The College of William and Mary has received its first round of H1N1, or swine flu, vaccines. The Student Health Center will be providing the vaccine to high-risk students beginning Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

According to an e-mail sent to the campus community, high-risk students include women who are pregnant, students who suffer from diabetes, students on immunosuppressive medications and students with asthma or other chronic pulmonary diseases. The College notified high-risk students of the chance to get vaccinated by telephone today.

The College will be receiving supplies of the vaccine weekly, and according to Vice President for Student Affairs
Ginger Ambler ’88, Ph.D ’06, all students will eventually be able to receive the vaccine free of cost.

“As we use up the vaccines, they’ll send us more,” said Ambler.

Ambler also believes H1N1 clinics will be held in other locations as the vaccine becomes more readily available.

John Allen Muhammad, one of the D.C. snipers, was executed by lethal injection Tuesday evening. His execution sparked different emotional reactions among students across campus.

Rob Greene ’12 was in seventh grade when the 2002 D.C. sniper attacks began. Like many students at the College of William and Mary, Greene hails from Northern Virginia and vividly remembers the three weeks when Muhammad and his accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, killed 10 people and injured three others in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area and along Interstate-95.

According to Greene, most people thought it was another terrorist attack when the shooting started. Schools began taking precautions, and day-to-day activities changed.

“There wasn’t outside recess,” he said. “At my middle school, in order to go from indoor recess to the gym, there was this pathway. They had garbage bags hanging down so you wouldn’t see the kids in it. They had people at the gas stations, volunteers filling up gas for people, because people didn’t want to get out of their cars. It was pretty crazy, looking back at it, especially when it happened.”

Life for Justine di Giovanni ’11, also from Northern Virginia, was affected by the shootings as well.

“Everyone saying, ‘you know, he’s driving around in a white van,’” she said. “And so every time you saw a white van you’d zigzag a little bit. I didn’t think about it all the time, but it was definitely on my mind.”
Around two weeks into the shootings, Greene and his family were shopping at a store when the two snipers shot and killed a woman in a Home Depot parking lot down the street. The woman was walking to her car with her husband.

“We get back home, turn on the TV, and the next thing we know, we see where we just were. That woman just got killed right there,” Greene said. “I didn’t see it actually happen, but [the hooters] were definitely there at the same time I was. We were on the same side of the street. That’s the creepy part. It was one of those ‘holy crap, that was a bit too close,’ type of things.”

Even now, when he visits that Home Depot, Greene is reminded of the event.

“It’s still weird when you walk by it,” he said. “That’s our local Home Depot. I go there all the time. It’s just that I know exactly where that woman was shot.”

After three weeks of searching, Muhammad and Malvo were caught while asleep in their car. Muhammad was sentenced to death in 2003.

Malvo, a minor at the time of the shootings, was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Muhammad’s execution brought mixed reactions around campus.

“Honestly, my heart really goes out to everyone who was affected,” Group Coordinator of Amnesty International Walter Hickey ’12 said. “To all the victims and all the families, I absolutely feel terrible about all of it.”

Standing out in the rain Tuesday night, Catholic Campus Ministries and Amnesty International held a candlelight vigil in protest of Muhammad’s execution.

“We’re not trying to mitigate what he did,” Hickey said,“But we’ve got to stand against the death penalty. It’s a violation of human rights, no matter how you look at it. We think that he should have been put away for life without parole.”

Di Giovanni, who also opposes the death penalty, would have preferred that Muhammad receive help through therapy. She hopes that Malvo will be given counseling in order to understand the severity of his
actions.

“I understand the need that people have for retribution,” she said. “But I think that the death penalty makes an assumption about human nature, that there’s no way to make people better, to improve them. And I don’t think that’s true. I’m relatively optimistic about people and I’d rather see him trying to be helped in some way as a person, rather than just being snuffed out.”

Others, like Greene, were glad to see Muhammad executed, describing him as a dangerous man. Greene wished Malvo had received the same sentence.

“I think that he definitely deserved to die,” Greene said. “I think that if you have that little regard for human life and if you commit acts like that, then you’re definitely a threat to the community. He’s just someone who shouldn’t be breathing the same air as everyone else.”

Government professor Ronald Rapoport saw what happened to Matt Beato ’09, a College of William and Mary student who ran unsuccessfully for the Williamsburg City Council in 2008, and has a plan he believes will give future student candidates a better chance at winning in city elections.

