As I ascended the steps to the Museum of Un-Natural History, I was greeted by a leering cow skull atop a segmented mannequin, holding a parasol. Edging past this frightening doorman, I entered the museum’s Black Door Gallery, home to the quirky and brash works of Gerald Matthews, artist and owner. His art seduces, provokes, repulses and sometimes angers the viewer.

“When I was in New York, I worked in nightclubs mostly, and we did social and political satire—we stood up on the stage and made snide remarks about society,” said Matthews. “So when we moved here, in this very straight, right-wing community, I had to express myself. Most of the people who come up here enjoy it. Some turn right around and leave. I’ve been almost attacked physically by a woman who insisted she knew that Jesus had come here to save us, and that I’d better get with it, or I was in trouble. I said eventually, ‘Well if you’re going to heaven, I don’t want to go there,’” Matthews said with a laugh.

Indeed, an indictment of mass religion appears in numerous of his works. By the entrance stands a vast glass case housing battling armies and the caption, “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem.”

“It depicts the holy family in the middle of this enormous war, and every possible kind of ethnic or political type is in there fighting and killing, all around this supposedly tranquil little group that’s going to save us from ourselves,” explained Matthews.

The museum also features many works dealing with sexuality or of a visually explicit nature. Matthews discussed his views on sexual freedom and open-mindedness.

“I’ve been married five times, divorced four, and in show business one is accustomed to having quite a variety of sexual experience,” he said. “I’ve always been very free about that, and an awful lot of people are not. I’m sorry for them, but I guess it’s better that they not reproduce any more than they need.”

While Matthews refers to his art as ‘Dada in Walla Walla,’ his style has certain differences from the historic German art movement.

“I suppose, like the Dadaism that started in Zurich and moved to Germany, [his art] challenges standard ideas of art and meaning,” wrote junior Nicole James in an e-mail. “It was certainly anti-war, as in German art of the Dada era. However, the art, to me, looked incredibly messy and amateur. Whether this was the point or not, I don’t know. I also think it was more sexualized than German art of the Dada era, though I’m not a specialist on German Dada art.”

James continued.

“I was very uncomfortable in the museum the whole time, and, at least to me, the museum had a very . . . confrontational and opinionated atmosphere,” she said.

However, to others the gallery is a place of refuge and escape from everyday life.

“I have quite a few high school people in here, wearing studs and tattoos and things,” said Matthews. “They like this atmosphere, and they like the fact that I don’t agree with their parents. They think it’s rebellious and naughty, and they don’t get that at home.”

Senior and art history major Stephanie Silver also finds herself attracted to the gallery’s eccentric charm.

“I just think it’s one of those little niche places in Walla Walla that gives Walla Walla a lot of character,” she said. “I love going there. I always find something new; it’s just a really curious place.”

Senior Lindsey Witcosky, who described herself as “obsessed” with the museum, shared Silver’s enthusiasm.

“It’s just so random,” Witcosky said. “I love that it’s just this guy, and it’s free, and he just has this collection that’s open for everyone to come check out, and they’re just really weird things that you wouldn’t see, anywhere. I like it a lot.”

As admission to the museum is free, the gallery is a slow but constant drain on Matthews’ personal resources, costing him an estimated $3,000 to $4,000 annually. However, he is retired with a pension, and does not begrudge the expense.

“What I’d really like is to win the lottery so I can buy this building and kick everybody else out,” Matthews laughed.

In the meantime, visitors are welcome to leave donations.

“It’s just such a fun surprise, such a random hole-in-the-wall, right when you think Main Street is running out of interesting things. I think everyone would be pleasantly surprised by it, because you have no idea it’s there,” Witcosky said.

For more information and visiting hours, check out the museum’s website at wallawalladada.com.

The outrage and fear on campus, following the recent spate of laptop thefts, testifies to that. Such reactions are understandable. A laptop holds a student’s work, the labor of one’s mind—one’s livelihood as a student. Few of us would ever condone stealing someone’s labor and livelihood.

Oh wait.

A recent poll of Whitman students asked the question: Do you download music without paying for it?

Fifty percent of 107 responders answered: “Sometimes.” Twenty-three percent responded, “All the time,” and 11 percent said they use bulk music subscriptions like Rhapsody. Only 16 percent said they consistently pay full price for their music.

It’s a sensitive subject. We are in the midst of a recession and many college students don’t have extra funds to throw around. However, the surge in illegal downloading impacts artists and the music industry in ways that students may not realize. Jim McGuinn, owner of local music store Hot Poop, spoke regarding the intense pressure on recording artists to perform strongly in sales.

