The Flat Hat September 24 2019

Vol. 109, Iss. 13 | Tuesday, September 24, 2019

The Flat Hat The Weekly Student Newspaper

of The College of William and Mary

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Students organize, rally for campus climate strike Sunrise Movement hosts speakers on the Sunken Garden as part of global movement to act on climate change NIA KITCHIN / / FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Friday, Sept. 20, the Sunken Garden at the College of William and Mary was swarmed with students, professors and community members alike participating in a global strike for action on climate change. Crowd members waved brightly colored signs calling for a Green New Deal, advocating for natural resource preservation and voicing their opposition to fossil fuels. The cry heard around Old Campus Friday was “no more,” referring to strikers’ demands for immediate action.

The Williamsburg Climate Strike was just one of many climate strikes occurring worldwide on this day, which organizers estimate around four million people attended. The strike at the College was hosted by the Williamsburg Sunrise Movement Hub, an organization focused on the climate crisis, and the William and Mary Young Democrats. These groups organized around a dozen speakers and performers to engage the crowd with different facets of climate change as an issue.

“Politicians have failed to take action for decades, and we are saying no more,” Sunrise Movement member and event organizer Kelsey Wright ’20 said. “… We are fighting for a future where justice is central to decision making and oppressed communities are empowered and invested in. We have a vision of a vastly better future and we are striking today to show the power of that vision.”

The strike was compared favorably by speakers to the March 15, 2019 climate strike held at the College earlier this year. That event had roughly 40 attendees, while the strike Friday drew an estimated crowd GRAPHIC BY EMMA FORD / THE FLAT HAT

of 450. This increase in attendance mirrors the recent worldwide escalation of climate change discussion and action spearheaded

by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.

“Structural change this big with so little time is going to take a social movement on a global scale,” Young Democratic Socialists of America member Colin Cochran ’21 said.

Speakers included student leaders of organizations like the American Indian Student Association, UndocuTribe and the Young Democratic Socialists. There were also performances interspersed with the speakers where students read spoken word poems and lead the crowd in song.

Cochran spoke about climate change as a battle composed of numerous small fights, many of which have already been lost.

He said that while it is easy to give up in the face of such an imposing opponent or feel removed from the issue, even small actions are powerful.

“We desperately need big change, but even a small change could have a massive effect,” Cochran said. “That is why we cannot afford to throw up our hands, because the people whose lives are at stake rely on our victories large and small. They can’t afford to be overwhelmed and hopeless, so neither can we.”

Cochran also denounced the College for investing part of its endowment in fossil fuels and questioned what it would take for them to divest.

“If you’re uncomfortable with that I’m sorry,” Cochran said.

“I’m uncomfortable with sitting on our hands while thousands of people suffer and die from things we could have prevented.

It is long past time to start asking these questions of each other and it’s time to start asking questions of ourselves.”

Director of UndocuTribe Aida Campos ’20 spoke about how extreme weather in the global south caused by climate change forces people to leave their homes and migrate, further disturbing the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people — and this weather will only become more severe and disastrous.

“Relocation and migration will not slow down until we learn to take climate change seriously, both domestically and internationally,” Campos said. “Human beings will never stop trying to survive.”

See CLIMATE STRIKE page 3

NIA KITCHIN / THE FLAT HAT

STUDENT LIFE

Dean of Students Office removes anonymity option in care reports April 2019 operational change prompted by centralization of reporting website, incomplete student filings CARMEN HONKER FLAT HAT CHIEF FEATURES WRITER

As of April 2019, students can no longer submit anonymous care reports online. Students are now required to attach their name to the report accessed by the Dean of Students Office, but they may still choose to remain anonymous to the subject of their care report.

Care reports are a common way in which students report a wide variety of concerns about their peers at the College of William and Mary. The reports address academic, community, personal and residential concerns, and offer students a space to submit a confidential report relating to sexual misconduct or Title IX. The removal of anonymous reports was partially due to the overwhelming amount of incomplete, anonymous care reports, coupled with the College’s decision to centralize all reporting methods in an effort to make the site easier to navigate.

“In weighing the level of risk associated with accepting anonymous reports through the Care Report portal and our staff’s inability to appropriately respond, it was determined that removing the anonymous reporting option was in the best interests of our students,” Dean of Students Marjorie Thomas said in an email.

Students may continue filing anonymous reports through different outlets on campus, such as the secure drop box located outside of the Compliance and Equity Office or can file reports from a non-student email address to maintain anonymity. The William and Mary Police Department also accepts anonymous reports through dispatch, the Tip Line or in person.

According to Thomas, the anonymous option was

Index Profile News Opinions Variety

Sports

added roughly two years ago. Before, students were required to include their name on reports, without the report’s subject knowing their identity. The April change was in response to the College’s efforts to centralize all reporting procedures in the development of their “Report Concerns or Violations” webpage.

The web address was centralized to serve as a homepage for all reporting methods, directing students and community members to the different available options to report issues or concerns. The site was consolidated in effort to streamline all types of reports to the appropriate office.

“The university spent almost a year creating a centralized online reporting forum and it provides information on the number of ways that individuals can make reports, including anonymously,” Thomas said in an email.

Thomas also said the change back to requiring students’ names on care reports largely resulted from a sharp increase of incomplete reports. During the two-year period in which there was an anonymous care report option, she said that there was a large surge in the amount of submitted reports with insufficient information, which often prevented the Dean of Students Office from responding sufficiently.

“But what ended up happening with us though, is when we went to the option of placing the anonymous drop down in our care report, that is overseen by my office, is that we had so many more, a really huge jump, of parties not giving us information about who they are, and that has risks associated with it for us,” Thomas said.

Initially, the anonymous care report option was not frequently used by students. However, Thomas said that within a year, the anonymous choice was the default

option for students, making it particularly difficult for the office to follow up with reporters for clarity and additional information.

“There was a combination of not only at times having that insufficient information, but also not giving us specificity around the individual either,” Thomas said.

“When there was a combination of those, obviously there is nothing we can do, but even when we received one or the other, it did have a lot of impact on our trying to basically also be detectives almost.”

When there was missing information on the anonymously filed reports, Thomas said that the office would reach an impasse, as there would be no material to expound on if the subject of the report denied that there was a problem. The office had no contacts to follow up with to confirm information.

“A lot of what was happening, was not only, we’re in a situation where the reporting party was anonymous, there was insufficient information many times where we couldn’t intervene,” Thomas said. “Or, the information identified an individual, and there wasn’t enough provided that gave us some more specificity around what they had either observed or experienced. And so, when we did in fact follow up with the party that the concern was shared about, or the disclosure that was made through that system, we’d follow up with that student and they would be like ‘I’m fine; I don’t know what you’re talking about.’”

There were instances in which anonymous care reports shared information about high risk, crisis situations. However, the limited information that accompanied these reports prevented timely intervention.

“Many times, the anonymous reports prohibited

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

See CARE REPORTS page 4

Inside Sports

Climate strike precipitates social media posts, fails to create change

Sunny High 86, Low 60

our staff from supporting students in situations that were being characterized as high risk or crisis that warranted intervention,” Thomas said in an email. “In most cases, merely being able to contact the individual who submitted the report to clarify or expound on the information provided, would have enabled us to intervene or intervene in a more timely manner.”

The fact that other viable anonymous reporting services are available to students also significantly impacted the decision.

“That decision, it wasn’t like some random ‘oh we’re going to shift back to not have an anonymous option,’” Thomas said. “It’s because we knew that there were other portals that also allow for that.”

Since the switch in April, Thomas has noticed a difference in the ability of her staff to respond more efficiently to the reports. She said that the reimplementation of requiring student names on submitted care reports has been critical to her office’s functioning.

“While the anonymous option was compromising our ability and impacting our ability to support students, removing it did not compromise or diminish the ability for someone to maintain their anonymity,” Thomas said. “In terms of our ability to intervene and support students, it’s invaluable.”

The April 2019 change was not publicized to students. Thomas said that policy changes are usually put out for student comment. However, since the Office deemed the change in anonymity as an operational change and not as a policy alteration, it was not sent in an email to students or released for

Gavin Aquin ’22 says that the Climate Strike was a pointless social media scheme. Students would better serve the environment by contacting representatives and making sustainable choices. page 6

Leading on and off the field

Doctors told senior linebacker Arman Jones to stop playing football in middle school because he is missing a kidney.

He persevered, and now he plays a crucial role as a player and a mentor. page 10

newsinsight “

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THE BUZZ

News Editor Heather Baier News Editor Leslie Davis News Editor Emma Ford fhnews@gmail.com

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019 | Page 2

William and Mary’s new proposed policy helps protect trans and nonbinary students from these challenges, so they can enjoy the same smooth welcome as cisgender classmates. In other words, this policy helps trans and nonbinary students access rights, comfort and recognition that cisgender students have always received.

— Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Professor Jonathon Branfman

THIS WEEK IN FLAT HAT HISTORY September 27, 1985 — News: Hurricane Gloria forces campus administration to cancel classes and reschedule Parent’s Weekend events for the following month. The campus endured minor flooding, power outages on Old Campus, and several fallen trees in Gloria’s wake.

September 25, 1946 — News: Seniors and faculty prepare for the College of William and Mary first fall Convocation, to be held two days later in the Phi Beta Kappa Auditorium. Graduating seniors officially wore their caps and gowns for the first time at the event, which included a procession from the Wren building to PBK Hall.

September 23, 2008 — Sports: The College’s Women’s Volleyball team won the Colonial Challenge, its second consecutive tournament victory. The College’s team was on a streak of seven straight victories, the best start of the season it has had since 2001. The team was 10-3 at that point of the season.

September 22, 1995 — Sports: The College’s football team defeated Northeastern University Football’s team in a 32-0 win. Following two consecutive losses, this win was extremely important to the College and its team.

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

A THOUSAND WORDS

COURTESY PHOTO / ELIZABETH MILLER

Miller’s desire to highlight human rights issues and international topics stemmed from her love of history and studies as an international relations major.

Advocating for Amnesty Elizabeth Miller ’21 pursues humanitarian work with UNICEF USA, Amnesty International ETHAN BROWN // FLAT HAT MANAGING EDITOR

CARMEN HONKER / THE FLAT HAT

CORRECTIONS A staff graphic in the Sept. 17 issue “Lack of available textbooks at bookstore disappointing” inaccurately accredits Sarah Brady as the artist of the graphic. Caitlin McClain is the correct artist of the graphic.

