Occidental Magazine Spring 2018 by Occidental College

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Mapping the Course of Environmental Sciences

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Michael Kwan ’20 and his family left their native Hong Kong so that he and his brother would be able to go to college in America. “We sold everything,” recalls Michael, who was 7 when they moved to San Francisco. “My mom used to work in an office environment. She came to America and worked as a cashier. It’s been a great sacrifice for my parents. I already knew that I wanted to go to college, but that did put a little more stress on me in terms of trying to get into a great, academically rigorous school.” Michael knew he wanted to major in physics when he enrolled at Oxy, but it was the opportunity to study violin with Lyndon Johnston Taylor, the Benjamin H. Culley Teaching Artist in Residence at Oxy, that prompted him to pursue a double major in physics and music. What do playing the violin and physics have in common? “They’re both pretty disciplinary, so that’s how I go about doing both. I allot time and focus and dedication to each and it just works out.” On top of taking as many as 22 units each semester, Michael does research with associate professor of physics Janet Scheel and has applied for a Caltech summer research program: “I needed three recommendation letters and they were so easy to get from professors here—they all know me pretty well,” he says. Of all his activities, what he enjoys most is playing in Sinfonia, Oxy’s orchestral ensemble. “Everyone comes from a different background, and plays at a different level, and you get to see how we all come together and play the same music and put our hearts into it,” Michael notes. “It feels like one person playing. That’s really magical.”

As a sophomore, Michael has been a beneficiary of the COSMOS scholarship program, which provides not only $8,000 in annual support to talented Occidental math and science majors with financial need, but mentorship as well. (The program was created in 2016 by a five-year grant from the National Science Foundation.) “I’ve gotten to know a lot of professors through the program—not just physics but also biology and chemistry and geology and even math,” he says. “And that puts me in a great place in terms of building a large network for career advice.” More than anything else, what the COSMOS grant has given Michael is the gift of time—freeing him from the financial obligations of a work-study Photo by Marc Campos job. “I have 10 more hours of my week to focus on my physics work and research and on my music studies and practicing, and that’s really nice,” he says. Twice this school year, Michael has played his violin during Music on a Friday Afternoon, the music department’s informal recital series, and last year he conducted a piece performed by his peers: “They needed a conductor and I was studying conducting, and that was a fun experience getting to put what I learned into use.” Thanks to the financial support he has received, “I’ve had plenty of opportunities at Oxy,” Michael says. “A music department scholarship pays for my violin lessons during the school year. The COSMOS money has allowed me to focus on academics without worrying about how to pay for college. Everyone here at Oxy wants to learn and have a better future. Just like in Sinfonia, we all come from different backgrounds and we play the same music.”

oxy.edu/giving

Col. Rick Bennett ’63 at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base in 1967

LESSONS FROM VIETNAM oxy.edu/magazine

Invest in the kind of education that can only happen at Occidental. Please make your gift to the Oxy Fund.

THE CLASS OF 1968 ON TURN, TURN, TURNING 50 /// DOUBLE EXPOSURE: SINGING FOR SPALDING

Your Oxy Fund Gift Creates Opportunities

Twelve alumni veterans recount the highs and lows of their military service—and how Oxy prepared them for war

OXYFARE Alumni Seal Awards to Honor Seven at Reunion Weekend Volume 40, Number 2 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

Brenda Shockley ’68, Los Angeles deputy mayor for economic opportunity in 2016 and former president of the nonproﬁt Community Build, will be honored as alumna of the year at Reunion Weekend as part of the 2018 Alumni Seal Awards. Larry Caldwell, the Cecil H. and Louise Gamble Professor in Political Science Emeritus, will receive the faculty emeritus award. Other honorees include Raymond Ewing ’57, retired Foreign Service oﬃcer in the U.S. State Department, and Elona Street-Stewart ’73, synod executive of the Presbyterian Church USA (professional achievement); Shawn (Lovell) Hanson ’83, longtime Board of Governors member and Oxy parent and volunteer (service to the College); Martha Hernandez ’03, CEO of madeBOS (service to the community); and Kevin Adler ’07, founder and CEO of Miracle Messages (Erica J. Murray ’01 Young Alumnus Award).

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. Any questions? Please contact the Oﬃce of Alumni and Parent Engagement at 323-259-2601 or alumni@oxy.edu. Visit alumni.oxy.edu for more information. We look forward to seeing you in June!

Image courtesy Columbia Journalism School

Access & Opportunity Reception, February 27

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 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

Christopher Ferguson Associate Vice President of Enrollment

Occidental retro hooded sweatshirt in birch gray 83/17 cotton/poly Sizes S-XXL, $49.95

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 Cover photo courtesy Rick Bennett ’63 Oxy Wear photo by Marc Campos

Steve Coll ’80 and Yvette Cabrera ’94 in conversation February 1.

Coll Takes the Questions

Steve Coll ’80, dean of Columbia Journalism School and a staff writer at The New Yorker, retraced his path from trade magazines and freelancing to his passion for investigative journalism in a conversation with Yvette Cabrera ’94—a former investigative reporter at ThinkProgress who recently joined the Huffington Post as environmental justice reporter—at an alumni and parent event February 1 at Columbia. “I love reporting. I love talking to strangers. I love knocking on doors. I like going into places that I haven’t been before—as much as or more than writing,” said Coll, who majored in English and history at Oxy. After writing a “very serious-minded screenplay” with a friend of his, he found his first paying job working in public television. “Everything I do is rooted in research and reporting,” he added. “I so love the chase that I save the writing for the very end.” A two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner, Coll recently published his eighth book, Directorate S: The CIA and America’s Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan (Penguin Random House).

1. Jade Thurnham ’20 and Ann Zwicker Kerr-Adams ’56. 2. Anson J. Credille ’97 scholarship recipient Jose Campuzano ’18 and trustee Octavio Herrera ’97. 3. Cyntica Brown ’18 and Jane Ettinger ’81. 4. Daniel Hermosillo ’20 and Anne (Breck) Peterson ’67. 5. Vince Padua ’74, Natalie Myers ’18, and Judy Lam ’87. 6. SAE Skiers scholarship recipient Spencer Raub ’20 and Miro Macho ’65. 7. Standing, l-r: Glee Club members John Hammer ’21, Florence Matteson ’20, Simon Hershey ’18, and Grace Gowen ’18. Seated: Glee Club director Désirée LaVertu, Donna (Wayne) MacElroy ’60, and Warry MacElroy ’60. 7 Photos by Marc Campos

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Features 12 A Living Laboratory Building on the College’s proximity to three distinctive ecosystems, its commitment to cutting-edge genomics research, and its emphasis on experiential learning, Oxy embraces an interdisciplinary approach to environmental science.

From left, Whitney Tsai ’11, associate professor of biology John McCormack, Devon DeRaad ’17, and James Maley count birds in a high-elevation meadow at Sierra San Pedro Martir in Baja California.

Departments 36

Twenty Something Five student playwrights—and dozens of alumni professionals—bring the party to Keck Theater for the platinum anniversary of Oxy’s New Play Festival.

20 Why We Served Half a century after their time in Vietnam, a dozen alumni share their war stories—the camaraderie, the challenges, and how their Oxy education readied them for combat.

OxyTalk

Three Oxy women set out to change children’s mindsets about science —and scientists.

First Word President Veitch on a lunch date he always looks forward to—and it’s not because it’s free. Also: Multiple perspectives on the legacy and future of Oxy football.

From the Quad Grammy darling Esperanza Spalding sparkles in the classroom and on stage. Also: Junior forwards Zach Baines and Austin DeWitz light up the boards for Oxy basketball, and more.

Page 64 From sarcastic teens to dinosaur-fighting warriors, voice actor Ashly Burch ’12 brings video game heroines to life.

38 Tigerwire Class notes for even years.

’68 Is the New 50 As their golden anniversary fast approaches, members of the Class of 1968 reflect on four years that changed the world and shaped their Oxy experience.

33 The Meaning of Wright Professor Dale Wright’s journey to Buddhist enlightenment began when he was a teenager—and he’s spent the last four decades inspiring students to expand their thinking.

FIRST WORD » FROM PRESIDENT VEITCH

Free Lunch and the Art of Conversation According to the American Council on Education, the chief areas on which college and university presidents spend their time have changed little over the last 30 years: fundraising, budgeting, community relations, and strategic planning. Yet presidents also report that students continue to be the group that provides them with the greatest rewards. Although one of the things that attracted me to being a president was the chance to work with students, my own experience is no exception: Given Oxy’s endowment needs, fundraising, budgeting, and planning take up much of my time. And my interactions with students often provide me with some of the greatest compensations of this demanding job. On every Tuesday I’m not traveling or locked into a series of meetings, I sit down with Barbara Thomas, adviser to our awardwinning student newspaper, The Occidental, and a group of interested students over lunch in the Bengal Room to discuss recent news coverage in The New York Times. As we parse not just the news but how and why the Times covered particular issues, the conversation can range from Middle Eastern politics to the risky behavior of woolly mammoths to the links between modern Chinese cinema and the soft power of culture in the global marketplace. While some participants are reporters and editors at The Occidental, many are simply thoughtful and perceptive consumers of news. (The free food doesn’t hurt, either.) It’s a lunch date I always look forward to, a regular reminder not only of how smart Oxy students are but how many diﬀerent perspectives they represent. It’s also another reminder of the value of Oxy’s location in Los Angeles—how many student newspaper staﬀs have the former executive news editor of the Los Angeles Times as their adviser? I’ve also had the opportunity to get together with students in a way that is a little closer to the classroom setting where I began my career. I recently took the time 2

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to discuss Russell Kirk’s classic book, The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot, with members of the student club called Conservatives of Occidental. (In a graceful nod to Oxy history, its Facebook page features a photo of Jack Kemp ’57.) When I ﬁrst sat down with club members, it was with the idea of working together to ﬁnd some smart and thoughtful conservative speakers we could bring to campus in the

When our students graduate, I want them to have an appreciation of complexity, a respect for intellectual culture, and a capacity for reﬂection.

Photo by Marc Campos

tradition of David Brooks, Morton Kondracke, and Condoleeza Rice, all of whom have spoken at Oxy since my arrival here nearly nine years ago. As we talked, it struck me that they did not seem fully conversant with the historical roots of the conservative tradition. Their philosophy seemed to be based more on a free market, libertarian approach than a Burkean point of view. That inspired me to buy them all copies of The Conservative

Mind, a survey that would walk them through the work of some of the touchstones of conservative thought, from Edmund Burke and John Henry Newman (whose On the Scope and Nature of University Education should be mandatory reading for every college president) to William F. Buckley Jr. Newman captured quite well the habits of mind that a liberal arts education should instill—“freedom, equitableness, calmness, moderation, and wisdom” —that I hope all Oxy students will acquire during their time here. Like any college president, I take pride in the role that I have played, and the money that I helped raise, to make major campus projects possible—in my case, efforts like the renovation and expansion of faculty offices in Swan Hall, the creation of the McKinnon Center for Global Affairs in Johnson Hall, the Hameetman Career Center, the new Anderson Center for Environmental Sciences, and finally bringing a new pool and tennis courts to campus. But projects like these are not ends in themselves. They are merely resources—tools, if you will—that we use for the ultimate benefit of our students and the Oxy education they will take with them when they graduate. I want our students to have an appreciation of complexity, a respect for intellectual culture, and a capacity for reflection. Sitting around a table discussing The New York Times or John Henry Newman is what it’s really all about—and why I find those sessions so deeply satisfying. When you’re sitting in an airport terminal after a long day of meetings, waiting to catch a redeye to your next set of meetings, you can sometimes lose sight of the big picture. That’s when I reach for the Times and start thinking about our next discussion in the Bengal Room.

FIRST WORD

» FROM THE READERS

Rather than funding athletics properly, Veitch and others are holding out for wealthy alums to step up and make signiﬁcant donations. That plan may work, as evidenced by the Crosthwaites’ generous donation in support of swimming, diving and water polo. (Thanks, Barry and JT!) However, signiﬁcant contributions for football cannot and will not happen until the College makes an institutional commitment to football.

Photo courtesy Anne Follis Huebner ’51

John Castner ’81 Irvine Photo by Nick Jacob

Money Ball

Sagehens and Sensibility

Thanks for sharing facts and providing perspective regarding the collapse of the football program last fall (“The Longest Yard,” Winter). You wrote a solid and important article. Compared to SCIAC members and median NCAA D3 programs nationally, Oxy has underfunded football and the entire athletic department for many years. In conjunction with rising tuitions, many institutions embraced the concept of the “scholar-athlete” and increased their financial commitment to athletics, whereas Oxy’s investment actually decreased when adjusted for inflation. According to an NCAA D3 study, “the total increase in men’s programs from 2013 to 2014 was 10.4 percent, 3.3 percent of which was inflationary. For women’s programs, 3.3 percent of the 10.8 percent increase was inflationary.” You quoted President Veitch as saying “Football is symptomatic of a larger problem” and “the canary in the coal mine that is surfacing after 30 years of benign neglect for athletics.” I totally agree—the entire athletic department has been neglected and needs attention. I dislike the phrase “benign neglect” as it is doublespeak. Allowing a program to wither and die on the vine is not benign. It is not benign when real harm is being done to scholar-athletes, the reputation of the College, and the competitive health of the SCIAC. With regard to “indifference” on campus for football, this is the result of years of what I call “funding for mediocrity.” Years back, when the program was winning and routinely competitive, I remember seeing strong attendance at games: students, faculty, staff, parents and friends of the College. Adequate funding, recruiting, winning, and attendance go hand in hand.

Oh joy! My dear Oxy may lead the way (ahead of Pomona) to drop football as an injurious sport. I am reminded of the tobacco industry, which got away for years saying, “Really? Cigarettes are bad for you?” When scholarship is your No. 1 priority, why let young people beat their brains and knees out like that? Harriet R. Anderson ’58 Portland, Ore.

Plus ça Change The following letter was sent in response to a January 26 email to the Oxy community from President Veitch on the future of Oxy football. “The task force recommended that the College should continue to field a safe and competitive football program,” Veitch wrote, “contingent on current recruiting efforts yielding a viable roster and a substantial increase in alumni financial support for the program.” The College’s email regarding the future of the football program is preposterous. Today, ABC News reported that the NFL reported there were 241 concussions reported by teams in 2017. I attended Oxy in 1952 and ’53. It was an almost completely white college managed by a white board of Anglo-Saxons perpetuating the machismo beliefs that President Veitch still holds onto while asking alumni to finance a program of outfitting young, innocent students to go out on a field and engage in a violent activity against another group of humans which could and will result in lifelong injuries including deadly concussions. Occidental really hasn’t changed that much from the 1950s. What a shame. Roger Carter ’56 Laguna Beach

Memories and Messages As I read “The Longest Yard,” many thoughts were stirred. My husband, Paul Huebner ’49 (second row, second from left), played as a lineman on Oxy’s famous Raisin Bowl team. He also coached football in the Los Angeles School District (at Banning and Carson high schools), with many city championships under his belt. He was a veteran of World War II, serving as an officer in the Navy in the South Pacific. Paul loved the game of football but suffered many hard hits to the head. He died in 2007 of dementia. There was no history of dementia in our family. As a coach to many boys who had no father figure in their lives, Paul was a kind and gentle person with a great sense of humor. He set an example of real manhood for many young men over the years. What is the message here? I’m still trying to figure out the answer. Anne Follis Huebner ’51 Salt Lake City, Utah

Running the Numbers: A Clarification A chart accompanying “The Longest Yard” reported football revenues of $316,681 in 2015. As reported to the Department of Education, football revenue includes the funds an institution provides football for its operating budget (i.e. direct institutional support), along with any fundraising or other income raised through football camps and the like. The majority of Oxy football’s revenue comes directly from the College. SPRING 2018

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FROM THE QUAD

An Audience With Esperanza Four-time Grammy winner Esperanza Spalding sparkled in the classroom and on stage, coaching student singers to be storytellers and showing them how itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s done

FROM THE QUAD

Photos by Don Milici

The first time Esperanza Spalding performed at the White House, it was February 2009, and she performed “Overjoyed” on the upright bass in front of an audience that included President Barack Obama ’83 and that year’s Library of Congress Gershwin Prize honoree, the legendary Stevie Wonder. Nine years later, with an armload of Grammys (including Best New Artist for 2011, the only jazz artist in history to win that honor) and half a dozen albums to her name, the 33-year-old musician and Harvard University professor of practice visited Occidental on February 2 as the 2018 Hume Fellow in the Performing Arts. After holding an hourlong master class for students in Booth Music Hall, Spalding mesmerized a capacity Thorne Hall audience with a free public concert. Occidental students Inez Leon ’21, an undeclared major from San Marino, and Cate Selna ’20, a music major from Oakland, were the lucky recipients of Spalding’s coaching at the master class, with Leon singing “Brave and Wild,” a jazz and R&B-influenced song of her own composition, and Selna performing Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child,” a song she first sang as a high school senior in choir. “We’re storytellers first,” Spalding reminded the aspiring singers. “Everyone can sing now. It’s boring. Use the space to transmit to the audience what only you know.” Spalding stressed to the students that they must understand the meaning behind the lyrics they sing and make them relevant to their own experience. “What did these lyrics emerge from? Put it somewhere in your reality,” she said. When Selna sang Holiday’s song a second time, Spalding told her, “This time you were talking to us. Before, you were talking to yourself.” “I feel something different,” Selna said. “I know, we did too,” Spalding assured her. Getting feedback from Spalding “was surreal,” says Selna, who began singing when she was 10. “She gave me advice that I didn’t expect, advice that deeply affected the technique that I used to deliver the song.” During her performance, Selna adds, “I completely forgot that there was an audience watching. It felt like Esperanza and I were having a collaborative, constructive conversation.” Since the master class, she says, “I approach the delivery of songs from a slightly different angle now. Instead of learning a song

below left: Cate Selna ’20 first sang “God Bless the Child” as a senior in high school. “I thought it would be interesting to revisit the song as a more mature singer and person,” she says. “I also think it aligned well with Esperanza’s musical taste, which was a plus.”

