T HE F LAT H AT
Vol. 114, Iss. 5 | Wednesday, April 17, 2024
The Weekly Student Newspaper
Students launch City Council PAC "Williamsburg for All"
PAC aims to increase campus connection to local government
of The College of William and Mary
flathatnews.com | @theflathat
test test
PEERAWUT RUANGSAWASDI FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
Monday, April 15, the “Williamsburg for All” Instagram account and website went live. Williamsburg for All is a new political action committee started by College of William and Mary Student Assembly Secretary of Public Affairs Grayson Horner ’26. In an interview with The Flat Hat, Horner explained the goal of Williamsburg for All is to help elect Williamsburg City Council candidates who will represent students at the College and relay their issues. “The reality is that we have all of these on campus groups, but for us to win these elections, we need a political structure, more or less,”Horner said. “We need to raise money and spend it on mailers. We need to spend it on candidate training. Because it’s a small city, if we want to get students on council, they’re going to be up against more entrenched residents who have donors that they know. And so for us to be able to win, we just need that extra support. They need that extra money as well.” Horner said, in running the PAC, he works closely with Our Williamsburg and the organization’s president, Will Katabian ’25. “Williamsburg For All is another incredible organization aimed at promoting a pro-student majority on city council,” Our Williamsburg wrote on an Instagram story. “We will be working closely with them in the future so please consider following and supporting.” Horner cited Democrat Councilmember Caleb Rogers ’20 and Republican former Councilmember Benming “Benny” Zhang ’16 J.D. ’20 as examples of councilmembers who advocated for student issues. “As a William & Mary graduate from the class of 2020, I wholeheartedly support initiatives that encourage student involvement in local governance, so it is great to see the new student-run PAC, ‘Williamsburg 4 All,’” Rogers wrote in an email to The Flat Hat. “The sustained representation of recent graduates on the Williamsburg City Council since 2010 is a tradition that underscores the vital contributions students can make to our community. This representation should certainly continue.” Rogers added that while he’s not directly involved with the initiative, he is thrilled to see their commitment to empowering students through active participation in local elections. “As a current member of the City Council, I encourage [students] to keep an open mind for my colleagues who are also running,” Rogers wrote. “We certainly need student candidates and I’m happy knowing we have great options currently serving as well. I look forward to seeing the positive changes that Williamsburg 4 All endorsed candidates will bring to Williamsburg.” According to the Virginia Public Access Project, the PAC is Democratic. Horner is currently listed on the VPAP website as the top donor with $3,029 donated. Horner said he donated the money to help get the PAC going. READ MORE AT FLATHATNEWS.COM
JULIANA GOMIEN / THE FLAT HAT
COURTESY IMAGE / OURWILLAMSBURG
OurWilliamsburg attends city council meeting in response to increased policing GRAPHIC BY MONA GARIMELLA / FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
Student advocates relay community frustrations, desire new police policy CHARLOTTE CASTLE AND MOLLY MARTIN // THE FLAT HAT
Monday, April 8, students of the College of William and Mary gathered at the Stryker Center for the Williamsburg City Council meeting to discuss the recent increased police presence around campus, especially on weekends. Many of the attendees were members of OurWilliamsburg, a student advocacy program established last year in response to the student housing crisis. Currently, the group is working on reducing stricter policing, including increased patrols, breathalyzing students and closing down events before the 11 p.m. ordinance. Coordinating the effort for student attendance during the city council meeting was the head of OurWilliamsburg and Sigma Pi Fraternity President Will Katabian ’25. He hopes to create greater collaboration between students at the College and the Williamsburg Police Department, with the goal of making students feel safe on campus. “I think the intimidation tactics that they’re employing are scary,” Katabian said. “And our goal for Monday is to show the city that we aren’t going to get pushed around. I’m not trying to have a riot. I think the city needs to understand that we exist and there’s a lot of us.” Katabian first became involved in the organization his sophomore year along with fellow Sigma Pi member Matthew Boothby ’25 to fight for increased student housing rights. Since his involvement and expansion of the organization, Boothby has seen some improvements in the student relationships with city councilmembers.
