ASWC Senate unanimously passed “A Resolution Advocating for Change to Whitman’s Sexual Misconduct Policy” last Sunday, Feb. 1. What would the Sexual Misconduct Policy look like if it was changed how ASWC wants?

Jurisdiction

• The Sexual Misconduct Policy is currently part of the Faculty Code, and amendments must go through the Faculty Senate. ASWC wants jurisdiction to be handed over to the administration so that revisions can be made more quickly.

Language

• The definition of incapacitated would be expanded to cover a variety of characteristics and clearly align with the definition taught by the Green Dot program.
• The definition of sexual assault would include being forced to penetrate an orifice, so that it covers assaults against male or transgender survivors of sexual assault.
• Unwanted exposure to sexual fluids would be added as a form of sexual assault.
• Gender-neutral pronouns would be used in the policy.

Title IX investigators

• Every sexual misconduct case would be conducted by a team of at least two investigators.
• The administration and Title IX investigators would be cognizant of their language to avoid victim blaming or heteronormative gender biases.
• Victims of sexual assault would not be asked what they were wearing the night of the assault. Unless it is explicitly stated, this is solely intended to corroborate witness testimony.

Transparency

• Any participant in the investigation would be able to request a recording of any statement they submitted for the investigation.
• The complainant and respondent in an investigation would be given the opportunity to verify transcript of their own investigative interviews.
• If the complainant or respondent found issue with the transcript, the quote could be changed if there were factually inaccurate information, the investigator lacked a recording to verify the transcript or the transcript left out part of the testimony.

Third-party involvement

• Whitman College would adopt the Project Callisto reporting system. Survivors would be able to record evidence with Project Callisto, an independent reporting process, at any time. They could then later decide whether to submit the report to the college and launch an investigation.
• Sexual assault medical forensic examination kits would be examined and interpreted only by third-party medical professionals not associated with the college.

Appeals

• The complainant or respondent could appeal a decision or “responsibility” or “no finding.” As the policy currently stands, there is no appeals process. Only the sanctions handed down in the case of a verdict of “responsibility” may be appealed.
• The president of Whitman College would decide appeals. The president’s decision would be final.

Academic support

• Both the complainant and respondent in sexual misconduct investigations would be given academic support and the option of postponing exams while the investigation is in progress or within two weeks of a decision being made on the case.

A proposed resolution calling for changes to Whitman’s Title IX and sexual assault policy will be discussed by the ASWC Senate on Sunday, Feb. 1. The resolution was written collaboratively by leaders from the college student body who formed the It’s On Whitties committee this fall to discuss sexual violence on campus.

The proposed resolution on sexual assault is the direct result of discussions and compromises between representatives from student groups, including members of ASWC, Feminist Advocating Change and Empowerment (FACE), men’s and women’s fraternities, athletic teams and All Students for Consent (ASC). The decision to draft a resolution was made after student leaders participated in a conference call with Washington, D.C. in the fall about the It’s On Us campaign organized by the federal government.

“After the conference call [with It’s On Us], we realized there was a lot of momentum that came from it and that we were interested in pursuing the issue further, and because we represented different facets of the campus community we thought that all of us together could come up with a comprehensive way of addressing the issue of sexual violence on campus,” said ASWC vice-president senior Sayda Morales, who co-chaired the committee alongside senior ASWC senator Corinne Vandagriff.

Though an initial draft of the resolution was presented to the senate in December, it was tabled due to a perceived lack of clarity. Structural revisions are nearly complete, and a new draft containing similar content in a clearer format is expected to come before the senate this Sunday.

“[The resolution] hasn’t been approved by the student affairs committee, which means anything could change, but I think [ASWC representatives] are fairly happy with the version as it is right now,” said Vandagriff. “We just need to make sure that it’s as clear as it needs to be and organized as well as it could be, and then think of any possible omissions or additions we may approve.”

The resolution presented on Sunday will likely include many of the proposals from the draft submitted in December. Of those proposals, certain changes were easily agreed upon by the It’s On Whitties committee, such as changing the language of the Sexual Assault Policy to be inclusive of different genders and sexual orientations.

