Pepperdine Graphic 3-4-2021 by PGM-PepperdineGraphicMedia

THE PEPPERDINE GRAPHIC VOLUME L

ISSUE 13 |

March 4, 2021

pepperdine-graphic.com

Pepperdine Introduces New

Chief Diversity Officer

& Assistant Vice President ASHL EY MO W R EADER new s EDI T OR In a March 3 President’s Briefing, President Jim Gash introduced J. Goosby Smith as the first vice president for community belonging and chief diversity officer and April Harris Akinloye as the assistant vice president for community belonging. Smith and Harris Akinloye will head diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at Pepperdine starting June 1. Pepperdine announced its search for a chief diversity officer on June 8, 2020 and starting June 1, 2021, J. Goosby Smith will serve as the university’s first vice president for community belonging and CDO. President Jim Gash introduced Smith to the Pepperdine community at the March 3 President’s Briefing as well as April Harris Akinloye who will serve as the assistant vice president for

Community Belonging. “Dr. Smith and Dr. Harris Akinloye are two extraordinarily qualified leaders that have a deep love for Pepperdine and our mission, and I am confident they will lead us to a new level of inclusion, excellence, and genuine belonging that befits our community’s unwavering commitment to radical Christian hospitality,” Gash wrote in a March 3 email to the Pepperdine community. Smith teaches at The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina as an associate professor of leadership and management as well as assistant provost for diversity, equity and inclusion and director of the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Center. Smith formerly worked at Seaver as an assistant professor of organizational behavior from 2002 to 2006 and then as a tenured associate professor of organizational behavior from 2011 to

2015. During this time, Smith also worked as assessment coordinator for the Seaver Diversity Council and as an adjunct professor for Graziado’s Master’s of Business Association program. “In [Smith’s] new role, she will report directly to me and serve as a member of the University’s Steering Team,” Gash wrote in his March 3 email to the Pepperdine community. “She will also be a principal leader on the University Diversity Council for which she previously served as inaugural faculty co-chair in 2005.” Harris Akinloye is a Seaver (‘00) and Graduate School of Education and Psychology (‘05) alumna and earned her PhD in education from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Harris Akinloye works at Social Good Solutions as a senior consultant for diversity, equity and inclusion and previously served as CDO at Vanguard

Photo courtesy of J. GooBSY SMITH University. “I am deeply grateful to the Search Committee for its work in identifying these exceptional candidates, and I want to give my sincere thanks to everyone in the Pepperdine community who has offered feedback, insights and encouragement throughout this

photo courtesy of April Harris Akinloye important process,” Gash wrote in his March 3 email.

ashl ey.m ow r eader @Pepper dine.edu

Housing and Residence Life changes its application for the 2022 academic year SAM T O R RE NEW S AS SI STAN T In preparation for the 20212022 academic year, Pepperdine Housing and Residence Life opened their application for students applying to be Resident Advisors and Spiritual Life Advisors. To learn more about its applicants, HRL changed some portions of the applications. With the closing of the Malibu campus because of COVID-19, RAs and SLAs were unable to serve for the 2020-2021 academ-

ic year, but as campus reopens, HRL is calling back some RAs who served for HRL previously. “One of the overarching themes of campus life, I think for all of us, is flexibility,” Director of Residence Life Maura Page said. “So that’s probably, you know, the heart of the leadership position for next year is encouraging flexibility and our intent is always to be responsive to the heart of the community at Pepperdine.” On Jan. 20, HRL sent an email informing the Pepperdine com-

munity the application portal for RAs and SLAs would close Feb 5. Feb. 8, HRL sent an email extending this deadline to Feb. 19, with the selection occurring March 3. HRL Changes Its Application HRL advertised its applications during the winter break and January term. Sharon Wakio, assistant director of Residence Life for international students, said the department realized in hindsight that most students did not realize the portal was live, with only 50% of students opening HRL emails. To give everyone a chance to apply, HRL extended the deadline by two weeks. “The numbers are lower than they have been before,” Wakio said. “But it was anticipated mostly because we started it a little sooner than most people had access to their emails, or before they were checking emails for those who took breaks from November, but they are quickly going up so we’re excited about that.” Due to the changes in the applications, Wakio said HRL would not be deferring applicants from last year.

photo BY ASHLEY MOWREADER First Stop, Housing | Housing and Residence Life hosts welcome events in fall 2018. The 2022 student leader application changed to reflect remote interview processes.

News

Wh at ’s AH E AD

L if e & A r t s

Pe r s pe ct iv e s

“We thought it would be wise to just be fair and have them reapply again,” Wakio said. “We do have a number of them who were accepted last year who have reapplied again so there’s no deferring, we just reset again and everybody goes through the same application process as everyone else who is doing it for the first time.” Resident Director Josh Craton said HRL changed the application process to better know the applicants because HRL leaders have not met most new applicants in person. Changes include having students submit a one to three-minute-long video detailing a day in the applicant’s life and additional questions in the writing segment. “We added some questions about the mission of Pepperdine University and how the candidates foresee themselves aligning with that and living lives of service, purpose and leadership,” Craton said. “We added some questions to our existing diversity section to ask the candidates how they see the role fulfilling our desire to be a more inclusive community.” There are no SLAs on campus for spring 2021 because the Uni-

B1-

Pepperdine community talks about tattoos.

basketball B4- Pepperdine sends off seniors.

A6- Meet Pepperdine’s

B2-

Meet three new students at Pepperdine in Fresh Faces.

B4- Men’s Basketball split

newest Sustainability Director - Ricky Eldridge.

the thewaves wavesreport report

identity on the path to equality.

Editorial: Now A5- Staff that campus is

reopening, let’s keep it that way.

Fri: Fri:3-5 2 ftft

SAT: Sat:2-3 3-5ftft

Junior Aaron Lee applied to be a RA for Seaside Hall last year. Lee said he applied because of his experiences as an RA in Pepperdine’s Heidelberg international program his sophomore year. “I was really looking forward to the opportunity to connect with other students and being a resident advisor and mentor to my peers and residents,” Lee said. “Since I wasn’t able to do that, my junior year, I’m hopefully maybe looking forward to the possibility of being able to do that my senior year.” Lee said he chose to reapply for a position in Seaside because he hopes to strengthen the relationship between sophomores, juniors, seniors and HRL. Lee wants to help students whose mental health has suffered because of an absence from campus

SE E H R L, A3

t h e M E L AN A T ED M UCK R AK ER

two home games in an exciting week.

SUN: sun:2-3 3-5ftft

Students Are Excited To Reapply

UPC O MIN G o n

SP ORTS

Assistant Editor A4- @BlackAtPepperdine A2- News obstacles with racial Kyle McCabe provides an update on the Drescher dirt hill.

versity has a reduced amount of on-campus residents, Wakio said. As of Feb. 15, all RAs serving on campus were graduate students or resident directors.

MON: Mon:2-3 2-4ftft

Newest co-host Celine Foreman History and Anitiz Muongalou talk Black history in “Black Legends, Black Life and Black History Month.” Available anywhere you listen to podcasts.

TUES: Tue:1-2 3-4ftft

M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1 | N E W S | P E P P E R DINE GRA P H I C ME D I A

The dirt pile is waiting for you

THE DPS REPORTS Check out pepperdine.edu/publicsafety for the DPS Reports every week

2/24/21 9:38 p.m. Crime: Traffic Enforcement Reckless Driving Location: Malibu Campus

This week In SGA

K y l e McCa b e n e ws A s s i s ta n t e dit or

KYLE.J.MCCABE@PEPPERDINE.EDU

PRESIDENT’S BRIEFING & OTHER NEWS YOU MISSED Facu lty vac c in ation encourage d S ta r ting mar ch 1, educ ator s ar e eligible to re c eive a covid-19 vaccine, a n d a number of community m e mber s have been or plan to be vaccinated.

A d min istration Vac a nc ie s fille d J. Goosby Smith will be P epper dine’s fir st chief diver sity officer and vice pr esident for community belonging, and a new pr ovost will be selected befor e next school year .

co m m e nce m e nt p la ns r e m a i n t e ntat i v e T here i s no u p dat e on t he 2 02 0 – 2 02 1 c ommenc ement c eremony, b u t t he t entat i ve p l an i s t o hos t t he event i n p ers on du ri ng may 2 02 1 .

SGA explores collaboration with SWAB and The Board to promote belonging.

SGA discusses possible fall renovations to Sandbar.

v i r tu al e ve n ts f or the upc o min g w e e k THURS

FRI

What: Peace corps week: around the world in 90 minutes When: 1 p.m. PST hosted by: peace corps

What: board flower empowerment When: 5 P.M. PsT Hosted by: The Board

MON

TUES

No EVents sCheduled

What: Give2pepp When: 11 a.m. PsT Hosted by: pepperdine

WED 10

What: pilot party: Jane the virgin When: 8 P.M. PST Hosted by: the board

What: Seaver speaker series: Outstanding alumni in healthcare When: 5 p.m. PST hosted by: chad quinones

Covid-19 by the numbers

About a year ago, I wrote a story about the pile of dirt that sits atop the Drescher hill on Pepperdine’s Malibu campus. I knew I had to report on the illustrious mound when I first noticed it and thought to myself, “What on God’s green Earth is that?” Since campus closed, I am certain the loyal readers of the Graphic have been wondering the same things I have: “Is the dirt pile OK? Is it thriving? Is it living its best life?” I am happy to report that the pile is waiting patiently for us, its children, to return. For those of you who do not reread my original dirt pile story every week, if those people do exist, let us review the origins and purpose of the pile. The pile rests on a plot of land Pepperdine designated as a “balance pad” during the 2003 construction of the Drescher graduate campus. Construction projects and rain runoff displace dirt on campus, and the University adds it all to the pile because of the California Coastal Commission’s restrictions. Most of the dirt on the pile came from on-campus mudslides after the 2018 Woolsey Fire. Pepperdine also used the balance pad as a staging area during construction projects, housing up to 200 contractor vehicles during Seaside’s construction in August 2017. Pepperdine’s Planning, Operations and Construction department oversees the balancing pad. In a Feb. 23 email to the Graphic, the department wrote that it has not added or removed dirt from the pile since the campus closed in March. “Although we have continued essential maintenance projects on campus, there have actually been very few ‘construction’ projects that have moved forward since last March,” the department wrote. “Most of them have been put on hold due to expense optimization measures.” The only activity on the dirt pile since March is the Planning, Operations and Construction department spraying a biodegradable substance called soil tackifier onto the pile for erosion control. “Tackifier is a sort of botanical ‘glue’ that keeps the surface of the dirt pile stable,” the department wrote. “Tackifier is often seeded with native plants to assist in this stabilization.” The seeds in the tackifier have sprouted, and some students (me) think the plants make the dirt pile look like a baby just starting to grow hair. The University created the balance pad as a potential location for a building during the Drescher campus construction. Despite this, the University has never made specific plans to build in the dirt pile’s home. The CCC regulations prevent Pepperdine from moving dirt off campus, and according to the Planning, Operations and Construction department, no dirt from the pile has been exported. It seems our beloved hill-onthe-hill will bewilder and excite Pepperdine students for years to come. And to me, that is great news.

Sophomore senators host semesterly town hall.

