The Flat Hat November 12 2019

Vol. 109, Iss. 19 | Tuesday, November 12 , 2019

The Flat Hat The Weekly Student Newspaper

of The College of William and Mary

Flathatnews.com | Follow us:

Black Panther creator discusses diaspora

GRAPHIC BY EMMA FORD / THE FLAT HAT

SYDNEY MCCOURT / THE FLAT HAT

Author Ta-Nehisi Coates discusses his new book’s commentary on slavery LULU DAWES // THE FLAT HAT

Friday, Nov. 8, under bright stage lights and the echo of distant beating drums, author TaNehisi Coates sat down in a plush armchair surrounded by African woodcraft and a packed crowd of cheering attendees.

This year, the College of William and Mary hosted the 10th Biennial Conference for the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora, which took place from Nov. 5 to Nov. 9. With over 1,000 members and delegates from over 30 countries in attendance, the conference brought together leading African diaspora scholars, artists and activists to celebrate black people’s storied past and achievements.

Sponsored by the Wendy and Emery Reves Center for International Studies, Coates starred as the headlining event for the conference and drew in approximately 800 audience goers to his talk.

“I always thought I’d be at conferences like this and do more like this but I have not,” Coates said. “I don’t know if many of y’all know this, but it really was scholarists, like y’all, that got me to the case of reparations to be honest, and I mean that in the most political sense.”

Coates garnered national attention in 2014

when he wrote an article arguing for reformations on his popular blog with The Atlantic, where he described the ways in which African Americans still are targeted and unfairly disadvantaged today. Since then, Coates has left his job in journalism to write two nonfiction books, pursue work as the writer for the comic book series “Black Panther” and publish his debut novel, “The Water Dancer.”

“The Water Dancer” takes place during the antebellum South and centers around Hiram Walker, a slave with supernatural powers who plans to escape his bondage. Though Walker has a photographic memory, he cannot remember his mother who was sold by his white slaveowning family.

“The way enslavement is presented in the pop culture, I think for whatever reasons storytellers have tended to linger on those visual, visceral details: whipping, rape, torture,” Coates said. “I’m not arguing about hiding that. ... I would say that when I was going through all those readings, the thing that really got me was the destruction of family: taking of kids, taking of wife, that was the thing that really gripped

me. So, I was very interested in thinking of the emotional aspect of that.”

While detailing the process of writing his debut novel, Coates emphasized his research and the plethora of primary documents he analyzed in order to understand and capture the horrors of slavery. Coates accredited the history department of his alma mater, Howard University, for fostering his love of writing and teaching him the importance of using primary sources.

Temple University professor of African History Benjamin Talton serves on ASWAD’s Executive Board and sat on stage with Coates to guide the conversation and incorporate questions concerning Coates’ novel. Talton also frequently gave his own opinions regarding reformations and the treatment of African Americans within contemporary American society.

“People always say if you attend an HBCU, you’re not in the real world; they’re not preparing you to deal in the real world,” Talton said. “But what they’re really saying is it must be inferior because they don’t say the same thing about allwomen, white women colleges. They don’t say that about all-men, white men colleges.”

At the end of the hour-long conversation between Coates and Talton, audience members asked brief questions regarding Coates’ debut novel and his past journalism work.

Class of 2021 President Aria Austin ’21 attended the event because her government major and English minor have led her to frequently read Coates’ work in several AfricanAmerican literature classes. Austin was curious whether Coates felt a responsibility to live up to the expectation of other African-American writers, since her classes often compare Coates to James Baldwin.

“I thought he had a great answer, because I think for him writing is a very personal thing, but it is also something that he wants to share with other people,” Austin said. “It’s not necessarily that he has to be an activist, but it happens that it is a consequence — a good consequence. He is an inspiration and consequently people feel the need to be activists in real life. For me, I’m someone who is inspired by his writing and I want to make the world a better place. I think that’s the power of writing. I’m so honored I got to share the same space as him and ask that question.”

SPEAKER

College welcomes creator of African diaspora non-profit

COLL 300 speaker discusses contemporary research and identities with ASWAD event

Wednesday, Nov. 6, students and faculty members gathered in the Sadler Center’s Commonwealth Auditorium for a discussion about the African diaspora featuring guest speaker Michael Gomez. The lecture was organized as part of fall 2019’s COLL 300 program, which focuses on modern patterns of movement and migration.

The COLL 300 program is designed to foster greater global awareness and engagement among students at the College. This semester, the program is bringing three speakers to campus as part of its broad semester theme.

Index Profile News Opinions Variety

Sports

“

The question emerged concerning our backgrounds ... I was the only African descended student on the stage.

— Michael Gomez

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

In September, Muhammad Baqir, a prominent Islamic scholar, visited Williamsburg to discuss connections between the material and spiritual spheres of life. Gomez was the semester’s second speaker, and will be followed by cultural anthropologist Nancy Frey Wednesday, Nov. 13, who will discuss migration and movement through her experiences working along the Camino de Santiago in Spain.

Gomez, a professor of history, Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at New York University, joined three panelists in illustrating the complexities of academic scholarship on the African diaspora.

See GOMEZ page 3

Inside Sports

Inefficiency of College postal services interferes withs student life, habits

Rainy High 56, Low 27

“

ETHAN BROWN FLAT HAT MANAGING EDITOR

Chloe Folmar ’22 says that, through no fault of the postal workers, the poorly organized postal service at the College makes the student experience much worse. page 6

Football third-down bell unengaging Lexie Hiestand ’23 says that the third-down Wren Bell is both useless and pointless, and lack of enthusiasm from students toward this traditions tends to bolster the visiting team’s morale. page 9

newsinsight “

The Flat Hat

“

THE BUZZ

News Editor Charles Coleman News Editor Leslie Davis News Editor Emma Ford fhnews@gmail.com | Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019 | Page 2

The way international relations shows up in the news has changed a lot since I graduated school. A lot of the issues we see are covered through the White House. Something we talk a lot about is the lack of international coverage in domestic outlets. I think foreign policy coverage has increased, but not necessarily in the way that people in that space would want.

— Akela Lacy ’15, political reporter at The Intercept

THIS WEEK IN FLAT HAT HISTORY November 17, 1970 - News: The national organization of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity places the College of William and Mary chapter on indefinite probation for abusive treatment of their housemother, whom they had failed to feed. Although contractually obligated to provide their housemother’s meals, members of Phi Kappa Tau claimed the financial burden of was too much to bear. In order to maintain their house on campus, Phi Kappa Tau eventually conceded but maintained it would be an “economic strain.”

November 16, 1990 - News: WMPD and Student Assembly member investigated the previous weekend’s theft of the SA’s bank bag. The bag in question was stolen after the Homecoming dance from an unlocked drawer in the SA office and contained proceeds collected by SA during Homecoming weekend, amounting to $500 in cash and about $200 worth in checks.

November 17, 2000 - Sports: The College’s football team defeated Villanova, 48-41. Although there was no longer any hope for the Tribe to reach the playoffs, the Tribe still dominated, coming back from a 14 point fourth quarter deficit to win.

November 14, 2008 - News: Earl Gregg Swem library was forced to close early, at midnight instead of its usual 2 a.m. time, multiple times due to security guard illnesses. Due to the hiring freeze, the police were unable to fill the positions in order to provide two security guards necessary for the library’s late night shift.

HISTORY BY SARAH GREENBERG AND KARINA VIZZONI / FLAT HAT NEWS ASSOC. EDITORS

A THOUSAND WORDS

COURTESY PHOTO / JOHN MCGLENNON

Throughout his career, McGlennon has run for numerous governmental positions and believes his experiences running for office help him in the classroom.

Emphasizing grassroots politics Professor John McGlennon discusses runs for office, value of local government AVERILL MENINGER // FLAT HAT CHIEF STAFF WRITER

CORRECTIONS 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.

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

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

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

Nia Kitchin Editor-in-Chief Ethan Brown Managing Editor Brendan Doyle Executive Editor Maggie More Digital Media Editor Maddie Douglas Business Manager Amelia Sandhovel Business Manager

Kevin Richeson Operations Coordinator Adam An Webmaster

Charles Coleman News Editor Leslie Davis News Editor Emma Ford News Editor Zoe Beardsley Variety Editor Adithi Ramakrishnan Variety Editor Gavin Aquin-Hernández Sports Editor Avery Lackner Sports Editor Anna Boustany Opinions Editor Chloe Folmar Opinions Editor Clara Stebbins Social Media Editor Kate Lucas Blogs Editor

Katherine Yenzer Blogs Editor Kayla Payne Graphics Editor Naomi Gruber Online Editor Claire Hogan Online Editor Jae Chung Copy Chief Zoe Connell Copy Chief Jamie Holt Photos Editor Rebecca Klinger Photos Editor Averill Meininger Chief Staff Writer Alyssa Grzesiak Chief Features Writer Carmen Honker Chief Features Writer

Sarah Greenberg News Assoc. Editor Collin Anderson Sports Assoc. Editor Kim Lores News Assoc. Editor Nathan Seidel Sports Assoc. Editor Karina Vizzoni News Assoc. Editor Griffin Dunn Business Assoc. Manager Isabella Miranda Variety Assoc. Editorr Margaret Lashley Design Assoc. Editor Anthony Madalone Opinions Assoc. Editor Katherine Stone Design Assoc. Editor Alyssa Slovin Opinions Assoc. Editor Lizzie Brown Copy Editor Kelsey Marshall Newsletter Editor

in his course on Southern politics or an old favorite focusing on political campaigns.

“

I always say that you really do learn more in a losing campaign because you can think about all the things that you might have done differently, try to evaluate what worked and what didn’t work.

“

CARMEN HONKER / THE FLAT HAT

In 1974, in the dawn of his career, professor John McGlennon came to the College of William and Mary for a one-year teaching position to teach students about public policy. One year turned into three visiting years, and as McGlennon says, “The rest is history.”

As an Orioles fan who grew up in New York and received his Master’s and Ph.D. from John Hopkins University, McGlennon perhaps seemed unlikely to end up living most of his life in Virginia. Fortunately for the College, he has dedicated extensive amounts of time to his career here, both professionally and politically.

