Pepperdine Graphic 2-18-2022 by PGM-PepperdineGraphicMedia

THE PEPPERDINE GR APHIC

Volume LI | Issue 12 | February 18, 2022 | pepperdine-graphic.com | follow us @peppgraphic

Black History Month

Pepp Honors

Design by Ali Levens, Creative Director | Photos by Audrey Hartono, Staff Photographer | A collage of portraits from the “Cultivators: Highlights from the Kinsey African American Art and History Collection” hang in the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art. The collection is displayed throughout the month of February to honor Black History Month.

Early admits commit to attend Pepperdine in fall 2022.

Graduate schools adapt to policies regarding COVID-19.

THE WAVES REPORT

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The Kinsey Collection The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art kicked off February by showcasing the “Cultivators: Highlights from the Kinsey African American Art and History Collection.” The Kinsey Collection features Afri-

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Staff Writer Joshua Evans explains why TikTok’s “For You” page is harmful. Perspectives Editor Sarah Best encourages commenters to read articles before criticizing students.

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can American art, photographs, books, letters and manuscripts from the past five centuries. Kinsey Collection founders Bernard and Shirley Kinsey both earned bachelor’s degrees from Pepperdine. Their art collection reflects their personal journeys of self-discovery and shared experiences, according to the Kinsey Collection website. The official opening ceremony for the exhibit will be Feb. 19 from noon to 5 p.m., but the exhibit is open to the public from Jan. 15 to March 27. Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated Tua Lambda members went to the Kinsey Collection as a chapter activity, and said they were impressed by the collection.

See BHM | A3

The Dance in Flight company presents “Normal.”

ReelStories premieres films by seven student directors.

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SPORTS

PERSPECTIVES

’S AT A D WH E AH

NEWS

Throughout the month of February, Pepperdine will partner with several organizations to honor Black History Month. Black History Month is a time to honor and celebrate Black voices around the world, as well as educate others about Black history and Black culture. The month is filled with activities including a Presidential Speaker Series highlighting racism across the United States and student-run events to promote education about Black history. The Kinsey Collection — an exhibit of African American history and art — will also be available on display at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art throughout February. “The best way to appreciate

Black history is to learn it, to educate yourself about it and to figure out what Black contributions were to society as a whole,” said Myles Dennis, Alpha Phi Alpha Incorporated president. APA began in 1906 as the “first inter-collegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African American men,” according to the group’s website. The fraternity’s goal is to promote brotherhood among all Black Americans, according to their website.

LIFE AND ARTS

Abby Wilt News Editor

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Pepperdine hosts a charity celebrity flag football game.

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Athletes share their recruitment experiences at Pepp.

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DEEPSWELL.COM

February 18, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

The hustle and bustle of campus is in the air as students pick up their Starbucks, chat with their friends and scurry to class on a typical Monday in February. I usually witness this action from the place that is bringing me joy recently — my new favorite chairs. If you are a Pepperdine student, you know the chairs I am talking about. They are the ones right outside of Starbucks, in the center of main campus, usually in direct sunlight. They recline the perfect amount — I am not sitting up extremely straight but also not laying down in a recliner. The part I enjoy most is the table in the middle of the chairs — a table I typically use as a footrest. It is a perfect set-up, if I do say so myself. When I sit in these chairs, I get absolutely nothing done because of the amount of people walking back-and -forth that I decide I need to talk to. But that’s what makes the chairs so special to me — their placement is in an an area where I can run into people I wouldn’t typically see, meet new people and sometimes simply just people watch. I discovered these chairs late this past semester during finals week — when I finally left the CCB and decided to start making an appearance on main campus. Now, I jump at every opportunity to go every chance I get. As a matter of fact, I am sitting in these chairs as I type this. I am basking in the sun and stopping every few minutes to talk to anyone and everyone I see. So far, I have met six new people, caught up with a friend, drank my daily coffee, waved at a professor, witnessed a surge of students exit Elkins and I even got a tiny bit of homework done. If I am ever lacking community, feeling isolated, having a rough day or simply need a boost of serotonin, I head to these chairs. I know I will end up having some random, probably pointless, conversation with someone that will most likely make my day. I often say it’s the simple things in life that bring me the most joy. These chairs show me exactly that. I wake up and am solely excited to go sit in a chair. If you ever want to chat, want to grab Starbucks or simply want to people watch, I recommend you head to these chairs on main campus. You’ll most likely find me there as well.

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Student Cases

Employee Cases

On-campus Cases

Malibu Cases

PRESIDENT’S briefings | 02.02

Chief Operating Officer Phil Phillips said the Univeristy averaged a 6.3% positivity rate in January. As of Feb 2., the University is averaging a 1.45% positivity rate.

President Jim Gash spoke about Black History Month and encouraged community members to visit the Kinsey Collection at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art.

Gash interviewed junior Majok Deng about leaving Sudan, living in a refugee camp then coming to the United States.

California Cases

United States Cases

*Since March 2020

Off-campus Cases

Read the bi-weekly COVID-19 updates in the Pixel newsletter.

*Since Jan. 1

The DPS Reports

TWEETS

of the month

01/19/22 7 p.m. Crime: Assault/BatteryDomestic Violence Location: Rockwell Towers Lot

01/25/22 1 a.m. Crime: Alcohol RelatedPosession of Alcohol on Campus Location: Seaside Residence

01/25/22 3 p.m. Crime: Larceny/Theft- Petty Theft Location: Harilela International Tennis Stadium

02/10/22 10:30 a.m. Crime: Vandalism Location: Rho Parking Lot

02/11/22 4 p.m. Crime: Assault/Battery- Simple Battery or Fighting Location: Banowsky Blvd.

Read the full DPS reports in the Pixel newsletter.

Dean’s Speaker Series Faith and Black Leadership with Professor Patricia Wilson and Professor Blake Morant Wednesday, Feb. 23

Iphigenia and Other Daughters

Orchestra and Opera Le Nozza DiFigaro

Mini Theatre (PLC 182) Feb. 17-19 2 p.m.

Smothers Theatre Feb. 24 & 26 7:30 p.m.

You Had One [Parking] Job

Banowsky Blvd. Photo by Emily Mazo, reader submission abby.wilt@pepperdine.edu

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events

Abby Wilt News Editor

COVID-19 by the numbers

Upcoming

Good News: The joy of a chair

Parking Lot F Photo by Ashley Mowreader, Managing Editor

Highlighting bad parking on Pepperdine’s campus.

Parking Lot F Photo by Ashley Mowreader, Managing Editor

February 18, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

BHM: Pepp highlights Black culture From A1 AKA was the first Black sorority and began in 1908. Their goal is to use their sisterhood to raise the status of African Americans, according to their website. “In the Kinsey exhibit there are multiple paintings where he explained the inventions that we’ve [Black Americans] created,” AKA Treasurer Secretary Gabrielle Valsaint said. “We’ve created the ice cream scooper and the mailbox numbering system. That painting has her whole body full of inventions. I think that we need to take that education and apply it.” Presidential Speaker Series The University also offered the first installment of the 2022 Presidential Speaker Series on Feb. 16, titled “The Dream King: How the Dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. is Being Fulfilled to Heal Racism in America.” Will Ford and Matt Lockett spoke to community members about the history of the civil rights movement, the power of prayer and shared their wisdom about how to heal the racial divide in the United States. Ford is the director of the Marketplace Leadership Major at Christ for the Nations

Institute in Dallas, Texas. He is also the founder of Hilkiah Ministries, a ministry centered around intercession, reconciliation, awakening and reformation. Lockett is the executive director of Justice House of Prayer in Washington, D.C., and leads prayer and intercession on Capitol Hill. Student-led Activities Pepperdine’s Black Student Association is hosting multiple events throughout Black History Month to educate Pepperdine community members. BSA is also hoping to provide a safe space for Black individuals to honor and talk about their history, said Naya Edwards, vice president for External Affairs for BSA. BSA kicked off the month with a movie night, during which they watched the film, “The Hate U Give.” After the movie, students discussed the film and what they learned from it. “It just talked about police brutality and what it feels like, as far as your identity, as a Black person in different environments,” Edwards said. “We talked to our members about how the movie made them feel and things that they applied to life or things about Black culture that they could relate to.”

Next for BSA was a talent show where students could sing, dance, perform poetry or entertain the audience with karaoke. “[The show] was a laid back theme that just gave people a safe space to have fun and be with each other,” Edwards said. For Valentine’s Day, BSA students tabled on main campus Feb. 14, and handed out Valentine’s Day treats along with facts about Black history. “Just being able to educate people who want to be educated and give out information about Black history and Black culture as well as a little treat because it is Valentine’s Day,” Edwards said. “We wanted to be able to reach people that we may not reach in our meetings.” Edwards said BSA will continue to host events throughout February to educate their peers and honor Black culture. They plan to host poet Len Thompson next, where Thompson will share her poetry and engage in discussion about Black history. Importance of Black History Month Carter G. Woodson founded Black History Month in 1926, and is now a nationally recognized celebration with different themes every year. This year, Black History Month’s theme is Health and Wellness, according

Audrey Hartono, Staff Photographer | A portrait from the Kinsey Collection hangs in the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art. The Kinsey Collection is an exhibit of African American history and art. to National Public Radio. “I think [this month] would be great for people to challenge themselves to learn something that they didn’t know, or maybe do some self reflection,” Edwards said. “And to think about intersectionality when it comes to people who have multiple identities, or how their life affects the things that they’re doing in their life.” Edwards said the best way for students to honor Black History Month is to learn more about it and to highlight Black alumni at Pepperdine. AKA President Launnie Phillips agreed, and said community members should use the resources they have to learn and support Black history, “I think there are so many ways to support Black history

throughout the year, it should not just be confined to one month,” Phillips said. “Our history is a huge part of the building of this country. There are so many ways that you can do that — honoring it, celebrating it, learning about it — throughout the year.” Phillips said she encourages her peers to look into the history of what they are passionate about and see if there is Black history related to it. “If that means starting to learn about your passionate subject so that you know what we have done for this country and what we have fought for just for our people,” Valsaint said. “Start today, start tomorrow, start in February.”

abby.wilt@pepperdine.edu

Early admits commit for fall 2022 Brielle Yauney News Assistant After several months of anticipation, Pepperdine’s early action applicants for fall 2022 received their decision letters. While the Class of 2026 is not yet complete, Pepperdine expects to form an incoming class of 900 students, Admissions Counselor Katie White wrote in a Feb 3. email to the Graphic. The University received 12,371 applications for the incoming class, White wrote. Regular decision applicants will receive their decision letters on or before April 1 White wrote. Incoming first-year Delaney Dickey of Casa Grande, Ariz., said she is eager to come to Pepperdine in the fall. “I was a lot more excited about being accepted to Pepperdine than I felt with the other schools so that kind of felt like a sign,” Dickey said. “There was a reason that I applied here so now I am excited about it.” Dickey said she vividly remembers the day she received her acceptance letter to Pepperdine. She remembers the exact date and place she was when she opened her phone and saw an email that read, “Pepperdine Admissions Decision.” “It was Dec. 17 and I was sending last-minute Christ-

mas cards,” Dickey said. “My little sister had my phone and [handed it] to me because I got the Gmail notification,” Dickey said. “I opened it while putting my letters in the mailbox. So I was like, ‘Oh, I got into Pepperdine.’ It was shocking because I wasn’t expecting to hear back that quickly.” Incoming first-year Adam Troy of Houston, Texas said he had a similar experience to Dickey when he received his acceptance letter. As a baseball recruit for Pepperdine, he said he felt relieved because it made everything official. “[I] got admitted a month ago, and that was a super good feeling for sure,” Troy said. “It kind of put the period on the whole thing. It was just like, it’s done. Like, I’m going to Pepperdine. I’m committed.” In addition to the traditional application process, Troy said he attended a baseball recruitment camp in early October where he spent several days showcasing his skills to the Pepperdine coaches. A few days later he received an offer and flew back to Malibu for his official visit. “I felt super [relieved] knowing I committed and that entire kind of thing was off my plate,” Troy said. While visiting, Troy said he was at ease about his choice to attend Pepperdine.

“I wasn’t there necessarily on a business kind of trip to prove something to the coaches, I was there to enjoy Malibu and being there with future teammates,” Troy said. While the initial stress of waiting for an admission decision is over, both Dickey and Troy said they are elated but also worried about leaving home for the first time. Dickey said she is thrilled to be in a new place she hasn’t experienced before. “I am excited to see places that are going to become more familiar with me as time goes on,” Dickey said. “So choosing the places that’s like, ‘oh, yeah, me and my friends hang out in this place. Or, oh yeah, we love that beach, that sort of thing.’ I’m super excited for that. Just building that community. This is my home now.” Troy said he is looking forward to being in a new place where he can try new things. “There is surfing and spearfishing [and] all kinds of stuff [to do]. [It’s a] super different world from here [Texas],” Troy said. Troy said he fears time management will be a new challenge for him in college. “The academic and time management aspect of everything is definitely going to be the thing that I’m going to have to stress most for myself [...]

Photo courtesy of Adam Troy | Adam Troy and his high school classmates celebrate their sports signing day at the Humble Civic Center. Troy committed to the Pepperdine Baseball team. just making sure [I’m] on top of that kind of the progression and [not] procrastination,” Troy said. Pepperdine looks for students who show high academic achievement in their transcripts, White wrote. “In our holistic review, the majority of a student’s admission decision is based on academic achievement as demonstrated through the unweighted and recalculated GPA, the transcript which shows course rigor and trends,” White wrote. As academics are a large determining factor in the application, Pepperdine also consid-

ers non-academic achievements important in contributing to the Pepperdine community as a whole, White wrote. “We continue to value students with stellar qualifications including outstanding leadership and community service, potential to engage in our unique undergraduate research and study abroad programs, and a demonstrated commitment to faith,” White wrote.

brielle.wood@pepperdine.edu

February 18, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

A day in the life studying abroad in London Beth Gonzales Abroad Correspondent The alarm goes off like any other day, but when I wake up, I am in London. This is a place I have dreamed about since I was a little girl and it was one of the deciding factors on choosing Pepperdine as my university. The incredible thing is, even as I write “A Day in the Life,” no day is the same once abroad. Every single day is filled with small joys, such as pastries with friends, laughter at a play for English or something as big as looking at Tower Bridge under the stars or planning a trip out of the country. This city is immersive in every sense of the word and I have learned more in my month’s stay than in any classroom I have ever sat in. Generally, I have school on the weekdays, minus Friday, with mini excursions and trips on the weekend. I attend plays and horseback riding Tuesday nights, group dinners and I help lead worship for my program’s house meetings.

This is a place I have dreamed about since I was a little girl and it was one of the deciding factors on choosing Pepperdine as my university. Beth Gonzales Abroad Correspondent Upon waking up on the weekend, I get ready and grab a late breakfast at La Pain

Beth Gonzales, Abroad Correspondent | The Pepperdine study abroad house in South Kensington has five floors that include three classrooms, a kitchen, bedrooms, lounges, patios, a library and more. Gonzales arrived at the house in early January.

Beth Gonzales, Abroad Correspondent | A group of Pepperdine London students pose in front of a rainbow in Edinburgh, Scotland in early February as part of a weekend trip. Some program participants saw their first snowfall this winter.

Quotidien with my friends in the adorable surrounding area of South Kensington with small shops, cafes and walk-up stores. I usually order avocado toast with poached egg and smoked salmon — on occasion I will order tea that comes in dainty floral teapots. Every day I have been accomplishing a goal and immersing myself in everything the culture has to offer. Then depending on the day, it is time for a day trip. On this day, we took the train to Brighton, a city along the coast, and look out the window while I listen to One Direction and become emotional, taking in where I really am. We walk the beach and pier, gaze at the cute dogs in sweaters and I get to know all my new friends better. I thrifted a dress at a small ‘70s clothing store and had the longest conversation with the store owner — I find the best recommendations come from locals. Once we head home it’s time to do research for the next out-of-country trip such as Ed-

inburgh, Scotland and Rome, Italy for spring break. I visited Scotland within my first few weeks. The gothic architecture and stories hidden within the cobblestone are some of the most breathtaking I have ever seen. As my friends and I close our laptops after booking tickets, we head to group dinner at Byron’s where I order a vegetarian burger and the famous massive milkshakes. Group dinners are a time to talk about your day with the whole program and catch up with your professors while getting to know them personally. Upon coming home, a friend brings me a cupcake from a local bakery, Molly Rose, for my birthday a few days prior. This year became one of my most special birthdays. I went shopping in Covent Garden with my roommate, where we found a giant Glossier and we went to the movies later at night. When I came home, everyone surprised me in the kitchen with baked goods and a mini dance party.

Back to the current day, after I say thank you for my cupcake, I do some homework which usually consists of reading. Then I head to the kitchen to fill my water bottle and I get caught up in playing games with the group such as telephone and psychiatrist. I feel fulfilled spending time with such a wonderful family and I head to bed with a smile on my face, ready for another day. It is now, Tuesday. We are sitting in our weekly house meeting where our program director, Heather Pardee usually makes announcements and is ready to reveal our Educational Field Trip for March. Everyone is on the edge of their seat and it is the happiest I have ever seen the directors. Pardee announces that it is Greece. Everyone rushes up, hugs and screams; this place feels like home. Nothing could have prepared me for the experience I have had, and I still have a few months to go.

beth.gonzales@pepperdine.edu

Beth Gonzales, Abroad Correspondent | The Union Jack flows within the curves of the wind outside of Windsor Castle during a day trip Jan. 28. The trip was originally scheduled for orientation but got moved as the program gave people time to arrive.

Photo Courtesy of Jonathan Louie | Gonzales and her friends soak up the sun in Brighton while they spend a day shopping, exploring and taking a train through the English countryside. The program had day trips to places like Bath, Windsor, Lulworth Cove, the Harry Potter Studios and more.

