The Flat Hat September 15 2020

Vol. 110, Iss. 6 | Tuesday, September 15, 2020

The Flat Hat The Weekly Student Newspaper

of The College of William and Mary

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GRAPHICS BY CHARLES COLEMAN / THE FLAT HAT

International students adapt to long-distance learning, COVID-19 restrictions

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The US was doing terribly with its response and I was sure that they would have to shut down mid semester ... I didn’t want to take the stress or risk of all traveling, and possibly being stranded there.

— Maheen Khan ‘22

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Having lived in Beijing for more than 18 years, Jiayi Wu ’22 is now studying at Beijing Normal University as a College of William and Mary student. Wu is not the only Chinese student who is currently studying in Beijing, as the College is working with several study abroad programs to help Chinese students remain in China for the fall 2020 semester in response to the various travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States and the resulting subsequent travel restrictions led many international students to opt to return home last spring and remain in their home countries through the fall semester. In addition to Wu, Yuqiao Li ’22 from China, Suyoung Kim ’22 from South Korea and Maheen Khan ‘22 from Pakistan decided to stay in their countries as a result of the pandemic.

“I went to my country around March when the school told all the students to head back home,” Kim said in an email. “On my way, I met up with so many high school friends from the airport. I saw people wearing level d suits (wearing goggles, white jump suits, masks) but I enjoyed three cups of benne & jerry chocolate chip cookie dough ice-cream. I was just too stressed out at the moment.”

Some students like Khan and Li experienced greater difficulty returning home.

“When we got to the airport the airline said that Pakistan had shut its airways, so they weren’t going to be operating the

FREDA DENG // THE FLAT HAT connecting flight,” Khan said in an email. “Then we had shown them all our documents saying that the airway was open, and they had to confirm with lots of people and it turned out that they were actually going to be operating the flight and it was a misunderstanding. After which they let us on, but it was extremely stressful.”

In order to return to China, Li had at least four stops before her arrival in Shanghai. She also transferred planes in three different countries before arriving at her final destination.

Both uncertainty about the future and the worsening situation of the pandemic drove the students’ decisions to leave the United States.

“I knew that COVID-19 can be spread through asymptomatic patients and this feature will endanger so many people in the states in the near future,” Kim said.

Khan was concerned that the College would be forced to close again in the fall due to rising COIVID-19 cases.

“I made the decision because of the volatility of the situation back then,” Khan said. “The US was doing terribly with its response and I was sure that they would have to shut down mid semester. Therefore, I didn’t want to take the stress or risk of all the traveling and possibly being stranded there, in addition to See INTERNATIONAL page 8

CAMPUS

College sustainability group improves campus composting options

Student Assembly creates environmentally conscious legislation, anticipates increased food waste ALEXANDRA BYRNE FLAT HAT CHIEF STAFF WRITER

In an attempt to reduce the spread of COVID-19, dining halls at the College of William and Mary have increased options for take-out and prepackaged food for the fall 2020 semester.

While reusable dinnerware is still available, take-out containers and plastic cups have become the go-to option for many students who are concerned about cleanliness. While disposable containers may be more sanitary, they also create more waste.

Last month, the College’s 328th Student Assembly passed a bill that allocates funding for six new composting bins in various locations around campus. Sen. Patrick Salsburg ’21, who introduced the bill, hopes that it will help mitigate the effects of increased food waste on campus.

“This bill is really important due to the minimal amount of composting already in existence on campus and the large increase in take out options recently from dining halls that has led to an overwhelming amount of waste being produced on a daily basis,” Salsburg said in an email. “Since many students care deeply about the environment and their impact on it, these new

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compost bins will enable students to more easily access ways to compost because composting will hopefully no longer be an afterthought.”

In addition to already existing bins behind the Sadler Center and DuPont Hall, the new compost bins will be located by Commons and Marketplace Dining Halls, Green and Gold Village, the Integrated Science Center, Sorority Court, St. George Tucker Hall and the Sadler Terrace.

SA Secretary of Sustainability John Cho ’23 underscored the importance of maintaining sustainability efforts, even during the pandemic.

“This initiative was made possible through students advocating for a greater need to access of composting due to an increase of “grab and go” services in our dining halls,” Cho said in an email. “W&M is lucky to have such a dedicated community of students passionate about promoting sustainability that help affect change. I believe that different initiatives, like sustainability, tend to get lost in the pandemic.”

Dining sustainability intern Dorian Miller ’22 emphasized that W&M Dining is committed to sustainability by using compostable materials for their take-out boxes. Some materials that appear to be plastic, such as the cups found at

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Marketplace and Commons, are actually made of vegetable starches and are fully compostable.

An “EcoWare” or “Greenware” label indicates that a material is indeed compostable.

“Having more bins around campus will make it much easier for students to compost all around campus,” Miller said in an email. “Up until now, we have had only two compost bins: one outside Sadler and one behind DuPont Hall. With these new bins, students will be able to compost almost anywhere on campus, which is especially important now with the compostable supplies being used for take-out dining across campus.”

Before the new composting bins, Dining Sustainability Fellow Sam Laveson ’20 said that students would have to walk far in order to compost their items, which resulted in many students throwing compostable items in the trash due to the inconvenience. The dining sustainability team hopes that new compost bins will encourage students to compost what they can, to reduce trash and recycling overflow and costs.

In addition to creating awareness, the dining sustainability team has faced other challenges, including contamination and overflowing bins.

“Contamination in this context is when noncompostable items are placed into compost bins,” Laveson said in an email. “Generally, the only things that should go into compost bins are food (any type of food and food scraps are compostable here, since the items are processed industrially); paper products (such as napkins, paper bags, and pizza boxes); and anything that says “compostable” or “greenware” on it (such as several varieties of cups and utensils in the dining halls). Contamination has been and onand-off issue in nearly all of our compost bins. To avoid this, we will be putting stickers on top of all current and future public compost bins, saying what can and/or cannot go into them. That way, students and community members will see the signage every time before they open the bins.”

In the past, the compost bin behind DuPont has filled up faster than the dining sustainability interns can handle. This year, Laveson is serving as the first full-time dining sustainability employee and is helping to develop a concrete pick-up and transportation plan to meet the growing composting demand.

Laveson explained how the sustainability

Inside Sports

Inside Variety

College negligence to cancel classes on Election Day infriges rights to democracy

Aidan White ’23 says that holding classes on Election Day undermines students’ ability to easily vote in person. page 4

See COMPOST page 8

Sharps and Flats

Variety Editors Gavin Aquin ’22 and Matthew Kortan ’22 revive the Sharps and Flats music column to spice up playlists with both alternative and international music. page 6

Athletic enthusiasm takes a hit

Strengthened support for athletics, seen from basketball teams and Tribe swimming achieving great success, sees decline in wake of COVID-19 and the cancellation of many Tribe Sports. page 7

The Flat Hat

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News Editor Charles Coleman News Editor Lulu Dawes News Editor Carmen Honker fhnews@gmail.com | Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020 | Page 2

THE BUZZ

W&M is lucky to have such a dedicated community of students passionate about promoting sustainability that help affect change. I believe that different initiatives, like sustainability, tend to get lost in the pandemic.”

— Student Assembly Secretary of Sustainability John Cho ’23

FLAT HAT POLITICAL BRIEF Potential college closure threatens students’ votes With the 2020 United States general presidential election only 50 days away, it is important to check your voter registration, confirm details regarding how you are voting and stay informed about the two candidates’ platforms by tuning into the official Presidential and Vice-Presidential Debates.

A common concern among the students is how they will be able to access their ballot if students are sent home prematurely this semester. The school currently has thorough measures put in place to ensure that students are able to stay on campus, but if sent home, this will certainly be an issue that the administration will have to address. Potential solutions include allowing students to return to campus in different increments to retrieve their ballots, but this will not be feasible for many students without transportation or those who live out of state. Make sure to request your ballot as soon as possible to ensure that your vote is counted.

To stay up to date with each candidate’s stances on pressing issues, tune into the first Presidential Debate Tuesday, Sept, 29 at 9 p.m. and the Vice Presidential Debate Wednesday, Oct. 10 at 9 p.m. The remaining two presidential debates will occur Thursday, Oct. 15 and Oct. 22. Stay tuned for updates on how to stream the debates and look for analyses of each debate in the paper the following week.

