Glenn Lowry — the first director of the College’s Muscarelle Museum of Art and current director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City — has raised suspicions after the New York Times revealed that he earned an undisclosed $5.4 million this year, more than three times his listed $1.3 million salary.

p. Lowry, who has been serving as director of MOMA since 1995, is America’s highest paid museum official, the Feb. 16 online edition of the Times reported.

p. From 1995 to 2003, Lowry was also receiving unreported payments from the New York Fine Arts Support Trust, funded mainly by Agnes Gund, the president of the museum, and David Rockefeller, grandson of John D. Rockefeller, Guardian reported Feb. 16.

p. After investigations into the unreported payments during 2006, the state of New York was satisfied with the museum’s disclosure of these payments. According to the Times, the supplemental payments — made by a museum trust fund — were initially given to persuade Lowry to move to New York City with his family.

p. The Museum of Modern Art reopened in November of 2004 after spending over $800 million on an expansion project, which was supervised by Lowry. Since its reopening, many critics have complained that the museum now sports a “corporate atmosphere,” the Times said.

p. The recent controversy has not helped the museum’s reputation. The Times article goes on to state that many museum directors often receive benefits that are similar to Lowry’s, but those received by Lowry almost double the compensation received by many of his peers.

Saturday, Feb. 10 began as a typical workday for Conrad Brown, a College groundskeeper. However, Brown made an important discovery when a bright pink folder lying beside a dumpster caught his eye.

p. The folder — which belonged to senior Jessica Chudy — contained just over $1,000 in cash and checks for the William and Mary Global Village Project.

p. As a leader of an upcoming spring break service trip to Guatamala, Chudy was in charge of the money collected at a fundraiser at Kimball Theater the previous night. She assumes she dropped the folder outside sorority court on her way home from the theater around 1 a.m.

p. Chudy was devastated when she awoke to find the folder missing. Amidst frantic searching and phone calls to fellow international service trip leaders, she was relieved to learn that it had been found. She received a call from a co-leader who had been in contact with campus police, where Brown had turned in the missing funds.

p. “The money wasn’t mine. If I had earned it that would have been a different story,” said Brown, who had initially questioned passers-by in his search for the rightful owner of the folder and its contents.

p. He says thoughts of pocketing the money never crossed his mind. Brown eventually made his way back to sorority court, where he was graciously greeted by an emotional Chudy.

p. “At that point I was sobbing; I can’t really express how thankful I am to him for that money,” she said. “The trip costs about $1,500 a person and we have 15 people going. This money was one person’s trip.”

p. To express their gratitude, Chudy and other students involved with global village projects baked a cake for Brown, which he shared with his fellow employees at the facilities management offices.

p. “Conrad always had a lot of integrity. What he did is not a surprise to anyone here. He’s always been good-natured and done the right thing,” said Brown’s supervisor, John Mattie.

p. “To actually see the honor code come to life in the student body and all the College’s employees is remarkable,” Chudy said.

Four out of the five bills voted on by the Student Assembly Senate during their Tuesday night meeting passed, including a proposal supporting medical amnesty for students.

p. The senate also confirmed one of SA President Ryan Scofield’s nominations to fill two vacancies on the Election Commission.
The Safety is Paramount Act — sponsored by Sens. Matt Beato and Zach Pilchen, both sophomores — passed unanimously. The bill provides for a letter authored by Beato and Pilchen to Police Chief Donald Challis encouraging the Campus Police “to practice the basic tenants of Student Affairs’ Medical Amnesty Proposal.”

p. In the same vein, Sens. Blasi and Morris, both freshmen, presented the Medical Amnesty Clarification Act, which would ask College administrators for a formal clarification of the newly-adopted amnesty policy, according to Blasi.

p. The Freshman Orientation Act, sponsored by Blasi and Morris, passed by a vote of 12-5 with three abstaining. The bill requests that administrators integrate all extended orientation activities into the Freshman Orientation period before classes begin.

p. The Omnibus Newsletter Funding Act passed by a vote of 14-0 with six abstaining. The bill is a re-wording of a previously passed bill that provided funding for a quarterly community newsletter meant to update community members on how to become involved with campus activities and events, said Sen. James Evans, a senior. According to the new bill, $732.93 will be allocated for postage from the Student Assembly Consolidated Reserve Fund, while $800 will be allocated from the assembly’s Off-Campus Fund for printing costs.

p. The Integrity of Honor Act, which reminded all candidates for Student Assembly office that they must conduct themselves according to the Honor Code while in office, passed unanimously; the bill was sponsored by Sens. Matt Skibiak, a sophomore, and Orlando Watson, a freshman.

