The first year that Christopher Wallace, Dr. Robert F. Welty associate professor of biology,  taught at Whitman, he commuted on weekends back to his wife and home in Portland. After that, he and his wife both applied for faculty jobs at Whitman and moved into Walla Walla proper. For that first year, Wallace’s connection to Walla Walla was limited, as he didn’t actually live in the town.

“Like many people, I was in the Whitman bubble for a long time,” said Wallace.

Faculty as well as students interact with both the Whitman academic community and the larger Walla Walla community: and like students, some professors are more integrated into Walla Walla than others. However, unlike most students, some common experiences anchor professors more closely to the town. While many students leave during the summer, Walla Walla is the home of most professors, and many   have children in school in the community.

“I have an 11-year-old son, and so what I’ve seen of Walla Walla has largely been through helping him explore things and getting involved. I know a lot of Whitman people are involved in the PTA,” said Wallace.

Other organizations can tie Whitman faculty to the town, as well. Associate Professor of Mathematics Barry Balof found a sense of community in Walla Walla through getting involved in the local Catholic Church and Republican Party, as well as through his children’s schools.

For Balof, the small size of Walla Walla is a mixed blessing: There is less to do with his young children than in a city, but more security and less hassle as well.

“We really appreciate the small community nature of being in Walla Walla with our kids. We feel very safe with our kids; many people know our kids and know they belong to us. If we go to the store and they get separated from us, it’s almost certain that there’s someone in the stores who knows that they’re our kids,” said Balof.

Whitman, as well as the other local colleges, also enhances life in Walla Walla. For example, the colleges bring in musicians and speakers, as well as put on plays.

“You go to towns without the colleges around, and in terms of music and theater, there’s nothing going on. When school’s in session, there’s always a ton going on: lectures and plays and music,” said Associate Professor of Mathematics Douglas Hundley.

Hundley said that the entertainment and culture tends to die off in the summer, an unfortunate side-effect of the colleges’ schedules.

All three professors agreed that Whitman––Walla Walla relations were fairly strong and beneficial for both sides. Wallace had heard of Whitman students being harassed by Walla Walla residents, but has not experienced anything negative himself.

“The reception that I’ve gotten, as an adult from other adults, has been quite positive. I think people like having the college here,” said Wallace.

Hundley pin-points one possible area for tension: politics.

“I think, generally of course, people are more politically conservative in town than they are on campus,” said Hundley.

However, while that may be the case in general, it’s not the case for everyone. For example, Balof and his wife are both active in the Republican Party. He said he has had some interesting conversations with people at Party functions.

“A lot of our friends who see us at those events assume that because we’re at Whitman we’re left-leaning liberals, and that’s not the case necessarily,” said Balof.

Any tension over politics, however, is not great enough to disrupt the generally peaceful relationship between town and college for these professors, and the benefits of Walla Walla itself.

“People have referred to it as like being in someone else’s 1950s childhood,” said Wallace.