Service outside the bubble
Getting filthy in the Dub Dub
Do the volunteer efforts of Whitman students meet the critical needs of the Walla Walla community?
Students and community members weigh in on dubstep, the latest polarizing electronic music phenomenon.
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www.whitmanpioneer.com | Whitman news since 1896 | Walla Walla, Washington
2011
Juan Melendez discusses injustice of capital punishment by SAM CHAPMAN Staff Reporter
“I
hope he’s not innocent . . . I hope he’s not innocent . . .” Whenever Juan Roberto Melendez saw the lights flickering in his cell, that was the mantra he repeated over and over in his mind. After spending 6,446 days on death row in Florida for a crime he did not commit, Melendez began to tell his story all across the country. On Tuesday, Oct. 4, he gave a lecture that delivered a single, powerful message: The death of one innocent man invalidates the entire system of capital punishment. “It’s all about details, education,” Melendez said in his speech. “People need to know that it does not deter crime. People need to know that it costs too much. People need to know that it’s racist. People need to know that it’s cruel and unnecessary.” Melendez was brought to campus as a speaker by a joint effort between Walla Walla Community College (WWCC) Sociology Instructor Susan Palmer and Peterson Endowed Chair of Social Sciences Keith Farrington. “When you have a speaker that comes to a shared event, it in some ways doubles the amount of work you need to do,” Farrington said. “Susan dealt with the large organization that handles the bureaucratic aspect.” Melendez spoke at both campuses and attended classes taught by both professors. “It’s important for people to be realistic about flaws in our justice system,” Palmer said. “In this case, I think it’s important for students to hear a personal story, as opposed to just a statis-
Speaker Juan Melendez describes his 17-year-long stint on death row for a crime he did not commit during his lecture on Tuesday, Oct. 4. Melendez was brought to Walla Walla in a joint effort by Whitman and WWCC. Photo by Axtell
tic. To be able to have some level of empathy, that the system in some cases might be flawed.” Melendez’s approximately 17-year-long ordeal began when he was arrested for armed robbery and first-degree murder in 1984 and convicted after a week-long trial by a mostly white jury based on the testimony of two police informants who cut deals with prosecutors. “No physical evidence against me,” Melendez said. “On the defense side, I had four witnesses say that the police informant was a snitch who had a grudge against me, but I had a problem—every witness on my side was from the African-American race. When a black man and a black wom-
an testify for the defense, all of a sudden, the credibility is gone.” Speaking to a crowd in Olin Hall 130 so large it threatened to violate the fire code, Melendez next described the squalid conditions he faced in prison and the friendship of other inmates who helped him survive by teaching him to read, write and speak English. One of the night’s most harrowing anecdotes came when Melendez related how close he came to committing suicide, near the tenth year of his imprisonment. He began by explaining how his friends on death row would bribe “runners” from the main prison to bring them garbage bags so that they could hang themselves.
“I took that bag, and I made a rope, and then I put a noose in it. Then I looked at my bunk, and I looked at the rope, and I said to myself, ‘I’d better lay down and think about this a little bit more,’” he said. “I fell into a deep, deep sleep, and I start dreaming. In the dream, I’m a little kid again, doing the things I used to love. I find myself on the most beautiful beach in the world, at least to me. Every time I wanted out of there, every time suicide thoughts came to my mind, I would pray to God, ‘send me a beautiful dream.’” The tale of a good friend’s death due to staff negligence offered a further glimpse into the disturbing realities of prison life.
“There’s a brother on the ground (from a heart attack or stroke) so we tell [the nurse], ‘He’s not breathing! He needs air!’ But telling the so-called nurse to give mouth-to-mouth to a brother on the ground— you’re wasting your time,” he said. “He died in my arms.” “I wasn’t saved by the system. I was saved in spite of the system,” Melendez said of the case that finally freed him. Distraught over the execution of five of her other clients, his longtime attorney handed his case over to a crack legal team, who petitioned for a change of venue based on the fact that the county judge had been Melendez’s first public defender. Once moved to Tampa County, the case fell into the hands of Barbara Fletcher. After retrieving the case files, Fletcher discovered that the attorney had withheld critical evidence from the court, including a taped confession of the real killer and the corroborating testimonies of 16 witnesses. Armed with this information, Fletcher wrote a 72-page opinion in which she chastised almost every official involved with the case. Her opinion led prosecutors to throw out the case against Melendez. “I can honestly say I owe that brave woman my life,” Melendez said. The lecture ended with a hopeful note, as Melendez described how his fellow inmates applauded as he was released and how he learned to live more richly after being deprived of simple pleasures for so long. see CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, page 2
Report shows decreased crime on campus by JOSH GOODMAN Staff Reporter
W
hitman was a safer place in 2010 than 2009, according to the college’s Annual Security Report released Thursday, Sept. 29. The report, federally mandated by the Clery Act of 1990, noted that incidents of robbery, burglary and forcible sex offenses at Whitman decreased from the previous year. According to the report, there were two burglaries in 2010, both of which were in January, down from seven in 2009. There were 17 drug violations in 2010, down from 30 in 2009. Associate Director of Security Craig McKinnon said that the decrease in burglaries was partially because crime at Whitman is often cyclical, with one person or a group of people committing similar crimes repeatedly until caught. “The rash of burglaries we had [in 2009]—I think that was one person, and that person, I believe, was caught by the police, and we saw the incidents stop,” he said.