“You get fronted money when you get signed up,” McGuinn said. “They say—your CD’s going to do well, here’s $50,000. Now you owe a couple hundred [thousand] for recording it and promoting it. When I used to do light shows, I met people who told me they still owed Sony, or in those days Columbia Records, for their albums. They had not recovered it. They’d sold a lot. But it cost more—to make it, promote it and tour.”

Despite pressures on individual artists, the music industry is often perceived as rich and financially stable.

“I feel like the music industry makes enough money that it’s pretty much okay to download music for free,” said sophomore Annie Truscott.

While top record executives like Doug Morris and Simon Cowell do have plenty of money, declining record sales force labels to be more conservative with the artists they sign, leading to dwindling diversity.

“It’s kind of like selling oil,” McGuinn said. “I talk like a Republican. But you’ve got to allow the record labels a chance to make some money. If they’re restricted, they’re not going to sign new artists. When you have Taylor Swift, they say, let’s go get another Taylor Swift. They’re not out trying to find the new best thing.”

Though an outbreak of swine flu in Washington State has not yet been confirmed, on the evening of Wednesday, April 29, the Washington State Department of Health announced the identification of six probable cases: three in Seattle, two in Snohomish County and one in nearby Spokane County. Whitman’s administration is taking steps to ensure that students are safe in the event that Walla Walla County is affected.

Swine influenza, caused by the H1N1 virus, has now killed at least eight people in Mexico and the U.S. and sickened at least 148 people on four continents, according to the World Health Organization.  Hundreds more cases and over 100 deaths, largely in Mexico, are suspected but not confirmed.

“The college has a pandemic flu plan [that] puts into motion a series of meetings and decisions made by a team,” said Associate to the President Jed Schwendiman at the time of publication.  As a result, Schwendiman said, the Health Center has purchased masks and hand sanitizer to prevent this or any other contagious disease in case the situation worsens.

Additionally, President Bridges and Dean of Students Chuck Cleveland issued a campus-wide statement on Sunday, April 26, alerting the Whitman community that the administration was actively monitoring the situation.

“We will continue to watch the situation, remain in contact with local public health officials, and take precautionary measures as needed,” Bridges said in the statement.  “I will also communicate with you directly as additional information on the outbreak becomes available.”

As for what students should do right now, the answer is the same as preventing more common strains of the flu:  wash hands, wash hands, wash hands.

“Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective,” instructs the Center for Disease Control. Other recommendations include covering your nose and mouth when sneezing and to “avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth.”

However, if a student has flu-like symptoms, he or she should go to their health provider.

“Please contact your health care provider if you do experience any influenza-like symptoms,” said Director of the Health Center Ellen Collette in a statement to students.

“If any individual shows signs of flu-like symptoms (fever or respiratory problems) and they know they have possibly been in contact with anyone from the infected states or Mexico, they should seek immediate medical attention,” said Bridges.

Having a plan and communicating with students should help the college handle a potential infection.

Dark grey: Confirmed cases of swine flu. Light grey: Suspected cases. Credit: Rasmussen

“I think the college has been very proactive and will take the necessary steps to help stop the spread of the disease if it becomes necessary to do that here,” Schwendiman said.

Meanwhile, no Whitman trips or activities have been cancelled yet.

“I know that professors Aaron Bobrow-Strain and Bob Carson have been contacted about their upcoming trips to Mexico and Canada, respectively,” said Director of Communications Ruth Wardwell.  “I believe it’s a wait-and-see status.”

In regards to Whitman as a whole, Wardwell notes the difficulty in taking steps to remain safe without causing panic.

“One of the challenges is to be vigilant and prepared without causing alarm or panic,” she said. “We hope individuals will take note of what’s happening, follow recommendations and simply stay aware.”

The same steps that are general guidelines for staying healthy should protect students and the community from a possible local outbreak of the swine flu.

The switch was an effort to save money and be more environmentally friendly.

“This semester we all got this directive to cut our budget by 5 percent,” said Registrar Ron Urban. “The decision was made based on that 5 percent cut to eliminate printing costs for the catalog. The other explanation that’s offered is—I think people genuinely believe this, though I see some cynicism about this—we’re becoming increasingly green.  We’re trying to save paper. Fifteen hundred copies of this [is] a small forest, basically.”