McGlennon has run for Congress twice and now continues his 22-year tenure of the Roberts District seat on the James City County Board of Supervisors. He was reelected this past Tuesday Nov. 5, beating out Republican challenger, Trevor Herrin.

McGlennon recalled that when he originally ran for the seat, it was in a more unusual fashion than most. He spent time searching for a candidate in the community, but when no one came to light, McGlennon stepped in himself.

“I was the chair of the Democratic party in James City County and there was a seat on the Board of Supervisors where the incumbent had decided not to seek reelection,” McGlennon said. “I saw the other candidates who were running, on the other side of the aisle, and just thought that the values they were promoting weren’t what I wanted to see the county pursue.”

Despite the late start in his campaign, McGlennon was persistent and had no regret accepting the nomination. Although he did not win the seat, he almost defeated the Republican incumbent and surprised many people with his campaign’s success.

Impressive races for the Democratic party elsewhere in the state also meant McGlennon garnered additional support in the final week of his race.

“It was a great experience,” McGlennon said. “We had about a twelve-week campaign from the time I was nominated until election day. We didn’t raise as much money as we needed but I came closer than most people expected and so was encouraged to run again two years later. The last week and a half of the campaign, I started getting some more resources. The governor came down to cut a commercial for me and that’s why I think I was able to do much better in that campaign.”

When McGlennon connects his political career back to his classroom experience, he is thankful to have the ability to do more than talk about theory. He believes being able to bring exemplary career work into his lectures makes it more honest and conceivable for his students.

Despite never holding office in Congress, McGlennon humbly considers his losses as more beneficial for himself and his students.

As an educator, McGlennon sees value in any experience as an opportunity to bring something back to his students, whether it be

— John McGlennon

“I always say that you really do learn more in a losing campaign than you do in a winning campaign because you can think about all the things that you might have done differently, try to evaluate what worked and what didn’t work,” McGlennon said. “When you win, it’s kind of like, well, I must have done everything right.”

McGlennon also mentioned his political experience often proves advantageous in terms of how students perceive and learn from him.

“The benefit for me as an academic was that I better understood the actual practice of politics and as a teacher, I had a certain kind of ‘street cred,’ if you will,” McGlennon said.

“When you talk about election campaigns, but you have actually run those campaigns, people give you a little more credit for that.”

McGlennon complimented College students for being politically active and aware. He ran through a list of many students who he taught that went on to pursue political careers and get involved at varying levels of government. Many of these alumni endeavored on their own campaigns and proved successful,.Others found political roles without this hurdle.

“We have a lot of our graduates who are involved in appointive positions as well. The chief of staff of the mayor of Richmond is a member of our Board of Visitors, Lincoln Saunders,” McGlennon said. “We have folks who are city managers and county administrators all around Virginia and in other states.”

Nowadays, McGlennon says a semester

doesn’t go by without a former student’s child in one of his classes. When asked what advice he typically gives to these and other students, he often points to his own political career holding the Roberts District seat. He believes in the value of starting local, particularly in Virginia, where there are elections every year and a multitude of opportunities.

“I like to tell students that local government is really a great place to see the impact of your work on a daily basis,” McGlennon said.

It is not lost on McGlennon that local government is often on the “back burner” for students, especially today, but he also knows that it has provided him with some of his most rewarding work.

“I can drive through town and point to an intersection that I had something to do with improving or a park that we approved,” McGlennon said. “We have a parcel of land at the end of Jamestown Road called ‘Mainland Farm.’ It is the first farm that was worked by English settlers on the mainland of America. I was able to get a conservation easement put on it that protects it as farmland in perpetuity.”

Finally, McGlennon shared what he believed to be the secret to any political success. The current board-member acknowledges that running for local office was a more fruitful undertaking because of his reason “why.”

“It’s important to know, if you’re interested in getting involved in politics, seeking elective office or working in state, local or national government, to know why you want to do it,” McGlennon said.

“It certainly shouldn’t just be because my ego would really like the attention. I think I was a better candidate for local office than I was at the congressional office because I had a much clearer sense of what difference it would make if I held the office.”

COURTESY PHOTOS / JOHN MCGLENNON

McGlennon is a two-time Congressional candidate.

Page 3

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

CAMPUS

Panelists discuss journalism in Trump era Global Research Institute hosts forum on evolving media ALEXANDRA BYRNE THE FLAT HAT

Thursday, Nov. 7, the Global Research Institute’s Teaching, Research and International Policy Lab hosted a panel discussion at the College of William and Mary devoted to exploring foreign policy journalism in the era of President Donald Trump. The panelists included journalists from diverse areas of the field, all of whom demonstrated varying approaches to journalism in the realms of foreign policy and national security.

CNN Analyst and Senior Fellow at the Brooking Institution Susan Hennessey spoke as one of the panelists. Hennessey also serves as the executive editor of the Lawfare Blog, a forum for discussion on foreign policy and legal issues. Akela Lacy ’15, a political reporter at The Intercept, served on the panel and discussed her focuses in politics, elections, criminal justice and immigration.

Lastly, Hennessey and Lacy were joined by David Sanger, a national security correspondent and senior writer for The New York Times. He has been a member of three Pulitzer Prize winning teams over the course of 36 years with the Times, and his areas of expertise range from nuclear proliferation and cyberconflict to national security. Sanger joined the panelists remotely from New York City. In addition to the panelists, the conversation was moderated by professor Mike Tierney.

The discussion encompassed a wide range of topics and questions essential to understanding how journalism operates in the current political climate. Much of the conversation focused on how journalism has taken on a new form in recent years, now that sources, classified documents and expert knowledge serve different purposes under this unusual administration. Hennessey questioned the normalcy of the current U.S. political climate, emphasizing that it is important to examine today’s geopolitical situation in the context of other administrations.

“You need to not just give a fair rendering of the law, precedent and long-term institutional position, but you also need to step back and situate it in the larger and unprecedented moment that we’re seeing in terms of the big, strategic positions that this White House is taking on the question of executive power,” Hennessey said.

Sanger remarked that oftentimes he rereads his articles, and in the place of Donald Trump, he inserts the names of other presidents to examine how feasible or acceptable a given presidential action could be.

Hennessey also connected this new era of journalism to transformed public participation. She noted that there has been a surge in desire for primary sources, and that the Trump administration has spurred journalists to engage with a wider audience. When asked whether the newly sparked interest in primary sources is the result of distrusting the press or craving information, Hennessey seemed optimistic and stressed that there is not necessarily eroding trust in journalism.

“Part of it is just an awakening of the importance of civic responsibility to develop media literacy to understand what is going on,” Hennessey said. “There is a different sort of discourse that occurs in the soundbite economy. We can lament it as the degradation of serious scholarship and intellect, but on the other hand it is a significant opportunity space for people to think about how to engage.”

ALEXANDRA BYRNE / THE FLAT HAT

The panelists shared their experiences with journalism in the current global stage, and connected ongoing shifts in the field to changes in international politics.

As a young journalist working for a different kind of news outlet, Lacy offered insight concerning shifts in foreign policy journalism.

“The way international relations shows up in the news has changed a lot since I graduated school,” Lacy said. “A lot of the issues we see are covered through the White House.

Something we talk a lot about is the lack of international coverage in domestic outlets. I think foreign policy coverage has increased, but not necessarily in the way that people in that space would want.”

Lacy also commented on The Intercept’s commitment to diversifying perspectives and expanding issue areas — areas of concern that speak to the desires of young activists who question the current definition of what an expert is.

The conversation quickly shifted to more current developments in foreign policy, including the impeachment inquiry concerning Ukraine and President Trump’s decision to remove troops from northern Syria. Hennessey commented that the arguments driving impeachment are simple at their core but could hold major domestic consequences. She made the argument that impeachment is overly legalized and should instead be a method for removing a president who is not acting in the public’s interest.

When the topic of President Trump’s military decisions came up late in the discussion, Louie Hall '22 asked the panelists how the discord among Trump officials on the removal of U.S. troops from Syria affects relations with U.S. allies. He noted that this

dialogue was playing out over media outlets, specifically Fox News, instead of more traditional platforms. Hall reiterated the response he received to his question with the focus on the longterm implications.

“Because of the fact that we swiftly left Iraq and now we’re leaving the Kurds in northeastern Syria, it could be hard for allies to trust us in the future,” Hall said.

Hall noticed that there were differences in opinion among the journalists, particularly during their discussion of sources in contemporary journalism.

“I thought it was interesting how we had a panelist from The Intercept who was talking about transparency, there was another who was talking about how the intelligence community needs to keep the culture of not revealing so much, and we had another who said that we live in the age of over-classifying things,” Hall said.

Patrick Schroeder ’23 appreciated the discourse on the effects of President Trump’s rhetoric on American foreign policy goals.

“I really liked the point about the change in demeanor towards authoritarian leaders and how that relates to the uptick in authoritarian leaders across the globe," Schroeder said.

"Donald Trump’s attitudes towards them have really changed the way that Americans are viewing the way a president should act and changed the way countries view the president’s role and the attitude of America at large. A big point that was touched upon was how important it is for journalists to rise above that and highlight how different the time is right now.”

Michael Gomez details personal journeys, academic research ASWAD biennial conference explores African diasporic identities through analytical lenses In addition to his professorial duties, Gomez is the founder of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora, an organization devoted to exploring the global dispersal of people with African descent through various sociocultural lenses. The non-profit organization chose the College of William and Mary to host its tenth biennial conference, which brought Gomez to Williamsburg for four days of lectures, talks and open-ended discussions.

The conference, which was held at the Williamsburg Lodge from Tuesday, Nov. 5 to Saturday, Nov. 9, has been typically held in larger metropolitan areas than Williamsburg.

The first conference was held in New York City, and others have been held abroad in an array of diverse locations including Seville, Spain and Accra, Ghana. The conference coincided with the ongoing COLL 300 speaker series, making Gomez available to serve as a speaker.

Students at the talk expressed various rationales for attending Gomez’s talk. Many were present because of their COLL 300 class, including Val Meleshkevich ’20, who said Gomez’s academic and professional endeavors demonstrate clear links to his coursework this semester.

