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Volume xLiX | Issue 5 | september 26, 2019

The Making of the First Lady See A3

ALEX NEI S N e ws Assista n t “The world needs more Pepperdine in it. Our mandate, our unique gift to the world is our students,” President James A. Gash said Wednesday morning at his inauguration ceremony to the crowd of students, alumni, faculty and distinguished guests at Alumni Park.

Gash’s inauguration is only the eighth in the university’s history.

“To my kids Jessica, Joshua and Jennifer, I could not and would not do this without you,” Gash said. “Your wit and wisdom and full encouragement energizes me daily.”

Gash took to the podium with a box of tissues, warning that during his speech he might be a bit emotional. He thanked his wife and family for supporting him and following on his journey.

First lady Joline Gash spoke highly of her husband’s faith and drive.

“The next president of Pepperdine believes in promises,” Joline said. “He is a promise maker and a promise keeper.

He is a man of deep faith and intellect and impeccable integrity.”

Gash also thanked previous presidents such as sixth President David Davenport and seventh president, President Emeritus Andrew K. Benton.

Board of Regents Chair Dee Anna Smith joined Benton and Davenport to present Gash with the presidential medallion, which signified the formal action of Gash’s election.

Gash admired the medal and joked that on the back the inscription read, “Present at any Chipotle for a free burrito.” He returned the gift by offering Davenport and Benton customized “Waves” license plates.

Gash’s speech took on a more serious note as he described a vision of Pepperdine as a training ground for future leaders and asked the audience to follow him in this dream.

“Today isn’t even remotely about me,” Gash said. “It’s about our students.”

He reminded the audience that the students remain the primary focus of Pepperdine and he promised that he would help students through whatever obstacles they face. One challenge Gash addressed was mental illness.

He described a resilience and strength program which would enable Pepper-

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dine to deal with anxiety and depression.

“If [mental illness] is what our students are facing, we need to respond with deliberate speed and decisive force,” Gash said. “Our students need the kind of strength that can produce sustainable health in thinking, believing and relating. Therefore, we must strengthen our students in three important ways. They must be strengthened intellectually, spiritually and relationally.”

Gash also outlined goals in promoting and accelerating diversity in faculty and the student body, as well as expanding international programs to developing nations such as Uganda.

Chief Justice of Uganda Bart Katureebe and the Ugandan delegation travelled the greatest distance to attend the event.

Katureebe expressed his hopefulness that the partnership between Pepperdine and his colleagues will continue to correct the injustices in the Ugandan legal system.

“The Ugandan Judiciary and Pepperdine have long had a close working relationship which has grown over time with the help of now president, Jim Gash,” Katureebe said.

Dean of Seaver College Michael Feltner welcomed guests to the event, noting the importance of presidential inaugurations.

“A presidential inauguration at Pepperdine is a rare and significant event,” Feltner said. “Since Pepperdine was dedicated on September 21, 1937, the United States has inaugurated 23 presidents, but today’s inauguration of James A. Gash is only the eighth such ceremony for a new president in the history of Pepperdine University.”

Feltner emphasized that this day was more meaningful than the commencement of a new presidential term — it was the beginning of a new vision for Pepperdine inspired by Gash.

Since the inauguration ceremony fell on Founder’s Day, Provost Rick Marrs officially commenced the 2019-

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Alex Neis | News Assistant 2020 academic school year.

Representatives from a number of different groups made addresses directly to Gash.

California Sen. Henry Stern, of District 27, shared his affirmation of the university’s mission as well as his respect for the character of the new president.

Phil Schubert, president of Abilene Christian University, spoke for the academic delegates. Schubert expressed his wishes for Gash and the university.

“President Gash, I hope that you will always see the possibilities and that you will inspire others to see them as well,” Schubert said. “I hope that you will never see the challenges before you as daunting, but rather as an opportunity for God’s provision to be revealed.”

Dean of the School of Law Paul Caron revisited Gash’s time at Pepperdine’s law school, commending him for his accomplishments as associate dean.

“Jim’s greatest legacy at the School of Law is in the lives of his students,” Caron said.

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Daniel Rodriguez, divisional dean of religion and philosophy, spoke on behalf of the Pepperdine faculty. Rodriguez pledged support to Gash on behalf of all of the faculty.

“It’s my privilege to pledge our support to your presidency,” Rodriguez said. “As well as our best efforts as mentors, educators and scholars.”

SGA President Meredith McCune spoke for the student body.

“I speak for many of my peers when I say that we are extremely confident and excited to see what change President Gash brings to Pepperdine,” McCune said.

Benton offered Gash a Bible which belonged to George Pepperdine.

“I wish I could say, President Gash, that [this Bible] contains the secret to what Pepperdine could become, and especially how,” Benton said. “But that is for you and for our faculty to discern through humble leadership and service.”

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No such thing as no time

ANASTASSIA KOSTIN S ta f f Writ e r “I wish I could, I just don’t have the time.”

It’s a phrase people simultaneously hide behind and utilize to mean different things — “I procrastinated,” “I don’t want to tell you the truth,” “I don’t care about it” or “I have other commitments.”

It’s funny how even though everyone has the same 24 hours in a day — yes, even Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Beyoncé — people go about their days with the sense that time is fleeting.

While it’s no surprise that college students naturally lead highly-scheduled lives, jam-packed with classes, sports, social life, sleep and jobs, every person has more time than they think they do. Because behind every “I don’t have the time” excuse is a desire to go on a Netflix marathon, online shop or lounge around doing nothing.

The truth is, students find time to do what they want to do, and the constant choice to do the less-productive thing develops into a routine.

When an opportunity comes around that requires more commitment or which encroaches on time set aside to do nothing, it’s often easier to throw out that fiveword phrase. Why? It’s just easier.

The phrase itself sounds important and legitimate, and people usually give the person who uttered it the benefit of the doubt. I’d go so far as to say this phrase is related to students’ inner need to constantly seem like they’re “on the grind,” an attitude that has become characteristic of and normalized for Gen Zers.

Making something a priority in one’s life — whether that’s dedicating more time to studying, going to the gym, setting aside time for introspection or getting a job — is as simple as taking the time one would spend doing something less important and diverting it to something more fulfilling and productive.

Students can download RescueTime, which tracks browser activity for a week and can give individuals an overview of where their time is really going and how to optimize their energy.

Forest, another productivity app, helps people go phone-free and focus on the tasks at hand.

The biggest challenge is not with the amount of work professors assign or with other commitments, it’s with ourselves. Focus on the root causes of each “lack of time” excuse and figure out what’s really, truly important.

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

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09/19/19 11:29 a.m.

Crimes: Alcohol Related - Possession of Alcohol, Marijuana, Tobacco on Campus (Minor) Location: On-Campus 09/19/19 5:39 p.m.

Traffic Related: Hit and Run, Non-Injury Accident Location: Drescher Parking Lot S

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09/20/19 7:42 a.m.

Traffic Related: Hit and Run, Non-Injury Accident Location: Malibu Campus

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09/20/19 10:51 a.m.

Traffic Related: Hit and Run, Non-Injury Location: Rho Parking Lot

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09/22/19 9:34 a.m.

Fire/Hazards: Gas Leak, Outside Location: Towers

UPCOMING EVENTS THIS SEMESTER What: be atles in your be e tle WheN: 9 / 3 0 Wher e: a lumni par k

Wh at: blue a nd orang e madness Wh e N: 10/11 Wh e re : fir est one f i el dhouse par kin g l ot

What: sac open house When: 10/11 Where: sac 105

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SE P T E M B E R 2 6, 2 0 1 9 | N E W S | P E P P E R D I N E G RA P H I C ME D I A

Joline Gash opens up about path to first lady V er ni e Covarru bias News A ssista n t Joline Gash began her role as the first lady of Pepperdine in August and has since settled into a constant whirlwind of getting to know the community.

She first came to Pepperdine as a junior transfer student and graduated from Seaver College as a Biology major in 1992. Since then, Joline cannot seem to stay away from Pepperdine.

“The thing that has kept Jim and I so involved with Pepperdine is the mission of trying to prepare young men and women for lives of purpose, service and leadership,” Joline said, smiling.

President and husband Jim Gash, who graduated from the Pepperdine School of Law in 1993, returned as a professor in 1999. Joline came with him and began hosting Bible studies and plugging into the campus church. Her support for her husband soon turned into a support role for the entire university.

Joline’s Commitment to Students Joline said the main function of her role as first lady is to be there for the students.

“It’s been three decades of that commitment to [Pepperdine’s] mission,”Joline said. “When we started as students, we really felt that we had people pouring into our lives and helping us find our way. So when we had the opportunity to come back and serve that role, we took it.”

In addition, she said she hopes to host people who come to campus, be an ambassador when traveling and

promote helpful organizations for students. Her current project is promoting the Pepperdine Resilience Program, a campaign that focuses on helping students prepare to face challenges.

“I decided that focusing on our student’s health and wellness would be an area where it was natural for me, with my background as a teacher and in biology,” Joline said. “I had just seen the struggles that my students were having, and an increase in anxiety and depression.”

Through hosting students at Pepperdine for the past 20 years, Joline said she saw an increase in mental health issues among college students. She met with the Student Wellness Advisory Board and Connie Horton, vice president for student affairs, who are collaboratively spearheading the project.

She said the goal of the project is to help students understand how to deal with struggles in a positive way.

“Pepperdine does a great job of helping students that are in crisis,” Joline said. “We have our Counseling Center, our student care teams, and other areas in the chaplain’s office. But we also want to help our students learn skills so they’re ready before [these struggles].”

Joline stands with President Gash and their three kids Jessica, Joshua and Jennifer.

The Making of a First Lady Joline said that she experienced many struggles growing up.

“The reason I think resilience is so important is because I’ve had to develop that in my own life,” Joline said. “Coming from a broken and blended family,

Proud Alumna | Joline Gash holds her Pepperdine diploma upon graduating in 1992. She returns to serve the students as first lady.

Photos Courtesy of Pepperdine University Pepperdine Family | Jim and Joline Gash pose with their two daughters, Jessica and Jennifer, and son, Josh. The entire family has either graduated or is currently enrolled at Pepperdine. those are some challenges that I went through that definitely shaped me.”

She was the first person in her family to graduate from college, which she said made the navigation process difficult.

“Coming as a first-generation student had its own challenges and financial stresses that I had to figure out,” Joline said. “There’s just been a lot of times in my life where I’ve had to be willing to ask for help.”

