The Virginia Informer

Last updated
The Virginia Informer
Typemonthly newspaper
Owner(s)W&M students
Staff writers18
Founded2005
Language English
Headquarters Williamsburg, Virginia
Circulation 2,000
Website http://www.virginia-informer.com

The Virginia Informer was a student-run publication at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. The newspaper contained five sections: News, Features, Sports, Arts & Culture, and Opinion. It was a member of the Collegiate Network [1] [2] and a member of the Associated Collegiate Press. [3]

Contents

Unlike other primary campus publications, The DoG Street Journal and The Flat Hat , it received no funding from the college administration or student activity fee for any of its operations but rather from grants, subscriptions, advertising and donations. [4] The Informer was known to publish conservative and libertarian editorials. [5]

In March 2010, the paper celebrated its fifth anniversary in Miller Hall at the Mason School of Business with guests including Congressman Rob Wittman, William and Mary President W. Taylor Reveley III, Miss Virginia USA 2010 Samantha Casey, members of the Williamsburg City Council, senior business executives, alumni and faculty, and student leaders.

The Virginia Informer transitioned from bimonthly to weekly printing in early 2010 and added a Sports section later that year, the first new section since the paper's founding in 2005. However, in January 2013, The Informer began printing monthly. After several semesters of infrequent publication, The Virginia Informer ceased operating in 2016.

Awards

Issues and positions

Board of Visitors party

In early 2006, The Informer printed the name of a female student who accused a fellow student of rape at a sorority party held at the house of a member of the Board of Visitors. The Informer also called on that member, John Gerdelman, to resign. [9] This was also in response to an e-mail sent to students by Vice President for Student Affairs Sam Sadler about the incident that included the name of the accused. The Informer did not print the name of the female student, a matter of public record, until the case had been settled out of court. [ citation needed ]

NCAA and the feathers

In 2006, the NCAA informed the College that it would need to remove the feathers from its athletic logo saying that they were hostile and abusive towards Native Americans. Even though then-President Gene Nichol expressed his disagreement with the decision, he did not challenge the decision, fearing that the court costs would take too much from the college fund. He refused donations from alumni wishing to fund the legal expenses of such a fight.[ citation needed ] Since then, the Informer has distributed 30,000 feathers at Homecoming football games in protest. [10]

Wren Cross

The Virginia Informer had been outspoken against former President Nichol's decision to implement a policy in which a historic cross was removed from the nondenominational Wren Chapel unless requested by a student group as well as his management of College finances. The Informer sponsored a debate [11] on the subject between religion professor David Holmes and author Dinesh D'Souza. [12] Nichol was offered an opportunity to participate in the debate but declined. [13]

Campus Free Speech

The Virginia Informer advocated for expanding free speech rights at William & Mary. In early 2008, the publication worked with free speech advocate and W&M student Braum Katz as well as the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) to have the college administration turn the school into a FIRE "Green Light" university. Such a designation would bring William & Mary's speech code in line with FIRE's interpretation of the US Constitution and, according to Katz, make the college one of the most free speech friendly universities in the United States. [14] In Fall 2009, the College administration fully amended university speech codes and William & Mary was designated a FIRE "Green Light" institution.

'Three person' rule

In Fall 2008, The Informer broke the story about threatened lawsuits against the residents of 711 Richmond Road. Documents revealed that an informant had meticulously documented student parking patterns, and that the city used this information to sue the residents for not being in compliance with the ordinance. In Fall 2009 The Informer was the first publication to break the news of a massive wave of eviction orders for student renters violating the ordinance. Nine houses were affected, ultimately resulting in a modification of the three-person ordinance. [ citation needed ]

Fall 2009 student survey

In October 2009, The Virginia Informer conducted a large-scale survey of 233 randomly selected on-campus students. It was conducted ahead of the May 2010 Williamsburg municipal elections, in which students overwhelmingly elected Scott Foster to City Council, and the first survey to pose questions on a number of city-related issues and student opinion of the City Council. The survey's results showed students oppose the Three Person Housing Ordinance by a margin of nine to one. The survey also demonstrated that students with a positive attitude towards Williamsburg city government deteriorates significantly with each social class. [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Williamsburg, Virginia</span> Independent city in Virginia, United States

Williamsburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 15,425. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. It is bordered by James City County on the west and south and York County on the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">College of William & Mary</span> Public university in Williamsburg, Virginia

The College of William & Mary is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and the ninth-oldest in the English-speaking world. Institutional rankings have placed it among the best public universities in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hampton Roads</span> Body of water and metropolitan area in the U.S. states of Virginia and North Carolina

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collegiate Network</span> College publications support program

The Collegiate Network (CN) is a program that provides financial and technical assistance to student editors and writers of roughly 100 independent, conservative and libertarian publications at colleges and universities around the United States. Member publications have a combined annual distribution of more than two million. Since 1995, the CN has been administered by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), a nonprofit educational organization that promotes conservative thought on college campuses, headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Nichol</span>

Gene Ray Nichol, Jr. was the twenty-sixth president of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. He succeeded Timothy J. Sullivan and officially served from July 1, 2005, to February 12, 2008. It was the shortest tenure for a William & Mary president since the Civil War. During each year of his presidency, however, the college continued to break its own application records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wren Building</span> Historic building of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia

The Wren Building is the signature building of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Along with the Brafferton and President's House, these buildings form the College's Ancient Campus. With a construction history dating to 1695, it is the oldest academic building in continuous use in the United States and among the oldest buildings in Virginia. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960.

<i>The Flat Hat</i> Newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia

The Flat Hat is the official student newspaper at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. It prints Tuesdays during the College's academic year. It began printing twice-weekly in 2007; since its inception in 1911, The Flat Hat had printed weekly. It returned to weekly printing in 2015. In fall 2020, The Flat Hat began printing biweekly due to restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Flat Hat staff operates out of its office in William and Mary's Sadler Center.

The Virginia Gazette is the local newspaper of Williamsburg, Virginia. Established in 1930, it is named for the historical Virginia Gazette published between 1736 and 1780. It is published twice a week in the broadsheet format.

Chester Frank (Chet) Giermak was an All-American basketball player for William & Mary from 1946 to 1950.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alumni House (College of William & Mary)</span> Alumni House at the College of William & Mary

The Alumni House, formerly known as the Bright House, is a 19th-century building located on the College of William & Mary's campus in the middle of historic Williamsburg, Virginia. The home was originally situated on a farm called "New Hope" owned by Samuel Bright and his family and at that time on the outskirts of the town.

The Seven Society, Order of the Crown & Dagger is the longest continually active secret society of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. The clandestine, yet altruistic group is said to consist of seven senior individuals, selected in their junior year. While, historically, graduating members formally announced their identities each spring, today's membership is steeped in mystery and is only revealed upon a member's death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the College of William & Mary</span>

The history of the College of William & Mary can be traced back to a 1693 royal charter establishing "a perpetual College of Divinity, Philosophy, Languages, and the good arts and sciences" in the British Colony of Virginia. It fulfilled an early colonial vision dating back to 1618 to construct a university level program modeled after Cambridge and Oxford at Henricus. A plaque on the Wren Building, the college's first structure, ascribes the institution's origin to "the college proposed at Henrico." It was named for the reigning joint monarchs of Great Britain, King William III and Queen Mary II. The selection of the new college's location on high ground at the center ridge of the Virginia Peninsula at the tiny community of Middle Plantation is credited to its first President, Reverend Dr. James Blair, who was also the Commissary of the Bishop of London in Virginia. A few years later, the favorable location and resources of the new school helped Dr. Blair and a committee of 5 students influence the House of Burgesses and Governor Francis Nicholson to move the capital there from Jamestown. The following year, 1699, the town was renamed Williamsburg.

