Spring 2014 Issue 12

The

PIONEER

ISSUE 12 | May 1, 2014 | Whitman news since 1896 | Vol. CXXXI

Mentors

Opportunity

Cultural capital

Disconnect

Whitman cultur

Invisibility Support

Social graces

Academics Guilt Isolation Confidence Finances

Class

Whitman’s first-generation students face unique challenges

by SHELLY LE Editor-in-Chief

“C

lass is invisible. You can dress and act a different way and no one would ever really know what you might be struggling with. First-generation students really are in an invisible category.”

As the adviser for Whitman’s First Generation and Working Class Club, Professor of History Julie Charlip has seen countless students come to Whitman from backgrounds like her own. They are the first in their families to attend college and are often from households significantly less welloff than the majority of their peers.

In the fall 2013 semester, 10 percent of the student body identified as first-generation college students, making it one of the smallest statistical minority categories at Whitman.

It’s likely that most students at Whitman know a first-generation student, but unlikely that they understand the first-generation college experience.

Unlike other signifiers of identity, “first generation” comes attached to a diverse spectrum of backgrounds.

Many who identify as first generation struggle at college with family finances, varying levels of cultural capital and feelings of isolation.

However, not all do, and the phrase “first generation and working class” isn’t necessarily all-encompassing.

“Being first generation [and] working class isn’t something that happens to everyone, but, at the same time, every experience for first-generation students can be unique from each other,” said sophomore firstgeneration student Brenda Zarazua.

Senior first-generation student Bridget Tescher believes economic difference isn’t acknowledged enough on campus. Often, it’s simply assumed that most students come from middle- and upper-class backgrounds.

“It gets really tense as soon as you try and bring up economic disparity.

Overall, I think a lot of students here are really uncomfortable with their economic status in general,” she said.

Isolation Economic class is a factor that often goes ignored at Whitman, but it affects students of all racial backgrounds. Associate Professor of Sociology Gilbert Mireles, who is a former first-generation student, believes economic class has a greater impact on a student’s Whitman experience

than any other demographic feature.

“In the college-going experience oftentimes class influences the day-to-day experiences of students to a much greater extent than their racial-ethnic background. That’s not to say that racial-ethnic background isn’t going to be a factor ... but I think that [in] everyday lived reality, class is a more significant factor,” he said.

Mireles, who attended Swarthmore College, says he sees connections between first-generation students’ experiences and his own. Mireles traveled from central California to attend Swarthmore and faced a culture shock for which he wasn’t prepared.

“I came from a background that was very different from most of the students that I encountered at Swarthmore ... these kids came across as very worldly and cosmopolitan and experienced in all sorts of ways that I was not.”

Because of those cultural differences, interacting with his peers at Swarthmore was difficult for Mireles.

“I wasn’t able to readily engage them in conversation in the dining hall, [and] I hadn’t had the sorts of educational opportunities that they had had. I hadn’t had the vacation experiences that they had had. I didn’t know anything about lacrosse, these sorts of things that are outside the experiential framework of someone growing up in a small farming community,” he said. “It wasn’t easy, and I felt very isolated and unsupported.”

Upon coming to Whitman, Tescher quickly became aware of how her clothing set her apart from other students. She tried to conform to what she calls the “Whitman dress code” of Birkenstocks and North Face jackets because she felt pressure to fit in appearance-wise.

“I think that Whitman’s first-generation [and] working class students learn very quickly how to blend in and how to adopt the lifestyle that Whitman students lead here, even if it requires cutting corners and buying stuff from the REI used gear sale as opposed to the Patagonia store,” she said.

First-generation student Lionel Valdez* says the cultural difference between him and his more economically privileged Whitman peers hasn’t negatively affected him because he found a small community of students of color from similar socioeconomic backgrounds to connect with. However, the gap in economic resources and cultural references among students of lower and higher income backgrounds can be surreal, he says.

“I remember freshman year, [my first-year section] had barely met each other, and we didn’t really know each other. Then during winter break they went on an amazing, crazy trip that was super expensive.

Stuff like that was different, and people I grew up with and hung out with never had that kind of experience.”

Assistant Professor of Art Nicole Pietrantoni’s parents attended community college, but she was the first in her family to attend a prestigious four-year university. Her parents encouraged her to attend college in order to live a life that was less financially stressed than theirs.

“In my family, it was kind of like a golden ticket. You get an education, and you can do something really great. It was like, ‘You can do something better than we’ve done. You can go farther; you can do better,’” she said.

Although the college application process isn’t easy for first-generation Whitman students without parents who have experience with higher education, many had mentors who were invested in their college careers.

Others were involved in college preparatory programs in high school.

Zarazua went to a charter high school that focuses on preparing students for college. But when she finally arrived at college, things weren’t as she expected. Her parents couldn’t travel to Whitman with her, so her aunt came with her for one day. She moved into the dorms by herself.

“My charter school kept saying, ‘College is going to be perfect and the best time of your life.’ So I was expecting that things would be great, but then it felt like it was a let down, and I was lonely,” she said.

Finances and Family Ties Tescher worked 20-25 hours per week in high school and throughout Whitman to pay for college, and her single-parent father hasn’t been able to support her Whitman education financially. She doesn’t label herself as poor, but says that she sometimes feels set apart from Whitman students who come from wealthier backgrounds.

“I didn’t ever actually think I was poor ... I identified as middle class ... I grew up on free and reduced lunch, and it wasn’t until I got here that I realized there was so much more upward [mobility], and there was so much more money that I could have had that I didn’t,” she said.

Finances created an immediate but unspoken division between Tescher and

her first-year peers when she wasn’t able to attend a Scramble, and when her section-mates wanted to eat meals outside of the campus dining halls. “[Seeing everyone come back from their Scramble] was definitely dislocating at first, because as soon as I got here, everyone had friends and had been on this week-long trip,” she said. “I could never go out with my section. They would all go out [to eat] ... and I was like, ‘I can’t afford to go out every week.’”

For Mireles, his financial struggle as an undergraduate can be summed up in a painful memory of leaving for college. As his father was driving him to the airport, he handed him $600 in cash. Although Mireles was on a full-ride scholarship at Swarthmore, there were extra expenses, such as books and transportation home, that quickly ate through his extra funds.

“It was the end of summer, and I can’t imagine how hard [my father] worked to earn that money, probably over the course of ... more than the summer, and he just kind of gave it to me as I was leaving for my first year. And it was gone in about two months. I mean you have to eat ... college isn’t cheap,” he said.

Junior first-generation student Leslie Rodriguez’s first year at Whitman was especially difficult because she was worried about paying for college in addition to transitioning to being away from her family.

Although Rodriguez says she hasn’t struggled as much financially since her first year, she still feels pressure to work at school, often at what she feels to be the expense of her academics.

“In the back of my mind I’m always constantly like, ‘That’s money I’m not making, and it’s money that we need,’” she said. “That’s constantly on my mind when I’m doing homework or when I’m here. I sometimes feel that because I’m here, I’m neglecting [my family], in a sense.”

Since she’s not yet financially independent, junior first-generation college student Heather Lovelace says it can be difficult to separate family financial struggles from her academic and social life at Whitman. Lovelace’s father is considering retiring, which would significantly affect how much money they could contribute to her education.

“I’ve been trying to work on ... not taking my parents’ worries and making them my own and realizing that I am my own person, which is really hard because we’re so tied to our family,” said Lovelace. see FGWC, page 6

Robert Reich Art department changes lecture confronts format of introductory courses income inequality

by SARAH CORNETT News Editor

T

he art department has changed the structure of its introductory studio art classes, ending the popular Introduction to Visual Arts Practices class and instead creating more specialized “Foundations” courses.

The changes, which will be implemented for the 2014-2015 academic year, provide for five new classes that will be offered during the academic year on topics including contemporary printmaking, abstract painting, the transformed object and digital processing.

The shift in focus resulted in part from an art faculty committee, comprised of Assistant Professor of Art Nicole Pietrantoni, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Joe Page, Director of Sheehan Gallery Daniel Forbes and Assistant Professor of Art Justin Lincoln, that sought to reexamine the way the art department conducts its introductory classes. With the greatest num-

ber of faculty in the department’s history, part of the motivation was the new professor focuses that did not lend themselves to an introductory class as broad as IVAP. “We wanted to rethink the foundations classes so as to offer depth over breadth,” said Pietrantoni. “We also wanted to account for new people entering the department who were bringing new specializations.”