Having transferred from Abilene Christian University to Pepperdine her junior year, Joline said she understands the importance of developing the ability to ask for assistance when needed, whether it be related to financial, family, mental or health problems. She said she hopes that having been through these challenges herself will help her to support students.

Joline said she regards Pepperdine as a character-building place.

“Jim and I are who we are because of Pepperdine,” Joline said. “We were shaped by this community. I really feel like Pepperdine has raised us in a way.”

Fortunately, Joline said their background here has made her and Jim’s transitions into their new roles seamless.

“We’re doing the same kinds of things we were doing before,” Joline said. “But on a much larger scale and at a faster pace, of course. It’s been a really fun and rewarding experience.”

However, she is not going through the transition alone. One of Joline’s closest friends, Lucy Perrin, was the first lady at Lubbock Christian University for seven years. The two friends hosted Bible studies together and raised their kids alongside one another while their husbands were professors at the law school.

“She’s such a wonderfully gracious, hospitable woman,” Joline said. “I learned a lot from watching her as the first lady.”

Joline said she visited Perrin in Lubbock when her husband was inaugurated. Now, Perrin has come back to Malibu and is supporting Joline during the period leading up to Jim’s inauguration.

Joline said she wouldn’t necessarily call it a dream come true, but it has created a special bond between herself and Perrin.

“It was just us following the call,” Joline said. “God was leading us. But we spent a really important part of my life together for many, many years and to have her back at this particular time has been a huge blessing.”

Passion for God’s Creation Joline said she has strengthened her faith through her love for nature and science.

“The reason I wanted to study science was because I see God in the creation,” Joline said. “The more I studied science, in high school, college and as a teacher, the more I learned about God’s creation and the more I could see God. It’s really been encouraging me.”

One of the things she said she appreciates most about Pepperdine’s location is how accessible nature is.

“I love watching the waves and thinking about all the animals that are below the water that we can’t even see,” Joline said.

Her love for nature inspires her to take frequent walks on the beach. Joline said if she is not somewhere on campus, she is most likely byFile the Photo ocean.

“Yesterday I was walking along the beach,” Joline said. “I saw two dolphins pop up out of the water, and I saw the pelicans diving down in the water — that just brings me joy.”

Pepperdine is the perfect intersection of her passions for God’s creation and for students, Joline said. To take the role of mentorship here is an incredible honor.

“I can’t think of anything more important in helping shape our future generation,” Joline said. “I mean, you guys are the ones who are going to go out and change the world.”

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The man I met at Starbucks SE P T E M B E R 2 6, 2 0 1 9 | N E W S | P E P P E R D I N E G RA P H I C ME D I A

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“This line is pretty long, isn’t it?”

I first met Ronald F. Phillips, Pepperdine’s Senior Vice Chancellor and School of Law Dean Emeritus, in the line at Starbucks, and after receiving an email acknowledging our pleasant exchange, I knew this man truly embodied the quintessence of Pepperdine’s mission. After meeting with Phillips a few more times, I learned a lot about the man who sits quietly on the third floor of the Thornton Administrative Center (TAC).

A fan of the Dallas Cowboys and barbecue beef brisket, Phillips is a Texas man at heart, which is why he said his journey to Malibu was quite unexpected but certainly one he does not regret making.

Texas Man Phillips was born in Houston.

His parents moved the family — which consisted of Phillips, his older brother and their sister — to Dallas when Phillips was two. His mother stayed at home and assisted their father on the business side of his various ventures, including a weatherstripping business that Phillips later became involved with. The Phillips were a close family, but the glue that seemed to hold them together was the Church of Christ.

“My mother would teach us Bible lessons at home all the time, and then she was also my Sunday school teacher when I was real young,” Phillips said.

“For my father, on Sundays we would go to a small church at one of several farm communities in Dallas County where he would teach a morning Bible class.”

Phillips said he and his family continued this pattern for a couple of years. But when World War II came around, things started to change. As a result, Phillips’ father took initiative to start a church in their home since there was not a Church of Christ near their residence in Dallas at that time.

“When WWII was over, my father bought a few surplus army barracks, bought a piece of property and then joined them all together for a church building,” Phillip said. “That eventually grew to several hundred people, and it continued after we left Dallas and moved to Abilene.”

Abilene continues to hold a special place in Phillips’ heart, he said, particularly his alma mater, Abilene Christian University.

“I loved my experience there, and it was a lot like Pepperdine,” Phillips said. “The students and the faculty knew each other, and they were friends. Everybody was trying to do what’s right.”

Phillips graduated from Abilene Christian in three years while also serving in the Texas National Guard. His training schedule allowed him a few weeks in the summer to take university-level courses for credit. When the opportunity came along to take a four-unit economics course at a Church of Christ university, Phillips packed his bags and drove from Abilene to Los Angeles for an experience that foreshadowed where his future.

“I had that little Pepperdine experience when I was in

college, and I never thought I would have anything else to do with Pepperdine,” Phillips said. “I thought that was a short chapter in my life, and it was finished. But obviously, it wasn’t.”

While looking for the path to his dream job, he said one person’s presence was the light that paved the way.

Jamie

“Jamie is the most extraordinary person I’ve ever known in my life,” Phillips said.

The couple met at a church in Abilene in 1955, the same year Phillips graduated from Abilene Christian. Two years later, they were married, teaching Bible classes together at their local church and getting ready to start their family.

“Jamie was like a mother to the world,” Phillips said in his personal statement at Jamie’s memorial service. “She understood and knew exactly how to make everyone comfortable, content, at ease and happy. A visit to our home by a repair person, for example, would invariably end up with another person who had taken on the status of friend.”

Jamie was also a talented hostess, but Phillips said she was also able to provide a home away from home for all.

“She was never too tired or too busy to drop whatever she was doing to immediately look after a child who needed her attention,” Phillips said. “She demonstrated through her life that being a full-time home manager is more demanding, requires more creativity, more stamina and certainly is more useful and rewarding than any other undertaking on the face of the earth.”

Although Jamie died from breast cancer in 1995, Phillips said he has taken it upon himself to carry on Jamie’s spirit.

“I didn’t grow up being a hugger, but she hugged everybody in the world,” Phillips said. “After the memorial service we had for her, as everybody was coming by to greet me, I hugged everybody. From then on, I’ve been a hugger, though I never was before. I thought that our family was a hugging family all along, but she did all of it. When she was gone, it was up to me to do it.”

The Change Phillips and Jamie decided to move to Midland, Texas, where Phillips was to open up a branch office for his father’s weatherstripping business. Eventually Phillips decided to pursue law school.

“I never thought of law as a vocation,” Phillips said. “I didn’t know how long it took to become a lawyer. I knew nothing about it. So I asked around to find out how long it would take and what you have to do to be admitted. I found that you have to take the LSAT. I didn’t know you could prepare for it, so I just took it.”

Admitted into all three law schools he applied to, Phillips decided to attend the University of Texas Law School. He continued working part-time in the weatherstripping business to support his family.

After law school, Phillips moved back to Abilene to work in the legal department of the oil gathering company, McWood Corporation, and then

Photo Courtesy of Pepperdine Archives A Life at Pepperdine | Ronald F. Phillips (left), the new dean of Pepperdine School of Law at the time of the photo, posing for a photo with Dr. Banowsky (R) circa late 1960s. its successor, the Permian Corporation. After working there for close to two years, the owners of the company announced that they were selling the business and there was no longer going to be an office in Abilene.

“Someone from the new company came to see me and said they would like for me to stay with their company, but I’d need to move to either Houston or to California,” Phillips said.

“What I said to them was, ‘I would never leave Abilene, Texas, so you don’t need to tell me what you’ll pay me or exactly what I’d be doing.’ My mind was set.”

The Goal Phillips said his reasoning for declining the offer to move up the ranks at the oil gathering company and remain in his hometown of Abilene was simple.

“I still had two professional goals in mind that I wanted to achieve,” Phillips said. “I eventually wanted to have my own law practice in my hometown of Abilene [and] I wanted to teach business law on the side, at my undergraduate alma mater, Abilene Christian University.”

Continuing his work in Abilene before the company closed its office, an owner of the oil gathering company approached him and asked Phillips if he ever thought about establishing his own law firm.

“And all of a sudden, I thought I lost my job, and [then] I was given one of my two goals out of the blue,” Phillips said.

A few weeks later, Phillips’ former business law professor called Phillips to ask if he would be interested in taking over the business law class at Abilene Christian.

“There were three entities that knew my goals: I knew them, my late wife knew them, and the Good Lord knew them,” Phillips said. “They just both got handed to me on a silver platter.”

Living the Dream Having achieved both of his career’s goals, Phillips said he was on cloud nine. One day a good friend of his, John Allen

Chalk, minister of the church he attended, approached Phillips with a proposal that would forever change his life.

Chalk, also a good friend of former Pepperdine University president Norvel Young, said the university had taken over an uncredited night law school in Orange County, and they were looking for a full-time dean and an advancement officer.

Phillips considered the offer, however, and ultimately concluded that the Lord would not have put him in a position that he could not handle. In 1970, Phillips and Jamie made the move to the sunny skies of California to begin the Phillips family’s relocation to the West Coast.

The Start of the Law School In 1970, the law school was housed in a two-story frame building in a strip mall on the Westminster-Santa Ana border, with a motorcycle repair shop across the street. But a true sign of the Lord’s work, Phillips said, is that by 1972, Pepperdine was a national law school, with provisional approval by the American Bar Association.

“No one in the world would have believed that could have happened,” Phillips said.

What was Phillips’ key to law school success?

“The Lord made it work out,” Phillips said. “I didn’t have the experience for this position, but I surrounded myself with people who were just extremely good people. I’m a good talent scout, so I recruited some really outstanding people to work with.”

Phillips said he did not look for the typical law school professor one may have expected.

He initially only recruited people who had never taught at a law school before, similar to how he was recruited for his position.

He said he believes his greatest achievement at the Law School has been his contribution to the Law School’s decision-making process. “‘How does this serve our mission?’” Phillips said. “Until you decide that, you shouldn’t make a decision. Those are the things you start out with on every issue, and I think it is a

pretty good way to approach decision making.”

The Unwanted Presidency Phillips has served under every Pepperdine president, except for the first two. Many thought they saw a university presidency in his future.

