d e c e m b e r , vo l . 3December 0 i s s u e2019 5
Look Inside for: VanCoug Holiday Heritages A conversation about vaccines New procedure for controversial speakers
JEannette Hurt THe ins and outs of Campus groundSkeeping
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r a g u o C Van TEAM December 2019
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Anna Nelson LAYOUT EDITOR Henry Sissac COPY EDITOR Katherine O’Boyle COPY EDITOR Aaron Hellerstein PHOTOGRAPHER Sydnie Kobza ADVERTISING MANAGER Pieter Conradie WEB MANAGER Austin Cari
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER Brody Voge
@thevancougar
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REPORTER Olivia Eldredge REPORTER Krysten Stewart
ADVISER Raul Moreno
/TheVanCougar
@thevancougar
REPORTER Emily Baumann
REPORTER Brody Voge
Social Get
Mission
The VanCougar, a student-run newsmagazine, informs and engages the WSU Vancouver community while practicing the highest standards of timely, ethical journalism.
s terthe Letto editor The VanCougar welcomes letters and commentary from members of the WSU Vancouver community on current issues. Letters must include the author’s full name, contact information and WSU affiliation: year and major for students, department for faculty and staff, degree and year graduated for alumni. The VanCougar does not publish anonymous letters. Send letters and commentary to van.vc.editor@ wsu.edu. Once received, letters become property of The VanCougar and are subject to editing for length, clarity and style.
Corrections
In the November issue, The VanCougar stated on page 8 that Shain Wright started their own club in 2016, when it should be 2015. In the November Newswire the story, "DTC student rolls out new film" used "Anderson" and "Andersen" interchangably. The correct spelling is Andersen. The VanCougar is a source of honest, factual information. If you see an error, we want to address it. Please contact the editor-in-chief at van.vc.editor@wsu.edu for corrections.
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Jeannette Hurt, public safety officer at WSU Vancouver, has proudly served campus for 21 years. (Sydnie Kobza/The VanCougar)
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Let's talk about vaccines New Procedure for Controversial Guest Speakers
6 around 8 Holidays the world 10
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The ins and outs of campus ground control
11 Bites: 14 Cougar Holiday Edition Fall Photo Showcase
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December 2019
A Conversation on the 2019 Measles Outbreak:
Let’s Talk About Vaccines Emily Baumann| Reporter Four panelists gathered at WSU Vancouver to talk about the measles outbreak and vaccines. Panelists included healthcare professionals, health writers and a vaccine-hesitant VanCoug. The panel was put on by WSU Vancouver’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication.
“We are really just trying to appeal to the safe, effective nature of vaccines and the risks that are there when you choose not to vaccinate.” — Debra Carnes
3D graphic representation of a measles virus particle. (Alissa Eckert/Center for Disease Control and Prevention)
Panelists discuss their views on vaccines and how to address future public health December emergencies. From left to right: Lori Anderson, Wyatt Stayner, Debra Carnes and2019 Alan Melnick. (Sydnie Kobza/The VanCougar)
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From January through April 2019, Clark County Public Health Services confirmed 71 cases of measles in Clark County alone. On Nov. 12, WSU Vancouver held a panel titled “Anatomy of a Public Health Crisis: Clark County’s Measles Outbreak,” to discuss the measles epidemic and what the community should do moving forward regarding vaccines and public health emergencies. The panelists included: Alan Melnick, county public health director and Clark County health officer, Debra Carnes, director of strategic communications at PeaceHealth, Wyatt Stayner, health staff writer at The Columbian and Lori Anderson, a WSU Vancouver student. Oregon Public Broadcasting Southwest Washington Bureau Chief Molly Solomon moderated the panel. According to the Clark County Public Health website, currently 78% of people ages six to 18 have been vaccinated in Clark County. Melnick touched on the issue of low immunization rates among Clark County residents. According to Melnick, in order to prevent a public health crisis, the community must increase immunization rates. “This [outbreak] was completely and 100% preventable and it’s no surprise that we had this. Given our vaccination rates that continue to be low and given that measles is still circulating globally and around the United States, we’re likely to have another one,” Melnick said. “This situation is inevitable to happen again if we don’t get our vaccination rates up in our community.”
