In the spring of 2013, ASWC’s finances were in disarray. A series of poor financial decisions made in previous years led the student government to a budget crisis that required hard and at times unpopular decisions, increasing the student fee $14 while simultaneously slashing funding for a variety of clubs and the college yearbook.

This year, the student fee was raised only $4, and despite having 10 new clubs only three organizations requested additional funds from the $16,000 set aside by the Finance Committee for appeals following the announcement of a preliminary budget.

The dramatic change in ASWC’s finances has been due to a combination of hard financial decisions made by the last four years’ finance chairs, greater efficiency in accounting for funds rolling over from previous years’ budgets and a commitment to holding spending in check.

“In an ideal world, the ASWC budget covers whatever the finance committee and ASWC as a whole wants it to cover, and we don’t have to raise the budget or the student fee…besides for inflation so our dollars are the exact same [spending power],” said junior Mitchell Cutter, who will be next year’s Finance Chair. “This year we tried to do that, and I think we succeeded in raising the student fee enough to cover inflation without adding anything else on for the year. I think our budget’s in a really solid place right now.”

At first glance, the preliminary budget distributed by ASWC still left several clubs with little or no funding for next year. According to Cutter, this is largely due to the rollover of funds from this year. Many of the clubs that appear short on funds are Service Learning Organizations, who receive funding from both ASWC and the Student Engagement Center. These clubs’ funds automatically roll over from year to year, instead of returning to the general ASWC fund.

Rollover funds have also increased this year as for the first time clubs were able to apply to rollover funds as part of their budget requests. While this helped a number of clubs retain resources for next year without ASWC allocating additional money, the rollover funds were not shown in the draft budget available to the public. Cutter intends to correct this in future years.

“In the future as finance chair, I will look to put rollover into the budget sheet that’s released to the public. Rollover isn’t something that a lot of clubs attempted to do [in the past]. The role of rollover is increasing in ASWC funds,” said Cutter.

This year, ASWC is funding more activities than ever. In addition to the Whitman Events Board, five campus media organizations, club sports, and the salaries of numerous employees, ASWC is now supporting a record-breaking 67 clubs. This includes ten new clubs that gained recognition over the course of this year and were included in the budget.

“Having worked with the clubs, I thought it was really awesome…with the new clubs to see so much excitement. A lot of these new clubs had really well thought-out requests, so it’s exciting to see where they’ll go next year with the budgets they were given,” said junior Josie Furbershaw, this year’s ASWC Club Director.

If clubs are unhappy with the amount allocated in the initial budget, they can appeal during the two weeks following its announcement. The finance committee set aside over $16,000 to meet appeals, but in the end only the yearbook, Black Student Union, and Buddy Program applied for more funds.

The thousands of dollars not distributed in appeals will be added to next year’s Contingency and Travel & Student Development funds, which students and clubs can apply to throughout the year to fund unexpected expenses and new projects. These funds may end up needing the additional resources, as applications have increased in recent years and they will have very little rollover.

“There are worse things we can do than spend the resources that are available to us to power student life on campus,” said ASWC Finance Chair Anya Tudisco. “We have resources, and the best part of this job is getting to see all the places they go and all the student initiatives they fund.”

This week a small group of powerful people will meet behind closed doors to decide the future of Whitman College, as the Board of Trustees hold one of their three annual meetings. The transparency of Whitman’s Board of Trustees and administration has been a source of contention for years, and despite some steps taken to increase communication, a recent survey of students found many are still unsatisfied and uninformed.

In the last year, there have been a number of controversies involving transparency, including the suspension of the debate team, suspension of parts of the Global Studies Initiative, and trustees’ lack of response to numerous resolutions passed by student and faculty in favor of divestment from fossil fuel companies. This November two Divest Whitman members, juniors Mona Law and Mitchell Cutter, formed the Transparency at Whitman Working Group (TWWG) and collaborated with ASWC to poll students on their perceptions of the Board of Trustees, administration, and ASWC.

“The idea was to look into how students really felt about governance in general at the college. Could things be improved by the administration, by the Board of Trustees, by ASWC to make things more clear to people?” said Cutter.

Is Whitman Transparent?

Since December, nearly 300 students have responded to TWWG’s survey. Results show the majority of students are not confident in their understanding of the roles of President Murray and the Board of Trustees. Nearly half of respondents were also unfamiliar with the role of ASWC. Respondents expressed a strong desire for increased transparency from trustees and administrators.

There is a wide gap between most students’ perception of transparency and the trustees’ stated goals.

“The Board has an obligation to work with the administration to make sure we are communicating [to the Whitman community] what we are thinking, what we are hoping to accomplish, and what our priorities are,” said Brad McMurchie ‘84, the chair of the Board of Trustees. “We try to do that through regular communication with the campus following our meetings, which happen three times a year. I’ve been to a faculty meeting, [and] it’s quite common for board members to participate in multiple forums on campus.”

