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AKB ANNOUNCED AS 2019 COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER Crossroads hosts their first convocation event

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Kaelin Mendez | Photo Editor

Washed Up | A young dead gray whale remains near County Line Beach since Sunday, March 24. The whale is approximately the size of a semi-truck and estimated to be about a year old. While the whale suffered several deep gashes, the cause of death is still uncertain. At this time, authorities do not plan to move the body.

PEPP ADDRESSES SEXUAL MISCONDUCT REPORTS Ma d e l E i n e C a rr n e w s e dito r

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As hley Mowreader n e ws assista n t The Pepperdine community is joining Crossroads at their first convocation chapel to engage in dialogue about Christianity and the LGBTQ+ community.

Crossroads, Pepperdine’s LGBTQ+ and allies club, is hosting a convocation event Tuesday, April 2 to feature producer and host Grace Baldridge’s show “State of Grace” and open a conversation on the “intersection of faith and sexual identity.”

Grace Ramsey, president of Crossroads, said the general idea for the convocation is to present Baldridge’s show and have her speak on it, and then to open it up to questions so people can have a dialogue about the subject.

Ramsey said this is not the first LGBTQ+ convocation to take place at Pepperdine, as there have been several LGBTQ+ themed chapels. This event is a milestone for Crossroads because, while they have hosted club convocations in the past, this is the first time in three years Crossroads has been able to host a “community chapel.”

“It’s really exciting,” Ramsey said.

“It just kind of breaks the barrier a little bit for people to realize we can have broader conversations [and] we can have a place here on campus, in spite of what people perceive as a lot of barriers. And those barriers are definitely there, but we can push at them and we can make a place for ourselves in spite of all of that.”

Ramsey said the question and answer session will be anonymous as attendees will be able to submit questions through the app sli.do with an event code provided at convocation.

“If you don’t agree, please come,” Ramsey said. “We can’t have a conversation without diversity of perspectives.”

Ramsey said she would also encourage those without a strong opinion on the topic to attend as well, as they can learn more about the topic and be more culturally aware.

“A lot of people have misconceptions or don’t know a whole lot about the aligning of LGBTQ+ and faith, so this is a learning opportunity, if not a way to engage in that dialogue,” Ramsey said.

“State of Grace: LGBTQ+ and Christianity” will take place April 2 at 7 p.m. in Elkins Auditorium.

The event is open to the public and counts as convocation credit for all Pepperdine students.

the pepperdine

The University has responded to the increased reports of sexual misconduct on campus, connecting the increase to the national conversation around the #MeToo movement and education efforts on campus.

During the spring semester, there have been seven reported sexual misconduct incidents, including “forcible rape, including date rape and sexual battery” and “sexual battery.”

The earliest instance was reported to have taken place Oct. 1, 2018 and the most recent allegedly occurred March 14. They were reported between Jan. 16 and March 14 and occurred on both the Malibu and Lausanne campuses.

Title IX may “protec[t] students from sexual harassment in educational programs or activities operated by recipients of federal funding,” but it does not dictate how universities should deal with sexual misconduct, according to the Department of Justice.

Rape is defined as “the penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus, with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim … includ[ing] the rape of both males and females,” according to the Clery Act. The Clery Act defines fondling as “the touching of the private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her age or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental incapacity.”

Sexual battery is “unwanted touching … [which] can be over the clothing, direct skin-to-skin contact, [or] groping,” Coleman said.

While the legislation does not provide a definition for sexual battery,

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fondling falls under the category of sexual battery.

The seven reported incidents marks an increase from past years. In 2017, there were four cases of fondling reported on the Malibu Campus but no reported incidents of rape on any of the university’s many campuses, according to Pepperdine’s Annual Campus Safety and Fire Safety Report.

Increased On Campus Awareness La Shonda Coleman, associate dean for Student Affairs and Title IX coordinator, said this increased number of reports could be related to the expansion of education and accessibility to information related to sexual misconduct reporting.

“We have increased presentations in classrooms or among faculty and staff so that they are prepared to understand when a student has disclosed information that may trigger this need for report,” Coleman said.

This outreach ensures that members of the community can educate students on their options and rights, should an incident of sexual misconduct take place, Coleman said.

Through events like the 2017 Take Back the Night, Coleman said the university has worked to make students more familiar with the process of reporting sexual misconduct.

“With increased awareness about these issues, it becomes safer or seemingly safer for students to engage the resources,” Coleman said. “What I mean by safer is that students may not have understood what will it mean if [they] speak with the Title IX coordinator.”

Coleman said this allows students to be aware of the control they have over the process. “‘Does that mean that I lose agency in the process?’ – it actually doesn’t,” Coleman said. “It ensures that the student is aware of all of their rights and options and that we can move forward

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in a way that’s meaningful to them.”

Increased education on Pepperdine’s sexual misconduct policy can also lead to more immediate reporting of incidents, allowing the university to notify the community if the incident poses a larger risk, Coleman said.

Instances such as this can result in a Timely Warning notification, such as the one Public Relations emailed to community members March 14, informing them of a recent case of unwanted touching involving Jonathan Pope, an individual not associated with Pepperdine.

“It also ensures that the university can take immediate action to address any concern related to their personal safety and community safety,” Coleman said.

Peer-to-peer teaching, such as students providing residence hall prevention education, is hugely important, Coleman emphasized.

“There’s something about a peer sharing with the peer what these issues are, why they’re relevant, why they should get involved and take responsibility to help create safety and to respond … if their peer discloses that they’ve experienced a sexual trauma,” Coleman said.

Other groups on campus that provide this education is the Healthy Communities aspect of the Student Health Advisory Board (SWAB), Coleman said.

“Significant peer-to-peer education, I feel that that may give permission and more encouragement for students to come forward when they have that social permission they can identify with their peers,” Coleman said. #MeToo Movement Another factor that might play into the increase in reports is the #MeToo movement, a growing trend where targets of sexual harassment or sexual assault have publicized their experiences.

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P E P P E R DINE GR A P HIC M E DIA | N E W S | MA RCH 28 , 20 1 9

THE DPS REPORTS

Entering a season of change

ashley mowreader n e ws a s s i stant The sun has reemerged, the flowers at Point Dume are in bloom and the butterflies have started their migration. It looks like that groundhog was right: Spring is coming.

Spring back home in Seattle means the grass has regained its green hue, the trees are growing new leaves, the birds have begun to sing again outside my window and the weather has peaked at 55 degrees (yes, really). Here in Malibu, spring brings beach trips, doing homework in a hammock and making the change from hot coffee to iced.

But at Pepp, I’m feeling the dynamic change too.

Seniors are feeling senioritis and the pressure to know what they’re doing after school. Freshmen are facing the ending of their first full year of school and preparing for abroad.

Sophomores are facing big changes, whether that’s coming back home from abroad or adjusting to everyone else returning home, and juniors are stepping into their final year at college.

It’s a season of change, both inside and outside.

It can be easy, for me at least, to get caught up in the end of the year stress.

With final tests and papers steadily approaching, I’m finding it harder to focus on the things right in front of me as I watch change creep over the horizon.

Every day feels like we’re sprinting to the end of the school year, racing to a summer of unknowns. Especially in the wake of a hard first semester, summer vacation seems like it can’t come soon enough. But we have to embrace spring before we can leap into summer.

So I encourage you to take a break, smell the flowers and remember that this season of life is wonderful. Change is beautiful and opportunities for growth are found all around you; don’t be afraid to bloom where you’re planted.

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

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Crimes: Traffic Related Hit and Run, Non-Injury Accident Location: John Tyler Drive

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Crimes: Traffic Related Hit and Run, Non-Injury Accident Location: HAWC 3/22/19 11:33 p.m.

Crimes: Alcohol Related/ Non-Criminal - Possession of Alcohol on Campus Location: Peppers 3/23/19 1:28 p.m.

Crimes: Crimes - Drug Related - Possession of Marijuana Location: Seaver Drive Booth

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UPCOMING EVENTS THIS SEMESTER What: Drugs and the Human bo dy when: 4 / 8 Wher e: c cb 140

Wh at: P epper dine jaz z ensemble Wh e N: 4/8 Wh e re : Smother s theatr e

What: chr istop her park ening guitar stu dent s i n concer t Whe N : 4/9 Whe re : sur f b oard room

W hat: p ep p erdi ne orc hest ra and c hoi r mas t erworks c onc ert W he N: 4 / 1 1 W he r e : s mot hers t heat re

W hat: 2 01 9 G ol den k ey f oru m W he N: 4 / 1 1 W he r e : el k i ns au di t ori u m

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What: c elebr ation chapel When: 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.

Wher e: amphitheater

Wh at: spanish chapel Wh e n: 10:10 a.m.

Wh e re : stauffer chapel

What: ger ma n c hap el Whe n: 10 a.m.

Whe re : stau f f er c hap el

What: Men’s Volleyball v s. Gra nd canyon When: 7 p.m.

Wher e: Fir estone Fieldh o us e

Wh at: Book launch and r eading: R adical Beauty, an anthology about the woolsey fir e Wh e n: 11 A.m.

Wh e re : Payson Sur fboar d R oom

What: italia n c hap el Whe n: 3 p.m.

Whe re : stau f f er c hap el What: State of G rac e: LGBTQ + and C hri s t i ani t y Whe n: 7 p.m.

Whe re : elkin s au di t ori u m

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W hat: wednes day c hap el W he n: 1 0 a. m.

W he r e : f i res t one f i el dhou s e W hat: S t ep U p Agai ns t S ex u al As s au lt W he n: 6 p. m.

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W hat: arab i c c hap el W he n: 2 : 3 0 p. m.

W he r e : P L C 1 04 W hat: J u ni or Art S how op eni ng W he n: 5 p. m.

W he r e : Pays on L i b rary ex hi b i t W hat: G l ob al Ref u g ee C ri s i s Panel W he N: 6 p. m.

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M A R C H 2 8, 2 0 1 9 | N E W S | P E P P E R DIN E G RA P H I C ME D I A

REPORT: Pepp discusses sexual misconduct FR O M A 1 The social media movement began in 2006 but was reignited with a tweet by actress Alyssa Milano, encouraging others to reply with the words “Me too” if they had also undergone sexual harassment or assault.

Now, other individuals, such as actresses America Ferrara and Gina Rodriguez, have disclosed their personal experiences with sexual harassment and sexual assault, adding to the conversation.

“Culturally, we know that there has been a shift in attitudes and understandings around sexual harassment, sexual assault,” Coleman said.

While the university does not have statistics regarding the movement’s impact, Coleman said she has witnessed students reference it and ask about it.

“I just feel that we’re at a time and place just in our culture where there is a sense of empowerment, where there is a face to go with the statistic and folks are saying, ‘It’s happened to me too,’” Coleman said. “Maybe that’s impacted, historically, a stigma that was attached to identifying as someone who’s experienced a sexual trauma, who’s been victimized or someone who’s coming forward with allegations.”

Pathways for Complainants Individuals bringing forward allegations of sexual misconduct, complainants, have several options in how the situation is managed, Coleman said.

The first course of action they can take is filing a formal com-

plaint, which DPS then investigates before the case is brought before the Office of Community Standards and Sharon Beard, associate dean of Student Affairs for Community Standards, Coleman said. The investigation involves both the complainant and the respondent – the individual accused of misconduct – as well as any information from witnesses or documents, according to the policy.

“It would be determined if there is a probable violation of our sexual misconduct policy,” Coleman said. “If so, Dean Beard would identify which charges would be brought forward in the matter and both students [complainant and respondent] will be notified.”

Another action complainants can take is filing a police report, which involves the police department localized to where the event took place, Coleman explained.

