For students remaining in Spokane for the summer, the semester’s rapidly approaching end can mean not seeing friends until September. In order to guard against loneliness, boredom or becoming a couch potato, here are just some of the many local events happening during summer break. This list is meant to get you started, because many more events such as improv shows, arena football games and charity relay races can be found through online events calendars.

OUTDOOR EVENTS

Hoopfest
June 29 – 30; various times, free entry
Downtown Spokane
Spokane’s Hoopfest is the world’s largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament, spanning 42 city blocks downtown. Team registration ended May 6, but volunteer registration is open until June 14. During the tournament, vendors and food booths will be set up in Riverfront Park.

Courtesy of thedirtydash.com
Last year many Spokanites came out to the Dirty Dash in costumes. This year’s part mud run, part obstacle course is July 13.

The Dirty Dash
July 13; $50 late registration until June 5
Riverside State Park 9412 Inland Road, Nine Mile Falls
As the name may imply, The Dirty Dash is part mud run, part obstacle course race, meaning racers should bring their grungiest clothes to participate. This 3.5-mile course starts for racers in waves, and while the first are already sold out, the remaining open waves are from 1:20 p.m. and 1:40 p.m. Volunteer positions for the race are still open, and those interested may register online.

Pig Out In The Park
Aug. 28-Sept. 2 from 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.; free entry, food prices vary
Riverfront Park
This six-day annual food and music festival boasts more than 40 food booths and numerous entertainment acts on three separate stages. Arts, crafts and commercial booths will be set up in a “Vendors Village.” Like their Facebook page to receive updates on scheduled musical acts.

ARTS

Art Fest
May 31 (12 p.m. – 8 p.m.), June 1 (10 a.m. – 8 p.m.), June 2 (10 a.m. – 5 p.m.); Free
Coeur d’Alene Park in Spokane (near Browne’s Addition)
Annually, more than 150 artists set up booths at this three-day juried art exhibition hosted by the Museum of Arts and Culture. The event also features food booths, live music and a wine and beer garden for those 21 and older. An art raffle is also featured, in which participants who purchased their tickets online have a chance to win one of five art pieces from a regional artist.

Spokane Civic Theatre – Various Plays
May to August; see website for ticket prices
Spokane Civic Theatre at 1020 N. Howard St.
Three different programs are featured this summer: Grease, a 50’s rock and roll musical about high school romance, running May 17 to June 16; The Dixie Swim Club, a comedy about five women who are lifelong friends, running May 3 to June 2; and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the musical Biblical saga of Joseph and his jealous brothers, running Aug. 9-17. See the theater’s website for showtimes and ticket sales.

CHARITY

Parade of Paws
June 8 at 10 a.m.; free registration
Spokane Humane Society at 6607 N. Havana St.
The Humane Society is inviting members of the community to take a two to four-mile walk in support of local homeless animals. The walk can be done solo or with friends (of the two-legged and four-legged variety). Registered participants will collect pledges that will go toward shelter animals’ basic needs. Those who reach $100 in pledges will receive a T-shirt to wear at the walk.

Over The Edge
June 22 from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.; registration pledge
Bank of America Financial Building at 601 W. Riverside Ave.
Ever had the urge to repel off of a tall building? Washington state’s Special Olympics is now offering the chance. Participants will gather pledges through a registered web page in order to meet a goal of $650. With this amount reached, those 18 and older will be brought to the top of the Bank of America building downtown. For those not a fan of heights, the “Chicken Coop” will be a place to cheer for those up top while, raising funds and collecting prizes. No prior experience required.

Music plays a powerful role in people’s lives in multiple ways. For example, personal connection, connection with a larger community and the ability to escape into the music.

The first idea revolves around personal connection. Everyone has listened to a song before and thought ‘that is my life’ or ‘this is exactly how I feel.’ Lyrics can explain emotions that one may not be able to put into words. Deep songs, especially those explaining significant parts of life, make people feel they are not alone.