The Flat Hat wishes to correct any fact printed incorrectly.

Corrections may be submitted in email to the editor of the section in which the incorrect information was printed. Requests for corrections will be accepted at any time.

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

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As a child, Elizabeth Miller ’21 first discovered her love of history through her first name. A frequent consumer of historical fiction, she distinctly recalls coming across a figure sharing her namesake — Queen Elizabeth I — who unexpectedly sparked Miller’s life-long passion for English and European history.

Now, years later, Miller is an international relations and history double major at the College of William and Mary.

Miller’s academic career has unfolded primarily on Old Campus in Tyler Hall and James Blair Hall, where she’s taken several courses in the government, history and international relations departments.

Despite the vast amounts of time spent in these disciplines, Miller is no stranger to the breadth of the College’s undergraduate curricula. Among her favorite classes so far took place across the Sunken Garden in the geology department, where she studied physical geology to fulfill the ever-elusive NQR requirement.

“That was actually more interesting than I thought it was going to be because I don’t enjoy science. … I actually enjoyed that class, and the professor works on climate change stuff, so hearing about that was super interesting,” Miller said.

Climate change and other pressing policy priorities have shaped Miller’s time in Williamsburg, both inside and outside of the classroom. In her view, working in international relations and history is an especially unique experience as the disciplines build off one another. Exploring this intersectional relationship makes Miller feel prepared to get to work in addressing global issues, partially because it’s something she’s already accomplished in her coursework.

“I like international politics in general, and I think that the combination of IR and history, I’ve always thought that understanding what’s happening in the world, it’s so important to understand history. … You can’t understand most geopolitical situations if you don’t understand the history of the region,” Miller said.

Miller employs a similar mindset

in approaching her extracurricular involvement on campus, where she has advocated on behalf of globally marginalized populations and spearheaded events benefitting these groups through her work in the College’s UNICEF USA and Amnesty International chapters.

As the co-coordinator of Amnesty International, Miller strives to bolster awareness about various important human rights topics and support broader campuswide initiatives.

When she first joined Amnesty International during her second semester at the College, the club was struggling to maintain consistent membership, which ultimately created an environment where she could rapidly obtain leadership roles within the club and explore her passions further. Now, a year and a half later, the chapter’s membership is expanding and the organization is actively engaged in numerous diverse initiatives — developments that Miller sees as pivotal moments in Amnesty International’s on-campus presence.

“All of last year and then starting this year, we’ve got a lot of new people, so it’s been really good,” Miller said. “We are a part of the ‘Let’s Get Consensual’ campaign that the Wellness Center is doing, so we’re going to have some responsibilities related to that.”

Miller also serves as the vice president of the College’s chapter of UNICEF USA, which focuses predominantly on children’s rights and humanitarian advocacy. When Miller joined last year, the club had just been reconstituted following a prolonged period of inactivity — creating yet another opportunity for her to quickly get involved in shaping the organization’s priorities moving forward. She quickly became social media coordinator and got involved with UNICEF’s executive board, where she’s spent time developing plans for its future on campus and brainstorming ideas for events, fundraisers and educational services.

“I got that position and got involved with the exec board there, and now I’m the vice president, and that’s been a really interesting time because a lot of it is like building a new organization,” Miller said. “…

We’re still working on figuring out like how do meetings function, trying to find different community service opportunities that we can engage in,” Miller said.

Despite being a relatively new addition to the College’s extracurricular scene, Miller is proud of the work that UNICEF has done so far; just last week, Miller and her colleagues with UNICEF hosted one of the year’s first fundraisers on the Sadler Terrace, selling donuts and baked goods to benefit Bahamians affected by Hurricane Dorian. After tabling, they managed to raise enough money to send 500 diapers to support recovery efforts in the Bahamas, which Miller thought was a truly special achievement for her organization.

“That, already this semester, I was really impressed that we were able to make that happen so quickly and efficiently … and actually do something,” Miller said.

“Doing something” is certainly something Miller wants to continue during her remaining two years at the College. In her experiences as a student researcher with assistant professor Daniel Maliniak, Miller has conducted speech, text and social media analysis of modern political developments in the Republic of Georgia.

She is now in the process of co-drafting an abstract for an academic paper on the usage of “e-petitions” in Georgia, which she hopes to submit to an upcoming political science conference in April.

“Potentially, we’re gonna get to get up and talk about that at an actual political science conference, which I’m really looking forward to. … The opportunity to get to do that is super exciting,” Miller said.

When she graduates next year, Miller is confident that she will end up in Washington D.C., either pursuing formal diplomacy with the Department of State or working with non-profit advocacy groups. While both options are appealing, she’s unsure which one beckons to her more. However, she feels assured that whatever path she ends up on, she will make the most of it.

“There’s kinda two very different paths that are still very open to me, and there’s overlap between them, potentially, so I don’t necessarily have to choose,” Miller said.

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Heather Baier News Editor Katherine Yenzer Blogs Editor Leslie Davis News Editor Kayla Payne Graphics Editor Emma Ford News Editor Naomi Gruber Online Editor Zoe Beardsley Variety Editor Claire Hogan Online Editor Adithi Ramakrishnan Variety Editor Jae Chung Copy Chief Gavin Aquin Sports Editor Zoe Connell Copy Chief Avery Lackner Sports Editor Jamie Holt Photos Editor Anna Boustany Opinions Editor Rebecca Klinger Photos Editor Chloe Folmar Opinions Editor Charles Coleman Chief Staff Writer Olivia Koenig Social Media Editor Averill Meininger Chief Staff Writer Kate Lucas Blogs Editor Alyssa Grzesiak Chief Features Writer Carmen Honker Chief Features Writer Sarah Greenberg News Assoc. Editor Kim Lores News Assoc. Editor Karina Vizzoni News Assoc. Editor Isabella Miranda Variety Assoc. Editorr Anthony Madalone Opinions Assoc. Editor Alyssa Slovin Opinions Assoc. Editor

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COURTESY PHOTOS / ELIZABETH MILLER

Miller attended an Amnesty International Conference in Philidelphia in the fall of 2018 with many of her fellow Amnesty members at the College.

Page 3

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

ADMINISTRATION

Proposal allows pronoun self-identification

New policy allows students to register preferred pronoun, gender

DAISY GARNER FLAT HAT STAFF WRITER

Some students and faculty view the new policy as an essential mechanism for supporting and protecting transgender and nonbinary students at the College.

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Pronouns may seem minor, but they're crucial for affirming transgender and nonbinary students' identities ... When cisgender folks start new classes each semester, we rarely face the anxiety that anyone will misgender or misname us, or that we'll have to explain our identities to colleagues we don't yet know.

“

Assisted by the College of William and Mary’s Office of the Compliance and Equity, the Office of the University Registrar has proposed a new, more flexible policy on preferred name, preferred pronoun and gender identity. This proposal allows students to use the names and pronouns that they identify with on class rosters, grade rosters and other third-party systems, regardless of whether a student has made legal changes to their identification.

“The Registrar proposed the policy to help further William and Mary’s commitment to the encouragement of self-expression and affirmation of identity for students,” College Spokesperson Suzanne Clavet said in a written statement.

The Office of the Registrar expects to be able to receive and store personal pronouns and gender identification information within a year. However, it is unclear whether it will be feasible for the College to make personal pronouns and gender identification available to faculty for classroom use through Banner. The policy stipulates that changes to name, pronoun and gender will be limited to one year, and any exceptions to this rule must be approved by the University Registrar.

“Students will also be able to relay their preference for name, pronoun or gender identity in person through the Registrar’s office and can also always relay them directly to their professors,” Clavet said.

However, to comply with federal law, the College will still be required to use a student’s legal name and sex on records for transaction, financial aid, medical documentation, transcripts, enrollment verifications and admissions.

Students and faculty commented on the proposed policy’s consequences around campus.

“The impact of this change is almost totally positive,” Professor Claire McKinney said. “From the faculty side, interacting with students based on their preferred names in the day to day is so common that sometimes seeing the legal name in blackboard or when entering grades is confusing. From the student side, I think this policy communicates the University’s respect for individual identity and experience that allows students with a range of reasons to express themselves differently than a narrow legalistic expression allows.”

— Jonathan Branfman

“Pronouns may seem minor, but they're crucial for affirming transgender and nonbinary students' identities,” professor

Jonathan Branfman said. “When cisgender folks start new classes each semester, we rarely face the anxiety that anyone will misgender or misname us, or that we'll have to explain our identities to colleagues we don't yet know. William and Mary's new proposed policy helps protect trans and nonbinary students from these challenges, so they can enjoy the same smooth welcome as cisgender classmates. In other words, this policy helps trans and nonbinary students access rights, comfort and recognition that cisgender students have always received.”

Students like Bradley Wilding ’21 see the proposed policy as a step in the right direction to ensure more inclusivity on campus.

“I support the new policy on preferred name, pronoun and gender identity,” Wilding said. “As a cisgender male, I know I have privilege and acceptance in every environment I am in, which I know is not the case for transgender and non-binary people. Although I am not personally impacted by the policy, I can't be apathetic to the issue. In fact, I think it is telling of a person when they take issue with gender identity as if treating others humanely is debatable. Transitioning is hard, especially when it can mean ostracization, and it costs me nothing to extend respect and empathy. As a transfer student it is pleasing to see William and Mary's dedication in promoting a more inclusive experience for its students. I was particularly impressed with how inviting the Orientation Aides were with gender, asking us for our pronouns to normalize the experience for non-cisgender students.”

The first version of the policy will be available for review and online comments until Oct. 9. Once opportunities for public comment have ended, the College will consider and review feedback from the campus community. Changes to the policy can be made by the Compliance & Equity Office before it is sent to the president or the provost for approval. The Office of the University Registrar also holds the authority to revise or eliminate parts of the policy when approved by the provost.

“I do know that William and Mary has other policies, such as the availability of gender-neutral bathrooms and regarding housing choices, that are moving towards making a more gender-inclusive space,” McKinney said. “These efforts are not perfect and do not always result in necessary follow-through…But these policies can and should be followed by more efforts to ensure that William and Mary promotes gender equality in all spaces of student, faculty, staff, administrative and community interaction.”