A complainant’s third option is civil litigation, Coleman said.

The complainant has the power to choose which of the three options he or she employs. Students do not have to proceed further with the report if they do not want to.

“Students who come forward with the complaint can pursue all three of those options, one of those options or none,” Coleman said.

Support for Complainants In the midst of these procedures, Coleman said the university can also provide complainants and respondents with interim support.

Some examples of this includes setting up counseling services on or off campus, relo-

cating on-campus housing or giving academic support.

“It really is case by case and unique in our response – really understanding what does the student need and [responding] to that,” Coleman said.

“Through our communication with the students, we will understand what they need. Sometimes students may decide that they are not desirous of any support at a given time and that may change over the course of their time here at Pepperdine or if they’re going through the community standards process.”

Occasionally, students may choose to pursue a no-contact directive, a sanction that prohibits communication between complainant and respondent, Coleman said.

informed in a way that we are able to protect ourselves and to look out for one another and protect one another,” Coleman said. “So it has been issued before and it will be issued in the future if needed.”

Coleman wrote in an email that another important factor in delivering Timely Warnings is the time that the report is made and if the respondent cannot be located.

“In the most recent Timely Warning, this is particularly relevant because the individual was not affiliated with Pepperdine and his whereabouts were unknown at the time of the release of the Timely Warning,” Coleman wrote.

Timely Warning

Coleman said there are three ways that sexual misconduct incidents are examined within the university.

The first manner is an administrative hearing, which involves Beard, the complainant and the respondent, Coleman said. This process is typically used with cases such as verbal sexual harassment.

Allegations such as rape are processed through a different process, a student disciplinary committee hearing, Coleman said. Beard oversees these hearings, but the decision involves a larger group of people than an administrative hearing.

“We have a panel of full-time faculty and staff that have gone through extensive training in order to have capacity to adjudicate these cases,” Coleman said.

“There is a panel that would hear from both the respondent, the complainant and any witnesses that are involved in the

Timely Warnings, like the one issued March 14, are mandated as a part of Pepperdine’s compliance to the Clery Act, a law requiring transparency regarding campus crime, Coleman said. March 14 was not the first time one has been distributed. “[Clery Act] requires colleges and universities to notify students, employees [and] the community whenever there is a threat of a serious crime, if it’s ongoing or if it could be possibly repeated,” Coleman said. “It helps us to do what we can as community members to protect ourselves.”

These notifications ensure the community is vigilant against any possible threats, Coleman explained.

“The amount of information that is shared is based on what we need as a community to be

Adjudication

matter, and they would deliberate and make a determination about the case based on a preponderance of evidence.”

Coleman emphasized that in these situations, Beard is not the only decision-maker.

“Within the hearing, [Beard] is not the sole determinant,” Coleman said. “She doesn’t make the sole determination of the outcome of that case.”

The severity of the charge helps determine which type of hearing a case goes through, Coleman said.

“If, after reviewing a sexual misconduct report and related investigative materials, the associate dean believes that there is a probable violation of the Sexual Misconduct Policy and the resulting sanction could result in a suspension or dismissal from the University, the matter will be submitted for hearing by the Student Disciplinary Committee,” the sexual misconduct policy states.

The third process is an alternative resolution, which entails a process similar to mediation between the parties involved, Coleman said. It is not a process used with allegations involving rape.

“After a matter is investigated and we’ve gathered enough information to determine [if] alternative resolution [is] appropriate for this case, then that would be offered to the complainant and respondent,” Coleman said. “They must both agree for alternative resolution.”

The Graphic asked if any of these seven sexual misconduct reports were related, but the university did not comment.

M ADEL EINE.C AR R @PEPPER DINE.EDU

SU2C hits it out of the park R o wan toke as si stant news e d itor Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) held its first ever event at a college campus March 25 at the Eddy D. Field Stadium at the Malibu Campus.

Senior Pearce Quesenberry, who has been involved with SU2C since 2009, said one of the reasons that she chose Pepperdine was its proximity to SU2C. Quesenberry was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma, brain cancer, when she was 10 years old.

Quesenberry said since she started at Pepperdine University, she wanted to replicate the Placard Moment – something SU2C is known for – at the Malibu Campus.

Quesenberry said at Major League Baseball games, players and fans will hold up a placard with the name of a person who is fighting or fought cancer and the crowd will stand and take a moment to honor those people.

Planning the first Placard Moment at a college campus became a bigger deal than Quesenberry anticipated, she said.

Pepperdine’s administration and Athletics department were very interested in making it happen, and the baseball teams – both the Waves and Gonzaga – were excited to stand up with their own placards.

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“It was really important that I was able to leave this as a legacy to Pepperdine,” Quesenberry said. “It’s super fulfilling to see that fruition and obviously graduating in four weeks, I was really down to zero hour.”

Not only did Quesenberry succeed in making Pepperdine the first college ever to host SU2C, but she also threw the first pitch at the game.

SU2C was founded in 2007 by a group of women who had been affected by cancer.

These women, including Katie Couric, Sherry Lansing, Kathleen Lobb, Lisa Paulsen, Rusty Robertson, Sue Schwartz, Pamela Oas Williams, Noreen Fraser and Ellen Ziffren, wanted to use their connections in the entertainment and media industry to more effectively fight cancer.

Co-Founder Robertson said their group of women could not stand being involved in other organizations and wondering where all the money was going.

“We wanted to do something different,” Robertson said.

She said after some time, their group met with scientists and figured out that it was funding that was missing.

“We made a promise to the public and to the scientists that we were going to work our butts off,” Robertson said.

Robertson said SU2C was able to raise $100 million in their first year and become so successful because they “decided to make cancer entertaining.”

“We have a big, what we call in the entertainment industry, a bully pulpit,” Roberston said.

“That means we can get stuff out there.”

Robertson said they decided to bring in celebrities in order to further the “bully pulpit,” and now they have over 900 celebrities who help them.

Their group of nine women were the perfect group for this job, Robertson said.

“Nine really pushy women,” Robertson said.

“Now there’s only seven of us. We have lost two to breast cancer, and we’re knocking it out of the park.”

When asked why SU2C had not begun having events on college campuses in the past, Robertson said they are good friends with Will Ferrell, who does College for Cancer, so they were going to do an event with them.

When the event with College for Cancer did not happen, Robertson said it was also Quesenberry who made it really important for SU2C to be involved in cancer research at a college campus.

“We needed somebody, because we are a small and mighty group,

Susannah Gallup | Staff Photographer Fast Ball | Senior Pearce Quesenberry celebrates after throwing the ceremonial first pitch at the Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) baseball game at Pepperdine on Sunday, March 25. The event was the organization’s first one held on a college campus. SU2C raises money for cancer research through their celebrity reach. They raised $100 million in their first year. growing really fast,” Robertson said.

Junior Anne Manganiello wrote in an email that she was so interesting in helping Quesenberry with this event because she “think[s] it’s really important to bridge the gap between the scientific community and the public, and to make sure people understand the facts about cancer.”

Also, Manganiello wrote that she values SU2C’s transparency with the money they raise, which is not always the case with other similar organizations.

This event was really special to her and everybody involved, Manganiello wrote.

“There were so many

people that I saw who had multiple names written down or asked if they could fill out multiple placards,” Manganiello wrote. “It makes you realize that everyone is affected by cancer in some capacity, and it is something that, though awful, unites us.”

Quesenberry and Manganiello both expressed their interest in getting SU2C more involved on other college campuses and planning bigger events.

Manganiello wrote that she is so passionate about this cause because she believes it is this generation that is going to find a cure for cancer.

After graduation, Quesenberry said she hopes to take what she

has learned at Pepperdine and while planning this event and expand it to campuses across the nation.

She said she has already been hired as a permanent employee of SU2C, as the communications and marketing coordinator, and plans to take the momentum she gained from this event and run with it.

R OWAN.TOK E@PEPPER DINE.EDU

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Give2Pepp boasts 3,000+ donors Kar l W inter As si stant s ports e d itor

Despite a persistent rainstorm throughout the better part of the event, Pepperdine’s third annual Give2Pepp giving campaign generated more than 3,000 supporters once again.

For the 2019 version of Give2Pepp, the Pepperdine Advancement office and the Student Philanthropy Council joined forces to add several new giving competitions on the Malibu campus and a new “Champions” campaign on social media.

“It brought me such happiness even to see, in the middle of a rainy day, there is that Pepperdine pride and that spirit of wanting to show their blue and orange,” said Angela Kappus, assistant director of The Pepperdine Fund and director of Give2Pepp.

The 37-hour giving event, in honor of Pepperdine’s founding in 1937, began at 11 a.m. on March 5 and continued throughout March 6, a very rainy day in Malibu.

The university sponsored events at the Calabasas, West Los Angeles and Malibu campuses, including four different events at the Malibu campus.

“Maybe we had less foot traffic on main campus because of the rain, but the people who were there were all really positive and excited to come up to us, and excited to take part in the activities that we did have,”

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senior Lauren Van Tress, president of the Student Philanthropy Council, said.

The majority of the donors throughout Give2Pepp are reached via email or social media, so much of the event is coordinated virtually, Pepperdine Social Media Manager Mallory Holcomb said.

By the Numbers The Pepperdine Advancement team is still working through the final calculations, but the total donor count for 2019 Give2Pepp is comparable to the 2018 num-

“

"This day isn't just about the institution asking for money, but really this is about everyone's participation and how this is a global day, and that alumni are really excited about the day."

Mallory holcomb, social media manager

ber, according to statistics posted by the Office of Annual Giving.

The Give2Pepp website displays 3,134 donors for the event, just under the final tally of 3,233 donors in 2018, but there are several ways that the number could still increase as the donations are analyzed.

“This number will increase slightly as we finish processing the gifts, primarily because of married alumni and parent donors,” Tierney Anderson, Seaver Class Giving officer for The Pepperdine Fund, wrote in an email.

If two Pepperdine alumni or one Pepperdine parent is married, the spouse is also considered a donor. Additionally, the advancement team continues to match gifts delivered over the mobile payment service Venmo to their donors.

“We had about 700 Venmo gifts, so we’re still having to go through all of those,” Kappus said.

This number is an improvement from 2018, in which 509 donations were given via Venmo.

In total, the Give2Pepp website shows a figure close to $360,000 for the total amount of money raised in the 37-hour period, which is lower than the 2018 tally of more than $400,000, but Kappus and her team emphasize that the day is focused on the donor count, not the dollar count.

“Once we add everything in, we’re very happy with the results,” Kappus said.

Photo Courtesy of Mallory Holcomb Giving Back | (From left to right) Angela Kappus, President Andrew K. Benton, Tierney Anderson, Alisa Wakita and Lauren Van Tress pose during the Give2Pepp fundraising event on Main Campus.

New Developments Several weeks prior to the event, Holcomb’s team began posting countdown videos for the event, featuring “Champions.” These new support videos, coming in from donors around the world, continued to be posted on Pepperdine accounts throughout the event.

“Social media, that’s how you share things now,” Kappus said. “We each have our own network. Pepperdine can’t reach every single person.”

Champions included consecutive Give2Pepp donors from the first two years of the event and others nominated by advancement officers and alumni groups.

“We were talking about how to show that this day isn’t just about the institution asking for money, but really this is about everyone’s participation and how this is a global day, and that alumni are really excited about the day,” Holcomb said. “The best way we could think of to do that was to get our alumni to be the face of the campaign.”

Though Holcomb, her social media coordinator and one intern spearheaded the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram campaigns on the school’s accounts, the various departments and groups at Pepperdine added their own efforts.

For example, the Religion and Philosophy Division held a competition between individual class sections and gave out burritos from Lily’s Malibu to student donors.

