Pepperdine Graphic Media 4-8-2022

Volume LI | Issue 14 | April 8, 2022 | pepperdine-graphic.com | follow us @peppgraphic

International Programs is welcoming Barcelona, Spain as a new, limited-time study abroad location for students for the 2022-23 academic year, in addition to the existing six academic-year programs. The Barcelona program will kick off fall 2022 and will go through spring 2023, with no further terms available at this time.

The University will offer the Barcelona program to provide more opportunities for students to go abroad, after the pandemic and large Class of 2024 disrupted many student’s study abroad plans, according to the Barcelona Program website.

“Barcelona is an ideal location for this unique opportunity,” wrote Greg Muger, IP director at the Malibu office, in an April 5 email to the Graphic. “It is a vibrant, modern and diverse city that offers countless academic and cultural resources conducive to a high-quality study abroad experience.”

Pepperdine is partnering with CAPA: The Global Education Network to provide the program, as Pepperdine does not have its own campus in Barcelona.

CAPA has worked with educational institutions for over 45 years to provide

study abroad opportunities, according to its website.

“CAPA has been and will continue to work hand-in-hand with Pepperdine to create a curated study abroad experience comparable to our other International Program locations,” Muger wrote.

Students will take classes with other Pepperdine students, participate in an Educational Field Trip and have a faculty in-residence, similar to the existing academic year programs.

The University chose Barcelona due to ease of travel, academic quality, opportunities of cultural immersion and service opportunities, the city’s health and safety and sufficient facilities, Muger wrote.

Barcelona students will reside with their cohort peers in a residence hall — located in the city’s central square, Plaça de Catalunya. The residence hall is approximately 20 minutes via public transport from the school, Barcelona Student Center, according to the website.

Muger wrote Pepperdine will share both its residence hall and school building with other universities and their study abroad participants, a change from the traditional IP experience.

April Marshall, professor of Hispanic Studies, will serve as the faculty in-residence for the fall semester. CAPA Barcelona Director Rebecca Swanson will

serve as the staff member on-site for students. All other faculty will be hired in Spain, Muger wrote.

The program will offer General Education classes, alongside speciality Spanish classes for students to choose from, according to the Barcelona Planned Courses.

The classes in Barcelona will be the same as those offered in Malibu, but with an emphasis on the local and religious context of Barcelona, Muger wrote. Flamenco dance — a Spanish dance form — will be one of the new classes offered in Barcelona.

Applications are due April 18 at noon for all applicants for fall 2022 and the academic year. For the spring 2023 semester, IP will consider applications on a rolling basis until Sept. 1, or until the program fills up, according to the website.

Muger wrote the program can accommodate a similar number of students as Pepperdine’s mid-to-large sized existing campuses — usually around 50 students.

All academic year and fall 2022 applicants must also have a valid passport.

All prospective students who do not have a valid passport should contact the IP office before submitting their application.

abby.wilt@pepperdine.edu

NEWS

roads pose A4 Malibu dangerous threats for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists.

A8 Pepperdine’s gendered spaces create barriers for non-binary and transgender students.

PERSPECTIVES

Abby Wilt News Editor

Design by Ali Levens, Creative Director Photo courtesy of Greg Muger | Parc Guell public garden overlooks Barcelona, designed and built by Guadi and Josep Jujol in 1914.

Editor A13 Perspectives Sarah Best argues against the use of labels for others.

Writer Emma A16 Staff Ibarra writes dining should be open later on campus.

LIFE AND ARTS

BARCELONA

er s n e w I nternatio f f o p p nal Program Pe

alumni TikTok B1 Pepp couple break gender

SPORTS

BIENVENIDO,

WHAT’S AHEAD

plays a B8 Faith minimal role in

roles online.

Writer Timothy B4 Staff Gay covers Dua Lipa’s Forum performance.

Athletics hiring, Athletic director shared. share B11 Students opinions on fitness centers at Pepperdine.

Students continue Songfest tradition Abby Wilt News Editor Singing, dancing and karaoke filled Elkins Auditorium on April 1 as students performed at and attended Songfest Community Event. Songfest is a yearly event and is Pepperdine’s longest standing tradition, according to Songfest’s website.

Songfest began in 1973 and has been a tradition within the Pepperdine community ever since. While it started as a live event, Songfest organizers conducted the show through pre-recorded videos this year.

“When the opportunity to have a live show didn’t look like it was going to happen we said, ‘Hey, we filmed that before, why not do it again,’” senior Songfest Co-writer Emily Mazo said. “It was fun and it’s cool to see all the different mediums that

THE WAVES REPORT

Songfest has taken over my time at Pepperdine.”

Songfest originated at the LA campus with an event called Spring Sing.

Then, the tradition resumed at the Malibu campus and was a live, in-person event until 2020. The future of the event has been uncertain since the pandemic, due to COVID-19 restrictions and the layoff of the previous Songfest director.

While planning for this year’s Songfest, junior Production Assistant Katie Price said the team attempted to “salvage” Songfest and make it the best it could be with the challenges of the past three years. Because the team conducted an all virtual show in 2021, Price said they knew they were capable of filming the show and wanted to do it again.

‘It’s just the easiest way in order to make sure Songfest didn’t die,” Price

FRI: 1-2+ FT

SAT: 1-2+ FT

said. “I do think in the future we are hoping to have it back in person, but we don’t really know exactly how that’s gonna work.”

Pepperdine’s Step Team, Pepperdine Pickups and Eta Theta Tau — also known as HOT — submitted videos for this year’s show. Attendees ate from food trucks and participated in karaoke after the show.

HOT filmed their video in several different locations on main campus, showcasing students singing, dancing and acting as a part of a skit. Students acted as if they were in a portal showcasing a different universe of Pepperdine — where students were too stressed to participate in Songfest.

The video was meant to highlight the importance of Songfest and what it means to the Pepperdine community, Mazo said.

Songfest alumni produced a short

SUN: 2-3 FT

MON: 1-2 FT

video as well, showcasing the traditional Songfest finale, “Let There be Peace on Earth.”

Price said participating in the show has brought her lifelong memories and friends — and been a great way for her to get involved at Pepperdine.

“I said it at the end of the show, but, I really can’t mean it more, like we have the best team in the whole world,” Price said.

While Songfest has adapted to changes throughout the past three years, Price said they are hoping to continue the tradition — even if it looks a little different.

“I’m just very curious to see what Songfest looks like [in person] if we do that and if not, how it’s going to continue adapt and grow throughout the years,” Price said.

abby.wilt@pepperdine.edu

TUES: 1-2 FT

DEEPSWELL.COM

NAIL SPA AT THE PARK

COME VISIT MALIBU PARK AT CROSS CREEK!

@MALIBUPARKATCROSSCREEK

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April 8, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Good News: COVID-19 by the numbers A professor and a friend 1,037 2,093 **Malibu Cases

*Student Cases

lydia.duperier@pepperdine.edu

**California Cases

**U.S. Cases

Read the bi-weekly COVID-19 updates in the Pixel newsletter.

*Off-campus Cases

1

Chief Operating Officer Phil Phillips provided the Pepperdine community with a COVID update and the on-campus positivity rate continues to drop.

2

President Jim Gash said the formation of Pepperdine’s new Center for Faith and Common Good will be led by Vice Provost Lee Kats with additional consulting by Professor Byron Johnson from Baylor.

3

Gash said The Associates Dinner will be May 7 and at which, the plans for The Mountain will be unveiled.

*since 1/3/22 **since 4/06/22

TWEETS

of the month

The DPS Reports

1

03/08/22 Crimes: Drug Related/ Non-Criminal Possession of Marijuana on Campus (Adult) Location: Drescher Student Housing Apartments

2

03/21/22 Crimes: Larceny/Theft, Petty Theft, Misc.

Location: Drescher Campus Parking Structure

3

03/23/22 Crimes: Assault/Battery, Sex Crimes, Sexual Battery Location: Malibu Campus

events

“You are always welcome to stop by my office and chat,” or something similar, are the words Religion Professor Dyron Daughrity repeats almost every class period. After about the fifth time of hearing him say this in my World Religions class, I decided to take him up on his offer.

At the beginning of the year, I walked into his office one morning expecting a 15 minute conversation full of small talk. This was not the case.

Daughrity and I spoke for over an hour and I was so invested in our conversation that I completely lost track of time and missed my 10 a.m. class.

We bonded over simple things like our shared love of Justin Bieber and our connection to Texas. We also discussed our passion for Christ and deep love for Pepperdine.

Leaving Daughrity’s office, I felt like I had made a life-long friend.

Now whenever I go to Daughrity’s class or see him around campus, I know we can immediately spark up a conversation about anything because we’ve already made a connection.

Not only can Daughrity and I talk as friends, but I also know I can count on him if I ever need advice or guidance through anything life throws at me.

It can be easy to get so lost in the responsibilities we have as college students that we forget to take the time to build connections — especially with our professors.

Sometimes professors can seem detached from students because we might think of them as someone who just gives lectures and grades tests.

But in reality, they are people just like you and I. Ever since my conversation with Daughrity, I have made it my goal to speak with all of my professors outside of the classroom — and I highly suggest you do the same.

Now as I walk around campus and say “Hi” to my professors, I feel comfort in knowing that I have a special connection with them because I have taken the time to sit and get to know them as a person — not as a professor.

Make time to get to know your professors. If they tell you stop by their office to chat, take it from me and just do it. You may just meet your new best friend.

*On-campus Cases

9.12M 80.1M

Upcoming

Lydia duPerier Life and Arts Editor

197 1,005 198

*Employee Cases

PRESIDENT’S briefings | 4.6

5

04/01/22 Crimes: Larceny/Theft, Petty Theft, Misc.

Crimes: Vandalism Location: Seaside Residence Hall

Read the full DPS reports in the Pixel newsletter.

The Winter’s Tale

Satan’s Fall

Smothers Theatre April 8, 7:30 p.m. & April 9, 2 p.m.

Smothers Theatre April 23, 7:30 p.m.

Baccalaureate Ceremony

LOQUI

Alumni Park April 29, 5:30 p.m.

Smothers Theatre April 29, 1 p.m.

You Had One [Parking] Job

Seaver Drive Photo by Ashley Mowreader, Managing Editor

4

03/28/22 Crimes: Vandalism Location: Cultural Arts Center

Banowsky Blvd.

Photo by Landry Hendrick, Design Assistant

Highlighting bad parking on Pepperdine’s campus.

Seaver Drive Photo by Ashley Mowreader, Managing Editor

April 8, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

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Admitted Waves flood Malibu Reception Samantha Torre Sports Editor Pepperdine hosted its annual Malibu Reception on April 1, welcoming over 600 admitted students and their families to the Malibu campus.

Admissions Counselor Michael Rodriguez said the event took over almost the entirety of main campus and Alumni Park.

Before the opening ceremony, Pepperdine hosted specialized receptions for admitted Regents’ Scholars and Church of Christ students at the Brock House and Chancellor’s House, respectively.

“I think the most important thing is actually getting to meet people that are part of the community current students, staff members, faculty members, all sorts of people,” Rodriguez said. “I think getting that sense of community, I really think it helps them decide whether or not Pepperdine is right for them.”

After attending an opening ceremony and Celebration Chapel, admitted students could meet with Housing and Residence Life, professors, club leaders and student volunteers who tabled in Mullin Town Square and on Alumni Park.

Admitted Students Admitted student Landyn Phillips said she has several friends who attend Pepperdine.

Phillips has grown up in the Churches of Christ, was present for the reception for Churches of Christ students earlier in the

day and said she enjoyed the event.

“It was really good,” Phillips said. “I learned a lot about the community and the how they implement Church of Christ values into the school.”

Haema Phoo, an admitted transfer student from Gardena, Calif., said Pepperdine is one of her top three schools, and her experience at the reception cemented her love for the school.

“Although I’m not Christian, I feel I’m so welcome,” Phoo said. “And then Pepperdine emailed me that they can consider my application. So I’m so happy for that.”

Alex Goldberg, an admitted student from Chatsworth, Calif., said while she hadn’t decided for certain, she was pretty positive she wanted to attend Pepperdine. At the Malibu Reception, Goldberg said she met with professors and was exposed to the Great Books and Screen Arts programs.

Zander Nichols and Scarlett Fletcher are both admitted students from Clovis, Calif., and are members of the same Southern Baptist Church.

Nichols said he decided to enroll at Malibu Reception.

“Honestly out of the colleges I visited, this has been my favorite,” Nichols said. “I love the faith aspect for sure. I love the location, obviously it’s beautiful and just kind of the the gewneral vibe from the school’s awesome.”

Fletcher, however, said she was using the information she gained at the reception to help her decide.

“I’m a very skeptical person,” Fletcher said. “So I have to like measure up my choices, and then I’ll see.”

Professors Don Thompson, director of the Great Books program, said most questions he encountered from students while tabling centered around their ability to take Great Books.

“Unfortunately, there are rumors about that sometimes and we have to stamp them out that no, you can do International Programs, you can major in anything,” Thompson said.

“Occasionally they’ll want to know the size of the class, what kind of mix is there in a class, but for many it’s a new experience.”

Teacher Education Professor Carrie Wall, said while tabling, her goal was to explain the ways professors connect with students — such as helping students formulate a four-year plan or inviting them over for breakfast to their homes.