Pepperdine

Malibu

California

United States

186 364 3.58M 28.8M cases

cases

two SEVEN 52k 517K deaths

deaths

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M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1 | N E W S | P E P P E R DINE GRA P H I C ME D I A

HRL: Student leaders reapply for work FR OM A 1 if in-person classes resume next fall. As of the week of Feb. 16, Lee was in the interview stage of the process. “I definitely am optimistic,” Lee said. “With the vaccination, I think there is a good opportunity to be able to do that. I don’t know the timeline might be a little tight but I do feel like it is possible.” After receiving news of campus’ closure in August, junior Connor Brown said HRL terminated his position as a freshman RA. When he reapplied, he noticed an extra bullet point stating RAs would have to enforce COVID-19 regulations. One of the regulations HRL put in place because of COVID-19 was the requirement to be on duty every weekend, a change from previous years. The disappointing part of HRL terminating his RA position was the lost opportunity to make connections with fellow students, Brown said. Brown said he is looking forward to connecting with

students if he gets the position next fall. “I guess I’m pretty hopeful,” Brown said. “I feel like if I was selected last year there hopefully is a good chance that I’ll be selected again. But I’m also open to having to be flexible; I understand it’s not guaranteed.” Student Explains Why She Did Not Reapply Last year, junior Emily McNutt applied to be an SLA to both provide students with spiritual mentorship and to utilize the housing scholarship. This year, McNutt said she did not reapply. One of McNutt’s reasons for not reapplying is because she wanted to enjoy her senior year without the time commitment of being an SLA. Additionally, McNutt said she had reservations toward working with HRL again. “There were some ways in which trust wasn’t completely established HRL in general, and it was like ‘Do I want to spend my time and do I want to work for and

live under people I don’t necessarily trust as much as I thought I would?’” McNutt said. While McNutt said she acknowledges a lot was out of HRL’s control, she also feels like HRL could have communicated and collaborated with its applicants better. “We were not offered a position in the next school year, or even in the next semester, necessarily,” McNutt said. “And that felt kind of odd to us, I think a lot of people felt kind of weird about that and a little off about that decision. And then also just with would we open, were we not going to be open, would we have jobs, would we have places to live?” During virtual meetings for the fall semester, McNutt said the plan was to be on campus. However, when students asked HRL questions, the answers they received were vague. “I just think that if those meetings have been read differently, if we had had more clear communication, more clear answers, if students had felt seen and heard

about their concerns, by HRL, I’d feel that I might feel differently about reapplying,” McNutt said. “I can’t guarantee that because I still think that in part, I want a senior year that it is more able to spend on whatever happens naturally.” HRL Prepares To Invite Students Back If the Malibu campus reopens, Page said HRL may invite a limited number of RAs to live on campus who would be responsible for enforcing new COVID-19 regulations for those living in residence halls. Regulations would include students not bringing others onto campus and only dorm members allowed in each suite. On Feb. 20, HRL sent an email asking senior Preston Gromer, former Seaside RA, if he was willing to return as an RA for the rest of spring 2021. Gromer said he will probably accept the position. “I’m happy to help out and I’m available here to do it,” Gromer said. “Those are the biggest driv-

ers and they’re offering the same scholarships, like they’re just going to pay for housing, a shorter meal plan. So, that was beneficial as well.” After Pepperdine sent students home in March 2020, HRL sent an email to Gromer asking if he would be willing to return to his position as an RA if Pepperdine reopened. Gromer said he replied that he was willing to return but did not fill out a formal RA application for 2020-2021. In the email HRL sent in February, Gromer said HRL told him that they were looking to quickly hire RAs who had already been through training. “I imagine I’m going to have to be a lot more flexible than I had to be as an RA before,” Gromer said. “I’m kind of in the dark as to what the position will be like but definitely gonna require more flexibility in my schedule.”

SAM .TOR R E@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Remote learning forces students to adjust academics R eagan P hillip s New s Ass i s tan t Almost a year after the suspension of in-person classes, many Pepperdine students still reckon with the challenges of remote learning and the academic adjustments they needed to make. From rescheduling classes, rethinking scholastic priorities and managing isolation, these past semesters have presented a unique set of challenges, said Andrea Harris, senior director of Student Administrative Services. “We have so many students who need to work to help their family survive during this time period and in cases like that, we will work with them as best as we can if they need to take a semester off to focus on that, we’ll do it with them with — no fee and no penalty,” Harris said. Harris said OneStop and the University recognize those difficulties and are committed to accommodating students’ academics to ensure that their personal needs are met in this time of crisis. That process includes providing students with additional asynchronous class options, offering transition to part-time status and even encouraging students to take supplemental classes at other institutions or over the summer, Harris said. “Most people are not changing their major because of online learning,” Harris said. “Most of them are just saying, ‘What can I

do now?’ We have actually a fair number who have done better online than they ever have in their lives.” Despite the host of challenges remote instruction poses, Harris said most students remain committed to their ambitions, even if that means dealing with technical difficulties and time differences. Students Use Remote Work to Their Advantage Some students, such as junior Blake Farley, have used that time difference to their advantage. Farley, a Religion major and a member of the Global Fellows program, said he planned to live on Pepperdine’s Washington, D.C., campus for his junior year. However, since the closure of campus and suspension of international programs, he now finds himself grounded in his hometown of Searcy, Ark. Farley and other Global Fellows participate in classes and other opportunities virtually. Farley said he is enrolled in eight units through the Washington, D.C., program, along with a full-time internship at the U.S. Department of State as well as a part-time commitment to the Waves on Call fundraising program. “Unfortunately, one part about that virtual transition was that we weren’t able to take enough classes in the D.C., program to be considered full-time students,” Farley said.

Originally an obstacle, the time difference between Malibu, Washington, D.C., and Searcy became an asset to Farley. Farley said he bridged his credit deficit by enrolling in several Malibu classes offered between his day job and his night classes. This arrangement successfully fulfills his academic requirements, career ambitions and philanthropic desires, though it leaves him with little time in between. Farley said he simply accepts that “it’s a challenge, and we’re doing what we can to adjust.” Harris acknowledged that schedules like Farley’s are much more feasible for those close to Malibu. “The most obvious impact has been for students who are not in [Pepperdine’s] time zone,” Harris said. “If you’re within two hours of Pacific Standard time, you can make the standard classes work.” Students Face Obstacles Due To Remote Classes Students with considerable time differences work with OneStop to coordinate synchronous and asynchronous classes that fall within reasonable hours each day, Harris said. For first-year Eric Njuku, a student in Kenya, the time difference presents more problems than opportunities. “For me, because I’m 10 or 11 hours ahead, depending on daylight saving time, you find that all

your classes are at night,” Njuku said. “You have to change your sleeping time, you find you have to adapt to that time. Sometimes you are so tired!” Njuku took advantage of the tailored accommodations OneStop provided, including exempting him from attending several classes in the middle of the night. However, Njuku sometimes can’t attend even the classes during his waking hours. Often, power outages rob him of “a whole day of classes,” Njuku said. “Most of the time now you find you’re watching the recordings,” Njuku said. “You have to keep catching up, and you find that takes a lot of time!” To stay up-to-date, sometimes Njuku will watch lectures at an accelerated playback speed — an imperfect fix when pursuing a rigorous degree such as Computer Science, he said. “If you take heavy classes, it can just be too much, because you have to keep up with the time and you also have to keep up with the work,” Njuku said. The temporal distance inflicts additional isolation greater than that imposed by geography. Despite being a member of the Black Student Association, Njuku hasn’t been able to make connections or form friendships through the group. “I can’t join a club meeting at 4 o’clock in the morning,” Njuku said. “It’s just not possible.” Though facing these numerous

obstacles to success, Njuku said he remains committed to making it through the spring semester, with the hope that his sophomore year will prove less isolating and challenging. While there are numerous challenges for students during a remote semester, Harris said most often students face a combination of problems like academic pressure, time differences and social isolation. “It’s always like that,” Harris said. “It’s just I think it’s worse now because people are experiencing issues who never experienced issues before. What ends up happening is this will go on, it’ll be problematic, and three months in somebody will say something and then maybe it’s a little too late in the process to salvage it.” Harris said although students continue to face unique difficulties, OneStop’s fundamental goal remains: providing support and promoting success for those in the Pepperdine community. “Even though we’re not in person, our care hasn’t changed,” Harris said. Hearing the news of LA County’s falling case rate and the University’s limited reopening, Harris said she holds out hope that a new school year will bring a return to campus, a more manageable environment for academic wellness and a revival of the community that Farley, Njuku and so many others find fulfilling. R EAGAN.PHIL L IPS@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Polar vortex impacts Pepp students Ky le M c C a be As si stant New s E dit or A polar vortex caused temperatures to drop below freezing in every U.S. state in February, but the resulting snowstorms in the South wreaked the most havoc. Low temperatures, power outages, unsafe driving conditions and more plagued Southerners, including Pepperdine students living at home. At-home students in the South saw conditions out of the ordinary for their hometowns which interrupted their normal routines. Snowstorms in Texas and Arkansas started around Feb. 14. “For the first two days we had no electricity whatsoever,” junior Marcia Orellana said. “I got super cold. My house, inside of the house, it reached 40 degrees.” Orellana lives in Rowlett, Texas, and said the thermostat in her

house only shows temperatures down to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, so it could have been even colder. Rowlett received 8 inches of snow throughout the storm, while junior Blake Farley’s hometown of Searcy, Ark., saw 13 inches. “That’s the most I’ve seen in my life growing up here,” Farley said. “I’ve talked to many people — I’ve talked to my grandparents. It’s been about the same for them and they’ve lived their whole lives here. This is about the most winter weather we’ve seen all at once.” Junior Mahala Bayless traveled from her home in Eustace, Texas, to College Station to avoid the worst of the storm. Although 4.5 inches of snow fell on College Station compared to Eustace’s 10, Bayless did not escape the power outages. “I left [Eustace] in hopes that I could still go to class,” Bayless said. “That was the biggest prob-

lem with all of this, that I came down here to a bigger power grid hoping that they would have something more sustainable, but it was bigger than just at a city level.” Bayless experienced rolling blackouts, where power turns off and on periodically, from Feb. 14 to Feb. 18. Her WiFi stayed down until the night of Feb. 18, causing her to miss four days of classes. When Orellana’s power went out Feb. 15, she sent emails to her professors letting them know she might miss class. On Feb. 17, Rowlett started having two-hour rolling blackouts, allowing Orellana to go to an hour of class that day. She said her professors understood her situation. ‘“Everybody was really nice about it,” Orellana said. “The good thing about online school is that you have recordings, so even if you miss class, at least you can catch up whenever you can on the

weekend.” A 130-car pileup on Interstate 35 in Texas on Feb. 11, made Orellana’s family weary of driving on icy roads. She said some of her cousins drove to grocery stores to find food but found them scarcely stocked or closed due to power outages. Orellana said her family kept mostly frozen foods for emergencies, so without power, they ate bread, cereal, chips and anything else they could find. “It was hard, but we were privileged enough to have a chimney,” Orellana said. “That’s how we defrosted some sausages — we put them into the fire.” Farley said he experienced power outages that only lasted a few seconds, although he said he was snowed in for five or six days. He had to use a cellular data hotspot to connect his computer to the internet but went to class and

continued his internship with the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs throughout the week. “I was able to go about the daily routine that I had set up for this week,” Farley said. “I just stay at home all day with my internship and our classes [...] I wasn’t too burdened by the weather.” With the storm passing, all three students returned to class by Friday. Orellana said the snow in her neighborhood melted by Feb. 21. “This week has been crazy because three days ago we were still [surviving] off of sausages and right now the temperature is about 40 and the snow is completely gone,” Orellana said. “The sun is shining like nothing ever happened.”

K YL E.M C C ABE@PEPPER DINE.EDU

MAR C H 4 , 2 0 2 1 | PE RS PE C TIVE S | P E P P E R DIN E G RA P H I C ME D I A

PERSPECTIVES

@blackatpepperdine reveals that racial identity can become an obstacle for equality

*The Perspectives section is meant to showcase a variety of opinion and encourage discussion that is respectful and accurate.

