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...
The departure and retirement of several long-time staff members, in addition to promotions and new hires, are adding up to a changing administration at Whitman College.
The current first-year class has the largest number of first-generation students that Whitman has ever seen, a trend accompanied by increasing administrative involvement in promoting conversations about socioeconomic diversity.
Ever since the Rally Against Racism last fall provoked a campus-wide conversation about race, the Whitman administration has been keen to promote future discussions on the issue.
Outrage at specific incidents of racism has evolved into demands for decisive action on campus, putting pressure on Whitman's administration to instigate change.
For almost two years I’ve had the awesome job of writing movie reviews for The Pio—Friday night: the theater with a tub of popcorn; Saturday morning: Zip off a short review. Easy! Never thinking that I would have to work and write a real article, I was shocked to see an email from my editor asking me to look into a movie called “HairBrained†that supposedly had something to do with Whitman. Sounded interesting. So armed with a Web page for the movie, I naively set out on my first attempt at investigative journalism.
ASWC worked closely with the administration to lift the ban on College funding for international travel. The administration is hopeful that by removing the ban, students will have more opportunities for pre-professional experiences abroad.
Last fall, Whitman became the first liberal arts school in the nation to issue a statement in support of undocumented students. This fall, the college is putting action behind its words by providing funding for undocumented Whitman students applying for deferral of deportation under the Department of Homeland Security’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Nearly 10 months after a Whitman student was accused of second-degree burglary and identity theft, his case was finally closed at the Walla Walla Courthouse on Tuesday, Aug. 28.
The Whitman administration made significant changes in its procedures for handling sexual assault over the summer, with an emphasis on improved communication with the Walla Walla YWCA and police department. These changes were made in response to student complaints about Whitman's handling of sexual assault on campus.
From 2005 to 2010, there have been a total of 43 incidents of sexual assault reported on the Whitman College campus, according to Whitman's Clery crime statistics. Of these, 31 were incidents of forcible rape. It is likely that far more rapes have actually occurred over that period, because many go unreported.
Some of these cases have made their way through Whitman's formal hearing process, and some have resulted in the college punishing the offender. Yet in the time that Detective Miguel Sanchez has been investigating rape and domestic violence cases for the Walla Walla Police Department, there hasn't been a single rape case from Whitman where criminal charges were filed.
Disclaimer: The name of the student charged with these offenses was removed from this article on Oct. 22, 2020 and replaced with "Philip Forest." The original charges were vacated from his record five...
