November has been a sad month in the Northwest Conference. This month marks the death of Aaron Altman of George Fox University, Parker Moore of Linfield College and Alex Sengoba of Whitworth University.

Whitman College hosted a vigil in honor of deceased Linfield College student Parker Moore. Photo by McCormick

Altman died on November 1st after attending a Halloween rave in Seattle. Although there have been rumors of a drug overdose, his death is believed to be accidental. More information is available from George Fox University’s student paper, The Crescent, here.

Moore died on November 15th. He was stabbed outside of a 7-Eleven in McMinville, Ore. The reason for the stabbing remain unclear. The assailant, Joventino Bermudez Arenas, also died from injuries related to the murder. More information is available in The Linfield Review here. The Review has also published a photo gallery of Moore.

Sengoba died on November 9th. His death appears to be a suicide. More information is available in The Whitworthian here.

Whitman College mourns these losses and honors the lives of these three young men.

This story was originally published in The Mooring Mast of Pacific Lutheran University on November 21, 2014. It was written by PLU news writer Natalie DeFord. This story is printed here through the Northwest News Network, a collaborative project between many northwestern collegiate newspapers.

In honor of Pacific Lutheran University’s 125 years, students and staff set a goal to raise $50,000 in one day of giving. TelALutes did just that, they recently raised just less than $100,000 with some bearded assistance.

The Pacific Lutheran University Annual Fund, part of the Advancement Office, sponsored a special effort this year with the first Bjug Harstad Day of Giving. The event on Bjug Day, Nov. 12, raised more than $94,712 from 302 donors in just 24 hours, according to the PLU Annual Fund Twitter page.
Students and staff did not only hit their goal of raising $50,000 for Bjarstad day, but they exceeded their goal.

Bjug Harstad was PLU’s founder and first president. Harstad was memorialized in the original PLU building, which was named after him. The building was originally home to class rooms and essentially was the college. Now, PLU has expanded and Harstad houses female students and Campus Safety as well as some classrooms. More information on Harstad can be found on the Advancement Office’s Harstad.
Harstad had an incredibly large beard. In spirit of Harstad, paper beards were found campuswide as well as on the faces of many PLU community members and friends.

Pictures of people wearing beards in honor of Harstad Day filled social media and can be searched under #BjugHarstadDay.
In honor of the day of giving TelALutes held a fundraiser in hopes to meet their goal. People could donate online but were also contacted via phone by the TelALutes.

The TelALutes are 14 student callers who contact alumni and collect donation money for PLU. Their team this year consists mostly of new callers, many of which are first-years with only four returning TelALutes.The program is run by Kelli Conley, program coordinator for annual giving.
TelALutes usually work from 6-9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, but they had an extra shift from 3-6 p.m.  Nov. 12, calling and raising money for Bjug Harstad Day of Giving.

“The event was a tremendous success and it was heartwarming and great to see the alumni so excited,” senior Martha Meyer said.
Meyer is one of three TelALute student supervisors. She said the primary function of the TelALutes are, “maintaining and building relationships between campus community and off-campus community.”

The TelALutes,  in addition to helping raise money for Bjug Harstad Day of Giving, are working toward reaching a team goal of $225,000 for the year.
Meyer said the team is right on track to reaching that goal.

Bjug Harstad Day of Giving was such a success it could very well become a PLU tradition said Meyer.
PLU Annual Fund tweeted: “What a fun #BjugHarstadDay! THANK YOU! 302 Lutes raised $94,712 for PLU students. What do you think…should we do this again next year?”

More information about the TelALutes program can be found online at: http://www.plu.edu/advancement/annualfund/telalutes.php

This story was originally published in The Willamette Collegian on November 18, 2014. It was written by Collegian Editor-in-Chief Zane Sparling and writer Bronte Dod of Willamette University. This story is printed here through the Northwest News Network, a collaborative project between many northwestern collegiate newspapers.

No bail is set for Beau Wesley Smith, a 21-year-old Willamette University student charged in the murder of a Salem man. Smith may enter a plea during his next court appearance, or his attorney could ask for more time to put together a defense.

Smith’s next court date is slated for Dec. 11 at 8:30 a.m. Until then, Smith will remain in the Marion County Correctional Facility.

A trial has tentatively been set for Jan. 20.

Salem police and the Marion County District Attorney’s office say Smith killed Michael Hampshire, 66, early in the morning on Wednesday, Nov. 12.

Police responded to a 911 call made shortly before 4 a.m. that day stating that a body was found near Winter and D streets, a residential neighborhood about six blocks northeast of campus. The body was later identified as Hampshire’s.