Just a few years ago, the Whitman administration was significantly less transparent than it is today. Since becoming chair of the board in 2014, McMurchie has worked with the college’s president to send an email to the campus community after every trustee meeting explaining what decisions were made. In addition, student representation on governing board committees was expanded in the spring of 2013 following advocacy by then-ASWC President Kayvon Behroozian ‘14.

This week 43 students selected by the Dean of Students office also had the opportunity to sit down and have dinner with trustees, a first in the college’s history.

“To my knowledge, and I’ve been here a long time, I don’t think there’s ever been a large dinner like this with students and trustees, [and] I think it’s really terrific,” said Dean of Students Chuck Cleveland. “They’ve done this with faculty for years, and I hope this is the beginning and not one and done.”

Students were selected by the Dean of Students’ Council to include a diversity of class years and be representative of the student body’s gender balance and ethnic diversity. Residence life staff, club leaders, interns in college offices, athletes, and ASWC are all represented. In addition, some students not invited to the dinner with trustees had the opportunity to network with them at an event arranged by the Student Engagement Center.

Transparency at other colleges

Whitman’s peer institutions have various approaches to transparency. Rhodes College holds “trustee debriefs” at the end of trustee meetings, where the trustees communicate face-to-face with the campus. At several schools the President holds office hours where students can drop by to discuss concerns, a policy Whitman President Kathy Murray is willing to consider should students be interested. Murray has also met with several student groups this year, and is committed to speaking with students who reach out.

Some of Whitman’s peer institutions have “young trustee” positions that guarantee recent graduates a chance to participate in campus governance; of all Whitman’s peer institutions, it is the only one without a trustee who graduated from the college in the last 25 years.

One of the most common requests from students advocating for transparency at Whitman College is the inclusion of a student representative in closed-door meetings of the Board of Trustees. Half of Whitman’s peer institutions have student representation on the boards, including Macalester College, where President Murray was Provost & Dean of Faculty before coming to Whitman.

“[The student liaison position] worked when it was a student who was really interested in getting back out to students, after and before those meetings, to solicit their views and to share what had happened. Some years that worked better than others; it was totally dependent on the interest level of the person selected,” said Murray.

Student representation

Though Whitman’s Board of Trustees doesn’t have a student liaison, a handful of students appointed by ASWC serve on various governing board committees. However, according to the TWWG survey many students are unfamiliar with these opportunities.

“We do have student representatives on each of the governing board committees, and I don’t think students always realize that,” said ASWC President Jack Percival. “I would encourage people to read the ASWC e-mails that we send, because much of the information [about the governing board positions] is included in there.”

Unlike other ASWC positions, representatives to governing boards are chosen by ASWC’s Nominations Committee, not elected by the student body.

“I think the nominations committee is a really good way to do [appointments], because one, it’s nice to be tied to the institutional resources of ASWC if [representatives] want that, and two, it gives them a lot of legitimacy to go through this very intense, rigorous process [of applying],” said Percival.

Moving forward, TWWG is undecided about whether to advocate for particular changes in policies surrounding transparency. Divest Whitman plans to use the results from their survey in art installations challenging trustees to be more transparent in their decisions and respond to student concerns, including fossil fuel divestment.

“It think there’s a lot of concern right now about students not feeling their voices are heard,” said Law. “I think ASWC does a really great job…but the fact that people have concerns about the transparency for the college means…the student government has a responsibility to take that into consideration.”

This article is the centerpiece of a series of Pioneer articles on Whitman’s financial aid policies published this week. For more, read about the college’s financial and merit aid history, surprising ways Whitman could meet 100 percent of need, and what ‘accessibility’ means. 

Rock bottom. That was Whitman’s place for the second year in a row on the Financial Accessibility Index. The index, which measure how well colleges support low-income students, was published by The New York Times in September. Last year, Whitman came in last of the 100 schools on the list. This time around, it was 153 on an expanded list of 179 schools.

Whitman’s endowment is strong and has grown significantly in recent years. So why does the college continue to struggle to provide access to middle- and low-income students? Despite having over 300k dollars in endowment per student, Whitman performed worse than any of its 12 comparison schools. No school below Whitman on the list has over 200k dollars per student, and 88 schools with smaller endowments per student ranked above Whitman.

While Whitman’s place in the higher education market limits its options, a number of decisions have led it to the point it is now. Merit aid, direct giving from alumni towards the endowment instead of annual costs and the distribution of spending on financial aid and other costs all contribute to the college’s inaccessibility problem.

Financial aid policies

Under its current financial aid policies, Whitman can reject applicants based on their family’s lack of wealth. As opposed to being “need-blind,” this “need-sensitive” position allows the college to evaluate a student’s financial need as part of the process in admitting them.