“I’m here today representing my COLL 300 class, Movement, Theory and Practice … I think it’s definitely going to relate to this speech here,” Meleshkevich said.

Professor Christine Nemecheck introduced Gomez and the panel’s two other participants, professor Iyabo Osiapem and Anthony Joseph ’21. In her introductory remarks, Osiapem described uncovering Gomez’s work with the African diaspora and referenced how accessible Gomez made the topic seem in “Reversing Sail,” one of his first books detailing the experience of diasporic communities. After reading Gomez’s literature, Osiapem was thrilled to meet him personally at a conference years after having been introduced to his work.

“I thought of him as the most impressive person who studied the African diaspora, and

“

One of the things that I find wonderful about ASWAD, it is not only academics... we tend to find a lot of conferences that are exclusive to people with Ph.D's and people who do research. The times I've attended ASWAD, you see all sorts of people there, people with interest, people who do their own research at home, and I think it's an engaging organization for that reason.

“

GOMEZ from page 1

— Iyabo Osiapem

he made it seem so real and accessible,” Osiapem said. “ … then I met him at a conference and talk about fangirling.”

Panelists noted that ASWAD’s choice of Williamsburg for its conference is especially meaningful given southeastern Virginia’s complicated history with enslaved people.

Since 2019 marks the 400th anniversary of the first arrival of African slaves in Jamestown — which lies six miles away from the College — Gomez argued that there is significance in hosting the conference so close to a location intrinsically linked with the African diaspora.

Gomez began his talk by explaining ASWAD’s origins. The organization hosted its first conference in New York City 18 years ago and since then has invited scholars, community members and interested parties to learn about the African diaspora through examinations of history, anthropology, women’s studies, literature and a myriad of interdisciplinary forms of analysis. Gomez argued that ASWAD is unique in welcoming diverse perspectives at its conferences and commented that the organization is designed to foment discussion among all people, not just those with a Ph.D. Osiapem, a frequent attender of Gomez’s ASWAD events, contextualized how vital the organization’s emphasis on openness is compared to other non-profit, researchdriven conferences.

“One of the things that I find wonderful about ASWAD, it is not only academics … we tend to find a lot of conferences that are exclusive to people with Ph.D.’s and people who do research,” Osiapem said. “The times I’ve attended ASWAD, you see all sorts of people there, people with interest, people who do their own research at home, and I think it’s an engaging organization for that reason.”

Gomez went on to elaborate his personal experiences learning more about the African diaspora, which began during his undergraduate career. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in

United States history with a regional emphasis on the American South, at which point he recognized that he knew little about the African diaspora or the African continent. This ultimately led him to pursue a master’s degree in African history, and by then he had uncovered a genuine passion for the subject.

This gradually evolved into a specific interest in diasporic people of African descent, which Gomez views as the culmination of a lifelong, existential struggle to define himself given the complexities of the African American experience. Looking back, after years of research, field work, manuscripts and on-site visits, he credits one moment as particularly influential in guiding the creation of ASWAD and fomenting his passion for the diaspora.

“The question emerged concerning our backgrounds … I was the only African descended student on the stage,” Gomez said. “... One student said I’m German, the other said I’m Irish, another said I’m Jewish, and then they came to me … that was a moment because all I could say was, ‘well, I’m black.’”

Gomez then elaborated how he characterizes his background, given that his father is from Puerto Rico and his mother is from Mississippi. Ultimately, he describes himself as an African that also happens to be an American — and told audience members that reaching that conclusion was an exercise in self-discovery.

In one of his final statements, Gomez said that ASWAD and similar organizations are part of the United States’ broad cultural mosaic. However, he cautioned audience members that the country is approaching a crossroads, where it can either embrace diversity or shun it entirely.

“I think at some point, American society as a whole needs to make a decision as to who we’re going to be,” Gomez said. “Are we going to be heterogeneous and pluralist or not? And if we’re going to be heterogeneous … then we need to learn about the components of society, and we need to start learning about that from elementary school through college.”

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Page 4

CAMPUS

Speaker talks erasure of Indigenous history Gonzalez features intersectionality of native, Latin American stories Wednesday, Nov. 6, activist Bobby Gonzalez visited the College of William and Mary to discuss the intersectionality of indigenous peoples and Latin-American heritage. Gonzalez’s lecture focused on exploring the history of indigenous Latin-American people and their cultures. Gonzalez was a guest speaker of the Latin American Student Union and American Indian Student Association in celebration of National Native American Heritage Month.

“Sometimes people ask me, ‘How can you be native?’” Gonzalez said. “I explain that more than 90 percent of the native people in the Western Hemisphere reside in Latin America. There are more than 50 million indigenous people in Central and South America and within the Caribbean.”

Gonzalez began his lecture by addressing a common misconception that indigenous people are mainly concentrated within the United States and elaborated on the full spectrum of indigenous people and their origins. He argued that most people conceptualize indigenous people solely as the people that first inhabited the United States and indicated how this misperception erases the identities of indigenous people across the globe, especially the indigenous people of Latin America. As an example, Gonzalez shares the story of his personal ancestry, the Taino tribe.

“So who are the Taino?” Gonzalez said. “We’re the native people of Puerto Rico. We were warriors … We introduced a whole array of foods the Europeans had never seen or tasted before. We introduced them to corn, peanuts, sweet potatoes and tobacco.”

Gonzalez also emphasized the active role women played in Taino society, relative to the passive role women played in European society. He discussed how Taino women took on extensive leadership roles, contributed heavily to various sectors within their community, and were treated as more equal citizens compared to their counterparts in Western Europe.

“Unlike Christians, our creator was a woman,” Gonzalez said.

“Her name was Ataberyra. Taino women were leaders — economic, spiritual and sometimes even military leaders.”

Gonzalez then shared the story of the Taino’s migration from Puerto Rico to Florida. He spoke about how the arrival of Europeans

caused mass tragedy across the Caribbean region, specifically with the Taino people. Gonzalez explained how the Taino were physically harmed by the Europeans, and since many Taino men and women were lost to severe disease, he further described that for the tribe to survive, they had to flee north to modern-day Florida, where they could escape from European hostility.

“

The indigenous community does not get a lot of publicity especially on this campus because the population is smaller. It is crucial, especially with Native American Heritage Month, to celebrate these voices and center them in these discussions and especially with the intersections between these various identities.

— Alexia Kaelber

“

ASHANTI JONES THE FLAT HAT

“The Europeans and the Spaniards came. They had their guns, they had their swords, they have their killer dogs but what killed most of us was smallpox,” Gonzalez said. “We had lived in relative

isolation for thousands of years and when they came over with smallpox and other diseases, we had no immunity. Many of us took off to Florida and some of their tribes absorbed us. So many people here [United States] may have Taino blood and not even know it.”

Gonzalez also acknowledged the contemporary global efforts of many indigenous tribes to uphold their cultures. He lauded the usage of religion, music and film as methods of heritage preservation.

“Many indigenous people are returning to their original ceremonies,” Gonzalez said. “All throughout Latin America people, are returning to their roots, some in different ways. All over the world, young indigenous people are preserving their history and language through music and film.”

Attendee Quinn Campagna ’20 found the lecture enlightening, given his own personal journey exploring his heritage.

“My grandmother was the first generation on my mother’s side of the family to come,” Campagna said. “She is from Nicaragua, and my mom and her siblings very actively tried to distance themselves from Latino heritage. Me, my brothers and my cousins are very much trying to figure out what that means for us personally. This discussion gave me a lot to think about.”

Alexia Kaelber ‘21, vice president of the Latin American Student Union, remarked on how necessary these discussions are to the community here at the College. Kaelber emphasized how vital it is to acknowledge and tell the stories of those often overlooked.

“The indigenous community does not get a lot of publicity, especially on this campus because the population is smaller,” Kaelber said. “It is crucial, especially with Native American Heritage Month to celebrate these voices and center them in these discussions and especially with the intersections between these various identities.”

Another attendee Monica Maher ’20, echoed how important dialogues like this were and that there should be more to follow.

“There is so much more to talk about,” Maher said. “I study linguistics, so that is always the perceptive I am going to come from, and there are hundreds of languages and stories we have not been able to connect across the Americas because there is so little we know because of how little is left. So it’s like you can pull out a few of the stories but there is still so much that has not been talked about.”

CAMPUS

Professors discuss crisis of liberal systems, global order Political science experts highlight the future of liberalism, political power around the world

Tuesday, Nov. 5, members of the College of William and Mary community came together in the Sadler Center’s Commonwealth Auditorium to attend a roundtable discussion entitled “The Crisis of Global Liberalism in Open Societies.”

The discussion, which was led by Vice Provost for International Affairs Steve Hanson, focused on the current state of global liberalism.

Joining Hanson were Barnard College political science professor Sheri Berman, Turkish studies professor at Stockholm University Jenny White, and political science professor at University of California, Berkeley Michael Steven Fish.

The event was organized by Reset DOC and Reset Dialogues in partnership with the College as a concluding note to their broader conference pertaining to liberalism.

Hanson opened the discussion by asserting that the global liberal system is falling apart. According to Hanson, the global order is at risk.

He cited Weber’s Three-component theory of stratification to explain the way in which global liberalism has broken down and noted the three primary ways of organizing political power: traditional patrimonial means, rule of law and leaders’ charisma.

Hanson said that rational legal leaders, who the global liberal order use to organize their power, are losing to charismatic leaders

around the world.

Although she agrees there is declining support for liberal democracy around the world, Berman hesitated to call the phenomenon a “crisis”.

“The term crisis … indicates not only that the problem is serious, but that it might be on some level unprecedented,” Berman said. “The types of approaches we take to our problems will depend partially on how severe we think the problems actually are.”

Berman noted many explanatory factors in the public’s declining faith in global liberalism.

Economic challenges, social and cultural factors, a lack of working-class representation in politics and unresponsive governments all help explain the public’s qualms with the liberal status quo.

“We may be experiencing today is one of those cycles where things are out of whack but hopefully where liberal democracy will be able to recalibrate,” Berman said.

