Mount Hood

Opinion: Administration — really worried about student safety?

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

Joey Gibson, defendant in multiple lawsuits for defamation, negligence, trespassing, intentional infliction of emotional distress and several other charges, visited Western Oregon University June 4, 2019 after being invited to speak by the College Republicans club. Gibson is also the founder of a conservative activist group titled “Patriot Prayer” who advocate for “free speech,” gun rights and are against big government.

I’m not going to talk about what Gibson preached about while he was at Western. Honestly, what he has to say isn’t really all that revolutionary — his rhetoric isn’t anything that other people haven’t already said. In that way, his visit was pretty anticlimactic — no violence broke out, which was unusual for him. He spoke about God. He spoke about free speech. He spoke about how much of a victim he is, and about how a group of people within America that have historically had the most privilege — white-passing, straight, Christian, cisgender dudes — are under threat.

Gibson claims he follows a nonviolent ideology. Of course, the evidence points to the contrary, but he still claims it. In fact, almost all of Gibson’s rallies have ended in violence. A simple Google search shows that wherever Gibson goes, violence follows.

But, of course, Gibson is extremely careful to make sure he isn’t caught openly advocating hate and destruction. In his speeches, he talks entirely in generalizations and blanket statements and makes sure to put himself in the position of the victim and the martyr. Like many other alt-right hate groups, Gibson paints “liberals” and “Antifa” as the enemy, while standing on the soapbox of protecting “American values” and “the constitution.”

Gibson is a master of manipulating rhetoric and tactics of deflection, and it’s one of the reasons he gets away with claiming to be “nonviolent.” Gibson has a knack for letting his followers do the threatening. Then, when counter-protestors inevitably make their presence known, everything that happens can be claimed by Gibson to be “self defense.”

One clear example of this is Gibson’s connections to the Proud Boys. The Proud Boys are an alt-right organization recognized by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. They are regularly in attendance at Gibson’s rallies and protests, and are known to incite racist, sexist and homophobic violence. Gibson has “denounced” alt-right groups on several occasions, although according to an article written by William Bradford Nichols for thehumanist.com, he has used them as “security” for multiple Patriot Prayer events. Patriot Prayer and hate groups such as the Proud Boys often show up decked out in full faux-military gear carrying loaded weapons. So, is this all in the name of self defense? Or is “self defense” simply a thinly-veiled excuse to be as violent as you want while avoiding the consequences? Are people really supposed to believe Gibson “denounces” these hate groups?

Gibson is right, in a way. He is allowed to say anything he wants. As a journalist, I also value the first amendment. I also value integrity and adherence to the facts, but I doubt Gibson and I would agree on that. But just because he’s allowed to say anything he wants doesn’t mean he’s immune to the consequences. For example, Gibson recently called Luiz Marquez, left-wing activist, a pedophile, despite having no evidence. So now, Marquez is suing him. Weird how that works.

In all honesty, I think Gibson is just another out-of-touch Christian dude crying “victim” who is fueled by a need for attention. The College Republicans knew this and invited him. I wouldn’t expect more from them.

I expect more from the administration. They approved a speaker who has a history of bringing violence everywhere he goes. They invited an individual who is vocally against sanctuary cities on his YouTube channel (titled Joey Gibson) to a sanctuary city — an individual who is currently being sued by multiple people as the result of his actions and the actions of his group. They allowed this individual to speak after he publicly went after the Senate President of ASWOU.
Gibson being invited to campus quickly became about a bigger issue than free speech. It became about just how much the administration values its student body and its students from minority communities who are actively threatened by Gibson’s poisonous ideologies and the groups he surrounds himself with. The administration should know better than to let the students deal with the fallout of their poor decisions.

 

Contact the author at cweedon16@wou.edu

Photos by Paul F. Davis

Editor’s note: The end of Volume 1

Caity Healy | Editor-in-Chief

I’m going to be entirely real with you all — I’ve been sitting here, staring at a blank screen and wondering how to write this piece for a ridiculously long time (ugh, illusion shattered — I write my stories on a laptop just like everyone else, rather than on the gorgeous 1930s typewriter that sits on my desk). And this is not for lack of words; in fact, it’s the opposite — there is just too much that I want to say. Roughly 12 months ago, I was hired as the Editor-in-Chief of The Western Journal. One year later, here I am: writing my final Editor’s note of The Western Howl, Volume 1.

