The College of William and Mary’s Board of Visitors discussed the direction of the College and how factors such as faculty satisfaction, the search for a mascot, College athletics and construction projects play into the school’s strategic plan.

Vice President for Administration Anna Martin reported on the progress of capital outlay projects that are near completion. Martin said the phase I expansion of Small Hall was on schedule to finish in March 2010, with phase II renovations projected for completion by 2011. Other projects are also on schedule.

“The School of Education is moving right along and is set for completion in May, and we should be able to move people in beginning in June,” Martin said.

According to Martin, other projects currently in the design stage include renovations to Tucker and Tyler Halls and a feasibility study for renovations to the Brafferton. These future plans will be subject to a new State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) mandated metric called the facilities condition index.

“The facilities condition index is the ratio of deferred maintenance to the current replacement value of academic facilities,” Martin said.

A ratio of 10 to 12 percent is considered “poor,” while a ratio of 7 to 10 percent is considered “fair.” The College recently added decreasing its index ratio to the strategic plan. Lowering the index will require additional construction on or renovation to campus buildings.

“You can increase total building value by expanding existing buildings, constructing new ones or through renovation,” Martin said. “You lower the total of the deferred maintenance through renovation or repair — either through a capital project or maintenance reserve work — or the demolition of a building.”

The College’s current index ratio is approximately 10 percent, down from a high of 16 percent in 1999. Martin said the decrease was due to over $275 million of construction and renovation of campus buildings, including the Integrated Science Center, Rogers Hall and Alan B. Miller Hall.

“We’re making tremendous progress,” BOV Secretary Janet Brashear ’82 said.

However, Dormitories, dining halls and administrative buildings like the Campus Center and Sadler Center
are not included in the ratio.

Martin said that administrators are working on assessments that would include these buildings in the ratio, but that their renovation would come at great expense.

“We haven’t made the full assessment on dorms, but we started looking into it about two years ago,” said Martin. “Our preliminary figures showed it would cost about $97 million.”

Additionally, SCHEV recommendations include dedicating 2.5 to 4 percent of yearly assets to maintenance.
The College currently allocates .6 percent.

Due to the high cost of maintenance, Martin said that buildings such as the Campus Center and Trinkle Hall might be more suitable for demolition and reconstruction than renovation. However, the historic value of Old Campus buildings makes them more suitable for renovation.

“We’ve got to pay money for Old Campus, especially with the government department, economics, public
policy and International Relations moving into Tyler [Hall],” Martin said.

Board members also discussed building projects, operating properties andconstruction and maintenance goals.

The results of the latest faculty surveys, which are conducted annually, were another focus of the meeting.

While in the past the survey asked faculty members to rank their top three priorities, this year’s survey asked respondents to list their top eight priorities.

The top priority, by a wide margin, was faculty salaries, followed by support for faculty research, support for graduate and professional students, and support for professional research presentations. The ranking of priorities varied between different areas of academia. The board members noted that 71.6 percent of the faculty had responded to the surveys.

While no other specifics of the survey were mentioned during the meeting, the statistics from the 315-page survey can be found at the Faculty Assembly’s website.

Another survey with a large volume of responses was the one about the five mascot finalists.

The website received 77,282 hits between Dec. 8 and Jan. 7.

11,183 people completed the College mascot survey, and 22,381 comments were posted regarding the five finalists. Of the comments, 50 percent were from students, 31 percent were from alumni, and 20 percent were identified as being either from those who remain friends of the college or unaffiliated altogether.

“People are following this,” Director of Athletics Terry Driscoll said. “People do care about it.”
Driscoll said every comment was read.

“Some were read very quickly,” Driscoll said. “About half could be considered derogatory. Some were hysterically funny. Some were very thoughtful.”

Graduating members of the College’s football team R.J. Archer ’10, David Caldwell ’10 and Rob Varno ’10 were featured as special guests. Members of the board asked the students questions about what attracted them to College, their opinions of the Laycock Center and their plans after college.

“[The football team] really did a lot to lift the spirits of a lot of people here on campus,” Driscoll said, contrasting this year’s successful football season with the sluggish economic climate.

