wm.edu.

To view sources, visit flathatnews.com.

variety

Variety Editor Ashanti Jones Variety Editor Madeleine Harris flathat.variety@gmail.com // @theflathat

THE FLAT HAT ¦ Tuesday, November 23, 2021 ¦ Page 5

Imaginingaforbiddenlovestory

COURTESY IMAGE / WM.EDU

The College of William and Mary s Theatre Department presents famous play The Imaginary Invalid at Kimball Theatre.

MILES MORTIMER // THE FLAT HAT At Kimball Theatre located just off of the College of William and Mary’s campus, the College’s theater department presented the play “The Imaginary Invalid” from Nov. 18 to 21. This play was initially written

by French playwright Jean Baptiste Molière, but has been adapted for current audiences by American playwright James Magruder.

One of the highlights of the experience to many in the audience, including Jessi Cairns ’25, were the jokes and hilarities performed on stage, with physical pantomimes being at the forefront.

“I liked that some of the guyclowns actually wore bras over their shirts for the comedic aspect of it,” Cairns said. “The clowns made it for me.”

Another audience member, Sergio Castagnoli ’25, found one scene, which included exaggerated motions with an ironic twist, particularly funny.

“I thought it was really funny in the scene where the invalid was punishing his daughter and he was whipping her with a feather,” Castagnoli said.

Cast member Colin Billings ’24, who played Thomas Diafoirus, explained that the show is heavily based in physical comedy.

“There’s a lot of slapstick, and there’s a lot of dance numbers,” Billings said.

Along with the physical comedy of the play, there is also an abundance of verbal humor. One of the first scenes of the play has Argan, the titular imaginary invalid played by Zachary Roberts ’22, mentioning the absurd amount of suppository supplements they have taken in the past month.

The verbal humor is coupled with the physical, and this joke is followed up on in the second half of the play. Argan nearly got an enema on the stage, only being interrupted seconds before the insertion occurred. The variety of the jokes in the play received acclaim from those who watched it.

“I think there is something for everyone,” Cairns said.

The play opens with Argan lamenting what he believes to be his debilitating illness. The audience is then introduced to Argan’s servant Toinette, played by Maggie Sheridan ’22, and Argan’s daughter Angélique, played

by Emma Wilkie ’25. Soon after, the main conflict of the play is revealed: while Angélique is in love with one man, her father Argan is trying to marry her to a future doctor without her consent so he can get cheaper medicine.

Following these events, Angélique’s true love, Cléante, played by Adriano Moran ’25, comes onto the set disguised as her music teacher in an attempt to see her. Moran’s playing of Cléante was seen as an exceptionally good performance for Castagnoli.

“He was a standout role for me,” Castagnoli said.

In a hilarious twist of events, this also happens to be the time that the man that Angélique is set to marry, Thomas Diafoirus, arrives with his father. His arrival leads to hijinks with Cléante not being able to reveal his true identity and being put on the spot about his musical prowess.

Angélique also has her fears confirmed when she realizes that Thomas Diafoirus is not only dull and uninteresting, but sometimes even

threatening and aggressive.

In the subsequent scenes, Argan’s brother Béralde, played by Sam Suslavich ’22, enters and proceeds to question not only the nature of his sibling’s illness, but whether it is even real at all.

Béralde hatches a plan with Toinette about how to make himself less naïve about taking the advice of anyone who claims to be a doctor by having Toinette pretend to be one herself. She gives him horrible advice, and the plan seems to have had some success.

Lastly, the finale of the play has Argan faking his death and comparing the reactions of his second wife and his daughter. His second wife, in a scene that had the audience laughing from wall to wall, was elated at this news to the point where she was jumping around the stage, with the source of her excitement being that she thought she would receive money from Argan’s will. Angélique, on the contrary, was devastated at this news, despite all of the things her father had done to keep her from her true love.

This convinces Argan to let his daughter marry Cléante, and he later comes to the revelation that he should become his own doctor, as he knows his body better than any other doctor would.

The story of the play was met with praise from audience members like Castagnoli.

“I think it’s a fun way to spend your evening, and I think you’ll probably laugh at some point,” Castagnoli said.

Billings discussed how “The Imaginary Invalid” marked the return for many people to theatre since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I hope they leave laughing,

I hope they leave with a smile and I hope they enjoy the show, because it’s very funny,” Billings said. “And if we can boost anyone’s day, that’s a victory for me.”

According to Cairns, in addition to the humor and story, the costume and set design were both incredibly well received and enhanced the viewing experience.

Each character was not only outfitted with colorful designs that helped to complement their performance, but the backdrop under which they acted elevated the play to another level.

Additionally, as the version performed was not the original, there were some changes to the script that enhanced the experience for a modern audience, like audience member Daniel Jang ’25.