Some connect with the literal words, others look to find a spiritual meaning and some pay attention to the instruments and the beauty that lies in creating music. People may then be inspired to create their own music, sharing their emotions and stories through this form of expression in hope that it will touch someone the way it touched them.

Personally, I find a deeper, spiritual meaning and personal connection to Mumford and Sons. Yes, their music is now popular and everyone knows the lyrics to their songs, but to me they are not just another big name band. Listening to their song “Awake My Soul” and hearing “in these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die, where you invest your love, you invest your life,” makes me step back and look at  my life to see where I am investing my love. Is it in God or is it things of this world?

Music also allows people to connect to a larger community. I feel a sense of belonging and relating to others present at certain concerts, especially at small venues. People fall in love with music for personal reasons and then take a step further and decide they want to connect with the band on a real level by attending a live concert. Then, you stand there, shoulder to shoulder with people that have poured themselves into the same music for similar or different reasons. The band plays three chords, and the same feeling is stirred inside everyone.  Before you know it, everyone is singing and dancing together. Strangers and friends alike know the role the music has played in their lives and understand the power it can have.

A couple weeks ago I stood at a small venue in Seattle listening to the Local Natives, and it was then I realized how much I love concerts. Going to concerts is what my best friend and I do together. It has become our thing because we both understand the power music holds, and we love to dance and sing.  Being surrounded by people singing and dancing gave so much more depth to the music, it made it come alive.  Being able to witness bands become so hyped and energized because they are feeding off the energy of the crowd is incredible.

Finally, whether it is being played or listened to, music can become an escape. It allows people to retreat behind their instruments, or behind their voices to create beautiful sounds. They can put everything aside and pour into music. Through hearing others’ stories in songs about the good, bad, lonely, past, present, grace-filled, beautiful moments, they can put themselves into the song and escape.

The power of music in individuals’ lives is too often overlooked. Take advantage of the music around you. Let it touch you personally, allow yourself to stand in a sea of strangers and feel connected through a song and use it to escape the world when necessary.

Haley Williamson

Columnist

Contact Haley Williamson at hwilliamson15@my.whitworth.edu

Graphic artist: Molly Rupp

Mike Sardinia, ’87, attended Whitworth on academic and football scholarships. Now, he’s a professor of biology at Whitworth.
Tanner Scholten | Photographer

The phrase “Once a Pirate, always a Pirate” rings true for select Whitworth  faculty and staff members. Several professors received an education within the same classrooms students use today.

Some have only been alumni for a few years; others graduated more than 40 years ago. No matter how long ago they graduated, they all have returned with a similar purpose: to provide their students with the same experience they had when they were Pirates.

“I had made the decision that I wouldn’t teach if I couldn’t teach at Whitworth,” biology professor Michael Sardinia said.

Sardinia said his sister, along with a few academic scholarships and a football scholarship, motivated him to choose  to attend Whitworth.

An undergraduate from 1983 to 1987, Sardinia majored in biology and chemistry and minored in theater.

He was involved in a few theatrical productions and spent a Jan Term touring with a theater group. He also played football for three years.

Director of the dance minor and Jubilation Dance Ministry adviser Karla Parbon is another Whitworth alumna who returned to teach.

“I came back to Whitworth in 2008 and started teaching dance classes,” Parbon said.

Karla Parbon, ’00, helped establish Jubilation Dance Ministry. Now, she is the adviser for the program.
Juliana Zajicek | Photographer

While she was a student, Parbon helped establish Jubilation at Whitworth. She majored in psychology and minored in women’s studies while she attended Whitworth from 1996 to 2000.

Growing up in Spokane for most of her life, Parbon was set on leaving to attend Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma, she said.

“It was about March of my senior year in high school that I had a huge tugging to go to Whitworth,” Parbon said. “Everything fell into place after I made my decision.”

English lecturer Adeline Grow visited her brother, who was attending Whitworth, and sat in on one of English professor Vic Bobb’s classes. Grow said she fell in love with Whitworth.

Grow majored in English and minored in math during her undergraduate years from 2005 to 2009.

