The Flat Hat, February 14

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SPORTS >> PAGE 8

VARIETY >> PAGE 7

The Flat Hat Sports Desk sits down with first-year head coach Brian Murphy.

Ballroom Dance Club members waltz through college.

The Flat Hat

Vol. 103, Iss. 35 | Friday, February 14, 2014

JAN. 28

SIGMA CHI CHAPTER PRESIDENT CHARLIE ENGH ’16 RELEASES STATEMENT

JAN. 29

IFC PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL MEETS FOR FIRST TIME TO DISCUSS EMAIL

FEB. 4

IFC PROPOSES RESOLUTION

FEB. 12

The Twice-Weekly Student Newspaper

Campus gets candid about rape culture, begins to work for

JAN. 29

COLLEGE PRESIDENT TAYLOR REVELEY, VICE PRESIDENT FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS GINGER AMBLER RELEASE STATEMENTS

FEB. 3

AN ESTIMATED 700 PEOPLE ATTEND A TOWN HALL MEETING TO DISCUSS THE EMAIL

FEB. 5

IFC PASSES RESOLUTION

change

IFC passes resolution SA introduces Respect Act BY ABBY BOYLE FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR

BY MADELINE BIELSKI FLAT HAT ASSOC. NEWS EDITOR

In a unanimous decision, the Presidents’ Council of the Inter-Fraternity Council voted to add a resolution to their bylaws promoting sexual assault education within the College of William and Mary’s fraternity community. The resolution contains a pledge that member organizations of the IFC will establish annual programs focusing on sexual assault prevention and bystander intervention. Member organizations pledged to work toward the elimination of language that objectifies or denigrates any group, and to work toward the creation of an environment in which everyone feels protected against sexual assault and other forms of abuse. “I’m very happy it was unanimously passed. … It’s terrific the community is on board with this,” IFC President Alex Greenspan ’15 said. The resolution was written in the wake of an email originally sent by a member of the Zeta Upsilon Chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity at the College, which began circulating on various websites Jan. 28. Greenspan said IFC presidents held a meeting Monday, Feb. 3 to discuss the reaction to the email and to determine how to move forward. At that

Several Student Assembly senators introduced the Respect Act in response to the recent recognition of rape culture on the College’s campus in the senate meeting Tuesday. The resolution dictates that the SA will be involved with initiatives that aim to prevent the continuance of sexual aggression at the College. “Our goal in this is to remind ourselves that we are the voices of the students, so we are within the resolution distancing ourselves a little bit from the administration and are coming right to the chase,” Sen. Shannon Caietti ’17 said. “I know a lot of students on campus, especially at the town hall, were saying in light of recent events people have done a lot of tiptoeing around the issue and in this resolution we didn’t really want to do that.” Although some senators wished to move the bill from new business to old business in order to hold a vote, the bill was kept in old business, as the senate, overall, found the issue not to be time sensitive. The resolution will be reviewed in the policy and executive committees this coming Sunday.

See IFC page 4

SNOW FALLS ON WILLIAMSBURG Campus received another sprinkling of snow this past Wednesday evening. Rain washed away the majority of the snow by Thursday morning, leaving students, faculty and staff to trek to classes in the rainy weather. In an email to students Wednesday evening, Vice President of Administration Anna Martin said that the College would remain open Thursday, despite reports of snow. According to the Daily Press, the area could see more precipitation late Friday night as well as early Saturday morning. — Flat Hat Editor-in-Chief Katherine Chiglinsky

ASHLEY RICHARDSON / THE FLAT HAT

News Insight News News Opinions Variety Variety Sports

Today’s Weather 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

ONGOING

FH

For continuing coverage of the Respect Act, check back with The Flat Hat.

ADMINISTRATION

Reveley gets merit raise Salary set at $425,000

BY ARIEL COHEN FLAT HAT CHIEF STAFF WRITER

He only expected to stay at the College of William and Mary for a short period of time. Instead, he finished his 14th year at the College this August. He transitioned from dean of the Marshall-Wythe School of Law to College president in 2006. And, after eight years in the position and anticipating three more to come, the College is recognizing President Taylor Reveley’s service to the College. Reveley “When I first came, I said to myself, this will last six weeks, six months, a few years, at the most. I was at a very large law firm See REVELEY page 3

JUDGE RULES AGAINST SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BAN Last night, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring tweeted that a federal judge in Virginia declared the state’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. Throughout the evening, Herring proceeded to tweet quotes from the ruling, including, “We have arrived upon another moment in history when We the People becomes more inclusive, and our freedom more perfect.” Even though the federal judge ruled the ban unconstitutional, the ban will remain in effect throughout the appeals process. — Flat Hat Managing Editor Meredith Ramey

INITIATIVES

Students, faculty discuss digital citizenship dotDemocracy initiative hosts Weingartner Digital Citizenship Forum Tuesday BY SANG HYUN PARK FLAT HAT ASSOC. NEWS EDITOR

The Weingartner Digital Citizenship Forum took place at the Mason School of Business Tuesday evening. Panelists at the forum discussed the effects of the Internet on democracy and announced the winners of the Digital Citizenship Challenge. An initiative, called dotDemocracy, comprised of eight students at the College of William and Mary organized the event with sponsorships from the Roy C. Charles Center for Academic Excellence and the Weingartner Global Initiative. The organization was founded last spring when Chancellor professor of government Clay Clemens taught a seminar on the impact of the Internet and social media on democracy. Students from Clemens’ course formed an initiative to make the Internet more effective to strengthen democracy. “We’re trying to get people to think about how we can harness the power we have to positively

COLLEN TRUSKEY / THE FLAT HAT

The initiative was founded by Werner Weingarter, at right, to spread the cause of digital citizenship to the students.

affect democratic citizenship,” Student Conference Coordinator Greg Collier ’16 said. Six panelists spoke at the forum on the issue of digital citizenship. Among them was Nicco Mele ’99,

Inside OPINIONS

a faculty member at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, who invited the other panelists and guided the discussion. “I think technology is pushing

power out of institutions to individuals — to all of you — at an intense and exciting rate that has real consequences for where See FORUM page 4

Inside VARIETY

College athletes’ mental health needs more attention Sunny High 52, Low 30

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of The College of William and Mary

STUDENT LIFE

TOTAL SORORITY MOVE POSTS SIGMA CHI EMAIL

Index

I wanna dance with somebody

Baseball season underway

TIMELINE OF EVENTS SINCE THE SIGMA CHI EMAIL WENT VIRAL

Athletes in college can become so busy that they don’t realize just how stressed they are, and that can be dangerous. page 5

TWAMPS in love

According to statistics compiled by the Alumni House, one in four of your friends will marry a fellow TWAMP. Maybe it’ll be you. page 6


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