Occasionally, the characters would incorporate modern slang into the performance, which never failed to get a laugh from the audience.

“This is a really old play from, like, the 1700s, but they incorporated a lot of modern elements into it,” Jang said.

“It’s always fun to see those kinds of takes, like the main character is a very sickly person, and his brother comes along and plays this twentieth century workout tape for him that’s acted out on stage.”

“The Imaginary Invalid” was met with admiration and applause by nearly every audience member I spoke with, and the hard work of those who were involved in it seems to have paid off.

“The people in it that are doing it — actors, technicians and wardrobes — have been working so hard on it, and we really want to deliver a great show,” Billings said.

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

THE FLAT HAT

Taking courses by the reins An in-depth look at self-designed majors JR HERMAN // FLAT HAT VARIETY ASSOC. EDITOR Ever thought of designing your own major? At the College of William and Mar y, if you can dream it and find an advisor for it, you can do it (assuming you get approved, that is). The self-designed or interdisciplinar y major gives students the opportunity to direct their path of study, accommodating unique interests that do not fit under the currently offered programs.

Savannah Orsak ’22, a design and merchandising major at the College, takes a wide variety of art, art histor y, physics, applied science, chemistr y and business classes for a deep understanding of applied design. For Orsak, who hopes to work in the fashion or textiles industr y post-graduation, a self-designed major made the most sense for career planning.

“I decided to self-design because I came to a point in my academic career where I needed to declare a major ASAP, but I was having a hard time narrowing down what would be most beneficial for me to study based on my specific career goals,” Orsak wrote in an email. “I was interested in pursuing art or design, but I also really enjoyed the classes I was taking at the business school. Luckily, I was taking a 3D Design class with Professor Mead at the time, and she approached me about my career goals and how design might work into them. She put the prospect of self-designing on my radar and connected me with alumni who work in similar areas and roles that I want to work in.”

After networking calls, meetings with her future major advisor and consultations with the Charles Center, Orsak settled on the selfdesigned major, realizing it would open more opportunities for her than a traditional major could.

“Definitely consider self-designing if you have a clear idea about what your career or academic goals are,” Orsak wrote. “It’s a great way to create some tangible work toward your interests and goals.”

Orsak also recommends that students considering a self-designed major set up a meeting with The Charles Center to discuss postgraduation plans.

Lauren Miller ’22, a self-designed race, rhetoric and justice major, seeks to explore the intersections of race and law in America through a combination of government, histor y, philosophy, sociology and Africana Studies classes. Before making the decision to self-design, Miller explored several departments. As a freshman, she planned to double major in histor y and international relations, but after discovering she did not like economics classes, she began to pursue a double major in histor y and government before deciding to self-design.

“I finally realized during my GOV T research methods class that I think like a historian, not a political scientist, which was why I found the majority of my government classes counterintuitive,” Miller wrote in an email. “So I went to Professor Jackson Sasser, whose Civil Rights and Civil Liberties class I loved and was currently in, and explained my situation. He was the one who suggested I design my own major, and since then there was no going back.”

As for advice to those thinking about self-designing, Miller recommends going for it.

“The application process can be a little daunting, but if you are passionate about what you want to study and find some good people willing to mentor you along the way, it’s an incredibly rewarding experience,” Miller wrote in an email.

Jonathan Newby ’22, a self-designed digital studies major, seeks to explore the political, social and cultural effects of technology and media. This field of study incorporates the social sciences, data science and the humanities, leading Newby to take a wide variety of courses, from professor Paul Vierthaler’s Hacking Chinese Studies to professor Elizabeth Losh’s Gender, Sexuality, and Gaming, to courses

on superheroes, esports, fake news and more. Newby completed an independent study last spring about independent games, also known as “indies,” arguing that independent games build communities by providing avenues for marginalized groups to share stories and experiences.

Newby suggests that students thinking about self-designing a major s h o u l d c o n s i d e r h o w o f t e n c o u r s e s a re t a u g h t — s o m e c o u r s e s a re t a u g h t a n n u a l l y , s o m e e v e r y f e w y e a r s a n d s o m e o n l y o n c e, s o s t u d e n t s s h o u l d t a k e a d v a n t a g e o f a c o u r s e o f i n t e re s t t h a t c o u l d p o t e n t i a l l y c o u n t t o w a rd a s e l f- d e s i g n e d m a j o r. Ne w by a l s o re c o m m e n d s t h a t s t u d e n t s l o o k a t h o w o t h e r d e p a r t m e n t s s t r u c t u re t h e i r m a j o r s, a s t h a t c a n p rov e h e l p f u l w h e n c ra f t i n g a c o u r s e l i s t .

