Pepperdine Graphic 4-8-2021

THE PEPPERDINE GRAPHIC VOLUME L

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ISSUE 17 |

April 8, 2021

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Cross Country/Track Athletes

Describe Misconduct of Former Coach Paxt o n R it chey Spor ts Edi t or Pepperdine terminated the contract of former Cross Country/Track Head Coach Sylvia Mosqueda on March 16, after a March 12 announcement that a change was coming.

The University’s decision came swiftly after it learned of allegations of misconduct against Mosqueda, which team members confirmed after meeting with administration. It is not known who first alerted Pepperdine administration to Mosqueda’s behavior or when a report was made to the University.

During Mosqueda’s nearly two years as head coach, Pepperdine runners said she created an “emotionally distressing” and “destructive” culture. This stemmed from what men’s and women’s team members described as sexually-charged comments about the men, a culture of body shaming for the women and a careless attitude toward athlete injuries.

Sophomore runner Olivia Miller said being around Mosqueda was like “walking on eggshells.”

“She had a very authoritative style of coaching,” Miller said.

“Her response would be ‘Because I’m the coach and you’re the athlete,’ or ‘Because I said so.’ Kind of like a bad parenting style, almost.”

The University released the following statement to the Graphic on April 1: “Pepperdine takes all reports about employee misconduct seriously. As a standard practice, the University conducts thorough and timely investigations as soon as a concern is reported, which occurred in this instance.

Ms. Mosqueda is no longer with the University.”

Director of Athletics Steve Potts and Associate Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator Amanda Kurtz, who team members said met with them after the allegations emerged, both declined interview requests, instead providing a statement in an email to the Graphic on March 22.

“We are confident that we will bring in a new men’s and women’s cross country and track head coach who will lead these programs in a positive and encouraging manner that is consistent with Pepperdine’s Christian mission,” Potts

wrote. “We will not comment any further on this personnel matter.”

Mosqueda also declined repeated interview requests from the Graphic and has not spoken publicly about these allegations.

Eight current and former program student-athletes spoke to the Graphic, describing a toxic running culture surrounding the teams. Of the athletes interviewed, two are on the men’s team, and six are from the women’s program, including one runner who is no longer with the team.

Of the eight athletes interviewed, four spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk to or confirm details to the Graphic, citing worries about Mosqueda continuing to try to contact them and/ or the sensitive nature of the subject matter. Four athletes spoke on the record: Miller, first-year Nate Lannen, junior Riley Wright and former Pepperdine runner and current University of Texas at Austin student Shelby White.

One runner who spoke anonymously said they felt bad Mosqueda was losing her job, since “running is her life.” Yet, the same runner lamented there was no

change in Mosqueda’s behavior after the runner confronted Mosqueda about it and the coach’s behaviors and methods crossed a line.

“I don’t think she understood that we cared about what she said,” White said. “When she said things that were inappropriate, we didn’t think it was funny — we thought it was just unprofessional.”

Despite the pattern of troubling comments, five athletes interviewed specifically mentioned that they did not believe Mosqueda was a malicious person and that she wanted them to succeed.

“I think she genuinely cares about the runners,” Lannen said.

“It was just the means in which she goes about it.”

Abusive coaching in track and field, particularly in distance running, is a prevalent national issue that took center stage in 2019 after The New York Times published a feature on Mary Cain, who became the youngest runner ever to make a World Championships team in 2013. Cain’s career derailed due to injuries, including five broken bones in her feet, an eating disorder and suicidal thoughts that she

claims were a result of abuse and mistreatment by her Nike-backed former coach Alberto Salazar.

On March 30, Loyola Marymount University also announced that they are investigating possible misconduct against Head Coach Scott Guerrero, who has been with the program for 23 years, after redshirt junior Rosie Cruz became the first of several current and former Lions runners to accuse Guerrero of mistreatment publicly on social media.

Disparaging Comments About Athletes’ Bodies In Mosqueda’s case, all athletes interviewed said they saw and heard Mosqueda consistently make insensitive and inappropriate comments throughout her tenure. The severity and frequency of the comments increased since the athletes returned to campus after the COVID-19 campus closure, the athletes said.

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Commencement announcement

Parents’ opinions about reopening

Library Update

Art students check in

N atal ie har dt |Ne ws assista n t E dit or

A BBY W I LT |N e w s a s s is ta n t

S a m T o rre|Ne ws Assi stant

k y l e m c c a b e | N e w s a s s i ta n t E d i t o r

R e ad on a 3

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Read o n a8

R ead o n a8

News

Wh at ’s AH E AD

L if e & A r t s

Pe r s pe ct iv e s

& Arts Assistant A6- How Santa MonicaA2- Life B1Malibu Unified School Editor Beth Gonzales shares good news about her songwriting.

searches A5- Pepperdine for its next provost.

the waves report

district can support other districts.

Editor Ali B2A7- Photo Levens shares her Petty Perspective ranking U.S. state license plates.

Fri: 2-3 3-5 ft

this week on

SP ORTS

Staff Writer Addison Whiten reviews the new Tom and Jerry movie.

Athletics B4- Pepperdine faces its first COVID-19

Meet some of the fresh faces of Pepperdine.

Men’s B6- Pepperdine Basketball super-fans

SAT: Sat: 3-5 2-3 ft

outbreak of the season.

talk Twitter and more.

sun: SUN: 3-5 1-2 ft

MON: Mon: 1-2 2-4ft ft

Th e Gra ph ic Hosts Ivy Moore and Lindsey Sullivan present another episode of the Graphic’s news podcast.

Available anywhere you listen to podcasts.

TUES: Tue: 3-4 2-3 ft

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Good News: My heart will speak as the music plays

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

1 2

4/1/21 16:44 p.m.

Crime: Trespassing Location: John Tyler Drive Booth

This week In SGA

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4/2/21 12:25 p.m.

Crime: Gas Leak Outside Location: Baxter Drive

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B e th G o n z ales Lif e & A rt s A s sistant e di t o r

BETH.GONZALES@PEPPERDINE.EDU

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PRESIDENT’S BRIEFING & OTHER NEWS YOU MISSED L A C oun ty re ac h e s ora n ge tier. indoor classr oom c a pacity is r aised to 50%, but housing r emains limited to har dship exceptions. The A ppeal pr ocess r emains o pe n.

The Stud e nt H e a lth c e n te r ha s a d min iste re d ove r 700 d ose s so fa r. Mor e infor mation to come on second doses. P epper dine will not r eq uir e vaccination unless access is widespr ead.

S e v e r a l u p dat e s e xp e ct e d a p r i l 1 2 , regardi ng C ommenc ement, S u mmer S c hool , S u mmer Hou s i ng and I nt ernat i onal P rog rams.

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The resolution suggested a pilot program with Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.

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Important Election Dates: April 14: mandatory candidates meeting April 21: elections

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

FRI

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What: Artist Talk: Zeynep Abes, SnapChat Filters When: 2 p.m. PDT hosted by: Fine Arts division

What: Seaver College Student Town Hall When: 10 A.M. PDT Hosted by: Seaver College

MON 12

No EVents sCheduled

WED

TUES

14

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What: Spring Career Expo When: 10 a.m. PDT Hosted by: Seaver career center

What: Seaver to Graziadio Seaver sessions When: 1 P.M. PDT Hosted by: Graziadio Business school

What: Pepperdine theatre: “AS you like it” When: 7:30 p.M. PDT Hosted by: Pepperdine theatre

Covid-19 by the numbers

I finished writing a new song yesterday.

For me, there is no greater news than when people tell you they love your song, since that’s when your heart finally speaks out loud.

Reoccurring good news throughout my whole life has been the presence of music. I remember when I saw Lorde live in March 2018. Right before she sang “Writer in the Dark,” she made a speech that I will never forget.

She said, “I had a moment where I just looked at myself dead in the eyes and thought ‘this is who you really are.’” Lorde talked about how she wrote the music and never forgot exactly who she saw that day.

This speech is one of the forces driving my music and acceptance of myself.

I have performed all my life and since I was little, I loved to jot down lyrics. With the help of my Fender acoustic, I finished my first original song, “Lost their Light,” in eighth grade.

That was the first video I ever posted to my YouTube channel, so I can still go back and see how much my lyricism has changed.

My new song, and most recent source of good news, is called song is called “Stuck Below With You.” I wrote it after experiencing living on my own for the first time: which is pretty important to a young person’s life, I would say.

The chorus says, “I don’t mind carrying the world on my back/ Everyone loves the girl on attack/ I realize these friends that I have, they fly high/ Should I meet them in the sky?/ Or am I stuck below with you?”

This song is my very own “Liability” by Lorde, in that it has a reprise, a follow-up, that belongs with it. It has something more to say as time passes.

I write about observed and experienced relationships, stylized fantasy, imperfection, faith and the evaluation of one’s self and utilizing the tools we have to create the most beautiful existence possible.

I have trouble being vulnerable in an everyday setting. Writing songs, however, breaks that barrier.

I believe that music shouldn’t be explained. When you write a song, you don’t owe anyone an analysis; music is meant for interpretation.

That’s the beauty of it.

The best news is when an artist who is personal to you releases music; you know you can’t be alone in any moment. Songwriters who inspire me daily include Lorde, Harry Styles, Grace Repasky, Marina, Joni Mitchell and John Lennon.

David Bowie once said, “I think it is terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other people’s expectations. If you feel safe in the area you are working in, then you are not working in the right area.

When you don’t feel that your feet are touching the bottom then you are in the right place to do something exciting.”

I hope my feet never touch the bottom. Because hearing the silence scares me to death.

SGA passed a resolution to advocate for a cultural exchange program with a historically Black college or university.

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A P R IL 8, 2 0 2 1 | N E W S | P E P P E R DINE GRA P H I C ME D I A

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Commencement plans remain uncertain Natal ie Hardt As si stant new s e d itor Hold on to your graduation caps for now — commencement is still up in the air. Pepperdine won’t make final decisions on whether the scheduled class of 2020 and 2021 graduation ceremonies will occur in May until April 12, Seaver Dean Michael Feltner wrote in a March 26 email.

The University hopes LA County regulations will decrease as COVID-19 case rates improve, which may allow for Pepperdine’s long-promised in-person ceremonies on Alumni Park.

“I totally get that it’s frustrating for parents and for students to have us delaying making a final decision, but it’s just because things are moving so quickly,” said Lexi Palma, manager of administrative services in the Seaver Dean’s Office.

LA County is currently in the moderate Orange Tier of California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy guidelines for reopening.

In this tier, large ceremonies like commencement are limited to 33% capacity — or 67% if attendees provide proof of vaccination — for both audience and guests, advance registration is required and out-of-state guests are not permitted.

The University will not hold commencement ceremonies until out-of-state guests are permitted by county guidelines, Feltner wrote. Administration remains

committed to in-person commencements on Alumni Park, even if the currently scheduled May 21 and 22 ceremonies cannot occur, and will reschedule them to a later date if necessary.

If COVID-19 case numbers continue to improve, LA County may move to the minimal Yellow Tier in early May, Feltner said.

The Yellow Tier allows for 67%

It would be grossly inappropriate to conduct a graducation ceremony that precluded graduates not currently residing in California or the guests of graduates who are living outside of California . michael feltner, seaver dean

ally armstrong |art editor capacity regardless of whether attendees or graduates have proof of vaccination but still does not permit out-of-state guests.

“It would be grossly inappropriate to conduct a graduation ceremony that precluded graduates not currently residing in California or the guests of graduates who are living outside of California,” Feltner wrote in his March 26 email.

The University hopes continued improvement in LA County COVID-19 case rates will lead the

health department to allow out-ofstate guests and graduates by the May ceremony dates, Feltner said.

Regardless of whether graduation ceremonies can be held in person, President Jim Gash will deliver a message and prayer to graduates ahead of the ceremony virtually. The class of 2021 will have a Loqui multicultural celebration ceremony conducted virtually at 6 p.m., PDT on May 20.

“We look forward to welcoming all students back to the Malibu campus and to heartily celebrat-

ing the accomplishments of each,” Feltner wrote.

NATAL IE.HAR DT@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Pepperdine parents express opinions on the partial reopening of campus ab by w ilt new s ass i s tan t

Students, athletes and faculty members voiced their opinions about the partial reopening of Pepperdine’s campus, but what about parents?

Parents come from a unique perspective on remote instruction during the pandemic. They said they want their students to stay safe but also want them to learn in the most effective way possible.

“I think it’s time for them to reopen,” said Catherine Rowsey, pharmacist and mother of firstyear Pepperdine student Mary Paige Rowsey. “And I say that very cautiously; I was apprehensive about schools opening in the fall.”

Pepperdine announced March 16, that classes could start meeting in-person at a limited capacity at the beginning of April, but

that on-campus housing was not permitted, except for personal hardship cases, due to LA County Guidelines. While some students are living close enough to campus to take advantage of this opportunity, others are across the country.