In contrast to Sardinia, Parbon and Grow, theology professor James Edwards said he was not planning on attending college until peer pressure persuaded him to apply.

“I was in Young Life and my leader told me Whitworth would be a good fit,” Edwards said.

He said he found the Christian environment to be compatible with his beliefs. Edwards, used to warm Colorado winters, said he struggled to adjust to the gray skies of Spokane.

Edwards attended Whitworth from 1963 to 1967. He majored in history and minored in English and religion. Whitworth has changed in multiple ways since he was a student, he said.

“In the 1960s English and history were especially excellent areas of study at Whitworth,” Edwards said. “There were some real deficits in comparison with today, however. There was no Core program, very few women’s sports as far as I remember, and no Jan Term trips or Central America study center.”

Attending chapel was a requirement in the 1960s. Edwards said he enjoyed chapel.

Parbon said that students also used to be required to attend Forum, an event held in Cowles Auditorium in the middle of the afternoon, which consisted of seminars and lectures by various speakers.

Whitworth also used to have a ski team, which Edwards participated in. The team competed against WSU, University of Washington and the University of Oregon.

Grow said she has noticed more support of sporting events since her days of attendance.

“We’re way bigger than we used to be,” Sardinia said. “The student population used to be half the size.”

Parbon said one of her favorite things about Whitworth was that it was a smaller university. Grow said that the small community was one of the most enjoyable aspects of Whitworth.

Sardinia said he loved his classmates and continues to keep in touch with them to this day.

Each the professors said that the relationships developed with faculty members had the largest impact on making their Whitworth experience enjoyable.

“I felt that these people had my best interests in mind,” Grow said. “I was viewed as a person, not just a student.”

Parbon, Sardinia and Grow were taught by professors who are still currently on staff such as Leonard Oakland, Pamela Parker, Martha Gady and Forrest Baird, to name a few.

“It’s strange to be a colleague of someone that was your professor,” Sardinia said.

James Edwards, ’67, had to adjust to the chilly Spokane winters when he first attended Whitworth.
Simon Puzankov | Photographer

The professors said the relationships they developed with their professors and the faculty was a major influence on their decisions to return to Whitworth.

“Because of my experiences, I wanted to teach where not only the mind but convictions were valued,” Edwards said. “Some of the most whole people I met were professors.”

The other main reason these alumni said they came back to teach was because of the students.

“The students here are so driven and respectful,” Grow said. “They are fun to engage in conversation with.”

Rebekah Bresee
Staff Writer

Contact Rebekah Bresse at rbresee16@my.whitworth.edu

Amy Youngs said it’s her decision to smoke, and others shouldn’t judge.
Greg Moser | Photographer

After two decades of research, the link between smoking tobacco and various forms of lung, heart and mouth cancer are more than proven.

Still, many students on campus choose to smoke, whether it be pipe tobacco, shisha (wet tobacco smoked from a hookah), cigarettes or cigars.

At Whitworth, smoking not only affects health, but interactions with others. The habitual cigarette smoker is often avoided by non-smokers. Sophomore Henry Johnson said he doesn’t smoke as much as he used to, although other people still sometimes identify him by his habit.

“I remember last year, somebody said they remembered me because I was that one kid with guns on his shirt that smelled like cigarettes,” Johnson said.

Johnson picked up the habit during his sophomore year of high school, although lately he said he has been cutting back. Johnson said at a smaller school like Whitworth, it’s harder to break a bad reputation. At Whitworth, it’s only natural for smokers to congregate, he said.

“If you are a smoker, you first will find the other people that smoke, and then you will engage them at some point, because — and I feel like a lot of other people feel the same way too — you don’t feel as judged,” Johnson said. “It’s not something you do behind closed doors. You always feel more comfortable in groups of anything.”

Johnson, like many other smokers on campus, said he feels the scrutiny of other students at Whitworth. Freshman Elisabeth Ersek said she doesn’t understand why others judge.

