Mount Hood

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

A fusion of art and technology

Sage Kiernan-SherrowNews Editor

On Oct. 18, the Natural Sciences building had its grand reopening, welcoming students and faculty alike to view the new premises after more than two years of remodelling the interior and exterior for student success. The renovations occured as part of Western’s Campus Master Plan and the project had a total budget of $6 million, according to a 2016 team logistics meeting report. The renovations to the 45-year-old building were funded by capital building funds from the state of Oregon. 

Students might have noticed the new pond outside of Western’s Natural Sciences Building, but that’s only the beginning of renovations that have been completed. 

“We’re installing new equipment in the classrooms: new document cameras, new sound systems, we’re installing laser-projectors now, which are fantastic…” said Equipment Systems Specialist, Nathan Sauer, in a WOUTV video titled “Natural Science Remodel.” 

Overall, the newly remodeled building now includes upgraded labs, study spaces, and the renovated greenhouse on the roof. This is just one of many ongoing changes shaping Western’s campus.  

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

A wealth of resources at the Health and Wellness Fair

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow | News Editor

Walking into Western’s Health and Wellness center on Oct. 23, students were instantly greeted by a wall of positivity-related sticky notes, and invited to “take one, leave one” to encourage kindness and gratitude. This was the introduction to Western’s Health and Wellness Fair, where the basketball court in Western’s Health and Wellness Center was converted into a fair-esque setting, arranged with tables representing various local businesses and campus organizations dedicated to supporting student health and wellness. 

Students could walk from table to table to gain insight into different resources such as student support groups or local fitness-related programs. They were also able to take home free samples and score big prizes just for participating. Tables were giving out items like wolf-shaped stress balls, chapstick, supplements, coupons or free trials at various businesses and even essential oils.

Businesses like Dallas Health and Vitality Essentials were pioneering new technology, in this case, the BEMER, a chair designed to stimulates blood flow and oxygen supply. 

“We are no longer getting our essential nutrients from the food we eat, we have a severe lack of vital vitamins, and as a result our blood is not circulating like it should,” said owner of the business, Laurie Vail, “(but) everybody’s body is different.” 

Western students Chris Mizer and Daymon Stone were there representing the Monmouth Fitness Club. Both stated that they were “addicted to the gym.” Stone went as far as to say that he dedicates everything to his personal fitness and wants to open a gym in the future. Mizer said that his personal motto is “keep the first things first,” which translates to staying focused and not straying from your main goals.

Focusing more on the mental health aspect of overall wellness, Western’s Wellness Advocacy Group also attended the event, offering information related to their club, which meets Mondays from 4–5 p.m. in Todd Hall. According to Vice President Lea Sheldone and Social Media Coordinator Blanca De La Rosa, WAG orchestrates events like Paws for Positivity and the Out of Darkness walk for suicide prevention and awareness, which gathered over 140 people and raised almost $4,000 last year.  

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Stories from the children

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow | News Editor

 

Editor’s note: Content warning —

 

“The most painful thing you can do to a kid is separate them from the adult who cares for them,” said Willamette University Law Professor Warren Binford regarding the current United States Border crisis. Professor Binford was a member of a team who interviewed over 70 children currently being held at the U.S. border. She is a children’s law expert with a Masters with distinction in Education from Boston University and a Law degree from Harvard, and has been interviewed by various media outlets including CNN and PBS. 

On Wednesday, Oct. 23, Professor Binford was hosted by Western’s Model United Nations and the Salem United Nations Association to present a talk titled “4 Days in Clint,” which offered insight into the history of border control, included her accounts of the facilities detaining children separated from their loved ones, and proposed actions to increase awareness and support. 

Those in attendance were given postcards with direct quotes from children and mothers of children who are being detained at the border. Binford began by inviting the audience to read those quotes aloud. “We slept on a cement bench,” one quote read, pertaining to the conditions of the facility.

A room full of people sitting on padded seats listened while Binford said, “I wish that the quotes you read today were the exception, but the fact is that all along the southern border there are children who can testify to being treated the way that you just heard.” She then continued by explaining that the government has been involved in various child immigration issues since 1985, when the government would hold children as bait to try to get their parents who had illegally immigrated to reveal themselves by rescuing them. 

