T HE F LAT H AT
Vol. 112, Iss. 9 | Tuesday, October 11, 2022
The Weekly Student Newspaper
of The College of William and Mary
RESEARCH
FOOTBALL HOLDS OFF NO. 6 DELAWARE AT HOMECOMING
AidData bridges policy, academia
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donates $4.74 million for research
JOSEPH WEHMEYER THE FLAT HAT
Nickles at the William and Mary 38-yard line, setting Delaware up in great position. On the first play of Delaware’s drive, senior running back Kyron Cumby rushed to the right and all the way to the endzone for a 38-yard score. On the kickoff return, sophomore wide receiver DreSean Kendrick ran 39-yards to start the next Tribe possession near midfield. Throughout the drive, William and Mary relied on their run game. Stopped at the Delaware 26-yard line, Chang came in to kick a 44-yard field goal and retake the lead 10-7. After barely holding Delaware out of field goal range, the Tribe retook possession on their own nine-yard line with just under four minutes remaining in the first half. On third and six, Yoder rushed up the middle for a 28-yard gain. With less than two minutes remaining in the half, the Tribe relied on their ground game again, rushing five times in a row before calling another timeout. On first and 10, Wilson received the snap and shuffled the ball to sophomore running back Malachi Imoh. Imoh launched the ball to the right side of the endzone where Pitts secured the second Tribe touchdown of the game, extending their lead to double digits. The score at halftime remained at 177, sending a jolt of Tribe pride through the stands. “In the first half, the legs were fresh and we felt good out there,” said Poole. The Tribe began the third quarter with what initially looked like a three-and-out. After a 47yard punt from senior kicker Will Whitehurst, Delaware graduate student Zane Lewis muffed the return. He picked the ball back up but Newton forced it back out. Both teams scurried to grab the ball, but Tribe sophomore wide receiver JT Mayo got on top of it first at the Delaware 23-yard line. After four rushing plays, Wilson ended the drive with another rush to the left for another Tribe touchdown.
From outside, the appearance of The College of William and Mary’s Global Research Institute is unassuming. Masked by the residential-looking yellow three-story colonial house nestled near Colonial Williamsburg, the GRI houses a wealth of student and faculty research. Housed on the second floor of the GRI is AidData — an independent interdisciplinary research lab. Inside, a small cohort of staff and student research assistants are filling a crucial gap in policy analysis research in the 21st century, having managed more than 90 grants and contracts worth more than $50 million from a variety of multilateral organizations, government agencies and private foundations since its inception in 2004. Using data and technology, AidData studies resources, policy and investment around the world — aiding policymakers from Washington D.C., to London, to Brussels. Their Tracking Underreported Financial Flows methodology compiles information from datapoor environments to highlight the economic activity of countries which do not fully abide by global aid transparency measures. Executive Director of AidData Dr. Bradley Parks described how the research lab provides previously unmet needs to the policymaking community, bridging a divide with academia. “We are trying to do rigorous empirical research that is directly relevant to decisions that policymakers are trying to make,” Parks said. “A good idea that started in Williamsburg has spread very rapidly and very broadly around the globe.” Parks also explained how innovations emerging from AidData made ripples through pre-established international distribution networks, starting with a partnership with the World Bank. In the summer of 2010, then-president of the World Bank Robert B. Zoellick set out a goal to be able to track World Bank projects across the globe and provide feedback in live time through a smartphone app. Afterwards, the World Bank approached a group of faculty members from the College, Brigham Young University and Georgetown University, who then delegated a project to twelve student research assistants for the summer. The students were asked if they could pinpoint the precise coordinates of World Bank projects in a single country: Kenya. By the end of summer, this small group had georeferenced, or matched aerial images to precise coordinates, for every World Bank Project in not only Kenya, but the entire world. “It really opened the international community’s eyes in terms of what you could do with data,” Parks said. “Suddenly people were able to see with high levels of locational precision exactly what was happening and where, around the globe. The World Bank was kind of an early adopter. But then what happened was that this geocoding innovation exercise ended up setting an international standard.”