Phillips was nominated for the presidency the same year as Pepperdine’s seventh president Andrew K. Benton. Having lost Jamie five years earlier, Phillips did not feel he was the right person for the job due to the numerous events and hosting gigs he would have to experience as a widower, a requirement of the president he believes is most effective with a couple.

“I wanted Pepperdine to have a first lady, and obviously my wife wasn’t here to do that,” Phillips said. “I think Pepperdine benefits from having a president who is married so that there is a couple, and that’s why I said no.”

The Now, and What’s Next Phillips described his role as senior vice chancellor as a public position, in which his mission is to improve the university’s relationship with the community, from alumni to parents of students to people who may have no association with the university.

Approaching his 50th year with the university, Phillips said retirement remains off his agenda.

“If I did [retire], I would have to find something else to do,” Phillips said. “I’m not going to sit around and watch TV all day, or take up golf at this point.

I’d be bored out of my mind.”

In his spare time — the little time that he does have — Phillips enjoys writing music.

He even provides his closest friends’ with a Christmas CD album every year, featuring music and lyrics he has written.

Phillips said he credits the “good Lord” for showing him his path and Jamie for helping him do it. Being able to combine his greatest aptitudes with his love for teaching started out as a dream. Soon enough, it became his reality.

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SE P T E M B E R 2 6, 2 0 1 9 | N E W S | P E P P E R D I N E G RA P H I C ME D I A

Photo courtesy of Justus Johnson

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Photo courtesy of Dahn Hugh

Freshmen elect their SGA representatives Ha dley biggs news a ssista n t

After a run-off election Sept. 19, Pepperdine students elected freshman Justus Johnson as SGA president. Johnson joined freshman senators Madelyn Griffith, Dahn Hugh and Jacob Zanca as the freshman representatives on SGA. Justus Johnson, president Justus Johnson is an English Writing and Rhetoric from Nashville, Tennessee.

In high school, Johnson was on his high school’s SGA every year. He was the treasurer in ninth grade and by 12th grade, he was the student body president.

“I had a lot of experience with the role of president, so that was the role I gravitated towards more,” Johnson said. “If I wanted to make the most

change, I felt that the president was the best way to do that. I also felt that it would be a great role for me to be in and grow in.”

Johnson said he has ideas for changes around Pepperdine. He ran his campaign on extending the Caf hours, putting a piano in the HAWC and raising cultural awareness around campus.

“I want to host some international fair where people can learn about the different cultures and ethnicities around the world,” Johnson said. “I want to do this to help people become better educated.”

Johnson said he also wanted to create a rideshare program at Pepperdine.

“I know some schools have partnerships with Uber and Lyft,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he is looking forward to growing as a person both spiritually and academically.

Dahn Hugh, senator

Dahn Hugh is an Economics major from Haymarket, Virginia.

“SGA at Pepperdine is a big deal — they have a lot of say on what goes on campus,” Hugh said. “They make actual differences. I really want to leave a legacy. I want to leave Pepperdine a better place than I found it.”

Hugh said he did not do student council in high school, but he is looking forward to being on SGA.

In his campaign, Hugh said he would try to get water refilling stations in all of the residence halls, to improve the walkways between freshman houses and to create a clear path between upper and lower dorm road.

“I want to be able to make changes and see the changes that I helped create,” Hugh said.

Working with the freshman senate and plugging into Pepperdine as a whole are two things Hugh said he was looking forward to.

Photo courtesy of Jacob Zanca Jacob Zanca, senator Integrated Marketing Communication major Jacob Zanca is from New Orleans, Louisiana.

In high school, Zanca said he was involved in Mock Trial and Model United Nations. He also hepled start an organization called Conquered Self LLC and worked as a barista.

“I want to contribute to positive change on the campus in any way that I can, and SGA is a great way to do that,” Zanca said.

Photo courtesy of Madelyn Griffith Madelyn Griffith, senator Madelyn Griffith is an Organizational Communication major from Nashville, Tennessee.

Griffith said Pepperdine was not her first-choice school but her dream choice.

“I’m very lucky to be here, and I want to take advantage of the opportunity,” Griffith said. “I have a great passion for this campus, and I have a passion for the people here.”

Griffith went to a small high school where she was not given the opportunity to serve on the student council, so she said she was excited to be able to serve on SGA at Pepperdine.

“One of my main passions is com-

municating with people,” Griffith said.

“A big part of SGA is communicating with people to help achieve what they need and want out of a college experience.”

Griffith’s campaign platform was the idea that little things can make a big difference. She said an example of this is her idea to provide a shuttle for students to go to surf convo Wednesday mornings.

“If I can make others’ college experience as great as I know mine will be.

Then I know I can make Pepperdine a better place than it already is Griffith said.

Griffith said she is looking forward to meeting everyone in the freshman class and going abroad.

Zanca said he ran his campaign on finances. He wanted to reduce the amount of arbitrary financial decisions.

To accomplish this, he said he wanted to create a clear criteria to make sure that finances were being accrued and situated clearly.

“I am very finance specific,” Zanca said. “Each of the senators have a specific niche and can fill where I do not fit in. This will help us achieve common goals” HADL EY.BIGGS@PEPPER DINE.EDU

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P E P P E R DIN E GR A P H IC M E DIA | N E W S | SE P T E MB E R 26 , 20 1 9

THE INAUGURATION OF

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SE P T E M B E R 2 6, 2 0 1 9 | N E W S | P E P P E R D I N E G RA P H I C ME D I A

PRESIDENT JIM GASH

Photos by Alex Neis | News Assistant

Photos by Sherry Yang

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pepper di ne-gr aphi c.com

The Graphic

s e p t e m b e r 2 6 , 2 0 19

PERSPECTIVES WHAT

STAFF LIST

ex ec u ti v e ed i to r a l l i so n l e e M anag i ng Ed i to r madeleine carr So c i al M ed i a M anag er sava n n a h w e l ch P i x el Ed i to r k i l e y d i ste l r ath o nl i ne p r o d u c er k ayi u w o n g G New s p r o d u c er m a r i sa d r ag o s c o py c hi ef ga b r i e l l e m ath ys c r eati v e d i r ec to r n ata l i e r u l o n New s Ed i to r ch a n n a ste i n m e tz New s As si s tants hadley biggs v e r n i e cova r r u b i a s James Moore Alexander neis S p o r ts Ed i to r k yl e m c ca b e ass i stant sp o r ts ed i to r Ali levens s p o r ts c o py ed i to r Caitlin Roark | Art Editor b rya n t l o n e y P er sp ec ti v es Ed i to r m a ry m a r ga r e t dav i s P er sp ec ti v es ass i stant c a m ryn g o r d o n L i fe & Ar ts Ed i to r g i a n n i co cc h e l l a gling academic responsibilities. as si s tant L i fe & ar ts Stricter policies do not allow ed i to r students the space to develop r o wa n to k e these crucial lifelong skills.

L i fe & Ar ts as si s tant Stricter policies create a E m i ly Sh aW higher incentive for students l i fe & ar ts c o py ed i to r to falsify excuses, resulting in makena huey more wary professors. Without l i fe & ar ts d es i g ner space for honest conversations, students will not learn how to M e l i ssa L o ck e communicate true issues to p o d c ast d i r ec to r figures of authority. When a Kaelin mendez student fears a professor’s reAr t Ed i to r sponse, their class may become ca i tl i n r oa r k a source of anxiety that instills as si s tant ar t ed i to r s resentment instead of fostering a l ly a r m str o n g a love of learning.

After reviewing the negative m a d e l i n e d u va l l impact of un-mediated attenab r oad c o r r esp o nd ents dance policies on Pepperdine a sh l e y m o w r e a d e r students, the administration sawa ya m a k awa should consider adopting a adv er ti si ng d i r ec to r school-wide approach that so n i r u saga r a emphasizes the importance of Adv er ti s i ng m anag er attendance but trusts students to make their own decisions m aya m c d o w e l l without inflating the costs of D i r ec to r o f P ep p er d i ne missing class beyond informaG r ap hi c M ed i a tion lost. This ideal would retain E l i z a b e th Sm i th faculty autonomy but encourAs si s tant D i r ec to r O f age students to source academic P ep p er d i ne G r ap hi c materials according to their M ed i a needs.

C o u r te n ay Sta l l i n g s

STAFF EDITORIAL

Rigid attendance policies cause students more risk than reward It seems like a simple choice: Go to class or don’t. But often students face more of a dilemma.

Seaver College does not have its own attendance policy. Instead that responsibility is left to each individual professor, allowing them to choose between a lax policy or a strict one. Rigid attendance policies that don’t allow space for individual circumstances can put students at mental and physical risk instead of making them feel academically supported.

When a disproportionate weight of a student’s academic success relies on them being physically present in the classroom rather than actively engaged in understanding material in any convenient setting, students may become resentful of school and disconnected from the true goal of education.

Seaver College should emphasize the importance of attendance but trust students to make their own decisions without inflating the cost of missing class beyond the value of information lost.

Strict attendance policies also may lead students to believe

that their grades are more important than their mental and physical state. Consequently, students can reason pushing themselves into unhealthy habits to keep up with requirements.

Students who attend classes while ill do so at the risk of their professors, peers and themselves. Even when professors offer excused absences in certain cases, the process can be burdensome, costly and even discriminatory toward students without access to cars or specific off-campus medical professionals.

A 2011 study published in Quality of Life Research found that almost 60% of their college student sample group experienced mental or physical health conditions but continued to attend class for various reasons.

Not being able to personally prioritize can also lead to student sleep deprivation. A 2010 study published in the Journal of College Student Psychotherapy found that poor sleep quality was associated with lower academic performance. A 1997 study published in the Journal of American College Health

found that “sleep-deprived participants performed significantly worse than the non-deprived participants on the cognitive task. However, the sleep-deprived participants rated their concentration and effort higher than the non-deprived participants did.”

While studies have found a tentative link between attendance and performance, there has only ever been a minor relationship. A 2008 study published in the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management found the relationship between attendance and academic performance to be “neither linear nor automatic.”

Physical presence does not always mean mental presence despite the effort put in by the student to be in class. A “good student” who continues to show up although they’re unwell only perpetuates the toxic burnout culture of college.

Rigid attendance policies may continue to affect the attitude and mindset of students even beyond the academic sphere.

