The Flat Hat August 12 2020

The Flat Hat The Weekly Student Newspaper of the College of William and Mary Vol. 110, Iss. 3 | Wednesday, August 12, 2020 | Flathatnews.com

Unmasking our path forward In this Issue:

Latest COVID-19 updates p. 2 Racism in Williamsburg, past and present p. 3 Our best advice for incoming students p. 4 A pedestrian’s guide to campus p. 6 Profiles of new and returning faces p. 8

PHOTO BY MATT LOWRIE / THE FLAT HAT Inside Opinions

Index

News Opinions Variety Sports Profiles

2-3 4-5 6 7 8

Inside Sports

Inside Variety

Succeeding in online classes demands discipline

Alyssa Slovin ‘22 says that students taking classes online this fall must adjust their mindsets to succeed. page 4

A pedestrian’s walking guide

Gavin Aquin Hernandez ‘22 offers his tips for navigating campus roads and walkways safely as a new student. page 6

Keeping active on campus

Zoe Beardsley ‘22 and Nathan Seidel ‘22 discuss ways for students to keep active this fall, despite restrictions on sports. page 7

Page 2

The Flat Hat

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

UNMASKING OUR PATH FORWARD, FLAT HAT NEWS BRIEF One Tribe One Place remains closed for fall 2020 Aug. 5, 2020, just days before move-in for early arrival students, the College of William and Mary announced via email that One Tribe Place will not be available for residents to move in.

Currently, the upperclassman dorm is still in the final stages of inspections for occupancy permits.

One Tribe Place closed for the 2019-2020 school year to undergo renovations, but was expected to be reopened this August for returning students. In the email sent by Vice President for Student Affairs Ginger Ambler ’88 PH.D. ’06, there was no definite date given for when One Tribe Place’s final inspections will end. Residents of One Tribe Place were given three options: move into a temporary dorm room until One Tribe Place opens, request a permanent new dorm room or remain at home until One Tribe Place opens.

Parking changes alter transportation system Announced to students and staff via an email and an update on the website, the College revealed changes to its Parking and Transportation rules for the upcoming school year.

These changes come as a result of the 2013 and 2019 Walker Study which provided recommendations to the Parking Advisory Committee.

First, Grad Plex residents can no longer park on level two and three of the deck on Ukrop Way, and Zable Stadium will only serve as a faculty and staff parking lot.

This reorganization will move student parking out of the core of campus. The College will then convert 154 spaces to designated areas for campus guests and non-affiliated visitors and will manage visitor payment through the Passport Pay-by-phone app.

The last change establishes two extra shuttle routes to compliment the WATA Green line, which will be free for students who show their College IDs. NEWS BRIEF BY LULU DAWES / FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR

A THOUSAND WORDS

COVID-19

College coordinates virus response Students adjust to semester’s new COVID-19 safety precautions ETHAN BROWN FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Starting Wednesday, Aug. 12, incoming members of the College of William and Mary’s class of 2024 will move into their freshman residence halls and begin orientation amidst severe restrictions adopted in response to COVID-19. As the College attempts to create a community of wellness and health in the coming semester, students, faculty and staff face significant alterations to their lives on campus.

Following a July 31 update from College President Katherine Rowe, fall semester classes will commence online Wednesday, Aug. 19, with in-person classes scheduled to start taking place in early September. In addition to delaying in person classes, Rowe postponed plans for most students to return to campus, with only resident assistants, orientation aides, international students and incoming freshmen permitted to move in as previously scheduled.

According to College spokesperson Suzanne Clavet, the university is aiming for a Labor Day move-in for returning students, but that deadline is dependent on conditions at the College and in Williamsburg.

“University leadership in consultation with the COVID Response Team and William & Mary’s Public Health Advisory Committee will continue to look at a number of factors in making the decision on when returning students should arrive on campus including the rate of infection on campus, in the community and regionally; how well the community is complying with facial covering, physical distancing and healthy behavior guidelines; test turnaround times, hospital bed capacity, isolation and quarantine capacity, etc,”

Clavet said in an email. “Our current plan is for that return to occur over Labor Day weekend.”

Before students returned to campus, the College established a mandatory testing program, which required all students to complete a COVID-19 self-examination. Sponsored through the College’s new partnership with VCU Health, testing has been conducted through Kallaco, a medical services conglomerate.

Students have had mixed experiences with Kalloco, which the College originally pledged would provide students’ test results within 36 hours of receiving their self-examination kits. Neha Sharma ‘22, who will return to campus early as an OA, received her test Thursday, Aug. 6, less than a day after she provided her address using Kalloco’s test ordering software.

FALL 2020 COURSE ATTRIBUTES

12% dual mode 19% face -to-face 10% mixed 44% remote, synchronous 15% remote, asynchronous “I literally put my name and address into the system ordering a test yesterday, and it got here this morning before 10:30 a.m. for me,” Sharma said in a written statement. “But also I live in Northern VA so that might be playing a role.”

Other students have had worse testing experiences. Madeleine Walker ‘21, another OA, had not received her test by Aug. 6, more than two weeks after she requested it from Kalloco, making her concerned that she could not participate in

orientation activities starting Monday, Aug. 10. “... it is very stressful because I don’t know how I can be an OA if I don’t get tested,” Walker said in a written statement.

Friday, Aug. 7, Vice President for Finance and Administration Sam Jones ’75, M.B.A ’80 clarified in a community notice that receiving test results from Kalloco may take up to 72 hours, instead of the original 36 hours suggested.

After its initial testing regimen, the College also plans to conduct COVID-19 prevalence testing, sampling five percent of students and staff every two weeks. The College’s prevalence testing plans pale in comparison to recommendations issued by a recent study conducted by the Yale School of Public Health which urged universities to test students every two days to effectively control COVID-19 spread.

Fall semester academics have also been altered in response to COVID-19, with students pursuing six unique modes of in-person and online instruction. Nineteen percent of classes possess traditional face-to-face and synchronous attributes, whereas 59 percent are taking place entirely online, with varying degrees of synchronization.

Clavet said that the spring semester’s more lenient interim grading policies, which permitted students greater flexibility in taking pass/fail courses for credit, are not currently in effect for the fall 2020 semester. However, she indicated that unanticipated campus developments may result in a revisiting of those policies.

“The fall semester will begin under the university’s traditional 4 pt. grading system,” Clavet said. “If any additional adjustments are necessary to the structure of the fall semester, the Provost will review whether any changes to the grading system are warranted.”

STUDENT ASSEMBLY

SA plan addresses racial inequality, uses student input Committees intend to tackle student rights, police reform, building names EMMA FORD AND KIM LORES FLAT HAT SA REPORTERS

ETHAN BROWN / THE FLAT HAT

CORRECTIONS AND NOTICES The Flat Hat wishes to correct any fact printed incorrectly.

Corrections may be submitted in email to the editor of the section in which the incorrect information was printed.

Requests for corrections will be accepted at any time.

Due to operational restraints created by COVID-19, The Flat Hat will reduce its coverage from 10 pages to 8 pages for its print issues during the fall 2020 semester. For additional coverage, visit us online at flathatnews.com.

The Flat Hat ‘STABILITAS ET FIDES’ | ESTABLISHED OCT. 3, 1911

25 Campus Center, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va. 23185 Editor flathat.editor@gmail.com Managing flathat.managing@gmail.com Executive flathat.executive@gmail.com Magazine editor@flathatmagazine.com News fhnews@gmail.com Sports flathatsports@gmail.com Copy flathatcopy@gmail.com

Opinions fhopinions@gmail.com Variety flathat.variety@gmail.com Photos flathatphotos@gmail.com Online flathatonline@gmail.com Advertising flathatads@gmail.com Graphics flathat.art@gmail.com Blogs fhnews.blogs@gmail.com

Ethan Brown Editor-in-Chief Emma Ford Managing Editor Adithi Ramakrishnan Executive Editor Claire Hogan Digital Media Editor Leslie Davis Data Editor Gavin Aquin Hernández Magazine Editor-in-Chief Maddie Douglas Business Manager Amelia Sandhovel Business Manager

Anna Boustany Operations Coordinator Andrés Bencomo Magaña Webmaster

Charles Coleman News Editor Lulu Dawes News Editor Carmen Honker News Editor Gavin Aquin Hernández Variety Editor Matthew Kortan Variety Editor Zoe Beardsley Sports Editor Nathan Seidel Sports Editor Chloe Folmar Opinions Editor Alyssa Slovin Opinions Editor

Becca Klinger Social Media Editor Kate Lucas Blogs Editor Virgina Wyatt Online Editor Lizzie Brown Copy Chief Cana Clark Copy Chief Zoe Connell Copy Chief Lillian Parr Copy Chief Jamie Holt Photos Editor Alexandra Byrne Chief Staff Writer

Averill Meininger Chief Staff Writer Sarah Greenberg News Assoc. Editor Kim Lores News Assoc. Editor Philip Schueler News Assoc. Editor Georgia Thoms News Assoc. Editor Mary Trimble News Assoc. Editor Karina Vizzoni News Assoc. Editor Matt Lowrie Data Assoc. Editor

Ashanti Jones Variety Assoc. Editor Grace Olsen Variety Assoc. Editor Elaine Godwin Opinions Assoc. Editor Lucas Harsche Opinions Assoc. Editor Collin Anderson Sports Assoc. Editor Lexie Hiestand Sports Assoc. Editor Angie Weber Copy Editor

As discussions evolve regarding racial inequality and police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in May, the College of William and Mary’s 328th Student Assembly is examining its role in addressing racial inequities on campus through forming new SA committees that emphasize student input.

In June, SA began discussing ways to bring national conversations and change to the campus community, leading to the creation of “The Buck Stops Here: Plan to Tackle Systemic Racial Injustices at William & Mary”.

