SA president and vice president candidates sophomores Zach Pilchen and Valerie Hopkins faced off against opponents juniors Brad Potter and Brett Phillips in the SA presidential debate Sunday at 7 p.m. in Lodge 1.

p. The debate consisted of five-minute opening and closing responses, 10 questions posed to both tickets by moderator and Professor of Government Clay Clemens and roughly 45 minutes of audience questions.

p. Throughout the debate, both tickets cited the lack of diversity and student involvement in SA as one of their greatest concerns.

p. “We are appalled by the scant representation of women in the SA,” Hopkins said, later noting that this lack of diversity is what convinced her to run on Pilchen’s ticket.

p. “We promise the most diverse cabinet in SA history,” Pilchen said.

p. Potter and Phillips reciprocated the desire for a more diverse SA. “The most important issue is communicating with the 99 percent of students not involved with SA,” Phillips said. In an effort to reach out to clubs and organizations, Potter and Phillips proposed the “Tribe Vibe” — a program in which the SA would “highlight” an on-campus event for students to attend every week, according to Phillips.

p. Potter and Phillips questioned Pilchen’s limited senate experience and Hopkins’ lack of any SA record. Phillips stressed the importance of “knowing how the senate works, its bylaws and its history.” Pilchen and Hopkins noted that their ticket would bring a fresh perspective and the student voice back into the SA.

p. “They’ve never been an outsider. They don’t know what it’s like. I do,” Hopkins said.

p. While Pilchen and Hopkins spent most of the debate focusing on initiatives ranging from implementing a “Tribe-Wide Service Day” — where students would be given a holiday from classes to participate in local community service — to petitioning for student access to course syllabi and textbooks prior to registration, Potter and Phillips noted that their platform prioritizes issues “that affect students day-to-day,” Porter said.

p. Potter and Phillips said that they would petition the College to join the Chicago Climate Exchange and work to implement their flex-car program.

p. “[Flex-Car] is like our bike program only with a car,” Phillips said. “It makes it easy for freshmen and sophomores who don’t have a car on campus to get around.”

p. Pilchen and Hopkins expressed similar concern for introducing more environmentally-friendly policies across campus. Pilchen cited his work with bringing the Youth Energy Summit to campus along with plans to foster a more environmentally conscious student body through recycling drives and campus-wide service projects.

p. Both tickets expressed differing views on the alcohol amnesty policy. During the debate, Pilchen said he would work to require Campus Police to follow the amnesty policy while also working with administration to lessen punishment for students who take the initiative to join alcoholic support groups. While Potter noted that “extending amnesty to the police is a waste of time,” he said that there could be other steps taken to make campus drinking more responsible.

p. SA elections will take place March 29 on the Student Information Network from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

In addition to voting on Student Assembly candidates this Thursday, students will take part in a referendum about changing the way students pay for laundry. The referendum would recommend changing the current pay-per-use system to one where all students pay an extra $20 in room fees at the beginning of each semester, then receive unlimited access to laundry machines.

p. Advertised as the “free laundry bill,” the proposal would be revenue-neutral. Residence Life estimates that the laundry fee of $20 per semester would cover all costs, based on talks with Caldwell & Gregory, its laundry vendor.

p. The Facebook.com group for the referendum had over 700 members as of Wednesday, but there was debate on the discussion boards. Critics pointed out that if students did not have to pay for each load, they might use more washers or do laundry more often, which would waste water and raise the cost for other students.

p. Chancellor Professor of Economics Robert Archibald agreed that students would do more laundry because they would not have to pay for each load.

p. “The economics is pretty straightforward,” he said.

p. However, Deb Boykin, director of Residence Life at the College, said that she did not expect increased use of the laundry machines.

p. “Who do you know that likes to do laundry?” she said.

p. She also said that other universities had not seen an increase in use after implementing similar payment plans. SA senator and sponsor of the bill Andrew Blasi, ’10, agreed.

p. “One dollar and 25 cents per load is itself not a large enough deterrent to prevent a person from really doing as many loads as currently necessary,” he said.

p. Professor Archibald acknowledged that the monetary cost may not be the main reason students avoid doing laundry, but said that the effect of not making students pay was still clear: they would do more laundry.

p. “It’s an empirical question about the magnitude of the effect. But the direction is clear,” he said.

p. Another issue is the fairness of making all students pay for a service that not everyone uses and that some use more than others.

p. “Clean people would be helped out by the more slovenly,”
Archibald said. “There might also be a gender discrepancy.”

p. Blasi argues that there were other services that all students pay for, even if they might not use them.

p. “For the few who live in a dorm/apartment who do not already utilize the laundry machines, they will now have access to the machines through their room fee in much the same way many of us currently pay for kitchen facilities that we may or may not use,” he said.

p. Residence Life supports the proposal because it hopes the new system would be less of a hassle for students. According to Deb Boykin, several other colleges operate under the proposed system, although some have per semester fees of as high as $80. If the referendum passes, the BOV will still have to decide whether to accept the plan and increase room fees.

