The Student Environmental Action Coalition Surry Justice League gathered signatures on Moving Planet Day Saturday for a petition against the Surry coal-fired power plant.

The Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) is proposing to build a coal-fired power plant in the town of Dendron, Surry County, located just across the river from Williamsburg. The main goal of the Surry Justice League is to prevent the plant’s construction, but the group is also focusing on informing the Williamsburg community and students of the legal fight currently taking place and the impact the coal power plant would have on the area.

“At the [College of] William and Mary level, our main goal is for [College President] Taylor Reveley and the Board of Visitors to say that they are officially opposed to the coal-power plant,” Surry Justice League member Sara Evers ’13 said.

The group is also concerned about the health impacts the plant could have on the Williamsburg community.
“All the pollution from the plant would come our way, since we are downwind from the plant,” Evers said. “This causes increased health risks and it will pollute our waterways.”

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation issued a report claiming that the power plant would cause more than $200 million in annual health care costs. ODEC officials have rejected those claims.

“The report is inaccurate and misleading, and grossly misrepresents the potential environmental and public health impact,” David Hudgins, ODEC’s director of member and external relationss, said in a statement.
The size of the plant is another factor that troubles SEAC members.

“This would be the largest coal-fired plant, about three times larger than the largest [plant] and would produce 1500 megawatts,” Surry Justice League member Grace Hansen ‘12 said.

In addition to providing information about the proposed power plant, the event also promoted 350.org’s mission to lower carbon emissions and to promote environmental protection.

“We have drafted a letter of concern and now we want William and Mary to state their concern,” Hansen said. “We want to show the Board of Visitors how the students feel about the Coal Power Plant and we want to bring it to their attention. The most important thing the students can do to help is to sign the petition.”

The petition can be found at https://www.change.org/petitions/william-and-mary-stop-the-surry-coal-plant.

Student government information will soon become easier to access.

The College of William and Mary Student Assembly will be launching an addition to its website that tracks its finances in an effort to improve transparency.

“Budgetwatch,” which will be launched after fall break, will show how much money is in the SA’s accounts, the details of various expenses, and where money is being allocated, including how much is given to each social class and to the Publications Council.

Budgetwatch was initially spearheaded by SA Secretary of Finance Caitlin Patterson ’12 at the first SA meeting Sept. 4 with additional support from SA President Kaveh Sadeghian ’12.

“As a newcomer to SA, I spent a lot of time listening to the concerns of the more veteran members and those in other organizations who have close relations with the SA. I really wanted to try to fix this problem, and this site with current account information just seemed like a good idea,” Patterson said.

Since the initiative’s inception, SA has been collecting up-to-date account and budget information to consolidate onto the website, which is still under development, by mid-October.

“Our idea is to create a space where students can go online to see a real time tracker of the SA’s current finances,” Undersecretary of Finance Emil Iqbal ’13 said. “This addition will really give students the ability to see exactly where money is being spent, and will hopefully make the process of applying for SA money easier for organizations.”

Patterson and Sadeghian said that the initiative is intended to improve SA’s transparency with regularly updated financial information for students.

“It increases accessibility and transparency in one shot and is, in my opinion, aligned with the interests of many if not all student organizations,” Sadeghian said.

Once Budgetwatch is on the SA’s website, SA Finance undersecretaries will regularly update the data.

“I personally hope that students, whether in a student organization or not, take advantage of this service. It’s a phenomenal way to see, in real time, what resources your programs are entitled to and how you can access these budgets,” Sadeghian added.

Patterson said she hoped the initiative would remain a part of the SA’s budgeting system in the long run.

“I hope ‘Budget Watch’ will become a permanent addition to the SA and that it is passed on to others who hope to maintain this sense of transparency,” she said.

The service will be available on the SA website.

The Board of Visitors unanimously approved a policy implementing tighter gun control on campus the week before the National Rifle Association held an event on campus.

The new regulations would prohibit all students, visitors, faculty and staff members from bringing weapons, even if they are licensed, into any academic or administrative building, student residence hall, student life building, or dining or athletic facility. Guns would also be prohibited at all university events and any vessel on university property. Licensed weapons still will be permitted on campus grounds, however.

“There are certain times when it is very inappropriate to have weapons on campus,” College of William and Mary Chief of Police Don Challis said. “We believe that [not having a stricter gun policy] is very inconsistent with the educational model and what we do here.”

The new weapon regulations were modeled after the gun control policy at another Virginia state school, George Mason University. The GMU policy was upheld by the Virginia Supreme Court earlier this year.

“When we thought we needed a weapons policy, we then watched what George Mason did to see how the Supreme Court would rule towards it. Once the Supreme Court passed the legislation, we modeled ours similarly,” Vice President for Administration Anna Martin said.

Current policy permits licensed guns on campus grounds. The new policy will permit Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets, law enforcement officers and colonial reenactors to carry weapons.

“State regulations [already] prohibit employees from possessing weapons on campus,” Martin said in a statement to the Virginia Gazette. “The faculty are not governed by those regulations. They are governed by the Faculty Handbook, which is silent on this subject.”