Parent’s Mixed Reviews on Partial Reopening First-year Melanie Calderon and her family live in Gulf Shores, Ala., and her mom, Lisa Lewis, said she thinks the decision to not offer on-campus housing is positive in some ways and negative in other ways.

“I think it can be harmful for some students that cannot be there because some people are allowed to have in-person classes,” Lewis said. “But I also think that it’s a way that schools can start to test if they have to really prepare

Photo courtesy of mary paige rowswey Students Move to Malibu|First-year Mary Paige Rowsey stands in between her parents, Perrin and Catherine, after they moved her to Malibu in February.

Rowsey was able to move to Malibu for the spring 2021 semester after studying from home in the fall.

for the opening.”

From a financial standpoint, Lewis said not having to pay for housing has been beneficial, since her student can gain college credit from home. Even though Pepperdine’s tuition increased by 3.8% from spring 2020, the University eliminated housing expenses, saving approximately $7,500 per semester for Pepperdine families.

On the other hand, Lewis said watching her student stay home while many other schools across the country were opening was hard.

“Pepperdine was Melanie’s dream college and we were so happy when she got accepted there, but we were so sad that this was one of the colleges that didn’t open,” Lewis said. “All the other colleges where she was accepted decided to open, so it was really sad for her and for us.”

In addition, Lewis said she noticed her student struggling mentally while sitting in Zoom classes all day. While online classes seemed like a perk at the beginning, now she said she has seen them take a toll on her student.

“They don’t want to say they are not healthy emotionally, but they don’t have the same energy to study,” Lewis said. “They don’t have the same energy to do homework. I think it’s hard.”

Rowsey’s daughter was able to move from Memphis, Tenn., to Malibu at the beginning of the spring 2021 semester, after being at home for the fall. Rowsey said she understands the difficulty in online classes for students but also recognizes that Pepperdine is doing what it can within the county guidelines. Rowsey also said she knows the risk of opening campus and realizes not all students will follow the safety measures.

Looking forward, Rowsey said she hopes students will take the appropriate measures to keep their peers safe on campus, even though a rise in case rates may be inevitable.

“I think the students are going to have to take personal responsibility and social distancing and do-

ally armstrong |art editor ing those types of things,” Rowsey said. “There probably will be more cases, but I feel like Pepperdine has done an excellent job setting up protocols and preparing for that. I think Pepperdine is ready.”

Pepperdine’s gradual reopening approach gives her some ease, and helped her to trust the University, Lewis said.

“I know kids are excited and anxious about going and probably don’t think much about the consequences,” Lewis said. “But having this school thinking a little bit farther on the decision [has] made me feel comfortable about the school and the plans that they have.”

Parents also said they recognize that Pepperdine is following the county guidelines and might have more limitations than other schools across the country.

Rowsey said she understands that the University is doing what it can do, and she said she is pleased with the steps administrators took

to ensure students are back as soon as possible.

“I don’t have any criticism of Pepperdine and the way that they’ve handled things,” Rowsey said. “I feel like they have done all that they could do from a university standpoint.”

ABBY.W ILT@PEPPER DINE.EDU

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MISCONDUCT: XC Student-Athletes verbally degraded by Coach F R OM A 1 Five sources interviewed said Mosqueda treated the men’s team more favorably than the women’s team. While one men’s and one women’s runner said they believed it was because the men’s team has performed better in competition, all runners interviewed confirmed that Mosqueda often made sexual comments directed at the men’s team.

“She made a lot of comments about the guys’ team to the girls’ team, probably thinking it was in confidence, which is an incredibly inappropriate way for a coach to act,” Lannen said.

Miller confirmed she heard several sexual comments firsthand and compared them to the way she heard Mosqueda talk about the women.

“She would glorify the men’s bodies in general and say it to the girls, like, ‘this is a feature that I like about him, don’t you think he looks sexy today, that feature is such a turn-off,’” Miller said.

“There’s just so much wrong with that.”

By contrast, Miller said Mosqueda relentlessly criticized the women for “not working hard enough” or not being fast.

All women interviewed said Mosqueda frequently made comments related to their bodies and weight. After the first race of the 2021 season, Miller said Mosqueda told her she wouldn’t be fast again unless she lost 5 pounds.

The women runners interviewed said weight was Mosqueda’s go-to excuse for why any female athlete had a slight drop in performance or didn’t perform to the coach’s expectations. Two athletes recounted an instance where Mosqueda grabbed a runner’s stomach and said she “looked out of shape.”

Mosqueda frequently criticized women runners for not having “enough abs,” eating too much junk food and constantly “getting bigger,” sometimes asking athletes to tell her their weight in front of the team. One runner said Mosqueda followed her around the grocery store while the team was on the road for a meet to make sure she picked out healthy food.

Miller said Mosqueda didn’t need or try to get proof that any weight was actually changing to make these comments to the women.

“She just said it,” Miller said.

“She had no idea how much any of us weighed or what was healthy for each of us. In my example — when she told me to lose five pounds — throughout my whole time at Pepperdine I have a net gain of zero, so it’s interesting that all of a sudden, after I have one off race, the only

issue is that I must be 5 pounds heavier when I haven’t gained any weight at all.”

Not every woman in the program has been able to brush off Mosqueda’s comments, Wright said.

“I’ve had teammates who have told me that after hearing these comments from Coach Mosqueda, they felt differently about their bodies or they had changed their eating habits and not necessarily for the better,” Wright said.

While some runners, such as Wright, said Mosqueda was the first coach they experienced making comments of that nature, others, like White, said they have seen it before.

“I’ve heard this with a lot of different people at a lot of different schools,” White said. “I don’t know why this is such a thing with running.”

A Disregard for Injuries

Miller said Mosqueda did not respond well when players got hurt.

“I had a sprained ankle at the beginning of the season, and the first thing she said was, ‘why are you hurt? Why did you go to the trainers?’” Miller said. “It was an interesting way to deal with it; not ‘I hope you get better, let’s work through this.’”

Lannen said Mosqueda forgot he had a stress fracture in his foot when athletes returned to campus this spring. After sustaining the injury in December, Lannen spoke with Mosqueda and began to slowly progress through recovery, essentially coaching himself. “[Mosqueda] doesn’t really give individual training plans,” Lannen said. “She just tells the whole group what to do, and if you can’t keep up with it, you just sort of go off of feeling.”

After one workout where Lannen — still nursing the injury — finished behind a walk-on runner, Lannen said Mosqueda began to yell in front of the team that Lannen “should never lose to” that runner.

When Lannen told Mosqueda he was recovering from his stress fracture, Mosqueda continued to yell and asked why he never told her about the injury. Once Lannen showed her texts and calls from his phone where he and Mosqueda had spoken about the injury, Lannen said Mosqueda dismissed the situation by saying she “had too many athletes.”

Lannen said he was a frequent target of vitriol from Mosqueda.

Lannen believed he received “constant beratement” from Mosqueda because he was a highly-regarded recruit who hadn’t been performing up to expectations and was struggling with several injuries.

PhotoS courtesy of Lindsay Sanger Coachable Moments| Cross Country and Track Coach Sylvia Mosqueda talks to the Men’s Cross Country team (above) and the Women’s Cross Country team (below) during the Mark Covert Classic on Aug. 31, 2019. Mosqueda’s contract was terminated March 12 following allegations of misconduct toward athletes.

“I was dreading going to practice,” Lannen said. “I hated running. I was strongly considering transferring or quitting the sport, for no other reason than the way I was being treated by her.”

The women’s team has also experienced a poor retention rate, with several runners leaving the team in the past two years. The women’s cross country roster shrunk from 19 in 2018, the year Mosqueda came on as an assistant, to 10 in 2020, with just four upperclassmen.

White started at Pepperdine in 2018, during Mosqueda’s season as an assistant coach. White said she thought she and Mosqueda were close, but then White got injured, and Mosqueda started barely talking to her.

“It was like I wasn’t on the team anymore,” White said.

After a year plagued by injuries, White left the team midway through the 2019-2020 season and transferred from Pepperdine to the University of Texas. White is not running cross country for the Longhorns.

“I loved running,” White said.

“When I first came to Pepperdine, it was the same experience with [former Waves Head Coach Robert Radnotti] because he just wanted us to be happy and do our best. But, when Coach Mosqueda became coach, it just became so intense and it wasn’t fun anymore.

So that was a big part of why I stopped running.”

Saying “Anything to Anybody” Multiple runners interviewed used the phrase “no filter” to describe Mosqueda, and described a culture in which Mosqueda seemed to believe she could say anything about anybody to anybody “with no repercussions.”

In one particularly crude comment — overheard and confirmed by three runners who were interviewed — Mosqueda made a remark correlating the amount of acne on Lannen’s body to what Mosqueda described as his masturbation habits and said Lannen needed to “get laid.” Although Lannen said he did not hear the comment directly from Mosqueda, he heard it from other teammates.

Miller and another anonymous source confirmed that Mosqueda’s comments made their way to the @blackatpepperdine Instagram page in a July 22 post. The post described the team playing a game where they were naming things that started with a particular letter, and that a coach, which three different eyewitnesses confirmed was Mosqueda, said “KKK” when the letter in the game was K. Another racially charged comment allegedly occurred in Mosqueda’s office, where one runner said Mosqueda and another coach teased the runner for her supposed attraction to Black men, an attraction that the coaches claimed they personally lacked.

Four different runners said members of the team planned to talk to the school about Mosqueda at the conclusion of this season, intending to wait because they said they were thankful to be competing at all after COVID-19 sidelined them for nearly a year.

Multiple runners also mentioned they were concerned the University wouldn’t fire Mosqueda if they complained, and that ruining their relationship with Mosqueda if she remained the coach would derail the season.

White said she considered talking to administration when she left Pepperdine in late 2019 but decided not to since track season was about to start.

“I had an email typed out that I thought about sending to Potts —

I totally could’ve gotten her fired back then,” White said. “But I didn’t want to leave the team without a coach, so I decided not to.”

A Change Of Scenery Since her termination, five runners said Mosqueda has texted them despite Pepperdine telling the runners that she was not allowed to contact them.

It is not known precisely when University administration first learned of the allegations against Mosqueda, but Potts and Kurtz first contacted student-athletes within the program the evening of March 9, asking to schedule meetings with the team. Potts and Kurtz began meeting with and interviewing groups of runners March 11. By March 12, Pepperdine had publicly terminated Mosqueda.

“I think Pepperdine handled the situation really well,” Wright said. “They were very concerned for the well-being of me and my teammates.”

Kurtz serves as the interim head coach. While the search for a permanent replacement likely will not finish until next year, the interviewed runners said they were happy with the infusion of energy that Kurtz, as well as the absence of Mosqueda, has brought to the program.

“Amanda has done more for us as a coach in a week than Coach Mosqueda did in her two years,” Miller said.

Kurtz has previously worked in Title IX, compliance and other administrative roles for Pepperdine Athletics and has no coaching experience but ran cross country collegiately.

Wright pointed to Kurtz’s administrative organization as area in which the team is most thankful for her help.

“Even if it were possible for us athletes to come together and throw together a workout plan, handling all the organizational aspects of going to meets and getting food and working around this evolving meet schedule due to COVID-19 would have been much more difficult without Amanda stepping in,” Wright said.

PAX TON.R ITC HEY@PEPPER DINE.EDU

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Pepp Hunts for a new provost A s hl e y M o w r e a d e r N e ws E d i to r The search for Pepperdine’s next provost is coming to a close.

Sept. 1, Pepperdine announced Provost Rick Marrs would step down from his position July 31, 2021. After completing internal and external searches for Marrs’ successor, the University hosted six town halls for faculty to meet and interview the final candidates.

Three candidates are internal, having served at Pepperdine for years, and the other three come from similarly-sized universities — Abilene Christian University, Boise State University and Lipscomb University.

“We have big expectations at Pepperdine, big dreams, big aspirations, and this person [the next Provost] — there’s a lot expected of them,” said Tim Perrin, senior vice president for strategic implementation and co-chair of the provost search committee. “I think we came forward with really great candidates to consider for that position.”

President Jim Gash will make the final decision in hiring the next provost, and the community can expect a decision in the next two weeks, Gash wrote in an April 5 email to the Graphic.

Role of the Provost The provost position is critical to a university’s development, as the provost, serves as chief academic officer. Marrs described his role as developing the academic reputation of the school and advancing Pepperdine’s Christian mission.

“The new provost will partner with President Gash in accelerating Pepperdine’s upward ascent and national prominence,” according to Pepperdine’s Provost and Chief Academic Officer Position Profile.

The next provost will be fully prepared to lead our academic enterprise as we return to on-ground classes this fall.

Jim Gash President The Provost’s Office leads and collaborates with the five deans of Pepperdine’s schools — Seaver College, the Graduate School of Psychology and Education, the School of Public Policy, the Caruso School of Law and Graziadio Business School.