Spalding “told me to sing the song again and tell the audience my experience through my lyrics,” says Inez Leon ’21. “The following performance felt completely diﬀerent.”

solely within the context of its original creator, I look at lyrics and melodies as expressive things that guide my personal analysis and delivery. Music is communication for me; it’s when I can be most expressive and vulnerable. Esperanza solidiﬁed that idea for me.” Leon describes her experience of singing for Spalding as “incredible. She could have touched on any technical mistakes or ﬂaws I had made in my performance, but she chose to tackle the one thing that was most important to address: that I needed to remember that songwriters are storytellers before anything else. “I was so caught up in putting on a good performance that I forgot to tell the story of my song and forgot to communicate the meaning of the lyrics I had written,” adds Leon, who started singing “as soon as I could talk” and began writing songs at age 9. “In doing so, I received the best songwriting and performance advice I probably will receive in my entire music career.” Created in 2005 by an estate gift from the late G. William Hume ’50 M’52, who taught music, speech, and history at Occidental

before being named director of Thorne Hall in 1958, the Hume Fellowship has brought a distinguished roll call of performers to Oxy, including percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, mezzo-sopranos Jennifer Larmore and Frederica von Stade, Jeﬀrey Kahane and members of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and, most recently, pianist Vijay Iyer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. “One of the many hats that Bill Hume wore while at Occidental was as the guest lecturer on jazz for the History of Civilization course that all students took,” says David Kasunic, associate professor of music and music department chair. “I trust he would be thrilled that his generosity made this concert possible. Esperanza Spalding is the consummate musician, an extraordinary communicator and innovator.” Occidental “reached out and said, ‘Hey, come!’” Spalding told Billboard writer Thom Duﬀy. “It sounded good. I’m generally into people who want me to come and get down and do my thing”—and it’s no stretch to say that the audience at Oxy was overjoyed by her presence. SPRING 2018 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

FROM THE QUAD

Holi Spirit SASA’s annual festival of colors celebrates the arrival of spring

Dating back to its origins in 4th-century India, Holi—also known as the festival of colors—has heralded the arrival of spring and the passing of winter. People of all ages, classes, and ethnicities mark the occasion with singing, dancing, and throwing colors on each other. Although Holi is officially observed on the last full moon day of the Hindu lunisolar calendar each March, Holi festivals bring the spirit of the season to more than 30 countries throughout the year. Since 2014, Oxy’s South Asian Students Association (which organizes activities around South Asian culture, movies, music, cooking, and fashion) has hosted Holi on campus “to celebrate the new season and new beginnings with the Occidental community,” explains SASA president Jagmit Dhami ’20, a politics major from Ferndale, Wash. What began with a traditional Indian dinner expanded in 2016 to embrace the colorthrowing component, with an invitation to all students to join the celebration on Stewie Beach. The event has only grown over the last two years. Holi 2017 took place on Mullin Grove, and Holi 2018, held on Lower Herrick Lawn on March 30, attracted about 150 participants. SASA purchased 60 pounds of biodegradable colored powder in six different colors, Dhami notes. “We ran out within the first hour, so next year we will plan for more.” After all the colors fade into memory—and they wash away pretty easily—Dhami’s favorite aspects of Holi are “the meaning and the people,” she adds. “I am so grateful that I have a community to celebrate this traditional holiday with and welcome a time of new beginnings.” 6

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Faces of Holi: 1. Carley Watman ’21 (an undeclared major from New York City). 2. Roshni KatrakAdefowora ’18 (biology, Irvine). 3. “The atmosphere was so welcoming,” says ﬁrst-time participant Thomas Egan ’18 (Spanish studies/ cognitive science, San Francisco). 4. Rahul Menon ’18 (urban and environmental policy, Singapore) throws his all into “playing Holi.”

FROM THE QUAD

Photos by Marc Campos (1-3, 5) and Rebecca King ’18 (4, 6-9)

» HIGHLIGHT REEL

4 5. Marcus Forbes ’18 (critical theory and social justice, Sacramento). 6. Members of SASA prior to the event. 7. Neeha Kadavakolanu ’20 (cognitive science and computer science, San Jose). 8. Aamir Jumani ’18 (economics, London), Amruth Chamraj ’18 (economics, Cupertino), and Seth Davis ’19 (diplomacy and world aﬀairs, Chicago). 9. Ricky Bajwa ’21 (sociology, Richmond).

Austin Lashley ’18, an economics major from Kirkland, Wash., capped his Oxy swimming career with five school records, including a third-place finish in the 100 fly at the NCAA Division III Nationals in Indianapolis in March. Lashley won AllAmerican honors in the event, an All-American Honorable Mention for a 15th-place finish in the 200 fly, and an Academic AllAmerican Honorable Mention. Oxy went 6-2 against SCIAC competition to finish third in the conference—its best regular season mark since the late 1980s. Secondyear head coach Steve Webb’s squad ranked 10th in the final CSCAA West-MidwestSouth Region poll.

Triana Anderson ’18, a physics major from San Francisco, was named First Team AllSCIAC in women’s basketball after ﬁnishing her career with 1,023 points as a Tiger. The 5'8" guard was Oxy’s second-leading scorer this season, averaging 12.9 points per game while shooting 46 percent from the ﬁeld. Anderson also averaged 4.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game in conference play. 8

Former Oxy quarterback Bryan Scott ’17 made a strong showing in his April 7 debut as a player for the Spring League, an elite developmental league and scouting event for professional football talent. Splitting playing time with two other quarterbacks—including former Tennessee Titans and Louisiana State University quarterback Zach Mettenberger—Scott completed 10 out of 18 passes for 121 yards, including a touchdown, as a member of the West team, and was named Player of the Game. SPRING 2018

OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

FROM THE QUAD

Two for the Show Junior forwards Zach Baines and Austin DeWitz lit up the boards for Oxy as the Tigers notched their best conference finish in a decade

Since Baines, far left, joined the Tigers in January 2017, Oxy has gone 25-13. He and his teammates “have great chemistry together,” Baines told D3hoops.com writer Nathan Ford in January— and he’s joined DeWitz on the track team this spring. Photo by Kevin Burke

FROM THE QUAD

Occidental Conservative Club co-founder and president Alan Bliss ’19, an undeclared major from Dallas, plants flags along the Quad on September 10.

Photos by Marc Campos

Coming off a 6-10 conference record in 2016, Oxy men’s basketball was picked to finish eighth out of nine teams in a preseason poll of SCIAC coaches last fall. “I think it’s safe to say we exceeded expectations,” says team captain Austin DeWitz ’19, a biology major from Oregon City, Ore., who averaged 8.6 points per game as a sophomore. Just as DeWitz doubled his scoring output this season to 17.3 points per game, Oxy doubled its number of conference wins, going 12-4 in SCIAC play and making the postseason tournament for the first time in eight years. Led by First Team All-SCIAC selections DeWitz and classmate Zach Baines, an economics major from Samford, Conn., Coach Brian Newhall ’83’s squad went 19-7 overall, the Tigers’ best season in a decade. DeWitz, a 6'7" forward, rarely left the court during a meaningful game, anchoring Oxy’s elite defense while leading the SCIAC in both minutes (36.8) and rebounds per game (8.3). He was sixth in the league in scoring, averaging 17.3 points per game, third in blocks (1.3), and shot 50 percent from the

field. With DeWitz able to guard any position on the opposing team, Oxy was the only team that ranked in the top 10 nationally in NCAA Division III in points allowed (61.3, third in the nation), field goal percentage defense (38.6, fifth), and three-point field goal percentage defense (29.3, fifth). Baines, a 6'5" forward who transferred to Occidental from Middlebury College midway through his sophomore year—after the start of basketball season—was the Tigers’ leading scorer. He was fourth in the SCIAC in scoring (18.3) and rebounding (7.8), second in blocks (1.4) and third in minutes per game (35.8). He scored 20 points or more in seven games, hitting a season-high 27 at La Verne. “We met most of our goals,” says Baines, who says his aunt attends every game, often with other family members in tow. “Falling short of the SCIAC championship didn’t settle well with us, but that just adds more fuel to the fire for next year.” “It was rewarding to put all the pieces together and finally have a successful season,” adds DeWitz, who also was named Third

Team All-West Region by D3hoops.com. With the Tigers returning every player, with the exception of senior guard Ian Bonde, he adds, “we feel like we are set up to have an even better season next year.” After a 6-1 non-conference start, the Tigers first looked like they might be for real December 17 when they had NCAA Division III No. 1 Whitman on the ropes for 35 minutes, before a late rally by the Blues allowed them to edge Oxy 73-69. The Tigers then rattled off a 10-game winning streak that lasted from December 28 to February 3. Despite a big playoff crowd in Rush Gym, Oxy’s season ended with a 71-60 loss to Pomona-Pitzer on February 23 in the SCIAC semifinals. DeWitz and Baines won’t be back on the basketball court until October, but in the meantime, DeWitz—the defending SCIAC champion in the high jump—recruited Baines to join him on Oxy’s track team this spring. On April 3, in only his second competition ever, Baines finished second in the high jump behind DeWitz. The margin of victory? A mere 1.5 inches. SPRING 2018

OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

FROM THE QUAD

Photos by Don Milici

left: Oxy “understands that students’ lives are international, that the city is inherently global, and that we are connected to complete strangers around the world, Garcetti said. above: Khagram.

From Choi to the World Led by Mayor Eric Garcetti and Professor Sanjeev Khagram, L.A. and Oxy team up for a global initiative to accelerate Sustainable Development Goals Occidental will partner with the City of Los Angeles in an ambitious eﬀort to accelerate and measure the city’s pursuit of sustainable, inclusive, and equitable growth as part of a unique global initiative backed by the 193 countries of the United Nations. “Los Angeles can, should, and will lead in building the healthier and more prosperous world that we dream of for our children and grandchildren,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said in announcing the joint eﬀort in a speech February 5 at Choi Auditorium. “Our partnership with Occidental matches that commitment with the brainpower, research, and data collection that will keep us on target to reach for the highest goals.” As part of the new collaboration, Oxy will recruit other regional academic institutions and identify ways in which faculty and students on multiple campuses can help implement Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Los Angeles, according to Sanjeev Khagram, Occidental’s John Parke Young Chair in Global Political Economy. 10

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“Later this spring we will begin convening stakeholders from across the entire community to contribute to making Los Angeles a leader in achieving the SDGs,” said Khagram, who will serve as senior adviser on the initiative, known as Global Ambition, Local Action (GA-L.A.). “Angelenos will and must be the direct beneficiaries of our efforts, but we will also assemble a set of practices with our partner cities that can be adapted around the world.” Occidental students are already at work utilizing World Council on City Data standards to measure how current city plans and programs align with the SDGs. Adopted in 2015 by the United Nations’ entire membership, the 17 SDGs call on the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to address challenges that range from ending hunger and reducing inequality, to building resilient infrastructure and combating climate change.

“Oxy has a proud tradition of global engagement,” said Garcetti, who once taught at the College and cited its Kahane United Nations internship program and its diplomacy and world affairs department, the only one of its kind in the country. As founder and leader of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data in 2015, Khagram recruited hundreds of partners worldwide to begin to use big data to achieve sustainable development goals. His expertise and international network fit neatly with the city’s efforts to build on its 2015 SDG-based Sustainable City Plan, which lays out a series of goals for a cleaner environment and a stronger economy. Los Angeles’ successful bid for the 2028 Summer Olympics also requires the city to demonstrate how it is advancing SDGs. “Cities are on the front line of getting services to ordinary people, and we know that 60 to 70 percent of the world’s population will be living in cities in the coming decades. That’s why this initiative is so critical,” Khagram said. At Oxy, GA-L.A. will involve an interdisciplinary effort among multiple academic programs—global affairs, DWA, urban and environmental policy, computer science, the Center for the Digital Liberal Arts, and the International Programs Office—to help develop new data-driven decision-making processes for the city. “This is a College-wide effort,” Khagram emphasized. “Occcidental is committed to being the premier liberal arts college for Sustainable Development Goals.”

FROM THE QUAD

» MIXED MEDIA Combat Operations: Staying the Course, October 1967 to September 1968, by Erik B. Villard ’90 (U.S. Army Center of Military History; available at history.army.mil). In the third combat volume of the official history of the U.S. Army’s role in the Vietnam War, Villard recounts the 12-month period when the Viet Cong and their North Vietnamese allies embarked on a new, more aggressive strategy that shook the foundations of South Vietnam and forced the United States to reevaluate its military calculations in Southeast Asia. In addition to being the Army’s resident expert on the Vietnam War, Villard recently become the Center of Military History’s digital military historian. He was an adviser to Ken Burns and Lynn Novick on their Vietnam War documentary and continues to serve as an adviser to Vietnam magazine, the Vietnam Center and Archive at Texas Tech University, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and the NewYork Historical Society. Gender, Sex, and Sexualities: Psychological Perspectives, edited by Nancy Dess, Jeanne Marecek, and Leslie Bell (Oxford University Press). For decades, the field of gender, sex, and sexualities has been a focal point of increasing interest, ignited by successive waves of dramatic social change. Chief among them: the re-emergence of feminist movements in the United States and Europe in the late 1960s; the sustained (and increasingly successful) bids for legal, social, and religious acceptance of non-heterosexual sexualities in many parts of the world; and the burgeoning number of people whose experiences of gender and sexuality warrant deeper understanding and further progress toward a fuller realization of human potential and civil rights. In psychology, the intellectual project of understanding gender, sex, and sexualities encompasses a variety of subfields spanning

neuroscience and developmental, cognitive, social, and cultural psychology, as well as critical theory. Gender, Sex, and Sexualities offers both students and scholars the tools they need to consider and approach such questions as: How do children come to embrace (or repudiate) gendered activities and identities; how do people experience intimacy, desire, and sexual arousal; and what strategies can psychologists use to de-center their own points of view and effectively contribute to a decolonial psychology? Professor of psychology Nancy Dess has taught at Oxy since 1986. The Trans-Mississippi and International Expositions of 1898-1899: Art, Anthropology, and Popular Culture at the Fin de Siècle, edited by Wendy Jean Katz ’88 (University of Nebraska Press). Held from June 1 to November 1, 1898, the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition celebrated the arrival of Omaha, Neb., as a center of industry west of the Mississippi River and a progressive metropolis following the Panic of 1893. Coinciding with the Spanish-American War, it also promoted the United States’ new imperial power. Contributors to this volume consider how material and visual culture like maps, guidebooks, photographs, ceramics, housing exhibitions, stamps, and other exposition artifacts expressed assumptions about the United States’ ascendance onto a world stage. Katz majored in history at Oxy and is an associate professor of art history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The Quiet Places, by Terry Kitchen ’81 (Urban Campfire Records). Called “one of New England’s best songwriters” by The Boston Globe, Kitchen uses his 10th solo effort to unplug, shut out the noise, and explore the grace and contradictions of the human heart. From deceptively simple bluegrass (“Enjoy It While It Lasts”) and Seegeresque folk (“Seeds”) to stark midnight blues (“Jericho”), The Quiet Places highlights Kitchen’s fluid guitar and intimate voice with just enough color—upright bass, Dobro, brushes —to set the mood. Rebecca Lynch ’81, his singing partner at Oxy, appears on three cuts.

