The QC, Vol. 89, No. 04 • September 26, 2002

              The Voice Of Whittier College Since 1914
September 26,2002
Campus
http://web.whittier.edu/qc
Two students
hospitalized
■ ALCOHOL
by Patrick Holmes
QC Associate News Editor
Two unrelated incidents sent
two Whittier College students to
Presbyterian Intercommunity
Hospital because of alcohol poisoning this past week. An 18-year-
old female was found showing signs
of alcohol poisoning in Stauffer Residence Hall on Saturday, Sept. 21,
and a 19-year-old female was found
by restaurant patrons, passed out on
the floor of The El Patio restaurant
on Thursday, Sept. 19. "We're only
three weeks into the semester and
we have already had two hospitalizations—that is what is alarming
about this," Assistant Chief of Campus Safety John Lewis said.
According to the Campus Safety report, the first incident occurred
in Stauffer at 2:20 a.m. The student
in question had come back from the
Franklin house after having "four
Hawaiian punch drinks with tequila," Lewis said. She claimed to be "a
very heavy drinker," and was worried that she had been drugged, the
report said. Paramedics were called,
but initial results show no signs of
her being drugged. The student
missed her appointment to find out
the results of tests that were run, so
there was no final word on whether
or not she was drugged.
See ALCOHOL, page 7
Ortiz retirement
luncheon held
■ TRIBUTE
by Martin Voss
QC Associate News Editor
Sixteen years ago, Rose Hernandez found herself in the unemployment office. Not long after she
stepped foot in the building, she
was approached by a man, who
asked her if she was bilingual. She
replied "yes," and before she knew
it, she landed a position at Whittier
College working for Martin Ortiz.
Sixteen years later, Hernandez said
to Ortiz, "Thank you for 16 years of
working with a man...Who is not
only a boss, but a friend, a confidant, who will stand by you regardless of color, creed, anything. And
he will help you no matter what."
She finished by adding, "I'll miss
him, but I know I have a friend for
life."
On Friday, Sept. 20, Hernandez
and about 75 guests gathered in the
Mendenhall lobby to pay their respects to Martin Ortiz ('48), retiring
director of Center of Mexican-
See RETIREMENT, page 7
Election results
COR
by Lindsay Brengle
QC Assistant News Editor
Although only 18 percent of
the Whittier population voted in the
Thursday, Sept. 19andFriday,Sept.
20 elections, three new additions to
COR were chosen. Junior Tpdd
Spanier was elected vice president,
senior Yohanes Fadillah was elect
ed the new Member-At-Large, and
senior Bryan Sterling became the
Off-Campus Representative.
Though former junior secretary
Vivian Bodey had been serving as
interim vice president since senior
Carrie Stone's resignation last
spring, COR decided to hold an
open election. Spanier, who had been
recommended and rejected for the
position twice by senior president
Jess Craven, ran unopposed.
"T m glad that some of the mem-
See ELECTION, page 7
HELENA NGO / QC PHOTO EDITOR
Concerned parents wait outside the Whittier High gym for students to be released from lockdown.
Alleged male gunman
threatens Whittier High
■ LOCKDOWN
by Christina Gutierrez
QC News Editor
Around 11 a.m. on Friday, Sept.
20, a female student of Whittier
High School reported being accosted by an adult Hispanic male in the
women's restroom of the high
school's science building, according to Community Relations and
Crime Prevention Officer Alan Dela
Pena ofthe Whittier Police Department (W.P.D.). The gunman allegedly threatened the student with his
weapon and made unspecified demands, stating that he would shoot
the next person to enter the restroom
if these demands were not met. Although no one was injured, W.P.D.
is conducting a full-scale investigation.
The student was able to get away
from the intruder by unspecified
means, and contacted the Campus
Resource Officer, who in mm called
the W.P.D. Once the officers were
on scene, they placed the entire
school on lockdown, which, according to Dela Pena, involved teachers
keeping students inside classrooms
with the doors locked and the windows closed. The rationale for not
evacuating the students as soon as
the alleged intruder was reported is
"because if we don't have the suspect contained, we don't know if
he's acquired a sniper's position,"
Dela Pena said.
Once the students were secure
in lockdown, W.P.D. conducted a
three-hour-long campus-wide
search for the gunman, with police
helicopters from the Los Angeles
County Sheriffs department to aid
in the rooftop portion ofthe search.
Since the suspect was not located and there were no eyewitnesses
to the alleged confrontation, there
has been some conjecture as to the
actual existence ofthe gunman, according to Dela Pena. "Although
there is a question as to whether this
was a legitimate crime, we are not
saying that it was the victim pulling
a prank," he said.Tt could have
been that the "gunman" was actually a student playing a practical joke."
Legitimate crime or not, Whittier High teacher Wayne Walker,
who was teaching a freshman geography class in the physical education building at the time the lock-
down was ordered, describes the
ordeal as "bizarre."
"I was just letting the freshmen
out of the room right before the end
of third period when I heard the P.E.
coach yelling, 'get back in the classroom, get back in the classroom!'"
Walker said. After he gathered the
students back into the classroom,
he locked the doors, and waited for
a phone call from the office to alert
him to the situation at hand.
"We never got a phone call,
and we never knew what was going
See HIGH SCHOOL, page 7
News You Can Use
Campus Saftey has launched a
new phone number, ext. 4911 to
be used in case of emergencies.
Ext. 4211 can still be used for
non-emergencies.
New QC Web site is available
at http://web.whittier.edu/qc.
CORRECTION: The numbers
reported in last week's QC were
incorrect. 0.12 percent of Whittier's population and 0.2 percent
of the Los Angeles population
are registered sex offenders.
ISSUE 4 • VOLUME 89
Long distance call
Our editor abroad checks in
from swingin' London. Oh,
Behave!
Opinions, Page 2
Blast from the past!
We dug deep in the archives to
bring back old columns from the
'80s and '90s...it's rad!
Campus Life, Page 8
Internet investigation
Be the first kid on your block
to see the first Web site review
in the history of the QC.
A&E, Page 10
Splish, splash
Late in the hiring season, Alec
Raley was hired to coach men's
and women's swimming.
Sports, Page 14