Juniors Tori Anderson and Jordan Turner, members of the women’s track team, have created a petition, and gotten about 200 signatures so far, to urge the administration to explore other options rather than finalizing its decision to cut the sports.

“All the students are just upset that the administration made this decision without input from the students and faculty most closely associated with it,” Anderson said. “It was the process more than the decision.”

The petition was created Tuesday with input from faculty and can be signed online. Anderson said she intends to present it to President Bob Brower after spring break.

She suggested alternatives such as increasing the women’s track program to include an indoor team, which would compete in the winter, in addition to the current outdoor program that competes in the spring.

“It’s hard for the track team,” she said. “We don’t want to lose half our team.”

The Point Weekly is working hard to give you the full story on the program cuts as a result of Title IX, and if you have any tips on the story that you think we should look into, e-mail me at nscharn100@pointloma.edu. Follow along on our Twitter account for the latest on the petition and other issues surrounding the cuts.

Check out Sports Editor Katie Browning’s editorial published the morning after the cuts and the Athletic Department’s press release the night of.

–Nathan Scharn, editor in chief

The members and supporters of Heart of San Diego, clockwise, from top right: Valerie Gates, Abbie Shepherd, Paige Sandberg, Evelyn Spees and Kaitlin Cieszynski. The group crochets 15-20 headbands per week to sell in order to raise funds for various service projects. (Photo by Aubree Lew)

By Kelli Komada

A group of PLNU students is looking to help the city of San Diego, one stitch at a time.
Hannah Branch, Liz Green, Charis Branch, Kristen Jundt and Aubree Lew have formed Heart of San Diego, in which they get together and crochet headbands to raise money for service projects.
“Being college students, we don’t have much money to give, so we decided to make cool crochet headbands,” freshman Lew said.
The group wanted to do a service project but didn’t know what to do because they didn’t have extra money to put into it.
“We saw some other girls [crocheting headbands] and thought it would be a great way to make money and be able to give freely,” said Branch, a sophomore.
All of the proceeds made from the headbands will go directly toward the group’s service projects.
“We like to crochet together, so on Friday nights we would pop in a movie and crochet together,” Lew said.
With the money from the group’s first project, the girls went to In-n-Out on Valentine’s Day to buy hamburgers and give them out to the homeless people on Rosecrans Street.
“I was really excited,” Lew said. “It was so cool to see their faces light up when we gave them the food.”
“It’s nice to know you’re money is going to something that’s worth it and it’s good to know your money isn’t going to a bunch of college kids who are just trying to make money for themselves,” said Abbie Shepherd, who bought a thin, flower-adorned headband.
Being able to give together is a rewarding experience for the group, said Branch.
“We are passionate about being able to directly give,” Branch said. “We identified different areas of need in our community, which is everywhere, and decided that we should give a little bit of what we make to each area.”
Each headband is crocheted using a variety of yarns. They are embellished with crocheted flowers and sold for $5 each.
“We would like to be able to donate things to the homeless, but not just money,” Lew said. “We also want to find a place that cares for teen pregnancies and go shopping for them for whatever they need. We would also like to do something with the elderly.”
Lew keeps the money that they make in a Tupperware container on her vanity table. She hopes to have sold 50 headbands by the end of the year. The group has sold 10 headbands so far, and they make around 10 to 15 headbands combined each week.
“I think it’s cool how I can use what I can do to help other people, and it’s a really cool way to serve,” Branch said. “Being able to freely give is a feeling that can’t be described in words.”