» WORTH NOTING

Photo courtesy John McCormack

Kovarikia oxy, a new species of scorpion named after Occidental College, was found in Eaton Canyon in Altadena and “probably exists in other canyons in the San Gabriels,” according to associate professor of biology John McCormack, co-author of a new study that identifies two new species of scorpion native to Southern California. (The other is Kovarikia savaryi, found in the Santa Ana Mountains.) DNA sequencing shows the two new species are unrelated to each other and to the three previously identified scorpions in the same genus found in other mountains in Southern California, McCormack says. Christopher Hawthorne, Los Angeles Times architecture critic, adjunct instructor of urban and environmental policy, and director of Occidental’s popular 3rd LA series, has been appointed chief design officer for the city of Los Angeles by Mayor Eric Garcetti. Although he’s moving to City Hall, “I plan to continue to work with students and faculty at Oxy and continue our conversation about where Los Angeles has been and where it's headed,” Hawthorne says. South L.A. residents living in close proximity to some of the city’s 70 active oil fields are diagnosed with higher rates of asthma than their Los Angeles County peers, according to Bhavna Shamasunder, assistant professor of urban and environmental policy and co-author of a recent study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The study points to the need for public policy changes that support protective measures for public health in urban planning and zoning, including the requirement of safety buffers between sensitive land uses and active oil development in dense urban areas. SPRING 2018

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Led by guide Don Rolando on horseback, associate professor of biology John McCormack, left, and his research team head out to survey birds in La Grulla Meadow at Sierra San Pedro Martir in Baja California in June 2017. Photo by Whitney Tsai ’11

By JIM TRANQUADA / Photos by MARC CAMPOS

Building on the College’s proximity to three distinctive ecosystems, its commitment to cutting-edge genomics research, and its emphasis on experiential learning, Oxy embraces an interdisciplinary approach to environmental science

RuSTEE DAvE ANDERSON ’63 went into the newly emerging field of environmental law almost by accident, thanks to a stint in the Coast Guard Reserve that found him helping to develop an early oil spill response plan. But as his pioneering career grew, he was reminded how his own education hadn’t made the connections he often found in his work between such seemingly disparate fields as political science, biology, and economics. “Oxy was no different than the Ivy League or any other college or university in the early 12

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’60s. Everyone taught their subject in their own individual silo. It was the same in law school,” says Anderson, a member of the national Land Trust Alliance board, former general counsel of the California Air Resources Board, and past board member of the California Nature Conservancy. “We’ve come a long way since then—I’m pleased to see how environmental science and law have become part of our thinking as a global community.” Fueled by a desire to encourage that kind of interdisciplinary approach, Anderson has provided the lead gift for what will be known as the Anderson Center for Environmental

Sciences at Occidental. (Other major supporters include the Ahmanson Foundation, Rose Hills Foundation, National Science Foundation, and the W.M. Keck Foundation.) When the $12.7-million project is completed in early 2020, the 14,000 square feet of renovated space in the Robert T. Moore Laboratory of Zoology and some adjacent portions of the Bioscience building will provide enhanced teaching, research, and exhibition space, including the cutting-edge Fletcher Jones Foundation Genomics Center. “The Anderson Center will provide a focal point for an exciting interdisciplinary

program that extends across campus and takes full advantage of Oxy’s unique location at the nexus of three distinctive ecosystems: the Pacific Ocean, the San Gabriel Mountains, and the Mojave Desert,” says President Jonathan veitch. “When you put together our location, strong biology and geology departments, two outstanding natural science collections, and our emphasis on experiential learning, you have the foundation for the kind of marquee program envisioned in the College’s strategic plan,” he adds. “Today’s environmental challenges require complex interdisciplinary solutions that draw equally on the physical, biological, and informational sciences. Thanks to the generosity of Dave and others, we can link these fields in a compelling way.” At the heart of the Anderson Center will be the 65,000 specimens in the Moore Collection, the world’s largest assemblage of Mexican birds. Together with the College’s Cosman Shell Collection, which has more than 117,000 specimens of gastropods and bivalves from around the world, Oxy will be in an enviable position to take advantage of scientific advances made after the collections were assembled. The field of genomics —the interdisciplinary study of the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of DNA—has transformed natural history collections like these into an extraordinary source of potential new insights into biodiversity and environmental change. Designed by CO Architects—the Los Angeles firm whose previous work includes the Hameetman Science Center—the Anderson Center will provide improved teaching and research space for the Moore Collection and the marine biology program. It also will help make the collections more visible, with bird specimens on prominent display in the center’s dramatic new entry. Oxy’s new investment runs counter to an emerging national trend for natural history collections. “Just as the collections are growing more valuable [because of the rise of genomics], they are falling into decline. With many institutions struggling to cope with significant budget cuts, some collections are being neglected, damaged, or lost altogether,” Nature reported in 2015. Yet the need has never been greater and student interest is rising, Oxy scientists say. “Because environmental science is increas-

below: Designed by CO Architects of Los Angeles, the Anderson Center will provide improved teaching and research space for the Moore Collection and the marine biology program. In addition, Santa Barbara-based landscape architect Susan Van Atta is working on a redesign of neighboring Sycamore Glen featuring native plantings intended to attract birds and provide a natural complement to the center. left: Dave Anderson ’63 and President Jonathan Veitch at a trustee dinner in January. Photo by Don Milici | Renderings courtesy CO Architects

ingly relevant in terms of the ways humans are changing our environment, its importance has grown, and that has attracted students,” says John McCormack, associate professor of biology and Moore Lab curator. In the most basic sense, environmental science is about solving problems, says Gretchen North, the John W. McMenamin Endowed Chair in Biology. “When I first started in this field, ecology was theory,” she remembers. “When you approached an issue, you would approach it from the perspective of how does this system work ideally? What hypotheses can you test that are borne out in this ideal system? But it’s not for purists anymore. It’s for people who want to roll up their sleeves and address a real problem.” Oxy’s approach to environmental science is distinctive, says geology professor Margi Rusmore, who chaired the Environmental Stewardship, Policy, and Science Task Force for the College’s strategic planning process. In lieu of a traditional major, environmental science students at Oxy develop a broad base in the field through a series of seven required courses in biology, geology, and economics, as well as completing a major in biology or geology. “We have a truly interdisciplinary program in which students become an expert in one field,” Rusmore says. “We have taken the tack of providing students with a strong foundation in a science,

top: Betty Du ’18 demonstrates her pipetting technique for associate biology professor John McCormack in Moore Lab. Student researchers are working with small samples of bird DNA. above: Meike Buhaly ’18 and Josh Beisel ’20 collect leaves from a coast live oak in Sycamore Glen for a study of leaf heat tolerance, comparing samples from Southern California and Costa Rica.

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and coupling that with remarkable research opportunities.” Clarasophia Gust ’19 of Minneapolis, one of 17 current students with a concentration in environmental science, noticed the diﬀerence while in Tanzania last semester studying wildlife conservation with students from other colleges. “A lot of them came from environmental programs that were more social science-oriented, rather than hard biological science,” says Gust, a biology major with a philosophy minor. “The director of the program had a background in anthropology.” Whether it’s overseas or just a short drive from campus, research is central to environmental science at Oxy. Since 1966, the College’s vantuna Research Group has been monitoring the marine environment of Southern and Baja California—producing both the longest continual time series studies of rocky reefs in the world and the largest spatial scale studies of reefs in the Southern California bight, now a go-to baseline for researchers and policymakers. “Our location in Los Angeles is absolutely critical to what we do,” says North. “Marine biology has an incredible living laboratory to work with. Plants are active all

above: Ben Scott ’17, Clarasophia Gust ’19, and Bryce Lewis-Smith ’20 on a research trip to La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica last June. right: Biology professor Beth Braker and associate philosophy professor Clair Morrissey find common ground in Costa Rica. “I believe that to have something worth saying, you have to be immersed in the world,” Morrissey says.

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year round. But we also have a really good tradition of ﬁeldwork in geology and biology. Instead of working through other people’s data, we generate our own.” When completed, the Anderson Center’s new Fletcher Jones Genomics Lab will allow biologists to expand on the innovative genetic research that they and their students already have underway. “This brings our research facilities up to speed, to better support the kind of research going on here,” says McCormack. “The new space will be more conducive to collaborative work for both avian and marine biology. It opens up a lot of possible new research directions for us.” McCormack and his students already are exploring new means of increasing the yield of useful genetic material from museum specimens, testing bone samples instead of the conventional tissue from skin or toe pads. Museum specimen DNA is degraded— shredded into small pieces, he explains. “But the new generation of sequencers are really good at sequencing lots and lots of pieces and pulling out the speciﬁc pieces you’re interested in, without contaminants.” Associate professor of biology Joseph Schulz and his students also will be using the lab to process material from the Cosman Shell Collection. Many of the shells still have organic material attached—the periostracum or external “skin” and the operculum, the kind of trap door that many snails use to close the aperture of their shells. “We usually don’t see that material because most people

clean their shells up. That’s one of the unusual things about this collection,” says Schulz, who curates the shells. The potential impact of the genetic research of both birds and snails is far-reaching, whether the goal is identification of new species or monitoring changes in habitats and populations that potentially reflect the effects of climate change. Both the Moore and Cosman collections will eventually be digitized (including the possibility of 3-D scanning), which will make them available to researchers around the world. And students are involved in every aspect of the work. “We’re committed to have students directly participate as colleagues. They are coauthors and they go to meetings,” Schulz says. “I’m known in my field as the scientist who brings his undergraduate students to conferences. It’s what we do in Oxy bio.” Bringing additional depth to the interdisciplinary program are faculty in other departments that one wouldn’t immediately connect with environmental science. Bevin Ashenmiller, associate professor of economics, spent the 2012-13 academic year working as senior economist for energy and the environment at the White House Council of Economic Advisers. She teaches an environmental economics course that is required of every environmental science student. Students who want to explore policy implications of the science they are pursuing can take a variety of courses in urban and environmental policy (uEP). “We teach students about the complexity of environmental issues affecting urban areas, particularly Los Angeles,” says uEP assistant professor Bhavna Shamasunder, who holds a doctorate in environmental science, policy, and management. “For example, our students learn the science, politics, and policies surrounding air pollution as it affects Los Angeles and Angelenos. They have opportunities to intern with community-based organizations that are working to improve environmental quality in their neighborhoods.” Oxy students also participate in ongoing research projects, from goods movement to oil extrac-

left: The Anderson Center’s dramatic new entry also will help make Oxy’s collections more visible, with bird specimens prominently displayed. below: Associate professor of biology Joseph Schulz holds a shell from the Cosman Collection.

“The Anderson gift is really a quantum leap forward for the biological side. We will be able to involve so many more students more meaningfully— I think it’s fabulous,” says geology professor Margi Rusmore. tion—“issues that have multi-agency regulatory oversight,” she adds. The relationship between uEP, biology, and geology cuts both ways: North, Ashenmiller, and biology professor Beth Braker serve on the uEP advisory committee, and three geology courses are among the math and science courses recommended for uEP majors. Over the last year, the program has even embraced the philosophy department. Gust spent part of last summer with associate professor Clair Morrissey at La Selva Biological Station and Reserve in the Costa Rican rain forest to explore the question of how scientific knowledge is related to valuing nature. “I’ve become fascinated with how we define the role of a scientist, especially right now when sharing scientific knowledge has become polarized,” Gust says. New tenure-track faculty hires in biology and geology over the last three years have been made with an eye to what they can contribute to the interdisciplinary work underway. In biology, Amanda Zellmer combines her interest in amphibians with computational analyses of spatial ecological and evo-

lutionary processes, while Amber Stubler is studying how human impacts are changing marine ecosystem function, with an emphasis on ocean acidification and rising temperatures. In geology, Darren Larsen is investigating sedimentary formations to develop a greater understanding of Earth’s climate shifts (“An Occidental Truth,” Fall 2017), while Christopher Oze is looking at the geochemical evolution of a variety of metals and gases and how they may contribute to larger processes including climate change. Faculty are also discussing how to build on the success of California Environmental Semester, a team-taught first-year seminar. “I still regard it as one of the best curricular experiments of the last 10 years,” North says. “It wasn’t me trying to cover everything; it was me working with a geologist and an economist. From a curricular standpoint, I would like to see more of those kinds of initiatives.” Building on what is already a distinctive program, the new Anderson Center “puts us on the map,” says McCormack. “We are planting a flag as a liberal arts college doing hightech research. This will bring a lot of people

in—not just students, but collaborators and researchers from other institutions.” Dave Anderson has a confession to make: Outside of his political science major, he was not an “A” student at Oxy. “I barely made it through physics, and I almost blew up the chem lab in Fowler,” he recalls with a smile. Yet his favorite class in college—and in high school, too—was biology: “I was really struck by our relationship to the natural world.” up until now, “Too much of environmental decision-making has been political and not fact-based,” Anderson adds. “We want environmental science students to become very knowledgeable in such a way that enables them to move on to grad school or into the public and private sectors and focus on these important issues we face now. “We want to create the next generation of leaders in the ﬁeld,” he says—and the environment at Oxy will support that. For additional reading about the Moore and Cosman collections, see “The Moore Identity” (Fall 2012) and “The Life Aquatic” (Summer 2015) at oxy.edu/magazine. SPRING 2018 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

Y T N E W T G N I H T SOME eliana sternin ’19

ari norD ’18

riCHarD via ’19

Kylie BraKeMan ’18

GreG Feiner ’18

Five student playwrights—and dozens of alumni professionals—bring the party to Keck Theater for the platinum anniversary of Oxy’s New Play Festival By P e t e r G i l s t r a P Photos by K e v i n B u r K e , e l e n a s a n C H e Z ’ 1 8 , and M a r C C a M P o s

left: Meade welcomes the Keck Theater audience to 20 Tiny Plays. below left: Nord and Freeman at a table read of Blue Sky State. below right: From left, Out of the Woods cast members Alex Gambee ’18, Makaela Vogel ’21, and Abby Howell ’21.

