The QC, Vol. 85, No. 02 • September 17, 1998

              W   II   1   T  T   1   i:   R
CO   L   L   E   G   L.
uaker
September, 1998,.
ampus
COLL
■ Dead
Boring?
E G   E
Res. Life
Director Dave
Leonard discusses Dead Man On
Campus.
**—
SPORTS
■ Luce
Cannon
Star quarterback Steve
Luce returns to
the Poet roster.
The Voice Of The Campus Since 1914
....?■;■■■ .■ .''TO:toto ,.; ; :       .....
OPINION    TOPIC
Oral Arguments
TO
Students debate whether or not
President Bill Clinton's behavior
warrants impeachment.
m
C  A  M   P  U-S^
■ Safety ] U,C
First
We spend a day with
those valiant boys in
blue, Whittier College Campus Safety.
President Ash Announces Resignation
After Accomplishing all the Board of Trustees3 Goals, Ash Chooses to Leave at End of Academic Year
■ ADMINISTRATIOH
by Adam Pava
QC Copy Editor
President James L. Ash, Jr.
announced at Tuesday's Faculty
Meeting that he will be leaving
Whittier College at the end of this
academic year.
"I have come to the conclusion that by the end of this, my
10th year, I will have accomplished what the Board [of Trustees] brought me to Whittier to
do," Ash said. He said finance and
enrollment issues were his main
concerns during his administration.
"When I was hired, my goals
were first to stabilize the College's financial situation and second to enhance the reputation of
the College though fundraising,"
he said. In the last nine years, the
College's undergraduate applicant
pool has doubled, the student body
has grown by 35%, and the College's endowment has more than
tripled.
Much ofthe fundraising success has come recently in the ongoing Capital Campaign.
"I expect that by the end of
this academic year, the Capital
Campaign will have secured over
$60 million," Ash said. "This is a
clear indication that it will achieve
the goal [of $70 million] well before the deadline [of October,
2001]."
Ash feels that because of the
College's current financial stability, it is an appropriate time for
him to resign.
"Nobody should expect there
to be dramatic changes at the College," he said, "especially when
there's financial stability."
"Ten years is a good round
number," he added. "I think this is
a good time for the College to find
fresh leadership, and a good time
for me to find a new professional
challenge."
Ash is unsure of what professional path he will take after leaving the College: "There are a number of presidencies open [at other
President James L. Ash,, Jr.
colleges]," he said, "and I've been
approached with a number of other options, both inside and outside
of education." He said that he will
wait a couple months before considering any options seriously.
"I don't know what I will miss
or won't miss about Whittier until
I see the kind of job I take," Ash
said. "I know I will miss the many
members ofthe community who I
regard as close friends."
Ash said that he began thinking about resigning last Spring
and discussed it with his wife, Pat:
"This is a complex decision that I
made with my wife, based on personal and professional opportunities for the both of us, and based
on what I see is best for Whittier."
By making this announcement
at the beginning of the academic
year, Ash hoped that it would "give
everybody enough time to make
plans for a successful transition."
This includes a nation-wide search
for his successor, as well as allowing Ash time to find another job.
According to Chairman ofthe
Board of Trustees Anthony Pier-
no, the College will form two committees to find Ash's replacement.
"One committee will be a broad-
base search committee comprised
of students, faculty, alumni and
administration," he said. "This
group will help develop a profile
for the type of candidate we will
look for. They will ask, 'who is
this person?' and attempt to come
to a consensus on the search criteria." The search committee may
also interview candidates and recommend them to the second committee.
The second committee, according to Piemo, will be a selection committee who will interview the final candidates and make
a recommendation to the Board of
Trustees. "Ultimately, the Board
has the appointment power," Pier-
no said.
Pierno added that the qualities
the College will look for in Ash's
successor, which will be determined by the search committee,
may differ from those the College
looked for in Ash. "Certainly, there
isn't the financial and enrollment
urgency we had then," he said.
"The accomplishments ofthe last
nine years give us a different base
to launch this search."
Pierno also said, "I think it
would be fascinating if it were a
woman [president]. We will look
for the person best suited for the
job."
See RESIGNATION, page 6
Lacrosse's Future Insecure if Misconduct Persists, Says Ash
■ LACROSSE
by Chris Ziegler
QC Editor-in-Chief
Unless the Whittier Men's
Lacrosse team has a year of "model citizenship and greatly increased
supervision, the future ofthe program is questionable," President
James L. Ash, Jr. said at the last
Faculty Meeting of the 1997-98
school year.
"The community as a whole is
looking to make sure the prob-
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lems of last year do not recur,"
Ash said on Tuesday, Sept. 15.
"We expect all of our teams to
exhibit good citizenship and behavior. When that doesn't happen, the College must take action."
Last fall, a member ofthe Lacrosse team was involved in a
harassment incident that occurred
while Head Coach Doug Locker
was out of town.
One student was found responsible for multiple violations
ofthe College's abuse and harassment policy and was suspended
for three years.
"There were obvious problems
last year and I want to fix them,"
Locker said. "We are under scrutiny and I do expect model citizenship. The expectations have
changed."
In response to what Ash called
a "number of quite clear conversations," Locker instituted a series of more stringent rules that
restrict athletes' playing time af-
WHITTiEK
*£9
ULCSOSS!
Doug Locker.
ter as little as two discipline infractions and notified returning
players that any severe discipline
violations could result in removal
from the team.
His transfer out ofthe Admissions Office to a full-time position with the Athletics Department also permits him to more
closely monitor team conduct.
Dean of Students Susan Allen
reported that last year a "large
proportion" ofthe team had been
involved with the college discipline system, mostly with minor
noise and alcohol violations but
occasionally with more serious
violations.
"There's a trend toward being
in trouble," she said.
However, Locker said that this
fall has seen few lacrosse related
problems so far.
"I'd like to think it's because
we've laid out some stronger expectations," he said.
Director of Residential Life
Dave Leonard said,"What I've
witnessed this year is that there
seems to be an impression that
newcomers [to the team] don't
understand that there's this history and they want to prove they're
here for the right reasons."
Allen said that, "There's a feeling among some students that the
team has had a gang mentality."
But lacrosse players who
"There were obvious prob-
■ lems last year and I want
"to fix them. We are under
scrutiny and I do expect
model citizenship. The
expectations have
changed."
— Doug Locker,
Head Coach of Lacrosse
hadn't had any discipline violations felt they were being unfairly
stereotyped, she said:"They felt
the campus took a gang mentality
toward them."
Professor of Religious Studies Glenn Yocum, who initially
raised the issue at last year's meeting, supported Ash's statement.
"It's about time," he said.
"This has been going on for a long
time. It's embarrassing and it
doesn't get paid [enough] attention."
ISSUE 2 • VOLUME 85