Associate Dean of Students for Academic Support Services Clare Carson will retire at the end of the semester after 38 years working on campus. During her tenure, Carson helped create the Student Academic Advisors program that trains peer advisers to help each incoming class make the transition from high school to college.

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.

Following last spring's Title IX investigation, a number of concerns have been raised regarding the relationship between students and assistant coaches and the administration's expectation and treatment of these coaches. Assistant coaches are almost always recent graduates, often just a year removed from being Whitman students. Despite their closeness in age to members of the team, they are hired as members of Whitman’s instructional staff and are expected to conform to the same codes of conduct as other staff members. In moving forward, members of the debate team hope there can be more positive and open communication from the administration, starting with the hiring of a new Director of Forensics. Steps to begin this process had been underway with the creation of an advisory group consisting of alumni, current debaters and a faculty member to provide input for a new director.

In spring 2012, Whitman administration carried out a Title IX investigation into a report of a sexual assault by a former assistant debate coach. Individuals who were called into questioning with the investigation board, however, have been extremely unhappy with the way the investigation was handled. None of the individuals who were called in to speak received a follow-up from the board or a final report nor were they told when the investigation was concluded. Given these concerns, 135 debaters, alumni and Whitman community members have signed a petition on change.org asking the college to conduct an independent investigation into its Title IX investigation.

Over the past three weeks, a team of Pioneer reporters has been working to shed light on the circumstances leading up to Jim Hanson’s decision to step down from his position as Director of Forensics. Our reporting included dozens of interviews, both on and off the record, with current debate students, administrators, faculty, trustees and college and debate alumni. Since Hanson’s announcement, rumors and pieces of information about the reasons Hanson stepped down have been circulating throughout campus and the wider debate community. We hoped to be able to add a more thoroughly researched version of events as soon as possible following his announcement, but we also felt it was important to confirm stories and take the time required to present information from every possible angle.

According to the Statement of Rights included in the Student Handbook, all students have “the right to redress grievances"—but it wasn’t until this year that they were given an official means to do so. The college has published online this year an interim grievance policy, which gives students, staff and faculty the ability to formally lodge a complaint against another member of the Whitman community.

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.