Vol. 115, Issue 16February 13, 2014

Every ThursdayThe BEacon

The Student Voice of the University of Portland Since 1935

Graduation...future career...AND a wedding? How do they do it?

Living, p. 8-9

The early bird meets a swift death.

News, p. 2

What’s something 63 percent of students have in common, but rarely talk about?

News, p. 5

In case you missed it, a snowpocalypse occurred over the weekend causing an early closure on Friday, terror on the roads, a late start on Monday and general snow hysteria throughout campus. Now that the seven-inch blanket of snow, according to KOIN News, has melted and campus is a sea of hunter boots and NorthFace jackets, no one is Instagramming photos of slushpocalypse. The melting of the snow and subsequent rain could cause flooding on campus that could range from marshy puddles to Lake Union fairly quickly. Luckily, Physical Plant has been working endlessly on both snow removal and flood prevention.

“We aren’t expecting severe flooding at this point,” said Physical Plant Assistant Director Fay Beeler. “Our crews have cleared all major areas where flooding has occurred in the past and the snow runoff has already mostly happened. We are just really happy that all the students got the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful snow with no significant complications on campus.”

Over the weekend students celebrated the snow with a wide range of activities. Some embraced the snowfall and ran right into the storm, Instagramming and Tweeting as they went. Others locked their doors, ordered Domino’s and binge-watched Netflix. Whatever your way of coping, may we all remember Snowpocalpyse 2014 and try to forget the slushpocalyptic consequences.

Also, everyone with “sleds” hiding under their beds, Bauccio Commons wants their trays back.

Trimet Stops Running, Students Get StrandedOn Saturday night, a group

of students from Schoenfeldt Hall celebrated the snow by attending a Winterhawks game at the Moda Center. Unfortunately, due to heavy snowfall and the subsequent delayed public transportation, the students were stranded outside for nearly an hour-and-a-half post-game.

“There was about 20 of us and public transportation was obviously really spotty,” said Schoenfeldt RA Nolan Ripple. “The MAX stopped running altogether and the buses that are normally running back to UP weren’t coming. We finally managed to get home after a really great bus driver was

willing to drop us off at the end of his route.”

According to Ripple, the game ended at around 9 p.m. and the students finally got back to UP around midnight.

“It was obviously a bummer,” said Ripple. “We weren’t dressed properly to stand outside for that long in the ice and it was really frustrating not having correct bus times or knowing what the public transportation situation would be.”

The students called Public Safety for assistance. However, due to road conditions they couldn’t be picked up from any further than New Seasons.

“In situations as this, students can always call us and we will do whatever we can do given the circumstances to assist them in

SNOWPOCALYPSE turned SLUSHPOCALYPSE

Cassie SheridanStaff Writer

sheridan15@up.edu

See WINTER WONDERLAND MELTS, page 4

(Above) Students sled down the hill behind Corrado Hall in trash bags. (Left below) Freshman Lia Naputi makes a snow angel in the East Quad. (Right below) Freshmen Hanneaka McDonald, Lia Naputi, Ciann San Nicolas, Jesse Camacho and William Mafnas frolic in the first snowfall of the year.

The tension is palpable in the halls of public schools across Portland. Teachers, students, parents and administrators wait for a seemingly inevitable strike. Portland Public School teachers voted to strike last Wednesday. This vote authorized the first strike in the history of the school system. Despite several meetings, no agreement has been reached yet.

This vote will affect more than just the teachers and students in the Portland Public School system – it affects students at the University of Portland as well.

Many education majors at UP are placed in Portland Public Schools, as well as other school districts, to fulfill requirements of their degree and licensure.

The state of Oregon requires about 16 weeks of full-time student-teaching experience, work samples, along with several other components in order for students to receive their license to teach.

At a meeting on Monday, union leaders submitted a notification of strike and the plan to walk out on Feb. 20 if an agreement is not made by then. According to plans released by Portland Public Schools, if a strike is imminent, schools will be let out early on Feb. 19, and, in the case of a walkout, will remain closed for three days in an attempt to reorganize and train replacements.

A strike would disrupt the student-teaching experience and students’ ability to create a work sample. However, there is some flexibility in the licensure process to account for situations like this.

Sophomore Mari Stevens volunteers at George Middle School, where she says the tension is tangible.

“There’s definitely a lot of uneasiness between everyone,” Stevens said. “It’s been very awkward.”

According to Associate Dean of the School of Education Bruce Weitzel, state regulations have built in procedures that allow

Strike could affect education

majorsLydia LaytheStaff Writer

laythe16@up.edu

See STRIKE, page 3

Photo Courtesy of Clara LeeWays

David DiLoreto | THE BEACON David DiLoreto | THE BEACON

Accuracy in The BeaconThe Beacon strives to be fair and accurate. The newspaper corrects any significant errors of fact brought to the attention of the editors. If you think an error has been made, contact us at beacon@up.edu. Corrections will be printed above.

PRE-LAW SOCIETY PANEL

Thursday, Feb. 13, 5 p.m. in the Franz Hall 3rd floor lounge.

MEChA PRESENTS COMMUNITY SERVICE

OPPORTUNITYThursday, Feb. 13, 7-9 p.m. in Shiley 301. Learn about volun-teer opportunities at Hacienda CDC, a Latino CommunityDevelopment Corporation.

PILOTS AFTER DARKFriday, Feb. 14, 10 p.m.-1 a.m. “Treat Yourself” with oxygen bar, massage therapists and cupcakes.Saturday, Feb. 15, 9 p.m.-1 a.m. FASA Formal. 007- themed dance in the Commons, tickets in the Commons for $10.11:30 p.m. – 1 a.m. KDUP DJ Otto Streckler AKA Fidel Cashflow.

CPB PRESENTS “THOR: THE DARK

WORLD”Friday and Saturday, 9 p.m. in Buckley Center Auditorium.

FRIENDS OF TREES UP PLANTING

Saturday, Feb. 15, 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Email Hailey Truax at cvcfriendsoftrees@up.edu.

TEACH FOR AMERICA DEADLINE

Thursday, Feb. 20 is the final deadline for admission for 2014. See www.teachforameri-ca.org for more information. CORRECTIONS In Feb. 6’s article “Housing survival guide,” The Beacon reported last year’s housing rates. This year’s rates can be found on upbeacon.com/housingguide.

On Campus

Birds blindsided by library windows

NEWS2 February 13, 2014

With the low temperatures and snow of last weekend, many students are still in the throes of nausea, fever and phlegm.

Senior Rebecca Bell doesn’t think she has the flu, but has been sick since Saturday, and knows of about six or seven other students who have been sick in the past couple weeks.

“I also played in the snow without proper warm weather gear, so I think that contributed,” Bell said.

Bell had a sore throat, runny nose, muscles pains and a low fever. Some students, however, didn’t escape the flu season with a short cold. On the national level, flu activity is much higher than the usual flu season.

“We’re above what’s considered epidemic,” said Assistant Director of Nursing Services Susan Chisum.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, for week five, Jan. 26- Feb. 1, the percentage of deaths reported to the CDC was 1.3 percent higher than the epidemic threshold of 7.2 percent for that week.

As of Feb. 11 there have been over 20,270 cases of the flu and 40 flu-related deaths nationwide.

Symptoms for the flu can last anywhere between one to two weeks and most people are contagious one day before and five to seven days after symptoms appear.

During dead week, when most UP students were in the Library cramming for tests and finishing thesis papers, junior Brenagh Sanford was in bed with the flu. She started feeling poorly the Sunday before finals and

ended up throwing up Monday night and was bedridden through Thursday afternoon.

“I slept all day,” Sanford said, “I got to the point where I was tired of sleep. But I never had an actual good night’s sleep because my joints hurt and I was really achy.”

When she emailed her professors about getting extensions on her finals, Sanford felt that they didn’t believe her. Sanford’s hall director had to email her professors before they allowed her to get extensions on the exams. Her last final was Jan. 24.

“They weren’t taking me seriously like, ‘oh sure, you’re sick the week of finals, yeah,’” she said.

When sophomore Justin Plummer got the flu last month, it started off as a headache on Sunday.

“Honestly, it kind of felt like I had a hangover, but it wasn’t,” he said. “(Monday) in the afternoon I started feeling really bad. I had a fever, probably around 100 degrees. We didn’t check it though but I was having cold sweats, it was really bad.”

By Tuesday Plummer went to urgent care and was told he

had the flu. But unlike Sanford, Plummer didn’t have any nausea.