“They can actually meet faculty members and see that we’re not there to just build their intellect but care about them as whole individuals, and they get to talk to us and hear we are passionate about our discipline and exhibit interest in them as people,” Wall said.

Housing and Residence Life Lucy Man, communication and marketing manager for Housing Operations, said students asked where they will

Samantha Torre, Sports Editor | Admitted students and families flock to the Student Life Fair at Alumni Park during the Malibu Reception on April 1. Students said they enjoyed visiting tables that included Surf Club, PreMed and Student Employment. be living, what the suite comes with and how the meal-point system works.

The two-year residency requirement, Man said, is another subject admitted students had a lot of questions on at Malibu Reception.

“It’s a lot easier and friendlier to you know, be face-to-face instead of just over email. And they have so many questions,” Man said. “It’s like a constant stream of questions coming into these events like this.”

Student Volunteers Students, like senior Bryn Sandine, helped volunteer at the event, welcoming new Waves to campus.

“I am volunteering because I really like being one of the first faces people meet at Pepperdine,” Sandine said. “They get

an idea that the person genuinely wants them to be here and is a welcoming and inviting presence, they feel like they might be able to belong here.”

First-year Mireya Galacgac also volunteered at the event, giving directions, sharing opportunities for outdoor activities and explaining the GE requirements, she said.

“I have been telling everybody here that there is actually so many opportunities for students and so many things for students to take advantage of,” Galacgac said. “And I think once as a student, if you just put yourself out there and and seek those opportunities, then you find that student life is just so much more enriched and fulfilling.”

sam.torre@pepperdine.edu

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April 8, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

On the road, but not in a car: Kyle McCabe Head Podcast Producer On Easter weekend in 2010, Michel and Ellen Shane went about their normal Saturday morning routine.

The parents of three daughters drove to the Palisades for a spin class, then to West Hollywood for brunch. After running errands, the couple returned home to Malibu.

They found the house empty upon their arrival. Gerri, their oldest, was away at the University of Oregon, while their other two, Leigh and Emily, visited friends’ houses. Michel Shane went to his office to work, and Ellen Shane checked on her children.

Emily, an eighth grader at Malibu Middle School, had slept over at her friend’s house Friday night. She now told her mom she wanted someone to pick her up.

Ellen asked her husband to leave his work and go to Pavilions to pick up Emily. The family often used the grocery store parking lot off of Pacific Coast Highway and Heathercliff Road as a meeting spot.

Michel drove down Corral Canyon Road and stopped at the light at the bottom. Waiting to turn left onto PCH, he saw a car speed by going northbound.

A man recklessly driving a Mitsubishi Lancer reached at least 70 miles per hour, according to KCAL. Michel remembered thinking the driver must be out of his mind.

Malibu Dangers Vulnerable road users — a term officials use for bicyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians — die on Malibu-area roads in various ways.

People die trying to cross the highway, riding their motorcycles off canyon roads and simply cycling along PCH, according to 41 news reports the Graphic analyzed.

From 2016-21, 37 vulnerable road users died in the Malibu area, according to data from University of California, Berkeley’s Transportation Injury Mapping System and news reports of accidents.

A 25.2-mile stretch of PCH from Entrada Drive, near the Pacific Palisades, to Mulholland Highway, near Leo Carrillo State Beach, has seen the deaths of 18 pedestrians, five motorcyclists and two bicyclists in that time period. Nine motorcyclists and three pedestrians also died on canyon roads.

Two brothers, 8-year-old Jacob and 11-year-old Mark Iskander, died Sept. 29, 2020, while crossing a marked crosswalk on Triunfo Canyon Road in Westlake Village. Police alleged Rebecca Grossman hit the boys while speeding and driving under the influence, according to KCAL.

Erik Berg, a foreman working on a PCH house, died Sept.17, 2021, when he tried to cross the highway around the 22000 block and a car struck him.

A drunken driver leaving Mastro’s killed a motorcyclist in 2016, according to the Malibu Times. One rider misjudged a canyon road turn in 2017 and fell off his bike, according to the Malibu Times. A car making an improper U-turn hit another motorcyclist on Mulholland Highway in 2019, according to the Alpine Law Group.

Two bicyclists died in the Malibu area from 2016-21. A vehicle crashed into the cyclist at the intersection of PCH and Temescal Canyon Road around 11 p.m., on Sept. 1, according to a KCAL article. While KCAL listed the collision as a hit and run, the crash details on TIMS indicate the cyclist was at fault and was making a right turn before the crash. *** Four miles down PCH from where he saw the speeding Mitsubishi, Michel Shane approached Heathercliff Road, and saw an overturned car and Lost Hills Sheriff’s deputies arriving at the scene. He assumed the crash happened only a minute or two before he got there. So close to his destination, he thought he better get past the wreck before sheriff’s deputies inevitably shut down the highway. Michel knew the crash happened where Emily might have been walking, but he waved off the idea.

When Michel did not see Emily in the Pavilions parking lot, he walked around the surrounding Point Dume Village shopping center looking for her.

He called Ellen and asked her to check with the family of Emily’s friend, thinking he could pick her up at their house. His wife texted him back that Emily had already left the house near Cavalleri Road.

Ellen’s phone rang with a call from Emily. When she answered, a voice Ellen did not recognize asked her for permission to airlift her daughter. She asked who was speaking and what they were talking about, and the officer on the other end of the line identified themselves.

The officer said Emily had been in an accident.

Law Enforcement PCH in Malibu is under the jurisdiction of the LA County Sheriffs, specifically the Lost Hills station. Scott Shean, a Traffic Investigator at the station, did not respond to numerous requests for comment before publication.

Lost Hills Sheriffs only cover the canyon roads to the city limit, a couple miles from the coast. Once the road reaches into unincorporated LA County, the California Highway Patrol takes over.

Kyle McCabe, Head Podcast Producer | The intersection of PCH and Heathercliff Road, where Emily Shane died, now bears her name on its street sign. The City of Malibu added the sign Aug. 6, 2011, on what would have been Shane’s 15th birthday.

Weston Haver, a public information officer at CHP’s West Valley station, said a majority of the calls the highway patrol gets from the Santa Monica Mountains are complaints about loud vehicles and street racing.

Grossman, as one example, faces accusations of street racing when she was charged with killing the Iskander brothers, according to ABC7.

“We have definitely seen an uptick in street racing, mixed with the pleasure of driving on the beautiful canyon roads,” Haver said. “A lot of traffic congestion creates more noise. Residents get frustrated with the noise and want it to stop.”

Haver said most calls CHP receives relate to canyon roads involve cars and motorcycles, but bicyclists sometimes cause problems as well.

“We also have issues with cyclists who don’t follow the rules of the road where they’re in a peloton with a large group of bicycles and they’re blocking the roadway,” Haver said.

CHP officers regularly patrol major canyon roads, like Kanan Road, but Haver said they cannot cover all roads all the time.

“Even if we had 200 officers [in the canyons], which we don’t, it’s hard to be in the right place at the right time,” Haver said. “That’s why we are dependent on calls from the public.” *** After hearing Emily had left for Pavilions, Michel Shane started walking toward the crash. On his way, Ellen Shane called him from their landline and said she had a sheriff on her cell phone telling her Emily was hurt. He asked his wife to tell the sheriffs not to move Emily until he got there.

Michel arrived at the scene and only found emergency personnel, not his daughter. An ambulance had taken Emily to Zuma Beach, where a helicopter could land in a parking lot and airlift her to a hospital. Officers would not tell Michel how serious Emily’s injuries were, but one gave him a ride to Zuma so

he could fly with Emily to the hospital.

The officer Michel rode with tried to open the ambulance when they arrived at the helipad, but an EMT pushed them back. Ten minutes later, an EMT came out of the ambulance and told Michel Shane his daughter was dead.

Improvements The City of Malibu published a PCH Safety Study in 2015 that recommended 130 projects to make the highway safer. Of the recommended projects, 63 involved pedestrian safety and 25 improved bicycle safety. Projects included moving and constructing crosswalks and bike lanes along the highway.

Appendix 4H of the study featured the final recommended project prioritization list. The highest-priority project related to vulnerable road users was to improve striping and to add bike lanes wherever possible all along Malibu’s PCH corridor.

Installing pedestrian signs near Moonshadows restaurant is high on the priority list, as well as adding a pedestrian hybrid beacon — a light used to stop cars at crosswalks — near McDonald’s and Nobu.

The Malibu City Council discussed the Moonshadows pedestrian crossing at their Nov. 8, 2021, meeting. That project, as well as the McDonald’s and Nobu pedestrian beacons and the Trancas underpass, do not appear as a current project on the city’s website.

The City of Malibu’s Public Works Director, Rob Duboux, did not respond to multiple interview requests.

Malibu began safety improvements before the 2015 study came out. Fewer than two months after the safety study, Malibu completed a bike route improvement project. The project added two miles of bike lanes on the ocean side of the highway by Zuma Beach, restriped lanes and added signs to seven miles of PCH from

Busch Drive North to the city limits.

The city also added a pedestrian hybrid beacon near La Costa Beach in 2019 and sidewalks near bus stops in 2015.

Previously, the city installed six speed advisory signs all along the Malibu corridor in 2007.

In 2000, Malibu started on a pedestrian safety project, but ran out of funds until Caltrans supplied money to finish it in 2003. It focused on increasing pedestrian safety for students, and combined with two similar projects in 2006, it created safe walking routes for students at Malibu Middle and High School, Juan Cabrillo Elementary, Webster Elementary, Our Lady of Malibu and Point Dume Marine Science Elementary.

Malibu has allotted $31 million to transportation improvements over the past decade.

The money came from county Measures R and M, and the city still has $9 million to spend. At the Nov. 8 city council meeting, members gave suggestions for improvement projects and expressed an openness to public input on the topic.

Caltrans improves safety on PCH mainly by installing pedestrian crossing signs, pavement markings, pedestrian hybrid beacons, speed limit signs and speed feedback signs, as well as refreshing pavement delineations and markings, Caltrans Information Officer Michael Comeaux wrote in a Dec. 15 email to the Graphic.

The Division of Planning will finish its Comprehensive Multimodal Corridor Plan in 2023, Comeaux wrote. The study will examine PCH from Interstate 10 to U.S. Highway 101. “[The study] will explore safety improvements, assess the challenges related to climate change and identify opportunities to create or enhance Com plete Streets features aimed at improving safety and mobility for all users and especially the VRUs,” Comeaux wrote.

Caltrans did not answer questions about if it considers

April 8, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

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Malibu roads pose fatal threat too far from Pepperdine. When he runs along PCH, he runs against traffic by the Malibu Pier, where there is a sidewalk.

Griffin also wears a reflective vest so drivers can more easily see him, he said.

His son runs for Malibu High School’s cross country team, and the team runs along PCH during some of its practices. It makes Griffin uneasy, but he said there isn’t anywhere else they can run from their school without crossing or running along the highway.

“I know they’re all together and there’s a big bunch of them,” Griffin said. “If you’re crossing PCH, I hope you’re not crossing against the light or anything.”

Bicyclists

Photo Courtesy Bradley Griffin | Fine Arts Divisional Dean Bradley Griffin stops to take a picture on his morning run along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Griffin lives on Pepperdine’s Malibu campus and said he runs before the sun rises most days.

PCH, or the Malibu section of the highway specifically, to be especially dangerous for vulnerable road users. *** Emily Shane died April 3, 2010 on PCH. Her parents said the impact from the Mitsubishi knocked her out of her lace-up Vans and sent her flying into a sign.

They started the Emily Shane Foundation in her memory — a website where people could share their good deeds and provides academic support to underprivileged middle school students.

“I didn’t want her to be that poor 13-year-old killed on PCH,” Michel Shane said. “I didn’t want that to be her legacy.”

Multiple people called 911 when they saw Sina Khankhanian speeding on the highway before he aimed his car at Emily Shane and killed her. He went to prison for second-degree murder in 2012 with a sentence of 15-years-to-life in prison. In November 2021, a judge denied Khankhanian parole, but he will be eligible again in 2024, according to the Malibu Times.

The Shanes sued Khankhanian and said they reached a settlement with his family.

“We buried her, we mourned her, but we had to relive it for a total of two years,” Michel Shane said.

Abnormally Dangerous PCH presents drivers with different challenges than canyon roads because of the nature of the roads. Even compared to more similar roads, the Graphic’s analysis of accident reports shows that Malibu’s stretch of PCH poses a greater-than-average danger to vulnerable road users.

Nineteen vulnerable road users died between 2016 and 2020 on the Malibu stretch of PCH, including 13 pedestrians, five motorcyclists and one bicyclist, according to TIMS. Only five vulnerable road user fatalities occurred on PCH just north of Malibu from 2016-20. Four motorcyclists and one pedestrian died on the 19.7-mile length of highway from Mulholland Highway to U.S. 101.

PCH saw many more vulnerable road user fatalities south of the Malibu area, though. In LA County, 33 vulnerable road users died on PCH from 2016-20, across a 37.2-mile stretch. Five bicyclists, 19 pedestrians, and nine motorcyclists died on the highway from Entrada Drive South to the county limits.

The stretch of PCH south of Malibu, which runs 12 miles longer and through more densely populated areas than Malibu’s PCH, saw more vulnerable road user deaths.

