The Flat Hat April 23 2019

Vol. 109, Iss. 8 | Tuesday, April 23, 2019

The Flat Hat The Weekly Student Newspaper

of The College of William and Mary

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Campus protests against anti-abortion group PHIC BY LES GRA LIE DA V

Center for Bio-Ethical Reform group advocates for antiabortion message in front of Earl Gregg Swem Library

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NIA KITCHIN / / FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF When members of VOX at the College of William and Mary heard that a graphic antiabortion demonstration would be held on campus April 17 and 18, they organized to create a counterprotest. Students, faculty and community members participated by protesting around the sundial near the Earl Gregg Swem Library with pro-abortion rights signage across from where the antiabortion group had set up their images.

The anti-abortion group, the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, is not affiliated with the College, but they are permitted to demonstrate at public schools under free speech laws. According to their website, CBR demonstrates at many public college campuses.

They refer to these demonstrations as an educational initiative entitled the Genocide Awareness Project.

Prior to the demonstration, Vice President of Student Affairs Ginger Ambler released a campuswide email to clarify that the College was not promoting CBR’s message by allowing them on campus.

“As a public institution of higher education, William and Mary recognizes its legal obligations to foster constitutionally protected

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We need to be out here to make it clear that the student body doesn’t support spreading this sort of fake news and hateful messages.

— Kinsey Wilk ’19

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free speech and expression in the university community,” Ambler said in the email. “This is not a university-sponsored event and William and Mary is not endorsing the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform’s message. The university is honoring its obligations under the U.S. Constitution and Virginia law … Discussion, differing opinions, debate and dialogue are part of the educational experience here.”

The idea for the counter-demonstration was born when VOX Social Media Chair Elizabeth Snyder ‘21 received an email from Student Leadership Development Director Anne Arseneau April 13, letting her know that CBR would be demonstrating that week. Snyder disseminated the information via social media, and the announcement gained traction among the College community. VOX called a meeting April 15 to organize the counter-protest. They, along with community support, promoted and oversaw the event.

“At this point, I was already considering a counter-demonstration but was primarily concerned with warning the student body because the school evidently was not going to do so,” Snyder said.

The College’s anti-abortion organization Tribe for Life asked CBR to abstain from demonstrating and publicly dissociated themselves from the organization’s displays.

“We have spoken directly with the Center, asking them to refrain from demonstrating at William and Mary,” Tribe for Life said in a Facebook post. “If they still choose to conduct their demonstration, please know that Tribe for Life is in no way associated with it. We affirm that all life must be protected from conception to natural death, but we reject the Center’s use of graphic imagery and condemnatory language in making this point.”

CBR’s signage is purposefully large and contains graphic images, which depict what they claim are bloody embryos and fetuses alongside photos of See PROTEST page 3

George Mason dean Peggy Agouris named as new College provost Current provost Michael Halleran will abdicate from position in July to teach courses in Classics department NIA KITCHIN FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The current dean of the College of Science at George Mason University, Peggy Agouris, has been named the College of William and Mary’s new provost.

College President Katherine Rowe made this decision, pending the approval of the Board of Visitors, who will be meeting this coming week.

“Dr. Agouris brings an enormous breadth of experience as a teacher, scholar, researcher and administrator,” Rowe said. “She will be an extraordinary provost, and we are thrilled to welcome her to campus.”

Agouris is set to take the helm as the College’s chief academic officer July 1, following current provost Michael Halleran’s planned abdication of the position.

The provost oversees the arts and sciences, the Raymond A. Mason School of Business, the Law School and the School of Marine Science.

In addition, the provost is responsible for all academic and research endeavors, including budgeting, faculty development

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Sports

and resource allocation.

The provost will also play a leading role come August in the College’s strategic planning efforts.

“Finding a worthy successor to Provost Halleran was a daunting assignment,” Rowe said. “In Dr. Agouris, we have someone who will value and advance the university’s core academic mission while also partnering with this community to navigate a rapidly changing landscape in higher education. She is an ideal choice.”

In her current position at George Mason, which she has held since 2013, Agouris oversees an annual budget of more than $80 million, administers approximately 4,000 students, and leads over 700 faculty and staff members.

“It is an exciting time to join William and Mary and I very much look forward to working with President Rowe and so many talented colleagues on campus to generate the community’s roadmap for William and Mary’s exceptional and distinctive educational experience,” Agouris said. “My leadership approach has always been driven by vision and method and is firmly based on transparency and accountability.”

Vice Provost Ann Marie Stock chaired the search committee that chose Agouris.

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Advocating for a relaxing summer

Sunny High 84, Low 64

She said that Agouris has shown incredible initiative and ability to collaborate in order to make institutional change.

“We are confident that she will be an extraordinary partner for our president, board and senior leadership in guiding our university into the future,” Stock said.

Agouris also increased the diversity of her faculty at George Mason by 40 percent and hired a leadership team comprised of 60 percent women and underrepresented groups.

“It is humbling to be selected to now lead the academic side of such an extraordinary institution, committed as it is to teaching and research equally, and whose talented faculty are matched only by the strength of their students,” Agouris said. “My family and I are excited to join the William and Mary community.”

Halleran said that he feels confident about passing the baton to Agouris. He believes she will be very successful in taking over this role.

“Peggy Agouris will be an excellent provost for William and Mary,” Halleran said. “Her rich experience, energy and collaborative instincts will serve her well in this role, and I am fully confident that she will be highly successful in helping to advance William and Mary’s distinctive educational excellence.”

Anthony Madalone ’21 says that students should not panic about not having summer internships, and that the season offers meaningful relaxation time. He thinks students should feel free to live without resume anxiety. page 6

Speaking their truth

Female students performed on the Lodge One stage to convey their experiences and identities at the College. The event was organized as part of 100 Years of Women at William and Mary. page 7

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News Editor Heather Baier News Editor Leslie Davis News Editor Emma Ford

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The Flat Hat

| Tuesday, April 23, 2019 | Page 2

THE BUZZ

It’s also hard to put ourselves in these situations and it takes a lot of empathy, but I think that if you really reflect, it’s kind of easy to see that if your situation had been just a little bit different growing up, how [trafficking] could really happen to any of us, ...

— Tribe Against Trafficking organizer Gracie Harris ’21 hosted a talk April 17 that explored narratives of empowerment and exploitation often associated with sex trafficking.

1000 WORDS

COURTESY PHOTO / ROBIN MCCALL

McCall attended seminary school, becoming a minister in Charles City, Va. but later fell in love with Hebrew studies and analyzing the Old Testament.

NIA KITCHIN / THE FLAT HAT

THIS WEEK IN FLAT HAT HISTORY April 21, 2009: News: The first primary debate for the Virginia Gubernatorial Race came to the Sadler Center. Despite the oncampus location for the debate, the gubernatorial candidates did not answer a single question related to higher education from MSNBC reporter Andrea Mitchell, who served as the moderator.

April 24, 2007: Sports: The Tribe bested its rival James Madison in double overtime, gaining their first conference win of the season.

Shocking the No. 9 ranked women’s lacrosse team, the seniors powered the College to victory on senior night, thanks to the efforts of Jamie Fitzgerald.

April 22, 2005: Sports: The croquet club, though small, had been highly successful. The club team participated in the National Collegiate Croquet Championships. Playing golf croquet, the sport is very different from the familiar backyard croquet and involves much more strategy. The club was also a member of the United States Croquet Association and competed against universities such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton.

April 21, 2000: News: The Residence Hall Association hosted an event in the Sunken Garden in front of the University Center in which students were allowed to smash cars. Paying one dollar to be able to smash for 30 seconds, students can thank George Ehrom for his idea for a tension-breaking initative.

April 21, 1995: News: The College’s student-run radio station WCWM hosted a live debate, following a request by the International Socialist Organization. The debate featured a member of the College Republicans, the Young Democrats, The Remnant — an independent student newspaper, and the ISO. HISTORY BEAT BY GAVIN AQUIN / FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR

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.

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Rediscovering religion McCall forges new, analytical relationship with faith in Religious Studies department ETHAN BROWN // FLAT HAT MANAGING EDITOR As a high school student in a conservative Southern Baptist family, Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the College of William and Mary Robin McCall swore that she would never read the Old Testament again once she left for college.

However, following stints in an array of diverse occupations, McCall now works with those biblical texts every day as a researcher and lecturer at the College.

McCall has taught in the College’s classical studies and religious studies departments for the past six years. Unlike professors who meander from doctorates to cushy tenure-track positions with little deviation, McCall’s winding odyssey through various jobs and academic endeavors made her journey to the College more exciting than most.

After studying psychology and religious studies at the University of Virginia, McCall originally intended to become a counselor. It didn’t take long for McCall — a self-described “control freak” — to realize that her personality was incompatible with the profession, and that her genuine desire to help her patients was eclipsed by discomfort with therapy’s volatile and uncontrollable nature.

“I did part of a semester in graduate work in [counseling], and I realized, ‘Wow, I hate this; I don’t really want to do this at all,’” McCall said.

Once she decided against a career in counseling, McCall looked to her hobbies to inspire her next career move. A lifelong musician, McCall decided to enroll in a seminary school to study church music and began coursework at the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. As part of her church music education, she was required to take classes on the Hebrew Bible and the Hebrew language, both of which sparked underlying academic passions.

“I took Hebrew … and the language came so naturally to me … I just thought it was beautiful, it was a lot like music,”

McCall said. “By the end of two years of studying it, I was just pretty crazy about the whole field.”

After her time in seminary school, McCall moved to Charles City, Virginia, where she served as a minister of music for three years at a Baptist church. In this role, she directed the sanctuary choir, developed musical scores for the church’s worship services, and occasionally served as a stand-in pastor. While the work was rewarding, McCall found it increasingly difficult to resist the intellectual enchantment she had encountered in studying Hebrew.

