The Torch — Edition 7 // Volume 49

LANE COMMUNITY COLLEGE’S

I N D E P E N D E N T, S T U D E N T- R U N N E W S P A P E R

Good vibrations Historical play tackles hysteria Pages 4-5

november 21, 2013

volume 50, edition 7

EU G ENE , ORE G ON

Golfers unite in “We Are the World” Remake

alyssa leslie // PHOTO EDITOR

Lane advanced technology adviser Claudia Riumallo addresses Lane’s College Council in a Nov. 14 discussion about implementing cultural competency training.

DIVERSITY DEBATE Continues Council tries to strike compromise between faculty, students

Clifton Haney News Editor With four different recommendations for cultural competency training on the table, the College Council will meet Dec. 12 to hear testimony from the instructors who would be affected by the new policy.

The recommendations were all rejected in May 2013 after the College Council failed to find a compromise.

“Cultural competency

training is necessary for instructors,” said Paul Zito, the student government president, because “we have (heard) a very large amount of personal stories from students who’ve been in classrooms and experienced that disrespect.”

Lane’s student government, the Associated Students of Lane Community College, has submitted a policy this year, which places responsibility of designing and implementing the policy on the Diversity

Office and division deans, and requires all employees to attend 18 hours of training a year.

The Lane Community College Education Association, Lane’s faculty union, has also submitted a proposal that would place responsibility of designing and implementing the policy on Lane’s College Administration and Lane Workgroup Representatives, and would ensure they support employees attempting to

meet this expectation.

In a faculty-wide email sent Nov. 14, Salt described the union’s stance, that the initial proposals placed the focus “on problematic faculty statements and behavior. …

Which means these issues are our responsibility to address and can largely only be addressed by us. … The fact that student proponents don’t get that is understandable; the fact that the administration rejects it is indicative of a

broader problem.”

In the email’s closing paragraph, Salt drew on lessons from his own class.

“Finally, we recognize, of course, the sensitivity of this issue,” Salt wrote. “As I say in my own courses on race and ethnicity, ‘Talking about race, racism and related matters is probably the hardest conversation to have in the U.S. today’ CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Food pantry opens, gives to students Organizer: 65 to 75 percent of students qualify J. Wolfgang Wool Reporter

LAURA NEWMAN // A&E EDITOR Rainy Day Food Pantry organizers Michael Weed and Darlene Azarmi sort through donations in the Center Building on Nov. 14.

Lane’s new food pantry for students has opened and will give food away Nov. 21 and 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Rainy Day Food Pantry, located in Room 218 of the Center Building, opened Nov. 20.

Operated by student government’s Sustainable Food Committee, the pantry is intended to address hunger on the Lane Campus, where more than 30,000 students attended class.

The pantry will distribute non-perishable foods including vegetables, canned meats, macaroni and cheese, beans and

40 cans of goat milk.

Sustainability Coordinator Mike Weed and Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group Lane organizer Darlene Azarmi said the Food Committee was formed because of the substantial number of students who qualify as people in need of assistance.

“I’d say that about 65 to 75 percent of our students qualify as (a person of need) easily. I actually haven’t looked at it this year, but it may be closer to 80 percent,” Weed said.

To receive benefits, a student is required to fill out an original CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

2

editor-In-CHIEF

Opinion

Lane Community College’s Independent, student-run newspaper

STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Mohammed Alkhadher

NEWS EDITOR Clifton Haney

SPORTS EDITOR Jarrid Denney

A&E EDITOR

Laura Newman

REPORTERS

Taya Alami Keoni Conlu Anna Tatum Marilyn Walker Wolfgang Wool

COPY EDITOR Sean Hanson

PHOTO EDITOR Alyssa Leslie

PHOTOGRAPHERS Hana Behrs Matt Edwards Zora Parker Brett Stanley Leighanne Vittetoe

PRODUCTION MANAGER Charlene Houweling

DESIGN EDITOR Byron Hughey

GRAPHIC ARTIST Connor White

NEWS ADVISER Paige Parker

PRODUCTION ADVISER Dorothy Wearne

POLICY • Letters to the editor should be limited to 300 words.

