Whitman Pioneer - Spring 2011 Issue 4

Opinion explores weight loss

Climbing club offers opportunity for involvement Students revamp club to incorporate competition, travel, access to students.

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WHITMAN NEWS, DELIVERED

A. Cuard talks about how conceptions of beauty police and shame the body.

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Walla Walla, WA whitmanpioneer.com

February 17 2011

VOLUME CXXVIII

ISSUE

4

Page 1

Businesses raise funds for aviary

To-­go attitude fosters dining hall food theft

by MAREN SCHIFFER

by SHELLY LE

Staff Reporter

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Staff Reporter

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alk into a majority of the shops in downtown Walla Walla and you’ll most likely see little cans placed near the cashier counter asking for donations to keep Pioneer Park’s aviary open.

A one million dollar shortfall for the City of Walla Walla’s budget for this year has forced city officials to consider cutting funding for Pioneer Park’s aviary. Maintaining the aviary costs the city approximately 55,000 dollars a year, and with a large budget gap, the aviary is one of the first things to be put on the chopping block. Local businesses around Walla Walla, however, have banded together in protest to keep the aviary open.

Local business owners and residents worry that closing the aviary, home to about 200 birds of 50 species, in the midst of a budget crisis would make it nearly impossible to bring it back. Business owners and other aviary supporters organized the Friends of Pioneer Park Aviary committee to raise money to keep the aviary running without government funds.

Although the committee has raised nearly 36,000 dollars in a matter of months, they still have only raised a portion of what it costs to keep the aviary open annually and have not come close to the amount of money it will take to sustain the aviary in coming years.

“We’ve applied to grants and we also have individuals that we can depend on to donate.

We still have next year to worry about though so we’re looking at long term grants,” committee member Tammie Neve said.

On Jan. 15, the committee sponsored a silent auction which brought in nearly 13,000 dollars with items donated from local businesses.

According to Craig Keister, a local business owner and chairman of the fundraising committee, business owners have been

AVIARY,

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Students gather around a bonfire outside of Beta Theta Pi on Sunday, Feb. 13 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Richard O’Brien’s death. PHOTO BY KENDRA KLAG

One-­year anniversary of student death honored with vigil

by RACHEL ALEXANDER

ception hosted at Beta Theta Pi, of which O’Brien was a member. Sophomore Beta member Jonas Myers said that the fraternity wanted to create a space for people to be together. He hoped the event functioned as both a celebration of Richard’s life and a memorial to him.

“We want the spirit of Richard to continue on in the house,” said Myers.

As part of this effort, Beta started a Richard O’Brien Memorial Scholarship last year, which provides a 500-dollar scholarship towards the live-in cost at the Beta house for a member of the fraternity.

For Myers, the one-year anniversary is a reminder of how deeply O’Brien touched the lives of his friends at Whitman.

“It’s unbelievable that it’s already been a year, especially when you realize that most of us only knew Richard for seven months,” he said. “It’s kind of irreconcilable.”

The memorial service, which was

News Editor

H

ad you been driving along U.S. Highway 12 on the night of Sunday, Feb. 13, you might have seen something unusual as you passed through Walla Walla. Outside of town, in the wheat fields, a flickering circle of candlelight could be seen from the highway. The light belonged to a group of almost 60 Whitman students, who gathered to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of their friend, Richard ‘Hish’ O’Brien.

O’Brien was killed on February 13, 2010, when he hit a tree while skiing at Bluewood Ski Area. In the following weeks, his friends, family and members of the Whitman community gathered to celebrate his life and share stories. Since then, his friends have continued to keep O’Brien in their thoughts, with many writing wishes and memories on his Facebook wall.

The service was preceded by a re-

organized by sophomores Jenna Fritz and Phi Phan, provided students with the opportunity to be together and continue the process of remembering their friend.

“I’m really happy that there was a service,” said sophomore Carolyn Carr in an e-mail. “Like all Whitman students, I am very busy, and as a result, I have pushed my feelings about Richard away.

I haven’t let myself think about Richard’s death or get emotional about him, so it’s nice that there is a time and a place where I will be sure to be surrounded by people who cared about him and care about me to think of Richard and honor his life.”

Fritz said that the memories shared at the service demonstrated how deeply O’Brien affected so many lives at Whitman.

“I I feel like I’ve heard hundreds of stories about Richard, but tonight I heard things I had never heard before,” she said in an e-mail. “There are a million moments spent with Richard that will never be forgotten.”

n front of a sign that reads “Take One Piece of Fruit and One Dessert Only” in Jewett dining hall, a student piles fruit into his backpack, looks up to see no one is watching and grabs a few cookies before heading out the door. This isn’t breaking news--it’s just one of many instances of minor food theft that occur daily at Whitman.

The campus culture seems, comparatively speaking, a morally conscious one. Students take ethics classes and have the reputation of keeping open minds. So what makes stealing from dining halls socially acceptable?

At Whitman, all underclassmen must buy semester-long meal plans from Bon Appétit. Because this is so expensive, no one wants to be burdened by spending extra money at a grocery store. Taking things like tea and milk from the dining halls is more convenient.

With a tight budget in mind, most students want to get their money’s worth from each meal at the dining halls. Plus, the “all you can eat” plans make stealing seem more justified.

First-year Emily Davis expresses the most widespread view among students.

“We do pay a considerable amount for food, so as long as we aren’t taking huge quantities then it seems alright. Like, a couple muffins or pieces of fruit are okay,” she said.

Stealing in moderation seems to be the social agreement between students.

“At the dining hall, you are paying for all of the food that’s made available to you. It’s all you can eat, whereas Reid is not,” said first-year Katie Hudson.

Yet the reasoning goes further than this.

It seems the combination of the “all you can eat” mentality and the current to-go culture is what makes stealing from the dining hall socially acceptable. Hudson also considers the logic of convenience.

The meal hours are limited, making it more difficult for students to fit meals into their schedules.

FOOD THEFT,

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Eco-­stove project to benefit Guatemalan village, Whitman

by ALYSSA GOARD

Staff Reporter

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As over 1,200 fans screamed and chanted in the stands, the Whitman men’s basketball team pulled off an incredible victory over Whitworth University – the #1-ranked DIII team in the nation – last Tuesday, Feb. 15. Following nearly two hours of fastpaced competitive play, the Missionary men scored 17 points in the remaining five minutes for the win. The roaring crowd of students, faculty and staff, alumni and community members flooded the court in celebration. PHOTOS BY MARIN AXTELL

Fans, facilities impact athletic success

by TYLER HURLBURT Staff Reporter

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ou always hear about “home field advantage” in reference to the boost in performance that teams get from playing on their home turf, but how much of an effect does it really have?

If the performance of Whitman varsity teams has anything to say on the matter, it makes a big impact.

Over the past three years, Whitman teams who have competed head-tohead against another team (all varsity

teams except golf and cross country) have posted a 104-88-5 record at home against conference opponents and an 81-107-6 record on the road.

These records show that 54 percent of victories are at home and 43 percent are away. This means that a Whitman team is roughly 25 percent more likely to win while playing in Walla Walla than while travelling around the northwest.

This current season alone has shown a particularly tremendous increase between home and away re-

cords. Overall, the Missionaries are 28-14-1 (67 percent) on home turf and 16-26-3 (38 percent) while travelling.

The large increase in win percentage from playing at home could possibly be contributed to several factors.

The athletes playing in front of their own fans, not having to travel, and playing on high quality facilities that the athletes are familiar with could all impact the outcome of the game.

HOME COURT, PAGE 6

Upperclassmen struggle to find balance between quick, healthy meals PAGE

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ost college students don’t contemplate the role of a stove outside of its ability to bake or broil a decent meal. But the members of Whitman Direct Action (WDA) will spend the next few months learning and appreciating its value as part of a project to bring eco-friendly stoves to a Guatemalan community.

“There’s a need in rural Guatemala for better stoves,” said sophomore Natalie Jamerson, one of the leaders of the project. “The stoves they have right now can emit a lot of smoke, causing health problems, and are often very energy inefficient.”

Currently, five Whitman students are planning to spend the summer in Guatemala helping to build and install eco-friendly stoves, as well as educate the community about their benefits. Jamerson explains that the project is more than a service trip— students involved in WDA are working throughout the course of the semester to educate themselves about stove technology and Guatemalan culture. This academic approach to the project is something Jamerson believes will make it more successful.

“Rather than just giving aid, we are supporting a community,” she said.

As part of the project, WDA has set up two independent study courses to support the students travelling to Guatemala this summer. The first course is led by Julie Charlip, director of Latin American studies at Whitman.

“Guatemala is a key example of what is going on in the rest of Latin America,” said Charlip. Her independent study course focuses on Guatemalan history and economic development, and allows

students to read a variety of books about these topics before they travel to Guatemala for the summer.

The other independent study course is led by Bob Carson, professor of geology and environmental studies. Carson’s course focuses on designing and building a model ecostove, as well as researching the environmental and economic benefits of more efficient stove technology.

Carson said he’s excited to work with WDA on creating a stove design. “[Eco-stoves] reduce travel time for firewood and decrease deforestation, which in turn decreases erosion,” he said. “They also greatly improve indoor air quality.”

The eco-stove class is the largest independent study Carson has ever taught, with seven students enrolled.

Over the course of the semester, the group will learn about stove construction, as well as their ecological and heath impacts. For a final project, the class plans to make an informational booklet in English and Spanish on how to build and maintain eco-stoves.

“Most students haven’t built anything close to a stove,” said Carson, “not even a tree house like I did when I was younger. But these kids have been very interested and have brought a lot to the table.”

WDA’s eco-stove project is part of a larger partnership with a Guatemalan organization called Semilla Nueva, which focuses on sustainable development and agriculture. Semilla Nueva was founded by WDA alumni and has worked with WDA in the past.

The continued partnership allows WDA to work on long-term plans for community development and receive ASWC funding for the trip.

A change in college policy earlier

WDA,

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Just don’t tell our future employers: Feature investigates everyday campus infractions PAGE

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February 17 2011

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Mentees to Campus Day shows how Whitman mentor program has evolved

by WILL GREGG Staff Reporter

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nce a year, 150 grade school and middle school students stampede into Reid Campus Center for a carnival organized by Whitman’s Mentor Program which places Whitman students in local public schools to mentor at-risk kids.

Mentees to Campus Day originally started as a scavenger hunt but has grown into an event large enough to hire a rental company to help set up and provide equipment such as a bouncy castle.

