SPORTS >> PAGE 8
VARIETY >> PAGE 6
Freshman Emily Stites competes in Poland over weekend as she participates in global competitions.
Thought Catalog features satirical novel about Olsen twins, Peter Gallagher.
Running internationally
Student writer published
The Flat Hat
Vol. 102, Iss. 44 | Friday, March 29, 2013
The Twice-Weekly Student Newspaper
of The College of William and Mary
CAMPUS LIFE
College receives $10,000 to aid hazing prevention Administrators speak on continued need to support anti-hazing initiatives on campus
“
“
“
— Vice President for Student Affairs Ginger Ambler ’88 M.Ed. ’06
“
— Directer of the Office of Student Leadership Development Anne Arseneau ’89 M.Ed. ’92
BY ANNIE CURRAN AND MEREDITH RAMEY FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR AND MANAGING EDITOR
The College of William and Mary received HazingPrevention. org’s 2013 Zeta Tau Alpha Award for Innovation in Campus Hazing Prevention and Education. The award comes with a $10,000 cash prize for the College’s Hazing Prevention Coalition to use in future prevention efforts. Vice President of Student Affairs Ginger Ambler ’88 M.Ed. ’06 accepted the award earlier this month on behalf of the coalition. “They only give one award a year,” Ambler said. “It’s a big deal for William and Mary that we received this recognition, and we will be good stewards of the $10,000 we’ve been given.” The coalition is comprised of 13 faculty, staff and student members. The group has worked to create the common message that the College is “a home without hazing” and received an honorable mention for the award last year. The coalition began in response to a 2007 national study on student hazing in which the College participated. Sixty-three percent of students surveyed at the College said they had experienced hazing and 83 percent said they were aware of hazing on campus. The results of this study, published in 2008, prompted redoubled efforts to prevent hazing. In 2010, the College sent a delegation to the Novak Institute, a part of HazingPrevention.org, for hazing prevention. Linda Knight, director of campus recreation and co-chair of the coalition with director of the office of student leadership developement Anne Arseneau ’89, M. Ed. ’92, says that spreading the same idea to
“
“
Things that seem very innocent could be very detrimental to someone who has a different reaction.
... To me, this just demonstrates that nobody fixes everything and we have continued work to do.
Hazing and demeaning other people should not be the choice for tradition and belonging.
— Director of Campus Recreation Linda Knight
all campus organizations has helped to increase awareness. Arseneau elaborated, explaining that hazing is not limited to any one type of group on campus. According to Ambler, national research from the University of Maine shows hazing can occur in any type of campus organization that wants to create a sense of belonging or tradition. She acknowledges that tradition is an important part of any group. “There are healthy ways to do those valuable things,” Ambler said. “Hazing and demeaning other people should not be the choice for tradition and belonging.” Arseneau elaborated on the use of hazing in more than just Greek and sports organizations, citing students’ roles in various groups on campus as possible networks through which hazing practices can spread. “I think that any group that has a new membership intake process has some opportunity to be at risk for some hazing practices to take hold,” Arseneau said. “Nobody at William and Mary is involved in just one thing. … Things can bleed in different ways. … Our data doesn’t suggest that it is just a fraternity or sorority problem. Our high risk groups are club sports, Tribe Athletics and fraternities and sororities.” The Hazing Prevention Coalition tries to teach students about the harmful effects of hazing. Knight says students might not understand other students’ pasts and what can be triggers for them. She says if one student is screaming at another student who was abused previously, See HAZING PREVENTION page 3
Flathatnews.com | Follow us:
STUDENT ASSEMBLY
Students report missing ballots
SA discusses use of eBallot BY ZACH HARDY FLAT HAT CHIEF STAFF WRITER
Last year’s Student Assembly election had 18 complaints, four sanctions and three appeals. Besides some small technical issues with eBallot, the service used for electronic voting, this year’s SA elections came and went with little incident. Votenet, of which eBallot is a branch, is the voting software used by the SA. In the past, there have been problems with ballots disappearing in spam folders. This year some students studying abroad complained of not receiving ballots, and some students on campus received non-working codes. Discrepancies in the email lists provided by the College of William and Mary Student Affairs office, which are used to send out ballots, were a potential explanation offered by the Chair of Election Commission T.J. O’Sullivan ’13 as to why some students failed to receive their ballots. “On [the College’s] website the student body is listed as 8258, and I received emails for 8,184. I assumed the difference was due to people leaving during the year for medical