The provost also oversees various academic departments like OneStop, the Office of the Registrar, Office of Student Accessibility, Office of Institutional Effectiveness and the Center for Faith and Learning, among others. The provost also oversees a $232 million dollar budget for the 2021 fiscal year, according to the position profile.

“It’s a position that has really a big portfolio,” Perrin said. “That person is so important for us both as a community leader as a person of faith, that models for us what it looks like to be a serious scholar, an accomplished teacher, a person of integrity and faith [and] who is a leader by example in our community.”

The position profile outlines several qualities and attributes the University is hoping for in the next provost including strong interpersonal skills, self-awareness, budgeting, discernment, a commitment to teamwork, a willingness to engage with local communities and “the highest standards of character, including personal and professional integrity and ethics.”

The Selection Process The provost selection process began shortly after the University announced Marrs’ departure from office. By mid-November, Gash put together a selection committee, co-chaired by Hispanic Studies Professor April Marshall and Tim Perrin, senior vice president for strategic implementation.

The committee, made up of 16 Pepperdine administrators, faculty, staff and students, including Marshall and Perrin, met for the first time in November and have since led the selection process, Perrin said.

“The first phase of the search focused on announcing and describing the position, and collecting qualified candidates,” according to a March 11 Office of the President update. “We received many nominations, expressions of interest, and completed applications.”

Much of the committee’s early work was coordinating with an external search firm to find candidates suitable to fill the role, as well as consulting the internal search team using “best practices,” Perrin said.

“You want to make sure that you’re connecting and reaching out to all of the possible candidates for the position […] really taking all the steps necessary to make sure that we were telling our story, far and wide and attracting the best possible pool of candidates after national and even international search,” Perrin said.

The committee shrank the candidate pool to six individuals, three from Pepperdine and three from outside the university.

The six finalists are: • Jay Brewster – Seaver Biology professor and divisional dean of Natural Science • Lee Kats – vice provost, Seaver Biology professor and Frank R. Seaver chair in Natural Science • Andrew Finstuen – professor, presidential fellow and dean of the Honors College at Boise State University • Charla Griffy-Brown – associate dean of Executive and Part-Time Programs at Graziadio Business School and professor of Information Systems and Technology Management • Jennifer Shewmaker – Psychology professor, College of Education and Human Services dean at Abilene Christian University • David Holmes – English professor and dean of Col-

lege of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Lipscomb University The finalists participated in virtual town halls with Pepperdine faculty and staff from March 2431, according to a March 23 email from Public Relations. The candidates spoke and then responded to a question and answer session with staff, after which staff were able to submit feedback via surveys.

“A goal of the process is to engage as much of our community as we can in a constructive way,” Perrin said. “Both to introduce the candidates to our community and so that our community has the ability to know and assess each of our candidates and provide their feedback.”

While students did not have a designated town hall forum like staff and faculty, Perrin said student voices were engaged throughout the process by holding discussions between the candidates and student representatives from Pepperdine’s five schools.

Faculty Share Hopes for the Next Provost Chris Doran, Religion professor and president of the Seaver Faculty Senate, said he sat in on several of the candidates’ town halls to ask questions. As Seaver Faculty President, Doran raised questions concerning faculty ranging from inclusion of LGBTQ+ faculty and staff and climate change readiness at the University to technology in the classroom and faculty exhaustion exacerbated by the pandemic.

“As an individual faculty member, it would be important for that person to be a strong academic,” Doran said. “So they have a really professional record that shows their strength and academic quality, maybe even have strength in teaching so that they know what it’s like to be inside the classroom.”

Doran also said it is important to him to have a provost who engages Pepperdine’s Christian mission, especially in the new Sustainability program.

“I don’t think there’s ever going to be a perfect person for any of these roles, but some have demonstrated abilities to articulate a vision of what they would see for the next 10 or 15 years of our University than others have done,” Doran said. “That’s impressive.”

A group of Seaver faculty wrote an open letter to Gash dated April 6, to share “hopes, concerns, and aims” for the next provost related to Pepperdine’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, according to the letter.

The letter raises concerns from faculty regarding the administration’s lack of commitment to marginalized groups’ protection, nurturing and success at Pepperdine and the harm experienced at the university.

“Things like, the University’s lack of response to individual and community cries for safety and belonging (ie [sic] @blackatpepperdine, “listening sessions”), the University’s position and actions around the Dean Peterson conflict, the University’s lack of tenured faculty of color, and the educational inequity present with the reopening of campus make many question and even doubt the commitment Pepperdine has to its marginalized com-

Ashley Mowreader | news Editor munities,” according to the letter.

The letter concludes with three goals to better support POC and marginalized groups: to ensure belonging for them, to display a commitment for learning from their experiences and to work collaboratively with the new chief diversity officer and Seaver Diversity Council to help ensure equity and justice.

Provost Marrs Ends His Term Marrs’ transition out of office comes at a critical time during Pepperdine’s preparations for a fully reopened fall. Pepperdine has yet to offer full in-person services to students after closing in March 2020. Doran noted this would be a critical time for someone like Marrs with decades of experience at Pepperdine to be in the provost role.

“As a faculty member, first, the timing does seem really weird that you would have someone who has as much experience as Provost Marrs move out, rather than wait another year or two when we would possibly be on the other side of this pandemic,” Doran said.

Gash wrote there is “never an ideal time,” for a senior leadership transition, but that Marrs extended his time at Pepperdine to help

the University during the pandemic and will continue to serve until July 31.

“The next provost will be fully prepared to lead our academic enterprise as we return to on-ground classes this fall,” Gash wrote.

Once the Office of the President names the next provost, Marrs said he will spend the majority of his time helping with the transition.

“Often candidates who are applying to be provost sometimes can be surprised by the scope of what is going to come on their radar screen, so my job is really to help them transition in so that when they start on this one they hit the ground running,” Marrs said.

Marrs will take a sabbatical for the 2022 academic year before returning to the Religion department to teach full-time. During his time as provost Marrs taught upper-division Religion classes but said he would be open to returning to Elkins courses upon his return.

“We’ll see — I’ll teach whatever the divisional dean and Religion [and] Philosophy department wants me to teach, but I’m looking forward to it,” Marrs said.

ASHL EY.M OW R EADER @PEPPER DINE.EDU

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PERSPECTIVES How Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District should help other districts

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

MISSION STATEMENT

sarah best s ta f f w r i t e r

L

os Angeles Unified School District is finally opening its doors after officials ignored pleas to reopen; however, privileged, wealthy districts like Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District began announcing its reopening plans well before.

It is not privileged for parents to simply want their children to return to some form of normalcy in their education, but this privilege is what allows more affluent families in Malibu and Santa Monica, Calif., not to struggle as much as less fortunate families with finding and affording childcare.

In SMMUSD's plans to reopen, it is clear that going to school in an affluent area pays off, as the community median household income is $98,455, according to the National Center of Education Statistics. But, for the less-advantaged LAUSD, which has a community median household income of $66,530 — according to Census Reporter — plans of a hybrid learning model seemed unattainable as leaders ignored their requests for reopening.

In a joint statement from SMMUSD and the Santa Monica-Malibu Classroom Teachers Association, the implementation of a hybrid schedule of learning begins April 12.

“Elementary schools will implement a five-day school week with students attending school on-site/in-person four (4) days per week and engaged in one (1) day of synchronous/asynchronous learning,” according to the statement.

Parents pushed for the reopening of schools in the area, according to an article from the Santa Monica Daily Press.

LAUSD is the second-largest school district in the country, just behind New York City Department of Education, with its 2019 enrollment totaling 633,621, according to the Census Bureau. The National Center for Education Statistics reported SMMUSD’s enrollment that same year to be 10,625 — a mere fraction of LAUSD’s student population.

Though these districts are both public and within LA County, their student demographics exemplify which districts in Southern California are being granted reopening rights.

SMMUSD's student population is 67% white, according to a report from NCES. Comparatively, the Los Angeles Regional Adult Education Consortium reported that LAUSD's largest student racial demographic is 73.4% Hispanic, while only 8.8% of this same population is white. The obvious disadvantages of being in an overwhelmingly nonwhite district are evident in LAUSD's inability to reopen when compared with SMMUSD. Superintendent Austin Beutner publicly shared letters the district has sent to its government officials since the beginning of 2021.

LAUSD expressed an explicit desire to reopen its schools but has only been met with silence from leaders.

"Los Angeles Unified, together with its labor partners, the Los Angeles delegation in Sacramento and Washington D.C. and other large schools districts in California, have been advocating at all levels of government for the funds schools desperately need to reopen in the safest way possible," Beutner said in the Feb.1 letter. "Not one of the many letters we’ve sent have received a response."

Highest ranked public officials ignored pleas to reopen, including both President Joe Biden and Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of LA County of Public Health.

In a March 29 update, Superintendent Beutner released a tweet detailing LAUSD's reopening plan.

Commencing April 12, 61 elementary schools and 11 early education centers are set to reopen, according to NBC. The remainder of schools are scheduled to open the week of April 19, while middle and high schools are expected to open by the end of the month.

Parents still have the option to continue with online learning.

Parents often rely on the school day as a means of providing child care. With schools now reopening, some parents choosing to opt-out of sending their kids back still have to juggle child care needs while trying to work. Not every parent has the ability to stay home from work to take care of their child during online learning or the financial means to afford child care.

Eighty percent of LAUSD students come from low-income communities, according to the Los Angeles Times. Despite this reopening, many parents living in heavily impacted COVID-19 communities like Southeast Los Angeles and Northeast San Fernando Valley are holding off on sending their children back to school, according to the same article.

There is currently no data available as to specifically why, but these same cities reflect the case statistics of communities of color being affected most by COVID-19. With the potential fear of surging cases along with wanting to keep their children safe, parents may choose to opt out of

briAN ZHOU | staff artist sending them back to school for this reason.

The argument can be made that SMMUSD may have opened before LAUSD simply because it is a smaller, easier to manage district.

But, the racial and socioeconomic implications of a predominantly white school district in a well-off area establishing plans for hybrid learning before LAUSD are undeniable.

The wealthy people of Malibu, Santa Monica, Calif., and SMMUSD should use their money and power to aid in pressuring government officials to open low-income districts in Southern California, including Barstow Unified School District and San Bernardino City Unified School District.

Parents who pushed for SMMUSD's reopening should now shift their focus and motivation toward using the same tactics, including meeting with the board of education, to push for the reopening of less-fortunate Southern California districts because education for all is a right — not just a privilege for those with the right resources.

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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.”

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

TO THE G RAPHI C : ENGAGE IN CIVIL DISCOURSE ON SYSTEMATIC RACISM Editor’s Note: Opinions expressed in letters to the editor are those of the author, and publication in the Graphic in no way represents an endorsement of any opinions published.

This space is provided to allow public response and commentary on articles and issues which are covered by the Graphic and important to its readership.

M

y name is Aaron Wilson and I am a former Seaver student and graduate of the class of 2013. I was also the editor of the Perspectives section of the Graphic during my senior year.

I came across a recent opinion piece in the Graphic entitled “SWAB and SGA Use Campus Life Fee to Push Racial Division,” and subsequently felt compelled to write a response in the hopes that we could potentially find some common ground upon which to proceed amicably as we all seek to navigate the tempestuous waters of the dialogue surrounding structural racism in the United States. A tall task, I know — but bear with me.

I’ve thought a lot about how I wanted to approach this conversation, and, truthfully, my visceral response to this article was that of both anger and contempt, but after giving it some thought, I eventually returned to my most basic understanding of a fact of life; which is, that anger is easy but grace is hard. So, I’ve chosen the latter approach. Let’s go point-by-point.

The article begins by making the following claim: “Among the wild claims found between the covers of ‘White Fragility’ is DiAngelo’s assertion that ‘we are socially penalized for challenging racism.’ DiAngelo’s own business model exposes the unmistakable absurdity of this idea.”

Now, generally speaking, I see what the author was attempting to accomplish by starting here. The argument, as I’ve understood it, is that institutional racism cannot possibly exist, at least in the ways in which Robin DiAngelo wants her readers to believe it does, since, if that were true, then by her own logic, the very business model that she has made use of to deliver this book would be unviable.

If I am being as charitable as possible, at best, this argument amounts to a claim without substantiation or the empirical verification that it would need to carry the argumentative weight of a substantive objection to institutional racism as a whole. At worst, this argument toes the line between some sort of ad hominem and an appeal to hypocrisy. But, let’s focus on the former.

The article claims that DiAngelo’s own business model is a counterexample to her claim that “we live in a ‘white supremacist culture,’ and that white bias is ‘backed by institutional power,’” to which I ask, does this one (perceived or actual) counterexample do the requisite intellectual legwork that would be needed in order to summarily undermine an assertion about institutional racism on a macro scale? I do not believe that it does. DiAngelo’s claim, on the other hand, is backed by mountains of empirical data to the contrary, which is seemingly unaccounted for, so I will provide some counterexamples of my own.

