T HE F LAT H AT
Vol. 114, Iss. 1 | Wednesday, February 21, 2024
The Weekly Student Newspaper
of The College of William and Mary
GRAPHIC BY MONA GARIMELLA / FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
flathatnews.com | @theflathat
RYAN GOODMAN / THE FLAT HAT
ANNA ARNSBERGER // FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Law School Dean A. Benjamin Spencer promises to raise student worker hourly pay, current wages sit at $12 an hour across the board Since the beginning of the 2023-24 academic year, a coalition of student workers at the College of William and Mary Law School have been organizing for higher wages. While Law School Dean and Trustee Professor A. Benjamin Spencer unofficially committed to raising wages, it is unclear how much the rates will increase and when. All wage-earning student workers at the Law School make $12 an hour — Virginia’s current minimum wage. Students are not permitted to work more than 16 hours per week. Wages are funded by a variety of sources, but departments with extra money are not allowed to pay their workers more than the base amount. Organizers argue that with these work restrictions, students are unable to cover the cost of living in Williamsburg. Kyle Hyde J.D. ’24, a fellow for the Center for Racial and Social Justice and one of the leaders of the movement for higher wages, believes that the current rules serve as barriers to accessibility. “Law school is inaccessible for a lot of people,” Hyde said. “In fact, the dean of the Law School has written articles about how inaccessible it is. And one way that students try to mitigate that is by working while they’re in law school. But there’s a lot of restrictions on how much students can work.” He described how students who work maximum hours and make minimum wage are not able to afford the price of an average studio apartment in Williamsburg. “A lot of the students that we’ve talked to in our organizing, they have jobs because they need them. This isn’t just a fun thing for them to do in between their classes, but a lot of students actually have these jobs because they need to supplement their income so they can afford to stay in school,” Hyde said. Working at the Law School provides students with the opportunity to not only make money, but gain experience with skills such as legal writing and research, which are important for their resume. Skye McCollum J.D. ’24 also works for the CRSJ and explained that many research fellows must make major sacrifices in order to get that experience. “Some of them are on food stamps because they can’t afford to eat,” McCollum said. “And there’s a lot of other people that don’t even seek employment at the school. They’ll go get a job, like a part time job, at any
restaurant or something in the town, because they can make more doing that even than working at the school, doing something that could help actually further their career. It’s like they’re sacrificing that just because they need money.” Beyond cost of living arguments, student employees believe that their work is simply worth more than minimum wage. Students fill a variety of roles as research assistants, administrative aides and student ambassadors. Additionally, second- and third-year legal research and writing fellows — who do not make minimum wage, but instead receive a $2,400 stipend per semester — are needed to teach all first-year students how to do legal writing with the Bluebook. According to Hyde, these jobs not only save costs, but add immense value to the school. “Instead of the faculty doing their research, a lot of professors have their students do the research. And so instead of paying them the faculty salary, they pay them $12 an hour. And the same thing with the legal research and writing fellows, instead of paying them a professor’s salary to teach this class, they rely on [students]. The school could not function without the legal research and writing fellows, they’re vital to the curriculum,” Hyde said. A Change.org petition started by the organizers further explains how student workers impact the Law School. “Research assistants help faculty publish quality scholarship on important legal issues, increasing the profile of the university,” the petition reads. “Legal Research and Writing Fellows also add significant value to the law school. W&M Law School promotes the legal practice curriculum as a distinguishing feature of the education it provides, and fellows provide indispensable support in laying the foundation for legal writing and lawyering skills.” For Gray Whitsett J.D. ’24, a fellow at the Election Law Program, the realization that his work was worth more than minimum wage encouraged him to get involved with the organizing. “When I first came on, the professor that hired me, who I’ve been working for, said right from the get-go that she wishes she could pay us more and that she feels like it is definitely not a minimum wage level position, even though it is a student position. And that always kind of stuck
in my brain as like, I wonder what that’s all about,” Whitsett said. The idea to organize emerged after April 12, 2023, when Spencer hosted a “State of the Law School Address” to answer student questions. Hyde submitted a question about why raising student wages was not a priority. According to Hyde, Spencer responded that he did not know if he was the final decision maker for student wages or if main campus would have a problem with these changes. Law School Chief Communications and Marketing Officer Doris Taylor confirmed that the dean of the Law School has the final decision over how much students are paid. “First and foremost, we must adhere to wage laws within the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Taylor said. “Beyond that requirement, the Dean has ultimate authority on all law school wages.” At the April address, Spencer did not agree to prioritize student wages, but hinted at reconsidering the issue in the fall. In response to this, Hyde and a few other students began organizing at the beginning of the fall 2023 semester. “After that ‘State of the Law School Address’ where we kind of formally asked him to reconsider raising student wages, and he said no, that’s when we decided to get our petition going,” Hyde said. Aug. 30, 2023, Hyde published the petition on Change.org to show community support for a $20 hourly student wage. “We, the undersigned, include students, workers, community members, and organizations within the William & Mary Law School Community,” the petition starts. “We are not only student employees but students who believe our classmates should be able to pay their rent from the money they earn working for the law school. The current pay scale does not reflect respect or appreciation for the vital work student employees do for the law school. During the State of the Law School Address, you indicated that raising student wages was not your top priority but was something you would reconsider in the fall. We ask you to reconsider raising student wages.” SEE LAW STUDENT WAGES ON PAGE 4