“As chair, a problem I saw a lot was we have committees, but we don’t have a focus effort,” Senate Chair Meghana Boojala ’22 said.

“We have senators working on things, but we have three students starting a petition for the same thing outside of SA. ... I think we are going to come out of this as a stronger organization but also the student body is going to feel that they have power in these conversations.”

After expanding discussions to include members of different Black organizations at the College, the different committees under the plan began to come to fruitition.

Alton Coston III ’23 is one of the students from outside of SA who has impacted the plan’s evolution.

“What made me want to get involved was that I saw an issue that needed to be fixed or improved upon,” Coston said. “And I knew that William and Mary, we tout and display a For the Bold campaign, yet now is the time to be bold, now is the time to truly put those bold statements and bold issues into action. So that’s truly what made me get started.”

After releasing two petitions — one calling on College President Katherine Rowe to release a statement regarding the murder of George Floyd and the other outlining more actionable changes that the College community should pursue — Coston met with SA President Anthony Joseph ’21 to discuss the work Coston was doing to bring about change for the plan.

After witnessing students like Coston who had passion for tackling systemic issues in Williamsburg and beyond, Boojala realized how vital

student input was for SA to include as they drafted efforts to address racial inequities at the College.

“That’s our goal is to have students who are passionate about this and if there is one thing we have found out in the past three months is that students are very passionate about this,” Boojala said. “... And it’s finding a way to channel that energy into one consolidated platform.”

Originally called “The Buck Stops Here: Plan to Tackle Systemic Racial Injustices at William & Mary,” the plan is currently in the process of being renamed after concerns arose about the usage of the term “buck,” a racist slur that was used in the postbellum United States to portray Black men as aggressive and hostile.

SA Chief of Staff Loni Wright ’21 acknowledged the term’s racist history and said it was a regrettable oversight on SA’s part to include the word in the plan’s original title. “‘Buck’ used to be a derogatory term for Black men, during enslavement and into Reconstruction,” Wright said. “And if you know anything about minstrel shows, the brute caricature from Jim Crow is kind of synonymous with that, and that’s something that we completely overlooked, was not our intention at all, and is not where the Buck Plan stems from. ” The plan calls for the creation of five distinct committees and teams, which will include an equal number of voting members from inside and outside of SA. A senator and nonSA member will co-chair each of these committees, which include the Reparations Committee, the Police Policy Project, the Student Rights Initiative, the Academic Diversity Project and Community Reconciliation Initiative.

The Reparations Committee describes reparations as “active reconciliation and elevation of historically disenfranchised communities,” and rejects the idea that reparations are a one-time check or handout. Going forward, the committee plans to incorporate suggestions from the Lemon Project and the Task Force on Race and Race Relations.

The Police Policy Project will include the creation of an advisory group that will work with WMPD and the Williamsburg Police Department to review their policies

and advocate for policies that protect BIPOC students.

“We’re really trying to work on those relationships as well and making sure that the police departments around us don’t become the next police department we see on the news,” Wright said.

Coston was heavily involved with developing this aspect of the plan, including writing a policy recommendation letter specifically regarding police interactions with the student body. The letter led to a meeting between WMPD Chief Deborah Cheesebro and leaders of multicultural organizations on campus.

“I believe that this will bridge the gap, and I believe that the more gaps that we bridge and the more gaps that we fill, the better the conversation on racial reconciliation will move forward,” Coston said.

Related to the Police Policy Project is the Student Rights Initiative, a project that was spearheaded last year by Sen. Jahnavi Prabhala ’22. The SRI has an ultimate goal of creating a student rights card that can be downloaded onto an Apple Wallet for interactions with honor council and the police.

The only committee without a non-SA student lead will be the Academic Diversity Project, which aims to focus on the hiring and retention of a more diverse faculty at the College.

“The Academic Diversity Project is a little bit different,” Wright said.

“It does not have a student co-lead.

This will be chaired by Student Assembly. There will still be student and faculty participation in the committee, they’ll still have voting rights. But with this one, since it’s a lot more political, I guess you could say, because there’s a lot more dealings with admin and trying to work around the curriculum.”

Finally, the Community Reconciliation Initiative team aims to consolidate efforts vested by other committees by creating events and opportunities that will support and elevate historically underrepresented communities, at the College. SA will soon make applications available to the student body.

Coston does not plan to apply to be a member of any of these committees. Instead, he plans to continue focusing on his work on

campus as the president of the African American Male Coalition, a mentor to children in a juvenile detention facility, and the other organizations he has joined. He says that he believes he can make the most impact on campus without being tied to any one committee.

“I believe that I make the most impact without being constrained by the walls of SA or any committee,” Coston said. “... it just goes to show that you don’t have to be in SA, you don’t have to be the President, you don’t have to be this, or that, or a senator, or whatever it may be ...

You can do and make impact solely based upon how much you want to be heard.”

Coston emphaiszed that students hoping to make a change on campus should learn to become comfortable with being uncomfortable.

“The best innovators, the best thinkers, the most intellectual people, have always thought outside the box,” Coston said. “I would also say that, you have to understand that, you have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Because uncomfortability is where growth happens. If you’re willing to be uncomfortable for a little while, you can truly find and hone and shape your voice.”

Boojala and Wright both stressed the importance of new members of the class of 2024 getting involved in the new SA initiatives, whether by running for an SA position or through the committees.

“These projects are not going to stop in a COVID world,” Boojala said. “... Because I think we have a lot of continuous projects that have been happening the past two years that are going to continue happening after this national crisis. So, I think that’s something freshmen should know.”

Both Wright and Boojala said the efforts forged by this current senate will improve the responsiveness of further SA sessions.

“We’re hoping that with this plan, with the way that we’re doing things this year, that we’re setting the precedent for Senates going forward,” Wright said. “... if they’re learning that this is the way we do things in Student Assembly that can only carry on, because they have so much time to continue it and to get to the next generation.”

Page 3

The Flat Hat

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

COLLEGE RECKONS WITH INJUSTICE

College history shapes student action, demands for change Williamsburg community, campus organizations examine racial injustice, promote reconciliation

1619

Enslaved people are brought to Jamestown, the first in Virginia.

1861

Sixty-eight members of the College community occupy prominent positions in the Confederacy, including William Taliaferro and Benjamin Ewell.

1967

The College admits its first Black undergraduate students; Karen Ely '71, Lynn Briley '71 and Janet Brown Strafer '71 M.Ed. '77.

T PRESEN May 20 20

George Floyd's murder sparks renewed conversations about racial injustice and police brutality.

20 July 20 SA unveils new initiatives in partnership with student activists to address racial disparities on campus.

Ongoin g The Lemon Project continues issuing recommendations to rectify the College's historical legacies with racism.

E FUTUR Feb. 20 21 The College's Working group designed to develop principles on renaming campus buildings will submit final proposal for inclusive building names and descriptions.

r 2021 e m m u S The Memorial to the Enslaved will be erected to commemorate the people enslaved by the College, with construction beginning as early as fall 2020.

GRAPHIC BY CARMEN HONKER / THE FLAT HAT

After 60 years as a Williamsburg native, Shelia Ward still remembers the feeling of abject fear when at the age of five, her parents sat her down and explained what it meant to be a Black woman in America.

Recalling her childhood, Ward recounted a Williamsburg where members of the Ku Klux Klan would openly gather on Oak Tree Road near Pierce’s Pitt Bar-B-Que for local Klan meetings, or times where her brother and other neighbors would come home in tears after being chased with sticks and other items by white residents.

“I would hear my parents talk about KKK,” Ward said. “And it was like fear. It was fearful. It made me scared as a little girl because first of all, I didn’t know what that meant until they explained to me what it was.

You know these are people who will kill Black people.

They’re racist and they’ll kill black people. For me, it caused a lot of fear.”

Only seven miles from Jamestown, where English colonizers set up their first permanent settlement in North America, Williamsburg played important roles in the creation of the United States. Being so near to Jamestown, where more than 20 African enslaved people were first sold in 1619 to settlers, Williamsburg has also bore witness to slavery and the perpetuation of racial discrimination in contemporary American society.

Although Ward notices substantial changes from her youth, she has also seen the ways in which racism has evolved, whether it be the subtle differences of not being greeted in a store where white shoppers are welcomed, or more blatant experiences like a couple asking her not to serve them at a restaurant because of her skin color. In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, Ward explained that conversations around how racism is still occurring today have been brought to the forefront.

“It has gotten a lot better, but we haven’t arrived,” Ward said.

Past Many of these conversations have opened up discussion in the Williamsburg community, as well as at the College of William and Mary. Established in 1693, the College has had a prominent role in the upholding and implementation of racist institutions in both the greater Williamsburg area and the rest of the country.

Executive Director of Historic Campus Susan Kern PhD ’05 works to study and uncover the College’s history stemming from the early days of the American colonies. Kern described how the College played an integral role in Virginia’s development, as well as in the laws that upheld and encouraged slavery.

“William and Mary’s history with slavery is absolutely part of the record of how slavery as a legal structure evolved in Virginia,” Kern said. “We can use the long history of William and Mary and slavery and race during the Jim Crow era, and even after integration of campus, it reflects what’s going on in Virginia and nationally.

At this point in William and Mary’s history, we have a longer history with slavery than without slavery, which is also a chilling marker to think about how old William and Mary is and how we think about time.”

While the College’s opening date in 1693 is ubiquitously well-known, it is less emphasized that the unrecognized labor of enslaved people allowed the College to prosper throughout more than half of its existence. According to Kern, not only do Jamestown and Williamsburg play a direct role in the earliest arrivals of enslaved peoples, but the College itself was prominent in propagating and shaping the North American slave trade.

