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Top of the new DPS car that will monitor license plates of parked cars as well as cars that are entering campus starting August 2022. Students wonder whether this new system will meet the goal of benefiting the Pepperdine community.
Photo by Lucian Himes Photo Editor Design by Haley Hoidal Lead Designer Design by Haley Hoidal Lead Designer Anezka Liskova News Assistant Editor
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THE PEPPERDINE GRAPHIC Volume LII | Issue 1 | August 29, 2022 | pepperdine-graphic.com | follow us @peppgraphicG THEAHEADWHAT’SWAVESREPORT MON: 4-5 FT TUES: 3-4 FT WED: 3-4 FT THURS: 2-3 FT FRI: 2-3 FT WAVECAST.COM A3 Pepperdine’s new dining service Bon Appétit prepares for its future at theirsharePepperdinePepperdine.studentsmemoriesfromtimeabroad.A4 NEWS A10 The Graphic Staff writes about beforegettingstudentsTworepresentcommitmentatoreaders.Pepperdinedebatehaircutsschool.A11PERSPECTIVES B5 Pepperdine continues to look for areas of improvement in light of trans participation in Williamsports.Mouw looks forward to being a leader on the golf team. B8 SPORTSB1 The tradition of New Student Malibu.howNewexcitement.continuesOrientationwithstudentslearntonavigateB3ARTSANDLIFE
PEPPERDINE PARKING PLATES
who is the new sheriff in town?
2022ACAUG Malibu, California anezka.liskova@pepperdine.edu
Pepperdine is introducing virtual parking permits starting immediately.Ascarsenter and park on campus, license plate recogni tion (LPR) cameras will scan license plates, according to the Pepperdine Department of Public Safety website. The De partment of Public Safety will scan plates one car at a time using mobile, handheld or ve hicle-mounted equipment. The system will detect unregistered vehicles or those parked in an unauthorized location. DPS has been working on ways to mitigate parking traffic and brought their ideas to the Student Government Associ ation a few weeks before DPS announced the switch to digital permits.“Ialways try to park in the correct spot but I would be more inclined to park where I am supposed to be parking be cause I don’t want to get a tick et since scanning the license plate is pretty easy for DPS,” sophomore Marla Steel said. The new system will help traffic, as well as the sustain ability branch of SGA since parking permit stickers will not be printed anymore, said Michael Sugimoto, SGA vice president of administration. This parking permit change may affect student’s parking habits as well. This can depend on many factors, including if they are an on or off-campus resident.“Ifeel like this won’t change my parking habits because I commute to school every day, so as long as I can park in the same places I have before I think it will be the same,” se nior commuter-student Presly PlowmanPlowmansaid.said she is un sure how students will get on campus without a DPS officer looking at the sticker the stu dents and faculty usually have on their dashboards to allow students to get onto campus. The open lane on the right of the entrance gate will still be there for students and faculty to drive through but this se mester there will be a camera scanning the license plates as they come in Sugimoto said. The light will flash green if the person has a registered license plate, and if unregistered, the light will flash red indicating to the DPS officer they need to stop the Whencar.itcomes to visitor and electric vehicle parking proto cols, there will be no changes, Director of Public Safety Dawn Emrich said. As the University gets more comfortable with the new system, DPS might imple ment new options for the visi tor, like registering their plates. Electric vehicles can still park in their charging stations if they are registered as an EV. There are mixed opinions on whether the new system will benefit the Pepperdine community. Plowman said she thinks it will be beneficial, but Steel disagreed. “I don’t know if this would benefit the community because I honestly think that everyone should be able to park every where because we all go to Pep perdine,” Steel said. There could be some dif ficulties that arise, Sugimoto said, but SGA and DPS are in close“We’recontact.hoping that if any is sue arises that we’ll be able just to quickly tell them, ‘Hey, this isn’t really working, or this is working — What can we do to fix this issue?’” Sugimoto said. Students can register their vehicle here for the upcoming school year.
While masking and on-campus testing remain optional, free masks and tests will be offered.
The new baseball parking lot will have 200 spots, and 10 times the amount of storage the University has, and is expected to finish in Janurary 2023.
Samantha Torre News Editor
Seaver Parking Lot Seaver Drive
Rock the Brock Join the Class of 2023 at the annual kickoff party at the Brock House where there will be chances to win prizes and presidential awards. Aug. 31, 2022
The University is working with the Department of Public Health to keep a close eye on the spread of monkeypox.
August 29, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic MediaA2
One night, before the semester be gan, I received a call around 11 p.m.. “Do you want to go to Ralphs Beach around midnight, there’s going to be a meteor shower and tonight is the peak,” my friend asked. We gathered some blankets and laid out next to the pink house, and the super moon provided more than enough light to see each other. We began to worry the light of the shoot ing stars would be smothered by both light pollution and the moon. Then, one after another, meteors flew across the sky in bright streaks. Lying underneath the stars, staring out at a vast blackness over the ocean, I realized how easy it is to feel lonely, especially at college. Far away from home, adjusting to a new rhythm, it can be incredibly isolating. But I wasn’t alone. I was lying shoulder to shoulder with some of my closest friends, pointing out the brightest stars, squabbling about the amount of sand on the blanket and laughing at each other as we looked at spots too bright to find stars in. The community I have now didn’t come easy. There were times I looked at a loading Zoom meeting, or sat in a freshly decorated dorm room, miss ing home and missing friends now over 2,000 miles away. When com munity like the one I had now would have seemed out of reach. College is a time of transition, where the people you see everyday for years will graduate and move across the country, starting the next chapter of their lives — where a person will go from someone you saw everyday to someone you haven’t seen in years. Knowing this is incredibly terrify ing, and sometimes makes me want to curl up in my room and mourn friendships that haven’t even begun. But that isn’t the answer. The an swer is to form those friendships any way. It may take all the courage you have, but reach out. Talk to the people in your classes, invite people to din ner, join clubs and organizations and get to know the people around you. My time at Pepperdine has includ ed some of the best and worst mo ments of my life. Cheesy as it sounds, my friends have made the struggles worth it, and the good times shine brighter.Looking up at the universe above me, I began to think how friends were likeLikestars.stars, some friends will be a steadily burning presence throughout your life. Some friends will fade out of view, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Others — yes, I know it’s a meteor but just stick with me on this metaphor — will streak across your sky, remaining a memory you hold close to your heart. Other friends will be sitting next to you on the blanket, pointing at the sky and confusing airplanes with shooting stars. sam.torre@pepperdine.edu
The Great Conversation Join professors Michael Gose and Paul Begin for this premiere of an 8-minute film about the Great Books Colloquium. Sept. 6, 2022 08.03
Photos by Samantha Torre, News Editor
Good StarryNews:Night
"Thought Partners" Exhibition Opens
You Had One [Parking] Job Highlighting bad parking on Pepperdine’s campus.
Classic Albums Live: Let It Be "Let It Be" is the 12th and final studio album by the Beatles, which spawned some of the band’s biggest hits. Come listen to Classic Albums Live in the Smothers Theatre. Sept. 8, 2022
UPCOMING EVENTS
This conversation series seeks diverse answers to the question of how the museum can serve the University's mission and how it is shaped by art.
Aug. 30, 2022
Great Books |
BriefingPRESIDENT’Srecap tweets of themonth
Drive CCB
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Worship Summit Join the community for an evening of worship and fellowship. Hear from several worship leaders, including Dante Bowe and Maverick City Music. Sept. 10, 2022 Waves of Flags A display of nearly 3,000 flags in Alumni Park honoring the lives lost on 9/11. Students began this tradition in 2008. Sept. 11, 2022
“It’s a lot fresher I would say,” junior Ethan Barragán said. “I see them preparing it right in front of our eyes, which I don’t recall [them] doing as much last year.”
Caf.
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A chef from Bon Appétit cooks at The Show + Tell bar on Aug. 14. Bon Appétit said they hope to provide healthier food options to students with food allergies. Below is a salad created at the make-your-own salad bar.
Commitment to Community Taylor said the University knew all seven of the compa nies in the proposal process had good food and great cus tomer service, but was inter ested in learning how the new dining service would create a culture that would support the community at Pepperdine. “They [Bon Appétit] know how much food plays a part in the development of communi ty and our ability to share our stories and to break bread and sometimes that breaks down barriers as we’re having con versations over a meal,” Taylor said.Pepperdine and Bon Appé tit both value commitment to the community, as well as to their employees Taylor said. Bon Appétit’s commitment to integrity and the list of kitch en principles they follow also stood out to Taylor.
MISSION STATEMENT USCONTACT
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August 29, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media A3
“It seems like [Bon Appé tit] made an intentional effort to have some sort of vegan op tion,” Rampton said. “The op tions that they do have, don’t feel like a side thought in the way that they would at So dexo.”Some students with dietary restrictions, like junior Made leine Zilligen, said they believe it is important to have a vari ety of foods especially for those with serious allergies or restric tions.“Food that you can eat that can make you feel good is so important, because having an upset stomach the entire class time, that has an impact on your academics, that has an im pact on your want to eat, that has an impact on your want to socialize,” Zilligen said. “So it is important that good food is provided — that is a basic hu manZilligen,need.”who is gluten sensi tive said Sodexo did have more options for her, but hopes Bon Appétit will have more variety as the year goes on. Students with allergies or restrictions have to be more cautious about the ingredients in the food. Barragán, who is gluten free and has a shellfish allergy, wants to see warning labels, especially because he said it is hard to know if there is cross-contamination.“Thosewithmore serious gluten allergies, like celiac, they might not be able to have most of the things in the Caf since a lot of the oils are used the same [and] a lot of the kitchen areas use flour,” Barragán said. Barragán said he hopes to see gluten free options in the grab-and-go section of the Caf and in Nature’s Edge as was true in the past years with So dexo. Both Zilligen and Bar ragán said they are sad to see the gluten free pizza crust is no longer an option.
“Pepperdine Graphic Media (PGM) is an editorially independent student news organization that focuses on Pepperdine University and the surrounding communities. PGM consists of the digital and print Graphic, a variety of special publications, GNews, Currents Magazine, social media platforms and an Advertising Department. These platforms serve the community with news, opinion, contemporary information and a public forum for discussion. PGM strengthens stu dents for purpose, service and leadership by developing their skills in writing, editing and publi cation 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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Tanya Yarian News Assistant tanya.yarian@pepperdine.edu
Sammie Wuensche Assistant Photo Editor
Bon Appétit, Pepperdine’s new dining service, officially arrived on campus Aug. 1. As students return to campus for the new semester, so do their reviews on the quality of the new dining service.
Students with Restrictions Navigate Options Taylor said Bon Appétit un derstands the importance of nourishment and wants to give an equal experience to those with dietary restrictions. Bon Appétit’s sustainability commitments are also import ant to Pepperdine. Taylor said the corporate level of Bon Ap pétit looks through sustainable options such as food insecurity. She said Bon Appétit also sep arates organic waste, and they are working with the Facilities and Waste Management De partments to solve the issue of pizza boxes not fitting in every trash can on campus. As resident advisors arrived on campus in early August, they were the first group of students to try Bon Appétit. Junior Ian Rampton said the food is shockingly better and is higher quality. Rampton, who has been a vegan for over a year and a half, said there are more vegan options.
Looking Ahead Bon Appétit recommended the idea of feedback forums on Pepperdine’s dining website, and they will work closely with SGA and representatives from the graduate schools to create a feedback forum of student representatives later in the se mester, Taylor said. While ev erything will not be perfect on the first day, Taylor said Bon Appétit is willing to learn from these experiences. “I really hope that what peo ple do is love the food because it’s great, there’s no question about that,” Taylor said. “I’m not concerned at all about the food, but know that as we go through this transition, help us understand where the oppor tunities for improvement are but continue to support Bon Appétit.”Asmore students arrive on campus, Taylor said her fear is what the lines will look like in the“MyCaf.worry is that the popu larity of Bon Appétit, because the food is so good, will mean that we have a lot more people coming into the differ ent food venues — which is the great est problem you could possibly have,” Taylor said. “And yet it will cause a problem be cause we have a limited area in the aactionsdiscoveredposalduringTaylorservery.”saidtheproprocessshe690transaremadeduringbusylunchtimeinthe
Bon Appétit also has graband-go options in the Light house along with boba. Taylor said they will also be bringing a deli with salad, sandwiches, hot food and sides of food in the Lighthouse. The Universi ty is collecting permits through Los Angeles County for con struction and plan to open the new deli at the end of the fall semester or after Christmas break, Taylor said. Zilligen said if the food is delicious and Bon Appétit can prove to be as adaptable as Pepperdine students are, she thinks Bon Appétit can contin ue as the University’s dining service for a long time. “They’ve got some yummy food, so that’s the way to col lege kids’ hearts,” Zilligen said.
Bon Appétit is looking at ways to improve efficiency and bal ance it with the speed of deliv ery. This includes a Grubhub pick up in the Caf so students do not have to wait in line and the additional staff at Star bucks in order to accommo date the long lines, Taylor said.
The proposal process to find a new dining partner began in 2019 as Sodexo’s contract was coming to an end, Chief Busi ness Officer Nicolle Taylor said. Taylor is proud of all the students, staff and faculty who worked with her in this process to find the best dining partner. “If you ever have those mo ments where you just find that thing that’s just right for you, that’s Bon Appétit for Pepper dine,” Taylor said. Bon Appétit designs cus tom menus for their partners, sources their food locally and cooks from scratch, according to Pepperdine Dining.
