For the first time, students can successfully sign up for their classes and sleep in, too.

p. Since the advent of Banner’s online course selection, early morning registration has become a ritual at the College, with thousands of bleary-eyed students waking at 8 a.m. once a semester to choose their course schedules for the next semester.

p. According to University Registrar Sallie Marchello, the early morning ritual will change this semester, with registration for next semester beginning seven hours later than usual, at 3 p.m. Marchello cited convenience — for both students and faculty — as the reason behind the time change.

p. She said that professors often ask the registrar’s office to make last-minute adjustments to the course listings, such as changing the number of seats in a given class. The number of adjustments has increased in the past, forcing Registrar employees to arrive very early to make changes.

p. Marchello said that an important concern was student convenience.

p. “Students who logged in right at 8 a.m. and encountered problems needed help immediately,” Marchello said. “And because most offices don’t open until 8 a.m. and sometimes are not fully-staffed until later, students were encountering voice-mail or longer-than-acceptable wait times in order to get resolution to their problems. We felt that if we could start later in the day, when offices were fully ramped-up and students could even resolve issues before the registration windows open, then the ‘start-up’ would be less traumatic for all involved.”

p. The time was also moved to 3 p.m. because fewer students have class during that time slot.

p. “We looked first at the course schedule, and we discovered that there are actually fewer classes beginning at 3 p.m. than there are at 8 a.m,” she said. “Any earlier in the day, and the registration windows would conflict with even more classes than at 8 a.m., which was unacceptable.”

p. The 3 p.m. starting time also corresponds to the Registrar’s office hours and optimal processing times for the College’s internet servers. Marchello acknowledged that course registration will always be a disruptive process because it takes place while some students are in class.

p. “[The registrar has] a ‘continuous improvement’ philosophy, so if a better plan emerges, we will make adjustments. If this works and solves some of the problems we were having, then we’d likely stick with it for a few cycles,” she said.

p. Marchello said that, thus far, only one student has complained about the new registration time.

The City Council unanimously voted to remove a section of the legislative agenda asking the state legislature to clarify the definition of the term “domicile” in regard to voter registration.

p. Yesterday’s vote followed a speech by Student Assembly President Zach Pilchen ’09, who urged the committee to either endorse students’ right to vote or remove the request for clarification of domicile from the city’s legislative agenda.

p. “We removed it based on the request of the president of the SA,” Vice Mayor and economics Professor Clyde Haulman said.
Councilman Bobby Braxton agreed. Pilchen’s speech gave the City Council a chance to stop and think, he said.

p. In the past, individual registrars determined the conditions for domicile based on a definition that may or may not include students at the College. Those who meet the conditions for domicile are eligible to vote in local elections.

p. “It would help registrars if we did have a clear definition,” Voter Registrar Winifred Sowder, said. “We have been asking for years.”

p. Pilchen agreed that clarification should be a priority, but the city should take a stance that actively supports student voters.

p. “I would have liked them to pursue clarification in favor of students’ voting, but I was glad that if they were not going to take a stance, they removed the blanket request for clarification,” he said.

p. “If clarification eliminates student voting, it will set town-gown relations back years,” he added.

p. The actions of the previous registrar, Dave Andrews, drew criticism from many student leaders. In his speech, Pilchen described Andrews’ tenure as “illegal” and “immoral.” Until recently, many students had difficulty registering to vote.

p. The firing of Andrews and appointment of Sowder in June alleviated the troubled relationship between students and the registrar.

p. At least 400 students have registered to vote in Williamsburg.
Although registration efforts calmed in the weeks leading up to the election, it is expected that more students will register in the upcoming year.