This year’s event, on Friday, Feb. 11, included games, prizes and performances by the Testostertones and Whitman’s dance team.

Mentor-volunteers are paired with a mentee at the beginning of the year. Once a week, mentors meet their mentee during lunch and recess.

Mentees to Campus Day provides an opportunity to strengthen the mentor-mentee relationship outside of school. Justin, a mentee taking a break from the carnival festivities, says he likes to play wall ball and read with his mentor, senior Viral Oza. “He plays with me when I don’t have anyone else to play with at school,” said Justin.

The program started as a senior thesis project in 1992 with around 10 mentors. Now the program has 150 mentors who visit every Walla Walla grade school and middle school, totaling eight

schools in all. The program is entirely student-run and is currently headed by three interns. They budget, assign mentors and organize the carnival setup and cleanup.

“I think the program is at a point right now where it can’t expand anymore,” said mentor program intern Rachel Sicheneder.

The program will likely stay at the record size it reached this year, according to Sicheneder.

Though the program has reached its desired size, recruiting efforts are still made. Intern Andrew Matschiner said that one of the biggest recruiting challenges “. . . is getting more men to participate.”

Barbara Thatcher, an intervention specialist at Green Park Elementary who helps assign mentors to mentees, has been with the program for eight years. According to Thatcher, mentor program interns have done more over the years to better the program like monitoring mentor attendance.

“It’s gotten a lot more organized,” she said.

In the last few years, mentor program interns have done more training with mentors and have held meetings with school counselors and intervention specialists. This year some mentors received training for working with children with special needs, according to Thatcher.

Thatcher says that Whitman students’ personalities make a difference in creating good matches.

“It seems like the Whitman students are really energetic,” she said.

Staff Reporter

I

n honor of the Wednesday, Feb. 16 Founder’s Day Celebration, hosted by the Alumni Association in the Reid College Center foyer, The Pioneer sat down with Whitman’s founder Cushing Eells to discuss the school’s history. Rogers Miles, senior adjunct assistant professor of religion and general studies has portrayed Eells for over 10 years at college and alumni events as well as at community events and at Fort Walla Walla. lege

Why did you found the colhere, in Walla Walla?

I founded the college here maybe by accident and maybe by divine providence. It was 1859 and I was happily living in Forest Grove where I was president of Tualidin Academy which morphed into Pacific University … In that year, the Upper Columbia was reopened to white settlement. I decided in July to go up there and inspect the mission grounds.

I went up there and the mission grounds were in ruins but the great grave was still in place. I felt that God was telling me I needed to found some sort of monument in honor of the fallen martyrs. That was something that Marcus and Narcissa Whitman were interested in near the end of their lives in 1862.

I actually started teaching school on the mission grounds, but I wasn’t able to keep all my students. It was a little too far from where they lived, which was Walla Walla. In 1864, the Board of Trustees persuaded me that it was not the right place to put a seminary—that’s the nineteenth century term for a secondary school. Even though I did not want to locate it in

1977

Year when Radcliffe College signed an agreement with Harvard, allowing women to be jointly enrolled in both schools

1999

Year when Harvard fully integrated Radcliffe College, allowing women to be completely enrolled at Harvard

50

Percentage of female students at Harvard source: college board

Ryan Piela ‘11 plays an intense round of basketball with his mentee. About 150 mentees from local schools came for the annual event. PHOTO BY FAITH BERNSTEIN

The great match can go two ways; First-year Morgan Walker, a mentor, explained that she enjoys playing recess games.

“It’s a really great way to get time away from campus,” Walker said. “You get to take an hour a week to play with kids at recess.

Why wouldn’t you want to do that?”

Mentors may help kids

Whitman has transitioned from being an overtly religious institution to a more secular one, or do you think that the school still upholds the values that you originally had in mind?

Well I’m shocked. I’m shocked because I don’t see how you can have morality without Christianity. But, I sense as I walk the halls and I see students, that there is still a moral fire here, that students are still oriented towards things other than their own, for their other man and woman. I think that there is a good moral spirit at Whitman College and I find myself surprised looking at the present that moral fire can keep without Christianity.

How did the school transition from being a seminary to a college?

The school, as I look back on it, had one major problem. That is that it was tuition dependent. If you hire a principal as the president of the Board of Trustees you were dependent on the income coming in from students to pay that principal. We just didn’t have any other independent funds. What they would receive would go up and down and it was difficult for them and difficult to keep good people in the post.

Walla Walla County at that point was about the size of Massachusetts—stretched way up to Spokane.

So I would get on my horse and visit schoolmarms and see how things were going. But I saw that there was a kind of synergy between the seminary and the public schools. We hoped that the seminary would eventually produce teachers with good Christian principles that would introduce the virtues of self restraint in young students so vital to this young republic … there were many times when we had to shutter the school building because we didn’t have a principal.

We thought that we would get the support that we needed and maybe get an endowment if we became a college. The town was just eager to have a college, and they assured us that they would support us if we took this route.

Why did you choose to spend so much of your life in the field of education?

I think that my first cause was as a missionary. Even though I did a lot of teaching in my life, and indeed as a missionary you were very much a teacher, I saw myself as a missionary right until the end of my life … I would get on my horse La Blond and I would go to little towns like Spangle and Lone Pine and Medical Lake and I would preach. In fact, I’m told you can go down to the Whitman College archive and see my sermons. If you turn them on the back you can see all the places. Every time I gave a sermon I noted the town so of course I didn’t give a sermon twice in the same town … I’m responsible for many of the bells that are still ringing in missions in eastern Washington state.

Do you have anything else to say?

I think that young people have to be ready for changes and to be flexible. I, in a sense, fell into teaching. Teaching was a way of earning money to stay in school when I was a young man … I guess the other things I would say is that perseverance in life is terribly important. I wanted to be a missionary and I did become a missionary and I spent nine years among the Spokane Indians, but I never felt sure enough to say that I actually made a convert, that I actually saw a true conversion experience among them . . . there were times when my family was just eating bread and molasses and condensed meat . . . it really wasn’t until the end of my life . . . in 1888, when I finally went to the Whitman graduation, that I thought well it looks like I have done something, that this institution will survive, and I’m happy about that. You just can’t lose faith in the future or in yourself.

Are you disappointed today that

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Percentage of science and engineering master’s degrees earned by women in 2004

10

Percentage of full-time senior faculty positions held by women in physical science in 2003

6.4

Percentage of full-time senior faculty positions held by women in engineering in 2003

New missing student policy spells out actions, put to use

by JOSH GOODMAN News Editor

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hen a student was reported as missing on Saturday, Feb. 5, his case was the first under Whitman’s new Missing Student Notification Policy. The policy, which went into effect at the start of this academic year, includes who to contact when a student goes missing, the steps the Dean of Students Office will take and an opportunity for students living in a residence hall to designate a contact person in the event they go missing.

Though the opportunity to designate a contact person is new, Dean of Students Chuck Cleveland said that much of the rest of the policy simply spells out what the administration would have done in the past. Cleveland said that there are typically one or two missing students per year, along with several cases where a parent cannot reach their child at Whitman, but the student is not actually missing.

“Truthfully, it helps legitimize our efforts to find students who others are concerned about having not seen for awhile,” he said. “In situations where the person has been absent but not truly missing, sometimes they can be upset that we went through this effort, but now we have a policy that lets them know we’re going to do this.”

To comply with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, Whitman and most other residential colleges were required, beginning in the fall 2010 semester, to ask students living in a residence hall to register a contact person in case they could not be reached. Oftentimes, close friends will have seen the student or may know if the student went on a trip.

Cleveland said he did not think January Start students had had the opportunity to designate a contact yet. Whitman is not required to seek contacts for students living off-campus, including in fraternities, though

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Cleveland said that he plans to discuss that possibility in the future.

With the new Missing Student Notification Policy, staff members must notify the Dean of Students Office or Security upon hearing about a missing student. Whichever office is involved will then contact residence life, the person’s contact and faculty and staff, if necessary. Beyond that, the college may begin an investigation, which may include contacting the student’s friends and looking at their Facebook wall.

When those options don’t pan out, the Dean of Students Office may decide to send out a campuswide e-mail, as they did on Feb. 5, or to contact the media.

But Cleveland said that every case is different, including the one on Feb. 5. In that case, in which sophomore Nick Cross was reported as missing, students played an unusually large role in the search—when Cross’s sister Sharon Cross created a Facebook page urging students to search for her brother the next morning, over 80 signed up.

Ultimately, Cross returned around 2 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 6; the Dean of Students’ Office was notified shortly thereafter, putting an end to the college’s investigation.

Though Cross did not want to comment, he explained his reasoning in a public Facebook post.

“I am truly sorry. I am so grateful for everyone’s effort,” he wrote.

“Taking off just felt like something I needed to do, and it didn’t occur to me at that spontaneous moment that I had to tell anyone that I would, of course, come back soon.”

Cleveland, meanwhile, is glad that this case was only a lapse in communication and that the missing students policy worked.

“I thought that the policy worked,” he said. “I thought there was a network for faculty [and] students that developed [and] kept in communication on this situation, and I think that we had a positive ending.”

EDITORIAL POLICY The Whitman College Pioneer is a weekly student-run newspaper published under the auspices of the Associated Students of Whitman College. The purpose of The Pioneer is to provide pertinent, timely news and commentary for Whitman students, alumni, faculty, staff and parents, as well as the Walla Walla community. The Pioneer is dedicated to expanding open discussion on campus about the issues with which students are most concerned. We provide coverage of Whitman-related news as well as featured local and regional events, and strive to maintain a standard of utmost fairness, quality, and journalistic integrity while promoting freedom of the press. In addition, the Pioneer strives to be a learning tool for students who are interested in journalism. The Pioneer welcomes all feedback and publishes weekly Letters to the Editor in print and online.

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OPINION

50.4

by talking with them at lunch and playing recess games, but the effect goes beyond that.

“They’re not asking anything from you except to be your friend,” said Sicheneder.

Several years of mentoring can, of course, create great friendships.

Or, as simply put by Noah Lerner’s mentee Jeremy, “We just hang out.”

WHITMAN NEWS, DELIVERED

Opinion Editor Gary Wang

News Editor

Year when joint male-female instruction began at Harvard University

a town full of saloons, Dorsy Baker, he’s the banker in town—I believe his bank is still standing, Baker-Boyer— provided four acres of land for the establishment of Whitman seminary.

We managed to raise 3,000 dollars for building a nice New England, twostory, cupola-on-top school building.

