Sexism in the media

Hillary Clinton is taking an unnecessarily cruel beating by the media. She should NOT have to prepare for future criticism involving her husband’s sex life, her hair, her wrinkles or her ownership of female sex organs. It’s completely unacceptable that our news outlets are giving air time and print space to discussing so many aspects of her personal life instead of, I don’t know, discussing her policy platform.

Clinton is certainly not the first or only woman to get slammed by the press for all the wrong, truly juvenile things, but she is a noteworthy example because this time the cruelty is taking place because people are freaked out that women finally got sick of not being President. And it turns out she’s really smart and put-together and kind, which means that LOTS of women are probably all three of those things, which means that lots of them might try to be President, which means America is going to have to take its daddy issues outside the Oval Office.

The National Organization for Women just released a series of YouTube videos about Hillary Clinton, one of which is entitled “Mad as Hell: Sexism in the Media.” It’s not very well put together, but the point it makes is clear: the way male-dominated television programs talk about women is outrageous.  In particular, their petty emphasis on Hillary’s “bitchiness” and the like is horrifying. The men shown in the NOW video are clearly so intimidated by encountering a woman operating at approximately quadruple their intelligence level, that they turn 12 all over again and call her names. It is the grownup equivalent of pushing the girl you like down in the playground and telling her that horses are dumb because you know from spying on her that horses are her favorite animals. These men can’t handle feeling inferior to a woman, like maybe they might be out of their league with her. And they get paid a lot of money and airtime to revert to elementary school antics.

So Hillary gets called a bitch on TV every day. Consider that. Consider that the equivalent words applied to males are not allowed by the FCC. It’s literally against the law to trash talk men on national television. AM I THE ONLY PERSON BOTHERED BY THIS?  Either both sexes are sacred and untouchable by gossip, or both get dragged through the mud together, I say.

Here are a few of the more savory examples of media sexism I got from the YouTube video, which merit very little explanation:

“At Thursday’s gathering, she turned into a scolding mother, talking down to a child, resembling someone with Multiple Personality Disorder.”

“IT CRIES. After decades of stripping down all trace of human emotion, femininity and humanity, Hillary Clinton actually broke down and actually cried yesterday.”

“Men won’t vote for Hillary Clinton because she reminds them of their nagging wives. When she speaks, men hear ‘Take out the garbage!’” (Complete with whiny voice and finger wagging, thank you Fox News.)

“Let’s not forget she’s a front runner for President only because her husband messed around.”

“It’s OK for her to be tough. She is tough. But if we’ve learned anything from the Lorena Bobbitt case, it’s that there’s a lot of resentment there.”

This last comment, made by Tucker Carlson on MSNBC, gets at the heart of the matter.

Lorena Bobbitt cut off almost half of her husband’s penis after he raped her. Oh! Didn’t know that part of the story? Huh. So, Hillary is like Lorena. She also cuts off penises.

No, wait. No she doesn’t. But she DOES threaten masculinity as the dominant force in U.S. politics, as would the sudden and violent castration of every male figure in power. So Tucker revealed his terror that Hillary is more woman than he’ll ever be man. And he thought he was so clever. Poor guy.

Side note, women: stop marrying men who say things like “she reminds them of their nagging wives.” You’re nagging because you married an idiot who can’t do anything. Stop marrying idiots. Start getting jobs at news stations, and stop watching shows that employ men to throw around the word ‘bitch’ unless they let you say ‘dick’ just as often and for just as much money.

And say it really loudly. Make up for some lost name-calling.

The year in review: a look back

They’ve happened here, there and everywhere. As the year draws to a close, the Pioneer reflects on the year’s most newsworthy topics that sparked discussions on everything from national headlines to local events.

1. Sherwood begins renovation
Built in the 1960s as the college’s athletic facility, the large concrete building that sits on the corner of Boyer Avenue and Park Street will be undergoing a 15-month-long transformation. Some of the changes will include a taller climbing wall, dance studios and a second full-sized gym. The new space will also allow for intramural, club and varsity sports teams to practice.

2. Fouts Center for Visual Arts
The construction of the new art building should be completed by the time students arrive back onto campus this fall. Currently, several spaces in Olin are being used for art projects and displays but will also be seeing some changes, turning into classrooms by the fall as well.
“This is going to be a state-of-the-art facility in every respect,” said Associate Professor of Art Charles Tim-Ballard, referring to the Fouts Center in a Feb. 21, 2008 article of the Pioneer. “I don’t know of another liberal arts college in the Northwest, possibly in the West Coast, that has made this kind of commitment to art.”

3. Memorial flags on Ankeny
As part of a final project for Iraq War class, taught by associate professors of politics Bruce Magnusson and Shampa Biswas, four students placed 160,000 white and red flags all over Ankeny to represent the death toll of the war. Each white flag on Ankeny Field represented between six to 10 Iraqi civilian deaths, which has been calculated to be between 655,000 to 1.2 million. Additionally, each red flag represented six to 10 deaths of U.S. soldiers, a climbing total of about 3,880.

4. Steroids in sports
Professional athletes have become public figures of the steroid scandals that have been surfacing since Congress has cracked down on illicit use of performance-enhancing drugs. Eighty-nine current and former players were mentioned in the Mitchell report, according to ESPN.com. Among those listed in the report included New York Yankee Roger Clemens, who was called to a congressional hearing last February.

5. Salman Rushdie comes to Whitman
The famous author made a visit to Walla Walla on Nov. 7, 2007, presenting his lecture “Culture Wars and the Importance of Free Speech.”
“The defense of free speech begins at the point at which people say things you can’t stand,” said Rushdie. He discussed his controversial works and the worldwide reactions that have followed.

6. Windstorm sweeps Walla Walla
While many students were away from campus over winter break, a windstorm wreaks havoc around Walla Walla. More than 55 trees were knocked down around campus and residents were left without power for about 30 hours, as reported by Gillian Frew in the Jan. 31, 2008 issue of the Pioneer.

7. Writers strike for 100 days
Ratings stumbled and the entertainment industry crumbled when the Writers Guild of America labor union decided to walk out and stop working early November 2007 due to insufficient profit for writers. After talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the organization in which the WGA was striking against, the strike ended on Feb. 12, 2008.

8. Remembering Michael Quimpo
At the age of 21, junior Michael Quimpo passed away on March 27.
“The heartache and sense of loss—even for those who did not know Michael personally—are immediate and very painful,” said President George Bridges in an e-mail sent out to the campus about the tragic death.
Community gatherings followed, including a memorial service that celebrated Quimpo’s life in the company of friends, colleagues and family members that traveled long distances to pay their respects.

9. Pio controversy initiates dialogue
In the last “jack issue” of the Pioneer, the paper’s traditional April Fools’ Day theme raised concern due to some content that was deemed offensive by many readers. The attempt at satire was interpreted differently, causing an open discussion on listserves and other forums. The April 10 issue of the Pioneer featured submitted opinions by students, faculty and staff including the authors of the piece in question.

Symposium no solution to ‘oblique and intangible problem’

Whitman has changed little since I’ve been here.  Over the past few years, I’ve noticed that key features of life at Whitman remain relatively constant, such as Beer Mile, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and minor scandals that, instead of offending us directly, must appeal to our fledgling (read: underdeveloped) sense of moral indignation.

In regards to this final and most important constant, Whitman has indeed changed, and for the worse: students have come to expect the censure of elements of their world that offend them.  Take the case of Whitman Christian Fellowship’s mass mailings, when people on campus feigned offense at these trifling daily slips of paper, when in fact their only legitimate complaint was that eventually they would have to clear out their mailboxes.

