The Flat Hat April 4 2014

VARIETY >> PAGE 6

SPORTS >> PAGE 8

Musical groups from on and off campus will perform at the music festival Saturday.

Richmond, Old Dominion rack up 30 runs against Tribe pitchers.

Bands make TWAMPs dance

Vol. 103, Iss. 45 | Friday, April 4, 2014

Pitching Meltdown

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of The College of William and Mary

STUDENT ASSEMLBY

SA talks gender

ACADEMICS

Additional creative writing minor, traveling scholarship further efforts to increase writing opportunities at College

ostering Creativity

Eight years ago, there was no creative writing program at the College of William and Mary.

This month last year, no official creative writing minor was offered to College students. The official creative writing minor established in the summer of 2013 offers advanced writing classes to students and provides them with greater opportunity to express themselves.

“I think the creative writing minor gives some legitimacy to the program, and it gives a name to the program and brings attention to the program,” Mildred and J.B. Hickman Professor of English and Humanities Henry Hart said. “I think for a long time it just seemed like we had a scattering of creative writing classes and that was it.”

STUDENT LIFE E n g l i s h professor Nancy Schoenberger a n d assistant COURTESY PHOTO / OPENCLIPART.ORG professor

STUDENT LIFE

BY MADELINE BIELSKI FLAT HAT ASSOC. NEWS EDITOR

“It’s a great senior year thing to do — kind of taking a step back and making something rather than memorizing things,” Hensley said. “It was a nice way to spend my senior year.”

Alongside the official recognition of the minor, the department is offering the Concord Traveling Scholarship for the first time. The scholarship, established by an anonymous alum, awards $3,000 to one creative writing student each year.

Recipients can use the money to travel and write over the summer. Upon returning in the fall, students will present their work in an Englishdepartment-sponsored reading. “[The donor] came up with the name of the Concord Traveling Scholarship. … Apparently he was reading some of Henry David Thoreau and Thoreau made a comment that he had done a lot of traveling around Concord, Mass.,” Hart said.

“What it meant was that he was, in a way, traveling among his imagination while he was in Concord reading and writing. He also traveled around New England, but I think that the idea was that travel can be imaginative as well as geographical.”

A Monroe Scholar while at the College, the donor used the summer Monroe scholarship to travel and read poetry, particularly work by Charles Simic. The donor said that, during the summer between his junior and senior year, he used the money from the Monroe scholarship get in a car and drive west, eventually ending up

Beyonce may say that girls run the world, but that isn’t always the case in the College of William and Mary’s Student Assembly.

Last year’s SA elections saw a total of zero women vying for senate seats. This year, three women were elected by the freshmen class in the fall and an additional four women won positions in this past election cycle.

Michelle Tansey ’16, an incoming senator for the Class of 2016, noted that although not as many women run for SA positions, women can be successful. According to Tansey, a total of 38 people ran in last year’s SA elections, including 11 women. Of the 38 people who ran, 26 won positions and nine of those winners were women.

Secretary of Outreach and incoming SA Vice President Kendall Lorenzen ’15 said she sees societal influences as part of the reason why some women are deterred from running for SA positions.

Lorenzen “Our culture, I think, creates a lot of females as seeing themselves as supporting characters and not necessarily as people that are going out and making positive changes in the community … which is something we really need to change,” Lorenzen said.

President of the Class of 2015 Brianna Buch ’15 said she sees the overall image of politics as being a possible source of dissuasion for everyone — not just women — considering running for student government positions.

“It is pretty intimidating to run for a position,” Buch said. “The fact that sometimes politics tends to have this stereotype of being kind of [dog eat] dog and really aggressive. And I think that kind of mentality can keep a lot of people away.”

Sometimes, efforts encouraging women to run for SA leadership positions occur on a personal level with current female SA officers talking to other women on campus about pursuing positions. Sen. Emily Thomas ’17 said her RA, Lorenzen, encouraged her to run. Thomas said Lorenzen made her aware of the lack of female

See CREATIVE page 3

See WOMEN page 4

BY MEREDITH RAMEY // FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

of English Chelsey Johnson furthered the official establishment of the creative writing minor.

According to Hart, Schoenberger was the first tenured creative writing professor at the College, previously serving as a writer-in-residence, and remains the only full-time tenured creative writing professor. Johnson is on tenure track in the creative writing department.

“We had been considering it for a number of years because we already had a full roster of creative courses to offer at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels,” Schoenberger said in an email. “As many of our peer colleges offer creative writing minors and even majors, we thought it was time to turn a collection of welldesigned and popular courses into an official program and allow students to minor in creative writing.”

Students and faculty alike highlight the benefits of defining creative writing as a distinctive department outside the English department.

“At first, it can seem like an unnecessary break from the English department. … [But,] you [can] have an English major that came out of here that studied Victorian English literature and then you can have one that wrote poetry,” Morgan Hensley ’14 said. “So I think it’s a necessary and a good divide that can come out of the department.”

Hensley, an English major, was the first student at the College to declare a creative writing minor.

He declared soon after the minor was announced last summer.

Women advance in SA

ACADEMICS

Student Affairs Research fellows seek out summer donations most promising

Charles Center receives two $25,000 anonymous gifts to match individual fellowship funding

Ranked in top 30 offices in US

BY ELEANOR LAMB FLAT HAT ASSOC. NEWS EDITOR

The College of William and Mary has been ranked one of the top 30 places in the nation to work in student affairs.

The Division of Student Affairs was recognized by the Center for Inclusion, Diversity, and Academic Success as part of a study conducted by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine. The study considered the number of staff members and compensation of staff, as well as cultural factors like quality of workplace environment, leave policies and staff Ambler development opportunities.

“I was delighted because diversity has been such a core See AFFAIRS page 3

Today’s Weather

Index News Insight News News

Opinions Variety Variety Sports

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

BY CLAIRE GILLESPIE FLAT HAT ASSOC. NEWS EDITOR

With three weeks left to donate to the honors fellowship fund, honors fellows at the College of William and Mary are hoping that donors will contribute the final amounts to fund each of their $6,000 summer research projects.

The fellowship website, set up like a micro-financed kickstarter, relies on individual donations to fund each student’s project.

This year, the Charles Center received two $25,000 gifts from anonymous donors to match the amount of money people donate.

Director of the Charles Center Joel Schwartz said these gifts were depleted in a matter of hours.

“In this case, the dollar-for-

dollar match goes to the specific student that you’ve chosen at the specific amount that you’ve given,” Schwartz said. “We’ve learned from experience that it really does motivate these microfinancing donors.”

Last year the Charles Center hosted 60 honors fellows and fully funded 42. This year, 66 honors fellows seek donations.Seven projects have been fully funded. “[The money] means a lot,” H o n o r s Fellow Jacob Lisi ’15 said.

“It allows me to pretty much stay here this summer. …

Schwartz It just makes

influence social phobia in children.

“In psych studies like the one we’re doing, it’s really expensive to recruit because you have to offer monetary incentive to everybody,” Parr said. “In this particular study, we offer $10 to every child who participates. Multiply that by the 200 kids we have so far, that’s a lot of money. And we’re planning to recruit as many as possible.”

The Charles Center has the internal money to fully fund six projects. They will use this money to top off students’ projects at the end of the donation period.

“Funding is a very important thing when you get beyond undergraduate education,” Lisi See HONORS page 4

Inside VARIETY

Inside OPINIONS

Do college rankings really matter?

Slightly cloudy High 81, Low 58

life a lot easier and allows me to focus on my research rather than try to find an extra job beyond the 9 to 5 that research entails over the summer.”

Lisi is researching the carbon-to-oxygen ratio in the functionalized grapheme used in oil pipes. Lisi researches the carbon to oxygen ratio in the functionalized grapheme used in oil pipes.

Besides funding living expenses and the cost of not working another job, Honors Fellow Naomi Parr ’15 said the money would fund her project that examines maternal responses to children’s negative emotions.