“I especially get [looks] from visiting moms and their kids, that’s a big one, because they go out of their way to make you know that they’re giving you a glare,” Ersek said. “Smoking is not as big of a deal as everybody makes it out to be. There are so many things that people do to themselves that are unhealthy every day and that they don’t give a [expletive] about.”

Of the 35 million Americans who try to quit smoking every year, 85 percent who try to quit on their own fail, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. While many smokers wish to quit, some are content with their habit.

“The first time I smoked a full cigarette, I really liked it,” freshman Amy Youngs said.

She said that given the chance to go back and do it over, she wouldn’t change her mind about picking up the habit.

“It’s more of a stress kind of thing. It helps me calm down,” Youngs said.

Youngs said she has been the recipient of dirty looks, but that it’s her personal decision to continue to smoke. She said that as long as she keeps a respectable distance, there’s “no room for judgment.”

Johnson said if he could go back and do it over again, he is sure he would have never picked up that first cigarette.

“Most people don’t want to be smokers, but we’ve been foolish enough that we’ve gotten ourselves in this situation,” Johnson said.

He said the judgment often makes quitting more difficult.

“It’s harder for us to quit because we get more stressed out, more agitated, and it throws us back in this vicious cycle.”

Lucas Thayer
Staff Writer

Contact Lucas Thayer at lthayer12@my.whitworth.edu

Graphic Artist: Caleb Drechsel

I have recently seen the posts of high school seniors rolling in on Facebook wondering, contemplating, fretting and panicking about the notorious college decision. They wonder if they should attend big schools, small schools, private schools, public schools, schools close to home, or schools as far away as possible.

I chuckle a little bit as I read the anger of those students, but not because their feelings aren’t legitimate. Indeed, it is a big decision to choose where you will spend the next four years of your life. I remember those feelings of indifference, frustration, and excitement. I remember the sting of a rejection letter and the satisfaction of an acceptance. I remember restless nights of wondering how on earth I would ever get to the bottom of what seemed to be the abyss of factors, feelings and fears.

But now I chuckle because I know the deep relief and joy that comes once the decision is made, freshman move-in day is over and community has blossomed all around me.

I recently told a struggling high school senior that I have never been more thankful for the rejection letters I received.

Somehow the idea of a “name,” a reputation of a school, held a lot of weight. The lower the acceptance rate, the more famous the alumni, and let’s face it, the higher the tuition, had some appeal, as if those are the things that make a school “good.”

As I finish up year two here at Whitworth, I am willing to argue that so much of what I love about this place and so much of what I have experienced here will never fit in statistics, rankings, reports, tours or promotional materials.

That is not to say Whitworth does not excel in those areas, but I know my “why Whitworth”, as I sense is common for many students, isn’t in the numbers.     Whitworth is the 2 a.m. conversations with hallmates and the lazy Friday afternoons spent lounging on the grass in the Loop. Whitworth is the times when my professors don’t just say hi, but actually stop and check in with me when I run into them across campus, and those moments in class when I am finally able to articulate what I longed to my whole life, but didn’t have the tools to do so until the said moment.

No school is perfect. There is still hurt and conflict and final exams are a real thing too.

But I think it’s important for us as students to remember the immense blessing we have in being able to attend an institution with quality administration, faculty, staff and fellow students.

Whitworth is a phenomenal example of not only selecting a school on reputation and numbers, but on overall quality of life. It is that value that makes Whitworth quintessentially Whitworth.

Sena Hughes

Columnist

Contact Sena Hughes at shughes15@my.whitworth.edu

Taylor Fenters
Photo courtesy of Diana Cron

The basis for this year’s graduating class gift will be an endowment in remembrance of Taylor Fenters, who passed away during his sophomore year at Whitworth. The endowment will help fund Spring Break mission trips.

An endowment means money is raised for a project but not all of the money is spent directly on that project. Instead, annual dividends will be put into the project in order to fund the project continually, director of alumni and parent relations and annual giving Aaron McMurray said.

Senior Curtis Gatley, a close friend of Fenters during his time at school, was with him for the later stages of his battle with cancer. Gatley first met Fenters on move-in day, in 2009.

