__Strikwerda denies misconduct by the administration__

Dean of Arts and Sciences Carl Strikwerda denied allegations of misconduct regarding a recent external review of the philosophy department and the administration’s reaction. He denied that he or anyone else in the administration acted wrongly regarding the situation and clarified his reasons for not currently allowing the philosophy department to respond to the report.

p. “The review was not done in response to any particular event or concern. It was part of a regularly state-mandated review,” Strikwerda said. He added that the selection of team members was not related to last year’s Wren cross controversy or College President Gene Nichol.

p. “None of the external reviewers were chosen because of the Wren cross controversy, which had not even occurred at the time the departments recommended the reviewers,” he wrote in a letter to The Flat Hat.

p. Nichol himself had no involvement in the process, and although he and the lead reviewer, Religious Studies Professor Jodi Magness, both taught at the University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill at the same time, Nichol did not know her personally.

p. “I do not know Dr. Magness or any other member of the review team,” Nichol said in an e-mail. “I was informed of the decision after it was made. I was not involved in it. I have never, to my knowledge, spoken to Dr. Magness.”

p. Strikwerda said he was prompted to act quickly when the report revealed an extremely hostile atmosphere in the department and alleged mistreatment of junior and female faculty. He based his actions on both the report and meetings with a majority of the faculty. The only tenured faculty who would not meet with Strikwerda were Paul Davies and George Harris.

p. Davies and Harris caught the attention of the review team for their controversial belief that junior faculty should not vote on hiring matters. They also declined to meet with the external review team.

p. Many of the faculty members were allegedly upset when Strikwerda wouldn’t let them officially respond to the report as a department. Strikwerda responded that the department is too divided right now to properly deal with the situation.

p. “The reason for [not allowing a response] is what the concern that the report. … raised was that this was a department where there was not a healthy discussion going on, [and] people didn’t feel free to speak. So I thought it was very important for individual faculty members to be able to talk to me personally and send me any information they wanted,” he said. “I thought that not only that we would have an external chair in the department, but that it was not a good situation for the department to try to respond to the external review as a group.”

p. He added that despite some negative responses, a few faculty members agreed with his decision.

p. “I did hear a lot ¬¬¬– from a wide variety of perspectives – from the department, and some of them were very forceful in what they thought on both sides of the issue. So I think I heard quite a diversity of opinion in the department,” he said. Strikwerda was, however, vague as to who agreed with him and who did not.

p. “I don’t think I should go into who said what within that group … I don’t think I should break it down any more at the risk of breaking confidentiality as to who said what,” he said.
Strikwerda also commented on the authority of his actions to replace the department chair.

p. “Chairs serve at the discretion of the dean, and it’s not common, but it’s not unheard of at all to have a chair from another department serve as chair of a second department. It’s not a decision that you make lightly and I don’t think we [Strikwerda and Provost Geoffrey Feiss] did,” he said. “It is within the powers of the office of the dean to appoint a chair even in the middle of a term or to bring in somebody from an outside department.”

p. The dean also responded to claims, including one from former department chair Noah Lemos, that he placed the department in receivership, a term meaning that a person is appointed to manage the affairs of a group that cannot manage themselves.
“I don’t think, actually, I have put the department in receivership. The department is still operating by its own bylaws, they’re making their own internal decisions, they’ll make their own recommendations to me in terms of hiring, and so in many ways they will continue as any department does, operating its own affairs. The only difference is they have a chair from the outside,” Strikwerda said.

p. Over the next two years Meyers will be charged with sorting through the problems facing the department, including communication and mentoring issues. After two years Strikwerda said a new review will be performed, analyzing the situation at that time and making recommendations based on that.

p. “We’re hoping that we’re going to do a successful search this year and that next year there may be as many as two new people hired,” he said.

p. Strikwerda said he is hopeful regarding the department’s future.

p. “It’s a strong teaching department, a strong department in scholarship, and I have confidence that it can move on beyond this situation, and it can really move forward,” he said.