As time progressed and the College navigated through American independence and the Civil War, Kern explained that the College played a leading role in upholding institutions of racism at each of these major historical markers, through forced labor to build iconic campus landmarks, its support of the Confederate army, and the College’s usage of labor by enslaved people on Nottoway Plantation to fund student scholarships.

Although many historians consider the end of the Civil War as the end of the College’s use of slavery, Kern noted that this was not without strong resistance from many of the College’s prominent figures. As noted on a Confederate plaque that was moved from the Wren Portico in 2015, a known 68 members of the College joined the Confederate army, including former College President Benjamin Ewell. Other known campus building names, such as William Taliaferro and Lyon G. Tyler, also represent those who held positions in the Confederacy.

As the College progressed into the 20th century and the modern civil rights movement was born, the NAACP chapter of Williamsburg continuously worked to demand justice and change both at the College and within Williamsburg. According to The Lemon Project Director Jody Allen, this branch of the organization at different points housed speakers such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. “In terms of Williamsburg with the Civil Rights movement, a lot of that certainly centers around the Church, that First Baptist church,” Allen said. “It was a site of meeting ... the churches within the community were usually the only property that blacks could own, they may have had their own businesses, but in terms of a collective meeting location usually it was the church.

So, everything centered around the church ... In the civil rights movement we know that the first Baptist was the sight of rallies ... Dr. King spoke there, Rosa Parks visited, Jesse Jackson, it was kind of a hub within the Williamsburg community during the movement.”

The civil rights movement in Williamsburg experienced resistance from many locals, but Allen said it received substantial support from many College students. In 1951, Hulon Willis M.Ed. ’56 became the first black student to attend the College, earning an education master’s in 1956, and in 1967 the first three black resident undergraduate students, Karen Ely ‘71, Lynn Briley ‘71 and Janet Brown Strafer ‘71 M.Ed. ‘77 joined the College community.

Despite certain strides the College has made in addressing its historical legacies, students have recently begun renewed conversations pushing for greater racial equality and accountability from the College and different campus organizations.

Kern described the work that historians, students and the College are doing to understand this past with slavery and inequality and how important it is using these mistakes to push forward.

“

I think that this is bigger than just saying Black Lives Matter. I think this should be about tangible change. ...Racism evolves and it's about time that we end that cycle and it’s about time that Black Americans have to no longer justify their very existence and it’s about time that we hold our institution, our peers and ourselves accountable.

— Celeste Chalkley

“William and Mary is doing intensive work trying to understand what is the racial history that's written into campus in ways that are so subtle you have to do research to find out and which ones are more obvious,” Kern said. “We are working on what does reconciliation mean, what do we need to do to show people, not just saying we're working on it, but to actually show people were learning from our research, and have made it part of what William and Mary is.”

Present As part of these efforts towards reconciliation, the College’s Student Assembly is reevaluating the mechanisms through which it guides and creates change on campus.

“I think that this is bigger than just saying Black Lives Matter,” SA Secretary of Diversity Initiatives Celeste Chalkley ’21 said. “I think this should be about tangible change. People are always shocked when they hear about racist incidences, and they say things like ‘oh it's 2020 these things are still happening?’ When the fact of the matter, racism never went anywhere.

Racism supposedly ended with the abolition of slavery or with the end of Jim Crow Laws. Racism evolves and it's about time that we end that cycle and it’s about time that Black Americans have to no longer justify their very existence and it’s about time that we hold our institution, our peers and ourselves accountable.”

SA President Anthony Joseph ’21 described his administration’s efforts, including working with the Williamsburg police department to evaluate training and student arrest data, encouraging administration to hire more diverse faculty, and amplifying Black student voices as well as those of different marginalized communities by establishing new actionable committees.

Joseph said he would do everything in his power to ensure that his efforts to alleviate injustice in Williamsburg and at the College are actualized.

“One, I’m with you,” Joseph said. “I feel your pain deeply. I feel it when I least expect it throughout the day.

It comes in waves and goes. It’s a familiar pain and it hurts. You feel it at the pit of your stomach and I feel that very well — ­ I feel that a lot. So, I’m with you and I hear you. … That we are going to do our best this year to hold them accountable to that and put things in motion that will hold SA accountable to that. And not just SA, but this campus and William and Mary as well. We need to hold ourselves accountable to what we have done, what we are doing and also hold ourselves accountable to the opportunities presented to ourselves in the future to make change. That’s what I want to promise now to them that we make sure we keep that kind of pressure, that type of positive encouragement towards these tangible changes because it’s time.”

Outside of SA, student organizations are acting to eliminate racial inequality at the College. Multicultural groups, including the Black Student Organization and African Culture Society, have launched campaigns disseminating information about police brutality and anti-racist dialogue.

BSO member Victor Adejayan ’23 shared his experiences as a Black student at a predominantly white institution like the College, and explained the ways in which the BSO and similar groups are lobbying the College to prioritize diversity initiatives.

“I would like to see more diverse initiatives, you can't have too much of that, targeting well deserving people from all different backgrounds,” Adejayan

said. “Resources like the Center for Student Diversity should be expanded and better funded ... I would like to see the CSD get a more central location, maybe like a Sadler Center, expanded facilities. They have a very important job and to many students it's a safe space.”

Along with administrative changes, Adejayan and the BSO encouraged the College to implement equality, anti-racist and police reformation plans before tragedy strikes campus.

“I feel like as far as speaking on current events right now, what's going on ... I think that that's a good start, what many students are looking forward to is real policy reform,” Adejayan said. “I haven't heard of any cases where W&M campus police were having any type of bad interactions with Black students, that being said we shouldn't have to have that happen before we see change. I want to see real things that will go ahead and protect us before anything even happens.”

Similarly, Adejayan described how limited visibility for Black students at the College leads to uncomfortable situations where individuals feel burdened to represent their racial background.

“I took a COLL 150 this last semester, there were maybe nine people, and I was the only Black person there,” Adejayan said. “It’s not the only class I’ve taken being the only Black person in there, or one of the few, and honestly for me and many others, we feel like we have this obligation to represent our race, which we don’t in any form; but it feels like oh, if I’m not saying something smart or I sound dumb, then I’m going to be propagating this stereotype, which is definitely something we shouldn’t feel ... we shouldn’t feel the weight of our entire race on our backs at all times.”

As demands for accountability intensify, former Williamsburg city council member Benny Zhang ‘16 Ll. B. ‘20 described Williamsburg’s history dealing with racism and how the current anti-racist movements are pushing the city forward.

“We understand and stand in solidarity with the protesters, especially with Williamsburg and its past…”

Zhang said. “It's something that we are acutely aware of in terms of our positions even though we may be a small city government, we all believe we have a moral obligation moving forward to address the system inequities and fight for justice for all.”

During his time in office, Zhang helped create the state-wide Minority Business Commission, approved

by Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and went into effect July 1. The commission will create policy to help promote minority business throughout the state, and has citizens commissions partnered with Williamsburg’s local NAACP chapter focusing on incorporating BIPOC more greatly into the Williamsburg community.

As students, organizations and community members push for change throughout the College’s campus and Williamsburg, Allen expressed the importance of keeping up this momentum and the perseverance necessary for building a more positive future.

“Hopefully this won't go out of style,” Allen said.

“That there will be a continued reaction and desire to make this a lasting change. That's not going to happen overnight, it's been 400 years since these cultures came together ... you're not going to fix 400 years of attitude, this is intergenerational; some of this hate has passed down from generation to generation it's going to take more than a summer to fix it, but we can’t give up on it.”

Future Joseph echoed Allen’s thoughts, emphasizing that meaningful work must establish structural change, which over the years will take the place of institutions of racism at the College and create a more welcoming campus for BIPOC students.

“

This is going to take more than a year’s work because we are combating 328 years of a system that was propped up on the labor of Black people and now, doesn’t exist for them. I want to walk around like this school is my inheritance but frankly, I don’t feel like it is. And that’s what we need to change as well.

— Anthony Joseph

“

PAST

EMMA FORD AND CHARLES COLEMAN FLAT HAT MANAGING EDITOR AND NEWS EDITOR

“

Closer Look at the College's History

“This is going to take more than a year’s work because we are combating 328 years of a system that was propped up on the labor of Black people and now, doesn’t exist for them,” Joseph said. “I want to walk around like this school is my inheritance but frankly, I don’t feel like it is.

And that’s what we need to change as well.”

For Ward, who has experienced steps forward and backward throughout her 60 years in Williamsburg, she has noticed how fights for equality have given her granddaughter opportunities Ward did not have in her youth, and how recent events are culminating in national and local conversations.

“My spirit, I could feel that there was something there that I’ve never experienced before,” Ward said. “A crowd of diverse people coming together for a purpose. Seeing white people stand up for black people in Williamsburg.”

opinions

STAFF COLUMN

Opinions Editor Chloe Folmar Opinions Editor Alyssa Slovin fhopinions@gmail.com // @theflathat

The Flat Hat | Wednesday, August 12, 2020 | Page 4

STAFF COLUMN

Adjusting to college life in the era of COVID-19 Amid uncertainty, students should seek patience

Lucas Harsche FLAT HAT OPINIONS ASSOC. EDITOR

Patience? Me? Anyone who had spent even a brief amount of time in my company before the COVID19 pandemic would have told you that patience and I are simply not compatible, like broccoli on pizza or Apple earbuds with literally any older iPhone model.

Despite the promises made by others of a potentially amazing partnership, I had historically never quite seen myself settling down with patience — until the pandemic, that is.

All metaphors aside, one of the few net benefits that I have seen myself obtaining from this whole ordeal is that I was schooled — or some would say baptized by fire — in the art of patience, and while there is certainly more work to be done, I would like to think that I learned a lot from this newfound relationship. I believe the lessons I learned might, in fact, be beneficial to us all as we approach the coming fall semester and all of its frustrating, yet constant, revisions.

