Issue 7 spring 2015

The

PIONEER

ISSUE 7 | March 12, 2015 | Whitman news since 1896 | Vol. CXXXII

Singled Out

Mcebo Maziya ‘15 was asked for his ID while studying in the Olin Computer Lab, whereas his white peers were not questioned.

Sami Carrillo ‘17 answered his door at 2 a.m. and was asked to show his ID. When he refused, security called the police.

Brenna Two Bears ‘17 was asked for her ID while talking with a friend outside Prentiss Dining Hall. Photos by Marcovici

Last fall, a student alleged that a Whitman security officer racially profiled him in a tense encounter on campus. Now administrators and concerned community members are divided on how to identify and deal with profiling on campus.

by LACHLAN JOHNSON and HANNAH BARTMAN News Editor and Staff Reporter

A

rmed police officers approached the French House as sophomore Sami Carrillo, a student of color, stood in the doorway. It was 2 a.m. the night before Thanksgiving, and Carrillo was being accused of trespassing in his own home after refusing to present identification when he opened his door to a Whitman security officer.

According to some students and alumni, racial profiling has been an issue on campus for years. But since the incident at the French House during this year’s Thanksgiving Break, Carrillo has been organizing students and faculty of color to pressure the administration to take action.

“It was really weird to have that happen here to me because the whole time over the break I was dwelling with some of my friends over how we felt so removed from these sort of things.

Yet here it is, pops up, wakes me out of bed,” said Carrillo.

Carrillo was watching movies in bed the night before Thanksgiving when he heard a knock on the door. He went downstairs, thinking he would find housemates who forgot their keys, grateful to be let inside. What he found instead was a Whitman security officer who told him an upstairs window was open and asked for Carrillo’s identification. After Carrillo refused to search for his ID, the officer called the Walla Walla Police Department to request back up.

Two police cars arrived on campus. According to Carrillo, the officers who stepped out remained calm and defused the standoff in the doorway. Carrillo agreed to search for a form of identification; his wallet was lost, so he had neither his driver’s license nor student

ID. Instead, he managed to find his passport. A WWPD officer looked at it and told the Whitman security officer Carrillo belonged there.

Whitman Security declined to comment on this specific incident.

According to President George Bridges, the security officer in question claimed to have seen someone through a window of the French House. Because there had recently been several breakins in the vicinity of the Interest House Community, the officer knocked on the door. Carrillo was required to comply with the officer’s request for identification, as the Student Conduct Policy states that all students must comply with the direction of college employees in the course of doing their job.

There are currently no clear guidelines in the student conduct policy for when a security officer is justified in asking for students’ identification or what response should be taken if an individual refuses to provide ID. According to Bridges, the college is in the process of drafting these guidelines and plans to implement them by the end of the semester.

Students speak out In early December, members of For Us By Us (FUBU), an informal mentoring program and discussion space for Whitman students, faculty and staff of color, met to speak about issues surrounding the August shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo. After Carrillo told the meeting about his experience at the French House, over 30 other students and faculty spoke about their own experiences being profiled on campus.

One of these students was first-year Penny*, who was asked for her ID by a security officer as he held the door to Prentiss Hall open for her. According to Penny, as she was walk-

ing away from the officer, she saw a white student enter the building and walk by the same officer without being asked to show ID. “It wasn’t that surprising, but it was shocking to know ... We’re not initially looked at and thought of as students. We’re [seen] as outsiders,” said Penny. “It was Sami’s experience that represented everybody’s experience of it. Most people of color have gone through racial profiling.”

Sophomore Brenna Two Bears had a similarly uncomfortable experience with a security officer during Thanksgiving Break. Two Bears and her friend, both students of color, were sitting outside of Prentiss when a security guard approached them and asked for their IDs. While Two Bears was searching through her bag, the officer began to question them, asking where they lived on campus and if they could point to their home.

“It happens in other places as well to me. It was bound to happen here too. But now I’m mad because I came here specifically so I wouldn’t have to deal with that anymore,” said Two Bears.

Senior Mcebo Maziya recalled an incident from his sophomore year in which he was approached by a security officer and asked to produce his ID while studying with other white students in the Olin Hall Computer Lab at 9:00 p.m.

“He demanded to see my student ID and I was like, ‘Are you serious right now? You want to see my ID? Specifically?’ I was looking through my bag, and as I was, he was being obnoxious, like, ‘See, you don’t have it,’ and eventually I found my ID and ... he looked regretful but he didn’t say anything,” said Maziya.

Community support and administrative response Following the confrontation

at the French House over Thanksgiving Break, Carrillo wrote a letter to President Bridges describing the incident and denouncing racial profiling on campus. Sami and dozens of his supporters, including students and faculty, gathered in Memorial Building outside Bridges’ office on Thursday, Dec. 11. Together they read the letter aloud to demonstrate that Carrillo was not alone in his experience.

“I decided to support [Carrillo] on the tentative grounds that his narrative seems to be motivated by nothing other than facts, and if indeed it was a function of facts, then those facts suggested massive ethical problems, which I thought a protest would seek to counter,” said Associate Professor of English Gaurav Majumdar.

Since the public reading of the letter, Carrillo has engaged in one-on-one conversations about profiling with President Bridges and Chief Diversity Officer Kazi Joshua. Carrillo and other members of FUBU hope to push the administration to publicly acknowledge racial profiling as an issue that must be addressed on campus, and they hope to introduce a required training for security staff on racial profiling.

Currently all college employees, upon their initial hiring, are required to take a short online course. This course describes different forms of harassment and discrimination, but it does not contain a specific definition or thorough explanation of racial profiling.

Employees are asked to redo the course every three years, though they may choose not to participate.

Security staff will receive additional training in the upcoming months; the trainings are not in direct response to recent allegations of profiling, but administrators hope they will help address those concerns.

see PROFILING, page 2

Tuition, salary increases decided for 2015–16 ebruary’s Governing Board meetings resulted in the approval of a new budget for the 2015–16 academic year, which includes a three percent tuition increase along with salary increases of 3.5 percent for staff and three percent for faculty. The tuition increase is similar to the 2.9 percent increase in tuition made last year and reflects the goal of the college to remain compet-

itive with similar institutions.

Tuition pays for roughly 70 percent of the college’s budget every academic year. Increases in tuition fund a number of different initiatives across campus, including hiring new faculty and staff, improving programs and building new facilities. While faculty salaries did not rise as quickly as tuition for much of the early 2000s, raises in salary have been similar to those in tuition and other college spending since the 2013–14 school year.

“It’s a balancing act and the balancing act is between trying to keep a Whitman education as affordable as we can to prospective and current students, as well as to make investments in strengthening the college,” said Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer Peter Harvey.

The tuition and salary increases for the next academic year were selected by the Board of Trustees from a suggested range of increases put forward by the President’s Budget Advisory Commit-

tee. The board also considered recommendations by its Budget Committee that take into consideration factors such as inflation and competitiveness with similar institutions. For the past five years, tuition increases have ranged from 2.9 percent to 4.5 percent (or between 1.3 percent and 1.9 percent when adjusting for inflation).

The upcoming tuition increase of three percent would be the lowest inflation-adjusted increase in the last five years, assuming inflation in 2015 stays at the five-

year average of two percent.

Although tuition adjustments are important, another major consideration for the budget is figuring out salary increases for faculty and staff. Decisions regarding salary are important for Whitman to be a desirable school for new hires.

For this reason, analysis of historic trends for salaries at Whitman and peer institution helps inform the decision of the both the President’s Budget Advisory Committee and the Board’s Budget Committee.

News

A&E

Sports

Feature

Opinion

Sigma Chi hosted a panel about Greek issues, discussing economic access, sexual assault and more.

Dr. Susan Pickett never expected to write a book on two women composers from Walla Walla. But when she stumbled upon the amazing stories of Emilie and Marion Bauer, she knew she needed to.

PAGE 4

With growing criticism of its treatment of Division 1 student-athletes, the NCAA is looking into making freshman ineligible to play in certain sports.

Part two of a series about Walla Walla colleges explores the relationship between Whitman and Walla Walla University: Do students really know each other?

Should we condemn the entire Greek System over the actions of prejudiced individuals?

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by LANE BARTON Staff Reporter

F

PAGE 3

see TUITION, page 3

NEWS

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12 2015

Students ask college to acknowledge, address profiling from PROFILING, page 1

Within the next couple months, security officers will attend three courses hosted by the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department. Some of the topics these courses will cover include conflict resolution, body language, authority ethics and communication skills. Additionally, by this summer, all officers will have attended 40 hours of training at the The Basic Law Enforcement Academy. In the upcoming semester, Dr. Thacher Carter and Rick Baez of the Counseling Center will meet with security staff to discuss conflict in interpersonal relations, and on Apr. 16–18, Tamara King from Washington University will conduct a workshop on how to identify and prevent racial profiling.

