November 2015 – Page 5 – The Western Howl

By: Jamal Smith 
Sports Editor

It was a cold, wet, and windy night at McArthur Field, but the Wolves got their seventh consecutive victory on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015 against South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SD). The final score was 37-26.

The victory improves the Wolves overall record to 7-3 and 5-1 in GNAC play.

Redshirt-sophomore Phillip Fenumiai (QB) led Western downfield on their first drive of the game, connecting with senior Daniel Thomas (WR) for a 26-yard touchdown pass.

Fenumiai would finish the game with 168-yards through the air, four passing touchdowns and tack on 55-yards rushing.

Fenumiai, who is known for his ability to run the ball, showed that he is not just a one trick pony, connecting with sophomore Maurice McSwain (WR) for a 16-yard touchdown pass late in the first quarter.

The Wolves led 12-0 after the first quarter.

SD would score the only points in the second quarter after the Hardrockers started their drive on the Western Oregon 17-yard line. SD would convert on a two-point attempt to tighten the score to 12-8 going into half time.

Fenumiai picked up right where he left off on the Wolves’ first drive of the second half, throwing his second touchdown pass to McSwain, his third TD pass of the game.

Five minutes later, Fenumiai would connect with sophomore Paul Revis (WR) for a 15-yard touchdown, giving Fenumiai four total passing touchdowns for the game. The third quarter would end with the Western leading 26-8.

“Phillip threw a pass up the middle, and once I made the catch I just followed my blockers,” said Revis. “There just happened to be no one in front of me and I just walked into the end zone.”

In the fourth quarter, with just minutes remaining in the game, first year Malik Braxton (RB) would break way for 57-yard run, but was stopped at the SD 4-yard line.

He finished the drive by bullying his way into the end zone. Braxton would finish the game with 136-yards rushing.

“Every week the offensive line keeps doing what they’re doing, and I just had to get a touchdown for them,” said Braxton after the game.
Junior George Swartzlender (DL) led the defense with 10 total stops and four tackles for a loss which included a 10-yard sack.

Swartzlender was named the GNAC Defensive Player of the Week.

“We felt positive about the way we played on defense. We made a lot of defensive stands, and we have been doing that all year,” said head coach Arne Ferguson. “Offensively, our offensive line took some time to wear them down. Malik had a big run, Phillip played well and we were getting the ball to Paul.”

Next up, the Wolves finish out the regular season at home against Humboldt State University (HSU) on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015 at 1 p.m. With a win against HSU, the Wolf Pack has a good chance at improving their regional ranking to keep their post-season hopes alive.

“We’re 10th in the region, Humboldt is second. The top seven go to the NCAA playoffs,” said Ferguson. “We feel really good about beating Northern Alabama and if we are able to beat Humboldt the last game of the season, with winning seven in a row, there is a really good chance we can make it.”

“They are a really good team; they’re coached really well and they are on fire, so it’s going to be a really tough task,” added Ferguson.

The Western Howl

Home »

A.L.I.C.E. training throws it all out the window

By: Conner Williams 
Editor-in-Chief

I like to think that if I were in a situation in which a person wanted to do me bodily harm, my animal brain would take over and I would fight back or run.

In the face of danger, our innate instincts tell us to stand and fight or flee.

We can never really know what type of reaction we will have until that situation happens, and of course I hope that neither I, nor any of you ever have to find out exactly what you would do.

However, A.L.I.C.E. (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) training teaches people to do just that: trust their instincts in emergency situations.

We have been taught for years that in an active shooter situation, we are supposed to lockdown and hide.

This method has shown to be extremely ineffective over the years, as we have seen that in the large majority of school shootings, those that hide are the ones that get killed.

Part of the A.L.I.C.E. training I attended on Wednesday, Nov. 11 had the audience listen to a 911 call from the Columbine High School shooting.

A teacher at Columbine, Patti Nielson, had hid in the library with some students and had told her students to stay down and hide under the desks. She called 911 and did everything she possibly could to follow her training.

But that was just the problem: her formal training directly contributed to the loss of lives.

During the call, Nielson could be heard telling students to get back under the desks, meaning that they were trying to get up to run and she directed them to stay down.

That is a problem. Those kids’ survival instincts told them to get out of there, but they were told to stay by a person of authority.
But, does the fault really lie on Nielson? Of course not.

She was simply doing exactly what she was trained to do, and she conducted herself perfectly under extremely stressful circumstances.