Marin Axtell, Faith Bernstein, Julia Bowman, Brandon Fennell, Ben Lerchin, Kendra Klag, Ethan Parrish, Marie Von Hafften

by RACHEL ALEXANDER

1943

Interview with Whitman founder

by SEAN MCNULTY

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February 17 2011

Page 3

Ecostoves help build community from WDA,

Olivia Jones ‘11 leads a life skills workshop, on Satuday, Feb. 12, that allowed students to patch up their worn and torn clothing. Future workshops will include baking, basic car maintenance and personal finance. PHOTO BY FAITH BERNSTEIN

Life skills workshops aim to teach self-­sufficiency

by KARAH KEMMERLY Staff Reporter

W

hile shuffling through file cabinets, Program Advisor at the Student Activities Office Colleen McKinney stumbled across a past idea deserving to be resurrected: life skills workshops.

She and Leann Adams, assistant director of the Student Activities Office, hope to give students the opportunity to learn real-life skills they might not otherwise learn until after college. “I got excited about the idea pretty quickly, and I hoped that if we picked the right topics, students would be equally excited,� McKinney said.

The Student Activities Office has four workshops planned during the semester: mending and alterations, baking, basic car maintenance and an introduction to personal finances. Though all the details aren’t settled, they are hoping to bring in outside teachers, like the baker from the Patisserie.

“Depending on their backgrounds, [students] might not have been exposed to these things,� she said.

McKinney agreed with her. “Some [students] are competent in these skills; some are not.

But I don’t think they’re a part of the K-12 curriculum,� she said. “Hopefully these workshops will help students to go out and be independent,� Adams said.

In addition to preparing students for real life, both Adams and McKinney hope that learning life skills will be fun and practical at the same time. “So far we’ve had good reception from the students,� McKinney said. “They should be fun. Students will get to think about something different than schoolwork. They’ll use a different part of their brain than they do in the classroom,� Adams added.

The first of these workshops, a lesson on patching and mending, took place last Saturday, Feb. 12.

Senior Olivia Jones led the workshop, teaching a group of 15 students

Second, less expensive yearbook request funded

by RILEY MEBUS Staff Reporter

S

econd time was a charm for Whitman’s yearbook, who gained funding after a re-vote during the ASWC senate meeting on Sunday, Feb. 13. After their initial proposal to ASWC was voted down on Jan. 13, the yearbook staff came back with a new proposal.

The idea to produce a soft cover yearbook was mentioned as a possible amendment to the yearbook staff’s initial proposal, but without a cost breakdown available it was not voted on, and the staff was required to research that cost and feasibility of that option.

The approved proposal calls for 350 copies of a full color soft cover yearbook for a total of 11,511 dollars from the ASWC Travel and Student Development fund; the original proposal called for 250 hardback copies and would have cost 15,232 dollars. The expected price to students for the yearbook is 20 dollars, down from the original price of 30. If all the yearbooks are sold, ASWC’s investment would be 8,951 dollars, which includes stipend costs and some of the cost of the yearbooks.

Though the yearbook has money for this year, it did not secure long-term funding. “In my opinion, the proposal that the yearbook staff presented to Senate this time around was much more agreeable,� first-year ASWC Senator Kayvon Behroozian said in an e-mail. “Though it may not have been exactly what

they originally had in mind, it’s the first step in the direction of making their original goal of a hard cover yearbook a reality.�

However, the proposal had a hurdle to clear before it was approved. The memorial service held for Richard O’Brien coincided with the time of the ASWC meeting, so several senators were not present for the first vote. The proposal did not reach the two-thirds majority to pass the first time around.

However, after a consultation with the oversight committee, a motion to re-vote was decreed a valid option. The Senate passed the motion, and on the second vote the Yearbook proposal passed with 15 in favor, one against

They’ve put a lot of trust in us and I’m very excited to make this happen.

BEN LERCHIN

‘13

and three abstaining from vote. “I’m glad we were able to come back to ASWC with a proposal which garnered their near-unanimous support. Everyone’s been extremely supportive given the size of the request we’re making,� Editor-in-Chief of the Yearbook Ben Lerchin said in an e-mail. “They’ve put a lot of trust in us and I’m very excited to make this happen.�

her knowledge of repairing jeans.

McKinney contacted Jones after reading one of her “Thrifty Whitties� columns in The Pioneer last fall about simple clothing alterations.

Jones learned how to sew growing up. She took classes as a child and again in high school. She also taught herself a few things. “I’ve always been interested in crafty things. When I go to a bookstore, I walk to the craft section,� Jones said.

She had several motivations to learn these basic mending and sewing skills. “My parents are part of the clothing industry, and they didn’t like me wearing anything with holes in it. And in high school, I didn’t want to spend my money on clothes.

Jeans are expensive,� she said.

Jones believes that many college students don’t give themselves the time to learn such skills. “I think people get intimidated by the thought of darning or mending clothes. And it’s easy not to have these skills in college. College kids

get away with microwave food and clothing that’s falling apart,� she said.

Students at Saturday’s mending and alterations workshop seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Junior Rachel Hoar was excited to find out that mending jeans isn’t difficult. “I was worried we were going to have to use sewing machines. I have no idea how to use a sewing machine. But mending jeans was actually pretty simple. And that’s great because a good pair of jeans is hard to find, and I can’t afford going to a seamstress,� she said.

First-year Nilce Alvarez was also pleasantly surprised. “I am in love with these jeans. I had to save them. And mending them wasn’t complicated at all,� she said.

Hoar liked feeling self-sufficient. “It’s nice knowing how to do this yourself and not having to rely on someone else,� she said.

Jones feels the same way. “It feels satisfying to have created something,� she said.

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this year stipulated that no student international travel without a professor would be eligible for funding, but WDA’s partnership with Semilla Nueva allows for an exception to this policy.

Carson said that he supported the continuation of WDA’s unaccompanied travel. “While I understand the liability and insurance reasons for not funding groups of students without a professor, it is difficult for faculty to take, say, two months off to visit Guatemala,� he said. “I’m not convinced that faculty will make student trips safer, especially in this case if a professor doesn’t speak Spanish.�

To learn about eco-stove design and construction, WDA has also sought guidance from Aprovecho, a U.S.-based NGO which teaches stove building. WDA recently received a grant from the Outdoor Educational Leadership Fund (OELF), which will allow students to travel to Oregon for a weekend and receive training from Aprovecho staff.

Jamerson hopes that the academic support behind this year’s project will help make it more successful. “Independent study lends a really academic and thoughtful manner to the way we carry out our projects, and I think the professors add another level of seriousness,� she said.

Another goal for the project is to empower women in Guatemala, because they do the vast majority of cooking and consequently suffer the worst effects of indoor air pollution due to inefficient stoves. “Aid can often be very focused on helping the men of the community who work on the construction and economic management of villages,� said Jamerson.  “We hope to do something a little different.�

Ultimately, Jamerson hopes that the project will allow WDA members to learn about international community while applying their knowledge to help people in Guatemala. “We have a valuable gift of education that we can share,� she said.

Local businesses optimistic about aviary’s future, plan to raise more for future years from AVIARY,

PAGE

ing the best we can,� she said. “I’m certainly hoping that we can find the funds. It’d be a shame if we didn’t because a lot of people have put a lot of hard work into this.�

Despite the remaining fundraising hurdle, local artist Julian Raine also expects to see the aviary open for awhile and remains confident in the committee’s ability to raise enough money for later years. “Craig has almost reached his goal and his work will make an impact,� she said.

1

a major component to the effort in keeping the aviary open. “The community has been very generous,� he said. “Other businesses have been very supportive, but the people that I’ve leaned on the hardest has been the wine community. They have been spectacular and really stepped up when we needed them.�

Earthlight Books owner David Cosby is one of the many business owners who supports keeping the aviary open. Cosby donated a set of Audubon’s bird portraits to the silent auction. “The aviary is a valuable asset to our community and I would hate to see it go,� he said.

Sweetwater Paper and Home owner Robin Consani has also donated to the cause and echoes most of the community’s sentiment toward the value of the aviary. Consani has kept a can in her shop for customers to donate to the fund and has seen considerable amounts of support from the community after three months of keeping the can in her shop. “The can is pretty full, customers usually just donate whatever they have left over from their purchase,� she said. “[The aviary] is a historically significant place; it would be a shame to see it go.�

Joan Schille, a maintenance supervisor for Walla Walla Parks and Recreation, was optimistic that the aviary would stay open in the long run, one way or another. “I’m not worried, we’re do-

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February 17 2011

PostSecret brings community art to campus

campus mail project creates cathartic experience via decorated notecards

by SEAN MCNULTY Staff Reporter

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n Sunday, Feb. 6, notes were posted in Stevens Gallery at Reid Campus Center. “I’m superficial,” read one. Another: “I’m not mature.” These notes were posted, but not written, by gallery curator senior Liz Hockett. They were sent to her anonymously as part of a community art project running through the end of the month entitled PostSecret.

The idea behind the PostSecret gallery is simple. If someone has a secret they want to share, they grab a blank note card from the gallery and write their thoughts down in simple script or with creative decorations.

Participants then send their secrets anonymously by campus mail to Hockett, who tapes the secret up in Stevens.

Originally, the gallery was inspired by the PostSecret “community mail art project” started by Frank Warren in 2005. What started as a blog with 10 new secrets every Sunday ballooned into five published books and speaking engagements on various college campuses. A mail brochure advertising a talk by Warren inspired the Stevens installation.

The artistry of the event comes not

only from the presentation of the secrets on the note card, but also the idea of publicized secrets itself. The baring of one’s soul reflects the difficult creation of honest art. PostSecret allows anyone, not just artists, to express themselves in direct and intimate ways.

“I think a secret is kind of like someone’s art,” said Hockett. “If you are an artist yourself, to put something that you created and put like love and time into onto a wall—it’s something very scary.”

The brief, modest cards evoke the casual intimacy of graffiti on a bathroom stall. Hockett, however, has never had to deal with an inappropriate submission.

“I guess because it’s such a ... personal thing, and they’re all personal secrets [it has not been a problem],” she said. “I don’t think that anyone would take this as an opportunity to be obscene.”

So far, every secret that Hocket has received has gone up. Unlike a bathroom wall, PostSecret goes beyond simple shock value, which gives both secret-givers and viewers a cathartic experience.

“Anonymity brings truth,” said Hockett. “It takes away the fear of putting that secret up there.”