That prompted a 12-year fight for the children, which ended in the Flores Settlement Agreement of 1997 which granted children certain rights, primarily that children were to be provided with appropriate care and that they would be released first to their parents, then to another family member, another adult authorized by the family, and finally into foster care when there was no other alternative. 80% of the children in custody belonged to the first three categories at the time of the settlement passing.

However, Binford stated that it was “the Executive branch’s responsibility to implement those rights as regulations, but guess what happened? They never were promulgated, until just last summer.”

Binford also recounted the government’s verifiable entanglement in politics in the Northern Triangle, which represents the countries Honduras, El Salvedor and Guatemala, and how the U.S government’s conflict of interest in capital issues and ulterior motives to inhibit socialism from developing actually caused an influx in immigration. 

“We have been involved in Central American politics actively for 70 years and we know it,” said Binford. Families fleeing the gang violence caused by U.S. interference must travel over 1800 miles from the Northern Triangle to the border. During that journey, over 70% of girls report sexual assault, however this is a risk many are willing to take to escape the horrors of their homeland. Binford asserted, “generally, people don’t leave home unless they really have to.”

The U.S. government saw this influx in immigration and decided to come up with a plan that would deter families from crossing the border, which is why family separation has escalated into a crisis in 2019, Binford explained. However, “Research shows that if you want to deter migration, you don’t come down with strict migration policies, because that can actually increase migration … because people think … ‘this might be our last chance.’”

In 2017, when the government was first piloting family separation, Binford was a part of a team sent to inspect various border control facilities and assess their quality of care, and what she found was appalling. Despite the fact that border control standards maintain that they are only allowed to hold children for up to 72 hours, and the 20 days standard set by the Flores agreement, children were being held for months on end and separated from their families even in cases where the facility had the capacity to keep them together. In order to separate the family, mothers were told that they were “doing this to protect the child from trauma” regarding seeing the mother go through the court process. 

“Another mother talked about the fact that they told her they were taking her child away to give him a shower. I want you to think about that. I want you to think about the history of telling parents that they are giving their children showers, and the fact that U.S. government officials would say that,” said Binford. 

The children are being kept in abandoned military bases, or places like “The Walmart,” a previous Walmart superstore maintained by a non-profit called Southwest Key Programs and operated by a man called “Father Juan.” Father Juan, Binford stated, is an attorney from Harvard who is participating in the active displacement of children’s faith, culture, and language through acts such as separating indigenous children from each other, and having fundamentalist Christians teach the faith to a group of majority Catholic kids. 

Binford said, “we realized there is a type of cultural genocide going on in these facilities.” One wall of “The Walmart” is covered by “Juan-dollar bills,” which act as employee rewards for following “Father Juan’s” orders, and there is a mural dedicated to Donald Trump under which reads “sometimes, you have to lose the battle to win the war.”

Clint, on the other hand, is a tiny facility approved for 100 adults but currently holding 351 kids representing a range of ages. While Binford and her team were not able to inspect the facility itself, they were able to speak to the kids. 

“Many of them were sick, there was a lice outbreak, they were not being fed, they were not being given showers, they didn’t have soap, and most importantly, there was nobody taking care of them,” Binford said. The guards would make the older kids take care of the younger ones, but with no prior experience in doing so, they were disadvantaged. What’s equally as problematic, Binford said, is that this is being paid for by taxpayers dollars. 

“If you don’t want to believe that what we are doing is wrong ethically, then at least acknowledge that it’s a stupid thing to do financially.”

To conclude her presentation, Binford encouraged the public to take action through education, donation, engaging in conversation with legislatures, taking part in short-term fostering situations and most importantly, keeping the focus on telling the kid’s’ stories through art and through sites like amplifythechildren.org. 

“We don’t want them to whitewash the history and the brutality that these kids are experiencing,” Binford urged. 

At the very end of the talk, songwriter Kirsten Granger and guitarist Dan Wenzel of the band “True North” were invited to perform a song written on behalf of the children, in which the final verse conveyed, “abuelos hate to see us suffer, they’re out searching for our mothers, and they’ll bring our mothers soon.”