“With Religion and Philosophy, you can see that Dean [Daniel Rodriguez] was so behind Give2Pepp and so excited to make it happen, so everything they did with the Lily’s burritos and the class competitions was them taking that initiative and getting that support for their division, which was really fun to see,” Anderson said.

The Payson Library held a similar event March 6, with a table encouraging students to give. As a result, gifts to the library increased nearly tenfold from last year, Holcomb said.

Competition Results The Seaver-based Student Philanthropy Council (SPC) orchestrated competitions between

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athletic teams, first-year halls and International Programs to see which groups could generate the most donors.

The global representation and support of the International Programs is key for Give2Pepp’s goal of generating student support, Kappus said.

“We had the [Washington] D.C. and Florence [international] programs each hit 100 percent, in large part thanks to the Student Philanthropy Council reps who were there encouraging and educating their peers to give in the house,” Anderson said.

In athletics, Men’s Water Polo earned the most donors and supporters, but three other teams achieved a notable feat.

“We had the athletics competition, which saw three teams hit 100 percent [of the team members donating]: Women’s Tennis, Women’s Volleyball and Men’s Golf,” Anderson said.

Miller (male house) and Crocker (female house) were the winners in the first-year hall competition, producing the highest percentage of residents to give back and receiving $1,000 for a house event.

Additionally, the university itself held a competition between the individual schools and divisions.

“We had a university-wide alumni challenge as well as a student challenge,” Kappus said. “Basically all of the schools [competed] against each other to see who can increase their participation the most from last year.”

Kappus’ team continues to calculate the results of this competition.

On-Campus Efforts The Pepperdine Ambassadors Council kicked off the festivities March 4 with a convocation event about the importance of giving.

Pepperdine held events at the School of Law and Drescher Graduate Campus, while SPC coordinated the Seaver College events at the Center for Communication and Business (CCB) and Mullin Town Square.

“We started on March 5 at the CCB, and we realized that that was a population that we hadn’t really reached before, because a lot of Business and Accounting students have internships on Wednesdays, so they

weren’t really around main campus on [March 6],” Van Tress said.

The rainstorm began the morning of March 6, but SPC members met at 6:30 a.m. and chose to move forward with the event on main campus to generate excitement for the day. The event included coffee and donuts in the morning, tacos in the afternoon and display boards where donors could express their pride for their Pepperdine passion.

“Students are involved in so many different things, and they want to get so specific with their gift, and they can, which is so neat,” Holcomb said.

Give2Pepp in the Future Though Kappus, Anderson, Holcomb and Van Tress are already in the process of analyzing what worked well and did not go well in preparation for the 2020 version of Give2Pepp, those still wishing to give need not wait until March 2020. Students, alumni, family and friends can give to Pepperdine at any time online, via phone or check or via Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT).

However, why give to an institution in which one already has so much invested?

“Pepperdine is a non-profit,” Van Tress said. “Tuition only goes so far in covering the costs. There are so many different things running here on campus, and those require funding and participation and involvement.”

Additionally, alumni donorship makes up 5 percent of the U.S. News and World Report rankings of best colleges and universities. This donorship is measured in terms of amount of donors, not amount of dollars, so Give2Pepp seeks to educate students about the importance of giving back.

“The reason that it’s so important for alumni to give back, and the reason that the U.S. News and World Report takes it into consideration in rankings, is because when alumni give back, it shows that they value their degree,” Holcomb said. “It’s a cycle. When you give, you can help increase your ranking, which therefore gives more value to your degree.”

K AR L .W INTER @PEPPER DINE.EDU

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Value of campus safety booths examined ell a g o nzalez g u est contrib ut or Emily t encer g u est contrib ut or The Pepperdine University campus entrance booths stationed at John Tyler and Seaver Drive are familiar to anyone entering the school’s campus.

However, outsiders’ ability to get onto campus – and what may be the ease with which the Department of Public Safety lets people in on campus – has students questioning their effectiveness The entrance booths were added to the campus in the late 1980s, according to President Andrew K. Benton. They are staffed by the Department of Public Safety officers to promote a safe and secure campus.

“We did not want to close off our campus to the community, but we did want to be available for information and to have some sense of who was entering campus,” Benton wrote in an email.

“I would say the task today is more important as the booths provide a useful control point, especially late into the night.”

The Seaver Drive campus entrance booth is staffed and monitored 24/7.

The John Tyler Drive campus entrance booth is staffed and monitored from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Dawn Emrich, director of Public Safety, wrote in an email that the booths are monitored 24/7, but when asked if they have helped deter crime, she said the question is a bit challenging to answer.

“Without a control group to measure if there would be a spike in crime without them, this question is difficult to answer,” Emrich wrote. “In general, having traffic pass through a control point on camera hopefully does deter individuals from coming on campus to commit crimes.”

Emrich wrote that during the day, the entrance booths are for more informational purposes rather than for security.

“Unless something is amiss, such as a drunk driver or other safety concern, visitors are welcome,” Emrich wrote.

“At night, vehicles need a campus permit, ID card or verifiable business/authorization to gain access to campus.”

A nighttime shot of Alumni Park, a space on campus that is accessible for the general public.

While the two campus entrance booths monitor people coming in from the two main University entrances (John Tyler and Seaver Drive), Alumni Park is an area of campus that is widely accessible to the public.

“Public Safety officers routinely patrol the campus, including the Park,” Emrich wrote. “We are also fortunate to be a campus community that looks out for one another, so it’s not uncommon for Public Safety to receive reports if there is a concern.”

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Payson Library Cathie Schuman, the daytime circulation supervisor at Payson Library, said there had been a few instances in the past where suspicious individuals have entered the library.

Schuman said the general public can come in and use the library, though they are not permitted to use the computers or to check out books. However, Crest Associates, who financially support the University, and Friends of the Library, who pay a yearly amount to the University, can come into the library and have full access to all the facilities.

“We notice those who are here regularly, and if there is a homeless person we call Public Safety or if there’s someone who’s acting strangely, we call Public Safety,” Schuman said. “If there is anyone in question, we call Public Safety.”

Schuman could not recall the last time a suspicious individual came into the library, but she was able to recount an instance from a few years ago, noting that DPS has always been swift and quick in their response.

The library is frequently a place where students leave their belongings unattended, laptops, phones other electronics and books strewn across the tables, sometimes for several hours.

Schuman said she would not recommend students leave their belongings, particularly their laptops, unattended, but did note that the library has an itemized lost and found where students have turned in keys, AirPods, phones, Hydro Flasks, and other items left behind.

“It’s at your own discretion,” Schuman said.

“I don’t think in general people steal here, and a lot of times people will turn in items. I feel like it’s pretty safe to leave your stuff.”

The DPS crime log for the 60 days from Jan. 24 to March 24 had 11 instances of theft of the 57 cases reported, with one case occurring in Payson Library. However, it was not indicated whether the perpetrators were students in any of the circumstances.

Student Perspectives Junior Laura Duffield said she has never seen a suspicious person in the library, nor been concerned about the outside public coming into the library to steal her things, or even fellow Pepperdine students. Duffield said she does leave her belongings unattended in the library and jokingly said if she did see someone strange in the library, she would probably assume it was somebody’s parent.

“I feel like it’s such a walk to get to campus, we’re not near anything, and whenever we Lyft anywhere we have to wait at least 15 minutes for the Lyft to get here,” Duffield said. “We aren’t a convenient location for anyone to get to. The li-

Photos by Ella Gonzalez Drive Through | The Seaver Drive Booth (above) and the John Tyler Drive Booth (below) are manned 24/7, day or night by the Department of Public Safety. Every car driving on to campus must pass through one of the two booths, and only those with campus ID’s can drive through at night.

“

Unless something is amiss, such as a drunk driver or other safety concern, visitors are welcome.

Dawn Emrich, Director of Public safety

brary is an environment where everyone is 18 to 22 years old, and you would really stand out, more so than at a community or public library.

You would be really obvious, and I feel like that would be a self-conscious experience among all these 18 to 22-year-olds wearing Gucci.”

Junior Christina Stratton, however, said she saw a man who appeared to be homeless last semester late at night lying on the couches.

“At first I felt selfish for feeling uncomfortable, but I realized the library is a place where a lot of young girls are by themselves, and we all seem to get really comfortable lying around the couches

and studying,” Stratton said.

Stratton said this experience has made her second guess her decision to leave her laptop and other items unattended in the library.

“It’s Malibu, most people generally feel pretty safe, and we trust each other, it’s a small community,” Stratton said. “But when you do take a step back, it is a little odd that at a university we would feel comfortable leaving our laptops and belongings unsupervised.”

Stratton said she was not sure if DPS has contributed to her sense of security on campus, but did note that since this event, she has re-evaluated some of her decisions about campus safety.

There are no links between homeless individuals on campus and stolen or lost items.

Is Pepperdine “safe?”

Senior Megan Manquen said she does feel safe and secure with DPS, recounting an instance where DPS had her pull up her Wavenet account to get through the security booths when she did not have her ID card.

Religion Prof. Ron Highfield said at the beginning of the fall semester, a man came into his office – a man he later recognized to have been his student three to four years ago.

“He looked disturbed,

and at some point, he going through the secuasked me if he could close rity gates and coming in the door [to my office],” through Alumni Park.

Highfield said. “I agreed “This young man was because he seemed pret- an alumnus,” Highfield ty agitated, and then he said. “He wouldn’t have began to tell me a story looked alarming. He was about how when he was well-groomed. Being an in my class he was an alumnus, he could have bybusiness Ashleyon Chavez atheist, and he’s nowPhotos had had campus, this dramatic religious and I don’t see anything experience.” they [DPS] could do exHighfield said it was cept maybe do a more clear the man was dis- thorough interview [at turbed and agitated, and the campus entrance he began to read from booths], but that doesn’t a “manifesto” of sorts. seem very practical.”

Highfield said the man Highfield said he is not was standing between sure how DPS should hanhim and the door and was dle these situations, concarrying a backpack with sidering the accessibility a tennis racket. of campus and the ability “I’m beginning to for outside individuals to think, ‘I wonder what else circumvent the security does he have in that back- gates. However, Highfield pack?’” Highfield said. said he was pleased with Highfield said he re- how DPS handled the inmained empathetic to- cident. ward the individual and “I really appreciate received a call from the DPS, I was never so happy Religion and Philosophy to see a uniformed officer Division office asking in my life,” Highfield said. if he was OK and say- “They were very profesing that they would call sional, they were firm but DPS. Another professor kind to this young man, had alerted the office of and they did not mistreat the man because they him, and they did take sensed something was care of me, and I really suspect. Like Schuman’s appreciate that.” experience with the suspicious individual in the library, Highfield said the response from DPS was quick, arriving at his door within a few minutes to escort the man outside.

Highfield said he is not sure how the man got on campus, adding that even if he did not have a car, he could have accessed EL L A.GONZAL EZ@PEPPER DINE.EDU the University without

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PERSPECTIVES WHAT

PGM

STAFF

⇧ THINKS about Remembering Kimmons

Caitlin Roark | Art Editor

STAFF EDITORIAL Ta k e T i m e T o R e f l e c t O n R a c i s m

March 12 marked the 50th anniversary of the day that Pepperdine DPS Officer Charlie Lane shot and killed 15-year-old Larry Donnell Kimmons, whose portrait now hangs on the first floor of the Payson Library.

A few days prior to the anniversary, the Black Student Association (BSA) posted messages on the Freedom Wall encouraging students and staff alike to wear black “as an act of memory, solidarity and mourning” for Kimmons.

As part of an institution that is always striving to take responsibility and become more socially aware, the Graphic urges students and staff to not just stand in solidarity but to take time to consider the past and the steps they can take to promote social progress at Pepperdine. Only by reflecting on our history can we learn to avoid repeating the same mistakes and move forward together.

