Mount Hood

Take Back the Night shows support for student survivors and urges a continued conversation about sexual violence going forward

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow | News Editor

Taking place at the tail-end of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Take Back the Night was hosted by Abby’s House on Oct. 26. Take Back the Night originated in the ‘70s after a cumulation of incidents, most predominantly, the nighttime murder of Susan Alexander Speeth. Today, Take Back the Night is usually organized as a march against sexual violence and violence against women. 

This year, Abby’s House invited Jackie Sandmeyer to speak at the event. Sandmeyer is the founder of TIX Education Specialists, an organization dedicated to working with universities, law enforcement, prosecutors and community-based service providers to identify and create some of the nation’s leading models in Title Nine and student victims’ services. 

Western’s Take Back the Night began with time to reflect; a chime sounded off every nine seconds, representing the frequency someone is beaten in the United States. Students were encouraged to walk around and reflect on their own experiences, as well as observe comforting messages written on sticky notes throughout the room.

Afterwards, Sandmeyer began by asking students to participate during their presentation.

“I’m going to ask you today, not to sit here quietly … I find it interesting that we broach a topic that we feel uncomfortable talking about and then we hope that the bravest among us who have experienced the worst among us break that silence,” said Sandmeyer.

Throughout the presentation, Sandmeyer urged the audience to question themselves. Too often, Sandmeyer said, does dialogue end after the victim or survivor has told their story. Sandmeyer would rather everyone reflect on their own accountability as perpetrators, survivors, listeners and bystanders. Sandmeyer also acknowledged their own tendency for violence. After having spent much of their adolescence on the streets, they said that everyday they reflect on “if (they are) doing (their) part to, one, acknowledge that (they) are capable of that, and two, make a different choice.” 

When it comes to discussing violence, Sandmeyer admits that their advocacy makes strategic use of more palatable narratives — predominantly the stories of white women — to initiate change and get people to listen. Of course, that leaves many identities out of the conversation.

“If we acknowledge that violence is about power and control, what we know about people who experience violence comes down to we place different values on different people’s bodies,” said Sandmeyer. 

While it is a well-known statistic that one in five women are assaulted, those numbers steadily increase for minority populations, and don’t include the statistics for other genders. However, Sandmeyer believes that relying on these statistics to initiate conversation can be problematic because “we assign really dehumanizing rates to people who experience violence,” rather than focusing on their successes. They said that, “the more (they) tell college students (statistics), the less people get shocked … we’ve normalized this to a certain point.”

Equally normalized are the ‘accepted’’ and misleading narratives surrounding violence — such as the narrative that it is always committed by a stranger. Breaking free from those confining stereotypes requires talking about consent. 

“Are we having conversations with our partners, our friends, our families, our communities about sex, consent, pleasure, autonomy, agency and so on,” challenged Sandmeyer. 

Although much of the discussion was in regards to proactive dialogue, Sandmeyer finished their presentation by urging the audience to “hold space, compassion, and love for people who choose to remain silent … resilience is not linear and it does not always look the same way … not only is there a certain way that we expect victims to look, but there is a certain way that we expect them to heal.”

This was an affirmation before the speak-out portion of the event, in which the audience members were invited to tell their stories. Later, during the candlelit march on campus, students reflected on a question posed by Sandmeyer earlier that night: “we’ve heard their stories, now what will implementing change look like?”

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photo by Sage Kiernan-Sherrow

UHaul partners with Western to provide additional transportation options featuring rental cars available to students

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow | News Editor

Western is a fairly isolated little campus. Students without a vehicle may find it hard to get from campus to another desired location. Cherriots — the bus system that runs through campus — has sparse hours of operation and doesn’t run on weekends; Wolfride — Western’s shuttle service — only operates from 5 p.m. – 12 a.m. within appropriate distances. Much of the student population, such as international and commuting students, depend on these sources of transportation for success.

Luckily, Western has implemented a new means of transportation for the busy student — UHaul CarShare. It acts as a less complicated rental service; reservations are made on the website and the cars are parked behind the Werner University Center in Lot H for pickup. Students can reserve either a small sedan or a truck depending on their needs. Currently, the daily rental rates are set at $4.95 per hour with a .49 cent charge per mile. 

Emmanuel Marzias, assistant to the vice president for student affairs, commented that “we continue to have UHaul here because of that accessibility component … we don’t have the most convenient transportation options here … (and) it’s important that we have options for students.” 

Unlike Wolfride, UHaul CarShare is independent and does not depend on Incidental Fee Committee funding. Marzias said that the lack of transportation on campus is caused primarily by a lack of financial means from the IFC.