That is literally how far people were set back by WCF’s controversial program.  Posters about campus and flyers tacked to walls are easy enough to ignore, and the campus population of Christians seemed safely shamed into the backdrop of college life.  The daily selections from Scripture reminded many of us of the evangelistic character of Christianity and the politics that are generally associated with it.

The WCF’s activities, then, were more frightening than offensive, but only for a moment.  Most people are just as capable of disregarding prayer meetings as they are of Casino Night, and eventually, that’s just what happened: people got bored with their indignation.  The WCF eventually abandoned its obscure attempt at evangelism (if that is indeed what they were trying to do) and returned to developing the Christian community at Whitman in a less flamboyant manner.

This process of people coming to a greater understanding of their social sensitivities was a startling success, precisely because of the way in which the perceived problem was solved.  Scandals naturally disappear from the public consciousness because they eventually get old and people have more productive or interesting things to do than to be disgruntled by some minor and temporary infringement on their mores.

The quiet conclusion of WCF-gate was not reflected later during the now-internationally-notorious “Blackface” incident.  The consensus on the issue of the “Blackface” incident is that the perpetrators, silly uninformed rowdy frat boys all, were merely ignorant of the very real racial connotations of their actions, which grievously offended a number of people after a “Survivor”-themed party.  The controversy itself garnered a firestorm of attention, though comparatively little criticism, however, was directed at how the issue was handled by students and the administration.

The administration established a dangerous precedent, first by ordering a “symposium” in which like-minded people were given a forum to decry ignorance, assumption and really any other intellectual faux pas that might contribute to frat boys getting drunk and throwing a party; then by holding a press conference.  Suddenly, Whitman became a “racist school” because of the innocent blunder of a few boys into the minefield of race politics.

The “Race Symposium” has since expanded to include other issues as well, though there are a number of serious problems associated with the Symposium that need to be addressed.

Foremost among these is the Symposium’s inability to draw from certain student demographics—in other words, the Symposium is really an Undergraduate Conference with a unified theme that speaks to the sympathies and moral attitudes of Whitman students, rather than to their intellectual or academic curiosity.  For the rest of the school—the ambivalent, the hard-at-work, the people who didn’t need the New York Times to tell them that the whole commotion was merely the product of a few people’s ignorance and a few more people’s sensitivities—the Symposium was a joke, a free day off, or another day to catch up on work.

The issue is which students attend, not how many.

The other problem inherent to the Symposium is its institutionalization of liberal social mores.  Racism, like dandelions and “Friends” reruns, is an enemy that can never be completely defeated, but at this juncture, racism, sexism and any other –ism one might care to speak of has been elevated above being a nuisance to being an explicit enemy of Whitman College; now, the school has assumed the burden of combating an ideology that escapes definition, is invisible to the naked eye and when it can be identified, is extremely resistant to attempts at its eradication.

Rather than relegating one’s problem with the offensive to the centers of the brain that handle personal problems best, the Symposium deceptively offers students an authority on offensiveness, tolerance and political correctness.  Instead of confronting problems as individuals, using wit, character and intelligence to negotiate the perilous and politically incorrect interpersonal world, the Symposium has become a canon to which people may cling.

The use and abuse of this canon, this index of correctness, can suddenly be invoked in the event of racism.

Some weeks ago in the April Fool’s issue of the Pioneer, this newspaper ran a satire of the administration’s attitude toward multiculturalism.  A student offered these words in response: “[The offending article] was published in light of the first incident: the first Symposium should have been a wake-up call, but it was not heeded, so the offense this time is magnified exponentially.”  This same student, incidentally, proposed in an ASWC session to have the next Symposium more prominently feature Native American interests in response to the gag article.

The editorial writer to whom I refer evidently holds the Symposium in high esteem, but in this instance invokes it in the spirit of the student body’s failure to derive a common message from the event.  Deriving such a message from an event with dozens of discussion panels beyond “racism is bad” seems like a silly notion—indeed, it’s probably impossible—but people have come to see the Symposium as a symbol for a set of values given to them from on high.

The problem of handling such a moral code—let alone applying it—lies in its obliqueness and intangibility: there is no moral code, though there is the hint of shared experience and values.  The administration, through the Symposium, proposes to combat an oblique and intangible problem with an equally oblique and intangible solution, when the reason why social obstacles like racism and sexism persist is because there is no agreed-upon and pragmatic solution to them.

It’s common wisdom that students are meant to mature emotionally and psychologically as well as academically at school.  Nobody needs me to tell them that injustice and unfairness are part of the wider world, and that if anything, our consciences dictate that we combat these things as best we can; at the same time, it’s important that we be reminded that these issues will be with us forever.  Like the Ten Commandments, the Symposium seeks to solve what are the pressing problems we face as a society, while doing little but bringing the problems we didn’t solve to the fore.

Athletic department honors four Whitman athletes with induction into hall of fame

On Saturday, April 26, four former Whitman athletes were inducted into the Whitman Hall of Fame during a banquet celebrating their accomplishments. The four athletes so honored were Robert Becker, Jennifer McClure Spurgeon, Don Woodworth and Katie Rubenser Wooldridge.

“All four inductees make wonderful role models of athletic performance,” said Whitman Athletic Director Dean Snider. “I’m very pleased that our hall of fame committee selected this group.”

The footprints of all four of the athletes can still be found around campus today, especially in the record books.

Don Woodworth, class of ‘68, scored over 2,019 points in his 101-game Whitman career, setting a record for the men’s basketball team that still stands today, 40 years after his graduation. He was an All-Northwest Conference selection in both his junior and senior seasons and was voted the league’s Most Outstanding Player for the 1967-68 season.

In terms of women’s basketball, Jennifer McClure Spurgeon and Katie Rubenser Wooldridge dominate the record books. Wooldridge, who played under her maiden name, Rubenser, is number one in scoring, while Spurgeon, who played as McClure, is tops in rebounding and each of them is second to the other in the category that they don’t lead. In addition, Wooldridge holds the career record in steals and Spurgeon still leads Whitman in blocked shots.

It only seems appropriate that the two giants of women’s basketball at Whitman, both members of the class of ‘94, be elected into the hall of fame alongside one another. John Wilcox, their coach, was also in attendance at the banquet.

In his own category, Bob Becker was a standout three-sport athlete who started for Whitman’s baseball, basketball and football squads during his junior and senior seasons. He received all-conference honors in all three sports and is number eight on Whitman’s career scoring list for Men’s basketball.

Even with all these accolades, all of them seemed rather surprised to be elected.

“I was surprised that I was nominated to begin with,” said Becker of his reaction to being selected.

“I was shocked, and grateful, and very surprised,” said Woodworth.

Yet the feeling of gratitude wasn’t unique to Woodworth as all of the inductees expressed a thrill in being recognized.

“The thing that struck me initially was when you play, it’s meaningful at the time, but 14 years later, to have someone else tell you how meaningful it was feels, I mean awesome is an abused word, but it was truly awesome,” said Spurgeon.

The possibility for such recognition is new for Whitman athletes as this latest hall of fame class is only the sixth ever at Whitman.

With the hall of fame’s increasing success, more athletes are set to feel the way Spurgeon did upon receiving recognition.

“It is certainly boosting the morale of student athletes that attend [Whitman],” said Wooldridge of the role the hall of fame. “Whitman can excel not only in academics, which it always has, but also excel in athletics.