Of course, there has been the test in patience over these past few months as most of us waited inside our homes for the spread of the coronavirus to dramatically slow down.

For me, this meant a personal reckoning for my skills in patience as the oldest of four siblings who are all very different from one another. While it seems very childish of me at this age to admit that I still have problems getting along with my siblings, I like to think that the experiences of sharing snacks with everybody, sacrificing time on the Internet to

ensure that it does not slow down from too many connections, and bonding over more frequent family dinners and movie nights have allowed me to say that I am certainly improving in this area. I would say to anyone who has the opportunity to work on patience in regard to long-term relationships, such as your siblings, that it cannot fail to be time well spent.

Another frequent challenger to my patience has been the tense wait for the vaccine to COVID-19, and the seemingly logical promise of a complete return to normal life following its release. While expert opinions still differ on how long it will take for life to return to “normal” — as if it ever will — following the vaccine’s debut given the logistics of accessibility and distribution, I still sometimes agonize over the selfish temptation of an easy solution to this complicated issue, of a simple act that can reverse my world back from its current state of craziness as easily as flipping a light switch.

While the vaccine may only mark the beginning of the long end for the pandemic, patience has taught me that, while our sacrifices and sufferings in the present seem as though they may never end, the rewards of making it all the way through the pandemic to its inevitable conclusion will shine only the brighter.

I tasted a glimpse of such rewards only a few short weeks ago when, after months of being quarantined and working at our respective summer jobs, I was finally able to reunite with my roommate for a weekend and enjoy his friendship that has made college all the more memorable thus far. That time of enjoyment will soon come for all, and a day will soon come on campus when we are all finally able to hug friends whom we felt as though we would never see again, to share good food without fear of passing infection, and just enjoy the beautiful time that we have with each other and never again take for granted. Have patience, my friends. That day is coming soon.

Email Lucas Harsche at lmharsche@email.wm.edu.

... A day will soon come on campus when we all can enjoy the beautiful time that we have with each other.

Socially distant interaction mandates boldness the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as from the College.

If I had any one piece of advice to give incoming students, it would be to always be adventurous and courageous, even at the risk of seeming ridiculous or making a simple mistake.

There will be fewer opportunities to make a good impression this semester, so make the most of every chance and put yourself out there.

Elaine Godwin FLAT HAT OPINIONS ASSOC. EDITOR

I recently received a very kind email from one of my favorite professors, asking for a “socially distant” walk together when I returned to campus in the coming weeks. Although I had obviously realized the effects that COVID-19 would have on my semester academically speaking, considering I had been desensitized to it with my experiences during the spring, I had yet to truly contemplate the social aspect.

Normally an outgoing person, I was accustomed to frequent study sessions, movie nights and other quotidian experiences with my friends and hallmates across the College of William and Mary. Due to the restrictions that the school has since implemented in response to the pandemic, both in terms of online courses and building access, I knew this would constitute a learning curve for all involved.

Many of these friendships were solidified during my very first semester here, whether in the confines of a physical classroom or awkward hall socials mandated by our resident assistant, whom I quickly came to love. I am lucky enough to already have these friendships in place, but the incoming class of 2024, as well as countless transfer students, sadly do not have this option, or even close substitutions to it.

The majority of them were most likely relying upon these same normal interactions to expand their social circle, and it’s not like Zoom meetings are exactly conducive to socializing, let alone making actual long-term friends. Traditional parties, sporting events and club get-togethers are simply a thing of the past at this point, even further reducing the amount of time new students will have to acclimate to campus and meet people.

Of course, we all understand the absolute necessity that this pandemic situation warrants, and in no way should safety measures be disregarded for the pleasures of socializing. If anything, such ignorance would only give you less and less opportunities for interaction; no one wants to risk getting themselves and others sick, and the majority of intelligent, informed people avoid those who bypass recommendations from

Really, it isn’t as hard as it seems, as long as you are willing to adapt to the situation and put yourself out there.

Many of my good friends on campus are only that way due to my tenacity, though others might call it pigheadedness, and willingness to be the initiator in conversations with people I don’t know.

Even simple compliments can make the difference in turning a complete stranger into a new friend and are always a good starting point.

Although you can’t really compliment someone’s smile these days, consider changing it to “I like your face mask” or “nice social distancing,” if you’re really feeling ambitious.

Really, it isn’t as hard as it seems, as long as you are willing to adapt to the situation and put yourself out there. As I mentioned in my last article on dating during quarantine, this new situation also presents us with more chances to connect deeply, by sharing our experiences and focusing more on what truly matters in life.

By keeping an optimistic outlook, and a desire to meet new people, everything will work out as deemed fit.

Every student at the College is strong and capable, and I’m sure that this social obstacle, albeit an awkward and sometimes frightening one, is no different in difficulty than anything else you have faced before.

I hope to see all the new faces on campus when I return, happy faces behind the mask, and feel free to ask me to coffee six feet apart if you’re feeling brave.

Email Elaine Godwin at sgodwin@email.wm.edu.

STAFF COLUMN

Success in online classes requires discipline, positivity, active participation

Alyssa Slovin

FLAT HAT OPINIONS EDITOR

Imposter syndrome runs rampant on any college campus, and the College of William and Mary is no different.

Students, especially new students, have high expectations for themselves and they doubt their capabilities of ever succeeding in such circumstances. Now, more than ever, I expect new students will doubt that they belong here at the College due to the inevitable struggles and limitations that come along with remote learning.

Every student’s classes will be online for at least two weeks before all students are scheduled to move in, and many classes will remain fully or partially online for the remainder of the semester. I don’t think anyone enjoys online classes, and if they do, I highly doubt that they enjoy them more than in-person classes, but they make up our unfortunate reality for the foreseeable future.

As a way to ease the transition that is already emotionally difficult for many students from high school to college, one that will likely be more emotionally challenging due to isolation among students or difficulties learning outside of a classroom. In that light, I would like to present advice on

what I learned from half a semester of Zoom and pre-recorded lectures at the college level. Of course, most students studied online at the end of last school year as well, but I am sure that the differences between high school and college are still present in an online setting. I know that I would have loved a list like this when I was a freshman to calm my nerves in preparation for classes, so make sure to take time for yourself in planning what works for you in the days preceding your first online courses in Williamsburg.

My most important piece of advice about remote learning is to act like you would act in an in-person class. Pay attention, take notes, participate and remember all of the other keys to success that you have likely learned throughout your education.

Of course, your professors can’t tell if you’re online shopping on your computer or texting out of the camera’s view, but that doesn’t mean that you should do either of those things. Your success depends upon your understanding of the material, and it’s pretty difficult to understand the material when you didn’t hear it.

You might be thinking that you’re a good multitasker, but it’s easy to get distracted, nonetheless. In a classroom or lecture hall, you would be focusing on taking notes, and you should keep that focus no matter where you are sitting.

Branching off that idea, you should keep the camera on in any Zoom classes if possible. It will hold you more accountable to pay attention, but it will also let your professors get to know you a little better. I’ve heard just about all of my professors ask for cameras on during every class meeting as a desperate means to be able to see the students with whom they’re talking.

Something else that I noticed last semester via Zoom was that everyone was quieter than they normally were when classes were held in person. I highly recommend participating as much as possible in your online setting. Many students are

uncomfortable speaking when they are sitting in an empty room, or maybe they just find it awkward when they’re trying to find the perfect time to unmute themselves and interject.

However, you cannot let some awkwardness stop you from being successful in your classes. Every professor has different expectations. Some may take participation into account for your grade, especially if the class depends on discussion.

Even if the class does not require participation, active participation is beneficial for learning. More importantly, you should not be too afraid to ask questions. Professors usually love and encourage questions, and any questions that you may have will help all students in class.

Obviously, some classes will be pre-recorded, and that makes it much more difficult to clarify a certain topic or to ask your questions freely.

However, you can email your professors, classmates, or attend online office hours in order to get your questions answered. Those resources are easy to use and can only help you through the semester.

Finally, remember that you made it through high school already, likely with a very rigorous schedule and course load.

Maybe, when you were sitting in class with the same students who you’ve known since you were in kindergarten, some of the tasks felt trivial, pointless or irrelevant to your future.

But take a step back from your anxiety about a college course load and remember that one of the main purposes of high school is to prepare you for college.

Even if you think that you skated by in high school without doing as much work as you should, you still developed important skills that you will use to your advantage for the next four years.

You are ready, and you do belong here. Trust me. And welcome to the College.

Email Alyssa Slovin at amslovin@email.wm.edu.

The Flat Hat

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Page 5

GUEST COLUMN

GUEST COLUMN

Understanding immigration policy requires nonpartisan compassion, understanding Sanaa Khan and Rachel Kidd

Student details ailments in suspected COVID-19 diagnosis, pleads for caution Daniel Miller FLAT HAT GUEST WRITER

FLAT HAT GUEST WRITERS

As two interns working for the George Washington University Law Immigration Clinic, we work directly with immigrant clients seeking asylum and other immigration statuses. These clients make up some of the most vulnerable groups of immigrants and the trauma they experience is heart-wrenching.

While some college students may feel far removed from the immigration process, many students on the College of William and Mary’s campus are immigrants themselves, are international students or come from immigrant families. Their lives are directly affected

by President Donald Trump’s administration and its decisions concerning immigration policy.

Because we predominantly serve the Washington D.C. area, some College students may know of family or friends that could utilize our legal services. Regardless of personal connection, we feel that the opportunity to provide a glimpse into the immigration process and into the lives of our clients is incredibly valuable.