Others, particularly those concerning Title IX and sexual assault investigations, were more difficult to decide. The committee eventually agreed on a number of proposals for changes to the policy, including the addition of a second investigator in investigations of sexual assault, expanded appeals process and an expansion of the current definition of “incapacitated” used by the college.

“People have different ideas of how the [investigative] process can best work, but ultimately we did come to a consensus towards the end [of last semester]. That isn’t to say that the resolution isn’t going to be controversial. There are still components where not everyone 100 percent agrees, but it’s the best compromise we could come up with,” said Morales.

The draft of the resolution presented to the ASWC Senate in December also calls for the faculty to vote to remove the sexual misconduct policy from the Faculty Code so that jurisdiction may be transferred to the administration and the recommendations made in the rest of the resolution may be implemented more easily.

“This is definitely a change I would welcome. Such a change would allow us to be more responsible, accountable and nimble in response to not only changes to the legal and regulatory environment, but more importantly to concerns voiced by the population the policy is designed to protect and support: the students,” said Associate Dean of Students and Title IX Administrator Juli Dunn in an email to The Pioneer.

Should the faculty transfer jurisdiction of the policy to her office, Dunn plans to form a group of people to decide on future revisions to the Title IX/Sexual Assault Policy, including members of the Title IX team, which is responsible for investigating Title IX violations under the current policy, and members of the Council on Student Affairs, which is responsible

“I don’t think any policy writing or revision should ever fall to a single person or occur in a vacuum. Changes to this particular policy are going to require a team approach,” said Dunn in an email to The Pioneer.

While ASWC does not have the power to formally carry out the suggestions laid out in the proposed resolution, its influence with the administration and governing boards may lead to at least some of its suggestions being implemented in the next year.

“In the last couple of years, ASWC legislation has had a good level of success in implementing changes,” said junior Jack Percival, who serves as ASWC’s faculty liaison. “I don’t think I can say for sure what level of success this [resolution] will have, but we have had success in the past.”

The Office of Civil Rights is currently carrying out two separate investigations of Whitman College, one that began this November in response to alleged violations of Title IX and failure to uphold Whitman’s own policies on sexual assault, and another that began last spring for sexual harassment and intimidation involving the college’s debate team.

In the past two years, at least six claims against Whitman have been brought before the Office of Civil Rights. While the OCR has opened investigations for two of them, four were dismissed due to various causes. Only 22 percent of complaints brought before the OCR nationwide result in investigations being opened, and the OCR can take years to reach a final verdict.

“Two week ago we hosted a senior attorney from the Office of Civil Rights for a conference we held on campus … and he talked about cases that were as old as 800 days in their case file, so there’s a backlog on their end. We’ve submitted all our materials for both the cases and have yet to hear anything back,” said Associate Dean of Students and Title IX Coordinator Juli Dunn.

While the OCR refuses to investigate cases where complaints refer to events which happened more than 180 days before the claim was made, its own process takes a significant amount of time. Natalie*, a survivor of sexual assault who previously discussed the alleged mismanagement of her sexual assault investigation with The Pioneer, filed a complaint with the OCR the day she received word that the college dismissed her reported rape. The OCR took 180 days after she filed the complaint to agree to open an investigation, the longest delay possible under their guidelines.

“By the time these investigations get going and by the time they get done, so many people have left the school who could provide evidence … that the school really did mess up,” said Natalie.

According to Dunn, the college has complied with the OCR’s requests for information. Among the materials shared by the college are Title IX training materials, policies and procedures, and the entire investigative file for the incident in question.

“This isn’t something the college is shying away from; this is a process that … is essentially an external review of our policies and procedures. Are we doing what we said we would do, and are we doing it well? While it ends up being a little bit of extra work in a time when we’re really busy, I see it as an opportunity to reflect on what we’re doing and to ensure that we are doing right by our students, our faculty and our staff,” said Chief Communications Officer Michelle Ma.