Students should learn how to independently balance their time in college, including jug-

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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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Vaping disease killed my mother SE P T E M B E R 2 6, 2 0 1 9 | PE RS PE C TIVE S | P E PP E RD I N E G RA P H I C ME D I A

M A ry M a rga r e t davi s pe r spec tiv e s e dito r

At first, the doctors said it was pneumonia.

On the way back from the hospital two days before her death, my mother groaned between coughs, “I’m never smoking again; I’m throwing out all of my e-cigarettes and weed pens.”

This was a groundbreaking statement from my mother, who, like many, had embraced vaping as an alternative to smoking with swift, open arms. Despite recent protests from loved ones, she was adamant for years that it was far healthier than her cigarette habit. Having always believed that marijuana was not a dangerous drug to consume, Mom began to vape THC products in late 2018 — not long after California legalized the drug for recreational use.

If I knew my mother, she would try to move mountains before she would declare she was quitting either drug. It’s easy to assume just how much pain she was in to say this.

My father, a doctor who is all too familiar with the dangers of vaping, responded to her declaration of quitting by saying, “Good, Mary. There are some things that are precious, like your vision and your breath, and you just can’t hurt those things.”

“Breath is precious,” my mom repeated.

Friday, Sept. 6, my father found her blue in the lips, struggling for such precious air but unable to grasp it. She had most likely suffered for hours. Her death came swiftly after.

Later, X-rays revealed a white substance infiltrating her lungs, clouds as silky as the puffs of vape she would exhale. Those clouds weren’t there when she had an X-ray two days before her death; they had developed as rapidly as an unexpected thunderstorm, unleashing an onslaught of destruction on her system and ultimately killing her. Relentless.

No mercy given.

These X-rays confirmed what my family had feared; this wasn’t a simple case of pneumonia, this was the new vaping illness sweeping the nation with fury.

The white substance in her lungs was one of many symptoms associated with this new disease. Just as many others had, she suffered from nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Other symptoms reported are coughing, shortness of breath and chest pain.

The Investigation When Mom died, my father immediately requested an autopsy to confirm our suspicions. The deputy coroner working on the night of her death said in response, “An autopsy is not in the budget unless it’s requested by the GBI [Georgia Bureau of Investigation].”

“Well,” my father responded, “I think this is one that needs to be investigated.”

Dad began to explain my mother’s death in the way he would repeat until it was practically ingrained in him: Mary Kerrie Davis took a trip to California in July. She vaped legal marijuana. She had a cough when she returned home. She developed what you could barely call pulmonary pneumonia, and she was an otherwise healthy woman; this is a sudden death that should be investigated.

Yes, she also vaped nicotine for years.

The next day, Dad turned to a local Blairsville sheriff. Again my father explained her death. The sheriff told him, “I don’t see how her vaping in California is a crime in Union County.”

Again, my father explained the vaping illness. With some pushing, the GBI performed its autopsy.

Everywhere we turned, the response was the same: where was the crime?

What are the mysterious circumstances?

A Georgia judge my dad had contacted for advice said, “You know, in all my years of serving, I have never seen a death related to THC.” Then turning to the world of medicine, Dad reached out to my mother’s primary care physician and close family friend.

Agreeing that her death was concerning, the physician reached out to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who in turn directed him to the Georgia Department of Health, who then advised that he file a report with poison control.

We found ourselves at a standstill.

No one who my father contacted, whether it be law enforcement or medi-

cal professionals, seemed to be aware of the national vaping epidemic aside from her primary care physician.

Monday, Sept. 9, we got word that Mom’s autopsy was complete, and the funeral home would pick her up the following day. At the same time, my family found incriminating messages on my mother’s phone; she had been purchasing THC cartridges illegally in Georgia. We began to search the house and came across several cartridges. The next step was obvious: These needed to be tested. My father swiftly called a GBI officer he had known for some time; he told my father he would make some calls.

“

How many people, particularly middle-aged women, are dead because of this disease and haven't been investigated? mary Margaret davis, Perspectives Editor

After this, my father called the GBI crime lab were they had taken Mom. He was put directly in contact with her medical examiner, where he expressed his concerns about vaping.

Hours passed. Impatience grew. My father, deciding instead to take matter into his own hands, then called the GBI office’s tip line. He was directed to the North Georgia Drug Task Force, who immediately sent a Union County narcotics investigator to our home. The officer searched the cartridges we had accumulated, and with a shake of his head, told us, “Yeah, we’ve been having a lot of problems with this brand.”

He took Mom’s phone and the bag of cartridges, and for the first time since her death, my family felt accomplished.

Tuesday, Sept. 10, the funeral home called us. “Our guy went to pick her up, but the GBI told us they wanted to keep her for further testing,” they informed my dad.

“A blessing in disguise,” my dad answered. “They’re taking this seriously.”

The next day, my father called the medical examiner again, curious about the extra tests they had performed. She told him that based on the phone call she received from my father from the day before, she decided to run more tests and take a few more biopsies; this came just hours after she informed the funeral home her body was ready to be cremated. This was an opportunity that we had almost missed.

Several days passed. As the death toll continued to rise and Georgia began to receive reports, my mother’s death did not make headlines. Sept. 16, the medical examiner reported to my father that it would take four months to confirm her cause of death, despite reports of vaping-related deaths growing in numbers.

Many times throughout the investigation, my tired father hung his head between his hands. “It’s incredible,” he would say, voice laced with the pain of loss, “how much we have to do to get this investigated, how many dots that we have to connect for the officials. It’s incredible how much we have to do just to get the damn weed out of our house. Why wouldn’t they be sending people to talk to us? Why do we have to ask them to do it?”

My mother was a middle-aged woman. At the age of 52, she was not exactly the demographic associated with the vaping disease: men with a median age of 19, according to a recent report by the Washington Post. Although adolescents do make up a large portion of e-cigarette users, one in 20 U.S. adults reported using

e-cigarettes, according to a 2016 study.

How many people, particularly middle-aged women, are dead because of this disease and haven’t been investigated?

A Not-So-Sudden Rise of Side Effects

The side effects of the vaping disease are not new. In a survey, users of nicotine e-cigarettes reported 405 side effects, with 326 of those being negative, according to a 2014 study titled “Vaping and Health: What Do We Know about E-Cigarettes?.” Such side effects included headaches and changes in appetite. The same study reported “various nicotine-related degradation products and other impurities in e-liquids and vapors,” although it claimed that such impurities were so small, it did not affect human health.

Nicotine toxicity has been known to produce symptoms of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Various online forums report similar effects from vaping, dating as far back as 2012. Because vaping marijuana is a relatively new practice, researchers aren’t yet sure of its side effects.

The Absence of Regulation My mother had declared she was done with vaping, yet her decision came too late. She will never see her youngest daughter graduate high school nor her oldest graduate college. She will never see her daughters married or meet her grandchildren. Her absence, a sudden and jarring hole in my family, will be felt for decades to come.

Yet I wonder if the blame is fully my mother’s. Was it her decision that was too late, or was it the absent decision of the FDA to tighten regulations on e-cigarettes and marijuana pens? The CDC reports over 450 confirmed cases related to the vaping illness, and more are likely to come as the number of those infected has more than doubled from Aug. 27 to Sept. 9. As the death toll slowly marches upward, there is little being done to further regulate nicotine and marijuana juices.

Pax Labs, the mother company of Juul founded in 2007, has long claimed that e-cigarettes are a healthy alternative to smoking. On the front page of the website, the company promotes users to “make the switch,” telling its audience that Juul is a “satisfying alternative” to cigarettes.

For years, research behind their claims as a healthy alternative has been dangerously absent, particularly in long-term studies. The first long-term study reports a higher risk of heart attacks by five-fold, according to a 2018 study published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Such research is still in the early stages, despite e-cigarettes exploding in popularity in the past decade.

Although Juul has claimed that e-cigarettes is an alternative to cigarettes, many adolescents are introduced to vaping before cigarettes. The CDC reported that in 2018, nearly one of every 20 middle school students said that they used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days, and nearly one of every five high school students said that they used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days.

In the wake of the new vaping disease, the FDA released a warning letter to Juul Sept. 9, claiming it had been illegally advertising the message that vaping is healthier than smoking. In the decade since its founding, Juul had not received federal approval to market its product as a safer alternative to smoking. Juul also has not received any federal punishment for marketing this product as such.

Despite boasting fewer carcinogens, Juul pods have more than twice the nicotine found in most cigarettes, according to the Public Health Law Center. Marijuana pens also boast exponentially higher numbers of THC, and yet we still do not know how this historically disproportionate consumption of marijuana affects the human body, particularly when consumed as an oil.

As the consumption of e-cigarettes skyrocketed, particularly among adolescents, the battle against Pax Labs’ claims have begun slowly. When states began to legalize marijuana, vape cartridges containing THC became available to the public, and sales of THC cartridges increased by 50% between 2017 and 2018, according to Forbes. Again, vendors claimed that vaping THC was healthier than traditional smoking methods; Select Oil’s website, states, “Actually, it started in

Portland, Oregon with a puff, then a bad cough, that led to a thought — why not make a safer cartridge?”

Regulations on cartridges were little to none. The question remains: will the FDA hold THC vendors to the same standard as Juul when claiming that vaping is healthier than smoking?

The call for regulation is not new. A 2014 study claimed that an increase in internet and unregulated sales posed a threat to health. Even last year, marijuana smokers reported being tricked into buying synthetic-laced cannabis oil online.

In illegal selling of THC cartridges, dealers often use “thickening agents” to dilute the amount of THC in a product.

Such thickeners have been easily available for purchase online; one can find thickeners easily online. Vitamin E acetate, a thickener that can be bought “for pennies,” had not been approved as an additive for New York’s authorized vape products, according to reporting by UPI. However, that does not stop black market dealers. In the investigation of the vaping disease, the CDC has found that a large number of oil samples included the vitamin E acetate. Sept. 10, New York subpoenaed three companies involved in selling vitamin E acetate.

Putting Together a National Solution When the Union County Narcotics Officer first came to my family, he informed us that possession of THC cartridges is a felony in the state of Georgia due to its high amount of THC; in the eyes of the law, it is akin to heroin possession.

Sept. 11, President Trump called to ban flavored e-cigarette juices, after six official deaths to the vaping illness. But is keeping marijuana illegal and banning vape oil really the right solution?

This disease and outbreak on the verge of national marijuana legalization is not a new phenomenon. During the prohibition period of the 1920s, the lack of federal regulation of alcohol allowed the black market to sell adulterated and even poisonous alcohol. Moonshine, a common alcoholic drink on the black market during that time, has been linked to lead poisoning. Due to its lack of regulation, moonshine has historically been manufactured using lead pipes, lead soldering and even car radiators.