Carnes touched on the role PeaceHealth plays when conversing with patients about getting vaccinated and making sure the community is aware that PeaceHealth is a reliable source that focuses on scientifically supported evidence. “Our providers can’t convince or force a parent to give vaccines to their children, but they certainly can present all the facts,” Carnes said. “We are really just trying to appeal to the safe, effective nature of vaccines and the risks that are there when you choose not to vaccinate.” Regarding the importance of vaccinations, the panel discussed ways to communicate with people on both sides of the spectrum ranging from pro-vaccine to antivaccine. The panel concluded that individuals should converse and listen to both sides of the issue and try to understand each other’s perspectives. Junior strategic communications major and vaccine-hesitant member of the panel, Lori Anderson, shared her input on how the community could practice better communication among the topic of vaccination.
“I would like for people to actually sit down, communicate and understand just because somebody is hesitant … [it’s] for a reason. Everybody has a reason for the decisions that they make and I’d like for people to communicate with each other instead of blaming each other,” Anderson said. There is currently one confirmed case of measles within Clark County as of Nov. 21. Vaccination rates are still low, despite 2019’s outbreak. According to the Oxford Vaccine Group, 90-95% of people need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity [protection from infectious disease occurring when a large portion of the population is immune, usually from vaccines] for measles.
(Sydnie Kobza/The VanCougar)
“This situation is inevitable to happen again if we don’t get our vaccination rates up in our community.” — Alan Melnick
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December 2019
New proposal regulates guest speakers on campus Olivia Eldredge | Reporter
WSU Vancouver is developing a new procedure that hopes to deal with controversial guest speakers on campus.
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he regulation of controversial guest speakers on a college campus can be a challenging task to uphold. WSU Vancouver’s new proposed procedure aims to protect the rights of student organized clubs and continues to provide opportunities for freedom of expression, while applying safe legal practices for guest speakers on campus. According to the procedure draft, “WSU Vancouver is committed to preserving and protecting the rights for all students, faculty and staff to engage in their freedom of expression while abiding by federal and state laws … speakers and events on campus contribute to the critical inquiry, open discussion and expression of ideas that are essential to the university’s educational mission.” Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and Enrollment Domanic Thomas explained what this drafted policy will mean for WSU Vancouver’s procedural standards, if brought into effect.
“The idea is to provide a process in which students must engage with other students if there are concerns,” Thomas said. The procedure would work closely with CougSync, where guest speaker events are announced publicly, prior to their presentation on campus. Helen Gregory, the administrative manager for student affairs and enrollment, said that CougSync will be the platform used for vetting speakers on campus. Thomas wants to use CougSync in a more progressive way. “What I'm proposing with this procedure, and adapting it system wide is … CougSync communicating with the campus, [saying] ‘here are the pending requests,’” Thomas said. Thomas encourages interaction between students to facilitate a conversation about why a controversial guest speaker should come to campus, and how they could, or could not, be helpful to public discourse.
He believes that guest speakers can always have a constructive impact. Thomas said, “No matter what, there's positive to it, even if its a speaker that students in general don’t particularly like … speakers that a group brought forward want to hear [that] message … students should know the impact of that message, and students should be able to navigate what it means on their campus, whether good or bad.” Thomas suggested students can become collaborators, encouraging the presence of positive guest speakers on campus instead. “We’re going to use critical thinking, not violence, we're going to use our relationships. The fact that we all care about people, and use that angle versus, ‘I’m going to shut you down,’” Thomas said. He encourages students to remember that they should listen to one another if concerns arise.
