The
PIONEER
ISSUE 10 | April 16, 2015 | Whitman news since 1896 | Vol. CXXXII
SUSPENDED Feb 6-9: Policy team attends Texas Open tournament.
Whitman Debate forced to disband following policy violations
Prior to spring break (again, date unclear): Policy team put on probation and would haveWhitman Campus Security guard attend next tournament with team
Mid-late Feb (date unknown): Investigations started by Chuck Cleveland and Juli Dunn following complaints by one or more students regarding alcohol policy violations. Some members and coaches of policy team are interviewed. Apr 9: President Bridges and Provost Pat Spencer gather all debate students to announce suspension of team for two years. 30 minutes later the rest of campus is informed via email. by LANE BARTON Staff Reporter
Emily Lin-Jones and Andy Monserud contributed reporting.
O
n April 9, the Whitman Debate team was suspended for a minimum of two years after an investigation by administration revealed violation of team and school policies. The investigation primarily focused on violations of alcohol protocol by debaters and coaches during a 2015 tournament. Allegations of gender discrimination and potentially unsafe situations occurring over the course of the season were also presented to investigators. Investigation into Alcohol Conduct The investigation process centered on allegations of misconduct during a February 2015 tournament at the University of Texas at Austin. Later that month, Associate Dean of Students Juli Dunn and Dean of Students Chuck Cleveland interviewed some members of the policy team and coaches regarding possible alcohol policy violations and an alleged relationship between a coach and student. Prior to Spring Break, a decision was made to put the team on probation. Dur-
Yik Yak takes Whitman campus by storm
ing this time, it was expected that a Whitman Campus Security guard would chaperone the Policy Team to their next tournament to ensure the safety of debaters and that no further policy violations would occur. One former coach, who asked not to be named for legal reasons, admitted that at least one alcohol policy violation had occurred at the Texas tournament, in which the coach had a drink in a hotel bar with a student who had recently turned 21. Team guidelines, which were established last year prior to the hiring of new coaches, prohibit students from drinking at away tournaments. “Obviously [I] made a mistake. I didn’t think it was a fireable offense to have a drink with an of-age student ... After that had occurred we took steps to rectify that misperception [on the team],” said the former coach, who recalled telling investigators about the incident while being interviewed in February. That violation, along with separate allegations of misconduct on the policy team, eventually led to a decision to cancel the remainder of the Policy Debate team’s season. The decision was announced to team members on March 16, and the two policy coaches were dismissed from their positions on the same day. On April 9 it was announced
that the entire program — both policy and parliamentary procedure teams — would be suspended for a minimum of two years. “To be clear ... the primary reason Debate has been suspended for two years is a direct violation of their policies and procedures,” said Dunn. Concerns with Gender Discrimination and Harassment Though they were not the focus of this year’s investigation, concerns regarding gender discrimination and harassment had also been brought to the attention of the administrators running the investigation. “The allegations of gender harassment, discrimination ... I think it just adds to the decision which is ‘We’ve done this for [three] years with this team without a lot of impact in terms of being able to get the behaviors turned around.’ If in addition to alcohol there’s also these other concerns that are circling about behaviors that we weren’t able to confirm, that’s problematic,” said Dunn. Although the administration could not disclose specific allegations, individuals involved with debate, some of whom wished to remain anonymous due to continued interactions with team members, spoke to The Pioneer about issues they claim to
by GEOFFREY LEACH Staff Reporter
T
Feature Editor
W
see YIK YAK, page 6
Haley Forrester ‘17 (above) contemplates the experiences of her character, C. Photo by Dawson
A&E
Pio Hour
Online
Columnist Zan McPherson discusses the effects of online interactive health care and its effect on individuals.
This Sunday, hosts Anna Middleton and Andrew Schwartz of The Pioneer’s radio show discuss current events in and around campus, the state and the world. Tune into KWCW 90.5 FM. SUNDAYS, 10–11 A.M.
Check out our website at www.whitmanpioneer.com for continuing updates on the suspension of the Whitman Debate Team.
PAGE 4
have experienced in the past year. Instances of female debaters possibly being treated unfairly were among the complaints brought forward to administrators. A member of the team, who wished to remain anonymous, contended that some female debaters were sent to compete in fewer intercollegiate tournaments and were given less feedback than male debaters. In a letter to The Pioneer, Director of Debate Kevin Kuswa cited the many steps taken to improve the program’s inclusivity since its Title IX review last year, denying that decisions to take debaters to tournaments were based on gender. “Debate is a competitive activity that requires coaches to make difficult decisions ... All travel-related decisions were made according to our team policy which was crafted with, and approved by, the Whitman administration. It is not for me to question the feelings of individual debaters ... but I can say that we have worked extremely hard to provide coaching and support to all of our students,” said Kuswa in the letter. Prior to the suspension of the policy team in March, some team members claim they brought forward concerns to administrators regarding their personal safety at debate tournaments.