Rapoport said that since every voter gets to cast two votes in the election, two students should run.

“Willam and Mary students are so dutiful that they will vote for two candidates,” Rapoport said. “The ballots tell you to vote for two candidates. What [students] don’t realize is that when they vote for a second candidate in addition to the student, they are voting for someone who may beat the student because of their vote. Two students should run so that students don’t vote against the student candidate.”

When extrapolated for the entire election, half of all votes cast by College students at the College would be for rival candidates, assuming they use their first vote for a student candidate. With two students in the race, this problem would be eliminated.

“In the town, [student candidates] can run as if they were running individually,” Rapoport said. “On campus, you want to make sure the students vote a student ticket. If one person is putting more effort into it, that putting more effort into it, that person can put more effort into the city and town.”

However, Beato,who was just under 200 votes shy of becoming a city councilman, urges caution.

“[Rapoport’s idea] is a double-edged sword,” he said.

While two candidates might reach out to more voters, there are potential implications that could arise if two students are on the ballot.

“[The citizens of Williamsburg] might fear a takeover,” Beato said.

Rapoport disagrees. He believes that students are being overly cautious.

“These candidates do not need to run a hostile campaign,” he said. “It’s not about dominance.”

Beato’s campaign in 2008 attracted the attention of both the campus and the City of Williamsburg, as he brought up issues that students and citizens such as affordable housing, the city’s tourism-based economy, noise violations and the three-person rule.

Although he was widely supported by students during the race, Beato failed to win the seat due to lackluster student turnout on election day.

This low attendance was attributed to the election’s mid-May date, when many students had already left the city for summer vacation.

This obstacle won’t be a problem for a student candidate in the upcoming election, which is slated to take place early May.

Regardless of the feasibility of electing a student to city council, the question remains if a student is even worthy to hold such an office.

On paper, a candidate’s eligibility rests on whether they are 18 years-old, a resident, registered voter, pay taxes and whether they have 50 signatures by Jan. 1.

Rapoport said that the intangibles, however, are more subjective. A college student is not only qualified for office, but also represents interests unheard by city council.

“A student is more aware of some problems than non-students,” Rapoport said, dismayed by the lack of influence students hold in a city in which they make up half the population. “Students play a smaller role
here than any other college town.”

Student Assembly Undersecretary of Public Affairs to Williamsburg David Witkowsky ’11 thinks that if a student should run, he or she should be ready for the extra responsibility.

“It wouldn’t be worthwhile unless the student is particularly interested,” he said.

While no students have decided to run yet, the Jan. 1 registration deadline is approaching. In the end, if Rapoport’s idea works and a student wins a position on city council, Rapoport believes that the relationship between the city and the College will be much more open, ending what has been characterized as a tumultuous relationship between the two in the past.

Williamsburg Mayor Jeanne Zeidler M.A. ’76 visited the College of William and Mary Wednesday evening to answer students’ questions on town-gown relations. It was the fifth segment of the “Better Know Your City Council Member” program, sponsored by Students for a Better Williamsburg, a non-partisan political action committee. Zeidler spoke to approximately 35 students at the question-and-answer session.

Most of the questions concerned the city’s enforcement of potential changes to the three-person rule, which was enacted by the city in 1991. While she was open to any future amendments proposed by the Williamsburg Planning Commission, Zeidler had firm views on the legality of the rule.

“We can’t just ignore the law that we have,” she said. “We can’t do that, particularly when other citizens registered complaints and produced evidence.”

Earlier this year, the city pressed charges against the student residents of 711 Richmond Rd. in response to evidence provided by neighbors indicating that the students were in violation of the three-person rule. The charges were eventually dropped. Members of the audience questioned the forcefulness of the charges, but
Zeidler believes that the city has to consider all parties.

“There are people in the city who believe that the three-person rule is absolutely necessary to protect single-family neighborhoods,” she said. “So it takes a lot of discussion and a lot of understanding to get to a place, hopefully, where we can find flexibility in this bill.”

Zeidler also said the three-person rule is not unique to Williamsburg.

When allegations were brought forth by an audience member concerning the continued charges by the city against the owners of 711 Richmond Rd., Zeidler deferred to the discretion of the appropriate city administrator.

“I don’t micromanage the city attorney or any other city employee,” she said. “The city council sets policy.”
While members of the city council have met with College administrators and student leaders to address the problem, discussion on the controversial rule has persisted for many years.