The induction of this year’s class was also the first time a banquet was held as part of the ceremony and inductees from the previous five classes were invited back to receive recognition along with this year’s class.

Overall, the banquet was well attended and very well received. All four athletes lauded the company, the presentation and the food.

“It was great to meet so many former players and coaches, and to learn about the formation of the “W” Club,” said Woodworth. “And asparagus in spring time in Walla Walla can’t be beat.”

Neither can these athlete’s spots in the record books and now the hall of fame.

The impact of the past on the 2008 Beijing Olympics

The jostling and trouble around the Olympic torch on its trip around the world is an expected surprise, if there ever was one. The organizers of the relay and the Chinese Communist government behind them have gone for an all out headbutt with an assortment of protesters.

It started with the Reporters Without Borders’ sabotage of the torch lighting ceremony in Greece on March 24th, when Chairman of the Organizing Committee Liu Qi’s speech was interrupted by a man holding a black banner with handcuffs forming the Olympic rings.
Then, after a hearty reception in Beijing and brief stunt in Central Asia, Turkey and Russia, the relay was met by the cold shoulders of the city officials and clamor of Tibet related protests in London, Paris and San Francisco.

After a somewhat friendlier reception in the Middle East and India, Japan brought about another humiliation. Luckily for the organizers, Ho Chi Minh City and Pyongyang will provide a chance for much easier international photo-ops before the remaining 114 domestic stops of the relay.

The protests abroad were fuelled by the Chinese government’s handling of riots that broke out after the anniversary of Dalai Lama’s unsuccessful upraising of 1959 on March 10.

Yet, even without “March 14,” as the Chinese media refers to the Lhasa riots, they had it all coming. An official statement alleging the “Dalai Lama clique’s”—the term used by Beijing to refer to the self-proclaimed Tibetan exile government—involvement in the protests in Tibet clearly shows that the Chinese government was aware of the initiatives by several exile organizations to disrupt the relay.

The relay is a perfect target for symbolic actions. The 137,000 kilometer long trek is the longest ever and encompasses all inhabited continents (the torch is flown over Antarctica).  The torch is meant to “light the passion and share the dream” of peace, harmony and, frankly speaking, prosperity and the international recognition required to be able to host successful Olympics.

But there are plenty of those who are not ready to kowtow to China in recognition of her increasingly important status: the Tibetans and their Buddhist brethren in Japan, in the rest of Asia and in the recent convert communities in the West; civil and human rights activists in Hong Kong and the overseas Chinese communities; the Falun Gong movement, the one-time government darling, which has since fallen from grace and has been sternly suppressed, especially with the Olympics coming.

And then there are those, who can score a point at home by appearing decisive on China, like Paris’ Socialist mayor Bertrand Delanoë, who is said to be vying for the leadership in his party and a little controversy might help him to reach it.

Much to the surprise of the critics, they were met by, often large, crowds with strong-worded messages to stay off the Olympics and supporting the Mainland.

Over the last weeks the Chinese press has been providing an endless stream of images from all over the world of mostly young people, citizens of the People’s Republic studying abroad and overseas Chinese, with banners in Chinese and local languages criticizing Western media bias on Tibet and calling for cessation of protests around the Olympics.

Although clearly financially and logistically supported by the government back in the Beijing, these protests show the anger and frustration in the Chinese communities even outside of direct reach of the Communist Party. The Olympics is the coming out fest of China, not just the Communist China.

There is great pride in the tremendous economic, social and international achievements of the People’s Republic; a pride that allows them to see past the limitations that the government can still put on the population at will, like the control of communications, the draconian suppression of ethnic minority dissent and the thorough control of the ethnic Han Chinese opposition and criticism.

For the pro-China demonstrators, who congregated on the streets of Berlin, Paris, and other cities around the world for a global show of force on April 19, the People’s Republic is a “normal” country: with its quirks and problems, but just like the rest of them.

China’s normalcy might seem far from what many would like to see, but for now the West will have to learn to live and recognize this vision, because it is here to stay. And those who are in the game to spoil the party: beware!, the hosts will not stand for it.

Athletic recruit process scrutinized

In a recent poll conducted by The Pioneer, 73 percent of varsity athletic team captains polled said that they were not satisfied with the recruiting their team does.

“I am not satisfied with the players we have to settle for when really good athletes want to come here, but admissions does not help in any way to get these kids,” said the men’s varsity soccer captain and senior Max Weber.

Weber’s view seems to be a shared one in Whitman’s athletic community. However, only one of the varsity coaches contacted for this article felt comfortable sharing their opinions on this subject for.

In response to whether or not the admissions office does enough to help commit athletes, Michelle Ferenz, senior women’s administrator and coach of the women’s varsity basketball team, said, “These are complicated questions.”

While dissatisfaction with the current recruiting process exists, many understand the conflicts of interest which the admissions office must balance.

“Admissions has to serve many different interests around campus while abiding by the policies and priorities of the Trustees and President Bridges,” said Ferenz. “So, that being said, I think their hands are tied to a large degree.”

Currently, both the team coaches and the admissions office staff work together to recruit and admit athletes. Coaches give admissions a list of their top recruits, and admissions uses the lists to help satisfy the needs of each respective team.

“I share those lists with every person who is reading files, so that they can have a sense of what the needs are for the respective programs,” said Director of Admissions and Athletic Liaison Kevin Dyerly. “Those lists are very helpful because they identify the coaches’ priority recruits and allow us to focus on admitting as many qualified difference makers for their programs.”

According to Director of Athletics Dean Snider, the ideal recruited athlete is a Whitman student and also an outstanding athlete.

“Coaches work their tails off to identify talented, qualified student athletes,” said Snider.
“Our student athlete pool of recruited athletes is essentially the same profile pool as the rest of the campus,” he said.

With such high standards for recruits, Whitman is often forced to turn away talented athletes. However, even when athletes are accepted, both Snider and Dyerly agree that getting the athletes to commit is the toughest part of the recruiting process.

“The hardest part [of recruiting athletes] is the final close—making sure that we get people to make the commitment to come,” said Snider. “Athletics is competitive, collegiate admissions is competitive and when you have an excellent student who is also an excellent athlete there are a lot of people knocking on that kids’ door; the biggest challenge is getting them to choose Whitman over their many other options.”

Dyerly offered explanations as to why admitted athletes often chose other institutions.

“Sometimes it’s that our financial aid award is not the highest, and sometimes it’s that they’ve been offered a merit scholarship from another institution that is less selective,” he said.

Whitman is a Division III school, and as so is unable to provide athletic scholarships. The only way for recruits to receive financial aid is through merit or need-based aid.

“Campus-wide, student aid is an issue. Access to a college that costs $43,000 a year is an issue that we need to recognize,” said Snider. “We’re competing against what other schools are doing to meet the need of its student body.”

Oftentimes the aid Whitman is able to provide is not enough to entice athletes to enroll.

“Without financial aid, the only kids who can come here are both really smart and really wealthy. That’s a pretty small talent pool,” said Mike Rathwell, senior and captain of the varsity baseball team.

While differences in views on access and affordability issues sometimes lead to division among the admissions office and the athletic community, both sides sympathize with the priorities of the other.

“In general, there is a sincere desire to work well with admissions. Our coaches recognize that the people in admissions are trying to do the things that they can to help,” said Snider.

“It’s not a situation where everyone gets everything that they want. That is never going to be the case,” he said.

Uninformed opinions: as bad as global warming

Whitman students know all about global warming. Actually, everyone knows about global warming.