BRIEF BY MAGGIE MANSON / FLAT HAT POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

COURTESY PHOTO / ANTHONY JOSEPH

Elected last semester, Joseph hopes to utilize the current momentum to legislate reforms regarding racial inequality and confront the College’s racial history.

Coordinating policy, advancement

SA President addresses academic diversity, encourages student flexibility this fall

A THOUSAND WORDS

CHARLES COLEMAN // FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR

CARMEN HONKER / THE FLAT HAT

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.

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Leading the College of William and Mary’s student body during one of the most significant years in history, Student Assembly President Anthony Joseph ’21 is emphasizing positivity and understanding to combat present difficulties. Despite facing unprecedented circumstances, Joseph is working to improve the quality of student life for the College and make the most of his hectic senior year.

Coming from a small farming town in New Jersey, Joseph matriculated at the College in 2017. Now in his final year, Joseph is on his way to receive degrees in both government and global studies, as he works to represent and lead the student body.

Joseph’s tenure as president marks unseen historical and social landscapes, requiring continuous response from him and the rest of SA. Joseph and SA have found themselves not only navigating the new school year during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also navigating discussions of racism and how to address it at both the College and national level.

Joseph described how despite the great difficulties, there is a new opportunity to speak on and fight against racism at the College. Joseph emphasized the importance of using this momentum to create legitimate change for racial equality.

“Fortunately and unfortunately, a lot of things Kyle and I were passionate about when we were running — diversity, inclusion was big, mental health, public safety, public affairs and transparency — those were things that were very high on our radar, that we really wanted to accomplish, and because of the pandemic and a new sense of racial reckoning within this country, it expedited a lot of those conversations,” Joseph said. “It brought a lot of those things to the foreground in ways that were like ‘okay now is the moment.’ There’s a movement we need to catch this wave, we need to be a part of this wave and we need to keep riding it…

We have the opportunities and ears to be able to get something done.”

With this new mentality, Joseph and his cabinet are focusing on improving academic diversity throughout the College and promoting the healing of the College’s past with racial injustice, discrimination and segregation with its Black community members.

In order to continue positive progress, Joseph spoke on how to keep momentum for the Black Lives Matter movement and the fight against racism strong.

Joseph explained that the importance of continuing conversations on where racism lies in our communities and how to dismantle it is imperative for creating lasting change.

“We need to not lose steam; it

was very much the talk of the summer … it would help everybody if we keep those conversations alive,” Joseph said. “If we keep that excitement, that energy to change it, the time is now to keep doing those things. One thing that the three of us — Kyle, Loni and I — have discussed, and me being a Black man, I fear is when the national dialogue turns somewhere else, and we stop paying attentions to these things. It’s happened before. We pivot it.

It loses its moment, but this needs to not be a moment. It needs to be a movement.

The way to do that is for young people like us to continuously talk about it.”

Along with great conversations around reckoning with racial justice, COVID-19 has greatly impacted the lives of individuals across the country. At the College, students are faced with balancing condensed class schedules, and strict COVID-19 policies. As the school year progresses, the administration has enforced new regulations hoping to maintain the safety of the College’s community.

Joseph spoke on the importance of following COVID-19 safety guidelines.

“We need to hold each other accountable,” Joseph said. “… We have to accept responsibility for how we engage with our actions because this virus has a voice of its own, and there’s a way to silence it. There’s a way for us not allow it to come up, but if we do the things that we’re not supposed to do … this could end

very badly for all of us.”

Throughout the restructuring of the 2020-21 school year and the push for greater accountability for diversity and antiracism mechanisms, the administration has received great backlash for their responses to student voices. Joseph spoke on the importance of students voicing their concerns to the College’s decisionmaking groups, and the valid frustrations the student body has had.

“I get it,” Joseph said. “I get the bashing.

I can’t tell you how many times Kyle, Lonnie, and I have been disappointed by what’s happened … We need the admin to be more clear, we need them to be more transparent, because we are the ultimate stakeholders in this process. Yes, this is a grand experiment for everybody, this is unchartered territory… if we’re uncharting new territory together, we need to be involved in at least the frame work of the decision making process — how we got there — explained to us explicitly, so we can feel comfortable with it.”

Outside of leading the student body as SA president, Joseph enjoys spending his time hiking, fishing, biking and playing “Call of Duty.” After a long six months of quarantine Joseph is hoping to get his groove back in the new academic year.

After graduation Joseph hopes to spend his career modifying and implementing government legislation in order to create equality for Black and Brown individuals in the United States.

While he is unsure of exactly what job that will be, his postgraduate plans include law school, and he is passionate about dismantling racial injustice built into the US legislative system.

“Essentially, what I want to do, is I just really want to help Black and Brown communities,” Joseph said. “Whatever it is that I do, whether it’s actually working in politics, working for someone on the Hill, or in the legal setting, I want to be able to help transform the law so it tailors more to everybody and not just specific people.”

Joseph is encouraging students to stay positive and flexible within the coming months. Although he understands this semester has brought new challenges, Joseph believes the College’s community is able successfully get through it.

“Just give it all a chance, just give this whole thing a chance,” Joseph said. “I know it’s hard. I don’t feel easy about it all the time, in fact seldom do I do, but I have to remember that if there’s any people that’d I’d be wanting to go through this pandemic with, it’s y’all. I know who we are as William and Mary students, the center of our core, who we are as people, I have confidence we’re going COURTESY PHOTO / ANTHONY JOSEPH to get through this together.”

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| Tuesday, September 15, 2020 | Page 3

GUEST COLUMN

GUEST COLUMN

Solitude, health concerns in freshman dorms pose serious COVID-19 risks

Absentee voting complicates election year for College students Grace Engelhart FLAT HAT GUEST WRITER

Carina Pacheco FLAT HAT GUEST WRITER

The freshman dorms here at the College of William and Mary are, objectively, not great. Running jokes about cockroaches, lack of air conditioning, ant infestations, the “freshman plague” and suffocating humidity are rampant on campus and are a common point of conversation between new students. Older students bond with their younger peers about shared experiences in their dorms, often exchanging hall bathroom horror stories that entail anything from manylegged creatures — or no-legged, like the snake in Green and Gold Village last semester — to strange stains in the stalls.

A true alluring trait of the College is its old, quaint nature and rich history. These underclassmen dorms, while old, are not so quaint. Illness, insects, small spaces and the like should not be cute, fun or quirky “character-building” or “bonding” experiences — especially now.

As a student who lived in the distant Botetourt complex, and as one who also fell victim to the so-called “freshman plague” herself, I can say that my experience would have been exponentially worse if I was in the position of the current first year students. Coming to college is nerve wracking, isolating and stressful enough, but now students must cohere to social distancing guidelines: they eat dining hall takeout in their rooms and are navigating the challenges that COVID-19 brings — and they do all these things relatively alone. I was lucky: my roommate and I had a great relationship, and I never felt like I couldn’t be in my room.

Regardless, I found that being out of my room was essential for my mental health. It was incurably dusty, humid, moldysmelling and cramped, with no air conditioning, one small window and cinder block walls.

Illness, insects, small spaces and the like should not be cute, fun or quirky “characterbuilding” or “bonding experiences — especially now.

I have genuine concerns for first year students’ mental health. Being in a space where one feels safe, clean and comfortable is essential, and especially in the midst of a pandemic where the safest place should be one’s own dorm room. These students are bound to experience growing pains as newcomers to campus – even under normal circumstances – but now feelings of isolation are escalated by inconvenience, restlessness and a lack of comfort.

I moved into the newly renovated One Tribe Place last weekend, and I cannot fully express the difference I feel. My room is spacious, comfortable and has remarkable natural lighting. I am only about half a mile from my old dorm, but I am worlds away from the negative sentiments I held towards on-campus housing just last semester. There is a serious problem with the inequity of housing quality at the College, and I am truly worried about how this will affect first year students. They should live in spaces that are comforting, welcoming and not infested with insects. With the size of such a large project, this problem must be addressed promptly, as a solution cannot reasonably be implemented or developed for a considerable amount of time.

