IN THIS ISSUE
Skiing prepares for season start With a big roster of new skiiers, the Whitman team hopes to capitalize on last season’s success. page 7
Films to watch over break
Whitman alumni return for concert
A&E reporter Nate Lessler previews December’s newest releases. page 5
‘Dude York ’ to support Chicago-based DJ duo ‘Flosstradamus. ’ page 4
WHITMAN COLLEGE Walla Walla, WA Volume CXXVII Issue 12 whitmanpioneer.com D ,
ASWC seeks student voice on Curriculum Committee by DEREK THURBER Editor-in-Chief
CONTRIBUTED BY ARIEL RUIZ Community members congregate downtown on Tuesday, Dec. 6 to encourage Congress to pass the DREAM Act. In a 216-198 decision, the House passed the bill on Wednesday, Dec. 7.
Whitman students support DREAM Act by KARAH KEMMERLY Staff Reporter
If the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act passes this week in the Senate and is signed by President Obama, it will change the lives of several Whitman College students. Under the DREAM Act, currently undocumented students would be granted conditional residency, allowing them to live and work legally in the United States after graduating from Whitman. This act would allow all undocument-
ed minors who meet the qualifying criteria to work and live in this country after these individuals complete two years of higher education or two years in the military. The students could potentially qualify for legal permanent residence after 10 years. The DREAM Act officially passed in the House on Wednesday night (216 to 198) with all but 38 Democrats voting yes, and all but eight Republicans voting no. To qualify for the DREAM Act, one must have been younger than 16 years of
age when he or she entered the United States, must have lived in the country for at least five years, must have graduated from high school or earned a GED and must have no criminal record. Senior Ariel Ruiz, a member of Club Latino and president interim of El Proyecto Voz Latina and several other community organizations, wholeheartedly supports DREAM. “It allows students who are already prepared and talented to become taxable workers. They can contribute back to the DRE AM ACT, page 3
Although senior Tristan Grau did not have troubling finding space in the courses he wanted during pre-registration for the spring 2011 semester, he did not get his first choice of class schedules. “When I first looked at the available courses for the spring semester to plan my schedule, I realized that three of the classes I wanted were offered at the same time at 1 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday afternoons,” Grau said. This problem of course compression— where certain times during the day have far more classes than other times—is one of a number of reasons this pre-registration season was so frustrating for many students. “If Whitman wants to continue to be considered a top-tier school, we can’t go on very long having sub-par course selection, availability and constantly rising class sizes,” ASWC Vice President, senior John Loranger said. “Of course nor can we have tuition continue to rise, but it is important to realize that the present trajectory cannot continue without addressing registration and enrollment concerns.” In order to help combat this problem of rising class sizes and course compression, the faculty voted in November to create a Curriculum Committee with the express purpose of coordinating the academic schedule across departments. “In part, this committee takes over from the old Academic Council tasks associated with initial consideration of curricular proposals, prior to bringing those to the
full faculty,” Associate Professor of Astronomy and Chair of the Faculty Andrea Dobson said in an e-mail. “In addition, the Curriculum Committee will consider current concerns such as course compression into too few teaching blocks (e.g., too many classes offered at 10, 11 and 1 p.m.) and facilitate the process of making twoyear course schedules available for faculty and students to help students plan more effectively.” When the committee was first proposed it included a student representative. This was done to have the insight of the students when making decisions about what times classes should be offered. In a later revision of the proposal, however, the provision for student representation was taken out over concerns about privacy. “Some faculty favor student involvement, some oppose it (e.g., the committee may need to discuss matters that would be too awkward in the presence of students), and many are happy to have student involvement as needed,” Dobson said. The current proposal does not eliminate students from the committee entirely. Students were written into the final proposal to be consulted as needed. “It’s not that students are not included, just not as committee members,” Dobson said. ASWC does not think this goes far enough. “You are going to have students catch things that might slip through the vertical perspective of the faculty,” Loranger said. “It is so much easier to have students alA SWC, page 3
Students, administration mixed on waitlist policy by JOSH GOODMAN News Editor
First-year Nilce Alvarez had a smile and a sense of relief on her face last Monday, Dec. 6—she had just received an e-mail saying that she’d made it off the waitlist and into the section of Chem 126 that she wanted. That notification ended her month-long, stressful experience with the waitlist—a stress many students and some administrators believe is more pronounced with the college’s recent decision to no longer use electronic waitlists. Since the Registrar’s decision to end electronic waitlists for the fall 2010 pre-registration period last April due
in part to the increasing complexity of allowing registration for closed classes through the college’s Datatel registration software, all waitlists have been kept by faculty. Previously, some faculty had opted to keep their own waitlists, but most courses had electronic waitlists. While removing waitlists from Datatel allows faculty to select which waitlisted students get into their class, and therefore give priority to students who need the class for their major or are especially interested in the class, it also adds a layer of complexity to the process. Previously, if a class was full, a student would electronically sign up for the waitlist and know their place
SLOANE
Education must inspire rather than force learning
Whitman develops recruiting resources
When people speak about education reform, they usually toss out phrases like “tougher standards” and “acRACHEL countability.” The ALEXANDER idea behind these Columnist buzzwords is to make sure our students aren’t falling behind the rest of the world in terms of problem solving ability or reading level. Reformers talk about getting rid of bad teachers or providing support for early childhood education, but rarely does anyone ask if the ways in which we expect students to learn are effective or worthwhile. This semester, I had the opportunity to travel through 10 states, sleep under the stars almost every night and learn about Western politics and ecology from a variety of firsthand sources. Reflecting back on Semester in the West, I’m amazed by the amount I was able to learn in such a short period of time: everything from using a GPS to track where photos of ant hills were taken to the history of fire policy in national forests. Even more amazing EDUC ATION, page 6
With varsity athletes comprising around 20 percent of the student body, bringing topflight scholar-athletes to campus is a definite priority, according to Athletic Director Dean Snider. Recruiting future Whitman athletes is by no means isolated to athletics, either. The process is a cooperative activity between varsity coaching staff, admissions and financial aid. According to Snider, the past 15 years has brought a change in mindset to athletics, recruiting and its relation to admissions and financial aid. “In the 90s, I don’t believe we were as a college pursuing excellence in athletics as we are now, and it reflected on admissions practices and financial aid practices. That fact made recruiting a more difficult job for coaches,” he said. Rather than relax admissions standards for athletes, however, Whitman has provided more recruiting resources to varsity programs, enabling them to identify talented athletes who can also succeed in a rigorous academic environment. Using institutional monies and contributions made by W Club supporters, one emphasis has been on developing the corps of assistant coaches, a key group in the recruitment process.
