Pepperdine Graphic 3-25-2021

THE PEPPERDINE GRAPHIC VOLUME L

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ISSUE 15 |

March 25, 2021

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Isabella Teague| lead designer Beach Scenes | As fewer students stay close to Malibu, tourists take over beach spots during the COVID-19 pandemic. Local business owners stay afloat thanks to vistitors coming from places like Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Orange County. Most of the businesses flourish during the weekends.

Tourists replace student population in Malibu MIL ES C AM P BELL NEW S ASS I S TA N T With COVID-19 keeping Pepperdine students at home, many local businesses and restaurants in Malibu felt the effects of the lack of students in the area.

As a college town for around 3,500 undergraduate college students as of 2020, Malibu typically relies on college students to support local businesses. Despite students being gone, Malibu was far from quiet as tourism ramped up during the pandemic. Visitors flocked to beaches, keeping local businesses afloat and helping new businesses opening up their doors.

“Historical numbers,” Mayor of Malibu Mikke Pierson said.

“We’ve never had crowds like this.

Ever.”

Malibu Business Booms A driving factor behind the success of Malibu businesses during COVID-19 was tourism, which allowed for a few new establish-

ments to open during the height of the pandemic, including Joules & Watts, a specialty coffee and gelato shop that opened its doors July 4.

“It was scary because of the obvious health risks or the potential to contract a virus that was going around,” said Max Gualtieri, the owner of Joules & Watts. “There was hesitation, but we felt like we could approach it intelligently and safely.”

Located in the Malibu Country Mart, the coffee shop began as a pop-up spot with plans to stay just three months, but community support allowed for Gualtieri to sign a full-year lease despite not having Pepperdine students around, Gualtieri said.

“I’m eager to see what it’s like when classes resume in person,” Gualtieri said. “I’m eager to meet new people and share more broadly with people who are excited about coffee and ice cream.”

While Joules & Watts received most of its support during the height of the pandemic from tourists, other businesses in the area

survived solely on local community support.

Set to close its doors this past June, Gene Arnold’s Vitamin Barn, a Malibu staple, survived the pandemic as a result of the local community.

“The driving factor for me in this town is the people who come in, and so many who say, ‘We want you here, we want you here,’” Arnold said.

Arnold planned to close his shop due to an increase in rent and heightened competition with Whole Foods. The shop’s goingout-of-business sale combined with generous community support kept the shop from shutting down permanently, Arnold said.

“I was overwhelmed,” Arnold said. “People were buying everything from me. It was an experience that was one or two up there in all my life experiences.”

Tourism in Malibu Although students’ absence from Malibu certainly hurt many

small businesses, the increase of tourism greatly assisted small businesses throughout the pandemic, Gualtieri said.

“The market so far has been mostly tourism here in Malibu,” Gualtieri said. “Mostly flourishing on the weekends, and then otherwise throughout the week there’s a steady stream of visitors — people either coming to Malibu for the day for a day trip or passing from Orange County to Santa Barbara.”

The increase in tourism also posed new challenges for the city, something the city council was not prepared for, Pierson said.

“We ended up spending a lot of money as a city cleaning up trash that we did not have in the budget,” Pierson said. “Trash was everywhere; people all over Malibu were saying that trash was everywhere.”

Malibu’s renowned beaches were convenient, open locations during the pandemic, allowing people to gather and socialize in a safe and distanced manner. More visitors than expected were gather-

ing at beaches, especially on holidays, such as Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, leaving the city with the tough decision to keep the beaches open or not.

“If we close the beaches, people are going to freak out, and if we open the beaches, people are going to freak out,” Pierson said. “So we didn’t, and it was crowded.”

Although tourism certainly helped out small businesses around Malibu, not all businesses necessarily had tourists as the first priority; many businesses still prioritized locals.

“The tourist aspect is great and I love it when we get all the different kinds of tourists in, but the No. 1 thing is that I create relationships with the people in town,” Arnold said. “They’re the people who support me the most, so those are the people I focus on.”

M il es.c am pbel l @Pepper dine.edu

Adjunct professors remain vital part of Seaver College AB BY W ILt NEW S ASS I S TA N T With a 13:1 student-faculty ratio and an average of 16 students per class, Seaver College prides itself in offering small class sizes and valuable faculty relationships with students. Adjunct professors make up almost 40% of Seaver faculty, allowing Pepperdine to keep class sizes small each semester, said Kendra Killpatrick, senior associate dean of Seaver College.

Seaver College employs around 150 adjunct professors and around 250 full-time faculty members, Killpatrick said. Even in an online format, adjunct processors play a critical role in reducing class sizes and providing a true Pepperdine academic experience. They are also able to teach part-time and can teach up to eight units.

“We really cherish those faculty members who are willing to come and teach one class or two classes for us,” Killpatrick said. “They do really important work for us, and we’re grateful for that.”

Hiring During the Pandemic Seaver hires an adjunct professor when a full-time faculty member goes on sabbatical, teaches at an International Program or when someone is specialized in one field for a specific class. Seaver looks for candidates who have at least a master’s degree and preferably some teaching experience, Killpatrick said.

In addition, Seaver looks to hire adjunct professors to reduce class sizes, Killpatrick said. For example, in the spring 2021 semester, Seaver committed to keeping class

News

Wh at ’s A2AH E AD A10-

sizes small, rather than the usual large lecture capacity of 150 to 200 students. Instead, those lecture-style classes were split into subsections of 30 students. In fall 2019, the majority of classes had 10-19 students per one instructor, according to the 2019-2020 Common Data Set. Before the fall 2020 semester, Pepperdine released COVID-19 Expense Optimization Measures the University would take during the pandemic. In regards to new employee hiring, Seaver decided “any new faculty or staff hirings will be carefully reviewed to ensure only essential roles are filled,” according to the measures.

“Delivering the education to our students is absolutely essential and a top priority during the pandemic, so hiring faculty to cover classes has been viewed as a criti-

L if e & A r t s

Pe r s pe ct iv e s

cal expense,” Killpatrick said.

To hire an adjunct professor, Seaver relies on connections with nearby universities and current faculty members to find the right candidates, Killpatrick said. Due to COVID-19, Seaver has been able to hire adjunct professors from anywhere, not just Los Angeles.

“If our faculty knows a really good person elsewhere in the country, they can just ask them to teach remotely,” Killpatrick said.

“We won’t be able to continue that, but it’s kind of a fun part of the pandemic.”

Since adjunct professors are not full-time faculty, Seaver pays them an hourly rate and they do not receive benefits such as healthcare insurance or retirement plans.

Killpatrick said some adjunct professors teach for just one semester,

Writer Alice Han B1A5- Staff explains why first-year

Two Pepperdine students found BizVim to support small businesses.

Women’s Soccer B4- The Team faced a tough

The Wave Pool Investment Club shares about the stock market.

Writer Sarah Best B2A6- Staff shares a transfer student

Meet some of the fresh faces of Pepperdine.

B5- Pepperdine’s beach

the thewaves wavesreport report

perspective of a remote Pepperdine.

Fri: Fri:3-5 2-3ftft

Sat: SAT:3-5 2 ftft

battle against Santa Clara.

volleyball team sweep Concordia and fall to USC.

SUN: sun:1-2 3-5ftft

SE E A D J U N CT, a3

this week on

SP ORTS

Assistant News Editor Natalie Hardt shares the good news in trying new things.

students should have access to kitchens.

whereas some decide to stay for several years.

“I just want our adjunct faculty and our students to know that we consider them a really critical part of our teaching faculty,” Killpatrick said.

For Yvette Gellis, being an adjunct professor of art at Pepperdine gives her the opportunity to teach at a university that aligns with her values while working as an artist in Santa Monica, Calif.

MON: Mon:2-3 2-4ftft

s p orts waves Sports Editor Paxton Ritchey and Sports Writer Karl Winter talk March Madness picks for the tournament.

Available anywhere you listen to podcasts.

TUES: Tue:2-3 3-4ftft

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M A R C H 2 5 , 2 0 2 1 | N E W S | P E P P E R DINE GRA P H I C ME D I A

Good News: A month of firsts

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

No new crimes to report.

This week In SGA

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N ata l i e H a rd t a s s i s ta n t N e ws E dit or

NATALIE.HARDT@PEPPERDINE.EDU

PRESIDENT’S BRIEFING & OTHER NEWS YOU MISSED s ome c la sse s to of fe r in-pe rson in struc tion s ta r ting apr il 6, a select gro up of classes will o ffer optional in-per son in s tr uction. Seaver colle ge estimates 15-20% of pro f essor s will offer an in -per son option.

on-c a mpus vac c ine a ppoin tme n ts the student health center offer ed vaccination appointments for any eligible faculty, staff or students wednesday, mar ch 24.

ho u s i ng a p p li cat i o ns remain open t he hou s i ng p ortal i s s t i l l op en f or s t u dent s t o s el ec t on-c amp u s hou s i ng op t i ons f or t he 2 02 1 -2 02 2 ac ademi c y ear.

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SGA passed a resolution for E-Sports broadcast equipment.

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Important Election Dates April 7: optional interest meeting April 14: mandatory candidates meeting April 21: elections

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

FRI

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What: pepperdine youth ministry network online retreat When: 9:30-10 a.m., 1011:30 a.m., 11:30-12 p.m. PdT hosted by: office of church relations

Covid-19 by the numbers

A month ago, I had never eaten a lollipop, climbed a tree or done a somersault.

These three experiences are reflective of a larger trend that has governed most of my life — one of avoiding trying new things due to a fear they may be unpleasant or lead to injury.

About a month ago, a longheld desire to overcome these fears bubbled to the surface. The end of a relationship served as a catalyst, reminding me I need to take an active role in becoming the person I want to be through facing fears head-on rather than waiting.

“Doing things!” is a pretty vague statement my friends and I started using as I did more and more new activities — “things” can encompass almost any item or action — and yet the mantra perfectly describes my month of firsts.

It all started with a lollipop.

In early February, I was hanging out with my roommates in Malibu. They, naturally, were enjoying some lollipops when I blurted out, “I’ve never had a lollipop!” — a statement that shocked them, because who hasn’t tried a lollipop by 21?

Minutes later, I was sucking on my very first lollipop.

About an hour later, when one friend randomly did a somersault, a similar declaration of “I’ve never” was followed by my friends helping me do one. It might have taken an hour, but, sure enough, I was rolling across the ground later that evening.

I was ashamed, in years past, about all the basic things I have never done and how long it takes me to overcome the fears related to them. Now, however, I openly admit to them — and then I do them.

In the following weeks, I finally hiked to the cross in Malibu, climbed my first tree on Alumni Park and went skiing for the first time — all with the help of supportive friends and family members. I faced my lifelong fears of heights and potential injury, as well as my lack of trust in myself to successfully perform these activities, head-on.

No matter how basic the new thing I try is, a feeling of triumph and achievement always accompanies finally doing it.

The constant support and encouragement from friends and family are immensely helpful. No one makes me feel foolish or incapable for what I haven’t done; rather, they remind me that I am taking initiative and showing real progress.

I am finally stepping into who I can be when I face my fears and ask for help from the people I love — and that’s where I find my good news nowadays.

Everyone has different fears and struggles. If you want to face them, actively do it — an idea promoted in Shia Lebouf’s motivational speech: “Just Do It.” “Don’t let your dreams be dreams,” Lebouf said. “Yesterday, you said tomorrow. So just do it.

Make your dreams come true.”

Don’t wait. Life is meant to be lived, not hindered and controlled by fear.

SGA held a moment of silence for the AAPI comm unity and victims of the Boulder shooting.

What: coffee with jim: A conversation with joline gash When: 12-12:45 P.M. PDT Hosted by: alumni affairs

Pepperdine

MON 29

What: president’s speaker series: “vaccines: Where are we and where are we going?”

When: 5-7 P.M. PDT Hosted by: pepperdine

Malibu

WED

TUES

31

30

What: esther project biblical leadership study When: 12:45-1:45 p.m. PdT Hosted by: tiffany williams

California

What: “Grey’s Anatomy” Watch Party When: 8 p.m. PdT Hosted by: the board

United States

187 370 3.65M 30M cases

cases

cases

cases

two seven 58K 544k deaths

deaths

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ADJUNCT: Part-time profs keep classes small fr o m a1 Gellis’ work is on display nationally and internationally, and she received artist residencies in Taiwan, Austria, Arizona and Santa Monica. She also received a Foundation Tenot and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization award for her participation in an artist residency program in France. Gellis has taught as an adjunct professor since 2014.

“I fell in love with teaching at Pepperdine,” Gellis said. “I fell in

love with the students, and I like teaching at a faith-based university. It’s a really strong fit for me.”

Gellis said she is able to bring her past experience as an artist into the classroom. Gellis teaches a range of classes from Art Fundamentals to Painting to Observational Drawing.

Alexander Park, an adjunct professor in the classical guitar department, said he can relate.

Park graduated from Pepperdine in 2015 and started teaching guitar lessons to students two years ago. Park also performs, has his

own private studio and has played concerts across the United States, Canada, Germany and Austria.

Pepperdine Professor of Music Christopher Parkening offered Park a job after Park studied under him and taught his son guitar lessons. Park said he enjoys teaching students who want to be professional musicians, especially since he has experience in the industry.

“You teach your friends and students who either take it as a hobby or their parents made them and do that and that’s fine, but I really enjoy teaching students

who want to be professional musicians,” Park said.

But being an adjunct professor doesn’t come without challenges.

On average, adjunct professors have less academic freedom, work long hours and receive lower salaries than full-time faculty members, according to the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

“You have to be willing to know that you’re going to give a lot and that even a university may not always treat you the same as they do their full-time employees,” Gellis

said.