The southern stretch of PCH averaged 0.89 vulnerable road user deaths per mile from 2016-20, while Malibu’s stretch averaged 0.75 vulnerable road user deaths per mile. South of Malibu, PCH runs through Santa Monica, Redondo Beach and Long Beach, as well as other cities with higher populations than Malibu.

Federal Boulevard in Colorado aligns with Highway 287 for 11.9 miles, with stoplights, businesses and residences along the road, and two lanes in each direction, just like PCH. Unlike PCH, this stretch of Federal has no parallel parking on its shoulders and a speed limit ranging from 40-45 miles per hour, not 50-55.

The Highway 287 stretch of Federal reaches south into the city of Denver. Westword magazine called Denver’s stretch of Federal the city’s most danger-

ous street for pedestrians.

The Colorado Department of Transportation website only lists accident data up to 2019, so Federal and PCH cannot be compared from 2020 to the present. From 2016-19, the Highway 287 stretch of Federal saw half of the 16 vulnerable road user deaths the Malibu stretch of PCH did. The eight deaths on Federal included seven pedestrians and one motorcyclist.

Federal averaged 0.67 deaths per mile from 2016-19, when the Malibu stretch of PCH averaged 0.63.

Runners Eighteen pedestrians died on the Malibu stretch of PCH from 2016-21. Former Malibu resident Al Sturgeon and current resident Bradley Griffin have run along the highway while recognizing the danger and trying to stay as safe as possible.

Sturgeon lived at Pepperdine for 11 years, first as a student at the Caruso School of Law, then as the dean of students, dean of Graduate Programs at the law school and a minister at the University Church of Christ.

His daughter attended the same school as Emily Shane when she died.

Emily’s death made Sturgeon’s daughter nervous about him running along PCH, so from 2010 until he left to work at Lipscomb University in Tennessee in 2019, Sturgeon avoided running on the highway as much as he could.

Griffin, divisional dean of Fine Arts and Theatre professor at Pepperdine, runs about 40 miles a week and lives on Pepperdine’s Malibu campus.

To get his runs in before the work day, he often starts before the sun rises and does not go

Although only two bicyclists died in the Malibu area from 2016-21, local cyclists Daniel Zitter and Drake Deuel said they feel unsafe whenever they ride PCH. Zitter rode for the University of California, San Diego team while in college, races amateur events now and worked for three companies in the bicycle industry before starting a job at Ring home security.

In June 2021, Zitter moved to Santa Monica. He used to live in Orange County and said he enjoyed riding PCH there, but around Malibu, he avoids riding the highway alone.

“Here, I don’t have any desire to ride PCH, unless it’s to get to a climb with a group and get past all the crappy stuff,” Zitter said. “It’s just not fun.”

Zitter’s riding group meets on Saturdays in Santa Monica.

He said 50 to 100 people will ride together down PCH, averaging around 30 miles per hour and taking up the right lane of the highway.

Deuel competes in professional races and works at Zwift, a home cycling and running virtual training app. He also avoids PCH when he can, but while he trained for the time trial at the 2021 U.S. National Championships, he had to ride somewhere flat and he rode PCH every day.

“It’s not safe,” Deuel said. “I felt unsafe every single day, but I just did it.”

The danger of riding PCH partially motivated Deuel to move from Brentwood to Woodland Hills. From his current apartment, he can access the canyon road climbs he loves to ride without using PCH to get to them.

Zitter and Deuel both said the canyon roads around Malibu feel safer than PCH and are some of their favorite places they have ever ridden.

stepfather raced professionally on dirt tracks. Durdack started riding at 16 and now rides his bike in Malibu — mostly for fun or to get from his George Page residence to main campus.

Durdack said he prefers riding on canyon roads over PCH because, while both are dangerous, he feels more in control in the canyons.

“I trust myself as a rider and I know that anything bad on one of those roads that happens to me is likely going to be my fault,” Durdack said. “I wouldn’t say it’s more or less dangerous. I’d say it’s a different kind of dangerous.”

Although Durdack feels safer and prefers the canyon roads, more motorcyclists have died on them than on PCH since 2016. Nine motorcyclists have died on canyon roads, while PCH has only seen five motorcyclist deaths. *** Michel and Ellen Shane have tried to propose ways to make PCH safer over the years, including adding bollards on the side of the road in highpedestrian-traffic areas and adding signage to warn drivers about the high-risk area in Malibu.

None of their ideas came to fruition; they said Caltrans always shot down their proposals for one reason or another.

“They don’t care,” Ellen Shane said about Caltrans.

“That’s the bottom line. They don’t care.”

Caltrans did not respond to Ellen Shane’s comment.

Michel is a film producer and started working on a documentary about PCH in 2013 that he expects to be finished in two to three months.

Ellen said she hopes it will raise awareness about the dangerous road and lead to safer driving.

Since Emily’s death in 2010, PCH has seen adjustments and improvements. Michel said he does not think they have made a significant impact on the road’s safety, though.

“What can they do, short of blowing it up and moving it?”

Michel Shane said. “You’re stuck with it. It’s there. There’s mountains on one side, there’s the ocean on the other, what are you going to do, do two levels?

There’s really, truly, nothing to do.”

The elimination of traffic fatalities may be impossible, but limiting them will prevent more people from experiencing losses like the Shanes did.

“I created three hearts — my three girls,” Michel Shane said.

“I lost one, so mine will never be full again.”

Motorcyclists Pepperdine senior Sam Durdack grew up around motorcycles. His father and uncle both ride recreationally, and his

kyle.j.mccabe@pepperdine.edu

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April 8, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

SGA announces new officers for 2022-23 Abby Wilt News Editor Student Government Association announced its election results for officers for the 2022-23 academic year March 24.

Students achieved a three-year record number of votes, with 1,142 student votes, current SGA President Chase Johnson wrote in a March 23 email to the community.

“I know that you will join me in congratulating each person who ran to make Pepperdine a better place,” Johnson wrote.

Junior Jessica Velicer will serve as

the new student body president, junior Rachel Hough will service as executive vice president and first-year Michael Sugimoto will serve as vice president of Administration.

Sabrina Musharbash will serve as vice president of Finance, after winning a runoff election March 30.

SGA’s constitution requires a majority vote — over 50% of votes cast — to elect a new officer. The amount of write-in votes for the vice president of Finance prevented a majority-vote, according to the email.

Bedford wrote she hopes to focus on organizing SGA’s funds in a way that is most beneficial to the student body if

she is elected vice president of Finance.

“I have experience reviewing organizations’ budgets to make sure that they comply with standards while also making sure that those budgets best serve the people that they are seeking to help,” Bedford wrote.

Musharbash wrote she wants to increase the transparency of SGA’s finances and ensure the Campus Life fee is being used only for the student body if she gets elected.

“I will always make sure to amplify every student’s voice,” Musharbash wrote. “My goal is for SGA to become an organization that students can trust to represent them honestly and trans-

parently.”

The upcoming senior class senate will consist of Taylor Fine and Nicolette Garcia, with president and one senate position still vacant.

The junior class senate will consist of Trent Slocum as president, and Olivia Borchert and Craig Mhlanga as senators, with one senator position still vacant.

Myers Mentzer will service as the new sophomore class president, with Emily Kang, Stephen Weinstock and Deborah Peterson as senators.

abby.wilt@pepperdine.edu

Ali Levens, Creative Director

Student Affairs expands wellness resources, adds fee Ashley Mowreader Managing Editor Student Affairs will expand its wellness resources for students across the five schools and campus locations and remove charges for certain resources.

The changes were a direct result of student mental and physical health needs, said Connie Horton, vice president for Student Affairs. A September 2021 article from Mayo Clinic found around 44% of college students reported symptoms of depression and anxiety.

The University hopes the new model will encourage students to utilize resources and remove the barrier of cost, Horton said.

“I hope throughout this period, you have experienced that we care for students holistically at Pepperdine,” Horton wrote in a March 21 email to students. “We want you to be successful academically, certainly, but we also care about your well-being spiritually, physically, emotionally.”

Horton explained the changes in three parts: An expansion of on-ground services, a new offering of telehealth services and the elimination of fees.

On campus, the Student Counseling Center will add to

its staff, increasing workshops and appointments available to students.

Additionally, the Student Care Team and Title IX offices will expand its staff, specifically case managers, Horton said.

“Case managers on our Student Care Team also provide complimentary support to students facing additional challenges, and our RISE program offers individual and group resilience coaching to students,” Horton wrote. “Each of these important mental health services will expand and continue to be offered free of charge.”

The University’s telehealth services will grow, with 24/7 medical telehealth available to students from anywhere in the United States, Horton said.

Students could receive medical attention and schedule appointments for weekends and late hours, something the Student Health Center did not offer prior.

The Counseling Center will also offer telehealth counseling on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The telehealth counseling will also expand the office’s diversity of counselors — students can request counselors of specific backgrounds, like LGBTQ+, Horton said.

Historically, Pepperdine charged students for various

wellness services on campus.

For example, an initial visit to the SHC cost $70 and between $15 and $50 for followups.

Campus Recreation charged $75 a semester for group fitness classes. The Counseling Center provided psychiatric services for an additional fee as well.

Instead of paying for individual services on campus, students can expect a charge to their student accounts called “Wellness Fee” at the start of each term based on their school, location and credit hours.

Full-time Malibu Seaver students will pay $250 each semester, but will not pay during summer sessions. Students studying abroad or in Washington, D.C., will pay lower rates — $125 a semester.

A full list of available services from the Wellness Fee and locational factors can be found on the Student Affairs website.

Some things will still have an additional cost — the SHC will still charge for x-rays, labs, massages and other more complex needs like an ambulance.

Students will also pay Campus Recreation’s club sport fees and, for outdoor trips and excursions separately.

Horton said the fee, as applied as a University charge,

Abby Wilt, News Editor | The Student Assistance Center houses the Couseling Center and the Student Health Center, two of the departments that will accommodate more students with an added wellness fee. Connie Horton, vice president for Student Affairs, said the fee will replace individual payments at these locations and will include additional on-ground resources and telehealth services. should be factored into financial aid packages students receive.

The Student Life fee remains an extra fee on top of tuition and housing, as that is related to Campus Activities, so Seaver students can expect their $126 charge to remain each semester.

“As we advance Pepperdine’s mission through best-

in-class student wholeness and resilience programming across the University, we look forward to better serving you, our students, as we learn, live, and share life together,” Horton wrote.

ashley.mowreader@pepperdine.edu

April 8, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

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Pepperdine dining prices exceed local stores Kyle McCabe Head Podcast Producer Pepperdine Dining Services and Sodexo charge more than local stores for many items. Sodexo takes local and national prices into account when it reassesses its own pricing yearly, but the application of sales tax based on payment method at college dining locations, which differs depending on payment method, can widen the gap between on and off-campus prices.

Although Bon Appétit will replace Sodexo as Pepperdine’s meal provider this August, the current service still controls food pricing all across the Malibu campus. Sodexo often charges more for items than local grocery stores, and the method of payment at dining locations affects the total charge.

Students often complain about the prices at the Caf, even on Twitter. Criticisms range from the price of specific items to meal portion sizes.

“I think the proportions of the food, the boxes or whatever, can be bigger,” first-year Ethan Swonger said. “Sometimes it’s small, like, you’re paying like $10 or whatever. And it’s like, ‘OK, that wasn’t too much.’”

Taxes Several factors contribute to on-campus food pricing, including a California state law regulating sales taxes, Rodney Reed, the Sodexo resident district manager at Pepperdine, wrote in a Feb. 18 email to the Graphic.

Reed wrote that the displayed “total” on campus cash registers includes sales tax, but Pepperdine dining locations only charge sales tax on items purchased with debit, credit and cash, not meal points.

First-year Ana Paula Ruiz said she assumed she paid whatever price the registers at the Caf list as the total, but because she pays with meal points, she actually pays less.

For example, a vitaminwater at any campus dining location costs $3.19 when the purchase comes from a student ID, but a credit or debit card purchase totals $3.49.

Section 6363 of the California Revenue and Taxation Code provides a sales tax exemption for food sold to students. Greg Weston, senior manager at the tax law specialist group Miles Consulting, included a letter from the California Board of Equalization explaining the application of section 6363 on school meals sold by outside entities in a Feb. 11 email to the Graphic.

“The sales of the meals will be considered nontaxable if the meals are first sold to the schools or PTAs [parent teach-

Kyle McCabe, Head Podcast Producer | Students mill about in the Waves Café in March, looking for something to eat. Criticism of the Café and other dining locations on campus often relate to the pricing of goods. er associations] before they are sold to the students,” the Board of Equalization wrote. “If the outside entity sells the food products directly to the students, such sales are not sales by the school and do not fall within the above exemption.”

Reed reiterated the distinction between food sold to the school and food sold directly to students. Sales tax does not apply when students buy meal plans or add funds to their Waves Cash Global accounts, but does apply to debit and credit purchases, Reed wrote.

Reed cited a different law, Annotation 550.1370 of California Code Regulation 1603, but the application of sales tax remains the same.

“Per the California Tax Code for the Sales of Meals and Food Products at Schools and Colleges, purchases made with meal plans are not taxable as those meal plans are purchased directly from the University,” Reed wrote. “As such, we are required to charge taxes on all cash and credit card sales.”