MISSION STATEMENT

b r ya n t ya n g

s ta f f w r i t e r

fter the Instagram page @blackatpepperdine posted a story suggesting a Chinese student was racist against a Black student, it received backlash from some Chinese students. @blackatpepperdine reveals the problem of racial identity undermining the struggle for equality. The Instagram page @blackatpepperdine attracted attention after sharing around 300 posts narrating anti-Black incidents in the Pepperdine community. While this Instagram page battles against anti-Black racism, the Chinese Students and Scholars Association appeared on this page in a negative way Jan. 29, and this post received some backlash. Hate crimes against Asian Americans in the United States are rising due to political tensions and COVID-19. Therefore, negative comments toward Chinese students further increase such tensions. The backlash for this Instagram post is significant because it showed the estrangement between Black and Chinese students, which is detrimental in uniting people to fight against inequality. The post explained that a Black male student bought a bubble tea from a Chinese Students and Scholar Association’s fundraiser but left his wallet at the booth. When he returned to the table, a member of CSSA checked his ID before returning the wallet to him. This Black student wrote to @blackatpepperdine, “I’m sorry, but if I wasn’t a Black male, I don’t think that would have happened to me.” This post got about 300 likes, but it also faced criticism from some Chinese students. Multiple Chinese students argued that check-

ing one’s ID to make sure a lost item actually belongs to the person is not racist and this Black student was overreacting. The crux of this Instagram post isn’t whether the member of the CSSA was really a racist, nor whether this Black student was overreacting. Identity is an obstacle in the struggle for equality. Controversy followed this Instagram post because some Chinese students felt the Black student involved in this incident targeted CSSA since it is the first time an ethnic and cultural-related organization was negatively appearing on the page. As one student commented, “Why did you cover every individual or organization’s name in your previous posts, but do not cover the ‘CSSA’ in this one? Is it because we are Chinese, and it is okay to not respect Chinese?” Considering both the original post of this Black student and the responses from the Chinese students, this post seems like a person with a racial identity calling another person with a different racial identity racist. Overemphasizing racial identity doesn’t help to eliminate inequality because conflicts might happen between different groups of underprivileged people, thus undermining the struggle for

equality. The problem of racial identity covers up the reality. If one examines the history of racism, one will find that the word “racism” is just a disguise of class struggles. The essence of racial struggles is actually the conflicts between the exploiters and the exploited. The roots of racism are colonialism and imperialism. Throughout history, people with certain advantages constantly sought validation to justify their exploitation of minority groups. With such mentality, they invented racism. The exploiters often categorize the exploited as inferior — even an inferior species. Therefore, they would have a reason to abuse their power and enslave others. In other words, exploitation causes racism and racism “validates” exploitation. The relationship between exploitation and racism is like the stem and the root of a plant. The stem and the root support each other just as exploitation and racism reinforce each other. If the stem or root is broken down, the other will die; similarly, solving exploitation would also solve racism. There are two paths to reach the goal of equality: One is the path to fight against exploitation and the

Madeline Duvall | staff artist other is to fight against racism. Between these two options, standing up against exploitation through social activism is the easier path because racial identity is not a choice, but exploiting others is. Eliminating exploitation can gather more people and more voices than fighting against racism because people won’t limit themselves to their race, which is something they cannot change. The @blackatpepperdine page should fight against inequality without offending other racial groups. To avoid unnecessary criticism, @ blackatpepperdine should create a space that exposes incidents of inequality for all students — not just Black students.

“Pepperdine Graphic Media (PGM) is an editorially independent student news organization that focuses on Pepperdine University and the surrounding communities. PGM consists of the digital and print Graphic, a variety of special publications, GNews, Currents Magazine, social media platforms and an Advertising Department. These platforms serve the community with news, opinion, contemporary information and a public forum for discussion. PGM strengthens students for purpose, service and leadership by developing their skills in writing, editing and publication production, by providing a vehicle to integrate and implement their liberal arts education, and by developing students’ critical thinking through independent editorial judgment. PGM participates in Pepperdine’s Christian mission and affirmations, especially the pursuit of truth, excellence and freedom in a context of public service. Although PGM reports about Pepperdine University and coordinates with curricula in journalism and other disciplines, it is a student (not a University) news organization. Views expressed are diverse and, of course, do not correspond to all views of any University board, administration, faculty, staff, student or other constituency.”

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the Editor must bear the writer’s name, signature, class standing, major, address and phone number (except in some circumstances determined appropriate by the Graphic). Letters must be fewer than 300 words and will be edited for syntax, grammar and brevity. Letters can be mailed to student publications or emailed to peppgraphicmedia@gmail.com

Phone: 310-506-4311

Address: Graphic Pepperdine University 24255 Pacific Coast Hwy. Malibu, CA 90263

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STAFF LIST Executive Editor Makena Huey Managing Editor Rowan Toke Digital Editor Brianna Willis Copy Chief Tiffany Hall Pixel Editor Emily Shaw Video Producer Marisa Dragos Head Podcast Producer Kaelin Mendez Business Director Hadley Biggs Advertising Director Sahej Bhasin Photo Editor Allison Levens News Editor Ashley Mowreader News Assistant Editors Natalie Hardt Kyle McCabe

News Assistants Annabelle Childers Miles Cambell Reagan Phillips Samantha Torre Abby Wilt News Staff Writers Claire Lee Joseph Allgood Life & Arts Editor Sofia Longo Life & Arts Assistant Editor Beth Gonzales Life & Arts Assistants Harleen Chhabra Heath Slavens Life & Arts Staff Writers Lindsay Mase Addison Whiten Grace Wood Stella Zhang Xinyun Wang Life & Arts Copy Editor Yamillah Hurtado Perspectives Editor

Anitiz Muonagolu Perspectives Assistant Editors Christian Parham Sawatomo Yamakawa Perspectives Assistant Emily Chase Perspectives Staff Writers Joshua Evans Alice Han Bryant Yang Perspectives Copy Editor Ryan Bresingham Sports Editor Paxton Ritchey Sports Assistant Editor Justin Touhey Sports Assistant Camryn Jones Sports Staff Writers Austin Hall Karl Winter Sports Copy Editor Alec Matulka Art Editor Allyson Armstrong

Art Assistant Editor Samantha Miller Staff Artists Leah Bae Madeline Duvall Autumn Hardwick Nicole Wong Lead Designer Isabella Teague Life & Arts Design Assistant Nathan Huang Perspectives Design Assistant Rachel Marek Sports Design Assistant Kaitlyn Davis Staff Photographers Leah Bae Ryan Brinkman Keonabelle Paniagua Head Podcast Producer Kaelin Mendez Assistant Head Podcast Producer Anitiz Muonagolu Podcast Producers Ivy Moore

Paxton Ritchey Lindsey Sullivan Emily Shaw Karl Winter Podcast Production Assistants Misha Semenov Celine Foreman Advertising Director Sahej Bhasin Advertising Representative Cristobal Delgado Marketing Coordinator Bryant Loney Social Team Claudia Hardianto Madilyn Henshaw Inez Kim Abby Wilt Karl Winter

MA R C H 4 , 2 0 2 1 | PE RS PE C TIVE S | P E P P E R DIN E G RA P H I C ME D I A

Sia's movie, 'Music,' is not music to anybody’s ears

e m i ly c h a s e s ta f f w r i t e r What do overzealous romance movies, Disney movies and Sia’s new movie "Music" all have in common? They are all unrealistic. World-renowned pop singer Sia made her debut as a director and producer with her new movie, "Music," on Feb. 10. The story follows Zu, a woman who is newly sober and has been informed she is now the legal guardian of her younger, autistic half-sister, Music. The movie explores how Music sees the world and the rollercoaster that is her and Zu’s relationship. In an interview with Variety, Sia stated, "[Music] is based on a real person that I know," and went on to say that Ziegler's performance mimicking this child was "as accurate a representation that I know." Sia's goal to shed light on autism and the struggles autistic people have is admirable, but the execution is awful. At First Glance The film has a star-studded cast: Golden Globe winner Kate Hudson as Music's half-sister, Zu; Tony award winner Leslie Odom Jr. as Zu's supportive friend, Ebo; and Emmy award winner Héctor Elizondo as George, Music's neighbor. Maddie Ziegler, an influencer and dancer, plays Music herself. The public knows Ziegler best for her role

on the show "Dance Moms" as a child, but she soon shot to stardom as Sia’s star dancer and artistic muse. The trailer alone wreaks of a commercialized mess. The overuse of musical numbers and the stereotypical portrayal of the autistic protagonist leaves many autistic people offended. Additionally, the ableist overtones of the film misconstrue the understanding of autism. Granted, these are the proper mannerisms for the type of autism Music has, but this portrayal is extreme. Autism is a spectrum, and Sia completely disregarded that. The portrayal poses the question, “Is this all autistic people are?” The answer is no. A Miscast For The Ages

autumn hardwick |Staff Artist This only led to further backlash toward Sia from a variety of audiences. Irish actress Bronagh Waugh tweeted, "It's pretty offensive the way [Sia chose] to portray this character." This tweet alone has gained almost 20,000 likes and had over 1,000 retweets.

Dazed Digital's Sophie Buck wrote in a 2020 article, “Why are autistic people shamed for being themselves, but a neurotypical actor gets rewarded for inaccurately and reductively assuming an Too Flashy autistic identity?” Sia made the ultimate Although the music is catchy decision to cast Ziegler as the and lyrically proficient, the autistic lead, which sets the overly theatrical dance and film up with a disingenuous musical numbers severely tone before the movie even contrast the film's serious premiered. subject and are simply When the movie first came unnecessary. The bright sets into development, it was odd and obnoxious costumes “Sia said that she had ‘tried become distracting from the working with a beautiful main message the film is trying young girl’ who was on the to get across. autism spectrum but said The film's lack of the girl found the experience authenticity stretches far ‘unpleasant,’” according to beyond just the casting and Insider Online. the tacky musical numbers — Sia came out with a whether it was deficiency in statement to The Sunday research or just striving for a Project in Australia saying, “I simplistic approach, the film mean, it is ableism I guess as comes across as uneducated, well, but it’s actually nepotism objectionable and has a onebecause I can’t do a project sided presentation of autism. without [Ziegler]. I don’t Sia’s neglect of other forms of want to." autism is also a factor.

Reductive Representation In the film, Music has violent seizures and is extremely destructive when her episodes occur. In reality, this isn't the case with most autistic people. Only one-third of autistic people experience seizures as a result of autism, according to the National Library of Medicine. Thus, the film portrays autism in a negative way, only furthering the stigma. Music did not speak once in the entirety of the movie. Her lines were simply cut down to "I am happy" and "I am sad," and those lines were made from plastic buttons Music pressed to convey her emotions. Not only is this offensive, but it is also overly simplified. Looking Forward In the future, the film industry needs to do more research and genuine casting. With a musical film, the more revenue it earns from popular songs or trendy dance moves, the happier the writer or creator will be. Keeping the film’s veritable

meaning separate from the profit is crucial and could have made the film’s debut less controversial and more meaningful. There needs to be a more holistic approach to movies that cover sensitive topics such as disabilities and illnesses. There is no room for ableism, nepotism or arrogance on the silver screen or in society as a whole. The film needed to be given proper attention and care. Sia and Ziegler are both extremely influential individuals. Therefore, a powerful movie with a powerful message can have powerful effects on the world. Done correctly, it could generate a more inclusive environment, create positive representation on screen and start a conversation that can breed understanding and education. Next time Sia decides to make a heartfelt project, it needs to be done in a more inclusive and thoughtful way — otherwise chaos will ensue again.

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Staff Editorial: Now that campus is reopening, let’s keep it that way Students can return to campus, but not all are able to. The California Department of Public Health guidelines granted the University permission to partially open campus because the case rate of LA County hit 20.0 per 100,000 residents, according to an email from the Public Relations Office on Feb. 23. Students cannot control the campus gates. What students can control, in particular, is how they act if they do choose to enter the Malibu campus. It is true the campus reopening mostly benefits those in the Malibu area — those who are privileged enough to live there. Payson Library, outdoor practice facilities, outdoor seating with socially distanced groups and Alumni Park are among some of the areas now accessible, according to the Feb. 23 email. The reopening also benefits those who need physical resources only offered on campus, such as fine arts performance spaces and science labs. If students choose to go onto campus, they will need to have prior arrangements. In terms of safety, the University requires those entering campus to fill out a Daily Wellness Check form, also known as the "green dot," certifying they do not have COVID-19 symptoms or have come into contact with anyone with COVID-19.