For Gellis, she said she is OK with not getting the same benefits as a full-time faculty member because she is able to spend more time in her studio, and she feels like she is serving the Pepperdine community. “[What I care about] is that I gave the best I could each day, each class, and hopefully help my students,” Gellis said. “The only person I’m trying to please is God, and that’s why Pepperdine has been such a good fit for me.”

ABBY.W ILT@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Dimmer lights, better sky: Pepperdine continues role in Dark Sky project ali l ev en s photo edi tor Stargazing in Los Angeles? Forget about it.

The glowing stars remain present, albeit hidden in pollutants from radiance, or emitted light, known as light pollution. Light pollution has dire effects on the ecology of a location, especially on the coast and in the mountains, because migratory and nocturnal animals can have difficulty hunting or traveling, Professor of Religion Chris Doran said.

To combat the ecologically damaging phenomenon prevalent in the LA area, the City of Malibu implemented the Dark Sky Ordinance in October 2018, restricting the types, temperatures and lumens of outdoor lighting.

“We want to provide this public benefit [and] help preserve the visibility of the night sky,” Center for Sustainability Director Ricky Eldridge said. “A lot of people enjoy the beautiful views in Malibu, and we want to facilitate that by taking advantage of the state-of-theart technology that is available in terms of lighting.”

To be considerate of the neighbors, despite its freedom from the restrictions of the light ordinance, unincorporated Pepperdine University joined forces with Malibu, LA County and the California Coastal Commission in May 2011 and committed to replacing all of

its 367, non-historical globe lights — found at such places like the Firestone Fieldhouse parking lot and along the lower half of Seaver Drive — on campus with dark-sky adhering lighting, said Eldridge.

In terms of VIIRS, a measure of radiance, Los Angeles shines bright. The center of the city produces an outstanding amount, chalking up 167.75 SI radiance unites that easily exceeds the VIIRS zero to extreme scale of 0.00-75.00, according to lightpollutionmap.info.

Malibu Community Alliance President Cami Winikoff said light pollution causes harm and extinction in insects, such as night moths, as well as compromises human health.

“There’s a whole ripple effect of ecological consequences,” Doran said. “While it’s often just seen as like, ‘Oh it’s just rich people who want to see the stars,’ it’s not. It’s a little bit more complex than that and more important ecologically when you think about the nocturnal animals — the coyotes and raccoons, [...] owls, other birds, especially, that live in the mountains around here.”

Dating back to 2013, the Malibu City Council — driven by community member Winikoff and Councilmember Steve Uhring, alongside the International DarkSky Association — established an ordinance for outdoor lighting.

Eldridge said the University be-

ali levens |photo editor

New Lights|A lone street light shines down on the Malibu Canyon Road sidewalk by the campus gate March 15. To combat light pollution, Pepperdine University implemented downward-facing, amber-toned lights to reduce sky glow. gan replacing lights in 2015, with 110 of the 367 substituted. The lighting replacement will conclude with the completion of the Campus Life Project’s buildout and a related project, effectively reducing the University’s sky glow by 50%.

“These globe lights were specifically targeted [...] because those are the types of light that contribute the most to sky glow,” Eldridge said. “Once all of them are replaced, the University will have reduced that type of light most likely to contribute.”

The new lights are “significantly more energy-efficient,” than the globe lights, Eldridge said, but he is unsure of the cost difference.

The ordinance lays out the types of lighting required in non-residential and commercial areas. All outdoor lighting must be shielded, downward-facing and not exceed 850 lumens and 3,000 Kelvin, according to the City of Malibu website.

Winikoff said the best light temperature for outdoor lights has no white or blue spectrum and high-intensity light, but they instead use yellowish, amber-toned lights that do not exceed 3,000 Kelvin.

As an educator, Doran said he thinks the University fails to educate students about its environmental goals, such as the Malibu Dark Sky project, and the majority

outside of the biology program is unaware of the drastic effects light pollution has on the surrounding ecology.

Scottie Sandlin, senior and Green Team president, said she had heard of the dark sky project — but not the one in Malibu.

Sandlin was familiar with dark sky mandates from her time spent on the Georgia coast, which the communities implemented when scientists learned light shining toward the ocean caused sea turtles to get lost.

On campus, Sandlin said she tries to be vocal about her light pollution advocacy. In a town hall meeting about the renovations in the Sandbar, Sandlin proposed better utilizing the natural light and window space instead of wholly depending on light bulbs.

While more sustainable lighting has come to campus, Doran said he weighed the options of the University building equitable, modified stadium lights for the outdoor baseball and soccer fields. Doran said the Waves could then host nighttime NCAA events, bringing in TV revenue that helps pay off the modified lights.

“We should stay dark at night, and not just because we’re a bunch of wealthy folks that can turn the lights off and face them downwards, but to kind of understand what it means to be a good neighbor,” Doran said.

AL I.L EV ENS@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Students manage working during COVID-19 ky le m c c a be a s si stant new s e dit or Pepperdine students at home and in Malibu have found work in many forms. Some returned to their jobs in person this school year, while others transitioned to remote work or found entirely new jobs due the pandemic.

Students seek work for different reasons — spending money, saving money, tuition money, etc. Sophomore Taylor Cunningham said her main motivator to work is not financial, though.

“I kind of decided, ‘OK, I’m going to try and look for a job in my local area,’ truly because I needed a reason to not be in my house anymore with my five younger siblings,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham lives at home in Boulder City, Nev., a suburb of Las Vegas, and works at a local coffee shop — Boulder City Company Store. She moved home last year when Pepperdine closed its campus but did not start working at Boulder City Company Store until halfway through the fall.

A heart condition known as a moderate persistent mitral valve prolapse makes Cunningham immunocompromised. She said many people in Boulder City did not believe in the virus at the start of the pandemic, which made her hesitant to find a job.

“When I first came back home, it was honestly scary how people were treating the pandemic,” Cunningham said. “Our grocery store was one of the first places to require the mask mandate, and there

would be people, I mean truly just rioting in the streets, which was absolutely just privileged and ridiculous. There were people who would bring crocheted masks that have little holes in it, just as an excuse to get into the grocery store.”

Boulder City experienced a spike in COVID-19 cases in August, which Cunningham said led people to take the pandemic more seriously. By the time she started working at Boulder City Company Store, the situation had improved enough that she felt safe doing so.

“I think people were starting to become more well-versed and businesses were fully enforcing masks and those sort of mandates in my town,” Cunningham said.

“That made it easier to consider working.”

Cunningham considered working as a medical scribe or something else related to her Biology major but decided against it because of her immune system.

Despite her health condition and job in food service, Cunningham is not eligible to get vaccinated in Nevada.

Many student workers have the ability to get vaccinated because of their jobs. LA County starting allowing university employees to be vaccinated earlier this month, so even students working remotely for Pepperdine can get their shots.

Students working in other eligible industries, like food service in Los Angeles, are also eligible.

“Because I’m technically a food worker, I’m now eligible to get the COVID vaccine, so I got my first dose [March 8],” first-year Cad-

ey Comey said. “It’s nice because without my job, we’d probably be the last group to go.”

Because of unreliable WiFi at her home in Nashville, Tenn., Comey lives on campus. She started working as a barista at a Starbucks in Malibu in January and only works weekends to accommodate her class schedule.

Comey picked up a job this semester to have extra money to save, not spend.

“I worked at Chick-fil-A last year, and I put 100% of my savings into a Roth IRA,” Comey said. “I won’t do 100% from Starbucks, but some of the money will go to savings.”

Besides Starbucks, Comey considered working a remote university job, like Jumpstart — an early education program Pepperdine students can participate in through the Volunteer Center.

Junior Michelle Wong works for Jumpstart. She worked there her first year at Pepperdine when it was in person, but this year Jumpstart is completely virtual.

Jumpstart works with underprivileged preschool children in the LA area, who have all have their classes online, Wong said.

“Even I, as a college student, struggle a lot with online school,” Wong said. “I don’t love being at home all the time, so I couldn’t imagine how hard that is for these kids that are four, five years old, maybe even younger.”

In-person Jumpstart sessions were twice a week for two hours each, while online sessions are only 30 minutes. Wong said she misses

ally armstrong |art editor out on a lot of interaction with the children but still thinks Jumpstart benefits them.

“I think maybe the impact that we have [is] that they have a new face to see and people to play with them and interact with them,” Wong said. “It’s not just their family or their teacher that they see all the time.”

Spending less time with the kids also means Jumpstart is less of a time commitment for the student workers. Wong said she likely will not work for Jumpstart next year, assuming it is in-person.

“The difference in time commitment is significant,” Wong said.

“I do enjoy working with the kids, but looking at my schedule for senior year, I don’t think I have the capability to accommodate that kind of time commitment.”

Wong said she works for Jumpstart to fulfill her work-study, as she did her first year. She went abroad to Heidelberg, Germany, for a semester her sophomore year, which meant she had to find other work-study jobs since Jumpstart is

a full-year commitment.

Pepperdine technically employs Wong through Jumpstart, meaning she is a University employee eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in LA County. A March 3 Public Relations Office email to the Pepperdine community alerted Wong to her eligibility.

Wong lives at home in San Diego, but the vaccination site she went to accepted a letter confirming her employment at Pepperdine.

“The day that they sent that [email] out, that weekend I got my first shot,” Wong said. “I feel like in the end, everyone’s going to have to get vaccinated, so I might as well just do it.”

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

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MA R C H 2 5 , 2 0 2 1 | PE RS PE C TIVE S | P E P P E R D I N E G RA P H I C ME D I A

PERSPECTIVES STOP ASIAN HATE

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

STAFF EDITORIAL

MISSION STATEMENT

The Graphic stands with Asian American Pacific Islanders against hate and violence

T

here has been an exponential rise in Anti-Asian hate incidents reported throughout the United States. The Graphic stands in solidarity with the Asian American Pacific Islander community and our AAPI peers against anti-Asian racism and hate.

It should not take thousands of explicitly repor ted and recorded incidents of violence against the AAPI community for the community to notice, listen, engage and enact change.

Graphic Staff

Nearly 3,800 anti-Asian hate incidents took place amid the pandemic between March 19, 2020 to Feb. 28, according to a report released by Stop AAPI Hate — a reporting center for Asian American Pacific Islanders. This number represents only a fraction of the total number of incidents that occur regularly in the United States.

Asian women, in particular, reported 2.3 times as many hate incidents as men, reflecting the intersection of racism and sexism, according to the Stop AAPI Hate report. The incidents of hate include verbal harassment, physical assault, shunning, avoidance, being coughed and spat on, refusal of service, being barred from an establishment, vandalism and online harassment.

Earlier this year, during Lunar New Year, we also witnessed attacks and violence directed at the Asian American elderly captured on video.

On March 17, police charged a white gunman with killing eight people at three businesses in Atlanta

on Tuesday. Six Asian women died.

“While the details of the shootings are still emerging, the broader context cannot be ignored,” Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta said in a statement. “The shootings happened under the trauma of increasing violence against Asian Americans nationwide, fueled by white supremacy and systemic racism.”

The Graphic stands with the AAPI community in grief and solidarity against anti-Asian racism and violence. We are here to listen to and support the AAPI community.

We recognize that hate incidents and crimes against AAPI are not new and that PGM and news media in general need to do better to report the experiences of AAPI while redefining what is deemed “newsworthy” enough. The hate directed at Asian Americans should not be silenced in the rapid news cycle.

It should not take thousands of explicitly reported and recorded incidents of violence against the AAPI community for the community to notice, listen, engage and enact change.

The Pepperdine community is not excluded from enacting the

microaggressions, xenophobia and violent acts of racism demonstrated toward AAPI daily and needs to acknowledge the hurt of their peers.

In a challenge to do better, the Graphic urges all community members to self-educate on Asian-American culture, incidents of xenophobia toward Asians and more. Below we, the PGM staff, have included some of our reporting to provide a start on understanding the Pepperdine AAPI experience.

The Graphic commits to standing in solidarity with and for the unheard voices of the community. We see and hear the pain of our peers and we will not let the experiences of the AAPI members of the Pepperdine community go unshared.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Educate Yourself

Support

Stop AAPI Hate Reporting Center

Pepperdine Counseling Center

Asian Americans Advancing Justice

Pepperdine’s Office of the Chaplain

Asian American Journalists Association

Intercultural Affairs

The New York Times - AAPI fear for their safety

Asian Mental Health Collective

The Cut - Spike in anti-Asian hate crimes PBS - Asian American history

Letters to the Editor must bear the writer’s name, signature, class standing, major, address and phone number (except in some circumstances determined appropriate by the Graphic).

Letters must be fewer than 300 words and will be edited for syntax, grammar and brevity. Letters can be mailed to student publications or emailed to peppgraphicmedia@gmail.com

CONTACT US

NBC News - Attacks against older AAPI National Geographic - History of racism against AAPI

“Pepperdine Graphic Media (PGM) is an editorially independent student news organization that focuses on Pepperdine University and the surrounding communities. PGM consists of the digital and print Graphic, a variety of special publications, GNews, Currents Magazine, social media platforms and an Advertising Department.

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

PGM Coverage of AAPI Racism

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Phone:

“‘Racism Against Asian Americans has Never Gone Away’: A Pandemic Seen in Racial Terms” by PGM alumni Kayiu Wong and Allison Lee

Donate The National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association — provides affordable care, translated resources and cultural competency for professionals Send Chinatown Love — supports restaurants, many of which are immigrant-run

“Opinion: Reclaim ALM — Asian Lives Matter” by Perspectives Editor Anitiz Muonagolu “Opinion: A is for Asian, and S is for Stereotype” by Justina Huang

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Staff Editorial: Women should not have to walk alone Editor's Note: This article contains triggers for sexual violence, domestic violence and harassment.

“Don’t forget your pepper spray!”

“Will you come with me to the bathroom?”

“You shouldn’t wear that.

You don’t want to distract your classmates.”

