The city council of Williamsburg will soon vote on a smoking ban in restaurants. The smoking restriction is a law that the city should enact for the benefit of all its residents.

p. While larger cities and states nationwide have introduced such a ban, Williamsburg has lagged behind. Particularly at the Delis, where students and local residents frequently congregate, there are minimal restrictions on smoking during nighttime hours. A ban on indoor smoking would merely require customers to walk a few extra feet to smoke, something that many residents in other areas of the country have grown accustomed to over the past decade.

p. A smoking ban in Williamsburg restaurants would provide a healthier, more enjoyable environment for both employees and patrons. While some might argue that large curbside crowds of smokers could cause congestion and could be dangerous, all of the Delis have access to alternative outside areas where people can smoke without blocking the main entrances.

p. Deli and restaurant owners who are worried about the prospect of losing business should not fear, as businesses in other towns that banned smoking do not appear to have suffered financially.

p. The time has come for Williamsburg to catch up. This is not an attack on smokers. Rather, it is a possibility for healthier and more comfortable eating and drinking atmospheres and cleaner places to work. The smoking ban is a logical maneuver for Williamsburg’s reputation as a pleasant community in which to live.

’Tis the season.

p. Of course, in the real world, ’tis the season for celebration, camaraderie and joy. At the College, however, ’tis the season for exams, stress, Red Bull and more people than you ever thought could fit in Swem Library.

p. Luckily for students, the College and the surrounding area of Williamsburg offer some great holiday traditions and opportunities that we hope everyone will attend and enjoy.

p. It all starts with this weekend’s Grand Illumination in Colonial Williamsburg, a must-see event that is a staple of each year’s holiday season. For the best view, be sure to stand near the magazine, where you can see all three sets of fireworks at the same time, assuming you can plow through the nine million tourists.

p. The College’s Yule Log ceremony is another must-attend event. Yule Log is great not only because Gene Nichol is second only to the original Santa Claus in authenticity, or because the tradition is older than Thomas Jefferson and Sam Sadler combined, but because it is one of those events where the community of the College comes together in a remarkable fashion. Football may not have generated much school spirit this year, but Nichol Claus and the warmth of the fire in the great hall seem to always do the trick.

p. It is also said that rubbing a sprig of holly on the Yule Log will bring you luck on exams, so you can always thank this sacred tradition for your successes. That or the Red Bull.

Zach Pilchen ’09 has come a long way in his first five semesters at the College.

p. He joined the Student Assembly senate April of his freshman year. After just one year in the senate, he had attracted enough positive attention to run for — and overwhelmingly win — the SA presidency. His accomplishments during his first semester as president have included unprecedented achievements in student rights. But Pilchen has three semesters left and his most important work is still to come.

p. Upon his election to the SA senate in 2006, Pilchen quickly took an interest in student voting rights. When the senate attempted to win back the student franchise by passing legislation, Pilchen alone resisted, suggesting that they “pursue other routes.” He was ignored — the senate wrote a bill meekly requesting voting rights and, of course, nothing changed.

p. After that, Pilchen began seeking progress for students more aggressively, began his day-in, day-out fight on our behalf that has not slowed in over a year.

p. When Starbucks threatened to replace the College Delly, Pilchen listened to student outrage and responded. He started a Facebook group, “Not Another Motherfucking Starbucks!” where he held discussions with students, posted daily updates and recruited hundreds of student signatures on his petition to retain the College Delly, which he used to motivate the senate into action.

p. That fall, he also introduced legislation on behalf of the College’s often marginalized GLBT community. He penned a fiery, meticulously researched and damn well-written guest column in The Flat Hat in support of the bill, which passed.

p. But Pilchen’s most important task still lies ahead.

p. The crimes of the city of Williamsburg against students are well documented. We have been disenfranchised, gerrymandered and talked down to like second-class citizens.

p. Things have improved since Pilchen’s election as president. The city of Williamsburg recently appointed a new voter registrar who allows students to register to vote. In reaction, the city council, who did not appoint the registrar, voted to request a definition from the state on a specific term in Williamsburg voting law. This would have almost certainly ended the recently regained student right to vote.