“Ultimately this is about respect: Do [we] respect the other person for their accomplishments and for their intellect, for their contributions to the college?” said Bridges. “I don’t think [training] should just be [focused on] racial profiling. There should be training on every dimension of discrimination.”

Not trusting the system Though many Whitman students of color have stories of being targeted for their racial identity on campus, relatively few choose to file complaints through official channels. The only known complaint of racial profiling filed since at least 2012 was filed by Carrillo for a separate incident at a concert last year.

According to college policy, complaints of racial profiling are categorized as “racial harassment” and are handled through the Grievance Policy. The Grievance Policy is part of the faculty handbook, but it is not clear who holds the ultimate authority in revising and updating the policy. Responsibility for updating the policy is shared by some combination of the Office Dean of Students, the Committee of Division Chairs, the Faculty Senate, Human Resources, the provost, the president and the Board of Trustees.

Some students have argued that the Grievance Policy is relatively unpublicized compared to other official avenues of complaint, such as the Sexual Misconduct Policy. The policy as it currently stands also lacks a specific definition for racial profiling.

“Up until now, I had no idea the Grievance Policy exists. No one tells you that [it exists] when you get to campus ... Racial profiling needs attention on campus and its own policy and system of handling this matter,” said Karina* in an email to The Pioneer. Currently a junior, she claims to have been profiled by students at Greek events but has never filed a formal complaint with the college.

Under the current Grievance Policy, any complaints of racial profiling filed against Whitman security officers are investigated either by Director of Human Resources Dennis Hopwood or a member of his staff.

“Profiling to me connotes intentional discrimination. As a human resources director for Whit-

man, I would need to be convinced that the facts either prove or are highly suggestive of a particular group being targeted and called out and treated differently in order for me to reach the conclusion that profiling happened,” said Hopwood.

Many students who have stories about being racially profiled believe that the complainant should not have to prove there was a conscious intent to racially profile. They argue proving intent can be too difficult and that it is possible for students to be profiled due to internalized biases.

According to President Bridges, rather than prove that an individual made a conscious decision to profile someone, college investigators must discover if there is a larger pattern of discrimination.

“I believe that if there are allegations that individuals or groups of individuals have engaged in a consistent practice of discrimination, we have a legal obligation to look into that. I think we have a responsibility to look into what happened, and why it happened, and to correct [discriminatory practices] as quickly as we can,” said Bridges.

As Carrillo’s complaint was the only one of its kind filed in years, it was ultimately not found valid by the investigatory process. Carrillo believes that students not using the Grievance Policy to report profiling has created a cycle of inaction.

“If people are not reporting stuff, there’s nothing to go off of.

But people are not reporting stuff because the results are not coming through. At some point it feels like there’s no purpose for going through the grievance process,” he said.

Grievance Policy: Is the complaint valid?

Complaint is filed with Human Resources or Student Affairs

Hopwood and Human Resources Cleveland and Office of Student Affairs

HR director investigates himself or assigns one of his staff to investigate

Chair of Faculty Investigator reviews complaint

The investigator decides whether there is enough evidence to warrant a full investigation

NO

CASE CLOSED*

YES

Full investigation

Investigator makes recommendations to the dean of students

Searching for answers In recent weeks, the college has taken steps to improve conversations about diversity on campus and to improve training about racial profiling for security officers. According to President Bridges, these programs were planned before Carrillo came forward with his experiences and are not a direct result of recent actions concerning racial profiling.

“I’ve been wanting to move in this direction for a while, and I think what we’re seeing and hearing is greater expression of concern by students and faculty about these issues. I wouldn’t say [the actions being taken are] a direct response to [the concerns], but I would say they’ve underscored the importance of doing this. It’s simply something that we talked about doing a couple of years ago, and we’re launching it now,” said Bridges.

Bridges said he hesitates to use the term profiling in relation to what happened to Carrillo. Though he published a letter to the editor in the Feb. 19 issue of The Pioneer about the importance of tolerance on campus, the letter did not address Carrillo’s incident, and no official college statement has yet acknowledged racial profiling as a campus issue.

“In order to [create change], you need to acknowledge these things are happening ... How can you work on something you aren’t acknowledging as an issue?” said Carrillo.

The dean of students decides whether the complaint is valid

NO

CASE CLOSED*

YES The dean of students alerts the respondent and complainant

Does the respondent accept the findings?**

YES

NO As the chair of the Employee Relations Council (ERC), Hopwood chooses three members to be on a grievance panel.

The grievance panel reviews the investigation and makes a final decision for sanctions.

CASE CLOSED*

*The complainant may appeal within three days if there was a miscarriage in the investigatory process or new evidence.

Appeals go to the chair of the faculty.

**According to Cleveland and Hopwood, the respondent may also approach them during this time if they feel sanctions are not appropriate. This is not in the written policy.

INFOGRAPHIC BY JULIE PETERSON

Whitman receives record number of applications for upcoming school year

by JEREMY ALEXANDER Staff Reporter

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he Office of Admission at Whitman College has closed the application period for the 2015–2016 school year. The college experienced a spike in the number of first-year and transfer applications in the last two years.

The college is committed to improving diversity and expanding the number of international applicants. The school had an overall three to four percent growth in applications from last year.

The deadline for applications is Jan. 15 for first-years and March 1 for transfer students. The overall admission numbers combine both.

Last year the school established a new record of 3,807 applicants. This year, well over 3,900 applied, including approximate-

ly 3,800 first-year applicants and around 120 transfer applicants.

The biggest reason Whitman has gotten many more applicants is a huge jump in international applications. This year the school had a 33 percent jump in international applicants, with 560 international students applying from over 80 countries. Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Tony Cabasco talked about the growing numbers of international applicants.

“China, Nepal, Korea, Vietnam and Pakistan are the main international countries,” said Cabasco. “Our admissions recruiters travel and recruit in China, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan extensively with other northwest colleges.”

Traveling and word of mouth both play a part in recruiting a larger pool of applicants. First-year

Zeyu “Ted” Liu from Changchun, China talked about why Whitman appeals to international students.

“Whitman’s admission policy is definitely getting more internationalized. A lot of international students are not familiar [with] liberal arts college [on] the West Coast, especially Washington,” said Liu. “Whitman went to my high school last year for the first time and ... recruited more international students.”

In terms of diversity at Whitman, Cabasco is optimistic for the future. Students of color represent 24 percent of this year’s applicants, and international students constitute an additional 15 percent.

“This applicant pool is more diverse than we have ever had,” said Cabasco. “There has also been growth in the amount of first-generation stu-

dents applying to college.”

California and Washington have always been the states that get the most Whitman applicants. Now a higher proportion of applicants come from all over the country instead of these two nearby states.

There is a committee of faculty, staff and students who have been convening this spring. They have been looking at research and data to come up with recommendations for a test-optional policy. The Office of Admission needs some time to implement such drastic changes. Cabasco estimates that a switch to testoptional admissions would require 12 to 18 months at least.

The possibility of test-free admissions is also on the horizon for Whitman. Even with record numbers of applicants, becoming a test

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optional school would boost Whitman’s applications dramatically.

“ASWC passed a resolution in the fall in regards to a testfree admissions policy. The college has previously looked at the impact the ACT/SAT have on things like graduation rates. A few years ago I proposed something, but we did not get a chance to look at it. There is a lot of interest from our staff and many circles around school. We are just getting started,” said Cabasco.

Such a change would be welcome to first-year Riley Worthington, who is optimistic about increased application numbers.

“It is exciting for the school to have a larger applicant pool because it means more diverse experiences from students. We can all become enriched by others stories,” he said.

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The Whitman College Pioneer is a weekly student-run newspaper published under the auspices of the Associated Students of Whitman College. The purpose of The Pioneer is to provide pertinent, timely news and commentary for Whitman students, alumni, faculty, staff and parents, as well as the Walla Walla community. The Pioneer is dedicated to expanding open discussion on campus about the issues with which students are most concerned. We provide coverage of Whitman-related news as well as featured local and regional events, and strive to maintain a standard of utmost fairness, quality and journalistic integrity while promoting freedom of the press. In addition, The Pioneer strives to be a learning tool for students who are interested in journalism. The Pioneer welcomes all feedback and publishes letters to the editor in print and online.

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3 Breaking Ground shares powerful stories 12 2015

by CHRISTY CARLEY Staff Reporter

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hitman’s annual Breaking Ground Monologues provide a space for community members to share stories of struggle, identity and growth.

2015 marks the third year of the Breaking Ground Monologues organized by the student group Feminists Advocating for Change and Empowerment (FACE). The monologues are a time for Whitman students, staff, faculty and alumni to record and share their stories, as well as an opportunity for other members of the community to listen and connect with their experiences. All proceeds from the event go to STEP Women’s Shelter in Walla Walla.