• Guest commentaries should be limited to 500 words.

• Please include the author’s name, phone number and address (for verification purposes only).

• The Torch reserves the right to edit letters and commentary for length, grammar, spelling, libel, invasion of privacy and appropriate language.

• The Torch reserves the right to publish at its discretion.

All web and print content is the property of the Torch and cannot be republished without editiorial permission.

• Up to two copies per issue per person of The Torch are free; each additional copy is $2.

CONTACT The Torch Lane Community College 4000 E. 30th Ave. Eugene, OR 97405 torcheditor@lcctorch.edu

THE TORCH // Thursday, nov. 21, 2013

MOHAMMED ALKHADHER

Students, staff need to be more culturally aware EDITORIAL Not to be overly dramatic, but Lane’s lack of a policy on cultural competency is the single greatest nonfinancial issue currently facing the college.

That’s why we encourage members of Lane’s faculty union to join many of their students on the correct side of history, by demanding their representatives on the College Council find a way to reach consensus on a policy regarding cultural competency as soon as possible.

For a number of years, student activists have been trying to gain enough momentum to pass such a policy, educating its faculty on cultural subtleties and sensitivities in hopes of making Lane a more welcoming place for all.

Max Jensen, a student-advocate for gender and sexual diversity, told Lane’s Board of Education during its Nov. 13 meeting that most incidents of cultural insensitivity on campus are preventable, as they usually are perpetrated by teachers who aren’t bigots at all, but by those who simply don’t know any better.

During the meeting Jensen described situations where students shared their experiences of being marginalized in the class room.

Later in the same meeting, Jim Salt, the faculty union’s president and its representative to the LCCEA on the College Council, responded to Jensen and addressed the policy in general.

“You heard a story that could only leave you outraged. You heard students were outraged,” Salt said. “What kind of right-wingers, racists, misogynists, liars and other things people have been called, could possibly be getting in the way of a policy when we’re all on the same page? Well, let me tell you some of the people who are

opposed to it … ” Salt went on to list several people by name, all of them “anti-racists,” as he put it.

According to Salt, just because consensus wasn’t reached, does not mean he or anyone else on the faculty opposes the contents of the policy.

In a June interview with The Torch, Salt said his issue with cultural competency at the time was the wording of the policies, which he said required faculty members to take additional hours out of their schedules to be “forced to learn” about how to not be ignorant.

The fact is, teachers should be required to posses the necessary skills to teach their students without offending them, at all costs.

This is not to lay cultural responsibility entirely on instructors’ shoulders.

We’ve heard offensive comments from students and community members, too. Such training should be available to them, and we’d like to see mandatory cultural competency training for students as well.

According to the student government’s proposals, instructors would be required to attend 18 hours of such training. That’s equivalent to two hours per month.

“Is that too much? ... I’m a licensed psychologist in this state,” Lane counselor Doug Smyth said at the Nov. 14 College Council meeting. “My requirement for my license for twelve months ... that’s 25 hours.”

We don’t think 18 hours is too much, Mr. Smyth. Instructors work with students more than any other position on campus — even psychologists. Lane’s diversity is changing before us, as international enrollment increased by 50 percent this school year.

No amount of additional faculty hours could offset the loss of kinetic energy caused by a single student turning his or her back on their education due to discrimination, intentional or not.

The socially accepted, sporadically rewarded, prejudices against religion, race and gender identities are arguably still as prevalent in America today as they’ve ever been.

Jensen is correct. The majority of the people who make us bring our palms to our faces aren’t bigots; they’re just unaware of subtleties.

Our status quo was bred from institutionalized prejudice. Even those of us who say we would never take part in any form of bigotry are still able to benefit from an exploitative social ladder in ways that we could hardly imagine, let alone see.