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PHOTOS BY JUSTIN SHERLOCK / THE FLAT HAT
Tribe overcome Blue Hens' second-half comeback in 27‒21 victory JAKE FORBES // FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR
Saturday, Oct. 8, William and Mary football (5-1, 2-1 CAA) defeated Delaware 27-21 (5-1, 3-1 CAA) in its annual Homecoming game at Zable Stadium. “Our players had a never quit, never dieattitude,” said head coach Mike London. After winning the coin toss, Delaware elected to receive the ball. The Tribe defense stood strong, forcing a three-and-out on the Delaware’s’ first two possessions of the game. To conclude Delaware's second possession, sixth-year punter Ben Dinkel booted a 60-yard punt to pin the Tribe on their own two-yard line. “I remember walking out there for three plays and then walking back off. It felt good. It’s always good when it's three-andouts,” said senior cornerback Ryan Poole. Immediately following a six-yard rush from senior running back Donavyn Lester for the opening first down of the game, sophomore quarterback Darius Wilson launched a pass to Lester on the right side of the field. The pass totaled 32-yards and advanced the Tribe near midfield. Several plays later, Wilson connected with senior tight end Lachlan Pitts up the middle of the field for a 26-yard completion. Throughout the drive, William
and Mary ran a no-huddle offense on five plays. Delaware managed to hold the Tribe at the edge of the redzone, bringing in sophomore kicker Ethan Chang for the field goal. However, one week removed from his 57-yard field goal, marking a new school record, Chang’s attempt was unsuccessful. Fifth-year defensive back Justis Henley blocked the 39-yard kick to keep the score even at zero. On the opening play of the ensuing Delaware drive, sophomore linebacker John Pius sacked graduate student quarterback Nolan Henderson for a seven-yard loss. Only able to move the ball two-yard on the next two plays, Dinkel punted to Tribe senior wide receiver Caylin Newton at the William and Mary 40-yard line. After a successful third down conversion to advance the Tribe into Blue Hen territory, the home team faced a third and long. Wilson rushed the ball up the middle, forcing London to make a tough call. He decided to keep the offense on the field for the short fourth down attempt, which proved successful. Wilson rushed up the middle again for another six-yard gain. After several plays and a short break to begin the second quarter, the Tribe found their way into the Delaware redzone. On the first play of the second quarter, Wilson passed 16-yards to the left side of the field to senior wide receiver Caylin Newton for a first down. Two plays later on second and four, senior running back Bronson Yoder rushed towards the left sideline for the first score of the game. A successful kick attempt from Chang made the Tribe lead 7-0. After another three-and-out for the Blue Hens, the visiting fan section became quiet. However, on the next Tribe possession, Wilson threw an interception to graduate student linebacker Drew
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GRAPHIC BY ANNA ARNSBERGER / THE FLAT HAT
HOMECOMING
Alumni journalist panel discusses role of media in democracy Correspondents from the New York Times, CNN invited to speak in Homecoming Presidential Coversation PEERAWUT RUANGSAWASDI THE FLAT HAT
Saturday, Oct. 8, Associate Vice President for Student Engagement and Leadership Drew Stelljes Ph.D. ’07 moderated an alumni panel on democracy and the media as part of the College of William and Mary’s annual Homecoming weekend. Alumni journalists David Culver ’09, Brendan Hoffman ’02, Valerie Hopkins ’09 and Weijia Jiang ’05 virtually participated in a discussion on the role of the media in the event, titled “Presidential Conversation: Democracy and the Media.” The event started with an introductory discussion between President Katherine Rowe and Stelljes. “The human beings who founded this university, and together our country, grew their ideas here,” Rowe said. “Not as expansively or as perfectly as we want, but it is our business to expand them and make them more perfect.”
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Stelljes talked about the Democracy Initiative, a comprehensive program aimed to make the College “a place where respectful dialogue takes place on challenging topics,” the College’s website says. A similar program exists at the University of Virginia. He detailed the College’s partnership with the Constructive Dialogue Institute, a non-profit organization that “operates to help us understand both the mindset and the behaviors of individuals across the world and across cultures, when they are met with stimuli that are challenging.” “So the ambition here is to become known in this country where open debate thrives… We sometimes offend each other, and we can correct that,” Rowe said. Stelljes and Rowe also mentioned Vision 2026 strategic planning. Stelljes said one of the pillars of the plan, democracy, is directly related to the topic of the panel. Dean of Students Stacey Harris elaborated
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on how the Democracy Initiative is a part of the strategic plan. “So one piece is going to be, kind of saying, ‘Here are these incredible opportunities for the free exchange of ideas,’ and we’re going to say, ‘Here’s where they all are. They already exist,’” she said. After the introductory discussion, Stelljes introduced the panelists, who were all participating virtually. Hopkins, a New York Times international correspondent, is based in Moscow, Russia. She covers the war in Ukraine, Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union. While at the College, she served as Student Assembly president and also worked for The Flat Hat. Hopkins discussed her experiences in Russia as it relates to the media and the freedom of the press. “It’s the basis upon which people’s ideas and opinions are formed,” Hopkins said of the role that the media plays in democracy in the United
States and internationally. “I arrived yesterday and was met by someone who didn’t know that Ukraine, Russian and Belarusian activists had won the Nobel Peace Prize.” She said there is a very severe shortage of unbiased information in Russia, which has been going on for two decades. “I think I don’t need to say very much more than without the media, we don’t have a democracy, and you may actually wind up with a more warmongering authoritarian leader,” she said. Culver added that citizens and professionals are needed to sustain a democracy. “You have citizen journalists and you have those of us who are career journalists“but all have become equally important,” Culver said. “The challenge is going to be, going forward, breaking through that voice, because there's a lot of it, and making sense of it all.” SEE MEDIA PAGE 8
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