“City councilors are, at least, more open to listening to us, especially with having our organization in a brand,” Boothby said. “They’re much more willing to meet with us. It’s much easier to work with them when you have some sort of unified message.” Since the fall semester’s last day of classes in December 2023, students have noticed an uptick in police presence in response to a large student party held in the yard of a student’s house on Lafayette Street. “We had three of four students who were on the train tracks,” Chief of Police Sean Dunn said during the meeting. “There was a very large party on Lafayette, I mean it was just elbow to elbow in the backyard of this particular property and folks basically went all the way back just about to the train tracks, and then some of the folks that were there actually spilled onto the train tracks.” As a result, Williamsburg Police stopped train service in the city for roughly twenty minutes and three students were charged. Dunn also commented on a last day of classes at the end of the spring 2023 semester where fifteen students were hospitalized at Riverside Doctors’ Hospital due to severe levels of alcohol intoxication. “We don’t have hospital space for 15 folks at our emergency department on top of any other emergencies we might have in our community,” Sean said. “And so unfortunately folks that were sick, rather than responding to that emergency department had to be diverted and had to go to
emergency departments that maybe would’ve been a closer department but now they’re further departments. And unfortunately, it’s a disservice to the entire community, it’s a tremendous strain on our police personnel, on our fire EMS personnel, and on our hospital staff and capacity.” Dunn emphasized that many members of the community have complained that events surrounding the last of classes are getting out of hand, and that it is the police’s duty to prevent pedestrians from getting hit by cars and alcoholrelated deaths. He hopes the police department and students will work together, or else they will have to resort to enforcement. While the Lafayette Street party was shut down fairly quickly, students are still feeling the repercussions following that celebration. A tenant of the house where the party was held, Nate Lathrop ’25, has noticed changes in the behaviors of the police department. “I feel like there has been an uptick in police presence since that event, just because they know a house that will have events,” said Lathrop. Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority President Mary O’Leary ’25 spoke to the council during the open forum, asking how students can continue to participate in social gatherings without getting into trouble. She further noted that this increased police presence created a divide and distrust between students and the police department. READ MORE AT FLATHATNEWS.COM
CAMPUS
Panhellenic Council President, police respond to sorority house intrusions
President Kay Carter '25 shares concerns for safety, Chief Don Butler shares force responses LILA REIDY FLAT HAT NEWS ASSOC.
Tuesday, Feb. 27, students at the College of William and Mary witnessed Williamsburg residents climbing up a fire escape on the back of a house in Sorority Court. According to a tip received by The Flat Hat, sorority presidents have been working toward increasing safety for members living in the sorority on-campus houses. In response to the event, the Panhellenic Council issued a formal complaint to the William and Mary Police Department, requesting action towards these intrusions and recent increased police presence around Sorority Court. “We did get a complaint on the 27th of February, that there was a group of suspicious males on the exterior fire escape in sorority court at one of the houses. And by the time our officers got there, they had dispersed and were no longer there,” WMPD Chief Don Butler said in an email to The Flat Hat. Panhellenic President Kay Carter ’25
INDEX Profile News Opinions Variety Sports
described her initial reaction to hearing about attempted intrusions in a sorority house. “I obviously heard this from a friend, so I was ready to go up in arms for my friend like, ‘oh, they should not let this happen, and this, that and the third.’ I was ready to just be like, ‘let’s issue a statement.’ But I couldn’t even issue a statement, because what are we even making the statement of? So I definitely had to go to my advisor and talk it out with her and be like, this is the situation; and this is how I feel about the situation. I’m completely enraged. This is insane because Sorority Court, it’s just women who live there, you know what I mean? So, it just really sucks that the spaces where you typically find women are supposed to be safe spaces for women, and it’s just being taken advantage of,” Carter said. Alongside Panhellenic Council, staff at the College have expressed efforts to address safety concerns. “Our staff, as well as colleagues in other departments, are aware of the situation
Inside Opinions 2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
PATH sucks
Tory Cole '27 argues new registration system has gaping holes. page 5
and are working on addressing it,” Assistant Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life Alexa Gerling wrote in an email to The Flat Hat. The response from the student body following the situation has been full of shock and anxiety toward the safety of the women who live in the court. However, Butler assured the Flat Hat that he and his staff are working toward the safety of the affected students. “I met with a couple of students with concerns about Sorority Court, and based on their concerns, we did increase and we currently have increased staffing in that area, particularly at night,” Butler said. Carter described how some recent interactions in Sorority Court are different than typical ones. “A lot of times people will just walk through sorority court, be like, ‘wow, this is so beautiful,’ or cut through on the way to CW,” Carter said. “But we have had instances and within the last couple of months, what I would consider an increase of instances,
where people are going into Sorority Court and causing some sort of a nuisance, whether that be, knocking on their doors or climbing the fire escapes or even trying to look through their windows and shine lights in their houses and such. And, I know that we have brought it to the attention of the police; however, they’ve let us know that it is a public campus so they can come, like there’s no law saying that they cannot be here on the property.” Carter, in discussion with the Panhellenic Council, has been considering potential solutions to the issue. Other responses to the situation have proposed the installation of Ring security cameras at the sorority houses to screen people and keep visitors accountable, as safety continues to be of concern on campus. “So one thing that was brought up was the potential of getting like a Ring camera for the houses so then they’d be able to, like, if these things were to occur, have some sort of proof that it happened,” Carter
said. “We’re still trying to see if that’s even something that we’re allowed to do though, like not a Panhel sponsored thing, but just the things that the girls in the houses can do to further protect themselves and keep themselves safe.” Carter also explained some potential next steps for the Panhellenic Council to take. “We’re still trying to find ways to help girls who live in these houses, or frequent these areas, help them to feel a little safer and a little more comfortable, because at the end of the day, they do live there, and they deserve to feel comfortable in that. I’m sure that there’s something that can be done, whether that’s education or a combination of education and increased police presence, because I know in the past we used to have a cop that was always around sorority court, so that when instances like this arose, you know, students would feel comfortable." READ MORE AT FLATHATNEWS.COM
Inside Variety
Inside Sports
SAIO hosts first annual Chaand Raat celebration at College with games, display of South Asian culture. page 7
Kuzmenchuk develops team culture through example, academic excellence. page 9
Eve of Eid-al-Fitr
Alek Kuzmenchuk '24 reflects on Tribe gymnastics career