Occidental Magazine - Winter 2018

WINTER 2018

Office of Communications F-36 1600 Campus Road Los Angeles CA 90041-3314

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Earthquake Ready: Geologist Debbie Weiser ’08

Adam Schoenberg Scores With Grammy

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WINTER 2018

GROwinG up in SAn DieGO, John J. Clague ’67 lived sufficiently close enough to Oxy that he could drive his laundry home on weekends. “His mother was thrilled—sort of!” his wife of 51 years, Lexi (Chatlos) ’67, recalls with a laugh. A native of Tucson, Lexi enrolled at Oxy, like John, uncertain of her future plans. “we both did well in high school but, being the early 1960s, did not know what we wanted to do with our lives,” she says from the couple’s home in west Vancouver, British Columbia. “Fortunately, our parents were determined to ensure that we would prosper, and they sacrificed much to provide us the opportunity to be the best we could be.”

Lexi would major in sociology, while John began as a math major, his first love. But when he took an introductory elective course in geology taught by Joseph Birman, John was instantly “hooked,” he says. Birman became John’s first professional mentor, and the Clagues had the good fortune of visiting with him not long before his passing in 2015.

After graduating with a geology degree, John pursued a master’s degree at uC Berkeley, followed by a ph.D. at the university of British Columbia. History of Civilization, Russian, psychology, and many other non-science courses were the catalyst for his quest for knowledge that drives his studies in Quaternary and environmental earth sciences to this day as the Shrum Research professor at Simon Fraser university in British Columbia.

On a reconnaissance field trip to Baja California led by professor of geology william J. Morris, John and his classmates set out to locate and investigate sites near el Rosario some 200 miles south of the border, which was known to contain Cretaceous-age dinosaur fossil beds. in the early 1960s, “the main highway along the length of the peninsula was not paved,” John recalls. “About halfway down the peninsula to our destination, we encountered heavy rain that turned the highway into a muddy swamp. we ended up stuck, sleeping in our Dodge Photo courtesy Lexi and John Clague power wagon on the road, unable to go forward or back.” Morris and his class reluctantly aborted the trip, he says, “although we did return in better weather the following summer.”

“Occidental provided us with the tools needed to achieve success in our careers,” adds John, who with Lexi has included Oxy in their estate planning. “Our education provided us with skills that may not be appreciated today—the ability to see connections across disciplines, to see the forest for the trees. now we have the opportunity to give back in a significant way. There are few better gifts one can make than to help well deserving, bright young men and women achieve their educational goals and contribute to making the world a better place for all. “we are optimistic about the quality of today’s Oxy students,” Lexi adds. “we think they are better prepared to move the world forward than we were 50 years ago. io Triumphe!”

No Triumphe? oxy.edu/magazine

Occidental College Office of Gift Planning M-36 | 1600 Campus Road Los Angeles CA 90041-3314 | Phone: 323-259-2644 Email: giftplanning@oxy.edu | oxy.edu/giftplanning | facebook.com/BenCulleySociety

TODAY THE GREEN BEAN, TOMORROW THE WORLD /// CALIFORNIA STATE SENATOR PAT BATES ’61

Keeping UpWith theClagues

Battered by injuries, recruiting challenges, and safety concerns, Oxy football faces an uncertain future.

Can the Tigers rebuild?

OXYFARE FROM THE BOG PRESIDENT

Volume 40, Number 1 oxy.edu/magazine OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE

Jonathan Veitch President Wendy F. Sternberg Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College Rhonda L. Brown Vice President for Equity and Inclusion & Chief Diversity Officer Charlie Cardillo Vice President for Institutional Advancement Vince Cuseo Vice President of Enrollment and Dean of Admission Rob Flot Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Amos Himmelstein Vice President & Chief Operating Officer Marty Sharkey Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communications Jim Tranquada Director of Communications

No matter the occasion, one’s 50th is a milestone with many connotations—birthdays, marriages, retirements, and yes, reunions.

There often is a mixture of anticipation and anxiety about going to a reunion—who do I want to see, who won’t I recognize—but I am feeling a sense of gratitude about this one, my 50th, that is grounded in stories I tell of my Oxy years. And that may be true for all alumni who are about to celebrate a reunion.

As I think about the stories I tell about my Oxy years—1964 to 1968—they have a number of themes. One is imagery. From my first day on campus, having driven 300 miles in my VW Beetle from Modesto, I visualize meeting my roommate, Wilbert Bennett ’68, who arrived on campus before me and rightfully claimed the bed by the window. The beauty of the campus, the special walkways and quads, the dining hall and other locations, all easily come into view. Other stories are about personal

Save the Dates: June 22-24

Alumni Reunion Weekend 1968

1973

1978

1983

1988

1993

1998

2003

2008

2013

Welcome the Class of 1968 into the Fifty Year Club!

(And, hey, Class of 1993— it’s your 25th anniversary!)

All Tigers are welcome back to Occidental! Join your fellow alumni returning to campus to reconnect with friends, relive your youth (or at least try to), and rediscover the magic of Oxy.

Get involved! If you have any questions about Alumni Reunion Weekend or would like to serve on your class reunion planning committee, please contact the Office of Alumni and Parent Engagement at 323-259-2601 or alumni@oxy.edu.

Fireside Chat in Washington, D.C. Oct. 18, 2017

editorial staff

Dick Anderson Editor Samantha B. Bonar ’90, Jasmine Teran Contributing Writers Marc Campos Contributing Photographer Gail (Schulman) Ginell ’79 Class Notes Editor SanSoucie Design Design DLS Group Printing Carolyn Deanne Adams Executive Assistant to the Dean of the College

Black Occidental College Tigers jacket with Carefree Colorblock

by U-Trau. 60/20/20 Cotton/Poly/Rayon blend. Sizes S-XL. $45.95

OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

Published quarterly by Occidental College Main number: 323-259-2500 To contact Occidental magazine By phone: 323-259-2679 By email: oxymag@oxy.edu By mail: Occidental College Office of Communications F-36 1600 Campus Road Los Angeles CA 90041-3314

Occidental College Bookstore oxybookstore.com To order by phone: 323-259-2951 All major credit cards accepted

Letters may be edited for length, content, and style.

Occidental College online Homepage: oxy.edu Facebook: facebook.com/occidental Twitter: @occidental Instagram: instagram.com/occidentalcollege On the cover: The images of many Oxy gridiron greats are plastered on this 1940s-era football, which is on display in the Roy Dennis Trophy Room inside Alumni Gymnasium. Photo by Marc Campos.

Oxy Wear photo: Marc Campos

Occidental Jazz Quartet members Ron Leachman ’68, Charles McClintock ’68, Marty Maner ’68, and Roland Pang ’69 are putting the band back together for the Class of ’68 reunion dinner.

experiences—the exhilaration of Orientation in the Greek Bowl while trying to learn “Io Triumphe,” the mixers, lectures in Thorne Hall, small seminars, Greek rush, lifelong friendships, heartthrobs, musical connections, still-favorite professors, learning to learn, and figuring out plans for post-1968. Still other stories frame Oxy through societal experiences—Vietnam, the rich and countercultural pull of Los Angeles, the assassination of beloved leaders.

Whether we tell our stories of Oxy to ourselves or to others, this invaluable lore is an enduring part of our adult development and serves as a touchstone for how many of us have experienced life since graduation. College tuition covered much more than a first-rate liberal arts education. It offered the opportunity to have formative experiences that continue to give meaning to our lives. The resulting stories are like gems. Sharing them at reunion is priceless.

Charles McClintock ’68 President, Board of Governors

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1. Dozens of alumni and friends of the College were on hand as President Emeritus Ted Mitchell and President Jonathan Veitch discussed what’s new at Oxy and the state of higher education.

2. Trustee Susan DiMarco P’17, Matthew Cibellis ’86, Debbie Afar ’10, Caroline Kim-Palacios ’07, and Shumway Marshall ’05. 3. Karen Akerson M’83, Bailee Brown ’15, and Keith Jones ’16.

4. Ellen Mignoni P’17, center, enjoys an animated conversation before the talk.

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Features 8 One Step Ahead Before disaster strikes, geologist Debbie Weiser ’08 uses science and technology to help government leaders and decision-makers prepare for the worst.

12 Java Opportunities In just eight years, the student-run Green Bean has become a campus fixture for caffeine, a cultural hub of activity, and a launching pad for careers in the hospitality industry.

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Departments 28

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OxyTalk As its earliest advocates will attest, the Barack Obama Scholars Program broadens access to an Oxy education.

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First Word President Veitch outlines the complexities facing the task force developing a game plan for football, while alumni share their concerns on both sides of the coin. Also: timely questions about climate change.

From the Quad Patterson Field—L.A.’s oldest athletic stadium —has hosted some of Oxy’s most memorable sports moments and more than a few other milestones. Also: fall athletics highlights, and our survey of surveys.

Page 56 Andrew Heath ’04 and brother David have given away 5 million pairs of socks in only 3½ years.

That’s one pair for every pair they’ve sold.

32 Tigerwire Class notes for odd years.

Occidental Fanfare Assistant professor of composition Adam Schoenberg takes joy in the creation of new music—and he has his first Grammy nomination to show for it.

Elephant in the Room Pat Bates ’61 is only the second woman ever to lead a party caucus in the California State Senate—and she’s reaching across the aisle to bring relevance to a challenging role.

22 The Longest Yard As Oxy football continues to recruit and rebuild for 2018, a College-wide task force evaluates the program’s future. Can—and should—Oxy football be saved?

PHOTO CREDITS: Marc Campos First Word, From the Quad, One Step Ahead | Elisa Ferrari Occidental Fanfare | Debbie Campbell Bauer ’86 OxyTalk | Andrew Heath ’04 Page 56

FIRST WORD » FROM PRESIDENT VEITCH

Any Given Saturday: The Task at Hand This January, a broadly representative task force of trustees, faculty, students, staff, and alumni will convene to consider the future of Occidental’s football program. For football advocates, the issue is a simple one.

Football is one of Oxy’s original sports, part of a proud tradition that has played a central role in the life of the College since 1893. As is true for Oxy athletes in every sport, football alumni regard their participation as a central part of their college experience, one that helped shape the people they are today.

Yet the situation in which we find ourselves—a season ended prematurely over safety concerns arising from a diminished roster—is not a simple one. This season of disappointment has been decades in the making. As Oxy’s athletics strategic planning committee concluded three years ago, “The prolonged period of ‘benign neglect’ Athletics has suffered from has had a profoundly negative impact on the performance of our teams and athletes.”

To reverse that trend, the 17-member committee recommended rebuilding one sports area at a time, starting with track and field and cross country—a strategy that has yielded some promising results, including nationally ranked cross country and track and field teams.

However, like the strategic planning committee, the football task force will have to consider a series of institutional constraints that include: Admission standards. From the beginning, Occidental has prioritized the life of the mind. As the 1902 catalog stated, Oxy is “heartily in favor of outdoor sports that … do not involve a sacrifice of intellectual or moral excellence.” The College remains committed to maintaining (and increasing over time) its selective admission criteria.

Rather than allowing any “dip” in our standards, we must continue our effort to more effectively identify and recruit qualified athletes to build our rosters. Any commitment to a competitive football program at 2

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Occidental must begin with an endorsement of this premise.

Budget realities. Any realistic discussion of the future of football must begin with the recognition that the College has two fundamental financial commitments that come before anything else: scholarship support for our students and continued support for the academic excellence of the institution.

With a relatively modest endowment that

The football task force must take into account a variety of complex and often overlapping considerations to develop its recommendations.

Photo by Marc Campos

produces less than 20 percent of Oxy’s annual operating budget, allocating scarce resources to one particular area means fewer resources to devote elsewhere. Competition is fierce for budget dollars, and the task force will have to consider the opportunity costs involved in making football— which already has the largest budget of any single sport—a truly competitive program.

Fundraising needs. Given that the College as a whole is under-resourced, any sig-

nificant expansion of the budget for football or any other sport will depend in large part on the willingness of alumni to contribute to the success of the program. An important part of the success of Oxy’s track and field program has been the generous support of alumni such as trustee emeritus and Athletics Hall of Famer Tod White ’59.

With the support of such donors and former Oxy athletes as Barry Crosthwaite ’80 and Jennifer Townsend Crosthwaite ’84, we believe we can do the same for swimming and diving and water polo, now that construction of the new De Mandel Aquatic Center is underway. This is a successful model that suggests a way forward for football and other sports.

Player safety. Injuries are a part of any sport, but any discussion of the future of football has to take into consideration the growing body of knowledge about the longterm effects of concussions (in fairness, an issue in other sports as well). This awareness has led to the new training protocols and rules governing tackling and blocking on all levels of the sport, and has been blamed in part for the recent decrease in participation in youth football programs.

Safety issues at Oxy have been compounded by the small size of our roster, both in numbers and the physical size of our players as compared to other, much larger teams in the conference (page 24).

Any way you look at it, the task force must take into account a variety of complex and often overlapping considerations to develop its recommendations. This will involve multiple tradeoffs on all sides. I’m grateful to its members who are willing to give us the benefit of their time, expertise, and love of the College to help us navigate this important issue.

FIRST WORD

» FROM THE READERS

Two Sides of the Coin I keep hearing stories that Oxy will be giving up football because of lack of interest, poor equipment, and other reasons (“A Season on the Brink,” Fall 2017).

There are 248 other Division III schools playing it, including all SCIAC schools except Caltech. Eliminating football would be so wrong when, only a short time ago, Oxy had a stellar program and coach of 30 years.

The Tigers were even on national TV one year. Great publicity for the school.