Traditionally, IVAP has sought to provide students an opportunity to explore a wide variety of artistic media through multiple projects throughout the semester. A class required for the art major and minor, its makeup often provides for an interesting juxtaposition: students who bring significant experience in studio art and those who are looking to fulfill their fine arts requirement with a 100-level art class.

Sophomore Cody Burchfield, an art major who is currently enrolled in one of three IVAP classes being offered this se-

mester, said that the class structure doesn’t allow students on either side of the experience spectrum to fully realize projects.

“It doesn’t seem like it satisfies either desires, [an art major or someone who is taking it to fulfill requirements,] very well.

It’s such an expedited timeline that if you want to invest in it, you don’t have time to dedicate to anything in particular,” he said.

Part of the struggle with the current layout of IVAP is its breadth. The course exposes students to a wide variety of media, but many, like Burchfield, don’t feel as if they’ve fully gained an understanding of the various practices it introduces. Sophomore Taylor Cook is pursuing an art minor and also is currently enrolled in IVAP. “It’s not feasible that you can really sink your teeth into a medium in such a short period of time,” she said. “The professors know this, too, but I think for students with little or no art experience, it’s see ART DEPARTMENT, page 3

by JOSEPHINE ADAMSKI Staff Reporter

F

ormer Secretary of Labor Robert Reich gave a lecture Wednesday evening in a packed Cordiner Hall. Students, faculty, staff and Walla Walla community members attended the event, where Reich predominantly discussed income inequality and the influence of money in politics.

Reich came to campus with the help of the Genevieve Patterson Perry Endowment for the Study of Economics, which brings economists to speak at Whitman on a regular basis. The endowment, which was established in 1999, began bringing speakers to campus in 2001. The Office of the President and the economics department, particularly Assistant Professor of Economics Lee Sanning, also played major roles in selecting Reich and bringing him to campus.

The talk drew a crowd of Whitman and Walla Walla com-

munity members that dwarfed most Whitman lecture crowds.

Many of those attendees came from economics classes that mandated attendance, but a large number of Walla Walla community members also attended. The crowd clearly liked Reich from the beginning, applauding enthusiastically and often unexpectedly at several points during the lecture.

Senior Robert Dalton, who attended the lecture as a part of two economics courses, counted himself among those supporters.

“I particularly enjoyed being reminded that economics is a child of moral philosophy,” he said. “I think that that’s something that we may have lost sight of, and it’s good to be reminded of it.”

Reich has reestablished himself as a sort of economic celebrity in the past several months, partially because of his 2013 film “Inequality for All.” Reich’s talk touched on many of the points see REICH, page 2

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Henry Friedman shares Holocaust survival story

by DANIEL KIM Staff Reporter

W

Whitman hires new history professor focused on environment

by JOSEPHINE ADAMSKI Staff Reporter

T

he history department has hired Jakobina Arch to fill a new tenure-track position as assistant professor of environmental history. Arch will be hired under the sabbatical replacement program to increase the size of permanent faculty instead of continuing to fill visiting professor spots.

The search started in August with 90 applicants and extended until early February. The decision to create this position occurred after the history department underwent an external review that entailed an investigation of the department to evaluate, understand and then strengthen the department. The reviewers suggested establishing an environmental historian position to increase the breadth of the department’s course offerings.

“In 2011, the department underwent an external review, and one of their recommendations

was that we consider adding a position in environmental history because environmental studies is really important at Whitman, and many other departments like ours are going in the direction,” said Associate Professor of History John Cotts, who was the head of the environmental history search committee in charge of the hiring process.

The hiring process was conducted by a committee consisting of all tenure-track members of the history department, along with Associate Professor of Politics and Chair of Division I Bruce Magnusson and Senior Lecturer of Environmental Humanities Don Snow.

This committee was supplemented by a student search committee consisting of five history majors. The student committee provided a student perspective on each candidate by evaluating each candidate’s effectiveness as a professor. The students attended each candidate’s sample lecture and research presentation and then gave

reports to the search committee on their opinions and suggestions.

“I think that our opinion was definitely taken into consideration, and I think Cotts really strove to have that to avoid something like previous situations ... we were definitely listened to. We obviously don’t know how much weight our opinion carries, but it was definitely considered,” said sophomore Jack Percival, who was on the five-student committee.

“I think she has a very global focus, and I think that will expand us beyond our traditional geographical boundaries, and we don’t have many global courses like the ones she is proposing. It will absolutely strengthen the department. She gives us a more diverse global curriculum and also will, in my opinion, make us one of the best small liberal arts college in the East Asian history department,” said Cotts.

Arch is an environmental historian who specializes in Japanese history. She is current-

ly working on her dissertation on the marine environmental history of whales in early modern Japan.

What lies ahead for Arch is crafting the new field of environmental history within the department.

“Right now I think my greatest challenge will be the fact that I am starting a whole new field in the department, so I will be creating entirely new environmental history courses rather than adapting the courses inherited from someone previously in the position.” said Arch in an email.

She hopes that her time at Whitman will not only be beneficial to the students at Whitman but also beyond the classroom.

“I want to develop and offer good courses that help students think about history in new ways. I want to inspire students to think and talk about the ways that people have shaped the environment we live in now and what it might be in the future, and not just while in class.” said Arch.

Reich calls for rethinking economic policy from REICH, page 1

raised in the film, which Whitman screened for the public on Sunday.

Assistant Professor of Eco-

nomics Jennifer Cohen, who introduced Reich, discussed his popularity in an interview before the talk.

“He posted ... [on Face-

book] on the minimum wage,” she said, “and almost 1,500 people shared that status that he posted, and 8,000 people liked it. So

Robert Reich (middle) speaks with faculty during his visit to Whitman. His lecture on Wednesday night focused on contemporary issues in the American economy and their relation to politics. Reich teaches public policy at UC Berkeley. Photo by Goard

his reach is really enormous.”

In both his film and lecture, Reich focused on the negative impact of income inequality on economic and political stability.

“Inequality for All” emphasized the fact that inequality stunts economic growth, but Reich focused more on political issues in his lecture, particularly the Supreme Court’s decisions on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission.

“When income is hugely concentrated, political power tends to follow wealth and income,” Reich said. “And what that means, almost invariably, is corruption. You may call it political campaign contributions, but the net result is what we commonly perceive and understand as corruption.”

Reich advocated for a joint effort by the people, both grassroots organizers and political and economic elites, to take money out of politics and address the issues of inequality.

“It’s we who have got to be organized, and we have got to be mobilized, and we have got to be energized enough to get politicians to pay attention,” he said. “The onus of responsibility is on us.”

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hitman students, faculty and local residents arrived at Cordiner Hall to hear the story of Henry Friedman on Sunday, April 27. Friedman is a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust, and he told the story of his daily struggles avoiding concentration camps and police officers.

To recognize Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Office of Religion and Spiritual Life sponsored the event and brought Friedman to campus.

“It is a long standing Whitman tradition to bring in a Holocaust survivor to speak at Whitman. The standard way of observing the holy day is to bring a Holocaust survivor,” said Stuart Coordinator of Religious and Spiritual Life Adam Kirtley.

Friedman began by taking the audience back 70 years and making a connection by stating that he, too, had dreams and hopes like many of us do.

“But in September 1939, my dreams were shattered because I was woken up by the earth shaking. The city of Brody was being bombed by Nazi Germany,” said Friedman. “Finally, when daylight came and the bombs stopped falling, I went outside and I couldn’t believe my eyes. My city was burning.”

At a young age, Friedman experienced the occupation of Poland by communist Russia. The Russians had stripped his parents’ textile store away from them, and his family completely lost ownership of the store. Although the Russians took away the family’s possessions in Brody, his parents had a farm 10 kilometers outside Brody.

“My father took the family to the farm. My life did not change that much. For my mother, it was very, very difficult because on the farm there was not any electricity [or] running water,” said Friedman. “I continued with my education under communist rule.”