Bon Appétit brings new food, ideas to campus
Oh, the places we’ll go!
tz Roy in s and cold hike. After several miles trekking h ice and snow, the image of the k’s striking features was refreshing Assistant Photo Editor
August 29, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic MediaA4
Members of the sailing class hard at work on Lake Geneva. This GE course was an opportunity to learn a new skill and to explore the coasts of Switzerland and France. Mary Elisabeth | Staff Writer samantha.wuensche@pepperdine.edu mary.caulfield@pepperdine.edu
A country filled with cheese and chocolate, what more could a person want? When walking around Lausanne, not a shop in sight fails to carry these deli cacies along with the occasional cowbell and Swiss Army Knife. Lausanne is a part of the eastern third of Switzerland that speaks French and hous es the world headquarters of the Olympics. Every street you turn onto there are trams and taxis dashing to their next des tination, and everyday there are people wandering around just like us abroad students, seeking something new to explore. While away, it’s easy to for get that you’re there to study, and not just travel — and trust me, I forgot. Thankfully, the professors at the program made the classes and curriculum live ly and engaging, while still re maining on track in the short six weeks we had. One of the best parts of Lau sanne is the fact that Lake Ge neva is a 20-minute walk from Maison du Lac. Due to this and Lausanne’s warm sum mers, sailing is offered as a P.E. course. I was for tunate enough to set sail this summer along with eight other classmates, and let me tell you, what happened on that lake — will stay on that lake.There were days where some of us were sea sick, or simply thought we were going to fly off the boat and into the water. At the end of the day, all of us bonded through our fear and created so many memories that we will never forget. Despite some challenges we faced, we overcame them as a class and experienced something we may have not had the chance to if we hadn’t decided to take sailing, or even get out there and apply to go Betweenabroad.balancing time on Lake Geneva and weekend travel, going abroad is chaotic.
Sammie Wuensche Assistant Photo Editor
The beautiful cadences of the Spanish language surround me as I make my way to my daily 8 a.m., class. Although my commute is only seven short blocks, every turn greets me with fresh faces and inter actions.Ayoung mom struggles to keep her little boy and his much-too-big backpack moving as he pauses to wave at every passerby. 10 dogs of different breeds drag a 20-somethingyear-old as she starts her morn ing work as a dog walker. Sweet smells of coffee and mate reach my nose, and I think to myself, “This is Buenos Aires.” My time in Argentina was fast-paced, to say the least. Af ter my full-year program was canceled due to COVID-19 in my sophomore year, I was de termined to pack nine months’ worth of adventures into two. Between going to class, explor ing the city and spending time with my homestay madre, I was either in a different part of the country or traveling there. The first stop on my oncein-a-lifetime journey led me outside of the country to near by Uruguay. I traveled by boat for the first time in my life, and we spent the weekend in the quaint and historic town of Colonia del Sacramento. We explored the city, tried the Uruguayan delicacies, watched breathtaking sunsets and des perately attempted to find a taxi large enough to accommo date our group of ten. Next were the desert towns of Salta, Purmamarca, Tilcara and every BA-goer’s favor ite picture spot, Las Salinas Grandes — the Salt Flats. We spent these days driving through arid landscapes, sing ing karaoke at 2 a.m., in our hostel, passing around my in haler to survive hiking in high altitudes and stopping on the side of the road to greet the wildAsllamas.members of the Upper Division Spanish Program, the 11 other students and I swore to speak exclusively in Span ish for entire program, so we usually just traveled among ourselves. Our Educational Field Trip, however, was with the GE Program as well. Our group of around 50 students made the trip up to the Iguazu Falls, and it was truly an unfor gettableFlyingexperience.throughthe piercing ly cold falls felt like entering the gates of heaven as rainbows and circling birds abounded. The panoramic view of the falls will forever be engraved in my memory, and I look for ward to the day when I return with my family so they can also experience it. The last and most spe cial trip for me was down to the world-famous Patagonia mountains. As someone who owns 70% of the brand Pata gonia’s catalog, this journey felt like a personal right of We visited the city of El Cala fate, which is home to the unbeliev able Perito More no Glacier and Chaltén, home to Mount Fitz Roy. Because I love rocks and the history of climbing, hiking in the Patagonias was a Although some of us faced near-death experiences and others scraped our knees, mo ments like those made this fi nal trip the most memorable of Despite being delayed two years, my trip to Argentina was well worth the wait. I came into the trip with a couple of among this incredible country’s cities, deserts, water falls and Argentina,mountains.teamaré por siempre. “Swiss You Were Here” Mary Elisabeth Staff Writer
“Querida Argentina”
There were times where we attempted to cut a 20-minute walk into a five-minute run from the house to the train sta tion, hoping to make the last train — along with times where we had to sleep on the floor of the Geneva Airport until 4 a.m. to catch a However,flight.these are the times I’m most grateful for. These are the times my classmates and I bonded the most — run ning and laughing through the streets of Lausanne knowing that everything we were expe riencing, we were experienc ing together. We knew we were not alone in this process and through these small, but some times plan-changing hiccups, we were learning and growing together.Another great thing about Lausanne’s summer is the cit ies local fair. As we were about to take our finals and get ready to say goodbye to our new and short-lived home, the faculty gave us a night off. We walked down to the lakeside and acted like the kids we are — riding every attraction that creaked and shook, eating too much funnel cake and attempting to make every Swiss Franc count towards rigged games. Lausanne’s central location made it easy to see the rest of Europe. We could travel to nu merous countries in the blink of an eye, while not emptying our bank accounts. In addition, Switzerland is home to many natural beauties, along with arguably one of the best things you can do while away there — paragliding. Many were not originally set on the idea of jumping off a cliff and hoping they land safely, but Lausanne faculty told us from day one paragliding in Lauter brunnen is a must. Leaving my fear of heights on the mountain, I jumped and put all my tr ust in my guide and the tiny parachute attached to me. The whole experience hap pened a day before I had two major finals, and yet I felt at peace. I embraced every curve and every peak the mountains offered me. I simply was one with my surroundings, and I’m so glad to say my air forces have officially caught some air. As our time came to an end, and our last minute studying on midnight trains paid off, we began to embrace each moment for what it had to offer. At the end of our banquet dinner, when there were only goodbyes left to offer, we gathered around the fire pits and danced as oth ers played sweet melodies on their guitars. It felt like a scene from a movie, where everything and everyone was just perfect. We all were a family — one unit that has now experienced many highs and lows together. I’m so thankful for the people I met within and outside of the program, as this was not just a time to travel and tick off some GEs. It instead was a time to truly step out of my comfort zone and come home with a life greater than the one I originally landed in the Geneva Airport with.
The town of Riomaggiore is a part of Cinque Terre, Italy. In May, students were able to travel anywhere around Europe on the weekends of their study abroad program.
Sammie Wuensche| Assistant Photo Editor Abby Wilt| Managing Editor
“Stop and Smell the Pesto” Abby Wilt Managing Editor
“Home is 6,118 Miles Away” Yamillah Hurtado Copy Chief My hands were sweaty, my knees were weak and my mind was racing. I had just boarded my 10hour flight from my layover in Houston to Buenos Aires — the destination for my summer abroad — filled with an array of emotions. Although I was excit ed for this new adventure, I was consumed with anxiety and fear as I was taking this huge step into the unknown. Little did I know, this city — 6,118 miles away from every thing I’ve ever known — would become my home. Walking was my No.1 way of transport around the city. At first, I saw this as an annoy ance — as an Angeleno, walk ing somewhere has never been an option — but as my days in Buenos Aires went by, I learned to cherish it. My daily strolls to Casa Holden, to my homestay, to the laundromat or to a local café, would become my favorite parts of the day. With Buenos Aires being a major city, I was surprised to see trees. The way the light glis tened through the vibrant green leaves and the way the branch es of adjacent trees hugged each other was enamoring. The neighborhood of Belgrano, in which I spent the majority of my stay, was filled with houses of various architectural styles — each one unique and special in its own way. The streets of Belgrano were filled with fruit stands, flower shops, busy dog walkers and an abundance of people. All of which initially overwhelmed me, but soon became a sense of comfort and community. The people of Argentina are the most kind-hearted, hospi table and selfless people I have ever encountered. My madre — not my biological mother but the woman who provided me with my homestay — was the epitome of these characteristics. Being in a homestay made me incredibly nervous because I feared my broken Spanish would create a barrier between my madre and I. But, as time progressed, it felt as if this woman was someone who I had known my entire life. Our conversations during dinnertime, or as the Argen tines call it “sobremesa,” start ed out very brief, with awkward silences as my roommate and I glanced at each other, puzzled at what our madre was trying to tell us. But, as time passed, they turned into lively conversations where we exchanged life expe riences and lessons, laughed over chisme, or gossip, and sang along to the music played on the kitchen radio. Every meal, whether at my homestay or at a restaurant, was delicious. Never in my life have I eaten as much meat and bread as I did in Argentina. What made them even more special was they were intention al — shared with a beautiful community where stories were exchanged and time stood still. My time in Argentina in stilled in me a profound ap preciation for stillness. This was surprising to me because I know cities to be busy, loud and chaotic, and while Buenos Aires was all of these things, it also held many pockets of serenity andItrestoration.wasinthese moments of stillness I was able to recon nect with myself and my faith. Argentina is abundant with breathtaking landscapes and I was blessed enough to visit a couple — the Iguazu Falls in the province of Misiones, as well as the Andes Mountains and Salinas Grandes in the province of Jujuy. These places left me in awe. These magnificent sights of nature reminded me of God’s majesty. As I stood before them, I thought to myself, “The God that poured so much love and intention into creating these things, did the same in creating me.” Feeling his pres ence in these places brought me so much comfort and peace. My summer abroad in Ar gentina brought me so many gifts, and I am forever changed by this magical place. The coun try that once felt so daunting is now a place I call home.
Wuensche and friends form a pyramid at the Salt Flats in Northern Argentina on June 4. A guide led the group to explore the Flats and learn more about Argentina’s diverse ecosystems.
The most common question I get asked when I tell someone I studied abroad in Florence is, “How was the food?” so I will just start by saying yes, the food was amazing, and I would go back just to eat another plate of pasta.With that being said, there was more to my study abroad experience than just the fine dining. I made lifelong friends, got to experience a country I have always wanted to visit, hung out with locals and at tempted to learn a bit of Italian. My days in Florence start ed with Italian class, followed by Rel 301, which was more often than not some type of excursion into Flor ence to visit churches and cathedrals. For some reason I forgot that studying abroad actually did consist of schoolwork and classes, but thankfully I had professors abroad who loved their students and loved what they were teach ing.Weekday afternoons were perfect opportunities for us to explore Florence without a real agenda in mind. I would typi cally frequent coffee shops to hang out with friends and com plete homework, but sometimes we ventured deeper into Flor ence to visit museums, shops and restaurants.
Evenings in Florence were my favorite part of my week days there. The weather cooled down a little bit and we tried different restaurants just about every night. A few members of our group decided they want ed gelato every night we were there, so of course I jumped on thatWeopportunity.hadthree weekends to gether in Italy, so we used those to pack in as many trips as pos sible.The first weekend, we trav eled north via train and went to Cinque Terre, Italy, which end ed up being my favorite trip. We took a homemade pesto-mak ing class, went on a sunset boat tour to the five different parts of Cinque Terre and explored the quaint and small town we were staying in. We squeezed in Pisa on the way home from Cinque Terre and stopped at the Leaning Tower of Pisa — a sight I found entertaining as I watched visi tors try to line up their hands perfectly with the tower to act like they were pushing it back intoTheplace.next weekend, we went to Venice and Milan — both quick day trips to ride a gondo la and visit the famous mall in Milan.The last weekend, I met my mom in Rome and we got to see Pope Francis, visit Vatican City, go to the Colosseum, make a wish in the Trevi Fountain and see the Roman Forum. My time in Italy taught me how to slow down and embrace each moment for what it is. Things just seemed to take lon ger in Italy, whether it was at a restaurant or just simply going from point A to point B, but I learned to appreciate the slow pace and incorporate the les sons into my life at home.
Yamillah Hurtado | Copy Chief abby.wilt@pepperdine.edu Wilt and some of her fellow Florence program students spend a day exploring Venice in May. Wilt’s program took place in the summer when the weather was perfect for time spent outside.
August 29, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media A5
Abby Wilt | Managing Editor
yamillah.hurtado@pepperdine.edu
Graphic team members go abroad
Hurtado’s friends pose at a beach in Montevideo, Uruguay during the sunset May 28. The group took a trip to Argentina’s neighboring country by boat on the second weekend of the program.
“I can’t really even think of improvements,” Blake said. “What we have now like it’s just really widespread across campus to find gender neutral bathrooms. And that’s some thing that’s really important to be accessible to people.”