The other key piece to a college’s financial aid policy is the percentage of demonstrated need met. While Whitman has consistently met between 91 and 96 percent of demonstrated need in the past 10 years, the significant majority of the college’s comparison schools meet 100 percent. For the class that entered in 2013, the most recent publicly available data, Whitman met an average of 92.9 percent of student need.

Why does Whitman spend so much on merit aid?

Whitman gives a greater percentage of its financial aid budget to merit aid than all but one of its peer colleges. In 2013-14, over 17 percent of Whitman’s financial aid went to students who had no demonstrated financial need, while this number was under nine percent for most of its comparison schools. If Whitman were to give a third of its merit aid funding to need-based aid, it could meet 100 percent of need.

Unfortunately, solving Whitman’s accessibility problem isn’t that simple. Tuition from wealthy students who receive merit aid makes up a large portion of Whitman’s budget, and merit aid is often a deciding factor when these students decide which school to attend.

Other liberal arts colleges in Oregon and Washington— including the University of Puget Sound, Willamette and Lewis & Clark— offer large merit packages to attract these same students. According to Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Tony Cabasco, this competitive aspect, combined with Whitman’s somewhat isolated location, cause the college to offer significant merit scholarships to students who don’t qualify for need-based aid.

“Our overlap Pacific Northwest colleges give more in merit,” he said. “If we did not need to spend the merit-based aid money to get those students to come, we wouldn’t have to. But that’s where we stand.” 

Although it continues to spend more than other schools, Whitman has been lowering the percentage of financial aid going to students without need over the last decade. According to Cabasco, as the college’s reputation and “place in the market” of its peer colleges has risen, fewer wealthy students have needed merit aid to entice them.

“How you use merit aid corresponds to your position in the marketplace. Some colleges can draw and enroll students without significant merit aid. Others like Whitman need to use more of that,” he said. “It’s hard to get kids to come to Walla Walla, that’s the reality.”

President Kathy Murray, who was previously the Provost and Dean at Macalester College  (which ranked much higher on the New York Times list at 52) said that both colleges operate with similar strategies in mind. Where institutions vary is in the amount they award.

“Macalester and most of our peers use merit aid in very similar ways, and that’s to increase yield of students who can pay a significant portion of the tuition,” she said. “The dollars that come in from those students help us to be able to fund the students with higher need. It’s the reality of the [college] marketplace at this point.”

Merit aid’s gamble: The class of 2019

Does Whitman run the risk of throwing merit awards at students who may not need to be won over? Cabasco said it’s a possibility, and part of the balance his office strives for in making the college accessible.

“That’s one of the challenges we have: to make sure we set the proper amounts. You don’t want to spend too much [on merit aid], and you don’t want to spend too little.”

This challenge came into focus with the class that entered this fall. Whitman did not raise the amount offered in merit scholarships, unlike many other Pacific Northwest colleges. Harvey and Cabasco believe this is the reason the incoming class fell short of its enrollment goal by 30 students, as wealthy students chose to attend other schools.

Though this year’s class has more socioeconomic diversity than previous years with more first-generation and Pell Grant students, the college is currently facing a budget shortfall. As a result, merit aid will likely increase next year, and is unlikely to end in the near future.

“We did better in yielding students who had financial need … But [what happened this year] is not sustainable,” said Cabasco, referring to the budget deficit. “You either need to increase revenue or cut expenditures to make it work.”

How does percentage of need-met fit in? Cabasco said the college’s current gap would be the first priority if more money was made available to need-based aid.

“It would take about 1.2 million dollars, today, to meet the demonstrated need of everyone who is here at Whitman,” he said. “My sense would be, given that our approach has been ‘let’s do a better job of taking care of our students who are already here,’ [we would meet 100 percent of need] before we expand the socio-economic numbers.”

Where are the gifts going?

Redistributing funding is not the only way the college could find the funds needed to meet 100 percent of demonstrated. If the college were able to increase its overall income by two percent, it could also reach its goal. Funding comes primarily from three places: program service revenue, the endowment and annual gifts from alumni.

Program service revenue includes net tuition, room & board and bookstore profits; in other words, what students and their families pay every year. At Whitman, these costs usually pay for about 78 percent of total expenses, compared to 70 percent of total expenses at schools with similar endowments. Because Whitman has the same policy regarding its endowment as these schools, the difference likely comes from the amount of annual giving.

According to John Bogley, Whitman’s Vice President for Development & Alumni Relations, Whitman receives a similar amount in gifts from alumni every year as its comparison schools. It is difficult to determine how each of these schools spends their gifts. However, according to Harvey, other schools generally have two to three times as much unrestricted giving, money that is not donated for a specific purpose and the college can spend however it feels best.

While direct statistics are not available, evidence suggests Whitman differs from other schools in that more gifts from alumni tend to go into the endowment or be contributed for specific purposes, and fewer are available for unrestricted use in the year they are given.