Under the Trump administration, immigration policies seem to change constantly, and they change real people’s lives. Immigration law went from bad policy to becoming part of a malicious atmosphere, with the understanding that it is going to hurt people. As interns, we have met clients who have lived, worked and loved in the United States for years or even decades who are now at the mercy of one administration’s whims.

They are mothers, fathers, grandparents and kids with dreams of living a normal life in the United States, but the sacrifices they make are great.

If immigrants’ rights are human rights, why has policy reform become increasingly partisan?

Most of the people we assist are asylees, meaning they were granted protection by the U.S. government due to credible fear of violence or persecution in their home country. They are provided a path to citizenship, albeit an expensive and invasive path. They live their lives in limbo while they wait on the broken immigration system. Some clients came here as children and were protected by Unaccompanied Alien Child status. The Trump administration overturned a policy from former president George W. Bush’s administration which gave primary jurisdiction of UAC asylum cases to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and improves their ability to get asylum. Without UAC status, obtaining asylum becomes more difficult and individuals could be deported unnecessarily.

Many potential clients have experienced horrific trauma, such as gang threats and intimidation, watching friends and family being brutally murdered, or hate crimes based on race, gender or sexual orientation.

We want to help, but the system we have inherited is broken and does not always allow us to help everyone.

If immigrants’ rights are human rights, why has policy reform become increasingly partisan?

The U.S. government has a responsibility to asylees to protect them from the traumatic experiences they fled in their home country, not to exacerbate that trauma. The current administration has taken actions to stifle any progress toward reform.

For me, Rachel, growing up in a family that has lived in Virginia for generations, the question of supporting Trump’s presidency never even seemed to be a question. Many family members spoke poorly of immigrants at family dinners, fearful of change. I hear my family often say, “Why do they come illegally, why can’t they just do it the legal way?”

But the immigration process is incredibly complex, expensive and invasive. I hope to educate my family through my experience as an intern, inform them of the intensity and privilege required by the immigration process, and make them aware of the horrific experiences asylees escape from in their home countries.

For me, Sanaa, growing up in an immigrant community, I saw how immigration was a lifelong process here in the U.S.. I knew families who spent decades trying to get legal status while trying to support their children that were born and raised here. Some families waited patiently for years and spent thousands of dollars trying to fund their immigration case. Other families gave up and went back. Their children and their children’s children make America what it is today.

America’s immigration history has always included ‘otherized’ people groups. This may not be so easily fixed, but what can change is our laws and policies. Immigration law goes beyond presidential administrations, party platforms and news headlines. By working at the clinic, we have learned that immigration law is truly about people at its core.

Email Sanaa Khan and Rachel Kidd at sanaak2@gmail.com and rakidd@email.wm.edu.

At approximately 11:30 p.m. Friday, March 20, my dad threw me into the back of his car and rushed me to the local emergency room. I just had my second asthma attack within three and a half hours, after not having one for an entire year.

The first attack occurred as I was finishing dinner with my dad, and I was able to quickly get it under control by using my rescue inhaler. However, the second one happened as I was trying to fall asleep. I tried using my rescue inhaler again, but this time it proved useless. The attack continued to worsen and I had to drag myself to my dad’s bedroom gasping for air.

He made me throw some clothes on and sped, literally, to the nearest hospital. Before I continue further with my story, I want to give it some context. I have had asthma for as long as I can remember, but it has been completely under control for about the past decade; I was not even taking a daily inhaler. I thought I was in the clear, and my asthma would never be an issue in my life ever again. I was definitely wrong.

The day before my first two asthma attacks, I woke up with a shortness of breath. As that day progressed, I developed a slight fever and a light cough. At that point, my dad and I agreed that we should go into quarantine as a family. The next morning, I woke up to find my cough and fever had disappeared, but my shortness of breath had worsened. I called my primary doctor who ordered me a COVID-19 test at a local drive-thru testing site that following Monday. I never made it. That night I had the two aforementioned asthma attacks, and given my poor condition, my dad knew it was in my best interest to break the quarantine and get me to a hospital immediately.

Anyways, we walked into the emergency room around 11:45 p.m. and were given face masks to put on before being told to wait. By that time, the attack had mainly subsided, but it was getting increasingly harder to breathe. After about 30 minutes, we were called back to get my vitals taken and then put in a room to wait to be seen. Sometime later, a doctor entered the room, examined me, and ordered a Nebulizer treatment and a COVID-19 nasal swab. For those who are not familiar, a Nebulizer treatment is essentially liquid medicine that gets turned into mist and one then inhales it. In turn, it is supposed to ease asthma and open up the lungs. My treatment lasted about 15 minutes and I was feeling nearly completely better when it was over. Then, came the COVID19 test. And yes, I can confirm that the nasal swab is unpleasant, but in my case, necessary.

Feeling better, I was sent home with a powerful rescue inhaler and told that my results would come back in a few business days.

I got home and passed out from exhaustion.

Around 9 a.m. the next morning I awoke to find myself in the midst of another asthma attack (#3). I took my new inhaler and thankfully it worked, and I was able to fall back asleep. That day, my dad woke me periodically to check on me and give me food and liquids.

Otherwise, I just slept as severe exhaustion had set in. However, I did have yet another asthma attack that evening (#4), but was once again able to quell it with my new inhaler.

As day turned to night, I had developed body aches and a terrible headache, and my shortness of breath was not getting any better. Luckily, my exhaustion had overpowered my other symptoms and I continued to sleep. The next day, Sunday, probably began the scariest 72 hours of my life and by far the worst symptoms. That morning, I awoke to yet another asthma attack, but yet again was able to stop it with the inhaler (#5). I fell back asleep but was woken up by my dad in the early evening to eat and drink something. However, I was extremely lightheaded and had no memory of what I had eaten earlier that day or the prior day. My dad had to hold onto my hand to get me to the dining table. I was able to eat a bit of food and then decided to take a hot shower to air out my lungs.

My dad was so worried about me that he actually stood outside my bathroom as I bathed.

After the shower, my lungs and lightheadedness had decreased a bit. But then, as I was getting dressed, I had another asthma attack (#6). So, not even 48 hours after being rushed to the emergency room, I was doing it all over again. Even though I had been to the same hospital not even two full days beforehand, the whole check-in process and emergency room layout had changed seemingly overnight.

This time, my dad was not allowed to stay with me and had to leave after dropping me off. Moreover, I was sent to wait in a brand new tent for respiratory patients that sat next to the emergency room. Like before, my asthma attack had dissipated by this point, and after waiting for about 30 minutes, I was escorted into the emergency room through a side door and given a room. Given all my symptoms, the hospital staff decided to give me a plethora of tests, including taking a panel of blood from each arm, another nasal swab test for the flu and other respiratory illnesses, and a CT Scan due to my lightheadedness and confusion.

Not to my surprise, every single test came back negative and they refused to take another COVID-19 test.

After my doctor and nurses had consulted for about fifteen minutes, they agreed to admit me to the hospital

floor to figure out what was wrong with me. However, due to recent COVID-19-related changes in their admittance policy, I did not meet the requirements to be admitted. At that moment, I broke into tears, which unfortunately caused me go into another asthma attack (#7). However, due to hospital policy changes that had occurred since that Friday night, they were unable to administer me any medical aid as they did not want me possibly spreading COVID-19 if I had it. So, there I was, having a full-blown asthma attack in the hospital and I was getting zero help. Luckily, I had brought my inhaler with me and was able to use it. While I did not end the asthma attack, it got it under control and I was able to calm down.

That Monday, my condition continued to worsen as I had two new symptoms: it now hurt to breathe and my kidneys were in pain. However, I continued to sleep the day away and only had one asthma attack (#8), which I quickly contained with both of my inhalers. But that night, everything changed.

Even though I was still exhausted, I was unable to fall asleep as I could not take a full breath lying down anymore. I was scared to death to return to the hospital again because they threatened to intubate me if I came back for a third time.

So, after a restless night, I called my primary doctor Tuesday morning, who advised me to go to a George Washington University Urgent Care Center as the doctors there have admitting privileges at the George Washington Hospital. She also prescribed me a third inhaler. I arrived at urgent care later that morning and was seen almost right away. At this point, although my oxygen levels were normal, it felt like my lungs were collapsing and the pain I had to endure to breathe was nearly unbearable. After a long conversation with the doctor and yet another examination, he decided to put me on steroids for five days to open my lung cavity.

I had not been put on steroids up to this point because in March, nobody knew how COVID-19 and steroids interacted.

Before leaving to pick up my prescription, the doctor gave me a steroid booster shot and said if I did not see improvement in my breathing within 24 hours, to go to the GW Hospital emergency room. Thankfully, the steroid, and my three inhalers, started to work and I had no asthma attacks for the rest of the week.

However, that Sunday, the day after my steroids ran out, I had another asthma attack despite still being on all three inhalers (#9). But, by that point, I had seen a decrease in other symptoms; the lightheadedness, confusion and body aches had disappeared. My remaining symptoms were shortness of breath, exhaustion, kidney pain, painful breathing and a headache. Monday morning, after yet another asthma attack overnight (#10), I called up my primary doctor again who prescribed me four more days of steroids. Just like that, I was feeling better again, and after the four days were up, I found myself, for the first time in two weeks and without steroids, not having asthma attacks. It took about another week for the rest of my symptoms to disappear, and then I thought I had survived COVID-19.

Even to this day, I still experience residual complications.

I have to take an inhaler every day to breathe normally and I have nightmares that I am having an asthma attack even though I am fine. I went for an antibody test a few weeks ago, which AT very surprisingly came back H AT negative, although the accuracy FL E TH of those tests are questionable, to RE / O M E say the least. Moving forward, I insist MAGGI on being near my doctors if I were to develop further complications, or actually test positive, for COVID19. Moreover, while I appreciate the College of William and Mary’s preparations for the fall semester regarding the virus, I am not confident in the Health Center’s abilities when students return to campus.