__Students gathered in the Sunken Garden to mourn together__

A slight breeze crossed the Wren Courtyard Tuesday evening as over 100 students gathered to mourn the lives lost from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

p. The service, organized by Joey Andrews ’07, allowed students, faculty and members of the Williamsburg community to gather in remembrance of the tragedy.

p. Among the speakers were two College students, as well as local Fire Chief T.K. Weiler. Their speeches provided glimpses into separate struggles. Weiler commented on his own personal losses as a firefighter, as well as changes that happened within the rescue community as a result of the event.

p. “Among those who died were 343 of my brother firefighters,” Weiler said. “Over the last few days I thought about my grandchildren, how they would only read of this in the history books, and never have to see it firsthand.”

p. As a result of the attacks, College rescue volunteers are now issued personal identification cards.

p. A banner signed by hundreds of College students was presented to Weiler in honor of local firefighters.

p. The ceremony provided insight into the ethnic climate of a post-9/11 world.

p. Fuad Bohsali ’09, a Lebanese-American student at the College, hesitated during his speech, having difficulty finding the words to describe his disbelief after being approached by a friend who asked him to convert from Islam following the attacks.

p. “Coming to William and Mary I had to remember that Islam was my religion, and that I had nothing to be ashamed of for it,” Bohsali said.

p. Others took comfort in the wistful poeticisms delivered by College student Rory Eaton ’10.

p. “We have spent the last six years trying to look beyond this obscurity. To look past the darkness. And we all see different things. We’ve seen hope; we’ve seen patriotic spirit rekindled. We’ve seen bravery and we’ve seen sacrifice,” Eaton said. “But most of all, when the smoke cleared out, we found each other.”

p. According to Andrews, a key purpose of the service was to bring mourning for 9/11 to a local level. Andrews decided to organize the event after being accepted into the Fellowship for the Defense of Democracies, an organization that focuses on terrorism and the effect it has on democratic values. As part of the program, Andrews traveled to Israel for two weeks. He began to organize the 9/11 service over the summer.

p. “I really wanted to make sure that the campus had something to learn and grow from and remember,” Andrews said.

A report from the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics reported in August that College faculty donated $136,200 to political campaigns, the third largest amount of any college studied. The study also found that 99 percent of donations from College faculty have gone to Democrats.
Much of this is due to the donations of one professor, Ron Rapoport in the government department. Rapoport and his Va.-based family donated $98,300 to Democrats this election cycle. That would not normally be possible with an academic salary, but Rapoport’s father founded the American Income Life Insurance Company, which is worth $560 million, according to The Bernard and Audre Rapoport Foundation website.
Rapoport is now chairman of the foundation, which was founded in 1987 with $47 million. The foundation donates to causes such as education and health, as well as liberal progressive organizations such as Media Matters of America.
“This Foundation is dedicated to the principle that providing real opportunities to those who do not have them — whether through family circumstance, social structure or political repression — is a basic responsibility of those fortunate enough to be able to help,” Professor Rapoport said in an acceptance letter for the chairmanship.
Rapoport’s contributions are not representative of the College faculty. After his contributions are taken out, College faculty and staff donated $37,900, approximately 96 percent of which went to Democrats.
Professor Rapoport declined to comment.
“Even if it is hard to base too much on this one study, it seems to me that there are other reports (of political attitudes rather than donations per se), and from what I recall they empirically confirm the fairly widespread sense that college faculties generally are not bastions of conservatism or Republican voter support,” acting chairman of the government department Clay Clemens told The Flat Hat.
“That almost certainly varies somewhat by area and discipline. … But in total, academics are almost certainly more liberal than conservative,” Clemens said. “In my experience, undergrads with strong conservative instincts prefer going directly into politics or else law and business, rather than academia, so it becomes a sort of mutually reinforcing cycle.”
National attention has surrounded the report.
“The study could provide fresh ammunition to conservatives who rail about liberal bias in the academy,” The Boston Globe reported in August.
“There’s been a transformation of universities over 30 or 40 years,” the director of the conservative National Association of Scholars told the Center for Responsive Politics. “Where what was once an institutional ethic that you leave your politics at home, that your students should never know your personal opinions on controversial topics, has been eroded to the point where it is rarely used.”
The study also finds that nationwide donations from academics have risen substantially. It reports that academic donations to 2008 candidates so far, at $7 million, are as high as donations during entire general election cycles in the 1990s. Clemens, however, did not think it would have a great effect on the political scene.
“Those total amounts are not very high, and liberal candidates already pretty much carry districts like Cambridge Ma. or Berkeley Ca.,” he said. “It seems doubtful that the Democratic Party would feel any huge need to cater to academics since most of that vote is unlikely to go anywhere else.”