We have the opportunity as a community to reverse course.

By passing a cultural competency policy, we can take the first step to change the way we learn about social constructs in academics, allowing future generations the ability to study prejudice and exploitation with no guilt, no fear and no lies.

We support the faculty in seeking compensation for the time they will be required to spend in training.

All we’re asking from Lane is that they do what they ask Lane students to do every day: Find a way.

That’s why we encourage all of our readers, especially those on the College Council, to put their personal defenses aside and allow themselves to be open to understanding and compassion.

Yasher koach. As-salamu alaykum.

In the interest of raising cultural awareness, we urge you to Google these salutations.

NEWS EDITOR

NEWS

CLIFTON HANEY

Lane tracks inflation to set tuition Board of Education has yet to decide on next year’s tuition

food pantry now open intake form and provide proof they are currently enrolled at Lane.

“The way a lot of these places work, (on) small campuses like this, is more on an honorbased system,” Weed said at an ASLCC meeting.

Weed said the application to Oregon Food Bank for assistance had to be resubmitted because the original nonprofit sponsor, OSPIRG, was ineligible. FOOD for Lane County still approved the pantry, but until Oregon Food Bank finishes processing the application, it cannot supply assistance.

OSPIRG, which seeks to provide an independent voice for consumers, was not eligible because it is legally a research group. The Lane Community College Foundation is the current nonprofit sponsor for the pantry. The foundation is in charge of raising funds for the campus and scholarships for students.

Because of the need to resubmit its application, the Rainy Day Pantry’s upcoming distributions will be provided for solely by Food Committee fundraisers. Once the application is processed, FOOD for Lane County will help supply resources to the pantry.

Weed said the Food Committee currently has more than $400 in donations as well as donated food. OSPIRG has donated $288 from a fundraiser at Ninkasi Brewing in May and an additional $66.21 from a bake sale earlier this term. ASLCC donated another $50 from its funds.

Two OSPIRG members who sit on the Food Committee have planned separate fundraising events for the coming week.

The first of these events, organized by John Taylor, is a movie night Nov. 22 at 6 p.m. at Titan Court. In exchange for two or three cans, moviegoers

Taya Alami Reporter The Lane Board of Education voted unanimously to select the Higher Education Price Index, a tool for measuring a college’s inflation, to guide them when considering the cost of tuition in the upcoming year.

HEPI is an average indicating the national rate of change for the costs of goods and services most commonly purchased by colleges and universities.

It’s compiled and maintained by The Commonfund Institute, a nonprofit organization that monitors college and university endowments.

The costs of goods and services calculated by HEPI includes salaries for personnel, benefits and the costs of miscellaneous materials.

Tuition increases to keep pace with inflation are considered separate from other general tuition increases.

The last time the board voted to raise tuition based on the HEPI was February 2013, when a $2 per-credit tuition increase was approved.

Had the board not passed the HEPI last year, the

Continued From page 1

3

resulting deficit would have been an approximately $800,000 shortfall for the current school year, due to inflation.

The board selected the HEPI over the Consumer Price Index to calculate its rate of inflation for tuition revenue for the upcoming year.

The CPI consists of a similar calculation to the HEPI — but it tracks the average national rate of change in the costs of goods and services most commonly purchased by households, not institutions.

Its rate is calculated by the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While a number of institutions like Lane use the CPI as their tuition index, CPI at Lane is used to help calculate salaries for employees and faculty during collective bargaining agreements.

“The HEPI fits the CPI pretty close,” Lane President Mary Spilde said.

Board member Pat Albright said he thought the HEPI had been an adequate tuition index for the college in the past.

“Let’s not mess with what’s working,” Albright said.

Public Safety Briefs

LAURA NEWMAN // A&E EDITOR The Rainy Day Pantry has received more than $400 in donations.

can watch the film Pursuit of Happyness. All donations will go directly to the pantry.