Cannabidiol, or CBD, also has a dangerous black market history prior to its partial 2018 legalization and regulation.

In 2017, five Utah patients experienced seizures, confusion, loss of consciousness and hallucinations after consuming what was thought to be CBD oil but turned out to be a synthetic alternative.

Alternatively, in California, some who have been affected by the vaping disease had turned in favor of cheaper black market alternatives to steeply-priced legal marijuana and nicotine oil.

USA Today reported that some websites advertise synthetic marijuana for as little as $25 per pound, whereas natural CBD can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. A survey of Ohio medical dispensaries showed that many users found legal marijuana to be just too pricey.

The reason for such high prices may be overregulation, with many legal sellers noting the high taxes and compliance costs. Balanced regulation is ultimately what is needed to drive out black-market competition and keep marijuana and nicotine oil clean.

We need more research and balanced regulation, and we need them to be swifter than this disease.

For the inaction of the government, my family pays the consequences. For the past decade, where was the research to tell my mother that no, actually, we don’t know if vaping is healthy and that she should rethink that e-cigarette in favor of nicotine patches or medication? Where are the regulations that should have protected my mother’s life from something as careless as a potential vitamin e-oil contamination in her marijuana pen?

This vape-borne disease spared us no time for goodbyes, I-love-yous or last words. All that my family is left with is anger for the inaction of local authorities and the government and a new understanding of the value of air.

In a hotly debated issue of e-cigarette and marijuana regulation, do not forget the lives that may be at stake. Always remember that breath is precious.

maggie.davis@pepperdine.edu

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Photos courtesyofofJeremy Jeremy Evans Photos courtesy Evans Media Mavens | (left) The Grammy Museum will host The Music Modernization Act Panel Oct. 17. (right) The members of the Institute for Entertainment, Media, Sports and Culture Executive Board meets in the Pepperdine Classroom at the STAPLES Center.

Media institute unites Pepperdine’s campuses Emily S haw Li f e & Ar ts ASSISTAN T

The Institute for Entertainment, Media, Sports and Culture (IEMSC) is gearing up for a new year with numerous upcoming events and activities for students. After receiving a grant from Waves of Innovation in March, the Institute plans to launch and plan more programs for students to get involved in.

Executive Director of the IEMSC Nelson Granados said the Institute’s mission is to unite and strengthen all of the efforts, initiatives and events related to media and entertainment across the university to prepare students for those competitive industries. The Institute

was launched in October 2015.

Granados said he is charged with fulfilling the Institute’s mission of cultivating the next generation for the entertainment, media and sports industries and also making an impact on society and culture through other various initiatives.

Granados is also an associate professor at Graziadio Business School.

Project Manager of the IEMSC Jeremy Evans said his role in the Institute is to bring various opportunities to students from all five schools at Pepperdine — Seaver College, the School of Law, Graziadio Business School, the Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) and the School of Public Policy (SPP) — and

plan events that promote networking with people in the entertainment, media and sports industries.

“I think in one sense [the Institute is] a collaborator [because it is] trying to bring alumni, the community, industry leaders and students together around topics of entertainment, media, sports and culture,” Evans said. “The Institute is a collaborator in terms of bringing all of the schools of Pepperdine together … in terms of event planning and really just being very strategic about how are we educating students.”

Granados said the Institute started its mission with Seaver College, the School of Law and Graziadio Business

School because they are more obviously related to the industries the IEMSC focuses on. However, the Institute is also looking into how to involve GSEP and SPP as well.

“You can boil [the IEMSC’s initiatives and efforts] down to three main categories … all directed at improving the experience for students interested in media, entertainment and sports: … learn, network and discover,” Granados said.

Learn: Integrating Courses Across Schools Granados said the learning aspect of the IEMSC involves supporting, integrating and coordinating programs across Pepperdine’s various schools. The IEM-

SC has tried to open the gates for students to take more classes across the different schools.

“Integration means allowing students to be able to cross register, allowing students to be able to leverage the programming provided by all the different schools so that you get a more integrated experience as a student,” Granados said.

Evans said the learning aspect of the Institute’s initiatives is important to him. He has an LL.M. in Entertainment, Media and Sports Law from Pepperdine School of Law and is currently working on his MBA with a concentration in Entertainment, Media and Sports Management at the Graziadio Business School.

Evans said while he

was a student at the School of Law, he was able to take classes at other Pepperdine schools, so he took a Digital Media and Entertainment class at the Graziado Business School.

“I think that really was … an eye-opening experience for me,” Evans said.

“I loved learning about the business side of things, and I loved being exposed to … those different types of topics that were of interest to me.”

Granados said through this integration, students not only learn from professors in different disciplines but also have the opportunity to learn from students in other schools.

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Pepperdine IFC implements changes to Greek recruitment Ja mes Moore NEWS A SSISTAN T

As fraternity Recruitment begins this week, chapters are holding themselves to a new set of rules and regulations.

The Pepperdine Interfraternity Council (IFC), the student leadership group in charge of fraternities, made sweeping changes to their Recruitment process this year. The changes are a response to recurring incidents in recent years during the various stages of rush. When drafting the new rules, IFC focused on reducing “rush parties” and hazing as well as fostering equality between the chapters.

IFC Vice-President of Recruitment Corey McArthur said when he asked Student Activities — a group of staff for the administration in charge of student activities, including Greek life — how fraternities could improve, they said their main concern was with Recruitment.

“During that period — because it’s such a fragile period, especially for freshmen — they come here and they think, ‘Well, in order to be a part of the school, I have to be in Greek life. In order to do that, I have to party, I have to do this or that.’ They feel a lot of pressure and so a lot of problems can arise as a result.”

McArthur said he was surprised when he first spoke to Student Activities about its goals.

“They acknowledged there is drinking going on during rush,” McArthur said. “They were like, ‘We know this is happening, but we’re really just concerned that everyone’s being safe, there’s a level playing field between the chapters and that we can get as many kids as we can to find a home.’”

IFC President John Louis Chiappe, who co-authored the new rules with McArthur, said they made these new changes with what Student Activities had in mind.

“We settled on the changes we implemented for this fall after a thoughtful discussion about objectives, realities and the future with the director of Student Activities, associate dean of Student Affairs, and dean of Student of Affairs,” Chiappe said. “A lot of the thinking [behind the new rules] was to mitigate risk as well as promote equality throughout the chapters. Ultimately, we aimed to put less pressure on PNMs (potential new members),” Chiappe said.

Three rule changes are most notable: 1. PNMs Not Allowed in Active’s Residences

Perhaps the largest change to IFC Recruitment is that actives may no longer Courtesy of John Louis Chiappe have PNMs in their residence until after bid night. Hudson Caspile, Greek Life BBQ Brothers | Members of Sigma Chi welcome Prospective New graduate assistant for Student Activ- Members (PNMs) behind thier table at the IFC BBQ on campus. This ities, said this change was in direct reyear, IFC made changes to the recruitment process. sponse to incidents of years past.

“Every year, there has been an event with fraternities and potential new members at actives’ residences that has gone to Judicial,” Caspile said. “What happened with Delta Tau Delta was obviously the biggest of those.”

In order to curb this, Chiappe said IFC is enacting a heavy fine on perpetrators.

“The new rule applies to both the weeks between NSO and rush’s Photo start courtesy of Valentina Crespo as well as during rush itself,” Chappie said. “Violations are subject to a $100 fine per PNM. So, if 10 guys go over to a member’s house, that would be a $1000 fine.”

2. Voting Changes “All voting events now have to take place on campus, and they have to notify IFC of their decisions by a set time,” McArthur said. “Hopefully this way voting will get done quicker, and IFC can get that information sooner.”

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Photos courtesy of Pepperdine IFC IFC Execs | (left) IFC President John Louis Chiappe oversees collaborative efforts between all 5 IFC chapters. (right) IFC Vice President of Recruitment Corey McArthur works specifically with recruitment.

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SE P T E M B E R 2 6, 2 0 1 9 | L IFE A N D A RTS | P E PP E RD I N E G RA P H I C ME D I A

Farmer’s Market returns by popular demand Daly B r ist er-knabe Staf f w rit e r

Mullin Town Square received a big helping of produce Tuesday, Sept.

17, thanks to the return of a popular tradition.

The Office of Special Programs hosts the Farmer’s Market, whichbegan for the third consecutive year, featuring all of the old favorites as well as some new ones.

The biweekly market started in 2017 and provides a platform where Pepperdine students and faculty have the opportunity to purchase homemade local crafts and foods.

“It connects us to the local vendors we have here,” sophomore Maddy Espinoza said.

The market vendors sell everything from candles to ceviche and all are local.

“I make everything at home and I only sell to friends, family and at farmers markets and different events that

“ It's nice to come here and escape the Caf food.

Maddy Espinoza, sophomore

are going around town,” Rhonda Miller, owner of Sublime Lit Wicks, said.

“It’s kind of like a passion project for me.”

Miller said she originally sold only candles, but this year she began painting and selling acrylic custom skateboards, which are on display at the Farmer’s Market. She also sells similarly-painted clocks. These are more Pepperd i ne-f r iend ly than candles, given that candles aren’t allowed in the dorms.

The market offers kettle corn, tamales, ceviche and more.

“It’s nice to come here and escape the Caf food,” Espinoza said.

One vendor, Salsas Acapulco, has been coming for about a year and offers a variety of fresh Mexican food, including homemade tortilla chips and vegan ceviche.

On the other side of the aisle was another fresh Mexican food stand, Me Gusta Gourmet Tamales, which serves homemade tamales.

“The tamales — I had them once before — they’re excellent and pretty good value,” Debbie Spadaccini, a Pepperdine payroll specialist, said.

Sandy Pena, a vendor for Me Gusta, serves pork, beef and pineapple tamales to students and staff. Me Gusta is a Pacoima-based company about 45 minutes from

Pepperdine.

“I love these tamales; they’re from my hometown so I want to support the business as much as possible,” senior Harold Aguayo said.

Bringing the Farmer’s Market to Pepperdine removes some of the burden on students when it comes to purchasing fresh food, Espinoza said.

“It’s nice because it’s easily accessible,” Espinoza said. “I can’t reach [the Malibu farmers markets] and I have class.”