The really terrible thing is that there were doors all along the back wall of the library that they could have fled out of, but their training told them to stay put and wait for the police.

We need to break away from the traditional lockdown and hide protocol and learn to trust our instincts.

Running away is the best option. Human beings were built to run quickly in long distances; trust yourself and get out as fast as possible in the face of danger.

I generally don’t endorse violence, but in a life-or-death situation with an active shooting/killer, you must do absolutely anything to survive.

Officer Trevor Jackson of Campus Public Safety presented the training session, telling us to use any and everything at our disposal to distract and otherwise disorient the shooter/killer.

Throw your phone at them at then run the other direction. Any sort of disorientation will throw off the shooter’s plan and buy you precious seconds to get away, even mere seconds are crucial.

I sincerely hope that none of us has to find out how finely tuned our survival instincts truly area, but we need to be prepared for the worst.

Always trust your instincts, and do everything you can to get away from the situation.
I highly recommend that you participate in an A.L.I.C.E. training on campus. Upcoming dates can be found on the CPS webpage.

The Western Howl

Home »

Musings from a woman on the edge

By: Katrina Penaflor 
Managing Editor

Drop your pitchforks made out of red Starbucks cups and find a real problem to complain about.

The controversy over Starbucks’ holiday cups is seriously getting out of control.

The argument spurring all this is that the cups, being an ombre of red, are not “holiday enough” and are somehow a war against Christianity in their minimalist approach of decorations and lack of “Merry Christmas.”

Please, overly-opinionated coffee drinkers of the world and self-proclaimed argument starters, stop centering a holiday around a cup that holds coffee.

This controversy is about something that is literally getting tossed into the trash when it’s done being used.
This is why I’m just not understanding all the hate.

So there are no snowflakes printed on it, or there isn’t a “Merry Christmas” sprawled across the cup in beautiful cursive script. I guess that means Christmas is ruined forever.

There’s no hope for any holiday spirit because my cup of coffee was served in a plain red cup.

Will the next debate be against a coffee shop that doesn’t have holiday cups at all? Quick, everyone go boycott a café who uses the same cups all year and clearly lacks holiday spirt.

I don’t care if my coffee cup has holiday pictures printed on it, or if the colors don’t fit the traditional holiday mold of what Christmas cheer should look like.

A coffee cup does not define a religion. A coffee cup does not define holiday spirit.

I don’t believe for one second that Starbucks created these cups as some war on Christianity or to eliminate holiday cheer.

People need to settle down and stop trying to create a problem out of something that’s a non-issue.

So if anyone wants to complain about getting handed a red holiday cup from Starbucks, please take at least five minutes to reassess your life, and be grateful that you can even afford the luxury of having a cup of coffee.

The Western Howl

Home »

Politics in the classroom

This editorial is not in response to the teaching practices of any professor at WOU. Since we are nearing a Presidential election, The Journal’s Editorial Team felt it was necessary to address the topic of politics and opinions in the classroom

It is inevitable that one’s own personal beliefs about a subject will come into play during a conversation, even if it happens subconsciously.

We are affected and influenced by our own biases whether we like it or not. The challenge then becomes how we control them in an academic setting, where a neutral stance is best for optimum learning.

In the ideal classroom, students should be exposed to the facts, and then exposed to the techniques to be able to decide for themselves what sort of personal conclusions they wish to draw from them, rather than have a professor tell them what they should or should not believe without explanation of the procedure by which that conclusion was reached.

Now, take into account a professor’s’ opinions in the classroom. Although not facts, it’s important to know that when an opinion is presented, it should always be taken as such. Opinions are merely a piece of information that can be used to expand on a student’s understanding of a subject, but not as something to sway them in a particular direction of correct or incorrect.

The line where opinions and politics blend together in the classroom is tricky. Teachers should be welcome to give students the unbiased facts on candidates, policies, et cetera that lead to a health conversation between students and professors. But it’s important to avoid creating situations where a professor tries to purposely lead students to side with their own political stance.

When a person in power, like a college professor, takes their power and encourages students to believe a certain political opinion, it takes away the student’s right to decide for him or herself.

A classroom is a place to learn, not to be preached at. It’s important for the people facilitating our learning to consider all the different opinions on a subject fairly.

This is why it is so important that the classroom remains a safe setting for opinions, conversation, and debate. In order for students to gain the maximum amount of information from multiple sources and points of view, they must be exposed to different elements. If a professor wishes to share something from a liberal-oriented news source, it would behoove them to also examine a conservative-oriented source.