We know that Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for his global warming-related work, and that he made this really cool movie called “An Inconvenient Truth,” and that global warming is, like, really important…right? Duh.

But if you look on the Internet, there are actually people who are skeptical about this issue.
“What? Skeptical? How is that possible?” I hear you say. “How could they possibly not recognize this unquestionable truth that we work so hard to promote? They must be rednecks, or hopelessly ignorant. Sheesh. If they’d only take the time to inform themselves, like we do.”

Bad news, Whitman: these people are gaining some form of legitimacy. Kristen Byrnes, a 16-year-old global warming skeptic who runs the prominent Web site “Ponder the Maunder,” was recently featured in an NPR story.

The NPR story says that Kristen, who recognizes global warming but maintains that humans are not the cause, has accumulated “a mound of technical documents from the Internet” and that “Her Web site includes charts of temperature records, El Nino indexes, isotope measurements.”

This story made me think. After thinking, and consulting both Kristen’s information and other information on the Internet, I decided that you guys are right. I still think that global warming is most likely being caused by humans.

At the same time, I couldn’t help noticing a similarity between many of my peers at Whitman and Kristen’s friend, Chrissy, who was also interviewed for the NPR story. Chrissy disagreed with Kristen. “I don’t believe what you think,” she said. When asked why she believes this, she said bluntly, “I don’t know.”

To be fair, if you had a bright, detail-oriented teenager like Kristen debating against someone like her friend Chrissy on just about any issue, she’d win every time. And really, the only reason Kristen and her Web site got any attention in the first place is because she’s bright enough to make it halfway convincing.

Global warming is not really the issue here. The NPR story concluded, “It’s probably fair to say that most people—even those who have strong opinions about global warming—couldn’t make a strong scientific argument for why they believe what they believe.”

At Whitman, we’re in an extremely liberal environment where most people are politically like-minded. Because of this, we often don’t have to defend our opinions. When everyone agrees that global warming is humankind’s doing, and that it’s a huge problem that needs to be dealt with, we don’t think about why we believe those things, and in many cases, we forget.

In some ways, it’s really productive to have a group of politically like-minded people gathered together. That way, it’s possible to transcend basic arguments about the legitimacy of the discussion, and get on to the discussion itself.

But at the same time, we at Whitman can be careless, and we often adopt political beliefs without considering the issues thoroughly, simply because the position is established among our liberal peers.

What really bugs me is when students assume political beliefs superficially, more as a way of constructing a political self-image than anything else. This kind of belief is never going to be effective in any way.

So please, Whitman, let’s be a little more knowledgeable in our political opinions. Let’s gather sufficient information before we go as far as to formulate an opinion. And please, let’s be able to defend our opinions.

Students receive prestigious awards

The number of fellowships, grants and scholarships received this year by Whitman juniors and seniors exceeded expectations. Record numbers of Whitman juniors and seniors were awarded prestigious Fulbright Fellowships, Watson Fellowships and Truman Scholarships.

Six graduating seniors were recipients of Fulbright Fellowships.  The Fulbright Program is considered to be the flagship of America’s international educational exchange programs. It provides students with grants to undertake graduate study, to conduct academic research and to teach English as a foreign language around the world.

Grant Margeson, Janna Stone and Suzanne Zitzer accepted their grants. Margeson and Stone were awarded English Teaching Assistant Fulbrights to Germany. Zitzer was awarded a Research Fulbright to Germany to study environmental and alternative energy policy.

Zitzer developed her research project from her study abroad experience in Germany.  “I was interested in alternative energy policy because I had started learning a lot about renewables in Germany and I want to go on in the field of international environmental policy focusing on alternative energy,” said Zitzer.

Zitzer’s proposed research includes interviewing German politicians and environmentalists, reviewing government documents regarding energy policy and visiting wind and solar power plants. She plans to write an article about her research and findings to be published in an American journal.

Kika Pyclik, a Fulbright recipient, declined her award in order to pursue other options.

Mark Prentice, another recipient, declined his Fulbright to accept the grant he received from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, or the German Academic Exchange Service. With the grant, he will pursue a two-year master’s degree in American Studies at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies at the Free University of Berlin.

“I thought that studying at the John F. Kennedy Institute,  particularly during an election year, would be a unique opportunity  to see how other nations see and understand the United States, both past and present,” said Prentice.

Eric Andersen declined his Fulbright to accept his Watson Fellowship.

Andersen, along with graduating seniors Joseph Bornstein and Teal Greyhavens, received one of the only 50 Watson Fellowships awarded nationwide this year. Whitman was the only school to receive three recipients this year and has not received this number of recipients since 1996. The Watson Fellowship Program provides students with a one-year grant of $25,000 to be used for independent study and travel outside of the United States to delve deeply into an area of personal interest.

The project Andersen will pursue with his grant is titled “Re-Presenting the Absent: Memorials and Historical Memory.” He will travel to Austria, Poland, Cambodia, Vietnam, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Rwanda to visit and view memorials and public art in the hope of understanding how physical reminders of past violence reshape the physical spaces and the historical memory of a people.

“Memorials represent an intersection between some of my current interests in aesthetic philosophy, historical memory and how we come to terms with violence and disciplines in which I have long been interested but have not yet had time to pursue, such as art history and architecture,” said Andersen.

Bornstein’s project, “Philosophies and Strategies of Sustainable Community Development,” will send him to Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Ecuador, Mali and India. Part of his travels will include volunteering with organizations involved in sustainable community development.
Greyhavens’ project, “Moving Picture around the World,” will examine the role of cinema and its affect on its audience around the world.

“I will travel to Edinburgh, Mumbai, Hong Kong and possibly Paris and Ouagadougou to make a documentary film about the impact of movies and stories at different cinematic focal points around the world. I have loved movies for a long time and am fascinated by their potential,” said Greyhavens.

Juniors Erica Goad and Caitlin Schoenfelder each received one of the 65 Truman Scholarships awarded nationwide this year. Whitman has never had two Truman recipients in one year and it is also the only small college to receive two recipients this year. Truman Scholarships award $30,000 to students who wish to attend graduate school in preparation for careers in government, the nonprofit or advocacy sectors, education or in other public service sectors.

The scholarships also provide recipients with leadership training, graduate school counseling, priority admission and additional financial aid at some premiere graduate institutions and internship opportunities with federal agencies.

“As of now, I’m interested in going into education. I constructed my application around the idea of teaching in bilingual classrooms and then going on into a graduate program where I could look at the different intersections of larger social issues, such as immigration, with education and the classroom. I’m interested in possibly going on to serve as a superintendent of a school district or to eventually research and design pilot programs,” said Schoenfelder.

The new gold rush

Two weeks ago, former President Jimmy Carter spoke optimistically about the Middle East’s future to a well deserved audience. “It is my dream and hope that some day in my lifetime, and I hope in this year, that we’ll have another breakthrough for Middle East peace,” he said to a crowd of over 1,000 people.

Toward the end of his speech, Carter instilled more optimism in the embracing attendees, saying: “I hope that each of you will ascertain how as individuals you can use your own voice and influence to bring a just peace to the people of the Middle East.”

In the United States, a speech of this magnitude and tenor would be fitting for a college campus. In the Middle East, however, we are inclined to think that this speech was held in front of a select audience of affluent and powerful members of government.

This isn’t the case with Carter’s speech.

It was, in fact, held at perhaps one of the greatest American-educational ideas of the past century: The American University in Cairo.

This university provides high-quality post-secondary education for Egypt and neighboring countries throughout the Middle East. The school is founded on the same liberal arts ideals that many U.S. institutions champion and, also like many U.S. institutions, seeks to give their students a professional education that leads to life-long learning.