It’s been… a year. A really interesting, difficult and amazing year. In this 10-month period, so much has changed at the paper. In Fall Term of 2018, a group of eager students made their way to Terry House. Of the 11 students who sat around the table, three of our staff members were returning from the previous year — one being me — and the rest had never been involved with our organization before.

I’ll be honest, I was terrified. I first joined Student Media as Lifestyle Editor during Fall Term of 2017. So, with one year under my belt, I made the shift from Lifestyle Editor to Editor-in-Chief — let me tell you, that alone was a challenge. But, as the Editor-in-Chief, I had to train an almost entirely new staff on what they should be doing… while also learning what I was supposed to be doing… while also undergoing a rebrand. I would be the first editor of the newly titled “The Western Howl.” Oh yeah, and my Sports Editor graduated at the end of Winter Term, a role that is notoriously difficult to fill, and I had to take that on with my little-to-no knowledge of sports. So, yeah, I was scared.

But now, as the year comes to a close, I realize I have so much to be grateful for. I’m grateful for my staff, as they are the ones who made this transition possible for me. I couldn’t have done this alone, and they were all so quick to learn that it made me feel so much more comfortable than the first day I walked through the door.

I’m grateful for our adviser, Rhys Finch. Without him, we’d all be lost. Like, J.J. Abrams lost. He’s helped turn us into the student journalists we are today; he was always willing to be a mentor, a teacher or even a friend.

And lastly, I’m grateful for you, our dear readers. Seriously — thank you so much for bearing with us during our transitional period, and into our first year as The Western Howl. We do what we do for you; your input is always welcomed and valued.

I didn’t think I’d feel as emotional writing this as I do right now, but Student Media has by far made the biggest impact on my college career. So, once again, thank you all for sticking around. As for next year, I know our new Editor-in-Chief will do an amazing job, and I have faith in the future of this organization as it approaches its 100-year mark to continue creating a high-quality product designed to deliver information that you, our readers, should know. And, with that, I say goodbye, and thank you, once again. We’ll see you next year.

 

Contact the author at chealy16@wou.edu

Photo by Rhys Finch

Opinion: Accurate captions should be a right, not a privilege

Caity Healy | Editor-in-Chief

The other day, I came across a video about a 14-year-old gamer name Danik Soudakoff. Soudakoff is Deaf, and she is working to make Overwatch a more accessible game by creating signs for specific aspects of the game. For the first part of the video, I really enjoyed it. She was signing, but for those who don’t know ASL, there were captions. About half way through the video, though, her teacher began speaking. There were no captions. So, essentially, the video was only captioned at the benefit of the hearing, not for the Deaf. Or, in other words, a video about Deaf accessibility wasn’t even accessible for Deaf viewers — it wasn’t even accessible for Soudakoff, the subject of the video.

It should be noted that at the point of the video where there was English but no captions, an interpreter was (slightly) present. However, it’s important to understand the concept of décalage time, which essentially means the lag time between what is said, and what is interpreted. Every interpreter has a different décalage time based on the way they process meaning. In this video, what the English-speaker was saying did not correlate with what the interpreter was signing at that exact moment, due to that interpreter’s décalage time. So, once again, the video was not accessible. And, not only that, but due to the unclear interpretation, the viewer was receiving different information all together.

The issue at hand here is larger than this single ESPN video: closed-captioning is seen as an option or a convenience for hearing people, when in reality, it’s a way for Deaf people to have a fraction of the same accessibility that hearing people have.

Let’s paint a picture — you just sat down with a snack on your couch to catch up on your show. You start it, and over the sound of you chewing your chips, you realize you can’t hear the TV. You turn on captions. All better — you can eat, watch, and read captions all at the same time now. Sure, the captions aren’t always accurate, and sometimes specific sentences aren’t captioned at all. But it sure does help as an aid. Isn’t it great that captions are readily available to benefit hearing people?

