Whitman Pioneer Spring 2012 Issue 12

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ISSUE 12 | April 26, 2012 | Whitman news since 1896

CULTURE OF COLORBLINDNESS:

PRIVILEGE HINDERS DISCUSSION OF DIVERSITY

by EMILY LIN-JONES Staff Reporter

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Percentage of Whitman students of color in 2012: 20%.

ike many of its peer institutions, Whitman doesn’t hesitate to emphasize its commitment to diversity. Diversity is currently the focus of Whitman’s application supplement writing prompt, and the word pervades much of the college’s advertising literature. And according to the Whitman website, the Whitman experience “involves deep and lasting learning in an academic community comprised of people with varied experiences and global perspectives.”

Yet for many students, that ideal hasn’t yet been realized on campus.

“I would say that Whitman is not diverse ethnically or internationally, or even geographically . . . it doesn’t allow for interactions with people who have different life experiences, different backgrounds and different stories. I think that Whitman students would benefit from having more diversity,” said junior Marcial Díaz Mejia, an international student from Guatemala and ASWC Vice President-elect.

Díaz Mejia and others expressed frustration that dialogues about diversity, such as last semester’s ASWC Town Hall, have been derailed to emphasize Whitman’s diversity of interests rather than address its lack of racial or cultural diversity.

“Any group of individuals is going to be diverse in that sense, but for me it was important to acknowledge that we don’t have a lot of diversity in terms of where families come from, their income, their race and ethnicity, the countries

Percentage of Caucasian Whitman students in 2012: 70%.

where they come from,” said Diaz Mejia.

First-year Alisha Agard, president of Whitman’s Black Student Union, agreed.

“People take away from the fact that the campus isn’t racially diverse by talking about how diverse people’s opinions are. That’s important, but I feel like people don’t really understand the need for a more racially diverse campus and the benefits of that,” she said.

Senior Nan Mukungu observed that problems with racial discourse on campus are closely intertwined with unacknowledged racial and class privilege.

“It’s not that [students] don’t engage, it’s that when they do, it often reflects how unaware they are of their own privilege of being white, upper-middle-class,” she said. “Not everyone at Whitman, obviously, is white and upper-middle-class and capable of interacting that way, but at least for me the majority of interactions I’ve had with white upper-middle-class kids have been with them not being aware of their own privilege.”

Mukungu, a politics major, cited multiple negative experiences with unacknowledged privilege in her classes.

“I was in a class where it was mostly white dudes, and a lot of times my perspective was not seen as valuable or pertinent or understandable,” she said.

Mukungu added that both unawareness of privilege and absence of diversity can create an intimidating environment for minority students within the classroom. see DIVERSITY, page 3

Remaining 10%: International students.

Students question timing of club budget request forms Students can now borrow reusable mugs in Reid Campus Center for use within the building. The program was funded through the ASWC Green Fund. Photo by Bergman

ON BY PE TE RS ON

see SHARE PROGRAMS, page 3

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he month leading up to Earth Day brought new ways of being green to campus as Campus Climate Challenge unveiled two new “share” programs: a pilot bike share program and a Reid Campus Center mug share. Both projects aim to bring students resources not currently at Whitman.

The pilot bike share program kicked off last Friday, April 20 with the introduction of four bright yellow bikes to racks outside the library. A collaboration between CCC, the Outdoor Program, the library, the Physical Plant and Whitman security, the program currently has four bikes to loan to students with six more soon on the way.

The entire program is in a pilot stage and organizers will reassess after a year of trial and see what needs to be fixed.

“We’re hoping it works very smoothly, just like a book,”

said sophomore Sara Kleinkopf, one of the project’s coordinators. “That’s the ultimate goal.”

Students check out a bike, helmet, lock and light from the library through the program, and have 24 hours to use them. One renewal is allowed during that time period.

The program has been an idea for more than a year, but began to really take shape this semester. “[The bike share has] materialized very quickly,” said Kleinkopf. “It’s sort of shocking to actually have to do things with physical materials because for so long [it was just meetings].”

The bikes themselves were sourced from campus security, according to a policy that allows security to clip the locks and confiscate bikes left in unacceptable places. If confiscated bikes are not reclaimed from storage within eight months’ time, the bikes go to the OP shop to be fixed up. A percentage have been sold to the bike share program for their use.

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Staff Reporter

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by ALLISON WORK

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Share programs add new resources for students

by KARAH KEMMERLY News Editor

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or the first time this year the ASWC budget request forms required club leaders to itemize lists of their expenses for each event they put on.

Senior Finance Chair Fritz Siegert worked on restructuring the club budget request form to address several areas of the previous form, which he found problematic.

“The initial form was not as comprehensive as I wanted it to be.

Having the most comprehensive information you can is better so that we can make the most informed decisions we can when we go through the budgeting process,” he said.

The new budget request forms

required clubs to fill out charts giving the location, date, number of participants and itemized cost lists for each event they put on in the past school year and for each event they plan to host during the upcoming year.

Siegert made the decision to examine clubs’ money management more closely because he was dissatisfied with the ASWC Finance Committee’s tendency in previous years to cut costs from the clubs with the largest budgets. He wanted instead to see which clubs were managing their money successfully and to cut costs only from those who weren’t.

Siegert also chose to remove a question from the 2012 budget request forms, which asked clubs to cut unnecessary expenses from their budget and to list those planned cuts in their request, because he disliked the implication that ASWC pressured clubs to cut costs.

After having filled out the forms for the 2012-2013 school year, several students have expressed concerns with both the detail required in the forms and the short time frame in which they were required to fill out the forms and submit them. Forms were sent to club leaders 10 days before they were due.

Junior Natalie Jamerson, president of Whitman Direct Action, sees room for improvement on the forms.

“The form seems really structured and specific, but it gives a lot of room for flexibility. I hope that the forms could be more clear in noting what is actually required and what points could be ad-

TENNIS PAVES ROAD TO NATIONALS

dressed more flexibly,” she said.

She said that the most common complaint she had heard about the forms was about how club leaders didn’t know what the changes would be until after the forms were released.

“There was some difficulty in not knowing what changes were in place until the forms came out. During the year, some clubs didn’t keep track of the number of students who attended events or other details,” she said.

Junior Lisa Beneman, president of the Organic Garden, felt that the changes were reasonable but was frustrated with the short time frame she was given to fill it out.

“They should have told the budget managers that they were going to change the form in advance.”

Because the Organic Garden purchases its supplies from the local farmers’ market, they don’t have receipts to help them keep track of expenses. This made giving a detailed account in the forms difficult.

Siegert responded to students’ concerns by emphasizing that club leaders can choose the level of detail in their responses. He also addressed the fact that clubs were given 10 days to submit their forms.

“In the bylaws it states that a budget request form is released [exactly] 10 days before it’s due . . .

Some of my predecessors released the forms up to a month in advance, which is just not in the bylaws.”

Siegert also said that it might be worthwhile to consider revising that particular bylaw. see CLUB BUDGETS, page 2

by PAMELA LONDON Staff Reporter

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hitman tennis is going to Nationals.

Playing at home on the sun-drenched Whitman courts surrounded by dozens of enthusiastic Whitties, the Whitman men’s tennis team capped off its year of dominance with a 5-0 win over George Fox University in the Northwest Conference tournament final.

Not to be left out, the Whitman women’s team also came home with the NWC tournament title in hand after defeating top-seeded Linfield 5-1. see NATIONALS, page 5

Andrew La Cava ‘14 (left), the 2012 Northwest Conference Player of the Year, and Conor Holton-Burke ‘12, the 2011 Player of the Year, led the men’s tennis team to their sixth straight NWC Championship title. Photos by McCormick

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Counselor urges self-respect

by SHELLY LE News Editor

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ast Monday, April 23, Sharon Kaufman-Osborn, a counselor at Whitman, hosted a discussion focused on questions surrounding dating, relationships and self-confidence.

Students met at the Glover Alston Center in the evening to express their frustrations with the Whitman dating scene.

The event, which was organized by junior Resident Assistant Lillian Bailey, created a forum for students to discuss the difficulty of navigating relationships within the realm of technology and a small campus like Whitman.

“I think more people are scared to take a risk because there’s a high likelihood that a person [I like] will be in the same class as me and there’s little privacy in that,” said sophomore Becca Peterson-Perry, who attended the event.

The discussion was centered around the acronym “DA-T-I-N-G”: Desire; Affection; Trust, timing and technology; Intimacy; Knowing what you want; and Getting it.

Kaufman-Osborn noted that Whitman’s small community often makes it difficult for students who wish to

Whitman counselor Sharon Kaufman-Osborn discussed ups and downs of Whitman dating and how students can create meaningful connections. Photo by beck

keep their relationships private.

“People are concerned about how to reach each other, and if they do connect, how to do so without everybody knowing,” she said.

Anonymous flirting sites such as likealittle.com and whitmanencounters.com have grown in popularity in the past year and a half and have been an outlet for students to express their frustrations and relationship desires.