FACE used to present The Vagina Monologues, a series of scripted monologues written by feminist activist and playwright Eve Ensler that originated from interviews she conducted with women around the world. While The Vagina Monologues deal specifically with topics related to the female experience, Breaking Ground is more inclusive, including topics such as mental health, gender identity and sexuality.

“The change came about from a desire to give members of the Whitman community here and now voice, rather than repeating the same — albeit powerful — performances year after year, performances which might be very relatable but did not originate from the Whitman community,” said senior Erica Nkwocha, FACE co-president, in an email to The Pioneer.

Jake Schwimmer, a senior psychology major, said his decision to write and perform a

monologue was spontaneous.

“I kind of just did it on a whim,” he said. “I thought it would be good to get my voice out there.”

Schwimmer spoke of his struggles with depression and fitting in following his diagnosis with autism at age two. He talked about the challenges he faces with social interactions and the general misconceptions that people hold about mental illness.

He said that people often encourage him to put mind over matter, suggesting that he should try to overcome his autism or depression on his own.

“It’s way harder than just saying that,” said Schwimmer. “I sometimes feel like autism inhibits me in a way that I just don’t understand.”

Schwimmer saw the monologues as a way of bringing people together and increasing understanding, as well as an empowering experience for performers.

“It’s really rewarding for other people to know the thoughts or experiences of other people that they might not necessarily know about ... It kind of makes us all realize that we’re all human and we all go through these kinds of things,” said Schwimmer. “For the people performing them ... it kind of gets everything out there, and they feel good about it afterwards. It’s like a weight of their chest.”

While Schwimmer performed his own monologue, some writers chose to have other actors perform their monologues instead. First-year Emily Johnson was asked by a friend to perform a monologue related to sexual assault. When asked to perform the piece, Johnson said she was honored and agreed right away.

“If this is helping her, then why would I say no?” she said.

Johnson did mention, however, that the task of embodying someone else and relaying their experiences to an audience wasn’t easy.

“For me it’s a story, for her it’s her life,” she said.

Johnson has not had similar experiences to those which her friend had undergone, and it was difficult for her hear the details of her friend’s story. “[Sexual assault] is not a one-time thing. I think that’s the hardest thing for me to wrap my head around,” said Johnson. “We like to think that everything ends so quickly ... [but] it’s not a hop skip and jump, it’s a marathon.”

She said she was chosen to perform in part because her friend thought they shared a sense of humor, which would help Johnson convey certain lines in the monologue.

“When I first read it I felt really anxious and my heart was beating really fast ... It’s very common throughout all of literature to have those comedic reliefs, and I think it’s necessary,” said Johnson. “[Humor is] a way to cope and de-stigmatize.”

In addition to including humor, many of the monologues were accompanied by movement, which helped to express emotional truth. Performers spoke with passion, honesty and confidence, receiving a standing ovation when they joined hands for curtain call.

This year was senior Molly Emmett’s second time attending the monologues. She said the event is empowering for everyone involved.

“Some of these things aren’t just going to come up in random

conversation ... A night like this where it’s dedicated to hearing their stories and asking us to really listen I think is so important,” said Emmett. “I was honestly moved by every performance and I got chills multiple times.”

When the monologues were over, many audience members remained in the foyer to show support to writers and performers. Hugs were exchanged as people took time to discuss what they heard.

“I knew a lot of the people performing, and I really

wanted to show them support,” said first-year Jamie Willard.

Willard said she sees the monologues as a necessary reminder to the Whitman community. “[The monologues are] an affirmation of something that we try to do every day, which is remember that everyone you meet has a story,” said Willard.

Johnson, like Schwimmer, said she hopes the monologues help bring people together and understand one another’s struggles.

“This is an event ... [that] really sticks with you,” she said.

Greek discussion event delves into sexual assault

by ANDY MONSERUD News Editor

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hitman fraternity Sigma Chi held an open forum on Greek Life in Olin Hall on the night of Tuesday, March 10. The event, intended originally as a panel-based discussion touching on a variety of issues facing the Greek community, shifted due to low turnout to a largely crowd-sourced discussion focused predominantly on issues of sexual assault prevention and prosecution.

Junior Nick Hochfeld, who organized the event, originally conceived the forum as a discussion of the Greek system through the lens of Sigma Chi members.

Six panelists answered questions and participated in discussion, all of which were moderated by junior Allison Kelly. After some delays and debates over the location and format of the event, Hochfeld moved it from Sigma Chi’s house to Maxey Hall and finally to Olin Hall. He also elected to preserve the event’s original format, with the explicit caveat that the Sigs on the panel intended to speak only as Sigs, and not as representatives of the Greek system as a whole.

“We realized that something all-encompassing, with all of Greek life and with independent representatives, too, would just not be feasible right now,” said Hochfeld the day before the event. “This is meant to be the start of something, rather than the end-all, be-all. We wanted to inspire others, both Greeks and independents, to have their own discussions and to possibly host more events like this, and maybe eventually ... host a bigger one, which I would love to see happen.”

While the event was in large part precipitated by the response to an opinion piece on the Greek system by junior Katy Wills in Issue 5 of The Pioneer, Hochfeld says he had already been looking for a way to foster discussion of Greek life.

“There are very different sects at this school ... Greek life is just one of many spheres. And I feel like they don’t communicate well enough,” said Hochfeld. “[The event] was something I had wanted to do for a while, and this was a good time to do it.”

Initial predictions for attendance (based on the event’s Facebook page) sat at around 100, but actual attendance was much lower, with just over 20 attendees, most with Greek affiliations. As a result, the 90-minute event adopted the format of a discussion rather than a question-and-answer session.

In the first 15 minutes of discussion, attendees and panelists worked over the costs and benefits of national affiliation for Greek organizations before the conversation turned to sexual assault, where it stayed for the remainder of the night.

“I think that was kind of the impression that I had going in about what we were going to talk about,” said junior Meredith Ruff, because “one of the biggest problems that the Greek system is facing — even though it’s all of campus that is really involved in this, and everyone is implicated in this — is the issue of alcohol and sexual assault.”

The discussion ranged from inquiry into Sigma Chi’s role in reporting and disciplining members accused of sexual assault to brainstorming ways for both men’s and women’s fraternities to proactively combat rape culture at Greek functions.

“Everyone wants to improve the system,” said junior Katie Gillespie. “I don’t think there’s anyone who thinks that their system can’t be improved. I don’t think there’s any fraternity or sorority on campus who isn’t willing to hear ideas about how to change, and I think opening that dialogue and making people feel comfortable recommending these strategies is really great.”

While Hochfeld hopes that the event will inspire others like it, he has no plans to organize another such discussion.

“I doubt I would take the reins on something like this again, just because it was pretty stressful,” said Hochfeld. “I would love to be involved in something similar to this, but I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Despite sparse attendance, Sigma Chi’s forum on Greek life yielded intense conversations about issues facing the Greek community. Photos by von Clemm

Tuition increase funds many projects from TUITION, page 1

“It’s a balancing act in trying to retain and attract as many of our faculty and staff as we can with the knowledge that there is a constant fluctuation in what [peer colleges] are doing and trying to stay in the median or upper ranges [of salary] is something that’s strategic and important,” said AWSC Finance Chair Tabor Martinsen, who serves on the President’s Budget Advisory Committee.

The upcoming retirement of several faculty has allowed current faculty members to be given raises beyond the increase seen in the overall budget. Though the college is increasing spending on faculty salaries by three percent and staff salaries by 3.5 percent, the faculty members will see an effective raise in total funds equal to that of the staff due to the reallocation of funds.

“Because of some retire-

INFOGRAPHIC BY HANNAH BARTMAN

ments, there’s going to be about another half-percent of monies available so the [faculty and staff percentages] will be in effect equal, but we didn’t have to use new monies to get the faculty up to 3.5 percent,” said Chair of the Faculty David Schmitz.

In general, the process requires a collaborative effort not only between the board, its Budget Committee and the President’s Budget Advisory Committee, but within each committee between various members as well.

“I’m always impressed with all of the students, faculty and staff. President Bridges and I ask all of them to wear the college hat as opposed to their individual perspective’s hat and look at what’s best for the college as a whole. I would observe that by-and-large everybody really does do that and considers all factors,” said Harvey.

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Pay attention to Music professor inspired by effects of pop culture female Walla Walla composers

by ZAN MCPHERSON Staff Reporter

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Dr. Susan Picket (above) discovered the moving story of the Bauer sisters about 25 years ago. Their lives almost disappeared from the history books after their death in the mid-20th Century. Photo by McCormick

by DANIEL KIM A&E Editor

S

usan Pickett, the Catherine Gould Chism Chair of Music at Whitman College, discussed her recently released book on Wed., Mar. 11.

The book, “Marion and Emilie Frances Bauer: From the Wild West to American Musical Modernism,” provides the first comprehensive account of the lives and professional accomplishments of these two remarkable sisters. The Pioneer sat down with Pickett to find out more about the journey of her book.