The green dot is mandatory, and individuals who do not receive the green-dot clearance will need to call the Student Health Center to enter, according to the Feb. 23 email. Once granted permission to enter, students have a choice between outdoor seating and Payson Library study areas, which are socially distanced. Whether a student comes to campus is an individual choice, but that person should be mindful of other people and be prepared to uphold a great amount of responsibility to ensure the safety of others. Just because students are able to do something does not mean they should. The last thing Pepperdine, Malibu or LA County need is another spike in COVID-19 cases. As of March 1, LA County has reported 1,193,531 COVID-19 cases and 21,467 deaths, according to The New York Times. "With almost six months until the start of fall classes on Aug. 30, updates for the fall semester will become more specific and detailed after the conclusion of the spring semester," Dean Michael Feltner wrote in an email to Seaver College on March 1. College students are adults and should be considerate of the community by following all guidelines the University and the county sets when deciding whether to enter

Samantha Miller|Assistant Art Editor campus. This is a step toward campus reopening — students want to come back to campus within the solidarity of Pepperdine’s community. It will not just open up altogether; this is the first step in a wider, less-restrictive reopening of the Malibu campus, per the University's website. For such a fractured community, this can be a moment of hope or a moment of concern. However, students should view this announcement as an advancement in science and controls as we have learned what it means to be apart from each other. Pepperdine preaches resilience, and we have been resilient for the better part of a year. Should widespread vaccination

efforts and campus safety protocols continue as expected, this pattern of reopening should continue for the coming fall semester with in-person classes, dining options, housing and on-campus events. "Similar to all summer 2021 sessions, Seaver College is planning and preparing to deliver its fall semester classes inperson on the Malibu and international program campuses," Feltner wrote. Most important, returning students need to be respectful of the Waves who were on campus before the Feb. 23 reopening. From student-athletes to those with special circumstances, these students should not feel more restricted than they already are by the presence of off-campus

students. Student-athletes are asked to get tested once or twice a week and live under stricter guidelines. Non-studentathletes do not have as easy of access to frequent testing but still face the same level of strictness. Waves should be respectful of the greendot process to ensure its success. Many of us have anticipated this moment for so long; be respectful of each other and our campus.

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New Sustainability Director aims to fulfill a faith mission at Pepperdine C l air e Lee Staf f W r i te r Pepperdine’s Center for Sustainability welcomes its newest director, Ricky Eldridge. Pepperdine hired Eldridge as the new director of the Center for Sustainability in January. Eldridge has been with the University since June 2019 as the director of Governmental and Regulatory Affairs and now serves in both roles. “At Pepperdine, it’s always been explained to me and it’s been observed by me as well, that everything extends from fulfilling this faith-based mission,” Eldridge said. Through this lens, Eldridge said he can view sustainability in an ethical, practical and purposeful manner that is consistent with the Pepperdine mission. With his new role, Eldridge said he is excited to utilize the opportunity to further advance this mission. Rhiannon Bailard, who worked for Pepperdine’s Governmental and Regulatory Affairs for many years but has now moved to another institution, founded the Center for Sustainability in October 2008. Eldridge described sustainability at Pepperdine as managing the University’s resources in an ethical, practical and purposeful manner that is appropriate and consistent with Pepperdine’s mission. “People are doing so much great stuff across the University, and being able to centralize and communicate that is an exciting opportunity,” Eldridge said. One aspect Eldridge said drew

him to his new role was his childhood connection to nature. Eldridge grew up in the rural town of Valley Center, Calif., on an avocado grove. His connectedness to nature followed him to law school, where he was an officer in the University of Southern California’s Energy and Environmental Law Society. Through his officer role, Eldridge said he facilitated speakers, events and opportunities for students who wanted to work in careers involved in sustainability. Pepperdine’s faith-based mission was a core reason why Eldridge came to Pepperdine. “One of the huge draws of me coming here was [Pepperdine’s] mission to pursue excellence and to instill in students with these faith-based values to help them go forward and be leaders in the community,” Eldridge said. By working at a place of higher education, Eldridge said he hopes to gain expertise from the University’s academic professionals and coordinate academic partnerships. “[Pepperdine is] a place that’s inherently blessed with theoretical, practical and academic discussion on a daily basis, and we kinda have this proverbial wealth of resources that are capable of examining all sides of any given issue or project,” Eldridge said. Coordinating with the various schools and departments throughout Pepperdine will be a key component to achieving the University’s goals, Eldridge said. Some examples of the departments the Center for Sustainability works with are the Department of Facilities Services, Department of De-

sign, and Construction and Transit Services. Eldridge said he is aware of the importance of student involvement in sustainability. “I think there’s various student clubs across campus that do a lot of great work in sustainability,” Eldridge said. “I think that orking and partnering with them and finding ways to collaborate on projects and make things as streamlined and helpful as possible is definitely something that we want to pursue and empower.” Eldridge oversees projects such as the replacement of the globe lights on campus and the enhanced parking and storage project. Other sustainability efforts that Eldridge said he will continue at Pepperdine include electric vehicle charging stations, a waste diversion tracking system and a reclaimed water program. The University has a history of sustainability initiatives with its reclaimed water program in 1972. Eldridge said capturing and communicating such existing sustainability efforts will be incredibly helpful in moving forward. “Being in [Governmental and Regulatory Affairs], I’ve seen just how sustainability plays a big role at Pepperdine, but that maybe it’s not always communicated as clearly to the campus community as it could in certain instances,” Eldridge said. He hopes communicating the array of sustainability efforts in a centralized manner will lead to more fruitful opportunities. Another avenue Eldridge said he intends to continue is good stewardship of Pepperdine’s natu-

Photo Courtesy of Ricky Eldridge A New Direction | New Center for Sustainability Director Ricky Eldridge smiles for a photo in 2017 at his home in Los Angeles. Eldridge works remotely at his home in Westlake Village, Calif., due to COVID-19. ral resources. “We have these awesome gifts from God bestowed on the campus from its size and location, nearness to the coast,” Eldridge said. “It’s in Los Angeles County, people want to be here and come from all over the world to be here.” Camila Bonavia, who was the previous director and is now the assistant vice president for Administration and Campus Operations, continues to lend her experience and expertise, Eldridge said. “I’m just extremely thankful for all of the forerunners of the Center who have paved the way,” Eldridge said.

Eldridge said he is blessed to have the guidance of those who have helped him grow into his new role. “The foundational efforts the University did and has done is really incredible,” Eldridge said. “Before sustainability was a recognizable term or as much of a trending topic as it might be today, the University was investing in its resources and managing them in such an innovative and forward-thinking way, and I think that’s really commendable and has served to form the roots of sustainability at Pepperdine that we get to enjoy now.” C L AIR E.L EE@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Students step up in healthcare field throughout COVID-19 pandemic Ab by W Ilt New s Ass i s tan t Imagine being the first person to tell somebody they have COVID-19. Emotions of shock, worry and uncertainty rush through the patient’s brain, and you are the only one there to comfort the sick patient as they think through their family members and friends they have recently been in contact with. For sophomore Sports Medicine major Noelle Seekamp-Hicks, this has been a daily occurrence since August. “It’s hard when you find out somebody, or yourself, have come in contact with COVID-19 — you immediately think about all the people you have been around, and you think about how you would feel if they were infected with it,” Seekamp-Hicks said. ”It’s really strengthened my empathy and my compassion.” Several Pepperdine students have dedicated time out of their year to pursue their dreams of working in the healthcare field, even if it wasn’t under the circumstances they expected. Whether it is giving COVID-19 vaccinations, performing COVID-19 tests or being the first ones patients call when they are in a dire situation, Pepperdine students are stepping up to serve their communities and gaining firsthand experience of what it’s like to work during a public health crisis. Working on the Frontlines From a young age, Seekamp-Hicks knew she wanted to serve in the healthcare industry. Seekamp-Hick’s mom is a pharmacist and her dad is a psychologist, so she said she knew from a young age that she wanted to follow in their footsteps. “I’ve always admired my mom

for the work that she does in helping people and educating them on the medications they are taking,” Seekamp-Hicks said. Seekamp-Hicks started working at a COVID-19 testing site in August in Portland, Ore. The testing site saw 200 patients per day and Seekamp-Hicks did everything from performing the actual tests, to watching how the tests got processed, to delivering the results to the patients, she said. “We would talk to them, help them through their swabbing process and then process the samples right there,” Seekamp-Hicks said. “It was really cool getting to see how the actual technology worked of processing the COVID-19 samples.” During the winter months, the testing site was split into four satellite locations, each site processing 50 patients per day. Seekamp-Hicks said she got the opportunity to lead one of the sites and educate the workers on the process of COVID-19 testing. “I actually got the job of going around to all the different stores and teaching everyone how to do everything,” Seekamp-Hicks said. “I work on getting the pharmacists and pharmacy technicians on board, making sure they know how to do the samples, how to process them and what people work they need to do.” Seekamp-Hick’s expertise even reached Hawai’i, where she said a new COVID-19 testing site called her to learn the practices and protocols her site did to keep the patients and workers safe. “I called them a couple times and just guided them through our best practices and helped them problem-solve,” Seekamp-Hicks said. “The moments like that are super rewarding.” Now that the spring semester has started, Seekamp-Hicks con-

tinues to run one of the testing sites in her neighborhood. She also recently became certified by the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board to be a Certified Pharmacy Technician. “Since I just got my certification, I’m going to be able to administer the COVID-19 vaccines, so I’ve been doing training for that,” Seekamp-Hicks said. “Hopefully by March I’ll be able to start vaccinating people.”

Sometimes you’d have to let [patients] know that they were infected with coronavirus and it was really hard to see people go through that. Noelle Seekamp-hicks Sophomore Seekamp-Hicks said working in the healthcare industry is rewarding and she learned many skills that are applicable to her daily life. “I feel like I’ve grown a lot in my ability to adapt to different situations and to be really flexible with the way that I do things,” Seekamp-Hicks said. “If I’m not flexible and I’m not willing to adapt to those changes I could be susceptible to getting ill or coming in contact with things that I’m not supposed to.”

But working in the healthcare industry, especially during a global pandemic, doesn’t come without challenges, Seekamp-Hicks said. “Sometimes you’d have to let [patients] know that they were infected with coronavirus and it was really hard to see people go through that,” Seekamp-Hicks said. “To be able to give them comfort in that moment — it’s scary.” Seekamp-Hicks said that because of the novelty of the virus, protocols change weekly and she remains diligent about checking the current practices. She also continues to teach the people around her the latest virus information. “There’s a lot of misconceptions about what is going on with COVID-19, but I try to be as open and honest with people as I can with the information I am giving,” Seekamp-Hicks said. “It has been a struggle, mainly because everyone has questions, and nobody has answers right now.” On the Frontlines as EMTs Not only have students worked in the healthcare industry directly with COVID-19 patients, but also on the frontlines as EMTs. Sophomore Biology major Abigail Martinez started working as an EMT over a year and a half ago, and senior Chemistry major Abigail Butler is working on her certification to become an EMT. While the standard job description of an EMT remains the same, Martinez said she and her co-workers had to change their protocols due to COVID-19. “Treating the patients has stayed the same, but the different ways we handle calls and wear protective equipment now has definitely changed,” Martinez said. “You didn’t really see a lot of people wearing masks before.” With more COVID-19 cases,

there became a greater need for EMTs to respond to calls, and Martinez said in the peak phases of COVID-19, the job got even busier. Martinez said she not only worried about treating patients but also keeping herself protected from the virus. “It’s been stressful being exposed to COVID-19 so much,” Martinez said. “It’s hard as first responders because we don’t always know what we are walking into. We don’t want to waste our protective equipment but also we need to wear it — it’s a weird balance.” Martinez said she has grown from the experience of working as an EMT during the pandemic, and that it helped her with her confidence and decision-making skills. The pandemic changed Butler’s plans, as she planned to graduate from Pepperdine and go straight to medical school, but now she is taking an EMT training course and plans to work as an EMT during a gap year after graduation. “We are doing all this training for different scenarios, so I’m excited to just go out there and actually work with people,” Butler said. “In high school, I was a certified nursing assistant at a nursing home, so I’m excited to see how being an EMT will be different from that.” Butler anticipates being an EMT will come with challenges, but said she is excited to start helping people and serving her community. “Sometimes that [the emergency] is the hardest part of their life and you get to help them through that,” Butler said. “It’s rewarding but can also be hard.”