Editor’s note: To protect the identity of a source, the Graph ic has used the pseudonym John Doe. As per Graphic style, all sources are referred to with their preferred pronouns.
hous ing is a long-held Pepperdine policy, but the creation of gendered spaces on campus creates challenges for gen derqueer and trans students. Universities such as Occiden tal College and the University of Southern California have made efforts toward gender-in clusive housing and create a safe living space for LGBTQ+ students, according to their websites. Other universities in Southern California with gen der-inclusive housing include Loyola Marymount University and University of California Los“Everybody’sAngeles. different and I feel like that’s why trans-inclu sive housing is so difficult be cause there is no encompassing solution that will accommo date everyone equally,” Pep perdine junior John Doe said. “I really think that if someone has an issue that they would like to work out with housing, that administration should take every case as they are.”
Student Experiences at Pepperdine Doe, who identifies as a man, said he lived in a Sea side suite with six-randomly assigned women for the 202122 academic year. Doe said he did not request to be in hous ing with men because he has not yet changed his legal doc uments and originally planned to live Doeoff-campus.saidhismain concern was his roommates being un comfortable living with some one who identifies as a man, or a potentially harmful situation for“Ihim.would imagine, most fe male-identifying people that come to Pepperdine are going to expect to live with girls, and so suddenly, if they come into the room and some dude’s just there and he’s just like, ‘I live here,’” Doe said. “I don’t know how they feel about that. And on the off chance, I was afraid I would meet someone that would be very against it, and then there’d be some very awk ward conversations to be had with the RA.”
“I think it would be nice if there could be some option for people to be educated on LGBTQ identities,” Doe said. “Without it being turned into like a mockery of what it is.”
Gender-inclusive housing helps LGBTQ+ students
The University is open to feedback, including student ideas for new interest commu nities, wrote Skinner. “Once we create an interest community, we work to deter mine which space will house the community including which suites or floors,” Skin ner wrote. “We also partner with other departments who have expertise in that specific area. We select RAs who want to serve in those communities and work with them to develop a vision and programming for theExpertisecommunity.”ina specific area includes working with those who have lived in an interest community beforehand, Skin nerHousingwrote. and Residence Life offers four interest communi ties, and intends to add anoth er, Callings, which focuses on religion, for the 2022-23 aca demicTheyear.University of Southern California also utilizes interest communities, such as Rain bow Floor — an interest com munity offered to LGBTQ+ students. In addition to the interest community, the Uni versity also provides students with gender-inclusive housing to encourage a “safe and sup portive environment,” accord ing to USC’s website. The LGBTQ+ Student Center at USC helps provide support, education, advocacy and community for students, according to USC’s website. USC’s LGBTQ+ Student Center did not respond to re quest for comment. Doe said he would like Pep perdine to pursue healthy, re alistic solutions and education — not just using a label, but putting in research and effort.
Samantha Torre News Editor
Pepperdine’s Lovernich Residential Complex is one of the three apartment-style housing options the University offers. While residents may live on the same floor as someone who identifies with a different gender, rooms are separated based on assigned sex at birth.
“You have to acknowledge that there are students that don’t fit into the binary that are attending institutions,” Blake said. “If you’re simply going to designate them into boys and girls, there’s going to be people in the middle of that in uncom fortable, awkward situations if you don’t provide a healthy space for them to exist and be themselves.”WhileBlake said they lived with male roommates as a firstyear, most of the upper-level housing at Occidental is gen der-inclusive — where students can room with each other re gardless of gender. Options for gender-inclu sive housing are included in his housing application, Blake said. When they select a room, information regarding whether it is within a gender-inclusive residence hall automatically appears.“That has kind of just been largely a part of the social cul ture here at Oxy [Occidental] for me, and, like from day one of orientation, we always said our pronouns along with our name,” Blake said. While Blake is still denot ed with their given name in their school’s official records, they said they can change their Google accounts to reflect their preferred name and pronouns.
August 29, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic MediaA6
Senior Hee Joo Rho, Graph ic staff artist, said they live in Lovernich.“Onmy documents I’m a female and because of that my options are other AFABS, and I only room with people who are AFABS because we have it [housing] divided by two bina ry genders in this university,” RhoThesaid.organization Cross roads, providing support and a safe space for LGBTQ+ stu dents and allies, allowed Rho to meet their current room mate over Zoom. As Cross roads’ Marketing Officer, Rho said the organization does not have an official way to match roommates, but members get to know one another through socialization.“Ididn’treally think about their gender, but we are both nonbinary,” Rho said. “I guess I tend to not prefer random roommates because you don’t really know who you’re gonna get, and because I’m gay and nonbinary, it’s just very im portant to me that, like they aren’t homophobic or anything likeTheirthat.” first year, Rho said they used Facebook groups to find roommates rather than the matching system the Universi ty offers, where students insert preferences such as when they go to sleep or level of organi zation.“Ithink every gay person go ing to Pepperdine goes through this, ‘Oh, no, I’m going to Pep perdine, I need to find gay peo ple,’” Rho Findingsaid.a gender-affirm ing safe space is pivotal for Rho’s mental well-being, Rho said. While Rho said they do not speak for everyone in the LGBTQ+ community, their gender identity and sexual ori entation play a large part in who they are. “To have to be in a place that is not affirming, it makes you feel not accepted,” Rho said. “And it sounds a little cliché, but it does have a lot of impact on self-esteem and oth er things, and it makes you feel more isolated from your peers.”
Other resources include a transgender resource page on Occidental’s website, a list of gender-inclusive restrooms and study abroad information.
A lot of encouragement to speak up has come from fac ulty at Pepperdine, Doe said.
“Sometimes you’ll find signs over the toilet that say, ‘Aim straight, you’re not the only one using it,’” Blake said, “So those are the issues, those are the small things that arise out of co-ed spaces. And I think that’s a minuscule problem compared to someone not feel ing comfortable in their own living space, so I’m willing to put up with it.”
Occidental Gender-NeutralOffersHousing Day Blake, a senior at Oc cidental College, identifies as nonbinary and lives in Haines Hall, one of Occidental Col lege’s gender-inclusive housing options.Occidental College, a pri vate liberal arts college in Los Angeles, was originally Presby terian, before becoming non sectarian in the early 1900s. As of fall 2020, the university boasted an undergraduate en rollment of 1,839 students, according to U.S. News and World Report. Conversely, as of fall 2020 Pepperdine had 3,459 undergraduate students enrolled, according to U.S. News and World Report.
“The other thing that’s real ly hard is if I refer to my suite mates or roommate, I have to be very careful about how I talk about my suitemates because I don’t want to have to explain myself,” Doe said.
LMU and Occidental both have maps of all-gender bath rooms.UCLA also has an interac tive map available that shows usable gender-neutral re strooms.Knowing there are resources available to them has allowed Blake to embrace their identity without restraint, they said. While some people com plain about all-gender housing, Blake said these complaints do not outweigh the benefits.
While Pepperdine Universi ty allows students who identify as different genders to live on the same floor in upper-level residence halls, shared rooms and apartments are restricted to members who were assigned the same sex at Gender-restrictedbirth.
Alexander Payne | TikTok
While Doe said the RAs have been supportive, it is hard to ask for assistance, especially with delicate topics.
The University takes an in dividual approach to each stu dent’s living situation, wrote Brittany Skinner, assistant dean of Student Affairs and di rector of Student Activities in an April 16 email to the Graph ic. The individual approach al lows the University to find the accommodation that best suits the student’s needs. “As a department and uni versity, our approach to serv ing our students begins from a place of care and love for each person,” Skinner wrote. “We want all of our students, in cluding those who identify as transgender, to feel welcomed and supported by our commu nity.”
Interest Communities
alex.payne@pepperdine.eduProducer
Alexander Payne TikTok Producer sam.torre@pepperdine.edu
FSL Leaders Work Toward Diversity
Philanthropy Events
Alpha Phi holds diversity training sessions and have in vited members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated an intercollegiate, historically Black sorority, to share their personal experiences coming to Pepperdine with Alpha Phi members. The chapter wishes to educate their members and foster ways to be a positive force in society, Cunningham said.“It breaks my heart to think that people can be com ing from the South and have a negative connotation with Alpha Phi and associate that with Alpha Phi at Pepperdine,” Cunningham said. “We do not condone any actions like rac ism, anti-LGBTQ nature; and we don’t share those feelings. But, when you’re a part of an international system, it’s some thing that comes.”
“Youleaders.dofeel like you belong, but it’s not in a cookie cutter atmosphere,” Fontes said. “Which I think is what you need to grow as a person and even intellectually.”
Pepperdine’s FSL challenges stereotypes
Pepperdine Prohibits Hazing and Binge Drinking
Schoeller said Psi U holds nine alcohol abuse workshops with speakers throughout the year.“You would think that when going to join a fraternity there’s rumors about how they make you finish a 12-pack of beer in five minutes,” first-year Psi U William Yeo said. “But anoth er thing I love about Psi Up silon is that you basically sign up and build brotherhood and thatAnotherbond.” leading cause of binge drinking happens be cause “leaders of fraternities and sororities are upperclass men who are still young people themselves,” implying the lead ers let many incidents slide, reported the Addiction Cen ter. However, fraternity and sorority student leaders said accountability is a priority for them.
“We have a more rigid and rigidly defined penal system in regard to Pepperdine and our community standards and by law,” McIlroy said.
“With Yik Yak being so pop ular now and so prevalent, there can be false accusations,” Schoeller said. “There’s no real way for us as an organization to investigate these claims, but we’re very conscious and aware of problems in Greek life.” Sig Ep instills the Balanced Man Program on the national and chapter level at Pepper dine, which helps members within the fraternity create a sound mind, body and spirit.
Members of the Psi Upsilon chapter pose for a photo on main campus after their philanthropy event, Psi U Think You Can Dance in March. The fraternity raised over $14,000 to raise awareness for spinal cord paralysis.
At Pepperdine, there is a constant push to break away from these negative stigmas and highlight how fraternity and sorority members come together to serve the commu nity.“Pepperdine does a real ly great job at fostering com munity,” Williams said. “They make sure it’s more of a loving environment than anything else.”CASA is Theta’s philanthro py, which helps support chil dren in foster care. They held their philanthropy event, Kat at Bat, a softball tournament, which raised over $2,000.
with members who are of Afri can American descent. Coming from the state of Georgia, Deslyn Williams, an active member of Alpha Phi and a sophomore, said she originally didn’t want to join a sorority, as she knew that fra ternity and sorority life in the south is very intense, where in some cases girls are dropped over race and having certain body types. Williams identifies as African American and is also a first generation American.
At Pepperdine, FSL lead ers said seeking out the “per fect” body and finding the ide al woman was not what they looked for in the recruitment process.“It’s not just how you look, but personality, interests and opinions,” Theta President Paige Fontes said. Theta ended their legacy rule, which was the preferen tial treatment given to legacies during the recruitment process, according to a 2020 statement made by the sorority at their international level. This means that there will no longer be an automatic invitation following the first round of recruitment or an automatic placement on the chapter’s bid list for stu dents whose family members were in the sorority. “With Theta we look for a woman as a whole representa tion and not just if they didn’t have an additional credit,” Fontes said. “It’s about the encompassing of a woman and not just different aspects. Looks are especially not cared for.”Theta’s tagline at Pepper dine is “leading women.” Fon tes said they recruit women based on their own leadership potential and value building fu ture
Pepperdine’s Alpha Phi fo cuses on their international values of leadership, commu nity and heart health. Com munity service is important to the chapter to help them grow as individuals and they plan on hosting a feminine products drive/used clothing drive for numerous communities in the Los Angeles area. Alpha Phi held their March philanthropy event, Alpha Phi fa, where all active chapters of FSL organizations at Pepper dine joined the promotion of heartYeohealth.saidPsi U strives to up hold their service to the com munity.“We want it to be a service fraternity where we provide for the community,” Yeo said. “That’s what motivates and fu els us to be the golden frater nity.”
Yeo said Psi U exceeded his expectations when he joined a fraternity regarding their diver sity and inclusion within the fraternity.Ethan Pettengill, active member of Sig Ep and firstyear, said he was nervous when joining a fraternity, as he comes from the south. However, he said Sig Ep has continued to surpass any judgments going into“I’vePepperdine.metlifelong brothers and people that I would trust with my life now,” Pettengill said. Sororities Tackle Body Image Issues Sororities can also breed self-esteem and body image issues, according to the Addic tionTheCenter.Addiction Center sur vey found that “parents of sorority members were three times more likely to worry about their daughter’s body image and self-esteem than parents of women students outside of the Greek system.”
Hazing. Binge Drinking. Racism. Unhealthy body image standards.Theseare the most common negative stigmas individuals associate with fraternities and sororities.Pepperdine fratenity and so rority leaders said they are im plementing new rules to hold members accountable — lead ing by example and emphasiz ing philanthropies over parties to dissociate from these nation al stereotypes.“Obviously fraternities have faced their fair share of con troversies and the stigma,” said William McIlroy, Sigma Phi Epsilon’s president. “We try our best to be upstanding members of the community that are seeking self-improve ment. It’s not about partying, but about being a better ver sion of yourself and being a member of a community.”
