Issue 2 spring 2015

The

PIONEER

Power and Privilege Symposium: Past is ever present

ISSUE 2 | February 5, 2015 | Whitman news since 1896 | Vol. CXXXII

Divestment refuels for spring which is about $10,000,000

of that, 2% is invested in fossil fuels

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Staff Reporter

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see POWER & PRIVILEGE, page 3

Whitman College’s endowment:

$500,000,000

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$

$

$

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$

$

Public fund: $7,000,000

so when the college divested it removed $28,000 from fossil fuels $

of that, an undisclosed amount is invested in fossil fuels

Therefore, the total amount invested in sustainability is equal to

Private fund: $5,500,000

???

= total smaller investments in fossil fuels through public and private fund managers.

Sustainability fund: $10,000,000

by NATALIE BERG Staff Reporter

T

$

of that, .04% is invested in fossil fuels

$10,000,000 or 2% of Whitman’s endowment $

$

$

=$1 million

During 2014, the college redeemed a $7 million investment from a public fund manager as well as a $5.5 million investment from a private fund manager.

by CHRISTY CARLEY

n Feb. 19, all classes will be canceled for the thirdannual Power and Privilege Symposium. The theme of this year’s Symposium is “The Past is Ever Present: Unmasking Systems of Oppression and Inequality.” Consisting of 52 workshops, presentations and panels, the event will strive to open discussion about a wide range of issues related to injustice and inequality.

Senior Natalie Shaw, director of marketing and communications for the symposium, says the event is important “first and foremost ... to create dialogue.

Racial issues, class inequality issues, gender issues, sexual assault on campus, those are all pertinent things that are going to be discussed at the Power and Privilege Symposium.”

Leann Adams, director of student activities, has been assisting students with the planning of the event. She has provided both logistical support, such as contracting speakers, and advisory support, such as helping create to a clear vision for the event and putting together a team.

Adams said one of the things she most looks forward to is the keynote speech of the symposium, which, unlike the rest of the event, will be open to the Walla Walla community. The speech this year will be given this year by Shakti Butler on Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. in Cordiner Hall.

Butler is a filmmaker and educator who focuses on issues of diversity and racial equality.

She is the founder of the World Trust Organization, which seeks to stimulate conversations about race through the use of workshops and videos. Butler’s film “Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequity” will be shown on Feb. 11 at 9 p.m. in Olin Hall 130.

Adams believes that Butler’s ideas will resonate with the community, especially given recent events.

“One of the goals [of the students] is ... trying to help Whitman ... understand that this issue is relevant here and now,” said Adams. “That it’s not an issue for the past, it’s not an issue for others, it’s an issue here, intimately within our community.”

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hough the Whitman College Board of Trustees stated the college will not divest from the fossil fuel industry, students in the Divest Whitman movement are still trying to change their minds.

Students and faculty in favor of divestment hope the combination of the faculty resolution passed last week, and a victory in a student referendum being organized for the fall will encourage the trustees to reconsider their position and reinvigorate the divestment movement. While several movements have advocated for divestment from various sources over the last several decades, the college still lacks an overarching policy for how ethics should impact investments.

The college recently invested $10 million in a fund that is entirely devoted to sustainability and the environment. As a consequence, 2% of our endowment is now held in sustainable resources.

Divest Whitman: the student campaign Divest Whitman, a studentrun campaign, urges the Whitman College Board of Trustees to divest the endowment’s exposure to the top 200 oil, gas and coal companies. The Divest Whitman campaign is part of a nationwide movement to encourage divestitures from funds involving fossil fuels in order to combat climate change and damage the economic legitimacy of the fossil fuel industry at large.

The student body has not heard much from Divest Whitman this school year, but their campaign is far from over. Students from the Divest Whitman campaign were the primary authors of a resolution passed by the Faculty Senate on Wednesday, Jan. 28.

Before writing the resolution,

a team of 21 students met with many faculty members to discuss the professors’ opinions and concerns. The students then wrote the resolution with the aid of Associate Professor of Politics Aaron Bobrow-Strain and Professor of Politics Jeanne Morefield.

Thirty-four professors agreed to sign the resolution, and the Faculty Senate passed the it almost unanimously.

“In 15 years of teaching at Whitman I have never seen such a well-run campaign,” said Morefield of the divestment campaign. “[The students] worked incredibly hard, they did all of their research, they contacted and tracked down as many faculty as they could, they answered any questions ... The faculty [was] impressed with them.” see DIVESTMENT, page 1

Lady Sweets confirm bid to host regional tournament

by RILEY FOREMAN Staff Reporter

T

he Whitman Ultimate Frisbee program recently received some news that made their upcoming season even sweeter. Last week Director of Club Sports Skip Molitor approved Whitman’s bid to host the

men’s and women’s regional tournament, which is set to take place during the first weekend of May. Earlier this fall the Sweets applied to host either the Northwest Conference or Regional Tournament. Molitor signed off on the submission but asked the team to consult him further if USA Ultimate replied in

the affirmative. At the Jan. 28 club sports meeting, he gave the green light to sophomore captain Margo Heffron, who helped craft the original proposal.

The news garnered quite an enthusiastic reaction from the players. Without yet playing a game, the Lady Sweets feel like they’ve already secured a big win

for the program, one worth showcasing to their Whitman peers.

“I think it’s such a big deal because people see us playing pickup on Ankeny, but no one’s really watched the men’s team or the women’s team play at their full potential,” said senior captain Julia Bladin. “D-I Regionals is a big tournament because it is the deciding factor for D-I Nationals. It will be the highest-caliber games and teams that people could potentially see.”

“High-caliber” might be an understatement for the ultra-competitive conference in which the Sweets play. The women’s team is slated to play in only two D-I sanctioned tournaments, the Stanford Invite and the Northwest Challenge Cup. Preseason power rankings place the Lady Sweets at number five in D-I Women’s Ultimate, with regional rivals Oregon and University of British Columbia claiming the top two spots.

Despite the preseason hype, the team is attempting to concentrate on process, a motto that the captains have worked hard to emphasis over the past few months. This year the women’s program began a team fitness regime that intersperses weightlifting and cardio workouts with weekly throwing practices and scrimmages.

Julia Bladin ‘15 looks to connect with teammate in tournament at Western Washington University last weekend. Photo Contributed by Rhys Logan, WWU Communication and Marketing

see ULTIMATE, page 5

One Act Plays allow students to promote arts

by HANNAH BARTMAN Staff Reporter

N

ext Wednesday, Feb. 11 marks the 26th-annual One Act Play Contest, a Whitman tradition that aims to introduce students to theater production and further promote the endurance of the arts.

According to tradition, three plays will be performed, all of them written, directed, acted, designed and managed by students.

“We stress process over product so it’s learning to work together, and a lot of the people [participating in the One Acts] have never done their job before,” said Production Manager sophomore Alex Lewis.

One such of these new comers to the theatre is junior Tino Mori, who wrote the play “Ground Nut Stew,” a comedy that his friend described as “a mix between ‘Waiting for Godot’ and Agatha Christi.” This is the first script that Mori has ever written, and he found that the One Acts allowed for an effective learning curve.

“I’ve always had a bias, like [thinking that] the writer has a huge impact, but really there’s a lot that can happen,” said Mori. “I have to realize the version I had in my mind is not necessarily the right version.” see ONE ACTS, page 4

A&E pg. 4

Feature pg. 6

Opinion pg. 7

Read our preview of the Theatre Department’s annual One Act Play Festival.

Seniors discuss how they juggle a social life with the rigors of their last year.

Jacqueline Rees-Mikula’s letter to the editor addresses the colonial legacy of Whitman.

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Distant backhoe accident disrupts Whitman, regional communications

by LANE BARTON

IN THE NEWS

by ANDY MONSERUD News Editor

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Staff Reporter

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n Friday, Jan. 23, the Whitman College campus experienced a loss of cell service and access to 911 after a fiber optic cable was cut by a backhoe operator. The severed cable disrupted communication in surrounding counties at approximately 2 p.m. Collaboration between Campus Security, the Dean of Students Office and Whitman College Technical Services helped inform students, staff and faculty of the problem and eventually address lingering issues after most service was restored.

“This outage was caused by a backhoe operator in Franklin County digging without calling first to ensure that there were no critical structures below the surface,” said Walla Walla Public Safety Communications Manager Steven Ruley in an email to The Pioneer.

Campus Security was first to notice the problem at around 4 p.m. on Friday after staff members couldn’t reach one another by cell phone and confirmed the issue when the police scanner reported similar problems.

“I ran to the [Memorial] building to let someone in, came back, and [Officer John Delaney] said he tried to call me and see where I was at. We realized the phones were busy and I turned my iPad on to the [police scanner] and that’s when they started talking about the phone lines being down pretty much everywhere for their system,” said Director of Security Matt Stroe.