Ne w by s e e s t h e s e l f- d e s i g n e d m a j o r a s a n e x p re s s i o n o f t h e C o l l e g e’s l e g a c y .

“William & Mar y is a liberal arts research university — two sometimes ver y different types of schools together in one,” Newby wrote in an email. “Embrace that energy as you go to craft your own major — your interdisciplinar y curiosities have a welcome home here. W&M’s legacy is in the ampersand — both/and.”

The rules governing the self-designed major are relatively straightfor ward — the proposed major must be between 30 and 48 credit hours, include classes from at least three departments (no more than half of which may be from a single department) and must fulfill the writing requirement, often completed through an independent study or an honors thesis. As for the fine print, no more than six credits can come from independent study and no more than two introductor y-level courses are typically accepted. For those double-majoring or minoring, up to two courses can overlap. Students can apply for a self-designed major any time after reaching the required 39-credit threshold, as long as the application is submitted for approval prior to pre-registration for the first semester of their senior year.

For students interested in pursuing a self-designed major, the first step is finding an advisor knowledgeable in the applicable field of study who can help craft a potential course list, an important part of the application process. The proposed course list includes all of the courses which will make up the major, notes the course that will fulfill the writing requirement and indicates what semester the student either intends to complete or completed the course in question.

Open Course List is helpful for determining potential classes for the upcoming semesters, while Banner and previous years’ course catalogs show classes offered in the near past which may be taught again. For classes offered on a rotational basis, it can be difficult to determine when, or in some cases, if, they will be offered again. In such cases, reaching out to the professor and department chairs can help. Once a self-designed major is accepted, it is possible to amend the course list, by adding or substituting a class, for example, but doing so requires a Petition for Change in Program that must be approved.

The other unique component of the self-designed major application is the single-page proposal providing a description of the major and why it should be approved. This rationale often explains how the proposed major differs from other paths of study already offered by the College, as well as information on particular courses and how they relate to the major. Students must also submit an unofficial transcript as well as the standard Declaration/Change of Major Form as part of the application. Once the application is submitted, the Vice-Dean for Arts & Humanities & Interdisciplinar y Studies must approve the major.

As for the timeline, expect up to 30 days following submission before approval.

Students looking to forge their own creative path need look no further than the self-designed major — the options are infinite.

CONFUSION CORNER

It's YikYak Time

The anonymous app that regained popularity across college campuses ANU DESAI // THE FLAT HAT It is 2:00 in the morning, and the world is entirely dark. The silence, only occasionally punctuated by soft movements from the floor above or the hum of a clip-on fan, is all-encompassing and falls over the space with a sort of heaviness.

And yet – in spite of the quiet, the student body is alive, and it has the worst case of blue balls imaginable.

In its desire to express its overwhelming horniness (and/or loneliness – the line between the two has long since blurred), the campus community has swarmed to a sleepless pocket dimension, where every imaginable thought can be expressed away from the eyes of the school administration.

This outlet is none other than YikYak, and as I watched it finish downloading onto my home screen, I began to reconsider the choices I had made that led me to this point.

“It was for the sake of this article,” I told myself. Clearly morbid curiosity had nothing to do with it.

The app allows users to post “Yaks” – essentially whatever the hell they want to say in 200 characters or less – entirely anonymously, which are visible to every person with the app within a fivemile radius. Upon its release in 2013, it spread across high school and college campuses like wildfire, and the collective realization that it was impossible to assign a face to a message prompted an outpour of bigotry that nobody knew how to deal with.

Ultimately, school administrations across the country eventually caught wind of the enormous trainwreck that had taken place directly underneath their noses, and amidst a

massive outcry it went offline in 2017.

So why bring it up now?

Five years later, in August 2021, the YikYak developers decided to exhume their offspring in an attempt to revive something that should have probably stayed buried for the foreseeable future.

To their credit, they tried to make it look nicer before throwing it back onto the market – there’s now an anti-bullying policy, although I’m really not sure how it’s supposed to be effective when the app operates exactly the same way as it did before. Time will tell.

Regardless, it drew a significant amount of attention, quite possibly more than anyone expected.

As I scroll through posts, I am continually met with the realization that while I (likely) do not know this person’s face, or this other one’s, I know how desperately they want to get railed or that they annihilated one of the bathrooms in Yates thanks to the food dye in a piece of red velvet cake.

There is a lingering sense of how surreal this is – in what other world w ou l d I b e to l d t hat i t ’s b e e n a w e e k si n c e you la st g o t f * * * e d b e f o re I k n ow you r na m e ?

It s o m e t i m e s o c cu rs to m e t hat e ve n i f you have m e t m e p e rs o na l ly , ba r r i ng t h e p o ssi b i l i t y t hat w e’ re cl o s e, I d o n ’ t t h i n k t hat you w ou l d te l l m e m o st o f t h e t h i ng s you ’ve sa i d o n h e re.