In the interest of brevity, I’ll give the SparkNotes version of U.S. history and leave readers to the task of investigating

the claims herein as they see fit. Let’s start with everyone’s favorite topic: slavery. If you’ve ever taken a U.S. history class, then you probably learned that the institution of slavery in the United States started in 1619 in Jamestown. This is actually incorrect. The first known African slaves actually arrived nearly 100 years earlier by way of the Spaniards. But, for argument’s sake, let’s focus on 1619.

If slavery was institutionalized in 1619 with the arrival of the first British colonizers and then abolished in 1865 with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, then that means that slavery was an institution in the United States for at least 246 years.

By contrast, the United States declared independence in 1776. 245 years ago. So, by all accounts, the institution of slavery in the United States existed for longer than the United States has officially been a country.

Then, from around 1870 to 1965, many Southern states adopted the doctrine of Jim Crow, which was a set of laws that maintained and enforced racial segregation. Many people may be familiar with the landmark Supreme Court case, Plessy v. Ferguson, which established the doctrine of “separate but equal.” But what they may not know about this doctrine, however, is that its expressed intent was to keep races separate, so long as the facilities and amenities provided to each were of equal value, but, as I am sure (or I hope) many of you are aware, this was far from the case.

Not only were the economic resources available to Black people subpar, to say the least; at times, these resources were simply non-existent. And we’re talking about basic things like schools and hospitals.

So, if we’re keeping inventory here, we have around 246 years of chattel slavery where the Black population was viewed as human livestock, and then another 100 years of de jure segregation that denied entire Black communities access to the basic dignities of a functioning society, which, taken cumulatively, dwarf the United States’ own existence as a country. I believe this is what DiAngelo means when she says racism is “foundational” to its origins.

And we still haven’t ventured into the fun stuff, like redlining, which was a discriminatory lending practice that existed from around the mid-1930s to the early 1970s that systematically denied Black communities access to loans that would enable them to buy and own property, as their white counterparts were doing in other neighborhoods, thereby placing them at a direct and prolonged economic disadvantage, compounded on top of the already problematic socioeconomic disadvantages that resulted from the previous 300 or so years (see: slavery/ Jim Crow).

In the interest of character limit, I’ve also spared readers discussions about lynchings, voter suppression, the prison-industrial complex, torturous medical procedures performed on Black women that inform the obstetrics and gynecological medical fields we know today, and the mountains of research throughout the Justice Department that explicate and acknowledge the discriminatory policing practices and disproportionate sentencing that still plague Black and brown neighborhoods in 2021.

A7 PETTY PERSPECTIVE: The Artistic License of Plates by Ali Levens Petty Perspective is a column highlighting the rants and thoughts everyone thinks but never gets a chance to put into words. This time, we hear from Ali Levens, who ranks lisense plates based on the level of creativity.

Rachel Marek | Design Assistant Now, circling back to the original claim, I ask, does the author of the original post genuinely believe that their objection, which amounts to “this author makes money off her book, so institutional racism can’t possibly exist,” carries the necessary empirical weight that it needs to demonstrate, as they put it, the “unmistakable absurdity” of this idea? Because when DiAngelo says “institutional racism,” I believe the above is what she means.

If the things I mentioned above are not white supremacy, then what are they?

Moving on, the author goes on to mention Jussie Smollett, which is quite bizarre to me, given that this opinion piece was posted on the day that a white cop began trial for publicly lynching a Black man in 2020 by kneeling on his neck for over 9 minutes. Furthermore, when they say Jussie Smollett, I say Tamir Rice.

When they say Jussie Smollett, I say Ahmaud Arbery. When they say Jussie Smollett, I say Philando Castile. When they say Jussie Smollett, I say Breonna Taylor. I think it is clear where I am going with this. The author chooses one counterexample as the basis for their argument while neglecting to mention the countless other examples to the contrary. I do not believe Eric Garner was merely “virtue-signaling” when he uttered his last words, “I can’t breathe.”

We needn’t defer to Jussie Smollett for “imaginary” examples of racism when there are so many other credible examples that we can source from.

Let’s continue. The author concludes their analysis of “White Fragility” by seemingly posturing as the “real victim” while centering themself and their own feelings in this conversation about structural racism against Black and brown people. In the article, they state, “Are people not denied their dignity when they’re told that they’re evil, simply by the circumstance of their birth? What dignity is afforded to those who are told that they are born with a sickness?” To which I reply, what dignity was afforded to an entire race of people who were counted as 3/5ths of a person in our own Constitution until the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified nearly 100 years later?

The author being stripped of their dignity is based entirely on their own perception; Black people being stripped of basic dignities was legal precedent.

These things are not equal.

Now, perhaps some may feel inclined to point out that these things were “a long time ago,” to which I would refer them back to my original point about the institution of slavery existing longer than the United States has been a country, then discriminatory practices like Jim Crow and red-lining informing public policy for another 100 or so years. Even

if, for argument’s sake, we say that legally-backed anti-Black racism in the United States ended with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (it didn’t), that it is still only 57 years ago. Some of our parents, not our ancestors, our parents, are older than that. Does anyone believe that minorities should have overcome the sociopolitical and economic disadvantages of the previous 300 some odd years in just 57 years (which only covers about 23% of the time Black people spent in literal bondage if we started counting at 1619)? I’m sure one could hold this position, but it seems untenable.

Lastly, the author mentions irony throughout the article, so I figured I’d take a gander at that as well. I believe it’s ironic that the author read a book called “White Fragility” and then felt compelled to write this article in the first place — demonstrating exactly that. I believe this is why they wanted the author to read the book.

Also, I feel compelled to add that the United States is not a Christian nation (see: separation of church and state).

And, even if it was a Christian nation, the Bible was used throughout antiquity to endorse slavery (Ephesians 6:5) and even ethnic cleansing and land-grabbing (Joshua 6:21).

So, it appears, to me at least, that we are still talking about racism on a fundamental level.

All in all, I hope that I’ve said something here that has resonated with readers of the Graphic, in hopes that we can continue a productive discourse on this topic from a healthy place, rather than one of avarice or demonization. While I sympathize with the author’s desire to not be needlessly chastised for something they are not directly responsible for, I also maintain, resolutely, that a conversation about “anti-white racism” in the pursuit of clarity on the topic of structural racism aimed at Black and brown communities is not only wholly misguided but also incredibly tone-deaf (and borderline racist).

I do hope that we have broken new ground in this conversation.

Aaron Wilson (2013) Seaver College

I drive everywhere. With that comes seeing the back of cars — and the boring, unoriginal license plates. The states have so much to offer designwise and yet do nothing to beautify their state in this manner.

Although license plates are small aspects to a person's identity, it still gives random drivers a glimpse into one's life. Some people judge others for the types of cars they drive, but I judge people based on the artistry of the car's required identifying tag.

I am here to set the record straight by ranking all state license plates in six tiers — S for superior, followed by A, B, C, D and F — to show what a creative rear-end emblem truly looks like. This is not a ranking of the state itself but of the standard license plate design.

S tier: I will steal your car These states are the best of the best. I think the states nailed their license plates, and I would not change a single part of them. I would declare residency in these states just to get the plates.

Arizona, Idaho, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah The plate that best represents this category is Arizona. From the beautiful color palette to the clean design, the Grand Canyon State is the blueprint for what each state should seek to implement on their cars.

A tier: I want a keychain of it These states have very good designs and capture the essence of their state well. I would proudly wear them on both the front and back of my car.

Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Wyoming The plate that best represents this category is Wyoming. Since I actually have a keychain of this license plate, I enjoy looking at the simple concept and the cowboy on the bucking horse.

B tier: Oh, cute These plates are above average, but not much else. I commend the states for attempting to be creative, but in this case, the efforts of their design teams did not really land. I will give them points for trying.

Hawai'i, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Washington The plate that best represents this category is Maine. The bird on the Vacationland license plate adds to the cuteness factor.

C tier: It really is a license plate These states have basic, average license plates.

They are not anything to write home about or put on a car. They really tried to create a license plate that only serves one purpose.

Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota The plate that best represents this category is Minnesota. It has the state name, outline and motto, but that is about it. Since the state of 10,000 lakes has so many lakes, I think they can try harder in making this more representative by incorporating more water imagery and beyond, like trees or snow.

D tier: I do not respect the driver These plates are awful and really failed at being creative. If I see a car with this license plate, I do not respect their right to be on the same road as me, but I will allow it.

Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin The plate that best represents this category is Ohio. This plate is messy, hard to read and does not visually describe the state. The amount of small-sized lettering is making me think the designers want me to get in an accident while trying to read this.

F tier: I will rear-end you I hate these license plates. People go on and on about “the classic license plate” — stop it. This is not a valid excuse for the plain piece of garbage metal strapped to their cars. Brakes will not be used if I see this plate.

Alaska, California, Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia The plate that best represents this category is Massachusetts. These designers did not even attempt to create a visually pleasing license plate.

This plate has nothing — white background, basic letters and numbers and an annoying font at the top. This plate is everything that is wrong in this world. Do better, Massachusetts license plate designers.

At the end of the day — or road, donning a creative license plate can make a person feel a sense of pride for what their home state brings to the plate.

AL I.L EV ENS@PEPPER DINE.EDU

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P E P P E R DINE GR A P HIC M E DIA | N E W S | A P RI L 8 , 20 21

Open a book, reopen a library: libraries reopen at Pepperdine Sam T o rre NEW S ASS I STAN T The libraries on Pepperdine’s Malibu campus reopened Feb. 24, and students are allowed to reserve seats at the Payson Library. As LA County continues to reopen, library staff said they are excited to see what this means for the future.

In a March 3 President’s Briefing recap email to the Pepperdine community, the Public Relation’s office wrote LA County permitted the University to allow students to reserve and use the library, following COVID-19 health regulations.

Pepperdine libraries put restrictions in place to keep students and workers safe. Payson is open to Seaver students, the Drescher Library is open for student athletes’ use only and Harnish Law library is open for law student use.

“We think it’s a good plan, keeps everyone safe and so far we’ve had really good response,” Dean of Libraries Mark Roosa said.

Ashley Mowreader| news editor

ali Levens|Photo editor

Distance Learning | (Left) Following LA County’s COVID-19 safety regulations, seats at the library are 6 feet apart. Following the partial campus reopening, to maintain social distancing the library blocked off seats and is open at 25% capacity. (Right) Pepperdine students follow Payson Library’s COVID-19 safety regulations, including mask-wearing and socially distanced seating. The library’s Feb. 24 reopening allowed students to reserve a spot through the library website.

Library Staff Follows Safety Regulations All employees and student workers at the library are following strict University guidelines regarding COVID-19 safety, Roosa said.

These regulations include requiring social distancing, mask-wearing and frequent hand-washing for in-person staff.

“We have a limited number of staff on the ground right now since we’re not offering every single onground service right at the moment because we’re only in a kind of a provisional reopening mode,” Roosa said.

While following the health and safety guidelines is mandatory, Roosa said, the library is not requiring vaccinations for its staff.

“I would say that with the increasing availability of vaccines, most if not all of our frontline folks are being vaccinated,” Roosa said.

“They are becoming inoculated that way, so that’s a good thing.”

Roosa said the library reached out to students who worked as ambassadors for the library preCOVID-19 and asked if they would be willing to return. Six students who worked for the library prior to the COVID-19 shutdown now work in Payson library to help student visitors sign in.

“We were fortunate that we had a good response,” Roosa said.

“Normally we hire more students during the normal year, and we fully expect to do that as soon as we get back on ground.”

Library Services Adjust to Hybrid Format One of the services that would benefit from continued reopening is the Genesis Lab, said Anna Speth, the librarian for emerging technology and digital projects.

The Genesis Lab is a hands-on learning and technology lab that contains technology for students to use on academic and personal projects.

Before going virtual last spring, the lab employed 8 to 10 student workers, Speth said. Most of the student workers at the Genesis Lab last year were seniors, and this year the number of workers dropped significantly down to one student working virtually.

“The lab has definitely been a little quieter while we’ve been fully remote, although we still have our services as needed, but it’s certainly not the same sort of place,” Speth said.

In addition to the Genesis Lab, Speth also runs the web archive,

where librarians preserve and compile old digital and physical collections for student use online.

Over the course of the remote semesters, this area of the library saw increased use, Speth said.

“We took it as an opportunity,” Speth said. “A big part of our normal workflow is scanning those archival materials that we think are of high research value and putting them online.”

Speth said being remote allowed her and her team in the digital archives, which consists of one student worker and one undergraduate intern, to find a method for cleaning up and organizing Pepperdine’s research dating back 10 to 15 years.