SPOTLIGHT ON ART:

Missionary Mainstage brings local stories to life

by MOLLY SMITH Editor-in-Chief

J

uniors Phil Hofius and Nick Michal hope to revive the art of storytelling on Whitman’s campus through the creation of Missionary Mainstage, a new venture that is part live performance and part podcast.

Missionary Mainstage is modeled upon “The Moth Mainstage”, a storytelling project that features the live, unscripted stories of ordinary Americans (and occasional famous guests) at events nationwide and “The Moth Radio Hour”, a nationally broadcast radio program of these stories. Hofius was inspired to create the Missionary Mainstage by his own love of The Moth podcasts and by the success of “The Middlebury Moth”, an event started by a close friend at Middlebury College.

“What interests me about the project is getting people to look more closely at their own experiences ... to show how everyday experiences can be something that are turned into stories. It’s an experiment on narrative itself,” said Hofius.

“We want it to be a celebration of everyday moments and the lives that we lead and how they’re really interesting although they might seem commonplace or mundane. We want to transform them into something that is meaningful,” Michal added.

Hofius and Michal are currently soliciting storytellers from the student body, faculty and staff for the launch of Missionary Mainstage. In addition to featuring a set list of performers, audi-

ence members will also have the opportunity to take the stage and share stories of their own, if time permits.

Hofius and Michal will record the stories and create podcasts of each event, which they plan to link to the KWCW website and air on their weekly radio programs.

Depending on campus interest, they hope to stage monthly Missionary Mainstage events.

Each event will revolve around a specific theme, the first of which is “Winter Wonderland”.

“We chose the theme because it can make people very reminiscent of certain, wildly different events in their lives, and at the same time, it’s sort of cliché, so it encourages people to think outside the box,” said Michal.

“We’re really controlling nothing about this except for where it’s happening,” said Hofius. “Most of our job is setting the atmosphere and making people comfortable with what they are doing, but it’s really up to the storytellers and audience to determine the direction of each event.”

They also have considered staging Missionary Mainstage performers in conjunction with the Visiting Writers Series and campus lectures in hope of involving visiting speakers in the events.

The first Missionary Mainstage will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 8:00 p.m. in Kimball Theatre. The event is open to the public.

Interested performers can contact Phil Hofius at hofiuspd@whitman.edu or Nick Michal at michalns@whitman.edu.

'Black Shawl' examines cultural, individual history

by TANEEKA HANSEN Staff Reporter

T

his weekend, the struggles of Black Shawl, her granddaughter and their tribe came alive in Maxey Auditorium through the voice of a single woman on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 11 and 12.

Sharon French, an actress of Navajo/ Paiute/Anglo descent, shared the story of her Navajo grandmother, Sarah, which she wrote in 1996. French crafted the story originally as an outdoor drama with a cast of 60 actors. Of the original cast, 30 actors were Native American.

“They took ownership of it because it was about them,” said French of her actors.

At the end of 10 years with her cast, French adapted the show so she could continue it on her own. To tell the story of her grandmother French gives voice to 18 different characters. She also weaves stories from her own life into the performance, showing how the traditions of the past shape her own story.

When Associate Professor of Chemistry Allison Calhoun saw this one-woman show in Colorado, she was so touched by the story that she lobbied to have Sharon French brought to campus as a guest educator and performer.

At the outset, French climbed the stairs of the stage slowly. The 73-year-old began in a soft voice to tell the story of the natives of the New Mexico and Colorado area and to set the stage for the scene of

her grandmother’s birth. Soon, however, the audience was surprised by the big voices of Aunt Kate and her husband, both embodied by the same woman.

French and her characters took the audience through Sarah’s birth and adoption by Lily and her settler family, her reintegration into a Navajo tribe at the age of 10 and Sarah’s last glimpse of her grandmother, Black Shawl, as the old woman began the long walk to Fort Sumner.

At the close of the show, the audience appeared in awe of the family story that had just been shared with them. Several audience members took a moment to thank French for coming.

“It was amazing. She is a very powerful storyteller,” said first-year Jenna Carr.

Carr found out about the show through posters in her residence hall.

She expressed a wish that more people could have attended the show to hear French’s story and message.

French shared more than a touching tale; she showed respect for history and storytelling.

“To the Navajo elders, money means little. But stories are precious,” she said at the beginning of her performance.

Her dramatic retelling of Sarah’s story and her own personal stories inspired interest in American history through a special, private setting. “Black Shawl” offered a unique glimpse into a history that has often been suppressed.

Sharon French assumes the role of her own great-great-grandmother, Black Shawl, one of the many characters in her one-woman play. PHOTO BY MARIE VON HAFTEN

In past years, secrets have covered the venue wall-to-wall. The postcards of the past are kept together in a “drawer of secrets”—a massive archive of 3 x 5 sentiments.

First-year Emma Mannheimer views many of the secrets as trite and saccharine.

“I think people just try and romanticize love through it,” she said.

“One of the ones in the art gallery [states] ‘I’ve never been in love.’

Okay, you’re probably 19. How many 19-year-olds have been in love?”

It’s easy to read through the secrets and pick out the general trends that Mannheimer lampoons: many or most of the secrets deal with sexuality, insecurity and relationships—both romantic and platonic.

Hockett recalled a few secrets that stood out to her.

“The ones that are most surprising are the little funny ones,” said Hockett, “just because they’re not in that vein of frustrations or insecurities.”

One card carries its message inside a crude pencil outline of male genitalia. Another confesses a secret about boogers.

Hockett believes, however, that the overarching idea behind the PostSecret event involved the

communal impact of publicized secrets rather than individual talent or particularly memorable secrets.

“Maybe individual secrets don’t stick in your mind,” she said. “I think the grander idea you get out of this

is that everyone does have secrets and it’s okay to have secrets and that displaying them is kind of empowering ... maybe you see people with the same issues you’re dealing with.”

ILLUSTRATION BY SLOANE

Off-­campus students weigh options for cooking healthy meals on budget

by KATE ROBINETTE Staff Reporter

F

or two years, Whitman students have access to prepared healthy food options at least three times a day via Bon Appétit meal plans. But what do students do after those first two years of obligatory responsible eating? Students may preach healthy eating, but when they find themselves hungry and facing an empty kitchen instead of a bustling dining hall, what actually occurs?

Some busy students value ease of preparation when making decision about what and how to eat.

“It’s whatever you can get in your starving stomach fastest and get on with your day,” said senior Christine Simbolon.

Some also value taste.

“I’d like to say that I think about nutritional value, but that’s not the case when going out … Generally it comes down to ‘Will I like this combination of ingredients together?’ when trying to create a gastronomic experience rather than trying to set up a functional meal,” senior Logan Skirm said.

Others prioritize health factors, like senior Alex Kearns.

“The best part [of controlling my own meals] for me is knowing the health benefits of it, knowing exactly what I’m getting,” Kearns said.

Senior Anastasia Higham and her housemates represent those students who prioritize local and organic foods, but she acknowledges how students are also constrained to varying degrees by their undergraduate budgets.

“Cost is definitely a factor of course, especially when ... going out, but also my house particularly [seeks] organic and local, at least as much as possible on a budget,” she said. “We get the 'Made in Walla Walla' box, which is great … we got beets recently and a whole huge thing of garbanzo beans, and you can just Google what to do with them.”

But not all students actually know how to cook beyond searching for recipes via online search en-

gines. Many students would rather go to a restaurant downtown or eat frozen meals than attempt to cook.

“My mom bought me four cans of Pam when I moved off-campus, thinking I’d use them when I cooked. And then I discovered [Tacqueria Yungapeti, a restaurant downtown] and I’ve yet to use one of them more than once,” said Simbolon, who, when eating at home, relies on prepared frozen dishes.

“When I grocery shop I walk up and down the aisles and I see what looks good and I grab it…

Hell no, [I don’t] look up recipes or ingredients,” she said.

However, some students practice cooking and have good intentions towards developing good skills and an eye for healthy meals.

“I actually tried meeting with a professor to learn how to cook this summer,” said Skirm. “We didn’t get particularly far, but I like to think the interest is there. I appreciate good food and I’d like to learn.”

“My mom slowly taught me certain dishes and the rest of it’s been experimentation,” said Kearns. “[She

also] taught me particular skills like how to slice vegetables … and then I kind of just smash them together … [But] I burn things a lot …

Once I burned mac and cheese so bad the pan had little elbow shapes burned into it for months afterward.”

Higham bases her experience on learning from people like housemates or her boyfriend.

“I’m not to [their] level yet, but I have a lot of fun learning from them and cooking with them. I get a lot of chopping and grating jobs,” said Higham.

This enjoyment highlights a surprising commonality found in Whitman students: the community and togetherness of their eating—whether preparing and eating together with housemates or going out with friends or even getting to know staff at restaurants downtown.

Third and fourth-year students may not be going down to section meals dressed in togas together anymore, but these Whitties still seem to value the social side of meals as much as ever.

Johnny Zimmerman '11 (left), Curtis Reid '10 and Ali Schlueter '11 (right) prepare curry and enchiladas in their off-campus home. PHOTO BY BRANDON FENNELL

Poet Garrett Hongo shares work, past at 'Visiting Writers Reading Series'

by MCCAULEY SINGER-MILNES Staff Reporter

A

ward-winning poet, Professor of Creative Writing and editor Garrett Hongo will read his work and share tips with students at this semester's first Visiting Writers Readings Series event. Hongo’s published works include “Yellow Light”, “The River of Heaven” and “Volcano: A Memoir of Hawai'i.”

“Hongo is an important Japanese-American Poet and memoirist/nonfiction writer who's taught for years in the Graduate Program at the University of Oregon,” said Associate Professor of English/Creative Writing and Garrett Fellow Katrina Roberts, who helps organize the series.

Hongo’s culture and personal history influence his writing, and his poetry often addresses problems immigrants face, with a specific focus on the Japanese-American internment camps during World War II. “Every writer offers provocation and unique eyes through which to comprehend the human condition, and Hongo's past provides him with a fascinating—and likely familiar to many who feel marginalized in some way—story,” said Roberts. “For others, he offers culturally resonant experiences rendered in the music of natural speech and heightened by an eye attentive to vibrant, unexpected detail.”

In preparation for the event, creative writing students have studied his work, focusing the unique style that has garnered Hongo comparisons to poet Walt Whitman.

“The students in classes here at Whitman have been reading his poems and memoir and have noted

his lyricism, his ability to transport readers through richly detailed portraits of place, as well as through his compelling arguments of imagery that create seamless shifts and bridges through time,” said Roberts.

