The Student Assembly inaugurated new members Monday night at 6 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Wren building.

p. Jess Vance, president of Class of ’07 opened, asking the audience to take a moment to reflect on the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Speakers and guests kept the events in mind throughout the ceremony.

p. “Our generation has been shaped by tragedy. We as student leaders have to lead the way,” Vance said.

p. Vice President for Student Affairs Sam Sadler spoke next, giving opening remarks, commending old SA members and congratulating the new ones.

p. College President Gene Nichol gave the main address. He humorously noted the drawn-out election, as candidates had to wait three days for results due to a human computer error.

p. “You have come through an interesting electoral process — unlike everyone else, I love complicated elections. They are the meat of the democratic process,” Nichol said.

p. He commended their decisions to participate in the democratic process and addressed the responsibilities that lie ahead in “creating life at the College.” He advocated making decisions for themselves, not making thoughtless choices and not doing what “Joe down the street wants you to do.”

p. Senior Ryan Scofield, former president of the SA, offered final remarks and described the successes of outgoing SA members.
Newly-elected President Zach Pilchen and Vice President Valerie Hopkins, both sophomores, spoke last. Pilchen described their complete absorption in the “10-day campaign process and subsequent 3-day waiting process.”

p. Pilchen described the growth of his fascination with the world of the SA and student politics.

p. “But let us not let [politics] obscure our real objective — making life the best it can be for students and William and Mary,” he said.

p. **Wednesday, April 11 —** A woman was charged with a DUI on Lafayette St. The 19 year-old was described as a white female. The incident took place at 2:30 a.m. **(1)**

p. **Thursday, April 12 —** Larceny was reported between Thursday and Friday on Richmond Rd. Blue jeans were stolen. **(2)**

p. **Friday, April 13 —** At 2:01 a.m., a 23-year-old man was charged with a DUI on the 400 block of Armistead Ave. He was described as a 5’9” Hispanic male, 190 lbs. with green eyes and black hair. His driver’s license was suspended. **(3)**

p. **Saturday, April 14 —** At 12:44 a.m., a black male with brown eyes and black hair, was charged with a DUI around 1000 Bypass Rd. He was 33 years old and was described as about 175 lbs. and 5’11”. It was his first offense. **(4)**

p. — A 27-year-old man was arrested at 1:50 a.m. on Patrick Henry Dr. for a DUI. It was his second one. **(5)**

p. — Vandalism was reported on Richmond Rd. The damaged property was a front door and involved broken glass. **(2)**

p. — A 21-year-old black male was arrested at 11:53 p.m. on Bypass Rd. for a DUI. He also had an open container of alcohol in the car. He was described as 5’6,” 155 lbs. with brown eyes and black hair. **(4)**

p. **Sunday, April 15 —** A 23-year-old white male was arrested near Richmond Rd. for being drunk in public. The man was 190 lbs., 5’9” with blue eyes and brown hair. **(2)**

__Campus split over decision to invite Cheney as commencement speaker__

p. Students, alumni and members of the Mormon Church are protesting Brigham Young University’s decision to invite Vice President Dick Cheney to speak at the school’s commencement later this month. Cheney has accepted and is set to deliver a non-political speech. He also plans to speak at the commencement of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point May 26.

p. The traditionally conservative school is located in Utah County where, according to Time Magazine and CNN, 85 percent of residents voted for President Bush and Cheney in 2004. This protest is anomalous for the school where a professor was fired last year for writing an opinion article criticizing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for advocating a constitutional ban on gay marriage. BYU’s honor code includes provisions that students may not engage in sexual relations outside of marriage, must abstain from drugs, alcohol, coffee and tea and should actively participate in religious services.

p. Cheney critics highlight his involvement in the CIA leak of Valerie Wilson’s identity, past association with Saddam Hussein’s government and role in using faulty evidence to spur U.S. invasion of Iraq. The New York Times quoted Warner Woodworth, BYU professor, as saying, “It just feels like too much sleaze and not the right values for BYU. We espouse honesty, chastity, integrity, ethics, virtue and morality, and he does not epitomize those values.”

p. Woodworth is a key organizer of an online petition that gathered 2,300 signatures in its first week and asks BYU to replace Cheney with a different speaker. There is also a counter-petition that supports Cheney with over 2,000 signatures.
BYU has approved the College Democrats’ request to protest at commencement and is in the process of allotting a specific space.

