ISSUE 12
Whitman news since 1896
The
PIONEER
December 1, 2016
Feature Editor
F
rom the outside, The Atlas Cafe looks like any other modest-sized house in College Place. The forest green siding, the clean white trim edging the windows and door frame and a few unassuming shrubs do not call out for attention, and the cafe’s neon red “open” sign could easily be overlooked by the casual passerby. Take a step through the unremarkable front door, however, and you quickly realize you are in no run-of-the-mill establishment. You have entered the home of Walla Walla University’s entirely student-run coffee shop, where a crew of ten baristas, an assistant manager and a student manager serve up some of the best coffee in Walla Walla.
Heart of campus As the cafe’s student manager and WWU sophomore Jonathan Fitch explained to me, more than a few WWU students consider the coffee shop the heart of campus. Students use the space to both socialize and study in a comfortable, inviting atmosphere. “We are kind of a crossroads between a business and service to our students here at Wal-
The Atlas Cafe
by OLIVIA GILBERT
Vol. CXXXIX
la Walla,” Fitch explained. “We are a business–obviously we sell drinks–but we are also a service in that we lend an atmosphere and a place for students to come hang out–chat, communicate, collaborate, all those things.” Fitch applied for and received the position of barista at The Atlas at the end of his senior year of high school and spent his first year at WWU making drinks behind bar.
“We are kind of a crossroads between a business and service to our students here at Walla Walla.” Jonathan Fitch ‘19
Student Manager, The Atlas Cafe
Fitch originally applied to work at The Atlas because of his interest in the crossroads between the art and science of coffee. “My major is mechanical engineering, and so it kind of correlates with my mindset a little bit, I think,” Fitch said. “Just the different variables you can manipulate when making a cup of coffee, tweaking those and seeing how it would affect the end product is really cool to me.” see CAFE, page 6
Senior Brennan Hoenes has worked as a barista at The Atlas since the start of the fall quarter. Hoenes tried over 60 cups of coffee this summer in his hometown of Los Angeles. Photos by Henry Honzel.
Whitman football: A brief history
ASWC passes Title IX transcript notation resolution by ELEANOR MATSON Staff Reporter
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Washington State University). Over the next few years, Whitman hired its first coach, J. Arthur Baird, who was paid $600 by students for his efforts. In 1909, Whitman hosted Washington State in a game attended by 3000 spectators. However, shocked by the injuries (five men were carried off the field) and threatening nature of the fans, faculty declared that if the games were not improved, they would vote to drop football. This notion never went through.
The next decade brought forth the most notable person in the football team’s history. Raymond Borleske, a 1910 alumni of the football team, was brought back by President Penrose to coach the team, and quickly became a celebrity on campus. After a 120-0 loss to the University of Washington (UW) in 1919, Borleske began scheduling games against smaller schools, like Pacific and Willamette, and this led to the team’s first foot-
ball championship in 1921. However, the next few years saw the team only win four games in a three year span. In 1926, Borleske Field was opened, and at the stadium dedication, 5,000 watched UW beat Whitman 44-0. Eventually, Borleske was dismissed in 1947 by President Winslow Anderson for becoming too independent and publicly criticizing Whitman’s President and trustees.
hree weeks ago, the Associated Students of Whitman College (ASWC) passed a new resolution Title IX investigations and convictions notated on students’ transcripts. This move is in part an effort to increase accountability in the Title IX process and to prevent students from easily transferring to other universities after a conviction. As it stands, a student convicted of a Title IX offense, such as sexual assaulting another student, is able to transfer to another university without record of the conviction on their transcripts. There have been movements across the nation to alter the current policy. Two examples referenced in the ASWC resolution were Occidental College and Emerson College, which have already started transcript notation and Virginia and New York which both require transcript notation under state law. This ASWC resolution written by juniors Molly Unsworth and Kyle Fix seeks to pressure the administration into requiring transcript notations. Unsworth cited her dissatisfaction with the way Title IX does not hold perpetrators accountable for their actions as one reason why she felt compelled to write this resolution.
see FOOTBALL, page 5
see RESOLUTION, page 3
Inside News
A&E
Sports
Opinion
Online
On Tuesday, Nov. 29 Dean of Students Chuck Cleveland sent an email to the Whitman community announcing that they identified a possible person of interest in the recent drugging incidents. PAGE 3
IPECC helped bring Navajo representative Danita Ryan came to campus to discuss Native American issues.
The Whitman Cross Country team competed in Conference and Regionals, and first year Whitney Rich qualified for the All-Region race.
What is the weirdest conversation that you had at Thanksgiving this year? Photographer Caroline Ashford Arya polled the community.
Didn’t have the chance to read last week’s articles? Catch up online!
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President Richard Nixon (left) receives a Whitman football jersey from the team’s captains in 1971 at the Walla Walla Airport. President Nixon was on his way to visit the Hanford Nuclear site. Photos courtesy of the Whitman Archives.
by ARIE KNOPS Staff Reporter
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e all know the ending to this story. But few of us know the dramatic highs and definite lows encountered by Whitman College’s football team on Borleske Field over its 80-year history. It all started in 1897, when Whitman won games against Whitman Academy, Waitsburg Academy and Walla Walla High School, before losing to WAC (now WHAT’S INSIDE THIS ISSUE?
whitmanwire.com
NEWS
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Whitman identifies person of interest linked to drugging Incidents
DEC
01 2016
Resident Assistant Training: Creating adaptable and knowledgable RAs
by MARRA CLAY Publisher
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n Tuesday, November 29, Dean of Students Chuck Cleveland sent an update to the Whitman College community regarding the recent dissociative druggings on campus. According to Cleveland, the College worked with the Walla Walla Police Department to investigate the situation and a current student emerged as a person of interest. When the student was alerted that they would face conduct proceedings, the individual withdrew from Whitman. Below is an excerpt from Cleveland’s email. “Through the college’s own investigation in conjunction with the investigation being done by the Walla Walla Police Department, a person of interest emerged as a possible source of the drugs. Upon being notified of pending conduct proceedings by the college, the student made the decision to withdraw from Whitman College and is no longer allowed on campus. The college cannot release the student’s name because of privacy laws. The investigation by the Walla Walla Police Department is ongoing. Police have serious concerns that the drugs circulated in this case may be homemade and are potentially very dangerous.” Cleveland did not indicate whether or not multiple individuals may have been involved in the druggings. The Walla Walla Police Department’s investigation is ongoing. Cleveland also noted that drugs appear to have been homemade and are potentially dangerous, and that any individual who knows more about the drugs should come forward and meet with Chalese Rabidue (Domestic Violence Victims Advocate with the Walla Walla PD, 509.527.4434) or Juli Dunn (Associate Dean of Students, dunnjl@whitman.edu, 509.301.6824).
Corrections to Issue 11 In the news article “Community protests pipeline” Angela Tang was titled as “Federal Bureau of Investigation Agent.” She is a student. Additionally, her graduation year was incorrectly listed as ‘16, not ‘17. Kyla Rapp was the only author of the Op-Ed “What Whitties should know about standing rock.” Two additional authors were mistakenly listed.