Campus life will also look very different this fall, and as much as I hate to say it, especially with all my classes online, I do not feel like I will be missing much since I doubt that the on-campus experience will be enjoyable. Whether it be wearing a mask in the library, getting to-go meals from the dining halls, or not being able to attend large, social gatherings, I do not see enough positive reasons for me to return to Williamsburg this fall. This brings me to my final point, and ultimately the main reason why I have written this article. I am not asking for sympathy or sorrow of any type related to my experience. Instead, I believe there will be students who return to campus with the mindset that the student body is young and healthy, and with the majority of faculty staying off-campus, should COVID-19 get onto campus, everyone will survive with no problem. Therefore, they will be careless and risk contracting and spreading the deadly virus. While I believe that will be a tiny minority of College students, they do and will exist this fall.

To those students and in fact, all students: I ask you to reflect on my experience and understand that people with underlying medical conditions, while few, will return to campus. Not every student is in perfect health, whether it be diabetes, asthma, an autoimmune disorder or something else. Please think twice before you act on campus this fall and understand how those actions could affect others concerning COVID-19. It is a communal responsibility to assure that everyone stays safe because the consequences can be deadly.

Email Daniel Miller at damiller@email.wm.edu.

variety

Variety Editor Matthew Kortan Variety Editor Gavin Aquin Hernández flathat.variety@gmail.com

The Flat Hat | Wednesday, August 12, 2020 | Page 6

S ’ N

S U P

A I R M T A S C E D O E T P E e D I h U t G

ph o s na e v e e r ’ u o y ore f e b r a c a y it b h ng i t t e g d i Avo

o

re o m

REBECCA KLINGER / THE FLAT HAT

GAVIN AQUIN HERNÁNDEZ // FLAT HAT VARIETY EDITOR

I

n another universe, Williamsburg could very much have been the cherished setting of a Grand Theft Auto videogame. Seemingly, drivers in this charming hamlet operate their automobiles as if pedestrians — or their lives — are not at stake daily. Though students this year are not anticipated to traverse campus as regularly, it is still important to exercise caution due to the simple fact that cars, in the hands of reckless drivers, can be deadly. Since we at The Flat Hat want you to enjoy your freshman year as much possible, here are a few tips to help you navigate by foot some of the trickiest spots on campus .

Crossing Jamestown Road between Ewell and Campus Center Incoming freshmen are lucky in the fact that they will never know what it was like to cross this road in a time before the pedestrian light. For those seeking to grub at Marketplace, be sure to tap the crosswalk button before entering the zebra crossing. Make sure you look both ways as motorists tend to ignore the lights — especially in the nighttime hours when students are not regularly seen crossing.

Crossing Ukrop Way between the Commons and Randolph/the Fraternity Complex Having lived in the Botetourt Complex my freshman year, I soon realized that Ukrop Way could very well be my biggest on-campus enemy — other than self-doubt and 300-level economics courses. Though pedestrians are seen crossing at all times of day, the winding nature of this road along with its status as one of the main on-campus vehicle transport routes makes it easy for students to get hit if they are not paying attention. If you find yourself in need to brave Ukrop, look both ways and stop for cars — they won’t stop for you. It does not hurt to use your phone’s flashlight if crossing at night. Most importantly however, always watch out for drunk drivers.

Crossing by the Raymond A. Mason School of Business At the carrefour of Jamestown Road and Ukrop Way lies the Mason School of Business. Maybe you’re walking to Ludwell and need to cross Jamestown, or perhaps you’re coming from Morton Hall — as much as we all joke that we’d like to get hit by a Lamborghini and have our outrageously overpriced tuition paid for, it is not wise to willingly put your life in danger over whimsical commentary on the state of U.S. higher education. Be patient when crossing and value your life over your time.

Why are you in a rush anyway? If you’re a business student, you’re probably going to make the big bucks any day now. around the Sadler Center In theory, this area should be your safe space — however, sometimes motorists will get comically lost and end

up driving to Sadler Terrace. From a distance, make light of their error and go on with your day. Post about it on ‘Swampy Memes for TWAMPy Teens,’ even. Make sure you’re always watching your surroundings!

Crossing Richmond Road When making Wawa or Chick-fil-A trips, you’ll have to cross Richmond Road. The zebra crossing by Blow Memorial Hall has a pedestrian light that you should click on when walking in order to let motorists know. If a car seems adamant about not letting you cross, it’s best to wait the extra time and not take your chances. If possible, cross with a group so that cars can see you better. Due to the proximity to bars, at night you should watch for drunk drivers and utilize a flashlight if you don’t feel sufficiently seen by motorists — especially in dark clothing.

Quick tips 1) Pay attention to cyclists

2) If walking with headphones,

3) Keep a safe distance of six

who will sometimes bike

leave only one earpiece in so you

feet or two meters away from

on the sidewalks.

can hear cars and bikes.

4) Much like we expect motorists not to text and drive, avoid walking and texting — you might trip on a brick!

other pedestrians

5) Do not jump in front of motorists even in a crosswalk. Confidence is amazing, but too much of it will get you run over.

CONFUSION CORNER

A Hare-raising Tale Mysterious “Bunny Man” pales in comparison to Griffin

MATTHEW KORTAN FLAT HAT VARIETY EDITOR

It was a dark and stormy night — or something like that — along the Colchester Road Bridge, an overgrown and moldy railroad overpass with a short, arched tunnel carved out over the road beneath. Today, numerous students at the College of William and Mary might pass through this rotting tunnel on their journey to or from campus. But way back in the year 50 B.C. (Before Coronavirus, i.e., 1970), the bridge was apparently a sought-after destination for young lovers, many of whom might have been college students like ourselves, to park the car and shack up for an evening of romance. Wink, wink.

So goes the tale of that dark and stormy night. Allegedly, a hometown baby-faced cadet thought he’d take his sweetheart for a spin and inevitably found himself parked in a field in the town of Clifton, VA, adjacent from the fabled railway bridge. As he began to lay the moves on his lady, there was a most unexpected turn of events. A shattering blow was dealt to the steamed-up back window by a hurling hatchet. The couple knew they were under attack as the assailant approached the vehicle. The cadet shifted the car into drive and floored the gas pedal. As he sped away from the scene, a terrified glance in the rearview mirror revealed the disturbing truth: a small, screaming man dressed in a children’s rabbit costume had thrown the hatchet, which now sat idle in the back seat on the passenger side. Who was this man? What was the motive? What was he yelling about? Why the Donnie Darko-esque Rabbit suit? Fifty years of police investigations and reported sightings have passed, and still the answers to these questions are not clear. All we know is this is not the barrack bunny the young cadet had hoped to find on that dark and stormy October evening.

Over the years, the tale of the “Bunny Man” has been met with much fanfare across the Northern Virginia area. Each year around Halloween, people flock from across the nation to Colchester Road Bridge, colloquially

referred to as “Bunny Man Bridge,” dressed in the famous furry attire donned by the bad man himself and wielding various farming tools or other common items that double as weapons to emulate the hatchet. It is rumored that if one stands beneath the bridge alone with closed eyes and calls out for the Bunny Man thrice, he will appear from the shadows for a an in-person meet and greet, highlighted by a complimentary throat slashing. It’s similar to Bloody Mary in a dark bathroom, except you die under a dilapidated bridge instead of in the comfort of your own home. Go figure. Since the man reported to the authorities by the cadet in 1970 was never remotely close to being found, the Bunny Man is today considered somewhat of an urban legend, and arguably Virginia’s most well-known. It’s no Jersey Devil or Hodag of northern Wisconsin, but a threat nonetheless.

It is unclear exactly how many lives the Bunny Man has claimed as of the present day, although I imagine it is quite a few, given the following reasons: 1) The area around the bridge remains relatively secluded. 2) People voluntarily sacrifice themselves to his mercy. 3) He continues to operate unhindered by the COVID-19 pandemic, as the dense fur and plastic buck teeth on his mask provide above-average facial screening and therefore greatly decrease his likelihood of contracting the virus. Also, his primary values of death, destruction, and chaotic disorder align with those of the coronavirus itself, suggesting that he might be using the virus as a sort of accomplice. We can’t tell for sure, but it would be safe to assume that the Bunny Man of Northern Virginia is as dangerous and deadly as we have guessed, now more than ever.

Luckily, the College is here to save the day and bail out the Commonwealth of Virginia once again — we’ve grown quite accustomed to this — and this time we need not even bother with brain power. Cue the collective sigh of relief from the student body, each of whom can count on one or two hands the number of times they have done something productive since March. Even on our worst days, the College is a force to be reckoned with. Anyway, here is the plan: we unleash the Griffin on the Bunny Man. Like I said, most other urban legends against the Griffin and I might be worried. The Griffin’s sharp talons and beak probably couldn’t penetrate the rock-solid scales of the Hodag, nor can its bird brain outstrategize the insurmountable deception that the Jersey Devil uses against it. In other words, it is entirely likely the Griffin would meet its match in one of these homegrown antiheroes. The tale of the tape between the Bunny Man and the Griffin, however, appears to be a stalemate upon first glance. A Griffin is essentially a cross between a lion and an eagle, two predators that possess the inherent ability to hunt, catch and kill a

rabbit. However, man is the food chain’s undisputed apex predator. So, it is hard to say definitively which combatant should have the upper hand.

However, I argue that the Griffin would dispose of the Bunny Man with surprising ease. Why? We have all seen the Griffin, confidently guarding the gates of Zable Stadium, and know the creature well. Featuring two gigantic and perfectly round eagle eyes, a marvelous pair of luscious wings, the pinpoint sharpened and erect beak and, of course, those bulging cast-iron … well, you get the idea.

