T HE F LAT H AT
Vol. 113, Iss. 10 | Wednesday, October 11
The Weekly Student Newspaper
of The College of William and Mary
flathatnews.com | @theflathat
BOARD OF VISITORS
Little progress in BOV rankings discussion
Working group on rankings may give update at Nov. meeting PEERAWUT RUANGSAWASDI FLAT HAT CHIEF STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, Sept. 27 to Friday, Sept. 29, the College of William and Mary’s board of visitors met to discuss pressing matters facing the College. Thursday, the Committee on Institutional Advancement discussed enrollment numbers, admission statistics, fundraising updates and the All-In campaign. The committee largely skipped discussion about the College’s 12-spot drop in the U.S. News and World Report’s annual rankings. The board charged College President Katherine Rowe with forming a working group to explore the College’s options and approaches to the rankings in July. At that time, the working group was also tasked with presenting its report to the committee. According to College Vice President for Strategy and Innovation Jeremy P. Martin Ph.D. ’12, MBA ’17, who serves as chairman for the working group, members of the group held initial meetings on Aug. 29 and Sept. 15. However, the group did not submit its final report to the committee at the September board meeting. “We do have a working group underway on values and rankings,” Martin said. “As you’ll recall, the charge is to do both.” The committee received its direction from Rowe in August following the board’s summer retreat. “The working group should identify an approach to rankings that affirms the primacy of the university’s mission,” Rowe wrote in an email to committee members. “The group will draft a statement conveying that approach to the William & Mary community, building on the president’s back-to-campus message and fall communications.” Martin also detailed the College’s plan to conduct a fall positioning study. The survey is designed to identify the College’s perceived strengths, weaknesses and opportunities among prospective and current students. The survey will include feedback from 1000 prospective students and 1000 current undergraduate students, with an executive report due the week of Nov. 20. Board member S. Douglas Bunch '02, J.D. '06 commented on the recent rankings report for the College. “Anyone who discounts William & Mary because of our rankings misunderstands where our priorities lie — they misjudge the end game we’re striving for,” Bunch wrote in an email to The Flat Hat. “Where the rankings depart from William & Mary’s values, William & Mary will not follow.” Bunch also emphasized the College’s commitment to focus on factors that the College deems relevant. “Maybe one day the rankings will catch up with what students and alumni and prospective students and faculty care about, and what’s actually relevant,” Bunch added. “And then we’ll align. Until then William & Mary will focus on what actually matters, as opposed to manufactured benchmarks that don’t reflect who we are or what we hope to be.” READ MORE AT FLATHATNEWS.COM
BANNED BUT NOT SILENCED
JULIANA GOMIEN / THE FLAT HAT
English department's "Banned Books Jam" celebrates censored titles SHANNON RAYMOND // FLAT HAT NEWS
Wednesday, Oct. 4, the College of William and Mary’s English department hosted its inaugural “Banned Books Jam,” a reading session dedicated to various banned books at the Martha Wren Briggs Amphitheater at Lake Matoaka. The event took place in honor of Banned Books Week, an annual event celebrating titles banned in libraries, schools and prisons across the country. Book banning continues to remain a highly relevant and contested issue in America today. Chair of the English department Brett Wilson opened the event with a speech about the increasing number of challenged titles in our country. “Challenges keep going up,” Wilson said. “By far the greatest share of those challenges zeroed in on LGBTQ, Black and Indigenous works and creators, as though these people and these ideas are inherently divisive, as though readers need to be protected against accidentally learning about their pasts, presents and futures, their lives, their tribulations and their joy.” Wilson, along with Sara E. Nance Professor of English Melanie Dawson and other College English professors, organized the event to highlight titles that are currently banned in libraries across the country, have historically been banned and titles that have been the subject of heavy discourse in the past few years. In his speech, Wilson remarked on Banned Books Week itself. “Banned Books Week was started by the American Library Association to celebrate the
freedom to read,” Wilson said. Following this opening speech, members of the College’s faculty, staff and student body read selections from various banned books, including “1984” by George Orwell, the children’s book “And Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell and “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” by Maia Kobabe, which is currently banned in 15 states. Adjunct professor of English Maddy LaTurner presented a selection from “George,” a book later retitled “Melissa,” by author Alex Gino. The book features a young, transgender main character. “There’s voices being silenced, and we are that voice today,” LaTurner said. “We get to participate in the stories that don’t get told very often.” Many members of the College community turned out in support of the event, either to present readings or to simply listen to the presentations. Attendee Cate Oken ’27 reflected on the current state of book-banning in the United States. “I really just don’t think that taking away the access of books is something that this country should be supporting,” Oken said. “It actively goes against what this country tells us is right.” Julia Greiner ’27 presented the selection from “And Tango Makes Three,” a children’s book that has been banned from some states for featuring a same-sex penguin couple. Greiner commented on the importance of events like the Book Banning Jam and their