One’s personal environment is such an integral part of mental health, and if the College cares about their students, they will take this plight seriously. Students should not feel the need to exaggerate their health needs for fear that their basic ones will not be met. Students should love where they live, like I do now, and be truly comfortable in their space, especially during COVID-19. One’s dorm should be a safe space, not a space they resent and dread. We can and must do better for our first-year students.

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

For many, if not all of us, 2020 has been a chaotic year that has, at the very least, uprooted our daily habits, and at worst, driven our lives into material and philosophical uncertainty. It constantly feels like we are hanging on until the next crazy, almost unfathomable event strings us along into the next month. For me, the upcoming November election feels like another catastrophe just lying in wait.

Only this time, we know it’s coming.

So much has happened in 2020 I find it hard to even remember, let alone emotionally prepare for, the presidential election our country has been strongly anticipating for the last four years. It’s like riding in a car on a foggy night and peering through the haze thinking you’re finally almost home, only to see a cliff.

Not only is the November election momentous for our entire country, but at the personal level, it is the first election in which I am eligible to vote. And if that is not complicated and nerve-wracking enough, I am also an outof-state student, meaning I have the choice of whether to vote in Virginia or my home state of Indiana.

In a normal election, more or less meaning the entire state of our country and national identity were not at stake, my decision would be straightforward: I would vote in Indiana, adding to the ever-growing blue population in a red sea, keeping in mind 2008 when Indiana’s electoral college votes went to Obama. My district, especially, is well on its way to becoming a battleground district. However, Virginia is an infamous battleground state and Williamsburg more specifically is a purple mixture of left-leaning students and right-leaning retirees. So, the question for me comes down to which purple city needs my vote the most.

Current events also bring into questions the factor of absentee voting. When considering the current atmosphere around the USPS, I am inclined to vote here in Williamsburg where I can vote in person, avoiding any uncertainty about my vote being counted. However, when considering the current atmosphere around coronavirus on college campuses, I come to an equally weary conundrum: how likely is it that the College of William and Mary makes it to November with classes remaining in-person? What if I choose to vote in Williamsburg only for students to be sent home and I am forced back into voting absentee? When looking at

other universities across the country like the University of Alabama and University of Notre Dame, the prospect of an in-person semester looks bleak but unable to fully predict. Sometimes it feels like all these factors coalesce into a labyrinth of smoke and mirrors too intricate and unpredictable rendering any attempted navigation futile.

Being an international relations major and a selfproclaimed political nerd, I pride myself in being an educated voter; I know who is on the ballot and what their platforms are, and I consider a candidate based on qualifications rather than party loyalty.

Though, in terms of the presidential election, very little thought will go into who I vote for. My vote has been decided since I was a sophomore in high school, witnessing the absolute chaos of 2016.

On a serious note, I consider it a part of my civic duty to be educated on the topics I vote on and raise my voice about. I care deeply about my country and its future and hope that this regard permeates through my vote, no matter where I choose to cast it.

Email Grace Engelhart at gmengelhart@email.wm.edu.

GRAPHIC BY HABLO TYLER AND HEADSHOT BY KAYLA PAYNE / THE FLAT HAT

STAFF COLUMN

Seniors must consider younger students

Ethan Brown

FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Every upperclassman at the College of William and Mary, I want you to listen to me very closely, or at least as closely as you can from six feet away. Repeat after me: despite your complaints, despite your Instagram stories and despite your objections, things are likely easier for you in Williamsburg than they are for the College freshmen.

Even more so, your unwillingness to confront that reality is causing direct harm for your fellow students.

Let me start off by saying that I’m a senior, and I know how difficult this situation is for us. Like you, I also wanted nothing more than to spend my last year in Williamsburg going to bars, brunching every Sunday and hanging out in large gatherings without hazes of existential dread clouding out any meaningful attempt at interaction.

Standing on the precipice of the ‘real world’ facing vast individual and societal uncertainty is exhausting and scary.

I pride myself on being somewhat competent and put-together, but I’ve had

my fair share of exasperated moments this September, plagued by endless streams of doubt regarding what comes next. What if the job market doesn’t recover by May? What if my graduate school applications fall flat? What if the spring semester passes by and I never see those of my friends completing classes remotely again?

So, I completely understand how precarious things are for the class of 2021 right now. I sympathize with the frustration of being roped into the College’s COVID-19 response plan like guinea pigs, when all I want is to successfully receive my diploma and move on with my life. But something I cannot and will not sympathize with is the blatant disrespect that I’ve seen a small portion of seniors exercise by living life as normal, which is going to have dire consequences for our younger peers on campus.

I’ve heard too many stories about seniors going to large social functions with more than 20 people, disregarding the College’s policies and abandoning any modicum of common sense. Even worse, some post about it on social media, which shows that they’re more devoted to validating their insecurities than preventing College professors, students and staff from falling fatally ill.

It’s already problematic that people are so flagrantly disobeying public health guidelines, but especially so when you place it in the context of our broader campus community. Whenever seniors and upperclassmen break rules, they

may be directly shortening the amount of time that freshmen, transfers and other new students are able to spend in Williamsburg, which the College administration is more than happy to remind us of through undeserved intimidating emails and text messages.

I don’t want to prove these emails right, because I similarly abhor the decision to bring us back for in-person classes.

Any selfishness on behalf of older students is adversely affecting freshmen as they desperately try to forge new relationships during their potentially fleeting time here this semester.

As seniors, we have the privilege of well-established friendships, networks and affiliations in Williamsburg. We have people to see for socially-distant picnics and drinks, and many of us are fortunate to have roots firmly planted in multiple campus clubs and organizations. Without a doubt, things are uncomfortable now, but for new students with no ground beneath their feet, COVID-19 has made college life exceedingly challenging and aimless.

If we are to claim any semblance of decency, we owe new students the chance to make the College their own during these impossible months. Any upperclassman refusing to do so is actively harming the community we all swore to care about so many years ago — and I sincerely hope they reckon with that unfortunate truth while navigating their final months here.

Email Ethan Brown at ewbrown@email.wm.edu.

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

STAFF COLUMN

Dining changes for COVID-19 create monotony on us checking the capacity of dining halls every time we plan to go so that we can make sure it’s not too crowded. I haven’t actually seen the dining staff turn students away yet, and I’m not sure if they even plan to do so, or just make students wait in order to enter. In fact, I went to the Sadler Center last night, and despite arrows on the floor indicating where to walk and stand, it was a little bit of a mad house. While I understand trying to keep the amount of people in the dining halls low, I don’t exactly understand how we are supposed to make this happen, and it does not seem as though the school’s attempts to keep crowding low are going particularly well. I go to lunch between breaks in my classes; I don’t choose when I go willy nilly. In addition, the dining halls are closed at certain times for cleaning, so we can’t push our meal schedules back too far or risk finding FLAT HAT OPINIONS EDITOR a locked door. I really hope that the College is not solely depending on students — who made their schedules pre-COVID-19 regulations, to be Here I am, writing yet another article about dining services here at the clear — to keep the crowds at bay.

College of William and Mary. This time, it’s the COVID-19 edition.

I know what you’re all thinking: why don’t you just go to the dining Prior to even coming to campus this year, my greatest concern was halls less? To answer your question, I definitely am. I tried to pack a lot of about the dangers of a dining hall during a pandemic. Surely, students food that I can easily prepare within my dorm, such as oatmeal, ramen, would no longer be able to serve themselves, eat in such a confined space mac and cheese and granola bars. However, I can’t live on those things as or even drop by the dining hall casually, whenever they wanted. Dining nutrition, and I also have no desire to do so. You can only use a microwave halls can be chaotic, and chaos does not mix well with viruses. Making the a certain amount of times a day before you have to reassess your life. appropriate changes during such an inconsistent time was undoubtedly As a student who lives on campus, I am required to have a meal a challenge for the College, and I do think they succeeded in a lot of ways. plan, and thus, I use it often. I definitely appreciate the precautions that However, I also think the College forgot along the way that if students live the College is taking to protect students, and of course, some of these on campus, their main source of food is changes are beneficial. I am excited from the dining halls, and if we remain about the ease of take-out at all for the entire semester, students will be dining halls, as opposed to just eating this food for months.