Let’s paint another picture  — a Deaf person just sat down to catch up on their favorite show. Unfortunately, it isn’t available in ASL, so turning on captions will have to suffice. So, that’s what they do. Now, they’re jumping from watching the screen, to reading the captions, and tying that information together. If it’s their only option, it will work. But for whatever reason, the captions just disappeared for a few seconds. Then, it reappeared for a millisecond. What did it say? Was all of the information there? A curse word is spoken in English. The captions decide to censor it — wouldn’t want to taint anyone’s vocabulary. A word is whispered in English and is pretty clearly understood. The captions just leave it as “PERSON WHISPERS.” A word is spoken in English. The captions omit the word entirely. And don’t even get me started on the automatic captioning that YouTube features. Might as well have none at all at that point. Yes, this “equal access” is great, right?

As they are now, captions stand to benefit hearing people, and are rarely a tool for the Deaf. This needs to change. Independence Cinema hosts some open-captioning nights, and that’s a great step in the right direction. But other theater’s should be doing this, and they should be doing it often. As a hearing person, I know that it wouldn’t bother me at all to sit down at a movie and have captions. And, knowing that it could benefit an entire other community makes it all the more worth it. Because as of right now, if a Deaf person wants to see a film and missed one of their open-caption nights, they either have to wear specific glasses that have captioning, or have no captions at all. Don’t get me wrong — I know a lot of Deaf people who are grateful for that technology. But, I also know a lot of Deaf people who are embarrassed to have to use it. Would it really be that hard to have additional open-caption nights?

An argument that I hear on occasion comes from people at sport bars. They’ll say, “I don’t want captions — it’ll interfere with the game.” First of all, there’s no way that you can even hear the commentators in the game clearly over the clinking of glasses, the chatter around the bar and the occasional “EVEN I COULD PLAY BETTER THAN THAT!” or “WHERE’S THE REF?!” from an enthusiastic sports fan. Second, the captions are not going to interfere with your game. I promise, you’ll still be able to see the action if there is a tiny bit of text at the top. And, third, stop being so selfish for a second and consider the fact that there are other people in the bar who want the same access that you have. The whole world isn’t about you, Sports Guy.

Yes, there are steps in the right direction right now. More and more videos are being captioned than ever before. But, entirely accurate captions on every single video is what we should be striving for. Because until that happens, captions are still only a benefit for those that can hear.

 

Contact the author at chealy16@wou.edu

Photo by Paul F. Davis

Letter to the Editor

To The Western Howl Editor,

“Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.” –Maria Montessori

The Early Childhood Studies program faculty is compelled to express our concern regarding the June 4 speaker at the event being held on campus. Our Early Childhood Studies major mission statement highlights how our work is guided by fundamental commitments to educational equity, inclusion, social justice, reflective practice and the development of diverse learners in the field.  We are compelled to communicate our grave concerns for the safety of the diverse and inclusive Western Oregon University community of students, faculty and staff. We consider the invited speaker’s rhetoric to be a heartbeat away from hate.

We recommend our students avoid this event for their personal safety.  We ask that others in the Western faculty community join us in expressing dissent. We must speak out against any speech or inciting actions that threaten the safety and security of our community members.  If we truly are a university community that values inclusion and diversity, we must not quietly acquiesce to any speaker or group espousing hatred, violence or fear under the guise of free speech.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” Nelson Mandela, “Long Walk to Freedom”

 

Sincerely,

Early Childhood Studies Faculty

Andrea Emerson, Maria Laine, Linda Craven, Natalie Danner, Cindy Ryan, Erika Lanning

Opinion: The pros of taking a gap year after graduation

Rebecca Meyers | Lifestyle Editor

Europe has a few things we might consider foreign — driving on the other side of the road, calling chips “crisps,” and having (somewhat) open borders. Another difference between many European countries and the United States is that it’s very common to take a gap year, after graduating either high school or college. Gap years generally serve as a breather period between school and more school, or school and full time work.

Despite what others may think, it doesn’t hinder motivation to return to school or pursue a career according to gooverseas.com, and it’s a way for young people to take full advantage of the transition period in their lives in a positive way.

With all the pros to taking a gap year, I find it unfortunate that they are not more encouraged or considered normal in the States as well. Yet, it’s not hard to figure out why: the United States places such high regard on hard work ⏤ which isn’t necessarily a bad thing ⏤ that taking personal time, let alone a full year or semester, is often viewed as lazy or unambitious. It’s not uncommon to hear college students express guilt over something as simple as getting a full night’s sleep. And then, once they graduate with a mountain of debt, it feels like the most imperative thing is to start working it off as quickly as possible.

