Vol. 108, Iss. 26 | Tuesday, February 12, 2019
The Flat Hat The Weekly Student Newspaper
of The College of William and Mary
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Rowe makes history at her inauguration Community gathers to welcome president for 326th Charter Day
RECKONING WITH RACIST HISTORY
SARAH SMITH FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Northern Aggression” themed party which resulted in the fraternity being placed on social probation. The College has become increasingly cognizant of its legacy of racism and has taken steps to address its past. This has most notably occurred through the establishment of the Lemon Project in 2009, which studies the College’s role in perpetuating slavery and racial discrimination, as well as the Task Force on Race and Race Relations, which was led by Chief Diversity Office Chon Glover M.Ed. ’99, Ed.D. ’06 and released a comprehensive report regarding its findings in 2016. “We know that William & Mary has its own troubling history with regards to race and racism,” Whitson said in an email. “Through the Lemon Project and the Task Force on Race and Race Relations, we have made progress over the past decade in understanding and reckoning with our past but there is more work to do.” Origins of blackface According to theater and Africana studies professor Artisia Green, blackface minstrelsy, which originated as a distinct performance style in the United States in the 19th century, is inextricably tied to a glorification of institutionalized slavery in the United States. “Blackface minstrelsy in America began as a comic device used by whites to create nostalgia around institutionalized slavery and to shape attitudes about black images and culture,” Green said in an email. “... Blackface minstrelsy as a coerced performance had roots in plantation slavery, where the enslaved were commanded to perform artistically and sexually for the entertainment and pleasure of whites and/or to demonstrate, via the auction block, their marketability.” Green went on to say that while there is a general consensus that blackface and Klan insignia are symbols of prejudice and intimidation, she believes many people are not aware of how much harm these symbols can cause. “What continues to surprise me is that there remains an unwillingness to accept the fact that embracing these symbols outside of thoughtfully curated educational contexts will cause harm,” Green said in an email. “Given
This year, the College of William and Mary’s Charter Day ceremony was a little bit different. Beyond the usual celebration of the College’s birthday was the inauguration of College President Katherine Rowe, the first woman to hold the title. After Board of Visitors Rector John Littel and Chancellor Robert Gates ’65 adorned her with the presidential medallion, Rowe took the stage to share her reflections on the history, traditions and future of the College. Using an idea John Milton explored in “Paradise Lost,” Rowe focused on how the College can reconcile necessary change with 326 years of beloved tradition. “Now is the moment to reflect on the change that will make us more ourselves and make the Alma Mater of the nation more of the global leader we aspire to be,” Rowe said. “The urgency to engage with change is felt across higher education, not just here. It comes from external forces that we don’t control but must engage with creatively. Globally, changing demographics and technologies set an imperative for all organizations to raise our standards of equity and inclusion, for universities to recruit the most talented staff and students and faculty in the world.” Rowe also listed three approaches to change that she already sees in motion at the College. To her, these are passion for experimentation through collaboration, reflection and openness to questioning assumptions. “326 years ago, we were founded on the impulse to try for the two-point conversion, to expand in unlikely directions, to cultivate surprising ideas,” Rowe said. “Now, on the 100th anniversary of coeducation and 50 years after our first African-American students were in residence, we celebrate each change that makes us more ourselves. Indeed, the promises of innovation, inclusion and partnership have been hallmarks of this institution since our charter, down to the ampersand in our name.” Celebrating Rowe The Feb. 8 ceremony featured other changes to recognize Rowe’s inauguration. The William and Mary Choir sang a rendition of “Simple Gifts,” a song Rowe enjoyed in her childhood. Poet Laureate and English professor Henry Hart wrote and read “A Villanelle for the Inauguration of Katherine A. Rowe” and the Reveille’s a capella performance of “Happy Birthday” included a tribute to Rowe. Additionally, representatives from the Faculty Assembly, the Staff Assembly, the Professional and Professional Faculty Assembly, the Student Assembly and the Graduate Council presented Rowe with gifts. SA President Brendan Boylan ’19 and Graduate Council President Lindsey Whitlow J.D. ’19 presented Rowe with a woodcut print of the Sir Christopher Wren Yard’s trees framed with sycamore wood made from the campus woods. Matthew Parciak ’19 and Amy Zhang ’19 had made this gift. Also making history at this year’s Charter Day was the re-investiture of Gates. For the first time in the College’s modern history, a chancellor will serve two consecutive terms. Gates said that he agreed to serve a second seven-year term because he loved the College and was optimistic for its future. He also