Sure, the Bunny Man might swing his silly hatchet around or whatever, but the Griffin boasts enough muscle mass that even the Bunny Man’s strongest blows will feel like trying to break a fortified stone prison wall with an polypropylene spoon. Also, based on the cadet’s description of the original Bunny Man assault, the assailant did not demonstrate adequate proficiency in attacking with a weapon, nor in hunting strategy. That is to say, whoever the Bunny Man is, he seems to be more of an Elmer Fudd than a Genghis Khan. The Griffin ,on the other hand, is a proud and regal beast, capable of imposing its will onto a frail opponent like the Bunny Man. In the Griffin’s arsenal are razor sharp talons used in hand-to-hand combat, a piercing beak that can impale like a jagged-tipped lance, wings to attack by air like an Apache helicopter, or tree-trunk legs that charge harder than a bull down the red-draped streets of Pamplona. The altercation therefore doesn’t figure to be another epic battle of Grecian lore. What the Griffin will do to the Bunny Man will look a lot more like what James Madison did to the Tribe football team last fall. Now if only we could get the Griffin to suit up on Saturday afternoons for us, we might actually win a few games, but that’s beside the point.

I do not condone violence, but seeing as the Bunny Man has shown no signs of voluntarily ending his reign of terror, and since these are all made up creatures, I think this hypothetical plan is most appropriate. It is our duty as an institution to keep our students safe, serve our community and restore the good name to the most dignified likes of the White Rabbit and the March Hare. The people might say sending in the University of Virginia Cavalier to try and diffuse the situation first is a not-as-harsh or less extreme option, but I argue that in situations like these we can afford no half measures and it would be for the ultimate best interest of the people to dispose of the Bunny Man as quickly and as ruthlessly as possible.

Matthew Kortan is a Confusion Corner Columnist who urges students living in the Northern Virginia area to stay alert and keep an eye out for any suspicious lagomorph activity on or around Clifton’s Colchester Road Bridge. Please report any incidents to mrkortan@email.wm.edu.

sports

Sports Editor Zoe Beardsley Sports Editor Nathan Seidel flathatsports@gmail.com @FlatHatSports

The Flat Hat | Wednesday, August 12, 2020 | Page 7

Exercise in the time of COVID-19 COURTESY PHOTO / WM.EDU

The best ways to get your sports fix on campus during a semester without fall athletics ZOE BEARDSLEY AND NATHAN SEIDEL FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITORS The widespread changes brought to student life in fall 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic will not be limited to academic shifts. Recreational and athletic pursuits for members of the William and Mary community will also be profoundly altered as the administration and campus at large seeks to limit the spread of COVID-19.

For some, a key part of their college experience involves attending sports games and cheering on the Tribe or letting off steam at the Student Recreatuion Center. Although intramurals and casual recreation may not be as they were in years past, there are still lots of opportunities for students to exercise, have fun and get their athletic fix during the upcoming semester.

Chief among them is the Student Recreation Center reopening its doors, albeit in a very different capacity. The Rec plans to open to limited hours for the first three weeks of the semester, but after Labor Day they are planning to go back to regular hours, or as close to them as possible.

To make everything as safe as possible, the Rec will adopt a new hourly system. To use any of the equipment you have to first sign up for a 90-minute window on the College’s Wellness app. After you sign up you are free to get your exercise fix in, as long as you wear a mask at all times.

Another key component of the College’s campus recreation facilities and program is intramural sports. Though they’re going to look a little different this year, there will still be lots of competitions for you to sign up for, like a punt pass and kick competition. Outdoor programs, like camping and bike

trips will also be present, but on-campus only.

And even though the Tribe may be taking a hiatus from intercollegiate competitions, sports are slowly re-emerging from their pandemic-induced hibernation. At long last, many of the professional sports so coveted by fans have returned and have brought with them opportunities to enjoy them with friends — with social distance precautions in mind.

Each league is using some combination of a shortened season and expanded playoff pool. The great thing about sports is being able to watch them with friends, and during the semester there are tons of ways to get creative with your watch parties. You can use Zoom to watch games, using the Cox Contour cable tv subscription you get through the College. Just type tv.wm.edu into your browser, and you’ll have access to all of the major TV channels and sports games.

The NHL playoffs have already started, and the NBA plans to start playoffs Aug. 17. The WNBA and MLB will have their regular seasons go for a little longer, with playoffs starting in early September and early October respectively. Don’t let being stuck inside your dorm restrict your ability to bond over sports with friends and start planning your virtual playoff watch parties now.

However, sports activities do not need to be restricted to a screen. Though to some Williamsburg may be a swamptown, it does give one huge advantage, which is its warm — albeit humid — weather. If you went to school in a northern state, come September and October temperatures would be dropping, and it would be near impossible to enjoy the outdoors for long periods of time without wearing layers and experiencing uncomfortable weather conditions.

However, in Williamsburg you can be outside, socially

distanced and safe, for at least the first few months of the semester. This is great, especially now when one of the few places you can safely go to escape your dorm room is the outdoors. There are lots of outdoor exercise options in and around the College that allow you to be socially distanced with your mask on.

If you enjoy running, walking or biking, try exploring Colonial Williamsburg one day. Not only will you get a nice workout but you can also see all of the different animals, including cows, sheep and horses.

The College also has lots of great fields around campus that offer a great space to engage in whatever athletic activity you want, as long as you wear your masks and stay socially distanced. There are lots of sports-related activities you can do without people, from kicking a soccer ball around to practicing passing a volleyball to yourself.

Not only will some outdoor activity give you a nice mental break from being inside your dorm room and working, but it also provides a great opportunity to relax and focus on your mental and physical health, something that is super important during the school year.

It’s safe to say that no one is more bummed about fall sports being cancelled than the sports editors, but that doesn’t mean sports still can’t be enjoyed by everyone this semester. Whether you decide to use some of the information in this article, the most important thing is that no matter what athletic or outdoor activity you participate in, you do it in a way that’s safe for you and for others. Your health and the health of everyone else around you is the most important thing. We’ll be looking forward to seeing you at a Tribe game next year.

THE EXTRA POINT

Lasting legacies: Revisiting college athletics during quarantine Lessons of the Tribe’s storied, little-known athletic history still resonate throughout campus sports today Lexie Hiestand FLAT HAT SPORTS ASSOC. EDITOR

The future of College sports is uncertain this year with the postponement of William and Mary’s 2020 fall season, so it seems fitting to look back to the past. This week, I want to highlight a remarkable Tribe athlete who played for Tribe football over 70 years ago: Jack Cloud ’48.

Cloud is inducted in the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame, and the William and Mary Hall of Fame. His career was defined by his success with the Tribe even though he eventually went on to play professionally.

Standing just over 5’10, Cloud muscled his way into yardage. He played like a bulldozer, running low to the ground and steamrolling opponents. Cloud represented William and Mary for four years before a three-year stint in the National Football League. His style was reminiscent of much older eras of football, and he was often compared to Jim Thorpe, a renowned Native American player of the early 1900s.

Cloud’s breakout year came as a sophomore. In 1947, he helped lead the Tribe to a Southern conference championship with a record of 24-6-2 and was named to the first All-American team. Not only did Cloud set a school record in scoring with 102 points in the 1947 season, but he held the conference record of 45 career touchdowns for 30 years.

In one game, he scored over five touchdowns single-handedly.

The next season in 1948, the Tribe ranked 14th overall, culminating in their Dixie Bowl appearance against Arizona. Cloud put the

Tribe on the board with two subsequent touchdowns in the first quarter. In the second quarter, he injured his knee and watched the Tribe give up their lead to lose 19-21.

against Oklahoma, Cloud entered the NFL draft. In the sixth round, with the 69th pick, he joined the Green Bay Packers for one year. He scored all four of his professional

COURTESY PHOTO / WM.EDU

Jack Cloud played for the 1947 William and Mary football Team, winning the Southern conference championship.

His knee would never recover. Cloud settled for limited playing time for the rest of his career in order to avoid facing reinjuries. But, the team also changed its style to compensate. Buddy Lex ’49, a teammate of Cloud’s, attributed the Tribe’s national lead in passing during the 1949 season to Cloud’s injury.

After his senior year, where the Tribe won its Delta bowl game in a 20-0 shut-out

touchdowns with Green Bay and 113 of 141 career yards.

In 1951, he was traded to the Washington Redskins. They transitioned him from playing fullback to becoming a linebacker.

His rushing yards plummeted, and so did his game time. Two knee operations later, Cloud retired.

For over 30 years, Cloud coached at the Naval Academy, returning to his military

roots. Before attending the College, he served as a gunner in World War Two, where he earned his nickname of “Flying Jack.”

His service to the US Air Force helped him gain discipline while coaching and playing football. He taught physical education courses in addition to coaching light-weight football teams.

In 1990, Cloud was inducted into the College Hall of Fame. Cloud’s career was characterized by his outstanding collegiate performance. His professional career, while impressive for a William and Mary student, was overshadowed by teammate Lou Creekmur ’49. Cloud and Creekmur played for the Tribe together in two overlapping years before both being eventually drafted to the NFL. Creekmur was a pillar of the Lions’ organization for over 10 years, and he was inducted into the Pro Hall of Fame in 1996. While Creekmur is the only Tribe football player to ever be inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Cloud is one of only two Tribe players to be in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Though Cloud played more than 70 years ago for William and Mary, he is still one of the best players to represent the Tribe. Player safety is still at the forefront of everyone’s minds decades later — and for good reason.

