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College Delly changes owners

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The College Delly is under new ownership after a less than amicable transition between Jerry Tsitsidopoulos and the partnership of Dean Tsamouras and Ed Odom.

Tsamouras owned and operated the Delly from 1975 to 2007. In 2007, Tsitsidopoulos purchased the restaurant’s name, inventory and furniture from the previous owner. Tsamouras maintained ownership of the
property and building.

Tsamouras and Odom reclaimed the restaurant Sept. 19, Tsamouras was reportedly displeased with Tsitsidopoulos’s management of the Delly.

Tsamouras is suing Tsitsidopolous for unlawful detainer, which is loosely defined as the unlawful possession of property. It is typically used to evict tenants who fail to pay rent. Court documents indicate that
Tsamouras is suing Tsitsidopoulos for $618,000 in unpaid rent, as well as $5,206.14 in interest, fees and damages. The rent requested was for the period of August 2009 to August 2017.

Tsamouras and Tsitsidopoulos were unavailable for comment.

“[Tsamouras] is not a mean man,” Odom said. “If [Tsitsidopoulos] had been cooperative, there wouldn’t have been a lawsuit.”

Odom declined to comment any further on the case, as his name is not listed as a plaintiff.

Although the Delly’s new owners have yet to obtain a liquor license, they expect to be back in the swing of things soon.

“Business has been real, real slow because we can’t sell beer,” Odom said. “We’ve dropped the prices on all the sandwiches by $1 to $2.”

Odom added that the restaurant has improved the quality of its meat selection and that salads will now be made fresh-to-order.

The new owners hope to have a grand opening with specials on beer if and when Alcohol Beverage Control approves its license.

“We’re called the College Delly so we’re gonna cater to the College,” Odom said. “We’re a kinder, gentler management.”

Alpert wins Class of 2013 Presidency

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David Alpert ’13 thought he was being taken to an Honor Council hearing for voter fraud when he walked into the Library Tavern off Richmond Road. Rather than a late-night judicial hearing, a celebration party awaited him. Newly elected as well as seasoned Student Assembly members cheered and clapped as the newest freshmen class president realized he had won the election.

“I would say I was pretty surprised that I won,” Alpert said. “I was really nervous. I thought it was going to be really close. The other candidates did a really great job.”

Alpert, a California native, won the 2013 presidency with 46 percent of the vote. Alpert’s competitor Jason Palmer ’13 won 37 percent of the vote and third candidate Connor Bleakley ’13 won 16 percent of the vote. Alpert had been involved with student government in high school and said he was inspired by his fellow classmates to run.

“I saw a lot I like in the class, a lot of passion right away during orientation,” he said. “I thought this class could do a lot of great things together, and I want to be a part of that.”

Alpert spent many hours getting to know his classmates, playing Apples to Apples with a group of strangers in Dupont Hall and watching “Gossip Girl” in the basement of Jefferson Hall.

“I campaigned pretty hard,” Alpert said. “Me and my roommate went out every night to different dorms … I went around and met people. It was a lot of fun. It got me running around. It got me out of Gooch Hall.”

Alpert ran on a platform advocating online extended orientation and parking spots for freshmen. He also wants to help in the effort to strengthen the College’s relation with the City of Williamsburg.

“A broader, more longterm goal — and I know there are a lot of organizations already working on this — but I want to help repeal Williamsburgs three-person rule,” he said.

Morgan Dyson ’13 took the vice president of advocacy for the class of 2013 seat with 44 percent of the vote. She decided to run to make a real impact at the College of William and Mary.

“I wanted to get involved with the students,” Dyson said. “I wanted to be the president’s right hand man.”

Lemondre Watson ’13 said he was excited to win the vice president of social affairs for the class of 2013 because he felt the position fits his personality. He was elected with 35 percent of the vote.

“At the [SA] interest meeting, when [Rojas] described the position, I felt like this is what I do,” Watson said.
“This position is my personality — uniting people and bringing people together. If you need someone to lean on who better than classmates.”

Treasurer Hobbs Crocket ’13 won with 67 percent of the vote, and 2013 Secretary Tess DeAtley ’13 won with 53 percent of the vote.

Kim Green ’13, Curt Mills ’13, Justin Duke ’13 and Noah Kim ’13 won the four open senate seats for the class of 2013.

“I have kind of a big goal,” Green said. “I am from South Carolina, and we have never had a female senator. I want to be the first female senator. So, I said, ‘why not now in college since we have a senate?’ And I ran, and I won.”