Stroe immediately went to inform the President’s Office and Dean of Students Office of the problem, which prompted an email to all community members mentioning that

NUMBERS

Cases of measles reported in the United States in January SOURCE: CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL

2000

Year in which measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES

644

U.S. cases of measles in 2014, the most in over 20 years SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES

1 in 1000 Fatality rate of measles SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES

53%

Number of Americans who are “confident” in the ability of vaccines to prevent disease.

Photo by Marcovici

cell and 911 services were unavailable and that Campus Security should be contacted by landline for campus emergencies. In response, Campus Security called in an additional staff member and utilized radios to ensure that they could effectively communicate without cell phones.

“The good thing is we did have staff we could call in at five o’clock that could sit here and man the desk while [someone else] went out and patrolled.

If it had been extremely busy or if there were things going on, we would have called in on-call security officers to come and work and they each have radios ... so we could all communicate with each other,” said Stroe.

While service was eventually re-

stored after 10 p.m. on Friday, Whitman’s campus experienced difficulties through Sunday. Campus Security became aware of lingering problems just before 3 p.m. on Sunday after an email from a student who was unable to contact the security office via cell phone. This problem prompted another round of emails Sunday afternoon to update community members when the issue was noticed and when it was finally solved by Whitman College Technical Services after resetting Whitman’s phone system.

“The fiber was repaired and services restored sometime on Saturday, however, our internal phone system did not seem to ‘sync’ with the restored services immediately and

needed to be reset. Before the reset of our equipment, outbound calls ... were working, but inbound calls ... were not working. After the reset, all service was restored,” said WCTS Chief Information Officer Dan Terrio in an email with The Pioneer.

In reflecting on the events of the weekend, Stroe was quick to laud the importance of the informative emails, as well as the reasonable response of community members to a somewhat random event.

“I think the students, and the faculty and staff for that matter — did a great job of keeping things calm and not getting too excited or upset with the issue when we really didn’t have a hand in the matter,” said Stroe.

SOURCE: WASHINGTON POST

94.7%

Median measles, mumps and rubella vaccination rate in American kindergarteners.

SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES

2

States that do not grant religious or philosophical exemptions from vaccination: West Virginia and Mississippi. Mississippi’s vaccination rate is the highest in the nation, with over 99% of kindergarteners vaccinated SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES

Pio Past: Sidewalks of Whitman ASWC RESOLUTION SUMMARY For almost 120 years, The Pioneer has reported on news from the Whitman campus and surrounding community. Pio Past pulls old articles from past decades from the Penrose Libray archives to give modern readers a glimpse of campus history.

by LACHLAN JOHNSON News Editor

ASWC Senate unanimously passed “A Resolution Advocating for Change to Whitman’s Sexual Misconduct Policy” last Sunday, Feb. 1. What would the Sexual Misconduct Policy look like if it was the way ASWC wants?

Jurisdiction The Sexual Misconduct Policy is currently part of the Faculty Code, and amendments must go through the Faculty Senate.

ASWC wants jurisdiction to be handed over to the administration so that revisions can be made more quickly.

Original publication: Sept. 22, 1949

Language The definition of “incapacitated” would be expanded to cover a variety of characteristics and clearly align with the definition taught by the Green Dot program.

The definition of “sexual assault” would include being forced to penetrate an orifice, so that it covers assaults against male or transgender survivors of sexual assault.

Unwanted exposure to sexual fluids would be added as a form of sexual assault.

Gender-neutral pronouns would be used in the policy.

Author unknown Practicality Downs Mud In the future Whitman students need not worry about searching through their trunks to find hip boots or wooden shoes every time there is a rainy spell; the muddy campus walks are a thing of the past.

Because of pressure exerted by interest groups and individuals, the walks and driveway were paved with asphalt during the summer recess, an innovation which is expected to virtually eliminate the wading period which formerly followed a heavy rain or snowstorm. The paving was financed from the college budget and handled by a local firm.

Title IX investigators Every sexual misconduct case would be conducted by a team of at least two investigators.

The administration and Title IX investigators would be cognizant of their language to avoid victim blaming or heteronormative gender biases.

Victims of sexual assault would not be asked what they were wearing the night of the assault. Unless it is explicitly stated, this is solely intended to corroborate witness testimony.

Transparency Any participant in the investigation would be able to request a recording of any statement they submitted for the investigation.

The complainant and respondent in an investigation would be given the opportunity to verify transcript of their own investigative interviews.

The complainant or respondent could change any on-record quotation if there were factually inaccurate information, the investigator lacked a recording to verify the transcript, or the transcript left out part of the testimony.

Tradition Balked This project has had a long and controversial history, bound in the mores and traditions of the college. As quoted in a somewhat inaccurate report in the last year’s Pioneer, the project has had several false-starts in the past. On one occasion work on a network of cement paths was ready to commence when the voice of an outraged student body at this threat to muddy tradition caused a substitute of rather ineffectual cinders to be dumped on the paths.

With mud and ice slicks and reported areas of quick-sand now a thing of the past, today’s students can hold up century conscious that his college has fulfilled the frustrated dreams of those who gladly progress before tradition.

Third-party involvement Whitman College would adopt the Project Callisto reporting system. Survivors would be able to record evidence with Project Callisto, an independent reporting process, at any time. They could then later decide whether to submit the report to the college and launch an investigation.

Sexual assault medical forensic examination kits would be examined and interpreted only by third-party medical professionals not associated with the college.

Appeals The complainant or respondent could appeal a decision or “responsibility” or “no finding.” As the policy currently stands, there is no appeals process. Only the sanctions handed down in the case of a verdict of “responsibility” may be appealed.

The president of Whitman College would decide appeals. The president’s decision would be final.

Academic support Both the complainant and respondent in sexual misconduct investigations would be given academic support and the option of postponing exams while the investigation is in progress or within two weeks of a decision being made on the case.

Photo courtesy of The Whitman Archives

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The

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Power and Privilege presenters talk shop Whitman archives. The Pioneer is a great resource to look at the bounds of membership at Whitman to see who has been excluded and othered.”

by JEREMY ALEXANDER Staff Reporter

Whitman College will host its third-annual Power and Privilege Symposium on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015. All academic classes are cancelled for that day, so that students can attend different lectures and workshops. Here are some insights from some presenters at the upcoming event.

Senior Marga de Jong, a politics major, will present a research project titled Interrogating Whitman’s Colonial Projects: Past and Present. This presentation is a collaboration with fellow seniors Elana Simon and Sayda Morales alongside Ali Holmes.

What sparked your interest in presenting at the symposium?

“I have attended the past two years and was inspired by what I saw and learned. I have become increasingly aware and disheartened by the politics of this institution. I believe that by learning and discussing how power has functioned from past to present, we can work to challenge institutional norms that create unjust

communities.”

Where did you start researching for your project?

“Professor Melisa Casumbal’s class Race, Gender and the Body and Professor Shampa Biswas’s class Critical and Alternative Voices were both involved in developing this workshop. This workshop is very much inspired by Biswas’s class’s presentation at last year’s symposium titled, “Whitman and the Other.” Most of the materials workshop participants will be analyzing come from the

Does your project come to a conclusion about power and privilege?

“We are working with materials from the archive and collaborating with the workshop participants. We will pass out documents and have small group discussions to analyze this material. We want people to examine how Whitman has constructed and interacted with the ‘other’ through issues of membership, racial profiling and microaggressions.”

Do you see presenting as being proactive with these issues? Do you think it makes an impact in community?

Joel Ponce is a junior music theory major presenting a project titled Year of the Booty: From Nicki Minaj to Iggy Azalea. His project is a collaboration with sophomore Tara McCulloch.

Do you think events like the Power and Privilege Symposium are a step in the right direction for improving diversity at Whitman?

Arty Kraisitudomsook is a junior biology major from Thailand and is a part of the presentation Internationality and Culture Shock. Arty is moderating a panel of two students from Vietnam and Brazil, a Whitman student who has been abroad in Spain, and Kyle Martz, the interim program advisor for the Intercultural Center.

Why is your group presenting on this particular topic?

“As an international student, there is a huge culture shock associated with moving to the United States. It is something that any international student at Whitman can relate to, even if they have only traveled abroad for one semester. I am real passionate about this topic, and it is something

What does it mean to you to present in this event?

“This is a very big event, and every member of the Whitman community should have time to attend. The annual symposium can teach people things they can apply to life later on and understand how hard it is to adapt as an international student.”

Why are you presenting?

“Since the majority of Whitman students are American, most do not know what it is like to be abroad. It is a huge learning experience to grow in a new country and connect with others through your experience. I want to share how this new environment has challenged me with others.”