It can be really hard to loosen the intensity of this mentality, especially after working hard for four or more years towards specific goals. However, a lot of young adults could likely benefit for taking a gap year rather than jumping straight into a consuming time commitment such as a full time job. It would likely not be beneficial financially, which unfortunately is a significant barrier to some, but could be both physically and mentally restorative. Even those that have part time jobs or internships during a gap year typically have more time than they previously did, and likely will ever again, to recover from a hard few years of living off of caffeine, minimal sleep and monthly test anxiety.

Another reason gap years are an important part of some societies, and should be in the United States as well, is that it may be the only time until a person retires that they have the time and energy to have the experiences they’ve always wanted to, such as devoting time to a hobby or traveling the world. Generally, people expect to have the time to do these things when they retire. To wait that long, however, would mean a person would lose the energy they have now. There’s also the fact that no one is guaranteed retirement ⏤ the fact of life is that, unfortunately, not everyone makes it to old age, meaning some would never have the chance to have these experiences. That’s not even accounting for potential disasters like economic crises or a drastically different planet that would rob people of these opportunities.

Not everyone has the means to take a gap year after graduation. However, other countries have proven that it’s not such a weird societal norm. Of course, other systems can’t be directly transferred; it doesn’t exactly work. However, we can still take note of what has and hasn’t worked and take into consideration what could be beneficial to us as well.

 

Contact the author at rmeyers17@wou.edu

Photos by Ashlynn Norton

Guest Opinion: Save the birds, act now

[fruitful_alert type=”alert-info”]Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in guest opinions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Western Howl.[/fruitful_alert]

Kaylin LaClair | Guest Contributor

Let’s take a moment and put the politics aside. The fact is, we currently have a leader who is not prioritizing the environment and that is drastically having an impact on our world. When we know that we are negatively impacting the environment around us we must take that responsibility and hold ourselves accountable.

I regularly go to the gym every day and on this particular day, I walked upon a little olive green bird. I almost stepped on the little guy, but then it managed to skitter off and I paid no more attention to it. After about an hour at the gym, I left and walked outside to find this same bird on the ground dead. It had hit the window twice in such a short span of time. A young woman walked out, saw the bird and commented that there were two more on the ground just the day prior. Unfortunately, two men were walking by and threw the bird in the trash with no regard. When looking at the windows I saw a clear reflection of the sky, clouds, and trees in front of the parking meters. I can distinguish the reflection, however, the birds cannot and in the United States alone close to one billion birds die each year due to window collisions, according to abcbirds.org.

I contacted the gym personnel and informed them of what had happened and they agreed that action needed to be taken. One of the employees even followed up with me about a week later and said that there were two more casualties. It is heartbreaking to know that we are directly impacting our environment around us with such little regard and with this kind of issue, there is an easy and fast solution. I emailed the director and the response I received was on April 23 and was assured something would be done in the coming couple weeks.

For birds, they are unable to distinguish the reflections on the glass from reality. In order to remedy this, the reflections need to be broken up and this can be done a number of inexpensive and effective ways. Two methods that Western should be able to accomplish with ease is utilizing tape on the outside of the windows meant for birds, or use decals. Utilizing decals would be a great way for Western to advertise its clubs, its fitness center and community amenities. Western could use this as another selling point for prospective students by demonstrating that we care about our environment and our impact.

Every life in this world matters; it is important that we do the best we can to live in harmony with the other animals and species around us. Without them, the world we know would not be possible. It is incredibly important that we as humans take responsibility for the impacts that we have with our surrounding environment. If we know that we are directly having a negative  impact we need to act on that accordingly and swiftly.

 

To publish a response, contact the editor of The Western Howl at howleditor@wou.edu

Photo by Ashlynn Norton

Opinion: Major keys of physical activity

Paul F. Davis | Managing Editor

As college students, some of us often wish we could switch our major (wouldn’t it be nice to be an art major for a day?), but for obvious reasons, that usually isn’t possible. But if you could, in a short period of time, know the most important pieces of information from a specific major, why would you not learn those things? Well, now’s your chance. But more importantly, I believe it’s the duty of each student to learn as much as you can about as many subjects as possible, because it could get you out of a bad position. Here’s an opportunity to learn about a major that you might not be involved with.