However, little trust remains between survivors who have filed complaints and the administration. Even as the investigation begins, Natalie* said she doubts whether the college will provide the materials needed to give the OCR an understanding of the full picture, based on her experience.

“They haven’t been honest with me. They have not been honest with the lawyer they had review my case, so honestly my expectations are low. I don’t expect honesty or integrity from them,” said Natalie.

Teresa* filed a complaint with OCR at the beginning of 2014 concerning the college’s investigation of the debate team for discrimination for sexual discrimination and sexual harassment, and the college’s failure to address instances of retaliation. Though the OCR began an investigation last spring, Teresa has not heard from the OCR in several months.

“If students are coming forward, Whitman needs to support them. I think Whitman likes to create the illusion that things are being done, when in reality, few actions are being taken, and the actions that are being taken don’t resolve the issues. There are many wonderful things about Whitman. The administration’s repeated mishandling of Title IX complaints is clearly not one of them,” said Teresa in an email to the Pioneer.

Over the last two years, there have been at least six claims made against Whitman to the OCR. Though the college has not yet been found in violation of federal laws, Natalie believes the relatively high number of reports in recent years point to a pattern of dissatisfaction with the college. She also claims to know several other individuals who are considering filing complaints against the institution.

“I think [the frequency of complaints to the OCR] is important to acknowledge because this whole time Whitman has made me feel alone and as if I’m the only person to ever have had a problem with their sexual misconduct policy … and that’s just not the case,” said Natalie.

“Regardless of the outcome of this investigation, it’s important that survivors feel that the school has failed them.”+

As the holidays approach, Whitman Security and the Walla Walla Police Department are preparing for what is typically the busiest time of the year for thefts and burglaries of Whitman students’ belongings. By increasing patrols and working together to identify suspects, Security and the WWPD hope to prevent crime and recover stolen objects.

This semester belongings have disappeared everywhere from interest houses to the fraternities, as well as from cars and off-campus houses. According to Director of Security Matthew Stroe, the thieves’ typical method appears to be snatching unattended items from public areas or unlocked houses or cars.

“For the most part, if they take a bookbag or anything like that, they’re looking for electronics. You tend to find the bags later on, within a block or block and a half of where they were taken from,” said Stroe. “Most thefts we’ve had here have been cellphones, laptops, tablets, those sort of things.”

While the theft of expensive electronics may be distressing to student victims, according to Officer Jeremy Maiuri of the WWPD the majority of electronics are eventually recovered. They are easily tracked by their serial numbers.

“The items that we’re usually able to catch are computers, GPS units, things that have serial numbers that we’re able to track, cell phones and stuff like that,” Maiuri said. “Usually things turn up … It could be months down the road or it can be the same day.”

Pawn shops are required to run the serial number on electronics to see if the item was stolen. Because the thief must also submit a picture ID for this process, a matching serial number can lead to both the recovery of the stolen item and a potential suspect for the investigation.

Some electronics can also be tracked using GPS smart phone applications. Senior Sam Adler used the Find My iPhone app to track down his stolen backpack and recover his computer.

“I was able to see that someone was using my laptop on Main Street near Macy’s and Starbucks. I drove downtown and saw a man walking out of Coffee Connection with my backpack. I asked him to give me back my backpack. He reluctantly complied and I rifled through my bag and saw that my laptop and charger were still there,” said Adler in an e-mail.

The holiday season is usually a peak time for crime. Many students leave campus, cold weather causes the homeless population to seek shelter indoors and people are looking for a way to find money for the holidays.

“[Thieves are] pawning and selling [stolen goods] to buy whatever they need to buy; it usually dies off right after Christmas,” said Stroe.

In response, Whitman Security and the WWPD are increasing patrols around the periphery of campus and working together to identify likely suspects on campus.

“[Stroe will] get descriptions from students or faculty of the person suspected of committing these thefts, he’ll run it by us … and just based on descriptions, most of the time we can tell him who we think it is because those are people who aren’t only stealing on campus, they’re stealing all over town,” said Maiuri. “Usually there’s this same core group of people who hang out in the downtown/Whitman campus area.”