“I didn’t throw up, so the fever was probably the most exciting thing,” he said.

According to Plummer he slept for most of the week and was feeling better by Saturday.

“I’m better now,” he said. “But like, I still have the after-sick coughs.”

PreventionThis year’s main strain is

H1N1, or swine flu. According to Chisum, children are more susceptible to this strain because they haven’t been exposed to it before.

“The strain was around many years ago,” she said. “Young people don’t have any defenses (for the virus).”

According to flu.gov, the flu season can start as early as October and go as late as May. To prepare, the optimal time to get vaccinated is October to November. The University of Portland Health Center provides vaccinations at $15 for students, faculty and staff during the fall but ran out in January. Since the vaccines are expensive and don’t keep for a long time, they don’t order many.

“Usually we’re not very busy

(at the vaccination clinics),” said Chisum. “We try to hit the amount for those who will get it in November.”

Some students, however, opt out of the vaccine.

“I have an anti-flu vaccine stance and I’m very strong in that stance,” Bell said. “I don’t really see the point. I think my body can fight things off naturally so I don’t see the point in getting a flu shot.”

Chisum, however, stresses the importance of being vaccinated and has been “trying to blanket the campus” with information in an effort to spread the word.

“We sent out an announcement about why (students and faculty) should get a vaccine,” she said.

Flu season rages on, students try to stay wellRebekah Markillie

Staff Writer markilli17@up.edu

New Law - City of Portland Sick Leave

With the instatement of Portland Sick Time Ordinance, UP student employees can earn paid sick leave. For every 30 hours of work, a student earns one hour of paid sick leave for a maximum total of 80 hours.

David DiLoreto | THE BEACON

Olivia Alsept-EllisStaff Writer

alseptel14@up.edu

Many dead birds have been found along the north side of the Clark Library. However, most bird bodies have disappeared, leaving only trails of feathers. Upwards of eight dead birds alongside the library have been reported in one single sighting. Other dead birds have been sighted at Shiley Hall and Franz Hall. This issue has been brought to the attention of the Clark Library, Public Safety, Physical Plant and ASUP, although no plan of action has been proposed. The Physical Plant staff have been in charge of removing the bodies when they are notified.

Freshman Phoebe O’Loane was studying at the north corner of the first floor of the library when she witnessed a bird collision last week.

“We all heard this ‘thump’ and just saw feathers,” Oloane said.

Seniors Jackson Boyle and

Christian Scarcella did not witness a collision but rather discovered the morbid aftermath.

“I parked right next to the Library. One of the (dead) birds was right next to the pathway and I thought, ‘Oh that’s so sad!’” Scarcella said. “And we took three steps, and there was another one in the bark. We thought, ‘That’s weird, there’s another (dead bird).’

Boyle, who was with Scarcella at the time, said they were baffled when the death toll continued to rise.

“And then there was another one and another one. There were eight bird bodies in total,” Boyle said. “The sheer number of birds!”

They said the birds were in a line formation as their bodies lay on the ground.

“They were all about four feet away from the window. It looked like they had flown into the window and bounced backwards,” Scarcella said. “They must have been going pretty fast.”

Scarcella said that it appeared that the birds could have been trying to fly through the windows or, perhaps, attacking their own reflection. Their similar positioning suggested to Scarcella that they all met a similar fate.

The Environmental News Network reported that between 365 to 999 million birds per year die due to collisions with buildings or residential houses. The city of Portland published a guide for bird-friendly buildings, citing light pollution and reflective glass as a preventable causes of death for birds. Organizations, like the Fatal Light Awareness Program or FLAP, aim to increase awareness of these bird-safe measures.

Dean of the Library Drew Harrington said that bird safety measures were considered when designing the library, but the etching that would have been required was too expensive.

“I don’t know if our rate of bird deaths is higher than normal,” Harrington said. “But I

do know that we experienced this at the old Library as well.”

When bird bodies are discovered, Assistant Director of the Physical Plant Fay Beeler is notified and staff are dispatched to remove the body, as with other dead animals on campus.

“When we get it call, we pick it up,” Beeler said. “I didn’t realize that there was eight at

one time. We had a report of one today, which is normal.”

Beeler and Harrington both said that the death toll for birds this year appeared to be average.

“I’m sorry, it’s sad. Nobody wants to see the little birds dying,” Harrington said. “But (the Library) is open 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. so maybe that just lets people notice this more.”

Photo Courtesy of Alana Fouts

The corpse of a bird lies outside of Donald P. Shiley Hall, where it met its untimely end. Birds are flying into windows across campus.

for licensing agents to take external circumstances into account. Weitzel also contacted the Teacher’s Standards and Practices Commission which oversees licensure regulations, and asked about this specific situation.

“Their comment was, ‘We’ll work with the students if that becomes the case,’” Weitzel said.

The combination of formal procedures and flexible regulations allows administration in the School of Education to ensure each student is given the opportunities necessary to get their license. But Weitzel says that’s not a problem, as most education majors graduate with 1,500 hours of field experience, which surpasses the minimum requirement of about 1,200.

“They’ve had plenty of time,” Weitzel said. “We over-provide opportunities for students to apply what they learn in the classes they take here. We’re in a pretty good place as far as our students go.”

If a strike occurs, UP students placed in Portland Public Schools were instructed not to attend their placements until the day after the strike ends and teachers return to their classrooms.

“They are University of Portland students,” Weitzel said. “They are not members of a teacher association for Portland

Public Schools or the Portland Public School district. We’re guests in those classrooms. We’re basically outside of that political decision-making process and outside of the strike itself.”

To ensure that students stay out of the strike and the decision-making process, students were instructed to remain unbiased and refrain from any discussion or activity surrounding the strike.

Negotiations began last April, and while progress has been made, strikers hope to put pressure on the PPS leaders to make a decision.

“We’re not supposed to know much about it,” Stevens said. “I’m not really sure what to expect. We haven’t even talked about it in our (education) classes. I brought it up in one of my (education) classes … and some people in my class didn’t even know what it was. It’s kind of interesting.”

But despite any confusion or discomfort felt in the classrooms, Weitzel is convinced that students will not be hurt or limited by the strike.

“My belief is that we will work with our students, regardless of what happens, to make sure that they’re not impacted,” Weitzel said. “But it’s really an issue that lives between the teacher association, the teachers and the district itself. And that’s for them to resolve, and we will abide by whatever their decisions are.”

www.upbeacon.com 3NEWS

Emily Strocher | THE BEACON

Roosevelt High School, one of the Portland Public Schools where education majors student-teach, would be affected by the strike. One of the reasons cited for the strike is overcrowded classrooms like this one.

STRIKE: education majors can feel the tensionContinued from page 1

The teachers have many demands, but one of the most significant is to reduce class sizes. Portland Public Schools has about 48,000 students in the system with about 2,900 teachers staffing the schools. Oregon public schools have the third largest class sizes in the country.

Portland Public Schools teachers aren’t the only ones critiquing class size. According to the Institute of Education Sciences, class size reduction is one of the few reform strategies that has been proven through randomized, thorough experiments to increase student achievement .

Based on this information and similar studies, some states have instituted a maximum class size. Florida, for example, pushed legislation limiting between 18 to 25 students per classroom.

According to a written statement released by Portland Public Schools Superintendent Carole Smith, the goal of negotiations “is to reach an agreement that adds teachers to schools, adds school days, raises teacher pay and maintains strong benefits, and helps Portland keep and hire the best educators for our classrooms.”

Anatomy of the Strike

1. Feb. 7, 12:04 a.m. - A neighbor reported excessive noise from a group at Portsmouth Park. The call was reported to Portland Police for response.

2. Feb. 7, 11:38 p.m. - Officers checked the status of a party at the intersection of N. Warren and N. Monteith noticed earlier in the evening. No excessive noise was located.

3. Feb. 8, 9:44 p.m. - Officers checked on a party at the 5700 block of N. Yale. No excessive noise or disturbance was located and officers cleared area.

4. Feb. 8, 11:15 p.m. -A staff member reported possible drug possession at Schoenfeldt Hall. Officers contacted two students and found no prohibited items.

23 1

4

The UP Public Safety Report

For a complete interactive Public Safety report visit www.upbeacon.com and click UP Crime & Fire Log under the News tab.

NEWS4 February 13, 2014

getting home safely,” said Public Safety Director Gerald Gregg.

Despite the frustrating end, Ripple still declared the event positive.

“The game was still really fun,” said Ripple. “In situations like that one, where things are just really awful it becomes kind of funny. We got home eventually and we de-thawed and now we can laugh about it.”

