Illustration by Tyler Schuh

In 1917, Mary Shipman Penrose, the wife of Whitman College president Stephen B. Penrose, was the first president of the Walla Walla YWCA. Almost one hundred years later, Whitman and the YWCA are joining forces again to serve women in the community.

YWCA advocate Laura Mills, Americorps Intern with the YWCA Jenna Skinness and several members of Feminists Advocating Change and Empowerment, Whitman’s feminist club, met earlier this year to collaborate on planning their annual Take Back the Night event, which takes place this year on Thursday, April 18.

Take Back the Night is an international event dedicated to protesting and raising awareness of sexual abuse and relationship violence through marches, vigils and other public events.

At 8 p.m. marchers will gather in front of Reid Campus Center and march along Isaacs Avenue. Following the march, participants will meet in the amphitheater outside of the Office of Admission, where they will have the opportunity to share the ways in which sexual violence has affected them in an open-microphone session.

After listening to these stories, participants have the opportunity to record their reactions directly on campus sidewalks using chalk. YWCA collaborators suggested adding this new activity, known as “chalkupying,” to the event  agenda in order to provide a chance for participants to really reclaim something.

Senior FACE member Kate Kight feels that “chalkupying” adds an important dimension to this year’s event.

“It gives everyone there an ability to talk about and express their own reactions in whatever way is most appropriate for them, and it’s also a way for Take Back the Night to physically take back the space and remain a part of campus for a while,” she said.

The fact that “chalkupying” allows for a more direct means of participation for all marchers is especially helpful in light of  increased support for this event from FACE members and non-members alike. According to FACE Co-President senior Gabriella Friedman, many students have approached her asking to help with Take Back the Night.

“There is a lot of excitement from lots of different people, which really shows that this is an important issue for a lot of people on campus,” she said.

In addition to helping formulate an agenda, the YWCA has publicized the march on their website and in their newsletter in hopes of attracting many more community members to the event. Advocates will also attend the event to provide information for Take Back the Night participants.

Executive Director of the YWCA and Whitman alumna Anne-Marie Schwerin ’85 hopes to strengthen ties between Whitman and the YWCA in the future.

“Women from Whitman were involved with the YWCA from the beginning. The Whitman connection is already strong … I hope we can continue to build that connection and be a resource for the community,” she said.

Schwerin feels that Take Back the Night is an excellent way for Whitman students and community members to come together over an issue that affects all of them.

“Take Back the Night can help people understand that women have to think about this every day, like in a parking lot or walking to our cars. We have to think all the time. The event can get people thinking and talking about everyday fear,” she said.

Kight agrees.

“I’m really excited about building those ties because issues like this extend far beyond Whitman. I like the idea of breaking down our community boundaries and realizing that who we are and the issues we deal with don’t have physical endpoints bound by campus,” she said.

Next year’s FACE leadership and the YWCA hope to work together again to plan events and to fight sexual and gendered violence. Schwerin believes that this collaboration truly fits in with the YWCA mission.

“I love the notion and vision of life without fear. If we can help people to step into an idea of life without fear, that’s something important.”

The well-meaning staff of Residence Life would like you to believe that members of the IHC are held together by their common interests, but this is false. IHC camaraderie is built around the strong bonds that can only exist among a group of people who have spent a year of their lives eating dinner out of two large plastic bins.

Dear readers, I know you might be skeptical. What about the French House? Don’t they all, like, speak French at dinner? That’s a bond, right? Kind of. Sure. But almost everyone in France also speaks French, and I promise that they would never eat field roast delivered to them in a Ziploc bag. That’s for IHCers only.

As an alumna of this cuisine-related bond, I know how you’re all feeling, dear readers. You’re probably a little tired of forgetting what you’ve ordered by the time you get dinner a week later, maybe a little passive-aggressive about the fact that you always seem to be the one to take the bins back to Prentiss and certainly a little fed up with this food. Good news: If you’re looking for a break from the bins, here’s a guide to help you find alternative solutions to your dinner problem.