by MATT MANLEY Staff Reporter
“We have been increasing our pool of assistant coaches, and where we don’t have full-time assistant coaches we have added monies for those assistants to work more hours,” Snider said. Creativity and use of technology also play a role in Whitman recruiting strategies. In addition to attending high school tournaments and performing traditional scouting, Whitman coaches have created blogs, youtube highlight reels and guided video tours of athletic facilities to entice interested athletes. Available to all varsity programs, a new Whitman recruiting practice has also allowed coaches to fly in top recruits for campus visits. Started three years ago, the program ramped up flyin visits last year—and saw dividends. Last spring, then first-year baseball coach Jared Holowaty flew in five key recruits. This fall, all five are here at Whitman, joining 12 other firstyear baseball recruits. According to Holowaty, resources like the flyin program have been critical in rebuilding a program that went 6-50 in two seasons between 2006 and 2008, and had dwindled to 12 rostered players at the end of last year. First-year Aaron Cohen, who was recruited while at RECRUITING, page 7
on the waitlist queue. If a student was first on a waitlist and a seat in the class opened up, the student received an email and could register in a matter of minutes. Now, if a class is full, the student must e-mail the professor. If the professor decides to offer a student a seat, he or she e-mails back the student. Then, the student must contact the professor to confirm the seat, and then the professor must electronically provide the student consent to register. The student must then call the Registrar’s office to register, since Datatel will not allow a student to register for a closed class, and if he or she has signed up for a full courseload, they must convey to
the Registrar’s office which class they will drop. “[It’s a] mixed bag. It should be a simple process, but our technology’s made it more complicated,” Registar Ron Urban said, referring to the difficulty registering once offered a spot off the waitlist. Urban said that while he would like to have an electronic system, many faculty demand to control their waitlists. But only having software for firstcome, first-served waitlists necessitated the change. “[Students] don’t understand the system and the faculty [doesn’t] understand the system,” Urban said, adding WAITLIST, page 3
KWCW travels to Big Apple
Managers attend 30th CMJ Music Marathon and Film Festival and return with new ideas to im- plement on campus to increase presence
by NATE LESSLER Staff Reporter
In late October, KWCW’s manager senior Matt Bachmann and music director senior Cecily Foo returned from a trip to New York City with a number of big ideas for the radio station. The two students attended the 30th CMJ Music Marathon and Film Festival, an annual event located
Matt Bachmann in the KWCW studios. Photo by Klag
in NYC with over 120,000 attendees. Now, only a month after the festival, Hot Poop Records has a “KWCW Recommended” section, KWCW is contributing music reviews to the Union-Bulletin and the radio station will soon start releasing a monthly zine entitled “Hey, Man.” Bachmann explained the reasoning behind many of these new changes. “We really wanted to put more focus on getting more new music to the Whitman and Walla Walla community,” said Bachmann. “But [the new changes] also help us spread the word about KWCW.” Bachmann and Foo got the idea for the zine at College Day, a day at the New York festival that allows representatives from college radio stations all over the nation to meet, hold panels and share ideas. “The University of Boston’s [radio station] handed out copies of a zine that they put together, and we were basically like, ‘This is a great idea, we should do this,’” said Bachmann. Foo was equally inspired by the events and panels of College Day. “I came back from CMJ so excited and inspired by new ideas for the station,” said Foo. “[I was] seriously elated. I couldn’t wait to get started.” It did not take the team long to start producing the zine. The first issue of “Hey, Man” will be released later this week and will be available in Reid Campus Center. KWCW, page 5
NEWS
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December 9, 2010
Glover Alston Center becomes integral Students get dorm swipe until 10 p.m., lack access to part of how Whitman clubs meet North, CoHo and Tamarac
by SHELLY LE Staff Reporter
“It’s like an oasis away from Whitman,” said sophomore Bao-Tram Do, Whitman’s Intercultural Center Intern. The Glover Alston Center (GAC) opened at Whitman in January of this year, and has since changed how student clubs across campus meet and interact. Built with over half a dozen meeting rooms and intended as a designated spot for clubs at Whitman to meet, the GAC has transformed into a home away from home for students. According to Ben Wu, the intercultural center program advisor, the idea of having a comfortable and safe place for clubs to meet was a major component behind the development of the building. Rather than having to meet in an academic building such as Olin or Maxey Halls, the GAC provides clubs with a more relaxing and comfortable meeting space. “The idea was to have a safe, comfy place to meet and bond, and say things you wouldn’t want to say out in public,” he said. “It’s nice to have a set place and a set time that can be reserved in advanced so it’s a space that clubs can rely on.” Before the opening of the GAC, the Whitman Christian Fellowship (WCF) used to meet at a fellow team leader’s house. However, with the growth of the club, the GAC has provided WCF with much needed space to discuss and learn. Leaders of the club meet at the GAC to organize elements of the club, and members often have dinners at the center. Senior Kelsie Butts, the Worship Team Leader of the WCF noted the comfortable environment the GAC provides. “It’s such a safe space for people, especially in a spiritual faith-based organization, and the upstairs is especially comfortable for open discussion,” she said. “Most academic buildings have an academic environment that’s not conducive to good discussion.” The GAC also contains a kitchen where students are welcome to cook and eat. For clubs, the kitchen provides the perfect place for members to converse and socialize over food. Do, who is also a member of the Black Student Union, observed the positive difference the kitchen at the GAC has had on the BSU. “The kitchen makes it feel like a house
by ALYSSA GOARD Staff Reporter
ROSENBERG Lian Caspi ‘13 and Ami Koreh ‘13 light a menorah for the third night of Chanukkah as part of a Hillel-Shalom latke dinner at the Glover Alston Center on Friday, Dec. 3.
and being there makes us feel like a family,” she said. Couches and individual study rooms add to the GAC’s homelike environment, which encourages students to utilize the quiet and cozy atmosphere. “There’s a place to eat, study and sleep, I could spend the entire day there,” Do said. Although the GAC is sometimes used as a study alternative to the library, the building’s location, at the far west end of campus, means some students are put off by the time to walk to the GAC to study. “I’ve just never had a reason to walk over there,” said first-year Joel Senecal. “I’d rather walk over to the library to study.” Jennifer Lopez, president of Club Latino, has also noticed that some members
find it difficult to make the trek over to the GAC for weekly meetings and dinners. “I think club participation has dwindled a bit, because distance-wise, when it’s cold people don’t want to walk all the way over,” she said. Nonetheless, the GAC has provided the Whitman community with a place to relax and has encouraged student groups to open themselves in a more familiar comforting environment. “The GAC is designed to be a homey place,” Wu said. “Unfortunately when you think of the school as an academic institution you get caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, but with the GAC, you can think of it as home when you come in.”