February 18, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Pepp’s newest summer program flies to Uganda Graeson Claunch Staff Writer Pepperdine will launch a new International Program this summer from June 6 to July 7 in Uganda, expanding on a preexisting faculty-led summer program in Kenya. Dean of International Programs Beth Laux and Ron Cox, associate dean of International Programs assembled the program to cultivate faith and advocacy within Pepperdine. “The purpose of this program is community engagement and experiential learning,” Laux said. “[These] are the methodologies that we’re primarily leaning on.” The unique location of the summer program further deepens the experience and values Pepperdine students gain from studying abroad. The Uganda program focuses on learning and deepening awareness about current issues rather than service, Cox said. “It will not be what we do in Uganda, but what the students come back [with] and are able to do differently here in their own efforts to engage in faith and advocacy,” Cox said. “It’s connected with this notion of humility and having a sense of focusing on being present where we are and receiving, and not coming to the assump-

tion that we can just come in and start doing things.” Similarly to the Made in the Streets Summer Program that Pepperdine runs in Kenya every other summer, students will spend two weeks in Malibu focusing on academics and building community, and then another two weeks will be spent in Uganda. “Our base of operations will be in Kampala, but we will actually be traveling around the country quite a bit, which is really exciting, because Uganda is a very diverse and naturally rich country,” Laux said. There will be three classes offered during the summer program: International Studies 250, Humanities 295 and Religion 301. For students who have previously taken those classes, International Studies 498 and Religion 599 will also be offered. “The whole program is being designed around themes of faith and advocacy, so we’ve got classes that are being developed to help students navigate those topics on an intellectual and practical level,” Laux said. Laux plans to teach International Studies 250, which she said will allow students to think through current issues in the U.S. and abroad. “We’ll be going to Uganda and seeing how other peo-

ple have enacted a plan to affect change and what can we learn from that that could enhance what we’ve talked about in INTS 250,” Laux said. “There’s a direct connection between the experiences we have and the topics we talked about in the classroom.” Religion 301 will provide students with an understanding of the history of Christianity in Uganda. Cox will teach the class on an idea of Kenotic theology — an idea of self-emptying and learning to be present in a different context than usual. Cox said he wants to show his students how the best intentions can lead to harmful consequences if humility and love are not appropriately applied. Applications for the Uganda Summer Program closed on Jan. 31. “We’ve had a lot of interest actually, it really picked up in the last few weeks. We’re very excited,” Laux said. “Applications are coming in pretty fast and furious at this point, and we’re excited to meet with the students and get to know which sectors of Seaver College really resonate with these experiences.” First-year Anna Spivey said she plans to travel to Uganda and participate in the new program this summer. Spivey

Photo courtesy of Charlie Englemann | Pepperdine’s newest summer program will open this summer in Kampala, Uganda. The program emulates the past faculty-led summer program with students spending 12 days in Malibu then 12 days in Uganda learning about the culture and meeting with local leaders. said she first heard about the program because of the INTS 250 class required as a Global Fellow. “I think especially since the program has such a strong mission for global leadership, that’s also played a really strong role in terms of why I chose it over say, the Japan program or the Fiji program, or the Scotland program,” Spivey said. Spivey is an International Business major and said she desires to gain leadership

knowledge and new friendships through the Uganda program. “I think it’ll be really fun to get to go with a group of students that have similar values and similar ambitions that I do, and to be able to bond through that while also getting to hear other people’s ideas and understand why they specifically are passionate about global leadership,” Spivey said.

graeson.claunch@pepperdine.edu

Global Learning Week promotes global citizenry Liza Esquibias Pixel Editor The goal of Global Learning Week is to highlight global citizenry and the interconnectedness of the world, said Greg Muger, director of the International Programs Malibu office. Muger has run GLW for the past eight years and partners IP with student organizations to bring global diversity to campus. Throughout the week of Jan. 24-28, students gathered for a series of events for Pepperdine’s eighth annual GLW. Muger said he hopes GLW gives students long-lasting tools they need to cultivate a deeper cross-cultural understanding of the world. “When you look at the mission of the University, we’re trying to equip people to be influential in the world as Pepperdine graduates,” Muger said. “It’s more than just that one class that you have or that one abroad experience you have — it’s being aware of these global mindedness themes throughout your entire college experience.” Overview of the Week GLW had six events, each with a high turnout and excitement, GLW intern and senior Emma Polidori said. Monday afternoon, Muger said GLW ambassadors tabled on Lower Adamson Plaza, encouraging students to share their cross-cultural experiences at the “Share Your Adventure” video booth. Students who stopped by the table Tuesday could send cards to friends

Denver Patterson, Staff Photographer | Heidelberg ambassador Lauren Whittington sets up mailboxes for students to send letters to their friends abroad. GLW tabled on Lower Adamson Plaza during the week of Jan. 24-28 to promote international education. in overseas programs and D.C., with small mailboxes to place the letters into once they were ready to be sent. The Tuesday evening “Music of the World” event brought in a large crowd, Polidori said. Music from around the world played in Joslyn Plaza and students who guessed the correct country had the chance to win an IP scholarship or a travel backpack. Junior Paige Fontes won a $500 IP scholarship after participating in GLW activities, she said. When she found out she won, Fontes said she was shocked because she did not know that was the raffle she entered. “It had all these maps and flags around with a speaker and they were

playing music,” Fontes said. “I was walking to the Sandbar [Light House], and the guy in that booth was like, ‘Hey do you want to enter to win a backpack?’” As an International Business major with a French minor, Fontes said she chose Pepperdine for the study abroad program in Lausanne. Due to COVID-19, however, she was unable to go, so she will not receive the money. Still, Fontes said she appreciates global engagement events such as GLW to bring her closer to what she came to Pepperdine to learn about. On Wednesday night, IP partnered with Model United Nations for an event called, “Is International Friend-

ship in Crisis?” Sophomore Lainey Fenn, a member of Pepperdine MUN, said she enjoyed listening to panelists discuss arms control, human rights and trade Events like GLW are crucial to bring global issues that normally would not be spoken about on campus, Fenn said. “I think all of these topics are really important, and I also think we’re not getting enough,” Fenn said. “I think that the pandemic is taking center stage and because we’ve been trying to focus on public health wars, there’s a lot of things that have slipped through the cracks.” The week closed out with two Friday events — “Doughnut Forget to Apply,” and “International Trivia Night,” put on in partnership with the Board. On Friday afternoon, IP recreated its Tuesday table on Lower Adamson Plaza, where students were offered doughnuts and filled out cards for friends abroad. The trivia event followed later in the evening, where students gathered in the Light House to play games testing their global knowledge in exchange for small prizes. For those who were unable to attend the events, students were able to post a photo of a cross-cultural experience on Instagram and tag @PepperdineIP for the opportunity to win the IP scholarship or a travel backpack. Student Affairs and the Office of International Student Services also co-sponsored GLW, Muger said.

liza.esquibias@pepperdine.edu

February 18, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Grad. schools establish COVID protocols Samantha Torre Sports Editor At the beginning of the spring 2022 semester, COVID19’s Omicron variant made the future of in-person classes uncertain. Now, as cases decline from the winter peak, Pepperdine’s graduate programs have found a rhythm adjusting to COVID-19 protocols. All five of the University’s schools began instruction in an online format until Jan. 13 when all five schools returned to in-person classes. Pepperdine’s four graduate schools all boast a vaccination rate above 80%, according to Pepperdine’s COVID-19 dashboard. As of Feb. 9, 95.4% of the Pepperdine community across all five schools is vaccinated. “I think as we go forward, now, with each step, we’ve built a protocol,” said Bernice Ledbetter, dean of students at Graziadio Business School. “Beginning of each term, it’s going to get easier because we have a new protocol that we’ve developed. That’s probably the biggest challenge.” Pepperdine’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology did not respond to requests for comment. General Protocol COVID-19 guidelines and requirements are the same across all schools, wrote Pepperdine’s Student Health Center in a Jan. 31 email to the Graphic. Off-campus students who need to quarantine or isolate are doing so at home, regardless of the school they attend, as the University is unable to accommodate off-campus students in addition to residential students. “They [the students] are given quarantine/isolation instructions, guidelines (i.e., duration, how to be cleared) and COVID-19 self-care information,” the SHC wrote.

While the SHC does not service employees, faculty use the on-campus testing sites, according to the SHC email. Caruso School of Law Kim Prince, director of marketing and communications, said Caruso School of Law’s administration follows up with Caruso faculty and students on University COVID-19 updates, after the University publishes new information. “We’re trying to make it a more direct contact for our students, since we are the people that the students are the most familiar with,” Prince said. “And so we want to make sure they know that they can come to us if they need support.” One of the biggest challenges for the law school through the pandemic is maintaining Caruso’s unique sense of community, Prince said. “We were able to stick together and so once we got back on campus, of course we wanted to jump right back into a regular schedule of, we have guests come in from out of town to talk about different topics that they’re experts on,” Prince said. “But we haven’t been able to do that as much and so we’ve had to find creative workarounds.” Many Caruso events are held on the school’s front lawn, and the school has set up extra chairs and tables, Prince said. The school also distributes Pepperdine blankets. “The biggest challenge is getting together in a way that makes people feel safe doing so and the creativity of our events team and our leaders has really been put into play,” Prince said. “Also the student groups who will set up a table out in the courtyard and grab you as you walk by and have a conversation.” A traditional event that Caruso is still in the process of planning, is the annual School of Law Dinner, Prince said.

Samantha Torre | Sports Editor Students at Pepperdine’s Caruso School of Law eat and converse outside on the school’s patio Feb. 10. Kim Prince, Caruso director of marketing and communications, said COVID-19 regulations have prevented the school from feeding students at events indoors, so many clubs and organizations have pivoted to hosting outdoor events. Caruso postponed the event multiple times to ensure the reception could be “as large as possible,” Prince said. “We don’t want this to be a small and intimate thing, because it’s usually a huge celebration,” Prince said. Caruso, Prince said, was the only law school nationally to offer in-person classes in the beginning of the spring semester. “We’re really proud of that,” Prince said. “I think we are able to do that because our community is so good at complying with the regulations.” School of Public Policy The School of Public Policy offered students six online-only courses, wrote Pete Peterson, dean of the School of Public Policy, in a Feb. 7 email to the Graphic. Students were allowed to choose the modality that best suited them, with 40% of students choosing in-person only classes, 17% choosing online-only classes and 43% of students opting for a hybrid style learning. “Several of our second-year students had made various liv-

Samantha Torre | Sports Editor Pepperdine updated its COVID-19 dashboard Feb. 9, showing the newest vaccination data. The vaccination rate for the School of Public Policy has fallen since the beginning of the fall semester, while each of the other schools have seen an increased vaccination rate.

Samantha Torre | Sports Editor Pepperdine’s School of Public Policy offers several modalities for students, wrote Pete Peterson. The model with the most students is hybrid. ing and career arrangements, which made it difficult to return to Malibu for their final year of classes,” Peterson wrote. “We responded by creating a small but diverse subset of classes taught remotely, which at the same time provided students with access to incredible adjunct faculty who also couldn’t come to Malibu to teach.” Graziadio Business School Ledbetter said Graziadio’s part-time MBA program for working adults operates with a hybrid modality, where students attend in-person classes one week and virtual classes the next. “I think that’s going really well and it’s a bit of a pilot test, but we’re really very satisfied with what we’re seeing and I hope that that will be a modality that will transcend this particular time in history,” Ledbetter said. Graziadio began planning the hybrid modality for working students before the pandemic prompted campus closures in March 2020, Ledbetter said. When students returned to in-person classes in fall 2021, the University used the opportunity to test the hybrid model. “We are feeling like this is a little bit easier for folks and is a good transition from having been fully online for instruction

for over a year,” Ledbetter said. “It’s a much more workable way of completing a graduate business degree. And I think it will be something that will help us be more competitive in the marketplace in Southern California.” Ledbetter said while the beginning of the spring semester was difficult due to changing policies, her team adapted to sending tailored messages to each group of students at Graziadio. Programs included fulltime students, part-time students and executive students who take more difficult courses and have business experience. Graziadio is home to four executive programs, Ledbetter said, which operate differently, so nuance and specificity in messaging was of the utmost importance when sending updates. Updates are located on WaveNet community pages and in student’s Pepperdine emails. “We’ve all learned how to be flexible,” Ledbetter said. “That’s just the recurring mantra, which is ‘I’ve learned to be flexible, and to do the best with the information that we have at the time and make a decision and move forward with it.’”

sam.torre@pepperdine.edu

February 18, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

If a professor changed your life,

RAISE

YOUR

Zhike Lei

2021 Recipient, Howard A. White Award for Teaching Excellence Associate Professor of Applied Behavioral Science, Graziadio Business School

Pepperdine University requests your nominations for the Howard A. White Award for Teaching Excellence. Please take a few moments to consider that one very special professor from your Pepperdine days and submit your nomination. More information about the award and an online nomination form can be found at

pepperdine.edu/provost/awards

HOWARD A. WHITE

President (1978–1985) and Professor of History

NOMINATION DEADLINE IS MARCH 31, 2022

VP2112063 Howard White Award 2022 - Graphic Ad-11x17.indd 1

1/14/22 10:10 AM

February 18, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Upper level students choose on or off-campus housing Ashley Mowreader Managing Editor Each year, Pepperdine juniors and seniors decide whether or not to live on or off campus. Rising juniors share their perspectives on living in an apartment in Malibu and students share their housing rates living off campus. Each spring, Pepperdine students make the important choice of where they want to call home for the upcoming academic year. Pepperdine’s Housing and Residence Life applications opened for the 2022-23 academic year Jan. 31. All first and second-year students must live on campus, per Pepperdine’s residency requirement, but rising juniors and seniors must decide between applying for on-campus housing or finding a place of their own. “[Fall 2021] We had so many juniors and seniors saying, ‘I want to live here, I want to live on,’” Director of Housing Operations Robin Gore said. “I don’t know if that’ll be true for this next year, I don’t know if our juniors and seniors will still really want to live on campus — that’s one of our unknown populations always. We just never know what the juniors and seniors are going to do.” Living On Third, fourth-year and transfer students who want to live on campus can choose housing in Seaside Residence Hall, Lovernich Apartments, Drescher Apartments or George Page Apartments, as capacity allows. HRL maxxed out on-campus residency for the 2021-22 school year, prioritizing first its lower-level students who applied in the spring. Students left on the waitlist over the summer were not assured on-campus accommodations — something Pepperdine hasn’t experienced since the construction of Seaside in 2018. Gore said HRL does not anticipate having similar ca-

pacity issues this fall. Housing selection will begin Feb. 17 with interest communities going first, then upperclassmen and underclassmen selection, according to the HRL website. To determine housing costs each spring, Pepperdine uses a variety of benchmarkers, Gore said. Pepperdine utilizes data from the Association for College and University Housing Officers - International, which tracks housing costs annually in its Campus Housing Index, Gore said. “Typically, that average increase is around 3%,” Gore said. “That’s been very consistent over many, many years. So generally speaking, all students across the nation could anticipate about a 3% increase every year on housing rates.” In addition to the national housing costs, Pepperdine looks at area costs, indexing advertised local hotels’ and apartment complexes’ prices, Gore said. With these numbers, HRL presents housing rates to the upper administration each spring. “I really tried to advocate for the students,” Gore said. “We do need to increase rates — that’s known. But we also don’t want to increase rates too high where it becomes uneconomical for students, it forces upperclassmen students to live off campus.” Pepperdine has not disclosed its housing or meal plan rates for the 2023 academic year yet, but plans to do so in the upcoming week, Gore said. Living Off Pepperdine does not facilitate off-campus housing opportunities for students, Gore said. The University does offer some resources on its website regarding off-campus living and negotiated discounted rates at some local hotels. Cost wise, the average monthly rate of renting in Malibu or Calabasas is cheaper than on campus. A January survey of 35 Seaver students and 3 Seaver

Photo courtesy of Lauren Drake | The living room of three Pepperdine students’ condo at the Malibu Villas welcomes them home after a day of classes. Pepperdine students living in Malibu typically live at Malibu Canyon Village, Malibu Gardens or Malibu Villas. alumni found the average semesterly-rate for a shared room off campus is about $4,309 for rent. The most common off-campus accommodations are Malibu Canyon Apartments, Avalon Calabasas Apartments, Malibu Canyon Village (the Stinkies), Malibu Gardens Condominiums, Malibu Villas and Calamigos Ranch, according to survey responses. Calamigos prices rooms from $1,450 for double-occupancy to $2,400 for single-occupancy, but each rate varies based on the house, lease length and occupancy numbers. Each student’s accommodation comes with a fully-furnished room, laundry services as well as access to the resort pool, gym and beach club, according to the Calamigos Living website. Malibu Canyon Apartments and Avalon Apartments offer standard unfurnished units with leasing opportunities for 6, 8, 12 and 24 months, interviewed students said. A two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment at MCAs and Avalon go for about $2,600 to $2,800 a month, according to survey students. The Stinkies, Malibu Gardens and Malibu Villas are independently owned units, meaning each owner sets the rate and leasing agreement, according to student sources. Students reported paying the least at Malibu Gardens of the Malibu locations, at about $3,300 for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit. The Stinkies, among its three types of apartment layouts, averaged $4,100 a unit and Malibu Villas, for three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms, was reported at $3,600 a month. Balancing the Costs

Photo courtesy of Haley Brouwer | The sun shines through a sliding door at the Stinkies. The average student paid $3,600 for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit at the Stinkies, according to a Graphic student survey.

Housing rates are largely incomparable for on versus off-campus accommodations due to the number of factors in each living situation — amenities, home owners’ association fees, utilities and parking costs vary greatly at each location. On campus, Pepperdine

includes costs like internet, electricity, water and heat into housing rates, Gore said. Beyond that, Pepperdine’s rates factor in on-campus facilities like fitness room access, custodial services and easy access to study spaces. One of the benefits of on-campus living, Gore said, is the community aspect. Students in residential housing live with peers and have student HRL leaders, Residential Advisors and Spiritual Life Advisors, which help create community. “There’s a social component that is hard to put a dollar amount on, but it’s very different if you’re living off campus,” Gore said. Gore said she encourages students to live on campus because of the unique experience offered as an undergraduate student. “Of course, I’m an advocate for living on [campus],” Gore said. “So whenever I meet with students, I always tell them you have the rest of your life to be an adult [...] You have four years to be a traditional college student and live in residential housing, so seize the opportunity.” Students Choose Off-Campus Housing Sophomore Natalie Gordon signed a lease with three friends to live off campus at the Stinkies for the 2023 academic year. Gordon said one of the reasons she chose off-campus housing was because there’s less rules. “You can kind of just like, do whatever you want, have people over whenever you want,” Gordon said. “It’s not as supervised, which I kind of appreciate, especially when you’re trying to grow up.” Sophomore Abbie Cooper echoed Gordon’s sentiments. Cooper signed a two-year lease for a condo at Vista Pacifica with five other Pepperdine students and said she’s most looking forward to having less restrictions, owning candles and having a kitchen. Cooper’s Vista Pacifica condo is three bedroom, four bathrooms.