hen associate professor Laural Meade ’88 organized oxy’s ﬁrst new play festival in 1999— bringing working professionals in to work with student playwrights in staging their oneact plays—“my current students were either twinkles in their parents’ eyes or toddlers,” says the veteran playwright (whose current project, commissioned by the Mark taper forum, examines the war between capital and labor in Los angeles at the turn of the 20th century). for the festival’s 20th iteration february 23-25, ﬁve student plays were presented over three days—three by theater majors, and one apiece by philosophy and politics majors. “We’ll take a play from any student,” says Meade, who was assisted by theater department head susan Gratch with play reading and selection. “it’s the classic liberal arts education, right? You’re a philosophy major. Why not write a play? it all goes into the mix of making you a better, more well-rounded person and someone who is able to more deeply relate and connect to other people. “twenty years feels like a milestone, and the festival is as old as our students now,” Meade adds. “i thought it’d be the year to highlight what we’ve been doing, and to say happy birthday to the festival.” adding an extra layer to the birthday cake: 20 “tiny plays” by 20 oxy theater alumni, which were brought to life in whirlwind fashion by a troupe of student and alumni actors to close out the weekend (page 19). from a rural family homestead and a glamping Utopia to stand-up comedy and childhood imagination games, this year’s student playwrights brought the new to the festival. What did they learn from the experience? in the words of oxy junior richard Via,

who set his one-act in a funeral home closet, “anything can happen in that world you create.” Blue sKy state by ari nord ’18, directed by alan freeman ’66 M’67: Maya comes back to her rural family homestead to care for her aging mother. But she can no longer hide the real legacy of their land—from herself or her family. In the face of the truth, how can we balance personal and political responsibility? “i actually just took the playwriting class last semester,” says nord, a philosophy major from Billings, Mont. “When i was thinking about what to write, i was trying to stick to the old thing of, write what you know. i know Montana. there’s a tiny, tiny town that has all of the graves of my relatives going back to my great-great-grandfather who emigrated from serbia, so it’s a big part of who i am.” for Blue Sky State, nord was paired with professor emeritus freeman, “a wonderful person and a very thoughtful director,” she says. “at the beginning of the semester we would meet about the script and look at places that maybe needed rewriting or tweaking. once auditions started, he was involved in that process and in the actual, hands-on directing: the staging, coaching the actors, and the artistic expression of it.” “one of the things i always loved when i was teaching acting was when i had a senior non-acting major taking the course, because they would bring a fresh perspective,” says freeman (who calls Blue Sky State “a really interesting, pretty solid play”). “it’s a perfect example of the liberal arts working really well within a serious artistic discipline, and ari’s been a dream to work with.”

for nord, the feeling is mutual. “We’ve been pretty eye-to-eye on most of it and he’s very conscientious and respectful of when i have an instinct on a reading, or maybe the staging, trying it out and if it works then it works. We usually agree!” nord’s studies in philosophy helped her “in creating the logic of fictional characters and their world, things that they know or don’t know,” she adds. “it really teaches you to be humble in thinking about your own ideas and beliefs, and being open to other ideas and beliefs that can change yours.” as a first-time playwright, “i am not somebody who enjoys putting something of myself out there for other people to see and ponder, so that’s definitely been something that i’ve had to emotionally grapple with,” nord says. philosophically, she adds, “i think that’s a good thing in the long run—something to get more comfortable with.” out oF tHe WooDs by Kylie Brakeman ’18, directed by alana Dietze ’07: Three female friends try to get off the grid and out of the grind in this farcical send-up of hipster escapism. Will their utopian glamping survive office interlopers, yurt ghosts, and the ultimate flower child? When Brakeman was looking at colleges, “originally, my goal was to go to school far away from home at an acting conservatory,” says the theater major from pasadena. “But i didn’t get in anywhere and nobody wanted SPRING 2018 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

right: Alex Waxler ’18, co-student producer of the New Play Festival, watches a rehearsal of Play Pretend. far right: Actor Sophia Brown ’20 in Tragedy + Time. below: Tom Flackford’s Death Party actors Karen Baughn ’08 and Sergio Perez ’20.

Working with Dietze, who made her stage debut as a fairy in an elementary school production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “i knew i was in good hands,” Brakeman says. “alana was so calm, cool, and collected throughout the process.” outside of Keck theater, Brakeman performs improv with csz La’s sunday company, and her web series “Blondes Bless america,” a parody of fox news’ tomi Lahren’s commentaries, can be found on Youtube. after graduating this spring, she says, “you can catch me waiting tables, stalking acting agents, and taking Upright citizens Brigade classes.” to give me any money.” oxy turned out to be the right decision, she says, “because it allowed me the freedom to develop a more versatile set of skills and pursue a variety of academic interests. also, everyone here is so smart and knows so much about the prisonindustrial complex that i feel like i’m a better person just through osmosis.” having been involved in theater dating back to middle school, “mostly in an acting and improv capacity,” Brakeman saw the new play festival as “a really great way to challenge myself to develop a long-form narrative piece,” she adds. “i’m used to writing sketch comedy, which is short and less personal, so i wanted to force myself to create characters that were real people and served a real purpose beyond a three- or four-page joke. returning to the idea of “Write what you know,” she says, “i hung out with a lot of hot girls in high school, so a lot of the inspiration for Out of the Woods comes from attempting to apply hot-girl logic and hot-girl philosophy onto your own, slightly less hot-girl life, to no avail.” several years ago, Brakeman wrote another play, Waiting to Burn, in which a woman gets into the wrong afterlife by mistake— “essentially the same concept as nBc’s ‘the Good place,’” she says. “Out of the Woods is the ﬁrst play i’ve had read aloud by human people.” 18

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toM FlaCKForD’s DeatH Party by richard Via ’19, directed by Kaja Martin ’08: Can a small coat closet at the local funeral home contain a huge love triangle? Michelle loves her husband Mark who loves their friend Phillip. And who cares if someone’s dead? No one’s going to let mourning (or singing a killer eulogy song) get in the way of their final showdown. “the best way to describe this entire thing has been like a whirlwind,” says Via, a theater major from round Lake Beach, ill. “You do so much as a playwright in these three weeks that i didn’t anticipate in the slightest.” and working with Martin and actress Karen Baughn ’08, “they gave me things that i didn’t even know could happen. Like Karen’s improvs. i’m just like, ‘You’re a genius! i want you to do everything i’ve ever written!’” Tom Flackford’s Death Party began in a very different place. “When i started i had 40 pages of a very dramatic piece. it was two characters named Mark and phillip who fell in love. it was this whole annoying love story, and then Laural was like, ‘this isn’t you—this is like, corny and disgusting.’ i was like, ‘You know, i agree with that.’” Via threw out that first draft and, over the next seven days, wrote 50 pages about three people—Michelle, Mark, and phillip— trapped in a funeral home closet. “this is the most self-aggrandizing play i think anyone

could have ever written,” he says. “it gives me a genuine chuckle, and watching people react positively to it is a lot of fun.” the first-time playwright may pen another piece for his senior comprehensive. “there’s something academic about writing a play,” says Via, who plans to focus on “the performance aspect of theater” after graduation. “there’s definitely a formula—exposition, conflict, all the characters have to want something—which i really respect. But the parameters are loose enough where i can make the characters do whatever they want.” traGeDy + tiMe by Greg feiner ’18, directed by Winston a. Marshall ’10: Two standup comics have too much serious business in their lives to take on the lighthearted nature of love. But maybe a few laughs together are just what their separate tragedies need. for a politics major, feiner has studied a whole lot of theater at oxy. “i’ve taken 12 theater classes, including two performance labs, for 32 total units,” says the La Jolla resident. he also spent a semester in London studying at the fordham London centre’s London Dramatic academy, “which was 16 additional units,” he notes. “even so, i’m just a theater minor.” Tragedy + Time is feiner’s second play—his first, a romantic comedy about suicide titled Unrealistic Expectations, was part of the oxy new play development workshop his sophomore year, and he produced a revised version of it with some of his oxy theater friends in the hollywood fringe festival last year. the title of his new play, of course, comes from the old axiom about comedy. “i’m big into standup, and if there’s one constant i can trace across every truly funny person i can think of, it’s that there’s something inside them that’s deeply broken,” he explains. “that brokenness is where the laughter comes from. it’s not just a party trick, it’s a survival tactic—a light in the darkness. “But the other side of that coin is the humor also distances you emotionally so you don’t get more hurt than you already are, and that can prevent positive connection as well as negative. i kind of wanted to explore two funny, lonely people in love trying to say something serious before it’s too late.” helping realize feiner’s vision was his director, whom feiner fondly calls “amar.” “Winston alex Marshall is the coolest human being on the face of planet earth,” he says.

“he just got exactly where i was going and brought a ton of phenomenal ideas into the rehearsal room—a lot of which made it into the final script. honestly, i really lucked out.” Play PretenD by eliana sternin ’19, directed by emma Zakes Green ’09: Three little girls become three young women in this exploration of self, sexuality, and honesty through the lens of games: make-believe, drinking games, and role play. But when the lines blur, it’s impossible to know where the fun stops and real life begins. “Play Pretend is based on my relationship with my younger sister and our mutual friend,” says sternin, a theater major from Van nuys. “We all grew up playing imagination games, and that prompted a moment of reflection of like, wow, we have all come so far, what has that journey looked like for us?” having written plays and shorts “since i was pretty young,” sternin chose oxy because of its size. “i’ve always felt i flourish better in smaller departments, because the learning is more personalized, and that definitely appealed to me about the oxy theater department. classes were small enough to where the professors know your journey so they can evolve their strategies for helping you as you move along.” as one might expect, sternin found her festival experience to be both stressful and rewarding. “having to really focus and seriously edit your play because you have a very strict deadline, i think that’s been the most useful thing,” she says. “You have not just the dramaturge [playwright sarah Mantell, the 2018 edgerton Guest artist in residence] and the producer [Meade] giving you notes, but you’re working with an outside director who has their own interpretation,” she adds. “hearing from all these different sources really allows you to get an understanding of how people are reading your work, and then you can continue clarifying and evolving it as need be.” collaborating with director Green, who works in the L.a. theater scene, was a major plus for sternin, who plans to pursue a career in acting or singing. “it’s wonderful to have someone taking you seriously as if you were a professional, and getting to hear all the components that go into what you have to think about as the director of a brand-new work that’s still changing and growing.” Peter Gilstrap wrote “Occidental Fanfare” in the Winter magazine.

A Keck of a NIght

IN REACHING out to SEVERAL DoZEN oXY theater alumni to contribute to this year’s New Play Festival in a concert-style reading of 20 mini-scripts, Laural Meade offered inspiration along with the invitation. Participants were given four themes to choose from: Adult Realness Extravaganza; Love, Art, Compassion; office Hours; and, in a nod to the home of oxy theater, What the Keck Just Happened? that creative motivation paid off, with 20 Tiny Plays by 20 Big Alums, performed before a packed house February 25. “We had a lovely turnout—twice as big as I expected—and a lot of great writing,” says Meade, who contributed a piece of her own. “this was the first time the event has functioned as a reunion for our theater department, and so many alums said we should do this every year.” Given the herculean task of organizing the festival, that may be a stretch. “Well,” Meade adds with a laugh, “maybe every five years.” “the very first play I wrote was part of the New Play Festival, and Laural directed it,” says Erik Patterson ’00, a two-time Emmy nominee and winner of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for writing for his 2016 play One of the Nice Ones. “It really set the stage for me to see how theater works in the real world. It’s worked out pretty well since then.” Patterson’s tiny play was about “two former students coming back to this actual theater festival reunion,” he says. “the play was my love letter to the theater department because I feel like I grew up both as an individual and as a writer, and I figured out where I wanted to go with my life in those four years at occidental. It was nice to be invited back and be able to say thank you.” “the New Play Festival is “such a great opportunity,” says Karen Baughn ’08, who teaches improv and acting at io West, a local comedy institution. (A longtime professional actor at Disneyland, she also was crowned L.A.’s Favorite Improviser in 2013.) “In college, you get a lot of great information and guidance from the people who head up the department, but it’s a whole other world when you step into the acting scene outside of the oxy bubble. So to have a small bridge into that world is so valuable.

toP: Exchange student Tiggy Bayley, Allison Schreuder ’18, Jim Delgado ’18, Samantha Collins ’19, Sandy Nguyen ’21, and Will Youmans ’20. above left: Marisela Guardado ’17 gives a cooking show-style demonstration on how to eat a chihuahua. above right: Kenyon Meleney ’15 and Carie Kawa ’99. above: Nguyen, Meleney, Allison Schreuder ’18, Will Youmans ’20, Jonny Rogers ’11, and Collins. “How do people put up plays?” she continues. “How do people develop material out there in the world? Getting alumni and professionals together with students, they can start making connections in the world that they’re going to hopefully be working in. And proactive students can keep those connections.” For Joe Chandler ’01, one of several oxy writers for tV’s “American Dad!” and a veteran of L.A.’s talent-rich upright Citizens Brigade, the New Play Festival “was a starting point for me as a writer” nearly two decades ago. He wrote two plays as a student, and directed a third play in 2013. the tiny plays “were really funny and touching,” he says. “there were a lot of inside jokes because there were 20 years’ worth of people who’ve been through the program who were there. I feel like my oxy experience put me on the path to where I ended up, so I think of the festival very fondly because of that.”

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WHY WE SERVED B Y D O U G B E A C H A M â&#x20AC;&#x2122;6 4

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First Lt. Doug Beacham ’64, center, and his crewmates from the 817th Tactical Airlift Squadron.

Col. Rick Bennett ’63, seated, and his crew toast his successful completion of his 100th F-4 mission over North Vietnam at Royal Thai Air Force Base in Ubon, Thailand, in July 1968—11 months into a yearlong tour of duty. “Successful completion of ‘100 North’ was your ticket home,” he explains. Bennett sent this photo to his family in California with the inscription “Be Home Soon.”

Half a century after their time in Vietnam, a dozen alumni share their war stories— the camaraderie, the challenges, and how their Oxy education readied them for combat

hen I completed AIr Force rotc as a senior at occidental in 1964, the U.S. military presence in the Second Indochina War was minimal. of nearly 2.7 million active-duty personnel, fewer than 24,000 Americans had been dispatched to Vietnam. After attending oﬃcer training School, I was assigned to undergraduate navigator training at James connelly Air Force Base in Waco, texas, in January 1965. ten months later, I reported to lockbourne Air Force Base in columbus, ohio. For the next 18 months, I ﬂew across north America and throughout europe, South America, and central America in a c-130 hercules, a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. We hauled anything anywhere the military needed it. By the end of 1967, more than 485,000 U.S. soldiers were in Vietnam. I was up for overseas assignment that year, with the choices being 18 months to two years without dependents in the philippines, or three years at naha Air Base, okinawa, with my family. my wife, Sue Swarts Beacham ’66, was pregnant with our son, so we chose the longer tour.

For the first few months at naha, my crew and I flew “trash hauling” missions in Vietnam—carrying supplies, troops, wounded soldiers, body bags, fuel, and general trash from one end of the country to the other. It was mostly routine, flying “in-country” from one airfield to the next, but there were also moments of sheer terror. our crew also flew for six months above the ho chi minh trail in laos. We were unarmed forward air controllers flying at night, looking for enemy road traffic. When we found them, we dropped flares to expose their position, and summoned fighter/bombers for the attack. on one nighttime strike we worked with col. rick Bennett ’63, who flew 398 combat missions in Southeast Asia, 135 of them over north Vietnam. on another memorable mission, one that could have been my last, we spotted 105 enemy trucks (I know for sure because I counted them twice) backed up at the mouth of the mu Ghia pass in northern laos. my aircraft commander pleaded for two hours for attack aircraft, but none came. Finally I took matters into my own hands, and out of sheer frustration, fired six angry SPRING 2018 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

rounds from the .38 caliber pistol I kept in my survival vest. mind you, I was in a moving c-130 ﬂying at 9,000 feet and the enemy trucks were far below. It seemed like a good idea at the time! By the time support arrived, the trucks had scattered. We missed what would have been the biggest single interdiction air strike of the entire war. the year 1968 was ﬁlled with adventures like that, but my crew and I did have a lot of fun along the way. there’s a bond created in combat unlike anything else because it’s a life-and-death environment. Being in a war zone is scary. combat is downright terrifying. my situation was not unique. many of my oxy friends have similar stories to tell, and several of them told me that their service in Southeast Asia is the most meaningful thing they have done. the experience helped them focus their lives when they returned.

top: Dave Rhode ’65 airborne in an A-6 Intruder. above: Steve Ryf ’67 during pilot training at Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, Texas.