Founded in 1919, Charles Watson’s (founder and president for 27 years) mission was to create an English-language university in the Middle East based on the high standards of conduct and scholarship found in the United States.

Specifically, the loftier goal Watson set, which has been perpetually achieved by the university over its 90-year tenure, was to contribute to the intellectual growth of Egypt and produce the future leaders of Egypt and the Middle East.

As a result of the university’s establishment, Egypt has retained much of its intellectual capital (i.e. gifted students and, consequently, advancements thereof), something that seldom happened before 1990, when the school’s enrollment rose from 1,300 to over 4,000.

The American University in Cairo plays a significant role in addressing Egypt’s current social needs. It has also educated the likes of Rania Abduallah, Jordan’s Queen; Haifa Al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia’s only female filmmaker; Director of financial services giant Citigroup (officially the largest company in the world, with $2.2 trillion in assets) Haytham El Mayergi; and Egypt’s First Lady, Suzanne Mubarak.

The American University in Cairo is proof of the potential of American-owned universities abroad that don’t merely serve U.S. students.

With the harnessing of manpower in both India and China, the services and manufacturing industries in the United States are vanishing at an exponentially high rate. There is no feasible way we can retain these industries here in the United States. However, if there’s one aspect of business at which the United States can excel, it’s innovation.

The United States has been the center of innovation in the world for much of the 20th century; it can easily continue this trend through the 21st century if it finds a way to develop the engineers, scientists, scholars, academics and leaders not only at home, but abroad.

Every year, thousands of international students saturate U.S. campuses in search of an American-quality collegiate education. For them, the American dream may not lie in instantaneous wealth, as we so ineptly make it seem, but in an Ivy League education.

Thus, what could be better for the U.S. universities than developing a campus in, say, Nairobi, Kenya or Jakarta, Indonesia? Not only would it be one of the most philanthropic investments a U.S. university could make to a developing nation, but in the end, it would provide intangible returns to the United States in the form of intellectual capital (i.e. innovation), a greater understanding of the region, collaborative leaders and stable countries.

Before proliferating democracy, the United States should propagate its universally-desired college and university education system.

With endowments equaling to the gross domestic product of developing nations, this proliferation of collegiate education can be readily achieved by large, state and private universities.

Small undergraduate institutions like Whitman, however, shouldn’t be counted out. A liberal arts education is unique and the presence of such institutions is necessary among a mass of large universities. Like students here in the United States, foreign students will split while they find their niche in the dichotomy of large school versus small school, inevitably spawning a need for the liberal arts college.

I urge Whitman and like-minded schools to consider the untapped intellectual resources foreign countries can provide to collegiate institutions here at home, not merely in the form of international students, but as potential locations for new colleges and universities.

The discovery of the young, talented minds of tomorrow should not be confined to mining only in the United States, but become a free gold rush that should be held throughout all corners of the globe.

This week in greek…

Sigma Chi: This past weekend the Sig pledges had a talent show at the Oddfellows home for their spring philanthropy event. On May 6 the chapter will honor its seniors at a special senior chapter. Also, the house welcomes a fresh class of executive officers.

Phi Delta Theta: On Wednesday the Phis hosted Religion Professor John Walters for their spring scholarship banquet. Professor Walters spoke on karma and the event was very well received. Afterwards the Phis decided that they “have a lot of catching up to do.”

Beta Theta Pi: The Betas held their house elections this past weekend and welcome their new officers.

Tau Kappa Epsilon: On Sunday the TKEs played bingo at the Oddfellows home. The chapter also concluded officer elections this past weekend.

Kappa Alpha Theta: On Sunday the Thetas held their senior breakfast.

Kappa Kappa Gamma: Last Friday the Kappas won the Choral Contest. The chapter is in the midst of senior week. Applications are available for the Mr. Whitman contest’s receiving charity and are available by the Reid info desk and in Kappa section. On Wednesday the chapter partook in the Take Back the Night march and provided glow sticks for the participants.

Delta Gamma: On Monday the DGs initiated eight new members. The Delta Gamma Anchor Drive is this weekend, May 3 and 4. The chapter’s senior rose ceremony is next Wednesday. The DGs had a terrific weekend and very much enjoyed visiting and talking with their alums.

-Chase Cooper

Bureaucracy trumps fun in Choral Contest

I am writing to protest the absurd bureaucracy pervading Choral Contest this year. My main complaint is that Jonas House Singers, one of the a cappella groups in the program, was not allowed to sing at Choral Contest.  I know this because I went backstage to ask about it when they did not appear, and I was told “there is no more arguing”—there was absolutely no way they would be permitted to sing.  They had not been at the rehearsal, I was told, and so the sound crew wasn’t ready for them.  Now, the stage was already covered in microphones. A man with a shirt that said “Sound Crew” was standing backstage. I offered to run and tell anyone who needed to know out in the house. The MCs were backstage during every performance and could also have been notified and made an announcement.  But no—it would be absolutely impossible for the House of Jonas to sing, even using a different group’s microphone setup.

I understand that it is important for groups to show up for the rehearsal/sound check.  But it is also just as clear that there was no reason for Jonas to be prevented from singing.  They were actually well rehearsed, as opposed to some of the groups that were allowed to sing (isn’t the point to have fun?).  They weren’t at the rehearsal because one of their members had lost her voice and another had been in the hospital earlier in the week.  They didn’t think they’d be able to sing.  I’m sure there should have been more communication with the organizers, but the bottom line is that they recovered and showed up and to their dismay, and the dismay of the audience (there were people shouting for them), they were told that they hadn’t followed procedure and were disqualified.

They could have been disallowed to compete and still allowed to sing.  There was certainly ample time for them—they could have sung their entire set at the end, instead of the MCs being forced to stall (rather brilliantly) while results were tabulated. Instead, however, pure bureaucracy was allowed to triumph over fun.  Heaven forbid that a well rehearsed a cappella group be allowed onto a stage full of microphones during Choral Contest without having done a sound check beforehand!

My final complaint is that the TKEs were yelled at backstage and eventually disqualified for competition because they brought a trumpet onstage, and because they did not reveal their Choral Contest spoof during rehearsal.  Whatever about the disqualification, the actual contest doesn’t matter.  But plenty of other groups had instruments onstage, and what they did was hilarious.  This whole thing is for fun, remember?  It’s not like the Betas had rehearsed anything before Thursday night.

In conclusion: at Choral Contest of their senior spring, The House of Jonas was brought down by inflexible bureaucracy and a lost sense of fun.  I was deprived of the pleasure of listening to them, and the TKEs satirized Choral Contest surprisingly well.  Backstage organizers: Lighten up.

‘Non-Shock Jocks’ talk

WOODS:
Well Eli, we’ve had a good run, but it looks like this is the end of the road: our last column for the Pio.  We’ve covered a lot of ground this semester, from a shocking upset in the Super Bowl to the scandal issue that covered Clemens and the bizarre Jason Kidd trade, a fabulous NCAA tournament and now we’re in the midst of one of the greatest NBA playoffs of our generation.  Let’s get some insight into what you’ve seen so far in the playoffs, but let’s not leave our last column without making some bold predictions for the major sporting events to come.

ASCH:
This has been a great semester to write this column.  The sports world is as interesting as I can ever remember seeing it: between some awesome deadline deals and hot stove action, two titans coming up short in their quests (the Pats for a perfect season and Tiger for a Grand Slam), the NBA being as exciting as it has been since Jordan’s second retirement and scandal, scandal, and yet more scandal, this has been a great semester of sports.

