Mount Hood

HoW

IMG_3416crop

By: Megan Clark
Campus Life Editor

Javier Garcia, junior business major

“Living poor has made me motivated to go to college and want something better for my life instead of living paycheck to paycheck […] Hopefully I can travel, I really want to travel.”

“I went to San Francisco for an alternative break and I went to chinatown and randomly bought a Ninja sword […] I thought, ‘Oh, why not, we’re here.’”

What do you do with it?
“Oh it’s just decoration really, but sometimes I play with it and try to break things with it or pop things with it.”

WOU student jobs, are they at risk?

By: ​Jenna Beresheim
News Editor

Oregon legislators have approved Senate Bill 1532, which will allow the state’s minimum wage to reach $15 by 2022.

Western Oregon University may be affected by this bill, especially those student workers who are employed on-campus.

“Based on my early calculations, I believe it [Senate Bill 1532] could add up to 3-5% on student employee costs next fiscal year in my area,” stated Patrick Moser, the Director for Student Leadership and Activities.

“How that affects student employment in my department is highly dependent on how the Incidental Fee Committee chooses to address the budget issues of minimum wage increases,” Moser continued.

Moser also reported that, as far as campus budget impact, the Business office is already starting to study the issue at hand and how best to handle the situation.

“We are still in the middle of our budget process and determining all of the information,” commented Brandon Neish, the manager for the Budget Office.

This change in minimum wage could affect how many available job positions occur on campus, as it may prove more difficult to support as many workers at such a large increase in paycheck per person.

For students, more money in less time worked could prove to be a very appealing incentive. Although, at the same time, it could also result in cuts to student jobs, even current ones, in order to have certain student-run positions remain afloat.

After nearly four hours of heated debate, the bill cleared the Senate with a vote of 32-26. While just outside, demonstrators barricaded lawmakers within the House chamber, pounding on the walls and chanting.

According to The Oregonian, the bill would give pay increases to more than 100,000 workers, with some receiving nearly $6 more an hour.

The plan would take an estimated six years, starting the wage raise in July this year to $9.50-9.75 and ending in 2022 with ranges of wage depending on location. Portland’s urban growth boundary would see $14.75, midsize counties would reach $13.25, and “frontier” areas would expect $12.50 per hour.

The Coalition to Defend Oregon Jobs includes a wide range of individuals who fought against Senate Bill 1532.

“A massive wage hike kills small business jobs and forces schools and local governments to cut services or raise property taxes,” the Defend Oregon Jobs website proclaims. “Fixed-income seniors, working families, and college students will feel the sting.”

Contact the author at jberesheim11@wou.edu or on Twitter @WOUjournalnews

Apple-FBI in heated battle over your privacy

AppleColor

By: Alvin Wilson 
Staff Writer

Apple is refusing to give the FBI access to encrypted data on one of the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone.

The FBI has requested that Apple build the technology necessary to decrypt the data that they currently can’t access.

Bob Broeg, professor of computer science at Western, described encrypted data as being a sentence with the letters jumbled up. To find the correct order, you have to have a key.

“With most encryptions today, you have two keys,” he said. “One is a public key that you can use to encrypt something, but you can’t decrypt it without a private key. So, anybody can send an encrypted message, but only the person with the second key can decrypt it.”

Apple encrypts some of the data that is stored on their phones to protect the privacy of the user, but the government still has access to metadata, according to Dana Schowalter, assistant professor of communication studies.

“The government can find metadata whether or not it’s encrypted,” she said. “They can find—on our phone records and things like that, they can determine when we text somebody.

“But if you iMessage somebody else, for example, that’s encrypted. It doesn’t show up on your bill, and therefore can’t be subpoenaed from the phone company because they don’t necessarily keep records of that.”

The FBI wants access to encrypted information on one of the San Bernardino shooters’ phone, but Apple is afraid of future privacy violations that could occur if the government receives access to this technology.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, sent an open letter to Apple customers.

“While we believe the FBI’s intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor into our products,” Cook said in the letter. “And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.”

Schowalter agrees about the importance of our freedom of privacy.

“When that information is encrypted, I think people value that because it means the information is protected,” she said. “In an era where almost nothing is protected, having at least some content that could be protected is very valuable.”

Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg has publicly supported Apple’s decision, but, according to a Pew Research poll, 51 percent of Americans think they should submit to the demands of the FBI.

The FBI is arguing that Apple’s encryption policy is interfering with their ability to protect the public.

Schowalter is skeptical of this argument.

“If you take a look at what they’re asking Apple to do, I think there is some security case for being able to access that information,” she said.

“But at the same time,” she added, “asking for this backdoor seems to be a huge overreach, and I don’t think the government has shown that they can exercise restraint in what they’re collecting and how they’re using that information.”