(Photo by Elise Manley)

By Elise Manley

There’s nothing normal about Lestat’s Coffee House, located in the heart of Normal Heights.
Soon after eyeing its custard-colored walls strewn with paintings of Ronald McDonald sporting a machine gun and vibrant abstract art, I realized I had just entered a mecca of quirky, caffeinated people-watching.
I was greeted by a display of exotic-looking pastries and a list of custom drinks with names like “Almond Joy” and “Snickers,” but I opted for a decaf cup o’ joe (it was getting late). As I glanced around the room, I found that most people seemed fully alert as they clicked away on their laptops or chatted in antique furniture reminiscent of The Living Room.
But don’t be fooled: Lestat’s is an original in more ways than one. It’s currently the only 24-hour coffeehouse in town, and it boasts two spacious rooms with plenty of seating. Next door, Lestat’s has an additional venue that hosts live music and comedy every night around 9 p.m.
As I nestled into a cozy corner by the entrance to enjoy my hot coffee and the eclectic, sometimes startling, outfits of passing customers, I wasn’t expecting the wrinkled man to my right to strike up a conversation with me. Ladies and gentlemen: This place is full of surprises.
I ended up talking with “Steve” and his buddy “Mark” for a good hour, as well as countless other late-night regulars who stopped to say hello before heading out the door. I sat on the edge of my chair as Steve described his childhood growing up in Brooklyn, and giggled when Mark said he didn’t get cell phone service where he worked at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery because it’s a “dead zone.”
Although Lestat’s has its flaws (parking is a nightmare and the coffee could be better), it is cozy, which is more than can be said for the half-empty Starbucks predictably located across the street. My visit to Lestat’s reminded me why I like to frequent coffee joints in the first place. It’s not because of the coffee, and not even because of the free WiFi — it’s the people. On nights when I lose myself in a sea of papers, there’s nothing like the smell of freshly brewed authentic community to wake me up.

The amount of energy a PLNU student consumes is a mystery. To everyone.
While the total amount of electricity used on campus can be measured, Physical Plant administrators revealed that the amount of electricity an individual PLNU resident consumes is unknown.
To solve this puzzle, Physical Plant conducted energy assessments in all PLNU resident halls.
“After this assessment we will know how much electricity students use in a dorm room,” said Alexandria Bennett, PLNU director of sustainability. “That way we can get a perspective on how to conserve energy on campus.”
The results from the assessments will allow the school to determine in which areas PLNU can conserve energy. Doing so will eventually save money for the school, Bennett said. However, it is not possible to estimate how much the school will financially save at this time.
Physical Plant workers are measuring the amount of wattage used in the rooms by using wattage meters in every room in every dorm, said Richard Schult, director of Physical Plant. The assessment will also determine the efficiency of the dorms’ heating systems.
Physical Plant began the first week in February, starting in Nease Hall.
Schult said he was “surprised” by some of the results.
“We expected to find a lot of phantom power occurring, but actually it isn’t as bad as we predicted,” he said.
Phantom power, Schult explained, occurs when cords remain plugged into the wall while nothing is actually charging or turned on.
“Even if your phone charger is not charging your phone at that moment, if it’s plugged into an outlet, it’s using electricity,” he said.
Both Schult and Bennett agreed that the resident halls on campus were “archaic.” The resident halls (excluding new Nease) waste quite a bit of electricity and heat, they said, though they did not know the exact amount.
“Most people turn on their heaters when it gets cold, but when they get hot, they will just open up a window,” Schult said. “They waste a lot of heat and electricity without even knowing it.”
Measuring how much electricity is consumed is only one part of an energy conservation plan, Bennett said. Efforts to improve building lighting, add more solar panels and replace inefficient outdoor lights are also on the horizon, she said.
Students for Environmental Action President Jennifer Heffel support the assessments being done and other electricity conservation.
Heffel hopes this will raise more awareness of electricity consumption and encourage students to think about how much electricity they use in a day.
“This is about being good stewards of the earth and to other people,” she said.
The results from electricity assessments will be available for the PLNU campus to review, Bennett said
“The ultimate goal is communicate back to the students and faculty the results, so they can be aware of their energy and water usage,” she said.