The Student Assembly unanimously passed the Better Blues Act and the Internal Affairs Reconstruction Act during Tuesday’s meeting. Secretary of Finance Andrew Blasi ’10 gave a finance update and SA President Zach Pilchen ’09 delivered his state of the SA address.

p. The Better Blues act, sponsored by Sen. Brittany Fallon ’11, requests maintenance of emergency lights. Fallon found that many of the lights are not blue and that you cannot always see a second emergency light when standing at another.

p. “Even though this is an opinion bill, this is going to get done,” Fallon said.

p. The Internal Affairs Reconstruction Act, sponsored by Sen. Joe Luppino-Esposito ’08, dissolves the Internal Affairs Committee and creates the Outreach Committee. When internal affairs issues arise, they will now be handled by the Outreach Committee, which will draft weekly senate press releases.

p. In the finance update, Blasi answered questions raised in the previous meeting regarding the events fund.

p. “We will probably not have a surplus at the end of the year, and in my opinion that is a good thing,” Blasi said.

p. Senate Chairman Matt Beato ’09 commended Blasi’s performance as secretary of finance.

p. Pilchen’s address was a surprise to many senators. He asked senators why they entered student government. He then said that most of the reasons mentioned had not been addressed by the senate.

p. Sponsored by Senator Michael Douglass ’11, the Protect Freedom of Speech Act, which addresses the recent theft of campus newspapers in the University Center, was introduced as old business and was sent back to committee.

p. In the meeting’s final announcement, Beato attempted to reinvigorate the senate after Pilchen’s criticism.

p. “The SA has been working very well together,” he said. “You can help the SA do more.”

__Alumni create initiative to teach Southeast about energy conservation__

The Back Porch Energy Initiative’s bus left the College Nov. 1 on a 10-month tour to promote environmentally sustainable futures in communities throughout the Southeast.

p. Gina Sobel ’07 and Liz Burroughs ’07 created The Back Porch Energy Initiative. Main values of the Initiative include reducing energy consumption, advancing community learning and building relationships with local communities.

p. During her four years at the College, Sobel worked with the Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC), last year’s Service Organization of the Year. She also worked with the Sierra Student Coalition and served as a director for an SSC summer leadership development program.

p. “Every place we go, the programming and plan of action will be altered depending on which particular issues a community is facing and what the community members want for their town,” Sobel said.

p. The tour focuses on the South because it has a fast-growing population and the highest per capita energy consumption of any region in the United States.

p. “Most of the members on the team call Virginia home as well, so it made sense to work in an area with which we associate,” Sobel said. “Also, there are already plenty of groups working on this in places like New England or on the West Coast. While there are Southern energy activist organizations doing incredible work, there is definitely less attention paid to the region than many others in the country.”

p. The tour has been in the planning stages since last spring. The idea for the project originated from discussions between co-founders Virginia Walters ’07 and Sobel about taking a road trip.

p. “Virginia and I had been talking about taking a road trip, and from there it evolved into this elaborate activist tour. The rest of the core team signed on soon after we came up with the idea, and we’ve been seriously planning it since April or May,” Sobel said.
“We hope to bolster a network of Southern climate activists, connecting people who are working on similar issues, sharing skill sets that can help organizations get campaigns off the ground and opening networks of communication,” she said.

p. Current College students are involved as interns, and the College may become more involved in the future, according to Sobel.

p. “We have 12 incredible interns who are getting credit for conducting research and helping us out in all aspects of the project-planning itinerary, press packets, event planning, marketing, vehicle logistics and web design, to name a few,” Sobel said.

p. The Initiative, a non-profit organization, has a website (backporchei.org) detailing ways to become involved and resources to connect organizations working on similar issues. Sobel hopes to expand the project.

p. “We’re not sure exactly what form it will take, but it will definitely involve the maintenance of the network that we are working to put into action,” she said. “We might try to incorporate the organization more into William and Mary next year.”

__Northam, parent of student, defeats GOP incumbent__

Democrat Ralph Northam won election to the sixth district of the Virginia Senate Tuesday with 54 percent of the vote over incumbent Nick Rerras.

p. The district is comprised primarily of Norfolk as well as Accomack County, better known as the Eastern Shore. Northam attended the Virginia Military Institute and Eastern Virginia Medical School. He served eight years in the United States Army and is currently a child neurologist at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk. Northam’s son, Wes, is a sophomore at the College.

p. By defeating a Republican incumbent, Northam helped the Democrats pick up the four necessary seats to regain control of the state Senate for the first time in over a decade.
The following is the transcript of a Flat Hat interview with Northam.