I am a graduating senior from Western’s Exercise Science Program and I have learned about all the main fields that have anything to do with exercise. I have built multiple research-based exercise programs; I know how to most effectively teach a person how to do a novel task; I can help anyone make long term change happen in their fitness and nutrition habits; and most importantly, I can tell you if protein powder will actually get you yoked.

First things first: no, protein powder will not get you yoked alone. Hypertrophy, the scientific name for muscle growth, only occurs when you overload your muscles. This overload then stimulates the process of repair. This process of repair is what eventually leads to yoke-ness and in order to repair, materials to rebuild are needed; in this case, this requires protein. Protein, which is uptaken from your diet, will then be passed along to areas of overload. The key here is that muscle growth is linked to overload or the amount of exercise you do, not the levels of protein consumption or the type of protein you are consuming. However, if you struggle to meet your base levels of protein needs, your body will not grow. It will instead stay the same or even atrophy, the opposite of hypertrophy. So, if you struggle to consume enough protein from diet alone, then you should definitely supplement with protein powder.

When it comes to trying to change our diet or our exercise levels we are often told the exactly wrong things to do. Diet-wise, we are often told to diet, which cuts out all carbs, or we are told to just eat cabbage soup for a week. Exercise-wise, we are told that one 90-day program will get us “RIPPED” or “toned.” But these changes are too extreme for most, and most in turn lose no weight or don’t change their activity.

The most effective way to change long term is to make small changes in everyday life to create healthy habits. Instead of going on that cabbage diet that will ruin your mood, start by eating the same foods and reducing portion size. Instead of working out while some overly-aggressive man screams at you through the TV, go on a walk and jog consistently to build a workout habit. For those that don’t eat healthy and don’t workout because their habits say so, change your habits with small changes and then your body will follow.

What should I do when I build a workout program? Well, the American College of Sports Medicine gives a few specific tips to maximize your workouts. To get better at running or biking, you should try to run or bike at least 20 minutes, but optimally more, three times a week — but five is best in order to be more fit. For weightlifting, you should be lifting weights two to three days a week with 24-48 hours of space between workouts at two to four sets of eight to twelve reps.  

So much more could be said about so many different subjects in the world of exercise science but hopefully this article helps to satisfy your desire to learn about new subjects and gives you tools to be a healthier human. If anything, you should remember that if you want accurate information about how to be more healthy, don’t trust that fitness model or celebrity, trust exercise professionals because like any subject that can be studied in college, it’s complicated.

 

Contact the author at pfdavis14@wou.edu

Guest Opinion: Western should accommodate for all the different student study needs

[fruitful_alert type=”alert-Info”]Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in guest opinions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Western Howl.[/fruitful_alert]

Suzana Carroll | Guest Contributor

We all know someone that does their best work late at night, but does Western accommodate them? Hamersly Library closes at 12 a.m., and does not reopen until 7:30 a.m. the next day, with only one small space open for 24 hours. Students who live on campus have the lounges in their respective dorms that are available to them at all hours, but what about those that cannot focus in the lounges or at home?

There needs to be more 24-hour study space available to individuals that live both on and off campus. There does not need to be an entire building dedicated to being open 24 hours but there definitely needs to be more than one room that is available; perhaps the bottom floor of Hamersly Library, so students can have tables, whiteboards, books/computers available to them and most importantly, a place where they feel they can focus and be productive.

By opening a bigger study space more student jobs could be created, and it would cater to those students who are more functional in the night hours. It would also allow for them to work on whatever they need to get done. Western has approximately 6,000 students, and only having one small 24-hour study space is very limiting and does not seem very inclusive to those who need to leave their living space to do their homework during night hours.

With Monmouth being a small town, late-night study spots are very limited. I interviewed a student who I saw was working in the 24-hour room and they said, “We need a bigger space on campus that can hold more than 30 people maximum because sometimes it gets pretty loud in the room and it becomes harder to focus on what I need to get done”.