The safety of PLNU’s campus has been put into question recently. Last semester’s threats to a faculty member, along with the potential stalking of a Flex resident, have brought realization to students that safety is in fact something to consider.
The issue has not gone unnoticed by junior Casey Wynhoff, who proposed a Student Safety Education bill to Student Congress last November. If adopted, the bill would institute an annual safety forum and mandatory safety meetings in residence halls at the beginning of each semester. The bill also expressed the importance of student awareness and personal defense education.
Wynhoff said that though the campus is relatively secure, she is concerned about a lack of precautions being taken.
“In many ways we’re very safe,” said Wynhoff. “[A] good neighborhood, fairly decent community and basically excellent crime statistics when compared to larger campuses like SDSU. … [But] if something were to happen, I think Loma would adjust with much more difficulty because we really weren’t prepared or expecting it to ever happen here.”
The bill is awaiting further review and will go up for vote in the next council meeting.
Mark Galbraith, director of public safety, said several steps have been taken to quell concern and keep students informed and secure. “[Public Safety] is currently working to enhance our camera security system and we conduct at least one safety seminar per semester in collaboration with Residential Life and with the Wellness Center,” Galbraith said.
Additionally, the Martial Arts Club, which meets Mondays at 5 p.m. in the Rec Room, is looking to educate students on self-defense.
”For the campus, we hope to promote a safe place to hone our martial art skills, community and connection beyond the Point Loma campus and into the surrounding area,” said Carrie Sparks, president of PLNU’s martial arts club.
Professor Tom Blamely also offers a second-quad Martial Arts course, PED 102, for students who are looking to gain an understanding of the art of defense and methods of protection.
Statistics revealed in the bill show that, comparatively speaking, the campus is very secure and has encountered few serious endangerments, citing five instances of assault in the past three years.
In contrast, one in four female college students reported they had been the victim of a rape or attempted rape, according to the Research of the National Institute of Justice.
While PLNU sits on private property, the school is required to allow public access to the cliffs, therefore permitting entrance to any vehicle. The Point Loma community uses the campus as a place to jog, surf or walk dogs, allowing anyone access to the school and residence halls.
“In order to help students stay safe, they should keep themselves alert to their surroundings at all times,” said Galbraith. “This is known as situational awareness.”
Wynhoff said she is hopeful about the progress of the bill. “With any luck, ASB Vice President Allison Waters and I will be meeting with the Wellness Center and Housing to see how we can make this [bill] a possibility.”

Students and professors discussed the recent racially charged events at University of California San Diego in Cunningham Hall Thursday. (Photo by Amy Smith)

By Liz Reeves

In the wake of recent racially insensitive events at University of California San Diego, PLNU students spoke out about against ignorance. Faculty members and Black Student Union representatives met with students for lunch Thursday in Cunningham Hall to discuss the importance of Black History Month on campus.
The diverse group engaged in conversation about what it means to be part of a racial minority within PLNU and outside of it, and faculty members examined the importance of being sensitive about racial issues in the classroom.
“I try to talk about the way African-American influences have been woven through American culture to try to disrupt that sense that it’s somehow separate,” said Karl Martin, professor of literature. “My frustration is that I’ve probably read as much or more about African-American history and culture than most of my colleagues — that’s part of my education, part of my teaching — but it’s not a part of the general education courses that I teach.”
Two weeks ago, members of UCSD’s Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity hosted a party mocking Black History Month. The event was called the “Compton Cookout,” and partygoers were encouraged to perpetuate stereotypes of black people.
According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, “the ‘Compton Cookout’ event urged participants to wear chains, don cheap clothes and speak very loudly.”
The offensive theme of the party enraged UCSD students and faculty, and many wish for those involved to be held accountable by the school. Because the event was not sponsored by UCSD, however, the administration has chosen to take no action against those involved.
The Union-Tribune reported Feb. 16 that UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox e-mailed a statement to students condemning the behavior of the fraternity members.
“We were distressed to learn that over the weekend an offensively themed student party, mocking the commemoration of Black History Month, took place off campus,” the e-mail said. “We strongly condemn this event and the blatant disregard of our campus values.”
The party was not an official fraternity event, but it has since been associated with affiliates of Pi Kappa Alpha.
Last week, UCSD held a “teach-in” to discuss the incident. Students at PLNU have also had an opportunity to voice their opinions on the issue, and an official forum about racial discrimination to be held this week.
“I don’t see how people can just joke about it like that,” said a student at a meeting of PLNU’s Black Student Union (BSU).
Another said, “It’s ignorance. In order for that to change, you have to inform them.”
“First as Christians we should love each other and respect each other,” said Lynn Obath, president of the BSU. “I think people forget that and immediately go into racial things. If you kind of draw from [respect], then I don’t think there’s a way to have a bad discussion.”
Jamie Gates, director of the Center for Justice and Reconciliation, maintains an active presence in matters of cultural diversity at PLNU.
“We should have this conversation more often than just February,” said Gates.
Tuesday, a panel of faculty and students will host an open forum in response to “the recent local racial incidents in higher education,” Gates said. “We’re just going to host a panel that interacts with everyone else.”
The forum, titled “Are We There Yet?” will be held Tuesday at 3 p.m. in the Fermanian Business Center.