Illustration by Haley King
by ANDY MONSERUD Investigative Director
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lot is expected of Resident Assistants (RAs) at Whitman. They are confidants, leaders, and enforcers to their residents. To cope with these various pressures, the Residence Life office holds a ten-day training prior to each semester for RAs as they prepare to join their new sections. RA training aims to achieve a set of goals outlined each year by the Residence Life office. These goals stick to similar general principles, according to Associate Dean of Students Nancy Tavelli, but are regularly evaluated to keep up with the times. “Things change one at a time,” Tavelli said. “You react to whoever’s in certain roles, you react to what national trends are. We’ve always tried to work with RAs on their communication skills, but the issues that college students face [today] are certainly different. There’s more mental health challenges, we’re more aware of a lot of different issues, so that certainly is reflected in RA training.” In 2016, for example, RAs worked not only toward gaining a better understanding of their position and the skills required to carry it out but toward building relationships with other staff, both inside and outside residence life, and understand-
HINDSIGHT
ing more about themselves. The last of these is addressed early in the training when the Counseling Center’s Sharon Kaufman-Osborn hosts a four-hour session in which she encourages self-examination. Kaufman-Osborn says that the session helps RAs to better understand the ways their own backgrounds influence how they approach their jobs. “Whatever you’re doing, you have your own history that you’re bringing along. So I give them an opportunity to really think, reflect on what they’ve experienced growing up and at Whitman, what their residents might be experiencing, and where some of those stories and beliefs might have come from,” Kaufman-Osborn said. “Every once in awhile, someone will say ‘why do I have to learn about myself?’ Sort of like they want this robotic ‘here’s the cassette, this is what you’re supposed to know how to do.’ And they learn very quickly that that doesn’t work very well.” The counseling center is also involved in a number of other aspects of training, which counselor Tracee Anderson summed up as “Counseling 101.” Additionally, RAs in training are introduced to staff members in various other divisions, including the Intercultural Center, Student Engagement Center, Dean of Students’ office, custodians and Bon Appetit, among others. The
idea is to make sure that RAs have a firm understanding of the resources available to them and their residents. “We hope that if RAs don’t know the answer to a question, or if a student’s interested in something, they may not know everything about that topic but they’re going to know who to go to … to get more information,” Assistant Director of Residence Life and Housing Andrew Johnson said.
“We hope that if RAs don’t know the answer to a question, or if a student’s interested in something, they may not know everything but they’re going to know who to go to get more information Andrew Johnson
Assistant Director of Residence Life
With all these relatively brief trainings, did RAs feel as though they were adequately prepared for the difficulties of simultaneously acting as a friend and disciplinarian? “As an RA there’s a lot of things that happen that you can’t ever plan for,” senior Peter Rama-
ley said. Peter worked as an RA in Jewett in 2015. “But a lot of the simulations of enforcing policy made me comfortable enough going in and enforcing policy … I think that in those first few weeks of being an RA, you start to really figure out … [how to] use these techniques.” Junior Devon Yee, an RA in the Multi-Ethnic Center for Cultural Awareness (MECCA), agreed with Ramaley, adding that in the Interest House Community (IHC) especially, there are certain problems that trainers could not be expected to predict. “With the IHC in particular, many of the houses have different kinds of maintenance problems, so that’s not something you’d necessarily talk about in training, but I don’t think that’s really necessary either, per se,” she said. “You have to deal with different house problems that are specific to your own house.” Johnson notes that the challenges RAs face, while often imposing at the time, can in some ways be empowering. “By the time students finish being RAs, I feel like a lot of students develop a sense of their own capabilities,” he said. “And, you know, if they want to see something done, or make something happen … Whatever it is, I think they develop the confidence to go out and figure out how to make that happen.”
by GEORGIA LYON News Editor
Françes Fillon becomes France’s center-right presidential candidate
Former Cuban President Fidel Syrian Government re-takes rebel-held areas Castro dies
Standing Rock protesters ordered to leave
Amazon deforestation up 29% from last year
On Nov. 26, Former Cuban President Fidel Castro died at the age of 90. Castro was Cuban president from 1959-2006, heralded by some as an anti-capitalist hero and hated by others who viewed him as a tyrant. He will be remembered as one of the most influential figures in Cuban history for how he inspired other revolutionaries and irked several U.S. presidents.
On Nov. 27, forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gained control of Aleppo’s largest rebel-held district, Masaken Hanano. Masaken Hanano was the first and biggest district that rebel forces obtained in 2012 when they first tried to take Syria’s capital, Aleppo. This may show that Assad is close to subduing all the rebel-held areas of Aleppo once again after 6.5 years of civil war.
On Nov. 27, Françes Fillon, a center-right candidate, won France’s Republican party’s primary. His socially conservative stances on topics like abortion and gay marriage appealed to many voters, as well as his promises to reduce government spending and taxes on the upper socioeconomic classes. As of right now, it is unclear who his opponent will be for France’s presidential election in 2017, but it likely to be the National Front’s farright candidate Marine Le Pen.
On Nov. 28, the Army Corp of Engineers said the Dakota Access Pipeline protesters must leave their camp at Cannonball River, North Dakota by Dec. 5 or go to jail. The Corps believe that telling the protesters to move is necessary for public safety as winter temperatures descend upon North Dakota. While it is unclear how the tribe will respond at the moment, Tribal Chairman Cave Archambault II said the tribe would continue protecting its water.
On Nov. 30, the Brazilian government said that the Amazon Rainforest is being cut down at a faster than expected rate. This is largely due to the federal government’s fairly lax policy with regards to deforestation. As a result, some are starting to wonder if Brazil will accomplish the goals it agreed to accomplish for the Paris Agreement directed at fighting global warming.
Source: The New York Times
Source: NPR
Source: The New York Times
Source: CNN
Source: NPR
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NEWS
DEC
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Support grows for “Sanctuary ASWC calls for Title Campus” movement IX investigations Local AAUP Community calls on to be noted on Calls for Whitman to become transcripts “Sanctuary “Sanctuary Campus” Campus”
by MITCHELL SMITH Editor-in-Chief
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ome Whitman faculty have asked the college to join the national “Sanctuary Campus” movement. On November 28, the Whitman chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) sent an email to the Whitman community with a statement condemning the recent “unprecedented spike” in attacks on minorities around the country and calling on schools around the country to become “Sanctuary Campuses.” The statement also reaffirmed the AAUP’s commitment to free speech on college campuses and called on president-elect Trump to “Reconsider his appointment of Steve Bannon as his chief strategist.” Whitman politics professor Timothy Kaufman-Osborn is the Secretary-Treasurer of the Whitman chapter of the AAUP and sent the email on behalf of the chapter. The Whitman AAUP chapter was founded in 1922 and while the chapter’s involvement has varied throughout the school’s history, Kaufman-Osborn pointed to the important role it has played. The Whitman AAUP chapter “has played an indispensable role in securing the college’s commitment to the key principles espoused by the AAUP,” Kaufman-Osborn wrote in an email to the Whitman Wire. “In addition to academic freedom, this includes adoption of due process protections against the dismissal of faculty on grounds unrelated to professional competence, including the expression of controversial political views.” Last spring, the chapter was re-constituted by a group of faculty members that included KaufmanOsborn. He pointed towards the sanctuary campus movement as essential to engender a free and open campus. “The statement’s endorsement of the movement to create sanctuary campuses reflects the AAUP’s commitment to create a campus community in which all of our students, documented as well as undocumented, can freely pursue their educational goals,” Kaufman-Osborn wrote. The statement concluded: “We support the movement for sanctuary campuses. While colleges and universities must obey the law, administrations must make all efforts to guarantee the privacy of immigrant students and pledge not to grant access to information that might reveal their immigration status unless so ordered by a court of law.”
by CHRISTY CARLEY News Editor
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hitman students, staff and faculty gathered at the steps of Penrose Library on Nov. 16 in support of a petition to designate Whitman College as a “sanctuary campus.” The gathering was part of a national day of action in which students across the country called on their schools to offer protection for undocumented students in the wake of the election of Donald Trump. Organized by the Borders as Method club (BAM), the gathering followed the circulation of a petition that, as of Nov. 17, gained over 1,200 signatures from members of the Whitman community. BAM is a club that focuses on issues related to immigration and migration justice. The club works to educate the Whitman community about issues related to immigration and migration.
“Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has been instrumental in providing a fundamental sense of security for the recipients since it has brought them out of the shadows and into mainstream society.” Miriam Zuniga ‘17
Co-President, Borders as Method club
The event of Nov. 16 included student speakers from BAM along with politics professor Aaron Bobrow-Strain, faculty advisor to the club who teaches a class on the U.S.-Mexico border which includes a week-long educational trip at the end of the year. In the petition written by BAM, the provision calling on Whitman to become a “sanctuary campus” requests that the school “refuse ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] access to all college owned and contributed properties,” and “refuse to share the immigration status of our community members with ICE or the police.” In addition to declaring Whitman a sanctuary campus, the petition also requests a specific scholarship fund for undocumented students, the designation of a staff member as an Un-
documented Student Advocate and a public statement of support for undocumented students from the college administration. With the election of Donald Trump and subsequent speculation that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach will play a role in his administration, many foresee a hardening stance on immigration from the federal government. Kobach helped write a controversial law in Arizona that requires police to ask for citizenship papers for those who they suspected to have entered the country illegally. The possibility of Kobach’s influence within the Trump administration has caused many to worry that the government will harden its stance on immigration and the participation of public officials and other citizens in enforcement. “[Kobach] wants to extend the border control to include every one of us,” Bobrow-Strain said in his speech. Beyond this, many fear that the Trump administration could repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that was put in place under President Obama in 2012. The program allows children brought to the U.S. before the age of 16 to obtain a driver’s license and work permit. Additionally, DACA makes undocumented students in higher education eligible for certain scholarships. “DACA has been instrumental in providing a fundamental sense of security for the recipients since it has brought them out of the shadows and into mainstream society,” senior Miriam Zuniga, one of BAM’s presidents said. “The repeal of DACA ... would send a message that these young people are not welcomed and need to fear for their safety.” The crowd gathered near the steps of Memorial Building to watch as members of BAM delivered the petition to President Murray. Upon receiving the petition, Murray thanked the club for their work. “I do look forward to working with all of you as we really do work to make this a safe and inclusive campus for all of its members,” Murray said. “I need to study what it actually says, and then I will circle back to you as quickly as I can.” In the aftermath of the Trump’s election, the club emphasized the necessity to act quickly. “We promise to hold President Murray accountable to addressing these proposals during this period of great urgency,” BAM member junior Julie Kitzerow said.
from RESOLUTION, page 1
“Through the process, there was never a point where [my perpetrator] confronted the facts of what he had done and I feel like this is the underlying flaw of Title IX. In a process that is built upon the right one has to an education free from harassment, I think the current system fails to uphold any sense of integrity,” Unsworth wrote in an email to The Wire. Unsworth clarified that without transcript notations, there are no consequences for anyone convicted of even the highest Title IX offense unless the university they transfer to requires a letter from the Dean of Students. “By being allowed to freely transfer, they are not only not held to any Code of Conduct, but also shown that they will never be truly held responsible for their behavior,” Unsworth wrote. Their reasoning and desire for change were well received by ASWC. The Senate passed this legislation by acclimation, a voting procedure designed to signify ASWC’s highest form of unanimous approval. Fix found their encounters with ASWC during the process to be very supportive and positive. The Committee on Students Affairs in ASWC “believed we should absolutely bring [the resolution] before the senate and we did that last weekend. People were very, very supportive of it.” Fix said. “It ended up passing by acclimation which was so great and both Molly
and I were just very emotional for it. All of our hard work is truly supported by the governing body of the students.” Vice President of ASWC and the chair of the Committee on Student Affairs Dana Casterella, a senior, believes the vote to be one of the most important moments during her ASWC career. “I think it’s wonderful. It’s these sorts of resolutions and legislations in general that make me proud to be a part of ASWC. It shows to me that we do have the power to make meaningful change on campus and potentially in the state legislature. We are sending this on to our governor and our state representatives to consider making it state law to have transcript notation.” Casterella said. However, the legislation could take anywhere between the end of this year and two years to be adopted by Whitman. Casterella remains hopeful that it will be adopted sooner rather than later. “It could be anywhere between the end of this year till the next 2 years. I hope it will go faster than that. I think we do have the mechanisms in place to make this go faster than other things, especially considering we now have people like Haley Powers working on campus. I think we could very well see it implemented by the end of the year. It is something that me and [ASWC President Arthur Shemitz] will certainly push for.” Casterella said.
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Planned Parenthood Generation Action educates students about sex
by ELIZABETH FRIEDMAN Staff Reporter
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his fall, a club new to Whitman–called Planned Parenthood Generation Action–has been focusing on the sexual health and education of Whitman students. While the club mostly attracts young women, one or two men participate in the weekly meeting, made up of about 30-40 people. Planned Parenthood Generation Action is a group on over 275 college campuses across the country, which tends to focus on education and advocacy on behalf of women. There are 16 different chapters of PPGA in Washington alone, including at Bellevue College, Evergreen State College, and the University of Washington. The meetings change every week, addressing a different form of sexual education from meeting to meeting. PPGA works closely with the health center of Planned Parenthood in Walla Walla. The club started at the end of last year but wasn’t well known about on campus until this fall when the club
started to become more active and started hosting weekly meetings Wednesday at 7pm in Maxey 206. The club utilizes a collaborative leadership team of 6 women because according to Hirano, a sophomore, hierarchies can create patriarchal notions. The leadership works collaboratively to create lesson plans for the week and consider advocacy issues on campus. The group started because Hirano and junior Kyla Rapp saw a need on campus for sexual health education. Rapp emphasized that Whitman students seemed to have a lack of sexual education from middle or high school. Rapp said she was surprised by the amount of misinformation and general lack of knowledge surrounding sexual health on Whitman’s campus. “I think that even though Whitman’s a really liberal campus, or at least that’s the way people see it, there’s a big need for sex ed,” junior Kyla Rapp said. Hirano said that the club primarily focuses on issues students are most interested in. When students ask ques-
tions about sexual health during the meetings, the leadership of PPGA then tries to build weekly lessons around those questions. “The reason why we started PPGA chapter at Whitman College is because...one thing about college students is not all of us have access to health care and a lot of us do depend on planned parenthood to get our resources so we saw a big need for that and we also saw like an absence of comprehensive knowledge of sexual education.” Hirano said. Annelise Ellingboe, a first year, is co-president with Rapp. After the Presidential election, the group tried to create a safe space for students to talk about how they were feeling in regards to their sexual health in lieu of their regular meeting. Students were free to voice concerns and questions surrounding the next President and how it would affect them personally. Each meeting of the club has a different theme, and is flexible depending on what students want to discuss. “When women’s health is compromised, everyone’s health is compromised,” Ellingboe said.
The Planned Parenthood Generation Action club held events inside of Reid Campus Center. Photos contributed by PPGA.
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Danita Ryan brings Native American issues to Whitman campus by MISSY GERLACH Staff Reporter
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he Navajo greeting “Ya’ahteeh,” translates to, “With all that is good in the universe, I greet you.” It was with these words that Danita Ryan began her talk on Monday, Nov. 14 at 7:00 p.m. in Kimball Theater. Ryan’s presentation, titled “Hear Our Voices; Grandmother’s Wisdom,” focused on informing the audience about the culture of Native Americans and the importance of this culture plays in their lives. Much of Ryan’s presentation focused on her family and community, which she used to teach the audience about Native American culture. Ryan shared numerous stories–some about her two daughters, some about teaching children in her community about their heritage and native traditions and other stories about her own elders. Ryan emphasized to the audience how an awareness of shared culture and heritage gives a strong sense of self and identity. Ryan also touched on timely issues such as cultural appropriation and the Dakota Access Pipeline. Ryan commented that although appropriation might seem fun and harmless for those partaking, it does have a real effect on Native Americans around them. Although not outright, Ryan also seemed to address the Dakota Access Pipeline when she spoke about the importance of having gratitude, particularly for the small things in life. She used the simple pleasure of drinking a glass of water as an example. “Water is life and water is sacred,” Ryan said. In the ongoing Standing Rock Indian Reservation protests in North Dakota, the saying “water is life” has frequently been used as a kind of slogan by protesters. Ryan was invited to Whit-
Danita Ryan [above], at the invitation of IPECC, presents on indigenous issues at Hunter Conservatory’s Kimball Theatre. Photos by Caroline Ashford Arya.
man by the college’s Indigenous Peoples’ Education and Culture Club, also known as IPECC. Open to indigenous people from all continents, IPECC educates about indigenous people and their perspectives and experi-
ences. Seniors Brenna Two Bears and Zoey Kapusinski are the club’s president and budget manager, respectively. Two Bears is also Ryan’s niece and was vital in bringing her aunt to campus. Two Bears and Kapu-
sinski focused on the awareness that speakers like Ryan bring to college campuses. “I think it’s really important for students here to understand that and to learn from someone else’s point of view,
... because Whitman is a bubble and it’s not anybody’s fault that they don’t know, they just need to hear it from somebody else,” Two Bears said. Kapusinski also addressed the timely nature of Ryan’s presentation. “We’ve seen a lot of discussion on campus around cultural appropriation, every year during Halloween, that discussion comes up again... I think a lot of these issues are really coming to the forefront of Whitman social justice movements, so it seems like the time is ripe,” Kapusinski said. Sophomore Dani Schlenker attended the event. When considering the importance of the presentation, Schlenker focused on the value on bringing diverse speakers, particularly to Whitman. “I think it’s especially important for our community, which is a community named after a missionary who tried to convert Native Americans, to understand life outside of our own, and try to break out of our bubble–our white Whitman bubble,” Schlenker said. She also commented on the opportune quality of the event. “I think it’s very timely,” Schlenker said. “There’s a huge protest going on in North Dakota that has everything to do with the way that Americans have abused and stolen from the Native American communities.” Although Danita Ryan briefly touched on some contentious issues, her presentation also served to bring awareness to the campus. Speaking about her own experiences and family gave audience members from the community a look into the experience of indigenous peoples. More than anything, Ryan seemed to open her arms to those curious about Native American culture and send a message of peace, love and understanding.