The kind of food purchased on campus does not affect sales tax like it does in elsewhere in California. The California Tax Guide for Grocery Stores provides an overview of taxable and nontaxable items. Following the vitaminwater example, the guide lists both “Nutritional drinks” and “Non-carbonated sports drinks” as nontaxable.

The guide lists other common nontaxable items, like energy bars, granola bars, food products, kombucha and water.

The state does tax some common grocery store food items, though, such as carbonated water and soda.

Comparative Pricing The prices of items at Pepperdine dining locations, even before sales tax, often exceed

the prices at local grocery stores.

Vitaminwater, priced at $3.19 on-campus, costs $1.50 at the Ralphs in the Malibu Colony Plaza. Trader Joe’s famously charges 19 cents per banana at their stores, but on campus, bananas cost 99 cents.

Students, including Ruiz, said they noticed the difference in prices.

“Croissants,” Ruiz said.

“They’re much cheaper in Ralphs than they are here.”

Sodexo reviews its prices on an annual basis, Reed wrote it considers the cost of goods from the distributor as well as prices at national and local restaurants and stores when setting prices.

“After data is collected and reviewed, Sodexo partners with University leadership to finalize any adjustments needed,” Reed wrote. “Typically, any adjustments mirror current inflationary trends.”

Sodexo provides services similar to restaurants, markets and grocery stores on campus, and Reed wrote that Sodexo’s pricing balances all those roles.

He added Sodexo has not increased prices this academic year.

Pricing does not vary between dining locations on campus, and Reed said Dining Services even performs audits to make sure prices stay consistent.

Sodexo only operates the “fresh food vending machines” that open like refrigerators.

Since another vendor handles the Coca-Cola drink machines and other snack machines on-campus, prices do vary. The Coca-Cola vending machines on campus do not charge sales tax, and they sell vitaminwater for $2.

kyle.j.mccabe@pepperdine.edu

Kyle McCabe, Head Podcast Producer | The charges for a vitaminwater differ depending on payment method at Pepperdine dining locations. Sodexo charges sales tax on debit, credit and cash purchases.

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April 8, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Gendered spaces on campus create barriers for students Ashley Mowreader Managing Editor Pepperdine has a history of gender-based separation on campus, with a ban on the opposite sex in dorms at the Los Angeles campus. The University first introduced gender-mixed floors in 2012 to mirror the abroad experience, according to past Graphic reporting.

But despite changes, housing assignments and restrooms available on campus remain challenges in inclusion for transgender or gender queer students on campus.

“You really have to go through the effort of making your own space,” senior non-binary Seaver student Miller said. “If I want to really feel affirmed in my gender, while I have plenty of affirming cisgender friends, I do like to seek out the company of other trans people [and] build that space myself. But there’s not a physical space for that.”

Housing Pepperdine does not provide non-gendered housing on the Malibu campus — all room and suite assignments, as well as placement in suitestyle residence halls like the first-year dorms, consider a student’s sex.

Miller lives with women in on-campus housing, something they said is fine, but not representative of their identity.

“It’s just been odd knowing men and other non-binary people that I would feel perfectly comfortable living with, but I know that I have to find people that the University will read as women to live with,” Miller said. “And that’s just a time when I am more conscious of the ways that people in authority will see me.”

J. Doe — who is anonymous for privacy concerns over their gender identity — a first-year non-binary Seaver student, said they live with men in a first-year residence hall and have found their situation comfortable, despite having some fears at the beginning.

“I was concerned that, arriving on campus, being in a living community of a bunch of guys and being singled out or having a difficult time connecting with people,” Doe said. “[But] I felt fairly welcome, like I feel comfortable putting my pronouns and my username on my GroupMe for my dorm building.”

Housing and Residence Life uses an individual approach to accommodate transgender students, wrote Brittany Skinner, assistant dean of Student Affairs and director of Student Activities, in a March 25 email to the Graphic.

“Our goal is to respect the needs of our students with an understanding that needs and wishes vary for each individu-

Public Limited N/A

(Top) Ashley Mowreader, Managing Editor | An interactive map of single-use restrooms on campus, according to documents from the Department of Planning, Operations and Construction.(Bottom) Samantha Torre, Sports Editor | The single-use restroom in Seaside Residence Hall that Miller said they prefer to use. Of the 57 single-use restrooms on campus, 28 are located in residence halls. al,” Skinner wrote. “We start by listening, knowing we can best serve our transgender and gender non-conforming students by hearing their requests for their living situation. From those conversations, we make arrangements that, to the greatest extent we can, make them feel supported and comfortable.”

Miller said they did not seek accommodations from the University regarding housing placements due to privacy concerns.

“I haven’t sought that out, mainly because I didn’t know how that would work and also because I was unsure whether that could get back to my parents,” Miller said. “Or if my parents asked me about my roommates, and I have an unusual situation that could raise questions that I’m not ready to answer to them yet.”

If the school does accommodate gender queer students, Miller said that information was not communicated to them nor seems readily available.

“It’s tough to know that these spaces are not made with me in mind,” Miller said.

“They’re made for other people. And you really have to go through the effort of making your own space.”

In her statement to the Graphic, Skinner did not provide specific examples of housing accommodations the University provides for trans or non-binary students.

Restrooms For non-binary or gender queer community members, navigating which restroom to use is a daily struggle.

“Bathrooms are something that is on my mind more than it needs to be on most people’s mind,” Miller said.

On the Malibu campus, there is generally at least one set of gendered, public, multistall restrooms on every floor

of every public building, wrote Jeff Gin, associate director of Planning, Operations and Construction, in a March 24 email to the Graphic.

Miller said they generally use women’s restrooms on campus, as they pass more feminine than masculine, but their preference is single-use or all gender restrooms.

“There is one family bathroom that I know of on campus, in the Seaside lobby,” Miller said. “Since I’ve found out about that family bathroom, I use it whenever I have the opportunity whenever I’m down in Seaside, because it seems like such a little thing, but it just feels nice to go to the bathroom and not feel like I’m performing anything.”

The Department of Planning, Operations and Construction provided the Graphic with a document outlining all single-use bathrooms on record, their location and dimensions.

There are 57 single-use restrooms on the Malibu campus, according to the document — 28 of which are located within student housing.

Each first-year residence hall has a single-use restroom on the first floor, Seaside Residence Hall has a single-use restroom outside its fitness center — the one Miller uses — and Towers Residence Hall houses the other 12 bathrooms. Only residents within the residence halls have access to floors with the bathrooms.

Of the remaining 29 bathrooms, 17 are in office spaces such as the Department of Public Safety or the Drescher Central Plant.

The largest single-use bathroom on campus is for private use in the Thornton Administrative Center on the fourth floor in the Office of the President.

There is also a lack of single-use restrooms at other event spaces including Payson Library, Firestone Fieldhouse,

Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center, Elkins Auditorium, the Weisman Museum and Smothers Theatre.

Classrooms are also absent of single-use restrooms — the RAC, AC, BPC, CAC, Keck Science Center, the Music Building, Pendleton Learning Center all lack single-use or family bathroom facilities.

Athletic bathroom facilities are also gendered — locker rooms, the athletic training room and Heritage Hall bathrooms are all multi-stall gendered restrooms.

“I have always been a big fan of either single-user or gender-neutral bathrooms especially on something like a college campus where most of the people that are using it go to school here,” Doe said.

Doe said they are familiar with gender-neutral restrooms near their hometown of Portland, but Miller said they had only seen one gender-neutral restroom at a restaurant in Los Angeles.

“I can understand the concern, especially if it’s something that you’re not familiar with,” Doe said. “But I’m yet to meet anyone who’s had that experience, specifically in a gender-neutral bathroom.”

Miller said they hope, moving forward, Pepperdine and its community will be more accommodating for students in physical spaces “It’s not so much about making new spaces that are for trans and non-binary people — we’re not trying to set up a third gendered space,” Miller said. “It’s about removing barriers and making places that are for everyone. And right now, there are a lot of places that are designed to not be for everyone, and it doesn’t need to be that way.”

ashley.mowreader@pepperdine.edu

April 8, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

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Discovering boundless opportunities in BA Chloe Chan Abroad Correspondent One year ago, the thought of moving to a foreign country for three months and getting acclimated to living among people who speak a completely different language was laughable. I am very much a person who seeks comfort in routine and I tend to be resistant to changes in my daily life.

With that being said, as of today, I have been living in the beautiful city of Buenos Aires, Argentina with Pepperdine for a little over two months and have honestly never felt more at home.

Moreover, I managed to solidify a daily routine within my first two weeks of studying abroad and have become acclimated to living among Spanish-speaking locals.

Every day is wildly different than the other, but for the most part, each day has a pretty similar “structure.” So without further ado, here is a little taste of a day in my life studying abroad — accompanied by pictures from my phone and film camera.

First and foremost, my mornings always start with my alarm jolting me awake at the lovely hour of 7 a.m. ART. Because most of my classes begin at around 8:40 a.m., sleeping

in has become a thing of the past.

As a self-proclaimed morning person, I enjoy giving myself around one-and-a-half hours before my first class to really savor the early morning fresh air and set the tone for the rest of the day.

After about 10 to 20 minutes of trying to summon the willpower to leave my warm bed, I finally get up and make my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth, wash my face, put on sunscreen and finish my morning routine. At around 8 a.m., I go to the kitchen and make my breakfast, which 90% of the time consists of an assortment of fresh cut fruit.

I have eaten the same breakfast every day here and do not foresee myself getting sick of it anytime soon.

I sit in the living room to eat and give myself time to savor my food and complete a short journal entry. Because so much happens, and so many good memories are made every day, I like to encapsulate them in my entries so I can look back on them.

At around 8:30 a.m., I start my walk to class. It takes about 10 to 15 minutes to get to Casa Holden from my homestay and there are various sights I encounter almost every day without fail.

For instance, fruit vendors are much more common here than anywhere else I have ever traveled to — I pass three on my way to class. For this reason, and the fact that the produce here is just better quality in general, my diet is more fruit-intensive now than it ever has been.

I didn’t know this before, but Buenos Aires is famous for being extra dog-friendly. On my walk to class, about half the people I pass are walking their dogs. I will oftentimes pass by paid dog-walkers that walk as many as 14 dogs at once.

If I have some time remaining, I will stop by Starbucks to grab my usual vanilla latte with coconut milk and one extra shot of espresso or “latte de vanilla con leche de coco y un traigo mas de espresso.” Yes, I have memorized this and rehearse it multiple times in my head before ordering.

At 8:45 a.m., classes finally start in Casa Olleros. Because

Casa Olleros has a lot of windows, the classrooms always have really good light and ventilation. I have actually seen some classes held outside on the patio to take advantage of the beautiful weather we get here almost every day, since it is summer.

After my first class, I knock out some homework in the library. I am pretty adamant about getting work done as soon as possible and avoiding any distractions, but I always cave whenever I see Moomie — the campus cat. No matter what I am doing, I will always stop to give her attention.

Between noon and 3 p.m., I grab lunch at a local cafe with friends. An aspect of Buenos Aires I was not expecting is its abundance of cafes. There are cafes and bakeries on quite literally every street corner, and all of them are amazing. One in particular, right across from the Casa, is Maru Botana. I go there at least once a week for

their salads and jugo de naranja.

From here, if I don’t have any other classes, the day can go in essentially any direction.

If I am feeling productive, I will try to knock out some more homework, but oftentimes I prefer to explore the city with my friends. Some of the spots we have hit include the Obelisco, El Ateneo — an opera house-turned library — and the local rose garden.

I typically get home at around 7 p.m., and immediately take a shower. My homestay host typically serves dinner at 8:30 p.m., which was a huge adjustment for me because I usually eat at around 6 p.m., at home. Most Argentines actually eat dinner from around 9:30 to 10 p.m., which for me is something unthinkable.

chloe.chan@pepperdine.edu

Photos by Chloe Chan, Abroad Correspondent | (Top) After a day of classes, Chan said she likes to set some time aside to explore the city. This is a local rose garden Chan visited on one of her excursions.

(Bottom) Maru Botana, the cafe right across from Casa Holden, has become a staple for most BA students. Chan said her favorites items on the menu are the quinoa salad and orange juice.

(Top) The Casa Holden patio — where BA students typically do homework or talk with friends. Casa Holden is the school BA students attend. (Bottom) Moomie the campus cat peers out the window. Her pastimes include people-watching.

(Below) Malena and her son, Matias greeted Chan on her first day arriving in BA at her homestay. Within a few weeks, Chan said her house started to feel like a second home.

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April 8, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Student-led ministries adjust under Hub policy changes Ashley Mowreader Managing Editor The creation of the Hub for Spiritual Life affected campus ministry and spiritual outreach in many ways including service, worship, fellowship and mentorship opportunities. Another affected group was student-led ministries.

The Hub reaffirmed Inter-Club Council policies regarding off-campus visitors and instituted new management of student and faculty leadership, impacting groups’ operations and access to off-campus clergy and deactivating chapters of larger student-led ministries.

“The changes, as I’ve experienced them, have been about seeking to centralize and coordinate student ministry,” said Jeff Walling, director of Pepperdine’s Youth Leadership Initiative and faculty adviser of Alpha Omega Waves.

Seaver College has six active student-led ministries, according to Peppervine: Alpha Omega Waves, Catholic Student Association, Celebration Chapel, Koinonia Campus Mission, Veritas Club and Word Up. Each group has a student executive board, is accompanied by a faculty or staff advisor and most meet weekly on campus.