“I think sometimes it’s cathartic for people to express themselves in a safe way,” she said. “However, these websites that allow people to interact anonymously still doesn’t accomplish what people want, which is some kind of connection.”

Kaufman-Osborn further noted that the difficulty of college dating lies with the different kinds of connections that students want with other people and the mistranslation that often follows.

“One of the challenges is that people want different kinds of connections and often don’t know what they want, or pursue one kind of tactic in order to get something else,” she said.

Kaufman-Osborn also highlighted the challenges of creating a meaningful connection with another individual amongst the

rise of other forms of technology such as texting and Facebook.

“There’s an immediate response with these new forms of technology and often these responses get misread or people are not as thoughtful as they might be,” she said.

“There’s this immediacy, but it doesn’t really enable people to learn the skills that they might need to have relationships.”

The discussion also touched on how students in relationships often find themselves in relationships without fully developing their own self-worth.

“Part of the challenge is getting people to look inside themselves,” she said. “We have to look at . . . ‘Am I treating myself with compassion?’ It’s really hard to develop a relationship if we’re carrying around shame of ourselves.”

Peterson-Perry felt that this aspect of the discussion was particularly important for Whitman students.

“You see people who are only in relationships because they’re afraid to be alone or it’s comfortable,” Peterson-Perry said. “When SKO talked about that, I thought it was really fitting, especially considering how overcommitted and overbooked a lot of Whitman students are.”

Green Leader race reduces waste

by AMY HASSON Staff Reporter

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hitman’s Green Leaders, a group of students on a quest to decrease the Whitman community’s carbon footprint, hosted an environmentally-friendly fun run on Saturday, April 21 in honor of Earth Day. In an effort to minimize waste, the event had no paper registration or advertisements, no awards, no shirts, no bib numbers and no costs.

The event was organized, in part, to help generate excitement about Earth Day and foster an appreciation for the environment.

“It is an opportunity for everyone to go out in nature, to look at the Blues, the trees, the wheat fields and just appreciate the environment,” said sophomore Green Leader Keenan Hilton.

This is the first time the Green Leaders have hosted a fun run, fittingly called “The Green Gallop.” The Green Gallop is one of the many events the Green Leaders have put on in April in hopes of reaching out to students and spreading awareness about ways to be environmentally-friendly. Other events included Jewett Hall “green”-themed study breaks and a “green”-themed Coffeehouse.

The fun run started at 10

a.m. and participants had the option of running a 5K or 10K. First-year Chelan Pauly, who came up with the idea for the event, hoped the event would appeal to a large group of students, including Whitman students without running experience.

the fun run. Burke was excited about the race course, which started on Ankeny and continued on a trail bordering Mill Creek.

“The course was absolutely gorgeous, and you could just watch the water as you were going,” said Burke.

ASWC reworks club budgets

In the article “Club Latino attends Harvard conference” on page 2 Pedro Galvao’s name was spelled incorrectly.

from ASWC, page 1

In the article “WWII veteran to lecture on liberation of Dachau” on page 3 HillelShalom was spelled incorrectly.

A final version of “Coontz brings history back to sociology” on page 3 can be found online atwhitmanpioneer.com/news.

In the article “Senior art majors reveal thesis projects with metropolitan inspiration” on page 1, it was incorrectly stated that each art major would give a juror talk. Only the visiting juror gave a talk.

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The difficulties created by the restructured form were exacerbated by the fact that both Jamerson and Beneman face the unique challenge of running clubs with expenses not just during the school year, but during the summer as well. WDA spends most of its money doing summer projects, like last year’s project in Guatemala.

The organic garden hires interns to work in the garden over the summer.

Jamerson acknowledged that organizations with summer costs have greater difficulties than most clubs.

“It would maybe be good to see a different form for organizations with summer expenses. It doesn’t make sense for them to have the same form,” she said.

Beneman said that several organic garden interns have had trouble getting reimbursements for summer costs, and that many end up paying for supplies themselves.

“There’s just not a good system in place for our interns

ASWC MINUTES 3/4 FERNANDO MEDINA CONFIRMED AS INTERIM ASWC VICE PRESIDENT Y 15 N 0 A 3 WAIILATPU: ANNA STUTZ CONFIRMED AS PUBLISHER & GRANT ROMMEL CONFIRMED AS EDITOR Y 16 N 0 A 2 STUDENTS FOR EDUCATIONAL REFORM CONFIRMED AS ASWC CLUB Y 16 N 0 A 2 REQUEST OF $1695 FROM TRAVEL & STUDENT DEVELOPMENT FUND BY MAIKOR ELOI PEREIRA AZUAJE FOR SUMMER DANCE LAB. PASSED Y 14 N 2 A 2 REQUEST OF $1000 FROM TRAVEL & STUDENT DEVELOPMENT FUND BY SAM ALDEN TO PRINT EIGHTH GRADE GRAPHIC NOVEL. PASSED Y 15 N 1 A 2 CHANGE IN CLUB SPORTS BY-LAW TO ALLOW ASWC TO FUND UP TO 75% OF THE COLLEGE’S CONTRIBUTION TO CLUB SPORTS BUDGET. PASSED Y 13 N 3 A 2 CHANGE IN COMMUNICATIONS BY-LAW TO CREATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS & COMMUNICATION STAFF MEMBERS AS PART OF COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE DEPARTMENT. PASSED Y 15 N 1 A 2 READ THE FULL MINUTES ONLINE AT WWW.GOASWC.ORG/ASWCASWC/ SENATE-2/SENATE/

to

get reimbursed,” she said.

“I completely understand that student government is important, but having to interact with different people every year has been a huge chal-

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Burke had a lot of fun running the race with her friends and thought it was a good way to celebrate Earth Day and raise awareness.

“Running is a great way to celebrate Earth Day. It’s easy, fun and environmentally friendly.”

Green-minded Whitties line up on Ankeny for “The Green Gallop,” a conservation-themed run which was organized with no registration, bibs or paper ads. Photo by Bernstein

Corrections to Issue 11

a place to eat

“It’s super low-key. It doesn’t matter if you run cross country or you only run once a year, because we just want everyone to run and have fun,” said Pauly.

Sophomore Signe Burke was one of the students who dressed up in green and participated in

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lenge. No matter how much information is passed on from one member to the next, every year a new person is learning the job and has to learn about the needs of my club all over again.”

EDITORIAL POLICY

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 weekly Letters to the Editor in print and online.

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Letters to Editor may be submitted to The Pioneer via email at editors@ whtimanpioneer.com or sent to The Pioneer, 345 Boyer Ave., Walla Walla, WA, 99362. All submissions must be received by 4 p.m. on Saturday prior to the week that they are intended to appear. All submissions must be attributed and may be edited for concision and fluency.

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The code of ethics serves as The Pioneer’s established guidelines for the practice of responsible journalism on campus, within reasonable interpretation of the editorial board. These guidelines are subject to constant review and amendment; responsibility for amending the code of ethics is assigned to the Editor-in-Chief in conjunction with the editorial board.

The code of ethics is reviewed at least once per semester.

To access the complete code of ethics for The Pioneer, visit whitmanpioneer.com/about.

The

NEWS Admissions application to change APR

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ILLUSTRATION BY CARTER-RODRIGUEZ

Essay choices will reflect Whitman student input

by EMILY LIN-JONES Staff Reporter

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he Whitman admissions staff is considering changes to the application supplement that may soon be finalized for the next application period.

Currently, Whitman’s application supplement requires applicants to submit an analytical paper and a short response to the question, “Is diversity important to your liberal arts education? Why or why not?”

According to Dean of Admission Tony Cabasco, the supplement’s short-answer question generally undergoes some tweaks from year to year, but for the 2012-2013 application period, the change will be a little more noticeable. The current plan is to give applicants a choice between about five or six different student-generated prompts, most of which originated as suggestions from student interns in the admissions office.

“The purpose is to really try to communicate better Whitman’s distinctive personality and also find ways for students to respond

to those questions in a way that might elicit for us better [that] this is definitely someone who would be a great fit in the way they write, the way they communicate, the way they’re passionate about these issues,” said Cabasco.

In planning for the revised supplement, admissions officers looked at application supplements from other liberal arts colleges for examples and solicited suggestions from students on the admissions team.

“We ended up looking at [student-submitted questions] and liking their approach, and decided to go in that direction,” said Cabasco.

In its current draft, the new short-answer section of the supplement is composed of several questions written primarily by and attributed to Whitman students. Each applicant will likely be asked to respond to two of the prompts.

“I think it would be cool because applicants can see that Whitman students are engaged and involved in this process and that sends a message about our community,” said Cabasco.

According to Cabasco, the essay questions will be more specific to the Whitman experience, making reference to programs like Encounters and State of the State.

“It’s an essay that [applicants] can’t just copy and paste something else to . . . we hope that it will help us distinguish students even better,” he said.

“We’ll hopefully be able to find students who are really engaged and can get passionate about the kinds of questions we’re asking them and the kinds of things we think are values at Whitman, versus students who can write a good essay but don’t necessarily have the same level of commitment to the questions.”

