The Flat Hat February 19 2019

Vol. 109, Iss. 1 | Tuesday, February 19, 2019

The Flat Hat The Weekly Student Newspaper

of The College of William and Mary

STUDENT LIFE

ACADEMICS

Vigil honors gun victims

READY FOR

Students commemorate Parkland anniversary WILLIAM ALLEN FLAT HAT SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Feb. 14, students gathered in the cold at the Sir Christopher Wren Building’s courtyard for a vigil commemorating the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida that happened a year ago. The school shooting in Parkland claimed the lives of 17 students and faculty members, subsequently inspiring a national wave of anti-gun violence activism.

The vigil was organized by the College of William and Mary’s Students Demand Action chapter, which is the student wing of Everytown for Gun Safety, which is a national advocacy group organized against gun violence.

Candles were placed on the steps of the Wren Building’s courtyard, illuminating the pictures of the Parkland shooting victims. Signs such as “1,200 children have been killed by guns since February 14, 2018” and “In Honor of the Everyday Victims of Gun Violence: 96 people a day.” sat on the steps. Students held candles and listened to speakers from the College’s Students Demand Action chapter as well as from other members of the Williamsburg community.

“Though it is often mass shootings or school shootings that capture our attention, the reality is that gun violence affects hundreds of Americans every day,” Students Demand Action Membership Lead Jojo Di Scipio ’22 said. “Gun violence is the second leading cause of death for American children, and the first leading cause of death for black children and teens. This is an unacceptable reality, and it is our responsibility to change it.”

William and Mary Wesley Foundation campus minister Max Blalock spoke about his own personal experiences with gun violence during his time as a pastor.

“The challenge for us is that with all the rhetoric, when you hear about guns, guns, guns, I hope that we are seeing people, people, people,” Blalock said. “What we stand for here is simply commonsense gun laws to prevent senseless violence and death, and I hope and pray that us gathered here don’t just stand together now but we continue to act to make this a reality…”

With the vigil, Chapter Leader Samyuktha Mahadevan ’19 said Students Demand Action wanted to pay homage to the victims of the Parkland mass shooting and raise awareness about gun violence on campus.

“What we want to do as a group and as individuals is make sure that this issue of gun violence doesn’t just go away, the awareness around it doesn’t just fade,” Mahadevan said. “We wanted to show students that we remember and that we care, and that there are students who care, and give them a space to feel recognized and know that there are people who support them.”

The College’s Students Demand Action chapter is unique among Students Demand Action organizations, as most of are largely organized at the high school level with few college level chapters, and some of their members, such as Maggie Herndon ’22, were involved in Students Demand Actions at their own high schools before coming to the College.

“Students Demand Action groups are primarily in high school, so it’s mostly minors,” Mahadevan ’19 said. “So, they require a faculty advisor and parent approval and other things.

While we’re in college, we get a little more autonomy.”

Students Demand Action officially became an on-campus organization Oct. 29, 2018, but the chapter has been active on campus since spring 2018. Members of the Student Demand Action chapter were all passionate about ending gun violence in America, though they possessed diverse reasons for that zeal.

“The reason why I feel so closely connected to this is because I have a little sister,” Mahadevan said. “She’s 10 years old, and in 10 years, I’ve been able to mature and have these See VIGIL page 3

Index Profile News Opinions Variety

Sports

PLAN B GRAPHIC BY HEATHER BAIER / THE FLAT HAT

The Haven will provide discrete fliers for students seeking free emergency contraception ETHAN BROWN // FLAT HAT MANAGING EDITOR

T

he Haven, the College of William and Mary’s primary support and advocacy network for survivors of sexual assault, announced its renewed partnership with the Student Health Center to remove logistical barriers to free emergency contraception.

Similarly, in a joint initiative with the Compliance and Equity Office, The Haven intends within the next three weeks to distribute revised posters across campus informing students of the College’s resources regarding sexual assault and harassment.

While emergency contraception is already available both at the Student Health Center and other pharmacies around Williamsburg, the process of obtaining a Plan B dosage is challenging for survivors as it requires them to disclose information about their sexual assault.

Plan B is currently free of charge at the Student Health Center, but students must consult with nurses before receiving the prescription.

Disclosing information about a recent assault can be upsetting for survivors, but the 72-hour window to take the emergency contraception necessitates swift action despite possible damage to their mental wellbeing.

The Haven now offers survivors a free coupon requesting Plan B that they can give to nurses at the Student Health Center to avoid potentially uncomfortable conversations where they may be requested to volunteer sensitive information. The flier, which is available on The Haven’s website, was first publicized Feb. 4 on The Haven’s Facebook page.

Hannah Ferster ’19, an advisory

board member at The Haven, noted that the coupon is an instrument of both confidentiality and accessibility.

“

Now we have a more thoughtful and confidential way for people to access this resource.

— Hannah

Ferster ’19

“I do know that currently they have it for everyone at a subsidized price, and emergency contraception (as well as other medical services such as STI testing) [is] free for survivors following an assault,” Ferster said in an email. “This was the case even before the coupon, but now we have a more thoughtful and confidential way for people to access this resource.”

Director Liz Cascone said The Haven strives to improve accessibility to medical services on campus in addition to supporting survivors of

sexual assault through counseling and resource referrals. She said easing the process of acquiring emergency contraception is part of that broader initiative. According to Cascone, the flier aims to alleviate the anxiety induced by disclosing information and represents a concrete victory in the fight to support survivors.

“We’re always having conversations on how to reduce barriers to accessing services and needs that survivors might have,” Cascone said. “... And so, it was a great concrete project for us to be able to say, okay, this is something that’s so doable. It wasn’t a battle … they’re already providing [emergency contraception] free. How do we just make it easier for students to then access it?”

The Haven is also attempting to create a more inclusive environment for survivors through the revision of informational posters that contain potentially triggering language.

Posters containing information for sexual assault survivors are ubiquitous around campus — many are in academic buildings and residence halls. But advocates have suggested that startling aspects of the posters’ design may deter survivors rather than support them.

The poster’s current format lists several legal and administrative paths of action that survivors of sexual assault can pursue, while also detailing information about how to access immediate medical assistance. However, according to Cascone, the poster’s incorporation of excessively blunt language evoked student feedback.

Inside Opinions 2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10

See PLAN B page 3

New major to push teaching New education program addresses VA shortage SARAH SMITH FLAT HAT SENIOR STAFF WRITER

In response to a statewide shortage of teachers, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe issued an emergency directive in December 2017 for the state’s Board of Education to change the regulations for undergraduate programs in education.

Pending approval from the College of William and Mary’s Board of Visitors and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, the College’s School of Education will begin offering an undergraduate major in elementary education starting August 2019.

McAuliffe’s emergency directive also created a faster way for the state to approve these new majors, allowing the College to now begin advertising the proposed program.

Prior to McAuliffe’s directive, most public colleges and universities required that students first completed a bachelor’s degree in a different discipline – such as math, psychology or sociology – before spending a fifth year in a teacher preparation program in order to earn their master’s degree in education.

School of Education Associate Dean for Academic Programs Leslie Grant Ph.D. ’06 said that she believes this was because across the state, many educational experts and lawmakers assumed it would be better for teachers to come from a strong liberal arts background achieved through first majoring in a different discipline. The shortage of teachers, particularly those certified to teach English as a Second Language students and those with special education needs, served as the impetus for this change.

“This allows students an opportunity,” Grant said. “Many students who are interested in elementary education see a barrier in having to double major, having to finish in four years. It’s really exciting that the university confers three bachelor’s degrees … now we will have a fourth degree. So we just think that this is a very exciting time, and it offers an opportunity for students who know they really want to pursue elementary education. We think it’s a great profession to be in to give back to the community and we are excited to be able to do that at the university level.”

School of Education professor and Center for Innovation in Learning Design Co-Director Mark Hofer said that with the College’s COLL curriculum, there is a benefit to having students directly major in elementary education.

“I actually think that being able to major in education is a benefit for elementary teachers because this will give them an opportunity to take courses in the COLL curriculum and as electives in the different disciplines,” Hofer said.

“Right now, they major in perhaps psychology or English where they have deep knowledge in those disciplines, but we have situations where students haven’t taken a math class since high school, so they will become wellrounded. The COLL curriculum provides even more flexibility.”

In addition to the courses required for the major, Virginia requires that students take other courses to be eligible for a Virginia teaching license, such as courses in English and math. Hofer said that as the elementary education major progresses, the School of Education will be identifying COLL courses that are especially suitable for the program.

The School of Education will not be hiring additional faculty for the See EDUCATION page 4

Inside Sports

Farewell to the Flat Hat

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Outgoing Editor-in-Chief Sarah Smith ’19 reflects on her tenure at The Flat Hat by remembering her most treasured memories and expressing her confidence in the paper’s future. page 5

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Junior Allison Olberding opens up about the challenges of being a student athlete at William and Mary and a woman in a traditionally male dominated sport. page 9

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The Flat Hat | Tuesday, February 19, 2019 | Page 2

THE BUZZ

My young brothers and sisters, I encourage you, I implore you, to stand up at that crossroads moment,” Curtin said. “Never underestimate your voice, be heard, you can be those ripples, and together you will be that wave that will wash down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

— Mike Curtin, the CEO of Washington D.C. nonprofit Central Kitchen during his ten-minute TedEx talk Feb. 15 at the Sadler Center about overcoming oppression through collective action.

POLICE BEAT

Feb. 13 - Feb. 14

1

Wednesday, Feb. 13 — Come to blows: Police reported an incidence of simple assault at Mount Vernon Avenue.

2

Wednesday, Feb. 13 — Caught red-handed: Joseph Ryan Jackson was arrested on charges of driving with a suspended or revoked liscense at Capitol Landing Road.

3

Thursday, Feb. 14 — Without a trace: Police reported a missing person at Ukrop Way.

4

Thursday, Feb. 14 — Up in smoke: Diego Armando Linares Tovar was arrested for possession of marijuana at York Street.

POLICE BEAT BY SARAH GREENBERG / THE FLAT HAT

A THOUSAND WORDS

CORRECTIONS An article in the Feb. 5 issue, “Center Stage” incorrectly stated that Sofia Quinteiro ’20 was stage manager for Sinfonicron’s “The Drowsy Chaperone,” when Quinteiro was the actually Assistant Director. The article referred to Quinteiro as the stage manager for the latest Sinfonicron performance, but has been corrected to clarify that Quinteiro was a stage manager for Sinfonicron’s 2017 performance of “Our Lady of Kibeho.” Quinteiro is also currently serving as stage manager for the senior directorial show going up in March.

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

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Niya Gray ’19 talks her passion for prioritizing diversity and inclusion on campus SARAH SMITH // FLAT HAT SENIOR STAFF WRITER

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Busy Effecting Change

Niya Gray ’19 likes to stay busy – and she certainly succeeds. Whether she’s juggling her fashion line, conducting meetings for the Black Student Organization or balancing on and offcampus academic endeavors, Gray has a packed schedule. But to her, it’s all worth it so that she can make the change she wants to see at the College of William and Mary.

