Vol. 108, Iss. 6 | Tuesday, April 3, 2018
The Flat Hat The Weekly Student Newspaper
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of The College of William and Mary
GRAPHIC BY NIA KITCHIN / THE FLAT HAT
STUDENT LIFE
Plaques to honor firsts First female, African-American residential students will be commemorated in Wren piazza SARAH SMITH FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The Sir Christopher Wren Building piazza is adorned with plaques commemorating notable College of William and Mary firsts, from the first law school to the first honor code. At a public ceremony April 19, the College will unveil two new plaques honoring the university’s first female and African-American residential students. One of these tablets will include the names of the College’s first three African-American residential students: Lynn Briley ’71, Karen Ely ’71 and Janet Brown Strafer ’71, M.Ed. ’77. These three women have been honored throughout the 2017-18 academic year and will be honored once more during May’s Commencement ceremony. The other plaque will include the names of the first 24 female students who enrolled in 1918. Starting in the fall 2018 semester, the College will begin a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of having women in residence. “To have plaques honoring the firsts residential AfricanAmerican students and the first women in such a historical building on campus is a significant gesture toward the inclusion part of diversity and inclusion and hopefully will continue in other tangible ways,” English professor and 50th Commemoration Committee Chair Jacquelyn McLendon said in a press statement. This committee which McLendon chairs, along with the committee organizing the 100th anniversary celebration, sponsored the plaques. 100th Commemoration Committee Co-Chair Jayne Barnard said that both groups sought to create physical objects to honor women and African Americans as part of the anniversary celebrations. Barnard also said that College President Taylor Reveley, who will retire June 30, 2018, supported the committees in creating physical monuments. “This never would have happened without his support,” Barnard said in a press statement. At the public unveiling ceremony, Reveley and McLendon will speak, along with Director of Alumnae Initiatives and 100th Committee Co-Chair Val Cushman and Executive Director of Historic Campus Susan Kern. The unveiling ceremony will begin with the tolling of the Wren bell. A reception in the Sunken Garden will follow. “When these two plaques are installed, the Wren Building at last will contain the names of women and people of color, and those names will remain there forever,” Barnard said. Kern’s job has been to work with the committees to develop the content of the plaques and oversee their creation and installation. “The committees have worked long and hard on tweaking the language for those plaques and getting something that sounds for the ages but also of the moment,” Kern said in a press statement. In addition to the names of these students, both plaques will include the College’s official cypher and text honoring these first groups of women and African-American students. The plaque for the 50th anniversary will pay tribute to “those African-American students earlier denied full participation but who played a key role in the process of integration and who persevered through some of the most challenging moments in our nation’s history.” The plaque for the 100th anniversary says that the first 24 women “paved the way for the more than 50,000 women who have followed them as students and alumnae. They also laid the foundation for the inclusion of women in the fabric of William & Mary.” Similar to other plaques on the Wren Building’s piazza, the new plaques will be marble. The older plaques vary in size, but the two new plaques will be 42 inches wide, 60 inches tall and 3 centimeters thick. They will both be mounted on the piers facing the building. Kern said that while some people questioned the decision to hang the plaques outside of the building instead of on the inside, she believes that the location is appropriate. “The tablets that are inside are war memorials, so they’re marking people who are remembered because they died whereas out on the piazza we have tablets about William & Mary’s priorities and role in creating the U.S., so it’s really about people who are being remembered for what they did while they lived,” Kern said. In addition to the names of these students, both plaques will include the College’s official cypher and text honoring these first groups of women and African-American students. The plaque for the 50th anniversary will pay tribute to “those African-American students earlier denied full participation but who played a key role in the process of integration and who persevered through some of the most challenging moments in our nation’s history.”