Ron Duncan ’64 Dallas

Illustration by Richard Mia

Handle the Truth I was stunned to read some of the statements in “An Occidental Truth” (Fall 2017). The statements that warming is likely tied to humans, but “the exact causes [of climate change] are murkier,” and that whether climate change is caused by “anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions” is not known, are demonstrably false. That a professor at Oxy in any discipline could say as recently as five years ago that climate change was “hypothetical” is so wrong that I can only hope it was a misquote or misprint. What’s going on, folks?

The science of climate change has been well-settled for decades. I decided to study up on climate change when I retired in 2014. Here’s what I learned: It’s real; it’s us; it’s very, very bad; but there is hope because there are ways to move to a 100 percent clean energy economy, if we begin that transition in the next few years.

Since 2014, I have worked as part of Citizens’ Climate Lobby to achieve this goal so that we can leave a livable world to our kids and grandkids. I felt compelled to do so because the science was so clear.

The suggestion of scientific dispute on these issues is something I expect to see on the Heartland Institute website, not in a journal from Oxy. You owe your readers a full retraction of the statements made in the article suggesting that the science on the basic issue of human causation of climate change is in any doubt.

Carl Yaeckel ’72 San Diego

(The following letter is excerpted from an email sent to President Veitch in November.)

No one wants to stop anything that builds a sense of community, and football certainly can do that. It doesn’t surprise me that many former players are up in arms. Change is always hard. However, it sounds like the team had a low turnout, and injuries further reduced the squad. Shrinking numbers puts more pressure on those who can play. The College would have no defense if a player was seriously hurt due to a lack of substitutes. That is a risk which is hard to justify.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article showing the number of high school football players by state, Florida, Texas, and others showed a growth from 2015 to 2016. However, many other states showed declines, and California showed a reduction of about 20 percent in just one year. I am guessing that reflects parents weighing the risks and benefits of children playing this great, but dangerous, sport.

Thank you for your leadership. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

David A. Brown ’65 Piedmont

Department of Corrections A photo of new deans Wendy Sternberg and Rob Flot on the contents page of the Fall 2017 issue should have been credited to Katja Livingston, a department assistant in the Office of Student Life.

In “Someone’s Somebody” (Fall 2017), the context of Kevin F. Adler ’07’s opening in his letter of appeal to UC Berkeley’s admissions office (“You made a mistake.”) was not fully explained. To read Adler’s Huffington Post column on the topic, visit https://tinyurl.com/y8x2p6l9.

numerology

Photo by Johnny Franks ’19/The Occidental Weekly

75 Firefighters dispatched to quickly extinguish a 2-acre Fiji Hill grass fire reported at 9:45 p.m. on December 14 in a ravine adjacent to Yosemite Park on the north side of campus. The fire was declared fully contained in less than an hour—no campus buildings were threatened and no evacuations were necessary.

$1,380,000 National Science Foundation grant awarded to Occidental to stimulate undergraduate research in mathematics and statistics on campuses nationwide, extending and expanding the work of the Center for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics. “We’re trying to make a pathway to faculty at community colleges whose research might have fallen by the wayside,” says Oxy computer science professor Kathryn Leonard, who will manage the five-year grant.

quotable “We spend billions to study outer space, and we know so little about life on our own planet.

Every time we go into the deep sea we discover new species.”

—Shana Goffredi, associate professor of biology, after discovering tiny orange tube worms and dozens of other animals, some never before seen, living near super-heated hydrothermal vents near the ocean floor in areas completely devoid of light. Her findings—published in the July 26 Proceedings of the Royal Society —may place proposed precious metal mining in the Gulf of California in hot water.

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FROM THE QUAD below: During the NFL players’ strike, CBS paid Occidental the NCAA-standard $15,000 to televise its contest vs. the University of San Diego on Oct. 3, 1982 (a surprise 34-20 victory). The broadcast reached 60 percent of the nation’s TV markets.

Patterson Field in a 2010 photo.

Oxy’s Patterson Century Los Angeles’ oldest athletic stadium has hosted many of the College’s most memorable sports moments and more than a few other milestones

In February 1917, the Los Angeles Times reported a surge of investments in athletic facilities by Southern California colleges, including USC’s Bovard Field (renovated and expanded) and Pomona’s Alumni Field (dug out from two feet of silt deposited by winter floods). But it was Occidental’s new Patterson Field that drew the most attention from the Times in that pre-Rose Bowl, preColiseum era as “the finest of the whole bunch … in a class by itself, [it] will be the papa of college athletic plants in the West.”

Modeled after the University of Pennsylvania’s famed Franklin Field, Patterson Field—designed to accommodate baseball as well as football and track and field—had always been part of architect Myron Hunt’s master plan for Oxy’s new Eagle Rock campus. Yet when the campus opened in spring 1914, the athletic field was “just an expanse 4

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of leveled ground” next to Swan Hall, noted 1915 graduate Leroy Doig. It wasn’t until the widow of Los Angeles banker and Oxy trustee William Patterson stepped forward with a $25,000 gift two years later that Hunt’s plans could begin to be realized.

Construction began in August 1916 and was completed by the following spring.

Grandstands with a seating capacity of about 8,000 rose above the quarter-mile track and field on the west, north, and east, with the south side left open for the gymnasium and pool that would eventually follow a decade or more later. One of the first uses to which Patterson was put was not football, but military training, as student Army cadets began to drill on the field shortly after the United States entered World War I in April 1917.

But baseball was not far behind. On May 12, the first game played on the Eagle Rock

campus was a 5-2 loss to Pomona. Home plate was located at the northeast corner of the field, giving left-handed batters a huge advantage with a right-field fence just 200 feet away. To compensate, balls hit into west grandstands between the foul pole and right center were deemed ground rule doubles.

Better results followed that October in the first conference football game played at Patterson, with Oxy blanking Throop Institute (Caltech) 24-0 on a sawdust-covered field (grass did not arrive until the following year).

With the demise of USC’s Bovard Field in 1973, Patterson—now part of Jack Kemp Stadium—is the oldest collegiate stadium in Los Angeles. Over the last 100 years, it has been the scene of some of Oxy’s greatest athletic triumphs, most crushing defeats, and a Convocation concert by Carlos Santana. Who knows what the next century will bring?

FROM THE QUAD

far left: Oxy cadets in the Student Army Training Corps assemble on Patterson Field. The voluntary program began at Oxy in October 1918. left: An ROTC squad goes through a drill formation in the 1960s.

above: Onye Nwabueze ’17 ran many of her best times at Patterson. She ranks eighth on Oxy’s all-time lists for both the 100M and the 200M. above right: “Coach of Champions” Payton Jordan made legends out of countless track and field athletes during a decade of dominant performances from 1947 to 1956. right: Homecoming parades featuring vintage cars were a staple of the late ’50s and early ’60s.

above: Prior to the construction of his namesake field in 1950, Coach Bill Anderson’s Tigers took to the diamond on Patterson. right: Kwame Do ’16 rushed into the record books in Oxy’s season finale against Redlands on Nov. 14, 2015.

above: More than 10,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated at Manzanar. right: Carlos Santana rocked Patterson Field

left: Roy Dennis ’33 excelled as a student-athlete on the field and as a football and swimming coach in the decades to follow. above right: Women’s lacrosse players stormed Patterson against Whittier on Feb. 27, 2010 in their first home game as an NCAA lacrosse team in Oxy history. right: Carl Botterud ’79(striped shirt) and Gary Findley ’76 (front, right) in rugby action.

above: Carlos Santana brought a Supernatural flair to Convocation in 2006, jamming with son Salvador’s band on Patterson prior to receiving an honorary degree.

Photo credits: Marc Campos (2010, women’s lacrosse) | Kirby Lee (Nwabueze, Do, Santana) | Carl Botterud ’79 (rugby) | Occidental College Special Collections (all others) WINTER 2018 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

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FROM THE QUAD

Photo credits: Sam’s Photo Services (volleyball), Marc Campos (soccer)

Claire Strohm ’18, left photo, and Nicole Castro ’19, above.

Earning Their Stripes Senior Claire Strohm kills, women’s soccer standouts thrill, and Oxy’s cross country squads aim for the top of the hill in fall sports action For the second consecutive year, the men’s cross country team ran all the way to the NCAA Division III national championships.

The results—a 32nd-place finish on the fivemile course at Principia College in Elsah, Ill. —“weren’t what we hoped for, but we’ll come back stronger for having had the experience and ready to move on in 2018,” head coach Rob Bartlett said after the November 18 race.

The men’s team earned an at-large bid to the nationals after finishing fourth at the West Region finals and second in the highly competitive Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Roxanne Valle ’19, a sociology and Latino/a and Latin American studies double major from Azusa and a 2016 national qualifier, did not make the group of individual at-large bids after leading the Oxy women to a fifth-place finish at Regionals and second place in SCIAC. Keenan Leary ’18, a cognitive science major from Seattle, led the men’s team as Oxy’s No. 1. He finished sixth in the region, 6

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fourth in the SCIAC, was named First Team All-SCIAC, and received the 2017 Ray Adkinson Award, an annual accolade to the senior athlete who best exemplifies the conference’s high ideals during their association with SCIAC cross country.

The Oxy men’s team was a U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association preseason No. 2 and the Oxy women a No. 3 in the West Region rankings. Their reputation jumped up a notch after the women finished 12th and the men 13th at the Cowbell Classic hosted by Principia, a meet widely considered a precursor to the national championships.

On the volleyball court in Rush Gym, senior outside hitter Claire Strohm, a Spanish studies and diplomacy and world affairs double major from Denver, was named AllSCIAC for the third consecutive year after topping 1,000 career kills. In her last home match, Strohm helped lead the Tigers past La Verne for the first time in four years.

“Claire has been an instrumental part of Oxy volleyball’s success for the last four years,” says head coach Heather Collins.

“Not only is she a dynamic force at the net, but a strong defender, dominant server, and dependable leader.”

Strohm wrapped her career with 1,040 kills. She led the Tigers in kills per set (2.77), aces (43), and digs (260), and ranked eighth, third, and ninth, respectively, among SCIAC players in those categories. Oxy finished the season 13-12 overall, 8-8 in conference play.

Robin Waymouth, an undeclared sophomore from Palo Alto, and Nicole Castro ’19, a kinesiology major from Mill Creek, Wash., were each named Second Team All-SCIAC after outstanding seasons on the soccer field.

Waymouth, a sophomore from Palo Alto, was terrific as a leader with great speed on Oxy’s back line, says women’s soccer head coach Colm McFeely. “She is a true team player who cares for her teammates and has an outstanding record of starting in all 32 games over the last two years.”

Castro was a blue-collar player in Oxy's midfield with consistent solid performances.

“Nicole’s SCIAC selection has come through hard work, consistency, and the quality of her midfield play,” McFeely says. Over the last three seasons, she has totaled 43 starts in conference and non-conference competition. Oxy finished the season 7-7-2 overall and just one point shy of making the fourteam SCIAC Postseason Tournament.

FROM THE QUAD

Surveying the Surveys

» WORTH NOTING

From academics and access to outcomes and omelets, Oxy rides high in a variety of rankings

The numbers and methodology vary from year to year, but the result remains the same: Occidental is one of the country’s top-ranked small liberal arts colleges, according to the latest editions of major college guides.

Occidental ranks No. 44 in U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings, receives four-star ratings for academics and quality of life from the Fiske Guide to Colleges, and ratings of 90 for academics and 95 for financial aid in Princeton Review’s The Best 382 Colleges. The Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education rankings listed Occidental at No. 32 among U.S. liberal arts colleges.

Unlike many college rankings, the WSJ/ THE list focuses not on test scores and acceptance rates but such factors as resources devoted to academic programs, effective student engagement, graduation rates, and alumni salaries.

“It’s refreshing to see the emergence of rankings that attempt to measure outputs— students’ level of engagement and what they are able to accomplish with their degrees after they graduate,” says Vince Cuseo, vice president of enrollment and dean of admission. “We believe that is more helpful to prospective students and parents and more reflective of our mission and what Oxy students—and alumni—actually experience.”

Highly ranked academics at Oxy are paired with access. For the third consecutive year, The New York Times ranked Occidental as one of the country’s most economically diverse colleges, based on enrollments of lower- and middle-income students and the net price it charges those students.

The Times ranked Occidental as No. 29 among all 170 public and private colleges and universities with five-year graduation rates of at least 75 percent, and No. 11 among liberal arts colleges. The newspaper’s annual College Access Index “is a measure of which top institutions are doing the most to promote the American dream,” according to the Times.

Photo by Marc Campos

Esperanza Spalding, the four-time Grammywinning musician and singer, is coming to Occidental in February as the 2018 Hume Fellow in the Performing Arts. On February 2, following an invitation-only master class for students, Spalding will give a 7:30 p.m. concert in Thorne Hall that is free and open to the public. (Visit tiny.cc/esperanza-at-oxy for ticket information.) Spalding, above, took home the Grammy for Best New Artist in 2011, the first jazz artist in history to win that coveted category.

Oxy’s popular Bike Share program contributes to the quality of life on campus.

Oxy’s commitment to economic diversity was underlined by a report from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, which found that Occidental is one of a handful of national liberal arts colleges where at least 20 percent of student enrollment is made up of Pell Grant recipients.

An Occidental education delivers real value, multiple surveys conclude. Occidental appears on Money magazine’s “Best Colleges For Your Money” list, Princeton Review’s “Colleges That Pay You Back” list, Kiplinger’s “Best College Values” list, and Washington Monthly’s “Best Bang for the Buck” list.

