In time for Fall Break, leaves on campus have begun to fall despite the unseasonably warm weather.

Drew Stelljes, director of the Office of Student Volunteers, has seen firsthand the College’s service focus expand internationally.
“Over the past six years, I have thoroughly enjoyed what I call the ‘international service movement,’” he said at the International Service Trip Rally Tuesday night.

p. This movement began in the 2002 to 2003 academic year with the inception of The Global Village Project. It was the first in a wave of international service trips initiated and led by students at the College. Now, five years since the first trip, the number of opportunities to serve abroad has risen to 16. International service trip destinations include multiple sites in South and Central America, Africa and Eastern Europe.

p. “The interest in international service has just exploded here,” Crystal Adams ’07 said. Now the alumni director of international service trips, she went on two service trips and led a third as a student at the College. “New people go on the trips and then come back ready to take the reigns and start their own trip,” Adams said.

p. These sentiments were echoed by Lauren Grainger, the assistant director of the Office of Student Volunteers. “Drew [Stelljes] feels as if practically every day he has people wanting to start a new trip.”

p. Marjorie Russell ’09 did just that. After serving abroad as a freshman, she started the international service trip to Romania last year. In addition to still leading the trip to work with orphans in Romania, Russell is also the current student director of international service trips.

p. Russell compared her experience at the College to the experience a friend had at Roanoke College. “She was really interested in international service trips and went to Volunteer Services and said, ‘I want to start a service trip.’ There was simply no interest,” Russell said. “Here, we have an administration that lets us do our own thing. We can take an idea and run with it.”

p. This year, the continued growth in interest led to an applicant pool of around 1,200 students. Ultimately, 300 were chosen as team members.

p. The College’s service trip participation surpasses that of comparable universities throughout Virginia and the rest of the country.

p. Both the George Mason University and Virginia Commonwealth University websites show various opportunities to serve domestically over breaks, but not internationally. Instead, the university website directs students interested in serving abroad to a listing of local and national organizations that offer such opportunities.

p. Unlike George Mason and VCU, the University of Virginia does offer international service trips. In 2007, according to their Alternative Spring Break website, U.Va. students went on a combined 34 international and domestic service trips.
U.Va.’s applicant pool for both types of trips was 857 students, less than 7 percent of undergraduates. The College’s 1,200 applicants this year represent over 20 percent of the 5,500 undergraduates enrolled.

p. Looking beyond Virginia, both Vanderbilt University and Yale University have undergraduate enrollments similar to William and Mary’s. Vanderbilt University, according to their Alternative Spring Break website has three international trips scheduled for 2008 compared to William and Mary’s 16. Furthermore, the Yale Reach Out program’s website shows that “Yalies” went on 10 international service trips in 2007. Last year, William and Mary students went on 12.

p. The 300 William and Mary students participating in international service trip this year make up teams of 12 to 20 people. The trips cost anywhere between $800 and $2,500 per person. Through fundraising efforts like letter writing and on-campus events, team members work together in order to offset costs. Additionally, large group fundraising efforts have been conducted through the International Service Trip Council since its establishment last year.

p. “The International Service Trip Council supports a spirit of collaboration,” Stalljes explained. “We realize the work we’re doing is more important than any competition among teams.”

p. Adams defended the cost-effectiveness of the trips.

p. “It can be very expensive. But in the experience of going, and working alongside these people and seeing their culture, you change so much. You make memories and have a greater impact on the people and yourself,” she described. “It’s a much richer experience than sending a check off to some Non-Governmental Organization.”

p. “These trips inspire students to really think about how they live their lives,” Liz Ketner ’08, who will be leading W&M Medical Relief trip to Belize, said. “They challenge them to help with these issues in the future.”

p. More information about International Service Trips is available online at the W&M Office of Student Volunteer Services website.

