Mount Hood

During Black History month, part of BSU’s festivities included three-minute presentations on historically-significant black figures and events.

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow  | News Editor

February was Black History Month, and students from the Black Student Union at Western planned many events related to the celebration of black culture. One event new to this year was the introduction of three-minute presentations on a historical figure or event related to black history, such as the Black Panthers, the Birmingham Bombings, Andrew Foster and Janelle Monaé. Tati Whitlow, the membership outreach coordinator for BSU, said the event was “highly successful because of its high turnout rate,” adding that multiple organizations came to the event — such as the Stonewall Center and Heritage Hall Government. 

Whitlow said that the idea for the three-minute presentations derived from the realization that black historical figures and events weren’t being represented in the classroom. 

“We picked people that weren’t in our history books,” said Whitlow. “We’re all constantly learning … if you’re not straight, cis and white, you’re basically blacked out of history and it’s horrifying.”

The presentations were included in the Black History Month festivities, but Whitlow says they may continue afterwards, with student support.

“It’s something we’re just now trying out … it was very fun and educational and it might be good to do on a monthly basis,” they said.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Volunteers at the Food Pantry named the last week in February “Food Insecurity Awareness Week,” with the intent to reduce stigma on campus.

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow  | News Editor

Last week, from Feb. 24 to 28, was Food Insecurity Awareness Week at Western, which coincided with the Governor’s Food Drive and the Food For Fines event. Students at Abby’s House, who volunteer at the Food Pantry, planned educational events — like discussions about nutrition and sustainability — to bring awareness to food insecurity on campus and reduce the stigma related to it.

Rachel Bayly, the Community Coordinator for the Food Pantry, says she believes that Western is “already a fairly aware campus,” citing the two full barrels and three boxes of food collected for the Governor’s Food Drive as proof that Western is aware of and is contributing to solutions regarding food insecurity. 

Western has been the highest contributing Oregon university to the Governor’s Food Drive for the past 13 years. 

However, Western’s food insecurity rate is higher than the national average, according to Bayly, and there’s always ways in which the campus can improve its practices to reduce it. 

“I’ve been working with someone who’s on the ASWOU Senate and works at Valsetz and she came to me because she was appalled with the amount of food that was thrown out there and wanted to see what we can do as far as a leftover program with the pantry or something like that,” Bayly stated, adding that they’re likely to bring this issue to the Head of Dining in the future.

According to Bayly, there is an additional plan to combat food insecurity through a bill in the Oregon House of Representatives, which ASWOU lobbyists are currently trying to push through in the short session.

“If you are struggling with it, it’s not something to be ashamed of … There’s a problem with the system and I hope that people can feel proud that they are a part of a community that supports that and access that resource when they need that and go on later to give back in whatever way they can,” Bayly said.

Bayly stated that students interested in alleviating food insecurity on campus can help through volunteering at the Food Pantry, participating in food drives and being a supportive individual to anyone who is experiencing food insecurity by sharing the knowledge of the resources available one campus.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photo by Sage Kiernan-Sherrow

Ron Swartzendruber, a pillar at University Computing Services who dedicated over 21 years of service to Western, passed away on Feb. 19.

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow  | News Editor

Friends who knew Ron Swartzendruber best describe him as someone who built bridges — a man who connected databases as much as he connected people. On Feb. 19, he passed away at the age of 48 after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest, and is survived by his wife, Whitney Ware; parents, Warren and Jackie; and brother, Erik. 

Bill Kernan, the Director of the University Computing Services department, is the man who originally hired Swartzendruber back when the university’s server was on a PC sitting in the basement of the Administrative Building. Though it was originally thought that he would only be staying for five years, Swartzendruber went on to dedicate over 21 years of service to Western as one of its main programmers at UCS. Western’s portal, as well as many other programs utlized on campus, are credited, in part, to Swartzendruber’s endeavors. The campus lost an asset in the programming world, but those at UCS lost a friend. 

Kolis Crier, the Banner Solutions and Integrations Manager at UCS, recalled the first time he met Swartzendruber, saying “he had a welcoming and happy spirit … and an infectious laugh.” Crier, whose desk has neighbored Swartzendruber’s for years, added that, “he was always engaged, he always had the answer, or was willing to share information.”

Yet, according to Kernan, he had no ego whatsoever —  a characteristic that Kernan called a “rarity” in the IT world, considering Swartzendruber’s intelligence. In fact, Swartzendruber was an active member on Quora, an online platform for sharing information, where it was discovered he made over 5,000 posts in his lifetime, many of them responses to people struggling with personal issues.

“Ron had a ministry on Quora. He helped thousands of people he didn’t know, for no other reason than the fact that he likes helping people,” said Tony Manso, the Mobile and Systems Programmer at UCS. 