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We fought in an unpopular war, one that grew even more so over time. many men our age tried to avoid military service by staying in school and keeping a deferment, getting married and having kids, faking physical illness, or going to canada. those of us who served, for whatever reason—patriotism, adventure, to avoid being drafted into the Army—are in the minority. When we returned home, we were met with open hostility or were simply ignored. It has been a half-century since we served in Vietnam. many of us found it hard to tell our stories, so for a long time we didn’t. everyone I contacted for this story is a decorated veteran; most are reluctant to list their medals and other honors. We want you to know who we are, what we did, and what we learned—not only at oxy, but in service to our country. Rick Bennett ’63 made the military a career, retiring in 1991 after almost 30 years in the Air Force. he eventually became commander of the first Air Force F-15 wing, and had his “last rodeo” in operation desert Storm. rick flew two combat tours in F-4s during the Vietnam War: providing close air support from 1966 to 1968 in South Vietnam’s cam ranh Bay, and Ubon royal thai Air Force Base, thailand, operating against interdiction targets along the ho chi minh trail, and bombing strikes against a variety of administration-approved targets in north Vietnam and the hanoi area. “there was stress, of course, and sadness with the loss of fellow airmen to enemy fire from miGs, surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft artillery, and operational accidents,” rick recalls. “But those days were also exciting, challenging, occasionally hair-raising. We had great spirit with the flying squadrons and support crew—unforgettable experiences. I’m happy and proud I was there, in the airborne action. Wouldn’t trade it.” looking back on his service, rick says oxy impacted him in several ways. “most obviously was Air Force rotc under col. robert ladd [who taught at occidental from 1960 to 1965 and directed much of the U.S. air base construction in Vietnam and thailand early in the war]. he was the second most influential mentor in my life, behind my father. And, after having been exposed to many different styles of leadership, inspiration, motivation, and problem-solving and

goal seeking at oxy, I think my liberal arts education helped me roll with the punches not only during my Vietnam time, but through my subsequent years in the Air Force.” Ron Hankins ’64 was one of several oxy Air Force rotc cadets who served in Vietnam; he went on active duty in January 1965. After flight school, he was assigned to an hU-16 Albatross, an amphibious flying boat used for air and sea rescue. But when he volunteered for Vietnam in the summer of 1966, the Air Force switched him to a singleengine utility aircraft, the helio U-10 courier. At about 1 a.m. on dec. 4, 1966—less than 48 hours after his arrival at tan Son nhut Air Base near Saigon—the base was rocked by several mortar attacks, “one of which blew one of our Army defenders through the door of the building we were holed up in,” ron recalls. Although no one was seriously injured, “We still did not have weapons and were right on the flight line where the Viet cong were blowing up aircraft and buildings,” he adds. “this was not a positive beginning.” ron was assigned to a psychological warfare air unit that dropped leaflets and played propaganda tapes through an amplifier mounted on the plane. the mission was relatively simple, he says, although the enemy did offer cash rewards for the capture of various military personnel: $5,000 for Agent orange spray plane crew members and $1,200 for psychological warfare pilots. ron enjoyed a varied career following his release from service in February 1970, including making beer cans and electronic substrates for coors, selling timber to mining companies, working as a miner, and owning a machine and welding shop. he farmed for 23 years before moving to Florida and opening another machine shop, retiring in 2016. Mike Garoutte ’65 enrolled in the Air Force rotc at his mother’s suggestion. (“Why don’t you just try it for two years?” she said. “You can always drop out later.”) he ultimately went through flight training at Vance Air Force Base in oklahoma, and after graduation chose to fly the c-123 provider cargo plane. “two months at hurlburt Field, Fla., one week of Jungle Survival School in the philippines, and I was then in-country.” mike served in Vietnam from march 1967 to march 1968, stationed at da nang and flying into Khe Sanh and hue during the heaviest fighting of the tet offensive. “Whatever

you had to get from here to there, we carried it: passengers, mail, ammo, livestock, gasoline, medevac, USo entertainers—you name it.” mike once carried the entire South Vietnamese army payroll (“6 million piasters”). Asked about his first impression of Vietnam, “I was scared shitless,” mike admits. he was convinced there was a Viet cong around every corner, “and he would shoot me immediately” because he was white. luckily, he ran into a high school friend in base security at tan Son nhut who showed him around and convinced him much of the country was relatively safe—you just had to be careful. After his discharge in August 1972, mike applied to every airline under the sun, but there were too many pilots looking for jobs at the time. he became a life insurance agent and had a successful career for 35 years. Dave Hickson ’66 enlisted in the Air Force in october 1966. After otS and flying school, he was stationed at clark Air Force Base in the philippines. A fellow “trash hauler,” dave logged more than 2,000 flight hours in Vietnam over a two-year period, flying c-130s and carrying “just about everything imaginable,” even dropping bombs on occasion. dave was a co-pilot the first year, and an aircraft commander the second. he landed at big airfields and small dirt runways from cambodia to the demilitarized Zone—but when pressed for specifics, he demurs. “let’s just say it was a very maturing experience,” says dave, who completed his service in may 1971, went on to law school, and practices law in encinitas today. Steve Ryf ’67 joined the Air Force for pilot training in 1967 “to avoid being drafted into the Army.” he flew the c-130 mostly in europe for the next two years before getting orders to fly the Ac-130A gunship Spectre based at Ubon rtAFB in thailand. As a gunship pilot, his job was to fly night missions from Ubon over the ho chi minh trail in laos. their mission was to interrupt truck traffic coming out of north Vietnam through laos into South Vietnam. the experience of flying over the trail was like “nothing I could have imagined,” Steve recalls. his crew flew at night and spent three hours patrolling and looking for trucks. they used infrared and low light sensors to pick up traffic and were armed with 20mm Gatling guns and two 40mm cannons to engage them. the enemy fired 37mm and 57mm anti-aircraft artillery back at them.

Dave Hickson ’66 stands in front of his C-130 at an air base that was part of “the System,” a term that “trash haulers” used for tactical airlift in Vietnam.

on one occasion his gunship received 2,000 rounds of artillery fire, and in one month Steve had four SAm (surface-to-air) missiles shot at him. one of the four SAm shots required a violent evasive maneuver that cracked both wing spars from the g-force. Steve admits he was pretty scared at first, but it became business as usual—focusing on the flying and not the tracers. “there’s obviously a stark contrast between the protected environment at oxy and flying combat missions, where I had to survive heavy enemy anti-aircraft fire each time out,” Steve adds. he flew in friendlier skies for delta Airlines for 30 years after his discharge in January 1973. “I did feel a kinship with other college-educated pilots who were looking forward to life after Vietnam. I feel that athletics at oxy helped me work as part of a team to accomplish a goal.” Dave Rhode ’65 was the first in his family to serve in the military, entering the navy’s Aviation officer candidate School in november 1966. “ten weeks later I was an officer and a gentleman,” he says. “thirteen months after that I was training in combat aircraft.” In october 1969, dave found himself at “Yankee Station” in the Gulf of tonkin off the coast of Vietnam on the aircraft carrier USS Ranger. he flew an A-6 Intruder off the carrier into Vietnam and laos to impede the flow of enemy supplies from north Vietnam. he was deployed for eight months, flying both day and night missions in all types of weather. his squadron lost five aircraft, and five squadron mates were killed in action out of 20 or 21 pilots, including his roommate.

After his discharge in June 1971, dave went into the retail appliance business, taking over his father’s company in Fullerton, which he ran for 40 years until his retirement. even though there were occasional moments of apprehension and fear, “the entire navy/Vietnam experience was a wonderful time in my life,” dave says. “I was doing something very few have experienced.” Steve Matson ’64 took a different course to Vietnam. he served with the peace corps for two years in thailand prior to joining the Army. he was stationed at Fort Sill, okla., when he got his orders to go to Vietnam. Steve worked in battalion headquarters for the First Air cavalry, where he was responsible for making recommendations to the battalion commander for assignment of personnel to units in the field. he spent a year in Vietnam from July 1968 to June 1969, stationed first at An Khê, and then Biên hòa. After two years in the Army, Steve (who later became an attorney) was discharged in June 1969. he says he did not support the war because he believed that the premise for it—the doctrine of communist containment, which dates back to the late 1940s—“was not valid, and I knew president Johnson was not being honest with the American public about what we were doing in Vietnam. he said there were not bombing bases in thailand, and I knew that to be false—I was in thailand at the time. he said that our troops were not in cambodia, which I also knew was false—I was in Vietnam at the time. nevertheless I chose to serve because I loved my country and did not want to live anywhere else.” SPRING 2018 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE 23

Chris Calkins ’67 was in his first year of law school in march 1968 when Gen. William Westmoreland called for more troops, and his draft board indicated they were going to pull his student deferment. he ended up in navy officer candidate School, where he roomed with tim Brown ’67. that July, he was shipped out to an oiler, the USS Manatee. “I spent 21½ months on the Manatee, ending up as operations officer and navigator, with approximately 20 months shuttling from Subic Bay to the coast refueling from An thoi near the cambodian border to the Gulf of haiphong,” chris recalls. “We only touched land twice—once at Vung tau and once at da nang. When things got hot off Korea, we were shifted there for a few weeks, operating out of Sasebo, Japan.” “In many ways it was surreal. on ship it was just routine, if intense, but we would get crews rotated on board who had been in the rivers or close support. Some left, and later we heard of their deaths on the rivers.” “the experience on the ship at sea, long transits, and working all of the tools neces-

Chris Calkins ’67 and his wife, Diane (Dunlap) ’69, in San Diego in June 1968, just before his deployment to Westpac. Calkins came out of Vietnam “with the belief that my generation would never allow that kind of waste of humanity to occur again but would go into this kind of entanglement carefully, only to see it repeated in spades in 2002.”

sary was extraordinary,” says chris, who finished law school after his navy service and became a partner in a large law firm and later ceo of a private company in carlsbad. (he also has served as a trustee of oxy since 2006.) “I learned to work and live together with those with whom I didn’t necessary agree over an extended period of time.” After talking to all the military recruiters who visited the oxy campus, John Engvall ’66 selected the marine corps and entered officer candidate School in January 1967. the following August he completed Basic

Infantry School. By october 1967 he was in Vietnam as a second lieutenant, assigned to a battalion engaged in combat near the dmZ. As a rifle platoon commander, he was in charge of 40 to 50 marines, including machine gunners, mortar men, and a navy medic. during his first meeting with his commanding officer, it was made clear to him that an important job was to get as many of his marines home alive as possible. In January 1968, his battalion was ordered to assist in the defense of Khe Sanh, a combat base surrounded by the enemy and under constant attack. that April, he was wounded and upon recovery was assigned as executive officer of an infantry company. At 23, John was in charge of the lives of young men in combat—a daunting responsi-

CASUALTIES OF WAR In 1976, a memorial plaque was installed at Occidental to honor the memory of two alumni who died during the Korean War (Arthur L. Dixon ’50 and Gordon O. Smith ’49), and 14 who perished during the Vietnam War. While some details are sketchier than others—and a number of families waited years for official confirmation of their loved one’s death— we have pieced together a tribute to those “Occidental sons” who gave their lives in service to their country. Lt. David W. Embertson ’60 died June 13, 1961, after crashing his plane at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia. H. Ronald Avila ’56 died Nov. 20, 1962. A political science major from San Gabriel, Ron participated in Air Force ROTC, varsity water polo, and Young Republicans at Oxy. Capt. Jon G. Speer ’54 was assigned to the West German Luftwaffe as an instructor and was leading a four-jet fighter combat formation flight when the planes crashed after colliding near Cologne on June 19, 1962. Three West German Air Force pilots perished in the crash as well. Jon was a father of three and described as a “heroic and beloved pilot” by a spokesman for the Defense Ministry.

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Embertson

Avila

Speer

Lt. Cmdr. Robert A. Komoroff ’47 was killed the night of May 8, 1964, when the A4C Skyhawk he was flying crashed into the sea less than 15 miles from the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt. His body was recovered the following morning. A physics major at Oxy, he was a 20-year veteran of the Navy and flew 53 combat missions in Korea. First Lt. Stephen C. Moreland ’65 was a C-130 pilot in an aircraft attempting to rescue Vietnamese and American troops from Kham Duc while it was being overrun. With 155 passengers and crew on board, they were hit by enemy fire and crashed on takeoff on May 12, 1965. There were no survivors. Steve and Ron Hankins ’64 were best friends at Oxy. Airman David A. Dick ’64 died Jan. 28, 1966, when he struck a car while riding his motorcycle in Bloomington, Ind., rupturing his spleen. Seaman Apprentice Steven L. Hunt ’67 was attempting to rescue 13-year-old Mario Forstein from the “slashing surf” at Point Lobos Playland Beach in San Francisco on Jan. 29, 1966, when the force of the waves smashed them both against

Moreland

Hunt

the jagged rocks before washing them out to sea. Steven attended Oxy on a scholarship and aspired to become an architect. He enlisted in the Navy in September 1965. Lt. Cmdr. Charles Ford Jesson ’49 died July 18, 1966, when his sports car crashed on a road near Honolulu. He came to Oxy through the Navy V-12 program (July 1944 to March 1945) then returned after WWII, majoring in physical education. Lt. Col. William J. Newton ’45 was a flight instructor in WWII, flew 60 combat missions in B-26 bombers in the Korean War, and was the base commander flying for the famous 606th Air Commando Squadron out of eastern Thailand when his T-28 trainer crashed in a non-hostile action on Oct. 23, 1966. Major Wallace L. Wiggins ’65 and his F-102 fighter were hit on a mission near a Laotian village on Feb. 3, 1968. His aircraft was struck by an enemy air-to-air missile that lodged in his tail section, but did not explode. While trying to make it to safety in Thailand, his airplane exploded.

bility—but his training and support served him well throughout his post-war career. After his discharge in march 1972, he completed his mBA at the University of Washington and enjoyed a long career with the Weyerhaeuser co. in tacoma, Wash., retiring in 2006 as director of labor relations. “my military experience—highlighted by the time spent in Vietnam—was a deﬁning period in my life,” John says. “the friendships I made in the marines continue to this day.” Bob Thome ’66 served for 27 years in the Army, retiring with the rank of colonel. After commissioning at Fort Benning and airborne training, he went to Fort Bragg for Special Forces Qualiﬁcation training and was assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group. he went to Vietnamese language school en route to Vietnam, where he spent two one-year tours between September 1968 and September 1971. “my experience was very positive, as much as a combat zone and combat can be,” Bob says. “I was fortunate to work with highly trained professionals in both Special Forces and rangers during both tours.”

Newton

Wiggins

Lyon

Wally’s remains were turned over to a congressional delegation by the Communist government in Laos in 1978. A scholarship fund was established in his name at Oxy. Lt. Col. Donovan L. Lyon ’56 was shot down in his ﬁrst mission over Laos on March 22, 1968, but was listed as “missing in action” for the next six years— during which time his wife, Janice (Ahrens) ’60, was active in organizing POW and MIA clubs throughout the United States. “As the wife of an Air Force pilot, I know that sacriﬁces of your lives are sometimes required in combat,” she said in a 1973 interview with the Highland Park News-Herald. “We can understand and accept that. It is another matter, however, to never know what happened to someone you love.” Cocaptain of the 1955 football team and an ROTC commander while at Oxy, Don did his student teaching at Eagle Rock High School.

“We were in Vietnam for the right reasons, but with exceptionally poor political and military leadership (political generals) on both the American and Vietnamese side. the vast majority who fought and died in Vietnam did so with honor and dignity. For me personally, my lord and Savior Jesus christ gave me my moral center and protection to do what was right. the performance of my soldiers—American, cambodian, chinese [the nung], montagnards, and Vietnamese—attest to the righteousness of our mission in Vietnam.” After graduating from oxy, Steve Bernstein ’66 joined the marine corps and completed oﬃcer candidate School. Shortly thereafter he was sent to Vietnam as an infantry platoon commander. his ﬁrst reaction upon arrival? “Wow, this is real!” he was in combat for seven months, all in the northern part of South Vietnam near the demilitarized Zone. he blew up bunkers along the ho chi minh trail, patrolled the dmZ, acted as security for convoys, and cleared mines from roads.

Sampsell

Beutel

mission at night from Marble Mountain to a hospital ship, the USS Repose. In bad weather, his helicopter hit a mountaintop. Everyone aboard was killed. Beacham and his wife, Sue ’66, had their first date on a double date with Jody. He is buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego. Major Donald A. Brown ’61 was killed July 30, 1970, while flying in the back seat of an F-4 over southern Laos at night. Radar and radio contact with the plane was lost, and he was officially listed as missing in action. Don was Beacham’s flight commander in Air Force ROTC at Oxy.