ACADEMICS

COLL 300 lecture explores intercultural expressions Muhammad Baqir discusses the difficulties, intracacies of the human experience Islamic scholar Muhammad Baqir visited the College of William and Mary Wednesday, Sept. 18 to speak in a panel sponsored by the College’s COLL 300 initiative. In his talk, Baqir touched upon a variety of social, religious and spiritual topics and described how they fit into broader conversations on intercultural expression, as well as within this semester’s COLL 300 theme of human migration and movement.

Assistant Professor Christine Nemacheck introduced Baqir and welcomed him to the College by providing a brief overview of the COLL 300 program. According to Nemacheck, the COLL 300’s cross-discipline breadth is designed to maximize student exposure to complex global topics, while also pushing students to get outside of their comfort zone in pursuing intellectual experiences on campus. “... COLL 300 is designed to take you out of your everyday life on campus, perhaps make you a little uncomfortable in terms of things that are new to you, and to bring the world to William and Mary,” Nemacheck said.

Baqir began his talk by walking students through his life chronologically, starting from when he was in his mother’s womb. He stressed that the strangeness of life is apparent from the moment of birth, when it becomes impossible to avoid defining yourself based on your relationship to others. He said it becomes necessary to take some leaps of faith in order to adjust to a new environment.

“From my mother’s womb, I was born … I came to the world in Singapore, in 1965,” Baqir said. “They told me it was 1965, no infant ever knows when

they were born. Someone else will tell you when you were born, this is your father, and this is your mother … and you will never know if they are really your parents or not.”

“

COLL 300 is designed to take you out of your everyday life on campus, perhaps make you a little uncomfortable in terms of things that are new to you, and to bring the world to William and Mary.

— Christine

Nemacheck

“

ETHAN BROWN FLAT HAT MANAGING EDITOR

In Singapore, Baqir went on to pursue basic schooling and undergraduate coursework in naval

engineering before leaving the country as a young adult. With Southeast Asia behind him, Baqir moved to Iran, where he began studying Sufism and Islamic philosophy. These educational experiences ultimately led him to move back to Singapore after eight years in Iran, only for him to relocate yet again to Indonesia shortly afterwards, where he began teaching at an Islamic college in Jakarta.

In addition to his professional teaching, Baqir began working at Jakarta’s central prison last year, where he counsels and teaches inmates.

The experience highlighted Indonesia’s severe economic stratification, and reminded Baqir of the difficulties with the human experience.

“It’s divided into two kinds of prisoners, of inmates — the poor ones and the rich ones,” Baqir said. “The poor ones have to live in a very small space … there is no space even to sit, they have to stand.”

While Baqir found working with prisoners gratifying and validating, he alluded to several less cherished life experiences that have caused him to reevaluate his relationship with God and that forced him to reconcile his deeply held religious beliefs with life’s unfair realities. When he first returned to Singapore after spending eight years in Iran, Baqir taught students to obey God and to realize God in all aspects of their daily life. Baqir then faced an existential crisis in his personal relationship with God when his personal life began deteriorating.

“My life didn’t go so well … everything was a mess, this is what I thought, is that God has not been taking care of me,” Baqir said. “I really hated God at that time, because I’m doing His job at the same time, I’m doing His job for Him, I’m teaching people to recognize Him, and to know Him, and to obey

Him and everything, but He’s not providing for me.”

Feelings of dread and helplessness in Baqir’s relationship with God led to him abandoning religious scripture in his professional teachings.

He began preaching from the heart instead of from official, canonized texts. But preaching from the heart was not received well, which forced yet another reconciliation with his career and with his religious devotion.

“I tried to give that speech from my heart, and after the speech, friends came to me and said ‘there’s something wrong with your speech, usually it’s so good … what happened to the speech? It’s not quality at all,’” Baqir said. “... and then I realized, I have nothing in my heart.”

Now, when delivering holy lessons, Baqir looks to something different in guiding what he says: the expressions and experiences of the people present around him.

“Now, if I have to give a talk, even a seminar or something, I don’t bring anything, I just bring a small piece of paper, an empty piece of paper, and when I give a speech I look at faces … the faces will tell me what to say,” Baqir said.

Baqir concluded his talk by illustrating how migration and movement have been purposeful themes to him both personally and professionally, and he elaborated upon the nature of ‘spiritual migration’, which is the belief that human souls inevitably flow back to God once their time on Earth is complete.

Students who attended the lecture appreciated Baqir’s willingness to address challenging topics head-on.

“The speaker emphasized self-awareness and consciousness of one’s path in a way that I had never thought about before,” Nitya Labh ‘22 said.

Student group holds campus climate strike on Sunken Garden Professors, students, community gather to protest, shed light on reality of current climate situation CLIMATE STRIKE from page 1

While the event was largely student driven, two non-students were scheduled to speak at the event.

Economics professor and department chair Sarah Stafford spoke to protestors about the importance of saving shoreline communities vulnerable to rising tides, imparting some of her economics-based knowledge to explain why losing these homes would be afflictive and create consequences beyond the coast. She identified climate change denial as an

issue of education, and she called on those in attendance to do their part to help to educate their peers about the reality of the climate situation.

“There are too many citizens and too many elected officials who either refuse to acknowledge or just can’t acknowledge what’s going to happen and aren’t thinking about the future because it’s easier to bury their heads in the sand,” Stafford said. “But the sand is going to be eroded and their heads are going to be underwater if we don’t help them.”

The other non-student speaker

scheduled to speak was State Delegate for the 93rd District of Virginia Mike Mullin. However, a day prior to the event organizers posted on Facebook that Mullin would no longer be attending due to his declination to sign the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge and Green New Deal Pledge and endorse the Virginia Green New Deal Coalition.

Wright addressed this change of events with the crowd. She said that she and other organizers had been in contact with Mullin about attending the event and signing

the pledges for several weeks prior to the strike and had been clear that signing the pledge was a prerequisite for speaking at the strike. According to Wright, she and fellow organizers were told Nov. 11 that Mullin would be signing the pledges before the strike and thus planned on his attendance.

This changed when Wright said that organizers were informed the previous evening that Mullin has a policy of not signing pledges and could not sign the No Fossil Fuels Money Pledge. Therefore, Wright

and fellow organizers informed Mullin that he would no longer be invited to speak at the strike, as signing the No Fossil Fuels Money Pledge would be the minimum that they would require for him to speak.

“We want more than words and speeches,” Wright said. “We want commitments. We want action. We need politicians who are not afraid to make commitments and be held accountable. We need politicians who will stand for our futures and not the fossil fuel industry. And we need climate justice now.”

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Page 4

SPEAKER

Lecture focuses on athletic head trauma Chris Norwinski talks past concussions, CTE among athletes SARAH GREENBERG FLAT HAT NEWS ASSOC. EDITOR

Thursday, Sept. 19, the Honor and Conduct Councils at the College of William and Mary, along with the Dean of Students Office, hosted Concussion Legacy Foundation Co-Founder and CEO Chris Norwinski as the featured speaker at the College’s Ethics Week campaign.

Widely known for driving modern research and awareness of the concussion and chronic traumatic encephalopathy crisis, Norwinski discussed his own personal experience with CTE, detailed the journey of bringing CTE to the forefront of modern athletic concern, and explained some of the unethical roadblocks within the athletic community that previously kept the disease in the shadows.

Athletes, young and old, are particularly susceptible to developing CTE due to the repeated head trauma they incur while playing their respective sports. As a former Harvard football player and WWE wrestler, Norwinski spoke first-hand of the dangers of repeated sports-related head trauma and their lack of proper diagnosis and treatment.

“What I’ve learned the hard way is that when you get out into the real world and there’s a lot of money involved; we’re not all playing by the same codes and lying and cheating has been stealing brain health from a lot of people,” Norwinski said.

Though he had been on the receiving end of head trauma for the entirety of his athletic career, Norwinski received his final, career-ending blow during a June 2003 wrestling match. Despite trouble thinking, dizziness, headaches and nausea — all classic symptoms of a concussion — he continued to wrestle and work out strenuously.

It was not until Norwinski met Robert Cantu — the eighth doctor he sought assistance from — that his head trauma was identified as a concussion, which prompted his realization that he had experienced multiple undiagnosed concussions over the course of his athletic career.

“Dr. Cantu taught me three things: one, none of us knew what a concussion was back in 2003, and so we were all playing through them; number two, had I just taken a few days or weeks off after each one, I probably wouldn’t have this cumulative brain damage that has now ended my career and gone on to impair my life for the last sixteen years, and ‘hey, there might be some long-term effects but we don’t really know that much about them right now so just be forewarned,’” Norwinski said.

After learning about the severity of concussion related brain trauma,

Norwinski was alarmed by his and the athletic community’s lack of awareness. In response, he set out to research the topic and went on to write “Head Games: Football’s Concussion Crisis,” his critically acclaimed book which investigates CTE in sports.

While researching the history of concussions in professional sports, he discovered an awareness of concussions, investigated their severity, and saw the importance of sidelining athletes who had incurred serious head trauma dating back to the early 20th century.

“This has just been one of those things that would peak its head out, and then get stomped down by someone who didn’t want to deal with these players,” Norwinski said. “They wanted them to go back in that same day if they needed them to win the game.”

Norwinski identified the National Football League as the most prominent organization responsible for the historic lack of CTE and concussion related sports injury diagnoses and proper treatment at both youth and adult levels.

In order to convince the NFL and other prominent athletic organizations of CTE and concussion related trauma’s prevalence and legitimacy, Norwinski partnered with Cantu to conduct research on the disease by creating the Concussion Legacy Foundation.

This includes arranging the post-mortem examination of numerous brains — including but not limited to former players and athletes like Andre Waters and Tom McHale — many of which were ridden with CTE. “We’re going to keep going with these brain studies because that’s what’s going to prove to the world that concussions are an invisible injury, they’re hard to see, it’s really hard to convince people that they have long-term effects, but this is a disease … that is very obvious, so maybe that’s how we’ll convince everyone that these hits to the head are bad,” Norwinski said.

His research has since prompted the NFL to amend their former denial of the concussion and CTE crises existence and, along with numerous other athletic organizations, implement new policies to protect athletes against developing CTE and other head traumas.