Many students, such as sophomore Lea Negrin, appreciate the series because it gives them an opportunity to ask authors questions about their craft.

"The [VWRS] is specifically relevant to me because I am an English major who is hoping to one day publish written work," said Negrin. "It is truly inspiring to attend the reading series because the authors always answer questions and talk about their personal experience with getting published.”

Hongo’s visit to campus marks the fifth writer to share his knowledge and expertise with budding

writers and interested students. The purpose of the series is to expose students to a wide array of styles, experiences and points of view.

“Hongo brings an important diversity to campus as part of the Visiting Writers Reading Series,” said Roberts. “Each of the writers included this year has a range of established and emerging voices who share work across genres, enriching the Whitman and greater community by challenging and promoting discussions of humanitarian concern.”

Hongo will visit campus on Thursday, Feb. 17. The reading, followed by a question and answer session, will take place in the Kimball Theatre starting at 7 p.m.

Walla Walla Sweets Rollergirls help their teammate break through the pack during the Feb. 12 bout against Spokane's "Maidens of Mayhem." PHOTO BY BEN LERCHIN

February 17 2011

Page 6

Wanted: Criminals in flannel

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n Friday, Feb. 11, two Whitman students removed a large framed poster of Hamlet from Prentiss Dining Hall during the dinner rush. Students and Bon Appétit employees looked on, but no one did anything to stop them. Though this occurrence was unusual, thievery in the public eye is present in various guises on Whitman’s campus. This week, Feature investigates three forms of theft that are not always considered "criminal" by Whitman students.

ILLUSTRATION BY SONG

Stealing from Bon Appétit small potatoes to students from FOOD THEFT,

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“Dining hall hours are restrictive.

I understand that they have to be, but at the beginning of the year, I would eat at 5:30 p.m. and be hungry again at 10 p.m.,” Hudson said.

“If it's all you can eat, does it really matter if you're eating it in the dining hall rather than in your room?”

In the past, Bon Appétit was not always so to-go friendly. Ten years ago, students were not allowed to take anything out of a dining hall; it was all you could eat as long as you ate it there.

“It used to be a police battle, almost,” said Susan Todhunter, manager of Prentiss dining hall. “As our culture evolved into more of a 'togo' culture, it changed the dynamic of the dining halls,” Todhunter said.

Now, Bon Appétit is more concerned with its relationship with students, but this is hard to maintain while still preventing students from stealing extra meals or food items.

Staff members address people on an individual basis if necessary, but would rather not spend time policing.

Thus, the policy remains fairly relaxed.

“I think the real difference is that in [Prentiss], you can take food, and likely no one will say, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’” said

sophomore Brian van Oppen, explaining the difference between Reid's Café 66 and the dining halls.

At Reid, most students are more hesitant to steal meals and to-go items, and view such behavior as a greater risk.

“When it gets pretty crowded, students sometimes slip drinks into their backpacks or take snacks from the espresso stand. Or someone will pay for one meal, then their friend goes up and takes two. But almost always when I confront students, they tend to panic a little and not say much,” said Michelle Ikerd, a barista at the espresso stand.

The set prices and café ambiance make the atmosphere in Reid more socially restricting.

“At Reid, there's a fixed price for each specific meal, which defines your limits,” said sophomore Ian Lambie.

The Flex dollar rather than meal swipe system makes Reid feel more like a restaurant and thus farther away from the Whitman bubble.

“If I were to not pay for food at Reid, there would definitely be a sense of guilt. Reid feels more cafélike; it resembles a more real-life place, and from the time we're little, we're told not to steal from places like that,” said sophomore Sergio Garcia.

Idea theft: Minor transgressions can trigger major consequences

by CARA LOWRY Feature Editor

At a college campus, the word “crime” usually conjures images of laptop theft, break-ins or muggings. We seldom think that an incorrectly written paraphrase or poorly cited quotation constitutes a serious transgression. However, these minor errors can result in a failing grade or--in extreme cases--expulsion.

The Student Handbook goes to great lengths to define academic dishonesty, specifically those offenses it identifies as plagiarism, which “occurs when you, intentionally or unintentionally, use someone else’s words, ideas or data without proper acknowledgment.” Further down the page, it states, “[Plagiarism] is a form of cheating; indeed it is a form of theft.”

“The theft language has been in there for a long time ... I suspect that one reason for keeping language like that, which is kind of sharp, is because we are so much in a cut-and-paste, download-it-from-the-web era that people need to be reminded that yeah, this is real,” said Andrea Dobson, chair of the faculty and associate professor of astronomy and general studies.

“I think it’s probably the goal of the college to make it seem that se-

rious, but I think that when people plagiarize they don’t realize it’s that severe,” said sophomore Katie Haaheim.

Despite Whitman’s effort to clearly define and express its policy--especially the section on plagiarism--the word’s meaning still proves slippery for many students. “[Plagiarism] is the elephant in the room when talking about academic dishonesty, the thing people are going to get tripped up on … [it] requires a bigger definition, it’s the hardest to wrap your brain around,” said Dobson.

Students tend to understand the gravity of intentionally presenting another’s work as their own and identify such actions as plagiarism.

“Plagiarism has the connotation of being overt, where you literally just copy and paste something and do it intentionally,” said Haaheim.

However, it is often unclear to students that the college views the unintentional cases as an equally serious offense. Interestingly enough, this type of plagiarism is more frequent at Whitman.

“There are plenty of times when people are actually not giving you the references and are plagiarizing with intent, but I think accidental plagiarism is more common and that it comes from a lack of knowledge of how and where to cite things,” said Dobson.

This is most likely due to Whitman’s liberal arts academic environment, which is founded on close relationships between faculty and students.

“I think that we probably have less students buying stuff off the Internet,” said Dobson. “We know students’ work better and someone who turns in wildly irregular work would be more obvious here than someone doing it at a larger university.”

Haaheim echoes this opinion.

“I think people here are genuinely serious about academics … It’s not necessarily laziness or not wanting to write your own work, it’s being busy and not realizing how much you had to do, then panicking and maybe cutting corners on one assignment [and] in cases where people don’t cite correctly it’s more of an unawareness of proper citation,” she said.

As a proactive measure against academic dishonesty, the college requires that the policy be introduced to all students early in their undergraduate career. Upperclassmen may recall an initial meeting with a pre-major adviser where

the policy was presented and the student signed a statement, acknowledging his or her comprehension.

“I remember getting something, seeing something in the Student Handbook to the effect of reading what the policy was. But I don’t remember having it actually explained to me point by point,” said Haaheim.

This year, the incoming firstyears were introduced to the college’s policy by means of a group advising session led by Juli Dunn, director of Whitman’s Academic Resource Center. The result of the policy being updated during the 2009-2010 school year, the change aims for greater clarity and uniformity in the presentation of the policy.

“I think it is fair to say that we wanted to ensure a consistent message about academic honesty and in-

[Plagiarism] brings with it some of the harshest consequences that the college can hand down [...]

JULI DUNN, DIRECTOR OF THE ARC

tegrity at Whitman. It is one conduct area that brings with it some of the harshest consequences that the college can hand down to a student and yet if you asked students about the types of conduct that might warrant such consequences it was one that was rarely mentioned,” said Dunn.

Though it will take several semesters before the administration can determine whether the adjustment will yield fewer cases of plagiarism, some visible changes have already occurred.

“The one thing I did notice is that I had more students than ever this fall wait to sign their forms until they really understood what they were signing. I saw this as an important step in the right direction in that students weren't just signing a form; but rather, signing a form after they understood its full implications,” said Dunn.

And what exactly does this signature imply?

“By signing it you’re saying, ‘Yes I did know,’ and we’re going to hold you responsible for knowing,” said Dobson.

ILLUSTRATION BY SONG

Whitties don't toe the line when it comes to sharing files online

by PATRICIA VANDERBILT Feature Editor

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n Whitman’s campus, file-sharing turns even the most highly-educated and well-groomed college student into a criminal.

Few would disagree that using the Internet to obtain music and movies without paying for them is a copyright violation; students are aware that when they do this they are breaking the law. This knowledge, however, deters few from illegal downloading.

Socially accepted “Yes,” senior Ian Gill asserted when asked if students at Whit-

man illegally download music and movies, “I know this for a fact.”

According to junior Theo Pratt, to students who obtain media illegally, violating copyright doesn’t feel like a crime.

“Consciously, people know that they are stealing,” he said, adding that students, “wouldn’t consider it the same as walking into a store and stealing a CD or DVD off the rack.”

Gill echoed this sentiment.

“It is stealing, but it’s okay; there’s a disconnect,” said Gill, attributing students’ willingness to violate the law to the fact that “it’s not a physical item.”

The ability to gain access to movies, TV shows and music free of cost in the privacy of a personal living space is ir-

ILLUSTRATION BY SONG

resistible to many. It’s illegal, but it is viewed with an “everyone does it” mentality and shrugged off. And because this act is so commonplace, there is no fear of repercussions.

“Not really,” said Pratt when asked if students worry about the consequences of illegal media use. “People who do it are a third party--if you’re going to enforce laws, you’ll go after the people who are redistributing it-the sites as opposed to the individuals.”

Whitman’s policy Whitman addresses the issue in its Whitman Campus Network Acceptable Use Policy, which can be found on the WCTS website. Copyright violation is listed as unacceptable conduct.

This policy refers to the violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Whitman receives complaints of copyright violations from the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America. This summer, new provisions of the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) went into effect, placing a greater obligation on institutions of higher education to have polices on copyright infringement and to notify students about these policies. Action against copyright violation at the college level increased after the HEOA went into effect, according to Whitman’s Chief Information Officer Keiko Pitter.

“Both recording and motion picture industries accelerated their ‘infringement notice’ activities,” Pitter said in an e-mail.

Whitman saw a huge increase in copyright violation complaints in the fall 2010 semester.

“Prior to last fall, the most infringement notices we had ever seen for any given semester was 14. In fall 2010, there were 77,” said IT Security Officer/Deputy Director, Enterprise Technology Mike Osterman in an e-mail.

Our campus isn’t the only one to see these types of numbers.

“Comments from other schools on professional listservs indicate that all schools saw a huge uptick in infringement notices during the same time period,” Osterman said.

Whitman acts an intermediary when it receives a complaint from a copyright holder, forwarding the complaint to the user--who is identified by their IP address.

“We do not identify the person to the copyright holder,” Osterman said.

The student is required to submit a statement that acknowledges the violation and confirms that the copyright-violating material has been removed. If the student does not take these steps and denies the claim, legal action may be taken.