1. Create art.

Have you always wanted to be an artist? (Don’t be embarrassed if the answer is yes. I spent pretty much my entire junior year of high school writing poetry in front of my locker and wearing long black sweaters, and I totally understand that sometimes your feelings can only be expressed via Instagram photos.) If yes, you’re in luck. Bin food is a little-known but nonetheless excellent new medium for self-expression.

Try making sculptures out of mystery vegetable mixes or using soup as paint. Does someone have a birthday soon? Give your creations as gifts. Or you could always submit them to blue moon and quarterlife. I guarantee that the staffs of literary magazines love looking at photographs of food art.

2. Pull some zany pranks.

There is no better way to show your new IHC pals that you’re barrels of fun than with a well-executed prank. Try moving all the bin leftovers to his or her section of the fridge. Or even try an alternative to the prank in which you surround someone’s door with full glasses, and surprise your housemate with a walkway full of baked potatoes. What a riot you’ll be!

If you’re feeling especially mischievous, you could also just order 100 servings of Cocoa Puffs. Then even the Bon App employees will be impressed by your humor and free-spiritedness.

3. Have a family game night.

Your bin food provides you the perfect opportunity to play a rousing round of  “Who Ordered This?” The rules are simple. Each player must pick up one of the white containers in the bin, observe its contents for 10 seconds and then guess which of his or her housemates selected this delectable dish from the menu a week prior. If you guess correctly, you’re off the hook. If you guess incorrectly, you have to eat whatever is in the container.

Psh, too easy, you might be thinking. But not so fast, dear readers. Bon App has a trick up its sleeve to make this game more challenging: Inside several of these containers is food that no one at the table actually ordered.

So, dear readers, next time you hear that familiar doorbell ring, don’t groan. Think of the possibilities that await you in those plastic bins.

ASWC elections are coming up, and the list for candidates looks a little short in some places.

When students vote for next year’s executive council on Monday, April 8, both the candidate for vice president and the candidate for finance chair are running unopposed.

Sophomore Tatiana Kaehler, the only candidate for finance chair, feels that having unopposed races is not necessarily ideal.

“In general, it’s worrisome that we have positions with a lack of interest because ASWC does make a direct impact on student on campus, and people don’t have much interest in that or don’t recognize the impact ASWC has,” she said.

She feels that ASWC has made important strides in improving communication with students this year, and hopes that continuing to inform students about the impact ASWC has on campus will encourage more students to run in future elections.

Despite having some concerns about these unopposed races, Kaehler is nonetheless optimistic about the election results

“I’m excited for our leadership next year. All the candidates are motivated and talented leaders, so we’ll do a great job no matter how the election turns out.”

Junior and current ASWC president Kayvon Behroozian is also convinced that the candidates running will do an excellent job.

“If the candidates are unopposed, they are probably the most qualified for the jobs they’ve applied for. I wouldn’t want people running just for the sake of competition,” he said. “If you were not interested enough to go through the steps to apply for the job, you’re probably not interested enough in the job. These positions are more than full-time jobs, and you have to be motivated from the beginning.”

Although Behroozian is only a junior this year, he will not be running for a second term as president, primarily because he feels that doing so would be breaking one of his campaign promises.

When he ran as a candidate for ASWC president last spring, an important part of his platform was his belief that he would make a more effective president as a junior than a senior. Behroozian believes that because seniors face additional challenges and responsibilities, like filling out applications and preparing for exams, they would likely have less time and energy to devote to the ASWC job.

“A president’s job is to represent the students on campus. It’s hard to do that when you’re looking towards your future and life post-Whitman,” he said.

Additionally, Behroozian is confident that during his term he either completed or laid the foundation for all the issues he wanted this year’s executive council to address. These issues included gaining student representation on governing boards and coordinating different groups within ASWC itself.