Mauiri and Stroe have both noticed an increase this year in the number of transient youth who congregate in Heritage Park in downtown Walla Walla, just west of the Whitman campus. Because most are in their twenties or thirties, it is possible for them to blend in on the Whitman campus and wait for the opportunity to grab an unattended bag or electronic.

“A lot of the people down there, they don’t work, they don’t go to school or anything, so they’re out there looking to obtain property or get some money,” said Maiuri. “The few that we’ve caught recently on campus that have stolen some stuff, those are people that are known drug users so usually they’re stealing these items to sell them to buy narcotics.”

After an individual is recognized as a likely thief, the WWPD provides Whitman Security with photos of them acquired from booking photos (colloquially known as mug shots) or social media. Security may then choose to trespass the individual on campus. When they do this, the police contact the individual to let them know they cannot return to campus; if they do, they may be arrested and charged with criminal trespassing.

“It’s a sad deal to have a homeless population like that [in Walla Walla], but if they’re involved in thefts it makes things worse because it’s a double-edged sword; you want to help somebody, but they’re stealing from other people,” said Stroe.

Senior Grant Rommel is one of the few Whitman students to have caught a burglar in the act of theft.

“All my housemates were out to dinner, and they’d be gone for about an hour, so I thought they’d be back soon,” said Rommel. “I heard the door open. A few minutes later I walked into the living room, and a guy I didn’t know was stuffing my housemate’s laptop into his backpack.”

Rommel closed the door and asked what the man thought he was doing. Fortunately, the thief was not aggressive.

“He had a very guilty look on his face…he was maybe a few years older than I am,” Rommel said. “He looked very deer-in-the-headlights.”

After apologizing profusely and emptying his bag, the thief fled the house. Rommel reported the incident and the thief’s appearance to the police, and walked away from the incident without losing any belongings.

Not all students who encounter burglars have been as lucky as Rommel. One Whitman senior who wished to remain anonymous confronted a burglar and chased him down the sidewalk when the thief pulled a knife on him.

Though the student escaped unharmed, the incident gives weight to the police’s request that students witnessing a theft call for help instead of stepping into a potentially dangerous situation.

“It would be better if [students] were to contact security or the PD and had us going with them, cause I’d rather have us put in harm’s way [than them],” said Stroe.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is currently investigating Whitman College for possible violation of federal law. The investigation is in response to a complaint filed by Natalie*, a student who first spoke to The Pioneer this September about the alleged mishandling of her Title IX/sexual assault investigation.

The investigation began on Nov. 7. If the OCR concludes Whitman violated the Title IX Act or another civil rights law, the college will have to negotiate a resolution agreement with the complainant. Should it refuse to do so, it will risk lose federal funding which provides a vital source of income to the college through federal grants and other forms of financial aid.

In a statement released in response to inquiry by the Seattle Times, the Whitman administration said it would comply with the investigation but did not respond publicly to the allegations at this time.

President George Bridges emailed the full text of the official statement to the Whitman community on the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 19. The email emphasized that being investigated does not necessarily mean the college will be found in violation of the law. Though the college is legally prevented from commenting directly on individual cases, Bridges recommended that community members refer any media inquiries to Chief Communications Officer Michelle Ma.

This marks Whitman’s first appearance on the list of institutions under investigation for Title IX violations. The Office of Civil Rights released the list to the public this May in an attempt to increase transparency. There are currently 87 postsecondary institutions under investigation.

*Names have been changed to protect the identities of survivors.

Illustration by Cooper-Ellis

Financial aid was among the top concerns at the Board of Trustees’ meeting this past week. National financial aid expert Sandy Baum presented to the board, faculty and select staff and students to help place Whitman’s current challenges in a national context.

Whitman ranked last on a list measuring socio-economic diversity published by the New York Times this September, leading to protest from students, faculty and alumni. Though protests have ended and the college has made no change to its official policies, it is possible some change may occur when the college’s new president forms a strategic action plan for the next decade, according to Brad McMurchie, chair of the Board of Trustees. In the meantime, discussion of the complexity of financial aid has continued.