Growing up in Hampton, Virginia, Gray wasn’t far away from the College. However, during her senior year of high school, her mind was far from the college application process. She was a recent survivor of a burn injury and was focused on recovery. When her mom pressured her to apply to the College, she agreed. When she got in, she was shocked and excited about the new opportunity.

“I really want this campus to make diversity and inclusion a priority as well as mental health,” Gray said. “I am a burn survivor. I am a part of the neurodiversity community and that is something that is lacking on this campus. I want to advocate for the communities that we might not be.”

When she got to campus, Gray dove into a neuroscience major, intending to follow a premedicine track. After a bad freshman advising experience, she went through a hard transition, juggling five prerequisite science classes at once.

She sought out more supportive faculty, leading her to the track she is on today.

Now, Gray is an anthropology major with a minor in gender, sexuality and women’s studies.

To her, anthropology is a way for her to study people and how they learn – which is what keeps her interested in her classes.

“It’s not just one anthropology class,” Gray said. “I’ve learned about bones, about Africa. I had a class called the Golden Age of Spain, [I’ve learned] about protests in Italy.

There’s a culture and cuisine class where we learned about different cultural practices and nutritional anthropology. Although I am in one major, I am learning about so many different things. There’s also a biocultural perspective on health which goes really well with what I am trying to pursue. This was a better array of experiences and learning that I wouldn’t get in another major.”

Gray’s passion for her anthropology major was sparked by a class called African Ritual and Religious Practices taught by anthropology professor Brad Wyatt. She took this course during her freshman year while still navigating

a neuroscience major, and it gave her hope for another direction.

“This was the class that helped my decision of going into anthropology; this was my first professor that I’d taken in the major,” Gray said.

“It was something different, a different thought process how different cultures experience life.

A lot of the stuff I learn in anthropology I can apply to any field that I can go into because I’m learning about people.”

These skills are important for Gray who, despite her initial troubles with the neuroscience program, is still pursuing a premedicine track – just not at the College. Mostly on the weekends, she’s been working on online courses, which she then transfers to the College since they fail to count for her major or minor.

She’s currently applying to graduate programs in physical therapy, and has found that many online graduate schools will accept the credits and grades from her online work. Right now, she’s enrolled in one of her last two pre-med requirements: physics.

Outside of the classroom – when she’s not finishing up her online work – she’s plenty busy around campus. Over the last four years, she’s been involved with now-defunct Students of the Caribbean and the Nu Chi chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. She’s served as Student Assembly’s undersecretary of multicultural affairs, the treasurer of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, the 2017 co-director of Pearls of Great Price Mentorship Program with AKA, secretary of SCOPE (STEM Created Opportunities to Promote Empowerment) and the president of the BSO. She also works as a student assistant at the Dean of Students Office.

Through these organizations, she plans events, tutors students at Williamsburg-James City County’s Berkeley Middle School and runs social media for the Center for Student Diversity.

“I would start my day off with work for the CSD, making sure that advertisements and [social media] posts are done, that any events that need to be advertised are out,” Gray said.

“If it’s a Tuesday, I would do the BSO meeting agenda, know what we’re talking about, check all of the group messages – the GroupMe’s – make sure that I haven’t missed anything, go to class and then meetings on meetings. NPHC meetings, AKA meetings.”

As president of the BSO, Gray has planned a lot of events that she is proud of. She has also represented her organization in meetings with

College President Katherine Rowe, where she said she got to voice a lot of concerns that she has heard from other students. She said that out of all of the events, her favorite was last year’s Founders Celebration Dinner.

“It was something new that I decided to do,” Gray said. “It was during the 50th [anniversary] of African-American students in residence and we decided to do a founder’s celebration dinner for BSO for past presidents and the founding presidents, [Warren Buck M.S. ’70 Ph.D. ’76] that was really cool and we had him come out. There were a lot of board members that were there, and [Lynn Briley ’71, Karen Ely ’71 and Janet Brown Strafer ’71 M.Ed. ’77]. It was a room full of legacies, it was something that was really special that this campus hasn’t seen before.”

Gray said that while she enjoys being busy, the reason behind all she does is deeper.

“I think I see the potential on this campus because I see so many activist students and students that want to effect change on this campus, not just in diversity and inclusion,” Gray said. “I see the opportunity that we have to effect change.

I want to see that change while I am here. I don’t want to leave this college regretting that I didn’t do anything to make a change. I see the potential on this campus to make it better for future students.”

This passion for effecting change also led Gray to launch her own fashion line called “Gray Expectation: Defining Your Own Expectation.”

She said it’s still in the starting phase, but she has big plans for its growth.

“I wanted a clothing line that celebrates identity and self-happiness and self-awareness,” Gray said. “My shirts say emotional and cultural things [about] reclaiming identity, one’s own consciousness and awareness.”

The shirts she sells have slogans like “Never Stop Fighting” and “Fighting Myself, Healing Myself, Loving Myself.” Right now, she’s selling through a third party, but she’s hoping to raise enough to switch manufacturers and have her own logo on the tags. And while she’s not sure how graduate school will affect the company, she’s willing to see where it goes.

“I am going to continue with it,” Gray said.

“I am a big person who starts projects and just see where they go. It’s just something that I thought was really cool and that is needed, some positive affirmations on a shirt. It creates a chain of happiness. When someone reads it, they are getting that positive affirmation that someone gets when wearing it.”

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COURTESY PHOTOS / NIYA GRAY

Niya Gray ‘19 keeps herself busy around campus as a member of BSO, AKA sorority, PEARL, National Pan-Hellenic Council, Student Assembly and SCOPE.

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Page 3

ACADEMICS

Scientist advocates for women in STEM Dawn Wright discusses need for female scientific contribution SARAH GREENBERG FLAT HAT NEWS ASSOC. EDITOR

In celebration of the College of William and Mary’s “100 Years of Women” initiative and the United Nations International Women and Girls in Science day, the College’s Center for Geospatial Analysis invited geographer and oceanographer Dr. Dawn Wright to lecture on the significance of marine mapping and female scientific contributions in a presentation entitled “Discovery… Technology… Hope.”

Throughout her presentation, Wright, a geography and oceanography professor at Oregon State University and chief scientist at leading geographic information systems technology company Esri, explored groundbreaking discoveries related to ocean-mapping and its applications with modern technology in an attempt to relay a message of hope for future innovation and female involvement within the field.

Wright began by emphasizing the importance of marine exploration and the ocean in general, highlighting its key role in supporting human life through its production of oxygen, regulation of weather patterns and climate, production of energy and economic contributions. However, she pointed out that much of the nation’s population, particularly those living inland, are unaware of these important contributions, and their oceanographic knowledge is shallow at best.

“I talked to people in Colorado and Kansas and landlocked areas of the world where the ocean for them is out of sight, out of mind,” Wright said. “Even if they have the chance to see the ocean, to visit it, they think only about the surface, and we are still woefully unaware of all of the complexities and the amazing things that are beneath the surface of the ocean.”

Though the general population’s understanding of marine life is minimal, Wright acknowledged that marine knowledge within the scientific community is also limited because many aspects of the ocean remain unknown. In fact, according to Wright, only three people have visited Challenger Deep, the deepest known point on Earth, and only

about nine percent of the planet has been mapped and visited at the same level of detail as our terrestrial areas.

“We are ever fixated on outer-space … but we have better maps of the moon, of Venus and of Mars, better maps of the topography of those planets than we have of our own ocean,” Wright said.

Despite the fact that only a minute portion of the planet’s oceans have been mapped, the mapping that has been conducted is highly detailed thanks to the usage of satellite and sonar technologies.

Furthermore, she emphasized that even though marine exploration is difficult, it is not at a standstill as various agencies, including NASA, continue to contribute to oceanic mapping efforts and the development of new technologies.

According to Wright, the developments and technological advancements made in conjunction with ocean-mapping have valuable applications in tracking and preventing the effects of pollution, such as the spread of debris caused by the 2011 tsunami in Japan and allowing for the creation of “smart maps.”

“These kinds of maps are changing what we’re able to measure, how we’re able to analyze these measurements, how we plan and design areas, and ultimately how it is we manage and understand what we’ve mapped,” Wright said.

Furthermore, in honor of the College’s “100 Years of Women” initiative and UN International Women and Girls in Science Day, Wright dedicated a significant portion of her lecture to female scientists, paying tribute to the women that have inspired her and their respective scientific discoveries and impacts within STEM disciplines.

In respect of February being Black History Month, Wright first highlighted the contributions of mathematicians Mary Jackson and Katherine Johnson along with mathematician, engineer and computer scientist Dorothy Vaughn who, recently featured in the film “Hidden Figures”, played major roles in NASA’s space program by calculating flight trajectories and landing sites.

Also featured was geologist Marie Tharp, whose accomplishments

include discovering the rift valley of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and is considered to be the inventor of marine cartography with her work still influencing modern-day ocean mapping.

Wright expressed her admiration for marine biologist, author, lecturer and explorer Sylvia Earle, who was the first woman to lead a team of female aquanauts to the bottom of the ocean in the Tektite Project as well as the first female chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She also expressed admiration for Cindy Van Dover, a former biology professor at the College and the first woman to head the Duke University Marine Lab and to be a certified pilot of ALVIN, a deep-diving submersible.

Wright concluded that while obstacles to female involvement in STEM remain, the scientific environment has grown significantly more welcoming of women contributions over the past few decades and that the future for women within the field looks promising.

“We, for the most part, are allowed to go to the schools of our choice, we are allowed to major and pursue careers but there’s still barriers there but also blank canvases before all of us,” Wright said.

Evie Tsow ’21 found Wright’s lecture encouraging for both scientists looking to pursue a career in geographic information systems (GIS) and, on a more general level, female intellectuals pursuing STEM professions.

“It’s easy to get discouraged so it was really cool to hear her address that sort of emotional aspect of it and hear from somebody who knows what they’re talking about that there is still hope and people should keep on trying,” said Tsow.

Rachel Layko ’19 first heard Wright speak at the Oceans Conference at the Esri headquarters and was excited to hear more of Wright’s backstory at the event.

“I’m hoping to combine GIS and marine science so it’s neat to kind of see what that looks like and it’s neat to have someone that’s working at the intersection of GIS at a corporate setting but also working with scientists as well to kind of bring the two together,” said Layko.

Haven improves access to emergency contraceptives Sexual assault posters alter language after students remark on potentially triggering content HAVEN from page 1

“Most of the concerns I’ve heard was in the header [of the poster],” Cascone said. “The old posters are very blunt in saying, ‘Have you been sexually assaulted?’ [In] the new posters, the header says ‘you are not alone, you have options,’ so I think it’s a little less triggering for folks to see that everywhere.”