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“This is a work in progress and something that is in its very early stages, but it goes to helping answer the question, ‘what do we do about controversial speakers coming to campus?’” — Domanic Thomas
“In the end a group can still say, ‘we hear you, here are some things we can do to mitigate that, but we are moving forward with the presenter,’ and they can do that,” Thomas said. Clubs have the ability to bring a controversial speaker onto campus, which gives other clubs and students the ability to protest. Thomas explained student groups should have the mindset of, “How can we educate others and discuss the overall issue of the controversial speaker?” Private schools can mandate speakers based on the values of that institution and they have legal authority to prohibit unwanted guest speakers on campus. Since WSU Vancouver is a public university, the university cannot forbid speakers. “As a public campus, we must be conflict neutral, how we go about this has to be different, and we need to recognize the impacts,” Thomas said. The situation changes if the speaker or group presenting becomes physically threatening, according to Thomas.
Signs of protest were displayed around campus when Patriot Prayer spoke on campus in October 2018. (Bailley Simms/The VanCougar)
“We have some very clear guidelines and if a person is making a direct threat, that is an issue. The freedom of speech that folks are allowed has a wide breadth, and as folks make direct threats, that’s when we can engage,” Thomas said. One example of a controversial presence on campus is the group Patriot Prayer, who assembled at WSU Vancouver in October 2018. These rallies increased security operations and brought additional members of the Vancouver Police Department to campus. Events, like Patriot Prayer rallying on campus, sparked conversation within WSU Vancouver administration on how to respond to controversial speakers or groups in an efficient and legal way. “I saw this as an issue coming around the corner for our campus, as well as our sister campuses around the state,” Thomas said.
Gregory explained that with the new procedure, all speakers will be vetted with the same process. “Because everybody is treated the same with the policy, we haven’t run into problems in the past, but this is going to help us not run into problems in the future. That’s the idea,” she said. “We want to make sure that everybody’s voice is heard. And so that’s an important part of this process.” According to Gregory, the procedure may take awhile to be adapted into a policy. “If this is put into place as a procedure, it would happen much more quickly than if it’s a policy change. Policy changes have to go through all sorts of different steps,” Gregory said. Thomas added, “This is a work in progress and something that is in its very early stages, but it goes to helping answer the question, ‘what do we do about controversial speakers coming to campus?’”
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December 2019
Holiday season sparks conversation about cultural heritages Krysten Stewart | Reporter
VanCougs share their culture's biggest celebration as the traditional holiday season comes around the corner. Xena Le enjoys celebrating Tết, a Vietnamese holiday. (Sydnie Kobza/The VanCougar)
The holiday season does not look the same for everyone and with WSU Vancouver’s diverse student body, one could expect that your celebration might look very different from your lab partner’s. VanCougs spoke with The VanCougar to share their culture’s most important holidays and how they celebrate them. Freshman biology major Xena Le is of Vietnamese heritage. She explained that the biggest holiday in her culture is Tết, the Vietnamese New Year.
Tết is based on the Vietnamese lunar calendar and usually occurs in January or February. This year the holiday falls on Jan. 25. According to Le, Portland, Oregon hosts different Lunar New Year festivals. “It’s a big celebration,” Le explained. “People dress up as dragons and do traditional dances. There’s a lot of food.” According to Le, family and friends gather together and share traditional food, like Bánh chưng, sticky rice cakes stuffed with different fillings like pork and beans.
December 2019 Le’s favorite tradition of the holiday is when “The kids bless the adults and after the adults are blessed, they give the kids money,” Le said. “It’s a fun holiday.”
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People decorated their houses with mistletoe and holly and gathered together to share food and celebrate, according to Vedette. “It’s pretty much the original Christmas!” Vedette said. Junior mechanical engineering major, James Yoopat, came to the U.S. from Thailand at the age of 13. Yoopat explained even though Thanksgiving and Christmas are Christian and western holidays, many Thai people celebrate them. “Cultures influence each other,” Yoopat said. “ [Thai] people have just adopted it as their tradition.”