The cause of death was homicidal violence, including blunt force injuries to the head, according to State Medical Examiner Christopher Young.

Public Information Officer Lieutenant Dave Okada could not confirm whether Smith made any statements to police when he was arrested.

“[Smith] was found a couple blocks from the scene,” Okada said.

When asked if police tested Smith or Hampshire for alcohol or other intoxicants, Okada declined to comment.

Will Pahrman, a local landscaper and neighbor of Hampshire, said he knew the Salem resident for over 20 years.

“I need time to grieve,” Pahrman said. “I wish [Smith] well. I know he was a student and a classmate of yours. That’s all I know. I only know about Michael, and Michael’s gone.”

State to investigate further

Smith was arraigned in court on Thursday, Nov. 13. He did not speak, and was separated by a glass partition from the rest of the courtroom while Judge Donald Abar read the murder charge to him. If convicted, Smith faces a potential maximum sentence of life in prison, Abar said in court.

A 1994 Oregon citizens’ initiative requires a minimum sentence of 25 years in murder cases. Governor John Kitzhaber placed a moratorium on capital punishment in 2011, calling for a review of the death penalty system.

Abar also granted a request from Deputy District Attorney Doug Hanson, who asked that no bail be set, in accordance with Oregon’s law for murder cases.

Smith complied with Salem police during the investigation, according to his lawyer Walter Todd. But Todd said that he would not characterize any statements made as a confession.

“He fully cooperated with the police, and he made a full statement to the police,” Todd said. “The state of Oregon would perceive it to be that some admissions were made.”

Todd, a 1981 graduate of the Willamette College of Law, waived the right for a preliminary hearing at the arraignment on Thursday in order to provide “further information to the state.” He said he is still waiting to receive the police report from the district attorney.

“He was a real good student in high school and a star football player and we’ll [provide] more information about his character, and the state wants more time to investigate the circumstances fully,” Todd told reporters after the arraignment.

The senior chemistry major’s parents visited Smith in jail on Friday, Nov. 14, according to Todd.

He is allowed visitors once per week, one person at a time.

‘No easy resolution’

First news of the incident arrived on campus around 3 p.m. on Nov. 12, after Dean of Campus Life David Douglass sent a campuswide email stating that a “student is being held as part of a criminal investigation into an off-campus incident.”

Douglass did not release the name of the student or the nature of the crime in his message. That information was announced by the Salem police department in a press release sent around 5 p.m. later that day.

In the days that followed, calls for compassion, support and campus unity were disseminated through email by a number of sources, including ASWU President Andrés Oswill and University Chaplain Karen Wood.

Wood has spoken with faculty, staff, students and parents about the incident. She said that there has been “a lot of concern.”

“The fact that there is no easy resolution makes it hard,” Wood said.

Students enrolled in the chemistry department attempted to visit Smith in jail on Monday, Nov. 17, according to an email sent by Professor of Chemistry Todd P. Silverstein.

That visit was later canceled after Smith’s lawyer asked that students reserve the visit for his family, according to an email sent by Smith’s adviser, Chemistry Professor and Department Chair Sarah Kirk.

In a separate email, Kirk said that Smith’s lawyer has asked students to write letters testifying to Beau’s character. Kirk said those letters could be submitted to her, and that she would ensure Todd, the attorney, would receive them.

Kirk did not return a phone call requesting an interview. In a separate email sent to senior chemistry majors, she praised “the care and support that you have shown for one another through this difficult time.”

Violent crime increasing in Salem

The University may perform some type of a student conduct investigation, according to University spokesman Adam Torgerson.

“We’re assessing the best way to proceed regarding any potential administrative adjudication given the complexities of this situation,” Torgerson said. “All adjudication processes are confidential, so we’ll be unable to share information about any particular student’s case.”

Between the active investigation and legal requirements that protect a student’s personal information, there are not many details that can be revealed at this time.

“Student conduct cases are confidential,” Torgerson said. “In all cases, we consider whether administrative actions are appropriate and will take necessary steps to ensure students a fair and just process.”

According to the FBI Uniform Crime reports, Salem’s violent crime rate had been dropping since the mid-1990s, but increased by 7.9 percent between 2011 and 2012. There were seven murders in 2012 and 2013, up from three in 2011.

Violent crime rates on college campuses have not significantly changed in the last decade, according to the American Council on Education.

Smith, a wide receiver on the football team, scored three touchdowns this season. His arrest occurred just days before the team’s final game, a home match against University of Puget Sound on Saturday, Nov. 15 at McCulloch Stadium.

