Washington Monthly, a Washington, D.C.-based magazine, listed the College as the 23rd best in the nation, and found it had the second highest percentage of students that graduate and serve in the Peace Corps. Last year the College ranked 19th.
p. The magazine rates colleges based on student contributions to society as a whole. Community service, research and social mobility are all considered in the final rating of colleges.
Demolition at the site of the future William and Mary School of Education starts today. Construction of the School of Education, which is to take place on the old Sentara Williamsburg Community Hospital site, is set to be completed spring 2010.
p. Work will begin with the removal of non-masonry and non-metal components by worker crews, while the rest of the building will be demolished using hydraulic excavators.
p. The three-month demolition process is the next step in relocating the current School of Education in Jones Hall to the new, state-of-the-art site on Monticello Avenue.
**Friday, August 24 —** A black male was arrested for disorderly conduct at 515 Scotland Street. **(1)**
p. — A white male was arrested for being drunk in public on the 600 block of York Street. **(2)**
p. — A black male was arrested for driving under the influence for the third time on the 300 block of York Street. He was also charged with refusal to cooperate and possession of a concealed weapon. **(2)**
p. Saturday, August 25 — A white female was arrested for refusing to cooperate with an officer after being pulled over for driving under the influence. This took place at 500 South Henry Street. **(3)**
p. — A black male and black female were arrested for possession of marijuana on 1000 Capitol Landing Road. **(4)**
p. — Two white males were arrested for causing a disturbance and carrying a concealed weapon on the 700 block of Scotland Street. One male was carrying brass knuckles while the other was carrying a knife. **(5)**
p. **Sunday, August 26 —** A black male was arrested for driving with a suspended license on 800 York Street. **(2)**
p. **Monday, August 27 —** A Hispanic male was arrested for assault and battery on the 3000 block of Richmond Road. The victim suffered minor cuts and bruises. **(6)**
p. **Tuesday, August 28 —** A white male was taken into custody for trespassing and urinating on city property in the 700 block of Scotland Street. Nothing was stolen or damaged. **(1)**
p. — A 1998 Dodge sedan was damaged on the 300 block of Roland Street. The suspect is still at large. **(7)**
p. **Thursday, August 30 —** A 2006 Silver Toyota Corolla was stolen on the 800 block of Capitol Landing Road. A man was taken into custody that night. **(8)**
p. — Two people were arrested for being drunk in public and underage possession of alcohol on the 1400 block of Mt. Vernon. **(9)**
p. — A person was arrested for driving with a suspended license on the 100 block of Merrimac Trail. **(4)**
p. **Saturday, August 31 —** A person was arrested for underage possession of alcohol and being drunk in public on the 100 block of Ukrops Way. **(2)**
**323,000**
The number of hours William and Mary Students spend doing unpaid service each year, based on a 2006 survey. According to the survey, each student spends an average of 45 hours a year.
p. **.04**
The increase in the average government department GPA from 1986 to 2005, rising from 2.85 to 3.25.
p. “These data suggest … improvement in undergraduate academic performance — though of course others could also interpret the right-hand column as a sign of grade inflation,” government professor Ronald Rapoport wrote in a government department newsletter.
p. **7.27 percent**
The proportion of internet users worldwide who visited Wikipedia.com, according to Alexa.com, a website owned by Amazon.com that ranks websites based on traffic.
p. **22 percent**
The increase in Hillary Clinton’s odds of winning the Democratic primary, according to online political prediction market Intrade.com. Clinton is now predicted to have nearly a 70 percent chance of winning the primary.
As another stressful semester here at the College commences, the great escape of the weekend party is ushered in. While a good party may be just what the doctor ordered to relieve academic anxiety, the hangover the next morning may leave you crying for one.
p. Hangovers have been documented in civilization since Biblical times, but are still relatively misunderstood by scientists, doctors and those who experience them. In fact, on the whole, alcohol’s effects on the brain and body are still significantly understudied.