Does cancelling academic classes make an impact, and do events like the Power and Privilege Symposium improve issues at Whitman?

“Yes, events like the Power and Privilege Symposium make a difference.

I think that these projects challenge Whitman by raising consciousness and creating a more justice-oriented student body. I am all for canceling classes to promote the event.” sage and are huge influences on young women’s perception of their bodies.”

Why did you become interested in giving a presentation at the event?

“I think about social justice everyday. The Power and Privilege Symposium is a way to invite others to think about these issues, since they might not be on every persons mind. Many people are affected every day by these issues, and it feels good to spread awareness.”

that I can really elaborate on with fellow students.”

“If the college staff, faculty and admission officers come and listen to panels/workshops, it could improve the problems the college currently faces. It will help them understand students concerns. Students are already trying to improve socioeconomic diversity, but we need their help.

“We need events like the Power and Privilege Symposium because systemic injustice is an ongoing problem. I’m an optimist in that I would like to believe there is not a big distinction between students, faculty and administration learning about and recognizing these unjust institutional norms and then working to change them.”

Whitman cancels a day of academic classes to have the Symposium. How do you feel about this?

Photos by Halley McCormick

What is your presentation about?

“Our project looks at different popular female figures (Taylor swift, Nicky Minaj, Meghan Trainor, Miley Cyrus) and how different types of women can empower themselves in different ways. We are looking at how people perceive things through different identities and the messages these females send.”

Do you agree with the way these celebrities present themselves in media?

“I agree with some of the messages these women portray, but the way they do it could cause complication. These women are definitely trying to send out a positive mes-

“The commitment and willingness to cancel academic classes acknowledges these issues that are very important to both students and faculty. There are alternative ways students can learn and grow out of the classroom, and I am all for expanding the way we gain knowledge.”

How do you think the Power and Privilege Symposium affects the community? Is it a step in the right direction for improving diversity at Whitman?

“I think that having an open place to talk about all these issues is definitely encouraging it. Events like the symposium will cause admissions to reach out and attract a more diverse community. This event is a way to invite people to be diverse on campus and show how people see power and privilege.

We still need to foster and improve on this progress, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.”

Faculty resolution continues discussion from DIVESTMENT, page 1

Now that the faculty resolution has passed, Divest Whitman is in the process of drafting a student referendum about divestment. Many students active in the divestment campaign, including seniors Collin Smith, Henry Allen and Ari Ronai-Durning, hope to bring the referendum to the student body for a vote before spring break.

ASWC already passed a resolution in the spring of 2013 calling for the college to limit new investments in fossil fuels and form a committee with representatives from all sections of the college community to investigate the effect divestment may have on the endowment. After a nine-month delay, the board decided against formal divestment but formed a Climate Action Planning Task Force comprised of trustees, staff members, faculty and students.

Though the ASWC resolution did not bring about divestment, Morefield and the students of Divest Whitman are confident that this upcoming referendum, paired with the recently-passed faculty resolution, will make a clear statement and lead the trustees to take more concrete actions.

“The idea is to hit the trustees with these two [pieces of legislation] that state pretty firmly that [their] constituents, so to speak, the students and the faculty, want this to happen,” said Morefield.

These two pieces of legislation are continuations of the philosophy upon which the divestment campaign has operated since its inception in 2013. These strategies have not yet convinced the trustees to divest, but in Smith’s opinion, the campaign has not failed.

Smith pointed to the college’s recent investment in a sustainably-oriented fund, the creation of a Climate Action Planning Task Force and the decision to set a date for the college to be carbon-neutral as steps that the college took in response to pressure from the divestment campaign.

“It wasn’t until we started pushing for divestment that the college finally decided that it was worth working on a Carbon Action Plan and a carbon-neutrality date. I think by pushing for divest-

ment, like I said, we’ve received these collateral successes, and that makes me feel comfortable continuing to push even when we’ve received one no,” said Smith.

Smith admits that he doesn’t necessarily expect the faculty resolution and student referendum to be the convincing factor to get the college to divest. Rather, he sees these pieces of legislation as a reaffirmation of the student and faculty opinion on the subject. As Smith sees it, Divest Whitman has already influenced the college to adopt some environmental practices, so reaffirming their stance and continuing the conversation could likely yield more positive results.

“I think, at the end of the day, there’s some benefit just to bring these issues into the focus of the Investment Committee because I do feel like it matters to the long-term solvency of the endowment,” said Smith. “If they’re looking at these things and they’re making decisions with that in mind, I say that’s a good thing for the current moment.”

The day-to-day management of investments is handled by the Investment Committee, which works with the college’s trustees to manage the endowment. Part of the everyday management involves the investment of money with new fund managers and redemption (that is, sale) of investments in others.

The Investment Committee currently makes all of their decisions based on the performance and risk profile of their investments without being swayed by political motivations. Since about a quarter of the college’s endowment is invested in funds with some exposure to fossil fuels, some investments and redemptions may

Divestment: The Financial Side In February 2014, the Board of Trustees released a statement explaining their decision not to divest from fossil fuels, and they have made no public announcements on the subject since then.

Divestment movements are not uncommon; in the 1980s, a student campaign urged the board to divest from companies involved with South African companies during Apartheid, but they refused to do so. The board does not have a general policy to guide how they respond to suggestions that they divest endowments from various sources. In recent memory, however, their response to requests has always been a firm “no.”

As of May 2013, about two percent of the college’s endowment was invested in companies from the Carbon Underground’s list of Top 200 Oil, Gas and Coal Companies. However, this two percent was invested in funds held by managers that controlled more than 25 percent of the college’s endowment, meaning divestment would require the college to reinvest over a quarter of the endowment to divest from fossil fuels.

slightly increase or decrease the college’s exposure to fossil fuel companies. The committee has made no attempt to avoid or decrease investments in fund managers with exposure to fossil fuels based on political motivations or the divestment movement. “[Policy] is not a subject that the Investment Committee believes is within its jurisdiction.

We have said that the policy questions belong at the Board level, not at the Committee level. The board said what its policy is last year,” said Trustee and Investment Committee Chair David Nierenberg.

Between March and September of 2014, the committee redeemed about 12.5 million dollars worth of investments held with two different fund managers. These funds were exposed to a variety of resources, including some fossil fuels, as well as other resources like gold and iron.

As a consequence of redeeming these funds, the college removed more than 28,000 dollars from fossil fuel companies.

However, these redemptions do not signal a general trend towards divesting from fossil fuels.

“It wasn’t until we started pushing

for divestment that the college finally decided that it was worth working on a Carbon Action Plan and a carbon-neutrality date” Collin Smith ‘15

According to Financial Analyst Justin Rodegerdts, the decision to redeem those two funds was made with profitability in mind, rather than to make a political statement.

“I wouldn’t say that it was from the Investment Committee’s mindset of [a choice] to divest fossil fuels. It was more about the performance of [those] particular manager[s], and it just happened to be a manager with some exposure to fossil fuel companies,” said Rodegerdts.

In September 2014, the Investment Committee made a commitment of 10 million dollars to be paid over the course of roughly five to seven years to Climate Solutions Fund II, an investment fund run by Generation, which invests in alternative energy sources and sustainable resources and companies.

“The way I like to say it is that this was an opportunity to be green, and green in terms of sustainability and profitability.

We’ve been very happy to make a commitment to the second CSF fund, [and] if we could find others like this, we would be happy to [invest in] them,” said Nierenberg.

Still, Nierenberg emphasized the centrality of financial stability in the college’s investment decisions.

“We would not have invested in something like [Climate Solutions Fund II] if it did not have a track record of [profitable] partnerships,” he said.

While this new investment is in line with the values of the divestment campaign, it does not delegitimize the fossil fuel in-

Organizers prepare for symposium

Photo by World Trust Educational Services from POWER & PRIVILEGE, page 1

She cited the outcries in Ferguson, Mo. and protests against sexual assault as national issues that are still relevant within the Whitman community.

“The idea of wanting to personalize the conversation so that people feel connected to it, engaged in it and frankly, emotional about it,” said Adams, has been a major focus in the planning of the symposium.

This kind of conversation is not easy to have. Kyle Martz, interim program advisor for the Intercultural Center, believes that the symposium is important in how it encourages community members to engage in difficult conversations.

“When we talk about issues of identity and culture, a lot of times we’re not talking in a very celebratory fashion. We’re talking about challenges and ... the difficult parts of human existence,” said Martz.

Despite these difficulties, Martz believes that an event like this is essential to fostering a more inclusive environment at Whitman.

Kazi Joshua, associate dean for Intercultural Affairs and Chief Diversity Officer, agrees with Martz that creating a supportive and inclusive environment is one of the main objectives of the symposium. Joshua is new to Whitman this semester, but his position has existed in various forms for some time, evolving frequently.

