Vol. 110, Iss. 8 | Tuesday, October 13, 2020
The Flat Hat The Weekly Student Newspaper
Examining Highland’s legacy
College’s ownership of James Monroe’s Highland sparks community discourse ALEXANDRA BYRNE // FLAT HAT CHIEF STAFF WRITER CHARLES COLEMAN // FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR COURTESY PHOTO / WM.EDU
of The College of William and Mary
J
ames Monroe’s Highland, the former plantation where the country’s fifth president lived and enslaved as many as 250 individuals, has become the center of debate regarding the College of William and Mary’s history with slavery. Highland, categorized as a present-day historic site, is located in Albemarle, Va. and has been owned and operated by the College since 1974. After the murder of George Floyd in May and the growing national attention towards the Black Lives Matter Movement, students within the community began to reexamine the College’s relationship with racial injustice. As a result, questions were raised on how the College continues to uphold or disavow its racist past. The College’s support for Highland has now become a contentious debate about what role, if any, the College should play in running a historic plantation. The recent controversy surrounding Highland began when Salli Sanfo ’22 created a petition in May titled “W&M: Stop Bankrolling a Plantation, Especially with Student Funds.” The petition gained 949 supporters before it was closed. In the petition, Sanfo argued that Highland is a forprofit plantation that holds weddings, events and tours, and pointed out how Highland operates from the College’s budget. She claimed the plantation loses upwards of $400,000 a year while minimizing slavery and glorifying Monroe. Sanfo expressed her thoughts on the complexities behind the College owning Highland. She described the need for increased transparency with both the administration and the historic site. “I personally feel that Highland can be an asset to the school as a historical space, I just feel like students aren’t told that much about it — there’s not much transparency there,” Sanfo said. “I understood both sides of it. I get why people would want to keep it and protect it — that’s your prerogative. I just wanted to increase transparency between William and Mary and Highland and know exactly where all these funds are going. I don’t have any strong feelings towards anyone about it, honestly.” In response to the claims made in the petition, another group of students — Helena Boyd ’23, Olivia Gebreamlack ’23, John Ezzard ’23 and Alton Coston III ’23 — found the petition to be harmful. The group asserted that the petition did not show the full picture of Highland’s work in addressing its history and role in supporting institutions of slavery. Ever since, the group has been organizing via group chats and FaceTime calls. At the beginning of the summer, the students met with members of both Highland and the College’s administration to discuss how the College should proceed with the future of the site. Coston said that the group has met with Highland Executive Director Sara Bon-Harper and seeks to work with the Lemon Project in the future. The group has planned an Oct. 29 Lemon Project Porch Talk to discuss Highland. At one point, Sanfo was also involved in the group’s conversations. However, Sanfo decided to remove herself from the group’s work. “I believe we’re past the initial phases regarding what needs to be done regarding transparency of Highland to students — that’s a given,” Coston said. “Everyone understands that there needs to be more transparency to truly educate and inform students of Highland’s role regarding the enslavement of Black and Brown students. Now, we’re tackling the issue of transparency rather than just addressing that that is an issue. We’ve passed the initial phases of addressing what the issue was — we’re now tackling the problem by doing more communityoriented events such as the Porch Talk.” Highland was willed to the College, Monroe’s alma mater, in 1974 by philanthropist Jay Winston Johns. Known as Ash-Lawn Highland until 2016, the property is now a working farm and museum that includes a guest house, farmhouse and the quarters of the enslaved. Various archaeological projects have uncovered remains of a larger building that presumably housed the Monroes. Highland’s operations are supported in majority by the College, along with a number of private donors and forms of revenue, such as ticket sales and event hosting. According to Highland’s website, Monroe enslaved dozens of individuals at a time while simultaneously calling for the abolition of slavery. Bon-Harper described the goals of Highland as a historic site and explained how they are working to intertwine historic research and descendant engagement.
Flathatnews.com | Follow us:
“The way I see our meaning and our main purpose now is to combine three facets or areas of operation in a way that makes it a unique historic site,” Bon-Harper said. “One, of course, is that public teaching … We are pushing a bit on what the public is learning, we are working on an inclusive history that really looks as Highland as a property, in the threads of US history, and the people that go through Highland. One part is the academic piece, which involved research and William and Mary students, hopefully in an increasing number … for research on site in various kinds, not just historic … The third is the descendant engagement which kind of undergirds the practice of our operation. This means that descendants contribute to the histories that are told about Highland and how they’re told.” Highland is partially led by a council of descendant advisors, which is composed of 10 descendants of individuals who were enslaved by Monroe at Highland. The council is supported by a grant to the College from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. According to Highland’s website, the descendant advisory council is given “shared authority” on site reinterpretation. Currently, all members of the Highland executive staff are white. The council was formed to ensure that Highland’s practices and decisions were accounting for the voices and stories of the enslaved people who were forced to spend their lives at the plantation. The council offers advice, opinions and recommendations for how Highland can work to tell a complete story of all the people it was home to: the Monroes, the known enslaved peoples and any other stories they have yet to discover. Member of the Council of Descendants Jennifer Stacy spoke on her role with the council and what motivates her to participate in this group. Stacy described how she believes she can uplift the voices of the enslaved people, including her own ancestors who were at Highland. “History is told in a one-sided way in our country,” Stacy said. “I stay involved to help give a voice to the voiceless. The enslaved there had no voice, they had no hope of ever getting their story out or ever being recognized, they were pretty much invisible. This brings them to the forefront, and gives them a say.” A major point of contention between community members of the College has been on the appropriateness and