“That’s a strategy we consider at times: should we try to raise the amount of gifts coming in? There’s a balancing act between how much you spend immediately, and how much you invest in the endowment to have long-term sustainability,” said Whitman’s Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer Peter Harvey.

Giving is influenced both by what the college requests and what alumni are predisposed to give to. If it choses, the college could ask alumni to contribute gifts to use for meeting 100 percent of need in the year it is given. This would make meeting 100 percent need easier, but slow the rate of growth of the college’s endowment.

Why can’t the endowment help?

Whitman’s endowment provides for the long-term financial stability of the college. In the last five years, it has grown rapidly due to successful investments and the concentration of alumni donations.

Most colleges, including Whitman, take five percent of their endowment every year to pay for annual costs. To keep the endowment steady, Whitman calculates the endowment’s average value in the last three years. It then spends five percent of this number on the budget, and assumes there will be two percent inflation. For the last decade, the average college endowment grown seven percent a year.

“In theory you can [spend more every year], but I don’t recommend it. The purpose of the endowment is to exist in perpetuity, it’s to make sure it provides the same level of support to students today as it is to students in ten years from now, twenty years from now, fifty years from now,” said Harvey.

To meet 100 percent of need, Whitman would need to spend less than half a percentage more each year. However, administrators are reluctant to do this as it could risk the college’s financial future.

Whitman cannot spend all revenue from its endowment as it likes. Oftentimes, donors specify a use when they give to the college. One third of the revenue from the endowment is specifically committed to financial aid. Another third is unrestricted; right now, this is entirely committed to financial aid as well. The last third was donated for instruction, academic support, the physical plants and other uses.

Whitman recently raised 165 million dollars for the endowment and other projects through the Now is the Time campaign. Not all this money is available today, as a portion is in the form of pledges which will be paid over five years, and in estates which will be given to the college when alumni pass away. However, of the 50 million dollars raised for financial aid, 35 million dollars are in use today, and much more is available from unrestricted funds raised by Now is the Time.

In the most recent year, it would have taken only 1.2 million dollars to meet 100 percent of financial need for students. If the endowment had 24 million more dollars committed to financial aid last year, the revenue from this addition could have covered this difference. Despite the endowment’s rapid growth, it has not been able to meet 100 percent need in recent years. However, depending on its financial decisions in the future, it may one day reach this goal.

The future of financial aid

Data from colleges is usually released two years after the year it refers to. Changes Whitman made following its poor performance on the College Accessibility Index last year will only begin to be seen next year. It is likely that Whitman’s rank will improve, though this is not guaranteed as other colleges may have improved accessibility as well.

However, no permanent policy changes have taken place. Most of Whitman’s peer schools meet 100 percent of need for the students they admit; while everything has a trade-off, there are a number of areas where Whitman could divert or raise funds to apply this policy. It could trim merit-aid and other areas of the budget, raise tuition, redirect alumni giving or take advantage of the larger endowment.

Financial accessibility is likely to be one of the topics discussed when President Murray heads a committee to form a Strategic Action Plan next year.

“I am a product of significant financial aid as an undergraduate. I was given access as a student who could not possibly afford to go to the institution I went to, so for me this is a really important piece. But I also have a responsibility to make sure the budget balances,” said Murray. “We will absolutely be thinking about this during the strategic planning process.”

This article is the centerpiece of a series of Pioneer articles on Whitman’s financial aid policies published this week. For more, read about the college’s financial and merit aid history, surprising ways Whitman could meet 100 percent of need, and what ‘accessibility’ means. 

Investigators from the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) visited Whitman from Wednesday, April 22 to Thursday, April 23 to determine whether or not the college is following its professed Title IX and sexual assault policies.

Professor Melissa Wilcox amended the door hangers produced in conjunction with the visit from representatives from the Office of Civil Rights. Photo by Anna Dawson.

Sexual assault has been a contentious issue on campus for several years, and it has received more attention this year. In the week prior to the OCR visit, the college launched a contentious publicity campaign using door hangers. The faculty also voted to remove the Sexual Misconduct Policy from the faculty code on April 22, which will make it much easier to revise the policy in order to uphold changing legal requirements and respond to student suggestions.

“We were asked by the Office of Civil Rights to make it very clear to our campus that they were coming. They asked us essentially to have an ad campaign,” said Title IX Coordinator and Associate Dean of Students Juli Dunn. “I think we succeeded in that because they had turnout [here], while at previous institutions they’d been at of much larger size they’ve had very few students show up.”

According to Dunn, the OCR investigators were impressed with the turnout at events held to connect with the student body at Whitman. Nearly 40 students attended group sessions, including one for student athletes and another for members of Greek organizations. A small number of students also showed up for the working groups and investigators’ open office hours.