SnowcapadesMany students embraced the

snowfall and enjoyed a plethora of snow activities, the most popular of which was sledding. Students were sledding on the hill by Physical Plant, the hill behind Corrado, the new path going down the Bluff and at Cathedral Park. Many students cited the sledding and snow activities as great bonding among friends.

“Sledding at Cathedral Park was packed,” said junior Clare Munger. “My entire house went together for a little snow bonding time and you had to be careful to not hit other people, which caused some severe wipe-outs.”

The word spread quickly that Cathedral Park was the place to be for good speed.

“We got the word that Cathedral was where the fun was,” said junior Mary Kate Knill. “You could meet some local kids, some UP kids, and take advantage of the snow.”

The Mehling RAs used the snowfall as a means of further bonding and took to the Physical Plant hill.

“We got really excited when there was so much snow,” said Mehling RA Regina Iriawan. “We all just ran outside and started throwing it at each other.”

Junior Clara LeeWays and her housemates developed sledding innovation on the Corrado Hill.

“We discovered that creating a sort of trash bag diaper provided superior speed,” said Leeways. “We tried out a lot of different techniques that were all conveniently free, but unfortunately not impact free.”

For some students the sledding hills weren’t enough and they took to the mountain.

“The snow gods gave me a gift

and I had to take it,” said junior biology major Nicole Lawton. “I loaded up my four-wheel drive Subaru and drove right into the eye of the storm to go skiing at Mt. Hood. There was powder up to my waist all day. No regrets risking my life with snow like that.”

Cabin Fever and Depleting Rations

Some students loved the snow less than others. Due to the dangerous road conditions, many off-campus students found themselves trapped in their homes for most of the weekend and experienced some mild cabin fever.

“I did suffer from cabin fever,” said junior Grace Powell. “I live at the top of a hill so driving was out of the question. I tried to go on walks to get coffee but you can only drink so much coffee. I deep-cleaned my apartment, reorganized everything, and became a little frenzied. I was definitely ready for the snow to melt.”

Other off-campus students confronted the problem of depleting resources. Junior Michelle Wilcox was unable to get to the grocery store, so she and her housemates bonded through staying indoors and cooking together.

“We combined our food and cooked dinners together,” said junior Taylor Tinley. “We just stayed indoors, watched the Olympics, and cooked.”

However, come Sunday the house realized they were nearly out of food, eating chip crumbs and the last of their vegetables.

“It got a little tense towards the end,” said junior Morgan Robertson. “We were all definitely ready for the snow to melt.”

On campus, Bon Appetit served food throughout the poor weather with no significant setbacks.

“Our biggest concern is always just trying to make sure we have staff,” said General Manager Kirk Mustain. “We have to stay open because we are the students’ only option. So we just assess what we can keep open and staffed. We closed early on Saturday so our staff could

be sure to get home safely, but otherwise everything went very smoothly.”

Hometown’s Impact on Snow Excitement

For some students, Friday’s snowfall was a rare weather experience making the snowpocalypse all the better. Junior Issa Santos grew up in Guam and before coming to UP never experienced snow.

“I love when it snows,” said Santos. “It’s so unbelievably beautiful and makes me so excited.”

For others, snow hysteria is more of a running joke. Amelia Segler, a Kenna RA, grew up in North Pole, Alaska, where a blizzard is when it snows a foot overnight.

“It’s always kind of funny because the second snow starts falling people just start assuming everything will shut down,” Segler said. “At home in Alaska, it could snow triple the amount Portland got and nothing would stop. I have never even had a snow day at home.”The Unsung Snow Heroes

Those paths through campus didn’t just magically appear. Physical Plant worked continuously to remove snow, so students and faculty could move safely around campus.

“We had 14 people in on Saturday to clear pathways so students can move safely from their dorms to the Commons,” Beeler said.

Some students may have noticed less parking availability in the main parking lot due to stacked snow. However, when clearing that large of a surface, that is usually the only option.

“It takes a long time to move snow in that big of a lot,” said Beeler. “We had to sacrifice some parking spots in order to clear the rest of the parking.”

There was no issue on campus with frozen pipes and only two UP off-campus houses had any snow-induced problems, which were cleared up quickly.

WINTER WONDERLAND MELTS: students recount snowcapadesContinued from page 1

www.upbeacon.com 5NEWS

For senior Jessica Kast, the color red has a deeper meaning than the color of roses and heart-shaped Valentine’s Day candy.

For her, red is the symbolic representation of her student loan debt. Red used to be the color her cheeks would turn with embarrassment when she admitted to owing $21,000 in student loans.

But now, Kast and other UP students are reclaiming the negative association the color red has with being in debt through the Red Square Movement, which Kast started on campus at the beginning of this semester.

“The Red Square Movement is a way of people standing up and saying ‘I have student debt’ and not being ashamed of it because so many people on campus are struggling with this and not really talking about it,” Kast said.

The Red Square Movement’s presence on campus is a sign of the growing issue of student loan debt in the U.S. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, student loan debt in the U.S. reached $1.2 trillion last May, making it the second-largest form of consumer debt, second only to home mortgage debt and well above credit card debt.

Sophomore Marissa Kelly finds this number appalling, and as a social work major, is concerned that her future career will prevent her from paying off her student loans. She said she is afraid that in the future, she might have to refuse a job she would love because it might pay too little for her to make her student loan payments.

“How do you expect young professionals to succeed and thrive and to positively contribute to society if they’re so overwhelmed by their debt that they can’t do what they were trained to do?” she said.

Living in the RedFor many students, debt has a

profound effect on their college experience. Although she does receive some financial help from her father, Kelly works three on-campus jobs to support herself and intends to graduate next year to alleviate her student loan debt.

“I would have liked to stay for four years, but knowing how much money I would have taken on, I pushed to be able to do that (graduate early),” Kelly said.

Sophomore Sarah Street said she considered attending college elsewhere because of UP’s high tuition costs.

“I could have gone to the University of Oregon and had no student debt at all,” Street said. “I could have gone paying nothing and still got a really good degree, but I felt like UP would be a good home for me and I valued the class sizes and the community here more than I did at UO. And so I chose to pay more to have a better experience.”

At the end of her sophomore

year, Kast nearly dropped out of UP because she couldn’t afford it anymore, but she said Fr. Gary Chamberland intervened and helped her get some scholarships so she could stay. While she is grateful for this, her student debt is still a heavy burden to bear.

“Are my loan payments going to be more than my rent? Am I not going to be able to buy groceries for that week because I have to pay back my loans?” Kast said. “I work two jobs and I make enough money to support myself while in college, but when I leave, what’s that going to look like?”

By the NumbersAccording to Janet Turner,

director of Financial Aid, last year almost 63 percent of UP’s seniors graduated with student debt. Additionally, the average amount of debt UP graduates left with last year was $27,181.68, which included both federal and private loans. However, these numbers only reflect students who spent all four years at UP, which excludes transfer students.

Despite the large number of students graduating with student debt, Turner said students don’t come in for financial aid counseling very frequently, and previous outreach attempts about student loan debt and repayment options were not heavily attended.

“Even though we’ve tried to offer information out there, it’s not highly attended,” she said. “I don’t know if people don’t think about loans until they graduate or they’re just not worried about it.”

Kast sees another explanation. She said some students she has spoken to have no idea how much debt they accumulate because they let their parents handle it while they’re in college.

“That to me is very scary because you’re going to leave college and graduate and you have no idea how much loans you’ve accumulated over those years,” Kast said. “People don’t understand the reality of it in school because they pretend like it doesn’t exist.”

Squarely in the RedAdapted from a 2012 Quebec

university student movement that protested tuition increases, the main goal of the Red Square Movement at UP is to bring awareness to the growing national problem of student loan debt and to encourage students to not be ashamed by taking out student loans to pay for their education.

“We just use this symbol as a way of identifying that a lot of people on campus are struggling with it and we want to open up a dialogue and have people talk about it,” Kast said.

In the first week of the semester, Kast and 10 other students passed out 500 small red felt squares for students to pin on their jackets or backpacks in a visual show of support for those who have student loan debt.

“It was really cool to walk around campus and see people that I didn’t even know wearing the red square on their backpack

or something,” Kast said. “Some people were hesitant but even people who didn’t have debt were excited to jump on board and say that they supported people who do have it.”

Kast and other students have been meeting this semester and are currently planning another event to bring awareness to student debt on campus and how this problem connects to issues of cultural and racial diversity.