McCall’s newfound zeal for the Hebrew Bible and language was a reversal from how she had felt about both topics earlier in her life, when she had vehemently evaded reading the Old Testament. After years of dreading facing the biblical texts, she found herself craving intellectual discourse on the Hebrew Bible and felt a strong pull towards scrutinizing the texts from an analytical standpoint.

“I remember very clearly thinking when I was a teenager that the Bible was boring,” McCall said. “I consciously remember having the thought, ‘When I am an adult, I will never read the Old Testament again, because it is boring.’”

Despite her intensifying academic interest in religion, McCall also found herself confronting a burbling uneasiness in her relationship with the church during this stage in her career.

While she was raised in a devoutly religious family, she faced the daunting realization that she increasingly preferred analyzing religion from an academic standpoint than experiencing it from the pew.

Furthermore, she felt uneasy with the Southern Baptist Church’s treatment of some marginalized groups, which were antithetical to her own personal religious beliefs. “… I had so many friends who were LGBT and seeing how the church had not been kind to them. …” McCall said.

“It became very hard for me to sustain a lasting relationship with the church — not with God, I’ve never struggled in my relationship with God — but I have struggled in my relationship with the church.”

In facing these existential ponderings, McCall turned to her budding passions for the Hebrew Bible and language, and ventured to Princeton, New Jersey, where she spent nine years at the Princeton Theological Seminary pursuing a doctorate in Hebrew Bible studies.

When McCall received her doctorate nearly a decade later, she yearned to return to Virginia. Following a tip from a friend who advised her about an opening in the College’s classical studies department, her homeward inclinations brought her to Williamsburg.

She initially began working at the College as a Hebrew language instructor and served as an adjunct professor for two years. Since then, McCall has transitioned to teaching primarily in the religious studies department, and offers courses delving into ancient Israelite religious history and the Torah’s literary merits.

Now in her sixth year of teaching at the College, McCall stands on the precipice of yet another career shift. In addition to maintaining her professorial duties, she began a second master’s degree in library science in January and is in the process of applying to a vacant library position at the College.

Regardless of whether she is in the Sir Christopher Wren Building or the Earl Gregg Swem Library in the fall, McCall wants every student she interacts with to reflect critically on their beliefs, confront difficult realities in their life and face challenging questions of faith, and existence head-on.

“I do hope people come away with a feeling that it is okay to ask the questions, that it’s good to ask the questions … if you’re a person of faith, God is big enough for you to ask the questions,” McCall said.

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COURTESY PHOTOS / ROBIN MCCALL AND WILLIAM AND MARY YOUTUBE

Despite lamenting the Old Testament as a child and served as a music minister at a Baptist church, McCall became a religious studies professor.

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The Flat Hat

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

CAMPUS

Advocacy week reveals issues in community

Tribe Against Trafficking highlights actions to prevent illicit human crime ETHAN BROWN FLAT HAT MANAGING EDITOR

Last week, student advocates at the College of William and Mary organized Tribe Against Trafficking, a week-long series of events devoted to ending sex trafficking both globally and locally.

The events, which included panel discussions, lectures and a tie-dye session on the Crim Dell Meadow, all sought to support conversations regarding human trafficking’s implications for both survivors and bystanders.

The week marked the second time Tribe Against Trafficking has been held on campus. Last year, Anna Rader ’20 spearheaded its creation and helped preside over its inaugural week. Tribe Against Trafficking was born from Rader’s experiences working against sex trafficking in high school, and she wanted to bring that spirit to the College’s advocacy community.

“After engaging with this issue throughout high school, I was excited by the opportunity to take part in the Baptist Collegiate Ministry’s annual “Stand for Freedom” event, a day of raising awareness on human trafficking,” Rader said in an email. “As a part of both on-campus anti-trafficking student groups, HEART and IJM, I realized the following year that these effort (sic) could be combined into a greater campaign across campus.”

With collaboration alongside other groups like the International Justice Mission, Tribe Against Trafficking was born as a concerted effort to combat trafficking.

Megan Coughlin ’21 helped organize this year’s iteration of Tribe Against Trafficking and said that the primary objective of the week was to communicate to students at the College that their actions can play a significant role in combatting sex trafficking if they pursue ethical shopping practices and conscious consumption habits.

“We can fight labor trafficking through ethical shopping whenever we can, and we can learn the signs of trafficking to recognize in those around us,” Coughlin said in an email. “In the future, we can each work to fight trafficking in our careers, no matter what field we work in, because there is always a way

to fight trafficking.”

Tribe Against Trafficking sought to illustrate that knowledge about sex trafficking is vital in order to fight it effectively. Another one of Tribe Against Trafficking’s organizers Gracie Harris ’21 hosted a talk April 17 that explored narratives of empowerment and exploitation often associated with sex trafficking.

According to Harris, what some individuals see as empowering in the sex work industry — like working in online pornography or escorting — more closely resembles a toxic cycle of imprisonment and involuntary exploitation.

Harris noted that there is a common societal misperception that sex workers enjoy vast degrees of autonomy in their professional pursuits. However, many sex workers do not have sufficient legal or professional protections and fail to have substantive autonomy or freedom of choice in their occupation.

Harris described a “spectrum of agency” in detailing the levels of autonomy that individuals in different sectors of the sex work industry possess.

At one end of the spectrum, sex workers in online work and phone work have relatively high levels of personal freedom; in contrast, sex workers who serve as either legal or illegal prostitutes suffer from a chronic lack of individual choice.

Much of the time, these sex workers are financially, emotionally and socially controlled by a pimp who seizes an overwhelming portion of their earned wages and controls them through emotional and physical violence. “[Prostitution and trafficking] are inextricably linked because 97 percent of prostitution is pimp controlled, which is an absolutely enormous number. …” Harris said. “97 percent of the time when sex is bought, the sex workers keep absolutely none of the money. That’s the point of trafficking, [which] is that it’s profitable for a pimp, who is controlling and exploiting people.”

According to Harris, the destructive patterns associated with “the life” — a term that references survivors of sex trafficking — disproportionately impact vulnerable and marginalized populations in the United States, including transgender individuals and people of color. However, Harris emphasized

that these characteristics alone are in no way to blame for this phenomenon, and that societal bias against these groups is responsible for making them vulnerable to sex trafficking in the first place.

“It is absolutely true that trafficking does disproportionately impact those populations, …” Harris said. “But it’s really important to understand how having those characteristics create vulnerability that is then exploited. It’s nothing inherent about being a person of color, it’s nothing inherent about being trans, it’s the way society is set up to disadvantage those people that then leaves them more vulnerable to be in these positions.”

The cyclical, harmful lifestyle that individuals in “the life” endure is intensified by how overwhelmingly challenging it is to break free of sex trafficking. On average, it takes individuals seven times to successfully leave as a myriad of factors — ranging from oppressive pimps to difficulty in fulfilling basic needs like shelter and employment — frequently require individuals to return to “the life” to survive.

Harris also noted that sex trafficking is not a foreign problem, and that it’s far closer to the College than most students would surmise. In approaching sex trafficking, Harris urged individuals to consider how they could have ended up in “the life” if just a few small factors in their life had changed, and how all students at the College could be placed in a similarly vulnerable position at a moment’s notice.

“It’s also hard to put ourselves in these situations and it takes a lot of empathy, but I think that if you really reflect, it’s kind of easy to see that if your situation had been just a little bit different growing up, how [trafficking] could really happen to any of us, ...” Harris said. “Sex trafficking happens literally everywhere, in every city, every state, every country and it’s certainly happening in Williamsburg as well.”

In addition to Harris’ Wednesday lecture, Tribe for Trafficking featured several other events including a social justice symposium, an introduction to ethical shopping practices and a documentary showing. The week culminated in a “Tie Dye Against Trafficking” event Sunday, April 21.

MENTAL HEALTH

Staff reflects on JED Campus mental health initiative

Crace looks at future of wellness on campus, evaluates mental health program DAISY GARNER THE FLAT HAT

In an attempt to address concerns over mental health at the College of William and Mary, staff members in various university departments have introduced reforms through the JED Campus program throughout the 2018-19 academic year.

The College has worked with JED for the past four years. JED is a program which provides resources to promote mental health and suicide prevention, and evaluates schools’ performance on metrics related to these issues.

JED was established at the College after rising complaints among students regarding mental health.

According to Vice President of Health and Wellness Kelly Crace, the College incorporated JED into the College’s mental health standards as a continuation of the Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention Grant, which was given to the College for three years in 2012. The $235,000 grant funded suicide prevention efforts.

Counselor Jen Floor and psychology professors Liz Rasposa and Chris Conway comprise the JED leadership team at the College, and act as a connection between the national JED program and the College’s offices.

The JED Campus program has been incorporated into several departments at the College, such as the Dean of Students Office, various academic departments, the Office of First Year Experience, the Student Health Center, the William and Mary Health Outreach Peer Educators and the New Leaf Clinic.

According to Assistant Dean of Students Rachel McDonald, the Dean of Students Office of Academic Enrichment has implemented the JED program in four ways in order to better address students’ mental health needs.

“As a result of the university’s engagement with the JED Foundation, the Dean of Students Office of Academic Enrichment has implemented strategies and initiatives that have enabled staff to better assess, monitor, and intervene upon student wellbeing,” McDonald said.

Firstly, the Dean of Students Office has implemented a survey that allows staff to determine sources of difficulties for students.

The office has also implemented identification and intervention services for at-risk students, which it identifies as students with GPAs between 2.0-2.49.

Furthermore, the office has created a new graduate assistant position to ensure additional staffing for students in need of guidance, intervention and referral services.

