IN THIS ISSUE
Sheehan Gallery
HIV Testing
Whitman Triathlon
An inside look at “Spectra, Stream, Strata”, the gallery’s first exhibit of the year. page 4
Welty Student Health Center will offer a new HIV and hepatitis testing program that provides quicker results. page 2
Students, faculty and community members prepare for the swim team’s annual fall event. page 7
WHITMAN COLLEGE Walla Walla, WA Volume CXXVII Issue 3 whitmanpioneer.com S ,
Eggers, Zeitouns discuss experiences, book by KARAH KEMMERLY Staff Reporter
Dave Eggers, Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun and Jocelyn Hendrickson, assistant professor of religion, convened in front of a packed Cordiner Hall on Tuesday, Sept. 28, to discuss “Zeitoun,” the class of 2014 summer reading selection written by Eggers. Both Whitman College students and the Walla Walla community came together to hear about Eggers’s writing process and the Zeitouns’ experiences. Kate Kight, a student academic adviser in Lyman House, introduced Eggers and the Zeitouns with high praise. In her introduction, she spoke of their “intangible and indestructible family bond” and their story of “constant boundless hope.” She also spoke of the book’s many honors and awards, and claimed that it showed “the power of a simple canoe.” Eggers claimed that what initially struck him most about the Zeitouns’ story was the image of a solitary man paddling around a deserted New Orleans looking to help people in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Hendrickson followed up where the book left off, asking the Zeitouns about their kids and Kathy’s post-traumatic stress disorder. She also asked them ques-
AXTELL Dave Eggers, Kathy and Abdulrahman Zeitoun and professor Hendrickson laugh at a joke during their discussion of Eggers’ most recent book, “Zeitoun.” Tuesday night’s discussion included questions from Hendrickson and members of the audience.
tions about their faith and why Zeitoun continued to pray so diligently while imprisoned at Camp Greyhound. Abdulrahman described prayer as a direct connection to God. “When you connect with Him, you are
Fourth sorority closer to reality Gamma Phi Beta, Alpha Gamma Delta and Alpha Phi to visit campus as Panhellenic looks to relieve overcrowding by HADLEY JOLEY Staff Reporter
“It’s really difficult to coordinate events with 108 women,” said Heather Smith, president of the Whitman College Panhellenic Council. The ideal membership is 65, according to Associate Dean of Students Barbara Maxwell. To remedy this situation, the Panhellenic Council put together an extension committee to recruit a fourth sorority onto campus. The committee has narrowed the field down to three sororities: Gamma Phi Beta, Alpha Gamma Delta and Alpha Phi. Of the three, Alpha Phi has a history on campus, but not in the past few decades. In October, all three potential new sororities will come to campus and make a presentation; the final selection will be based on that campus visit. Gamma Phi Beta comes on Oct. 5, Alpha Gamma Delta on Oct. 7 and Alpha Phi on Oct. 14. All presentations will be held in Olin 130 at 4:00 p.m and are open to the Whitman community. However, the selection process is not a guaranteed success. At least one of the three sororities has to agree to come to campus; the Panhellenic Council has to like at least one enough to bring them here; and Whitman College has to approve the fourth sorority, which includes
having the faculty vote to recognize the new sorority. Lizzy Schiller, vice president of recruitment, hopes that those challenges can be overcome to create more manageable chapters. “Due to the fact that DG and Kappa are both above their chapters’ actual limits, providing a fourth could really be beneficial to bringing chapter numbers down to a more manageable number for all chapters, and possibly provide a more equal balance of girls within the four,” she said. The large sizes have been noticed by other people in the sororities as well. “The fourth sorority would bring the numbers down, so each year during recruitment instead of taking 28 or 30 new members we’d only take 20,” said sophomore Delta Gamma Tate Head. “So it’s not necessarily to make Whitman more of a Greek school, it’s just to make it so that the sororities that are here don’t have as many members.” Smith echoed that assessment, saying that the fourth sorority would lead to all sororities limiting their recruitment numbers to about 20 per year. According to Maxwell, recruitment remained fairly consistent this year. About 100 women signed up and slightly over 80 women pledged. Each sorority SORORITY, page 3
under His protection,” he said. Though these are undeniably powerful aspects of “Zeitoun” and the presentation, many Whitman students attended because they were most interested in simply seeing the Zeitouns in person.