The Pioneer: What led you to the decision to choose Marion and Emily Frances Bauer and write a book about them?

Dr. Susan Pickett: [About 25 years ago] I was looking for new music to perform [since] I am a violinist. I decided that I would focus on American composers, and so I went over to Penrose [Library] and there was a dictionary of American composers that was published in the late 1940s. It had many names of people I had never heard of, so I was browsing through to see if anyone had written anything for violin. I happen to cross the name Marion Bauer; it was very brief paragraph that said she was born

in Walla Walla, and of course that caught my attention. She was also born on April 15 — my birthday ... Over the years and years of research, I pieced her life back together ... using hundreds and hundreds of different sources. My interest in her sister, Emily Frances Bauer, came later ... There was a lack of information as well as misinformation out there, and I thought in the end, both sisters deserved to be recognized not so much for their Walla Walla roots, but because they were excellent musicians.

Pio: What did you learn from the research process?

Pickett: Let me answer that in two ways. One is that I learned that even though Marion Bauer didn’t die so long ago — she died in 1955 — it took a tremendous effort to figure out who she was, what she did and what she composed. She seemed to almost be wiped off the face of the Earth after her death. It’s been extremely rewarding to me to find her manuscripts and figure out what her music sounds like, to encourage performers ... to record some of her works and get her name out there again.

Just as important for me was the fact that my curiosity about the very first woman composer I had ever heard of, led me to

wonder about other women composers. Now I know that there were over 6,000 female composers who had been documented in the history of Western music, but almost none of whom are mentioned in mainstream texts.

Pio: How has writing this book affected you and your feelings on music history?

Pickett: My life was transformed the day I read that paragraph about Marion Bauer. I went through 10 years of college and read dozens of music history texts, and not one woman composer was ever mentioned. It was reading about Marion Bauer, who happened to be born here and who happened to share my birthday, that opened up the world of women composers to me. It showed me that what I have been taught throughout all of my degrees was a very narrow and biased perspective. It taught me to critically question every textbook I laid my hands on.

Pio: What message or theme did you want your readers to get at?

Pickett: At its core this book is about one woman composer out of the 6,000 who have been ignored.

[I want] to show that this one deserves attention and that historians need to rethink music history.

ll have witnessed, experienced or at least heard of the “Frozen” craze that swept through American youth in 2013. Like many Disney movies, “Frozen” leapt into children’s hearts and didn’t seem to leave for, well, an absurdly long time.

The movie’s effect on children and preteens represents just one blown-up instance of pop culture’s imprint on youth in the contemporary world. Children constantly assess who they are and naturally choose role models from the media to which they are exposed. While this enculturation is theoretically beneficial, the shallowness of character and intelligence, in effect the “dumbing down,” of pop culture in recent years has compromised the behavior and emotional growth of children. But you can stop it.

“The part of the brain that makes us aware of how other people see us grows significantly just as we are entering adolescence,” explains Ben Allen, a clinical psychologist based in Northbrook, Ill. Older children and early teens do not have a sense of who they are, but they suddenly become aware of how they are viewed by others. This is why, at this particular stage in development, kids desperately feel the need to become accepted and “cool.” It also explains why everyone hated middle school.

Girls especially tend to maintain even lower senses selfconfidence during this developmental stage. As Brooke Wiseman, the executive director of Girl Scouts of Chicago, points out, “It’s that gap between their emotional development, which is right where it should be, and their physical and cognitive development, which has been accelerated, that makes girls so vulnerable to popular culture.” Both girls and boys, in this way, replace lack of confidence with pop cultural knowledge and choose role models to guide their sense of self.

But saying that children are “vulnerable” to pop culture, as Wiseman does, makes it sound like an inherently toxic convention. Pop culture itself does not heighten the self-esteem, sex, violence or any other behavioral issues among teens. Instead, it is the quality of the media that children are exposed to — the essence of what pop culture does portray as “cool.”

In the early 20th Century, pop culture as we define it now

began with innovative symphonies like “The Rite of Spring,” the creation of national sports leagues and the establishment of literary magazines like TIME. It could be argued that these cultural developments positively educated and widened the perspective of the human mind.

Today the same cannot be said. Shows like “Beavis and Butthead” broadcast to all ages, ditsy celebrities like Kim Kardashian form the epicenter of entertainment news and rap songs about “hoes” and “tricks” blast from radios around the country. Even “Frozen,” a supposedly progressive Disney movie about sisterly love and heroism, is ridden with standards of beauty and gender roles that often do not deviate from classic fairytales created decades ago.

According to a study performed by The New York Times in 1995, “Half of those surveyed said they believed portrayals of sex and violence on television, in movies and in music lyrics contribute ‘a lot’ to whether teenagers become sexually active or violent.” This was 20 years ago. Why do we still buy into the shallow, stupid entertainment that the media shoves into our face?

You are aware that pop culture has gotten dumber, that it has negatively affected you or your child’s self-esteem and sense of self. So why don’t you stop? Do little things: cut yourself off from social media; don’t flip through the “People” magazines in the checkout line at Safeway; insult celebrities whose actions you wouldn’t imitate yourself. Then, maybe, with the “coolness” extracted from modern pop culture, the minds of children can watch it become exactly what everyone else sees it as: just dumb.

KWCW Show of Theta raises whopping amount for CASA the Week:

Routine Maintenance

by DANIEL KIM

K

A&E Editor

WCW gives first-year Nolan Bishop the venue to explore the musical field. Bishop prefers to let the music do the talking during the show, but when he does talk, he explains the music of the artist and album. Last week he explained the chronology of Mark Kozelek and his movement from Red House Painters to Sun Kil Moon in-between each song.

Modern stylistic iterations of classic musicians such Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Townes Van Zandt feature prominently on the show. Bright Eyes, Dr. Dog, Iron & Wine and Cat Power are all regular presences in a playlist, as well as bands that deviate from these more digestible contemporary styles and take alternative approaches, such as Sun Kil Moon, The War on Drugs, Hiatus Kaiyote and King Krule.

Show: Routine Maintenance Time: Fridays, 8 p.m. – 10 p.m.

Host: Nolan Bishop

At this year’s Walla Walla’s Best Dance Crew, Theta aimed to double its funds raised from previous years. By the end of the event, the women’s fraternity more than doubled its donation goal for the Court Appointed Special Advocates program. Photos by Clay

by GEOFFREY LEACH Staff Reporter

O

n March 7, it was once again time for Kappa Alpha Theta’s annual fundraiser, Walla Walla’s Best Dance Crew. Each year, Kappa Alpha Theta nationally raises money to support the Court Appointed Special Advocates program (CASA). The Whitman chapter of Theta women’s fraternity puts on Walla Walla’s Best Dance Crew to fundraise for CASA in Walla Walla and Columbia County.

This year marks the 25th year that Kappa Alpha Theta has been partnered with CASA. CASA is a program that partners volunteers with neglected and abused children. These volunteers, CASAs, act as stable adults in the children’s lives and provide support while working to get these children stable homes.

“They are the only person in the legal system who is specifically advocating on behalf of the child,” said advertising co-chair Caitlyn Yoshina.

There are many children in foster care that need the support of CASAs. “In the United States, there are roughly 600,000 children in foster care. About 238,000 of them have CASAs, but that’s hardly enough. In Walla Walla and Columbia Counties alone, there are about 110 chil-

dren in need of CASAs, and only 80 of them have them. The other 30 are split between the CASA coordinators Jeff Gwinn and Jane Sporleder.

With the money we raise at the show, they will be able to support at least 10 children in need,” said coordinator junior Samantha Grainger-Shuba.

Last year total fundraising for CASA reached over 4,600 dollars. This year Grainger-Shuba took over as the coordinator of WWBDC. The women’s fraternity wanted to raise more than double the total fundraising from last year.

“I had a lot of freedom to figure out what I wanted from the event and how I wanted to achieve our goal, which was to raise 10,000 dollars,” said Grainger-Shuba.

Through letter writing and other forms of fundraising, Theta was able to raise money before the actual event itself. Through these methods and along with others, they managed to raise just shy of 10,000 dollars before the fundraising done at the event. They also made use of other methods of advertising the event, including a flash mob.

“We had a really successful GoFundMe campaign as well as a letter writing campaign to like relatives and friends and reaching out to local businesses ... We already raised 9,500 dollars,” said Yoshina

At the event they added 2,500 dollars to make the total fundraising 13,000 dollars, surpassing their goal. They accomplished this through selling tickets, asking for donations, selling raffle tickets for prizes from local businesses and by having audience members pin money onto tape to support their favorite act.

The actual event contained eight dance performances: Social Dance Club, Whitman Dance Team, Filipino Cultural Dancers, RAs Off Duty, Brazilian Groove, Explosion, Lydia and Judelle and The Dance Center. It included a lot of different cultural influences as well as a lot of “Uptown Funk.” Not all of these performers came from Whitman and many came from the surrounding community. There were not very many regulations; however, they did have a guiding principle.