However, according to Norwinski, these policies still have a long way to go. He emphasized that CTE is not just exclusive to the United States, football or men. It is a disease prevalent across a wide range of sports worldwide, and as they continue to perform more research, hopefully policy changes will be made worldwide.

“We have a lot to do to solve this problem, and we’re not getting a lot of help, but we’re pretty proud of where we’ve gotten,” Norwinski said.

Norwinski concluded his presentation with discussion of how the CTE

and concussion crisis can be lessened, if not solved. In addition to the research and patient-family services work that the Concussion Legacy Foundation does, they hope to change the culture surrounding head trauma in an effort to minimize undiagnosed concussions.

According to Norwinski, many athletic concussions continue to go undiagnosed because athletes are not always capable of identifying their injuries as concussions or choose to ignore them in fear of potential consequences.

“The reality is when you get a concussion, the thing that’s supposed to help you figure out if you got a concussion is damage,” Norwinski said. “So at either moment you don’t know you have a concussion, and if you do know you have a concussion, you’re starting to think ‘well, am I going to lose my spot?’ or ‘well, does the team need me right now?’ and those are real, organic, natural thoughts.”

As a solution to this problem, Norwinski suggested holding teammates accountable for each other by encouraging them to look out for potential injuries and reporting when a fellow teammate has experienced a significant head trauma or exhibits concussion symptoms.

Another solution he posed is limiting the amount of head trauma young athletes are exposed to. Like with smoking and lung cancer, the likelihood of CTE development is significantly higher when repeated head trauma begins at a younger age, so this proactive approach would hopefully decrease CTE’s prevalence among athletes.

“We are really hoping that really quickly we can stem the tide of people developing CTE by just changing what we do with kids, and I can’t believe how hard it is to do,” Norwinski said. “…Sports are slowly changing, but they’re not going to get there fast enough.”

Sara Waugh ’21 found Norwinski’s discussion of the CTE and concussion crisis enlightening, particularly when he discussed the importance of policy changes regarding head trauma among child athletes.

“More awareness needs to be out there for youth sports,” Waugh said.

“I thought he did a really good job. He was really informative and he’s clearly spent a lot of time looking into the research and it shows.”

Jenna Smith ’19 was similarly surprised to learn about the lack of CTE awareness and prevention among youth athletics.

“It was eye opening how common it is and how easy it is to get,” Smith said. “It is kind of crazy how they don’t actually talk about it a lot, especially in high school and little league.”

CAMPUS

Debate highlights differing foreign policy perspectives Global Research Institute facilitates discussion on global political strategies CHLOE FOLMAR FLAT HAT OPINIONS EDITOR

The Alexander Hamilton Society and the John Quincy Adams Society hosted a debate Thursday, Sept.

19 between Robert Lieber and Eugene Golds. Lieber, a professor at Georgetown University, argued for more interventionist American foreign policy on behalf of the Alexander Hamilton Society.

Golds, the representative for the John Quincy Adam Society, argued for a foreign policy governed by diplomatic restraint.

The debate was sponsored by the College of William and Mary’s Global Research Institute. Dr. Susan Peterson, a co-founder of the Global Research Institute and a government and international relations professor at the College, served as the moderator of the debate.

Peterson opened the event by stressing that disagreements between intelligent, well-informed scholars on approaches to foreign policy are a timeless fixture of domestic discourse. She shared a history of American foreign policy, specifically citing former United States presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson’s hesitation in being overly involved in international issues.

In Lieber’s opening statement, he advocated for a more interventionist approach to international affairs.

He rejected the claim that this philosophy is searching for conflict.

Instead, Lieber argued that the United States has played an unparalleled role in international affairs

since World War II, citing the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund as examples of its success.

Lieber criticized the administrations of President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump for their policies of “retrenchment,” and noted the rise of regional hegemons such as Russia, China and Iran as evidence that these policies have harmed the world order.

“In these days of high technology, hyper-speed weapons, the Internet, cybertheft and so forth, the notion that we can follow what is a de facto quasi-isolationist policy is a fantasy,” Lieber said.

Lieber argued that recent atrocities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda and Syria have resulted from a lack of action on the part of the United States. He asserted that if the world order is not led by the United States, it will be led either by a totalitarian country or a weak country.

Golds, on the other hand, described his philosophy of foreign affairs as one of restraint.

“Corrupting conflicts damage our society and the world,” Golds said.

Golds brought up two specific questions, one about alliances and the other concerning when the United States should intervene militarily around the world.

He argued that while the United States should have friends and coalitions, it should not have permanent peacetime alliances. Golds advocated for keeping the military small and defensive, rather than interventionist.

“We’ve spent lots of money, we’ve run down our own country, we’re politically divided ... we haven’t addressed our problems — instead we’ve failed to address those, but we’ve also failed to address the problems we’ve tried

to address overseas,” Golds said.

Golds brought up Iraq and Libya as examples of failed interventions. He argued that when it comes to alliances, the United States has “confused means and ends.” Golds asserted that the United States is supporting wealthy countries excessively by protecting allies like European countries and Japan.

“If everyone defends themselves, everyone can be secure at the same time,” Golds said.

Golds advocated a long-term view of American foreign affairs and argued that there may come a time in the future when the United States needs to fight.

“We should keep our powder dry, we should prepare for that moment. We shouldn’t go waste all our money today,” Golds said.

Lieber said that his view of foreign policy was prevalent in early America, saying that the United States used “muscular foreign policy” to push others out of North America. He brought up the point that the world has changed since the time of John Quincy Adams and that now events far away impact the United States directly. Lieber cited the 9/11 attacks as evidence for this claim.

Lieber admitted that not all intervention is positive and that the United States has made mistakes in the past.

“There needs to be more prudence, more caution, more care in shot selection, but our allies lack the capability and the will to do the kind of counterbalancing that [Dr. Golds] is talking about,” Lieber said.

Golds cited the military’s strength and substantial financial burden as evidence that it should not be used

more than necessary. He also focused on providing other countries with agency, saying that the United States should let wealthy, democratic governments make their own choices.

“There is no policy where we can wave a wand and fix China’s government,” Golds said.

Following the final comments, Lieber and Golds answered questions from the audience, including ones regarding the United States’ relations with Iran.

Lieber said that U.S.-Iran relations are often caricatured; however, both scholars agreed that the United States should restrain itself from overemphasizing its priority to positively benefit other countries. Golds said that foreign relations can be a complicated balancing tradeoff of ideals.

Both speakers were asked about the current administration’s approach to Iran’s threats. Lieber responded that while President Theodore Roosevelt counseled to “speak softly and carry a big stick,” President Trump has “spoken loudly and carried a small stick.”

After the event, Logan Harrell ’23 said that although both sides had very strong arguments, she wanted to see more of a middle ground between the United States being militaristic and knowing when not to be.

Athena Zacharakos ’20, President of the Alexander Hamilton Society, said she thoroughly enjoyed the debate.

“It’s a great debate, especially because it goes to the very core of both the John Quincy Adams Society and the Alexander Hamilton Society,” Zacharakos said.

Dean of Students removes anonymous option to submit care reports Administrative change caused by incomplete student-filed reports to ensure prompt assistance CARE REPORTS from page 1

public comment.

The Dean of Students Office has yet to hear student complaints regarding the April change. Thomas wants to hear from students if the change is impacting their care report filing habits and wants to further promote the reporting website as a centralized resource.

“I hope students have not found it to be a burden, and if they have, I think that it would be helpful to get a sense of why,” Thomas said. “It also tells me what can we do more to ensure that we are highlighting the report website.”

In terms of addressing potential student concerns about the change, Thomas wants to discuss tangible ways of assuaging student concerns if they feel like the change is affecting their reporting.

She proposed potentially adopting new marketing strategies that highlight the anonymous options or fostering a dialogue at Student Assembly meetings.

“If there are students that are having concerns about it, I’d want to talk about that,” Thomas said. “If we need to be marketing the other mechanisms more, than that is just what we have to do. It’s not kind of some loss essentially, there is still an opportunity to do that, but I definitely don’t want students feeling like because it is not in the care report option, that ‘issues and concerns’ link, that all of the sudden you don’t have a mechanism to do that.

But if they are feeling that way, how do we address it.”

Since 2017, the total amount of filed care reports has plateaued around 1,900 reports annually from July 1 through June 30 each academic year.

Thomas attributed increases in the 2015 and 2017 to strong outreach efforts by faculty, staff and students. Thomas said that the Dean of Students Office is closely monitoring the data to assess any impact from the recent change.

While some students recognize the rationale behind the change, some are still

unsure about being required to divulge their name to the Dean of Students Office.

“I understand why the school feels that they need to do it, and I think it is good that you can still choose to not be identified to the subject of the report, because I think that that is a lot of people’s main concern when filing a care report — is that the person they are filing could find out and get mad at them, especially if you’re close,” Kathleen Shannon ’21 said. “I don’t love the idea of being forced to give your identity to the school in that way, and forever having that your name being on a file that way. And I think the school already has a lot, a lot, a lot of personal information on all of us. I understand why in certain cases it could be necessary, but I value my privacy and I don’t know if I am 100 percent comfortable with it. I don’t think it will stop me from making a care report, if I am truly, truly concerned about someone, but it might make me think twice.”

Others feel that the alternative anonymous report options are more

cumbersome than the former care report portal option, as care reports are widely known and promoted on campus.

Kathryne King ’22 worries that the amount of reports could decrease due to students’ unfamiliarity with other resources, and that their attempts to remain anonymous would ultimately undermine their reporting capabilities.

“I feel like the big issue with that is a lot of the other ways to file a report anonymously are, maybe not more effort, but do require a little bit more of proactive action,” King said.

“You have to go and do something about it. Where care report is so easy, so simple, and it is something that is very widely, not distributed at our school, but it’s talked about a lot. People know what care reports are and people know how to get there, especially with orientation. It is branded as like ‘this is what our school does to help our students.’ And I think there could definitely be a decrease in the number of care reports seen, if people feel uncomfortable attaching their name to that report. I understand the

university’s thought behind it, but I also don’t want people to go without care or go without seeing someone, or at least given their options just because it’s harder for the university to track down people.”

Noting that the policy alteration was not publicly announced to the student body, King said that she was not aware of the care report form’s recent changes.