Marketplace. I used to leave with The first thing that I noticed was food all of the time, whether that the lack of variety among the food. was a sandwich that I packed Marketplace used to be known for in a Tupperware container its Simply to Go section, made up of inconspicuously, or fries that I prepackaged foods such as sandwiches, shoved into a coffee cup on my yogurt, fruit, etc. Now, all dining halls — way out. It’s nice to actually have as well as the Tribe Truck, which used containers that properly hold the to offer special meals each week — offer food that I want to eat. I am also this selection, which, while convenient, intrigued by the new section of means the dining halls are serving a lot Sadler: Sadler Express. Besides of the same food as each other every GRAPHIC BY DAVID SOLINSKY AND HEADSHOTS BY KAYLA PAYNE/ THE FLAT HAT the prepackaged foods, this side of day. Of course, they still serve options Sadler also has a pasta bar. It’s a bit at the grill section and rotating entree areas, but overall, COVID-19 has quirky, since the pasta itself and all toppings are clearly already cooked, resulted in far less options for food. Besides the Simply to Go section, there but the staff takes everything that you chose and heats it up in a pan right is even less variety at the standard stations. I understand the severity of before your eyes. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone heat up pasta in a COVID-19 and why the College made this change; however, during a time frying pan, but I can’t say that I’m mad at it. when I have to take all of my classes inside of my dorm room, thus making I’m taking a marketing class this semester, and one of the first concepts every day more or less the same, am I really expected to eat the same food that we learned was to focus on the customers’ needs as opposed to the every day as well? I think it’s safe to say that all students get tired of the product itself in terms of selling. Yes, of course, students need a safe place dining hall food by the end of the semester, so I wonder how much quicker to eat, but if none of them want to eat the food, what’s the point? that will occur this semester.

Email Alyssa Slovin at Another change that I find somewhat strange is the College’s insistence amslovin@email.wm.edu.

Page 4

STAFF COLUMN

College’s negligence to cancel classes on Election Day infringes on students’ right to democracy

Alyssa Slovin

STAFF COLUMN

Resident Assistants take on additional responsibilities due to pandemic, deal with increased regulation, stress

Elaine Godwin

FLAT HAT OPINIONS ASSOC. EDITOR

Resident assistants at the College of William and Mary have always had difficult jobs; they act as peacemakers, peacekeepers and enforcers of the housing contract when that peace goes awry.

At best, they’re maybe a year or two older than the residents they’re supposedly in charge of for an entire academic year. However, many of them know exactly what they are getting into when they apply to become resident assistants. This is not the case amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

After the four weeks I have been navigating life back on campus, I have noticed the extra duties and responsibilities that resident assistants are now saddled with. Everyone on campus, as we well know, is required to wear a mask unless actively eating or drinking and must keep a physical distance of at least six feet.

Considering that the majority of my time is spent in my residence hall out of the need to do my online work and the desire to stay removed from any crowds, I have had lots of interesting experiences with either my own resident assistant, or the RA on duty during nights.

No longer I am able to go into the kitchen and use whatever is there at my own disposal, as shared items are not allowed. I cannot use the fridge for anything, nor can I even use the water fountain to refill my bottle.

Despite having only two sinks for six girls, one of them is taped off to encourage fewer people in the bathroom at one time. Making sure that I and others follow these new rules, however, falls to the resident assistant.

The College sent out a rather threatening email a few weeks ago, in an attempt to

ensure adherence to the new COVID-19 related policies and rules. “Do not be selfish — your actions impact the entire community.

Do not be the person who causes us to shut down this semester,” Marjorie Thomas, Dean of Students wrote Aug. 21.

Understandably, resident assistants would not want said actions to occur among their own residents and have attempted their best to curtail any “selfishness”.

At the end of the day, however, they are just students as well — students who should not be expected to bear the burden of COVID-19 singlehandedly. Indeed, not only is it incredibly difficult to do, but in some cases, it is nearly impossible to perfect on a large scale.

Resident assistants indicated that the hardest part of this semester is being expected to enforce rules that do not necessarily make sense. They are more than happy to enforce when the reason for such rules is obvious, but less so when the motivation is more obscure, or applied without any exceptions to unique cases.

For instance, living units of roommates spend much time together in an enclosed space, and touch many of the same objects.

Why then, are shared objects between living units not allowed at initiatives and small social gatherings? Why are amenities being taped off without first discussing it within individual residents and halls?

After all, students are paying for not only room but board as well, including such simple things as water fountains, adequate bathroom availability and complete kitchen usage.

Although I agree with the College that a certain amount of enforcement is needed to keep all on campus safe and healthy, I do not agree with their methods of doing so.

These large responsibilities should not be directed to resident assistants, as I believe it is outside of their jurisdiction. They already have to deal with normal concerns of day-to-day living and should not have the added role of COVID-19 facilitators.

This is an extremely controversial time of life, and this dissatisfaction with College decisions extends to resident assistants GRAPHIC BY ZOË SMITH / THE FLAT HAT as much as it does the average I spoke to several resident assistants, student. Complying with seemingly and all felt the increased stress that said ridiculous policies and procedures should responsibilities were having on them. not be the standard of resident assistants; Furthermore, resident assistants are they should have the right to justly not allowed to speak to any press or challenge these new expectations and organizations without the approval of their stressful roles without backlash. area director, which discourages them from Email Elaine Godwin at voicing their concerns too vocally or publicly. sgodwin@email.wm.edu.

Aidan White

FLAT HAT STAFF WRITER

Earlier this month, the College of William and Mary’s Student Assembly passed a resolution calling on the College to cancel all classes and move all assignments due Nov. 4, Election Day. If College President Katherine Rowe’s administration is serious about encouraging student selfdetermination and political participation, they must fulfill the demands of the resolution.

Throughout our country, systemic barriers have been put in place to make voting harder. Restrictive voter ID laws, political gerrymandering and even the simple fact that elections are held during the work week all create meaningful roadblocks to democracy. The Commonwealth of Virginia is no different.

We have a voter ID law, we have heavily gerrymandered congressional districts and we obviously hold our elections on a Tuesday. In recognition of these barriers, Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly passed a law this year that repeals our voter ID law and makes Election Day a state holiday.

However, the College still plans to hold classes on Election Day. This actively makes it harder for students to make our voices heard.

Since barriers to voting disproportionately impact low income voters and voters of color, it seems odd that the administration would not have already cancelled Election Day classes after a summer of being criticized for its history of structural racism and its failure to protect student financial aid packages. Nevertheless, Rowe’s administration has yet to respond to the Student Assembly resolution, nor have they committed to cancelling Election Day classes.

If it is good enough for Virginia as a whole, why is making Election Day a holiday not good enough for the College?

President Rowe’s administration has yet to respond to the Student Assembly resolution, nor have they committed to canceling Election Day classes. If it is good enough for Virginia as a whole, why is making Election Day a holiday not good enough for the College?

Perhaps you do not grasp why this is important.

Perhaps you do not think that classes, projects, papers and presentations present a significant time commitment. I will concede that not every student at the College will have a large enough workload Nov. 4 to make it harder to vote. I will also concede that not every student will be voting in person, since the COVID-19 pandemic has made absentee voting more popular.

But if even one student decides they have too much on their plate to take a break for voting, if even one student comes to the conclusion that they must put their academic commitments before their civic responsibility, then the College has failed its mission of cultivating “creative thinkers, principled leaders, and compassionate global citizens equipped for lives of meaning and distinction,” as listed on the College’s website. Instead, the College and Rowe’s administration will have taught students that individual success is more important than participation in politics. That is an incredibly dangerous lesson, especially at a time when our leaders are searching for every possible opportunity to undermine the grand tradition of democratic governance.

We are regularly lectured about how much the College values student self-determination.

But what good is self-determination at school if we do not have it in the real world?