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SA hosts inaugural symposium on race ‘Tending Our Roots’ discusses history of race in universities across Virginia SARAH SMITH // FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF This weekend, Student Assembly hosted “Tending Our Roots,” an inaugural symposium on race in higher education that reflected on the College of William and Mary’s history — and the history of similar universities across Virginia. This symposium was held Thursday, March 29, through Saturday, March 31. There were several events each day, including a film screening with Claudrena Harold, a discussion on the historical context of “hate speech” and a keynote address by Mayor of Richmond Levar Stoney. In fall 2017, outgoing SA President Elijah Levine ’18, outgoing SA Vice President Annelise Yackow ’18 and Chief of Staff Noah Ferris ’20 began brainstorming this statewide effort after reaching out to student government leaders at the University of Virginia. One impetus of this effort was the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last August. Another was the College’s commemoration of the 50th anniversary of AfricanAmerican students in residence. “All of it definitely comes back to our motivation, our two big anniversaries [for]our schools,” Levine said. “These are such salient topics that it seems very apropos to hone that energy
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See SYMPOSIUM page 5
STUDENT LIFE
Website to display disciplinary history of organizations Eight out of 11 sanctioned organizations part of Fraternity and Sorority life SARAH SMITH FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
In an effort to increase transparency, the College of William and Mary began a new initiative April 2 to make public the disciplinary history of recognized student organizations through the Office of Student Conduct’s website. Although this information was available previously to individuals who requested it, it was not readily available to the general public. “This is an initiative we have been working on for some time,” Associate Dean of Students and Director of Student Conduct Dave Gilbert said in a press statement. “We want to make this information more readily available so that students and parents can assess the disciplinary history of organizations a student may plan to join and make informed decisions. This information will also provide greater transparency to the broader community regarding disciplinary outcomes.”
The published list will include all incidents that result in sanctions of disciplinary probation, and will also include case summaries and details on specific consequences. Individual case summaries will remain online for three academic years or until the sanctions are complete. According to Dean of Students Marjorie Thomas, one incentive for publishing this list is to hold students to a higher level of compliance with College policy and law. “Our students know that all organizations are expected to abide by the Student Code of Conduct and all applicable laws with the goal to provide membership experiences that are safe and affirming,” Thomas said in a press statement. “We hope this list will also serve as added impetus for greater compliance.” The initial list published April 2 contains 16 disciplinary outcomes involving student organizations. The earliest of these reported offenses dates to fall 2014. The website will be updated each time a sanction resulting
in disciplinary probation or greater is finalized. On average, the Office of Student Conduct sees four or five cases a year that result in such sanctions. Eight of the 11 organizations included on the website as of April 2 are members of the College’s Fraternity and Sorority Life. These organizations are Kappa Delta Rho, Pi Kappa Alpha, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Beta Theta Pi, Alpha Epsilon Pi, Sigma Pi, Delta Phi and Hermandad de Sigma Iota Alpha, Inc. The other three organizations receiving such sanctions are the men’s rugby team, the club sailing team and the Queen’s Guard. The allegations resulting in these sanctions all dealt with either hazing or alcohol offenses. Some organizations are on the published list multiple times for similar offenses. Two reports were filed in August 2015 against Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity for hazing and providing alcohol to minors. The reports say that during a “clue week” activity, members of the fraternity hosted events and provided alcohol to minors. Additionally, the reports detail
a scavenger hunt where new members were asked to perform “menial” and “degrading” tasks. Some of these conduct reports, such as the ones for the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and Hermandad de Sigma Iota Alpha, Inc., had previously been made public. All other conduct reports had not been released publicly, and no official university statement has been issued as a result of the reported actions. The organizations that are not a part of the College’s FSL also were reported for similar offenses. One of the reports, stemming from Nov. 2014, states that the Queen’s Guard, also known as the Society of Pershing Rifles, required its members to participate in significant physical activity from 8 p.m. to midnight. They then provided underage new members with alcohol at an off-campus house. As a result of this report, the group was required to identify and retain a faculty advisor and review its bylaws. It remained under disciplinary probation until February 2, 2015.
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Fewer spring deadlines beneficial for students
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into a very constructive conversation. I think that at the basis of it is a premise that we have a platform, have access to our wonderful faculty, a network of students both here and beyond in other Virginia schools — that we would be selling ourselves in the position short if we didn’t capture that and use it to, in the broadest way possible, make a conversation that involves promoting as many voices as possible.” The majority of the smaller discussion sessions, as well as the keynote address, were held at the College’s School of Education. The bulk of the events happened Friday, beginning at 10 a.m. These events included discussions of the history of civil rights, early Virginia history, cultural expression and immigration in the context of higher education. The keynote address also took place Friday, at 6 p.m. Ferris, who was one of SA members involved from this program’s beginning, said that he saw Friday’s events as a way of raising awareness about prevalent issues. “From the inception, we were talking about a more robust
Dylan Koury ’ 21 says that the spring semester’s course registration and housing deadlines generate unwanted stress for students. page 6
Laverne Cox speaks about politics, social change Well-known actress and transgender rights activist recounts her personal story as part of the annual Atwater Lecture Series. page 7