“It is interesting that this was a change because that was something that also wasn’t advertised and wasn’t really discussed,” King said. “I haven’t submitted a care report since the change and would not have known that that wasn’t an option until now.”

King said that the change should have been explained to students, as now students may find it surprising to not see the anonymous option on the care report form and could be deterred from submitting the report.

“It might make people think twice about sending in a care report which is not something we want to happen,” King said.

“That’s not what the university wants to see.”

opinions

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

The Flat Hat

| Tuesday, September 24, 2019 | Page 5

STAFF COLUMNS

New Daily Grind sparks discourse The Grind’s menu upsets students The Grind’s revamped Flex policies provides with expensively priced, mediocre food accessible dining options for student body Claire Hogan

Anna Boustany

FLAT HAT ONLINE EDITOR

FLAT HAT OPINONS EDITOR

For the first two years of my college Aromas, which is understandable. However, experience, I was never an aficionado of those latter restaurants have made food the Daily Grind, with its expensive prices that works well, is reasonably priced, and and lackluster food and drinks. This year, tastes good. The Daily Grind has yet to find however, I thought things would be different. its niche in any of the above categories. The With Aromas taking over, and the news Daily Grind has a high bar to follow, as its that the Grind would take Flex, I was fully menu items under its previous incarnations prepared to spend all of my Flex at the Daily were well beloved students, whereas the Grind. Its convenient location and space to current menu is pretty much universally study should have made it a winner. After all, disliked. I understand that it takes time for Aromas Cafe in the Earl Gregg Swem Library a restaurant under new management to has been one of my favorite spots on campus find its footing, but I was hoping that for years now, both to study and enjoy the Daily Grind would be able to do delicious snacks, in particularly the chocolate so easily, given the success of its croissant, a gift from the gods.

Aromas’ counterparts.

The Daily Grind, under the new Perhaps in a few semesters management of Aromas, is still finding its or so, it will have done so, footing, and I hope that sooner rather than but many of us will have later it will improve. Unfortunately, I’ve graduated by then and noticed a lot of issues. First and foremost, I would prefer not to wait. will say that the student employees are lovely I have yet to try their and kind and perhaps the best part of the drinks, but given establishment. They are fantastic, competent and trying their best.

However, my two big issues with the Grind are the pricing and quality of products. Unlike both Swem Aromas and Aromas, I have not been able to find prices posted anywhere in the store for anything besides their coffee menu.

Beyond that, their food items are also on the more expensive side, but you have no way of knowing this until you check out. Once you GRAP HIC BY have paid, you are then informed that KAYLA PAYN E / TH the small dish of food you are buying is a E FLAT HAT ridiculous amount. If you are paying in cash or debit/credit, you may be able to return the the inconsistency food, but this will be an awkward encounter in food, I think I will probably just take the that no one wants. With Flex, I am not sure extra five minutes to walk to Swem Aromas that there even is a way to re-do a purchase, or Cosi. at least not without causing a lot of hassle Ultimately, while I have issues with and holding up the line. A mere clearly the Daily Grind, I look forward to its visible listing of pricing would resolve this growth. Given my deep love and affinity for problem, and this is something both Swem both of the other Aromas outlets nearby, I Aromas and Aromas have done, so it seems have every hope that the Grind will grow in a very much within reach. positive direction, but I think for now I’ll be Secondly, the food is inconsistent in taking my Flex elswhere. quality. The menu offerings seem to be Email Anna Boustany at slightly different than Swem Aromas and aeboustany@email.wm.edu.

STAFF GRAPHIC

Last semester, I went to The Daily Grind exactly once. I entered, waited for 20 minutes for my order, and then was immediately disappointed at the bland, bitter drink I received. Obviously, I did not return. Having shattered my expectations into millions of tiny pieces, the Grind became my Mordor: I never walked in.

Flash forward to this semester, when the Grind 2.0 emerged like a phoenix from the ashes of

its former mediocrity. When I walked in, I was greeted by the familiar sights and sounds of Aromas; the assortment of packaged snacks, the eccentrically named lattes and the slightly overpriced sandwiches.

I mean, sure, there are aspects of the Grind that aren’t the greatest. Aromas coffee has the tendency to make your mouth taste like mulch for several hours after consumption. And I acknowledge that sometimes the music choices make me feel like an angsty eighth grader. Aromas still provides the one service I would give anything for: accepting

Dining Dollars.

Why the old Daily Grind didn’t take Dining Dollars is one of the great mysteries of the College of William and Mary. Surrounded by other food options that accepted Flex, the Grind was a malignant tumor on our cashless college campus.

Perhaps the 12 percent fee for accepting Flex was too high, or perhaps the Grind simply delighted in their aggressive deviation from the status quo. Either way, I was completely unwilling to spend real money, holding onto my cash for more important things, like vending machines and bribery.

Now that the Grind 2.0 accepts Flex, I am a loyal customer. I have forsaken the false god of Starbucks and the idolatry of the old Grind, and I now worship Aromas and Aromas alone.

I think of the Grind 2.0 as a metaphor for life. Sure, sometimes the menu is uninspiring, the endless repetition of sandwiches, bagels and cake dulling the senses to oblivion. But sometimes that’s reality; you do the best you can with limited resources. The coffee may be so bitter that it stains your taste buds for hours afterwards, but isn’t that just a metaphor for negative experiences impacting your life down the road? The sandwiches are overpriced, but so is the housing market.

The music may be loud, but so is the influence of corporate greed in our political system. Hidden in the intricate idiosyncrasies of the Grind 2.0 are hundreds of life lessons, no doubt carefully curated by Aromas itself.

Thank you, Aromas. Your new brand of slightly superior mediocrity has shown me a lot about myself and the world. Not only does it now accept Flex, but the Grind 2.0 teaches you an important lesson: life is suffering.

Email Claire Hogan at cahogan@email.wm.edu.

Vaping: Asking for lung cancer GRAPHIC BY DAVID SOLINSKY / THE FLAT HAT

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Page 6

STAFF COLUMNS

Students react to climate change demonstration Climate strike precipitates social Criticisms of climate protest miss media posts, fails to create change the mark with undue, crass outrage

Gavin Aquin

Ethan Brown

FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR

I love our planet. Everyone say it with me: “I love planet Earth.” Climate change is bad. Repeat again, please and thank you. Okay, now that the chanting is out of the way, I can get down to business. Real activism does not exist in 2019. It has been long dead — gone are the days of the Salt March, the March on Washington and Tiananmen Square. No longer are people gathering to make change — rather demonstrations are now the go-to excuse for the privileged elite to chastise … other privileged elites?

Oh, come on. Let’s call the Climate Strike last Friday, co-hosted by the Sunrise Movement and the Young Democrats, what it was — shouting at the moon and pretending like you’re making a difference just so you can feel better. How ridiculously dishonest.

The purported reasoning for the climate strike was to send a message to “corrupt fossil fuel billionaires,” and politicians along with demanding a “Green New Deal.” Arguments about whether Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s controversial proposition was even about the environment or whether it was an attempt to reshape the country’s economy in her image notwithstanding, the climate strike that took place at the College of William and Mary was as ineffective as it was irresponsible.

Let us just suspend our belief for a minute and pretend that fossil fuel billionaires even remotely cared what a bunch of 20-somethings thought — what are they going to do, just cease to exist? How about the politicians who jump at their whim — just stop taking money from the fuels lobby?

Such naivete is to be commended.

The truth is that as students on this campus, we are privileged. I don’t care what socioeconomic status or race or religion you are — we are all at a level of privilege unattainable by those who did not gain admission this university or to any other institution held in higher regard than ours. Every single one of us is privileged, but those that chose to skip class or skip studying or skip anything else worthwhile in order to “demonstrate” on the Sunken Garden — you really went out and displayed your privilege.

Talk about elitism.

FLAT HAT MANAGING EDITOR

So, what should you have done if you really cared about the environment? You could have contacted your congressmen and encouraged them to vote for supportive environmental measures.

You could be green in your own lives — recycling and considering sustainability. There are actual things you can do to make your difference! An extremely relevant way we could have protested climate change and government inaction would have been a tree planting ceremony.

The Amazon rainforest is disappearing within our lifetimes, and obviously one tree cannot make up for that — but it would have sent the message that we are not just a bunch of angry, immature, unlearned teenagers without aim, but rather a group of concerned, mature citizens who care about making a difference.

If students at the College are going to flaunt their privilege and act as “faux environmentalists,” then the least they can do is actually do something.

But hey: at least you got some really good Instagram stories out of signaling your virtue.

Email Gavin Aquin at gaaquin@email.wm.edu.

GRAPHICBBY MAGGIEBMORE AND HEADSHOTS

BY KAYLA PAYNE / THE FLAT HAT

This past Friday, Sept. 20, student protesters gathered on the College of William and Mary’s Sunken Garden to advocate for comprehensive policies addressing climate change. While I was not able to attend the rally — thank goodness that The Flat Hat livestreamed it — I’ve heard everything from glowing praise to scathing condemnation regarding the protest’s effectiveness, and upon reflection, I’ve decided that the insults hurled at student protesters since Friday are mostly unfair and fail to provide a complete picture of what went down last week.

The most ubiquitous complaint I’ve overheard about the strikers is that being able to participate in a rally during class time is little more than an indication of privilege, and that student protestors were more interested in obtaining flashy content for their Instagram stories than securing sincere policy objectives. At some level, I can appreciate the criticism here. It is more difficult for students on academic probation to take time off class to participate in a voluntary rally, and students pursuing work study employment cannot afford to skip a shift just to mill about on the Sunken Garden.

However, by no means does this signify that every individual at the strike is too blinded by their own privilege to have a genuine interest in supporting environmental sustainability. These claims are painting with far too broad of a brush by suggesting that each individual there was only there for the edgy social media posts, and it does a great disservice to categorize a diverse group of attendees so unfavorably.

Students against the strike also disparaged its attendees by arguing that rallying is a more passive form of protest than other active mechanisms, and that protestors would have been more successful in combating climate change by writing their congressional representatives and adopting more sustainable lifestyle habits. This is an ill-prepared and judgmental critique. Believe it or not, people are entirely capable of doing more than one thing at a time. It is entirely feasible that some students attended the rally and then immediately proceeded to follow up their attendance with supplementary advocacy measures; I sincerely doubt that many students attended the rally and believed they’d solved climate change within the span of 60 minutes. Granted, if there are any students with this mindset, I’d cherish insulting them just as much as the next twamp, but it’s difficult to believe that anyone on campus is quite that foolish.