__With state funds factored in, out-of-staters still pay a 27.4 percent tuition surcharge__

p. Tuition rates are higher for out-of-state students than for in-state students, even with state tuition subsidies for in-state students factored in.

p. According to the College’s tuition for the 2007-2008 school year, out-of-state students pay $23,110 per year and in-state students pay $5,549 per year. Once the state subsidy for in-state students is added, the real cost of in-state tuition is $18,136 per student, making out-of-state tuition 27.4 percent more expensive than in-state.

p. “It is true that the state is not fully subsidizing in-state students,” Vice President for Finance Sam Jones said. “Much of this under-subsidization results from the periodic reductions in state funding that occur as the state deals with revenue shortfalls. We see this dynamic now as we face the potential for base budget reductions of $3 million. Historically, colleges and universities have served to raise tuition on all students to at least partially offset the impact of reduced state support.”

p. Jones confirmed that the Board of Visitors, the body with ultimate authority over tuition, is not considering raising tuition midyear to deal with the budget cuts.

p. “Under restructuring, the state reaffirmed the authority of the Board of Visitors to set tuition,” Jones said. “The state does sometimes create incentives for boards to keep tuition low, but in the end it should be a board decision as to what to charge.”
College President Gene Nichol agreed that the state was not paying enough per student.

p. “It’s quite common for out-of-state students to pay more for a public university education than residents do — even taking into account the state’s subsidy,” Nichol said. “Even by the state’s base adequacy formulation the College is under-funded by over $9 million a year.”

p. Nichol was careful to point out that the state is funding most of the construction costs of the new Integrated Science Center and the new School of Education building.

p. Financial aid is also more helpful to in-state students than out-of-state students.

p. “Financial aid is a separate matter, with some of the funding for undergraduate need-based aid coming from the state and some from private funds and other College sources,” Jones said. “Note that the state provides need-based aid only for in-state students. The state provides no financial aid for out-of-state undergraduate students.”

p. Jones believes that, for now, tuition should not be raised in hopes of a more higher-education-friendly budget in the future.

p. “What we would hope is that, over time, the state will continue, and even expand, its investment in higher education, reducing the pressure for future tuition increases on both in-state and out-of-state students,” Jones said. “Obviously this is not happening in the short run.”

p. For Nichol, tuition is just one of many crises facing the administration because of the budget cuts.

p. “Only about 18 percent of our budget comes from the state,” he said. “That’s not enough.”

__Current GER system has been in place for 14 years__

Every student knows them and most students hate them. The General Education Requirements take up nearly 30 percent of a student’s credit hours. GERs were created some 14 years ago in an attempt to produce students with a strong liberal arts education.

p. The course catalog for 1959-1960 listed “distribution” requirements for undergraduates. These requirements included specific English courses, ancient or modern languages, biological and physical sciences, social sciences, mathematics, philosophy and physical education.

p. That system was eventually updated into one called “Area and Sequence,” which was notoriously confusing to students and faculty.

p. “The idea was to require students to get both depth and breadth in areas across the humanities, the social sciences and the natural sciences,” sociology and American studies Professor David Aday, who was involved in the 1993 GER overhaul, said. “In general, students were required to select one ‘area’ course in each of the three divisions. These ‘area’ courses were to provide foundations and general introduction to each division. Students next were required to take at least two courses designated as ‘sequence’ courses in each of the divisions. These courses were to build on ‘area’ courses and provide a wider and more substantive exposure to the fields of study.”

p. Geology professor Heather Macdonald, also involved in the overhaul, said that the goal of the sequence requirement was to have a total of four courses from a department in an area different than a student’s major.

p. “There was a joke in the old days that once a student understood the area [and] sequence requirements, then the College should give him or her a bachelor’s degree,” mathematics professor and overhaul committee member David Lutzer said.
This type of confusion led to the eventual changes.

p. “The Educational Policy Committee was asked to undertake a review of the curriculum to determine whether or not the intended characteristics in fact were reflected in the courses designated as area or sequence,” Aday said. “We interviewed department chairs and program directors and asked if they believed that courses in their departments or programs properly reflected the intended differences.”