Lt. Robert D. Beutel ’68 was shot down in November 1971 on an aerial combat mission in Laos. His body was never recovered. “I believe he is still carried on the books as missing in action, though he was declared oﬃcially dead by the Air Force. At the time, he was a On Feb. 16, 1970—three months after his arrival lieutenant and posthumously promoted to in Vietnam—First Lt. Joel W. “Jody’ Sampsell ’66, a Marine helicopter pilot stationed at Da Nang, captain,” wrote Dr. Christopher D. Smith in 1983. —dick anderson volunteered to ﬂy an emergency blood resupply

his first combat action came during the tet offensive in January 1968. he was ordered to take a village thought to be lightly defended, but he and his men were met instead by a company of north Vietnam army regulars. Steve was twice wounded, once by a bullet and again by shrapnel. After being hospitalized, he was sent back to the same village, but this time he knew what to expect. Steve said he grew up quickly in Vietnam. “As a platoon commander, you have 30 to 40 young men under you, and it required making tough decisions and being able to improvise.” Steve was eventually evacuated to Guam with malaria in July 1968. After being released from the hospital, he spent the remainder of his time on okinawa. he credits football coach Jim mora ’57 with having a lasting impact on him: “he was tough and disciplined—characteristics which helped me immensely in officer candidate School and during the tough times in Vietnam.” Steve went on to coach football and enjoyed a 40-year career at several colleges. I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 1986. Back then I couldn’t have shared my combat experiences; I didn’t remember them. I disappeared into corporate America for many years, and the memories were buried. the process of recovery has not always been pretty, but I have had a lot of help from the Veterans Administration. I do remember my encounters, fleeting as they were, with my fellow oxy soldiers. Four of us met by chance at the cam ranh Bay officers club in 1967: Steve Bernstein, rick Bennett, ron hankins, and me. (I seem to be the only one who recalls the meeting; I believe I was sober at the time.) Steve matson and I got together at An Khê in 1968, and I ran into mike Garoutte on the tarmac at da nang that same year. We all served our country in a difficult time. We did the best job we could and are proud of our service. Steve Bernstein could be speaking for all of us when he recalls 1968 as an awful year in the States, but horrific for those in combat. “I have never been anywhere where the men were as close, particularly in the field,” he adds. “We were one.” After returning from Southeast Asia in April 1969, Doug Beacham ’64 spent six months surfing then found a job in the financial planning industry. At age 43, he made a career change and became a general contractor. He wrote “Chairman of the Board” in the Summer 2017 issue. SPRING 2018

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refllect on 8 6 9 1 f o s s la bers of the C xperience m e m , s e h c a ary fast appro rld and shaped their Oxy e s r e iv n n a n e As their gold ars that changed the wo er â&#x20AC;&#x2122;75 four ye l Robert Walk By Pau

top: 1967 Homecoming queen Tina Anderson Scott ’68, escorted by husband Norris “Nob” Scott ’68. The couple married in September 1967. bottom left: Scott with princesses Nan Van Gelder ’68 and Nancy Wilson ’68. bottom right: Carol Stromme ’68 waves from the back of a Honda motorcycle that was raﬄed oﬀ at Homecoming. “I got to ride around the stadium and select the winning ticket,” she recalls. The bike was won by a Fiji alum.

Photos courtes

y Sarah Walker

Shaw ’68

left: These third-ﬂoor Newcomb Hall residents form a pyramid in 1965. Bottom row, l-r: Lexi Chatlos ’67, Ginger Mason ’68, and Ruth Ann Botten ’67. Middle row: Sarah Walker ’68 and Lynne Pound ’68. Top: Denise Buckawick ’68. above: A 1968 selﬁe of Walker enjoying the weather. below: Folk trio Dave Miles ’69, Bob Jacob ’68, and David Totheroh ’69 perform at the Chilcott BBQ in 1967.

S A HiGH SCHOOl juNiOR from Fullerton, Meredith Mason Garcia ’68 “fell in love with Oxy in the spring of 1963, on a campus visitation day,” she recalls. “i loved the campus, i loved the atmosphere, i loved the people i met, and most of all, i loved the idea of a liberal [arts] education. The two-year History of Civilization course intrigued me. The threeterm academic calendar also attracted me—the idea of being able to focus on three courses at a time during each term.” Garcia applied to Oxy as an early decision candidate. “i was over the moon with excitement when i got my letter of acceptance,” she says. When Garcia and her 395 classmates arrived in September 1964, they were extolled in The Occidental by admission director William Callison as a group of students “selected with an emphasis on distinctive personal characteristics” over traditional academic credentials. “it would be misleading to convey the impression that statistical data was not important,” he wrote, “but in most cases interesting background, or unusually developed talent, a ﬂair for verbal or written persuasion, demonstrated ability in the arts—a multitude of non-statistical factors were the decisive ones.” Callison’s forward-thinking admission standards produced an extraordinary group of young people—234 men and 162 women—who transitioned toward adulthood during a period of powerful change for the College and the country. And if class notes are any measure of engagement (turn to page 47 if you doubt us), they remain committed to Oxy, and each other, on the cusp of their 50th reunion.

Photo by Ira West ’68/courtesy Jesus Trevino ’68

What can we say about the Class of ’68? Roughly seven out of 10 students hailed from California, while seven students (from Canada, Chile, Holland, Hong Kong, and jamaica) brought an international flavor to the class. Although there is no hard data on ethnicity, the names and faces in the 1964 student handbook suggest that less than 10 percent of the class was non-white (a number that Callison was already working to address). What do classmates say about themselves, their Oxy experiences, and their life outcomes half a century after leaving Eagle Rock? Plenty. in a survey sent by Occidental magazine in mid-February, members of the Class of ’68 were asked to reflect upon their school days with the benefit of hindsight. Photos (unless otherwise noted) courtesy Occidental College Special Collections

What brought them to Occidental? Survey respondents consistently pointed to the beauty of the campus, the appeal of a small college, and the reputation for academic excellence. Almost one out of three respondents had family or friends who attended the College. Others cited financial aid packages or specific academic offerings, notably diplomacy and world affairs, education, English, philosophy, and music. Patricia Varney Hardy, who arrived as a transfer student in 1966 and sang in the Glee Club, offered the simplest and most pointed reason for choosing Oxy: Glee Club director “Dr. Howard Swan.” Sports drew a few students. Norris “Nob” Scott was recruited by baseball and basketball coach Grant Dunlap ’46, transfer Rob Russell “wanted to run” on Oxy’s stand-

above left: A student takes part in the Festival, held Feb. 2-4, 1968. above right: In early 1967, these Oxy students lived in the Annex, an apartment complex on Avenue 47. Lying down: Jim Miller ’68. Kneeling: Jesus Trevino ’68. First row: Judy Greene ’68, Gayla Lee Beauchamp ’67, Caralee Beasley ’67, and Duncan Falls ’68. Second row: Keith Boettcher ’68, Phil Kaslo ’68, Mark Hill ’68, and Jimmy Conner ’68.

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1964 September: The Class of ’68 arrives on campus. Classes begin September 24. September 30: Arthur G. Coons 1920 announces his retirement at the end of the academic year after 20 years as president. October 6: Violinist Isaac Stern plays at Thorne Hall. October 8: Margaret Brown Herrick Memorial Chapel is dedicated. October 30: In a mock election sponsored by the Occidental Political Science Forum, President Johnson defeats Sen. Barry Goldwater, 431-316. Johnson wins the national election in a landslide November 3.

1965 February 16: Carleton College Dean Richard C. Gilman is selected as Oxy’s 10th president. March 8: 3,500 U.S. Marines land at Da Nang—the ﬁrst U.S. ground troops deployed to Vietnam. Four days later, The Occidental publishes its ﬁrst editorial about the Vietnam War, titled “Why Die for Dong Dang?”

out track team, and Barry Sears candidly admits that Oxy was “one of the few schools where i could continue playing basketball with my limited physical skill set.” Others simply listened to their parents. “My mom chose Oxy for me and i managed to get a music scholarship,” writes Sue Ashley Meyer. “We would not have been able to afford Oxy otherwise.” “it was the only college that my father allowed me to apply to,” recalls Martha Carriger Giffen, a graduate of Eagle Rock High School. Her dad also insisted that she live at home throughout college: “He was afraid i might learn something or make friends that he didn’t approve of.” (She later married George Giffen ’60, whom she met after graduation.) We asked alumni to list up to three of their favorite classes and favorite professors. The favorite class by far? History of Civilization, the two-year team-taught survey course taken by all freshmen and sophomores, appeared on 43 out of 77 questionnaires—a whopping 56 percent. (Try getting 56 percent of people to agree on anything.) Psychology classes were listed by 20 alumni, with Abnormal Psychology appearing on eight questionnaires and Social Psychology on five. No other course received more than three mentions—a testimony, perhaps, to the eclectic interests of the Class of ’68. Considering the popularity of History of Civ, it’s no surprise that Robert Winter—Arthur G. Coons Professor in the History of ideas Emeritus and chair of the Civ program—was the most popular professor, included on 24 questionnaires. Psychology professor David Cole M’47 was a strong second, listed on 13 questionnaires, followed by the aforementioned Howard Swan with 10. Another dozen professors were listed by three or more

Photos courtesy Jim Rough ’68

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above: When the 1967 baseball team went to the NAIA College World Series in St. Joseph, Mo., ﬁnishing fourth, “Every morning we had to push our bus to get it started so we could get to the game,” Jim Rough ’68 writes. left: Cast members of The American Dream, by Edward Albee, which was staged at Oxy in January 1967: Frances Alford ’70, Faye Phelan ’68, Jim Rough ’68, Ellen Keneshea ’69, and Thomas Green ’69.

alumni, and it’s safe to say that almost every professor at Oxy during the period was at least one student’s favorite. (“Would be easier to list those who weren’t my favorites,” writes Kathy Wray Williams.) About 30 percent of respondents played on a College sports team, and three out of four engaged in other extracurricular activities. Almost half of those belonged to fraternities or sororities. College Choir and other musical activities were especially popular, but as a whole, the Class of ’68 seems to have taken advantage of almost every activity available. One of the most popular activities outside the classroom was looking for and often finding romance. Almost one out of three survey respondents met their future spouses at Oxy. Three others married Oxy alums whom they met after graduating. A few pointed out that their first marriage didn’t last, but many are still happily married some 50 years later. We asked the class how Oxy changed during the years they were there. Their replies were remarkably consistent, but Alan Takeda sums it up nicely: “Oxy changed as the times changed,” he writes. “As a freshman, coeds had a curfew, Vietnam was a minor issue, and my class had about two dozen minorities, doubling the number at the school. Patriotism was high, and i remember that i would die for my country. Civil rights was a dilemma for many.” The turning point seems to have been 1966, when the Class of ’68 ended their sophomore year in one world and began their junior year in another. “Change came more slowly at Oxy than at more liberal places such as Berkeley and Columbia,” writes Ann la Rue Matlow. “Before our junior year it was more traditional and clean-cut, the way schools might have been in the ’50s.” Marcia Bridge Cooke echoes the same idea: “The cultural life changed from a vibe of the ’50s to that of the ’70s in the space of two years: 1966 to 1968.” Much of this reflected change in the world around them. “it was the ’60s. The whole world changed,” writes Mary lou Kurtz. “We lost our insular focus,” remembers judy Clark Everitt. “We grew outside ourselves and became citizens of the country while the country itself grew up.” There was also a shift in student attitudes as the older classes graduated. “in 1966, the culture of the students changed,” writes Sue Budd Chaplin. incoming freshmen “resisted the traditional, protested inequalities, and were far more socially aware and active than i was.” “By the time we were seniors, a number of juniors, sophomores, and freshmen became politically radicalized,” Phil Nichols recalls. “Also, drugs rolled heavily starting in the fall of 1966.” Although marijuana was the drug of choice, lSD— which was legal in California until October 1966—was a hot topic of discussion and experimentation. in his 2010 memoir Two Years at Occidental in the Late Sixties, Charles Rouse, an Air Force veteran who transferred to Oxy as a

left: A gathering of students enjoys the oﬀcamera antics of auctioneer Bob Winter, then associate professor of the History of Civilization, during Renaissance Week in 1967. An auction of student and faculty art raised $1,380 to aid the restoration of Italian art damaged in the Florence Flood of 1966. below: A college mixer in the Quad in April 1968.

junior, recounted a bad drug experience with recurring flashbacks that began in january 1967 when, unbeknownst to him, a fellow student “dosed” him with a drug that was probably lSD. “Something swept through me like an electric wind, going upward,” he wrote. “Every time this happened, i became higher, more intoxicated. i definitely felt high and i definitely felt afraid.” in October 1967, the College launched a series of discussions on drugs, kicked off by a lecture on lSD by psychiatrist and former Oxy counselor Carl Faber ’57. Weekly follow-up sessions were held in the dorms. The big flashpoint on campus junior year was the lockout policy for women’s dorms, which required women to be back in their residence halls by curfew—midnight Sunday through Thursday, 2 a.m. on weekends. “Women were protected and rule-bound early in my college career—skirts required in class and the library, restrictive hours in the dorm, etc.,” Christine Shannon Panero writes. “By my senior year, all that was gone.” As a freshman, Nora larimer Davidson recalls “taking doors off girl’s dorms to protest the early [curfew] hours we had.” The protest escalated in February 1967, when almost 400 students, including 177 women who walked out of their dorms, gathered for a rainy 2 a.m. protest at the intersection of Bird and jacaranda (now Gilman) roads, with speakers using a platform fashioned from a Quad bench. The curfew was lifted for all students except freshmen in September 1967. That fall also saw the opening of Norris Hall, Oxy’s first coed dormitory. When she arrived at Oxy in 1964, “the freshman ‘girls’ wore white gloves and pillbox hats on Sunday and to sorority open houses,” Sarah jean Walker Shaw writes. “By the time i graduated, the Oxy ‘women’ were protesting lockout at the dorms and the requirement to wear skirts and dresses to meals.”

Adds Toni Bell Sullivan: “When i describe my college years to my children and grandchildren, i mention that i went from wearing gloves to the Freshman Tea with the College president to smelling the scent of marijuana wafting out of the restroom in Erdman Hall.” Although the lockout battle was primarily over the idea of being treated as adults without the College acting in loco parentis, it occurred within the context of the sexual revolution. in November 1965, psychology professor luther jennings and speech and drama professor lee Roloff conducted a public discussion of the “Playboy Philosophy” in which they endorsed the ideas of premarital sex and greater access to birth control. (Roloff called Playboy “superficial titillation” but agreed with the fundamental ideas.) The following Sunday, Chaplain john Smylie delivered a sermon in Herrick Chapel titled “Playboy Philosophy—Another View.” The battle for women’s rights was followed by a rising concern with inclusion of students of color. “Oxy started to realize its own institutional obligations to deal with non-white ethnic relations and education,” joseph Duff recalls. The Black Student Caucus was formed in November 1967, and three months later Oxy sponsored its first Black Arts Week, featuring African-American music, dance, poetry, theater, film, lectures, and food. There was also a growing Brown Power movement by latino students. “My freshman class, and those after us, included larger groups of black and latino kids who were part of a big effort to diversify the student body,” writes Martha Carriger Giffen. Much of that effort came directly from the students themselves. After the Class of ’69 entered in fall 1965, The Occidental reported: “Occidental now boasts the strongest minority group representation in its history” due to two years of work by students on the Minority Admissions Committee, who reached out directly to promising high school juniors and seniors.

August 11–16: Rioting in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles results in 34 deaths, more than 1,000 injuries, 4,000 arrests, and some $40 million in damage. October 4: “Approaches to Rebuilding Watts” is the topic of the first in a series of lunchtime debates by advanced political science students. October 25: Gilman formally inaugurated as Occidental’s 10th president. November: Frank Neill Rush Memorial Gymnasium is dedicated. December: The termination of popular speech and drama professor Lee Roloff (effective the following June) sparks Norman W. Freestone to resign as department chair and generates student movement to play a role in faculty evaluation. (Roloff, who died in 2015, later became a senior analyst with the C.G. Jung Institute of Seattle.)