In one of the last posts before his passing, Swartzendruber responded to a prompt that read “Is it good to demonize the reality of our world by making it worse in our mind and then experience it with less pain?” 

His answer?

“If we have trained ourselves to expect the worst, it would be far harder to choose anything besides staying in our comfort zone and letting life pass us by …. that’s too high a price for whatever reduction in pain we might get gain in exchange,” said Swartzendruber. 

A man who always wore Birkenstocks unless it was snowing, and who loved Sci-fi and Cliff Bars, Swartzendruber was “a teacher … and the glue between many of the staff and groups at UCS,” according to Michael Ellis, the Assistant Director of UCS.

Members of the UCS team have identified over 40 projects in which Swartzendruber was the main contributor. They are currently collaborating in order to finish what he left behind. 

“Ron’s scope was so large, that we’re just having to pick off the most important ones first,” said Kernan.

Since Swartzendruber was an avid cyclist who biked to work every day and once even across the United States, there are plans for one of his bicycles to be incorporated into a sculpture in his memory. And, there will be two services to honor Swartzendruber; one will be a private family service, and the other will be held at Western on March 14th to celebrate his contributions to the university and to his campus community.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photos courtesy of Bill Kernan, Director of UCS

ASWOU’s Lobby Day at the Capitol was spent gaining support for legislation related to food insecurity, credit transferability, and diversity resources.

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow  | News Editor

Members of Western’s student goverment, the Associated Students of Western Oregon University, and additional student volunteers had only 10 to 15 minutes to advocate for issues pertaining to the entire student body during the last Lobby Day on Feb. 6. 

As a part of the Oregon Student Association, Western’s lobbyists met with Senators Betsy Johnson and Denise Boles and Representatives Brad Witt and Paul Evans to push for legislation supporting reductions in food insecurity, ease of credit transferability and the underrepresented student taskforce. These issues, “impact students across all public universities and community colleges in the state of Oregon,” according to N.J. Johnson, ASWOU’s Director of State and Federal Affairs. 

Johnson said that their strategy was to split the team into who would speak on each issue and who would make the final legislative ask, in which the members would learn if the legislators planned on offering their support.  

“The legislators cannot be educated on every bill; our job is to share a brief summary and our insights into how that impacts us as college students … and as we don’t have a lot of time to make things happen, we chose to advocate for bills that already had some momentum going,” said Johnson. 

For food insecurity, Western’s lobbyists focused on endorsing a bill that would force the legislature to compile data on food insecurity across college campuses in Oregon. If the data reveals high instances of food insecurity, legislators would then be expected to create legislation that helps fund food pantries and prevent food insecurity down the road, informed Johnson. 

Another issue that Western’s lobbyists focused on was credit transferability. During Lobby Day, Western student Susana Cerda-Ortiz, shared her experience as a transfer student who was told she would be required to take 18 credits per term her senior year or three to four years of schooling in total to graduate, even after having already received an associate’s degree. The bill that Western’s lobbyists were advocating for in regards to credit transferability is “a portal to creating a portal,” according to Johnson, who added, “it would force the universities and community colleges of Oregon to come together and unify their process so that students can transfer more easily.”

The last legislation that Western’s lobbyists advocated for was creating more representation for students who are underrepresented. Johnson stated that underrepresentation is broadly defined and applies to more than just the following: people who grew up in rural communities, low-income students, students of color and students with disabilities. In this case, the bill they were campaigning for would, “make university and campus spaces more inclusive to those folks,” said Johnson.

Currently, legislation is in the short session, a process which takes 35 days. 

Johnson called lobbying “empowering,” stating that “it’s an incremental process; you don’t always see immediate progress, but it matters.”

He encourages students to join youth lobby groups, and asked those interested in lobbying for Western students to contact him at aswoustate@mail.wou.edu.

“I think so many things happen legally because the stakeholders impacted most aren’t at the negotiation tables or involved in the conversations. Our job as the student government is to allow students who are affected to have their voices be heard,” Johnson concluded.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Emily Wanous, OSA lobbyist

Western implements a new simulation service, Kognito, to help students communicate about sensitive issues.

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow  | News Editor

Western’s Health and Counseling Center has recently implemented an interactive simulation service called Kognito to teach students communication strategies regarding emotional and psychological distress. 

Kognito is an online program co-founded by New York-based clinical psychologist and Baruch College professor, Dr. Glenn Albright, who originally developed the idea for the project when he recognized the need for faculty to have trauma-informed training after observing many students struggling. 

According to Kognito’s website, “his research involves integrating empirically-based findings drawn from neuroscience such as emotional regulation, mentalizing, and empathy, as well as components of social cognitive learning models including motivational interviewing and adult learning theory.” 

Kognito applies this research by employing a communication style known as “motivational interviewing,” which “helps people open up and make changes in their lives,” by reportedly making them feel less judged and more likely to open up, according to Albright.  