p. Lutzer said the system had been in place so long that the faculty had forgotten its purpose; so, in 1991, they began discussing formally what a liberal education meant. After deliberating, the committee came up with a list of what skills a liberal arts graduate should have. This list included an understanding in natural science, social science, history, culture, literature, art, music, foreign language, philosophy and religion.

p. “It was sometimes a messy process,” Aday said. “Faculty members did not always or automatically agree about how knowledge and skills could be acquired most effectively.”
These discussions led to the approval of the GER curriculum April 15, 1993.

p. Since that time, however, there have been some changes. The most notable is the physical education requirement, which was dropped from the curriculum some five years ago. Another change in the requirement was an addition of a goal of computer literacy.
Aday said the flexibility of the College’s GER program distinguished it from other schools.

p. “The flexibility of the system comes from the fact that the various learning objectives can be achieved in a variety of courses across a variety of departments and programs,” he said.
Aday added that staff monitor and assess GERs to improve the system.

p. “The assessment is done by faculty members from across the university and it includes the examination of student work to ensure that learning objectives are being taught,” he said.

p.Although monitoring is ongoing, everyone who was involved in the overhaul would prefer not to repeat a curriculum review. “I recently heard a dean say that the following question is a standing joke at national meetings of deans: Which would you prefer – a 10 percent budget cut, or a curriculum review?” Lutzer said. “Curriculum reviews are exhausting exercises that can eat up literally years of faculty time.”

p. Provost Geoffrey Feiss added that suggestions are made all the time, but that currently there is no plan to reform the GER system.
“Periodic suggestions are made,” he said. “Ones that come to mind are service learning requirements or courses focusing on environmental sustainability or globalization. Good and interesting ideas all, but to date they have not received significant faculty support or traction.”

p. Aday said assessment efforts allow the possibility of renewing curriculum at any time. “I am among those whose work takes him into the real world, and I have a deep appreciation for the value of exposing theories, ideas, perspectives and knowledge to reality,” he said. “Unless we specify what real world emphasis means, what its educational value is intended to be, and how we will achieve that value, changes based on the idea would be very unlikely to have any meaningful result.”

U.S. Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis, a Republican representing the first district of Virginia, died last Saturday from breast cancer at the age of 57. Davis was Virginia’s first female Republican to serve on Capitol Hill. The first congressional district includes the city of Williamsburg.

p. Before her election to the House in 2000, she served in Virginia’s General Assembly for two years and started her own real estate business.

p. In office, Davis, a born-again Christian, championed her socially conservative ideals.

p. She voted with the Bush Administration a majority of the time, but in August of 2006 called for former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation.

p. A member of the House Armed Services Committee, she worked hard to support Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding in Newport News during her seven years in Congress. She also fought to remove the environmentally hazardous “ghost fleet,” a group of 97 former government ships parked in the middle of the James River.

p. “Congresswoman Davis counted it a privilege to represent William and Mary and most of those for whom it’s home, but the honor of her friendship and leadership was ours,” College president Gene Nichol said in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “Understanding well the College’s past, working always with its future in mind, Congresswoman Davis was a steadfast supporter we’ll remember long and warmly. She will be deeply missed.”

p. Governor Tim Kaine (D-Va.) will schedule a special election to fill Davis’s seat.

p. The election may occur Nov. 6, the date of Virginia’s general election. If that date is not chosen, Kaine must wait until at least mid-December to hold another election, according to The Daily Press.

p. Davis’s funeral will be held Thursday in Gloucester County, and many Virginia politicians will be in attendance.