The most common crime on campus is larceny, and it typically involves those who do not attend the College. This low crime rate produces to a sense of security among students.

“I’ve never felt unsafe on this campus. I feel like William and Mary is such an open and welcoming place. I feel so comfortable in the William and Mary community that I would never second guess anyone I saw on campus,” Devyn Harris ’14 said.

Although NRA representatives said the event was not in reaction to the BOV’s ruling, their campus event Thursday focused around increasing student involvement in guns rights advocacy on campus. NRA Representative Miranda Bond presented to a group of students discussing gun rights and ways for students to get involved on and off campus.

“The intention is to get students involved on campus,” Bond said during her presentation. “There is some apathy amongst gun owners right now. There are almost 85 to 90 million gun owners today which means that a lot of people are not getting involved.”

Students in attendance were offered a free membership to the NRA on the spot and were given voter registration packets. Bond highlighted a number of ways for students to get involved, including starting a club focused on concealed carry on campus and Second Amendment rights, working or volunteering with the NRA and voting in the upcoming election.

“Hopefully you guys have been armed with the facts today,” Bond said.

In response to the recent ordinance passed regarding gun restrictions, College Republican member Chris Komatsu ’14 disagreed with the BOV’s decision.

“I think it only makes us that more defenseless,” Komatsu said. “We have no means of defending ourselves if, say, a Virginia Tech situation ever occurred here. We would be at the mercy of the police department.”
College Republican President Tyler Johnson ’13 agreed.

“In school, I think that you should be allowed,” Johnson said. “It goes back to a lot of the things we were saying about Second Amendment rights. We still have tons of battles about exceptions for freedom of speech, but I think they should generally be hands off of that.”

During the presentation, Bond discussed concealed carry, which would allow students of age with proper qualifications to have guns on campus. A student group promoting concealed carry on campus exists at the Marshall Wythe School of Law school, but there is no organization in the undergraduate school.

“First of all, it isn’t as if everyone is going to be carrying a gun on campus, it is only going to be people who get a concealed carry permit from the state, who is 21 years old, so that would be mostly juniors and seniors,” Komatsu said.

While concealed carry on campus would allow students to carry guns, Challis states that college campuses as they are right now are extremely safe without them.

“You are statistically safer on a college campus than you are anywhere else,” Challis said. “All college campuses have been proven safer than malls parks, streets — you name it. I’m happy that we will remain a gun-free campus. Honestly, I’m glad that I don’t remember the last time we had an incident, but now we can have the police department on solid legal ground if we ever have an issue.”

The official legislation is expected to pass at the Board of Visitors meetings in December.

The City of Williamsburg will soon have another tavern to add to its already substantial list, but instead of peanut soup and colonial waiters, this new establishment will offer students at the College of William and Mary another place to spend their Thirsty Thursdays.

Construction on Williamsburg’s newest sports bar, Brickhouse Tavern, has been underway since July and it is scheduled to open late this year or early next year. Located at 747 Scotland St. next to Paul’s Deli, the location was chosen for its proximity to students.

“I always wanted to be next to the College Delly, but until recently they did not have a place for the restaurant,” Brickhouse Tavern owner Michael Said said.

Said originally looked into opening a location on Richmond Road and in Tribe Square but both plans fell through.

The tavern will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week, joining the other Scotland Street bars in providing late night entertainment.

“We are an Italian pizzeria, but a sports bar,” Said said.

Some students see the addition of a bar to those within walking distance of the College campus as a boon to the social scene.

“Even though I haven’t had a chance to participate in the bar scene here, it seems kind of limited,” Claire Crawford ’13 said. “I don’t consider the New Town bars college places, and Wawa is the only thing that’s accessible after nine o’clock. It’s really nice to give students more options for late night eating and hanging out.”

In contrast to the other Scotland Street establishments, there will be no age restrictions at Brickhouse at any time.

“In college a lot of kids have younger friends that they want to hang out with,” Said said.

Noting that a few of her friends will be working at The Crust, which will open soon, Crawford predicted that Brick House Tavern will provide more job opportunities.
“I’m sure it will offer more student employment,” she said.

With its inexpensive prices and an extensive menu, the Brickhouse Tavern located in Newport News is a favorite of locals and Christopher Newport University students. Some students at the College who have visited the Newport News location say they look forward to the franchise opening nearby.

“It’s a fun, friendly atmosphere to go to with a bunch of your friends and hang out for the night,” Marshall Jordan ’14 said. “It’s great there will be a place for live music in the community. The social scene is what you make of it in Williamsburg, and the fact that they’re bringing more variety is exciting.”

While the location in Williamsburg will be similar to that in Newport News, it plans to offer something a little different as well.

“The difference between this Williamsburg branch and our other branches is live music,” Said said.
The bands will be mostly local groups, including new ones and some that are already touring.

The 7,227-square-foot commercial development space on which the tavern will be located sits on an already important site. The first location of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Williamsburg stood on the same spot. For this reason, the development will be named after Herbert L. Cooke, a prominent Williamsburg civil rights leader during desegregation.

The facade of the building will replicate the exterior of the former NAACP building and will have a monument outside recognizing its place in Williamsburg history.