In June 1941, Nazi Germany had bombed Brody again and had occupied his city. The first order was that everyone was required to register, Jews and non-Jews alike, in order to receive a job. Some of those identified as Jews were taken away to concentration camps, never to be heard from again. In addition, 250 Jews were shot without questioning.

One month after the German occupation began, another order was issued, stating that all Jewish people had to wear a six-pointed star that identified them as Jews. His mother was beaten severely on the upper arms while heading into Brody, while the Germans made his cousin empty an outhouse with her bare hands, disrupting her appetite for weeks.

“We were afraid of being Jews because there was no law protecting a Jew. They could beat [or] rape a Jew and not go to jail,” said Friedman.

He told a story about a young Christian girl working as a maid at the local police station. She overheard some police officers talking about sending his father to a concentration camp. His father was able to flee from the Nazis in time to escape from being captured.

“That young girl ran through deep snow, risking her life, and because of her heroism, I am alive today,” said Friedman.

“When the Germans were coming to our farm to pick us up, we went into hiding in a chicken coup and that was one of the darkest nights that I can remember,” said Friedman. “This was the time my family disappeared from existence as far as the Nazis knew.”

The owner of the chicken coup did not tell her husband or two teenage sons that she was hiding Jews, and Friedman called her an angel.

He, his mother, his brother and a Jewish teacher were stuck in an area just big enough to lie down for 18 months.

Friedman told his story to help everyone understand how inhumane those times were and to keep the story of survivors and victims alive.

“There a lot of folks who survived the Holocaust who have committed to telling the story. There is sort of a personal commitment on behalf of a lot of people that have survived to keep their story alive, to keep their remembrance alive,” said Kirtley.

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

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Photo by Felt

“Foundations” revitalize art courses from ART DEPARTMENT, page 1

*

Divest Whitman stages mock wedding between trustees, fossil fuel companies See more photos online at www.whitmanpioneer.com

Title IX panel highlights sexual misconduct policy changes

by HELEN ANGELL Staff Reporter

I

n 2012, Whitman changed the process for addressing sexual misconduct in order to reflect the protections guaranteed under Title IX. To educate students about these changes and the way that Title IX is implemented at Whitman, the Associated Students of Whitman College held a Know Your IX panel last Wednesday, April 23.

Title IX is the primary federal policy that shapes how college campuses respond to cases of sexual misconduct, including rape.

However, it is up to individual colleges to adopt sexual misconduct policies and investigation processes that comply with Title IX. Associate Dean of Students and Title IX Administrator Clare Carson, Academic Resource Center Director and Title IX Investigator Juli Dunn and Associate Dean of Students and Sexual Misconduct Prevention Coordinator Barbara Maxwell answered student questions about Title IX and its implementation on Whitman’s campus. Carson, Maxwell and Dunn clarified the process a student would go through if he or she came forward with a sexual misconduct complaint.

Sophomore Shireen Nori, the ASWC special initiatives director, organized the event. Nori explained how important the Title IX Panel was.

“There’s a need for information to be spread about how students can protect themselves and about the rights that they have,” said Nori. “I want people to know that there are the steps that you can take ....

If something happened to

you, there are people who are willing to fight for you and help you through it.”

Students are educated about sexual misconduct through the Green Dot program during orientation and through other events and initiatives spearheaded by clubs like All Students for Consent and Feminists Advocating Change and Empowerment. However, Title IX has not been the focus of previous educational events on campus. In the fall, ASC and FACE put on a panel where students and staff shared stories about sexual assault on campus and discussed Whitman’s sexual misconduct policy. The Title IX panel was a follow-up to this event.

Maxwell further emphasized the importance of focusing on Whitman’s sexual misconduct policy and Title IX. “The [sexual misconduct] policy has not changed,” Maxwell explained, “but the process for how those cases are handled has changed. That’s what I’ve realized recently that students are unaware of.”

Carson explained the changes that have taken place.

“We’ve switched from a hearing model to an investigation model,” said Carson. “We do a more extensive investigation where we look at all the statements and interview all witnesses and accept documentation of evidence to try to come up with a finding .... The hearing model was a disincentive for people coming forward .... The onus used to be on the complainant to try to convince the panel that there was wrongdoing.”

As the Title IX administrator, Carson’s role is to ensure that the inves-

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tigation into cases of sexual harassment is in accordance with Title IX. “That means I oversee the process [to ensure that] it is a fair, impartial and thorough investigation, and that the process is prompt, reliable and equitable,” said Carson. “And that the sanctions end the harassment and prevent it from occurring and address damage that might have been done to an individual.”

Part of ensuring that individuals are treated without discrimination through the process is providing support before, during and after any investigation. Maxwell acts as an adviser for students who come forward with complaints.

“I’m an advocate for students, male or female, who need help understanding what the resources are both on campus [and in] the community,” said Maxwell. “By being the adviser, my primary job is ... to make sure they understand the process as it moves from step to step. It’s also just to be a support system for them, so they don’t feel like they’re having to go through it all by themselves.”

Carson and Maxwell both acknowledged that educating the campus about Title IX and Whitman’s sexual misconduct policy is a continual process. Carson has given presentations to individual faculty departments about the ways in which Title IX affects Whitman’s response to cases of sexual misconduct.

Maxwell and Carson stressed how important it was to inform new students about Title IX, especially as changes to policy and the investigation process continue to be made.

a fun introduction to most art mediums. But it doesn’t delve deep enough to capture my attention.”

Still, the challenge of completing projects that often seem to differ strongly from week to week is seen as an exciting challenge to some students, such as Burchfield.

“I think that the curriculum itself is somewhat problematic, but the expectations for my work are not. It’s actually been really good in the sense that I’ve gotten a chance to see that I need to get better at drawing, and I’ve been re-exposed to a bunch of different things at once,” he said. “But at the same time, because it’s so condensed, it doesn’t really allow me to run with any of the bigger ideas that I would like to.”

Student feedback contributed significantly to the decision to change the structure of introductory courses. Forbes, who served on the committee to rework the foundations classes, said that it was motivated by student and faculty concerns regarding the amount of material IVAP classes are expected to cover.

“There have been a lot of questions and concerns about how we make the foundations courses meet the needs of our art majors and the large number of students who take studio courses to meet their art requirement,” he said. “Some of it was trying to better accommodate student needs, and part of it too was

realizing that you cover a lot of different processes, which can make the teaching of the course complicated and challenging at times.”

Many of the courses approach a traditional art area, such as printmaking and sculpture, in a way that reflects a specific context or theme that relates to multiple disciplines. This is evident in Pietrantoni’s own foundations class, “The Contemporary Print and Artists’ Books,” as well as Associate Professor of Art Michelle Acuff’s “The Transformed Object” and Forbes’s “Material Transitions: Line, Space, Mass and Motion.”

“The changes reflect on the contemporary art world right now, which is incredibly interdisciplinary. In this way, we’re rethinking foundations classes as a way to offer more depth into a specific academic art area, but also many of us are thinking that we might want to explore an idea or theme throughout the semester,” said Pietrantoni.

“As a liberal arts institution, [we’re] thinking about what other departments and professors are doing and bringing it in to our own classes.”

Though the change will allow for greater specialization and examination of a specific area of art, students like Burchfield value their experiences in IVAP. “I think this change to new foundations is a great, great move. But I don’t regret taking IVAP, although I didn’t really have a choice,” he said.

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1 A&E 4 Local artists collaborate in co-op gallery MAY

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The Walla PopUp gallery is organized by Ben Lerchin ‘13 and Whitman’s Technical Assistant of Studio Art Lynn Woolson. The gallery will feature 22 artists, three of whom are Whitman studio art professors. Photos by Felt

by HANNAH BARTMAN A&E Editor

T

he Walla PopUp Gallery is a collaborative and economically innovative concept: a communal art gallery that opens for only a month in which all artists involved work for the gallery and profit from the sales.

The second PopUp Gallery will be installed in Walla Walla

by Technical Assistant of Studio Art Lynn Woolson and Whitman alumnus Ben Lerchin ‘13. The gallery will open Friday, May 2.

“Originally our goal was to form a cooperative and have an ongoing gallery, but with

the economic times, we didn’t want to get saddled with a building, so we decided we would do these pop-ups,” said Woolson.

