By nature of our occupation, students at the College of William and Mary have become accustomed to several unpleasant recurring events — exams, all-nighters and tripping over the occasional dislodged brick in the sidewalk. More recently, however, students at the College have become used to another, more financially burdensome, recurring event: On Friday, as the Board of Visitors announced yet another tuition increase. This means a 5.5 percent increase for in-state students to $22,024 and a 5.7 percent increase for out-of-state students to $44,854. While we certainly join the larger chorus of College students bemoaning the recent increase, we also understand the increases are necessary to keep the College competitive in the current economic climate.

Tuition is increasing at an alarming rate, but state funding is decreasing even faster. Virginia’s waning support is one of the greatest reasons for the College’s unhealthy finances. State support has dropped over 30 percent in the last 40 years — in 1980 the Commonwealth provided 42.8 percent of the College’s operating budget, but will only cover 12.8 percent in 2012. One of the College’s unique attractions of about the College is its reputation as a “Public Ivy” and its great educational value. If state support continues to slip, and if tuition continues its steady climb, both of these distinctions will soon become non-existent, irreversibly harming the College’s standing among elite universities.

Although we implore the state to find ways to increase its support for the College, we understand that money is tight and that such protests are hard to make when the entire state is struggling.

However, something must be done in the short term to ensure the College can continue to be one of the best academic communities in the nation, and the BOV determined that an increase in tuition was the only way to ensure the stability of the College. We are certainly not cheering for tuition increases, but our greatest concern is that if the College does not raise tuition, it will not be able to afford the type of professors who have molded the College into a prominent university. According to a recent report by the U.S. News and World Report, the College was ranked as having the No. 5 Best Undergraduate Teaching. It would be debilitating to see the College lose its standing among the academic elites due to a lack of funds — a fear that has recently become a very real possibility. Other institutions of higher learning are paying their professors more because they have more funding with which to do so. Since we don’t have necessary state funding, we must find ways to continue attracting professors.

In light of the current economic situation, we applaud the College for taking steps toward greater financial responsibility. Recently, proposals were made to the BOV which aimed to promote more efficiency in college operations. Seventeen suggestions were made at the meeting, and College President Taylor Reveley selected eight of those suggestions for immediate implementation. These include improving the recruitment process and reducing the price of computer leasing. There are 11 more suggestions to be implemented, and we encourage President Reveley to use more of these plans in order to lower costs. We also hope the College will continue to investigate more ways to trim the budget, which would hopefully ensure that future tuition increases would be unnecessary.

The Board of Visitors began its quarterly session yesterday in a series of committee meetings held in Blow Memorial Hall.

At the meeting for the Committee on Administration, Lynda Butler, a member of the Committee on Sustainability, presented the current state of sustainability at the College, as well as current and future projects to be implemented.

“We always at William and Mary are conscious of grades, so it is important to know that so far, we have been going up,” Butler said.

Max Cunningham ’13 gave a presentation on his plan to offset the carbon released by transportation by funding environmentally-friendly projects at the College.

“Everyday we participate in activities that emit carbons,” Cunningham said. “An offset happens when we
contribute to a project somewhere else that reduces carbon emissions on a much larger scale.”

Vice President for Administration Anna Martin then discussed the possible implementation of faculty background checks for new hires at the College, which will be decided in the fall.

“Right now, we do background checks on classified and operating employees before they’re hired and on some professional employees,” Martin said. “This policy would broaden those checks to include everyone who is hired. Research faculty, all professionals and all classifieds will have a background check done.”

Later in the day, the Committee on Academic Affairs meeting began with a discussion of the newly-admitted Class of 2015.

The size of the admitted freshman class has grown 5 percent from last year, increasing from 1,400 students in the Class of 2014 to 1,470 in the Class of 2015.

“We were very pleased with the group we admitted this year,” Dean of Admission and Associate Provost for Enrollment Henry Broaddus said. “The academic profile we admitted was pretty comparable [to last year’s].”

The meeting of the Committee of Academic Affairs then focused on the College’s efforts to internationalize its curriculum, highlighting the College’s work on its Confucius Institute, which aims to promote education of Chinese culture and language internationally.

“It’s an exciting prospect for us because the Chinese will send us two additional professors and three instructors each year,” Kathleen Slevin, chancellor professor of sociology and vice provost for academic affairs said.

During the final minutes of the meeting, members discussed the number of professors retiring this year.

“We’re losing some real strength in the faculty,” Committee on Academic Affairs Chair Anita Poston said.

In the last committee meeting of the day, the Committee on Strategic Planning released a report on College efficiencies. The report outlined the College’s plans to cut operating costs, raise money and increase efficiency.

The goal of the meeting was to discuss the College’s strategic plan and budget for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. The BOV also discussed the accomplishments and mistakes from the past year.

“I hope that you are pleased with the way the strategic plan is evolving,” Vice President of Strategic Initiatives Jim Golden said to the BOV. “There is still a lot of work to be done, but we are making progress.”

Golden introduced the plan to the BOV, highlighting three main initiatives: continued taxpayer support, growing streams of earned income, and increased philanthropy and internal efficiency.

From 2008 to 2010 the College reduced its base operating cost by $8.2 million.

The BOV hopes to enhance efficiency through 17 university-level projects that could provide greater innovation across campus. The first group of projects to be implemented includes improving information technology coordination, streamlining the faculty and staff recruitment process, and putting procedures and forms on a central website.

Golden emphasized that for these projects to be completed, continued support from the College community is necessary.

“I’m really pleased that the strategic plan has been implemented in our culture,” Golden said. “All our campus organizations understand where we’re headed and are supportive. The ideas of the plan are getting reflected in the way that people think about goals.”

Senior Staff Writer Chris McKenna and Assoc. News Editor Ariel Cohen contributed to this report.

The site of new fraternity housing was announced at the quarterly Board of Visitors meeting Thursday. The new housing, including 11 fraternity houses and one common building, will be located on Ukrop Way.

“[The houses will] affirm and strengthen fraternity life as an important William and Mary tradition,” Vice President for Administration Anna Martin said.

The announcement comes in response to a prolonged debate about new fraternity housing and increased on-campus housing for the entire student body. The 11 fraternity houses will hold 17 students each, or a total of 187 beds, adding 81,000 square feet of on-campus housing. With a $26 million price tag, the project is set to break ground in 2012 and be completed by 2013.

The location was selected out of nine potential sites. The chosen site will divert land from Yates Field and eliminate some parking near Yates Hall. In order to replace those parking spots, 96 spots will be added to the William and Mary Hall parking lot.

“The two biggest issues right now that most fraternities have with the administration are the housing situation and the alcohol policy,” Delta Phi president George Popps ’12 said. “The alcohol policy isn’t really going to change, so this is a step that the administration is taking, and I think the Greek community will react accordingly.”

The addition of fraternity housing opens up space in the Units for the rest of the student body. With the addition of 220 undergraduates over the course of the next four years, the need for on-campus housing is also increasing. Currently, about 75 percent of students live on-campus, and the College hopes to maintain these numbers.

“Every year, students get bumped,” Vice Chair of the Inter-Fraternity Council John Zachary ’12 said. “This is a way to make the Greek community happy and at the same time, give students room. It frees up spaces in the Units for more rooms to help alleviate the problems Residence Life is having, especially with the addition of students every year.”

The addition of fraternity housing has been a concern for the Greek community for an extended period of time. With a total of 18 fraternities recognized on the Inter-Fraternity Council, the plan offers 11 houses to fraternities. There are currently only seven units used by the fraternities, with the other fraternities located in Ludwell, lodges and off-campus houses. The process to decide which fraternities will live in the houses has yet to be determined.

“There is a task force [being] put together right now which is coming up with the criteria which I am on,” Sigma Pi president Shaun Schachner ’12 said. “We have been comparing what schools in similar situations have done in the past. We are still working on that and trying to come up with the fairest way possible.”

The estimated $26 million cost of the project will be funded principally through room fees. The houses will add 187 new beds to campus, costing $139,037 per student housed. In comparison, The Jamestown Residences were constructed in 2006 for a total of $29.7 million and added 389 beds, costing $76,349 per student housed. This is roughly half the cost of the proposed fraternity housing. Tribe Square, set to open this fall, cost $6.5 million for 56 new beds, or $116,000 per student housed.

According to Inter-Fraternity Council President Billy Kopp ’12, the proposed plan is a step forward for the Greek community and in the current housing situation.

“I am just really excited about moving forward with the new houses,” he said. “They will be a great addition to the community.”

Four years ago, college campuses across the country were impacted by the Virginia Tech shootings, and this Saturday marks the anniversary of the massacre. Since then, campuses nationwide have changed the way they handle emergency situations.

Virginia Tech was fined $55,000 March 29 for a failure to comply with the Cleary Act’s mandate to inform the campus of the emergency in a timely fashion.

“The Department of Education’s conclusion was that they didn’t follow their own policy and didn’t provide warning soon enough to the campus,” Vice President for Administration Anna Martin said.

Since the shootings, every school in the country has had to reinvent the way they handle emergency situations. In light of the tragedy, awareness and preparedness for emergencies have become more prevalent on campuses. At the College of William and Mary, this has meant an improved emergency notification system that alerts students and staff via many forms of technology.

“Like every other school in the country, we have taken even more steps to protect our campus than was the case before the VA Tech tragedy,” College President Taylor Reveley said in an email.

Before the shooting, there was no emergency notification system on the College campus.

“We did not have an assignment system or a mass notification system prior to the Virginia Tech incident,” Martin said. “In the wake of Virginia Tech, almost every university got a mass notification system or improved their mass notification system. Everybody has responded.”

The recent fine to Virginia Tech in response to failure to comply with the Cleary Act responds to the fact that the university failed to notify students in a timely fashion. This problem is exactly what colleges have tried to alleviate with the implementation of emergency notification systems.

“We have the ability to reach out to people in five or six different ways,” Martin said. “The intent of that is to make sure one of them gets through or that the person next to you is getting it. It gives you paths to get to people more quickly.”

The emergency notification system at the College notifies students through phone calls, text messages, voicemails, and e-mails. The College is switching to a new vendor to run the system this May.

“We are switching to a new venue that focuses completely on higher education,” Martin said. “It is going to allow us to get messages out more quickly.”

With the constant changes in technology, the administration continues to look at the best way to reach students quickly.

“One of the challenges for me is how do I communicate with students because that changes a lot,” Martin said. “Students don’t check their emails as much as they used to so how do I reach them through text messages, or Facebook, or Twitter to get information out to students so that they are aware of it.”

With the adoption of the new emergency notification system and improvement of other emergency plans, Martin views the process of improving emergency preparedness as ongoing.

“It is a never ending process. You are continually improving on your plans and trying to make them better,” Martin said. “It never stops.”

Despite the rainy forecast, more than 1,050 prospective College of William and Mary students and their families will to flock to campus Saturday for the annual Day for Admitted Students.

“Finding the right college fit is an incredibly important part of the search,” Senior Assistant Dean of Admissions Jennifer Scott said. “It is our goal for them to leave with an understanding of why our campus is so unique and compelling.”

This year’s class of 4,400 accepted students came from a pool of record size with more than 12,800 applicants.

“We are very pleased with this group of admitted students,” Associate Provost for Enrollment and Dean of Admission Henry Broaddus said in a press release. “Thanks to another record-setting applicant pool, we admitted a group of students that is one of our most diverse and academically accomplished ever.”

Programs will take place across campus, from Zable Stadium to the Sir Christopher Wren building, which will provide a more complete view of life at the College. Students will have the opportunity to attend a variety of programs, and the day will culminate in an activity fair in the Sunken Garden.

More than 100 student organizations will be represented at the activities fair, and professors will give “fake lectures” as one of the featured activities.

A new component of this year’s Admitted Students Day is the “I AM W&M” campaign. The Office of Undergraduate Admissions handed out over 1,000 free T-shirts to current students. The T-shirts feature an “I AM ___” slogan on the back. Students were encouraged to fill the blank space with an activity in which they are involved at the College so prospective students can ask about them.

“We hope to give students that feeling, and that nobody will leave the weekend without all the info necessary to make an informed choice,” Scott said. “That’s a community effort – to show the best and brightest admitted students what William and Mary has to offer.”

Of the 4,400 students admitted, the College hopes 1,450 students will enroll. The office of admissions calculates how many students to accept based on matriculation rates from past years. 540 students have already been admitted and are committed to the College as part of the early decision process.

In the Class of 2015, 31.6 percent of students are ethnic minorities, and 9.6 percent are first generation college students.

“One of the things we are most excited about in this class is our chance to increase diversity on campus,” Broaddus said. “We recognize that the range of background and interests is what makes William and Mary such a special place.”

The incoming freshman class is also distinguished by its academic achievements: Over 86 percent of admitted students were ranked in the top 10 percent of their graduating class. SAT scores of admitted students for math and critical reading averaged between 1300 and 1490.

This year’s acceptance rate was 34.6 percent, just slightly higher than last year’s acceptance rate of 31.8 percent. In addition to the 50 students added this year, the College has agreed to add a total of 200 undergraduates to the community over the next four years.

“Next year’s entering class will be as strong as ever, and these students reflect the extent to which William & Mary continues to be a destination for the best and brightest students across the Commonwealth and around the world,” Broaddus said in a press release. “We look forward to welcoming them to the Tribe.”
Broaddus said that when students attend Admitted Students Day, there is an increased likelihood they will attend the College.

“One of William and Mary’s most appealing components is that it is a community,” he said. “The friendly appeal [of Admitted Students Day] really reflects that actual feel we have here on campus.”

In its last session of the year, the lame-duck Student Assembly dealt mostly with structural and financial changes that will affect the next Assembly.

“The reason why the SA is not a popular body on campus is because we get so involved in policy and code reforms, which are not accessible to students,” senator Noah Kim ’13 said in opposition to a bill which would consolidate the Outreach and Student Life committees.

According to senator Ryan Ruzic J.D.’11, of the 79 bills that were passed by the SA this year, 32 percent of those dealt with code changes, while another 10 percent were declarative bills on the SA’s stance on issues.

Senator Dallen McNerney ’14, the sponsor of the Better Consolidation Act, argued that the Student Life and Outreach committees should be consolidated in order to make them larger and better represent the senate opinions.

“Committees that are not representative of the senators’ opinions is not a reason to make them bigger, but to put people with more diverse opinions on them,” Kim said.

The bill failed by a 13-6 vote.

The Executive also sought to decrease their bureaucracies by consolidating the Student Rights and Policy committees. Two years ago, the Executive staff consisted of 87 people, while 37 people composed the branch this year.

“People who are defending student rights need to know policy background,” senator Mike Young ’11 said. “In this committee, you make a lot of enemies, so know-how is important.”

The bill did not pass and was forced back into committee amid objections to the consolidation and delegation of responsibilities of the Student Rights Committee.

Regarding finances, the Publications Council Validations Act, which would force individual publications to ask for money from the $50,000 Publication Council reserve before appealing to the SA reserves, passed by unanimous consent.

“I commend senator Ruzic for making the Publications Council more just,” Young said.

Ruzic stated that while the bill is not groundbreaking, it was necessary, especially since the Publications Council reserves were significantly larger than that of the SA, who is also experiencing financial woes.

“I am trying to earmark more money so that we [the SA] has money,” Kim said.

Regarding recently passed bills, a timeline is being generated for provisions for the Permanent Safety Act, which implements student disability in those buildings with 24-hour computer labs. Under the Student Health Act III, free STI testing, including HIV testing, will be available to students next year.

The last session also highlighted some senators for their accomplishments over the past year, including senator Mike Young ’11 for passing the most bills, for which he was praised by Ruzic.