The Flat Hat
Encyclopedia
The Flat Hat is the official student newspaper at the College of William and Mary
in Williamsburg, VA. It prints Tuesdays and Fridays during the College's academic year. It began printing twice-weekly in 2007; since its inception in 1911, The Flat Hat had printed weekly.
The newspaper is printed as a broadsheet
. Today, The Flat Hat's front page and back page are generally printed in color while the inside pages are printed in black and white. During the early 1990s, The Flat Hat was printed with a colored front page and a separate colored variety section.
The newspaper currently supports four sections, news, sports, opinions and variety. The news section covers local and national news, focusing on events at the College. The sports section covers all William and Mary varsity athletics and profiles teams and individual players. The opinions section publishes regular op-eds and staff editorials, and prints student letters to the editor. The variety section features regular columns, including "Behind Closed Doors" (the sex column) and "Confusion Corner" (an opinion column), along with human interest stories.
In October 2007, The Flat Hat won a Pacemaker
award for excellence in the category of non-daily newspaper at a four-year university. The Pacemaker is an honor in collegiate journalism, and is awarded by the Associated Collegiate Press
and the Newspaper Association of America Foundation.
, "the Flat Hat Club"; the Society was the first collegiate secret society
in the territory of the present United States of America, founded at the College in 1750. The first issue of The Flat Hat was printed on October 3, 1911.
, whose most notable members included St. George Tucker
, Thomas Jefferson
, and George Wythe
. As a collegiate fraternity, the Flat Hat Club was a predecessor of the Phi Beta Kappa, founded at the College in 1776. According to the issue of The Flat Hat for September 28, 1928, twentieth-century members of the Flat Hat Club were directly responsible for the creation of the newspaper.
The badge of the F.H.C. was circular with a Rococo
rendering of the coat of arms of the Society on the reverse and "FHC" in a large monogram on the obverse; beneath were a date and motto, Nov. XI. MDCCL Stabilitas et Fides. "The motto of the Flat Hat Club, Stabilitas et Fides, has always been the motto of The Flat Hat."
. She encouraged the racial integration of William & Mary, citing that "the Negroes should be recognized as equals in our minds and hearts." The William & Mary Board of Visitors, the group appointed by the Commonwealth of Virginia to run the College, instructed then-president of the College John Pomfret to expel Kaemmerle. Pomfret compromised by removing Kaemmerle from The Flat Hat and asking her to sign a statement saying that the compromise was in the best interest of all concerned.
Since 1945, The Flat Hat has had relative editorial control and autonomy. It has no faculty adviser, however The Flat Hat is a member of the College's Publications Council. The Publications Council is made up of the editors of most publications on campus, as well as a member of the college administration. The Publications Council has direct financial control over the Flat Hat.
Like most other collegiate student newspaper
s, the staff includes not only reporters and columnists but an accounting department, a copyediting section, and an executive and editorial staff.
In May, 2010, The Flat Hat was the first journalistic source in Williamsburg, professional or other, to announce the election of Scott Foster to the city council governing Williamsburg. Foster was the first William and Mary student ever to be elected to the council, and he had been endorsed by the editorial board of The Flat Hat.
In 2010, The Flat Hat was the first news source to report that ESPN
continued to use a William and Mary athletic emblem that had been banned by the NCAA in 2006. ESPN ultimately discontinued the use of the emblem.
area of Colonial Williamsburg
.
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
in Williamsburg, VA. It prints Tuesdays and Fridays during the College's academic year. It began printing twice-weekly in 2007; since its inception in 1911, The Flat Hat had printed weekly.
The newspaper is printed as a broadsheet
Broadsheet
Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...
. Today, The Flat Hat's front page and back page are generally printed in color while the inside pages are printed in black and white. During the early 1990s, The Flat Hat was printed with a colored front page and a separate colored variety section.
The newspaper currently supports four sections, news, sports, opinions and variety. The news section covers local and national news, focusing on events at the College. The sports section covers all William and Mary varsity athletics and profiles teams and individual players. The opinions section publishes regular op-eds and staff editorials, and prints student letters to the editor. The variety section features regular columns, including "Behind Closed Doors" (the sex column) and "Confusion Corner" (an opinion column), along with human interest stories.
In October 2007, The Flat Hat won a Pacemaker
National Pacemaker Awards
The National Pacemaker Awards are awards for excellence in American student journalism, given annually since 1927. The awards are generally considered to be the highest national honors in their field, and are unofficially known as the "Pulitzer Prizes of student journalism."The National Scholastic...
award for excellence in the category of non-daily newspaper at a four-year university. The Pacemaker is an honor in collegiate journalism, and is awarded by the Associated Collegiate Press
Associated Collegiate Press
The Associated Collegiate Press is the largest and oldest national membership organization for college student media in the United States. The ACP is a division of the National Scholastic Press Association...
and the Newspaper Association of America Foundation.
History
The Flat Hat derives its name from the public nickname of the F.H.C. SocietyFlat Hat Club
The Flat Hat Club is the popular name of a society founded after 1916 at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and revived there in 1972. The organization was named after the F.H.C. Society, which had been founded at the College on November 11, 1750, and was itself known...
, "the Flat Hat Club"; the Society was the first collegiate secret society
Secret society
A secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...
in the territory of the present United States of America, founded at the College in 1750. The first issue of The Flat Hat was printed on October 3, 1911.