p. Scofield nominated Evans and Class of 2007 Vice President for Advocacy Sean Gillik, a senior, to the Election Commission. The senate confirmed Evans to the commission by a vote of 18-1 with one abstaining.

p. Evans will also be the technical advisor for the Elections Commission this year. Gillik would replace Tom Kramer, a senior, who graduated in December. Evans will replace Sen. Joe Luppino-Esposito, a junior—who will be participating in the elections as a candidate, according to Scofield.

p. Only the Truthfullness of Honor Act failed to pass by a vote of 6-14 during the Senate’s meeting. The bill, sponsored by Watson, would have required students to write a portion of the Honor Pledge and sign the statement at the end of any piece of scholastic work.

Construction of new brick sidewalks outside of the Green Leafe Cafe began earlier this week and is scheduled to be completed by March 15, according to Leafe co-owner Kevin Abley.

p. Within the next few weeks, construction will be extended to Richmond Road, with brick sidewalks replacing cement ones from the College Delly to Wawa. Richmond Road construction is expected to be done by March 27.

p. Abley also said that the project would include the expansion of the Leafe’s parking lot and the construction of a commercial building in the empty lot beside Paul’s Deli.

p. “My business partners and I are very satisfied with the project,” Abley wrote in an e-mail to The Flat Hat. “The improved sidewalks will provide better pedestrian access to the Green Leafe, as well as improve the aesthetic of the Scotland Street/Richmond Road corner. Anyone who has parked in our lot knows how perilous that can be, so any improvement to our lot will be a welcomed one.”

p. “While [we’re] not preparing to celebrate our 400th birthday, we do feel that the Green Leafe Cafe has it’s own place in Williamsburg history and lore. We are very pleased that Williamsburg’s town fathers have finally begun to recognize that fact,” Abley added, regarding the city’s involvement.

p. The construction is part of the Braxton Court Area Neighborhood Revitalization Project, a $1,868,449 initiative started by the city of Williamsburg in 2004. The money ultimately comes from the federal government in the form of a Community Development Block Grant.

p. The grants are given to communities in order to fund activities benefiting low- and moderate-income persons, as well as activities that aid in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight.

p. The stated goal of the city’s project is to address “preservation of existing housing, homeownership for moderate income families, protecting traditional neighborhoods and maintaining and revitalizing small neighborhood commercial centers.”
As of Aug. 18, 2006, the city had demolished nine structures as part of the project.

p. A Jan. 10, 2007 memorandum added that two owner-occupied houses had been rehabilitated along with two former rental houses. The report made clear that one house has been sold to a moderate-income family, in line with the project’s goals.

p. The city had planned to complete the brick sidewalks as well as other improvements such as new streetlights and an upgraded storm sewer by June 2006, but pushed back the completion date to July 2007, according to an Aug. 18 “Final Status Report.”

President George W. Bush released his 2008 budget, which includes raising the Pell Grant to $4,600 by 2008 and to $5,400 by 2012. Funding would come partially from the elimination of the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program and two other aid programs. This announcement came soon after the Democratic-held Congress voted to increase the Pell Grant for 2007.

p. Supporters say that the SEOG program is ineffective because most of the funds go to private institutions, not to the colleges that enroll a high number of lower-income students.

p. Some critics disagree with the idea of ending the SEOG program which allocates grants averaging $770 to 1.3 million students. Opponents believe that an increase in Pell grants would not be enough to cover the aid lost by eliminating SEOGs.

p. Terry Hartle of the American Council on Education said that even with increased funding for Academic Competitiveness Grants, the total amount of financial aid awards would decrease from 7.5 million to 6.1 million.

p. “By increasing the size of the Pell grant, needy students are going to have more money,” Robert Archibald, an economics professor at the College, said. “There will probably be students who got a large SEOG who will lose in the exchange, but my bet is that they won’t lose in total because we have to factor in how institutions would react. If students lose some government aid, it is very likely to be replaced by institutional aid.”

p. The Department of Education counters opposition to the change in funding by pointing out that funding will also come from decreasing lender profits. Additionally, the same students who may lose aid from SEOGs will benefit from Pell Grant and Academic Competitiveness Grant increases. The department estimates that 9 percent of current SEOG recipients would lose money, and those students would come from a higher income bracket because they do not qualify for Pell Grants.

p. “When we looked at the numbers, we found that campuses that enroll 70 percent of low-income students only got 40 percent of the SEOG money,” Sara Tucker, under secretary of education, told Insidehighered.com.

p. The Department of Education has also said that the Pell Program is less costly to operate than the SEOG program by a margin of 250:1.

p. Archibald said the elimination of SEOG has an important benefit.

p. “The basic reason is that the simpler the financial aid program is, the more easily it will be understood by the people who might benefit,” he said.