In addition, the switch puts Whitman on par with other institutions.

“When you say you’re still printing [the catalog], they kind of look down their noses on you,” said Urban.  “Whitman’s kind of following in the wake of others, we’re not on the cutting edge of this.”

While many students agreed with these reasons, that didn’t keep some from feeling inconvenienced.

“It’s a good idea to cut down on hard copies to save resources, but… there has to be a balance,” said first-year Chapman Strong.  “The lack of hard copies this semester was ridiculous. I found myself trying to steal my prospie’s hard copies when they weren’t looking.”

“Copies should be offered for students who want them, rather than distributed to everyone,” said first-year Brett Konen. “At the very least, every section should get a few to share.”

Hard copies were available through SAs and the Academic Resource Center, though not very many students took advantage of those opportunities.

“We received two boxes and we haven’t even cracked the second box,” said Interim Academic Resources Program Coordinator Colleen McKinney. “There are about 50 in each box and we’ve given away about 20.”

This may be because the e-mail announcing the change said catalogs at the Academic Resource Center were “for students who do not have web access.” All Whitman students have access to the internet in the library and academic buildings, and it appears that hard copies were simply given to students who wanted them.

Many students, despite liking their hard copy, were fine with the electronic version.

“It makes it harder to compare classes, but it’s not the end of the world,” said sophomore Lissa Erickson.  “I think I use my copy more to check distribution and major requirements, but as long as you get a copy of the catalog your freshman year then you don’t need to get a new one every other year.”

“Even though it would make my life a lot easier to have a hard copy of the course catalog, I think that only offering the electronic copy is a great way to save paper and it makes a lot of sense,” said sophomore Gabriella Brandt.  “This is kind of a moral struggle for me.”

Students had many ideas for next year, ranging from having copies on reserve in the library to offering a Word document version so that it would still be possible to highlight courses.

While nearly every student has an opinion, the debate over the switch hasn’t been very passionate.

“I thought it would be much more controversial,” said Urban.  “I thought the sustainability folks would say ‘Yes, right on!’ and the folks like me who love a security blanket would burn the college in effigy, and so far none of that.”

Meanwhile, no students replied to the initial announcement.

“I didn’t really receive any comments about why we didn’t have [a hard copy],” said Assistant to the Dean of Students Donna Cummins, who sent out the announcement written by Provost Lori Bettison-Varga.

“This will be a year where we’ll find out what happens,” Cummins said.  “If there’s an overwhelming demand, we’ll mitigate whatever problems there were.”

With or without a hard copy of the catalog, returning students successfully wrapped up pre-registration last Thursday night.

This is a caption.

Everyone’s seen the Princeton Review rankings proclaiming Whitman’s students among the nation’s happiest. In an environment full of young, like-minded, active and intelligent people, who wouldn’t feel satisfied?

Though Whitman students’ collective level of happiness is reportedly very high—first in the nation in 2007 according to the Princeton Review, although only 17^th last year—some Whitties feel a social pressure to express contentment about their school.  While many students are indeed happy, in some cases their testimonies do not reflect their true level of satisfaction.

“We are the ‘happiest students,’ this is the ‘happiest time of our life,’ of course I feel pressure to be happy or at least appear happy,” said junior Sarah Deming.  “I feel like that is what the public perception is.”

Among first-years, the transition to college life may contribute to an inflated sense of wellbeing.

“First semester is a little overwhelming, so you tend to exaggerate how happy you are sometimes,” said first-year Brett Konen.

Lyman House Resident Director Ben Wu, at Whitman since fall 2004, believes that though Whitman is a generally happy place, students do not feel pressured by national rankings.

“I feel like, generally speaking…the expectation here is that people are going to talk about the highlights and the good things [of their lives],” he said. “Even before [the happiness ranking], I feel like it’s something that was always here, because we’ve been ranked pretty highly overall in terms of student happiness by various publications. In my opinion, [the ranking] didn’t change the campus culture.”

The effect of publications’ rankings of student happiness may be of limited importance because of their questionable research methods.

“As far as social science research goes, the Princeton Review isn’t methodologically the most sound [organization],” said Whitman Director of Institutional Research Neal Christopherson. “As far as how they collect information from students it’s not the most scientific methodology. You can kind of take it with a grain of salt. It’s out there for the prospective students.”

Though Whitman does not normally gauge student happiness, it does survey graduating seniors on their satisfaction with their Whitman experience.  In 2006, 13 out of 322 graduating seniors said they weren’t satisfied, while the other 96 percent said they were satisfied.  According to Christopherson, this is somewhat higher than most other liberal arts colleges.