Parr’s research will investigate how mothers’ emotional responses can

While they’re important for the researching prospective student, rankings do not define a college experience.page 4

Hacking, the Tribe way

In the first-ever hackathon, teams from different colleges came up with ways to innovate the computing world. page 7

newsinsight “

The Flat Hat

| Friday, April 4, 2014 | Page 2

THE BUZZ

Our culture, I think, creates a lot of females as seeing themselves as supporting characters and not necessarily as people that are going out and making positive changes in the community … which is something we really need to change.

— Incoming Student Assembly Vice President Kendall Lorenzen ’15 on female representation in the SA

AROUND THE ‘BURG

“

THE DIGITAL DAY

News Editor Áine Cain News Editor Rohan Desai fhnews@gmail.com // @theflathat

SWEM CELEBRATES HIP HOP COLLECTION On April 3, Earl Gregg Swem Library held a celebration for its Hip Hop Collection. The event included performers, a panel discussion and street art exhibits.

A THOUSAND WORDS

COURTESY PHOTO / VAGAZETTE.COM

Metal cans, like those produced by Ball Metal packaging company, contain volatile organic compounds. Ball Metal is the worst polluter in JC County.

McAuliffe appoints former York County Superintendent The Williamsburg-Yorktown Daily reports that former York County School Division superintendent Steve Staples was recently appointed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe, D, Va. to lead the state’s Department of Education. He succeeds Patricia. Wright, who worked for the Virginia Department of Education for 30 years. In addition to serving as York County’s superintendent for 16 years, Staples was also director of the Virginia Association of School Superintendents for two years and taught at the College of William and Mary’s School of Education for four years. In 1997, he was named the state’s Superintendent of the Year.

Ball Metal state’s 20th worst polluter According to the Virginia Gazette, Ball Metal, a metal packaging company, is currently the worst industrial polluter in James City County. The rating was reported after a study by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, which also named the company the 20th worst polluter in the state. Ball Metal uses glycol ethers and n-butyl alcohol, two dangerous organic compounds. The company released 458,000 pounds of these substances in 2012 alone. The James City facility is one of the Ball plants not equipped with an oxidizer to destroy these volatile organic compounds.

Williamsburg library granted funds York County recently allocated $536,553 to the Williamsburg Regional Library, the Daily Press reports. Although the county is not a full funding partner — such as James City County and the City of Williamsburg — borrowing privileges have been granted to York County residents. They can now borrow 32 items at a time, an increase from the previous limit of 20 items.

The sum York County contributed is based on 80 percent of its circulation, and it will increase by no more than 5 percent per year. York County’s Board of Supervisors is considering building another library in the county, but no steps have been taken yet due to the project’s cost of $8.5 million.

Fire Station 4 underway According to the Williamsburg-Yorktown Daily, construction has begun on James City County’s Fire Station 4 on Old Town Road. The fire station is set to be completed in April 2015. The A.R. Chesson Construction Company, based in North Carolina, won a $3.28 million bid in October to execute the project. They recently finished the first stage: building a storm water runoff area across the street from the firehouse. Although Dominion Virginia Power’s installment of an overhead power line over the planned construction site temporarily threatened the project, the A.R. Chesson Construction Company negotiated a re-routing of the line underground.

CITY POLICE BEAT

March 30 — April 1 ALISON SHOMAKER / THE FLAT HAT

CORRECTIONS The Flat Hat wishes to correct any facts printed incorrectly. Corrections may be submitted by email to the editor of the section in which the incorrect information was printed. Requests for corrections will be accepted at any time.

The Flat Hat

1

Sunday, March 30 — An individual was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol on Harriet Tubman Lane.

2

Monday, March 31 — An individual was arrested for defrauding hotels and motels on Richmond Road.

3

Tuesday, April 1 — An individual was arrested for counterfeiting and forgery on Richmond Road.

4

Tuesday, April 1 — An individual was arrested for assaulting a family member on Capitol Landing Road.

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NEWS IN BRIEFS Conference to focus on future of IR

Technology Expo draws crowd

LEADCollegiate honors Reveley

The Wendy and Emery Reves Center for International Studies and the Coalition for International Education will hold a conference together later this month in Colonial Williamsburg. The three-day conference is called “Internationalization of the U.S. Education in the 21st Century: The Future of International and Foreign Language Studies, A Research Conference on National Needs and Policy Implication.”

It aims to strengthen the U.S.’s ability to collaborate with foreign powers in the global economy. It will feature eight keynote speakers, who will discuss issues such as global competency and the future of international and foreign language studies.

Alan B. Miller Hall recently hosted the Second Annual Teaching and Technology Expo, an open house aimed at helping faculty members use technology to engage their classes. Although this is only the second meeting of the event, many faculty and staff members attended.

The College’s eLearning Community, the Mason School of Business and Earl Gregg Swem Library co-sponsored the event, providing technical and financial support and coordinating with faculty members. The expo showcased 25 exhibits on wikis, blogs, social media and media management, and allowed guests to test some of the technology.

Kathleen “Khaki” LaRiviere ‘14 and Stacey LaRiviere ’14, creators of LEADCollegiate, recently honored College President Taylor Reveley by asking him to be the namesake of their organization’s chapter. They also awarded him with a LEADCollegiate t-shirt and plaque as thanks for his help in founding the organization.

LEADCollegiate provides leadership training and service opportunities for students. The sisters created the organization in 2012 as an expansion of a program introduced at their high school. They also recently developed an extension of their program at Jamestown High School.

Friday, April 4, 2014

The Flat Hat

Page 3

student assembly

Senate approves funding for all-day WCWM Fest SA allocates $6,000 funding to WCWM Fest, introduces gender neutrality in SA code

by madeline bielski FLAT HAT ASSOC. news EDITOR

Tuesday’s senate meeting was centered on an activities and events request made

by WCWM, the College of William and Mary’s student radio station.

This Saturday, WCWM will host WCWM Fest, an all-day festival featuring music, art and comedy. The group requested a total of $8,434.60 from the SA after having already raised $9,800 in funding through the Media Council and local business sponsorships.

Outgoing sen. and SA President-elect Colin Danly ’15 raised concerns about funding the request when he announced that the activities and events fund contained $8,905 and there are more activities and events requests that have yet to be reviewed. Therefore, funding the entire request would greatly deplete the account and affect funding of future requests.

“We kind of just got this in through some kind of bureaucratic technicalities.

So we have to make a decision,” Danly said. “I think we should not fund all of it. I really think that would be not the best use of our money at this point. But I do think we can match the publications council at $5,000.”

Senators debated and decided it would be best to fund at least some portion of the request. The senate chose to fund $5,334.60 for the WCWM Fest request, which would allow them to pay for the essentials needed for the concert, like a stage and sound system.

Later in the meeting, WCWM Station Manager JohnAugust Bridgeford ’15 made an appeal to senate to receive more funding than the $5,334.60 the senate had approved.

Bridgeford emphasized the importance of WCWM Fest as a community experience.

“We’re hoping that not only are students going to learn what WCWM has to offer, but also looking at some of the newer clubs, and also kind of encouraging students to look at these clubs as a means of coming together. … WCWM Fest is a great way to

build these inter-club relationships, which we think are really powerful on campus,” Bridgeford said.

After hearing Bridgeford’s appeal and asking questions, sen. Daniel Ackerman ’16 proposed increasing the SA’s funding of the event to $6,000. The Senate subsequently reevaluated their original allocation and increased it to $6,000 per Ackerman’s suggestion by unanimous consent.

Danly introduced the Game of Thrones Act during new business in Tuesday’s meeting. The bill reallocated money from the competition fund to the activities and events fund to accommodate the anticipated activities and events requests.

Danly motioned to move the bill to old business so that the money could be reallocated in enough time to fund other pending activities and events requests.

Sen. Chase Jordan ’15 initially opposed the proposal to move the bill from old to new business, as he believed the Senate was forgoing the committee process too often.

“I feel we made an exception last week and we made an exception two weeks before that and it’s becoming a trend,” Jordan said.

However, other senators vocalized their support of moving the Game of Thrones Act to old business. Sen. Yohance Whitaker ’16 expressed his support of the bill as a necessary measure to support student organizations.

“We have been really productive this year and that’s a good thing … with that it gets more expensive,” Whitaker said. “I think this is a necessary step that we have to take if we want to continue the higherlevel success rates that we have had with other bills. Without this, we can’t meet the student need, which we are all put in this spot to provide.”