Sophomore Ryann Savino, a transfer student who, like first-years and other transfer students read “Zeitoun,” enjoyed seeing the Zeitouns outside of their role as characters and instead as regular people. EGGERS, page 3
COMMENTARY
‘Zeitoun’ talk falls short
“Readers say this is the first Muslim American family they know,” author Dave Eggers revealed Tuesday, Sept. 28, during his lecture. As AbALLISON dulrahman and BOLGIANO Kathy Zeitoun Columnist laughed, joked and reflected during their conversation with Eggers and Assistant Professor of Religion Jocelyn Hendrickson, the Whitman College community certainly came closer to knowing the central subjects of this year’s summer reading, “Zeitoun.” While Whitman deserves praise for its book selection and for bringing to campus the nationally-acclaimed Eggers and those featured in his novel, the college has failed to take full advantage of all that this rich text offers. Tuesday’s conversation between the author, the Zeitouns and Professor Henrickson only exacerbated my feeling that Whitman has not provided sufficient opportunity to discuss “Zeitoun.” ZEITOUN, page 6
Club athletes seek more equality by TYLER HULBERT Staff Reporter
Every day, at least 200 Whitman College students take to the field, court, pool or slopes to train and compete in the sports that they love. Some choose to do so as part of a varsity program, while others select another route and join a club sport. According to Athletics Director Dean Snider, approximately 75 percent of the Whitman student body is involved in athletics in some form through varsity, club and intramural (IM) sports. While a significant portion of this group strictly participates in IM sports, there are still well over 400 athletes on varsity or club teams. Student athletes in both of these groups are expected to devote a large portion of their time to their sport. Between regular practices, morning practices, weight lifting and conditioning, varsity athletes can easily spend over 15 hours training for their sport, not including the travel time required to compete in conferences where almost all of the opponents are at least a four-hour drive away. Club athletes are also often expected to make a similar time commitment. David Schmitz, history professor and coach of the men’s lacrosse team, expects a high level of commitment from his players. “We run it like a varsity program,” Schmitz said. Junior Stephen Stradley, who plays on the ultimate Frisbee team, echoed this CLUB, page 7
ROSENBERG Club cyclist Chelsea Momany ‘11 expresses frustration over the privileged treatment varsity athletes, such as cross country runner Kristen Ballinger ‘11, receive.
Class of 2014 sees increase Barish to in international students lecture about relativity by JOE VOLPERT Staff Reporter
HONG
Campus art culture A&E writer Nate Lessler examines the history of and inspiration behind prominent campus sculptures. page 4
When Lyla Wadia came to Whitman College from India this year, she felt surrounded by a larger group of other international students. Her feeling was justified. The class of 2014 has an especially high number of international students in comparison to last year. These students are also from countries that were previously unrepresented at Whitman. This fall there are 16 international first-year students and two others who are doing exchange programs; this figure accounts for 4 percent of this year’s first-year class. Last year there were only eight international first-year students. “Last year’s class was quite small,” said Kris Barry, the international student and scholar adviser. The class of 2014 includes firstyears from Lesotho, Lithuania, Mentenegro and Venezuela--countries that Whitman has previously not rep-
resented. “The result this year is primarily because of improved yield on the students we admitted; more of the students enrolled than we had expected,” said Tony Cabasco, the dean of admissions and financial aid. Whitman’s number of international students, however, is comparable to other small colleges. “Our numbers are about the middle. Some liberal arts colleges have upwards to 10 to 15 percent of their students who are international students. Many others have none or 1 to 2 percent,” said Cabasco. Cabasco additionally noted that enlarging the number of international students demands new financial strategies. “Increasing the number of international student numbers would require additional scholarship funds,” said Cabasco. There are many challenging INTERNATIONAL , page 3
by KARAH KEMMERLY Staff Reporter
Dr. Barry Barish, a leading member in the field of physics, is coming to Whitman College on Thursday, Sept. 30 to give a lecture on general relativity. Members of the department of physics believe that the presentation, entitled “Einstein’s Legacy and Our Best Description of the Universe,” will benefit both science and non-science majors alike. Barish is the Linde Professor of Physics, emeritus at the California Institute of Technology. He is also director of the Global Design Effort for the International Linear Collider, a important project in the field of particle physics. The lecture will be the starting event at the 12th annual meeting of the American Physical Society, a group of over 150 students and faculty from research labs and colleges throughout the Northwestern United States and Canada. BARISH, page 2