T HE F LAT H AT
Vol. 113, Iss. 16 | Wednesday, February 7, 2024
The Weekly Student Newspaper
of The College of William and Mary
flathatnews.com | @theflathat
RYAN GOODMAN / THE FLAT HAT
COURTESY IMAGE / LAUREN GERSON
PEERAWUT RUANGSAWASDI / THE FLAT HAT
BOV TO INCREASE MUSCARELLE FUNDING BY $2.2M Board poised to hike art museum budget, award honorary degrees to Smithsonian Sec. Lonnie Bunch, former Rector Trammell '73
PEERAWUT RUANGSAWASDI // CHIEF STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, Feb. 7 to Friday, Feb. 9, the board of visitors of the College of William and Mary will hold its third quarterly meeting of the year. Items on the agenda include the elimination of the Master of Arts degree in physics, which has not been awarded since 1970, increasing funding for the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the Martha Wren Briggs project and the conferring of honorary degrees and professorships. According to the board’s schedule, board members will meet with members of the Cypher Society, an association of former board members and their widows, the William and Mary Foundation Board of Trustees (whose membership includes Colonial Williamsburg Foundation President and CEO Cliff Fleet ’91, M.A. ’93, J.D. ’95, MBA. ’95), the Alumni Association Board and the Annual Giving Board. The board will meet primarily in the Grimsley Board room in Blow Memorial Hall, while the joint meeting with other board groups will take place in the Alan B. Miller Hall on Thursday. According to the College’s website, the boards will discuss the Democracy Initiative at the joint meeting. “W&M has played a pivotal role in the shaping of Democracy since the founding of the United States, and since 1693 our university has been a home to and educated some of our country’s most exceptional leaders — great minds, scholars, innovators, and thought leaders,” a pre-
read document on the website reads. “The Alma Mater of the Nation is committed to producing scholars and graduates who bring those critical capacities to the communities where they live, work, and lead.” The board’s Committee on Institutional Advancement will also meet at the joint meeting. During its November 2023 meeting, the board had yet to receive a final report from the Values and Rankings working group regarding the College’s actions in response to its drop in the 2023 U.S. News and World Report rankings. College President Katherine Rowe established the group in July 2023. “Anyone who discounts William & Mary because of our rankings misunderstands where our priorities lie — they misjudge the end game we’re striving for,” Chair of the Institutional Advancement Committee S. Douglas Bunch ’02, J.D. ’06 wrote to The Flat Hat in September 2023. “Where the rankings depart from William & Mary’s values, William & Mary will not follow.” The Committee on Administration, Buildings and Grounds will also consider a resolution to provide $2.2 million in additional funding for the Muscarelle Museum, increasing the total budget to $46 million. “WHEREAS, unpredictable inflation and rapid cost escalation heavily impacted the construction industry during 2022, necessitating the postponement of several components
of the project in order to remain within budget,” part of the resolution reads. The board will also grant honorary doctorate degrees to Secretary of the Smithsonian Lonnie G. Bunch III and former College Rector Jeffrey B. Trammell ’73. Their formal conferral ceremony will take place at the Charter Day ceremony Friday, Feb. 9. “The ceremony continues the university’s observance of the Year of the Arts and will feature student performances,” a W&M News announcement reads. “The celebration began last semester when William & Mary opened its state-of-theart Fine and Performing Arts Complex, which includes the renovated Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall and a new music building. The expansion and renovation of the Muscarelle Museum of Art, which will be part of the new Martha Wren Briggs Center for the Visual Arts, is expected to be completed later this year.” Trammell served as the first openly gay board chair of a major university in the United States. Former College Chancellor and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Sandra Day O’Connor officiated his wedding in the Supreme Court in 2013. The annual Charter Day ceremony will take place in the Kaplan Arena on Friday from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., with Lonnie Bunch giving the keynote address.
STUDY ABROAD
Undergraduates attend human rights program in La Plata, Argentina over winter break
Hispanic studies professor Catherine Brix leads students in South America trip, group meets Argentine concentration camp survivor CLARE GIFFORD FLAT HAT NEWS ASSOC.