Occidental ranks 34th among liberal arts colleges on the PayScale College Salary Report, which assesses the earning potential associated with degrees from various colleges. Recent graduates earn an average salary of $51,800, with mid-career professionals with Occidental degrees bringing in $107,700.

Finally, according to the Daily Meal, Oxy cuisine ranks among the top 10 among all U.S. colleges and universities. Good college food? That’s no longer an oxymoron.

The Occidental Weekly was presented with the Associated Collegiate Press’ 2017 Online Pacemaker award, marking the second time in three years that the Weekly has brought home top honors in online college journalism, and its third Pacemaker award overall since 2012. Occidental was the only small liberal arts college among 14 winners, including online student papers at UCLA, the University of Michigan, the University of Minnesota, Syracuse, and Penn State.

Giving up personal user data online does not greatly improve the quality of internet search results, according to a recent study by Oxy associate professor of economics Lesley Chiou and Catherine Tucker of MIT. Their working paper, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, looked at whether the accuracy of searches changed when search engines such as Yahoo and Bing were unable to store user data such as IP addresses. The researchers found “little empirical evidence” to suggest that it does.

Their conclusion? Policymakers should take into account that tech firms really don’t need all of that personal user data—and you don’t need to give up your online privacy to successfully surf the web.

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ONE STEP

AHEAD

By SAMANTHA B. BONAR ’90 Photo by MARC CAMPOS

Before disaster strikes, geologist Debbie Weiser ’08 uses science and technology to help government leaders and decision-makers prepare for the worst

below: As a first-year grad student at UCLA, Weiser traveled to Tangshan, China, in 2009 to examine faulted soil layers in geologic trenches.

“The goal of our work was to identify earthquake recurrence intervals in the area,” she says. “Field work can get messy!”

ew people can pin down the exact moment when they decided what to do with their life. For geologist debbie weiser ’08, the earth literally moved. weiser was 8 years old and living in Redmond, wash. “it was 10 o’clock at night, i was supposed to be in bed, and i was listening to the Mariners game on tV downstairs while simultaneously reading a book,” she recalls. “all of a sudden i feel this roller coaster happening. i knew what it was immediately, and i jumped up and got in the doorway.” when the earthquake ended, her dad asked, “debbie, are you oK?” “i was like, ‘that was amazing, can we do it again?’” she says.

From then on, weiser was hooked on seismology. whenever she had to do a school project, she would relate it to quakes somehow—Japan, tsunamis, the ring of fire. in junior high, she took a geophysics class for 12-yearolds at the University of washington called “Shake, Rattle, and Roll.” “it was awesome. i still have a printout from one of the seismograms from Mount St. helens,” she says.

But weiser had to wait for college to dive as deeply into earthquakes as she wanted to. when she fell asleep in her first geology class as oxy, she had a moment of doubt. “then i took a class with Scott Bogue on plate tectonics, and it was so fascinating, and it was so exciting to finally feel a more deliberate academic connection to my interest,” says weiser, who completed her doctoral studies in geology at Ucla in 2016.

After a decade with the U.S. Geological Survey—first as an intern, and subsequently as a geologist—weiser joined 2-year-old tech startup one concern last July as a customer success engineer. the palo alto-based company offers a digital platform to facilitate emergency preparedness and response, pulling geological and structural data from a variety of public and private sources and WINTER 2018 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

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Weiser surveys building performance in Mexico City after the Sept. 19, 2017, earthquake, on behalf of One Concern.

Weiser examines the high water level after the tsunami generated by an 8.8-magnitude earthquake off the Maule coast of Chile on Feb. 27, 2010. She’s at an American Red Cross building in the port city of Talcahuano.

using artificial intelligence to predict the impact of an earthquake in a particular area, down to individual city blocks and buildings. “what we do is help equip our clients to be more prepared for inevitable natural disasters,” says weiser, who researches disaster mitigation and response for one concern out of an office in west l.a. “Before an earthquake, we can simulate different earthquakes and prepare them for what is likely to occur in specific scenarios. after an earthquake, we can provide them with maps to show the damage in their region. the ai can help them make better decisions about what to do in the face of a disaster.” clients include the cities of los angeles and San Francisco, which have a 60 percent and a 72 percent chance, respectively, of a northridge-sized quake (6.7 magnitude) in the next 30 years, weiser says. “a lot of the people we’re working with now are small governments,” she adds. “we want to help with their emergency operation centers, be working with the forefront of decision-makers in communities that are at risk, to give them technology so they are able to make better decisions.” weiser went to Mexico city after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck the area on Sept. 19, 2017, for example, to collect data “in order to strengthen our international algorithm. we wanted to better understand why some buildings were damaged and some weren’t. You can correlate that with ground movement as measured by ground sensors. we can get a damage profile of the earthquake. “it was devastating to see the damage from that and where people had lost their lives,” adds weiser, who with her team evaluated close to 1,000 structures in the quake’s aftermath. “it was a sobering reinforcement of why i do the work i do—to help people avoid situations like that.”

She also traveled to Japan after a 7.3-magnitude earthquake occurred near the city of Kamaishi on dec.

7, 2012. “it’s exciting when a big earthquake occurs, when you study them,” she says. “But usually when you

Photos (pages 9-11) courtesy Debbie Weiser ’08

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get data, it’s not good for people. often you’re dealing with a situation where something has gone wrong. You’re getting data to help save lives in the future.”

When she was looking at colleges, weiser first narrowed her search to west coast schools with geology majors, then visited eight campuses. “when i set foot on the oxy campus, it felt like home,” she says. “there was just a stronger feeling of passion and purpose than the other places i visited. i felt like i was going to have the potential to make a bigger impact in my college experience at oxy, and oxy was going to have a bigger impact on me.” “i remember debbie coming down to visit as a high school senior, and someone brought her up to the geology department and i showed her around the lab,” says geology professor Bogue. “that’s happened maybe twice in my thirtysomething years as a professor. when she showed up the following year as a student, we knew she was a live one.” as a resident adviser in Stewart-cleland, wylie, and Rangeview halls, “i loved planning programs,” weiser says. “it was so much fun getting to expose people to los angeles and the resources that are on campus.” She also met her future husband, corey abbott ’08, at oxy: with her family on hand, he proposed to her in the cooler on november 19—some 11½ years after their first date in 2006. “we saw Mission: Impossible III at paseo colorado, and he took me to dinner at Rubio’s,” she recalls (a date they reprised when Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation came out in 2015).

Graduate school wasn’t something she considered, she says, until geology department chair Margi Rusmore “encouraged us to think about next steps: apply, then you can make the decision about whether you want to go or not.” weiser opted to go to grad school to continue her study of natural disasters and hazards. another influential moment was when U.S. Geological Survey seismologist lucy Jones came to occidental and gave a talk to a select group of students, including weiser. “She was talking about the connection between natural disasters and our society and how we can use science to better prepare for what are inevitable disasters,” weiser recalls. “i thought ‘wow, this is what i want to do with my life.’” weiser approached Jones afterward and asked if she needed a summer intern. “She gave me a job, as it turned out,” she says. Following her internship, weiser ended up working with Jones at the USGS for 10 years, creating and managing preparedness and riskreduction programs both during and after oxy and grad school at Ucla. “that allowed me to do a lot of applied work and not only study earthquakes,” she says, including helping to found the annual

Great Shakeout earthquake-preparedness drill in 2008. “it was going to be a one-time thing,” weiser recalls. “now it is a worldwide program with more than 21 million people participating every october 19.” that experience marked another turning point for weiser, who realized that disaster preparedness and mitigating damage and loss of life in disasters, particularly earthquakes, was her true passion. “the goal is to get people as a community talking about preparing for disasters,” she says. “if you build that memory into your body of what to do in the event of an earthquake, then that takes over when it happens. the idea behind Shakeout is getting people practicing what to do in an earthquake and thinking about what they need to do after. do i have enough food and water? do i have a flashlight? do i have a way of making contact with loved ones? Just thinking through that whole process is really important.”

Having traveled from China to Chile to Oklahoma to research and develop strategies to improve safety in natural disasters, what is weiser’s assessment of los angeles’ readiness for a major quake? “if you talk to the average angeleno on the street, they probably don’t think about earthquakes all that often,” she says. “they’re kind of cavalier about it. i’m a big believer in the fact that if you get prepared for an earthquake, you get prepared for a lot of other things too, such as other kinds of natural disasters. … is l.a. ready? no. is it working to be more ready? Yes.” although weiser doesn’t think earthquakes will ever be predictable, she notes that early-warning systems pick up underground waves once an earthquake has started, estimate a magnitude, and send that notification to other sensors that have not yet experienced shaking. while a 30-second warning might not seem like much, with automated implementation it is long enough for trains to stop, elevator doors to open, hospitals to switch to emergency power, for kids to get under desks, for fire station doors to open and the trucks to move out, and even to send out earthquake warnings to cellphones.

Several countries, including Japan and Mexico, already have earthquake early-warning systems, weiser notes, and while a similar system is in beta-testing mode in the United States, the current proposed budget from the white house would cut the approximately $10 million a year to continue funding the project. “all of the western United States and canada has faults close by, so it would be extremely beneficial all up and down the west coast,” she says. while figuring out risk assessments is an interesting puzzle for weiser, “looking at the human side of things” is what she loves the most about her job. “if all scientists ever do is write papers and publish them in scientific journals, it’s great for science but it’s not helpful for society,” she says. “i’m grateful to be a communicator, to spread the gospel of science to help make communities safer.”

Earthquake Early Warning Basics 1. In an earthquake, a rupturing fault sends out different types of waves. The fast-moving P-wave is first to arrive, but damage is caused by the slower S-waves and later-arriving surface waves.

2. Sensors detect the P-wave and immediately transmit data to an earthquake alert center where the location and size of the quake are determined and updated as more date become available.

3. A message from the alert center is immediately transmitted to your computer or mobile phone, which calculates the expected intensity and arrival time of shaking at your location.

above: Earthquake early-warning systems like ShakeAlert work because the warning message can be transmitted almost instantaneously, as this diagram by the U.S. Geological Survey demonstrates. left: A map of Southern California displays significant earthquakes and faults. The fault traces are shown in red.

Diagram by Erin Burkett/USGS and Jeff Goertzen/Orange County Register Map by the Southern California Earthquake Data Center at Caltech

Tips for Surviving The Big One 1. Drop, cover, and hold on. You want to drop down to the ground so that the earthquake doesn’t make you do it. Then make your way to a sturdy desk or table, get under and hold on, and cover your head and neck, the most vital parts of your body.

2. If you’re not near a table or desk, you want to avoid anything that can fall on you. If you’re at a movie theater, you want to be below the height of the top of the seats so if something falls it hits the chair instead of you.

3. If you’re in bed, stay in bed.

4. What you don’t want to do is run outside.

If you move, you are exposing yourself to all of the hazards you are moving through and then the hazards in your new location. The items near a building—bricks, facades, glass— are the most hazardous.

Weiser poses with some granite during a hike in Eaton Canyon, “only a stone’s throw from Oxy,” she adds with a laugh. “I often get lost in the geology around me.”

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By CHRIS LEWIS Photo by MAX S. GERBER

Green Bean alumna Hana Kaneshige ’14, center, wows current baristas Kyrlia Young ’20, left, Charlene Chen ’20, and Flynn Aldrich ’18 with her latte art skills as manager Cam Connor ’18, rear, looks on.

In just eight years, the Green Bean has become a campus fixture and a cultural hub of activity.

Now the student-run business has become a launching pad for careers in the hospitality industry as well

Photos by Kevin Burke (April 2016) and Max S. Gerber (Young)

left: The Green Bean scene in April 2016. below right: Instagramfriendly deliciousness. below left: Barista Young on espresso duty. bottom: Former manager Eddy Perezic ’17, now an account manager with Deutsch Marketing.

On an average weekday, the Green Bean pours about 925 beverages. (Its best-selling drink is its cold brew, with vanilla and hazelnut the most popular flavors.) When traffic is at its heaviest—between 9 and 10:30 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays—the Green Bean serves about 50 customers every 30 minutes.

Since it opened in October 2009, the student-run business has offered more than fairtrade coffee and sustainably sourced pastries from Porto’s (a fan favorite) and Sweet & Divine by Emily (which offers organic, vegan, and gluten-free options). It’s created a showcase for students’ artwork and an entertainment hub for open-mic nights and political and sports broadcasts—all in an inclusive, diverse, and communal space.

From a student-employment standpoint, “It is one of the most sought-after jobs on campus because of the fun work environment,” says Amy Hill, who supervises the Green Bean’s five student managers as associate director of student life for orientation and leadership development.

And while the vast majority of former baristas, shift supervisors, and managers go on to careers far removed from the “chaos that is caffeine,” a handful of Green Bean alumni

have pursued work in the hospitality industry, using the philosophies that the lounge has fostered—creativity, positivity, and sustainability—upon entering the real world.

After graduating from Oxy, Hana Kaneshige ’14 took a job as lead barista at Highland Park’s La Tropicana Market, helping to launch its coffee bar prior to accepting a similar position with Verve Coffee Roasters in downtown Los Angeles. Within six months, she was a supervisor, and in September 2015 she was promoted to manager. Kaneshige credits her management experiences at Oxy for the opportunities she has received at Verve, which made Jetsetter.com’s list of “The World’s Coolest Coffee Shops.”

Last January, after winning an in-house competition, Kaneshige flew to Knoxville, Tenn., to participate in the national qualifiers of the U.S. Barista Championship.

“The whole competition involved having a chance to taste some of the best coffees Verve had to offer and figuring out how to come up with an espresso recipe that brought out their best flavors,” she says. “I spent hours practicing with the coffee, developing recipes and coming up with a signature

drink—the reverse coffee boba, a milk-tea jelly floating in grapefruit soda with an espresso shot on top.”