Let’s be honest: the College is a pretty progressive place, and I’m sure that an overwhelming majority of students here recognize climate change as a pressing national priority. Why are we wasting time tearing down students attempting to address this topic? We’d be better served by avoiding the infighting and getting to work on solutions, which is what the student protestors were trying so desperately to convey. While I wasn’t able to join them, I’m grateful for their work, and I think we all should be too.

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

We’d be better served by avoiding the infighting and getting to work on solutions, which is what the student protestors were trying so desperately to convey.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: A PASSION FOR CONSISTENT WILLIAM & MARY STYLE

I very much appreciated Ethan Brown’s Sept. 10 column regarding William & Mary’s efforts to ensure greater consistency in how we communicate about ourselves. As the person charged with leading this effort across the university, I understand the passion and attachment associated with how we speak and write about our institution.

I, too, am passionate about how we communicate William & Mary both internally and broadly to external audiences. The leadership team at William & Mary is focused on raising our national profile and making sure people, especially those across the country and around the world, recognize we are both a world-class college and a superb research university.

Ethan is absolutely correct that William & Mary has technically been a university since 1779 when legal education began and the Law School was established. As noted in a 2017 article in the W&M Alumni Magazine, references to William & Mary as a “university” date back to the 1700s, including the honorary degree bestowed on Thomas Jefferson in 1783.

What I need to challenge, however, is that the world today widely knows William & Mary as a university, and that making efforts toward style consistency are unnecessary.

Each morning, I review all news articles and broadcasts that mention William & Mary and regularly see a variety of names.

We see “William and Mary,” “College of William and Mary,” “The College of William and Mary,” and even “William and Mary College.” Sometimes we see a variety of names in the same publication on the same day. However, thanks to our ongoing efforts, we are seeing William & Mary more

and more consistently.

When it comes to abbreviations and alphabetical lists, things are particularly confusing: we are variously listed in the Cs for “College,” Ts for “The College,” or Ws for “William” in any given list. Variable listings are especially problematic when it comes to tracking research productivity and assigning insitutional affiliations during the publishing process. In a digital age when exact search strings determine hit rates, variation in our name can make it more challenging to track the scholarly

The leadership team at ‘William & Mary’ is focused on raising our national profile and making sure people, especially those across the country and around the world, recognize we are both a world-class college and a superb research university.

output of our community.

Internationally, our reputation suffers each time someone sees “College” and immediately assumes William & Mary is a prep school. This happens.

There is a deep fondness, particularly among undergraduate alumni, for “the College.” As noted on brand.wm.edu, “the College of William & Mary” is reserved for our most formal occasions and “the College” for second reference in communications for undergraduate alumni.

For all other communications, we use William & Mary on first reference, and “university” or “W&M” on second references. This mirrors the way other institutions refer to themselves in a clear, consistent manner. For example, does The Flat Hat refer to the university in Blacksburg as “Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,” or just “Virginia Tech?” Is it “The President and Directors of Georgetown College” or simply “Georgetown University?” How many times have you read “Leland Stanford Junior University” instead of “Stanford?”

The style guidelines are designed for communications of, for and about the university. It is up to each member of our community, in their own personal communications, to decide how they refer to William & Mary. Our hope is they see the importance and value in being consistent with how we talk about ourselves while also ensuring the outside world knows this is a leading university with exceptional undergraduate, graduate and professional programs.

Sincerely, Brian Whitson bwwhit@wm.edu

ALYSSA GRZESIAK // FLAT HAT CHIEF FEATURES WRITER

variety

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

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, September 24, 2019 | Page 7

different faces of

L A T I N I D A D Latin American Student Union holds main event in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, discusses nuances of Latinx and Afro-Latinx identities Thursday, Sept. 19, the Latin American Student Union put on its major event for Hispanic Heritage Month, an open discussion titled “The Different Faces of Latinidad — An Afro-Latino Discussion.” The goal of this event was to serve as a dialogue — more specifically, an exchange of ideas and information.

LASU Co-President Diego Rodriguez Cabrera ’20 introduced the discussion as “an effort to get back to our roots and highlight the spectrum of Latinidad.”

LASU is in its tenth year as an organization at the College of William and Mary. The mediators and academic experts for the discussion were Professor John Riofrio of the Hispanic studies department and associate professor Monika Gosin of Africana and Latin American studies. These experts noted that there appears to be an uptick in the organization’s presence on campus this year, a highlight especially for this Hispanic Heritage Month.

Rodriguez Cabrera emphasized the need to celebrate Hispanic heritage, particularly in the current political climate.

“I think that this Hispanic heritage month is especially important because as we have seen under this specific administration, the Latinx community has been a target of a lot of attacks,” Rodriguez Cabrera said.

“A lot of our legal protections have been revoked, our children have been put in cages, and just division in this country seems too great.”

The event included both large and small group discussions. Those in attendance would first break out into small groups to discuss definitions and themes. After a few minutes, everyone would come back together to discuss as a whole.

Members were encouraged to have an open mind and listen to other people, as well as contribute their own thoughts and opinions.

Topics of interest during the dialogue included race, ethnicity, discrimination, racism, nationalism and privilege. During small group discussions, members began by discussing the definitions of terms before diving into what these concepts represented. Some

groups discussed boundaries and lines, while others focused on the concept of identity and how these topics may deviate from more “traditional” definitions.

Race was defined as a grouping of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into categories generally viewed as a distinct body.

One attendee brought up the idea of race as a social construct and how people often treat race and ethnicity as interchangeable terms, to which many others in attendance nodded along in agreement. This led to a conversation regarding the reallife consequences that surround concepts such as race and ethnicity.

Rodriguez Cabrera spoke to how the discussion brought to light the spectrum of Latinidad.

“We are actively highlighting…and educating others on it, and, at the same time, being educated ourselves,

The idea that internal and external definitions for identity can differ sparked a discussion. Similarly, the notion of colonialism and an inherited a legacy around race and ethnicity served as a foundation for debate. An overarching theme of each discussion was the expression of culture and identity.

“We’re going to … hopefully talk about colonialism, dismantling it and just loving one another and appreciating one another for all of our beautiful and intersecting identities,” LASU vice president Alexia Kaelber ’21 said.

Throughout the dialogue, students asked a series of complex questions and provided responses that were insightful, genuine and able to be built upon by others. The discussions served as a medium to highlight underrepresented minorities within the Latinx community, educate attendees on d i f f e re nt elements of the spectrum of Latinidad and recognize the contributions of other members of the Latinx community.

“It’s definitely a recognition of all of the contributions that the Latinx community has given to us,” LASU Marketing Chair Briana Jimenez ’20 said. “Not only to the people, but just to the world. So many awesome contributions, the history of it, really just an awesome recognition. Really something that should occur all year long, but this month really is a month where we are really able to do that.”

LASU hosts many events for the College community, from cultural celebrations to traditional food sales to whiteboard tabling. The organization’s goal for the next few weeks is to encourage students to discuss why and how they celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.

“There is a community of Latinx identifying students here,” LASU Co-President Rosemary Guardado ‘21 said. “Although we may be really small in terms of population and everything, we are here to stay and we just want to like let everyone know that we’re here. …

We have very colorful cultures and everything, and we just want to share our culture with everyone.”

“We’re going to … hopefully talk about colonialism, dismantling it, and just loving one another and appreciating one another for all of our beautiful and intersecting identities.”

COURTESY GRAPHIC / LASU

—Alexia Kaelber ’21 because by no means are we experts about anything we talk about,” Rodriguez Cabrera said. “This is a dialogue so it is a back-and-forth; we are talking with everybody, we are learning just as much as they are, and this is really just an effort to hammer that point.”

Another focal point of the discussion was deconstructing and understanding Afro-Latinidad.

Afro-Latinidad is the identity for someone who acknowledges both African and Hispanic identity.

There is neither one definition nor a single correct way to define this identity.

“We really want to highlight the spectrum of Latinidad,” Rodriguez Cabrera said. “Afro-Latinos, sadly, are an underrepresented group even within the Latinx community, and it’s something that is often not addressed or talked about or acknowledged within our communities. So this is one of the ways that we’re highlighting the spectrum of Latinidad.”

The Flat Hat

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Page 8

Highlighting diversity Shene Owens talks about going beyond her title as administrator, being a guiding presence and mentor on campus ALYSSA GREZSIAK // FLAT HAT CHIEF FEATURES WRITER When Assistant Director for the Center for Student Diversity Shene Owens first arrived at the College of William and Mary in 2016, she spent her first semester observing the students and getting a feel for the campus.

“My door is always open,” Owens said. “Usually students are stopping by either with something really pressing they want to talk about. Sometimes it’s informal, we just sit and eat lunch together … and talk about what they have going on.”

One of Owens’ many responsibilities is serving as the coordinator for the Preparing for Life as a University Student Program. PLUS is a pre-orientation program with the goal of facilitating the transition between high school and college — students get to work with faculty members of the College, become familiar with campus resources, and participate in mock class sessions.

“So, it’s a one week program, but since I’ve had it for the last three years I’ve started expanding it throughout the year,” Owens said. “So, working with the Office of First Year Experience in trying to implement some workshops and different things with campus partners throughout the year so students feel supported not just prior to coming. … PLUS has been the biggest impact that I would say that I’ve had on campus.”

Owens is also in charge of planning events around President’s Council, as well as other signature and cultural events.

“I plan a retreat at the beginning of the semester to help with leadership skills, recruitment and retention, membership engagement, some of the skills you need as a leader when running an organization,” Owens said. “And then, throughout the year we

meet between two to four times, and then in the spring, we have a spring retreat with the outgoing president and the incoming president to go over some transition skills.”

Once she got a vibe for the campus, she was able to implement her own ideas, one of which is her well-known Chat n’ Chew conversations. These conversations come in three different forms, and the topics come from different elements of student life.