Visitors Follow Regulations

COVID-19

Eligible students, faculty and visitors can use the library website to reserve a seat, Roosa said.

COVID-19 regulations, such as required mask-wearing, are posted at the front of the library.

Capacity at the library, Roosa said, is at 25% due to county guidance. Library furniture is socially distanced, with seats six feet apart and tables eight feet apart, following county and University

regulations. Safety guidelines are consistent across all open libraries. “[Students] understand the online app really well, and they are able to make a reservation and come in and check-in and then use the space, and then when they depart they check out on the app,” Roosa said.

Drescher Library The NCAA requires universities to have a separate library facility for student-athletes. Pepperdine has designated Drescher Library for athlete use, Roosa said.

“That facility is solely for student-athletes and they of course are, they have their own testing protocols and they’ve been very strictly in place for a number of months,” Roosa said. “We’re really pleased to be able to offer the Dresher library to them during this time.”

This semester, because of the limited hours at the Drescher Library, there are no student employees, Roosa said. Drescher library can only be open for a maximum of five hours a day.

Library Anticipates Lightening of Restrictions

In a March 16 email to the Pepperdine community, the Public Relations Office at Pepperdine wrote the University is preparing for LA moving into the Orange Tier. LA county is in the Orange tier as of March 30.

Moving to the Orange Tier, Roosa said, will allow the library to make more seats and space available for student use.

“That’s the change that students will probably see and that will be reflected in the sign-up app, online; there’ll be more spots available so as we get towards midterms and finals there’ll be more spaces available for students to study,” Roosa said.

Speth said because the Genesis Lab is such a small room, regulations only allow one visitor at a time, in addition to Speth and a student worker. If regulations allow 50% capacity, the Genesis Lab will be allowed to hire more students.

“I hope that the lab can be available to students for final projects sort of stuff, by appointment by that point, and then I hope over the summer, things might start to look more and more normal,” Speth said.

SAM .TOR R E@PEPPER DINE.EDU

A ‘lifesaver’: Fine Arts students access on-campus resources Ky le M c c a be N ew s Ass i s tant E dit or When campus partially reopened in February, the University gave Fine Arts students access to some on-campus resources.

Music, Theatre and Art majors can now use practice rooms, art studios and production labs on a reservation basis.

For activities performed with a mask on, groups of up to four students can use a studio together. Anything done without a mask, like playing a wind instrument or singing, requires students to be alone, according to a Feb. 23 Public Relations email. Junior Music Performance major Kai Nakkim plays his clarinet in a practice room by himself every day.

“We have access to those now, which has kind of been a lifesaver,” Nakkim said.

As a music student, Nakkim has scheduled hours for using practice rooms. The rooms are open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week, but his key card only works to get in

during his assigned hours.

“Hopefully we’ll be allowed access 24/7 like it usually is,” Nakkim said. “I know a lot of times, I don’t have enough time to do my school and then also come down here, given the limited hours.”

The on-campus hours are an improvement compared to the 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. hours at an off-campus site Pepperdine music students used this year. Before campus reopened, President Jim Gash allowed music students to practice in a house he owns off-campus, Nakkim said.

“They had renovated it with a front desk person to make sure everyone was socially distancing,” Nakkim said. “You’d have to schedule times in advance to go in your own room, and no one was allowed in other rooms. It was better than nothing.”

The off-campus practice rooms opened about a month before winter break, Nakkim said.

To get access to an on-campus room, Nakkim emailed Director of Choral Activities Brian Board his

weekly schedule and Board shared it with the Fine Arts Department for approval.

“My experience with it has been, I show up at my two to threehour time block depending on the day,” Nakkim said. “For example, today my keycard will work from 2 to 5 in one specific room, and it’s always been one specific room.”

Senior Theatre and Music majors Sydney DeMaria and Joe Hebel have yet to use the practice rooms, but they did record their senior vocal recital in the Raitt Recital Hall.

“It was an interesting experience,” Hebel said. “It was cool that we were able to do it in the space because for the three years leading up to our senior year I was like ‘That’s where senior recitals are. That’s where we’re gonna do our stuff,’ and then, you know, it didn’t work out like that.”

DeMaria and Hebel pushed their recital from the fall 2020 semester to spring 2021 hoping they would be able to perform in Raitt.

They recorded some of their songs

in Hebel’s parent’s home, but took full advantage of their time in Raitt. The duo filmed their performances with a tripod and ring light and used the recital hall’s equipment to record the audio.

“We had our dresses and he had his suit on,” DeMaria said. “It felt like a performance, even though we were just doing it for a camera.”

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, only DeMaria, Hebel and their accompanist David Fraley were allowed in the recital hall.

All three of them live together, but Fraley still wore a mask during the event while DeMaria and Hebel wore masks when they were not singing.

To get permission to perform in Raitt, DeMaria and Hebel emailed the Divisional Dean of Fine Arts Bradley Griffin as soon as they saw the campus reopening announcement. They heard back a week later from Dani Lobello, the director of Production at Pepperdine’s Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts.

“She said that she was going to do everything in her power to

make it happen for us,” DeMaria said. “There was a series of about 20 emails back and forth trying to get us permission to use the space.”

Nakkim, DeMaria and Hebel said they all look forward to other on-campus resources opening up to them.

The orchestra, wind ensemble and small chamber groups all normally use large rooms to play together, and Nakkim said musicians might be able to use them this semester.

DeMaria and Hebel said they hope to visit Smothers Theater before they graduate.

“I’d love to just walk on the stage — that’s all I really want to do,” Hebel said. “That would be cool because I don’t know that we’ll ever perform on Smothers again, unless we’re pretty rich and famous.

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

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Elizabeth Grant took the name “Lana Del Rey” in 2010 before the release of her self-titled first album. Del Rey wanted her stage name to embody Hollywood glamour, beautiful mistakes and sweet-natured womanhood. She released seven albums under this name, including her latest album, “Chemtrails Over the Country Club,” which she released March 19 with Interscope Records. The album focuses less on her usual romanticized ideals and more about her honest struggles with the inevitability of growing up.

Del Rey achieved success through her themed albums and aesthetics. Her themes include a Hollywood house wife in “Born to Die” and a sad girl in blue jeans in “Ultraviolence.” Far Out Magazine even named “Ultraviolence” the ninth saddest album of all-time.

Jack Antonoff produced and wrote the entire album with Del Ray. Antonoff worked with Del Ray on her previous album and the audiobook for her poetry book, “Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass,” in September.

Antonoff produced and provided instrumentals for her 2019 single “Looking for America,” a song released to raise money to end gun violence.

“Chemtrails Over the Country Club” has aspects of classic melodramatic Del Rey, but it shows the listener a more vulnerable side to her usual fantasy-focused lyrics.

The album continues the theme of toxic relationships explored in songs from Del Ray’s past albums like “Off to the Rac-

es,” and tragic American royalty in “National Anthem” and “Born to Die.” Yet, the new album’s lyricism focuses on honesty.

In this album, Del Rey expresses her fascination with leaving the entertainment industry and questions what her life would be like without fame. Her song “White Dress” says, “When I was a waitress working the night shift/ You were my man, felt like I got this/ It made me feel/ Made me feel like a god/ It kinda makes me feel like maybe I was better off.”

Del Rey even goes as far as to idealize small town community in the title track “Chemtrails Over the Country Club.” The song says, “Suburbia, The Brentwood Market/ What to do next? Maybe we’ll love it/ White picket, chemtrails over the country club.”

This song suggests ditching city life and chaos and it discusses leaving the riches that “country clubs” represent and settling down. Lyrics like this show how Del Rey evolves in her songwriting — writing honestly while she experiences the tenderness of growing up.

This album is instrumentally authentic to the signature style Del Rey is known and loved for producing. Some songs such as “Dance Till We Die” sound similar to her older songs such as “Venice Bitch,” in regards to piano and synth instrumentals.

Del Rey stays true to her themes of Los Angeles in this album, as her song “Wild at Heart” says, “You made me crazy/ To see your pretty pics on Sunset Boulevard.” Del Rey is known for her glorification of California. In her song “West Coast” from her 2014 album “Ultraviolence,” she sings, “Down on the West Coast/ They got their icons/ Their silver

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Album Review: Lana Del Rey’s honesty rises in ‘Chemtrails Over the Country Club’

Nathan Huang | Life & Arts Design assistant starlets/ Their queens of Saigons/ But you’ve got the music/ You’ve got the music in you.”

Along with her trademark for romanticizing the golden coast, the new album maintains her usual themes of labeling herself as “insane” or “weird,” exaggerating her feelings of being an outcast.

Her song “Tulsa Jesus Freak” says, “You know when you chose me/ I was nothing but ordinary.”

Her song “Chemtrails Over the Country Club” says, “Normality settles down over me/ I’m not bored or unhappy/ I’m still so strange and wild.”

The reason Del Rey gained popularity quickly, especially among teenagers in the phase of self-discovery, is because she remains vulnerable. She sees people craving individuality and uses music to help make them feel seen.

The last song on the album titled “For Free” is an alternative pop dream, featuring Weyes Blood and Zella Day. The song “For Free” is a story written about a man playing clarinet on the street with no audience. The song conceptualizes the idea of fortune and fame versus

Photo Courtesy of lanadelrey.com The Country Club Collective | The cover of Lana Del Rey’s new album, “Chemtrails Over the Country Club,” depicts her and her friends at a country club. Del Rey released the album March 19, and it features 11 songs, including singles “Let Me Love You Like a Woman” and “Chemtrails Over The Country Club.” tranquility and purpose, the overall theme of the album.

The song says, “Nobody stopped to hear him/ Though he played so sweet and high/ I meant to go over and ask for a song/ Maybe put on a harmony/ I heard his refrain as the signal changed/ He was playin’ real good for free.”

Del Rey took to her Instagram on March 20 to announce that “Chemtrails Over the Country Club” will have a sequel album, “Rock Candy Sweet,” releasing June 1.

“Chemtrails Over the Country Club” is Del Rey’s most honest album. The listener can hear her bloom, both musically and personally. She says in the album that “Not All Who Wander Are Lost,” yet every listener is encouraged to wander into the arms of Lana Del Rey. “Chemtrails Over the Country Club” is available to stream on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music.

BETH.GONZAL ES@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Film Review: ‘Tom & Jerry’ misses the mark Addiso n W h iten Staf f w r i te r “Tom & Jerry” (2021), directed by Tim Story, is a film adaptation of the classic cartoon by the same name. In this modern reboot of the beloved show, Jerry, a mouse, takes up residence in a New York City hotel just before the wedding of two celebrities is set to take place on the property.

The hotel’s new events manager has to find a way to get rid of the mouse so the wedding is not ruined and hires Tom, a cat, to hunt down Jerry.

In this version of the cartoon “Tom & Jerry,” the story takes place in the real world, in traditional, live-action style, while the titular characters are animated.

This film is one of many reboots in recent years, and like many before it, it fails to capture what made the original cartoon it’s based on so beloved by its audience. The focus on human characters, lack of actual action between Tom and Jerry and its bland tone and style make the film an unfaithful and extremely unfunny reiteration of an iconic story.

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera created the cartoon series “Tom & Jerry” in 1940. A typical episode of the show follows Tom as he tries to capture Jerry, while Jerry continuously foils his attempts in outrageous and imaginative ways. The show is consistently focused on its cast of animal characters, and usual-

ly shows humans only from the neck down to maintain the animal perspective.

In “Tom & Jerry” (2021), a majority of the movie is spent focusing on human characters, particularly the Royal Gate hotel’s new events manager, Kayla, played by Chloë Grace Moretz, who is in charge of making sure the wedding goes smoothly, and her superior, Terence, played by Michael Peña. The couple getting married, Ben and Preeta, played

by Colin Jost and Pallavi Sharda, respectively, also get a lot of screen time.

By spending so much of the film’s 101 minute runtime following these people and their stories, Tom and Jerry’s shenanigans are almost secondary to what’s happening in the lives of the humans in the story.

A hallmark of the dynamic between Tom and Jerry is their extended action sequences, where their comedic physical attacks on each other grow increasingly outlandish and unreal. Due to the time spent dealing with human problems in this movie, there are only a handful of scenes like that in a film that is supposed to be focused on those two characters.

Aside from the problem the film has with its focus, the human characters it spends most of its time on are not interesting enough to warrant that spotlight.

Tom and Jerry are characters most American audiences are already familiar with, so people are already invested in them.

The new characters introduced in the movie have to be made interesting to the audience so they care about them, but that doesn’t ever happen; most of the people in this movie are very flat and lackluster, as they are never given characteristics beyond one or two defining traits that are tied either to their job or their role in the wedding.

Even the main human character, Kayla, is defined by her need for a job that leads her to start working at the hotel, with few other noticeable personality traits beyond that.

