Ap r i l , vo l . 3 1 i s s u e 9
r a g u o VanC TEAM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Emily Baumann
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Cecilia Hoxeng
MANAGING EDITOR WEB MANAGER Austin Cari Brody Voge LAYOUT EDITOR Emily Baumann
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER Sydney Brower
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REPORTER Tessa Hensley
PHOTOGRAPHER David Priymak
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The VanCougar, a student-run newsmagazine, informs and engages the WSU Vancouver community while practicing the highest standards of timely, ethical journalism.
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ON THE
Cover
Librarian Karen Diller shares her secrets behind WSU Vancouver’s unique library space. (David Priymak / The VanCougar)
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IN
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ISSUE
10 12 Sam Buechler, student success librarian, discusses how AI proctoring is targeting marginalized students.
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Study abroad classes
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Research on study spaces
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Artificial intelligence proctoring
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comfort cinema
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cougar bites: boba tea
(David Priymak / The VanCougar)
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Senior and digital technology and culture major, Joel Clapp. (David Priymak / The VanCougar)
Boba at Cloud 9. (David Priymak / The VanCougar)
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APRIL 2021
Traveling from home: WSU offers virtual study abroad programs Solving the study abroad conundrum, WSU’s Global Learning department finds a way for students to access international education, now through the use of their computer screens.
Olivia Eldredge | Copy Editor Studying abroad can be one of the most exciting aspects of one’s college career. Traveling internationally to Spain, Italy or France provides a unique experience for students and leaves them enhanced with knowledge surrounding different cultures and perspectives. However, due to the health and safety restrictions put in place by the COVID-19 pandemic, WSU has managed to find an adaptable solution to quench students’ thirst for travel. While in-person study abroad programs have been suspended through the end of summer 2021, those working in the university’s Global Learning department have established a new form of global education through virtual programs that allow students to learn abroad from their own homes. On March 10, WSU’s Office of International Programs sponsored the Spring Global Learning Fair. The event presented several opportunities for students to learn more information about global education and potential post-pandemic travel. While gathering over Airmeet online, Global Learning advisers, student peer mentors and many others were there to chat with students about their future aspirations for studying overseas. Kelly Newlon is WSU’s director of Global Learning and primary supervisor of all study abroad affairs through the university. During the event, Newlon provided students with answers for general inquiries, and information about all the options available for education abroad through the Global Learning department.
Although students can choose the program that best fits them, Newlon said as of now, virtual study abroad is the most beneficial for students, especially those in the Carson College of Business, who need an international credit requirement. “We were having an especially hard time finding requirements for the international credit in time for graduation, especially if they were an international business major. So we created a specific virtual program for them where they are basically serving as international consultants,” Newlon said. Additionally, when asked about the most popular places WSU students tend to visit through the programs, Newlon said many of them tend to travel to Spain and Italy.
La Giralda, Catedral de Santa Maria de la Sede Seville, Spain
Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore Florence, Italy
“Students tend to love Spain and Italy. … Then it’s Australia and New Zealand. Although they won’t let us in for quite some time, it might be the middle of 2022 before they’re willing to have international students in their countries. … I would love to see more Cougs going to South America, Africa, Asia, but all of them are really great options. Going abroad really helps students stretch more in terms of understanding how the world works,” Newlon said. Miwako Nakamoto is WSU Vancouver’s primary adviser for study abroad programs, and works as a student success coach in the Student Resource Center. While considering virtual programs is worthwhile, she said traveling abroad in person is extremely rewarding for students who want to immerse themselves in the atmospheres of different countries. Although virtual programs might be beneficial for certain students now, such as those in the Carson College of Business, she encouraged undergraduates to still consider the amazing opportunities that different study abroad programs can offer in person. “The best part of [advising] is helping students realize that studying abroad is actually achievable. … It takes some time and effort, but it is highly achievable and I really like that part. Also, when I connect with students who return abroad, they have tons of amazing stories,” Nakamoto said. “I’m here to make them realize, this is a possibility for you, for anyone, anywhere, anytime, regardless of who you are or where you’re coming from, or what your financial background could be.”