A College student cited for violating Williamsburg’s “three-person rule” told The Flat Hat Thursday that he regretted the city’s decision but appreciated the handling of the case.

p. The student, who asked that his name and address be kept anonymous, was one of six living in an off-campus home this year. On Jan. 31, the City of Williamsburg informed him that their living situation was unacceptable.

p. “The city just taped six letters with all the people who live on our house to the door and mailed us a letter. It outlined the law and said we were in violation of it, but said we’ll still let you live here,” he said.

p. The students were informed of their violation of the law and asked to sign an agreement promising future compliance with the law.

p. “It was a 2-page thing; it said you’re in violation of [the law],” the student said. “According to the law, we should kick you out, but we’re not going to. After May there shouldn’t be six people living in this house,” he said when asked what the City said in the letter.

p. According to the student, a junior at the College, the residents of the home will be allowed to stay in their current living arrangements until the end of the semester. In addition, the city’s settlement agreement waives the $3,000 per resident fine that would normally accompany the citation for their offense.

p. While he will not be allowed to live in the house for his senior year, the student noted that things could be much worse. “We knew we were breaking the law. I feel like we kind of got off the hook,” he said.

p. “I don’t like the law, but on a personal note, I’m glad we get to stay in our house. It was a pretty reasonable thing,” he added.
In addition, the student said that the agreement did not alter his plans for the 2007-2008 academic year. “Most of the people in our house are seniors, just me and this other junior. We weren’t planning on living there next year anyway,” he said. “We’re planning on living on-campus.”

p. In all, thirty-eight students were affected by the late January crackdown on violators of the three-person rule. The rule, part of the city’s zoning code, limits the number of unrelated residents in a dwelling at three persons.

p. In an interview last week, Williamsburg Zoning Administrator Rod Rhodes said that the city’s actions were not meant hurt student violators. “We’re not out to punish these students; I think that’s rather obvious,” he said.

p. The affected College junior seemed to agree. “It’s just kind of a bummer to get kicked out,” he said.

p. The city cited 38 students in six houses as being in violation of the three-person rule. Four students at 9 Canterbury Lane, six students at 100 Chandler Court, six students at 126 Braxton Court, 5 students at 349 Scotland Street, seven students at 203 Rolfe Road and 10 students at 219 Harrison Avenue were cited.
The students living at 9 Canterbury Lane and 349 Scotland Street provided information to the city that they now only have three people living in their houses, and the city is no longer pursing the matter, Zoning Administrator for the City of Williamsburg Rod Rhodes said.

p. Sophia Serghi, a professor of music at the College and owner of the house at 203 Rolfe Road said that she and the seven female students iving in her house have signed the agreement.
Rhodes was not available to comment on the total number of tenants and owners who have signed the agreement so far.

At the Feb. 15 Board of Visitors meeting, College President Gene Nichol announced the twelve people who will join co-chairs Alan Meese and James Livingston on the committee he created to examine the role of religion in public universities.

p. The formation of the committee, announced in his Jan. 25 State of the College address, comes in response to the controversy surrounding his decision to remove the cross except on Sundays or by request from display on the altar in the Wren Chapel.
Meese, ’86, is the current Ball Professor of Law at the College’s Marshall-Wythe School of Law.

p. Livingston is an ordained Presbyterian minister, Walter G. Mason Professor Emeritus of Religion and the founding chair of the College’s Department of Religion.

p. Seniors Sulaiman Bah, Arabic House resident and member of the Muslim Student Association, and Kate Perkins, President of the International Justice Mission, have been chosen as the student representatives on the committee. Both Bah and Perkins are members of the Facebook group “Support the Petition,” which advocates the petition stating, “Dear President Nichol, We…support your decision to make the College’s beloved Wren Chapel a more welcoming place for everyone in the College community by having religious objects available in the Wren sacristy for use on appropriate religious occasions.”

p. “I was chosen for the committee based on my involvement for speaking out that I didn’t think this was something worth making this big of a deal out of,” Perkins said in response to the seemingly disproportionate student viewpoints represented on the committee.

p. “We must consider that there are many other members of this committee — I know that at least one alumni is a member of Save the Wren Cross. There is no “counter” group to Save the Wren Cross. I have been involved with Our Campus United, but the mission of Our Campus United has been to bring the decision of the Wren Cross back to William and Mary and away from outside political influence. I was chosen for my involvement in the Christian community on campus.”