Fish brought up alternative explanations for global liberalism’s contemporary struggles.

Fish began by echoing Berman’s sentiment that global liberalism is not in a full crisis.

He argued that waning economies, rising inequality, social tensions and immigration do not explain declines in global liberalism’s success.

“It’s not the economy,” Fish said. “We’re looking in all the wrong places. Liberal

politicians are losing ordinary people because they no longer make sense to them as defenders of national interest.”

“

The term crisis ... indicates not only that the problem is serious, but that it might be on some level unprecedented.

“

JENNA ISKANDAR THE FLAT HAT

— Sheri Berman

Fish said that illiberal leaders are gaining momentum because they have cast themselves as more nationalistic and patriotic than traditionally liberal leaders.

According to Fish, the solution to the global liberal question lies in the fundamental values that liberals and their leaders as a whole project to their constituents.

Thus, the liberal strategy, Fish noted, would be to revamp the image that liberals have in the hearts and minds of the public.

White drew upon her expertise in Turkish politics and history to inform her view on the status of global liberalism.

Protests by citizens who are unsatisfied by their government have become increasingly common throughout the country, and Turkish dissatisfaction is indicative of these larger trends. “[In Turkey], people just have absolutely no recourse whatsoever except to go out on the street and going out on the street,” White said.

“The government has to somehow listen to the people for any kind of stability to recur.”

Following the talk, Nathan Liu ’22 said that he enjoyed listening to Fish challenge preconceptions about liberalism.

“It was really interesting listening to Dr. Fish, especially how he challenged our assumptions about why liberalism may be hesitating,” Liu said.

Cara Burrell ’22 was happy to attend the talk, given its news-relevant topic.

“I’m glad the school is having this kind of talk because this topic is relevant and we don’t totally understand it,”Burnell said.

STUDENT ASSEMBLY

SA considers electoral reforms, talks revisions to attendance policy Senators convene to discuss potential changes to existing policies, compare similar university practices EMMA FORD, KIM LORES, LULU DAWES THE FLAT HAT

Nov. 5, senators in the College of William and Mary’s Student Assembly convened in Blow Hall 331 and approved three bills, heard a presentation about policy changes regarding senator attendance and debated possible reforms to SA’s election processes.

Sen. Henry Philpott ’22 and Elections Commission Chair Hank Hermans ’22 delivered a presentation on possible reforms to SA’s elections. Philpott and Hermans mentioned that since freshman elections take place relatively early in the fall semester, many first year students fill out their ballots without knowing much about the candidates or their platforms.

“At least within my freshman hall, and other people I have been talking to, there was a desire from some people, but they just did not know any of the candidates and they just voted randomly,” Philpott

said. “They were like, ‘oh, this name sounds cool,’ and clicked on it, rather than having any information whatsoever about who they were voting for.”

Philpott and Hermans suggested emulating election processes held at other schools, such as the University of Chicago and the University of Southern California. At these universities, ballots feature candidates’ photographs and campaign platforms.

Some members of SA expressed concerns with these proposals, saying that they could unfairly benefit candidates who can afford better headshots or who come across better in written statements.

“I am pretty against including photos and bios on the ballot, and I have two main points for that,” SA President Kelsey Vita ’20 said. “One, I think if you don’t have the time to campaign, then you don’t have the time to be in SA. And then two, I think regardless of the quality of the photo, I do

think people can and will judge based on physical appearances. I think that’s just a human thing, and I don’t want that to be a part of our election process.”

Senate Chair Anthony Joseph ’21 concurred with Vita, and said that the Elections Commission is not responsible for helping candidates with campaigning by including platforms on the ballot.

After reexamining SA’s policy on attendance during the Policy Committee Sunday Nov. 3, Chair of the Policy Committee Sen. Jahnavi Prabhala ’22, as well as her fellow representatives Class of 2020 President Cody Mills ’20, Class of 2021 President Aria Austin ’21 and Sens.

Will Wasson J.D. ’21, Meghana Poojala ’22, Angela Tiangco ’20, Patrick Salsburg ’21, Eugene Lee ’23 and Abby Varricchio ’23, sponsored the Code Attendance Policy Amendment of 2019. The amendment seeks to fix SA Code §2.1-2.2 by outlining when absences from Senate meetings,

committees and other SA required events are excused.

“Excused absences shall include: time away caused by a student’s serious illness (medical or mental health), hospitalization, or death or serious illness of a close family member; emergency academic obligations; and important religious or cultural obligations,” the amendment said.

“Graduate Senators shall also be excused for non-emergency academic obligations.

Unexcused absences shall include: other student organization events; minor academic events that could have been avoided; and social visits.”

This policy change was instigated by former Sen. Liam Watson ’20’s attendance review that was incurred following excessive committee absences. Watson filed a request for the SA Review Board to look over the constitutionality of his attendance review. The board declared that SA code did not provide an outline

for excused and unexcused absences, and therefore, all absences missed by senators qualify for an attendance review.

Shifting gears, despite some unanswered questions about the bill’s specifics, the senators passed the Fourth Annual Transgender Awareness Week Act, which was sponsored by Salsburg and Sen. Kyle Vasquez ’21. The act provides $3,601 to advertise the week’s events, as well as to pay speaker AC Dumlao and purchase the film screening rights to show “Boy Meets Girl.”

Joseph suggested to his fellow senators that SA should table bills with ambiguities when they reach committees moving forward.

“I think for our practices in the future, I think we should look to considering tabling something like this in the future because there was a lot of information we didn’t have in committees,” Joseph said. “… That’s a reason to table.”

opinions

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

The Flat Hat

| November 12,2019 | Page 5

STAFF COLUMNS

Timing of Christmas festivities evokes debate Negative aspects of holiday season clash with beneficial times spent with family

Early Christmas celebration highlights the joys of spending time with family

Georgia Thoms

Aidan Smith

FLAT HAT STAFF WRITER

THE FLAT HAT

Families all around the globe celebrate religious beliefs around the holidays differently, and those who aren’t religious often have their own special holiday customs and traditions. Either way, each is a gathering of loved ones to spend quality time in one another’s embrace.

Personally, I have never been a huge fan of the holiday season. My viewpoints tend to skew toward the more pessimistic side and during the holidays all I can think about is rising suicide rates, dangerous road conditions and the thousands of people and animals left out on the street in the harsh, frigid temperatures of winter.

Additionally, those in the working class have a more difficult time during the holidays. The enormous stress of having to provide gifts for others can seem like a heavy black cloud that darkens the festivity of the holiday season. December and January are the two months when mass layoffs happen the most as budgets flip over for the new year, which — in accordance with having to satisfy the materialistic mind of the population — causes incredible amounts of unnecessary anxiety.

Many people decide to remain oblivious to this realistic view of the holidays in favor of the picturesque Hallmark card ideal. Others decide to pay it forward by donating their time or money to aid others. I think finding a sense of balance between harsh reality and complete ignorance through helping the community is key to creating a productive and joyful holiday season.

The winters in Connecticut are much colder than those in Virginia, where I’ve come to attend the College of William and Mary, and occasionally a soft flurry of snow graces Christmas morning. It creates a beautiful and peaceful atmosphere that truly washes away all grouchiness.

My family traditions help me find the happiness in the cold clutches of winter. While we may not put the Christmas tree up Nov. 1, the day after Thanksgiving we set out on an expedition to find the tree with most personality. That’s right: personality.

Each tree boasts a different kind of attitude and whichever one stands out earns their rightful place in our living room. Once the tree is adorned with soft, twinkling lights and various ornaments collected over the course of years, we gather around the fireplace to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life”.

Sitting there amidst my family and precious dogs I understand why so many people look forward to the holidays. It forces us to take a step away from the cyclic lifestyle of work, rest and repeat. We are forced to spend quality time with other people whom we love and that is the true magic of the holiday season.

Let me start off by telling you a few things about myself. My favorite beverage is fresh, hot cocoa with a dollop of whipped cream. My favorite food is sweet potato casserole topped with gooey melted marshmallows. My favorite color combination is red and green, my favorite song is Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” my favorite movie is “Elf”, my favorite tree is the evergreen and, as you may have guessed, my favorite holiday is Christmas.

Every year, I start celebrating Christmas as early as I can. I usually start listening to carol playlists in mid-November, right after the Halloween hype dies down. Fortunately, I’m not alone. Bright lights seem to appear on my neighbors’ fences right as spooky season ends and I see cars driving down the highway with a balsam fir strapped to their roofs earlier every year. When I see these markers of the holiday season, it makes me happy. I’d like to think that others feel the same way, but alas, I always find myself encountering a Scrooge or two when I wear my light-up Christmas sweater before Thanksgiving; it’s a really cute sweater with a little picture of Santa sunbathing and cradling a margarita.

“It’s way too early to celebrate Christmas,” they say with hearts that are two sizes too small. “Halloween just ended. It’s not even Thanksgiving.” I’ve wasted too much breath explaining why I love Christmas so much to these Grinches, so allow this to be my official pro-early Christmas manifesto.

Christmas holds a very special place in my heart. Growing up, my parents’ busy season at work was always the month of December, with their stress reaching a fever pitch just before the Holy Night. They own a small catering business, and the holiday season brings about office parties, house parties, church and synagogue dinners, and a whole host of other events. Sometimes, my dad gets up for work so early and gets home so late that I might go a day or two at a time without seeing him. My little brother and I had occasionally spent the weekend before Christmas with our aunt and uncle because our parents were so busy trying to organize a perfect holiday, both for us and for their clients.

Then, every Dec. 25, everything stops. I get to spend that morning warming myself by the fire and passing around presents with the people I care about most. My family and I sit in the living room for hours, laughing and telling stories about holidays gone by. We revel in the peace that follows a month of unending stress, the joy of a beautiful December morning and the love we feel for each other.