Pepperdine’s student-led ministries have historically been a part of Inter-Club Council or Student Government Association, said Thomas Vandergon, a Biology professor and faculty adviser for the Catholic Student Association. Each year, student-led ministries resubmit their constitutions and apply for funding through ICC and are supervised by ICC rules.

The Changes to Student-led Ministries Vandergon has advised CSA since 1994 and historically, he said the club did not face many rules on what it could not do. CSA was also the first student-led ministry not related to the Church of Christ, Vandergon said, which meant it also had a special avenue.

Most recently, under the guidance of the Hub For Spiritual Life and Associate Chaplain Rachel Collins, student-led ministries have had new restrictions.

Prior to the start of fall semester, student-led ministry leaders and advisers said they received communication regarding the updated policies, which have been in-use since.

Student-led ministries are now aligned to ICC’s policies for clubs and organizations, Chaplain Sara Barton wrote in a Nov. 11 email to the Graphic. Barton did not elaborate on what the policies entailed.

Under the new policy, student-led ministries must receive approval from the Hub for Spiritual Life before inviting any outside guests, including ministers and clergy.

The new restrictions have made some things harder for groups, advisers said.

CSA has always had a strong relationship with Our Lady of Malibu — the Catholic church a few miles off campus — with OLM even listing Pepperdine CSA as a part of the community on its website. Since 2008, CSA and OLM have hosted monthly masses on campus in Stauffer Chapel.

The Rev. Matt Murphy of OLM would come on campus weekly to eat lunch with students and have casual

Photo courtesy of Alpha Omega Waves | AO Waves pose for a photo outside of Elkins Auditorium in fall 2021. The group hosted monthly midweek services throughout the spring 2022 semester.

Photo courtesy of Brian Link | CSA student volunteers pick up trash at a service event in February 2022. CSA also hosts Lent soup services and a student-led Mass. interactions, but cannot do so under the new guidance. Instead, CSA must file paperwork indicating who will be on campus for what event — which a faculty adviser must supervise — before clergy could visit students.

Vandergon also said the policy limits the frequency of guest visits, meaning ministers could not come on campus daily or several times a week even with paperwork.

Alpha Omega Waves is a student-led ministry group with members from international Churches of Christ, Walling said. AO Waves meets weekly leading worship, reading devotionals, doing service events and attending conferences.

Following policy updates has challenged the AO Waves student leaders to choose whether to host their event on or off campus, Walling said.

Business Professor Brian Link is CSA’s newest adviser and he said his experience advising business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi helped him be more familiar with ICC policies and how they now apply to student-led ministries, like using Peppervine.

While the policy changes shifted some of CSA’s processes, Vandergon said he understood the University’s perspective and goals.

“We were operating outside the norms of other student groups,” Vandergon said. “It’s frustrating, but I get it.”

Vandergon said some of the changes have improved CSA and its student leadership. Prior, the decision on who would join CSA’s executive team of student leaders came from inside the orga-

nization. Now Collins is involved in interviews and the Hub provides training for leaders, Vandergon said.

“We haven’t had any problems,” Vandergon said. “We’ve maybe had even stronger student leaders.”

Wallings was also complementary of the Hub’s involvement.

“Rachel Collins has been just a great support to them [student leaders],” Walling said. “And we’re very grateful for the work that they do, because they’ve got a lot of balls in the air to juggle with all the different ministries here.”

Collins declined to be interviewed for this piece.

A Few Less Student-led Ministries The new policies completely removed other student-led ministries from campus.

Pepperdine had a YoungLife group until spring 2021, when Collins and the Hub told club leaders they had to disaffiliate from the national organization or move off campus.

“The primary concern was that outside organizations were no longer being on campus because of liability issues,” senior and YoungLife leader Emily McNutt said. “That term, ‘liability’ was used pretty consistently.”

McNutt has been a leader with YoungLife for three years and said the University told the group the concern was regarding outside organizations coming onto campus without being vetted.

YoungLife is a Christian group that

provides student-ministries to middle, high school and college students around the country.

At Pepperdine, there were two divisions — YoungLife Beyond and leadership training, McNutt said. YoungLife Beyond is similar to a small group for college students and for leadership training, students serve in local Malibu and Santa Monica middle and high schools as small group leaders.

The University presented YoungLife Pepperdine with the opportunity to remain as a student-led ministry on campus without the title of YoungLife, but that would have limited the group’s opportunities, McNutt said.

“The problem with that, from our perspective, was that it was intricate and key to do both of those elements,” McNutt said. “[Engaging in leadership and campus ministry] is happening through YoungLife and we weren’t really given the opportunity — or at least we didn’t perceive ourselves as given the opportunity — to have a mentorship and leadership to others piece if we put ourselves as an on campus student organization.”

Pepperdine students continue to participate in YoungLife as YoungLife Malibu, serving in the same schools in the same way, just off campus and disconnected officially from the University.

The group has met at Our Lady of Malibu and continues to attract Pepperdine students to join its mission.

“I think we wish that we could advertise a little bit more and partner up with them [the University] more through official means, but that is currently our situation and we’ve been able to work,” McNutt said.

The Importance of Student Ministries Around 57% of Seaver students are non-Church of Christ Christians according to fall 2021 data from the Office of Institutional Effectiveness.

About 18% are Catholic, and Orthodox, Jewish, Hindu, Budhdist, Muslim and Mormon students make up 7% of the student population. But only 10% of students have on-campus, University-funded ministry: Those belonging to the Church of Christ.

Having student spaces on campus to experience religious ideas with peers and knowing the group is University-curated and supervised allows students to explore faith in secure ways, Walling said.

“I believe that student ministries are important because they give students what I would call a safe or maybe curated opportunity to look with others of their same age, and to experience that together in an environment that at least has some modicum of safety,” Walling said.

Student-led ministries also provide service opportunities and leadership roles, Walling said.

“There are ministries that help kids who need support and help in school, that help the folks who are without shelter in our community, the folks who may be undocumented and for that reason, have a challenge economically,” Walling said. “Our students step up and say, ‘We got to do something about that’ and what a great way to learn leadership skills — purpose, service and leadership.”

ashley.mowreader@pepperdine.edu

April 8, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

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Advancement Center reevaluates dimensions of giving Samantha Torre Sports Editor Students and faculty familiar with the University may have noticed something different during the month of March, namely, the absence of Give 2 Pepp — Pepperdine’s annual giving day.

Beginning in 2016, Give 2 Pepp is a University-wide event in which students, faculty and alumni donate money to various Pepperdine programs. In March 2020, COVID-19 and the Malibu campus closure cut Give 2 Pepp short. In March 2021, Pepperdine hosted a virtual Give 2 Pepp, where — for the first time — students did not lead the giving.

The COVID-19 pandemic created both a necessity and opportunity for the University to reevaluate giving, and build back engagement for students, such as this year’s first-year and sophomore classes who have never been on campus for an in-person giving day, Director of Appeals Liam Iadicicco said.

“There’s a whole different strategic approach that’s bolted on and it’s part of why we’re reconsidering things like the Engagement Center, that’s no longer Waves On Call,” Iadicicco said. “‘How are we actually engaging our population?’

I mean, it really is the question that we’re asking ourselves, as well as ‘How do you properly engage a student who’s brand new on campus who’s actually a sophomore?’”

As Pepperdine returns to in-person operations, Iadicicco said the Advancement Center — the division of Pepperdine responsible for procuring funding — has a chance to look at how annual giving days and alumni engagement will work in the future.

“There will be an exciting announcement regarding our annual day of giving within the month,” said Rebecca Malzahn, vice chancellor for Development.

Changes in Approach

Samantha Torre, Sports Editor | This infographic showcases the four tiers of gift-giving that Advancement uses when determining how to approach each donor. Director of Appeals Liam Iadicicco said the annual fund relies more on mass appeals, whereas the individual fundraiser approach principal donors — creating a more one-on-one relationship. ties,” Malzahn said. “In partnership with the new academic, strategic vision that Tim Perrin and his office put out, we’re going to be launching a public campaign in the next couple years.”

Johnson said he sees Advancement as having three dimensions: gifts, mechanisms and schools. As Advancement officials navigate these dimensions, they utilize the information gained over the past year to tailor their asks to specific groups.

There will be an exciting announcement regarding our annual day of giving within the month.

Rebecca Malzahn Vice Chancellor for Development Dimension One: Gifts

Changes for the annual day of giving include stronger messaging — such as introducing students to advancement during New Student Orientation — and intertwining it with a day of volunteering, said David Johnson, vice chancellor of Engagement and Mass Appeals.

“Because it’s time, talent, treasure — they shouldn’t be bifurcated,” Johnson said. “We are a giving culture, we change the world together. Therefore, there will be that time.”

Volunteer service will be far reaching, Johnson said, affecting campus, the greater Malibu and LA areas and cities across the United States.

“This new administration has a whole new focus on engaging our local communities, our domestic communities and our international communi-

The first dimension is the gifts people give, Johnson said, grouped into levels depending on the dollar amount donors allotted to the University. Donors are organized into tiers based on pledged amounts.

The majority of graduate students do not live on campus and are not tied to Pepperdine in the way Seaver students are, Johnson said. Due to this, there’s a different approach when asking them to give as students and later as alumni.

“It’s asking them questions and then listening — if they have had a really unfortunate experience — and sort of being a friend on the phone as you’re talking to these people,” Malzahn said. “But, you have to get the experiences, the professors, the classes that are most meaningful to these individuals and

be able to craft your message around those positive experiences instead of ‘We’ve been on Zoom for two years.’”

Heidi Bernard, executive director of Crest Associates said Crest works with donors who give $1,000 or more to the University. Bernard said the associates who donated through COVID-19 increased their sense of appreciation for the University community.

“Many of these people I have known for years,” Bernard said. “So just caring about them as an individual, and saying, ‘We’d love to see you and we’d love your support. But how are you doing?’”

Malzahn said when she sits down with a higher-tier donor, she tries to determine what their goal is in terms of their personal philanthropy — and how she can link that to the graduate schools at Pepperdine.

“It doesn’t always come in the form of a philanthropic donation, it could come in the form of donating your time and donating your talents,” Malzahn said. “Yes, we connect with our alums, yes, we connect with our parents, but we also connect with people that may just have a shared interest in the work that our graduate schools are doing.”

Dimension Two: Mechanisms The second dimension is the mechanisms the Advancement center uses to encourage donors to give, Johnson said.

Mechanisms include email solicitations, social media and the recently renamed Engagement Center.

“The reason we call that is we don’t want to just call alumni to give, we want alumni to be engaged,” Johnson said.

While the number of donors who give to the school helps improve Pepperdine’s rankings, Johnson said there is a focus on building a relationship with donors.

“Our alumni engage the University through leadership in many different capacities, not just boards and councils,” Johnson said. “We engage through service every year and

Samantha Torre, Sports Editor | The Advancement Center office is located in the Thornton Administrative Center. The Pepperdine Advancement staff worked on procuring University funding within this center. volunteerism, that’s where we create family.”

In terms of annual giving, Iadicicco said mass appeals do not have the same luxury as higher giving levels in terms of one-on-one conversation.

“A lot of the time we’re actually starting with the deans,” Iadicicco said. “We’re going into the deans or maybe the major giving officer at that certain school, and we’re starting with their strategic priorities and we’re saying, ‘What are the key areas of your school that you’re really excited about focusing on? Where things are happening?’ And that way, [we] hopefully can touch a certain area for a lot [of people].”

One example of this tailoring is the Graduate School for Education and Psychology — as the West LA campus is removed from the main Malibu operations, Iadcicco said. The campus will have its own representatives, signage and memorabilia.

which both receive funding and set the tone for where funding is needed.

An example of a program that funding benefits is the Horizon Scholars Program.

Johnson said of the 23 students involved in the program, 20 were members of one of Pepperdine’s graduate schools.

Marisa Sellers, executive director of Donor Relations, said the Horizon Scholars Program provides scholarships to students who were in the foster system.

“They need to have education, you know, to do their education or Pepperdine, it’s amazing,” Sellers said. “They all have really amazing stories and such perseverance, and it’s just incredible to see them have an opportunity that they might not already.”

Dimension Three: Schools The third dimension, Johnson said, is the five schools

sam.torre@pepperdine.edu

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April 8, 2022 | NEWS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Pacific Sounds lights up campus with art Liza Esquibias Pixel Editor

Lucian Himes, Photo Editor | The Nashville-based band The Brook & The Bluff perform a concert for students at Alumni Park on the night of March 25. The band sang soulful indie music as the crowd swayed to the beat. my phone for so long.”

As a student herself, Knox said the energy of an audience of students is unlike any other crowd because students can relate to her lyrics in a special way.

“I just think this is amazing because I’m the same age,” Knox said. “That is fun for me because I get to perform in front of an audience that hopefully appreciates it.”

Knox said her music is full of positive affirmations and messages of self-love — two things she said everyone — especially college students — need to hear more of.

Following Knox was Hope Tala, a 24-year-old British R&B singer. Tala sang as the sun set and students gathered at the front of the stage to listen to her indie soul music, waving their hands in the air, clapping and humming to the beat.

As the weather cooled off and the lights shined brighter against the dark sky, first-year Viviana Hernandez said PSMA was the perfect way to close out her first year at Pepperdine.