The posters, which are reviewed annually, have been a fixture at the College since before Cascone started her current position three years ago. The posters became an increasingly important part of publicizing campus resources on sexual assault during the Obama administration, when sweeping changes in Title IX encouraged the advertisement of the College’s resources through broad initiatives.

Despite the occassionally triggering nature of the posters, their informative presentation of the various campus resources available to survivors of sexual assault and harassment is appreciated by many students. Kaia Johnson ‘21 said that she values the posters both for the vital items of knowledge that they convey and also

for their role in sparking a conversation on such an important campus-wide issue.

“I think the posters are not only a helpful tool for the people who need those resources but also a reminder to everyone that sexual assault is a very real and prevalent issue that deserves awareness,” Johnson said in a written statement.

Provided that the posters must be hung in academic buildings, dormitories and administrative buildings, their reprinting and redistribution are significant logistical undertakings for Haven.

According to Cascone, once the posters are ready to be distributed, they will be sent out to area directors and resident assistants. In addition to tweaks in the posters’ wording, Cascone also noted plans to alter their placement within bathrooms.

“We are going to post them a little bit differently,” Cascone said. “They’ve always been in front of you in the bathroom stall; we’re going to put them on the side, and we’re also going to leave at least one stall without [a poster]. So that way if students … have their own history of trauma … [they] can go into a stall without one.”

Vigil remembers Parkland victims Students stand in support of anti-gun violence legislation VIGIL from page 1

conversations but she’s been having them too but at a much younger age. She’s had multiple lockdown drills in elementary schools, and it’s terrifying because I’m not even home to be there and to comfort my parents, to talk about it. It’s easy to dismiss it as an ongoing thing, but it shouldn’t be that way.”

Event Lead Will Sambrook ’21 talked about his experience growing up in an atmosphere of gun violence that drove him towards activism.

“Growing up in Vermont, Sandy Hook happened,” Sambrook said. “And, that was what shook me because I was in 7th grade at the time, and I was twelve years old. And somehow, kids that were five, six, seven years younger than me were getting killed, and that’s [kind of ] when I realized that the same thing could happen to me.”

Students Demand Action participated in the March 24, 2018 March for Our Lives, where students from the College joined campuses around the nation in walking out of their classes to protest gun violence. Student’s Demand Action has also led letter writing campaigns to elected representatives and lobbied on a state level for “common-sense gun legislation.”

As an organization, Students Demand Action and the College’s chapter focus primarily on gun violence education and lobbying for the passage of gun legislation that could become law with bipartisan support. Mahadevan stressed the importance of rallying behind gun legislation that enjoys a large degree of support from the American public.

“The reason why it’s important to be nonpartisan is because gun violence isn’t an issue of policy,” Mahadevan said. “It’s really an issue of life and death, and that effects everyone. No matter who you represent or what your constituency

looks like everyone’s life has been touched by gun violence to some extent.”

Students Demand Action support measures such as universal background checks, and the “extreme risk protection ordinance” which allows for self-imposed gun ownership restrictions on individuals suffering from mental health issues, namely in the form of assault rifle bans and bans on bump stocks. Students Demand Action is primarily focused on lobbying on both a state and national level.

Moving forward, Students Demand Action are planning to continue organizing and building awareness about gun violence on campus. The organization is planning on hosting open mic nights and continuing their lobbying campaigns by meeting with representatives and leading more letter writing initiatives.

“After this vigil, I know that we want to encourage students here to come out and share their stories that could be through an open mic night to understand just how many people experience gun violence in their everyday lives,” Sambrook said.

Students Demand Action is planning on initiating a week of gun violence awareness programming for the second March for Our Lives in Williamsburg March 23. Students Demand Action is organizing with members of the Peninsular Progressive Movement such as Peninsular Mom’s Demand Action to make the March for Our Lives even larger than last year’s iteration.

Mahadevan said a march, which is planned for March 23 from Gloucester Street to Merchant Square, aims to draw activists as well as high school and college students.

“This year we really want to see a much larger turnout, not only William and Mary students but also high schoolers and middle schoolers because this was inspired by students and should be led by students.”

Mikhala Stafford ‘20, a member of the College’s Health Outreach Peer Educators organization, feels that the recent changes to the posters’ content and placement will aid the Haven’s pursuits of aiding survivors around campus. HOPE strives to provide guidance about healthy relationships and safe sexual practices, and Stafford noted that these changes

have been made under a broader context of inclusion that her organization, as well as the Haven, have worked to foster.

“I think it’s really important to be mindful of getting such important information out there and also being considerate of students’ lived experiences, so I’m really excited about these changes,” Stafford said in a written statement.

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Tuesday, February 19, 2019

The Flat Hat

CAMPUS

TedX speakers discuss society’s crossroads Talks aim to highlight diverse perspectives, focus on life experiences

CHARLES COLEMAN FLAT HAT CHIEF STAFF WRITER

His nonprofit organization is one of D.C.’s largest providers of food to vulnerable populations in the city.

A large crowd gathered in the Curtin explained that the difficulties Sadler Center Friday, Feb. 15, to faced in starting D.C. Central Kitchens watch the College of William and helped him and the company grow.

Mary’s TEDx event, which featured Curtain also discussed the importance speakers whose talks centered around of overcoming oppression through the theme “Crossroads: Where have collective action. we been? Where are we now? Where “My young brothers and sisters, I are we going?” encourage you, I implore you, to stand Seven speakers, consisting of up at that crossroads moment,” Curtin an array of students, faculty and said. “Never underestimate your voice, members of the College community, be heard, you can be those ripples, gave 10-minute talks sharing insights and together you will be that wave that into their life experiences and the will wash down the mightiest walls of lessons learned from them, with the oppression and resistance.” hope of inspiring and motivating The College’s Visual Design audience members.

Coordinator Sophia Ramsey spoke TEDx, an independently organized after Curtin, and focused her speech TED Talk event, has occurred annually on how her perfectionist upbringing at the College for the past five years. failed to prepare her for the realities The event seeks to highlight diverse of the real world. perspectives within the College Ramsey, whose perfectionism was JAMIE HOLT / THE FLAT HAT community, and allow them to share partially responsible for her being Lisa Green ‘83 speaks in the Commonwealth Auditorium Feb; 15 on the significance of God’s pronouns and the effects they have on society. their ideas and experiences. The talks fired from her first job after college, kicked off with a quick introduction described the ups and downs of life as and understand people. Looking “It was in the first couple weeks beyond the classroom, and how the from Student Assembly President well as the importance of refusing to from the outside in — as cliché as it that I had five months’ worth of current education system prepares Brendan Boylan ’19 and Vice President accept defeat. sounds — I’ve stopped assuming,” people scheduled to also share their students to focus more on grades Samir Tawalare ’19.

“Now I’ve learned to find comfort Al-Attar said. “All of us have a story,” Moondra said. “It was the instead of other important life aspects.

In his introduction, Tawalare in the fact that failure is a normal and struggle, and through this change in most revolutionary thing to me, that “Our classroom can become explained how metaphorical crossroads acceptable part of life, particularly perspective, I’ve realized being open why don’t we capitalize more on competitive environments; the are commonly found at the College and young adult life,” Ramsey said. “... will set you free.” this simple truth, that vulnerability admission gauntlet that you ran, emphasized their importance.

When I hit a roadblock at this point, The next speaker, St. Martin’s is strength, give strength, and and the gauntlet that my friends and Episcopal Church’s Assistant Rector reinforces strength.”

I throw down at you two or three Lisa Green ’83 shared her thoughts After the event Moondra discussed times a week, asks you to distinguish on describing God with more than why she wanted to share her story yourself at every turn,” Sasser said. just male pronouns, and about the with the College community and “... Our zero-sum, offer-no-quarter, positive impacts this minor change how she hopes to get rid of stigmas approach to education, to life, has real can have on society. surrounding mental health. consequences. We feel burdened by Green stated on why male, female “I think it’s really unique to wrong things ... things that matter not and neutral pronouns are needed for share such an intimate story to a in the fullness of time.”

God, to help break gender norms and community that’s so integral to After the event, a reception was societal ideas. who I am, which is the William and held so that audience members could “Expanding our ideas, our way Mary community,” Moondra said. “I have time to talk with the speakers. of talking about and to God, helps hope people take away that having The Executive Co-Chair for TEDx us remember that they are images, a mental illness or struggling with William and Mary Grayce Angle ’19 finite ways of trying to connect with mental health isn’t a bad thing, and spoke on why the theme “crossroads” the infinite,” Green said. “Male names you shouldn’t be ashamed.” was picked and her excitement for the are just as inadequate as female ones, Vice President of The Future events outcome. and just as necessary. ... We need to Project Cosmo Fujiyama ’07 followed “We had a committee-wide get some female and neutral imagery Moondra’s speech. discussion ... we wanted to pick into the library and art collection Fujiyama’s nonprofit organization something that was broad enough that in our hearts and heads, and souls. works to educate the country’s young a lot of different speakers could relate Maybe saying ‘she’ sometimes will people by setting new standards for to it and talk about it, but narrow help shake loose some of our earthy education systems. enough that it gave direction to the gender stereotypes.”

Fujiyama talked about finding event,” Angle said. “I really loved all Following Green, student Sydney ways to never stop learning and the themes we heard about being JAMIE HOLT / THE FLAT HAT Moodra ’19 spoke on her organization remembering the importance of open and vulnerable ... that’s such an SA President Brendan Boylan ‘19 and Vice President ‘19 Samir Talaware introduced TedX’s theme.

Dil to Dil, how mental health goes curiosity. important message, especially for the “William and Mary is a crossroads I usually remember it’s not a road beyond the mind, and why its “It’s not about being right, it’s students and people at our age.” of progress and history that we must closure. ... We can and we will keep recognition is vital to Southeast Asia about deepening your joy and your Audience member Arika Thames understand, and about which we moving forward; we just have to be and the world. curiosity to learning,” Fujiyama ’19 shared that she felt the stories told must think critically,” Tawalare said. flexible and courageous enough to Moondra, who suffers from post- said. “...Negative emotions have were important. Thames said that “... Tonight’s event is a beautiful stay on the road.” traumatic stress disorder, went on a profound impact on our brains; the theme of the talks fits with events opportunity to listen to and learn from After Ramsey left the stage, to create an organization devoted to they have a profound impact on our occurring at the College and world some incredible humans from both student Kareem Al-Attar ’21 began raising awareness for mental health brain’s ability to actually learn and right now. within and beyond the William and his speech entitled “Owning Your issues in Southeast Asia. make connections ... You can think “I think the theme of crossroads Mary community.”