KWCW Show of the Week: “Fantastic Beasts” “The Revolver Yoga Hour” an enchanting “Potter” prequel by ERIC ANDERSON A&E Editor
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Court Morgan [above] hosts the instructional yoga-themed show “The Revolver Yoga Hour” at the KWCW station in Reid Campus Center. Photo by Samarah Uribe.
by MICHELLE FOSTER Staff Reporter
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oga instruction, philosophy and a little bit of music are all brought together in “The Revolver Yoga Hour,” a KWCW show hosted by community member and alumnus Court Morgan ‘07. The show focuses on yoga philosophy and education, airing on Wednesdays from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. The first half of a typical show consists of Morgan answering questions sent in from listeners and discussing the physical aspects of the practice. The second half is a guided yoga session, during which listeners can do yoga under Morgan’s instruction. Morgan’s show features a broad range of content. During the first eight weeks of the show, Morgan covered the eight limbs of yoga–major elements in the practice. Recently, she hosted a local acupuncturist friend who spoke about seasonal eating practices. On another occasion, Morgan read from a work by Pema Chodron, an American Buddhist nun. “In light of the political climate that we’ve had over the last
couple of weeks and a lot of disappointment within this particular community, I just wanted to offer a slightly different perspective of ways to look at life and things that happen,” Morgan said. Morgan described the premise of her show. “To me [the show is] a lot about offering some good solid information that has a historical and philosophical context, as well as a real study behind it, rather than just whatever you can find on the internet just mushed together,” Morgan said.
“To me it’s important that there’s availability of high quality education surrounding [yoga].” Court Morgan ‘07
Host, “The Revolver Yoga Hour”
Morgan also discussed why she thinks yoga education and good background knowledge in the subject is important. “As yoga is becoming more prevalent and pervasive in our culture, [it] is being modified and shifted and influenced by so many dif-
ferent ideologies and world views,” Morgan said. “That’s all good, and it’s all useful, but I want to offer just good yoga education, so going back to what the information is and presenting it and empowering people how to use their bodies, and just feel a little bit better. There’s a lot of yoga in the world but to me it’s important that there’s availability of high quality education surrounding it.” Morgan has many reasons for doing the show and for doing yoga. “I feel like I have to. I feel like I was called to do it,” Morgan said. “The question of why are we who we are and why do we do the things that we do has always been a big question in my life and one that I wanted to answer through various mediums. [Yoga] really became a way to continue to come back to that question, and to me that question and the exploration of that question–not even necessarily the answer–is really the most important thing that I want to know and that I want to do with my time.” Morgan’s general philosophy in her own words, “Take what you want, and leave all the rest.” She sees the show as a long-term project and has a curriculum set up for the show for the coming spring semester.
ixing the charms of its characters, an engaging narrative and grandiose visuals to strong effect, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” a prequel to the “Harry Potter” franchise, is an uncommonly affable and whimsical film that has much to offer audiences. It is noticeably superior to the most recent work to emerge from the Wizarding World, the July 2016 play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” Directed by David Yates (“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”) and written by “Potter” author, J. K. Rowling, the film stars Eddie Redmayne (“Les Miserables”) as Newt Scamander, a British magizoologist who travels to New York City in 1926 with a case containing numerous magical creatures he has collected. Unfortunately, due to a mix-up with the nonmagical Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler, “Europa Report”), a number of his creatures escape into the city and Scamander must team up with Kowalski, as well as American witch sisters Tina and Queenie Goldstein (Katherine Waterston and Alison Sudol) before they expose the wizarding world to an already suspicious American public. While the film is chock-full of references to the established “Potter” mythos–the film’s inspiration stems from Rowling’s fake textbook of the same name ostensibly written by Scamander–much of the film’s strength lies in its accessibility. The film has two audience surrogate characters; Kowalski stands in for newcomers to the wizarding world, while Scamander helps transition series veterans from the British wizarding community to its American counterpart. There’s plenty of exposition that needs delivering throughout the film, but it generally is quick and to the point. The film moves at a brisk enough pace that the occasional pauses are welcome. The new characters are key to the film’s appeal. Newt Scamander brings out the best in actor Eddie Redmayne, a single-minded man on a mission who, at the same time, is a likable figure that is easy to get behind. Tina Goldstein is a similarly driven character whose impetuousness has gotten her into trouble before, but, at the same time, doesn’t act without reason. Her sister Queenie is bubbly
and excitable, and Colin Farrell’s Percival Graves is a strong villain. The heart of the movie, however, is Kowalski, whose deadpan wonder at the new world around him gives him an irresistible affability that drives the film and adds a human element to the unfolding spectacle. On a technical level, the film has much to boast of. Notably, composer James Newton Howard, a newcomer to the franchise, provides a rich and layered score that mixes ethereal melodies, suspenseful beats and 1920’s jazz stylings to achieve one of the year’s more memorable orchestral soundtracks. The editing is sharp and the film is a bit brighter in color and setting than previous “Potter” films. While the film’s realism could have benefited from using less CGI monsters and more practical effects, the creature designs themselves are imaginative and unique. The film’s biggest weakness is its franchise ambitions. Distributor Warner Bros. has already announced a planned five-film franchise and the result is that there are a few too many plots competing for attention in “Fantastic Beasts.” While Scamander’s story takes center stage, it requires some time before smaller, separate plots detailing American magical politics, a radical anti-magical organization and the rise of a European wizarding menace merge into the main story. While the film is shorter than most prior “Potter” films, it can often feel overstuffed.
[Kowalski] drives the film and adds a human element to the unfolding spectacle. However, “Fantastic Beasts” is a marked improvement over the recent “Cursed Child” play. It is not bound to the original stories, takes proper time to introduce characters and, unlike “Cursed Child,” is not driven by poor character decisions or clumsily handled villains. Overall, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is a strong choice for holiday moviegoing, both for adult audiences and for family crowds. Both wizarding novices and “Potter” veterans will find much to enjoy about the adventures of Newt Scamander and his new friends.
SPORTS
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01 2016
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Cross Country reaches the finish line by RIDLEY EASTLAND-FRUIT Staff Reporter
N
ov. 12 marked the end of the season for Whitman’s cross country teams after a tough race at the NCAA Division III West Regionals in Salem, Oregon. This came two weeks after a strong showing by both the men and women at the Northwest Conference Championship. The cross country season begins in August and builds to the Conference and Regionals meets, with only those events determining champions. “Heading into the championship season, we started to cut our mileage and do some shorter and faster workouts. By that point in the season, we had already built up our endurance and by working on speed and turnover before our last races, we were just putting it all together,” sophomore Lucy O’Sullivan said. The strategy paid off at Conference, where the men finished in third place with senior Caleb Moosman, senior Matt Wotipka and first-
year Eli Fourier leading the Blues. The women finished in sixth, just one point from fourth, with the leaders being first-year Whitney Rich, junior Camille Anderson and senior captain Laura Ruegg.