“Tom & Jerry” is supposed to be a comedy, but the laughs are nearly nonexistent. The lack of classic action sequences between the cat and the mouse accounts for much of this, as does the failed attempts at verbal and slapstick comedy by the actors in the film.

The only human character who consistently lands their comedy is Chef Jackie, played by Ken Jeong, a comedic actor and veteran of the genre. The other typically comedic actor in the movie, Jost, delivers a one-dimensional and unfunny performance, which is odd considering his experience as a head writer and weekly performer on Saturday Night Live.

The lack of comedy and focus away from the main characters of “Tom & Jerry” make the film a clearly unfaithful reboot of a timelessly funny cartoon, as does its animation style.

The movie employs a 3D animation style for its animal charac-

ters, as opposed to the traditional, 2D style used in the old cartoon.

This further separates it from its source material, and not in any kind of interesting or innovative way.

If the film had stuck to the traditional animation style and presented these classic characters as people are used to seeing them, they might have been able to more effectively endear this story to audiences.

While there are more negative than positive things happening in “Tom & Jerry,” there are still small moments when the spirit of the original cartoon finds its way into the movie.

Scenes like Jerry leaving the hotel through his own mousesized revolving door, or Tom opening his chest up to show his DNA, revealing a cat and mouse chasing each other around the double helix feel like the classic cartoon. These moments, however, are few and far between, and don’t do enough to save the film from ultimately being unfaithful to the source material and unfunny in general.

“Tom & Jerry” is in theaters now.

ADDIE.W HITEN@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Pictures No Tomfoolery| The official poster for “Tom & Jerry” (2021) shows the titular characters riding on a skateboard through the streets of New York City.

While this poster gives the impression the film will be focused on shenanigans like the one depicted, in reality the movie spends a very limited amount of time on scenes like this.

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SGA senator shares the importance of diversity 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.

Singer/songwriter pursues music marketing industry st el l a z ha ng staf f w r i te r First-year Courtney Hancock, a songwriter, singer and guitarist from Denver, released five songs and one cover on her website and SoundCloud in 2019 and 2020.

She said music is her biggest passion in life.

Hancock said she started singing when she bought a ukulele in seventh grade. She joined her school’s guitar band and she was one of the lead singers and guitarists. Now, Hancock is a singer/ songwriter who produces her own music. She mostly writes indie and R&B songs.

“Music has the power to transport us to another time and place,” Hancock said. “I love to harness that power with a broad audience of music lovers.”

As an Integrated Marketing Communication major, Hancock said her ideal career goal is to work in the music marketing industry.

“I am looking for opportunities to develop my technical skills and collaborate with creative professionals,” Hancock said. “I like to push myself in stretching my musical boundaries as a songwriter.”

In hopes of meeting new friends in college, Hancock joined Green Team and Art Club last semester.

This semester, Hancock became a member of Word Up. Hancock said she is glad to be on a worship team and participate in Bible studies with other club members.

Hancock never had the chance to do Bible studies with her friends, so she said she is excited to finally have the opportunity.

photo courtesy of courtney hancock Love of Nature | First-year Courtney Hancock camps with

her friends in Deer Creek, Colo., in June 2019. Hancock said she enjoys hiking and being in nature.

“This is a nice way to grow in my faith and bring music back into my life,” Hancock said.

Apart from music, Hancock said she does a lot of hiking in Colorado, and one of the things that brings her the most happiness is being in nature. What attracts her about Pepperdine is its close-knit community and the fact that Pepperdine is close to nature feels like home to her.

Although she always dreamed of attending Pepperdine, Hancock said she had a hard time deciding between Pepperdine and the New York University Music Business Program. When deciding which school to attend, her goal was to go into music marketing and to be behind the scenes of the music industry.

“I came to the realization very late that Pepperdine was just the better place for me to be for the next four years,” Hancock said.

“New York is like a concrete jungle.”

Hancock said choosing between Pepperdine and New York University was one of the hardest decisions she has ever had to make.

“You always think it is going be easy for yourself to just be yourself and follow what you want to do,” Hancock said. “Things can get so muddy when taking under account what everyone who’s raised you and all your friends expects of you.”

Hancock said even though it was a last minute decision, she was proud of herself for making the right decision.

“I thought about where I wanted to be, what I wanted to do and what the best was for me,” Hancock said. “I think going through this process of decision-making really helped me grow as a person.”

S T E L L A . Z H A N G 3 @P E P P E RD I N E . E D U

First-year Political Science major and Industrial/Organizational Psychology minor RJ Wicks’ dream job is to work in education policy or curriculum design, and bring innovation to the education system. Wicks said he has big aspirations for the future, but for now, he is focused on being a motivated student and friend while maintaining his positions in several organizations on campus.

Wicks said he is a Student Government Association freshman class senator and a Diversity intern with the Pepperdine Office of Admissions. He is also involved in the Black Student Association and is in Alpha Omega Campus Ministry.

“I’m able to see that community that Pepperdine always advertises about, you know, just how everyone’s super welcoming, encouraging and really wants to build connections with you,” Wicks said.

Wicks, who is from Carson, Calif., attends Pepperdine on a Posse Scholarship, which awards full tuition to talented high schoolers. He said the Posse program accepted 10 students from his area, who all go to the University with him.

Wicks said he met with his “posse” before starting school, and the meetings acted almost as a “diversity training” in which the group of students prepared to go to Pepperdine. He continues to meet weekly and build relationships with the people in his “posse.”

“Going to a predominately white institution for some of us was something we had to adjust to and be ready for those conversations,” Wicks said. “No matter what university you go to, just preparing yourself to represent yourself well, understanding what it means to go to a university with many multiple different people from all walks of life.”

Wicks said he sought out opportunities that reflect his passion for diversity, such as his position on the SGA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. He started working with other organizations to bring awareness about the importance of diversity.

“I introduced the idea of having Pepperdine possibly partner with a historically Black college or university, also called an HBCU, in a cultural exchange program that provides different opportunities for students at Pepperdine and the HBCU we partner with,” Wicks said.

While Wicks hopes to work on this project with the SGA, he is already making waves as the only Diversity intern in the Enrollment Management department of the Office of Admission. He said he came across the position by searching “diversity” on Hand-

photos courtesy of rj wicks

photo courtesy of rj wicks LA Lovin’| First-year RJ

Wicks visits the beach at the Santa Monica Pier in August.

He said the Malibu location was a big factor in his decision to go to Pepperdine, as he felt like he was at a resort walking around campus. shake. The internship focuses on improving campus culture with admitted students and reaching out to prospective students.

“I’m looking at marketing initiatives that they continue to post and send out to students, making sure it’s inclusive, and involving and trying to recruit as many diverse student populations,” Wicks said.

Wicks is also participating in research for the internship by looking at what other universities are doing and finding methods that Pepperdine can implement to better diversify campus life and the applicant pool. Wicks said he hopes to stress the importance of diversity within higher education institutions like Pepperdine within his extracurricular roles.

“Growing up, I went to schools with a large POC population, so when I went into spaces where everyone looked one certain way, or everyone acted a certain way, I was like, ‘This is weird,’” Wicks said. “I think that’s what made me realize the importance of diversity because I was so used to it.”

In a way, Wicks is already living out his dream of working in education policy by bringing innovation to the way Pepperdine looks at diversity, he said. His goal is to have Pepperdine actively have diversity woven into the system of the institution.

“My passion is definitely being there for others and supporting others in any way I can and just using my talents and gifts that I feel like God has blessed me with to better benefit the world and people who I surround myself with,” Wicks said.

L INDSAY.M ASE@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Debate team member talks about passion for politics kay l a kahrl s taf f w r i te r After competing on the debate team throughout high school, first-year Terra Hernandez decided to double major in Political Science and International Studies. She said debate helped open her eyes to world issues and made her interested in politics and foreign policy.

“I’m interested in politics and our political system because it shapes so many aspects of our everyday lives,” Hernandez said.

Through double-majoring, Hernandez said she hopes to discover if she prefers U.S. or international politics. She’s currently leaning toward foreign policy but wants to keep her options open.

“My teachers in the Political

Science and International Studies Division have made my major so interesting and make learning fun,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez said she planned on attending college in a big city on the mainland but soon realized the transition from her hometown in Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i, to a major city would be too extreme. To get a taste of life in a big city, Hernandez decided to join the Global Fellows Program and do a semester in Washington D.C., along with studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina next year.

Along with joining Pepperdine Debate, Hernandez met a lot of other students through her involvement in the sorority Alpha Phi. “Joining a sorority really helped me get to know more peo-

ple and especially older girls that I wouldn’t have known if I wasn’t in a sorority because we’re not on campus,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez is also the first-year liaison for First Gen, a club supporting first-generation students.

She said she hopes to one day become an ambassador for the club so she can hold office hours and give younger first-generation students advice.

“I’m first-generation, so I thought it would be nice to have that community on campus and get access to resources that I didn’t know existed,” Hernandez said. “The club has helped open up more doors.”

Hernandez moved to Malibu this semester and she said one of her favorite memories is meeting everyone she talked to on social

photo courtesy of terra hernandez Across the Ocean | First-year Terra Hernandez poses for

her senior portrait in January 2020 at Mauna Kea Beach, Hawai’i. Hernandez said she lived in Hawai’i her whole life until moving to Malibu in January. media in real life.

“I can go see my friends in between my class break, so it’s been nice and I can structure my day more without being tied down to campus,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez had the chance to

go on campus the day it opened, when she said she ate Chick-fil-A and met President Jim Gash.

“It was a celebrity moment,” Hernandez said.

K AYL A.K AHR L @PEPPER DINE.EDU

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Senior Spotlight: Future dietitian reflects on past years St ell a Z ha ng Staf f W r i te r Senior Annie Vander Mey, a Nutrition Science major and an active member of Pepperdine’s Wind Ensemble, said she loves her major because it is applicable in daily life and is an interdisciplinary subject field. Vander Mey’s ideal career goal is to be a registered dietitian because she wants to provide nutritional knowledge to people who may not realize the vital role nutrition plays in everyday life.

Now living in her hometown of San Diego due to COVID-19, Vander Mey said remote classes add flexibility to her time schedule, but she misses the times she spent with her friends on campus. Looking back, Vander Mey reflected on doing daily tasks with her friends, like completing homework, taking a Friday night off or going to the beach, which were joyful.

How has your Pepp experience been for you?

AVM: It was so good. I love Pepperdine and I love my major.

I can’t see myself doing anything else. Three Nutrition professors — Dr. Kim, Dr. Helm and Professor Deseno — they are all such incredibly intelligent women and I have so much respect for them. I have learned so much from them.

This year, I have a senior capstone that all Nutrition majors do. I am now in the process of figuring out what topic I would like to do, and if it is feasible. Also, I’ve made life-long friends at Pepperdine for sure. My second year stood out the most. I didn’t go abroad, so we rounded up as many girls I could find as possible who weren’t going abroad. We found eight girls living in Seaside Residence Hall together. We became pretty close.

Sophomore year was definitely

one of the best years, where I really made my life-long friends.

What are you involved in at Pepperdine?

AVM: I play the clarinet. Right now there is no chamber music going on, but normally, I would be enrolled in Wind Ensemble every semester, and then chamber music in the fall. That was very fun because in high school I was just in concert band or marching band, and have never done any smaller groups with just three and four other people. I really like it.

What do you plan to do with your major after graduation?

AVM: After graduating, my goal is to become a registered dietitian, and I think it would be really cool to work in a hospital.

Depending on the timeline after I complete the internship, which for all registered dietitians, you need at least 1,200 internship hours, and after that, possibly getting a master’s degree and start working. I think anything in dietary counseling, or helping others like one-on-one would make my heart really happy.

If you had advice for first-year students at Pepperdine, what would you say?

AVM: I would say don’t be too hard on yourself. Freshman year was my hardest year, just trying to adjust everything. It was still good, but it was definitely the hardest. I remembered my first exam and my first nutrition class. I remembered getting a C and I was honestly devastated — like this is my major and I am supposed to be really good at this. I think being hard on myself added a lot of unnecessary stress and worries. Your freshman year is a really big adjustment and what really matters is finding what you are passionate about. It’s OK to

Photos courtesy of Annie Vander Mey

Fanny Pack and Friend| Vander Mey (left) poses with her good friend, senior Kim Yeung (right), on campus in September 2019. Vander Mey said her own medical experiences grew her passion for wanting to serve others as a registered dietitian in a hospital.

White Coat Moments| Seniors Annie Vander Mey (left) and Madison Menefee (right) perform an experiment the chemistry lab at Pepperdine’s Malibu campus in February 2019. Vander Mey said her and Menefee’s “bond” strengthened after taking chemistry together.

have some little moments here and there where you are discouraged, but don’t quit. Just stick it out. I think it will definitely be worth it.

