On April 16 there was a horrible tragedy at Virginia Tech. The extent of the carnage catapulted the gun-control question to the forefront of our national consciousness. To purchase these weapons, V.T. student Seung-Hui Cho underwent a background check for criminal history and mental illness, presented three forms of ID, was over 21 and went [...]

Just before Visitor’s Weekend—April 13 and 14—the Free Expression Wall in front of Olin Hall was taken down.
E-mails to the student listserv speculated that the removal was an attempt by the Whitman administration to clean up a controversial image to make Whitman appear more aesthetically pleasant to prospective students and their parents.
Senior Laura Hanson was [...]

I was in tears over a paper last week. Stupid, isn’t it? For half a week, I mulled over a five-page Microsoft Word document. It was a Don Snow nature essay, a reflection on rock collecting. I couldn’t escape that paper, because every ounce of my mental energy went toward telling [...]

When we see a young couple driving down a deserted road late at night, and their car starts making funny noises, and they stop at a seedy motel with a lone night manager, and the manager takes a little extra time deciding which room to put them in, the question isn’t so much “What will [...]

As evidenced by the Elian Gonzalez incident a few years ago, if the United States government wants to come into your abode, They. Are. Coming. In. Not even cuteness and television cameras can stop them.
When the second amendment was drafted the federal arsenal consisted of the average farmer and his friends. They all had [...]

Death is not hard to come by these days. Ever since the human chronicle began, blood has stained its pages; this past week’s page was no different. Last Monday, 32 people were killed in the halls of Virginia Tech, marking the bloodiest act of school violence in history. Just two days later, up to 200 [...]

We at the Back Page have been inspired. Last week there was an article written by Natalie Knott entitled “What Knott is thinking.” It was just a list of what she is thinking. We wanted to do that. It sounded like fun. So without further ado: This is what we [...]

On Wednesday, April 18, the Supreme Court ruled to uphold, for the first time since 1973, a federal ban on an abortion procedure that does not contain an exception for the health of the mother. The ruling is unprecedented and, frankly, confusing, for several reasons.
The Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act contains a number of [...]

Some of this year’s scrambles offer portable restrooms. “You won’t even have to squat in the woods to poop because we’ll carry a portable toilet with a toilet seat to minimize our impact on the river environment!” said the leaders of the rafting scramble on the Lower Salmon River, Season Martin, Gwen Leslie and Jessica [...]

Organic is in. From organic chapstick to shampoo to tampons, many modern Americans want their products pesticide-free, all-natural, or home grown.
Whitman College has its very own new and improved organic garden, located next to the Physical Plant and behind the Hall of Science. Everything grown in the garden is free to anyone who wants [...]

Last weekend over 350 ultimate players descended upon Whitman Campus for Onionfest, one of the largest co-ed tournaments in the Northwest.
Twenty-three teams competed in the tournament. Both Saturday and Sunday, Ankeny, Harper Joy Field and the soccer fields were overrun with athletes, who played ultimate from sun-up to sun-down. Whitman fielded three teams for the [...]

Campus Climate Challenge in cooperation with Walla Walla College organized Step It Up, a nationwide event on Saturday, April 14 to tell Congress to “Step it Up” and reduce carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050.
Approximately 100 people gathered in Pioneer Park for the event. Community members and students made personal pledges to reduce carbon emissions [...]

This week’s Whittie defies stereotypes. While he may seem like a rap loving gangster, this 2 West party boy loves to play the fiddle. It is for his unique character that Marshall Baker is Whittie of the Week.
Baker grew up in Portland, Oregon. He attended public school throughout his academic career, but switched schools [...]

In honor of Earth Day, the Campus Greens is putting on a stewardship project to help students to feel the satisfaction of tangibly helping to conserve the environment and giving back to their community but working with their own hands.
For this event, which will be held on April 21, the Campus Greens have [...]

The latest headlines from this week’s Pioneer.
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