Dunn credits the large turnout to Whitman’s involved student body, as well as the publicity campaign created by the college administration during which door hangers were placed on nearly every door on campus on the evening of Tuesday, April 15. The door hangers displayed information about the OCR visit, as well as information about Title IX policies and resources on campus for survivors.

The door hanger campaign was highly disputed on campus, as many critics from the faculty and student body felt the door hangers did not sufficiently emphasize the upcoming OCR visit. While the door hangers include information and resources, the majority of their space consists of a message reading “I’m Okay” on one side and “Need Help” on the other. In an email to the student body, Dean of Students Chuck Cleveland suggested that these could be used to publicly signal when someone in an office or residence hall needed help dealing with trauma from sexual assault.

“They have the effect of trivializing the issue of sexual assault,” said Associate Professor of Religion and Gender Studies Melissa Wilcox. “That may not have been the intent, but that’s certainly the effect they have had.”

Professor Melissa Wilcox amended the door hangers produced in conjunction with the visit from representatives from the Office of Civil Rights. Photo by Anna Dawson.

With the support of several faculty members, students from Feminists Advocating Change and Empowerment (FACE) and All Students for Consent (ASC) gathered dozens of door hangers from across campus and revised their text to read messages critical of the administration and campus community’s attitude towards sexual assault and misconduct.

“We wanted it to be something public, so the OCR [and administration] could see another perspective … And if the purpose of the door hangers is to start a conversation, I think this will do a great job,” said junior Leda Zakarison, who helped organize the efforts to revise the door hangers.

Dunn read many of the revised door hangers, which were attached to the tennis court fences, and agrees with many of the sentiments behind them. She encourages community members with concerns or suggestions to speak with her in person, though none have yet responded to her invitations.

“If people want to talk about the policies, if people want to talk about whether the door hangers were effective or not effective, I would welcome that. I’ve invited folks to do that,” said Dunn. “I would love to hear from students how to engage in a space that they’re comfortable with, that they want to work in.”

According to Wilcox, there is a strong sense among critics of the administration that the college is more interested in protecting its image than effectively addressing issues of sexual misconduct. She hopes that the OCR visit ultimately results in more open discussion of sexual misconduct on campus and administrator acknowledgment that mistakes were made in the past.

“I would hope that whatever problems there are with Whitman’s responses to sexual assault and sexual harassment, that those are identified and made public [in the OCR report], not to shame the campus but to make clear that the campus has no choice but to acknowledge and address the problems,” said Wilcox.

It will be a long time before any results from the visit are known, regardless of whether or not the investigators’ report identifies problems with Whitman’s Title IX policies and practices. While the OCR holds both complainants and institutions to tight deadlines, the OCR can take years to act or give feedback. The OCR investigators who visited campus declined to be interviewed for this article, and the OCR press office did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

“We may not hear from them for several months, if not years,” said Dunn. “I think it’s unfortunate because the reality is [that by the time] we hear about it, many of the students who [filed complaints with the OCR about] our policies and procedures probably won’t be here any more.”

For almost 120 years, The Pioneer has reported on news from the Whitman campus and surrounding community. Pio Past pulls old articles from past decades from the Penrose Library archives to give modern readers a glimpse of campus history.

Pirouette and arabesque are mastered by campus nymphs: Maidens while away time in practice for Campus Day

Originally published March 3, 1922

In view of the fact that Campus Day—that day when strong men labor and gentle co-eds cavort upon the green sward in careless garb and excess of ecstasy, will be here ultimately—one of the best classes in aesthetic dancing that ever tested elastic arches on a bird’s eye maple is, by dint of frequent practice, gradually rounding into form. Each Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, the idle curious gather at their out posts in the gym and give their eyes a sumptuous repast, watching the breathless and slightly bedraggled serfs of terpischore master the intricate steps and movements of the pirouette and arabesque concert dances which will entertain the crowd expected at the annual May Queen festival held in conjunction with the Campus Day activities.

The pulchritudinous maidens, though at first rather awkward and grotesque in their movements, have during the last several weeks, shown marked progress toward the transformation which always follows such conscientious practice. Undoubtedlybefore the time comes for them to perform, many a talented danseuse will envy the grace of these lithe, Amazonian nymphs. We anxiously await your debut, fair ones.

Planning starts for Faire
by Barbara Hzelrigg
Originally published March 9, 1972

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! The 1972 Whitman College Renaissance Faire is now in its first stages of organization chairwomaned by Jan Munro. This year’s Faire is scheduled for the last weekend in April. The hopes for its success are high.

For those of you not fortunate enough to have been here last year, a Renaissance Faire is booths, games, musicians and bright costumes intermingled with sunshine and smiles to create an Elizabethean atmosphere. Students and artists sold silk screen painting, bread, leather works, candles, pottery, flowers and other wonderful things. Several were creamed in a pie-eating contest, and the sounds of recorders floated through the air throughout the afternoon.