Members of Whitman College’s firstyear class advocated for and received an extension of the hours for swiping into the residence halls in a seamless example of student democracy. First-year senators Kayvon Behroozian, Chelsea Darlington, Bella Zarate and Brian Choe each received e-mails from classmates who were frustrated about their swipe card access. In the prior policy, students living on campus were only able to enter residence halls besides their own until 8 p.m., long before most students went to bed. After Choe brought up the issue in committee, all of the first-year senators had a meeting with Residence Life and Housing staff to voice their concerns. “Res Life told us that originally students could swipe in anywhere at all hours but after a rampage of theft, they decided to set a curfew on swipe access and arbitrarily picked 8 p.m. We explained to Res Life that students wanted to have these hours extended and that 10 p.m. would be a perfect time to cut off swipe access for non-residents because that is when “Quiet Hours” start,” Behroozian said. The new 10 p.m. cutoff, which affects Jewett, Douglas, Prentiss and Anderson Halls and Lyman House, began November 29. Assistant director of Residence Life and Housing Sean Gehrke met with the first-year senators about this new change in residence life policy, and emphasized that the whole process was well-communicated and relatively simple. “Brian Choe and Kayvon Behroozian approached us with the idea to extend card swipe access to first-year halls in order to increase community building among the first-year class for the halls with card swipes. We made the change at their request because it didn’t drastically affect security for the residence halls and was a task that was easy for the card-swipe system to handle.” While many students are now swiping into their friends’ residence halls
at later hours, some students are still punching in codes and fumbling with keys to get to their own dormitories. Phil Lundquist, Resident Director for North Hall and Tamarack doesn’t picture North Hall’s keys-only system being changed any time soon. “From what I can tell it is a slow process. Codes and swipe systems are more secure, but North seems to be a lower priority in terms of these technology updates because we have fewer residents than many of the other residents halls. But not having swipe access isn’t so bad, at North and Marcus I know you can call a room extension to whoever you are visiting, it will just be an extra two minute wait out in the cold.” Lundquist was the Resident Director of Prentiss Hall prior to his position at North and noted that “less keys got lost in Prentiss with swipe cards and the building on the whole was more secure.” Associate Director of Campus Security Craig McKinnon also felt that card swipes have made the campus more secure. “I’ve been working with Whitman’s security for 30 years, and I remember when they first started trials of installing the swipe cards. If someone loses a swipe card, we can cancel their account and monitor access to pinpoint the location of a stolen card; that’s something you can’t do with lost keys. There have been and there will continue to be glitches with the swipe cards, but problems with the cards are pretty infrequent.” McKinnon hopes that the extended hours for swipe access will prevent students from propping open residence hall doors for friends, which he believes was a huge problem in previous years. But he encourages students to be cautions, no matter what swipe hours are allowed. “Across the nation, about 80 percent of college thefts are committed by the students themselves. We will continue to monitor safety regarding the change in residence life policy and we may need to take extra precautions if there is an increase in theft.”
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AXTELL
Locals line up for Macy’s Parade of Lights
A giant rubber duck float travels down Main Street during the 15th Annual Macy’s Parade of Lights on Saturday, Dec. 4. About 3500 attended the event, which included 62 entries. The winning float was a horseback-riding drill team from the Walla Walla Wagonettes. Other winners were: Skybound Tumbling (K-8), Lincoln Alternative High School (High School), Phi Beta Lamda (Collegiate), City Church (Religious), Just Us Girls Sharing (J.U.G.S.) (Civic/ Neighborhood) and Port of Walla Walla with Walla Walla Regional Airport (Mayor’s Choice).
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December 9, 2010
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WAITLISTS: New management software to pilot in April
page 1 dthat he didn’t feel that faculty should -be have to be responsible for waitlists on top of their academic duties. s Indeed, the current process is conrfusing. Some professors go with a first-come, first-serve policy; others give apreference to those who need the class tfor the major. Some faculty, flooded ewith requests, haven’t responded to the -e-mails; Urban recently sent an e-mail eencouraging them to do so. o In a more unusual case, Assistant tProfessor of Astronomy Nathaniel -Paust decided this semester to interview students interested in getting off dthe waitlist for ASTRO 110: Principles -of Astronomy. e “I hope I can get the people who resally want the class, and hopefully will .be good additions to the class,” he said. - Out of about 30 people who eemailed him to ask for a spot on the waitlist, seven have signed up for an tinterview. e “Given the decrease in people who e e y e
blindly asked to be on the waitlist to the people who actually followed through, it seems like it’ll work pretty well,” he said. “Of course, I won’t know for sure before the start of next semester, when they actually have to show up for class.” Paust said he got the idea to interview students from his wife’s experience at Harvard, where students had to write essays to get into extremely popular classes taught by Nobel Laureates. Unlike those classes, though, Paust plans to be more generous with whom he lets in, letting in up to 10— and maybe more—students beyond the pre-registration cap of 45. In other cases, students must figure out how to get on the waitlist at all. During fall 2010 pre-registration in April, junior Michael Hanley wanted to get on the waitlist for Elementary and Standard Arabic for this fall. Problem was, the professor—a visiting professor—wasn’t yet at Whitman, and didn’t even have a Whitman e-mail address.
“He wasn’t on campus yet, so I tracked down [Chair of the Department Akira] Takemoto,” Hanley said. “That one was a little up in the air.” But Hanley, who ultimately got into the Arabic class and also got off the waitlist for Theories of Empire, a class for his environmental studies-politics major, said he prefers e-mailing professors over an electronic waitlist system. “As an underclassman, I just kind of did the [electronic] waitlist but wasn’t assertive about it,” he said, noting that he never did make it into a class from an electronic waitlist. “The e-mailing system hasn’t been a problem for me. The more communication with professors, the better.” First-year Nick Shariat, however, is more frustrated with the e-mail waitlist system. Shariat is trying to get off the waitlist into Bio 111: Biological Principles—a pre-requisite for most other biology courses—as well as his preferred section of his organic chemistry lab. “It’s an ambiguous process. Besides
the fact that I’m new here, what I have to do isn’t clear,” he said. Shariat e-mailed both professors and personally followed up with one of them, but doesn’t know what his odds of getting into the classes are. While Shariat supported the ability of faculty to decide who gets off the waitlist, he wishes the system were better integrated into the registration process. This, it turns out, will be coming soon. WCTS has been working on a workflow management system designed to simplify the waitlist process, and hopes to have a pilot version ready for fall 2011 pre-registration by April. “The idea is to take the advantage to the student of the electronic waitlist, which is to somehow indicate that they’re interested in the classes that are closed, and retain the advantage to the faculty so they can control who’s in the class, but take care of it in a timely manner so nobody’s coming into the class three days late,” said Michael Quiner, Whitman’s director of enterprise technology.
The new system would allow a student to indicate their interest in a closed class in the online registration program, which would trigger an email to the professor. The professor could then provide the student consent, which would trigger an e-mail to the registrar’s office, who would then contact the student. In addition to streamlining the process, Quiner hopes the new system will allow the college to track waitlist statistics; no statistics are kept now since each professor handles his or her own waitlist. Alvarez, the student who got off the Chem 126 waitlist, hopes for anything to make her registration and waitlist processes easier next year. “Hopefully it won’t be like this every single semester,” she said. “I really don’t know what the ideal circumstances for getting everybody into their classes would be, but I really don’t want to go through something like that again, because it’s very stressful and very timeconsuming.”