After the executive council elections, students will have the opportunity to participate in senate elections on Monday, April 15.

Because the senior class currently only has three senator candidates, the deadline to apply as a candidate has been extended. Seniors who still want to run for a senator position must fill out petitions with at least 20 signatures and turn it in to the ASWC office before Thursday, April 4.

Behroozian urges everyone to vote in the upcoming elections.

“People are going to keep asking, ‘What does ASWC actually do?’ For those who don’t keep up with ASWC news, just know that ASWC has done something to improve your student experience in the past year and you should care and vote,” he said.

Spring has brought some changes for the Whitman Office of Communications. By the start of next school year, the office will have a new assistant vice president of communications and a new web content specialist.

Previous Web Content Specialist Phil Thompson recently left Whitman so that he could focus on his own web consulting business. His position is being filled by Carlos Virgen, who currently works as the online manager and web producer for the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin.

As online manager, Virgen is responsible for posting content on the U-B website and for updating and administering U-B social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter. He will oversee content on the Whitman website when he makes the transition to the Office of Communications.

Additionally, Virgen will be leading the Office of Communications staff in continuing the transition to Ingeniux, their new web content management system (CMS). Ingeniux was first installed nine months ago, and the office staff is still working to become entirely comfortable with it.

Though he anticipates some challenges, Virgen is excited to begin working with the system.

“The new CMS is not in a language that I’m too familiar with, but that’s what I enjoy learning and geeking out about. It’ll be another skill for me to take away, which is something I’m looking forward to,” he said.

Current Assistant Vice President of Communications Ruth Wardwell also believes that Virgen will make a great addition to the communications team.

“Carlos brings a wide new media skill set, which will serve the college and its audiences very well. He has also overseen two CMS transitions, so he’s going to be terrific.”

Virgen will start work in the Office of Communications on Monday, April 1.

The Office of Communications staff will also be joined by a new assistant vice president of communications.

The search for this new member of staff will begin in the next two or three weeks. President George Bridges and an advisory group of administrators lead by Trustee Nancy Serrurier will choose a final list of candidates. Then they will work with nationally recognized search firm Isaacson and Miller to conduct interviews and to make the final decision.

The top candidates will also make public presentations and the selection committee will consider feedback from staff, faculty and students when choosing a new director.

Vice President for Development and College Relations John Bogley hopes to find someone who can continue to expand upon the office’s foundation by maintaining strong relationships with outside news sources and by building Whitman’s presence online and in social media.

“With the emergence of social media and the increased pace of the news cycle, new opportunities to achieve the goals outlined above are taking on increased importance. Building on our strong base, we seek to take full advantage of the additional channels and methods of sharing the news about the excellence of Whitman College,” he said in an email.

The new assistant vice president of communications will begin working at the start of August.

Wardwell, the current assistant VP of communications, plans to move back to her home in Orange County, Calif. and begin working at a public relations firm based in San Diego.

This move is not a sudden decision for Wardwell. She began working with the Office of Communications eight years ago, excited about the opportunity to live in a small town. However, she never intended to stay in Walla Walla forever.

“I went home over the holidays and it just clicked that—no pun intended—now is the time,” she said.

Wardwell is confident that the office will continue to grow during its transition.

“I think the transition will be terrific because we have strong creative people in place. They have an eye for the creative and they have many opportunities to help the college through the communications process,” she said.

While browsing whitmanencounters.com one day, senior Kate Kight saw a post that really scared her.

This post, written by a student whose friend had been sexually assaulted by an RA, contained responses from several students offering resources and support for the survivor, which Kight found heartening. Several responses, however, showed that students distrusted the administration’s ability to address issues of sexual assault.

To address this crucial problem, Kight and other members of Feminists Advocating Change and Empowerment (FACE) are working to increase discussion of sexual assault on campus by giving survivors and other students the opportunity to share their stories, both in intimate settings and in community events like Take Back the Night.