“As the student population has increased on campus, the needs of underrepresented students and perhaps more importantly their interactions with their peers on the campus began to suggest that there was need for education on the part of the whole campus and not simply in providing support services for those who were underrepresented,” said Joshua.

Shaw, Martz and Joshua all emphasized the idea that the symposium alone will not solve problems of inequality or injustice at Whitman or on a larger scale. They do, however, see it as a step in the right direction.

“I do not see this symposium as the silver bullet that resolves everything,” said Joshua. “We ought to see these events ... as a continuing conversation at Whitman that invites us to look at ourselves in the mirror and try to be the kind of Whitman we say we should be: one in which every student, every staff member, every faculty member can feel like they belong, that they can flourish and that they can thrive.” dustry and create the political will to keep fossil fuels in the ground, so Smith has mixed feelings, though he believes it is a step in the right direction.

What’s next?

No matter the outcome of the student referendum, the recent passage of the Faculty Resolution has pushed the question of fossil fuel divestment back into discussion among the trustees. Nierenberg said he looked forward to discussing divestment with the other trustees, who are meeting this week from Feb. 4 to 6.

In Nierenberg’s opinion, the decision regarding divestment is larger than just this particular anti-fossil fuel campaign.

“There’s a question at the altitude of 60,000 feet that I don’t think the board has thought about yet. That is, in what circumstances should divestiture for any cause be considered and decided? Not just energy and environment, but any issue. You could have similar discussions, for instance, about human rights issues,” said Nierenberg. “Whitman College does not have a policy about divestment and it’s probably worth considering.”

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One Act Plays help students create memorable experience

Linnea Valdivia ‘17 (left) rehearses an impassioned speech she must deliver for her role in the One Act performances that will begin on Feb. 11. Student director Lauren Rekhelman ‘17 and Tom Zbyszewski ‘17 (right) practice their scene together at a rehearsal. Photo by Kelly from ONE ACTS, page 1

Allowing for the collaboration between teams can only be effective when everyone is working together. Organization of all pieces of the play is a dimension that is unique and vital to theater production, and another lesson that can only be learned through taking part in the process.

“The hardest thing about the One Acts is keeping that communication open with your creative teams, like making sure that the

stage manager isn’t pulling props and that the director isn’t designing the sets. It’s making sure that everyone is talking so everyone can do their job,” said Lewis.

Both the writer and the director are present during the rehearsals of the plays, and the combination of their artistic visions is an important part in the production process that the audience misses in the final product. Cues for stage direction or certain lines must of-

Backcountry Film Festival showcases power of outdoors

by GEOFFREY LEACH Staff Reporter

A

week after the BANFF Film Festival, the lesspopular Backcountry Film Festival played in Maxey Auditorium on Feb. 3.

Students and community members alike enjoyed nine short films about backcountry skiing and snowboarding that ranged from personal journeys to adventures that were edited to be like a videogame.

Two of the films portrayed dogs running aside skiers, sliding down the mountains and enjoying the backcountry. “Backcountry Baker” featured Baker, a Labrador Retriever who excitedly followed his owner down the mountain.

Not only did man’s best friends partake on these adventurous expeditions, but best friends also went along for the ride. “The Powder Pilgrimage” chronicled the expedition of two friends across the Northwest to arrive at Valdez, Alaska. “From the Road” also took place in Valdez, but it recounts the filmaker’s story of breaking his neck upon returning to the peak of the mountain.

This marks a theme of adversity that played throughout the festival, but most prominently in “Out on a Limb.”

In the film, Vasu, a one legged skier, proves his disability fails to limit him in the backcountry and continues to pursue everything without limitation.

The festival takes a weirder turn with “IRS Traverse.” Edited to appear like a retro video game, the skiers collected coins as if they were in a Super Mario game. Complete with dialogue and sound effects stripped

from Mario, this film definitely stands out from the rest.

Often the videos offered dizzying views of incredibly steep slopes that provoked feelings of anxiety even within the audience.

“Higher” included probably the most dangerous mountain as it told the story of Jeremy Jones’s trip to Grand Teton. At the steepest parts, Jeremy Jones and his crew had to rappel down from great heights to make it down the mountain safely.

The festival highlights the near fanatical nature of these skiers and snowboarders. It even proves that summer cannot deter the most dedicated enthusiasts. In “95 to Infinity,” two of these enthusiasts remained dedicated to skiing each month

for

95 consecutive months.

The well known hit video “Afterglow” also made an appearance in which skiers wore suits that were covered with colored LED lights and carved down the fresh powered mountain through the night to create stunning visual effects against darkness of nature.

With high popularity, the Outdoor Program will most likely try to continue bringing festivals like BANFF and the Backcountry Film Festival.

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ten be changed within the transition from script to acting, and this transition is mediated in part by the director. The play “Skin Like Iron,” written by junior Sam Gelband and directed by senior Eli Zavatsky carefully combines the creative vision of both. “[Gelband] wrote a play that is expressing a part of himself that is very real, and my job as a director is to try to enhance and imprint part of my reality on that,” said Zavatsky.

This is the first play that Zavatsky has directed, and he acknowledges the process and relationship that he has had with the script and characters.

“I’m figuring it out as I go along in a lot of ways, and, Sam has said this, it seems like I know the play better now than he does,” said Zavatsky.

“I’m coming at it in a different way because I have been inside his play for a couple weeks now and he has been far from it.”

According to the Production Manager Handbook, the One Acts Play Contest was started by Professor of Physics Craig Gunsul because he believed that Whitman was “superior in teaching analytic behavior but deficient in encouraging creative behavior.”

The shows will be held at 8 p.m. on Feb. 11-14 and at 2 p.m. on Feb. 15. Tickets are free for Whitman students, 12 dollars for adults and eight dollars for seniors.

Poet Kane Smego turns ideas into spoken word

by JAMES KENNEDY Staff Reporter

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lam poet Kane Smego will be performing from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m. in the Reid Coffeehouse on Friday, Feb. 6.

Aspiring or experienced poets can also attend a workshop at 4 p.m. where Smego will help students transform their ideas into spoken word poetry.

Smego is renowned speaker, poet and the artistic director of Sacrificial Poets. In 2010, following the stories of young revolutionaries in Tunisia and Egypt, Smego helped contribute to the multimedia “Poetic Portraits of a Revolution” project along with two other poets and a filmmaker. His work examines how stories can be used as a means of non-violent protest and self-transformation, and they often explore concepts of identity, diversity and leadership.

Smego individualizes his performances based on the context and theme of the event where he is performing. His wide range of experience draws on his work as a youth educator, nonprofit director and active ally for immigration rights, allowing him to share his life through speech and poetry.

In November of 2014, a group on the Whitman Events Board (WEB) first encountered Smego at the NACA (National Association for Campus Activities) conference in Portland, Ore., where poets, performers and speakers give presentations and are hired to hold events at various schools. Sophomore and WEB member Collin Faunt, who manages most performancebased events through WEB and is in charge of the Smego event, was impressed by Smego’s showing, as was the rest of the group.

“When we heard Kane, [our desire to bring him to Whitman] was pretty much unanimous. We thought he was very moving and he also performed his poems, and some of them were about issues that would be well-received here at Whitman. One of them had some feminist undertones, and we were just interested to see what else he had to offer,” said Faunt.

WEB hired and booked a date for Smego based on his performance alone but later found that he also held spoken word poetry workshops with students based on his experience in the art form. The workshop is fo-

Poster by Allick

cused on turning ideas you have about yourself and things important to you, and making the transition into the written and eventually the spoken word.

“When we talked to him, he told us he’d developed a curriculum about finding your voice and finding your personality through spoken word poetry,” said Faunt.

The workshop is open to all skill levels, so even those with little to no experience in slam poetry are welcome to attend. More experienced poets and writers have been promised more intensive writing prompts and techniques, so attendees need not worry that the curriculum will be too beginner-centric. Members of Whitman’s slam poetry group “Almighty Ink” have expressed interest in attending as well.

Almighty Ink co-leader Gus Coats expressed a willingness to see the artist’s own style come through in the workshop.

“I like that with slam poetry ... everyone has their own

style,” said Coats. “I’m hoping to see some of Kane Smego’s personal practice come through [in the workshop].”

Fellow co-leader Grace Little seconded this notion, adding that Smego’s ear for a musical tempo would be a helpful skill to learn about for her and other members in the club.

“Having listened to some of Kane Smego’s work, he employs internal rhyme and rhythm that blurs the line between poetry and rap,” said Little. “I think we could all use work with that.”