Applications for Early Decision I edge down ASWC: Privacy a faculty concern by MOLLY JOHANSON Staff Reporter
The application numbers for Early Decision I, which had a November 15 deadline, are in. This year there are about 100 applications. This is on the low-end of the average range of Early Decision I applicants for the past few years, which has been between 90 and 140 applicants. A much smaller pool of between 40 and 80 applicants is expected for Early Decision II, which is due on January 1. Unlike colleges on the east coast such as Duke University or Yale University, where early decision applicant numbers run in the thousands and the admitted students fill half the incoming class, a maximum of a quarter of each Whitman class is made up of early decision applicants. Of the early decision applicant pool, typically about 60 to 70 percent of them
are admitted to Whitman, as opposed to about 46 percent who were admitted from regular decision last year. “Historically, students who have applied early decision perform slightly better academically, and have better retention and graduation rates,” said Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Tony Cabasco. In 2008, Whitman Early Decision I applications hit a peak of about 140. The 110 applicantions from 2009 and 100 this year show a slight downward curve. This could be because of the recession, but Cabasco says these numbers are within the range for the past few years. One concern about early decision is the binding contract to accept. According to Cabasco, the Office of Admission “want[s] this to be a well considered, thoughtful decision. It reflects you are a thoughtful person about the college search, thus, a good member of Whit-
man community.” Annie Sing, a high school senior from Olympia, Wash., like many seniors, takes this into account. “I’m not sure if Whitman is my for sure number one,” she says. “I don’t want to risk being bound to a school if I’m not positive.” With the contract, an early decision applicant is committing to enroll except for financial hardship. “It’s good that that clause is in there,” says first-year and early decision applicant Julian Hayward. “That way, students aren’t committed before they know if they can afford it.” The Early Decision I applications are currently in the reading process. Offers of admission will be mailed right before Whitman gets out for winter break and arrive around December 18. “For many, it’s a great Christmas present,” said Cabasco. “It’s the peace of mind, that’s the great advantage.”
page 1 ready in the room. I doubt that the faculty are going to wait and have students come in to the next meeting before making key decisions.” He believes that given the tight deadlines of proposals coming to the committee, its members might not have sufficient time to consult students. “We are all invested in this institution,” ASWC President senior Carson Burns added. “We all want what is best for the college and having students on the committee would enable it to make the best and most informed decisions.” ASWC also rejects the idea that students could not be trusted dealing with sensitive and private matters. “Students are already sitting on other faculty committees including the President’s Budget Advisory Committee and the Council on Student Affairs, which both deal with highly sensitive and confidential matters,” Burns said. “It is hard
to understand why faculty wouldn’t want students to be a part of discussions on the curriculum because, like the faculty, we are the ones experiencing it on a daily basis.” This question of student representation is far from resolved. Carson and Burns were invited to speak at the most recent faculty meeting in December where they presented the results from the ASWC preregistration survey and urged the faculty to support a motion to re-introduce student representation to the Curriculum Committee. At the time of publication, no faculty members have stepped up and supported such a motion. Both Dobson and ASWC remain hopeful that progress can be made in the future and that the faculty and ASWC can come to a satisfying conclusion for both sides. “I anticipate working with [Burns and Loranger] more in the spring semester on the question of student membership on the Curriculum Committee,” Dobson said.
DREAM: Panel of undocumented students planned for after break
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economy. Both the country and these students benefit,” he said. Ruiz also says that DREAM will benefit the country financially. “Some opponents say that it will strain the budget. But it will actually bring us money.” The congressional cost estimate for DREAM, S.3992, predicts that enacting - DREAM would reduce the budget deficit - by 1.4 billion dollars between 2011-2020. s - Ruiz says that DREAM would not s greatly change the admission process n at Whitman because Whitman doesn’t t s turn a student down because of his f or her immigration status. However,
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DREAM would change the appropriation of financial aid for these students. If DREAM were to pass they would be eligible for federal student loans and grants. Ruiz has been meeting with a group of about 10 undocumented Whitman students and the Office of the President in order to prepare an event about DREAM. They hope that this event, which is supposed to take place in either January or February, will be a post-analysis of the implementation of DREAM. Their goal is to have a panel of speakers-academics, politicians, and students. “Its purpose is to raise awareness in faculty, students and the community about issues facing undocumented stu-
dents,” he said. This group of students has also been involved in rallies, marches and making phone calls to senators asking for their support of DREAM. El Proyecto Voz Latina also hosted a vigil on Tuesday, Dec. 7 in support of DREAM. Dozens of participants marched from Fort Walla Walla to the plaza at 1st and Main. Senior Lissa Erickson, director of Voz Latina, hopes that DREAM will be just the start of increased opportunities for immigrants in this country. “We believe that passing the DREAM Act is only the first of many steps our politicians must take to create immigration policy that seeks justice and a digni-
fied place for immigrants in our society,” she said. She says that Voz Latina’s has urged other members of the Whitman community to recognize their own privileges and to use their influence in the community to help make these same opportunities available to undocumented students. Many members of the Whitman community have already recognized this. A resolution showing support for DREAM was passed in the student senate in October. Senior John Loranger, vice president of ASWC and chair of the student affairs committee believes the resolution clearly took a stance. “The purpose of this resolution was
to show that the students of Whitman College support higher education for all. This kind of political statement makes our position clear.” Ruiz wishes that the Board of Trustees and President Bridges would join the list of dozens of colleges and universities across the nation that have already publicly supported the DREAM Act. But taking a political stance could be somewhat problematic for them. Loranger feels that they have said a lot already. “It’s understandable that President Bridges can’t make that statement. But I think it says a lot about the policy of the college that there are undocumented students attending Whitman.”
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CORRECTIONS TO ISSUE 11 The article “Vigil observes World AIDS Day” on page 1 should be credited to Alyssa Goard. The correct spelling of Walla Wal- la University’s vocal group, which was featured in the “Pio Picks” on page 5, is “Walla Walla I Cantori.”
A&E
The Pioneer ISSUE 12 DEC 9, 2010 Page 4
DJ duo Flosstradamus to Dance theater turn tables at campus show performs student- created pieces by MCCAULAY SINGERMILNES Staff Reporter
Flosstradamus, a Chicago-based DJ duo, is performing at Whitman on December 9, after support from bands Strength and Dude York. Composed of the DJs “2K” (Josh Young) and “Autobot” (Curt Cameruci), the duo has been gaining popularity since the mid-2000s and is known for their bombastic presence at music festivals. “[Flosstradamus] has performed at some of the biggest music festivals in the country. They are frequently associated with acts such as Kid Sister, The Cool Kids and ATrak,” said Whitman Events Board member junior Kelsey Houghton. Their style of music is a mix of mashups of popular hiphop songs and dance beats. “They are known for doing incredible remixes of familiar hip-hop and pop music, and there is a strong beat throughout the entire show, making it virtually impossible to stand still,” said Houghton. “Some of their stuff has a sort of electronic feel to it, too.” WEB decided to bring Flosstradamus after overwhelming support in favor of the duo. Every semester WEB
members gather and review potential acts that fit within the budget, and then take a vote to decide which act will come to campus. “Each [WEB] member is given a list of about ten bands that meet the requirements and we all discuss the possibilities and vote on our favorite,” said Houghton. “Flosstradamus was the overall favorite this semester.”