Willamette lost the game 14-27.

zsparlin@willamette.edu
bdod@willamette.edu

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ASWC representatives are preparing a resolution based on research of the process for granting tenure at Whitman’s 12 comparison colleges, in response to students’ desire to become more involved in the college’s process of hiring and granting tenure to professors.

Several controversial decisions in recent years have caused students to desire a greater voice in hiring and tenure decisions. The ASWC resolution is being drafted by Faculty Liaison junior Jack Percival, sophomore senator Dana Casterella and first-year senator Emily Bowen. This past spring, Percival and ASWC President senior Tatiana Kaehler began research of the tenure processes at Whitman’s 12 comparison colleges, which are selected by Whitman’s administration for being similar to Whitman. The resolution is projected to come before the ASWC at the end of this semester or the very beginning of the spring semester.

Percival believes the ASWC resolution that’s in progress presents a meaningful way to incorporate more student feedback, one that many other schools have already implemented. Percival said that the model ASWC will propose is based on the tenure process at Whitman’s 12 comparison colleges: letters of evaluation.

“The candidate generally submits … [the] names of students, former advisees, thesis advisees, etc., and the registrar will sometimes submit a list of students who have taken a couple classes with the professor to form two separate pools to limit bias. And so that’s kind of the model we’re gunning for,” said Percival.

Once the candidate and the registrar have provided these lists, the provost would then select a few students to provide letters of evaluation. Kaehler spoke to the benefits of this strategy.

“One of the main reasons we want to increase student input is because course evaluations do not give students the ability to speak about their professor’s mentorship outside of the classroom, and these letters would be a way of bringing that mentorship and their advising into the picture during the tenure process,” she said.

Professor of Physics Kurt Hoffman says that students might not be aware of how much of a voice they are already given.

“Currently, in the process students have quite a bit of influence, though they don’t really realize it. When the [Personnel] Committee is reviewing a faculty member’s portfolio, part of the process involves reading teaching evaluations from a class,” said Hoffman.

Hoffman, who is chair of the Personnel Committee, says that in his experience the student course evaluations always play a large part in the committee’s evaluation of a candidate’s teaching.

“They are documents that are read by everyone on the committee, so they are definitely taken seriously, and the information that we obtain from them is an important part of our conversation,” he said.

The central role of course evaluations in the Personnel Committee’s deliberations is one of the reasons that course evaluations were restructured for the fall 2012 semester to focus more on mentorship and advising, and they are now submitted online. This change was a part of the faculty response to a resolution on this same subject, student input in tenure decisions, which ASWC passed in the spring of 2012.

Associate Professor of Astronomy and General Studies Andrea Dobson, who was chair of  faculty at the time the resolution was passed, credits the resolution with the improvement of the course evaluation system, but she concedes that the faculty chose not to implement all of the requests in that document, such as the possibility of direct student participation on the Personnel Committee.

Photo by Hayley Turner.

“In terms of students actually sitting on the Personnel Committee, that was discussed and rejected,” said Dobson.

Interim Provost and Dean of Faculty Pat Spencer agreed that it’s not realistic for students to sit on the committee, in part due to the confidential nature of some of the information discussed.

“I think one of the things that concerns me most is that students tend to have a short horizon and a tenure decision is a 30-year commitment to the college. In that sense it’s best considered by a faculty committee. Having said that, I think there’s probably ways to incorporate student input. How that would happen, I don’t know,” said Spencer.

However, Hoffman remains unconvinced that further representation is necessary.

“There are a lot of evaluations for a faculty member by the time they’re coming up for a decision, so we have a large number of students giving us input. So I’m not sure that there’s a sense that faculty feel there’s a shortage of input from students,” said Hoffman.

Hoffman and Spencer both emphasized that professors don’t necessarily agree on this issue and that it was difficult for them to speak for the faculty at large. Even so, Spencer was optimistic that faculty would take the resolution seriously.

Dobson believes that a proposal highlighting student participation through letters of evaluation, as ASWC plans to propose, rather than direct representation on the committee, is more practical and would likely get a stronger reception.

“Whether it will result in anything or not, I don’t know, but I think [emphasizing letters of evaluation] is a more realistic approach, and I think it’s got quite a bit of merit,” said Dobson. “I could imagine that it might wind up the case that an additional letter or two or three were a part of a person’s personnel file when they’re coming up for consideration by the committee.”

Whether or not she would actually expect this model to be implemented, however, depends on how specific the resolution is.

Hoffman agreed that the reception of the resolution would hinge on the details.

“So, a solicited letter from specific students … the challenge is deciding how would we do that? What’s the process? Do we let the faculty member up for review request students? And what would be the impression of the committee or other readers if that’s how the students were identified?” he said. “I would want to make sure that that input was actually in a form that was actually meaningful.”