The hours for the Market are currently 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., every other Tuesday of the month.

“Usually I’m in class or I’m doing something else, [so] if they could come more often, that’d be great,” Aguayo said.

The Office of Special Programs plans to continue the market indefinitely, wrote Special Programs representative Renee Ortiz, in an email to the Graphic.

JUDITH.BRISTER-KNABE@PEPPERDINE.EDU

Photos by Daly Brister-Knabe | Staff Writer

Photos courtesy of Brent Young

Farm Fresh | (above) Students cruise the vendors in Mullin Town Square on Sept. 17. (below) Senior Jared Lee sits outside of Starbucks in Payson Library to enjoy his fresh tamales from the Farmer’s Market.

Courtesy of Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures Deadly Games | In the poster for ‘Ready or Not’, the main character cries while hiding from her in-laws on the night of her wedding. In the movie, the family chooses to play hide and seek after the wedding ceremony, but the main character does not know that this family game will end in death.

Hide and seek proves to be deadly in ‘Ready or Not’ Race Dalton Sta ff write r

Although hide and seek is one of the most beloved childhood games, it becomes a dangerous game of cat and mouse in “Ready or Not.” The black comedy horror movie was released in theaters Aug. 21.

Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet have a history in heading horror films. They utilized their prior experience in directing “Ready or Not,” and they have done an excellent job of combining both horror and humor in the movie.

Samara Weaving plays newlywed Grace, who has married Mark O’Brien’s character, Alex De Lomas.

Alex reluctantly hosts the wedding at his wealthy family’s mansion, and

Grace is excited to become a member of the family.

As a family tradition, Grace must draw a card from a box and play the game written on the card with the family. Grace draws the hide and seek card and is simultaneously perplexed and eager to play.

As Grace goes to hide, the De Lomas family begins to arm themselves with various weapons. They then begin to hunt her down, and Grace doesn’t realize the danger she is in until she witnesses a maid getting killed.

Alex finds her first and tells her that his family believes that they will all die if they do not kill Grace before dawn. The movie then follows Grace as she tries to escape the mansion unseen before the family finds and kills her.

Although “Ready or Not” may neither be the scariest nor funniest movie, the film is still able to capitalize on both of these aspects and stand out.

It is one of the most surprisingly outstanding films of 2019, and “Ready or Not” is ideal for audiences looking for a casual comedy or horror movie.

There also is an anti-capitalistic message displayed throughout the film. In particular, the story of how the De Lomas family inherited its fortune seemed to suggest its members lost some of their humanity in order to obtain it. The directors were brave to depict this message in a nonchalant manner for audiences who disagree with its theme.

Weaving makes for a heroine the audience can easily cheer for. Both humor and horror are at the forefront

of this movie, and she expertly encapsulates both of these aspects.

Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillet build up suspense surrounding the family members. Some of the De Lomas buy Grace time but then turn on her later in the movie. This reversal leads the audience to become wary of everyone in the De Lomas family.

The directors also establish comedy very well in the movie, excellently blending it together with horror. In particular, one of the De Lomas family members always ends up mistakenly killing a maid.

“Ready or Not” is still playing in theaters and is not expected to be released to DVD until November 2019.

R AC E.DALTON@PEPPER DINE.EDU

PEP P E R DIN E GR A P H IC M E DIA | L IFE A N D A RTS | S E P T E MB E R 26 , 20 1 9

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Photos courtesy of Jeremy Evans Panel | The Entertainment, Media and Sports Panel members sit in front of the audience to answer questions about their respective positions and experience in the industries. They met to as part of the Silicon Beach Round Table to discuss the golden age of content distribution in Hollywood Park.

IEMSC: Institute serves as gateway to media world FROM B1

Granados said another example of the learning aspect of the Institute includes supporting the Screen Arts major in Seaver College as well as the launch of the Master of Law (LL.M.) in Entertainment, Media and Sports Law in 2017 and the Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a concentration in entertainment, media and sports management in 2018.

Waves of Innovation Recently, the IEMSC received a $100,000 award from the Waves of Innovation. Granados said the IEMSC proposed a master’s degree (MS) and certificate in Entertainment, Media and Sports Business.

Theresa de los Santos, the academic director for Journalism at Seaver College for the IEMSC as well as an associate professor of communication and the NewsWaves adviser, said she is part of the team focusing on how to use the Waves of Innovation award.

De los Santos said her position with the IEMSC consists of advancing journalism opportunities for Seaver students.

“Our proposal [for Waves of Innovation] included the creation of a master’s program at the Graziadio Business School,” de los Santos said.

“That part we’re moving forward with. They already have the curriculum map and that degree … [so] that degree is looking pretty positive.”

Granados said the MS aims to complement the education of students.

De los Santos said the second part of the award was an interdisciplinary certificate that adds to a student’s degree.

“The question is, in addition to the existing curriculum … a student may be taking … what else do you need to know to differentiate yourself when you go out to the market to get a job?”

Granados said. “So we’re engaging in market research to answer that question.”

De los Santos said the Institute is still trying to figure out the details of the certificate and is using part of the award to do research on the industry to inform the formation of the certificate or some other program that will differentiate students when they enter the job market. “[The Waves of Innovation] showed that … Pepperdine … and especially the leadership in charge of granting those awards really is seeing … that media is still big in our world and really seeing the potential of what our students can do with full knowledge,” de los Santos said. “[When students] come out as really educated creators who are business savvy and know the legal aspects of media, the change they can do in the world is pretty powerful.”

Networking: Connecting Students with the Industries

Granados said the second main initiative of the Institute is networking.

The IEMSC connects students with industry executives and experts in various contexts such as in the classroom, off-campus events, meetings at an alumni’s office and experiential learning trips.

From 2018 to 2019, the IEMSC developed something called the “menternship” initiative. Granados said a “menternship” is a combination of a mentorship and an internship where students can receive career advice from IEMSC’s Executive Board members.

“We have an executive board of top people in media who are alumni of Pepperdine, who love Pepperdine and want to give back,” de los Santos said.

Granados said students have the opportunity to meet and talk with an executive board member at his or her office through this “menternship” program.

The Institute had its first “menternship” last summer. Granados said eight students from different schools spoke with Evan Lamberg, the president of Universal Music Publishing Group North America.

The IEMSC plans to do another “menternship” in the fall. Granados said students from any of the five schools at Pepperdine can apply by going to the Career Services center.

Summer Classroom Series Another program the Institute offers is a classroom series at the STAPLES Center.

Neil Grunig, a student in the MBA program at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School who will graduate in 2020, said he attended four out of the five panels discussing different aspects of the entertainment industry last summer.

“Each class was different, but as

STAPLES Students | Pepperdine alumni speak in the Pepperdine classroom in the STAPLES Center.

The session was part of IEMSC’s summer classroom series in 2019.

a whole it gave me insight into different aspects of the entertainment industry,” Grunig said. “It also keeps my brain in tune with current issues and prepares me for when I navigate the industry as well.”

Media and News Networking Trips

Looking more specifically at the Communication Division for the IEMSC, de los Santos said she created media and news networking trips.

There have been two trips so far.

On the first trip, de los Santos said she took a group of undergraduate Journalism students to New York for a week, and on the second trip, she included undergraduate Public Relations students to the group and took them on the trip to Washington D.C. and New York.

De los Santos said the students were able to connect with Pepperdine alumni and get inside access to top media companies such as The Washington Post, Bloomberg, Refinery 29, NBC News and CNN. De los Santos said these bi-annual end-of-summer trips are for all Seaver undergraduates and are affordable.

“To really just elevate the quality of learning for our students, I really see that as my main goal and job on the Institute,” de los Santos said.

Discover: Researching Entertainment, Media and Sports Evans said in all of the initiatives and events the IEMSC offers there exists some component of the idea of “thought leadership.”

“First and foremost, the Institute serves as a thought leader and a platform for talking about entertainment, media, sports issues for bringing stakeholders together,” Evans said.

Granados said as the media industry changes due to new digital media, the Institute dedicates time to these topics to help students become “thought leaders” in their industries.

By leading in the research and understanding of these new changes in the industry, the IEMSC can transmit the information it learns to Pepperdine students as they go into the workplace.

“To me, [thought leadership] is being on the forefront of producing knowledge, to be a leader, to be guiding what we know about certain areas of media,” de los Santos said.

Granados said the Institute engages in market research to understand how the industry is transforming and how to equip students for this competition Recently, the Institute published a report on how the media and entertainment industry is changing.

“We’re looking at things like what are the growing sectors of the industry,” Granados said. “We’re interviewing executives, students and alumni, in order to get their sense of what are the talents, skills and

knowledge they’re going to need as the digital transformation ensues.”

De los Santos said one way she has pursued thought leadership is by taking on the topic of “truth in news.”

“During the 2016 election … fake news became such a hot topic,” de los Santos said. “I feel like we’ve moved on from fake news, but [there are still] questions over, ‘Where do I get accurate information?’ and ‘How do we need to reconsider truth when a lot of different truths can be presented, depending on the person in the place and time?’”

De los Santos and her Journalism colleagues encouraged the Institute to sponsor a panel at Pepperdine on the issue of truth in the news.

She said another bigger community event on the same topic and a workshop for educators on how to teach news literacy followed the first panel.

De los Santos has recently launched a study with her colleague Elizabeth Smith, assistant professor of communication and director of Pepperdine Graphic Media, and the Reagan Library. This study looks at high school students and their level of news literacy. “[This study] is not directly Institute-sponsored, but it came out of the Institute events — the panels — and really fits under thought leadership,” de los Santos said.

Granados said the Institute also researches “drivers and inhibitors of funding for women-owned firms.”

The Women in Film organization in Los Angeles is partnering with the Center for Women in Leadership at Graziadio Business School and the IEMSC to collaborate on this research.

The study focuses on answering the question of why it is more difficult for women than men in film to get funding for their business ventures. Granados said the study will also inform an action plan that aims to equip women with the tools they need to achieve their goals in the industry.

Granados said he is most excited for the market research to come out, so that the Institute can create the right initiatives to make Pepperdine students well equipped for this new marketplace. “[This research project will] hopefully … have an impact on the industry … on our students and our female students to be better able to fulfill their entrepreneurial dreams … work in the industry and launch their own ventures,” Granados said.

For more information about each event and to register, go to the IEMSC website or email Jeremy Evans at jeremy.evans@pepperdine.edu.