CANEPA Flosstradamus’s turntables will be contrasted by the opening acts, who are more traditional bands insofar as instrumentation. “We’re going to have a Portland band called Strength, which is kind of the opposite of Flosstradamus because they are a four-person band with instruments and vocals, and also we
have Dude York which is a couple of Whitman students who graduated last year,” said WEB music coordinator Carissa Wagner. WEB prioritized talent and quality of the bands when it came time to narrow down the openers. “We felt it was very important to book openers who offer both quality music and a great, upbeat live show,” said Houghton. “Strength is an electronica-infused rock band from Portland that definitely lives up to all these expectations.” T he incorporation of Dude York, a band made up entirely of Whitman alumni, was also an important factor when choosing groups to open. “They were a campus favorite last year, and I think people will be really excited to see how far this band has come,” said Houghton. “It’s just going to be a fantastic show, everyone I’ve talked to who has seen them live has said it’s been an amazing experience, and it’s before finals and everyone is stressed out. It is an amazing opportunity to come and dance your heart out,” said Wagner. Students are encouraged to attend this free event, which is closed to the public. It will take place in Reid Ballroom from 8 p.m. until 11 p.m. The last call for tickets will be today, Thursday, Dec. 9 in Reid.
Dance students take charge of choreography and show RII RULJLQDO PRGHUQ GDQFHV DW WKLV \HDU·V IDOO UHFLWDO by MCCAULAY SINGERMILNES Staff Reporter
Students in Whitman’s Dance Theater class will perform original choreographed pieces combined with various forms of modern dance on Friday, Dec. 10 in Cordiner Hall. The majority of this year’s dances are student directed, as class members are not only serving as dancers but choreographers of the pieces as well. “This year is different in that Vicki Lloid [adjunct instructor of dance] turned the show over to student choreographers; usually there are one or two pieces done by students but this year it’s reversed,” said dancer and student choreographer senior Kate Robinette. Modern dance is known for the wide range of styles and techniques it encompasses; the freedom allows dancers to choreograph in ways that reflect certain themes and ideas. “There are a lot of different things that modern dance can be, it’s not classical ballet . . . it can really be anything,” said dancer and choreographer junior Rhya Milici. Milici is one of two students who choreographed original pieces for the performance. Her dance focuses on sleep and the movements associated with it, such as sleep walking. “I am choreographing about a 25-minute piece that is a dance study of sleep. The piece is titled ‘Dreaming Alone,’ and it started out as me doing a lot of research about sleep,” said Milici. Modern dance also allows for flexibil-
ity in terms of song selection, although many people choose to have more abstract songs without lyrics. According to Milici, her piece has a certain emotional quality as a result of her song choice, which features popular songs with recognizable lyrics. “I chose to use more recognizable tunes, and from the lyrics there is an emotional quality attached onto the movement,” said Millici. “So it’s not only a dance study of sleep--it also has an unrequited love motif throughout.” Student choreographers and dancers have put in many hours to prepare for this performance, and the creative license implicit in designing and planning original pieces is accompanied by a heavy workload. “I worked throughout the summer and this semester choosing music, coming up with a theme and then working through movement that conveyed and explored that theme on my own and with my dancers,” said Robinette. “Then we had bi-weekly rehearsals to learn the piece. I had the opportunity to make decisions about costumes and lighting as well.” Robinette’s first piece focuses on the baggage that accompanies life, and features ropes as symbols for the emotional weight. Her second piece is centered on the ever-present search for stability. “[One] piece is entitled ‘The Pull of the Past’ and it deals a lot with the baggage we carry around in our lives,” said Milici. This event is free for all Whitman students and will take place at 8 p.m.
MOVIE REVIEW
Quirky protagonist ‘Charlie %DUWOHWW· FDUULHV VPDUW ÀOP by MCCAULAY SINGERMILNES Staff Reporter
Yes, “Charlie Bartlett” is a teen movie. However, to end descriptions of it there would be to seriously overlook the film’s positive aspects and originality, as well as to limit the experience of the viewer during this entertaining and thoughtful film. The story centers around 17-yearold Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchon), a quirky, awkward yet likable guy striving for popularity at his new public school. Unable to stay at private schools due to his various business ventures, one of which is selling fake IDs,Charlie Bartlett attends his new school, blazer and attaché case in hand. Genuinely friendly with everyone he meets, he quickly encounters the school’s bullies and thus a toilet. Determined to change his situation he begins to serve as the school psychiatrist, and makes the bully, Murphy Bivens (Tyler Hilton), his business partner. The two set up shop in the boy’s bathroom and between stall conferences and sell the medication prescribed to Charlie by various doctors. In effect, they begin to “heal” the students. Though this sounds somewhat twisted, Bartlett is entirely likable throughout the movie in that he doesn’t create the business for money. Instead, he does it because he wants nothing more than to help people. Bartlett is quick-witted, hilarious and let’s face it--adorable. Cue love interest: Susan Gardner (Kat Dennings) is the daughter of high school principal Nathan Gardner (Robert Downey Jr.). Susan and Charlie gravitate
toward one another and begin the healing process as they both have problems with their fathers. We learn that Principal Gardner has turned to the bottle since his wife cheated on him and left, using alcohol to cope with the stress of his job. Charlie’s dad is in prison for tax evasion, and his mom has not been the same since making it Charlie’s duty to keep her from relapsing into another period of depression. The problems arise from the respective families, particularly her father who begins to spiral out of control, and the premise of selling prescription drugs creates issues as well. While the various high school and drug-addict stereotypes are there, the characters are far more threedimensional than one may expect. The strength of the film lies in its ability to create endearing characters through their entirely believable flaws. They all mean well--but as they are inherently human, life is messy. The actors succeed in portraying both sides of each character, making it impossible to truly dislike anyone as a whole, instead sympathizing with their struggles. At times the events feel exaggerated and dramatic, particularly by the end, but the drama is to be expected. The viewer never needs to feel cheated or insulted by the slightly unrealistic resolutions to otherwise challenging situations. All-in-all, this film offers a fun, cerebral break, especially as finals are fast approaching. Also you can take time to remind yourself how thankful you are to be in college after you finish watching.
Director Jon Poll’s ‘Charlie Bartlett’ (2007)
T D
“ a g t O t t p K n
PARRISH Whitman ’s Chorale sings at the Fall Concert last Saturday, Dec. 4 in Chism Hall. The concert also featured the work of the Chamber Singers. The two groups sang with other Walla Walla choirs and Whitman a cappella groups at the Dec. 5 Feast of Carols.