Gordon said her roommates and she lived in Stinkies during remote instruction in 2021, and after a positive first year together, they decided to recreate it for junior year. They’ll be living in a two-bedroom, twoand-a-half bathroom unit. Cooper said she’s excited to live near and with her peers off campus, with several friends also renting condos at VP and others close by in the Stinkies. Cooper also lived off campus her first year, renting a place near Point Dume, and her experience living in Eastern Malibu affected her decision of where to live. “Being up in Point Dume did impact my decision to look closer to campus, just because even whenever you’re not like going to classes, there’s kind of like a Pepperdine community already integrated into the apartments close to campus,” Cooper said. “And so it is kind of like an inconvenient to drive like 15 minutes.” The condos at VP are independently owned and leased, which presented a challenge for Cooper and her roommates to secure the lease, she said, as they had to compete with other groups who wanted it as well. “That was a little nerve-wracking,” Cooper said. “That was kind of my only prospects as far as housing.” Cooper said cost was a factor in her decision, but the high prices near Pepperdine made it uneconomical wherever she chose to live. “Malibu is just so insane with prices that it’s hard to really like, look at, like the amount that you as a group are paying per month and think that it’s actually fair, but then like the same thing on campus and off campus,” Cooper said.

ashley.mowreader@pepperdine.edu

February 18, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Custodians face the pandemic at half capacity Mackenzie Dawson Guest Contributor When the world stopped, the spotlight shined on the people in scrubs. But the workers doing the scrubbing often got swept under the rug. Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the largest number of on-campus residents in the school’s history, Pepperdine’s custodial staff is smaller than ever. They operated throughout the fall semester with roughly half of the pre-COVID staff. At the lowest point, they only had seven in-house custodians. “It’s an extreme shortage,” Chief Operating Officer Phil Phillips said. “We were really struggling.” As Chief Operating Officer, Phillips oversees non-academic operations like IT, transportation and facilities. Almost no one outside of the Department of Facilities Services was aware of the custodians’ labor shortage, but students and faculty alike felt the need for extra hands. Against all odds, one DFS worker said they remained optimistic about their situation at Pepperdine. “At a faith-based institution, our faith is only encouraged to overcome challenges,” Manuel Cervantez said.

Photos by Mackenzie Dawson | Pepperdine’s full custodial staff, including managers and outside-contracted employees, meet at a daily line-up before the workday. Of the 22 pictured, only half are Pepperdine employees, while the 2019 staff had at least 20 without a third party.

Manager’s Declined Comment Attempts to interview Facilities managers and current custodians left most questions unanswered. Custodial Services Manager Hector Virgen-Barajas declined to comment and referred questions to Facilities Services Director Marilyn Koziatek. Koziatek was unable to meet for an interview but wrote in an Oct. 19 email that the custodians were heroic during the pandemic. “We have seen our custodians rise to the challenge and go above and beyond in providing services to our community,” Koziatek wrote. At a custodial daily lineup, Koziatek said any individual conversations with custodians would be off record for the comfortability of the staff. Two custodians backed out of interviews, one because she left the University, and the second because her supervisor did not give her permission to speak to a reporter. Phillips said he did not know of a reason why a manager would deny a request besides protecting their employees. “And thank you very much for thinking of me,” one custodian wrote in an Oct. 14 email. “Almost nobody remembers us.” Supply and Demand The University was successful in resisting layoffs due

(Left) Trash accumulates in Rho parking lot on a Saturday night in fall 2021. In 2019, there was only one trash can, and with fewer custodians and more residents, even the extra trash cans overflowed. (Right) A facilities truck makes the rounds collecting trash from Lower Dorm Road on a Saturday in fall 2021. Custodians had to work over the weekend in the fall semester to keep up with campus needs. to the pandemic, but administrators halted all hiring to conserve money. The University lost a debilitating number of custodians due to resignations or retirements, Phillips said. Once administrators lifted the hiring freeze before fall classes began, however, hiring custodians became a top priority for the administration, Phillips said. They successfully hired and onboarded a handful of custodians, but the in-house custodial team stayed right around 10 people versus the pre-COVID team of nearly 20. Across the country, custodians have been in high demand with very low supply. In the wake of COVID, “custodians had to double their workloads to fill the gaps,” Mark Lieberman wrote in a Sept. 20 Education Week article. September was the lowest point, with only about 50% of the normal crew, Phillips said. Pepperdine contracted with a third-party vendor, FlagShip, several years before the pandemic to do the overnight cleaning of classrooms and administrative buildings, which

remained in place during the shortage. At the worst point, it was only nightly FlagShip custodians who attended to some high-use areas like restrooms, Phillips said. “We had a lot of complaints, and they were legitimate complaints,” Phillips said. Phillips said he had to explain the situation to faculty members who raised concerns about the cleanliness of their spaces since protocols indicated that custodians should have disinfected most common areas at least once a day. “We simply don’t have the manpower to cover the campus,” Phillips said. To meet the demands of the school, Phillips said the managerial team asked other Facilities employees to help empty trash cans around campus. Belief in the Brightside

vantez said. “But that goes to say, the work still gets done.” The starting pay for custodians is between $17 and 18 per hour, Phillips said. But authorizing overtime, ranging from time-and-a-half-pay to double the pay, was a common occurrence. “We could always use more help and more workers,” Cervantez said. When Cervantez was a custodian he said the motto for the team was “Sí, se puede!” meaning, “Yes, we can!” Cervantez said he could reassure his family he was safe and secure at the school and ease their anxieties over COVID because of the leadership of the Pepperdine administration. “The foundation of our University is faith,” Cervantez said. “Faith over fear.”

Darnell House and said she is at high risk for contracting a more severe case of COVID-19 because she has two autoimmune disorders. Wynn said she was prepped for communal living with cleaning supplies and was diligent about disinfecting her living space. “I feel safe because of the measures I’m taking,” Wynn said. “I feel like if I weren’t taking them, I would probably be getting sick.” Wynn said she was glad that so many first-years get to be on campus to have a traditional college experience. However, Wynn also said the administration made a big misstep by admitting more students than they could safely house because with every bed filled, there could be a higher chance of illness spreading campus-wide. Xaree Reyes, a first-year student in Banowsky House, said she heard a general consensus at the beginning of the semester that custodians would clean her suite’s bathroom — showers, floor and counter — and common room at least once a week. “I know the garbage cans always get emptied out, and I can expect that,” Reyes said. “But the rest of it is kind of up in the air.” Reyes said she nearly called the Facilities Department to have the bathroom cleaned after a two or three-week period when custodians did not clean it. When Reyes came home to find custodians cleaning one day, she said she excitedly messaged her suitemates to let them know. Reyes said she just wants to have a consistent schedule in her mind, so she can plan ahead. She also wants to know what custodians preferred from her, whether it be getting out of the way or having a conversation. Students’ residential concerns over the cleanliness of suites, however, stayed out of earshot of the Housing Office. Housing Operations Director Robin Gore said she did not know the custodians were short-staffed at all. “We have not noticed an impact of complaints or issues in our office,” Gore said. In fact, Gore was highly optimistic about the health and safety of Pepperdine’s community. “All things considered, the year has been going really well,” Gore said.

The Residential Repercussions Manuel Cervantez worked as a resident custodian at Pepperdine for two years but transferred to structural services just before the pandemic. “When the pandemic hit, people were worried,” Cer-

Among on-campus residents, communal living presented precarious circumstances in shared spaces. Junior Felicity Wynn is the Spiritual Life Advisor in

mackenzie.dawson@pepperdine.edu

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February 18, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

SGA touts Lyft partnership, revamps for spring semester Kyle McCabe Assistant News Editor Pepperdine’s Student Government Association introduced a partnership with the rideshare app Lyft on Dec. 1. Another transportation-related resolution, establishing the Pepperdine Accessibility Service, passed the same day. The two programs contributed to what SGA President and senior Chase Johnson called a “theme of mobility” in student government last semester. “It’s kind of in that theme of mobility, but also accessibility, which is really important to a lot of students, including myself,” Johnson said. Lyft Ride Smart The SGA Lyft Ride Smart pilot program gives students a Lyft Pass providing a $10 discount on six rides per month. The pass automatically applies when passholders take rides starting or ending at the Malibu campus during hours SGA has set. Executive Vice President and senior Madison Walker introduced the Lyft partnership idea in her campaign last year. “Honestly, I’m not even sure where I first found [the program],” Walker said. “I think I was looking on Harvard or

some large Ivy League school, and I came across something about a Lyft partnership.” Students voiced support for Walker bringing a rideshare discount to Pepperdine, Walker said. She said she even received direct messages on social media from students asking for the program. Walker saw it as an opportunity to make an impact. “I feel like the executive vice president doesn’t have as much of a set role,” Walker said. “Finance obviously doing receipts, [VP of administration] is scheduling everything and then [Chase Johnson] is like, spokesperson. I felt like I could kind of make my position my own.” To launch the partnership, Walker worked with Lyft over the summer. The company gave her one contact to meet with and discuss the program’s details. When SGA members returned to campus the week before New Student Orientation, Walker met with members of the Pepperdine administration. Director of Public Safety Dawn Emrich and Chief Operating Officer Phil Phillips met with Walker and SGA advisor Brittany Skinner. Phillips agreed to match SGA’s contribution to the Lyft program’s budget, meaning the University turned a $15,000 pot into $30,000. “We haven’t even touched

[Philips’] funding yet,” Walker said. “It’s all coming from the SGA budget right now. But if necessary, he was willing to fund it.” Although on-campus residents may be more likely not to have a car and ride in Lyfts around Malibu, off-campus students, like senior Camryn Moss, have used the discount as well. “I wish I had it my freshman year,” Moss said. “I really would have gotten more use out of it, so I definitely think it’s good that they are doing it.” Moss said she used the pass once to take a Lyft from campus to the Malibu Country Mart, and the discount covered the cost of her trip. An SGA email informed Moss about the Lyft Pass, and she said signing up was easy. Moss said she wished that the location was not just restricted to rides started or ending on campus and that the pass offered a larger discount. “If you’re going to, like, actually into LA or something, it’s so expensive,” Moss said. “Yeah, $10 is nice, but I mean, [on] an $80 Uber, $70 is still a lot of money.” Pepperdine Accessibility Service Introduced Lyft helps move students around Malibu, but the acces-

Ella Coates, Staff Photographer | Students drive along Seaver Drive, lined with parked cars. The SGA Lyft partnership helps those without cars get around Malibu and the greater LA area. sibility service resolution aims to help move students around campus. Freshman Class Senator Myers Mentzer wrote a resolution to support the PAS, and SGA passed it Dec. 1, with unanimous approval. The resolution points to the successes of similar programs, like the Disabled Access to Road Transportation program at the University of Southern California, and the shortcoming of the system at Pepperdine. Students with mobility restraints get rides around campus from the Department of Public Safety, and the PAS resolution quoted three students who had poor experiences with the program.

“Basically, [PAS] is designed to create a program for students to drive around on golf carts that are handicap accessible, or to drive in wheelchair accessible vans,” Johnson said. “People who are on our campus […] can use that service to get to class, or to go to an event, or to fully access the campus to a greater extent than they already can.” SGA has not worked out the details of the PAS with the University, but Johnson said he would like SGA to work with the University to fund and implement the service this semester.

kyle.j.mccabe@pepperdine.edu

Organizations launch spring recruitment process Anezka Liskova Staff Writer The new semester is underway and spring recruitment is too. Active members of Greek organizations, businesses and science fraternities said they are excited to welcome new members into their chapters. Spring recruitment is more relaxed in comparison to the fall which is what makes it so easy to get to know everyone on a more personal level, Delta Delta Delta President Olivia James said. “I think spring recruitment is a great opportunity for girls that maybe are a little bit more intimidated or nervous by sorority recruitment to give them a different outlet to maybe join and find their community in a way that’s maybe not so stress inducing or so anxiety driven,” James said. Fraternity and Sorority Life Fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon and sororities Tri Delta and Gamma Phi Beta welcomed new members this spring. During spring recruitment, chapters have the chance to personalize their schedule, instead of following specific rules that fall recruitment entails, said Alex Consentino, vice president of recruitment for Sigma Phi Epsilon. The process varies for each chapter. This is what makes it so relaxed for the people participating, Consentino said. “We are planning on starting our spring rush tentatively the second week of February,” Consentino said. “One of the things that we also have the luxury of having is since we are the only fraternity doing a spring rush this semester,

Photo courtesy of Alexa Neagle | Members of Gamma Phi Beta table on main campus for spring recruitment. Six organizations participated to bring in new members. we will kind of set our rush dates whenever we want to, so that kind of gives us more options in terms of scheduling.” Tri Delta sent out invitations Jan. 23, to the girls who have shown interest in the organization beforehand, James said. “When we send invitations out to the girls, we encourage them to come to at least one of those events, and we welcome them to come to all of them if they can, but if their schedule doesn’t permit, they can at least attend one,” James said. Gamma Phi Beta has participated in spring recruitment for many years, which is why they think it is their “strong suit,” said Alexa Neagle, membership vice president for Gamma Phi Beta. “Ours is an open invitation,” Neagle

said. “For us, we let anyone come and you know, there’s no pressure. It’s just fun.” For some chapters, this is their first time participating in spring recruitment in many years. On the other hand, some have been participating in it consecutively. Tri Delta brought spring recruitment back since this year has been so unprecedented and said they want to give every girl a chance. Business and Science Fraternities Not only are Fraternity and Sorority Life organizations participating in spring recruitment but business fraternities, DSP Rho Upsilon and Alpha Kappa Psi, and natural science fraternity, Beta Psi Omega, are too. They want to give everyone a chance to rush

an opportunity, said Lauren Liu, Beta Phi Omega president. “We do it just so that more people could have an opportunity to do it,” Liu said. “Like if for some reason, they weren’t able to rush in the fall, or if they did rush in the fall, and they weren’t able to get in. We just want to give them another chance.” In contrast to Greek organizations, these fraternities’ spring recruitment does not differ from the fall recruitment process as much. “Not many differences,” DSP President Vincy Chiou said. “It’s overall the same thing. We have the same events. It’s just like a second opportunity.” Many said they look forward to the opportunity of spring recruitment, like first-year spring admit Jayden Hanson who is rushing DSP. Because DSP and Alpha Kappa Psi are both professional fraternities, Hanson had to choose between them. “I was very eager to embrace myself in the Pepperdine community,” Hanson said. Hanson said he wanted to put himself out there and reach his main goal of joining this fraternity where he could network. “They’ll want to see your character, they’ll want to get to know you,” Hanson said. “So that’s why there’s a high emphasis on networking. So you pretty much want to talk to almost every single brother in the room and make a good impression and have them remember you.”

anezka.liskova@pepperdine.edu

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February 18, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Legacy admits share their stories Every year, Pepperdine admits approximately 4,000 students to Seaver College — but for about 200 students, Pepperdine was already part of their family history. Roughly 5% of Seaver College admits each year are “legacy admits,” or students with alumni family members, Director of Admissions Ashley Nguyen wrote in a Feb. 4 email to the Graphic. This number is significantly less than other colleges, such as Harvard University, where legacy admits make up 31.3% of the Class of 2024, and Santa Clara University’s Class of 2024, where out of 1,474 first-year students, 259 — or 18% — are legacies. Those with familial ties to the University, such as junior Garrett Le said their memories of Pepperdine began long before they started college. “There’s such a community aspect of Pepperdine, and it really does make you feel at home,” Garrett Le said. “Growing up with students always all around me, I always felt [...] like family in so many different ways. I wanted to continue that, I wanted to be a part of that and I wanted to share it, and it’s my own way of bringing people into my family.” Admission Process

MISSION STATEMENT

All Pepperdine applicants use the Common App, and there is a box legacy students can check in that process, Nyugen wrote. There is no preferential consideration of legacies, Nyugen wrote, but the number of legacy admits at Seaver College remains around 200 annually. “We value family connections to Pepperdine,” Nyugen wrote. “Legacy is not a golden ticket for admission, but we do believe students with family connection to Pepperdine are familiar with the traditions and the unique community we have.” Pepperdine’s Office of Institutional Effectiveness releases an annual report ranking admissions considerations. The 2020-21 documents show some of the most important factors are character, GPA, application essay and religious

commitment. Alumni relation is considered but not important. Some legacy students said their family members played a major role in their decision to attend Pepperdine. Still, junior Jacob Moonen said he wanted to earn acceptance on his own merit, so he limited mention that the majority of his maternal family attended the University. “There was one [question], ‘What drew you to Pepperdine?’” Moonen said. “I think I mentioned that my family had gone here, but I definitely never reached out to Alumni Affairs.” The Office of Alumni Affairs welcomes potential legacy admits, and, at times, are given more in-depth campus tours, wrote Avesta Carrara, Alumni Relations office manager, in a Jan. 31 email to the Graphic. Still, all applicants must meet the same academic and personal standards — such standardized test scores and GPA criteria. “When the Office of Admissions is considering all student-applicants they are really looking for all students to be well-rounded with multiple interests (sports, music, church, community and the like), in addition to good grades, faith-oriented and one that will have a nice understanding and acceptance of the University mission,” Carrara wrote. Being a Legacy and Creating a Legacy Legacy students bring a sense of warmth and familiarity to campus, further cultivating the community Pepperdine prides itself on, Carrara wrote. “We hope the next generation’s experience will mimic the previous generations’ connection, heart and love for this place,” Carrara wrote. Moonen said his maternal grandfather, Bill Henegar, worked at Pepperdine for 34 years as vice president of Public Affairs and contributed to the development of Heroes Garden. His mother, along with most of his uncles, aunts, great-uncles and cousins, attended too. Although he grew up in a Pepperdine family, Moonen said he would have ended up

Photo courtesy of Garrett Le | The Le family gathers on the hill above Drescher Graduate Campus during sunset. Junior Garrett Le said every member of his immediate family attended Pepperdine, and he felt proud to carry on that legacy when he received admission to the University.