“Most of the women had their best races of the season at conference, myself included” Lucy O’Sullivan, ‘19
“Most of the women had their best races of the season at conference, myself included. Nearly all our runners got PR’s. While we had hoped to place a bit higher as a team, our individual results and fast times show just how tough we all ran and I’m super proud of our team,” O’Sullivan commented. Moosman, a senior captain who finished seventh overall, also enjoyed his final Conference meet. “Not only did I run a really focused and smart race, it was also a blast!”
he said. “The team did well. Not as well as we’d hoped but still well considering the injury and sickness we fought this season. All things considered though, third, which we’ve placed every season for four years, is not a step backward. We’ve stayed consistent.” Regionals, however, did not quite return the results the group had hoped for. The women’s team placed 14th and the men’s team finished at 12th. “Regionals was a grind. I had been hoping to do better than I did. But after going out in a good position and hitting a wall, all I could do was dig in and fight it out, holding onto my place as best I could for the rest of the race. I think for much of the men’s team, the experience was similar to my own,” Moosman said. Rich, who was the top finisher for the Whitman women at both Conference and Regionals, saw some positives in the meet. “The level of competition was awesome. As a team we ran hard despite a few teammates being sick.
As a team we improved throughout the season and I think that was visible in our performance at regionals. Many of us placed higher in the conference at regionals than we did two weeks prior,” she said. By finishing 28th overall at Regionals, Rich qualified for AllRegion recognition. She also received the All-Conference award. Of the honors, she said, “I worked hard during practice and raced hard this season and I got the result I set my season-goals for.”
“I feel like our upcoming leadership and younger runners have a lot of passion” Caleb Moosman, ‘17
Moosman and Wotipka were also recognized with first and second team All-Conference, respectively. Moosman saw it as the culmination of his years of commitment to his progress and the team’s. “Since freshman year I’ve been im-
proving race by race, season by season, slowly but very consistently. This accomplishment proved to me that my thoughtful and somewhat mild mannered approach to running and fitness really pays off.” The recognition marks a bright end to a season of ups and downs. While many runners made significant gains over the course of the season, illness and injuries prevented the team from reaching the goals they set at the beginning of the year. Still, the team is already looking ahead to the coming season. “The team has a tough road going forward. We’re losing five seniors. However, I feel like our upcoming leadership and younger runners have a lot of passion. It wouldn’t surprise me if our team manages to maintain or even improve their conference standing in the coming years,” Moosman said. After a long and tumultuous season, Whitman’s cross country runners will take a moment to reflect before continuing to prepare for next year with track workouts in the spring.
SCOREBOARD BASKETBALL
Men’s v. Texas Lutheran University Nov. 26, W 98-82 v. Schreiner University Nov. 12, W 90-61 Women’s v. Warner Pacific College Nov. 23, W 78-44
UPCOMING BASKETBALL
Women’s AWAY v. Willamette University Dec. 2 AWAY v. Whitworth University Dec. 6 Men’s AWAY v. Willamette University Dec. 2 AWAY v. Whitworth University Dec. 6 Left: Senior Caleb Moosman (left) and senior Teddy Pierce (right) run during practice. Moosman finished seventh overall at the final Northwest Conference race. Right: First year Kristen Wanke (middle left) and senior captain Lara Ruegg (far right) cross campus during a training run. Photos by Natalie Mutter.
Gone, not forgotten: It’s On Us: Athletes campaign to stop sexual violence the Whitman football program by CHEROKEE WASHINGTON Staff Reporter
from FOOTBALL, page 1
With the dismissal of Borleske, the team continued to decline. From Borleske’s dismissal in 1947, to the team’s final season in 1976, Whitman only had three winning seasons. But the school’s enthusiasm for the game shone through. In 1949, when Professor Fredric Santler, head of the athletic program’s finances, declared that weak attendance “marked the beginning of the end for Whitman in collegiate athletics,” the entire Whitman community raised enough money to wipe the deficit and start scholarships for student athletes. Whitman even progressed to winning seasons in 1958 and 1959, with a 9-7 record both years. But Whitman’s woes were not
“This is not really news and this is really not a surprise to anyone who has watched Whitman football in the past years” Robert Skotheim
Whitman College President, 1975-1988
over. In 1966, following two seasons with a combined 2-15 record, coach Keith Loper resigned, stating that Whitman needed a larger coaching staff where coaches were not also in charge of teaching classes. In 1967, Whitman decided to devote more resources towards its football team, and new Coach Bob Thomsen was brought in. The team saw immediate improvements and hit its peak in 1969, with a 6-3 record that led to Whitman being co-champions of the Northwest Conference. In the fall of 1971, President Richard Nixon stopped in Walla Walla in route to a visit at the Hanford Nuclear Site. After contacting the White House, co-captains of Whitman’s football team were able to present the president with a Whitman jersey at the airport. Nixon declared, “It’s the closest I ever came to making the team. It’s the greatest compliment I’ve ever received on one of these trips.” However, this stirred great controversy in the Whitman community, as a picture of Nixon holding the jersey was published in newspapers coast to coast. Within a year, student body officers passed a resolution which asked the President to return the jersey “for not acting on his campaign promises to end American involvement in Indochina.” This request was never fulfilled.
By 1975, Whitman’s team had fallen back to old ways. The team finished 1-7, and ongoing debates to discontinue the team intensified. But the 1976 Whitman football players finished the season unaware that they had played their last game. On February 28th, 1977 President Robert Skotheim announced that the college would move to discontinue the football program, pending approval by the board of trustees. Almost immediately, near 500 students protested outside of Cordiner, citing the lack of student voices in the decision. In a quote for The Whitman Pioneer, President Skotheim declared, “This is not really news and this is really not a surprise to anyone who has watched Whitman football in the past years.” After the trustees voted to discontinue football, alumni immediately began voicing their concerns. “I am afraid that dropping football may have a very serious effect on the future of Whitman and that the generous giving of the alumni toward its support may drop considerably,” alumnus W.E. “Bill” Berney, class of 1915, wrote in a Letter to the Editor of The Pioneer. In the years that followed, President Skotheim’s decision has been seen with increasing favorability. “At the time I was not supportive [of the decision] as I viewed a football team as an important part of college and the college experience. Looking back, it was a sound fiscal decision.” Member of the College Athletic Committee John Blackmon ‘79 said. In 2008, Whitman’s Football team was able to take the field one more time. Football alumni were invited back for a special reunion. “We wanted to let players know we understood their frustrations and valued their feelings.” Nancy Mitchell, Associate Director of Alumni said. The event was a huge hit. 94 players and five coaches made the trip across the United States to visit Borleske Stadium. “I believe it was a very good move by President [George] Bridges to begin the healing process by inviting football players back to campus to acknowledge and honor them as an important part of the college’s past,” Blackmon said. In its 80-year history, Whitman only sported a 37 percent winning percentage, but the impact of the program spread all the way from Borleske Stadium to the Oval Office. The spirit of the program lives on in the heart of many of our alumni, and thus remains an important part of our history as an institution.
I
n September of 2014, President Barack Obama launched the “It’s On Us” initiative as a nationwide attempt to end sexual assault violence on college campuses. In short, the campaign aims at making a national change in the way individuals can approach and hopefully eliminate these incidents of sexual and non-consensual violence through various tools and education on sexual assault prevention. Obama’s vision is a hopeful solution to a global problem that has teetered on the edge of success as colleges around the country have taken on It’s On Us, or IOS, as campus-wide projects. On the official IOS website, visitors are encouraged to join the battle against sexual assault by taking a pledge of solidarity with the cause. Though the initiative is a direct call to action for all college students, college athletes have begun to lead the charge as clear, strong and audible voices for IOS. Last year, NCAA launched the IOS video contest in which colleges around the nation were asked to submit It’s On Us video campaigns in order to spread awareness on their own campuses in a collective fashion. Though SUNY Oneonta won the Division III category for the contest, the Whitman SAAC (Student Athletic Advisory Committee) coalition submitted its own video featuring athletes such as senior swimmer Sean Terada, 2015 tennis alumna Jenna Dobrin and fellow 2015 basketball graduate Ege Mala. When asked about his take on IOS, swimmer and SAAC co-president Sean Terada stated, “As an ath-
lete and member of the Whitman community, I think It’s On Us is a campaign that aligns with our values as agents of change and people who actually want to do something to create a better community.” In light of recent events on campus involving drugging, Terada’s mentioning of IOS aligning with Whitman’s values is extremely important and powerful. Terada continued on to say, “It’s On Us puts emphasis on the fact that we are in control of our own actions and that we actually have to change something ourselves in order to fix the issue, which I think is a mindset that many athletes can resonate with. Because it may resonate with athletes more, we thought that SAAC would be a good place to start so we can empower athletes and eventually spread the campaign throughout the entire Whitman community since we have such a presence on campus.”