**1966**
The Student Association Committee on Academic Affairs initiated a program that would allow seniors to evaluate the College faculty. Each graduating senior was given a form asking them to list their three most effective teachers and three least effective teachers. The evaluation was completely confidential and was designed for department use in issuing salary raises and hiring and firing.

p. **1972**
The College announced that American author Ralph Ellison would speak at the June 4 commencement ceremony. Ellison, the author of “Invisible Man” was the first black person to ever keynote commencement at the College. The previous year, the senior class had invited Charles Evers, but his selection was rejected by then College President Davis Y. Paschall.

p. **1981**
This year the Commencement Committee decided not to have a student speaker or a valedictory speaker at graduation. The student speaker was traditionally senior class president, but the Class of ’81s president removed himself from consideration and there was no alternative method to choose a speaker in time for commencement.

p. **1995**
The College bookstore opened after a six-month renovation period. There was a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a biographer of Bill Clinton gave a book-signing. The renovation expanded the non-textbook section to from 5,500 to 33,000 volumes.

Frank Batten Sr., a former College BOV member, donated $100 million to the University of Virginia, according to the Chronicle of Philanthrophy. Batten, a 1950 graduate of U.Va., is the founder and former chairman of Landmark Communications in Norfolk, Va., which owns the Weather Channel and other cable channels.

p. The money will be allocated toward the creation of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, which will work to educate students in law, medicine and history, the Chronicle said.
In 2003, Batten and his wife, Jane, gave $142 million to eight different colleges and programs, including $11.3 million to the College. That year, the two were listed as the seventh most generous donors in the Chronicle of Philanthrophy’s annual rankings.

p. Batten previously gave $60 million to U.Va. in 1999 to create the Batten Institute, helping promote business entrepreneurship. His gift brings U.Va. closer to their campaign goal of raising $3 billion by the end of 2011. U.Va. has currently raised $1.2 billion.

**1,165**
The number of College students who have joined the Facebook.com group, “WM Remembers Virginia Tech” as of press time.

p. **151**
The number of students who remain involuntarily bumped as of Monday, April 16, the first day of registration. 60 males are currently bumped, compared to 91 females.

p. **$6.25**
The average cost of each meal under the Gold 14 meal plan, assuming you use all your meals and flex points.

p. **41 years**
The age of the current Crim Dell bridge. It’s predecessor was an undecorated, flat wooden bridge.

p. **52.5 percent**
The proportion of Americans who currently receive significant income from U.S. government programs, according to estimates from Economist Gary Shilling cited by the Christian Science Monitor. The percentage was much lower, at 28.3 percent, in 1950.

Last week, two major advancements were made in the field of diabetes research that could revolutionize the way doctors and researchers treat the chronic disease.

p. A genetic test that identifies whether a person has a genetic variation that doubles the risk of developing Type II diabetes, DeCode T2, was developed by the Icelandic biotechnology firm DeCode Genetics, Inc.

p. Research by Duk-Hee Lee and her research team at Kyungpook National University, located in South Korea, suggests that persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as PCBs and DDT, can bio-accumulate in fatty tissue and can lead to an increased risk of developing diabetes during adulthood (Type II diabetes).
According to Bloomberg, the genetic variation that the test identifies is present in around 8 to 11 percent of the population.
The genetic variation, named single-nucleotide polymorphisms, increases the risk of developing diabetes from the average of 7 percent to around 14 percent.

p. If people test positive for the variation, the information will be a valuable asset in preventing the future onset of diabetes.
Alterations in lifestyle, such as modest exercise and a well-regulated diet, can be enough to prevent the development of Type II diabetes once a person is found to have the genetic variation.

p. In a Reuters interview, the Chief Executive of DeCode, Kari Stefansson, commented on the implications of the test.
“This happens to be a risk that you can do something about,” Stefansson said.

p. In the same interview, Stefansson suggested that there would be similar tests in the future for other diseases such as prostate cancer.

p. “In the next year or two it is not unreasonable to expect that we will have somewhere between five and 10 tests on the market,” Stefansson said.

p. DeCode says that the test will cost around $500, and doctors simply have to take a drop of blood or inner cheek swab and then send it off to be analyzed at DeCode’s laboratories.

p. The future of genetic variation analysis will most likely be in predicting how people with certain genetic traits respond to drug therapies and other treatments.

p. Duk-Hee Lee’s research reflects a growing understanding of how humans are affected by environmental degradation.

p. NewScientist.com discusses Lee’s work and states that PCBs and DDT that are left in the food chain, even if they are no longer used, are contributing to a build-up of POPs in the fatty tissue of humans and animals.