“Under the DMCA, the claimant may pursue a subpoena to obtain the identity of the system user and may file a lawsuit against the user,” says the WCTS website under “Response to claims of copyright infringement.”

Pitter notes that this has never occurred; all students have complied with the policy.

“Fortunately, we've never had to go there,” she said.

Though Whitman’s policy is online, students generally are not knowledgeable of it.

“I don’t think that at all,” said Pratt when asked if Whitman students know the policy on copyright violation. “I can’t think of any e-mails, talks, notices ...” he said.

Gray area Deliberately seeking to obtain a media file without paying for it is one thing, but sometimes students violate copyright in less obvious ways.

“Illegal file sharing sometimes occurs ... when a person owns music and ‘shares’ it online with friends. The person doesn't think of this as illegal,” Pitter said.

Whitman students do just

that, sometimes using the program Mojo to share files. Pratt recalls a professor quite openly discussing sharing files on Mojo.

“They said that they had illegally downloaded a lot of music and were open to sharing music,” said Pratt.

Deusty Designs stopped distributing Mojo in 2010 due to legal pressure from EMI music.

Streaming video online is also common. In this case, the student doesn’t download anything, but watches a video on a site that is hosting the file illegally. Both Gill and Pratt acknowledged that this occurs with frequency.

“If you’re watching a TV show, it’ll probably be online, but not in a legal way,” said Gill.

“Megavideo is big,” Pratt said, referring to a video-hosting site. He added that “a lot of people actually do use legit sites like ABC, Fox, Hulu.”

As there is no actual downloading involved in video streaming, to many the act hardly seems criminal.

Furthermore, often sites will do their best to appear legitimate so users don’t know that what they’re doing is illegal.

“Some sites it’s hard to tell,” said Pratt.

Free and easy Filesharing and streaming video allows students to enjoy media free of cost and at their own convenience. They don’t have to wait for advertisements, and they can easily share files with their friends. Students don’t worry about potential repercussions from their actions and are largely unaware of Whitman’s policy on copyright infringement.

Though legal means of obtaining media online are gaining momentum, and sites like Pandora and Hulu are popular alternatives to illegal downloading or streaming, the ease and seemingly consequence-free nature of these crimes ensures that, for now at least, they are here to stay.

February 17 2011

Page 6

Club provides greater opportunities for climbers

SCOREBOARD Basketball

by PAMELA LONDON Staff Reporter

F

or over a decade, Whitman climbing enthusiasts have pursued their passion by participating in the mountaineering club.

Now, the club has undergone a transformation into the Whitman Rock Climbing Club and upped the ante.

The Rock Climbing Club officially began under its new name at the beginning of the fall 2010 semester. Outdoor Program (OP) Director Brien Sheedy leads the group, which includes climbers of all skill levels. During the summer, Sheedy was approached by seniors Nat Clark and Aidan Beers about starting a climbing club at Whitman.

“I suggested that we change mountaineering club into more of a climbing club,” said Sheedy.

Instead of focusing solely on mountaineering technique and practice, the climbing club has broadened its base, which can be broken down into three elements: mountaineering, competitions and climbing trips.

The climbing trips exist separate from the OP and don’t have official trip leaders. In addition, there are no prerequisites to go on the trips.

“The idea is to offer trips beyond the level offered by the OP,” said Lilly Dethier ’10.

Dethier worked for the OP as a first-year, and was hired as the climbing wall manager following her graduation from Whitman.

Instead of trip leaders organizing specific routes that everyone has to follow, climbers have more freedom to choose where they want to go. This allows the climbers to have a more individualized and, ultimately, enjoyable experience.

“The trips are more personal,” said sophomore Charlotte Hill.

Competitions add yet another dimension to the club which the mountaineering club lacked. Colleges and

MEN'S vs. George Fox 2/11 vs. Willamette 2/12 vs. Whitworth 2/15

win; 119-­77

WOMEN'S vs. George Fox 2/11

loss; 61-­45

win; 79-­58

win; 82-­79

vs. Willamette 2/12 vs. Whitworth 2/15

win; 83-­65 win; 74-­61

Baseball

Ahren Stroming ‘14, Isabel Hong ‘11 and Chelsea Cordell ‘14 take advantage of whitman’s exceptional climbing center, practicing belaying technique in a beginning climbing class. PHOTO BY MARIN AXTELL.

universities around the Northwest host these competitions, which range in skill level from beginner to open and include male and female categories. “[Competitions] are pretty laid back,” said Hill. “It’s a pretty casual atmosphere. Anyone can compete because there are different levels.”

Along with several other members of the club, Hill went to the Eastern Washington University climbing competition held on Jan. 29. The EWU competition was the second of eight competitions available for the Whitman climbers to participate in.

For any and all interested Whit-

man students, the Rock Climbing Club is very easy to join. The club’s listserv keeps members up to date on scheduling, competitions and climbing times.

“Anyone can come during open hours [at the climbing center],” said Dethier. “You can take clinics to get the technical skills to go on certain trips.”

Students have several options if they have interest in learning about climbing or improving their skills.

There are climbing classes available each semester, including beginner, intermediate and instructor courses, as well as clinics and general wall use. The wall is also available for sports teams,

clubs and residence hall sections to sign up for team building activities or simply as something fun to do together.

The climbing wall is one of the more popular spots on campus, and averages about 80 visits per day during the week.

“Once people get down here, they realize that there are actually a lot of people in here,” said Sheedy.

The climbing club will participate in competitions periodically for the next two months before coming home to host the Sweet Onion Crank on April 30 at the Whitman Climbing Center.

vs. University of Texas Dallas 2/10 vs. La Verne 2/11 vs. Concordia Texas 2/12

loss; 11-­1

vs. Cal Lutheran 2/13

loss; 15-­2

loss; 20-­6 loss; 10-­6

Tennis MEN'S

vs. Lewis-Clark State 2/13

loss; 6-­3

UPCOMING EVENTS Basketball

Whitman athletes feel benefit of home competition from HOME COURT,

PAGE

es that come with being on the road largely contribute to teams possibly performing worse while away.

“Playing on the road is often more difficult,” Jacobson said. “Long bus trips, not-so-great food, and sharing beds may all negatively impact performance, as well as the unfamiliar location.”

While an unfamiliar location may be a disadvantage while on the road, the fact that athletes do not get to play in the quality of facilities that they are used to practicing in may exacerbate the situation. Many Whitman athletes feel that all of the Whitman facilities are superior to those of most of the other schools in the conference which could play a large role in this home field advantage.

“Whitman has one of the best, if not the best, soccer fields/complexes in the conference,” Jacobson said.

White agrees in the superiority of the venues here at Whitman.

“Sherwood Center is by far the best place to play in the Northwest Conference,” she said.

The roar of the home crowd, playing in familiar and superior facilities and not having to spend four hours stuck on a bus all add up to Whitman varsity teams having a substantial advantage when playing at home.

1

First-year basketball player Meghan White believes that the Whitman fans make a strong impact on her team’s performance.

“I definitely feel our Whitman crowd aids our women’s basketball team’s success,” White said. “Nothing beats the invigorating feeling of hearing a cheering crowd as you play basketball. It pumps me and every one of my teammates up, bringing the competition to the next level.”

The strength of fan support can also be seen where one may not expect it: the pool. During a recent home swim meet, sophomore phenom Kevin Dyer found himself trailing a Whitworth opponent through most of the grueling 1,650-yard freestyle. As he started to gain on the other swimmer, the packed crowd really got behind him and helped him overtake the Pirate, winning the 17-minute race by a mere 34-hundredth of a second.

“Usually you can’t hear people when underwater, but when I started to catch the guy I really started to hear the crowd,” Dyer said. “It happened at the point in the race when I was starting to get tired and knowing that there were so many people cheering me on really pushed me through to the end.”

Some athletes, including sophomore soccer player Jed Jacobson, find that travel and the disadvantag-

ILLUSTRATION BY URIU

Athletes tackle study abroad, separation from teams

by PAMELA LONDON Staff Reporter

W

hitman is a place that prides itself on giving students every opportunity possible to succeed and experience all that college has to offer, and the Off-Campus Studies (OCS) program is no exception.

Every year, countless students leave the self-proclaimed Whitman bubble in exchange for the chance to travel and study abroad in nearly any place imaginable, from South Africa to China.

For varsity athletes who would otherwise be in the middle of off-season training, however, the choice to study abroad can directly impact their athletics.

“I may have thought a little harder about whether going abroad would be in my best interest, but for me, going abroad is something I always knew I wanted to do, regardless of where I attended school or whether I played soccer,” said junior soccer captain Libby Watkins, who is currently studying in Washington, D.C., and spent the summer of 2010 in Tanzania. “[M]y study abroad decision was greatly influenced by my being a varsity athlete,” said senior swim captain Jamie Nusse, who studied last spring in Buenos Aires, Argentina. “Due to the inversion of seasons in the southern

hemisphere, the Argentines had summer vacation while we had winter break, so their semester did not start until about a month after ours.

I knew swimmers who had studied abroad in South America and New Zealand who were able to finish the swim season and then depart, which is why I chose to go south.”

While being a varsity athlete made Watkins and Nusse think about their study abroad options, senior swim captain Ali Schlueter wasn’t influenced at all by athletics in her decision to go abroad.

“I knew that studying abroad was a once-in-alifetime opportunity, and I

ILLUSTRATION BY LOOS-DIALLO knew I would have my whole senior year season [ahead],” said Schlueter, who went abroad to Freiburg, Germany in the fall of 2009.

It appears to be a common theme that being a varsity athlete has little to no effect on a student’s decision to study abroad, as the opportunity is not some-

thing students want to pass up.

“When advising students, I find that [they] rarely mention athletics as an issue [for studying abroad], other than occasionally talking about a preference for study abroad in the spring rather than the fall because of a sport,” said Susan Brick, OCS director.

Winter sports athletes find themselves faced with a tougher decision in figuring out when to go abroad, since studying in the fall or spring semester will cut into regular season training time. Nusse, who left after the Northwest Conference Championships, believes it is easier for winter athletes to go abroad for spring semester, when the off-season is just beginning.

Schlueter, who went abroad in the fall, agrees that “joining the swim team at the peak of their season was difficult,” since all of the first-years were newcomers as her own season was beginning.

For all of the varsity athletes who study abroad, the return to Whitman is equivalent to a homecoming of sorts, as the athletes are welcomed back into the community by their teammates. Motivation to maintain fitness and improve individually can be difficult to come by while abroad for many athletes, but returning to the team dynamic makes the transition all the more easy. The connection between teammates isn’t often something that can be broken by distance.