Even though none of these lines are explicitly directed at a specific group, why is it clear that they are said to women?

March is Women’s History Month, and as many students celebrate the accomplishments of successful women, this month also serves as a grim reminder that society has a long way to go until all genders can truly be equal.

Before we go any further, we want to provide a chance to opt-out of reading this article on the basis that it will be triggering for some.

We will be addressing sexual assault, violence and harassment — take good care of your mental and emotional health and continue only if you feel you can do so without putting that health in jeopardy.

The Graphic staff challenges those of you who can to keep reading, even if you are uncomfortable. We are uncomfortable too.

You’ll notice, nowhere in this article will you find the term “victim of” or “happened to.” Phrases like “violence against women” have become so commonplace that society hardly stops to think about the implication of them. This line, notedly in passive voice, has no place in this piece. "To leave the phrase in passive voice is to indemnify the actor, to hide the assailant, to put the onus onto women," wrote Doreen

Arcus, associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Perhaps you understand the reality of what it means to be a woman in a world that sees us as sexual objects, mothers, rivals and little else. Perhaps you do not.

Perpetrators of sexual misconduct have sexually harassed 97% of women in the U.K., according to a UN Women UK study. Not local enough? Rapists have taken advantage of almost one in five women in the United States, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.

Perpetrators harm women of marginalized communities at a higher rate. According to the Women of Color Network, Americans have committed intimate partner violence against 29.1% of Black women, 23.4% of Hispanic/ Latin women and 37.5% of Indigenous women in their lifetimes.

A separate Project AWARE study found that intimate partners committed violence against approximately 41%61% AAPI women in the United States. Cited by the Human Rights Campaign, “44 percent of lesbians and 61 percent of bisexual women experience rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner, compared to 35 percent of straight women.”

With statistics like this, it should be clear why women are screaming to be heard.

Pepperdine has an obligation, not only as a Christian institution with 58% of its students identifying as female but also as a human institution, to look this human rights issue in its face and condemn it in all forms. In

order for this denunciation to truly take root, the University must act upon its words.

Beginning at New Student Orientation, Housing and Residence Life hosts mandatory Title IX training for all students. Student employees, staff and faculty must attend additional training per the state of California every two years. The Counseling Center, Student Care Team and Step Up Initiative introduce themselves as resources, in addition to the Office of Title IX. The Student Wellness Advisory Board hosts events like Take Back the Night and Denim Day, which educates students on consent.

But Pepperdine’s training, events and acknowledgments do not make women feel safe enough. A common resource that universities provide are blue light emergency call boxes with a button that community members can use to reach campus safety or police.

It’s troubling that the only commonly known blue lights are by Payson and in Rho parking lot. The University should place additional boxes around campus and publicize their use — sexual assault is not limited to only the library or a residential parking lot.

While Pepperdine does encourage students to download and use the LiveSafe App, it primarily promotes it during NSO where students are already so overwhelmed with information that they are likely to quickly forget about it among the other new apps they are encouraged to download — Navigate, Pepperdine, etc.

The University does not regularly provide late-night or evening shuttle services.

While the Department of

Madeline duvall |Staff Artist Public Safety advertises 24/7 late-night security escorts for students returning to their car or dorm, an officer is not always available for such purposes. Women have set up expectations of resources as a result of the University's promises, and then those resources are not reliable.

In the instance that either a shuttle or DPS ride is available, the driver will most likely be a man. From fall 2019 to spring 2021, Pepperdine Transit Services employed one woman and eight men as shuttle drivers, Manager Sean Kavanagh said. DPS did not respond to an email inquiry about the gender breakdown of its officers.

A one-on-one ride experience with a man may cause a distressed woman further discomfort. Pepperdine should create a more reliable system to ensure a person who feels uncomfortable walking alone at night can reasonably and quickly hail a safe ride.

It feels as if the majority of the resources Pepperdine advertises target women as potential victims, rather than educating students to prevent an assault.

The Student Care Team and Counseling Center should

promote themselves and act as preventative resources, rather than solely intervening after the assailant has already acted.

These groups should also emphasize and demonstrate openness to non-Christian, non-white, non-straight students who may not feel as supported through more intentional communication and accessibility.

Increased preventative education beginning a student's first year is crucial in ensuring greater student safety. The University should not only educate on Title IX resources and counteractive measures but also teach students about consent, respect and boundaries so assailants are stopped before they act.

Women on-campus — students, staff and faculty — should not be held responsible for the lack of safety that the University allowed in the first place.

It doesn’t matter what she wears; it doesn’t matter how old she is; it doesn’t matter if she said "yes" initially; it doesn’t matter. No, at any time, means no — this month and always.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

T O T H E G R AP H IC : Saying Goodbye to the Shanghai Program Editor’s Note: Opinions expressed in letters to the editor are those of the author, and publication in the Graphic in no way represents an endorsement of any opinions published. This space is provided to allow public response and commentary on articles and issues that are covered by the Graphic and important to its readership.

I found out Shanghai was closing from a text from a friend, who found out about it on Instagram. It felt like learning an old friend had died, or your hometown was hit by a disaster. It felt like a punch to the gut, a feeling I’ve become unwillingly familiar with over the past year.

The timing, given rising anti-Asian sentiment in the US over the past year, couldn’t be worse if they had tried.

The audacity of announcing it during Give2Pepp, so that Pepperdine would send me half a dozen emails asking for money but not even one letting me know they’d closed Shanghai, was laughable. Still, none of that can be helped now.

There’s nothing left to be done. No petitions to sign, no higher power to appeal to, nothing but grief to sit with and a search for closure.

It’s one loss of the many, many losses we’ve felt this year. Still, I can’t help but feel a responsibility to bear witness to this tragedy. Future students will never know what they’ve lost, but we do.

Shanghai, of course, gave me all the same things other

study abroad programs do. I collected the abroad clichés like passport stamps: friends for life, a confidence boost, resourcefulness, funny stories and Instagram posts. Quieter, harder to talk about, are the things no other program ever could have offered. Hidden beneath the shine of the sales pitch I give incoming students is the perspective I gained, and the growing pains it took to earn it.

Shanghai is the period of the most spiritual growth I’ve ever experienced in my life. That’s not what I expected when I left; if I didn’t find God at a deeply Christian school, where barefoot people in hammocks sing worship songs together, how would I find it in the most atheist country in the world? But I did.

Living in the Jia is the only time I’ve enjoyed church, and the time I’ve most strongly felt God’s presence. I can’t imagine finding that growth in any other country. The way we bonded as a group was an experience only available to a group of about fifty people largely cut off from everyone they’ve ever known; that safety made us open up in ways we’ve never opened up to anyone.

Faith flourishes in a community, and our community stood through more than any community I’ve been a part of. The political climate of China contributed too. The story of Jesus’s persecution hits differently when it’s told on Easter Sunday in a church with an armed officer outside to make

sure only foreigners attend the service.

All our First Amendment rights, the same ones we take for granted in the US and Europe, are not protected in China. I don’t agree with many (many) of the things people say, but I will always defend their rights to say them. Just as I now appreciate the religion I always took for granted in a new way. A perspective that, of the seven programs Pepperdine IP has, only Shanghai could offer.

Shanghai was the first time in my life that I — a white woman — was in the racial minority. That is not to say I experienced racism, or that I somehow understand what it means to be a person of color in the United States. That is an entirely unique experience I will never have, and I also know that being a white American in China afforded me a staggering amount of privilege and freedom.

Still, I did see what it’s like to be judged for looking different. I began to understand the inherent alienation that comes with having different life experiences than your peers.

It opened a tiny window that almost all of my white family and friends will never get the chance to look through.

The last time I wrote to the Graphic was the week after the 2016 presidential election, and I promised to fight harder and to stop being a bystander. I don’t know if I’ve wholly succeeded in that endeavor, but I do know the successes I’ve had are because

of the perspective I gained in Shanghai.

I, and my jiaren — one's household or family — brought that unique perspective back to Malibu after our year. It influenced our classroom comments, our friendships, our civic participation and our art.

It rippled out, changing the hearts and minds of our classmates who’d never set foot in Asia, just as it had done before us and continued to do after us. And now, we’re losing that. Already, the last students to spend a full year in Shanghai are seniors. In a year and a half, no one will be left who experienced the program.

In four years, there will be no one left who remembers Pepperdine Shanghai. The ripples will fade away.

Pepperdine credits low enrollment and logistical difficulties with the decision to cancel the program. I don’t doubt logistical difficulties, but I also think they don’t tell the full story. There’s no way of knowing, especially back in October when this decision was made, what the future holds for student visas or US/ Chinese diplomatic relations.

Buenos Aires has also had political uncertainty for some time, but that program stays strong.

I don’t doubt low enrollment either. Even five years ago, we stayed up late into the night working on our booth for The Return, believing that with good enough videos and fun people we could turn the program’s numbers around.

The truth is that the Shanghai

program has never had a marketing problem, or lacked a strong enough program to appeal to people.

Increasingly, Pepperdine students aren’t looking for Shanghai. They want the classic European experience, with trips to Paris and classic Western art museums, and the food they’ve already been eating their entire life.

There’s nothing wrong with that; looking for diversity in a student body includes a diversity of thought, interest and comfort levels. But when there aren’t fifty students in a class of almost a thousand who want to spend a year in one of the world’s top epicenters of business and culture?

That’s not a problem; that’s a symptom of a problem that begins with the homogeneity of the student body.

I participated in a focus group of alumni earlier this year. In it, they asked us to look ahead to the next ten years. “Where do you think Pepperdine should be in ten years?” they asked. It took a few months, but I finally have my answer: Build a community of students who would want to go outside their comfort zone. Who would want to try something new. In ten years, I hope the incoming class will be full of students who would want to go to China.

I also hope, when that time comes, Pepperdine has something to offer them.

Brooke Muschott (2017) Shanghai 2014-2015

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The Equality Act establishes equity for the LGBTQ+ community

Anitiz muonagolu Perspectives Editor

On Feb. 18, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Equality Act, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity.

While the Senate still has to approve it, this bill could change the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals.

Why has it taken so long to obtain protections for LGBTQ+ individuals even though the Obama administration legalized gay marriage in all 50 states in 2015?

It's mainly due to Republicans who say a bill such as this would restrict religious freedom. But, does religious freedom give someone the ability to discriminate against others just because of their beliefs?

The First Amendment gives American citizens the right to religious freedom, should they want it. However, this amendment also establishes the separation of church and state. This means the government can't and shouldn't take a stance promoting a specific religion and its beliefs.

If the Equality Act still allows people to engage in their chosen faith, then there is nothing unconstitutional about it.

So, how does this bill go against religious freedom when it only wants to stop discrimination toward LGBTQ+ people?

Well, it doesn't. This actually is the worst argument against the bill because it’s essentially trying to justify discrimination.

One reason this defense has been used is to justify several immoral and unethical actions like slavery and Jim Crow laws in the United States. Proslavery individuals took the literal meaning of the Bible and claimed slaves were part of the religious prophecy given to Noah

and African slaves were meant to be Christian servants.

Interpretation of the Bible and any religion can change; therefore, American citizens need a government that sets boundaries on how its followers practice their values outside their place of worship and in the midst of greater society.

Another reason people say the Equality Act is against religious freedoms is because organizations won't be able to deny LGBTQ+ participation in their business. For example, imagine if Whole Foods Market denied sales to anyone who married someone named Linda on religious grounds.

Yes, it's a ludicrous idea, but think about it:

sells or provides goods can't discriminate against LGBTQ+ individuals.

Despite this, the Equality Act still has to go through the Senate and there are those who say there is an issue with freedom of religion. Trends show the majority of people in mainstream religions have accepted the LGBTQ+ community, and some religions as a whole have given statements in support, including Catholics, Orthodox Jews and Sunni Muslims.

With the Democrats being the majority in the Leah bae| staff artist Senate, there is hope this bill will get pushed People can't choose if the through, but that doesn't person they love is named mean American citizens Linda, yet according to the shouldn't push for our religion in the example, it is elected senators to support a choice. So, they bar sales the LGBTQ+ community from those who "make that in the United States. lifestyle choice" to marry Even though discriminsomeone named Linda. ation is a part of the history While that is an of the United States, let's exaggerated example, it's not make it a part of our essentially how people future. use religion to disguise their own bias. If someone participates in a faith that doesn't accept LGBTQ+ people, that is their business, but once it affects the opportunities of others, then that's a problem.

For instance, the Equality Act will stop all discrimination from occurring at adoption centers that bar LGBTQ+ parents from adopting or fostering children.

AJ.M UONAGOL U@PEPPER DINE.EDU Moreover, any place that

Junior transfers are losing the true Pepperdine experience in Zoom university

SArAH BEST S TA F F W R I T E R

What’s Firestone? How do I get to the HAWC? Where can I find the CCB? What’s convocation? Why does everyone say the firstyear dorms are so bad?

Questions like these often linger in the minds of the 119 transfers within the 754-student class of 2022 — a number according to Stacey Montgomery, associate dean for transfers and commuter students.

With many coming from community colleges, most have not had the typical four-year college experience of living in dorms, attending sporting events and being involved with clubs and Fraternity and Sorority Life.

The typical transition for Pepperdine transfers includes a busy first week of touring campus, meeting with current transfer students and participating in exclusive events like Transfer Breakaways, a weekly event where transfers come together for fellowship and free food. However, virtual New Student Orientation for transfers looked different this year.

"In a regular NSO, you just do it for a week, so when that happens, we have a bunch of events that are just for transfers as opposed to only two during virtual NSO," said Sergio Gallardo, student advisory intern for transfers and commuter students.

Though the virtual modality had compromised how a typical NSO would go, Pepperdine should still provide opportunities for safe, in-person events held in a normal semester like Transfer Breakaways as the campus begins to reopen.