Struggle.” When Kareem was 10 Realizing the lack of understanding about a couple questions to take a was very appropriate for where the After these opening remarks, the years old his father had to leave the found in this community, Moondra moment and take a step back: what College community is right now,” first speaker was Mike Curtin. He is country due to tax evasion charges, uses Dil to Dil, which is Hindi for am I learning right now? ... what is Thames said. “I feel like this year, even the CEO of Washington D.C. Central leaving Kareem as the man of the “heart to heart”, as a platform to the gift here? ... what am I committed outside of the College, has been a year Kitchen. house. Kareem spoke about how this discuss mental illness. to learning?” of change, and a year of big decisions Curtin’s nonprofit trains experience aided him in recognizing In her talk, Moondra explained The talks ended with visiting having to be made. I think that having unemployed members of the D.C. the perspectives of others. how Dil to Dil took off, and what she assistant professor of government people tell stories about those big community by teaching them skills in “Since I started opening up to my learned from hearing others’ stories Jackson Sasser. He spoke on the decisions, those big moments in life the service industry. struggles, I’ve changed the way I view regarding mental health. importance of realizing what lies was very appropriate.”

Board proposes new undergraduate major in education School of Education offers program with concentrations in special education, ESL EDUCATION from page 1

undergraduate program. They will begin offering a new, two-credit introductory course in the fall, but beyond that, curriculum will remain the same. The new course, Orientation to Teaching in the Elementary School, is designed for freshmen and sophomores who may be undecided about pursuing a career in education.

“This experience would give students an opportunity to understand some of the current issues in K-12 teaching today,” Hofer said. “It also gives them an opportunity to do clinical rounds so William and Mary students get to see specific practices in action and see a range of different types of schools. … The benefit of the orientation course is for students to have an early experience out at school to determine if education is the right fit for them, and if it is, they can plan it out earlier. What happens now is that students come to education later, after perhaps volunteering at Matthew Whaley [Elementary School].”

After the orientation course, elementary education majors would move on to courses focusing on the social, cultural and historical foundations of education as well as courses on education psychology. During junior and senior year, students would take teaching methods courses for mathematics, literacy and social studies.

The culminating course for the major, just like with the fifth-year program, will be a full-semester student teaching experience. The School of Education works with WilliamsburgJames City County Public Schools to place students as interns in

“

This experience would give students an opportunity to understand some of the current issues in K-12 teaching today.

— Professor Mark Hofer local schools. At the same time, they are enrolled in a seminar to discuss what they learn alongside their peers.

“We see the enormous potential and strength in William and Mary students; we know it can be difficult to stay for a fifth year or to come back for a master’s degree,” Hofer said. “We are grateful to bring more undergrads into education. The profile of William and Mary students [is] ‘individuals who want to make a difference,’ and this gives them a much clearer pathway to do that.”

The proposed major will be 41 credit hours. The optional concentrations in ESL and special education are 12 and 15 credit hours, respectively. The five-year program, designed to allow students to begin taking School of Education courses during their junior or senior year, is 45 credit hours.

Pending approval, the new major will be a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education. Students would also have two optional concentrations: one in ESL and one in special education.

After completing the four-year program, these students would be eligible for licensure in Virginia. However, McAuliffe’s directive only affects elementary education. Students seeking degrees in secondary education will still be required to complete bachelor’s degrees in the disciplines in which they hope to teach.

Additionally, the School of Education will continue to offer the fifth-year program for elementary education as well as a stand-alone master’s program in elementary education.

Other universities across the state are following suit. The University of Virginia, James Madison University, George Mason University and Old Dominion University are all planning to launch similar programs in the fall 2019 semester.

To promote the new major on campus and to advertise to the incoming class of 2023, who will be geographically separated from the School of Education due to their residence on campus, Grant said School of Education faculty will be working with the College’s Office of Academic Advising to make sure students who express interest in education will be directed to the new program. “[The other day] we had a career fair here,” Grant said.

“School divisions from all across the state come to interview our students and what we hear from all of the school divisions is, ‘We want William and Mary students in our schools.’ Most of our students find a position quite early and they are really sought after across the state.”

opinions

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

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, February 19, 2019 | Page 5

Former editor-in-chief bids farewell to The Flat Hat Sarah Smith

OUTGOING FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

My career with The Flat Hat started fairly simply. I, like the rest of the class of 2019, received an email from then Editor-inChief Áine Cain ’16 encouraging new students to take a leap of faith and join the newspaper’s fall intern program. I was hooked instantly. I responded, practically begging to create a home for myself in an often-moldy, eclectic basement office. And create a home, I did.

These last almost four years working with The Flat Hat have undoubtedly defined who I became at the College of William and Mary. The Flat Hat solidified my career aspirations, gave me resume bullet points and taught me how to be confident in my abilities as a leader. Now, however, it’s time for me to say farewell, as my time as The Flat Hat’s editor-inchief has come to an end.

My farewell is bittersweet. The Flat Hat is deadlines, both met and missed. It is a shadowy basement office filled with empty Marketplace containers, dysfunctional computers and 108 years of rich history. It is alumni that come back to share stories of censorship, star reporting and careers in journalism that blossomed at The Washington Post, POLITICO and Business Insider. It is a dusty Christmas tree adorned with an Edgar Allen Poe mask, a “Sky High” poster and leftover materials from 2015-era Assassins games.

The Flat Hat is a team of dedicated reporters, photographers, business associates and content creators. It is long Monday nights, busy weekends chasing down Tribe athletes and frequent emails to University Communications (thanks to Brian, Suzanne and Erin). During my time on staff, The Flat Hat has also been quality reporting. Strong leaders have brought new interests in data, page design and staff recruitment to an office always hurrying towards the future. During my sophomore year, I along with former Flat Hatters Tucker Higgins ’17 and Kayla Sharpe ’17 had the pleasure of being recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists for our coverage of the Aug. 27, 2016 shooting at The Crust.

However, The Flat Hat is also fun. It is writing profiles on passionate students, forming Campus Golf and Anchor Slam teams and taking weekly HUJI pictures. I’ve gotten to interview my fair share of dogs and Student Assembly representatives—fairly similar interview subjects—and have met with politicians up and down the ballot.

The Flat Hat is truly a campus institution. Over 108 years, it has had lots of stories to tell, bringing the College community together. Sometimes, this means that it brings the campus together to target The Flat Hat in Facebook and Twitter comments. Other times, The Flat Hat brings the College together through breaking news, stories that highlight injustice and quirky, Sadler plate-bashing editorials.

In many ways, The Flat Hat has become my heart and soul. Our weekly student newspaper has given me some of my best friends including four out of five of my apartment-mates. So now, please bear with me while I tell you a little bit more about them.

It is with great confidence that I hand over the reins to the paper’s 109th Editor-inChief Nia Kitchin ’20. She has already assumed the role with big ideas and tireless dedication, and previously served as news editor and managing editor with similar work ethic. I am excited to see what this next year will bring as her ideas continue to unfold.

Ethan Brown ’21, Brendan Doyle ’20 and Maggie More ’20 will join Kitchin as the managing, executive and digital media editors.

All three bring such passion, enthusiasm and dedication to the staff. I have seen Brown bring humor, a willingness to dye his hair in the office and several of his best friends to The Flat Hat. Doyle has been along for the ride for years, constantly working to implement big ideas of his own. As sports editor, he helped pick up the pace, making The Flat Hat a strong competitor with local sports publications. More, a newcomer last year, has never turned down an opportunity to help; whether that means drawing last minute graphics or writing stress relief roundups, she has gone above and beyond. I am confident these three will accomplish amazing things as executive staff.

Taking on the role of business managers are Amelia Sandhovel ’22 and Maddie Douglas ’22. They have big shoes to fill, but have already demonstrated their capabilities to keep the paper afloat through the launch of an alumni newsletter and One Tribe, One Day plans. Kevin Richeson ’20 will serve as the paper’s new operations coordinator, and I have no doubt that he will bring more new writers to staff than ever before. His email-checking diligence, big heart and willingness to serve will help the paper immensely.

Rounding out the executive staff is Adam An ’20. His computer science savvy will be much relied upon to keep our beloved flathatnews.com up and running, hopefully as quickly as possible.

This year, the news section will be graced with three morethan-capable editors in Heather Baier ’20, Leslie Davis ’21 and Emma Ford ’22. All three women have so much to offer, from data visualization skills to story-chasing determination, and front pages will be looking better than ever. A few seats over, Avery Lackner ’22 and Gavin Aquin ’22 are filling sports editor positions. Both have true passion for the sports they cover, and I am excited to see the section continue to evolve towards features-focused coverage.

Adithi Ramakrishnan ’22 and Zoe Beardsley ’22 are taking over as variety editors, and they have both already demonstrated budding skills in design and writing. Together,

“These last almost four years working with The Flat Hat have undoubtedly defined who I became at the College of William and Mary.”

they are a perfect fit for a section covering sheep, dogs and campus musicians.

In opinions, from the world of dining hall hot takes, Anna Boustany ’21 has climbed the ranks to opinions editor. Joining her is Chloe Folmar ’22. Together, they will make sure that Swampy Memes regularly has content and important voices are shared across campus. Their enthusiasm and bright personalities suit this section well.

In the online world, Claire Hogan ’22 and Naomi Gruber ’20 are taking on the “pivot to video” quite well and have already demonstrated their editing skills. Katherine Yenzer ’21 made the leap to blogs editor, joining Kate Lucas ’21 in publishing everything from movie reviews to academic columns. Newcomers Jamie Holt ’22 and Rebecca Klinger ’22 have already revitalized the photos section with sheer determination to be at every campus event. Olivia Koenig ’22 has breathed so much life into the paper as social media editor, increasing our presence on all platforms and tirelessly updating our Instagram stories.

Catching typos and oxford commas, Jae Chung ’22 and Zoe Connell ’21 have taken over as copy chiefs, blessing the rest of the staff from the inner office couches. Graphics editor Kayla Payne ’20 has produced excellent graphics and recruited incredibly talented artists, earning her the new title.

In the writing world, Alyssa Grzesiak ’20 made the shift to chief features writer where she will grace the variety section with Ultimate Frisbee profiles and articles on the College’s marine science work.

Charles Coleman ’22 and Averill Meininger ’22 will work on the other side of the office as chief staff writers, bringing equal parts dedication and talent to an incredible news staff.

However, I can’t forget those who bid farewell with me.

Sean Willner ’19 was the office’s pun expert, video producing extraordinaire and frequent winner of best office personality awards.

Kiana Espinoza ’19, Moises Romero ’19 and Jack Bowden ’19 all will be sorely missed as well. Espinoza’s work to recruit and diversify the staff will have impact for years to come. Romero singlehandedly built up the paper’s business section and launched it into a profitable age. Bowden answered frequent frantic messages and kept our website afloat, navigating through server crisis after server crisis.

News editors Madeline Monroe ’19 and Leonor Grave ’19 and sports editor Julia Stumbaugh ’19 are also taking leave. Monroe’s love for milk-based drinks, her willingness to drive people and her top-notch Photoshop skills made the office a better place. Grave’s stellar Spotify playlists, well-researched pieces and dedication to student media brought a trendy, Parisian flare to the staff. Stumbaugh threw herself into sports coverage, developing quite a love for Tribe baseball and often brought new infographics and data-driven features to the section.