Whitman diversity problematic from DIVERSITY, page 1

“I think [the lack of diversity] heavily affects academics and the perspectives in the classroom. A lot of times [students of color] aren’t comfortable bringing up their own perspectives, because they’re in a hostile environment, and often when they do bring up their perspective it can be tokenized . . . like that person is representative of a whole group of people, which is not helpful at all.”

Sophomore Cynthia Ramos, vice president of Club Latino, agreed that being asked to speak for a larger group is a common expectation placed on minority students.

“Sometimes being the only minority or non-white student, you feel pressure to speak up for minorities, but I don’t feel like we should have to do that. We [as students of color] don’t know everything that minorities or low-income people go through, and I feel like sometimes we’re expected to speak up on behalf of all firstgeneration students,” she said.

Mukungu noted that the cultural homogeneity at Whitman can have consequences outside of the classroom as well.

“I can only speak from my own perspective, so I can say that socially it has been very difficult, but I also come from a whole different background, being first-generation and from the South, so I had to assimilate to a degree, and understand Northwest culture in order to be accepted,” she said.

She noted that Whitman’s so-

cial environment, with its emphasis on avoiding conflict, doesn’t encourage frank discussion about social inequity.

“I think generally the culture of Whitman and the culture of the Northwest leans toward colorblindness, which is not helpful and leads to not talking about race, which makes [privileged students] not aware of their own race and class,” she said. “We are a private liberal arts college, and due to social privilege [which applies to most of us], not a lot of minority groups have access to the same types of resources as majority groups do . . . I do understand that Whitman does have a commitment to creating a diverse atmosphere, it’s just hard when a lot of the applications come from students who have had access to SAT classes or enough money to go to college prep schools. Those students tend to be upper class and white,” she said.

At the same time, Nori urged open conversation to compensate for the relative absence of diversity in the student body.

“Even if we don’t have as much diversity as we’d like to have, we could still be having conversations about race and privilege. I think we should be having those conversations, and we’re not having them because it makes people uncomfortable to think about race,” she said.

First-year Mcebo Maziya, educational executive chair of BSU and an international student from South Africa, emphasized the need

IMAGINE FESTIVAL

for a dialogue about race and privilege that actively invites the perspectives of students of color and other minorities on campus.

Maziya cited the KONY 2012 movement as an example of a popular campaign that fails to take into account the opinions of people of color, comparing the relative popularity of international issues like KONY 2012 with domestic affairs like the Trayvon Martin shooting.

“That’s just one marker of the diversity that we need on campus to reflect different opinions about current issues, especially ones that have been politicized and racialized,” he said.

In addition to taking into account perspectives from minority students, Maziya said discussions on race also need privileged students to participate in order to be effective.

Agard noted the student body’s general lack of involvement in discussions of issues related to race on campus, citing the fact that a meeting held by BSU on the Trayvon Martin case was largely attended by students of color.

“At that point you’re kind of preaching to the choir, when you’re talking about issues in the African-American community but you’re talking to African-American students who understand the problems that go on, as opposed to other students who might not be aware,” she said.

According to Maziya, recognizing privilege and engag-

ing in discussion about current issues go hand in hand.

“Talking about it really makes a difference. As soon as privileged people realize they are privileged, that’s the first step toward recognizing inequality. If we don’t talk about race and we don’t talk about the things that affect us [like] property and education, that means we’re negating the fact that it exists, and there’s no subsequent dialogue that will take place that can resolve such issues,” he said.

Both Maziya and Diaz Mejia said they hope to positively impact discussion about diversity through their positions in student government.

“I’ve become involved in several clubs and ASWC because I feel it’s necessary to make those changes in an organized way, through clubs and the student government, to give a voice to the groups that are not as prevalent and share a perspective on what’s happening around the world,” said Diaz Mejia.

Maziya agreed, describing a potential resolution to hold a forum for interested students to discuss issues surrounding social justice.

“Part of my role is just to find ways in which students can be more engaged and feel more enthusiastic in talking about issues like this,” he said.

Maziya, along with other concerned students, stressed the need for student engagement and an ongoing dialogue about issues of race and diversity on campus.

IN THE NEWS

by SHELLY LE

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News Editor

Average percentage of Whitman applicants who were Caucasian from 2007-2011.

73.1

Average percentage of admitted students who were Caucasian from 2007-2011.

10.7

Percentage of degree-seeking Whitman students who are firstgeneration in 2012.

15.7

Percentage of Whitman faculty of color in 2008.

11.9

Percentage of Whitman faculty of color in 2012.

SOURCE: WHITMAN OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

“At Whitman College we’re educated people, I’d like to think, and we need to be more politically aware and have a dialogue.

If we’re going to be silent, that means that the status quo is going to remain unchallenged.”

Funding supports share programs from SHARE PROGRAMS, page 1

The bikes are purchased, and bike parts and labor paid for, with funds from the Outdoor Environmental Leadership Fund. The fund, established in 2005 by an anonymous donation from alumni, supports environmental leaders on campus in various endeavors.

The parameters of eligibility for funding were expanded in 2011. “[It’s] a really big green fund on campus,” said Kleinkopf. “Future funding for bike repairs and purchasing more bikes will likely come either from this fund, or from [the] ASWC Green Fund.”

The ASWC Green Fund aims to enrich the campus by implementing student ideas for sustainable policies. The Reid mug share mugs were purchased with funding from this grant.

Senior Maggie Massey made a New Year’s Resolution two years

ago to stop using paper cups, and wants to help others attain that.

Before now, drinks from the coffee cart in Reid came in paper cups unless students brought their own.

Dark blue with gold logos, the mugs went into use in Reid Friday, April 20. The mugs are located under the water jug to the side of the coffee cart. Students must grab a mug and bring it to the register before ordering to have their drink in one of the mugs. The mugs are for use in Reid only, but the 20-cent personal cup discount still applies.

Massey implemented the program to bring the ease of reusable mugs to everyone. “Since I’ve stopped using disposable mugs, I go anywhere and I bring my own mug and it [becomes] a conversation that people have,” said Massey. “I talk about how I bring my own mug and it’s a challenge that also beneADVERTISEMENT

Students and community members gather to celebrate diversity at the IMAGINE Celebration Saturday, April 21, from noon to 3 p.m. on the side lawn at Reid Campus Center. Participants enjoyed live music from two student bands and watched a dance team and jugglers. Photos by McCormick

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fits the planet and my community.”

“We hope people make use of the resource,” said Massey.

“They’re here for our use and they’re provided by student money.”

Organizers are concerned the mugs will fall prey to theft, but they hope the official design and a sense of program integrity will dissuade borrowers. “This is a great opportunity to make a new name for ourselves as students who don’t just steal Bon Appétit mugs,” said Massey. “Because they’re not Bon Appétit mugs, they’re student mugs.”

Eventually, organizers hope to extend the program to more locations campus-wide, so that students can buy coffee in Reid, take a mug to class, and drop it off in a class building.

“We needed to take a small step forward,” said Massey.

“This was the place to start.”

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The Patisserie hosts rotating exhibits of hand-picked art (above left, below right). Owners Tiffany Cain and David Christensen also bring strong aesthetic sensibilities to their pastry design (above). Photos by Felt

Patisserie finds art curation piece of cake

by ALEX HAGEN Staff Reporter

T

o many Whitman students, the Colville Street Patisserie is an inviting and cheerful alternative to spending another afternoon at the library. With its lively but calm atmosphere, the Patisserie offers not only delicious pastries and coffee but also a space in which one can take a moment to think, relax, study a bit and admire the artwork on display.

It may take a few visits to the Patisserie to truly appreciate the various photos, prints and paint-

PIO PICKS Each Thursday, The Pioneer highlights several events happening on campus or in Walla Walla during the weekend.

Here are this week’s picks: Fridays at Four The Whitman College Music Department presents local Portland group The Oregon Guitar Quartet, visiting campus for an afternoon of fresh, original guitar arrangements.

Friday, April 27, 4 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Chism Hall.

Café Night La Maison presents a Parisianstyle café experience, complete with delicious Nutella snacks.

Saturday, April 28, 7 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Lawn between La Maison and La Casa.

Sorayya Khan The O’Donnell Visiting Lecture Series presents “War, Memory and Forgiveness,” from Fulbright recipient and author Sorayya Khan. Khan will read from her 2003 novel, “Noor.”

Monday, April 30, 7 p.m. Olin 130.

ings adorning the walls. The art, selected by co-owner Tiffany Cain, comes to the Patisserie from a variety of sources, including artists from the area as well as artists whom Cain personally knows.

The art of the Patisserie is meticulously planned, with a waiting list of artists stretching three years into the future. Artists’ work is displayed for two months at a time, after which Cain puts up a new “show” with brand new art. The store can display any variety of art, though Cain says she tends to prefer contemporary and abstract artwork as well as photography. In the past, the store has displayed work by artists like Laurie Fairbanks, Steve Miller, Rachel Blakley, Carol Cole, Leslie Palota and Laci Cole.

Though the Patisserie’s art is for public viewing, Cain describes her selection process as a personal one.