What good is electing dormitory community councils if we do not have time to elect our congressional representatives and our president? It is time for the College to cancel classes on Election Day. Email Aidan White at amwhite02@email.wm.edu.

variety Logging On, Lights Up

Variety Editor Matthew Kortan Variety Editor Gavin Aquin Hernández flathat.variety@gmail.com

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, September 15, 2020 | Page 5

Alpha Psi Omega New Scenes Festival lights up laptops across campus for a quirky quarantine evening CLAIRE HOGAN // FLAT HAT DIGITAL MEDIA EDITOR

It’s been several months in quarantine, and the days of live theatre

The other two characters, played by Ciara Curtin ‘24 and Peter Rizzo ‘23,

Wells ‘23 and directed by Rosa, took the awkwardness of Zoom meetings to

performances feel long behind us. Yet the limitations imposed by the

played off each other perfectly, leading to a hilarious combination of

the extreme, highlighting an attempt to run a cult virtually. The overzealous

pandemic have inspired new, creative types of performances. Saturday,

personalities. Anyone who watches this scene will come away with, “you

cult member, played by Barrett Fife, underscored the absurdity of the

Sept. 12, this innovative storytelling took hold at the College of William

can’t just ask a lady about her fertile crescent!” and “I’ve just been jilted by

scenario. The scene wasn’t so much laugh-out-loud funny as it was a

and Mary with the APO New Scenes Festival, virtually hosted by Alpha

a college boy, who isn’t wearing pants. Again.” running through their heads.

darkly humorous take on the Zoom format, combining the occult with the

Psi Omega. The event, which was live streamed on Facebook, featured six

Between uproarious moments, there were pieces of genuine tenderness

ineptitude of the characters for a farcical quarantine romp.

scenes written, directed and acted by students. Each scene touched on a

and poignancy, a much-appreciated commentary on online classes, social

different theme, but all were united by the unique medium of Zoom.

interactions during a pandemic and intergenerational disparities.

The first scene, “Tender Club,” written by Grace Helmick ’22 and Brielle

If “Wa Wa Wa Whoops” was a commentary on student behavior, the

The final scene, “Name TBD,” written by Kate Kowalski ‘22 and Ellie Antestenis ‘23 and directed by White, was the icing on the cake of the festival. While the previous scenes had occasionally used Zoom creatively,

Perry ‘22 and directed by Kate Dooley ‘21, started off strong, highlighting

fourth scene of the festival, “The Email,” written by Aisling Ringrose ‘24

“Name TBD” did a fantastic job of organically incorporating Zoom elements

the struggles of socially-distanced romance and the limitations of Zoom

and directed by Joseph Tapia ‘21, was a clear critique of the College’s

into the piece.

calls. The charming writing was accentuated by the Zoom format, and the

administration. Chronicling the trials and tribulations of drafting an email

scene writers leaned into the medium, using breakout rooms as a central

to the student body, the scene perfectly summed up the tense relationship

displayed onscreen while one character was muted. The usage of multiple

feature of the piece.

between overzealous administrators and the students they are tasked to

Zoom features was as innovative as it was funny, and both the writers and

oversee. From the outset, the hard-nosed Dave, played by Aidan White ‘23,

the director obviously had an ingenious vision for the scene.

The second scene, “Tryouts,” written by Christine Rosa ‘21 and directed

Especially interesting was the use of the chat feature, which was

by Loni Wright ‘21, featured an eccentric cast of characters in an “audition”

delighted the audience with his bluntness and many references to Ronald

format. Anyone who has done a virtual job interview or a cappella audition

Reagan. “Immunity clauses are how the terrorists win” is a phrase you

anyone who watched the New Scenes Festival would come away satisfied

would relate to this scene, from both the interviewer’s and interviewee’s

won’t forget anytime soon. In a moment of serendipity, during this scene’s

that the thespians of 2020 are going strong. Through hilarious writing,

perspective. Its absurdist humor was a refreshing take on the monotonous

live broadcast on Facebook, the student body received an email from the

poignant critiques and unique uses of the Zoom medium, the festival

tone of a typical Zoom meeting, and the multi-faceted acting by Alexandra

administration, admonishing irresponsible student behavior under the

showcased the best creativity of the College.

Watkinson ‘23 highlighted the comedic elements of the script.

COVID guidelines.

Where the first two scenes were short and snappy, the third scene, “Wa

Though we may not be going to see actors on a stage anytime soon,

Though many themes were universal, many of the scenes particularly

The email itself could easily have been crafted by Dave, and the

spoke to the experience of students at the College and the struggles of life

Wa Wa Whoops,” written by Aidan O’Halloran ‘21 and Olivia Wilson ‘21 and

similarities between the real administration and the in-scene personalities

during a pandemic. As Cece from “Wa Wa Wa Whoops” would say: “These

directed by Anthony Madalone ‘21, was longer and packed full of laugh-out-

were striking. The email fit so perfectly with the scene that one can only

times are so… unprecedented.”

loud humor and quotable moments. From the get-go, the scene accentuated

wonder whether some wise-cracking administrator hit “send” while giggling

Zoom faux pas, with Boomer character Cece, played by Katy Shinas ‘22,

over the live broadcast.

crashing a meeting, sharing her screen and yelling into the microphone.

Editor’s Note: The Flat Hat would like to clarify that Aidan White ‘23 is a staff writer for the paper. His involvement with the Alpha Psi Omega New

The fifth scene, “The Ritual,” written by Joshua Mutterperl ‘24 and Erik

Scenes Festival event is not on behalf of the paper’s interests.

RE H

CLAI N OGA / THE FLAT HAT

Page 6

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

The Flat Hat

SHARPS AND FLATS

Looking 4 Treble Alternative tracks provide surreal outlet for students stuck in the swamp MATTHEW KORTAN // FLAT HAT VARIETY EDITOR

You might find this hard to believe — but from the outside recording of the first wave of British punk, Wire were true looking in, we William and Maryites are a pretty bizarre revolutionaries. Their debut album is cited as being the bunch. A floral-and-plaid-clad capital of colored hair, it’s safe forefather of at least three or four prominent subgenres to say describing our tastes as “alternative” would be a gross of alternative rock, such as art punk and noise rock. With understatement. From the inside looking out, we are pretty standouts like “Ex Lion Tamer,” it is easy to see why. Upon first much the most bodacious, bona fide band of misfits the Eastern listen you would never guess this track was released in the late Seaboard has seen since, well, the Misfits — punk rock pioneers ‘70s. The lovely punch of punk rock is still very much tangible from the late ‘70s. in this song, only subdued a little by more amiable vocals and Speaking of strange tunes — this is the Variety music issue, poetic lyrics — plus a venture beyond just down strumming on after all — let us consider our position. If we at the College of the guitar. Indeed, it is truly ahead of its time and much more William and Mary wish to count ourselves amongst those worthy accessible to the casual listener than a traditional punk song. of being weird, and from the looks of our student population, we do, then I maintain that our playlists are a sort of frontier, ripe for rather aggressive expansion. Let me explain. Some guy with shoulder-length hair statically stuck to his flannel and maybe a facial piercing or two to go along with a black and grey tattoo of an arrow walks into a house party. He reaches the couch, reads the room, rolls a joint, and next thing you know he’s amassed a following. Upon his plush perch he preaches – and at some point anoints none other than Tame Impala as the second coming of Christ. Now, our house party hero sees himself as a savior for spreading ideas that lack originality or intuitive creativity.

Sadly, this tale is far too common at the College – those who see their musical preferences as something divine, when in reality they’re rather vanilla and usually feature copious amounts of the likes of Tame Impala. Not that everybody who taps their toes to “The Less I Know the Better” should be placed COURTESY IMAGES / SPOTIFY A.B. under citizen’s arrest or anything. That would be harsh. However, I think that we at the College, we who proudly unite because of The Stone Roses – Waterfall our unique array of differences, could do a little better to diversify Appears on: The Stone Roses (1989) our playlists. With that said, I offer several song suggestions that Madchester! Northwest England’s vibrant new-wave fit the “alternative” vibe the College prides itself on: musical movement throughout the late ‘70s and into the ‘80s stood in stark contrast to the area’s industrial heritage.

Probably the last place you would expect to see the birth of rave culture. So it goes. While not the first dance rock album, the Stone Roses self-titles effort gives groove a whole new meaning. These guys were absolute technicians in the studio, handcrafting some of the most elegantly intricate tunes to ever hit the radio waves. A good example is “Waterfall,” which allures the listener on a magical march across the band’s very own Jackson Pollack-inspired dreamworld. It’s a shame that bickering amongst the band and disputes with record dealers derailed the Stone Roses before we ever got another great album, but if their wonderful debut taught us anything, it’s that we should never cease to use our imagination.

