Vol. 108, Iss. 18 | Tuesday, November 6, 2018
The Flat Hat The Weekly Student Newspaper of
The College of William and Mary
NEWS ANALYSIS
TIMELINE
Virginians to vote on two ballot measures
August 21 William and Mary Students United joined other activists in Richmond, Virginia to participate in the national prison strike. This strike responded to demands made by incarcerated activists.
Proposed amendments would provide tax breaks WILLIAM ALLEN FLAT HAT CHIEF STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, Nov. 6, voters in Virginia will be deciding on more than just Congressional candidates on Election Day. They will also be asked to consider two ballot measures proposing amendments to the Virginia Constitution. These ballot measures would need to be passed by a simple majority of Virginia voters before the Constitution can be amended. The two measures would both amend Article X of the Virginia State Constitution dealing with taxation and finance. Both would allow localities to provide tax exemptions which are not within the normal scope of their delegated powers. “Virginia is a Dillon Rule state, which is kind of a wonky term, but essentially that just means that the Virginia Legislature, the state Legislature, holds all the authority, and the only powers that localities hold are those that the Legislature delegates to them,” President of Virginia21 William Parada ’19 said. Unlike other states, Virginia has a lengthy process for the passing of constitutional amendments. Proposed amendments end up on the ballot via the state Legislature as legislatively referred constitutional amendments. “The way in which amendments are adopted to the Constitution typically will be that two sessions of the general assembly have to approve putting the item on the ballot, and they have to do it in a way in which the two approvals are separated by a general election,” government professor John McGlennon said. “We are in the first year of a new legislative session, so that means that these two amendments had been approved by the previous House of Delegates. We had an election last November and now that House of Delegates and Senate have approved the amendment once again.” Due to the fact that the Legislature is not allowed to advocate for the passage of these amendments and both have See BALLOT MEASURES page 4
DRIVER HITS STUDENT ON JAMESTOWN ROAD According to Williamsburg Police Department Major Greg Riley, James Whitehead of Williamsburg was charged with failing to yield the right of way after he hit a student with his car on Jamestown Road at around 6:05 p.m. Monday, Nov. 5. Riley said that the pedestrian was transported to the emergency room in Riverside Doctor’s Hospital as a precautionary measure. Sen. Anthony Joseph ’21 said that as he was walking to Campus Center, he saw a Prius hit the pedestrian while they were crossing the sidewalk and saw the victim fall about five feet away from him. According to Joseph, the victim, who is a student at the College of William and Mary, was conscious and responsive after the accident. “[The pedestrian] was well within the crosswalk,” Joseph said. “My friend and I were about 10 seconds from being in the crosswalk. That could have been one of us.” — Flat Hat News Editor Leonor Grave ‘19
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September 4 Students United hosts an information session in the Sir Christopher Wren Building Yard. Students United had not reserved this space and were asked to leave by administrators.
September 18 COURTESY PHOTOS / W&M STUDENTS UNITED
[Hunger] striking against VCE Student withdraws from College as faculty members call to question outcomes of the student conduct process SARAH SMITH // FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Tuesday, Oct. 30, a student who goes by Aditi left the College of William and Mary. Aditi, formerly a member of the class of 2020, chose to withdraw from the College mid-semester after they were placed on disciplinary probation. Saturday, Nov. 3, Aditi left the United States, headed to their mother’s home in India. Aditi asked that their last name be withheld from publication. “Leading up to my withdrawal, I thought about what education means. I talked a lot about languages, the white academy, the university,” Aditi said. “... William and Mary, the way it is, is part of the oppressive structures. Partaking in this institution perpetuates the things we’re trying to fight.” Aditi is one of five students associated with William and Mary Students United who went through the student conduct process this semester. After being summoned to the Dean of Students Office for failing to comply with orders given by Student Leadership Director Anne Arseneau ’89 M.Ed. ’92 at a Sept. 4 interest meeting, Aditi went through a committee hearing and was then placed on disciplinary probation for the fall 2018 and spring 2019 semesters. Only one of the other four students, Maura Finn ’20, was placed on disciplinary probation for the remainder of the fall 2018 semester. A few days before Aditi made the decision to withdraw, they were engaged in their second hunger strike of this semester in order to draw attention to the issue of prison labor. Responses to their hunger strike as well as the results of their conduct process contributed to Aditi’s decision to withdraw. Origins of Students United Students United — which is not a recognized student organization at the College — can be loosely described as a campus chapter of the broader Virginia Student Power Network, which is an organization that gives smaller campus organizations the resources needed to mobilize networks of students. George Mason University and the University of Virginia each have their own chapters of this parent organization. According to Dalton Jared ’20, another student involved with the organization, Students United serves to fill a void that students like himself felt had been created by the dissolution of the College’s chapter of Black Lives Matter. A number of students who organized with Black Lives Matter and students who helped organize the fall 2017 protest at an AMP-sponsored American Civil Liberties Union event merged to create Students United and changed the College’s Black Lives Matter page on Facebook to “Concerned Students at William and Mary” and then to “W&M Students United.” VSPN first formed an affiliation with students at the College after Students United began organizing. “A few people involved with the ACLU event, they either graduated or left [the College],” Aditi said. “There did seem [to be] like a void … clearly there was a lot to be changed, and it doesn’t have to be that complicated.” Over the last several months, Aditi, Finn, Jared and others have organized events under the name Students United. For many, an event this summer created the impetus that rallied support for Students United. Issues at hand This rallying event was a national prison strike held Aug.