Changes AheadChanges in population

demographics could have an effect on who attends UP and how much financial assistance they may need. A brief released in January by UP’s Institutional Research predicts in the coming years there will likely be an increase of Hispanic high school graduates in Oregon and Washington. Typically, families of minority backgrounds tend to have lower incomes, meaning that more prospective students will need financial assistance to attend a private university like UP.

Turner said University President-elect Fr. Mark Poorman recognizes these trends and is committed to increasing the endowment for student scholarships.

“He knows there’s trends where there’s going to be more low-income students who want to attend UP and so if we can offer more scholarships from our endowment, that’s going to help,” Turner said.

However, more immediate changes may be on the horizon for current student borrowers. Even though Congress approved a student loan bill last year that lowered interest rates on federal direct loans, that bill also fixed interest rates to the 10-year Treasury note. This means that as the economy improves, it becomes more expensive for the government to borrow money, which could raise interest rates again. This could make paying back student loans even more of a burden, according to Turner.

“I think the best thing for students to be is aware that they

are borrowing a loan, that loans have to be repaid with interest,” Turner said.

David DiLoreto | THE BEACON

Senior Jessica Kast (above) and sophomore Sarah Street (below) are part of the Red Square Movement, which involves students reclaiming the negative association of student loan debt by wearing small red squares.

How to manage student debt

-Apply for scholarships every year.-Stay in contact with your loan servicer after graduation.-Know how to properly fill out your FAFSA.-Only borrow up to what you need, not necessarily to the total cost of attendance-If you can, pay the interest on your loans during college so it doesn’t accumulate.-Counseling through the -Office of Financial Aid is still available even after graduation.-To get more information on your own student loans, visit www.nslds.ed.gov (National Student Loan Data System). You’ll need: your Social Security number, first two letters of your last name, date of birth, and FAFSA PIN.

Kathryn WaltersCopy Editor

walters14@up.edu

ASUP, the Provost Office, and the Finance Division are offering the following finance workshops in Buckley Center 206 from 4-5 p.m.:

Wednesday, Feb. 12Wednesday, Feb. 19Wednesday, Feb. 26Wednesday, Mar. 5 Topics covered include:

-Personal financial planning (managing checking and savings accounts)

-Saving and investing for the long run

-Managing debt

-Retirement planning

-Insurance

Students in the red stand in solidarity over debt

Any student that has driven or hiked through Forest Park has probably noticed the ivy overtak-ing a majority of the flora. A com-muter student who drives through Forest Park, junior biology and German studies major Katelin Stanley, has noticed, and was in-

spired to do something about it.Stanley conducts research in

an effort to solve the problem of this invasive plant species.

“We’re studying how we can fight the problem of English ivy,” Stanley said. “It’s taking over all the trees and it’s forming dense mats on the understory that we think is preventing other plants from being able to break through, so that’s suppressing the native

plants from growing there.”This is not Stanley’s first time

doing experiential learning. She studied abroad for a year in Salz-burg and hopes to go into biologi-cal field work or research directly after graduation.

This project has the potential to benefit the University of Port-land, as well as the greater Port-land community. Stanley will report her findings to the Parks and Recreation Department as part of the permit she was granted to do the research, which will be published at their discretion. Ad-ditionally, it may reinforce or challenge the effectiveness of one of the service projects typically done at UP by freshmen during freshman orientation week.

“One of the service projects that they do here is clearing ivy, and we want to see if that’s an effective method for keeping the ivy down,” Stanley said. “I’m hoping to find that clearing ivy can enhance more native diver-sity and abundance, so we’re giv-ing the little guys a chance.”

For this independent research project, which is being conduct-ed in Forest Park, Stanley will remove ivy from test plots and compare what grows back there

to what is able to grow under the ivy mats.

“My favorite aspect of the project is that it forces me to get out into nature no matter the weather,” Stanley said. “I also experience a feeling of triumph whenever I find a little waterleaf or bigleaf maple seedling buried beneath the ivy mat.”

The project is being taken on with the guidance of biol-ogy professors David Taylor and Christine Weilhoefer. Taylor has previously worked with students completing research projects.

“By doing research, students are getting to understand the world around them more,” Taylor said. “Understanding what sur-rounds us is of fundamental im-portance.”

Stanley will also have several students helping her with the ini-tial stage of her project by remov-ing ivy.

One such student is junior me-chanical engineering major Blair Pearson.

“I’ve never met anyone so driven,” Pearson said of Stanley. “Doing your own research and being a self-starter is on a differ-ent level (of undergraduate re-search).”

From the secret life of earth-worms to the sensual joy of eat-ing apricot jam, former U.S. Poet Laureate Louise Glück crafts poems that come from the heart and whisper blunt realities in her readers’ ears.

Glück will lecture tonight as part of the Schoenfeldt Distin-guished Writers Series. Since its founding in 1988 by Rev. Arthur Schoenfeldt, C.S.C., UP’s Writers Series has featured notable au-thors biannually, with events that are free and open to the public. The Series is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

English professor John Orr, who selects the Writers Series lecturers with Portland Magazine editor Brian Doyle, admits he has “a little bit of hero-worship” for Glück.

“I like how she’s absolutely unsentimental,” Orr said. “She is not afraid. She wants to demysti-fy things. I admire that – that abil-ity to look at something as it is, and not as we’d like to think it is.”

With 15 books of poetry pub-lished and numerous honors to her name, Glück is saluted as one of America’s great contemporary poets. Born in New York, Glück, now 69, was named United States poet laureate in 2003, a title that recognized her as the nation’s of-ficial poet.

The emotional intensity and technical precision of Glück’s writing has won her the admira-tion of critics and poets, includ-ing English professor Herman Asarnow.

“She’s one of the best poets in America,” Asarnow said. “She’s not a Disney poet. She’s not re-flexively anything. She’s very re-alistic.”

According to Asarnow, much of Glück’s poetry describes the experience of life with an aca-demic clarity that strikes readers as cool or sorrowful. Her forte is using simple imagery that be-comes meaningful through re-peated use across her poems.

“Poets think and see – like all artists they notice what we forget, or never saw in the first place,” Asarnow said.

Sophomore English major Ra-chel Macklin noted the power of layered meaning when she read Glück’s book, “A Village Life” for Asarnow’s poetry workshop course.

“I sat down and read it all the way through,” Macklin said. “I thought it was absolutely stun-ning. You’re struck by the com-plexity she gives these very sim-ple ideas.”

Macklin also noted a strand of darkness in all the poems.

“When you’re reading you get this sense of melancholy– like it’s always cloudy outside,” Macklin said.

Asarnow agreed that Glück’s

writing is a little grim.“I think she rightly sees living

the human life as difficult, im-precise, and that the processes of nature can be reassuring as well as threatening,” Asarnow said. “She’s trying to articulate what it’s like to live that way.”

Asarnow and Orr speculate that Glück will read from her most recent work “Poems 1962-2012” as well as from “A Vil-lage Life.” As intimidating as her poetry sounds, Orr invites those unfamiliar with poetry to experi-ence Glück’s lecture and discus-sion session.

“I think poetry, like any great

art, is an opportunity to experi-ence what is means to be a human being,” Orr said. “That’s part of an educational experience. As simplistic as that sounds, isn’t that the point? To help us under-stand who we are? Her poetry is able to do that.”

LIVING6 February 13 2014

Former poet laureate speaks tonight‘One of the best poets in America’ Louise Glück will lecture as part of Schoenfeldt Distinguished

Writers Series

I’ve got a date for Valentine’s Day tomorrow, and his name is Frank Underwood.

In other words, tomorrow is the premiere of the second sea-son of Netflix’s original series “House of Cards,” and I couldn’t be more excited to snuggle under my blanket with some chocolate and watch a new season of Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, scheming his way to the top of the political ladder.

For those of you who don’t know, “House of Cards” is a grip-ping political thriller. The show follows Underwood, a ruthless Congressman who has a bone to pick with those in power and won’t stop until he has destroyed his enemies and placed himself on a political pedestal. He’s aided by his equally morally dubious wife, Claire, played by Robin Wright. Underwood manipulates everyone around him in order to achieve his ends, whether it’s a reporter desperate for a big break, a fellow Congressman with a scandalous past and even the President of the United States.

Even though Frank is the pro-tagonist, he’s also the villain. He’s the one pulling the strings and no one can stand a chance against him. But he’s so calculating and devious, I can’t help rooting for him. Every so often, he breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the audience, making snide comments about his colleagues or explaining how he’s going to get someone to do his bidding. That was a bit strange to me at first, but now I live for those moments.