p. **Flat Hat:** What are your priorities in terms of public education, especially state universities such as the College? What about the 6.25 percent budget cut that the College recently experienced?

p. **Northam:** We really need to focus on education. We need to emphasize development and technology. I teach a lot of students and residents and I can tell you that other countries are not playing for second regarding education. It’s all about priorities. We need to make budgeting for education a top priority. I have a real problem with budget cuts regarding education and I’ll make it a priority to even those out. We have some excellent universities and colleges in this state and we need to continue to keep them at their current stature. However, we also need to focus on K-12 education and even pre-K. The Governor is looking into voluntary pre-K for children under 4 years, and I am certainly in favor of that.

p. **FH:** How has your son’s experience at the College informed your priorities for higher education?

p. **Northam:** The College of William and Mary is an excellent school. I have been very impressed with it. He is, I think, receiving a very good education. We need to make it a priority to continue that trend.

p. **FH:** There were quite a few members of the College’s Young Democrats helping on your campaign. Would you like to show special recognition to any of them?

p. **Northam:** Senior Rachel Wolin did a lot of our writing and communicating with the newspapers and media. She did a wonderful job. Aaron Shepard and Ally McIntosh also worked on my campaign for a while and were very helpful

p. **FH:** Have you been paying attention to some of the recent battles on campus regarding the administration of President Nichol and what is your opinion?

p. **Northam:** I haven’t paid a lot of attention because I have been so busy with the campaign. From what I have seen and read, I think President Nichol is a very smart, articulate man with progressive ideas and that he has been good for the College of William and Mary.

p. **FH:** Is there anything about the College that you would like to add?

p. **Northam:** This is about you all’s future. The more that college students get involved in politics is better. People from William and Mary, Old Dominion, and out-of-state were helping out on the campaign and I thought that it worked real well.

p. **FH:** Do you feel you have some kind of mandate to change politics in Richmond? Specifically, what issues are you going to focus on?

p. **Northam:** There are a lot of challenges here in the Commonwealth. The voters are looking for a legislator with vision instead of someone who is at best, reactionary. I plan to look down the road to the future when I make decisions that will hopefully improve the quality of life for folks in Virginia.

p. The foremost challenge that we face presently is transportation. We need to find a reliable source of revenue for our transportation system that won’t take away from healthcare, law enforcement or education. We need to start looking at using tolls, such as EZ-Pass and look at the possibility of a gas tax that would be fair to everybody who uses our roads. The current abuser fees are not a very effective or efficient way of obtaining revenue because they do not apply to out-of-staters. Transportation is the first order of business in Richmond.

p. There are a couple other major issues. My background is in healthcare. We need to help people without access to healthcare and those who lack health insurance; children especially need access to quality healthcare.

p. I am real concerned about our education system in Virginia. We need to make sure our teachers are paid a fair salary. Right now, Virginia is ranked 26th in the country in teacher salaries. We need to do better than that.

p. Finally, we need to be concerned about our environment. I describe what we’re doing as society’s footprint on our environment. We know we are making the footprint way too large and we need to all work together to make that footprint smaller than it is. We’re releasing too much nitrogen, phosphorous, and other gases into the air. There are dead zones in the Chesapeake Bay without any oxygen. Fish and crab stocks are way lower than they should be. So that’s going to be a priority of mine.

p. Those are the main things: transportation, healthcare, education, and the environment. I feel like I can make my mark on the Commonwealth.