Along with changes made to NSO, transfers have faced another big change to their campus housing plans.

All transfers must live on campus for their entire first academic year with the exception of spring transfers who must only live on campus for the spring term when they begin at Pepperdine, according to the Residency Requirement.

In their first year at Pepperdine, junior transfers have missed their window of opportunity for guaranteed oncampus housing due to COVID-19. Considering first-year and sophomore students receive priority when it comes to housing, seniors are generally considered last. With most seniors typically living offcampus in their final year and spring semester still following virtual modality, many junior transfers will likely graduate without ever living in the dorms.

The Residency Requirement also states, “National and Pepperdine studies have shown that students who live on campus have higher grades, higher graduation rates, and higher satisfaction levels with their campus experience.”

With this knowledge of the number of positive impacts for students living on campus, it makes it more difficult for junior transfers to fathom the idea of missing out on that chance.

Brian zhou| Staff Artist After transferring to Pepperdine as a sophomore from California State University San Marcos, senior Drew Fountain noted the dichotomy within the typical transfer experience.

"For transfers who were able to be in person, it's like night and day," Fountain said. "Because you get to be on campus, you get to meet people, you get that experience firsthand. It's not behind a computer screen."

The experience of being a transfer student during online learning at Pepperdine comes with a unique disconnect. When a classmate mentions places like Payson Library or Elkins Auditorium, the disassociation of knowing what those locations are but never having actually been there leaves transfer students feeling like outsiders in their own school.

Pepperdine culture deeply revolves around the building of community, but it’s easy to not feel like a member of that community when the

extent of a transfer student's experience comes exclusively from Zoom.

Without anything else to compare what a "normal" semester at Pepperdine is supposed to look like, transfers find it more challenging to adjust to online learning. Fellow peers can provide insight into what Pepperdine's academia was like before COVID-19, but that doesn’t equate to firsthand experience.

Amidst virtual learning, there's a unique circumstance of isolation exclusive to transfer students — a disassociation characterized by not having a school ID and never having set foot on campus.

Academics aside, joining clubs and organizations can be overwhelming to navigate in a virtual context. With a lack of extracurricular involvement, feeling like a genuine member of the Pepperdine community is arduous.

Montgomery offers a word of advice for how transfers can feel

more immersed in the Pepperdine community.

"Join a club, just one club," Montgomery said.

"Find one way outside of your class where you’re able to pursue your passions or interest."

Pepperdine did establish some accommodations to the online environment to welcome transfer students such as the Virtual Transfer Club Convocation. Moving forward, Pepperdine needs to implement more typical transfer events from a regular semester in the coming weeks to promote a higher degree of safe, inperson transfer inclusion as the campus begins to reopen.

SAR AH.BEST@PEPPER DINE.EDU

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Opinion: Pepperdine first-years deserve the right to cook

alice han s ta f f w r i t e r

It's easy for first-year students at Pepperdine to get stuck in an unappetizing rut as they are forced to pick a meal plan that costs thousands of dollars per year. To solve this, the University should offer first-year students the choice to cook for themselves by furnishing firstyear dorms with full kitchens.

Before moving into the dorms, Pepperdine requires all first-year students to purchase a meal plan, which currently ranges from $1,865 to $4,075 per semester.

With the 3% increase in housing rates, the meal plan for this academic year adds up to $3,730 to $8,150. Meanwhile, cooking meals could instead cost half those amounts or even less with mindful budgeting.

Unfortunately, the lack of kitchens in the first-year dorms makes this economizing impossible. Additionally, the requirement for students to choose a meal plan can make cooking look like an insignificant life skill, according to National Center for Biotechnology Information.

To remedy this, Pepperdine should renovate its first-year dorms so students can have access to a large communal kitchen. Learning how to cook also offers various health benefits, such as balanced eating.

The infamous "freshman 15" expression refers to the belief that many university students gain an average of 15 pounds during their first year. There

are numerous explanations for this gain, with the main reasons being eating too much junk food and choosing unbalanced or unhealthy options in campus dining halls.

Cooking can help first-year students maintain a healthy weight throughout the year as it often allows people to focus on every aspect of the eating process.

Not only can students control their portion sizes and account for their personal seasoning preferences, but they can also start making more mindful choices concerning food through cooking, according to the Huffington Post. Specifically, students are likely to become aware of the quality of the ingredients in their meals as well as the nutritional benefits.

Granting first-year students access to kitchens can help them transition from mindless to mindful eating habits — such as eating only to satisfy hunger instead of boredom, or eating more nutritionally healthy and balanced meals and snacks.

Although exercise and dieting can get rid of the "freshman 15," the University can help prevent this phenomenon from even occurring by allowing students to practice healthy cooking and eating in their own kitchens.

Providing kitchens for firstyear students can also reduce feelings of homesickness, especially for international students who might have trouble assimilating into American food culture.

A study published by ICEF Monitor describes how many international students often experience food insecurity and feel estranged due to a lack of access to familiar and culturally appropriate foods.

Cooking can help ward off these feelings of homesickness as many supermarkets sell

We All Need To Clean Up Our Act

by Tiffany Hall Petty Perspective is a column highlighting the rants and thoughts everyone thinks but never gets a chance to put into words. This time, we hear from Tiffany Hall, who discusses how humans put themselves into sticky situations — it might be time to upgrade our cleanliness standards.

Madeline Duvall | art assistant editor international ingredients and foods students can use to prepare their homeland cuisine, according to the Guardian.

Additionally, cooking and sharing meals in a first-year dorm can help foster community among students. About 75% of first-year college students suffer from loneliness after entering college and 63% frequently feel depressed, according to Accredited Schools Online.

Cooking and sharing a meal with friends and roommates in the kitchen can be a fun social activity that may help ease feelings of loneliness among first-years. Students are much more likely to find enjoyment in preparing brunch with friends than simply walking to the Caf and presenting a card.

"I definitely enjoyed cooking with my friends at the [upperclassmen] dorms more than just going to the Waves Cafe," said junior Public Relations major Heidi Han. "We had an unlimited choice of foods we can make and it was always a fun occasion with my friends. It gave us all time to relax and have fun and just take our minds off of our busy schedules for a bit."

Furthermore, cooking can help with relaxation and depression as the motions of the activity are relatively meditative, according to the Huffington Post. The act of cooking involves creating something tangible, and sharing it with others offers individuals a sense of accomplishment, according to Psychology Today.

Many universities, such as Loyola Marymount University and California Lutheran University, are already providing their students access to kitchens in their dorms during their first years.

It’s time for the University to consider “modernizing” the first-year dorms by providing the houses with kitchens in the common area of the dorms in order to keep up with neighboring universities and promote mindful eating habits among students.

It hardly seems like an illogical proposal considering how cooking can improve the quality of students' lives and the vitality of their communities — both of which Pepperdine aims to accomplish.

AL IC E.HAN@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Opinion: Motivate meaningful change through Meatless Mondays

Christian Parham P e r s p e c t i v e s a s s i s ta n t editor

Meatless Mondays are a great option for people who don't want to commit to a standard vegetarian or vegan diet. The benefits range from helping the environment to improving one's personal health.

In 2021, vegetarian and vegan diets are becoming significantly more popular.

Veganism increased in popularity by 500% since 2014, now reaching a grand total of 6% of the United States population practicing a vegan diet, according to Plant Proteins.Co. This is also reflected in the availability of options for these diets. Before COVID-19 altered the ways events were held, the likelihood of an event serving vegetarian and vegan food was very high. At Pepperdine's Seaver campus specifically, the Caf always offers a vegetarian or vegan meal as part of their three main options.

The reasons for dietary changes vary, but some include improving personal health, helping the environment and following moral convictions.

At the same time, for some people, switching to a vegetarian or vegan diet is simply not realistic. Food insecurities and not wanting to give up cultural cuisine are two reasons people decide not to change their diets.

samantha miller | staff artist For the people who decide not to completely switch their diets, Meatless Mondays are a great way to reduce meat consumption while still being able to enjoy meat the rest of the week.

Meatless Monday is a campaign aimed at reducing meat consumption by participants abstaining from meat on Mondays. This movement's history goes all the way back to World War I, when former President Herbert Hoover earnestly asked Americans to reduce their meat consumption to help with the war efforts in an attempt he called Meatless Tuesdays.

Meatless Tuesdays were the original concept behind Meatless Mondays.

In 1917, over 11 million Americans signed a pledge to not eat meat on Tuesdays, according to a PBS article.

This attempt actually worked. In just one week, New York City hotels were able to save 96.75 tons of meat.

In 2003, public health advocate Sid Lerner created Meatless Mondays in conjunction with the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. In inspiration, they used Hoover’s success and tried to recreate it. Since its

PETTY PERSPECTIVE:

inception, Meatless Mondays are now practiced in over 40 different countries.

One benefit of participating in Meatless Mondays is improved personal health.

Skipping even a half serving of meat every day and replacing it with a plant protein, such as beans or tofu, can decrease one's risk of getting Type 2 diabetes, according to the Meatless Monday website.

About one in every three American adults has prediabetes, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Adopting this small lifestyle change may slow the onset of Type 2 diabetes.

Additionally, eating less meat can improve heart health and reduce the risk of heart disease, according to the Meatless Monday website. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in America, killing nearly one in four American adults, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics. By reducing meat intake just one day a week, Americans can help lower that risk.

Another benefit of Meatless Monday is helping the environment.

Meat production negatively impacts the environment,

accounting for 14.5% of global gas emissions. By one person implementing Meatless Mondays into their diet for a year, they save the equivalent emissions to driving 348 miles in a car, according to the Meatless Mondays website.

This is a tactical impact people can use to improve the environment through a relatively small change.

A tangible example of this can be seen through the production of beef burgers. To merely produce one quarterpound beef burger, it takes 425 gallons of water, according to the Meatless Monday website.

By swapping out Monday’s Big Mac for a veggie burger, a person will be saving an equivalent of 10 bathtubs of water and save enough energy to charge an iPhone for six months. America's rapid energy consumption is a concerning trend that greatly impacts the environment, so this is one way to help address it.

Meatless Mondays are a significant shift, but there are many resources and benefits supporting this lifestyle transition. The Meatless Monday website lists numerous recipes for potential vegetarian meals, one being Popcorn "chick’n" made of soy.

With this change, everyone can make a significant difference in the environment and their personal health.

Collectively, everyone holds the power to make a difference in the world through the way they eat.

C HR ISTIAN.PAR HAM @PEPPER DINE.EDU

Having dealt with a compromised immune system for a period of my life, I keep a hand sanitizer with me everywhere out of habit — a security sanitizer, if you will. I have one by my bed, one by my desk, one in my car and one in my living room.

No one is saying you need to ascend to my level of alertness, but some of us need to think a little bit more about what we touch and what we touch after that.

As you can imagine, my love for hand sanitizer lends itself to a certain vigilance when it comes to handwashing and the like. You can further imagine my horror when I read a CNN Health article and found out only 5% of people in a 2013 Michigan State University study "washed their hands long enough to kill the germs that can cause infection."

I can hear the cries of disappointed preschool teachers.

This might be a childish issue, and admittedly, it does take me back to elementary school, but grown adults disobeying one of the primary ways of preventing many types of diseases is also pretty childish.

After all, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides statistics that show handwashing reduces various illnesses by up to 58%, depending on the type of illness and the affected demographic.

It should be surprising that such an effective tool would be readily discarded in the name of time-saving convenience? Or perhaps laziness?

Though, I suppose after learning around 20% of Americans still don't always wear a mask when in public even one year into a pandemic, it isn't all that shocking.

What this really comes down to is creating a society that values personal health so intrinsically that there is no other possible outcome than a positive trend in public health. A society that combines its uphill efforts in creating a culture of compassion — a first-grade concept many still are struggling to grasp — with the novel argument that maybe we should prevent disease, we can all avoid being sick ourselves.

How do we do this?

Education. Dissemination of lofty academic papers into readily available infographics.

Perhaps a little magic. Lots and lots of soap.

Yes, humans are a little gross — in a couple of different ways — and it's time to clean up our act.

TIF FANY.HAL L @PEPPER DINE.EDU

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IFC organizations satisfied with virtual spring Recruitment R EAGAN PHILLIPS NEW S AS SI STA N T When planning for 2020-2021 Recruitment last year, the Interfraternity Council faced a choice: hold virtual Recruitment in the fall as scheduled or postpone Recruitment to the spring in hopes that Pepperdine students would be back on campus.

IFC Advisor Allison Green said even though the choice was unprecedented, it was relatively easy to make.

“When Pepperdine announced that fall would be remote, the IFC leaders felt strongly that they wanted to postpone Recruitment until the spring semester,” Green said.

While Panhellenic organizations were able to restructure their recruitment processes in time for fall with assistance and resources from the National Panhellenic Conference, Green said IFC organizations had no such support.

Additionally, Pepperdine’s historically Black chapters, Alpha Kappa Alpha and Alpha Phi Alpha, often hold recruitment events in spring, because students must have at least 12 academic credits to be eligible.

Rather than conduct a hastily organized fall Recruitment, Green said IFC leaders opted to defer Recruitment to give organizations time to properly prepare for both the possibility of virtual Recruitment and in-person activities.

Junior Mason Chin and sophomore Dylan Hagen, who cochaired Alpha Tau Omega’s Recruitment efforts this year, said due to the interpersonal nature of Recruitment, they held out hope that Pepperdine could host events and classes on campus in spring.

Unfortunately for Chin and Hagen, LA County’s COVID surge in late fall quickly dashed their hopes for in-person Recruitment.

“We didn’t want to have all the freshmen or people who wanted to rush be missing out for a whole year, so we decided we had to bite our tongue and do it online,” Chin said.