Last May, I watched the first season in literally three days. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the show’s incisive study of power and ambition in Washing-ton, D.C. That season ended on a complete cliffhanger, so all bets are off for homework this week-end until I finish the new season, probably in three days (or fewer).

To paraphrase a favorite quote from Underwood, “I love this show. I love it more than sharks love blood.”

-Kathryn Walters

Nastacia VoisinStaff Writer

voisin15@up.edu

Photo courtesy of The Poetry Foundation

Louise Glück was named the United States poet laureate in 2003. She has had 15 books of poetry published.

Glück’s lectureWhen: Thursday, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m.Where: Buckley Center Auditorium.

Glück Q-&-A When: Thursday from 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. Where: Buckley Center 163

Biology researcher joins anti-ivy leagueJunior Katelin Stanley conducts research on invasive species, English ivy

Clare DuffyStaff Writer

duffy17@up.edu

Parker Shoaff | THE BEACON

Junior Katelin Stanley has been conducting research on English ivy in Forest Park in an effort to combat the invasive species.

Entertain Me

Photo courtesy of fontsinuse.com

‘House of Cards’: the only

Valentine’s Card I need

www.upbeacon.com 7 LIVING

Maggie SmetStaff Writer

smet14@up.edu

Ordering caps and gowns, ap-plying for jobs, facing the beast of ‘the real world’... and planning a wedding? The first three are reali-ties for the majority of seniors, but only the fourth is a reality for the engaged couples in the senior class.

Students who get married after graduation are five to seven years younger than the national average age of marriage. Post-grad newly-weds face the challenges of balanc-ing two burgeoning careers paths, joint finance management and the practicalities of making a marriage work. However, many are eager to have someone by their side as they begin life after graduation.

Planning for the future

Seniors Ashley Woster and Cal-vin Tuhy met freshman orientation week during the West Quad social. They started dating soon after, with some friendly Facebook stalking in between. But when it came to plan-ning their future beyond the West Quad and UP, it was a balancing act between practicality and personal goals. In discussing the future be-fore their engagement last fall, both Woster or Tuhy wanted to be prac-tical.

“It was a lot of just figuring out what each other’s plans were, and being careful not to influence the

other’s plans,“ Tuhy says. “I want-ed to make sure we were being rea-sonable about it.”

For senior Morgan Willard and her fiance Jered Freeman, the deci-sion to get engaged was a natural progression of their relationship, even though Willard lives in Port-land and Freeman in Washington.

“We talked about it a lot, he’d actually been looking at rings be-fore without telling me. When he told me I was kind of surprised, but I had thought about it,” Willard says. “I wasn’t expecting it or pres-suring him.”

Statistical outliers

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average age to get mar-ried for the first time was about 29 for men and 27 for women in 2011. However, UP students find their peers are supportive and excited for them, while older adults tend to be more concerned and skeptical.

“Generally, younger people were happier (for me),” Willard says. “People I didn’t know very well would just come up to me and be like ‘Oh my god! Congratula-tions! I saw on Facebook you were engaged!’”

Woster echoed this sentiment, but noted her grandparents’ caution and concern for her marrying a few months after graduating college. Even though her grandparents and parents married young, they still were worried about making sure

she and Tuhy weren’t compromis-ing their futures to get married.

“They were concerned about grad school and careers and mak-ing sure that each person gets to do what they want to do,” Woster says.

Corrado Hall Director Mike Wode and spouse, Residence Life Office Manager Jessica Wode, mar-ried a year after graduating from the University of Dayton in Day-ton, Ohio. August will mark their five year anniversary.

“After I got married, older peo-ple would say, ‘That’s so young! How are you married?’” Mike says.

Despite going against the na-tional average, many couples see the upsides of marrying young, even as they’re just starting out in the proverbial “real world.” Wil-lard is looking forward to setting up her own home and space with Freeman, and gaining the distinc-tive new moniker of Morgan Free-man. Tuhy and Woster are excited to come home to someone at night and chat about their days.

Sharing money and bath-rooms

Even with the security and do-mesticity that comes with marriage, real problems face those who take on two big life changes – gradua-tion and marriage – in the close time span.

Senior Mairi Rodriguez recog-nizes that the challenges she and her fiance, senior Kevin Ratuiste,

face after graduation will be similar to those of their single peers. Man-aging money as a couple is at the forefront of her concerns.

“It’s not so much a worry that together we’re going to have prob-lems, it’s normal ‘I’m growing up and we have to pay for things’ wor-ry. There’s going to be two people making money and that makes me feel a little bit better, ” Rodriguez says.

Woster and Tuhy also envision challenges in their first years of marriage.

“I’m most worried about money management, because I haven’t ever had to share my money with someone else. It’s not just my mon-ey anymore,” Woster says.

Tuhy’s concerns are over the daily struggles of living and getting along with another person.

“I’m most scared of sharing the bathroom,” Tuhy says.

Asking the tough questions

Mike and Jessica offer this ad-vice to engaged couples: Talk about everything. Before you’re married.

“They have a lot of questions they need to answer, about what their future holds. They need to ask those tough questions,” Mike says. “What will our financial situ-ation be? Where will we live? How many kids are we going to have? Whose parents are we going to have Thanksgiving with?”

Woster and Tuhy acknowledge

the difficulties of entering the real world, but see their marriage a help, rather than a hindrance in their new lives.

“Yeah, you’re going to have challenges after graduation, every-one will. But it’s going to be cool to go through them with someone else. Of course that will bring more challenges within itself, but I think it will be valuable to have a part-ner,” Tuhy says.

Maturity and age: just a number?

Still, the idea of marrying in their early 20s may be difficult for some 20-somethings to understand. But those who have made the choice focus on the importance of maturity over age.

“It depends on the individual’s maturity level, if they’re ready to make that commitment and the ma-turity of the relationship,” Jessica says.

Even with maturity or the com-fort of having a partner in crime, newlywed life holds uncertainty for many. When asked about their upcoming lives as newlyweds, with their futures in the hands of the Air Force, Rodriguez and Ratuiste have different responses to the possibil-ity of being placed at any Air Force base in the world.

“I’m not worried,” Ratuiste says. “I’m terrified,” Rodriguez re-plies.

“

8 February 13, 2014 LIVING

Ringing in graduation

Mairi Rodriguezsenior

It’s not so much a worry that together we’re going to have problems, it’s normal ‘I’m growing up and we have to pay for things’ worry. There’s going to be two people making money and that makes me feel a little bit better.

Kristen Garcia | THE BEACON

Seniors Kevin Ratuiste and Mairi Rodriguez do homework in Ratuiste’s Tyson apartment. Rodriguez and Ratuiste’s futures will be determined by Ratuiste’s Air Force placement after his December 2014 gradua-tion.

the difficulties of entering the real world, but see their marriage a help, rather than a hindrance in their new lives.

“Yeah, you’re going to have challenges after graduation, every-one will. But it’s going to be cool to go through them with someone else. Of course that will bring more challenges within itself, but I think it will be valuable to have a part-ner,” Tuhy says.

Maturity and age: just a number?

Still, the idea of marrying in their early 20s may be difficult for some 20-somethings to understand. But those who have made the choice focus on the importance of maturity over age.

“It depends on the individual’s maturity level, if they’re ready to make that commitment and the ma-turity of the relationship,” Jessica says.

Even with maturity or the com-fort of having a partner in crime, newlywed life holds uncertainty for many. When asked about their upcoming lives as newlyweds, with their futures in the hands of the Air Force, Rodriguez and Ratuiste have different responses to the possibil-ity of being placed at any Air Force base in the world.

“I’m not worried,” Ratuiste says. “I’m terrified,” Rodriguez re-plies.

“

“

“

www.upbeacon.com 9 LIVING

I’m most worried about money management, because I haven’t ever had to share my money with someone else. It’s not just my money anymore.

Generally, younger people were happier (for me). People I didn’t know very well would just come up to me and be like ‘Oh my god! Congratulations! I saw on Facebook you were engaged!’

After I got married, older people would say, ‘That’s so young! How are you married?’

Ashley Woster

Morgan Willard

Mike Wode

senior

senior

hall director

Kristen Garcia | THE BEACON

Corrado Hall Director Mike Wode plays Scrabble with spouse, Residence Life Office Manager Jessica Wode. Jessica and Mike married in 2009, shortly after their college graduation.

Photo courtesy of Morgan Willard

UP senior Morgan Willard with her fiance Jered Freeman. While both from Kennewick, Wash., Willard attends school here.