Jordan chose to remove his opposition and the Game of Thrones Act was moved to old business discussing the WCWM Fest appeal. After discussion, senators decided to reallocate a total of $6,000 from the competition fund to the activities and events fund. The bill was approved by

unanimous consent.

The Department of Transportation Change Act, sponsored by sen. Gabriel Morey ’16, was passed unanimously during Tuesday’s meeting. The bill allows the SA president to appoint or remove an undersecretary of transportation as seen fit.

Morey also introduced the GenderNeutral Constitution Act during new business. The proposed bill changes all the masculine pronouns currently in the SA’s code to read “he or she.”

Secretary of Diversity Dylan Frendt ’14, who was in attendance at the meeting, advised that the language should read “they” to respect those who do not identify as male or female.

“You have it as ‘he and she;’ the language should be ‘they.’ ‘He or she’ is disparaging toward those who do not identify with either gender,” Frendt said.

Chairman of the senate Will McConnell ’14 assigned the GenderNeutral Constitution Act to the policy and executive committees.

CONSTRUCTION

Updates to housing, facilities to continue through the summer Construction to include renovations to Chandler Hall, Tyler Hall, Plumeri Park, One Tribe Place

by BAILEY KIRKPATRICK FLAT HAT ASSOC. VARIETY EDITOR

Although campus has been quiet for the past few weeks, this lull in construction is only the calm before the storm.

Integrated Science Center By the end of April, the design for the third installment of the Integrated Science Center will be finalized.

“The funds have finally been approved by the state, and we are now finalizing the design scheme,” Director of Planning, Design and Construction Wayne Boy said. “The design is basically the same as planned, and it still has all the core elements.”

Chandler Hall Renovations to Chandler Hall are set to begin as planned just after graduation.

“The final drawings for the renovations are due mid-April, and once approved we will begin

construction on schedule,” Boy said.

Tyler Hall Tyler Hall renovations are due to start sometime in September or October. Final drawings for the renovations are due in June, when they will go through the state administration for approval.

“The call center will be moved to Jones Hall, and psychology is going to be moved over to the old call space during construction,” Boy said.

Plumeri Park practice building The Plumeri Park practice building is expected to be completed by next winter, Boy said. The men’s varsity baseball team will use this indoor facility for pitching and batting practice.

One Tribe Place As many residents have already discovered, the laundry room at One Tribe Place has been installed. In order to meet fire code regulations, the building’s stairwell was also altered when renovations were made to the laundry room and corridor.

Creative writing minor, scholarships added CREATIVE from page 1

in Minneapolis where he worked on poetry, read and spent the summer alone.

“It was a great experience just to be on my own. … The writing part that I did was fun. … [But] it was much more about having the experience,” the donor said.

Hart said the department received about 25 applications for the scholarship. Hart is hoping to announce the winner

at the literary awards ceremony in mid-April.

Though ineligible for the scholarship because he is graduating in May, Hensley said he plans to travel and write this summer and fall as he would have done if he had received the scholarship. Hensley also described the merits of minoring in creative writing.

“If you think about it, just in the title, it’s ‘creative writing,’ so it’s half creative, it’s half writing,”

Hensley said. “I see our future relying pretty heavily on … creativity, innovation, coming up with something new, so I think that using that part of your brain is good exercise for being able to come up with those new ideas. And then, the writing part — it’s good to be able to take what you’ve come up with and be able to articulate it — put it on paper so that other people can kind of get a glimpse of the same vision you have.”

Student Affairs reflects committment to diversity AFFAIRS from page 1

value for our division for a long time,” Vice President for Student Affairs Ginger Ambler ’88 Ph.D. ’06 said. “Diversity has been a core focus of our work with students but also a part of our focus as an administrative unit. We want Student Affairs to be a model for [an] inclusive community.”

Although many students use the Office of Student Affairs as a source of knowledge for anything related to campus, the study was completed unbeknownst to many of the staff members. Ambler received notification of the College’s placement on the list in an email but said none of the staff members even knew the list existed.

“This came out of the blue. [We’re] surprised and thrilled,” Assistant to the Vice President of Student Affairs and Director of Student Affairs Planning and Assessment Jodi Fisler said. “It’s one thing when you get an honor that you’ve applied for, which is wonderful in its own way, but when you get recognized for something you weren’t even aware you were being considered for, it’s nice in a different way.”

Fisler said she also hopes the recognition will allow students to see the Division of Student Affairs in a different light.

“One of the things that is nice about [the placement] is that it puts the spotlight on Student Affairs as a profession,” Fisler said. “Students don’t necessarily think about all the people that work

in Student Affairs and contribute to making the experience that [they] have here what it is.”

Though the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs is located in Campus Center, the department works with multiple entities on campus. Ambler set up five thematic groups within the Student Affairs Division: Campus Living, Health and Wellness, Student Leadership and Engagement, Student Success, and Career Development.

Each department has a developed diversity action plan, and many work together on projects.

For example, the Sherman and Gloria H. Cohen Career Center has a liaison to the Center for Student Diversity to help students looking for jobs determine whether their employer promotes diversity.

“Ginger came in with her wisdom, intelligence [and] love of the College. She’s just remarkable,” Director of Residence Life Deb Boykin said. “I get my day-to-day energy and inspiration from my colleagues.”

Ambler said she does not see the recognition as a sign to slow work. She said she hopes that the College will continue to be seen nationally as a beacon of diversity, but she thinks it is even more crucial now to keep improving as a unit.

“It’s important to remember that a commitment to diversity is a daily choice,” Ambler said. “It’s something that we have to be conscious of in every interaction and every conversation. We have to keep working at that. We have to live it every day.”

“We have to build stairwells to withstand fire for two hours so people can still egress from the building,” Boy said. “That’s why the last things standing when a building burns down are always the stairwell and elevator shafts.”

The garage should be completed very soon and will open when the code review team finds that nothing else needs alteration. The review process sometimes requires additional renovation because the team finds new things that they missed before, Boy said.

Abandoned rooms in the One Tribe Place basement were gutted and fitted with proper fire detection devices, sprinklers and lighting. Once the Board of Visitors decides what to do with the basement space, the rooms will be renovated.

FILE PHOTO / THE FLAT HAT

Stairwells in One Tribe Place are to be renovated this summer.

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Undergraduate tuition per credit hour: In-state $325 Out-of-state $1,030

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The Flat Hat

Friday, April 4, 2014

STUDENT LIFE

States take action against 4 Loko Multistate action leads Phusion to stop marketing Four Loko on college campuses

BY AINE CAIN FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR

College students may no longer be living la vida Loko: Phusion, Four Loko’s parent company, will no longer market the line of alcoholic drinks on college campuses, as per its agreement with 20 state attorneys. The beverage has already been banned from several college campuses and the states of Washington and New York.

Director of Communications for State Attorney General Mark Herring’s office Michael Kelly noted that this agreement would not impact Virginia.

“This multistate action was brought prior to Attorney General Herring taking office,” Kelly said in an email. “His predecessor did not choose to participate in the multistate action.”

In 2010, Four Loko was reformulated in response to the bans. Caffeine, guarana, and taurine were removed from the recipe.

Jim Sloan, President of Phusion Projects, released a statement on the multi-state agreement.

“While our company did not violate any laws and we disagree with the allegations of the State Attorneys General, we consider this agreement a practical way to move forward and an opportunity to highlight our continued commitment to ensuring that our products are consumed safely and responsibly only by adults 21 and over,” Sloan said in a statement The agreement specifically impacts Four Loko’s social media platform, restricting comments and images from individuals under the age of 21.

“As we all know, underage drinking and alcohol abuse are serious problems in need of serious solutions,” Sloan said.

“They will not, however, be solved by singling out specific products or alcoholic beverage categories. The answer lies in increased education, stronger enforcement of existing laws, and personal responsibility. We are pleased

that the State Attorneys General have committed to use Phusion’s payment made under the agreement to further these goals in their respective states.”

While Virginia has not passed any resolutions regarding Four Loko, Health Promotion Specialist Sarah Menefee ’03 noted that the College of William and Mary takes a holistic approach to preventing alcohol abuse on campus.

