Congressman Rob Wittman (VA-1) held a forum on campus Wednesday evening to address some of the questions and concerns from the College of William and Mary community, covering a wide variety of issues at the state and federal levels.

The College Republicans hosted the event, which drew approximately 30 people, mostly students. The congressman, who has served the College’s district since 2007, opened the forum by talking about the ongoing economic crisis.

He also spoke about some of the legislative issues he works on as a member of the House of Representatives Committees on Armed Services and Natural Resources, including efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay to stimulate the regional economy.

“That Chesapeake Bay is an economic engine,” Wittman said. “If you look at where the Bay was back in the middle part of this past century, it was the most productive water body in the world, and for years Virginia was always among the top three seafood producers in the nation. Now we’re not in the top five. It has the potential to be in that place again if we do more to clean it up, and I still think we have a ways to go.”

Wittman also praised the capabilities of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and cited the school as being the organization he hoped would play a leading role in monitoring bay cleanup efforts and fishing regulations.

Afterward, Wittman fielded questions from the audience, which ranged in topic from American naval power to a constitutional amendment for a balanced budget to illegal immigration.

On some of the more controversial issues raised by the audience, including the “fast and furious” scandal of the United States Department of Justice and the White House’s loan to energy company Solyndra, Wittman urged caution before jumping to conclusions and stressed that Congress was already at work in uncovering the truth about the scandals.

“I think that those questions are being asked and are being asked in a way that gathers the information and does it in a very objective way to determine what happened,” Wittman said. “Were there problems with the process, and were there people that didn’t do what they were required to do under the law? I feel very good about how those questions are being asked, and that’s Congress in the oversight role.”

On the question of whether the U.S. was losing its edge as a global superpower, Wittman exuded a more optimistic tone.

“I think we’re at a tipping point where we can make some decisions that will get us to the point of being functional in a sustainable way, or we can lose our position, and if we do, I think the problems that we have today will just become exacerbated,” he said. “I’m still a glass half-full person, and I think that the basic fundamentals of the United States, our economy and our military are still there for us to continue to that prominence in the world as an economic power and a military power.”

The theater at the Williamsburg Regional Library was filled to capacity Tuesday evening for Anthony Zinni, a retired four-star Marine Corps general and former commander-in-chief of the United States Central Command.

He spoke about and answered questions concerning the Middle East in an event set up by the James City County and City of Williamsburg Democratic Committees.

“There are so many potential enemies that want to exploit us, and we have lost focus [on potential foreign issues] because of internal issues. We are so caught up in our own domestic issues,” Zinni said. “The absent part of the world really bothers me because it is ready to light up and it will really require the focus of our leadership.”

Zinni showed his support for President Barack Obama on domestic matters, but stressed that the U.S. needs to provide more support overseas.

“I think President Obama is right on about helping education, the economy and creating sustainable energy plans, but we can’t neglect external events or create a situation that can come back and bite us,” Zinni said. “Let’s just say these next five to 10 years will be extremely interesting.”

According to Zinni, providing aid to foreign nations and conducting commerce with foreign nations are positive and vital foreign policy endeavors. However, he said, there are always potential threats from extremists abroad that the U.S. cannot neglect when dealing with foreign aid.

“Not enough attention is paid to remove these potentials,” Zinni said. “We give countries aid, and have always been given clearance for the use of bases [such as Egypt]. Other countries need to know the U.S. is there.”

Zinni emphasized that the U.S. needs to be more involved overseas. He acknowledged the current problems with the country’s economy, including budget cuts, but said the country’s focus on internal problems is preventing it from providing more aid to countries that are struggling with problems of their own.

During the question and answer section for the last hour of the presentation, Zinni addressed many concerns regarding Egypt, Iran, Palestine and Saudi Arabia.

“I think all sides can be argued,” Zinni said. “Palestine would say they’re acting the same way they did in the 1940s. But in order for them to become a state, they need defined borders, which they don’t have. There needs to be negotiation, because without it, there is a greater opportunity for violence. There is a huge potential for disaster than needs to be arbitrated and mediated before anything can happen in Palestine. Saudi Arabia is just trying to force the helping hand of the United States.”
Zinni criticized media portrayals of the Middle East.