p. This increase in POPs may work in conjunction with obesity to increase the risk of diabetes.

p. Robert Lustig, an endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco, suggests that the role of POPs in the development of diabetes may be more complicated than currently believed.
In a NewScientist.com article, Lustig states that some animal studies show that environmental toxins in the womb can lead to an increased risk of obesity, which in turn can lead to an increased risk of developing diabetes.

p. Type II diabetes refers to the adult onset of diabetes, where the body loses its ability to properly use insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, insulin is necessary to move glucose into cells where it can be used for energy.

p. If insulin cannot be used properly, the glucose cannot get into the cells, and it will build up in the blood, causing diabetes.
People who are most at risk for developing Type II diabetes are those who are overweight and do not regularly exercise.
Exercising and controlling diet are two excellent ways to prevent diabetes, whether one has the genetic variation or not.

p. The research surrounding diabetes and its causes demonstrates the continued scientific pursuit to better understand the human body and the illnesses that affect it.

At Harvard University, the annual cost to cover books for the average student is $1,300. According to a survey taken by the Illinois Board of Education in 2006, Harvard is not unique. The survey revealed the average student at a four-year public university spends between $735 and $891 annually on textbooks.

p. Aware of the financial burden, an increasing number of College professors are putting course readings on Blackboard.
Religious Studies Professor David Holmes began putting course readings on Blackboard as a result of personal experience.

p. “Having experienced the purchase of four years of books for each child, I wanted to spare my students and their parents as much of those additional burdens as possible,” Holmes said.

p. English Professor Colleen Kennedy noted that utilizing Blackboard is more efficient than creating coursepacks for the class.

p. “Coursepacks require a lot of advance planning, and often I’d find an article after the course had already started,” Kennedy said. “Blackboard offers immediate access — as soon as I put the article up, students could get it.”

p. Whether Blackboard is less financially burdensome for students remains in question. According to Kennedy, printing out articles can be costly. To alleviate printing costs, Kennedy gives her students the option to only print out important articles.

p. “My students don’t need to print out every article. I tell them when it’s important that they do,” Kennedy said. “I imagine it saves them a little bit of money overall.”

p. In addition, some feel the online format of reading books and articles on Blackboard can be inconvenient.

p. “I am too new to the use of Blackboard to yet have a feel for its disadvantages, though I suspect that reading documents on the screen or having to print them out would be two perceived disadvantages,” Holmes said.

p. Kennedy also noted that when it comes to books, some students prefer buying them rather than using Blackboard. “In the future, when it comes to books, not articles, I’ll order a few copies in the bookstore and give students the option,” Kennedy said.

p. To respond to needs of all students, Holmes and Kennedy make compromises between what they put on Blackboard and what they require students to purchase.

p. To further reduce the cost of books, Holmes advises purchasing only books that are used consistently in class and sharing the purchase of recommended and infrequently used books with classmates. Kennedy tries to reduce costs by allowing students to use alternate editions of class materials.

p. “I know that the textbook we use for film studies is quite expensive,” Kennedy said. “We’ve tried to help students out in that course by allowing them to use the last two to three editions if they can buy those more cheaply.”

p. Harvard faculty also suggested that professors list course readings early so that students have time to buy cheaper editions of materials.

p. Holmes reminded students that textbooks do benefit education.
“My own children graduated from college earlier in this decade,” said Holmes. “Although their colleges were expensive in the extreme, they were worth it — because quality education usually costs.”

The Student Environmental Action Coalition joined with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAM) and VIMS’s Green Team to organize Step It Up Williamsburg from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. last Saturday. Step It Up Williamsburg is part of a nationwide series of rallies with the purpose of urging Congress to reduce carbon emissions 80 percent by the year 2050.

p. There were speakers and live music, and a group photo in front of the Wren building. Coordinators from the 1,500 rallies will send their group photos to national coordinators in Washington, D.C., who will digitally quilt the images together and present them to Congress.

p. “There will be pictures from the Golden Gate Bridge, Manhattan, coral reefs in Key West and the glaciers in Alaska,” Christine Llewellyn, chapter chair of the newly organized Williamsburg Chapter of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said.

p. Government Professor John McGlennon spoke in his role as James City county supervisor. NASA climate scientist Bruce Wielicki spoke about the rise in sea level, temperature projections, the need to reduce carbon emissions and the high amount of carbon generated by a single person.

