Approximately 40 students, faculty and staff of the College of William and Mary gathered Mar. 4 at the Crim Dell meadow to protest education cuts by the state of Virginia and to call for better wages for College employees.

Throughout the afternoon, members of the Tidewater Labor Support Committee, Virginia Organizing Project and other groups attempted to raise students awareness of the effects of budget cuts through speeches, literature and chants.

“All across the nation students and workers and faculty are seeing that their state budgets are getting cut, and that the state budgets aren’t prioritizing higher education,” Kathleen Brower ’11 said. “Administrations are having to make really tough decisions, because their budgets are decreasing, and they way that they’re dealing with that is by laying off workers cutting different programs, [and] raising tuition.”

According to Brower, other universities throughout the state also held protests Friday.

“Students at [Virginia Commonwealth University] and at George Mason [University] are having similar actions, where they’re standing with students and faculty and staff and saying that, ‘we’re not going to take this any more.’”

Several universities across the country also organized united days of protest against state budget cuts.

“In California, they’re shutting down, and at New School, it’s a total walk out,” David Theuner ’10 said.

Protestors said that one of the main sources of frustration was the apparent expendability of higher education from the state budget.

“I think it’s pretty clear that the budget is in a state of crisis,” Cherie Seise ’10 said. “We definitely need to prioritize education and vital state programs that they seem to think it’s okay to chop, rather than raising revenue.”

Demonstrators also criticized the College’s efforts to include students in budgetary discussions.

“I really feel like students, faculty and staff have been excluded from the budget process,” Michael Bingham ’10 said. “It’s difficult to ascertain exactly what those priorities are because the budget process is just so opaque. It’s difficult to just have a copy of the budget and look at it because that information hasn’t been released to us.”

Caitlin Goldblatt ’11 said that the state appears to have abandoned its role in funding higher education in Virginia.

“We would like to see the state really held accountable for the problems it forces the College through,” she said. “Think about what the College means to Williamsburg at-large. Half of the population could potentially not be here with the state putting the College in the position that it’s in.”

In addition to the protests, students said that they had begun letter-writing campaigns to members of the Virginia state legislature and would call their representatives.

“We’re going to start calling [Virginia Gov.} Bob McDonnell,” Bingham said. “We’re going to start calling our legislators. Because this isn’t just about the campus here and the administration, it’s also about the Virginia state legislature, it’s about the governor’s office, and it’s about trying to the get money to start going back into education at a state level.”

Protestors also came up with ideas to help solve the state’s budget shortfall.

“We’re trying to come up with creative solutions that the state could try to adopt, like this awesome bake sale,” Seise said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to show that state that Virginians want creative solutions to the budget crisis.”

According to Seise, Friday’s efforts could have an effect on higher education funding.

“We’re actually giving it to the state of Virginia,” she said. “It’ll be presented in a check that says ‘this is how much money we can raise in a day by doing a bake sale. How much can you raise by actually looking at how to get more revenue?’”

Several faculty and staff members came to the protest to show their support for both students and higher wages at the College.

“We have people who’ve been here 20 years, 25 years, and they’re barely getting $11 an hour,” College employee Devon Futrell said. “The state says, after 20 years, you can get $15.77, and they don’t even have it. When are they going to get it?”

According to Futrell, many College employees were appreciative of the students’ efforts.

“If they can come out here and support us, I think that everybody should be out here behind them,” she said. “Students are the backbone of the College. I learned that a long time ago. I think it’s wonderful for them to come out and put their stuff on the line for us. And I think that we should do the same thing.”

Futrell said that students, faculty and staff would continue to fight for higher education funding, even as the College has begun to cut job positions. Substance Abuse Educator Courtney Dowell became the first College employee to be laid off due to budget cuts Monday.

“We should be out here supporting the students because they’re supporting us,” Futrell said. “Whether we get anything out of this or not, I’m behind the students 100 percent.”

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has allegedly advised the College of William and Mary to remove language that would protect against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation from College policy.

Maryland State Senator Richard Madaleno, Jr. (D) described Cuccinelli’s alleged actions in a letter to the Chief Executive Officer of the Northrop Grumman Corporation, one of the country’s largest global security providers, Feb. 25.