Broeg thinks that Apple should help the FBI, but not by providing a backdoor to the government.

“I think if there was an error that the FBI needed to figure out, Apple could decrypt it for them,” he said. “But it should probably stay somewhat encrypted.”

Schowalter said the long term effects might be similar to what we saw with the Patriot Act.

“I don’t think people really notice when they’re being spied on now, so I think it just adds a layer of distrust,” she said. “I think we, in the fearmongering that happened after 9/11, consented to all sorts of breaches of our basic human rights to privacy. I think it sets a very dangerous precedent.”

Contact the author at awilson15@wou.edu or on Twitter @awilsonjournal

Students make voices heard

IFC Graphic (pie chart)

By: Conner Williams
Editor-in-Chief

Facing a plethora of funding cuts and a potential $14 increase in the quarterly incidental fee, a group of Western students gathered in the WUC’s Pacific Room to join in on the discussion with the Incidental Fee Committee.

Preliminary decisions have set the fee to increase to $341 per term for the 2016-2017 academic year, nearly 4 percent more than the current year’s fee.

The committee is comprised of students, faculty members, and administrators and has the responsibility of determining the amount of funding that the clubs and organizations at Western receive. They do so by analyzing current budgetary needs for each department and then decide on a fee that each Western student must pay each quarter. Open hearings allow students and members of the Western community to speak directly to the committee about their concerns.

Jacob Higgins, a third year biology major, attended the hearing on Feb. 22 to advocate for the Natural Science Club and to give his thoughts on the fee itself.

“I guess the way to prevent the cuts is to add to the fee,” said Higgins. “But I think that if [the IFC] would explain what [the fee] was and that it benefits every student, people would be willing to understand that it’s not a big deal.”

Higgins said that the funds allow the club to take several students on trips for spring break each year, and he hopes that those trips will continue.

“The club is important to me. We have staff members come and speak to us about a bunch of different subjects, and that helps us learn as well,” he said.

Holli Howard-Carpenter, head coach for Western’s women’s basketball team, said that the current funding makes it difficult for the team when they have to travel for away games.

“We only have 12 on our roster, but we’re only funded to travel 10” […] “We have to fundraise for the remainder of that so that everyone can travel,” Howard-Carpenter said.

Jasmine Miller, a sophomore education major and guard for the women’s basketball team, reiterated the notion that a reduced budget causes complications for athletes on the road.

“When you go to a restaurant you only have $10” Miller said. “Today, like what can you really get for ten dollars? […] You have to fuel yourself to perform right and it’s hard to do that sometimes on the budget that you have.”

Miller then noted that funding for athletics benefits the entire student body, not just the athletes.

“We want to get enrollment up in the school, so that these funds are not as much of an issue,” she said. “If we’re able to go and travel to these tournaments and wear our new gear and look right and represent our school, it’s going to help everybody, not just the girls’ basketball program.”

“We’re here to help everyone, that’s what we want to do,” Miller said.

Lilaah Jones, a third year gerontology major, said that sports teams should have to do more fundraising for themselves rather than receive increased funding from IFC.

“I know that a lot of clubs here are doing fundraising, and I don’t see other sports doing that,” Jones said. “I’m in the WUC a lot, so I see all kinds of clubs tabling and fundraising.”

“As a student, it’s hard to see what sports are doing to raise money for themselves,” Jones said.

Jones then noted that an increase in the fee makes it difficult for students that attend Western because of its relatively cheap price tag.

“I know that as a first generation college student, [Western] is a good choice financially. I don’t want this fee to be a reason that someone can’t afford to go here,” Jones said.

Emmi Collier, a senior exercise science major with a focus in P.E., said that she understands the burden that the committee itself has when deciding on the fee for each year. Collier also throws for Western’s track team.

“They have a really hard decision because they have to take a lot of money from every single student and put it towards programs that benefit that specific student or programs that benefit other students,” Collier said. “I think that’s a really hard job and I give them kudos.”

“I think for right now they have a pretty sufficient process. I really love that they do the open hearings and they actually get the student input because I think that’s a really big deal,” Collier said.

Sam Stageman, a junior forensic chemistry major and representative from the Triangle Alliance, agreed that the open hearings are beneficial for students.

“It’s really nice to hear how each organization is helping out all the different students,” Stageman said. “They’re not just cutting wildly and all that, they’re actually wanting our input and that’s great.”

Currently, preliminary decisions call for a total increase of $67, 997 in the IFC budget from last year, plus an additional $4,777 with enhancements, bringing the total IFC budget for the 2016-2017 academic year to $4,378,474.

Three IFC-funded organizations have currently been approved for enhancement requests. 13 departments are set to receive cuts, three will gain additional funding, and three will remain the same, as per the preliminary decisions.