p. Williamsburg Mayor Jeanne Zeidler was presented with a “Cool Cities” certificate from the Sierra Club because she is one of 442 mayors in the United States to sign the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement.

p. “Signing was not a difficult decision for me because it is consistent with the goals of the city of Williamsburg,” Zeidler said. She also discussed Williamsburg’s recent progress in land use planning and transportation.

p. Attendees had the opportunity to sign a Congressional petition, take a free fluorescent light bulb, eat donated food and pick up information about ways to lead an eco-friendly lifestyle. Banners were displayed at the entrance to the Wren courtyard and attracted people from the Colonial Williamsburg farmer’s market.

p. “The U.S. Congress has not been doing anything on this issue, and we are the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world,” sophomore Jake Reeder, a member of SEAC, said. “Countries like China and India that we consider far less developed are the ones taking the lead on this issue. The United States needs to step up.”

p. Reeder said that SEAC helped with starting the Williamsburg chapter of the CCAN, and Step it Up Day is a good way to integrate the College with the new chapter of CCAN.

p. “It’s a bigger turnout than I would’ve expected, considering the weather,” freshman Caroline Cress, SEAC member, said. “It is a good demonstration of how the College and the community are coming together on this issue.”

p. The idea for a nation-wide Step It Up Day was conceived this year by a few graduate students at Middlebury College in Vermont who created an anti-global warming movement.

p. “They are overwhelmed with the response that has occurred. These are all grassroots, local events,” Llewellyn said.

p. Coordinators believe Williamsburg has special significance as it is where settlers first landed.

p. “We need to honor the Jamestown settlers by exercising our democratic rights and urging Congress to take bold and immediate action on climate change,” Llewellyn said.

p. Next weekend, SEAC’s Earth Day celebrations begin Saturday night in the Crim Dell meadow and continue with a fair Sunday in the Sunken Garden.

The Campaign for William & Mary fundraising effort is “absolutely 100 percent confident” that their $500 million goal is attainable by the end date of June 30, 2007, according to Sean Pieri, vice president for University Development.

p. The fundraising effort, which began in 2000 under former President Timothy J. Sullivan, is the third campaign of its type at the College. The first campaign in the 1970s raised approximately $20 million and the second campaign in the late 1980s and early 1990s raised approximately $150 million.

p. Pieri explained that the Board of Visitors determines the targeted amount of each campaign based on conversations with alumni and potential donors as well as institutional needs. The $500 million goal was first introduced in the late 1990s and officially began in 2000 with a quiet phase.

p. This first phase of the fundraising was a two-year period in which the College privately worked to have a very small number of donors give 40 to 50 percent of the total amount. Pieri noted that during this phase, between $200 to $250 million was raised.
On Charter Day of the 2002-2003 school year, the Campaign entered its current public phase, which Pieri defined as the five-year period during which the College emphasizes fundraising through major publicity efforts. On Charter Day 2007, the College announced that it had surpassed the $500 million mark, with $502.7 million raised as of Jan. 1, 2007.

p. Pieri would not comment on the $12 million donation rescinded by James W. McGlothlin, who, according to the Feb. 28 issue of The Flat Hat withdrew his $12 million donation and consequently placed the College under its desired goal.

p. Pieri, however, remains confident that the Campaign’s goal will be reached by the projected end date. He also specifically mentioned several past donors, such as Raymond A. “Chip” Mason, ’59, Alan Miller, ’58 and Jim and Jane Kaplan, ’57 and ’56, whose gifts have significantly added to the College’s campus through the ongoing efforts of the Campaign. He would not discuss the details of any donor’s contributions.

p. According to an article in W&M News, the Mason School of Business was named for Mason, who helped found the business school and has made significant financial contributions to it. Additionally, Kaplan Arena was named for Jim and Jane Kaplan, who have given significantly to the athletic department, most recently with $7 million for the men’s basketball team.

p. The Campaign website states that Alan B. Miller Hall, which will hold all of the business school programs, received its name from Miller in honor of his contributions to its funding. Miller has also given to Tribe Athletics, athletic scholarships and recreational sports. The gymnasium in the Recreational Sports Center is also named for Miller.

p. According to Pieri, the ultimate allocation of donations results from negotiation between the donor’s interests and the College’s institutional needs. The money raised is used for both expendable and investment purposes, with approximately $200 million out of the total $500 million goal set aside for endowment.

p. Pieri remains optimistic regarding the success of this fundraising campaign.

p. “The half-billion dollars is really a tremendous success for the College. Very few thought it was possible but today it’s a reality,” he said.