David DiLoreto | THE BEACON

Seniors Calvin Tuhy and Ashley Woster make dinner at Tuhy’s house. Tuhy and Woster got engaged last fall.

Design by Rebekah Markillie

Come Follow Me.It was the Lord Jesus calling us.

Over 50 men are currently in formationto become priests or brothers in theCongregation of Holy Cross. Is Christcalling you to join them?

Find out more:seminarians.holycrossvocations.org

Holy Cross priests and brothers have beenserving at UP since 1902. To learn more about Holy Cross at UP, contact Fr. Gerry Olinger, C.S.C. (olinger@up.edu) or talk withany of the Holy Cross priests or brothers on campus.

holycrossvocations.org

Practice self-love this Valentine’s Day

Evan CastroGuest Commentary

Valentine’s Day tends to be an important holiday in today’s culture. For some, we picture romantic candle-lit dinners, for others it may be heart-shaped boxes of chocolate with a dozen red roses, and for many more the vision may be of an evening spent with that special someone while watching a mushily appro-priate movie.

It would seem that Valentine’s Day is all about showing an-other person how much you love them. While there is nothing wrong with that, we should also remember that Valentine’s Day is also an opportunity to show our-selves how much we love who we are.

Self-love is a topic that many people do not feel comfortable discussing for fear that it will be interpreted as narcissism. There are times where we do not feel good about ourselves because we have a limited ability to feel good about ourselves without others’ feedback. We often feel

that we need others’ feedback to bolster our sense of “being good enough.” We have to break away from that habit and realize that we don’t need to be good enough for others, we have to be good enough for ourselves.

Like anyone, I question my worth sometimes and the im-portant thing is to not focus on that. The important thing to re-member is that we all question our worth; no one is immune to that. Be authentic to yourself and to others, and as Steve Maraboli said, “Love yourself. Forgive yourself. Be true to your-self. How you treat yourself sets the standard for how others will treat you.”

Self-love helps us to recog-nize that we are just as important as anyone else, and that what we think and feel is valid. There have been many times where I have expressed my authentic thoughts and feelings only to have them be

invalidated by others. However, I no longer take those remarks to heart; I not only believe, but I know, that I am a good person; I know that I am just as important as anyone else, and I know that I am worth it. I know these things because I love who I am.

Remember the words of Joel Osteen: Don’t ever criticize your-self. Don’t go around all day long thinking, ‘I’m unattractive, I’m slow, I’m not as smart as my brother.’ God wasn’t having a bad day when he made you … If you don’t love yourself in the right way, you can’t love your neigh-bor.

It all starts with you. We can help each other to self-love, but we need to be able to believe what others are telling us and what we tell ourselves. We have to convince ourselves that we are worth it, that we are beauti-ful and most importantly that we are loved. Use Post-it notes with positive messages, sing in the shower, just treat yourself and celebrate who you are.

So this Friday I challenge you. Celebrate the beauti-ful. Celebrate the strong. Cel-ebrate you.

Evan Castro is a senior me-chanical engineering major. He can be contacted at castro13@up.edu.

“So this Friday I challenge you. Celebrate the beauti-ful. Celebrate the strong. Celebrate you.”

Evan Castrosenior

FAITH & FELLOWSHIP10 February 13, 2014

Fun facts about Valentine’s Day• St. Valentine was a Roman priest who was persecuted by Emperor Claudius II for marrying Christian couples. After Valentine tried to convert the emperor he was sentenced to death.• Some sources tell us that Valentine had fallen in love with the blind daughter of his jailer and signed a letter written to her “from your Valentine.”• The saint celebrated on Valentine’s Day is officially known as St. Valentine of Rome, as there are a dozen or more other Valentines. There was even a Pope Valentine who served for 40 days around 827.• The first mass-produced valentines were sold in the United States in the 1840s.• 62 percent of adults say they celebrate Valentine’s Day.• 150 million Valentine’s Day cards and gifts are sent each year.• The average man spends $150, the average woman $74.

-Emily StrocherSources: http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valen-tines-day/interactives/valentines-day-by-the-numbershttp://newsfeed.time.com/2012/02/14/saint-valentine-famed-ro-mantic-and-religious-martyr/

OPINIONS www.upbeacon.com 11

EDITORIAL POLICYThe editorial reflects the majority view of The Beacon Editorial Board. The editorial does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the collective staff or the Administration of the University of Portland. Other submissions

in this section are signed commentaries that reflect the opinion of the individual writer. The Student Media Committee, providing recommendation to the publisher, oversees the general operation of the newspaper. Policy set by the committee and publisher dictates that the responsibility for the newspaper’s editorial and advertising content lies solely in the hands of its student employees.

EDITORIAL

THE BEACONEditorial BoardSubmission Policy

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Letters to the editor must not exceed 250 words. Those with longer opinions are encouraged to submit guest columns. The Beacon reserves the right to edit any contributions for length and style, and/or reject them without notification. University students must include their major and year in school. Non-students must include their affiliation to the University, if any.

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Staff WritersClare Duffy, Olivia Alsept-Ellis, Mitchell Gilbert, Maggie Hannon, W.C. Lawson, Lydia Laythe, Rebekah Markillie, McKena Miyashiro, Emily Neelon, Cassie Sheridan, Maggie Smet, Taylor Tobin, Nastacia Voisin, Kathryn Walters.

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Editor-in-Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . Kelsey ThomasNews Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sarah HansellLiving Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kate StringerOpinions Editor . . . . . . . . . . . Philip EllefsonSports Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Katie DunnDesign Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shellie AdamsAsst. Design Editor . . . . . . . . . Emily StrocherCopy Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kathryn Walters

Olivia Alsept-EllisStaff Commentary

In the name of love: Valentine’s extremism

See V-DAY, page 13

The romantics are busy draw-ing hearts over Feb. 14 while the cynics are busy setting the calen-dar on fire. Everyone, it seems, takes an extreme stance on Val-entine’s Day. Few are nonchalant about the holiday. Either they have plans to make cupcakes or to use those baking materials more productively, say, to egg their ex’s house.

But what makes this Friday any different than next Friday? After all, there are no phero-mones released into the air nor aphrodisiacs put in the water on the 14th, giving romantics no physiological explanation to be-come all doe-eyed. Likewise, there are no unusual astrologi-cal events upcoming, therefore, cynics have no justifiable reasons to feel that the world might fall apart. The day could easily come and go without being particularly noticeable, yet we all act differ-ent on February the 14th. So what happens when we all believe in St. Valentine’s Day?

To answer that question, we must inspect what the day repre-

sents.

Like most important holidays, society has completely forgotten the legend that the day is based upon. “Something to do with St. Valentine,” we collectively mut-

ter as we glue doilies onto con-struction paper. Disregarding the origin story, Valentine’s Day to-day represents a disruption to the platonic status quo. Behavior that is otherwise outrageously flirta-tious is now acceptable or even expectable. Perhaps the day even allows for some mystical access to an intimacy with others that is otherwise sealed off.

The day is also a kind of ideal-istic warfare.

Those romantics among us are prepared to dress well, carry an abundance of sweets and hand out semi-sincere love notes all day. I think if they could have it truly their way, rose petals would shower throughout the

day as once-strangers—now lov-ers!—walk hand-in-hand down a meadowy boulevard into a heart-shaped sunset. The image is dis-tinctly disconnected from reality, and that’s what they’re going for: a day of obliviated social norms and obligatory optimism.

Then there’s the cynics, who are unwilling to abide by the sanctity of the ritual. These are the people who roll their eyes at the words “red roses” and “Love Actually.” They would have this day inverted, spent in anti-romantic, anti-social behavior like daytime binge drinking. In

“Few are nonchalant about the holiday. Either they have plans to make cupcakes or to use those baking materials to egg their ex’s house.”

Olivia Alsept-Ellissenior

It is shocking how unshocked we are at statistics about student loan debt.

CNN Money reported in De-cember that the average student loan debt of 2013 graduates is $29,400. The same report stated that 60 percent of college gradu-ates from Oregon have student loan debt. UP isn’t far from these averages, with nearly 63 percent of students graduating with debt at an average of about $27,000 per student last year.

But somehow, numbers like these seem neither surprising nor particularly worrisome to most of us college students.

“Even though we’ve tried to offer information out there, it’s not highly attended,” said Director of Financial Aid Janet Turner. “I don’t know if people don’t think about loans until they graduate or they’re just not wor-ried about it.”