After years of dissatisfaction among students, the office of Residential Life is adjusting its open house policies.
A test run of the new hours will be conducted in all dorms from March 15 to May 7.
“It’s about time,” said Rachel Christine Rodriguez, a freshman in Nease Hall.
Hendricks, Nease East, Klassen and Young will now be open Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
The old policy of two days per week had left some students frustrated.
“It was clear the students wanted a change,” said Tim Carlton, a freshman representative in Student Congress.
Jeff Bolster, the Dean of Students, said the change in open house policies stems from a year of collaborative work between Student Congress (SC), Residential Life and the Associated Student Body.
Carlton said the issue had been brought to SC continually since its inception, but nothing had ever been done to change policies.
This year SC members decided to present their case to Bolster and the administration with diplomacy and rationale. After meetings with Bolster and other faculty members, the change became more of a reality.
“The question was, how drastic of a change are we going to make?” said Carlton.
Once the bill by SC was proposed, the administration used responses from residential life surveys and input sheets distributed to all students during fall semester to determine the exact change in hours.
“I think it’d be better because we could work on school projects and get more work done without having to make the long commute to the library,” said Isaiah Proffit, a freshman in Young.
But students have also questioned the idea of open house hours in general, specifically those in freshmen residence halls, which have the least amount of visiting hours.
“I think we’re old enough to make the choice to be responsible,” said Savannah Hulse, a freshman in Nease. “I mean, we’re all adults, right?”
Sara Morrill, a resident director of Nease Hall, said it is not a lack of trust, but more a lack of experience. Morrill said freshmen are the most vulnerable, especially in the first six weeks of school. Research in student affairs indicates that there is an increased risk to freshmen because they are often more trusting of new acquaintances and more open to new experiences than the average college student. This explains why more sexual assaults happen in the first six weeks of college than any other time.
A limit in open house hours is common among Christian colleges. San Diego Christian College limits visitors of the opposite sex in all dorms to three days a week from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. The University of San Diego is more lenient, with open house for all dorms until 12 a.m. on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends, similar to the open house policy in Flex Housing.
PLNU has varying open house hours among each residence hall. This has left some freshmen frustrated, feeling they deserve to have the same amount of time as upperclassmen. But some upperclassmen say their open house hours are more necessary.
“General education classes require less group work, so why do freshmen need the same amount of open dorm hours?” said Lisa Hejl, a senior in Goodwin.
Many students agree this test run of increased open house hours is a step in the right direction. Nease West is now open Sundays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Finch and Wiley will be open Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Flex will be open at 9 a.m. every day until midnight Sunday through Thursday and 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Goodwin will be open at 12 p.m. every day until 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and midnight Friday and Saturday.

