The QC, Vol. 89, No. 06 • October 10, 2002

              The Voice Of Whittier College Since 1914
October 10,2002
CAMPUS
http://web.whittier.edu/qc
Voicemail gets
mixed messages
■ TECHNOLOGY
by Christina Gutierrez
QC News Editor
Fulfilling a request that the Whittier faculty and staff have had since
1998, the Office of Telecommunications created a campus-wide
Voicemail system that should make
it easier for students to leave "I'm not living as simply as
receive, and forward any message to
another professor's mailbox. According to Lane, this system will
also allow professors to record a
message that all of their students will
be able to listen to.
Faculty members who already
have personal answering machines
in their offices may choose to continue using them, but according to
Lane, "Nearly all
messages for professors and for
professors to retrieve and process
these messages.
One of the major
advantages of the
system is that it
features a battery
backup system that will not be affected in a blackout, so there will be
no danger of faculty or staff losing
messages.
Although many professors already have personal answering machines in their offices, according to
Director of Telecommunications
Michelle Lane, the new system "is
more intelligent than an answering
machine." Professors will have the
ability to increase or decrease volume and speed of any message they
Thoreau would have
wanted me to. *
Susanne Weil
Associate Professor of
English Language and
Literature
[ofthe faculty and
staff] will use
voicemail." One
of the major differences between
the two systems
is that, while answering     machines generally
use a flashing
light to indicate that there is a new
message recorded, the new system
does not have this feature.
Instead, when a professor lifts
the receiver, a distinct beeping noise
will indicate that there is a new message waiting unless the particular
department chooses to purchase a
special phone that comes equipped
with a blinking light. According to
Lane, however, these machines will
See VOICEMAIL, page 6
Whittier ranks high
■ PRINCETON REVIEW
by Patrick Holmes
QC Assistant News Editor
In a recent report by U.S. News
and World Report Whittier College
was ranked the second most diverse
liberal arts school in the nation for
2003, second only to Mary mount
Manhattan College. Overall Whittier placed in the third of four tiers
that classify liberal arts schools nationally. The report, released annually, ranks Amherst College as the
top liberal arts college in the nation,
with schools such as Pomona College ranking sixth, Harvey Mudd
College 15, and Occidental College
47.
"* The report ranks the diversity
of a campus according to a diversity
index, which is based on the proportion of minorities attending the
school. With 1.0 being the highest,
Whittier ranks .59, with Hispanic
Letters
We get angry letters. Yeah,
we get them every week,
but one of these is about
Macs, we love Macs. Not.
Opinions, Page 3
students making up 27 percent ofthe
school's population. "I am proud of
this recognition of our long tradition
of serving an extraordinarily diverse
student body," President Katherine
Haley Will said. As the most diverse
college, Mary mount Manhattan College has a diversity index of .61; the
third most diverse is Occidental College with a diversity index of .57.
Despite the positive diversity
rankings, Whittier College students
graduate with the third highest debt
load in the nation, according to this
report. The debt load index classifies
the schools with the heaviest and
lightest debt loads falling on graduates. This year's result calculates the
loans taken out by students in the
Class of 2001, but does not take into
effect parent loans. The average student from Whittier College graduates with a debt load of $23,247.
"While   I'm   sure   we   would
See RANKING, page 6
Woodies
PATRICK HOLMES / QC ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Mayor of Whittier Dave Butler spoke about his platform at the COR meeting on Monday,
Oct. 7 outlining his policies concerning higher education and the importance of voting.
Mayor speaks to COR,
stresses good relations
SPEAKER
by Patrick Holmes
QC Assistant News Editor
Whittier Mayor Dave Butler
stressed the importance of good
communication and relations between the city and Whittier College
when he spoke at the COR meeting
on Monday, Oct. 7. The mayor's
visit was the first of a series of
speakers from the community and
from the college that senior COR
President Jess Craven hopes to bring
to the weekly COR meetings.
"The mayor has done a lot to
improve communication between
the school and the city," Craven
said in an interview. "I hope his
visit will continue to open up that
line of communication." Butler echoed the same sentiment when he
talked about both past and present
relations the city has had with the
school. "We have in the past not
enjoyed the closest relationship with
Whittier College," Butler said.
"That has been changing over the
years, and that is a wonderful thing
to see."
Butler served as an officer for
the Whittier Police Department
(W.P.D.) for nearly 20 years. He
explained that in 1976 an officer of
the W.P.D. was allegedly killed in a
confrontation with a Whittier College Campus Security officer. "Relations have dramatically improved
since then," AssistantChief of Campus Safety John Lewis said. Butler
agreed that "we can set up a-line of
communication? [that] will establish a healthy environment between
the city and the college."
COR has been working towards
the same goal. "COR is currently
working with the mayor and the
Uptown Whittier Association to establish a discount program for college students with uptown businesses," Craven said. "While the program is still in the very initial stages
of planning, Butler has already been
very helpful in coordinating this
project."
The plan ofthe project is to have
most Uptown businesses participate
in the program, in which restaurants,
stores, and bars will offer an undecided percent off their purchases.
"We hope that this will allow students to see what Uptown has to
offer, while giving them a discount
on their purchases," Craven said.
The mayor and COR have already started working on further
plans to involve the college in the
greater Whittier community. "We
will be a part ofthe Uptown Christmas Parade this year, hopefully having three floats and several school
organizations involved," Craven
said. Craven hopes to continue to
improve relations with the city.
As the mayor continues to work
on relations within the city, he is also
staging a campaign for the state assembly. "I never planned on going
into politics, but when you see things
being done that aren't right, you are
a part of the problem unless you
actively try to change it," Butler
said.
The Mayor is not favored in the
race, going against a largely democratic district as a conservative candidate. "If I win in November, I will
go to Sacramento, and if I don't, I
will go fishing. I won't lose either
way," Butler said.
Butler has served on the city
council for the City of Whittier since
1996, and has been mayor since 2002.
Before serving on city council and in
the police department, Butler served
in the National Guard for six years.
He currently works as an arbitrator
and advocate for California lemon
laws.
Craven has invited Ronald Calderon, the democratic candidate running against Butler, to speak at the
next COR meeting.
ISSUE 6 • VOLUME 89
One's a folk singer, one's a
reproductive organ. We've
managed to logically fit both on
one page.
Campus Life, Page 7
Jesus Bytes
Unholy Web sites, raw fish,
a neat local art gallery and
more abound in this week's
issue.
A&E, Page 10
Huzzah Patty
Senior midfielder (and Brit with a
sexy accent) Mark Paterson is
doing great things on and off the
field. Read his senior profile.
Sports, Page 13