Lastly, the Dean of Students Office has implemented a variety of ongoing services through the JED to address the needs of the students including peer academic coaching, English language assistance and professional academic consulting.

Along with implementing JED Campus in various departments across campus, the program has assisted other groups on campus to address the mental health needs of students.

“We know at least that demand for mental health services continues to grow,” Conway said. “Hopefully our group’s efforts, and those of other organizations on campus, are encouraging students, faculty and staff to recognize mental health problems and ask for help when needed.”

The College’s JED leadership team recently met with JED’s national program to evaluate the College’s progress on mental health issues.

“It was also a time when we were able to discuss next steps and how to keep our efforts moving forward,” Crace said. “The W and M team will be meeting this summer to clarify where we go from here.”

Although the program will be over, the College will continue to have access to materials and consultation groups so that they can continue to utilize the JED Campus program to address the

mental health needs of students.

According to Conway, since many other schools have implemented the JED program on their campus, the College will also be able to learn from these schools’ successes and failures. Some of these schools include Virginia Commonwealth University, Old Dominion University and George Mason University.

A summary of the JED Campus efforts will be made on the College’s website for interested students to see what remains to be done and see what improvements can be made to the College.

In addition to the JED program, the College also built the Integrative Health and Wellness Center, added after-hours counseling assistance and formed a partnership with the Park Rx project, which encourages healthcare providers to motivate patients to spend time outdoors, in an effort to broaden the scope of mental health initiatives offered to students.

However, according to Conway, the College must be ready to implement and change mental health programs to truly address the evolving mental health needs of the student body.

“The social and political climate seems to be creating greater risk for underrepresented and marginalized groups, so I’ll be interested to see how the W and M administration responds to that,” Conway said.

Members of VOX, College community protest anti-abortion group Students hold rally against the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform’s presence on campus PROTEST from page 1

distraught women. Some images contain photos and texts related to the Holocaust, which are included in order to visually compare abortion to genocide.

Virginia Project Director for the CBR Maggie Ferrara said that the imagery is used to illustrate their central message that “the pre-born are human beings and that abortion decapitates and dismembers them.”

Ferrara said that CBR chooses to visit college campuses because most abortions are performed on collegeaged women, and that they have found that students on college campuses are typically open to debate and discussion of these issues.

Ferrara said she takes part in these demonstrations because of her personal views and experiences she gained from working in a crisis pregnancy center.

“I just saw how much need there was, and how much misinformation there was out there about abortion and about women’s other options when they are facing unplanned pregnancies,” Ferrara said. “So I wanted to do more to educate the population as a whole and try to reach people even when they are

not in crisis.”

During the demonstration, the Division of Student Affairs tabled with information flyers at a tent in between the counter-protesters and CBR. Staff members were present to answer student questions about the free speech laws that allowed this demonstration and counterprotest to occur. College spokesperson Suzanne Clavet explained that the College would only refuse to protect speech if it posed a safety concern, but beyond that objective, it must remain content neutral. “... the university does not restrict or regulate speech solely based on content,” Clavet said in an email. “As a public university William & Mary recognizes its obligations under the U.S. Constitution and Virginia law. Time, place and manner restrictions are permitted and the university considers those.”

Clavet said that the review process for groups to demonstrate on campus only considers whether such a demonstration would pose a threat to the College community.

“While generally hate speech is still protected speech according to the U.S. Constitution, there is some speech that falls outside the protection of the First Amendment,” Clavet said. “For example,

speech that would incite a riot or pose an active threat would not be protected.

When the university gets a request for a demonstration such as the one today, we review it to see if it falls within our facility use guidelines and within the protections of the U.S. Constitution. Those discussions involve members of the administration, typically Student Affairs, University Counsel and WMPD. Each of these situations have to be evaluated individually. We also realize these topics are complex and the university is committed to helping our campus community navigate them.”

The William and Mary Police Department established a presence around the sundial during the two days of the CBR’s demonstration. There were usually three to five officers observing the CBR’s demonstration from a distance and WMPD Chief Deb Cheesebro was also occasionally in attendance.

“Like with many other events on campus, our officers were on hand to ensure a safe and orderly exchange of ideas and answer questions,” Cheesebro said in an email. “There weren’t any specific safety concerns.”

Over the course of the demonstration, people gathered at the counter-protest in a display of their opposition to CBR.

People at the counter protest created signs, played musical instruments, pet an emotional support rabbit, and discussed what drove them to take part in the first place.

“I’m really not a fan of trying to use misinformation and shame and fear to try and control other people’s bodies,” Emory Magner ’19 said.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Specialist Alex Greenwood had joined the protest after walking over from his office in William H. Small Hall and realizing what was happening.

“I had no idea this was happening; I was walking over this morning and I saw an email from the Democrats. … ,” Greenwood said. “I put it together when I got back to my office and I immediately became kind of enraged. I of course don’t approve of their message in the first place, but the fact that they are coopting Holocaust imagery, they’re coopting Holocaust victims for their own harmful agenda, that kind of put me over the top.”

Three students decided to gather around a guitar and use music as their median of protest. Melissa Hudson ’19, Kinsey Wilk ’19 and Katie Dawkins ’19 said they came to the counter-protest to

show their support for women negatively affected by the demonstration and counteract the CBR’s views.

“We need to be out here to make it clear that the student body doesn’t support spreading this sort of fake news and hateful messages,” Wilk said.

Dawkins emphasized the necessity of creating a visible protest display so that people walking by the area did not automatically believe the information being presented to them by the CBR. “I just think it’s really important to be visible as a reminder to people who don’t know a lot about abortion or people who have abortions that the information being presented to them isn’t the only information available, and isn’t even correct information,” Dawkins said. “It’s a show of support and a reminder to challenge the ideas being spread here if someone didn’t already know those ideas needed to be challenged.”

Snyder said that she was personally pleased with the counter-protest and grateful to all the people on campus who helped or took part in it.

“I think we made a lot of people feel safe and loved which was our goal from the get-go,” Snyder said.

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Tuesday, April 23, 2019

The Flat Hat

CAMPUS

Lecture focuses on diversity in science

Brinkworth discusses an unrecognized factor needed for success in STEM

AVERILL MEININGER FLAT HAT CHIEF STAFF WRITER

The College of William and Mary welcomed the chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado Carolyn Brinkworth to campus April 17 to speak with students, professors and community members about diversity in science.

Her presentation, “The Power of Diversity and Inclusive Excellence in Geosciences,” specifically analyzed the successes that diverse individuals have pioneered within their academic domains. Birthworth’s work at UCAR has focused on developing more diverse environments in research laboratories, in the hope of bolstering opportunities for traditionally underrepresented groups in STEM. Brinkworth was introduced by Rowan Lockwood, a professor of geology at the College. Lockwood highlighted the achievements, education and career accomplishments that had led Brinkworth to her current work.

“I met Carolyn at a workshop that she helped to facilitate in Boulder, Colorado and I was really impressed with what she had to say about diversity and inclusion in the geosciences and how she said it,” Lockwood said. “She is really great on the ground experience of working in this field and finding and identifying allies.”

After this brief introduction, Brinkworth began her talk by conducting an exercise where members of the audience partnered up and asked the question “Who are you?” to one another for a minute. Through this exercise, Brinkworth pointed out that diversity can be so many other things than what initially meets the eye.

“We make so many sweeping generalizations about people and about what people believe and what people think and how people are going to react based on what we think their identities are, and people are so much more than what we can see,” Brinkworth said.

After this brief exercise, she segued into discussing how people should conceptualize their identities in science. She stressed the importance of valuing your identity in science, and supported this claim by presenting the research of several other individuals including an economist at California Institute of Technology, Scott Page.

Brinkworth explained that Page has done extensive work looking into whether diverse or homogenous groups in order to understand which type of group will function more successfully.

Page’s research demonstrates that the diverse groups consistently complete better work.

“He found that diverse groups routinely out-performed homogenous groups, who are comprised of the highest individual

performers,” Brinkworth said. “You get a bunch of individual performers, the best performers, and they all look the same — they’re going to be less effective than diverse groups.”

Brinkworth revealed that the reason behind success in diverse groups stems from how they think together. Diverse groups think more creatively, examine more solutions to complex problems, and promote higher order thinking within themselves.

“

The last thing I want to say to you all is really thinking about [being] very,very clear about why you’re trying to make change. And communicate that ‘why.’ You don’t get to make change unless you can make the argument to people about why diversity is important. And those changes need to be communcated both in terms of data and statistics but also in terms of people’s personal stories.

— Carolyn Brinkworth

Brinkworth continued this conversation by delving into the “why” of inclusive excellence, detailing the importance of different heuristics in solving complex tasks. She then explained that when individuals know ahead of time that a group will be more diverse, they anticipate differences of opinion, and will subsequently prepare and refine their arguments more

Students discuss police relations TableTalk hosts community conversation event CLAIRE HOGAN FLAT HAT ONLINE EDITOR

TableTalk, a student-led discussion group at the College of William and Mary, brought officers from the William and Mary Police Department and the Williamsburg Police Department April 16 to foster a dialogue between police and students.

In the session, students and police officers alike discussed ways of improving the local community.

TableTalk is a relatively new organization at the College and was established in order to foster conversations about issues on campus. Caleb Rogers ’20, who organized the event alongside other members of TableTalk’s executive board, said that their organization is meant to bring people together.

“It’s basically the idea that, through different ways, how to bring people who wouldn’t normally meet and wouldn’t normally have conversations together, to have those conversations,” Rogers said. “We actually started pretty recently; this has been our first semester in operation.”

Rogers said that TableTalk hosts a variety of different events but that the discussion-style panels tend to be more structured. For this type of event, TableTalk often reaches out to members of the community who may be interested in the conversation scheduled for that event.