In spite of the high rankings, Associate Dean of Students Barbara Maxwell acknowledged that some social pressure to be seen as happy may exist.

“I do think most students are happy,” she said. “I also think every student goes through ups and downs, depending on what’s going on with them personally, or through  their family, or academically, and I think most of them are short-term things that will come around. But I do acknowledge that there are some students who are unhappy, and my guess is that there are some students who are unhappy that fake being happy.  And I guess they fake it so they don’t stand out, because no one wants to stand out as unhappy.”

Senior Kiki Brennan pointed out that even the happiest students will be sad at times.

“I can be sad about things in my life and still be really glad that I’m at Whitman, where I have good friends that I can talk to about it,” she said. “The ‘happiest students’ rating doesn’t mean that no one is ever sad, it just means that we are generally satisfied with all of the things we have available to us.”

Yet for others, ‘happiest students’ is an understatement.

“I’ve never had to exaggerate how much I love Whitman,” said junior Kelsi Evans. “Rather, I’ve never been able to express fully how much I appreciate this place.”

Next year’s Princeton Review rankings are likely to show a change in Whitman’s happiness ranking; they seem to every year.  But regardless, Whitman will remain a place where students go through the ups and downs of life.

Credit: Calkin

Tonight at 9 p.m., students will meet at Reid Campus Center to “take back the night.”

The evening will start with a march in town and on campus, followed by a moment of silence in front of Memorial and an open mic session in the basement of Reid.

Take Back the Night events occur internationally throughout the year—the time and place are irrelevant. What matters instead is the message that’s conveyed: a message of empowerment and of intolerance for sexual violence.

Juniors Nikki Schulz, Laura Deering and Christy Henderson coordinated Whitman’s first Take Back the Night event last spring for a project in their gender studies class.

Junior Jacqueline Kamm, a member of Whitman’s Sexual Assault Advisory Board, helps coordinate programming for Sexual Assault Awareness Month (April). She attended Take Back the Night last year and wanted the event to continue. She approached Schulz, Deering and Henderson about putting on the evening again. Deering and Schulz agreed to join her.

This year, though, Take Back the Night isn’t the product of an academic assignment. Instead, Schulz, Deering and Kamm are heading up the project out of their own interest.

Schulz describes their motives as “feeling strongly enough about it to want do something.”

All three agreed that last year’s open mic was particularly powerful.

“Hearing these people speak about their experiences tells you the gravity of the situation and shows you how many people have been really affected, even at Whitman College,” said Deering.

The open mic provides a venue for honest and open discussion about sexual harassment.

“Sexual assault is labeled as a silent crime in that people don’t ever talk about it—so it’s our goal to get people talking,” said Schulz.

The open mic will also include student performances, such as poetry readings, dances and songs. Whitman’s all-female A capella group, The Sirens of Swank, will also perform.

Deering said last year’s Take Back the Night was the most meaningful event she ever attended.

“After seeing it last year, I don’t know why you wouldn’t come,” she said. “Actually hearing people speak honestly and completely openly about a totally personal and damaging event is just really amazing.”

For more information about Take Back the Night, visit takebackthenight.org. Join Whitman students at Reid at 9 p.m. this evening to help take back the night.

“A green dot is any behavior that makes our campus safer,” said Barbara Maxwell, Associate Dean of Students for Student Programs and Activities.

Green dots are positive actions that fight negative behavior, which is represented by red dots. Red dot behavior includes sexual assault and interpersonal violence. 

“We also label a red dot as any behavior that ignores, justifies, or perpetuates [sexual assault],” said Maxwell. 

Maxwell and involved students tabled in Reid last week to raise awareness about the Green Dot program. Junior Jacqueline Kamm, a member of the Sexual Assault Advisory Board and one of the students promoting the campaign, emphasized the accessibility of the new program.

“You can be an ally against sexual assault or sexual violence on the smallest level or the largest level,” said Kamm. 

Maxwell also stressed the wide reach of the Green Dot initiative, calling it a “bystander intervention program.”

 “It’s geared toward making the community active in prevention behaviors,” she said.  

As co-chair of the Washington Sexual Violence Prevention College Coalition, Maxwell helped choose the Green Dot program as a prevention initiative for associated schools. Other colleges and universities in the coalition include Eastern Washington University, Gonzaga University, the Evergreen State College, Pacific Lutheran University and the University of Washington. 

