Tokenization in Greek Life
Jordon Crawford, Columnist
March 1, 2018
Filed under OPINION
As an international student, my idea of Greek Life was very tainted. On one hand, you had the rich, stuck-up jocks who took pleasure in being called “Frat Boys” and in hazing pledges. On the other side, there were the female counterparts in sororities who reminded me of the evil trio from the movie...
Op-Ed: White Unsettlement 101
Lisa Uddin, Assistant Professor of Art History and Visual Culture Studies
March 1, 2018
Filed under OPINION
It has been almost five months since the portrait of Narcissa Whitman that once hung in Prentiss Hall was defaced with black spray paint, and Avard Fairbanks’ statue of Marcus Whitman on the corner of Boyer Avenue and Main Street was painted red. These were two anonymous and clandestine acts of resista...
Kardashian Culture Vultures
Rina Cakrani, Columnist
February 22, 2018
Filed under OPINION
The Kardashians have built their careers by imitating and profiting from black culture. This is a truth that is not often spoken about but it is something that should be considered problematic and raise further questions on how white celebrities can get away with it or be celebrated for trends that ...
Black and Asian Identities and Police Brutality
Peggy Li, Opinion Editor
February 22, 2018
Filed under OPINION
Although it’s been about two years, I still remember reading about the shooting of Akai Gurley, the indictment of the police officer Peter Liang and the outrage from the Chinese-American community who felt that he had been scapegoated. The case is somewhat unusual in two key respects: the death was...
Toxic Masculinity in the Gym
Alondra Contreras, Columnist
February 15, 2018
Filed under OPINION
Going to the Baker Ferguson Fitness Center has been full of interesting moments, and one that I can’t seem to shake off has been the toxic masculinity surrounding BFFC. As a woman, I often feel uncomfortable for entering the imaginary line past the cardio equipment and closer to the squat racks. Throughout my...
Op-Ed: The Death of Liberal Arts in Higher Education
Astra Tucker, Senior
February 15, 2018
Filed under OPINION
Liberal arts colleges are dying. Each passing semester brings about changes that reflect market-oriented goals and the hiring needs of corporations as opposed to goals historically attributed to the liberal arts. I would like to suggest, however, that this does not necessitate mourning the loss of liberal...
Op-Ed: What Are You Going to Do with That Major?
February 8, 2018
Filed under OPINION
The problem is not that we have too few women in STEM; it is that we have too few men in the humanities. Increasing women’s access to STEM is an important and worthy cause, but in our efforts to improve access, we have devalued the humanities. Somehow, for once in our lives, we have forgotten to ask: what ...
Black History Month
Rina Cakrani, Columnist
February 8, 2018
Filed under OPINION
The reason why I wanted to write on this topic is because of the fact that the majority of students on campus do not know that February is Black History Month. I don’t know whether it is because of ignorance or because of conscious negligence, but I wanted to bring more attention to it since it is...
Tech Paranoia
India Flinchum, Columnist
February 8, 2018
Filed under OPINION
The Amazon Echo is a speaker inhabited by a “digital talking assistant” known as Alexa. The speaker, that appeared on the market three years ago, is capable of a myriad of voice-controlled tasks including playing music, ordering food, scheduling appointments and checking on weather. Alexa streams audit...
Op-Ed: Reading Inclusively in Encounters
Elyse Semerdjian, Associate Professor of Islamic World/Middle East History
February 8, 2018
Filed under Letter to the Editor, OPINION
I would like to thank Mr. Jordon Crawford for publishing his opinion in “Considering the Western Canon in Encounters.” His courage prompted me to break my own silence as an Encounters professor, who was also once a liberal arts student. As a faculty member at Whitman since 2003, I criticized the...
Op-Ed: An Open Letter to the Whitman College Board of Trustees
February 8, 2018
Filed under Letter from the Editor, OPINION
February 8, 2018 Dear Whitman College Board of Trustees, My name is Hannah Ferguson and I am one of the few Classics Majors here at Whitman. Despite being few in number, Classics majors are passionate about our studies and frightened of the immanent faculty changes affecting our department. In ...
Considering the Western Canon in Encounters
Jordon Crawford, Columnist
February 1, 2018
Filed under OPINION
As a first-year student, one is obligated to take “General Studies 145-146: The First-Year Experience,” otherwise known as Encounters. The two-semester-long course is intended as an “introduction to the liberal arts and the academic construction of knowledge,” in which students meet on a t...
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