“With this Table Talk, we wanted to do the police-student conversation, because it’s not one that happens regularly; it’s certainly not one that happens on a larger stage, and then I know it’s one that the Williamsburg Police Department has been wanting to have for a long time,” Rogers said.

Chief of Police for WMPD Deb Cheesebro started off the discussion by sharing her experiences in policing other schools compared to the College. She explained that the College tends to value its community and peers more than other schools she has worked with throughout her career.

“At William and Mary specifically, I think we tend to look out for each other a lot more; I think students really do care about this community, and that’s something you don’t see at every college or every university,” Cheesebro said. “This, to me, is a very unique setting in that regard.”

Cheesebro also touched on the role the WMPD plays in dealing with mental health on campus, explaining that WMPD works closely with Student Affairs and the counseling center to assist students in a mental health crisis.

“You may not see those numbers, those statistics, but there’s probably not a week that goes by that we don’t do two to three assists, at least, with students who are in a mental health

crisis,” Cheesebro said.

Chief of Police for WPD Sean Dunn discussed the strategies students can use to minimize police intervention when partying on the weekends. He explained that communication between students and their neighbors is essential to lowering police intervention and creating a mutually beneficial relationship between students and the police.

Dunn emphasized that students should inform their neighbors when they intend to hold a party so that their neighbors do not feel the need to file a noise complaint.

“If you’re having an event on the weekend, if you’re having a party, we certainly don’t discourage you having parties, but we recognize that there are noise ordinances, there are quality of life issues,” Dunn said. “And so if you’re going to have that party on a Saturday night, then I really suggest you reach out to you neighbors to let them know what you’re doing.”

Police Lieutenant for WMPD Daniel Salvitti segued the conversation to discuss WMPD’s medical amnesty policy, also known as “Good Griffin,” and explained how the WMPD operates when dealing with medical amnesty.

“In our role, we strictly gather the information, accurately document it, put it in a report and send it to Student Conduct, and they review it,” Salvitti said. “They’ll call everyone involved, speak with them, get their personal knowledge, and then base their actions on that. Our goal is to make sure that, whatever situation we respond to, we’re looking at ensuring that person is safe and getting the services they need.”

Salvitti also clarified WMPD’s policy on arresting students who refuse medical attention under the Good Griffin policy.

“If they refuse medical attention, we’re obligated to make sure that person is safe, so we may have to arrest that person,” Salvitti said.

“What we won’t do is leave it with a roommate or someone who isn’t trained, or put that responsibility on students, RAs, staff, or anything like that. So our actions are based on making sure that person’s safe.”

The event gave students and police officers the chance to exchange ideas about outreach, safety and community. Cheesebro also emphasized the positive role of the WMPD in terms of creating a safe community for students on campus.

“When you graduate, I’ll be standing on the other side of the Crim Dell bridge, applauding, high-fiving, shaking hands, because that’s my favorite day of the year,” Cheesebro said. “Because that means you got your education; you were able to focus on what you needed to focus on, and you weren’t worried about your safety, and we were able to get you there.”

effectively in advance.

Brinkworth’s presentation emphasized the importance of avoiding complacency in expanding diversity of thought in academic environments.

According to Brinkworth, people must surround themselves with people who think differently than themselves to maximize critical thought, and, when applying this concept to science, Brinkworth informed the audience that papers published by diverse groups are often better received than ones written by homogenous groups.

In closing her talk, Brinkworth emphasized how individuals can most effectively approach improving diversity in their academic and professional environments.

She explained that change will not come if it is forced upon people; instead, change comes when it is talked about and its benefits are clearly visible.

“The last thing I want to say to you all is really thinking about, [being] very, very clear about why you’re trying to make change,” Brinkworth said. “And communicate that ‘why.’ You don’t get to make change unless you can make the argument to people about why diversity is important. And those changes need to be communicated both in terms of data and statistics but also in terms of people’s personal stories.”

After listening to Brinkworth speak, Tricia Thibodeau Ph.D ’19 expressed her thoughts on the presentation and how it uniquely applied to her role as a graduate student at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

“We’re in the process, not only VIMS but all of William and Mary, of having these diversity, equity and inclusion task forces, where we are trying to identify where William and Mary can improve in issues of diversity,” Thibodeau said. “I felt it was important to come to this talk to hear a different perspective on doing diversity and inclusion at a different institute.”

Thibodeau said she appreciated Brinkworth’s mention of several specific steps that can be taken to improve diversity in offices, including managing departmental change. She also felt it was crucial to talk about some of the underlying issues surrounding the lack of minority students in sciences, and highlighted the challenges in establishing change and enhancing diversity in education.

“I think one thing that is hard, regardless of your STEM field, is that it takes more than one person,” Thibodeau said. “Oftentimes in higher education it can be difficult to find your niche, in terms of where you can make a difference.”

Brinkworth explained that although there is an arduous path ahead to reach greater diversity in sciences, the results of change will be worth it in the future.

“Diversity makes science better,” Brinkworth said.

opinions

Opinions Editor Anna Boustany Opinions Editor Chloe Folmar fhopinions@gmail.com // @theflathat

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, April 23, 2019 | Page 5

GUEST AND STAFF COLUMNS

Students react to abortion protests

Upsetting protests offer poor reflection of pro-life movement, harm students

Protests, while distressing, emphasize supportive, kind collegiate student body

Patrick Britti, Rita McInerny, Savannah Orsak

Lauren Cohen

FLAT HAT GUEST WRITERS

Last week, the Center for Bioethical Reform set up a graphic demonstration at the College of William and Mary depicting images of aborted fetuses and comparing abortion to the Holocaust and other tragedies.

This group was not invited by any pro-life organization at the College. Despite repeated attempts to convince the Center for Bioethical Reform to refrain from demonstrating at the College — including meeting personally with their representative — Tribe For Life was unable to prevent the demonstration from occurring. As the executive board of Tribe for Life, we believe that all life is valuable and must be protected by individuals and the government from conception to natural death. A unique, human person is formed at conception. This individual is genetically distinct from either parent, possessing his or her own independent genetic code. We believe that the intentional destruction of innocent human life is unjust, and the destruction of a fetus is no exception.

That being said, our organization aims to spread the pro-life message without the use of graphic imagery or condemnatory language. Displays such as that of the Center for Bioethical Reform are reactionary and offensive and, most importantly, have the potential to cause further trauma to women who have had abortions, dredge up painful memories, and even negatively affect pregnant students on our campus. These tactics have no place at the College and should not be mistaken as representative of Tribe for Life’s approach or the approach of the pro-life movement as a whole. Additionally, Tribe for Life is a non-partisan group, and the political agenda of the representatives from the Center for Bioethical Reform in no way reflects our views or opinions or those of the pro-life movement as a whole. The pro-life movement extends across the political divide. As the only undergraduate pro-life group at the College, Tribe for Life chooses to not condone this action and instead seeks to demonstrate what a truly life-affirming message looks like.

We empathize with women who experience unexpected pregnancies and reject any effort to shame these women. Simultaneously, we refuse to accept the narrative that abortion is a solution to the hurdles that pregnant women face. Instead, we advocate for providing resources and care to struggling women. Not only do we believe that this support should be extended to parents and preborn children but also to families with children who have been born. In keeping with our vision for a pro-life world, we advocate for reforms that improve access to resources for struggling families on both local and national scales. We want to see women supported and elevated in all parts of society, starting first by supporting pregnant and parenting students on our campus and connecting them to the many resources at our disposal. By publishing a pregnancy and parenting resource guide and offering personal assistance to pregnant students, we hope to educate our peers regarding their rights on campus. Title IX protections extend to pregnant students, entitling parents to support networks and protecting their legal rights, such as the right to retain an athletic or academic scholarship, regardless of unexpected pregnancy. Additionally, speakers that are invited to the College by Tribe for Life — such as Serrin M. Foster of Feminists for Life this spring — emphasize the importance of both the mother and the child in any conversation about abortion, especially by supporting protections for abuse survivors and paid maternity and paternity leave.

While we reject the demonstration of the Center for Bioethical Reform, Tribe for Life was saddened to see some of the rhetoric used by the counter protestors at the demonstration. We want to remind students on our campus that joking about and making light of abortion is harmful and inappropriate. In spite of one’s opinion on the abortion issue, abortion is always a weighty and emotionally taxing choice for a woman to make, and that experience as well as the lives of preborn children should never be mocked or trivialized. There were also signs referencing miscarriage that could have been triggering to pregnant women or those who have suffered from miscarriages in the past, including one sign that was designed to look like it was covered in blood. To the credit of the counter-protestors, member of our organization brought this specific sign to the attention of the counter-protestors, who then took it down. Students at the College should make an effort to be more thoughtful and compassionate in dealing with deeply emotional issues such as these. We share in the distress of our fellow students at the Center’s display and wish to remind them that they are not alone in their struggles. All life must be protected, and we make it our mission to do so through compassionate and inclusive care on our campus and in our wider community.

Email Patrick Britti at mpbritti@email.wm.com, Savannah Orsak at sjorsak@email. wm.edu. and Rita McInerny at rcmcinerny@email.wm.edu.

FLAT HAT OPINIONS ASSOC. EDITOR

This past Wednesday and Thursday, an extremist “prenatal justice” group called the Center for Bioethical Reform held a demonstration on the College of William and Mary’s campus. This article will discuss details of what some of their signs depicted and said. Stationed between Earl Gregg Swem Library and Andrews Hall, the presence of the Center for Bioethical Reform’s display was extremely disruptive to students, especially in the last few weeks before summer break when students should be focusing on preparing for finals and wrapping things. Students walking to Swem or any of the surrounding academic buildings were forced to cross paths with the group’s crude, graphic and incorrect displays.