Volunteers and enthusiasm are needed to make costumes and pan entertainments such as tournaments and activities. Bart Levitt suggested a chess game with real players. Other proposals are archery contests, tug-of-war, and a greased pig race. Paul Hemp suggested importing the gazebo from Pioneer Park for added atmosphere. Jan [Munro] would like to have a lamb roasting and Maypole celebration.

Any and all local craftsmen and student artists are encouraged to set up booths and sell their wares, from pottery to photography. Anybody want to give a puppet show?

Be sure to bring all of your fantastic ideas of inspired flights of imagination to Jan Munro or Dr. Bracher. In sooth, thou shalt be rewarded in pleasure.
___________

Caption: What is a Renaissance Fair? Many things, among them, a potter using a wheel outdoors to shape a jar while everyone watches. This is one scene from last year’s Faire chosen at random from a kaleidoscope of people — weavers, artists, wizards, musicians, flower sellers, and bakers, to name just a few.

Photo by Masi

It has been over two months since ASWC passed a resolution calling for changes to Whitman’s Sexual Misconduct Policy. While many of the resolution’s suggestions have been adopted in practice, several remain unaddressed, and none have been formally added to college policy.

Since 2011, the federal government has required Whitman and other colleges to adopt and enforce policies to prevent sexual violence on college campuses and hold perpetrators accountable. Students at Whitman have also called for policy changes; after months of debate on a committee of representatives from student groups across campus, ASWC passed a resolution in January calling for specific changes to the college’s Sexual Misconduct Policy.

In practice, several of the ASWC resolution’s suggestions have been taken into account. As recommended by the resolution, every investigation of sexual misconduct this year has involved two trained investigators. The college has also adopted many of the reporting practices of the Project Callisto program, which was recommended by the resolution. However, Project Callisto itself will not be used, as the program is in the very early stages of development and it costs 20,000 dollars to participate in the beta testing.

“We told [Associate Dean of Students Juli Dunn] it’s not so much that you have to adopt the Callisto reporting system, it’s that we want there to be a way for people to submit [narratives] in a way that’s more on the survivor’s terms, and [before it was] on the school’s terms,” said senior Corinne Vandagriff, who chaired the committee which drafted the ASWC resolution.

Another major change driven by the ASWC resolution is that reporters of sexual assault now have the chance to appeal to the chair of the faculty if an investigator decides a respondent is not responsible or there is a lack of evidence. However, this change has not yet been added to the official Sexual Misconduct Policy (SMP).

“This is the [practice] we’re following. There’s nothing in our policy that says you can’t appeal here,” said Dunn.

Because the SMP is part of the faculty code, it can only be changed through a vote by the faculty senate. The Office of Student Affairs tries not to change the policy while there is an open investigation, and the faculty does not meet during the summer, so most years there is a very narrow window in September where change can occur. For this reason, college policy struggles to keep pace with legal requirements that frequently change, and even amendments agreed upon by students, faculty and administrators can take months to be officially adopted.

ASWC has called for the SMP to be removed from the faculty code, and the faculty senate will vote on this question on Wednesday, Apr. 22. One point of contention will likely be whether the SMP should be controlled solely by the administration. A possible compromise would be for changes to the policy proposed by the Student Affairs Office to require approval by Committee of Division Chairs, a group of three representatives who are elected by the faculty of each academic division.

“I would propose if [the SMP] comes out of faculty code that there be checks and balances, that it’s not just [Dean of Students] Chuck [Cleveland] and I writing policy,” said Dunn.

The question of revising policy gets even more complicated when one considers the college’s Grievance Policy, which is supposed to encompass the sexual misconduct and other offenses such as racial discrimination and bullying. Hypothetically, the SMP and Grievance Policy are supposed to present the same policy and will one day be merged into a single document.

The Grievance Policy is even more difficult to revise than the SMP. There is not clear jurisdiction for who can approve revisions of the Grievance Policy. According to Benjamin H. Brown Professor of Physics Mark Beck, who is currently working on revisions, the president has the final say on whether to adopt changes. According to President Bridges, it is the Board of Trustees who approves revisions. However, according to Dunn, there is no official framework for revising the Grievance Policy. When changes are made, it is generally the result of the Student Affairs Office, Human Resources and Office of the Provost, the three offices which handle investigations under the policy, mutually agreeing on revisions in order to meet new legal requirements.

The coming weeks present many opportunities for those wanting to see change in policies. Starting on Tuesday, Apr. 21, investigators from the federal Office of Civil Rights will be on campus to conduct a compliance review. The OCR investigators are to ensure Whitman has appropriate policies in place, that the policies are carried out in practice, that they are known by administrators responsible for them, and that students are aware of resources available for them. Though the compliance review is not directly related, Whitman College is currently the subject of two OCR investigations for alleged Title IX violations.