“Women have felt unsafe at debate tournaments for reasons of sexual misconduct,” said Taylor*, another debate member. In an email, President Bridges acknowledged that reports of harassment and alcohol use at national tournaments had influenced the administration’s decision to suspend Whitman’s program. “The two-year suspension will give us an opportunity to explore [national debate] culture more carefully, speak with other institutions who are competing in [Policy or Parliamentary Procedure], and determine whether there [are] inherent or structural issues at the national level that would make it difficult for us to ever put a team back on the road and ensure, to a great deal of accuracy, the safety of all the participants involved,” he said in his email. Former and current debaters claim that multiple complaints have been brought to the administration about gender, sexual misconduct and safety issues on the team over the past four years. Senior Annabelle Marcovici, a former debater who quit the team in 2011 during former director Jim Hanson’s tenure, mentioned feeling alienated by the atmosphere while on the team. see DEBATE, page 2
*Names have been changed.
Reflecting with ‘Three Tall Women’
by SARAH CORNETT
alking around campus, it is not unlikely that you’ll hear a student or two talking about Yaks. While it is possible that they are speaking of large wild oxen, they are more likely discussing the latest social media craze to overtake campus conversations: Yik Yak. In the past year, Yik Yak has taken both the country and Whitman’s campus by storm.“Who Spewed that abuse? Anonymous Yik Yak app isn’t telling,” read a New York Times headline last month. “Yik Yak Attack,” Bitch Magazine titled a story one week later. “Social Media’s Hateful Site” headlined a story in a Detroit newspaper two weeks ago. An anonymous app that narrows what you see based on location, Yik Yak is meant to provide a platform for short, Tweetlike statements made on your phone that can be up or downvoted. Because it is a locationbased app, with results narrowed to a five-mile radius, Yik Yak is well-suited for college campuses. Started in 2013, its founders Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington started Yik Yak in an effort to provide a more honest platform for social media, a sort of communal bulletin board for college students.
Mar 16: Debate team and campus informed of policy team's suspension for remainder of season in an email. Two coaches were fired at this time.
hrough April 19, the Department of Theatre will perform “Three Tall Women” in Harper Joy Theatre. Written by Edward Albee, the play tells the story of three women, named A, B and C. A, played by sophomore Lauren Rekhelman, is a 92-year-old woman who tells a lot of stories. B, played by senior Anastasia Greeley, is her 52-yearold caretaker. C, played by sophomore Haley Forrester, is a 26 year old from a lawyer’s office looking into why A is not paying her bills. There is also a boy, played by sophomore Thomas Zbyszewski. “From my character’s perspective, it’s about learning to age, learning to be O.K. with aging,” said Forrester. The three actors are all playing women older than them, and in the cases of Greeley and Rekhelman, their age difference is quite large. To try and appear older, Greeley looks at the specific movements she makes. “I’ve been preparing for this role by thinking a lot about my physicality in terms of age. How does a 52 year old move that’s different from a 21 year old? And that involves being a lot more deliberate in my actions, not slow, but just not as rapid,” said Greeley. The play will be under the direction of guest director Paul Budraitis, who has worked in a number of theaters and studied extensively in Lithuania. He used some exercises to try and get the actors into character. “One of the exercises we did to get in character was imagining the character in front of us in a mirror ... imagining them standing there like how they would look, what they would be wearing,” said Forrester. Forrester’s character, C, is a lot closer in age. In this way, Forrester can more closely relate to her character than
Showtimes All performances will be at Harper Joy Theatre. Tickets are available at the Box Office.
Thursday: 8 p.m. Friday: 8 p.m. Saturday: 2 p.m, 8 p.m. Sunday: 2 p.m. Rekhelman and Greeley. “I’m not her, but at the same time my character is 26, so, as opposed to the older ladies, I can more closely relate to her just age-wise,” said Forrester. “Some of the things she says I can totally understand.” Even though there is a giant age difference between Greeley and the character B, Greeley still manages to find a connection. “I take care of kids a lot. I do a lot of babysitting, and not to say that is exactly what B is doing with A, but it is a caretaker role, so I understand what it is to assist another human being,” said Greeley. Part of this also stems from Greeley’s need to feel connected with all the character’s she plays. “If I’m playing a role I have to feel connected, it’s complete empathy,” said Greeley. With such a small cast, the play offers a lot of challenges. Forrester found that one of these challenges was memorizing lines. “It’s a four-person cast and the lines are shared between three of the four people, and so I’m essentially memorizing a little less than a third of the play,” said Forrester. Still, the actors feel a connectedness that pushes them toward success. The size of the cast might be daunting but it is also exciting. see TALL WOMEN, page 4