Environmental practices on campus

Over the past 10 years, some departments at Whitman College have grown dramatically. Meanwhile, some departments are still quite small, while others are even shrinking. We took a look at some of Whitman’s smallest departments in order to examine the advantages and difficulties that come with tiny class sizes.

Mathematics

The number of students majoring in mathematics (including the math-economics and math-physics combined programs) has fluctuated in the past 10 years, ranging from nine to 25. Despite this irregularity, the Mathematics Department maintains a very stable number of course offerings.

According to Professor of Mathematics Patrick Keef, the Mathematics Department is not so much a major-oriented department as a “service department.” It enrolls many non-majors, either for distribution requirements or in courses that are prerequisites for other departments, like physics.

“People are taking [the calculus sequence] from across the campus, [and] pretty much the entire statistics curriculum is a service-oriented curriculum for people who may not become math majors,” said Keef.

Keef says that the service-oriented nature of the department is typical in most math departments nation-wide.

“Everybody who works in a math department across the country understands that things like the calculus sequence are our bread and butter,” said Keef. “At a [school like] Whitman College there are no graduate students to teach those classes. So you don’t come to a Whitman College unless you’re willing to teach those classes.”

Keef mentioned a disadvantage of being a service-oriented department: the comparatively small number of courses specifically designed for math majors. Keef estimated that only a quarter of the department’s offerings each year are geared completely towards math majors, but he was optimistic that the department’s hiring of a second statistician will allow these offerings to expand.

“We would like to be able to offer, besides the regularly-scheduled classes, two [to] four classes specifically designed for majors, and we’re hopeful that with the addition of a new statistician we’ll be able to do that within the next few years. It will make the major, I think, significantly stronger,” said Keef.

History

The number of students majoring in history has experienced a decline. In 2006, the college graduated 36 graduating history majors; in the class of 2015, there are 17.

“We’re not crazy about the fact that our numbers are lower. We’d like to have more majors since we’re a very well-staffed department,” said Associate Professor of History and Paul Garrett Fellow John Cotts, who is the current chair of the History Department.

Cotts is quick to point out that this downturn is not unique to Whitman. According to the American Historical Association, the number of history degrees conferred hit an all-time low in 2013.

“History majors have been in decline across the country since 2008, and most observers think that this is because of the economic downturn and the search for more ‘practical’ majors,” said Cotts.

Given the successful career outcomes of Whitman’s history majors after graduation, Cotts rejects the notion that the history major is an impractical one. He also pointed to a few steps the department has taken to get more students interested in the history major.

“We have introduced a new rubric [called] History 150, Reading Sources … It’s especially pitched at first-years. It’s a seminar format without much lecture to introduce students to a particular historical topic,” said Cotts. “We had two of them this year and we’ll be repeating both of those courses next year because they both filled.”

There are 17 history majors graduating in the current school year at Whitman and 21 juniors will graduate with a history degree in 2016, so Cotts is not concerned about the department’s future.

“The numbers tell us that this year we have a little more than last, and we’re going to have more next year. 2013 and 2014 are rock bottom in terms of enrollment, and then we’ll start getting back to where we were 10 years ago,” he said.

German Studies

For departments like German, a small number of majors is nothing new. Since 2006, the number of graduating German studies majors has ranged from one to four. There are currently two German faculty members.

Senior Adjunct Professor of Foreign Languages & Literature Susan Babilon sees many benefits to having a predictably small number of majors.

“We get to know our students really well and can tailor subtopics within a course to address individual students’ particular interests,” said Babilon in an email.

Since certain courses in other departments, such as history, religion and art history can count towards the German Studies major, Babilon says it’s never too difficult to offer enough classes to allow the majors to fulfill their requirements.

“What they take away from those classes [in other departments] helps them draw larger comparisons and connections between German and other disciplines across campus,” said Babilon in an email.

Babilon does not seem to mind the fact that her department is so small.

“The German expression: ‘Klein aber fein’ fits well,” she said in an email. “‘Small but really special.’ They’re a wonderful group of students and German provides them with great opportunities.”

Astronomy

By contrast, the astronomy faculty sometimes find it difficult to run a department with only two professors.

The Astronomy Department certainly plays what Keef of the Mathematics Department would call a service role. The department offers four different introductory courses, which draw potential majors and students fulfilling distribution requirements. These courses are generally over full.