The exhibit will feature 22 artists contributing media such as paintings, photography, jewelry and collage. All of the artists are local. Lerchin is the only Whitman alumnus, and there will also be art from Assistant Professor of Art Justin Lincoln, Senior Adjunct Professor of Art Charly Bloomquist and Director of Sheehan Gallery Daniel Forbes.

All of the art is for sale and 80 percent of the profits go back to artists, a much greater cut than would normally be award-

Many factors determine vocalist preferences

ed to artists in a gallery space.

“Realistically, it’s hard for an artist to make a living just by selling their art,” said Bloomquist. “I like showing locally, and I like the idea of sharing my work with the community.”

Another reason that Woolson and Lerchin decided to open a pop-up gallery is the lack of art galleries in Walla Walla. Before the recession, about eight independently-run art galleries were functioning in downtown Walla Walla, but emerging from the recession not one was left.

The wine industry and local restaurants and coffee shops host art, but local artists most often have to show their art outside the local community.

Woolson also recognizes that she enjoys the communal setting of the pop-up gallery because it creates a greater community of artists

to interact with and work together.

“Doing art is a very solitary experience, so it’s nice to come together as a group. That’s why I do it, to come out of my studio and be with other people,” she said.

The previous pop-up gallery took place from Nov. 22-Dec. 22 at the same rental space on 2nd Street and Alder Street. This gallery hosted 25 artists who were all recruited and accepted into the gallery on a first-come, first-served basis.

All artists are required to pay $80 and work eight hours for the exhibit in order to shoulder the costs of rent and other reception expenses.

“The artists were wonderful to work with and Walla Walla really turned out for the gallery. There were solid sales and it was a really great experience,” said Woolson.

In the previous exhibit there were three recent Whitman graduates and one cur-

rent Whitman student, senior art major Sophia Titterton.

“It was a great experience to have my work up in a gallery and be able to have something up in Walla Walla,” said Titterton.

“It was just a really great, accepting community and it was a really fun time. I really enjoyed it.”

After the upcoming popup gallery, Woolson and Lerchin have greater plans for increasing artistic participation in Walla Walla. They hope to open more gallery spaces that Woolson describes as more “interactive, educational and demonstrational.”

“We’ve got some future goals that we’re trying to put together, so doing these pop-ups funds us so we can keep going with our goal,” said Woolson.

The gallery opens this Friday, May 2 at 6 p.m. at the Drumheller building on 2nd and Alder.

Students bring back skills from salsa festival

by JAMES KENNEDY Staff Reporter

W

EMMA DAHL Junior

SIMPLE HARMONICS

I

n this humble reporter’s musicgoing business, I’ve often stumbled upon friends and acquaintances with a preference for either male or female vocalists. Where does that preference come from?

Do male and female vocals really make that much of a difference in the mood and essence of a song?

The obvious and simple answer is that it depends. It depends on the individual doing the singing, it depends on the band that’s creating the music and it depends on the particular genre—whether a male or female voice sounds better depends on a lot of factors.

But, it’s possible that certain kinds of voices fit different genres better than others. Usually, a melancholy, soft female voice can better fit a mournful folk song about

lost love. Often, a male voice can fit a rap song about a hard upbringing. Certain genres seem to be dominated by one gender or the other.

But it’s also true that either of those examples can sound exceptional with the opposite sex behind the mic. Death Vessel, a fantastic “neo-traditional” folk band, is headed by male soprano singer Joel Thibodeau, whose voice is absolutely spectacular amongst all those acoustic guitar noodlings. Iggy Azalea, a female rapper, just released an album (“The New Classic”) that’s choc-full of songs profiling her rise to success and the struggles she went through once she immigrated to the United States. Obviously men or women can thrive in either genre.

Another factor that decides someone’s preference of male or female voices could be whether they can easily sing along with an artist.

Female vocals might be more difficult for men to sing along with, especially if they’re in a high register, and the converse is true as well.

All in all, it’s hard to narrow down exactly what it is that decides people’s preference for male over female vocals. It might just be as simple as a partiality for the generally higher, smoother female voices, or for the generally lower, huskier male voices. Whatever it is, it isn’t easy to dissect.

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hile there is no official Whitman club for the Latin dance salsa, a group of enthusiastic students recently attended the Rose City Salsa Festival held in Vancouver, Wash. from April 10-13.

The event was split between classes during the day and social dancing during the night, often running until 4 a.m. The group was organized by senior Mariana Vasquez-Crede, who reached out to students in the Whitman community with similar interests.

“I basically just contacted specific people who would be most interested in going,” said Vasquez-Crede. “I’ve brought back ... six really happy people that are now really into [salsa.]”

This isn’t Vasquez-Crede’s first Salsa conference. Her previous interest and experience in the dance style has led her to several other events. She has attended the Seattle Salsa Congress and a Kizomba conference, which is an African style of dance that also developed in Portugal.

During the event, the group

mostly attended beginner and intermediate level classes. Several attendees, such as sophomore Eve Penberthy, had little experience with the dance before the event.

“I’m no salsa dancer,” said Penberthy. “I’ve spent nights at Whitman getting mini lessons ... and have gradually fallen in love with the dance, but I have no real training or experience.”

Aside from the instructive workshops, which ranged from teaching “Afro-Cuban movement” to the Dominican Republic’s “Bachata,” the conference put on a variety of performances.

“The performances are always really fun to watch. You have people from all different ages, and I mean like [age] six to 50,” said Vasquez-Crede.

The group gained a lot of experience from the event, and many individuals plan to take up the dance as a more active part of their Whitman experience. “[The festival] gave me a refreshing burst of feeling alive and in love and inspired that can sometimes fade in the day to day at Whitman,” said Penberthy. “It also pushed me to really take up these dances as a skill, and as some-

thing to pursue further and share.”

The original plan by VasquezCrede was to bring the experience from the festival to Whitman by hosting a local conference for half a day where local instructors from the Walla Walla community would teach workshops.

However, the Whitman Events Board was unable to fund the idea due to lack of time and space left in the remaining school year. Still, members of the group are planning to host the event next fall, and they will also hold an informal event in early May. This scaleddown workshop will be held on May 10 and will be run by the students that attended the event, rather than professional instructors.

While many of the group members only had a passing interest in the dance, this festival has given them an experience that may lead to a lifelong passion of salsa.

“It’s fun. It’s sexy. It’s a great way to make connections with people and let go and practice new footwork,” said Penberthy. “It’s something I hope to do much more of in the future, and the festival provided an amazing foundation of skills and the inspiration to continue pursuing it.”

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Weigel rides bumpy road to cycling success

Photo by McCormick

by MITCHELL SMITH Staff Reporter

O

n the weekend of April 1314, first-year cyclist Dessie Weigel celebrated a firstplace finish in the criterium race and second in the road race at the Northwest Conference Championship. This weekend she will be in Virginia with her team to race in the Division II National Championship for the women’s team time trial.

For Weigel, though, the road to cycling success has never been easy. In fact, it didn’t start anywhere near a bike at all.

Entering her junior year of high school in Boise, Idaho, Weigel was an all-state crosscountry runner with aspirations to run in college. That’s

when everything went wrong.

She began to lose the muscle function in her calves, causing her to run slower and slower at each race throughout the year. In her final race, she collapsed across the finish line to help her team win the state championship. By the end of that race, she couldn’t lift her heels off the ground.

“That’s probably the last time I’ll ever run,” said Weigel.

Weigel had mitochondrial myopathy, a muscle disease that only affected her calves, but could potentially impact any major muscle group in her body.

“That was a hard year. I’ve always been an athlete, I’ve always been really competitive. I was thinking: oh my god, what am I going to do?” said Weigel.

At that moment, the search for a new sport that didn’t involve her calves as much as running began.

After Weigel rejected the pole vault, a sport in which she made state during her senior year of high school, a friend and mentor talked to her about cycling. She quickly latched onto the sport, joining a competitive club team during her senior year of high school and joining the Whitman cycling team last fall.

She made strong impressions immediately.

“She came to the sport a lot more recently than I did and I could tell she was really good at it, and honestly I was a little intimidated by her,” said first-year Fiona Bennitt.

Weigel started racing in the women’s “B” category, but

quickly moved up to women’s “A”. The main push for Weigel, though, does not lie in results, but in a desire to push herself to the limit of what her body can do.