“We need to be constructive instead of just acknowledging the problem and complaining about it,” he said.
Regarding foreign wars, Zinni maintained that, despite abuses within the system, honest people are serving in the military.

“I don’t know you, but myself and many other people would give our lives to keep you safe,” Zinni said.

A College of William and Mary student charged with rape was released Wednesday after posting his $25,000 bond.

Per the stipulations of the bond ruling by Judge Colleen K. Killilea, Jeffery Weaver ’13 will only be allowed on campus for the purposes of attending classes at the Mason School of Business and Washington Hall while he awaits his arraignment hearing, which is scheduled for late December.

Director of University Relations Brian Whitson, however, would not say whether Weaver would be allowed to return to the school, adding that the College has its own process for dealing with such matters.

The 27-year-old was arrested Monday after allegedly raping a female student at the College. At his bond hearing Tuesday, Weaver, who lives off-campus and enrolled at the College after spending six years in the military, told Killilea that he had no reason to see the alleged victim again if he was released. Weaver was barred from traveling near the alleged victim’s dorm.

“I’m unsure exactly of who she is,” Weaver said over video-conference from Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail, where he was being held. “[I don’t know her] in terms of first and last name. I know what she looks like.”

The alleged incident took place inside the female student’s dorm room during the early hours of Saturday morning.

According to the criminal complaint, the female student told the police that she and Weaver walked from the College Delly to her dorm room at around 1:45 a.m. Saturday. When they arrived, she said, the two spent time kissing before she asked Weaver to leave.

“She stated that is all she wanted to do, was kiss, and she asked him to leave and he would not get off of her,” the complaint reads.

According to the report, she said that Weaver physically overpowered and raped her, then left.
Weaver’s lawyer seemed to be preparing to launch a defense that any interaction was consensual. The issue of who provided a condom was brought up before an objection by prosecutors was sustained. The female student told police that Weaver put the condom on, but she later recovered it. Police officers collected the condom, as well as the clothes she had on at the time, as evidence.

Weaver was identified by a Busch Gardens pass with his name on it, which the female gave to the officer who met her at a nearby hospital.

Weaver’s lawyer, Brandon Waltrip, would not comment on the case or whether Weaver would be allowed back to the College.

Many critical milestones can occur in half a century, as the College of William and Mary’s School of Education is discovering. Examining the school’s 50-year history provides an understanding of its trials and accomplishments.

To this end, associate professor of education Dot Finnegan and two higher-education doctoral students, Neal Holly and Kimberly Brush, began to compile a history of the School of Education in 2010.

“We have been working on a history for a year and a half now, and we are still in the process of writing more,” Finnegan said. “The point is we are and have been an integral part of the college since 1888, which not many people realize.”

A newly unveiled wall in the school depicts the compiled history and is supplemented by a brochure, which highlights the education program’s development.

“What began as a simple timeline project evolved into a more sophisticated look at the school’s origins and the College’s involvement in preparing educators for the Commonwealth of Virginia since 1888,” Holly said. “As a person who enjoys history, I’m thrilled to be able to share our findings with the entire College community.”

Since the 1888 establishment of a “normal school,” a two- or three-year program dedicated to training teachers, the education program has been a vital component of the College for more than 100 years.

“I am so grateful for the opportunity to work on the history project. I have learned so much about not only the School of Education, but also about the history of the College of William and Mary,” Kimberly Brush said.

“With the help of several people in the archives, my colleagues and I were able to spend a great deal of time with primary documents dating as far back as the 1880s. As someone who loves history, this was a phenomenal experience.”

Established as a means to improve the financial situation of the school, which was lacking in students and funds, the normal school was intended to be a state-supported organization for men.

“When it first opened there were more normal school students than liberal arts students. Education literally saved the College,” Finnegan said.

The education program continued to grow throughout the 1920s and 1930s and officially became a school of education under Dean Kremer J. Hoke.

Despite such progress, just 10 years later the school was relegated back to a department, after nearly being disposed of altogether. Over the next three decades, education remained a department, continuing to work alongside other programs and schools in the region.

Finally, after much petitioning by faculty members, the Board of Visitors authorized the program to begin operating as a school on Sept. 1, 1961. Thus began what is known as the modern school, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

The School of Education dedicated its new building on Monticello Avenue in September 2010.

Looking to the future, the School of Education hopes to continue the progress it has made, particularly with the abundance of faculty research compiled since the 1980s.