During the two days the Center for Bioethical Reform occupied our space, I was incredibly angry.

Not only were they interrupting the beautiful and sunny spring weather, but I felt as if my campus, this place where I feel so at home, was being tarnished. I hated that they were set up right next to the Swem benches, my favorite place to escape daily stresses and catch a few rays between classes, and I hated even more that they were making some of my fellow students so uncomfortable that they had to avoid the area entirely in fear of reliving past trauma with the triggering signage.

The Center for Bioethical Reform protest consisted of multiple four-by-eight-foot boards featuring doctored photos of “aborted fetuses,” stock photos and inaccurate facts about abortion.

These boards claimed that abortion was comparable to the Rwandan genocide and the Holocaust.

They called abortion doctors “Nazis” and compared them to “death camp exterminators,” while also contrasting abortion to the Black Lives Matter movement. They made very triggering arguments about abortions as a result of rape and had many obviously fake images of “aborted fetuses” side-by-side with living babies. Their display was not a pretty sight, but I’ve decided not to focus on that.

Instead, I want to highlight how proud I am of the College community and the way that we responded to these unwanted visitors on our campus. Although the College could not legally prevent the group from coming here, we made sure that they knew they were not welcomed here. Students from all corners of campus came together to stand up to the protesters and lift up our student body, no matter how their opinions aligned in terms of abortion. Even our campus’ pro-life group Tribe for Life publicly denounced the group and made it clear that no matter what, fear and shame had no place at the College.

This message was evident in the counter-protest that VOX: Planned Parenthood Generation Action put together. It was incredible what they were able to accomplish on such short notice. Across from the display, they created a safe space with music, brightly-colored signs to peacefully protest with, free snacks, even a bunny at one point and most importantly smiles, hugs and unconditional support.

Additionally, the Dean of Students Office and the Wellness Center set up booths next to the Center for Bioethical Reform display, encouraging students to come and talk and escorting them to class upon request. The dichotomy between the two areas of protest was clear: love overflowed from our community and felt like a breath of fresh air compared to the hateful displays from the Center of Bioethical Reform.

I was proud to see messages of support for survivors of sexual assault and comforting words to those who have received abortions written on the Center’s “What do you think?” whiteboard. There were also many students interacting with the protesters and asking informed, thoughtful questions. Although I expected nothing less from our intelligent student body, it was incredibly impressive to see students standing up to these bullies, grilling them on their bogus claims and standing up for what they believed in. This is the kind of thought-provoking action that will end up making change, not just parading false information and triggering images around on countless college campuses, as the Center for Bioethical Reform does routinely. This week, students at the College stood up to a group that was trying to knock us down, and it marked yet another reason why I am so proud to be part of this community.

Email Lauren Cohen at lhcohen01@email.wm.edu.

GRAPHICS BY ANGELA VASISHTA / THE FLAT HAT

GUEST COLUMN

Greek life upholds harmful values, fail to deserve College recognition Brendan Boylan

FLAT HAT GUEST WRITER WRITER

In the fall 2017 semester, about 20 members of the Zeta Upsilon Chapter of Beta Theta Pi fraternity at the College of William and Mary, including some members of the executive board, deactivated their fraternity in the wake of a division among its leadership and general body regarding how to handle a perpetrator of sexual assault within the organization. Some members took matters into their own hands and defied the wishes of other members who were committed to removing such perpetrators from Beta. This was a failure to implement the proper steps to remove sexual assault from such organizations.

This incident is not an anomaly, but rather part of a consistent pattern across fraternity life. For many years, the Gamma Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha hosted its annual “Vietnam Party,” an offensive and racist display of a dark period in American history that rightfully angered both the South Asian/Asian American community and the student veteran community. Equipped with stereotypical rice hats and bamboo shoots, PIKA continued throwing this party by rebranding it as a “Military Appreciation” party — a farcical change at best. With the support of the Student Assembly Senate and other organizations, enough outcry in spring 2017 from the Asian American Student Initiative and the Student Veterans’ Association shut down such parties in the future. However, these behaviors of protecting abusers and touting blatantly racist and offensive themes reflects a deeper, more pervasive problem of the undue power of Fraternity and Sorority Life.

This problem persists in two ways: in a trickling down from an

institutional level, and in a welling up at a cultural level, and both effects feed into and exacerbate each other.

At the institutional level, the university has a clear financial incentive to promote and protect Fraternity and Sorority Life on account of the disproportionate influence of alumni donors who were a part of a fraternity or sorority. We see this influence stretch beyond our institution to the highest echelons of power. Nearly a quarter of current members of Congress belonged to a Greek organization, as did 19 presidents. The gender segregation of Fraternity and Sorority Life is protected by an exception to Title IX standards, an issue for which the Fraternity and Sorority Political Action Committee lobbies.

FratPAC also has undue influence on determining policy related to housing and hazing for Greek organizations. There is a clear political and financial interest centered in these organizations, and so long as the College continues to house such organizations, it will also be

inclined to protect them — even when they do wrong.

This brings us to the cultural issues of Fraternity and Sorority Life. At the outset, to have a legal exception to the coeducational nature of most organizations reinforces not only the gender binary but also destructive and demeaning gender norms. This structure leads to men adopting and reinforcing a culture of toxic masculinity, and to women being treated at best as tickets of entry for parties and at worst as pieces of meat to be hunted and acquired. The ramifications of this structure are dangerous and violent, as reflected by disproportionately high rates of sexual assault and harassment in the context of Fraternity and Sorority Life functions.

There is also a vein of racism which is reflected by a predominantly white Greek population. This shouldn’t be a surprise given that one of our fraternities, Kappa Alpha, owes its existence to its spiritual founder, Robert E. Lee, whose likeness is still hung in the lobby of the fraternity’s on-campus house. Fraternity Row, the line of huge houses subsidized by the university, stands as a monument to the racism and classism that Fraternity and Sorority Life has bought into since its founding at our own college in 1776. Where is the house for the Filipino-American Student Association? Where is the house belonging to the Black Student Organization? Organizations like these have dues that are affordable, host events that are meaningful, and party in a fun and safe environment. Why then are Greek organizations given such favored treatment while free-associating student organizations that are genuinely diverse and inclusive receive nothing? There must be a better way that will make everyone in this community better off, and that starts with the abolishment of fraternities and sororities at the College.

Email Brendan Boylan at bjboylan@email.wm.edu.

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Page 6

STAFF COLUMN

STAFF COLUMN

Students should feel free to live without resume anxiety, spend their summer relaxing

Students deserve extra vacation day to facilitate holiday travels after Easter and Pesach weekend are expected to complete for the following Monday.

For the Jewish diaspora outside of Israel, it is customary to celebrate the first two days of Passover rather than just the first day, which means that one must partake in two sidarim with each lasting for hours on end. On top of travel time, this can be a lot for a student to handle in just one weekend.

Although the College is a secular, state-run university, it cannot be ignored that many religious holidays have found secular audiences. How many people associate Easter with the resurrection of Jesus Christ compared to the number of people who see it as a time for Easter egg hunting? In a uniquely American phenomenon, like the commercializing of Christmas, FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR the holiday has become important even to secular Americans.

Many people argue against the recognition of religious It’s not every year that the Jewish holiday of Pesach, commonly holidays such as Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Eid al-Adha referred to as Passover, and the Christian holiday of Easter because they are religious and not secular holidays. They claim overlap. However, this anomaly, which is deeply connected that by recognizing one minority religion’s holidays, one will have with the oddities of different calendrical calculation systems, to recognize them all. Yet Christmas has managed to be the cause created a slight issue for students for students to gain upward of a at the College of William and Mary month off of school. If people don’t who wished to seek respite from want the government to recognize Williamsburg and return to their religious holidays at all, would it not families to celebrate the holidays. be possible for us to use any other In fact, this occurrence caused month as an arbitrary divider for the something strange. For the first time academic year? since orientation, the Dinwiddie Keeping in line as a country lounge was almost completely made up of people from all over empty. For a lot of the weekend, it the world, couldn’t leeway exist for was just me and a few other people people to follow customs who aren’t who chose to stay in Williamsburg just Anglo-Saxon and Protestant?

— some because they had no Ultimately, there will also be holiday to celebrate, or others, like many students who every year will myself, who live too far away from not arrive on time for class after Virginia to justify leaving for one Easter Sunday — possibly because short weekend. they also celebrate Easter Monday.

Unlike Christmas Although the College and Thanksgiving, has provisions to be Easter is not recognized excused from classroom by the U.S. federal responsibilities, not government as a holiday many students are well that necessitates school enough educated on closings. This usually the process. isn’t an issue since Easter The College should always falls on a Sunday. work to streamline the Likewise, Easter Monday process and educate is not a holiday that students about their tends to be celebrated in different options. the United States as it is It would be highly in Europe or the Middle beneficial for the whole East. As for Pesach, you’ll student body to have have to make Aliyah the Monday after Easter and move to the State off, allowing everyone of Israel if you want a to make weekend plans government to recognize with peace of mind of your holiday as a worthy knowing that they will enough cause for rest. not be penalized as they With the first day of are worrying about how Pesach falling squarely their grades are still on Friday night, along being finalized. with Easter falling on It is unfair to force Sunday, students going students to choose home for the weekend between their religious are obligated to not only or familial obligations take part in their family’s and their schoolwork. festivities, but also stay Email Gavin Aquin at GRAPHICS BY CAITLIN MCCLAIN AND CHLOE FOLMAR HEADSHOTS BY KAYLA PAYNE / THE FLAT HAT ahead of the work they gaaquin@email.wm.edu.

Gavin Aquin

Anthony Madalone

FLAT HAT OPINIONS ASSOC. EDITOR

It’s that time of year again folks. Students are updating their resumes, tapping their connections and conducting Skype interviews.

