Hello readers, this week’s column is a little different. I am using this week’s column to discuss an issue that affects everyone here on the Willamette campus. It is an issue that has polarized the campus and one that has created conflicts among the students and faculty alike. I am speaking of course, about Scarlett Johansson.

Several of my peers and I recently started an organization to raise awareness of this issue on the Willamette campus. It is on behalf of this group, the Concerned Students for Scarlett Johansson (CSSJ), that I am writing this column today.  Read the rest

Share This

I never thought I was the type of guy who would join a fraternity. Sometimes I would marvel at the unyielding brotherhood that fraternities often exhibit, but I never seriously considered joining one. As this year has come to a close however, I realized something: I don’t really have much to show from my four (going on five) years of college. My grades are slightly above mediocre and I have made some friends, but haven’t achieved the greatness or the excellence which I sought from my college experience. Read the rest

Share This

While I appreciate the philosophy behind Student Scholarship Recognition Day (SSRD), I have struggled, both as an audience member and presenter, with its structure and execution.

I am a strong proponent of such an idea; dedicating a day to students to present what is often months of hard work. However, because of the tone set at Willamette, SSRD is known by much of the student body, both presenters and non-presenters, to be a ‘day off.’ SSRD is, for some, a chance to go to the beach, fight off Tuesday’s hangover, sleep in or catch up on homework. Perhaps there is something that the SSRD Committee, with the help of students and faculty, could do to stop this type of mentality. Read the rest

Share This

Dear Jade,

I’ve been having a lot of fun this year. And by fun, you know what I mean—sex. My problem is this: I’m a female. I enjoy my sexual liberation to its full extent, but I have a few friends who lightheartedly tease me about my actions. I don’t mind the teasing because I know they mean well, but how do I keep their comments from becoming serious words from another person’s mouth? In other words, how can I continue these habits (and you know I’m going to) without becoming labeled a slut?

-Liberated in Salem Read the rest

Share This

Campus Safety’s recent e-mail about bike racks raises issues about the availability of bike racks on campus and who is using them. The problem, according to the e-mail, is that students are locking their bikes along handrails because bike racks are full, which causes a safety hazard. Students are also using the Bike Shop’s personal rack. However, we have noticed that the Bike Shop’s bikes are locked to other racks on campus, which perpetuates the problem of limited space. We believe that this problem should be eliminated not by asking students to move their bikes to other racks, which are usually full as well, but by installing more racks on campus. Read the rest

Share This

I play in two or three Willamette music groups, and I do sound for a fourth. Each time we perform, though, the audience is depressingly small, consisting mostly of our friends and a few fellow music students.

To the professors and Salem community members who regularly come to our concerts, thank you. To all the rest of you, here are a few reasons to show up:

Fun study break What’s more relaxing than music? It’s the perfect alternative to your stressful week of studying, especially at the end of the term approaches. Pick your favorite variety – band, orchestra, choir or jazz – but they’re each totally capable of taking the stress away. Read the rest

Share This

The women’s track and field team won its seventh consecutive conference title this past weekend, continuing its streak of dominance in the Northwest Conference. Led by Jena Winger, who was selected as the women’s athlete of the meet, the Bearcats blew out their competition with a score of 224.50.

George Fox, the host of the event, took second place with 181.50 points. Winger won the 1,500-meter race, narrowly defeating her teammate senior Carly Killam with a time of 4:42.98. Winger also won the 5,000-meter race, as well as the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Senior Sarah Zerzan, back-to-back national cross country champion, won the 10,000-meter race with a time of 37:37.35.  Read the rest

Share This

Men Willamette concluded the season this past weekend at the Northwest Conference (NWC) Tournament in Yakima, Wash. The Bearcats started off the tournament with a huge win against Whitworth, but came up short against Whitman College and Linfield College on Saturday, April 19. With the 1-2 record at the tournament the Bearcats finish the season in fourth place, 9-11 (8-8 NWC).

On Friday, the Bearcats fought hard and came out on top with a 5-4 victory over Whitworth University. The Bearcats started off the match by taking number-one and number-three doubles. Senior Eric MacMillan and junior Andrew Marukami provided the victory at number 1 8-3, while senior Fitz Paccione and sophomore Luke Lagattuta provided a huge victory at number-three doubles, 8-3. Read the rest

Share This

The Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference (NCRC) is home to many of the strongest rowing teams in the country, as evidenced by the results of the NCRC Championships at Vancouver Lake on Saturday, April 19. Western Washington University won the overall women’s title, while the University of Puget Sound won the men’s championship.