In addition to the nine freshmen SA positions, three upperclassmen officers were elected as well. Topher Fong ’12 beat out two other contenders for the vice presidency for social affairs for the class of 2012.

“I think, actually, the events we had last year were good,” Fong said. “But I think there is room for improvement. I think that if you are Greek you do Greek things and that if you are not Greek you do not Greek things. I want to bring people together.”

Fong couldn’t describe anything specific.

“I have a few ideas,” he said. “I just need to get familiar with the SA and how everything works first.”

Erin Mee ’11 won the Vice President for Advocacy for the class of 2011, and Miereille Sharp ’10 ran
unopposed for the 2010 Secretary position. Neither were available for comment.

The Honor Council Nominating Referendum was approved. 69 percent of voters believed the Honor Council
Nominating Committee should have to reach a unanimous decision on whether or not to allow a student to run for honor council, while 31 percent believed that a unanimous vote was not necessary.

The SA passed a bill to place the referendum on the SA ballot during Tuesday’s SA meeting.

SA Vice President Ryan Ruzic J.D. ’11 said he was pleased with the election.

“The voter turnout was a little higher than we expected,” Ruzic said. “It wasn’t record breaking, but I think that when you have a lot of really qualified people running like we did that more people will vote. And we ended up with a lot of really qualified people.”

Despite the high turnout, an early morning crash in to the College’s e-mail servers prevented a number of students from receiving voting information.

The glitch occurred around 4 a.m. Thursday morning, shortly after e-mails containing eBallot userID and password information for Thursday’s election were sent out to all undergraduate students, according to SA Elections Commissioner Ben Brown ’11.

Brown was alerted around 8:30 a.m. that some students had not received e-mails with voting information, and he placed a call to eBallot support and IT.

All students had been sent and received the e-mail by 11:30 a.m.

“Our William and Mary servers had a service outage apparently and blocked several of the e-mails — some people got them and could vote, others couldn’t,” Brown said via e-mail Thursday afternoon. “Everything seems to be going according to plan now that we’ve resent all e-mails.”

Despite some students receiving more than one e-mail containing voting information, Brown said that individual passwords remained the same and students were only able to cast one ballot.

The SA Elections Commission decided to extend voting hours to make up for the early delay.

“We tend to see a majority of students vote during the first few hours of an election,” Brown said Thursday afternoon. “So the election should still progress without problems from here on out.”

The polls opened at 8 a.m., and ultimately were scheduled to close at 8 p.m. but remained open until 10 p.m. to compensate for the crash.

This is the first year the SA has used eBallot, an online voting service, for an election. The SIN network, which has been used for SA elections and referendum votes in recent years, is currently down until February.

The SA’s newest members will be sworn in Tuesday, Oct. 5 in the Wren Chapel.

_Miles Hilder contributed to this article._

Higher education gets lowered

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_Click image to enlarge._

Apathy endangers SA

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By now August’s enthusiasm has long faded, and the snooze button has become about as tempting as it ever will be. At about this time every year we notice that this mid-semester lull has a dreadful side effect: Student Assembly apathy. This is when students start to lose touch with their elected representatives, who then have the option of running amuck with impunity. This year, we ask the student body to allocate its energy to assiduous apathy avoidance; after all, it has everything to gain by doing so.

The SA is important. It has a large budget and a singular purpose: to work to improve students’ experiences. To this end, it recently passed a bill to make sexually transmitted infection testing free for students, took steps to improve the parking situation on campus and fought for students’ housing rights. Without a doubt, this organization can do good things.

But it doesn’t have to. In fact, it doesn’t have to do anything at all. By far, the largest complaint about the SA we hear is that it is a club for government majors filled with do-nothing resume builders. We do not accept this characterization, but without a doubt there are times the outfit underwhelms. And generally, these times coincide with those when students are most apathetic about what the SA is doing with its time and our money.

Going forward, it is important to view SA accountability as a two-way street. Of course, senators and members of the Executive should be expected to do their jobs, but we students should also be expected to keep an eye on them. Little things, like attending the occasional SA meeting or simply reading coverage produced by the fourth Estate, will go a long way in ensuring the SA is acting responsibly and in accordance with student needs. For those who are interested in getting more involved, Erik Houser ’10 has pledged to propose any bill students give to him. Why not consider trying out the legislative process first hand?

For its part, the SA should do much better in effectively communicating with students. During their campaign last year, Sarah Rojas ’10 and Ryan Ruzic J.D. ’11 said they would produce weekly YouTube videos that would make the plans and progress of the SA accessible to students. They also promised to send permanent envoys to student groups on campus in order to facilitate better access to SA funds. While the two have worked hard since being elected, as of yet, both of these promises are unfulfilled.