A critical theory and social justice major at Oxy, the Bellingham, Wash., native held a variety of roles at the Green Bean, including product purchasing, inventory, staffing, and quality control. The experience motivated her to complete a summer business program for arts, science, and engineering majors at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and maintain an open mind in regard to career opportunities.

In her new role as the L.A. educator with Counter Culture Coffee in Los Angeles, Kaneshige will be responsible for training and quality control with the roaster’s numerous cafe accounts around the city. “I am looking forward to having a greater impact on the L.A. coffee community in this next chapter of my career,” she says.

Eddy Perezic ’17 took an interest in the hospitality industry while he was a student at Oxy. His managerial stint at the Green Bean only piqued his interest further, leading him to accept a job as an account WINTER 2018 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

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Veitch photo by Marc Campos | Additional photos (pages 13-14) courtesy the Green Bean, Eddy Perezic ‘17

below: President Jonathan Veitch buys the first drink sold by the Green Bean on opening day, Oct. 24, 2009. right: Andrew Dai ’19, Yuri Lee ’20, Kelly Fitzgerald ’18, and Saya Maeda ’20 celebrate the Green Bean’s eighth birthday in October.

coordinator with Deutsch Marketing in Los Angeles. “My experience at the Green Bean was exhilarating and fast-paced,” says Perezic, who is devoting 100 percent of his energies currently to Deutsch’s Taco Bell account, “which is huge, fast-paced, and involves tons of moving pieces.”

A mathematics major at Oxy, Perezic is fusing the skills he developed in his studies with his time behind the counter to oversee one of his employer’s largest accounts on a daily basis. “The Green Bean was the perfect place to build some hard skills that I didn’t learn in the classroom,” he explains. “It also gave me the ability to use the critical thinking and problem-solving skills I gained in classes—and then apply them to real-life situations.”

In Taylor Durham ’15’s estimation, no learning environment is more challenging than a college coffee shop. “The long business hours, customer volume, size of the staff, and differing levels of staff experience present challenges that rarely exist elsewhere in the hospitality industry,” says the kinesiology major and former Green Bean manager from Seattle. “The volume of business alone would intimidate someone who has years of experience in the industry. But to all of us who worked at the Green Bean, that was just the basic level of hustle required to thrive.”

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Durham discovered Caffe Vita Coffee Roasting Co. while attending a free public education class at one of its locations near company headquarters in Seattle.

The experience was “eye opening,” she says, introducing her to new brew methods. So she asked Caffe Vita about educational resources and training opportunities, which the company agreed to provide, prior to becoming the Green Bean’s coffee and tea vendor.

“Most people just live at the tip of the iceberg, never knowing what they’re really holding in their hands—who grew it and roasted it,” says Durham, who worked at a coffee and tea shop in Los Angeles prior to accepting a barista position with Maru Coffee in Los Feliz. “Coffee has taught me the importance of not taking the art and science of the seemingly simple for granted.”

As the Green Bean’s popularity perks along, it is shaping the lives of current and former team members alike. During her time at Oxy, Huijing Huang ’18, a sociology major from Fuzhou, China, and the Green Bean’s present health, safety, and sustainability manager, has learned firsthand how a business operates, acquiring practical skills like addressing difficult conversations and communicating with diplomacy.

“The Green Bean has been an integral part of my Oxy education,” says Huang, who also appreciates the camaraderie of the workplace. “It not only serves Oxy’s student body, faculty, and staff, but it also gives the

student workers a special bond. It’s truly a magical place.”

“The unique opportunities for advancement at the Green Bean built up my confidence in my ability to lead,” adds Helena Oldenbourg ’18, the lounge’s former programming and customer experience manager, who completed her Oxy studies in cognitive science in December. Growing up in Falmouth, Mass., Oldenbourg has worked at cafes since she was 15: “By working as a supervisor and manager, I know now that I am a capable leader.”

Huang and Oldenbourg are both interested in pursuing careers in the hospitality industry, particularly in sustainability. In her current role, Huang represents the Green Bean in sustainability-related meetings on campus and has noticed the impact the Green Bean has had on students’ decisions to compost and use reusable mugs—a level of influence she would like to continue to have in the future. Likewise, Oldenbourg is focused on utilizing her past experiences in sustainability as she prepares for her career.

“I hope to take what I have learned and work with communities that do not have such spaces like the Green Bean of their own,” she adds. “The Green Bean has shown me the power that businesses have to bring sustainable change and to educate consumers about how their decisions matter.”

Because the Green Bean is run by students, it can easily adapt to the ever-changing preferences of its main customers, Amy Hill says.

“It also provides a unique opportunity for students to showcase their talents through fiscal responsibility, creativity, and leadership.” In just the last two years, she notes, the team has overseen a complete change in coffee vendors, along with a remodeling of the front of the shop.

“It’s been interesting to watch these students graduate and seek out the ‘expected’ careers of liberal arts graduates before deciding they are happiest working in the hospitality industry, specifically with coffee,” she adds. “In the end, that’s really what a liberal arts education is about—keeping yourself open to whichever educational opportunities present themselves as you pursue your passion in a way that not only benefits yourself, but also the greater good.”

Chris Lewis wrote “Interns Without Borders” in the Summer 2016 magazine.

Occidental Fanfare ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF COMPOSITION ADAM SCHOENBERG TAKES JOY IN THE CREATION OF NEW MUSIC—AND

HE HAS HIS FIRST GRAMMY NOMINATION TO SHOW FOR IT

By PETER GILSTRAP Photo by KEVIN BURKE

Schoenberg’s debut orchestral disc, released last January, features the Kansas City Symphony performing three of his works: Finding Rothko, American Symphony, and the Grammy-nominated Picture Studies.

In recent months, Schoenberg’s works were performed by more than a dozen symphonies and ensembles from College Park, Md., to Missoula, Mont. His newest composition premieres in San Diego on February 10.

Photo by Erik Rynearson

“One of the greatest compliments I ever got was, ‘Your music sort of sounds like Radiohead meeting Aaron Copland,’” says Adam Schoenberg, who came to Occidental in 2015 as an assistant music professor specializing in composition and film scoring.

Whether that bold musical union nails the Schoenberg sound is in the ear of the beholder, but suffice to say that he’s twice made the list of the top 10 most performed living composers in the country.

By the age of 37.

“You write music because it’s something you believe you need to do first and foremost,” says Schoenberg, “but you’re also writing for the people.”

That M.O. does not translate to fusty traditional works or the atonal fever dreamscapes of technicians like the Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg (no relation).

That the Oxy Schoenberg’s work is so widely embraced “is a huge compliment,” he says.

If he needed further validation of his acceptance, Schoenberg has been nominated for his first Grammy, for Best Contemporary 16

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Classical Composition for the 10-part orchestral suite Picture Studies. (The award honors a classical piece composed in the last 25 years, and released for the first time during the eligibility year.) Schoenberg’s work was commissioned by the Kansas City Symphony and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in 2012 and was first performed by the symphony under the direction of Michael Stern nearly five years ago.

Since he began composing professionally in 2006 while still a doctoral student at the Juilliard School, Schoenberg has received commissions from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony and the Aspen Music Festival and School, among others, and performances of his music have graced the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, and the Hollywood Bowl, to name but a few venerated showcases.

“He’s a very unusual composer today because he’s so positive and has such a joyous way of making music and living his life,” says composer and educator John Corigliano,

Schoenberg’s composition professor and mentor at Juilliard, where he earned his master’s and doctor of musical arts degrees.

“A lot of young composers are composing laments, that sort of thing. Adam isn’t that type of person,” adds Corigliano, whose own efforts have won him five Grammys, an Oscar, and a Pulitzer Prize. “His music always has a spirit of happiness and all things that are good, and I really love that in him.”

Schoenberg was born in New Salem, Mass. (“not the witch Salem,” he stresses)—town of fewer than 1,000 with “a general store that was sort of a post office, where you could rent VHS tapes and get ice cream.” At age 3, despite the seductive small-town distractions of video and ice cream, Schoenberg began improvising on the piano. “My parents said that every single night before I went to bed I would sit down and improvise. It always served as this emotional outlet for me,” he says.

Music was encouraged strongly by his parents; Jane, a children’s book author (The

One and Only Stuey Lewis: Stories From the Second Grade), and Steven Schoenberg, an accomplished composer and improvisational pianist who himself first sat down at the keyboard at age 2. (Solo toddler jamming is apparently in the family blood.)

“I was hearing music all the time in my house, whether it was my dad or on records,” says Schoenberg. “Mahler, Bernstein, Barbra Streisand, Bruce Hornsby, Pat Metheny, Stevie Wonder, Keith Jarrett—you name it. It was a pretty eclectic mix.”

Growing up in the 1990s, Schoenberg’s tastes expanded to include Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Outkast, A Tribe Called Quest, and yes, Radiohead. But he didn’t join bands in high school, and admits that he’s “always had stage fright.”

With no firm designs on a career in music, classical or otherwise, he attended Oberlin College to play soccer, but the call of composing was undeniable. In his sophomore year, Schoenberg transferred to the music conservatory and narrowed his focus.

“It wasn’t until college that I really started to study the composers,” he says, mentioning influential names like Stravinsky, Debussy, Henri Dutilleux, and the subject of his dissertation, soundtrack guru Thomas Newman. “I listen to the music of today, but I’ve also listened to the music of our past. I sort of absorb it all and make my own sound world.”

That world is inspired by everything from paintings to family to everyday life, but his creative process is quite a journey from initial spark to concert hall. Schoenberg is currently at work on Orchard in the Fog, a concerto for internationally acclaimed violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, who will debut the piece with the San Diego Symphony on February 10.

It began with a photograph. “Adam showed me a picture of the incredibly beautiful place where he got married,” Meyers told the online classical music journal Miroirs CA. “There was an orchard in fog that had a very ethereal quality to it. The first movement is based on that picture.”

Beginning with that photo in mind, “I started conceptualizing in January 2017,” Schoenberg explains, “meaning I started improvising and then through those improvisations there’s material that I like—the germ, the seed, whatever you want to call it. Then I become the composer.

“I always say—and really, this is something my father said—that improvisation is

left: Students in Schoenberg’s Composition Seminar at Oxy. below: Picture Studies was inspired by works from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo. bottom: With son Luca at Oxy’s Boo Bash in 2015.

Photos by Marc Campos

a spontaneous composition, but composing takes much more time and thought.”

Come showtime in February, time and thought will reach a major nexus. He’ll be making changes to the work “overnight in my hotel room in San Diego,” mere hours before the parts are placed on music stands.

“Something I tell my students is you always need to be aware of your material,” says Schoenberg, “and how you develop your ideas.”

After four years as an adjunct professor teaching theory and composition at UCLA’s Department of Music, Schoenberg was recruited by Occidental after an international search that drew candidates from Istanbul to New York.

“Having Adam come in with so much energy and excitement and ambition singularly for this program has just been a great injection of energy into our efforts,” says associate professor of music and department chair David Kasunic. “And so we feel that we’re at an important and pivotal time in the history of the music department here, and that’s exciting.”

“I believe that we can make this the best music department in the country for a liberal arts college,” Schoenberg says. “I was intrigued because I’m the only composer on the faculty, and so I could really come in and help create a program that I think can be inspiring for the students, but also be forward thinking in the 21st century, because it’s incredibly hard to make a living as a musician.”

Oxy junior Jonah Propp, a composition major from La Jolla, appreciates that fact. “A lot of my time in pursuing music is spent thinking, ‘Oh man, how am I going to make a

career out of this?’” he admits. “Professor Schoenberg is someone who has a very successful career where he’s able to keep a family going, and he’s doing commissions and working with students and trying to get them to really explore their creative side. He knows exactly the balance of criticism and praise for me to really grow as a composer. He seems like exactly who I want to be as an adult.”

Schoenberg and his family live in Oxyadjacent El Sereno, in a house where the garage serves as a music studio and creativity abounds. Wife Janine Salinas Schoenberg is a playwright and TV writer, currently working on “Snowfall,” John Singleton’s FX crime drama. Sons Luca, 4 and Leo, 2, “definitely gravitate toward the piano and sit down and improvise,” says their father.

“I want to be a good husband, I want to be a good dad, I want to be a good professor, and I want to be a good composer,” Schoenberg adds. “To try to juggle all of those things simultaneously, that’s what I’m trying to figure out how to do better.”

Bravo.

Peter Gilstrap wrote “New Faces of 2021” in the Fall 2017 magazine.

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ELEPHANT in the Room Pat Bates ’61 is only the second woman ever to lead a party caucus in the California State Senate—and she’s reaching across the aisle to bring relevance to a challenging role

By ANDY FAUGHT Photos by JIM COIT

at Bates ’61’s political genesis started three decades ago at the corner of Crown Valley and Alicia parkways, in what was then unincorporated Laguna Niguel in south Orange County. The former social worker had just moved to the community from Long Beach, and tensions were high after a child was struck and killed by a car at the intersection. Frustrated residents petitioned the county board of supervisors to make safety improvements, including installing streetlights, but to no avail.

That’s when a group of calculator-toting women, with Bates as their de facto leader, planted themselves at the intersection and counted cars. They called themselves Citizens for a Safer Crown Valley Parkway, and participants were determined to use their data to sway supervisors to add lights and build crosswalks, sidewalks, and bike lanes.

“We decided to take things into our own hands, and I became known as the traffic lady,” says Bates, who worried about the safety of her two young children riding their bikes or walking to and from school. “We

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were derided by some who said, ‘Oh, don’t pay attention to those housewives with calculators. They don’t know what they’re doing.’”