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photos by Sage Kiernan-Sherrow

Made by students and for students, the ASWOU Book Exchange recognizes the perils of textbook costs and decided to do something about it

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow | News Editor

There is a general consensus among college students and that consensus is this: textbooks are extremely expensive. Luckily, Western’s student government, ASWOU, developed the ASWOU book exchange. Operating all year under the ‘My Programs’ tab in the student portal, it exists as a way to buy and sell textbooks for comparatively less than through the bookstore. 

According to an email sent out on Oct. 8, by ASWOU’s director of internal affairs, Danielle Campbell, “Selling a book is easy, fill out the info online and we will hold your book for up to 365 days. After that, you can come pick it up, or leave it to become ASWOU property. Once you choose to purchase or sell a book, you have 24 hours to either drop off your book or pay and pick up at the ASWOU office in WUC 122.” 

In a personal interview, Cambell suggested that searching by ISBN would be the most efficient way to find the right books through the portal.

The cupboards in front of ASWOU are filled with over 500 books. 

“Some are really outdated,” Campbell admitted, “there’s no way of really knowing what’s going to be used this year or next year because professors are always changing their materials, so we don’t want to get rid of any of them.” Campbell also stated, “the system that we have online was created only a few years ago for a senior project for the computer science program and it’s made by students, so it’s a very basic system.” She also hinted at a desire for the system to become more advanced in the next few years.

 Nevertheless, ASWOU book exchange exists as “a way for students to set their own price of what they think is fair,” and a way for “students … (to) help other students,” says Campbell.

For more information, contact ASWOU’s Director of Internal Affairs at aswou@.wou.edu.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

The history of homecoming on Western’s campus from 1939 to 2019

Caity Healy | Managing Editor

Homecoming — it’s common to see U.S. schools celebrating it, but the history behind the festivities isn’t usually made explicitly clear. As it turns out, the etymology of the term is about as literal as it gets. 

According to Vice, homecoming “got its start on college campuses as a fall celebration of the first football game of the season, for which alumni would return to their alma maters.” While the first homecoming allegedly happened in 1911 at the University of Missouri, the tradition as we know it now didn’t hit Monmouth until nearly two decades later.

“The first recorded Homecoming was in 1939,” said the 1968 edition of The Grove, Western’s 1940–1941 yearbook. With that said, this is likely talking about the festivities we celebrate now. The first mention of a Homecoming football game came in the 1930 edition of The Norm, the 1911-1939 yearbook, which means homecoming began in 1929. On top of this, according to the 1979 edition of The Grove, “the tradition at Oregon College of Education dates back as far as the 1890s,” and also added that “after World War I Homecoming was changed from spring to fall, with an added emphasis on football.” 

In the likely inaugural 1929 Homecoming game, Oregon Normal School — the name of Western at the time — went head-to-head against Southern Oregon Normal School, and it ended in a score of 0-0. However, in our next Homecoming game against Eastern Oregon Normal School, ONS capped an undefeated season, 50-0 under the leadership of Coach Wolfe — the inspiration behind Western’s mascot. Since then, several traditions aside from the football game have graced Western’s campus; some stuck around for years, while others phased out. 

The year was 1951. For the first time, the idea of a “Homecoming Court” hit campus. Since then, it’s been an integral part of the festivities — the announcement of the court was even televised in 1966. How the royalty was presented, though, has changed over time. For several years, the court, wearing their full homecoming gear, was driven onto the field in convertibles. In 1987, when the theme was “The Great Pumpkin Homecoming,” the royalty was driven onto the field in orange Volkswagen bugs to look like pumpkins. On top of this, the royalty used to be assigned by halls — there would be a “Butler Princess,” a “Landers Princess,” and so on.

It’s been a theme in recent years to burn the “W” following the Power Puff game. However, this tradition is one that ages back to early days of Western. Although we burn the “W” now and usually a bonfire as well, back then, the goal was just to build a bonfire as big as they could. Competitions were held between different halls to see who could collect the most wood to keep the fire burning.

For years, students would also have tug-of-war competitions in the mud as part of the festivities of the bonfire. 