I t h i n k t hat ’s t h e w h o l e rea s o n w hy p e o p l e g o o n t h e ap p, a n d w hy i t wa s ab l e to ma ke su ch a re su rg e n c e : i t ’s i n fi n i te ly ea si e r to e x pre ss fe e l i ng s h o n e st ly w h e n you l eave n o t h i ng t hat ca n att a ch t h e m to you , a n d by e xte n si o n n o t h i ng t hat ca n l ea d to ju dg e m e nt o r c o n s e q u e n c e s.

In a n h ou r o r t w o, t h e sky w i l l b e g i n to l ig hte n . I c o nt i nu e to re fre s h t h e app.

COURTESY PHOTOS / YIKYAK.COM

sports

THE F LAT HAT Tuesday, November 23, 2021 ¦Page 7

JAMIE HOLT / THE FLAT HAT With multiple players out due to injury, experience in the backcourt played a huge role in the win, with senior Sydney Wagner dropping 21 to lead all scorers and graduate student Riley Casey scoring 20, including eight straight in overtime.

Casey, Wagner lead Tribe to thriller in OT over George Mason

After losing an eight point lead to end regulation, College outscored Patriots 16-5 to end game NATHAN SEIDEL FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR Eight straight points from graduate guard Riley Casey propelled William and Mary (2-2) to a 65-53 win over George Mason (3-2) on Friday, Nov. 19, after the Patriots sent it to extra time with less than a second remaining.

“I’m really proud of the team,” head coach Ed Swanson said after the game. “We talked about how we had to out-scrap them today, and I thought we really did a great job defensively. We won the rebounding margin (45-43) and I thought we won the 50-50 (balls).”

The teams traded baskets for much of the opening period, with both teams shooting above 50% for the opening five minutes. The Patriots scored their first 10 from inside the paint, aided by three offensive rebounds. A three from sophomore forward Rebekah Frisby-Smith kept the Tribe in it early and two more splashes from redshirt guard Sydney Wagner and graduate student guard Riley Casey gave the Tribe a 15-10 advantage with 3:30 left in the first.

Both teams went cold to begin the second period. After making five of its first 10 attempts, the College missed its next 11 but still clung to a two-point lead midway through the period. A second Casey triple, two Wagner free throws and a Casey runner then blew the drought out of the water and gave the Tribe its largest lead of the game, 23-14. The College forced three Patriot turnovers and eight straight misses during this five-minute stretch.

Four straight Patriot points got them back in it as halftime approached, closing the gap to 23-18 with under two minutes to play.

With three seconds on the shot clock after a foul, Wagner popped a 28-footer that swished through to extend it back to 26-18 and stop

the run. Traded baskets resulted in a halftime score of 28-21.

Frisby-Smith opened the second half scoring with a euro step layup and drew a charge on the other end. A deuce from the Patriot forward cut into the advantage, but a triple from nearly as far out as the logo from Wagner made it 33-23 with 6:30 to play in the third. An and-1 from Patriot forward Amaya Scott cut the Tribe to 35-28 and two free throws from senior guard Jayla Adams made it 35-30 with one minute remaining. The period ended 36-32.

A layup from Patriot guard Jordan Wakefield closed the gap to two to begin the fourth, the closest the game had been since the first quarter. A rainbow at the end of the shot clock from Tribe graduate student guard Kate Sramac and a layup from freshman forward Dani McTeer stabilized the team after that, making it 41-34 with seven minutes to play.

Traded baskets made it 45-36 Tribe until Patriot forward Tamia Lawhorne made just the second Patriot three-pointer of the game to cut it to 45-39 with three minutes to play. Wagner dropped a triple of her own and Lawhorne made a second bomb from the same spot to maintain the five-point margin as the clock ticked under two to play.

A stop and bucket from McTeer then came at a crucial juncture for the College, giving it a three-possession lead with 1:33 to go.

Lawhorne then buried another three coming out of a Mason timeout to make it 49-45, and two free throws from Scott left the Tribe just two points in front with 40.7 ticks remaining. A missed layup gave the Patriots possession, still down two, with 10.4 seconds to go and a chance to legitimately snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

The Patriots were then able to slip a pass into the post and Scott drew a foul with .6 seconds to play, swishing her fourth and fifth foul shots of the game to send it to overtime. A physical game throughout,

the Patriots got the call when it mattered and came up clutch from the line.