“Her ability to push herself to deeper and deeper levels of pain is really inspiring to me and to the team as a whole,” said Bennitt.

Even with her great success this year, Weigel still feels ambivalent about cycling in general. So much of her life up until a few years ago was about running, and it has been difficult for her to make the mental switch. A year ago she received a necklace with a bicycle on it. The first time she put it on was last week, after the conference championship.

“Before, I felt like I didn’t have a right to wear it because cycling

didn’t feel like it was mine,” she said.

Now though, that feeling is gone, and she has accepted her relationship with the sport.

“I don’t even know if I love cycling, but it seems like it’s what I can do,” said Weigel.

Everyone watching the women’s cycling team this year knows that she can cycle very well. No matter what next weekend’s national championship or Weigel’s cycling future holds for her, her talent and the promise of the future gleams in the eyes of everyone who watches her.

“I have no doubt that she could not only win a national title this year, but also ride professionally and be competitive with the best in the world,” said senior cyclist Rachel Geiter.

Women’s tennis sets sights on regionals

by COLE ANDERSON Staff Reporter

T

he Whitman women’s tennis team had a stellar season last year, winning the Northwest Conference and making the first round of the national tournament. But that wasn’t enough for the team. This year they set their sights not only on winning conference and making nationals, but staying undefeated in conference play and making the elite eight round, which means getting past the first round of playoffs, or regionals.

Already having accomplished many of their goals, like staying undefeated and hosting and winning the conference, the team can now look to their biggest goal of getting into the elite eight.

This season brought a few changes to what the team does regularly and how they prepare for games.

“This team is super passionate and inspires me every day” Hannah Palkowitz ‘14

“Our team is really adamant about goal-setting and visualizing. Before each season, we typically make a ‘contract’ with communal team goals that we basically sign and agree to commit to,” said sophomore Katrina Allick. As small as tennis teams are relative to other sports teams, the loss of two key seniors from last season had the potential to be an issue, but thanks to pas-

sionate and successful recruiting and the addition of three new players, the team avoided detrimental consequences.“Each year the team gets progressively better. Last year we lost two key players, but we also gained two [first-years], Seana Minuth and Allie Wallin, and a junior transfer, Erin Bell. Those two additions to the team have really created a deep singles line-up, which is really important,” said Allick.

A point of emphasis this year has been treating every practice like an important game and playing as such. “We show up every day and commit our focus 100 percent to practice. Other new things we have added to our agenda this year [are] team yoga and meeting with a team nutritionist once a week,” said Allick.

This team is also one of the closest teams, on and off the court, that senior Hannah Palkowitz has ever been a part of.

“This season has been my favorite of all four years, and I think I’ve seen the biggest amount of growth on the team. This team is super passionate and inspires me every day,” said Palkowitz.

Part of that growth came from the two trips the team got to take this year, one to Hawaii over winter break and one to California for spring break.

“We’ve had a lot of ups and downs. We started Hawaii on a great note, for winter break, and then we’ve just been flying through conference. We had a tough loss over spring break, but that just fired us up more for the rest of

the

season,” said Palkowitz.

Bell can see the improved team mentality even in her first year at Whitman.

“We’re a really close team.

We have a lot of fun together, and we hang out a lot together outside of tennis,” said Bell.

The intensity with which the team plays and practices combined with the enjoyment outside of tennis makes for an all-around ideal atmosphere for an athlete.

“We get to work really hard together, play really hard together and just enjoy each others’ company every day. We laugh a lot,” said Bell.

After their dominant performance this last weekend, beating Linfield College 5-0 to take the conference championship, all that is left is the postseason, and each player has their sights set on preparing as well as they can.

“This week is a lot about resting our bodies and minds.

It’s a long season and our team is hurting as any team is.

And then it’s about just getting fired up. Our team is capable of competing with these top teams, but we need everyone at their best,” said Palkowitz.

Beyond that, Allick spoke to the kind of tennis that every player needs to be playing at regionals.

“We each know how to adjust our games to different players based on that player’s weakness. Our biggest weapon is the unity of our team and our family dynamic. Other teams sense our closeness and our confidence and that can be intimidating,” said Allick.

Triathlon club urges others to join their fun

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riathlons are never an easy task. Combining running, cycling and swimming, they are always challenging their bodies. While their presence on campus might still be unknown, the Whitman Triathlon Club is doing its part to popularize triathlons in the Whitman community.

The sprint triathlon race contains a 500-meter swim, a 5K run and a 10-to-13-mile bike ride. The Triathlon Club has only participated in one race so far, the Beaver Freezer in Corvallis, Ore., one of the most popular triathlons for collegiate clubs all over the country. On May 3, they will also participate in the Whitman Triathlon.

However, the presence of the Triathlon Club on campus is not new at all.

“When I was a first-year there were a lot of people that were in it, but it faded so we are actually trying to bring it back. It is a very small club, but we are trying to get it started up so we can get funding in the future,” said senior swimmer Ellen Banks.

Senior cross-country runner Annie Watters also expressed

optimism for the club’s success.

“The club is fairly new, [and] not a lot of people know about it. However, we got a lot of people involved this year so we are hoping it will grow,” she said.

Though both Banks and Watters are graduating, the club will continue next year led by sophomores Robby Dorn, Will Erickson and Jo Brunner.

“The way we want to expand it is to get more people involved in races ... To make the club more formal, we want to add more triathlon clinics and meet periodically to go over race strategies. We also found several races in the Pacific Northwest to attend,” said swimmer Dorn.

Though the club mostly attracts cross-country runners or swimmers, as the club begins solidifying its presence on campus, the races attract a wider range of participants.

“I think that it is something that students pick up and want to try. However, I feel as if most students don’t know about it. They would definitely like it if they tried,” said Watters.

While triathlons are intensely demanding of both the body and the mind, the positive and relaxed vibe of the races is what attracts the club members.

“It is a very mellow group dynamic, yet competitive at the same time,” said Banks.

Though the Triathlon Club is just beginning to put its mark on Whitman College, the future looks very promising. So what is next?

“Spread the word ... I would really like to see more students on campus get involved with the Triathlon Club,” said Dorn.

SCOREBOARD BASEBALL

v. Whitworth April 26: W 7-4 v. Whitworth April 26: L 8-6 v. Whitworth April 27: W 8-6

TENNIS

Men’s v. NWC Tournament April 25-26: 1st Women’s v. NWC Tournament April 26-27: 1st

GOLF

Men’s Whitman Invite April 19-20: 7th Women’s Whitman Invite April 19-20: 1st

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FEATURE Students struggle with finances

by EMILY LIN-JONES Feature Editor

F

or students from lower-income backgrounds, financial aid is often a critical part of their decision to attend Whitman—but navigating the ups and downs of financial aid from semester to semester can pose a significant challenge, even with support from the Office of Financial Aid itself.

“It’s definitely a little blow to the self esteem ... a sense of anxiety comes, a lot of worry,” said junior first-generation student Heather Lovelace, who identifies as working class, on receiving her aid package each semester.

Lovelace recalls being intimidated and overwhelmed by the process of applying for financial aid even before she made the decision to attend Whitman.

“I think one thing I was really perturbed with about the college application process is that it seems like everyone just expects you to know these things, and when you have questions, no one is forthcoming with information,” she said.

Though Lovelace has relied on scholarships, loans and summer income to be able to attend Whitman, she said the financial aid she has received hasn’t always reflected her family’s need.

“My parents are kind of in that middle class area where they make too much for a lot of [need-based aid], but they don’t make enough where they can pay for the school,” she said.

There are times in the past, she recalls, when she wasn’t sure if she would be able to continue to pay for Whitman.

“One thing I remember distinctly was that I emailed the financial aid office and someone replied, and they said, ‘You have to think about your future,’ and stuff like that, just really not what I needed or wanted to hear,” she said.

She admitted that many of her past dealings with Whitman’s Office of Financial Aid have left her stressed and dissatisfied.

“I haven’t been very impressed with our Whitman financial aid office, but I don’t know if it’s them or just the system ... I understand that college is not cheap, but it’s hard when you get a financial aid package that you don’t think reflects what your family can afford.”