Orange and blue are our family colors. I believe in what we do, who we are and there are few things in my life that I love more than Pepperdine. Hung Le University Registrar at Pepperdine no matter what due to his commitment to his faith and love for the location. “It was the only college I ever visited and was familiar with, and so knew it would be on my radar my whole life,” Moonen said. “But during junior year of high school when it came to actually starting to apply and look into things, I definitely felt like I had options — I didn’t feel any pressure or anything to go here — things just fell into place here.” As much as he said he loves exchanging stories of student

life at Pepperdine with his family, Moonen said it is also important not to live in the shadow of those who preceded him. “I feel like I’ve plugged myself into different areas than they did,” Moonen said. “And, obviously, the world’s a lot different than it was 25 years ago when my mom was here, so I definitely feel like I’m carving out my own experience.” Hung Le is a Seaver College alumnus (‘87) who has worked at Pepperdine since 1990 and moved onto Pepperdine’s campus in 1993. Hung Le is now the University registrar. “Orange and blue are our family colors,” Hung Le said. “I believe in what we do, who we are and there are few things in my life that I love more than Pepperdine.” Hung Le met his wife, Corrine, at Pepperdine and they got married on campus. All four of their sons grew up in on-campus faculty housing, and Hung Le said he always shared the ways in which the University furthered his personal, spiritual and professional growth with his family. “I see the incredible growth that my wife and I got to experience here,” Hung Le said. “And then, having been here for so long, I’ve been able to experience that growth alongside our students. I see what a powerful impact that is. So, naturally, I wanted our children to have that experience.” Garrett Le, the youngest of the Le family, said seeing his father’s passion for Pepperdine

“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.”

and growing up on campus made him want to continue the legacy from a young age. “I did only apply to Pepperdine,” Garrett Le said. “It was early action, so I knew that even if I didn’t get in, I could apply to other places after that, but I had my heart set on Pepperdine. When you grow up in a family like mine, you realize all those good things Pepperdine has to offer.” His whole life, Garrett Le said he attended the University Church of Christ, which drew him to Pepperdine even more. He said he also wanted an experience that resembled that of his parents, which he always heard stories about throughout his upbringing. Hung Le said the beauty of legacy students is the memories they keep alive and the stories they retell. Pepperdine, Hung Le said, feels like a big family because of the family that returns generation after generation. “We get to share these experiences that we lived through,” Hung Le said. “And they’re not just stories, they are real life experiences. I hope that inspires them [legacies] to make good life experiences to add to the fabric and to the story of Pepperdine.”

liza.esquibias@pepperdine.edu

Email: peppgraphicmedia@gmail.com

Liza Esquibias Pixel Editor

peppgraphicadvertising@gmail.com Phone: (310) 506-4311 Address: Student Publications Pepperdine University 24255 Pacific Coast Hwy. Malibu, CA 90263

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The Graphic

pepperd in e-gr ap h ic .c om

PERSPECTIVES

TikTok’s ‘For You’ page may not be the best for you Joshua Evans Staff Writer

Frazier claimed she reviewed some TikTok videos that contained “extreme and graphic violence” and that content gave her “significant psychologikTok accounts are not as harmless as they ical trauma.” seem; they may be negatively impacting your TikTok videos receive less moderation in some mental health. A company insider leaked languages and countries, and filtering on the platinformation about how the TikTok algorithm works form is becoming increasingly automated. Some after the individual was concerned about the algoself-harm and extremist content slips through rithm’s push toward triggering content that potentially computer filters, and with more time spent on Tikleads users to engage in self-harming behaviors. Tok, a user is more likely to encounter unmoderated The documents the TikTok employee sent to The content. New York Times reveal a key focus of the algorithm This unfiltered material can vary from videos with — how much time a viewer spends looking at a video. nudity to ones that advocate for self-harm behavDoes the user repeat the video, pause or skip through iors like cutting, suicide, bulimia and other eating it? disorder behaviors. Research shows people who The algorithm will monitor a TikTok user’s bespend increased time on social media are more havior to see which types of videos elicit emotional at risk for negative mental health impacts such reactions to encourage the user to remain longer on as negative body image, eating disorders and the platform. depression. Similarly, a recent Wall Street Journal exResearch linking increased time spent by adperiment — in which they created 100 new olescents on social media sites such as Facebook TikTok bot accounts — found those acand Instagram to body dissatisfaction and eating counts quickly rabbit holed into more niche, disorders in adolescents and young women has made emotionally extreme content. Going into the people question how safe young people are on this quagmire of the TikTok algorithm can expose poorly monitored platform. a user to politically and psychologically unhinged In response to these concerns, TikTok has launched content like self-harm videos and people discussing a mental health support guide and eating disorder far right or far left conspiracy theories as if resources on its app in response to concerns they are true. Carson Vandermade, Staff Artist | While mindlessly scrolling through about self-harm, disordered eating and body This disturbing content is dangerous TikTok, the mind becomes a rabbit hole. Mind-numbing apps keep the dysmorphia which might be triggered by TikTok because it presents emotionally triggering ma- user there for hours while contributing minimal value to the viewers life. content. terial and misinformation that users are better A substantial proportion of TikTokers are viewer, but it will also add in types of content a user off not seeing. young and vulnerable — 33% of users in the United might not independently select or self-seek out. This TikTok “For You” material was less likely to States are 19 years of age or younger. Research also TikTok itself claims it selects those videos based on be moderated according to The Wall Street Journal. shows TikTok-use is associated with neuroticism. factors such as users’ geographic locations, preferred It was also much more emotionally intense than the This research begs the question: Do people arrive languages and previous comments, likes and video videos the bots first self-selected. to TikTok neurotic or is their neuroticism a result TikTok admitted only 1% of the content it removes interests. of exposure to triggering content on the platform? However, Wall Street Journal researchers discovis for disinformation, dangerous individuals and The Wall Street Journal’s bot accounts did not start organizations, hate speech or inauthentic content. The ered TikTok appears to present extreme content to off with interests in self-harm or political conspiracy increase time spent on videos. other 99% of removed content was removed for other theories, but within a few hours of use, received videos TikTok previously claimed it was reviewing many issues like nudity and other TikTok priorities. with those types of themes. of its videos to ensure they followed the platform’s The company directed moderators to filter out If users do decide to remain on TikTok, they rules, but as the popularity of the app grew, the numtypes of videos featuring “ugly, poor or disabled usshould use the option on the FYP where a person can ber of human moderators did not keep pace with the ers.” The Guardian reports TikTok instructs moderaput a hold on disturbing videos by selecting “Not Inincreased proliferation of content. TikTok also recenttors remove videos for “abnormal body shape,” “ugly terested.” This option gives users a way to curate their ly announced computer software will monitor more facial looks or facial deformities” or shooting environfeed and have more say in what content they continue of its United States content as opposed to human ments looking “shabby and dilapidated.” to see. moderators. Tendencies to keep content which looks physically It is worth critically examining what is landing in Computer programs cannot do an adequate job attractive but features conspiracy theories and other your “For You” recommendations and considering of moderating the complexities of what gets posted. forms of disinformation, combined with the algothat some content was never intended to be menSome of the content is so disgusting even human rithm’s push to show users emotionally intense videos tally healthy for you. Considering the dangers of the moderators are quitting because they do not want from beautiful looking people, creates a perfect storm streaming of extreme content, users should consider further exposure to it. of potentially emotionally toxic but visually appealing getting off the app entirely. Former TikTok moderator Candie Frazier recently content.

The “For You” section will suggest some videos that are in line with those previously watched by the

announced she was suing for damages because viewing TikTok content allegedly gave her PTSD.

josh.evans@pepperdine.edu

AN INSIDE LOOK Managing Editor Ashley Mowreader Executive Editor Rowan Toke Digital Editor Karl Winter Copy Chief Whitney Bussell Video Producer Christina Buravtsova Creative Director Ali Levens Advertising Director Sahej Bhasin Head Podcast Producer Anitiz Muonagolu Pixel Editor Liza Esquibias Photo Editor Lucian Himes Art Editor Samantha Miller News Editor Abby Wilt Life & Arts Editor Lydia duPerier Sports Editor Samantha Torre Perspectives Editor Sarah Best Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Editors

Anitiz Muonagolu Emily Shaw News Assistant Editor Kyle McCabe News Assistants Graeson Claunch Brielle Yauney News Staff Writers William Bacon Anezka Liskova Abroad Correspondents Chloe Chan Beth Gonzales News Guest Contributor Sierra Moses Perspectives Assistant Editor Emily Chase Perspectives Staff Writers Halle Bowe Joshua Evans Emma Ibarra Life & Arts Assistant Editor Addison Whiten Life & Arts Assistant Meghan Young Life & Arts Staff Writers Tim Gay Audrey Geib Hope Lockwood Jackie Lopez Sawa Yamakawa Assistant Sports Editor

Jerry Jiang Sports Staff Writers Justin Choi Joseph Heinemann Austin LeDe’ Alec Matulka Copy Editors Téa Fortune Yamillah Hurtado Assistant Photo Editors Ryan Bough Samantha Wuensche Staff Photographers Ella Coates Mary Elisabeth Audrey Hartono Denver Patterson Brandon Rubsamen Gabrielle Salgado Art Assistant Editor Vivian Hsia Staff Artists Autumn Hardwick Ariana Henry Mary Karapetyan HeeJoo Roh Carson Vandermade Design Assistants Kaitlyn Davis Landry Hendrick Haley Hoidal Hannah Lee

Emilia Lekhter Zoe Macarewa Meredith Nover Ece Yagci Podcast Producers Joe Allgood Celine Foreman Kyle McCabe Karl Winter Podcast Production Assistants Zack Born Halle Bowe GNews Crew Joe Allgood Rianna Dizon Hunter Dunn Alex Payne Gabrielle Salgado Amari Venzor Senior Edition Editor Bryant Loney Advertising Assistant Carly Long Assistant Pixel Editor Sofia Longo Social Media Assistant Chloe Chung Rianna Dizon Christian Parham Rianna Smith Meg Taylor

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

February 18, 2022 | PERSPECTIVES | Pepperdine Graphic Media

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Let the students have their say Sarah Best Perspectives Editor

atch the Graphic publish a story of marginalized groups on campus who raise concerns about diversity at Pepperdine — and leave it up to a select few alumni from decades ago or parents of current students, to comment and paint Pepperdine as being a “great school” and suggest that students “stop complaining.” During the University’s relocation from Los Angeles to Malibu in 1972, Ronald Reagan’s role as then-governor of California had an influential role in Pepperdine’s conservative values. A study from the Pew Research Center found that nearly 80% of conservatives believe in God “with absolute certainty.” It is no wonder that a University founded on traditional Christian values would inherently lean more conservative in its views as well. However, the University’s student population has since become increasingly become more progressive in its views as the students have diversified. As of fall 2021, Pepperdine’s population is comprised of 43% white students, according to the University’s Office of Institutional Effectiveness. Pepperdine’s history as a predominantly white institution often inherently accompanies pushback from those who don’t see lack of diversity or inclusion on campus as an issue. The Graphic routinely publishes its articles to various social media platforms and the demographic that each site reaches, particularly gauged by the comment section, varies greatly. Instagram and Twitter tend to attract a younger audience of students and more recently graduated alumni. As of Jan. 17, 62% of the Graphic’s Instagram audience were in the age range of 18-24, according to Graphic Instagram analytics. Facebook, however, has become the breeding ground for both conservative parents of students and select alumni from decades past to invalidate the legitimate concerns of marginalized groups. The largest percentage of people reached through the Graphic’s Facebook — 23% of users — were in the age range of 25-34. The second and third largest percentages — each being 12% of users — were within the 35 to 44 and 45 to 54 year age range according to Graphic Facebook analytics. Statistics confirm that it is no mystery that Facebook tends to attract an older, and inherently more critical, generation of engagement. A published article advocating for universal healthcare is met with comments that claim universal healthcare is asking for the government to control your life. Calls to administration for more inclusivity are met with comments calling students “crybabies” and “whiners.” Asking for racial peace between POC communities is met with accusatory comments of having a “victim mentality.” Despite on-campus cases reaching nearly 800, Pepperdine’s compliance with LA County COVID policies is met with stern warnings that the University not go remote while others go as far to suggest that the University stands up to the health department. It’s easy to advocate for a non-remote learning experience when one’s life is not at all affected by University decisions. The lack of bearing that Pepperdine COVID protocols have on the lives of these commenters implies inherent neglect to the health and safety of students and faculty who ultimately are most afflicted by Pepperdine’s choices. The privileged tone of other commenters implies a complete and utter disregard of empathy for marginalized communities, accompanied by ignorance to the Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) perspective and experience. It’s a story as old as time where older, white, conservatives don’t see diversity and inclusion as necessary in any institution. These are the same people who are fighting the implemen-

Vivian Hsia, Assistant Art Editor | People advocate for marginalized groups as a stop sign is held in front of them. Past Graphic coverage has been met with opinionated comments from alumni or parents of current students. tation of critical race theory in schools. Though these comments represent a relatively small group of bothered individuals, the ratio of positive comments, or any comments at all, pale in comparison to the negative comments that speak volumes to the character and moral integrity of those commenting such obscenities on the page of a college newspaper. There are far more productive activities to part take in, rather than waiting for the Graphic to publish a story that warrants the posting of an insensitive comment. By contrast, the same stories posted to the Graphic’s Instagram, the platform with a predominantly younger audience are met with generally positive comments. The same article about universal healthcare posted to Instagram is met with supportive comments from friends of the individual featured in the piece. The same article advocating for racial peace between POC communities posted to Instagram has praised the relevance of the topic. Students calling upon their institution to look inward at its lack of diversity are typically met with qualms from those who see diversity as threatening. White conservatives in the depths of Facebook comments who do not attend Pepperdine have no right to discredit students who raise valid concerns about their sense of belonging on campus. Pepperdine may be a Christian university with traditional values, but traditional values should not result in exclusion, racism and ignorance. Dubbing students as “crybabies” who call on the University to do more for more students of color, LGBTQ+ students and other marginalized groups is invalidating, insulting and reeks of white nationalism. The dynamic of Pepperdine does not have to strictly adhere to its notorious demographic of white, conservative, Christians that it once did. In a rapidly progressing and accepting world, the University should maintain its core values and principles while still showing up and doing more for marginalized students on campus. Though being a student at Pepperdine 30 years ago may have been different, the students who attend currently don’t owe alumni and parents anything when calling for institutional change. Institutions and organizations should not remain stagnant in their beliefs and should consider accommodating to a plethora of marginalized groups as the standard — not an option. The defense of, “Pepperdine is a great school,” comes alongside comments instructing students to, “Stop complaining.” No one is denying that Pepperdine is a great school, but it is by no means immune from criticism and valid calls to action from its student population. Students pay thousands of dollars to attend a high-ranking, accredited university and should be able to point out its faults and ask the University to do better. It is the freedom of speech that allows senseless comments on Facebook to remain beneath Graph-

Screenshots by Sarah Best | Commenters on the Graphic Facebook page share disparaging opinions on various stories. Best wrote such comments are unneccesary. ic stories, but it is also the freedom of speech that allows the publication of articles calling for diversity. Adults who enjoy calling college students “crybabies” should consider returning to fundamental education that if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say it all. If the supposed “alumni” who dwell in the Graphic’s Facebook comments actually went to Pepperdine, then the University clearly didn’t do a good job of instilling purpose and service if some alumni think it’s okay to invalidate and belittle marginalized groups. “Pepperdine is a Christian university committed to the highest standards of academic excellence and Christian values where students are strengthened for lives of purpose, service and leadership,” according to the University Mission Statement.

sarah.best@pepperdine.edu

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February 18, 2022 | PERSPECTIVES | Pepperdine Graphic Media

The world is your (limited) oyster I

Emma Ibarra Staff Writer

f you ask Pepperdine students what drew them to the school, many will say the location and view. That’s a no-brainer — considering it’s ranked as one of the most beautiful schools in the U.S. But ask them what else inspired them to apply? Many will praise the school’s renowned study abroad programs, which 67% of Pepperdine sophomores participate in. Studying abroad is fantastic and students are incredibly lucky to have access to the programs available. However, the selections available to students offer little variety. Pepperdine hosts six study abroad programs during the academic year, and of those six, four are in Europe. Students with interests in non-Western study abroad locations are left with a single program in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As for those who don’t want to stray far from home, Pepperdine offers one domestic program in Washington, D.C. — though the program is more specifically oriented to fit those interested in pursuing politics. The world is your oyster; but if you’re a Pepp student, that oyster only spans so far. Despite lacking variety in their programs, the International Programs department has managed to keep students engaged and focus on them individually. In fact, about 80% of Seaver students end up participating in IP during their time at Pepperdine. Pepperdine’s International Programs allow students the chance to explore new places under the care of staff and faculty who know each region well. The IP department works diligently to curate intimate learning experiences for students, while living like locals. Time after time, the University has

Samantha Miller, Art Editor | An oyster with an Earth-pearl sits with caution tape. Ibarra wrote Pepperdine’s abroad programs are too limited for a holistic experience. expressed valuing quality over quantity, with small-class sizes to match. After all, the tight-knit nature of IP is part of what keeps students staying involved abroad. Though Pepperdine has high IP involvement, one can’t help but wonder why students are limited to exploring only specific corners of the world? Considering the IP department’s favoritism for its European campuses, students who are not enrolled in French, German or Italian classes are left with few choices for expanding their worldview. Considering the closure of Pepperdine’s Shanghai campus during the pandemic, many students were left wondering if a replacement would be found. Beth Laux, dean of International Programs wrote in an email concerning Pepperdine’s progression in establishing campuses in non-European countries. “The University is highly committed to establishing a new campus in Asia. IP continues to work with University leadership to evaluate options,” Laux said. Currently, the greatest obstacle to campus expansion is the pandemic. International travel is still restricted in many locations. This prevents us from engaging directly with possible host communities. As pandemic restrictions

lift, the University will be able to move forward more expeditiously in establishing another campus abroad. “Our hope is to develop an inclusive process that integrates a range of factors and stakeholders including, but not limited to, academic opportunities, cultural engagement, service and internship options, location, health and safety conditions, and much more,” Laux said. Students can study Spanish, and in turn go abroad to Buenos Aires, Argentina. But Spanish, like all languages, has regional-specific dialects. The way a population speaks Spanish in Central America will greatly differ from Spanish spoken in South America; the same way American English is different from British English. Argentina is not an all-encompassing country that absorbs regional differences from its neighboring countries. Countries influence one another, but each is unique in their own ways. For example, 70% of the Argentine population are of Italian descent, which has caused for Argentine Spanish — Rioplatense Spanish — to sound more like Italian than Castilian Spanish. Pepperdine gives students few choices in what they can pursue academically

while abroad during the academic year. Despite language offering courses for Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese and Spanish, only four of these languages are viable for Seaver students’ study abroad programs. Variety is key to establishing a diverse environment reflective of worldly ideas, and frankly, Pepperdine is lacking. Loyola Marymount University, a private Catholic university in LA, partners with larger programs at larger universities and offers students over 60 study abroad programs. Of these, LMU offers three domestic programs, allowing students the option to study away from home without crossing over any oceans. Separately, there are options available throughout North American countries like Canada and Mexico. LMU allows students to explore different cultures, many of which are non-European, and thus more worldly when set side-by-side with Pepperdine’s meek offerings. Granted, LMU has a slightly larger undergraduate population at over 6,673 students compared to Pepperdine’s community of 3,708. Regardless, the two private religious universities are more similar than they are different. However, these similarities end at their international program departments and the types of curriculum offered to those abroad. In order for Pepperdine to expand its IP department, the school should work with neighboring schools, like Cal Lutheran and LMU, to join forces and expand their options. However, if the University plans on maintaining exclusivity, they should plan to open another campus outside of Europe. Though Pepperdine has promised new opportunities for students to study in the Asia-Pacific, there has yet to be any public notice that they are anywhere close to establishing a new program in the East. Once allowed the opportunity of enlightenment, Waves will be making waves worldwide.