It was noted that the football team was not the only sports team to draw exceptional interest this year. Last Saturday’s basketball game was witnessed by the largest crowd in Kaplan Arena since 1993. 7,600 people came to watch, far more than the 2,800 who normally attend. 2,100 of those in attendance were students, much higher than the usual 300.

The meeting ended with discussion of the plans to build a mixed-use residential development on the College-owned Triangle property near Wawa. In a unanimous voice-vote, board members agreed to transfer control of the Thiemes House, part of the Triangle property, from the College’s administration to the William and Mary Real Estate Foundation.

_Flat Hat Assoc. News Editors Ian Brickey and Bertel King, Jr. also contributed to this report._

An investigation into Greek life at the College of William and Mary has released a fairly critical report that includes acceptance of hazing, alcohol abuse, a lack of leadership in Greek organizations and poor living conditions.

After visiting campus in October, the Fraternity and Sorority Coalition Assessment Project released an exhaustive 25-page report outlining both strengths and weaknesses within the College’s Greek community.

Click here to download a PDF copy of the full report.

The report first examines the community’s assets. One prevailing strength is the significant role fraternities and sororities play within the larger College community. The report lauds their unique inclusive nature, reporting that the community is perceived as open.

“Non-members are invited and attend social events, philanthropy events and many other chapter events,” the report said.

Additionally, fraternity and sorority members claim leadership roles in other organizations, and explain that they are not defined by their fraternity or sorority membership.

“I think an important strength that the sorority community has is that we contribute to our community as much as we gain from it,” Intersorority Council President Laurel Berkheimer ’11 said. “The CAP report lists several successful endeavors of ISC and the sorority community as a whole, such as leadership roles and addressing pertinent issues in the community.”

Associate Director of Student Activities Anne Arseneau ’89, whose focus is Greek life and leadership, explained a heartening and challenging aspect of the report.

“They clearly articulated that the average experience at William and Mary provides students with advanced interest levels, a strong community, opportunities for leadership and engagement in service,” she said. “At another campus, that might be the niche that Greek life would fill. So, here are we celebrating all that Greek life can do for you. If it’s just a social outlet, then it’s not living up to its potential.”

However, despite these positives, the report details a variety of criticisms ranging from philanthropic shortcomings to offensive vernacular terms such as “pledge.”

One particularly urgent area for improvement calls on fraternities and the College alike to address the current fraternity housing situation. Already a priority, the CAP report bolsters the issue’s importance, characterizing the housing as conducive to high-risk behavior and not attractive to men seeking a “safe and healthy place to live on campus.” It also chides fraternity leaders for putting more energy into discussing the problem than finding solutions.

Moreover, in a section concerning the use of appropriate terminology, the report suggested the immediate expulsion of the term “frat unit.”

“Simply changing the name of them does not address the overarching issues,” Council for Fraternity Affairs President Ian Fenwick ’11 said.

The CAP report also calls for increased collaboration between CFA and ISC beyond social affiliation, as well as a closer relationship between CFA, ISC and National Pan-Hellenic Council chapters on campus.

“Things have functioned in a way where everyone was okay with benign neglect at the leadership level amongst the three councils,” Arseneau said. “This is a new call to focus on coming together for the benefit of the whole community.”

As for the College administration, the report suggested a more honest discussion about the unique relationship the administration has with sororities and fraternities in comparison to the other 400 groups on campus. As the administration alternately assigns fraternities and sororities unique privileges, expectations and restrictions, a new “relationship statement” would be both more accurate and more beneficial to each organization.

Fenwick agreed that a clarified relationship is needed.

“I think the greatest weakness is a disconnect, or believed disconnect depending on who you ask, between the William and Mary administration and Greeks,” he said.

Other points in the report cite the conflict between current practices within Greek life and College and/or national organization policies. Beer pong tables, openly present in some College-owned-and-operated dormitories, violate the College’s policy against drinking games. Alcohol’s presence at philanthropic events violates national policies. Moreover, the report reproaches sororities for the practice of spending up to $500 on each “little” during Clue Week.