Contact the author at journaleditor@wou.edu or on Twitter @journalEIC.

Managing Editor Katrina Penaflor contributed to this report.

Why not ask a Black person?

By: Rachael Jackson
Staff Writer
The “Ask a Black Person” panel consisted of 6 black students ready to discuss what it is to be black in today’s society. They discussed a wide array of topics including: experiences on campus, misconceptions of hair, and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Due to low attendance from those students outside of the club, the panel turned more into a discussion among them and the group. 

One student that came out, Rachel Danskey, junior and public policy and administration major, saw how important it is to listen and discuss race issues. She appreciated having the chance to listen to the diverse panel.

“[These events] are a segue for me into different perspectives,” Danskey said. “I see how white people have more of a voice than they do, and I think hearing it rather than just reading about in a book brought it all to reality.”

Thelma Hale, senior and communications major, explained how the possible perceptions of her hairstyle kept her from wearing it short and natural. 
“I really didn’t want to come back here [to WOU] with my hair like that, I didn’t think I would feel comfortable. But they love it here; the people here love it. They always have something good to say.”

Contact the author at rjackson13@wou.edu or on Twitter @rachaelyjackson

WAWA WAAM

By: Joleen Braasch 
Staff Writer

If you’re looking for a fun night, check out the hip hop concert on Friday, Feb. 26. As part of Western Accessibility Awareness Month (WAAM) and Black History Month Activities, WAWA will be performing in the Pacific Room at Werner University Center with his DJ, Nicar.

Don’t know sign language? No problem; WAWA voices the lyrics that he raps, and the concert will be interpreted.

WAWA, Warren Snipe, cannot hear, but he wears hearing aids, speaks, and signs. The rapper has been performing in many mediums of entertainment since childhood, and has been traveling the world to perform in the last dozen years.

As part of the emerging music genre Dip-Hop, deaf hip-hop, WAWA stands among other deaf rappers who are working to get Dip Hop into the mainstream music scene, including Prinz D The First Deaf Rapper, Signmark, Sean Forbes, and Survivor C.

Ensuring that the deaf community is heard and pushing back against oppressors, WAWA raps about equality. In his single, “Vendetta,” WAWA states: “You can’t hold me down ‘cuz I’m busy givin’ love … Bully Bully Bully, how nice of you to visit me, now you in my world, consider yourself history.”

These lyrics ring to the goals of Western Accessibility Awareness Month. As stated by Madison Malot, a senior English major and ASL minor as well as a student worker in the Office of Disabilities, “WAAM is a time where the WOU community can come together and learn about how to be accessible and how to bring inclusion to our campus.”
Contact the author at jbraasch12@wou.edu

Picking on the Banjo

IMG_3413

By: Megan Clark
Campus Life Editor

The banjo, as I’m sure you’ve all noticed, has been making a comeback. With bands like Mumford & Sons and Punch Brothers comes a slew of new appreciation for the five-stringed, twangy instrument.

It’s become so popular that its snappy strums have even graced WOU’s Smith Recital Hall. Noam Pikelny played for a gathered crowd, a performance made possible by a donation from Western’s own Dr. David Hargreaves.

Pikelny, of Punch Brothers fame, sang and played the banjo and various types of guitars, but really, his banjo playing was the highlight of the evening due to its earnest melodies, fast paced plucking, and old timey charm.

Though it seems like the hot new instrument, it’s not as common as the guitar and more technically difficult than a ukulele, another instrument that has been gaining traction in recent years.

But why is it becoming so popular? The obvious answer is that it appeals to the hipster in all of us. Perhaps it evokes a simpler time when we didn’t need found footage films to scare us, but instead found horror in an overall-clad boy playing Dueling Banjos, a la “Deliverance.”

The audience for Pikelny seemed to eat up his fiery playing style. Hannah Williams, first year music major, stated that, “The banjo is more versatile than I originally thought […] I could relate to the banjo in a way that caught me off guard in the most delightful way.”

“[Banjo players] have these ring type picks for their fingers so they can fingerpick,” said Thomas Licata, senior interdisciplinary major. He continued on to say, “using a pick instead of the fingertip gets a harder heavier sound which I generally prefer.”

With its sweetly sharp sound and its emotive melodies, the banjo is an instrument that probably won’t be going away any time soon. If the ukulele trend is anything to go off of, then pretty soon there will be Youtube covers of Adele’s “Hello” on banjo. Oh, wait, there already are.

Maybe it will eventually even overtake the guitar in popular culture. Don’t be surprised if, at your next party, a mustachioed, bow-tie-wearing young man sits down with his banjo and starts fingerpicking Oasis’s “Wonderwall.”

Contact the author at meclark13@wou.edu or on Twitter @WOU_CampusLife