Over in the online section, editor Peter Eckel ’19 is retiring from his podcast-producing throne, leaving behind a legacy of eager new staff members that will hopefully take over our paper’s Soundcloud. Jae Cho ’19 is retiring after a year of curating a variety of graphics and making sure our opinions pages were never bare. Copy editing triumvirate Lauren Bavis ’19, Rachel Wilmans ’19 and Kate Sandberg ’19 are all leaving at once. They have solved infinite hyphen crises, fixed punctuation and debated formatting for hours. They have made all of our writing much stronger and have become a very dear trio to the entire staff.

Last but not least are chief features writer Akemi Tamanaha ’19 and chief staff writer William Allen ’19. Tamanaha’s long Flat Hat career culminated in this final position, where she produced a very well-received “College of Mary.” Allen joined the staff just this fall, but has been a constant presence in the office with his colorful hair and beautiful personality.

I’d also like to shout out Katherine Koontz ’19 and Jacob Ross ’19. Both have served The Flat Hat in various positions, writing about everything from sports to campus canine celebrities. I am confident they will continue to contribute their top-notch writing over the next weeks. Former section editors Kyra Solomon ’19, Abby Graham ’19 and Chris Travis ’19 might have taken leave of the College a semester early, but all graced the paper with their work for several semesters.

Photos, movie review blogs and sports columns all were touched with their passion.

It’s truly been an honor to work with all of these talented and lovely people.

Stabilitas et fides.

GRAPHIC BY CHLOE FOLMAR AND PHOTOS BY SARAH SMITH / THE FLAT HAT

The Flat Hat

Page 6

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

STAFF COLUMN

STAFF COLUMN

Gold 19 plan provides more nutritious options

Move to Kimball allows for reckoning with the College’s problematic past

Alyssa Slovin

FLAT HAT OPINIONS ASSOC. EDITOR

As students spend more and more time at the College of William and Mary, they spend less and less time in the dining halls. They choose different meal plans that provide less meal swipes and more Dining Dollars, which become available to upperclassmen students. Dining Dollars can be used at places like Swemromas, Chick-fil-A, Domino’s, Qdoba and the Student Exchange.

Each semester, freshmen can choose from the Freedom plan (unlimited meal swipes and $100 in Dining Dollars), the Gold 19 (19 meal swipes per week and $225 in Dining Dollars) and the Block 175 (175 meal swipes per semester and $400 in Dining Dollars).

As upperclassmen, students can choose from other block plans that offer more Dining Dollars and fewer meal swipes. Because of this, Dining Dollars are perceived as a luxury. However, I am here to present the opposing perspective: Dining Dollars are not as valuable as so many students are led to believe.

Although the dining halls do not exactly have the best food, there are always a lot of different options that include various fruits, vegetables and proteins.

Obviously, there are some constants (for example, sandwiches) but a lot of the other stations at the dining halls rotate so students do not get bored and can have different types of food.

Dining Dollars, however, do not provide a lot of food options. Qdoba always has the same three types of Mexican food, Chick-fil-A always has fried chicken, Domino’s always has pizza, and the list continues. Not only is there little variation in these food options, but they also provide little nutrition. Even though Dining Dollars seem to be most desired by students, meal swipes are much more practical.

I have friends who switched from the Gold 19 meal plan to the Block 175, and now they must calculate when they can go to the dining halls with everyone else. The Block 175 only allows one to two swipes per day on average, and the other block meal plans for upperclassmen allow even less.

To me, it’s more stress than it’s worth to have to calculate whether I have enough swipes to eat somewhere. The Gold 19 plan may supply less Dining Dollars, but students do not have to think twice before swiping into a dining hall and grabbing a meal. Although those with Dining Dollar-heavy plans are enjoying being able to buy more coffee and exciting food, they also must plan out when to eat and how they will be able to get their daily allotment of vitamins and fruits and vegetables from their food.

I would much rather sacrifice a little bit of quality in order to eat freely around campus, as well as join my friends on trips to the dining halls whenever I want. While the Gold 19 has a good combination of meal swipes and Dining Dollars, the other plans are too heavily weighted with Dining Dollars to be sustainable.

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

Anthony Madalone

FLAT HAT OPINIONS ASSOC. EDITOR

I have never felt the weight of history on my shoulders as greatly as I did during the final set of bows for the College of William and Mary’s production of “Into the Woods.” Those bows closed the book on Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall, home of the College’s theatre department for over 50 years. The building’s past was impossible to avoid. Lining the building’s halls were pictures of shows past, from Ibsen to Porter to an occasional appearance of college-aged Glenn Close. This omnipresent history made leaving PBK feel like saying goodbye to my home, despite my relative lack of experience in the building. While “Into the Woods” helped start my college theatre experience, those bows marked the end of a building that harbored those same experiences for so many others.

Fast forward to this year. As PBK prepares for renovation, the theatre department has moved into Colonial Williamsburg’s Kimball Theatre. The differences between the spaces are stark: where PBK was grand and sweeping, Kimball is small and quaint. Due to the stage’s size, sets can only be so big. The smaller lighting plot offers similar challenges, significantly limiting the number of lighting instruments available. Finally, despite being around longer than PBK’s former iteration, Kimball simply lacks the

connection to the College that made PBK feel like such a home. The space is leased, not owned, by the College; rather than performing in the home of decades of prior student performers, we are merely guests in the Kimball’s space. While performing before felt like closing the book on history, now it feels like opening a new one entirely.

However, this clean slate is exactly what the theatre department needs.

The renovation of PBK presents a fresh start for a theatrical legacy peppered with failures all too relevant to the current climate of Virginia. Amongst those aforementioned pictures of Glenn Close, PBK’s walls presented images far less worthy of celebrating.

A prime example showed two actors from a 1958 production “Othello,” five years prior to the College’s racial integration. For those unaware, Othello is very specifically referred to as a “Moor” — distinctively not white. Where the theatre is usually an atmosphere of social progressivism, not even it escapes our school’s racially flawed past.

Leaving the old PBK allows the department to move on in terms of both location and content. Take the department’s current production of “Our Lady of 121st Street” for example. Featuring a diverse ensemble cast of realistic characters, the show addresses contemporary issues head on. I play the bitter, racist, elderly Father Lux, a relic of that same era that allowed an all-white “Othello.” By the play’s end, Lux confronts his flawed truth for the first time, beginning to heal in the process.

By attempting to mend past wrongs, shows like “Our Lady” allow the department to heal as well.

I’ll never forget my experiences performing on the PBK stage. Moving on from such a historic and convenient space has certainly had its growing pains, but these pains truly are spurring growth. Decades from now, the currently renovated PBK will probably need renovation itself. Some bright-eyed freshman will likely fill my shoes, saying goodbye to years of history only known through pictures along the hallway walls. Our legacy will be the one he closes: Let’s make sure it’s one closer to “Our Lady” than “Othello.”

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

HEADSHOTS BY KAYLA PAYNE & GRAPHIC BY RIEL WHITTLE / THE FLAT HAT

ASK A TWAMP

Q: What does William and Mary Student Assembly do?

A:

In my nearly four years at the College of William and Mary, I have been asked many times: What is Student Assembly? Most of those asking have offered their own presuppositions in response— perhaps it’s just a group of megalomaniacal students who believe they’re “all that,” or maybe it’s a powerless group, ultimately working at the behest of the “administration.” Cynicism aside, I will set out to answer the question as best I can, gleaning from my experience serving as a Senator for three years and now nearing the end of my term as President. A more precise question will shed greater light: who is the Student Assembly?

SA is you, me and our fellow students. SA is what we make of it, and it will take all of us to participate, listen, and learn.

For starters, we are a government comprised of three branches. As president, I head the Executive

branch, along with Vice President Samir Tawalare and Chief of Staff Rachel Becker. I act as the bridge between the administration and the student body. The president appoints a cabinet of nine secretaries covering a range of student needs, from the Department of Finance to the Department of Health and Safety. Serving in each of these departments are our undersecretaries, totaling nearly sixty students. Whether it’s the undersecretary of Multicultural Affairs or the undersecretary of Energy and Research, our executive branch is filled with folks who effectively perform the work of their given focus. More than anything, they care deeply about using their skills to serve the student body.

The Senate, our legislative branch, has 26 members representing each undergraduate social class as well as our graduate school programs. This branch is responsible for writing legislation, which span from bills funding speaker events to a resolution proclaiming a commitment to fighting sexual assault and harassment. Senators focus on projects in particular interest areas and collaborate with Cabinet members who share those interests.

Our judicial branch, the Review Board, functions as a deliberative body that deals with the Code, the Constitution, and suits brought against SA. They also issue advisory opinions at the request of the president or chair of the Senate. The Review Board is a work in progress, and this is the first year in my time at the College that we’ve had a full Board of seven members, currently under the leadership of Chair Henry Blackburn ’20. Overall, SA exists to distribute a budget of approximately $750,000 across dozens of recognized student organizations.

Additionally, our reserve fund is used to appropriate funding for bills and other services such as subsidized STI testing or wages for Steer Clear. It also exists to

advocate on behalf of students, representing the concerns of our constituents to the administration and president, the Board of Visitors, and the state. SA must serve the student body through fiscal responsibility and direct engagement. We have worked earnestly over the last few years to build up our institutions, increasing responsivity, notifying organizations about our financial services and amplifying the voice of the students. We still have a long way to go, and the work continues.

But for now, the answer is that SA is you, me and our fellow students. SA is what we make of it, and it will take all of us to participate, listen and learn.

We must also responsibly and intentionally bring in members that look like our community to guarantee each student is heard. SA has made strong stances in causes of social justice, such as condemning Pi Kappa Alpha social fraternity for their despicable display of racism at an annual party or standing in solidarity with undocumented students. And during my time in SA, strong individuals, women in particular, pierced the white, male-dominated “Old Boys Club” mentality that I witnessed freshman year. SA ought to be an institution that strives for justice and equity, that literally puts our money where our mouth is in order to give a platform to students who don’t always get a voice. In short, SA becomes what we decide to bring to the table, and when we ensure that SA members share our values and strive to make a difference, we can make this place a little bit better. That will take all of us to work together and reflect on our responsibility to one another and to this campus.

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

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

variety

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

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CO UR TE SY

PH OT OS

THE ULTIMATE COMMUNITY

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The Flat Hat

David Jensen ’19 brings tournaments, teammates together ALYSSA GRZESIAK // CHIEF FEATURES WRITER

1

Darkhorse tournament director David Jensen ’19 first got into Ultimate Frisbee when he was in high school. Once he arrived at the College of William and Mary, he knew it was something he had to continue.

“I really enjoyed [playing Ultimate in high school], and I knew coming into college that I wanted to play Ultimate Frisbee,” Jensen said. “I didn’t really have any idea of how competitive or how serious it would be. So, I was really excited to jump in for tryouts and make it through the tryout process and make it onto the A-team. … I was really excited to become a part of that, and I’ve enjoyed it ever since.”