“We had Freshman Seminar together and very quickly became best friends,” Gatley said.

Gatley said he got a phone call on homecoming weekend from Fenters saying that he was going to Seattle.

“Twenty minutes later we were on the road with a few friends,” Gatley said.

Fenters took many pictures and videos of this trip, Gatley said. On days that he misses his friend, he looks through those photos. They are memories he cherishes, Gatley said.

Fenters had been struggling with a rare form of cancer  common in children. He was diagnosed with cancer when he was 13 years old and was considered relatively old to have contracted it. When Gatley met Fenters during freshman year, he was in remission, Gatley said.

Fenters came back for his sophomore year in which he and Gatley were roommates. His head hurt and he had hip pains, but the doctors did not think that it was the same thing, Gatley said. Fenters went home Thanksgiving Break and did not come back to school. At that time Fenters was given three months to live, Gatley said.

Gatley spent the next three months with Fenters and on Jan. 18, 2011, Fenters died of cancer.

The senior class is honoring Fenters’ life with its gift. The endowment given by the senior class will be in Fenters’ name, the official title being, “The Class of 2013 Taylor Fenters Service Endowment.” The endowment is a way to commemorate Fenters in a way the senior class thinks he would support, senior class coordinator Kelly Schlect said.

“We have been in contact with the family and they are supportive of it too,” Schlect said.

All the Spring Break trips will be affected by this gift, including those to Jamaica. Senior Jack Dunbar has gone on multiple Spring Break trips taking more than 50 students to Jamaica. Those trips primarily help Jamaica Christian School for the Deaf, a K-12 boarding school for the deaf. At that site the students help with construction. They also help at an orphanage site, with newborns to age eight, and help take care of the infants.

“Life is about living in community,” Dunbar said. “It’s not about you but about serving others, Taylor did that.”

Dunbar has heard from others in his class who are excited about the gift.

“We had the opportunity to construct monuments,” Dunbar said. “Buildings will turn to dust. Investing in people will never go bad.”

McMurray has been an active participant in securing the outside donor for this year’s endowment. In order to have a successful endowment, money from other areas must be supplied. The senior class alone, in previous years, has only been able to raise about $10,000 to $12,000. The donor then is needed to match what is made in order to have a substantial endowment.

The donor for this year’s gift is trustee emeritus Dick Cole, along with his wife Liz Cole. A trustee emeritus is a faithful and long-serving trustee who can come to any meeting but is no longer an active trustee, McMurray said. In order to be a donor, he had two conditions, he said. The first was that the project had to be an endowment, and the second that the money needed to motivate many seniors to participate in the fundraising.

“I am proud of them for honoring Taylor’s life and legacy,” McMurray said. “Choosing a gift that will bless Whitworth and leave a legacy that will bless their class as they are alumni. The most memorable part of an endowment is that we will always have this fund.”

The deadline for seniors to make contributions to their gift is Thursday, May 16 at 5 p.m. Contributions can be made at the Info Desk, over the phone or online.

Catherine Porter
Staff Writer

Contact Catherine Porter at cporter16@my.whitworth.edu

“I had been thinking for a while, and I kept going back and forth,” Johnson said. “I think [when] leaving that class  …  that’s when I thought, ‘That’s what I want. That’s what I want for my first tattoo.’”

Gabrielle Perez | Photographer
Sophomore Kari Johnson chose the content of her tattoo after taking a class on the subject of shalom.

Tattoos may be more popular on Whitworth’s campus than at first appearance. In fact, a little less than half of Whitworth students surveyed have a tattoo, and 46 percent of students said they would get one, according to a voluntary survey of 100 Whitworth students.

Johnson plans to get at least two more tattoos at some point.

“It’s true that they’re addictive,” Johnson said. “I wanted [the tattoos] to be meaningful, something that was a story and not just pretty.”

Senior Taylor Powell said she also got her tattoos with meaning behind them. Although Powell got her first tattoo when she was 18, the decision to get a tattoo came when she was younger.