Like most WEB-sponsored events, Smego’s performance and workshop will be free admission for all Whitman students. As WEB’s funding is paid for through student tuition via ASWC, Faut believes charging money for the majority of their events would be unfair and excessive.

“We don’t like to charge students for events they’ve already paid for,” said Faunt.

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California trip focuses swim team on conference championship meet

by KYLE FLANNERY Staff Reporter

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Nick Wechter ‘16, Clark Sun ‘18 and the rest of the team prior to their succesful Whitworth meet. Photo by Bashevkin

or the Whitman men and women’s swim teams, a training trip to California is critical. It is also physically strenuous. Practicing twice a day, they swim more yardage than at any other point in the season. This helps swimmers reach a new level of fitness, but it goes farther than that. In the midst of a successful season for both teams, it’s also a chance to reaffirm goals before the upcoming NWC Championships, come together and bond.

“Being together for ten days straight, there’s not much time for anything but bonding,” said junior women’s captain Johanna Brunner. “Whether you’re on the bus going to and from practice or at the hotel with your roommates, you feel like a family afterwards.”

Aside from the grueling twoa-days, the swim teams also have a beach day. They spend the day bodysurfing, playing football in the sand, visiting the oceanside pier and eating food. It is also a trip to reunite the team after a short winter break. For both teams it is the first time they are back in the pool together after the couple weeks of winter break.

“It helps everyone get.... on the same page; we know what everyone’s expectations are for the rest of the season and we push each other,” said junior Will Erickson.

For a sport such as swimming, bridging the gap between the individual and the team is essential.

“It’s really hard to put your head in the water for two and half hours by yourself,” said Erickson.

“You can set individual goals, but in the end it’s the team that pushes you, motivates you. Trying to beat other fast swimmers in practice is when you really improve,” he said.

This is why California is so critical to the swim season.

Some of it is simply being able to train at a high level and compete with teammates, but another piece of the puzzle is in developing a healthy team dynamic and contributing to something greater than yourself.

“It’s about that ten seconds on the wall when somebody’s totally exhausted, getting down about their performance, and your teammate hits the wall and says, ‘You’re doing great, keep it up.’

Little things like that make a difference and elevate the experience for everybody,” said Head Swimming Coach Jenn Blomme.

In the end, this positive energy is contagious. It bonds them through their work, unites them under one goal. For the men’s team, that goal is to beat Whitworth in the Northwest Conference Championshhips. Despite the dominance the Whitworth’s men’s team has displayed in conference over the past several years, there is a strong feeling amongst the Whitman men that they are poised to have a historic season. It’s been on the back of everyone’s minds, culminating since last spring, that this is the year. A great deal of this excitement can be attributed to the fact that, from a team that fell just short last year, no swimmers graduated. Blomme believes that this is, hands down,

the strongest men’s team in the history of Whitman College.

However, for the men to beat perennial powerhouse Whitworth in the conference championship, it’s going to take spectacular individual performances from everyone.

“It’s not going to happen with just a pretty good meet; it’s going to take an awesome meet,” said Blomme. “It’s going to be every little point. It’s going to be the difference between 16th and 17th place.”

For the women’s team, after finishing in the middle of the pack for the past few years, this season has been about continuing to improve and focusing on getting better every day.

There is a feeling that they too could make this season special.

“Our team has been looking really strong lately,” said Brunner.

Blomme was optimistic as well.

“It depends on who shows up. We’re pretty young, but there has emerged strong leadership from the junior and sophomore classes,” she said.

This past Saturday, in an exhilarating come-from-behind effort, both the men and women’s teams beat Whitworth in a dual meet. It was also senior day for the graduating class of 2015 and the excitement was quite evident; swimmers were singing and dancing poolside long after the meet was over, celebrating sweeping Whitworth for the first time in the history of both programs. With the NWC Championships fast approaching, the results were an unrivaled morale booster.

Patriots take 4th Superbowl over Hawks’ chance to repeat Questionable call leads to disappointing end for Seattle faithful

by DYLAN SNYDER Staff Reporter

T

he Patriots certainly know how to make things interesting. The Pats have been to six Superbowls since 2000, and never has the game been decided by more than four points. This year was not unusual for the Patriots as they completed the largest fourth-quarter comeback in Superbowl history to take the 2824 victory over the Seahawks.

The game opened with the teams cautiously feeling the aura of the game, with the first quarter yielding no scoring from either side. The Pats had threatened in the first quarter, only to be intercepted by Jeremy Lane on the goal line, who then suffered a gruesome wrist injury on the interception return. Tom

Brady and the Patriots opened up the scoring with a passing touchdown to Brandon Lafell in the beginning of the second quarter.

The Hawks were able to answer with their own long drive – capitalized by a Marshawn Lynch touchdown run, exciting Whitman campus with an audible roar. Chris Matthews, who was working at Footlocker only three weeks ago, was able to answer the Pats second touchdown with a back-shoulder fade as the first half ended in a 14-14 draw.

The third quarter was all Hawks as Russell Wilson found Doug Baldwin for a touchdown, followed by a Steven Haushka field goal giving the Seahawks a 10-point lead going into the fourth quarter. The Patriots looked to be on their heels against the Seahawks’ onslaught, but the fourth quarter would

prove to be the deciding segment.

After regaining control of the ball, Tom Brady found Danny Amendola for a touchdown with about eight minutes left. Brady would finish the game off with another score to Julian Edelman just before the two-minute warning.

The path looked daunting for the Seahawks until an incredible bobbling catch by Jermain Kearse let the Hawks down to the New England seven. The catch looked to be the most recent chapter of Patriots being beaten by an iconic catch on the final drive of a Superbowl.

The Seahawks then drove down to the goal line with 30 seconds in the game. Instead of running with Marshawn again, the Hawks tried a slant route to Ricardo Lockette, which was intercepted and returned to the two yard line. A personal foul on

Different year, similar goals for women’s basketball team

by COLE ANDERSON Sports Editor

T

he Whitman women’s basketball team started this season with one main goal: get back to the national tournament.

After last year’s dominant national championship run, that goal seemed well within reach. But after a difficult preseason schedule and some injuries to key players, that goal is further out of reach.

The team is still optimistic about their prospects of going to the tournament, but this year’s path to the tournament has already been quite different than last season.

“The overriding destination has always been conference championships and playoffs, so even though some of the smaller stats and goals haven’t been met, we still feel on track for that overall goal,” said Michelle Ferenz, head women’s basketball coach.

Those smaller stats are mostly simple game stats like turnovers and rebounds, but for a team that is relatively young and inexperienced, small stats are a big focus.

Junior guard Hailey McDonald spoke to the improvements that have been made by her younger teammates.

“We knew it was going to be tough and a lot of adjustments were going to have be made by a lot of people. It’s hard to explain to someone what it takes to play at the level we do and it’s more something that needs to be experienced, and I think that everyone, though it came at different speeds, has

handled it wonderfully,” she said.

Though last year’s seniors were particularly important to the team’s postseason run, McDonald also stressed that every season requires some adjustments.

“Every year is going to change when seniors graduate and we get additions,” she said. “The season is going really well. It took a bit to find our groove and I feel like we still have a bit to go, but the team is great.”

McDonald is one of the team’s starters who has been sidelined by an injury, but she believes her new role has been good for her.

“Now that I am injured and potentially out for awhile, I have really been trying to work on my role as solely a leader and offering my input and what I see to the girls who have to pick up extra minutes. I feel like it’s going well so far,” said McDonald.

That attitude seems to be a trend on this team, where individual play is an afterthought and the improvement of the team as a whole is the main focus.

“It really doesn’t matter to me how I’m doing personally if the team isn’t succeeding as well, so my goals are all still oriented around that,” said senior guard and captain Heather Johns.

Johns had been battling nagging injuries and had to sit out in the game against Pacific Lutheran University, one that she thinks was a defining moment for the team.

“I was really proud of how our team handled [the Pacific game]. We were missing two

starters and we were able to get the win, so I think that showed a great amount of character and maturity and I was really proud of the team,” said Johns.

McDonald expressed similar thoughts.

“I think the Pacific game was a perfect example of how good and deep a team we truly are. A lot of girls were asked to step into bigger and more aggressive offensive roles with Heather Johns out and we played fantastically,” she said.

Senior forward and captain Hallie Buse has also been sidelined with an injury recently, putting even more pressure on the younger players.

But injuries haven’t been the only form of adversity for this team. They spent most of their preseason and much of the first half of conference on the road, and they are looking forward to more home games.

“I felt like I didn’t even have time to unpack. It felt like we were just always on the road.

So it was good to know early that if we took care of business through the first half of the season, we’d be at home a lot more in the second half,” said Ferenz.

Now past the halfway point and sitting at third in the Northwest Conference, the team is poised to make a case for postseason play and is looking forward to finishing the season strong.