Hernandez said it brought the community together to bond over things everyone loves.

“There’s free food, an awesome ocean view, a Ferris wheel and music and I get to spend time with my great friends,” Hernandez said. “It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever been to, especially for free, and the music is amazing.”

The closing act was southern indie band The Brook & The Bluff. The Nashville-based

band drew the crowd to their feet in Alumni Park as they danced and listened to the soulful music.

With the strum of the guitars, students in the crowd jumped and sang along to the band’s southern-indie style music.

Sophomore Whitney Powell said she felt she missed out on a lot spending her first-year at Pepperdine virtually. Events like PSMA help her make up for lost time, she said.

“I think it’s so creative, and I really feel like I’m embracing living in California because I couldn’t do this anywhere else,” Powell said.

In addition to performers was the Pepperdine Student Art Gallery truck that traveled from Upper Dorm Road to Alumni Park throughout the week, Walsh said. The truck drew attention to the Saturday night festival and symbolized the road back to normalcy.

Hernandez said the music made her feel joy and gratitude for the little moments she often takes for granted at Pepperdine. The concert, she said, brought her together with friends, and also introduced her to new artists she will listen to in the future.

“When I imagined coming to Pepperdine when I was applying, this is exactly what I imagined,” Hernandez said.

liza.esquibias@pepperdine.edu

(Top) Lucian Himes, Photo Editor | Olivia Knox sings pop songs for Pepperdine students at Pacific Sounds. Knox said this was her first time performing since the pandemic, and it felt great getting back on stage. (Above) Liza Esquibias, Pixel Editor | Students line up to ride the Ferris wheel on Alumni Park. Pacific Sounds Music and Arts Festival brought in three performers — despite usually having two — to celebrate the festival being back in person since 2019.

“Pepperdine Graphic Media (PGM) is an editorially independent student news organization that focuses on Pepperdine University and the surrounding communities. PGM consists of the digital and print Graphic, a variety of special publications, GNews, Currents Magazine, social media platforms and an Advertising Department. These platforms serve the community with news, opinion, contemporary information and a public forum for discussion. PGM strengthens students for purpose, service and leadership by developing their skills in writing, editing and publication production, by providing a vehicle to integrate and implement their liberal arts education, and by developing students’ critical thinking through independent editorial judgment. PGM participates in Pepperdine’s Christian mission and affirmations, especially the pursuit of truth, excellence and freedom in a context of public service. Although PGM reports about Pepperdine University and coordinates with curricula in journalism and other disciplines, it is a student (not a University) news organization. Views expressed are diverse and, of course, do not correspond to all views of any University board, administration, faculty, staff, student or other constituency.”

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MISSION STATEMENT

An archway of colorful balloons, a row of food trucks and a lit-up Ferris wheel on Alumni Park welcomed students to the 2022 Pacific Sounds Music and Arts Festival.

After a week of events and activities leading up to the festival, the Student Programming Board brought joy and community to campus on the night of March 25, Board Event Planner and senior Zoë Walsh said. With three performers — Olivia Knox, Hope Tala and The Brook & The Bluff — and a truck displaying student art, PSMA celebrated the arts and their ability to bring people together in a way Walsh said nothing else can.

“When looking at the same artwork, for example, there’s a connection there that goes beyond language,” Walsh said.

“When listening to the same song, again there’s this sub-linguistic connection that can be so meaningful and powerful without having to put words to it. It can create community in such a visceral, sensory way.”

Walsh said because few students experienced the past in-person PSMA event in 2019, she wanted to revive all the best parts of it — and make it even better.

“It was the best day of my freshman year, so I’m so excited to bring it back,” Walsh said.

Rather than the standard two performers, Walsh said the Board hired three to showcase a variety of music and give opportunities for up-and-coming artists.

“We focused on diverse sounds, popularity at Pepperdine, ‘dance-ibility’ — because I love dancing,” Walsh said. “We wanted something that, even if you didn’t know the songs well enough to sing along to them, you could dance along” The night kicked off with Knox, an 18-year-old pop singer and songwriter studying music at Azusa Pacific University. Knox said until PSMA at Pepperdine, she had not performed since 2020, so she was excited to debut her new feelgood music.

“Only one of these songs are out — the rest of them I have written over the past six months since I moved to LA,” Knox said. “I am excited because these songs have been sitting in

peppgraphicadvertising@gmail.com Phone: (310) 506-4311 Address: Student Publications Pepperdine University 24255 Pacific Coast Hwy. Malibu, CA 90263

A pril 8, 2022

The Graphic

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PERSPECTIVES I

Sarah Best Perspectives Editor

n a society that constantly wants to put people in boxes, understanding that labels don’t serve the same impact for everyone is crucial when creating a more inclusive and accepting world.

Projecting our own understanding of labels onto individuals is inappropriate and labeling should instead should be approached with open-mindedness and a willingness to learn.

Particularly when considering sexuality and gender, the fluidity of both lead to an escalation in misgendering and mislabeling those who do not fall within the historically accepted confines of gender binaries and heterosexuality, according to Harvard Medical School.

By misgendering or assuming another person’s sexuality, the labeler creates a space that doesn’t allow for the ever-changing context of what those identities represent.

It may feel more comfortable for a person to say they are attracted to everyone or have no preference in terms of gender and sexuality, as opposed to identifying as pansexual. The pansexual identity is characterized by a romantic or sexual attraction focused on traits other than sex or gender. Moreover, a person may say they’re genderqueer, rather than selecting a label of non-binary or transgender.

The emphasis that a label carries may empower one person to embrace their sexuality wholeheartedly, but it can constrain another to involuntarily ascribe to an identity or group they don’t see as representative of themselves.

As the interpretation and definition of labels constantly changes, leaving it up to the individual is vital in fostering a more inclusive society.

Labels are necessary and important when it comes to legislative advocacy and policy implementation that protect marginalized groups who fall within the realm of those labels. Psychology Today wrote the benefits of utilizing labels are minimizing ambiguity, producing authentic representation, establishing a communication starting point and decreasing marginalization.

However, the largely subconscious way we interact with one another on a daily basis with regard to how we view people and the label we want to attach to them for our own comfort proves to be problematic.

“The labels themselves are also seen to reflect particular ‘western’ identities that do not speak to the diversity of meanings attached to same-sex desiring

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Tread lightly with labels Samantha Miller, Art Editor | A name tag covers a man’s mouth, indicating the labels being projected onto him are inherently silencing him. Best writes that people should avoid giving others labels for their sexuality or gender. and gender non-conforming people in other parts of the world,” according to the Institute of Developmental Studies.

Oftentimes those outside of the straight, cisgender identity feel cornered into accepting a label of how others understand their sexuality to be. A facet that is often not taken into consideration is how one’s environment affects a person’s comfort in openly expressing themselves with a definitive label.

In the context of a Christian university like Pepperdine, it can be difficult for those who do not ascribe to what is written in the Bible to feel comfortable labeling themselves as anything other than heterosexual.

For their own protection, this may feel like the safest option.

“Pepperdine University affirms that sexual relationships are designed by God to be expressed solely within a marriage between husband and wife,” according to the Sexual Relations policy.

Pepperdine’s stance on which narrowly-defined relationship dynamics are acceptable inherently establishes a culture and environment of hostility. How is a student who strays from the expectation defined in such a rigid policy supposed to feel comfortable being themself on campus?

“We acknowledge the complexity of issues surrounding sexuality and desire to engage this conversation with courage, humility, prayerfulness and convicted civility,” according to the policy.

The University’s attempt at championing an accepting community is something that its policies and statements — like that of Sexual Relations — do not reflect. The general conservatism of the school may not create a space where students can feel as though their identities will be welcome with open arms.

The nature of assuming how an individual chooses to identify, and more specifically what others assume them to be, reveals a larger issue of a societal desire to keep people within the confines of heteronormative and binary expectations. Moving forward, it should be understood that using a gender or sexuality label does not affect everyone the same way.

Instead, allow someone the time and space to be transparent about how they do or don’t choose to identify, rather than forcing our own understandings upon them.

sarah.best@pepperdine.edu

AN INSIDE LOOK Managing Editor Ashley Mowreader Executive Editor Rowan Toke Digital Editor Karl Winter Copy Chief Whitney Bussell Video Producer Christina Buravtsova Creative Director Ali Levens Advertising Director Sahej Bhasin Head Podcast Producer Kyle McCabe Pixel Editor Liza Esquibias Photo Editor Lucian Himes Art Editor Samantha Miller News Editor Abby Wilt Life & Arts Editor Lydia duPerier Sports Editor Sam Torre Perspectives Editor Sarah Best Diversity, Equity and

Inclusion Editor Emily Shaw News Assistant Editor Kyle McCabe News Assistants Graeson Claunch Brielle Wood Yauney News Staff Writers William Bacon Anezka Liskova Abroad Correspondents Chloe Chan Beth Gonzales Perspectives Assistant Editor Emily Chase Perspectives Staff Writers Halle Bowe Joshua Evans Emma Ibarra Life & Arts Assistant Editor Addison Whiten Life & Arts Assistant Meghan Young Life & Arts Staff Writers Tim Gay Audrey Geib Hope Lockwood Jackie Lopez Sawa Yamakawa Assistant Sports Editor Jerry Jiang

Sports Staff Writers Justin Choi Joseph Heinemann Austin LeDe’ Alec Matulka Copy Editors Téa Fortune Yamillah Hurtado Assistant Photo Editors Ryan Bough Sammie Wuensche Staff Photographers Ella Coates Mary Elisabeth Audrey Hartono Denver Patterson Brandon Rubsamen Gabrielle Salgado Art Assistant Editor Vivian Hsia Staff Artists Autumn Hardwick Ariana Henry Mary Karapetyan HeeJoo Roh Carson Vandermade Design Assistants Kaitlyn Davis Landry Hendrick Haley Hoidal Hannah Lee

Emilia Lekhter Zoe Macarewa Meredith Nover Ece Yagci Podcast Producers Joe Allgood Celine Foreman Karl Winter Podcast Production Assistants Zack Born Halle Bowe GNews Crew Joe Allgood Rianna Dizon Hunter Dunn Alex Payne Gabrielle Salgado Amari Venzor Senior Edition Editor Bryant Loney Advertising Assistant Carly Long Assistant Pixel Editor Sofia Longo Social Media Assistant Chloe Chung Rianna Dizon Christian Parham Rianna Smith Meg Taylor

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the Editor must bear the writer’s name, signature, class standing, major, address and phone number (except in some circumstances determined appropriate by the Graphic). Letters must be fewer than 300 words and will be edited for syntax, grammar and brevity. Letters can be mailed to student publications or emailed to peppgraphicmedia@ gmail.com.

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April 8, 2022 | PERSPECTIVES | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Staff Editorial: Find balance in performance

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ith a little under a month left in the spring 2022 semester and students receiving notifications about final exams and assignments on a daily basis, it is easy for them to become overwhelmed. With every day being a due date, pausing to rest is necessary for students to reach their highest potential.

Students deserve a break after pushing themselves to meet approaching deadlines for assignments.

The pressure can make students consider giving up, abandoning their responsibilities and accepting defeat. While being involved in various organizations is certainly rewarding, it can lead to feelings of being overwhelmed and not knowing where to start.

It can be easy to believe the voice in your head saying you aren’t doing enough. But what if you accepted where you are in terms of your studies and took it one step at a time?

Being uncertain about the future and your performance ability is normal. Only 3 in 10 students reported confidence in an ability to find jobs after graduation, according to an article in Forbes magazine. College is a time to discover both yourself and your passions. Sometimes things will become difficult, and feeling unsure is a valid reaction.

Needing to put your head down and get the work done is OK, as well. Just because someone seems to have time to go to the Country Mart with friends, doesn’t mean they don’t also have days spent at Payson Library.

Pepperdine students are also notorious for having packed schedules, according to Pepperdine’s Student Life website. Running from classes to club meetings to homework leaves little time to rest and rejuvenate.

It can be especially difficult when the person who “does it all” executes their obligations flawlessly, but comparing oneself to others is unhealthy and unhelpful.

Scheduling is a major factor that plays a part in performance. Most college students spend 15 hours in class a week, which does not even include various extracurriculars such as athletics, clubs and on-campus organizations, according to OutScholar. Additionally, the amount of time in class is one thing — the amount of work that class requires between assignments and study time is another.

Each class is different, and so is each student. While some of your peers might excel in a class you struggle with, it does not mean you are any less intelligent. For example, students may struggle adjusting from an on-

Samantha Miller, Art Editor | A student perfoms a yoga pose on top of the Pepperdine Theme Tower. The Graphic staff writes students should rest and recuperate instead of collapsing under the Pepperdine pressure. line learning format, according to Child and Adolescent Behavior Health.

COVID-19 symptoms, including brain fog, also affect students beyond the initial infection — decreasing their motivation to work.

Being hard on yourself and giving up is not the solution to perfectionism. It’s important to do what you can accomplish, and take your path to success moment by moment.

Pepperdine provides some solutions. The Counseling Center offers professional help for students who are struggling with anxiety and depression. It promotes mental well-being and strives for success among students. Pepperdine’s Counseling Center also provides support groups outside of individual sessions.

Another resource is the Pepperdine Resilience-Informed Skills Education Program. RISE’s goal is to help students improve their resilience skills and care

for themselves and others in times of difficulty.