“I was probably around 13,” Powell said. “It was right after my grandma passed away and I knew that I wanted to get something for her. It’s one of those expressions of art that I get to live with. I enjoy them. Yes, they’re painful, but they’re worth it in the end.”

Powell has two tattoos. One is a rose in which her grandmother’s ashes are mixed in with the ink. The other is a heart symbol with the word “love” written inside it.

Powell would also like to get another tattoo, she said. Although some people may still judge her based on the assumptions that tattoos are rebellious, she doesn’t care, she said.

“It’s not on your body and you don’t have to look at it,” Powell said. “They’re mine, not anybody else’s.”

Greg Moser | Photographer
Sodexo employee Aden Coleman, ’09, said more than 30 hours were spent tattooing his back piece.

Although 70 percent of students in the voluntary survey said tattoos do not carry a bad connotation, several students responded firmly in the opposite direction. A number of answers included references to gangs or jail, and some also said that tattoos defile the body, which is an argument that has been made by some religious people for years. However, many others stated they think tattoos are art or a form of expression.

Keith Wyma, an associate professor of philosophy, said he believes tattoos aren’t as much of an issue as some people make them out to be. Wyma got his own tattoo, an Ethiopian cross, when the Whitworth Ethics Bowl team won a national championship. He told the team that if they won, he would get a tattoo. When the team succeeded in their goal, Wyma kept his promise.

“[The team] was very pleased that I now bear on my body the marks of their victory,” he said. “I guess you could call it a coach’s incentive.”

Wyma’s family and church tradition raised him to believe tattoos were unacceptable. But now he sees them differently, he said.

“Over time, I came to think they’re just not a big deal here. I don’t think they’re theologically weighty,” he said. “You put a picture on your body, so what?”

Although he believes the negative connotations with tattoos are significantly less today than they were when he was a kid, Wyma also said that the stereotypes have not entirely gone away.

“Nobody really cares if you have a tattoo, but people still care that you look professional,” he said. “As the highly-tattooed generation gets older, they may not care about that stuff.”

Andrew Pyrc, assistant director of Career Services, said tattoos are becoming more acceptable in the workplace in general. However, he also said students going into positions where they must represent a company or organization may still need to cover their tattoos on the job because of possibly offending people or because of the need to appear professional.

“I would say it’s becoming more acceptable, but it really depends on your industry and the type of tattoo,” Pyrc said. “You also have to ask yourself, do you really want to work for a place that is not accepting of tattoos?”

Senior Cassi Curtis agrees that the stereotypes with tattoos still exist. Curtis has three tattoos herself, one of which was recently acquired.

Gabrielle Perez | Photographer
Senior Cassi Curtis uses her religiously-themed tattoo to start conversations about the gospel, she said.

“I think that visible tattoos instantly get a negative connotation. It’s seen as a rebellious thing or a gang affiliation,” she said. “I just think people have a really jaded perspective on who gets tattoos and what they get tattoos of.”

Curtis also grew up believing tattoos were immoral. She said her mother got one when Curtis was around 10, and in response her whole family sat down to talk about how they used to view tattoos and how their views were changing.

“It was still kind of a taboo [subject],” she said. “I understood [tattoos] and appreciated them. The more I thought about it, the more I thought, ‘I might want to do this.’”

Curtis said that most of her fellow students seem to also appreciate tattoos, although older people might not.

“I’ve actually gotten really positive feedback. I think it’s kind of a generational thing, like our parents’ age and older [disapprove of tattoos],” Curtis said. “But I think our generation is more kind and accepting about it.”

Regardless of whether tattoos are seen as an act of rebellion, a symbol of being in a gang, or something beautiful to the wearer, Curtis said she loves getting to see others’ tattoos.

“It’s just a form of self-expression. It’s really interesting to see what people choose to put on their own bodies,” Curtis said. “[Tattoos are] great conversation starters. Because so many of mine are about my faith, I get to tell them about the gospel.”

