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Campus Police Beat: Oct. 13 to Oct. 19

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Wednesday, Oct. 14 — An individual reported a stolen bike from outside Barrett Hall. The estimated value was $200.

Thursday, Oct. 15 — An individual reported a stolen ID in the Sunken Garden. The estimated value was $10.

Friday, Oct. 16 — An individual reported a vandalized fire extinguisher at Barrett Hall. The estimated value is $30.

— An individual reported a robbery on Yates Drive. The estimated value was $140.

— An individual was arrested for trespassing at the Sadler Center.

Saturday, Oct. 17 — An individual was arrested for underage possession of alcohol at 300 Bryan Hall Rd.

Monday, Oct. 19— An individual reported a stolen pizza bag and pizza outside the Units. The estimated value was $125.

— An individual reported a stolen bicycle at 540 Landrum Dr. The estimated value was $500.

— An individual reported a stolen laptop at 700 Ukrop Way. The estimated value is $1000.

Deeds for Governor

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Next week Virginians will go to the polls to elect a new governor, and the stakes are high. Currently, Virginia’s transportation system is an underfunded mess, and the state’s status as a national leader in higher-education is under threat. After reviewing the issues at stake, The Flat Hat has found that Virginia Sen. Creigh Deeds will be the better choice as the candidate with the better plan to lead us through these uncertain times.

The criteria for our consideration and endorsement reflect our being a part of the community of the College of William and Mary. As such, higher education is our utmost concern. But, as we have found, both men are virtually indistinguishable here, so we considered social and fiscal issues in order to tip the balance.
On higher education, the two candidates both offer a wide range of shoot-for-the-moon proposals that neither can afford. They seem to agree that every dollar spent on education is a dollar well invested. To this end, both men promise to more than double the number of degrees Virginia’s institutions award over the next 10 to 15 years and to increase the percentage of Virginia residents who earn college degrees.

Deeds also promises to create a new rainy-day fund specifically for higher education that would grow in proportion to the general rainy-day fund. We agree such a fund is sorely needed because lawmakers generally cut funding during the bad times and then fail to return it once prosperity returns. Staving off the cuts in the first place could protect funding into the future.

But these are just campaign promises. Neither man has a convincing proposal for funding these proposals. Until an economic recovery makes them possible, we will call these proposals what they are: pipe dreams.
It is worth noting that earlier in the campaign Deeds flirted with supporting adjusting the ratio of in-state and out-of-state students in favor of admitting more Virginians into Virginia’s universities. Bob McDonnell, on the other hand, has been solidly for this point. While Deeds appears to have since refined his position, our eyebrows are still raised. It is absolutely imperative that this ratio either stays the same or inches toward parity; anything else will only further undermine the fiscal security of Virginia’s schools.

On transportation, Deeds has clearly articulated a sane policy for dealing with our largest problems, while McDonnell has left us asking for more. The most difficult problem that the next governor will face will be our massive deficit in transportation funding. Deeds has staked out some difficult political terrain by announcing his intention to raise taxes, while McDonnell has stubbornly and unrealistically insisted on a “no new tax” policy that, frankly, will not work. While Deeds’ position may ultimately keep him out of the Governor’s Mansion, it is at least more honest than McDonnell’s pandering.

The last straw is McDonnell’s regressive stances on social issues. Excluding from consideration his reactionary and offensive thesis — he was, after all, young when he wrote it — McDonnell has consistently voted against social equality and women’s rights in Virginia. While Deeds does not have a perfect record here, he at least opposed the constitutional ban on gay marriage and supports benefits for same-sex couples.

For these reasons and more, we encourage Virginia voters to support Creigh Deeds in this election. Virginia cannot abide another governor who will decimate vital state services like education and transportation to buy his way into office.