They may call it “Your Student Assembly,” but is it really yours? While the SA has the capability to do good on this campus, if students do not care, they will get nothing more than the little they demand.
And while we’re at it, please register to vote by this Monday. We have seen what apathy can do on the small scale, and these lessons absolutely apply on a large one as well. While the SA’s $180,000 reserve may seem considerable, it is decidedly smaller than the amounts for which the Gov. of Virginia is responsible. Let’s keep an eye on him and put ourselves in a better position in Williamsburg when the local elections roll around this spring by registering to vote.

Hosting Olympics has become symbol of international approval

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In this week’s column I will not discuss the all-important parking space changes, nor will I attempt to add to the ever-growing literature concerning the three-person rule. Today’s topic is the most important event of the week you probably don’t care about. The International Olympic Committee will meet this Friday to announce the city that is to host the 2016 Summer Games.

While this may not seem extremely important to anyone besides athletes and residents of the competing cities, the decision is portentous. It is above all a political decision which may tell us something about international affairs. Where the Olympic Games will be held is not a decision people take lightly. Sites go through an extensive selection process until all but a few semi-finalists remain — this year Madrid, Tokyo, Chicago and Rio de Janeiro.

While there are obvious benefits for a city hosting the Olympics, it is not clear that they exceed the costs of such an event. The boost in tourism a city receives is overshadowed by the financial cost of new infrastructure to accommodate the event and the problems posed by hosting thousands of guests. The real motivation for cities or nations to host the Olympics is the prestige and legitimacy conferred upon them by such an event.

The IOC is a truly international organization containing members from almost every country. As such, its decisions carry a certain weight and international legitimacy. Countries selected to host the Olympics are proported to be the most powerful, wealthy and culturally developed nations of the world. Being chosen to host the Olympics is considered by many to be an invitation to the exclusive family of influential decision makers.

This is exactly how China viewed the 2008 Beijing Games; it was an affirmation of China’s ascension to the ranks of great powers. I had the privilege of studying abroad in Beijing during the time, and I can attest to the pride with which ordinary Chinese citizens viewed the games. Even though Beijing traffic was at a standstill throughout the whole event, you rarely heard any complaint from the residents. They were willing to put up with the inconvenience because they realized how important the Olympics were to their country.
Brazil is in a similar situation this year. As one of the world’s fastest-growing and largest economies, it no doubt views the Olympics as proof that they are now a part of the family of great nations. Thus, the vast majority of Rio de Janeirians proudly support of their city’s bid.

The same cannot be said of the other front-running contender. In Chicago, the Olympic bid is a divisive issue. Less than half the city wants Chicago to host the Olympics. There have even been some clashes between Olympic protest groups, such as the cleverly named Chicagoans for Rio, and police in the past weeks.

Perhaps the reluctance to deal with the hassle of the games stems from the fact that the United States has nothing to prove. We are still at the head of the international community and do not need a reaffirmation of our prominence.

Be that as it may, there is still an important component in Chicago’s bid for the games that should not be overlooked. As President Barack Obama’s adoptive home city, Chicago and the president are indelibly linked. Obama is championing the bid in Copenhagen along with his wife. It is easy to see how the Olympic decision can be perceived — or perhaps misperceived — as an international referendum on the man.

An international show of goodwill would definitely go a long way to show that he has indeed lived up to his promise to repair this country’s image around the world, but a snub might embarrass him.

By the time you are reading this column the city that will host the 2016 Olympics will most likely have already been decided upon. Keep in mind that the decision, while it may seem unimportant, has significant meaning to nations and individuals — particularly those involved in the choosing — and should be seen as an important gesture.

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

Disasters remind us to make reality checks

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Personal evacuation plans are a new policy here at the College of William and Mary. The short, five-minute questionnaire is one small step toward being better prepared for disasters.
Yet there is griping and complaining about having to spend time on this exercise. Not only should we be spending time on this, but disaster preparedness needs to be emphasized on campus and in choosing who gets our vote in November.

Why? Let’s turn our attention across the globe for a moment. Tropical Storm Ketsana killed over 250 people when hit Manila, an island in the Philippines, Sept. 26. The tropical storm is yet another indication of the severe and far-reaching ramifications of climate change. Ketsana left 80 percent of the city underwater, and the infamously polluted capital was covered in sewage, trash and abandoned vehicles. Philippine politicians called it a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. But according to TIME magazine, much of the blame for the deaths can be placed on those very same politicians for poor civic planning and inadequate infrastructure investment.