p. At the Feb. 15 BOV meeting committee member Robert Thompson, ’77, delivered a five-minute speech asking Nichol to permanently put the cross back on the altar.
Terry Thompson (not related to Robert Thompson) is a 1967 alumni and committee member who has signed the “Support the Wren Cross” petition. Committee member Lu Ann Homza, Associate Professor of history at the College, said, “Perhaps the most important attribute that the committee’s members bring to this dialogue is the ability to contemplate other points of view.”

p. The committee’s first meeting will be on Friday, February 23, from 3 to 5 p.m. in Blow Memorial Hall. The meeting will be open to the public, but the committee will not be accepting public comment. Co-chair Meese spoke about the committee’s nature and goals.

p. “We will have a website to both keep everyone informed and to accept input,” he said. “We will be bringing in a variety of speakers who will address the issues that we have been asked to examine. President Nichol not only asked us to look into the chapel and cross, but broader issues concerning the role of religion in a public university.”

**Saturday. Feb. 10 —** A suspect was arrested on the 200 block
of Tyler Brooks Drive and charged with possession of cocaine with
intent to sell. **(1)**

p. **Wednesday, Feb. 14 —** A suspect was arrested on charges of possession of cocaine at 10:44 p.m. on the 300 block of Richmond Road. He was described as black, 5’11 and 46 years of age. **(2)**

p. **Friday, Feb. 16 —** A suspect was arrested at the intersection of Capitol Landing and Lafayette drives and charged with his fi rst DUI. He was described as white, 5’8, 165 pounds and 20 years of age. **(3)**

Student Assembly Vice President Amanda Norris scolded unnamed SA senators in an e-mail to the entire senate for opening and playing with Angel Tree presents that were stored in the SA house for next year. The e-mail prompted a string of accusations and led to Sen. Sean Sheppard, a sophomore, admitting to The Flat Hat that he alone removed a present from its packaging.

p. “If I had known that they were little children’s gifts I guess I wouldn’t have opened them,” Sheppard said, adding that he plans to repurchase the present and apologize to the senate. “[I] just thought it was a Nerf gun … it was a mistake.”

p. Sheppard also said he thought Norris sending the e-mail over the senate listserv and the controversy that ensued was even more immature than the act of accidentally opening the present.

p. “Members of the Senate took it upon themselves to play with toys donated to needy children,” Norris wrote. “I really think you owe the class of 2007 and the class of 2010 apologies for acting more immature than the five-year-old children we are trying to help.”

p. She said that because the gift was taken out of its original packaging it could no longer be donated. “The presents we donate are seriously some of the best gifts the children will see during the holiday season,” she said. “Please, for the love of God, stop taking this job as a joke and be respectful to the students who voted for you.”

The College received a record 10,828 applicants for the class of 2011, up about 1 percent from last year’s record 10,727 applications.

p. The number of in-state applicants and minorities rose, while the number of out-of-state applicants and students who have family connections to the College decreased slightly, Dean of Admissions Henry Broaddus said. This year, there were 4,331 in-state applicants, 6,497 out-of-state applicants, 2,179 minority applicants, and 273 legacy applicants. In addition, there were 3,908 male applicants and 6,920 female applicants; both numbers rose since last year.

p. Broaddus said that the numbers could still change slightly. Broaddus said that he attributed the modest growth in the number of applicants and minorities in the applicant pool to the outreach programs conducted by the admissions office throughout the course of the year.

p. “We are always pleased with increased diversity,” Broaddus said.

p. More students applied regular decision this year, and the number of early decision applications decreased. Broaddus attributed this statistic to media scrutiny of early decisions programs at some top colleges last year. Harvard University, Princeton University and the University of Virginia announced that they would end their early admissions programs. As a result of the press coverage, Broaddus said that many families developed a “savvy consumer mentality” when applying to schools.

p. Broaddus said he is pleased with this year’s applicant pool, saying that a bigger pool of applicants always results in a stronger pool of applicants.

p. “All of the members of this staff work in earnest to reach more students in more effective ways and in more diverse communities than William and Mary has reached heretofore. Sometimes, often one family at a time, we feel the signs of progress. At this point in the year, we finally begin to see them,” he said.

p. The end of February marks the conclusion of the heavy reading phase of applications in the admissions office. In March, admissions officers will move into committee to discuss specific applicants and eventually make a final decision. Admissions decisions will be sent out by April 1.