As tournament director, Jensen is responsible for the logistics of setting up each of the several tournaments the team hosts and participates in. He also assists the leaders of the other men’s team, Seahorse, and the women’s teams, the Mother Huckers and the Woolly Mammoths, in setting up events.

“We have the tryout tournament at the beginning of the fall, which involves four or five other schools coming down, or three or four,” Jensen said. “We [had] a mixed tournament where we invited a lot of the same schools — JMU, Mary Washington, George Mason came down for that — where there are guys’ and girls’ teams mixed together and played together.

And then the big one is the home tournament … where we have 17 teams.”

Following his graduation in the spring, Jensen plans to attend law school. While he isn’t quite sure where he will end up, he has received offers from places he would be more than happy to attend, including Baylor University and the University of Denver.

“It’s a really great feeling to know that I’m definitely going to law school, I definitely will have that option,” Jensen said. “So now I’m just going to have to narrow it down and pick where I want to go, pick where I want to live. … When I’m making the decision on where I go to law school it’s kind of deciding where I’m going to live not only for the next three years during grad school but also five years after that, 10 years, you know, forever.”

When they’re not out throwing or playing in scrimmages, the teams spend a lot of time together. The tight bond and close community that the players form is one of Jensen’s favorite parts about being a part of the program.

“I would say one of my favorite parts about the team is how close you get with the other guys and the experience that you have being with the other guys,” Jensen said. “We hang out together, we spend our free time together, we go to parties together, we have board game nights and movie nights, ‘Game of Thrones’ watching parties together.”

Even in just the past four years, Jensen has noticed a significant change in the culture of the team, which is most apparent in how much everyone now enjoys being a part of the group. He tries to take the positive lessons he learned from upperclassmen early on and implement them as a senior himself.

“When I was a freshman, the seniors would set up track workouts and lifts outside of practice and let people know when they were throwing and doing all sorts of other stuff outside of practice, encouraging the younger guys to come,” Jensen said. “One of the lessons I’ve learned from some of the upperclassmen is you have to text people and tell them individually, talk to t h e m individually. If you go to someone and say, ‘Hey, I want to hang out with you, we’re going to spend time throwing and working,’ you’re far more likely to get them to buy in and want to come out and do that. So, some of the seniors came and did that with me when I was a freshman, so that’s something I’ve tried to do with underclassmen this year.”

While Jensen has acquired countless memories from his time on Darkhorse, the one that stands out most Is the game that decided the team would go to nationals in 2018. The team was facing off against longtime rival Virginia Tech, and the victory story is definitely a unique one.

“It’s really hard to beat when we made nationals last year, that was incredible,” Jensen said. “ I think we had a three-

point lead and hard cap went off, which is the horn that announces that if you play the next point and if the game is tied, you play more, but if a team is up it’s game over… So, it goes off and some of the guys on the sideline realize what’s happened and they start looking around and freaking out… we were so excited. Then the observer comes out again and says, ‘Guys, there’s been a mistake. They blew the horn at the wrong time. There’s another 10 minutes in the game. We have to keep playing.’ So we went back out there … and the horn went off again and we scored that time and we came together and cheered. … It was a very emotional time, I think, because it was a culmination of years of hard work and years of effort. So for all of that to come together and pay off and making nationals, that was pretty incredible.”

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Jensen is currently working on putting on the Virginia Showcase Series. These three games, Feb. 9, Feb. 23 and March 23, aim to create a more “spectator-friendly” environment.

“We create one-off games against relatively local teams at a high level and play them in a way that is friendly to spectator,” Jensen said. “So making the games accessible, adding events in addition to it. So like, we’re looking at doing a youth clinic where we teach elementary school kids how to play Frisbee.

We’re looking into having a youth game where they come and play. And adding an element where we have both a men’s game and a women’s game, which has a lot of advantages.”

The latter two games, against James Madison and Richmond, respectively, will each include a fundraiser toward a different charity. The first will be Here for the Girls, a nonprofit that strives to support young women throughout their fight against Breast Cancer. The second, the Girls’ Ultimate Movement, focuses on encouraging girls to participate in Ultimate.

“I had some ideas of what we could do for fundraisers; since we’re going to be having people come out, [I thought we] might as well try to do some actual, tangible good while we’re playing a silly game,” Jensen said. “We are going to encourage people to donate to [those charities]. We’re going to do everything we can to raise awareness about what they do and tell people about all the good work that they do.”

With Frisbee playing a major role in his identity and social life while here at the College, Jensen imagines he will continue the sport on some level after graduating.

“It’s kind of interesting because the wider Ultimate community, for a lot of people, it works as a great way to meet new people and socialize in new areas,” Jensen said.

“After putting in all the time during college, [players] kinda feel burnt out after four years, but you gradually get back into it at a recreational level. So, I see myself doing that.”

With graduation just around the corner, Jensen has one final goal in mind before his time at the College is up: making it back to nationals.

“I would say that’s one of my big goals for my William and Mary career, overall, but especially senior year, and especially as a senior on the team,” Jensen said.

| Tuesday, February 19 2019 | Page 7

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Page 8

telling

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COURTESY PHOTO / OLIVIA MEEHAN

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New Special Collections exhibit highlights oral histories of William and Mary women OLIVIA MEEHAN // THE FLAT HAT In the Earl Gregg Swem Library Entrance Gallery, the stories and faces of 11 women who studied or worked at the College of William and Mary over the years are made visible on the walls. They are on display as part of a special exhibition entitled “Narrating Herstory: Oral Histories Commemorating 100 Years of Coeducation at W&M” organized by Special Collections and the 100th Committee. The exhibit began Sept. 22, 2018 and will remain on display until May 18, 2019.

This exhibit is a small representation of a much larger project. Approximately 40 oral histories have been recorded so far in commemoration of a century of women at the College—32 of which are currently available to view in full on the William and Mary Libraries YouTube channel.

Jennie Davy, the Exhibition Manager at Special Collections, explained the purpose of displaying these stories in the library.

“We wanted a way to share their stories, experiences, and reflections with the campus community,” Davy said in an email. “Many of the interviews are available on YouTube, but at 1 hourplus each, we wanted an additional way to share their stories. We started last academic year with Living the Legacy, a poster exhibit of interviews conducted for the 50th anniversary and continued this year with

Narrating Herstory for the 100th.”

Each panel in the exhibition features a photo, short biography, some selected quotations from the interview and the URL of the full oral history. The biographies and quotations were compiled by Mosaic intern Zaira Mughal.

One panel from the exhibit pictures Ruth Tillar ’45. Tillar recalls her time as a member of War Activity Members on campus and “going to the Methodist Church, then Methodist Church tower to spot aircraft” during World War II. She majored in home economics.

In the exhibit, Carolyn Hines ’72 E.d.D ’78 shared her experience in the exhibit as an African American woman on campus in the 70s.

“The dean of the school offered to pay my tuition to attend Virginia State University,” Hines said.

Hines responded: “No, I’ll stay here at William and Mary.”

Glenne Harding ’65 recalls the strict rules female students faced on campus.

“First semester freshmen women had to be in their dorms Monday through Thursday at 10:00 and on the weekends at 11:00,” Harding said in the exhibit. “During the week [we] couldn’t speak to boys after 7:00.”

Harding remembers learning about President John F. Kennedy’s assasination while in class in 1963.

“You hear people say I’ll never forget where I was,” Harding said. “And of course you won’t ever forget. I was in a math exam, calculus exam…”

The College’s oral history project was started in 2017. Oral Historian Carmen Bolt, who curated the exhibit, explained the mission of the project. “[The purpose of this program is to collect and archive] the trials, the triumphs, the traditions, and the transformations of members of the William & Mary community, and contribute to a more complete understanding of the lived experience on campus,” Bolt said in an email.

Bolt emphasized the value of this project and exhibition in terms of its ability to tell untold stories.

“By recording, archiving and making these stories available, we are expanding what has traditionally been a predominantly white, male, heteronormative recorded history to include individuals who were active participants all along but fell, or were actively pushed, outside of the dominant narrative being told,” Bolt said.

Abram Clear ’21, Student Graphic Design Assistant in Special Collections, designed the panels and agreed that the nature of oral history is inherently subversive.

“The oral histories showcased in this exhibit accentuate oftentimes marginalized narratives while celebrating the power and remarkability of their

narrators,” Clear said.

Clear took care to maintain that sense of power when designing the exhibit panels.

“To provide the most authentic depictions, we used only direct quotes,” Clear said. “Participants voiced their own experiences on their own terms.”

The panels will be switched out regularly for the remainder of the exhibition, in order to highlight a wider variety of perspectives and stories preserved by the project. As for the project as a whole, Bolt hopes that this is just the beginning.

“I envision this project becoming part of something larger and more all-encompassing — an oral history project dedicated to chronicling the lived experiences of women and woman-identifying individuals at W&M, past, present and future,” Bolt said.

Bolt feels that oral history has a lot to offer in terms of bringing untold stories into the light.

“Not only is oral storytelling utterly unique in its ability to convey meaning-making, it reintroduces the ‘human’ into our telling of history and inserts specific groups and individuals, particularly those that fall outside of the dominant narrative, into the larger context of which they have always been a part but have not always been recorded,” Bolt said.

“Narrating Herstory” will remain on display in the Entrance Gallery until May 12, 2019.

it’s a

MUNDERFUL

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Model United Nations team members bond, form nuanced perspectives through competition travel GRACE OLSEN // THE FLAT HAT This past weekend, student delegates of committees representing countries around the world gathered in a conference room at the Harvard National Model United Nations Conference. Steven Vacnin ’21 and Graham Pfeiffer ’21, accompanied by select teammates, traveled to Boston to represent the College of William and Mary in the conference where 25 other teams were competing. “[Model UN] comes with its own intricacies and policy-making decisions that would otherwise may have been left unexplored outside of this type of format,” said Vacnin.

Model UN is comprised of three divisions: crisis assemblies, general assemblies and specialized agencies. The members of the crisis committees focus primarily on the composition and development of a character and their individual, immediate responses to quick-action crisis scenarios. The general assemblies require more in-depth, background investigations to portray a specific country’s solutions and ideas for international problems.

“There are no crises in general assemblies as they operate much more like an actual UN body,” Vacnin said. “The end product of a resolution paper sets out the goals and policies that the committee feels will best address the issues at hand.”

Model UN draws a wide array of students, primarily those with an interest in government.

Being a part of his high school’s Model UN club, Vacnin has always been interested in politics and global decision making.

“Model UN gave me the outlet to discuss the solutions that most politicians in the real world would never talk about,” Vacnin said.

The Model UN team has spent the past several months traveling across the coast on weekends, stopping in major cities for conferences. Last March, the team found themselves in Panama City, Panama competing against Model UN teams from around the world at the Harvard WorldMUN conference. This year, the College Model UN team will travel back to the Harvard WorldMUN conference, held in Madrid, Spain.

“WorldMUN is super unique in the sense that it is more than just a model UN conference, but a cultural experience,” Vacnin said.