Andrei Tutui is organizing a two-mile run and walk to raise money and canned goods. The event will start on Nov. 24 at 1 p.m. by Hayward Field and ends at Track Town Pizza in Eugene.

“This is a test run. We are planning a major one with more sponsors later,” Tutui said.

Weed said ASLCC has set aside $10,000 for the Sustainable Food Committee, the bulk of which is slated to be used by the Rainy Day Pantry. The committee is in the process of getting the funds transferred into their control.

Professor Teresa Hughes has her Video Production II class creating short videos for the Rainy Day Pantry.

Student filmmakers Tania Colgan and Bryan Emanuel said there were four teams working to make films to serve as public service announcements, training for volunteers at the pantry, and general advertising.

Colgan and Emanuel’s assignment is a film showing the process a person goes through when getting food from the pantry.

The pantry is technically a pilot project, but Weed said his goal was to petition for it to be a permanent fixture come spring

term.

The Rainy Day Pantry has been an ongoing goal of the Food Committee since Spring 2013. The committee is made up of a combination of students from ASLCC, OSPIRG and students at large.

Weed wrote in an email that because OSPIRG, ASLCC and the Sustainable Food Committee were integral in forming the pantry he wanted each group to play a role in managing the endeavor.

Azarmi said that during spring term they were able to get hundreds of faculty and staff to sign a petition in support of creating the Rainy Day Pantry. Lane Community College’s President Mary Spilde was among those that signed.

Azarmi and incoming Lane OSPIRG organizer Alicia Bissonette credit then-OSPIRG intern Adam Brown with the original presentation to ASLCC that formed the Sustainable Food Committee. Azarmi said it is because of this that OSPIRG has done so much to help support the Food Committee and the Rainy Day Pantry.

“Because it was something an OSPIRG student had worked with we were like, ‘Cool, what’s going on with this committee?’ And then we just started working together through the committee,” Azarmi said.

Nov. 19, 10:14 a.m.

Suspicious person

An unidentified woman was reportedly “acting strangely, pantomiming horror stories, like someone killing themselves” in Building 19. She was also reported to have been “throwing things out of her purse.”

Nov. 19, 2:19 p.m.

Disorderly people

A group of unidentified men were reportedly “doing kung fu” in the Building 1 hallway near the Counseling Department.

Nov. 19, 2:30 p.m.

Drunk and disorderly

An unidentified man was reportedly opening items at the Center Building Titan Store. The man, who was reportedly intoxicated, said he lost his backpack and didn’t possess any identification, but that his girlfriend was on her way to pay for the items.

Nov. 19, 11:33 p.m.

Trespassing

An unidentified woman was found hiding in Building 1. Public Safety issued a trespassing citation to the woman and told her she was no longer allowed on campus.

Nov. 12, 9:40 p.m.

Suspicious conditions

A member of Lane’s janitorial staff found “a .45-caliber bullet” in the men’s bathroom on the first floor of Building 1.

The Torch // Thursday, nov. 21, 2013

4

A&E

PHOTOS BY ZORA PARKER // PHOTOGRAPHER Top: Mr. Daldry, played by Bruce Lundy, makes advances on Mrs. Givings, played by Lane student Naomi Todd, in the Student Productions Association performance of In The Next Room or “The Vibrator Play,” showing in the Building 6 Blue Door Theater through Nov. 23.

Top right: Mrs. Giving and Dr. Givings, played by Lane student Justin Warner, experiment with the new vibrator machine in his office.

Right: Mrs. Givings, umbrella in hand, arrives home after a walk in the rain.

Bottom left: Mrs. Givings and Dr. Givings share a kiss.

THE TORCH // Thursday, nov. 21, 2013

A&E editor

A&E

Laura Newman

5

Play sets SPA abuzz

Actors not faking enthusiasm for play Laura Newman A&E Editor The Student Productions Association began its fall performance of Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) Nov. 14 at Lane’s Blue Door Theater in Building 6.