Congratulations, good zir

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The Class of 2011 announced that Jessee Vasold ’11 will be the College of William and Mary’s first genderqueer homecoming queen. To this, we know exactly what we want to say, but how to say it? We would like to give “zir” — a gender-neutral alternative to him or her — our most earnest congratulations, and the same is due to the open-minded student body that elected Vasold. It’s nice to have a surprise this homecoming that is at once heart-warming and phonologically fun.

The less attention paid to the history of homecoming, the better

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Time-honored traditions are an important facet of life at every university. Usually each school has its own mysterious and quirky rituals that bind classmates together in ceremony. However, the one tradition that seems to be a part of every university is homecoming. If you think about it too much, you will begin to feel that this event doesn’t really make much sense. It is hard to find a uniting theme in the hodgepodge of football, alumni, parades, floats, dances, kings and queens, tailgates, picnics and performances, all of which characterize a homecoming. How is it that this almost universal tradition came about in the first place?

As with most traditions, many different groups claim responsibility. One of the first homecoming-like traditions came from, Dartmouth College. In 1888, after a baseball victory Dartmouth students built a massive bonfire on campus that, in the words of student newspaper The Dartmouth, “disturbed the slumbers of a peaceful town, destroyed some property, made the boys feel that they were men, and, in fact, did no one any good.” A few years later the administration comandeered the event and billed it as a celebration of prestigious alumni and school spirit — no doubt negating most of the rebellious fun of it in the process.

The first instance of homecoming we would recognize today can be traced back to big, mid-western schools in the early 20th century. Baylor University held a celebration centered around a football game against Texas Christian University in 1909, though it did not become an annual homecoming event until 1915.

The event featured a parade and alumni reunions drawing several thousand to the school. The following year, two seniors at the University of Illinois came up with the idea of a homecoming to encourage their football team to beat their longtime rivals.

However, official recognition for the first homecoming event is generally given to the University of Missouri — possibly for no other reason than that Trivial Pursuit and “Jeopardy” decided on it. The Missouri Homecoming of 1911 is the template that most other universities have used to construct their celebrations.

The Missouri Homecoming brought more than 10,000 alumni and fans to the campus and the school still boasts the largest homecoming in the country.

Why the concept of homecoming came about, when it did, and why it took the form that it did are questions that no one can answer. Perhaps it was the age of the automobile that allowed alumni the luxury of easily going back to their school and also permitted the construction of large parade floats. Maybe it was the growing popularity of football, a sport that became a college tradition around the same time, or maybe it was just pure chance. Whatever the case, the concept of homecoming quickly took root in colleges around the country.

The College of William and Mary held its first homecoming in 1926. It included a football game against George Washington University, which the Tribe won, and a cross country meet with the University of Richmond and George Washington, which the Tribe also won. The event was billed as a complete success and homecoming became a part of the tradition of the College. Each year it seems more and more activities were added to the schedule, and it became a very large event bringing hundreds of alumni back to Williamsburg.

Over time, though, homecoming has lost some of its grandeur and novelty. The celebrations back in the ’40s and ’50s seemed to be a much bigger deal than they are today. The parades were long and the floats impressive: In 1941, Phi Kappa Tau’s float featured a realistic small plane, which represented that year’s rival, the Virginia Military Institute, crashing in a forest. An earnest Flat Hat reporter even went so far as to compare the importance of the College’s homecoming to the Great Chicago Fire.

This weekend I doubt anyone will view our homecoming activities with much seriousness. Hopefully we will all simply relax, have fun, and not think too much about a tradition that doesn’t always make much sense.

E-mail Ed Innace at einnace@wm.edu.

One free swerve is one too many

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When it comes to drunk driving, it seems Virginia police officers have taken a cue from the military: Unless it’s blatant, don’t ask, don’t tell.