“We made sure they knew it was a family show,” said Entertainment Committee Head Lauren Vorona, who was in charge of off-campus dance crews.

For each performance there were three scores: a judge’s score, a people’s choice award and the overall Walla Walla’s Best Dance Crew. Associate Professor of English Sharon Alker, Assistant Professor Dance Renee Archibald and Senior Lecturer of Philos-

ophy Mitch Clearfield acted as judges.

The people’s choice award was determined by audience donation. The Best Dance Crew was the judge’s score and the total donations combined.

The Dance Center won the people’s choice award, and Lydia and Judelle won the judge’s award. Explosion, a trio of high school students, won the title of Walla Walla’s Best Dance Crew.

Although Theta managed to raise 13,000 dollars, like most other fundraising ventures, the women’s fraternity did not avoid trouble altogether. They just figured out how to manage the problems.

“Even with the best planning, things go wrong all the time.

However, I had to learn not to wallow in failure and instead roll with the punches,” said Grainger-Shuba.

This event required the help of Greek life, the city of Walla Walla, Walla Walla University, Walla Walla High School, Whitman clubs, Residence Life and countless others. A community came together to support a good cause.

“We are really happy that community members could be involved. The community is very important. It’s Walla Walla’s Best Dance Crew, not the Whitman Best Dance Crew,” said Vorona.

SPORTS

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12 2015

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Young talent on the rise for Whitman Baseball

by RILEY FOREMAN Staff Reporter

A

lthough the Whitman Baseball Team might still be trying to hit its stride, it’s certainly not all doom and gloom for the young squad. The program recently secured its first regular season win and glimpsed the star potential of one of its many first years.

Meet Whitman’s silver lining, Adrian Vela, a first-year from Bothell, Wash. The shortstop lit up Borleske Stadium last weekend with a solo home run during the first game of a doubleheader against Whitworth. The next day the Pirates intentionally walked Vela, who also batted leadoff, in the second inning to load the bases, setting up first-year Anthony Lim for a three-run double. With 10 games under his belt, he has posted a .390 batting average, good for 14th in the NWC entering spring break.

Vela’s offensive surge is a welcome change for the clubhouse, not to mention a surprising one, even for Vela.

“It took a while for me to realize that it was out because I didn’t get all of it,” said Vela

Adrian Vela ‘18 plays shortstop for the Missionaries. Photo contributed by Matt Banderas

about his home run. “I thought it was a pop up to left field.”

It might be hard to quiet his bat on the field, but for the most part, the first-year flies under the radar. Vela is noticeably more calm, cool and collected than some of his peers, but when asked about his walk-out music — the 2005 Nelly hit “Grillz” — he lets a quick smile escape.

“It was more of a joke at first but everyone thinks it’s funny,” said Vela. “At times I can’t keep a straight face, but I like it and it’s worked out O.K.” The thought passes, and then it’s back to business. For a kid that hit the first homer of his college career, he isn’t overly excited, knowing that to dwell on one at-bat in a season full of them is shortsighted. Instead, the firstyear is already seeking ways to improve, especially as a young but contributing member to the team.

“I think I could be playing better right now, honestly,” said Vela.

“It goes to show that age shouldn’t really matter for us right now. It shouldn’t be a huge excuse because we’re all here and everybody has young players on their team. For us to be able to have younger guys step in, which we have to since we have so many, it’d be huge for us.”

The team hopes that Vela can continue to lead by example, in the same way that some of the recent baseball alumni did last season. Sophomore pitcher Nick Johnson draws a comparison between Vela and two former standout Missionaries.

“Vela is in the middle between Ozzy [Braff] and Cam [Young].

He’s a young version of both of them,” said Johnson. “He has a ways to go in terms of getting to where they were with a team role and a captain role, but he has potential.”

Head Men’s Baseball Coach Sean Kinney realized Vela’s potential long ago and has been set on cultivating his star pow-

Vela (center) has been a force on both sides of the ball already. With a .390 batting average and a .964 fielding percentage, Vela regularly contributes to his team’s successes. Photo by Lee

er since the shortstop’s junior year of high school. Vela played for Cedar Park Christian, a private high school playing in the Emerald City 1A League, and later the Nisqually League. The limited exposure didn’t stop Kinney from noticing his solid defense and excellent bat speed.

“We were really high on Adrian the whole way,” said Kinney. “He was a guy that we targeted early since we thought he was a game-changer.”

Aside from Vela’s bat, both Kinney and Johnson took note of Vela’s drive and determination.

Johnson hosted Vela on his recruiting visit last year, a low-key Tuesday night of homework and studying.

“I just had no idea what this kid was like,” said Johnson on his

first encounter with Vela. “And then I step out on the field with him for the first time, see him field some grounders and line drives and think, ‘Wow, this kid can play.’ And then he comes out in one of the first weekends and just explodes and does really well.”

Although it might seem like Vela’s success was spontaneously triggered, the hot-hitting first year has been hard at work since fall ball began last semester. Vela also played summer league baseball with many other collegebound players on the RIPS Brewers. His commitment and attention to detail don’t go unnoticed.

“Adrian has a really good process,” said Kinney. “He’s at early work every single practice. He’s putting in the time. It’s

the work you’re willing to put in when no one else is watching.”

The main focus for Vela now is winning games. If it were not for a pair of extra innings losses to Willamette earlier this season, Whitman might be 3-3. He is hopeful that his success inspires guys around him in the lineup to get on base and drive in runs.

Over spring break Vela and the team will have the opportunity to do just that, with series against many division foes including Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound, both of whom sit atop the NWC. Barring another injury to his arm, for which he underwent corrective surgery in high school, Vela is poised to move into a leading role in his career with the Whitman baseball team.

Freshman eligibility a thing of the past?

by DYLAN SNYDER Staff Reporter

L

ast month, the Big Ten Conference made a proposal that would render academic firstyears ineligible to play in certain sports. The main focus would be to curtail the athlete-student dilemma that the NCAA is dealing with, as well as try to better prepare athletes for college life. As with many of these stories, this “year of readiness,” as proponents have dubbed it, mainly focuses on football and men’s basketball.

The reasoning behind the plan is to ensure that students are comfortable and adequately adjusted to college life before they begin to take on the challenges that come with being a serious varsity athlete. This logic seems to fall apart pretty quickly, though, when they decide that only the two money making sports in the NCAA would be subject to the new rule. Title IX issues aside (the new program would require freshman men to take a year off but not freshman women), it seems to be completely condescending to those athletes that dedicate the same amount of time and energy to their teams but don’t appear on television. If the NCAA was serious about trying to ensure that kids were ready for their lives as studentathletes, the entire program would

have to be much farther reaching.

In addition to the logistic issues of creating such a system, it would cause a huge divide in what different teams would be able to do with different players. If the Big Ten Conference enacted such a policy, the Pac-12 would likely endorse it. How would that affect their ability to recruit, especially if the policy wasn’t adopted universally in the Power Five conferences? And if the Power Five did enact, would players look elsewhere for better playing time or even to lower divisions? Seeing as so much energy is put into recruiting high school athletes, putting in a giant barrier would be the last thing several of these team may want to do.

The last, but honestly most fun, option is that a handful of these athletes could simply stop going to school. When the NBA initiated their new one-year age limit, we saw several players go overseas for a season instead of playing for free in the NCAA. Now, after this year of readiness plan, a player would either have to try and get drafted having never played college basketball or lose two potential money-making years in college. This might not sound like a huge inconvenience, but the first four picks in last year’s NBA draft have all been one-and-done college athletes. This new rule would cost each player affected at the top of the draft

millions of dollars.

With basketball, the presence of global alternatives presents a one-ofa-kind difficulty. For football there is already a rule that requires a player to be three years removed from their high school graduating class. This hasn’t been an issue in terms of monopolizing the market for young athletes. After getting the right to play freshmen in 1972, there has been little conversation about when players should get the right to play. There isn’t an easy solution unless it just becomes a mandatory redshirt season.

The entire thing reeks of the NCAA trying to show that they want get back to academics, but actions speak louder than words. The NCAA allowed huge conference realignments and creations over the course of the last few years that have increased travel for players in order to get more marquee match ups.

If the NCAA cared about academics, would it allow Texas A&M and Missouri to move from the Big 12 to SEC despite the increased travel and inconvenience to athletes? The NCAA also allowed the formation of the American Athletic Conference, which includes teams from Connecticut to Florida to Texas. The NCAA cares about cash and that’s about it.

This move was brought about by a conference that might still care. The

NCAA would never allow its precious money-making freshmen to sit on the year instead of making them millions of dollars of its own accord.

The entire plan is still in the very preliminary stages, so it would be pretty unlikely that we see these changes in the near future. This could have very long lasting implications on the college sports landscape though. In

an era where college teams are travelling more than ever and television contracts are getting even more profitable, this seems to be a move back towards academics, or it at least looks that way on paper. The only question is whether it proves to be effective at getting kids ready for school or if it backfires and stops athletes from attending entirely.

