Tribe drops fourth The Flat Hat’s Columnist: Vote no on game in last five Oscar picks Honor Code changes SEE BACK PAGE SEE PAGE 6 SEE PAGE 5 The twice-weekly student newspaper of the College of William and Mary — Est. 1911 VOL.98, NO.34 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2009 FLATHATNEWS.COM Honor MR. WILLIAM AND MARY State Code charges up for Pilchen Former SA President revision arrested on embezzlement Referendum will be charges in January put to a vote Monday By MILES HILDER Flat Hat News Editor By IAN BRICKEY Flat Hat Staff Writer Former Student Assembly President Zach Pilchen ’10 was arrested last month in connec- Proposed changes to the College of William tion with his widely publicized personal spend- and Mary’s Honor Code are drawing controversy ing spree last September, in which he used an among students, with some calling the alterations off-campus SA account to buy cigarettes, movie significant and damaging. But members of the Hon- tickets and other items. or Council argue that the proposal makes the code A Commonwealth of Vir- AT H clearer and more student friendly. ginia warrant for Pilchen’s ar- LAT LAT Similar alterations failed in a referendum vote rest on a Class 1 Misdemean- F HE last semester after a last-minute push by students or charge was filed Jan. 9 by T and members of the College of William and Mary Student Assembly who Police Lieutenant John Cole- INSIDE argued students were man. Pilchen was arrested by View last semester’s list not fully informed on campus police at 1:40 p.m. Jan. FILE PHOTO — of Honor Council cases the changes. 21. He posted $2,000 bail later Pilchen ’10 and the complete list One policy change that day. of candidates for the that has come under Pilchen resigned from his position as vice Honor Council. harsh criticism is the president of the SA Sept. 2, 2008. His resigna- Page 3 right of the chair to tion came shortly after he admitted to making deny requests for an purchases with the SA off-campus account debit open hearing with card amounting to $138.51 between April 28 and “good cause.” Council of Chairs President Matt Di- May 12 of last year. nan ’09 defended the amendment, stating that the Pilchen declined to comment for this story. “good cause” change is being made at the requests JASLEEN Singh — THE FLAT HAT He allegedly violated Section 18.2-111 of the of the College’s legal counsel and the attorney gen- Greg Collins ’09 was elated to win the title of Mr. William and Mary Wednesday night, beating out contestants Code of Virginia, according to the arrest war- eral of Virginia. The aim of the clause, Dinan said, such as Kevin Dua ’09, Dan Gormally ’09 and Brian Terrill ’12. The contest was judged by Interim Vice rant filed with the state. The warrant describes is to empower the chair to successfully handle indi- President for Student Affairs Ginger Ambler ’88 Ph.D. ’06, government professor Clay Clemens ’80 and Associ- Pilchen’s offense as an embezzlement of money viduals who may be exceedingly disruptive during ate Director of Student Activities Anne Arseneau. The event raised funds for the Alan Bukzin Memorial Bone the course of a trial. Dinan stressed that if a “good Marrow Drive, which will take place April 15. See PILCHEN page 3 cause” decision were invoked during a trial, the de- cision would be open to appeal. Another contentious change is the proposed abolition of student-wide referendums to enact pro- cedural change. These referendums can take as long as two years to successfully be approved and Antique phone system hangs on by wire See HONOR CODE page 3 By AUSTIN WRIGHT The phone system is 20 years old, installed pus that’s always under construction. Flat Hat Editor-in-Chief before many students were born. It’s an energy- Dorm phone lines — now free of charge — guzzler, requiring up to twice the electricity of will likely cost $50 starting next semester. The Last November, the College of William and modern systems. It also costs more to run. College’s Information Technology department Res Life policy Mary’s phone system short-circuited, shutting And the system cannot expand. That’s be- projects that most students will gladly give up down every campus line for about 10 minutes. cause the company that made it discontinued the their campus lines, since the vast majority rely Since then, there have been no more black- product about a decade ago. The system is now on cell phones. The result: new campus build- outs. maxed out, with 7,135 ports. New phone lines ings can use the phone lines students no longer change could Consider the College lucky. cannot be added, which is a problem for a cam- need. The flashy new School of Business building will be fully equipped with the 1980s phone sys- push frats out tem. Future buildings could be out of luck. “Ultimately, something will have to be done,” said Chris Ward, IT’s director of systems and support. “We’re now just starting to work on a Frats may drop campus request for a proposal so we can get some bids on what a new system would cost.” housing over new rules Officials expect a new phone system to cost around $2 million, plus monthly operational ex- penses. A new system would cut down on energy By KEVIN LIPTAK use by as much as 50 percent, Ward said, and Flat Hat Staff Writer would have more advanced 9-1-1 technology, such as better location information and graphic From the moment he set foot on campus, Brian display capabilities. Apkarian ’11 knew he wanted to be in a fraternity. “Old electronics suck down the power like no- Some of that enthusiasm has been dampened, how- body’s business — it’s very costly from that point ever, by a dilemma he and other fraternity members of view,” Ward said. “This is really old technol- are dealing with: enlisting enough students to fill ogy. You can tell by just looking at it.” on-campus housing units, as dictated by the College He’s right, you can tell. In the College’s switch of William and Mary’s residence standards. room, the technology hub in the basement of “Every semester has been a hassle filling the Blow Hall that houses the College’s phone sys- house,” Apkarian said. “Now they’re taking away tem, Courtney Carpenter has to yell over the buy-outs, and it’s going to make it even harder.” rumble of an industrial air conditioning unit. It’s The task was made more difficult recently, needed to blow cool air at all times on the mas- Apkarian said, after the College’s Residence Life sive machines that make up the College’s phone department ended the popular buy-out policy for system. Greek organizations housed in the Fraternity MARAL NOORI-MOGHADDAM — THE FLAT HAT Without the air conditioning unit, said the The basement of Blow Hall serves as the hub for the College of William and Mary’s telecommunications network. See FRATERNITIES page 3 More than 15,000 telephone wires converge here, in a room cooled with an industrial air conditioner. See PHONES page 4 Page 2 Friday, February 20, 2009 News Editor Alex Guillén News Editor Miles Hilder NEWS INSIGHT [email protected] BEYOND THE ’BURG This Week in Flat Hat History ‘Stabilitas et Fides’ 1925 25 Campus Center, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA. 23185 Newsroom (757) 221-3281 — Advertising Dept. 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