“I think It’s On Us is a campaign that aligns our values as agents of change” Sean Terada, ‘17
Along with Terada, several athletes who have taken on leadership roles in SAAC have similar thoughts on the matter. Fellow athlete and SAAC co-president Allie Wallin further stated, “The NCAA is a partner of the IOS, and athletic programs across the country have taken on the initiative to spread awareness on their campuses. Just as other colleges have done, our SAAC group made an It’s On Us video to pro-
mote the initiative. You can find the video on the athletics web page.” There are many future initiatives that Whitman will take to stay involved with IOU, such as a Take Action Week in the spring and the distribution of wristbands. Wallin added, “As an athlete and member of the Whitman community, I believe it is our job to take on this initiative because we are leaders within the community. Additionally, this is something that all students can be a part of, not just student athletes.” The pledge on the It’s On US website outlines the goals as “to recognize that non-consensual sex is sexual assault. To identify situations in which sexual assault may occur. To intervene in situations where consent has not or cannot be given. To create an environment in which sexual assault is unacceptable and survivors are supported.” As expected, many Whitman athletes and non-athletes have taken a liking to this campaign as a testament to our value on bodily safety on our campus. Basketball senior Alysse Ketner emphasizes that “the idea behind the campaign is to take the pledge to prevent sexual assault, saying that it is our responsibility to look out for each other. SAAC’s role is to spread the word, plan events, and get more people to ‘take the pledge.’ The women’s basketball team has always had the idea to lookout for each other and others so ‘It’s On Us’ falls right in line with our team culture.” Though Ketner, Wallin and Terada are currently some of the central voices and agents of Whitman’s involvement in It’s On Us, SAAC’s mission is to eventually involve the whole of the Whitman campus.
Top Left: Senior Sean Terada is the co-president of SAAC. Top RIght: Senior Alysse Ketner plays on the women’s basketball team. Bottom Left: Terada (right) is a key leader on the swim team. Bottom Right: Allie Wallin, a senior on the tennis team, is the other co-president of SAAC. Photos by Jackie Greisen
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01 2016
The Atlas: Caffeine with a shot of coziness The Atlas Cafe opened in November 2011. The completely student run cafe occupies a house owned by WWU. Photo by Henry Honzel. from ATLAS, page 1
As student manager, Fitch is responsible for the day to day processes that keep The Atlas running. This includes developing the cafe’s budget with the university’s student governing body (ASWWU), which funds The Atlas, and placing bulk and smaller, weekly orders of supplies. The cafe strives to source many ingredients locally, purchasing milk from Andy’s Market in College Place and beans from the Walla Walla Roastery. Fitch explains that his position as student manager is an entirely new way of thinking about The Atlas. “It’s definitely a learning experience,” Fitch said. “I’ve never done anything like this before, but it’s the coolest learning experience you could ask for.”
“The baristas here are unlike any other place. They really go out of their way to really make you feel welcome here.” Carlos Rodriguez ‘19
Walla Walla University student
Over time, the cafe community has come to be Fitch’s favorite part. “When you walk in the door to The Atlas and you’ve been there a few times, you see familiar faces there...and as far as I’ve experienced that doesn’t happen in any other coffee shop like downtown [in Walla Walla] or anything, especially in larger towns like Portland,” Fitch said. “There are returning customers that are really fun to work with and talk to.”
A place to return First-year WWU student, Carlos Rodriguez said he comes to The Atlas almost every day. “I come here mostly for what I call social studying,” Rodriguez said. “It’s a really good atmosphere for hunkering down and doing some studying and then also being able to go socialize with people in a really close proximity.” What brings Rodriguez back to The Atlas each day? For one, he said he has made almost all of his friends through the cafe. Furthermore, the baristas cultivate an inviting, friendly atmosphere that is difficult to resist. “The baristas here are unlike any other place. They re-
ally go out of their way to really make you feel welcome here. If you don’t know what you want they’ll really work with you to figure out what you like and help you try out new and different things,” Rodriguez said. “They’re just really, really nice people, and I think they show how great the community is around here, like all of the Walla Walla community and not just this campus.” WWU senior, Madison Reeves explained that The Atlas provides a place to pull together all of her friends from around campus who otherwise might not see each other. “There’s not really another good place for us to meet that’s comfortable and that we feel at home in. So that’s what The Atlas does for us,” Reeves said. According to Fitch, the Students Missions Program at WWU is a pretty big focus. Every year dozens of students travel around the globe to be student missionaries for a period of time-half a year, a year or more. For the student missionaries of WWU, The Atlas is a place to return to and share the life-changing experiences of their time away. “So the Atlas, the name and the designed theme, kind of that eclectic, rustic design ideology, was crafted around that idea of global service, the student missions program and then kind of as a place for student missionaries to come back and tell their stories,” Fitch said. Near the door leading to the patio, The Atlas provides a list of names and photographs of current student missionaries so other students can write letters to their friends around the globe.
Honoring the bean WWU senior and Atlas Cafe barista Brennan Hoenes claims his affinity for coffee began at first taste-with a sip of his parents coffee at age one and a half. Since then, his love for java has only grown. Although Hoenes frequented the Atlas throughout his years at WWU, he decided to submit an application at the end of his junior year. He started working as a barista at the start of this academic year. Hoenes brought with him knowledge of coffee from an array of perspectives. In 2013-2014, Hoenes spent seven months in Africa, during which he visited tea and coffee plantations in Malawi
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and gained an understanding of the drinks from the grower level. He also spent a month in South Africa visiting cafes who use coffee to promote humanitarian efforts. “Using coffee as a conduit for justice in that regard, sort of inspired me, got me thinking,” Hoenes said. To understand the coffee culture of cafes closer to home, Hoenes spent this summer re-exploring his hometown of Los Angeles through the lens of coffee trying over 60 cups of coffee. Specifically, Hoenes sought to examine the ‘third wave’ of coffee, which he defined as the current iteration of caring. “[It] focuses on the beans and their origins [and] the people that work with the beans, so oftentimes it’s farmer to roaster direct trade, fair trade, and going beyond that, ultimately third wave coffee is committed to roasting in a way that honors the bean more than it honors whatever the roaster wants to make the bean taste like,” Hoenes said. Hoenes explained third wave coffee is pricy, but because The Atlas receives funding from ASWWU, they are able to avoid some of the added costs associated with brewing a better, more ethical cup. “We...feel an obligation to the students of WWU not only to provide coffee but to provide it at an accessible price point,” Hoenes said. “It’s from that context that we serve our drinks.” Hoenes’s explorations of coffee have fueled his desire to improve his craft. “So many things in life correlate with the law of diminishing returns. At some point what you’re putting in just isn’t giving you anything out, and coffee seems to not be that...for every ounce of myself that I’m willing to give to coffee, it gives back in quality of the cup. So I love that there’s such a direct correlation between effort and result,” Hoenes said. He isn’t sure if he’ll ever reach perfection, but he’ll keep trying. “I don’t know if I’ll ever see a perfect cup...but to come close, or to try at least, is the most fun aspect of it for me,” Hoenes said. “Of course it’s great to get paid to talk to people, and play with this stuff, but ultimately to keep pushing is the joy of it for me.”
Atlas Hours Monday-Thursday: 7:00a.m. 10:00p.m. Friday: 7:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday: Closed
Coffee, college, collaboration Recently, Fitch and several baristas from The Atlas set up a table in front of Whitman’s library and gave out free samples of their cold brew coffee. Fitch explained that the visit was part of the cafe’s efforts to reach out to the other colleges in the area and promote inter-collegiate collaboration. Fitch stated a lot of WWU students use Whitman’s library to study, and they want to return the favor by inviting Whitman students to The Atlas.