That’s right: it’s internship season.

As a liberal arts major, it can be hard to avoid thinking of summer as a make-or-break career moment. Although graduation is still two years away, the English degree I’ll leave the College of William and Mary with guarantees pretty much nothing about my future. Now is the time to build a resume, make connections and get palpable realworld experience. In a competitive job market, every opportunity to get ahead must be seized; anything close to career complacency is in reality thirty steps back, as other potential hirees make massive strides to get ahead of you.

Why then, even after writing that extremely stressful paragraph, do I feel okay about currently walking into another summer without an internship?

Going into this semester, I had my schedule pretty much set.

While the semester’s first two months would focus on acting with performances in two shows, its end would slow down considerably, giving myself some time to breathe before finals and a possibly tranquil summer.

Boy, was I wrong about that second half.

A supposedly relaxing spring break became hectic with a visit to my sister and a Sherman and Gloria H. Cohen Career Center trip to New York City. As soon as I got back, I threw myself into the world of student elections, spending blocks of free time on the stump. After those two weeks, a friend of mine found himself in dire need of a spotlight operator for his student directorial, chopping that week’s free time by 26 hours.

It was over a month after my supposed relaxation period was supposed to start, and I still hadn’t a “chill week” to my name.

Don’t get me misconstrued: the time sacrifices I made paid off in dividends, and I am extremely grateful to have had each experience.

I am by no means telling people to say “no” to opportunities that seemingly take away from time to relax. I am, in fact, doing the exact opposite.

To those in my shoes, now is the time to learn a new language, to take up that instrument you’ve always wanted to learn or to check out that part of the state you’ve yet to explore.

Sure, it currently seems like I won’t be business-casually humping it to New York City everyday come June. But that’s 50 hours per week back at my disposal. That’s about 750 hours back into my schedule.

750 free hours that, like the free hours I thought I would have at the College, can easily be worked back into my life productively.

Will I be working somewhere else a lot of that time? Definitely. Are there going to be less palpable opportunities than I could get at the College? Of course. But having less opportunities does not necessarily indicate fewer chances for growth.

To those in my shoes, now is the time to learn a new language, to take up that instrument you’ve always wanted to learn or to check out that part of the state you’ve yet to explore. Not having the chance to gain experience in the professional world of your choosing by no means implies that you can’t grow yourself in ways that are just as productive and fulfilling. Important skills and experiences are still there for the taking. All we have to do is find them, and if that fails, we can create them ourselves.

In a fast-paced, collegiate environment, opportunities to explore and grow as a person can seem few and far between. Now is not the time to stress about not having an internship; it’s the time to realize that the time to grow internally has finally arrived. Let’s not let that opportunity pass.

Email Anthony Madalone at asmadalone@email.wm.edu.

Though the College is a secular, state-run university, it cannot be ignored that many religious holidays have found secular audiences.

ASK A TWAMP

Q: How does the Flat Hat Opinions section work? What is our publishing philosophy?

A:

Recently, we have received some indirect complaints through the Facebook group “Swampy Memes for TWAMPy Teens” about the content we allow to be published in The Flat Hat’s opinions section. We welcome criticism and would like to take this opportunity to explain our publishing philosophy.

The Flat Hat is the College of William and Mary’s official student newspaper. Therefore, the opinions section is here to reflect the opinions of the student body. We are interested in publishing any student’s opinion unless it is clearly and objectively harmful, such as an incitement of violence or defamation of some kind. For the most part, we only publish opinions pieces written by people connected directly to the College, such as students, alumni and faculty.

In addition to regular opinions pieces, the opinions section publishes letters to the editor. Letters to the editor are sent specifically to the editor-in-chief of The Flat Hat and are often in response to a news or opinions article that has been published in a previous edition of the paper. Letters to the editor, by their nature, are meant to be published with very little alteration. While we have published letters to the editor from people unaffiliated with the College before, we are making an increasing effort to ensure that we only publish letters that are relevant to our community.

If an opinions submission or a letter to the editor is

extremely badly written or nonsensical, we will send it back to the author and vocalize our concerns. As the student body newspaper, we do not feel entitled to select which student perspectives should be represented or silenced. Ultimately, any reality where the opinions editors choose the pieces we publish solely based on our subjective ideas of which arguments are persuasive would offer little more than censorship. We are here to provide a voice for the whole student body, not to create an echo chamber of the opinions with which we personally agree.

While we understand that it is never enjoyable to read an opinion with which you strongly disagree, especially when it seems badly written or poorly argued, it is not fair of us to arbitrarily decide whose opinions are valid. The purpose of the opinions section is to highlight the opinions of students and alumni, and due to the size of our student body and alumni network, there are bound to be some opinions sent in to our paper that not every reader appreciates.

If you disagree with us on our publishing philosophy, feel free to send in an article. We’ll publish it.

Anna Boustany and Chloe Folmar are The Flat Hat opinions editors.

Email Anna and Chloe at fhopinions@gmail.com.

If you have a question you’d like to see answered, please email it to fhopinions@gmail.com.

As the student body newspaper, we do not feel entitled to select which student perspectives should be represented or silenced.

variety

Variety Editor Zoe Beardsley Variety Editor Adithi Ramakrishnan flathat.variety@gmail.com

The Flat Hat

| Tuesday, April 23, 2019 | Page 7

love,

Mary.

William and Mary

women share their

experiences at the

College, visions for

future at showcase NIA KITCHIN // EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

O

NIA KITCHIN / T H E FLAT HA T

ne hundred years since the graduation of the first 24 white women to attend the College of William and Mary, 24 women took to the stage of Lodge One to express their experiences as women at the College today. This showcase represented the student commemoration of 100 years of women and was created to give a platform for women currently enrolled at the College to share their experiences.

The performances took many different forms, ranging from personal essays to musical ensembles, from literary analyses to ukulele solos. During their performance, each woman attempted to capture what existing at the College today meant to her.

Karis Lee ’19 opened the show by reading a few of her personal poems. She explained that the first poem she read, “Morning Routine,” came out of thinking about how small she had made herself and how much she worried about taking up too much space.

So she wrote a second iteration of the poem, granting herself the space she needed to exist without constraints.

“I made a resolution to take up as much space as I want,” Lee said. “I’m going to take from this world as if it owes me something, the way I think many men walk through the world.”

Next, Flora Valdés-Dapena ’19 took the stage to talk about embracing her differences, performing an acoustic rendition of Kesha’s “Bastards.” She spoke about her experience at the College as one defined by her differences, and how she didn’t want her marginalized identities to pigeonhole her.

“I feel like the bastards getting me down [are] the people telling me I need to be a certain way,” Valdés-Dapena said.

Following Valdés-Dapena’s performance, Louisa Janssen ’20 spoke to the audience about her struggle pursuing a career that her family doesn’t support. Janssen said that while her family at home might prefer her to pursue a job in medicine, she realized her true home is at the College where she has found support for her new career path.

Alexa Mason ’19 spoke about her experience as a black woman at the College. She revealed to the audience what she wished she had been told when first

arriving on campus. She described her belief that college should be thought of as a transformative experience rather than a series of exams. She also emphasized that students who go here should not downplay their intelligence in order to make others appear smarter — the College and the world are made better by experiencing you as fully as possible.

“Know that the path you walk here makes it just a little easier for all the Marys who come after you,” Mason said.

Some performers highlighted ways the College has helped them overcome personal struggles.

Frida Salmoran ’19 spoke about her struggle to unite her identities. She said that she grew up attempting to whitewash herself, but throughout her experiences at the College she felt more and more at home in her own skin every day.

Other performers took the time to recognize the impact of their female influences.

Jackie Keshner ’19 presented 24 different messages to her female friends and mentors at the College. She expressed gratitude for their support, awe at their endeavors, and appreciation for how they pushed her to a greater level of intentionality.

Still others drew attention to the fact that this centennial is only celebrating 100 years of white women on campus.

Camryn Easley ’20 spoke about how the idea that “Mary” can represent all women at the College is flawed. She said that this College belongs to the Marys and the Williams, but that she does not need their permission to exist here. Easley emphasized that while she loves the College and all the Marys and Williams who attend it, it’s in more of a “thank you, next” kind of way.

“The most important lesson I’ve learned here is that I love Camryn, and Camryn loves me,” Easley said.

Many more students spoke and performed on the stage of Lodge One as the night progressed, and the audience moved in and out as students came to support their friends. As the crowd mingled and women continued to speak about the heartwarming and heartbreaking experiences that contributed to their college careers, the sentiments of Mohini Jodhpurkar ’19 seemed to encapsulate the mood felt in the room.

“It’s important to learn from history, to see our mistakes and learn where to grow,” Jodhpurkar said. “There’s so much that’s true now that wasn’t true then. William and Mary has improved in so many ways, but there is so much left to do. But what I know about the students here is that we sure as hell don’t give up.”

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Page 8

Garden vs. Gardens A

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Students debate proper terminology for iconic concave field

ETHAN BROWN, ANNA BOUSTANY // FLAT HAT MANAGING EDITOR, FLAT HAT OPINIONS EDITOR

COURTESY PHOTO / CREATIVE COMMONS

Jess X. Snow: AFTEREARTH Queer migrant Asian-Canadian artist, filmmaker brought to William and Mary by AASI, Rainbow Coalition GRACE OLSEN // FLAT HAT STAFF WRITER As a queer, migrant Asian American, Jess X. Snow has uniquely expressed her own intersectionality in the fields of film-making, poetry and art. April 17, the Rhode Island School of Design graduate joined students for a presentation of intersectional expression through film and poetry. Held in Commonwealth Auditorium, the event was organized by the Rainbow Coalition and the Asian American Student Initiative and boasted a crowd of close to 50 students — each characterized by their own diverse social categorizations.