Finally, the report suggests the College more openly celebrate its role as the birthplace of fraternities and sororities via a monument of some kind, with a proposed establishment date of 2026 to coordinate with the 250th anniversary of the founding of Phi Beta Kappa at the College.

Berkheimer said she thought this was a unique strength of the College’s Greek community.

“No other school in the country can claim the founding of Greek organizations,” she said.

A Blue Ribbon Committee, consisting of 13 faculty, students, advisers and other stakeholders, is in place to coordinate short-term and long-term implementation of suggestions made in the CAP report.

The College of William and Mary Student Assembly passed a bill Tuesday that will help fund a four-day event about sustainability issues surrounding plastic water bottles.

The Student Environmental Action Coalition has been working on its “Take Back the Tap” campaign to raise student awareness about problems associated with buying bottled water.

“We’re going to be giving away 900 bottles … to students on campus,” SEAC member Dylan Reilly ’12 said.

Students will be asked to sign a pledge to avoid purchasing bottled water when they receive the reusable bottles.

Reilly came to Tuesday’s SA meeting with the hope of securing the additional funds needed to bring Elizabeth Royte, author of the book “Bottlemania,” to campus during the event.

“All we need is another $500 to get her to come to campus,” he said.

SEAC has already raised $2,400 for the event and received an additional $2,200 from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Roy R. Charles Center, Aramark, the Wendy and Emery Reves Center and the Mason School of Business.

The Bottled Water Awareness Act, which provided SEAC with the additional $500 from the consolidated reserve, was passed by unanimous consent. The four-day event will take place Feb. 15-18, with stations set up across campus.

“They’ve done a really good job planning this event,” Sen. Brittany Fallon ’11 said. “This is a really good job of outsourcing funding. I am a big fan of this.”

The SA also passed the Help Haiti Now Act unanimously. The bill allocates $1,000 from the SA off-campus account to William and Mary Supports Haiti, a Haiti earthquake relief organization, to print 200 T-shirts. Shirts will be sold for $10, and proceeds will be sent to the University of Fondwa, Haiti’s only degree-awarding university.

“The university has been significantly damaged,” Sen. Kristin O’Conner J.D. ’10 said. “I don’t think we’ll have trouble at all selling 200 shirts or more.”

The SA debated increasing the number of shirts printed, but decided to print more shirts only if demand persists after the first 200 sell out.

“We don’t want to be losing money on this,” Sen. Steven Nelson ’10 said.

The Open Miller Hall Act, a bill to keep Alan B. Miller Hall open to non business majors at all hours, passed 18 to 0.

Currently, all students pay $150 annually in facility fees for Miller, although the building is closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Friday to students who are not enrolled in business classes.

A Facebook group devoted to opening Miller to all students has 1,054 members.

Bills to be discussed in future weeks include the SC Free Pool Act, which would allocate $1,000 from the SA’s consolidated reserve to allow students to use the pool tables in the Sadler Center free-of-charge.

The SA is also working to re-establish office hours.

“We should be there if students want to come talk to us,” Sen. Jill Olszewski ’12 said.

Office hours are tentatively set for Wednesday evenings in Lodge 1.

Another contender has declared his candidacy for the Williamsburg City Council.

Planning Commission member Sean Driscoll officially announced his candidacy for the Williamsburg City Council Tuesday.

“I grew up here, [and have] been active in the city … for the last 10 years,” Driscoll said in an interview Thursday. “I want to help shape and grow the city.”

Driscoll has served on the city’s planning commission for four years, and says he plans to work with the College if elected to the council.

“Unfortunately, some people view [town-gown relations] as strained,” he said. “I’d be willing to sit down with the College and figure out what needs to be done.”

In recent planning commission meetings, several commissioners have urged the city and the College to explore public-private projects as a way to improve the College’s housing situation.

“It would make sense to cluster students so they have access to certain services,” Driscoll said.

He added that he would like to see projects in the same vein as the apartment and retail complex being built by the College of William and Mary Real Estate Foundation near Wawa on Richmond Road

While on the planning commission, Driscoll voted against expanding the city’s occupancy limit to more than three unrelated individuals.

“We were for keeping the three-person rule,” Driscoll said. “My biggest thing is preserving certain neighborhoods. I’ve been in favor of supporting higher density, which works.”