The sexual assault discussion panelists included administration, survivors, students and staff. Pictured here is student panelist Paige Joki. Photos by cade beck.

Early this month, FACE organized a panel of students and administrators in order to address some of the tensions between students and the administration when discussing sexual assault.

“We wanted to provide a formal opportunity for students to say, ‘Here’s why I don’t trust the administration,’ and for the administration to respond,” said Kight.

The panel was held on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. in Reid Ballroom. Speaking on the panel were four students, Associate Dean of Students for Academic Support Services Clare Carson, Associate Dean of Students for Student Programs and Activities Barbara Maxwell, Stuart Coordinator of Religious and Spiritual Life Adam Kirtley and Interim Assistant Director for Residence Life Anastasia Zamkinos.

Senior co-president of FACE Gabriella Friedman was pleased to see a variety of voices on the panel.

“I think it was good to have a combination of administrators and survivors. There was a good diversity of people speaking, in terms of their roles at Whitman,” she said.

L to R: Sayda Morales, Sam Fisher and Clare Carson.

One student panelist, sophomore Sam Fischer, was selected to provide unique insight from the perspective of a male fraternity member.

“I was trying to communicate that the goals of a fraternity are right in line with goals of promoting social well-being, that those things work together extremely well,” he said.

The panel proved not only to be an opportunity to talk about administrative policies, but also a discussion of campus culture in relation to sexual assault.

L to R: Paige Joki, Anastasia Zamkinos and Adam Kirtley.

“It ended up being a really positive outcome. People seemed to really be interested in how we can change our culture and change our language to create an environment that fosters trust and care about each other,” said Kight.

Similarly, Fischer believes that his time on the panel was more about listening to others than just about sharing his own input, and he hopes to take what he has learned to help encourage men to be part of this new environment.

“The most significant thing has been people coming up to me … and talking to me after the event, in particular working with one person thinking about how we can just talk more with men and get better representation of men at these events. Fraternities are a great way to pressure people to go do things,” he said.

Junior Paige Joki, another student panelist, also felt that one of the most important aspects of the panel was that it provided the opportunity for further discussion.

“I am forever grateful to the folks that stayed after the panel ended and continued to raise thought provoking questions and seek to continue this discussion, and lend support to those effected by sexual violence. After the panel a few folks came up to me and we continued the dialogue several days later. I am proud to say that these necessary and productive conversation are continuing,” she said in an email.

Audience members who attended the panel were particularly struck by survivor accounts.

“It was so brave that people shared their stories,” said first-year Ellen Ivens-Duran.

First-year Emily Carrick agreed.

“People talked [more] openly than I expected. There were a lot of different perspectives. It made me think of sexual assault policies differently,” she said.

In addition to the recent panel, FACE hopes to continue dialogue about sexual assault in their annual Take Back the Night march.

Take Back the Night is an event held all over the world to protest rape and sexual violence. Usually it consists of a public rally and march against sexual violence, and then a vigil where participants can share their experiences.

This year, FACE plans to work with the leaders of community organizations, like the YWCA and Planned Parenthood, in order to encourage more non-Whitties to participate in the march.

Co-presidents Friedman and senior Madelyn Peterson also emphasized the importance of using Take Back the Night as a chance to widen our understanding of sexual violence. Instead of creating a women-only space, Friedman and Peterson wanted to show that sexual assault is an issue for a variety of people.

“We hope to highlight how race, class, gender identity and sexual orientation are part of sexual and gendered violence, bringing a more inclusive and broad lens into Take Back the Night ,” said Peterson.

The sexual assault discussion panel was led by Kate Kight.

The Take Back the Night march will be held on Thursday, April 18 at 8 p.m.

For Kight, events that initiate dialogue about sexual assault, like the panel and Take Back the Night, are necessary for creating change.

“This is an opportunity to validate, however this touches your life, that you have a story to tell, that every story is emotionally important.”