Typically, a significant portion of potential new members discovers IFC organizations through word of mouth and in-person chapter advertising. Because organizations needed to pivot to virtual mediums for contacting students, Green said recruiters had to find ways to contact potential new members that supplemented traditional emails and online chapter advertising.

“Without those in-person points of contact, there is a group of people that normally would have explored the option but didn’t come across our digital/ online marketing or didn’t read emails in full,” Green said.

In their efforts to promote ATO, Hagen said he and Chin found students were more active on social media than more formal spaces like Peppervine. These platforms also allowed for more personal connections between active members and recruits.

“Social media was a huge key factor in organizing all this,” Hagen said. “After organizing events and figuring out what we were gonna do online, we did a lot of aggressive recruiting in terms of Instagram, mainly.”

Hagen said he connected with potential new members by following accounts dedicated to Pepperdine first-years, other Pepperdine organizations and the siblings of current ATO members. After identifying eligible first-year students, he reached out to them directly or follow them on with the ATO Pepperdine account. These strategies received positive feedback from potential new members.

“It’s kind of hard and intimidating, I would imagine, going

into the recruitment process not knowing anything and not having spoken to anyone who’s already in an organization,” Hagen said.

“They really liked the fact that we were reaching out and they felt wanted.”

Hagen said replicating the casual and interpersonal environment of chapter events through inherently formal and structured mediums such as Zoom was particularly challenging. Hagen and Chin worked to orient meetings and presentations toward recruits by encouraging active members to participate, creating breakout rooms in Zoom meetings and sharing stories from past activities that highlight their organization’s values.

“There were a lot of different informational presentations that didn’t overwhelm the potential new members, but I think was very helpful for them to learn about us,” Hagen said. “That was sort of how we made up for the fact that our reputation can’t be heard through casual talk.”

Green said virtual spring Recruitment produced fewer recruits.

“We’ve had less registration and participants in both Panhellenic and IFC Recruitment this year,” Green said. “I’m not surprised since again a percentage of those that usually sign up for Recruitment come from word of mouth and interact with current students on campus.”

ATO’s Recruitment reflected a similar decline in new membership, but Chin praised the characteristics of those who joined the organization.

“It was a lot lower than what it would normally be in person, but we still have a normally sized pledge class and we feel great about the guys we got,” said Chin about ATO’s new membership numbers. “They’re all perfect fits.”

Rather than keeping IFC Re-

Photo Courtesy of ALPHA TAu OMEGA Spring Recruitment | Sophomore Dylan Hagen and junior Mason Chin, Alpha Tau Omega Recruitment cochairs, introduce themselves to potential new members during their chapter’s spring virtual Recruitment. cruitment in spring, Green said organizations will resume their traditional Recruitment schedules this fall.

Chin and Hagen, who will spearhead ATO’s Recruitment in the fall, said although this Recruitment proved successful, they are eager for in-person Recruitment to return.

“Hopefully this is a one-time thing,” Chin said. “I think a lot of it revolves around this being a very unique situation, not being able to meet the people that would be joining an organization or fraternity in person.”

Hagen said several of the strategies he implemented this semester would continue to be useful when in-person Recruitment resumes.

Specifically, social media and direct messaging will become a larger part of his strategy in the future.

“Instagram DMs was a huge key for us, which we as a fraternity have never done before,” Hagen said. “I think it would be very nice once we’re in person to be able to send these messages out and then follow up by meeting them in person before Recruitment even begins.”

Satisfied with the performance of spring Recruitment, Green said she now turns her attention to this fall’s Recruitment and expects IFC organizations to continue thriving.

“That means two major Recruitment periods in a calendar year for these leaders, but it will be such a great leadership experience!” Green said.

R EAGAN.PHIL L IPS@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Wave Pool club advocates for students’ financial literacy ANNAB EL L E C HILDERS New s As si sta n t Crash. Recession. Rebound.

Short Squeeze. GameStop?

Over the past year, conversations surrounding finance infiltrated everyday life as the stock market plummeted and recovered.

Everyday Americans became avid investors, hoping to gain wealth in the economic aftermath of COVID-19.

Sensational stories — like Reddit users banding together to purchase shares of GameStop — brought acute awareness to the need for financial literacy, not only for understanding the tumultuous nature of the current stock market but for understanding the role finance plays every day. One Pepperdine student group, the Wave Pool Student Investment Club, works to supply that understanding, serving as a resource for students to gain financial literacy and navigate wealth management.

“Whether it’s through taxes or retirement or mortgages or paychecks, everyone’s going to deal with personal finance, but they’re not educated on the subject,” said Wave Pool President Jorge Contreras.

The Wave Pool Student Investment Club The Wave Pool formed in fall 2017 and now exists as the sole investment club at Pepperdine, serving three main functions — to pro-

mote financial literacy in schools, to discuss investment opportunities and to develop the careers of students in finance, Contreras said.

“We understand that many students, especially in college, might struggle with money,” Contreras said. “Most students are in debt, and in a developed economy, you have to understand how finance works.”

Every Thursday night, Wave Pool meetings begin with a general discussion of current events. Using the relevant news as context, members discuss which stocks might be advantageous for investment, Contreras said.

Following the discussion, Contreras said he leads an educational portion where members learn about topics such as opening a retirement account or reading a balance sheet. In closing, members talk about internships and upcoming finance events.

While the club membership is predominantly made up of Business Administration, Finance, International Studies and Accounting majors, Contreras said all students are welcome to attend the meetings.

“Absolutely everybody needs this,” said Haley O’Steen, associate professor of Finance and Wave Pool adviser. “If you’re going to Pepperdine, you’re most likely going to have a job where you’re going to be making more money than you need for subsistence, and you’re going to be planning for

your retirement, and you’re probably going to have a 401k.”

O’Steen said the Wave Pool discusses personal finance skills, so students can address those financial life milestones with confidence in the future.

Getting Started The Wave Pool shares their ocean of knowledge with students looking to get their feet wet in the world of finance, providing practical steps students can follow.

O’Steen said there are practices outside of investing all students can implement now to set themselves up for financial success in the future.

“The best thing is to make a habit of saving, and even if that’s just a small amount a month, get into the habit, just start doing it, and it will pay off in the long run,” O’Steen said.

For students passionate about getting involved in the stock market, Contreras said platforms like Acorns and Robinhood simplify the process, making investing easier for students.

“If you want to invest your money passively, you could put your money into something like Acorns, which is great because you don’t need to monitor it and it just grows,” Contreras said. “If you want to have more of a choice when it comes to your investments, you can go to an app like Robinhood, but I recommend if you’re going to do that, you need to be up

to date and reading on what you’re investing in.”

Junior Nathan Tinnie also emphasized the importance of understanding the stock market before investing.

“A lot of my friends and I talk about [investing] often, and I see that as a good thing as long as we try to educate ourselves and learn how to invest doing those proper steps like researching the company, reading the financial statements, analyzing all the data,” Tinnie said.

Tinnie said he joined the Wave Pool this semester and plans to work at J.P. Morgan during summer 2021 as a Middle Market Banking Specialized Industries intern.

In 2020, Tinnie said he capitalized on the stock market’s position after the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

“Everything was literally at rock bottom, and that’s when I saw the opportunity to jump in,” Tinnie said. “A lot of people say you need to be long-term investors, and as a long-term investor, it’s good to get in when the market drops so longterm it will go back up. That’s basically what I did, and it was successful.”

when it comes to investing, time is so valuable,” Contreras said. “You cannot get a year of time back.”

Contreras makes his argument on the grounds of a financial concept called “compound interest,” that is, the exponential growth that occurs when interest generates interest.

“We can, in general, count on the stock market to consistently grow over a long period of time,” O’Steen said. “Now if you put money in today, might you lose some because the stock market is pretty volatile right now? Yes, but if you keep the perspective of, ‘I’m putting this money in the stock market today for a long, long time from now,’ I think you’re safe in that.”

Contreras said he also believes entrance into the stock market with a long-term horizon alleviates stress temporary market spikes can cause.

“People might be scared that the market is going to go down, and now we have all these COVID variants and it could be a risk, but right now when you’re young, you can take that risk because you have the time,” Contreras said.

Long-Term Investments: Time Is Money When investing, time is quite literally money, Contreras said.

“I 100% believe that students have to be investing right now, and

ANNABEL L E.C HIL DER S@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Mar ch 25, 2021

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LIFE & ARTS

Autumn hardwick | Staff Artist

Theater student calls for better Asian American representation in media addiso n w h iten staf f w r i te r Senior Theatre Music contract major Brandon Gille didn’t participate in theater until he was in high school. One night during one of his first shows, Gille, a Filipino American, said an Asian American woman approached him and told him how seeing him on stage made her young daughter more confident about auditioning for roles.

Gille said he loves the art of theater and is passionate about acting but wants people to know there are issues with the treatment of Asian Americans within the entertainment industry and society at large, especially given the recent violence against Asian Americans.

The ability of on-stage representation to inspire fellow Asian Americans, however, reminds him how powerful theater can be for marginalized groups, despite the struggles they face.

“I remember feeling deeply impacted by that because theater doesn’t just empower, it stabilizes,” Gille said. “It’s a foreground where people can grow. Whether you’re performing or you’re watching from the audience, it enriches, it inspires, it pushes confidence to degrees and levels where people never thought they could ever reach.”

As a Filipino American, Gille said he witnessed how the struggles of Asian Americans often go unnoticed or ignored throughout his life, both inside and outside the entertainment industry.

“We’re used to living as the person in the corner,” Gille said.

Gille is from Troutdale, Ore., and was one of only two POC in his class through elementary and middle school. While he had many white friends, he said he often felt different than his white classmates.

“Going to high school amongst my group of friends and peers, it’s like everyone automatically thought that I was quiet or shy,” Gille said. “I don’t really know if it’s a race thing or a color thing, but I think it’s because my white friends and the white community don’t really know who I am, especially because I look different from them.”

Despite the preconceptions some of his classmates or society may have about him as an Asian American, Gille said starting his journey with theater opened his eyes to the reality that he could be whoever he wanted to be.

“Theater pushed me to come out of my comfort zone, to be more comfortable about me being who I am, being confident about who I am as a person,” Gille said.

While Gille said he never “really struggled” with outright racism

from his community growing up, there have been some mixed experiences with how people treat him or perceive him because he is a Filipino American and has different cultural values from most white Americans.

“I’ve been through moments where it’s incredibly hard to decipher what people would think about you wherever you go,” Gille said.

Gille said, in his experience, actors of color often lose out on roles simply because they’re not white.

“I’ve been through those situations where, sometimes, you can be the most talented person in the room, you could be equipped with all the skills with performing, but you’re going to lose that role to a white man, because the character is white,” Gille said. “That’s just how, you know, theater tries to organize their casting.”

When Asian Americans do have big moments of representation, like with the film “Crazy Rich Asians,” those films or productions have an all-Asian cast, while their representation within stories that are not about Asian people alone are still lacking, Gille said.

“If you’re an Asian and you’re in a big, primarily white movie, you know, you’re going to be casted in a way where you’re not going to really be on camera, or you’re just going to be at the back,” Gille

we want to make small restaurant dining mainstream again.”

Djalilov said he aims to spread awareness for why small restaurants are important by creating high-quality production videos.

These videos include drone shots showcasing the food, glimpses into the kitchen and interviews with the owners of the restaurants to convey their rich histories.

Most of the restaurants BizVim profiles are family-owned shops, some of which have been around for decades. The Munch Box, on Devonshire Street in Los Angeles, is a “mom and pop” shop that has served hot dogs and hamburgers since 1956.

“We want to put their story out there, because what we learn is that a lot of these restaurant owners have really captivating stories of taking on entrepreneurship, taking on the challenges of it every day, taking care of their employees and I believe that’s what America was created upon,” Djalilov said. “I think it’s so important for us to be aware of that and to support it as much as we can.”

Djalilov noticed there are more opportunities for entrepreneurship in the United States than in other places, including his home

country, Uzbekistan. He immigrated to the United States at the age of 3, but he has gone back to Uzbekistan and realized it’s not as easy there for entrepreneurs to give back to the community as it is in the United States.

“We could all take some action, hopefully knowing that,” Djalilov said. “So just take the leap of faith visiting your local small business and see what they have to offer first.”

As a family-oriented person, Djalilov said he admired how families could run a restaurant together. A lot of small restaurants, he said, treat their employees like family. There is a camaraderie between the employees and owners of the small restaurants BizVim covered, which is something truly special about small restaurants.

Something else Djalilov said he noticed about small restaurants is most of them aim to give back to their community in some way.

One restaurant, Pozi’s Fresh Grill in Tarzana, Calif., hosted a toy drive during the holiday season to donate toys to the Tarzana community, where Djalilov grew up.

“All these restaurants, they want to give back,” Djalilov said.

“I just want to make sure people know that we can help them with

said. “So it’s like we’re used to just being seen as a far view.”

While efforts have recently been made to increase diversity within the entertainment industry, with initiatives like the new representation standards for the Academy Awards, Gille said those efforts often seem to forget about increasing quality performance opportunities for Asian Americans.

“That’s what I’ve been accustomed to seeing and experiencing throughout my life as a performer,” Gille said.

In the fall of 2019, Gille participated in Pepperdine’s production of “Ragtime,” a musical which required actors of specific races to play certain parts to match the play’s setting in early 20th century New York City. While he understands why a historically based show like “Ragtime” uses this kind of casting process, Gille said there should be less of an emphasis on the race of actors in other kinds of productions.

“What I believe is that if you put in more color in shows that are not particularly focused on race or focused on a historically highlighted time, it’s effective because you’re now switching the perspective,” Gille said.

Gille said when people of color are highlighted in lead roles, like the casting of “Dear Evan Hansen’s” first Black lead actor, Jor-

dan Fisher, it can be empowering for actors of all races.