ASB President-elect Allison Waters delivered her speech in the ASB campaign chapel Wednesday. (Photo by Emily Spencer)

By Kimberlee Kruesi

After two weeks of schmoozing, persuading and mingling, the new ASB Board of Directors for 2010 was announced Friday.
While a total of 16 candidates ran in this year’s election, only five of the eight positions had multiple candidates running.
Todd Clayton will return as director of spiritual life and Allison Waters will move from vice president to president.
“I ran again because I love my job,” Clayton said. “This is what I want to do after college. This job isn’t just a hobby.”
Last year, multiple students competed in the race for ASB president. But this year, Waters ran alone.
“Running this year was definitely different,” Waters said by e-mail. “Campaigning this year was much more about putting myself out there so that students would feel comfortable approaching me with their ideas and concerns for the student body.”
Gabby Sanchez also ran unopposed, for director of student relations.
“Self-promotion can be so weird,” Sanchez said. “I think I was lucky I didn’t have to campaign against anybody.”
Students began voting on Wednesday. However, no candidate running for directors of activities received more than 50 percent of the votes in the first election. This caused a runoff vote between the top two candidates and pushed the election to Friday evening.
Taylor Johnson, Current ASB president, estimated about a third of the student body voted in this year’s election. This number is slightly lower than in years past, she said.
“It was just a different type of election this year,” Johnson said. “The competition was very different and a big factor was that there was not a green fund to vote on.”
Besides voting for next year’s ASB board, students also voted on a number of amendments to the ASB constitution. Some of these amendments drastically changed the role of the director of activities.
In the past, the activities director was the single voice determining which activities were held on campus. The director also had four assistants to plan and execute events.
Next year, Erika Lewton, the new activities director, will move into a more administrative role, overseeing four activities coordinators. The coordinators will be in charge of a five-person committee. Each coordinator will be expected to plan two events a semester.
According to Danielle Brown, coordinator of student activities, this is one of the biggest changes in any of the ASB directors’ responsibilities in several years.
“This is still being determined,” Brown said. “But the beauty of ASB is that Erika will structure the position how she wants it.”
Vice President-elect Lauren Waggoner worked closely with Waters this year, which helped prep her for her role next year, she said.
“I consider myself to be a very positive person, and I plan on bringing that to the new ASB board,” Waggoner said. “What I learned this year is that it is important not to harp on something that you can’t fix but look at what you can solve.”
According to its constitution, ASB works to help coordinate student organizations and “foster good relations between ASB members and the community within Point Loma.”
“ASB just doesn’t plan activities,” Johnson said. “This isn’t high school. The board does plan events but this is also an administrative role that interacts with staff, faculty and students.”
The board also approves how the ASB budget, more than $300,000, will be spent throughout the school year.
The new board will begin training with the current ASB directors immediately. They will return to campus a couple of weeks before the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year.