Does this sound familiar? Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, a city built below sea level, in 2005 and killed over 2,000 residents while flooding huge portions of the city. The day before Katrina made landfall, Aug. 28, 2005. Mayor Ray Nagin said, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime event. The city of New Orleans has never seen a hurricane of this magnitude hit it directly.” It took longer to reach the conclusion that the government had failed in its responsibilities in the United States than it did in the Philippines. In 2006, The Independent Levee Investigation Team released a draft report on the failure of the New Orleans levees.
One analyst said, “The report is an indictment of the American political and social system … much of the damage and loss of life caused by the hurricane could have been prevented with better planning and more resources.” Although failing to adequately plan for disasters does not seem to be a uniquely American phenomenon, the point remains. Worse than failing to plan properly, Ray Seed of the University of California-Berkeley concluded: “People died because mistakes were made and because safety was exchanged for efficiency and reduced costs.”

Not only did the Philippines not learn from our mistakes from Katrina, we haven’t either. One post-Katrina poll asked residents within 50 miles of coastlines about preparedness: 52 percent have no disaster plan, and 90 percent have done nothing to make their homes stronger since Katrina. Hurricane Katrina has not been the only instance of infrastructure neglect and poor planning costing lives — we all remember the Iowa floods and the I-35W Bridge Collapse in Minnesota, and a new report says that 1,800 dams nationwide pose a significant risk to human life.

The failure here is personal and institutional. So complete your evacuation plans thoroughly — they’re better than nothing, and at the very least they make you contemplate what you would do in the event of catastrophe. On the institutional side, it’s clear that governments that ignore infrastructure spending do so at the peril of citizens. It is time we quiz our elected officials on where they stand on infrastructure spending. If we don’t like what we hear, we should vote them out before it costs more lives.

E-mail Harrison Roday at hnroday@wm.edu.

Beyond the Burg: Canadian university guarantees graduates jobs

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Canada’s University of Regina launched the UR Guarantee Wednesday, which promises meaningful jobs to students within six months of their graduation or a year of free classes. The school is the first Canadian university to offer such a guarantee.

“The quality of our teaching and research and our long history of partnership with Saskatchewan and nationally based companies is the foundation of the UR Guarantee,” University President and Vice-Chancellor Vianne Timmons said to the CNW Group. “Our university stands alone in making this commitment to our students.”

All 2009 undergraduate students at the institution with 30 or fewer credits are eligible to participate in the program. To qualify, they need to maintain an average of over 70 percent, participate in extracurricular activities and attend skills development workshops.

Additionally, they will participate in academic as well as career counseling through the Career Services department.

“They will have experiential learning activities,” Kevin Bolen, manager of Career Services at the university, said to the Regina Leader-Post. “They will be connected to employers all through their four years. It’s an incremental program that builds on itself, so from year one to year four they will have a wide array of activities that they participate in.”

The program is based on the UR Cooperative Program, which matches students with potential employers.

“Right now, 97 percent of our [co-op] students get employed in a career of their choice within six months. We want to push that to 100 percent,” Timmons said in a press conference, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Company.

The university’s co-op program, which started over 40 years ago, has had more job placements than all other post-secondary institutions in Saskatchewan combined and is available in over 50 disciplines.

“We’re very excited. It’s obviously going to appeal to students and almost acts like an insurance for students,” UR Student Union President Kyle Addison said to the Regina Leader-Post. “In this regard, we are the most innovative university in Canada right now. It’s just great to see the UR become the most innovative.”

News in Brief: October 2

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*College finds partners in new biofuel research*

The College of William and Mary and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science are working together to produce biofuel using algae that grows naturally in rivers and in the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Algae Project includes a number of corporate partners including the Norwegian energy company StatoiHydro, who started the enterprise with a $3 million investment.

“This is the kind of collaboration at which William and Mary excels,” College President Taylor Reveley said in a press release. “It is a powerful extension of our own drive toward a more sustainable campus community.”

*Author gives filmed talk on Thomas Jefferson*

Author William G. Hyland, Jr. will give a talk about his new book, “In Defense of Thomas Jefferson,” at Williamsburg Booksellers Saturday, Oct. 10 at 4:30 p.m. C-Span will film the discussion and use it in national broadcasts of its “Book TV” series. It is an open event. A book signing will also take place from 3-6 p.m. on the same day.

Hyland will lecture on the controversy surrounding Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with Sally Hemings, one of his slaves. Hyland is a former prosecutor and trial lawyer with over 25 years of experience.