Baum, who is a professor at George Washington University and sits on the Board of Trustees at Bryn Mawr College, was scheduled to speak at Whitman’s Board of Trustees meeting months before the New York Times article was published. McMurchie hoped her visit could help trustees and members of the Whitman community learn about the challenges of budgets, tuition and financial aid faced by all colleges.

“The point was not to have her make recommendation to Whitman … [but] more [to learn] what are the questions we should ask ourselves, in light on the national context,” said Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Tony Cabasco, who was key to arranging Baum’s visit. “My interpretation is that they are all hard choices, and every choice has positives, and every choice has trade-offs.”

With the arrival of a new president next year, Whitman will form a new strategic action plan for how to navigate the next decade. The current action plan was formed by President Bridges in 2005 at the beginning of his time at Whitman.

“The college has been working off of a [strategic] plan that was developed in 2005/2006 that reflects a whole bunch of financial realities that don’t exist at this time,” said McMurchie. “It’s important that as we engage in this planning process next year, that the community comes into it with a sense of everyone being on the same page about these issues … and everybody begins to develop a sense of the terminology and the math.”

A large amount of the discussion following September’s New York Times article focused on the question of need-blind admissions. Schools with need-blind admissions do not take financial need into account when considering whether to admit a student. In 2010, Whitman switched from a need-blind to “need-sensitive” admissions policy, falling in line with the majority of liberal arts colleges. As need-sensitive, Whitman now chooses not to admit students with high financial need if they fall within the bottom 15 to 20 percent of the applicant pool in terms of other admissions criteria such as academic achievement and extracurricular activities.

Advocates for a return to need-blind admissions often argue that not admitting students based on their financial situation is discriminatory. However, Baum’s presentation drew attention to the complex details of financial aid that complicate the idea of need-blind admissions. Nation-wide, few colleges have both need-blind admissions and meet 100-percent of financial need demonstrated by students. Colleges which are need-blind often admit students but then do not provide enough financial aid for them to realistically attend.

“When you say you’re ‘need-blind’ but then you effectively freeze people out or make them take on huge burdens to come here, I’m not sure if that’s necessarily a better moral choice [than being need-sensitive and trying to meet more need of students who are admitted],” said McMurchie.

Not meeting all of students’ demonstrated financial need, a process called “gapping,” was used by Whitman before 2010. Though its track record has improved, Whitman still does not meet 100 percent of students’ demonstrated need, though several of its peer institutions, including Kenyon College, Macalaster College and Occidental College, do. The reason for this difference is difficult to trace, though according to McMurchie, two factors may be the differences in colleges’ spending priorities and the ability of some colleges to appear to meet financial need without fully addressing that problem.

According to Baum, there are several methods which colleges may use to technically meet 100-percent need without increasing aid to students. One means is to change the calculation of student need such that a lower number is produced, erasing the gap from statistics while not providing more aid for students. Colleges may also recruit primarily at wealthy high schools and not at all in low-income areas, to attract a wealthier student body which requires less financial aid to begin with. Finally, unmet need may be hidden by adding large loans to financial aid packages, which technically decreases unmet need but still requires students to eventually pay the same amount. While The Pioneer cannot determine at this time how much Whitman engages in the first two of these methods, its financial aid packages tend to include more grants than many other schools’.

Despite not meeting 100 percent of need for all students, options open up for students once they have made the decision to attend Whitman. First-year Ludmila de Brito, an international student from Brazil, benefits from a college policy that guarantees international students (with the exception of Canadians) 100 percent of their demonstrated need. But de Brito discovered after coming to Whitman that the financial aid she received was not enough, despite the fact that she works two jobs. She went to the Office of Financial Aid to explain her situation, and they reduced her family’s expected contribution in response.

“[The financial aid office] re-evaluated the financial aid and realized that that was impossible, that I was doing my best to stay and I also needed help,” de Brito said. “So they were really nice, they were really understanding, but … sometimes that can be hard, to go and ask for help.”