Two free throws from Lawhorne gave the Patriots their first lead since the 4:50 mark in the first quarter to begin the overtime period and a Casey layup knotted it at 51. Two more Scott free throws put Mason back on top, but a Casey three from the right-wing made it 54-53 with two and a half minutes to go. Feeling it, Casey sized up the Mason defender on the next possession and splashed her fourth triple of the game to push it to four. She then scored a layup to build an 8-0 run all by herself and put the College up six with a minute left.

A Sramac jumper put it on ice and the Tribe took it, 65-53.

“It really helps when Riley Casey can throw in a couple of shots in overtime,” Swanson said. “She had an incredible game. She was moving good and attacking well. She was shooting the ball well, so we were trying to get her on the side with the ball to make some plays. She’s a money player. She’s quiet and unassuming, but she’s got a killer instinct with the ball. I was happy to see that.”

The Tribe’s veteran backcourt made up for frontcourt injuries, with Wagner dropping 21 to lead all scorers and Casey adding 20 on 8-12 from the field. Sramac grabbed 12 rebounds and Casey led the team with five assists. Scott paced the Patriots with 19 points and Lawhorne added 13, hitting all but one of her team’s four threes.

Each team did commit 20 turnovers in the contest.

Shots from distance were the difference in the game, with the Tribe netting nine at a 36 percent clip and the Patriots hitting just four out of 26 for 15%.

The Tribe will return to action Nov. 23 when it takes on the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, MD. The game will tip off at 6 p.m.

A Piece of Ireland in Williamsburg: Royal New Kent Golf Club Links-style design reminiscent of European golf, top-notch course design makes local course a must-play

JAKE FORBES FLAT HAT SPORTS ASSOC. EDITOR Their motto says it all: “Golf Ireland in Virginia.”

After emerging from the mile-long entrance way of tall Virginia pines, the mid-Atlantic fades into undulated Irish terrain. A Mike Strantz design, Royal New Kent Golf Club transforms 280 acres of Virginia into a links golf getaway.

When building the course, architect Mike Strantz modeled the course after Royal County Downs, loyalty. He was hired by Myrtle Beach’s Legends Group, and his team completed the course in 1997 and opened it up to the public. The course received local praise upon opening, but there was little recognition at the national level.

Strantz began his career working on the grounds crew at Inverness Club under Tom Fazio. When he realized becoming an artist was not financially feasible, Strantz decided to continue working with Fazio. Many admirers of Strantz’s work believe his background in art enhanced his creativity with course design.

According to General Manager Tim McArthur, Strantz “made what he had on canvas turn into reality.”

While designing the course, Strantz could often be found on horseback overseeing the construction. Hanging among images of the course design in the clubhouse is a large portrait of Strantz atop a horse while directing his men.

When designing the course, Strantz strove for a links feel.

“The terrain and the wispy grasses are unlike anything else around here. You have to go to another country to see that,” McArthur said. “It feels more European. Strantz embraced the idea that ‘brown is good,’ not necessarily lush green, because people are attracted to that.”

Strantz designed nine courses throughout his career, including Tobacco Road and Tot Hill Farm in North Carolina. In 1998, Golf World named him Golf Architect of the Year.

All of his courses have been listed on Golf Digest’s Top 100 Best Modern Courses in America, as well. Following a three-year battle with tongue cancer, Strantz passed away in 2005 at the age of 50.

Over the first decade and a half, the original owners in the course let the course slip into

poor condition.

“The previous investors did not put a lot of investment in the course, so over the decade the quality of the course went down,” Investor Willie Downs said. “In the end, it was in really rough shape.”

According to Downs, the course closed down and ownership of the property went to a local bank. Downs played the course before it shut down and enjoyed learning about its history.

Downs and several other partners bought the 280 acre land for roughly $1.1 million in 2017 and spent several million more on renovations.

“I think the most enjoyable part of the redesign project was meeting all these new people,” Downs said. “There are a lot of Strantz enthusiasts.”

To ensure a smooth renovation process, Downs brought in members from Strantz’s original design team.

“We had some ditches like the grand canyon in the middle of the fairways and many pipes that needed to be replaced,” Downs said.

“We were fortunate to have two guys from the initial design there who knew how to put it back together.”

Much of the redesign focused on drainage, which proved important after a rainy season last year. According to Downs, the crew put capillary concrete in bunkers to prevent flooding.

“Last year was the biggest rain season in over 10 years, but the course handled the rain better than most area courses,” he added.

During the redesign, Downs made it a goal to honor Strantz.

“We play up Mike Strantz and the Irish feel,” Downs said.

Through small details, the staff at Royal New Kent has preserved the links feel. Atop of the first tee is a large American flag, Irish flag and the Virginia state flag, and the flags on all of the pins are small Irish flags with the Royal New Kent logo.

The course reopened in 2019 with a $95 greens fee on weekends, up from $35 throughout the previous decade.