Meghan Dellinger
Staff Writer

Contact Meghan Dellinger at mdellinger15@my.whitworth.edu

Hannah Charlton | Graphic Designer

Due to a flaw in the Whitworth directory, for an unknown period of time students were able to log in to the faculty-level directory. The information systems department solved the glitch Friday, May 3.

On the faculty/staff version, when searching for students, a student could find the usual name, phone number, email, student box number and major of almost any student in the system.  In addition, unlike the student version, the faculty/staff version allowed access to students’ dorm name and room number. They could also find phone and home addresses for professors.

Tom Ryan, who works in information systems, said the access capability was not intentional and that they do not know how long the problem existed.

Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), “schools may disclose, without consent, ‘directory’ information such as a student’s name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance,” according to the Department of Education.

A subsequent clause states that schools must tell parents and students about directory information, and allow them a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose directory information.

Schools must notify parents and eligible students annually of their rights under FERPA. The actual means of notification (by special letter, inclusion in a PTA bulletin, student handbook or newspaper article) is left to the discretion of each school.

Records manager William Carruthers said the information on a student’s profile is often obtained through the student’s application, where it is downloaded to a student’s record.  If  students make any changes, they can submit an address change form that will update new cell phone, home phone and address information.

Carruthers confirmed that no exists law that requires them to prevent students from having access to other students’ room locations.

“There’s nothing in the regulation that says we have to keep that private,” Carruthers said.  “Having said that, that doesn’t mean you have to publish everything you know, but it does mean that FERPA allows us to give a student’s address out, unless that student has placed a directory hold on their record.”

The university sends out an advisory to students through email each year, giving them direction on how to opt out of the directory before the information goes up on the intranet, Carruthers said.  Students can also submit a directory hold request at any time during the year. Making said request, however, comes at a cost.

After the request is processed, the student will not appear in a search on either the student or the faculty/staff version of the campus directory. The downside is that a student who submits a directory hold request becomes ‘invisible’ from a third party’s standpoint.  This means that students can not have their name printed on the Dean’s List or in the Commencement program at graduation, according to the directory hold request form.

“If in fact they do this, if somebody like a third party, like a prospective employer or somebody from student loans would contact us and ask for information, we’re going to say, ‘We don’t have anything on that student’ so it can be very detrimental for a student to put this on if they don’t realize the ramifications,” Carruthers said.  “Now it’s very important, too, because if you have somebody who has a stalking issue or an ex-boyfriend who’s trying to get in touch with some of our coeds on campus, we definitely want them to have the ability to hide their information. So, it is useful and necessary, but it shouldn’t be viewed as a catch-all just to get stuff off the intranet just because it really has far-reaching effects.”

Disclosing room information is not something resident assistants and resident directors generally do.

Ballard, Cornerstone and McMillan resident director Matthew Baker said that resident assistants are told not to give out information such as room and cell phone numbers.

“Not all RA’s know who is a student and who is not so it is a safer bet to say if that person is someone you don’t know, it’s better to not give out that information, as far as what room someone lives in.  [This is] also to protect that student’s wishes as far as, ‘Yes, this is my room but I don’t want just anyone knowing that I live here,’” Baker said.  “There can be some parts in some person’s story in history that makes them want to be more private about that and so we want RA’s to respect that privacy before just giving it away without someone giving you that consent.”

Due to the far-reaching ramifications of a directory hold request, the question turns to the possibility of a more selective system in which students could pick and choose which specifics aspects of their personal information were displayed on the directory. However, administrators said it’s not that simple.

Interim Provost Barbara Sanders said that while picking and choosing may be conducive to a student’s preference, the question is whether that process is even an option in this system.

“While [all options in regards to student profile information] are probably legitimate options, one needs to consider the time and resources involved in being able to make those play out,” Sanders said.

Registrar Beverly Kleeman said the administration is working with the data warehouse to see if they can prevent student phone numbers from being shown if the student does not want it to appear there.

“Bill [Carruthers] has had people ask him about that in the past and all he’s been able to say is that they could put the directory hold on, because that’s really the only capability that we have right now to block that phone number,” Kleeman said.  However, Kleeman said that the directory hold blocks everything, and due to the ramifications, the hold is not the ideal way to handle it.