Origins of the name, "Flat Hat"
The name can be traced back to the F.H.C. Society, a secret fraternity established at the College on November 11, 1750, and nicknamed the Flat Hat ClubFlat Hat Club
The Flat Hat Club is the popular name of a society founded after 1916 at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and revived there in 1972. The organization was named after the F.H.C. Society, which had been founded at the College on November 11, 1750, and was itself known...
, whose most notable members included St. George Tucker
St. George Tucker
St. George Tucker was a lawyer, professor of law at the College of William and Mary, and judge of Virginia's highest court. In 1813, upon the nomination of President James Madison, he became the United States district judge for Virginia.-Early life:Born in St. George, Bermuda, near Port Royal...
, Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, and George Wythe
George Wythe
George Wythe was an American lawyer, a judge, a prominent law professor and "Virginia's foremost classical scholar." He was a teacher and mentor of Thomas Jefferson. Wythe's signature is positioned at the head of the list of seven Virginia signatories on the United States Declaration of Independence...
. As a collegiate fraternity, the Flat Hat Club was a predecessor of the Phi Beta Kappa, founded at the College in 1776. According to the issue of The Flat Hat for September 28, 1928, twentieth-century members of the Flat Hat Club were directly responsible for the creation of the newspaper.
The badge of the F.H.C. was circular with a Rococo
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
rendering of the coat of arms of the Society on the reverse and "FHC" in a large monogram on the obverse; beneath were a date and motto, Nov. XI. MDCCL Stabilitas et Fides. "The motto of the Flat Hat Club, Stabilitas et Fides, has always been the motto of The Flat Hat."
Censorship
In 1945, Marilyn Kaemmerle, then editor of The Flat Hat, wrote an editorial titled "Lincoln's Job Half-Done" to commemorate the birthday of Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
. She encouraged the racial integration of William & Mary, citing that "the Negroes should be recognized as equals in our minds and hearts." The William & Mary Board of Visitors, the group appointed by the Commonwealth of Virginia to run the College, instructed then-president of the College John Pomfret to expel Kaemmerle. Pomfret compromised by removing Kaemmerle from The Flat Hat and asking her to sign a statement saying that the compromise was in the best interest of all concerned.
Since 1945, The Flat Hat has had relative editorial control and autonomy. It has no faculty adviser, however The Flat Hat is a member of the College's Publications Council. The Publications Council is made up of the editors of most publications on campus, as well as a member of the college administration. The Publications Council has direct financial control over the Flat Hat.
Staff
The exact number of staff who work on The Flat Hat varies each year but generally ranges between forty-five and fifty permanent staff members (students who are listed in the staff box of each issue of the newspaper). Students with or without experience in journalism are often encouraged to join. In 2010, the newspaper began an intern program focusing on providing journalistic experiences for underclassmen at William and Mary.Like most other collegiate student newspaper
Student newspaper
A student newspaper is a newspaper run by students of a university, high school, middle school, or other school. These papers traditionally cover local and, primarily, school or university news....
s, the staff includes not only reporters and columnists but an accounting department, a copyediting section, and an executive and editorial staff.
Major stories
The Flat Hat was the first news medium, student or professional, to break the news about the Wren Cross controversy, doing so in a news brief. After the decision received more journalistic attention, The Flat Hat continued to follow the controversy, including revocation of a twelve-million-dollar donation, placement of the cross in a display case, and, ultimately, Gene Nichol’s resignation of the presidency of the College (which was impelled in part by the controversy surrounding the cross in the Wren chapel controversy).In May, 2010, The Flat Hat was the first journalistic source in Williamsburg, professional or other, to announce the election of Scott Foster to the city council governing Williamsburg. Foster was the first William and Mary student ever to be elected to the council, and he had been endorsed by the editorial board of The Flat Hat.
In 2010, The Flat Hat was the first news source to report that ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
continued to use a William and Mary athletic emblem that had been banned by the NCAA in 2006. ESPN ultimately discontinued the use of the emblem.
The Fat Head
On April 1st of every year, in honor of April Fool's Day, the newspaper prints The Fat Head to accompany the usual semi-weekly issue. The Fat Head is a humor issue, usually with falsified articles and satirical commentary.Best of the Burg
Every year around mid-December, The Flat Hat prints a special edition of the newspaper titled "Best of the Burg." The "Best of the Burg" issue outlines the staff's favorite picks for several restaurants in the Williamsburg area. In recent history, consistent winners have been The Cheese Shop, Aromas and The Trellis Restaurant all located in the Merchants SquareMerchants Square
Merchants Square is an 18th-century style retail village in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, USA.-History:Conceived in 1927 by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Reverend W. A. R. Goodwin , Merchants Square is considered to be one of the first planned shopping districts in the United States, if not the...
area of Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg is the private foundation representing the historic district of the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. The district includes buildings dating from 1699 to 1780 which made colonial Virginia's capital. The capital straddled the boundary of the original shires of Virginia —...
.
See also
- List of publications at The College of William & Mary
- List of student newspapers in the United States of America
External links
- The Flat Hat
- The College of William and Mary's official website
- The Flat Hat Digital Archive Contains almost every issue of the Flat Hat from 1911 until the present.