Othman Alamoudi begins Eid al-Adha by giving thanks. (Photo courtesy of Othman
Alamoudi)
Othman Alamoudi, a senior management and information major, moved to the United States in 2014 from Yemen. While he has lived in the United States for five years and plans to make it his home, he proudly upholds his cultural roots and celebrates Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha; Muslim holidays, often celebrated with festivals. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the holy month, Ramadan. Eid al-Adha commemorates Ibrahim’s obedience to Allah. According to Alamoudi, the day begins by giving thanks. “We wake up at 8:00 o’clock in the morning, and we go to the mosque, and we pray, and then after we pray we greet each other and then go to each other’s houses. At one o’clock we gather and we eat together,” Alamoudi said. Sophomore Jason Vedette celebrates their Irish ancestry by recognizing Yule, a Celtic festival that takes place from December 22, 2019, to January 2, 2020. Yule symbolizes the death of the old year and heralds the dawn of the new. According to Vedette, “It is to celebrate the end of winter and extension of days as it goes into summer.” One of the long-lasting Celtic traditions is the Yule log. According to lore, Celtic priests set fire to a Yule log to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck in the following year.
Songkran
According to Yoopat, Thailand ushers in the new year with their biggest and most famous festival; Songkran. The new year celebration takes every year from April 13 to 15. Yoopat explained that Songkran is, “a big water fight. People pull out water guns and soak each other. It’s a classic Thai tradition.” WSU Vancouver recognizes some cultural celebrations, such as Diwali and Día de los Muertos, throughout the year in an attempt to foster an inclusive environment. If you aim to learn more about your classmate’s cultures, consider attending the next cultural celebration.
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December 2019
The ins and outs of campus Brody Voge | Reporter If you frequent campus as the sun rises or sets, you have likely seen groundskeepers and campus police scurrying in the background to keep the campus pristine. A lot of work is put into maintaining the campus and facilities services perform their often demanding work behind-the-scenes of campus life. Multiple departments operate under facilities services, all specializing in different operations of campus maintenance. The facilities services department includes: campus grounds maintenance, building architecture maintenance, mechanical, electrical and plumbing maintenance, events, environmental health and safety, custodial services and more. While some of these jobs could be outsourced to private contractors, Associate Vice Chancellor for facilities services Bill Hooper sees value in having a team of hired employees that know what they are doing and the special needs of where they are doing it. “There’s great value in having people here that are invested in the campus, know the systems and can respond quickly because [they are] familiar,” Hooper said. Jeannette Hurt, the night shift campus police officer, has been working closely with the facilities services department throughout her 21-year employment with WSU Vancouver. “When you have a campus of this size, things can happen. You have to be able to come in on things and deal with them together, even if it’s not something traditionally law enforcement would deal with,” Hurt said.
Hurt recalls a scenario several years ago when classes had been canceled in fear of falling trees and branches due to a windstorm. While students were off campus, Hurt and facilities employees dealt with the debris that fell. “There’s a bit of comfort after so many years of knowing I know what I need to do, I’ve been through this before,” Hurt said. “We all have a responsibility to make sure this campus is safe for all of our students, we’re all here to serve our students, we all pitch in.” She remembers when WSU Vancouver’s campus consisted of only three buildings. Because the campus started so small, Hurt said there has always been a “culture of pitching in.”
Andre Blanco takes pride in his work around campus. (Brody Voge/The VanCougar)
Andre Blanco, a campus groundskeeper, is often seen edging turf, cleaning leaves and planting new trees. Blanco has been helping maintain the campus for four years and takes pride in his work. “I start at 6 a.m. in the morning. I tend to cover the campus grounds: leaf patrol, cleaning pathways, making sure we got a nice entrance for when folks enter the campus,” Blanco said.