“If you really balance people of color together for these types of shows, I believe that it will be more effective in giving the rights to all performers to feel comfortable about auditioning in everything,” Gille said.

Theater has the power to showcase diverse life experiences and bring people of all cultures together, Gille said.

“We get to see how we live through someone else’s eyes, and so that’s where theater makes a huge impact on me and on society,” Gille said.

While he said the entertainment industry still has a long way to go with quality Asian American representation and its treatment of people of color overall, Gille believes theater really does have the power to bring people together, no matter what race they may be.

“What’s better than making a connection with someone and learning through someone’s experience?” Gille said. “Theater builds friendships, it builds relationships, it builds a bond.”

ADDISON.W HITEN@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Entrepreneurial student creates a media startup Lindsay M A se Staf f w r i te r The statistic that “53% of all small restaurants that were closed due to social distancing laws would remain permanently closed” found in Robinhood Snacks, a podcast about financial news, greatly troubled junior Saeed Djalilov. Assembling a small team of two videographers, Djalilov took action and created his media startup, BizVim, in June.

Business Administration major Djalilov works with junior CJ Ladas, a Film major who he recruited to help build BizVim’s vision.

As business partners, they work together profiling small businesses by filming videos and posting promotional content on BizVim’s social media. While BizVim has only profiled small restaurants in the LA area so far, they hope to expand to cover all types of small businesses. “‘Biz’ stands for business, and ‘Vim’ is an outdated word used in the 18th century which means energy or livelihood. Its synonym is spark, and so basically, we want to spark these businesses,” Djalilov said. “We want to make Vim more mainstream of a word, just like

So just take the leap of faith visiting your local small business and see what they have to offer first.

Saeed Djalilov Pepperdine Junior BizVim Founder their mission and their contribution to the community by just getting a meal from them.”

Djalilov said his future goals for BizVim include growing its social media presence on Youtube and Instagram. The larger BizVim’s social media presence is, the more the restaurants will benefit by having their story on the BizVim site.

“The primary thing we would want is to stay in the small busi-

ness’ budget,” Djalilov said. “If they can’t afford it, we would be more than happy to accommodate what’s best for them. Because at the end of the day, we want to make sure these small businesses survive.”

Djalilov believes BizVim’s social media presence has great implications for funding and the ability to put on special events.

BizVim’s GoFundMe will fund the equipment necessary — lavalier mics, cloud storage, website software, etc. — to create quality content. One day, when COVID-19 regulations become less strict, Djalilov said he wants to use BizVim’s social media presence to inspire customers to fill up a restaurant on a certain day.

Then, he’d shoot a video of the event to raise even more publicity for the restaurant.

“Small restaurant owners are used to just an empty restaurant with chairs on top of the table,” Djalilov said. “But if BizVim can somehow pack that restaurant, and bring that livelihood that that restaurant used to know, then we can reignite this business and spark it to be successful throughout the year.”

L INDSAY.M ASE@PEPPER DINE.EDU

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Volunteer brings heart for service to Malibu g r ac e w o o d staf f wr i t e r

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

Service-driven student shares her journey to Pepperdine yamil l ah hurtado copy edi to r When first-year Megan Elias boarded a plane from Long Island, N.Y., to O’ahu, Hawai’i, in summer 2019 to participate in a service trip for 10 days in Waimea Valley, Hawai’i, she had no idea that it would lead her to Pepperdine.

Growing up in a Christian church, Elias said she developed her love for people and heart for service by seeing the way God loves her. Her desire to help others is what fueled her decision to sign up for the service trip through Hope worldwide Volunteer Corps.

“I really want to serve in a way that makes me feel uncomfortable,” Elias said. “I want to be placed in uncomfortable positions that will help my character and that will help me to really give what I’ve been given.”

On her trip, she said she mentored children at Waimanalo Transitional Shelter, fed people without homes, helped preserve land and assisted older people in a nursing home. Elias created amazing friendships with people who loved God and serving others.

“I just remember crying and it felt like a break up, leaving them after the 10 days,” she said. “I made these lifelong friendships and leaving them just made me realize ‘I’m glad it hurts.’”

Not only did Elias make incredible friendships on her service trip, but she said it was the reason she chose to apply to Pepperdine.

Before going on the trip, Elias said she wasn’t planning on going

photos courtesy of megan elias Making the Move | (Left) First-year Megan Elias poses in

Midtown Manhattan, N.Y., in February 2020. Elias said she loved growing up in New York, but is excited to live in Malibu. (Right) Elias shows her friends a flower in Waimea Valley, Hawai’i in July 2019. Elias said the service trip strengthened her relationship with God. to college, but that changed when she met one of the leaders on her trip, Pepperdine junior Daniel Lopez. She said he spoke to her about his experience and it sparked her interest in the University.

“He was talking about Pepperdine in a way that I had never [heard] anyone talk about college,” Elias said. “I went home, told my mom about it, and I remember her sitting in front of the computer just telling me ‘You need to go here, I feel like God is calling you here.’”

Last semester, Elias became a part of Alpha Omega Campus Ministry, a student-led ministry on campus. Elias said joining Alpha Omega transformed her relationship with God. “AO is my family and some-

thing so priceless that I wouldn’t trade,” Elias said. “I’m so humbled and grateful to be with a group of people who love God and people.”

Although she has not declared a major, Elias said she hopes to work with people and help them in any way she can. She said she is excited for what the future has in store for her despite not knowing what specific career path she wants to follow.

“Uncertainty motivates me,” Elias said. “I don’t know what tomorrow is going to be like. I don’t know what life is going to be like in 10 years, but the [fact] that everything will work out according to God’s plan based on what I need rather than what I want, drives me.”

YA MI L L A H . H U RTA D O @P E P P E RD I N E . E D U

First-year transfer student Alex Ianni said she wanted to attend Pepperdine ever since she watched Pepperdine Women’s Soccer play a home game on the Tari Frahm Rokus field when she was in high school.

The Newport Beach, Calif., native did not initially apply to Pepperdine in high school because she talked to colleges about being potentially recruited to play college soccer. Although she took classes at Irvine Valley College last semester, Ianni said she always knew Malibu was where she wanted to be.

“People from outside of Pepperdine — when you say you go to Pepperdine — they think that you’re not just a good student, but also a good person,” Ianni said.

Ianni has not decided on a major but she said she can see herself studying Communication Studies or Business Administration, with the ultimate goal of applying her interpersonal skills toward becoming a real estate agent.

“I’m definitely a people person,” Ianni said. “I feel like it’s the best job for me.”

While she loves living at home with her family in Newport Beach, Calif., Ianni said she looks forward to living on campus in the fall semester, where she can enjoy the area and the Christianity-centered community that Pepperdine offers.

“I thrive the most when I’m around like-minded people,” Ianni said. “I feel like I’ll have an easier time finding like-minded people at Pepperdine because a lot of people who go there want a school that has a faith background. [Faith] is the foundation of how I try to live.”

In high school, Ianni said she participated in faith-centered organizations like Romans 12, a mother-daughter leadership group focused on living out the Christian mission through community service in Southern California.

Along with playing soccer and running track, Ianni said she started a club at her high school to help students with disabilities take part in sports.

“Everything you do, you can incorporate your faith into,” Ianni said.

When she arrives on campus next fall semester, Ianni said she wants to get involved in different student organizations, especially those that allow her to get outside.

Ianni said she plans to join a sorority, learn more about Campus Recreation’s outdoor excursions and attend Surf Convocation every Wednesday morning.

“I love the beach, that’s my happy place for sure,” Ianni said. “Especially now during [COVID-19], I’ve learned to really appreciate the little things: sunsets, going on

photos courtesy of alex ianni Drawn to Pepp| (Top)

First-year Alex Ianni stands under the Malibu Pier during her first trip to Malibu as an accepted student in January. Ianni said she wanted to go to Pepperdine to earn a competitive degree while also strengthening her Christian faith. (Bottom) Ianni poses with her parents at the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach, Calif., in July.

While she is currently living at home with her parents in Newport Beach, she said she is excited to move to the Malibu campus next fall.

hikes and just being present in creation.”

While Ianni does not have plans to study abroad during her sophomore year, she said she could see herself participating in a summer abroad program, such as the East Africa program.

“I’m a homebody,” Ianni said.

“A lot of people are like, ‘Why aren’t you going abroad next year?’

And I’m like, ‘I haven’t even been in Malibu yet!’ Once I mature and grow up more, I’ll probably be more open to it, but as of now, I think I’m content staying in Malibu.”

Like many first-year students, Ianni said she is most excited to meet other students in person and form new friendships on campus.

She said she hopes attending Pepperdine will contribute not only to her intellectual growth but also to her personal growth.

“Pepperdine has such a good reputation, but it’s not just the academics,” Ianni said. “The people there, they have such good hearts.

At most colleges, you’re going to get a great degree, which is important, but I want both.”

GR AC E.W OOD@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Singer/songwriter finds her sound through music gr ac e w o od s taf f w r i te r First-year Jackie Ferrari is a triple threat: She writes, plays and produces her own original music, which can be found on Spotify.

The Advertising major lives in her hometown of Atlanta.

After spending eighth through 12th grade at the Indian Springs School in Birmingham, Ala., Ferrari said she is prepared and excited to move to Malibu next fall.

In Malibu, she hopes to meet new people and be closer to the Los Angeles music scene.

“I would get so excited all the time, whenever I got a chance to make music, it just became a way for me to express myself and I’ve been at it ever since,” Ferrari said.

Ferrari said she started making music in 2017, but began playing piano when she was 6 years old.

After discovering her talent for

playing instruments, Ferrari said she took up guitar when she was 12 years old, and drums when she was 13 years old.

Ferrari said her faith is an important aspect of her songwriting process, and it is a reason she wanted to attend Pepperdine.

“I chose Pepperdine really just because of the faith aspect,” Ferrari said. “I don’t necessarily make Christian music; my songs are more about my life experiences, just about how I think and how I relate to the world, and how much faith plays into that.”

Ferrari said she describes her musical sound as a mixture of pop and hip-hop and cites rapper NF as her biggest musical influence.

When concerts start happening in Los Angeles again, Ferrari said she hopes to see NF and Wande play live. “[My sound] is like a mix of NF, Coldplay and Khalid,” Ferra-

ri said. “I try to write in ways that other people can relate to.”

Ferrari released seven singles so far on Spotify and said she has many more songs to release in the coming months. She said she hopes to create a full-length album sometime in the next year or two.

“I can’t wait for people to hear them,” Ferrari said.

The advertising program appealed to Ferrari because while it combines subjects she’s interested in like psychology and marketing, she said it can help her promote her music career in the future.

Looking ahead, Ferrari plans to attend the Buenos Aires international program for the 20212022 academic year and said she hopes to improve her Spanish skills while learning more about Argentine culture.

“I thought it would be interesting to go to Buenos Aires in-

photo courtesy of jackie ferrari Artistic Abilities| First-year musician Jackie Ferrari plays guitar in her Atlanta backyard in March. Ferrari said she makes hip-hop-inspired music inspired by her faith. stead of the other places because of the homestay,” Ferrari said.

“Getting to meet the family I’m staying with — I’m really excited for that.”

Ferrari said she will continue to pursue music, with hopes of someday being able to share her

music with live audiences and inspire others with her lyrics.

“It’s definitely going to take awhile to get to that point, but I plan to stick with it as long as possible,” Ferrari said.

GR AC E.W OOD@PEPPER DINE.EDU

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Senior Spotlight: Brooking shares spiritual reflection har leen c hhabra Staf f W r i te r Senior Kimberly Brooking prepares to graduate with a degree in International Studies with an economic studies specialization and a minor in Hispanic Studies. Brooking chose to attend Pepperdine because of the opportunity to study abroad in Italy, a place where she made her greatest memories at Pepperdine.

Brooking now holds many leadership positions as the President of Model United Nations, Vice President of the Regent Students Scholar’s Board and Head Editor of Global Tides. She plans to continue her academic journey by attending law school, which is yet to be determined, upon her graduation this fall.

Why did you choose to go to Pepperdine?

Kimberly Brooking: Frankly, I chose to go to Pepperdine because I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I had applied to a number of schools, but I was most excited when I unexpectedly got my Pepperdine acceptance letter.

I have never had a type of passion for a place until I found out about Pepperdine. I was initially drawn to Pepperdine from their study abroad programs and that it was a Christian institution, as I attended other Christian institutions while growing up. I had a fantastic teacher in high school who said that it was our life homework to do what we needed to better understand the world, and that’s how I knew I wanted to go to the school with the best study abroad program.

How has your Pepperdine experience been for you?

KB: Fantastic. Going into college, I’ve heard clichés about

making life-long friends. Now, there are countless people that I hope to know for the rest of my life. The real problem with Pepperdine is that there are just too many good people that I wish I had more time to spend with them. I went into college with the mindset to grow spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically.

Now, I have no doubt that I have accomplished all of the things that make me a well-rounded student — I am most grateful for that. The experiences were both challenging and comforting and I would honestly choose it all over again.

What is your greatest takeaway from your experience overseas?

KB: The person I went to Italy as is now a different person who came back home. While I was abroad, there was that spiritual disconnection because you don’t have the foundations that you grew up on, which allows you to discover growth. Being able to truly be there and look around allowed me to understand the depth of diversity. Coming back, I missed it severely because I had found my place there and connected with so many people where I fell in love with everything. It’s a crazy situation of having 55 people in one big house and I loved getting to know every one of them all so sincerely because it was a really unique opportunity. Where else would you be able to get to know people that well and the differences of living life? It would be impossible to not be changed by the way how you see people living different lives than you.

Photos courtesy of Kimberly Brooking Friends Forever Feast | Senior Kimberly Brooking and her Italian and American friends have dinner at Castello di Gargonza in Gargonza, Italy, in October 2018. She said her favorite memory was in Aosta, Italy, when she saw the Matterhorn. terhorn. It was probably the most chaotic and ridiculous trip ever.