“Virginia’s new Attorney General is reportedly seeking to have Virginia’s universities rescind their policies banning discrimination based on sexual orientation,” Madelano wrote in the letter.

The Northrop Grumman Corporation is deciding whether to house its new headquarters in Maryland, Virginia or the District of Columbia.

These allegations come weeks after the College’s Faculty Assembly voted to extend its anti-discrimination policy to protect transsexual, transgendered and gender-neutral faculty and students. The College’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities already protects against discrimination based on gender, sex and sexual orientation. College President Taylor Reveley is currently reviewing the request.

The College could not confirm whether the Office of the Attorney General, which serves as legal counsel to the College, had advised the College about gender discrimination policy. Legal counsel is protected under Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act.

“With or without the clarification, William and Mary does not discriminate or harass anyone because of their sex, gender identity or sexual orientation,” College spokesman Brian Whitson said in an e-mail.
While the College is taking steps to expand its anti-discrimination policy, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell struck language that would protect discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation from Virginia’s bylaws.

The Office of the Attorney General could not be reached for comment.

Monday was Courtney Dowell’s last day at work.

After suffering a series of budget shortfalls, the College of William and Mary has been forced to implement the layoffs promised at November’s Board of Visitors meeting.

“I’m trying to pretend like it’s a normal day,” Dowell said. “No sad goodbyes.”

Dowell learned that she would be let go last November. She has been a faculty member at the College for the past two and a half years, serving as a Substance Abuse Educator through the Office of Student Health. She also taught a three-credit Peer Health Education course with fellow health educator Sarah Menefee.

Upon being told that she would be laid off, Dowell’s initial thoughts were about the students who come through her office.

“We took measures to make sure no students were left high and dry,” she said. “We started referring students to [other] services on campus and off campus.”

According to Vice President for Student Affairs Ginger Ambler ’88 Ph.D. ’06, Dowell is the only person within Student Affairs who has been let go, although other departments made personnel cuts as well.

“For an institution our size, we’ve been blessed to have three health educators,” Ambler said. “This decision is not a reflection of her … our current budget just doesn’t allow for [redundancies].”

Ambler added that in the coming months, other departments will have to pick up some of the responsibilities that were handled by Dowell. However, there is no immediate plan to determine how those responsibilities will be divided.

At its November meeting, the BOV approved the cut of 18 positions to be cut to accommodate the College’s deflating budget. After former Gov. Tim Kaine announced a $105 million cut from in the state’s higher education budget, universities throughout Virginia were forced to tighten their belts. The University of Virginia and George Mason University have not had to resort to staff and faculty layoffs yet but have instead let unfilled positions lay fallow until funding becomes available.

The College has implemented this strategy as well — six of the 18 positions cut by the BOV were vacant.

According to Dowell and Menefee, the budget cuts to the Office of Student Health and Dowell’s layoff came as a surprise. However, they acknowledge that their services often fly below the College’s radar.

“If we’re doing a good job in prevention, we wouldn’t be on people’s radar,” Dowell said. “No one’s out there saying, ‘Thanks for preventing me from getting an STI.’”

Effective prevention strategies frequently include working closely with student groups and individuals to develop healthy lifestyles.

Dowell worked closely with Health Outreach Peer Educators to implement strategies geared toward improving public health outreach on campus. This includes conducting programs promoting sexual health, drug and alcohol abuse prevention and healthy body images.

“She’s been huge in prevention,” H.O.P.E. President Wesley Ng ’11 said. “Losing her means we’re losing someone who educates for the health of our students.”

Despite Dowell’s layoff, Ambler said that public health prevention strategies will remain a priority at the College.

According to Menefee, Dowell’s absence will definitely be felt by the Office of Student Health.

“Courtney made great strides in the field of prevention; if we can maintain what she has started, we will have succeeded, but there still may not be anything noticeable for the rest of campus,” she said.

In the meantime, Dowell said that she has a few job leads in public health, and that she will not be leaving the area. She lives in Newport News with her husband and daughter.

Dowell often thought of some of the students who came through her office as her kids and said saying goodbye to them was the hardest part of leaving.

“That was worse than being told you’re being laid off, having to tell the students you’re leaving,” she said. “I didn’t think there was going to be such an emotional response.”

Shifra de Benedictis-Kessner ’11 has landed in Santiago, Chile after her flight was diverted when an earthquake hit the country Saturday.