“Our enrollment is down, which makes it difficult … (because) it determines what types of services we can provide to students based on the financial side of things,” stated Marzias.

Marzias encouraged students to go petition to the IFC about their transportation needs, adding that he’s “thankful that students are prioritizing this.”

In the meantime, students can use the UHaul services or reserve the wolfride van for $40 — a lower rate than is charged by the Oregon State Motor Pool — as long as it doesn’t interfere with regular hours. And here’s the best part: “It’s (all) right here in our backyard,” stated Marzias.

For more information, visit https://wou.edu/student/services/ and uhaulcarshare.com.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photo by Sage Kiernan-Sherrow

Western is faced with a 4.5 million deficit after a 5% decrease in enrollment was reported for fall term

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow | News Editor

After an unpredicted low enrollment turnout, Western is having to financially restrategize in order to minimize the effect on students. Compared to fall of 2018, enrollment is down by 5%. The effects that has on the university is huge — more than 70% of Western’s revenue is based on student’s tuition and fees, while the state provides only 30%.

Currently, Western is facing a $4.5 million deficit despite their success last year in maintaining their objective to avoid tuition increases. 

According to Western’s Vice President of Finance and Administration, Ana Karaman, low enrollment is a nation-wide issue; fewer people are graduating from high school, but those who do find appeal in community colleges, especially here in Oregon where the Oregon Opportunity Grant benefits community college attendees. Karaman explained that Western is working on a plan with local community colleges which will make transferring credits easier and hopefully increase enrollment. 

Another cause of low enrollment is in regards to the international population which has dropped significantly due to the current political and social climate, regards Karaman.

“We would love to see enrollment grow,” stated Karaman, “but we want to take care of the students that we already have.”

That includes plans to become a Hispanic Serving Institution, to cater to the large population of Hispanic students on campus, as well as first generation, underrepresented and low-income students. The most important thing is “providing these students with opportunities,” Karaman said. 

While enrollment won’t affect tuition, it will have an effect on Western’s respective departments and organizations. The plan is to cut the supplies and services expenses for departments that aren’t directly benefiting students. Furthermore, positions in departments will heretofore remain unfilled in order to generate regular savings, which will then be returned to the university to help counter the deficit. 

However, the university is taking a holistic approach in deciding which programs deserve to be cut. The University Budget Advisory Committee is planning an office meeting with every department to “engage with people in conversations,” according to Karaman. The UBAC will present the board with different scenarios and the board will make a determination based on what will provide students with the greatest opportunities.

 “For students, our objectives remain the same — affordability and student success,” assured Karaman. 

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Opportune locations for autumn photoshoots

Rylie Horrall | Lifestyle Editor

Autumn brings a prime opportunity to take some aesthetically pleasing photos, whether it’s for a holiday card or just for the perfect Instagram post. Here’s some locations that could provide great photo opportunities.

 

Outside of NS (bench) – On the edge of campus lies the Natural Sciences building. In addition to the bench right outside the building, the newly renovated pond provides an opportune photo.

Monmouth Ave Stretch – The street that runs through campus is lined with trees; the changing leaves will be perfect for your fall aesthetic.

Fountain – Near the center of Main Street in Independence, the water glistening from the fountain enhances your photo.

Park near waterfront – Just behind the fountain and near the waterfront lies Riverview Park. The changing leaves and amphitheatre are ideal for both portraits and group pictures.

Contact the author at rhorrall17@wou.edu

Photos by Cora McClain

Opinion: Is there more to self-care than Netflix and bubble baths?

Ashlynn Norton | Digital Media Manager

For a very long time, self-care felt like a very elusive thing to me. What I heard from the majority of society and my friends was that it consisted of taking bubble baths and binging on Netflix. I didn’t know how to start my journey or what it would look like for me. I tried doing things that I had seen others do: cooking, watching Netflix or drinking tea. Even today, I don’t fully know what works for me. There are so many things out there to try, what if I pick the wrong thing? 

I recently — and by recently, I mean two weeks ago — started to learn one way to perceive self-care. The little sliver of information I have regarding self-care came from my learning seminar class taught by Lizzy Harman. Harman, the Assistant Director of Student Success and Advising at the Student Success and Advising Center, has been studying self-care for a little over two years now. With a master’s in rehabilitation mental health counseling, Harman wanted to see how self-care related to advising students. 

Harman thought she knew what self-care was since she has a background in counseling. She soon discovered that she was wrong, and did not understand the subject as well as she thought she did. 