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21. The strike called for the improvement of conditions inside prisons, for all prisoners to be paid their state’s minimum wage for labor they provide while imprisoned, the reinstatement of voting rights of prisoners and those formerly imprisoned and for the end of criminal justice policies and practices that target people of color. Students and alumni — many of whom are now associated with Students United — traveled to Richmond to participate in the national event. Since then, Students United has mainly organized around the issue of divestment from prison labor, particularly the statewide contract that requires public institutions in Virginia, such as the College, to purchase furniture from Virginia Correctional Enterprises. Prisoners who produce this furniture make less than $2 per hour. Over the past semester, Students United has identified their broad goals as raising awareness about and politicizing this issue. More narrowly, Students United wants to see the College end its relationship with VCE and have College President Katherine Rowe identify the contract with VCE as a form of modern slavery in a campus-wide message. “We do feel hopeful. By pushing William and Mary to acknowledge that, we can cause other universities to do the same,” Jared said. While other groups, such as the College’s chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, are mobilizing around the issue of prison labor, Students United distinguishes itself as a loose organization that welcomes those involved to engage in any form of protest. This past semester, that has included student-hosted open mic nights, marches, hunger strikes and small group discussions. Jared referred to this strategy as a “diversity of tactics,” meant to ensure that Students United is approaching the issue from as many angles as possible. Student activism and administrative response The Sept. 4 event in which students gathered in the Sir Christopher Wren Courtyard to protest was advertised as an interest meeting for students who wanted to get involved with Students United. Students United distributed flyers during Convocation and planned for the meeting to be held in the Wren Yard. Students United was contacted by Arseneau over Facebook in the days leading up to the event. Arseneau informed them that only recognized student organizations could reserve the space in the Wren Yard and asked them to either find a recognized sponsor or consider relocating the event to a space designed for spontaneous expressive events. The spontaneous expressive activities policy is part of the broader Use of Campus Facilities Policy which was last revised Oct. 15, 2013. For an event to be considered a permitted spontaneous expressive activity — phrasing Arseneau said was used to avoid the phrasing of “free speech zones” — it must either be held at a designated spontaneous activity location or at another location when advanced scheduling is not practical, if designated locations are in use, if the spontaneous activity is too large for a See STUDENTS UNITED page 3
Students United attended their first Student Assembly senate meeting to ask for support, potentially in the form of a resolution. They later attended a second meeting.
September 19 Aditi began the first of their hunger strikes on the Sadler Terrace. They remained there for 54 hours, during which they read poetry from incarcerated activists.
September 26 Four students associated with Students United had their information sessions for the student conduct process. Finn had already received her summons.
September 30 Students United hosted a march with SEAC. One alum was detained and later barred from campus for writing “Slave Owner” on the James Monroe statue.
October 18 Aditi began their second hunger strike, intending for it to last 14 days. They ended it Oct. 23, the same day they chose to withdraw from the College.
November 3 Aditi left the City of Williamsburg and the College. Students United is also working to brainstorm new ways to encourage students to radically organize.
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