In a move that will likely embolden his critics, College President Gene Nichol has decided against publicly releasing e-mails that would have cleared up questions about when he learned that a $12 million pledge to the College had been revoked.

p. Critics say he ignored information about the lost donation to improve his image during last year’s Wren cross controversy.

p. The Flat Hat submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for e-mails between Nichol and Sullivan from December 2006, and the College denied the request Tuesday night on the grounds that correspondences between private citizens and presidents of public bodies are exempt.

p. The donor, James McGlothlin ’62 J.D. ’64, told The Flat Hat that he clearly stated to former College President Timothy Sullivan in December 2006 that he was revoking the pledge because he disagreed with Nichol’s decision to remove the Wren Chapel cross from permanent display.

p. Sullivan released a statement saying he passed along all information about the donation to College administrators.

p. But Nichol said he did not learn of the revoked donation until Feb. 23, days after he announced that the Campaign for William and Mary had reached its $500 million goal. The revoked $12 million put the campaign back below its goal, which it later surpassed before its June 30 end date.

p. Nichol accompanied Tuesday night’s FOIA request refusal with a statement detailing his handling of the withdrawn pledge.

p. “I believed the message being relayed to me was that the donor was unwilling to make future gifts to the College,” Nichol said. “It was not apparent that the donor sought to revoke a prior estate commitment made in writing and booked to the campaign in 2005.”

p. He said that in preparation for the announcement that the campaign had reached its goal, the development staff identified problematic pledges, including the $12 million donation. But because McGlothlin had not communicated to the College a desire to revoke the pledge, it was approved as part of the total.

p. “Hindsight suggests that I should have more aggressively worked to discuss the donor’s concerns,” Nichol said. “It is also plausible, looking back, that the donor always meant to disavow both his prior pledge as well as any future giving. If so, I failed to understand that.”

p. Nichol’s decision to withhold the e-mails comes as no surprise to those who want him gone. His critics believe the e-mails would have shown that Sullivan told him about the revoked donation months before the decision was made to include it in the campaign total.

p. “The argument that Nichol is doing this because donors expect confidentiality, when McGlothlin is already on record with The Flat Hat in terms of all his actions, is simply laughable,” ShouldNicholBeRenewed.org spokesman Jim Jones ’82 said. “If Nichol could show SNBR and me up as liars, I promise you no ‘principles’ would stand in his way.”

p. But Nichol’s supporters feel that releasing the e-mails would have jeopardized donor confidence in the College. David Solimini ’04, a spokesman for IHeartNichol.com, said that the College must stand by its promise to keep communications about donors confidential.

p. “The College is in a tough place there,” he said. “And the College has more important things to deal with than a bunch of people hypothesizing and theorizing without substance or proof.”

p. Nichol’s statement in full is printed below:

p. There has been a good deal of discussion in the local press regarding a substantial pledge to the College of William and Mary and the decision by a longtime, valued, and generous donor to revoke that commitment. Because confidence in the integrity of William and Mary’s development program is essential, I offer the following particulars involving the revoked $12 million commitment.

p. During the summer of 2005 the donor made a written estate commitment to the Campaign for William and Mary. In the wake of my decision to alter the display of the Wren Chapel cross, I received a letter from the donor [which he has made public] indicating he was “very disappointed to learn” of the cross decision and “this is going to make a difference in how I view the College in the future as well as your leadership of the university.” It did not, however, say that he was revoking the written estate commitment made in 2005.

p. When I received this letter from the donor and after additional communication from President Sullivan, I believed the message being relayed to me was that the donor was unwilling to make future gifts to the College, including one on which President Sullivan and others were currently working. The communication spoke of making good progress toward closure on a $12 million gift to the law school—but indicated the donor was so upset about the cross decision that he was not prepared to give more money at this time. It was not apparent that the donor sought to revoke a prior estate commitment made in writing and booked to the campaign in 2005.

p. In preparing to announce that the College had exceeded its $500 million goal at Charter Day events on February 10, 2007, development staff worked to tally the count. As part of that process, a number of pledges were identified as potentially problematic for any number of reasons. The 2005 written commitment in question was also considered. Our staff recognized that we had a disgruntled donor. But the College had not received any communication from the donor revoking his written estate commitment. The decision was made to leave the donation in the total.

p. Hindsight suggests that I should have more aggressively worked to discuss the donor’s concerns. It is also plausible, looking back, that the donor always meant to disavow both his prior pledge as well as any future giving. If so, I failed to understand that. Every donor to the College of William and Mary is important, and it is my continued plan to reach out to all—including this donor.

p. Due to the long-established policy and practice of the College not to release correspondence involving specific donors, I will not release materials pertaining to emails between myself and President Sullivan. Donors, as a rule, need to have confidence that sensitive discussions involving their pledges and gifts will not be released publicly. I am unwilling to depart from this important practice simply to defend my role in a controversy.

p. The Campaign for William and Mary begun by President Sullivan in 2000 and concluded seven years later under the leadership of Chair Jim Murray and a cadre of exceptional volunteer leaders was a tremendous success. We surpassed the goal by more than $17 million, ensuring that the Campaign’s effects will long be felt on our campus and beyond. The historic Campaign is a credit to all the alumni, donors, and friends who gave of themselves to make it possible.

