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Top of the Totem Pole
Bray starts a new ball game
Prewitt, College up a 78-62 front ofGesture” a packed Kaplan Arena. A recap Tarpey of Haidahelp artist Robertpick Davidson’s talk, win “An in Innocent
Bill Bray ‘15 J.D. ‘18 reflects on his major league career, college.
The Flat Hat
Vol. 105, Iss. 23 Friday, April 1, 2016
The Weekly Student Newspaper
of The College of William and Mary
STUDENT ASSEMBLY
ACADEMICS
64.1%
Brown
64.1% 31.3%
Ambrose
64.1 percent of students who self-identified as female supported Brown.
Canakis
4.7% GRAPHIC BY SARAH SMITH / THE FLAT HAT
75% 56.1% 56.3% 60%
75 percent of students in a social justice organization supported Brown. Brown Ambrose Canakis
56.1 percent of students in Greek organizations supported Ambrose. Brown
75%
Canakis
2.5%
56.3 percent of students who prioritized transparency supported Ambrose.
College receives Simon Award LEONOR GRAVE FLAT HAT STAFF WRITER
60 percent of students who prioritized mental health supported Brown.
Alpha Theta. According to Delta Delta Delta member Nia Gibson ’17, who worked on Ambrose and Jacob’s campaign, this involvement in Greek life at the College may have helped sway voters. “Everyone in Greek life knows each other,” Gibson said. “Everyone in Greek life knew [Ambrose and Jacob] were two really great people who were active on campus and striving to make a difference.” Of the 60 percent of respondents who identified themselves as nonGreek, only 27.6 percent supported Ambrose. 69 percent of non-Greeks supported Brown, and only 3.4 percent said they supported Canakis. 43 percent of respondents to the survey identified themselves as members of a social justice organization on campus. These students were far more likely to support Brown than they were to support either of the other candidates. Erica West ’17 is co-president of William and Larry, the policy arm of the Lambda Alliance that advocates for increased rights of members of the LGBTQ community. She said that supporting Brown made sense for students who were active in social justice, citing Brown’s involvement in the PLUS program and with the Center for Student Diversity. She also cited posts that Brown and McKiernan have made on their personal Facebook pages advocating for social justice issues. See SURVEY page 5
See AWARD page 4
Brown
56.1%
Canakis
Brown
37.5%
Ambrose
9.8%
56.3% 6.3%
Ambrose Canakis
60% 22.5% 2.5%
Women, non-Greeks go to Brown
Social justice groups also lean Brown, Flat Hat survey finds EMILY CHAUMONT FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
President-elect Eboni Brown ’17, who won the March 24 Student Assembly election by a margin of 39 votes, was elected with strong support from women, members of social justice organizations and those who prioritize mental health issues, a survey conducted by The Flat Hat March 18-24 suggests. Brown fared weakest among voters in Greek organizations, who were also more likely to say that they were going to vote. The survey, which predicted Brown’s victory, was conducted by random paper ballot as well as online over email, with a sample of 137 students. The survey did not meet scientific standards of randomness and because part of the sample was self-selected, an unintentional bias may be present in the results. The survey results reflect a larger margin of victory for Brown than election results, suggesting demographic data might also be skewed toward Brown. 40 percent of respondents said that they were a part of a Greek organization on campus. Of these, 56.1 percent said they supported Ambrose, 34.1 percent said they supported Brown and 9.8 percent said they supported Canakis. Ambrose is a member of Pi Beta Phi, and Jacob is a member of Kappa
Going beyond Williamsburg
Beginning with its founding in 1693, the College of William and Mary has been an international university. This year, the College was selected as one of four institutions to win the 2016 Senator Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization. This award, given by NAFSA Association of International Educators, recognizes colleges and universities that promote global education experiences. In 2016 the College was recognized for the third consecutive year as the top public university for undergraduate study abroad in the U.S., with more than 750 undergraduate students studying abroad each year in over 50 countries. The College also has three times as many international students and scholars as it did 10 years ago, and the COLL curriculum launched this year includes a COLL 300 requirement for coursework that engages students in global and cross-cultural perspectives. “Few universities combine centuries of commitment to excellence in teaching international subjects, extensive study abroad programs, opportunities for hands-on student research on crucial global problems, close ties to policymakers and a strong base of local, national and international alumni,” College President Taylor Reveley said in a press release. One reason the College has seen this progress is due to the administration’s commitment to internationalization, including the creation of the vice provost for international affairs position, who reports to Provost