Tuesday, Jan. 3 to Friday, Jan. 20, assistant teaching professor of Hispanic studies Dr. Catherine Brix led a group of 18 undergraduate students from the College of William and Mary during a human rights work-focused study abroad program in La Plata, Argentina. The Comisión Provincial por la Memoria, a partner with the College, designed the program itinerary and guided the attending faculty and students through local museums, art collections and other sites of memory. Brix began teaching at the College in 2021 after completing her doctorate in Spanish at the University of Notre Dame. This past fall, she taught a course on human rights in Argentina that coincided with the La Plata curriculum. The Winter La Plata program was open to students from all majors and of all Spanishspeaking abilities. Prior to attending, students completed a one-credit prerequisite in the fall. While in Argentina, they earned three credits for GBST 390: “Field Research in Human Rights.” “Some didn’t speak a lick of Spanish when they went,” Brix said. “Some had, you know, functional knowledge and were able to, you know, communicate on basic things. But it was pretty widespread in terms of majors, as well as the degree of fluency.” Oscar Lazo ’25, a double major in government
INDEX Profile News Opinion Variety Sports
2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
and Hispanic studies, found the trip to be an apt mix of his academic interests. “I focus a lot on political stuff on campus, but also just like the Spanish language,” Lazo said. “So to be able to go on a study abroad program which blends the two together, because it is so human rights-focused, and I do a lot of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work on campus. So, it was kind of like the nexus of everything that I do.” Brix credited the College’s long-standing relationship with the Comisión Provincial por la Memoria, or the Commission for Memory, for the group’s decision to hold the program in La Plata. “I would say first and foremost, our partnership with the Comisión Provincial por la Memoria, who we work with on many of our programs in Argentina,” Brix said. “They are probably the foremost institution on the subject of human rights in the country.” According to Brix, part of Argentina’s current excellence in the human rights field is due to its handling of the past. “In Argentina, I think particularly, there is a culture that is very open to discourse on the need to protect human rights,” Brix said. “They’re very cognizant and aware of their position historically, politically, socially on these issues and being a leader in prevention too.” From 1976-83, a military dictatorship under the name of the National Reorganization Process ruled Argentina during the Cold War.
During the period, the NRP brutalized many of its own citizens. “Over 30,000 people were systematically tortured, murdered and disappeared during this period of time from 1976 to 1983,” Brix said. “After that took place, Argentina was extremely active, in my opinion, in looking at the human rights abuses that took place during that period of time, and [was] very active in seeking mechanisms to achieve accountability and justice for those crimes.” Upon achieving liberation in 1983, the Argentinian government established the CPM, among several other organizations, for reconciliation. “They have several different functions,” Brix said. “They’re part of the government, it’s a state institution. They provide education, obviously, for programs like this where they work with students. They do a lot of public outreach and communication in terms of journalism and things like that. They also serve very important functions in terms of continuing to ensure that rights are not being abused.” Of all the sites of memory visited during the two-week program, both Brix and Lazo felt particularly taken aback by their tour of the Escuela Superior de Mecánica de la Armada. Over the past 50 years, the ESMA has been converted from a military institution to a concentration camp to a site for human rights. A survivor of the ESMA camp during the dictatorship period led the group’s tour.
“Being led through her experiences, being led through where she was detained, being held, where she was tortured and abused, as she put it,” Lazo said. “It just really puts into reality the atrocities that occurred in Argentina.” Cade Bridges '26 experienced a similar sentiment during the visit to a maximum security prison in Bueno Aires. “It made the abuse feel more human,” Bridges said. “Like, 'why don’t we treat prisoners as humans?'” The CPM program visits the sites, in part, to provoke reflection afterwards. “We regularly have a meeting space where we reflect on the experiences we live in the Program,” CPM’s website reads. “The space is in English and with two [professors] from William & Mary University where we can exchange ideas about the sensations that the people and place we met left us.” After the program, Brix said her experience leading the La Plata program is a highlight of her academic career. “Obviously, I’d love to go back,” Brix said. “It’s a fantastic place. It’s a transformative place. It’s a beautiful experience. It’s challenging, but one of the most transformative experiences that I’ve had as an educator.” In early March, the College’s Hispanic studies department is hosting a symposium for students from Brix’s Human Rights in Argentina course and students from other Hispanic studies majors to present their final projects.
Inside Opinions
Inside Variety
Inside Sports
Vivian Hoang '24 criticizes Stanley cup shoppers page 5
Student-run theater group Sinfonicron adds new depth to classic fairy tale in'Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella' page 7
Young-led offense slays Dragon defense, secures season’s sixth CAA win page 10
Stanley obsession exposes stupidity of consumerism
Royal reimagining
Tribe dominates Gold Rush game, beats Drexel 75-62