Sexual assault on campus will also be discussed by the Student Affairs Committee, which will meet at the end of April when the trustees are on campus. Following a presentation by students, faculty and administrators, the Student Affairs Committee will consider the ASWC resolution and other proposed changes before deciding on their own list of recommendations.

“If there is some specific policy [students] have a problem with, they should go to ASWC now because there’s going to be a lot of momentum after the Student Life Committee meets,” said ASWC president senior Tatiana Kaehler. “If our resolution didn’t include everything that needs to be changed, I’d like to include that in the recommendation.”

Reporting is ongoing. The Pioneer will update the story as more details become available.

An oncoming truck struck a Whitman student riding a bicycle in front of the Student Health Center at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 15. According to witnesses, the driver helped the student to her feet but drove away before emergency services arrived at the scene. The bicyclist was later taken to the hospital by an ambulance.

According to Director of Security Matt Stroe, who was called to the scene, neither the bicyclist nor the driver saw each other before the accident. The driver, reportedly a middle-aged white man, initially helped the student to the edge of the road, but when he drove away, bystanders helped the bicyclist to a bench.

Sophomore Jessica Faunt, the Resident Advisor of the Outhouse, witnessed the accident and called 911. According to Faunt, a firetruck, ambulance, and three police cars arrived on the scene within minutes. The police quickly pursued the driver, with the assistance of descriptions from witnesses, including the truck’s license plate. Officers apprehended the driver on Crescent St., four blocks away.

A student was injured after a truck struck her in front of the Student Health Center. Photo by Halley McCormick.

Cryptid Apparel, a student-run printing collective, and Whitman’s Black Student Union (BSU) are organizing a day of action on police violence and modern racism to take place on Sunday, April 12. By using art to draw attention to issues of race, Cryptid and BSU hope to encourage conversation and provide an outlet of political expression.

The day of action will consist of two projects: the distribution of hooded sweatshirts, also known as “hoodies,” designed by Cryptid to draw attention to issues of racism and stereotyping, and the installation of a community art project using origami boats folded by community members.

“Issues of race are really difficult to discuss on Whitman College’s campus. I think it’s a subject a lot of students here are scared to broach and really get into with each other,” said sophomore Cryptid member Lily Monsey, who has helped organize the day of action. “We’re hoping for this to be a way for student to talk about that … lack of [racial] equality through art.”

Senior Cryptid member Audrey Kelly* has led efforts to organize the day of action, and she initiated the organization of the day of action when she discussed the topic of racial injustice at a Cryptid meeting last December. Though Cryptid normally sells its products for a profit, it has heavily subsidized the hoodies for the day of action. They are currently for sale online through an indiegogo campaign and will also be available Sunday afternoon in front of Penrose Library. Any profits beyond expenses will be donated to Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, a grassroots think tank founded by Whitman alumnus Lawrence Grandpre in Baltimore, Md.

“Having a fundraising component allows for more conversation beyond buying a shirt and moving on from the topic. By giving the proceeds to an organization that helps black youth enables us to continue our efforts to fight back against racial profiling and support others who are doing the same,” said senior BSU member Alisha Agard in an email to The Pioneer.

According to Kelly, Cryptid views this sponsorship as a means of giving back to the Whitman community by promoting social justice.

“They’re really nice American Apparel sweatshirts … so [people will] keep wearing them and they’ll be a presence on campus, even after the day of activism,” said Kelly.

Each hoodie has a list of names of African American men and women whose killers have either not faced trial or been found guilty, with a blank space at the top of the list to represent future victims. When the hood is put up, a crosshairs is revealed on the wearer’s back, which symbolizes how wearing hoodies leads to stereotyping which can make people a target.

“[We wanted to make] the design and the sweatshirt discomforting enough to make people notice it and to provide opportunities for conversation,” said Kelly.

In addition to the sweatshirt project, participants in the day of action will be able to fold paper origami boats, which will be used to create an art installation in a yet-to-be-determined location on campus.

“Since it’s something that Cryptid is planning and we’re an art group, I wanted there to be an art element to it, particularly something people could do who aren’t a member of Cryptid,” said senior Natalie Shaw, who is organizing the installation. “I think having a community activity is something people will really enjoy, and it’s something that can be very powerful.”

Shaw’s installation is inspired by the Japanese tradition of folding peace cranes and the symbolism of boats as vessels used to carry people on to another world.

“Whitman is full of really quality people that care about changing the way things are, so I’m optimistic that people will turn out — [despite] how awful April can be — to say that they think [racism] is wrong and that our system’s wrong and that we want to make people feel uncomfortable about it to make the system change,” said Kelly.

*Audrey Kelly is a production associate and staff reporter for The Pioneer.

Originally published Nov. 11, 2004

By Meghan Bunch

Whitman announces Cronin’s replacement

After 2,643 e-mails traded between the two chairs of the search committee, the presidential search is finally over.