“So, one way there’s a set topic and we’ll talk about, whether it’s diversity at William and Mary, whether the topic is self-care. … Another way is Chat n’ Chew discussion pot, and that’s when I walk in the room with my little pot and we put anonymous questions in the bowl and we just pull them out and talk about whatever we decide that day,” Owens said. “Another option is Chat n’ Chew community conversations, and that’s when I go out into the residence halls or in different departments and just either they will ask me to talk about a specific topic that there’s something going on in that group, or we just have general conversations just to build some team building and community.”

Through the CDS, Owens maintains and builds partnerships with other campus organizations. These include the Haven, Health Promotions, Sharpe Community Scholars, Admissions and more.

“We partner with anyone who’s willing, or we ask them to be willing,” Owens said. “We partner trying to make sure that the students that we serve know more about the resources that are available on campus.”

When reminiscing on the changes that she has seen on campus during her time here, Owens chooses not to think of them as changes, per se. She prefers to consider them advances towards

the CSD’s goal of fostering and providing a safe and inclusive environment for the College.

“Just emphasizing belonging on campus, and making sure that everyone feels welcome,” Owens said. “Making sure that the student population knows that the CSD is not for just one set or group of students, that everyone is welcome at the CSD and that it’s a place where you can come and have programming, you can come and just eat lunch, you can come and sleep if you need to. But I think that has been our main focus, is just the sense of belonging so that you know it’s not that like you have to retreat there, away from anywhere else, but that it’s a place where you can go and just be.”

Owens highlighted the student-centered element to the CSD, especially how events and programs are much more successful when students are involved and get to see their suggestions brought to life.

“I’m fun, and we are fun; we have fun here,” Owens said.

“Sometimes you see that word ‘administrator’ and then you just think like, ‘Oh I’m gonna be in trouble,’ or ‘I have to act a certain way.’ Be respectful, of course, but we have a good time and we want to build programming and have a space that reflects students.”

While discussing her role within the CSD and the students she works with, a smile never left Owens’ face.

“I love what I do,” Owens said. “I love working with students, and I love the students here at William and Mary, because just as much as I take care of them, they will remind me drink my water, did you have lunch. … I will preach self-care all day long, but the students are listening and will repeat it back, so I appreciate that.”

ADITHI RAMIKRISHNAN/ THE FLAT HAT COURTESY PHOTO / WM.EDU

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

A Tinder tale

The all too familiar narrative of awkward online romance as an undergraduate on a small campus Gavin A.

THE FLAT HAT

As a newly liberated young gay experimenting with whoredom, the first thing I did after coming to the College of William and Mary was to get myself situated on all of the dating apps. Coming fresh off of a relationship, I figured what better way to get over a deep meaningful relationship than by going crazy?

Right? Wrong.

Let me recount a story for you — a legend perhaps — of the ghosts of Tinder past, and unlike our favorite holiday story, these ghosts don’t just disappear. Once upon a time, a twamp decided to sign up for Tinder. Said twamp runs into a Tinder Match they had been chatting with all week and proceeds to become an awkward wreck until they can sneak away from the situation. Un-match incoming. Yes, I am being completely serious: this did in fact happen to me at the elevators in Earl Gregg Swem Library during finals week.

The fact of the matter is that this college is extremely small.

Everyone is at most two to three degrees of separation apart from each other. You will run into a Tinder Match in Swem.

You will run into a Tinder Match in the bread lines in the mail room. You will run into a Tinder Match when you’re wearing an unflattering Disneyland sweatshirt on a 1 a.m. run to Wawa.

You will probably even end up in classes with a Tinder Match in the future. Are you seeing the pattern?

For those of us with social anxiety who don’t say hi to every

single person we know all the time, every time we see them, the extra layer of embarrassment of running into someone you met online can be a lot to deal with — I totally get it. But the best advice I can give you is to get over yourself.

We all put our best face on for dating apps — but offline, keeping up a persona you set up for a dating profile is unsustainable at best but damaging to your psyche at worst.

Reality check: we all put our best face on for dating apps — but offline, keeping up a persona you set up for a dating profile is unsustainable at best but damaging to your psyche at worst.

No, you are not going to be a social pariah on the dating scene at the College just because you fumbled an in-person

interaction once. I run into a Match that ghosted me at least once a week, and at this point I don’t care. However, one thing I have not done was seek an explanation through confrontation. It goes without saying that this type of confrontation is basically the best way to ensure that other people find out about the situation, which would be less than ideal.

Likewise, if you run into a Tinder Match and are confronted with a situation where they are the ones asking for an explanation, you are under no obligation to explain to them the circumstances behind why you are not seeing each other.

Let me repeat: you do not owe anything to anybody.

Additionally, it has come to my attention that many of my friends, and I myself have been guilty of this, feel the need to fast-track their lives and enter relationships that they otherwise would not have entered — just for the sake of being in a relationship, because seemingly everyone else is in one.

The ubiquity of social media in our lives makes it seem like we are always missing out on dating or relationships. After all, why am I single when I see people I went to high school with getting married, though it’s not like I haven’t made an effort?

Essentially, there’s no reason for you to rush the relationship process — slow down and enjoy your undergraduate years.

Make friends with people first, and if relationships develop, then they will develop.

Gavin A. is a Flat Hat Behind Closed Doors columnist and he wants to remind you that you don’t have to thot around if you don’t want to.

sportsinside

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, September 24, 2019 | Page 9

VOLLEYBALL

JAMIE HOLT / THE FLAT HAT

Junior opposite hitter Kate Dedrick was instrumental to the College’s efforts in the Patriot Invitational, having combined for double blocks, several kills, in addition to giving the College its early lead in the second game, its only set won.

College drops last three before conference play Despite somewhat promising performances, Tribe fails to capitalize on offense AVERY LACKNER FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR William and Mary (4-7) suffered three consecutive beatdowns at the Patriot Invitational against Seton Hall, Wake Forest and George Mason respectively.

“I think we’re all disappointed with the result,” head coach Tim Doyle said following Friday’s loss against the Pirates. “We didn’t play well enough to win today.”

Perhaps Doyle was referring to the fact that the Tribe immediately gave away the lead to the Pirates, who capitalized on a Tribe error, a kill and an ace in succession to capture the first three points of the first set. However, the College showed signs of life after a kill from sophomore outside hitter Lauren Merrill put the team on the board. Following Merrill’s put-down, freshman middle blocker Kaitlyn Ferguson and junior opposite hitter Kate Dedrick combined for a double block, making the score 3-2 in favor of the Pirates.

The teams traded points briefly, until a ferocious swing from junior middle blocker Julia Brown gave the College its first lead of the game, 7-6. Brown jumped out early on the offensive effort, earning three kills in the first ten points of the first game.

The Pirates fought back to tie up the score at 10, and a ninepoint scoring run gave them a 19-10 cushion heading into the final points of the frame, which ultimately closed out 25-18 in favor of the Pirates.

The second set was equally as contentious, with ties at the eight-, thirteen- and seventeen-point mark. As the game wore on, the Pirates captured two consecutive points to take a 19-17 lead, forcing the Tribe to attempt to match their scoring pace.

The College fell short in that effort, though the final 25-22 score

was a considerably smaller margin than the previous set, owing primarily to the four kills each which were put down by Merrill and Dedrick.

Doyle expressed frustration at the Tribe’s inability to think on its feet.

“We have to respond and adjust better when it’s time to make changes in-match,” Doyle said. “Our passing was decent, but our offense was sluggish and we didn’t adapt well to what the block showed us.”

The third frame saw the Tribe take an early 5-4 lead, off the strength of two more kills from Dedrick, who earned ten or more kills in four straight matches, including against the Pirates and Demon Deacons. Yet another early tie threatened to bog down the College’s offense, until a Pirates service error gave the Tribe a onepoint edge, which the Tribe ran with. A kill apiece from Brown and Merrill, and an ace from freshman libero Anna Porter put the College up 10-6. Brown continued to shine offensively, notching 12 kills and six blocks; additionally, a .500 hitting percentage registered Brown’s third time in four matches hitting above .440.

Despite taking a 24-23 lead as the set wound down, the College dropped three consecutive points and found itself on the wrong end of a 26-24 score. The Pirates took the third game and with it the match. Though it earned 41 kills compared to just 36 from the Pirates, the College also committed 25 errors, racking up enough mistakes to account for the point spread of an entire set.

“We have to individually and collectively improve our mindset when we are down but not out and stay aggressive when able,” Doyle said. “We have two more chances this weekend to get our game right before conference.”

Doyle’s hopes were dashed, however, when the Tribe dropped both of its Saturday matches.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Tigers pounce on Tribe, win 1-0 Princeton prevents College late-game equalizer

COURTESY PHOTO/ TRIBE ATHLETICS

The College exhibited very strong offense, with goalkeeper Katelyn Briguglio having prevented the Tigers from scoring 11 times.

EMMA JONES THE FLAT HAT Sunday, Sept. 22, William and Mary (2-6-1) headed to New Jersey to take on Princeton (3-3-2) in its nonconference finale where the College eventually fell 1-0.

The Tribe got off to a quick start with the first three shots of the game. The first went wide right at the 7-minute mark off the foot of junior midfielder Erin Dailey. Junior forward Courtney Miles got the second shot at 18:56 that was saved by Tigers goalie Natalie Grossi. The third shot, taken by redshirt senior forward Sarah Segan, went wide right in the 24th minute.

The Tigers came back with a couple shots of their own, each team finishing the half with six shots apiece.

The difference came right before the half in the 43rd minute. Tigers forward Olivia Kane found forward Grace Sherman, who sent a ball across the box to midfielder Tatum Gee for what turned out to be the game-winner.

Coming out of halftime, the Tigers picked up right where they left off, earning five corners and outshooting the Tribe 17-7 in the second frame. Despite the shot deficit, the Tribe did not go down without a fight. Junior goalkeeper Katelyn Briguglio had a season high of 11 saves, all of which came in the second half. The Tribe had a couple chances for an equalizer late in the game. In the 84th and 89th minutes, Dailey and sophomore forward Renee Kohler, respectively, had attempts saved by Grossi. The College’s final scoring chance came with 32 seconds left in the game, when junior defender Kelsey Hamer had her shot go wide right, securing the Tigers’ victory.

The Tribe will head to Harrisonburg, Virginia Thursday, Sept. 26, to open Colonial Athletic Association play against James Madison, the defending regular season conference champions. It will be back home Sunday, Sept. 29, to host Towson.