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left: From left, Jim Ellis ’68, Steve Hausman ’68, Rosanne Tobin-Boardman ’68, assistant professor of political science James Lare ’55, Ted Cobb ’70, Jerry Stinson ’69, Paul Longmore ’68, and Cleve Cavness ’69 at a February 1968 meeting of the Young Democrats Club. below: A March 1968 mixer on campus.

1966 February-March: Oxy faculty officially adopt a student faculty evaluation form and recommend far-reaching changes to faculty evaluation procedures. May 7: The Byrds play Hillside Theater with opening acts Mastin & Brewer and Buffalo Springfield. According to The Occidental, the Byrds are “the first nationally known rock-and-roll group to appear on the campus.” (Bethe Hagens recalls sitting on the roof of Newcomb Hall listening to the concert.) September: Oxy’s first coeducational dormitory opens. Norris Hall is designed around clusters of four double bedrooms with a shared bathroom and lounge area. October: Controversial Episcopal Bishop James A. Pike preaches in Herrick Chapel. Roman Catholic Bishop James Shannon—the first Roman Catholic clergyman to address an Oxy convocation—delivers a series of lectures during Religious Perspectives Week.

1967 January 20: Legendary R&B band the Drifters and the Standells (best known for their 1966 hit “Dirty Water”) appear in Thorne Hall. January 22: Poon-Kan Mok, professor of Chinese history and culture at Oxy since 1944, dies suddenly at age 62. Students are released from ﬁfth-period classes January 31 to attend his memorial service in Herrick Chapel.

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Photo by Gordon Paine

Serious anti-war protests did not begin at Oxy until the fall of 1967, the Class of ’68’s senior year. Despite the growing ferment on campus, relatively few alumni—16 out of the 77 who responded—considered themselves politically active at Oxy, while another dozen or so cited peripheral experiences or support for those who did take action. Most indicated that they were not active at all. More than half of the respondents said they had become more liberal over the years since graduation. Among that number is Phil jones, who describes 196468 as “a period of rapid change in the nation and at Oxy. in addition to drugs and pop culture, there was much going on in the world to be gravely concerned about, and as a generation my classmates were definitely questioning the values of our parents and political leaders.” Marilyn Soash Stivers Durazzo—one of a small number of respondents who said they became more conservative after Oxy—writes that her favorite Oxy memory was “being a conservative on campus during the tumultuous ’60s.” it was, indeed, an interesting time for students on the right. When the Class of 1968 entered in the fall of 1964, a campus poll found that 40 percent of Oxy students were Republicans, 28 percent considered themselves independent, and only 28 percent identified as Democrats. Even so, President johnson far outpolled Sen. Barry Goldwater, who received his strongest support from the incoming freshmen. in February 1966, as campus politics swung toward the left, the Occidental Young Republicans, who “went to bat for Barry” in 1964, began a movement to broaden their membership base and distance themselves from the increasingly right-wing California Young Republicans. A year later they cut ties completely with the state organization—denounced by Oxy YR president Tom Robertson as “a right-wing neo-fascist sect”—and joined the more moderate California College Republicans. in the fall of 1967, a new organization called the Occidental College Conservative union offered a forum for ideological conservatism in the spirit of the National Review. SPRING 2018

Thak Chaloemtiarana, a graduate student from Thailand who received his master’s in diplomacy and world affairs in 1968, may have had the most unique political awakening at Oxy: “i remember being asked to give a talk in Thorne Hall [in November 1967] about Thailand’s position in the Vietnam War. My talk was toeing the official Thai nationalist discourse of anti-French imperialism and pro-u.S. Cold War policies. it did not take long for me and my fellow Thai grad students to question our beliefs about the war when we met Oxy students who were protesting the draft and the war. We became radicalized by the anti-war experience and many of us eventually became active in opposing the Thai dictatorial government, which supported the u.S. war in Vietnam.” A number of alums who said they became more liberal noted that their activism increased after graduation, as they entered a world that was changing faster outside of campus. “Of all years to be graduating, 1968 is still infamous today for the degree of wrenching trauma in the adult world we were entering,” writes Carolyn Taylor. in fact, the trauma began before graduation. The assassination of Martin luther King jr. on April 4, 1968, felt personal at Oxy, where King had spoken just one year earlier. The fatal shooting of Sen. Robert Kennedy in los Angeles on june 5, the day after finals ended, felt even closer. Taylor remembers watching the California primary results live on TV in the Gamma sorority house, “resolving that i was going to devote myself to working for Bobby Kennedy as i listened to him give his acceptance speech, only to have the third awful trauma of our youth take him away before my eyes minutes later. it was a moment that changed me forever. “i’ll never forget the next day, going to my job as secretary in the history department,” she continues. Professor Norm Cohen was as devastated as she was, saw

that trying to get work done was futile, and invited her to join him on a “mostly silent afternoon walk” in the after-ﬁnals quiet on campus. For the young men and the young women who cared about them, another wrenching trauma was the draft and the potential to be sent to Vietnam. The 2-S student deferment was still available in 1968 (the lottery was instituted in 1969), so for many men, graduation was a double-edged sword, a milestone of academic achievement and the beginning of full exposure to the draft. Don Fallick was drafted in November 1968, “despite three presidential appeals,” he notes. “i was teaching English in a Central l.A. junior high school, and had one class composed entirely of juvenile felons on early release from prison. On the same day that he turned down my last appeal, President johnson made a televised speech urging the college students of America to become teachers and teach in the ghettos of American cities.” Phil jones was drafted into the Army in 1969, while attending grad school at Cal State l.A. “My music training at Oxy provided the opportunity to serve as a chaplain’s assistant at the u.S. Army Chaplain School at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn and tour manager for the 7th Army Soldiers Chorus in Heidelberg, Germany,” he writes. Martin Maner left Oxy “with a four-year free ride to the Ph.D., thanks to the university of Virginia and the Danforth Association,” he writes. After he was drafted—and despite his opposition to the war—Maner took training and ended up at a Green Beret camp on the demilitarized zone. “i survived, returned, and got reinstated in my fellowship.” joseph Duﬀ ’s Air Force ROTC experience at Oxy permitted him to serve in the military “on my own terms, as an Air Force judge advocate,” he writes. “i completed

my service obligation and moved on to a fruitful and meaningful career.” Some grads avoided the draft through alternative service—or a lucky break. john Goodwin joined the Peace Corps. jim Ellis, a conscientious objector, served two years on the staff of the Yale Psychiatric institute. Alan Takeda was inducted into the Army, had his draft rescinded for a conscientious objector hearing, and lost his case. During appeal, “My dilemma was whether to go to Canada or prison,” he recalls. “A medical technicality got me reclassified 4F.” Frederick “Fritz” Maerkle planned his post-Oxy activities with the expectation that he would be drafted. “As it turns out, the u.S. Department of State offered me a position as a Foreign Service officer and the draft board considered that i was ‘serving my country’ by working in an American embassy overseas.” We asked respondents how their Oxy education prepared them for their career path. Maerkle replies: “The diplomacy and world affairs program gave me the breadth of knowledge to pass the Foreign Service exam and an in-depth understanding of American foreign policy.” He retired in 2011 after a 42-year career as a Foreign Service officer. Mary lou Kurtz worked for TWA for 14 years “and frequently used my French with foreign passengers.” A number of teachers reported a direct connection from Oxy to the classroom. “i felt very prepared by the time i obtained my first teaching position,” writes Sarah Schildmeyer, reflecting a widely held respect for the education department and professor jo Stanchfield. “Since i was a music major, my Oxy experience prepared me for my initial career as a college music teacher,” Phil jones notes. “The strong liberal arts curriculum at

Stephens, Kurtz, Culley, and Cats

John Markarian: “Ben Culley twice asking me for favors, getting two students out of some serious trouble—one ﬁnancial and one criminal. We always asked him for favors.”

When we asked members of the Class of ’68 to share their favorite Oxy memory, many alumni cited general experiences: spending time with friends, walking through the beautiful campus, or sitting in the Quad. Others detailed more specific moments. slowly down the shoulder of the highway after dark, waiting for the snakes to crawl out on the tarmac to feel the residual warmth.”

Ralph Larson: “Learning to scuba dive and getting involved in marine biology research with Dr. John Stephens (above). This shaped my future career.” Meredith Mason Garcia: “A ﬁeld trip to the high desert with John Stephens and the Biology of the Vertebrates class, to collect specimen animals—driving

Rob Russell: “Arguing/ discussing about free will late into the night.” Martha Carriger Giﬀen: “Receiving a six-month grant to do independent research in Argentina on the use of folklore in regional literature. That was an excuse to do a lot of growing up and thinking away from my very controlling parents.”

Don Fallick: “Dr. Kenneth Kurtz spoke in a monotone—he couldn’t help it— and put everyone to sleep, so he inserted anachronisms into his Shakespeare lessons to see if anyone was listening. He [once] mentioned Romeo hopping in his Alfa Romeo and going for a ride along Angeles Crest Highway.” Judy Greene: “Studying in the Greek Bowl after a smog-clearing rain.” John Randall Faith: “Getting married at Herrick Chapel.”

Ted Mumm: “Concerts with the Glee Club, especially the one where we performed Carmina Burana with staging designed by Alan Freeman ’66 M’67.” Bethe Hagens: “Playing Bach in the chapel for a week of celebrating his birthday.”

Sarah Jean Walker Shaw: “Playing coed ﬂag football after dinner on the Herrick Chapel lawn.” William Courington: “Winning a contest for paddling a tiny boat around the fountain by the chapel.” Linda C. Martin Briggs: “Quad-sitting and brilliant orange Oxy sunsets.”

Robert Gross: “Listening to Jimi Hendrix’s ﬁrst album.”

Barbara Knowles Hartl: “Fiji toga parties.”

Laurie Bryant: “Keeping a cat in my dorm room.”

Nick Tingle: “Having sex for the ﬁrst time. That was a weight oﬀ my mind.”

January 30: Occidental Republican Club votes unanimously to terminate its association with the California Young Republican Clubs. February: Head football coach Jim Mora ’57 resigns to accept a position as an assistant coach at Stanford. February 25: Almost 400 students gather at 2 a.m. to protest the lockout policy for women’s dorms. The policy is lifted for all but freshmen in fall 1967. March 3: Take five: Dave Brubeck brings cool jazz to Thorne Hall. April: The experimental Occidental Free University begins offering weekly seminars on topics ranging from nonconformity to Mexican and Indian art. April 12: Martin Luther King Jr. speaks in Thorne Hall. May: Occidental’s baseball team wins the NAIA Area I tournament in Medford, Ore. Coach Grant Dunlap ’46’s Tigers go 32-6 and still hold the school record for the longest winning streak (18 games). October 16–20: Faculty members lead a silent anti-draft vigil in the Quad each day at noon to mark Stop the Draft week. November 6–7: The Oxy chapter of Students for a Democratic Society organizes its first sit-in in the Quad to protest military recruiters on campus. A second sitin occurs on April 10, 1968. November 14: The Black Student Caucus is established with a charter from the ASOC Senate.

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right: President Richard C. Gilman speaks at the dedication of the Arthur G. Coons Administrative Center on May 27, 1968. Roughly 100 students protesting multiple issues, from minority education to spending priorities, sit along the surrounding wall and steps.

1968 January 29: ASOC President Jim Ellis ’68 signs a letter to Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, director of the Selective Service System, protesting reclassification as punishment for draft resisters. The next day, the Tet Offensive escalates the war and erodes support of the American public. March 31: President Johnson announces he will not run for reelection. April 4: Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated. April 24: Oxy students voting in the Choice 68 national student poll favor Sen. Eugene McCarthy (41.58%) followed by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller (21.40%), Sen. Robert Kennedy (13.16%) and Vice President Richard Nixon (7.37%). May 28: One day after students protest the dedication of Arthur G. Coons Administrative Center, members of the Black Student Caucus briefly occupy President Gilman’s office and present demands for multi-racial education. June 5: Kennedy is fatally shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. June 9: 366 bachelor’s and 22 graduate degrees are awarded to the Class of ’68 at Commencement. Association of American Colleges President Richard H. Sullivan delivers the main address.

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Photos (pages 26, 32) from the Joe and Henk Friezer Photography Negatives/Occidental College Special Collections

Oxy further prepared me for my second career as a government arts administrator.” Many who went on to graduate or professional school also saw a direct connection. “The science courses at Oxy were so outstanding that i aced the ﬁrst two years of medical school,” Steve johnson writes. Fellow doctor Tom Hartman notes that Oxy “prepared me very well with not only a solid foundation in the biological sciences but also a knowledge of humanities.” Attorney jim Ellis remembers: “The academic rigor and learning process helped in obtaining both my MBA and j.D. Gaining a world view of events and how they interrelate through History of Western Civilization was and is instrumental in both my business and personal life.” For most alumni, the biggest gift of an Oxy education was a broader preparation for life. “A career was of minor importance,” Alan Takeda writes. “Hard work, love of learning, and the high standard of peers all raised the bar of my expectations.” judy Greene’s takeaway from Oxy was “a muchappreciated way of thinking, looking beyond the surface of things—a broad liberal arts education that has helped me be interested in and tolerant of various viewpoints and values, and interested in almost everything.” “My experience at Oxy taught me to think critically, and appreciate those with whom i did not agree,” writes Brenda Shockley, who was named deputy mayor for economic opportunity by los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in May 2016 after more than 24 years as president of Community Build. “i went to Oxy to study chemistry, because i couldn’t write,” notes Barry Sears, a former research scientist at the Boston university School of Medicine and MiT and creator of The Zone diet. “Now, 16 books later, that’s all i do. Sometimes be careful of what you wish for.” SPRING 2018

“My psychology class learnings often came to mind while working in human resources and then managing my own businesses,” writes jeannine Florance. “Many of my classes taught me to ask questions and not take information or opinions at face value.” While Brad Santos’ career path went “in a completely different direction” from what he’d hoped while at Oxy, “The greater takeaway,” he believes, “was a broader appreciation of all the other disciplines to which i was exposed as a diplomacy and world affairs major. it’s made me a much less boring person!” About 80 percent of all survey respondents said they were still in touch with classmates, ranging literally from 1 to 100. Some stay in touch through Facebook or Christmas cards, but others manage to get together in person. Steve johnson and Alan Nishimura play golf together frequently, “and annually try unsuccessfully to win Alan’s golf club’s invitational tournament,” johnson writes. Sarah jean Walker Shaw’s sophomore roommate, Ginger Mason Vaughan, became a professor and Shakespeare scholar at Clark university in Worcester, Mass., “just 45 minutes away from my home in Providence, R.i.,” Shaw writes. “We’re having supper together next week.” Brad Santos has his eye on the bigger picture: He gets together with “about six or seven classmates every year or so, four or five every few weeks, and every fifth year at the class reunion i reconnect with many more.” This june’s reunion—which includes the group’s induction into the Fifty Year Club—promises to be especially momentous. Take it from Santos: There are plenty of reconnections to be made. Paul Robert Walker ’75 is a class secretary as well as an author and historian. He wishes his own class was half as engaged as the Class of ’68.