Last night at 7 p.m., a group of my friends—the 24 men on the PLNU track and field team—walked into Cunningham dining hall with hopes for a successful season, plans for personal records and a commitment to compete for our school.
Half an hour later, they walked out devastated.
Vice President for Student Development Caye Smith and Athletic Director Ethan Hamilton called the meeting to inform the team, along with the women’s softball and men’s golf teams, that their programs will be cut after this year, and a women’s golf team will be added due to Title IX compliance issues.
Athlete gender ratios were cited as the main reason for cutting the programs. The issue began when the softball team lost use of the field in Sunset Cliffs Natural Park last May. Because the team doesn’t have an on-campus facility, the program, one of PLNU’s most successful, is being cut, which upsets the male-female ratio.
According to Smith and Hamilton, the male-female athlete ratio must reflect the male-female ratio of the student body, resulting in men’s programs needing to be cut in order to meet Title IX.
Title IX was passed in 1972 to ensure gender and racial equality in all areas of education, including college athletics. While the federal act covers only schools that receive government funding, California has since passed a similar law, which applies to both public and private institutions, regardless of funding.
The law requires institutions to provide equal opportunities, scholarships, funding and facilities for men’s and women’s sports.
But in recent years, controversy has sparked as to whether the requirements help or hinder college athletic programs.
The issue is not isolated to PLNU. Schools across the nation have made similar program-cutting decisions.
Seton Hall University athletes were stunned last week when their athletic director announced that the men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field programs will be cut after this year, in an effort to “maximize financial resources,” according to the New Jersey Star-Ledger.
The NCAA Division I school has produced 71 All-Americans and seven NCAA champions in the past 38 years under head coach John Moon.
Last February, Quinnipiac University in Connecticut announced plans to cut men’s outdoor track and field, men’s golf and women’s volleyball programs, and add a competitive cheerleading squad.
Three months later, the women’s volleyball team was reinstated following a lawsuit, and the men’s indoor track and field team was cut instead. The school now has 12 women’s sports, but just seven men’s sports.
In November 2008, the University of Delaware cut men’s indoor track and field and added a women’s golf program.
And yesterday, 48 PLNU athletes — 14 women and 34 men — received the same news.
As a female track and field athlete, believe me when I say I’m grateful that Title IX has given me the opportunity to compete at the college level. But I could never condone a law, which, under the guise of “equality,” forces my male teammates to compete elsewhere.
So now, I’m left wondering where all the equality has gone.
Since the day Pasadena College became Point Loma Nazarene and moved onto our current campus, the administration has known the area that would become the softball field was owned by the city. When I wrote about the loss of the softball field last fall, Vice President for External Affairs Joe Watkins told me every effort had been made to find a permanent home for the softball field on or near campus.
But PLNU began using the former softball field in 1978. I have difficulty believing that in the past 32 years, no space for a permanent field could have been found, and I’d like to think that a solution could have been reached that didn’t change the lives of nearly 50 athletes.
My friend Sean Lewis, who chose to compete for PLNU over the University of Oregon — one of the most successful track and field programs in the nation — said the news came as a complete shock.
“I didn’t really think they were going to take away a sport just like that,” said Lewis, a freshman. “It’s heartbreaking.”
But it’s not just about the running for Lewis.
“You do come to a school to compete, but you also come because you love the school,” he said. “You want to be able to be in this environment and compete, and to have half of that taken away is upsetting.”
The move has implications for the women’s squads also.
“That just changes everything,” said freshman Lainie Bird. “It doesn’t change how I feel about running, but it’s taking a part of our team away. It’s going to be weird having just girls.”
Bird’s roommate, freshman Gina Erbacci, agreed.
“My high school teams had separate guys and girls track and field teams,” said Erbacci. “But after coming here, I don’t want to go back to that.”
Sophomore softball player Jessica Tieszen said she feels frustrated and helpless in the situation.
“A huge part of my college experience has been taken away,” said Tieszen. “I wish there was something we could do about it. It’s unfortunate that with cutting softball, because of Title IX, three men’s sports had to be taken down as well.”
Senior track and field athlete Jeremy Davidson said even though he is graduating, he still feels affected by the decision.
“All the opportunities that I’ve had over the last four years, the underclassmen don’t get to have,” said Davidson. “And the whole girls team being out there by themselves seems weird. It doesn’t seem right. It changes the whole dynamic of what a track team stands for.”
So while I’ve been told Title IX is about equality, I’ve seen firsthand the reverse discrimination and ruined opportunities it has brought about. That’s not my kind of equality.
When I made the decision to compete for PLNU, I didn’t do so lightheartedly or on a whim. I know the same is true for my teammates. We made a commitment to work hard, never give up and even make sacrifices in order to best represent our school. But we must have been mistaken in thinking our school would do the same for us.