EM ILY.C.SHAW @PEPPER DINE.EDU

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SE P T E M B E R 2 6, 2 0 1 9 | L IFE A N D A RTS | P E PP E RD I N E G RA P H I C ME D I A

First-year aims to change the justice system Rowan Toke Li f e & Art A ssista n t e dit or

The class of 2023 elected firstyear Justus Johnson as the freshman class president after a run-off election with Nolan Kim. Pepperdine’s Student Government Association announced the results Sept. 19.

Johnson, from Nashville, Tennessee, said he plans to change the world through practicing law. For him, winning the election was the first step in achieving his goal to change the world.

Johnson said he has wanted to be a lawyer since he was 8 years old, and this goal has affected every decision he has made.

“I’ve always had a strong desire to help people in the legal aspect just because being a minority, the legal system doesn’t always work out in the favor of people of color,” Johnson said.

In high school, Johnson said he was involved in the Assisted Student Body (ASB), the National Society of High School Scholars and various athletic teams. He was also part of the Biomedical Engineering Club and the high school chorus and served as a student ambassador.

Johnson said the accomplishment he is most proud of is going to the American Legion Boys Nation, which is a program that stems from the American Legion.

“I got to meet Vice President Mike Pence, see how legal legislation is passed in the Senate, explore D.C.

What I want to do with my Pepperdine degree is essentially change the world and the aspect of legal law

Photos courtesy of Justus Johnson Country Boy | First-year Justus Johnson stands in front of a mural justus johnson, first-year bearing the name of his hometown, Nashville, Tennessee. The class and all of its monuments, as well of 2023 elected Johnson as the freshman class president on Sept. 19. as meet my state senators and have the chance to interview with them,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he came to Pepperdine for multiple reasons and kept his aspirations of going to law school in mind.

“I chose Pepperdine University because I wanted to go to a school that had the Christian aspects that I uphold in my life and that also had great academic programs, especially

D.C. Dreams | (Left) Johnson stands in front of the steps of Capital Hill in Washington, D.C. (Right) Johnson stands with his mother, Nicole, who is he says is his biggest supporter, at his graduation in 2019.

for me being an English Writing and Rhetoric major with an emphasis in pre-law and a minor in Hispanic Studies,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he was very involved in his church, the Rural Hill Church of Christ, and he appreciated that Pepperdine is affiliated with the Church of Christ.

Johnson said one of the other reasons he chose Pepperdine was the International Programs (IP).

“I plan on going to D.C. in the fall of 2020 and going to Argentina in the spring of 2021 because I have aspirations of not only becoming fluent in the Spanish language but also to be culturally diverse and culturally immersed in Argentine Spanish culture,” Johnson said.

While his entire family has been supportive of his dream, Johnson said his mother has been especially supportive.

Because his name is Justus, Johnson said he feels called to change the American justice system.

“I think that it’s what I’m destined to do,” Johnson said.

Johnson said his time at Pepperdine has been very positive because of his friends.

“My Pepperdine journey thus far has been one of the most outstanding experiences I’ve ever had in my life,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he has already formed a close group of friends who he talked with over the summer.

“My friend group was very supportive of everything that I wanted to do, and we all support each other in different ways because everyone’s going on their own path,” Johnson

said.

Johnson said he also appreciates the spiritual relationship he has made with his friends.

“Mostly everyone that is around me has the same type of faith that I do or they have a different faith to where we can discuss it, and I can learn from them and they can learn from me,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the diversity of Pepperdine’s student body is very important to him.

“With Pepperdine being so diverse, I definitely have learned more about the different cultures of the world from South America to Europe,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he hopes to get involved in Mock Trial and Greek Life on campus.

“I believe in the philanthropy aspect of bettering the community and helping those outside of the Malibu atmosphere,” Johnson said.

During his presidency, Johnson said he plans to promote cultural awareness and empathy to those of all races, among other things.

He plans on updating some of the hours of the Waves Shuttle to better serve students who do not have a car. In addition, Johnson said he values “promoting community service events that allowed Malibu students to get more immersed in the culture of the community around them.”

“What I want to do with my Pepperdine degree is essentially change the world and the aspect of legal law,” Johnson said.

R OWAN.TOK E@PEPPER DIne.EDU

IFC: begins Recruitment transformation from above FROM B1 Caspile said the deadline requirement is partly an indirect attempt at preventing a type of hazing that takes place on bid night.

“Fraternities will tell PNMs to wait in their rooms wearing a suit between like noon and 8 p.m. to recieve their bids,” Caspile said. “You’d be surprised how often we get complaints from people who don’t receive a bid but waited in a suit in their dorm room that whole time.”

“

I really don't think there is a way to be perfect. That's the human side of it. But you can always strive toward it. Everyone seems like they're on the same page, and it feels like a pretty healthy environment so far.

Corey MacArthur, Vice President of Recruitment

Caspile said Student Activities hopes that making voting times earlier will standardize how students receive bids by increasing university oversight of this process. “Greek Life really pushed this, not the fraternities,” Caspile said.

3. Changes to Chapter Events Chapters are now required to have two of their Recruitment events on campus and are limited to three off-campus events. McArthur said this rule was an attempt to level the playing field for chapters with less members.

“An organization with 70 people is going to have more funding than an organization with 30 people,” McArthur said. “We didn’t want organizations with less funds to continually fall behind because they have less money to put on cool events.”

Additionally, a new rule requires chapters to have faculty advisors at all off-campus events. Caspile said this rule was to mitigate potential risks.

“A lot of rush events are high-risk events, to be honest,” Caspile said. “To have no faculty or staff presence, it’s kind of a liability for all of the organizations. You have kids playing broom ball and driving go karts. If something happens, it’s just better to have a faculty or staff member there.”

Caspile said this rule was also another attempt to curb “rush parties.”

“It happens all the time in Recruitment; after an event, an active will just be like, ‘Hey, just come over later,’ to particular kids,” Caspile said. “And that specifically is when the incidents at actives’ residences are happening. We hope that the advisor coupled with the new legislation could help us shepherd this a little better, at the very least.”

Courtesy of John Louis Chiappe IFC BBQ | Members of Alpha Tau Omega participated in the IFC BBQ Sept. 3. Students who attended the BBQ were able to learn more about the IFC chapters on campus.

For McArthur, the rules are a step in the right direction and not an end-all-be-all solution.

“I really don’t think there is a way to be perfect,” McArthur said. “That’s the human side of it. But you can always strive toward it. Everyone seems like they’re on the same page, and it feels like a pretty healthy environment so far.”

Meet the Chapters initiated fraternity rush Thursday, Sept. 12. There is a $20 sign-up fee sign. Fraternity bid night began Sept. 23rd. Visit the Inter-fraternity Council website to learn more.

JAM ES.M OOR E@PEPPER DINE.EDU

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SE P T E M B E R 2 6, 2 0 1 9 | S PORTS | P E P P E R D I N E G RA P H I C ME D I A

Photos courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics Get the Ball Rolling | (left) Head Coach Laurie Gibbs discusses sophomore Sifan He’s next move at the Dick McGuire Invitational Tournament in Albequerque, New Mexico, on Sept. 9 and 10. (right) Freshman Alexa Melton follows through with her wedge before the green.

Women’s Golf begins preseason play Ky le mccabe spor ts e d itor

The collegiate golf season starts before the collegiate golf season. That is to say, the NCAA lists men’s and women’s golf as spring sports, but teams often compete in tournaments in the fall as well.

Although the fall tournaments are preseason competitions, they affect the rankings put out by Golfweek and the Women’s Golf Coaches Association. Golfweek’s preseason rankings put the Waves at No. 25 in the nation.

“I think it’s a fair ranking,” Head Coach Laurie Gibbs said.

“I believe not only that we can achieve that — I believe we can definitely exceed that.”

Freshman Alexa Melton said she is not worried about the ranking putting extra pressure onto the team.

“As a team, we try to have as [little] expectations as possible,” Melton said. “We’re all working really hard. We have our long days of five hour practices and workouts, so it’s nice to see it all pays off.”

Since the preseason rankings came out, the Waves have played two tournaments and Pepperdine down to No. 33 in Golfweek’s rankings.

At New Mexico’s Dick McGuire Invitational Sept. 9–10, Pepperdine finished second

out of 15 teams, and senior Momoka Kabori took the individual title. “[Kabori] played amazing golf,” Gibbs said. “She’s worked hard over the summer — really, the last 18 months — to really show up and perform her senior year, and we all couldn’t be more proud of her.”

Melton ended the first day — her birthday — with a twostroke lead on the field, but ended up tying for fourth, three strokes behind Kabori. ­­ “Alexa Melton, just [had] a great showing her very first tournament,” Gibbs said. “[She] played great golf and is a wonderful competitor, and I believe she’s going to have an incredible college career.”

At the WSU Cougar Cup Sept. 16 and 17, Pepperdine finished in a tie for ninth out of 15 teams. Kabori tied for third individually, while freshman Reese Guzman improved 20 spots in the third round to finish tied for 22nd.

The Waves ended the second round in a tie for 11th, but shot six under par the next day to climb up to the ninth place tie.

Fresh Faces On a team of six women, Melton and Guzman are not the only newcomers. Junior Megan Dennis transferred to Pepperdine from Florida Tech.

Last season, Dennis helped the Panthers win the Division II National Championship in the program’s final year.

“Megan [Dennis] is a fabulous player [who] came from a D-II university,” Gibbs said. “[She] has adjusted extremely well. Reese had a great showing [at the Dick McGuire Invitational] — really just had one bad hole — but otherwise played solid.”

Golfweek listed Melton as one of their top 10 freshmen to watch in 2019–2020 as well as a preseason second team All-American. “[Melton]’s a really good player — you can probably see that from the ranking,” Kabori said. “Her, Reese Guzman and Megan [Dennis] are all really solid players.”

With half of the team new to the program, the women have a young and unfamiliar team.

“I think, over the past couple of weeks, we’ve got to kind of know each other pretty well,” Kabori said. “That’s pretty important going into the season — to be comfortable with each other.”

Kabori, Melton and Gibbs all said there have been no issues building team chemistry.

“Oh, my gosh, this team is amazing,” Melton said. “We all get along so well. And no one had to get to know each other.

We were all pretty close to the get go.”

Solo Senior

As the team’s only senior, this will be Kabori’s last collegiate season. In her first three years, she was the West Coast Conference (WCC) Freshman of the Year and a two-time AllWCC first team honoree.