emma.ibarra@pepperdine.edu

Petty Perspective: The true power of a potato

AJ Muonagolu Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Editor

aked, fried, breakfast or dinner. There is only one food that has so much range — or should I say starch. The potato is the most versatile vegetable and is the only vegetable that can singlehandedly produce a multitude of meals. A potato can be eaten at any point in the day. At breakfast, one can serve potatoes as breakfast hash, which is a dish comprised of hash browns mixed with your choice of scrambled eggs, onions and more. You can even make breakfast hash with roasted potatoes and add cheddar cheese to have a completely different texture — the same dish made with two different forms of potatoes. And if you just want pure potato, someone can eat hash browns and roasted potatoes on their own — of course, don’t forget to add some salt, freshly ground black pepper and definitely some garlic. There is also the potato pancake — just like a regular pancake cooked on a skillet, except with

pressed potatoes and some onion. Mix that in a bowl with all-purpose flour and add some vegetable oil for frying and you can have another delicious breakfast comprised of potatoes. Not a pancake fan? How about a potato omelette or even potato waffles — the sky is the limit on how to customize a potato into a breakfast routine. Now, what about lunch and dinner? Well, there is always the classic baked potato and if someone is really hungry, a loaded baked potato will quench anyone’s hunger. A baked potato loaded with bacon bits, sour cream, diced bell peppers and covered in cheddar cheese — no one can say that isn’t a mouth-watering meal. Not a big baked potato fan? What about tacos? Potato tacos paired with your choice of meat, melted cheese and a dash of lime is a dream come true. There is also potato salad, potato casserole and potato soup and don’t even think I would forget about mashed potatoes and gravy — whether brown or white gravy is up to debate though. Not really in the mood to eat and just want a snack? Potatoes invented snacking with the classic potato chip. Or take a drive and grab some french fries — InN-Out fries do not count. Feeling like some dessert? Take a bite of some potato pie. I think the point has made its way across. There

Ariana Henry, Staff Artist | An illustration details the many forms potatoes can take. Muonagolu argues potatoes are the best food because of the diversity of presentations for any time of day. is not a single food giving the range that a potato has. It’s versatile, it’s easy to make, and it’s always delicious. I guess someone could say that the potato is a spectacular spud.

aj.muonagolu@pepperdine.edu

February 18, 2022 | PERSPECTIVES | Pepperdine Graphic Media

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Ali Levens, Creative Director | The rainbow infinity sign symbolizes the diversity in the neurodivergent and autistic communities, according to The Nova Scotia Advocate. Staff Writer Joshua Evans argues that neurodivergent people are not abnormal, but special in their own ways.

Embrace neurodiversity as God’s creation Joshua Evans Staff Writer

iversity is a discussion in and outside the classroom. Topics such as racial diversity, cultural diversity and linguistic diversity are all popular topics, but a subject less talked about is how neurodiversity affects students at Pepperdine. Neurodiversity is the concept that the human brain has normal variations and not all minds are the same. These differences are natural parts of human diversity and should be appreciated as such. Sociologist Judy Singer — who is herself autistic — coined the term neurodiversity in the late ‘90s because she was dismayed at how the pathology paradigm misrepresented autism. The pathology paradigm defines some minds as “normal” and others as mentally disordered and flawed. Seeking to embrace these differences in human experiences, Singer and other activists started a movement to directly challenge the notion that brain diversity neurotypes like autism, dyslexia and ADHD were inferior. All forms of the human brain have advantages and disadvantages. These advantages and disadvantages are the result of human evolution. They are natural adaptive outgrowths of the environments our ancestors navigated to survive. When describing certain variations in neurotypes, the word disorder frequently follows them. This inherently creates stigma, and shows a lack of respect for human diversity. Pathologizing certain people’s neurotypes because they are more challenged in aspects of the contemporary world is ableism. Ableism is prejudice and discrimination against people and groups with disabilities or individuals and groups who are perceived as disabled. It usually involves seeing those people and groups as inferior to the norm and the non-disabled. Some types of disabilities mainstream culture frames as such because of the way society is set up to favor certain types of people and groups over others. If schools offered unlimited testing time people could read and answer questions at their own processing speeds and less people would be labeled as learning-disabled for not answering questions fast enough. A child who has high energy, feels more comfortable learning while moving and thrives in less structured environments might not be well-suited to sit in a classroom chair for hours. That kid might get out of their seat frequently, be labeled as impulsive by teachers and be diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). People labeled with ADHD are frequently creative and have high energy levels. In places where creativity, speed and noticing environmental chang-

es quickly and reacting accordingly is an evolutionary advantage, this neurotype naturally thrives. Examples of well-known celebrities who have publicly disclosed their ADHD diagnosis are: Athletes Simone Biles and Michael Phelps, musical artists Adam Levine and Justin Timberlake and actor Woody Harrelson. Phelps’ mom credited his ADHD with making him a better athlete. Similarly, autistic people find their neurotype framed as a disorder despite some people seeing autism as a potential strength in its enhancement of divergent thinking. Many successful scientists, computer programmers, actors and filmmakers have this neurotype which enhances out-of-the-box thinking. Leaders of technology industries, like Elon Musk, are also among those who identify as being on the autistic spectrum. Dyslexia is also pathologized in traditional psychology despite that neurotype being correlated with highly creative thinkers and artistic gifts. Dyslexics have more difficulty learning to read and, even in adulthood, reading written texts often takes

‘‘

However, the career success of many neurodivergent people should not supersede the prior struggles many of these same people encountered navigating a school system which was not ideally built for their neurotypes. Issues like not having enough testing time because their brain processes differently than neurotypical expectations is a common issue for neurodivergent people. Joshua Evans Staff Writer

dyslexic people more time because they tend to be careful readers. Yet along with a less hurried reading pattern dyslexia often comes with a passion for working with words, images and metaphors. Some famous writers are dyslexic. Dyscalculia — dyslexia’s lesser known sibling which affects an individual’s ability to work with numbers and arithmetic — links with creativity, bet-

ter problem-solving skills and exceptional linguistic tendencies. However, the career success of many neurodivergent people should not supersede the prior struggles many of these same people encountered navigating a school system which was not ideally built for their neurotypes. Issues like not having enough testing time because their brain processes differently than neurotypical expectations is a common issue for neurodivergent people. The Office of Student Accessibility organizes accommodations like extra testing time for students with psychological documentation of some types of neurodivergence. But not all Pepperdine neurodivergent students received formal psychological assessment before arriving at the University. Staff at OSA are available to give guidance to neurodivergent students who already realize their cognitive diversity and to those in the process of learning they may be neurodivergent. “Our neurodivergent students add depth and creative approaches to everything they do,” wrote Sandra Harrison, executive director of Pepperdine’s OSA in a Feb. 2 email to the Graphic. “Our classrooms are better with their presence.” To increase opportunities for neurodiverse students to meet and share their lived experiences with one another outside of classes Pepperdine students created the Neurodiversity Student Association. “We hope this association will give those who are neurodiverse a caring community, help create friendships and a place of belonging,” said first-year Joshua Pitney, co-president of the Neurodiversity Student Association. Pitney also quoted Galatians 3:28 and stressed the intersectionality of this new student organization and that all are welcome in this inclusive student group including allies. “Hopefully this organization will help neurodiverse people realize they are not alone, and they all belong in the world,” Pitney said. The Pepperdine Neurodiversity Student Association is an inclusive supportive space for neurodivergent discussion, support, advocacy, fellowship and friendship. The club meets every Sunday night on Zoom at 7:30 p.m. “We are all equal as creations of God,” Pitney said. Neurodiversity is part of God’s creative process. Society should stop pathologizing those who think differently and appreciate all kinds of minds as a blessing. Choosing accessibility means choosing inclusion and supporting those people who have been marginalized by society. It means choosing to love God’s creation because of its differences, not in spite of them. Hope Lockwood contributed to this writing of the piece.

josh.evans@pepperdine.edu

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February 18, 2022 | PERSPECTIVES | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Athletic performance does not diminish assault Ali Levens Creative Director

Zack Born Assistant Podcast Producer

ith Super Bowl LVI occuring Feb. 13, the idolization of NFL superstars continues past the game. Although many players show great success stories, many have serious allegations or charges against them for sexual or domestic violence. Instead of rewarding these players with million-dollar contracts, the NFL and their fans should hold them accountable for their crimes off the field. It should not be, “believe the victim until the assaulter contributes to your team’s success.” A severe problem with the NFL is that fans judge players based on their in-game performances, not by their off-the-field actions. If a player is talented enough, he can commit an atrocious act of physical violence, receive a few games of suspension and then return to his team and continue being “great.” The Super Bowl matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals featured two star-studded teams. Even in this show on the big stage, there are players on each team who should not have played and fans should not support because of past allegations. Rams tight end Tyler Higbee pleaded guilty to “assault under extreme emotional disturbance” in 2017 for an incident that occurred in 2016. Witness accounts reported Higbee allegedly yelled racial slurs while beating his victim, according to Bleacher Report. The judge ordered Higbee to pay the victim “an undisclosed amount” and assigned Higbee 250 hours of community service, according to ESPN. The Rams drafted Higbee with the 11th pick in the fourth round, just over one week after his assault took place, according to NFL. Even in ESPN’s article, the second paragraph identifies the man who had just pleaded guilty to assaulting someone as “the former Western Kentucky standout.” Rams linebacker Von Miller’s fiancée alleged that Miller, when he played for the Denver Broncos, wanted her to miscarry their child and said Miller verbally and physically assaulted her, according to the Washington Post. His fiancée later went back on her claims to stay out of the public eye. In the midst of this police investigation, Broncos General Manager George Paton told the media this is a serious situation, but “we do want Von back.” After these accusations, the Rams acquired Von Miller from the Broncos in exchange for two picks in the 2022 NFL Draft, according to

Autumn Hardwick, Staff Artist | Two opposing teams — the red Assaults and the blue Responsibilities — line up across one another before the snap. Levens and Born wrote that fans and the NFL should be expected to hold these highly influencial players accountable for their violent actions, instead of excusing their behaviors because they are good players. the NFL. Following the trade, USA Today quoted Rams head coach Sean McVay, who called Miller an “incredibly unique football player.” After reaching a deal with prosecutors, the judge charged then-Oklahoma Sooner Joe Mixon — now a Bengals running back — with a misdemeanor assault charge, according to the Washington Post. Sooners head coach Bob Stoops suspended Mixon for the 2014 season, but allowed Mixon back for his last season. The NFL barred Mixon from participating in the combine because of the charge. Still, the Bengals drafted Mixon with the 48th overall selection of the draft. There is a noticeable correlation between the greatness of a player’s performance and the perceived severity of his crimes. Tyreek Hill, all-star wide receiver of the Kansas City Chiefs well on his way to the NFL Hall of Fame, has “pleaded guilty to domestic assault and battery by strangulation” while in college. Hill faced accusations of hurting his child — a leaked audio clip had Hill barred from team-related activities after he was drafted in 2019 — according to the NFL. When Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe found Hill’s son was hurt but could not prove by whom, the NFL decided to not suspend Hill and allow him to return to team training that summer. Hill is a perfect example of fans and the League choosing to look the other way in the face of violence because he excels at his position. The newly retired and beloved franchise quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers, “Big” Ben Roethlisberger, was accused of rape by two women in 2009 and sexual assault in 2010, according to Sportscasting. Even though the teams settled one

case out of court and the prosecutor dropped the charges on the other, Roethlisberger only missed a few games due to allegations in his 18 seasons at Pittsburgh. Instead of mourning the trauma these two women went through, the Steelers fanbase celebrates his retirement and contribution to football without considering the harm he has done outside of Heinz Field. Although the prevalence of assaulters is largely clear throughout the NFL, it is still possible for teams to take independent actions against them. Last season, Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson participated his third consecutive Pro Bowl, according to Sports Illustrated. In the next offseason, The New York Times reported 22 women filed civil suits against Watson, including allegations such as sexual coercion, lewd behavior and sexual assault. Unlike most teams in this situation, the Texans did not allow Watson to play a single snap on the field for the entirety of the 2021-22 season. Some teams — like the Rams, Steelers, Chiefs or Bengals — seem to prioritize winning rather than maintaining a sense of morality. The NFL suspended then-New England Patriot quarterback Tom Brady — who recently retired as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer after 22 years in the league — for four games for allegedly playing a role in deflating game balls in 2015, according to ESPN. In 2014, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Ray Rice for two games for domestic violence, according to NBC. Goodell promised a six-game suspension for domestic violence or sexual assault, then gave then-Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston — now a quarterback for the

New Orleans Saints — a three-game suspension for sexual assault. Slightly softer footballs should not be a larger punishment for players than assault. Journalist Darren Urban quoted Arizona Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim in a tweet in which he said, “if Hannibal Lecter ran a 4.3, we’d probably diagnose it as an eating disorder.” Keim demonstrated the toxic NFL mentality that even one of the most gruesome serial killers would be given a pass to play if he ran fast. Do not hate players because they are good at the sport — hate them because they are destructive role models that show violence can be acceptable if they are good enough at a game. There are many role models who have come out of the sport, such as Brady and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who do not have serious allegations against them but are generally hated by the general football audience because they are one of the best players ever or have an annoying brother. We encourage fans to do research on their favorite teams and players before pledging blind allegiance to them. Just because most fans sweep these allegations and charges under the rug does not mean that all fans should. It is time to clean up the NFL.

ali.levens@pepperdine.edu zack.born@pepperdine.edu

F e b r u ary 18, 2022

The Graphic

pepperd in e-gr ap h ic .c om

‘Dance in Flight’ delivers a captivating show

Gabrielle Salgado, Staff Photographer | The Dance in Flight company performs their routine “Chasing Pavements” on stage Feb. 11, during one of the four shows at Smothers Theatre. The number highlighted how the most fulfilling moments of growth come from the most challenging times like the COVID-19 pandemic. Timothy Gay Staff Writer “Dance in Flight” presented their annual performance in Smothers Theatre, Feb. 10-12. The show highlighted the reality of how life was during the pandemic. “Dance in Flight” is a student-run dance company meant to showcase the talent and creativity of dancers and choreographers. Joining DIF requires filling out an application and preparing a 30-second routine before auditioning, according to Community Pepperdine. “We held auditions for the company in September and had weekly rehearsals from then until the show,” second-year dancer Sophia Douville said. “It took about five months in total to prepare.” The production’s theme this year was “Normal.” The inspiration behind this concept was how the past two years lost the sense of normalcy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “From becoming experts of Zoom, to accessorizing masks, to becoming survivors of a pandemic, we are surrounded by uncertainty, however the beauty of that is the diverse experiences and community created though these ‘abnormal’ times,” Producer Danielle Minke and Director Reagan Zimmerer wrote in the show’s program. “COVID-19 has provided the opportunity to show our strength, tenacity and grace.” The show started with the full cast of 32 performing the opening number, “Inside,” which features the song “In This Shirt” by the band The Irrepressibles. First-year dancers Simone Chaddha and Annabel Becker both said this was one of the hardest routines for

them to practice. “[Inside] required the most classical technique, and a lot of effort to emote and perform based on the vibe of the song,” Chaddha said. Becker said it was difficult to do spacing since dances like “Inside” have the whole company in the routine. “You Can Cry,” featuring the song “The River” by singer AURORA, was a lot of fun for Douville to perform, she said, but she admits that it took a lot of energy and stamina to practice. “On the days where we would practice [You Can Cry] over and over again, it was easy to get tired fast,” Douville said. Right before intermission was the number “I Can Feel It,” including a medley of songs from rappers, Lil Nas X, Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj and Kanye West. “I had a lot of fun learning this dance, and just enjoyed the choreography and dancing with an amazing group of girls,” Becker said. “Every rehearsal for this dance was always really fun to be at.” Act II opened with the routine, “Wired,” which features another medley of songs, “Work From Home (feat. Ty Dolla $ign)” by group Fifth Harmony, “Streets” by artist Doja Cat, “I Like It (with Bad Bunny & J Balvin)” by rapper Cardi B and “Fergalicious (feat. will.i.am)” by singer Fergie. The piece interprets the reality of only having the option to communicate through a screen the past two years. “I love all the routines as they all bring something unique to the table, but I particularly loved performing the heels routine ‘Wired’ because of the Zoom storyline and little quirky moments throughout the dance that make the audi-

ence laugh,” Chaddha said. Douville said her favorite routine to perform was the contemporary ballet piece “Beautifully Said,” featuring singer Lana Del Rey’s song “Beautiful.” “The style of dance that I’m most trained in and enjoy the most is ballet, so it felt comforting and natural,” Douville said. “The American Dream” is the tap dance number that includes “La La Land” cast’s song “Another Day of Sun.” The routine was the stand out for audience member Coco Zhao. “I really loved [The American Dream] because it was so high-energy and fun, and I also know that tap dancing is super hard and exhausting,” Zhao said. “It was very impressive to see the dancers bust out a tap routine for pretty much the whole song while being in sync and performing with their whole bodies.” Zhao said she enjoyed the event overall because she loves dancing and watching others dance. “Going to a dance performance show really brought me a lot of joy,” Zhao said. “I was definitely hoping to see more dancing rather than video cinematography, but I still thought it was really well put together and that everything connected back to the main theme of ‘Normal.’” Zhao said she was also captivated by the dancers’ costumes. She thought they matched the vibe and tone for each routine perfectly. Douville said doing DIF this year was enjoyable because it was the first time since the pandemic that the company performed in front of a live audience. “It felt exciting and reward-

ing to see all our hard work pay off,” Douville said. “I was in DIF last year and we had an online show. It was a very different experience compared to being in person this year and I’m thankful for that.” Chaddha mentioned how fulfilling it was to practice and perform with the other women on DIF. “[The women] always make me laugh, and if not laugh, then smile at the bare minimum,” Chaddha said. “They are also all really supportive and love to cheer each other on, both on

and off stage.” Douville said she had a lot of emotions performing on stage. “Of course there were the nervous jitters,” Douville said. “It had been a long time since performing in front of an audience, but there was also so much excitement. Getting to be together these past five months and work so hard to make the dances come to life was amazing.”

timothy.gay@pepperdine.edu

Gabrielle Salgado, Staff Photographer | Junior Assistant Student Director Annabella Nordlund performs her solo “Daylight Breaks.” Nordlund said her goal for the show was to create a memorable expierence for the audience.