In 2021, Alpha Phi at Ole Miss tweeted a photo of their diversity, equity and inclusion team that contained all white members, according to the DailyAlsoMississippian.in2021,racist texts in a group message led to the termination of the president of Alpha Phi at University of Ala bama, according to The Crim sonThisWhite.sparked controversy and conversation on how so rorities need to be more inclu sive in their recruiting process nationwide.“Thereis a discrepancy be tween minority groups,” Alpha Phi’s President Taylor Cun ningham said. “Alpha Phi truly has a place for everyone at Pep perdine, it has a place for every culture, ethnicity, and that’s something we look at highlight ing more going forward in our chapters and saidCunningham,recruitment.”whoiswhite,sheisprivilegedtowork
Sasha Brenden, active mem ber of Kappa Alpha Theta and a sophomore, touched on her experiences joining the soror ity.“I’m not blond, I’m Mid dle Eastern,” Brenden said. “I’m not the ideal vision of a typical Southern girl in Greek Life would be. So it’s been nice at Pepperdine because I don’t think they judge anyone on their physical appearance.”
Over the past 21 years, 100 people have died from hazing, according to CBS reporting. Seven of these deaths occurred in 2017, which was the deadli est year to join a fraternity. Four out of five fraterni ty and sorority members are binge drinkers in the US com pared to the two out of five for general college students in the U.S., according to a 1997 Har vard University study. Reasons for binge drinking can include group living, initiation rituals, hazing and self-esteem issues that turn into body issues, ac cording to the Addiction Cen ter.However, Pepperdine holds its fraternity and sorority chap ters to a higher standard, said Doug Hurley, associate dean of Student“ThereAffairs.arethree main pil lars that make us different,” Hurley said. “Our Christian identity, requirement of a dry process and lack of having houses.”Hurley said past students said they appreciated not hav ing fraternity and sorority houses as they were forced to build community outside of their chapter. Members of Pep perdine’s fraternity and sorori ty organizations also expressed gratitude for the dry-pledge process, as it helped them fo cus on life and academics first, without alcohol interfering. “Our pledge process is much more about bonding,” Psi Upsilon’s President Chris tof Schoeller said. “It’s not fin ishing a keg or whatever they do in big state schools.”
A7
Franterity and Sorority Leaders Hold Members Accountable Chapters like Psi U and Sig Ep strive to hold their chap ters accountable through ju dicial boards, where they en sure members are living up to Pepperdine’s standards and addressing alcohol violations, sexual misconduct or other im proper behaviors. Psi U initiat ed a feedback form that allows the public to submit comments about the chapter, whether they are positive or negative.
August 29, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media
Pboto courtesy of Pepperdine’s Psi Upsilon Chapter
“I haven’t seen them lie about inclusivity yet,” Yeo said. “At every event, whether it be how old you are, your interests, they make sure to include any one in whatever they’re doing.”
Mary Elisabeth Staff Writer mary.caufield@pepperdine.edu
“I knew that if I ended up staying in Georgia for college, I was not going to join a so rority,” Williams said. “I think the biggest difference that I noticed with my experience is that the process reflected Pep perdine’s culture. It’s more of a community that supports one another rather than joining for the name or social hierarchy.”
Yeo, who identifies as Asian American, said he also valued inclusivity in his pledge process with Psi U.
Three-hundred sixty veter ans, 194 military family mem bers, one active duty military member and seven cadets par ticipating in the Reserve Of ficers’ Training Corps attend Pepperdine’s five schools. Since 2006, the Ahmanson Foundation has given Pepper dine funding to assist with re cruiting, retention and educa tion costs for student veterans, Leshinsky said. This funding has helped 20 to 25 students annually to finish their degrees after running out of education benefits from the military. Initially, only Seaver College, Graziadio Business School and a branch of the Caruso School of Law called the Veterans Law Society had groups for the mil itary-connected.“TheVeteran Legal Society actually is focused just on the law students — not on the ma jority of the students at the law school who are in their Dispute Resolution Program,” Lesh insky said. “Even that group wasn’t inclusive, so whatever events, activities, professional development, they did was a close, small Leshinskygroup.”saiddespite well over 100 military-connected students — including spous es, children and other family members of active duty mem bers or veterans — Pepperdine did not offer resources or sup port at the University. “That’s problematic, espe cially when you’re trying to build community,” Leshin sky said. “What I heard also from the [Graziadio] Business School reps when I first got here, they were like, ‘Some thing needs to change, be cause I’ve been here a couple of years, it’s a shame that I’m about ready to graduate from Pepperdine and I’ve been at Pepperdine for two years and I don’t know another veteran in another school. I don’t even know a Evenname.’”without a formal re source center for veterans, Leshinsky said the initiatives and events Pepperdine had did not provide what students said they needed — a committee of advocates.“When they would have a veterans dinner or something, it was a one time event,” Lesh insky said. “Nobody’s really sharing stories, sharing suc cesses and challenges and building relationships, which is what it’s all about, and I love that. So when I heard that, I said, ‘How do we fix it?’ And they [students] are like, ‘We need to have a student veteran org across the campus.’”
Leshinsky referenced places like California State University, Northridge, California Luther an University and University of California schools as exam ples of universities with veteran programs with varying levels of funding and space. Leshinsky said he visited Cal Lutheran and saw a veteran center where military-connected students could find resources, events, professional assistance and to talk with non-military students about the Beyondmilitary.acenter being a practical space for mili tary-connected students, it would also be a symbol of ap preciation and honor for them, Leshinsky said. In his experience, Leshinsky said people adapt to society differently after being in the military. With a dedicated cen ter for the military-connected, people could find resources fit for whatever phase of life they are in.
Members of PeppVet gather at the Ronald Reagan Library on April 9. Graduating members of PeppVet at tended a private event at the library to tour the site and join as a community before leaving Pepperdine.
Pepperdine Before PeppVet
Jones said the communi ty in the military is tight-knit where everyone communicates in ways only the military-con nected understand. “I was in the Navy, I was on a ship,” Jones said. “We were always around each other and being pulled out of that com munity and going into a college program, it can be a little bit of a culture shock. You just lose out on so much of that camara derie, and your life experienc es can be quite different from yourHavingpeers.”the council, along with people like Leshinsky to answer military-connected stu dents’ questions, makes Jones feel seen and heard, she said. “It’s helpful as far as letting veterans know they aren’t alone and that there are resources for them in helping reestablish that community,” Jones said. Being a veteran himself, Leshinsky said he knows firsthand what it feels like entering life after the military — and the struggles that come with it. Many veterans are older than the average college student, and some have spouses, chil dren, full-time jobs and mental and physical disabilities, Lesh insky said.
Steps to Improve Veterans Programs
August 29, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic MediaA8
DEI Editor liza.esquibias@pepperdine.edu
StudentsMilitary-ConnectedFaceChallenges
Photo courtesy of Eric Leshinsky
Pepperdine’s military-con nected are in need of one major thing, Leshinsky said — a vet eran resource center. “A lot of public and private schools around the nation have directors of student veteran af fairs and have veteran resource centers and have organic peer counselors, support benefits, support staff,” Leshinsky said. “Pepperdine never had that.”
Leshinsky said he is confi dent the University will contin ue to invest in the support of the military-connected at Pep perdine.The PeppVet organization has also created a community among students from all five of Pepperdine’s schools, Leshin skyTheresaid. is a council of stu dents from each school that come together to advocate for what PeppVet needs. The first council wanted recognition at commencement ceremonies, and at the class of 2022’s com mencement, all military-con nected students had a cord. “I thought, how cool would it be for a student — a traditional student — to turn and see a red, white and blue cord and be able to say, ‘Thank you for your service,’” Leshinsky said. Leshinsky said he also creat ed a monthly email newsletter that shares upcoming events and initiatives for the mili tary-connected.Thesecond, and current, council joined a chapter of the Student Veterans of Amer ica. Samantha Jones, a Seaver graduate, JD and MBA candi date at the Graziadio Business School and PeppVet council senior vice president, said this group built a foundation of be longing for veterans at Pepper dine.“There’s a larger veterans club called Student Veterans of America, and we weren’t affili ated with that until this [20212022] school year,” Jones said. “Before that it was just a small [veterans club at each campus — like there was one at Seaver, one for [The School of] Pub lic Policy, one at the law school — and there was no interac tion between those groups, no mentorship or official mentor ships.”With SVA, military-con nected students at Pepperdine can interact across schools. Jones and Leshinsky said this keeps the feeling of a military community many miss alive. “We [veterans] are all in these little silos, but we’re bet ter together,” Leshinsky said. “With lessons learned and our challenges — some challenges are unique but most challenges are fairly shared well. So that’s where it’s great that those com munication channels have im proved.”Jones said as a student vet eran, she sees Leshinsky and PeppVet as invaluable. “Eric Leshinsky has just been incredible as far as estab lishing that position and being kind of a center point for us to go to if we have any problem at all,” Jones said.
Pepp creates a one-stop-shop for student veterans Liza Esquibias
In fewer than two years, student veteran organization PeppVet has become a “onestop-shop” for student veterans to find a community and safe space at Pepperdine, Director of Veterans Affairs Eric Lesh insky said. In spring 2023, the current funding for PeppVet will come to an end, but Lesh insky said he is exploring the many other options that exist to ensure military-connected students will continue to have an on-campus community.
The purpose of PeppVet is to give all military-connected students an experience they lacked at Pepperdine — a “chair at the table” and a point person to assist their unique experiences, Leshinsky said. When he began his job in July 2020, Leshinsky said he want ed to cultivate a space that provided a sense of belonging and important resources to military-connected students at Pepperdine.“Theyhad a service identity — they’ve lost that,” Leshinsky said. “They were a sergeant or lieutenant or captain, and then, when they come out as a veter an, they don’t have that securi ty blanket anymore. Certainly, they have a sense of pride in prior service, but that loss of identity, that community that they had as a service member, is taken away from them.”
Origins of PeppVet When Leshinsky began re searching Pepperdine’s veteran support programs when apply ing for a position in 2020, he noticed the website had thor ough information on many things — but lacked a veteran resource page. “I was not looking just as a prospective employee, but I was also looking through it with the lens of a prospective veteran coming to Pepperdine, and why should I come to Pep perdine and will I find a home and a sense of belonging at Pepperdine,” Leshinksy said. During the 2020-21 aca demic year, when Leshinsky began working at Pepperdine, he said he created a website for military-connected incoming and enrolled students to look to for PeppVetinformation.and Leshinsky’s position is funded through the Anschutz Foundation, but there is a possibility that fund ing will no longer exist for the program after the spring 2023 semester. Leshinsky said Pep perdine and PeppVet are ex ploring other potential options to keep the organization run ning.Leshinsky said he knows Pepperdine cares for its mili tary-connected students, but there is still more to be done. “Service is part of the DNA of Pepperdine,” Leshinsky said. After helping with fund raising efforts and bringing in some of the fundraising on his own, Leshinsky said PeppVet gathered over $60,000 for stu dent veterans, such as helping facilitate three students’ studyabroad expenses, hold events, buy supplies and numerous student stipends. The Univer sity has also invested over $3 million per year to pay the tu ition of eligible military-con nected members of the Yellow Ribbon Program. “You show people you care for them in different ways — it’s how you spend your time and treasure,” Leshinsky said. “I think being able to spend some time focusing on veterans and making sure they feel like they’re part of the Pepperdine fabric is something Pepper dine is committed to. But then treasure, you’ve got to be able to put some money to that to make sure it happens.”
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Afresh start can be intimidating, but also exciting. Each semes ter, the Graphic assigns new and returning staff members to their positions. This gives us the opportunity to grow in different areas, but also to answer your needs better through a diverse staff with unique experiences, perspectives and skill sets. The Graphic is a place where we aim to inform our readers on student life, events on campus, breaking news and give a look into the inner-workings of the University you might not be able to dig into without our help. We want to welcome you back to campus with a commitment from us to you to stand strong in our values. We value integrity, transparency, honesty, consistency and growth. Our hope is that our work accurately rep resents our readers, and in an effort to strengthen our values, the Graphic is dedicated to paying attention to detail. With the start of a new school year, we are all settling into a routine, forming new goals and adapting to the changes that come with college life. As a staff, the Graphic has goals of our own — some we know we can accomplish and some we hope we can accomplish.First,this semester, we will continue to build trust with our readers. We aim to include the voices of diverse sources in our stories and cover a wide array of events taking place on campus. We will publish balanced and fair opinion piec es and write about issues that impact you as members of the community.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
Vivian Hsia Art
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The Graphic pepperdine-graphic.comAugust 29, 2022 PERSPECTIVES Staff
- Paul Bost (Seaver ‘02)
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 en dorsement. This space is provided to allow public response and commen tary on articles and issues that are covered by the Graphic and import ant to its readership. I am glad that Pepperdine un derstands the value of its tradi tions and rituals. A few immedi ately come to mind — Songfest, the midnight scream (does that still happen?), painting the rock and, more solemnly, the 9/11 flag tribute (a touching annual event that arose after my time at Seaver). These events and expe riences connect generations of Seaver students and sometimes host treasured memories. The best of these traditions naturally develop out of the student expe rience and, likewise, are naturally passed down from class to class. Administrative meddling in tradi tion, on the other hand, can result in forced (e.g., “We Will Climb,” the new alma mater) or self-con scious (e.g., Pepperdine’s mul tiple iterations of wave mascots) attempts at culture-making. For these reasons, I’m skepti cal that the best way to support Pepperdine’s existing traditions is a top-down approach, much less one overseen by Dunne, an individual with little-to-no ties to Pepperdine. With all due respect to Dunne, his initial contribution to Pepperdine’s traditions — the aforementioned alma mater — provides little reason to believe that he will tap existing traditions as opposed to imposing new ones. To be fair, this is not Dunne’s fault — he was asked to write a song, and he did so consistent with his oeuvre. Instead, in select ing an alma mater, Pepperdine could have begun by examining its existing songbook. Why not “Let There Be Peace on Earth,” as traditionally sung at the end of Songfest? Or, in recognition of the University’s Church of Christ heritage, a hymn like “Our God, He is Alive,” or another song that could spontaneously be sung a cappella by a gathering of stu dents? Likewise, attention should have been paid to the nature of an alma mater, which derives most of its emotional power from the mere fact that it is shared and sung together over time, not its arrangement — including swelling strings — or even its aspirational lyrics.In fostering its traditions, I hope the administration and Dunne perpetuate and honor what is and has been present at Pepperdine instead of rebranding existing rituals or attempting to create new ones.