“It’s been a very different year but we keep moving forward and we keep getting better, and that’s all I can ask for,” said Ferenz.

Bruce Irvin after a kneel down brought the ball out to the seventeen and the game to an end.

The play call has been the subject of much scrutiny in the short time since the game, but with one timeout and second and goal, along with Wilson playing a relatively conservative game up to that point, the call made sense.

Several parts of the execution were off; the ball was too high, the pick too short and the read done before the snap not comprehensive enough. However, it has to be said that the play by Malcolm Butler was one of the best of the game.

Tom Brady was awarded the Superbowl MVP award and his fourth Superbowl. He also set numerous career Superbowl records during the game. Bill Belicheck and Tom Brady now go down as the most victorious Coach/QB duo in the history of the NFL.

Women’s Ultimate looks forward to Regionals from ULTIMATE, page 1

Senior Jessica Shatkin noted how the added fitness component will help the Sweets throughout the season. “[Fitness] has really become part of our team culture. It’s really important because we’re not just resting on our laurels, we’re not just resting on our skills, but we really are trying to take it to the next level,” she said.

However, the athletic component is just one part of the Lady Sweet’s approach to their highly anticipated season. The women will need to remain focused if they are to secure their third consecutive spot at the D-I national tournament.

“We came up with this idea of ‘process’ because we don’t want our team to focus on the end goals ... because those can become distractions,” said Bladin.

“We want it to be about what it takes to get there, what you need to do at every step. Thinking about it as a building process, a playing process, a process of building a team that’s working towards something is what the process is all about,” she said.

Despite stressing mental discipline, the Sweets still know how to have fun. They look forward to hosting their annual fundraising tournament, Onion Fest, which will take place in early April. The weekend will draw hundreds of players, but it will not count towards Whitman’s national ranking. With two tournaments in Walla Walla in one month, fans will have plenty of opportunities to root for the home team.

“I think we’re going to focus more on getting [the Whitman community] out for regionals because it is the tournament that matters for our team,” said Heffron.

Bladin is also excited to play in front of the Whitman audience.

“The fact that our peers get to come and watch and be like, ‘Oh, this is what Go Sweets means and this is what frisbee is all about’ [is important] because it’s such a competitive sport, and I don’t think people see that when they see us on Ankeny,” said Bladin.

While it might seem like all fun and games, it’s time for fans to watch the Lady Sweets’ hard work pay off.

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Senior Struggle: Juggling written, oral exams

by AUDREY KELLY Staff Reporter

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f one is to leave Whitman College to be a salmon fisher, why write an extensive thesis utilizing current theory to analyze sociological phenomena?

It is not unheard of for Whitman students to go from being grilled by a panel of experts in the field of geology in April to foaming milk for the perfect mocha at the Colville Street Patisserie in June.

Whitman students embark on thousands of different paths after leaving ever-green Ankeny Field behind, but before they go, every Whitman fourth-year goes through what senior Aislyn Booth calls a rite of passage: senior requirements, which can include any combination of a thesis, oral and written exams.

“It’s like an academic brain workout,” said Booth. “I heard all the seniors complain about it [when I was an underclassman], and now I’m still hearing all the seniors complain about it.”

Both Whitman students and professors attest to the fact that senior requirements are not simply for the complaining of a harried, stressed senior class beset by an unfair amount of fog in January and February.

Rather, senior requirements culminate Whitman academic experiences as well as giving students the life skills, if not the practical knowledge, to embark past the fireplace in the Quiet Room.

Associate Professor of Mathematics Barry Balof addresses how the exams that math seniors take are beneficial after graduating.

“If students go on to grad school, they will have broadbased written examinations similar to what we do here. But for jobs, too, it’s valuable to have the experience of having to field questions that aren’t set ahead of time,” said Balof.

Senior exams, theses and projects vary from department to department and are constructed to utilize and test the skills students learned during their time in the department. In some departments, this means designing and researching a project or topic of your choice. In other departments, students are tested on their comprehensive knowledge of their chosen major(s).

Oftentimes, senior requirements are a combination of the two methods of evaluation. In the Department of Mathematics, students take written and oral exams with problems for which they ostensibly have learned the correct

methods of solving. They also have a chosen project second semester for which they do extensive research and cooperation with an advisor and the department.

“This introduces more longterm planning, goal-setting and the challenge of explaining concepts to colleagues who aren’t necessarily versed in [the specifics of] your project,” said Balof.

The requirements for each department are very specifically geared towards what would best address what students learned while majoring in that discipline.

“I like the idea of having orals where you defend your thesis because Sociology is discussionbased around concepts. In class we synthesize readings in discussion, that’s how we’ve learned it, and so it makes sense that that’s what our orals are,” said senior environmental studies-sociology major Perry Anderson. “Plus, sociology is so broad that [doing a thesis] gives you a chance to focus on something you’re interested in.”

On the other side of Ankeny, the Department of Mathematics systematically tests students on concepts that they learned during each course required for the math major as soon as they return from summer break in September.

“It is a hard test, and we do it in September because college code requires [a certain amount of time between failing and attempting a retake.] The vast majority of students pass by the third try. Occasionally, a student might need a fourth chance, which wouldn’t be possible if we did the first round any later,” said Balof.

Each department structures its exams differently and at different points in the senior year. Associate Professor of English Scott Elliott believes that even though very few English majors continue on to study English or American literature, the work that students do during their time at Whitman, especially in preparing for written and oral examinations, gives them a strong basis for any paths they may take after graduation.

“It is our devout belief, bordering on certainty and bolstered by our majors’ success in many fields, that the knowledge and skills English majors gain by reading the best works of literary art human beings have produced in the English language ... might teach us about what it means to be a human being on this planet,” said Elliott.

There are departments that use standardized tests, such as the Department of Psychology, which uses the MFT. Then there are less

traditionally academic majors in which testing of this type would not be appropriate. Theatre majors do a project that takes a variety of forms: acting, light design, set design, directing or self-designed projects such as writing, directing and starring in a solo performance piece. After the project is complete, theatre students write a 20-page paper about the experience (the research they did for the role/design or the performances). They also sit for an oral exam with three committee members. “[Our oral exams are] pretty not stressful and the vast majority get distinction. [The faculty’s] goal in an oral defense is to ensure that we can articulate our process as theatre artists, and not to judge our performance alone too strict-

“...it’s valuable to

have the experience of having to field questions that aren’t set ahead of time” Barry Balof, Professor of Mathematics

ly ... though they also can and do criticize our work. They are looking for us to grow throughout the process [of creating and evaluating our senior project], employ what we’ve learned in the theatre department,” said senior theatre major Tory Davidson.

Though senior requirements have been carefully sculpted over the years to best address what has been learned at Whitman and what may come next, occasionally departments realize that the examinations and projects are not measuring student’s capabilities appropriately. Many departments calibrate how effectively requirements are addressing the academic goals of the department regularly.

“We hold a departmental discussion about comprehensive exam results every spring when the results are still fresh in our minds,” said Elliott. “We do this with an eye to our stated learning goals and to see if students are responding to the challenge of the exams, as we hope they will, and to see how we might better prepare students for the exams in their preparatory coursework leading up to the exams.”

Occasionally discussions such as these lead to major changes in the structures of exams or requirements. Six years ago, mathematics written exams were just 12 questions graded pass or fail.

“We were seeing an in-

creasing portion of students that were competent in some areas and hurting in other areas, and it didn’t make sense for them to have to take the whole test over again,” said Balof.

Thus, the Department of Mathematics made a cooperative effort to change the exam. Now there are four sections to the written exam, and students can pass sections individually. If they fail any one section, they only have to retake that section and not other sections that they passed.

The Department of Psychology has very recently made fundamental changes to its requirements for graduation during the years leading up to senior year. These changes are reflected in a major change in the senior requirements for psychology majors: A senior thesis project is no longer required.

The written test for psychology is standardized and very similar to the Psychology GRE Subject Test.

“I ended up teaching myself a lot of things from a GRE review textbook that hadn’t been covered in my Whitman psych classes,” said Booth.

In order to cover more of the topics in the senior written examination, next year the Department of Psychology will require its majors to take three of six classes that directly cover material that will be in the examination. Because this means more classes are required for psych majors, the department decided to make the senior thesis class optional. Additionally, this removed pressure from the department to provide thesis advisors for the rapidly growing department and gave more flexibility to double majors who might have thesis projects for their other major.

Booth feels that the change was appropriate, especially because students still have the option to do a thesis, an option which she decided to take.

“It’s not as hard as people think it is. It’s a self-directed project where you get to focus in on what you’ve been most interested in, and it’s really satisfying.” said Booth.