or personal reasons,” O’Sullivan said. “But I asked for every student’s email, including those abroad, and I assume what they gave me was correct.” O’Sullivan pointed out that while all enrolled students should have received a ballot, the Elections Commission invited students to vote manually. “Some people emailed us, and if they contacted us, we were sure to count their vote,” O’Sullivan said. Despite a small number of students not receiving ballots, O’Sullivan said he feels eBallot is the best method of conducting the election, citing the reduced chance of voter fraud, human counting error and the increased convenience of email delivery. SA President Curt Mills ’13 agreed eBallot should continue being used in future elections. “Trying to create an election service in house would demand a lot of resources,” Mills said. “I think it’s more important to get the work of the student government done than worry about some small [issues] with the third party service.” SA President-elect Chase Koontz ’14 said he plans to research alternative services in the next few months. See BALLOTS page 3
STUDENT ASSEMBLY
CAREER CENTER
SA proposes new bills for Homecoming, Code
Career Center creates Suits for Scholars Program Alumni donations allow students to borrow professional attire for interviews
Waltrip discusses Comprehensive plan BY CLAIRE GILLESPIE FLAT HAT ASSOC. NEWS EDITOR
In the first meeting of the lame duck period, the Student Assembly senate proposed a variety of bills that would influence Homecoming tailgates, a possible visit from Glee’s Lauren Potter and proposed changes to the SA code regarding the Undergraduate Council. The senate also received updates about the City Planning Commission meeting and graduate student initiatives. Sen. Danielle Waltrip ’14 outlined the City of Williamsburg’s Comprehensive Plan and Sen. Janine Yorimoto, a doctoral candidate in American studies, outlined the structure and current initiatives of the Graduate Student Association following last week’s graduate student representation. Last Tuesday, the City of Williamsburg’s planning commission gave a positive unanimous recommendation to eight amendments that would increase housing densities and allow businesses to develop with less rigid parking limitations. Waltrip organized a letter campaign and student speakers at the planning commission meeting and, in her synopsis, emphasized the importance of continued student presence. “The feeling that I got from [city officials] was that they See STUDENT ASSEMBLY page 3
Index News Insight News Opinions Variety Variety Sports Sports
Today’s Weather 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Mostly Sunny High 58, Low 38
BY MEREDITH RAMEY FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
As the Board of Visitors ponders ways to increase alumni donations to the College of William and Mary, the Sherman and Gloria H. Cohen Career Center is actively accepting donations to the newly established Suits for Scholars Program. Started by Assistant Director for the Career
Center Ashleigh Brock and Career Center employee Annie Martinez ’14, the program provides professional clothing to students of the College who may not necessarily have the time, money, space or wardrobe variety to own professional ensembles. Brock and Martinez want outfit choice to be the last thing on students’ minds when they enter the possibly make-it-orbreak-it interviews for competitive internship or job opportunities.
MEREDITH RAMEY / THE FLAT HAT
Ashleigh Brock displays the clothing received from alumni donations and fundraising efforts.
Inside OPINIONS
When rejection isn’t failure
It’s spring, which means that students are hearing back from internships and graduate schools. Inevitably, some students will be rejected, but that’s not always a bad thing. page 4
“They don’t have to worry about ‘Do I look okay?,’ ‘Is this fancy enough?’ They’re ready to go. They don’t have to worry about their physical appearance anymore. They’re focused on the strengths that they’re going to bring to the table,” Martinez said. “That day when you go into that interview is already so nerve wracking, the last thing you want to be worrying about is are you dressed appropriately.” Brock and Martinez discovered the need for the program firsthand while observing students at a variety of Career Center-sponsored networking and career fair events. During the spring 2012 semester, Brock began to study similar programs at other colleges and universities, including Columbia University’s Columbia Clothing Closet, which provides new clothing from various department stores for students to use for career events. Brock noted the infeasibility of such a program at the publicly funded College and instead reached out to alumni, faculty, staff and members of the Williamsburg community for donations of new or gently used professional wear last fall. Through word of mouth and smaller forms of advertisement, the program was able to build an inventory of clothing capable of providing students with a number of professional options. See SUITS page 3
Inside VARIETY
Pickling business takes off
Caitlin Roberts ’13 and her brother channel Chinese roots, start business selling pickles, kraut and kimchi. page 5