Secret societies at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, date back to the founding of the nation's first known collegiate secret society, The F. H. C. Society. Today a number of secret societies are known to exist at the College: the F.H.C Society or Flat Hat Club, P.D.A., the Seven Society, the 13 Club, the Ladies of Alpha, the Bishop James Madison Society, the Phi Society, the Wren Society, the Sage Society, the W Society, the Y's, The Penny Brigade, The Cord, The Order of the Silver Roses, Dirty Shirley Fraternity, Eagle J, The Fourth Wall, and one group "simply called the Society."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Griffin (mascot)</span>

Reveley, also known as the Griffin, is the mascot of The College of William & Mary. A mythical creature with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion, it was announced as William & Mary's mascot by President Taylor Reveley April 6, 2010. The Griffin mascot beat out the other four finalists: a King and Queen, a Phoenix, a Pug, and a Wren. The College hadn't had an official mascot since the late 1970s. It was named Reveley in 2018 to honor university president Taylor Reveley upon his retirement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Gentlemen of the College</span> American Tenor/Bass a cappella group

The Gentlemen of the College is a Tenor/Bass singing group, and the oldest Tenor/Bass a cappella group at the College of William & Mary. Founded in 1990 the Gentlemen started out as a men's choir that concentrated in barbershop and traditional pieces—a repertoire that has since evolved to encompass a large selection of contemporary music. Known for their navy blazers, khaki pants, and novelty ties, the Gentlemen perform at the collegiate, local, and national level. The Gentlemen usually field four 'fixed' concerts per year—a Homecoming concert in the Sadler Center, Two "Wren Ten"s on the portico of the Wren Building, and a final concert in Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall Additionally, the Gentlemen have performed on national television, at The White House, The Capitol the Waldorf Astoria, and for Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. The Gentlemen have 17 studio CDs in their discography, having just released their most recent album, Meet Me At Paul's, in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">President's House (College of William & Mary)</span> Residence of the President of the College of William & Mary

The President's House is the residence of the President of the College of William and Mary in Virginia in Williamsburg, Virginia. Constructed in 1732, the building still serves its original purpose and is among the oldest buildings in Virginia. Since its construction only one of the college's presidents, Robert Saunders, Jr., has not moved into the building, which is let for free to the president. The President's House is the College’s third-oldest building and the oldest official college presidential residence in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bodleian Plate</span> Copperplate depicting colonial-era Williamsburg, Virginia

The Bodleian Plate is a copperplate depicting several colonial buildings of eighteenth-century Williamsburg, Virginia, as well as several types of native flora, fauna, and American Indians. Following its 1929 rediscovery in the archives of the Bodleian Library, it was used extensively in John D. Rockefeller, Jr.'s reconstruction of Colonial Williamsburg. The plate has been tied to Williamsburg resident William Byrd II and may have been produced by English illustrator Eleazar Albin and engraver John Carwitham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hearth: Memorial to the Enslaved</span> Memorial commemorating those enslaved by the College of William and Mary

Hearth: Memorial to the Enslaved is a memorial on the campus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. It was dedicated in 2022 to those enslaved by the university over a period of 172 years.

References

  1. List of Collegiate Network supported papers Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine . Accessed October 17, 2008.
  2. Collegiate Network Members Archived 2008-10-20 at the Wayback Machine . Accessed October 17, 2008.
  3. List of member papers of the ACP. Accessed December 06, 2008
  4. New investigative publication debuts; The Flat Hat, August 2005, Austin Wright.
  5. The Flat Hat online: Sep 27 2007; Maxim Lott.
  6. 1 2 3 Collegiate Network Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "Samuel Adams Alliance". Sunshine Review. Archived from the original on 2013-07-12. Retrieved 2013-05-01.
  8. "Institute for Political Journalism". Tfas.org. Archived from the original on 2012-03-04. Retrieved 2013-05-01.
  9. W&M paper calls for board member to quit [ permanent dead link ] Timesdispatch.com, Feb 16, 2006, Andrew Petkofsky.
  10. The Virginia Informer to Hand Out 30,000 Feathers at William and Mary Homecoming Campus Magazine Online, Oct 26, 2007.
  11. Religion and the Campus: Should the Wren Cross be Reinstated in Wren Chapel?, ISI Cicero's Podium – February 1, 2007. Accessed May 13, 2008.
  12. Conservative author, religion professor debate cross removal, Dallas Morning News, Feb 1 2007.
  13. Will he show? John J. Miller, Phi Beta Cons, Jan 06 2007. Archived August 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  14. Former FIRE Intern Works to Reform Repressive Policies at College of William and Mary, FIRE's The Torch. Accessed April 25, 2008.
  15. Students divided on attitude towards Williamsburg city government, want student candidate elected Archived 2016-01-19 at the Wayback Machine The Virginia Informer Online, November 4, 2009.