“For every ounce of myself that I’m willing to give to coffee, it gives back in quality of the cup. So I love that there’s a direct correlation between effort and result.” Brennan Hoenes ‘17 Barista, The Atlas Cafe
“We want to let the Whitman students know that they are more than welcome at our place. They don’t even have to buy drinks of course, but just to use the space as a place to study or to meet new people,” Fitch said. Whitman senior Emma Massie started going to The Atlas this semester. She goes there to study and meet up with her friend from WWU. “It definitely struck me going there and getting to know people at WWU because I was just like, why in the world do these two co-
Top: Sophomore Jonathan Fitch, student manager of The Atlas, prepares a drink. Fitch worked as a barista his first year at WWU. Middle: This cappuccino was made with The Atlas Blend, a special blend of single origin coffees developed this summer by Fitch and used in all the cafe’s milk drinks. Bottom: A mug featuring The Atlas logo. The globe design is inspired by the WWU student missions program and its goal of global service. Photos by Henry Honzel.
leges not interact more?” Massie said. “I mean, we’re all the same age, similar interests probably, similar goals, because we’re all in college. It’s kind of unfortunate to me that they don’t mix more.” Massie feels students from both colleges would benefit from each other’s perspectives. “Just having different people having conversations and talking about things I think is a really positive thing,” Massie said. “Retreating further into our own enclaves doesn’t really do very much to help anyone.”
While thus far there has been very little collaboration between WWU, Whitman and Walla Walla Community College, Fitch hopes The Atlas could be a space for interaction. “I’m hoping that this can kind of jumpstart a little bit of that, to start talking and start planning events together or working together more. I don’t see why that doesn’t happen,” Fitch said. “Our colleges have other colleges that we can interact with and work together on anything, so why not do that?”
DEC
OPINION 7 Living in a post-cynical age PAGE
01 2016
Dear Mom: advice column Dear Mom, As the holidays approach, I’m anticipating some awkward conversations ... My extended family and I disagree politically, and as a senior I’m really dreading the question, “So, what are you doing after graduation?” I have no idea how to handle these discussions with poise but also stay true to myself and stand my ground on my beliefs. What would you do to navigate these tough family gathering? I don’t want things to get too tense because despite our disagreements, my grandpa is aging and may not be around for much longer, so I don’t want to cloud holidays with tension that might be unnecessary. The most complicated thing is that my grandpa’s wife (my mom’s stepmom) and I really can’t see eye-to-eye; she doesn’t understand my family or I and refuses to accept my grandpa’s aging condition and illness. Mom! Help me out! Stressed in Seattle Dear Stressed in Seattle, This sounds like a tricky situation, Stressed, and I’m glad I’m here to help. When it comes to politics, I try to find common ground with relatives through statements like: “We all believe that people in America should be safe. We all believe that people in America deserve an education. We all believe that people in America deserve good jobs and a stable economy. We can all agree that violence divides our nation and hate crimes and white supremacy should be condemned at every moment.” If your relatives disagree with this last point, cancel all your holiday plans and get a new family. I hope that you and your family can agree on certain things, even if you disagree on candidates—this common ground builds a good foundation for conversations that allow for debate and honest conversations and can help you grow together. Decide ahead of time on a response for what you’re doing after graduation. I would suggest: being vague (ie; “Can’t wait to see,” or “I hope to be in [city]” or “Finding a job!”); turning the question on them and asking for advice (“What did you do after graduation? Do you have any suggestions?”); or make s*** up (“NASA recruited me for their mission to Mars,” or “Joining the Peace Corps” or “Moving to Tennessee to finally get my chance to meet Dolly Parton and have her mentor me to success with my singing career”). Or, use my personal favorite strategy—make up a job that is so boring no one will care. For example, data analysis for pharmaceutical companies or copy editing software manuals. It’s a tough question, but if you’re prepared for it, you will seem like a grown up adult who is ready to take on the world and your relatives will maybe even offer you a job because you seem so qualified. Your last problem is troublesome. Try to understand why your grandpa’s wife might not want to accept your grandpa’s illness— is she scared to lose him? Is she worried about her own age and mortality? Try to limit your time around her and come up with a signal to let your family know when she’s doing something really grating or frustrating, then vent about it later to get it out of your system. The signal might help you all calm each other down or know when someone might need help navigating a tricky conversation with your step-grandma, especially since it sounds like you want to spend time around your grandpa who’s getting older. She sounds like a real piece of work. Power to you for being patient. Good luck, honey! Mom
NIKOLAUS KENNELLY Columnist
T
o the outcasts of the earth, blue-collar intellectuals, protégés of Salinger and Kerouac (if any of you are still around), know this: cynicism is dead. No longer is it fashionable to lament the decline of the sacred, the rise of consumer culture and the innumerable social ills engendered by urban sprawl. Whereas past ages have been defined by works like “The Catcher in the Rye,” our age is defined by the MacBook Air and the Harry Potter franchise. The first a symbol of our estrangement from reality—a hog of a device whose low profile feigns eco-friendliness— and the second a symbol of our collective desire to enter the Etonian elite. If you responded to that last sentence with a shudder, you’re out of date. The hip among us have moved way beyond that sort of cynicism to a radical form of unapologetic consumerism— the sort in which driving a Subaru makes you an environmentalist and opting for a kombucha makes you a progressive. The obvious shallowness isn’t so much accepted as secretly treasured— loved even. Why, you might ask, be so cynical? My response can only be that you misunderstand me. I am as post-cynical as they come. It’s true that I’m the sort of person who will discuss labor violations on Ethopian coffee farms over a cup of Yirgacheffe and ponder the horrors of factory farming over bacon and eggs (my breakfasts
are a bit heated), but that’s where it ends—I never take the leap to full-on cynicism. That is, much of what I say straddles the line between appearance and actual belief. Does this sort of insincerity remind you of someone? The president elect, maybe? If so, we are ready for my central claim: although it might at first seem totally contradictory, Trump is the result of post-cynicism. He’s what happens when most people accepted long ago that humans are egocentric and have moved on to treating selfishness and denial as virtues. What’s really sad (or would be, if I was a cynic) about
this is that unlike post-truth rhetoric (where our side has science), we on the left are not immune post-cynical rhetoric and so are partly to blame.
No longer is it fashionable to lament the decline of the sacred. Let’s return to the MacBook Air to get at the real point underlying all this. To a cynic of old, this sort of device merely represents the disconnect between ide-
ology and reality, but to the postcynic it represents freedom from reality. The user gets to perceive the Mac in any way she chooses, even if her perception directly conflicts with the grubby reality. This freedom is extremely alluring and, as I’ve argued above, has permeated the lives of people all across the political spectrum. Further, it is precisely this permeation that made a Trump presidency—one in which reality is unimportant—a possibility. If I believed reality mattered, I’d use this space to argue for more cynicism, but as I am a victim of my post-cynical age doing so would be out of place.
Illustration by Meg Cuca
Immigrants are also Americans RINA CAKRANI Columnist
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couple of weeks ago, I attended the Immigration Trip Studies that showed me another side of America that I didn’t fully grasp before. The trip left a big impression on me, not simply because I got to learn immigration-related issues that I didn’t know about, but mostly because I had the opportunity to meet with people who are directly affected by the immigration policies in U.S. and who live everyday with the fear of being deported and separated from their families. Being in the Whitman bubble often makes you forget about the outside world and the major significant issues that other people our age face. It makes one unaware of the many organizations and people who work hard every day to oppose a system that is unjust, ineffective and which gambles with the lives of real people. When we went inside the detention centre in Tacoma, we had the chance to observe with our own eyes how undocumented immigrants were being kept there and treated as prisoners. I spoke with a Mexican man who had been living in U.S. for 40 years and was being kept in detention without having had a hearing session during the nine months he had been
there, when in fact, according to the law, he has to be granted this right within the first six months of stay. He told me that not only was his right for having a hearing in front of the judge taken away from him, but he was also being exploited by working without getting any money. He said that the system was set up like that: private detention centers would keep people inside as much as possible, from a couple of months to a couple of years (depending whether the detainees had some criminal offences in their records), in order to benefit without paying them. When I asked him if he had any hope,
he told me he had no chance of getting out from there and would soon be deported back to a country that he hadn’t seen for most of his life. He felt completely betrayed and disappointed since he considered himself part of this country, but this country didn’t consider him a part of itself. The story of another immigrant student left an immense impact on me. Her name was Cecilia and she was a DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival) student. This important policy was issued by the Obama administration in 2012 and allows undocumented immigrants who entered the country as mi-
Illustration by Claire Revere
Voices from the Community
nors prior to 2007 to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and eligibility for work permit and continuation of their studies. This piece of legislation changed the lives of many, including Cecilia, who was now very fearful for her future. She had come to U.S. 15 years ago, when she was a small child, grew up here, worked hard for her education and in the process built her identity as an American. Unfortunately, DACA can be rejected by the new president in January, thus leaving her and many other immigrant students without any possible protection from deportation. I had never thought of my life as depending on a specific law, but seeing Cecilia cry when she was describing her story and how scared she was of being sent to a country that she doesn’t belong to anymore made me reflect on how now more than ever there is a need to take action in order to change the system and not just to accept the struggle of millions. I think the fact that it is a human rights issue that affects millions of people in U.S. is a more than enough reason to show solidarity and to care about how the policies of the government shape people’s lives. Just because an issue doesn’t touch you personally doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist or that you should forget about it. When the new presidentelect comes in January and decides to refute important legislations such as DACA, you should not just write solidarity messages on Facebook, but protest against it.