p. Miraculously, Pilchen persuaded the city council to change its mind. For years now, student leaders have tried and failed to persuade the city council to pay attention to student rights. And yet, on the eve of what appeared to be the end of our short-lived voting rights, Pilchen stood up and made a speech to the five stern, suspicious faces of the city council. By the time he had sat down, they were convinced. On the spot, they unanimously overturned their request to the state.

p. Though a tremendous achievement for student rights, this is only a short-term solution. The city council still refuses to acknowledge student voting rights and the issue will certainly come up again. Noise violation penalties are still wildly high. Off-campus housing is still restricted, ridiculously, to three unrelated people. We are still second-class citizens.

p. As I have said before, and will say again, the only way to truly solve these problems is by electing students to the city council. We have the votes — when David Sievers ’07 ran in spring 2006 he lost by only 156 votes, and over 600 students have since registered. May 6, 2008, three of the five seats go up for election.

p. All we need now is a candidate. Who better than Pilchen? He has proven he can lead. He has proven he can rally students. Most difficult of all, he has proven he can work positively with members of the city government to effect real progress and change. Any one of those qualities is exceedingly rare. Only Pilchen possesses all three.

p. When I asked Pilchen whether he would consider running for city council, he was hesitant and skeptical. He voiced concern that all his hard work on registering students to vote might appear, falsely, as stemming from self-interest (his word was “sketchy”) if he ran. He also said he believes he “can probably serve students better anyway as SA president than I would sifting through Williamsburg pool chemical regulations.”

p. While it’s true that Pilchen could make significant contributions to the College with another year as president, the most dire and challenging needs of the student body can be truly solved only from the seat of the city council. Besides, surely a like-minded student could take Pilchen’s place in the SA.

p. Sometimes an elected leader has to do something very difficult, something contentious and audacious, not because he wants to but because his electorate needs him to do it, demands it of him. This is one of those times. Pilchen has never flinched in working for students before. I hope — we all hope — that he will not start now.

p. __Max Fisher is a senior at the College.__

In his Nov. 13 column “Don’t sign the PCC,” Andrew Peters gave an accurate description of the College’s environmental policy, or lack thereof.

p. He cited our grade of ‘D-’ in sustainability, our ever-increasing 60,000 tons of carbon emissions and the backward approach of our administration toward green initiatives. We also wholeheartedly agree with his characterization that global warming is humanitarian crisis of almost unimaginable proportions.

p. What we find baffling about his column is that, although he accepts the scientific consensus on global warming, he doesn’t want us to do our part by signing the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment.

p. It is entirely possible for the world to mitigate global warming, but only if every individual, institution and country makes an effort to reduce their carbon footprint. To agree that the climate is in crisis, but then to reject an effort toward effective action is hypocritical, ignorant and more than a little silly.

p. The PCC is the only sector-wide, voluntary initiative toward eliminating carbon emissions. Since its January launch, it has been signed by 437 universities of every size. The University of California system has signed, as have Cornell University, University of North Carolina and 13 Virginia institutions. These schools do not constitute a “climate change hegemony,” but a community of academic leaders who recognize the threat of global warming and who are prepared to do their part to combat it.

p. The first phase of signing the PCC, renovating existing buildings to make them more efficient, can be done at almost zero cost to the College. A 2005 renovation to William and Mary Hall cut the building’s energy bill $250,000 per year. Imagine renovating Tucker Hall or Morton Hall and practically paying for the project from the energy savings alone. Since 1990, our energy bills have doubled from under $3 million to more than $6 million. Insofar as efficiency is concerned, the question isn’t “can we afford to do this,” the question is “how can we afford not to.”

p. The second phase ­— switching our power source away from dirty coal plants to clean sources — will depend on the increasing availability of renewable energy in Virginia. For this, we are encouraged by Gov. Tim Kaine’s energy plan, Sen. John Warner’s climate bill and other pieces of legislation.