According to Scientific American, 75 percent of people who consume alcohol to the point of intoxication will incur a hangover, which is usually characterized by headache, nausea, vomiting, thirst, tremors, dizziness, fatigue and muscle cramps. Other effects of a hangover that are less overt include: a decrease in occupational, cognitive and visual/spatial skills, tachycardia (increased heart rate) and blood pressure changes.
p. The causes and mechanisms of hangovers are still in great debate, but there are several established truths. Hangovers seem to be caused by a combination of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), dehydration, acetaldehyde intoxication and vitamin B12 deficiency.
During the metabolism of drinking alcohol (ethanol), NADH (an important coenzyme in cells) production increases. Alcohol is metabolized through the enzymes alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase, and during this process NADH can build up and slow down glucogenesis in the liver, which causes hypoglycemia.
p. As liver enzymes break down ethanol, acetaldehyde is created, which is mildly toxic and is possibly responsible for hangover symptoms like headache, nausea and vomiting.
p. Symptoms such as sensitivity to sound and light are suspected to be caused by the removal of the depressive effect of alcohol on the brain. The alteration of cytokine (a group of proteins and peptides that orchestrates the immune system’s response) production can also potentially explain hangover symptoms.
p. Hangover severity is closely linked to antidiuretic hormone concentration, which is responsible for controlling frequency of urination. Consumption of alcohol once the intoxication level has been reached inhibits the effect of the antidiuretic hormone on the kidneys, thus causing excess urination and dehydration. Even as a person’s blood alcohol content decreases, dehydration will continue as the antidiuretic hormone increases, causing water retention during a hangover. For this reason, consumption of liquids during a hangover can help to ease, but not cure, it.
p. Certain by-products of alcohol fermentation called congeners can increase the frequency and severity of a hangover. Dark liquors, like whiskey, which are high in congeners, tend to cause more frequent hangovers.
p. A study conducted by L.F. Chapman in 1970 determined that 33 percent of patients who consumed 1.5 g/kg of their body weight of bourbon (high in congeners) experienced a hangover, but only 3 percent of those who consumed the same dose of vodka (low in congeners) experienced a hangover.
p. Cures for the dreaded hangover are as complex as the scientific reasons for them. Many home remedy methods of treating hangovers are ineffective, and some can actually cause more harm than good.
p. Foods and beverages with sugar can help to overcome hypoglycemia and dehydration, but cannot cure a hangover by themselves.
p. Using an anti-inflammatory painkiller to get rid of the headache should be done with caution because aspirin can be a stomach irritant and acetaminophen taken in conjunction with alcohol can amplify harmful effects on the liver.
p. While the science behind a hangover may be quite complex and misunderstood, there are certain things scientists suggest can help to prevent the formation of a hangover.
p. There are several medicines in development that could potentially be hangover preventatives, but these have not seen great success in experimental trials.
p. By far, the most suggested way of preventing a hangover is to imbibe ample amounts of water while consuming alcohol in order to prevent dehydration.
Last Thursday several city officials met with 20 members of the Student Assembly in the first of what the two parties hope will be a series of meetings on City-College relations. The City-Student leadership reception was organized by Student Assembly President Zach Pilchen ’09 and Sen. Sarah Rojas ’10 to give members of the SA involved in public affairs a chance to talk to city officials about prominent student issues.
p. “We wanted to start the year off well,” Rojas said.
Williamsburg City Mayor Jean Zeidler told those in attendance that she hoped this reception would lead to a year-long dialogue between students and the city.
p. Among issues discussed were student-friendly business, the three-person rule and student voting rights.
p. “[The point] was to just start talking about these issues,” Pilchen said.
p. Pilchen said he felt the officials were responsive to the needs of students and saw the start of an open dialogue.
p. Mayor Zeidler agreed. “Right now we’re just listening to students and trying to build relationships,” she said.
p. She said that there were a number of issues for which she was interested in working with students, including community-oriented retail, the issue of off-campus housing and overall relations between the city and the College.
p. These issues resonated with a majority of the officials in attendance.
p. “We encourage everyone to get to know their neighbors,” Williamsburg Police Chief Mike Yost said.
p. He said that he felt one of the major issues the police department deals with is off-campus parties and stressed to students the importance of good relations with their neighbors in the city.
p. Those involved saw the meeting as an opportunity to begin the dialogue between the College and the city on a positive note.