Kimmons was a Black high school honors student living near the George Pepperdine College campus in South LA back in 1969. On March

12, Pepperdine officials had given him and his friends permission to use the basketball facility for a friendly game.

As Kimmons and his friends were heading home that evening, Lane stopped them and, after briefly arguing with Kimmons, attempted to handcuff the 15-yearold.

When Kimmons pulled away, Lane headed back to his car and retrieved his 12-gauge shotgun. He then walked back to the boys and, in a matter of “a few seconds,” “pumped” his shotgun from 14 inches away and shot Kimmons in the chest, killing him right in front of a women’s dormitory on the old college campus, according to a coroner’s inquest included in 2016 reporting on the incident by the Graphic.

Kimmons’ tragic death sparked an outcry from the Black students on campus who felt that the event was a “cold-blooded murder” of an innocent Black teenager. A series of revolts and “well-mannered protest[s]” resulting from racial tension broke out afterward and

ended in an agreement for change between the Administration and the student protesters.

In 1972, Pepperdine relocated to its current Malibu campus and eventually closed down the LA campus in 1981, according to that same article in the Graphic.

“I definitely appreciate that the University and groups on campus aren’t shying away from this and are acknowledging that it’s part of [Pepperdine’s] history and part of the reason why we are where we are today,” Black freshman Megan Strydom said.

“Especially with the social and political climate that we’re in today — with instances like this still being a prevalent issue in our society — this is something that everybody, not just some people, really has to deal with and work through.”

It’s clear that we all need to consider these problems. More than 64 percent of Americans indicated that racism remains a major problem in society, and 41 percent responded that Americans pay too little attention to racial issues, according to a

survey conducted by NBC News in May 2018.

What, then, can we do to reflect and take a stand?

On an individual scale, we can honor Kimmons 50 years after his death by making it clear that we have not forgotten him. BSA’s idea that all students wear black in remembrance is elegant and understated.

We mourn the past by acknowledging, reflecting, respecting and improving. Wearing black in solidarity is not only a nod to the shame of the past but also a promise for a better future.

On a national scale, we can enact a police reform that includes the installation of body cameras, racial sensitivity training and better prosecution of police officers who kill.

Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray and Michael Brown — all Black men killed by police — have moved along a conversation about race in the justice system and sparked action within the Black Lives Matter movement. Despite the fact that this problem has only started to receive the publicity it deserves in recent years,

THE 'BU YORKER

it has been an issue in the U.S. for much longer.

Kimmons’ 1969 death serves as one example of that.

The Black Lives Matter movement has brought to light some uncomfortable truths about America’s prejudice and history. Pepperdine is not exempt from that history, seeing as we unfortunately have fallen into similar situations regarding prejudice and racism in our past as well.

The important thing now is to lean instead into a future where police or any other authority do not kill unarmed Black men without a cause and where we serve justice if they do.

We should now open our ears and our eyes to solutions.

The people that police brutality affects the most should be the ones deciding what we should do. For this reason, BSA knows best when it comes to respecting Kimmons, and if they say we should wear black, we should wear black.

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

CONTACT US

1.

SGA passed a resolution to fund a portion of Late Night Breakfast put on by Student Affairs scheduled for Sunday, April 23 from 9:15 p.m. to 11 p.m. in the Waves Cafe.

2.

Caitlin Roark | Art Editor

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Graphic Pepperdine University 24255 Pacific Coast Hwy. Malibu, CA 90263 310-506-4311

3.

peppgraphicmedia@gmail.com peppgraphicadvertising@gmail.com

STAFF LIST M anag i ng Ed i to r m a ry c ate l o n g So c i al M ed i a M anag er m a d i so n n i ch o l s P i x el Ed i to r ella gonzalez o nl i ne p r o d u c er o m a r m u r ph y G New s p r o d u c er a r ace l i c r e sce n c i o c o py c hi ef rya n h a r d i n g s p ec i al ed i ti o n ed i to r ch a n n a ste i n m e tz as si g nm ent ed i to r k ayi u w o n g New s Ed i to r Madeleine Carr Ass i stant New s Ed i to r r o wa n to k e New s As si s tant a sh l e y m o w r e a d e r S p o r ts Ed i to r sa m fi n n e ga n Ass i stant Sp o r ts Ed i to r s K yl e m c ca b e k a r l w i n te r P er s p ec ti v es Ed i to r ga r e n ko soya n P er sp ec ti v es ass i stant a r e e ya ku n awa r a d i sa i L i fe & Ar ts Ed i to r k at n a n ce as si s tant L i fe & ar ts ed i to r julia donlon l i fe & ar ts seni o r r ep o r ter c a r o l i n e e d wa r d s L i fe & Ar ts As si s tant pi pe r w r i g h t P ho to Ed i to r Kaelin mendez as si s tant p ho to ed i to r m i l a n l o i ac o n o Ar t Ed i to r c a i tl i n r oa r k ass i stant ar t ed i to r a l ly a r m str o n g C o py ed i to r s k i l e y d i ste l r ath makena huey ga b r i e l l e m ath ys adv er ti s i ng d i r ec to r b e n h u ya r d Adv er ti s i ng m anag er ca r o l i n e h e r r o n D i r ec to r o f P ep p er d i ne G r ap hi c M ed i a E l i z a b e th Sm i th As si s tant D i r ec to r O f P ep p er d i ne G r ap hi c M ed i a Co u r te n ay Sta l l i n g s MISSION STATEMENT “Pepperdine Graphic Media (PGM) is an editorially independent student news organization that focuses on Pepperdine University and the surrounding communities. PGM consists of the digital and print Graphic, a variety of special publications, GNews, Currents Magazine, social media platforms and an Advertising Department. These platforms serve the community with news, opinion, contemporary information and a public forum for discussion.

PGM strengthens students for purpose, service and leadership by developing their skills in writing, editing and publication production, by providing a vehicle to integrate and implement their liberal arts education, and by developing students’ critical thinking through independent editorial judgment. PGM participates in Pepperdine’s Christian mission and affirmations, especially the pursuit of truth, excellence and freedom in a context of public service. Although PGM reports about Pepperdine University and coordinates with curricula in journalism and other disciplines, it is a student (not a University) news organization. Views expressed are diverse and, of course, do not correspond to all views of any University board, administration, faculty, staff, student or other constituency.”

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Back Parkland survivors GA R E N KOSOYA N P E RS P E C T I V E S E DIT OR Flashing sirens, stunned and dismayed survivors, devastated loved ones and utter heartbreak have become alltoo-common images defining the latest tragedy to grip the nation. With 340 mass shootings reported in 2018, it is evident that America is facing a dangerous epidemic of gun violence that has left countless communities across the country in shatters.

In February 2018, a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, resulting in the deaths of 17 innocent people. Over a year later, two survivors would commit suicide, with at least one of the victims reported as suffering from survivor’s guilt and post-traumatic stress.

Parkland survivors took the initiative to lead a movement for much-needed gun reform.

The actions of these young leaders have brought nationwide change, allowing law enforcement to bar a dangerous person from owning a weapon and curtailing the sale of guns at certain stores.

The Pepperdine community is no stranger to this pain. The Borderline shooting on the night of Nov. 7, 2018 was the beginning of a series of tragic events that would leave Pepperdine forever changed.

Caitlin Roark | Art Editor Yet, in the face of such adversity, Pepperdine and its established community proved resilient. Students should continue to show their unity and further reject the notion that such tragedies will become a norm in the status quo by hosting on-campus efforts to contact elected representatives and holding public discussion forums.

In the year since Parkland, survivors have made impressive legislative advancements by using their voices to speak for those who can’t. Launching the March for Our Lives campaign, survivors established organized efforts to reach out to elected officials and bring their attention to gun violence.

Their tireless work did not go unnoticed.

State legislatures took it upon themselves to bring about legitimate change. With-

in the year since Parkland, 69 gun control measures have been implemented. These reforms are evident concessions of state legislatures that were otherwise quite hesitant on even discussing gun reform.

In the midst of discussions surrounding possible solutions to senseless gun violence, dangerous proposals are given a platform. One such proposal even has the support of the Trump administration, which supported the arming of teachers across classrooms in America.

Ensuring that the solution to gun violence is even more guns is not the logical approach. Trying to breakdown the logistics of such a legislative proposal provides insight into the complexity of implementing such a concept. The solution to these tragedies is never as simple as adding or

subtracting the guns; there are more variables to this equation.

Discussions about mental health must also occur. Neglecting one factor of gun violence over an other will only lead to band-aid solutions. The groundwork for legitimate, long-term resolution to the epidemic of mass shootings in America requires civil dialogue and bipartisanship.

As students, it is imperative to promote organizational efforts to continue discourse.

Hosting public forums, writing an op-ed or even engaging in acts of peaceful assembly all publicly portray an effort to engage in dialogue. At Pepperdine, rising student organizations such as The Reformers have made it their mission to have these important conversations.

The survivors of Parkland have shown what determination in the face of hardship can result in. Their efforts resulted in hundreds of thousands of people marching and the implementing of sweeping gun reform measures nationwide.

Pepperdine and its community have the ability to follow in the steps of these young activists.

It is never too soon to have these difficult conversations.

The students of Stoneman Douglas stand as a national example of the power that students have to make a change.

Pepperdine students should follow in their footsteps and prepare a unified student body to reach out to local and federal representatives. Though they aren’t policymakers themselves, students are the key influence in bringing about much-needed reform.

GAR EN.KOSOYAN@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Activate social activism efforts Ca m ry n G o rd on S ta f f W rit e r The first Women’s March took America by storm in 2017. As a protest first aimed at President Donald Trump’s administration’s threats on reproductive, civil and human rights, it quickly transitioned into a global resistance movement, extending into Pepperdine’s community.

The emergence of an organization dedicated to supporting the rights of vulnerable populations under the authority of a new president has shifted the narrative on civic participation in the United States.

At Pepperdine University, the impact of the Women’s March challenges students to bring important conversations to the campus community to push the boundaries of equality in the United States. As social activism nationwide spreads to college campuses, Pepperdine students push to become increasingly civically engaged.

Simply put, the Wom-

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en’s March is a movement targeted toward all communities who face oppression in today’s political atmosphere. The goals of this organization are to dismantle the systems of oppression and build strong, respectful and inclusive structures. The Women’s March began in 2017 with a single global demonstration and has transformed into an annual event dedicated to tackling a variety of socio-political issues like abortion, equal pay Caitlin Roark | Art Editor and immigration.

This movement bloomed an era of be active in a movement is truly powerful and long-awaited change. that has spanned across has produced results, While acknowledging the nation working tohelping to maintain its the achievements of ward a better world. popularity and legitithis past election and As Pepperdine premacy. For example, after the Women’s March, pares students to be the 2018 Power to the there is still more that active members in Polls march, the United needs to be done in global communities, the States voting populathe fight for equality. university also highly tion elected a historic Luckily, at Pepperdine, encourages students to number of women to students are well aware take part in activism Congress. This momenof that reality. that fights for others tous event can be creditIn an effort to bring and the future. In order ed to the 2018 Women’s national conversations to conquer the world’s March, which ignited a to campus, Pepperdine challenges successfire within the AmeriStudent Activities and fully, students need to can population.