According to Associate Professor of Astronomy & General Studies Andrea Dobson, the department is in need of a third faculty member. Dobson cited small classes as one reason students choose Whitman, and she sought another faculty member to allow the department to offer more introductory classes, each with lower enrollment.

Even though introductory courses are often bursting with students, the upper-division classes range from eight to twelve students. There are only six astronomy majors graduating this year, and the since 2006 that number has never risen past eight (including students doing combined majors in astronomy-physics and astronomy-geology.) Dobson is very happy to have a small number of majors.

“In some ways it’s almost like a graduate department. There’s a small number of people, [but] there’s a critical mass of people. It’s more than just one or two,” said Dobson.

Dobson says that every astronomy major gets the opportunity to assist with labs and work with professors, which is rare in undergraduate departments.

“[In the past 10 years,] when we moved up from one or two majors graduating each year to maybe five or six, their grades got better because they work together, they cooperate, they help each other,” she said.

Overall, professors find that despite some disadvantages, there are many benefits to running a department with a small number of majors. The size of different departments varies widely because different departments serve different purposes on campus.

“Some [departments] have large numbers of enrollment because they are serving other departments, and some have large numbers of majors, and that’s what they do,” said Keef. “Each department has a different role.”

Today on the Pio Radio Hour:

-An update about the Divest Whitman campaign from Natalie Berg. Read her story here:

-A story about the prison rehabilitation process and the STAR Project, featuring interviews with former inmates, Senior Lecturer of Philosophy and General Studies Mitch Clearfield and Executive Director of the STAR project Glenna Awbrey. In conjunction with a story by reporter Christy Carley.

-Some perspectives from homeless people around Walla Walla.

Listen to the radio hour here.

The Pio Radio Hour is hosted by Andrew Schwartz and this time by producer Aleida Fernandez who filled in for Anna Middleton. Listen at 10am on Sunday mornings on KWCW 90.5

Though the Whitman College Board of Trustees stated the college will not divest from the fossil fuel industry, students in the Divest Whitman movement are still trying to change their minds.

Students and faculty in favor of divestment hope the combination of the faculty resolution passed last week, and a victory in a student referendum being organized for the fall will encourage the trustees to reconsider their position and reinvigorate the divestment movement. While several movements have advocated for divestment from various sources over the last several decades, the college still lacks an overarching policy for how ethics should impact investments.

Divest Whitman: the student campaign

Divest Whitman, a student-run campaign, urges the Whitman College Board of Trustees to divest the endowment’s exposure to the top 200 oil, gas and coal companies. The Divest Whitman campaign is part of a nationwide movement to encourage divestitures from funds involving fossil fuels in order to combat climate change and damage the economic legitimacy of the fossil fuel industry at large.

The student body has not heard much from Divest Whitman this school year, but their campaign is far from over. Students from the Divest Whitman campaign were the primary authors of a resolution passed by the Faculty Senate on Wednesday, Jan. 28.

Before writing the resolution, a team of 21 students met with many faculty members to discuss the professors’ opinions and concerns. The students then wrote the resolution with the aid of Associate Professor of Politics Aaron Bobrow-Strain and Professor of Politics Jeanne Morefield.

Thirty-four professors agreed to sign the resolution, and the Faculty Senate passed it almost unanimously.

“In 15 years of teaching at Whitman I have never seen such a well-run campaign,” said Morefield of the divestment campaign. “[The students] worked incredibly hard, they did all of their research, they contacted and tracked down as many faculty as they could, they answered any questions … The faculty [was] impressed with them.”

Now that the faculty resolution has passed, Divest Whitman is in the process of drafting a student referendum about divestment. Many students active in the divestment campaign, including seniors Collin Smith, Henry Allen and Ari Ronai-Durning, hope to bring the referendum to the student body for a vote before spring break.

ASWC already passed a resolution in the spring of 2013 calling for the college to limit new investments in fossil fuels and form a committee with representatives from all sections of the college community to investigate the effect divestment may have on the endowment. After a nine-month delay, the board decided against formal divestment but formed a Climate Action Planning Task Force comprised of trustees, staff members, faculty and students.

Though the ASWC resolution did not bring about divestment, Morefield and the students of Divest Whitman are confident that this upcoming referendum, paired with the recently-passed faculty resolution, will make a clear statement and lead the trustees to take more concrete actions.

“The idea is to hit the trustees with these two [pieces of legislation] that state pretty firmly that [their] constituents, so to speak, the students and the faculty, want this to happen,” said Morefield.