ability to bring attention to prominent issues. “I also think they are a sort of a semi-defiant way of proclaiming that these books are banned but we’re going to read them anyway,” Greiner said. “I'm still kind of sad that it’s banned, because it was just a really sweet book when I read it as a kid.” Book banning is a particularly relevant issue in Virginia. According to a 2022 Richmond Times-Dispatch article, dozens of school districts across the state have banned a number of titles in recent years, including “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, “Dear White America” by Tim Wise and Kobabe’s “Gender Queer.” Events like the Banned Books Jam hosted by the College are taking place throughout both the state and country in direct protest of these measures. Closing his speech, Wilson emphasized the personal importance of reading, especially the reading of banned books, as an English professor. “To teach university English, as I and some of my friends here are fortunate to do, means relying on the curiosity and the empathy that books teach their readers,” Wilson said. “They teach us to feel, and sometimes, too, the terrors in these books teach us how to survive. And beyond that, the rebellions, small and large, quiet and raucous, they teach us to wage. And so today, we dare to come together, and, in deceptively simple, but always still risky, fashion — we dare to read.”
CAMPUS
Inaugural Indigenous People's Feast highlights local indigenous cuisine Troy Wiipongwii organizes event featuring bison meat pies, wild rice jollof curated by indigenous chefs MADDIE MOHAMADI THE FLAT HAT
Sunday, Oct. 8, members of Indigenous communities throughout the United States gathered in the School of Education’s Matoaka Room for the inaugural Indigenous People’s Feast. Incoming Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Conservation at the Institute for Integrative Conservation Troy Wiipongwii MPP ’18 led the event, highlighting local tribal efforts to revitalize Indigenous food systems in Virginia. A 2022 Indigenous food sovereignty grant, awarded by the Thomas F. and Kate Miller Jeffress Memorial Trust, made Wiipongwii’s research possible. His work largely focuses on the
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relationship between Indigenous food systems, technology and politics. “We’re building decision support tools for tribal communities to make better decisions on what to grow, how much to grow, where to grow it,” Wiipongwii — who is of Chickahominy descent — said. “It’s really balancing multiple competing strains of sustainability, cultural use, health needs and economy and optimizing what you grow for food sovereignty.” By hosting the feast, Wiipongwii emphasized the importance of food as a gathering element for Indigenous peoples. “I thought that this feast would be a really good showcase of what happens on the consumer end,” Wiipongwii said in an interview. He worked alongside local
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Indigenous chefs and leaders to organize the feast, including Lonnie and Ginger Custalow, Jasmine Anderson, Joe Rocchi, Tomalita Peterson, Beth Roach, Ben Walters, Keenan Stewart and Lynette Allston, among others. Before the event began, guests ate appetizers of bison meat pies and Indigenous fry bread. Chefs also served beverages, including apple cider, a traditional citrusflavored drink and teas from Indigenous plants. The event opened with a land acknowledgment and introduction by Allston, chief of the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia, and Dakota Kinsel ’26. Allston emphasized the importance of land acknowledgements, particularly
those related to the College of William and Mary. “Land acknowledgements are really a catalyst for advancement,” Allston said. “William and Mary made a declaration, and over the past two decades, they have adhered to that declaration to help and advance the Virginia tribes.” Allston mentioned the Brafferton Indian School at the College, which instructed young Indigenous men between 1723 and 1776. Allston referenced the cultural shift in food consumption for Indigenous men attending the school during this period. “What was it like to eat English food?” Allston said. “This was a culture shock, coming from all the different tribal towns.”
Before attendees started their meal, Walters of the Nottoway Indian Tribe gave the Tuscarora Thanksgiving Address, and the chefs shared information about the traditional Indigenous foods they prepared. Among these dishes were collard greens, brown chicken, Indigenous shrimp and wild rice jollof. The meal was served buffet style. Several chefs emphasized the connection between family and cooking. “What I brought with me today are things that were handed down from my grandmother,” Peterson of the Lumbee Tribe said. “I was raised by very, very strong women, and they were very self-sufficient and hard workers.” READ MORE AT FLATHATNEWS.COM
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