Following Snow’s brief introduction and welcome, she led the audience into a reading of her poetry, including new and old works.

“If sanctuary for a queer migrant is neither a place nor a nation on Earth, then I carve a permanent sanctuary in my work,” Snow said. “My work is heavily impacted by my relationship with my family as a queer migrant, our intergenerational trauma, the stigmatism around mental health in Asian and immigrant communities, and me and my mother’s long journey attaining green card status in the U.S. after cycling through a decade of temporary visas.”

She introduced her first poem as a depiction of queerness through the means of an informal oration of history and an explanation of the science and naturalness of her sexuality.

“Our queerness is an ancient persistence,” Snow recited in her untitled poem.

S / AA TO “So, tell me, that we are against nature and HO P SY RTE that our bones will remember that we have COU been queer for 3.6 billion springs, summers, falls and winters, and even long after an infant empire collapses into dust, we will still be queer.”

The audience erupted into a sea of snaps as Snow concluded the poem and thanked the audience.

“That’s a poem about the idea that queerness is against nature is not true,” Snow said. “I write a lot about animals, and I think the natural world is a perfect example of how nature is resilient, and we can look at nature to inspire cultural movements and revolutions.”

After the recital, the projector screen illuminated with the title of the opening film, “MOTHERLAND.” Set in a post-apocalyptic future, a migrant Latino man used the oxygen from the last plant on Earth and memories

of his mothers to guide him to the discovery of how to preserve life on Earth.

Showed back-to-back, immediately following “MOTHERLAND” was Snow’s film “AFTEREARTH,” which was a collaboration with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific Center and Adobe Project 1324. “AFTEREARTH” focuses on the threatening force of rising sea levels and the fight four women give to preserve the oceans, land and air for future generations. The documentary was created by a majority LGBTQ+ cast and crew.

For the final film, Snow showed for the first time “SAFE AMONG STARS,” a film still in postproduction. “SAFE AMONG STARS” dealt with rape, an extremely sensitive subject, and viewer discretion was advised at the start of the film. As a queer Chinese-American girl deals with trauma of her own rape, she struggles to find a way to tell her mother about what happened.

“SAFE AMONG STARS” was heavily praised by the audience, as rape has become a more widespread topic of discussion in the media in recent years.

“This is really interesting,” Olivia Yang ’20 said. “From the films to the synopses and the rest of it, it’s all so exciting.”

Yang was not the only student who reacted positively. AASI and Filipino American Student Association members alike found great interest and excitement in the event. Jamelah Jacob ’21 and Rollin Woodford ’19 attended the event together. Both came in hopes of an enlightening event and left satisfied.

“I’m in AASI, and we brought Jess X. here, and as a fan of poetry in film, I knew I had to come,” Jacob said.

“I’m in FASA, and this event was talked about in some of our chats; it seemed to me like it dealt with some important issues, so I wanted to come, despite not being in AASI,” Woodford said.

Jacob then expressed her connection to the Asian and Pacific Islander American studies major and how the event was critical for her connection to the program.

“All of my interests intersecting in one event, I had to come,” Jacob said. “With the Asian American Student Initiative, we deal with social justice issues; we are a social justice organization here on campus. We try to uplift the community and work to bring attention to these issues in general. As an organization we advocate for the APIA program here on campus which is still trying to become a major and a minor; I hope that events like this can help generate a more positive response to the major.”

Snow’s immersive work in the cross-sections of fiction, fantasy, documentary and poetry have not only helped her but a vast population of intersectional Americans, according to students.

“I strive to create a home for people with traumas surrounding queerness, sexual assault, migration and displacement,” Snow said. “I hope my work can empower people to ultimately discover inside their own bodies — a sanctuary to heal.”

sportsinside

The Flat Hat

| Tuesday, April 23, 2019 | Page 9

TRACK AND FIELD

Individuals shine despite disappointing meet Tribe men’s team places fifth overall, women’s team takes eleventh in Durham GAVIN AQUIN FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR Saturday, April 20, William and Mary travelled to Durham, North Carolina to compete in the Duke Invitational. The men finished the meet fifth overall with 43 points, losing to Minnesota’s 137.5 total.

The women finished tied for 11th in the meet with a total of 20 points, losing to the Golden Gophers as well, who took the meet with a total of 144.5.

Finishing out the day with a win in the 4x400m relay, the Tribe ran a 3:16.36 to requalify for the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America Championships. Contributing to this win were junior Theo Chambers, senior Duncan Goodrich, junior Skander Ballard and sophomore Colin Grip.

In the field events, the men were likewise very successful, including three IC4A qualifiers in the discus. Sophomore Connor Scott took second overall with his lifetime-best 50.66m, improving his best by more than three feet, and earning his place in school history as seventh best. Graduate student Preston Richardson took fourth with 50.10m, while freshman Troy Yearwood took eighth with 48.29m.

In shot put, Richardson put out his season-best 17.71m, just two inches short of his personal best, and the seventh-longest put in school history. With this, he was able to requalify for the IC4A Championships, and is likely to receive a bid for the National Collegiate Athletic Association, having the best mark in the Colonial Athletic Association.

In pole vault, sophomore Michael Fairbanks placed ninth and requalified for the IC4As at a height of 4.90m.

For the women, among their top performances of the day was that of sophomore Jadyn Currie who finished 10th in the 100m hurdles with a lifetime-best and Eastern College Athletic Conference-qualifying 14.33 seconds. For Currie, this was the 11th-fastest race in school history, and it moves her to fifth all-time amongst Tribe athletes.

In pole vault, junior Lauren Graves earned her lifetime best for the third week in a row, placing eighth with a clearance at 3.80m, requalifying her for the ECAC Championships.

Senior Brianna Miller was likewise very impressive in her horizontal jumps, with two top-10 performances, and two top-10 all-time marks.

In long jump, she took ninth overall at 5.63m, the eighth-longest jump in school history. In triple jump, Miller was 10th overall at 11.81m, which was the 10th longest jump at the College.

The College will return to action next weekend with a team split between a pair of meets. Several athletes will be at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 25-27, while others will head to Charlottesville, Virginia for the Virginia Grand Prix April 26-27.

COURTESY PHOTOS / TRIBE ATHLETICS

Sophomore Connor Scott earned second with a lifetime-best 50.66m throw.

sports

Sports Editor Gavin Aquin Sports Editor Avery Lackner flathatsports@gmail.com @FlatHatSports

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, April 23, 2019 | Page 10

W A R O R F D T O G F A L N L I G S P N I R SP Looking ahead to next year, promising new faces ORTS

FALL SPORTS PREVIEW

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With the school year coming to an end, here’s what to look forward to from Tribe Athletics in the Fall.

Football A fresh start will be the theme for Tribe football this coming fall, with a new coaching staff under offseason hire Mike London and an incoming graduate transfer quarterback to be paired with returning skill position players.

Quarterback had been a competitive position in practice throughout the month of April, with five players fighting for the starting job at the conclusion of spring JAMIE HOLT / THE FLAT HAT practices. Graduate transfer Kilton Anderson, formerly of Coastal Carolina, announced his decision to transfer to the College April 16 after throwing for over 1,000 yards for the Chanticleers last year.

A key factor in the addition of Anderson was his impression of the new Tribe leadership.

“I was most impressed with the caliber of the coaching staff,” Anderson said to the Daily Press. “They were passionate, dynamic, organized and I thought it was a place that I belonged and would thrive.”

In addition to the new pieces, the Tribe looks to further develop its in-house talent, which was evident during its annual Green and Gold spring game, in which several returning players posted strong stat lines. Sophomore running back Owen Wright scored two touchdowns and totaled 129 yards on 14 carries, and senior running back Albert Funderburke gained 109 yards of his own.

The defense also showed signs of promise in the spring game, picking off two passes, forcing a fumble, and totaling 11 tackles for loss.

The Tribe will begin the 2019-2020 campaign at home August 31 versus Lafayette.

— Nathan Seidel, Flat Hat Sports Assoc. Editor Men’s Soccer Ending the season 6-10-2 in Colonial Athletic Association play, the Tribe has much to improve on in the upcoming season. The College bids farewell to many seniors, most notably Antonio Bustamante who will play for the Major League Soccer team D.C. United’s reserve team Loudon United. Other than Bustamante, Will Rosenbaum, Marcel Berry, Ryder Bell, John Fuquene, Remi Frost, Graham Guidry and Sam Onyeador will likewise be graduating.

Head coach Chris Norris has worked hard to fill in the talent on the team with the mass departure of graduating seniors. Joining the Tribe in the fall are Alexander Levengood, Nathan Messer, Will Stack, Marcos Villeda and Kieran Baskett — with Baskett set to join the goalkeepers as Onyeador departs.

Despite a disappointing loss against CO UR TE current CAA champion James Madison in the SY PH OT semifinal of the 2018 tournament, the Tribe O/ TR IBE has the potential to return to its prestige AT HL ET as a CAA powerhouse, having defeated ICS North Carolina-Wilmington in 2017 to win the title and having taken the championship six times before that. Retaining the talent of several players next season, the Tribe will have to make use of players such as junior Reeves Trott and freshman Zachary Hosseinian if it hopes to achieve this.

— Gavin Aquin, Flat Hat Sports Editor Women’s Soccer The Tribe held its own this season, going 6-101 on the year and 3-5-1 in CAA play. Despite that, the College fell to Northeastern in the final game of the season, in a game with only one Huskies goal. The Tribe said goodbye to four seniors, midfielders Mackenzie Kober, Arundel Miguelez and Claire Robbins, as well as goalkeeper Sara Vigen.