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Mar ch 4, 2021

The Graphic

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Pepp Tatts: Students share reality of being inked B et h Go nzales Lif e & Ar ts As si sta n t E dit or Having a tattoo at Pepperdine doesn’t just mean wearing your heart on your skin. It means sharing your artists, drawings, friendships, travel, faith, family and personal anecdotes. Students who have collected tattoos during their lives said their tattoos are beneficial to their personhood. If you know what you feel positive and comfortable about, tattoos have no rule book. While many hold the attitude that tattoos poorly reflect Christianity, inked Pepperdine students reveal the meaning behind their art and how spiritual relations are strengthened by permanently accepting who they are and the experiences that define them. “Tattoos are a way of defining your look and style to speak to other people about who you are without ever saying a word,” said Suede Silver, Pepperdine 2016 alumnus and tattoo artist Suede Silver. “It’s a way to immortalize different seasons of your life and remind you of the things most important.” Junior Hannah Kate Albach has six tattoos and designed most of them herself. She said the first tattoo she drew was a dove on her back, representing the Holy Spirit, and many of her tattoos have spiritual significance. Her dad taught her to draw at a young age and many older sister figures she looked up to as a child had tattoos, resulting in her interest in tattoos. Other tattoos on Albach’s body include a saying in her mom’s handwriting, a branch that wraps around her ankle and a line above her elbow, which she said she all sketched herself. Albach said during her first year at Pepperdine, she was one of the students at The Borderline Bar & Grill, in Thousand Oaks, Calif., when the mass shooting

took place Nov. 7, 2018. “Obviously, that had some pretty substantial ramifications in my life, and I went through, I would say, a positive transition following,” Albach said. “Overcoming the trauma made me say, ‘Oh wow, this is that for me.’ That’s when I got my first tattoo.” Junior Callie Mechelke is a singer/songwriter and graphic designer who has six tattoos. She said her favorite is the birds on her ribcage that she got in one of the oldest tattoo shops in the world, in Old City Jerusalem. “The man who did it was the son of a son of a son — this tattoo shop has been in this family since they opened,” Mechelke said. “There’s so much history on my body right now. It makes it so much more significant.” For inked Pepperdine students, a popular theme is getting tattoos while abroad. Albach got tattoos while she was abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina and when she visited Honduras. Mechelke said abroad tattoos are not only cheaper, but they have their own sense of style, and that tattoos are very prominent through cultures. Senior Marissa Moore has 30 tattoos and said one of her most memorable tattoo moments was when she was eating pizza in Florence, Italy; she picked a photo during dinner and got it tattooed right after. She got the words “mai da sola,” which means “never alone” in Italian. Moore said most of her tattoos are meaningful in some way to her life, but she has a few that she was drawn to aesthetically, which other inked students also agreed on. She said the saying is true, once you get one tattoo, you have an incessant need for more. “A lot of people are nervous about the permanence of tattoos, which is very understandable, but the permanence excites me a lot,” Moore said. “I think it’s cool that you get to have control over whether or not a piece of art gets

Photo courtesy of Hannah kate Albach Tattoo Twins| Juniors Hannah Kate Albach and Callie Mechelke look across the distance in Peru while showing off their matching mountain tattoos in December 2019. They got the tattoos while traveling to have a constant reminder of the sights they saw. to stay on your body forever — it makes me feel really powerful and in touch with myself.” Silver, a 2016 Pepperdine grgraduate, got a tattoo machine for Christmas one year and discovered his love. He tattoos Pepperdine students often and said he has doodled his whole life, even for Pepperdine’s campus through posters and art. He now works as a music producer and tattoo artist. “My teachers used to get so mad because I couldn’t resist drawing on the SAT bubbles as a teenager,” Silver said. “I would always use sharpies and eyeliner pens to draw on myself and my friends. I always fantasized about how cool it’d be to take little fun drawings and be able to tattoo them.” Silver doesn’t have any tattoos himself but has given his brothers many. He said he doesn’t actively

seek tattoo clients, but when they come, he’s ready. This has made him evolve into the artist he is. “The most memorable work I’ve done are the ones from the beginning — it was such a fun time doing tattoos for all my friends who trusted me,” Silver said. “I hardly knew what I was doing and we would set up anywhere possible. I’d have someone laying on a kitchen table with surf documentaries on in the background.” Silver said his advice to any student wanting to get a tattoo is to start small and ease into it, maybe get something you can hide. This in return will help relatives ease into it.

SE E Tatto o s , B 3

Photo courtesy of Marissa Moore Designs on Display | Senior Marissa Moore models her new tattoos in September 2019. She said her favorite tattoo is her lion because it represents strength and power.

Pepperdine graduate student publishes book, ‘The Bird From the Kingdom of Heaven’ in Iran LindsAy Mase Staf f W r i te r After volunteering at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles, and connecting with the inmates, graduate student Parsa Peykar said he was a changed man. His time working with the inmates taught him that sometimes freedom is not about the location, but rather the condition of a person’s heart. Peykar, a Psychology student at Pepperdine Graduate School of Education and Psychology, just published his third book, titled “The Bird From the Kingdom of Heaven,” in Iran on Feb. 14. “Being an author or anything in life, there will be a lot of failure on the line,” Peykar said. “I have realized you need to embrace those failures and always believe that what you have done is unique.” Peykar previously published two other books, “Freedom in the Cage” in 2011 and “Scream of Si-

English Edition | English copies of “The Bird From the Kingdom of Heaven,” splay across a table in October 2018. Peykar said the book is about a caged bird that finds freedom.

lence” in 2012. “The Bird From the Kingdom of Heaven” was published October 2018 in the United States before it was published in Iran. The book is about a metaphorical bird, and the story proves that freedom is never quite out of reach, no matter how imprisoned people feel. “I think I always say the book is really about what freedom is, and I realized freedom is more about how we are feeling inside rather than a location,” Peykar said. Peykar, a UCLA alumnus who graduated with a Psychology and History double major in 2014, is working toward his Master of Arts in Psychology. He said he has also started a program called Inter-Are Triangle to “bring one’s potential into a life purpose.” “‘Inter-Are Triangle’ is a goal setting strategy where people choose three goals based on one vision and apply each goal to the formula which consists of three parts: information, activity and teaming up,” Peykar said. Peykar said he was inspired to write the book after volunteering at Twin Towers Correctional Facility through a community outreach opportunity provided by his church. He encouraged inmates to use their talents, such as artwork, and talked them about their lives to form connections. The first inmate Peykar met was only 19, which made it easy for Peykar to empathize with him because of their closeness in age. The 19-year-old received a life sentence for murder while driving under the influence of alcohol. “I just imagined myself being in his place and realizing how many people are really suffering and I made a commitment to go every week,” Peykar said. “I would go every Saturday and meet with different inmates with different backgrounds, different religious beliefs or faiths.” He connected with the inmates on a deeper level by talking about his personal faith in God and praying with them — no matter what religion they were. He said

he realized many of them grew up without a father, and so they never really had a role model or someone they could trust. “I met this guy who was in a gang, who was on death row,” Peykar said. “He was mentioning when he was arrested that he did not know any other life, like he thought that was a right life to live.” After spending time with the inmates, Peykar said he learned many of them were very good at drawing, writing poetry and playing music. While he talked to the inmates, they would draw and it became a routine. He would give them drawing assignments to complete by the next time he visited. “They’re looking so much for an opportunity to prove that they’re good people, so when you provide them with such a chance, I think that gives them a great hope to really flourish,” Peykar said. The Freedom in the Cage Foundation is a non-profit organization Peykar started after his experience volunteering in the jail. It is meant “to inspire, heal and empower inmates through art therapy, leadership coaching and talent development,” Peykar said. Peykar said his volunteer work made him realize how much art therapy helped the inmates. He realized that once inmates get out of jail, the world they enter is foreign to them. “So I try to give them opportunities so they can learn something useful or live a purposeful life behind and beyond the bars,” Peykar said. To give inmates in Iran something to cling to, Peykar plans on donating copies of “The Bird From the Kingdom in Heaven.” He said he always questioned what freedom means. He noticed some inmates were mentally free and at peace, even though they were physically imprisoned. Alternatively, he knows of people in outside of jail who are not truly free.

“Many times, people cage themselves in their own beliefs or ideas,” Peykar said. “Hatred, for example, is a cage, or jealousy is a cage, comparison. All these things are like jails that people put themselves into.” Peykar said freedom lies in the condition of our heart and in realizing that it starts with us, not other people or our circumstances. “I think that freedom comes from realizing what the truth is, about ourselves, about our Creator, about life itself,” Peykar said. “So once we find that, we can be free from the things we have told ourselves, or the limits we put on ourselves — all those feelings that are not really in accordance with our true nature.”

L INDSAY.M ASE@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Photos courtesy of Parsa Peykar Academic Author | Author Parsa Peykar poses in December in Turkey. Peykar said he fulfilled his dream to have his work published in Iran because it is his home country.

Going Global | The cover of the Farsi, also known as Persian, language version of “The Bird From the Kingdom of Heaven” is displayed in Iran on Feb. 14. Shabnam Samieeyan translated the book in Iran.

MAR C H 4 , 2 0 2 1 | L IFE A N D A RTS | P E P P E R DIN E G RA P H I C ME D I A

Social student hopes to foster her love of community li n ds ay m a s e staf f wr i t e r

Fresh Faces features first-year and transfer students to unite Pepperdine students and build community, regardless of where they are.