SA Chief of Staff David Husband ’09 said that he was ready to start working with the city and was looking forward to the year ahead.
p. “[Each side] has the ability to make sure we help the city achieve,” he said. “It’s about an equal partnership. It could be great.”
p. The state is asking the College to cut 7.5 percent of its state funding allocation in order to help make up an estimated $641 million state budget deficit, the Associated Press reported Friday. Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia are also facing 7.5 percent cuts. The College, Virginia Tech and U.Va. are the three state schools with the most independence from Virginia.
p. Almost all other colleges and state agencies are being asked to trim 5 percent from their budgets.
p. In a speech Aug. 20, Gov. Tim Kaine announced that slow economic growth in the 2007 fiscal year led to revenues $234 million short of what was anticipated. Revised forecasts for the 2008 fiscal year indicate that revenues will be $407 million less than expected. This leads to the predicted revenue deficit of $641 million.
p. Kaine blamed the slow revenue growth on the struggling housing market. He reported that tax revenues are down 16.1 percent from last year and revenues for corporate, individual and sales tax collections were 1.2 percent less than predicted.
p. “As we look ahead to budget for 2008 to 2010, we will need to examine programs to see if there [are] any that should be changed or discontinued,” he said. “We will need to look at new ways of doing business that are more efficient and we will need to carefully prioritize how we use the funds we have available to us.”
According to University Relations archives, when Kaine spoke at Charter Day in 2006, he told the College that Virginia should be doing more to fund higher education. “The simple question for the next four years is — can we do better? Of course we can,” Kaine said. “But, there is much more room to improve. During my term of office, we will do better.”
p. In an e-mail to the Student Assembly listserv yesterday, SA President Zach Pilchen ’09 told senators that he met with the Faculty University Priorities Committee (FUPC) and wanted to discuss student perspectives on the cuts at the senate meeting tonight.
p. According to the e-mail, the FUPC will meet again Wednesday to further discuss the cuts.
p. The College, along with U.Va. and Tech, must submit a plan for how the school plans to respond to the cuts to the state by Sept. 10.
p. The Flat Hat will continue to cover how the College handles the budget cuts in the coming weeks.
An Aug. 23 e-mail from Vice President for Student Affairs Sam Sadler confirmed that the College is still considering remodeling the selection process of Judicial Council members. The new proposals — recommended last spring by representatives of the Student Assembly as part of the College’s annual efforts to modify and update the Student Handbook — advocated a campus-wide vote, similar to the electoral process practiced by the school’s Honor Council, to ultimately decide the members of the Judicial Council. We applaud the Student Assembly’s efforts to make constructive changes on campus, but in this case, there is little to be fixed.
p. The current Judicial Council selection consists of an arduous application and interview process — one that is largely carried out behind closed doors — which ensures that the members selected are of the highest integrity and character, and also prevents selected members from holding allegiances to specific students.
The current Judicial Council represents the interests of all parties. Students are offered the option of having their case reviewed by their peers, and these peers are themselves bound to the ideals, laws and regulations of the College. Under the current system, the integrity of the College is never compromised.
p. A campus-wide vote has the potential to become a College-wide popularity contest, which, in turn, could undermine the entire judicial system. While enhanced student involvement in dictating campus policy is generally a good thing, the proposed selection process, as the Dean of Students Office correctly pointed out in its response to the suggested changes, has the potential to produce a Judicial Council with a very narrow range of views. This is largely because voters do not necessarily select candidates that will combine to form a well-balanced group that is representative of the entire student body.
p. Perhaps the biggest problem with the proposed changes relates to the responsibilities and mandate of the new panel. The Judicial Council deals with cases of extreme severity and, in many instances, breaches of campus policy that can result in suspension or expulsion. Often, the entire future of a student’s academic career, if not his or her life, is in the hands of these members, and it is of the utmost importance that this panel is not chosen by an election decided primarily by reputations, pictures and generic blurbs on SIN. There are other problems with this system. Simply omitting a picture from the online election page — as suggested by the Student Assembly to protect the candidates — is not enough.
p. In an age of Facebook and other social networking tools, the Judicial Council members could potentially be subjected to enhanced scrutiny or harassment, which would surely be detrimental to their effectiveness and objectivity in handling cases.