But enough bloviating—let’s talk playoffs.  I think this year’s NBA post-season is proving what terrible prognosticators we are: we thought all the action to watch would be out West, but the Lakers have already completed a sweep of the eighth-seeded Nuggets, and the other three series all see the top seed leading three-games-to-one.  Not that the Spurs-Suns series hasn’t seen some excitement (especially in the first two games when the Spurs came back from 14-plus points in both games at home), but it looks like we won’t have any seven-gamers out there.  In the East, though, both the top-seeded Celtics and the second-seeded Pistons find themselves in unexpectedly tight series, knotted up at 2-2 with the Hawks and 76ers, respectively.  How is this happening?

WOODS:
Everything seems backwards so far this playoffs, especially the East.  We expected the Celtics and Pistons to roll through their series and now the Pistons look unfocused and disinterested while the Celtics look old and unathletic (but to be fair, the Hawks can make any team look unathletic).  And in what we thought would be tough, close series between Orlando vs. Toronto and Cleveland vs. Washington are done (Orlando won theirs 4-1) or almost done (Cleveland goes home for game five up 3-1).

As for the West, the Lakers did what champions do by taking care of a talented (albeit dysfunctional) Denver team in four games.  I didn’t expect that series to go much beyond those four games anyway, but I can’t say the same for the Mavs/Hornets series or especially the Suns/Spurs series.  Josh Howard has disappeared in the playoffs for the Mavs while the All-Star duo of Chris Paul and David West can beat anyone the Mavs send at them.  The Suns/Spurs series is a little disappointing, because it would have been great to see it go seven games.  After a thrilling game one really took the wind out of the Suns’ sails, I don’t think they recovered until game four, which the Spurs seemed to mail in anyway.  Even with the addition of Shaq to the team, they once again haven’t been able to match-up against the Spurs in the playoffs.

ASCH:
People always seem to sleep on the Spurs, even though we should know by now never to count them out.  But when they lost four straight (to New Orleans, Detroit, Philadelphia and New Orleans) and six of seven in mid-March, even I was starting to wonder whether they could still turn it on in the postseason; after all, Tim Duncan isn’t getting any younger.  But he and Tony Parker are combining to average over 50 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists in their playoffs so far, and both are shooting over 50 percent from the floor.  Maybe the Spurs dynasty (and, yes, I feel safe using the “d-word” to describe this team since they’ve won four of the last nine and three of the last five titles) isn’t over just yet.

But you said we need to end this article with some bold predictions.  I’ll start: who you got for the NBA title?  You sticking with the pick you made on our show a couple weeks ago—the Lakers—or are you gonna jump ship?  I’m sticking with my Celtics, now over the Hornets (yeah, you heard right) in seven games in the Finals.

WOODS:
There’s no reason for me to bail on the Lakers now, after their demolition of the Nuggets, and the fact that they may get Andrew Bynum back for round two (remember he was averaging a double-double before he went down).  I see them beating the Cavaliers in the finals in five games.  After watching the Celtics lose twice to the 39-win Hawks, I can’t pick them in the finals.  King James will carry the Cavs to a repeat finals appearance and submit his name as the best player never to win an MVP award after Kobe gets his long-overdue accolade in a few weeks.  And that’s all I have to say about that…Eli, it’s been a pleasure being a non-shock jock with you this past year, I’ve enjoyed every sound bite of our hung-over Friday morning radio shows and every word of our ever-tardy articles.  Best of luck in your fantasy baseball league.

ASCH:
I’m not gonna lie, the fantasy baseball league isn’t going so well right now.  My brother drafted for me because I was traveling home to Maine on draft day, and I’m currently a cellar-dweller.  But, regardless, this has been an absolute pleasure.  We’ve still got a radio show or two coming up, though (including, perhaps, a finals week marathon show where we don’t get off the air until we raise $100 for the Whitman Cross Country team).  But, seriously, before we wrap up, let’s make some bold predictions:

Which team’s NFL draft will look the best in five years?  I’ve got St. Louis—Chris Long, who went No. 2 to the Rams, is gonna make his pitchman father proud.
How many majors will Tiger Woods win this year?  I say two: the U.S. Open (his comeback win), and the PGA.

Who will win the World Series this year?  I’ve got my Red Sox over the Diamandbacks—whose lineup looks GREAT so far this year—in six.

Did Roger Clemens actually sleep with someone over a decade younger than him while in his mid-/late-20s?  I say yes.  Absomotherfuckinglutely yes.

WOODS:
1) Best Draft in five years?  The Steelers-picked Oregon quarterback (and would-be Heisman winner if not for an injury) Dennis Dixon in the last round.  He’ll be a stud in five years.
2)  Tiger majors this year? Two—I agree with you this time, Eli.
3)  World Series?  I’ve got the Cubs over the Angels—another curse is broken.
4)  Roger affair?  At this point, there’s absolutely nothing I could hear that Clemens has done and  a) be surprised, and b) not believe it.

Local GLBTQ youth culture explored

When asked about the biggest surprise she encountered while researching her thesis on gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and questioning (GLBTQ) youth in Walla Walla, senior Shea Healey said it was that people were willing to talk to her.

“I originally assumed that I would have trouble scheduling interviews due to the controversial subject matter, especially in the local school district,” Healey said.  “I was surprised to find that the large majority of individuals I contacted were willing to not only discuss this issue but to think critically on the state of homosexuality in Walla Walla.”

Healey’s research, entitled “Out and Proud?  The Atmosphere Surrounding GLBTQ Youth in Walla Walla,” made her the recipient of this year’s David Nord Award.   This award is reserved for Whitman students and faculty who address important issues in the gay and lesbian community through creative or scholarly works.

David Nord graduated Whitman in 1983 and became a delegate to the Democratic Party Convention in 1996.  The David Nord Award was established in 1996.  Nord died of AIDS in 1999.

“The Nord Award is an amazing opportunity for students to study GLBTQ issues,” said junior Dusti Thurman, who works as a GLBTQ intern and was responsible for organizing Healey’s presentation.  “The issue of queer youth in Walla Walla is something that’s been in need of address… I really hope Shea’s presentation can be of some help to make the four years of high school suck less for students who aren’t straight.”

Healey presented her thesis last Monday to a large crowd at the Gaiser Auditorium.  She included quotes from multiple interviews with students, teachers and administrators in the Walla Walla School District on the subject of local GLBTQ youth.

“I was actually a little surprised at the turnout but it was definitely a pleasant surprise,” said Thurman. “I think the topic…really helped in drawing people in.”

Healey first came up with the idea for her thesis while volunteering for Triple Point, the first GLBTQ youth program to be formed in Walla Walla.

“I wanted to write a thesis that would give voice to young sexual minorities, a population that is too often silenced in Walla Walla,” Healey said.  “I was largely inspired by local GLBTQ youth—an amazing and courageous group of kids.”

First-year Logan Skirm, who attended the presentation, acknowledged the need for Whitman students to better understand such issues that impact the community.

“I thought it was important to support Shea and her research.  Most of all, I think it was important to get insight into the Walla Walla community to see what is really going on in the parts we don’t see on campus,” he said.  “Whitman students [should] broaden their knowledge of the local scene and not just look at the community in a superficial way…I have great hopes that the presentation will spark continued interest and activism from Whitman students and that they can hopefully continue Shea’s work by encouraging the development of local GSAs and reduce then stigmatization of sexual minorities.”