Even though his professional years were full of uncertainty from a career-ending knee injury, he had a long, successful journey as a coach afterwards. Cloud’s life was the game of football: his college years cemented the Tribe’s football prowess back in the 1950s.

While older than most of our grandparents, Cloud is emblematic of Tribe athletics even today. Cloud’s timeless ideals of passion and drive persist in the Tribe 70 years later.

newsprofiles

News Editor Charles Coleman News Editor Lulu Dawes News Editor Carmen Honker fhnews@gmail.com

The Flat Hat

| Wednesday, August 12, 2020 | Page 8

Welcome aboard, class of 2024

Amid global pandemic, College greets 1,761 new students

WELCOME

ETHAN BROWN // FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

As morning breaks Wednesday, Aug. 12, 1,761 new students will arrive on campus to constitute the College of William and Mary’s class of 2024. Joining the H AT L AT F university community are 1,559 incoming freshmen and 202 THE R/ E K transfer students.

They will be beginning their careers in Williamsburg ON NH ME R A amid substantial uncertainties brought on by COVID-19, which has delayed C BY HIC P A returning students’ move in dates until Labor Day. GR Sixty-seven percent of new students live in Virginia with another 33 percent coming from outside Virginia. Associate Provost for Enrollment and Dean of Admission Tim Wolfe ’95 M.Ed ’01 said that this year’s admission cycle saw a slightly higher percentage of in-state students committing to the College, partially due to concerns over cost and distance from home that were exacerbated by COVID-19.

The middle 50th percentile of the class of 2024 performed within a 1300-1490 SAT range, as well as a 30-34 ACT, and 77 percent of incoming students graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class. The class’s academic performance mirrors statistics from previous admissions cycles, with the class of 2023 entering the College last year with a slightly higher SAT middle percentile range of 1320-1510 and an identical 30-34 ACT range.

Thirty-two percent of the class of 2024 students identify as people of color and five percent are international students. These populations closely match those from last year’s incoming class, with 33 percent of class of 2023 members identifying as people of color and seven percent originating from outside the United States. Additionally, 10 percent of incoming students are first generation university students.

The College’s acceptance rate ticked up slightly from previous years, with 42 percent of class of 2024 applicants being admitted compared to 38 percent last year. Wolfe said that the university anticipated a higher than average acceptance rate this year due to uncertainty fomented by COVID-19 and noted that more waitlisted students received admission offers than is typical for a regular decision admissions process.

“We knew COVID and the challenges that were just starting to come into view just as the final week or two before sending out admissions decisions,” Wolfe said. “We knew pretty clearly we were going to have to make some additional admission offers.”

Coupled with an increase in the College’s admission rate was a decrease in the university yield rate, which refers to the percentage of admitted students that ultimately matriculate as students in Williamsburg.

The College’s yield rates have been declining for several admissions cycles, and this year saw a 26 percent total yield rate, a small shift downwards from an average of 28 percent over previous cycles.

Wolfe theorized that the class of 2024’s declining yield rate may be due to out-of-state students adjusting their expectations for college based on concerns elicited by COVID-19, as well as their exceptional academic performance that makes them competitive applicants at other universities.

“In some ways, that’s very much fueled by out of state, which is what we expected in the COVID environment,” Wolfe said. “Students that are applying out-of-state here aren’t just randomly doing it. They’ve done some research, and they’re usually very strong applicants. On the one hand that’s great, it means we have a strong group and the admitted students are fantastic. On the downside though is that they’re fantastic, and they have a lot of great offers.”

Seventy-five incoming students have opted to temporarily defer their matriculation at the College until a future semester, decisions which Wolfe said were also likely related to COVID-19. Usually about 15-20 students in each class opt to defer their admission for a year, marking a significant increase in the number of incoming students that will not be physically present on campus during the fall semester.

Some students deferring admission plan to matriculate at the College in spring 2021 instead of waiting a full year to delay their attendance. Wolfe said that the university is working with these students to ensure that they begin their time in Williamsburg in a way that works comfortably for their specific situation, whether it means starting a semester or year late.

“The bottom line is if a student wants to defer, we’re going to find a way to make it happen,” Wolfe said.

College spokesperson Erin Zagursky illustrated some unique extracurricular and academic characteristics of the incoming class of 2024, describing new students’ passions for diverse hobbies and skills that will come with them to Williamsburg.

“Some of the new students include a person who won an amateur disc golf world championship as a 10-year-old, a trick golf-shot video viral sensation, a U.S. junior national team short track speed skater, a competitive Scrabble player who placed in the top 10 at the National School Scrabble Championship, a person who has written five books, a nationally recognized food allergy advocate and a nationally ranked archer who participated on the USA Archery National Junior Dream Team,” Zagursky said in a press statement.

Despite a tumultuous admissions cycle and uncertain paths forward for new students as they arrive on a campus nearly devoid of returning students, Wolfe expressed confidence in the class of 2024’s ability to succeed and thrive at the College in the years ahead.

“We remain impressed and thankful across the board for what students have done, and how they and their families have navigated through this process,” Wolfe said. “Likewise, we are very appreciative of our partners across campus who have tried to help with students as they arrive.”

Harnessing online advocacy

Salli Sanfo ’22 spearheads Black Lives Matter petitions, fundraising campaign LULU DAWES // FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR about what was happening right now.”

In just 36 hours, the CCF raised over $30,000 for the two organizations. For the following year, Sanfo hopes to expand their work and create a space where all student organizations will be working together to shed light on bigger issues.

“It was really, really cool for the entire campus to come together in unity under one united cause, and it worked really well,” Sanfo said. “It was very efficient. People were very, very helpful, so we’re actually going to keep that org open and just like have it open in case we ever need it, so we can foster collaboration across clubs and groups on campus.”

Working with other students, Sanfo then helped create and advocate for the name changing of buildings which still hold the titles of slave owners. According to Sanfo’s personal research, over half the buildings on campus are named after famous slave owners, such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Ewell and many others.

“The more I’ve researched it, the more I was like ‘wow,’ because you know there’s a famous few — like Jefferson, Ewell. But it’s actually almost all of them, and if the school wants to change its legacy, it has to change those,” Sanfo said.

“The school can’t honor slave owners and slaves. It can’t do both.”

Though the petition was just recently created, Sanfo has been advocating for changing these names since she was a freshman, along with other students and alumni.

“The discussion about the names has been happening for a lot of years here … they’re not new ideas,” Sanfo said. “There’s nothing new or groundbreaking about them; it’s just a very different time right now with quarantine so a lot of students have the time to dedicate a lot of time. ... This is me just trying to add my little penny to the pile that’s been created.”

Sanfo’s latest petition details Highland Plantation, which is a historic museum at the home of James Monroe in Charlottesville, VA. Currently owned by the College, Sanfo called for the school to be more transparent

“

I just want William and Mary to be on the right side of history. ... At the end of the day, I truly believe that admin knows what’s best to do. I just want them to actually do it.

“

During the past few months of nationwide Black Lives Matter activism, Salli Sanfo ’22 has dedicated her time to petitioning for change at the College of William and Mary.

C r e a t i n g multiple petitions regarding the College’s statement on the Black Lives Matter movement and helping raise tens of thousands of dollars, Sanfo hopes to help the College actively change its legacy.

COURTESY PHOTOS / SALLI SANFO “Our school has had a large, really insane legacy of upholding these systems,” Sanfo said.

“William and Mary always talks about being progressive, upholding diversity, all those things, but those aren’t passive things, they’re active things. Our school actively stood for things like the institution of slavery; we weren’t just in the background like ‘oh I guess;’ we actively fought in the Civil War.” Two months ago, Sanfo and fellow student Alton Coston III ’23 created the first petition on Change.org titled “William and Mary Administration Needs to Stand Up,” where they urged the College’s administration to stand alongside their Black students and release a statement condemning the murder of George Floyd. This petition earned over 8,200 signatures and holds hundreds of comments demanding justice and stating support for the cause.

“It can’t just be a passive ‘oh that’s so sad,’” Sanfo said. “It has to be the same initiative we saw 50 years ago when it came to being against segregation. It has to be that same thing now. Especially since the school wants to kind of create a history legacy for itself, which is important, but creating that new legacy is what requires that initiative.”

Following the creation of the first petition, the College did release an official statement; however, many students — including Sanfo — believed the response was inadequate in addressing racism and the intersectionality of many issues faced by the College’s Black community. Consequently, Sanfo co-created the Cooperative Change Fund which is a coalition of over 100 student organizations working together to raise money for the National Policy Accountability Fund and Campaign Zero.

“The school gave a statement that was very, very vague, and the first one had very few actionable items in it. It was kind of like ‘oh this is very sad,’” Sanfo said. “But the student body seemed very passionate about these issues, and from what I was seeing on social media, and talking with my friends, people seemed like they really cared

— Salli Sanfo

on the money and operations at the historic site and hopes Highland changes the angle on how they advertise themselves.

“I started a petition on Highland for it to be transparent, so we can know what’s going on there,” Sanfo said. “I got an email from somebody about it and did some research, and it’s taking in a lot of money. It’s very interesting. ... I just want the student body to have clarity between each other and see the school go in the direction that it really wants to go in overall.”

Though Sanfo’s actions and petitions have recently been making waves through the College’s community, Sanfo has been no stranger to activism. At the age of 12, she began writing articles for the magazine Feminist Culture and then later for Affinity Magazine, where she wrote on issues regarding modern day feminism, race and gender. Outside of her work, she is a member of ROCKET Magazine’s marketing team and a dancer in multiple clubs across campus.

“I just want William and Mary to be on the right side of history,” Sanfo said. “... At the end of the day, I truly believe that admin knows what’s best to do. I just want them to actually do it.”

When asked what message she would send to students as they return to campus this fall, Sanfo said she wants everyone to take care of each other.