This complacency is hard to figure out. We all hear horror stories about unemployed or un-deremployed college graduates

struggling with loan payments of increasing size. Some of us have older siblings barely making ends meet and having to eat only rice and beans to make their pay-ments. But it is still an abstrac-tion for us. We think of it like we think of a distant assignment, a paper a few too many weeks away for us to start working on.

It is time to end the wide-spread apathy we have about our post-college financial situations. Fortunately, some students are talking about the reality of debt. Senior Jessica Kast has gotten UP students involved in the Red Square Movement, which seeks

to bring the issue of student debt into open conversations.

The first step, as Kast real-izes, is to acknowledge the prob-lem of student loan debt. But there is a lot more to do.

The Red Square Movement grew out of students in Quebec protesting against rising tuition rates. The root of student loan debt is not that students are ir-responsible with their money but that college gets more expensive every year.

But we have the same apathy toward tuition increases that we have toward debt: it just doesn’t seem like a real issue. It is simply the assumption at virtually every American university (UP is no exception) that tuition will go up each year. This trend is unsus-tainable, as it will exclude more and more prospective students as time goes on. But few people ad-vocate against the yearly tuition increase (we’d rather just grum-ble about it), and we feel relieved when the price of our education goes up less than five percent.

In addition to being activists for greater openness about stu-dent loan debt, we should also be questioning the pattern of per-petually rising tuition. If tuition rates are a problem for UP stu-dents, we must make it known. Tuition rates will not fall if we do not show the administration we care about student debt.

So pin a red square on your

shirt and face up to student debt. Figure out how much debt you’ll owe after you graduate and real-ize that something needs to be done.

Red Square Movement exposes our debt problem

“We still think of student loan debt like we think of a distant assignment, a paper a few too many weeks away for us to start working on.” Shellie Adams | THE BEACON

Statistics for graduates who spent all 4 years at UP

12 February 13, 2014 OPINIONS

Cassie SheridanStaff Commentary

Please flap responsibly

SUDOKU SOLUTION

I love an app sensation as much as the next iPhone-toting millennial or 13-year-old kid posting selfies on Instagram. I understood when Alec Bald-win was kicked off the plane for needing to play Words with Friends, I nodded solemnly while reading articles about Angry Birds Anonymous meetings and I had to delete Candy Crush off my phone after I realized I was talking about it with as much aggressive passion as Ted Cruz lamenting Obamacare. It goes without saying that I, too, have played Flappy Bird.

After a mere couple rounds, I understood why the creator made the decision to no longer allow downloads of the game. I was so unbelievably angry and simulta-neously embarrassed by a fat bird destroying my Thursday after-noon that I deleted the app. Then (20 minutes later) I downloaded it again.

“The bird is too big!”“The pipes are too close to-

gether!”“My finger is too fat!”“The wings are literally im-

possibly small for this bird to fly properly!”

“The graphics are making me nostalgic for late 90s Mario Nin-tendo!”

These are all things I screamed in about the 20 minutes I played the devilish thing. Luckily, I was able to close the app down, take a few deep breaths and walk away. As many flappers may know, the creator of Flappy Bird removed the game from the App Store Monday afternoon. This has led to a new kind of Flappy Bird hys-teria. A hysteria that comes with a $900 price tag.

Yes, you read that correctly.People are already trying to

sell their iPhones on Ebay for up-wards of $900. A flapper that has tragically lost the game or never downloaded it can still gain ac-cess, but only if you have deep pockets. Ironically, Flappy Bird was free.

Now, this may all seem in-sane to the non-flappers. The in-

dividuals that never have tapped a screen maneuvering, never re-ceived a completely useless me-dallion for managing to make it through 10 pipes, or never screamed in frustration and chucked their iPhone across the room. However, these same peo-ple are now stuck paying $900 to play a game that everybody else got for free. It’s a fairly bril-liant marketing ploy: the second people can’t have something they seem to want it, so make Flappy Bird a non-option and people are going to start calling grandma for a $900 check. Someone let War-ren Buffett know where he needs to put his money.

However, the hysteria came long before the download pull. The game was already making headlines for the incredible rage it was causing people. Pictures of smashed iPhones, screaming humans and a plethora of bird memes were plastered all over the Internet to celebrate the ha-tred/love/addiction to the newest app craze. Fake articles, highly believable, circulated about mur-ders, divorces, broken friend-ships all resulting from a rotund bird incapable of flying properly. Equal parts hilarious and horrify-ing, primarily because the anger I personally experienced could probably break a weak friendship or two, and secondly because a fat bird causing divorces is inher-ently LOL.

Really, this is a sort of pub-lic service announcement for all the flappers out there and poten-tial flappers, should you choose to splurge/win the lottery/call grandma. Please flap responsibly, if at all. Don’t let that frustrat-ing little bird get the best of you. When the bird inevitably beak plants into the ground or into the tube, don’t throw your iPhone into the wall (it’s worth a lot of money now!). Apps are supposed to be fun, not lead you to crimi-nal court. So let’s all flap and play responsibly while silently pray-ing for something else to distract us so we can quit googling ‘how to decrease finger width.’

Also, if you are one of the lucky people who download-ed Flappy Bird before flapper doomsday, I hope you make the

financially savvy choice to sell it for substantial profit. Those gold “coins” aren’t going to finance your next adventure.

Cassie Sheridan is a junior political science and English major. She can be reached at sheridan15@up.edu.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

“Apps are supposed to be fun, not lead you to criminal court. So let’s all flap and play responsibly while si-lently praying for something else to distract us.”

Cassie Sheridanjunior

www.upbeacon.com 13OPINIONS

FACESby Kristen Garcia

What’s the worst PDA you’ve every seen on

campus?

Jacqui Nguyen freshman nursing

“People making out on the ledge outside my window. I try playing

loud music to make them go away, but I guess it’s

never loud enough.”

Hailey Schiller sophomore education

“I walked by Shiley and witnessed two people

making out on the desks through the windows.”

“I haven’t actually seen any PDA, but I have seen a few guys that look like they got in a fight with a vacuum...Talkin’ ‘bout

hickies.”

Sawyer Reid freshman biology

Zarah Gaeta junior

communication studies

“I look away before it can get uncomfortable for

me to watch.”

on The Bluff

Kim TurnerGuest Commentary

International House creates community

SUDOKUSEE OPPOSITE PAGE FOR SOLUTION

V-DAY: Enthusiasm and cynicism equally absurdContinued from page 11

their resistance against the holi-day, the cynics have crafted their own special anti-Valentine’s Day. However, even in rebellion, they are reaffirming the significance of the event.

In order to celebrate (or de-file) Valentine’s Day, we all must submit the social definitions of love and romance to this collec-tive PG-13 display. But no mat-ter which poison you pick, Val-entine’s Day is like some poorly taxidermied version of middle age courting rituals. Though it is a day of romance, the otherwise probable sexual undertones are rendered so clean, so innocent, and so non-existent. Then, the cherry-picked ideas about what love is supposed to look like are hauntingly played on repeat, ad nauseam.

Staring down the chocolate aisle of Fred Meyer, I can’t help but think the commoditization isn’t even the worst part. The worst part is that if we believe that love is a box of chocolates on Feb. 14, what is ‘love’ every other day of the year? Does it exist? Or is it also in caramelized form?

We use the name of St. Val-entine, the man who performed

illicit marriages for Christians under Roman rule, yet we do little investigation into our own country’s legacy of outlawing marriages between interracial or homosexual couples. His hagiog-raphy tells the story of a man who was imprisoned, tortured and ex-ecuted—and yet capital punish-ment or prisoner’s rights is sim-ply not discussed on this holiday.

Instead, on Valentine’s Day, we pray at the altar of the god-dess Hallmark and sacrifice our messy, diverse notions about ro-mance to be sterilized and made homogenous.

But I don’t want to trade away my awkward, usually unpoetic feelings for some preconceived expression. And I don’t want to chug a PBR on a roof while screaming “Love is dead!” either. By Valentine’s Day, I find myself floating in a third group of distant observers. While I’ve made a few cards in my time, I ultimately feel distanced by the practices of wining and dining. This vision of courtly romance doesn’t thrill or engage me, it actually saddens me with its one-dimensional per-spective of human behavior. As if we could ever distill the intrica-cies of human compassion into one glass of wine.

I want to celebrate my in-consistent ideas about love on my own terms, which usually have fewer rose petals and/or cupcakes. I don’t need to be told when it is and is not socially ac-ceptable to find a partner. Most importantly, I don’t want to let the fulcrum of my human experi-ences be a social obligation.