Lovelace’s struggle to continue to finance her four years at Whitman isn’t unique. Other students, such as first-generation and working class junior Leslie Rodriguez and first-generation and working class senior Bridget Tescher, report wrestling with confusing federal guidelines, changing home situations and inconsistencies in their yearly financial aid packages.

Rodriguez said she stressed over finances a lot during her first semester at Whitman, when it seemed like her work study and scholarship package wouldn’t be enough to cover tuition. Her mother sold homemade tamales to friends and coworkers to help make up the difference.

“I think [there is] the whole question of ‘Is it ethical to bring students from low socioeconomic [backgrounds] to Whitman?’ ... Whitman accepts a certain amount of [these] students ...

Why are they accepting students only

for them to later say they might not be able to meet some of their needs?” she asked. “Is it ethical for them to accept these students and put them through four years [of college] and for them to financially struggle during the process?”

Tescher, like Rodriguez, was the first in her immediate family to attend college. She is largely financially independent from her parents, and like other students in similar situations, is often frustrated that the college won’t always acknowledge this.

“Ironically, the biggest pet peeve I have is that Whitman always sends my financial statement to my parents ... they always mail it to my dad, and every time it beyond frustrates me,” said Tescher.

The Office of Financial Aid awarded need-based aid to 45 percent of the student body last year. The college offers some forms of aid specifically aimed at first-generation students, including the Lomen-Douglas scholarship, which is awarded to students who “contribute to increasing socioeconomic and multicultural diversity awareness at Whitman.”

Many past recipients of this scholarship have identified themselves as firstgeneration and working class students.

“When we admit a student who is first generation and diverse, we believe that it is important that we be committed to their financial aid and helping them,” said Director of Financial Aid Services Marilyn Ponti.

According to Ponti, the college will usually try to award 80 to 85 percent of a first-generation student’s need in the form of scholarship money. But even students who receive scholarships usually have an expected family contribution as well, anywhere from $1000 to $2000 per semester or more.

“There is an expected family contribution ... and the parents need to be responsible for that. If they aren’t, we can’t ignore that,” said Ponti.

Though the Office of Financial Aid does try to meet each student’s need to the best of their ability, there are limits to what they can do, she said.

“In financial aid, we try to work with every single student and every single family, but we can’t just allow every family to say ‘We’re not going to pay our contribution...’ If that were the case, we wouldn’t be able to help as many students as we do,” she said. “We have many conversations this time of year, that maybe Whitman is not the right fit [for incoming students] if you’re not able to make it work financially. Those are conversations we have to have.”

The disconnect between the reality of Tescher’s situation and the college’s perception of it came to a fore when her dad remarried last year. She lost her Pell Grant as a result, and Whitman did not adjust her financial aid package to compensate for the loss, even though her stepmother

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“I understand that college is not cheap, but it’s hard when you get a financial aid package that you don’t think reflects what your family can afford” Heather Lovelace ‘15

would not be contributing to her tuition.

Tescher blames the disconnect in part on the college basing their initial picture of students’ financial situations almost entirely on the FAFSA and other federal documents.

“Especially because my parents don’t contribute anything to my financial [situation]. They don’t pay for anything, [and] they can’t pay for anything.

And so it was like, there was already zero dollars coming in to me from my parents ... it went from unrealistic to completely unfeasible. And that put me in the predicament of having to walk away from my degree my senior year,” she said.

Since the Office of Admission switched their process from needblind to need-sensitive four years ago, the amount of need-based aid awarded each year has remained approximately the same, while the amount of students receiving only merit-based aid has almost doubled.

Meanwhile, the average amount of loans taken out by Whitman students has risen over the past five years, but the college has been increasing its expenditure on financial aid as well.

“We don’t encourage students to take significant debt. That’s not what we do,” said Ponti, pointing out that the average debt of a graduating Whitman senior is significantly lower than the national average.

To keep debt levels low, Ponti periodically checks up on students who she sees are taking on significant amounts of debt to see if their need can be reevaluated. She acknowledged that it

can be difficult for students to speak up about their financial situation.

“Sometimes students are a little quieter, a little afraid to reach out ... if I reach out to them, that’s easier,” she said.

Some students have found financial aid workshops and mentorship from the FGWC club and other on-campus organizations that has helped them learn how to navigate the difficult financial aid process.

“Deciphering [financial aid] was really hard at the beginning, but I feel like I’ve gotten better at it because FGWC has had financial workshops that really helped me,” said Rodriguez.

Still, students who receive significant amounts of aid agree there could be more resources on campus for students who have to balance the stress of school and work with applying for loans and scholarships, especially when their parents are not able to help.

“I think that it would be amazing if we had something like financial counseling, or maybe someone within the Counseling Center [who] specializes in advice for financial aid and paying for school,” said Lovelace.

After approaching the Office of Financial Aid several times in person to plead her case, Tescher was granted enough additional scholarship money to complete her degree. Though she found the college supportive and willing to help once she got through to them, she knows it wouldn’t have happened without her taking the initiative.

“I think that they’ve been really good. And they did come through, that was the amazing thing,” she said. “[But] I think that if I hadn’t asked for it, obviously they wouldn’t have offered it.”

First-generation students experience isolation, culture shock from FGWC, page 1

Mireles, who now dedicates his life to the academic world, says that he has struggled with maintaining a connection to his roots.

“It took me a while to figure that out. That in gaining the cultural capital of these elite institutions, I didn’t necessarily have to leave behind the rich and beautiful culture that I knew growing up,” said Mireles. “There was a long period of doubting, [thinking], ‘Well, am I Mexican enough?

Am I working class enough?’”

Pietrantoni, who went on to receive an MFA and Fulbright fellowship, says it’s increasingly difficult for her to connect with her family at home. Her first winter break back home as an undergraduate highlighted the fact that not only could she not identify socioeconomically with her classmates, but her family at home as well.

“I felt like an alien. I was studying hearing my family speak, and I felt like an observer. The way they talked was so different, just with slang or mispronunciation of words. When I got to college I realized I was saying some things wrong, and I still do accidentally,” she said. “So I think there was this harsh realization that my education felt like it was distancing myself from them ... I don’t think my peers really had to experience that.”

Cultural Capital Pietrantoni, who attended Vanderbilt University as an undergraduate, says there was an additional element of being working class that made her self conscious about her interactions with other college community members.

“Students [at Vanderbilt] had social graces, such as ways in small talking and being able to really navigate social situations that I really didn’t have yet. I just didn’t have that experience of working with adults and professors that these other students did,” she said.

Mireles says his Swarthmore classmates had a number of social and cultural assets, which he refers to as ‘cultural capital,’ that gave them an advantage in the liberal arts environment.

“I started reading ‘The New Yorker’ even though I didn’t always understand what they were referring to, and I think it was a very conscious process of accessing and learning cultural capital that others already had, given their background, and that I did not possess given my own background,” he said.

Differences in cultural capital can be discouraging for firstgeneration college students, especially when it comes to academics. “[Non-first-generation college students’] parents probably read to them, put them in these classes, extracurricular activities ... they have already been exposed to opportunities that I haven’t been able to have.

I constantly have to work 10 times harder than them, and it’s not even good enough. I’m never going to be at their level,” said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, a politics major, believes many first-generation college students haven’t gained the cultural capital to be academically confident at Whitman and often struggle in discussion-based classes. In these classes, a large percentage of grades is determined by students’ willingness to speak, which can be difficult when students are required to use cultural references, past experiences and knowledge they may not have.

“I’ve always been intimidated by my peers just because they speak so eloquently and have amazing thoughts. It’s just like, ‘I couldn’t have come up with this’ ... That’s something I’ve always been upset about, because they’re way ahead of me,” she said.

Unlike students with parents who went to college, first-generation students are often learning material well beyond their parents’ education level. During his first year

at Whitman, senior first-generation college student Cam Young was surprised to notice some of his friends had their parents edit their essays before turning them into professors.

Ultimately, while he doesn’t think his grades have suffered because of it, he does feel he had to work harder academically to keep up with other Whitman students.

“I couldn’t imagine how nice it would have been to have my parents read my papers and to have that kind of resource,” he said. “So I feel a lot of the time I was trying to make up for the knowledge and resources that I hadn’t had before, while simultaneously trying to learn what was currently being taught.”