T HRIF T Y WHI T T IES
Alterations for shirt, blouse sleeves Part 2: Fun, stylish hemming and hawing options to do over Winter Break by OLIVIA JONES Columnist
I know that I just wrote a sewing article, but I want to keep everyone sufficiently busy over the long winter break. When those long listless days of missing Whitman kicks in, pull out your mother’s, neighbor’s or friend’s sewing machine and start altering your wardrobe so you can impress your friends when classes finally start again. Even if you do not take your garment in to fit (see last issue) changing the hem and sleeve design can make your shirt or dress look completely new. There is one key aspect of sewing that I cannot stress enough. Take your time to be precise with the preparation of a garment if you want your finished product to look tidy, professional and not like you just hacked it out in your backyard. Believe me, I know what a bother it can be to have to meticulously measure, iron, pin and re-iron, and pin again before sewing. I used to skip hemming and buttonholes when I made clothes for my stuffed animals, and even in my teenage
years I rushed through projects, justified with the fact that the unfinished style of exposed seams was “in.” Well, it really isn’t anymore, so do the prep work! There are many different hems to choose from. If you really want to change the style of a blouse beyond just shortening it, try a traditional blouse hem. This style is shorter at the side seams and longer in the middle of your torso. The easiest way to do this is to use a blouse you already have with this hem as a model and trace the hem onto your project. Remember to trace the hem lower on your blouse than you want the hem to rest. Most blouse and shirt hems are short, so about an inch of excess will suffice. If you want to shorten the sleeves and you are not sure how to do it, I also recommend using a shirt with a sleeve pattern you like as a model. Measure carefully, make sure it’s even on both sides and then cut. Once you have made the cut, take the garment to the ironing board and fold the hem under a half inch and iron flat. Repeat this step one more time, rolling the fold under so that the cut edge is not visible, then
I m p c t V t t h o a
fi pin the folds down. Put the garment onTh one last time to be sure you like the al-t terations. p If you approve of the length and styles of the pinned garment, you are ready top sew. When sewing, choose a point on your sewing machine to measure so that your stitches are even all the way around. Lay down a piece of masking tape or blue tape if there aren’t any lines. Select a thread that blends nicely with the color of your garment. I recommend cottoncovered polyester, especially when working on a sewing machine. The stretch of polyester with the smooth finish of cotton is the easiest for machines to handle. When sewing, choose a setting of three or less, since anything larger is a basting stitch and won’t be very secure. I generally choose 2.5 as the setting. Use a piece of scrap fabric and test the tension of the machine by stitching a few inches on it. If the stitches look loose on one side and tight on the other, consult your sewing machine manual about adjusting the tension. If they look even and tight on both sides, you are ready to start sewing. Enjoy break as well as your new projects.
Opinion
The Pioneer ISSUE  12 DEC  9,  2010 Page  6
Software developers must connect with FRQVXPHUV WR ÀJKW LOOHJDO VRIWZDUH SLUDF\
Some consumers will always illegally pirate software. However, software develop-Â ers can mitigate this trend by providing quality tech support and a personal touch.
LOOS-ÂDIALLO
WikiLeaks’ response telling Following Google’s retreat from mainland China, WikiLeaks is provoking another war between the citizens and their government. Over 250,000 DING classified cables LI from U.S. embasColumnist sies have been released to The New York Times, the Guardian and three other media organizations. The cables detailed the instructions U.S. diplomats received to spy on important countries and U.N. leaders’ personal information, including DNA, and also Washington’s evaluations on many highly sensitive international issues such as the assessment of Iran’s missile program. Franco Frattini, Italy’s foreign minister, described the release of these embassy cables as “the 9/11 of world diplomacy�, as reported by the Guardian. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other White House members had to work extra hours apologizing for the leakage. Frattini could be right to some extent that there might be friction between governments concerning the frank comments. A good example is U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Hunstman’s accusation of Beijing’s foreign policy of “muscleflexing, triumphalism and assertiveness� that also turns a blind eye toward North Korea’s illegal missile parts exports. However, neither the world diplomacy crisis nor the friction between China and the U.S. came as the prime minister predicted. The Chinese government stayed calm and officially announced that it “hope[s] the U.S. side will properly handle relevant issues.� No criticism on the ambassador’s accusation! No warning on how the assessment could damage China’s image! Instead, Jiang Yu, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, criticized the WikiLeaks cables as “absurd� and “ridiculous�. Yu emphasized that China did not want the cables to disturb Sino-U.S. relations. The
Chinese government officially blocked the WikiLeaks. A similar story happened in France. Though French President Nicholas Sarkozy was described as “thin-skinned and authoritarian�, France, along with China and America, appealed to close down the website. WikiLeaks was forced to shut down its service for the third time in one week after Amazon received political pressure from Senator Joe Lieberman, Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, according to the report of the Guardian. Amazon denied political motivation in stopping its service to WikiLeaks, while Julian Assange, creator and spokesman of WikiLeaks, has become F.B.I.’s Most Wanted and a headache troublemaker to almost all governments. Chris Anderson from T.E.D. (Technology Entertainment and Design) did a on-site survey during his interview with Assange, asking what the audience identifies Assange as—a people’s hero or a dangerous troublemaker. Almost everyone raised their hands to support that Assange is a “people’s hero�. Published at the end of July 2010, the interview clip on YouTube has received almost thousands of “likes� and a very few tens of “dislikes�. However, in some video clips about Assange and WikiLeaks, comments are not allowed to display. Censorship goes beyond China! There are Chinese netizens, mockingly, welcoming the U.S. to join China in terms of censorship. Unlike the Google case, the Chinese are not alone anymore in fighting for a transparent government and free access to information, which is guaranteed both in Chinese constitution and American constitution. The WikiLeaks case, though simply a website built by several activists, serves as an examination on the relationship between people and the government people elected. What Assange has been doing is an act to bring back the rights that people deserve from the government. At least the war WikiLeaks initiated is a reminder to stay critical of the government and the decisions the government makes.