Though the whines of seniors may echo through the walls of every building on campus, and though underclassmen may anticipate the days when they can complain with such abandon and still be respected, senior requirements have their place at Whitman. They represent a rite of passage, a culmination and a crowning success to cap off the challenging loveliness of the Whitman College experience.

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Sports are the new religion for many Americans Zan Mcpherson First-year

POP SHATTERS CULTURE

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mmediately upon the Seahawks’ glorious and absurdly lucky win against the Green Bay Packers a few weeks ago, I called my twin brother in Seattle only to hear an ear-assaulting flood of laughing and screaming surrounded by distant firework explosions.

“Zan... I’m just, I’m just running around outside. I don’t know why. I just can’t sit still.”

Adrenaline was evidently surging through him, and I picked up on a faint sound of sobs and sniffles. This was the first time that Gavin had cried in two years, and it was because of a football game.

This reaction might seem absurd, even to an avid sports fan, but the Seahawks’ fan base has turned into a community that is inordinately devoted. Aside from the few who

just hopped on the bandwagon, most fans, including my twin and me, hold an intense emotional attachment to the team and to each game.

Passionate responses like this across the country have led psychologists to investigate the connections between sports and religion in America.

According to a survey done by the Public Religion Research Institute, one half of Americans believe that God or other supernatural forces play a role in the outcome of the Super Bowl. In this way, sports teams and players embody God’s will, and religion evidently plays directly into sports games.

But many psychologists argue further that the culture surrounding sports has managed to create a faith entirely separate from the religions that have already been established.

Sports and religion are separate, and they serve the same purpose in relation to American culture and the psychology of human spirituality.

The stadium and the church are comparable in their ability to bring a community together in a ceremonial manner. Especially through singing and chanting, these revered spaces create the same feeling of social “electricity” as a result of seasonally ritualistic, unifying worship. As Psychology Today columnist Nigel Barber explains, sports fans “face painting, hair tinting and distinc-

tive costumes are thought to satisfy specific religious goals” like establishing a communal identity and escaping from boring, everyday life.

In the same way that people are often “born” into their religion, children raised in sporty families are “born” into a sports following. Heretics and fans of rival teams receive similarly hateful threats from specific fan bases and religions. Also, through enculturation, as leading sports psychologist Daniel Wann mentions, people associate specific vocabulary with their team and religion alike: dedication, celebration, suffering, worship, faith.

Most Americans do not consciously connect the spiritual aspects of sports with the predominant religions that exist today.

The deeply emotional and spiritual experience that comes along with watching sporting events, especially ones as nerve-wracking as the recent Seahawks-Packers game, is not associated with religion because the game seems more present than some aspects of religion.

But even though religious gods are technically abstract and athletes are living people, both trace back to the same cause. Humans seek to join a communal identity, but more importantly, they seek faith. In a religiously declining modern world, we have adapted to our basic need

for faith, devotion and worship by dedicating ourselves to sports teams. As traditional faith continues to decline, Americans will be more worried about winning a game than achieving salvation.

The aforementioned survey found that three quarters of Americans are more likely to be watching football than going to church on Sunday. I wouldn’t be surprised if, in 10 years, the pews were empty.

Letter to the Editor: Whitman can no longer ignore legacy of genocide

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ILLUSTRATION BY GAUGLITZ

Major should not be chosen based on others’ wishes

by Peggy Li First-year

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ifteen minutes into the conversation, my father asked me, “So what do you want to major in?” It was something I’d consistently avoided thinking about, toying with the idea of being a history or politics major, but ultimately not being able to reach a decision. Before the words “I’m not sure” could even leave my lips, he started listing majors that he forbade me to pursue. History, psychology and philosophy were all subjects I just could not study. “If you major in those, you won’t get a job, and you’ll never be independent”.

In that moment I felt somehow wronged, only to feel supremely guilty not five minutes later. My dad was paying my full tuition, and because he worked 9 to 5 for 20 years, I was able to attend this school. I owed my father an incalculable debt; surely I could sacrifice a few choices when he had sacrificed years.

Yet it still felt unfair. If I slowly discovered that I passionately loved the social sciences, why shouldn’t I pursue them?

Maybe it came later for me than for most people, but I suddenly felt the contradiction in pleasing both my parents and myself. Growing up, my father barely had enough to eat and had to work every day in the summer in order to earn money for college. While at college, he gave up his interest in political theory in favor of mathematics because that would help him support his future family. My father wants a safe future for me with enough food to eat and a cozy house to live in. He wants me to have an easier life than he did.

In general, I feel like parents want security for their children

because it brings them peace of mind. But children have to make decisions for their future and live with them long after their beloved parents have passed on.

While I’m grateful for all that they’ve done for me, it seems unreasonable to live my life solely according to what they think is best. It is, after all, my life and the fact is that my circumstances truly are different from theirs.

Even if I were to study something practical like biology, then go on to medical school, and become a successful doctor at age 26, would that really make me any happier? Biology and medical school are notoriously difficult, and they would be doubly challenging because I have no real interest in the field. Would it not be better to do something I actually like and then live with the consequences? Ultimately I have to live with my decisions. I could make a horrendous mistake and regret it for the rest of my life, but it would still be my mistake to regret. If I were to go along with their advice and become a doctor only to fail later on, would it not be double the mistake on both their part and my part?

Perhaps I simply don’t have the threat of starvation looming over my head. It doesn’t feel like a mistake in what to study will lead me to live in a cardboard box on the street. Maybe that’s overconfident of me, but I feel like most Whitman students feel the same. It’s ironic to me how the only reason I have the luxury of choosing to study something I like is because of my father giving up that exact thing. It’s something that I’ve been unable to reconcile within myself. Call me selfish, but I don’t want to wake up old and wrinkly having realized that I never truly lived.

our months of peace and conflict studies in the Balkans taught me how to recognize genocide and ethnic cleansing, and as I step back on campus I’m overwhelmed by their evidence. I’m overwhelmed not only by the way white supremacy, imperialism and genocide intertwine with the history of Whitman College, but by how little that history has changed.

We (the Whitman community) know about the missionaries who settled in this region, and we know that Whitman was founded in their honor. We can agree that the genocide of North America’s native population was tragic and that religion and pale skin should not justify it, but where we disagree is in the present. Disowning the college’s religious affiliation and dedicating a rock next to Maxey Hall do not atone for Marcus Whitman’s “arrival” (read: invasion) and how foreigners continue to occupy this land.

In her convocation speech last semester, Professor Elyse Semerdjian aimed to open a critical analysis of Whitman’s origins and the imperialist legacy it carries, but her argument was overshadowed by reactions to the case study she used as a point of comparison. So let’s try again this semester, because it is our responsibility to acknowledge that this institution, and many like it across the nation, is inherently racist. It is our responsibility to understand how all of us on campus continue to engage with imperialism and genocide every day.

I learned very quickly in the Balkans that marking territory is a central component of claiming and “cleansing” land. This campus is rife with territorial demarca-

tion. Many symbols of the violence surrounding Whitman are obvious, such as the school mascot (the Missionaries), the name of the school paper (The Pioneer) and the very name of our college, in honor of Marcus Whitman, whom local tribes consider responsible for the death of a couple hundred natives. Other symbols escape our attention, like the school’s official seal which pays tribute to the three states “saved”

by Marcus Whitman (see this explanation on Whitman’s website).

By contrast, there are only a few traces of local tribes around campus, reflecting the power dynamic between Whitman College and the native community. Even Treaty Rock

by Maxey Hall, long believed to be a gift from regional tribes, is a testament to white supremacy and imperialism. In her convocation speech, Professor Semerdjian noted that far from honoring the region’s tribes, that rock commemorates a treaty that natives signed “under duress,” choosing exile over slaughter. She revealed that it also symbolizes “the establishment of Indian sovereignty”— that is to say their confinement to designated spaces — and the legal battle they have been fighting ever since for basic human rights on their own land.

So are we honoring the native community or are we honoring their obliteration? By expressing pride in Whitman through these monuments and symbols, we celebrate acts of genocide.

One-sided, broken narratives of the past are also a common theme in countries that experience ethnic cleansing and genocide. Memories of various atrocities in the Balkans and our narrative of Walla Walla’s history are similar-

Voices from the

Community

ly skewed in that official versions of the truth dominate discussion to the point where an entire group of people and their perspective disappear.

One example is how we remember the death of Marcus Whitman in “the Whitman Massacre.” The college website explains this massacre as “revenge” for the hundreds of Native Americans who died of an outbreak in disease while they were under Marcus Whitman’s supervision, defending Whitman as someone “well-meaning.” In this version of the past and all others, the death of a dozen white settlers is called a “massacre” while there is no name for the death of hundreds of natives directly preceding it.

Other atrocities in American history are nameless as well.