For Valdez, the transition to college academics was so difficult that he had to change majors. He also felt uncomfortable going to his professors’ office hours because he didn’t want them to feel that he was less intelligent than his classmates.

“In high school, I did really well academically, and I didn’t think it was that hard. But then I came to Whitman, and it felt like a slap in the face. It was like, ‘What am I thinking?’ I couldn’t even understand what I was doing wrong,” he said.

First-generation students who work often struggle to balance long work hours with Whitman academics. Tescher says she feels some Whitman faculty assume that all students can focus exclusively on academics, whereas she has always needed to divide her time and mental resources between school and work. Tescher says she has had professors show frustration that she didn’t attend their office hours because of work, yet didn’t allow appointments outside of office hours.

“I think sometimes they give an unreasonable amount of classwork load because they assume that students don’t work more than five hours a week, if they work at all. It’s been difficult being assigned an unreasonable amount of work, to get it done and then go to class and then

go to work to be able to earn money to be able to go to class. It’s this horrible cycle of sacrificing my classwork or sacrificing my work, and then either way, I lose out,” she said.

System of Support Not all students feel comfortable publicly identifying as first generation, which can make creating a systematic way for faculty to reach out to them difficult. Pietrantoni relates to not feeling comfortable sharing her background with professors and peers.

“The best thing I can do as a faculty member is to support all of my students, even if they’re not first generation and working class, to create an environment where they’ll know that I’m always there to listen to whatever concern they might have,” she said.

Mireles says he draws upon his experience as a first-generation college student in his grading style, and tries to keep in mind that not all his students come from elite academic backgrounds.

“I put a lot of emphasis in classes on [students’] effort and [their] willingness to learn and engage [with] the material. I’m very conscious about this stuff because I felt the same way when I was in college. There would be these kids who did very little work and got a great return because they were well-prepared ... and then I and other friends would just work our butts off and get a B on the assignment, and that kid who wrote it two hours before it was due got the A,” he said.

Currently, there are 47 faculty and staff members at Whitman who identify as first generation and have placed their names on a list that is available around campus for students who need mentorship.

Young says that Peterson Endowed Chair of Social Studies Keith Farrington, a former firstgeneration college student himself, has provided him valuable guidance as an academic adviser.

“He’s really taught and guided me on my writing style and presentation style—his investment in me has been huge,” he said.

In addition, the First Generation and Working Class Club, which was founded in 2002, has worked to make Whitman a welcoming community for first-generation college students. The club has grown in recent years and has begun a mentorship program this academic year, pairing incoming first-years with students who agreed to participate as mentors.

“If I had someone early on who could have been able to show me some structure, some study tips, that would have refaced my college education,” said Young, who now mentors a first-year first-generation student himself.

“Everyone deserves a group to be a part of and people to feel comfortable talking to,” said Charlip.

Although Rodriguez says she has worked hard to be engaged in her classes and has sought extra guidance from fellow peers and professors, she doesn’t want being a first-generation student to define her and her Whitman experience.

“I’ve come a long way since my freshman year ... But I’m still struggling [with it], and I’ll probably struggle later in life ... Yes, I am a first generation student. Yes, I haven’t been exposed to all these opportunities, but that shouldn’t limit my capabilities,” said Rodriguez. “I know I have a lot of potential. That’s why I’m here, but it’s still going to be a struggle and I’m still learning to improve and not be afraid or intimidated by my peers.” *Name has been changed.

*

Read more about FGWC students’ stories online

www.whitmanpioneer. com/category/feature

OPINION

MAY

1

2014

PAGE

7

Low income students feel graduation blues ALISHA AGARD Junior

THE MIND OF AN ACTIVIST

G

raduation is coming just around the corner, and the senior friends I’ve watched write theses and study for oral exams will be walking across the stage and bidding farewell to the place where they’ve studied for the last four years. All of the late nights, early mornings, stress and hard work will be worth it when each graduate walks away with a degree in hand.

The smiles and tears of happiness from family members and friends will fill the atmosphere with happiness and positivity for most, but not all, on May 25.

I was talking to a friend who recently turned in his thesis, and I mentioned that I cannot wait to meet his family and celebrate his success with them. The reply I received was something I never had taken into consideration. He told me his family wasn’t going to come to commencement because they cannot afford the flight from his hometown to Wal-

la Walla. It hurt to hear that my good friend, who had to overcome many trials and tribulations to make it this far in his education, is not able to celebrate his success like everyone else for financial reasons. Being the person I am, I was not going to move on knowing my friend would be alone on graduation day. I wondered if there was any sort of fund available to help bring low-income families to Walla Walla. I don’t really know where to start searching for one or if it even exists for events like commencement, but if not, there should be.

My friend is just one of the many students on campus whose parents may not be able to watch their child graduate from college, and that’s concerning. Many of the low-income students on campus are the first people in their families to graduate from college, and that itself is an accomplishment that deserves to be celebrated on the day of commencement. Many low-income students could’ve been just another statistic but have beat the odds and managed to get their degree despite their financial status.

These students deserve to have their families by their side to share in their greatness and enjoy the fruits of their labor.

I have friends whose families have never been to campus and who sent their student to Whitman without even touring first because they couldn’t afford the commute from their home town or country to Walla Walla. They simply trusted their child’s decision and hoped for the best. It would be nice for

people whose families are far away to see the beauty of Whitman, and financial ability should not get in the way.

Being a first-generation and working class college student, I know that my motivation for finishing school is to see the smiles on my parents’ faces on commencement day. My motivation is hearing my parents tell me in

Mease not Mooses

their thick West Indian accents how proud they are of me to be the first in my family to graduate. I am fortunate enough to have parents who can afford to come to Walla Walla when my time to graduate comes, but there are people who are less fortunate, and they deserve to see the smiles on their family members’ faces on commencement day.

Education must accompany global vaccination distribution

by Asa Mease

ANU LINGAPPA Junior

THE QUIBBLER

Radical surgery needed I for planet Earth, economy SAM CHAPMAN Junior

A MOVING FOREST

A

nybody who has seen “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” might remember the scene in which Dr. Evil outlines his sinister plan to release toxic pollutants into the atmosphere and create a hole in the ozone layer. After an awkward silence, an underling must tell him that this has already happened.

Even as a teenager, I recall thinking that this joke used fun to poke at something quite serious. Human alteration of the air’s chemical makeup, the stuff of science fiction a few decades ago, is an undeniable reality today—which makes it ever more surprising that our proposed responses to it are so hidebound.

Public transportation and international pledges to cut eight percent of CO2 emissions by 2101 are not sufficient to combat an environmental disaster that could have been dreamt up by a supervillain. Such cantrips are an insulting demand-side solution that benefit the fossil fuel industry, our own reality-grown Bond villains, more than anyone else, and they’re not what I’m here to talk about.

Likewise, despite my sci-

fi context, this isn’t a column about geoengineering, which I maintain is at best a temporary solution. This is a column about a civilization that might look unrecognizable when we’re done extracting the darkness from it. This is a column about the Earth we will have saved.

The path from here to the future is not at all difficult to follow.

We can start by recognizing unfettered economic growth as the root of the problem. An increasing population forces the human race to constantly increase output, lest the dividends be spread thin, but neither can we find any more Earth with which to keep producing. Unstoppable force, immovable object.

So, with our imaginations, let’s arrest the growth of the population. Also, since we’re having a good day, let’s pretend it happened not because

Human alteration of the air’s chemical makeup, the stuff of science fiction a few dacades ago, is an undeniable reality today... of plague, starvation or tyranny, but rather natural demographic change. Death rates dropped, then birth rates dropped to match.

Since the population is now stable, the economy can remain stable as well. Things already are looking quite different. GDP and job growth are now measured as healthy when they fluctuate as little as possible. Any resources we take from the plan-

et are taken no faster than they can be replenished, so in the raw areas of food, water and land, the force has managed for good to avoid hitting the object.

Sound too perfect? It is.

We’ve neglected to allow for nonrenewable resources, which are headed for a limit no matter how wisely we use them—to be “sustainable,” the coal, oil and uranium must be left in the ground. Furthermore, people in this scenario are still burning fossil fuels. Even if their use plateaus, it won’t get us away from 450 ppm fast enough.

