Vol. 107, Iss. 2 | Tuesday, February 7, 2016
The Flat Hat
The Weekly Student Newspaper
of The College of William and Mary
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HOUSING
Lead drops below EPA threshold College approves Jefferson Hall water SARAH SMITH FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
In an email update sent Feb. 3, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Director of Residence Life Deb Boykin ’76 M.Ed. ’82 informed students that after a third round of testing, all water samples from Jefferson Hall had lead levels below the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory threshold. “William & Mary’s Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) office has completed the re-testing of water in the residence hall,” Boykin said in an email. “All of the new samples tested below the EPA Action Level of 0.015 mg/L. The precaution of running the water cold before drinking is no longer necessary.” Boykin said in her email that the College had tested samples from the second floor kitchen, water foundations and bathroom sinks in addition to the locations that initially had higher lead levels. During the third round of testing, the College tested a total of 28 samples.
AMELIA LUCAS / THE FLAT HAT
Students gathered on the Sunken Garden on Thursday, Feb. 2 to protest U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration executive order which temporarily bans immigration from seven countries to the U.S.
Campus responds to executive order
With one student stuck trying to re-enter U.S., students protest, take action EMILY MARTELL FLAT HAT COPY EDITOR
When President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday, Jan. 28 suspending the Syrian refugee program indefinitely and banning immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, students and professors at the College of William and Mary expressed surprise, outrage and curiousity. The executive order does not apply to U.S. citizens or, as of Sunday, to U.S. permanent residents, also known
as green card holders. The order does, however, target all other non-U.S. citizen categories. Refugee admissions from all countries are suspended for 120 days, and citizens from seven Muslim majority countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, whether refugees or otherwise — are barred from entering the United States for 90 days. The list of affected countries originates from the visa waiver program, which allows citizens of over 30 countries to visit for short periods without holding a visa. Through legislation which was implemented by the Obama
presidency, the visa waiver does not apply if a citizen of one of the 30 countries visited Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen on or after March 1, 2011. This same code is referenced in Trump’s executive order and determines the countries affected. Trial judges throughout the U.S. have blocked key aspects of the President Trump’s executive order, allowing travel to resume Friday Feb. 6 and throughout the weekend. As of Monday evening Feb. 6, however, the Justice Department See IMMIGRATION page 3
Professors, students gather for ‘No Ban in My Name’ protest SARAH SMITH FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
WPD REPORT FEB. 3 ASSAULT
Screams filled the Sunken Garden right before 9 p.m. Thursday Feb. 2 as a speaker at the “No Ban in My Name” protest encouraged attendees to let out their rage. This protest was held days after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order temporarily banning immigrants from Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya and Yemen from entering the United States for 90 days. Local religious leaders, professors and students shared anecdotes about immigration, being Muslim and how this ban impacted their lives. Audience members carried signs that said, “We Are All Immigrants” and, “Hey, Trump Did You Forget That America Was Founded by Immigrants and Religious Refugees?” One student, Annika Hackfeld ’19, shared a letter she had written to her father, who she said supports the immigration ban. One thing that Hackfeld discussed when reading this letter was the Jan. 29 shooting at a Quebec mosque that left six people dead. Fox News initially reported that the shooter was of Moroccan origin, and as of Thursday night’s protest, had not issued a
According to the Williamsburg Police Department, an assault occurred in the evening of Feb. 3 on the 700 block of Scotland Street. A nearby citizen initially alerted a patrolling WPD officer to an individual who looked like he had been in a fight standing outside of the Green Leafe Cafe. The investigation is ongoing. While police do not have a name for the suspect, they were able to identify a lone male in a security tape as a potential suspect by investigating security tapes from the restaurant. The picture released by police shows a circle around the face of a man of average height and build with dark hair and a short haircut.