LET T ER TO T HE EDI TOR Dear Editor, This past October, I had the amazing opportunity to raise funds for the Chris Elliott Foundation as part of the annual Mr. Whitman contest. My participation in this event, as well as the Thanksgiving holiday and National Philanthropy Day last month, remind me of all the people that make Whitman incredible. I’d like to take the time here to recognize some of them. Each year, staff, faculty, parents and alumni donate generously to Whitman College. Last year, around one-third of Whitman staff, faculty and parents, as well as almost half of Whitman alumni, helped fund internships, fitness center
equipment, scholarships, staff-faculty research and more. Since tuition dollars cover only a portion of the facilities and opportunities that Whitman students enjoy, these contributions are essential to maintaining the down-toearth yet academically-rigorous liberal arts education that we all prize. In short, Whitman would not be as amazing as it is without their support. Thank you staff, faculty, parents and alumni. The students of Whitman College truly appreciate your contributions. Thank you, Joe Wheeler Mr. Whitman 2010
POLI T IC AL C ARTOON
DOUGLAS
Ladies and gents, it’s time for me to write a column about pirates. Before you go and grab your eye patches and cutlasses (or speedboats and BLAIR FRANK AK-47s, if you’re feeling modern), Columnist this is a column about digital piracy. Odds are, if you’re at Whitman, you’ve probably pirated some sort of media at some time in your life. Of course, that’s a problem for people who create things that are easily pirated. With peer-to-peer (P2P) filesharing so easily available and accessible, the price of digitally readable media like video and music is zero dollars. (For the purposes of this article, price is different than cost. Price is what people need to pay, and cost is how much it takes to make something.) Without people paying, content producers can’t produce content. What can they do? There are three things motivating people to buy easily-copied products in the digital age: security, tech support and warm fuzzy feelings. The first, I think, is obvious. Large content distribution systems are usually se-
cure, and generally don’t have major risks hiding in them. If I download a game from Steam, or a song from iTunes, I think it’s a reasonable expectation that neither contains a virus. P2P downloads always carry a risk of infecting your computer with something problematic. Tech support also makes sense to me. If I download an album from iTunes, and it won’t play on my iPhone, I can go into the Genius Bar or call AppleCare and get help. Now of course, if I went into the Apple Store complaining that the Barry Manilow box set that I downloaded in an arcane file format (here’s looking at you, Ogg Vorbis) from BitTorrent didn’t play on my iPhone, I’d be laughed out of there. Likewise, I wouldn’t expect a developer to support a cracked copy of their application. Piracy, while cheap, holds no promise of accessible tech support. Warm fuzzy feelings are the best way I can describe the amalgamation of the psychological factors that go into a content purchase. An example: when it comes to comic books I have a choice. I can download new issues that are posted on Wednesday, or go into my Friendly Local Comic Shop (FLCS) to purchase some new floppies. The FLCS route holds several benefits: I like the feeling of reading
a comic in its intended, dead-tree state; I know that I’m supporting the creator(s), the writer(s) and the art team with my purchase; and I’m helping to support my FLCS and keep it around so I can continue to get comics. Likewise, when I purchased Amanda Palmer’s new album in digital form, I also paid for a cherry-red vinyl record version of it and a t-shirt. In the package containing the physical goods was a small, business card-sized thank you note, signed by Ms. Palmer. Again, the warm fuzzy intangibles (and spiffy tangible things) are helping me part with my money. So, how do content creators make money when it’s possible for people to get media for free? Well, the bad news is, there’s no silver bullet. For some people, the fact you can get music, movies and apps for free means they’ll never pay for them again. But, for artists and other content producers who can leverage the three factors above, they have a better chance of making it. It’s a process that Mike Masnick of the blog Techdirt boils down to a simple formula: “CwF + RtB,� better known as Connect with Fans + Reason to Buy. If you provide your fans with the personal attention they want, and give them some reason to part with their money, the more likely they are to do so.
EDUCATION: Schools must incite students’ FXULRVLW\ UDWKHU WKDQ GHPDQG URWH OHDUQLQJ ď?Śď?˛ď?Żď? page 1 is how much I learned is how little traditional academic work I had to do. Aside from a few brief ecology exams, almost nothing I produced all semester was assigned any kind of grade. The essays I wrote were about topics I got to choose, and my work on them was almost entirely motivated by the enjoyment I got from formulating a coherent position on a topic and articulating it clearly. Most education in this country is based on a system of rewards and punishments. In particular, American high schools are designed to make students follow directions. Tests are standardized, classes are required and students are robbed of almost all autonomy. Pay attention, study, and you’ll be rewarded with an A and maybe even acceptance into a good college. It doesn’t matter if you forget the material five minutes after your last test is over. It doesn’t matter if anything you learn is applicable to your day-to-day life. Contrast this with something like Semester in the West. During the course of the semester, I listened to speakers who were incredibly passion-
ate about topics ranging from desert tortoise habitat to the bureaucracy surrounding grazing permits. I wasn’t there to fulfill distribution requirements, get an easy A or boost my resume. I paid attention, asked questions and took notes because I wanted to learn. I’m not suggesting that Semester in the West is a perfect academic experience, nor that there isn’t value in traditional methods of education. But the clear passion I saw in the field, from teachers and students, is something I think is often missing in the average American classroom. Too often I’ve heard friends write papers based on what they thought the teacher’s opinion was, or pick topics they already know a lot about so they’ll have to do less research. When papers are written to be read aloud to a group of peers, rather than turned in, graded and forgotten, students engage with their writing more. Writing becomes a process—write, read aloud, hear comments, seek advice, revise—rather than a chore or task to be checked off of a to-do list. When education promotes genuine engagement with the material being taught, it fosters interest and commit-
ment which extend far beyond the end of the class. I’ve heard many Whitman students talk about hating Encounters because they felt that their peers weren’t really engaged in discussions, and were just going through the motions to pass the class. In contrast, almost everyone I went on Semester in the West with still possess a long list of questions prompted by what they learned on the program. Many of us will be doing research about these issues during winter break because we want to keep learning. If education reform is to be effective, schools need to promote ways of learning which engage students on different registers. Threatening high schoolers with an F might coerce some into studying for a test, and a few others into cheating, but it won’t make anyone remember the material being taught or apply it to their own life. Teachers should strive to find topics students are interested in and allow for real learning without the carrot-and-stick approach of quantitative evaluation. People are naturally curious, and want to learn when given the chance. All we need to do is get out of their way.
BOARD EDI TORIAL
)DFXOW\ PXVW DOORZ HTXDO DFWLYH VWXGHQW participation in new Curriculum Committee This past November, the faculty voted to create a new Curriculum Committee to address many of the concerns about enrollment pressure and course compression that have arisen this year after the faculty moved from a six-course to a fivecourse teaching load. Though the original proposal for this committee included student representation, the Division Chairs decided to strike this provision on the final version in favor of consulting students “as needed for additional information.� This solution ignores how full student participation can improve the educational environment at Whitman. This semester, Provost and Dean Timothy Kaufman-Osborn and ASWC President Carson Burns have sent letters to the student body addressing what steps the administration and ASWC are each taking to relieve the current enrollment pressures and improve the quality of a Whitman education. The creation of the Curriculum Committee is one of these steps. The Curriculum Committee is mandated to make decisions primarily pertaining to when classes are offered and which classes are offered. The committee will also consider credit requirements for major completion as well as how enrollment pressure affects academic departments. These are all issues that are currently addressed with minimal coordination across departments.
These are all issues that directly affect the educational experience of Whitman students and warrant active student involvement in the decision-making process. Having students invited to participate on an “as needed� basis does not fully address these concerns. Under the present provisions, students could be called to report on issues but would not be active and equal participants in debates on curriculum issues for the simple reason that their participation still lies at the discretion of the faculty. Ultimately, the students have a different perspective from the faculty—a perspective that can only help the committee make the most informed decisions that improve the Whitman education experience. There is no satisfactory middle ground on this issue. Either students are full members of the committee or they are not. Much of the decision to eliminate student representation on the committee was due to concerns of confidentiality and appropriateness of student involvement in high-level policy decisions made by the faculty. These concerns over student confidentiality ignore the fact that students already discuss comparably important if not more serious issues in the President’s Budget Advisory Committee as well as the Council on Student Affairs. Other institutions that Whitman compares itself to, such as Grinnell, Pitzer,
Pomona and St. Olaf, all have Curriculum Committees with at least three student members who participate without faculty invitation. Why do these schools trust their students to be a part of the discussion on a Curriculum Committee, when Whitman--a school that prides itself on student engagement and participation--does not? The educational experience at Whitman thus involves not only classroom learning, but also student representation in matters that directly impact students. Whitman encourages students to be active citizens in their community and what better place to start than at Whitman itself? With that in mind, having students participate in the decision making process on the Curriculum Committee can be both an important policy decision as well as a further educational opportunity. Though we believe the faculty’s ability to make decisions with the interest of Whitman at heart, we encourage the faculty to reconsider this decision to exclude students from fully participating in the Curriculum Committee. As part of the Whitman educational experience, students must be given the chance to demonstrate their ability to actively debate and discuss the future of the Whitman curriculum. Students must have a voice in what they are taught. After all, what can having a student in the room do except add one more voice and perspective to the conversation?