Still, the financial aid office is constrained by its budget. Whitman’s budget shows the college has increased spending on everything from new faculty and facilities to administrative staff and groundskeeping. Financial aid receives a slightly larger cut of the budget today than it did a decade ago, but the majority of all increases in spending has come from increases in tuition and student fees.

“Many colleges are struggling with some of the same questions that Whitman is struggling with. There are choices that have to be made, and different institutions make different choices,” said Baum. “Whitman spends less on financial aid than some other institutions do, and there is a choice [there]: If you spend more on financial aid, then you’re going to have more deferred maintenance on your buildings, you aren’t going to hire new faculty, and there are a range of choices made by different institutions.”

Another contentious aspect of financial aid is the use of merit scholarships in order to attract wealthy students who would otherwise not be eligible for any aid. At present, about 13 percent of financial aid provided by the college goes in the form of merit scholarships to students who did not apply for need-based aid, according to the Department of Institutional Research. Those students represent around 33 percent of all recipients of financial aid. That percentage has risen precipitously with the adoption of need-sensitive admissions: Non-aid applicants represented only 25 percent of aid recipients in 2010.

“What’s going on in the industry is that colleges are competing a lot to get students from each other, and that’s one of the explanations of why there’s so much non-need-based aid out there — they’re paying students who can afford to come [with competing merit scholarships]. It’s a difficult thing for one institution to fight on its own, but it would be better if that were not happening,” said Baum.

Though issues of financial aid promise to be much more complex than the question of need-blind versus need-sensitive, some feel a return to need-blind admissions may still provide an important symbolic commitment by the college to prioritizing financial aid.

“Certain things online indicate whether you get to go to a school or not,” said junior Ashley Hansack, a first-generation student and member of FGWC club. “I feel like they are trying to do their best, but it’s hard not wanting that statement to be need-blind again, even if it doesn’t do much or change the numbers as much.”

Cabasco acknowledges this problem, but believes that the benefits of ending need-blind admissions outweigh the costs.

“Need-sensitive admission has impacted the number of students to some degree. The data clearly shows that,” he said, referring to 2011’s dive of over 15 percent in admission of students with high need, a change that has yet to be reversed. “I think part of the approach was that even though we’re going to have a slightly [smaller] number of [applying] students, we hope that we can do a better job at meeting their financial need and giving them better financial aid packages. We could admit more students, but … the scholarship dollar amount is going to make it challenging to try to give those students a good financial aid package.”

According to McMurchie and Cabasco, when decisions are eventually made, they will be constricted by the college’s financial realities, alongside the trustees’ determination of the college’s values and priorities.

“It’s a cold hard reality that we can’t do everything, and to the extent that we value one thing more than another, there will have to be sacrifices made in another area. I don’t know what that area is. I’m not even prepared today to say we’re doing it wrong,” said McMurchie. “I am prepared to say that we need to understand better what we’re doing, we need to understand our values better, and make sure that how we’re doing it is a reflection of those values.”

How should the Sheriff’s Office interact with the Whitman community?

Photo by Richard Duval, contributed by John Turner.

“We respond and help the police department in the city limits when we’re requested. Our deputies will back up [WWPD] officers in [dangerous situations], because safety of the citizens and safety of the officers is number one, making sure they go home…

“Another thing that’s relevant to the Whitman College community is the biking and the running. A lot of students, staff and faculty members are runners or bicyclers. They’ll take off in certain directions, and pretty soon they’re out of the city and on county roads … and then we are the primary responders [for public safety services].”

How has the legalization of marijuana impacted the Sheriff’s Office?

“We don’t arrest people [carrying a small amount] now because it’s legal, [but] if it’s over an ounce, or they’re under 21 years of age, or they’re selling it illegally, or any of that state statutes apply we still enforce all laws, whether it’s marijuana or any other drug.”

What could the Sheriff’s Office do to better prevent and investigate sexual assault on college campuses?