To people who celebrate Christmas, that’s what the holiday represents: peace, joy and love. When me and my fellow Whos down in Whoville start reveling in the Christmas spirit earlier and earlier every year, it’s not because we’re trying to annoy those who aren’t as excited as we are, and we’re certainly not trying to force the holiday on people who don’t celebrate it. We do it because we want to spread the feelings that, to us, represent Christmas. We want to spread peace, joy and love. So the next time you think about writing a snarky tweet when you see red and green lights Nov. 1, I ask that you take a moment to remember what those lights represent to the people that put them up.

Email Georgia Thoms at gthoms@email.wm.edu.

GRAPHIC BY DAVID SOLINSKY AND HEADSHOTS BY KAYLA PAYNE / THE FLAT HAT

Email Aidan White at amwhite02@email.wm.edu.

INDEPENDENT GRAPHIC

Crushes page highlights positivity, fosters community connections RIEL WHITTLE // THE FLAT HAT

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

STAFF COLUMN

Page 6

STAFF COLUMN

Inefficiency of College’s Postal Services interferes with student life, habits

Chloe Folmar

FLAT HAT OPINIONS EDITOR

It was the heat of last-minute textbook ordering season. The day after school started, I finally made it over to the College of William and Mary Bookstore to find that all my books had been sold out. Well, I admit that problem should be attributed to my own procrastination, but I resorted back to what I should have done originally: pander to Jeff Bezos and order my Symbolic Logic textbook over Amazon.

Two weeks later, I finally received an email notifying me that my package had arrived at the College’s post office. I promptly made my way to my mailbox, where I found approximately seven Panera delivery coupons that I never asked for or wanted all piled in front of the package slip I needed.

You know the drill after that : stand in line for at least 20 minutes since somehow everyone flocks the post office at the exact same time, turn in your package slip, aimlessly scroll through Instagram as you wait another half hour and finally make your way up to the desk when they call your four-digit CSU number.

The problem is not with the kind, hardworking employees who offer up their time and energy to help other people — it’s with the rampant disorganization of the post office and the inefficiency of their processes.

Having returned optimistic for a new year of college, I had forgotten about the package shenanigans I dealt with throughout freshman year. But, the memories rushed back as I walked toward the person at the desk who held my package slip but not my package. Sure enough, the package had been lost.

As a philosophy and potential English major who doesn’t understand math, Symbolic Logic was already flying far over my head.

I really needed that textbook.

A week later, after no news from the post office, I returned to express my concerns to whomever would listen. Upon giving my package slip to the person at the counter, I was told that my delivery was still missing.

As I walked away, disheartened, I happened to mention that my package was a textbook. “It’s a textbook?” the person asked. “Oh, let me check the textbook section.”

Sure enough, my textbook had been sitting there for who knows how long.

This wasn’t the first or the last time that the post office wasted my time and even affected my grades.

Realistically, around half of the packages I’ve ordered have been lost, and they regularly take days on end to finally be processed.

Not to mention, I repeatedly get notified that I’ve received a perishable package, forcing me to rush to the Sadler Center only to find whatever random book I mindlessly ordered myself that week.

I am truly thankful for the people who work hard at the post office, dealing with long lines of moody college students picking up the huge bags of clothes they ordered from Urban Outfitters, which are probably the wrong size and will end up being resold on the “william & mary people selling their clothes” Facebook page.

The problem is not with the kind, hardworking employees who offer up their time and energy to help other people — it’s with the rampant disorganization of the post office and the inefficiency of their processes.

I don’t know why the school decides to bring a barelyattended pig petting zoo onto the Sunken Garden on a random Saturday but neglects simple efficiencies like post office reforms.

As the saying goes, the goal of the College is to “always deliver” — it’s a shame our post office can’t.

Email Chloe Folmar at csfolmar@email.wm.edu.

Filth of College dishes and utensils deters students from dining halls take more than their fair share of relish whenever hot dog day rolls around.

You have no idea what guilt is until you’re unwillingly cast into the role of divvying up the so called “freshman plague” amongst 6,000 undergraduates. The girl you make googly eyes at in geology now wants you quarantined after you suffered a brief fifteen minute seizure courtesy of the wheeze, hack and cough. Now imagine how I feel. I will happily hurl myself onto a sponge the way you dive into bed after your microeconomics midterm. That is, of course, right after I sprout limbs and mobilize. You know the saying, my friend, “when sporks fly”.

Oh, the things I would give just to be clean … then you’d come set me free from my banishment within the black hole cup.

THE FLAT HAT Think about it: you’d sooner sip cinnamon oatmeal straight You pick me up, take one look at me, and toss me back from the bowl like your beagle named Rufus than employ into the hole from whence I came. With your justified sense my services. Don’t even think about defending my plastic of disgust, you don’t acknowledge counterparts. I know you attended the me for more than a few seconds. I climate strike; I saw it on Snapchat, suppose that’s typical in the life of a so don’t be a hypocrite. The same spoon, or publicly-used silverware, goes for those hideous wooden mixing really. At least we’re not alone. The sticks. Do you know how humans other day I overheard a sesame blended tea and water before you all seed spangled saucer whimpering went off on your rainforest genocide? to a mug befouled by mocha on the You stirred with a spoon. drying rack about being passed over Oh, the horror. I stand idly by. Your by some starving STEM major. Here attempts to lick chocolate-vanilla in my home, the College of William swirl ice cream off the cone are feeble; and Mary’s Commons Dining Hall, you went to Spanish class with crusty nothing beats feeling the reflected cheeks by the way. See? We could be straight-toothed smile of a student so great together. All of us here, from bend around me like a fun house the platter to the porringer, quite mirror. Sadly, such a delight will literally live to serve. We wear our only crop up once in a blue moon stainless-steel clad armor and get these days, since constant coverage down to the dirty work. For you, we’re in solidified pretzel bun mush strips glad to do it. I hear college can be even the most handsome spoon of his pretty stressful. Have you ever tried glamorous shimmer. practicing food therapy? I’m getting Personally, I love taking the plunge off topic. into the balmy blue liquid at the Here’s the scoop: we’re ransacked bottom of the used utensil hatch after of our very essence of living each polishing off some raisin bran. To the time we run through the quickie untrained eye, this solution appears known as the “wash cycle”. As the “sterile,” like the stuff your dentist number of clean platters on the shelf uses to saturate her stash of picks continues to dwindle, hear my cry.

GRAPHIC BY ANNA BOUSTANY AND between appointments. The trouble This is the tragedy of the Commons HEADSHOTS BY KAYLA PAYNE / THE FLAT HAT is, I think it’s all for show. One swift Dining Hall. Long gone are the days rinse in the sink and it’s back in the ball game. Who am I of your mother’s squeaky-clean cutlery; the College can’t kidding? I’m still filthy. The poor plates and beggarly bowls tolerate the crumbs any longer. can’t relish in the joyous dip into the blue lagoon. At least they Email Matthew Kortan at don’t have to pretend like they’re not all mucky. Besides, they mrkortan@email.wm.edu.

Matthew Kortan

STAFF COLUMN

Daylight saving time change fails to serve original purpose, disrupts student scheduling

Carina Pacheco THE FLAT HAT

The biannual resetting of clocks are two days that live in infamy for the entire global population. Or, at least, they’re two days that live in infamy for me.

I have long struggled with the concept of daylight saving time, especially considering the time-taxing toll it takes on people. Every season, as I try and remember which way the clock turns, I weigh the pros and cons.

I always question the necessity of daylight saving, as well as on whose authority we all change our clocks. What would happen if we all simply stopped participating?

I shamelessly must remind myself of the incantation we learned as children: “fall back, spring forward.”

Despite my efforts to successfully transition from summer to fall and from winter to spring, I have messed it up pretty much every single year.

I have set my clock back when I was supposed to set it forward, done the reverse and even once forgot the day entirely.

That fateful year was marked by me waking up my parents in a panic at 6:30 a.m., fully dressed for the day, thinking I would be late for

school. That was embarrassing, to say the least.

The worst part was that I was already so awake that there was no chance of me falling back asleep, even though that was supposed to be the sole benefit of the day.

figure out what time it was instead of going to sleep.

I find that the effects of daylight saving are useless on an already peaceful, quiet Sunday, and therefore I found altering my alarm clock a total waste of effort.

One may be able to tell that my recurrent ordeals seem to stem from the fact that iPhones and other devices will automatically change the time, whereas alarm clocks, microwaves, cars and the like all require the time to be reset by hand.

Now, all that clocks remind me of is the brutal fizzling out of sunlight by 5 p.m. and how badly I just want to be warm in bed at 6 p.m.

Leaving Swem Library at 7 p.m. has turned quickly from a scenic walk back observing a sunset to a freezing march through what feels like the middle of the night.

Ultimately, daylight saving is a practice that many have deemed both unnecessary and inconvenient.

And if this “extra hour” is really so imperative, then let’s at least make sure it comes on a weekday where an extra hour of sleep is actually worth getting befuddled over.

Email Carina Pacheco at capacheco@email.wm.edu.

I find that the effects of daylight savings are useless on an already peaceful, quiet Sunday, and therefore I found altering my alarm clock a total waste of effort.

This year, I experienced more confusion than relaxation yet again. I can say that the extra hour of sleep is nice in theory.

Not to sound ungrateful to the daylight saving gods, but my first experience with the confounded day as a college student resulted in spending my extra hour trying to

variety

JA

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

On pointe

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, November 12, 2019 | Page 7

MI

Dance company Pointe Blank holds its fall showcase, displaying different styles and genres of dance

EH

OL T/

TH

EF

LA TH

AT

Friday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m., Pointe Blank Dance Company at the College of William and Mary had its fall showcase in Commonwealth Auditorium.

Pointe Blank is an independent, studentrun dance company that features student choreography in multiple styles of dance.

Although the company holds a fall and spring showcase every year, this performance in particular marked the 20th anniversary of the group’s founding in 1999.

The group had been working on the fall showcase since the beginning of the semester, which was also when they held auditions and decided who would be choreographing dances.

As the lights went down, the performance began with a French-style jazz number to Stromae’s “Tous les memes,” followed by a contemporary dance to “Bruises” by Lewis Capaldi.

After this, the show was given a proper introduction by the company’s president Angela Leersnyder ’20, and vice president Sabina Valery ’20, who thanked the group’s alumni for building the organization into what it is today.