One may think that attending a production titled The Vibrator Play would entail being greeted at the door by lewd behavior, sexual deviance and an act one tick away from porn on the grand stage.

“A lot of people hear (the title) and think it’s porn,” Ali Thorson, a Lane theater major who plays the role of Annie said. “No, it isn’t porn. It’s a classical play.”

In the Next Room is a tactful and historical production about the medical innovation of the vibrator, which was used to treat several ailments typically ascribed to women in the late 19th century.

Some of these symptoms included emotional outbursts,

depression, sensitivity to light and severe stress.

“It’s a historical fact that doctors back in the day used … vibrators to treat women with hysteria, which is what they labeled anything from drowsiness during the day to freaking out at their husbands,” SPA President David Harvey said. “It was all hysteria.”

Women were not the only ones to benefit from such a practice. Although it was a rare occurrence for a man to suffer from hysteria, there were such cases, according to the play.

“Leonard’s experience is at first shocking and then confusing — and then rather pleasing. And then, of course, the paroxysm comes and he doesn’t know what to make of it because the last time he had one of those he was trouncing around a bed in Italy,” studentactor Ben Buchanan said.

Buchanan, who plays the role of an English gentleman Leonard Irving, spoke about

his character’s experience with Dr. Givings.

“To have something so invasive cure him of such a disease is revolutionary,” he said.

This play deals with controversial issues such as sex, race, women’s issues like motherhood and gender roles.

Chelyce Chambers, a member of Actors Cabaret of Eugene, plays the role of Elizabeth, the Givings’ wet nurse.

“The first scene sums up the times,” Chambers said, “times of sexism and racism and sexual deprivation that women had.”

Willow Norton, a former Lane student in town from New York City, who was hired to direct this production, said In The Next Room “is about marriage, intimacy, and electricity. The themes of identity, sexuality, and relationships ring true for every audience.”

The play is beautiful and controversial, Buchanan said, and inappropriate for children.

“Come see the show!” Harvey said.

IN THE NEXT ROOM

Showtimes Nov. 21-23 7:30 p.m.

General Admission $8 Students, Seniors $5 Children discouraged from attending

Lane’s Blue Door Theater, Building 6

The Torch // Thursday, nov. 21, 2013

6

NEWS EDITOR

NEWS

CLIFTON HANEY

Competing diversity proposals fail to gain approval

Cont. From p.1

Policies debated (all failed)

“Compromise” proposal

ASLCC proposal

May 22 “joint” proposal

May 22 faculty proposal

Requires 18 hours?

Yes

Yes

No

No

Teachers help design training?

No

No: college administrators and “experts”

Yes

Yes

Teachers evaluated based on attending training?

Supervisors must ensure participation

Must plan for and report on efforts

Must plan for and report on efforts

No

Requires teachers to be paid for training?

No

No

Yes

No

Defines diversity?

Yes: Many categories listed

No

No

No

… . But as I also say, ‘We are all responsible for ensuring that we can talk about it, and that we do talk about it in appropriate ways,’ and I’m confident that we can and will.”

The debate is part of a discussion that some, such as Lane ethnic studies instructor Mark Harris, said has been going on for more than two decades.

“I sent an email out once and got about 23 responses: ‘Yes, we should have mandatory cultural competency training.’

So the head of the faculty union is not representing us on this matter,” Harris said.

“Please know that we’ve hesitated to communicate in depth about these developments, preferring to bring all parties together and work out our differences in private,” he said in the email. “If you have opportunities to communicate

with student leaders on this matter, please assure them that you, and the faculty as a whole, are responsive to their concerns, and want to work with them. “ Zito said he is concerned the faculty union is pushing for autonomy when conducting the training.