“The administration takes a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to minimize risk around alcohol,” Menefee said in an email. “This includes many things, such as educational programs, alternative (to drinking) events, policies, and programs for students who violate the code of conduct.”

She also asserted that the College is hardly a hotbed for severe alcohol abuse.

“While some WM students choose to drink, many do not,” Menefee said.

“In fact, according to a 2012 on campus survey, 19 percent of students said they don’t drink.”

CAROL PENG / THE FLAT HAT

Parent company Phusion, may no longer market its Four Loko line on college campuses.

RESIDENCE LIFE

College prepares to house students over summer

Facilities Management, ResLife offices responsible for maintaining numerous summer rooms

BY ROHAN DESAI FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR

While most of the College of William and Mary’s campus experiences a lull during the summer,

a precise balancing act transpires between the Residence Life, Facilities Management and Conference Services teams. Responsible for both maintaining rooms that students live in over the summer and for preparing dorms for the upcoming

ANNIE CURRAN / THE FLAT HAT

Old Dominion Hall is one building where College of William and Mary students can live on campus over the summer.

academic year, these offices work to ensure that the standard of on-campus housing is maintained throughout the summer, as well as for the upcoming year.

According to Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Director of Residence Life Deb Boykin, roughly 600 students live on campus over the summer. 400 of these students stay to work on research, Boykin said, while the other 200 stay to take summer classes. Students staying on campus for research purposes are waived of housing fees, while students taking summer classes are projected to pay $1,016 for a single room on campus and $930 for a double.

Boykin said all students taking summer classes or conducting research are provided housing with air conditioning units. After these initial rooms are filled, unoccupied rooms are given to Conference Services, who provide housing for non-College programs hosted on campus.

“Conferences consist of anything from high-level legal camps to high school soccer camps,” Boykin said.

While hosting conferences at the College is a source of revenue for the school, Boykin added that providing housing for students is an institutional priority.

“Another pressure is student athletes. …

Freshmen football players come very early in August for training,” Boykin added.

Residence Life also arranges housing for freshmen football players as well as for international

Fellowship website attracts donors HONORS from page 1

said. “To prove that you can get it is a very important asset when you’re applying to graduate school. This is a very good intro to that.”

Lisi and Parr said they spread the word by posting

on Reddit and Facebook.

“I’m hoping that some generous donor will stumble across my page at some point and think this is a cool project,” Parr said.

“Obviously, I’d like to get money based on merit.”

Most donors are first-

time givers to the College, according to Schwartz.

“Honors fellowships — a faculty member and a student working on a serious piece of research together — kind of distills what we value most about a William and Mary

education, that kind of mentor relationship,” Schwartz said.

“It’s satisfying to be able to portray that to the world, to put an actual face on it in these students’ videos, and to see how receptive people are.”

SA women encourage other females to lead WOMEN from page 1

representation in the Senate.

Thomas said she believes it is important for women to be involved in the senate, in order to make sure women’s needs are being well addressed by the SA. “[The] senate has so much power,” Thomas said. “They dictate so many of the decisions that are made for oncampus events, what is really deemed important to SA and how to reflect that for the students. It is absolutely necessary that we have females there because they are a large part of this campus … and their wants and needs need to be reflected in everything the SA does.”

Class of 2017 President Pheobe Galt ’17 said increasing student knowledge of what the SA does on campus could embolden more students considering SA positions to

become involved.

“Getting people who don’t know much about [the SA] — so specifically the new transfers and the new freshmen — to just understand what Student Assembly is [our primary objective] and from there I think it’s inevitable that the races will get more competitive and from that more women will run,” Tansey said.

Lorenzen is looking into helping create a women’s mentorship program that will encourage women to start viewing themselves as leaders earlier on, in order to get more women considering roles within the SA. Galt said she believes that the SA needs to become more reflective of the student body’s makeup.

“The senate and the [Undergraduate Council] need to be more representative,” Galt said. “Or at the very least I think we should

have people from organizations, like cultural organizations, play a larger role in Student Assembly decisionmaking. Because as it is, it’s not as representative as it could and should be.”

The SA women expressed hope is that the trend of more women running for SA positions will continue in years to come. Buch encourages women to believe in themselves and their abilities when considering running for the SA. “Be courageous and don’t underestimate yourself,” Buch said.

“It is easy to do that and I know at least for me it was overwhelming to see the support I received from people. I would just encourage women to get involved and not feel like it is someone else’s responsibility to do it, but it is their responsibility. I genuinely believe the more women we have, the better SA will be.”

students, who arrive for a pre-orientation program known as Freshman Advance.

Facilities Management is responsible for the upkeep of housing over the summer, responding to any dorm problems and conducting preventive maintenance checks in every room on campus before the beginning of the academic year.

Preventive maintenance checks can only be conducted when rooms are unoccupied, leaving a narrow window of time for Facilities Management to conduct checks for rooms occupied over the summer.

“We have two windows for doing work: one before Memorial Day and one before the first day of classes,” Associate Vice President of Facilities Management Dave Shepard said.

Over the summer, the College offers two onemonth sessions of summer courses. The three days between the sessions, as well as the week after summer classes and the beginning of the fall term, are the major windows Facilities Management and custodial teams have to work on the rooms.

Because scheduling over the summer is tight, Shepard said that the Facilities Management team has weekly meetings with Residence Life and Conference Services. The meetings allow the three teams to coordinate plans for the next steps in room maintenance and turnover and respond to unexpected changes.

“It’s a team effort,” Shepard said. “We’re the single point that everything touches. It works pretty well but we’re always looking for ways to improve.”

opinions

Opinions Editor Daria Grastara fhopinions@gmail.com // @theflathat

The Flat Hat | Friday, April 4, 2014 | Page 5

EDITORIAL CARTOON

STAFF EDITORIAL

Creative outlet W

College rankings matter Michael Testa THE FLAT HAT

The Huffington Post recently published an article titled “Students Don’t Actually Care That Much About College Rankings.” I find this hard to believe, especially for students attending the College of William and Mary. U.S. News and World Report ranked the College the No. 32 national university, No. 3 national university in undergraduate teaching and No. 1 small public school in the country.

Additionally, Business Insider ranked the College as having the smartest students of any public school, and plenty of other rankings placed the College among the top 50 universities in the country. Most of this information can be found on the College’s website, where many prospective students look for information about the College.

For an average high school student with an average SAT score and a median class rank, rankings probably do not matter, since top tier universities are not within their reach. However, most students at the College were among the top of their class, had high standardized test scores, and therefore had a lot of options when choosing colleges, financial considerations aside.

When picking a college, rankings can be a useful tool.

Picking a college is a big financial decision, and students

“

want to get the biggest bang for their buck. For in-state students at the College, tuition costs can exceed $13,000 while out-ofstate students face price tags nearing $32,000 per year.

Just as you would review rankings for cars or computers, so students review colleges based on graduation rates, peer review assessments, retention rates and financial resources, to name a few. High rankings help colleges attract high-achieving students. Rankings can help these students find a college suitable to their academic strength and potential.

Of course, rankings are not all that students consider when applying to colleges; social life, academic experiences and quality of life are important factors, which not all rankings incorporate.

Furthermore, specific programs at a college may not represent the college’s overall ranking. Bloomberg Businessweek ranks the College as having the best undergraduate marketing program in the nation, while the overall undergraduate program at the Mason School of Business is ranked No. 27.

Students should understand that rankings could misrepresent a college but should still consider rankings a guideline.

Once students arrive at college, however, rankings do not matter so much. What defines a college experience includes more than graduation rates and peer assessments. Students will find value in the friends they meet, the classes they take, the professors they encounter and the memories they make. Nevertheless, rankings can play a significant role in choosing a college, especially for students considering spending four years at the College.

Email Michael Testa at mrtesta@email.wm.edu.

High rankings can help these students find a college suitable to their academic strength and potential.

The staff editorial represents the opinion of The Flat Hat. The editorial board, which is elected by The Flat Hat’s section editors and executive staff, consists of Abby Boyle, Áine Cain, Matt Camarda, Meredith Ramey and Ellen Wexler. The Flat Hat welcomes submissions to the Opinions section. Limit letters to 250 words and columns to 650 words. Letters, columns, graphics and cartoons reflect the view of the author only. Email submissions to fhopinions@gmail.com.