New players step up in light of injuries for men’s lax

by KENDRA WINCHESTER Staff Reporter

T

he Whitman Men’s Club Lacrosse Team has found itself going to division playoffs every season since 1995. With many successful seasons before them, the 2015 team have some big shoes to fill, but ultimately, this team looks forward showing the newcomers what it is like to be successful.

With the addition to some new players, the team is fully committed to its development.

“I’m pretty happy with where we are as a team right now. We have a lot of new players on the team, including a few who are completely new to the sport. Everyone has really committed themselves to the team, and we’ve developed a lot because of that,” said senior Captain Max Skotheim.

A part of this commitment and development comes from the recent injuries that the team has experienced. So far there have been three concussions, a knee injury and a case of pneumonia that have held back a total of five of the experienced offensive players, in addition to several other players with smaller injuries that are currently playing through them. However, all these injuries have allowed

With a crop of new players, practices for the team have focused on fundamentals and perfecting specific plays. Photo by Dawson

for

unintended developments.

“Because of the injuries, we’ve had to put players in new positions that they’re unfamiliar with.

Everyone has done a great job of stepping up to the task and figuring out their roles even as they’re continuously shifting. Our rookie players especially have done a fantastic job of representing our team and taking on larger leadership roles,” said Skotheim.

The inexperience comes from a range of players, with some new upperclassmen joining the younger student-athletes.

“The current rookies on the team are a mix of younger players who have played a lot through high school and even before and some older guys who are just starting out, so we are all learning from each other a bit. It’s a transition from high school lacrosse to college lacrosse,” said first-year Evan Neal.

One of the outstanding firstyear players is Michael Brock.

“Michael is definitely one of our rising stars on the team.

He’s a hard worker and he’s all over the field in games. His stick skills are great for a long pole, and he has had several goals already this season,” said Skotheim.

Their first home game was last Sunday against College of Idaho, for which they were very excited, especially coming off two losses to University of Puget Sound and University of Portland. The two losses on the season put the team in a chal-

lenging spot, but they are still in the running for playoffs. After a tight, highly competitive game, the team dropped their contest on Saturday at 9-8. Though in a tough spot and looking at playoffs from the outside for now, the team is optimistic about the remainder of the playoff race.

“The level of play will continue to ramp up with Central and Southern Oregon, among others. We know the games will be tough, so we’re staying focused on the playoffs, and if we play to the best of our abilities we can definitely make it,” said Neal.

Heading into spring break with a win against Central Washington University and a loss to College of Idaho on the weekend gives the team an opportunity to develop some more before they face the tougher match-ups in the second half of their season.

“The fire we’ve lit under ourselves will be really constructive for the team, both in forcing us all to rely on one another more, as well as giving our newer lacrosse players the opportunity to really step out of their comfort zones and grow. I think we’ve done a great job of simulating these kinds of tough moments by treating our practices like game situations, and I look forward to seeing that hard work pay off with some clutch wins,” said Brock.

Hopefully the team’s flame will only become brighter as its season continues through the spring.

FEATURE

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MAR

12 2015

Myra Street divide

Whitman, Walla Walla University students find common ground

Walla Walla University is only 3.5 miles away from Whitman in College Place, yet students rarely interact. Walla Walla student Leah Dann (below) says each school has preconceptions of the other. Photos by Barton

by AUDREY KELLY Staff Reporter

This article is written based on the observations of three individuals and is not in any way meant to represent the views of the individual institutions.

O

n a typical Whitman student’s path to the rows of wholesale granola in Andy’s supermarket in College Place, an intersection feels uncannily familiar if passed at the right time of day. Within the distance of a couple blocks are two crosswalks, and both are often full of young students with backpacks. Cars stop to let the first pedestrian pass and then find that there are 10 more to take the place of that first pedestrian. Woe to the person late to work who has to pass both this intersection and the one on Isaacs between Jewett and the fraternity houses, watching students from the two private colleges in Walla Walla cross in droves in front of their bumper.

Yet while the scenes are almost exactly the same, there is very little interaction between the student populations at Whitman College and Walla Walla University on a daily basis. Occasionally there are special events collaborated between the two institutions, such as the Tri-College Service Day in April and the Etiquette Dinner. But outside of such programs there seems to be a surprising lack of connection between WWU and Whitman.

Whitman senior Haley Friel, who interacts with WWU students through the LGBTQ communities at both schools, finds that some of the reason for this lies in the oft-referenced Whitman bubble.

“The bubble is so severe it’s kind of scary. Whitman students don’t really know what’s outside of it,” she said.

WWU Business Administration student David Maier says that the extent to which he interacts with Whitman students is limited to glimpses at Bright’s or other downtown stores. He pictures a Whitman student as “a fairly white person playing Ultimate Frisbee and being social.”

There are a few legends that manage to permeate the lack of connections between the two schools. For instance, Maier emphasized twice the social aspects of life at Whitman. WWU students have heard tell about the beer mile. WWU senior biology major Leah Dann said that the immediate preconceptions she has of Whitman students are those of wealth.

“The stereotype I have in my head is of rich, preppy people, probably because of the sororities and frats and the amazingly nice campus,” said Dann.

Rachelle Lebold, a speech pathology student at WWU, surmised in an email that she thought open-mindedness might be a dominant trait in Whitman students.

“When I picture a Whitman student I see a person who is open-

minded and has a wide variety of hobbies,” said Lebold. “I feel ... free to talk about certain subjects with Whitman students and be able to have an open dialogue about it.”

Some Whitman students, too, have preconceived ideas about WWU. When asked about an underlying notion at Whitman that WWU students are not allowed to dance, Dann replied that WWU’s guidelines around dancing are more to prevent close contact.

“We have an associated students organization that plans events most weekends, things like a Barn Party where there’s line dancing and Battle of the Bands,” she said.

Dann explained that these programs are the focal point of the social life of the college.

Whitman senior Evan Griffis, who is friends with WWU students, described a few other non-school-sanctioned gatherings he attended a few years ago.

“The first one I went to was in the basement of a girl’s parents’ house, and the parents were upstairs,” said Griffis. “It was a situation where the parents were kind of subversively letting kids in through

“There are so many potential positive things Whitman students could gain from hearing about [WWU students’] life experiences.”

Haley Friel ‘15

the backdoor because it was against the policy of the administration.”

He added that the lack of alcohol at parties creates a different dynamic.

“All the parties I went to had the most incredible light and sound systems because that’s what their parties are,” he said. “My friend said that they don’t need alcohol to have fun, plus having parties like this is risky enough with the administration. It seemed like not having alcohol was just because they didn’t want to exacerbate the risk.”

Perhaps in social contexts as well as in academic contexts, the biggest differences between the student populations at both schools lies in their attitudes towards religion. WWU is a Seventh Day Adventist University, meaning that the administration enforces policy that follows Adventist doctrine, which includes the avoidance of close contact while dancing and the forbiddenness of alcohol. In Dann’s biology classes, she was taught both evolution theory as well as creation, but she says she was not told which to believe.

“The professors are dedicated to giving us different perspectives — facts about everything, including science and other religions in religious classes, which are not just the university pushing beliefs,” she said. “The professors have a wide range of what they believe as well.”

Dann also enjoys the religious aspects of WWU in her social life.

“I like that there are lots of

worship opportunities and the social aspect of there being a lot of people around you that share your beliefs,” said Dann.

WWU students have the option of attending the Seventh Day Adventist church on campus that holds services every Saturday.

Saturday is considered the Sabbath in Adventist doctrine, which is why Andy’s Market is closed on Saturdays (it is owned by Adventists). The church also offers youth programming and valuable counseling services for students.

The Adventist aspects of WWU’s campus, while not ubiquitous, can influence lifestyles that students choose to adopt. Griffis observed this in his visits to meetings of the LGBTQ club that formed two years ago on campus.

“It was a little weird for me because I didn’t have a life history that they shared. The questions they were asking were more like, is it morally O.K. to be gay,” said Griffis. “That isn’t a discussion at Whitman so much ... It seems tricky for them because their identity is rooted in being Adventist, whereas for me at Whitman, my identity is rooted in being gay — it’s a much more closeted culture.”

Griffis said that the way some of his friends and acquaintances have transcended the oftentimes paradoxical nature of those two identities is by having different goals in life than many gay students at Whitman.

“My equally gay and Adventist friend has the perspective of yearning for a normative lifestyle,” said Griffis. “He is very skeptical of Whitman and the ‘promiscuous’ hook-up culture and ‘outlandish’ gender expression that sometimes happens on campus. That’s not important. What’s important for him is to have a husband and family.”

Friel, who is also involved with LGBTQ connections between the schools (as well as with Walla Walla Community College) also found value in observing the different challenges students from other schools face.