The Bearcats claimed three second-place finishes and three third-place finishes, holding their own among the Northwest elites. The women’s team placed fourth out of seven teams and the men’s team placed fifth out of seven teams. Read the rest

Share This

It was not an optimal weekend for Willamette baseball. Saturday, April 20 saw six rain delays and a 13-7 loss to Linfield.  On Sunday, April 21, a home field covered in snow forced the Bearcats to Linfield’s turf. The Bearcats proceeded to lose all three games to the Wildcats, 6-5, 9-1 and 19-2. The second game of the series was Willamette’s seventh one-run loss of the season.

The Bearcats fall to 18-19 on the season and 14-14 in Northwest Conference play.  Linfield sits atop the Northwest Conference with 24-4 in Northwest Conference play and 29-7 on the season. Defensively, Linfield is one of the strongest teams in the country, leading the nation in fielding percentages and ranked fourth in ERA. Read the rest

Share This

On Friday and Saturday, April 19-20, the men’s and women’s golf teams participated in the Northwest Conference Championship. The men played at the Apple Tree Golf Club in Yakima, Wash., while the women played at the Aspen Lakes Country Club in Sisters, Ore. Both Willamette teams battled bad weather and tough opponents to finish sixth in the men’s competition with 321 and seventh in the women’s competition with 801.

Sophomore Robbie Beard shot a 78 on the first day to tie for 16th to lead the Bearcats. After the first day, senior Dave Bennett was tied in 21st with 79. Read the rest

Share This

It is no secret that college football runs the world of college sports. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) cowers under the power of college football and its influence can be seen from the alignment of conferences to the number of scholarships they are given.

I contend that because of the dominance of football on college sports, if a school is dominant in football, its other sports, such as baseball, are given more credit than they are due. This is not to say that schools with good football teams are not good at baseball. Miami, Texas and University of Southern California, among others are dominant football powers that have been very successful in baseball. But does the influence of football give these schools too much credit. Read the rest

Share This

The softball team went head-to-head this last weekend against Whitworth College of Spokane, Wash. The series was a must-win for the Bearcats in order to stay close to catching league rival and fourth-ranked Linfield College for the league title and a shot in the NCAA Tournament in May. The Bearcats took the first three games of the series, 17-3, 6-4 and 14-4, before dropping the final game of the series, 10-6.

Whitworth came into this season looking to be the most likely team to upend Linfield from its defense of the 2007 national title, but has since fallen from grace in the conference and is now 11-10 in the Northwest Conference and 14-19 overall.  The Bearcats are 23-7 on the season and 16-4 in league. Read the rest

Share This

The Salem Film Festival took place this past weekend, April 18 through 20 and included a wide variety of independent films and educational panels. Four of the film showings and panels were held at the Hallie Ford Museum.

Now in its third year, the Salem Film Festival is produced by Salem Cinema, The Elsinore Theatre and Allied Video in partnership with Chemeketa Community College and Willamette. Willamette has worked with the festival all three years, allowing students to participate. Read the rest

Share This

In a conversation with Roger Hull, Professor of Art History, we discussed the highlights of the year in the art department and opportunities to look forward to in the future.

Q: What would you say is the most exciting thing that has happened to art department this academic year?

A: We’ve hired a new art historian, which is the third tenure-track position in the department of art history. I’ve been hoping to have a third position for a long time. Read the rest

Share This

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF

April 13, 1:43 p.m., (Boat House):  An unknown suspect(s) threw a beer bottle through a window at the Boat House. Someone had also damaged the lock to the portable toilet.

THEFT/LOST PROPERTY

April 15, 1:55 p.m., (WISH):  A student reported that someone removed her wallet, which contained her ID card, bank card, and other personal forms of identification from WISH House. Read the rest

Share This

At noon last Friday, senior Hannah Mitchell and a group of students representing the Concerned Students for Social Justice (CSSJ), with the support of clubs including SHE and AZN, began a sit-in in the quad.

The sit-in was open to any who support social justice and was staged in order to make information regarding the CSSJ’s goals more available to the campus community. The sit-in ended on Saturday at 5 p.m.

The demands from the students involved in the sit-in included a fully- implemented Center for Social Justice and Diversity with adequate funding, as well as a Dean position. Read the rest

Share This

Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury spoke at Smith Auditorium on Monday ecological dangers as part of the Global Warming Roadshow. Bradbury received special training from Al Gore in order to best represent the problems global warming creates.