BOARD OF VISITORS
Prof. Armstrong says College will be promoted to ‘Very high research’ in tier BOV meeting BOV discusses Vision 2026 development plans, increase in funding for Muscarelle, and expectations for a future R1 classification
SAM BELMAR, ISEN LEE, PEERAWUT RUANGSAWASDI THE FLAT HAT
Wednesday, Feb. 9 to Friday, Feb. 11, the board of visitors of the College of William and Mary met in the Blow Memorial Hall and the Alan B. Miller Hall to discuss matters pertaining to the administration of the College ahead of Charter Day. Apart from increasing funding for the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the Martha Wren Briggs Center for the Visual Arts, hearing reports from board liaisons and discussing other matters of the College, the board did not make many drastic decisions this session. College Rector Charles E. Poston J.D. ’74, P ’02, ’06 remarked that the board took preparations for a busier April session. “We haven’t had some great decisions to make, but preparations for the decisions that are coming, have been phenomenal,” Poston said. February’s session marked the first of former Virginia Senate Republican Leader Thomas Norment J.D. ’73 as an official voting member of the board, following the conclusion of his term in the state legislature. Norment was named to the board last June by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. College President Katherine Rowe, in her report to the board, reported a strong return in admissions for the College. According to W&M News, over the past
INDEX Profile News Opinions Variety Sports
two years, the College has seen a 45% increase in early decision applicants. “Since last year, we’ve seen a 20% increase of applications from first-gen students,” Rowe said. “Which is really, I think, a testament to how hard we try to get the message out.” Rowe also highlighted the Commonwealth Impact Partners Program, which the College launched under the direction of College Vice President for Strategy and Innovation Jeremy P. Martin Ph.D. ’12, M.B.A. ’17. The program identifies students who are Pell Granteligible or receive lunch benefits for scholarship purposes. Financial aid, according to W&M News, is guaranteed to cover at least the cost of tuition and fees for all eligible undergraduate in-state students. The Institutional Advancement committee met Thursday, Feb. 8, in the Alan B. Miller Hall in a joint board meeting with the Cypher Society, the William and Mary Foundation Board of Trustees, the Alumni Association Board and the Annual Giving Board. Rowe provided updates on the College’s progress toward accomplishing the Vision 2026 development plan, with a particular focus on the Democracy Initiative. She last held a forum discussing Vision 2026’s four main pillars of data, water, democracy and careers Nov. 13, 2023. Later in the session, Chief Marketing Officer and
Inside Opinions 2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Goodbye old friend: outgoing Editor-inChief bids farewell
Molly Parks ‘24 bids farewell to The Flat Hat as former Editor-in-Chief. page 5
Associate Vice President for University Marketing Heather Golden discussed the College’s ongoing efforts to amplify prospective student recruitment, especially those coming from out-of-state. She cited an increase in qualified inquiries for the College on Niche.com, as well as improved performance on Scoir.com, an online platform dedicated to sharing college-related information with students and helping them narrow down their choices, as markers of recent success. To continue the upward trend, Golden announced new recruitment initiatives that will be undertaken this spring. Notably, the College will initiate a “Yield Optimization Pilot” in partnership with Encoura, an online marketing firm that collaborates with postsecondary institutions to boost prospective student engagement. The marketing campaign, to be launched this March, will target Class of 2028 admitted students in an attempt to retain a higher percentage of them for the fall 2024 semester. “Once we have selected the admitted students for this year, we will launch a targeted digital marketing effort to those students and their families,” Golden said. “The ads will provide an opportunity for us to encourage them to get more information about William and Mary as they’re making their decision, and ultimately to commit.”
In addition to Encoura, the College plans to achieve its long term recruitment goals working with OHO Interactive, a marketing agency that specializes in higher education. Working with OHO, the college is planning a top of the funnel brand awareness play, focused on exposing out-of-state students to the College through targeted social media marketing. Furthermore, with OHO, the College will employ a Search Engine Optimization Plan, an unprecedented process, ensuring the College appears on individuals’ internet searches related to the school and keywords associated with the institution. This strategy is particularly important for the school to break through to the new market provided by the introduction of the College’s new school in computer science, data science, applied science and physics, opening in Fall 2025. College Vice Rector and Chair of the Academic Affairs committee Barbara L. Johnson J.D. ’84 said the committee met and heard updates from College Provost Peggy Agouris on the new school for computer science and applied science. data science and physics, including the selection of its inaugural dean. The committee also discussed the school’s re-accreditation by the Southern Association SEE BOARD OF VISITORS ON PAGE 4
Inside Variety
Inside Sports
Shivi Royal ‘27 publishes biography detailing female mathematicians and their accomplishments throughout history. page 7
Jones hopes to help athletes grow as people, apply football to daily lives. page 10
Redefining Girl Math
Running backs coach Perry Jones inspires team on, off field