Pepperdine’s Washingbe active in bringing Propelled by the ton D.C. program offer social and political controversial Kavanaopportunities for stumovements to local ugh Supreme Court dents to get involved. communities. As seen confirmation, the This past January, with the 2018 mid-term heart-wrenching testiPepperdine students in elections, the power mony from Pepperdine Washington, D.C and invested in the people is alumna Christine Blasey Malibu alike participatcapable of change, and Ford and the insurgence ed in the 2019 Women’s Pepperdine students can of young and diverse March. These students be the change. female candidates, the took advantage of an inThere is great power seeds of 2018 march credible opportunity to in the voices that speak

for change, and the Women’s March is one of many examples of that. In American democracy, there is a constant need to hear from the people. Therefore, utilize the opportunity to vote and speak out on issues that are concerning, stay updated on current events and truly commit to making the world a better place.

As Pepperdine students, it is important to understand that a simple voice can change everything, and a lot of voices can elect a new representational Congress.

C AM RYN.GOR DON@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Give convo a chance

C ar o l i ne Ar c her Sta ff W r i te r One of the most distinct ways that Pepperdine upholds its Church of Christ roots is through the Convocation requirement.

For some, Convocation is tedious at best and insufferable at worst. As a result, speakers often see a wall of laptops and iPhones when they enter Firestone Fieldhouse.

Students should adopt a respectful and positive outlook toward Convocation in order to truly benefit from the requirement.

When intentional about planning and seeking ways to diversify their Convocation credits, students will begin to look forward to receiving them. The Spiritual Mentoring Program enables students to forge meaningful relationships with adults on campus and to learn from their wisdom.

Finding a mentor has positive effects even outside of spiritual life.

Mentors help students “determine who they want to become, how they must change in order to become these people, and how they can take advantage of their college or work experiences to bring about these changes,” according to Heather Stringer’s article published in June 2016.

Students should also take advantage of club Convocation opportunities. They provide a chance to make friends and to delve into more specific topics. Club Convo offerings are expansive, often centering on ethical or social justice issues. These small groups foster deep discussion and close community, according to the website.

Talking about subjects such as faith, ethics and morality serves to enrich relationships, according to Jenn Granneman’s article published in June 2017. Students can approach Convocation as an opportunity to enter into meaningful dialogue.

It is important for all students, even those without a faith of their own, to have a deeper understanding of religion.

Many Convocation events are opportunities to hear and engage in interfaith dialogue.

Religion is inseparable from students’ roles as global citizens, according to Harriet Sherwood’s article published in August 27. Therefore, it is clear that Convo promotes more than just spiritual growth; it also promotes civic awareness.

When students are both curious and creative about Convo, it becomes a more beneficial experience. Students should give speakers the courtesy of their attention.

C AR OL INE.AR C HER @PEPPER DINE.EDU

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Frosh. reps reflect on first year R o wan t o ke a s si stant new s e d itor

It has been almost a full academic year since the freshman SGA representatives took office.

President Eli Sumpter and senators Natalia Escobedo, Jerry Calderon and Chase Johnson sat down with the Graphic again to discuss the school year and their future plans.

Since three out of the four representatives ran on platforms that promised to accomplish things the students wished for, students said they are interested to see how many of those promises came to fruition. Of the nine resolutions that the freshman SGA has prepared, five of them have passed.

Calderon said this year has been successful because of how well their team collaborates.

Calderon said he has been discussing increasing the number of water dispensaries on-campus, specifically in residence halls, and installing paper towel dispensaries in the residence hall bathrooms throughout the year. Pepperdine University administration encouraged the paper towel and water dispensaries in freshman dorms to be “postponed until further notice,” although it is unclear why, Calderon said.

Even though Escobedo said she ran on a platform without “blank promises,” she partnered up with Sumpter to add a spice cabinet in the Waves Cafe and HAWC, which was part of Sumpter’s platform.

“We purchased the materials, and it will be coming soon,” Escobedo said.

Sumpter said utilizing Pepperdine’s facilities to better plan events, such as “nighttime pool

mixers twice a month,” was something he really wanted to make happen, as it was another part of his platform.

“After joining SGA, I found out that The Board is in charge of planning events, but the Board should definitely consider this event,” Sumpter said.

Johnson discussed adding a beach shuttle and extending Payson Library’s hours. He said the beach shuttle proposal was shut down because Pepperdine had one in the past and there was not enough demand.

As for extending library hours, Johnson said, “the resolution passed and we are currently getting close to finding a

“

After being at Pepperdine for a year, and comparing my statement for the Graphic then and now, I now more than ever realize how the continuous need for diverse cultural conversation needs to happen in order to feel included in the community.

Natalia escobedo, freshman senator solution.” A survey was sent out to the students earlier in the semester because the current resolution is that they are going to shorten the hours on one day of the week to extend them on Fri-

days.

Calderon said the team has passed other resolutions that were not part of their respective platforms.

Escobedo and Calderon teamed up to increase the number of trashcans in the Waves Cafe, Calderon said. He said there will be “a specific receptacle for pizza boxes” because they take up so much room in trashcans.

Calderon said he and Escobedo also teamed up to pass the “Alaina Housley Resolution,” in honor of the freshman who was killed in the Nov. 7 Borderline Shooting. They discussed dedicating a bookshelf to her in Payson Library, installing a lending library in front of DeBell or doing something related to music.

The resolution is still being explored because Calderon and Escobedo want to talk to Housley’s parents first, Calderon said.

While in the process of trying to extend library hours, Johnson said he discovered that the library noise levels were very high.

Johnson said he prepared a resolution for SGA to work with the library to bring in an outside company to assess what type of sound management system could resolve the issue.

“SGA currently does not have any solid figures on the pricing or the type of system that would be required to manage the acoustic predicament,” Johnson said.

In the future, Escobedo and Johnson said they are joining forces to run for the Executive Board. Escobedo is running for Vice President of Administration and Johnson is running for Vice President of Finance.

Johnson said since he and Escobedo joined SGA, they in-

Courtesy of Jerry Calderon Political Bonds | (Left to Right) Sen. Chase Johnson, President Eli Sumpter, Sen. Natalia Escobedo and Sen. Jerry Calderon pose at the fall SGA retreat, clad in SGA T-shirts. The freshmen representatives will conclude their first year at Pepperdine in a few weeks. tended on running for the Executive Board because they feel as though they are adequately prepared.

Johnson said they are running with two other students on the self-proclaimed “Dream Team.”

He described himself and Escobedo as a “political freight train.” “[Escobedo] has been a great idea-maker, and I have been great at logistics,” Johnson said.

“She is my anchor because we have complimentary personalities.”

Escobedo said she hopes to continue to “bridge the gap between the students and student government” and promote cultural diversity.

“After being at Pepperdine for a year, and comparing my statement for the Graphic then and now, I now more than ever realize how the continuous need

for diverse cultural conversation needs to happen in order to make sure that every student continues to feel included in the community,” Escobedo said.

Calderon said he is running for sophomore class president and also hopes to promote diversity. He said he wants to create a legitimate cultural arts center, “where cultural clubs and people of color could come and be celebratory of who they are.”

Sumpter said he is not rerunning for SGA. “I really value my time in SGA, but I wanted to make sure that all of my allocated free time was being spent productively in order to ensure that I am giving 100 percent to everything that I am involved in, but I am considering joining SGA my junior year,” Sumpter said.

R OWAN.TOK E@PEPPER DINE.EDU

mar ch 28, 2019

The Graphic

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LIFE & ARTS anastassia kostin life an d arts assista n t

Sherry Yang | Staff Photographer

Photos courtesy of Joshua Gash The Gash Gang | Jim Gash (second from left ) and his family pose for the camera. Joshua Gash (far right) would frequently visit campus so it always felt like home.

What it’s like growing up Gash maggie davis sta ff write r Living in Malibu for college is one thing but growing up in the seaside town is another entirely. Yet the children of many Pepperdine faculty members have the opportunity to do both.

Junior Joshua Gash is the son of Jim Gash, law professor and Pepperdine president-elect. He grew up with his two sisters in a Malibu neighborhood just minutes from the university and attended Church of Christ services on campus from a young age.

“I’d come every Sunday and every Wednesday night to the campus,” Joshua Gash said. “So it really was always very familiar to me. It just always felt like home to me from a really young age.”

Joshua said he considers growing up at Pepperdine a perk. In fact, he recalled that in his first semester at Pepperdine, one of his professors was his former preacher.

“I kind of had all of the built-in connections coming here and then also just knowing where everything is,” Joshua said. “I knew how to get to all my classes, which was really nice.”

Joshua is a Psychology major with a primary mission to help others, although it wasn’t always that way.

“I was planning on being a Biology major,” Joshua said. “I was very good at biology, but I didn’t actually very much like it. But then I kind of had this sudden turn my second semester of my senior year where I just decided I wanted to help people ... I had gone through — and I had a lot of friends who had gone through — mental health issues in high school. I realized that I was actually good at helping other people, and I understood kind of the perspective of people who are going through mental health issues.”

Upon graduation, Joshua said he has many options with his degree.

“I think that in the long run, I’ll probably want to be a therapist or a counselor of some capacity,” Gash

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said.

Being a therapist or a counselor has many different routes within itself, Gash said.

“Either maybe in like an inpatient institution or in a rehab facility or even just opening my own practice for clinical therapy,” Joshua said. “I want to go to grad school and probably get a Ph.D. That’s my current trajectory.”

Joshua is not the first in his family to attend Pepperdine; his older sister, Jessica Gash, graduated in 2017. Because of how close his parents lived to campus, Joshua said he “paid close attention on how they treated her” and how she treated them. He also took note on how close of a connection they maintained, how often she would come home and how often she would ask for help.

“I felt confident after seeing that they didn’t smother her in any way,” Gash said. “I felt confident that I could do the same.”

Gash, however, found himself in the same spot as his older sister when his younger sister began applying to schools. Freshman Jennifer, a Psychology and Religion double major, recalls her admissions process differently than Joshua because of one crucial distinction.

“I’m the only one that applied to other schools out of the three of us,” Jennifer said. “Josh said, ‘No, you’re not going to go there. You’re going to Pepperdine.’”

Although Joshua ultimately supported her choices, she said she believed that he knew Pepperdine was where she belonged.

“I tried not to let that influence me because he was the only one that was saying I was going to do this, but he knew all along,” Jennifer said.

Going to college minutes from where he grew up ultimately proved challenging for Joshua as well.

“There were times when I kind of wanted to get away from it all, but there’s nowhere for me to go,” Joshua said. “When I go back home, I’m going across the street, not going to a

different state, not even going like an hour north. So it’s just a lot of Malibu at once. So I think it was good that I went abroad to kind of get away from it.”

Joshua studied in London during the 2017 academic year and served as the residential advisor (RA) for the program. However, the friendships he acquired during his time abroad began before he ever arrived in London.

Junior Daniel Zarasua met him during the interview process for the RA position.

“Josh was in my house freshman year but we really only started to talk when we learned we were both going to London the next year and both going for the RA position,” Zarasua said.

“He was excited to introduce me to Ben’s Cookies, and we agreed whoever got the residential position would take the other out to lunch in London.”

In London, Zarasua said Joshua was very knowledgeable of the area. Joshua said he had stayed at the London program while his father served as a faculty member abroad and already knew the director and the assistant director of the program.

The connections Joshua has found at Pepperdine extend to junior Nathan Heard, who also grew up as the son of Religion Professor Christopher Heard.

Heard said he met Joshua on several occasions before the two began to attend Pepperdine, from attending the same summer camps and church-related events. Heard’s friendship with Gash began during Base Camp — a Pepperdine Campus Recreation trip for first-year students.

“At Base Camp, I fell out of a tree and cut myself, and Josh was the one who took care of me,” Heard said.

“Over that semester, we just got closer. We had dinner one time where we sat down with the intent of finding out more about each other, and that’s when we really hit it off as friends.”

While Heard said there are several things they both can enjoy about being enrolled at Pepperdine as a faculty member’s kin, including the abil-

ity to see their families more often, there are also negative aspects that he finds Gash relates to more than others would.