TWEETS @THEFLATHAT

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Let’s talk sex with Marvin might just be the best thing to happen to W&M in the last 100 years... maybe even 200 @theflathat

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BY PATRICIA RADICH, FLAT HAT GRAPHIC DESIGNER

hy declare a creative writing minor? The College of William and Mary’s decision to develop a creative writing minor will likely prompt this question from skeptical parents and politicians, who may not see its value in an economically uncertain environment. While unorthodox and lacking a direct connection to seemingly practical career paths, the creative writing minor is a welcome addition to the College — and to a world in desperate need of good writers.

To write a compelling story, one needs a deep understanding of human nature. That requires observation, patience, and the ability to stop and think. It doesn’t require a Ph.D. in psychology, but rather an understanding of the human mind. What moves us?

What makes us laugh? What makes us wonder? What makes us relate? Unless writers are recounting a true story or basing their stories off real events, they have to craft a narrative and populate it with characters. That requires empathy, understanding how your characters’ personalities and choices will make readers feel.

Creative writers also need to be clear; no one wants to read vague, ambiguous language.

A talent for creative writing would benefit students beyond the literary world. No matter what you do with your life, you will need to be able to communicate effectively. Learning to write creatively develops that skill. Bringing people into a fictional world, the writer must be in complete control of her message, as she will need to be when arguing a case, conducting surgery, writing a lab report, or working in a number of other workplace activities.

Storytelling is central to human communication. Stories can provide important lessons about ideas as abstract as love and morality to more concrete concerns like business and medicine.

Storytelling is how we interact with one another on a daily basis.

When people ask, “How was your day?” they’re usually expecting some semblance of story. The life of any party is usually the one who tells the best stories. Storytelling is natural and human.

Storytelling is also a form of innovation. Because all stories have already been told in one way or another, writers must think of new ways to engage a more sophisticated audience. Creating something original out of old parts will be of use to more than just the publishing industry.

Students who take creative writing classes will have to let others critique their work. Because the best creative writing requires reaching into oneself, sharing can be an act of courage. How many of us are willing to expose ourselves psychologically and emotionally to strangers? The result may be a better understanding of ourselves and others, but that kind of vulnerability is terrifying: You’re letting others see you as you see yourself.

Creative writing has value not only for the skills it fosters, but also for its own sake. We use it to make sense of our world and ourselves. It can bring out the full range of human experiences: mystery, passion, tragedy, beauty and love. And it is welcome at the College.

Meredith Ramey recused herself from this staff editorial to remain unbiased in her reporting.

— Kyle Titlow Sorlie on “Let’s Talk Sex with Marvin.”

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GUEST COLUMN

Why the KKK is a hate group, even if it says it isn’t one

Dale Wolf

FLAT HAT GUEST COLUMNIST

We are gathered here today to talk about a flagpole.

It was first seen in 1926, and it was a gift to the College of William and Mary by the Ku Klux Klan.

You are, no doubt, familiar with them. Two weeks ago, they claimed to not be a hate group.

In a telephone interview, Klansman Frank Ancona told Virginia television station NBC-12, “We don’t hate people because of their race.”

Ancona is the Imperial Wizard of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He also declared, “We are a Christian organization.”

Lord help us all.

With what was presumably a straight face, he continued: “Because of the act of a few rogue Klansmen, all Klansmen are supposed to be murderers, and wanting to lynch black people, and we’re supposed to be terrorists. That’s a complete falsehood.”

It was “rogue Klansmen” whom Tuskegee University lists as lynching 3,446 black people between 1882 and 1968. It was “rogue Klansmen”

who lynched an average of more than 40 people a year during that time. It was rogue elements of the Klan whom Congress classified as a terrorist group in 1871. Surely today the Southern Poverty Law Center refers only to “rogue Klansmen” on its list of hate groups.

Unfortunately, this is no laughing matter.

General Klan membership has increased significantly in the past six years, during which Ancona has been heavily involved with what he swears are not rebranding efforts. In his particular chapter, membership has nearly tripled.

The Klan has been trying to hide its true colors for years, at least since former Grand Wizard David Duke ran for office in Louisiana in the 1980s. This sort of thing is nothing new. Where do I even begin? I could quote official Klan materials referring to any race but white as “mongrel” and “inferior.” Or maybe I should let Ancona dig his own grave: “We want to keep our race the white race. We want to stay white. It’s not a hateful thing to want to maintain white supremacy.”

Ancona and the Klan favor “white supremacy.”

Following the rules of the English language as taught to me by numerous black teachers, that makes them white supremacists. Webster’s Dictionary defines white supremacists as those who believe “that the white race is better than all other races and should have control over all other races.”

Then you have the website of Ancona’s Klan chapter, which states their support for the

Constitution “as it was originally written.” That darned thirteenth amendment.

But wait! They’re nonviolent now!

Or not. In February, a former Klan leader in Alabama pled guilty to obstruction of justice and burning a cross. In Louisiana, eight days after President Obama was elected to his first term, Klan leader Raymond Foster killed a woman for changing her mind about joining. The woman, Cynthia Lynch, is reported to have cried, “I want to go home! I’ve had enough of this! I want to quit! I want out now!” She was shot in the head. She was bipolar and off medication at the time.

The Klan’s official website defines a Christian as “a man or woman who believes in and follows the teachings of Jesus Christ.” Using that definition, its members are no more Christian than Fred Phelps.

Jesus, as chronicled in the Bible, at one point tells his disciples, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34-35 KJV). Hatred isn’t love.

In 1926, the College accepted that flagpole to avoid a political firestorm. It was initially installed at Confusion Corner. It was moved near Blair Hall around 1959, and later spent time at the MarshallWythe School of Law. Its whereabouts today are unknown.

We need to find it. And we need to give it back.

Email Dale Wolf at dewolf@email.wm.edu.

GRAPHIC BY ALLISON HICKS / THE FLAT HAT

variety

Variety Editor Sang Hyun Park flathat.variety@gmail.com // @theflathat

The Flat Hat | Friday, April 4, 2014 | Page 6

Intercollegiate Hacking

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Computer programming group ‘Tribehacks’ hosts the first-ever hackathon for innovative computer coding and design

courtesy photo / emily goldfein

courtesy photo / openclipart.org

The atmosphere in Earl Gregg Swem Library took on a new level of intensity last weekend. The building was the location of the College of William and Mary’s first ever 24-hour collegiate hackathon. Creator Joe Soultanis ’15 dubbed the event “TribeHacks” and hopes that it will mark the beginning of a new culture of computer science here at the College.

Computer “hacking” might at first imply that 250 student attendees spent a full day trying to exploit weaknesses in a computer system, but in the computer science world, a hackathon is something quite different. Matt Sniff ’15, a TribeHacks collaborator, put it into layman’s terms.

“It’s 24 hours to create something of your very own on the web, mobile or whatever platform you want.

‘Hack’ really just means ‘ingenuity,’” Sniff said.

TribeHacks was born after Soultanis and Sniff attended the biggest collegiate hackathon in the country, PennApps, for the second time.

“I thought this was really cool, and I really wish we had something like this on campus,” Soultanis said. “It really inspired me to do computer science in general. There’s such a cool culture of people out there. I was like, ‘I want to do this, let’s go.’”

TribeHacks officially ran from 3 p.m. Saturday, March 29 to 3 p.m. Sunday, March 30. Soultanis’ careful planning process left no stone unturned. The event had a number of sponsors, including Google; Monster Energy; Squarespace and Major League Hacking, the official collegiate hackathon league.

Swem is an ideal location for a hackathon, but its administrators rarely allow non-Swem events to take place in the building.

“We have to be really deliberate and really thoughtful about it,” Associate Dean of Research and Public Services in Swem Lisa Nickel said. “They organized everything. We were really impressed with their idea and their planning.”

The funding Soultanis procured through sponsorship allowed TribeHacks to provide participants with free registration, travel reimbursements and food in addition to paying for extra security and housekeeping in the library. These measures were necessary for the 24-hour event to take place.