“It really just comes down to my own taste,” she said. “It’s

Staff Reporter

S

ome movies are decent, and yet, you just don’t enjoy watching them. “Jeff, Who Lives at Home” was one of those movies for me. Maybe I still have not recovered from the adrenaline rush of “Cabin in the Woods” or am spent from my differential equations midterm/zombie attack Friday afternoon, but I found “Jeff, Who Lives at Home,” like the title, bland and really not worth watching.

“Jeff, Who Lives at Home” follows a day in the life of Jeff (Jason Segal), his brother Pat (Ed Helms) and their mom (Susan Sarandon).

As you could probably tell from the descriptive title, Jeff, a 30-ish barely post-puberty guy still lives with his mother in her basement. Brother Pat is having trouble with his marriage; Mom cannot stand either of her man-boys, and is getting messages from a secret admirer. In the beginning of the film, nobody in the clan likes each other and all direct their anger at Jeff for not doing anything with his life.

Jeff, taking hit after hit on his bong, portrays a lethargic loser who claims he is just following the ways of the universe. Jeff is fixated with the movie “Signs” (remember Mel Gibson in the corn field?), where every detail in life has a greater mean-

by MALLORY MARTIN Staff Reporter

W

hitman’s Visiting Writers Reading Series welcomes its seventh and final speaker for the year to campus on Thursday, April 26. New York Times bestselling author and columnist George Saunders will share his work for the ultimate reading, after a slight setback and postponement from last month.

Currently a professor of creative writing at Syracuse University, Saunders has branched into many forms of writing, including journalism, essays and children’s books.

However, his most acclaimed works are his award-winning short stories.

Humor and playfulness are among the favored devices of Saunders, who described himself as a “Twain with less wit.” The author expressed his hope that students would leave the lecture with

ing. Maybe the moral of the movie is that there is some cosmic order and we all should just relax like Jeff and go with the flow.

All in all, “Jeff, Who Lives at Home” is a well-written and directed comedy by the Duplas brothers that just did not grab me. Jason Segal’s likeable-oaf shtick worked in “The Muppets” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” but seemed tired and dull as Jeff. I really did not like seeing Ed Helms, who is hysterical in the “Hangover,” movies, being so mean in this role. “Jeff, Who Lives at Home” relies too heavily on everyday events that for the most part, you got it, are just too ordinary for the big screen. With the end of the semester looming, I need and want a movie that allows me to escape to another place or burst into laughter—”Jeff, Who Lives at Home” was just not that movie.

bing coffee or a piece of cake at the Patisserie, take a moment to take in the surrounding art—you’ll be glad you did.

than I am in real life, and more generous. In college I’d never met a writer, so wasn’t sure of how a person went about becoming one. When I get to Whitman I’ll tell the whole story of how I got that one figured out— but the main thing for a young writer is to read like crazy. That puts the sound of good writing in your brain.”

Students discussed their anticipation over Saunders’ impending visit.

“I really appreciate his creative ingenuity and quirky sense of humor,” said first-year Anna Stutz.

“We’ve been reading and discussing “The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip” in my creative writing class, and I’m looking forward to seeing how his writing style in short stories differs from his children’s books.”

“I really look forward to hearing more about how his personal opinions on life affect his work and how he conveys politics or opinions as a writer,” said sophomore politics and

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Mondays, 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. On the dial at 90.5 FM Walla Walla and streaming live at www. kwcwradio.tumbler. com For requests, call (509) 527-5283.

media studies major Alyssa Goard.

“I’m interested to see where his sense of playfulness comes from and what inspires an author like him.”

Goard further elaborated on her impressions of the series, which operates under the direction of Whitman’s Schwabacher Professor of English and Creative Writing Katrina Roberts.

“I love the Visiting Writers Series because it’s really enlivened my experience with the readings,” said Goard. “It’s also incredibly exciting to see an individual who has this complex story and a fascinating life and these vast personal experiences pouring all this thought and time into such a precise number of words. It makes the writing seem that much more impactful when I go back and read it again because I understand it in its broader context.”

The reading will take place on Thursday, April 26 at 7 p.m. in Maxey Auditorium.

Alumni letters reveal social change

by CLARA BARTLETT Staff Reporter

E

ver read something you weren’t supposed to—a private note, a journal entry, an unread text blinking on a friend’s phone? Well, this Friday, April 27 and Saturday, April 28, three Whitman alumni invite current Whitman students to hear (guilt free!) numerous private letters written by Whitman students from the classes of 1965 through 1972.

With the help of Associate Director of Alumni Relations Nancy Mitchell and Garrett Professor of Dramatic Art Nancy Simon, alumnus David Current ’71, alumna Barbara James ’71 and alumnus Cleve Larson ’71 have teamed up with the drama department to bring the letters to life.

Larson explained the Whitman Letter Project in more detail via email.

Anuradha Lingappa ‘15 (above) models her bright, eclectic ensemble. Lingappa avowed a special fondness for literary themes and tights. Photos by beck

Tune in to co-hosts Gemma Wallace and Stephen Uramoto for your weekly brain massage, with amazing music from the 60s through today.

Everything from Led Zeppelin and The Doors to Fleet Foxes and Sea Wolf. Get it here.

GRAPHIC BY ALDEN

a heightened appreciation for language and modern literature.

“I feel that writing is the best way one human being has of communicating with another—across time, across space, across all sorts of ethnic/national/political boundaries,” said Saunders in an email.

“What I hope the students do NOT take away from my visit is my wallet. That happened a few months ago, at a ‘prestigious Ivy League college,’ and I am still getting all sorts of charges for, you know, volumes of Shakespeare, and kegs, and so on.”

For students interested in pursuing creative writing after college, the author, who cites Gogol, Tolstoy, Vonnegut, Isaac Babel and Monty Python as his inspirations, explicated his own draw towards the profession.

“I didn’t love doing anything as much as I loved reading and writing,” said Saunders. “Whenever I was in that realm, I felt confident and full of life. When writing, I am smarter

“The main idea of the event came from alum discussion at a previous reunion, where we wondered aloud if there were letters written by students and or their families still available which described our lives at Whitman during the 1960s and early 1970s.”

“Thanks to the generous contributions of our fellow Whitman alums, we’ve had the privilege of bringing to light a fascinating piece of history and student life, in our own younger voices, from a time of great social change,” said James.

While some alumni sent a single paragraph, other letters number as much as nine pages in length. In total, the Whitman Letter Project received from 80 to 100 different pieces.

The current Whitman students to perform the letters include junior Jeremy Howell, sophshe’s kind of a shopaholic. My necklace I also got from my grandmother. We were in India last December, and she bought it for me; it’s one of the Hindu gods, with a diamond in it. It’s Ganapati, who brings good luck—he’s the elephant-headed god.”

ILLUSTRATION BY ZINSER

KWCW SHOW OF THE WEEK

of the community,” she said.

“The local art helps to create such an interesting atmosphere.”

Cain also discussed the general atmosphere of the Patisserie. Cain’s husband, co-owner David Christensen, selects the music playing in the store.

“It really is all for our own amusement,” Cain said with a chuckle. “It’s great that, hopefully, everybody else likes it too.”

The couple’s previous experience in food service has helped them to create a pleasant, dynamic atmosphere at the Patisserie. Cain formerly owned the Weinhard Café in Dayton, Wash., while Christensen worked as a pastry chef at the WhitehouseCrawford Restaurant in Walla .

“I like having that sort of environment around me. It’s a familiar atmosphere to me, so I definitely try to create that [here],” said Cain.

So the next time you’re grab-

Award-winning writer George Saunders brings playful short stories to Whitman

‘Jeff, Who Lives at Home’: Audience should stay home

by NATHAN FISHER

my building, you know, I’m gonna be looking at it for two months, [so] I really have to love it.”

Cain is an avid art appreciator, visiting art shows around town to find artists as well as perusing artists’ portfolios online.

Because of the focus on a single artist at a time, the artwork often centers on a single theme or idea, bringing a sense of unity to the work displayed on the walls. For example, Cain described her admiration of Fairbanks’ series of wood-printed silkscreened hearts with juniper berries, a project that was inspired by Fairbanks’ father’s heart surgery.

Blakley, a mixed media artist who displayed her work after seeing another artist’s work in the shop and talking about it with Cain, discussed her appreciation of the Patisserie’s role in local arts.

“I feel like the Patisserie is a unique venue in Walla Walla in that it’s really a part

STYLE SPOTLIGHT Every week, The Pioneer searches out Whitties who bring an extra splash of fashion consciousness and sartorial daring to campus. This week’s Style Spotlight: first-year biology major Anuradha Lingappa.

Style Soundbites “My sweater—I got it from my grandmother’s basement, ‘cause she was moving out of her old house and

“My shoes are cowboy boots, and they’re technically my sister’s, but somehow I ended up with them.

My earrings are giant plastic strawberries—they’re my sister’s again; I take a lot of my clothes from her.

She made them and they’re very realistic; when she first made them, I was in sixth grade and I thought they were real. My glasses are Harry Potter glasses, but they’re prescription—because I’m just a dork.”