Saturday’s opening match looked promising for the College, which initially held its own against the Demon Deacons, forcing a 10-10 tie in the first frame. However, the Demon Deacons then proceeded to inflict multiple damaging scoring runs on the Tribe, which proved fatal as the first set closed out with a 25-17 score in favor of the Demon Deacons.

Dedrick was once again crucial in earning the College its early lead during the second game, earning two of the Tribe’s first five points. The Tribe’s offense was finally in sync, and extremely welldistributed scoring was the evidence. Merrill, Brown, Dedrick, and sophomore outside hitters Anne Louise Seekford and Claire Farrell all contributed crucial kills and blocks to help the College cruise to a 25-19 win, the only set it would claim over the course of the entire weekend.

The third and fourth frames were hotly contested, with scoring streaks on both sides accounting for multiple lead changes. Brown chipped in a kill late during the third set, tied the score at 25, but the Demon Deacons responded with a pair of kills and took the set 28-26. The College held the lead four separate times in the fourth frame, including as late as 18-17, but was unable to clinch the set, eventually losing the game 25-22 and the match 3-1.

The final match of the day, versus the George Mason Patriots, displayed the Tribe’s ebbing stamina. Battling through the first set with kills from Seekford, Ferguson and Merrill, the College took a 17-15 lead, but the Patriots scored six quick points, and eventually capped the set. The Patriots pushed the pace in the second and third frames, downing the Tribe by scores of 25-15 and 25-13 respectively.

Coming off three consecutive defeats, the College will begin its conference slate at home Friday, Sept. 27, facing Northeastern at Kaplan Arena. Sunday, Sept. 29, the Tribe will host Hofstra.

ONLINE

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Want more Flat Hat Sports coverage?

For your daily dose of all things Tribe Athletics at the College of William and Mary, visit flathatnews.com

sports

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

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, September 24, 2019 | Page10

PROFILE

Leading on and off the field

COURTESY PHOTO / TRIBE ATHLETICS

When Jones was in middle school, doctors advised him to stop playing football because he only has one kidney and the physical strain could cause serious health problems; London and the rest of the Tribe are grateful he didn’t listen.

Jones’ leadership, keen instinct for play-making have developed over years of experience NATHAN SEIDEL FLAT HAT SPORTS ASSOC. EDITOR

Even though senior linebacker Arman Jones has one kidney less than the rest of his teammates, he more than makes it up through leadership by example, a positive attitude instilled through familial support and athletic versatility that leaves tight ends and running backs alike with a tough matchup.

Born with a single kidney, Jones was advised to stop playing football in middle school, but his passion for the sport and the happiness it brought him propelled him to continue and thrive.

“I wasn’t supposed to play football at all, but I kept going,” Jones said. “I love the game too much and enjoy just playing with friends and relatives I ended up getting a bond with. In middle school, they were like, ‘you probably should stop,’ and in high school they were like, ‘you definitely should stop,’ but I’m here now, healthy and blessed to be able to play the game still.”

And play the game he has, having recorded 167 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 14.5 tackles-for-loss and two interceptions returned for touchdowns in 35 games for the Tribe, all while providing a model to aspire to for younger players, both on the field and off. First-year head coach Mike London noted his effect on his teammates in preparation and mentality.

“Arman is not only a leader in terms of his effort on the field, but in the meeting rooms,” London said. “When you’re having meetings, he’s talking about, ‘what’s your job, what’s your responsibility?’ to the other players. It’s like a coach being out on the field. His ability to expect and demand from himself and others is something that stands out and makes him a really good leader.”

In addition to football, Jones strives to connect with his teammates on a personal level by being there for them off the field as well as on.

“I try to just build on relationships for each of the players I come in contact with,” Jones said. “And ask personal questions ’cause I feel like that’s the biggest thing. The game we play, it’s all about football, but we got to step back sometimes and ask how we are as people.”

Jones derives many of his leadership qualities and selfmotivation from his father, who he credits as his strongest role

model growing up, having taught him the importance of striving for his best and creating his own path.

“I know overall he wants me to do my own thing,” Jones said.

“That’s the biggest thing he taught me growing up: you don’t have to follow in anybody’s footsteps.”

He was a sought-after recruit coming out of high school, drawing interest from James Madison, Harvard, Cornell and the military academies in addition to the College. However, Jones says a visit to practice here made his choice clear.

“I got the vibe from everybody: coaches, players, staff, like it’s family oriented and it felt right,” Jones said. “It felt like you were actually home. It felt like everybody accepted you for who you are regardless of your background, and it’s something I was looking forward to, obviously and a great education at William and Mary. I felt like it was a no-brainer when I came and got a feel for the campus. I chose here and haven’t regretted it ever since.”

His teammates and coaches have noted growth each season in his play, particularly his penchant for momentum-shifting moments.

“Arman’s obviously been a baller from the start,” senior safety Isaiah Laster, who was Jones’ sophomore year roommate, said.

“But as he’s played more, he’s seeing things faster, reacting faster, and making more plays.”

These plays not only affect the flow of a game but can change the entire culture and mindset of a defense. Laster noted how big plays from Jones in game and in practice affected the players around him.

“I think it makes other players hungrier for more plays,” Laster said. “People say ‘playmaking is contagious,’ but mental toughness-wise, when a guy you’re practicing with is making plays, it kind of makes you feel ‘I should be making these sort of plays.’”

Jones played cornerback, safety and linebacker in high school, and London has used his versatility to position him in different spots throughout the season. Many players substitute in or out each play depending on the defensive personnel package, but Jones often stays in all three downs, regardless of formation.

“He’s an outside linebacker and he also plays in nickel package when it’s third and long,” London said. “He’s one of

the guys we have in that can rush, that can drop into coverage, or take a running back man-to-man, so he’s versatile from that standpoint.”

No matter how many positions played at the high school level, the transition to college football can be substantial, and Jones has noticed thus far in his senior campaign that his comfort level has improved with age.

“Coming in as a freshman, it was crazy,” Jones said. “Everything was fast, and it’s kind of crazy to get adjusted. Now to my senior year, I think my knowledge of the game has improved, especially with the big FBS games, so now it’s just focus in on what your job is and applying that and continuing on.”

In addition to football, Jones has embraced the liberal arts nature of the college education during his four years, focusing on business, math and, most recently, his history major and Africana studies minor, although he says his true passion lies in helping others learn.

“Eventually, when I get a little older, I’m going to end up teaching,” Jones said. “I don’t know what I like about teaching, but I’ve tutored a couple kids and help some kids out once and a while, and I really enjoy it.”

Jones plans to either pursue a master’s degree in education or follow another dream of his, to work in football administration at the college or professional level.

As far as lessons to younger players goes, though, Jones stresses the importance of embracing the role one plays and staying in the moment.

“Don’t let anybody take your joy away from you,” Jones said.

“With sports and academics, it’s going to be demanding at times and life’s going to be hard, but you can’t let any situation take you down and change the way you feel about yourself. Take every day as a gift or a blessing, cause there’s a lot of people out there that really wish they were in your shoes regardless of what you’re going through.”

Effort and perseverance are the engine that drives Jones both in the classroom and on the gridiron, and he hopes that mindset will help drive his play and the program to a successful season.

“Just play your heart out,” Jones said. “And never quit, no matter how hard the circumstances are, or no matter how tough life gets. Always play your heart out, and the success will come.”

THE EXTRA POINT

Coming off Monmouth victory, Tribe can regain momentum in home stretch

Team not living up to preseason expectations; needs to take advantage of friendly schedule to rebound

Brendan Doyle

FLAT HAT EXECUTIVE EDITOR

William and Mary field hockey was picked to win the Colonial Athletic Association this season, and for good reason. The Tribe won the conference last year and advanced through the opening round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament. Senior midfielder Christie van de Kamp was voted conference preseason player of the year while the College returned five additional all-

CAA players from last season.

But so far this season, the Tribe isn’t playing like a conference favorite. It lost four out of five to start the year, with the lone win being over Long Island.

The good news is that part of that can be attributed to a tough schedule, as the College opened its season vs. No. 3 Duke and then, two weeks later, took on top-ranked North Carolina in a rematch of last year’s NCAA Tournament loss. The Tribe also lost to Old Dominion, which then went on to be ranked No. 22 the following week.

The bad news is that the College’s offense has struggled to find its footing through the early part of the season. Through the first six games of the season, the Tribe has averaged just one goal per game, compared to the 2.7 goals it scored each game on average last year. That lack of a potent attack has already bit the College, which lost a 1-0 decision against Virginia Commonwealth in penalty strokes, as no regulation goals were scored. van de Kamp and senior forward Woodard

Hooper have scored all but one of the Tribe’s goals so far this year. That’s not sustainable if the Tribe really does want to compete for the CAA this season.

The College has a perfect chance to turn things around, though. Sunday, the Tribe notched a 3-1 victory over Monmouth, the team it beat in its NCAA Tournament win last season. That encouraging win came against a Hawks squad that had won five of its first seven games, including two wins and an overtime loss against CAA foes.

Now, the Tribe has five straight contests at home, including two against conference rivals James Madison and Hofstra. If the College can win three or four out of those five games to take advantage of home field advantage, it will be well on its way to another stellar campaign.

Even if head coach Tess Ellis’ team takes advantage of a long homestand, there is still a team lurking: ninth-ranked Delaware. The Tribe may have been picked to win the CAA before the season, but the Blue Hens have talent and a championship

pedigree. Before the College took the conference tournament crown last season, the Blue Hens had won the CAA five consecutive years and brought home the NCAA title in 2016.

While a decisive loss to St. Joseph’s on Friday means that Delaware is probably not the ninth-best team in the nation, the Blue Hens are still good. Like last year, the CAA will probably be decided between Williamsburg and Newark, Delaware.

There’s still a little while until these two teams clash in the second-to-last regular season game – just over five weeks. But the importance of the match will be decided by how the College performs in the 10 games prior: an offensive resurgence and solid play in-conference could mean the game decides the No. 1 seed in the CAA Tournament. If the Tribe’s sluggish scoring continues, though, the path to a second matchup with Delaware in the conference championship game might be that much harder.

Email Brendan Doyle at bpdoyle@email.wm.edu.