Not only did Bates’ actions help trigger improvements, the upheaval also paved the way for Laguna Niguel to incorporate as a city in 1989. Bates was voted the nascent city’s inaugural mayor, and she spent the next decade on the council. She was a member of

the California Assembly from 1998 to 2004, and served on the Orange County Board of Supervisors from 2007 to 2014.

In 2014, Bates was elected to the California Senate from the 36th District, an affluent, mostly white Republican stronghold, beating her challenger by 31 percent. Last

April, she was named the Senate minority leader, becoming just the second woman— Republican or Democrat—to lead a party caucus in the chamber’s history.

Despite all of the high-fives she’s gotten from colleagues, leading the GOP caucus can be an exercise in frustration. California Republicans have become something of an endangered breed, accounting for just 25.9 percent of the electorate (compared to 44.8 percent registered Democrats). Even Bates’ reliably red Orange County district voted for Hillary Clinton at the top of the ticket in 2016.

“There’s a high degree of concern about, are we going from Orange County red to Orange County blue, or maybe Orange County purple?” she says. “If I can’t deliver a piece of legislation, but someone else in the other party who’s got the same idea and wants to implement it in the same way, then I go with them. You see a lot of that going on, but it doesn’t get a lot of attention.”

Part of that acquiescence comes from the fact that Democrats in 2016 secured twothirds of the seats in both houses of the

Bates at her Orange County office in Laguna Hills in November 2017.

Opposite: Taking the oath of office with Senate colleagues Janet Nguyen, Kevin de León, and Ed Hernandez in February 2015.

“I knew how to write out a speech and deliver it in three minutes—which is what you’re given at the podium in government—because I had done that in social work,” Bates says. “I was able to detach myself from being so shy when I was fighting for something like my child’s safety, or other people’s safety.”

Legislature. The so-called “supermajority” means Democratic lawmakers theoretically can pass taxes or enact legislation without Republican support.

“It’s an honor to have my colleagues believe that I can bring relevance to our role,” Bates says. “I certainly stand up for them when the rules of the house are abridged at times—in terms of who can speak and whether a particular piece of legislation is given an opportunity to be heard. When you’re a supermajority, you can make the other side irrelevant, and that’s where we get into some really emotional discussions.”

Bates has successfully worked with Democrats to advance legislation. Among her notable bipartisan accomplishments are AB 2139, which integrates climate change scientific data into state infrastructure engineering, and AB 2800, which reinforces opposition to new oil drilling off the California coast.

“When working across the aisle, Sen. Bates’ experience stands out, and members of both parties regard her for her insight and integrity as a public servant,” says Sen. Janet Nguyen (R-34th District), who met her colleague when both served on the Orange

County Board of Supervisors. “She listens before she reacts, analyzes what is being said, and looks for opportunities to propose solutions.”

One of the latest partisan divides is over California’s new 12-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax, created to raise money to address a $130-billion repair and replacement backlog when it comes to roads, bridges, mass transit, and bike lanes.

Bates is a stalwart tax opponent who supports finding solutions to climate change and who sees homelessness and the shortage of affordable housing in the state as detriments to California’s future. In the Senate, she has authored several community safety measures, including SB 722, which would crack down on sex offenders who willfully remove or disable their global positioning system; and SB 1283, which would restrict the presence of sober living homes in neighborhoods.

Growing up in Long Beach, Bates shied away from any political ambitions. As a psychology major at Oxy, she planned to become a school guidance counselor and attended Long Beach State for a year to work on her Additional photos (pages 8-11) courtesy Sen. Pat Bates ’61

top: Addressing a Senate Health Committee hearing in April 2016 on her bill to empower a city or county to regulate sober living homes. (The bill fell short of approval.) above left: Talking taxes, transportation, and public safety with KRLA radio’s Larry Marino in February 2015. above right: Promoting California’s ScholarShare 529 college savings plan accounts with Diploma Dog in May 2016.

20 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

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master’s degree. But the Long Beach Unified School District required counselors to teach first. “My dad looked at me and said, ‘I think it’s time for you to get a job,’” Bates recalls.

“He said, ‘If you want to do counseling, that’s great. But you need to be on your own time because we’ve got your brother and sister coming up.’ And I said, ‘I hear you, Dad.’” Bates enrolled at Occidental on the advice of a friend who was accepted at the College after attending high school in Long Beach. “She convinced me that it was the perfect school for me because it was smaller.

Again, I was this kind of shy, retiring person,” says Bates, who studied abroad at the University of Madrid during her junior year.

The experience, particularly History of Civ, “showed the progression of society and the evolution of the human spirit and the brain,” she recalls. “I acquired critical thinking skills—that was very much part of my Oxy experience. The professors helped us hone those skills, so that we had a rich understanding of society and government and how it worked. As I matured, I reflected on what I learned and how you look at a problem and find a solution.”

Her time at Occidental “was illuminating,” she adds. “It really made me ask, ‘Who am I? Why am I here? And what is going to be my legacy?’”

It was as a social worker for the Los Angeles Department of Social Services that Bates saw government’s shortcomings and developed some of the sensibilities that continue to guide her today. “I was engaged with government as a bureaucrat, and I had a jaundiced view of government programs because they were not helping people move out of poverty,” she says. “My interest in government probably was to be a reformer, if anything, and that isn’t always what you need to do when you’re a housewife and a mom.”

She was 23 and on the job when the Watts riots erupted in 1965. Bates couldn’t

go into the neighborhood because of safety concerns. She took a nuanced view of the unfolding violence. “In an instant, that anger that had been suppressed for all those years erupted, and I wasn’t aware of it,” she says.

“It was shocking. All of the money and efforts that have gone into trying to eradicate racism, and we’re still not there.

“You can’t deal with [a challenge] when you have an ideology and say, ‘This is what’s wrong, and that’s the only way I’ll view it,’” she adds. “We all have a stake in it, and we all, probably, are part of the problem. We have to look at ourselves more closely.”

The polarization afflicting politics is something that Bates thinks about constantly.

“The question is, what happened along the way? I don’t have an answer to that.”

She learned to overcome her shyness by focusing on the bigger picture. “When you’re fighting for a cause, then you’re not focused on yourself,” she says. “I knew how to write out a speech and deliver it in three minutes— which is what you’re given at the podium in government—because I had done that in

social work. I was able to detach myself from being so shy when I was fighting for something like my child’s safety, or other people’s safety.”

She’s also a role model to women in the face of roiling sexual harassment scandals at the Capitol. Bates says she has not experienced inappropriate behavior from male colleagues. “I think more and more women, young women, are getting involved in the policy arena and being inspired by people like myself,” she adds.

Jim Miller, a Dana Point restaurateur who lived in Orange County’s Fifth District when Bates was a supervisor, is among her staunchest supporters. In the aftermath of a revitalization program approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2006, Bates was able to acquire leases for 26 merchants in Dana Point Harbor. Miller owns a restaurant there, Coffee Importers, as well as Boneyard Café at Doheny State Beach.

above: Bates talks with some young constituents outside her office in Laguna Hills.

A mother of two and grandmother of four, she is married to architect John Bates. left: Celebrating California Agriculture Day with an equine constituent at the State Capitol in March 2016. inset: Pat Carmody ’61 as a psychology major at Occidental.

“She’s probably one of the most professional people I’ve ever worked with,” says Miller, a Republican. “Pat fights for people, regardless of their party affiliations. She believes, wholeheartedly, that she can help her constituents.”

Adds Bates: “I represent a million people, and there are 13 members of my caucus.

That’s 13 million people who are Democrat, Republican, or no political party. They all deserve representation.”

Andy Faught wrote “An Occidental Truth” in the Fall 2017 magazine.

WINTER 2018 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

21

As Oxy football continues to recruit and rebuild for 2018, a College-wide task force evaluates the program’s future. Can—and should— Oxy football be saved?

By Dick AnDerson Photos by eD ruvAlcAbA Punter Nathan Gray ’20 of San Jose has played in five games in his two years as a Tiger, including all three contests in Oxy’s injury-shortened 2017 season.

ll-SCIAC offenSIve lInemAn nick lunn ’18 started and played in all 27 games during his first three years at oxy. But the economics major from los Angeles opted out of playing football as a senior following the abrupt retirement of 56-yearold Doug Semones, the Tigers’ coach for the last four seasons, on July 18—three weeks before training camp. lunn had his reasons.

“I tore the labrum in both shoulders, had meniscus surgery on my knee, I have a screw in my wrist, and I had a really bad concussion last year,” he explains.

“You couple all of that with a 1-8 season, our defense was going to be the same, our best offensive players were leaving, and our head coach left. everything fell apart.

Why would I risk brain health when it seemed like we had nothing to play for?”

It’s a sentiment shared by a number of his former teammates. Dan Gittelmanegan ’19, a computer science major from Brookline, mass., and a starting wide receiver/tight end for the Tigers as a sophomore, had already made the decision to quit before Semones left. He cites the combination of poor recruiting classes in front of and behind him, and the “negative perception” that he says comes with being an oxy football player on campus. linebacker marcus lee-mcDuffie ’18, oxy football newcomer of the Year in 2014

and a kinesiology major from moreno valley, left the team shortly after last season. Running back Chris Rom-Toribio ’19, a cognitive science major from la Quinta, ran at the Division III outdoor national Championships in 2016 and chose to focus just on track this season. Zach Hunter ’18, a history major from murrieta and oxy’s best returning defensive lineman, and starting wide receiver Isaiah Amaechi ’19, an economics major from los Angeles, exited the program the day before camp started. from the time Rob Cushman was announced as the Tigers’ new coach on August 1 to opening kickoff 38 days later, the squad dipped in size from 56 to 47 players—20 of them freshmen. “every program has its challenges, but this is different, obviously,” says Cushman, who inherited an 0-10 squad at his most recent coaching stop at the University of minnesota, morris. “I never expected this when I got here.”

On December 15, the Division III football season culminated with the University of mount Union of Alliance, ohio, notching its 13th national title over the last 25 years. for occidental, the season ended nearly two months earlier, with the cancellation of the remaining four games of its 2017 schedule over safety concerns raised by the injury-diminished roster. That meant the Drum—symbol of one of the longest-

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In the near term, Occidental is taking steps to field a competitive football team next fall, beginning with an all-out effort to retain the 40 returning athletes currently on the roster.

Cushman has signed a contract to stay on as head coach through the 2018-19 academic year. In the wake of the season’s cancellation, on the recommendation of Athletics staff, the College will hire an additional full-time assistant coach who can help with recruitment, as well as a full-time recruiter for Athletics versed in data analytics as well as other proven tactics and strategies “to ensure a robust recruitment effort across all sports,” starting with football, President Veitch wrote

tM Po ud m don Sc ari pp Pi tz s er W hi tti er

The Tale of the Tape

ondary coach for the Tigers. “This is college football. You need guys. You need bodies.”

“On a scale of 1 to 10, I feel the crisis is a 10-plus, but I feel the administration maybe looks at it as a 3-plus,” says Vance Mueller ’86, SCIAC offensive player of the year in 1984 and 1985 and three-time team MVP, who played five years of pro ball with the Los Angeles Raiders. “My question to President Veitch on several occasions has been, Why not? What is the disadvantage to the College of having a successful football program? I don’t understand why this is even a difficult thing to solve. I’m a little bewildered, to be honest.”

“Football has a long and storied history that is woven into Oxy’s fabric, and we have to begin by acknowledging that,” Veitch says.

“At the same time, we have to recognize that there are some serious budgetary and admission constraints that we are operating under —constraints that we are reluctant to change for some very good reasons. It’s a complex issue with far-reaching implications.”

Ch ap m an

standing rivalries on the West Coast—would stay at Pomona for another year. And it meant there would be there no contest for the Shoes, stolen from Little All-American running back Myron Claxton of Whitter in 1939, subsequently bronzed by the Poets, and awarded to the winner of the now 110-year-old football rivalry every year since.

The history of Oxy football is loaded with such lore: the 1949 Raisin Bowl victory over the Colorado A&M Aggies in Fresno; the Jack Kemp ’57-to-Jim Mora ’57 combination that electrified fans in the mid-1950s; the 1982 squad that, in Dale Widolff ’s inaugural season as head coach, upset the University of San Diego in a game broadcast by CBS during the NFL players’ strike to 60 percent of the country; and the 2004 team that, behind the phenomenal arm of Andy Collins ’07, went to the Division III Regional Finals in what is widely regarded as the Tigers’ best season ever.

How could one of Oxy’s most storied programs have fallen so far, so fast? Many former players point to the 2012 dismissal of Widolff, the winningest coach in Occidental football’s 123-year history, after repeated violation of NCAA recruiting rules. Widolff once said of the program: “Our success is a result of our ability to encourage quality football players to come to Occidental. When we recruit prospective student athletes, we look for individuals who are competitors, who love to play football, and who aren’t afraid to make a dual commitment to athletics and education.”

“I was surprised the season got canceled, but I was told before the season even started they were lacking players,” says Mike Tromello ’04 M’05, who played for Widolff for three years and spent another five years as a sec-

At the start of the 2017 football season, Oxy’s 46-player roster was less than half the size (99.7) of its eight opponents. The Tigers were also significantly undersized compared to the competition.

46

71

80

86

99

100

109

117

136

18

19

31

Number of Players

4

13

5

16

10

14

Number of Players Over 250 Lbs. Source: College athletics websites

24 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

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in a November 1 letter to the Oxy football community.