Dr. Dorothy Edwards started the Green Dot initiative at the University of Kentucky. The program’s success prompted the state of Kentucky to adopt the campaign, too. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga also uses the system.

Maxwell will attend Edwards’ Green Dot training session from May 26 to May 28 in Seattle along with Juli Dunn, the director of academic resources, Adam Kirtley, the Stuart Coordinator of Religious and Spiritual Life, and Sean Gehrke, the Assistant Director of Residence Life and Housing. 

Maxwell and the rest of the attendants will learn how to train students to intervene effectively in a situation of sexual assault. 

“It has to be safe for the person who’s going to try to intervene in that situation and then ultimately you want it to be effective,” said Maxwell.

For more information about the Green Dot initiative, visit greendotkentucky.com.

A survey concerning GoPrint was sent out to students a few weeks ago, and WCTS is currently finishing reviewing the preliminary survey results. 

According to the results, the vast majority of students feel that the $60 free printing credit is sufficient for both themselves and other students, and that the system is successful in saving resources and preventing accidental print jobs. 

“I think people have become accustomed to GoPrint,” Osterman said. “A lot of the initial concerns about the free credit amount being insufficient have gone away now that people have experienced how far it gets them.” 

First-year Lizzy Schiller agreed that it is a helpful resource. “I think it makes people more aware,” she said. 

 Many professors also believe that GoPrint is a useful system that saves students’ money. 

“I use CLEO for readings that I would have put on reserve,” said Associate Professor of Politics Jeanne Morefield. “Most of these readings are very old, out of print, and in the public domain. I expect students to print so that we all have the same text in class. I do this rather than having them spend exorbitant amounts of money on out-of-print books or collection of essays where we only use some of the materials.”

However, some still express concerns about the system. 

According to the results of the survey so far, students’ main concern is that the free credit amount is one size fits all. Variables indicated were the reading load of a particular class, the reading load of particular majors or divisions, such as the social sciences, or whether or not the student is writing a thesis. 

A common sub-theme of the reading load concern is that students are sometimes provided an electronic copy of a document but are required to bring a printed version to class. 

The second major complaint concerns the GoPrint software itself. Some students are concerned about the slow printing jobs in the queue, being charged for releasing a print job when the printer is not working, finding out how to be refunded, and being charged an extra page when printing to one of the library printers. 

Possible plans for this system may include lowering the allotted budget. This was discussed at the first printing forum in March and was also a question on the survey. This is being considered by not only WCTS, but also by the Campus Conservation Committee and the President’s Council. 

“We will also be working over the summer to address issues with the functionality of the GoPrint software, as well as looking at ways to make it easier to request a refund for a printing error,” Osterman said. 

Some faculty members, such as English and Core professor Margo Scribner, would rather not use printers at all. 

“I think that asking to print is really a waste,” Scribner said. “I wish we could use electronic sources and not print out at all, but [GoPrint] is a good system. It all evens out since some people use more [paper] than other people.” 

The final, more detailed results of the survey will be presented and discussed at the second printing forum, which will be held at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, May 6 in Olin 157. 

“The entire campus community is welcome and encouraged to attend,” Osterman said. 

The members of Beta Theta Pi fraternity performed “Took My Girl Out Walking,” and Kid Rocks’ “Bawitadaba” during the eighty-fifth annual Choral Contest. Pictured above from left to right: Joe Gustav, ‘10, Jon Bressler, ‘11, Devin Stone, ‘12, John David Davidson, ‘11, Ben Elstrott, ‘12, Masud Shah, ‘11, and Tim Strother, ‘12. Credit: Norman.

The first recipients of this award are the men of Beta Theta Pi, who also won first place in the men’s category. The Betas sang Kid Rock’s “Bawitadaba” and “Took My Girl Out Walking,” a Beta classic of unknown origin, to support their charity, Students for a Free Tibet (SFT).

According to its Web site, New York-based SFT is a non-profit founded in 1994 that strives to “make life difficult for the Chinese government” and raise awareness about human rights issues in Tibet. Through the People’s Choice Award, the Betas raised two boxes of food and over $100 for SFT.

The Betas worked hard on their musical pieces, but had fun along the way.

“I’m really proud of how hard the guys worked, they really came together to produce such an angelic tenor,” said junior Marshall Baker, conductor and arranger of the Beta Theta Pi production.

