__400 students rally support for Nichol__

p. After a year characterized by outspoken protest, none seemed louder than the crowd of 400 that lined outside the Muscarelle Museum of Art Friday night — in almost complete silence — to support College President Gene Nichol.

p. At the rally, which at times seemed more like a candlelight vigil, there was no mention of the controversy that could end Nichol’s presidency. The group was focused on Nichol’s future, specifically the tentative contract renewal on which the College’s Board of Visitors will soon vote. Several posters read “Renew Nichol,” and many students wore T-shirts that read, “If President Nichol’s not welcome here, then neither am I.”

p. But last night was all a response to the controversy — the Wren cross, a revoked $12 million dollar pledge and the Sex Workers’ Art Show, among others — that has mired Nichol’s tenure for the past year and a half and incited calls for his resignation.

p. The pro-Nichol crowd matched the voices of the vocal groups of bloggers, donors and state delegates who have all used their power to criticize Nichol’s presidency. And they did so in silence — for the most part.

p. While the group said little as BOV members passed, they applauded loudly and sang the alma mater as Nichol approached the museum.

p. “There’s nothing quite like being at the College of William and Mary,” a teary-eyed Nichol told the crowd before he entered the museum for a BOV dinner. Nichol, who said that he had not expected the rally, told the crowd that he would never forget the night, “no matter what happened.”

p. When asked about the ongoing controversy surrounding his presidency, Nichol acknowledged that change inevitably is followed by conflict.

p. “Sometimes when you try to stand up for some things you believe in there’s rough going,” Nichol said. “There is inspiration to be found in ways that I wouldn’t have anticipated and there are a lot of paths to the human heart.”

p. Nichol said that the challenge was worth it.

p. “I’ve said about this place before that it’s a challenge,” he said. “It requires all that one can muster, but it’s spending everything you’ve got in the worthiest of causes, that cause, of course, is these young men and women.”

p. Nichol also said that he had not expected the gathering, which was spearheaded by Nimish Shukla ’08. Shukla had also accompanied BOV members to Richmond yesterday morning after the members were called to answer to the House Privileges and Elections Committee, mostly about the recent Sex Workers’ Art Show controversy.

p. “I think we got our message across,” Shukla said after the event. “I think it was better than expected.”

p. Shukla said that he and others organized the event to combat those that have opposed Nichol in the past.

p. “A very vocal minority has been able to control a lot of the media outlets and just a lot of the thoughts on the president,” Shukla said.

p. “We think that there’s a large majority of students that are behind the president and we think this [rally] is a concerted effort just to show the BOV, who’s going to make the ultimate decision, that students are behind the president. And, frankly, it’s just to have the student voice heard in the process.”

p. Nichol was also supported by the Dean’s Advisory Council, which wrote a letter to the BOV supporting Nichol and arguing that his presidency has been unfairly characterized as “controversial.”

p. The advisory council is comprised of individual department chairs and program directors at the College.

p. In a letter signed by co-chairs Maureen Fitzgerald and Paul Heideman, the council said that controversy is expected at a liberal arts institution.

p. “Our mission on this campus, as in every liberal arts setting, by definition includes thoughtful engagement in ideas and ideals that may erupt in disagreement, debate or controversy,” the letter said. “We accept disagreement and debate, and we expect them. It is through rational and reasonable discussion of differences that our fields move forward and our students learn.”

p. Heideman said that Nichol is rarely recognized for the developments he has brought to campus. Both Heideman and the letter mentioned three indicators of Nichol’s accomplishments at the College: a greater interest in and focus on undergraduate research, the College’s attempt at internationalization and the increased importance placed on civic engagement, both locally and internationally.

p. The letter also said that a failure to renew Nichol’s contract would harm students and faculty.

p. “We do not expect a College President who does not make mistakes. Nor do we wish to have a College President who never inspires controversy, much less imagines his or her mission as a limiting controversy on this campus.

p. “We do expect a College president who is a leader and whose ideas can strengthen the College, the commonwealth, and the nation. We believe President Nichol meets that standard.”