Meanwhile, in addition to his current staff, Cushman will be aided by former Oxy head coach Bill Redell ’64, the veteran Oaks Christian High School coach who was brought on as consultant for football operations during the heavy recruiting months of December and January, and the efforts of Mora, Mueller, Tromello, and other football alumni who have agreed to meet with recruits and make phone calls on Oxy’s behalf.

“Generally speaking, if you get to 60 players or above, you have enough players for every position,” Veitch says. “I would go to our games and I would sometimes see over 100 players on the opposing team. For us the perennial problem is finding linemen. But we are often in situations where we are giving up 30, 40 pounds across the line.” Redlands’ 136player roster, for instance, includes 18 players weighing 275 pounds or more; Oxy’s heaviest offensive lineman is listed at 270.

“You can imagine there are injuries that result from that,” Veitch continues. “One of the things that started to happen when our numbers started to dwindle was that our defense would be on the field for more than 90 plays, and we only had one or two linemen that could substitute. Fatigue sets in, and then students get injured.

“Surprises are part of the job as a college president, and I never imagined football would be one of them,” he adds. But conversations around football have crowded his schedule since Oxy canceled its second game of the season—the Tigers’ home opener—against Pacific University in mid-September.

Between 2000 and 2016, the high school sports that saw the largest increases in participation were cross country (45 percent), soccer (37 percent), and outdoor track and field (25 percent), according to the most recent survey published by the National Federation of State High School Associations. Football remains the No. 1 sport overall, but the number of participants dropped by 25,901 in the 2016-17 school year.

Of the almost 1.1 million high school football athletes, an estimated 6.8 percent go on to play NCAA football—2.4 percent at one of the 248 Division III colleges and universities that field the sport (an increase of 10 schools over the last five years). The number of men playing Division III football—19,484—is at an

all-time high in the 35 years measured by the NCAA survey.

That D3 growth spurt isn’t reflected in the numbers at Oxy, where a smaller percentage of men enrolled at Occidental is suiting up for the sport. In 1967, 76 men (7.1 of the total male enrollment) played with varsity or freshmen football. In 1992, 89 men (11.3 percent of the total male enrollment) played football for the Tigers. From 2012 to 2016, the average roster size was 62 players. (In 2011, Widolff ’s last season, Oxy fielded a team of 60.) On opening day of the 2017 season, less than 5.5 percent of the total male enrollment was on the football roster.

Overall, the relationship between Athletics and Admission is essential to Oxy’s enrollment success, says Vince Cuseo, vice president of enrollment and dean of admission. “Roughly a quarter of our student body plays a varsity sport. In order to meet our enrollment goals and field competitive teams, our offices must work in tandem about procedures, messaging, admission criteria, and individual applicants.”

Even as the number of applicants to Oxy has jumped 10.4 percent since 2012, the College has experienced a decline in the raw number of recruited student-athletes for football (and the actual number of men enrolled at Oxy has dropped from 954 to 857— 42.1 percent of the student population). The issue has been a smaller number of applicants who have expressed an interest in playing football rather than any question about their academic standing, according to Cuseo.

“We believe the issue is the size of the top end of the recruiting funnel for football compared to years prior,” he explains. “Is there less interest in playing football for Oxy in particular? A lack of effective recruiting on the part of the football program? It’s hard to answer these questions with confidence.”

“It is first and foremost a recruitment issue,” Veitch says. “It has to do with a charismatic coach and a much greater and more sophisticated approach to recruitment than we’ve ever had before. But it also means a couple of bad seasons start to erode the franchise. Because of its size, you see that sooner with football than with other sports.”

While football is far from an endangered species at the Division III level, there are some notable predecessors to Oxy’s predicament. In 2008, financially strapped Colorado College discontinued football, softball, and

ROB CUSHMAN WAS PREPARING FOR HIS THIRD SEASON as head coach with the University of Minnesota, Morris, when he learned of the head coach opening at Occidental. In a four-decade career, he’s also had head coaching stops at Augustana (Ill.) (2011-14), Eastern Oregon (1997-2001), and Feather River Community College in Quincy, where he built a program from scratch and went 34-21 over six seasons (2002-07).

Less than 10 days later, Cushman was announced as the Tigers’ new coach. Little did he know what he was walking into: In the months since then, the Athens, Greece, native (who was raised by his adopted family in Hood River, Ore.) has had to deal with upset players, irate parents, angry alumni, and an uncertain future for Oxy football. He has impressed many since with his unflappable nature and genuine optimism.

“The timing of all this is real interesting,” admits Cushman, returning to campus December 18 after a weeklong stint in Tijuana helping to coach an American team of NCAA Division III All-Stars against a group of all-star players from private Mexican universities. “I think I have over 15 prospects to call tonight. All we do is push this big rock up the hill.”

What were your thoughts about the challenges coming into the season?

I didn’t know it was quite as bad as it was, but I knew it was going to be tough.

I thought we’d get through the year and then fix it—recruit, develop staff, etc. I got here, and there were a lot of things I was very concerned about.

What was going through your mind after the season opener (a 61-6 loss to Puget Sound, Cushman’s alma mater)?

I was really concerned going into the game in terms of our depth. The biggest issue was not being able to compete in practice.

Not being able to handle any injury. I know the score doesn’t indicate that, but I liked how we competed on defense. There were only three returners on offense. New quarterback, inexperienced offensive line. I felt that if we could hang in there and we could keep growing—we could get better, but that just didn’t happen.

How many current players do you expect to return next season?

Fifteen to 30.

How do you convince recruits to come to Oxy? This is an opportunity to play right away, to develop, to be coached and to get a world-class education. Why wouldn’t you be a part of that?

What do you say to current parents who were upset at the cancellation of first two games, then the remainder of the season?

We tell them that the situation that we faced when we first got here led to the results and the termination of our season. There are a variety of issues that played into that. Instead of looking back, we’re trying to fix what went on in recruiting, change the culture, and change the direction.

Is this the biggest challenge you have faced as a coach?

There’s no question. I’m going into my 40th year and I’ve never had anything like this. I’ve had some difficult years and difficult seasons. I’ve been in situations where we didn’t have resources to be the team we wanted to be. But never have I been in a situation where we couldn’t line up and play and finish the season.

What are your days like now?

We’re working every waking hour at it. We can put a product on the field that can be competitive. Recruiting is the lifeline. I want to build this roster to 75 or 85. It’s not going to happen overnight, but we have a chance to do that in the coming years.

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OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE 25

water polo all at once, reducing its athletic expenditures by more than 10 percent. (Those Tigers had enjoyed only one winning season since 1993.) Eight years earlier, Swarthmore College, which had an enrollment of 1,400 at the time, cut its football program—the 15tholdest in the country—because it was recruiting athletes at the expense of admitting more academically qualified students. (The Quakers won only five games in its last seasons, going 0-28 at one stretch.)

“We are not changing the academic profile of this institution in order to field a football team,” Veitch says. “We already have a case-by-case analysis where we evaluate people holistically. Rather than any dip in academic standards, we should build the roster by doing a better job of opening the funnel and recruitment, coupled with a strong coaching staff.”

Although there is a perception among some football alumni that Oxy now discourages transfer students—a cohort that has produced countless standout players over the years, not the least of whom is Andy Collins— Cuseo insists there is no institutional bias at work: “Enrollment trends change over time.

As our application pool for first-years has grown, we’ve had to rely far less on transfers to meet enrollment goals. When I arrived in 1999, the needed transfer enrollment target was 60 to 65. Now we’re seeking 35 transfers each year.” The other piece of the equation, he adds, “is that coaches aren’t recruiting as many transfers.” (Cuseo notes that Semones recruited only three transfer students over his four years at Oxy.) While the admission outlook is being eyed very closely, there are other factors to be weighed before the Tigers return to the field.

On January 19 and 20, a multi-constituency task force headed by alumni-athletes Bill

The Tigers took to the field against Redlands for their only home contest of 2017, a 72-13 loss.

Davis ’80, who swam and played water polo for Oxy, and Sue Bethanis ’82, who helped lead Oxy volleyball to the national championships, will meet to carefully consider the long-term prospects for football at Oxy. (Among the other members of the task force, which was announced October 17: football alumni Eric Moore ’83 and Mueller, Oxy professors and SCIAC representatives Linda Lyke and Lynn Mehl, two additional faculty, two trustees, and two current student-athletes.) A week later, the Board of Trustees is expected to address the future of the program based on the task force’s recommendations.

Informing their work is a football alumni subcommittee co-chaired by Mueller and Tromello that met with Veitch soon after the cancellation of the season and has been “trying to provide viable solutions and ideas on what it would take to modernize and keep the program going,” says Mueller. From an institutional standpoint, he adds, “There has to be a philosophical sort of change from Oxy’s current situation regarding athletics.

They really have to make a commitment financially and personally and make studentathletes feel important.”

running the numbers In 2015 (the most recent year for which comparative figures are available), Oxy spent less on football than its seven SCIAC peers— 34.5 percent below the conference average.

(Expenses exclude coaching salaries.)

Redlands Cal Lutheran Claremont-Mudd-Scripps La Verne Whittier Chapman Pomona-Pitzer Occidental

Football Expenses

Football Revenues

Total Sports Revenues

$619,196 $507,910 $501,156 $471,601 $433,511 $402,580 $372,091 $294,885

$696,586 $507,910 $501,156 $472,992 $413,758 $402,580 $372,091 $316,681

$1,904,121 $1,594,950 $1,461,008 $1,635,158 $728,871 $1,222,450 $911,695 $1,212,410

Source: Equity in Athletics Data Analysis 26 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

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“Generally speaking, there is more of an indifference to football at Oxy than there is a stigmatization,” says Veitch (who calls football “the canary in the coal mine that is surfacing after 30 years of benign neglect for athletics”). “Football is symptomatic of a larger problem—and I think it is a problem—in which there are fewer campuswide events that unite us. With the exception of Homecoming, the days when everyone gathered around the campfire or the football game are over.”

On the same weekend as the trustees’ meeting, dozens of high school recruits are expected to be visiting campus as Cushman and his assistants continue to pitch the prospects and their parents on joining the rebuilding effort at Oxy. Meanwhile, Tromello and Mueller are planning to come back to campus in January to “re-recruit” the roughly 40 players from the 2017 squad to encourage them to return next season. “There are some damn good players,” he says, “and those guys will make or break the future of football at Occidental.”

Hovering over the debate is the specter of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in people who experience brain trauma.

Following the cancellation of Oxy’s Homecoming game in October, associate professor of sociology Richard Mora raised the ethics of even continuing to play the sport. As he wrote in a campuswide email, “While there is still much we do not know about CTE, what we do know is scary, and raises the question: Why does the College, which espouses a commitment to the life of the mind, still have a football program?”

Mora’s position is supported by a number of former Oxy players who have shared their opinions with Veitch. “I cannot understand how a sport which scientific research has shown to expose student athletes to potentially life-threatening injury falls within the overall mission of the College,” wrote football and track athlete Ron Whitney ’64, who placed sixth in the 400m hurdles at the 1968 Summer Olympics. “Fortunately, Occidental does not depend upon football for profit and is able to focus on loftier goals when addressing its educational mission.”

of that, we were coming off a 1-8 season with a big senior class graduating. Guys were thinking, ‘If we’re not winning now, why would I put this work in for another terrible season?’”

2016 SCIAC Offensive Player of the Year Bryan Scott ’17, who quarterbacked the Tigers through three winning seasons and watched the team’s struggles from the bleachers in 2017, suggests that Oxy is trying to fix too many things at once when recruiting should be the focus of the College’s efforts for next year: “We need to stop trying On the other side of the coin, Daryl Ogden to change everything about it and just focus ’87 mirrored the feelings of many alumni in his on the little thing that gets to the big thing. email to Veitch: “It is beyond my capacity to “Once we forfeited the season, it was emphasize adequately the degree of harm that amazing to see how many alumni truly care, I believe ending the program would have on the how many people love Oxy football, and how College and its reputation on multiple dimenmany people want it to be successful,” Scott sions,” including the loss of affinity to Occidenadds. “We need more guys that can play, and tal that generations of former players would we need to establish leadership within and experience; the cumulative loss of outside the football program. I future generations of “would-be think it’s important that the peoTotal Conference Wins in Football, 2012–17* Oxy student-athletes who will purple coming in be 100 percent conRedlands 35 sue their studies and competitive fident in football’s future at Oxy.” interests elsewhere”; and the ending of Oxy’s longtime competitive rivalries with its SCIAC kinfolk, such as the Claremont Colleges, “which have important analogues in higher education directly relevant to the College’s standing and reputation.”

cation. That, to me, makes for a stronger argument for investing in athletics.

“The more recent revelation is around the absolute importance of our coaching staff in recruitment,” he continues. “They’re like admission officers, and I didn’t fully appreciate that. They need to be given the proper tools to be effective—the same kind of data management systems that our admission people have—and they need a system of incentives to make sure they are opening the funnel so that Vince has good choices.”

Relationships are ultimately the key to recruiting, according to Cushman. “I’d rather do a great job recruiting 50 kids and build those relationships instead of having 75,000 names and maybe one of them will show up here. To develop a relationship, I try to call them, text them, stay in touch, get them to visit. The funnel becomes important once we have identified the key guys.”

Chapman Cal Lutheran Claremont-Mudd-Scripps La Verne Occidental Pomona-Pitzer Whittier

32 26 19 18 15 13 5

You won’t have to wait until next September to see the football team in action. They just won’t be wearing pads. “We’ll be doing some campus work and commu*Excludes results of Oxy’s two conference games in 2017, which were not counted toward conference standings. (Caltech dropped out of conference nity service next semester, and play in football in 1968.)