“It frustrates me because there are so many potential positive things that Whitman students could gain from hearing about their life experiences,” said Friel.

“It’s a rich community we could benefit from, but there’s a stigma about the religion ... plus the physicality of [Whitman’s] campus — it’s so small and it’s such a closed community at Whitman.”

Griffis expressed gratitude both for the experience of observing the LGBTQ community at WWU as well as for the fact that he does not face the challenges that many of his peers do.

“They have really different struggles. Things that we take for granted are huge struggles for them,” he said. “[Whitman students] need to recognize that religion is actually a really guiding life force for students at the university, not in a monolithic way, but in that the campus community is guided by it.”

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OPINION

MAR

12 2015

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Prejudiced brothers do not define Greek system CHRISTOPHER same way that they define me?

HANKIN First-year

MIRACLE WHIPS

A

n astounding percentage of Whitman’s student body is involved in groups on campus. This is a testament to the inclusive environment fostered at our school. Whitman students are also frequently involved in multiple clubs. I, for example, am a member of a fraternity, a writer for The Pioneer, an occasional member of the Slam Poetry Club and a pickup soccer enthusiast. These are groups that help to define me; people can identify me by one or all of these affiliations. But to what degree do I define these organizations in the

One organization that significantly defines its members is a men’s or women’s fraternity. Greek organizations polarize opinions and elicit strong responses from those involved and those who choose not to be. One of the fraternities at Washington State University, Phi Delta Theta, is currently embroiled in a debate between the chapter and the Black Student Union after a member of the fraternity said some pretty terrible things to two black students at a party. I won’t repeat what it was that he said, but suffice it to say that it was enough to get the member expelled from the fraternity.

But the issue doesn’t end there. The BSU is now calling for the disbandment of the entire WSU Phi Delta Theta chapter and has gone so far as to call the entire Greek system racist. Without diving into the specifics of whether or not the Greek system is racist (I would argue that though they may further the problem, college campuses do most of the dam-

Be proud of your one-night stands CRYSTAL AND CHEVY Anonymous

I

SEX WARS

t’s Friday night, and that babe that you saw in the climbing gym is standing across from you at the party, givin’ you the bedroom eyes. All of the sudden, the beat drops and “Partition” hits the room. Which means you hit the dance floor. Before you know it, that babe and you are fully embracing the conviction that there ain’t nothing wrong with a little bump and grind. Fast forward through the walk home, the foreplay, the clothes on the floor and the great sex to eight o’clock on Monday morning when you walk into what you thought was a very large lecture class of General Chemistry.

Sitting across from you is the babe.

Suddenly what you thought was a one-night stand now has four more mornings attached... for the rest of the semester. Living at

Whitman in a closed-cell community that is isolated in date-perfect wheat fields, is it possible to truly have a one-night stand? Our conclusion: probably not. This means that when you get ready to go out on the weekend, keep in mind that this person is not just going to disappear. Sometimes that is O.K.! We’re big advocates of one-night stands that turn into two-night stands that devolve into full-fledged flings.

A one-night stand is a type of relationship. A good one-night stand can be a totally successful thing that can fulfill emotional and sexual needs. Unless you feel those love juices starting to surge, why should we anticipate or even desire anything more than a single night of great sex? The one-night stand is the pinnacle of 21st Century sexual liberation; it acknowledges that desire does not have to be linked to expectation and attachment.

In Hollywood there is always an emotional spark between two people (almost exclusively heterosexual) that fuels their sexual desire. In contrast, the one-night stand proves that you do not need to know anything about someone — even their major — to desire them. And that is O.K. We all have sexual needs and you should feel empowered to realize those needs without the weight of judgment.

Embrace the one-night stand! We have been brainwashed that a successful relationship means a long term, monogamous partnership. Turn that Walk of Shame into a Walk of Fame!

You have successfully fulfilled your human need for sex, and that is nothing to be ashamed of. *Disclaimer: Whenever we talk about sex, it must be consensual between the involved parties.

age without needing the help of Greek organizations), there is irony here: While the BSU is fighting against racial profiling and stereotyping, they are profiling and stereotyping the Greek system and its members. Though the two acts of profiling are not comparable in terms of historical significance or severity, it is still unfair to allow the actions of one racist individual to define every Greek-affiliated student at WSU. This gets back to the question of how significantly individuals define organizations. One racist frat bro does not define the Greek system as a whole. One individual cannot speak for a group of that size unless the group allows him or her to do so. Had the WSU Phi Delts held a protest march in solidarity with their racist brother, the claim could be made that the organization as a whole was racist. But they didn’t do that. Instead, members of the fraternity expelled the racist brother, marched with students in the BSU and wrote a sincere open letter of apology trying to articulate the fact that this one person does not represent the chapter as a whole.

We live in a society that wants easy, fast, band-aid answers. Blaming the Greek system for racism in America is entirely unfair because American racism is so much bigger than any indi-

vidual group. The Greek system is being made into a scapegoat because we don’t want to look deeper. That is not to say that the fraternity in question is blameless.

It rests squarely on the shoulders of those brothers that they hand-

picked a racist individual to be affiliated with their organization.

But the racism exhibited by that individual, and maybe even that fraternity, is merely a symptom.

Our society is sick. Cough drops won’t suffice; we need surgery.

AWSC senators set standards for on-campus involvement KATY

WILLS Junior

T

he senators of the Associated Students of Whitman College are a bunch of nerds. I can say that with authority and playfulness because I served my time in Senate last year and identified with that type myself.

Those 16 senators and several other members of ASWC are passionate about representing student interests, think Robert’s Rules are fun and actually enjoy writing legislation. While their enthusiasm is evident, up for debate is the commitment to involvement of the rest of the student body in administrative decisions at our school.

While brainstorming ideas for articles to write this week, I came upon a member of ASWC who was exasperated at the current status of a resolution working its way through the Senate.

This conversation piqued my interest because she was discussing student involvement in one of the most critical aspects of the Whitman experience: selection

of professors for tenure. This issue of student involvement has two parts: the amount of influence Whitman students have in the decision to grant a professor tenure and the connection students have with their elected representatives.

The current method of adjudicating a tenure appointment keeps student input at a minimum. When professors are up for tenure, they submit evaluations from two thirds of their classes and the reviewers assess their teaching based on those. Additionally, while a fundamental part of a good professor‘s job is their advising, the only way that aspect gets reported is through their own self-reflective analysis.

We need more room for students in choosing which professors get tenure because students have a nuanced perspective that must be aptly accounted for. Presently, 11 out of our 13 comparison schools include student input beyond course evaluations, making it even more evident that Whitman needs to up their student input game.

I know this information because I sat down over coffee with one of our student representatives.

These students are a wealth of information and drive, often spending three hours on Sunday nights debating the specificity of legislation they pass and the implications of decisions they make. These students work incredibly hard.

I realized I couldn’t write an

article on student involvement in tenure decisions without accounting for the lack of student involvement in, or knowledge of, other more routine ones. So herein lies the age old question: “What does ASWC even do?” Students need to be asking this with much more regularity. In the context of administrative decisions at the college, an ASWC member recently told me that students need to be constantly asking for more. For several years, ASWC has been pushing to appoint a student to the Board of Trustees, which would be, for some, the ultimate level of student involvement. This ASWC member meant that Whitman students have to make requests to the administration because it doesn’t have a reputation for going out of it way to reach out to students for insight. I’d like to turn that around and say that Whitman students need to be asking making requests to their senators.

I became a politics major for several reasons — mostly because it’s the sexiest major at Whitman, but also because I think civic engagement is a beautiful thing. So I’ll leave you, dear readers, with some thought-food to munch on.

Ask your senators what’s going on in ASWC. Ask them why they care, and ask them why students aren’t at least asked to write letters of recommendation for their tenure candidate professors.

Assertive females must face social stigma HILLARY SMITH Sophomore

ONE WOMAN ROUND TABLE

R

ecently I read an article on Huffington Post (no surprise there) about how women need to ask for what they want more in their professional environments concerning salaries, job hours, etc. The author writes that women are often too nervous to actively negotiate such things, but she mentions that her friend and coach,

who has instructed many women on the verge of leaving their jobs to ask their employers for what they want, has never had one client’s request turned down. She states that women perceive themselves as much more “pushy” than they really are and that men naturally engage in this ask-for-what-youwant behavior. Therefore, women should make it a natural thing, too.

I think this is a great reminder of women’s capacities to control their professional lives. I am in wholehearted agreement — yes, women, ask for what you want!

However, something was bothering me as I was reading this article, and that something is the fact that the side of this coin opposite the one in which women get what they ask for is the one in which women are still labeled “bitches” and “aggressive” for engaging in this more assertive behavior.