The show frequently switched moods as each number featured a different dance style, music genre, costuming and lighting.

Several numbers featured stunts and minor special effects.

One performance featured a stunt in which a dancer was lifted while standing before falling backwards to be caught by other dancers.

The executive board dance number to Pitbull’s “Fireball” featured a life-size cardboard cutout of the rapper himself.

It was

OLIVIA HENNESSEY // FLAT HAT VARIETY ASSOC. EDITOR apparent that the dancers enjoyed performing, and Pointe Blank members expressed their enthusiasm for being a part of the company.

Angela Leersnyder explained what her favorite part of Pointe Blank is.

“It exposes you to a lot of different styles of dance, because most dancers will come in with a lot of years of experience but they definitely have their favorite styles of dance, but the way that the calendar and the schedule works out, you can’t always be in the style of dance that you know you like, so you always end up trying different styles,” Angela Leersnyder said. “It’s so much fun because the choreographers are all students too and you’re all working with each other, introducing different genres to each other.”

New members provided a fresh perspective on the performance and the company itself. Anna Raymond ’23 liked the democratic nature of Pointe Blank.

“I honestly love that it’s student run; I love that people have opportunities to put in input about what they want to do, and we get to choose what we want to do; it’s just really different than a lot of other experiences I’ve had in dance,” Raymond said.

On the other end of the spectrum, senior Elizabeth Acors ’20 explains what she loves about her experience at Pointe Blank.

“I just love all the people; they’re all so incredible, and all such amazing dancers and choreographers, it’s honestly incredible just to see what’s in their brains, and see it come to life on stage every semester,” Acors said. “I’ll miss being able to have fun with all these amazing people every week at practices, because probably after I graduate I won’t dance anymore, which is sad, but I’ve had such wonderful years with these girls dancing, so it’s bittersweet.”

Acors explained what her time with Pointe Blank has taught her.

“How to work well with people, and incorporate different personalities on stage, has been really interesting, and something that I’ve learned to do through this company,” Acors said.

Many audience members came to the event to support friends and expressed amazement at the skill and professionalism of the production.

“We came out to support … Lauren French, and I

appreciate the variety of dances, it’s really cool to see all the different talents,” Annie Rossman ’21 said. “I haven’t been to any of their shows before; I would definitely go again.”

“I’m supporting a really good family friend; I’ve seen her dance forever, so it’s really cool to see her dance here,” John Lesko ’21 explained. “I really like the music they choose; I’m in an a cappella group, so I always get a lot of good ideas for songs to sing. Seeing the music put into physical movement is the coolest part for me.”

Ellie King ’20 and Danielle Brown ’20, who both dance with Syndicate on campus, came to the show out of a personal love for dance and a desire to support other dancers.

“We’re dancers ourselves, and we really like to support all of the dance groups on campus,” King said. “We come to the Pointe Blank show every semester, just because it’s so fun to watch. It’s really cool because the students choreograph it, and you know that going in, and you can still see this versatility.”

Brown agreed with King’s perspective.

“A lot of the people in this are in other dance clubs, or are in the dance club that we’re in, so we just love to see what they do in other capacities,” Brown said. “They have all these different styles, which is unlike any other dance group on campus.”

There were also many parents in attendance supporting their children in Pointe Blank.

Robin Leersnyder, mother of both a current and a past member of Pointe Blank, was very complimentary of the show.

“I think the level of dedication these people put into the show is absolutely amazing, considering they’re all keeping up with their studies as well,” Robin Leersnyder said. “The joy of dance and joy of music that is expressed here is phenomenal, and I thoroughly enjoyed the professionalism of all the dances. We come every season for the dance and we are always astonished by the high quality of the dance.”

Parents of new members were also impressed by the show, and hoped to see more performances by the company.

“It was very impressive that they can work together and be independent, and not have anyone directing it that isn’t a student,” Cindy French said.

Pointe Blank will be having another showcase in the spring of 2020.

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Page 8

WEDNESDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

Chinese Student Organization holds Lantern Festival on Sunken Gardens DAISY GARNER / THE FLAT HAT

DAISY GARNER // FLAT HAT STAFF WRITER Wednesday Nov. 6, lanterns covered in students’ wishes for the semester glowed over the Sunken Garden as the College of William and Mary’s Chinese Student Organization celebrated their annual Lantern Festival.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a Chinese tradition dating back over 3,000 years to the Shang Dynasty, originally beginning as a celebration of the moon. For many, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also an opportunity to connect with family and focus on reflection.

It is also one of the largest festivals in China, but other groups outside of China also celebrate the festival, including the Vietnamese, Koreans and Filipinos, among others.

“For China, for the Mid-Autumn Festival, they have lantern festivals, and I think we are just trying to resemble that,” CSO member William Westin ’22 said.

To prepare for the event, students from the CSO tabled at Sadler Center on Monday and Tuesday to pre-sell lanterns for their festival. Attendees could purchase lanterns for $3 before the event, or for $5 at the event. Students were welcome to come to the festival at any time between 6 and 10 p.m.

During the festival, several tables were set up on the Sunken Garden towards the Sir Christopher Wren Building, around which students gathered to prepare their lanterns and other supplies. Although the traditional color of the lantern is red, which is considered a lucky color in Chinese culture, students could pick their lantern from stacks of different colored lanterns on the tables. Students were also encouraged to write wishes on their lanterns with the provided markers.

On a large piece of paper on one of the tables, CSO members wrote suggestions for specific wishes that students could

write. These suggestions were written in Mandarin characters, along with their English translations, such as “food,” “health,” “home” and “happiness.”

During this time of the semester, students are dealing with examinations, registering for classes, and trying to ensure that they receive their ideal marks. CSO members also wrote other words such as “finals,” “registration” and “grades” as suggestions

“For China, for the MidAutumn Festival, they have lantern festivals, and I think we are just trying to resemble that.”

--William Westin ‘22

for wishes, highlighting this time of year that students can find particularly stressful.

“We only do ours in November, so we only do it once a year. … We have it every year, around the same time, right before Thanksgiving,” CSO President Ricky Lee ’21 said. “So it’s a great way to make some wishes for anything before the holidays, and most of the time people wish for finals, good luck on finals and good luck on other things.”

After attendees picked out lanterns and wrote their desired wishes, members from

the CSO helped them set up their lanterns, including lighting the fire at the bottom of the lantern, which caused the lanterns to float. Since free-flying lanterns are illegal in Virginia, members of the CSO also ensured that each lantern was tethered by string to a water bottle so that it would not be able to float away.

It sometimes took several attempts for some members and students to get their lanterns to float, but when they were successful at getting them in the air, festival attendees turned around in awe and watched the glowing lanterns hover.

“So, you can write your wishes on the lanterns, and then the lanterns kind of float in the area,” Lee said.

While some students were attending the CSO’s lantern festival for the first time, others were returning to experience the lantern festival again.

It was Katie Brownfiel ’20’s second time attending the Chinese lantern festival. Brownfiel, who is in the School of Education and wants to teach high school English upon graduation, wished for a good career. She picked a blue lantern because it is her favorite color.

“I wrote that I want to be a good teacher,” Brownfiel said, her face glowing as she admired her lantern floating above her.

When inquired about what else she wrote on her lantern, Brownfiel reflected on her wishes from past years.

“I think happiness, which I also have it on it again this year too,” Brownfiel said.

“I wrote a bunch more this year because I could write more than one, I figured out.”

The CSO’s annual lantern festival brought a traditional Chinese celebration to the College, uniting students to celebrate together on the Sunken Garden and wish for a good season.

“It’s just a big part of Chinese culture,” Lee said.

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

A CASE FOR CONSENT

Consent is vitally important in relationships, does not sacrifice intimacy Veronica M. THE FLAT HAT

So, my last article was about sex and romance and hooking up, and it was really nice to get that all out in the open. But this time, I want to talk about consent.

When I came back to school this semester, I was overjoyed to see the Let’s Get Consensual campaign that had been kickstarted. It has been such a great way for there to be an open dialogue about consent on a college campus, and there have been topics on consent that I had never even heard of before. When there was a focus on consent with contraception, for instance, I felt like there was a whole layer of consent that I had never really thought about. Having an open dialogue is a huge part of a healthy, consensual relationship, and it is so important to building a better culture of consent.

Everyone’s definition of consent may differ a little bit, but it should center around “FRIES,” the easy-to-remember acronym that reminds me of Sadler on a good day. Consent is freely given, revocable, informed, enthusiastic and specific. Fries.

Consent differs from situation to situation but should always follow these five key points.

Open communication between partners is

the most important part of sex, and it’s so important to make sure that your partner feels safe and cared for. Whether it’s a onenight stand, or someone you’ve been on 16 dates with, or your partner of 50 years, sex is a serious matter when it comes to consent.

Having sex can be fun and exciting, but it’s up to those participating to make it that way.

Communication is key.

Talk to your partner (or partners, no judgement) before engaging in any physical activity. I used to have issues with people touching me in any way, even a friendly pat on the arm, but it meant the world to me when I was asked consent before they would touch me or hug me or hold my hand. While most people aren’t as extreme in their physical boundaries, it is still important to be aware of these boundaries. If someone is edging away from your touch, or flinching when you reach towards them, don’t touch them. And if it’s hard for you to read body language, ask.

If you’re not sure, ask. That’s the bottom line of consent, in my opinion. Just ask — it’s better to be a little embarrassed on the chance they say no than to make someone uncomfortable beyond relief.

And before you say, “asking consent kills the mood,” it doesn’t. Asking to kiss someone does not kill the mood. It literally makes it

better. One time a girl asked before if she could go down on me and it made it that much better. I promise that if you can’t read body language, then asking will not hurt. It will do one of two things: stop you before you hurt someone else, or make things that much more exciting.

I hate to say it, but I hear these qualms about “asking killing the mood” from guys. Every girl I’ve ever talked to about consent has agreed that asking for consent makes it sexier, or more exciting, but that it in no way is a showstopper.

I have only heard this as an “issue” from guys, who usually claim that asking a girl if they can kiss them is a turn off. Of course, not every guy is like this, but more often than not I hear this point of view from men.