S T E L L A . Z H A N G 3 @P E P P E RD I N E . E D U

Santa Monica Smiles| Vander Mey (left) smiles with senior Rachel Miner (right), in Santa Monica, Calif., in October 2018. Vander Mey said they became friends during sophomore year since they both didn’t go abroad.

Pepp Theatre presents virtual performances of ‘As You Like It’ ADdiso n W hiten Staf f W r i te r The Pepperdine Theatre program will perform “As You Like It”, a classic Shakespearean story about cousins Rosalind and Celia, the fool Touchstone and the young man Orlando escaping the evil Duke Frederick, set in the forest of Arden.

The performances will be streamed live over Zoom Friday, April 9, at 7:30 p.m., PDT, Saturday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m., PDT and Sunday, April 11, at 2 p.m., PDT. “As You Like It” is a classic Shakespearean story about cousins Rosalind and Celia, the fool Touchstone and the young man Orlando escaping the evil Duke Frederick, set in the forest of Arden. There are love stories, questions about the meaning of life and themes of exile and banishment.

“Shakespeare’s timeless tale about the education of the heart is full of music, humor, and romance,” according to the official webpage for the production.

“And in his heroine Rosalind, we experience Shakespeare’s masterful wit in its most exquisite form.”

Senior Theatre Acting major Clayton Mattingly, who plays Orlando, said the process of preparing to do a show remotely, with the cast and crew never physically in the same space, was difficult at times and required everyone to rely on each other.

“Our entrances are whenever we press start video, so it’s a lot of trust that everyone starts their video, unmutes at the right times, sets up all their equipment correctly, and we all kind of have to trust that we all do the same things and some good art will come out of it,” Mattingly said.

Mattingly said he believes the

Photo courtesy of Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts Time for Theatre| The artwork from the play’s webpage shows a modern artistic interpretation of the classic play.

Senior Layla Dillig said she likes the way this production blends modernity with a timeless Shakespearean story. play’s theme of exile is especially relevant right now.

“We all kind of understand how it feels to be exiled or banished currently,” Mattinlgy said.

“Whether it be to our rooms or to our parents’ houses or wherever, due to COVID.” The play’s director, Associate Professor of Theatre Hollace Starr, said she made it a priority to ensure that all of the cast members felt connected to each other and to the story, despite everyone being physically disconnected.

“We have ensemble moments throughout the play that have been fun to develop with the cast, and that seem to do what I set out to do, which is to kind of let everyone have an important identity within the play,” Starr said.

Both Mattingly and Starr said not being able to practice in per-

son with the whole cast and crew has been an unusual experience they had to work through.

“Instead of everyone being in one room, and kind of feeling like those energies are literally in the space between the actors, everyone’s in 13 different spaces and so it kind of feels sometimes like keeping 13 balls in the air,” Starr said.

Even their traditional rehearsal schedule changed to accommodate the online format, as Starr said she didn’t want to cause Zoom fatigue for her cast.

Usually for a show like this, the cast would rehearse six days a week: four hours on week nights and anywhere from four to six, or more, hours on Saturdays.

“I knew that that was untenable for a Zoom schedule,” Starr said. “It’s just not possible for anyone to endure.”

Even though rehearsing “As You Like It” on Zoom has been challenging, senior Theatre Acting major Layla Dillig, who plays Rosalind, said there are benefits to performing virtually: The cast and crew are able to utilize technology to do new and innovative things with the show.

“I’m really excited that we kind of took a classical text like Shakespeare, and first of all, made it available to the modern audience, but also connected it so closely to a thing like technology which is so not Shakespearean,” Dillig said.

Junior Theatre Acting major Yayabell Debay, who plays Duke Frederick, said she hopes to be a film actor one day, so doing an entire play virtually gives her and the rest of the cast the opportunity to hone their screen-acting skills.

“It’s almost like we had to

morph our acting into a different medium, which is a very cool talent to have in the first place, so we can do theater, and are equally savvy with camera [acting],” Debay said.

“As You Like It” is Dillig’s final production at Pepperdine, and while she said she wishes she could give her castmates, director and crew a hug before leaving, she is very grateful they made a show happen for the seniors who are leaving and the first-years who are just beginning their Pepperdine theatre experience.

“I think we made the best out of the worst situation,” Dillig said.

It is free to attend the virtual performances of “As You Like It,” but anyone who is interested must register on the play’s official webpage. Viewing links will be sent to ADDIE.W HITEN@PEPPER DINE.EDU

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The Graphic

SPORTS Apr i l 8, 2021

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Players test positive for COVID-19 Austin Hall Staff Writer Within a seven-hour period, Pepperdine Baseball and Men's Volleyball reported positive tests for COVID-19 and were forced to quarantine for 10 days and pause all team activities for a minimum of two weeks.

In a semester where fall, winter and spring sports are being played at one time, Pepperdine Athletics has suffered only minor hiccups with COVID-19 thus far, most recently a postponed home baseball game versus USC on March 9, due to a positive test.

Now, both programs are forced to quarantine until next week due to two positive tests from each team.

"We're at a point where people want to go out and do some things for fun," senior outsider hitter Spencer Wickens said. "All it takes is one person to catch it accidentally and it could be over."

Baseball was the first team to report a postponed game due to what the team's Twitter called "COVID-19 protocols."

Ali Levens | Photo Editor Side Retired | Kniskern (No. 10) lofts a pitch against Saint Mary’s on March 28.

"Early Tuesday morning, we heard about two positive tests from freshmen," junior pitcher Grant Georges said. "It could've been from something as simple as going to the grocery store. But this is a lot different from our last positive test because contact tracing is a much bigger factor here."

The report was 21 days after Pepperdine Baseball postponed a game against USC on March 9. The team was not held off the diamond for long as they traveled to UC Davis on March 12, for a three game series versus the Aggies.

Georges said the team didn't have to quarantine due to the living situation of the player who tested positive.

"It wasn't an issue because he was hardly around any of the other players," Georges said.

"He happens to be from the area and lives with one other player in an apartment. That's where he spends most of his time, and because it was a short stretch where the whole team was laying low in-between games, they were the only guys that had to quarantine."

This time around, the team had met together multiple times before their tests came back.

"We were all waiting on our tests from the previous weekend to come back before we left for UCLA," Georges said. "I went to bed early that night after I saw that I tested negative. I woke up to 50 GroupMe notifications and another 100 iMessages. We were trying to figure out who tested positive before our coach texted us and let us know."

The game versus UCLA on Tuesday, March 30, was canceled around 9 a.m. Their scheduled series against the University of San Diego from April 1 to April 3 is canceled. An April 6 away game against LMU and a weekend series against the University of Pacific on April 9 through April 11 are postponed on the team schedule.

The team had a Zoom meeting with Pepperdine Medical Director Dr. Lucy

Photo courtesy of Keonabelle paniagua Hard Hitter | Senior outside hitter Spencer Wickens (No. 7) prepares to spike the ball against Grand Canyon University men’s volleyball team March 28.

Larson, who instructed them on the quarantine period. Larson said all off-campus students were to sleep as far away from other roommates as possible and wear masks in their apartments.

Georges said his roommates have taken precautions but found difficulty abiding by all of the regulations.

"We've been careful," Georges said. "I'm not gonna say we've spent 24 hours per day indoors and haven't slipped out to make a food run. After additional testing and no symptoms we feel comfortable with trying to make things somewhat normal and also integrate at-home workouts."

Junior pitcher Trevor Kniskern said he was surprised at the news of the positive test but is looking forward to the season resuming.

“What’s crazy is that none of us got it in the fall,” Kniskern said. “We thought the risk of getting it this semester was a lot lower, but it happens. We’re gonna control the controllables and move on when we’re cleared.”

Wickens, the reigning American Volleyball Coaches Association Player of the Week, said the

volleyball team also found out Tuesday morning. One player initially tested positive, and after that player’s housemates were re-tested, a second player’s test came back positive, which shut down the whole team.

The team’s Twitter released a statement canceling their game the next day against UCLA. Wickens said the team met over Zoom twice this week to chat and play bingo.

According to Wickens, the source for the positive test originated from a housemate of the players who isn’t on the volleyball team.

“I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus,” Wickens said.

“But this didn’t necessarily come from a guy on the team.”

Wickens said he understands the issue and that non-athletes don’t have the same incentive to avoid COVID-19.

“There’s a validity to it,” Wickens said. “If you’re not playing a sport here, you have less reason to sit around all day and do nothing and the team gets that.”

According to an update from Pepperdine Athletics, the Men’s

Volleyball team will not play until a rescheduled away match April 16 against Stanford for the Waves’ regular season finale. The team is currently tied for fourth in AVCA national rankings with an 11-5 record.

Wickens said the team and Head Coach David Hunt are taking advantage of the rest and look forward to the postseason, starting with the MPSF tournament April 22.

“Coach has been supportive of us and he’s excited to start back up,” Wickens said. “We’re using this time to get our bodies back to 100% and prepare for the tournament.”

AUSTIN.HALL@pepperdine.edu

Pepperdine leads way in WCC with 8 ranked teams Paxton Ritchey sports editor When college sports – along with all of society – shut down in early spring of 2020 due to the onset of COVID-19, Pepperdine had six teams ranked in the Top 20 nationwide, a prolific athletic achievement for a school of its size.

A little over a year since that pause with sports back underway, the Waves have not only picked up where they left off but stepped up their game in many sports.

Pepperdine has eight programs ranked in the Top 30 nationwide, with six in the Top 20 and five in the Top 10. That list doesn’t include the men’s basketball team, which made their first trip to the postseason since 2016 and came home with a CBI championship.

Every sport releases weekly rankings as a way to classify the up-to-date accomplishments of programs nationwide. The rankings use votes by program coaches, and in the case of more extensively covered sports like football and basketball, members of the Associated Press. Traditionally, the top 25 teams receiving votes get a national ranking, with the exception of tennis, which ranks the top 50.

Men’s Volleyball, while currently on a COVID-19 related pause, is in a good position to replicate their NCAA semifinal feat from two years ago, as they currently sit in a tie for No. 4 in the latest AVCA coaches poll. Pepperdine’s 11-5 record is slightly skewed by the fact that four of those losses have come to No. 2 BYU. The Waves are 4-1 against other members of the Top 15.

Pepperdine Water Polo completed its season as the No. 5 team in the CWPA final poll.

The Waves navigated a Gold Coast Conference ravaged by COVID-19 opt-outs, defeating the only other participant, San Jose State, in a best-of-five series to take the conference title and finishing with an 11-3 overall record.

Unfortunately, because of their poor head-to-head record against top teams and the two-team GCC’s lack of an automatic bid, the Waves did not get selected for the six-team NCAA tournament field.

Women’s Tennis, ranked No. 5 in the latest ITA poll, may have the best resumé of any Waves team. Pepperdine sits at 13-2, with 9 of those wins coming against Top 25 opponents, and the only two losses coming on

back-to-back days in February versus No. 1 North Carolina and then-No.2 UCLA, who the Waves beat in Malibu March 12.

The women’s tennis team has done most of this damage without Ashley Lahey, last season’s No. 1 overall singles player who has been injured for the majority of the year. In her absence, Jessica Failla has risen to a No. 14 individual ranking, with standout freshman Taisiya Pachkaleva clocking in at No. 115.

Men’s Golf, which finished 2020 ranked No. 1 in the country, is sitting at No. 7 in this week’s poll from Golfstat. The team has won two events this year and most recently competed at an event in Augusta, Ga., on the course famous for holding The Masters.

The Waves held the lead entering the final day and finished second out of 15 competing programs, in a field which included four other Top 20 schools.

Pepperdine’s Beach Volleyball team comes in at No. 10 in the AVCA Coaches Poll. The Waves have an 8-12 overall record but again are victims of repeated matchups with the nation’s top teams. Pepperdine has faced No. 1 UCLA and No. 2 USC a combined eight teams this year, failing to win. The Beach program

remains the most recent Waves team to win a national title, grabbing the AVCA crown in 2012 and 2014.

The indoor Women’s Volleyball team is also having a strong season, finishing the regular season at No. 20 and recently qualifying for the NCAA tournament for the 24th time in program history.

The Waves will play UMBC the first round and would advance to play No. 11 Baylor with a win.

Pepperdine finished second in the WCC, behind No. 14 BYU and just ahead of No. 21 San Diego.

Women’s Soccer climbed back into the United Soccer Coaches rankings, returning to No. 25 after dropping out of the poll last week. Pepperdine has a season-defining match against BYU Saturday, March 10, in which the winner will clinch second place in the WCC and all but assure themselves a spot in the NCAA tournament, while the loser will have to sweat the selection process.

Men’s Tennis earned a No. 30 ranking in the latest ITA poll. The men are 9-5 on the season but have some notable wins over No. 15 USC and No. 18 Oklahoma State.