Today is Election Day, and Virginia Democrats are expected to make gains in the General Assembly.

p. With the seats of all 140 delegates and senators up for election, Democrats are feeling increasingly confident that they can retake the Senate and pick up three to six seats in the House of Delegates, according to the Oct. 14 online edition of The Washington Post.

p. The Post reported that 56 percent of voters were dissatisfied with the Republicans’ performance in the General Assembly. Of those polled, 45 percent gave negative ratings to Democrats. When voters were asked what party they would like to control the General Assembly, 50 percent said Democrats, and 42 percent said Republicans.

p. In Williamsburg, there is little competition. Most students who have registered in Williamsburg will likely fall into the 3rd Senate District, where incumbent Sen. Thomas Norment Jr. (R) is running unopposed. In the nearby 64th District of the House of Delegates, incumbent William Barlow (R) is also running unopposed.

p. Williamsburg voters will also decide the local constitutional offices of clerk of the court, commonwealth’s attorney, sheriff, treasurer and the members of the Soil and Water Conservation Board.

p. Students at the College’s law school have created a non-partisan voter assistance hotline called the W&M VOTEline, (757) 221-2890, that offers students free legal information about their voting rights.

p. If the Democrats retake the Senate, it will give Gov. Timothy Kaine more leverage to push his programs such as environmental protection, academic pre-kindergarten and changing the state’s mental-health system.

p. “Being able to get a lot of great things done over the next couple of years is at stake,” Kaine told the Post. “Having legislators more defined by what they want to accomplish rather than what they oppose — that’s why I’m so energized by this election.”

p. Turnout in off-year elections has been historically light because of the lack of statewide and national candidates.

p. Regardless of precedent, a prevailing force in this year’s elections has been their high costs — and their ruthlessness.

p “Whatever the November elections foretell about the outcome of 2008 races, they’ve already established one likely precedent: These have been the most expensive, and some would say nastiest, ever,” according to Margaret Edds, a columnist for the Virginian-Pilot. “That’s an omen, just not a promising one.”

__Twelve percent of all grades awarded are lower than ‘B’__

In the spring 2007 semester, science departments gave out 10 percent fewer ‘A’ grades than liberal arts departments did. GPA averages in the natural sciences were also 5 percent lower than those of the humanities and arts.

With an average GPA of 3.81, the music department ranked highest overall, while the math and economics departments ranked lowest, with respective average GPAs of 2.98 and 3.02.

Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Carl Strikwerda said the 10 percent divide does not seem unusual.

“More students experiment with sciences courses, thinking of going pre-med, and find that they aren’t very good in the discipline,” he said. “There’s not quite the same phenomenon in humanities courses.”

He added that many other colleges experience higher divides.

“This data speaks well of our faculty,” Strikwerda said. “It doesn’t seem unusual to have this divide, and [the 10 percent difference] is small compared to other colleges and universities.”

Overall, A’s comprised 45 percent of undergraduate grades, while B’s made up 33 percent. About 12 percent of all grades awarded were lower than a B.

Strikwerda said that this distribution, with a high number of A’s and B’s in the spring semester, tracks closely with the gradual increase in incoming freshmen’s high school GPAs and test scores. For Strikwerda, the College’s grades reflect the increasingly competitive and “highly-gifted” student body.

“We think of ourselves as having less grade inflation than other universities. National data supports that grade inflation is significantly lower in public universities,” he said.

Many of the highest averaging departments are in the performing and visual arts.