Olivia Alsept-Ellis is a senior English major. She can be reached at alseptel14@up.edu.

“If we believe that love is a box of chocolates on Feb. 14, what is ‘love’ every other day of the year? Does it exist? Or is it also in caramelized form?”

Olivia Alsept-Ellissenior

Anyone who has traveled away from their home country knows the feeling of being the other. This feeling can be both exciting and disconcerting. To suddenly be thrust into a group where you are the foreigner, to be identified at times solely by your nationality, is an experience in which you may feel special and unique but also outcast and mis-understood.

Yet many people do not even have to leave their home coun-try to be singled out as different, unacceptable even. I have experi-enced being the other within my own town, school and even home. I feel fortunate to have found a community that has accepted me for who I am at the International House.

The International House is a place where many different languages are spoken, where meals with many ethnic foods are served and engaging conver-sations take place. I am not the only one who has come to rec-ognize the International House as a warm and accepting space, where people come to participate in events, such as international film nights, to celebrate holidays

and just to hang out. Many of us involved in the International House community have been defined by our differences, and have often felt tossed aside. We find acceptance in the Interna-tional House community, where our differences serve to unify us.

Due to changes made by Residence Life, the International House will continue unofficially next year in Haggerty/Tyson in two separate units. With the op-tion to move off campus, we felt the house would be less acces-sible to students on campus who do not live in the house, but who enjoy spending time there. Al-though we will not be one uni-fied, official house, we hope to continue the existence of a space that, as one of my fellow house-mates puts it, “is neither ‘othered’ nor ‘othering.’”

Kim Turner is a junior secondary education and Spanish major. She can be reached at turnerk15@up.edu.

“To suddenly be thrust into a group where you are the foreigner ... is an experience in which you may feel special and unique but also outcast and misunderstood.”

Kim Turnerjunior

www.upbeacon.com 15 SPORTS

This week in sports

Men’s BasketballThe Pilots play their final two home games of the season this week. Tonight they play Loyola Marymount at 7 p.m. and Satur-day they play Pepperdine at 1 p.m. Saturday is Senior Day for the four seniors on the team.

Women’s BasketballThe Pilots are coming off a three game win streak after beating Loyola Marymount 84-66 last Thursday and Pepper-dine on Saturday 78-59. They’re now 14-10 on the season and 6th in the WCC. They take on BYU tonight in Utah at 6 p.m. and in San Diego at 2 p.m.

Men’s TennisThe team has two games this weekend at home taking on Seattle U Friday at 2 p.m. and Liberty Saturday at 1 p.m.

Track & FieldThe men’s and women’s teams head up north to UW to compete in the Husky Classic Friday and Saturday.

(courtesy portlandpilots.com, WCCsports.com)

Maja Mladenovic

Pilot in the Spotlight

SophomoreNis, Serbia

Viewing Sochi

from Portland

What does it mean to you to be named the U.S. Bank student athlete of the month?

It was a surprise. I didn’t even know when it happened, one of my team-mates told me. I guess it is the result of hard work. But, I couldn’t do it without my teammates or coaches.

How does it feel to be the

number one singles player as a sophomore?

It is a coin with two sides. On one side it is a great thing but, on the other side you can feel a bit of pressure. I do not think about that so much. I think about what I need to do on the court and results.

How do you hope to keep

progressing your game in your coming years as a Pi-lot?

I have to believe more in my ability. Believe in my shots and keep working even harder. Really, that is all.

What are your goals?I want to be named the

WCC player of the year. I want us to be the WCC champions if that is possible. If we can keep believing, we can definitely have a chance.

Do you hope to continue

playing tennis after college?I haven’t been thinking

about that as much. If I keep making good results here I would consider the option to go to professional tennis but we will see. You never know.

What was the transition like, coming to Portland from Serbia?

There was some culture shock. Everyone has such different personalities. Here people are not as open as they are in Serbia. Yet, I can rely on people more here. I have met so many great peo-ple here. A huge difference though is the food. In Serbia it is so natural, and here it is much fattier and more pro-cessed.

Are there any differences

in how either culture plays tennis that you had to adapt to?

Serbia is a tennis nation and we have a lot of good players. I come from a na-tion where we really strive for winning every game you play. Sometimes you play because you don’t have a choice. Here there are also a lot of good players but they have a lot more choices. That is probably the main differ-ence, and that kind of takes away from the intensity and the competition because you don’t have to play so seri-ously.

What has been the great-

est challenge so far?Making myself a part

of the team. I was scared I wouldn’t be accepted the way that I am. That was probably the biggest con-cern. But, it has gone well. I have great people around me.

- Mitch Gilbert

David DiLoreto | THE BEACON

have to practice at 6 a.m.“We usually practice when

it’s dark: whether it’s in the morning or at night. That is kind of the way it is because the oth-er NCAA teams have priority, which they should,” Ripple said.

Also since the team has so few practices a week, they need to use the time they have in or-der to stay competitive in their league.

“We don’t have too many practice times so we need to make use of the ones that we do have. A lot of the other programs we go against have practice four or five times a week. So in order to stay competitive we need to utilize the practices that we do have,” Gunn said.

Despite this obstacle, the players are motivated to meet their goals, hopefully in front of a larger student fan base.

“We have a lot of fun games this year,” Ripple said. “We play seven home games and only four away games so there’s a lot of chances for students to come support us and we’d love to have that.”

Continued from page 16

LACROSSE: national goals

THE BEACON16 February 13, 2014 www.upbeacon.comSPORTS

Lacrosse hopes Facebook fosters fans

David DiLoreto | THE BEACON

(left to right) Sophomore Matthew Perry, senior Tyler Mills, junior Nolan Ripple, junior Kurt Pohs, ju-nior Christ Timm and fresman Collin Lashway scrimmage each other during an early morning practice.

The UP Men’s Lacrosse Face-book page is flooded with posts, from updates about games and “under the helmet” player pro-files to photos from their games and early morning practices. The team is pushing to inform their followers about anything and ev-erything lacrosse. The University of Portland men’s club lacrosse team will play their first game of the season against the University of Montana this Saturday at 1 p.m on Prusynski Pitch.

Since being established in 2008, the club gets girlfriends or family members showing up to games but has not had a large fan following in their five years as a team. They hope for a growing student fanbase this year.

“It would be really cool to have that support because it means our team is definitely gaining a following within the University, which is what we’ve been building towards the last few years,” said junior midfielder and club treasurer Nolan Ripple.

Junior midfielder and club president Chris Timm hopes to see more students coming out to support them for games, espe-cially the big ones.

“It’s always nice to have

fans at the games. We don’t al-ways have that,” Timm said. “We played a game against OSU and they had far more fans than we did so that was kind of em-barrassing because we were at home.”

The club hopes to use their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to promote the team and create a larger fanbase.

“That’s one thing we’ve really been building this year to try and bring support to our team,” Rip-ple said. “We have a Twitter page and a UP men’s lacrosse page on Facebook, which is really big, I think we have 400 likes on that now. We try to update all our games and information on that site.”

The lacrosse club’s vice-pres-ident and defender, Sean Gunn, created the Facebook page last year and is also responsible for both the Instagram and Twitter pages for the club.

“We didn’t really have a thing for other people to look at and know that we actually have games,” Gunn said. “There is a website for the league that we are in but unless you are actively playing lacrosse, most people don’t know about it. I started the Facebook page as a way to get a connection between those two disconnected groups.”

The main goal for the club

this season is to compete at the national level for their first time. They have made the playoffs, but lost to the same competitor, Western Oregon, in recent years.

“It’s kind of been our goal to make the national championship the last couple years and we’ve been just short,” Ripple said. “Last year we lost in the PNCLL championship game to Western Oregon by two goals. This year it’s about trying to build on that and actually win it so we can go to the national tournament.”

With a 13-3 record last season and three playoff showings in the last three years, the club is mak-ing the necessary improvements to make the national tournament. Although they may have come up short in the past, they think they have the experience and ability to make it this year. They are cur-rently ranked 18th in the nation for the Division 2 MCLA Coach-es Poll for this year.

The club has lost to Western Oregon in their last three playoff appearances. They are the team’s

toughest competition this season. “Western Oregon is definitely

the team to beat. We have done it before so we know we can but it’s just a matter of going out and doing it now,” Timm said.

Since the fields are used by other teams during the day, the club does not get to practice at an ideal time. The lacrosse team gets the field three days a week and on Wednesdays they usually

Maggie HannonStaff Writer

hannon15@up.edu

See LACROSSE, page 15