“It was extremely difficult to exercise without a team,” said

Schlueter. “Exercising by yourself is boring when you’re used to doing it with 40 of your closest friends.

There’s no replacement for that kind of support and motivation.”

“I always find that it’s harder to motivate myself when my teammates aren’t around, but knowing that everyone back at Whitman is working harder than ever really pushes me,” said Watkins. “I don’t want to let my teammates down, so often that is what gets me going even when working out is the last thing I want to do.”

MEN'S

vs. Pacific University WOMEN'S

vs. Pacific University

away; feb. 18

away; feb. 18

Baseball MEN'S

vs. College of Idaho

home; Feb. 18, 12 p.m. home; Feb. 19, 12 p.m.

Tennis MEN'S

vs. Pacific University

away; Feb. 20, 9 p.m.

vs. George Fox University

away; Feb. 20, 3 p.m.

vs. Willamette University

away; Feb. 21, 2 p.m.

WOMEN'S

vs. Lewis-Clark State

home; Feb. 19, 1 p.m.

vs. Willamette University

home; Feb. 20, 9 a.m.

NICKNAME

OF THE WEEK Matt “Mad dog” Liedtke Swimming, Junior (butterfly specialist) Like an unruly and enraged canine, Mad Dog is a ferocious, fierce and fearless competitor.

ADVERTISEMENT

Page 7

February 17 2011

Public support keeps theatre creative AMI TIAN Columnist

W

hile I like to complain that things in London are wildly expensive (Ten pounds for a sandwich?!), there is one exception: theatre is cheap.

At the National Theatre, tickets to “Hamlet” actually cost 10 pounds (the price of certain sandwiches).

Cheap theatre tickets are possible because of how London theatre is funded: the two sectors of the London theatre are the profit-making sector, which encompasses the West End (think Broadway), and the subsidized sector, which encompasses basically everything else. Arts Council England, one of the major sources of funding for the subsidized sector, is part of the UK government’s Department for Culture, Education and Sports, and sponsors individual projects as well as the running costs (i.e. salaries, publicity) of off-West End venues and theatre companies.

Corporate sponsorships and private endowments also contribute to the subsidized sector, but not to

the extent that they do in the United States. England is a shining example of government arts funding. We should be emulating them; they’re doing something right here. England should not be emulating us-which is why these cuts worry me.

In October, the English government’s spending review resulted in a 30 percent cut to Arts Council England’s budget, with a 24 percent cut overall to the Department for Culture, Education and Sports spread out over the next three years. According to The Guardian, the cuts will begin to affect arts organizations this April.

American theatre isn’t in a great place right now. Theatre in the United States is, and has been for years, referred to as a dying art form.

In order to save it, we should take a page from England’s book and make theatre that’s worth seeing, at prices that won’t cost us an arm and a leg.

We should push harder for the development of new works. We should make ticket prices cheap and get young people into the theatre. Then maybe this terrible trend of adapting Hollywood for the stage will end; maybe young people will spend their money to see a play rather than “The Roommate” or whatever crap is playing right now. Then maybe theatre won’t be that perpetually dying entity.

Public funding makes a difference and influences the type of theatre that exists in London and the kinds of people who go to the theatre. For instance, in London there are several popular theaters dedicated solely to

the production of new work. Two notable examples are The Royal Court Theatre (birthplace of “The Rocky Horror Show”, as well as work

by Caryl Churchill, Sarah Kane and Martin McDonagh—to name a few) and The Bush Theatre, which is subsidized entirely by public funding.

The average age of theatergoers is much younger in London than in the United States; usually when I see plays in the states, the age range of the audience is from middle-aged to very, very old. The environment of London theatre is different, too: it’s more social, more relaxed. “People go to see theatre [in England] like they’re going to the movies,” one of my professors here explained. And often the ticket price is less than that of a movie--with concessions (e.g. student, under 26, unemployed). Shows usually cost between five to 12 pounds.

These prices could only be achieved with the help of taxpayers’ money.

The quality of the work differs as well and illustrates the implications of public funding versus private funding. More strings are attached to private money. Public money not only allows but demands theatres to take risks; plays are assessed on the basis of their artistic merit and ambitiousness, rather than their ability to turn a profit. As a result, London theatre in the subsidized sector tends to be riskier, bolder and more experimental than American theatre.

And a symbiotic relationship can exist between the subsidized sector and the profit-making sector. The

Beauty oppresses our bodies A. QUARD Columnist

N

o one ever tells you directly, “You are fat.” Which is strange, considering we live in a country that is obsessed with dieting, exercise, shaping those buns, working those calves, slimming those thighs, shedding those few extra pounds and choosing salads over sandwiches.

We are a society obsessed with “fat”, and specifically, how to “lose” it. And yet, we hate to acknowledge that fat isn’t some evil force that exists out on its own in the world. The fat that we so fear and hate belongs to a human body, and that body belongs to a person, and that person likely has many other traits and attributes besides their body fat. If we talked about fat bodies all the time, we might quickly realize how ridiculous our obsession is; but instead, we only talk about “the fat,” as if it were separate from the person. In conversation at least, we talk about body fat, not fat bodies.

But then there are some of us, maybe even many of us, who do talk about the fat bodies, but mostly just to ourselves. We constantly survey the bodies that surround us: “My thighs are much bigger than that,” but “my stomach is flatter.”

We function quite nicely as our very own fat police, precisely because we never have to speak the words directly. You. Are. Fat. Why can’t we say it? Plenty of people in other places say it. Go to rural Mexico.

They’ll tell you, “You’re fat,” and “Eat more tortillas,” and “You’ve gained weight,” all

in the same sentence—except you feel no shame. But, in the United States, when someone tells you (or you tell yourself), “You are fat,” you are also saying that you should be “less fat.”

No one ever tells me I’m fat because, to be honest: I’m not. And yet, all of the facts and figures somehow get overlooked in the time between when I look in the mirror and when I think to myself “I am fat.” The weird part is, I don’t really think I’m fat. I like my body, and more importantly, I appreciate my body. And yet, I still. feel. fat.

To make things worse, I’m supposed to believe that I came up with this crazy idea of ‘feeling’ fat all on my own. Trust me though, I’m not imagining it: society is constantly telling me (and you) that we should feel fat. Regardless of whether our BMI, body type, clothing size or the number on the scale are considered acceptable in society; we are made to feel guilty about our bodies, the things they do and the way they look.

It’s no secret that people on television, people in movies, people in magazines, do not look like me.

All of us are con-

stantly exposed to images and ideas on television shows, the news, magazines, movies and the Internet, that are fairly consistent with a societal ideal of what we “should” all look like. But these images and ideas don’t just get produced. They produce something that we call “beauty”. And they produce “us”, how we see ourselves and each other, and how we see “beauty”.

We become people who pinch and prod and poke at their bodies. Who scratch and cut and starve their bodies, because they are not “beautiful” enough. Who subject themselves to horrors of manipulation and abuse and mental oblivion, all because they want to be “beautiful”.

I would love for everyone to feel beautiful. But still, I don’t think it would be enough. I think something is awry in the very idea of bodies being “beautiful”. Our ideas about “beauty” don’t have much to do with making people feel beautiful.

The presence or absence of “beauty” is a tool that we use for body policing and body shaming. And as long as we have societal standards of what is “beautiful”, we will have people who are systematically oppressed and excluded from that standard: people made to feel ugly, imperfect, and like they will never be enough.

So, fuck beauty.

My body is not here for your viewing pleasure.

My body is here for me, and me alone. My body is my life and my world; it’s the only thing in this world that is truly mine.

So don’t try to tell me it is ugly.

And don’t try to tell me it is beautiful. My body has nothing to do with you.

P eople have bodies.

Bodies have fat. Let’s try to get over it, can we?

ILLUSTRATION BY LOOS-DIALLO

A. Quard is a happy poliiQBh¾ Y9V\g¾ qP\¾ Qh¾ \wiGZ¾ frustrated and depressed by the ways of the world.

subsidized sector will create material for the West End, which will make money that can then be funneled back into the subsidized sector. For example, “War Horse”, which is playing in the West End right now (also, a film adaptation directed by Spielberg is scheduled to be released later this year), started out as a National Theatre play.

In fact, many shows on Broadway started out as off-Broadway shows.

I understand why they’re making the cuts: it’s partially because of the hugely expensive 2012 Olympics, but also because this coalition government seems to be trying to emulate the U.S. in sending the message that they don’t care about the arts.

By cutting public funds for the arts, they expect theatres to rely increasingly on private money (i.e. corporate sponsorships and endowments).

Obviously the theatre industry wil survive these cuts. But in what form? Will we look back on this moment in 20 years and think wistfully, “England was the last bastion of real, good, cheap theatre?” Will we struggle to name the last play we saw, only to give up, shrug our shoulders and say, “Look, this is interesting, but I need to go if I’m going to catch the 7:30 showing of ‘The Roommate 4: Return of the Revenge of the Roommate’?” I really, really hope not. æYQ¾ Qh¾ 9¾ gPGi\gQB¾ 9ZD¾ wQXY¾ hikDies major studying abroad in London. She misses peanut butter, macaroni and cheese and having money.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor, Regarding last week’s article entitled “Whitman looks to add 10 tenure track faculty as economy picks up”: We would like to clarify the statement that Whitman is adding 10 tenure track faculty. The economics position is new in the sense it will cause a net increase in the number of overall number of tenure track faculty. The environmental studies-classics and geology positions have never existed before, but are being created through the reallocation of existing resources and do not represent a net addition to the number of tenure track positions.

We would also like to happily point out that the Whitman administration is in the process of applying for a Melon Foundation grant that, if received, would convert eight visiting professor positions into tenure track lines. ASWC is highly supportive of this effort and has spoken to the Board of Trustees about the importance of its funding, as well as the general addition of tenure track lines.

Thank you, John Loranger ASWC Student Affairs Chair Carson Burns ASWC President

Early buys have risks, rewards BLAIR FRANK Columnist

W

ay back in 2007, when the iPhone was still a brandnew, fairly untested product, Apple suddenly dropped the price of the original iPhone by 200 dollars. Consumers were outraged that the phone they had previously paid 500 or 600 dollars for was now going for a paltry $300 or $400. But people who followed technology and the way companies deal with new products shrugged. Apple’s price reduction was nothing new. People who buy new products soon after they come out often have to pay a premium for them. I call it the early adopter tax.