What is the most awkward conversation you had over Thanksgiving break? Photos by Caroline Ashford Arya
MEG ENGLERT
REBECCA WERTHEIMER
MAYA AURICHIO
DANA BOLSTER
Sophomore
Sophomore
Senior
Senior
“This wasn’t a conversation but after dinner–my neighbors came over for Thanksgiving–the dad of the family came over, broke my mom’s favorite wedding gift which was this large plate that was very decorative and nice, and he broke it in half, literally.”
“Juliana Matz and I, who is also a sophomore, run an Instagram that’s dedicated to pictures that look like vaginas. And my entire family has somehow found this Instagram and I have an 11 year old cousin who is a boy and my uncle came up to me and was like, ‘Because of you, Isaac can’t have an Instagram,’ and I was like, ‘But it’s not sexual!’”
“I was on Semester in the West and we had Thanksgiving up at Johnson Wildness Campus, and some people’s parents were invited and one of my friends has been kind of hooking up with someone else on the program but she didn’t know how to introduce him to her parents. So she went with, ‘Mom and Dad, I’ve taken a lover.’”
“Most of my mother’s family are Tea Party members except for my one liberal uncle who was trying to relate to me all of Thanksgiving dinner by telling me about the one bisexual woman he’s ever dated. It was horrible. And he kept telling me about how they would check out girls together. And I was like, ‘Yeah, Billy ... cool.’”
HUMOR
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Whitman parents marvel at matured offspring
Illustration by Taylor Penner-Ash
by CLARA WHEELER Unburnt Queen of the Andals
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ecently, Whitman College won itself a ringing endorsement from parents of students who have come back home for Thanksgiving break as scholars and adults. One parent in particular, Vanessa Wallers, reported that her son Jack spent a large amount of the break curled up on the couch reading Plato’s “Symposium,” and when Wallers asked Jack for help clearing the dishes, she got an eye roll and an exasperated, “Not now, Mom, I’m disman-
tling the patriarchy” in response. Wallers is quite proud of her son, and hopes he will do better in life than her eldest, who is working as a ski lift operator in Whistler.
“I don’t know what you’re doing at this ‘college’ of yours, but keep up the good work” Michael Gibbons
According to our sources, during Thanksgiving dinner, a qui-
Clinton family Christmas wish list by MEGUMI RIERSON
Chief Ivory Tower Correspondent
T
he Clintons have seen better days. In the wake of a momentous election and the slow drip of appointments straight from the basket of deplorables, the holidays are bound to be more tense than they were in New Hampshire and Iowa. The Wire has obtained a partial family Christmas wish list to shed some light on the inner workings of the Clinton industrial complex. 1. The first print edition of “Fight Club” 2. Nyquil I.V. drip 3. The ritual sacrifice of the first born child of every staff member in the “New York Times” Opinion section 4. James Comey’s home address 5. Yeezys 6. Foreign asylum in Facebook headquarters 7. A scream room filled entirely with red, white and blue balloons 8. Michelle Obama’s arms 9. The number of an upand-coming ghost writer 10. Snapchat stocks 11. Bernie 2020 shirt
12. The business card of Vermont’s best senatorial campaign manager 13. Clinton Estate-wide ban on glass products 14. Electoral map adult coloring books 15. “Fire from the Heartland: The Awakening of the Conservative Woman” on BluRay 16. Yoga mat 17. Yoga class that consists only of variations of lying face down on the mat and screaming 18. A cameo in “Hamilton” 19. Jon Stewart’s tears in Keurig cups 20. A mild amnesia-inducing concussion 21. Co-host positions on “Between Two Ferns” 22. Nietzsche’s complete works 23. Melania Trump’s Social Security number 24. Vacation homes in California, Maine, Nevada and Massachusetts 25. “The Federalist Papers” printed on toilet paper 26. A weekly podcast recapping and analyzing “The West Wing” episode-by-episode 27. An 8-year cryogenic nap
et air of knowledgeable superiority seeped out of Jack Wallers like gravy over homemade mashed potatoes. “Did you know,” he burst out at one lull in the conversation, “that there are gender fluid and gender gassy people out there?” The whole table oohed and ahhed at how up to date he was with all things progressive, and his parents crowded him to ask him about just how many internets are out there. “Finally, we have an expert in the house,” said Vanessa Wallers, beaming. Jack is currently working on growing out his hair and hopes one day it will be
long enough for a true man bun. And the success of Whitman College at turning high schoolers into Responsible Intellectuals does not stop at the Wallers family. Another parent, Michael Gibbons, noticed that his daughter Eustace seemed all grown up now, and that she even was okay with running her own laundry loads. “I don’t know what you’re doing at this ‘college’ of yours, but keep up the good work!” Gibbons said. “I sure am feeling Blue,” he added, a tear of some kind of emotion falling down his cheek. When asked about her developments into the
world of maturity, Eustace crossed her arms and said, “Ugh. I haven’t felt this smothered since I figured out I was into some kinky shit.” At press time, Eustace and Jack have gathered together behind Jewett to share their newly acquired deep understanding of the human mind. “If you spell Philippines with o’s instead of i’s, it spells Pholoppones,” Eustace said philosophically, passing a joint to Jack. “Since Darwin was mocked for his ideas, could you say that he Darlost?” responded Jack thoughtfully. With minds like these, it is no wonder their parents are so proud.
Whitman student security wins Best New Job of 2016 by BEN FREEDMAN Senior Hipster Analyst
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t’s official. Just last week, Forbes released its most recent installment of the best new jobs of 2016, and Whitman’s student security position was crowned supreme. In unprecedented fashion, Whitman security positions rank number one in every relevant category, edging out both software developer and electrical engineer. Lucrative pay? Minimal work requirements? Full medical and dental? Whitman security provides it all! After reaching out to current Whitman students employed by the security office, a few choice responses stood out as indicative of the hard work and expertise needed for the job. “It’s just really nice to be paid for doing literally nothing at all. After a long day of homework and class, it’s great to just throw on the blue vest, kick back with the guys and watch that money stack!” “Well sure I was on the job, but so were those Keystones” “In this economy, I just needed work with a 401k and stability, and lucky for me Whitman security provides both” “Realistically, what am I sup-
Illustration by Claire Revere
posed to do with a damn flashlight?” “That Coronas and Catan party on Isaacs wasn’t going to keep itself safe now was it?”
This week in Politics
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by JEFFREY GUSTAVESON Squirrel Communicator
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Fidel Castro figures Trump
Reince Priebus revokes Pres-
Nation’s liberals start believ-
Report: Tryptophan to be
Scientists placed on EPA’s
Presidency as good a time as
ident-elect Trump’s Twitter
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used in Middle East peace
Endangered Species List
any to peace out
access until he finishes his
better option
talks after successful
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“Collateral Damage” Comic by Nick Sekits
Thanksgiving dinner trials