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Pepperdine’s hiring of Jimmy Dunne as University Director of Traditions
THE PGM STAFF
Editor A10 Managing Editor Abby Wilt Digital Editor Christina Buravtsova Copy Chief Yamillah Hurtado Lead Designer Haley Hoidal Advertising, Business Director Sahej Bhasin Head Podcast Producer Joe Allgood Pixel Editor Addie Whiten Photo Editor Lucian Himes Art Editor Vivian Hsia News Editor Samantha Torre Life & Arts Editor Beth Gonzales Sports Editor Jerry Jiang Perspectives Editor Lydia duPerier Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Editor Liza Esquibias Special Edition Editor Ali Levens GNews Producer Gabrielle Salgado Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Assistant Editor Hope Lockwood News Assistant Editor Anezka Liskova News Assistant Tanya Yarian News Staff Writers Mary Caulfield Fiona Creadon Terra VictoriaHernandezLaFerla Abroad Correspondents Melissa Auchard GraesonHunterClaunchDunn Perspectives Staff Writer Joshua Evans Life & Arts Assistant Editor Emily Chase Life & Arts Assistants Audrey Geib Lauren Goldblum Life & Arts Staff Writers Milena LaurenTimD’AndreaGayGoldblumKaelaHockmanEmmaIbarraJackieLopez Assistant Sports Editor Alec Matulka Sports Staff Writer Jaan Jafri Life & Arts Copy Editor Aubrey Hirsch Staff Writer Nathaniel Alpern Assistant Photo Editors Brandon SamanthaRubsamenWuensche Staff Photographers MaryChloeCaulfieldChanStellaZhu Staff Artists Autumn Hardwick Hee Joo Roh Amber Eunji Shin Design Assistants Sarah Berman Will Fallmer SkylerSydneyHawkinsJirsaDenaePitts Podcast Producer Abby Brown GNews Crew Landry Hendrick Advertising Assistants Stuti Aahana Mary Karapetyan Social Media Assistant Chloe Chung Enya ChristabelBellaEmilyDincaKangMullinTanu TikTok Producer Alex Payne
Joe Allgood Head Podcast
| Art Editor
Roh | Staff
A
First and foremost, haircuts are not cheap. A full makeover can be anywhere from $150 to $300, according to my opposition. The more you change —specialty cuts, highlights, low lights, tinting, dying, etc — the more it ends up costing you.
ProducerAugust 29, 2022 | PERSPECTIVES | Pepperdine Graphic Media A11
Lydia duPerier Perspectives Editor
The high price tag may seem worth it in the moment, but ultimately, your first day back just ends up being a pretty typical day of classes and routine. It is hardly worth a full makeover.
lydia.duperier@pepperdine.edu
Lydia
duPerier Perspectives Editor
While I love my hair, I do not believe that a haircut is necessary for the back-to-school experience. Now, I will admit — I haven’t had a full haircut in two years. This may make me sound a little biased, but hear me out. Changing your hairstyle can be a good way to get a break from routine or try something new — but it’s not a guarantee, and the start of school is not necessarily the best time to do that.
fresh new trim, bright highlights and some hair tinsel is the perfect recipe for my first-day-of-school new “do.” Every year for as long as I can remember, I’ve gotten my hair done the week before school started. For me, it’s just as important as a dentist visit or a doctor’s appointment. The feeling of a head full of healthy locks free of split ends and freshly done highlights is just the confidence boost I need to enter a new school year. I don’t just love back-to-school haircuts for myself, but I like to see them on other people. I love walking into class and seeing some one who traded their long curls for a buzz cut or someone who decided to add some pink to their hair. I think back-to-school haircuts are the perfect way to introduce a new you to a new school year. Not only are they a perfect way to “rebrand” for the school year — they are also practical.There’s a reason salons give “Back-toSchool” discounts — it’s because right before school starts is the best time to get a haircut. There’s no classes or homework to worry about, so there’s plenty of time to hit the salon.All in all I think a haircut or new “do” should be a part of everyone’s routine to pre pare for going back to school.
joe.allgood@pepperdine.edu
Joe Allgood and Lydia duPerier show off their hair. The two have opposing views on back-to-school haircuts.
Vivian Hsia
Rave
In the photo illustration
There are a few main media outlets that are known to lean toward one view point more than another. For example, Fox News is primarily known to target a politically right audience while CNN aims for the left, according to the 2022 Media Bias Chart. While there is not anything necessarily wrong with this, it is beneficial for both audiences to hear what both networks have to say on a topic and understand what facts neither is reporting on. A few unbiased news sources are The Associated Press, Wall Street Journal andWhileBBC.it’s important to consume news from diverse sources, it is also a good idea to do your own research and fact check what you read or hear. Taking matters into your own hands by reading multiple articles or watching different news channels will be benefi cial to helping you consume balanced media. It will allow you to gather all the information and support you need to build your own perspective on a given topic.Journalists are here to provide stories to inform an audience. You are the one to decide which article to read and which news station to watch — so choose wisely!
It’s something that we all dread, the chair swivels around, you look in the mirror and you’re appalled by what you see. In this case, many of us just tell the hairdresser it looks good, but on the inside, we’re cringing.
Additionally, being back around your friends gives you the chance to get input on what the new changes should be. No one should have to go through a bad hair cut on the first day of school.
Back-to-schoolhaircuts
Balanced media: Important for all Are you consuming news in a healthyWithway?thethousands of differ ent news outlets for viewers to choose from, it is important to be sure you are getting your news in a balanced way. Journalistic balance is when a story’s content offers a wide range of voices and perspectives so a viewer can decide on their own how they feel about a topic, according to the Online News Association.Viewerscan encounter a balance in their media consumption when they take it upon themselves to get their news from various sources with diverse perspectives.Alljournalists should be presenting information to viewers in an unbiased way, but this is not always the case. A journal article titled, “Understanding news outlets’ audience-targeting pat terns,” says mass media often caters to certain biases in an attempt to expand their audience and change people’s opinions. Because of this, it is import ant to be aware of the biases opinions behind what you’re reading or watching. You can make sure you are consum ing news with a balanced approach in two ways. The first is something journalists can do, and the second is something you can do.
Hee Joo
As a student journalist, I believe the news media exists to simply gather information, fact check it and report it. This leaves room for the reader to decide how they feel on the subject. Truthful reporting is balanced re porting. Journalists as a whole could do a better job at making sure their report ing shows all angles of a story so readers have all the information needed to form an educated opinion. Whether it is news, culture or opin ion writing, journalists should give all perspectives of a story to provide read ers with a balanced version. What Audiences Can Do In a perfect world, all media would produce balanced news — but this is not always the case. If one news outlet does not give you all sides of the story, then go to a different one. Consuming your news from various outlets will allow for you to hear diverse opinions on a topic and provide you with a wider variety of facts and sources.
Sammie Wuensche
Rant
| Assistant Photo Editor
The biggest reason not to get a back-toschool haircut is the possibility that you may not like the new “do.”
lydia.duperier@pepperdine.eduArtist
What Journalists Can Do Journalists are advised to follow the SPJ Code of Ethics, which says to “seek truth and report it.”
Vivian Hsia| Art Editor
liza.esquibias@pepperdine.edu
Growing up, adults often tell children: “Make up your mind, and stick to it.” Society paints adulthood as a time where people have it all together — where their lifestyle aligns with the plans they have for the future. This mindset prevents peo ple from living in the moment. The idea of being reliable and following through with plans or ideas are societally labeled as qualities conditional on not changing your mind. It is natural to have a change of heart — to live, learn and lean in a different direction. A decision one makes that they will not allow themself to alter is harmful for overall well-being, wrote psychologist James Collard for PsychCentral. People are not perfect. It is instinctual to change yourNeuroplasticitymind. is the brain’s ability to adapt after a new experience, according to a medically reviewed Very Well Mind article. This function is what enables humans to learn new things and develop new opin ions, so why not use it? Setting goals is a good way for people to grow, but the path to one goal might lead you to meet a differ ent one, and there is nothing wrong with that. There are endless pathways to reach a finish line. When someone changes their mind, sometimes it is because they learned a different perspective. All people should be able to admit wrong and see every side to a situation. The stereotype that changing your mind equates to weakness or unreliability, however, creates a mental roadblock for many people. Trust, strength and reliability are not built through a lack of broken promises, but honesty and transparency during the time when people change their minds. Consider this: Jeff Bezos changed his mind about his career before he pursued the creation of Amazon — a name he changed his mind about after initially calling it Cadabra. Imagine if he was never brave enough to make those changes. There is nothing shameful about realizing some thing new and going in a different direction, and while being stubborn can be beneficial at times, seeing a better option and changing your mind shows strength.Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries, INSEAD Distin guished Clinical Professor of Leadership Develop ment & Organizational Change, wrote people who are unwilling to change their minds are likely inse cure and have a mindset of extremes. These types of people usually see things as good or bad, but lack the skills to understand the gray area in between, Kets de VriesChangingwrote. your mind is not always about letting someone else down, but a fear of letting go of our ownChangingexpectations.your mind is not the same as being in decisive. Indecision stems from the inability to make a quick decision, whereas changing your mind comes with education and newfound understanding. It is empowering to change your mind. It should bring you joy and confidence. It shows growth and strengthens one’s ability to accept their own imper fections. It should not be looked down upon, but rather celebrated. It takes courage to change your mind, and every one should do it more often. So next time you find yourself hesitant to do so, remember that you are a different person than you were yesterday — and that is OK.
Vivian Hsia| Art Editor
Abby Wilt Managing Editor
Ever since I was little, I have loved going back to school. When most people my age would dread the start of the new semester, I was overly excited. I have never quite known why until recently — I just simply love getting back into a routine.While I do love summer, I typical ly have a lack of routine in summer. I jump from one thing to the next, without much structure to my life. I wouldn’t trade the experiences I have had over summer for anything, but by the end of August, I do crave a sched ule.I like knowing what each day holds, knowing who I am going to see and knowing what tasks I need to get done. While days throughout the school year vary, there is an overall structure I follow. I wake up, walk straight to my coffee maker, brew a cup of hot black coffee, typically read my Bible and take a little time to center my day before the hectic busy-ness begins. Then, I move on to getting ready — always with the TODAY Show play ing in the background. I started this routine during quarantine, and I don’t know if I will ever go back. My nighttime routine is still slack ing, but I do have high hopes for that one this year. I’d like to be one of those people who puts their phone away and reads at night, but unfortunately that has not become a consistent habit quite yet. It’s OK to have goals for your routines.Ihave a few weekly routines built into the schedule as well. Once a week, my friend and I will go to the ocean and take a swim — in and out, and then we leave. Every Tuesday morn ing, another friend and I will explore Malibu simply to get NewsWaves video footage, but it has turned into one of our favorite mornings of the week and one we always look forward to. My routines ground me, keep my days organized and give me something to get excited for. Even if I know a stressful day is ahead, if I have a good morning routine, I know I will have a good morning. I like the thought of planning out my week, knowing what each day holds and what commitments I will do — regardless of how my mood is. I like having activities and tasks to plan for and get excited for every day. To no surprise, routines are actually good for your health, too. They help you manage stress levels, use your time more effectively and help you stay dis ciplined to meet your goals, according to Northwestern Medicine. Some people may say to live sponta neously — live your life without a plan and learn to appreciate the go-withthe-flow — and I don’t disagree with that. As an enneagram seven, I love a spontaneous adventure, but only if I’ve already started the day with my morn ingSometimesroutine. routines don’t always go as planned. I might wake up late and not have time for my morning coffee, or be so tired at night that I fall asleep before even considering following a nighttime routine to wind down. I’ve realized these things happen, but I know I don’t feel nearly as centered and grounded when they do. Back-to-school season always gives me an opportunity to make new rou tines, as well. Routines are bound to change when I have new classes and new commitments to take on, but I am excited to see what new routines I start to create in those few hours to spare between classes or in the evenings when I have free time. Routines matter — not just for me but for anyone who wants to live a pro ductive, balanced and stress-free life. Routines can help center and ground your life, and you haven’t tried crafting up a new routine recently, I’d give it a try.