High ticket sales for the My Chemical Romance and Muse spring concert have given UCAB’s members reason to smile, the concert’s organizers said Wednesday.

p. According to senior Emmagene Worley, UCAB’s Music Committee Chair, the group has sold over 1,000 student tickets for the show, while Ticketmaster has sold several thousand public tickets.

p. “Sales started out fantastic — all-time highs. We would really like to sell out all the student tickets to make this the biggest show we’ve had in a really long time,” Worley said in an e-mail.

p. Joe Lowder, the College administrator who worked with UCAB to help bring MCR and Muse, is also pleased with the results. As assistant director of College activities, he helped facilitate the deal between UCAB and the AEG/Artshow, the company that is bringing MCR/Muse to campus.

p. “The biggest concert here in the recent past was Wilco last year, which was just short of 3,000 attendees, so already having 4,000 tickets sold is a great sign. UCAB should be pleased,” Lowder said in an e-mail.

p. “Ticket sales are already at levels we have never seen before, but there are 8,000 available,” he said. Around 1,200 students tickets remained last week.

p. Both Worley and Lowder stressed the importance of a successful show in attracting big names to the College in the future.

p. “If we can get a significant portion of the student body to buy tickets, it would make attracting big name concerts so much easier,” Worley said. “Artists would begin to view the College as the kind of venue they want to play, and then it would make getting more and bigger acts easier.”

p. According to Lowder, future big-name concerts at the College will be a “business decision” based on this show’s success.

p. “It is all market based,” he said. “If [AEG/Artshow] sees this is a good market for live music, they will probably want to come back.”

p. Worley said that she was happy to book high-profile acts like Muse and My Chemical Romance.

p. “Muse is one of the top acts in Europe and sold out Wembley Stadium [on] two nights. Not to mention that My Chemical Romance brings the best light, sound, video and pyrotechnics show we will have ever had here at William and Mary. Even if a student is not the biggest My Chemical Romance fan, this show has a lot to offer,” Lowder said.

p. He praised the band and said that by attending the concert students are increasing the likelihood for high-quality bands at future College concerts.

p. “They both put on unforgettable live shows, complete with all sorts of theatrics combined with great musicianship,” Worley said.

p. “What better way to help make a difference in the quality of entertainment at the College than attending a quality concert? This show is going to be spectacular,” she added.

p. The My Chemical Romance and Muse show is at 8:00 p.m. April 28. Student tickets are $16 and are available at the Kaplan Arena box office from 8:30 to 5:00 p.m. daily until they sell out.

According to Williamsburg area resident Kristie Ross, she and her cousin, Sheena Washington, were recently denied service at the International House of Pancakes on Richmond Road because they are black.

p. Just before 2 a.m. March 10, Ross allegedly was told by the night manager that she was banned from the IHOP, despite never having eaten there before.

p. “She said ‘You people don’t know how to act,’” Ross told the Daily Press. “I said, ‘Who is you people?”

p. According to the Daily Press article, Ross claimed to witness a number of incidents of discrimination while she tried to call the phone number for IHOP’s headquarters to complain. Ross said she watched as several groups of white customers were seated while nearly 40 black customers were turned away.

p. Another black customer who was denied service, Sherrell Roane, also said she was discriminated against.

p. “When we looked in, that’s all we seen was Caucasian, no African-American people,” she said on a WAVY-TV news report.

p. A white customer, Alaina Northern, was ordering food for a black friend when she said the manager noticed for whom she was ordering.

p. “She realized the to-go order was for him, and she said she was going to refund the money. She went to the register, got the money, gave it back to me and asked us to leave,” Northern said.

p. Police were already near the IHOP because of an earlier brawl at the Library Tavern. Officers reported that approximately 70 customers, many of whom were black, were turned away between 1 and 2 a.m.