Music Department Chair James Armstrong attributes this to the fact that there are auditions for every applied music course.

“You don’t exactly have to audition to get into an economics class,” he said. “The capacity and skill level of [music] students is already relatively high, so it stands to reason that a majority of the students tend to do better.”

Armstrong said that there are both academic and performance courses offered in music and the other art departments.

“Boiling things down supports uniformity, which isn’t always the case,” Armstrong said. “Invariably there are different grading schemes, class structures and styles.”

Department size also contributed to differences in GPA.

Government and history, two of the largest departments, fell in the lower third of the average GPA ranges. Unlike many other departments, government gave more B’s than A’s, while history gave out an almost equal amount of both. Religion was one of the only other humanities departments to award fewer A’s than B’s.

At the other end of the spectrum, everyone who took a film class in the spring semester received a B or better.

In every department, the number of F’s received made up less than 4 percent of the total grades awarded. Economics had the highest percent failure, with 3.6 percent of students receiving F’s. Three departments awarded no Fs: writing, Chinese, and women’s studies.

Samir Shakir Mahmood Sumaida’ie, Iraq’s ambassador to the United States, spoke Sunday night at the Williamsburg Lodge as part of the Global Forum.

According to the Daily Press, Sumaida’ie discussed his childhood in Iraq as he witnessed the country deteriorate. College President Gene Nichol hosted the event.

Paul Jost ’76, a College alumnus and prominent businessman in Williamsburg, is running as a Republican candidate for the 1st District congressional seat left vacant following the recent death of Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis. The Republican nominee will be selected by convention Saturday.

In addition to having served as a member on the College’s Board of Visitors, Jost is the chairman of the Virginia chapter of the Club for Growth and a significant contributor to GOP causes. The Flat Hat recently conducted a telephone interview with Jost.

p. **Flat Hat: Why are you running for office? What issues do you want to address?**

p. **Jost:** I want to make a change. I am the chairman of the Club for Growth which supports lowering taxes, limiting government spending, and fighting earmarks and pet projects that waste taxpayers’ money. I feel spending has gone out of control, we no longer pay the proper respect to the military, we no longer pay respect to our values, that’s true in Richmond too, with the new “abusive driver fees and transportation fees.”

p. **FH: How has your experience at William and Mary affected you?**

p. **Jost:** [It was the] greatest time of my life. I was at William and Mary as an undergrad from 1972 to 1976. I then went to the law school here, but transferred after a year to attend the Harvard Business School. I came back in the 80s and finished up my law degree. The professors here were tremendously talented people; dealing and interacting with them really changed my life.

p. And senior year I got cancer, so I had to drop out of school for a semester. The support that I got from faculty, administration and students was tremendously helpful.

p. I had to have two surgeries. I spent five weeks at the naval hospital in Portsmouth and had students from William and Mary visiting me in Portsmouth everyday. This was before the Monitor-Merrimac tunnel was built too, so you had to go around.

p. **FH:** Was it a life-changing experience?

p. Jost: Definitely. For one, it brought me closer to my family. My father who was not a religious man said he went to the chapel to pray for me there and I knew that meant a lot coming from him.

p. **FH:** Was there a particular class or teacher at William and Mary that made an impact on you?

p. **Jost:** Tom Graves, the president of the school, and Jim Livingston, a professor of religion and the dean of the undergraduate program — had a great impact on me, because when I interacted with them, I was treated as an equal. They listened to me with respect even when we disagreed on certain things. Once I was quoted in the Flat Hat and I said “My goal is to make William and Mary a better place to go to school” and Tom Graves wrote me, “That is our goal as well.” That stayed with me. Dr. Graves also sent me three hand-written notes when I was in the hospital and it meant a lot to me that here he was, the president of the College, and a very busy man, yet he took the time to actually sit down with a pen and paper and write to a student — three times.

p. **FH:** You were President of the Student Association at William and Mary. Did that affect your decision to get involved in politics?

p. **Jost:** Well, from the time I was a little boy I always felt like I could make an impact. Of course, the older you get, the less idealistic you are, but I still think if I put enough effort into it, I can still make a difference.