Jeannette Hurt has been serving the campus for 21 years. (Sydnie Kobza/The VanCougar)
Blanco said even though the work on campus never stops, each project he completes is satisfying. “That’s just one thing down and onto the next. If we complete a project, that’s two thumbs up for us and sometimes you might even want to give yourself a pat on the back if it looks real nice,” Blanco said. Facility services and their contributions can be observed just about everywhere on campus, even if they are not always noticeable. Their most recent project has been replacing all the lights in the library to energy-efficient LED lights. “We’re doing these things to make ourselves more efficient,” Hooper said. Hooper mentioned that students and staff are considerate of the grounds because VanCougs take pride in their campus. He noted a section of grass near a busy walkway that remained untrampled. “That grass doesn’t get worn out. People treat it nicely here and that’s helpful to us.” Hooper encourages students, staff and community to treat campus like your home. (Sydnie Kobza/The VanCougar)
December 2019 THE FALL PHOTO SHOWCASE FINALISTS
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On Nov. 12, the Salmon Creek Journal, WSU Vancouver's literary and arts journal, hosted the Fall Photo Showcase (formerly the Travel Cafe). Students and staff submitted their photography to be judged. These are the winners of the showcase:
First PLACE "Black Heavens, White Lightning" by Jesse Lanier
Second PLACE "Cat Nap" by Jaason Wilson
Third PLACE "Angler's Shed" by Laura Dutelle
Editor's note: Sydnie Kobza, staff photographer for The VanCougar and an editor for Salmon Creek Journal, curated this year's showcase along with other organizers and volunteers.
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WINTER December 2019
BREAK @ WSUV Library
Reduced hours Sat/Sun Dec. 14 & 15 - closed Mon-Fri Dec. 16 - 20 10:00a-3:00p
Closed Saturday, Dec. 21 – Sunday, Jan. 5 Mon – Tue Jan. 6 & 7 10:00am – 3:00pm
Wed. Jan. 8 - return to normal hours
Wishing you Successful Finals and a Restful Break
December 2019
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Cougar Bites: Eggcellent Eggnog
December 2019
Emily Baumann | Reporter My personal favorite of the three is Horizon’s Organic Eggnog. I recommend giving this one a try, not only because it’s very rich and creamy, but it also adds a nice, sweet and subtle cinnamon twist. Although the texture of Horizon’s eggnog doesn't have a thick texture like classic eggnog, the flavor itself makes this drink an overall winner. While this eggnog is also great stirred in coffee or used as a base for french toast, the eggnog alone will cure your cravings.
Eggnog is a holiday classic and nostalgic favorite that lasts all winter long. Even if you are not a fan of eggnog, you have to admit that this drink owns the winter holiday season. This festive edition of Cougar Bites compares three different brands of eggnog that can be found at any local WinCo Foods.
The second best is Alpenrose Lite and Trim Eggnog. Alpenrose is a favorite among eggnog fanatics and although it has a velvety and thick texture, it’s a bit bland for my taste. Alpenrose’s Lite and Trim doesn’t pack as much of a flavorful punch as its competitors, but the texture still reminds me of soft serve ice cream, which is always a plus. If you have a sweet tooth, this eggnog can pair nicely with apple pie or chocolate fudge. Alpenrose isn’t my first choice, but it will still serve you well this holiday season.
Try these for yourself and make sure to tell The VanCougar which eggnog drink is your favorite!
My least favorite of the three was Silk Nog Original, Silk’s version of eggnog. Obviously, if you eliminate the two main ingredients of eggnog: eggs and dairy, you’re bound to fail. I added this one to the list despite the fact that it is dairy free eggnog because Silk’s eggnog was still a pleasant surprise. This eggnog can pair well when added to dairy free pancake or muffin mix if you are looking for a dairy free recipe. With a creamy, thick consistency and an added bonus of sweet almond flavor, this drink does not top the list, but it does make a nice alternative for a healthy or dietary choice.
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m a r k yo u r c a l e n da r . . . tues.
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Child Development Program Wreath and Poinsettias 2 p.m. - 6 p.m. VDEN 129
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Scholarships 101 6 p.m. -7 p.m. VDEN 110
BA Juniors Technology 2:30 p.m. - 5 p.m. VFSC 101/103/105
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UNIVERSITY CLOSED FOR HOLIDAYS
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mon. Food Pantry: Winter Harvest Baskets 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. VFSC 101 tues. Food Pantry: Winter Harvest Baskets 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. VSFC 101
wed. Christmas Day
thurs. Kwanzaa Begins
Next issue of the vancougar on stands Jan. 13 Snow suprise on campus during winter 2018.
(Laura Dutelle/WSU Vancouver)
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December 2019