STEM student aims to be a leader in society addiso n w hitten s taf f w r i te r First-year Devin Cooke said he has big goals for his future, like pursuing a career in STEM and becoming the mayor of his hometown of Inglewood, Calif. Cooke is a Computer Science major who is passionate about natural science and leadership. He said he loves his hometown and dreams of giving back in a major way. No matter what he ends up doing professionally, his focus is on giving back and helping people. “Being a visionary and a skillful leader, I can create innovative changes with the community,” Cooke said. During his sophomore year of high school, Cooke completed an internship for LA Mayor Eric Garcetti. Cooke said he worked with LA Sanitation and the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant — an experience that opened his eyes to career opportunities in natural science. “Throughout the experience, I was able to be an engineering intern and administrative intern, learning the ropes in the field of natural science corporately, and as a whole spectrum in itself,” Cooke said. Like many other first-year students, Cooke said he is considering changing his major. He is very interested in Computer Science, but he also has a passion for the natural sciences. Even if he switches to something in the Natural Science Division, Cooke’s goal to be a leader in his community will remain no matter what his major is. “I definitely want to be a person that gives back, be a shining light and be somebody that people can look up to for a better tomorrow,” Cooke said. Cooke is a Posse Scholar and he said being a part of this group helps him grow and stay committed to his goals. He said the organization

photo courtesy of devin cooke Pepp Proud| First-year Devin Cooke holds his Pepperdine

First-year Ashley Abaya said her love of community led her to Pepperdine and her new sorority, Pi Beta Phi. Hailing from Redwood City, Calif., she has always been an active member in her community and hopes to continue that at Pepperdine. Abaya is a Communication Studies major, which she said helps to satisfy her love of people as she expands her network. “I want to study [Communication Studies] because it was a little bit broad, but then also I just know that I want to do something that helps people and that I can serve others with,” Abaya said. Abaya thought Pepperdine was the best choice for her and her values because she said she has always valued community and faith, two things she believes she would foster at Pepperdine. “Community is really important to me because I’ve experienced having a really good community through high school and until now, and I have seen the ways it has positively affected my life and those around me,” Abaya said. “While two online semesters have not been easy, Abaya said she built a great community through her involvement with Pi Phi and her Communication classes. She knows she will continue to build a circle of friends once she arrives on campus. “As a person with a love for community, having classes online and not being able to be on campus has been challenging, but Pi Phi has given me a sense of community at Pepperdine,” Abaya said. “Through Pi Phi, I have been able to meet and get to know other women that I cannot wait to eventually meet in person.” Abaya has always been drawn to others, which is reflected in her current involvement with her local community and in the past when she was in high school. In high school, Abaya was a member of both the Associated Student Body and Leadership Club.While in ASB, Abaya said she got to meet a lot of people through planning and leading events. “It was also fun to work with people and see their reactions to things we would plan,” Abaya said. To engage with her local community at home, Abaya said she maintains a part-time job at a lo-

photos courtesy of ashley abaya All Smiles| First-year Ash-

ley Abaya smiles in front of the water in Monterey, Calif., in June. Abaya said she wants to go abroad for only one semester so that she can be on campus — and near the ocean — for at least one semester before she is a junior. cal coffee shop, called Coffeebar. “It’s cool that I get to interact with people, because there’s not a ton of that going on without it,” Abaya said. Abaya plans to study abroad at the Heidelberg international program during the spring semester of her sophomore year. She said she liked how the Heidelberg program is in a smaller, more close-knit area than some of the other abroad programs. She learned about the program from attending virtual meetings and talking to other students about it. “By going abroad, I hope to be able to experience new cultures and gain new perspectives of the world,” Abaya said. “I’m looking forward to meeting people of different cultures and learning more about the way of living there and how it may differ to the way I have lived, growing up in the United States.”

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sweatshirt at the Posse Induction Ceremony in January 2020. Cooke said he is grateful for the support and community he finds among his fellow Posse Scholars at Pepperdine. provides him with a social group of like-minded people to rely on. “Not a lot of people get to go into college with the backup and support that Posse brings, and that’s something I definitely admire,” Cooke said. “They definitely want to see you grow, want to help you grow and want to just be there for you in life to help you get where you want to be.” Posse offers opportunities like career programming and mentoring, things Cooke said will help him succeed beyond college. “It’s definitely something that I can lean on as a foundation,” Cooke said. Cooke chose Pepperdine be-

cause of the quality education it offers and its Christian roots, two things he said will help with his goal for holistic growth. He also said he has always felt a spiritual connection to the beach, making Malibu an ideal location for him. “I felt like it was just the perfect place,” Cooke said. “Everything came full circle, and God was pointing to Pepperdine.”

Coffee & Community| Abaya (right) smiles as her friend A D D I S O N .W H I T T E N @P E P P E RD I N E . E D U

visits her at work in January, in Redwood City, Calif. She said her go-to drink is a cold brew and she loves to make hot lattes.

Pianist dreams of inspiring appreciation for classical music st el l a z ha ng s taf f w r i te r First-year Makayla Harris said her dreams came true when she received the Chloe Ross Scholarship and enrolled at Pepperdine. As one of the two students from Pepperdine’s music department selected for the Chloe Ross Scholarship, Harris played for the Chloe Ross ceremony at Raitt Recital Hall in November. Harris is not only a pianist but also a piano instructor, as she seeks to spark interests in classical music among others. She started playing the piano at the age of 8, and ever since then, she said she has used music as a way to express herself. “The piano is really beautiful,” Harris said. “There are many things that distract me in real life, but practicing the piano helps me process whatever I am going through in life.” Now majoring in Piano Performance at Pepperdine, Harris

said she genuinely loves playing the piano and performing special music for people to hear. Harris wants to pursue a career in music as well and said she hopes to teach piano at a university and be a vocal accompanist. She has been teaching beginners piano — both children and adults — for four years now. Harris said her dream is to open a classical music club for her and other musicians to perform in. “Classical music is really special, but it’s especially hard to open something like that in our generation because classical music is slowly going away,” Harris said. Harris is from Salt Lake City, and she said she is excited about starting her life in California. She said choosing to attend Pepperdine “just felt right.” Harris said she likes Pepperdine’s tight-knit and community-based campus and its music department. “I like all the professors. They all care about their stu-

dents so much and students are all so genuine and nice,” Harris said. “I can’t see myself being this happy anywhere else.” Harris said she looks forward to going to one of Pepperdine’s international programs — Heidelberg Summer Music Program — this summer. “I am excited to explore the area where so many incredible composers gained inspiration,” Makayla said. Although remote classes pose new challenges for music students, Harris embraced this change with her dedication. She said she works diligently by recording practice videos for her classes and doing FaceTime lessons with her professors. “If I made up my mind to do something, I’ll do it no matter what it takes,” Harris said. “It’s a blessing and a curse.”

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photo courtesy of makayla harris

photo courtesy of makayla harris Musical Star| First-year Makayla Harris performs for the

Chloe Ross ceremony in Raitt Recital Hall at Pepperdine University in November. Harris said she was one of the two students selected from the Pepperdine music department to perform.

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TATTOOS: students in love with their ink F R OM b 1 “With relatives, the most important thing you can do is communicate lovingly and respectfully,” Silver said. “If it comes down to it, you can tell them that you appreciate their perspective and value it, even if it doesn’t line up exactly with yours.” Moore said her parents cannot stand the fact that she has tattoos but grew to be more accepting, even appreciating the meaning behind them. Albach said her parents didn’t support the idea but began to adjust after they told her to make sure they can be hidden, as Albach is hoping to become a lawyer. “It’s one of the only professions where it really does matter what other people think and the jury’s perception of you, because you can’t control who’s on the jury,” Albach said. Melchelke said the culture of negativity surrounding tattoos in the workplace is quickly changing as tattoos become more common and employers have a hard time finding people without them. “I think that it’s shifting in terms of professionalism,” Mechelke said. “I think that the only thing that trips people up sometimes is when they say, ‘Oh, I just wanna make sure I’m able to cover it up’ and I’m like, ‘No, that defeats the purpose. You’re getting a tattoo to represent a part of you.’” Albach said she thinks some people get caught in the mindset that we should not decorate ourselves in elaborate jewelry or clothes to maintain humility. She pointed out the verse Deuteronomy 6:8-9: “Tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.” “In a spiritual sense, it is essentially a reminder of my relationship with God and how I can maintain that,” Albach said regarding her interpretation of the scripture. “Little reminders of His peace and His love — they just help with my religion and that is my response to the traditional view.” Silver said stigmas are dying pretty fast and if a company wouldn’t hire someone with

Photo courtesy of Hannah kate Albach Meaningful Art | Junior Hannah Kate Albach shows off her line tattoo above her elbow. The tattoo represents Borderline and the transition she went through after the mass shooting in November 2018. tattoos, then it speaks volumes about their company culture and close-mindedness. “It is important to be practical and smart though, too,” Silver said. “If you’re an actor or model or something and are going to have to cover them up all the time, then it’s wise to consider those things when getting a tattoo.” Moore said she can understand the backlash if someone has hateful or offensive tattoos, but if you are representing your soul, then not accepting them is silly. “If I’m not hired somewhere to be a counselor because of my tattoos, that is just not a place that I would want to be working at anyway,” Moore said. Students agreed they love the way their tattoos look. Whether it is looking in the mirror and feeling confident, or feeling gracious when they think back to that moment of their life, these students have no regrets and plan on getting more in the future. “I love the aspect of conversational relationship building and

that I’m able to share bits and pieces of my story with people by simply taking them on a tattoo tour,” Mechelke said. Students agreed art can reflect life in any way we desire it to. The allure is that within creativity, there is professionalism, abstract, symbolism, spirituality and more — the boundaries have no limits. “I do think sometimes we have a tendency to focus on the here and now,” Albach said. “What do I need to do today? We don’t really think about the past experiences we’ve had. Art allows you to have your own sense of reflection.”

Photo courtesy of Marissa Moore

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Tattoo Time | Senior Marissa Moore gets angel wings tattooed on her fingers January 2020. Moore said tattoos in LA are some of the most expensive, where minimum payments could range from $80 to $90.

Movie review: ‘The Minimalists’ is ironically imbalanced Har leen C hhabra Staf f W r i te r Minimalists Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, along with director Matt D’Avella, launched their second documentary, “The Minimalists: Less is Now,” on Jan. 1. Millburn and Nicodemus take their audience through the idea that happiness is a minimalistic lifestyle in their Netflix Original film. Although the film focuses on building a minimalist movement, it does not capture the struggles that come with the initial steps in change and repetitively describes the issues of a modern-day lifestyle. Thus, it can be said that this documentary was weak in inspiration. Additionally, with a 53-minute runtime, the film is ironically long for a documentary about minimalism. The documentary guides the audience through a series of Millburn and Nicodemus’ life events — from growing up in poverty with single parents to chasing the American dream. Once they were able to fill their lives with luxurious possessions, both Millburn and Nicodemus only found themselves unhappy and unsatisfied. The feeling of unfulfillment from their lifestyles is further explained when Millburn and Nicodemus bring up disturbing facts about the dark side of consumerism. One of the important facts brought up is people living in a digital age are surrounded by daily targeted advertisements and online shops. This leads to creating strong temptations to make an online purchase or the need to conform to society by making purchases according to trends. Interviews with former shopaholics or pack rats are shown throughout the film to give the audience real results of the success in living a minimalistic life. The interviewees explain their reason for living a minimalistic life and later list the positive results they have received. It is surprising, however, to see those clips skip important details where the initial process of the emotional and physical change is not accounted for — thus creating

Photos courtesy of netflix New on Netflix | “The Minimalists: Less is Now,” released Jan. 1, shows minimalists Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. They created urgency for a minimalistic lifestyle to inform viewers of current consumer culture. a false idea that the journey to minimalism is as simple as it sounds. Toward the end of the documentary, each miniamlist describes his or her own principles as a method that people can use to begin their journeys to minimalism Nicodemus mentions a packing party where he boxed up all of his belongings and took out the items needed in his daily routine. As a result, 80% of his things were still boxed up. Although these methods have proven to be successful for many, some may feel these methods may not work for a beginner who is processing detachment to sentimental items. Although this documentary might be inspiring at first, some may feel the content of the film may have been unnecessarily long and imbalanced. Scenes where the current problem of consumerism and the historical context of the minimalists’ lives are shown can be con-

sidered repetitive and quite lengthy. Resolutions are shown at the very end of the documentary, leaving a very limited time to address struggles when processing emotional detachment from personal objects such as pictures or cards from loved ones. Some may feel that the lack of depth in showcasing an intricate and considerate solution for beginners does not provide a strong reason for the change. Regardless of the intention of the film to create a strong movement for change, the audience would be better off minimizing their time spent watching the film by reading a summary instead. “The Minimalists: Less is Now” is available to stream exclusively on Netflix.

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Time to Pack| Millburn packs items from his mom’s house, who recently passed away, while realizing the large number of items she cumulated over her life. He packed her things while listing the items that were unnecessary for his mom to hold on to.