Michael Halleran and chairs the International Advisory Committee. The IAC includes representatives from the College’s five academic schools: the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Mason School of Business, the School of Education, the Marshall-Wythe School of Law and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. Jingyi Zhang ’17, an undergraduate student representative on the IAC, said this recognition is a result of the College’s ability to excel in fusing its centuries-old traditions with the contemporary needs of a globalized world. “Winning the Simon Award is an important and celebratory milestone for the University,” Zhang said in an email. “It demonstrates the hard work the school has put in international enrichment and the success it has achieved thus far.” Vice Provost for International Affairs Stephen Hanson cited three main strengths when it comes to internationalization at the College: its size, location and history. He said that the College’s size is ideal for allowing for a sufficient number of globally minded initiatives, without
34.1%
Ambrose
22.5%
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FACULTY
CAMPUS
12 professors design TEDx: Conference to expand diversity new COLL 200 classes Seven speakers to share diverse passions, subject areas in annual talks Grant funds interdisciplinary classes ALLISON ROHRER FLAT HAT ASSOC. NEWS EDITOR
Six professor pairs received a Reveley Interdisciplinary Fellows grant to design and teach an interdisciplinary class. The grant is funded through the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and named for College of William and Mary President Taylor Reveley. Recipient pairs will have a year to research and design a class that draws from two subject areas. The classes will be influenced by each professor’s department. These will all be COLL 200 classes and will be taught for the following two years. English and linguistics professor Daniel Parker and government professor Maurits Van Der Veen are producing a class that will use online tools to study big data. Parker pointed out that in
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today’s world it is necessary to interact with people from different backgrounds and explain work to a wider audience. Through his class, he hopes that students will gain the tools necessary to create better-informed analyses and to answer a wider variety of questions from his class. One student who has begun conducting research is looking at when people begin casually using a trademark by analyzing how people use trademarked terms on Facebook and Twitter. Modern languages professor Silvia Tandeciarz and history professor Betsy Konefal are teaching a class about Argentina’s last military dictatorship and Guatemala’s internal armed conflict from 1960 to 1996. Tandeciarz said she and Konefel See COLL page 5
SARAH SMITH FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
With a diverse array of speakers lined up, including a National Geographic explorer to a history professor, TEDxCollegeofWilliamandMary will be hosting its fourth annual conference Sunday, April 3. For the last four years, TEDx at the College of William and Mary has been working to expand its outreach and draw in a wider crowd of students, faculty, staff and Williamsburg community members.
This year, the students responsible for planning the committee decided to move past a themed conference and invite speakers to discuss what they were most passionate about. According to TEDx co-president Caroline Wiles ’17, this open-ended conference will enable the speakers to have livelier, more informed discussions about their areas of specialization, as opposed to a theme that would constrain them. “We had trouble coming up with a theme,” Wiles said. “We decided to leave
COURTESY PHOTO / WM.EDU
TEDxCollegeofWilliamandMary will host seven diverse speakers in Phi Beta Kappa Hall Sunday, April 3.
Madison Ochs ’18 argues for the necessity of environmental progress at the college. page 6 Rainy, High 72, Low 50
See TEDX page 5
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A solar-paneled step towards sustainability
4 5 6 7 8
it open-ended. We asked our speakers to tell us what they were interested in talking about. They came up with a huge array of topics on certain issues and subject matters. Instead of restraining them, we are letting them talk about their fields in a way they are most excited about. I think this will be an extremely positive thing. It will allow the speakers to show how much of an expert they are and what they are passionate about and relay that to the audience.” In her role as co-president, Wiles is responsible for overseeing a group of nine committee chairs who are in charge of logistics, finance and speaker relations. Students who volunteer to be part of certain committees work underneath these committee chairs. The group decided that this year they wanted to focus on diversity and inclusion in choosing speakers for the conference. They reached out to alumni and other people interested in coming to speak. In terms of diversity, the group found
Tribe sweeps the Pride
College uses strong offensive outburst to defeat CAA foe Hofstra 14-6, 15-10. page 8