Minutemen – Corona Appears on: Double Nickels on the Dime (1984) Perhaps the most recognizable track on this list, an Wire – Ex Lion Tamer instrumental version of “Corona,” was used as the theme song Appears on: Pink Flag (1977) for MTV’s “Jackass.” I’m not just including this song for the Definitively the first, and the most, perhaps, sophisticated irony of the title in the context of 2020, by the way. It is probably

the punchiest track on what, in my opinion, is a seminal post-punk album. Songwriter D. Boon found inspiration after a trip to Mexico in the early ‘80s and feeling dismay over the government’s apparent neglect of the local people. The result is a scorching yet minimalist guitar riff and a bouncy bassline that leaves the taste in your mouth of a refreshing, cold cerveza with a speck or two of dirt floating around within.

T. Rex – Cosmic Dancer Appears on: Electric Warrior (1971) Is it just me, or is anyone else sick of hearing about David Bowie? No disrespect to the poster boy of glam rock, it just seems that there were other, less-appreciated artists within the same subgenre that weren’t so … self-indulgent — to put it delicately. One of those said artists is T. Rex. Cosmic Dancer is one of those songs you listen to in bed at night, with no light but a single burning candle and the volume on your headphones so high as to accost your eardrums. Try this, and I guarantee you’ll feel those whimsical shivers reverberate down your spine, especially during the angelic outro. When you wake up from the fantasy, you’ll feel like dancing until you’re born again.

Bad Brains – Banned in D.C. Appears on: Bad Brains (1982) This one hits close to home; Bad Brains, native to the nation’s capital, meshed hardcore punk, reggae, and funk starting in 1977. Lyrically, “Banned in D.C.” is pretty self-explanatory. The band got booted from numerous performing arts venues in Washington in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s due to the unruly audience misbehavior that seemed to follow their act around the city like a rabid dog. This makes sense if you listen to the song, which is forcefully driven by a raw and primitive energy from start to finish.

Tom Tom Club – Genius of Love Appears on: Tom Tom Club (1981) A friend of mine once described this song better than I ever could by simply stating that this is what happens when you hang out with David Byrne too much. But, I would even argue that this Talking Heads spinoff’s signature single takes the eccentricity a step even further. A scribble-scrabbled ode to the founding fathers of funk, many of whom are mentioned by name among a backdrop of abnormal moaning, some Spanglish, and all swirled up in poppy cyclone of synthesizers.

When it’s all over you might not know what hit you — all you will know is that you liked it.

Matthew Kortan is a Sharps and Flats columnist and would very much appreciate it if you deleted Tame Impala from your playlists — it’s just not as quirky as you think it is.

To listen: Scan this Spotify Code with the Spotify app.

IWantToExploreTheWorld.mp3 Recommendations for foreign language playlists to broaden your musical horizons GAVIN AQUIN HERNANDEZ // FLAT HAT VARIETY EDITOR Growing up in a Mexican American family, my ears have always found their way to music in Spanish, as obvious as that sounds. Whether I was at an “intimate” family gathering in some seedy party venue in Los Angeles celebrating my previously-unknown third cousin’s quinceañera, or it was just cleaning day at chez moi, the amount of times that I have had to pretend that I hate dancing to “Suavemente” are innumerable. Retrospectively, I cannot imagine having grown up in an AngloAmerican household. What would I have danced to? Carrie Underwood and Cotton Eye Joe? The horror.

It seems like, in the United States, we imagine ourselves nowadays to be net exporters of culture. The rest of the world consumes our television programs, our music, our cinema and yet we hesitate to allow ourselves to reciprocate this exchange.

However, fellow English speakers, it doesn’t have to be this way.

I have had a lifelong disdain for American football, but since Madonna’s halftime show in 2012 graced our television screens with vogueing, I have made sure to catch every single halftime show since. So, when I heard that Shakira and Jennifer Lopez were going to be the acts for the Super Bowl this year, I was slightly concerned. How would wider,

“whiter” America react to a half-time act done in Spanish? Yes, there was many a controversy around that act, but for the most part, the reception was better than I had expected.

For me, this cemented the idea that one doesn’t even have to leave the American continent to find rich and diverse music cultures worth acknowledgement.

For much of 2020, the closing of our country’s borders — both literally and mentally — has caused me to scour the internet for all of the media that I could consume from other countries. This pandemic, amongst other things, has made me realize that I absolutely adore Brazilian reality TV and South African and French pop music. Who would’ve thought?

In my quest to learn French these past few years, francophone music has been instrumental in helping me to gain lots of informal vocabulary and sentence structures

— so that I could, you know, speak French ‘comme un français’ or ‘un québécois’ and not like a textbook. For me, passively listening to French has introduced me to wider varieties of francophone culture that exist in subalternate realities and not just those that exist in the mainstream. Much like music written by Latines/as/os or African Americans in the United States can introduce people to the struggles and the realities of diasporic and marginalized communities here, music from artists of immigrant backgrounds in France, Belgium (Wallonia) or Québec can help us to understand and empathize with the experiences of those communities as well.

So, while you’re planning for your trips abroad while waiting for all these ‘bavajadas’ — that is, this blasted pandemic and all accompanying nonsensical foolishness — to end, perhaps you might want to start early on

ILLUSTRATION BY GAVIN AQUIN HERNANDEZ / THE FLAT HAT

your proverbial tour of the world. You don’t even have to leave your humid moldy hovel of a dorm room to do it either.

For those of you who have Spotify or Apple Music, there are great resources and precompiled playlists for you to sort through. On Apple Music’s radio feature, I recommend the following stations: Latin Pop, Música Tropical, French Rap, Sertanejo, French Pop, Brazilian Pop, Pop Italiano and Bollywood. Additionally, Apple Music lets you browse the Top 100 charts by country on the Explore Page. There, Apple also has compiled playlists such as Africa Now, Israeli Pop, Essentials: French Synthpop, and Essentials: International Jet Set. Of course, musical taste and interests vary, but these are good places to start in order to begin building your collection.

In polarizing times such as these, we should all look outward and use music as a tool to understand one another. If you had to create a playlist and recommend it to a foreigner wishing to learn more about America, what songs would you pick?

I would have a hard time choosing.

Gavin Aquin Hernandez is a Sharps and Flats Columnist and he wants you to listen to a wider variety of music than just the U.S. American kind.

sports

Sports Editor Zoe Beardsley Sports Editor Nathan Seidel flathatsports@gmail.com @FlatHatSports

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, September 15, 2020 | Page 7

THE EXTRA POINT

ATHLETIC ENTHUSIASM TAKES A HIT

JAMIE HOLT / THE FLAT HAT

Strides of successful winter, spring seasons weakened by recent athletics cuts COLLIN ANDERSON FLAT HAT SPORTS ASSOC. EDITOR Jan. 30, 2020, senior center Nathan Knight dribbled the length of the floor inside Kaplan Arena and scored the gamewinning layup to beat Northeastern with 1.5 seconds left on the clock. The student section erupted as the Tribe men’s basketball team wrapped up its eighth win of the season in the Colonial Athletic Association.

In a historic season, the Tribe led the CAA in home attendance and racked up a school record of 21 victories.

Looking around that night, I noticed for the first time in my two years at the college, the growing sports culture on campus.

But this culture of winning and support is nothing new.

In the 2019-20 school year, the nationally ranked, 2018 CAA champion field hockey team built a culture of winning that is not slowing down. The men’s and women’s cross-country teams have a history of winning in the CAA that is unparalleled across the nation, with the men’s team winning the last 20 consecutive conference titles. In addition, the men’s swimming team won the CAA title for the sixth consecutive year this past February, as junior Colin Wright dominated the conference in route to two top-10 national rankings in the 50 and 100-meter freestyle.

Junior guard Eva Hodgson of the women’s basketball team led the CAA in scoring, set five school records, and posted some of the best shooting marks in the nation, all while leading the women’s basketball team to its best season in school history.

These are just a few examples of exceptional student athletes at the College, with the Tribe experiencing success across the entire athletic department.

Less than eight months later, the scene on campus looks

entirely different from that cold winter night. As students trek around campus, required to wear masks and physically distance from others, athletic facilities lay dormant for the semester.