In light of a recent Virginia Supreme Court ruling — which Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts described police as granting “drunk drivers one ‘free swerve’,” drivers under the influence are free from any legal pull-overs by police officers unless a traffic violation is undoubtedly committed. Anonymous tips — even from programs such as the “Drunk Busters Hotline” — were deemed useless based on a potential lack of veracity and the possible fear of unconstitutionality of the situation. With the threat of being charged with unwarranted search and seizure, Virginia police officers are now required to ignore any claims from tipsters concerning potentially intoxicated motorists.

Roberts attempted to heighten the concern for public safety by openly stating his disapproval of the ruling and calling for an appeal. Unfortunately, Roberts’s peers refused to hear the case based on a U.S. Supreme Court precedent involving an anonymous tip accusing a man of carrying a gun. The application of this ruling will, without a doubt, serve as a get-out-of-jail-free card for any drunk wishing to take a joy ride through the heavily populated streets of Virginia’s cities. In terms of drunk driving and the likely injury or death of an unfortunate person, warning signs are not necessary.

In a society where morality and the overwhelming concern for doing what’s right seem to take precedence over personal liberty and individuality, one would think that attempting to identify a potentially fatal driver and saving the lives of others would be praised.

The issue of morality over constitutionality has been factored into innumerable legal cases. Although incredibly cliche but pertinent, the legality of abortion is only an extreme issue because of the argument between the percieved moral wrong doing of killing another human being and taking away an important personal liberty. The same argument of morality and indecency plausibly pertains to the case at hand. If a drunk driver is on the loose, it is at least decent to report this less significant crime before a more dangerous event occurs.

In the final ruling from the Supreme Court of Virginia, the severity of drunk driving is unsafely diminished to a mere issue of constitutionality and a supposed deficit of veritable information; the line between morality and constitutionality has frequently been crossed. Evidently, the morals of both the U.S. and Virginia justices are questionable.

The aura of unconstitutionality seems to encompass the legal practices of justices. With a legal system already tainted by the wraths of religious radicals and conservative figureheads and blemished by extremely literal interpretations of the Constitution, one would think that wholesome morality and spiritual decency would trump all other things. Seemingly, the lives of pedestrians and innocent bystanders are not as valuable as the “correct” interpretation of the Constitution.

According to a statistic so fittingly given by Roberts, close to 13,000 people die in alcohol-related car crashes a year. That’s approximately one fatality every 40 minutes. With the emergence of Virginia’s new ruling, the danger imposed by drunk driving increases and the acerbity of the crime decreases. Good Samaritans are left helpless, and all other people are put in danger. Morality wages into an astounding number of social laws and practices.

Rather than worrying about the spirituality of cells and their unethical disposal, maybe keeping drunks off the road would be a better idea. This is a time to cross the line between morality and constitutionality.

E-mail Victoria Narine at vrnarine@wm.edu.

Planning commission cleans up Williamsburg

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_Click image to enlarge._

Breaking away from the pack

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For Cory Scott ’10, competition is his life. Confident, talented and an avid cyclist, placing 19th in a world championship duathlon was a goal Scott thought he could not only accomplish but also surpass. This past month, the International Triathlon Union World Duathlon Championships took place in Concord, N.C. Approximately 600 people competed in the 10k run-40k bike-5k run event for $25,000 in prize money. The top 15 for men and women who placed received prize money, and for Scott, coming so close to winning was not enough.

“I have to admit it was depressing to have a World medal in easy grasp, and then watch it float away as people pass you,” he said. “Had I not cramped, I would have finished in the top 10.”

Since high school, Scott’s athleticism and competitive drive have been exemplified by his love for racing. He ran cross country and track and is currently the president of the cycling and triathlon clubs at the College of William and Mary. Adam Harris ’11, a member of the cycling club, describes Scott’s strong leadership skills and passion for cycling.

“Cory has a very competitive spirit and can push through many levels of pain in order to win,” Harris said. “He has a true love of sport and a genuine interest combined with an easy-going demeanor and outgoing personality to give younger riders a strong, confident leader to look up to.”