While the presentation indicated some glaring inadequacies in the resources schools provide to students about sexuality, Healey’s overall appraisal of the situation suggests that the community’s reaction to GLBTQ youth is more often influenced by inexperience and discomfort with the issue than it is by outright hostility.

“I found that most people were uncomfortable with it but not opposed to supporting GLBTQ youth,” Healey said.

Skirm also noted the mixed feedback presented in the survey.

“On the positive side, there’s the fact that there was such a very receptive response to the survey, and to Shea, as she collected data,” Skirm said.  “However, the survey did reveal that there was ignorance, misinformation and a certain degree of indifference to changing to situation.”

Thurman expressed similar views, as well as the hope that this presentation will continue to foster dialogue within the community.

“I think her presentation can at least begin some discourse about the topic. It was also good to see that there is some hope in the situation.  Maybe the light at the end of the tunnel is faint and far away, but it is there and I think that’s good to know.”

Despite the challenges Walla Walla faces in reconciling its small town mentality with the needs of GLBTQ students, Healey remains optimistic.

“I think there is tremendous potential in Walla Walla for creating a safe, supporting and comfortable atmosphere for GLBTQ youth,” she said.  “The process of meeting that potential, however, will require a committed community effort.”

LAY OFF: the Whitman Pioneer definitely does not suck

I’m a pretty big opponent of the kind of editorial I’m about to write.
Granted, this isn’t the most abhorrent of the editorial styles the Pioneer often publishes in its Op-Ed section. There are three I particularly cannot stand:

1. Pebbles-on-a-beach essays. In other words, expository papers the writer might try to publish later in “Chicken Soup for the Soul”-type anthologies. I personally call these ‘Pebbles-on-a-beach essays” because they very likely could (and fairly often do) include a line like, “I picked up a mottled gray pebble from the sand and for a moment understood the universe.”

2. Blatant space-fillers. There are terribly obvious and entirely meaningless. An example might be the ever-“clever” editorial on not having an opinion about anything: “I sat down to write my editorial this week and came upon the stark realization that I had no idea what to write!” Ahhh. Creative.

3. News summaries from Page A27 of the New York Times. Apparently some columnists are confused about what it means to have an opinion. These columns are often so convoluted and opaque that even our copy-editors can’t stomach them and they frequently get published with sloppy grammar errors.

This editorial, self-aware as it is, does not fall under these categories. Rather, this is an editorial about the Pioneer, and is therefore, annoyingly, an editorial about itself.

I have read literally every issue of the Pioneer from cover to cover for the last four years. I’ve seen it go from broadside to tabloid, from black-and-white to color, from a staff of 35 to a staff of 85.

And here’s what I know for sure: The Pio doesn’t suck.

I know you’ve heard it does. It’s possible you yourself have made a compelling argument about WHY it does. Perhaps you were misquoted in an article, or maybe you noticed when a headline boasting about “Exciting spring sprouts” corresponded with a story about rugby and tennis.

Certainly, the Pioneer has had its embarrassing moments.

And yeah, we publish the “Pebbles-on-a-beach” editorials, and sometimes the printing press renders the front page entirely in shades of puce. To be fair, we have no control over the printing press, and I’ve heard some people actually ENJOY the creative nonfiction news genre.

That’s neither here nor there.

In one of the first editorials I ever wrote for the Pio, I promised to expose the down-and-dirty secrets of the campus in my tenure as editor writing, “Whitman College has a dark underbelly.”

For the most part—and there are exceptions, of course—I was wrong. Whitman College is a pretty peaceful and generally happy place. Ducks float leisurely in the always-heated lakes while Northface-clad undergraduates stress out over their Works Cited pages. Students don’t mysteriously disappear when there’s a full moon; there’s no secret meth lab beneath the science building; President Bridges hasn’t swindled millions of dollars for his kids’ trust funds (believe me: I’ve asked him).

So when we report on the excessively boring (construction projects, classroom statistics, the visiting poet, whatever), it’s actually pretty newsworthy. And the writers of the Pio are regularly accurate, thorough and thoughtful. It’s like it’s their job or something.

And the truth is, the Pio isn’t supposed to be The New York Times. It’s supposed to be not only a forum to stimulate discussion on campus, but a resource for anyone who wants to dabble in journalism. That’s why we publish everything that demonstrates hard work and some underlying purpose—even, to my chagrin, the tiresome editorials described above.

The bottom line is that dissing the Pio is like dissing John Mayer: It’s way too easy, and a small part of you recognizes that he’s actually a really talented guitar player. Do yourself a favor and start to criticize something a little more controversial.

And once you’ve formed an educated, 500-word argument, submit it to the Pio. Our deadlines are Sunday nights.

Letter to student body: in honor of Michael Quimpo—reflections from his family

Dear friends,

We want to express our thanks to everyone we met, including the President and his lovely wife, the caring faculty and administrators, and the wonderful students.
Our experience with you gave us closure and peace. We know that we will miss our Misha (Michael) so much, but that sadness is brightened with the joy of knowing that he spent some very happy days with you in Walla Walla.

From the day we arrived until we shared the memorial service with you, we felt that we found friends. We learned more about Misha’s life at school, his friends, his house mates, his studies, and his struggles. We thank his professors and the college administrators who took time to speak with us. We know they cared.

If there are any lessons to be learned, and we hope there are, some lessons are about communicating with one another. No matter how difficult things might seem, find someone to lean on. Or, be that person who asks, “How are you?” or “Is everything OK?” Let your parents, friends, and loved ones know where you are, and how you are. It is a kindness.

Finally, know that we will always remember you in our prayers. We wish you great success in your lives and your chosen fields. The best thing that you can do to honor Misha is to make a difference in someone else’s life.

Much love,
Michael Quimpo’s family

Spirituality room vandalized, items stolen

Over the weekend of April 18, the spiritual activities room in Prentiss hall was “abused,” according to Coordinator of Religious and Spiritual Life Adam Kirtley.

Several items were taken from the room, including a prayer rug and large wooden cross. Other items were knocked from bookshelves tables and walls, including materials intended for a scrap book in memory of Michael Quimpo.

“It’s really disappointing.  This is an important space, it may not be important to everyone but the fact that it is important to anyone is hopefully something to consider about being respectful members of this community,” said Kirtley.

No information is yet available about who perpetrated the acts of disrespect against the room, but an e-mail was sent by Prentiss Hall Resident Director Mariah Weston asking residents of the hall to come forward with any information regarding the incident or the whereabouts of the stolen items. A no-questions-asked policy has been instated with regard to the return of the prayer rug and cross.

Two Whitman faith-based groups, the Whitman Christian Fellowship and Hillel-Shalom, regularly use the spirituality room for activities.

Junior Rachel Stein, co-president of Hillel-Shalom, a Jewish student group, said the news of the damages to the room reached her via an e-mail from Kirtley.

“I was disappointed to hear that the room was treated so badly,” said Stein.

Sophomore Allison Gill, a Residential Assistant in Prentiss, leads a weekly Bible study in the spirituality room. She says her primary concern on hearing the news was the long-term affects such an incident could have on the accessibility of the room.

“I was particularly worried because I really would hate to see access restricted. You want the space to be open for anyone to use and this kind of conduct could threaten that,” said Gill.

The spirituality room, housed in room 10 of the Prentiss Hall basement, will remain open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week as prior to the vandalism incident.

Limiting entry to the room was considered as a response to the vandalism, but Kirtley says the space will likely stay accessible to students as often as previously.