The 24-hour room is open to anyone in the Monmouth/Independence area who wishes to use it. Opening a larger space would ensure that everyone who needs to use the resources that Western provides has a chance to and does not feel that the hours limit their abilities. Like most things, opening a space for a longer period of time results in higher costs. However, the library lights do stay on all night long, and the 24-hour room does not have constant supervision. While there would probably be added costs to student payroll to keep the floor supervised, it would only add up to about $80 per shift before taxes. There are many students that are night owls and would love to make the extra money while being able to do their own work. This idea has been implemented at various state universities such as Portland State, Oregon State and University of Oregon.

While there is a higher cost for student employment, keeping a larger study space open for 24 hours will most likely benefit and accommodate a large population of students and others who utilize the Western Oregon library because it allows for those individuals to have a quiet, constructive study space at night.

 

Contact the author at scarroll15@wou.edu

To publish a response, contact the editor at howleditor@wou.edu

Photo by Ashlynn Norton

Opinion: The biphobia epidemic

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

It is nearly common knowledge in the psychological community that the LGBTQ+ community experiences a disparate amount of mental health issues when compared to their straight counterparts. According to the Bisexual Resource Center, 40% of bisexual people report considering or attempting suicide, compared to roughly 25% of gay and lesbian folks.

Studies from the Williams Institute have discovered that people who identify as bisexual make up approximately half of the LGBTQ+ population, but only 28% of those people are out to their loved ones. Why these disparities? Biphobia has been posited as a cause.

The term “biphobia” is defined by the BRC as “mislabeling bi+ people as lesbian, gay or straight, even when they come out as bi+.” What does “bi+” mean? I’ll come back to that.

A lot of biphobia isn’t blatant. Instead, it is often buried deep within subtle actions, or microaggressions.

In his book, “Microaggressions in Everyday Life,” Derald Wing Sue defines microaggressions as the “constant and continuing reality of slights, insults, invalidations and indignities visited upon marginalized groups by well-intentioned, moral and decent family members, friends, neighbors, coworkers, students, teachers, clerks, waiters and waitresses, employers, health care professionals and educators.”

Biphobia is really more common than many people, straight and LGBTQ+ alike, think. For example, phrases are often uttered such as, “you’re just confused”; “bisexual people just want to sleep with everyone”; “bi people are more likely to cheat”; “can’t you just pick one?”; “you aren’t really bi if you’re dating (opposite gender)”; “you aren’t really straight if you’re dating (same gender)”; I could really go on.

Ignorance toward bisexuality and the erasure of bisexual identities is rampant in the LGBTQ+ community as well. Many gay or lesbian folks just assume that identifying as bisexual is only a baby step toward “actually” coming out as gay. Many people simply don’t understand what bisexuality means.

Now back to that word: “bi+.” This term simply acknowledges that different people interpret the label “bisexual” in different ways. Some people define bisexuality as being attracted to multiple genders, or more than one gender. Some people explain the term in the most stereotypically understood way: being attracted to men and women, or masculine and feminine people.

Sometimes people hear the word “bisexual” and they get stuck in that mindset that I just explained: bisexual people are only attracted to men and women, and it turns into a whole mess of “well does that mean bisexual people are just obsessed with someone’s genitals?” The answer? No. Bisexuality does not inherently mean that someone doesn’t acknowledge the complexities of gender. What the issue really comes down to is that some people don’t even want to get to know someone and what their bisexual identity means to them before they go and jump to all sorts of different conclusions.

I have experienced a lot of biphobia in my life, and I’ve watched my loved ones struggle with it as well. Experiencing biphobia from my own community has hindered me from truly accepting my identity, and in some cases, it has stopped me from coming out. I’ve been told I’m not gay enough to be Queer, and not straight enough to be straight. I’ve had friends question the validity of my identity. I’ve been called transphobic. I’ve been interrogated with “oh, you’re bi? But have you ‘tried’ both? Have you had sex with men and women?” This essentially says that if I hadn’t “tried both” I wouldn’t be a legitimate bisexual and I’d have my membership card revoked.

I think the LGBTQ+ community needs to be better. Writing off biphobia as simply a “straight” issue is ignoring a big part of the problem. How can we expect straight people to be accepting of our community if we aren’t even accepting of each other? There is no excuse to be this oblivious anymore. Bisexual people exist and we need your support too.