February 18, 2022 | LIFE AND ARTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Danica Christy creates inclusivity on campus Sawa Yamakawa Staff Writer Junior Psychology major Danica Christy serves as the event coordinator for Crossroads Gender and Sexuality Alliance. Christy is in the midst of planning a Valentine’s Day party and a big formal for the end of the year. Crossroads GSA is a student-led organization that provides a space where all LGBTQ+ students and allies can gain loving support and engage in dialogue on LGBTQ+ matters, according to its Peppervine page. “Crossroads is a really new club and so we’re still kind of finding our footing,” Christy said. “As of right now, it kind of started as more of a support group.” As a member of the executive board, Christy said she hopes to transition the club into a place of celebration. “Now we are trying to shift more in the way of celebrating everyone’s identities and just having it be a fun place for gay people and allies to come together,” Christy said. Pepperdine is sometimes known for being one of the most LGBTQ+ unfriendly schools in the nation. Because of that, Christy hopes to provide a safe community for all students with Crossroads.

Photo courtesy of Danica Christy | Christy (second from right) and her friends pose for a selfie at the Malibu Pier. Christy said she made some of the greatest friends at Pepperdine. “[Crossroads] is a place to have fun, learn a little bit about each other’s identities and each other’s experiences,” Christy said. “Just offer a completely safe and affirming space to get to know each other and make friends.” To accomplish providing such an inclusive atmosphere, Christy said the Valentine’s Day event will celebrate friendship and not the traditional romantic relationship. “It can be really difficult to find a partner here, some people don’t want to find a partner here,” Christy said. “Some people don’t want to find a partner, period. It’s such a small community, so we just

tried to frame it around having fun with your friends and celebrating.” By reframing a heteronormative and very monogamous holiday to a celebration of love for one’s friends, Crossroads can foster an inclusive community, especially for the LGBTQ+ population, Christy said. This Valentine’s Day event by the Crossroads is becoming more of a tradition, as Christy said she experienced something similar as a first-year student two years ago. “It was so much fun, I met people there and it’s still one of my really fond memories from that semester before we got

sent home,” Christy said. “It’s just another opportunity for people to have a really positive memory to spend with their friends and many people.” That inclusive tradition continues in the way Crossroads takes care of its members, too. Christy said in a small scale, the e-board members are fully encouraging of their members whatever their concerns may be. “We want to be there to support them, the same way our e-board, when we were younger, supported us,” Christy said. On a larger scale, Christy said the club hopes to influence the student experience. Some of the initiatives include

improving Fraternity and Sorority Life recruitment experiences for LGBTQ+ students, advocating for a more inclusive place for non-binary students in the language department and making a systematic change by getting rid of the University’s statement on sexual relationships. Christy said she has had both positive and negative experiences, therefore, her time at Pepperdine so far had been “dichotomous.” Due to a large part of her identity as a lesbian being invisible, Christy said she sometimes does not feel fully herself or is not seen as her full self. She said she is on guard at those times. “The big thing is for students to just not make assumptions based on their first glance of or conversation with someone,” Christy said. On the other hand, Christy said her favorite moments were spent with the friends and faculty members she met here. “It’s been so enjoyable and I will cherish it for years,” Christy said.

sawa.yamakawa@pepperdine.edu

February 18, 2022 | LIFE AND ARTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

First-year gives insight on high performance habits Timothy Gay Staff Writer While most students hope for more hours to accomplish their tasks, sophomore Jackie Ferrari took a different approach to managing her time. Ferrari shares high performance habits she’s learned that she believes can be helpful for students to apply in their school and personal lives. High performance is when you “succeed above and beyond standard norms, consistently over the long term,” author Brendon Burchard wrote. “I have a set bedtime and wake-up time every single night,” Ferrari said. “I try to keep this as consistent as possible and get at least eight hours of sleep per night.” Ferrari said her secret is accountability. She has a friend who is an accountability partner whom she meets with weekly to discuss accomplishments and shortcomings. They both made improvements for the future and consequences when they don’t do what they were supposed to. “Accountability alone has helped me complete homework assignments twice as fast, study more efficiently, stay consistent with my habits and do stuff that I know I need to

do when I don’t really wanna do it,” Ferrari said. “I also use a site blocker when I’m in class, or when I’m doing my homework or working on music so I don’t get distracted.” Ferrari said she first learned how to improve her performance from her mentor, Richard Yu, who is an online business and high-performance coach. She joined Yu’s High-Performance Training Program in June 2020, which she said has changed her life in the best way. “I would not be in the place that I am and have the discipline that I have developed had it not been for [Yu] and his mentorship,” Ferrari said. “The program has not only helped me become more high performance, but also given me a community of other driven people who I have had calls with every month since I joined.” One of the biggest lessons Ferrari said she learned from Yu is that productivity is not worth sacrificing your health, well-being and relationships. “While I may not be able to hang out with my friends every single time they do something spontaneously because this lifestyle requires discipline, I can spend time with them in the late afternoon and eve-

nings or on my rest day, when I have more free time,” Ferrari said. “The best part is that I don’t feel guilty that my work isn’t done. This makes my time spent with friends more fulfilling.” Ferrari said Yu also taught her that productivity is more about the quality of what you do with the hours you have, than the quantity. “You can work for 10 hours straight and get very little done if you’re distracted and working around other people,” Ferrari said. “But if you’re working three hours with a 10 minute break, and you’re laser-focused during that time, you’ll get a lot more done than most people.” Despite the habits Ferrari has learned, she admits to falling short at times. “There are days when I don’t feel like doing things, so I empathize with people who feel like that a lot of the time,” Ferrari said. “But it becomes easier to do stuff you don’t want to do when doing the hard things anyway becomes a habit.” Ferrari encourages students to find someone to hold them accountable when they don’t feel like doing something they need to get done. She said if it isn’t done on time, there

Photo Courtesy of Jackie Ferrari | First-year Jackie Ferrari sits up against the wall in her room. The book she studied, “Introducing Communication Research,” focused her attention. should be a consequence to establish such as paying money, doing 50 push-ups or running five miles. Ferrari recalls struggling with her performance habits back in high school. “I would cram for tests and I hardly got enough sleep most nights,” Ferrari said. “I lived off of five or six hours of sleep a night and used that as an excuse that I was being more productive and that it was worth sacrificing my sleep.” Ferrari said these tactics weren’t helpful for her. She

became constantly tired and could hardly focus during class. “I decided I was tired of living like this and I was so grateful when I found out about Richard’s program,” Ferrari said. Ferrari said she wants students to know that what she’s doing is possible for anyone. She believes anyone can become a high performer as long as they put their mind to it.

timothy.gay@pepperdine.edu

Students stay resolute on resolutions self and feeling like [...] not just a better student, but like a better person.” As he works on all three of his resolutions, Kocz said he is at a different point with each of them. However, he said he is satisfied with the work he’s putting in. “I am happy with this year so far. I’m taking it as seriously as I can and doing all I can to achieve my goals,” Kocz said.

Jackie Lopez Staff Writer The New Year’s holiday has come and passed. One month into 2022 and the Pepperdine community resolutions are in full swing. Whether career, academic or social-related, students have hopes to make a change in their lives. Looking back on January, students share their goals for the year and reflect on the strides taken so far to achieve them. “I think resolutions are a great way and a fun way to set goals for ourselves,” sophomore Abe Wilson said.

The Importance of a Goal

The Resolutions Not everyone creates a new year’s resolution, but some students find them helpful to keep themselves on a better track. Sophomore Julie Tingleff said she has academic-oriented goals for her year. “My new year’s resolution is to be a better student,” Tingleff said. As she starts her new classes for the semester, Tingleff said she hopes to better retain and understand information from them. “I want to feel like I’m here at Pepperdine,” Tingleff said. “Not just for a degree but to learn. That’s been the idea behind the resolution.” Wilson shared a similar sentiment of need for better academic success as well as a need for a healthier social life. “My new year’s resolution is to have a better balance between a social life and my academic life,” Wilson said. The aim is to be more stress-free around his friends and be more pres-

HeeJoo Roh, Staff Artist | A person in a New Years celebratory hat looks toward a distant flag symbolizing a New Year’s goal. Students said they hope to implement changes in their lives, from academic to career to social, in their 2022 resolutions. ent with them, Wilson said. Junior Brandon Kocz said he has three resolutions he intends to keep this year — give back to the people who really care about him, get in better shape and do the best work he can in his new job. “I know that this year I want to be the best that I can be,” Kocz said. Progress So Far Kocz, Tingleff and Wilson all said they are maintaining their resolutions and keeping on top of them. “I feel like I’ve made great progress

on my resolution,” Wilson said. “I have been able to get great grades while also spending quality time with my friends.” To do this, Wilson said he created a place to write down and keep track of his schoolwork so he can prioritize that while also allotting free time for himself. Since starting the spring semester, Tingleff said she has been doing a better job with spending more time on her work, closely reading her materials and taking independent time to study. “It’s been really fulfilling so I don’t want to quit halfway through,” Tingleff said. “I really have been enjoying my-

Resolutions are heavily associated with New Year’s Day. Though, some said they think that waiting for the holiday to set resolutions is unnecessary. “The idea of waiting for the new year to start a major change in your life, I don’t really agree with that,” Kocz said. “If November you know, you say ‘I want to do this next semester,’ like how about you do everything you can do then to achieve your goals?” Tingleff said she believes that resolutions are only important if someone is committed to making them happen. “If you just kind of make one for fun, or like without any real purpose behind it. It’s kind of pointless,” Tingleff said. Wilson, who sets a resolution every year, said they make people more optimistic for the future. “When we set goals, we imagine ourselves doing and being better people,” Wilson said.

jacqueline.lopez@pepperdine.edu

February 18, 2022 | LIFE AND ARTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

ReelStories showcases seven student films Addison Whiten Life & Arts Assistant Editor ReelStories marked its 13th year at Pepperdine on Feb. 4. The film festival gives student filmmakers the chance to screen a short film for the Pepperdine community, and this year seven films premiered at the on-campus event. Each of the films screened at ReelStories this year shared unique student perspectives, with some telling moving personal stories and others creating interesting fictional narratives. “Nai Nai,” “Mushroom Pizza” and “Finding Empathy: A Glimpse Into the Life of a Paralyzed Surfer” were the standouts of the night, but each of the seven short films were impressively made and entertaining. “Nai Nai” tells the story of a Chinese American man visiting his grandmother in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. While he’s there, they reconnect, and in an emotional climax, the man’s grandmother explains how she has never forgiven his mother for taking him out of Chinatown, away from her and his father. At the end of the film, some time has passed and the grandmother died, and the man reflects on their bond and what she meant to him. This film was visually stunning, with many beautiful shots of Chinatown that established the film’s setting in a powerful way. The actor who played the titular grandmother in “Nai Nai,” Ping Liu, delivered a very emotional performance that really sold the film’s story and gave it a lot of its power. Under the direction of junior Gabbatha Hall, “Nai Nai” took home the award for Best Picture. The best comedy of the evening was Haleigh Bolduc’s “Mushroom Pizza,” a film about a woman meeting a man from a dating app for a picnic in the park, all narrated by a nearby snail. The couple sits together eating their pizza as the snail discusses things concerning his personal life, before his monologue is abruptly interrupted by the sound of a loud crunch, as the woman accidentally eats the snail. This simple, lighthearted

film was a breath of fresh air, as many of the other films dealt with more serious or emotional topics. It was funny and unique, with a surprise ending that delighted the audience. While it didn’t have a deep or profound message, it was very entertaining and fun to watch. One of two documentaries of the night, “Finding Empathy: A Glimpse Into the Life of a Paralyzed Surfer,” considered the role of empathy in today’s society by looking at the work of Life Rolls On, an organization that gives people with disabilities the opportunity to surf and skateboard. The film focused on their efforts with surfing, and showed how they’ve changed the lives of both participants of the program and volunteers, inspiring them and showing there is still powerful empathy in the world. “Finding Empathy: A Glimpse Into the Life of a Paralyzed Surfer” was moving, and its subject matter was inspirational. The footage of people surfing with the help of volunteers was powerful, as well as the interviews included in the documentary, particularly those with Jesse Billauer, the founder of Life Rolls On. The film aimed to explore empathy and its presence in the world today, and by focusing on this specific foundation and its work, directors junior Dane Bruhahn and sophomore Christina Buravtsova, GNews executive producer for the Graphic, accomplished this. Members of the Board present the festival’s awards at the end of the night. “Nai Nai” won the award for Best Picture, but other categories included Audience Choice, Best Editing and Best Directing. The other four films shown at ReelStories were “Last Call on Sunset,” “Blanca,” “Honey” and “Coffee.” “Last Call on Sunset” is an ambitious film noir about a detective and his brother, who he has to arrest, going out one last time together. Director Kelly Needleman, a sophomore, shot

the film in black and white, reminiscent of classic film noirs, and it is very aesthetically interesting because of it. “Blanca” also reflects on old Hollywood, as the subject of the film is a woman watching “Casablanca” who sees someone appearing to be the film’s star wandering around and decides to follow him. Senior Isabella Hamm directed the film on Pepperdine’s campus, which made its setting fun and engaging for the audience at the festival. The second documentary of the festival, “Honey,” is a look at the long life and impact of first-year director Hali Orefice’s great-grandfather Victor, known as Honey by his family. Honey’s connection with his family and the love they have for each other was very evident in the documentary, and it was clearly made with a lot of care, which showed in the final moving, charming product. The final film screened at ReelStories was junior Jadyn Gaertner’s “Coffee,” a story about a man who wrestles with his own identity as he tries to be successful. “Coffee” had a relatable message about identity and trying to be the best version of yourself, as well as visually interesting filmmaking, with one actor playing multiple parts and some characters being played by multiple actors. ReelStories’ film selections showcased the filmmaking talent in the Pepperdine community, and were each entertaining and valuable. While “Nai Nai,” “Finding Empathy: A Glimpse Into the Life of a Paralyzed Surfer” and “Mushroom Pizza” were the best films of the night, all seven short films are huge accomplishments of student filmmakers.

All Photos by: Sammie Wuensche, Assistant Photo Editor | Students have their red carpet moments prior to the film screening. The red carpet was used to give the night a Hollywood feel.

Members of the cast and crew of “Coffee” smile on the red carpet with their own cups of coffee. Director Jadyn Gaertner said she and her team put the short film together in only a week.

addie.whiten@pepperdine.edu Students take their seats in Smothers for the film screenings. It was a packed house in both Smothers Theatre and Elkins Auditorium.

An ice sculpture made for ReelStories sits in a tent set up for the festival by the awards cere- Board members conduct the ReelStories Awards Ceremony. Seven mony. This year was the first year that ReelStories was able to happen on campus since 2020. films competed in winning the hearts of the audience members.

February 18, 2022 | LIFE AND ARTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Finding the best photo ops near Pepp Meghan Young Staff Writer In looking on Pepperdine students’ social media accounts, there seems to be so many opportunities for a perfect “photo op.” However, hunting down the ideal location isn’t always as easy as it seems. So, where exactly can Pepperdine students capture that aesthetically pleasing photo? Whether your aesthetic is minimalistic, funky, beachy, natural or saturated, there are plenty of local spots to explore. From Ralphs Beach to Solstice Canyon, there are tons of spots to try out. “I cherish my moments and have terrible long-term memory, so it’s the best way for me to remember and makes everyone happy to see them later on,” first-year Kallista Rodarte said. “I never knew pictures would be such a big part of my life until they were.” First-year Catie Caine said some of the best photos are taken candidly, in the heat of a moment. Driving down PCH, going on a hike or just admiring a sunset can create the potential for a perfect picture, Caine said. “I totally find [photo ops] as I go,” Caine said. “I’m not great at going out and planning to take pictures because I usually end up disappointed if the results don’t exactly match my

Photo Courtesy of Catie Caine | Firstyears Jessica Qiu and Destinee Cenita climb the life guard tower on Ralphs Beach. The image they created became a photo Caine never knew she needed. expectations. I have way more fun just pulling out my phone throughout the day.” Caine pointed out some classic spots, such as the beach or the Malibu Pier, that will make a photo encapsulate Malibu. “I think the pier is a great place to get aesthetic pictures close to campus,” Caine said. “The water is gorgeous, and Malibu Farm has a beachy, classic feel to it that really encompasses where we live.” Continuing with the beachy theme, a local go-to location

Photo Courtesy of Kallista Rodarte | As the sunset peaks out over the top of the hills, first-year Kallista Rodarte admires the phenomenon at Solstice Canyon. While Rodarte watched the sun from afar, she decided she needed to capture this memorable photo opportunity.

for students is Ralphs Beach, just a few minutes from campus. The pink house students often pose in front of is just one of the many props for a cute shot. “My current favorite spot to hang out and take photos is the little lifeguard watch stand at Ralphs Beach,” Caine said. “It’s a really soft blue color that looks amazing with the pink sunsets we get to see. My friends and I love to hang out there and take pictures until the sun goes down or bring our lunch for a makeshift picnic.”