We vaguely call the initial invasion “discovery”; the occupation “colonial America”; the white supremacy that fueled expansion “exploration,” “manifest destiny” and “missionary work”; and the near extermination of this continent’s native population “settlement.” Omitting Native Americans and their perspective is a habit, dangerous because it reifies their annihilation. We in fact continue the genocide by cleansing them from our consciousness, because in this way we cleanse our conscience.

Contrary to popular belief, we are responsible for the past — at least, for how we remember it.

We are responsible for the way we choose to discuss this institution and its history, for how we celebrate mass murder and for how we acknowledge the Native Americans, whose oppression and genocide we benefit from every day.

What do you hope to see at the Power and Privilege Symposium?

Poll by denali Elliott

Louisa Rogers

gus thomas

Senior

“I would like to see a series of conversations about what it means to be a women ... that are respectful and not defensive.”

Junior

“Talk about normative body image as it concerns men. For example, growing up and being told you must be athletic so you don’t get fat.”

Jeremiah Jurich

Caity varian

Junior

Sophomore

“I would like to see a forum on South Park and satire”

- Jacqueline Rees-Mikula

“I want to see discussion of gender relations both on and off campus.”

BACKPAGE

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5

2015

WWPD shuts down rager How to initiate:

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typical Whitman weekend night consists of the following: hitting up the Taqueria with pals, deciding whether or not to go out for 40 minutes, getting ready and drinking cement mixers, staying out from 10 to midnight and then going to bed immediately. The Whitman population spends half of the next day complaining about a hangover that they incurred from the four-tofive drinks 35 percent of us had.

Let’s be honest, we only see the “party-going” population of Whitman for two hours each weekend night, and that’s only if you go out twice (which is a rarity). Whenever someone claims “Whitman goes hard,” they’re probably talking about Beta or making a joke about Phi. But now more than just the need for a “good night’s sleep” has gotten in the way of the general social midnight curfew: the Walla Walla Police Department.

For years, the WWPD has been paid off through a sneaky budget trick designed by President Jorge Ponts that sends $40,000 Turkish lira their way each year (the department organizes semi-annual trips to Istanbul). This agreement allows Whitman students to drink, urinate and fornicate wherever they please and only be given

a mild warning by Whitman security (the adults, not the students who are just glorified light-switchers).

But thanks to Ponts’ imminent departure, the Walla Walla Police Department has begun cracking down on Whitman’s party scene (or joke of one) as a warning to the next president to continue the PD’s getaways to the Blue Mosque and Mavi flagship store (WWPD was voted “most stylish Police Department in Eastern Washington” for the last 10 years).

Last weekend the fashionable fuzz showed up at a party at a house known around campus only as “The Best Western 69.” As to why the residents decided to call it that, I have no idea. After a knock on the door, the entire house, which was hosting a women’s fraternity post-initiative event, immediately hushed. One person who was over 21 muttered next to me, “Does being caught drinking in a private residence automatically go on my LinkedIn profile?” I answered in the affirmative and moved in closer to investigate.

The residents of the house were talking to the police on the porch.

They agreed that one student needed to get a MIP (Minor in Possession — of alcohol in this case), which would be expunged from his record in 30 days after never

testing his urine. Why? To frighten the kids into running away from the party at 10:40 p.m. and to show the new president of Whitman that the WWPD means business.

The police and residents chose Trevor Hueis, a theatre major, who blew a .02 after he had been acting smashed the entire night as an excuse to hit on sophomore Kappas.

I talked to one officer before the staged MIP and breathalyzing took place.

“Sure, we have real work to do, but it’s so funny to see you guys try and party. Whitman parties — where smart kids go to get stupid, and stupid kids try and sound smart. Some guy was making a mess of Sartre’s philosophy when I walked in. I almost tased him on the spot, but then I thought about the deals at the Grand Bazaar. You’re lucky I can haggle like a boss,” said the officer, who preferred to remain anonymous.

After the MIP was issued, kids bolted away from the party liked scared rabbits infected with scary juice. The deed was done, except for a few hangers-on. One resident of the house, Dick Dessmind, went around benignly shouting at people to leave, offering them candy and trinkets if they did.

The WWPD had made its mark.

Backpage edition

20 love poems, song of poopy despair Haikus:

Slippery When Wet

No Fun, Period!

Beer in my belly Going crazy everywhere My brain feels funny

PMS Fuck You No one likes you, go away You are an asshole Thinking Spot I like to go poo I sit on a small toilet I think about you

Love I need to confess my love When I hear that voice calling Sweet David Bowie Poems:

My Special Place

Magestic

Chacos are my life Please do outdoor things with me I go to Whitman

The mountain sits high above the valley The gopher looks upon the setting sun A candle is lit in the house A shot is taken A man throws up A toilet flushes

Jerks Stop doing that shit You stupid dirty ol’ bitch I don’t fuck with you Normal Bubbles make me smile You should also smile like I do Life is happiness

The Path I sit alone in a 4-cornered room Staring at candles Wondering which one gives off the best light I reach out to feel the flames on

certain ones And some feel better than others but I can see the flame dissipating I start to choose one But it doesn’t want to be the chosen one So I sit back and lean against the wall Too look up at the flickering darkness And see that I have been searching For the wrong light And now my whole path has changed Wisdumb Moods change in a heartbeat But minds change with a figure of speech Toenails I keep a jar of my toenails in my closet Injuries I tore my ligaments And decided not to get surgery Now I have magical powers Gut Feeling That gut feeling in your stomach It makes you feel like throwing up But you just can’t stop thinking about it It has to be true A prediction of a lifetime Life can’t be real Shaky My knees feel shaky I finally found the one In the basement of TKE Such an amazing feeling That voice just makes the caterpillars, turn into butterflies I float and my wings grow, from the Redbull I just shotgunned I am flying above them all No one can stop me It’s just you and me, all alone in that basement You make my knees shaky, with that voice of yours, David Bowie

Measles Not Mooses by Asa Mease

I

t’s the dawn of a new age: Second semester has officially begun. It’s been two weeks, so obviously it makes sense that everyone is completely exhausted already.

The countdown to spring break has already begun, and sickness is sweeping over this campus like a new form of the plague. The days of break are long behind us, and pale faces, incessant coughing and, of course, that one annoying person in the library that can’t stop sniffling have become the new norm. In other words, the student body has started looking more like sleepwalkers than those excited Whitties that circulate during the warmer sunny days.

However, some people actually have an excuse for this weariness (besides staying up watching entirely too much Netflix): initiation week.

What does that entail? You may be wondering. Well, unfortunately for you, you don’t get to find out. It’s all hush hush, brotherhood, sisterhood, sworn to secrecy and all that jazz. Well, ease your mind because, boy, do I have an initiation process for you.

I should preface this by saying that the only club I’ve ever been the leader of was the Shakespeare Club in my high school, but quite honestly I think that makes me very qualified to lead this aforementioned initiation.

So here it goes. This is what should have been the initiation process into my high school Shakespeare Club. The most important thing that would need to happen is to have everyone walk in and seriously question whether they are joining a cult or not. This probably would mean that the ceremony should take place near a volcano because, you know, easy access to virgin sacrifices, etc. (I mean, when you ask a group of people to show up in all white, what do you expect?). The initiated members of the club would be shrouded in black-

wearing masks, and obviously Enya’s “May It Be” would be playing on repeat in the background.

Cue the initiates: blindfolded, they walk in. The smell of sulfur lingers in the air as Enya’s voice rises above the bubbling lava. The initiated members all speak through the use of sonnets, but instead of clear voices they are all using autotuning; think T-Pain does Shakespeare.

Prior to the ceremony, the future members would have a list of things to bring (because why the hell not?)

A squirrel on a leash: It seems just crazy enough to inspire fear within them, but also it would be hilarious.

A Chipotle burrito: They would have to pay the extra dollar for guacamole because, well, what is a Chipotle burrito without guac?

A freshly baked pie: I don’t want to focus solely on food, but an apple pie á la mode sounds delicious right now.

A memorization of Sir Mix-ALot’s “Baby Got Back,” which they will be required to speak slowly and interpret in a dance.

Obviously there would also have to be some prerequisites to this initiation, so the week before initiation all of my lovely pledges would all have to speak solely in iambic pentameter. This sounds very difficult, but, hey, I’ve got to make sure they have what it takes to make it in the world of Shakespeare lovers. Along the same vein, they should probably only dress in Shakespearean garb. That means those poofy pants with the tights underneath. Though this will perhaps be embarrassing, but on the real, the Shakespeare club is worth it.

At the end of this week, through the blood, sweat and tears, they would all become official Shakespeare club members, bonded forever. Thus, the spirit of the Bard of Avon will live on in infamy.