“I think I have a very eclectic fashion, because I just wear whatever I feel like wearing . . . for the most part, my interesting-nesses are usually my tights, because I really like brightly-colored tights. And then, I have a lot of strange earrings. Sometimes when I have more time, I try and think of a theme—like on Pottermore, I just got put in Gryffindor. I wasn’t expecting that, so I was kind of grumpy, but then I was

omores Nicky Khor, Samuel Halgren and Russell Sperberg, and first-years Evelyn Levine, Caroline Rensel and Tory Davidson.

Levine elaborated on her involvement with the project.

“Regardless of the differences in time, I relate to the students and— this may sound a bit corny—get the feeling that there is a real Whitman spirit, and that I’m privileged to be a part of that community,” said Levine.

The main reading will be held on Saturday, April 28, at 9:15 a.m. in Kimball Auditorium, preceded by a “lunch box” performance on Friday, April 27, at noon in the Freimann Studio Theatre.

*

Curious to learn more campus history?

Continue reading online at www.whitmanpioneer.com

like, ‘Well, maybe I should just embrace it!’ So a few days ago, I wore a bunch of yellow and red, because those are Gryffindor colors. And after ‘The Hunger Games’ came out, I was like, ‘Oh, I want to dress like people from that!’ So I tried to dress like Katniss one day, but I don’t think I really pulled it off.”

SPORTS

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Sophomore Andrew La Cava (left), first-year James Rivers (right) and teammates swept through their weekend competition en route to the Northwest Conference Tournament title. Photo by McCormick

Bound for Nationals

from NATIONALS, page 1

The Whitman men had already run the table in the NWC regular season, going undefeated and earning the top seed heading into the Conference tournament. After dispatching fourth-seeded Whitworth on Saturday in the semi-final, Whitman faced off against George Fox with the title on the line.

From the top of the lineup, the George Fox Bruins proved they were not going to go down easily. The Bruins tested the Whitman pairs at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, with the home side pulling out hard-fought victories in each match. While their teammates were battling it out in the first two slots of doubles, junior Sam Sadeghi and first-year James Rivers notched the first team point for Whitman with an 8-1 victory at No. 3 doubles. “After beating George Fox twice in the regular season I felt pretty confident going into the match,” said Sadeghi. “At the same time I was extremely nervous, knowing how much was at stake.”

Senior Conor Holton-Burke capped off his Whitman home career with a flourish: Holton-Burke teamed with junior Matt Tesmond for an 8-5 win at No. 1 doubles and then clinched the team victory for Whit-

man with a 6-2, 6-0 victory at No. 3 singles.

“All of our hard work during the regular season really paid off,” said HoltonBurke, who earned All-NWC First Team honors leading up to the conference tournament. “After playing five nationally ranked teams, we were better prepared to cope with the pressure of the final. Practically, our regular season also paid off because we were the No. 1 seed, got to play on our home courts and had a much easier semifinal match.”

Two more All-NWC First Teamers, junior Jeff Tolman and sophomore Andrew La Cava, teamed for an 8-5 victory at No. 1 doubles. First-year James Rivers earned AllNWC Second Team honors and head coach Jeff Northam was named Coach of the Year.

Whitman extended its regular season winning streak over NWC foes to 90 consecutive victories, its last loss coming in April 2006. Holton-Burke and Tolman reached 100 individual victories each this season and senior Emily Rolston is closing in on the same milestone. The team’s storybook season finishes off with a 12-0 NWC record and a 21-4 overall record heading into the NCAA DIII Championship Tournament.

And this year, the tennis story does not end with the men.

The Whitman women’s tennis team entered Championship weekend as the second seed, and, after taking care of business against Whitworth University in the semi-final, pulled the upset in the final by also beating top-seeded–and undefeated–Linfield College.

Playing on Linfield’s home court, the women jumped out to a quick lead by winning two of the first three doubles matches and then finishing off the victory with three straight victories in singles to take the team title. Fittingly, Rolston clinched the match for Whitman with a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 6 singles. “[Rolston] has worked so hard for this for four years and for her to clinch the match was amazing,” said women’s head coach John Hein, who led Whitman to its first conference tournament championship for the first time in his four seasons at the helm.

Rolston and her teammates were able to execute their game plan near to perfection against the Wildcats: the team knew it had to focus on the doubles matches at the top, said Hein, and that if Whitman could jump out to an early lead they had a stronger singles lineup than Linfield.

“The biggest thing for the finals was doubles for us,” said junior and NWC Player of the Year Alyssa Roberg. “[T]he last two times we’ve played Linfield they have won all three doubles, so we wanted to come out huge with lots of energy and jump on top from the start. From there, we were able to carry that energy and focus into singles.”

Roberg and first-year standout Courtney Lawless pulled out a hard-fought 8-6 victory at No. 1 doubles. Both women were named to the All-NWC First Team, along with first-year Morgan Lawless.

The Whit women finished its season at 10-2 in the NWC and 17-4 overall, with its two most important victories coming in the Conference tournament.

Between the two teams, Whitman earned 10 NWC Player of the Week awards in addition to its two Players of the Year and seven student-athletes named to All-Conference teams.

Both the men’s and women’s teams now turn their attention to preparing for the NCAA DIII Championship Tournament. Seedings, pairings and locations will be announced May 7; the tournament will be held May 21-26 in Cary, N.C. ILLUSTRATION BY HWANG

Women’s golf captures NWC crown, men look forward to next season

by MATT TESMOND Staff Reporter

W

hitman golf simultaneously reached its peak and valley this past weekend as the women’s golf team took home the Northwest Conference Championship while the men found themselves in a disappointing sixth place finish.

With a hold on second place in the conference standings heading into the NWC Championships, the women were calm and confident.

“Our team goal was to win the tournament and go to Nationals which we knew was not out of our reach,” said first-year Kelly Sweeney.

The girls channeled that confidence into two stellar rounds of golf posting scores of 317 and 312 at the Columbia Point Golf Club in Richland, Wash. These rounds gave the women a two day total of 629, five strokes better than the seventh-best team in the country, George Fox University.

The women attributed their success to good teammates, level heads and hard work.

“I really think it was our hard work ethic, and our ability to want everyone on the team to do well. We are competitive, but we truly want every person on our team to succeed.

This is amazing, because so many teams are competitive with their teammates. We want to bring out the best in each other,” said elated sophomore captain Elaine Whaley.

Sweeney believed in the dedication of not just the players but the parents as well.

“Our support system is also something that makes us such a strong and amazing team. Our

parents come to every tournament to cheer us on and it’s amazing to see everyone out there watching you and supporting you and your teammates through the good and the bad,” said Sweeney.

This support system was certainly needed as the women entered the second day with only a one stroke lead on George Fox. However the women did not falter.

“We knew we had a chance to win the tournament but we all handled the pressure very professionally and in the end, not getting too far ahead of ourselves paid off,” said Sweeney.

The taste of victory could not have been sweeter as the women finished the day, dreams in hand.

“It was incredible. Everyone was so happy and proud of each other. It meant so much to us all because we had worked all year for those two days,” said Sweeney.

Next up for the women will be the NCAA National championships in Angola, Ind., held May 8-11 at the Zollner Golf Course.

The men’s team started the weekend confident, much like the women’s team.

“The expectations of the team were very high going into the tournament this weekend . . . The goal was to win,” said first-year Scott Martin.

Sophomore Andrew Welch echoed his teammate: “We went into the tournament expecting to win.

We were in second place knowing that we were in control of our own fate; if we won, we were going to Florida. We knew we had it in us.”

Unfortunately the men come out tight, shooting a 319 for the first day, leaving them in 7th place.

“There was so much pres-

sure going into Saturday, that it may have been detrimental to our scores,” said Martin.

However, an alleviation of pressure and senior leadership calmed the nerves for the second day.

“Our captain, John Abercrombie, Big John to the team, helped get everyone back into a good attitude after the (first) round. When other teams were kicking themselves we had great camaraderie and were ready to come back stronger the next day,” said junior Geoff Burks.

Coach Peter McClure could see a clear difference from the first to the second day.

“We fell short of our scoring goal the first day, so on the second day, I felt like the guys relaxed a little and played closer to their normal game. The team never gave up and every player tried their best on every shot,” said McClure.

The men ended up shooting a 313 for day two giving them a two day total of 632, 36 shots off the winning Linfield Wildcats. This score left the team in sixth place for the tournament and fourth overall in the conference to end the season.

“As expected, we were all upset. I think what hit us the most was that we all knew how much better we were. We knew that we are better than any team in the NWC if we put our best foot forward and unfortunately we weren’t able to do that this weekend,” said Welch.

McClure, however, summed up the season on a positive note.

“We have had a great golf year. Every player on the team contributed to the success we had this year. Our team’s chemistry has been outstanding. We are so looking forward to next fall!”

Profile: Senior cyclist, future chef David Hancock

by SYLVIE LUITEN Staff Reporter

T

his week’s sport’s profile highlights senior cyclist David Hancock, from Seattle, Wash.