Pepperdine has an opportunity to win the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, which they last

claimed in 2012. The All-Sports Trophy is based on the results of the Learfield College Director’s Cup, which gives every college points based on how they fare in each team championship and awards the most cumulatively successful university at the end of the season. While the overall winner receives the Director’s Cup, the All-Sports Trophy is given to the top-finishing non-football school.

The University of Denver has won the trophy in 7 straight and 11 out of the past 12 years, with Pepperdine’s 2012 win being the only interruption. The Waves also took home the trophy in 2005 and 2006.

With so many teams near the top of the national standings, Pepperdine is positioned to solidify themselves as a well-rounded athletic powerhouse, with a chance to potentially add to Pepperdine’s nine NCAA national titles.

paxton.ritchey@pepperdine.edu

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P E P P E R DIN E GR A P H IC M E DIA | S PORTS | A P RI L 8 , 20 21

Soccer scores early, often in 7-0 Senior Day victory over San Diego kar l w inter s taf f w r i te r Pepperdine Women’s Soccer put it all together April 3, at Tari Frahm Rokus Field, celebrating its 10 seniors with a big WCC victory.

The Waves scored five goals in the opening 19 minutes of the match, en route to a 7-0 destruction of the visiting San Diego Toreros to improve their overall record to 6-3-1. The seven goals were the team’s highest scoring total of 2021, and the shutout was its fifth of the season.

“We all came out ready for Senior Day and playing for each other,” senior defender Erin Sinai said. “Right when we stepped on the field, we were really focused on ourselves and focused on the team and that really showed as we played.”

The team’s 10 seniors received flowers from their teammates and coaches pregame, as parents and friends remain unable to attend athletic competitions on Pepperdine’s Malibu campus due to LA County COVID-19 restrictions.

“I love all these girls and I’m just so proud of what we’ve accomplished these past three years,” senior midfielder Joelle Anderson said. “This season too, I just can’t wait to finish the season with this class and just see how far we can go.”

Head Coach Tim Ward said the team planned to honor their seniors in the second-to-last scheduled home game “just in case something crazy happens” with their final home game April 10, against BYU. “One of the themes for our team this year is leaving the jersey in a better place,” Ward said. “We feel like no matter what happens in last two games, this group has done that.”

The seniors made their presence known against the Toreros, collectively contributing four of the Waves’ seven goals and five of the team’s six assists.

Pepperdine controlled the lion’s share of the possession from the opening kickoff, pressing high into San Diego’s half of the pitch. The result was a cascade of early goals.

In the sixth minute, Anderson beat a defender with two touches and unleashed an unassisted blast from the top left corner of the penalty area, hammering it off a bounce with her right foot inside the far post.

ryan brinkman | assistant photo editor Senior Superiority| Pepperdine senior forward Aliyah Satterfield (left) shoots with her left foot between two San Diego defenders in the 88th minute Saturday in Malibu. Satterfield scored on the play, extending the Waves’ lead to 7-0. Pepperdine senior midfielder Joelle Anderson (right) flies past San Diego sophomore defender Sydney Hopkins during the first half Saturday in Malibu. Anderson scored her second goal of the match on the play.

Three minutes later, Sinai delivered a long, looping cross to junior forward Leyla McFarland, who held off her defender to thump home a header from the back post to the opposite corner of the net.

“Yesterday at practice, actually, I played a ball just like that,” Sinai said. “Leyla scored and she said, ‘Let’s do it tomorrow’. It really just comes with a lot of preparation and practice.”

Mere seconds later, McFarland was involved in a goal again, this time setting up Anderson.

“I just saw Leyla wide open so I just did a little give-and-go,” Anderson said. “I just slipped by her and just tried to stay calm and composed in that moment. It was just a good team goal.”

Anderson, who was drafted to the National Women’s Soccer League in January, slotted the ball past diving Torero goalkeeper Ellyn Casto with her left foot to make it 3-0 inside ten minutes. The brace marked Anderson’s second and third goals of the season, bringing her career total to 24.

“Jo’s always been a midfielder; she just happens to be one of the best goal-scoring midfielders we’ve ever had,” Ward said. “A lot of the times she’s double teamed, sometimes triple teamed, in the games.

For her to get a couple goals and a couple of assists, it was really a fantastic performance.”

Less than two minutes later, another senior scored, this time from the penalty spot. Freshman forward Tori Waldeck earned the penalty after being taken down from behind inside the right edge of the

penalty area, and senior defender Emily Sample slid the penalty into the bottom left corner of the net.

In the 19th minute, Waldeck converted to extend the lead to 5-0.

Anderson distributed a long pass and a Torero defender swung at the ball and missed. Waldeck then corralled it on a perfectly timed run and got it past an advancing Casto.

San Diego began to possess the ball slightly more after the 20-minute mark, but the Waves defense continued to limit chances. Pepperdine starting goalkeeper Zoe Clevely did not need to make a single save in the first half.

With preseason All-WCC defender Trinity Watson unavailable, the Waves were thin on the back line, but freshman Victoria Romero earned her first start at center back and played well, after fellow freshman CC Maloof manned the position March 27, against LMU. “We wanted Victoria to have that opportunity as well to play with those seniors, and they both did really, really well, so the future’s bright,” Ward said.

Advancing from the right back position, Sinai distributed several inch-perfect crosses before halftime, but the Waves did not score again before the break. To begin the second half, Sinai and the defense continued to limit San Diego’s runs and chances in front of redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Kinsey Ehmann, who entered the match for Clevely.

“I was honestly super proud of the whole back line, and I think it really shows the depth of our team,” Sinai said.

Squad Goals | Pepperdine Women’s Soccer players celebrate with senior midfielder Joelle Anderson (bright green cleats) after Anderson scored a long-range goal in the sixth minute April 3, at Tari Frahm Rokus Field. Anderson scored two first-half goals and added two assists in a 7-0 Waves victory on Senior Day.

Freshman Field Day | Waves freshman forward Tori Waldeck delivers a composed finish from the top of the penalty area as San Diego freshman Katie Baxter pursues. Waldeck’s goal was Pepperdine’s fifth in the first 19 minutes of the match and her fourth of the season.

Sophomore midfielder Shelby Little notched her first goal of the season to make it 6-0 in the 58th minute, releasing a right-footed laser off the bottom of the crossbar on a simple assist from Anderson.

Senior forward Aliyah Satterfield closed the scoring two minutes from the final whistle, taking an assist from fellow senior midfielder Madi Cook, beating two defenders in the penalty box with masterful footwork before finishing with a low shot. Satterfield has scored all three of her career goals in the previous five games.

Ward paid tribute to the seniors’ performance postgame.

“Every single one of those women have had a really challenging journey along the way,” Ward said.

“Every single one of them faced adversity and struggle. That was our word at the beginning of the week — we talked about the beautiful struggle. It’s a process, life is a struggle sometimes, but at the end of it, you can find joy.”

The match was also a testament to the Waves depth, as 22 different players entered the game.

“Everyone on this team is talented; everyone can play so many different positions,” Anderson said.

“I just loved seeing some of the younger players that might not play as many minutes come in and just show what they’re about and just help the team out in any way they can.”

Freshman goalkeeper Ellie Sommers made her collegiate debut in the final 16 minutes of the match, collecting the first two saves of her career.

“As great as those goals were, we’re really grateful for the shutout and for our three goalkeepers,” Ward said. “Sometimes they get overlooked, and our defensive unit

is playing great.”

The Waves now turn their attention to their final home game of the season against BYU on April 10, which carries massive WCC and NCAA Tournament implications.

The Waves and Cougars enter the match deadlocked with identical 5-1-1 conference records. The Santa Clara Broncos lead the WCC at a 7-0 conference record.

“What people are going see next week are two of the best teams in the country,” Ward said. “I think we’re really good, I think they’re really good, and I think it’s going to be just like the Santa Clara game — that was an amazing soccer game.”

Initially, the Waves and Cougars planned to battle in Malibu again April 12, in a non-conference match, but the coaches of both programs decided to cancel the contest.

K AR L .W INTER @PEPPER DINE.EDU

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P E P P E R DINE GR A P HIC M E DIA | S PORTS | AP RI L 8 , 20 21

Twitter superfans show connection with Pepperdine Men’s Basketball just in t o uh ey s por ts ass i s tant e dit or The Pepperdine Men’s Basketball team is one of the most popular sporting events to attend on campus. The team averaged 1,390 fans during the 2019-2020 season, according to the NCAA attendance report. With no in-person attendance for games this year, fandom for the team has transitioned to social media.

The team has strong supporters among the students and faculty of Pepperdine, but some of its most dedicated fans are three people who have used Twitter as a way to express their fandom for the team: Mackenzie Mazen, David Peterson and Asher Low. “The way that sports can be used for human connection has allowed me to meet some of the most incredible people,” Peterson, an alumnus of Pepperdine from 2019, said. “Getting to know people like Mackenzie and Asher has given me a sense of community with this fandom.”

Mazen is a graduate assistant at the Pepperdine Volunteer Center and is obtaining her MBA in Leadership and Management from the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School. She is one of the team’s biggest supporters despite not being a fan of many other sports.

“My friend was the manager for the basketball team so I initially went to support her and basketball is a simple sport to understand,” Mazen said. “This year I transitioned to Twitter as we were not allowed to attend games and it has been a really fun time to still support the team.”

Mazen said she was excited by how well the team did this year, and she believes Twitter has created a community of fans despite no in-person attendance.

“There were about five people who were consistently there who had a fondness for this team and we were talking in a way that we probably would not be able to if we were at the Fieldhouse,” Mazen said. “I think there has been an increase of connections with superfans this season and the enthusiasm was awesome.”

Peterson said he has also been impressed with the improvement of the program since his freshman year in 2015.

“One of the most enjoyable things that I have experienced is seeing how the players have developed and grown, particularly when the program was at a low point when I first came here,” Peterson said. “It is cool to see that after all the hard work that has been put into the program by the players and coaches that they were able to win a championship this year.”

Mazen’s Twitter support has

photo courtesy of makenzie mazen garnered attention from many of the team’s players throughout the season.

“President Jim Gash let me come to the last home game at Firestone Fieldhouse after I emailed him about it,” Mazen said. “He talked with Steve Potts, the Athletic Director, and everyone was on board with me coming, which was exciting.”

While Mazen is not a follower of sports outside of Pepperdine Men’s Basketball, Peterson is a fan of all things sports, particularly in collegiate athletics.

Peterson is one of the moderators for the College Basketball reddit page on Twitter, which has 23,300 followers.

“I have a deep passion for collegiate athletics, like I live and breathe college sports in all ways,” Peterson said. “There is a lot of appeal to Pepperdine specifically because of the great competition you get that comes to Firestone and the potential national exposure we can receive from playing teams like Gonzaga and BYU.” Peterson said his deep love for collegiate athletics may seem strange to some people, but to him it is a part of who he is.

“The most important thing you can do as a fan is to figure out how much of yourself you are willing to put into this relationship and I feel I have developed a good balance between my emotional response and the outcome of the game,” Peterson said. “At the end of the day college sports are a game and the results are largely inconsequential.”

A third superfan of Pepperdine Men’s Basketball is someone who has never attended Pepperdine.

-Asher Low is a student at the University of Wisconsin who grew up in the Southern California area.

“I became basketball-obsessed when I was 5 years old and my dad wanted to find cheap basketball games we could attend with our family,” Low said. “It is a fantastic level of play and you get up close and personal with great players, some of whom have gone on to play in the NBA.” Low said he is a fan of senior guard Colbey Ross and is excited for his future after capping off his senior season at Pepperdine.

“I loved that they were able to finish the season with a championship, especially for Colbey,” Low said. “It will be great to see him play at the next level and seeing where he started versus where he is now is incredible.”

All three fans have received praise and recognition from the Pepperdine players and the athletic department as well.

“The guys on the team will retweet my stuff and it is funny because I do not talk to any of the boys in person,” Mazen said. “People sometimes think that I want to be friends with all of them, but for me it is all about enjoying the sport.”

Despite being in Wisconsin during his college years, Low still follows the team closely.

“I will send the players messages and they always respond and are thankful that I show them the sup-

photo courtesy of david peterson

photo courtesy of asher low Die Hards| Pepperdine graduate student Makenzie Mazen (top left), alumni David Peterson (top right) and former Wisconsin student Asher Low (above) have all gained internet notoriety as Pepperdine Men’s Basketball superfans. From their Twitter accounts, all three have frequently interacted with each other, the team and other NCAA personalities throughout the season. port I do on Twitter,” Low said. “I love to see that people I have followed are doing well in their lives, and I am always appreciative of people showing me love.”

Like Mazen and Low, Peterson has been recognized by those involved with the basketball team, but he said that is not his ultimate goal.

“I think it is awesome to get

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retweeted and have interactions with the team in any capacity, but I find that introducing people to Pepperdine basketball who have never heard of it to be way cooler,” Peterson said. “I pride myself on introducing people to the team and acting as an ambassador for the team to the rest of the world.”

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