“There is occasionally an invasion of privacy,” Heard said. “But in general, it is nice to be here.”

Heard, Zarasua and Jennifer all consider themselves to be close to Joshua despite all commenting that they do not see him as frequently as they used to. What factor plays a role in what they all describe as a lasting connection?

“He values friendship and creativity and making memories with his friends,” Zarasua said.

“The main thing is just that he’s there when people need him,” Jennifer said.

Ultimately, the answer lies with Joshua himself.

“I’m dedicated,” Joshua said.

“

I'd come every Sunday and every Wednesday night to the campus. So it really was always very familiar to me. It just always felt like home to me from a really young age.

joshua gash

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Color Esperanza brings diversity in cultural education L iz a blake s taf f write r Before Pepperdine University students can receive a grade from one Spanish professor’s advanced level course, they must first fully immerse themselves within the Spanish-speaking cultures to master fluency. This initiative is practiced through cultural projects like Color Esperanza, which means Color of Hope, and Professor Cristina Roggero’s implementation of the Malibu Labor Exchange diversity project.

Roggero, an Argentinian-native Spanish professor who has taught at the university for over 15 years, has always made it a goal to provide diverse projects within her classroom. Coming from the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires, her mission is always to include everyone and anyone possible, just as she would for her people back home.

“This quest was a part of my commitment to support the Christian mission of the university, which was, and is still, in my heart,” Roggero said.

Not only does Roggero engage students in Latinx culture through presentations and research but she also creates projects outside of the classroom that push students outside of their comfort zone to understand the culture and language they are learning.

After taking a service learning course before her instruction began in 2003, Roggero created Color Esperanza, which has students attend Art Haycox Elementary School in Oxnard, California as volunteers for predominantly Spanish-speaking children.

In conjunction with the Color Esperanza project, Roggero also created the Malibu Labor Exchange project, where students go to the Exchange to talk with workers for just five minutes outside of Pepperdine’s gates.

For both projects, students can gain unique experiences and realizations that they would most likely never get in another classroom. At the

Labor Exchange, students can sit down with workers from hispanic countries they have studied in the classroom and get to know about their cultural history through native conversation.

Roggero said she believes that “most of the students, when they learn about the sacrificial life of the workers, are moved with compassion.”

After visiting the Labor Exchange, students must complete the other half of their diversity project: Color Esperanza. Once students complete the Color Esperanza project of traveling to the Oxnard elementary school, they gain a completely opposite cultural experience from volunteering with younger children instead of older workers.

Students who complete this project sit down and speak with elementary students in Spanish and get to know what they are currently studying.

Roggero said for most university students, the experience becomes a humble reminder of gratitude.

“They appreciate the opportunities they had when growing up, and they are happy to give help to kids less fortunate than they are,” Roggero said. “They work as young mentors for the children.”

Instead of viewing the projects as tedious, Roggero said she hopes students gain the knowledge it takes to become the best students they can be.

“I want [students] to develop awareness, an open mind and compassion to learn that service is not necessarily about doing gigantic, ambitious work, but about doing small deeds with love,” Roggero said.

Even though some students may not jump at the thought of completing work outside of the classroom, junior Caitlin Crawley said she wants to make sure she gets everything she can out of these experiences. She describes herself as not being fully fluent but is happy to be able to sit down with Labor Exchange workers. “[The workers] are such kind and giving people,”

Photo Courtesy of @HaycoxVikings Kids in the Classroom | Students at Haycox Elementary sit at their desks. The Color Esperanza project brought Pepperdine students to this elementary school to volunteer.

Crawley said. “They were patient with me and tried to meet me where I was at, especially when my nerves failed me and I couldn’t think of anything to say. It makes me appreciate the opportunity for the class and just my education as a whole.”

For students who tend to struggle with language learning, these experiences enrich their ability to grasp Spanish even more. Senior Alison Schutz said she was mortified at the thought of these assigned projects but ended up loving them for their surprising learning outcomes.

“By speaking to native Spanish speakers, they were able to help me become more confident in my speaking,” Schutz said. “They were encouraging and truly interested in what we had to say, even if it was only a few words.

In terms of whether these diversity projects can truly make a difference in a student’s learning ex-

perience, Schutz’s experience proved to do just that.

“You learn a lot more by trying and making mistakes than not trying at all,” Schutz said. “While I was helping [the workers] with their English, they were helping me with my Spanish. These activities positively impacted my learning because they made me realize I could communicate in Spanish better than I originally thought I could.”

Crawley said her experience is one that extends beyond the length of her assigned Spanish course. “The classroom is one thing but having to actually hold a conversation with a fluent Spanish speaker is another,” Crawley said. “[The projects] gave me a real gauge of where I was at in my learning of the language and make me want to work harder and learn more after throwing myself in the deep end like that. I even continue to do online lessons at home through the app Duolingo.”

Overall, students gain worldly knowledge that can stay with them throughout their educational careers.

As a student studying to become a teacher, Schutz said she recognizes the longevity of these once-in-a-lifetime educational experiences and their long-lasting outcomes.

Photos byitLawrence Liuto “I think is important incorporate diverse activities and service learning into any classroom because it does not take a lot to make an impact on someone’s life,” Schutz said. “Both of the places we visited were so appreciative of our time and help. Not only were we helping them but they were helping us.

Greenhaw brings a new form of therapy to Pepperdine

P ip er wright li f e & A rts assista n t

With the stress of school, work, social life and extracurricular activities, many students find themselves searching for ways to relieve the stress of daily life.

Art therapy is a way to detect emotions through forms of creativity. “Art therapy involves the use of creative techniques such as drawing, painting, collage, coloring or sculpting to help people express themselves artistically and examine the psychological and emotional undertones in their art,” according to Psychology Today.

Art therapy helps people explore their emotions as well as “improve self-esteem, manage addictions, relieve stress, improve symptoms of anxiety and depression and cope with a physical illness or disability.”

One of Pepperdine’s own counselors, Sparkle Greenhaw, created a space for students to partake in art therapy and use art as a form of healing and expression.

“The Expressive Arts Group is open to all Pepperdine students,” Greenhaw wrote in an email. “This group meets weekly and provides an opportunity for students to express their thoughts and feelings through art.”

Each week, the group explores different topics together such as “family, love, grief, or peace; and [provides] a different medium (canvas, paint, watercolors, pencils, clay, collage, etc.)

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to express the weekly topic,” Greenhaw wrote. No prior art experience is needed.

Many students find traditional therapy daunting and anxiety-inducing.

Art therapy is a great alternative for those who might be intimidated by traditional counseling.

“The repetitive motions of expressive arts can be therapeutic and relaxing,” Greenhaw wrote. “Students may feel more connected with others if they choose to share what they have created.”

This will be the third semester that the group will be offered, and an aver-

age of five students attend the group each week.

“The Expressive Arts Group is the only arts group currently offered in the Counseling Center, although other forms of art expression may be used in individual counseling,” Sparkles wrote.

A successful group process includes “students engaging with the art medium in a meaningful way, using group time to relax and reflect, taking risks to share openly, and connecting with others in the group.”

Art therapy has become a more widespread source of therapy in recent years.

“This type of group is offered at some other Universities, and I thought Pepperdine students could benefit from this type of creative, therapeutic outlet,” Greenhaw wrote. “Some students attend once, and others attend ongoing. It has been a vibrant and insightful experience for many students.”

The group meets at 5 p.m. on Thursdays in the Counseling Center. Students can call to sign up or just show up any Thursday. It is open to any and all students; feel free to bring a friend.

PIPER .W R IGHT@PEPPER DINE.EDU

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Art by Caitlin Roark

Beauty, Health and Wellness: Sunscreen 101

ya s min k a ze m in y s taff w rit e r Sunscreen gets a bad rap. I don’t know about you, but I’ve personally been fighting my mom’s incessant insistence since I popped out of the womb. I would literally run for the hills anytime a bottle of thick, bright white, coconut-scented goop came my way.

But moving to Malibu and spending all four seasons in the sun has forced me to reconsider my previous position on the matter.

As tempting as a tan is, I’ve realized that no one will care if I’m tan now if 10 years from now I’m all shriveled and wrinkled, aka pruned up. Yes, Mom, you were right. I take comfort in my undamaged face, now knowing that every time I step out of the door, I’ve done my part to protect myself from premature aging and skin cancer.

I know it’s not glamorous, but it’s absolutely crucial. No amount of makeup or expensive skincare regimens can fully correct or cover up skin damage and premature aging. There is no rewind button. You only get one face in this life, and you’ll thank yourself later, as it’s always easier (and cheaper) to prevent damage than to attempt to undo years of it. Make protecting your face a priority while you’re young. Please, dear God, do not forget your neck!

There is no such thing as a safe tan unless it comes in a bottle, but we can get into that another week. Melanin is what makes your skin darken or tan, and it is produced only when the skin has been damaged by the sun, according to the FDA. So anytime you are tan, damage has been done.

SPF protects you from UVB rays — the ones that reach your epidermis, or the superficial layer of skin, and lead to cancer and sunburn if unprotected. SPF does not protect you from UVA rays, which reach the deepest level of your skin, the dermis, and cause premature aging, according to TIME Magazine. It’s important you choose sunscreens that offer Broad Spectrum protection from both types of rays.

I would try to get at least a 30 Broad Spectrum SPF or above, and always remember to reapply after a sweat or a swim. If you’re hiking at the beach or spending time outside in direct sun, always wear a hat. Even when it’s cloudy, 80 percent of the sun’s rays can and will

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reach your pretty little face, so plan, expect and protect.

Since coming to these realizations, I have searched and scoured high and low for the best of the best when it comes to sunscreen. Just because protecting my face is something I have to do doesn’t mean it should clog pores, leave a white cast or bum me out in general. I held sunscreen to the same standard as I held my favorite tinted moisturizer and went from there. Use sunscreen, but make it great.

I’m proud to say I’m on my 16th bottle of my personal favorite, and yes, it has replaced my tinted moisturizer.

I know every skin type is different, and I’ve tried tons, and I do mean tons, because I didn’t want to settle for mediocrity and neither should you. Check out a few of my tried and true favorites below.

For normal to dry skin: Nourishing oils give a gorgeous nongreasy glow: Suntegrity 5 in 1 Natural Moiturizing Face Sunscreen

www.amazon.com

www.suntegrityskincare.com

Hydrating hyaluronic acid plus a little more coverage: Elta MD UV Elements Broad Spectrum SPF 44 Tinted For oily or sensitive skin: Oil-free with a matte finish: CoTZ Face Tinted SPF 40 Tizo 3 Tinted Face Mineral SPF 40 For acne-prone or sensitive skin: My personal favorite: Elta MD UV Clear Tinted SPF 40 Find a sunscreen that works for you and start adding it to your morning routine now. You’ll thank me at our 20year reunion.

YA S MI N . KA Z E MI N Y @P E P P E RD I N E . E D U

www.amazon.com

www.dermstore.com

www.eltamd.com

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Photos by Julia Donlon

Nothing but Smiles | Jonathan Cottrill smiles for the camera as he marks Coffee Monday’s 100th Interview. He’s been a fan of Coffee Monday for a while.

Coffee Monday hits its 100th Interview julia donlon Life and Arts Assistant Editor This week marks Coffee Monday’s 100th interview! Over the course of the past year and a half, I have gotten to know 100 amazing individuals. Over 100 hours and 100 cups of coffee later, I’ve listened to what people are passionate about, what they hope for in this world and what makes them, them.

Coffee Monday is a movement that I started in 2017 to cultivate an atmosphere of inclusiveness and inspire deeper relationships.

