The QC, Vol. 93, No. 01 • September 9, 2006

              The Voice of Whittier College Since 1 91 4
Quaker Campus
Thursday, September 7, 2006
Issue 1 - Volume 93
QC@WH1TTIER.EDU
Stauffer and Ball
Hall renovated
Esther Chan
QC News Asst. Editor
After being flooded, set on
fire and defecated on, Stauffer
has been renovated and modernized.
In addition, Ball Hall has also
been renovated and modernized
over the summer According to
Dean of Students Jeannie Ortiz;
the school wanted to create a
more appealing, modern and
updated atmosphere for students
in terms of common areas, bathrooms and bedrooms.
According to Ortiz, some
of the new changes in Stauffer
consist of bathrooms with new
tiles and fixtures, rewired rooms,
to be technology advanced, and
have wireless Internet access,
heating and building updates.
The buildings have also more
handicap accessible with handicap restrooms and wheelchair
ramps.
Sophomore Calli Welsch currently lives in Harris, but spent
her first year living in Stauffer.
After seeing the renovations,
she wishes she could go back.
"It definitely needed to be redone," she said. "It looks really
nice now. I hope the freshmen
appreciate it."
Ortiz said the goal for renovating Stauffer was to the address
the infrastructure issues relating
to heating, plumbing, electrical
wiring and fire coding safety.
First-year student Jasmine
Knowles said that everyone who
used to live in Stauffer says it was
a wreck. "I think it looks fine,
except for the air conditioner,"
she said.
Ball has finished being been
renovated to include flexible
high tech classroom space and
a computer lab.
According to Ortiz, Ball was
completed as a result of a Title
■ee DORMS, page 5
Two faculty
members resign
Esther Chan
QC News Asst. Editor
David Sarabia resigned his
position as the Interim Director of
the Cultural Center and as the Title
V Coordinator to pursue his PhD in
Compartive Literature at UCLA. His
last day wasAugust31.EricSundberg
resigned his position as Assistant
Professor Math after being offered a
open position at Occidental College
to go back to his alma mater.
Durring his 3 years at Whittier,
Sarabia worked on three projects,
all part of the Title V Grant. Title V
is a program that helps to support
Hispanic-serving institutions.
According to Ortiz, Assistant
Director of the Cultural Center Luz
Maria Galbreath will be taking some
of the responsibilities of the Director
of the Cultural Center until the position is filled. Sarabia was unavailable
for comment.
Sunburg left after two years
and was offered a tenure track at
Whittier.
Assistant Professor of Mathematics Jeffrey Miller is sad to see
Sundberg leave. "We got along really well except that he tried to drag
me to the CI too often to eat lunch,"
said Miller. "But I'm happy for him
because Occidental was the place that
he wanted to be beacuse it was where
he felt the most at home."
Miller said, "He did his ungrade
there and he's really excited about
it."
Senior Tyler Kloefkorn said, "I
will miss Sundburg as a professor
and a friend."
According to Dean of Students
Jeanne Ortiz, some of Sarabia's accomplishments including organizing
in service training for faculty on academic advising, working with Registrar Bill Gartrell to get my.whittier.
see FACULTY, page 6
REBECCA DEITCH / QC PHOTO EDITOR
Whittier College President Sharon Herzberger welcomes new first-year student Teresa
Baranowski at the North Lawn during orientation. Check out Campus Life, page 7 for
more photos and the review of orientation.
Living Learning
Communities branch out
Justin Velasco
QC News Editor
After being hired as the Assistant Dean for First-Year Programs
at Whittier College, Lisa Bortman
plans to help increase first-year
retention by implementing Living
and Learning Communities to all
first-year student.
Bortman feels that the first
six weeks have a big impact on
the new students, and that establishing a student connection with
the college and its community is
essential to a successful college
student.
Bortman believes that the Living Learning Communities will
help build that connection. "We
also want to find ways students
can get involved with each other
socially and academically," Bortman said. "We want to establish
a commitment to the college
itself. We also want students to
learn about Whittier and what a
wonderful place it is really early
on, and to realize how Whittier is
committed to them."
Each Learning Community
has 15 students with one to two
Owls, orientation week leaders.
The 24 communities will live
close together in either Stauffer
or Johnson, and will also take two
classes together, a Freshmen Writing Seminar and a linked course.
Bortman says that the purpose is
for the students to support each
other inside and outside of the
classroom.
Approximately half of the 34
Owls are planning to become Peer
Mentors to the communities they
have been assigned to. The Peer
Mentors make a one-year commitment with their community to help
the students with their studies as
well as with integrating into the
community.
Each community is also required to do four to five activities
together, such as going to a club
or sporting event, and one of the
activities must take place in a
Faculty Master House.
The Living Learning Communities test piloted two years ago
with the creation of Community
W. Approximately 30 students
were enrolled in each class of the
past two years.
Though an Assistant Dean of
First-Year Programs position has
never existed at Whittier, Bortman
says it's a pretty typical college
position created to help first-year
students transition. Bortman will
be in charge of overseeing the
first-year students, helping them
to transition well and integrate
into the community.
While finishing her doctorate
see DEAN, page 6
FOOTBALL LOSES
Whittier College loses season
opener to Puget Sound 26-19.
Sports, Page 16
HEALTH TIPS
Afraid of the Freshmen 15? Check
out this column.
Campus Life, Page 8