We had so many problems— our car got stuck in the snow, we made our train in two minutes, we had to figure out the gas and local language as well as how to rent a car. But, it was a time of spiritual reflection with these wonderful girls that encaptured the feeling of “I’m so happy I am alive right here.” We read the Word and discussed things that got really deep about our lives which made it a really profound spiritual experience.

This gave me some of the best friendships that I never could have imagined that I would ever have.

We all credited that experience for allowing us to have more time to really become close and cement those friendships as a foundation for our future.

What are your favorite memories at Pepperdine?

KB: My best memory was when I was traveling to Aosta, Italy, with my girls to see the Mat-

H A RL E E N .CH H A B RA @P E P P E RD I N E . E D U

Coffee Break|Brooking smiles at a coffee shop in Carson City, Nev., in March 2020. She said she was orignally drawn to Pepperdine for their study abroad programs.

Movie Review: Greta Gerwig’s ‘Little Women’ shows original modernity St ell a Z ha ng Staf f W r i te r “Little Women” (2019), directed and adapted by Greta Gerwig, tells the story of the four closeknit March sisters who grow up and find their own places in the world. This latest film adaptation of the classic is an inspiration for women of all generations to watch in the spirit of Women’s History Month.

The film brings love and warmth while poignantly pointing out the legal constraints placed on women by marriage and the obstacles women face when pursuing their aspirations. Gerwig’s bold adaptation of the film successfully captures the ahead-ofits-time spirit shown in the novel written by Louisa May Alcott and adds modernity to it, focusing on the main character Jo March.

“Little Women” won an Oscar for Best Achievement in Costume Design. Gerwig, who launched her directorial debut “Lady Bird” in 2017, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for “Little Women.”

Gerwig reframes the story and intercuts scenes between two timelines over a seven-year period: the four girls as teenagers and them living their own lives as young women.

The film opens with Jo March selling a story to a New York publisher. The scenes then switch between the March sisters, Jo (Saoirse Ronan), Amy (Florence Pugh), Meg (Emma Watson) and Beth (Eliza Scanlen). With their father (Bob Odenkirk) fighting in the U.S. Civil War, they live with their mother (Laura Dern).

The film depicts the problem of the constraints enforced upon women by society. In the film, a male editor says the fate of a female character should

Photo courtesy of Columbia pictures Sisters Unite| “Little Women” stars Emma Watson, Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, and Eliza Scanlen. They portray their roles as Meg March, Jo March, Amy March and Beth March, who live in post-Civil War America. be either married or dead. This conversation hints at the real-life drama behind the publication of “Little Women” — Alcott only has Jo married after her audience demanded so. In the film, however, Gerwig dramatizes Jo and her love interest kissing under the umbrella, ironically showing Jo succumbing to reality.

Despite getting married at the end of the film, Jo appears in a scene where she says with tearfilled eyes, “Women, they have minds, and they have souls, as well as just hearts. And they’ve got ambition, and they’ve got talent, as well as just beauty. I’m so sick of people saying that love is all a woman is fit for.”

This highlights the true powerlessness of women in that time period. They could not work or vote, so they had to rely on men

and get married, despite losing ownership of their money.

On the other hand, Jo’s sister, Amy, is more practical. In the film, she says, “As a woman, I have no way to make money, not enough to earn a living and support my family. Even if I had my own money, which I don’t, it would belong to my husband the minute we were married. So don’t sit there and tell me that marriage isn’t an economic proposition, because it is.”

These two contradicting perspectives allow the audience to reflect on the true meaning of marriage to women throughout history.

When it comes to women pursuing their passions, the film shows that women struggle to succeed. In the film, Amy strives to be a renowned artist and stay

in Paris. Her aunt, however, thinks painting skills are not important for women to learn.

Jo, on the other hand, has to publish her works anonymously at first and only writes genres that sell well. Her persistence in writing is inspirational for the audience, sending a message that everyone should follow their dreams and stick with their true passions.

Besides the plot and the brilliant adaptation, the film has a beautiful artistic style both in its pictures and soundtracks. It is worth noting that the scenes of the girls’ adolescence have warm tones while their adult lives have dark tones. Their childhood times are almost enveloped in a “golden glow,” suggesting a time of joy.

Gerwig told the ScreenDaily, “We wanted it to feel like you

were totally immersed in the realities of the time.”

The film did succeed in allowing the audience to travel with the characters through time, and it has a very natural flow.

This modern retelling of the story proves Gerwig’s talent in directing and adapting films, giving the audience a chance to see literary characters in a new light and have thought-provoking reflections on women’s marriage and pursuit.

“Little Women” is available on Starz and Amazon Prime Video.

STEL L A.ZHANG@PEPPER DINE.EDU

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The Graphic

SPORTS Mar ch 25, 2021

pep p e rd in e - g ra p h ic.co m

Dane Bruhahn | Staff photographer Heavenly Header | Leyla McFarland (in white) scores a headed goal against Santa Clara on March 23 at Tari Frahm Rokus field in Malibu. McFarland nodded in a cross from Erin Sinai to tie the score at 2-2, but Pepperdine eventually fell 4-3 on a double overtime goal by the Broncos, the second straight year they have lost by that score.

W. Soccer drops overtime classic to Santa Clara Paxton Ritchey Sports Editor For the second time in as many years, Pepperdine Women's Soccer lost a 4-3 heartbreaker to the Santa Clara Broncos. However, aside from the score, the stories of the two games could not be more different.

While last year's Waves blew a three-goal lead in regulation to a rising Broncos team on the road, this year's match was a backand-forth affair between two teams ranked in the national Top 25, and neither team ever led by more than one goal. Kelsey Turnbow's finish in the second overtime period, the seventh goal in a game that was scoreless at halftime, gave the Broncos their first win in Malibu since 1999 by a score of 4-3 March 23 in Malibu.

"I'm heartbroken, a little bit," Head Coach Tim Ward said.

"That was insane."

The stakes were high before the match even kicked off. Santa Clara came into the match ranked No. 11 in the latest coaches poll, while Pepperdine came in at No. 24. With incoming conference records of 3-0-1 for the Waves and 3-0 for the Broncos, this was also a matchup of the last two undefeated teams in the WCC, so the conference and national implications were huge.

The two teams also play different formations and styles of soccer, so Ward said he knew the tactical chess battle would be important.

"We play a 4-3-3 the majority of the time, and they play sort of this 4-4-2," Ward said. "It's really about imposing your will on the other, and it's fun, it's a fun way to play. [Broncos Head Coach] Jerry [Smith], there's a ton of respect I have for him, and I think he feels the same way

about our program. It's always a great game."

The teams mostly canceled each other out in a scoreless first half. Santa Clara had the better start, but couldn’t mount a serious threat to Waves goalkeeper Zoe Clevely. Pepperdine tried to build from the back and keep the ball on the ground, but a very high defensive line from Santa Clara did a good job pinning the Waves into their own end early.

Santa Clara’s two NWSL draft picks, Turnbow and Alex Loera, had a strong first half. Turnbow, playing as an inverted winger on the right, sent in several probing passes and looked dangerous trying to cut inside on her left foot. Loera took three shots late in the period, but two sailed well over the bar, and the third went straight into the gloves of Clevely from long range. Loera’s efforts gave the Broncos the shot advantage heading into the break, 6-3.

It didn’t take long for the game to open up in the second half, and in the 52nd minute, the first potential breakthrough occurred.

Calista Reyes sent a searching through ball on the ground for Pepperdine that freshman winger Tori Waldeck got her foot to.

Waldeck’s touch went past Broncos keeper Marlee Nicolos, but the ball was cleared off the line by left back Emma Reeves.

It was Santa Clara at the other end who opened the scoring in the 66th minute. Build up play from Keren Goor and Julie Doyle eventually squared the ball for sophomore Skylar Smith, who had a neat sliding finish with the outside of her right foot into the corner for her first goal of the year.

It only took one minute for the Waves to answer. Trinity Watson lined up a free kick from 25 yards out and bent it around the wall past a diving Nicolos to even the score. Watson, a former striker converted into an all-conference defender, said she loves taking

whatever attacking moments are presented to her.

“I get so excited, just because they don’t come that often,” Watson said. “When we do get those chances, it’s my time to step up, just because I do practice those.

Two to three times a week after practice I’ll stay after and kick a few free kicks just for muscle memory, and it helps.”

Five minutes later, it was the Broncos turn to respond. Reigning WCC Freshman of the Year Izzy D’Aquila found herself gifted a one-on-one opportunity when an attempted clearance took a deflection and bounced right to her feet, and she made no mistake beating Clevely.

The pendulum continued to swing in the 76th minute. Pepperdine right back Erin Sinai had space out wide and sent a beautiful cross into Leyla McFarland, who flicked it on with her head into the top corner for a picturesque equalizing goal to make it 2-2.

“It felt so good,” McFarland said. “I turned around and just started running towards Erin because - what a ball she gave me.

I was like ‘Oh my goodness, it’s coming right to my head,’ and I heard the goalkeeper try to call for it, and I was like ‘Oh, nope, you’re not getting it.’”

McFarland also played a role in Pepperdine’s third goal, receiving a pass from Skylar Enge and surgically redirecting it first time through the defense towards senior Aliyah Satterfield, hitting her in stride.

Nicolos came off her line, but Satterfield’s first touch allowed her to round the keeper and tap it in to an empty net. It was Satterfield’s second goal of her Pepperdine career, and Ward said he was ecstatic to see Satterfield have that moment.

“She’s an amazing woman of character and maybe hasn’t gotten the minutes that she’s wanted,” Ward said. “There was no

one more deserving to score that goal, and she took it so well.”

Once again, a team’s one-goal lead wouldn’t last. Pepperdine gave away a penalty kick after being called for a hand ball inside the box. Clevely, who saved a PK earlier this year at Saint Mary’s, guessed the right way, but Turnbow’s spot kick just eluded her fingertips and the game was level at 3-3 in the 80th minute, capping a staggering run of 6 goals in 15 minutes between the two teams.

“I kinda had a feeling that there’d be some goals on both sides, because I feel like both sides deserved it pretty well,” Watson said. “I didn’t think it would stay 0-0.”

While he credited the Broncos for their play throughout the match, Ward wasn’t thrilled about the penalty kick decision.

“I don’t want to grumble and moan,” Ward said. “But the ref gives a PK, and it’s a shot from a point blank distance into one of our players hands. It’s not an intentional handball. I might eat my words here and I’ll have to watch the replay, but it felt really, really harsh.”

With the score tied, the Waves advanced to sudden-death overtime for the second time in as many games, after playing a full 110 minutes in a scoreless draw against Portland March 19. Waves standout Joelle Anderson had the best chance early in overtime, sending a shot just wide in the 92nd minute.

“Their keeper did a really good job,” Ward said. “I thought Jo should’ve buried it, but their keeper did a really good job getting at Jo’s feet and forcing her to take a shot earlier or not make it as clean as it could’ve been. That was obviously a big, big moment.”

In the end, it was Turnbow creating a chance out of almost nothing in the 105th minute.

After D’Aquila won back possession inside Pepperdine’s half, Turnbow got on the ball and

Defensive Duckett| Freshman midfielder Julianna Duckett (no.

24) muscles with a defender for control of the ball. dribbled around three defenders and Clevely, eventually having an open net to tap the ball into. It was the 39th career goal for Turnbow, a three-time all-conference honoree who will be playing for the NWSL’s Chicago Red Stars next year.

“There’s a reason Kelsey Turnbow got drafted already,” Ward said. “She’s a special player who had a special moment, and showed in that moment how quick she is.”

After the loss, McFarland said the Waves were disappointed not to come away with the win, but understood how well the game was played on both sides.

“We could’ve had that game, it could’ve gone either way,” McFarland said. “It was really high-level soccer, both teams had really good moments, and we learned a lot. Really good game, but obviously an unfortunate result for us.”

Pepperdine will have three days of recovery before returning to Tari Frahm Rokus Field to take on local rival LMU Saturday, March 27.

Paxton.ritchey@pepperdine.edu

P E P P E R DIN E GR A P H IC M E DIA | S PORTS | MA RCH 25 , 20 21

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No. 2 BYU takes doubleheader vs.

No. 5 Pepp Men’s Volleyball kar l w inter staf f w rite r Pepperdine Men’s Volleyball got two cracks at No. 2 BYU in a matinee doubleheader March 19 and 20, in Firestone Fieldhouse, but the Cougars proved too much for the Waves in both matches. The losses dropped the Waves from No. 4 to No. 5 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s most recent national poll.

Similar to the teams’ two February matches in Provo, Utah, the Waves could manage only one set victory over two days, losing in four sets on Friday and three on Saturday.

The Cougars took Friday’s match by scores of 20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-17 and Saturday’s match 25-21, 25-14, 25-20. The Waves fell to 8-5 on the season, with four of the losses coming at the hands of the Cougars.

“We weren’t as good as we need to be,” Head Coach David Hunt said following Saturday’s loss. “On top of that, when you have the talent that they do and they’re wellcoached and all those things, it makes for an uphill battle if you’re not controlling things on your side.”

The Waves dropped their first home matches of the season and first conference matches at home since 2018.

Serving Costs the Waves in FourSet Friday Loss Pepperdine landed the first punch of the weekend, taking the first set on Friday 25-20 and snapping a BYU streak of 15 consecutive sets won.

In the set, the Waves silenced powerful Cougars senior outside hitter Gabi Garcia Fernandez, who had 6 kills on 16 swings.

Waves redshirt sophomore outside hitter Jacob Steele and redshirt senior middle blocker Austin Wilmot picked apart the Cougars block, combining for 9 kills on 14 swings (.643 hitting percentage) in the opening set.