Nakamoto also said WSU Vancouver as an institution should start working hard to promote study abroad and global learning as a whole to enrich their goals toward equity, diversity and inclusion. She explained, when visiting a country abroad, students will have a firsthand experience of what different countries are like outside the U.S., while prompting them to develop a sense of compassion and understanding for other peoples’ cultures and customs. “I hope WSU Vancouver as an institution will really support and help students go abroad, because we often talk about diversity, and being inclusive. Studying abroad is one of the best ways to learn about current issues, and I often tell students that when you study abroad, you are a true ambassador to the country,” Nakamoto said. Before students begin their study abroad journey, whether virtual or in person, Nakamoto recommended attending a mandatory Global Cougs 101 session to find out more information. Nakamoto also suggested that VanCougs should start thinking about studying abroad now, whether virtually or physically, and plan for in-person travel in Spring of 2022. There are also many opportunities for financial assistance and scholarships available for students to apply for on the WSU study abroad site, along with various funding options from several program providers. It is unclear how long it will be before students are completely safe to travel, but if they can no longer study abroad normally, virtual programs might continue to be the next best alternative.
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APRIL 2021
Librarian Karen Diller dives into her research on the perfect study space
Tessa Hensley | Reporter Every student knows the library can be a special place to study, gather with friends or just relax. Serving as a social hotspot before the pandemic, the library has remained the only open building at WSU Vancouver for over a year. As the library currently serves as a space for students to safely study with COVID-19 protocols, director of the library, Karen Diller, is currently researching physical spaces and how they impact students’ study habits. As she sits in her own office space, Diller’s walls are accompanied by light blue paint and a large window decorated with hanging plants. When asked how she created such a unique space, Diller says her inspiration and passion for study space research comes from the idea of hospital recovery gardens. “There was a lot of research starting to be done about how greenspaces or windows in hospital rooms can aid in recovery, and in the ability for people to concentrate on the important details that doctors are telling them to pay attention to,” Diller said. “Those things are, in some ways, very similar to what you need when you study. You need to be able to concentrate and absorb new information and make the connections in your brain to what you already know. You need to de-stress because it is shown that stress can make studying and doing the deep work of critical thinking more difficult.”
Keeping this in mind, Diller has designed the WSU Vancouver library as the ultimate study space. By placing many indoor plants that sit throughout the corners of the library, Diller says they improve air quality and make for a more pleasing environment. Other qualities of a great study space are the presence of large windows, and being surrounded by books. Additionally, Diller says students often enjoy seeing books when they study, even when they are not actively using them. “They do not see those as maybe valuable research materials for their particular needs, but having the books there says something to them about being in a library. People say, ‘I know what I am supposed to do in this space, it helps me to impose some discipline on myself about studying because that is what I am supposed to be doing in this space,’” Diller said. According to Diller, comfortable chairs and large tables are also a benefit to the study space too. Therefore, when every element of a great study space is combined, the library at WSU Vancouver shines as the perfect example. While at home, students might also want to integrate some of these study space elements to improve their own experience. One of the employees working in the library, Sam Cousins, is currently a senior and digital technology and culture major, and works on campus four days a week. She says the university’s move to online instruction this past year has made the library a very different place than it was before.