“It’s nice to be up there in the conference,” Kabori said.

“Usually it’s not something I worry about too much. The team winning the conference is one of the top goals for me personally.”

Kabori started her senior year with a bang when she won the individual title at the Dick McGuire Invitational and kept her momentum going with a third place tie in Washington.

In both tournaments, she played her best golf in the third round to move up the leaderboard. In New Mexico, Kabori moved from tied for 10th to the top spot and went from 12th to third in the Cougar Cup. “I believe she has a wonderful future ahead — not only her senior year, but beyond,” Gibbs said. “She’s going to continue on to doing some great things this year.”

Looking Ahead Last year’s season ended at the NCAA Norman Regional for the Waves with a 15th place finish out of 18 teams. In the last four years, Pepperdine

has only made the National Championship once.

“Every year, [making nationals] is one of our top goals,” Kabori said. “We’ve been able to make it constantly to regionals, but getting past that is always pretty challenging.”

Gibbs said she does not want the team to focus too far down the road.

“Regionals is months away,” Gibbs said. “We just take it one tournament at a time, and that’s all you can do. I’m a big believer in just taking care of your business.”

Melton said the team still has goals for the season, though.

“We want to be top three in every event – and top three at the National Championships?”

Melton said over the phone while being urged on by her teammates. “No! We want to win a National Championship.”

There are four regional tournaments and six teams from each advance to the National Championship, so the preseaand Calvin Wood son ranking of No. 25 in the country puts Pepperdine on the bubble.

“Fall is important to get our bearings,” Gibbs said. “I think all this hard work and preparation in the fall will definitely pay off as we go into our spring season and postseason.

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

Courtesy of WCC

Courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics First and Foremost | Senior Momoka Kabori watches the ball after striking on the green. Kabori prepares for her final season as a two-time All-WCC first team golfer. She claimed the victory in the first preseason tournament in New Mexico this season.

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SPORTS

Water Polo battles UCLA, loses in thriller aust in hall staf f writ e r

It was clear the Waves would have their hands full with the No. 2 team in the country. UCLA was 5-0 coming into the game, and the team brought back six Mountain Pacific Sports Federation All-Americans from last season.

Pepperdine’s start to the season has been phenomenal as well, going 9-2 in a topheavy schedule. Before Saturday, their only two losses came to the No. 4 team in the country in UC Santa Barbara. The Waves fell short once again to an elite opponent by a score of 14-12, but the team is confident looking ahead to the rest of the season.

Head Coach Terry Schroeder said he was overall pleased with his team’s performance, especially on offense.

“I thought we had the firepower to beat that team,” Schroeder said. “We gave them too many goals and we have to tighten up our defense. We started so well, and then we let them make a run in the middle and just couldn’t catch up.”

To start the game, Pepperdine came out firing on all cylinders. Twenty seconds in, senior attacker Marko Asic scored the first goal on a penalty shot, followed by another goal by junior center Coleman Carpenter 50 seconds later.

Redshirt senior center Chris Dilworth quickly got into the day’s stat sheet as well and

scored his first goal of the season to give Pepperdine a 3-0 lead. UCLA answered with back-to-back goals to make it a one-point game. The Waves responded with their own back-to-back scores as the first period ended with a score of 5-2.

“We definitely came out really strong,” Dilworth said.

“We were excited about the 5-2 score. We had tons of energy and explosiveness. We let up a little bit and unfortunately let them get back into the game.”

Pepperdine is without their starting goalie, junior J.C. Marco, who fractured his fourth metacarpal shaft in his left hand during warmups versus UC San Diego. He received four screws and will be out at least a month.

The goalie duties have been split between junior Kyle McKenney, who gets the majority of playing, and freshman Kent Emden, who played in spurts during the second half.

Schroeder said he felt his players rose to the challenge and acknowledges that there is room for improvement.

“Not all of those shots were the goalie’s fault, no question,” Schroeder said. “We didn’t team block well when their offense was on the near side. But only three saves in three quarters from our starting goalie is not going to cut it — we have to get more blocks.”

McKenney said he is ready to build off the loss.

“My biggest takeaway is that this game is really en-

Courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics Goalie by Committee | Junior Kyle McKenney focuses in on a UCLA attacker’s shot Saturday in Malibu. McKenney and freshman Kent Emden both played goalie for the Waves. couraging for us,” McKenney said. “UCLA is a very respectable program, and we were right there with them. We just need to fix a few things on defense and our offense will continue to shine.”

The Bruins started the second period with a 4-0 scoring run in less than three minutes. Pepperdine tied the game at 6-6 with another goal from Dilworth, but UCLA answered with a lead-taking score with 11 seconds left in the first half.

The Bruins started the second half with three straight goals and brought their lead to four, the biggest of the day.

Sophomore attacker Balazs Kosa responded fast and received a cross-pool touch pass

from fellow sophomore attacker Curtis Jarvis and beat his one-on-one matchup for the goal. It was Kosa’s 26th goal of the season, the most on the team.

Pepperdine and UCLA continued to go back-and-forth with goals, and Pepperdine was unable to take the lead.

Kosa added three more goals after being kept scoreless in the first half, but the UCLA offense was too disciplined and precise to be defeated.

Dilworth graduated from Pepperdine in 2018 but came back to the team with one year of eligibility remaining.

He said he feels that this team is more unified than previous years.

“This is the closest unit that I’ve ever been a part of,” Dilworth said. “We use the word family a lot because, truthfully, we are one. That’s what separates us from not only the teams in this league but the past teams that I’ve played on.

We’re all hungry and motivated to get the job done.”

Schroeder said he also has high hopes for the 2019 group.

“I love this team,” Schroeder said. “I think we have a great shot of doing some very special things. It’s going to be a fun year.”

Pepperdine will travel to Los Angeles on Thursday for the MPSF Invite.

AUSTIN.HAL L @PEPPER DINE.EDU

WVB sweeps UC Irvine in final home nonconference match kar l w inter staf f w rit e r Trailing 22-15 in the second set against UC Irvine on Wednesday night, it looked like Pepperdine Women’s Volleyball was going to take a step backward.

The Waves were looking for a pick-me-up, momentum-building victory against the Anteaters, who entered the match at only 2-7 on the season.

It seemed they were going to have to grind it out in at least four sets.

After Head Coach Scott Wong called a timeout and entered a few substitutes, his team promptly staged an 8-1 run and came back to win the set and close out the Anteaters in three.

“We just weren’t playing very clean volleyball, so we just cleaned it up a little bit,” Wong said.

“We talked about a couple of things we can ad-

just.”

The sweep snapped a four-match losing streak for the Waves, dating back to the Pepperdine Tournament. However, the fourth loss in that streak was actually “the best we’ve ever played,” team kills leader Shannon Scully said.

In that final match of the Pepperdine Asics Classic on Sept. 14, the Waves pushed the sixthranked team in the nation, the Pittsburgh Panthers, to the very end, eventually falling in a tight fifth set.

The encouraging match spurred the Waves in their final week of nonconference play, Wong said.

“I think [the loss against Pitt] just really validates a lot of things we’ve been doing and talking about in practice,” Wong said. “There’s been a lot of progress that’s been made.”

Everybody Eats | Sophomore Rosie Ballo takes a swing in her first appearance of the season Wednesday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Against Irvine, it was all about getting a result and avenging a 2018 defeat at the hands of the Anteaters in Irvine.

“It’s nice to have an actual victory, not just moral victories,” Wong said.

The first set was dicey for the Waves, with four lead changes and six ties, but they closed it out 2523.

Loryn Carter, a redshirt junior, registered seven of her team-leading nine kills in the first set for the Anteaters.

Scully, a junior hitter, carried the Waves with 10 kills in the set.

“I like getting in a rhythm, personally, early on in the game because it helps you steady out for the rest,” Scully said.

“As a team, we just wanted to start off with some more energy in general.”

The second set was even more uncertain, as Irvine pulled ahead 1610 with a 7-1 run.

Freshman outside hitter Kayleigh Hames entered the match for senior hitter Hannah Frohling, who had only one kill on 11 attempts at the time.

When the Anteaters further extended the lead, Wong inserted redshirt freshman Tayah Mahi for true freshman Isabel Zelaya at setter.

“Tayah [Mahi] did a nice job stabilizing our offense and mounting a great effort with the comeback in the second

Photos by Karl Winter | Staff Writer Game Faces | The Waves stand at attention for the National Athem before the start of their game agianst UC Irvine on Wednesday. set,” Wong said.

The comeback was dramatic. Three service aces (two by Mahi and one by Scully) and two Alli O’Harra kills helped the Waves pull even at 23-23, and Pepperdine then fought off a set point before winning the set 26-24.

“Coach [Wong] made some great subs,” O’Harra said. “[It was] some great encouragement for us to, like, ‘Hey, turn it on. This is not us.’”

The third and final set was an entirely different story, as the Waves jumped out to a huge 17-5 lead and closed out the match with a 25-17 victory.

“We carried that [momentum] into the third set and just killed them like we should have in the first place,” O’Harra said.

Frohling found her rhythm with four kills

on five points, sopho- said. more middle blocker RosEleven games into the ie Ballo smacked three season, the Waves are 4-7 kills and every Pepper- and still have not deciddine player in uniform ed on a full-time setter. saw the court.

However, the team has “I love when every- played a tough schedule, body gets to play because five of their losses have everybody’s working been in five sets and they Photos Courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics very hard during the were only 6-4 in nonconweek in practice and ference play in 2018 bechipping in in a lot of fore going 14-4 in WCC ways,” Wong said. “Ros- play and finishing secie [Ballo] came in off the ond in the conference to bench and did a nice job.” earn an NCAA TournaWednesday’s match ment bid. was the final home game The Waves take on for the Waves before San Francisco and Santa West Coast Conference Clara at Firestone Field(WCC) play begins Thurs- house this week, two day, Sept. 26 against San teams who finished at Francisco. the bottom of the conferUnfortunately, the ence standings in 2018. momentum from the Ir“With conference vine win did not quite coming up, I think we carry into Friday’s non- just have to keep that conference finale. On the consistent mindset of alroad at UC Santa Barbara, ways showing up and bethe Waves blew a two-set ing ready to play no matlead and eventually fell ter who we’re playing,” 3-2.

O’Harra said.

“We need to get better at everything,” Wong K AR L .W INTER @PEPPER DINE.EDU