implications of having private events such as weddings and celebrations take place at the historic site. Some students, including Sanfo, have raised concerns that these events ignore or distract from Highland’s status as a plantation that once was home to enslaved individuals. Many of these arguments have been seen within the widely used Facebook Group “Swampy Memes for Twampy Teens.” Sanfo spoke on the connotations of hosting events like these in former locations of slavery. “The weddings section of Highland rubbed me wrong,” Sanfo said. “I think we have to talk about how we romanticize history in this country.” College spokeswoman Suzanne Clavet said that Highland hosts events such as weddings to support itself financially. “It’s important to note that Highland contributes to its own operating cost through grants, endowments and revenue generated by the property as a museum and event site,” Clavet said. Boyd said that she has discussed with Bon-Harper the issue of balancing education and entertainment. “The visitor base for Highland tends to be an older, more conservative audience,” Boyd said. “They have to cater to them and still explain the full story and explain the anger and injustice and revolutionary ideas without angering them and making them not come back. She explained to us that it’s a difficult balance to strike. They don’t want to drive away their main audience, but they still want to educate them.” Bon-Harper described how she believes the use of the property for events is done respectfully, a belief she said is also shared by the descendant council. “The criticism of holding celebratory private events at historic sites in landscapes of slavery has gotten lots of attention lately, and I understand that criticism,” Bon-Harper said. “In consultation with our council of descendant advisors Highland has decided that it is appropriate for Highland to continue that practice. It’s a respectful practice, it’s not antebellum themed events happening in the historic structures, it’s See HIGHLAND page 8
ATHLETICS
College ensures varsity cuts do not constitute Title IX infractions Bailey Glasser LLP’s potential class action lawsuit elicits response from College, reveals plans of further athletic equity AIDAN WHITE FLAT HAT STAFF WRITER
The College of William and Mary has laid out a plan which they say will ensure that the decision to cut the women’s gymnastics, volleyball and swimming teams is in compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. However, they may still be facing a class action lawsuit on behalf of female athletes. Sept. 23, attorney Arthur Bryant sent College President Katherine Rowe a letter detailing the allegations concerning the College’s violation of the athletic regulations of Title IX. “I and my co-counsel have been retained by members of the women’s varsity gymnastics, volleyball, and swimming teams to prevent their teams’ elimination and, if necessary, pursue a class action lawsuit against William & Mary College for depriving women athletes and potential athletes of equal opportunities, athletic financial aid, and treatment in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972,” Bryant said in the letter. “Please respond to this letter as soon as possible and, in any event, no later than next Wednesday, September 30, 2020.” Bryant said that the College responded to his letter around 5 p.m. Sept. 30. In this letter, which was obtained by The Flat Hat through the Freedom of Information Act, University Counsel Carrie S. Nee claimed that the controversial decision to discontinue seven
INDEX News Insights Opinions Variety Sports News
varsity sports teams was partially motivated by Title IX concerns. “The decision to reduce sports offerings was necessitated in part by a recognized need to ensure that the overall athletic opportunities offered to men and women are substantially proportionate,” Nee said in the letter addressed to Bryant. “As you noted, the reduction of sports alone will not accomplish the goal of Title IX compliance.” Nee also told Bryant in the letter that the College plans to move closer to Title IX equity by adding eight athletes to the women’s lacrosse team and 11 athletes to both the indoor and outdoor track teams, as well as pursuing more moderate expansions of the women’s basketball, field hockey and golf teams. Additionally, Nee said that the College plans to make reductions to the size of men’s athletic programs, but she only specifically mentioned football. Included in Nee’s letter was a spreadsheet detailing the College’s projected 2021-22 athletic participation broken down by sex. According to this spreadsheet, the College expects athletic participation to be 56.81 percent female and 43.19 percent male by the 2021-22 season. The College’s undergraduate enrollment for the 2019-20 academic year was 58.07 percent female and 41.93 percent male, so Nee said in the letter that the projected athletic participation numbers are “substantially proportionate” to enrollment numbers, as legally required by Title IX. “Although preliminary data indicate that there will be no significant movement in the enrollment rate for the 2020-21
Inside Opinions 2 3-4 5-6 7 8
year, William & Mary is prepared to make further participation adjustments if needed to achieve Title IX compliance,” Nee said in the letter. In addition to the Sept. 30 letter, Nee met with Bryant and Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student Services Tiffany Christian Oct. 7 to discuss the Title IX implications of the team athletics cuts. Bryant said in a phone interview that it was a productive meeting but that he is planning to collect more information before deciding if he needs to sue. “We have to do our due diligence and make sure what the facts are before we can decide for sure whether to sue or not,” Bryant said. “So, all we’re doing right now is finding out the facts to determine for sure whether we believe William & Mary is in compliance, as it’s telling us.” Bryant also emphasized that he hopes this matter can be resolved without litigation, but that his decision on whether to sue will be largely dependent on the school reinstating the women’s gymnastics, volleyball and swimming teams. “To be clear, we are going to try to resolve this out of court, because we are asking the school to reinstate the three women’s teams,” Bryant said. “But if it doesn’t, we are still thinking we’re going to have to go to court.” Bryant said that he is expecting to reach a decision on litigation early this week.
Inside Variety
VP debate surpasses low standard of presidential debate Elaine Godwin ’22 praises the recent Vice Presidential debate as a modest step forward for decorum on the campaign trail. page 4
Inside Sports
TikTok on the Clock
Students at the College navigate TikTok notoriety and their experiences with the platform’s content personalisation algorithms. page 5
Martin named Interim AD after Huge resigns
Oct. 6, College President Katherine Rowe announced that Athletics Director Samantha Huge had resigned effective immediately. Rowe’s chief of staff Jeremy Martin will serve as the Interim Athletic Director for the foreseeable future. page 7