APRIL 2021
Librarian Karen Diller reveals the presence of books, plants and comfy chairs are key attributions to maintaining an effective study space. (David Priymak / The VanCougar)
“It is really weird having it all digital. … I feel a little bit bad for everybody who is just starting and did not get to experience what campus was like,” Cousins said. “You walk into the library and it is dead in there. That was never the case [before COVID]. When everybody was here, the library was constantly full, despite it being a library. There was a constant hum of life.” Although the library works as a great space for Cousins to work, it is difficult to create a perfect place for everyone to complete homework, because all students have different needs and learn in different ways. Diller says some students require a quiet area, while others enjoy a more lively environment. “People learn in different ways, then it is also dependent on what your activity is at the time, you know, what do you want to accomplish in that space today? The same person might need to learn by doing for one class, or for one activity, conversing when there is a group project. Then when someone is studying for an exam or is really starting to write that research paper, they need the quiet reflection space,” Diller said. Before the switch to online instruction, Diller was working on adding more quiet study spaces to the library, which was lacking due to the limited amount of space to work with. Before the pandemic, roughly 30 students could use the quiet study room at one time, but now it is drastically less.
“My research agenda and my passion is the design of interior spaces in the library. Students don’t need to come to the library to get materials in many cases now, but undergraduate students continually tell us that they use the library, and we see that to be true. They’re using it in different ways, and so that was part of what got me interested. With the advent of the internet, the library has changed. We’re not the gatekeepers to the information anymore,” Diller said. “Students have families, they have children, they have home responsibilities. Students work a lot and so they really have to be able to most effectively use their time when they are ready to do their schoolwork. … What really gets me up in the morning is asking ‘how can we make this space in the library work for that?’” While Diller continues to pursue her passion for forming the best possible study spaces for students, there is no question as to why the library is such a comfortable place to get work done. The large windows overlooking the campus and beyond, are proven to provide students with a wonderful environment to be in while they study in comfy chairs surrounded by a variety of lush indoor houseplants. The library is designed for success, and if you have not had much luck with studying at home lately, try paying it a visit sometime. It could be just what you need to ace that next exam.
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APRIL 2021
How AI proctoring is targeting marginalized students Megan Bina | Reporter Since the switch to remote learning, universities are increasing their use of virtual proctoring, including the Washington State University campus-wide system. As debates surround the software, questioning whether it is ethical or intrusive, WSU Vancouver’s student success librarian, Sam Buechler, weighs in on the harmful impacts the software can have on marginalized communities. WSU Vancouver happens to be one of many campuses nationwide that has elected to include artificially intelligent proctoring software since the start of remote learning due to the pandemic. This type of software is used as a supplemental way to supervise students during test-taking when professors are not physically or virtually present to monitor their students. An example of this AI program is ProctorU, a service that requires students to hand over total control of their computer, and send a live video of their surroundings. In an attempt to eliminate cheating on tests, students are also subject to facial tracking software, which analyzes students’ movements to ensure they are only looking at their computer screens. Being a part of WSU Vancouver’s Accessibility Council, which is composed of both faculty and students, Buechler dedicates their time to addressing and advocating for accessibility issues across campus. Their current focus is on AI proctoring software and how it can be potentially harmful to marginalized groups.
“It uses an algorithm to determine whether you’re cheating or not, or having ‘suspicious behavior.’ That algorithm itself is really biased and uses some technology that is actively harmful, especially for students with disabilities, and students of Black Indigenous People of Color communities, gender non-conforming students and is actively biased against them. It brings up ‘suspicions’ against them more frequently than that of students who don’t fall into those categories,” Buechler said. They also state these “suspicions” the software creates can involve flagging students if they read aloud or look away from the screen for too long while using scratch paper or a calculator. Furthermore, facial recognition software is biased towards white students, which means it has issues recognizing BIPOC with darker skin tones. This implication often requires students of color to relocate in brighter areas where they take the test or set up lights around their space, a task not required of white students. So this had ing and
how is WSU Vancouver responding to issue? While the Vancouver campus has five introductory courses for staff on usthis software, discussion of the efficacy ethicality of ProctorU is still taking place.