July 17, 2020, the athletic department announced it would be suspending all fall sports this season, dealing a blow to several student athletes amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Also, as the semester enters its fifth week, the wounds are still quite fresh from Sept. 3, when Athletic Director Samantha Huge and College President Katherine Rowe announced in an open letter that the College would be terminating an unprecedented seven sports teams: men’s and women’s gymnastics, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s indoor and outdoor track and field and women’s volleyball. Citing financial concerns, the move directly affects 118 student athletes and 13 coaches, but also negatively impacts the entire school. Recruiting for other sports is certain to take a hit, as dramatic financial losses affect the entire department. In the open letter from Sept. 3, Rowe and Huge cite a cumulative financial loss of nearly $10 million over the course of the next three years.

William and Mary already struggles to build a sports culture, but the cutting of seven highly successful sports teams in the middle of a semester without sports certainly will make things even more difficult. As the stands of Zable Stadium remain empty for the foreseeable future, students are forced to find other ways to spend their Saturdays.

Homecoming will surely look different this year without students trekking to quite possibly the only football game they will attend each season.

Despite this grim picture, there is still hope for Tribe Athletics. As rumors circulate of a spring football season

for the CAA, there are chances to support Tribe athletes in other ways as well. Even though the College announced the removal of those sports teams, each team will still have one final season this year to compete. In addition, students and alumni from across the College community created numerous petitions, social media pages and letters to the administration urging someone from the College to take action and “save the Tribe 7,” as the Instagram page is appropriately named.

Building a thriving sports culture at a school like William and Mary is no easy task. This is not something that happens overnight, and quite honestly, we are a long way off. But amid the financial concerns and lack of sports, the College is not alone.

Schools across the country, big and small, are suffering the effects of the pandemic, whether from lost seasons or lost programs. Just last week, the University of Minnesota announced it was cutting men’s tennis, track and field, and gymnastics. While William and Mary is not alone, the College still holds responsibility for the effects of these cuts to their athletes and community.

As we move further into this downright strange semester, it is certainly difficult to find things to look forward to. An avid sports fan, I looked forward to every basketball game this past year, as well as the track meets and field hockey games I had the privilege of covering. It may feel hard to support Tribe athletics at the moment with the lack of events, but as the year progresses, the athletes and coaches need our support.

We may have to go without sports for a while, but when they return let’s get out there and support student athletes and continue growing the sports culture at William and Mary.

OUT OF BOUNDS

Champions of the “wubble”: Fans at home await WNBA playoffs Upcoming games, successful athlete performances indicate intense conclusion to COVID-altered season ZOE BEARDSLEY FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR Sunday Sept. 13, chaos reigned in the basketball world, and I’m not talking about the Los Angeles Clippers blowing a gigantic lead to the Denver Nuggets in game six of the NBA’s Western Conference semifinals. I’m describing the WNBA, where on the last day of the regular season, three games took place that determined various playoff outcomes for four of the six teams playing.

The first game was between the Dallas Wings and New York Liberty. The Wings won, which meant that their fate depended entirely on the outcome of the next game, where the Mystics faced off against the Atlanta Dream. The Mystics defeated the Dream, which knocked the Wings out of the playoffs and gave the Mystics the eighth seed. While these two teams were fighting for their spot in the playoffs, the Seattle Storm and Las Vegas Aces, the top two teams this season, were battling for the coveted number one seed. The Aces pulled off a close win, which gave them the top spot in the playoffs.

After all the stress of the weekend, the players have no time to relax, as the first playoff games start Tuesday, Sept.

15. The first game has the seven-seeded Connecticut Suns facing off against the six-seeded Chicago Sky. Later in the day, the eighth seeded Mystics will play the five-seeded Phoenix Mercury. The WNBA has a slightly different playoff schedule than other professional sport leagues. The first two rounds of the playoffs are single elimination games, meaning that the team who loses Tuesday is eliminated from playoff contention entirely. This ups the

stakes considerably for all of these teams, many of whom have had to fight tooth and nail to make it in.

2019’s MVP Elena Della Donne.

In spite of this, there are plenty of exciting players and matchups in the first two games.

NOTABLE WNBA STARS IN THE PLAYOFFS BREANNA STEWART SEATTLE STORM

19.7 PPG 8.3 RPG

A’JA WILSON LAS VEGAS ACES

20.5 PPG 8.5 RPG

DIANA TAURASI PHOENIX MERCURY

18.7 PPG 4.5 APG COURTESY IMAGE / CREATIVE COMMONS

GRAPHIC BY ZOE BEARDSLEY / THE FLAT HAT

Due to COVID-19, the WNBA played a shortened season of 22 games this year.

All of the teams lived in a “bubble,” coined the “wubble,” in Bradenton, Fla., living and playing all together to prevent the spread and contraction of COVID-19. This also meant that many notable players made the decision to not play this season, including

The Mystics managed to sneak into the playoffs but got an insanely tough matchup in the Mercury. Phoenix’s star player Diana Taurasi is a terrifying 13-1 all time in win-or-go-home games, and the team went 6-2 in the final eight games of the season. While the Mercury may be missing star center Brittney Griner, they still have a talented roster that includes Taurasi

and Skyler Diggins Smith who’s averaging 17.7 points per game. The Mystics have been ravaged by injuries and players opting out, but made an impressive late season push to get back into the postseason. Misha Hines Allen, averaging 17 PPG, and 2019’s finals MVP Emma Meeseman won’t go down without a fight.

The Sky and the Sun are a bit more evenly matched. The Sky have an extremely balanced attack, with four players averaging over 10 points per game. They also have one of the best players in the WNBA, Courtney Vandersloot, who averages 13.4 PPG and is an outstanding passer with 9.9 assists per game. However, the Sky come into the game having lost six of their last eight games, so they will need to turn that around. The Sun had a terrible start to the season, going 0-5, but have looked a lot better in the recent weeks. They have an outstanding player in DeWanna Bonner, who’s averaging 19.7 PPG, and they come into the matchup with some strong positive momentum.

The strongest contenders are waiting in the semifinals though. Two of the top MVP candidates this year, Aces center A’ja Wilson and the Storm’s Breanna Stewart play for the one and two seeds respectively. Wilson is leading the league in scoring, averaging 20.5 PPG, but Stewart is not far behind, scoring 19.7 PPG. Since the one and two seeds get a bye, you won’t see these teams and these players until the semifinal round. The Aces and the Storm have dominated the regular season, so it’ll take an outstanding performance by some of the other teams to knock them out of the playoffs.

The WNBA playoffs promise to be high stakes, exciting games that will feature lots of talented stars. Thanks to the shortened playoff schedule, every single game matters, which only means more exciting basketball.

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Page 8

COVID-19

Virginia students demand improved COVID-19 policies

Forum condemns universities’ reopening plans as students, staff risk infection on campus Monday, Sept. 14, student representatives from several Virginia universities met over Zoom to discuss their reactions to universities’ reopening plans for the fall semester. The forum was organized by New Virginia Majority, a non-profit organization based in Richmond, and featured representatives from Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, George Mason University and the College of William and Mary.

Organizer of the New Virginia Majority Kalia Harris introduced the forum’s purpose and explained her work with New Virginia Majority and the Virginia Student Power Network, another advocacy group connecting student activists from across the state. She began the forum by illustrating COVID-19’s severity on university campuses since they began reopening during late August and early September. Harris then emphasized the importance of hearing directly from students as they experience COVID-19 response plans firsthand at their respective institutions.

After Harris’s introduction, VSPN Director Ibby Han provided an overview of student activists’ movements and demands throughout Virginia and contextualized these demands by reminding viewers of rising case totals at several universities across the state. “... This is a really urgent public health crisis,” Han said. “We’re nearing over 2,000 cases on college campuses statewide. I don’t think this came as a surprise to anyone. We know that colleges, college campuses, dorm life, would all be incubators, and frankly, super-spreader locations, for the COVID-19 virus.”

VCU student Taylor Maloney first commented on Virginia universities’ conscious decision to bring students, staff and faculty back to campus, despite substantial indicators suggesting that doing so would be detrimental to the health of campus and local communities. Maloney said this problem was especially pertinent at VCU, since any risk of COVID-19 spread among VCU students would disproportionately burden Richmond’s local Black and Brown communities near the university.

