On Saturday, Lori Bettison-Varga, the provost and dean of faculty, shared bittersweet news with the Whitman community. Effective July 1, 2009, Bettison-Varga will leave Whitman to become the president of Scripps College. Bettison-Varga has served as the provost and dean of faculty since 2007. Prior to her arrival at Whitman, she worked as a geology professor, the chair of the geology department and the associate dean of research and grants at The College of Wooster, a liberal arts college in Ohio. Her progression from provost and dean of faculty to president, albeit at another college, is common among high-level administrators; President Bridges served as the dean and vice provost of undergraduate education at the University of Washington prior to his arrival at Whitman. Bettison-Varga said she became a teacher to make a difference, and administrative jobs allow her to make a difference on a much larger scale. “As I got involved at Wooster, I realized that I very much like the big picture of an institution," said Bettison-Varga. “And so it did seem a natural thing for me to get into administration because I really do like to help people do their work and fulfill their dreams," she said. As provost and dean of faculty, Bettison-Varga serves as “a sort of second-in-command after the president," said Jed Schwendiman, the associate to the president. According to Schwendiman, the provost and dean of faculty represents the faculty within the administration. Unlike the chair of the faculty, who is elected by the faculty, the provost and dean of faculty is hired by the president.

It's been a dream," said Associate Dean of Students Mukulu Mweu, referring to the student multicultural space debuting sometime next fall, a project that's been talked about for years and finally has sufficient planning and funding for its realization. The new space will be located at 26 Boyer Ave., sandwiched between the dance studio and Boyer House, in a house just down the street from Reid Campus Center that formerly accommodated senior art studios. The space doesn't yet have a name: “house" doesn't quite work because students won't live there, and “center" doesn't capture the intended comfort and casualness that will characterize it. Whitman can't be accused of lacking multicultural spaces, but until now they have been program-oriented, formal and scattered: Interest Houses, the Intercultural Center, the Language Learning Center or Penrose Library's basement for foreign television viewing. The project arose from students repeatedly articulating a need for this sort of space, particularly in light of the difficulty finding suitable meeting space. “The beginnings were student-driven, just from conversations. So Chuck and I had been talking about how we could help see this through," said Mweu referring to Dean of Students Chuck Cleveland. Student input—in everything from the sort of building it should occupy to the space's furnishings—has fueled the project throughout, and students themselves will define how it is used. The space won't have any administrative offices, per student consensus, and the hope is that is will develop organically instead of having an imposed structure from the onset.

Most students are merely thankful for cancelled classes and an extra day to do homework when the annual Whitman Undergraduate Conference comes around. However, the Undergraduate Conference offers the...

Over the course of the next two weeks, Whitman students' electoral decisions will determine the makeup of the student government for the 2009-2010 academic year. Elections for the Executive Council (EC) are scheduled for this upcoming Monday, April 6. Senate elections will follow on Wednesday, April 15. Comprised of both elected and appointed officers, the EC positions up for election include the President, Chair of Student Affairs, Finance Chair, Programming Chair and Nominations Chair. There are 12 students running for the five EC positions this year. According to current ASWC members, this is an increase from previous years. “Executive Council elections in the past have been pretty non-competitive… which isn't good if you don't have a strong candidate," said ASWC Communications Director senior Rand Biersdorff. Last year, three of the five EC positions were filled by candidates who ran unopposed. In comparison, the only position with a lone candidate this year is the Nominations Chair, after another candidate decided not to run. A candidate running unopposed is not guaranteed of a win, however. It is possible for write-in candidates to gain office. Last year, a senior senator was elected through this process. EC elections use an instant runoff voting (IRV) system. This preferential system of voting uses ranked ballots to stimulate a traditional runoff in a single round of voting.

Whitman College, in conjunction with the Walla Walla Police Department, is investigating the origins of an apparent prank bomb threat for Hunter Conservatory on Wednesday, April 1. In the late evening of Tuesday, March 31 a select group of Whitman community members received an e-mail warning them that a bomb would go off at Hunter at 6:30 p.m. on April 1. The e-mail also made reference to April Fool's Day. “Issuing such a threat, whether a hoax or not, is a felony offense," said Dean of Student Chuck Cleveland in an campus-wide e-mail alert. The e-mail was sent from a hacked student G-mail account and the identity of the sender is currently unknown. The Whitman administration was made aware of the threat early Wednesday morning and subsequently notified the Walla Walla Police Department. The Whitman community was alerted of the threat at 11:40 a.m. and Hunter was immediately evacuated and locked and the surrounding area was cordoned off. Campus security and the Police Department conducted a sweep of both the interior and exterior of the building during the afternoon hours. According to Chief Financial Officer Peter Harvey, no signs of a threat were found.

The economic crisis has finally hit home. Last night, Wednesday, March 11, 300 Whitman students, faculty, staff and concerned community members filed into Maxey Auditorium to discuss the controversial decision to convert the varsity Alpine and Nordic ski team to a club sport. President George Bridges, Athletic Director Dean Snider and other top administrators were on hand to answer questions from the audience about the decision which was announced to the community on March 10.

Across departments, budgets are being slashed in order to cut costs during this economic recession, resulting in a drop in wages and hours for Whitman students who hold jobs. According to Walter Froese, Controller of Whitman College, the extent of the impact on student wages is hard to ascertain because it is specific to each department. “Most offices and programs have a discretionary part of their budget which can be spent in many ways: services, supplies, travel and, among other things, student wages," said Froese. “To the extent such budgets were reduced, it may be difficult to estimate the exact impact on student wages."

For all the hype over the new printing quotas, fewer than a dozen students showed up to last Thursday's forum on the issue, the first of two. Those in attendance, though, had a platform to share their views. “The purpose of this event is to solicit information and opinions," said forum moderator and Campus Sustainability Coordinator senior Karlis Rokpelnis. The event also featured an update on GoPrint from Associate to the President and chair of the Conservation Committee Jed Schwendiman and WCTS Middleware Analyst Mike Osterman. In effect since January, GoPrint is a new printing management system that requires students to release their printing jobs in order to reduce waste. As they release their print jobs, printing fees are deducted from students' $60 printing credit.