It’s OK to change your mind more often
Liza
Esquibias DEI Editor August 29, 2022 | PERSPECTIVES | Pepperdine Graphic MediaA12
Get back to the beauty of a routine abby.wilt@pepperdine.edu
“They are provided with the resources, information and tools to succeed academical ly, emotionally, spiritually and socially,” Minke wrote. Seaver College officially kicked off NSO after opening its doors for incoming international stu dents Aug. 22, and domestic students Aug. 23. However, some students, including those involved in Pepperdine athlet ics, made the move to campus before their peers at various times in the month of August. Along with other Pepper dine athletes, first-year track and cross country runner Spencer Mueller moved into on-campus housing before the official move-in date. Mueller said he is excited for NSO and to meet the other first-year stu dents, despite his expectation of a hectic week. To combat moving to col lege and the potential stress of meeting new people, current Seaver College students have the opportunity to volunteer as NSO leaders or coordinators to guide new students through the adjustment period. Minke wrote part of what makes NSO so memorable is the presence of the orientation leaders.“Truly, the reason why NSO is so special is because of our amazing Orientation Leaders,” Minke wrote. “Every year, stu dent volunteers come early to help move in the new students and invest their time and ener gy into the new Waves.” NSO leaders spent their time answering questions, giv ing directions and doing some heavy lifting to get each student settled into their new homes.
Brandon Rubsamen
audrey.geib@pepperdine.eduEditor
“With orange and blue T-shirts, these students take over campus and make NSO a memorable, joyful, fun and be loved campus tradition,” Min ke wrote. Sophomore NSO leader Allexa Larson said she volunteered for the role be cause of her fond memories from move-in last year. “I just want to give the fresh men as good of an experience that I had,” Larson said. As an out-of-state student, Larson said the NSO leaders helped her feel comfortable and at home despite being alone in a new state. “Coming from a state where there was literally no one else, all the NSO leaders helped so much with making it more of a home when being so far away from home,” Larson said. Larson said she aims to leave the same positive impact on other students that was left on “Iher.want to be able to be that guide, to be that friendly face for other people who may not know anyone,” Larson said. Throughout the week, the NSO events split the parents and the students to help ease the transition of moving away from home, Minke wrote. “Students and the parents gradually have separated events and activities to help students integrate into the community and for the parents to find com munity with other parents,” Mink wrote. NSO concluded Friday, Aug. 26, and included activities such as an Interna tional Programs presentation, Waves Expo — where students learn about how to get involved with campus life —and a Pres ident’s reception at the Brock House.
NSO is an integral part of Pep perdine life, Minke wrote in an Aug. 24 email to the Graphic. “NSO is an essential part of each student’s Pepperdine ex perience, as it is the first wel come to what it means to be a Pepperdine Wave,” Minke wrote.First-year Kayleigh Hall said she is eager to interact with her peers in their new home. “I’m excited to meet every one from different places and do all the activities and get to just learn more about Pepper dine as a whole,” Hall said. Minke wrote, NSO fosters community throughout ses sions and fun group activities, while also providing adequate resources for students to suc ceed in other facets of life.
Minke wrote while NSO is required for each new student and the impact it has on the community makes this tradi tion“Ispecial.most definitely believe that NSO is an important Pepperdine tradition,” Minke wrote. “NSO is the one tradi tion that every single Seaver student participates in. While it is required, each student has a special memory or moment that lives with them which makes NSO much more than a typical ‘requirement’.”
Student excitement builds as NSO begins
| Assistant Photo
NSO leaders gather with energy and excitment Aug. 23, as they await the arrival of the first-year class. The first-years had an exciting week filled with many activities, such as campus tours, pep rallies, introductions to academics and class bonding activities.
Brandon Rubsamen | Assistant Photo Editor Audrey Geib Life & Arts Assistant
TheGraphic pepperdine-graphic.comAugust 29, 2022 B1 L I F E & A R T S
As the new school year be gins, the Pepperdine commu nity welcomed new and re turning students to the Malibu campus.New Student Orientation is a five-day program that kickstarts the new school year and includes sessions for new students and their families to learn about Pepperdine. Director of Student Activ ities Danielle Minke coordi nated and planned this year’s NSO along with Brittany Skin ner, Associate Dean of Student Affairs and Administrative Coordinator Susan Bousman.
A group of NSO leaders on Lower Dorm Row greet incoming first-years Aug. 23 — move-in day. NSO was the start to the incoming first-year’s college experience.
5 Seconds of Summer performs at FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine on June 18. Stu dent Abby Jo Budiwarman said she enjoyed seeing the band very up close on tour.
Some students also went to music festivals this summer and witnessed multiple acts in one event. Sophomore Ava Campbell went to Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival in her hometown of Richardson, Texas and saw rock band headliner Neon Trees perform May 21. She said this festival brings the whole townCampbelltogether.listened to Neon Trees’ music regularly growing up because her mom was a huge fan of them. During their set, she enjoyed hearing the lead singer Tyler Glenn’s unique story about him writing his songs while in a dark place, coming out of that and then growing as a person. Campbell said coming back to con certs made it more powerful because now she realizes the value they hold. She said seeing her favorite songs per formed live makes the music more spe cial when she listens to it afterward.
New Latina sorority comes to Pepp
emily.chase@pepperdine.edu
There are 79 signatures and 79 supporters of the cause, however, it didn’t take off until now.Banda said she thinks it has taken so long to create this chapter as a result of intimida tion in a tight-knit community such as Pepperdine. However, she believes it will be worth it in the end when Latina women find their “Theresisters.arenot a lot of Lati nas on campus, so it can be in timidating creating a sorority, and sororities, in general, can be intimidating,” Banda said. “It’s scary, but it’s gonna be so worth it. It’s new, and new things can be scary sometimes, but good things come with a battle and this battle is almost won.”Banda and Gandara both said Lambda Theta Nu has funding and approval, both from the University. Their next step is to create an interest group so they can participate in official recruitment, and they are only in need of two more girls to make their sister hood an official club.
Junior Kim Banda, who is also of Mexican descent, is another founding member of Lambda Theta Nu. Banda said she would’ve benefited from an organization like this when she started college. “When I came to Pepperdine, I didn’t see any other girls like me on campus. It was a culture shock,” Banda said. “Having this sorority would be a way to be more relatable to everyone, I feel like diversity is such an essential part of a community.” Banda said she hopes this sorority will add a new per spective to Pepperdine and will be for women of different back grounds to come together and give back to the Pepperdine community.Philanthropy is a huge as pect of a sorority organization, and Lambda Theta Nu’s Ti jeras is the national philanthro py program. The goal of Tijeras is to increase access to educa tion and put a strong focus on Latinx literacy. The symbolism of Tijeras — scissors — is the two blades being held together by a pin. Blades signifying community service and academic excel lence and the pin being the sis terhood of Lambda Theta Nu. “The service events we mostly spoke of were tutoring at the Guadalupe Center in West Hills, as well as volun teering at local churches in the Latino community and simply offering our education and help,” Bandara said. “We were also considering hosting edu cational seminars for the Pep perdineThroughcommunity.”these seminars and events, Gandara and Ban da said they hope to grow the sorority. Banda hopes the new chapter becomes a network of connections and relationships to help other women succeed.
With summer coming to a close, stu dents reflect on breathtaking experienc es they had at concerts during the warm and sunny Studentsbreak.saytheir shows had capti vating visuals, cohesive set lists and en gaged audiences. While they said their venues had less COVID-19 restrictions than before, some students said they still practiced caution. “[Coming back] didn’t feel different because the process was the same be fore COVID, but [my sister and I] felt different because we were more con scious of the crowd,” student Abby Jo BudiwarmanBudiwarmansaid.went to see pop band 5 Seconds of Summer at FivePoint Am phitheatre in Irvine on June 18. The show was a part of the band’s Take My Hand World Tour which had been de layed two years due to COVID.
Photo Courtesy of Abby Jo Budiwarman
Emily Chase Life & Arts Assistant Editor
Timothy Gay Staff Writer
Lambda Theta Nu is an in ternational sorority founded in 1986 with a mission to in troduce opportunities for and support Latina women as they give back to their communities, according to the sorority’s na tionalSeniorwebsite.Paulina Gandara, who is of Mexican descent, is one of the founders of Lambda Theta Nu at Pepperdine and said she is passionate about bringing the sorority to cam pus. Gandara said she had the idea for a Latina sorority then found others to start the chap ter with her in May 2021. The intention behind the organiza tion is to have more Latina rep resentation on campus. “There aren’t a lot of mi norities on campus, so we just wanted the Latinas in our com munity to feel as if they have a place at Pepperdine,” Gandara said.At Pepperdine, 15% of the Seaver College student com munity is Hispanic or Latino, according to the 2020 Admis sions Fast Facts. Latinos and Latinas are those from or de scended from Latin American countries and communities.
Students reflect on summer concerts
Budiwarman said she first saw them perform live in 2014 when they opened up for former boy band One Direction. She said she loved watching how much they’ve grown and changed as artists since“[5then.Seconds of Summer] really stepped up their performance game,” Budiwarman said. “They have more of a stage presence than previously when I saw them a while ago.”
timothy.gay@pepperdine.edu
Vivian Hsia | Art Editor
Senior Tara Carrillo went to Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny’s show at the Hard Rock Stadium in Mi ami for his World’s Hottest Tour Aug. 12. Although she is from the Bay Area, Carrillo said she decided to go to the Miami show instead because she loves the reggaeton culture there. Carrillo noticed Bunny’s aesthetic vi suals on the screen, confetti and diverse backup dancers during his set. She said for Bunny to have guys and girls of dif ferent shapes and sizes on stage shows how much he advocates for diversity. “Not only were there great visuals and DJs, but he really interacts with his fans,” Carrillo said. “I could really see how much he cares about his fans, and how he is so passionate about what he does.”Other students said they learned to enjoy a concert even from farther back in the venue.
August 29, 2022 | LIFE AND ARTS | Pepperdine Graphic MediaB2
Beth Gonzales contributed to this reporting.
The new chapter is coming to fruition with the first discus sions of a Latina sorority start ing over three years ago with a petition titled, “Bring a Latina sorority to Pepperdine!”
Budiwarman also noticed the band did a mashup with a large portion of their setlist, which she’s never seen an artist do. She said she appreciated the transitions because they were able to fit more songs into their set.
“We hope it continues to grow into a whole network of mentors and allow others to have access to that and give other minorities and minority women a voice in the world,” Bandara said.
“We are open to all who are interested and need peo ple who are fully committed,” BandaBandasaid.said she hopes Lamb da Theta Nu at Pepperdine will accomplish numerous en deavors as a sorority that gives Latina women the knowledge, advice and empowerment they need when dealing with strug gles such as “imposter syn drome.”“Weall have our own ver sions of what community is, based on our experiences and the life we have lived until this moment,” Banda said. “Cul ture shock is prominent and really exists within the Pepper dineGandaracommunity.”saidshe hopes by the time she graduates in De cember 2022, the sorority will have a strong group of women who are looking to give back and support each other in their endeavors.“Wehave all been blessed because we have the opportu nity to have an education, and we have so much knowledge that other people don’t, so I think it’s a blessing to share that and to be able to help oth ers understand their potential,” Gandara said. “We want oth ers all over Pepperdine to not feel limited. I want others to be limitless and I hope this soror ity will help accomplish that.”
“There’s something so special about concerts where all your senses are en gaged,” Campbell said. “You feel so lit up and excited to be there.”
Sophomore Isabella Tas sone went to rapper and singer Ma chine Gun Kelly’s Mainstream Sellout Tour at The Honda Center in Anaheim on July 16. She said she chose to get the cheapest tickets because she wanted to have a fun experience while not “break ing the MGK’sbank.”setlist did a great job en compassing the different albums he has and balancing both his rap and punk sound, Tassone said. She loved his at tention-grabbing stage presence and connection to the audience.
“[MGK] pops up onto the ladder of this flying hot pink helicopter and dan gles over the audience,” Tassone said. “Even if you have the cheapest seats like we did, all the way back at the Honda Center, we still felt like he was super close to Tassoneus.”and Budiwarman said they will both study abroad in London this upcoming academic year. They said they’re looking forward to seeing musi cians who might tour in the UK as well as local artists, to get a taste of different music all over the world.
Academic Advice Academic schedules are different for every student and finding the right time to do homework and study can be unique to the individual, Audras said. “Do your work in the middle of the day when other people are in classes,” Audras said. “Even though it’s not as fun, you’ll be more productive and you can actually enjoy your evenings and have more friend time.”
Skyler Hawkins Design Assistant
Despite the importance of academics, Audras said she wishes she put less pres sure on herself her first year and encour ages new students to do things that will make them feel gratified and focused. “Have fun, get outside of your own head,” Audras said. “Don’t let yourself overthink too much.”
A new school year means new stu dents learning to navigate Malibu and the Pepperdine campus. First-years and transfer students alike will learn to adapt to a new social atmosphere and academ ic environment.“Enjoyyour time; take time to slow down at Pepperdine,” junior Emily Au dras said. “Everything’s fast-paced, so try to be intentional and have an open mind.”With just over 3,000 undergrad stu dents in Seaver College, Pepperdine is a smaller university. Junior Sabrina Musharbash said the size makes it easier to make close friends and relationships. “I think everyone here kind of looks out for each other and they have each other’s backs and so with that you should also have each other’s back,” Mushar bash said. “That kind of helps create that community.”
There are an array of clubs, activities and events on campus for students to get involved in, Musharbash said. Pepper vine is one resource available to students looking to find an organization to join. All 142 of Pepperdine’s organizations are listed on the site, each with a brief description and a way to connect with the“Everyorganization.clubI’ve seen has such a great community amongst them,” Mushar bash said. “So join whatever you are pas sionate about and sounds fun to you.”