“I think that it’s an important discussion to have at our campus. … I think at last count we have about five classes that are using [AI proctoring]. But that being said, it is something that we are contracted with through Pullman, and we don’t actively inform students about the potential harms of it, nor do we let them know whether we discourage it. We just don’t communicate with them. I think that it’s pretty important overall to let them know what this is, how it can affect them, and also just generally what you think about it,” Buechler said. When asked what the next step may be for WSU’s use of the software, Buechler says students can reach out to administration, faculty members or the Associated Students of WSU Vancouver, as a means to address any issues or concerns related to ProctorU. Debates concerning the program are ongoing, but Buechler says there are still several conversations to be had about the software, and believes student opinions are a vital part in finding a solution.
APRIL 2021
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APRIL 2021
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ver a year into the pandemic, many college students still find themselves in quarantine, and watching movies and TV shows have become an essential role of escapism within their everyday schedules. From discussing action-packed films to B-horror classics, these VanCougs delve deeper into their cinematic favorites. Barysh Agaliyev, senior digital technology and culture major, finds that watching different films creates different experiences for the viewer. Agaliyev references two very different movies, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” and “Lord of the Rings,” which both offer a sense of comfort and nostalgia. “‘Lord of the Rings,’ for example, I like it for the overall experience. I love music, and even classical music, and hearing all those compositions is very pleasing. But it’s also visually beautiful and the [series] takes on an adventure, that’s the other aspect of it,” Agaliyev said. Watching adventure films featuring incredible film scores, scenery and enriching storylines seems like the perfect escape when being stuck inside. However, cinematic epics are not for everyone, as Agaliyev explains and sometimes a relaxing coming of age film might suit someone else’s preference. “I mentioned ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower,’ I think why I liked that film so much is that as a viewer it’s [nice to] see the younger version of yourself and reflect on that,” Agaliyev said. In contrast, fellow digital technology and ture senior, Joel Clapp, finds most of comfort in the horror genre, an interest grew from their love of films at a young
cultheir that age.
“I’ve always been someone who’s interested in cinema. My family was very big on family movie nights, watching TV together, that was our kind of daily dinner ritual. And so I grew up watching a lot of movies, and as a self-identifying creative, I always liked to pick them apart, find the parts of them that I liked, what did and didn’t work. I always imagined making my own movies someday, so I really was drawn to cinema at a young age,” Clapp said.
Barysh Agaliyev, senior digital technology and culture major, says adventurous and coming of age films serve as a perfect fix for comfort films. (David Priymak / The VanCougar)
For Clapp, films such as Sam Raimi’s 1987 B-horror classic “Evil Dead II” serve as the perfect stress release. “‘Evil Dead II’ is one of my all-time favorites. I think it perfectly hits that balance in the series of the campy comedy, but also still being really dark and horrific. The first one was a little too serious, the third one was pretty much downright comedy. I love the whole series, and all of its branch off media and everything, but I think [‘Evil Dead II’] perfectly hit that middle ground for me,” Clapp said. When asked how cinema can be a source of comfort for college students to turn to, Agaliyev and Clapp note similar ideas. Both notice that quite a few of their fellow students have resorted to rewatching classic sitcoms like “The Office” or “Friends.” However, when considering their own opinions on the matter, Agaliyev believes sitcoms hold great potential when rewatching them.
“[These sitcoms are] something you can keep re-watching and re-watching because you know you’re gonna have a good time,” Agaliyev said. Robert Kugler, an integrated strategic communication major, used to turn towards sitcoms as a form of background noise, but now finds that with watching shows like “How I Met Your Mother,” characters begin to grow on you after watching for several seasons. “You kind of get to know them a bit, like family, and always keep on ing for the invitation to Marshall Lily’s party, or their reunion,” Kugler
THE COMFORT OF CINEMA Megan Bina | Reporter
little waitand said.