Those of us who saturate ourselves in technology have a name for the people who have to have the latest, greatest product at any given time: early adopters. When these people see a cool new gadget that they like, they’re going to go out and buy it on the day it launches, or a few days thereafter. They also tend to be wealthy enough to be able to spend massive amounts of money on new gadgets.

By doing so, they reap a lot of benefits. After all, having the newest gizmo before everyone else is pretty cool. But there are also a bunch of potential issues. Most new products, while cool on the surface, often ship with bugs that can be annoying or do not work as intended. Despite the efforts of everyone who ships a product, I’ve never seen something that’s entirely bug-free. For example: “Fallout: New Vegas” shipped with crippling problems, and people who bought it on launch day had to wait for a patch to fix the bugs that were keeping it from working. I’d bet the developers didn’t see those bugs coming.

There’s also the issue of price, with a product often getting progressively cheaper, sometimes even a few months after its launch, as in the case of the iPhone. Early adopters are paying a premium for things that will get progressively cheaper as they get older. In addition to being cheaper, gadgets like smartphones, comput-

ers and tablets are constantly being revised by their manufacturers, often with new features and performance upgrades for the same price.

All of these issues add up to what some people (myself included) call the early adopter tax. It’s a shorthand way of talking about all the problems people face when they pick up a brand new product.

So, what should you as the consumer do about the early adopter tax? The short answer is: be mindful. It’s not going to go away any time soon, and there are some gadgets that I believe are truly worth paying it for. (I’m considering picking up a Nintendo 3DS on launch day.) At the same time, everyone has a finite budget. Sure, laying down a big chunk of cash for the Next Big Thing may make sense at some point, but you have to pick your battles, unless you have a massive amount of disposable income. That’s especially relevant for college students because, let’s face it, most of us are fairly short on it.

At the same time, it’s important to realize that the early adopter tax is here to stay. Early adopters play in the tech ecosystem. These are the people who, through their purchases, provide seed money for companies to continue producing new and better products. If everyone had waited to buy the iPhone, or any other gadget because something newer and better would be coming within a year, there wouldn’t have been something newer and better. Making a new widget, especially something new and revolutionary is often a huge risk. Any company that does such a thing needs to recoup its development and manufacturing costs and gauge consumer support before moving forward with any subsequent products.

Often that means that new products are expensive, or not as technically capable as the ones that follow them.

By means of a conclusion, allow me to offer a few words of advice. If you believe in a product, and want to pick it up the day it comes out, think about the early adopter tax. If the idea of paying more for something in terms of both financial and functional costs is still outweighed by owning that product, go ahead and pick it up. Just don’t be surprised if the price drops a few months later, some key component breaks, or there’s a better version of it out in six months.

Blair Hanley Frank is an English major and the technology columnist for The Pioneer.

He also writes for PCWorld’s GeekTech blog and can be found on Twitter as @belril.

‘Greed is good’: Activists need to appeal to capitalism’s desire for more J. STATEN HUDSON Columnist

I

t used to be that capitalism was the archenemy of the environment. In the days of cheap energy and limited environmental regulation, it made business sense to pollute But today, with energy prices creeping higher and the eco-conscious global population increasing, companies are finding that they have to “go green” or else face the prospect of a poor public image and higher operating costs.

Many in the Green Movement see this as a victory of their own design. They have managed to convince business that harming the environment is simply unacceptable, they argue. They have forced corporations to recalibrate their bottom lines so that profit is not privi-

leged to the detriment of the planet.

But this is simply not the case.

The goal of the firm, as it is preached in every business textbook in the nation, is and always will be to maximize profit. As much as the Green Movement would like to take credit for “changing” how businesses do business, very little change has actually occurred. Instead, companies are realizing that limiting their use of fossil fuels or disposing of their hazardous waste in a responsible manner, can help them cut costs and improve their profit margins. Quite simply, being environmentally responsible is beginning to be good business.

This is because consumers are increasingly choosing to buy goods or services that identify themselves as “green”. A recent survey conducted by The Washington Post, for instance, found that 30 percent of utility customers in Minnesota were willing to pay extra for electricity that comes from renewable resources. In the finance industry, mutual funds that put “social responsibility” as part of their mission have managed to add new investors at a faster rate than those that do not according to the Social Investment Forum’s recent biennial report.

This change in consumer tastes is being felt by businesses. In order to satisfy their customers, companies are compelled to “go green” or else they risk losing customers to their competitors. A pertinent example is the auto industry. Following the success of the Toyota Prius, many car companies, like Honda, Ford and Chevrolet, invested hundreds of millions of dollars to develop their own hybrid vehicles, which have better fuel economy and emit significantly less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

If they had chosen not to invest in hybrid technology, they would have lost out on one of the industry’s fastest selling sectors—that of highly fuel-efficient small to mid-size cars. Others are finding that “going green” can help them cut costs.

Timberland, the outdoor clothing company, found that by reducing its carbon emissions it could also significantly reduce its energy costs.

For Timberland, reducing its carbon footprint was less a matter of “greening” its corporate image and more a matter of business efficiency.

As Timberland CEO Jeffrey Swartz stated in a New York Times article, “What idiot will leave costs on the table? I hope it’s our com-

petitors. I get paid to create value.”

Indeed, more and more businesses are recognizing that they can profit by doing things like reducing their reliance on fossil fuels or promoting sustainability. To help them towards this end, an increasing number have added a new position to the executive ranks—a chief sustainability officer whose job is to make money off of the push to go green.

According to a report by The New York Times, these CSO’s have real power too. Linda J. Fisher, the chief sustainability officer at DuPont, refused to sign off on an acquisition of another firm whose business she deemed was not “sustainable”, killing the deal. Companies are beginning to realize that if they do not give careful attention to the environmental impact of their business, they are going to have to pay a huge price for their lack of diligence in the future.

Most of Europe, for example, abides by the tenets of Kyoto Protocol, which sets binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Companies that do business in Europe are bound to certain emission limits and those that exceed these limits are forced to buy carbon credits to comply. By ratifying the Kyoto

Protocol, governments are providing firms with the incentive to make their operations more environmentally friendly. If they go over their carbon limit, it costs them money; if they manage to stay below, they can sell their extra carbon credits on the market and turn a profit.

To be sure, governments are beginning to incentivize firms to be more environmentally friendly, in part, because of pressure from environmentalists. In this way, environmentalists have managed to convince business that harming the environment is unacceptable. But it is unacceptable to business not because it goes against their morals to be polluters, but because it negatively affects their bottom line.

As Gordon Gekko famously put it in the movie “Wall Street”, “Greed is good.” The sooner activists and government officials realize this and focus on incentivizing business instead of appealing to their better consciences, the sooner they will be able to actually make change.

Staten Hudson is an English major with a passion for both Shakespeare and the stock market.

February 17 2011

Page 8

This week we chose to do a throwback issue and feature some of our favorite articles from The Pioneer archives.

Why? Shits and giggles.

KEEP ON RAGIN', Diana

The Backpage would like to reopen this case. Our list of possible suspects includes: a crazy alumni, a jealous Whitman department, the old Backpage and Hamburglar.

CROSSWORD

MESSAGE FROM THE PUZZLE SLUT

by ADAM BRAYTON

15. n S.F. Giant or St. Louis Cardinal, to name a few 17. Like peanut butter in 2009 18. Foam party risk 20. Highest range a trombonist can get 21. Style of sambal chili paste 23. Chessmen cousin?

Puzzle Slut

ACROSS 1. Wildebeest 4. DVD supersession org.

7. Crosscut and rip 11. Yang counterpart 12. Coal and conval suffix 6

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50 52

28. Paolo or Bernardo do Campo 29. Sorority restriction 33. Tooth doctor org.

34. “Don’t shoot!”

35. Vietnam capital 37. Opposite of trochee 41. Jewett-Lyman or HunterReid connector 46. “_____ boy” 47. Mad or Us 48. 1930s urban train org.

49. Israeli networking corp.

50. Paper citation org.

51. Mother Earth to Telemachus 52. Ancient Nigerian city 53. Cassette limit, abbr.

53

39

40

DOWN 1. Meats served in pitas 2. Your daughter, to your brother 3. Pablo’s hair 4. Musician Fleck 5. Like a Canon EOS D60 6. Northern Indonesian sultanate 7. Rowling’s Severus 8. “If _____ fails…”

9. Pinniped clothing retailer?

10. Apt. for one

13. London’s oldest tailor: _____ and Ravencroft 16. Well-remembered battle 19. 1976 Alex Haley novel 22. Daily _____: liberal blog 24. Has hangtime 25. Children’s dinosaur movie, abbr.

26. “_____ we not men?”

27. Most popular Hebrew woman’s name 29. Humbug preceder 30. To the stars, to Nero 31. 125 Broadway musical “No, No, _____” 32. Big name in ketchup 36. Marion County, Florida city 38. Like many a manga adaptation 39. _____ Park, CA 40. Goat’s cry 42. Ambulance attendant cert.

43. “Illusionist” writer Jacques 44. Weekend-welcoming abbr.

45. Union guidance org.

46. 16-down, on Wall St.

Hey all, I’d like to apologize for last week’s puzzle. I spelled “ochre” wrong, I mistook an oboe for a string instrument (sorry oboists) and I left out two clues. This sloppiness shouldn’t be tolerated—I’m a high-class Puzzle Slut. Getting the hang of this crossword business is a little hairy, so forgive me in the coming weeks as I challenge you to decipher crazy abbreviations—I try only to include them when absolutely necessary— while I learn the ropes. With more practice and experience as Puzzle Slut I should get a tighter handle on what my answers are. As for now, if I screw up like I did last week, give me a holler at braytoac@whitman. edu and chew me out for it.

Forever slutting it up, Adam Brayton, Puzzle Slut

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S

H

O

C

B

R

A

D

O

H

N

O

A

B

L

U

E

L

I

A

E

R

O

J

O

E

A

P

J

E

F

D

E

L

O

B

E

F

B

R

I

D

L

S

D A

P

S

E

L

I

E

P

A

U

N

T

O

U

P

T

O

C

H

A

R

L

I

L

A

L

K

Y

L

B

I

L

L

T

R

A

P

E

O

N

C

E

Y

A

K

S

S

L

G

E

S

A

S

I N

O

R

R

K

E

R

A

I

R

S

R

E

I

Y

E

L

L

I

O

T

A

S

E

R

C

A

D

R

A

C

O

R

C

S

E

C

T

N

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