“What we’ve decided is that selling doughnuts and coffee and Sources: thesciac.org, D3football.com we want to be competitive but we soda during study breaks, just to recognize that given our limited budget we Being competitive again in the SCIAC is far let people know we’re alive and well,” Cushcannot be competitive across the board,” from impossible, as there is no one domi- man says.

Veitch says of the College’s athletics strategy, nant football team in the conference right “We’re working hard to play next year, which largely follows the 2014 recommenda- now. In the six seasons since Widolff ’s de- to have a program,” he adds. “At the end of tions of a 17-member planning committee to parture, Chapman and Redlands have two the day I can’t guarantee people anything. invest in one sports area at a time. “We did championships each, Cal Lutheran and La But our staff is doing an amazing job.” In Dethat with track and field and cross country,” Verne one apiece. (Whittier hasn’t won a cember, at least 40 recruits visited campus Veitch says, “and we’re going to do that with conference game—or any football game, for for one of two planned events, with an additional 10 or so visitors scattered throughout swimming and water polo and tennis next. that matter—since Oct. 18, 2014.)

That’s a long march back, but now all of a One of the seniors who stuck it out this the rest of the month. Another 25 high sudden there are three sports that are going season was wide receiver and team captain school seniors visited earlier in the semester, to be perennially strong at Occidental, and Ian Bonde, an economics major from Ala- and Cushman estimates that more than 30 then we can begin to add to those sports as meda, who scored both Oxy touchdowns football prospects were applying for Early we go forward. in the Tigers’ contest against Redlands on Decision II by January 1.

“At my last job, I took an 0-10 team with “There are a couple of recognitions that September 30. “I think the demise is a comcame the hard way for me,” Veitch adds. bination of poor recruiting on top of guys 28 returners to 46 players the first year and “First, while a program has to have a shot at of deciding football wasn’t worth it,” says 64 players the next year,” Cushman says— being successful, the argument for athletics Bonde, who also plays basketball for the and that was in Minnesota. “I know how to at Occidental is that it inculcates the values Tigers. “It’s a rigorous school academically, do this. I’m committed to it. And we’ve had of teamwork and patience and diligence, and so it’s tough to manage school with being on some really good kids here at Oxy who want grace in victory and defeat—all those soft the team. Early morning practices are tough to be part of the solution.

“I just hope it’s not too late.” skills that are also part of a liberal arts edu- if you aren’t getting playing time, and on top WINTER 2018

OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE 27

OXYTALK

Committed to the Public Good Photo by Eric Moore ’83

As its staunchest advocates will attest, the Barack Obama Scholars Program expands the legacy of the nation’s 44th president, builds the bench for public service and civic engagement, and broadens access to an Oxy education

Cameron Peters ’18, an urban and environmental policy major from San Diego, was named the first Obama Scholars Fellow.

As an Army veteran and community college transfer with a clearly demonstrated commitment to the public good, Peters embodies the goals of the Obama Scholars Program.

28 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

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It’s hard to argue that the near future—and probably the future that lurks just up the road—will require great things from the next generation of leaders. For the world at large, 2018 brings more than its share of uncertainty.

But, as Louis Pasteur observed more than 150 years ago, “Fortune favors the prepared mind.”

For 130 years now, Occidental has been preparing minds to do great things with the vagaries of fortune.

This fall, the College takes that mission one step further with the launch of the Barack Obama Scholars Program, a comprehensive, merit-based scholarship program designed to identify and empower exceptional students committed to the public good.

“I’m so humbled by the Barack Obama Scholars Program at Oxy, and proud of its mission to identify promising young people from all backgrounds with an emphasis on first-generation students, our veterans, and community college transfers,” Obama wrote when the program was announced September 27. “Not only to give them access to higher education, but to train the next generation of leaders and active citizens, and fill them with the conviction that they too can change the world.”

Through mid-December, Occidental had raised nearly $8.2 million for the Obama Scholars Program from more than 90 donors—a group that includes alumni, students, parents, faculty, foundations, and friends of the College.

Among those in the last category are Jane and Glenn Hickerson of San Francisco. Although Glenn himself graduated from Claremont McKenna College in 1959, his mother and her sisters all attended Oxy. “Jane and I both have great respect for President Obama—he was really an inspiration to young people,” says Glenn, president of Hickerson Associates, a market-

OXYTALK

right: Obama Scholars Program advisory council members Jane and Glenn Hickerson live in San Francisco.

Glenn is president of Hickerson Associates, a marketing and management consulting firm whose clients have included IBM, JP Morgan Chase, and GATX Corp. Jane is a director of the San Francisco Ladies Protection and Relief Society, a residential retirement center. far right: Advisory council member Denise Campbell Bauer ’86 served as U.S. ambassador to Belgium from August 2013 to January 2017.

She studied foreign affairs and national security at Oxy.

ing and management consulting firm. “We think highly of President Jonathan Veitch,” he adds, “and were delighted to learn that Oxy was honoring Obama this way.”

Obama’s path to public service arguably began at Occidental on the plaza outside the Arthur G. Coons Administrative Center, where he gave his first public political speech during an anti-apartheid rally on Feb. 18, 1981. “My years at Occidental sparked my interest in social and political causes, and filled me with the idea that my voice could make a difference,” he wrote in 2017.

As anticipation builds toward the selection of the first two Obama Scholars for next fall, writer Peter Gilstrap spoke with some of the earliest advocates for the program —alumni, parents, and friends of Oxy who are among the more than two dozen members of the program’s advisory council. In the words of Oxy parents Ann and Bruce Blume, “With a world-class education and unparalleled opportunities to truly serve the public, there can be thousands of Barack Obamas who come through Oxy.” Why did you get involved with the Obama Scholars Program?

Jeh Johnson P’17: In January 2015, as I sat on the floor of the House of Representatives, I saw President Obama give a State of the Union address, much of which was devoted to giving young people the opportunity for an education. I’m very pleased that Occidental has decided to take up that cause, and with President Obama’s support and endorsement fulfill a big part of his dream.

Denise Campbell Bauer ’86: It was an easy decision to join the advisory board. This program encompasses so many things I care deeply about: It expands the legacy of President Obama, it broadens and diversifies access

to higher education, it builds the bench for public service and civic engagement, and it strengthens Oxy. Ann and Bruce Blume P’14: Our inspiration for getting involved with the program is similar to the inspiration that got us involved with Barack Obama’s campaign when he first decided to run for president. We are deeply inspired by those who want to make a positive difference in our country and who have the values, skills, education, and commitment to the broader community to make it happen. This program is dedicated to helping young people discover and develop that same blend of attributes.

Hector De La Torre ’89: This scholarship program is a wonderful legacy for the president. We could have done a statue or a building or some such static thing, but we decided that scholarships would be a very good living legacy.

Having a president of the United States as an alumnus is incredibly important in terms of the visibility of the College, and in terms of reflecting what Occidental can do for students. This is a way to really emphasize and cement that connection.

Susan DiMarco P’17: Jonathan Veitch attracted me to the program. I have a son that graduated from Oxy [Jeh C. Johnson Jr. ’17, a mathematics major], and when he was a freshman, President Veitch approached me with this idea. We all had a lot of admiration and affection for this president, so I was happy to help.

What will the Obama Scholars Program mean for Oxy? Bauer: While this program will no doubt bring additional recognition to Oxy, I think the most significant impact will come from the Obama Scholars themselves.

These students will bring with them their experiences, perspectives, intellects, and talent. While at Oxy, they will

above: Advisory council members Ann and Bruce Blume (with son Jacob ’14 at his graduation) are co-founders of the Bruce and Ann Blume Fund, which supports public health, educational, and environmental endeavors. Ann, a Cornell University graduate, serves on the board of trustees of Seattle University and the Common Threads Project.

Bruce is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and the founder, owner, and CEO of The Blume Co., a Seattle real estate development firm.

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OXYTALK

Peters, Johnson/DiMarco, and De La Torre photos by Marc Campos

right: The family of Jeh Johnson Jr. ’17, far right, following Commencement last May: sister Natalie, father Jeh Johnson, and mother Susan DiMarco.

The senior Johnson, an advisory council member, served as U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2017 and is currently in private law practice at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York City.

Oxy trustee and advisory board co-chair DiMarco, a retired dentist, was appointed

by Obama to serve on the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts for the Kennedy Center in 2012.

above: Oxy trustee and advisory council co-chair Hector De La Torre ’89 was a member of the California State Assembly representing the 50th District in southeast Los Angeles County from 2004 to 2010 and is now executive director of the Transamerica Center for Health Studies. He majored in diplomacy and world affairs at Occidental.

certainly enrich the discourse in their classes, and on campus more broadly.

One of the things I value most about my time at Occidental was the opportunity to get to know people from all over the country and the world. I learned to almost reflexively look for additional facts and perspectives, something that has served me well over the years.

The Blumes: Occidental’s association with President Obama is a blessing and strength—and this program is a truly tangible and visible way to create a living legacy through future generations of Oxy students. The students’ experiences in this program will enrich their lives and the life of the College. Those experiences will take Oxy to new places and people, and, we hope, inspire others to say, “I want to do that!”

DiMarco: The program means that Occidental can inspire a generation of students to do good. The president was inspirational to a generation of young people, so a scholarship with his name on it can be an inspiration for Occidental College as it’s seeking to find those students who want to come to this campus.

Johnson: I think what it means for Oxy is that the school will be a place to realize dreams. The school will be a place to enable young people—who would not have otherwise had an opportunity—to go into public service and to pursue great things.

What does the idea of “empowering the next generation of leaders to actively pursue the public good” mean to you?

The Blumes: The idea of the “public good” is so profound and important. Now more than ever, it is a powerful idea that deserves support and protection. Frankly, in too many ways, we are seeing faith eroded in the very concept of a broader “public good” with the denigration

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of critical institutions (like a free press, ethical government, even democracy itself) and the degradation of our public life.

We are hopeful that Oxy students remain committed to the powerful ideals that have been a bedrock for our country, and, we believe, were exemplified by the namesake of this program. There is nothing more important than educating and empowering those whose mission is to make good on the promise of America and the things that make it great.

De La Torre: There are many ways you can pursue the public good. You don’t have to be an elected official.

That’s very important too, that this isn’t just about public policy. It can be premed, it could be visual arts, it could be economics or physics. There are so many ways to do public service and to move the needle for our society, and for international students to move the needle in their country of origin.

Scholarship funding at the College is a major priority for Jonathan and for the Board of Trustees, so these are wonderful opportunities for excellent students, regardless of their academic pursuit, to have that support from the school and to help shape them to go out into the world and be leaders in their respective fields.

Bauer: One of the most exciting things about the Obama Scholars Program is that its positive impact won’t end when the students graduate. In fact, that will be just the beginning. They will each be, as Robert Kennedy said, “a tiny ripple of hope.” What a wonderful legacy for all involved.

For more information on the Barack Obama Scholars Program at Occidental College, visit obamascholars.oxy.edu.

OXYTALK

» MIXED MEDIA JapanEasy: Classic and Modern Japanese Recipes to Cook at Home, by Tim Anderson ’06 (Hardie Grant). It’s easy to be intimidated by Japanese food, but in JapanEasy, Anderson offers an introduction to the world of Japanese cooking via some of its most accessible (but authentic) dishes. It covers all the basics (sushi, tempura, miso soup, etc.) before moving on to preparing pickles, grilled squid, Katsu Curry, and much more. A native of Wisconsin, Anderson studied Japanese history and food culture at Oxy and moved to Japan for two years. In 2011, he won top honors on “MasterChef UK.” His London restaurant, Nanban, began as a popup in 2013 and inspired the 2016 cookbook Nanban: Japanese Soul Food (2016).

On Video Games: The Visual Politics of Race, Gender and Space, by Soraya Murray ’93 (Cornell University Press). Today over half of all U.S. households own a dedicated game console, and gaming industry profits trump those of the film industry worldwide.

As quintessential forms of visual material in the 21st century, mainstream games both mirror and spur larger societal fears, hopes, and dreams, and even address complex struggles for recognition.

Murray examines the cultural dimensions of such blockbusters as The Last of Us, Metal Gear Solid, Tomb Raider, and Assassin’s Creed to show how they are deeply entangled with American ideological positions and contemporary political, cultural, and economic conflicts. Murray is an assistant professor of film and digital media at UC Santa Cruz.

Emergent Strategy and Grand Strategy: How U.S. Presidents Succeed in Foreign Policy, by Ionut Popescu ’07 (Johns Hopkins University Press). Contrary to the conventional wisdom in Washington, D.C., Popescu argues that presidents often achieve great foreign policy successes by pursuing an incremental emergent strategy based on

learning and adaptation rather than a longterm grand strategy. He shows that America’s strategic success in winning the Cold War was due to improvisation and adaptation by presidents from Truman to Reagan at least as much as it was due to advanced strategic planning.

Therefore, leaders should prioritize learning from the almost unavoidable mistakes they will make early in their careers and adapting their plans to unanticipated events and changes in the international environment. A diplomacy and world affairs major at Oxy, Popescu is an assistant professor of political science at Texas State University.

Us People, by Max Gruber ’17 (Clovercroft Publishing). Looking to escape a past mired in trauma and heartbreak, Sam Case seeks what he believes will be the safety of the streets—a place to escape his demons.

Struggling to survive with the aid of his best friend, Cam—a mentally unstable veteran— Sam finds solace amongst the chaos. As the horrors of insanity and heartbreak coax him back toward confrontation, Sam must make an impossible choice— a stigmatized imprisonment or the freedom of the streets. In between his Oxy classwork, playing football for the Tigers, and pursuing graduate studies at Georgetown, Gruber penned his first novel based on his deeply personal interactions with the homeless population in his hometown of Spokane, Wash.