The Meaning of

WRIGHT

Professor Dale Wright’s journey to Buddhist enlightenment began when he was a teenager—and he’s spent the last four decades inspiring students to expand their thinking BY SAM MOWE ’07 PHOTOS BY KEVIN BURKE

on technology and human relationships at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley. “He’s always interested in finding ways that ideas can be meaningful in life and can impact the world.” Of all the ideas that Wright exemplifies in his approach to teaching, perhaps none is more important than the Buddhist concept of upaya, or the skillful means that a bodhisattva employs to guide beings toward enlightenment. For Wright, that entails getting to know Photos by David Gautreau (2003) and John Kruissink (1981) many of his students as individuals and tailoring his lessons and feedback to their different backgrounds and ways of learning. “For me, upaya is the crucial teaching concept,” says Wright, 69. “What it involves is recognizing that every person in every hisvery year on the last day of torical period has their own unique needs his popular Buddhist Thought and capacities and therefore has to be comcourse, Professor Dale S. Wright opens the municated with through different means. floor for questions from his students. after you have to be able to adjust your methods deftly clarifying some of the finer points of depending on who you’re talking to and in Buddhist philosophy, he hesitates before re- what context.” sponding to the personal question on every“What sets him apart is his ability to see one’s mind that one student will invariably the most important idea in what he’s reading ask: are you a Buddhist? or discussing and then get right to the heart It’s not a surprising question, since reli- of it,” says Malek Moazzam-Doulat ’92, an gious studies students tend to be curious assistant professor of religious studies at about the inner lives of others, and Wright Occidental, who has known Wright both as fosters an atmosphere in which stua mentor and colleague. In dents feel free to ask anything they recent years, the two have want. But there is an urgency behind co-taught a popular course it that reveals an important quality called What Is enlightenof Wright’s brilliance as a teacher and ment? mentor. as a scholar of religion— “We will be having a conhaving an academic interest in the versation in preparation for traditional way that people find teaching a class together, and meaning in their lives—there is a it will be as scholarly and erudeep resonance between his intellecdite as any I’ve had,” Moaztual pursuits and his way of being. zam-Doulat explains. “But after 38 years at Occidental, Living Wright: Photos then we’ll start the class and from 1981, soon after Wright is retiring from the class- his arrival at Oxy, and Dale will just produce this room this spring. His ability to from 2003, above left. lucid jewel of a thought—simground his scholarship with levity ple, profound—and find a and practicality has profoundly influenced way to explain it to first-year college students generations of students. “He has this way of that connects with them in their lives. That simple, direct communication that situates ability to hone something so complex and difyou clearly and comfortably within a dense ficult into its most essential form and then to web of ideas,” says ashby Kinch ’92, a pro- present it so that it communicates directly— fessor of english and associate dean at the that’s just inspiring.” University of Montana. How is Wright able to do this? Moazzam“Dale is a true intellectual and a very Doulat believes it comes down to one of his deep thinker, but he doesn’t get lost in ab- basic ethical principles: generosity. “He just straction for abstraction’s sake,” adds Steven insists on reading and interpreting texts and Barrie-anthony ’04, who directs a program people generously. He engages with their 34 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

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strongest case rather than just identifying their weak points,” he says. “a hermeneutics of generosity—that’s about as apt a name for Dale’s work and teaching as I can imagine.” A native of San Diego, Wright was introduced to Buddhism early in life and close to his home in vista. When he was 13, his family volunteered to host their town’s one foreign exchange student, a 17-year-old high school senior from Bangkok—a Buddhist. Wright was immediately smitten by this “older woman” in his life and, after seeing her meditating one day, asked her to teach him how. “although it seemed utterly pointless to me at the time, I wasn’t about to ruin the chance to be with her,” he says. “Some years after her departure, I realized that she had let me in on an incredible secret, and I have pursued or dabbled in meditation practices ever since.” Wright stayed close to home for college, attending San Diego State University with his older sister. after changing his major six times, he settled on religious studies after taking classes with an inspirational teacher named allan anderson. anderson was instrumental in creating a new kind of academic department focused on the secular study of religion. Wright’s secular parents were confused by their son’s decision. “They didn’t know what I was doing and neither did I,” he says. “But I had the sense that there was a spiritual dimension to human life, that I was unfamiliar with it, and that I wanted to learn more about it.” He began reading and studying more fervently after graduating from college, immersing himself in philosophy, literature, art, and music. “Chinese Buddhist texts just kept growing on me,” he says. “So I started looking around for graduate programs where I could study religion and learn the Chinese language.” In 1980, Wright completed his doctorate from the University of Iowa. “It occurred to me in graduate school that being a professor means you get to read and write for the rest of your life,” he says. “If you can get paid to do what you want to do, what could be better than that?” Following a stint as an instructor at Washington and Lee University during the 1979-80 academic year, Wright was hired at Occidental and, with the exception of two years as a visiting professor at Waseda University in Tokyo, he has taught at Oxy ever

since. He was made a full professor in 1991 and nine years later was named the David B. and Mary H. Gamble Distinguished Professor in religion, one of only a handful of endowed chairs at Occidental. In his one-on-one advising and mentoring, upaya and generosity allow Wright to support students in ways that are both effective and appropriate to the person. “He respected my ability as a scholar and with humanity, humor, and dedication challenged me to fulfill it in the way that worked for me,” says Daijaku Kinst ’82, director of the Buddhist Chaplaincy Program at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley. “It’s been a quirky, roundabout path combining scholarship, religious inquiry, Zen practice, academic and dharma teaching, and a deep exploration of interfaith dialogue. I would not have had the confidence to take up and continue on this path had it not been for Dale.” “It’s so common for mentors to have agendas to create ‘little thems,’” says Barrie-anthony. “But Dale is not that way. I can be unguarded with him because I don’t feel like I have to protect who I am and who I want to become. and yet, he’s still willing to do the hard work of telling you when you’ve gone astray with a project. I remember working on my senior thesis and him telling me he thought I was pushing too far in a particular direction. It was a difficult conversation for both of us, I think, but as a result I ended up shifting the direction of my project and his feedback ended up shaping the work I did in graduate school.” Wright’s ability to determine what he can meaningfully contribute to a student’s particular path—both academically and personally—has resulted in his students flourishing in many different disciplines. a number of his students have gone on to earn Ph.Ds in religious studies, philosophy, and asian studies. Others have gone on to be attorneys, physicians, diplomats, and psychologists, as well as pursue less conventional

careers in asian medicine, yoga, and music. There is even one Zen master. Many of these students remember times that Wright could elegantly connect his intellectual work with the wider world. as a sophomore at Oxy during 9/11, Grace (egbert) Ortman ’04 recalls a gathering in Herrick Memorial Chapel and Interfaith Center soon after the attacks, where Wright spoke about the problem of dualistic thinking. “He drew a line connecting global politics and the philosophies we had been studying,” says Ortman, who now teaches religious studies and english at St. andrew’s episcopal School in austin, Texas. “He cautioned us wisely against thinking in us-versus-them terms. We could seek understanding through dialogue.”

Wright plans to devote more time to writing. Oxford University Press recently asked him to write a book in its “What everyone Needs to Know” series. His contribution, naturally, will be titled Buddhism: What Everyone Needs to Know. In addition to the element of wisdom that Wright exudes in his academic teaching, there is something else that his students are intuiting when they eagerly ask him about his personal religious views. For Wright, teaching and writing is an expression of the spiritual dimension of human life. “as somebody who was raised in a secular way, it wasn’t going to be possible for me to be traditionally religious,” he says. “So it became obvious to me that in order to meaningfully participate in this domain of life, it had to be reimagined and rediscovered outside of the hold that the major religions had on it. So I have tried to approach my career as though it’s part of a spiritual practice.”

But now it really is the last day of class. and though Wright might hesitate as he did years ago—his reluctance to self-reveal serving as a way to maintain space for others to shape themselves—I want to know more about this man who’s meant so much to me. Not that I think he’s enlightened—although, honestly, I also don’t think he’s not enlightened— but I still have the sense that his Wright and wife perspective can guide me toward Martha Ronk, prothe kind of life I aspire to live. I fessor of English literature emerita, lean in expectantly, hopefully, and at their home close ask again: Are you a Buddhist? to Oxy. They will “It’s complicated,” he says. celebrate 12 years of marriage in June. “Half of my reading is in contemporary Western philosophy and the other half is Buddhist texts. But This blending of deep learning from Buddhist points of view that I admire, it and practical insight is also a doesn’t matter whether you’re a Buddhist or hallmark of his writing, which not. What you’re after in life is wisdom, unattracts both an academic and general read- derstanding, insight, compassion, and skillful ership. Wright has published a number of participation in the world. you can ﬁnd those books, including The Six Perfections: Bud- qualities from any point of view. What matdhism and the Cultivation of Character (2009) ters is the kind of life you’re leading.” Sam Mowe ’07 is a writer in New York and and What Is Buddhist Enlightenment? (2016), former student of Wright’s. He continues to rely and his scholarship has increasingly focused on what it means to live a worthwhile and on Wright’s wisdom and asked him for career meaningful life. after retiring from teaching, advice while interviewing him for this article. SPRING 2018 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE 35

OXYTALK

Boundless Brilliance Three Oxy women set out to change children’s mindsets about science—and scientists—by bringing the laboratory experience to elementary schools Photos by Marc Campos

From left, seniors Hannah Hayes, Audrey Shawley, and Nina Doeﬀ founded Boundless Brilliance in January 2017 to encourage young girls to pursue careers in STEM ﬁelds.

above left: Alice Feng ’20 talks with second-graders during a presentation at Buchanan Street Elementary School in Highland Park. above right: Gianna Zinnen ’19, left, and Ellen Prince ’20 test newspaper bridges crafted by a class of second- and thirdgraders at Buchanan Street Elementary.

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Between 1966 and 1977, social scientist David Wade Chambers asked more than 4,800 children from kindergarten to fifth grade to draw a picture of a scientist. Girls made up 49 percent of the sample; less than 1 percent of all drawings depicted a female scientist. A 2016 Northwestern University study showed that over the last three decades, that stereotype has evolved—but even then, only 28 percent of students drew a scientist as a woman. Coupled with the fact that less than one-quarter of all jobs in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) are occupied by women, Audrey Shawley ’18, a biochemistry major from San Francisco, took that report as a call to action. Together with classmates Nina Doeff, a mathematics and Spanish studies major from Evanston, Ill., and Hannah Hayes, a biology major from Arizona, she founded Boundless Brilliance, SPRING 2018

a nonprofit organization that encourages young girls to pursue careers in STEM by showing them it can be done. In 30-minute presentations to kindergarten to sixthgrade students, Boundless Brilliance’s teams of college students, all women currently attending Occidental, go into classrooms to create excitement about science. Through simple experiments (such as building a bridge between two chairs using only newspapers and tape— remember newspapers?) and a message couched in confidence, respect, and teamwork, their message to everyone—and young girls in particular—is simple: You are brilliant and you can be a scientist if you want to be. In the fall semester, Boundless Brilliance gave more than 100 presentations at six different schools, reaching more than 2,500 students. This spring, the group hopes to double that number. In the near future, Boundless

FROM THE QUAD

Brilliance aims to expand its program model to five Southern California colleges. “By the end of 2020, we hope to be able to reach more than 40,000 students each year,” says Shawley, the group’s executive director. Boundless Brilliance’s three principals each overcame their own doubts about the sciences to find their way to their passion. “When I was in high school I was in advanced math and science classes, and out of 20 kids I was one of three girls, and I was always getting bullied by the boys in my class,” says Doeff, director of research and evaluation for Boundless Brilliance. In partnership with Northwestern, she started a women’s STEM club at her school and did a senior project about why there were so few girls in her class. (She concluded that girls lack confidence, and “that it starts at a young age.”) Subsequently, Doeff enrolled at Oxy intent on majoring in sociology, not mathematics. Then, she says, “I took a sociology class and I hated it, and I took a multivariable calculus class and I loved it.” Last year, as a member of the women’s STEM e-board at the College, she met Shawley through a mutual connection. When Shawley came to Oxy with the idea of going on to med school, she thought she couldn’t major in

chemistry or biology “because that’s too hard,” she recalls thinking. She found herself shying away from the classes that she really wanted to take. After reading a study out of the U.K. that said that both girls and boys believe that intelligence is a male trait, “it all came together,” she says. “Even though I grew up in the most supportive environment, I must believe that.” “My mom majored in biology in college and has always been a powerful role model for me,” adds Hayes, Boundless Brilliance’s director of program operations. “I was always outside as a kid, running around picking up things at the beach or hiking and picking up bugs. Even in high school, I thought that I might want to go into cognitive science or neuroscience.” While Hayes considers herself “a pretty outspoken person—I’m always excited to talk about things,” she noticed that a lot of her peers were “a little held back” in classroom discussions—afraid to speak up out of fear of being wrong. Reading that U.K. study “really made me want to change things, especially for kids. If kids are having the same problem that sometimes my friends and I are having, there needs to be a drastic change”—and Boundless Brilliance may be the change we need.

top: Feng, left, and Alexandra Pfleegor ’20 bring the wonders of science to a secondgrade class at Buchanan Street Elementary. center: Secondgrader Kaely Magdaleno pours different liquids into jars as part of a Boundless Brilliance experiment. above: Second-graders Dominic Saavedra, left, and Nirvana Ramirez watch intently as classmates pour different liquids into jars. This spring, Boundless Brilliance hopes to deliver its message to more than 5,000 students. To learn more, visit boundlessbrilliance.org.

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PAGE 64

Talking the Part From sarcastic teens to dinosaur-fighting warriors, voice actor Ashly Burch ’12 brings video game heroines to life When video game voice actor Ashly Burch ’12 steps into a sound booth, there’s no set, no costumes, no fellow actors to interact with. With only the director, writer, and sound engineer to keep her company—and sometimes only the sketchiest of details about the game’s storyline—Burch is entirely responsible for conjuring the vivid world of the video game and her character’s role in it. “You have to learn to set up a scene and imagine other folks’ performances entirely in your own mind,” says Burch, who also does voice work for a number of Cartoon Network series, including “Steven Universe” and “OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes.” “It’s a lot of invention that you’re doing on your own.” Having worked on some of the most popular video games of recent years, Burch speaks, whispers, and screams, imbuing her characters with emotion and personality. Her recent work includes Aloy, the robot dinosaur-ﬁghting lead in Horizon Zero Dawn, an action role-playing game for PlayStation 4 released in February 2017 that was widely hailed as one of the year’s best games. Before that, she voiced Chloe, a beloved character and one that earned her a BAFTA nomination, in Life Is Strange, and Tiny Tina, a teen with a penchant for detonation, in Borderlands 2. Her characters, Burch says, are typically “cool, sarcastic, secretly insecure teens.” Yes, the screeches, groans, and shouts of pain or jubilance emitted by the animated characters on screen are voiced by actual humans, a realization Burch came to when she was about 11. Playing video games with her older brother, Anthony, an unfamiliar name popped up alongside one of the characters in the game Metal Gear Solid. A quick Google search revealed that was the character’s voice actor. It was someone’s job to speak for the characters she controlled from 64 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE

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In addition to her voice work as Breezy and Bun Bun, Burch won an Emmy during three seasons as a writer for Cartoon Network’s “Adventure Time.” Photo courtesy Ashly Burch ’12

a handset in her living room, and to her, that sounded like a pretty appealing vocation. Though she still aspired to become a voice actor throughout high school, she never had any speciﬁc training. When she and Anthony launched a YouTube series devoted to the gaming world in 2008, she didn’t realize that would be a major step toward launching her career. “Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin’?” draws on the duo’s sibling rivalry in examining video game culture in short comic sketches. A decade later, the series has nearly 300,000 subscribers and more than 54 million total views on YouTube. “All roads kind of led from that web series,” says Burch, who landed the role of Tiny Tina in Borderlands 2 before graduating in 2012 as a media arts and culture major. Not only did “HAWP” make Ashly and Anthony known among the gaming community, but it

left: The part of Chloe Price in Life Is Strange won Burch the Best Gaming Performance honor at 2015’s Golden Joystick Awards. below: Aloy is the protagonist of Horizon Zero Dawn, which has sold more than 7.6 million units since its release last year.

also became an acting reel for her. Becoming a successful voice actor is first and foremost about one’s acting abilities, her agent Dean Panaro says, rather than having a particularly pleasing voice. “She’s got incredible comedic timing, which is not easy at all,” says Panaro, who has worked with Burch since 2013. “She knows how to hit a joke.” Because “HAWP” is a comedy, many of her initial roles were in a similar vein, though she’s taken on more and more dramatic roles. In her experience, voice acting can be more difficult than acting in a live-action movie or TV show. Recording sessions typically run four hours at a time for video games. And even though only their voice comes through in the final product, voice actors always end up physically acting out the parts as they’re recording, Burch says. Plus, video games can last for 50 to 60 hours of play, which entails a lot of dialogue, callouts, and expressions. Still, Burch’s career thus far has exceeded what her 11-year-old self imagined. “I think I’ve been surprised by what I’ve been able to do, what I’ve got the opportunity to do in voiceover,” Burch says. “I definitely didn’t expect that I would ever play Aloy or Chloe in Life Is Strange. I didn’t even know that those were roles that would be available to me when I was a kid because back then, there were no characters like that, like either of them.”—sarah corsa ’16

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