Whether or not the resolution will adequately address these concerns remains to be seen, but it is evident that many faculty members are at least willing to consider it.

“To a large extent it’s [the students’] college and I think they should have voices,” said Spencer.

The Peer Listeners group promotes empathy, friendship and listening on campus.

This story was originally published in The Mooring Mast of Pacific Lutheran University on November 15, 2014. It was written by PLU news writer Genny Boots. This story is printed here through the Northwest News Network, a collaborative project between many northwestern collegiate newspapers.

“Thank you for your service” was an expression that rang throughout Pacific Lutheran University and around the country Nov. 11. Veterans Day is a chance for Americans to commemorate the 20 million living veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Nearly 150 people gathered in PLU’s Lagerquist Concert Hall for the university’s celebration and remembrance.

The master of ceremonies for the Veterans Day event was PLU Director of Military Outreach Michael Farnum, who said the service this year was outstanding.

The event speakers included PLU President Thomas Krise, professor of military science and Commander of the ROTC battalion Lt. Col. Kevin Keller and student Steve Shumaker.

Shumaker’s speech was the highlight of the ceremony. Shumaker served four combat tours, two in Iraq and two in Afghanistan, and is now a junior Political Science student at PLU. The audience listened in reverence and awe as he tearfully spoke about his time in the service.

“What am I willing to die for? What am I willing to live for? Why am I here?” said Shumaker recalling the questions he often asked himself as a helicopter crew chief flying in and out of dangerous combat zones.

Shumaker’s voice stammered with emotion as he spoke about the tragedy and violence he experienced. He also spoke about the social problems facing veterans today.

“There are 300,000 homeless veterans, countless addicted to alcohol and drugs, and 22 veterans commit suicide everyday” Shumaker said.

“The service was very touching,” Patricia Krise said. “Steve is a great inspiration for us all.”

The audience erupted in support and a standing ovation after his speech.

PLU has a long history supporting the military and veterans. Campus is located five miles from Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) and was recently ranked fourth among regional universities in the West in the 2015 U.S. News Best Colleges for Veterans.

PLU is part of the Yellow-Ribbon GI Educational Enhancement Program. Working with the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, PLU offers full scholarships to qualified veterans.

“PLU values global education and having veterans in class brings experience and that global education to the classroom,” Farnum said.

Following the Veterans Day celebration was a viewing of the Veterans photo gallery wall.

Members of the PLU community with military ties submitted photos that were hung in Kriedler Hall’s first-floor lounge.

The university is hosting other events celebrating veterans later this month, including a Thanksgiving meal for 120 active duty soldiers from JBLM.
Veterans Day was a time for thanking and honoring the service people of the Armed Forces.

On Nov. 1, George Fox University sophomore Aaron Altman died after attending a rave in Seattle.

The cause of death is unknown and the toxicology report is currently underway.

According to King 5, Altman attended the FreakNight Festival and allegedly overdosed on “Molly,” a popular party drug. FreakNight is the largest 2-day annual rave held on Halloween. The second night of the festival was cancelled after reports of Altman’s death.

King 5 also reported that “the Seattle Fire Department said they brought 16 people to the hospital following the first night of FreakNight on Friday, but the Seattle Police Department said late Saturday night that they still did not have a report of a death linked to the event.”

Mark Pothoff, dean of Community Life, said that Altman’s death was first reported two days after the event through social media posts and rumors overheard by a resident assistant.

“It was about 48 hours after he died that we heard about it, which we actually thought was a long time, given how information gets passed through social media and through students,” said Pothoff. “It’s challenging in a situation like this because of the alleged cause of death and what was put out in the media before. His family has said that it was an accidental death and there has been no mention of the causes of how that happened.”

“We really don’t know any of the details of who he was with, but we did hear he was with his brother when he died. I don’t know if he was with him the whole time, what actually took place, what he or may not have done,” said Pothoff.

Altman was a Finance major who lived off campus. According to Pothoff, Altman was a well-connected student who lived in Pennington Hall last year.

David Liu, assistant professor of management, had Altman in his Business Ethics class. According to Liu, Altman was a bright and talented student. “He was very participative in class,” said Liu. “Very polite, very cordial. He had a lot of insight. I was so proud of him; he was on the dean’s list. I will miss him and our class will miss him.”

“I didn’t know him well but every time I saw him, he would would smile and say hi to me,” said Junior Mason Kriz. “All of my interactions with him were filled with life. I think my response to his death is more a response to everyone who has been impacted by it. It’s hard to see so many people on this campus hurting.”

Altman’s family hosted a memorial service at Beaverton Foursquare on Nov. 8. Click here for more information.

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