More concerning is the gender disparity within the Let’s Get Consensual campaign as a whole. There are many more women involved, or even aware of it, than there are men. It’s important for everyone to be aware of consent. Men make up a little less than half of our campus, and if only half of our campus is aware and on board with the idea of consent, then there is a lot of room for there to be non-consensual relations.

Consent should be a normalized topic, because if it isn’t, there is the perpetuation of rape culture. A culture where it’s okay for

people to be sexually abused and traumatized is not a culture anyone wants to be a part of, and the first step in making sure that this is not our continuing reality is by practicing and spreading the message of consent.

Don’t say consent “ruins the mood.” It doesn’t. Ask anyone if it kills the mood. Make a survey and post it in Swampy Memes. I bet you’ll find that it does not kill the mood.

Don’t pretend consent is dubious. If you’ve read this article you now know the acronym of FRIES, and that’s enough to know that if you’re not sure, and you don’t ask, it’s not consensual. Read body language, listen to your partner, ask. This is not a difficult concept to grasp. No tea, no shade, but my nine-yearold brother understands consent better than some people I’ve met on this campus.

Consent is such an important thing to learn about and practice, and the Let’s Get Consensual campaign is such an amazing way for our campus to be better educated on the topics of consent. It’s something that every student at the College of William and Mary can practice, and I think everyone should at least be aware and educated on the sexy idea of consent.

Veronica M. is a Flat Hat writer who wants everyone to start calling the left side of Swem The Annex.

sportsinside

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, November 12 2019 | Page 9

FIELD HOCKEY

Tribe muzzled by Huskies, loses 1-0

OUT OF THE PARK

Football third-down bell unengaging, unnecessary

Lexie Hiestand THE FLAT HAT

JAMIE HOLT / THE FLAT HAT

In spite of a strong season for the College, its hopes for picking up a CAA Championship were dashed after a weak fourth quarter offense againt Northeastern.

College drops semifinal, looks to improve for 2020 season BELLA SMALL FLAT HAT STAFF WRITER Friday, Nov. 8, No. 23 William and Mary faced off against Colonial Athletic Association rival Northeastern at Rullo Stadium in Newark, Delaware in the CAA semifinal. The Tribe (12-6, 5-1 CAA) was looking to keep its impressive season alive. Unfortunately for the Tribe, its season came to an end as the Huskies (11-7, 3-3 CAA) won in a 1-0 victory.

The first period featured both teams playing great defense, leading to a low number of corners and shots on the goal. In the fifth minute, Tribe senior forward Annie Snead provided the first scoring chance of the game with her shot on goal, which ultimately went wide. The Huskies were able to slowly regain possession of the ball and eventually draw a corner six minutes later by Huskies forward Alli Meehan. On this corner, Huskies defender Lauren Rowe had a shot that was saved by Tribe sophomore goalkeeper Kimi Jones, and Huskies forward Kassidy Anderson had a subsequent shot that was again saved by Jones. After the corner, the Tribe regained possession of the ball, and with this chance Tribe senior forward Cata Days had a shot on goal that was saved

by Huskies goalkeeper Julia Gluyas. At the end of the period, the Tribe and the Huskies remained tied at 0-0.

In the second quarter, the Tribe came out playing hard. In the 21st minute, Tribe junior defender Haley Hopkins had a shot on goal that was saved by Gluyas. Hopkins regained the ball after this save and shot once more and was again blocked by Gluyas. Tribe junior midfielder Ella Donahue shot a minute later, but her scoring attempt was also saved by the dominant Gluyas. In the 23rd minute, Snead drew the Tribe’s first penalty corner of the game, on which Tribe senior midfielder Cassidy Goodwin’s shot was blocked. After the onslaught of Tribe power, the Huskies began to fight back more aggressively. They regained possession of the ball, and in the 24th

minute, Huskies back Sam Bodo had a shot on goal that was stopped on a defensive save by Tribe freshman defender Audrey Domovich.

While in the circle, Meehan again drew a penalty corner for the Huskies, their second of the game. However, the Huskies could not make anything of this scoring opportunity, and the Tribe regained its momentum. With a little over a minute left in the quarter, Snead again drew a penalty corner for the Tribe. Similar to the Huskies, the Tribe could not make anything of this corner, and the two teams went into the half tied at 0-0.

In the third period, neither team dominated the other, which made for some intense plays yet few scoring opportunities. In the 32nd minute, Huskies forward Kasidy Anderson had a shot on goal that was saved by Jones. Seven minutes later, senior forward Woodard Hooper had her shot go wide. Hooper had another scoring attempt go wide three minutes later, and the period ended still at 0-0.

Going into the fourth quarter, the Tribe needed to score to have any chance of a victory. This quarter featured some aggressive play, as exhibited by the two green cards that were given out. In the 51st minute, the Huskies’ Anderson received a green card from the referees, and three minutes later, Bodo was also given one. With less than two minutes in the game, both teams were desperate to score.

The Huskies were able to come out on top when Anderson passed the ball to Huskies forward Camille O’Conor, who had a high shot from ten yards out sink into the back of the goal, giving O’Conor her ninth goal of the season and the Huskies their game winner. As the final buzzer sounded, the game ended with a Huskies victory 1-0.

This loss in the CAA semifinals marked the end of the Tribe’s 2019 season. The season began in mid-August, and though the Tribe began with a rough start, they were able to get into their groove around late September, eventually going on to achievements such as beating No. 5 Louisville in double overtime and having an eightgame winning streak. The Tribe finished 12-7 and 5-1 in the CAA.

MEN’S SOCCER

Seahawks overcome College 2-1 in CAA Semifinals Despite a 4-1 victory against No. 5 Northeastern, Tribe flounders in final match SETH HODGES THE FLAT HAT William and Mary was knocked out of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament with a 2-1 semifinal loss to North CarolinaWilmington Sunday, Nov. 10.

The match got off to a quick start with the Seahawks creating plenty of chances early on.

In just the 2nd minute, Seahawks midfielder Cannon Tootle burst into the penalty area and hit a low shot towards goal. Tribe freshman goalkeeper Kieran Baskett dove to his right to save the effort. Baskett would make another save just minutes later, this time on midfielder Colton Pleasants. Pleasants found himself in a one-on-one situation with Baskett, but Baskett was able to parry the shot with a kick save from his left leg. The Seahawks eventually broke through with a penalty goal by defender Danny Reynolds. Tribe freshman defender Theo Biddle committed a foul in the penalty box on Tootle in the 11th minute to concede a penalty kick. On the penalty, Baskett dove the right way, but Reynolds’ placement and power were too much to handle, and the Seahawks went ahead 1-0.

The Seahawks continued to bother the College’s defense, peppering Baskett with more shots. Pleasants had another effort in the

18th minute, this time from far outside the box, that was saved by Baskett. Seahawks striker Gabriel Cabral came close to doubling his side’s advantage when he ran onto the end of a through ball in the box. His shot went through the legs of Baskett but escaped just past the left of the post.

The Tribe equalized against the run of play, scoring in the 23rd minute through a strike by freshman midfielder Alexander Levengood. Sophomore midfielder John Eberle collected a ball on the right wing off a long pass from the back. He slipped it to Levengood in the box, who finished on the first kick, levelling the game at one goal apiece. The goal was Levengood’s seventh of the season.

Momentum swung in favor of the College at the start of the second half. Levengood was again the cause of the threat, producing a header effort off a cross from senior winger Julian Ngoh. His effort was saved by Seahawks goalkeeper Gabriel Perotta as he dove low to his left to touch the header out of bounds.

Several minutes later, in the 63rd minute, Perotta produced another crucial save. Junior defender Sam Golan connected with a corner kick, but his header towards the top left corner of the goal was saved by Perotta.

Two minutes later, the Seahawks broke the

deadlock with what proved to be the gamewinning goal. Striker Phillip Goodrum received a centering pass in the box and took a low shot across the face of goal. His effort slipped just underneath the arms of Baskett, and the Seahawks went ahead 2-1. The result held, and the Tribe was ultimately defeated despite the contest being very close throughout.

The Seahawks will go on to face James Madison in the CAA final. The winner of that match will automatically qualify for the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament as champions of the conference.

“

The result held and

the Tribe was ultimately defeated despite the

contest being very close throughout.

Drenched in sweat, the William and Mary football team stares down its opponent. For two downs, the players blocked passes and prevented yardage gain successfully, and now they just have to make one more stop. The crowd waits for the next play, tense, until the Sir Christopher Wren Building Bell tolls to signify the start of the third down. Then, the crowd is supposed to start cheering. What actually happens is generally a tepid response, consisting of half-hearted “woos” and scattered clapping.

Seconds after the bell, the opposing team’s quarterback makes an arching pass to a wide-open receiver, earning 10 yards and a first down. Instead of deterrence, the third-down bell and lukewarm crowd have motivated the other team. They did not move on the first down; they did not make progress on the second. But when it mattered most on the third down, there were only a handful of times when they did not convert.

The bell tradition is perplexing. Though it is the only official consistent cheer to bolster student participation at football games, the Wren Bell is neither helpful nor particularly endearing.

First of all, the bell does not have the desired effect of pushing the Tribe to stop its opponent. The crowd’s lack of noise does not support the Tribe’s stop attempts. Statistically, the median thirddown conversion rate of the top 130 colleges in the United States is 39 percent. Those teams are playing other top teams in their conferences, so it is expected that this rate is similar at all levels of play. The Tribe’s third-down conversion rate, for example, stands at 37 percent.

However, the conversion rate of the teams playing against the Tribe is almost 10 percent higher than that of the Tribe, averaging a whopping 46 percent. The bell should signify that we are preventing a first down, but instead, the opposite is happening.

Is the Wren Bell cheer the reason behind the Tribe’s inability to prevent a first down? Not exactly. A statistical observation is far removed from claiming causation. However, even if the bell is not to blame for the problems on the field, it is certainly not helping.