For academic help, Pepperdine’s Student Success Center offers free tutoring and individual academic coaching. There are also Learning Skills workshops to help you stay on track with your studies.

It is OK to need help and utilize the resources around you. Needing someone to lean on from time to time does not mean you’re weak — it just means you’re human.

peppgraphicmedia@gmail.com

Petty Perspective: Apples are red, Androids are green Sawa Yamakawa Staff Writer

W

hen I was 11, I got an iPod Touch for my birthday.

Back then — when the YouTube logo looked like a boxed TV from the 1960s — one of my favorite moments was redeeming an iTunes gift card, just so that I can purchase a ninja theme on Doodle Jump.

Another one of my fond — and somewhat thrilling — moments was transferring illegally downloaded audio files from YouTube to the iTunes app.

As an elementary school kid with no financial ability or stability, these moments were monumental.

Fast forward seven years, my first time walking into Payson Library was a cultural reset.

Phones, tablets, laptops and watches — all shining with the same simplistic logo. This was the very moment Pepperdine’s exclusive use of Apple products intrigued me.

And so when I committed to Pepperdine, I, too, was proud to be a

Vivian Hsia, Assistant Art Editor | A victorious Apple Music logo emerges from a shattered Spotify logo. Yamakawa argues iPhone users should use Apple Music, because the green of Spotify aligns with the green text bubbles of Andriod users. member of the Apple ecosystem. After all, it’s the aesthetic I grew up with. I felt right at home — until my friend asked me to follow her on Spotify.

Spotify and Apple Music are the two largest music streaming services on the market, with Spotify dominat-

ing the share at 31% and Apple Music at 15% in the second quarter of 2021, according to Midia research.

As someone who uses Apple Music, this data is upsetting.

There were more iPhone users than Android users in North America in

June 2021, according to Statista.

This means if all iPhone users are loyal Apple ecosystem inhabitants, Apple Music should be topping Spotify in the music streaming industry.

The data, however, suggests that — obviously — there are some traitors.

The bottom line is that the Spotify app belongs on Android phones. iPhone users despise seeing green text bubbles, and that is an undeniable fact. So I want to ask the traitors — respectfully — why use a green app that screams Andriod?

I agree that Spotify benefits are superior: A Spotify subscription comes with Hulu and other advantages.

Having access to a variety of movies and shows while being able to make a shared playlist is such a win.

But it’s all about the aesthetic.

Let’s not forget about the times when the illegally downloaded songs on the iTunes app made us into main characters. iTunes rebranded itself to Apple Music and the legacy lives on.

Let’s not ditch the app that gave us such core memories of our pre-teenage years. iPhone users must switch to Apple Music.

sawa.yamakawa@pepperdine.edu

April 8, 2022 | PERSPECTIVES | Pepperdine Graphic Media

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All newsroom staffs should be diverse

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Liza Esquibias Pixel Editor

s of 2018, people of color make up only 23% of newsroom staff in the United States, according to Pew Research Center.

A newsroom with racially diverse staff is the first step toward creating thoughtful, racially diverse news coverage. Without a variety of backgrounds among professional journalists reporting on diverse issues, mainstream news consumers might question the validity of a media organization’s content.

Statistics In 2020, the Los Angeles Times’ staff had fewer than 6% Black employees when the LA Times Guilds’ Black Caucus sent an open letter to the owner of the publication. The letter claimed the LA Times’ workplace marginalized journalists of color and created an un-inclusive space for Black journalists in particular.

Since the Black Caucus made the letter public, the Los Angeles Times’ newsroom staff has changed from 45% white in 2020 to 43% white and only 6.6% Black in 2021. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, 9% of Los Angeles County is Black.

LA County also has one of the largest Hispanic/ Latino populations in the country — totaling nearly half of the population. Yet, the LA Times newsroom staff consists of just under 32% Hispanic/Latino staff, according to its website.

Clearly, there is a disparity between the staff of one of the major news publications in the country and the population the publication represents in its stories. In fact, before 2020, the newspaper did not even have a diversity report to keep track of numbers relating to demographics of staff.

Not all newsrooms pay attention to diversity, though. There are several places around the U.S. that lack racial diversity, but that does not mean newsrooms should also have low racial diversity. For this reason, newsroom staff should not necessarily match the demographics of society, but instead be racially diverse regardless.

A newsroom rich with different racial backgrounds emphasizes the importance of diverse voices and stories — which all people should have exposure to.

Steps to Achieve Racially Diverse Newsrooms Hiring people of color is not the only step newsrooms need to take to expand racial diversity within a publication.

Newsrooms must not only have racially diverse staff, but those in leadership positions must also be racially diverse. This will show that those voices and perspectives are valued and listened to, and consumers will in turn feel valued as well.

Media outlets are making progress, but not fast enough. MSNBC named Rashida Jones president in February 2021, followed by Kimberly Godwin taking on the role of president of ABC News in April 2021.

These women made history being the first Black

presidents of major broadcast news organizations after they have existed for decades — but it should not have taken that long.

Reuters Institute published a study in 2021 that showed viewers of media base much of their trust on what they can see and the outlet’s type of leadership — including whether it is racially diverse.

Simply having reporters with diverse racial backgrounds will not result in publication of stories with diverse topics and sources. Those reporters must also have emotional support, equal pay, mentors and empowerment to come forward with stories that matter to them.

Graphic by Liza Esquibias | A bar graph shows the racial breakdown of PGM during the 2021-2022 school year.

Trust in the Media Racial diversity within a newsroom also builds trust with consumers. Knowing that a journalist has firsthand experience to the topic is powerful for a reader or viewer.

CNN reporter Sara Sidner memorably teared up on-air while reporting on the protests following George Floyd’s murder in summer 2020. As a Black woman, Sidner said racism was something she knew all too well.

Sidner also said this was a story she was proud to be able to report on, and one that was meaningful for viewers to see her report on as a woman of color.

“On the one hand, protesters sometimes believe I understand them because we likely have a shared experience,” Sidner wrote in a June 2020 article for CNN. “And they are correct. On the other hand, some police see me as a protester, another Black face in the crowd even when I identify myself as a journalist.

Journalists learn to be neutral and remain unbiased.

However, reporters should be able to cover stories they can relate to, because they may better know what questions to ask and the people they speak with may feel a sense of common understanding.

There have been numerous examples of racially ignorant mistakes journalists have made that caused their audiences to feel there was not a sense of thoughtfulness or understanding within the newsrooms. One example is from February 2020, when Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash, and BBC aired footage of LeBron James — with the producer mistaking him for Bryant. Viewers on Twitter pointed out that James’ jersey clearly stated his name in the clips and questioned whether the mixup would have happened between two famous white men.

Incidents like these create distrust and anger toward the media, while moments like Sidners’ establish trust.

An IPSOS study showed from 2014 to 2019, public trust in print media decreased by 16%. The data exhibited people are more likely to trust local media because proximity makes news organizations able to better understand and address its audience’s interests and concerns.

A 2020 Forbes article highlighted the importance of racially diversifying newsrooms to go against the polarization of minority groups that is present in much of the nation. If consumers feel polarization seeping into their news content, they will quickly distrust the media, and hiring racially diverse staff can reverse that effect.

If news consumers knew a newsroom was filled with people who represented them racially, they would likely be more confident in the media’s ability to understand and accurately cover issues important to them, a Kerner Commission Report obtained by Nieman Lab

concluded.

According to World Economic Forum, members of society value news that reflect themselves.

Transparency All newsrooms have work to do to become more racially diverse and gain the trust of its audiences. In PGM’s newsroom, during the 2021-22 academic year, 49% of staff is white, according to internal survey data.

PGM has an open-door policy that welcomes all serious applicants and provides necessary training. In the past, the Graphic has also offered weekly space in the Perspectives section for identity-based organizations to tell their own thoughts, rather than having the Graphic tell them.

In 1968, Pepperdine students created the Black Graphic to amplify Black voices in a way they did not see the Graphic doing. In 1969, the Black Graphic covered the death of Larry Kimmons — who a DPS officer shot and killed on the former LA Pepperdine campus — and wrote about the importance of teaching Black studies at Pepperdine.

Because of the lack of coverage on racial issues at the Graphic during that time, Black students felt the need to publish their own newspaper to fill that gap. It is important that news organizations are inclusive of all news and all journalists, and the Graphic is working toward doing that.

In October 2021, the Graphic published a Staff Editorial about Chumash Land with misuse of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians’ official logo, and the Graphic subsequently made an apology to them, as well as a correction on the page.

Similar to the way the BBC made a racially insensitive error, the Graphic did as well. Not only does PGM take responsibility for its mistakes, but the Graphic is committed to doing better. An example is recently creating a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion editor position to place a greater emphasis on these values in all aspects of the organization.

Journalists are people, but they also work for the people. Without a racially diverse newsroom, journalists cannot provide an accurate depiction of the racially diverse society we live in. There is always more work to be done, and newsroom racial diversity is only a small part of a much bigger picture regarding diversity within the media.

liza.esquibias@pepperdine.edu

Letter to the Editor of the Graphic:

Pepp and the ADA — A mission to uncover the truth Editor’s Note: Opinions expressed in letters to the editor are those of the author, and publication in the Graphic in no way represents an endorsement.This space is provided to allow public response and commentary on articles and issues that are covered by the Graphic and important to its readership.

Dear Pepperdine Community, I am writing to you to address the coverage of Disability Awareness Week on campus and how Pepperdine’s non-ADA compliance should be public knowledge to the student body.

In regard to the coverage on Dis-

ability Awareness Week, I am referring to the article titled “Office of Student Accessibility Hosts Disability Awareness Week” that was published March 17

by Abby Wilt. It was an excellent piece, which reviewed the five days of DAW, included photographs from the events, infographics and statistics on disability awareness, information on OSA and quotes from Emily McNutt and Melinda Colbert. I believe the article was incredibly well-written, thought provoking and inspiring for every student reading it, whether they were able to attend the events or not. However, my

only concern in shedding light on the topic of disability and accessibility on Pepperdine’s campus, is that the complete story was not told, which leads me to my second point.

Though it is not public knowledge, the fact that Pepperdine’s campus is not ADA-compliant, is something every student should be aware of. Despite being built before the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Pepperdine is still required by law to uphold ADA measures as an established university.

Do they truly follow ADA? Yes, but to a certain extent. In many ways, Pepper-

dine legally meets the bare minimum of what the ADA requires because ADA is the ground standard, not the ceiling standard of what accessibility should be.

Nevertheless, people have discovered things that make Pepperdine’s campus illegal in terms of ADA requirements.

While I have access to share the list of ways Pepperdine’s campus is legal and illegal, I challenge the Graphic to investigate and cover a story of their relationship with the ADA and shed light on the controversy.

Thank you for your time, Sofia Thure

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April 8, 2022 | PERSPECTIVES | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Pepp provides disappointing dining Emma Ibarra Staff Writer It’s a Friday night, and a Pepperdine student is without a car on campus. Their mini-fridge has been empty for weeks, yet they open it to look for a glimmer of hope. Maybe that hope is a box of leftovers that has been jailed in between frigid walls for a week. Perhaps a half-eaten Howdy’s burrito?

Nope. All they can find are just a few plastic containers of old Caf food that are well past expiration.

It’s fine, it’s not even late enough to feel famished. At around 10:45 p.m., cravings start to stir in the pit of the stomach, and hot food is all that comes to mind. Stuck on campus, one is locked within the constraints of transportation — or lack thereof. Maybe the HAWC could help?

According to the Dining Services website hours for the HAWC, students would have approximately 15 minutes to get out of their on-campus housing, walk to the edge of main campus and run in to place an order of chicken tenders. One might even have enough time to grab something from the HAWC’s small convenience store that usually looks like an apocalyptic ruin where everyone is stocking up on Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Yerba Mates.

Pepperdine lacks sufficient dining resources for on-campus students after normal business hours.

Samantha Miller, Art Editor | A plate has a fork and knife for hands, symbolizing a clock. Ibarra argues Pepperdine closing its dining so early is detrimental to the student experience, and students should be able to eat on-campus outside of business hours when Malibu’s restaurants are closed as well.

Due to transportation barriers — such as early shuttle hours and students not having cars — when classes are over, students are left to their own devices. First-years are especially affected because their parking is limited to the Drescher graduate campus in order to “facilitate parking availability in areas of higher demand.”

Though the University technically offers nine dining options on the Malibu campus, many live in residences without a kitchen, so when late-night cravings continue to eat away, funnily enough, the students aren’t.

The University, and many businesses in Malibu, have made it abundantly clear that anything open past 9 p.m., is a miracle, which is reflective of the city’s quiet hours that begin at 10 p.m.

Because students have few options, the University should adjust dining hours to better accommodate student life.

Though the HAWC is Pepperdine’s proclaimed “late-night” spot, the dining location is not always convenient for student life since it randomly closes at certain hours of the night. However, the HAWC is not to blame for this fiasco. One would think that the Caf would accommodate students, especially since it frequently acts as a meeting hub and is consistently busy. That is, until 8 p.m.

The Caf is even more discourteous and operates from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Given the limited time frame, students are stranded after-hours and need to eat early if they want to catch dinner.

The University needs to extend dining hours for students who reside on campus. Staying open until midnight would be more considerate of the average college student’s schedule.