These holes in the midfield and defense will make the upcoming 2019 season one of transition for the Tribe.

However, a robust recruitment class of nine will certainly fill the empty ranks. Emily Crocco, Zoe Doughty, Shelby Hatchel, BE

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Laurel Hagen, Madeleine Hayes, Jillian O’Toole, Kayleigh Shackford and late addition Sophie Geslao will join the Tribe as freshman, while sophomore transfer Hannah Potter comes to the College from Kentucky.

Combined with the 21 returning team members, this solid recruiting effort from head coach Julie Shackford puts the Tribe in good standing for the upcoming season, despite having to face a tough conference, with defending champions Hofstra as well as other rivals like Northeastern and Drexel.

— Avery Lackner, Flat Hat Sports Editor Field Hockey In 2018, William and Mary captured its first CAA championship in program history. The Tribe maneuvered through a difficult nonconference schedule before posting a 5-1 record in CAA play. The College’s lone loss in conference action came against five-time defending CAA champion Delaware. For the second-straight year, the Tribe and the Blue Hens met in the CAA championship. However, the College was able to knock off the Blue Hens and win a National Collegiate Athletic Association play-in game before falling to eventual national champion and top-ranked North Carolina.

In 2019, the College will have to replace seven seniors, including midfielder Estelle Hughes ’19 and defender Caroline Arrowood ’19.

Nevertheless, the Tribe will return several impact players, including junior midfielders Cassidy Goodwin, Annie Snead and Christie van de Kamp, as well as junior forward Woodard Hooper. Van de Kamp was the 2018 CAA Defensive Player of the Year and Goodwin, Snead and Hooper each received postseason honors in the CAA. Snead also set the program records for assists in a single season in 2018 with 12 helpers.

Sophomore goalkeeper Kimi Jones was CoRookie of the Year in the CAA last season.

The Tribe will have another COURTESY PHOTO / TRIBE ATHLETICS challenging non-conference slate in 2019, and the CAA is always a competitive conference. However, the College is equipped to defend its conference championship and potentially advance even deeper into the NCAA tournament. Head coach Tess Ellis — the reigning CAA Coach of the Year — and the Tribe will open the season in late August and look to follow up a historic 2018 season with an even more impressive 2019 campaign. Home games will be played at Busch Field and admission is free for students.

— Kevin Richeson, Flat Hat Operations Coordinator Swimming Highly underrated in regards to the College’s other sports, the men’s and women’s swim teams finished the spring 2018 season with accolades. In the Colonial Athletic Association Championships the men emerged victorious, having taken first place while the women took second place in their respective championship.

The men will be losing several key names on their roster, with seniors Eric Grimes, Ramzy Ali, Carter Kale, Brooks Peterson, Joey Rento and Evan Baker graduating. The women will likewise bid farewell to its seniors including Abby Jones, Nina Lesser, Annie COURTESY PHOTO / TRIBE ATHLETICS Miller, Maria Oceguera, Emily Schroeder, Katie Sell, Morgan Smith and Claire Williams — who was chosen as the 2018-19 CAA Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Though head coach Matt Crispino has not yet disclosed anything about the incoming freshman class, new members of the Tribe will have big shoes to fill if they wish to replicate this year’s massive successes.

— Gavin Aquin, Flat Hat Sports Editor Cross Country Cross Country is a woefully undervalued part of Tribe Athletics, especially considering how both the men’s and women’s squads have excelled in the past decade. The women’s team won its sixth Colonial Athletic Association championship in the past seven seasons in 2018 when it edged past Elon by 2 points in a thrilling victory.

For their part, the men’s squad cruised to its nineteenth consecutive CAA Championship this past season. This puts the team in possession of the fourth-longest men’s track winning streak in National Collegiate Athletic Association history, as well as the second-longest active streak in the country.

The all-conference team consisted of five Tribe athletes from the men’s team and three from the women’s squad. For the men, distance runners senior Ryan McGorty, redshirt freshman Micah Pratt, sophomore Spencer Tsai, redshirt freshman Patrick Lynch and freshman Zachary Levet, represented the College on the CAA all-conference team.

The women sent distance runners sophomore Lauren Finikiotis, sophomore Lauren Kroepfl and junior Charlotte Kowalk to the all-conference group.

The Tribe looks to continue its CAA dominance in 2019, and with strong performances from underclassmen as well as veterans, the odds of bringing home another championship are certainly in the College’s favor.

— Avery Lackner, Flat Hat Sports Editor COURTESY PHOTO / TRIBE ATHLETICS Volleyball The College had a tough season and a taxing schedule in 2018, going 5-20 overall and 1-15 in the Colonial Athletic Association. However, standout individual performances are a beacon of hope for next season. Freshman outside hitter Claire Farrell was named a Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Year. Additionally, the Tribe welcomes five new recruits for the 2019 season, all freshman, including middle blockers Kaitlyn Ferguson and Shiyanna McLeod, laberos Gabi Ganley and Anna Porter and setter Kate Van Houten. As the current roster is sorely lacking defensive strength and a presence in the middle of the net, these recruits are much needed additions to the College. Ten of the Tribe’s fourteen players will be either sophomores or freshman next year, leaving plenty of room for growth and leadership development in underclassman and setting the College up for a prosperous future.

— Avery Lackner, Flat Hat Sports Editor Women’s Golf Despite a year of both spectacular victory and devastating losses, the Tribe seeks to improve and overcome its difficulties from this year.

With Elizabeth Choi ’18 having graduated early and the imminent departure of senior Riley Corona, the College will have to depend more and more on the talent of junior Allison Olberding along with current freshmen such as Phoebe Yuan and Sarah Houle.

Rising to the challenge will be Olberding, who carries the Tribe’s lowest scoring COURTESY PHOTO / TRIBE ATHLETICS average of the remaining players — an impressive 77.00. Her sweep of the Hound Ears Intercollegiate and her fifth-place finish in the Colonial Athletic Championship are paramount signals that she is ready to lead the College to further successes. Not far behind her, Houle retains an impressive scoring average of 77.70 and will further bolster the Tribe.

Though the Director of Golf Jay Albaugh and assistant coach Ed Teer have yet to announce about the incoming class, the program is already seeing the effects of missing Choi, who had been an instrumental part of its successes in the past. Incoming freshmen certainly have big shoes to fill.

— Gavin Aquin, Flat Hat Sports Editor Men’s Golf The Tribe men’s golf team will look to forge new foundations in the fall, with younger players set to move into gaps created by three graduating seniors. One of those seniors is David Hicks, who recently finished second overall individually in the Rutherford Intercollegiate with a -4 total score over the three rounds. Hicks also earned the best scoring average in Tribe history over his four years with a 73.19.

Seniors Will Stewart and Gavin deFisser will also leave substantial golf shoes to fill, Stewart having earned a .702 winning percentage this past season and deFisser improving substantially throughout his time in Williamsburg to record his lowest scoring average (74.20) of his career as a senior.

While those graduating will be missed, a bright spot for the team is freshman Matthew Feinstein, who showed promise in 2018-19 with multiple rounds at or below 70. Feinstein finished the regular season strong, breaking par (70, -1) on the final day of the Rutherford Intercollegiate, as well as converting 39 pars on the weekend.

The Tribe will also return junior Walker Campbell and sophomore Trevor Hecht, each of whom consistently produced solid rounds this season. Campbell showed marked improvement this season, posting a 73.90 scoring average and a .579 winning percentage.

— Nathan Seidel, Flat Hat Sports Assoc. Editor

OUT OF THE PARK

Tribe Athletics, College should invest in esports program Exponential growth in collegiate esports presents great opportunity for success

Gavin Aquin

FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR

With all the craze around basketball these last few weeks — along with the excitement of the impending return of football — it is becoming evident that the College is squandering its potential to create a new powerhouse for excitement: an official esports team.

Having come from out West, I have enjoyed seeing universities such as Boise State,

California-Irvine, California-Berkeley, and Utah join the number of schools deciding to create dynamic and successful varsity esports teams.

These schools allow students with an aptitude in competitive video games such as Blizzard’s “Overwatch” or Riot’s “League of Legends” to represent their university.

A prospective student can test their skill and vie for a spot on the team with the assurance that, if they make the cut, the school will grant them scholarship money in the same way that a traditional athlete would receive money to compete for a school.

The general trend for esports in 2019 is extreme upward growth. The upcoming finals for the North American League of Legends Spring Championship is set to surpass last year’s record 600,000 live viewers. Likewise, according to CNBC, 2018’s League of Legends World Championship in Seoul, South Korea drew in 100 million unique viewers — two million more than watched Super Bowl LII in 2018.

So why is it that Tribe Athletics is turning a blind eye to the growth of collegiate esports?

While Irvine and Boise State build esport gaming coliseums, the College seems more preoccupied with attempting to convince apathetic students that traditional sports are what they should spend their weekends viewing. An esports coliseum would provide an alternate outlet for entertainment to students who would prefer to spectate a tournament.

It would provide the necessary equipment for students of differing economic resources to be able to enjoy the latest competitive games on equipment they can access.

Despite the negative attention that video games receive amongst the general populace — often described as a “waste of time” — there is an inseparable link between video games and the vital fields of computer programming and mathematics. The explosive growth of video games presents an opportunity for the creators of the future to be part of a movement that

inspires millions of gamers.

If the College were to create an open environment of equal opportunity, not only could the Tribe’s potential epsorts team bring home championships, but perhaps it could serve as a rallying point for the College’s community of gamers and esports fanatics. Likewise, perhaps a curiosity in esports would encourage more people to consider William and Mary to be their destination for a high-tech education.

GRAPHIC BY: NATHAN SEIDEL, EMMA FORD / FLAT HAT SPORTS ASSOC. EDITOR, FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR