The College’s nebulous drug policy
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Baseball: Brown leads comeback over Rams for Tribe’s fifth-straight win
No one knew how freshman centerfielder Ryan Brown would react after the ball hit off the top of his glove in the seventh inning, allowing Rhode Island to score the tying run.
Brown soon responded quickly, lifting a sacrifice fly to centerfield in the bottom of the seventh to put William and Mary (14-6) ahead for good en route to a 5-2 victory over the Rams at Plumeri Park Tuesday night.
Brown, whose misplay in the seventh was his first error of the season, found himself behind in the count 1-2 after a botched suicide squeeze attempt. But the freshman fouled off consecutive pitches before lifting a fly ball to center to score junior second baseman Jonathan Slattery from third base.
“That’s what [Brown] is all about,” Head Coach Frank Leoni said. “He’s not the type of kid that gets caught up and weighs himself down. He stays with it, stays positive, stays in the moment and tries to do something positive to help.”
Junior shortstop Derrick Osteen followed Brown’s at-bat with a walk. Osteen wasn’t on first for long before sophomore first baseman Tadd Bower whacked a towering home run to right-center field on a 3-0 fastball.
“Tadd did exactly what he’s supposed to do when he gets that opportunity,” Leoni said. “He looks for one pitch in one spot and if he gets it he’s supposed to unload on it—and that’s exactly what he did.”
Up until the seventh inning, the game had been a pitcher’s duel. The Tribe received a stellar performance from sophomore starter Cole Shain, who went six strong innings while allowing only one run and striking out three.
“It was a good mix of pitches which kept [their hitters] off balance,” Shain said.
In the seventh, freshman reliever John Farrell replaced Shain. The Massachusetts native worked the final three innings, holding the Rams to one unearned run to earn his second victory of the season.
“There weren’t a lot of strikeouts tonight but they did enough to give our defense a chance,” Leoni said. “[Shain and Farrell] did a great job.”
The Tribe earned its season-high fifth consecutive win heading into Wednesday’s matchup against the Rams, a win made extra special for Leoni, who graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 1990.
“I’m so proud of my alma mater and so proud of [Rhode Island] coach [Jim] Foster and everything they do there,” Leoni said. “They played well tonight.”
A look inside the College’s unseen drug culture
Charlie is an enterprising student at the College of William and Mary who took an idea and used his drive, acumen and intelligence to develop a profitable business: Charlie was a drug dealer.
Charlie, whose name was changed for this story to protect his identity, used to sell illegal drugs, primarily marijuana and illegally obtained prescription drugs such as adderall and painkillers, to students at the College.
According to Charlie, the College’s population of habitual drug users is more diverse than is commonly assumed.
“Are you kidding me? Everyone does them,” he said. “[I sold] to frat kids, non-frat kids, a cappella kids, athletes. Drugs are a common bond that everyone shares.”
Charlie classified himself as an average marijuana seller on campus since he used marijuana in addition to selling it. He contrasted himself with a dealer who buys the drug in bulk with no intention to use it himself or herself or with one who sells whatever is left over from his or her own use.
Charlie began by dealing exclusively to his closest friends and people he knew well. After receiving a lot of requests from other students, he realized that he could turn a bigger profit by expanding to a wider population.
“Everyone smokes weed,” he said. “You can find weed everywhere if you try hard enough. All it takes is 10 minutes.”
Finding there was more money to be made in cheaper marijuana, Charlie began purchasing higher quantities of the drug from his off-campus source, netting bigger profits.
“Lower quality stuff means higher profit margins,” he said.
Charlie recounted that he would often be approached at parties or in public by customers who had heard about his supply from other sources. While this increased his earnings and the potential of his business, Charlie began to realize the risks of his illegal actions.
“Too many random people started asking me for drugs,” he said. “I didn’t want to get arrested.”
His caution was warranted. Violating the current drug policy at the College can result in dismissal and arrest, a fact that Alex Leach ’10, a member of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, criticized.
“The current school policy doesn’t reflect Virginia law,” Leach said. “School law punishes possession [of marijuana] much harsher than underage drinking.”
Virginia law currently punishes underage drinking with a maximum fine of $2,500 and up to 12 months in jail, while possession of marijuana without the intent to sell only results in a fine of up to $500 and 30 days in jail. Leach argued that the College’s drug policy is both vague and too harsh.
According to Leach, under current policy, a Resident Assistant is only instructed to document an incident of underage drinking, while they are instructed to call police in the event of marijuana possession.
Leach said that this procedure produces negative consequences.
“Drug users should be treated,” he said. “Suspending them or expelling them just harms them. The individual doesn’t gain anything from the experience.”
Although Charlie agreed that marijuana can be abused, he spoke out against ideas that it is a “gateway drug” that leads to more dangerous drug use. He said that the illegal nature of its purchase and use causes a misconception.
“If weed is a gateway drug, it’s only because you’re forced to come into contact with people who sell other, harder drugs,” Charlie said. “Moderation is key. I know kids who have a 3.9 GPA and smoke pot.”
In the end, Charlie likened the popularity of the drug he once sold to the same reasons for other substances’ success.
“Why do people drink alcohol?” he said. “Why do people use tobacco? Weed is just an extension of that mentality.”
SA candidates unveil platforms
Candidates for the College of William and Mary Student Assembly presidency officially began campaigning Monday at midnight after the extended deadline to declare candidacy had passed.
SA Department of Diversity Initiatives Undersecretary for LGBTQ Issues Jessee Vasold ’11 elected to run for the presidency, joining SA Chairman Ben Brown ’11 and SA Deputy Chief of Staff Chrissy Scott ’11 on the ballot.
Vasold will run with Caitlin Goldblatt ’11, as vice presidential candidate Kim Green ’13 left the ballot. Goldblatt was previously running for Class of 2011 senator.
“[Green] had to make sure her priorities were in line,” Vasold said. “[She needs to] focus on her work and not be involved in something as big as a campaign for SA.”
Green declined to comment on the election.
Sen. Betty Jeanne Manning ’12 will run with Brown, and Kaveh Sadeghian ’11 will run with Scott.
With the onset of campaigning, candidates were allowed to launch their respective websites. All websites went live at midnight, Vasold and Goldblatt’s site is, however, currently in the template stage. Vasold said the website would be up soon and that the delay was due to technical issues.
Candidate platforms were also released late Sunday night.
Brown and Manning said they would follow a diminished platform with minimal promises.
“These are not necessarily things we’re promising everyone, just a few things we’re either already looking into or [have] decided to look into in the future,” Brown said. “We’d be hesitant to start going off on wild tangents with new programs before we make sure the ones we have are working as efficiently as possible.”
By not making promises, Brown said he and Manning could focus on the issues at hand, such as concerns about finance.
“Finance is the Student Assembly’s most important job, in the sense that that’s the only thing we have direct authority over,” Brown said. “As we can see from the amount of money we’re sitting on from year to year, obviously something isn’t working.”
Other important issues for Brown and Manning include sustainability, academic issues and reaching out to the graduate student community.
Brown said that he would like to see the creation of a course cross-listed with Environmental Studies and Business to cover sustainable business. While this process would likely take several years, he said that he would like to take the initial steps for the creation of this class.
Scott and Sadeghian also said they hoped to improve student service initiatives.
“Community service is a huge aspect of campus life,” Scott said. “We want to make [service] organizations more aware of the resources we have available to them, because they do exist.”
One such resource is a $10,000 reserve from which organizations would draw for service activities.
“What use is [this reserve] if people don’t know it’s there?” Saveghian said. “So I think one of the big things we need to work on is trying to connect the different sectors of campus that aren’t necessarily in tune with what’s going on in the Student Assembly.”
Scott said that student input would play a large role in her campaign.
“I already had somebody say to me, ‘Chrissy if you become president, can we be able to check our flex online?’” Scott said. “So that’s something we put under dining services — working on little things like being able to check your flex online so you know when you order Domino’s if you’re going to be able to pay for it or not.”
Vasold and Goldblatt said they would focus on student empowerment within the SA.
Their platform, which they have labeled BROS for “Biggest Reform Operation Since” calls for greater student involvement in College affairs.
“It’s a campaign platform based around social justice,” Goldblatt said. “We’re trying to appeal to a broad demographic of William and Mary students because we want to create a situation on campus where everyone feels a level of efficacy as students and everyone feels they can get involved.”
Major issues for Vasold and Goldblatt include student physical and mental health advocacy. The two hope to expand free sexually transmitted infection testing through the Student Health Center to cover all STIs and subsidize personal evidence recovery kits — otherwise known as “rape kits” — through the health center.
Vasold and Goldblatt said that activism for student issues would be a large part of their campaign.
“[We want to] turn the Student Assembly into an activist organization – not necessarily left-wing activism, but students’ rights, students’s empowerment and campus empowerment,” Goldblatt said.
The elections for all SA positions are scheduled to be held March 31.
Council forum focuses on community
City residents met with all five announced candidates for Williamsburg City Council Monday at a forum hosted by the Williamsburg Democratic Committee.
College of William and Mary student Scott Foster ’10, Planning Commission member Sean Driscoll, Planning Commission Chairman Doug Pons, Student Health Center doctor David Dafashy and incumbent councilman Bobby Braxton were each given nine minutes to address two of the primary problems they believe the city currently faces and how they plan to resolve it. Candidates also shared personal information and qualifications.
All five agreed that increasing tourism is the key to boosting the city’s struggling economy, despite differing opinions on the method on how to accomplish this task.
Pons said that he would enhance the city’s tourism appeal by helping businesses that would attract visitors remain successful in Williamsburg.
“We need to understand why businesses outside of the city are not moving into the city, and why businesses in the city are moving outside,” he said.
Foster also emphasized the need for tourism growth and outlined his plan to use the College to promote the industry.
“My experience at William and Mary was as great as it was because of its Williamsburg backdrop,” he said. “Our city really stands to benefit from enhanced cooperation with the College. We’ve got some severely under-utilized tourism infrastructures like the Matoaka Amphitheater, the Kaplan Arena and Phi Beta Kappa Hall … Those things are great for conference services. They are essentially the infrastructure niche that the larger Colonial Williamsburg is missing.”
Driscoll said that the expansion of roads and the railway system was a necessary part of increasing tourism.
“We’re fortunate to have rail service right here, but that’s about all it is,” he said. “We have a track and a train station, but we don’t have dependable rail service on a very frequent basis … We need to have a serious discussion about what we are going to do to bring people down here.”
Driscoll also supported increased cooperation between the city and the College.
“We also need to look to do more with the College and see how can we do more to help [it] grow programs,” he said. “That can be to bring folks into town from a conference standpoint. It can be bringing more professors into town to run an expanded of new program.”
Dafashy said that environmental preservation would be the center of his improvement plan.
“We have to approach growth in an environmentally friendly way and in a responsible way,” he said. “The aesthetic beauty of Williamsburg is largely what draws people to the area. If we do things to negatively impact the attractiveness of the city … it actually adversely affects our economy in the form of worsening tourism.”
Incumbent council member Bobby Braxton said that his plan extends beyond the City of Williamsburg.
“Our city budget will demand intensive monitoring and adjustment during these trying times,” he said. “This will occur by cooperating with our regional partners in areas such as tourism and affordable housing. We have issues that must be solved regionally, not by one jurisdiction or another.”
After delivering their speeches, the candidates took questions from audience members.
The city council election will be held May 4.
A look inside the College’s unseen drug culture
Charlie is an enterprising student at the College of William and Mary who took an idea and used his drive, acumen and intelligence to develop a profitable business: Charlie was a drug dealer.
Charlie, whose name was changed for this story to protect his identity, used to sell illegal drugs, primarily marijuana and illegally obtained prescription drugs such as adderall and painkillers, to students at the College.
According to Charlie, the College’s population of habitual drug users is more diverse than is commonly assumed.
“Are you kidding me? Everyone does them,” he said. “[I sold] to frat kids, non-frat kids, a cappella kids, athletes. Drugs are a common bond that everyone shares.”
Charlie classified himself as an average marijuana seller on campus since he used marijuana in addition to selling it. He contrasted himself with a dealer who buys the drug in bulk with no intention to use it himself or herself or with one who sells whatever is left over from his or her own use.
Charlie began by dealing exclusively to his closest friends and people he knew well. After receiving a lot of requests from other students, he realized that he could turn a bigger profit by expanding to a wider population.
“Everyone smokes weed,” he said. “You can find weed everywhere if you try hard enough. All it takes is 10 minutes.”
Finding there was more money to be made in cheaper marijuana, Charlie began purchasing higher quantities of the drug from his off-campus source, netting bigger profits.
“Lower quality stuff means higher profit margins,” he said.
Charlie recounted that he would often be approached at parties or in public by customers who had hdear about his supply from other sources. While this increased his earnings and the potential of his business, Charlie began to realize the risks of his illegal actions.
“Too many random people started asking me for drugs,” he said. “I didn’t want to get arrested.”
His caution was warranted. Violating the current drug policy at the College can result in dismissal and arrest, a fact that Alex Leach ’10, a member of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, criticized.
“The current school policy doesn’t reflect Virginia law,” Leach said. “School law punishes possession [of marijuana] much harsher than underage drinking.”
Virginia law currently punishes underage drinking with a maximum fine of $2,500 and up to 12 months in jail, while possession of marijuana without the intent to sell only results in a fine of up to $500 and 30 days in jail. Leach argued that the College’s drug policy is both vague and too harsh.
According to Leach, under current policy, a Resident Assistant is only instructed to document an incident of underage drinking, while they are instructed to call police in the event of marijuana possession.
Leach said that this procedure produces negative consequences.
“Drug users should be treated,” he said. “Suspending them or expelling them just harms them. The individual doesn’t gain anything from the experience.”
Although Charlie agreed that marijuana can be abused, he spoke out against ideas that it is a “gateway drug” that leads to more dangerous drug use. He said that the illegal nature of its purchase and use causes a misconception.
“If weed is a gateway drug, it’s only because you’re forced to come into contact with people who sell other, harder drugs,” Charlie said. “Moderation is key. I know kids who have a 3.9 GPA and smoke pot.”
In the end, Charlie likened the popularity of the drug he once sold to the same reasons for other substances’ success.
“Why do people drink alcohol?” he said. “Why do people use tobacco? Weed is just an extension of that mentality.”
Verkuil confirmed as head of Administrative Conference
The United States Senate unanimously confirmed the nomination of former College of William and Mary President Paul R. Verkuil ’61 as head of the Administrative Conference of the United States March 3. President Barack Obama appointed Verkuil to the position in 2009.
“I am very excited,” Verkuil said. “It is a great position for someone who spent his life in the administrative [sector]. It’s an agency whose job is to fix the government.”
The ACUS is a consultative board that advises Congress and other federal agencies on the efficiency and fairness of procedures. The board operates independently from the entities that it guides. Though it was established in 1968, a joint committee of the Senate and House of Representatives dissolved the ACUS during the Clinton administration. Verkuil is the first chairman of the board since 1995.
“It was a mistake [to remove the ACUS from the government],” Verkuil said. “I think everyone felt that afterwards.”
Now the president must appoint 10 ACUS board members, which Verkuil hopes will happen soon. Verkuil and his board will then set the board’s agenda.
“Since I am the only employee right now, I can’t really say what our focus will be,” Verkuil said. “I will say that there are a whole lot of good ideas floating around for improving government performances.”
Verkuil received an undergraduate degree in English literature from the College before receiving a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and an LL.M. and a J.S.D. from New York University School of Law.
He served as the College’s 24th president from 1985-92, CEO of the American Automobile Association and dean of both Tulane University Law School and Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law where he is currently a professor.
Verkuil also served as special master for the United States Supreme Court from 1994-97, in which he ensured judicial orders were followed.
“This is very good news,” College President Taylor Reveley said in a press release. “As one of our country’s foremost experts on administrative law and regulation, Paul Verkuil will do an enormous amount of good in this post. Paul has had an extraordinarily productive career. Leading the revived ACUS is the latest manifestation of his prowess as a leader. William and Mary is very proud of its alumnus and 24th president.”
Baseball: Forsten’s grand slam helps knock off UMass
Sophomore catcher Chris Forsten’s first career homerun could not have come at a better time.
With the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the sixth Sunday, Forsten crushed a hanging slider off the Plumeri Park scoreboard in left field to give the Tribe (13-6) a 17-13 victory over the Minutemen. The blast helped erase an 8-1 deficit and propelled the Tribe to win.
“Any chance with the bases loaded, you just want to do something for your team,” Forsten said. “Honestly, no one’s expecting me to hit a homerun in that situation. I just got a slider on the inside, got my hands to it, and hit it out.”
The Minutemen knocked around freshman starter Brett Goodloe, jumping out to an early 8-1 lead in the top of the third inning. Sophomore reliever Matt Davenport replaced Goodloe with one down in the third and silenced the Minutemen bats over four and a third innings to earn his fourth win of the season.
The game took a contentious turn in the bottom of the sixth when sophomore outfielder Stephen Arcure was called out for the use of an illegal bat. The umpires deemed Arcure’s bat too flat and called him out after he knocked a single off of Minuteman relief pitcher Bryan Leigh.
“The rules are what they are, and they say if an illegal bat is found after an illegal hit, the batter is out,” Head Coach Frank Leoni said. “The bat had gotten a dent on one side. I argued, ‘How do you know it didn’t happen on that hit?’ The umpire said it very well may have, but it doesn’t matter.”
Inspired by the incident, the College went on to win 17-13 to complete the series sweep after the Tribe won on Friday and Saturday. Freshman starter Brett Koehler earned the win on Saturday, allowing two runs while striking out four in six innings en route to the Tribe’s 7-4 victory.
Offensively, Forsten led the team Saturday with two RBIs on two hits. Junior shortstop Derek Osteen and junior second baseman Jonathan Slattery each added a pair of hits.
The Tribe kicked off the weekend with a 7-3 victory on Friday night. Freshman infielder Jackson Shaver went 3-for-3, complimenting a pair of homeruns from sophomore first baseman Tadd Bower and freshman third baseman Ryan Williams. Junior pitcher Logan Billbrough worked six and a third innings of three-hit ball while striking out a career-high nine hitters.
The series sweep was the third of the season for the College and left Leoni impressed with his young team.
“Let’s talk about how special we are, in my opinion,” Leoni said. “[Freshman outfielder] Derek Lowe made a play in the eighth inning, diving head- first with Tadd Bower leaping over him, and he gets up and throws a runner out at the plate. The score was 17-9. That’s how special this team is.”
Men’s Gymnastics: Gygax, College tune up for USAG
Senior Derek Gygax stood looking straight ahead, on his face a look of utter exhaustion.
Sure, William and Mary’s meet against Temple had taken its toll on him physically. But the look on his face went far beyond the College’s 336.2 to 334.7 loss to no. 13 Temple. It was a look of one who knew the Tribe had, finally, righted its season.
“We have had a pretty strange season compared to most of the other teams. We started out really slow with about three meets in two months and now we’ve had three meets in one week, so it’s really picked up a lot,” Gygax said. “We didn’t really get ourselves into shape as much as we should have until about a week ago. But it’s pretty cool watching the team really come together, and its perfect timing because next week is our championship.”
It started on the floor against the Owls, as junior Josh Fried finished second in the exercise with a score of 14.45. Gygak was right behind his teammate, as his score of 14.30 was good enough for third on the day.
It was on the bars though, both the high and parallel, where Gygak and the Tribe shone. Gygak, junior Alex Egerter and freshman Kris Yeager swept the podium on the parallel bars, scoring 14.20, 13.90 and 13.65, respectively.
“Derek had a pretty good meet and Kris Yeager, the freshman, hit a real key routine for us on the parallel bars. And our high bar team is really improving,” Head Coach Cliff Gauthier said. “We were really struggling on high bar at the start of the year, but we had some guys come through and hit pretty well for us today.”
Juniors Dave Ellis and Andy Hunter finished second and third on the rings with scores of 14.00 and 13.95. The Tribe also finished in second and third place on the pommel horse, with Hunter earning second place with a score of 13.80 and Yeager scoring 13.70 to take home third.
“I’m real pleased with how our pommel horse squad and parallel bar squads have come on,” Gauthier said. “Our parallel squad is awesome, and we rock the house with those guys. They don’t break form or anything.”
The College’s improved outing has Gauthier believing his team has finally started to reassert itself as a legitimate championship contender, especially with the USA Gymnastics championship looming this Friday in Colorado Springs, Colo.
“The key is, you count four scores on each event, and we are now getting four hits that we are counting,” Gauthier said. “We were struggling to do that earlier in the year, but we are getting to that level. The next step is to get way more than that and have our top four guys always hit on each event.This weekend, we improved significantly. If we can get our hit percentage a little higher, I will be really happy. We took a big step forward and are in the hunt again.”
With its regular season now over, the College will look to defend its 2009 USAG title at Friday’s USAG Championships.
“There are going to be four teams in the hunt, but its Air Force’s meet to lose,” Gauthier said. “We are getting better and better, and our objective is to put pressure on them and see if they can hold up. I think we have a chance.”