A Forbes article discusses how

successful females have consistently been perceived as intimidating, cold, unattractive, etc., and it discusses how studies show that when women engage in assertive behavior, they are seen as aggressive. When men assert themselves in their professional environments, they are labeled just that: assertive with a positive connotation. But when women act in the same way, there’s a good chance they’ll get this “aggressive” label thrown at them. No doubt this is because men still dominate much of the professional sphere, so there is still a mindset, conscious or unconscious, in our society that women who do what men have always done are somehow not normal, behaving in ways they shouldn’t.

These persistent negative labels constitute an important part of what still needs to change in the job sphere. While they may not be as materially damaging as the pay gap, they perpetuate an en-

Voices from the Community

start throwing that advice around, we should acknowledge the negative biases that are still prevalent.

So how can we reconcile these poles? Personally, I think that we should certainly encourage women to assert themselves in their professional environments, to ask for what they want. This is, after all, a necessary aspect of changing the system; women must actively challenge their boundaries and be loud.

However, I think that we should encourage women to do this with the reminder that it may not always turn out how they want it to.

We must acknowledge the possible negative outcomes. Moreover, we must continue to bring awareness to this double standard (men as assertive, women as aggressive) that persists. I hope that as women gain more positions in maledominated professional spheres, this tendency to throw negative labels at assertive women will die out.

How much money do you have left in your GoPrint account and what is your major? Poll by HAYLEY TURNER

SHANNON KELLY

JULIAN REED

ZACH TURNER

ANDREA CHIN

Senior

First-year

Sophomore

Senior

“$30 — psych and philosophy major.”

*

vironment of animosity and disrespect toward female workers and managers, who are considered in terms of these labels rather than their individual characters and strengths. Aside from being unfair, this does not make for a harmonious work atmosphere, which I would think would be an important aspect of the work’s success.

The first article shows that there are clearly plenty of women getting what they want when they ask for it without negative effects. But this is not universal.

At the same time, many women who take charge — women who are leaders, CEOs, managers or who just assert their right to ask for what they want in the workplace — are still being branded with these negative terms. The “women should just ask for what they want and they’ll get it” advice does not seem to be guaranteed-success advice just yet. I think that before we

“$39.94 — chemistry major.”

View more Voices of the Community at www.whitmanpioneer.com

“$12 — math/econ major — but I printed the entire course catalog for reference.”

“$40 — BBMB major.”

BACKPAGE

PAGE

8

Sun’s March nip-slip: road to naked mile commences

MAR

12 2015

Jackpage: Talking to strangers on planes JACK SWAIN Junior

W

hen you fly on a plane, do you prefer the window or aisle seat? Once in my life I totally preferred the aisle. My preference was based on practicality — when you sit in the aisle seat, you don’t have to ask anyone to move when you want to go to the bathroom. Besides, I always feel uncomfortable engaging with strangers.

I like to avoid talking to my seat-mates as much as possible.

But sometimes... it becomes inevitable.

FLASHBACK. It happened on a casual afternoon. I had finally made it onto my flight and I was worn OUT. I was ready to turn off, you know what I mean?

I had my earbuds in, I had my movie picked out — but life had other plans. As I walked down the aisle towards my seat (not making eye contact with anyone), I noticed this older lady sitting in the seat next to mine.

There was something immediately dreadful about this woman — I could tell. There was a big friendly smile on her face, and I got the impression she would try to make casual conversation with me. I hate casual conversation.

Lo and behold, the second I sat down she started talking to me.

“What are you listening to?” she asked. I begrudgingly pulled out my earbuds.

T

he sun has once again blessed us with its presence, and like many before us, we have all begun worshipping the sun gods. As Whitties, this means that everyone has already whipped off their shirts and is hanging out on Ankeny Field.

The ladies and gents are all preparing themselves for the inevitable: the naked mile. Slowly but surely, article by article, the clothes are coming off. Ankeny as it once was (a mud pit, for those of you who don’t remember) has turned into something wholly different: Skankeny. The Whitties we once knew, flannel clad and hot coffee in hand, have all disappeared. Instead, Whitman has become populated by a new tribe. These creatures smile and sleep, two things previously unheard of. They lazily hold up their textbooks, pretending like it is actually possible that they

“That’s why nowadays, whenever I fly, I always choose the window seat.” are doing work (although really not fooling anyone). Most importantly, though, this new species lacks one major thing: clothing.

What is to blame for this overwhelming amount of skin being shown at such a low temperature? It is barely 60 degrees outside, people! One explanation could be lack of Vitamin D — insert penis joke here. Quite possibly people are thinking of their bodies as solar panels; the more square footage of skin, the more recharged they will get. I think this one can be clearly expressed in the skin vs. skin game of Ultimate Frisbee being played right now — all shirts have been clearly banned. I also think I just saw a naked dude do a backflip! Maybe there’s some truth to this explanation?! Pretty soon we will all have developed so-called superpowers like waking up without coffee. It will be madness.

Another harbinger of this new skin regime is the fact that all Whitties are incredibly humble.

We wouldn’t come right out and say how downright good looking we are; therefore, we have just have to show it. I mean, one of our main appeals is that we are an athletic school, and really this is the first time that we have been able to show off our hot bods this semester. We wouldn’t want everyone to forget just how good looking we are, right? Who cares that you might get frostbite? Those freshly toned abs deserve to be seen!

There’s also the fact that we are an outdoorsy bunch. We have begun egging each other on in more ways than one. You see that guy over there? He’s wearing one less layer than you. What are you going to do? One up him.

Who will be the biggest mountain man (or woman) of them all? Tune in to find out. In a Katniss Ever-

deen-style battle, we will find out, once and for all, who will win the post-naked mile deathmatch.

I predict that pretty soon we should just blast “Hot in Here” by Nelly on repeat because it’s practically becoming a strip tease out here. What are the consequences of these actions? I predict that it will result in a rather red-looking bunch of white kids. (In other words, lather up that sunscreen, folks). I think we will also see an increase of people at the gym.

Gotta keep it tight, am I right?

I’m hoping that there will also be some slow-motion Baywatchesque running across Ankeny, but I’m trying not to set my expectations too high for this spring.

Finally, as happens every year, all of this nakedness will culminate in the giant orgy.

See you in the exact center of the field at the stroke of midnight. Be there or be celibate.

‘Coco’ by O.T. Genesis is definitely ultimate romantic ballad of our generation

W

hen examining works of art which define an era, one would be remiss to omit “Coco” by O.T. Genesis. In a style that can only be described as Shakespearean, the poet Odis Flores (better known by his pen name O.T. Genesis) relates the simple story of a man and his forbidden, unabiding love of all things cocaine.

In the chorus, which I’m sure will echo through the annals of history, Mr. Genesis confesses his love for “the coco” to the heavens. He then reminisces on

the lack of sacrifice and hardship which he endured to be united with his true love, the coco, by saying simply “I got it for the low-low.”

After all, doesn’t everyone wish that they could acquire such love in their own lives for the low-low?

Now, make no mistake, readers. Mr. Genesis is not simply having a fling or casual affair with the coco. He is prepared and willing to support and care for the coco, nationwide baking soda shortage or not.

Mease not Mooses by Asa Mease

This solemn vow can be found in another of O.T.’s Homeric verses. In said verse, he defiantly exclaims “I got baking soda, I got baking soda!”

And woe be unto the man who attempts to separate Mr. Genesis from his beloved coco. In a later part of what can only be described as the culmination of art, lyricism and culture, O.T. informs his audience of the dire repercussions for interfering with the love he has for the coco.

He so eloquently warns, “If

you snitching, I go loco, hit you with that treinta y ocho.” Truly, there are no limits to the fury which O.T. is willing to unleash upon all those who wish to challenge his union with the coco.

While I am but a humble Backpage journalist, I cannot help but speculate that with lyrical masterpieces such as “Coco,” “Bandz A Make Her Dance” and the simple but aptly named “Brick in yo Face,” we may be given the opportunity to live through a new musical renaissance.

“You probably haven’t heard of him.”

“Oh come on, I’m curious dammit!” Once the words left her mouth, I knew I was in for it.

And I was right! She talked to me the entire flight. She told me all about her job as a nurse at an old folks home. It changed her whole life. Because of her proximity to death, she now sees every moment as precious and important.

It totally opened her eyes to life.

“I’m so glad I got the window seat!” she told me. “I fucking love staring out the window. Don’t you just fucking love flying through the goddamn air? Jesus Christ!”

She swore all the time. She was just excited about everything.

She was pretty crazy, though. She talked about all sorts of things.

“I’m really looking forward to the revolution!” she told me about how humans will eventually realize we aren’t really living at all and just going through the motions of life without ever engaging with anything, perfectly content to live in our comfortable separate silences.

“Always alone in a crowd,” she said.

At one point, without breaking eye contact she burped right in my face and laughed about it. Her high-pitched cackling still rings in my ears sometimes. That’s why nowadays, whenever I fly, I always choose the window seat.

- Jack Swain is a licensed mystery solver. If you have any mysteries you need him to solve, please contact swainjw@whitman.edu.

Serious mysteries only, please.