“It started as a research fascination and then became a personal fascination because it wasn’t going so well for me,” Harman said. “But also it was important to me that we could kind of talk about it in the field of advising because I think it has been seen as a weakness or a shameful act in a lot of ways and I really wanted it to be a part of the conversation of how we train new advisers.” 

Self-care can be defined in many different ways. Harman’s favorite definition is “Any act or experience (that) maintains or enhances your wellbeing.” 

“That’s very highly individualized and based on who you are as a person, and the things that you value and the things that are important to you,” Harman added. “I also prescribe to this belief that self-care is not just about yourself, it’s about the people around you. That the ability to care for yourself means that you are better able to be present and show up for the people around you.” 

Harman also believes that self-care has to be preventative and treatment-based. 

Further expanding on the idea, Harman explains “Where you are doing things to get through stress and challenge, but you’re also taking care of yourself in the long term of building things in your life so that you don’t have to take an escape or take a break from your life,” she said.

Harman has taught me that “escaping” is not the best route to take when life gets a little too hard and you need to take some time for some self-care. Self-care is about creating a strong base (prevention) and then occasionally doing something to realign yourself if you get a little off track (treatment). 

So, for those who are like me and are stuck at the fork in the road not really sure which path of self-care to take, I hope this sheds a little light on the best path for you. As for me, I’m going to stick with my salt baths and regular beach trips. 

 

Contact the author at anorton17@wou.edu

Photo by Rachel Hetzel 

Spice up your pumpkin pie with this recipe

Rylie Horrall | Lifestyle Editor

Family recipes are something that are often protected and cherished – this is true for my family as well. Once fall rolls around, my mom takes the time to start baking fall inspired goodies for the next three months. One dessert she never fails to prepare is a delicious pumpkin pie, here’s the recipe she follows. Happy baking season.

 

PUMPKIN PIE

Start to finish: 1 hour 10 minutes

1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust

¾ cup of white sugar

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon of salt

½ teaspoon of ground ginger

¼ teaspoon of ground cloves

2 eggs

1 (15 ounce) can of 100% pure pumpkin 

1 (12 fluid ounce) can of evaporated milk

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F°

Combine the sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in a larger bowl. Stir in the pumpkin and the sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in the evaporated milk. Pour the finished mixture into the pie shell.

Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F°. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Do not freeze — this will cause the crust and filling to separate.

 

To create a more festive Halloween pie, try using cookie cutters to create some spooky shapes to place on top of the pie, such as a ghost, bat, spider, or pumpkin. Cookie cutters in the shapes of various leaves are an alternative for a general fall look.

 

Contact the author at rhorrall17@wou.edu

Pick the perfect fall pumpkin patch near Monmouth

Rylie Horrall | Lifestyle Editor

Need to grab some last minute pumpkins to carve? Want to get into a festive fall spirit and potentially decorate for the holidays? Check out these nearby pumpkin patches to satiate that gourd-geous desire. 

 

Davis Family Farm not only has pumpkins galore, but customers can also enjoy hayrides directly to the pumpkin patch and a trip through their corn maze. Located in Corvallis at 4380 NE Highway 20, the pumpkin patch stays open from Sept. 30 to Oct. 31, but stays open further into the year.

Various seasonal fruits and vegetables can be bought after pumpkin season has passed, and are available to be hand picked directly. In addition, it has cider and doughnuts available to purchase. 

Admission costs $4, and can be found on Facebook, on Instagram (@davisfamilyfarm.inc), and Twitter (@RussellDavis4).

 

Vince Woods Farm is located at 6435 62nd Ave NE in Salem and stays open for pumpkin picking during the month of October. Pumpkins, gourds, squash and wheat are available for low prices.

Along with their Pumpkin Forest, the farm has a corn maze and a caboose. The corn maze takes up two-thirds of an acre, and, according to their website, is deceptively simple. The caboose goes in hand with the Pumpkin Forest, and is supposedly “gently haunted,” according to their Facebook page.

Admission for this year is $1 for the Pumpkin Forest and an additional 50 cents for the corn maze. Vince Woods Farm can be found on Facebook and at their website vincewoodsfarm.com.

 

EZ Orchards, open year-round, is located in Salem at 5504 Hazelgreen Rd NE. Pumpkins are located across a field outside of their corn maze adorned with pumpkin-themed decorations.

A shop filled with produce and various Oregon novelties is located outside the field of pumpkins where customers can buy fresh, homemade pumpkin and apple cider doughnuts. Several seasonal crops are available for purchase during and after pumpkin season.

Admission costs $3 per person, which goes towards a discount for final pumpkin pricing; EZ Orchards can be found at their website www.ezorchards.com.

 

Contact the author at rhorrall17@wou.edu

Photos by Cora McClain