Pepperdine Junior
Outside the campus, Audras said the city of Malibu has a lot to offer such as restaurants, beaches, shopping and hik ing“Tryspots.a hike even if you’re not a true hiker person,” Audras said. “There’s a ton in this area. Malibu Creek State Park, there’s Point Dume, even as a lit tle walk. Just try out nature even if it’s not your thing, because it might surprise you.”In terms of quick affordability, Audras said the Whole Foods Hot Bar, Howdy’s restaurant and grocery stores are some of the best food options in the area. “Go to the grocery store, make a pic nic and take it to the beach,” Audras said.Less than a mile away from campus, Musharbash said many shopping and dining options can be found at the Mali bu Country Mart, walking distance from campus and is a stop on the shopping shuttle available Monday through Fri day.“If you don’t have a car, the Country Mart is amazing,” Musharbash said.
In addition to clubs and sporting events, students said there are campus events put on by the Student Program ming Board such as Coffeehouse, Reel Stories Film Festival, Pacific Sounds Music + Arts Festival and Blue and Or ange Madness. Senior Caroline Conder has worked with the Board for each of these events and said her favorite was the Pacific Sounds Music + Arts Festival.
Vivian Hsia Art Editor
Junior Mariah Macias, ambassador to the Student Wellness Advisory Board (SWAB), said she encourages new stu dents to utilize the resources and events SWAB offers to prioritize their health as a college student, whether that be phys ical, mental or social health. SWAB has three branches — healthy minds, healthy communities and healthy bodies — ded icated to looking after the well-being of Pepperdine students. Notable events SWAB puts on throughout the year include Stick or Treat in October for promoting flu shots, Destress Fest at the end of every semester with therapy dogs on campus, Take Back the Night, a night during the spring semester dedicated to giving sexual assault survivors a platform and their monthly event Coffee and Consent to encourage conversations about sexual consent.“It’san easy way to get coffee, but also learn about consent, which is im portant at our age, making yourself more aware of sexual violence and assault and things like that,” Macias said. “So come to our events and get educated and get freeInthings.”addition to attending these events, Macias said her biggest advice for new students as an ambassador to the healthy bodies branch of SWAB is to find time for“It’sthemselves.soeasy to get caught up and everyone gets so busy and you forget to take care of yourself,” Macias said. “Also, always take the stairs! That’s, like, a given here, but if there’s a choice of an elevator, always take the stairs.”
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New to the ‘Bu: Learn to live like a local jacqueline.lopez@pepperdine.edukaela.hockman@pepperdine.edu Jackie Lopez & Kaela Hockman Staff Writers August 29, 2022 | LIFE AND ARTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media B3
Pepperdine’s campus has a variety of study spots to choose from. Musharbash said her favorites include the private study rooms in the library, the bench es behind the Chapel overlooking the ocean and the Lighthouse. “If you ever need a 24-hour place to study, the Lighthouse is always open,” MusharbashMusharbashsaid.and Audras said they en courage talking and getting to know pro fessors as another avenue for academic success, as well as visiting office hours as a specific way to speak to professors oneon-one and ask questions. “They’re [professors] your advocates, they’re on your side and they will move heaven and Earth for you,” Audras said. “One of my friends said to make sure the first week you go to an office hour, even if you don’t have anything to say, just take that extra step.”
Discovering the Malibu Area
As a member of the Student Gov ernment Association and the mock trial team, Musharbash said getting involved helped her grow as a person. “For me, it was a great experience,” Musharbash said. “And it kind of pushed me out of my comfort zone and taught me to be so talkative. I used to not be as talkative. SGA, I think it’s a great way to kind of learn how to have confidence in yourPepperdinevoice.” is home to 17 athletic teams so attending the year-round games is another way for students to immerse themselves in the community, Musharbash said. “Try going to some of the athletic games,” Musharbash said. “I know a lot of people don’t really go, but the ones I’ve been to have been so much fun.”
“It was a really cool experience get ting to work behind the scenes and see it all come together in the end,” Conder said. “Since it was such a large event, it really made the team work together.”
Enjoy your time, take time to slow down at Pepperdine.
Emily Audras
PEPPERDINE GRAPHIC MEDIAPEPPERDINE GRAPHIC MEDIA The campusOnMonthlyGraphicPrintstandsaround pepperdine-graphic.comAccessWebsiteallcontentat ListenPodcastsonSpotify, Apple Podcasts and SoundCloud Social @PeppgraphicMediaacrossallsocialmediaplatforms The Pixel Sign up now for the weekly newsletter! GNews In-studio and campus news coverage com/peppgraphic)(youtube. B4 August 29, 2022 | LIFE AND ARTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media
Pepperdine Athletics facilities shine on a recent sunny afternoon. Members of the Pepperdine Athletics community spoke out on transgender participation in the NCAA.
Steve Potts and Title IX Coor dinator La Shonda Coleman approved.Pepperdine’s policy, pub lished on page 87 of the stu dent-athlete handbook, states that Pepperdine follows the NCAA’s policies and rules and quotes the NCAA trans par ticipation policy. While other schools, like USC, default to the NCAA policy as well, some policies go further. UC Berke ley’s policy mandates educa tion about trans student-ath letes for staff and coaches and establishes other measures to meet trans student-athletes needs.Kurtz said she was unsure of the logistics of how Pepperdine would comply with the NCAA policy. Kevin Wright, an As sociate Director of Athletics who oversees sports medicine, wrote in an email to the Graph ic that the athletic department would use blood tests to prove compliance with testosterone level requirements, but he did not know how regularly the tests would happen. The NCAA policy requires testosterone tests at the begin ning of an athlete’s season, six months after the first test and four weeks before champion shipJoeseason.Heinemann, a gen der queer junior and Graphic sports writer, said he would not be surprised if a trans ath lete hesitated when deciding whether or not to come to Pep perdine.“We don’t have the great est track record when it comes to sexuality and gender issues at Pepperdine,” Heinemann said. “If I was a trans athlete, I would be very hesitant to go to a small private school.” Despite the unclear imple mentation strategy for having a trans student-athlete at Pep perdine and the University’s reputation regarding LGBT+ issues, Kurtz said the athletic department would welcome a trans“Westudent-athlete.wouldbevery sup portive of a student that either came in as transgender or tran sitioned while they’re in school and help them to meet those requirements to be able to compete in their sport,” Kurtz said.
The IOC included “No Pre sumption of Advantage” as one of their principles, and they set a high bar for restrictions. This includes requiring peer reviewed data collected from a demographic group similar to elite trans athletes that shows a consistent advantage or risk in a specific sport, discipline and event.Even with the new Frame work, most governing bodies continue to mainly base their participation requirements for trans women on testosterone levels. USA Swimming and World Athletics, the interna tional governing body of track and field, both require levels below five nanomoles per liter.
Joe Heinemann Pepperdine Junior
B5
Trans athletes fight uphill battle amid controversy
Junior Tony Lin came out as transgender his senior year of high school to what he de scribed as “mixed results.” Lin did not tell his parents about his gender identity when he came out to people at his school, so when the COVID-induced on line graduation ceremony used his preferred name, it came as a surprise to his family.
Athockey.first,Marwell chose his sport over transitioning to his gender identity. He said he took a gap semester to work on his mental health before start ing school at Mount Holyoke College, a historically wom en’s-only institution that start ed allowing trans and non-bi nary people to apply in 2014. After his first semester, Marwell decided to give up field hockey to start his social and medical transition.
“Basically, my high school outed me,” Lin said. “There was a lot of backlash over that and some very lengthy emails in which I had to tell them that if they did this with anyone else, you might get someone kicked out of the house.” Lin said his mother encour aged him to wait to transition until after college. He thought he had already waited long enough, but still started his first year online at Pepperdine planning on transitioning in four“Collegeyears. years are the years that people look back on and say, ‘Man, I had a lot of fun,’” Lin said. “I wouldn’t want to ruin that because of a decision that I wasn’t sure on.” Near the end of his first semester of taking classes at home, Lin said quarantine had worn him down. He woke up one morning and said he knew he had to transition sooner. He scheduled an appointment that day, and a week and a half lat er, he started hormone replace mentLintherapy.saidhe hid his transition from his parents until recent ly, when his mother found out by accident again. He said he is glad he started his transition when he did, though. He said coming into college “stealth” — meaning most people as sume him to be a cisgender man when they meet him — and finding supportive friends has made his Pepperdine ex perience better than the fears he had when he first came to campus.In2014, the Pepperdine experience was quite the op posite. For one, a lesbian cou ple who played on the Wom en’s Basketball team sued the school and their head coach for discrimination. The Student Code of Conduct says sexual relationships should only hap pen between a married man and wife, although the Student Government Association voted to support removing that lan guage in the 2021-22 academic year.The recent and historical ties between Pepperdine and the conservative movement in America harm the University’s reputation as well. Conserva tive outlets like Fox News have made issues out of which bath rooms and sports trans people can use and play, and Repub lican lawmakers have proposed and passed legislation regard ing those and other anti-LGBT issues.
Pepperdine Athletics and Trans Athletes
Trans athlete participation in sports became a hot topic in conservative media around the 2020 Summer Olympic games — the first to feature openly trans participants — and Lia Thomas — the first openly trans athlete to win an NCAA Division I championship. Most college athletic pro grams, including Pepperdine, have never had an openly trans student-athlete compete for them. Outsports, an SBNation blog about LGBT+ athletes, knows of only 32 openly trans athletes who have ever compet ed in Somecollege.trans student-athletes wait to come out and transition until after their playing careers, like former Fordham basket ball player Bryson Cavanaugh. Others do not compete after they have started their tran sition, like Emet Marwell, the Policy and Programs Manager at LGBTQ+ athlete advocacy group Athlete Ally. Marwell first questioned his gender his junior year of high school, while colleges were re cruiting him to play field hock ey. He said he knew early on that transitioning would mean giving up his sport, because the NCAA does not sponsor men’s field
Photo by Jerry Jiang | Sports Editor
The new IOC policy — the Framework on Fairness, In clusion and Non-discrimina tion on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations — gives a 10-principle approach for sports governing bodies to create their own trans partici pation requirements. Marwell called the Framework a “huge step forward” from previous IOC“Thepolicies.focus has shifted away from just testosterone and more to seeing these athletes as whole people,” Marwell said. “We’re talking about physical health, mental health, taking away the burden of proof. It’s no longer on these athletes to prove that they don’t have an unfair advantage, rather, the focus or sort of the idea is to assume no advantage.”
Professional Sports and the IOC
The NCAA released a new transgender participation poli cy Jan. 19, that mirrors the pol icy the International Olympic Committee released Nov. 16, 2021. Since 2011, the NCAA had required trans women to take one year of hormone therapy before competing on a women’s team for any sport. The new policy defers the spe cific requirements to the na tional or international govern ing bodies of each sport, which the IOC policy does as well. Amanda Kurtz, an Associ ate Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator, oversees NCAA compliance at Pepperdine. Kurtz said that when the NCAA updated their policy, she and her colleagues started talking about creating a transgender participation pol icy for Pepperdine. When the NCAA updated their policy in January. She said Pepperdine Athletics had paid little atten tion to the previous NCAA policy.“It was one of those that was out there that I think we all didn’t think about needing to have here, to be honest,” Kurtz said.Athlete Ally also influenced Kurtz and Pepperdine to estab lish a transgender participation policy through its outreach to religious schools, Kurtz said. She wrote Pepperdine’s poli cy, which Director of Athletics
August 29, 2022 | SPORTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media
“It was what I needed to do to save my life,” Marwell said. “It was for my own mental health.”Marwell said he wonders about what his life would be like if he played a different sport at a co-ed school, but tries not to think about it too much.“Ithink it’s easy to sort of get caught up in the what-ifs about things,” Marwell said. “So really, now, I try to channel my energy into making sport accessible for trans, nonbina ry and gender expansive folks at all levels, so that they don’t have to make that sort of deci sion that I was forced to make.”
See PARTICIPATE | B6 Kyle McCabe Spring 2022, News Assistant Editor
We don’t have the privatetobeathlete,IfatgendertowhentrackgreatestrecorditcomessexualityandissuesPepperdine.IwasatransIwouldveryhesitantgotoasmallschool.
Spotlight on Trans Athletes
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a conservative Ca nadian think tank, emphasizes physical markers in which trans women retain advantages over cis women after hormone ther apy in their report that calls for trans women to be barred from competing in women’s sports. Advocates for trans women competing in women’s sports, like Harper, acknowledge that some physical differences be tween trans and cis women ex ist, but argue that the physical markers more affected by cur rent testosterone levels matter more to athletic ability. One of Harper’s studies found that hemoglobin lev els of trans women align with those of cis women. Hemo globin carries red blood cells with oxygen through the body, making it one of the most im portant biological markers for endurance athletes.
The Supreme Court deci sion from Bostock v. Clayton County could set a precedent for Hecox’s case. “We’ve used Title VII to help with Title IX interpreta tion previously,” Coffey said. “So because we’ve used this stuff previously, and since the court has said, ‘This is what it should be now,’ then it should move to this standard.”