“We hold conferences here on the Whitman campus. We work well together with the Walla Walla Police Department … which has a violence victims advocate and domestic violence coordinator. She’s heavily involved with this, and we utilize her services. We also have a very good relationship with Whitman College, [which includes] holding Violence Prevention Coalition Conferences, and I wholeheartedly see them continuing…

“It’s important to work proactively for good processes and good teamwork. It’s important for [the Sheriff’s Office] to be a part of [the Violence Prevention Coalition] so that the coalition can be as strong and as effective as it can be. If something were to occur here, under normal processes and procedures the Walla Walla Police Department … would be the primary responder to take the report and their officers would be the ones to follow up, but it is nice for the Whitman College community to know we’re there to back those resources up [if needed].”

Should law enforcement offices such as the Sheriff be an elected position?

“The office of Sheriff is a unique law enforcement office in that it responds, reacts, and is responsible directly to the people who elect it. There’s no bureaucracy, there’s no city council or county manager, there’s no position between me and the people who elected me. That’s the way the Constitution of our state designed it to be, because they wanted a law enforcement official, the chief executive officer of the county, to answer directly to the people, [and] not beholden to a politician or appointed bureaucrat or anyone else.”

How do you feel about campaign donations for law enforcement offices?

Photo by Hayley Turner.

“There are [Public Disclosure Commission] rules and there are state rules and regulations regarding campaigns and campaign financing … So there are rules in place to try to make it fair and appropriate. Campaigning costs money. Just the purchasing of yard signs or advertisements in the newspaper costs money. If members of the public want to contribute to a candidate, whether it’s for governor, president, or sheriff, I don’t believe that it’s inappropriate that people be allowed to contribute to that cause if they’d like to see that candidate succeed and get the word out about their background, education and experience.
“At the same time, I know there’s a lot of talk within our country about campaign donation reforms because of the amount of special interest money that’s allowed to be donated. That’s why it’s so important to elect public officials — the office of sheriff included — [that are] honorable, trustworthy people.”

How should the Sheriff’s Office interact with the Whitman community?

Photo contributed by Tom Cooper.

“[The Sheriff’s Office] should act in concert with the Walla Walla Police Department to do everything that’s possible to make sure that the Whitman experience … is as positive of an experience as possible. The police department does a good job, but the Sheriff’s office, as the number one back-up agency [to the police], is important … Indirectly, [the Sheriff’s Office can be] a sounding board or be available to answer questions, or to respond and help with any issues which could come up.”

How has the legalization of marijuana impacted the Sheriff’s Office?

“I don’t think we have seen, nor will we see for a little while, the full impact of the legalization of marijuana. I think that the [largest] way that it’s going to affect the Sheriff’s office in the short term … is the driving issues. We have the DUIs right now with liquor and other intoxicants. It’s going to be much more of a challenge [for officers] to be able to recognize when someone is in error [due to marijuana use], and that’s actually going to be pretty costly [to train people to detect].”

What could the Sheriff’s Office do to better prevent and investigate sexual assault on college campuses?

“Right now, a lot of the jurisdictions — at least the local ones — their resources are pretty well tapped. The most important thing the Sheriff’s office could do is make sure we’re utilizing our resources and our money to the fullest. If we have some fluff in our budget somewhere — and I think that we do — we should streamline that to make money available to address issues such as sexual assaults on campus. I think the best way to do that is to work in conjunction with the school, work in conjunction with other law-enforcement agencies, and make sure we’re acting in a proactive and preventative way…

“If we’re wasting money, we’re not utilizing it to the fullest. That’s key. And if we have the money to target that type of an issue, we all win … The number one thing I’m concerned about is to provide the leadership role to make sure we’re using our money and resources to the fullest.”

Should law enforcement offices such as the Sheriff be an elected position?

Photo by Hayley Turner.

“To an extent, I think it’s problematic that … the Sheriff’s position in Washington state is decided by popular vote, because it turns into a popularity contest … It would be [better] if it were like the chief police, where there’s a huge vetting process, a huge interview process and qualification process, and there isn’t going to be any wool being pulled over anybody’s eyes and it isn’t going to be a popularity contest of who can raise the most money. It’s going to be the most qualified person for this community, who will keep the community safe.”

How do you feel about campaign donations for law enforcement offices?