However, the Annual Security Report does not list theft of individual items such as laptops and bicycles. This information can be found in the security office’s online daily crime log. There were 17 such reported thefts last year. However, McKinnon noted that 80 percent of thefts on college campuses nationwide—most often thefts of small items such as flash drives or cash—are not reported to security. Reported forcible sexual offenses, which range from forcible fondling to rape, also fell; there were six such reported offenses in 2010, down from eight in 2009 and 18 in 2008. Barbara Maxwell, associate dean of students and sexual misconduct prevention coordinator, said she would like to think that the decline is due to the Green Dot sexual misconduct prevention program, launched in fall 2009. “The impact that Green Dot has is that it really creates a norm on campus that it’s every person’s responsibility to intervene if they see something that might be unsafe, might be high risk, might cause a problem for the students
Statistics for the past three years concerning crimes that occurred on or adjacent to Whitman campus, including off-campus housing. Infographic by Patten
WHITMAN CRIME IN NUMBERS Forcible Sex Offences
2008
8
6
2009
2010
Alcohol Violations
Burglary
Robbery 0
18
in the situation,” she said. “The community has such a heightened awareness about what is appropriate and what is inappropriate and [I like to believe] they do such a great job of intervening when they see something that may be high-risk.” Maxwell said that it was ultimately impossible to know whether the decline is due to Green Dot or, instead, a lower rate of reporting sexual misconduct, but noted that the college would gain more insight into the issue of unreported sexual assault when it conducts its next safety survey in the spring of 2013. More generally, McKinnon said that an increased security presence on campus—the college hired an additional security officer last year to overlap with other officers during high-risk times—played a role in the decreased crime. “Our visible presence can deter a large number of crimes from occurring,” he said. “You walk by where someone is planning to steal something, you see them, they see you and that crime has been stopped and you don’t even know.”
2
2008
0
2009
2 2008
2010
Drug Violations
7 2009
2
2010
Aggravated Assault
56 6
30 36
41
45
2008 2009 2010
11
2008
3
2009
2010
0
2008
Sports
Opinion
SPORTS, PAGE 5
OPINION, PAGE 7
Men’s club volleyball team gains momentum going into third year
2009
2010
Peter Chen compares the dating cultures of China and the United States
Deborah Butterfield, sculptor of “Styx,” the famous horse located in front of Penrose Library, visited campus this past Tuesday, Oct. 4 to discuss her work. Photo by Felt
‘Styx’ artist Deborah Butterfield visits campus by EMILY LIN-JONES Staff Reporter
W
hitman students and local sculpture enthusiasts had the opportunity on Tuesday, Oct. 4 to meet world-renowned sculptor Deborah Butterfield, creator of the beloved Whitman campus fixture “Styx.” Butterfield delivered an hour-long lecture at Maxey Hall about her artistic career and vision. Butterfield gained recognition in the art world for making horse figures out of a variety of non-traditional materials, including driftwood and scrap metal. Her work has been acclaimed by critics and exhibited worldwide, including in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. “I’d been a horse girl all my life, but was embarrassed about drawing horses and had been teased,” she said, explaining her journey towards focusing solely on the equine form. Butterfield attended the University of California at Davis to study ceramics, but started to become disillusioned with the medium and made forays into sculpture. After recovering from a life-changing car accident while abroad in Europe, Butterfield returned to school, determined to pursue her passion. “I said, ‘Screw this, I’m making horses,’” Butterfield said. Butterfield noted the influence of the Vietnam War in her first horse sculptures.
“I decided I wanted to make a horse that’s me, and not a war horse . . . These horses were like a metaphorical substitute for myself, and I made them my size,” she said. Despite the consistency of her figurative subject matter, Butterfield’s horses spring from a variety of inspirations, ranging from her father’s death to her marriage to the Sept. 11 attacks. Although she bases many of her sculptures on actual animals, Butterfield considers them to be abstract. “They’re not horses . . . This is really a rectangular canvas on four legs, with a neck and a head and a tail.” “Styx” was cast in bronze at the Walla Walla Foundry through the collaboration of Butterfield and the Foundry’s owner, Whitman alumnus Mark Anderson. The basis of the sculpture was driftwood taken from the Snake River. Butterfield said she was initially hesitant to allow students to name the sculpture themselves. “[Students sent in] some good names but it was really cool because ‘Styx’ was something I had considered using before. The idea that the kids here were so smart and well-rounded in literature—it’s such a delight; it’s such an amazing school. I was really thrilled and tickled to have it named Styx,” she said.
Web Exclusive
see STYX, page 3
A&E reviews dark foreign comedy ‘The Guard,’ starring Brendan Gleeson. Online at www.whitmanpioneer.com