According to College spokesman Brian Whitson, de Benedictis-Kessner is involved in a joint service and academic program with the nonprofit Institute for the International Education of Students. She was flying into Santiago when an earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale struck off shore of the Maule region, approximately 250 miles southwest.

De Benedictis-Kessner’s flight was diverted to Peru.

Originally it was believed she would return to the United States and that the program would not continue.

“Initially it appeared she was on her way home but it appears the IES Abroad program will continue so she is now in Santiago.” Whitson wrote in an e-mail.

The earthquake, the strongest to hit Chile since a 9.5 magnitude quake in 1960, was an estimated 500 times stronger than the earthquake which hit Haiti earlier this year.

The Chilean government estimates a death toll of 723, with 500,000 homes damaged.

A representative from IIES could not be reached for comment.

_Check back with Flathatnews.com for more on this developing story._

Williamsburg Planning Commission chairman Douglas Pons announced his campaign for Williamsburg City Council Friday. Pons is the fifth candidate to announce candidacy for City Council.

Incumbent councilman Bobby Braxton, Planning Commission member Sean Driscoll, College of William and Mary student Scott Foster ’10 and College student health center physician Dr. David Dafashy have also entered the race. One other candidate has begun filing paperwork but has yet to announce his or her candidacy. Today is the final day for candidates to enter the race to fill Williamsburg Mayor Jeanne Zeidler M.A. ’76 and Braxton’s positions.

He had earlier ruled out running prior to Zeidler’s decision last month not to seek re-election, according to the Virginia Gazette. Pons said that he wanted to run for city council, and the chance to run without having to unseat an incumbent made this year a good opportunity.

He has disagreed with Zeidler and the current majority on city council over issues such as tourism funding and altering the city’s three-person housing rule.

He has created a Facebook fan since his announcement in hopes of garnering support.

He currently operates the Quarterpath Inn, located on Route 60, and is a former president of the Williamsburg Hotel-Motel Association. He has served on the Planning Commission since its establishment in February 2009.

The election for city council will take place in May.

Pons could not be reached for comment.

The College of William and Mary has instituted a summer program that guarantees accepted students placement in summer internships. The College’s Washington, D.C. office, working with the Mason School of Business and the government department, now offers two new summer programs, the Summer Security Institute and Summer Business Institute.

“It really started with a conversation with [government] professor Dennis Smith,” Adam Anthony ’87, director of the College’s D.C. office, said.

Smith and government professor Amy Oakes run an organization called The Project on International Peace and Security. According to Anthony, the program began as a discussion about PIPS, and naturally led into this institute.

The programs consist of two weeks of courses, followed by nine-week-long summer internships. Anthony says the program is a “replication” of the William and Mary in Washington program. However, while the semester-long D.C. programs change from year to year, the summer institutes will focus on international business and international security. Students will also spend a portion of their time visiting sites around the capital.

“It’s intense, but it’s the kind of thingwhere you’re going to learn a lot by listening and seeing and meeting,” he said.

Because only 20 slots were open to students, applications far exceeded spots. The program declined to release the number of applicants.

Career Center Associate Director David Lapinski will work closely with the program to identify businesses interested in offering internships.

“Students are with such an advantage these days when graduating with [an internship],” Anthony said. “We spend a lot of effort and time identifying internship opportunies. Sometimes, it’s through alumni who approach us. Sometimes, we approach the organizations … that we think would be great places for students to intern.”

Internship opportunities for this summer include the Department of Homeland Security Policy Office and the Discovery Channel. Students will also have the option of finding their own internships.

According to Anthony, few other universities offer similar programs.

“I think George Washington [University] does,” he said. “Other organizations have summer schools here in D.C., but GW is the only one I know that does something like this. Their’s is three credits, and ours is six to seven — six for the business school and seven for the security institute.”

International relations professor Elizabeth Arsenault ’02 and business professor Don Rahtz will be teaching the classes. They could not be reached for comment.

“I hope [the participants] walk with a sense of the way Washington works,” Anthony said. “It’s awesome to study the way things are, but then if you can follow up with an internship … it really makes it come alive for you. That’s, I think, our hope. Also, when students graduate, they’ve got one or hopefully more solid internships under their belt.”