“As wonderful as that sounds ... it shouldn’t take this many concerned students to bring it up. (Instructors are) the ones in those positions, they see those things happening and they have yet to deal with it themselves,” he said. “They’re not here to put anyone down or to be bigots or whatever. But with the lack of participation in dealing with those issues in the past, I don’t think it would be right for them to develop it when they’re coming into it this late in the game.”

In the past, discussions

regarding the need for cultural competency training have ebbed and flowed, Lane political science instructor Steve Candee said.

“It’s been driven by particular incidents that will happen and then, after a discussion, a suggestion will be made to (provide) sensitivity training,” he said.

Candee, who played no role in crafting the proposals, said the last incident he could recall happened “five or six years ago,” and the social science department attended “sensitivity training.”

“People attended because they were told they had to, but I doubt the level of commitment they had … was very strong,” he said. “I think it’ll happen, and I think it should happen, but I think in order for it to happen, you definitely

have to appease those who are the most resistant in ways that allow them to buy into it.

You’re not gonna get everybody, but you’re gonna get a certain percentage.”

At the Nov. 14 College Council meeting, several Lane employees weighed in.

“When we talk about diversity, I always say we’re in a globalized world. We need to have diversity skills,” Advanced Technology adviser Claudia Riumallo said at the meeting.

“Sometimes we don’t realize the micro-aggression we’re perpetuating as an institution. … It doesn’t provide a safe place to talk, and it doesn’t provide an environment for higher education.

“In a globalizing environment we should know how to listen to different stories, because everybody this room has

a different story,” she added.

Information technology analyst Susan Iverson also spoke at the meeting.

“I agree that being sensitive to cultural differences and avoiding discrimination are important. That said, I am insulted by the idea of mandatory cultural competency training or of requiring employees to plan for or report on their professional development efforts in this area,” she said.

Native American programs coordinator James Florendo likes the idea of an 18-hour minimum.

“Eighteen hours a year is a good place to start. Everybody needs it,” Florendo wrote in an email. “The fact that this is even an issue points to the need.”

(Copy Editor Sean Hanson contributed to this report.)

Master Recycler program helps cities go green Kelly Bell looks to make the world more sustainable

Keoni Conlu Reporter In the 13 years since the Master Recycler program has been in Eugene, green has gone viral.

The program has turned 700 volunteers into knowledgable recyclers since moving from Portland to the Eugene-Springfield area. In 2012, volunteers from the program helped the annual Whiteaker Thanksgiving community dinner reduce the utensils thrown away to less than one cubic yard. Before the Master Recycler program became involved, volunteers from the dinner were tossing an equivalent of 4 cubic yards.

“We want to create knowledgeable core groups of volunteers,” Master Recycler coordinator Kelly Bell said. “They go out to the community and share the information they learned with others.”

The Master Recycler program was established in Portland in 1990, then moved to the EugeneSpringfield area in 2000. They are headquartered at the Lane County Waste Management

Division on East 17th Street.

The classes aim to educate residents and businesses on how to reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink waste habits. ”I learned what a big difference an individual can make diverting waste from the landfill,” BJ Hurwich, a 2006 Master Recycler alumnus, said.

Hurwich managed recycling for the 2008 Olympics Track and Field trials in Eugene. She instituted event recycling for Project Homeless Connect and the Whiteaker Community Dinner.

The program operates in a different city each term, and runs like a normal college-level class with a three-hour lecture in a Q&A format. The classes are nine weeks long per term. In 2008, the first year the program traveled to a new city, organizers found a classroom at Lane’s Cottage Grove campus.

They have worked with other rural cities, including Florence, Creswell and Junction City. Cities have to lobby to be chosen because organizers choose the city where residents show the most interest in their services. Organiz-

THE TORCH // Thursday, nov. 21, 2013

ers are considering holding the spring class in either Oakridge, the McKenzie River area or — for the third time — Florence.

“It isn’t as straightforward as it (seems). The training gave me a different perspective of what you can live without, using items that are going to last a long time,” Carolyn Stein, a 2008 Master Recycler alumnus, said.