These two pieces of legislation are continuations of the philosophy upon which the divestment campaign has operated since its inception in 2013. These strategies have not yet convinced the trustees to divest, but in Smith’s opinion, the campaign has not failed.

Smith pointed to the college’s recent investment in a sustainably-oriented fund, the creation of a Climate Action Planning Task Force and the decision to set a date for the college to be carbon-neutral as steps that the college took in response to pressure from the divestment campaign.

“It wasn’t until we started pushing for divestment that the college finally decided that it was worth working on a Carbon Action Plan and a carbon-neutrality date. I think by pushing for divestment, like I said, we’ve received these collateral successes, and that makes me feel comfortable continuing to push even when we’ve received one no,” said Smith.

Smith admits that he doesn’t necessarily expect the faculty resolution and student referendum to be the convincing factor to get the college to divest. Rather, he sees these pieces of legislation as a reaffirmation of the student and faculty opinion on the subject. As Smith sees it, Divest Whitman has already influenced the college to adopt some environmental practices, so reaffirming their stance and continuing the conversation could likely yield more positive results.

“I think, at the end of the day, there’s some benefit just to bring these issues into the focus of the Investment Committee because I do feel like it matters to the long-term solvency of the endowment,” said Smith. “If they’re looking at these things and they’re making decisions with that in mind, I say that’s a good thing for the current moment.”

Divestment: The Financial Side

In February 2014, the Board of Trustees released a statement explaining their decision not to divest from fossil fuels, and they have made no public announcements on the subject since then. Divestment movements are not uncommon; in the 1980s, a student campaign urged the board to divest from companies involved with South African companies during Apartheid, but they refused to do so. The board does not have a general policy to guide how they respond to suggestions that they divest endowments from various sources. In recent memory, however, their response to requests has always been a firm “no.”

As of May 2013, about two percent of the college’s endowment was invested in companies from the Carbon Underground’s list of Top 200 Oil, Gas and Coal Companies. However, this two percent was invested in funds held by managers that controlled more than 25 percent of the college’s endowment, meaning divestment would require the college to reinvest over a quarter of the endowment to divest from fossil fuels.

The day-to-day management of investments is handled by the Investment Committee, which works with the college’s trustees to manage the endowment. Part of the everyday management involves the investment of money with new fund managers and redemption (that is, sale) of investments in others.

The Investment Committee currently makes all of their decisions based on the performance and risk profile of their investments without being swayed by political motivations. Since about a quarter of the college’s endowment is invested in funds with some exposure to fossil fuels, some investments and redemptions may slightly increase or decrease the college’s exposure to fossil fuel companies. The committee has made no attempt to avoid or decrease investments in fund managers with exposure to fossil fuels based on political motivations or the divestment movement.

“[Policy] is not a subject that the Investment Committee believes is within its jurisdiction. We have said that the policy questions belong at the Board level, not at the Committee level. The board said what its policy is last year,” said Trustee and Investment Committee Chair David Nierenberg.

Between March and September of 2014, the committee redeemed about 12.5 million dollars worth of investments held with two different fund managers. These funds were exposed to a variety of resources, including some fossil fuels, as well as other resources like gold and iron. As a consequence of redeeming these funds, the college removed more than 28,000 dollars from fossil fuel companies.

However, these redemptions do not signal a general trend towards divesting from fossil fuels. According to Financial Analyst Justin Rodegerdts, the decision to redeem those two funds was made with profitability in mind, rather than to make a political statement.

“I wouldn’t say that it was from the Investment Committee’s mindset of [a choice] to divest fossil fuels. It was more about the performance of [those] particular manager[s], and it just happened to be a manager with some exposure to fossil fuel companies,” said Rodegerdts.

In September 2014, the Investment Committee made a commitment of 10 million dollars to be paid over the course of roughly five to seven years to Climate Solutions Fund II, an investment fund run by Generation, which invests in alternative energy sources and sustainable resources and companies.

“The way I like to say it is that this was an opportunity to be green, and green in terms of sustainability and profitability. We’ve been very happy to make a commitment to the second CSF fund, [and] if we could find others like this, we would be happy to [invest in] them,” said Nierenberg.

Still, Nierenberg emphasized the centrality of financial stability in the college’s investment decisions.

“We would not have invested in something like [Climate Solutions Fund II] if it did not have a track record of [profitable] partnerships,” he said.

While this new investment is in line with the values of the divestment campaign, it does not delegitimize the fossil fuel industry and create the political will to keep fossil fuels in the ground, so Smith has mixed feelings, though he believes it is a step in the right direction.