The Graphic

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Images by Ali Levens

Pepperdine Basketball bids farewell to its seniors Justin Touhey Staff Writer The Pepperdine Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams closed out the regular season at Firestone Fieldhouse last week, as both teams now gear up for the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas, beginning Thursday, March 4. Before the end of their regular season, both teams held Senior Day during the Waves’ last home games at Firestone Fieldhouse. The men lost to LMU on Feb. 25, 81-74, and the women were victorious against Saint Mary’s on Feb. 26, by a score of 62-42. Senior Day is usually celebrated with friends and family cheering and congratulating the senior Waves, but due to COVID-19, no spectators could attend. Men’s Head Coach Lorenzo Romar said despite the circumstances, it was still a memorable day for the seniors. “I think our people did a great job of trying to create a normal atmosphere with clips from the families wishing our seniors well,” Romar said. “But at the same time, I feel bad for those guys." The men’s team had four seniors this season; graduate transfer Kene Chukwuka, graduate manager Michael Wexler, graduate manager Keith Smith and senior point guard Colbey Ross. Only Ross and Chukwuka played this season. Ross has been an integral part of the men’s team since his freshman year and solidified himself as one of the greatest players in Pepperdine and WCC history. In his last home game, Ross moved into 7th place on the WCC’s all-time scoring list with 2,131 points and collected his

800th career assist. He is one of three players in NCAA Division I history to accumulate 2,100 points, 800 assists and 400 rebounds. “Colbey Ross has accomplished so much during his time here and he has broken almost every record,” Romar said. “He wants to be the best and he is a nononsense guy. His work ethic and intensity make him a great lead for our team to follow.” Ross said while his senior night was not what he expected, it was still memorable. “It was definitely emotional because no fans or any of my family were there and I always thought my senior night was going to be legendary,” Ross said. “It still made me happy because I got to spend time with my teammates and see my family on the big screen wishing me luck in our game that day.” The men’s team is seeded third in the WCC Tournament and will play its first game March 6, in Las Vegas. “We won our last game [against San Diego on Feb. 27] which is good for our confidence headed into Vegas,” Romar said. “Like all the other teams, we have a few days to prepare and work on our deficiencies, and we feel strong and optimistic that we can go on the court and compete well.”

Ross said the dynamic of the team is good and the team is in a good place mentally and physically. “Everyone understands what is at stake and the guys are all in a good headspace,” Ross said. “We have three tough games, but it is three games that if we compete well and make good decisions then we will have a chance.” The women’s team gifted their seniors a win in their last home game at Firestone on Feb. 26. Like the men’s team, the women’s team recognized four seniors: forward Monique Andriuolo, forward Hayley Duran, center Tara Dursham and guard Mia Satie, who opted out of the season due to COVID-19. Head Coach Kristen Dowling wrote in an email on March 1 to the Graphic that the pre-game ceremony was a blessing for the seniors. “Considering the circumstances, we are grateful to be able to honor our seniors with senior day,” Dowling wrote. “The experience was different as families were unable to join, but we were able to share a video from each of them.” Andriuolo said the experience was bittersweet, but she was happy to still have a senior day. “It was obviously different not having people around like

my family,” Andriuolo said. “My team was here and they are basically my family since we spend so much time together and we are all we have right now.” Dowling said he commends the seniors for their leadership during a challenging season. “Our seniors have done a great job leading everyone during a very hard year,” Dowling wrote. “There have been many challenges and they have done a great job of leading and keeping our team positive.” Even though her senior year did not go as planned, Andriuolo said she was grateful for the time she spent at Pepperdine. “The atmosphere and the people around me are what I am going to miss the most,” Andriuolo said. “I’ve found a home here, and I will definitely miss it when I leave.” The women’s team plays its first game in the WCC tournament on Thursday and is seeded ninth out of nine, with the University of San Diego not competing due to positive COVID-19 tests. The Waves will be looking to match their performance last year, when they went on a run to the semifinals. “We expect to win some games as we are playing our best basketball at the end of the year,” Dowling wrote. “We are focused

on one game at a time and hope to win our first game on Thursday.” Andriuolo said he is confident the team can play well entering the postseason. “We are feeling confident looking at our schedule because the games we played were against teams we were competitive with early in the season,” Andriuolo said. “We have momentum from our victories against them and feel we can play at their level.”

justin.touhey@pepperdine.edu

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LMU hands Pepperdine Basketball third straight loss Aust in Hal l s taf f w r i ter Pepperdine Men’s Basketball shot 50% from the field and scored 74 points versus Loyola Marymount on Thursday, Feb. 25, but couldn’t find a way to win. In the contest, the Waves never led but were consistently nipping at the heels of the gritty Lions, who were undeniable down the stretch. The Waves lost 81-74 and fell to 10-11 on the season with a 6-6 conference record to solidify the fourth place spot in WCC standings. Due to COVID-19 interruptions, the WCC teamed with analytics-based basketball rankings KenPom to seed the WCC Tournament, and slotted Pepperdine at No. 3. “They were tougher than we were,” Head Coach Lorenzo Romar said. “They played with more energy than we did. That leads to 14 offensive rebounds and LMU diving on the floor in situations that we didn’t.” The evening was emotional for Pepperdine as the Waves honored four seniors for Senior Night before the game. The team recognized graduate assistants and former Pepperdine players Keith Smith and Michael Wexler, along with Kene Chukwuka and Colbey Ross. “It was an emotional moment,”

Ross said. “Just to see how fast it’s gone by, what my mindset was as a freshman until now, it was special. All I’ve tried to do is work my hardest and do everything for my team and my family.” After the tipoff, things went downhill for Pepperdine. The Lions offense caught a spark from back-to-back threes by freshman point guard Jalin Anderson and senior guard/forward Eli Scott. Midway through the first half, the Lions shifted gears to feed the post, specifically their 7’3” graduate senior center Matthias Markusson. On his first shot attempt, Markusson made the basket and got fouled before hitting one free throw. Markusson scored 3 of the next 5 Lions baskets to give LMU a 2719 lead. “We were supposed to play him a certain way,” Romar said. “There were times when we didn’t execute. He got loose, and we knew if we allowed him to do that he’d score baskets. He scored 19 on us two years ago in similar fashion, so you gotta give him credit.” Pepperdine rallied to bring the score to 40-35 at halftime. All Lions that played 10 minutes or more had at least 5 points. For Pepperdine, Ross had 11 and sophomore guard Sedrick Altman had 5. A key matchup in the game was junior forward Kessler Ed-

Sophomore Slam | Sophomore guard Sedrick Altman converts a transition layup in the first half versus LMU. Altman contributed with 10 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists.

wards versus Scott, who’s coming off WCC Player of the Week honors. The players grew up less than 30 minutes away from each other, as Edwards is from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and Scott is from Chino Hills, Calif. Edwards and Scott squared off twice in high school during the 2016-2017 season where Scott’s Chino Hills High School beat Edwards’ Etiwanda. The Chino Hills starting five that season consisted of LaMelo Ball, LiAngelo Ball, Lonzo Ball, Scott and Onyeka Okongwu and is considered to be one of the best high school teams of all time with three top-10 NBA Draft picks, another who has spent time in the NBA G League and Scott, who is a draft prospect this season. Edwards, who had 14 points and 6 rebounds to Scott’s 12 and 4, reflected on the hard-fought matchup. “Playing against him growing up, I’m familiar with his game,” Edwards said. “We knew it was gonna be a physical game coming in so I tried my best to match the toughness and match the energy.” LMU went on a 12-4 run to start the second half and made it 52-39. Pepperdine attempted to chip away at the commanding lead, but they were without Chukwuka, the usual starting power forward, due to injury. LMU took advantage of his absence, dominating Pepperdine with 14 offensive rebounds and scoring 38 points in the paint. “I don’t think the offense had anything to do with the loss,” Ross said. “We have good enough players to score when we want, but at the end of the day you have to get rebounds and you have to get stops. We didn’t and they were the tougher team.” After the early LMU run, Pepperdine never brought the lead to less than eight points until the last two minutes, where a jumper from Ross changed the score to 72-66. The Lions regrouped and after an attempt from the Waves to play the

photos by Dane Bruhahn Floor General | Senior guard Colby Ross dribbles the ball across half court versus Loyola Marymount. Ross had 25 points and 8 assists in his last game at Firestone Fieldhouse. foul game late, LMU left Malibu with a seven-point victory. The loss marked the second time in Romar’s tenure that the Waves lost three straight conference games, with the other coming in February 2019. After winning their last regular season game versus San Diego, Pepperdine shifts its focus the WCC Tournament starting Thursday, March 4. “We need to get back to play-

ing like we know we can,” Edwards said. “We’ve dropped games we believe we should’ve won; it’s just motivation for us to get back to the level we were at before.” AUSTIN.HAL L @PEPPER DINE.EDU

Bounce Back | Kessler Edwards shoots a free throw while down three points against LMU. Edwards put up a hard-fought 14 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks in the loss.

Women’s Tennis sweeps No. 13 Cowgirls 4-0 kar l w int er staf f w r i ter Taking the court following a two-week break from matches, Pepperdine Women’s Tennis did not miss a beat. The No. 4 Waves defeated No. 13 Oklahoma State 4-0 Friday, Feb. 26, at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center, winning the doubles point and then taking singles courts four, five and six. “For a while there, we were relying on one, two and three, and so it’s nice to see four, five and six pull the weight because we’re going to need that to be a really good team,” Head Coach Per Nilsson said. Coming off the layoff without a match, the Waves were efficient and effective. The extra practice time allowed the coaching staff to fine-tune doubles pairings and the group’s conditioning. “Our coaches used the time — we practiced a lot,” freshman Taisiya Pachkaleva said. “We did hard fitness. The results of our hard practice is that we won today.” For the second consecutive dual match, Pepperdine’s doubles teams on courts two and three won handily to clinch the doubles point. Pachkaleva and sophomore doubles partner Lisa Zaar destroyed the Oklahoma State duo of Alana Wolfberg and Daniella Medvedeva 6-0 on three, before fifth-year senior Ashley Lahey and freshman Nikki Redelijk won 6-2 on two. “As a freshman, I’m getting

used to playing with the new girls,” Pachkaleva said. “It’s getting better and better. We’ve practiced more doubles and tried to improve it.” The matchup on court one between Pepperdine’s Jessica Failla and Shiori Fukuda and the Cowgirls’ No. 34-ranked doubles pairing of Ayumi Miyamoto and Bunyawi Thamchaiwat was tied 3-3 and went unfinished. At the ITA Indoor National Championships in early February, the Waves failed to win the doubles point in each of their three matches, so the development of the doubles pairings was encouraging for Nilsson. “Being at home and having a weekend off without matches helps us to work on some doubles,” Nilsson said. “Just figuring out some doubles pairings that we know could work, and then being able to practice together for a little bit — we didn’t have that before Stillwater, so that’s definitely showing.” In singles, the young Waves on courts four, five and six got the job done. Redshirt freshman Lexi Ryngler did not play due to shoulder inflammation, so Redelijk earned the No. 6 singles spot for the match. Redelijk did not disappoint, dominating Lenka Stara 6-0, 6-4 for Pepperdine’s first singles victory of the afternoon. Zaar moved up to court five and beat Medvedeva in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1. “That’s the benefit of having a deep roster — you have people that are good that can come in,”

