Whitman Connection to Schools

Sophie Leibsohn, Staff Reporter

November 29, 2018

Lauran Schaefer, the head of the debate program at Whitman, doesn’t see it as just an ordinary extracurricular activity. It is also an activity that builds skills, confidence and community. This community is now being extended to Walla Walla High School as Schaefer is working to help with their d...

Debate Returns To Whitman

Sylvie Corwin, Staff Reporter

September 24, 2018

Debate at Whitman is back. The team was suspended in the spring of 2015 for violating team and school policies. These included alcohol violations at a tournament and allegations of gender discrimination and safety concerns. With the completion of the two year suspension, the team begins anew with a new...

Don’t Stay True to Yourself

Harry Kelso, Columnist

October 22, 2017

Maybe you shouldn’t be true to who you are. When someone says you’re wonderful the way you are or to never change, it sounds uplifting. It’s a confirmation that someone finds us valuable, that we’re purposeful. Purpose is what drives us to forge ahead in life. And it seems like we all have a...

Debate Reinstated

Andy Monserud, Staff Reporter

April 13, 2017

Two years after the suspension of Whitman’s Debate Program in the wake of alcohol violations and allegations of gender discrimination, president Kathy Murray announced in an April 6 email that the college would begin to reinstate the program. Whitman Debate will return in the fall of 2018, Murray’s email sai...

This Week in Reality TV: Presidential Debate!

James Leroux, staff writer

October 5, 2016

This past Monday, Sept. 26, at 6 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, the first of the 2016 Presidential Debates was broadcasted to 84 million people, setting a new record for viewership in presidential debate history. It was clear to anybody watching (excluding, of course, stupid people) that the debate was a wonderful repres...

Whitman’s Ethics Bowl team wins Ladenson Award

Lachlan Johnson

February 25, 2016

Seven students traveled to Washington, D.C. last weekend to compete in the Ethics Bowl National Championship, a competition where students from across the nation face off to see who can have the most thoughtful conversation about modern ethical dilemmas.

#AskKathy video series offers opportunity to meet incoming president

Allie Donahue

April 23, 2015

This week the Whitman Office of Communications began releasing the first videos in a series titled #AskKathy. In the series, Whitman's incoming president, Dr. Kathleen Murray, answers questions submitted by students, faculty, staff, alumni and Walla Walla community members via Facebook, Instagram...

Guest column: Debate suspension stifles critical thinking about discrimination

April 23, 2015

As a debater who is genderqueer, I found the suspension of the Debate Team devastating. Debate offered me a safe space where I could explore my identity. Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the suspension is that the administration never bothered to learn about debate; they never came to a tournament,...

Whitman Debate Team suspended for minimum 2 years

Aleida Fernandez

April 9, 2015

**The investigation into the suspension of the Whitman Debate Team is ongoing. The Pioneer will report more information as it becomes available. Following the recent cancellation of the Policy Debate Team season, President George Bridges wrote in an email today that the college would be suspending all D...

Profile: Lauren Hauck

Serena Runyan

December 4, 2014

Senior Lauren Hauck is a History and Art History double major. She's been involved with debate at Whitman since her first year when she learned parliamentary debate, and she became a policy debater her second year. This was all new to Hauck- she hadn't debated before college like many debaters on...

Whitman Debate collaborates with Penitentiary inmates

Martina Pansze

December 4, 2014

Twelve members of the Whitman Debate Club will join inmates of the Washington State Penitentiary in debate on Thursday, December 4th. The topic? The groups will discuss whether an individual's right to Internet anonymity should be absolute. An inmate selected the topic after a group discussion at...

Debate Team Collaborates with Penitentiary for First Ever Debate

Sam Grainger-Shuba

December 12, 2013

After removing all pieces of metal, storing keys, cell phones and wallets in lockers, Whitman College staff, faculty and students filed into the Washington State Penitentiary. At an automatic metal door, driver's licenses were traded for prison ID badges that allowed access to a sparsely furnished recreation room, the ...