Vacnin attended the conference in Panama with teammates Pfeiffer and Riley Busbee ’21.

The three had the chance to wander the streets, gaining new cultural perspective, as well as to compete against some of the world’s finest Model UN teams.

“Fun story? Let’s just say me and a Taxi driver in Panama didn’t agree on price,” Pfeiffer joked.

Busbee elaborately detailed the excursions they took during the conference. Reminiscing on the time spent in “hot spots” of Panama and the making of new sloth-friends, Busbee was nostalgic and itching for their next overseas adventure in Madrid.

Without hesitation, the team collectively agreed that traveling abroad has provided them ample opportunities to bond, establishing deeprooted, lasting relationships with inside jokes

COURTESY PHOTOS/ RILEY BUSBEE, GRAHAM PFEIFFER

and all. Following suit, team members have also connected with students and employers from around the world, offering new insight and a field of life-long possibilities.

“I have met really smart, really well-connected people traveling for Model UN,” Pfeiffer said. “[It’s] definitely given me connections for the future.”

The Harvard WorldMUN conference in Madrid this March, features the title “Where Worlds Meet and Cultures Unite.” The famed debate will draw students from over 110 countries, including Switzerland, Egypt and Brazil. In the past, the world-renowned conference has broken barriers, inspiring students through social events, informed debate and a unique conference scene.

“I’m really excited to go to Spain this year,” Busbee said. “I’ve had to cut down on my travel because it got really difficult on my schedule but I try to do all of my work beforehand whenever I go on a trip.”

Despite all the fun, travel does take its toll on the competing members of Model UN. On top of their busy, college student lifestyle, they spend hours prepping debates and researching their

countries. Pfeiffer and his teammates find the arduous schedule exhausting.

“For the rest of the year, I am looking forward to just relax[ing],” Pfeiffer said. “While travel is a lot of fun, it can be very draining and take a lot of time out of your schedule.”

The team finds juggling schoolwork and Model UN difficult, tiring and consuming, but all things considered, very rewarding.

“The time commitment is huge, but the knowledge gained and the experiences made are invaluable,” Vacnin said.

In the midst of their heavy training period, the team will continue to work hard and prepare for the end of the year conferences.

“The International Relations Club is one that I have truly found a home in,” Vacnin said.

Vacnin is not alone. The rest of the team considers their teammates a part of their family, close-knit and a part of each other’s support system for not only conference weeks, but beyond.

“I think MUN has been important throughout my life and turned me into who I am today,” Busbee said. “I know it’s contributed to making me, me.”

sportsinside

The Flat Hat

| Tuesday, February 19, 2019 | Page 9

PROFILE

Allison Olberding: Golfing as a woman in a male-dominated sport

Hound Ears champion remains optimistic about Tribe’s ability to perform in spring GAVIN AQUIN FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR Though society has seen much progress in terms of gender inclusion, golf is still very much a male-dominated sport, something that junior Allison Olberding has felt in her experience being a collegiate golf player. Coming fresh from her victory at the Hound Ears Intercollegiate in Boone, North Carolina in October, she hopes to continue the trend of victory for women’s golf.

“There is a difference between men and women playing, especially at country clubs, where it is older-male dominated,” Olberding said. “At my home club I’ve experienced not being taken seriously, despite the fact that I am a Division I collegiate golfer.”

This experience is not unique to Olberding, a fact presently recognized by the Professional Golf Association and the Ladies Professional Golf Association, which are taking efforts to equalize the standing of women in golf.

“It can be frustrating for a bunch of us to be dismissed because we are women, but I do think that golf is progressing,” Olberding said. “The PGA and LPGA released #inviteHER to get more women involved in golf, and with Susan Whaley being chosen as President of the PGA of America, it’s a good step for women’s golf.”

Allison’s progress in golf can be attributed to changing generational attitudes about the ability of women to play the sport. Having grown up in a family supportive of women’s golf through the years, this belief created an environment conducive to her success.

“From when I was really young, my grandpa taught my mom and his two sisters golf, and my mom taught my twin sister and me, so we just always grew up playing,” Olberding said.

Allison and her twin sister Erica, who likewise plays collegiate golf at Drake University in their hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, enjoyed a close relationship.

“Being twins who compete in the same sport, we were pretty competitive, but we competed over anything: getting the best grades or winning Monopoly,” Olberding said.

Despite her burgeoning success in the collegiate world, it was not always Allison’s dream to play golf in college — rather, it was an idea

that she stumbled into late in her academic career.

“Growing up, I wanted to play soccer in college to follow in my dad’s footsteps,” Olberding said. “I tore my ACL my freshman year in high school and at that point, my mother insisted I was done with competitive sports. I had always played golf, but I never focused on it, so for the rest of my high school career, I focused on golf which meant travelling through the summer and meeting with college coaches.”

It was one of those meetings with college coaches that led Allison to choosing to come to William and Mary — a school that she became immediately enamored with.

“One of my coaches in Iowa went to [Virginia], so she knew of William and Mary and I wanted to go to a school that excelled in Division I athletics and academics,” Olberding said. “Naturally, William and Mary checked off every single box that I wanted in a school. Being able to practice more months of the year due to weather in the South, I can play golf the majority of the year, which is something that I could not do in Des Moines.”

Now a junior at William and Mary, Allison spends her time outside of golf as an Academy Ambassador — a program that allows freshmen student athletes to adjust to life on campus. She additionally helps to coordinate the student athlete Day of Service to the benefit of the local Williamsburg community.

“As a Tribe athlete you have to learn to balance. I thought I had a good idea of time management in high school, but coming in, it’s crazy,” Olberding said. “Every year, I have to relearn time management. Women’s golf misses the most amount of days per week of all women’s NCAA COURTESY IMAGE / TRIBE ATHLETICS sports, so it can be hard – especially

with William and Mary’s academic rigor.”

Academically, Allison focuses her time as a student at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business, where she studies accounting with a concentration in finance. Though she plans to pursue professional golf, Allison also has plans to pursue a CPA certification.

“This year is my deciding factor. I hope to know my decision by the end of the year,” Olberding said.

Despite having a lot riding on the spring season and suffering some unfortunate setbacks, Olberding remains optimistic for an auspicious season for the College.

“I am optimistic for our spring season. One of our disadvantages is that [Elizabeth Choi ’ 18 ] is graduating. She’s currently the number one player on our team, so losing her is unfortunate, but she’s trying to go professional, so we’re all really proud of her.”

Commenting on her performance last fall, Olberding acknowledges that there were a few bumps in the road. However, she remained undeterred by that as she was able to break a four-way tie during the Hound Ears Intercollegiate to emerge victorious when she shot a 74 (+2), ultimately winning by two strokes with a 150 (+6).

“Coming off an internship over the summer, I didn’t get too much time to practice and compete, so I was rusty in comparison to last year where I earned a lot of collegiate bests,” Olberding said. “You can see throughout the season my progression of scores. Though I ended on a high note in the fall season, I hope that I can bring it back again in the spring season.”

Based on their performance during the fall, Olberding and the rest of the team have reason to believe that they have great potential to exceed at Kiawah.

“We always somehow go to Kiawah and do really well,” Olberding said. “We are all looking forward to Kiawah; it’s 18 holes in three days instead of 36 and 18, so we actually have time to do other things like homework and go to the beach.”

Olberding is currently preparing for the College’s participation in the Kiawah Island Intercollegiate in Kiawah, South Carolina on Feb. 24-26 where she hopes to replicate her previous successes.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

College women decisively defeat Elon 64-59 in narrow win Women end four-game losing streak with victory, hopeful to take on CAA frontrunners next week KEVIN RICHESON FLAT HAT OPERATIONS COORDINATOR William and Mary took on Elon in its lone game of the week Sunday afternoon. The Tribe entered the contest on a four-game losing streak and in desperate need of a win to get back on track in Colonial Athletic Association play. Meanwhile, the Phoenix dominated Charleston in a 72-52 victory last Sunday to snap their seven-game losing streak. One of those seven-straight losses came at the hands of the Tribe in their first matchup this season. The College edged the Phoenix 65-60 in a game at Kaplan Arena last month. Sunday, the Tribe (12-11, 5-7 CAA) finally ended its four-game losing streak in a 64-59 win over the Phoenix (8-15, 3-9 CAA) in a hard-fought game.

The College got off to a hot start, scoring on its first offensive possession. After the Tribe forced a turnover, junior forward Victoria Reynolds drained a three to put the College up 3-0. The Phoenix went down 5-0 before they scored their first basket of the game at the 6:58 mark to pull back within one possession, 5-2.

However, senior guard Bianca Boggs and freshman

guard Eva Hodgson each scored on the next two possessions to put the Tribe up 10-2 and forcing the Phoenix to signal for a timeout. The College’s scoring run continued after the timeout and they led by as much as 13 before the Phoenix scored for the first time in five minutes. The Phoenix closed the quarter well with eight points in the last two minutes of the quarter, but a three-pointer by redshirt sophomore Harper Birdsong helped the Tribe to take an 18-10 advantage to the second quarter.

In the first four minutes of the second quarter, the Phoenix closed the gap to six on three separate occasions, but each time the College responded to retake an eight-point lead. However, as the clock ticked past the midway point of the second quarter, the Phoenix strung together four-straight points to make the score 24-20 in favor of the Tribe. Forward Emily Maupin made a layup to bring the Phoenix within two, but the College finally stopped the 6-0 scoring run with a three-pointer by sophomore Nyla Pollard. The Tribe never trailed in the first half, and went into the locker room at halftime leading 30-28, but the Phoenix outscored the College 18-12 in the

second quarter to make it a one-possession game at the break.

The Tribe’s offense was very sloppy to start the third quarter and multiple wayward passes led to turnovers.

The Phoenix scored the first five points of the third quarter to seize their first lead of the afternoon, 33-30, but Boggs brought the Tribe back within one point with a layup at the 8:33 mark. With 6:44 left in the quarter, the College pulled even on a trey by freshman forward Emma Krause. Then, with under two minutes to play in the quarter, Reynolds was fouled and made the layup to continue the Tribe’s 7-0 scoring run. The College took a 45-41 lead to the fourth quarter.

The Tribe struggled with ball security at the start of the fourth quarter and the Phoenix scored the first three points. After a Boggs layup, forward Jaylin Powell drained a three from the corner to tie the game at 47 with under eight minutes remaining. At the media timeout, the Phoenix clung to a slim lead, 54-53. After the timeout, the Phoenix made a threepoint play to take a four-point lead, but the College fought back with back-to-back threes by Krause and Birdsong. Birdsong’s triple gave the Tribe a 59-57 lead

with three minutes to play. Maupin tied the game at 59, but Birdsong made a short jumper to make the score 61-59.

The Phoenix forced a jump ball with 37 seconds left, giving them a chance to tie or take the lead.

However, Maupin missed a layup and the Tribe came up with a clutch defensive rebound. The Phoenix sent Reynolds to the line and she made the first and missed the second.