What’s next?

No matter the outcome of the student referendum, the recent passage of the Faculty Resolution has pushed the question of fossil fuel divestment back into discussion among the trustees. Nierenberg said he looked forward to discussing divestment with the other trustees, who are meeting this week from Feb. 4 to 6.

In Nierenberg’s opinion, the decision regarding divestment is larger than just this particular anti-fossil fuel campaign.

“There’s a question at the altitude of 60,000 feet that I don’t think the board has thought about yet. That is, in what circumstances should divestiture for any cause be considered and decided? Not just energy and environment, but any issue. You could have similar discussions, for instance, about human rights issues,” said Nierenberg. “Whitman College does not have a policy about divestment and it’s probably worth considering.”

Today on The Pio Radio Hour:

– An interview with staff reporter Christy Carley about the upcoming Power & Privilege Symposium and the history of the event

– An interview with Seahawks fan Max Hanson, who is stoked about the Super Bowl!

– An interview with Dean of Students Chuck Cleveland, and “Aaron,” a marijuana dealer who’s in business with many Whitman sstudents, about the prevalence of pot on campus.

-A short piece by Andrew’s brother Daniel about being in Kenya when the Seahawks won the Super Bowl last year.

Check it out here.

The Pio Radio Hour is hosted by Andrew Schwartz and Anna Middleton and is produced by Aleida Fernandez. Listen at 10am on Sunday mornings on KWCW 90.5

Tales of going away and coming back

Multiple students are graduating from Whitman at the end of this semester. This happens for a variety of reasons, such as starting college in January, taking time off from college or finishing their degree a semester ahead of or behind schedule.

Graduating seniors Olivia Bates and Sebastian Lowe both came in as Jan-starts, and knew all along that their college experience would be shifted one semester off from the rest of their class.

“I actually was happy to take that first semester off. It really helped me come to Whitman more prepared, with a clearer mind of who I am and what I want to do. I would definitely recommend taking a gap semester or a gap year for high schoolers,” said Bates.

Lowe is also happy to have been a Jan-start, and is at peace with graduating a semester later than his classmates.

“I think I might actually be closer to the cohort that came in after mine in some ways, so it’s not as if I was left high and dry without any friends,” said Lowe.

Circumstances are somewhat different for senior Megan Vermilion, who took a year and a half off after the fall semester of her junior year.

“All my friends graduated while I was away, and I wasn’t at the 2013 graduation that I normally would’ve been at,” said Vermilion.

Still, she is very happy to be graduating this semester.

“I know that I missed some things, but I’m sure that coming back and being in undergraduate college as a 24-year-old is pretty normal. It feels fine. I feel maybe better about how school turned out for me than if I had stayed here instead,” she said.

Nilce Alvarez, who was a part-time student last spring and this fall for health reasons, has had a much slower transition leaving colleges. Alvarez admits some loneliness, because many of her friends graduated in May, but she is also grateful that she had the opportunity to spend an extra semester at the college with little hassle.

Inevitably, however, the December end date has created some incongruity for these graduating seniors. Vermilion and Bates, who are both BBMB majors, completed their respective theses this fall instead of this past spring, like the rest of the students in their major, but in many ways this has diminished the pressure. The same is true for Alvarez, a biology major, who took her senior seminar in the spring but completed her thesis, oral defense and written exams this semester.

Though these graduating seniors are celebrating their successes, they won’t actually finish with a graduation ceremony, since they all walked during the ceremony in May. While this could be anticlimactic or awkward, the seniors don’t seem to mind.

“Little by little I’ve been distancing myself, so I don’t think the transition is going to be as difficult as it could’ve been … because it’s been progressive,” said Alvarez.

“I actually think it’s nice because you can end with Christmas and New Year, at least I can. That feels like a nice conclusion,” said Lowe.

“Leaving in December [instead of May] has let me say goodbye in a slower way. When we graduated in May everyone kind of felt cut off a little bit, but I got to come back and say goodbye slowly. I guess I feel much better and more at ease now,” said Bates.

As the soon-to-be-graduates make peace with leaving Whitman, they look forward to bright futures. Lowe is going to a Zen Buddhist monastery in Japan for at least two or three years, Alvarez is applying to nursing school and Bates and Vermilion are planning to work and eventually go to graduate school.

“There’s a mix of feelings, because obviously I’m excited for what I’ll be doing next, but I love Whitman,” said Alvarez.