Currently, the city prohibits more than 14 individuals from living on an acre of land. Increasing that density limit could potentially allow for the development of larger multi-family dwellings or apartment buildings.

According to the city’s voter registrar office, five people have begun filing the paperwork necessary to run for the council.

Driscoll is the second person to officially declare his candidacy, behind Scott Foster ’10. Dr. David Dafashy, a physician at the College’s Student Health Center, has said that he, too, plans on running for the council.
Council member Bobby Braxton said that he will be announcing whether or not he will run today. The registrar’s office did not identify the fifth individual to take out paperwork for filing candidacy.

The city council election will take place May 4.

Tuesday, Jan. 26 — An individual reported larceny at 201 Ukrop Way. The estimated value was $355.

Wednesday, Jan. 27 — An individual was arrested for alleged possession of alcohol by a minor at 500 Ukrop Way.

Thursday, Jan. 28 — An individual was arrested and charged with an alleged DUI and possession of marijuana at the intersection of Monticello Ave. and Ironbound Rd.

Friday, Jan. 29 — An individual reported vandalism in Yates Hall. The estimated damage was $700.

— An individual was arrested for an alleged DUI on Richmond Rd.

— An individual was arrested for allegedly being drunk in public and possession of alcohol by a minor in Tazewell.

— An individual reported larceny in Ewell. The estimated value was $150.

Sunday, Jan. 31 — An individual reported larceny in Fauquier. The estimated value was $350.

The Peace Corps named the College of William and Mary the fifth largest contributor for medium-sized schools in its annual ranking of collegiate contributers. There are 40 undergraduate alumni volunteers from the College serving in the Corps. The University of Virginia is ranked 10th in the large college and universities category with 64 undergraduate alumni volunteers, and the University of Mary Washington is ranked second in the small colleges and universities category with 23 undergraduate volunteers.

Amanda Wagstaff ’10 won the Charter Day Art Contest with her watercolor painting of Barrett Hall. Wagstaff was an anthropology major until second semester of her junior year, when she decided to shift her concentration to art. She hopes to pursue a master’s degree in art after graduating from the College. Her work will be used in the Charter Day program booklet.

Research conducted by VIMS has helped to restore Atlantic sturgeon to the James River. The James River Association, Virginia Commonwealth University and Luck Stone led the project to create a reef that will serve as a sturgeon breeding ground. VIMS scientists have helped determine the best potential location and design for the reef, which is slated to be completed this spring, in time for sturgeon mating migration.

A study conducted by researchers at the Ludwig-Maximilians University Hospital in Munich has suggested that it is easier for obese men to lose weight at high altitudes.

The project studied 20 males who weighed an average of 232 pounds as they spent one week at a research station just below the summit of Germany’s tallest mountain, approximately 8,700 feet above sea level.
While at the research station, the men were free to eat as much as they wanted and their physical activity was limited to taking slow walks around the facility to prevent them from exercising more than normal. The men lost three to four pounds on average and kept the weight off for at least four weeks after they returned to low altitudes.

“It’s remarkable that the effects lasted after they returned from the mountain,” says Robert Roach, research director of the Altitude Research Center at the University of Colorado in Denver said. “Whatever it is that promotes weight loss at high altitudes may be more potent in heavy people because it provides a lasting effect.”

The men all had Metabolic Syndrome, a disorder that encompasses a number of health problems including too much fat around the waist. This condition increases a variety of risk factors such as blood-sugar intolerance, high blood pressure and obesity, increasing the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

During their time on the mountain, the men’s metabolisms increased, they consumed fewer calories, and their blood-sugar levels and diastolic pressure improved. Their levels of leptin, a hormone known to suppress appetites, also increased at high altitudes.

“The new study is intriguing and suggests that we need to do a lot more research into the effects of high altitudes on our weight and our health,” Richard Atkinson, the director of Obetech Obesity Research Center of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, said.

While once-a-month mountain climbing isn’t the most practical way to shed a few pounds, moving to a high-altitude city instead of a low-altitude city isn’t a bad idea if given a choice.

According to scientists, these results could pave the way for new obesity treatments.