Students and professors should be welcomed to express opinions, as long as they are willing to hear and understand the opposite point of view. Keeping a classroom safe and neutral is important. Allowing students to be in a place where varied beliefs are welcomed, without the authoritative voice of “you should believe this,” or “you should believe that.”

Most liberally-oriented people aren’t going to watch The O’Reilly Factor for their political commentary, just as most conservatively-oriented individuals probably aren’t going to tune into The Daily Show for theirs. People tend to seek out information that is going to reinforce what they already believe; they don’t want to hear opinions that conflict with their own. So, it is important to examine multiple viewpoints with different underlying ideologies. It may also be beneficial to view news from neutral sources that are not owned by a politically-affiliated parent corporation, such as Reuters, BBC, or The Real News.

The Western Howl

Home »

Never say die

By: Katrina Penaflor 
Managing Editor

What to do when you have thousands of movie fans swarming your property begging to see inside your house and get a tour? Block off all the windows with blue tarp.

Or at least that’s what the owner of the legendary Goonies’ house has done.

The house sits in Astoria, Ore., the filming location of the 1985 cult classic “The Goonies.”

The movie is a personal childhood favorite of mine. I recall watching the movie as a kid while chanting the famous phrase “Goonies never say die.”

But unfortunately, the home from the film, and its access for tours and visitors, has taken its last breath.

Over the summer, the owner of the home officially closed the doors for good. Blocking up windows with blue tarps and denying all access to the property.

The sudden closure came from an influx of visitors, nearly a thousand every day, knocking on doors, entering the property, and trying to get a taste of their childhood nostalgia.

It was also the result of the lack of respect show by visitors to the house, many of whom left beer cans and other trash all over the place.

I can understand the owner’s frustrations.

To deal with endless crowds of people every day would feel invasive and exhausting. How could a person wanting to live their normal, day-to-day life keep up?

I also can see the argument behind people who want to view the house and say things like, “the owner chooses to live in the Goonies house, she should welcome visitors!”

However, for the most part she has for years. It’s not that the owner isn’t welcoming, it’s a simple question of how much one person can handle when it comes to crowds of people wanting into their home.

If it were me, I would want to support visitors, but there would have to be consideration for my own privacy and a way to monitor the visitor’s safety, as well as my own.

I think if people want hope for the visitation rights to potentially return in the future, the owner of the house needs to receive support from the city, as well as more respect for her privacy, and acknowledgement that it is a functioning house in addition to being a landmark.

So far, the extent of what the city has done is put up signs indicating private property, and notifications that the Goonies house is closed. There has also been discussion of making the road to the owner’s house, which at the moment is public property, private.

Sure, people can question why this should become the city’s issue, but think about how much of an attraction the Goonies house is. This can be beneficial to Astoria. Thousands of people travel to the Oregon coastal town just to get a look at where the movie was made.

If the city helps to keep visitors away by eliminating all signs that lead to the Goonies house, because there are still quite a few official signs scattered across the town, and they help mark her road as private, maybe this will ease the frustration of the owner.

This could potentially lead to the return of more monitored visits in the future, potentially.

There’s really no way to tell what the future holds, but for now, I think the privacy of the owner needs to be respected.

She welcomed visits in the past, and we can only hope that the option will return in the future.

Never say die.

The Western Howl

Home »

Off my mind

By: Ben Bergerson 
Designer

I’m known around the office as the Timbers fan. And there aren’t many of us in the world of American sports fans. Most of the time I wish more people watched soccer, just so that people could feel the excitement that surrounds the sport during the post-season.

These matches aren’t just thrilling for someone “in the know” with soccer; anyone who watches will find themselves wrapped up in the drama and excitement too.

Take, for example, the Portland Timbers’ road to the playoffs.

The Timbers had come off a long stretch where they just couldn’t score a goal. They were creating chances and were one of the best teams in the league defensively, but they couldn’t convert those chances into actual goals.

The Timbers went into the last three games needing to win and draw at least one each in order to get into the playoffs.

Many in the press said that the Timbers’ goal draught was going to see them miss the playoffs, especially with matches against tough teams like Real Salt Lake and the LA Galaxy.

Then something crazy happened.

Timbers Coach Caleb Porter made one adjustment, and like a breached dam, the goals came flooding in.

On Oct. 18, facing an away game at LA Galaxy, Porter moved Darlington Nagbe up out of the central midfielder role. This allowed him to run the ball deep and combine with other forward moving players, including Fanendo Adi, Diego Chara, and stiker Maxi Urruti.