It might seem surprising that an event in its infancy could attract so many corporate sponsors. On the contrary: collegiate hackathons are goldmines for

software and technology companies. “[There is] such a demand for hackathons, we don’t even have to do anything other than say we’re hosting [one] and the sponsors and the students roll in,” Sniff said. “These are the kinds of students [the companies] want to interact with.”

TribeHacks had a few notable features besides endurance programming. A panel of entrepreneurs spoke to attendees on Saturday evening to highlight the range of possibilities and success that hacking can introduce. Jamie Bieron ’15 attended the event for fun, and to see some cutting-edge technology.

“I was very impressed with the amount of hardware they were able to bring,” Bieron said.

Some of this hardware included a hand-gesturecontrolled computer interface, a drone, NASAdeveloped robotics equipment and Oculus Rifts — head-mounted virtual reality displays.

“It made me really dizzy,” Bieron said.

Perhaps just as notable as the technology demonstrations were the accommodations TribeHacks made to attract and train novice hackers.

“What’s really exciting about it is that we’re seeing a lot of people signing up from William and Mary who

aren’t even computer science majors. They’re just interested in it. And I think it’s a really cool gateway for them to just see what you can do with computer science because it has this aura or stigma about it that’s just a bunch of nerdy dweebs doing tech things, and it’s not. There are so many different directions to go with it,” Sniff said.

Soultanis next plans to start a hacking club at the College. Both Soultanis and Sniff praised the computer science department but lamented that there are not enough opportunities to practically explore hacking.

The College certainly has potential to become technologically inclined. For example, Yancey Strickler ’00 was a co-founder of the crowd-sourcing website Kickstarter. TribeHacks could be the first missing link to a new, tech-savvy era at the College.

“There’s so much creativity and freedom and overall fun involved in hacking things. … There’s so much creativity on this campus. … There could be great things to come,” Sniff said. “I mean, Yancey was a religion major. How does someone like Yancey become the CEO of one of the hottest start-ups out there?”

Moving the music scene from the back porch to the front

Front Porch Society strives to bring diverse, live music events to social scene on campus BY vayda parrish FLAT HAT STAFF WRITER

Founded in the fall of 2013, the entirely student run Front Porch Society works to perk up campus and the Williamsburg area as a whole by organizing and sponsoring regular live music events.

Neal Friedman ’14 and Sumerth

Pathak ’14 founded the Front Porch Society. Dixon Muller ’14, Jesse Barkin ’15 and Emmaleah Jones ’17 have also been on board since the group’s inception.

“We’re a brand-new organization and our main purpose is to promote solidarity through community music events,” Barkin said. “We want more students to come together through music and to

courtesy photo / FRONT PORCH SOCIETY

consider our events great social outlets for everyone on campus.”

Saturday, March 29, the Front Porch Society hosted March Jazzness, an evening of jazz music featuring two on-campus bands consisting of students and faculty members alike: Mary and the Williams and the Harris Simon Jazz Trio. Held in the Great Hall of the Wren Building, March Jazzness was the club’s first widely attended on-campus event of the spring semester.

“March Jazzness was awesome,” Jones said in an email. “We had an amazing turnout, and a lot of people came who don’t normally listen to jazz. It was wonderful to see all different types of people coming together over cool music.

I think both bands killed it, and I can’t wait to schedule similar events for next year.”

October 2013 was a big kickoff month for the then-nascent Front Porch Society.

The club organized two occasions at Paul’s Deli; both were affectionately referred to as “Groovin’ at Paul’s.” These events showcased local up-and-coming musical talents, and the second one even served as a profit share for the William and Mary Children’s Well-Being Foundation. The Society’s first annual Fall Ball also took place last semester. It featured four Virginia bands and garnered an excellent turnout for the Society’s first big on-campus event.

Friedman is president and co-founder of the Front Porch Society. Although he is preparing to graduate in May, he is making plans for the remainder of the school year, as well as for the Society’s future.

“We definitely hope that what we’ve created will help to integrate live music into William and Mary’s social scene, but we also want to change how bands see the College,” Friedman said. “Everybody’s into music. That’s the common bond between everyone that we think will guarantee our group’s success in later years.”

While the Front Porch Society started out as a table of four guys at this year’s fall activities fair, it has morphed into an active organization that meets weekly and is about 20 members strong. The group is currently working to promote the College’s upcoming WCWM Fest, which will take place Saturday, April 5 at the Sunken Garden. The Front Porch Society hopes to foster a partnership with WCWM, which will nurture a thriving music scene that will cater to both the College and the city of Williamsburg.

In addition to promoting WCWM events, the Front Porch Society is working with the radio station’s resources to make music a more common creative outlet for the College’s student body.

“Right now we’re working with WCWM to revive their recording studio and make

use of all the music equipment that they have stored up,” Friedman said.

Jones elaborated in an email on the Society’s developing projects and just how much potential they have. She said that the Society is in the process of organizing Front Porch Records, a William and Mary record label, in order to encourage people who write music to actually record it.

“We want to have events that bands can play at in order to inspire other college kids to finally start that band they were thinking about,” Jones said. “As we expand, our mission has been expanding as well. … We hope to train people who are interested in music mixing and production, so they can practice their passion and help us encourage a real, live music scene on campus.”

The Society recently reached an agreement with the Williamsburg Area Arts Commission that will allow the College and the city to exist in a musical-cultural tandem. With the end of the school year the horizon, the Front Porch Society is currently in the process of organizing April Thrill, a musical gathering that will take place April 24, the night before Blowout.

“Our main goal is to bring William and Mary more social opportunities that it could really use,” Friedman said. “We want our events to transport the College’s music scene from the backyard to the front porch.”

The Flat Hat

Friday, April 4, 2014

Page 7

FROM THE MUSIC BLOG

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Introducing the student bands scheduled to perform at the biggest music festival of the year, this Saturday at the Sunken Garden

The So Confused ALL PHOTOS courtesy / joel carela

A band waiting in the wings, chomping at the bit to perform, The So Confused is ready and willing to take on WCWM Fest, the College of William and Mary’s annual music festival, Saturday. Their set will debut new material expanding on their eclectic brand of atmospheric guitar rock.

Comprised of head songwriter and lead guitarist TD Crowley ’13, bassist Austin Ruhf ’14, drummer Joseph Blair ’14 and rounded out by new lead singer, Alyssa Jerrell ’15, The So Confused is eager to march forward to its biggest show thus far. With the addition of lead singer Jerrell, the band is proud to be making music that is more “focused and accessible,” yet manages to not sacrifice BLOGGER any of the experimental, instrumental qualities that form the backbone of their past work.

Gold Connections

BY ROSE DUKE / FLAT HAT

courtesy photo / gold connections

In an age of excessive music availability, Connections has come to mean a lot more to there is something refreshing about a band Will and the band. that doesn’t rush to record and plaster its Although they have no recorded material tunes across the expanse of the Internet. yet, an album is in the works. The guys Performance takes a new meaning when hint that the record will grace the College’s music and lyrics are not at our fingertips. audiophile community around the start Experiencing a concert with strangers and of the upcoming fall semester. No other friends alike becomes more about enjoying a details have been revealed about title, cover sensory experience than about knowing the or distribution devices, but knowing the songs. precision with which they preform, this The music of the College of William album will impress friends and fans. In and Mary’s own Gold Connections is only case you’re hungry to catch them live, Gold available live and in-person, which makes Connections has a Facebook page where it gigs an exclusive occasion to appreciate their shares all its gigs and performances around “punk band that likes to weep sometimes” Williamsburg and Charlottesville, Va. sound. Influences like Lou Reed, Pavement, If you like music and people the Beatles, Talking Heads and the Velvet that like music, I recommend Underground give these guys a unique giving Gold Connections an but very relatable sound. Expository titles ear or two. Fortunately like “Icarus” demonstrate the thoughtful for you, this quartet songwriting that goes into the musical will be playing repertoire of Gold Connections. Their songs a 45-minute encompass personal anecdotes, universal set of ideas and the tribulations of the college experience.