“My opponent has outdone me in the area of campaign financing by a margin of two to one. I don’t bother people for money or donations. If they feel compelled because they think there should be a change, then I welcome the donation.”

The Sheriff’s race is turning out to be one the most highly contested and divisive items on the Walla Walla ballot. On Nov. 4, incumbent-Sheriff John Turner will face off against Sergeant Tom Cooper to decide the next sheriff of Walla Walla County.

The Walla Walla County Sheriff’s Office is the primary responder in cases of public safety in rural Walla Walla county, and it acts as backup for the Walla Walla Police Department (WWPD) within the city limits.
In August, a primary election determined which two candidates would be on the November ballot. Turner captured 45.4 percent of the vote in the primary, compared to Cooper’s 29.6 percent. The primary also eliminated Sergeant Barry Blackman, who received 25.0 of votes. Blackman has since endorsed Cooper; combined, their percentage of the electorate in the primary would have totaled 54.6 percent of the vote, enough to defeat the incumbent. As Turner and Cooper work to convince Blackman supporters and those who did not vote in the primary to join their cause, The Pioneer sat down with each candidate to explore their views of issues affecting the Whitman community.

Read the interviews with Turner and Cooper online or in the Pioneer’s print edition.

Activists from Feminists Advocating Change and Empowerment (FACE) carried a dorm mattress around Whitman’s campus as part of the Carry That Weight national day of action on Wednesday, Oct. 29. They joined students at over 130 colleges calling attention to campus sexual assault and pressing for changes in the campus culture and policies surrounding it.

The Carry That Weight day of action was inspired by the performance art of Emma Sulkowicz, a senior at Columbia University who was assaulted while at college. After Columbia mishandled her reported case, Sulkowicz committed to carrying her dorm mattress around campus until the student who assaulted her leaves Columbia. The burden of carrying the mattress on which she was assaulted is intended to represent the burden carried by all survivors of sexual assault.

“I think there’s something really powerful about carrying something that is so cumbersome. It takes up a lot of space and people kind of have to pay attention to it. I think symbolically that’s really powerful to represent something like sexual assault which is usually stigmatized and pushed into the shadows,” said sophomore Tara McCulloch, co-president of FACE, who organized the day of action with her fellow co-President senior Erica Nkwocha.

Initially, organizers asked students unable to carry a mattress to carry pillows instead. However, three days before the day of action, Sulkowicz released a statement requesting students not carry pillows, as the ease of carrying pillows failed to represent the burden of sexual assault and detracted from the seriousness of the protest.

“It doesn’t quite represent the weight that you’re carrying when you’ve been sexually assault like a mattress does. Once people were planning on caring a pillow and then read this … then they were confused about what to do and what not to do,” said Nkwocha. “I think people who were concerned about that probably weren’t the people who were going to make a joke out of it in the first place, but I think everyone felt it was important to respect what Emma wanted.”

As an alternative to carrying pillows, McCulloch and Nkwocha suggested participants tape a red X somewhere on their bodies. However, the change still caught some students off guard.

Activists hoped the day of action would both raise awareness of the burden of sexual assault and how this can be perpetuated by rape culture on campus. They encourage greater awareness of casual use of words such as “rape” and media which normalizes violence against women.
“Whitman needs to realize that no one thinks that this is a place that sexual assault doesn’t happen, so the best thing they could do would be to acknowledge that it happens here, as it happens everywhere, and take it seriously and start expelling people for rape,” said Nkwocha.

Associate Dean of Students and Title IX Coordinator Juli Dunn has not yet been contacted with any formal requests to change sexual assault policies, but has said she would welcome dialogue with students. However, meeting changing federal requirements for sexual assault and Title IX policies will continue to be a priority for the college.

“Our policies are … subject to legal mandates, and keeping up with those changes [has] kept us chasing, to some extent, what feels like a constantly moving target; just because students want a change, does not necessarily mean we can legally make such a change,” said Dunn.

Correction: A caption for a photo of Zoey Kapuzinski was mistakenly attached to a photo of Angela Tang. The caption has been edited to name the correct person.