The
PIONEER
Issue 9 | November 7, 2013 | Whitman news since 1896 | Vol. CXXXI
“[I]t was decided to halt temporarily the debate team’s participation in Cleveland, intercollegiate debate competition effective immediately.” Chuck Dean of Students
Debate on hold The administration has suspended the debate team from competition due to Title IX concerns. Members have questioned their decision process. The Pioneer investigates. by Sarah Cornett and Hannah Bartman News Editor and Staff Reporter
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he administration has suspended the Whitman debate team’s competition and traveling privileges for an indefinite period in a direct response to a Title IX investigation. The decision was announced to the team at a meeting with debate students and coaches on Oct. 22 by Dean of Students Chuck Cleveland and Provost and Dean of the Faculty Timothy Kaufman-Osborn, prohibiting them from participating in debate tournaments. In late August, a Title IX complaint was filed regarding gender discrimination on the debate team. When a Title IX complaint is filed, a college is legally obligated to begin an investigation immediately, so Whitman administrators conducted an investigation that ended in early October. The results of this investigation inspired the administration’s recent decision. “Specifically in response to recent complaints about the Whitman debate program that were substantiated in an investigation last month, it was decided to halt temporarily the debate team’s participation in intercollegiate competition effective immediately,” said Cleveland in an email. Due to privacy concerns, the college cannot release specific details regarding the Title IX complaint that spurred the investigation.
Whitman’s debate team has been the focus of a Title IX investigation in the past. An investigation was conducted in the spring of 2012 regarding an instance of sexual assault that occurred during the 2010 High School Debate Tournament hosted at Whitman. However, Cleveland confirmed that the travel suspension is unrelated to this past investigation. “Each case is looked at separately,” he said. Motivations for suspension The reason for the suspension, as provided by debaters and administrators, was to give the team more time to focus on eradicating issues of sexism. Cleveland stated that the team needed this time to step away from competition and dedicate its energies to workshops on eliminating inequalities in team culture. “The purpose of this action is to engage team members and coaches in mandatory training focusing on gender and racial discrimination,” said Cleveland. “It is our belief that halting competition would ensure that all team members could participate in the training and that it would send the clearest possible message to the team, coaches and others that Whitman expects to have a program whose culture and environment enables all participants to thrive.” A mandatory training workshop was hosted on Oct. 26 at
see DEBATE, page 3
Photo by Von Clemm
Students explore local history by KARAH KEMMERLY Feature Editor
I Tutoring program links Whitman, Walla Walla students by Lorah Steichen Staff Reporter
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hitman students need jobs; the Walla Walla School District needs support. The America Reads America Counts (ARAC) program forms a partnership between the college and the school district that simultaneously fulfills the needs of both institutions. ARAC employs 30 Whitman students to work toward enhancing reading and math skills in classrooms throughout Walla Walla. Committing the entire school year to the program, each ARAC intern works six to eight hours per week in schools throughout Walla Walla. Although there are interns at Pioneer Middle School, Lincoln High School and Desales Catholic High School, most are distributed throughout Walla Walla’s six elementary schools. While the nature of work varies, ARAC interns work primarily with students in small groups or one-on-one settings. “Whenever you can provide a smaller student-to-adult ratio, the student will always benefit, especially when the adult is a very capable and caring individual that is invested in building relationships with people,” said ARAC Site Coordinator for Blue Ridge Elementary School Tina Holbrook. ARAC provides support that benefits students individually and enhances the classroom experience as a whole. Interns are placed in classrooms where teachers would not otherwise have ac-