“It’s an incremental process. It can’t just go away. It can’t just be changed overnight,” she said. “You have to take everyone’s points of view into consideration.”

Zeidler became involved in local Williamsburg government after joining the Matthew Whaley Elementary School PTA. She then moved onto the Williamsburg County School Board and involved herself with local museum and cultural institutions. In 1998, she became the first female mayor of Williamsburg.

During her tenure, the city has expanded its bus system and the Williamsburg Farmers Market on Merchants Square. The city council has also introduced inspections of many dilapidated rental properties during
Zeidler’s career as mayor. While some students see this as a problematic ordinance, Zeidler says it was designed in the interest and safety of students. In her view, rental properties have now become the sticking point in town-gown relations.

“Williamsburg has always been a college town,” she said. “I think what has elevated the situation were several neighborhoods becoming more than 50 percent rental, so people began to fear for the quality of life in their neighborhoods.”

Zeidler also believes there are concerns that campus and city community members share. The High Street shopping center on Richmond Road, which could provide retail and entertainment venues for students, remains mostly vacant.

“We talk about quote ‘student-oriented businesses.’ I think they’re community-oriented,” she said. “Many people who live in the city want those very same kinds of businesses. They want more coffee shops and bookshops.”

While the city council meets several times a year with Student Assembly leadership, Zeidler wants more student involvement in local government. She urges students to apply to be members on city and board commissions.

In addition to her long career in city government, Zeidler feels closely connected to the College’s concerns.

Her husband, Edward P. Crapol, was a history professor at the College for 37 years, and several of her children and one grandchild have also attended the College.

“My husband said our family bleeds green and gold,” she said.

Torrential rain and strong winds throughout the mid-Atlantic region this week left the College of William and Mary with 38 leaks and counting.

Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Dave Shepard said that as of yesterday afternoon, the rains caused numerous water leaks in buildings around campus.

“We don’t have flooding,” he said. “We have some leaks in places. From roofs, walls, windows. The only place we have truly had flooding is the basement of Themes [House], because of the saturation.”

Shepard said flooding in the Themes House, which houses the College’s human resources department, is due to the nature of the building’s construction, which allowed for groundwater to seep in.

Other buildings affected by leaks on campus include the Sarah Ives Gore Child Care Center, the Sadler Center, Swem Library and Phi Beta Kappa Hall. Shepard said most residence buildings were unaffected as of Thursday afternoon. The units reported some flooding in the evening.

“[The Sadler Center] probably has more leaks than we’ve experience in the past caused by a combination of wind and the amount of rain,” Shepard said.

Events in the Sadler Center’s Lodge 1 were also cancelled Thursday evening due to flooding.

The College reported that as long as the rain and wind continue, nothing can be done to repair current damage.

“We are trying to deal with [leaks] right now as things come up,” Shepard said. “We are inspecting issues, trying to mitigate any damage that might be caused because we can’t really repair anything while the wind and rain is still ongoing.”

As of 2:00 p.m. Thursday, Shepard reported approximately 38 leaks. However, he expects that number to increase as the weather continues.

The College also experienced several power and internet outages last night due to the weather.

College spokesperson Brian Whitson said the decision to stop university operations rests with College Provost Michael R. Halleran under the guidance of the College’s Emergency Management Team and other senior administrators. “Today’s decision was largely based on concerns for members of the community who needed to travel to and from areas experiencing flooding or other issues,” Whitson said. “We wanted those folks to have an opportunity to return home before it got dark.”

Halleran released an e-mail to the College community yesterday, canceling all undergraduate classes yesterday after 4:00 p.m., and all classes at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law after 6:00 p.m.

“In making these decisions, we balance weather conditions, ttravel by staff, students and faculty, etc., and the impact of closing on our academic activities” Halleran said in an e-mail, “By mid-day, closing early seemed the most prudent course.”

The storm system that is currently hitting the campus — labeled by The Weather Channel as the “Son of Ida” — is a storm of equal impact as the hurricane that preceded it. The Weather Channel said that high-pressure gradients between two pressure systems have created strong winds and flash flooding. The weather service also reported that the storm should be out of the area by Saturday.

Shepard said at the time that he believes that The College will operate tomorrow just like any other day.

“[Friday] is a normal working day,” Shepard said. “I don’t expect that to change looking at the weather.”
Last evening, College officials delayed the opening of operations today by two hours to 10 a.m.