Nilsson said. “We’re still tinkering with our lineup to see what we need to do for the end of the year.” On court four, Pachkaleva, a native of Moscow, Russia, played Dariya Detkovskaya. Pachkaleva, ranked No. 88 in the country in the ITA’s most recent rankings, defeated Detkovskaya 6-0, 3-6, 6-1 for her fourth consecutive singles victory. Pachkaleva said she is beginning to enjoy home matches at Ralphs-Straus. “I love Pepperdine now, and I’m honored to be here,” Pachkaleva said. “It’s just amazing to play at home. I consider it my home now, and I want to win every match for Pepperdine.” The victories by the three underclassmen clinched the match for Pepperdine before courts one, two and three finished. Since the Cowgirls were to play a match the following day against USC, the coaches decided to end the match when one team clinched it instead of playing out all six singles matches. On courts two and three, Pepperdine fifth-years Lahey (No. 1 in the country) and Fukuda (No. 12), respectively, were locked in close matches. Fukuda led No. 77 Miyamoto 4-1 in the second set after falling 5-7 in the first. Lahey lost the first set to No. 24 Thamchaiwat after double-faulting on set point, but roared back to win the second set 6-0 before the match went unfinished in the third. While Nilsson said Lahey need to start matches better, he also

said he is “not worried” about her performance. “Ash hasn’t been on the practice court as much because of her injury that she had,” Nilsson said. “She’s a perfectionist. She wants to perform at a high level right away. I’m actually really happy with where she is.” On court one, No. 33 Failla battled No. 104 Wolfberg, winning the first set 6-4 and going to a tiebreak in the second before the match was called. Failla has yet to lose a collegiate singles match in 2021. The ITA has not released singles rankings in nearly two months, and the release schedule remains to be determined, according to the ITA’s Modified Ranking Plan. When they do finally come out, Failla will likely ascend. “She deserves a high ranking,” Nilsson said. “She’s playing some of the best tennis in the country.” Lahey and Failla traveled to Newport Beach this week for an International Tennis Federation Women’s World Tennis Tour professional tournament, but each lost their opening qualifying match Monday. Lahey fell to 33-year-old Tori Kinard 6-4, 6-4, while Failla lost in three sets to 27-year-old Emina Bektas. As a team, the Waves will not depart Southern California for the entire month of March, as their schedule calls for five home matches and one at USC. “Right now is not the best time to travel, obviously, and so we did this on purpose — we’re at home for awhile, or we’re lo-

photo by ali levens In the Swing of Things| Sophomore Lisa Zaar prepares to connect with a backhand Friday, Feb. 26. at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center. Zaar defeated Oklahoma State’s Daniella Medvedeva in straight sets to help Pepperdine to a 4-0 victory. cally,” Nilsson said. “In April, we have some travel then, but we’re hoping things have calmed down a little bit.” Their next match is Friday, March 5, in Malibu against the University of California, Santa Barbara. With another week of practice coming up, Nilsson and his fourth-ranked team will continue to work on small details and enjoy the time at home. “It’s nice — outdoor tennis, 70-to-75 degree weather — we can’t complain,” Nilsson said.

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Waves drop four to No. 9 UCSB paxt o n r it chey spor ts edi t or c alv in w o od s taf f w r i te r After losing their opening series against Cal Baptist, Pepperdine Baseball sought to turn things around in their four game series with No. 9 ranked University of California, Santa Barbara from Feb. 26-28. The long ball carried Pepperdine’s offense through the first two games in the series as they hit six home runs, but still came up short as the Gauchos completed the four game sweep by the scores 7-6, 9-7, 5-0 and 12-2. “The difference was everything. Their starting pitching was better, their defense was better, their hitting was better, their bullpen was better. There wasn’t a single thing we did better than them,” Head Coach Rick Hirtensteiner said. The biggest difference between the teams in this series was hitting with runners in scoring position. Pepperdine struggled greatly in these positions, hitting 4-for-33 (.121) while UCSB thrived, hitting 17-for-52 (.327). The series kicked off Friday afternoon in Malibu, with redshirt freshman right-hander Trevor Hinkel starting the first game. Hinkel made his second career appearance after starting Opening Day for the Waves last Friday against Cal Baptist. Pitching with a quick tempo and attacking hitters early in counts, Hinkel allowed just four hits in 5 1/3 innings pitched while striking out seven. “With college baseball, there’s a ton of hitters that tend to take the first pitch in the first place,” Hinkel said. “If I can throw a first pitch strike, I’m either going to get a take and get ahead early or if they get a swing on it, I’m keeping my pitch count down letting them put balls in play.” The Gauchos drew first blood in the game with a solo home run in the second inning. Freshman second baseman John Peck helped the Waves offense get started in the third inning with a lead-off double down the left field line. He was later brought in by a Billy Cook sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1. In the top of the fourth inning, the Gauchos got their second hit of the afternoon on another solo home run that flew just under the

ali levens | photo editor Barrelled Up| Senior Billy Cook swings at a pitch during Sunday’s game. On Saturday, Cook’s first hit of the season was a grand slam that briefly gave the Waves the lead.

ali levens | Photo editor

Ledford hit a 2-run single that gave

Standing Out| Freshman Brandon Llewellyn pitches UCSB a 9-6 lead going into the during the game Sunday, Feb. 28, against UCSB. Llewel- ninth inning. In Pepperdine’s last at-bat, Wylyn pitched 4 1/3 strong innings of relief and has carved att Young hit a solo home run to out a big role in the bullpen despite being a newcomer. scoreboard to retake the lead 2-1. The Waves scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth, including home runs from Reese Alexiades and Ryan Johnson. Two doubles in the top of the sixth inning ended Hinkel’s day on the mound, with senior Dane Morrow entering the game with the tying run on second base and one out. Morrow got out of the jam by striking out the next two UCSB batters. The Gauchos struck again in the seventh inning, tying the game with a double and an RBI single followed by a go-ahead three run home run off Morrow that made the score 7-4. Solo home runs from senior first baseman Justin Lutes and Alexiades brought Pepperdine within a run in the bottom half of the seventh. That run eluded the Waves in the final innings. Gauchos third basemen Cole Cummings threw out Johnson at home plate later in the seventh on a ground ball to the left side. Despite tallying more hits, home runs, walks and hit by pitches, the Waves fell in the series opener 7-6.

“The Waves went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, while the Gauchos capitalized on their opportunities, batting 4-for-10.” On Saturday, the Waves traveled to Caesar Uyesaka Stadium for a doubleheader in Santa Barbara. Senior Gunnar Groen got the start in game one for the Waves. Pepperdine exploded for five runs in the third inning, taking advantage of two Gaucho errors to score a run and load the bases before Cook unloaded a 420-foot grand slam for his first hit of the season. “If it goes out, it goes out, but that’s not what I’m trying to do,” said Cook. “I’ve been trying to simplify my approach.” Groen held the Gauchos scoreless through the first three innings, but struggled in the fourth, walking three, hitting another and allowing three hits which plated four runs before being replaced by junior Jack Baird with two outs. After a pair of wild pitches by Baird, the Gauchos tied the game 5-5. With a one run lead and runners at second and third base in the eighth, center fielder Steele

bring the Waves a run closer, but they fell 9-7. Sophomore Nathan Diamond started the second game of the doubleheader for the Waves, giving up three runs on six hits while not allowing a walk and tallying a pair of strikeouts. The Pepperdine bats struggled mightily to get going in the second game of the doubleheader. They remained hitless through 7 2/3 innings until Young laced a double for Pepperdine’s first and lone hit in the game. The Waves remained scoreless as UCSB rode their pitching to a final score of 5-0. In the fourth and final matchup of the weekend hosted in Malibu, junior Trevor Kniskern started on the mound. Kniskern would not make it out of the second inning, giving up five runs. Freshman Brandon Llewellyn came in for Kniskern and pitched well, only giving up an unearned run in the sixth inning. Llewellyn finished his outing tossing 4 1/3 innings, allowing 3 hits and the 1 unearned run while striking out two. Llewellyn said his command of his slider as an out pitch was key in his outing.

“It’s definitely the best pitch in my arsenal,” Llewellyn said. “I’ve thrown it since I was little. Coach [Jim] Lawler has been great at helping me improve it.” Llewellyn has played an important relief role so far this season, which is rare for a freshman, but Llewellyn said he welcomes the opportunity. “My mindset stays the same as a freshman as if I was a senior. Come out and throw strikes,” Llewellyn said. Pepperdine’s offense was unable to make up the early deficit, en route to a 12-2 loss while striking out 16 times. Pepperdine’s defense also made five errors, which attributed to four unearned runs. “We just have to clean everything up, it starts with the mental game,” Cook said. “Mental errors that kill us on both sides and those leak over into physical performance. We need to slow down, take a deep breath.” This weekend, the Waves will face a series of Southern California opponents, taking on No. 8 UCLA on Friday, March 5, USC on Saturday, March 6, and Cal State Fullerton on Sunday, March 7, before returning home to play USC again Tuesday, March 9.

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Hinkel completes rehab, earns No. 1 role paxt o n r it chey spor ts edi t or c alv in w o od s taf f w r i te r While all of Pepperdine Baseball eventually had its season cut short due to COVID-19, redshirt freshman Trevor Hinkel had his season cut short well before early March. After a sparkling career at Chaparral High School in Oceanside, Calif., where he had an 0.79 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 26 2/3 innings pitched during his senior season, Hinkel underwent Tommy John surgery and missed the entirety of last year. “It was really tough,” Hinkel said. “I didn’t really have any mobility, so it starts off with just basically breaking in your elbow again, teaching it how to move.” Tommy John surgery is an elbow reconstructive surgery that repairs a torn ulnar collateral ligament by removing part of a tendon from elsewhere in the body and attaching it to the UCL on the inside of the elbow. The surgery is synonymous with baseball pitchers due to the unique strain that the throwing motion puts on the body. The surgery is named for Tommy John, a former Major League pitcher who was the first to receive the surgery and successfully

ryan brinkman | Staff photographer Staff Ace| Trevor Hinkel smiles during a Zoom interview March 1. Hinkel recovered from reconstructive surgery to become the Waves No. 1 starter. return to play. Although some pitchers are able to return to their previous levels of performance, it often takes a year or more to recover from the injury. “I think the biggest obstacles were honestly being in the training room all the time,” Hinkel said. “That was tough for me because I’m always used to being out there.” Hinkel said going from star player to injured and on the

bench initially affected his relationships on the team. “It was brought to my attention by a couple teammates that I wasn’t being the best teammate,” Hinkel said. “Obviously, in high school, I was out playing every inning and every game. So, coming here injured was something different for me and something I had never experienced, and I didn’tknow how to go about it at first.”

While being off the field was a challenging adjustment, Hinkel said he benefitted from a different perspective of helping the team. “I realized there is so much stuff off the field you can do to make the team better,” Hinkel said. “Whether that’s stealing signs, taking charts, helping other pitchers with what they’re struggling with, picking up teammates, cheering, anything. There’s so many things you can do that actually make a difference in the game.” To get back on the mound this season, Hinkel completed an intense rehab program, starting with blood flow restriction training to help strengthen muscles with a lower weight. After doing more strength training on his shoulder blades and back to help support the elbow muscles, Hinkel could finally pick up a baseball. “The throwing program was very slow at first,” Hinkel said. “It started off with 20-25 throws at 60 feet for a month, and then the next month you’d work up to maybe a max of 50 throws at 90 feet.” As Hinkel began to build up more length and stamina, COVID-19 threw a wrench into his plans. “COVID-19 sent us home, so I wasn’t able to do all of my rehab here,” Hinkel said. “I had to fig-

ure out how to do it on my own, but I think I ended up better off because I could structure my own program based on how my arm was feeling.” Although he recovered into pitching shape this winter, Hinkel said he didn’t anticipate having a big role on the team so soon. “I wasn’t really expecting to start at all until a couple weeks before the season, but once I got the opportunity, for me it was just getting back in the mental state of who I was before and where I’ve always been.” In two starts, including Opening Day on Feb. 19, Hinkel allowed a total of 4 runs on 6 hits, striking out 9 in 9 1/3 innings. While he still has work to do to raise his pitch count to be fully back to normal, Hinkel is pleased with his progress and happy to be out on the field. “I’ve been able, for the most part, to hit the spots I’ve been aiming for with all of my pitches,” Hinkel said. “That’s what I’ve been the most confident in.” Hinkel will likely take the ball Friday, March 5, when the Waves take on No. 8 UCLA at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

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