__Student, city leaders meet to discuss the three-person rule__

Student leaders met with Williamsburg officials Thursday to discuss the city’s controversial zoning ordinance that prohibits more than three non-related people from residing in the same house.

p. Mayor Jeanne Zeidler said that although no decisions were made regarding the ordinance, those in attendance agreed that the matter should be discussed further. The mayor said she hopes to find understanding and to “move forward,” but she would not specify what moving forward constituted.

p. “We had a really good conversation,” she said in an interview Friday. “But there are no easy solutions to this.

p. Student Assembly President Zach Pilchen ’09 agreed with the mayor’s assessment but remained unsatisfied.

p. “The three-person-to-a-house rule, while simple and straightforward, isn’t an easy solution,” he said.

p. Discussion began when SA leaders presented the mayor with a plan that would effectively replace the three-person rule, leading to over an hour of debate on the issue.

p. Zeidler said that talks with previous SA administrations failed to make any progress. However, she went on to say that these talks were important. Pilchen said that while previous talks resulted in just “griping about the problem,” the current SA administration plans to take an active role in resolving this issue.

p. Among those who may attend future talks are students and residents who have been directly affected by the rule. Zeidler emphasized the importance of the presence of residents at any future meetings, as they may have “concerns that I haven’t thought about.”

p. When asked if any students who have been impacted by the rule will attend future meetings, Pilchen said that Matt Beato ’09, SA senate chairman, was at the meeting Thursday and was one of several students who have been evicted by the city. Beato did not respond to an e-mail request for comment.

p. Last January, 38 students were cited for violating the three-person rule. These students were asked to sign an agreement saying they would not violate the ordinance in the future and would seek different living arrangements at the end of the semester.

p. According to Pilchen, the SA will be conducting an open forum regarding the ordinance at some point this year. He said he hopes to resolve the controversy surrounding the rule before City Council elections in May.

p. “We have a road map now on how we wish to proceed,” Pilchen said.

p. **Tuesday, Oct. 2 –** A white male was arrested on the 800 block of Jamestown Road for driving under the influence and a hit and run. **(1)**

p. **Wednesday, Oct. 3 –** A black male was arrested on the 200 block of Longhill Road for possession of a controlled substance. **(2)**

p. **Friday, Oct. 5 –** A white male and an Asian female were arrested on the 400 block of Griffin Avenue and charged with a noise violation. **(3)**

p. **Saturday, Oct. 6 –** A white male was arrested on the 300 block of North Boundary Street for underage possession of alcohol. **(4)**

p. – A white male and female were arrested on the 400 block of Griffin Avenue and charged with a noise violation. **(3)**

p. – A white male was arrested on the 400 block of Griffin Avenue for being drunk in public and for underage possession of alcohol. **(3)**

p. – A white male was arrested on the 300 block of Richmond Road for stealing $4.99 worth of bacon. He was also charged with petit larceny, disorderly conduct and being drunk in public. **(5)**

p. – A black male was arrested on the 1600 block of Richmond Road for possession of a concealed weapon and possession of marijuana. **(6)**

**1931**
College graduate Colonel G. Maury Craille of Blackstone, Va. was recognized for his significant contributions to federal prison reform. In 1926, he was appointed commandant of Alcatraz, where he advocated trade learning in prison to combat the problems of mutiny that plagued prisons at the time.

p. **1962**
Campus radio station WCWM announced that it would soon be moving to an AM frequency. In addition to the original 1958 equipment in the station’s Phi Beta Kappa studio, a new audio console and a United Press International news machine were acquired to help the station keep up with the demands of modernization.

p. **1978**
The Free University of Williamsburg officially opened, accepting 100 students. The university consisted of no grades, required assignments, formal classes or true teachers and had a high emphasis on total freedom. The school was later closed.

p. **1983**
Gene Davis, the artist who created the multicolored plexiglass tubes along the southern wall of the Muscarelle Museum of Art, recolored the tubes after they were removed earlier in the year due to algae growth. The 126 tubes, key to the building’s heating system, are filled with 90 gallons of dyed water each.
Davis refined the colors and added copper sulfate to the water to curb algae growth.