 

Contact the author at cweedon16@wou.edu

Photo by Ashlynn Norton

Opinion: Where campus jobs and management could improve

Rebecca Meyers | Lifestyle Editor

At the start of almost every term, signs pop up around the on-campus cafes, dining areas and other places informing students that they are hiring. These campus positions exclusively hire students — but why do the signs appear so often? Surely, Western understands the struggle of working students and does everything they can to ensure that student employees have a reliable, accommodating job to depend on? And why wouldn’t they stick around longer if that was the case?

Shortly after being enrolled in Western, I figured out that most — not all, but most — campus jobs are not exactly the most desirable. I remember distinctly two different occasions that I, in an offhand manner, mentioned I had thought about applying for one for convenience’s sake and was immediately informed by a friend or classmate that this was a bad idea. Talking to a few former employees echoed this sentiment towards campus dining, campus recreation and campus safety.

Morgan Taylor, a senior education major, relayed her experience working on campus to me.

“Like any other job, it had its ups and downs. I liked what I did and I learned a lot in my two years I spent there. However, by the end of my time, I felt very under appreciated and taken advantage of in terms of scheduling,” Taylor said. “It ended up being a very negative experience for me because of the way it ended with a certain administrator who I had a hard time communicating with because of their lack of leadership and compassion and understanding that we are students. And as a result, because of the unwillingness to communicate, they forgot to put me on the schedule. This careless mistake cost me three months of pay and if it wasn’t for help from my family, I would have had to drop out of school.”

Another student, who worked in a different department of campus but wished to remain anonymous, expressed similar experience.

“I feel as if working on campus is made into my main priority (over) school and family. Management has made me late to class on several occasions by not giving me and fellow students enough time to close out, gather belongings and walk to class. I also felt and noticed some toxic things happening while in the job and students feeling uncomfortable around those we work with. I understand that many places around campus have these issues and (I) believe these need to be looked into,” said the student.

Two other students, both current employees of Valsetz Dining Hall, gave insight to the campus dining situation.

“There are some faculty on board who do have our best interests at heart and are on our side. But there are still many higher ups that make it feel like an unforgiving environment that expects us to have no lives outside of Valsetz,” said one employee.

The other student added, “Overall I like the people I work with, it’s just the way it’s run… If anyone ever asks if they should apply to Valsetz, I say only if it’s your last option.”

What these experiences reflect is a problem well known on some level or another among many students at Western. To me, this is a disappointing dynamic, one that is clearly detrimental to some student employees for a number of reasons.

Firstly, for students, financial well-being is a big part of maintaining peace of mind and therefore both mental health and academic performance. A student constantly worried about finances will have less energy to focus on schoolwork — and, in a worse case scenario, it can actually compromise their ability to make ends meet. Hours that students are allowed to work are limited to around 20 hours a week, so that students have enough time to attend classes and complete schoolwork. Which, in theory, is great: they’re looking out for students’s time-management needs. However, this does not allow very much room for the financial needs many students face — school fees among them.

Also, looking out for students’s overall well-being should also include providing a workplace that adds as little stress as possible, which is hard to do when it feels like managers don’t fully understand the needs of their employees.

Personally, I have found my off campus job (which is a minimum wage position in food service that is by no means my dream job) much more accommodating to my schedule in a way that allows me to get enough hours, with my manager even asking every employee how many hours they think they can work without stretching themselves too thin, how many hours minimum they need to survive and what their preferable medium between the two is. This eliminates a lot of stress for my coworkers and I, and we usually feel we are in a financially stable position.

This is the kind of respect that anyone should find even in an entry level job, though all too often it isn’t, and for Western student employees to feel that this is lacking is both a poor reflection on the institution as a whole and likely a reason for the negative perception of campus jobs among students.

Another reason this issue should concern Western is that it affects the overall perception of the school that students will leave with and take with them for the rest of their lives, which will possibly affect whether they recommend the school to others, or even whether they decide to complete their degree here.

Overall, it seems that current Western campus jobs could stand to have a reminder that employment is a big part of student lives, and therefore should be treated with as much thought and effort as possible. This would end up benefiting everyone in the long run.

 

Contact the author at rmeyers17@mail.wou.edu

Photo by Caity Healy

Western Oregon University

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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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