__Sex Workers’ Art Show sells out both showings, dozens protest__

The Sex Workers’ Art Show appeared at the University Center last night amid a flurry of dissent and protest — and heavy restrictions from the College.

p. But a former gay prostitute stripped down to his fourth pair of panties, a heavyset burlesque dancer pulled strands of dollar bills from her buttocks and some 450 audience members experienced a new facet of life through performances that ranged from the tame to the extreme.

p. SWAS founder and director Annie Oakley began the show by describing the problems she faced coming to the College.
“This has been a more arduous and degrading experience than anything in the sex industry,” she said, alluding both to resistance from the College and opposition from campus and local groups.

p. Last Monday, College President Gene Nichol announced that though he opposed the message of the show, he would not prevent it from appearing on campus. Two performances were held last night in the Commonwealth Auditorium, at 7 p.m. and again at 9:30 p.m. In previous years the there was only one showing. A question-and-answer session with the performers followed the late show.

p. The College stipulated in the contract that no cameras were allowed into the theater and also censored most of the nudity from the show. Only one performer bared her breasts.

p. The show’s problems continued to grow until curtains. Oakley announced at the beginning of the performances that only minutes before, State Attorney General Bob McDonnell called her and stopped the sale of SWAS merchandise, including T-shirts and books penned by the performers.

p. Student organizer Sarah Klotz ’08 said that Oakley expected to lose $500 per show for a total loss of at least $1,000. She added that organizers were looking to compensate the show for the loss.
Besides those problems, Klotz said the show was a success.

p. “The turnout was amazing … every single seat was filled. I saw people filing down — they had overwhelmingly positive responses. They seemed really excited,” she said. “Some of the performers were down there to greet people and talk to them a little bit more, which is also really great.”

p. The show featured performances by former and current sex industry workers. Former prostitute Kirk Read delivered a comedic monologue about his work and discussed the camera crews outside the UC.

p. “Thank you, Fox News, for showing up in my life,” he said, referencing his anticlimactic coming out in high school.

p. Other performances included a patriotic burlesque show by dancer Dirty Martini, a reading of porn actress Lorelei Lee’s short fiction and a recounting of The World Famous “Bob”’s start in the stripper industry. “Bob’s” act included a homage to the censorship she faced by wearing a black bar over her underwear. Oakley reminded the audience that people tend to focus on the word “sex” in the term “sex work.”

p.“The operative word in ‘sex work’ is ‘work,’” she said. Oakley declared Williamsburg the city with the most hysterical anxiety of any the tour visits, and she commented after the show that the problems she faced in here “really fueled [her] hatred for humanity.”

p. The protest outside the UC was a show in itself that included men playing a bugle-like instrument called a shofar, people dancing to religious music and a man dressed in an Uncle Sam-style military outfit.

p. About 25 protesters stood behind barriers at the UC entrance, and there were several confrontations between students and demonstrators, who wielded signs that quoted Biblical verses and phrases like, “WM is a college, not a strip club.” At one point, a sex show supporter standing near the protestors yelled, “I like sex.”

p. Police patrolled inside and outside the UC, but there were no police in the auditorium during the performance. Several College administrators attended the performance to make sure the performers did not violate their contract with the school, according to College spokesperson Brian Whitson.

p. __Flat Hat News Editor Austin Wright contributed to this report.__

__Vice Provost Reiss moonlights as national security advisor__

p. After leaving the State Department in early 2005, Mitchell Reiss, vice provost of international studies at the College, asked to be introduced to then-Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney. This meeting led to Reiss’s appointment as national security advisor for Romney’s presidential campaign.

p. Reiss came to the College in 1999 as a professor of government and law. After four years, he took leave to work as director of policy planning to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and serve as the president’s special envoy to the Northern Ireland peace process. In 2005, the same year of his return to the College, Reiss met Romney.

p. “I had been following his career for a long time and was very impressed with his record of success,” Reiss said. One of Romney’s qualities he liked was his “proven ability to fix problems.”

p. Reiss watched Romney take the role of President and CEO of the Salt Lake City Olympic Organizing Committee in 2002 and save the Olympics from financial disaster.

p. On the campaign trail, Reiss works with notable political figures on national security issues. The team of foreign policy advisors includes Cofer Black, who works on counterterrorism, former Minn. representative Vin Weber, who serves as Chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy, and former Sen. Jim Talent (R-Mo.), who serves as Chairman of Romney’s domestic policy task force.

p. Reiss does not focus on a specific area in national security. “I respond to questions he has … I suggest articles and readings,” he said, “I make sure he has the information he needs, especially on issues like Iraq.”

p. In national security, “[Romney] adopts a very careful, methodical approach to gathering information and hearing all types of views … What distinguishes him [from other candidates] is his process.”

p. When asked about which Democratic candidate would pose the biggest challenge to Romney, Reiss responded, “Barack Obama. He is extremely intelligent and charismatic. He has tapped into the enthusiasm of young people.”

p. For now, Reiss uses his personal vacation time at the College to travel and work with Romney. However, Reiss has not made plans past the election process. “My job is to help [Romney] get elected. I’m not looking beyond that.”