cess to this kind of support from paraeducators or parent volunteers. “If our interns were not in that class at that time, that small group review, fundamentals, underscoring, encouragement, affirmation, friendship, all that happens, would not be available to those students ... We’re truly meeting a district need,” said Outreach Coordinator for the Student Engagement Center Susan Prudente. In addition to serving the needs of the Walla Walla Public School District, the program meets the needs of Whitman students. “It’s a win-win situation. It’s a win for Whitman. It’s a win for the school district. And it’s a win for the students because they get paid. And hopefully, what we’re hoping is that as they get into it, that maybe they will look at teaching or somehow contributing [to education] in the future once they graduate,” said Director of Financial Aid Services Marilyn Ponti. Even though the program has been successful in simultaneously providing support for the school district and professional development experiences for Whitman students, funding constrains the program from growing at this time. There have been as many as 60 ARAC interns in the past, but decreases in federal and state monies allocated to the college for work study positions, funds upon which ARAC is contingent upon, have kept the program stagnant at 30 interns for the past several years. “The amount of monies that Whitman College is receiving for work study monies has decreased significantly, but we’re trying to keep
[the amount that goes to ARAC] level so that we can continue to keep the program and keep the students in the school and make it a program that is a win-win situation,” said Ponti. Because of decreased funding from the federal and state government, the Office of Financial Aid has leveled funds for the ARAC program despite the great interest from students and need from the school district. “We’re at the max [amount of interns]. I’ve taken us to the max of what I’ve been given because we have interested students, capable students, and the district need is there ... The district would welcome more America Reads America Counts interns if we [were allocated more work-study monies to] fund them,” said Prudente. Although funding prevents ARAC from increasing the amount of students that it can employ, the program continues to seek ways to expand the professional development opportunities for its interns. Interns undergo a formal hiring process and are trained by Whitman alumni who are now professional educators in the Walla Walla community. “[Interns] receive direct experience that is so applicable for the next job they would be seeking. For their next interview they’ll have real stories and real challenges and successes to talk about — real scenarios. It’s an extremely enriching experience for whatever they do post-America Reads America Counts,” said Prudente. Senior Environmental StudiesBiology major Marie O’Grady applied to ARAC on a whim as a firstsee TUTORING, page 2
n the late 18th century, two nuns arrived in Florida to establish a convent school for underprivileged girls. They had only a table, a chair, a building and $2, but because they received overwhelming support from the community, they eventually founded the Academy of Holy Names. Over the past summer, four French majors read this story in the letters of Sister Mary Augustin, a nun who left her family in Quebec and started convent schools across the United States. This nun’s letters were the primary focus of a Perry Summer Research Grant. Associate Professor of Foreign Languages and Literature (French) Sarah Hurlburt and Archivist and Special Collections Librarian Melissa Salrin advised seniors Anne Gaskins, Annique Rice, Lauren Elgee and Meghan Browne as they transcribed and translated letters in order to gain a better understanding of the French-Canadian migration from Quebec to the Yakima Valley. Though this research team began by reading through Augustin’s letters, which were donated by the Bergevin family, their project expanded to include donated letters from dozens of descendants of the Walla Walla Frenchtown settlers. By the end of the summer, approximately 300 new letter artifacts found a home in the Whitman College and Northwest Archives. While they completed this project, the students got to
learn about more about the process of working as an archivist. During the first half of their project, the research team spent time developing an archival organization system for these letters. They placed each artifact in a protective sleeve, labeled each with a document number and, using glittery stickers, indicated whether or not each had been transcribed. Salrin enjoyed helping these students get to know the archival process. She believes that part of her job as an archivist is helping students to understand the importance of preserving materials in the archives. “I don’t intend for every student who comes through the door to decide to be a historian ... The point is understanding that these things are important, so as a society, we need to take steps to ensure they’re taken care of,” she said. In order to ensure that documents are preserved, of course, archivists must acquire documents. This requires forming bonds and establishing trust with donors. Gaskins, Rice, Browne and Elgee experienced this part of archival work as well. During their project, they interviewed the descendants of the Frenchtown settlers to find out more about their memories of the letter-writers and to build relationships with the descendants so that they would know their heirlooms were being well taken care of. Salrin notes that building strong connections with donors is imperative for the archivist. see ARCHIVES, page 4
Archivist and Special Collections Librarian Melissa Salrin advised four Perry Grant students as they processed 300 letters to add to the archives. Photo by Von Clemm