Stein went on to become a Program Manager of BRING’s RE:think Business program, which is a free onsite consulting service for businesses in Lane County.

“I learned a lot about how to recycle different things and where they can be recycled. A lot of organizations go to Kelly to make events more green,” Hurwich said.

Lane has also enlisted the services of the Master Recycler program. When Lane was first starting its cafeteria compost collection, they needed Master Recycler volunteers to come out and stand around a kiosk and educate folks as the process was getting off the ground.

BRETT STANLEY // PHOTOGRAPHER Lane County Department of Public Works Master Recycler Coordinator Kelly Bell stands by the garbage pit at the Lane County Waste Management Division on East 17th Street.

The way that the Master Recycle program gets its name out there is mainly by radio. They don’t want to use TV or newspaper ads for classes because it would raise a unique problem.

“We haven’t advertised for the fall class and for some reason we were under enrolled a month out,” Kelly said. “We did one press release from The Register-Guard, and I got 50 hits from that, and it filled the fall

and winter classes. We couldn’t accommodate as many people as we get if we did any more advertising.”

Lane students in energy management programs could get credit for participating in this program. “(Presenters) are experts in their respective fields from governments to private businesses and nonprofit organizations,” Kelly said.

SPORTS EDITOR

SPORTS

JARRID DENNEY

7

MATT EDWARDS // PHOTOGRAPHER Sophomore Brandy Blackburn is the only Lane athlete who has participated in both a fall and winter sport this year. She was a backup goalkeeper on the Titans soccer team and is the starting center on the women’s basketball team.

Titan balances soccer, basketball, school Blackburn returns to sports after battling concussions

“What Brandy brought on the field was always a big help ... but the biggest thing about Brandy is just who she is as a person.”

Dave Ellis soccer coach Lane Titans

Marilyn Walker Reporter You could say Brandy Blackburn wears three jerseys. She’s a third-year student, a sophomore basketball center and a freshman goalkeeper on the soccer field.

Blackburn is the only Lane athlete who will participate in both a fall and winter sport this year.

With the soccer season over, Blackburn’s looking towards the hardwood.

Blackburn said balancing soccer practice, basketball practice and 13 credits this fall wasn’t too hard.

“We get study hours, and coaches give us time to do our school work. It evens out pretty well,” Blackburn said.

When asked what a basic day in her life was like, Blackburn said, “For a while there, it was pretty much, get up, go to class, go to soccer. Then hurry up, go to basketball practice, do trainers after, come home, do homework, eat and then go to bed.”

Blackburn was born and raised in Payette, Idaho.

At Payette High School, Blackburn was a three-time all-

state goalkeeper, and her soccer team won the state championship in 2009-10, according to Blackburn’s Lane athletic profile.

She started playing soccer in fourth grade and basketball in third.

Blackburn originally came to Lane to play basketball and was recruited by Lane women’s basketball head coach Greg Sheley.

“We recruited her, brought her out here for a visit, liked what we saw and made her an athletic talent grant offer,” Sheley said, “and she accepted.”

When first watching her play, the coaches were attracted to her reach and her height, and saw potential in her raw talent to develop and improve.

“From two and a half years ago, she’s way better mentally at understanding the game. Her basketball IQ has gone up,” Sheley said. “I think her confidence in herself has gone up and that, in turn, has allowed her to be confident on the basketball court, so she’s more than doubled her improvement.”

She redshirted her second year on the basketball team after she suffered concussions.

“We are more conscious of head injuries now. If I get hit and there’s a headache, we instantly stop. I’ll sit out for a day if I get a headache,” Blackburn said.

Blackburn didn’t join the Titans soccer team until her third year at Lane. Sheley approved of her decision to go out for a second sport.

“We were all for it. We were there to support her in it. She wanted to give it a try so I felt that she had earned the right to give it a shot,” Sheley said.