The event is co-sponsored by Willamette Events Board (WEB), Associated Students of Willamette University (ASWU) and the New York Times. According to WEB Coordinator Matt Alex, the lecture was akin to Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.” The New York Times Knowledge Network sponsored Bradbury’s speech.

Bradbury’s lecture began with lighthearted reminiscence about his childhood and an explanation of how he came to be one of the first 50 people trained by Al Gore in preparation for the roadshow. However, Bradbury turned to hard facts as he began to discuss global warming and climate change in detail. Read the rest

Share This

Community members, students and faculty from a myriad of religious backgrounds attended the Jewish Student Union’s (JSU) annual community Passover seder last Sunday night in Goudy Commons. The event, catered by Bon Appétit and led by JSU leaders  juniors Noah Zaves and Allison Gilman and member sophomore Brett Dahlberg, the evening brought the Willamette community a symbolic meal.

The seder, which commemorates the Israelite exodus from Egypt, celebrates freedom and reminds participants to help those who are estranged and terrorized. The entire meal lasts for several hours, as it requires many prayers from the Haggadah, or “the telling” of the order of the evening. Most of the songs are sung in Hebrew, and others in English, even to familiar American tunes. Read the rest

Share This

Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury spoke at Smith Auditorium on Monday ecological dangers as part of the Global Warming Roadshow. Bradbury received special training from Al Gore in order to best represent the problems global warming creates.

The event is co-sponsored by Willamette Events Board (WEB), Associated Students of Willamette University (ASWU) and the New York Times. According to WEB Coordinator Matt Alex, the lecture was akin to Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.” The New York Times Knowledge Network sponsored Bradbury’s speech. Read the rest

Share This

Willamette’s queer-straight alliance, Angles, will support the Day of Silence on campus held on Friday, April 25. Participants will spend most of the day without saying a word. Many students in colleges and high schools across the nation will be participating in this event.

At 6 p.m. in Cone Chapel, there will be a breaking of the silence. “After being silent all day, people who have or have not been silent all day come together to reflect on their experiences,” junior and co-leader of Angles Ben Roberts said. This discussion will also include participant testimonials of past experiences, focusing on involuntary silence due to sexual orientation. Read the rest

Share This

Ask anyone and they’ll tell you the same thing. Lunch is the best meal on campus. Many students are so fiercely loyal to their individual lunch preferences, they’ll downright refuse to eat anywhere else. There’s the Goudy camp (mostly made of wrap-enthusiasts), the Kaneko fanatics (a group predominately consisting of students too lazy to make the trek across campus) and the Cat Cavern junkies (who live for a good chicken teriyaki or a double-decker turkey club).

The fact of the matter is this: for many of us, we eat the same two or three items over and over all year long on campus. For me, lunch involves a beeline for the wrap line, crippling disappointment with the 10-minute wait and eventual acceptance that Dee-Dee can make a panini that’ll make my toes curl. But here are some good choices for everybody else: Read the rest

Share This

“Forgetting Sarah Marshall” is the story of a popular TV star, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell, “Veronica Mars”) and her long time boyfriend, Peter Bretter (Jason Segel, “Freaks and Geeks”). While Peter struggles as a songwriter for Sarah’s TV show, “Crime Scene,” Sarah decides to end the relationship. Several one-night-stands later, Peter decides to get his mind off the breakup by taking a vacation to Hawaii. And once he gets there, you will never guess who is staying at the same hotel!

It’s none other than his ex-girlfriend and, of course, her new rock-star boyfriend, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). As Peter cozies up to hotel receptionist (Mila Kunis, “That 70s Show”) and makes a great deal of new friends, things begin to sour between Sarah and Aldous. Anyway, the film is essentially one awkward encounter after another and is practically a guaranteed laugh riot.  Read the rest

Share This

About a month ago, my friend and I got the itch to see some live music and started looking for potential shows, when we stumbled upon the Elsinore once again.

This time it was Tegan and Sara coming to our humble state capitol. I was psyched that a) it was walking distance from campus, b) a totally awesome band and c) not sold out! We bought our tickets shortly after and attended the show last Thursday, April 17.

Tegan and Sara is a band formed around identical two identical twins from Canada who function as singers and songwriters.  Since their debut in 1998, they have been nominated for three Juno awards which honor achievements in Canadian music, and won a Western Canadian Music award and a YTV Achievement Award. Needless to say, we were excited to see them live. Read the rest

Share This