“There’s a narrative and this narrative is really long standing in U.S. history, both in terms of sexual relations, but also ra cial relations,” Stone Watt said. “This protection of women. That happens in the bathroom arena, but it also if you think about the purpose of classifying men and women’s sports, the reason we do that is because if you put men and women in the same sport category, in a lot of these sports, not every sport, but in a lot of these sports, men would have the advantage bio logically all the time.” Stone Watt said she does not think everyone who engages in the protection narrative with women’s sports feels the same way with other issues, like bi ological sex-based bathroom separation.“Idothink that as soon as you start talking about pro tecting women, you open the gate for people who have other understandings of their role in protecting women in a variety of spaces in society to leverage that in ways that are potentially harmful,” Stone Watt said. Coffey said the anti-trans participation argument claims to protect women so that it is not blatantly discrimination. She said there could be some thing to the argument, but does not think the science supports it well enough.
The Idaho case, which in volves transgender Boise State University student Lindsay Hecox, went on pause last year because Hecox was not enrolled in the school, but the case will continue now that she is enrolled again, Coffey said.
“In my opinion, I still be lieve that it is discriminato ry,” Coffey said. “When we’re talking about high school ath letes, in particular, we have so few people and having one more, or one to two more ath letes participate seems like you are directly targeting those in dividuals if you are creating rules so they, specifically, are unable to participate.”
The Political Debate As researchers continue to study the potential advantag es trans people have in athlet ics and the IOC readjusts its Framework to be more inclu sive, Republican legislators in the U.S. have passed 20 state bills banning trans people from playing sports in the category that aligns with their gender identity.Anti-trans sports bills can apply to youth, high school and even collegiate sports. Dr. Lauren McCoy Coffey, the Program Director for the Sport and Fitness Administration graduate program at Winthrop University, said Tennessee’s law bans trans men and women from competing in their gender identity’s category and affects sports up to the collegiate level. The model bill for Republi can lawmakers came from Ida ho. House Bill 500, titled the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, became law April 1, 2020, banning trans women from playing women’s sports and le galizing the practice of testing women’s sex in order to com pete.A federal judge blocked the bill’s implementation, though, and a legal battle over the law has reached the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. The injunction that blocked Ida ho’s bill and an injunction that blocked West Virginia’s simi lar bill both reference a 2019 Supreme Court decision that established sexual orientation and gender identity as part of Title VII protections against sex discrimination in the work place, Coffey said.
Trans Sports Science Testosterone is the “only established driver for the ath letic differences between men and women” to date, accord ing to an article from the Jour nal of the Endocrine Society. Researcher and trans woman Joanna Harper specializes in studying trans athlete perfor mance, especially the effects of testosterone on different ath leticHarperfactors.told WebMD in 2021 that testosterone levels of trans women line up with the levels of cis women. She cit ed a 2018 study in Endocrine Reviews that found 95% of cisgender women have testos terone below two nanomoles per liter and a 2019 study in Endocrine Connections that examined nearly 250 trans women and found that 94% of them had testosterone below two nanomoles per liter. While testosterone levels of cis and trans women may mirror each other, the effects of testosterone on different markers of athletic ability vary. Males approaching go ing through puberty generate more testosterone than females do. The effects of male puberty on height, lean body mass and several indicators of strength are not reversed by hormone replacement therapy.
PARTICIPATE: Trans athletes speak out peppgraphicmedia@gmail.com August 29, 2022 | SPORTS | Pepperdine Graphic MediaB6 From B5
Pepperdine Communica tion Divisional Dean Sarah Stone Watt specializes in rhet oric of race and gender. She said the conservative rhetoric around trans participation in sports follows a narrative that she has seen in other issues.
The 9th Circuit Court rul ing that sexual orientation and gender identity are included in Title IX sex discrimination protections would only affect states within that circuit, but Coffey said it would set a prec edent for other jurisdictions.
Pepperdine senior Carlee Giammona outmatches the CSUN goalkeeper to score her first goal of the game Aug. 18. She later went on to score a second goal in the second half of the game. Haley Hoidal Lead Designer
The Waves defeated UC San Diego 1-0 on Aug. 21, and look to face Louisiana State University on Thursday, Aug. 25. blows past CSUN in season opener
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B7 29 Monday 30 Tuesday 31 Wednesday 1 Thursday 2 Friday 3 Saturday 28 Sunday 5 6 7 8 9 104 WVB vs Baylor 6Malibup.m.WSOC@ UCSB Santa Barbara 7 p.m. WVB vs San Diego WVB4Malibup.m.vs UCSB 6Malibup.m. XC @ Mark Covert Classic WVB vs Baylor WVB vs UCSB WVB vs San Diego State MWP vs Whittier MWP @ Triton MWP @ Triton La Jolla, Calif. WSOC @ Cal Berkeley Berkeley, Calif. 2 p.m. WVB vs Cal Poly 5Seattlep.m.WSOC@ Arizona State Tempe, Ariz. 7 p.m. WVB @ Washington 11Seattlep.m.WVBvs Northwestern 5Seattlep.m. MWP @ Stanford Palo Alto, Calif. 1 p.m. MWP @ Cal Berkeley Berkeley, Calif. WSOC @ Arizona Tucson, Ariz 1 p.m. Game Schedule
Jerry Jiang Sports Editor
Women’s soccer
jerry.jiang@pepperdine.edu August 29, 2022 | SPORTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media
Lividas made her presence known by scoring two back-toback goals in the 31st and 34th minute of the game. On her second goal, Lividas convert ed on a header after Giammo na crossed the ball toward her from the left corner. During the offseason, Liv idas said the team focused on tempo.“We really want to connect the ball to the feet and then put it in the back of the net,” Livi dasThen,said. a near minute after she was subbed into the game, senior forward Alex Hobbs drew a foul after being tack led by her defender. Watson was given the penalty kick and found the bottom of the net. Watson tied a school record on this play as well — having con verted on seven penalty kicks in her career. “I think when you talk about offensive aggression, it takes energy,” Ward said. “This might be the deepest team we’ve ever had. I think we saw that whenever [someone] came off, whoever went on the field, that level on the field did not drop.”The Waves continued to demonstrate their offensive prowess in the second half. The Waves scored goals two min utes from each other thanks to McFarland on both occasions. In the 59th minute, Watson controlled the corner kick from the left side to sophomore for ward Kelsey Adams. Adams leaped into a header and Mc Farland delivered with a head er of her own. “I’ve noticed just how le thal we are,” Giammona said. “I think something that we can keep building on is when we get our opportunities, we want to finish them. That’s some thing we try to focus on and I think that will help us through out the season.” To complete the finishing touches, Wynalda found herself ahead of the field and crossed her defender. This gave her the opening she needed to convert a 15-yard goal. As the season progresses, Ward said the team is finding their identity early. Because the team has had a lot of his torical success, the weight the players feel might be the weight of comparison to past greats, Ward“Wesaid.try to take that weight off of [the players],” Ward said. “Part of the goal is to have some outcome goals, but to re ally focus on the process, not to worry about the outcome, but to focus on our soccer, our character, our way of doing things.”Giammona said one thing the team works on is their team building and team camarade rie.“The stuff on the field is go ing to come from practice and training, but stuff like working as a team and being all unit ed is something that we really focus on,” Giammona said. “I think that’s something we con tinue to get better at every sin gleWardyear.”said though the USC game was a preseason match, it was a great statement game. While USC is a traditional powerhouse, so are the Waves, Ward said. “I think it shows a lot of people that we’re for real,” Ward said. “Today I think it’s a great result for us. So just you know take one game at a time. Just stay humble. Stay Hungry. Get after it.”
For the Waves’ first goal, Watson found herself behind the play defensively but caught up and saw Giammona ahead of the defense. With the rest of the Matadors trailing, Giam mona was alone with CSU Northridge redshirt senior goalkeeper Taylor Thames and softly tapped in a goal. “Trinity [Watson] makes an amazing play,” Ward said. “[She] turns a defensive mo ment into an offensive mo ment. And we got the first goal of the game and that sort of cracked it wide open.”
No. 17 Pepperdine Women’s Soccer kicked off its season with a strong 8-0 victory over CSU Northridge Thursday, Aug. 18, at Tari Frahm Rokus field. With their season un derway, the Waves look to use these victories to gain confi dence in the early parts of the season.Five Waves converted on goals Thursday afternoon. Se nior midfielder Carlee Giam mona and redshirt senior for ward Leyla McFarland scored two goals each. Freshman for ward Melinda Livadas started her Pepperdine career with two goals of her own. Freshman midfielder Tatum Wynalda and redshirt midfielder Trinity Wat son contributed each with one goal.This was the first match for Team 30 — the 30th year of this program — and after Team 29’s historical run reaching the Sweet 16 — Head Coach Tim Ward said the team tries not to compare themselves with past teams but instead to use the past to give them insight into what’s“Wepossible.wouldlove to go further than any Pepperdine team has ever gone,” Ward said. “We’ve had four Sweet 16 runs, but we’ve never busted through that. And we want to solve that. We want to win a national championship.”Lividasechoed Ward’s com ment and said the team is climbing a mountain to reach the“We’resummit.gonna keep pushing hard in practice,” Lividas said. “Keep our stride and our effort and just keep attacking, press ing, defending and the energy high. Job’s not done.” Early in the game, the Waves controlled the pace with their offensive proficien cy. The Waves attempted 13 shots compared to only one attempt from the Matadors — but the one shot attempt from the Matadors was too close for comfort.“Right before we scored our first goal, [the Matadors] had a really good chance,” Ward said. “The margins are finite at this level. So, in a weird kind of way, it was a perfect tonic for us to remind ourselves. ‘Look, it could have been 1-0 the oth er way. Their best chance came in that moment.’”
“Our team is deep again,” Mouw said. “We got some un believable players coming in. It's just gonna be exciting. I think the team dynamic is gon na be really special this year and something to remember for the books and we're gonna give it our best shot this year.”
William Mouw Pepperdine Senior
“When the opportunity comes, I'm ready mentally, physically, technically and stra tegically to execute that shot to my full potential and accept the results,” Mouw said. Mouw said his goal this summer was to make his weak nesses his strengths and con tinue to grow as a player. For example, the wedge game and chipping techniques he prac ticed the week after the U.S. Open came into play during the Trans-Miss AM Tourna ment, Mouw said. “You can just work on little things in your game and just improve and enjoy the process of it," Mouw said. Mouw credits his work ethic to his grandparents and his parents. His parents owned a farm in Chino, Calif., and Billy's Egg Farm has about three acres of farmland where Mouw grew up and this is where he said he learned work tegically to execute that shot to my full potential and accept the results,” Mouw said Pepperdine Men’s Golf season ended May 31 when they lost to Arizona State in the NCAA Semi-Finals. With was right back in the U.S. Open Qualifiers in San Francisco. “It was really cool that my game was working that week after a lot of practice,” Mouw said. “I qualified and it was just really cool how the competi tiveness and some of the Pep perdine team helped me get ready for that.” After the qualifiers, Mouw said it was really cool being able to compete with the best players in the world at the U.S. Open as a rising senior.
As the season draws closer, Mouw said he is looking for ward to being the leader of the team at Pepperdine as one of the few upper-level students.
“That whole week I stayed patient through things that went my way or things that didn't,” Mouw said. “I was re silient to have enough patience, to trust my game, have confi dence in my game [and] that it was enough to play well and win.”In addition to the San Fran cisco Qualifier, U.S. Open and the Trans-Miss Amateur Tour nament, Mouw participated in the Pacific Coast Amateur, the Western Amateur and the U.S. Amateur during the offseason. Mouw said at the end of a tournament and the last shot is there, he's already practiced that shot hundreds of times.
The Graphic pepperdine-graphic.comAugust 29, 2022 SPORTS B8
Mouw excels in offseason tournaments
Photo Courtesy of Jeff Golden Below: Mouw lines up his shot on the putting green. Mouw said he focused on his chipping and putting this offseason.
SPORTS
You see opportunity,an you go for it, and you work at it and if you don’t succeed, you go back and you learn.
In the U.S. Open, Mouw finished with scores of 75 and 74 but fell short after the sec ond“Itround.was so much fun," Mouw said. "I was just taken aback and just enjoyed the ex perience.”Mouw said it was unique to learn and apply what he experienced in the U.S. Open to his own game. The way the players react after certain shots and how they carry themselves helps him mature as a person and as a player, Mouw said. “Seeing those guys’ games and how they play, it was really cool to see that," Mouw said. “My game is right there with them. And I just gotta keep putting in the work and enjoy ing the process.”
Jerry Jiang Sports Editor jerry.jiang@pepperdine.edu
Pepperdine Men's Golf se nior William Mouw had a busy offseason that included a victo ry at the Trans-Miss AM Tour nament. With the upcoming season less than a month away, Mouw said he looks forward to being a leader on the team. When it came down to a three-way sudden death in the Trans-Miss Amateur tourna ment, Men’s Golf senior Wil liam Mouw stepped onto the green and calmly sank in a 20foot birdie to secure him the victory.Forthe Chino, Calif., native, this shot was a culmination of hours of practice in what he said has been a busy offseason.
Left: Pepperdine Men’s Golf senior William Mouw follows through on his golf swing in the NCAA Championships at Scotts dale, Ariz., in May. Mouw said he focused on his chipping and put ting this offseason.
Photo Courtesy of Roger Horne