Nevertheless, Boggs came up with an offensive rebound and knocked down two free throws to give the College a 64-59 advantage with 23 seconds left.

Those free throws essentially clinched the win for the College, as the Phoenix failed to score on the offensive end and the Tribe earned a 64-59 victory.

In the loss, the Phoenix was led by Maupin’s 16 points and six rebounds. Meanwhile, the College benefited from balanced scoring with four players in double-figures, including Hodgson, Boggs, Birdsong and Reynolds. Boggs nearly had a double-double with 13 points and nine boards. Next week, the College will return to Kaplan Arena to take on two CAA frontrunners, Towson and James Madison.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Knight scores 35, leads Tribe to victory over Elon on the road Pierce, Knight, Milan combine to score 72 of College’s 84 point spread, Audige noticably quiet BRENDAN DOYLE FLAT HAT EXECUTIVE EDITOR Led by senior forward Nathan Knight’s 35 points, William and Mary outscored Elon 50-36 in the second half to secure an 84-74 Colonial Athletic Association win. The Tribe (10-16, 6-8 CAA) claimed only their second road conference win in seven tries this season, while the Phoenix (8-19, 4-10 CAA) fell into last place in the league.

“I thought our second half was really good,” head coach Tony Shaver said to Tribe Athletics. “I was not real pleased at halftime. I thought they were the aggressive team, and I thought they had us on our heels too much. But the second half, we played really good basketball.”

Knight picked up where he left off against Hofstra, scoring 16 of the first 19 Tribe points in the game. While Knight entered the game on fire, the rest of the team was ice-cold, starting 1-of-11 from the field. “[Knight] has been our most consistent player, I think,” Shaver said. “Nate’s more aggressive right now, which is what we’ve been begging him for all year long. When he gets it down low, he intends to score.”

For Elon, guards Sheldon Eberhardt and Steven Santa Ana led the way early, as an Eberhardt jumper pushed the Phoenix lead to 23-19 at the under-eight media timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, junior forward Justin Pierce came alive, hitting two-straight threes to power an 8-0 Tribe run.

After a Knight jumper, the College led 32-29 with just under three minutes to play. However, the Phoenix outscored the Tribe 9-2 to finish the half, capped off by an Eberhardt layup with six seconds left

that ensured Elon would go into the locker room with a 38-34 advantage.

The College climbed back into the game to start the second half.

Two treys in a row by junior guard Matt Milon took the lead back for the Tribe with 17:09 left in the game, before Elon tied it back up at 55 just minutes later. Milon finished the night 5-of-8 from three, including 4-of-7 in the second half.

It was then that the College grabbed control of the contest, as a 7-0 run spearheaded by sophomore guard Luke Loewe took the lead back for good. Just two minutes later, a Pierce jumper from downtown made it 69-63 with 7:58 to go.

Elon closed to within two after Eberhardt made a pair from the charity stripe with just over six minutes left, but the Tribe finished the game on a 12-4 run, as a running hook-shot and a block on the ensuing possession from Knight put it away with a minute and a half remaining.

72 of the Tribe’s 84 points came from the combination of Knight, Pierce and Milon. Meanwhile, all-CAA forward Tyler Seibring finished with 17, while Santa Ana had 15.

“Our juniors stepped up for us,” Shaver said. “Our juniors basically played the way we expected them to all year. Nathan’s been really good all year. Matt Milon and Justin have been very erratic for us. But they were really special in the second half. We have got to get that out of them on a regular basis.”

With the victory, the Tribe climbs to fifth in the conference with four games remaining until the CAA Tournament.

Next, the College returns home for its final homestand of the year, as it faces Charleston Thursday night and North CarolinaWilmington Saturday.

JAMIE HOLT /THE FLAT HAT

Players Knight, Pierce and Milon combined for 72 of the Tribe’s 84 points scored on Saturday.

sports

MEN’S BASEBALL

Sweep opens season

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

The Flat Hat

| Tuesday, February 19, 2019 | Page 10

MEN’S TENNIS

Rookies contribute to three wins JULIA STUMBAUGH SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The score was 3-3 when freshman outfielder Jack Cone stepped up to the plate in the eighth inning of Feb. 17’s game against Marist (0-3).

William and Mary (3-0) fought its way back from an early 3-0 deficit, but there was still work to be done, and time was running out in the bottom of the eighth. Cone was still looking for his first hit of the night, and the Tribe was still looking for a goahead run.

Cone’s swing cracked the ball all the way to the right-field fence. It fell just short of a homer but was plenty good for a triple.

“I was just thinking about laying down a bunt, but I saw he was playing a little in, and [redshirt senior infielder Kyle Wrighte] told me to sit on a fastball and just don’t let that one go,” Cone said.

Standing triumphant on third base, Cone waved his hands to the rain-sodden faithful at Plumeri Park, beckoning for their cheers. He got more moments later, when he dove home on a wild pitch to score the final, game-winning run.

“I read it out of the pitcher’s hand down,” Cone said. “I saw it bounce back a little fast, but I was able to get in there in time. It was just a good read.”

That read would put the Tribe ahead 4-3, giving the team its third win of the weekend and its first series sweep since 2017.

wasted no time getting on the board, echoing the Tribe’s start in Game 1 by putting up a quick three runs on an error and a volley of hits in the first inning.

Down 3-0 by the first time they came up to bat, the Tribe was undaunted. It slowly picked away at Marist’s lead with a series of one-run innings. In the bottom of the first, lead-off hitter Wrighte got to second on a walk and a wild pitch, then was able to score on the next two ground outs. In the second, another walk and wild pitch combination sent freshman outfielder Matt Thomas home to cut the deficit to 3-2. Thomas then completed the comeback in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI single to tie the game, 3-3.

The steady offense, combined with seven scoreless innings thrown by sophomore starting pitcher Jacob Haney and freshman relief pitcher Zach Tsakounis, set Cone up for his game-winner in the eighth inning. The Tribe would finish with a 4-3 victory.

“I think our starting rotation from this weekend, which was Strain and Sheehan on Friday and then Haney today, I think all those guys were solid,” head coach Brian Murphy said. “I think they’ll get better as they get into the flow of the season. I thought everybody that pitched out of our bullpen this weekend did a really good job. … It was a good weekend overall for the pitching staff.”

A highlight from the opening weekend series

COURTESY PHOTO / TRIBE ATHLETICS Freshmen Tristan Snyder and Zach Tsakounis each earned their first career collegiate wins won the mound on Friday.

Friday, Game 1 The Tribe started out its 2019 season with a triple from leadoff hitter Wrighte. Cone then put up an RBI on his first college at-bat with a fly-out to right field. The College scored two more runs on a double from senior infielder Zach Pearson to surge out to an early lead over Marist, 3-0.

Although Marist pushed back as the innings wore on, putting up a run in the third and then tacking on two more in the fifth to tie the game, the Tribe held on. Freshman pitcher Tristan Snyder, coming in as relief for junior pitcher Wade Strain, shut the Red Foxes down for the last four innings, throwing six strikeouts and allowing just three hits, zero walks and zero runs. Meanwhile, the College offense topped off its early lead with five more runs to finish out the game with an 8-3 victory.

Friday, Game 2 Senior pitcher Bodie Sheehan, a fixture on the mound last season, was the starter for the second game of Friday’s double-header, pitching six full innings. The Tribe once again got out to an early lead as freshman infielder Hunter Hart took advantage of a walk, a failed pickoff and a pair of errors to score an unearned run in the fourth and gave the Tribe the lead, 1-0.

This time, Marist immediately answered back in the top of the first, scoring twice on three singles to surge ahead, 2-1.

Once again, relief pitching shut down any chance of offensive success for the visitors.

Sophomore pitcher Randall Prosperi and redshirt junior pitcher Chris Farrell combined to force the Red Foxes through a scoreless final two innings, allowing only two hits and one walk between them while striking out three batters On the offensive side, Wrighte blasted a homer past the scoreboard to tie the game in the sixth, 2-2.

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Two innings later, junior outfielder -Canoe -Gymnastics Brandon Raquet put another ball over -English Riding -Softball the fence to secure the Tribe’s second -Basketball -Hockey victory of the day, 3-2.

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was the important role that new additions to the roster played in the three victories.

“We had two of our freshmen get wins on the mound in [Snyder] on Friday and obviously [Tsakounis] today,” Murphy said. “Obviously [Cone] did a lot to help us win. [Thomas], [Hart], all of those guys played significant roles this weekend.”

Coming into the season with a roster composed mostly of underclassmen, the freshmen’s influence has already been felt everywhere from the bullpen to the starting lineup. Pitchers like Tsakounis and batters like Cone were given highimpact roles in their very first weekend of college baseball.

“It was just very exciting, definitely a confidence-booster too,” Cone said. “Just being out there with these guys is incredible; it’s a great group of older kids that push you and help you get better. … We’re all just talking to ourselves, just finding a way to help out and do our job, just be contributing factors without having to adjust much.”

This successful integration of new players into the lineup is a positive development for a team looking to rebound from a stagnant 2018 season.

“We’ve been preparing hard for the season all year long,” Murphy said. “The goal for us right now is just to figure out how we win and what our formula is to win games and try to play as close to that as possible.”

The Tribe will open another weekend homestand against Sacred Heart Feb. 22 at Plumeri Park.

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JAMIE HOLT / THE FLAT HAT Freshman Oren Vasser earned his eighth win of the season over Penn State upperclassman Christos Antonopoulo.

Tribe drops match 6-1 Loss to Lions makes sixth straight NATHAN SEIDEL THE FLAT HAT

William and Mary (0-6) left University Park, Pennsylvania still looking for its first victory of the season after falling to Penn State (5-3) by a close score of 4-2.

The Tribe surrendered the first two points in doubles matches at the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles spots by identical scores of 6-2.

The heavyweight bout of the two occurred at No. 1, in which the Nittany Lions’ fourth-ranked duo took down the Tribe’s 45thranked pair by capturing the last three games in order to achieve

the 6-2 mark.

The match was not without bright spots for the Tribe, with freshman Oren Vasser notching his eighth victory of the season 6-2, 6-3 over Penn State upperclassman Christos Antonopoulo at the No. 4 spot.

Sophomore Sebastian Quiros also brought home a singles victory at No. 3, prevailing 7-5 in a third set tiebreaker to down the Nittany Lions’ Gabriel Nemeth, despite being shut out in the second set.

Penn State then captured the No. 1 singles clash, with French native Constant De La Bassetiere defeating junior

Brenden Volk 6-2, 7-5.

The Nittany Lions’ Ben Lieb then made the win official by taking down freshman Daniel Pellerito at No. 5 in two consecutive sets.

This latest defeat marks the sixth straight for the College; in fact, it has failed to win a match yet this season. Though the Tribe has scraped together some impressive individual wins, they have yet to earn a victory as a team.

The Tribe will attempt to secure their first win of the 2019 campaign Saturday at 4 p.m. in Lynchburg when it takes on Liberty University.