How did you get started with cycling?

I didn’t bike here my freshman year, and then I bought a road bike the summer after that, and I just kind of went on casual rides in the fall with some people on the team and then some people on the club. It was kind of a slow start.

Photo by Li

What are you doing after Whitman?

I’m doing the culinary arts program [at Walla Walla Community College].

Revived Water Polo club sets sights on upcoming tournament reading water while holding huge water jugs and throwing medicine balls sounds like a nightmare to most ordinary people.

The Water Polo club team, however, has done this voluntarily in countless practices for the past few months.

Water polo sophomore Nick Shariat says the passion of the sport is what keeps the team coming back.

“I really have to boggle it down to the enthusiasm of the players. Water polo is a really small community. It really is asking a lot of these students, knowing that there isn’t going to be a lot of competition, but they come because they love the game” said Shariat.

Shariat also explained how lack of funding has been an obstacle that has limited the team’s opportunities to travel and pursue games against other teams. They managed to secure some money from ASWC, but are still extremely underfunded.

Regardless, the Water Polo team has their sights set on the upcoming tournament they will host April 27 and 28 at the Louis and Paul Harvey Pool. Their opponents include the University of Puget Sound and Western Washington University. At the end of the day on Saturday, the teams will conclude the tour-

nament with a fun game that will involve a game comprised of players chosen at random from each team to form new teams. Water polo senior, Spencer May, says the team is chomping at the bit to play someone else besides themselves.

“Obviously we’re pretty stoked, we have been practicing for a couple months; we have done some scrimmages, and if anything, we are just excited to actually have games with other teams,” said May. According to May, the team should be an entertaining bunch to watch. The squad has players that have been playing for several years with a combination of other players that are relatively new to the game, but are picking it up quickly.

One of these newcomers is first-year Devin Schell, who has been a swimmer all of his life and is now coming into his own as a water polo player.

“Mostly here [at Whitman] I have been learning how to play. I have the swimming ability, and bit by bit I am picking up on things,” said Schell.

While the team is still in the early stages of establishing itself among the other club sport powers such as Ultimate and Lacrosse, they are undoubtedly on the right track. Look for the Water Polo team to use the tournament this upcoming weekend to propel itself to bigger and better things as the years go on.

SCOREBOARD

GOLF

by PETER CLARK Staff Reporter

T

Are you going to continue to bike race after Whitman?

I could actually, since I’m going to the Community College next year.

I could race for them and start up a team and do that, but for now I’m going to give it a break.

TENNIS

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v. Chapman University April 21: L 13-1, L 7-0 v. Chapman University April 22: L 8-1

Want to hear more about Hancock’s plans?

Read online at www.whitmanpioneer.com/sports

Men’s NWC Championships April 21-22: W 5-0 Women’s NWC Championships April 21-22: W 5-1

BASEBALL

Men’s NWC Championships April 21-22: Fourth Women’s NWC Championships April 21-22: First

UPCOMING BASEBALL

v. Whitworth University April 28: AWAY v. Whitworth University April 29: AWAY

FEATURE

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26 2012

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In a poll on local consumerism, respondants noted ethical concerns with large corportations like Wal-Mart or Safeway. However, students also emphasized convience as a main motivating factor. Photo by Bernstein

CONSUMER CONCIOUSNESS

This week Feature was inspired by a recent Seattle Times article: “Amazon a virtual no-show in hometown philanthropy.” We sought to shed light on the interplay between big corporations and small local shops in Walla Walla. Ultimately, does buying local rather than corporate matter to Whitman students?

Local businesses focus on Coffee shops seek to craft commitment to community unique customer experience

by KELSEY KENNEDY & ALYSSA FAIRBANKS Feature Editors

W

hile quaint boutiques and local coffee-shops are common fixtures of downtown Walla Walla, a larger corporate presence looms beyond E. Main Street.

The vast majority of Whitman students polled in a recent Pioneer survey characterized the existence of these types of companies in the community as harmful, if not completely unavoidable. While over 90 percent of the 93 Whitman students polled considered their shopping choices as somewhat or very motivated by cost concerns, respondents also raised a host of ethical issues such as labor rights and environmental friendless that make them hesitate before buying products from large corporations.

“I dislike these corporations, but in most cases, I have to shop at them in order to buy what I need . . . large corporations take away from a town’s individuality and history, and they treat their workers like cattle,” said one student in response to the survey.

Absent among the ethical issues raised by students in the survey, was the philanthropic presence of corporations in Walla Walla, a role that some community members argue is overwhelmingly positive.

Liz George, the Young People’s Librarian for the Walla Walla Public Library, noted that along with support from local businesses, the library often receives financial support for programs from larger corporations such as Target and Starbucks.

“I get [funding] primarily on either a request for sponsorship, donation or foundation grant. I get the same kind of support from local groups,” George said in an email.

Specifically, the College Place WalMart puts funding toward philanthropies focused on youth issues and child abuse prevention, such as The Children’s Home Society of Washington, a children’s services provider in Walla Walla.

Stephanie Biegel, the HomeTeam coordinator for the Children’s Home Society, stressed the support that her organization

receives from Wal-Mart, through monetary donations and volunteer hours. Many associates from the College Place Wal-Mart have volunteered at the organization through WalMart’s Volunteerism Always Pays program, which matches volunteer hours with grants to charitable organizations nationwide. According to Biegel, associates from the local Wal-Mart have put a total of 750 hours toward Children’s Home Society programs.

When asked about concerns surrounding Wal-Mart’s ethical practices, Biegel emphasized the need to examine the corporation’s impact specifically in the Walla Walla community.

“There’s a general sense of them as a large corporation but you have to consider the management on a local level and the associates on a local level. Our local WalMart is very supportive, and on a national level they’re huge on giving back,” she said.

Steve Wenzel, store manager of the E. Rose St. Safeway, reiterated the positive impact of corporations in the Walla Walla community. Wenzel noted that while the E. Rose St. Safeway helps fund national efforts to provide disability services and cancer research funding, the organizations simultaneously places great emphasis on local causes such as the Walla Walla Community Hospice.

“Safeway realizes that our commitment to our customers also means a commitment to the communities where they live,” he said.

While Wenzel pointed out that smaller local businesses maintain a similar interest in the concerns of the community, the power of large corporations to affect change should not be dismissed.

“We can take on more of a global issue, like Easter Seals, breast cancer and prostrate cancer. These are things that don’t just affect Walla Wallans, they are things that affect everyone. And I don’t know that [local businesses] have the scope that we do when it comes to stuff like that merely because they are one store. The mark that we can make by sheer number is bigger,” he said.

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Read the full article online.

More on local versus corporate online at whitmanpioneer.com/feature

by TALIA RUDEE Staff Reporter

S

tarbucks has hundreds of stores worldwide, which aim to sell great coffee and food to complete the experience. However, many people still stray away from this largely praised corporation as their coffee leads them toward local, one-of-a-kind coffee shops.

Walla Walla is a great town for local coffee shops to thrive, even when they are on the same street or the next block over from Starbucks.

“What we have to offer is a little different from Starbucks,” said Tiffany Cain, coowner of the local coffee and pastry shop, Colville Street Patisserie. “It is amazing here [in Walla Walla] because we stick out; there is not another French pastry shop in town.”

The Patisserie prides itself on its unique coffee shop experience from the coffee they roast to the pastries they make. Both of these aspects of the Patisserie prove different than Starbucks’ way of doing business.

The shop gets all of its coffee beans from the local Walla Walla Roastery and brews the coffee within 12 hours of ordering the beans. All of the pastries are made on site, as well as all of the syrups and whipped cream.

The Patisserie gets all local products to make their espresso drinks and pastries.

They buy local eggs, honey and organic milk. In addition, whenever the Patisserie delivers a latte to a customer, there is a pleasant artsy surprise on top: a leaf or heart made from the milk on top of the coffee.

“We take more care,” said Cain. “We are always trying to perfect the latte art, it makes [the experience] a little more special.”

Sophomore Paul Lemieux, a Whitman student as well as Patisserie employee and avid coffee drinker, has learned a lot about the coffee making process through his work at the Patisserie.

“Working there I’ve gotten an appreciation for how much leeway there is in making coffee,” said Lemieux. “There is a recognized way to do it, [but] everyone has techniques that vary slightly.”

Lemieux advocates for local coffee shops not for ethical reasons, but

for the experience of trying new places.

Coffee Perk, another local coffee shop, has stood strong even with Starbucks right next door. The shop even makes a lemon bread entitled “Better than Starbucks” bread.

“I’ve heard a lot of people say Starbucks has burned coffee, so they come over here,” said Jennifer Goodwin, an employee at Coffee Perk.

“People come in because they think it looks really cool and Starbucks is all corporation,” she said. “We are more willing to work with what people want to order, but at Starbucks, they just stick strictly to the menu.”

Coffee Perk promotes its better coffee, more appealing look and fresh baked goods made every other day with local ingredients to draw in customers. Still, Goodwin alludes to the competition right next door.

