May 2018 Issue

Page 1

CHRONICLE THE HARVARD-WESTLAKE

Los Angeles • Volume 27 • Issue 8 • May 30, 2018 • hwchronicle.com

School addresses online slurs By KAITLIN MUSANTE

In light of reports of a racist, homophobic and anti-semitic comment left by a member of the school community on a gaming site, the school has launched an investigation to find the offender. Students brought the incident to the administration’s attention, reporting that a classmate had used offensive language toward others in a chatroom on Twitch, a video streaming platform. “WE ARE THE KLU KLUX KLAN AND WE HATE NI***ERS FA***OTS AND JEWSS,” the user, who entered the site under the username hyphonixkillstrihards, wrote. The user slightly altered the spelling of the words. If spelled correctly, the words would have been blocked by the site due to restrictions placed by Twitch’s moderation settings. Although the school has taken steps to find the person responsible, the administration is currently unable to find the culprit, as the account was created under a fake name and the site is unwilling to release private information, Director of Student Affairs Jordan Church said. The investigation is still open, however, and if caught, the alleged student will go before the Honor Board. “In some ways, you reach these dead ends with anonymous online cyber incidents,” Church said. “However, we still would very much like to know who this individual is and we would like to address [the issue] because that is not behavior that we want to see in our school.” The incident also sparked discussion among administrators about potentially blocking • Continued on A3

STAGED PHOTO BY PAVAN TAUH/CHRONICLE

CAUSING A COMMOTION: Some students taking the AP English Language and Composition exam distracted others by throwing paper airplanes, stomping their feet and clapping their hands. The proctor of the exam filed an official Incident Report to the College Board.

Students face consequences for disturbing AP Language exam By SOPHIE HABER After disrupting the AP English Language and Composition exam and prompting the proctor to file an Incident Report to the College Board, over 10 students received Honor Board infractions and had their exam scores canceled. During the free response section of the exam May 16, some students began causing distractions by stomping their feet and throwing paper airplanes, AP English Language and Composition student Eli Timoner ’18 said. “I was really trying on this, and it was hard to fo-

cus,” Timoner said. “It was a very crazy scene.” When the proctor asked the students to stop, the room erupted in to clapping. Students moved chairs, and at one point some started a “wave” across the room. After hearing about what occurred in the exam room, English Language teacher Stephen Thompson said he was shocked and disappointed. “I expected the opposite from this class, because I know that everyone on the [AP English Language: Imagined Socities- Utopias and Dystopias] team had been encouraging our students

for a month before the exam, telling them how important it was and how much it meant to us,” Thompson said. “We all went down to wish them luck personally and look them in the eyes. It just seemed like a slap in the face.” In the case of disruptive behavior during an AP exam, proctors are allowed to dismiss a student for misconduct and file an Incident Report, according to the 2017-2018 AP Coordinator’s Manual. Even if proctors do not dismiss the student, they are required to fill out an Incident Report that details the situation, length of distur-

bance and affected section. As a result, the College Board canceled some students’ scores and required the school to offer a make-up exam for students who did not create the disturbance and felt their performance was affected, Head of Upper School Laura Ross said. The proctor, as well as some students who took the exam, identified students who made the disturbance, leading the school to take its own disciplinary action through the Honor Board, Director of Student Affairs and AP Coordinator Jordan • Continued on A2

Boys’ tennis team aces the competition, wins INSIDE two consecutive CIF Division I titles By WILL MALLORY

we enjoyed the moment to the fullest.” After emerging undefeated It was only a year ago when the boys’ tennis team rushed in the Mission League for 17 the court to celebrate a 10-8 year in a row, the Wolverines victory over Peninsula in the battled under program head CIF Southern Section Finals. Chris Simpson to make their In a victorious episode of déjà way back to the Finals, becoming the first team at vu, the Wolverines the school to win two relived their triumph consecutive champiMay 18 with a 13-5 onships in CIF Divivictory over the Pansion I, a feat that they thers, clinching their have not achieved second CIF Champisince 2005. onship in a row to fin“[Last year’s] winish a dominant 21-1 ning mentality conseason. tinued on this season “It was a fantasW ’ within our group, and tic experience to have Stanley it was a true pleasure everyone rush out Morris ’18 watching them comonto the court and pete with so much dogpile on top of me,” Stanley Morris ’18 said. “We confidence and intensity in were so excited and relieved to our playoff journey,” Simpson have won we just made sure said. HITES S

The Wolverines had depth at all ages, as Morris and fellow captain Sacha Pritzker ’18 led the young team along with Jarett Malouf ’18 and Strauss Cooperstein ’18. Kenneth Lee ’19 and Will Janos ’19 contributed to strong play alongside talented younger players David Arkow ’20, Jonah Dickson ’20, Timothy Li ’20 and Mike Thomas ’20. Many doubted the Wolverines after they graduated three standout seniors last year, Adam Strasberg ’17, Jed Kronenberg ’17 and Jacob Tucker ’17. “This year is special in a different way because last year we had a lot of older guys carrying the load,” Thomas said. “So many of us young players had significant roles to play, and it was almost more

rewarding this year to win because we really earned it.” The Wolverines began their season with two straight victories against West Ranch and Granada Hills. Their first and only loss of the season came against University Irvine on Feb. 27, in which the squad struggled to match the energy of the Trojans in the 7-11 loss. “After our only loss to [Irvine], I think everyone was really brought back to the reality that we weren’t an unbeatable team and that we had to work hard for every single match we played,” Li said. “It was a wake up call for all the guys on the team, something that was much needed.” Pritzker said he thought that the loss tested their team’s • Continued on D1

DIFFERING OPINIONS: Students share their different opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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