Looking for a change of scenery? It might seem like Walla Walla is in the middle of nowhere, but there are actually plenty of options for students looking to get away for a while. Below are some of Whitties most favorite places to visit for a day-trip out of Walla Walla.

Waitsburg

Drive just 20 miles east, and you’ll reach Waitsburg, a small town that can fulfill all your daytrip desires.

The Bruce Memorial Museum:

A great stop for history students and history fans. Exhibits are showcased in an 1883 Victorian mansion, which was built less than two decades after Waitsburg was founded. Just seeing the architecture is worth a visit.

Lavender’s-R-Us:

After the museum, treat your senses to a relaxing stop at Lavender’s-R-Us, Waitsburg’s you-pick lavender field and lavender gift shop. Pick up some lavender decor for your home or a lavender sachet to make your car or drawer smell clean and inviting.

L&B Kitchens:

For some local flair, check out L&B Kitchens, a purveyor of wheat-based products. You might want to pick up a package of nutritious whole grain wheat berries, the perfect ingredient for homemade soups and stews. Their website can be found here.

Jimgermanbar:

Hungry after a long day of exploration? Jimgermanbar serves up European-inspired dishes and a variety of original cocktails with seasonal ingredients, which are sure to please. Their website can be found here.

Whoopermump Hollow Café:

If you’re in the mood for something else, you could also try the Whoopemump Hollow Café, which dishes out southern comfort food Tuesday-Sunday in a lively, friendly atmosphere. Their website can be found here.

Dayton

Visit the Laht Nappur brewery and see where your favorite Walla Walla beer had its beginnings.

Milton-Freewater

Just a 15-minute drive south of Walla Walla, Milton-Freewater offers several entertaining options for Whitties who are looking to get away for a day or even for just an afternoon.

Drive-in Movie Theater:

If you’re looking for inexpensive and somewhat retro entertainment, stop by the drive-in movie theater. You can relax in your car and watch a cool flick for only $6.

The Blue Mountain Cider Company:

For those of you tired of drinking PBR and Franzia, Milton-Freewater has a slightly more upscale alternative. The Blue Mountain Cider Company boasts several varieties of delicious cider, all made with locally grown apples. The tasting room is open for visitors from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Monday-Saturday.

Petit Noirs:

If you have a bit of a sweet tooth after finishing your cider, check out the chocolate shop Petit Noirs. Each treat made at the shop has a high concentration of cacao and is made without artificial flavors or preservatives.

Clay in Motion:

In a crafty mood? Visit Clay in Motion! You can explore the studio where the Neher family creates custom-made ceramics and then pick out something new for your kitchen in their gift shop. (The handwarmer mug is only $18.) The studio and shop are open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Monday-Saturday and 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Sundays. Since Clay in Motion is right on highway 11, you can’t miss it.

Tri-Cities

When Walla Walla starts to feel too small, but you don’t want to make the trek to Seattle or Portland, the Tri-Cities offer a wider variety of diversions than you might find in a small town.

Shopping Centers:

If there’s a little too much hipster chic in your wardrobe or if you’re just in the mood to shop, take a drive down highway 12 and visit the shopping centers in Tri-Cities. Kennewick has several retail options, including a Target, a Bed Bath & Beyond and the Columbia Center mall.

Flea Market:

And if those shopping options sound a little too mainstream, take a stroll through the Pasco flea market. The market is open every weekend at 200 E. Lewis Place between March 1 and Dec. 1, and visitors are sure to find a unique and eclectic collection of wares there.

Hockey:

In the winter months, sports fans might also enjoy watching a local hockey game. Kennewick is home to the Tri-Cities Americans, a junior hockey team competing in the Western Hockey League. Visit Toyota Center Stadium at 7000 W. Grandridge Boulevard for tickets.

Roller Derby:

And if hockey isn’t your favorite sport, you can also visit the Toyota Center to see the Atomic City Roller Girls, Kennewick’s competitive women’s roller derby league.