“We got a lot of pushback from locals for increasing the price, but we held our ground throughout 2019 and the pandemic,” Downs said.

Like most businesses, the course lost significant revenue from destination golf during

JAKE FORBES / THE FLAT HAT Mike Strantz, the world-renowned architect of the course, modeled it after links course Royal County Downs in Northern Ireland.

the pandemic. However, at no point did the course shut down. According to McArthur, Royal New Kent’s revenues increased roughly 50-60% in 2020, compared to a 20% jump in most of the golf industry.

Since completing the redesign, the course has already received recognition for its impressive design and condition. It won Golfing Magazine’s 2020 Course Renovation of the Year and is ranked seventh in the state of Virginia.

Golf Advisor placed the course at #19 on their list of top layouts in the country.

“I put myself in the customer’s shoes,” McArthur said. “If I spent this much money, what would my expectation be? It is all of the subtleties that add up to the experience.”

However, located in a rural part of Virginia, Royal New Kent needs more than just awards to attract players.With an eye to the future, Royal New Kent hired McArthur as the General Manager in January. McArthur previously spent eight years at Kiawah Island as the first assistant at the Ocean Course then worked as the Head Professional at the Kingsmill Resort.

“I came here with a lot of bright ideas and hope to build a structure that gets us to a

‘Kiawah-esque’ level,” McArthur said. “I think we have the product to do it, we just need to build the structure around it.”

His coworkers have nothing but praise for McArthur as well.

“Tim’s biggest achievement is bringing attention to details and treating the customer how they expect to be treated,” Downs said.

McArthur has worked to grow the course’s social media presence. On Instagram, Royal New Kent’s page (@royalnewkentgc) has nearly quadrupled its follower count from 500 to 1,850 in the last year.

As people start to travel coming out of the pandemic, McArthur hopes to focus his resources on attracting players from all over the country.

“Destination golf is the key for us,” McArthur said. “We are trying to create the image of being a destination course that people are attracted to.

We want people to stop at Royal New Kent on the way to Williamsburg, Kiawah or Myrtle Beach.”

“What sets Mike Strantz apart is that there is not necessarily one thing on courses that you can particularly attribute to his style,” said Downs. “He is so artistic with his design, that he made no course exactly like another.”

THE FLAT HAT

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Page 8

COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG

Pre-veterinary club students work with animals in CW

Partnership with Colonial Williamsburg Coach and Livestock community helps pre-vets acquire training hours MOLLY PARKS FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR

This fall semester, the College of William and Mary Pre-Veterinary Club organized a program partnering with the Colonial Williamsburg Coach and Livestock community. The program is an initiative where students work hands-on with the animals and livestock directors in Colonial Williamsburg to help fulfill their documented animal experience hours.

Most veterinary schools in the United States require over 100 hours of experience working directly with live animals. Students usually acquire their hours by working with individual veterinary clinics and in hospital settings. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the range of veterinary hospital restrictions has made it significantly more difficult for students to get their hours in indoor clinical settings.

The co-president of the College’s pre-Veterinary club, Elizabeth Garay ’23, said these circumstances were a reason the program began in the first place.

“We were all having a lot of issues getting hours in because COVID pretty much shut everything down,” Garay said. “Vets weren’t taking shadows and a lot of shelters weren’t letting people come in to volunteer. So, we were trying to brainstorm things that would be very beneficial to the club and one of the ideas that came up was the idea of volunteering with CW.” Many pre-veterinary students tend to stack up their animal experience hours within the first couple years of college. However, for those without readilyavailable transportation from campus, it can be challenging. For freshmen and sophomores without

COURTESY IMAGES / ELIZABETH GARAY

The Pre-Veterinary Club partnered with the Colonial Williamsburg Coach and Livestock to get in their pre-vet hours.

cars on campus, the program has been convenient and accessible.

“Getting out to veterinary clinics and ASPCAs in the area is challenging because the bus system isn’t always the most reliable,” Garay said. “So we thought something super local within walking distance would be cool to look into.”

Giselle Boudreaux ’25 is a freshman reaping the benefits of this convenient initiative. Boudreaux entered college knowing she wanted to be on the preveterinary track and first began volunteering with the CW program through the pre-vet club in October 2021.

Even though Boudreaux sees herself in more of a clinical or research setting, each week of volunteering

brings her new experiences and new perspectives into the world of animals.

“We will feed animals, clean out the chicken pens and animal stalls and milk the cows,” Boudreaux said.

“I spent a lot of time with the sheep this past week.

There was hoof training and we did a fecal sample of the sheep. Let’s just say I am a changed person after that experience.”

According to Garay, the program has had a lot of engagement for the amount of students in the club so far.