“In general, I feel like VCU is in a unique situation,” Maloney said. “Unlike most of the Virginia colleges, and especially the public institutions, it’s integrated in the city in a different kind of way. We’re pretty close to the majority Black and Brown populations of Richmond … all that to say that VCU’s opening meant we’re going to tell the community that you’re going to have to deal with all these new, incoming first year students who

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I don’t think this came as a surprise to anyone. We know that colleges, college campuses, dorm life, would all be incubators, and frankly, superspreader locations, for the COVID-19 virus.

— Ibby Han

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ETHAN BROWN FLAT HAT EDITOR -IN-CHIEF

have never left their parents’ house and were forced into isolation all summer … To do that was to basically say that we know what students were going to do and how they were going to act, but we’re going to cover our bases and put our ducks in a row by putting hand sanitizer in the student commons, or having fewer in-person classes. All in all, it was a really irresponsible choice that VCU did that’s obviously driven by money.”

Kibiriti Majuto ’21, a student at the College , followed Maloney in giving his testimony. He said that the College has placed excessive emphasis on the role that individuals and students play in combating COVID-19’s spread on campus, while neglecting the university’s own responsibility to create cohesive, communitylevel responses. While the College encourages students to exercise individual autonomy when adhering to mask wearing and social distancing requirements, Majuto said it is doing an insufficient job ensuring student safety. He said one of the policies where this pattern is most visible is the College’s prevalence testing protocol, which aims to randomly test five percent of students and staff every two weeks.

“The five percent sample is not enough, that William and Mary is doing,” Majuto said. “... That five percent has to be increased. That’s not a great sample to account for every single person who’s back.”

The conversation then shifted to UVA, with student Sarandon Elliott describing the current state of affairs in Charlottesville.

Elliott helped organize a ‘die in’ on UVA’s Lawn earlier this month before UVA returned to in-person classes Sept. 8, where more

than 50 students laid down motionless for 15 minutes to convey the risks inherent in welcoming students back to grounds.

Elliott said she is most concerned about exposing her family back at home in Richmond to COVID-19 upon her return from UVA and urged university administrators across the state to pay more attention towards the potential human costs associated with holding in-person coursework this fall.

“This is very personal for me,” Elliott said. “I’m from Richmond, born and raised … I’m scared every day. I’m scared of exposing my family. I’m afraid if with VCU’s poor planning as well, I’m scared for my family in Richmond, I’m scared to bring it back from Charlottesville. We’ve all seen what happens when these very large institutions do not do their part during public health crises.”

Several other students, including representatives from VT and GMU, also enunciated concerns with their universities’ reopening plans, including a lack of hazard pay for essential employees and precarious housing situations for international students. Some representatives also brought up concerns about intimidation and harassment against student activists by college administrations, impeding their work throughout the state.

After participating in the forum, Sidney Miralao ’21 followed up on her concerns with the College’s philosophy in blaming students for poor adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols.

Students have received multiple emails from the Dean of Students Office since freshmen first arrived Aug. 12, some of which have insinuated that institutional outcomes at the College — including furloughing employees and suspending in-person classes — are highly dependent on student behavior.

“Like Taylor from VCU mentioned, if William and Mary’s decision for re-opening campus was centered around student safety, equity, and well-being, they would not have invited the entire undergraduate population back to campus to try and create a “normal” semester,” Miralao said in an email. “Nothing about living through a pandemic, economic crisis, and national uprisings should be treated as normal. Specifically, asking students to police and surveil one another in addition to increasing the police presence on and around campus during a time of uprising against police seems particularly tone deaf — administrators are the ones who forced students to return this semester, they cannot burden and blame socially-deprived young people if an outbreak occurs; this is not to say students should be free to party and gather in large groups (which wouldn’t have happened if students were not invited back to Williamsburg), but answering such behavior with threats and aggressive consequences does nothing to improve the situation and only further alienates the student body from trusting the administration and its decisions.”

CAMPUS

International students adjust to semester away from campus

Different time zones result in unusual class schedules, changing environments wasting a bunch of money.”

While the stressful journey and uncertainty about the future have come to an end with the beginning of the new semester, international students are facing new challenges while they navigate attending college outside of the U.S. “Doing a job in one time zone and taking classes in a different one has made it quite difficult to have a routine or honestly get much sleep,” Khan said. “The only good thing that has probably come out of it is the time I’m getting with my family. I haven’t spent this much time with them in years so it’s quite nice being home with them.”

As the president of the Korean American Student Association, Kim also finds it challenging to monitor virtual events within the campus organization from across the world.

He is also adjusting to the problem of different time zones.

“Luckily, I only have one class at 6 A.M.,” Kim said. “It’s still hard but I can literally wake up at 5:58 A.M. and join the class.”

For students like Wu, who joined the BNU program, the morning rush hour into Beijing created for an unforgettable first day of classes.

“We need to take a 1.5 hours ride to a different district for classes, so we set up early at six on that day,” Wu said. “However, we all underestimated the traffic condition during the

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Doing a job in one time zone and taking classes in a different one has made it quite difficult to have a routine or honestly get much sleep. The only good thing that has probably come out of it is the time I’m getting with my family. I haven’t spent this much time with them in years so it’s quite nice being home with them.

— Maheen Khan

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INTERNATIONAL from page 1

rush hours, and I totally missed my first class of the semester when I arrived at the campus.”

In addition to the traffic, the sense of belonging is also a problem for Wu. Chinese universities divide students into different cohorts, referred to “classes,” within a department, which is quite different from the system in American universities.

“I don’t know how to reply when a girl asked about my class number,” Wu said. “We are not assigned to any classes since we are ‘international students’ in some sense. I suddenly realized that though I am studying at where I have grown up, I do not belong here.

I am an international student who is ‘studying abroad.’ While no one would notice unless I tell somebody — an identity that I haven’t experienced, and probably very few students have experienced before —I’m studying abroad in my own country.”

Nevertheless, studying at home also brings unexpected happiness to international students.

“I feel so glad that I can just enjoy these familiar Chinese cuisines for a whole semester,” Li said. “You can get a bowl of mouth-watering beef noodle using less than one dollar.”

Kim added that being home again is an adjustment in some ways.

“I sometimes miss the independence, but my parents help me with laundries and meals so I’m very satisfied,” Kim said.

Although many international students will not return to campus this fall, they are still connected with the school through College offices, such as the Reves Center for International Studies, in anticipation of their eventual return to campus.

“They’ve been very responsive and held various mental related events to calm the international students down,” Kim said.

COURTESY PHOTO / FREDA DENG

Some international students from China are spending their fall 2020 semester taking classes through a study abroad program at Beijing Normal University.

CAMPUS

Despite facilitating sanitation, disposable dining containers create more waste Dining sustainability team leads composting initiatives, expands number of campus compost locations COMPOST from page 1

team is making composting a reality on campus by preparing the bins for students.

“The main compost-related work that the dining sustainability team does for composting is designing signage and spray-painting bins; creating announcements and presenting to student groups; and holding volunteer sessions for any students to help other students sort compostable, recyclable, and

disposable items at both the Tribe Truck and Marketplace,” Laveson said. “Once we get the additional public compost bins put in place, we will also be regularly checking them for contamination, and transporting them as need be to the loading docks behind the dining halls.”

The dining sustainability team has worked closely with SA and Natural Organic Processes Enterprise, the company responsible for transporting campus compost to an industrial facility. Ultimately, Laveson said that

funding is the first and most important factor in ensuring the composting program can run smoothly. Obtaining the compost bins themselves is only one portion of the process — transporting and processing the compost is expensive, which is why the SA funding is vital.

Salsburg connected the initiative to the College’s larger sustainability goals.

“William & Mary set the goal last year of achieving a carbon neutral footprint within the next couple

years, so the implementation of these additional compost bins should help W&M achieve this,” Salsburg said.

“With the rise in sea level and the increase in severe weather impacting communities like William & Mary, it is important that we do as much as possible to minimize the already disastrous climate crisis — even when our elected officials fail to pass common sense legislation (like the Green New Deal) to counteract the climate crisis.”

Cho said that SA plans to work

with the administration and student organizations to continue the momentum. Ultimately, he hopes students will find individual ways to contribute to sustainability efforts.

“I hope that with greater access to composting on-campus, students are able to do their part in being sustainable,” Cho said. “While understanding that things like sorting trash and compostable creates extra steps, it’s all about personal responsibility — it’s up to you to decide and take care of our Earth.”