Titans starting goalkeeper Samantha Schoene shed a light on what kind of teammate Blackburn is.

“I think Brandy was a positive impact on the team and brought her good work ethic to the team,” Schoene said. “She really helped me in practice, made me always be on my game, and I did the same to her.

She was always encouraging and did a great job as goalie when she did play. She’s my alltime favorite back-up goalie.”

Sheley and Titans soccer head coach Dave Ellis both praised Blackburn for her achievements on the basketball court and soccer field, but

agreed that the influence she has had on her teammates is just as important.

“She’s a really quality kid.

That’s another thing that we really liked about her. She’s been problem-free — takes care of her business. I think she’s a great teammate and I think thats a really nice thing: We don’t have to worry about her.

We don’t have to babysit her,” Sheley said.

“What Brandy brought on the field was always a big help and was obviously the key of getting her here, but the biggest thing about Brandy is just who she is as a person. She made practice more fun every day for all the team and the coaches.

She’s mature beyond her years,” Ellis said.

Blackburn plans on furthering her education after Lane.

“After this, I plan on finding another school … in either Oregon or Idaho,” she said.

“Hopefully I can keep playing either soccer or basketball. I don’t know what I want to do as my career yet. Currently I am studying criminal justice, so anything in law enforcement I find interesting.”

The Torch // Thursday, nov. 21, 2013

8

SPORTS EDITOR

SPORTS

JARRID DENNEY

Hood, McKirdy, Walker earn all-star honors Jarrid Denney Sports Editor Three Lane women’s soccer players were named to the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges regional all-star team.

Freshman forward Aubrie Hood and freshman defender Emily Walker were both named to the NWAACC regional all-star team. Sophomore defender Katie McKirdy was named to the team for the second year in a row.

The All-Star teams are chosen each year by all the coaches in the conference and were announced on nwaacc.org on Nov. 14.

Hood, Walker and McKirdy were named to the team that represents the South and West regions.

“I think it’s cool to be recognized as an All-Star and I was the first forward from Lane,” Hood said. “That’s pretty cool too.”

Walker agreed.

“It was a good feeling, to get appreciated and noticed,” she said.

McKirdy is the only Lane

soccer player to make the team twice in consecutive years.

“I think, growing up, I didn’t ever feel like I was that good, so it makes me feel pretty special,” McKirdy said.

Lane head coach Dave Ellis praised his team’s all-stars.

“Katie is probably one of the most improved players I’ve ever had coming from high school,” Ellis said. “She learns so quickly and she never makes the same mistake twice.”

McKirdy played right fullback last year for the Titans, but moved to left fullback this season to help strengthen the Titans’ defense and was still able to maintain the same form that earned her all-star honors as a freshman.

“Emily was the best individual defender I saw all season in the NWAACC,” Ellis said. “Her pace and her focus as a defender really are second to none.”

Walker left her mark on the Titans’ final game of the season, when she held Everett Community College’s star forward, Rachel Detroit, scoreless and kept her from touching

alyssa leslie // PHOTO EDITOR Lane freshman Emily Walker, sophomore (left) Katie McKirdy and freshman Aubrie Hood were three of the soccer players named to the 2013 NWAACC South and West regional All-Star Team. At the Nov. 17 All-Star Game in Tukwila, Wash., South and West tied the North and East regional team 2-2.

the ball most of the match.

“Aubrie’s a rare breed.

She can create goals for other people and also score them herself,” Ellis said. “Through the season, she really transformed her work rate, and became one of the hardest-

working kids on the team.

That’s when her form and her play really picked up.”

Hood lead the Titans in assists, with six on the season, and also tied for the team lead in goals.

Tori Roberts of Clackamas

Community College was named the NWAACC South Region’s most valuable player.

Clackamas’ Janine Szpara and Clark Community College’s Rochelle Hearns shared South Region Coach of the Year.

attention all students

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THE TORCH // Thursday, nov. 21, 2013