“

My favorite part of Pepperdine is definitely the people — from the people who make my breakfast with a smile in the morning to my friends I see while walking to class; they're all great.

Jonathan Cottrill

It has picked up traction, with almost 1,000 followers on Instagram.

During a weekly one-hour coffee date, I spend time with someone and share his or her story with the rest of the world, hopefully encouraging everyone else to take the time to have coffee with someone new.

For the 100th interview, I got to know Jonathan Cottrill at the Starbucks on campus over a cold brew.

Jonathan Cottrill from Columbus, Ohio is a sophomore Public Relations major with an Intercultural Studies minor at Pepperdine University.

Cottrill said one of his goals in life is to be the best he can be in whatever he does. His favorite people in the entire world are his parents, who just recently came out to watch him perform in Songfest, Cottrill said.

Cottrill said he is passionate about pop culture as well as dancing, having taken dance classes since the sixth grade. Recently, he was the choreographer for the Eta Theta Tau Songfest group, so if you got a chance to see a performance and see him around campus, congratulate him on great choreography.

We continued our conversation by talking about things that w him.

“Seeing other people’s achievements inspires me,” Cottrill said.

“Also seeing others create and perform art inspires me as well.”

Cottrill said a moment in his life that made him feel alive was the first time he went to Europe on vacation and experienced a different culture.

“It made me feel free and realize that we are so small in the grand scheme of things; the world is so big,” Cottrill said.

During the coffee date, Cottrill and I discussed his purpose in life.

“It changes every day,” Cottrill said. “Sometimes I think my purpose is to start a civil rights movement, while other days I think it’s to sell everything and go backpacking around the world.”

We ended our conversation with the best advice he said he could give to someone: “You can fail at what you don’t like just as easily as you can fail at what you do, so you might as well do what you love.”

Check out the Coffee Monday’s social media (@thecoffeemonday) for all of its interviews.

JULIA.DONLON@PEPPERDINE.EDU

100 Cups of Coffee | People pose with their drinks to be featured on Coffee Monday’s Instagram. Julia Donlon has spent over 100 hours getting to know people from all over the world and tries to capture their personality in these pictures.

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Photos by Karl Winter Team Effort | The Waves congratuate one another after a win against California State University, Northridge on Marth 20. The win marked the fourth win in a row for the Waves, and they have won three of four games since.

Baseball edges Minnesota in thriller, defeats CSUN Kar l W inter As si stant S ports E d itor

It certainly wasn’t pretty, but Pepperdine Baseball won their third and fourth consecutive games Tuesday, March 19 and Wednesday, March 20 behind strong hitting displays. The Waves then took two of three games from Gonzaga in a crucial weekend series and defeated Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday.

Despite blowing a seven-run, eighth-inning lead, the Waves defeated Minnesota 13-12 on March 19, as first baseman Billy Cook delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth. The following afternoon, right-hander Dane Morrow pitched seven scoreless innings en route to a 9-5 victory over Cal State Northridge (CSUN).

“It was ugly,” Head Coach Rick Hirtensteiner said of the Minnesota game. “We fortunately did come away with a win. It’s a good lesson that the game is never over until you get that last out in the ninth.”

After winning two of three on the road against the University of San Diego to open West Coast Conference (WCC) play, the Waves’ bats had momentum going into the

five home matchups in six days.

In both mid-week games, Pepperdine went through the entire batting lineup in the bottom of the first inning and knocked the opponent’s starter out of the game before he had recorded three outs.

“It’s been a long time coming,” sophomore Cook said. “We’ve played a lot of good teams early on, and that’s prepared us for all of this.”

Minnesota struck first on an overcast Tuesday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium, getting a run-scoring single from Max Meyer in the top of the first. The Waves responded immediately, jumping on Golden Gophers’ starter Sam Thoresen for four runs in the bottom half of the inning, highlighted by a two-run double by Cook.

Pepperdine’s starting pitcher, redshirt freshman Raul Salazar, tossed five innings in his first collegiate start, helping the Waves to a 4-2 lead entering the seventh inning.

The final third of the game was a slugfest, with the teams combining to score 19 runs in the final three innings. Junior center fielder Cory Wills and freshman second

baseman Wyatt Young each hit a two-run single to give the Waves a 9-2 lead entering the eighth, but Minnesota countered with back-to-back home runs to cut the lead to 9-6.

Through the first 18 games of the season, Young was hitting .342, while Wills was slashing just .214.

“Every series or every week, you have different guys that are swinging it well, and some guys that aren’t,” said Hirtensteiner, who is in his fourth year as head coach.

Heading into the ninth, the Waves led 11-6 as daylight faded and the temperature dropped, but the Golden Gophers were not finished. Minnesota scored six runs against two Pepperdine relievers, all with two outs, three on a game-tying double

by Jordan Kozicky.

Pepperdine, stunned by the turn of events, entered the bottom of the ninth trailing by a run, but determined to complete the game in the semi-darkness.

Third basemen Aharon Modlin tied the game with a two-out single up the middle that scored shortstop Quincy McAfee, then stole second. After designated hitter Mike Malinchak reached on an error, Cook stepped to the plate,

nearly four hours after the game began.

“I was just trying to get up there, have a good at-bat, put something in play,” Cook said. “Obviously, it was hard to see — really just up there focusing and trying to put pressure on the defense.

I was able to put one in play; [it] wasn’t the besthit ball, but it did the job.”

Cook’s hit ricocheted off of second base and into center field, scoring Modlin and sending the Waves’ dugout pouring onto the field to celebrate.

About 20 hours later, Pepperdine would take the field again, ready to take on CSUN. In the bottom of the first inning, the Waves staged an epic two-out rally, scoring seven runs highlighted by junior catcher Joe Caparis’ threerun double.

“It was seven runs after the first two guys got out,” Hirtensteiner said.

“Then, I think we went hit, error, hit, hit, hit, walk, hit, hit, and put seven up on the board, which was great.”

From there, starting pitcher Dane Morrow, making his first start of the season, took control for Pepperdine.

“It was really fun,” sophomore Morrow said.

“My defense was great,

and I couldn’t be happier to get a win.”

Morrow tossed seven scoreless innings, striking out six and allowing only five hits.

“For him to come out here and throw seven and put up all zeroes, and it’s a Wednesday game, a backto-back mid-week, where the pitching is a little bit thin — just really picked us up and put us in a great spot to get the win,” Hirtensteiner said.

Despite pitching with a big lead, Morrow said “nothing’s ever comfortable,” which proved true late in the game again.

The Matadors attempted a ninth-inning rally, scoring five runs against Pepperdine reliever Trevor Kniskern, including a three-run home run to deep left field by Wesley Ghan-Gibson. The outburst proved to be too little, too late, as the Waves closed out the 9-5 victory.

Pepperdine Baseball immediately shifted their focus to a critical threegame series against Gonzaga, a team picked to win the WCC ahead of the Waves, and the team that destroyed the Waves in the 2018 WCC Championship game.

“Them beating us last year in the conference championship just hurt so much,” Morrow said.

“We’re going to really go after it this weekend.”

The Waves used a fourth-inning two-run home run by sophomore outfielder Reese Alexiades to defeat the Bulldogs 4-2 in Friday’s series opener at Eddy D. Field Stadium.

Pepperdine prevailed again on Saturday, as junior starting pitcher Easton Lucas delivered a complete-game masterpiece in a 3-1 victory.

Gonzaga stole the final game of the series on Sunday, scoring two ninth-inning runs to win 3-2 and snap the Waves’ six-game winning streak.

“Every conference game is big, so we’re just trying to take it one game at a time,” Cook said.

On Tuesday, Pepperdine defeated perennial powerhouse Cal State Fullerton 11-4 on the road, thanks in part to Young’s fifth-inning grand slam. The win marked the team’s seventh in its last eight games.

Next up for the Waves is a three-game series with conference foe Pacific in Stockton, California, with the opener on Friday, March 29.

K AR L .W INTER @PEPPER DINE.EDU

Force Out | (Left) Reflief pitcher Benjamin Slattery makes an out at first against Minnesota. (Right) Infielder Billy Cook eyes the ball at first base looking to score an out against California State University, Northridge.

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Women’s Golf prepares for postseason Kyle McCabe as si stan t sp orts e d itor Pepperdine Women’s Golf got off to a slow start in their spring season with ninth and sixth place finishes at the Bruin Wave Invitational in San Luis Obispo on Feb. 25 and 26 and the Juli Inkster Invitational hosted by the University of San Francisco March 18 and 19.

The team also played in the Lamkin Invitational hosted by San Diego State Monday through Wednesday. Good performances in the stroke round earned the Waves the top seed in the match play, but they lost to eighth seeded Sacramento State 3.5-1.5.

Freshman Kathrine Chan finished first on the team at the Bruin Wave Invitational, finishing tied for 15th overall at 11 strokes over par after birdying three holes in the last round.

“It felt really good to have one of my best finishes there, knowing that the course is really tricky and that I really had to grind it out there,” Chan said.

“I think I definitely did that and kept my head above the water and just did what I had to do.”

Chan’s performance at the Bruin Wave Invitational impressed senior Hira Naveed. “[Chan] did very well, she grinded very well out there, that’s a tough golf course and a tough event too,” Naveed said. “There’s a lot of strong teams that go there. And for her to step up as a freshman and lead the way, that was very cool to see.”

Head Coach Laurie Gibbs wrote in an email that the team needed to shake off the rust after not playing in a tournament for four months.

Naveed said the location of the tournament, the San Luis Obispo Country Club, is one of the hardest courses the team plays all year.

“A lot of teams struggle — I mean the winning score wasn’t very low either,” Naveed said. “According to how tough the course was playing, we performed well. We would have liked to perform better. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible.”

Photos courtesy of Owen Main/Pepperdine Athletics

Following Through | Senior Hira Naveed looks out after her drive. Women’s Golf finished ninth and sixth at the Bruin Wave Invitational and the Juli Inkster Invitational, respectively.

The Waves had a similar performance at the Meadow Club in Fairfax, California, for the Juli Inkster Invitational.

“We were hoping to actually go out and win the tournament based off of our ranking,” Naveed said. “We played well the first day, fought through the 36 holes and then kind of didn’t perform as we would have liked to. Those things happen. You can’t win all of them.”

Naveed finished first on the team at University of San Francisco’s tournament at three strokes over par with a first round that was two under and an even third round.

“Any day that you shoot even par or under par is always a good day,” Naveed said. “I had two solid rounds out of three, which is good. [I] would’ve liked to include the second round, but you know, it’s golf.”

Although the team finished sixth out of 12 teams at the tournament, Gibbs wrote in an email that the team

worked well on things that will help them once the postseason rolls around.

All three spring tournaments Pepperdine played featured two rounds on the first day.

“I don’t know what’s going through each individual player’s mind, but 36 hole days are always very tough,” Naveed said. “You just got to grind it out and try to post a decent, respectable number.”

Unlike the other spring tournaments, the Lamkin Invitational features match play. The stroke round uses normal team scoring to determine the seeds for a bracket style championship tournament. Individuals go head-to-head through 18 holes to try to win a point for their team.

“It’s kind of like an event where we just go out and have fun,” Naveed said.

“Match play is always fun, going out and playing other teams.”

In stroke play, senior Hannah Haythorne and junior Momoka Kobori tied for second place overall to lead the

Waves to the No. 1 match play seed.

Against Sacramento State, Chan won with three strokes up and two holes left, Kobori tied her opponent and Haythorne, Naveed and senior Patricia Wong all lost their matchups.

The Waves came back strong Tuesday and beat Texas Tech 3-2, with Naveed, Kobori and Wong scoring points.

