Mount Hood

Weekly update: Incidental Fee Committee

By: TK  Layman
Staff Writer

Week two of the Incidental Fee Committee took place on Jan. 27 for on-campus programs to present their proposed budgets for the upcoming school year. The committee heard presentations this week from three organizations: Creative Arts, Student Media and Campus Recreation.

The previous week’s presentations included proposed budgets for accessibility through the Office of Disability Services, Abby’s House, Childcare through the Children’s Development Center, WOLF Ride and Service Learning and Career Development. Of the organizations who have presented, they’ve proposed their internal budget in relation to on and off-campus events to take place, as well as compensation for the workers involved in the departments.

Week three begins on Feb. 3 with the final round of budget presentations for student organizations: Athletics, Student Engagement and ASWOU. Following the final set of presentations, the Incidental Fee Committee will make their preliminary decision of the proposed budgets and the fee for the 2017-18 school year on Feb. 10.

For students looking to keep up with proposed budgets for on campus groups and organizations they are encouraged to go to wou.edu/ifc.

Contact the author at tlayman16@wou.edu

Creating an inclusive community

By: TK Layman
Staff Writer

Inclement weather and blustering winds showed a small but intimate turn out for speaker Kerani Mitchell’s community discussion “Exploring What Makes Us Oregonian.”

Ten people total showed up to talk about community inclusion and how they can, as a group, share stories of how they have all felt included or excluded from their particular community, and explore options to help those who may not feel welcome to be a part of their surroundings.

Kerani Mitchell, a graduate of Seattle University with a degree in international studies, started the group by leading them through a quick reflection and having them consider what brought them to the discussion. By laying out the guidelines of creating a safe inclusive space and keeping an open mind, Mitchell got the audience thinking.

Introductions led way with participants stating their name and one thing they love about their community in Oregon.

During introductions, one audience member prompted the question, “When can someone call themselves an Oregonian?” As participants pondered on what makes someone an Oregonian, they all came to terms; an Oregonian is one who lives in Oregon.

Mitchell had the audience break up into two groups to discuss times they felt included in their community, and how they can identify ways to help others feel included in their daily lives.

One member, a teacher within the community, spoke about the difference between the “golden rule” and a different concept called the “platinum rule,” giving a description of treating others how they wish to be treated, rather than how one would want.

Mitchell ended the conversation with a recording of Maya Angelou’s poem “Human Family.”

By the end the group came back together to discuss ways they can help someone who may feel excluded from their community feel more welcome. Several of the ideas discussed included having themselves step outside their comfort zones and immersing themselves in a new culture, or searching for community involvement opportunities and above all treating everyone with human decency. As the conversation died down, the words of Maya Angelou resonated over the crowd: “We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”

Oregon Humanities Conversation Project continues Thursday, Feb. 16 with the next installment, “The Space Between Us, Immigrant Refugees, and Oregon” by speaker Manuel Padilla. Starting at 7 p.m. in the Anderson Room at the Salem Public Library
Contact the author at tlayman16@wou.edu

Social media backlash to the new administration

By: Zoë Strickland
Managing Editor

On Jan. 24, the Trump administration ordered the employees of multiple federal agencies, including the EPA, USDA, HHS and DOI, to halt external communication with both the public and the media.

According to the New York Times, the communication halt is in place “… while the Trump administration struggles to put political appointees into position.” The moratorium on communication from those departments came after the administration began re-doing the White House website on Jan. 20, during which they deleted any mention of climate change.

As a result of these combined events, the Twitter account of Badlands National Park began posting scientific facts relating to climate change. The National Park Service then came forward and admitted that the information was being posted by a former employee who had hijacked the account and proceeded to delete what they had tweeted.

Though the National Park Service attempted to correct what had happened on their Twitter, the tweets sparked an onset of unofficial ‘resistance’ government accounts. Among those accounts are @altUSEPA, @RoguePOTUSStaff, @RogueNASA, @altNOAA and @NotAltWorld, which was originally used for the unofficial National Park Service but has since been handed off to non-government workers.

Since all of the Twitter accounts being made are working against the orders of the Trump administration, it’s unclear which accounts are being run by people inside of the the organizations. Some, like @NotAltWorld and @RogueNASA, publicly admit to being run by non-government employees.

The Rogue POTUS Staff twitter claims to be run by people within the government. Their website identifies them as the “Official White House Resistance Operation,” saying that they “are White House staffers, working at various levels, operating in secrecy to reveal hidden truths of the Trump administration to the American people.”

However, since all of the Twitter accounts are openly resisting the new administration, none of the account managers have come forth to identify themselves.

The Twitter accounts join together as part of a larger movement that draws attention to the communication halt as well as the “… recent proposals from the Trump transition team for drastic cuts in environmental science in federal agencies,” as reported by Scientific American.

Most recently, on Feb. 3, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-F.L., introduced a bill into congress that seeks to completely terminate the EPA.

The recent setbacks to the scientific community have helped draw attention to the work that has already been done by each agency. People are drawing attention to old research, such as the database that NASA introduced in August of 2016 where they post the peer-reviewed articles of research that NASA has funded. Articles on the database range from studies about how spaceflight may increase certain clinical symptoms in astronauts to if it’s possible to inhabit Titan, Saturn’s largest moon.

The rogue twitter accounts, government employee run or not, are starting a conversation that helps spread awareness for government-funded scientific research.

The science community is planning the Science March on Washington on April 22 for Earth Day. A satellite march is currently set to take place in Portland.