Police Beat: September 22 – 28

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Tuesday, Sept. 22 — An individual reported a vandalized work of art at Andrews Hall. The estimated value is under $1.

— An individual reported a stolen purse, keys and student ID from the Fraternity Units. The estimated total value is $75.

Thursday, Sept. 24 — An individual reported a stolen wallet at the 700 block of Ukrop Wy. The estimated value is $35.

Friday, Sept. 25 — An individual reported a stolen wallet at the 100 block of Jamestown Rd. The estimated value is $110.

Saturday, Sept. 26 — An individual reported a stolen bike at the 200 block of Jamestown Rd. The estimated value is $50.

Sunday, Sept. 27 — An individual reported a stolen bike at Barrett Hall. The estimated value is $250.

— An individual reported a stolen pizza delivery sign at Blow Hall. The estimated value is $200.

Monday, Sept. 28 — An individual reported vandalism of landscaping at the Phi Mu house. The estimated value is $100.

Confusion Corner: Roommates become lost in translation

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I’ve grown to hate family reunions. Less for the predictable breakdowns or the blatant displays of alcoholism (those can be fun to watch, at least) than for the inevitable question, “So, you’re studying Chinese? Now, why would you do that?” It’s always from some concerned extended-relative who is convinced I’ve developed some sort of Asian fetish or an allegiance to communism. Why else would one take Chinese?

It’s a hard question to answer beyond saying that there’s a sort of seductive allure to having an entirely new way to communicate at your disposal. It’s the same motivator that kept you using Pig Latin the week after you first learned it until your mother finally exclaimed, “Ixnay the atinlay.”

I had been reveling in that sort of desire my first few days back on campus. I had just returned from studying in China over the summer, so I was as adamant about using Chinese around campus as I had been with Pig Latin at the age of 10, and probably equally as aggravating. With the help of my Chinese classmates, I created a series of phrases spouted off between classes, each a sort of inside joke. But when I ran into a native speaker I was almost compelled to try their patience with my fragmented Chinese. Sure, I could understand how that would get annoying, especially to those left out once the conversation switched entirely to Chinese, but I was learning. Playing along was the least they could do. All in all, I thought it a harmless impulse, annoying only to those not privileged enough to “get it.”

Then, in the first week of classes, my roommate decided to start taking Spanish.

Suddenly, every hour of the day became “Spanish Study Time.” It started off as tongue-in-cheek. Everybody became “Senor,” intentionally mispronouncing the “ñ,” a joke that proves invariably hilarious to all beginning Spanish speakers. But it turned earnest as soon as he glanced at the day’s homework, every two seconds asking, “What’s ‘car’ in Spanish?”

__“Carro.”__ I told him.

“No, the book says ‘coche,’” he replied, the possibility of synonyms not yet realized.

This repeated about 10 times per hour.

My four years of high school Spanish hasn’t done me a whole lot of good aside from providing me with a barely passable understanding of the language — enough to be annoyed by improper sentence structures but not enough to want to constantly test someone else’s Spanish. But this seems to be exactly what anyone who enters our front door wants to do, until I’m just a step away from going all Lou Dobbs and yelling, “This is America. Speak American.”

Until situations like these occur, you never realize exactly how many of your average college students have, at some point, studied Spanish. And be it last week or five years ago, they all feel the need, upon seeing an introductory Spanish textbook, to dust off their Spanish and take it for a test run. Even if they’ve never taken Spanish — instead, a year of French or three semesters of Latin. It’s all the same, right? — they’ll still jump into the mix. With all of them together, it’s enough to make your head spin.

“Give me a sentence,” he’ll ask.

“It tastes good,” someone suggests.

__“Tiene bien sabor.”__
__“Buen. Bien__ is French.”

“Oh, right.”

“There’s a snake in my boot,” I toss out.

__“Dos serpientes. Una bota.”__

“Close enough.”

“What is __crear__?”

“I think it’s a cognate.”

“Isn’t that French for __congregant__?”

“No, __se rassemblent__.”

__“Gesundheit.”__

“No, that’s __salud__. Or was it __saude__?”

“No, I think you’re good.”

__“Bien,”__ my roommate exclaims excitedly.

“Still French, Matt.”

That’s about when I decided I’d be heading back to China as soon as possible. There’s more English used on the streets of Beijing than in my room nowadays anyway.

__Kevin Mooney is The Flat Hat Confusion Corner columnist. Freetranslation.com has become his best friend and worst enemy.__

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