Pepperdine will travel to the Silverado Country Club for the University of Colorado and University of Oregon’s Silverado Showdown.

“That’s a beautiful golf course,” Naveed said. “We always enjoy going up there and playing in that event.

We’ve always played quite well up there, so just keep that going from previous years and hopefully we can have a strong finish in that as well.”

Gibbs said in an email that Silverado will be a good chance for the team to play against a strong field and work on the little things to prepare for the postseason.

“Each of us individually has something to improve on specifically,” Chan said. “It could be your wedge shots, short game, putting or even just hitting the ball.”

The Silverado Showdown is the Waves’ last tournament before the West Coast Conference and NCAA Regional tournaments. Despite the sluggish start to the spring, Naveed said she thinks the team is on the right track.

“I think everyone is putting in their work in practice and it’s really showing,” Naveed said. “Practices are really good. If we can just integrate that a little better into our tournaments, I think that’s where we’ll step up and perform and give a good fight to the other teams.”

Chan also feels confident the team will be ready for the Regional and qualify for the NCAA National Championships.

“It takes a lot of effort, a lot of grinding and practice,” Chan said. “But overall, I believe that we can do it.”

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

NFLPA director speaks about advocacy Kar l W inter Ass i s tant Spo rts E d itor

Pepperdine discontinued its football program in 1961, but that didn’t stop the university’s Law and Sports Administration programs from collaborating to bring a big name in the football world to campus — a big name who also happens to be an accomplished lawyer.

DeMaurice “De” Smith, the executive director of the National Football League Player’s Association (NFLPA), spoke for nearly an hour March 21 at an event at the Caruso Auditorium at the Pepperdine School of Law. Jim Trotter, NFL Network reporter and former Sports Illustrated writer, joined Smith to moderate the event, “The Ethics of Zealous Advocacy: Understanding the Business of Sports and Labor.”

“It’s a weird world where you’re watching a bunch of sports [commentators] criticize lawyers for engaging in their ethical obligation,” Smith said. “The job of the advocate, unfortunately, in this [sports] realm is different because we have a private trial and a very public trial.”

Smith had quite a bit to say about advocacy and activism, discussing the NFL’s national anthem controversy, his legal adversary Roger Goodell, the NBA and even marijuana.

Smith, a former assistant United States attorney in the District of

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Columbia, spoke with Trotter initially about the limits and challenges of representing “2,000 of the kindest, gentlest people you’ve ever met” (sarcasm intended).

“I think the cost of this job to a certain extent is you have to create a public persona that is in the best interest of your players even though it might not be who you are,” Smith said.

Drawing a line between activism and advocacy because activism does not contain the same “fiduciary obligations,” Smith explained that a group of players fighting for leverage with 31 owners, all of whom are billionaires, was not always easy. “[The New Orleans Saints] Bounty [scandal] was a case when I realized that the league plays the public advocacy game in a very bare-knuckled, brutal way,” Smith said. “Part of accepting this job is you need to be willing to play the role of a public advocate.”

As the leader of the NFLPA, which is essentially a labor union, Smith certainly did not apologize for defending the players that he represents.

“Our touchstone is ‘what is in the best interest of the bargaining unit: the men who play in this league and their families?’” Smith said. “That means, as a labor union, our touchstone is wages, hours and working conditions.”

For example, in the case

of the national anthem kneeling controversy, not all players held the same opinion, but the NFLPA still reached a standstill agreement with the NFL in which the league did not enforce a rule for players to stand and the union did not pursue a lawsuit on First Amendment grounds.

The union chose to look past criticism from the sports media community and potential loss of sponsors when choosing to advocate for the players’ right to kneel.

“If the litmus test is going to be that we need to care to the economic interest in order to preserve the economic health of the game, I think I can come up with a lot of examples, where if men and women had not made the right choice, to say ‘we don’t care about a sponsor,’ I think that we wouldn’t have been writing what I still believe is the moral arc in this country towards good,” Smith said.

Additionally, when asked by an audience member about the NFLPA’s consideration of President Trump’s comments criticizing NFL players for protesting during the anthem, Smith stood firmly.

“I would be lying to you if [I said] we were ambivalent or unaware of the President’s comments, but at the same time, we play football,” Smith said. “If we’re going to start making decisions based on what someone’s tweeting about at 4 in the morning,

I think I can convince you that’s not a good business model.”

Ultimately, Smith said he is proud of the fact that the NFL does not require its players to stand for the anthem, unlike the NBA, which is considered “to be more social justice friendly” but also had no players kneel.

After about 25 minutes of discussion with Trotter, Smith fielded questions from the audience, some of which focused on the possibility of an NFL player strike in 2021, when the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and NFLPA (which was initially negotiated by Smith) expires.

“Our players either need to make a decision that they’re going to approach the situation as a group of unified men, or they won’t,” Smith said.

Referencing the success of the 1994 Major League Baseball player strike, which forced the first cancellation of the World Series since 1904, Smith challenged the players to decide what was important to them.

“Talk is so cheap,” Smith said. “If you really really don’t like ‘x,’ and ‘x’ is something for you that you’re willing to die on the hill for, then you need to be willing to strike for it.”

To the playful dismay of the crowd in the auditorium, Smith would not disclose the things that the players might be willing to strike and lose a year of playing football over.

Photo by Kyle McCabe Industry Leaders | DeMaurice Smith (left) and Jim Trotter (right) converse in the Caruso Auditorium on March 21.

“I think people would be surprised about where players rank what they think is really important,” Smith said. “It’s almost opposite what anybody on ESPN says that our players say is important.”

However, when asked about NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Smith was not shy about criticizing Goodell, stating that Goodell simply “should not be involved” in many of the disciplinary decisions that are delivered to players by the league.

“With respect to player discipline and a lot of other things that [Goodell], over the years, has done himself no favors,” Smith said.

Finally, when asked about the differences in negotiation strategy from his job as a lawyer to his

role with the NFLPA, Smith was candid in saying that he cared more about player interests than legal debates.

“While using marijuana might have a medicinal benefit in some cases, I care more about how do we avoid putting the players in a situation where they need it in the first place?” Smith said.

With help from the audience, Smith covered a wide range of topics during the event, yet also made his point about zealous advocacy clear: sometimes, done the right way, it is necessary.

K AR L .W INTER @PEPPER DINE.EDU

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SPORTS

Photos by Karl Winter Running the Game | (Left to right) Sophomore Abbey Meck earns a personal best in the 1500-meter run and dominates her heat; senior Nick Heath gets fourth place in the 3000-meter run; freshman Alexa Ortega wins her heat of the 200-meter dash; and senior Catie Barilla starts out of the blocks in the 400-meter hurdles, all at the Cal Poly Invitational in San Luis Obispo.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL STILL DANCING Kar l w int er ASS I S TANT SP ORTS E DITOR

Pepperdine Women’s Basketball continued its historic postseason run Sunday, defeating Saint Mary’s 65-61 in the second round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).

After beating California Baptist in Riverside for the first postseason win in program history, the Waves were sent to the road again, taking on a West Coast Conference foe in Moraga, California.

Similar to the Cal Baptist game, the Waves trailed at halftime, as they shot only 33 percent to the Gaels’ 59 percent in the first half.

However, the team battled back, outscoring the Gaels 26-14 in the fourth quarter behind clutch performances by senior star Yasmine Robinson-Bacote and junior Deezha Battle and the post presence of redshirt junior Megan House.

Despite a cold-shooting first half, Robinson-Bacote finished with 31 points.

Now, the Waves will take the “road warriors” role to Laramie, Wyoming, as their Sweet Sixteen game is tonight against the Wyoming Cowgirls.

The WNIT does not seed teams, but selects home sites as the tournament goes on, so the Waves could possibly host a game at Firestone Fieldhouse should they advance to the WNIT Elite Eight or beyond.

Waves Track prepares for home stretch S awa ya ma k awa s ta ff w r ite r

“I don’t think limits. My hunger is always there.” - Usain Bolt.

Just as the world’s fastest man in the history once said, there seems to be no limits for the Pepperdine Track team this season. During the indoors campaign earlier this season, the Women’s Track team broke several indoor records. Only half way into the outdoor season, the Waves Track team has already broken two school records and 10 performances have made it into the top 5 all-time list. With nine more meets remaining this season, the Waves runners are hungry for more.

Last season saw the Waves’ current fastest sprint hurdler, Caila Tongco, break the 60-meter hurdles Pepperdine record with a time of 9.46 seconds. Now as a sophomore, Tongco is already breaking records and continuing to display a strong record-breaking form this season.

Already this year, she has re-written her name in the record book, knocking off half a second off her previous record by posting a time of 8.96 seconds at Boise State meeting on Feb. 1. Tongco also posted a time of 14.56 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles at UC Irvine on March 16, placing her on the top of the all-time Pepperdine rankings.

Tongco’s time bettered the previous school record by more than 0.6 seconds.

“I set the expectations for myself to set those goals so it’s kind of fulfilling knowing that I accomplished it,” the Seattle born-and-raised athlete said.

Despite already accomplishing her goals early on in the season, Tongco

is “not satisfied with where [she is] at and still want[s] to run faster as the season progresses.”

With two school records under her belt, she said she is hoping to improve on her lifetime best in hurdle races while aiming to break the 12 seconds barrier for the 100-meter dash.

Continuing to improve, sophomore Abbey Meck has shown promising performances in the women’s distance races this season.

Meck began her successful campaign back in January when she broke the school record in the 3000-meter indoor race at Boise State. As for the indoor season, she has also put down her name in the 1 mile and 5000-meter races.

As the fastest distance runner on the team this season, Meck posted a time of 5:09.74 in the 1 mile race at Santa Barbara on Feb. 16. This time also puts her No. 1 on the school’s alltime rankings. Meck’s record-breaking form continues as she is dominating this season’s school ranking in the 800, 1500, 3000 and 5000.

“It’s always good to have a goal that’s not only just in your mind,” the 2017-19 Pepperdine scholar-athlete recipient said.

Despite starting the season a month after, the men’s team is also following the women’s successfully solid performances as sophomore Justin Touhey looks to end the season on a high note.

Touhey, a distance runner, says that a lot of the training this season has been mainly focused on strength and endurance.

Preparing for the second half of the season, Touhey competed in the 1500 at Cal Poly Invitational on March 23.

Touhey said running in a comparatively fast paced race allowed him to prepare “dealing with tired legs and how to pick up the pace,” for his event, the 5000.

Both track teams mainly consist of sophomores and freshmen. Senior Nick Heath, whom Touhey says is a “solid foundation of our program,” will be leaving the team at the end of the season after setting numerous school records during his time as a Wave.

Even though some of their leaders and role models are leaving, Touhey said most of the younger athletes are already taking leadership roles.

“Based on that, we will be more successful in the coming months,” Touhey said.

Injuries, unusual track structure at Pepperdine and flooded lanes due to the rainy spring weather were some of the obstacles that the Waves faced this season, however, Head Coach Robert Radnoti, said he considers these factors as life lessons.

“The beauties of collegiate sport is that it really prepares you for life and is very consistent with Pepperdine’s mission of preparing students for lives of purpose, service and leadership,” Radnoti said.

With the end of the season just around the corner, Radnoti said he wishes his athletes achieve personal records at remaining meets.

Waves will compete in the Bob Larsen Distance Carnival and UCLA Legends Invitational, two of the biggest meets of the season, at UCLA on March 29 and 30, respectively.

SAWA.YAM AK AWA@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Tracking their Progress | (Left) Freshman Kyle McCabe (left) and sophomore Preston Gromer (front) finish first and second in the third heat of the 1500 meter run. (Right) Barilla clears a hurdle on the home stretch on her way to a fourth place finish in the 400 meter hurdles.

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