On top of these traditions, it’s clear to see how some have evolved. For years, each hall would participate in a “lawn display competition” to match the theme of the year — perhaps that’s how we have arrived at the current office decorating competition that occurs now. The rose planting that the Homecoming queen takes part in was a tradition started by Jessica Todd in the early days of Oregon Normal School. And the homecoming dance has always been around — though, in the ‘60s it was deemed the “All-American Ball,” and students also attended a “Grubby Dance” where they were asked to look filthy. 

Some traditions didn’t make it to 2019. For years, the school put on a homecoming concert, often with a talent show preceding it. They’d bring speakers to campus — in 1986 the speaker was Adam West, the original “Batman.” For several decades, a much-loved tradition existed: the noise parade. Students would decorate their cars and ride all through Monmouth, making as much noise as possible until they reached the bonfire, and in later years, until they reached either the powderpuff game or the football game. Then, before the games began, fireworks would go off in Western’s colors to signal the start. 

Homecoming has been around this campus for longer than a good number of the buildings. 

While some traditions didn’t last too long or simply disappeared, some became an essential part of the week’s celebration. And each year, new history is made as new traditions are created and revered.

 

Contact the author at chealy16@wou.edu

Photos courtesy of WOU Archives

 

Western’s annual homecoming was full of “wild” delights with a Western-themed twist

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow | News Editor

Homecoming is an important week-long community-building event at the heart of Western’s traditions. This year, the homecoming theme was “Wild, Wild Western.” Western began their “wild” festivities with the 3rd annual Homecoming Kickoff Carnival and Paint the Wolf event on Monday, Oct. 14, and ended with the Western football game against Central Washington, where homecoming royalty was crowned during halftime. Although Western eventually lost during overtime, students had many opportunities during the week prior to participate in and enjoy the homecoming festivities. Here are some highlights:

3rd Annual Homecoming Kickoff Carnival & Paint the Wolf celebration: Even though the air was a chilly 44 degrees on Monday Oct. 14, the sunshine filtering through the clouds brought groups of students to participate in the start of homecomings’s activities. The homecoming theme was blatant in the fair-like games — ring-toss and the high-striker — which drew students in. The free cotton candy put a smile on student’s faces and a few students were even brave enough to ride the bull (a mechanical one, of course).  Finally, the annual tradition of repainting the Western logo on Court street was a crowd favorite. 

 

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Paint the Town Red: On Tuesday, Oct. 15, participating businesses in Monmouth allowed students to decorate their windows with window paint fitting the “Wild, Wild Western” theme. Using mostly shades representative of the school’s colors, students grouped together to collaborate on their masterpieces, which included several Wolfie caricatures dressed in their Western-style best (literally). Yee-haw! PLUS team was announced as the winner of the contest on Tuesday, Oct. 22. 

 

Office Decorating Competition Judging: The office decorating competition was a hit among students and faculty alike and took place on Wednesday, Oct. 16, ending with three offices winning for different categories. According to an email from Student Engagement’s Coordinator of Organizations and Activities, Kelly Welch, Student Engagement won the “best overall” prize, but it was given to the 1st runner-up, the Accounting and Business Office, to avoid bias. The other two prizes were “best incorporation of Homecoming theme,” which went to the Criminal Justice Sciences office and the “best display of WOU spirit,” which went to the Heritage Hall front desk. 

 

Hoedown: Keeping up with the theme, on Thursday, Oct. 17, Western held the “Hoedown” dance in the Pacific Room of the Werner University Center. Students donned primarily plaid flannels, bandanas and their best tattered jeans while they learned line-dancing choreography and enjoyed free popcorn. 

 

Bonfire Prep Rally: A personal favorite of many, the burning of the “W” took place on Friday, Oct. 18 during the Bonfire Prep Rally. Students gathered around to be awe-inspired by the flames and enjoy a sense of camaraderie while they discussed the upcoming football game hype. For more information on the Homecoming games’s results, check the sports section.

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Wolf Royalty Announcement: According to Western’s Homecoming page, “Homecoming Court and Wolf Royalty are traditions at Western Oregon University that recognize and honor outstanding student leaders who exemplify our values.” This year, there were five nominees for senior Homecoming court and out of those five, two were officially announced and crowned as Wolf Royalty during the Homecoming game’s halftime — students D-Dre Wright and Monica Cerda-Ortiz.

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Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photos by Caity Healy