“We usually have about 2-3 people from the club who go every week, depending on how many volunteers they want for the week,” Garay said. “We have about 6 or

7 volunteers who go regularly. We are a small club, so it is a pretty good amount of people to be involved since we just started.”

On the Colonial Williamsburg side, the Coach and Livestock team has been very appreciative of the help from the College’s students. Rachel Underdown is one of the main trainers for Coach and Livestock who has worked directly with the pre-veterinary student volunteers.

Underdown spoke on the positive attitude of the students in a written email.

“Several weeks ago, I actually suffered a concussion at work, so I was restricted to light duty for quite awhile, unable to bend over or lift hardly anything,” Underdown said. “During that time, the Pre-Vet Club members who came greatly aided my coworkers in the stables, particularly with the frequent task of cleaning stalls. One member of the Club even organized all of our winter blankets, pairing each horse by name with both a light and heavyweight blanket.”

The program integrates the broader Williamsburg community with the College. Often seen as a resource for history majors and academics of humanities departments, Colonial Williamsburg can be more than just an exclusively historical cultural hotspot.

The pre-veterinary club is pioneering an avenue for STEM majors to get involved in CW. Both the students and CW staff have been very appreciative of this new opportunity and exposure.

“It’s a fantastic experience because usually if you want any sort of position like this it’s more competitive than you would expect it to be,” Boudreaux said. “So it’s really great to have people who genuinely want to teach you.”

CAMPUS

Student group starts grassroots effort to house students during breaks New organization WM Student Aid vows to find spaces for students to stay through mutual aid network

“With the charity model, there can be a lot of fear of being a burden, especially asking for something as personal as housing,” Seigel said.

By connecting students who are actively willing to help, Seigel said WM Student Aid can alleviate some of those anxieties. Additionally, the mutual aid network helps provide students with new communities of support.

“It’s nice because it’s a wider net than maybe just relying on friends or people that you know, because that can also be a resource that can be exhausted pretty quickly,” Seigel said.

Lay echoed praise for this approach.

“I’m proud to see that students are

“

It s nice because it s a wider net than maybe just relying on friends or people that you know, because that can also be a resource that can be exhausted pretty quickly. ̶ Ezzie Seigel

“

STUDENT AID from page 1

stepping up to fill that gap, even if we shouldn’t really have to,” Lay said.

As activism chair for the Rainbow Coalition, Lay has advocated to gain safe spaces for members of the queer community, who in particular may face housing challenges.

“I think this is a great way to get people those kinds of resources,” Lay said.

Though McDonald encourages those experiencing housing insecurity to reach out to the Dean of Students Office and Care Support Services, she commends the student leaders who have taken initiative.

“Our students are caring and creative, so it does not surprise me that they are getting involved in this issue,” McDonald said. “I do not think anyone should feel obligated to take this on alone.”

VISUAL ARTS

Contemporary artists Cara and Diego Romero discuss inspiration Award-winning, Santa-Fe-based photographer Cara Romero talks works in Muscarelle s Shared Ideologies ART from page 1

by settlers, and then the U.S. government.

Cara Romero grew up splitting her time between the suburbs of Houston, Texas and the Chemehuevi Valley Indian Reservation in the Mojave Desert of California. She further underscored the misunderstandings many Americans have about Native communities.

“One of the things that I learned very early on, being off the reservation, is that people from outside of our beautiful community really had no good grasp on what it was to be a modern Native American person,” Cara Romero said.

“Incredible beauty, resilience and diversity our communities reflect.”

Cara Romero majored in cultural anthropology at the University of Houston, where she took a black and white photography class that led her to discover her passion.

“And as fate would have it, I walked into my first black and white photography class in 1998,” Cara Romero said. “I had never picked up a camera, but had always been an artist. And there was a professor named Bill Thomas that changed my life. He emphasized content over technical ability. It took me a long time to catch up on the technical ability, but I had a lot to say, and he saw that I had a lot to say.”

She went on to study at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, where she worked with film before transitioning to digital photography.

“And what I realized very early on is that a picture is worth a thousand words,” Cara Romero said. “And this was going to be my medium, my form of communication that I would tell the incredible stories of the resilience, beauty and modernity of Native peoples across the United States.”

Cara Romero went back to school for a technical degree in applied science and photography, which she received from Oklahoma State University. The intersection of art and technology, analog and digital, urban and rural, biracial, Cara Romero said, is the basis for her work today. And so is her experience growing up around a milieu of women leaders.

“My community is known for its gender equity and women’s leadership,” Cara Romero said. “Growing up, my grandmother was chairwoman of our tribe, which is very common and we have a female dominated government. All that to say, we’re taught from a very young age the innate strength of women. It shows up in my work. We’ve always been taught to speak up, take up space.”