Scott’s event at the ITU World Duathlon Championship marked his first time competing on an international level. In July 2007, he competed in the ITU Long Course Duathlon World Championships qualifier that took place in Cambridge, Md. He placed fourth overall and earned a slot in the World Championships in October with Team USA. At the World Championships, he placed fourth overall and second on the American team, and won a gold medal for his age group, 20 to 24.

“In total, 500 athletes from 25 countries participated,” Scott said. “I figured I had a little bit of talent so I would keep at it.”

This time around, Scott decided to participate in the short course duathlon, which consists of running nine miles and then biking 25. The event is significantly less strenuous than the 13 miles of running and 40-plus miles of cycling of the long course duathlon. After focusing on his cycling throughout the summer, Scott injured his knee when he began to run again at the end of the summer.

“If I take a step back and look at my summer training as a whole, I probably only trained for World Championships in three weeks,” Scott said. “After a week, I injured my knee and wasn’t able to run for weeks. My biking wasn’t affected though, so I was still able to work out.”

With the moral support of his mother — whom he says is his biggest fan — and the confidence needed to finish the race, Scott became one of the youngest competitors to place within the top 20. For Scott, however this was just a starting place.

“I think I just like winning so much, that every time I lose, I work harder,” Scott said. “I’m never satisfied in a race unless I am the best, and even then I am not completely satisfied. There is always something inside, telling me I can go faster, and it seems to be a never-ending battle with myself, which I guess, keeps me going.”

Scott wants to continue with his success in cycling and possibly become a professional cyclist.
“I’m trying to work out my life right now and decide if I want to make a shot at going pro in cycling, or continue down the multisport road — or triathlon or duathlon — and get my pro card in those,” he said.

Confusion Corner: Childhood nostalgia solves college issues

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There’s something about this time of year — late October, early November — that just encourages all of my ambition to die out. At the beginning of the year, you’re committed to starting fresh, showing initiative, really working on that grade point average. But then, all of a sudden, I start skipping that 9 a.m. class more and more. I let a few of those “mandatory reading assignments” slide. Suddenly a B-average doesn’t look too bad at all. Class work, extra-curriculars, what have you — all motivation for anything aside from sleep and the occasional weekend party just drain right out of me.

I’ve found only a select few ways of dealing with this phenomenon. It is impossible to reverse this lack of motivation, of course for, it’s incurable until exams can finally put the fear of death into you.

The first is called “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.” You may have met before. It’s that game you played all throughout junior year of high school, often choosing it over memorizing passages from “The Odyssey.” Well, it’s junior year again, and CJ Johnson needs some help fighting those Ballas. And while you’re at it, why not retry all those old PlayStation 2 games you’ve got sitting in the back of your closet? If you don’t have them anymore, no problem; that’s why God invented the internet. By the end of the month, everyone — and I mean everyone — I know will have discovered a downloadable version of the original Pokémon game online, and will be halfway to getting their Thunder Badge.

That blast of nostalgia having been exhausted, you hit YouTube for another dose. Aqua, Salt-N-Peppa, Eiffel 65 — anything you can get your hands on. You may even stoop so low as to find an old copy of NOW 7 with that Smash Mouth song you know all the lyrics to. Anything to remind you of those old days where all you had to worry about were pop quizzes in Mrs. Stephenson’s class and whether or not Wendy Thompson was wearing a bra the day before.

Soon you’re going back even further. You’re organizing touch football and stickball games out in the street. Maybe even a game of capture the flag, because hey, when’s the last time you played that, huh? You start arguing about the rules, since none of you can really remember them, with a passion you haven’t felt since arguing the merits of the various Power Ranger Zoids.

It’s no coincidence that random phrases scrawled in multicolored chalk start to appear on the sidewalks around campus. It’s just another step towards our inevitable regression. “I ‘heart’ my Big” they’ll write, or “Free concert tonight,” or even something as seemingly random as “PEPPERONI” in wide bubble letters across the pavement. I wouldn’t be surprised if somewhere on a deserted strip of sidewalk, 20-something-year-old college students are furtively, but gleefully, playing hopscotch and four square.