See COLONIAL ECHO page 3
See CHARTER DAY page 4
GRAPHIC BY HEATHER BAIER / THE FLAT HAT
As revelations surface of Virginia politicians’ controversial past yearbooks, professors weigh in on College’s own history of blackface minstrelsy LEONOR GRAVE // FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
T
he discovery of the picture of two men, one in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe, on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s medical school yearbook page prompted a mass reexamination of the pasts of the state’s political leaders. The picture was swiftly and widely condemned as racist by Democratic and Republican political leaders. The College of William and Mary has not been excluded from this reckoning. College President Katherine Rowe released a statement to the campus community a few days after the revelation announcing that Northam would not appear at last Friday’s Charter Day ceremonies as scheduled. Virginia Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment J.D. ’73, the highest-paid adjunct professor at the College, also faced criticism when reports revealed he was managing editor of a 1968 Virginia Military Institute yearbook replete with blackface pictures and captions, which included racial slurs. The College declined to comment on this incident in Norment’s past. In response to the recent discovery of racist images in other Virginia university yearbooks, similar to the one in Northam’s edition from the Virginia Military Institute, the College is taking steps to confront its own history by currently conducting an audit of all of its yearbooks. “We are aware of past yearbooks with racist images,” College spokesperson Brian Whitson said in a written statement. “Earlier this week, President Rowe asked University Archives to perform an audit of all yearbooks for both imagery and content that is counter to our values of diversity and inclusion. That is underway. This review will help inform that deeper understanding of William & Mary’s racial history as we work together as a community to ensure this is the kind of respectful and welcoming campus we want and expect.” Past indiscretions Less than a century ago, minstrel shows with white minstrels singing and dancing in blackface would not have raised an eyebrow at the College. Colonial Echo yearbooks include College minstrel troupes well into the 1930s. The 1925 Colonial Echo even boasts of the
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successful creation of a Girls’ Minstrel Troupe, which included a “rag doll dance” and a “colored quartette.” In 1958, the Chi Omega sorority page in the Colonial Echo shows 12 white sorority sisters, four of whom are dressed in full minstrel blackface. Even after the College admitted its first AfricanAmerican students in residence in 1967, racist pictures continued to appear in yearbooks. When the 1991 Colonial Echo included a picture of a student in minstrel blackface holding a logo for a baking powder company depicting a “mammy” figure and captioned “Gone, But Not Forgotten. The Old South rises again, for a day, through the efforts of Vivek Narasimha,” it provoked a flurry of responses among the student body. Several editorials were published in The Flat Hat that year in response to the publication of the blackface picture. A letter to the editor published Nov. 15, 1991 co-authored by four students — Jane Carpenter ’92, Karla Carter ’93, Jenee Gadsden ’93 and Tiffany Gilbert ’93 — condemned Narasimha and the staff of the Colonial Echo. “Thank you, Colonial Echo,” Carpenter, Carter, Gadsden and Gilbert said in the letter. “Thank you for reminding blacks that a time in our history — that represents pain, struggle, degradation, and suffering — has not been forgotten by you. Seeing that picture in the Colonial Echo gave us an even more acute sensitivity to the racial climate that pervades this campus. Racism exists everywhere. Sadly, this incident has driven home the point that ignorance and racist stereotypes continue to be tightly woven within the mental fabric of many students at William and Mary.” In January 2015, a “Golfers and Gangsters” themed mixer between Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and Sigma Pi fraternity faced backlash due to costumes that played into negative stereotypes of African Americans. Witnesses described seeing white students dressing up as “bloods” — the primarily African-American Los Angeles street gang — by wearing costumes made up of tight tank tops, sagging sweatpants, basketball shorts, bandanas and drawn-on face tattoos of teardrops and gold chain necklaces. The same week, Kappa Delta Rho fraternity faced criticism for hosting a “War of
Inside Opinions 2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Inside Variety
Virginia leadership major disappointment to voters
Rainy, High 60, Low 42
Ethan Brown ’21 thinks that recently uncovered scandals of top Virginia governmental officials is incredibly disappointing as a young voter. page 6
Behind the Scenes
Sofia Quinteiro ’ 20 explores her passion for theater as stage manager for Sinfonicron and through her involvment with Nu Kappa Epsilon music sorority. page 7