Will Marsh ’15 and Gabe Hunter-Chang ’15 have been playing music together since high school and teamed up with their Three bassist in spring 2013 to form Gold Four burst into the Connections. Will birthed the Williamsburg music band name after listening to scene after winter break, a Sonic Youth song that and they have certainly not mentions this phrase been shy about booking gigs. Take in its lyrics, and it a quick look at their Facebook page, just fit. Since and you will see that they have played a then, Gold

staggering number of shows this semester.

Chances are, if you walk through the heart of campus very often, you will stumble upon these guys doing their thing (I have done it twice), and here are a couple of reasons why you should stop and take a listen.

The first thing that I noticed when I saw Three Four for the first time was their tendency to layer guitar parts. On some songs, they have as many as three people playing guitar. As a guy who was raised on the classic bands of the ’70s, I love seeing bands with multiple guitar players. However, Three Four is not out to build a wall of crunchy guitar tone a la Blue Oyster Cult and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Rather, they use multiple guitars to create a smooth, warm blend of melody that more closely resembles bands like Explosions in the Sky. In addition, Three Four is far from an instrumental one-trick pony. During quite a few songs, Chris Ayres ’15 switches from guitar to violin, adding an interesting wrinkle to Three Four’s brand of indie rock. In

original songs written by guitarist Will Marsh at the WCWM Fest this Saturday. Emerge from the cubbies of Swem, hoist yourself out of the Units, and check out Gold Connections if you know what’s good for you.

BY jack reibstein / FLAT HAT BLOGGER Self-described as a “blender” of different musical influences that include (but are not limited to) shoe gaze, post-rock, postpunk and indie rock, the band thrives on the tension that comes from alternating speedy guitar riffs and a more spacey sound, soaked in reverb.

The group’s single, titled “Pink Clouds” and available on its BandCamp page, captures the desire to escape from suburban monotony and pursue larger dreams. While this song remains down tempo for the most part, the band promises a set this Saturday that will include more upbeat songs. Plans to create new material are currently on hold as the band decides whether they wish to add Jerrell’s vocals to previously recorded tracks or start from scratch.

Formed in 2011, the band is a product of the College’s tightly knit music scene. Bassist Ruhf and drummer Blair, who had already played together in the rhythm section of the punk band Golden Toad Orgy, were drawn to guitarist Crowley’s expertise surrounding guitar pedals and the many soundscapes he could create with them.

“The songs all sound pretty unique from each other, a lot of which I think has to do with all the different guitar tones [Crowley] gets from the different combinations of effects,” said Blair.

The three have been together ever since and added long time friend Jerrell earlier this semester in order to increase the group’s vocal power. The addition has proved rewarding and members of the group claim that Jerrell’s presence has boosted their confidence and motivation both onstage and in rehearsals.

WCWM Fest, which will be held on the Sunken Garden Saturday from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m., will mark the band’s first outdoor concert – a milestone that has only further fueled its excitement. The So Confused is hopeful that playing in a more open area will attract a diverse audience.

“I played a lot of shows at the Meridian and Lodge One as a student, but never outside like that,” Crowley said. “It’d be cool if we can catch the attention of people just passing by and get them to watch, maybe people who wouldn’t necessarily seek out the places we normally play.”

This Saturday, The So Confused will have their chance.

Three Four

BY greg taylor / FLAT HAT BLOGGER

addition, Spencer Small ’16 occasionally takes a break from guitar to pick a tune or two on the banjo.

However, Three Four is not just a band with interesting instrumentation. Their original songs are well written and will please fans of classic indie bands like Local Natives. I had the opportunity to talk with a few of the band members about their influences, and interestingly enough, they cited just about every genre other than indie rock. Singer Brandon Eason ’15 and I discussed rap music, and Small expressed his love for classic punk bands like the Clash and the Ramones. In my opinion, this is a good sign for them. They are not boxing themselves into a genre simply because they listen to that genre all the time. Instead, they are making the music that comes naturally to them.

courtesy

photo /

THREE FO

UR

Three Four is so interesting to follow partly because they are such a new band that is still hitting their stride. Every time I have seen them perform, they improve by leaps and bounds. They have always had good original songs (“Immigrant” is a personal favorite of mine), but as they play more shows, they play their songs with more conviction. Their confidence is skyrocketing, and they are becoming a band that is quite fun to watch. It is no coincidence that they are improving so much while playing so many shows.

A wise musician once told me, “If you want to tear your band apart, practice. Playing gigs is the only way to get better.” Three Four is certainly putting in the hard work that is going to help them stick around in the Williamsburg music scene.

Luckily for us, this hard work manifests itself in more shows, and the next time you can see Three Four is Saturday, April 5 at WCWM Fest.

sports

Sports Editor Jack Powers Sports Editor Chris Weber flathatsports@gmail.com // @FlatHatSports

The Flat Hat | April 4, 2014 | Page 8

A 4-0 decision over UNC-W in the Colonial Athletic Association Championship final highlighted William and Mary’s women’s tennis campaign a season ago.

While runs into both the National Collegiate Athletic Association Regional and Doubles Championships seemingly promised more success this season, a rash of injuries has set the College back to a 3-13 overall record that includes an even 1-1 mark in the conference.

An even start to the new year quickly fell apart as the Tribe posted a 2-5 mark in January. Outside of a February 8 5-2 decision over No. 50 Penn State, the College has dropped eight matches dating back to a February 4 loss to No. 52 Virginia Tech.

Entering January ranked as highly as No. 40, the Tribe slipped to No. 55 by late February and ultimately out of the rankings by March. Still, a decisive 6-1 win over in-state foe James Madison has kept the College afloat in the conference, balancing the 4-3 loss against the College of Charleston.

With senior Jeltje Loomans out for the season and senior Maria Belaya fighting off injuries, head coach Tyler Thomson has leaned more heavily on his younger athletes. Sophomores Julia Casselbury and Leeza Namchinov have helped lead freshmen Nabila Farah and Melanie Roy. Despite a poor showing in the early months of the year, the College could rebound in time for the CAA Championships, which will be held April 18-20 at the Millie West Tennis Center. Home court advantage may lead to a run from an increasingly experienced squad.

W. TENNIS

GOLF

Less than a month remains before the Colonial Athletic Association Championships for both William and Mary’s men and women’s golf programs. After battling a late winter and myriad of weather issues, both programs look to enter late April on a strong note.

On the men’s side, the College put forth a series of middling performances before playing strongly in February’s Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate and Snowman Getaway. The momentum continued into March, when the Tribe finished 12th of 27 programs at the Middleburg Bank Intercollegiate.

The Greenbrier Invitational sits between the College and the CAA Championships. Junior Alex Hicks and seniors Tanner Taddeo and Will Smith will lead the program into conference play come April.

On the women’s side, the Tribe opened 2014 finishing No. 23 of 36 programs at the Kiawah Island Intercollegiate in March before finished third at the Middleburg Bank Intercollegiate.

The College will compete in the Seton Hall Invitational April 5-6 before taking on the CAA Championships in late April.

Juniors Kellie Edelblut, Anna McMullen and Kelly Okun will aim to provide leadership for a young squad. Top golfer freshman Kelly McGovern will look to guide the program by example, as she has impressed in her rookie campaign in both conference and non-conference play.

LACROSSE

CAAs upcoming Injuries take toll CAA offers hope It hasn’t been the start lacrosse head coach Hillary Fratzke imagined after taking over in July. Losses to four nationally ranked programs, including a season-opening three-goal loss to No. 5 Duke, have the Tribe facing a tough conference schedule and a 2-8 overall record.

Still a season removed from a 5-11 campaign that saw a 2-5 mark in the conference, the College has reason to believe this year’s squad will be better than last season’s. Despite managing only a pair of wins, the Tribe has played competitively against several quality opponents.

Against No. 18 Ohio State, for example, the College led with roughly 20 minutes to play. In the home 11-10 loss to Virginia Tech, the Tribe Fratzke found itself a last-second shot and illegal stick penalty away from a tie game in the final minutes.

Playing close and competitively won’t yield results in a tough Colonial Athletic Association, though. Fratzke will challenge her squad to put together a full game of high quality play, rather than spurts of promise here and there.

The College travels to Harrisonburg, Va. Saturday to face James Madison at 1 p.m., kicking off the CAA portion of the season.