Students can take tons of pictures while solo, but Caine said the most special pictures taken are captured with special people. “Usually photos of myself are paired with pretty sunsets, pretty food and pretty friends,” Caine said. “I like to have things in my photos that make me smile. I am always authentically happier with food and friends around, and that is what makes the photos special.” Finding the best photo spot doesn’t necessarily mean going

off campus. Students can take advantage of the short walk to Alumni Park and even Payson Library. “I was just driving by [Alumni Park] with my friend, and we adored the sunset that day and decided to take some [pictures] there,” Rodarte said. “The courtyard by Payson was pretty much the same as Alumni. I didn’t realize how pretty it was until I was walking by with a friend and saw the tree was blooming and was like, this is totally spring.” Whether it’s on campus or far from campus, there is so much sublime scenery surrounding us. First-year Zoe Vaughan said that Malibu is like a movie set. Everywhere you look, there is a photo opportunity, Vaughan said. “I think it’s important to live in the moment, and if you take pictures of these moments, they are the best pictures,” Vaughan said. Anything can turn into that perfect photo opportunity with a bit of creativity and an inthe-moment attitude, students said. “We live in a beautiful place,” Caine said. “My camera roll and I are so blessed by Malibu.”

meghan.young@pepperdine.edu

Pepp students indulge in avocado toast Hope Lockwood Staff Writer Le Cafe de la Plage Malibu, SunLife Organics, Blue Bottle and Ollo — are just a few of the options in Malibu that provide avocado toast as a menu option. At each of these restaurants the brunch staple boasts a price tag of $11 to $14 and while students love avocado toast they are not a fan of the large price tag. Despite this, students and social media attest that it remains popular among diverse consumers. “It’s become like a trendy thing to eat; they think they can charge you whatever and you’ll get it,” senior Jenn Gash said. Many students said this dish has become quite popular in not only the Pepperdine sphere but all around the Los Angeles area. Senior Alicia Wu believed its popularity was linked to both its simplicity and customizability. “It is a good source of protein that is easily customizable and filling,” Wu said. Sophomore Stella Engel linked the toast’s popularity with the health and wellness movement. “It tastes good, but it’s a veggie so it’s good for me,” Engel said. Avocado toast from Blue Bottle takes a more traditional approach with mashed avocado on sourdough bread. It is garnished with a sprinkle of paprika. Gash said because she grew up in the

LA area; she had always heard of avocado toast. However, when Gash went to high school, the meal had latched itself to YouTubers and other influencers. This popularity was what led to her interest in trying it. Gash said when she first tried it, she put unseasoned avocado on untoasted wheat bread. “I was like, ‘This is plain and not that good,’” Gash said. “But once I started adding other things to it, I was like, ‘Wow, this is revolutionary.’” Gash said she now puts an egg on her toast to add to the overall flavor. Gash believes avocado toast has become so expensive because of its popularity, she said. Gash’s recipe includes an over medium-fried egg and shredded cheese. She also recommends it with sourdough bread. Avocado toast from Cafe de la Plage features an ornate presentation. It is decorated with a combination of sliced and mashed avocado, poached eggs and a side salad. Senior Angelea Hayes said she first made avocado toast in high school for a family Christmas breakfast, she said everyone enjoyed it. Hayes said avocado toast became a staple in her diet when she went plantbased because it was easy to make in the mornings. Hayes said she prefers to make it at home because she is able to accommodate her dietary needs. In addition to being plant-based, she is also gluten-free. For her bread alternative, Hayes rec-

Photo by Hope Lockwood | The avocado toast from SunLife Organics features sliced avocado on gluten-free bread. What sets it apart from other options, however, is that it is topped with strawberries and a balsamic vinegar drizzle. ommends either rice cakes, Trader Joe’s gluten-free bagels or the Udi’s brand gluten-free bread. Hayes tops her toast with lime juice and Everything but the Bagel Seasoning. During the 2019-20 school year, Hayes studied abroad in London. She said that was where she encountered the worst avocados she has ever had. Hayes said the London house would provide breakfast options like bread, bagels, fruits and avocados. “Even when it was super ripe, [the avocado] was hard. [You] could hurt someone with it. It was hard and I couldn’t spread it easily. It was not ap-

pealing at all,” Hayes said. Gash and Hayes both agreed that trends like ricotta toast and yogurt custard toast are just trends and they will never replace avocado toast. Hayes said she believes the rising popularity of plant-based diets, avocado toast will continue to become more and more popular. “I think more variations of avocado toast will just continue to come out,” Hayes said.

hope.lockwood@pepperdine.edu

FEBRUARY 18, 2022 | LIFE AND ARTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

FKA Twigs mixes vocals on ‘CAPRISONGS’ Timothy Gay Staff Writer Singer, songwriter, producer, dancer and actress FKA Twigs released a mixtape titled “CAPRISONGS” on Jan. 14. The project features artists The Weeknd, Daniel Caesar, Pa Salieu, Shygirl, Rema, Jorja Smith and Unknown T. The inspiration behind the title of “CAPRISONGS” is from Twigs’s zodiac sign, Capricorn sun. The mixtape showcases Twigs’s talent to mix her vocals within the tracks and experiment with different sounds. It’s broadly an electronic project, but it includes genres such as afrobeat, dancehall, R&B, trap and pop. Twigs begins the project with “ride the dragon.” The song starts slow with the first verse, where Twigs introduces to her listeners that she made them a mixtape. The song immediately shifts in the chorus as the beat comes in and the tempo picks up. The second song, “honda” featuring Salieu, shows Twigs’s first take on afrobeat in the project, but with a darker energy to it. Afrobeat is a genre that combines West African beats with American jazz, soul and funk, according to MasterClass. Twigs then slows down and

get more personal with “meta angel.” She begins the song with a conversation in which someone gives her confidence that she will be more free. Twigs then sings about her struggles with negative thoughts and wishes there was an omniscient being that could help her. “I wish I had help from a deeper force / Some kind of meta angel / Then they could whisper all the answers / And maybe life would just slow down,” Twigs sang. “I’ve got voices in my head / Telling me that I won’t make it far.” “Tears in the club” featuring The Weeknd is the synth R&B-pop lead single released Dec. 16. Twigs sings about trying to get over this relationship while The Weeknd responds to her action in his verse. A scene from the music video shows The Weeknd sitting down crying as he watches Twigs dance in a large fish tank. Next is the trap song “oh my love.” Twigs sings about having feelings for someone who doesn’t feel the same way, but adds more personality to how she expresses the message. “Everybody knows that I want your love,” Twigs rapped in the post-chorus. “Why you playing, baby boy, what’s up?” In “lightbeamers,” Twigs peacefully gives self-love advice for people who have been

rejected in the past. “Are you running from your life? / Beat down ‘cause there ain’t nobody on your side,” Twigs sang. “Tell yourself you love you so / Lay down your fears, baby, ain’t nobody die from a no.” The tempo picks back up with the afrobeat-dancehall track, “papi bones” featuring Shygirl. Both Twigs and Shygirl freely express their Capricorn sun energy to the melody of the trumpets. Twigs continues the afrobeat style on “jealousy” featuring Rema, but with a slower approach. Next is the slowest song on the mixtape, “careless” featuring Caesar. “Careless” is strictly an R&B track about having no worries in a relationship. Twigs showcases more of her high-pitched opera vocals on “mind of men,” where she sings a poem about making peace with opposing views. “Lay your troubles down and your heavy crown,” Twigs sang. “Take your troubles off, I’ma love you soft / Let’s make amends with minds of men.” Twigs invites Jorja Smith and Unknown T on the song “darjeeling” to join her in singing about each of their background stories before becoming artists. “Started out a country

Photo courtesy of Young and Atlantic Records | FKA Twigs faces in front of the camera with her finger on the bottom part of her lip. She has a winter coat on as she stands within the city of London. girl, wildly haired and gappy grin / Had to change a couple schools ‘cause I wasn’t fittin’ in,” Twigs sang the bridge. “Take it straight to London, dream it big, and let it grow / Just so you know.” Twigs ends the mixtape with “thank you song,” where she thanks a close relationship for helping her get through a tough time in her life. “I wanted to die, I’m just being honest / No longer afraid to say it out loud,” Twigs sang

in the opening verse. “So, I put my ear on your chest ‘til I hear the answer / Love in motion seems to save me now.” Twigs’ Capricorn sun inspired mixtape shows her ability to mix her vocals and experiment with different sounds, while staying true to her lyrical content. “CAPRISONGS” is available to stream on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music.

timothy.gay@pepperdine.edu

FEBRUARY 18,2022 | SPORTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Opinion: PGM picks NFL Super Bowl Alec Matulka Staff Writer The 2021-22 NFL Season ended Feb. 13, when the Los Angeles Rams battled the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI at Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles. The Rams reached the Super Bowl courtesy of a 20-17 win over their divisional rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, on Jan. 30. Down 17-7 going into the fourth quarter, the Rams staged a comeback in the form of 13 unanswered points. Cooper Kupp, recent winner of the “receiving triple crown,” was instrumental in the Rams victory. Before the Rams and 49ers took the field, the Bengals had already punched their ticket to Super Bowl LVI with an improbable 27-24 overtime victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. Although the Chiefs won the coin toss in overtime, they were unable to capitalize on the advantage. Joe Burrow led his team down the field, and Bengals’ kicker Evan McPherson dispatched the decisive field goal confidently. This is the Bengals’ first Super Bowl appearance since 1988, and their third appearance overall. They have yet to take home the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The Rams, meanwhile, went to Super Bowl LIII in 2018. Having been to the Super Bowl four times, the Rams only title came in 1999, when the team was still located in St. Louis.

Staff Writer Alec Matulka was the only member of the NFL Picks crew to pick both Conference Championship games correctly. With one game to go, the NFL Picks standings are mostly set in stone. Digital Editor Karl Winter continues to do victory laps around the proverbial stadium, while Alec has clinched a second place finish after his picks last week. Creative Director Ali Levens and staff writers Joe Doonan and Austin LeDe’ all vie for a coveted third place finish coming into the last pick of the season. Cincinnati Bengals (13-7) at Los Angeles Rams (155), (Sunday, Feb. 13 at 3:30 p.m., PST) Rams: Joe, Austin, Karl Bengals: Ali, Alec “It’s hard to root against the Bengals because they’re so dang likable, but as an LA native, I root for LA superiority. I’d love to see Aaron Donald win a Super Bowl because he’s one of the greatest to ever do it and it would be a shame if he never got one. The same goes for Matthew Stafford; he seems like such a great guy and he’s deserving of it after suffering in Detroit for over a decade.” — Joe “Well, this is it. This is the game we have been waiting for all year, and my favorite team is in it, baby! I told everyone the Rams were going to win it all this year, and no one be-

lieved me. But they will believe when they see it. All those picks we traded for Stafford will be worth it. I got the Rams winning 34-31 in a stressful game that will have me pulling my hair out. Go Rams! First round picks are overrated.” — Austin “They all doubted me. They were all wrong. Have you seen Joe Burrow’s outfit before their game against the Chiefs? Patrick Mahomes never stood a chance. This man, and this team, have nothing to lose and nothing to prove, whereas the Rams have all the pressure in the world on their shoulders to win in their stadium. That’s a dangerous combination. Dread it. Run from it. Wheel-Burrow rolls on.” — Alec “It’s the year of the water tiger and the year of iced-out Joey. Coincidence? No way. Bengals by 100.” — Ali “First of all, I’m more excited for this game than I have been for past Super Bowls — there are so many great storylines and exciting players, and it’s something new. As for my pick, the Rams have too many advantages in too many areas. I think they are carrying the majority of the pressure, as the Bengals continue to play with house money, but there are simply more scenarios where the Rams win.” — Karl

alec.matulka@pepperdine.edu

Ali Levens, Creative Director | The Los Angeles Rams took on the Cinncinati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Feb. 13. The NFL Picks Staff were split on who would win the biggest game in American football.

Opinion: PGM picks 2022 Winter Olympics Samantha Torre Sports Editor The sun is shining, the snow is falling — well, not in Malibu, but it’s probably falling somewhere — and the Olympic flame is burning. It’s time for the 2022 Winter Olympics. The Olympics will run Feb. 4-20, in Beijing, China. The games are occurring a mere six months after the summer games, which the International Olympics Committee delayed for one year due to COVID-19. Filled with newcomers and veterans, it promises to be an event worth watching. And what does the Graphic’s sports desk like more than watching sports? Giving their expert opinion on said sports. In this case, Sports Editor Sam Torre, Assistant Editor Jerry Jiang and Staff Writers Alec Matulka, Austin LeDe’ and Joe Heinemann explain which countries and events to watch going into the 2022 Winter Olympics.

and in this game he’s attempting a feat never before accomplished on competitive ice: The quadruple axel. Regardless of whether or not Hanyu takes home a third gold — being the first man since the 1920s to do so — he’ll be making history. Jerry: My pick for the country to get the most medals in the 2022 Winter Olympics is the U.S. Simply put, they’re deep. Like ridiculously deep. Looking up and down the rosters of every competition, you’d see familiar faces everywhere. Mikaela Shiffrin is an experienced Olympian and has put together an impressive resume at only age 26. On the men’s side, Ryan Cochran-Siegle, one of the top skiers in the downhill event, will be a name to watch. Since the Americans finished fourth at the Pyeong Cheng games, look for them to bounce back with a fiery spirit and loaded rosters all across the board.

Sam:

Alec:

I’m casting my eye toward the hosts of the most recent Olympic Games: Japan. Japan puts up an impressive showing at the winter games, being the only non-European country to win an Olympic medal in ski-jumping since the U.S. in 1924. Names to watch include Ayumu Hirano on the half-pipe for snowboarding and Nao Kodiara in the 500-meter speed skating. My main reason for choosing Japan, however, comes down to one sport. I’m talking about a sport filled with blood, sweat and tears. A sport where athletes climb into the arena, and showcase their strength, dominance and grace. A sport that separates the students from the masters. I’m talking about a sport of giants. I’m talking about figure skating. And in terms of figure skating, Japan’s no slouch. Yuzuru Hanyu took home gold the past two Olympic Games,

I’m a simple man. My attention goes right to the ice. Or, more specifically, to the stones that will be slid down that ice onto colorfully painted targets. That’s right, I’m talking about curling, the most under-appreciated sport in the world. Do I understand all the rules? Of course not. Does that stop me from enjoying the spectacle? Not one bit. There’s a number of storylines in the curling world surrounding this rendition of the winter games. As fans of curling will know, the U.S. men’s team took home the gold medal in South Korea in 2018. American skip John Shuster led his rag-tag group of rebels and took down the Empire — the Empire being Sweden — to win the second ever medal for U.S. curling, the lone other being a bronze in 2006. They called it the “Miracurl on Ice,” and it was a sight to behold. In any case, I won’t be rooting for the

Samantha Torre, Sports Editor | The 2022 Winter Olympics kicked off in Bejing, China and willl run from Feb. 4 to Feb. 20. The Graphic’s sports writers have a competition of their own, as they place their bets on the teams to take home the gold, and anticipate who to watch out for in this year’s games. U.S this time around; I’m going over to the dark side. I’m rooting for the most underrated, under-respected athlete of this generation: Johan Niklas Edin. The Swedish skip has led his team to a historic five Curling World Championship medals, and is, in my mind, the undisputed GOAT of curling. But he has yet to claim a gold medal at the Olympics. It’s a medal he and the Swedish team deserve, and one I will be all too happy to see them receive as they stand atop the podium in Beijing. Austin: I really only chose Germany because I am going abroad next year to Heidelberg, Germany and I want them to do good in the Olympics. I think they are good at skiing, so I hope they do good in that and snowboarding.

in 15 sports. I’m picking South Korea because they’re an exciting smaller country with lots of potential to top the 17 medals that they won last year. I’m most excited to watch the country compete in curling, figure skating and snowboarding. One Korean athlete to look out for is Cha Jun-hwan, who just pulled off a fantastic victory at the 2022 Four Continents Championship in figure skating. South Korea’s first competition was Feb. 10, in which the famous Women’s Curling team match ed up against the competitive Canadian squad. How to Watch the Olympics Readers with a burning desire to see who is ultimately correct, or who just want to watch the games, can view events live on NBC and Peacock.

Joe: I’m backing South Korea for the 2022 Winter Olympics. The country has 64 athletes competing in 13 sports compared to the last 2018 Olympic Games, in which they had 122 athletes

sam.torre@pepperdine.edu

February 18, 2022 | SPORTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Track teams train for certainty Samantha Torre Sports Editor Pepperdine’s Men’s and Women’s Track teams are back on the Stotsenberg Track and gearing up for an exciting season. The women’s team began their indoor season at the BYU Indoor Invite on Jan. 15, and the men’s team will kick off the outdoor season at the Rossi Relays on Feb. 26. After the past season, which included the termination of the previous head coach and COVID-19-induced uncertainty, track athletes said they look forward to running consistent PRs and championing a sense of community. “I think just individuals running their best is what’s really exciting,” said Lauren Floris, head coach for Cross Country and Track. “Hopefully, we can get as many people on the team as possible to run their best times they’ve ever, ever, ever run, which I think is pretty doable considering so many people are coming off of one or two years of kind of interesting or different or interrupted track seasons.” Floris said, due to COVID-19, the team has yet to host a full practice, resulting in flexibility with managing individual workouts. “We had our first practice last Friday and our first race on Saturday, like boom, boom, right at one right after another,” Floris said. “And so with that, you know, there’s like a lot of room to grow from where we are right now, which gets us excited.” Women’s Track Community

Builds

Senior sprinter Tiffany Egbo said the team has taken it day-by-day and is building up to meets later in the season. “We have a lot of growth to do,” Egbo said. “We have so much talent on our team, but I think just it’s the first meet of the year so obviously, nerves are high. But it was super exciting to see and just thinking it was a good start.” Egbo said the team has a lot of fresh faces, and she is hopeful the newer runners hit their desired times, and that the team functions as a support system. “I just want to finish strong and be a good role model for all the new freshmen girls,” Egbo said. Freshman distance runner Megan LaCamera, placed at the top of women’s races during the Cross Country season. Floris said she sees potential for the freshmen to both win their heats and achieve top 20 times for the University in track season. “It’s been really special to have freshmen come in who