President Tom Cronin can say goodbye to Whitman College as George Bridges, currently Dean of Undergraduate Education, Vice Provost and Professor of Sociology at University of Washington, will take over. Bridges has a B.A. from the University of Washington and an M.A. and P.h.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. After a unanimous decision by the board of trustees, Bridges will start as president in fall 2005.

Bridges’ partner, Dr. Kari Tupper, and their family will leave Seattle to come to Walla Walla. They have two children planning to attend Pioneer Middle School.

“Walla Walla will be interesting and different, but it also will be good because it will be safer,” said Bridges’ daughter Anna, who will be in the eighth grade. “Moving here will be strange; Seattle is so big and Walla Walla will be really different,” added younger sibling James, who will be in the sixth grade.

Tupper, who has a Ph.D. in English from UW, currently teaches at the University of Washington (Gender Studies and CHID). She plans to join the Whitman faculty in fall 2006.

“Teaching is my passion. I have to teach,” said Tupper. “I am a good teacher–” “She is a great teacher,” added Bridges.

Bridges and his family plan to get to know the campus, students, faculty, community members, and the cultural traditions of Whitman and Walla Walla.

“I have a great sense of excitement and we are honored to be here,” said Bridges.

Bridges has focused on scholarship in the past, but has moved his main focus to student experiences and opportunities.

Bridges and Tupper consider students a huge part of their life. They recently had a visiting international student stay at their Seattle home for a week.

“Whitman has exceptional students, faculty, and a community focusing on undergrads,” said Bridges. He feels that at students are extremely luck to be at Whitman, one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country.

Current president Tom Cronin stresses that the Whitman community and Bridges need to work toward a “mutually collaborative embrace” of each other, in which the student body encourages and supports the new president in his efforts to acclimate himself to the college.

Filling the shoes of Tom Cronin will be difficult. “I don’t really have concerns, but meeting high standards will be a daunting task,” said Bridges. “For the first year, I will listen and learn.”

President Jorge Ponts has shocked the Whitman community last week by coming out in favor of discarding the college’s traditional mascot, the Pioneers” in favor of the Komodo Dragons.

Ponts’ decision was largely influenced by his perception of the current mascot as an inadequate representation of the college’s future and commitment to diversity.

“Diversity is very important to me and the rest of the administration. Obviously, the current mascot of a small pink ape does not reflect well on Whitman. The komodo dragon, besides being a magnificent creature in its own right, much better represents the future of this college,” said Ponts.

Finally, a few students (who have since gone missing) claimed Ponts’ support of a change in the mascot is not the result of a newfound commitment to social justice, but rather due to the alleged fact that he is a space reptile. Ponts strongly denies these claims and suggests any student with concerns visit him for a one-on-one lunch meetings at his office.

Observers were initially shocked by Ponts’ announcement, as it marked the first time in a decade of leadership that Ponts has made a decision that does not involve large amounts of cash being donated to the college, with matching funds sent to his shadowy off-shore bank accounts.

Reports suggest one reason behind Ponts’ change is that he has finally managed to fill the swimming pool beneath Memorial Hall, where the college’s endowment is invested, with hundred dollar bills. The trim physique of college administrators in the last few months suggests there may be some truth to this.

“I’m pretty disappointed in Jorge’s decision. We could have used a jacuzzi, too,” said Juan Pogley, Director of Administrative Athletics.

Analysts suggest changing the mascot may actually save the college money over the long term. Creating the appearance of diversity to attract wealthy white students with the promise of meeting “exotic” peers has been a priority for the college in recent years. A two-million dollar climate study recently commissioned by the college suggests changing the mascot may lead to a net financial gain. Concealing racist attitudes until students have paid tuition could save millions of dollars, which the college currently spends on creating the impression of diversity. Last year, the costs of photo-shopping people of color into Whitman’s recruitment brochures alone reached 700,000 dollars.

“Personally, I’m relieved. A lot of prospies’ parents were getting suspicious that we had so many quintuplets on campus, who all happened to strike the same pose simultaneously,” said Anthony Cabakinski, master of student entrapment.

However, not everyone in the Whitman community responded positively to Ponts’ announcement. A coalition of alumni who graduated before 1955 have issued an open letter to Ponts.

“We are extremely disappointed with President Ponts’s decision. The suggestion that Whitman could change its mascot makes white men with guns feel isolated and unsupported,” said Whit Markman, ’47.

Though Ponts quickly withdrew his support for a new mascot and banned all discussion of the issue on campus, the coalition of  alumni cancelled their contributions to the endowment, and instead used the money to purchase old Soviet weaponry, which was smuggled to the Divestment Liberation Army.

“We are firmly committed to divesting the college from any sense of responsibility for global warming, and I think these T-34 Soviet tanks will really help us accomplish that goal,” said Divestment Commander in Chief Smitty Collins.