“The room’s access has been one of its greatest assets and clearly it’s a liability as well, but I’m really thrilled that the administrators and residence staff that I have talked to have shown a lot of support for continuing to keep the room open.  This isn’t going to deter the us from keeping the room open to the community,” said Kirtley.

First-year Faith Tucker shares Kirtley’s desire to keep the room open.

“I go down occasionally when I am needing some quiet and solitude during the school day,” said Tucker. “I think the room is a valuable resource and the space should be respected.”

If you have any information regarding the stolen items or abuse of the spirituality room, you may contact Religious Counselor Adam Kirtley at kirtleam@whitman.edu or Associate Dean of Students Nancy Tavelli at tavelln@whitman.edu.

Cycling prepares for nationals

With thousands of miles of training and racing behind them, just over 100 miles of racing remain for the Whitman cyclists headed to nationals on May 9.

After exciting second place finishes for both the men’s and women’s A teams at the conference championships this past weekend, four women and three men will drive some 15 hours to Fort Collins, Colo. to reassert the characteristic dominance of the Whitman cycling team.

The conference championships in Pullman, Wash. and Moscow, Idaho were the last races of the year for most of the team and saw a number of strong performances accross the board.

“We had a really exciting weekend,” said junior cyclist Mia Huth. “We had a lot of pretty impressive finishes and a lot of fun. Especially because there was a lot of spirit and a lot of energy that is usually there but it was just amplified by the good weather and it being the last race of the year.”

The women’s A team finished second behind Western Washington University, behind whom they took second place at nationals last year. Despite finishing behind Western in the team time trial, the Whitman women raced well and gained more time on Western than ever before.

“We were all really impressed with how well we worked together for having very little practice,” said Huth.

Individually, sophomore Kendi Thomas also took home the women’s Criterium title.

In the women’s B field Whitman had so many riders they were able to field two teams for the team time trial and placed first and third.

Overall, the women felt like they put together their best race of the season. “When the results were posted from the race, people started jumping in the air and screaming,” said Huth of their jubilation over their strong performance.

There was a lot of surprise and excitement on the men’s side as well with the men’s A team beating Western by eight seconds over 12 miles to win the team time trial.

“[Western] had been like a minute ahead of us all year,” said junior Colin Gibson, who raced on the winning time trial team. “We did a lot of time trial practice earlier in the season and it paid off. Plus we killed ourselves out there.” The Whitman team managed to pull out the victory despite only racing with three riders to Western’s four.

For the men’s team, which has lost riders to injury, study abroad, mononucleosis and burnout, their strong performance was particularly serendipitous.

Individually, sophomore Ben Chaddock took second place in both the road race and the Criterium. Chaddock will race in both events, plus the team time trial at nationals. Gibson and senior Zac Strode have qualified for the time trial, but don’t have enough races in the A division to officially qualify for nationals in the road race and Criterium. They are waiting to hear if their petition to race alongside Chaddock in the other two events will be granted.

Looking toward nationals both the men and women are concentrating on tapering, preparing for the higher altitude of Fort Collins and taking finals early and arranging to take other finals late, since they plan to leave on reading day and return the last day of finals.

“Right now, we’re just tapering to a peak and working on our time trial form,” said Gibson.

“Last year we had a superstar with Mara [Abbott], but this year I think we’re all really excited to do this as a team,” said Huth. “Last year it was kind of hard to have a strategy…it’s going to be really exciting to have every rider have a strategy and a role.”

Stop greek hating; join the team

Fraternities seem to be the butt of a lot of jokes at Whitman, and frankly, I am sick of the bad reputation shat on them and the greek system in general. Sure, greek life is a silly idea when you sit down and really think about it (those who are greek all had the same conversation with their parents after freshman year rush: “Hey, Mom, I’ve just joined the Alpha Beta Deltas!

Yeah, it’s this fraternity at school. What do they do? What’s the point? Well…um…”).

But let’s face it—humans are social creatures. It’s pretty simple—we like to be around people and we like to share something in common with the people we are around. We will do whatever it takes to feel a part of a community, even if it means joining a social society whose main purpose is to socially socialize with…each other.

But for those of you who cannot seem to stop teasing greek organizations that exist merely for purposes of “hanging out” with a little philanthropy on the side, think back. Think about when you divided into kickball teams during P.E. in second grade and the team captain of the Sharks beckoned you from across the baseball diamond, calling you to his side. And then, when the Sharks played the Tigers, something peculiar happened to your relationship with the people you now called your teammates. You began to feel a strange connection to them. Even to Greg, who would always arrange his picked boogers into a line on his desk. Even to Sally Snowstorm, who, every time she scratched her head, caused a white blizzard to cascade down her shoulders. You and Greg and Sally—you were SHARKS. Kin. Brothers reincarnated. You fought for the same win; you shared the same name; you were on the same TEAM.

I’m not going to say greek life mirrors the politics of kickball per se, but it’s the same idea.  It’s the same thing that connects you to any community you choose to participate in, be it ultimate Frisbee, theater, even becoming an English major. These are “cliques” (if you want to be all bitter about the ones you are not a part of), but basically they are also (albeit more purposeful) social organizations.

It doesn’t really matter if the community has a point or not—all that matters is they share the same circle, people and experiences. And if that’s true, and fraternities do provide a group of people with a secured sense of place and kinship, who are you to call it illegitimate?

So c’mon: stop greek hating. Who is it hurting?

Student crushes vertebrae in climbing wall fall

Only two days after the old Sherwood climbing wall closed for a year of construction, the wall saw one of the biggest accidents in its history.

Monday evening, first-year Stephanie Foster fell 32 feet from the top of the Sherwood climbing wall.

Foster landed on her back in the rubber chips at the base of the wall, fracturing her L1 vertebrae.  When she fell, Foster was working over the edge of the wall, helping clean the rock holds from the wall to prepare it for construction.

Foster is scheduled to undergo surgery to repair her crushed vertebrae today, May 1.

“She should have a 100 percent recovery assuming the surgery goes well without any complications,” said Outdoor Program director Brien Sheedy.  “However, it is a major surgery and they actually have to go in from the front, through her chest, in order to do the repair.”

The exact series of events that lead to the fall have yet to be determined, but Sheedy said they have a lot of ideas about what happened.

“We’re in the process of doing…an internal audit of the accident in detail,” said Sheedy.  “Also we acquired Alex Kosseff from Adventure Safety International to do a more extensive sort of investigation into the accident so that we can learn as much as possible so this doesn’t happen again in the future.  Once that report is out then we’ll share it with the people in the student body that are interested.”

Although they did not witness Foster’s actual fall, Sheedy and sophomore Alex Bakker who were working on the bouldering wall were the first to respond to the accident.

“I stabilized her head and helped get her breathing again and Alex called the ambulance, and the ambulance was there in six minutes,” said Sheedy.

While the damage could have undoubtedly been much greater considering the magnitude of the fall, the injury sustained by Foster is still extremely painful.

“She is in quite a bit of pain and has a pain pump,” said Ellen Collette of the Health Center in an e-mail.

According to Collette, Foster’s doctor estimates she will have to stay in the hospital for 10 days to recover from her surgery and may have to stay in the area longer before she is able to fly home.

“It would be wonderful if people could keep Stephanie in their thoughts and prayers and anyone that’s good friends with Stephanie—I’m sure that she would love visitors, probably next week maybe as soon as Friday or Saturday,” said Sheedy.

Foster is currently in room 2035 at Kadlec Medical Center in Richland, Wash.  Cards or letters for Foster can be sent through Brien Sheedy.