p. “A lot of them were being very rowdy, cussing,” Major Jay Sexton of the Williamsburg Police Department said. He added that IHOP, as a 24-hour restaurant, often has issues with drunk and disorderly late-night customers.

p. Georgia Owen, the night manager who turned the women away, turned comments over to IHOP spokesman Patrick Lenow. He said that the restaurant may deny service to people who are or previously have been disruptive, and that when one unruly group was asked to leave, some innocent people may accidentally have been denied service in the confusion.

p. “We’re sorry that happened because that is never our intent,” Lenow said. “Most important is the safety and security of our guests, and that’s why the decision was made.”

p. “It’s discrimination in the worst way when you say you can’t be seated because you don’t know how to act,” Ross told the Daily Press. “You can’t judge me because this person or that person starts trouble. You can’t judge every black person because of one.”

p. Ross said that she has contacted the NAACP, which is looking into the matter and may conduct an official investigation. Calls to the local NAACP office went unanswered.

p. This racial discrimination suit comes on the tail of a similar suit against IHOP. According to the March 24 Wichita Star, four women were forced to leave a Kansas City IHOP earlier this month after two of them kissed.

p. According to the women, the kiss was tame.

p. “It was a casual kiss,” one of the women, Eva Sandoval, said. “It was the sort of kiss I would give my grandfather.”

p. IHOP, however, claims that the kiss was overtly amorous and that the manager asked the women to tone down the public display.

p. “We’re welcoming to all. That’s how we built our business for 50 years,” Lenow said. “What’s not welcome at our restaurants are bold displays of affection, with open-mouth kissing and caressing.”

p. The women, along with gay rights group PROMO, the Missouri LGBT equality organization, protested outside the Kansas City IHOP last Friday. They initially demanded an official apology and for the manager to be fired, although they later demanded only sensitivity training.

**1930**
Rogers Hall reportedly suffered $100,000 worth of damage after a fire that started in the elevator shaft and spread, destroying the entire roof. The roof windows and third floor were completely destroyed by the flames and the upper stories had to be rebuilt. The College managed to move all classes except for labs, so no classes were canceled.

p. **1966**
According to a survey done by campus political science professors, 40 percent of students at the College were in favor of escalating U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Twenty of the 663 students surveyed were in favor of immediate withdrawal of troops. A survey of faculty members found that 39.6 percent favored a withdrawal and 31 percent supported current policy.

p. **1979**
A proposal for a student “Fall Break” was given to then-President Thomas Graves to be ruled on later that week. The recommendation from the Academic Calendar Advisory Committee suggested that students get a weekend plus Monday and Tuesday off in the middle of October each year.

p. **1985**
The Rev. Jerry Falwell spoke at the College in front of 2,000 students, 100 of whom were protesters. He came to the College at the request of Doug Phillips, chairman of the Young Americans for Freedom. Phillips’ father was the national director of the Conservative caucus. Falwell described the College as “more than any other school part of the old Virginia aristocracy where you don’t see such activism for the left or the right.”

Michael K. Powell, the College’s current rector and former FCC Chair was appointed to Cisco’s Board of Directors Mar. 22 according to Associated Press reports. Cisco Systems Inc. makes routers and switches that direct data traffic over computer networks.

p. “[Powell’s] broad experience with the communications sector — from his support of affordable, widespread broadband deployment in the United States while FCC chairman, to his understanding of the enormous possibilities created by the convergence of data, voice and video — makes him an invaluable addition to the board,” John Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco, said in a statement.

**23.6 percent**
The percent of The College budget that is funded by the State of Virginia. 35.5 percent comes from tuition and student fees, while government grants, donations and other sources make up the rest.

p. **16 percent**
Athletic spending amounts to 16 percent of all spending on academic instruction and support at the College, according to the Fiscal Year 2006-2007 Executive Summary. Academic instruction and support includes faculty salaries and department funding as well as library and IT services.

p. **205 feet**
The vertical drop on “Griffon,” the nearly-completed roller coaster at Busch Gardens. It will open May 25 and is being advertised as the world’s tallest dive coaster without a floor.

p. **25 percent**
The percentage of Americans who believe in horoscopes, according to a June 2005 Gallup poll of 1,002 adults. See The Flat Hat’s horoscopes on page 6.

p. **118**
The death rate, per 100,000 of fisherman and fishing workers. Fishing work is the most dangerous profession, according to a 2005 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