But I’ve bested them all. Having advanced through the various stages of late-October nostalgia, I’ve finally found it in its purest form, the Platonic ideal of regression: I’ve started volunteering at the local elementary school. Now, under the guise of volunteering, I get to play with Play-Doh. I get to help put together an alphabet puzzle in the shape of a turtle. I even get to sound out the letter “P.”

The best thing is just getting lost in the wonderful oblivion that is a kindergartner’s mind. To them, doesn’t matter if you’re reading the alphabet book with pictures, or the number book with numerals in the shape of animals — their enthusiasm is undeterred. Each of them is so delightfully enraptured in whatever task — practicing their penmanship on both upper and lowercase letters, explaining to the class their show-and-tell item of exactly one solitary froggy slipper — that it almost makes you want to go back and attack next week’s physics problem set with the same vigor. But later of course. You’ve got a finger painting to finish first.

__Kevin Mooney is the Flat Hat Confusion Corner columnist. If you have some free time, pass him a note between classes written in gel pen.__

Stompfest steps up homecoming beat

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Ask anyone these days if they have recently seen a competitive dancing show on television, and I think most will answer in the affirmative. With the likes of “America’s Best Dance Crew,” “So You Think You Can Dance” and “Dancing With the Stars” on television, it’s hard not to occasionally see a dance show when you’re flipping through the channels.

All of these shows have a certain draw — each show has something that makes people want to watch. Some say the combination of rhythm, music, costumes and crazy moves is hypnotic. Others are amazed at what others can do with their bodies. What people don’t always think about is the time and dedication required to reach this level of skill. The College of William and Mary has its very own version of these two shows now, an annual competition known as Stompfest.

When Adreanne Stephenson ’11 volunteered to be one of two Step-Mistresses for Delta Sigma Theta, one of the College’s historically black sororities, step team this year, she thought it would be a fun and new experience she didn’t anticipate that it would also be a challenging and demanding position.

“At first I was like, oh my gosh, why did I do this?” Stephenson said. “In addition to our normal practices, I would also have to meet with the other Step-Mistress. I’ve been devoting around 20 hours each week since the middle of September.”

However, Stephenson said it has all been worth it. With the teaching portion out of the way, the intense practices this week have just been to fine-tune the team’s routine.

“It has been a great learning experience,” Stephenson said. “This will help me for next year because I would like to be a Step-Mistress again.”

Stephenson and LaShena Southerland ’10 started choreographing Delta Sigma Theta’s step routine for this year’s Homecoming Stompfest at the beginning of September. Together with six other step teams, they will compete this Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Sadler Center Commonwealth Auditorium.

Stompfest, sponsored by the William and Mary Black Student Organization, has become a yearly staple showcasing the talents of various step teams. This year, seven step teams are participating in the event including the College of William and Mary’s chapters of Delta Sigma Theta, Omega Psi Phi and Alpha Phi Alpha. It will also include step teams from other Virginia schools, including Zeta Phi Beta from Virginia Tech and Sigma Gamma Rho from Virginia Commonwealth University.

“Stepping is an integral component in the legacies of all historically black Greek collegiate fraternities and sororities and because of this, we take an immense amount of pride into every stomp, clap and yell,” Alpha Phi Alpha President William Morris III ’11, said.

Morris also had Stephenson’s appreciation of the extreme dedication of the steppers.

“We all take this show very seriously, and we have put a great amount of passion and dedication into practices that often have stretched late into the night and early into the morning three to six times a week,” he said. “I am extremely proud of all of my brothers for their effort in maintaining all of the extensive work our chapter does on and off campus while simultaneously keeping up our taxing schedule of step.”