Half of the time, the Tribe cannot stop the other team after the bell, so in addition to being useless, it also seems pointless. While the bell’s intention is not to improve athletic performance per se, it is supposed to energize the crowd. Instead, because of the team’s poor performance after the bell tolls, it lacks the seriousness to excite the students. Southern colleges are known for their emphasis on football culture, so the College’s approach to the sport — or lack of thereof — is strange. Though people do not flock to Williamsburg for its sports traditions, the College has an obligation to boost crowd support in some way. We have one officially sponsored cheer, the third-down bell, and it is not remotely relevant or fun.

The College thinks the only way to galvanize a crowd is an ineffective bell toll or, even worse, unrelated games. Every time Tribe Athletics brings a crowd member to the field to participate in a weird activity, something always goes wrong. The microphones do not work; the announcer starts before the kids have the grain sacks on; the T-shirt throwers miss the stands. For an official program, these activities are problematic. They do not serve the purpose of getting students interested in attending games. Worse, when something malfunctions, students lose interest in the game.

Student attendance is equally important as alumni, and the athletic culture of the College needs to reflect this. We want to be involved in the game and in cheering on our team, so the school should support this attitude with fewer fan interactions and more actual cheers and traditions that make us look forward to attending the games. Rally towel giveaways are perfectly fine, and the jumbotron graphics and clips could be improved, but these are not necessary to increase student participation; we just want an endearing cheer.

The apathy toward official cheers is especially perplexing because of the Colonial Athletic Association’s history with football. Five of the 10 schools in the CAA do not have football programs. Furthermore, because of low student attendance, Northeastern and Hofstra have terminated their programs in the last 10 years. Clearly, attendance and student support are important to football games, and the College needs to do its best to make sure the students stay involved at Tribe games. The College is not a big sports school — and it does not have to be known for its athletic atmosphere — but it has the opportunity and responsibility to improve the student turnout through better game traditions.

The pep band is a step in the right direction. The first-down tune is a fan favorite among freshmen and upperclassmen alike. The cheer is so popular because we are supporting our team — not belittling the other.

In addition, the cheer happens throughout the game and celebrates the Tribe’s possession, which makes it especially entertaining.

The cheerleaders also excite the students. Their cheers are simple but effective, courting both the students and alumni over the course of the game. Signs and formations get students involved, and when the Tribe gets a touchdown, students look to the cheerleaders for a bodypress counting feat. After a timeout or media break, the cheerleaders also help refocus the students on the game.

While the pep band and cheerleaders help student turnout, they are both ancillary programs. They are organizations who support the football team but are not necessarily sponsored by the team, unlike the third-down bell.

We do not need free towels or cups. Fun cheers, however, that both alumni and students can participate in are a necessity. Maybe that would take the form of an official kickoff chant. Perhaps it would be a touchdown cheer. It does not have to be repeatable, but it must make sense (unlike the golf putts). I do not know what the cheer should be, but I do know it should be fun, involved, effective and reflective of the Tribe’s performance — everything the Wren Bell is not.

Email Lexie Hiestand at aehiestand@email.wm.edu.

sports

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

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, November 12, 2019 | Page 10

Tribe tramples Rams, 55-19

FOOTBALL

College showcases endurance, focus in blowout home win MATTHEW KORTAN THE FLAT HAT

While last weekend’s quintuple-overtime victory over Elon could have been described as a nail-biter for William and Mary (4-6, 2-4 CAA), the triumph Saturday, Nov. 9, over Rhode Island (2-8, 0-6 CAA) felt more like a barbaric mauling of the entire hand. The Tribe outclassed the Rams on offense, defense and special teams on the way to a 55-19 win.

For the Rams, quarterback Darius Perrantes made his first start under center. After a three-and-out, Rhode Island punted. Meanwhile, the Tribe’s quarterback carousel continued to turn this week. On the College’s first offensive play, four of the five quarterbacks listed on the roster took the field. Junior passer Shon Mitchell misfired on a deep ball intended for freshman quarterback Hollis Mathis. Mathis failed to connect on a pass attempt of his own on third down and the drive ended on the next play with a punt.

Perrantes was replaced by quarterback Vito Priore on the next drive.

However, the new field general did little to rectify the shaky play of his predecessor. Priore didn’t complete a pass and again the Rams punted before picking up a first down. Thanks to a poor boot by Rams punter Davey Schaum-Bartocci, the Tribe reclaimed possession right around midfield. Freshman wide receiver Bronson Yoder picked up the first firstdown of the game with a 17-yard burst through the heart of the Rams defense. Two plays later, Mathis took a shot to the endzone, which fell incomplete. However, he was able to draw a flag for roughing the passer, which moved the Tribe into the red zone. On 2nd-and-1 from the Rams eight-yard line, Senior running back Albert Funderburke rumbled into the end zone. Senior kicker Kris Hooper tacked on the extra point to give the Tribe a seven-point edge.

The Rams offense lingered in its anemic state for most of the first quarter. They finally had an opportunity to break the trance after punt returner Ahmere Dorsey spliced the Tribe punt coverage for a 41-yard gain. On second down, senior defensive back and team captain Corey Parker appeared to intercept a Priore pass attempt. Upon further review, it was determined that Corey Parker dropped the ball. Prior to the ruling, he spun the ball on the ground in celebration of his would-be big play; the ensuing penalty moved the Rams 15 yards closer to the end zone. This was not the offensive stimulation the Rams needed. After pounding to the Tribe 13-yard line on consecutive carries, running back Naim Jones lost a

fumble. Tribe junior defensive back Colin Parker had the recovery. Mathis wasted little time deploying an air raid against the Rams. A 41-yard bomb to junior receiver Zach Burdick set up Mathis to finish the job with his legs. He scrambled his way to a 15-yard score a few plays later. The Tribe now held a two-touchdown lead.

Almost immediately after getting the ball back, the Rams offense coughed up another turnover; Priore was intercepted by senior safety Miles Hayes. The Tribe got the ball back at the Rams 39-yard line. Burdick produced his second big play of the first quarter when he burst around the edge for a 32-yard rushing touchdown on second down. The Tribe lead had grown to 21 points.

The start of the second quarter saw a third-straight Rams turnover. After a big game last week, junior linebacker Tyler Crist was at it again, violently

55

WILLIAM AND MARY TRIBE

19

RHODE ISLAND RAMS

stripping the ball away from Priore and subsequently falling on top of the rolling football at the Rams 25-yard line. Despite the advantageous field position, the Tribe offensive possession died after an unsuccessful fourthdown conversion attempt. Perrantes reentered the game with both Rams quarterbacks mightily struggling. Regardless of who was taking snaps, the Rams began to favor their rushing attack, led by Jones, with hopes of fixing the offense. They managed one first down before punting.

Freshman fullback Donavyn Lester and Mathis put their feet together for a methodical march into enemy territory. The campaign was derailed though, when Yoder lost a fumble at the Rams 23-yard line. A questionable pass interference call against Corey Parker would send the Rams into an unfamiliar environment: the Tribe side of the 50. At last, they capitalized on catching a break. Perrantes sailed a pass into the waiting hands of wideout Isaiah Coulter. Tribe senior nose tackle Bill Murray blocked the extra point to keep the score at 21-6.

Mathis found himself in danger of suffering a sack on the following

possession. He made a heads-up decision to shovel the ball forward to Lester before going down. Lester would do the rest. Fifty-eight yards later, he waltzed into the end zone after weaving between blockers all the way down the sideline. It wouldn’t be long before the Tribe were back in the end zone. Miles Hayes intercepted his second pass of the afternoon on the first Rams offensive snap of the series. With just 12 yards to go for six points, Yoder carried the ball on first down all the way for the score. The Tribe led 35-6 at halftime.

The Tribe corralled the kickoff to open the second half and picked up right where they left off. Sophomore runner Owen Wright exploded through a tear in the defense and never looked back on his way to a 59yard touchdown dash. The Tribe added to their lead out of the break: 42-6.

Perrantes shook the Rams awake when they got the ball back, linking up with Coulter again for a 61-yard touchdown. The extra-point team had not yet come up with a solution for Bill Murray, though; he blocked the extra point again. Murray has made a habit of blocking kicks over his career. His two in this game counted for the eighth and ninth of his career, including both extra points and field goals.

The third quarter subsided before the Tribe punched it in again. Mathis ran it in himself for the second time in the game, this one from just five yards out. The Rams rode the coattails of Dorsey’s gawky 63-yard catchand-run right into the hands of Coulter’s third receiving touchdown, the lone bright spot for the Rams in this clash. This time the throw was delivered by Priore from 14 yards away.

Murray did not block the extra point, nor did anybody else, but the Tribe remained on top 48-19. The Rams didn’t seem interested in shaking their perpetual sluggishness on defense for the final stretch of the game.

Lester found the end zone again before the fat lady sang, bringing the score to its final resting place of 55-19.

Senior linebacker Nate Atkins, the heartbeat of the Tribe locker room, commented on how his team felt on Saturday and how that contributed to the dominant performance.

“I think it was easy for us to rally … and extend that celebration into today,” Atkins said. “So, that’s what we did.”

Yoder, who now holds the College record for kick-return yards in a single season, overtaking the record of Jonathan Grimes ’12, agreed.

“We just rallied as one and came more together,” Yoder said.

The Tribe plays its final home game of the season Saturday, Nov. 16, when Towson comes to Williamsburg.

Actions

Speak

Louder

Words have value, especially when they’re used to make a promise. But the most important thing about a promise is the action you take afterward. At Dominion Energy, we believe in taking action – to deliver on our promise to help people, communities and the environment.

Solar Since 2015, we’ve increased our solar panels in Virginia to over 2.9 million. We now own the 4th largest utility solar portfolio in America.

Wind We’re developing the largest offshore wind project in the U.S., which will produce enough energy to power 650,000 homes by 2026.

Community We promised to help out neighbors in need with our EnergyShare® program, assisting individuals and their families with bill payment and energy saving upgrades. As of today, the program has helped more than 850,000 people.

Lower Prices And to help residential customers, we’ve kept our prices 9%* below the national average.

Turning promises into reality is what defines us. That’s why we’re proud to invest in what we believe in, and what’s important to you.

*Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, as of 9/24/2019