On the other hand, Clapp finds that sitcoms do not give off the same satisfaction as films, explaining how easy it is to become too invested in the lives of fictional characters, which might potentially cause unwanted feelings of anguish during such a difficult time. “Our brains can’t quite tell that the people on TV are characters and it’s fiction. So, we end up getting emotionally invested in these characters in a similar way that we do with real friends. That’s why we can feel a kind of heartbreak when we reach the end of the series, because we think we’re going to, you know, miss our friends,” Clapp said. Although one might feel a sense of heartbreak at the end of a film or show, the emotional bonds developed through TV screens, both factual and fictitious, have become one of the few instances which make such an unprecedented time more bearable. For these students, cinema presents itself as the forefront of their relaxation and comfort, and might continue to do so as the pandemic surges on.
Senior digital technology and culture major, Joel Clapp, has loved the horror genre from a very young age and likes to analyze the creative aspects of film and television. (David Priymak / The VanCougar)
COUGAR BITES: Best boba tea Tessa Hensley | Reporter Little tapioca balls have lightened the lives of tea and caffeine fanatics, especially for the average college student. If you love boba, it’s impossible to imagine a life without sipping drinks through giant, colorful straws. With the rise of bubble tea shops popping up in the Pacific Northwest, The VanCougar has assembled a list of the best boba restaurants to try in the Vancouver area.
Cloud 9 Pho & Teatime Going to Cloud 9 is a sure way to find some great, high-quality bubble tea. Their menu has tons of fruity teas and other drinks with mouth-watering flavors, including the tiger sugar milk tea, which hits you with a blast of sweetened butterscotch and caramel. Their Thai Tea is also a crowd-pleaser, and is truly a delicious treat. Not only are the drinks great, but the boba itself is amazing. The texture is chewy and the flavor holds its own against the drinks. Cloud 9 is 18 minutes away from campus, but the drive is worth it. The restaurant also serves pho, various sandwiches, noodles, along with appetizers like egg rolls, potstickers and fries.
Boba Tree From the vibrant music to the beautiful walls painted in blue and white trees, Boba Tree holds amazing character to its shop and is only a 15 minute drive from campus. The boba bar has a decent selection of flavors ranging from lavender to fresh strawberry milk tea. Top menu items include the brown sugar milk tea, as it’s almost guaranteed to put a smile on your face, and the Hokkaido, another sweet butterscotch option. Their fruity teas are enticing as well, with flavors like white peach green tea and dragon fruit. Boba Tree also has a variant of add-ons including puddings, jellies and ice cream to give an extra boost of flavor to your drink combo.
Cupidone Coffee House Everything about Cupidone is adorable. The name, the red heart logo, even the windows filled with cute pictures of cartoon boba teas with smiling faces. Cupidone’s classic black milk tea is a must-try, but if Fruity Pebbles are your favorite kind of cereal, the taro milk tea is a fan favorite. Cupidone also has several pastries like cinnamon rolls, cookies, bagels and is only a 15 minute drive away from campus. The demand for bubble tea shops is increasing and for good reason. While there are a vast amount of shops around the Vancouver and Portland metropolitan areas, these three restaurants are a great place to start when finding the perfect cup of boba tea.
April m a r k yo u r c a l e n da r . . . thurs.
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sun.
mon.
wed.
7 thurs.
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April Fool’s Day
mon.
Creative Writers Series: Debra Magpie Earling 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
BaCE, Trauma Informed Campus 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.
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Documentary, “Mauna Kea: Temple Under Siege” 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
thurs.
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History on Tap, “History of Transgender People in Washington and the American West” 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
wed.
Virtual Student Q & A with Dr. Susan Neiman 10:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Easter Sunday
First Time Renters Workshop 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. IQ Credit Union Financial Literacy Fair 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. Creative Writers Series: Mahogany L. Browne 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Who Might Be Reeling Your Identity In? 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
21 fri.
Graduation Leis 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
fri.
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month presents Robin Fifta 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
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NEXT ISSUE OF THE VANCOUGAR SHIPS MAY 3 Daisies at WSU Vancouver (Photo courtesy of Laura Dutelle)