__Professor says that College must confront its participation in slavery__

[Editor’s Note: In recognition of Black History Month, this article begins a four-week series on the experience of black Americans at the College, yesterday and today.]

p. According to English professor Terry Meyers, the College has a lot of explaining to do about its associations with slavery.

p. In an upcoming article for the William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal, titled “A First Look at the Worst,” Meyers says that the College used slave labor to construct the President’s House, the Brafferton and the Wren Building. It also bought slaves with money from the state legislature. These slaves worked on plantations, Meyers argues, to fund scholarships for young men who were economically barred from coming to the institution.

p. Nor was it a rarity for the College to rent or auction off its slaves.

p. And, in light of Virginia’s apology for slavery, as well as that of the University of Virginia, many — including Meyers — are wondering if the College should at least recognize its past.

p. “Knowing the full history of things is important. I’m not calling for an apology, myself — certainly, not at this stage,” Meyers said. “I think that an apology will come naturally and inevitably once people understand what the history of the institution is … I don’t think an apology has any depth or resonance until it’s accompanied by a kind of self-examination.”

p. Meyers instead stressed the importance that the College recognize its past, rather than offer an apology.

p. “I think, in a way, that the state and the University of Virginia took the easy way out,” Meyers said. “If they really documented what the state’s official involvement with slavery was or what the University of Virginia’s actual involvement with slavery was, I think their expressions of regret would have had greater force. William and Mary has an opportunity to sort of do things the right way and begin to discover what its past is and then examine its conscience.”

p. The College had a strong influence on slavery in the South during the pre-Civil War era. Thomas Roderick Dew, the College’s president in 1836, was a nationally recognized economist at the time, often using his position to spread his views about slavery.

p. Dew published a work entitled “Review of the debate in the Virginia legislature of 1831 and 1832,” which, according to a University of Alabama law professor, was a “leading proslavery work” in the antebellum era. In the review, Pew asserted that attempts at abolition would lead only to violence, because “power can never be dislodged from the hands of the intelligent, the wealthy and the courageous, by any plans that can be formed by the poor, the ignorant and the habitually subservient.” Dew also claimed that slavery was not only beneficial for economy, but also for the slaves themselves. Pew argued that “a merrier being does not exist on the face of the globe, than the negro slave of the U. States.”

p. In Meyers’ report, he also mentions that the Ku Klux Klan gave the College an “ornate flag pole and brickwork” in 1926. This pole, for a time, remained at the corner of Boundary Street and Jamestown Road.

p. Despite its heavy involvement with slavery, the College has also shown a commitment toward civil equality.

p. Former President of the College John Stewart Bryan spoke out against wage discrimination amongst the black staff during his tenure. Twelve students and a member of the faculty walked out of a lecture that Strom Thurmond, the segregationist presidential candidate, gave in 1948. The Flat Hat also has a history of supporting civil right issues on campus. The newspaper satirized the Ku Klux Klan in the May 20, 1940 issue and opposed a poll tax that prevented blacks from voting in a column on November 5, 1940. One Flat Hat writer, Jerry Hyman, spoke out against racial prejudice and inequality in a May 3, 1944 issue. As of late, the College itself has worked hard to increase diversity on campus and create a welcoming environment for minority students.

p. Considering the College’s commitment to racial progress, many, including Virginia Gazette columnist Lew Leadbeater, oppose the College issuing an apology for slavery.

p. In a Dec. 8, 2007, column in the Virginia Gazette, Leadbeater argued that focusing on the past does very little for the present.
“While I suppose that apologies for events in the distant past make people feel better or satisfy some inexplicable need for a cosmic justice that transcends time, they generally aren’t worth the paper they’re written on or the time it takes to utter them,” Leadbeater wrote. “Students who are clamoring for apologies … should rather be taking a closer look at what the college has done and is doing to rectify past injustices.”