Contact the author at journalmanaging@wou.edu

Weekly update: IFC Meeting #3

By: TK Layman
Staff Writer

Friday, Feb. 3 the IFC meeting took place in modular 101 outside Rice Auditorium. After the committee saw presentations from all other campus organizations, the remaining – Athletics, Student Engagement and ASWOU, presented their budget proposals for the 2017-2018 school year.

Student Engagement included budget proposals for campus structures such as operations and student employment, leadership, inclusion and the Student Activities Board. With their proposed budgets for the year, they look to re-up their contract with OrgSync, the web application hosting all on-campus organizations.

Athletics holds the highest budget on campus and is looking to add safety improvements to the Women’s Softball field, adding an NCAA required safety netting to the dugouts. Their fear is that if the IFC cuts funds, they will have to reallocate funds to make sure equipment is kept up to date in terms of safety standards, as well as reducing the number of athletes who attend road games. Teams attending road games typically fly to their locations. The Athletics department stated if the budget was reduced, they would have to travel by bus, increasing the number of hours traveled and the amount of class missed for student-athletes.

Before ASWOU gave their presentation, they asked to reallocate funds from their non-specified account to cover their trip for Student Lobby Day, a day for student’s to speak with state representatives about their school experience and encumbrance of student loans. ASWOU asked for $500 to cover the travel costs, and it caused some trepidation from the IFC Committee. After discussion, the motion passed to reallocate travel expenses for Student Lobby Day 7-1-0.

The next meeting is Friday, Feb. 10 where the committee will make their preliminary decision on the budget before opening the floor to hearings.

Contact the author at tlayman16@mail.wou.edu

Helping the environment: don’t just talk about it

By: Jade Rayner
News Editor

Many people talk about the importance of helping the environment but few know where to start. For those wanting to put their words into action, the Luckiamute Watershed Council is there to help.

“We’re a non-profit and our mission is to engage and assist landowners in restoration of the Luckiamute and Ash Creek Watersheds,” stated Kristen Larson, Council Coordinator of the Luckiamute Watershed Council in our interview at the council’s Burgerville fundraiser on Tuesday, Jan. 24.

A watershed is an area of land that drains to a common body of water; Ash Creek Watershed starts in Dallas, travels through the Polk County communities of Monmouth and Independence and drains into the Willamette River.

When asked what the council does in the area, Larson explained that they, “do things like controlling invasive weeds to allow the native vegetation to thrive; we plant native trees and shrubs along stream banks and the rivers. We do restoration projects to help fish habitats …”

Volunteering for the Luckiamute Watershed Council can include a variety of jobs.

“We participate in the Fourth of July parade, and help clean up the litter after the parade: we always need help for that. In the summer season we have field opportunities to help with our temperature monitoring program, and also weeds, so in our planting areas there’s often times we can use people helping us clip weeds so they don’t drop seeds and spread,” added Larson. “We have space on our committees, and on our board and we’d love to have student engagement and organization itself.”

For those interested in learning more about the Luckiamute Watershed Council, meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month at 7 p.m.; locations of the meetings vary and can be found on www.LuckiamuteLWC.org. Volunteer interest forms can also be found on their website.

Contact the author at journalnews@wou.edu

Community gathers to discuss race in Oregon

By: TK Layman
Staff Writer

“Racism is an emotion filled topic,” Willamette University sociology professor Emily Drew began her lecture. “If we’re aware, we are feeling something.”

The night began as attendees gathered in the Anderson Room of the Salem Public Library for the first installation of Oregon Humanities’ “Conversation Project:” a series of lectures given by community leaders to engage members in a thoughtful discussion of the world around them.

Drew led the night discussing Oregon’s image on race in her presentation titled “Power, Privilege, and Racial Diversity in Oregon.”

The first discussion began with a quote by W.E.B. Du Bois, “The problem of the 100 years ahead of us,” Drew repeated, “is a problem of ‘the color line.’” With that quote in mind, the groups engaged in thoughtful conversation about perceptions of race during the Civil Rights Era to today.

Throughout the night the audience broke off into small groups to discuss with their peers about several topics including ideas such as the prevalence of “Sun Down Towns” within Oregon. Drew cited a study conducted by James Lowen and a team of graduate students that found a collection of “Sun Down Towns,” or a town within the state where minority groups may feel unsafe or unwelcome. The groups got together and expressed their surprise and concern with the list of Oregon cities seen today as “Sun Down Towns;” Drew led the discussion back toward the community, tied it into Portland’s presence not on the list and their vision of diversification.

A common perception of Portland has sources, such as The New Geographer, believing it has a lack of racial diversification. Drew, unshaken, proved otherwise stating recent studies.

“The Coalition of Communities of Color studying Multnomah county,” Drew said, “1-out-of-3 people living in Multnomah county are people of color.”
Before the final group discussion, a U.S. Census Data report was displayed for the audience to see the diverse makeup of those living in Salem and had audience members engaged thinking critically of the identities of those on the census.

Drew closed out the discussion looking for community thoughts on how to create a more equitable and inclusive community, prompting more group thinking and reflection. Each group shared their insights as they worked together toward a common goal of creating a holistic environment for all.
The Oregon Humanities’ Conversation Project continues their series on Feb. 2, with speaker Kerani Mitchell and her presentation titled “Where Are You From?”

For those interested in being a part of the community discussions, the event will be held at the Salem Public Library, Thursday Feb. 2 beginning at 7 p.m. in the Anderson Room.

To learn more about Oregon Humanities’ Conversation Project, go to www.oregonhumanities.org/programs/conversation-project

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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.

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