Sports
The Pioneer ISSUE  12 DEC  9,  2010 Page  7
Whittie earns national racing title by BAILEY ARANGO
Women’s basketball ,INÂľELDĂ’#OLLEGEĂ’ W,  65-Â55 Ă’,EWISĂ’ Ă’#LARKĂ’#OLLEGEĂ’ L,  62-Â55
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Cameron Benner, a sophomore at Whitman College, hits 145 miles-per-hour on the same Fontana, Calif. racetrack that has claimed the lives of several drivers and been navigated by racing legends like Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon when his motor explodes. As coolant fluid covers his windshield, completely obscuring his vision, Benner is faced with two seconds of blindness, and, as he puts it, “when you’re going that fast, two seconds is an eternity.� Benner’s engine mishap, which he escaped from without a scratch, could hardly have come at a worse time for his racing season; by the time the Redline Time Attack, the auto racing circuit Benner competes on, hit its late-November Fontana races, Benner was in position to lock up the Time Attack championship for 2010. Instead, Benner and his racing team found themselves without a working engine less than a day before their next run. Benner, renowned in the racing community for poise well beyond his years, didn’t skip a beat. “At Fontana, we were going for the track record when we lost our motor, and I just said, ‘Okay guys, can we do this? Can we rebuild this motor in ten hours and have it running the next day?’ And we all just said, ‘Yeah, we can do it.’ So we made some phone calls and got working, and we had the motor back in that car in less than 12 hours.�
SCOREBOARD
Men’s basketball ,INÂľELDĂ’#OLLEGEĂ’ L,  72-Â62 Ă’,EWISĂ’ Ă’#LARKĂ’#OLLEGEĂ’ L,  95-Â81 7ALLAĂ’7ALLAĂ’5NIVERSITYĂ’ 7 Ă’
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Although Benner and his COBB Tuning motorsports team did not win at Fontana, their strong showing was enough to lock up Benner’s first championship, a feat he credits to his crew. “Coming back like that at Fontana was a testament to what committed drivers and engineers are able to accomplish. I attribute most of my success to the people that I brought down to work with me, to build my car, to help at the track.�
Yet after winning his tour’s highest honor at the age of 21, Benner’s next move may be his most surprising—faced with juggling his schoolwork and his burgeoning racing career, Benner chose textbooks over tight turns. “This last semester it was really hard to balance both racing and Whitman. What I’m really interested in is science, and at the point where racing is really taking away from that, and then the pursuit of
academics is taking away from racing, the activities were so discordant that I realized you couldn’t do them together.� For his first time as a Whittie, Cameron Benner won’t spend his weekends flying to races, but will instead spend the school year focusing on his schoolwork, staying in the racing world only as an instructor to less-experienced drivers. “I do want to do racing, I’m good at it, but as I’m going to be an instructor, I’m
going to be able to keep those ties and learn the business aspect of it without the intense traveling.� And so it is that Benner, a professional auto-racing champion barely into his second year of college, is getting prepared to tackle his hardest challenge yet. “Really, I’m just getting ready to figure out what my major is.�
RECRUITING: Coaches seek student athletes ď?Śď?˛ď?Żď? page 1
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Whitman ski team prepares to hit slopes by TYLER HURLBURT 3TAFFĂ’2EPORTER
It is officially winter. Thermometers read in the single digits, Styx has already been transformed into a brilliant white unicorn and the club alpine ski team is busy gearing up for its upcoming season. Even though snow has only recently made its arrival to the Whitman College campus, the ski team has been training since the beginning of the school year. Without the snow, the team has done a lot of general conditioning according to junior Captain Torey Anderson. “We’ve been running a lot, doing stationary bike workouts, lifting and jumping,� said Anderson. Ski Bluewood, a ski resort outside of Dayton, Wash., opened on Friday, Dec. 3, allowing the team to get some time on the snow before winter break. The team usually travels to Bluewood on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons to get in a few hours of training. According to Anderson, the team uses gates left over from when the team was a varsity sport and set their own courses to practice on. To have more time for the team to train on the slopes before competitions start, the skiers will come back a week before second semester starts and spend a lot of time on the snow. Last year the team traveled to Maine
to compete in the U.S. Collegiate Ski & Snowboard Association National Championships. “We are definitely looking for that again,� said Anderson. To help achieve this goal, the team looks to a big addition of new skiers, including seven first-years. This large group of skiers comes with very little recruitment on the part of the team, particularly with the team’s recent switch to a club team as opposed to a varsity team. According to Anderson, the team was approached by the newcomers looking to join the team. “We got emails from a bunch of interested freshmen,� said Anderson. One such first-year, Mattie Hogg, came into Whitman feeling confident about joining the team. “I have always loved skiing and joining the team seemed like a no-brainer. I also love being a part of a team, so I was excited to try it out in college� said Hogg. For Hogg, the ski team sparked her interest in Whitman, despite its recent transition to club sport status. “I didn’t come to Whitman solely for the ski team,� she said. “But the reason it made my list in the first place was because I was looking for a school that would give me the opportunity to ski.� The ski team’s first competition is on Jan. 16 and 17 at Brundage Mountain Resort in Idaho.
Juneau-Douglas High School in Juneau, Ala., says that a fly-in visit last spring made it clear Whitman was the right choice. “The coach had offered to fly me down and pay for everything, and I didn’t really have anything to lose. I had a really fun time, went to a baseball game and kind of fell in love with the place. If it wasn’t for that program, I wouldn’t be here,� he said. Coach Holowaty, too, cites efforts like the fly-in program as key to restoring Whitman’s baseball team. “It’s nice to be wanted. And that’s a major aspect of [the fly-in] program. ‘Wow, Whitman wants me this bad that they are going to fly me in,’� Holowaty said. “We are competing with some very good baseball schools and this is just one piece of the puzzle in competing with those schools.� According to Holowaty, Whitman’s remote location and elite academic profile
had given it a reputation as a school without a draw for talented athletes. Holowaty, though, turned Whitman’s supposed weaknesses into draws for interested students. Having the highest academic reputation in the NWC, he says, means that often he isn’t vying against in-conference schools for recruits. “I look at it this way--we have a distinct advantage because we don’t have to recruit against the schools in our conference. It gives us an advantage, a niche. You can always flip [academic rigor] into a positive. I don’t want to compromise the quality of education here. These are outstanding students, but also very dedicated to baseball,� Holowaty said. Whitman athletic teams that recruit widely in the United States and abroad also support institutional goals such as improving geographic, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity, according to Snider. “It’s a great opportunity to work collaboratively with admissions to create a great incoming class each year,� he said.
Happy Holidays from the Pioneer Staff! Thanks for your support!