After introducing her background, Cara Romero provided insight into a number of her works, which are collected by museums across the country.

“Cara’s work today is layered and intellectual and cultural and informative,” Director of the Muscarelle David Brashear said. “She’s won many awards at the Santa Fe Indian Market and the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair over the years. Her work is in the collection of many art museums.

And I’m really proud to say that her work is part of the Muscarelle Museum’s collection as well.”

One such work is titled “TV Indians.”

It is a large sepia print, measuring 5 feet wide by roughly 3.5 feet tall. Five Pueblo individuals are situated with conviction in front of a stack of old televisions on a cliff overlooking the Galisteo Basin in New Mexico. ”This piece is called TV Indians, and it was originally conceived of in thinking about the ruins in the New Mexico landscape and the incredible ruins of adobe

bricks and the mission system that are all falling down and these fantastic geometric shapes across the landscape,” Cara Romero said. “And thinking about our American consumerism and these ideas of our new ruins and the landscape.”

On the televisions, Cara Romero used photo illustration to place images of portrayals of Native individuals in movies, television shows and news media throughout the years, some of which show stereotypical and problematic representations of Native Americans, often played by white people.

Other images include cultural references to events that have affected Native communities, like the test detonation of the atomic bomb in New Mexico in 1945 or the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima. One of the six Marines who raised the flag was then-22-year-old Pima man Ira Hayes, which was captured in the now-famous photograph by Joe Rosenthal. Another image shows the occupation of Alcatraz from 1969 to 1971, during which a group called the Indians of All Tribes mounted a 19-month long protest that was a pinnacle moment in the Red Power movement.

“And it’s a little bit even more nuanced because we chose images that, while some of them are very problematic, they’re also somewhat beloved in our own community,” Cara Romero said. “This idea of Billy Jack, there’s problems when you go and rewatch those movies from the 70s, but I think that these were the only representations that we had.”

Another recent project Cara Romero highlighted was her participation in the Desert X Biennial.

“In 2019, I was the first Southern California Native person from the desert that had ever been invited as an artist to respond to our own landscape,” Cara

Romero said. “So I took the opportunity to respond as an Indigenous person would, and in community with the many tribes that are from Coachella Valley.”

She created five images for a series titled “Jackrabbit, Cottontail & Spirits of the Desert,” which were featured on billboards along the Gene Autry Trail near Palm Springs for two and a half months. Each image features two sets of young Chemehuevi brothers, who emphasize the richness of the ongoing Native presence on the land. The boys represent not only the past, but the present and the future, as well as the persistence of Native stories.

“And it’s this idea that we’re experiencing this life with all of our ancestors,” Cara Romero said. “They’re around us all the time still protecting these areas like sacred sites, watching things like development. I wonder if more people had these beliefs that they would be so quick to develop these pristine landscapes.”

Cara’s husband, Diego Romero, gave a public talk at College on Wednesday evening of the same week to present a showcase of his work in Andrews Hall.

This event was once again opened by Solomon, reciting the College’s land acknowledgement.

Diego Romero, like Cara Romero, studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, where he discovered and honed his skill in pottery.

“I learned my trade from a Hopi lady at the Institute of American Indian Art, and it’s taken me on this marvelous journey, which brought me here tonight,” Diego Romero said.

He then enrolled in the Otis Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles, where he earned his BFA degree and ultimately completed his education in the arts in 1993 at the University of

California, Los Angeles, from which he received his MFA. Diego’s ceramic and print works alike often depict powerful social commentary through a humorous lens, commenting on matters relating to Native identity, environmentalism and gender politics by weaving together traditional Cochiti and Pueblo symbols and relating them to those of pop culture and Western classical symbols. Diego Romero stated repeatedly that he draws great inspiration not only from his unique perspective, but from other American artists such as Keith Haring or Jack Kirby.

Diego Romero was born and raised in Berkeley, California, by biracial parents, and he made note of the fact that it is primarily from this perspective that his art is made.

Many of Diego’s works focus on landscapes, altered or otherwise. It is through these landscapes, he explains, that we are able to examine our past.

“I find them, like, mile-markers of time,” Diego Romero said. “The landscape really reflects the here and now, where we are as humans, in our existence.”

It is with this idea in mind that Diego, like Cara Romero, provides commentary on societal issues such as environmental racism and American consumerism and overconsumption, as they relate to effects on Indigenous communities.

“Certainly, one of the themes that emerge are the idea of cultural landscape,” Cara Romero said. “The idea that we as Indigenous people and all Indigenous peoples, all peoples of the world are Indigenous to a space and to a place, and that for the Native people of North America and globally, our bones come from the cultural landscapes that we’re from. That we’re ontologically tied to these landscapes and that we’re inseparable from the landscapes.”