The simulations include computerized people programmed with personality and emotions and many are free and accessible to the public, available on one’s personal technological devices. And, since its inception, Kognito’s database has broadened to include simulations for veterans, K-12 students and teachers, members of the LGBTQ+ community, doctors and parental figures, teaching individuals how to approach sensitive topics and how to educate others about important issues, such as correct antibiotic use. 

At Western, the simulations are mostly used for educating students and faculty about how to talk to individuals who are experiencing psychological distress and how to motivate them to seek help from the counseling center.

Albright calls Kognito “a new and innovative simulation technology that can result in changes in people’s physical and emotional health which can be completed in privacy.”

Students can visit the SHCC, call 503-838-8313 or explore Kognito’s website for more details.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photo by Kay Bruley

Philip Harding advocated for the HR763 Bill during his Feb. 18 lecture on sustainability, explaining how it creates jobs and supports innovation.

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow  | News Editor

Philip Harding didn’t come to Western to convince students to believe the research of climate scientists and he certainly didn’t come to blame individuals for the climate crisis: he came to help students realize that individual practices, while helpful, are not enough to spur change, and that, instead, they should consider supporting the HR763 bill.

A chemical engineer currently working as the Director of Technology and Sustainability for the Willamette Falls Paper Company, Harding spends his free time advocating for the bill as a member of the Citizens Climate Lobby both in Washington D.C. and at local universities, like he did at Western on Feb. 18.  

Because he works in manufacturing product development where his team is consistently trying to produce paper created from non-wood and recycled fiber, Harding says he recognizes that money is the central problem preventing change. 

“It’s really slow to get people to embrace (sustainability) … because of money,” Harding said. 

However, he believes that HR763 could provide a solution.

The bill, currently supported by over 80 legislators is “a proposal that would charge a fee for fossil fuel usage based on what we think people would need to gradually and predictably adapt, upon which the fee would be refunded to the people,” said Harding. 

Harding wants students to understand that pricing carbon isn’t negative and that it actually creates jobs by changing companies perceptions and forcing them to invest in clean energy. 

Harding invited students to participate in a role-playing scenario where they were to imagine themselves as investment bankers should HR763 pass. Following student responses, Harding said that he predicts that bankers would invest in renewable energy companies, who would then expand and hire humans who would then be able to afford renewable energy products, creating a cycle that would be mutually beneficial. 

Harding says that changing how we consume energy is a highly complicated issue that involves too many political fights. HR763, on the other hand, is a comprehensible solution.

Harding encouraged students to call their representatives to show support for the bill, stating that “all you have to do is care and believe in doing something positive” to make change. 

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

The Incidental Fee Committee’s partial preliminary decision shows large overall departmental cuts.

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow  | News Editor

Every year, the Incidental Fee Committee is tasked with determining how they are going to allocate funds permitted by student fees, if any changes to the incidental fees need to be made, and which departments will be granted enhancements or have their budgets cut. 

Over the past month, the student-run IFC has been debating these aspects while facing a $150,000 deficit reportedly caused by low enrollment, culminating in a final 5.5% cut proposal that drastically affects student resources. Their preliminary decision resulted in a $270,941 cut to base budgets, and only one enhancement was granted — $250 towards Campus Recreation.

“Before we started making preliminary cuts, the IFC members agreed to being apprehensive towards cuts that would put student safety at risk, decrease student wages, interfere with the growth rate of incoming students, and decrease the accessibility of childcare,” said Logan Baker, the Chairperson of the IFC. 

However, childcare was one of the top six areas affected by IFC’s preliminary decision — confronted by a 7% in budget cuts — and many other departments are facing cuts which directly correlate to student pay and accessibility to campus resources. 

Another impact of the proposed 5.5% cut would be a reduction in student pay — and study space — through the closing of Werner University Center on Saturdays. 

The alternative to making these cuts is to raise student’s incidental fees. Two plans are presently being considered to determine what students will be charged per campus credit, but a decision has not yet been reached regarding the projected percentage for that increase. President Rex Fuller has allegedly stated that he will veto any plan to raise the fees past 5%, a declaration that is being challenged by some students, department leaders and IFC members. 

Daniel Woolf, an elementary education major and Judicial Administrator of ASWOU stated that President Fuller’s position, “takes power away from the students who should be making that decision” and relayed his observation that “students (at the first preliminary hearing) overwhelmingly stated that they would be willing to pay more for (departmental) services.” 

A 5% increase of the current $375 incidental fee would result in an $18.75 increase per student, or $393.75 total.

If President Fuller vetoes the decision, mediations would then ensue. 

In the meantime, students passionate about how their fees are being allocated still have the opportunity to advocate for themselves during the next open hearing on Thursday, February 27, from 4-6 p.m. in the Pacific Room located in the Werner University Center.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Infographic by Kyle Morden