“Definitely more people go to Starbucks, but I think we are doing pretty well for a local coffee shop . . . I heard Starbucks likes to move next to a coffee shop and run them out of business, but so far they haven’t done that to us,” said Goodwin.

Coffee Perk moved into town around 16 years ago and Starbucks followed around five years later. Both shops are still going strong with their own unique draws.

Whitman sophomore Angela Loftus also found herself working with coffee, although her experience was with Starbucks.

“I mostly enjoyed working at Starbucks for the people I was working with,” said Loftus.

It is the connection with the workers that prompted her love of working at Starbucks.

Unlike a one of kind shop like the Patisserie or Coffee Perk, Starbucks has a universal set of rules for all employees.

“It was helpful for me, because the way that it was set up to make drinks was just hitting a button,” said Loftus.

Starbucks has new machines that make it extremely easy for employees to make a drink. This means that the coffee is always exactly the same and does not have the individualized flare of Patisserie coffee.

*

Read the full article online.

More on local coffee consumerism online at whitmanpioneer.com/feature

WHO INFLUENCES YOUR DECISIONS AS A CONSUMER THE MOST? In a poll of 93 Whitties, students had a chance to express who and what affects their purchases.

INFOGRAPHIC BY BERFIELD

25%

THE MEDIA

26.1% FAMILY

1.1%

THE GOVERNMENT

26.1% PEERS

15.2% OTHER

OPINION 7 Effective health care must be holistic APR

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26 2012

JULIA STONE Sophomore

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hat “our healthcare system is broken” is a ubiquitous reality acknowledged across the political spectrum. Healthcare reform has been a hot political issue, especially with the right-wing resistance to Obamacare. What began as an earnest attempt to fix a system that leaves millions of Americans without access to healthcare has been turned, rhetorically, into a left-wing conspiracy to turn America into a socialist utopia. The healthcare reform debacle has been frustrating to

watch, especially since this is an issue that affects each and every one of us. What is more troublesome is the way the entire healthcare “problem” has been framed, especially as evidenced by our discourse around obesity.

The healthcare system is broken because doctors are only treating symptoms, and often overlook related symptoms to put the pieces of the puzzle together and uncover the greater problem at hand. I find the current solutions offered for the solving of the obesity epidemic ironic. Obesity is considered one of the biggest health problems in our country, yet our healthcare industry and society at large have failed to look broadly at possible solutions. In narrowing their focus to the energy balance model—if you eat too much and don’t expend enough, you get fat—these groups have constricted ways of thinking about the problem, and limited discussions of possible solutions.

Political Cartoon by Ariel Carter-Rodriguez

When you begin to investigate the roots of the obesity epidemic, you uncover alarming realities of environmental toxins, issues with class and race, and fundamental issues with our food system and economic system at large.

Yet a healthcare system could never address these deeper problems, only mitigate symptoms.

The ineffectiveness of healthcare reform stems from this issue of limited understanding of health, broadly conceived.

We must rethink what it means for a doctor to “care” by envisioning care in a more holistic way in which doctors not only investigate and treat the symptoms, but work to address the root cause. A more holistic version of care would see the person as more than just a sum of its parts: body, mind, environment and personal history combined into one. Only then can a doctor truly have insight into the complexity of individual health

Guest Columnist

I

BLAIR FRANK Junior

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n April 4, Russian security research firm Dr. Web released a report stating that 600,000 computers running Apple’s Mac OS X operating system were infected with a piece of malware known in security circles as Flashback. That announcement marked the most significant successful virus attack on the Mac platform, and current estimates show that infections remain in the hundreds of thousands, even after Flashback has been widely publicized. When I talked to my friends about the threat, I heard a common refrain: “Aren’t Macs immune to viruses?” Flashback is a wake-up call: Macs are not immune to viruses, as much as we would like to think they are.

Malware on the Mac is nothing new, of course. Over the course of Apple’s history, there has always been some virus threat to the Mac platform.

But looking over the rogues’ gallery of potential threats, nothing has ever been nearly as significant as Flashback. If Dr. Web’s estimate is correct, nearly 1 percent of the entire Mac OS X userbase is infected with Flashback.

In the world of computer security, that is a massive number.

Apple’s biggest weapon against threats up until this point has been OS X’s relatively slim market share compared to Windows. Basically, since coding a virus for the Mac is different from coding a virus for a Windows PC, it made more sense for virus creators to write for the dominant platform, in this case,

Windows. However, since Apple has been doing better and better in the personal computing market in the past few years, more unsavory types will be interested in writing exploits for the Mac. That’s a huge problem, because Mac users haven’t been conditioned to protect themselves from viruses. While Apple can continue to react to threats, users will still be vulnerable until Apple pushes out a fix. That’s why it’s so important to stop buying into the delusion that Macs can’t get viruses. They can, they do, and the number of threats to your computer’s security will only continue to grow. If you’re a Mac user who has avoided being diligent with your security regimen, now is a really good time to start.

The most important thing to do now is to first run Apple’s Software Update utility, which will install a tool that’s designed to find and remove any traces of Flashback. After that, be sure to install some form of anti-virus software. I recommend ClamXAV, which is an open-source, lightweight anti-virus offering that should give you ample protection against malware without costing you a cent. Then, all you have to do is keep it up to date and continue to scan your computer on a regular basis. If you don’t think there’s any chance you’ve been infected by Flashback, think again: It’s possible to contract it just through visiting an infected web server. (Nobody knows which servers are infected and which servers aren’t.) If you own a Mac, you must secure it as soon as possible.

Mac users have to protect themselves against viruses now. While Apple will probably do everything in its power to shield users from exploits and malware, those efforts can only go so far. Resting on the relative anonymity of yesteryear is not a feasible strategy for protecting your computer.

am a student from Guatemala City who came to the United States to get my college degree. Yet when asked to reflect from the outside on white privilege at Whitman, I felt like I was not in the right position to do it—even if I am international and, as I’ve been told, “distinctly not white.” I am also privileged. Like many Whitties I belong to a middleclass family and I grew up in an environment that provided me with social capital and many opportunities.

My life story is not extraordinary compared to others that you find at Whitman.

What makes me stand out, then?

As I’ve experienced through the years, race and ethnicity are constructed differently in different countries. Back in Guatemala, I was raised as “white”; I was part of the dominant group. When I came to the United States, that label changed: My olive skin became exotic, and my first language dictated that I was “Hispanic.” I became part of a minority.

Whitman is not particularly di-

Sophomore, Walla Walla University

“The best way to increase diversity would be to study the different nationalities that already exist in the school, look at the areas where you don’t have as many nationalities or ethnicities, and increase the amount of brochures that go to certain schools with those ethnicities or nationalities.”

verse in terms of race or socioeconomic status: A little over 20 percent of the student body is comprised of students of color, 12.5 percent of students are first-generation college students, and only three percent are international. This makes for an unspoken assumption that everyone comes from a similar background, and shares many of the same life experiences. In classes, there are comments and jokes directed at these commonalities. During my first semester there were times when I felt like I was out of place, and I was intimidated by my peers. As “the other” I felt like my opinion was not relevant, while at the same time I had to prove that I was here not because I was diverse, but I because I was qualified. I was surprised to see subtle remarks that separated me from the white population, like talking about my skin color or place of origin when it was not relevant.

But I am lucky to be here, and so is every Whitman student. It is easy to forget that this is not the norm, when we are surrounded by others who share this privileged position. We forget about the rest of the world and how different things

can be. The town that hosts our bubble presents a different scenario.

Hispanics in Walla Walla compose 21.9 percent of the population, and up to 35 percent in the public school system. Hispanics also have a lower high school graduation rate than non-Hispanic whites. Walla Walla County has a lower per capita income than Washington state or the United States as a whole, and 17.5 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, compared to 12.1 percent for Washington state.

A lot of Whitties volunteer in the community, but there is no campuswide discussion on how to engage with Walla Walla and use our education to make structural changes.

We should reflect on our experiences at Whitman, and in the wider community. Almost three years after I came here, I don’t feel pressured to prove myself on campus and I’ve learned to embrace my new otherness, which I hope is the case for all students. I am aware that I am lucky to be at Whitman, and I want others to realize that we have the tools to improve our immediate community if we just step outside the bubble for a bit.

Actively appreciating outdoors means more than owning gear NATHAN ORD Senior

P

erhaps it is fitting that as I write this all I can think about is driving up Mill Creek Road, hiking up one of the hillsides, and getting up, away, outside and out of our Whitman bubble, free of my thesis that’s threatening to strangle me with my computer charger. That’s all it would take, a 20 minute drive, and then I’d be there. Where? Outside. Away. On an adventure. It’s so easy to do; all it takes is walking out your back door.

We all have a friend, a car, or a friend with a car. Nothing is stopping us from picking up and going, yet so many people never do. We’ll talk about it, talk about the great hikes we’ve gone on, the Scrambles, the guided tours of Mt. Fuji, but we don’t walk out our own back door. Why? Sure, we’re all too busy here at Whitman, but more importantly we feel like we need a pass to the outdoors, limiting our enthusiasm to get outside at all. Being outdoorsy becomes almost an image, more than an everyday reality.