Sadler mentioned in this same message that he believes the debate requires an extra semester of working with current Judicial Council members to decide if the process should be altered. With such an important change on the agenda, the additional time is warranted, but changes to the current selection system are not. In order to maintain the integrity, effectiveness and reputation of the Judicial Council, it is imperative that the application and selection processes are not changed.
I’m sure you’ve all pored over back-to-school lists for the past few weeks trying to figure out what to bring to campus: books and binders, trendy new lamps and storage containers and colorful throw rugs. But for women entering college, one of the most important purchases isn’t found in Target’s hip dorm department, but at the pharmacy: Emergency Contraception, “the morning after pill” and Plan B — all of which refer to a pack of two small pills that can significantly reduce the risk of pregnancy after unprotected sex.
p. If you choose to be sexually active, you should protect yourself beforehand. Condoms are a must because they can prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. For women who are sexually active on a regular basis, hormonal birth control can be really convenient. But hey, we’re all pretty intelligent people, and you probably already know about condoms and pills. I’m also sure a lot of you know about the joys of abstinence too, but a lot of women all over the country don’t know much about EC.
p. Up until recently, if you had sex and the condom broke, you were screwed (no pun intended). If you didn’t plan on having sex but it just happened, you were screwed again. And if, God forbid, a woman was sexually assaulted, she could only pray that she didn’t become pregnant. But that changed when EC was approved by the FDA for over-the-counter use.
p. EC can work in three ways to prevent a pregnancy: it can prevent an egg from being released from the ovaries, sperm from fertilizing an egg or a fertilized egg from implanting itself in the uterine wall. According to Planned Parenthood, if taken within 24 hours of unprotected sex, EC can be up to 95 percent effective in preventing a pregnancy. If taken within 72 hours it can reduce your risk by 75 to 89 percent and can also help when taken within the first 120 hours. Now that EC is over-the-counter for women 18 and up, you should be able to ride your bike to the nearest drugstore and buy a pack. I say “should be able to” because women have had problems obtaining EC from overlyzealous pharmacists who find it morally reprehensible.
p. There is a misconception that EC causes abortion. It does not. EC is birth control, and it cannot terminate a pregnancy. Many people confuse EC with mifepristone (RU-486), the abortion pill, but they are two different drugs. There are some anti-choice activists who know the difference between EC and RU-486, and still believe that EC causes abortion because, for people who oppose abortion for purely religious reasons, life begins at conception. Because EC can prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterine wall, to them, this is abortion. The problem is that the medical community defines “pregnancy” as a fertilized egg that has already implanted itself in the uterine wall. So if we go by medical definitions, EC absolutely cannot cause an abortion.
p. Another problem with the “EC is abortion” belief is that there is no difference between EC and the birth control pill. They are made of the exact same hormones (in different doses), and they do the exact same thing. So, people who find EC morally unacceptable also, effectively, oppose birth control.
p. My point is not to argue with people who oppose abortion, EC, birth control, etc. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs about reproductive rights. But as young women entering a new realm of independence and uncertainty, it’s important to equip yourselves with all the facts, so you can make informed, healthy choices.
Devan Barber is a senior at the College.
The Flat Hat has been the College of William and Mary's student newspaper since 1911. It covers the College and the surrounding area of Williamsburg, VA, printing on Tuesdays of the academic year.
© 1911-Present. The Flat Hat. All Rights Reserved.