— Flat Hat Associate News Editor Henry Blackburn
statement regarding that error. Hackfeld said that she believed that this reporting strengthened the Trump administration’s support of the ban, citing when White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that it was a reminder of why “the President is taking steps to be proactive … when it comes to our nation’s safety and security.” “I need you to see what I see. I need you to see what I see without assuming it’s my liberal education speaking or that I’m being naive,” Hackfeld said when reading aloud a letter to her father. “I need you to listen like when I cried growing up, like when people bullied me or friends abandoned me, Dad, the world is falling apart. I don’t know what you read every day, but I know it’s largely in support of Donald Trump … maybe now that he’s president you think things have changed. I’m not sure why you support him now … racism, sexism, Islamophobia, misogyny and xenophobia weren’t deal breakers to you.” Hackfeld also said that she no longer feels safe in the United States because of some of Trump’s appointments to the National Security Council, including Trump’s counselor Steve Bannon. “When Trump demotes generals and promotes [Steven] Bannon, a neo-Nazi who thinks Satan is a role model, to lead it [the National Security Council], I don’t feel
safe in my country,” Hackfeld said. “Trump is misrepresenting America. I don’t know how many of the disproportionate number of white males in my government class believe I belong in this country.” One of the first speakers at the event was Rabbi David Katz, who works at the Temple Beth El in the City of Williamsburg and volunteers with Balfour Hillel, the Jewish student organization at the College. He shared religious verses from the Torah about helping oppressed individuals as well as a story from his family’s past. According to Katz, his great-grandparents illegally entered the country, and their family grew there. “One of the great legends of my family is about my great-grandpa Harry, who according to a story my mom told me over and over again, stowed away on a ship to enter the U.S.,” Katz said. “Grandpa Harry and Grandma Ruth had three children, eight grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren, which makes us all descendants of illegal immigrants. A ban on a religious group could have kept all of us from becoming the contributing members of American society that we all are.” He said that he believed the United States should be a place free of religious persecution and a place that is safe for immigrants from all countries.
Joining the religious leaders, students and professors was immigration lawyer Sharon Powell. During her time speaking, she worked to explain what the executive order explicitly means for students. She urged students who felt unsafe to reach out the Reves Center for International Studies where the College has created a list of resources and facts about the ban. As of last week, College spokesperson Suzanne Seurattan said that four students had been identified as directly affected by the ban. One graduate student, who the Reves Center has remained in contact with, has not been able to re-enter the United States after the ban. Powell also worked to define what it meant to be a refugee and list out the process she characterized as “difficult” that an individual must go through with the United Nations to be legally considered a refugee. One thing that she emphasized was that, although the ban targets seven Muslimmajority countries, it is not a complete ban on Muslim individuals. “It is not a complete ban on Muslims,” Powell said. “This fact does not make the ban any less offensive or any less discriminatory against Muslims. To date, no other countries have been added to the ban. It’s good to know the facts.”
RESIDENCE LIFE
College expands Flexible Housing policy to include new students
Gender neutral housing options available for living learning communities, suites SARAH SMITH FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
The College of William and Mary announced last January that after almost a decade, gender neutral housing would be allowed for the 2016-17 academic year. At that time, the option was only open for returning students who would be living in apartment-style dorms in the Randolph Complex, Ludwell and Tribe Square. Approximately a year after
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this policy reversal, the College announced that after a semester of evaluating the Flexible Housing policy, incoming students would be allowed to select gender neutral housing options when they fill out the housing questionnaire in June and July. At this time, gender neutral housing will still not be an option for students living in residence halls with hall-style bathrooms, but freshmen living in the Green and Gold Village
and the Botetourt Complex who request gender neutral housing will have space on the first floors of each dormitory where there are singles or doubles with private bathrooms. “[Gender neutral housing] has gone so well,” Director of Residence Life and Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Deb Boykin ’76 M.Ed. ’82 said. “We wanted the first year to be a trial before we made the offer to incoming students.” In addition to gender neutral
housing expanding to include incoming students, the College will also allow students living with suite-style bathrooms in Bryan Hall, Chandler Hall and Dupont Hall to have this alternative. When Landrum Hall comes back online in 2018-19, gender neutral housing will also be an option for those suites. While Boykin said she does not know exactly how it will look, the College has given the living learning communities the ability to “self-determine” gender
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See GENDER NEUTRAL page 4
Feb. 3, the American Council on Education sent a letter initially backed by 598 colleges and universities to Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly addressing the Jan. 27 executive order. The College of William and Mary did not sign the original ACE letter. University spokesperson Brian Whitson acknowledged the College’s absence from the letter and said that the ACE had been contacted.
— Flat Hat News Associate Madeline Monroe
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neutral housing. This means that during the room selection process for those communities — which include the language houses, Mosaic House and the Africana House — students and their resident assistants will be able to determine what gender neutral housing will look like. “The language houses have been asking for this for a few years, and last year we just asked them to wait while we
REVELEY SIGNS ACE LETTER
Samuel Steed ’18 discusses the timely importance of our mantra, “One Tribe, One Family” as Trump’s executive order affects members of our campus community. page 5
Black History Month in the ’Burg Colonial Williamsburg honors the rich history of African-Americans through a variety of cultural events. page 7