Bates agreed.

“Whitman was a great experience that will always be a part of me, but now it’s time for change and time to find a new Whitman,” she said.

There are plenty of fun volunteer opportunities in the Walla Walla area.

This story was originally published in The Mooring Mast of Pacific Lutheran University on December 5, 2014. It was written by General Manager of MastTV and Mooring Mast Online Editor Allie Reynolds.

Due to recent cutbacks in enrollment, changes will be happening campuswide during the next couple years.

The university is currently going through a 5% budget shortage from last year. President Thomas Krise believes the shortage has to do with popular local state universities.

The University of Washington opened an extra 1,000 seats for their first-year class and Washington State University eliminated their essay requirement, making the enrollment process easier.

Small changes are happening here and there, while those are happening, Pacific Lutheran University is upping their enrollment division. The division is being combined with the academic division to connect the faculty and the academic side of PLU to the admission side for better cooperation between the two.

“Many students say that they came [to PLU] because of some contact they had from a faculty member, or a coach or from a staff member, so helping facilitate that and making sure what people know what’s going on back and forth is really important for successful recruitment,” Krise said.

Approximately 64 staff and faculty members around campus have been trained in a program called Six Sigma, which is a process efficiency system used by many corporations. Six Sigma trains staff and faculty to be more efficient and effective in their own work.

“We try to cut down on time that the people are spending doing things that might be automated so that we can then redeploy those people to do other things that can be done,” Krise said.

Pacific Lutheran University community members are starting to notice a hit due to budget cuts, in response, a group of more than 100 individuals who manage budgets campus wide meet once a month with budget program leaders. The meeting includes deans, department chairs, directors of programs, and managers of units.

Teri Philips, the associate vice president of human resources, has been running a series of training sessions in order to educate staff members how to manage a budget in dire situations like the one PLU is currently going through.
Although PLU may be going through a budget adjustment period, nothing too significant has been put on the back burner because of the lack in enrollment this fall.

“We’d like to have a better way to welcome visiting students than just on the other side of Hauge [Administration Building]. We have some plans on where we might like to [build that],” President Krise said. “But that’s just kind of a nice to have thing, so we can wait on that until we can afford to do that.”

PLU is currently trying to improve enrollment rates by offering new programs, such as the new minor in Genocide and Holocaust studies, and introducing The Master of Science in Marketing Research hosted by the School of Business. Along with new programs, President Krise also mentioned the “My Language, My Choice” campaign, which advocates social justice to the South Puget Sound area and advertises PLU to the South Puget Sound Community.

While President Krise admits that budget cutbacks are never easy, “sometimes having to do hard work that’s worthwhile is a pleasure.”

This evening, on Friday, Dec. 5th, slam poetry duo Sister Outsider performed at the FACE Equality Coffeehouse in Reid Basement. This event marked the sixth annual coffeehouse put on by FACE, or Feminists Advocating Change and Empowerment. The event was sponsored by FACE, the Black Student Union (BSU), Club Latino, the Gender Studies Department, the English Department, the Rhetoric Department, ASWC, WEB and the Intercultural Center.

The event began with performances from Whitman’s slam poetry club, Almighty Ink, who performed poems relating to sexism, sexuality, race and inequality.

The highlight of the event was the performance by Denice Frohman and Dominique Christina, who make up the duo Sister Outsider. Their poetry addressed racism and sexism in many contexts, including dating and the American education system. A central theme of their performance was race-related violence in America.

While all of the poems had substantial emotional content and had a deep impact on the audience, the most moving poem of the evening was one of the last ones, “For Emmett Till,” written and performed by Christina. Christina prefaced the poem by talking about her experience as a mother, and that it wasn’t until she had children that she truly recognized the devastating horror Till’s mother must have experienced when she could not recognize her son. Christina wept while performing this poem. She did a beautiful job and received a standing ovation.

Overall, the poems Frohman and Christina read were moving, thought-provoking and extremely well received by the audience.

“Erica Nkwocha and I are just so happy to have brought Sister Outsider to campus,” said sophomore FACE co-president Tara McCulloch.

“Their intersectional approach to politics is just incredible, and we feel that they’re a really great group to bring to campus, especially in light of all the recent events that have happened in Ferguson and with Eric Garner.”

Christina’s book “The Bones and the Breaking” is for sale in the Whitman College Bookstore and Frohman’s album “Feels Like Home” is available on iTunes.

Photos by Marra Clay.