**Wednesday, Sept. 5 –** Two underage males were arrested at the intersection of Ireland and South Henry Streets for illegal possession of alcohol. One was also charged with being drunk in public. **(1)**

p. – A Hispanic male was arrested for driving with a suspended license on the 1100 block of Bypass Road. **(2)**

p. **Thursday, Sept. 6 –** Two males were arrested for attempted auto theft of a Honda Civic on the 1300 block of Mt. Vernon Avenue. **(3)**

p. – A white male on the 2000 block of South Henry Street was charged with underage possession of alcohol after causing a noise disturbance at his home. **(1)**

p. **Friday, Sept. 7 –** A white female was arrested on the 100 block of Monticello Avenue for stealing purses and license plates. She had burglary tools and a fake ID with her and had been driving with a suspended license. **(1)**

p. – A white male was taken into custody for the theft of a mountain bike and possession of marijuana on the 1200 block of Richmond Road. **(5)**

p. **Saturday, Sept. 8 –** A white male was arrested for driving while intoxicated and possession of a concealed weapon at the 100 block of Woodmere Court. **(6)**

p. – A Hispanic male was arrested on multiple charges including hit and run at the crossing of the 1300 block of Richmond Road and the 900 block of Capitol Landing. His vehicle and a police cruiser were damaged but only minor injuries were sustained. **(5)**

**1951**
Tyler Hall, later renamed the Wendy and Emery Reves Center for International Studies, underwent an extensive $50,000 renovation that made it, at the time, the most modern men’s dormitory on campus. The dorm was refurnished and repainted to give the hall a distinct look.

p. **1964**
The 272nd session of the College began with the largest freshmen class recorded in the history of the campus. An entering class of 942 freshmen added to the approximately 3,000 transfer, graduate and law students.

p. **1970**
A “night clerk system” was implemented in upperclassmen women’s dorms, easing the strict curfew rules that had previously been in place. Until then, parental permission cards had been used. Although the new system was an improvement, it was also expensive. For this reason, the Women’s Dormitory Association wanted to implement a “card key system” in which students would use a plastic key card to get into dormitories after hours.

p. **1981**
A new alcohol consumption law was passed by Virginia that, according to the Associate Dean of Students, would have “an impact on the college.” 18 year-old students would be able to purchase alcohol in licensed areas only.

Officials at the University of Virginia are speculating that the Campaign for U.Va. is going so well they may surpass their fundraising goal by $1 billion, according to the Daily Progress, a Charlottesville publication.

p. As of July 31, U.Va. had collected $1.465 billion of their $3 billion goal. The campaign ends Dec. 31, 2011.

p. If U.Va. does reach their $3 billion goal, they will have the largest fundraising total of any public university in the nation.

p. “We want to be the first privately financed public university,” Bob Sweeney, head of U.Va. fundraising team, told the Daily Progress.
U.Va. officials plan to use the $3 billion to add to science, engineering and technology research. Officials also say they plan to use the money to offset the loss of state funds, per Gov. Tim Kaine’s request that U.Va., the College and Virginia Tech cut 7.5 percent of their funding from the Commonwealth.

**75 Percent**
The percentage of energy used by non-residential campus buildings at a typical college, according to the Student Environmental Action Coalition. Only 25 percent of energy is used in dorms.

p. **320**
The number of acres that the College brought from Capt. Thomas Ballard initially to start bilding the campus. Bought from what was known at the time as “Middle Plantation,” the construction of the Wren Bulding came soon afterward.

p. **74 Days**
The number of days it took Apple to sell its 1 millionth iPhone. Sales reportedly jumped when Apple slashed the price of the iPhone by a third over the weekend to spur on sales. This milestone was reached weeks earlier than expected. Apple stock increased by 3.8 percent based on the news.

p. **34 Percent**
The increase in the probability of one getting accepted to a higher level institution had his or her parents donated to that institution. According to the study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, this increase in probability slowly declines as one ages.