Remaining home games include an April 18 date with Hofstra, April 20 against Drexel and April 26 against in-state rival Old Dominion.

The Tribe will also play host to the CAA Championship May 2-4.

Fork in the road W

ith conference schedules just getting underway for some and championships on the horizon for others, Flat Hat Sports Editor Chris Weber takes stock of William and Mary’s spring programs.

Katz dominates Seniors on a roll Relays up next William and Mary pulled off a rare feat last season, claiming both the men’s and women’s Colonial Athletic Association track and field titles in both cross country and track and field. Led by a contingent of athletes in the field and strong distance runners, the College looks primed for another run at the conference championship.

On the women’s side, the Tribe finished seventh at the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference indoor track championships, scoring 30 points alongside eight All-East athletes. The following weekend, sophomore Emily Stites and senior Elaina Balouris raced in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Championships, competing in the 5000 meter final.

Stites finished sixth in the nation, crossing in 16 minutes and 27 seconds. Balouris came in at 17:05, good for No. 14 overall. By virtue of their performances, both Stites and Balouris earned All-American honors. The award was the third in two years for Stites, while Balouris took her fifth, a tie for the program record.

Sophomore thrower Rochelle Evans and junior vaulter Elizabeth Crafford should lead the College in field events, a rejuvenated portion of the program’s repertoire. Junior Dylan Hassett and sophomore Meghan McGovern will help bolster distance events.

On the men’s side, the Tribe finished No. 32 at the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America. Freshman Derek O’Connell and sophomores Taylor Frenia and Brian Waterfield led in pole vault and throws, respectively.

Senior middle distance runner Rad Gunzenhauser and sophomore sprinter and field athlete Bob Smutsky seem poised to lead the team. Smutsky, who competes in a bevy of track and field events, adds versatility to a large men’s squad.

With the Colonial Relays set for this weekend, director of track and field Stephen Walsh and assistants will work on priming athletes for a run at the conference title. James Madison hosts the CAA Championships May 2-3.

TRACK

Head coach Peter Daub has been at this for a long time, and knows how to produce successful squads and conference contenders. A five-match skid in January, however, seemingly relegated William and Mary men’s tennis to an afterthought.

That was before a near-perfect February, when the College (138, 2-0 CAA) won seven matches, dropping only one: to Binghamton February 14.

Nationally ranked opponents slowed the Tribe’s momentum somewhat in March, as the College went 4-2 with losses to No. 34 Dartmouth and No. 4 Virginia.

Convincing wins over both James Madison and Delaware have the College eyeing a Colonial Athletic Association Championship.

Home matches against Maryland-Baltimore County and Morgan State and an away match at Old Dominion are the only items left before the Millie West Tennis Center hosts the CAA Men’s Tennis Championship in late April.

On the court, a trio of seniors has led the way.

Chaffee John Banks, Ben Guthrie and Ben Hoogland each bring leadership and experience to a squad that boasts depth across the board.

Juniors Aaron Chaffee and Will Juggins have solidified the College’s dominance in doubles play, while freshmen Addison Appleby and Damon Niquet promise a strong future for the program.

Off the court, Daub and staff organized the ‘Tribe for Teddy” event in support of Alex Fish ’06, Mary Fish ’07 and their son, Teddy, who suffers from Menkes disease. As the season draws closer to the CAA Championships, the Tribe will look to avenge last season’s 4-0 loss to UNC-W in the Championship match.

Look for Daub to take a talented and experienced squad far into the tournament.

M. TENNIS

BASEBALL

It was only ten months ago that William and Mary finished second in the Colonial Athletic Association before reaching the National Collegiate Athletic Association Raleigh Regional, downing Mississippi for the baseball program’s first ever NCAA tournament win.

With last season shelved, questions immediately arose concerning the College’s squad this season. When Jamie Pinzino left for the University of Oklahoma in December, the burden of high expectations fell to head coach Brian Murphy.

To say that Murphy and the Tribe have answered the skeptics is an understatement. Boasting an 18-9 overall mark, including a perfect 2-0 in the CAA, the College leads the NCAA in six categories and ranks in the top five in another ten categories, as of April 1. Junior first baseman Michael Katz leads the nation in seven offensive categories, including homeruns (13) and runs batted in (52).

If strong pitching and timely hitting defined the College’s identity last season, an outrageous offense supplemented with spot pitching forms this season’s squad. After losing pitchers Matt Wainman ’13, Brett Koehler ’13 and ace John Farrell ’13, a bevy of young pitchers have helped fill the void.

Offensively, transfers and newly-minted upperclassmen lead the way. The first home series of the season featured a walkoff homerun, quickly followed by a walk-off bunt and another walk-off homerun. That was all in the first few weeks of action.

With the bulk of the conference schedule looming large, Murphy will look to capitalize on home field advantage.

Plumeri Park will host to UNC-W, Hofstra and Towson.

Remaining conference series include travel to James Madison, Northeastern and College of Charleston.

Come late May, when the CAA Championship is in full swing, expect the College to play a significant role.

BASEBALL

Pitching woes doom Tribe during blowout road losses Richmond, Old Dominion combine for 30 runs as nine College pitchers make appearances

BY JACK POWERS FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR Pitching was a major question mark coming into the season for William and Mary. Tuesday and Wednesday’s games showed why.

While the Tribe’s relatively inexperienced pitching staff has shown sporadic potential this season, its lack of depth presents a serious concern for fans.

Head coach Brian Murphy deployed a combined nine pitchers during Tuesday’s 3-10 loss at Richmond and Wednesday’s 5-20 loss at Old Dominion.

The Tribe (18-9, 2-0 CAA) started off against the Spiders (12-12-1) with sophomore pitcher Aaron Fernandez on the mound. Fernandez lasted just

two and one-third innings after giving up five quick runs. The disappointing start marked Fernandez’s first loss of the season. He currently sits at a 2-1 record.

Fernandez’s successor, freshman relief pitcher Daniel Powers, did not find any more success against the Richmond batters. Powers surrendered four runs in the fourth, prompting Murphy to make another switch. The College’s final two relief pitchers, freshman John Yoest and sophomore Andrew White, were much more successful, giving up just one run over a combined four innings.

The Spiders’ pitching contained the Tribe’s usually deadly offense. Junior first baseman Michael Katz had one of his worst hitting performances of the season, racking up just one hit on five at-bats.

Senior second baseman Ryan Lindemuth, batting in the three-spot, was hitless in the game. The team’s best offensive inning came in the second with Katz scoring off an error and freshman shortstop Tim Hoehn smacking an RBI-single to left field.

The Tribe’s batters were retired in order in the ninth inning to end the game and snap the team’s two-game winning streak.

The College traveled to Old Dominion (17-12) the next day, where its pitching woes became even more apparent.

The Tribe’s pitching staff eventually surrendered 20 runs in the game, the most all season. Junior pitcher Bryson Kuahaahaa began with two shutout innings. Junior left fielder Nick Thompson started the game with a home run to left

field to give the Tribe a 1-0 lead.

Kuahaahaa carried the one-run lead into the third inning, when the Monarchs’ offense took over. The Tribe gave up nine runs in the third inning. The Monarchs blasted Kuahaahaa for five runs, before he was taken out with just one out in the inning. Freshman relief pitcher Nick Brown gathered the final two runs in the inning but not before giving up four more runs.

Junior relief pitcher J.T. Castner failed to stem the tide, turning in his worst pitching performance of the season.

Castner scattered seven runs and seven hits over two innings. Freshman relief pitcher Matthew Smith followed Castner, giving up four more runs in two and twothirds innings of work. Murphy became so

strapped for relief pitchers that he put in a regular outfielder, junior Sean Rutherford, who finished the game on the mound for the Tribe. The decision was decided well before the final innings as the Tribe fell 20-5 in its most lopsided loss of the season.

The Monarchs registered 21 hits compared to the Tribe’s ten. Old Dominion’s offensive explosion further highlighted the College’s struggle to find a consistent pitching staff beyond its first three starters.

The Tribe hopes to preserve its undefeated record in the Colonial Athletic Association during a three-game weekend series against UNC-Wilmington.

The series begins Friday at Plumeri Park with the first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m.