p. New technology that allows green power to be generated for less cost than coal also suggests that this isn’t an unrealistic expectation. In addition, a partnership with the Clinton Climate Initiative gives PCC signatories access to $5 billion worth of funding mechanisms and discounts on green products from companies and banks.

p. While College President Gene Nichol and his administration stall on the PCC, we are missing out on these opportunities. Where we should have been a leader, we are now a latecomer and we may soon be left behind all together. We refuse to accept the inaction that has dominated the energy policy discussion at the College for too long. Our sense of responsibility for our own actions, our pride in our school as a leader in higher education and our concern for the well-being of our planet demand immediate action.

p. Unlike Peters, we do not see the involvement of the College in such humanitarian efforts as “troubling,” but rather as inspiring. We believe we speak for many when we say that the College’s greatest strength is not its frugal business model, but rather its selfless commitment to service — locally, nationally and globally.
We give our time and our passion, and we stand ready to take on the challenge of global climate change. We join the more than 1,000 students, more than 300 faculty and nearly 1,000 alumni to say “sign the Presidents Climate Commitment, President Nichol.” It is our only choice.

p. __Josh Wayland and Jake Reeder, co-facilitators of the Student Environmental Action Coalition, are a senior and junior at the College, respectively.__

**Nichol should resign**

p. To the Editor:

p. It is clear, viewed from a distance, that College President Gene Nichol should resign.

p. His misrepresentation of alumni fundraising, as ignoble as the withdrawal of a pledge of support by alumnus James McGlothlin ’62 J.D. ’64, casts serious doubt on Nichol’s ability to raise funds for the College and, more importantly, his judgment. It is difficult to see how he now can provide effective leadership of the College.

p. There are also crucial issues that Nichol has failed to address during his three-year tenure as president. Most importantly, the position of faculty salaries, relative to our peers, continues to erode. The current budget cuts put into motion by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine only exacerbate what is, by any standard, a dire situation. To my knowledge, Nichol and other members of the administration have made no public statements regarding how we are to achieve the stated goal of the 60th percentile of our peer group with regard to salaries in the current budget environment.

p. Moreover, the teaching loads faced by the majority of faculty in arts and sciences are also well above those of our peers, yet this administration has completely failed to engage this problem. It is certain that the best and most productive scholar-teachers will leave the College in search of greener and more stimulating pastures if nothing is done to address these issues.

p. Nichol has also failed to articulate a coherent vision of the kind of intellectual community that the College should be. Platitudes about “great and public” mean little without a concrete plan to achieve that goal. And one might question, given current funding levels, whether it is even possible to be a great, but public, small university. By what means would we achieve that end?

p. Blandishments by the administration and admissions office aside, the College still has a ways to go before it achieves a global reputation for research. As an institution, we should lose the mantra of “undergraduate research” and get down to the real business of creating an intellectual community that encompasses accomplished scholars (faculty) and developing scholars (students) in equal measure.

p. Lest the conservative factions that were outraged by the Wren cross controversy misinterpret this letter, please note that I am not calling for Nichol’s resignation on the basis of opposition to his actions there, except with regard to how those actions call into question his judgment on the prioritization of issues on campus. Surely, as a community of scholars and aspiring scholars, we have better things to worry about than the cross in the Wren Chapel.
The cumulative record that Nichol has amassed in three years does not inspire confidence in this faculty member. I doubt that I am alone, even among those of us who agree with his positions like trying to make the College more diverse.

p. If his fondness and respect for the College are as deep as he professes, he should resign now, before damaging the College and its reputation further.

p. When Nichol resigns, I urge both the campus community and the Board of Visitors to think long and hard before appointing yet another president who does not hold a Ph.D. and who has not taught in an arts and sciences discipline. Arts and sciences are the heart and soul of the College, and we desperately need a leader who understands the nature of research and teaching in one of these core disciplines.

p. __— David A. Jaeger, Associate Professor of Economics__