Wilmot is hitting his stride as the Waves enter the home stretch of the season. The defending AVCA National Player of the Week led the Waves in kills (16), attempts (25), and hitting percentage (.520) in the match and was second in blocks (3).

Wilmot said his chemistry with freshman setter Bryce Dvorak has improved dramatically throughout the season.

“We started off on maybe not a rough start, but something like that — I don’t know if the confidence was really there to push the middle too much,” Wilmot said. “I didn’t even look at the stats today but I probably got like 25 swings, and that’s just insanely different.”

After the first set, the service and serve receive game cost the Waves. In sets two, three and four, the Waves had 2 aces and 14 service errors, while the Cougars delivered 9 aces with only 10 errors. Both

PhotOS Courtesy of martin a folb | pepperdine athletics Setting the tone| Pepperdine freshman setter Bryce Dvorak (left) delivers a set to a Waves teammate on Friday in Malibu. Dvorak finished with 33 assists and 6 digs in the four-set loss against the Cougars. Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Jacob Steele (right) rolls the ball over BYU’s Wil Stanley on Friday in Firestone Fieldhouse. Steele tallied nine kills in each match of the doubleheader. teams were smashing 70-mile-perhour serves, but the Waves weren’t getting the ball over the net and into the court.

“Volleyball coaches around the country talk about the importance of the serve-pass battle, and we lost that tonight,” Hunt said. “We’ve missed too much and they got too many free points so we’ll try to clean that up a little bit.”

Pepperdine outside hitters Spencer Wickens and Alex Gettinger began to heat up after a quiet first set, but the Cougars also caught fire, hitting .562 in the second set. The Waves lost the final point of the second set on a service error, their seventh of the set, falling 25-17.

“In the serve and pass battle, they’re ripping their serves and getting us way off the net,” Wilmot said. “They controlled our serves a lot more after the first set. The first set was a little tough for them but after that they were on fire. It’s hard to slow a team like that down when they get like that.”

The Waves started slow in the third set, falling behind 6-1 and 10-3. BYU outside hitters Garcia Fernandez and Davide Gardini began to control the pins, complemented by senior middle blocker Felipe de Brito Ferreira, who was simply smashing the ball onto the ground. De Brito Ferreira finished the match with eight kills on nine attempts.

“That’s a good team over there,” Hunt said. “They have two international-level players on the pins, [Zach Eschenberg] does a nice job for them cleaning up a lot of junk, and they got good middles, and they’re a veteran team.”

Pepperdine battled back, closing the gap in the set to 23-20, but eventually dropped it 25-21 when redshirt senior outside hitter Noah Dyer’s pass hit a beam on the Firestone Fieldhouse ceiling and deflected directly to the ground for set point.

The Waves hit a slightly better percentage than the Cougars in the third set but also conceded four aces.

Pepperdine hit a solid .308 in the match, but BYU was marginally better, hitting .343.

“They’re just killing a few balls more than us,” Hunt said. “There are out-of-system and medium passes that they’re killing as well, so we got to figure that part out.”

BYU pulled away in the fourth set, winning it 25-17, to complete the victory.

With a young roster and hurried preparation, Hunt said they are still working on skills that they would normally develop in the fall season.

“This would be around day 100 with our team, and the reality is this is day 60 with our team,” Hunt said. “We’re trying to still work out some things and let some guys show what they have when they are in practice.”

NIT. The tourney selected teams that were not among the 68 invited to March Madness or the 16 invited to the NIT. The CBI also has a $50,000 buy in to play.

After a heartbreaking loss to the BYU Cougars in the WCC Semifinals, the Waves looked strong in both CBI matchups, particularly in the second half. Junior forward Kessler Edwards took over in both games and has a combined 50 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks.

The Waves are set to play the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, led by junior guard DeVante’ Jones.

Jones is a top-20 scorer in the country who averages 19.8 per game.

Coastal finished the regular season 15-6, and are 18-7 including the

postseason. They finished third in the Sun Belt Conference.

The championship game will be guard Colbey Ross’ final time in a Pepperdine uniform. The senior, who’s started in all 124 games over four years, has a chance to end his college career as a champion.

The Waves and Chanticleers will tip off at 5 p.m., Wednesday, after the Graphic’s production deadline for this week. The full round-up of the Waves in the CBI Tournament will be published online this weekend and in print in next week’s issue.

Cougars Dominate Saturday’s Match in Three Sets Pepperdine began Saturday’s match with a different lineup, inserting freshman libero Trey Cole and moving Dyer from libero to outside hitter. This allowed the team to use a four-man serve receive formation periodically, which held the Cougars to two aces in the match.

Steele and Wilmot continued their hot streak, notching four and three kills, respectively, in the opening set. The pair finished the match with a combined 17 kills. Wilmot also had a big solo block that gave the Waves energy to attempt a firstset comeback.

The Cougars took the first set anyway, jumping out to a 9-4 lead and holding off the Waves even after Pepperdine tied the set at 18.

Garcia Fernandez and Gardini paced the Cougars in the set and match.

The second set was ugly for Pepperdine, as the Waves hit .136 to BYU’s .684 and the visitors took the set 25-14. The Cougars knocked the Waves off the net, recording 11.5 blocks throughout the match to Pepperdine’s 5.

The Waves mixed up their lineup in the third set, as redshirt freshman outside hitter Akin Akinwumi contributed two kills, sophomore setter Joe Karlous came in for Dvorak, and graduate transfer Chris Orem entered at middle blocker.

The different lineup provided

Down The Middle | Pepperdine redshirt senior middle blocker Austin Wilmot (No. 20) elevates to swing against a BYU block including Felipe de Brito Ferreira (No. 16) and Wil Stanley (No. 3) on Friday in Firestone Fieldhouse. Despite the losses, Wilmot led the Waves throughout the weekend, totaling 24 kills on a .570 hitting percentage in two losses to the Cougars. energy, but the Waves recorded seven service errors and zero aces, dropping the set 25-20. The performance from the service line was an issue again, as the team had 15 service errors total.

“I don’t think serving is ever an easy fix, but it’s definitely something that we got to invest some time into and try to solve that,” Hunt said. “On a team like BYU that’s so comfortable being out of system or off the net, you got to be a little bit smarter in terms of the risk-reward that we get from there.”

Steele said the team needs to serve more balls in practice to work on the issue.

“I look at my freshman year — we were a fantastic serving team and we spent a ton of time every practice serving,” Steele said. “And so I think that’s going to be a big thing for us moving forward.”

Eleven different players saw the court for Pepperdine on both Friday and Saturday, including three true freshmen and redshirt freshman, as Hunt continues to fine-tune the lineup and utilize his team’s depth.

“The guys that have gone in have earned some playing time and

we have a lot of really good pieces,” Hunt said.

The Waves, who have won eight of nine matches this season against teams not named BYU, turn their attention to a three-game series March 26, 27 and 28 at home against Grand Canyon University.

“We know that we’re better than the way we played this weekend,” Dyer said. “While [BYU] played well, we just didn’t. We weren’t quite on our game and so that’s on us, but we’ve got another month of training.”

Three matches in consecutive days is a rare challenge, and the No. 7 Lopes are not to be overlooked, having swept BYU in February and beaten the Waves in 2020.

“It’s just another opportunity to strengthen ourselves and see what we can do under tougher circumstances,” Dyer said. “Today was a tougher circumstance and we want to see how people rebound from that and go against another tough challenge.”

K AR L .W INTER @PEPPER DINE.EDU

Men’s Basketball advances to CBI Championship aust in ha ll s taf f w r i te r Pepperdine is playing in the 2021 College Basketball Invitational Championship against Coastal Carolina University on Wednesday, March 24. After an 80-66 rout of Longwood University and an 8271 victory against Bellarmine University, the Waves could end this season with a 15-12 record and a piece of hardware for the Jones Trophy Room in Heritage Hall.

The CBI is the third-tier postseason tournament, below the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, better known as “March Madness,” and the National Invitational Tournament, or

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

Photo courtesy of wcc Gametime | Senior point guard Colbey Ross celebrates in the WCC Semifinal matchup versus BYU. Ross will play in his last game as a Pepperdine Wave on Wednesday in the CBI Championship.

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P E P P E R DINE GR A P HIC M E DIA | S PORTS | M A RCH 25 , 20 21

Beach sweeps Concordia, falls to top-ranked USC just in t o uh ey a ss i s tant spor ts e dit or The No. 8 ranked Pepperdine Beach Volleyball played a doubleheader against Concordia University Irvine and the No. 1 ranked University of Southern California in Malibu on March 21. The Waves were dominant against the Eagles as they swept them 5-0, but struggled again against the Trojans and lost 4-1. With the win and the loss, Pepperdine’s record moved to 2-7 on the season.

In their first match against Concordia, the Waves were electric, as they collected first-set wins on all five courts.

Senior Brook Bauer said the team feeds off of one another’s match victories.

“I think after the first two matches a certain energy and intensity was created,” Bauer said.

“Every set that I went into after the victories filled me with confidence and contributes to a cohesive team dynamic.”

Junior Simone Priebe and junior Melaine Paul started off strong on court two, besting the Eagles 2116, 21-8. Priebe had 8 kills and Paul had 13, along with 3 aces.

Freshman Calista Wright and sophomore Mary Sinclair continued the fast start with a win in three sets, 21-18, 22-24 and 15-8.

Continuing the domination were senior Alexis Fillipone and sophomore Sutton Mactavish, who dropped the hammer 21-11, 21-5, which won the dual for the Waves.

Mactavish said the connection between her and Fillipone was working well against the Eagles.

“When we are able to play freely we can feed off each other’s energy and play more aggressive,” Mactavish said. “I find that we play well when we are encouraging and communicating throughout the match.”

The Waves did not slow down after securing the win. The connection between Bauer and graduate student Carly Skjodt was on display, as they handled business against the Eagles, winning 21-12, 21-17.

“My connection with Carly yesterday was really good and it was a fun day to play,” Bauer said. “Our communication about defense and serves was purposeful and we just had a great day.”

Junior Michaela Kasper and senior Katie Gavin won their match 21-10, 21-18 to solidify the sweep.

Head Coach Marcio Sicoli said the team was great from start to finish.

“When we talk about beach volleyball, sometimes we think about it in terms of pairs, but it is a big team sport,” Sicoli said. “When your teammates are on the scoreboard it creates momentum and confidence with the way you play.”

While the Waves were unstoppable against the Eagles, they struggled against top-ranked USC. Veterans Bauer and Skjodt came away with the victory in their match, as they won in two sets 2113, 21-19.

“We definitely had to adjust our

dane bruhahn | staff photographer Point and Shoot| Freshman Calista Wright celebrates a point in Sunday’s women’s beach volleyball game versus Concordia. Wright recorded 24 kills against the Eagles. strategies by becoming more aggressive at the service line, as well as with attacking and blocking,” Skjodt said. “Having played USC before, we knew more information about their players than we did about Concordia, so we had a game plan based on our past experiences against them.”

Despite the team’s familiarity with USC, Bauer and Skjodt claimed the only match win in the dual against the Trojans. All other Waves pairs fell in two sets.

Pepperdine has now played USC

four times this season, and has not yet won a dual against them.

“This was the last time we played USC and it has been weird because we have been exclusively playing West Coast teams,” Bauer said.

“The exciting part is that yesterday we played our best against them and we are only halfway through the season, so if we keep showing up like we did Sunday I think we can be dangerous.”

Skjodt also said the team is making progress against highly ranked opponents.

“Each time that we play them we get better, despite what the scoreboard says,” Skjodt said. “USC is the number one team in the country so anytime we play them it is a big deal, and I know if we keep working hard then we are going to be able to catch them at some point.”

JUSTIN.TOUHEY@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Double Slam| Left: Sophomore Mary Sinclair (left, No. 4) goes for a spike around a Concordia block during a match March 21. Right: Junior Peyton Lewis (right, No. 24) hits the ball against USC March 21. The Waves dominated Concordia but lost their to USC in four tries.

Spor ting ev en ts this week THU

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@ T h e g o o dw in in pa l o a lt o, calif.

@ The goodw in in palo alt o, cal if.

@ The goodwin in pal o alto, cal if.

me n ’ s t e n ni s

Track

@ Santa clara | noon

@ Westmont cl assic in santa barbara, cal if.

be ac h Vo ll e y b a l l v s. N o. 4 U C LA | 10 a.m. and noon

w o me n’ s t enni s vs. Santa clara | 1 :30 P M

W. vo l l e y b al l

vs. No. 6 L MU | noon @ Concordia |2 p.m.

wom e n’s soc ce r

B as e b a l l

wom e n’s te nni s

Me n ’ s Vo l l e yball vs. N o. 9 Gra n d c a nyon | 3 P.M.

28

TUE 30

m e n’s te nni s

B aseb all

b each Volley b all

@ S a n Fr a n c ic s o | 1 P. M .

v s. Sai nt m ary’s | 1 P. M .

W. vol l e yba l l

Men ’ s Volley b all

v s. N o. 6 l m u | 1 0 a . m . and noon

@ N o. 2 1 S a n Die g o | 2 P. M . v s. No. 9 G r and c anyo n | 5 P. M .

B aseb all @ No. 1 0 U C L A | 1 P. M .

M e n’s Vol l ey b all v s. N o. 9 Gr a n d c anyo n | 5 P. M.

beach Vol l eyba l l

@ N o. 2 1 Sa n Die go | 2 P.M.

vs. Sain t mary ’s | 3 p.m.

SUN

vs. L MU | noon

vs. San f rancicso | noon

Baseba l l v s. S a in t ma ry ’s | 1 P. M.

MON

WED

29

31

men ’ s ten n is @ c al b e r k e l e y | 1 P. M .

Men ’ s Volley b all v s No. 4 u c l a | 3 P. M .