We have two options. The first is an all-out retreat to the pre-industrial era while we figure out a clean energy source. Modern man would be doomed within days, no matter how well we got used to the lack of luxury. Too many of our medicines aren’t viable without refrigeration. To cease every behavior that relies at all on fossil fuels would be more than a regression—it would put us somewhere entirely new with a stone cap on human potential.

The answer, in this case, is not to decommission technology, but to dismantle capitalism temporarily. Turn every world government into a command economy for as long as it takes to set up a reliable, universal, emission-free power grid. Combined with the steady state and a smooth transition back to a free market, this future looks ideal to me.

Sure, it would probably crash quite a bit of our accustomed system, but if you’ve been following the planet’s health at all, you’ll know that Earth isn’t going to get better without a few things crashing.

Voices from the Community

don’t like to think of vaccines as controversial. I went to an alternative school where many parents chose not to vaccinate their kids. I never understood it. Not vaccinating against at least the classics, such as mumps, measles and rubella or polio, seems both foolish and selfish.

It’s like trying to preserve this natural and pure state of the human body, when really our bodies encounter weird microbes all the time, whether we want them to or not.

Vaccination is a privilege.

People who haven’t been vaccinated for MMR and polio will have

People who choose not to be vaccinated put immunocompromised people, who can’t get vaccines for health reasons, at risk. to take precautions to keep themselves from situations or places where they may be exposed to the pathogens. Most people in the world don’t have the luxury of being sheltered from so much.

Additionally, people who choose not to be vaccinated put immunocompromised people, who can’t get vaccines for health reasons, at risk. Foregoing vaccination lessens societal herd immunity by increasing the proportion of people in the population who can acquire and transmit diseases.

Despite how wonderful vaccines are, I do want to acknowledge they have an aspect that is very problematic. Focusing on vaccine development doesn’t account for the socioeconomic or political institutions that directly affect health quality and care.

Health has to be looked at holistically. Vaccines shouldn’t be characterized as magic bullets that will fix the global burden of disease.

Vaccine development is not the ultimate goal of global health; it’s just a strategy. Vaccine production alone contributes to the commodification of health care because it presents vaccination as a big enough commitment to a patient’s health, ignoring all other factors.

One of the reasons polio hasn’t quite been eradicated is because healthcare workers don’t always bother to properly explain the vaccines to the villages they work in in South Asia and Africa. As a result, many people refuse vaccinations because they believe the polio vaccine is actually a plot to sterilize Muslims and that their children are likely to face things worse than disease. The politicization of the polio vaccine demonstrates that even something as objective as a vaccine cannot be looked at without intersectionality.

Disease proliferates especially well in unsanitary and unstable conditions. Take tuberculosis, for example. Though antibiotics played a substantial role in its decline in the early 20th century, many public health experts believe increased standard of living and de-crowding of slums made a bigger impact. The number of tuberculosis deaths in the United States decreased by 76.6 percent between 1900 and 1940 before the successful antibiotic therapies were in place.

This goes to show that vaccines are not always the “magic bullets” that have the biggest effect.

Education should go hand in hand with vaccination efforts to combat all of the misinformation out there in both the developed and developing world. Across the world, fear of science is being used to take advantage of people and their health decisions. The scientific community has largely rejected claims that vaccines cause autism, cancer or sterilization because there is no evidence that supports it. The original study linking autism to the MMR vaccine has been retracted. However, the lasting damage of that study continues to give people doubts about whether vaccination is the best idea.

Vaccines strive to be invisible. You know they are working when nothing happens. However, development of the smallpox vaccine led to its eradication worldwide: the first and only instance of a human pathogen being completely eradicated. It’s important for people to get vaccinated as one of many strategies to improve global health.

What would it take for you to run a triathlon?

Poll by HAYLEY TURNER

YURI ISHII

TREVOR PRESS

HANNAH ALVERSON

STEVE WAINWRIGHT

Sophomore

First year

First-year

Sophomore

“If I were guaranteed to get any job I wanted.”

“A cement mixer full of pasta.”

“Good weather and a lot of training.”

“Probably a Klondike bar.”

SLACKPAGE

PAGE

8

MAY

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2014

Maximum taste, minimum dining hall W ith a food selection as diverse and unpretentious as that offered by Bon Appétit, the options for meals are seemingly endless. However, if you’re looking to cut down on the energy required to craft the perfect dining hall meal, these five tips can help you save time and get the most bang for your swipe.

The Field Roast Hack: Spice up a bland vegetarian meal with the simple addition of two ingredients. First acquire your plate of steaming hot field roast. While it’s still hot, fill a bowl about one-quarter of the way with peanut butter. Then walk both plates in the direction of the soft serve machine. Swiftly drop the roast into the trash while filling the rest of the bowl with ice cream.

The Salad Bar Hack: Everyone knows the importance of a

well-balanced meal, but the bustle of the salad bar may be a deterrent. Try substituting proteinlacking lettuce leaves with vitamin-rich honey nut Cheerios, and swap out the fatty salad dressings with a low-fat dairy substitute, all the while avoiding the lengthy wait at the salad bar.

The Energy Hack: For one of those days when getting out of bed seems impossible, the right energy boosting beverage is necessary. For maximum caffeine intake per cup, try placing two green tea bags in your mug instead of one. Then fill the mug with a 1:1:1 ratio of coffee, maté, and blue energy drink. Top with a splash of hot cocoa. Later in the day, your constant need to leave class and rush to the bathroom will offer quick spurts of energy boost throughout the day.

The Line Hack: Dur-

ing the inevitable dinner rush, a lengthy line is sure to form for any food item. Opt out of line-waiting by feeding yourself with the food scraps left on the floor from lunch. A great quick dessert option to follow with is a handful of gum retrieved from under a booth.

The Time-Saving Hack: Tired of having to walk to get to every single meal? Here’s the ultimate food secret that Bon App workers don’t want you to know.

To drastically reduce your time spent navigating the dining hall, all you have to do is lower your standards. Elect to snack on the remnants from that care package your mom sent you in October, sustain yourself with a few handfuls of gummy vitamins instead of balanced meals and remain in bed instead of socializing.

Happy Dining!

Seniors:

Rosemary’s Poetry Corner Why We Should Not Share Food

If Robert Frost Were as Lazy as I.

The final avocado I sit on the counter, blackened by time and the etiquette of communal food-sharing no one will break.

The hell are you? I think I know, but I could be mistaken though, for freezer-burn works to obscure that which you were three months ago.

Ethical Dilemmas in the Supermarket Becoming vegan: I know it’s the right thing, but Tillamook cheddar.

I almost think I can recall a stir-fry made in early fall that fell behind the ice-cream tubs joining some frozen food cabal.

do they give a crap?

The answer now for which I strive in eating you: will I survive?

The Safeway is so far away; too lazy to attempt the drive.

But I recall as courage thins, my college mantra so begins: that soy-sauce covers many sins, that soy-sauce covers many sins.

Mix-‘n-match jokes

A

s the days dwindle by, bringing the class of 2014 closer and closer to graduation, it’s time to check in with them to see how much of a crap they still give about school.

Economics major Red Loochen: “I’m done with everything. You could say I’ve been chillin’ on the roof frequently, catchin’ some rays. Although I have kind of done that all four years here.” Give a crap-o-meter: 0 Psychology major Chessia Yawner: “I passed my writtens and finished my thesis, but still have orals to do. So I’m chillin’, but I’m not chiiiillin’.” Give a crap-o-meter: 2 Biophysics, biochemistry and molecular biology major Greta Killmore: “I still have

some work on my thesis to do and need to take my orals. Still, I manage to make it to Trivia Tuesday every week, cause come on, people. We are still in college after all.” Give a crap-o-meter: 4 Film & Media Studies major Matt Hesler: “I finished making my senior project, so now I am working on another film for fun. It’s always been about fun.” Give a crap-o-meter: 5 Statistical analysis of this data shows that senioritis has hit the class of 2014 hard. Whether or not they have completed their senior requirements, they can no longer find a crap to give. As each springtime day blooms, so does the apathy of this class. Party on, seniors, and enjoy the last few weeks of the best part of your life. It’s all downhill from here.

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These jokes are so hegemonic.

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