**Saturday, March 17 —** A 36-year-old male was arrested at 1300 Richmond Road and charged with being drunk in public. The suspect was described as a black male, 6’02. **(1)**

p. **Monday, March 19 —** A 25-year-old female was arrested at 100 Matoaka Court and charged with driving under the influence. The suspect was described as a white female, 5’3, 135 pounds with blue eyes and blonde hair. **(2)**

p. **Wednesday, March 21 —** An unidentified male was arrested at 3000 Richmond Road and charged with being drunk in public. **(1)**

p. —A 35-year-old male was arrested at 44 Duke of Gloucester Street and charged with being drunk in public. The suspect was described as a white male, 6’0. **(3)**

p. **Thursday, March 22 —** An 18-year-old male was arrested at 1230 Richmond Road and charged with embezzlement. The estimated amount embezzled was $495.60. The suspect was described as a black male, 6’1 in height, 180 pounds, brown eyes and black hair. **(1)**

p. **Friday, March 23 —** A 28-year-old male was arrested at 1200 Richmond Road and charged with being drunk in public. The suspect was described as white male, 5’8 pounds, 160 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. **(1)**

p. — A 25-year-old male was arrested at 1200 Richmond Road and charged with being drunk in public and possession of marijuana. The suspect was described as a white male, 5’8, 200 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. **(1)**

p. — An unidentified male was arrested at 1000 Capitol Lodge Road and charged with driving under the influence. The suspect was described as a white male. **(4)**

The Student Assembly Review Board voted against hearing a case filed by sophomore Cliff Dunn — who formerly worked within the SA executive’s Finance Department — against SA President senior Ryan Scofield and his secretary of finance, senior Bradley Justus.

p. The case was largely symbolic, as the Review Board has no punishment powers, and resulted from conflicting interpretations of SA procedures: what Dunn considered robbery, the Scofield administration considered standard operating procedure, causing a dispute about whether precedent can trump SA rules when allocating money to student organizations.

p. Until recently, the SA code said that presidents cannot allocate more than $750 from the speakers fund, campus events fund, multi-cultural event fund, new event initiative fund or conference fund without approval from the Executive Appropriations Committee. The code was amended by the Student Organizational Funding Act II, which allows presidents to allocate up to $3,000 without approval from the senate.

p. Before the amendment, Scofield routinely allocated more than $750 to student organizations. Justus said the administration was following a precedent set three years ago by former SA President Brian Cannon, under whom the finance code was written.

p. “[The senate] let the precedent ride instead of the unusable code,” Justus said, noting that it was widely known that the administration did not adhere to the rules. “Anybody who’s in favor of an SA that’s actually responsive to students … has to see this as a code that hinders the SA’s ability to help the students.”
He added that Dunn never approached anyone about the issue before filing the case.

p. Dunn, who is currently running for SA senate, said he decided not to talk to anyone about his concerns because Scofield and Justus had previously ignored his other unrelated complaints. He filed the case and sent them a letter of resignation from his position within the Finance Department, to which Scofield replied: “Unfortunately, neither Bradley nor I are prepared to accept your resignation. But I can offer you this … you’re fired. Thanks for nothing, Ryan.”

p. Scofield said he was angry with Dunn for filing the case without discussing the issue with him.

p. “He was very unprofessional, personally hurtful and cowardly in his actions,” Scofield said. “Frankly, he was wasting everyone’s time in a futile effort to make a name for himself in light of the upcoming general elections. He used to meet weekly with Bradley and had regular access to me if he ever had a problem with anything.”

p. Dunn said he filed the case to bring the issue to the public eye. “It seems like we have these rules for a reason. One would think there’s a reason behind them,” he said. “They’ve been robbing the bank for a while, and they need to stop it.”

p. Dunn also expressed concerns about the potential for the president to break the current limit of $3,000, since he was breaking the previous limit.

p. Justus responded by saying that the senate chose not to enforce the $750 limit because it was unreasonable, but now they would be willing to enforce the $3,000 limit.

p. SA Senators Walter McClean and Matt Beato, both sophomores, sponsored the Student Organizational Funding Act II in order to end the inconsistency between how much the code says can be allocated by the president and how much actually is allocated.

p. The bill says that the $750 limit has become outdated and unrealistic.

p. In a statement submitted by Scofield and Justus to the Review Board — which issued a statement Friday saying it found insufficient reason to hear the case — they said that the senate had already solved the problem through legislation that incorporates the precedent into the code.

p. “The senate took the high road and rather than bring a case, they changed the legislation — a much more appropriate, professional and responsible approach to resolving problems at this level of student government,” Scofield said.