“I don’t really have much to say other than ‘My name is Kid Rock.’ But really, I mean, it was fun and sweet to win finally,” said senior Riley Clubb, who helped Baker with the award winning arrangement.

The People’s Choice Award is the brainchild of senior David Ogle. Ogle, along with senior Ben Keagan, sophomore Nigel Ramoz-Leslie and first-year Stephen Stradley, comprise the programming board sub-committee that proposed the idea of having a People’s Choice Award.

“The programming committee was divided into four or five sub-committees to take care of Choral Contest. My sub-committee, which came up with the idea [of a People’s Choice Award] deals with rules and judges. Once we came up with it, the idea was instantly supported by the rest of the programming committee,” said Ogle.

The People’s Choice Award added a dynamic element to the show by involving the audience.

“I think a lot of [the motivation behind the award] was that the Choral Contest programming committee felt like they wanted to have something that would motivate some of the groups, that traditionally feel like they don’t have a chance at winning, to keep investing some energy in it and keep doing fun things that would get the crowd involved. I think we saw that: we saw performances that wanted to engage the audience,” said Leann White, assistant director to the student activities office.

“We thought [the award] would be a good way to get the audience involved and get back to the basics of the event which is about being a fund-raiser while keeping in mind the first three letters of that word,” added Ogle.

Audience response to the newly incorporated award was positive but, perhaps, not as widespread as anticipated.

“Far fewer people [voted] than we gave out ballots to. There were probably about 30 ballots cast, and we gave out more ballots than that,” said White.

Whether the response was mitigated due to the newness of the award or lack of awareness about the voting structure, the David W. Ogle Award is here to stay.

“Absolutely we will continue [the award]. I think we do whatever we can to try and do some philanthropy with [the award] and I think people like to have a reason to give. It’s up to students ultimately, I really don’t get a choice, but I would say that is a good thing for them to do,” said White when asked whether the award would continue in subsequent years.

Crocker sat down with history professor David Schmitz to discuss the future of Iraq on Tuesday, April 28 in Cordiner Hall. He will return to campus in May to deliver the 2009 commencement address entitled “The Long War.” Rather than describing a country in turmoil, however, Crocker was cautiously optimistic about Iraqi sovereignty after all United States military forces are withdrawn from the country by the end of 2011.

Former ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, ‘71, sat down with Chair of History, David Schmitz on Tuesday, April 28 to discuss the future of the Iraq War. Credit: Norman.

“We’re six years into the new Iraq.  It’s still just the beginning of the story,” said Crocker in front of a crowded auditorium of Whitman students, faculty and Walla Walla community members.  “The development of a state and society takes substantial amount of time.”

He pointed to several recent developments in Iraq, such as the January provincial elections, this month’s election of new Iraqi Parliament speaker Ayad al-Samarrai and the Iraqi government’s plan to send up to 10,000 Iraqi students abroad for undergraduate and graduate education. Crocker also said that decreasing violence levels in the country are a sign that the situation is slowly stabilizing, and that the United States needs to stick with its current plan in Iraq.

“If the Iraqi experiment succeeds,” Crocker said, “it can provide an example for the rest of the world.”

According to Associate to the President Jed Schwendiman, these words may be echoed in Crocker’s commencement address.

“Undoubtedly, he will have some amazing stories to tell and good advice to pass along,” said Schwendiman.

Crocker graduated from Whitman in 1971 and is a 38 year veteran of the United States Foreign Service.  Former United States President George W. Bush awarded him the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest rank in the Foreign Service, in 2004.  On Jan. 8, 2007, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice nominated Crocker as Ambassador to Iraq.  A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Crocker retired in February of this year.

In a 2007 congressional address with General David Petraeus, Crocker reported the progress of the Iraqi government and stated his belief that “a secure, stable Iraq at peace with its neighbors is attainable.”

“Ryan Crocker is one of the most experienced, talented and respected U.S. Ambassadors,” Schwendiman said. “He was given one of the most challenging jobs imaginable and handled his work admirably.”

While at Whitman, Crocker toured campus with senior Willie Kunkel and met with history students taking the “U.S. & Wars with Iraq” class.  After a lunch with President George Bridges and ten students, Crocker, a former TKE, paid a visit to the TKE house.

Schwendiman expressed his enthusiasm at the prospect of Crocker’s commencement address.

“What make this so special for us is that he is a product of Whitman College and often credits the faculty members who he worked with at Whitman with making significant contributions to his success,” Schwendiman said. “We all have something to learn from his story.”