When I go into the climbing gym these days I need five forms of I.D. and a will and testament, and for many people it’s the same for the

Voices from the Community STEFANO MIRONOV

a variety of different things to many different people. The blanket, one-size-fits-all system that we are trying to construct simply won’t work for everyone.

I believe that the quality of care stems in part from the strength of the relationship between patient and doctor, but within our current system— which forces doctors to identify and treat only bodily symptoms and to see patients as quickly and efficiently as possible—is irresponsible and works against realizing a truly healthful society. Yes, this kind of holistic, individualized care is expensive and time-consuming. But it is a care that is paramount to our society’s well-being. I urge decision makers—and the public at large—to shift the way they think about healthcare away from a budget-based discourse and towards a more preventionbased, individualized and holistic understanding of health.

Our privilege goes beyond our skin

by MARCIAL DIAZ ‘13

Apple users face growing threats to computer security

issues. But doctors do not have enough time to treat each patient this way, nor do they have support from the current system in which pharmaceutical and insurance industries exert pressure to act as drug or service salesmen.

Healthcare reform must originate in the way doctors view their patients, and must consider immediate physical illness not an isolated event, but rather a signal of a dysfunction of the entire body. In this sense, health is much more than absence of illness, but rather optimal mental, physical, spiritual and social aspects of our daily lives. Treatment for any illness, then, would go far beyond addressing a particular symptom, and take into account the lifestyles and environmental and social circumstances of individual patients. Ultimately, in order to have a more healthful and effective healthcare system, we must realize that health is a highly individual concept, and means

MARY BURT Science Outreach Coordinator

“I do a lot of outreach with the community, so I think probably it would be educating people from various populations that Whitman education can be accessible—[that] financial aid and support [are] available for them.”

ILLUSTRATION BY BAILEY

outdoors. Too many people will never visit Harris Park and almost get bitten by a rattlesnake, or spook elk in Tiger Canyon because they don’t feel qualified to be there—because they think they don’t know how. I blame this on Patagonia and REI; on “boof,” “shred” and “crimp”; and on the false expertise of a certification card that fits nicely in your wallet.

We’re made to think we need all the gear, we feel left out when they don’t know the lingo, and definitely feel like a novice next to a WFR SWR AVI-1 Scramble leader. But none of this should stop anyone from walking out their back door. Even being limited in gear shouldn’t stop you. What you don’t have you can rent from the OP. You certainly don’t need the latest waterproof breathable survival suit with waste recycling and a solar powered jet pack when you could get by with a poncho.

Yet at Whitman, the preva-

lence of REI and Patagonia especially are blatant messages to the contrary. While they make great stuff, the consistently improving quality makes us think we can’t go without the newest, best item.

It’s like you’re not a real outdoorsman until you’ve got enough Goretex to waterproof a whale. Gear alone does not make the outdoorsman (or woman), but it can certainly make us feel that way at times.

It’s kind of funny, perhaps ironic, but all too true. Being outdoorsy at Whitman isn’t really about doing outdoorsy things. Sure there are some hardcore enthusiasts, but for the most part, it’s about looking the part. Rocking North Face at the first sign of rain; dropping lingo like “shred,” or “crimp,” or “boof”; and getting certifications. Forget about the gear, the talk, and all the extra knowledge and just get outside.

With weather like this, why not?

What should Whitman do to increase diversity? Poll by Peck

CLAIRE MEINTS

MARK MERING

Sophomore

Father of first-year Karl Mering

“It’s hard for Whitman to increase diversity when the problems are structural. Lack of diversity at liberal arts schools like Whitman derives from a lack of quality education at a younger age and also a lot of structural racism and classism that has existed in our country for a long time.”

“The biggest minority populations in the west are Latinos, and I think you just have to reach out to the areas where those people are. I come from Idaho, with a large farmworker population, a lot of small towns that have large Latino populations. The school should be known in those communities.”

BACKPAGE

APR

26 2012

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UNADMITTED STUDENTS DAY

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ILLUSTRATION BY JOHNSON

DE

CINCO MAYO Wear a sombrero to class the day before. Nothing says appropriate respect on a holiday like a large, beer-drenched hat.

Practice your Spanish by speaking it all day. Don’t know this language? Simply add an “o” to every English word.

Play piñata on the side lawn of Reid.

Get the Macarena going in the quiet room.

EVIL OR IMPROV?

Varsity Nordic is one of the most beloved organizations on campus, even though they have often been shrouded in controversy. Many have theorized that the change from the name “Theater Sports” to “Varsity Nordic” did not just coincidentally happen around the exact same time that the Whitman varsity skiing team (also known as Varsity Nordic) got disbanded. Many, including myself, have wondered just what exactly Varsity Nordic is up to.

So I decided to determine this once and for all by doing a little investigative journalism. I went undercover and posed as a fan at their recent 24-hour performance “for charity” that occurred last Friday through Saturday. What follows is a journal of my experiences.

Want to have some celebrations and fun without leaving campus on Cinco de Mayo next Saturday?

Try these fun ideas Throw a fiesta on Ankeny!

Dance the Mexican hat dance and sing “Cielito Lindo.”

Share your cultural knowledge by saying it’s not Mexican Independence Day.

breaking news !!! ] [

!!!

love, bridget (the wryho)

Whitman geology department holds vote on theory to replace continental drift

solve the plexer to see which theory was chosen

A BC DEF GH I J KLMNOP QRS T UVWX Y Z E P L P L L E N V H W P U S

R D

V H

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Comic by Julie Peterson

5:30 P.M. – 5:50 P.M. It is already apparent that they have no plan or prior knowledge of what they will do. They seem to make things up willy-nilly as they go along. Just who exactly are these people?

7:00 P.M. I can see why so many people are fans of Varsity

Nordic. They seem to be pleasant and kind. They are charismatic and, more importantly, funny. Oftentimes I have found myself laughing out loud at one of their clever puns or observations. Other times I have almost laughed, but not quite, though I still found their antics humorous. Certainly the majority of the time I have found myself entranced by their constant barrage of new material.

It is like watching a movie or a TV show that simply won’t end.

Maybe I was wrong to suspect them . . .

11:00 P.M. After several hours of watching them play their

I am the only audience member who will stay for the whole show.

5:00 A.M. They know I am the only one out there. Their scenes

get longer and darker. Many of them have begun to reveal their true form and are now hibernating onstage. I too, have begun to lose my strength. I don’t know if I will be able to hold on. Why are carrots so funny right now?

12:30 P.M. Something has happened; something is definitely

going on. One of them turned into me. They turned into me! They were playing a game and someone said they should be me and then they were me and one of them guessed that it was me. Do they have cloning technology?

2:00 P.M. Everything is funny. Shoes, hookworms, of course.

5:00 P.M. I am starting to hallucinate things. I can’t be sure of

anything. What have they done to me? The audience has returned; I think they may have been here for some time now. Can they be warned or is it too late?

5:30 P.M. It’s over; it’s finally over. “Will you be my friend” seems like it can only be a question unless you’re talking to someone named Will. They sold some empty pizza boxes and it’s over.

I think. Maybe. I don’t know. I just don’t know anymore. The sunlight burns.

K I A L A E K X H

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE: UNPRETENTIOUS, CULTURE, DIALOGUE, SUSTAINABLE, DIVERSITY, CHACOS, PATAGUCHI, GLUTEN-FREE

ing that they’ll be playing some games. Yeah, I suppose it was just “fun and games” that led to thousands of poor Whitman students no longer being able to ski and fulfill their dreams.

3:00 A.M. I am the only one left; I am all alone. I now realize that

V U S

L E N S X

5:00 P.M. They’ve started by introducing themselves and say-

“improv” games, many of which are surprisingly similar, it has become clear that they have exhausted their relatively minute repertoire of performance forms. Some of these games have now been played so many times that I’ve lost count. I certainly feel sorry for all of the audience members who stay for the whole show.

he lesser known but far more entertaining Unadmitted Students Day (or Rejected Students Day, as some cheeky admissions officers refer to it as) happens this upcoming weekend every year.

This much less prestigious honor is offered to high school students who were not admitted into the college, but are still interested in seeing what they will be missing out on. The day begins at 7 a.m. in North Hall, where students are given an insipid croissant to last them through their uneventful morning. The students are led to the Reid Ballroom, where, for the next five hours, President George Bridges glares at them from behind a podium, occasionally shaking his head in utter disappointment, while silently sighing and muttering juicy little tidbits like “They don’t even deserve to see this bowtie” and “waste of time.”

After lunch, the students are given an accelerated tour of the campus. The tour guide (who is hastily riding a bike) only speaks forward and at a constant speed of 12.5 mph. So, any of the students who desire to take in the information must attempt to keep up with the guide by running alongside. The tour becomes more interesting as Whitman’s larping club is asked to bludgeon ye olde rejected students to please their majesty, King Bridges.

The rejected students are “allowed” to fly home, but only after each one of them is asked to put a fist into the air and exclaim, “Proud to be a Rejected Student!”.

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