Each team’s performance is between 12 and 15 minutes long and has a particular theme. Blair Smith ’11 and Dannon Wilson ’10, both members of Delta Sigma Theta, explained that each team’s theme is a secret, adding an element of surprise to each routine.

“No, I don’t want our theme in The Flat Hat tomorrow morning,” Stephenson said.

A $1,000 prize will be given to both the best sorority and best fraternity, so members see secrecy as a way to protect their originality.

Ashley Bush ’10, co-president of the Black Student Organization, has a positive attitude about this year’s event.

“This is my second show that I am hosting, and I personally think it is going to be one of the best,” she said. “I must say I can’t wait.”

Tickets have already gone on sale at the Center for Student Diversity. Tickets are $7 for general admission and $5 for Greeks and will also be on sale Saturday before the show at 6 p.m.

The high energy of the show will continue in Tidewater with an after-party featuring DJ Skip. Tickets for the after-party are $5 before 11 p.m. and $7 for general admission. Greeks may purchase $3 before 11 p.m. and $5 after. The after-party is meant to be a time to mingle with performers from the show and will serve as a release for the dedicated performers after many weeks of preparation.

“This Saturday night in the Commonwealth will be a night to remember,” Morris said. “I hope all the frats [and sororities] bring their A-game because we are about to shut it down.”

Homecoming 2009

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It’s Homecoming weekend: the one time a year at the College of William and Mary when every member of the Tribe — past and present — feels the true meaning of Tribe Pride. You’ve got your green and gold on, now here’s a few events to check out this weekend to find your inner school spirit.

*Friday, 6 to 8 p.m. Homecoming Pep Rally:*
The football team and the always-exciting President Taylor Reveley will be hyping everyone up for Saturday’s game. The pep rally, which will feature a massive bonfire, will help the Tribe get pumped to beat James Madison University for the first time since 2004. Hopefully no students will get fired up literally, just mildly heated.

*Friday, 6 p.m. Banner Competition:*
Organizations of all types will compete for cash and, more importantly, pride in the banner competition at the pep rally, which will be judged based on originality, quality and audience appreciation. Get out and get ready to cheer for your favorite organization.

*Friday to Saturday, 8 p.m. DANCEVENT:*
For those with no fear of black leotards, Orchesis, the College of William and Mary’s modern dance company, featuring faculty, students, and guest artists, will dazzle viewers at Phi Beta Kappa Memorial hall with works by faculty members at this fall’s DANCEVENT. Stop by to see dancers twist and tangle their bodies in a number of beautiful and creative manners.

*10 a.m. to 4 p.m. All Greek Tailgate, Saturday:*
As a sign that change may not always be for the better, the Green Leafe Cafe will host the All-Greek Tailgate at Stimsons Throwing Events Area popularly known as Frat Field on Harrison Avenue. In a new effort to curb underage drinking, no outside alcohol will be allowed. Instead alcohol will be provided by the Leafe, in a beer garden accessible only to those over 21.

*10 a.m. to 4 p.m. All Greek Tailgate, Saturday:*
As a sign that change may not always be for the better, the Green Leafe Cafe will host the All-Greek Tailgate at Stimsons Throwing Events Area popularly known as Frat Field on Harrison Avenue. In a new effort to curb underage drinking, no outside alcohol will be allowed. Instead alcohol will be provided by the Leafe, in a beer garden accessible only to those over 21.

*Saturday, 12 p.m. Homecoming Football Game:*
Those who had the foresight to get a ticket before they were all gone can enjoy the Tribe take on the James Madison University Dukes for a key conference game. The sad souls who failed to snag tickets can watch the game on the big screen on the second floor of the Sadler Center or in Lodge 1.

*Saturday, 8 p.m. Homecoming Concert:*
Take a trek out to Lake Matoaka Amphitheatre to hear Robert Randolph and the Family Band, known for putting on killer concerts and getting down to funk and soul jams. The live concert will also feature considerably less-funky opener indie rocker Ace Enders.

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