“It’s exciting to be a student in the School of Education right now,” Holly said. “The move to the new facility and the events surrounding the anniversary have brought everyone together in a special way. You become aware that you are a part of a legacy of public education that extends beyond a century.”
Brush was equally excited about the milestone for the school.

“I am delighted for the School of Education on its 50th anniversary. This is such a significant milestone. With both the anniversary and the new building, this is an exciting time to be in the School of Education,” Brush said.

Just as a stem supports a plant’s growth, the College of William and Mary’s Science, Technology, Education and Math (STEM) Education Alliance recently received a grant that will facilitate educational development for middle schools in the Williamsburg area.

The first of the three-year $2.5 million sole-source grants from the U.S. Department of Defense will fund so-called STEM programs within secondary schools.

“It is such a national priority to focus on the middle-school age because this is the age group where students either become interested or discouraged by advanced math and science level courses,” Dean of the School of Education Virginia McLaughlin said.

This grant will facilitate projects like the pairing of scientists and engineers from the Department of Defense with teachers in STEM classes, but one specific sum of money will be directed toward outreach in middle schools.

“Working with STEM has broadened my appreciation for the essential role that STEM careers will play in our nation’s future and the role that educators must play in introducing students to this important and interesting career field,” Emily Dwoyer, a graduate student who received a two-year Graduate Assistantship from the grant, said.

Although the grant will not affect students at the College directly, Executive Director of the STEM Education Alliance at the School of Education Gail Hardinge sees the grant as relevant to the College because it will employ students and create awareness amongst students and alumni about potential future STEM careers.

“Looking at STEM careers for college students is also a real plus because I think there is going to be a great deal of opportunity due to the ‘graying’ of the STEM profession,” Hardinge said.

Future pursuits of the program include conducting evaluations in Charleston and Philadelphia, collecting data from a longitudinal study that tracks students’ college and occupational decisions, and distributing career kits with posters and facts for secondary counselors.

“You choose what you’re going to be based on what you’re exposed to. We’re trying to broaden that exposure by saying, ‘Here are all the possibilities, now pick the job that fits you best,’” Hardinge said.

Principal of King George Middle School Seidah Ashshaheed commended the hands-on opportunities provided by the STEM project in her own school.

“Students have ample opportunities to use higher-level thinking skills and to solve real-world issues that plant seeds of career possibilities and spark interests in STEM career fields,” Ashshaheed said.

The changing role of women in war was the topic for discussion in a forum that attracted politically-minded members of the College of William and Mary community to the Commonwealth Auditorium Monday. “Women, War and Peace” is a five-part series on PBS that chronicles women’s experiences during and after wartime, aiming to tell stories that often go untold.

WHRO Public Radio’s Creative Services Officer Barbara Hamm Lee emphasized the female focus of the forum.

“[Here at WHRO,] we have a mission and a duty to bring critical issues to light,” Lee said. “‘Women, War and Peace’ looks at war … and reconciliation through the eyes of women.”

A discussion between four panelists followed.

“Many women [in Iraq] don’t have this opportunity for education,” panelist Abd Ali, a biochemist from Iraq, said. “Women have [a] very strong effect on rising generations; this could help the rise of peace if many women were educated.”

All panelists agreed that educating women abroad, especially in critical areas of conflict, could shift the patriarchal power structures in their favor.

“We need women not just in grassroots movements, but in leadership positions,” Christie Warren, panelist and director of the Marhall-Wythe School of Law’s program in comparative legal studies and post-conflict peace building, said.

The panelists argued that because women are the ones in these areas that care for families and make networks within their communities, they understand the extensive damage war causes and are less likely to engage in it.

The discussion then shifted to an examination of the relationship between post-conflict reconciliation and the lives of women, an area of expertise for Warren, and fellow panelist Jennifer Fish, chair of the women’s studies department at ODU.

“When war ends, conflict doesn’t necessarily end,” Fish said.

The panelists shared their personal experiences with the traditional silencing of women in the Middle East and the negative effect that it has on global peace and stability. They asked the audience to engage in efforts to help women find their voices in war zones.

“We can help the condition of women abroad by raising awareness. Raising awareness is about being proactive — do some reading, become an advocate, get out of your comfort zone,” Warren said. “I have great hope for the future.”