That night, the Timbers destroyed the reigning MLS Cup champions 5-2, and they have gone on to win every match since, including an insane knockout match versus Sporting Kansas City.

The soccer of the last few weeks would make a fan out of anybody that watched.

I’d argue that the Timbers have a really good chance at making it to the MLS Cup match this year, so when the next match starts on Nov. 22, come join the crazed throngs of fans and find out what soccer’s about.

In the meantime, don’t drown this weekend if you head out of town, it’s supposed to be the end of the world by flood or something.

The Western Howl

Home »

Misery in Missouri

By: Jenna Beresheim 
News Editor

After years of unaltered courses of action in the event of discrimination, the University of Missouri’s president and chancellor both resigned within a few hours of one another on Nov. 9, 2015.

“I take full responsibility for this frustration, and I take full responsibility for the inaction that has occurred,” stated Tim Wolfe, the University’s president to CNN during his public resignation.

Racist events have taken place on the campus for years. In 2010, two white students scattered bags of cotton balls outside the campus Black Culture Center.

In 2014, Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, sparking the Black Lives Matter movement as well as race-based issues discussions across campuses nationwide.

University of Missouri’s Student Government President, Payton Head, posted on Facebook during September this year about individuals driving around campus yelling slurs based on race and LGBTQ+ discrimination.

Still in September, the University’s Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin said that recent racial biases and discriminative occurrences are “totally unacceptable,” according to CNN.

That same month, students began to protest based on the aforementioned issues, and much more.

By October, students held a second “Racism Lives Here” rally on campus and on a separate day, a purportedly drunken Caucasian student disrupted and yelled racial slurs at a Legion of Black Collegians group meeting.

Swastikas were drawn on campus using feces and ash, Tim Wolfe was confronted and demanded to change the campus’ culture around diversity inclusion, and demands were made but unanswered by the student body.

One key demand was the list of demands offered to Wolfe by the student body titled “Concerned Student 1950.” The date attached to the name was the official date African American students were initially accepted into the university.

Social media quickly flooded with students, staff, and supporters using the hashtag #concernedstudent1950 to start a dialogue around the subject matter.

As November rolled in, a student boycott began and a student began a hunger strike. Soon, the University’s football team refused to play an upcoming game that could cost the school over one million dollars, joining the protest.

“The athletes of color on the University of Missouri football team truly believe ‘Injustice Anywhere is a threat to Justice Everywhere’” tweeted the Mizzou football team on Nov. 7.

“We will no longer participate in any football related activities until President Tim Wolfe resigns or is removed due to his negligence towards marginalized students’ experiences,” the tweet continued.

Sports Illustrated reported that the football team was not the only high-stakes opposition.

Multiple state legislators, such as Sen. Kurt Schafer, House Higher Education Committee Chairman Steve Cookson, and Assistant House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty all called for Wolfe to step down.

With outside forces from the state, national news coverage, and protesting students and staff, it was not long before Wolfe backed away from University of Missouri.

“Use my resignation to heal and start talking again,” Wolfe pleaded in his five-minute speech addressing his resignation.
However, it appears there has already been some racist backlash.

Yahoo! News reported online threats through YikYak on Nov 10. These threats were made by Hunter M. Park, who posted that he would “shoot every black person I see.”

“Some of you are alright. Don’t go to campus tomorrow,” read another threat that resembled the theme of posts made on 4chan before the shootings in Oregon last month.

According to the New York Times, police arrested a man on Nov 11 after making a “terrorist threat” while false rumors of Ku Klux Klan on campus were dispersed.

Ultimately, change is coming slowly to Mizzou, with both positions for President and Chancellor hoping to be filled by Jan. 1, 2016.

Western Oregon University’s Land Acknowledgement
Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR is located within the traditional homelands of the Luckiamute Band of Kalapuya. Following the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855 (Kalapuya etc. Treaty), Kalapuya people were forcibly removed to reservations in Western Oregon. Today, living descendants of these people are a part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians.

Accessibility Public Records Privacy Student Consumer Information

WOU prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national or ethnic origin, age, religion, marital status, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in all programs, activities and employment practices as required by Title IX, other applicable laws, and policies. Retaliation is prohibited by WOU.

Fenumiai’s four touchdowns lead Wolf Pack to victory

A.L.I.C.E. training throws it all out the window

Musings from a woman on the edge

Politics in the classroom

Never say die

Off my mind

Misery in Missouri

Tools

Resources