Connor Soudani
Staff Writer

Contact Connor Soudani at csoudani16@my.whitworth.edu

I had a strong gut reaction to the movie. At certain parts, I could feel my heart racing with anger. At others, I wanted to cry. There were parts where a smile crept across my face when I could see the girls overcoming significant obstacles. I can still clearly see the images of the girl from Haiti standing in a dump dreaming of going to school, the girl from Nepal trapped in the evil kamlari (indentured servitude) system, the girl from Peru dealing with her father’s death while passionately writing poetry and many others. After seeing those images, I know I can’t just sit back and wait for change. I have to take action. However, I’m not exactly sure what that action entails yet. I just know that I cannot stand the thought of not doing anything.

I also walked away from the movie with a feeling of guilt. What makes me deserving of an education, particularly at a high-caliber private school such as Whitworth? I complain about going to class. I complain about the piles of homework I have to do. I complain about not getting enough sleep. But in this film I saw girls who would give anything to be in my place right now, or at least have the opportunity to  get a basic education.

While I am still struggling with the guilt, I have realized that is not the message that I want to take from the movie. Yes, I am privileged. I was raised in a loving family, I have never struggled to meet my basic needs, I attended a private elementary school and some of the best public schools in the state, and now I am at a wonderful university.  I do not need to feel bad about being blessed in these ways. My education is not diminishing anyone else’s education. Rather, if used properly, my education can become a catalyst to improve others’ opportunity for education.

While I believe this is an incredibly valuable cause, I’m not trying to argue that everyone must now stand behind it. Instead, I believe that we need to examine how we use our privilege. Even though we all come from drastically different walks of life, we all attend Whitworth now, which gives us an incredible opportunity to become successful. Therefore, we are all privileged. Rather than telling ourselves that we don’t deserve this advantage, we can use this blessing to in turn make dramatic social change in our world.

Our privilege becomes dangerous when it allows us to become complacent. We have all been blessed with numerous and unique gifts that allow us to go out into the world and do something. Regardless of whether that is fighting for education quality, feeding the hungry, pushing for environmental protection or another important cause, our privilege gives us the ability, as well as the responsibility, to take action.

Lindsey Hubbart

Columnist

Contact Lindsey Hubbart at lhubbart15@my.whitworth.edu

The Whitworthian lasts forever.

Now that may sound silly at first, seeing as hundreds of Whitworthians fill the post office recycle bins every Wednesday, but it really is true.

The Whitworthian holds Whitworth’s history.

It hit home for me when I realized that every single person who was on the Whitworthian before me spent more than enough hours crafting a newspaper that was probably just carelessly tossed in the trash. And that happens today. Students are throwing away the information that will become history.

Just to clarify, I was sifting through the archives looking for the history of Prime Time, which was a lot harder than it should have been (I don’t spend several hours sitting in the library looking through old Whitworthian issues for fun).

But it got me thinking, hoping and praying that 20 years from now, some student doesn’t look at the Whitworthians I produced and become frustrated that I didn’t cover the information they’re looking for.

So, why should you, as a student totally removed from the production of the Whitworthian, care?

Well, we need someone to hold us accountable.

Why wasn’t an article written about the start of Prime Time? I have no idea, but let me reiterate how frustrating it was.

The Whitworthian is meant to be the voice of the students. While it is completely student run, 10 students shouldn’t solely hold the power as to what is published; our goal is  to cover information that is important to all students.

We don’t get a lot of feedback. I hear a snide comment here and there about how nobody reads the newspaper, but other than having slight factual errors corrected, I hear nothing else.

I challenge students next year to be more than complacent. Take responsibility. Take action. Hold the Whitworthian accountable. Make sure that information important to you is being written about, because maybe 20 years down the road, some student will be looking for information that nobody fought for coverage of.

Chrissy Roach

Editor-in-chief

Contact Chrissy Roach at croach14@my.whitworth.edu