Photo courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics | The Athletes competing for Pepperdine Women’s Track pose at the BYU Indoor Invite on Jan. 15. The Invite was the women’s team’s first race of the 2022 track season, the men’s team will run their first race at the Rossi Relays on Feb. 26. are making an impact on the team, both in practices and in cross country and I think track will be a really fun place for them to shine,” Floris said. Junior distance runner and team captain Skyler Danley primarily runs the 5k and said she is excited for the larger range of travel this season. Due to COVID-19 regulations, the team could not travel far for meets, and Danley said she looks forward to the increased competition. With Floris, Danley said the Women’s Track team quickly saw improved times. During Cross Country, Danley said she learned to focus on the little things. “I think my takeaway was more like I love the coach that we have right now,” Danley said. “The freshmen girls who came onto the team are absolutely incredible and I adore them as human beings and as runners. So I think it was just like learning to work with them and be that team. We didn’t do amazing, but we did way better at regionals than we ever have before.” Senior hurdler Alexa Ortega said the differences going into this season include being together for practices and a more regulated schedule. Last season, Ortega said she struggled to maintain motivation. “It was really hard to keep being motivated when there wasn’t a lot of us and every meet we went to, it was literally just track athletes by ourselves racing each other,” Ortega said. “But this season, motivation levels have been up and we’re back doing what we normally do just like other years, pre-COVID.” During indoor, Ortega said her event, the 400-meter hur-

dles, does not exist, due to a shorter 200-meter track. As a result, she runs a variety of events and focuses on competing against herself. “That just teaches me to be adaptable and put my best foot forward in whatever event I get thrown into, even if it’s not like what I love doing or my normal event,” Ortega said. During outdoor, Danley said she wants a PR in the 5k, and looks forward to running the steeplechase, an event she hasn’t run since high school. As for the team, Danley hopes the team progresses in their individual events, but also builds a deeper sense of community. “Cross can get kind of competitive because you want to run faster than someone else on the team,” Danley said. “But like with track, it’s kind of nice because everyone has different events you can actually truly like learn to root for each other and like want everyone to do as good as possible because it doesn’t feel like it’s like stepping or encroaching on you in any way.” A high point of last season, Ortega said, was community. “It wasn’t like, necessarily my best season or a season that I look back on athletically being like, oh my god, I peaked like I didn’t,” Ortega said. “But I really valued being able to be together with my teammates and having community when that was something that was really hard to find during lockdown.” Men’s Track Focuses on the Future Sophomore distance runner Johnathan Flint said one of the main differences going into

this season is that the schedule is more fixed and athletes with a booster shot have a shorter quarantine period. “In general, you’re not going to see yourself losing a ton of training just by general procedures and stuff, and so there’s a lot more certainty there and a lot more ability to train and prepare for meets that you really want to perform in,” Flint said. In spring 2021, Flint said, the team wasn’t sure how long the season would run for and whether or not the season would go past March. “Just knowing that I’m not going to have my season cut short or anything like that, I’m able to train accordingly,” Flint said. “And our coaches are able to train us accordingly with the certainty of when we’ll be ready and when they want us to perform our very best.” To achieve his goals, Flint said he is focusing on inputs such as nutrition, eating and sleeping, alongside achieving consistent mileage and workouts that complement his races. “Last year, I ended up running a lot of 1500s because I felt like I had a bad base,” Flint said. “And this track season, I’d like to build up my base a lot more to make sure that I can have some ground to compete in the 5k and 10k which are going to be more flagship events this spring.” Flint said doing well during the track season inspires the distance team to join together over the summer. Having a good summer training regime provides a necessary base for the upcoming cross country season. “The biggest thing is the

season I would like to see is our team have a lot of accountability for one another,” Flint said. “Because even though right now it’s more individual, when you get to Cross Country, we’re going to be more of a team. And so I’d like to start getting in the habit of holding each other accountable now and making sure that we’re all putting in our best to get better.” The Men’s Track team will be losing its top three distance runners this fall: Seniors PGM Digital Editor Karl Winter, Kyle McCabe, assistant news editor; and Jackson Felkins. Floris said Winter was the first runner from Pepperdine to reach regionals in outdoor track while Pepperdine was part of the NCAA. “I know that that’s his goal, to get back there and get maybe a little bit further in the championship round of things, and he wants to bring along some of his teammates, so that would be really exciting,” Floris said. Flint said the seniors were an important component in the community aspect of the team. “I personally really hope to step up, to be able to handle their roles to be running as well as they have,” Flint said. “And hopefully, I can get even better and I hope that other people do that as well. I would love to see multiple teammates make jumps with me because it’s so much easier to be motivated to kind of keep working and keep fighting when you have your brothers on the track with you.”

sam.torre@pepperdine.edu

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February 18, 2022 | SPORTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Pepperdine hosts celebrity football game Samantha Torre Sports Editor Jerry Jiang Sports Assistant Editor On the eve of Super Bowl Sunday, Pepperdine hosted the 22nd Annual Celebrity Sweat Flag Football Challenge on Tari Frahm Rokus Field. A sunbaked afternoon with a high of 80 degrees, students and fans swarmed the field Feb. 12, hoping to get a glimpse at celebrities, current and retired NFL players and musicians alike. The game exists to raise awareness for several military organizations and youth groups, WWE Global Ambassador Titus O’Neil said. The Celebrity Sweat Flag Football game follows whichever city hosts the Super Bowl. “It is a fun game,” O’Neil said. “We get to bring people from all walks of life, especially during Super Bowl weekend where everyone is in town anyway. To make a game to raise awareness and funds for our military is pretty special in the midst of all the other things that are going on during Super Bowl week.” Musician Tai Verdes echoed O’Neil’s statement and said it’s a blessing to support the military because there is not a lot of opportunity to be around these influential people and to be in this space in general. Supporting the Military Both rosters feature a member of the military: Army Sergeant First Class Joshua Hays, and Marine veteran and Purple Heart recipient Shane Kruchten. Prior to the game, the Navy Leap Frogs parachuted onto the field, carrying the American flag. Among the Leap Frogs was Pepperdine alumnus Lieutenant Navy Lieutenant Matt Carter (‘13). Carter said that the mission of the Leap Frogs is to spread the word about Naval Special Warfare and the careers available for young men and women. “The cool thing about this game was that, given the winds in the jump today, I was literally flying over my freshman dorm room for most of the jump,” Carter said. Carter said he had been back to Pepperdine several times since graduating, but this was his first time approaching the school from the air. “The thing that really struck me was the same reason that I came to Pepperdine was the same reason I joined the Naval Special Warfare,” Carter said. “And that was just the excitement of being in values and driven by mission, service, purpose and leadership. You know, that’s the exact same thing. So that was exciting. To me, it was like a real full circle moment.” American fitness personali-

ty Billy Blanks said sharing the field with people in the military was special to him because he has two brothers who served in both the Army and Navy for 28 and 30 years. Blanks also has an uncle that is in the Army. “I’ve been to Afghanistan nine times, I’ve been to Iraq nine times, been to Bosnia [and Herzegovina] to support the troops,” Blanks said. “Anytime they come out here and ask me to support the troops, I go. It’s not even a second choice for me. And this right here is like a fantasy to be out here to play with the troops and show them that we want to give back to them.” The Roster NBA Hall-of-Famer Tracy McGrady and former New England Patriots quarterback Doug Flutie, led the teams. American actor Anthony Anderson was the co-captain of Team Flutie. Musician Wale’s athletic ability surprised American TV personality Tim Chantarangsu who said he didn’t know that the musician was that athletic. Wale played for team T-Mac. Team T-Mac defeated Team Flutie with a score of 76-70, though fan-favorite musician Tory Lanez from Team Flutie took home the MVP honors. Junior Nicolette Garcia said that a highlight of the game was musician Diplo’s touchdown. “It was a great game with a good back-and-forth, because that’s such a bummer when you come to a game and it’s kind of dead and doesn’t have that much momentum,” Garcia said. “You could tell that they were enjoying themselves and it was so funny seeing certain people who definitely aren’t football players making those good plays or even the fumbles.” After receiving the MVP trophy, Lanez dove into the crowd that was chanting his name throughout the afternoon. Students and fans were ecstatic, and in celebration, Lanez gave the students his trophy.

Gabrielle Salgado, Staff Photographer | NBA Hall-of-Famer Tracy McGrady looks for an open teammate during the Celebrity Sweat Flag Football Game on Feb. 12. This year’s game was a rematch from 2020, where Team T-Mac won the game as well.

Musician Tory Lanez celebrates with the fans after receiving the MVP award Feb. 12. Lanez dove into the crowd multiple times during the game.

Student Experiences Pepperdine students said they heard about the game from Housing and Residence Life’s emails regarding the closure of Rho parking lot. Sophomore Maci Brown said she made plans to attend the game when she received the first email. “I’m really excited for some Pepperdine community because I love football,” Brown said. “So this is the closest thing I’m getting: Flag football and celebrities.” Sophomore Dawson Storrs said he did not know the game would be happening until he left his residence hall, Seaside, but the event setup did not disturb him. Storrs said, in light of alle-

Members of the Navy Leap Frog team parachuted into Tari Frahm Rokus Field during the playing of the national anthem Feb. 12. The Leap Frogs included a Pepperdine alumnus, Lieutenant Matt Carter, as well. gations against Lanez, he wondered how the University felt about having him featured in the game. Garcia said she knew a little about the charity through her own research on the event. As someone with a relative in the Navy, Garcia said she enjoyed watching the Leap Frogs parachute into the game. After hearing music outside his window, senior Michael Kadlick went down to the field. Kadlick said he was excited

for the free memorabilia, and hoped to see Michael Irvin. Kadlick was also able to celebrate a Lanez touchdown when Lanez climbed over the fence and celebrated with fans. “Actually, what might top that is the trophy giveaway from Torey Lanez to the boys,” Kadlec said. “He said this is for the boys. He’s Tory Lanez. He’s [the] man. He’s the people’s man, you know?” Many Pepperdine students said they did not know about

the charity the game supported. “I definitely thought this was going to be like a cash grab kind of situation for the University,” Storrs said. “That was my take on it, just because they were taking away student parking and it just seemed like they were doing everything they can to get as many people to attend as possible.”

sam.torre@pepperdine.edu jerry.jiang@pepperdine.edu

February 18, 2022 | SPORTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

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Temporary fitness center faces more delays Samantha Torre Sports Editor A construction zone between Seaside and Eden House and no fitness center in sight greets students following winter break. According to an October Graphic article, the University projected completion of the temporary fitness center at the end of 2021. The new projected completion date is summer 2022, Chief Operating Officer Phil Phillips said. “To have these delays is super frustrating to us,” Phillips said. “And we know it’s frustrating to our students. So we hate that. It’s very rare for us to be late on projects but the pandemic has just created so many challenges.” The temporary fitness center is an important step towards the construction of the Mountain, which will be a larger facility in Rho parking lot, said Tim Perrin, senior vice president for strategic implementation. Because the Mountain is years from completion, the temporary center will provide students with a wellness facility in the interim. “We wanted to make sure that there was something available to students sooner than that, that we had enhanced fitness facilities for our students as soon as possible,” Perrin said. “And so the idea of con-

structing this temporary facility now as we plan for and look forward to the Mountain.” Causes of the Delay In a Feb. 2 email to the Graphic, Marie Chu, senior project manager, wrote the most recent delay was a result of the Malibu campus experiencing multiple rain events, including a record breaking nine inches of rain in a 24-hour period Dec. 30. Water pooled in the site until the construction crew could pump it out. “You just have to let the subsurface dry to a certain level before they can begin work again,” Phillips said. “So that was actually a two-week delay.” More general delays include labor and material shortages due to COVID-19 and water infiltrating the subsurface of the site, Phillips said. “Once we started digging down from the foundation we couldn’t find the source of that water,” Phillips said. “And we couldn’t stop it. And we had to, because it could be an underground stream which we know we have, we actually had to stop or redesign — we call it shoring to make sure that the ground stays where it is and won’t move — we had to redesign that shoring.” The water affected geotechnical reinforcements, Philips

Samantha Torre, Sports Editor | Construction crews continue work on Pepperdine’s new temporary fitness center Feb 3. Large amounts of rain over winter break caused delay on completion. said. The University submitted plans to their construction company for new shoring involving concrete but needed to wait for the contractor’s approval before construction could move on. Chu wrote the extent of the delay was not known until after the publication of the October Graphic article. Early on in the construction, Phillips said, workers found a pipe which was not on any of the University’s landscape plans, and most likely dated back to when the Malibu campus was built in 1972. The pipe was made with transite, a building material that contains asbestos, a potentially hazardous substance. “You have to go through a lot of regulations and proto-

cols to keep everybody safe,” Phillips said. “And that added weeks and weeks so the list goes on and on. It’s been a disaster, but those are the main reasons for this delay.” Pepperdine’s agreement with the county and its neighbors regarding limited working hours, Chu wrote, have made it difficult to make up the time lost to delays. Firestone Fieldhouse will continue to act as a fitness center until construction is completed, Phillips said. Effects of the Delays These delays will cause an increase in cost due to the increased construction time, Phillips said. “We always carry contin-

gency in our budget because there’s going to be unexpected things, in particular things in the subsurface,” Phillips said. “So, these really haven’t materially changed the cost. There’ll be some increases but our team is very, very diligent about holding our contractors to their contract and reviewing anything that they charge us.” Phillips said the delay has not changed the overall plans for the building. “We’re keeping the exact same scope,” Phillips said. “It’s going to be 5,000 square feet, which is like double what our [fitness center] is now. And the windows and the restroom. All that is still part of the scope.”

sam.torre@pepperdine.edu

Help keep to-go boxes out of landfills. Use a Green Box today! Step 1: For first time users

Head to Waves Cafe and ask our culinary team for your meal in a Green Box. At the register you will be charged a one time fee of only $5.

Step 2: Drop off your box Once you have finished, you can return your dirty box to the OZZI machine by the dish return in Waves Cafe!

Step 3: Get your token The OZZI machine will give you a token to keep until next time!

Step 4: Repeat! Don't lose your token and use it next time at checkout for a complimentary Green Box.

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F e b r u a ry 18, 2022

The Graphic

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SPORTS

A deep dive into the recruitment process Photo Courtesy of Emma Ammerman | Pepperdine Women’s Indoor Volleyball sophomore outside hitter Emma Ammerman signs her letter of intent on National Signing Day in 2020. Colorado State and the University of Washington both approached Ammerman, but Ammerman settled with Pepperdine. Jerry Jiang Assistant Sports Editor Men’s Volleyball graduate student outside hitter Jaylen Jasper had just finished coaching at the Maryland Juniors’ Sports Club in March 2020 when he received a call from Men’s Volleyball Head Coach David Hunt. Jasper put his car in park and got comfortable because he knew this conversation would go one of two ways. “I was going to learn that I had a chance to go to a school that part of me wished I went to during undergrad, or I was going to learn that as much as I wanted to, it wouldn’t be possible,” Jasper said. Each spring, student-athletes announce their commitment via public mediums, even though some student-athletes choose to verbally commit earlier in the process. The verbal commit lets other colleges and universities know ahead of time, but also gives time for the athlete to choose to de-commit, in case they realize that the school isn’t right for them. Interviewed student-athletes said the recruitment process is stressful but rewarding. Pepperdine Athletics supports their program by recruiting athletes that reflect the school’s core values. “For us it’s very good baseball, faith-based education and high academics are the main approach that we look at,” Men’s Baseball Head Coach Rick Hirtensteiner

said. “Then, just as a development side for a mid-major school, we’ve had a lot of guys that got drafted and made it to the big leagues.” Sustaining Excellence with Pepperdine Athletics Once a college or university offers the recruit a scholarship, the timeline to sign their national letter of intent starts. There are four periods of the recruitment process — the quiet period, dead period, evaluation period and contact period — according to the NCAA recruiting website. Most of these time periods overlap and there are specific rules on how the student-athletes can contact the coaches. The NCAA’s rules regarding recruitment often fluctuate, making it difficult for student-athletes to navigate the process, Women’s Indoor Volleyball sophomore outside hitter Emma Ammerman said. For example, in the past, student-athletes could only call the coaches, and they could only answer the phone if the student-athletes called them, not the other way around, Ammerman said. “There’s a lot of hoops you have to jump through because there’s so many rules from the NCAA,” Ammerman said. For a mid-major D1 program, Pepperdine has excelled in sports across the board. A mid-major program is defined as any school not in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 12 or Southeastern Conference. These confer-

ences are known as the Power Five. Examples of Pepperdine’s athletic success include that the Men’s Baseball team leads the West Coast Conference in players getting drafted to the MLB with 22 players since 2000 and the Women’s Soccer team reaching the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament this past season. The Recruitment Process Judging the recruit, being mindful of the fit and the current roster setup all affect the process of recruiting players, Hirtensteiner said. For coaches of every sport, it’s not just about the talent that the recruit possesses, but the mindset that comes along with the player, Hirtensteiner said. “It takes a while to judge their character and see their makeup, and that’s why we definitely want to talk to as many people as we can,” Hirtensteiner said. “And we also want to see them fail. We want to see them have a bad day perhaps, just to see how they react.” For student-athletes, the fit of the team can play a crucial factor into their final commitment. Jasper said the Men’s Volleyball team’s culture made it easier for him to adjust. “I think just the community about being with the team, guys being selfless, not having intention over [playing time], being excited to compete, and being one of the best teams

in the nation made [the transition] a little easier,” Jasper said. Additionally, the roster setup affects how coaches recruit. For baseball, Hirtensteiner said that the coaching staff needs to be adamant about what positions they go after since players are looking to enter the draft. “We may lose guys that we might’ve thought we’d keep,” Hirtensteiner said. “And we may have open roster spots and make that push late like in June or July of that summer, which is pretty late to go out and find a replacement of the same caliber.” Weighing Options On the players’ side, student-athletes said they need to have a strong connection with their coaching staff to be fully confident with their commitment choice. When coaches show effort to recruit the prospect, that could have a longer-lasting effect on the player’s decision down the line. For Jasper, his path to Pepperdine was unique. After playing all three years as a starter at Stanford, Jasper opted out of the 2021 season. Then, Stanford cut its men’s volleyball program, forcing Jasper to enter the transfer portal. “There are some coaches that I talked to that I can just tell that they more so wanted me there for a year rather than who I was,” Jasper said. “Having what I accomplished at Stanford, they were like

‘OK, we’ll just have you for the time being and then you’ll be gone.’ It seemed like it was very impersonal, and they just wanted me to hear what I wanted to hear but they didn’t really care.” Student-athletes said while multiple schools offer great athletics, Pepperdine separates itself with academics. U.S. News & World Report ranked Pepperdine No. 49 as one of the best schools in the nation in 2021. Jasper said some schools tried to sway him into a major geared towards athletes and didn’t offer something he could see himself doing longterm. Additionally, student-athletes need to weigh their opportunities within the program. “It’s an interesting balance when you’re trying to get recruited,” Ammerman said. “Like, ‘Do I want to go to a place where I’m going to play all the time or am I going to go somewhere where my team is going to win all the time?’” Though the process is often stressful, interviewed student-athletes said they were happy with their decision to commit to Pepperdine. “I’m just so excited that I get to be a part of it,” Ammerman said. “And it’s so cool to get to know these amazing girls but also play alongside these amazing athletes.”

jerry.jiang@pepperdine.edu