Documentary Media: History, Theory, Practice, by Broderick Fox (Routledge Press).

In a digital moment where both the democratizing and totalitarian possibilities of media are unprecedented, the need for complex, ethical, and imaginative documentary media is vital. Fox opens up documentary media, its changing forms, and diversifying social functions to readers in a manner that is at once rigorous, absorbing, and practical. This new edition updates and further explores the various histories, ideas, and cultural debates that surround and shape documentary practice today. Fox is associate professor of media arts and culture at Oxy. Podcast: “Origins with James Andrew Miller” (Cadence 13). From “Pardon the Interruption” and “College Game Day” to its “30 for 30” documentary series and flagship “SportsCenter” broadcast, “ESPN remains one of the most intriguing and important forces in the world of media,” says Miller, coauthor of Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN, a New York Times bestseller (and author of Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency). For a second season of podcasts that explores crucial beginnings and evolutionary paths leading to great achievements in television, film, music, publishing, and human relationships, Miller speaks with personalities, producers, and top executives who played critical roles in ESPN’s unprecedented march through TV history. New episodes premiere each Wednesday throughout January. Season 1 of “Origins” examined the genesis of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Miller lives in New Hope, Pa.

That’s What She Said, by Ali Handal ’90 (Red Parlor Records). Reteaming with Grammy Award-winning producer Seth Horan, singer-songwriter Handal’s fourth full-length album is a collection of songs (“Thank God for Birth Control,” “You Get What You Settle For”) embodying the strength and sense of humor necessary to thrive as a woman in the 21st century. Music Connection magazine called Handal “a singer-songwriter with something to say … a gifted artist who brings insight and intelligence to her art.” Handal studied music and psychology at Oxy and later graduated with honors in psychology from UCLA.

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PAGE 56 Photos courtesy Andrew Heath ’04

No Small Feat In just four years, Bombas has sold 5 million pairs of socks and given away 5 million more—but Andrew Heath ’04 and brother David are only getting started

It’s hard to tell which is the better seller at Bombas—the socks or the story.

Andrew Heath ’04 was hoping to give away a million pairs of socks within 10 years. He made it to 5 million—at the 31/2-year mark.

That means he has also sold 5 million pairs of socks. Every pair sold equals one pair given to someone in need by Bombas, the business Heath and his younger brother, David, established in 2013 with partners Randy Goldberg and Aaron Wolk. A Salvation Army posting on Facebook—that socks are the most requested item at its homeless shelters—inspired the Heaths back in 2011 to build their company.

“David didn’t want to just donate time or socks. That’s a one-time solution,” says Heath, Bombas’ chief financial officer and chief operating officer. “He wanted to solve this fundamentally.”

The two had talked about going into business together as far back as high school, realizing they had complementary skill sets.

So they created their business plan, spent two years researching how the perfect pair of socks should fit, and then launched Bombas on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo with $150,000 in presales. Bombas finished its first year with revenues of $1.8 million. Now, by the end of its fourth year, Heath projects 56 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

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close to $50 million in sales. Bombas works with 750 giving partners across all 50 states to distribute the socks it donates.

While Heath says he’s done everything from IT to janitorial work, most of his days are focused on accounting and financial analysis along with ensuring shipments are correct and on time. He oversees Bombas’ Customer Happiness Team, an in-house group that includes recent hire Ella Inman ’16, an economics major from Sturgis, Mich. “Even in my short interactions with him I can tell he has the grit and perseverance to be a successful entrepreneur,” Inman says. “I’m really excited to work with a fellow Oxy graduate, and I know he has helped create a great company with a wonderful culture that is truly making an impact.”

Inman is one of 40 Bombas employees today, up dramatically from just 15 this time last year. Heath credits much of the company’s growth to word-of-mouth. He says that customers talk not only about the socks’ quality—“They’re the most comfortable socks you’ll ever own”—but also about the difference Bombas makes to those in need.

“People talk about us,” he says. “When’s the last time you went to a dinner party and talked about your socks? Never, right?”

far left: A young recipient holds her Oxy-colored Bombas socks. left: Andrew Heath, left, and brother David, a Babson College graduate.

That’s because of the company philosophy: “Bee better.”

Bombas is a Latin derivation of the word bumblebee. Bees, Heath explains, are altruistic by nature, each one working toward the greater good of the hive, each one contributing to something bigger and better than any individual could do alone.

Former Oxy assistant professor of economics Jerry McIntyre, who now teaches at New York University, remembers Heath’s leadership and courage in class discussions.

“Andrew was always the first to respond to questions or volunteer for giving presentations,” he recalls. “And he wasn’t afraid to challenge the accepted perspective, especially when it came to moral behavior.”

One day, when McIntyre took his class outdoors, his students got in a heated debate over international finance and “odious debt.”

Heath was staunch in his position, to the point of arguing with classmates, that such debts should be canceled by creditors.

“He understood the financial details but also brought in a moral and ethical aspect to financial issues,” McIntyre says. “Andrew had that back at Oxy, so it’s not surprising that he founded a one-to-one company.”

Heath also serves on the board of the New York chapter of Back on My Feet, an organization that helps homeless people overcome their situation through a commitment to running. The program boasts a 90 percent success rate, and to support the organization, Bombas donates office space for its use.

Heath also ran in a marathon as part of a Back on My Feet fundraiser. Of course, he was wearing Bombas socks—neon yellow calf-height ones. (He normally wears blackand-white quarters with shorts, though.)

Heath has too many pairs to choose a favorite, but he did admit one disappointing thing about Bombas socks. Despite having done two years of research and development to create the perfect sock for their customers, the brothers still haven’t solved the chief complaint among sock owners—they still get lost in the dryer. Heath and his team will have to keep working on that.

—ashley festa

OXYFARE FROM THE BOG PRESIDENT

Volume 40, Number 1 oxy.edu/magazine OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE

Jonathan Veitch President Wendy F. Sternberg Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College Rhonda L. Brown Vice President for Equity and Inclusion & Chief Diversity Officer Charlie Cardillo Vice President for Institutional Advancement Vince Cuseo Vice President of Enrollment and Dean of Admission Rob Flot Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Amos Himmelstein Vice President & Chief Operating Officer Marty Sharkey Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communications Jim Tranquada Director of Communications

No matter the occasion, one’s 50th is a milestone with many connotations—birthdays, marriages, retirements, and yes, reunions.

There often is a mixture of anticipation and anxiety about going to a reunion—who do I want to see, who won’t I recognize—but I am feeling a sense of gratitude about this one, my 50th, that is grounded in stories I tell of my Oxy years. And that may be true for all alumni who are about to celebrate a reunion.

As I think about the stories I tell about my Oxy years—1964 to 1968—they have a number of themes. One is imagery. From my first day on campus, having driven 300 miles in my VW Beetle from Modesto, I visualize meeting my roommate, Wilbert Bennett ’68, who arrived on campus before me and rightfully claimed the bed by the window. The beauty of the campus, the special walkways and quads, the dining hall and other locations, all easily come into view. Other stories are about personal

Save the Dates: June 22-24

Alumni Reunion Weekend 1968

1973

1978

1983

1988

1993

1998

2003

2008

2013

Welcome the Class of 1968 into the Fifty Year Club!

(And, hey, Class of 1993— it’s your 25th anniversary!)

All Tigers are welcome back to Occidental! Join your fellow alumni returning to campus to reconnect with friends, relive your youth (or at least try to), and rediscover the magic of Oxy.

Get involved! If you have any questions about Alumni Reunion Weekend or would like to serve on your class reunion planning committee, please contact the Office of Alumni and Parent Engagement at 323-259-2601 or alumni@oxy.edu.

Fireside Chat in Washington, D.C. Oct. 18, 2017

editorial staff

Dick Anderson Editor Samantha B. Bonar ’90, Jasmine Teran Contributing Writers Marc Campos Contributing Photographer Gail (Schulman) Ginell ’79 Class Notes Editor SanSoucie Design Design DLS Group Printing Carolyn Deanne Adams Executive Assistant to the Dean of the College

Black Occidental College Tigers jacket with Carefree Colorblock

by U-Trau. 60/20/20 Cotton/Poly/Rayon blend. Sizes S-XL. $45.95

OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

Published quarterly by Occidental College Main number: 323-259-2500 To contact Occidental magazine By phone: 323-259-2679 By email: oxymag@oxy.edu By mail: Occidental College Office of Communications F-36 1600 Campus Road Los Angeles CA 90041-3314

Occidental College Bookstore oxybookstore.com To order by phone: 323-259-2951 All major credit cards accepted

Letters may be edited for length, content, and style.

Occidental College online Homepage: oxy.edu Facebook: facebook.com/occidental Twitter: @occidental Instagram: instagram.com/occidentalcollege On the cover: The images of many Oxy gridiron greats are plastered on this 1940s-era football, which is on display in the Roy Dennis Trophy Room inside Alumni Gymnasium. Photo by Marc Campos.

Oxy Wear photo: Marc Campos

Occidental Jazz Quartet members Ron Leachman ’68, Charles McClintock ’68, Marty Maner ’68, and Roland Pang ’69 are putting the band back together for the Class of ’68 reunion dinner.

experiences—the exhilaration of Orientation in the Greek Bowl while trying to learn “Io Triumphe,” the mixers, lectures in Thorne Hall, small seminars, Greek rush, lifelong friendships, heartthrobs, musical connections, still-favorite professors, learning to learn, and figuring out plans for post-1968. Still other stories frame Oxy through societal experiences—Vietnam, the rich and countercultural pull of Los Angeles, the assassination of beloved leaders.

Whether we tell our stories of Oxy to ourselves or to others, this invaluable lore is an enduring part of our adult development and serves as a touchstone for how many of us have experienced life since graduation. College tuition covered much more than a first-rate liberal arts education. It offered the opportunity to have formative experiences that continue to give meaning to our lives. The resulting stories are like gems. Sharing them at reunion is priceless.

Charles McClintock ’68 President, Board of Governors

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1. Dozens of alumni and friends of the College were on hand as President Emeritus Ted Mitchell and President Jonathan Veitch discussed what’s new at Oxy and the state of higher education.

2. Trustee Susan DiMarco P’17, Matthew Cibellis ’86, Debbie Afar ’10, Caroline Kim-Palacios ’07, and Shumway Marshall ’05. 3. Karen Akerson M’83, Bailee Brown ’15, and Keith Jones ’16.

4. Ellen Mignoni P’17, center, enjoys an animated conversation before the talk.

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Earthquake Ready: Geologist Debbie Weiser ’08

Adam Schoenberg Scores With Grammy

Address Service Requested

WINTER 2018

GROwinG up in SAn DieGO, John J. Clague ’67 lived sufficiently close enough to Oxy that he could drive his laundry home on weekends. “His mother was thrilled—sort of!” his wife of 51 years, Lexi (Chatlos) ’67, recalls with a laugh. A native of Tucson, Lexi enrolled at Oxy, like John, uncertain of her future plans. “we both did well in high school but, being the early 1960s, did not know what we wanted to do with our lives,” she says from the couple’s home in west Vancouver, British Columbia. “Fortunately, our parents were determined to ensure that we would prosper, and they sacrificed much to provide us the opportunity to be the best we could be.”

Lexi would major in sociology, while John began as a math major, his first love. But when he took an introductory elective course in geology taught by Joseph Birman, John was instantly “hooked,” he says. Birman became John’s first professional mentor, and the Clagues had the good fortune of visiting with him not long before his passing in 2015.

After graduating with a geology degree, John pursued a master’s degree at uC Berkeley, followed by a ph.D. at the university of British Columbia. History of Civilization, Russian, psychology, and many other non-science courses were the catalyst for his quest for knowledge that drives his studies in Quaternary and environmental earth sciences to this day as the Shrum Research professor at Simon Fraser university in British Columbia.

On a reconnaissance field trip to Baja California led by professor of geology william J. Morris, John and his classmates set out to locate and investigate sites near el Rosario some 200 miles south of the border, which was known to contain Cretaceous-age dinosaur fossil beds. in the early 1960s, “the main highway along the length of the peninsula was not paved,” John recalls. “About halfway down the peninsula to our destination, we encountered heavy rain that turned the highway into a muddy swamp. we ended up stuck, sleeping in our Dodge Photo courtesy Lexi and John Clague power wagon on the road, unable to go forward or back.” Morris and his class reluctantly aborted the trip, he says, “although we did return in better weather the following summer.”

“Occidental provided us with the tools needed to achieve success in our careers,” adds John, who with Lexi has included Oxy in their estate planning. “Our education provided us with skills that may not be appreciated today—the ability to see connections across disciplines, to see the forest for the trees. now we have the opportunity to give back in a significant way. There are few better gifts one can make than to help well deserving, bright young men and women achieve their educational goals and contribute to making the world a better place for all. “we are optimistic about the quality of today’s Oxy students,” Lexi adds. “we think they are better prepared to move the world forward than we were 50 years ago. io Triumphe!”

No Triumphe? oxy.edu/magazine

Occidental College Office of Gift Planning M-36 | 1600 Campus Road Los Angeles CA 90041-3314 | Phone: 323-259-2644 Email: giftplanning@oxy.edu | oxy.edu/giftplanning | facebook.com/BenCulleySociety

TODAY THE GREEN BEAN, TOMORROW THE WORLD /// CALIFORNIA STATE SENATOR PAT BATES ’61

Keeping UpWith theClagues

Battered by injuries, recruiting challenges, and safety concerns, Oxy football faces an uncertain future.

Can the Tigers rebuild?