Pepperdine must take into consideration the needs of the community, keeping in mind the lack of dining options many students face in dorm-style living.

emma.ibarra@pepperdine.edu

Build a parking lot instead of a fitness center Emily Chase Perspectives Assistant Editor The once-empty lot located directly next to Seaside, across from the Tari Frahm Rokus Field, had the potential to be something far more beneficial, like a parking lot. Instead, it will be a temporary gym, which will remain until the new student arena, “The Mountain,” is built —according to an October 2021 Graphic article. It is not worth constructing in the first place.

Parking Problems Rho Parking Lot is home to 563 spots, but these numbers fluctuate to accomodate handicap drivers and electric vehicles, according to Pepperdine Department of Public Safety.

These spots are shared between over 1,080 students living in Towers, Lovernich, Seaside, Eden and Krowns, according to Pepperdine HRL. Street parking proves time and again to be minimal due to high student population and not enough parking. A better use of construction would be another parking lot, not a temporary fitness center.

The daily discourse for Pepperdine students this academic year is, “Where can I park? I need to find a parking spot.” This phrase has been spoken, thought and pondered by hundreds of students, including those living in Seaside.

A recent Graphic article covered the parking issue in great detail, noting that there are 4,100 available parking spots on campus.

Students trying to find street park-

ing are often late to class or getting tickets from the University for parking illegally. This issue could be avoided altogether with the addition of parking lots, or even a few parking spaces, in open areas on campus, similar to what the lot between Seaside and transfer housing used to be prior to construction starting.

Student Conflict With Construction The spring semester for on-campus students living at Seaside Residence Hall is characterized by minimal sleep and loud wake-up calls due to the early start time of the construction happening between Seaside and transfer housing.

The construction has been ongoing for months, with weekdays starting far too early in the morning for some students, including sophomore Seaside resident Garrett Podgorski.

“I hear the people enter the worksite at 5:45 a.m., every morning, I try not to wake up early, but I do get woken up around that same time,” Podgorski said.

The lack of sleep, constant noise and slow construction occurring is not worth it if students who live at Seaside are getting yet another fitness center that is right next to Seaside’s gym.

The transfer students who live near Seaside don’t have access to Seaside’s gym, so this fitness center would prove to be helpful. Although, if students were getting more on-campus parking, which would benefit a larger population of students.

Not Another Fitness Center Pepperdine has six fitness centers on campus: The Firestone Fieldhouse Weight Center, The Cage by the tennis stadium and three other centers located in Towers, Drescher, Seaside

Samantha Miller, Art Editor | Three signs signal no parking, construction and a space reserved for working out. Chase writes the University needs to build a parking lot next to Seaside Hall instead of a temporary fitness center. and the Caruso School of Law. The only people this project would benefit are students living in first-year housing who don’t have a gym, or if the Seaside gym is busy. Some might agree that this is good, however potentially more would agree that additional parking would be put to more use for a higher number of students.

The new structure, projected to be done by the end of 2021 according to a Graphic article, is unfinished still.

As of March 17, the lot has two small, white, empty tent-looking buildings labeled ‘Pepperdine Fitness Center.’ This construction is not only not finished, but it is also causing a

raucous and raising questions.

A parking lot next to Seaside would increase parking availability and eliminate a lot of parking anxiety for students just trying to go home after a long day. Next time the University wants to invest in construction, it must think about the consistent issues students have, even if it’s something as seemingly simple as a parking spot.

emily.chase@pepperdine.edu

A pril 8, 2022

The Graphic

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Alums use TikTok to tackle gender roles Rowan Toke Executive Editor “Sorry tough guys, it’s another day in the life of a StayAt-Home Husband” rings through the speakers of many phones.

Maya and Hunter Leppard (Seaver ‘20) started posting videos about their life and relationship on TikTok in February 2021. Their videos that commented on gender roles in relationships went viral, and as of April 5, their account “Maya + Hunter” has almost 779,000 followers and 35.1 million likes.

“I feel like [posting TikToks has] made us be stronger because we know that no matter what, the other person’s gonna be there, there’s not a certain role we have to fall into,” Maya said. “We will just fall into the role that’s needed.”

Maya and Hunter said they grew up in Ventura, Calif., and started dating during their sophomore year of high school.

Maya went to Cal Lutheran University and Hunter went to University of California, San Diego, but they both transferred to Pepperdine during their sophomore year.

“I think that Pepperdine was an environment that fostered a feeling of ‘Maya and I are very close together. We can experience these things together, but also we can experience them separately,’” Hunter said.

Hunter said he is a member of Pepperdine’s Alpha Tau Omega fraternity while Maya is in Delta Gamma. Maya also worked for the Graphic as the advertising manager.

“We had our own friends, we had our own activities, but then we still were able to spend the time together and bond over sharing that with each other and the differences there were,” Hunter said.

After graduation, Maya and Hunter said they got engaged in July 2020 and married a year later.

Maya works for her family’s manufacturing business.

She said the industry is very male-dominated, but her mom is the CEO of the company.

“It’s funny because she just goes in and bosses around all these men and it’s really fun,” Maya said. “She just does it really well and she’s always been an example to me of ‘Oh, I can do that. I can do anything.’”

Maya said she realized that this was not a universal experience once she got into the ‘real world,’ but the idea that women can and should be in power is very strong in her relationship with Hunter.

“He immediately was on

board [with me working for my family business], encouraging me in whatever I wanted to do,” Maya said.

Maya said she works remotely while Hunter attends Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law. Once he graduates, Hunter agreed to move for Maya’s work, if necessary, because he can practice law anywhere and wants to support her.

Maya and Hunter said they agreed communication is the foundation of their relationship, allowing them to treat each other equally with love and respect. They said it seems like most people expect the woman in the relationship to be the conventionally loving and romantic partner, but their TikToks subvert this notion.

We should all be equal. It seems like it should be common knowledge, but then when we posted something like [the series] it proved like, ‘Oh, we are very much not there’ Maya Leppard Pepperdine Alumna (‘20) “Most guys do not treat their wives well, and I’m not going to say that wives are blameless, but a good marriage is unfortunately rare,” Hunter said.

One of their videos exemplified this situation, Hunter said.

In the video, Hunter surprises Maya with coffee and a croissant to celebrate the beginning of her birth month.

“People were shocked, and we were like, ‘That’s such a shame,’” Maya said. “It should be so normal for the guy to be just as nice to the girl as the girl usually is to the guy.”

Hunter drew a distinction between being a good partner and dealing with heavy topics in a relationship, which he said applies to how people react to their “Stay-At-Home Husband” series.

“There’s the big sacrificial things of deciding, where we’re gonna live, whose job is gonna take precedence in a specific

moment,” Hunter said. “Those types of things should be very collaborative — they should be equal. But, then there’s these little things where it’s just being a decent partner and just being a good human being.”

People seem to get those two parts of a relationship conflated, Hunter said. Because of this, Maya and Hunter chose to make the Stay-At-Home Husband series, where Hunter voices over a day in his life while performing tasks that are frequently associated with women.

“We put the Home Depot sound on it, so that’s when we got this kind of idea of like, ‘Let’s figure out a way to make this serious and get the point across, but also a little tonguein-cheek,’” Hunter said.

This reversal of societally-approved gender roles is normal in their relationship, Maya said, because Hunter does the cleaning in the relationship, and Maya works. This has caused the topic of a marriage as an equal partnership to become a theme on their TikTok account. ​​“It’s mostly me, but behind that is a couple that just really believes in an equal partnership in marriage and communication and treating each other with dignity,” Hunter said.

Those around Maya and Hunter said they see the strength of their marriage. Milan Loiacono (Seaver ‘20) said their relationship is epitomized in the idea of small, meaningful moments between best friends.

Loiacono, who was Maya’s roommate, worked for the Graphic as the photo editor.

“Hunter and Maya have the easiness, comfort and practiced teamwork of an old married couple, with all the goofiness and tenderness of two kids in love,” Loiacono said.

With their TikToks, Maya said their message is to normalize an equal partnership with communication and respect which is relevant when considering the fight for gender equality.

“We should all be equal,” Maya said. “It seems like it should be common knowledge, but then when we posted something like [the series], it proved like, ‘Oh, we are very much not there.’”

Maya said there is always more to be done in the fight for gender equality. Hunter agreed, adding that their videos are viral because they’re “abnormal.”

“We want this to be something that’s not viral on TikTok,” Hunter said.

rowan.toke@pepperdine.edu

Photos Courtesy of Maya and Hunter Leppard | [High School] Maya and Hunter sit outside at Grace Brethren High School in Simi Valley, Calif., in 2013. The couple started dating during their sophomore year of high school. [College Graduation] The couple throws their graduation hats on Alumni Park. The couple graduated in 2020. [Marriage] Maya and Hunter kiss for the first time as a married couple. They got married in Westlake Village, Calif., in July 2021. [TikTok] The couple began posting Tiktoks in 2021. Now they have over 700,000 followers on the platform.

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April 8, 2022 | LIFE AND ARTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Pepp community suggests favorite reads Jackie Lopez Staff Writer Pepperdine staff and students suggest their favorite reads to help you choose your next literary journey.

From a romantic adventure through Egypt to a thought-provoking experience about faith — the suggested books vary in genre, timeframe and reading levels. First-year Holley Hargraves said she feels transported into the books whenever she reads them.

“I continue to read, because I feel like it stretches my mind and I feel like I can enter into these worlds and get really connected to the characters,” Hargraves said.

First-year Chelsea Taura suggested “Live,” a book written by Sadie Robertson — a well-known Christian preacher, speaker and author.

“She uses different parables in the Bible from Jesus’s teaching and just everything, she really adapts it to a more modern perspective,” Taura said.

Going into college, Taura said this book gave her a better outlook on living in the moment and focusing less on academic stress.

Taura’s other suggestion, “Walking with the Wind,” splits away from a faith-based work and switches gears to history.

From the author John Lewis, it describes the struggles Lewis faced and his experience living

through the Civil Rights Movement.

“I have never read that fast in my life,” Taura said. “And it was so captivating that I kind of flew through it.”

The book has a lot of firsthand experience with the topic of Civil Rights, Taura said, making it an important read to gain more perspective on the movement.

Hargraves made another historical nonfiction suggestion called “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien. Hargraves said the book is a memoir about O’Brien’s experience being drafted in the Vietnam War. “It was really about PTSD and how soldiers are really forced to deal with so much, the coming home experience and everything like that,” Hargraves said. “It was just a really incredible book that’s life-changing. It still remains one of my favorite books of all time.”

Hargraves recommended one of John Steinbeck’s many fictional works, “East of Eden.”

“It was just very poetic and beautiful and well done,” Hargraves said. “And it just captured the era of the time and what it was like to live there.”

Set during the early 1900s in Salinas Valley, Hargraves said the book reminds her of the well-known Biblical story, Cain and Abel, as it depicts on multiple generations of family

while focusing on the theme of jealousy.

“A big thing from ‘East of Eden’ that people can take away, is that certain elements of families are carried on from family to family, sort of like that concept of intergenerational trauma,” Hargraves said.

English Professor Rachel Gould’s recommendations focused on fictional stories with the books: “Mara, Daughter of the Nile” by Eloise Jarvis McGraw and “Till We Have Faces” by C.S. Lewis.

Gould said reading “Mara, Daughter of the Nile,” a romance-based adventure story set in Egypt, was formative for her younger self.

“It played a big role in helping shape my interests in stories that are set in that part of the world, which is part of what my research is about now,” Gould said.

The story is for anyone seeking escapism and a quick and easy read, Gould said.

“Til We Have Faces,” is a more dense book that Gould said is ideal for someone who loves mythology, is seeking more works by Lewis, or a deeper understanding of God. “That one is a retelling of the myth of Psyche,” Gould said. “And it’s one where Lewis is really focused on the beauty of grace. What does it mean to receive grace when? What does it mean, first of all, to recognize the ways that we have fall-

Photo courtesy of Chelsea Taura | First-year Chelsea Taura’s books and notebooks she keeps in her bedroom. These books, which are kept under her nightstand include a variety of authors and titles. en short, and then to recognize how grace is extended to us in those circumstances?”

Great Books Professor Don Thompson said he suggests a variety of literary classics. Among the suggestions, Thompson emphasized his love of the book, “The Consolation of Philosophy” by Boethius.

“What makes it so important is that he talks about happiness,” Thompson said.

Other books Thompson recommended are “The Republic” by Plato, “Paradise Lost”

by John Milton and “The

Brothers Karamazov” by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Thompson said these books heavily discuss philosophical themes like justice and virtue.

“In all these books, find somebody to read the book with, because if you read by yourself, you get a lot out of it, but you get more when you talk about it,” Thompson said.

jacqueline.lopez@pepperdine.edu

Students nickname campus buildings Audrey Geib Staff Writer The buildings on Pepperdine’s Malibu campus are adorned with plaques and dedication memos. However, these official names and histories often go unnoticed in the rush of the day-today activities that occupy Seaver undergraduate students’ schedules.

Names like “the Howard A. White Center,” named for Pepperdine’s fifth president and “Rockwell Towers Residential Halls,” named after the late son of Pepperdine benefactors Leon and Margaret Rockwell, are shortened to “the HAWC” and “Towers” and used in casual conversations with ease.

These abbreviations and short hands exist for nearly every building on campus.

First-year tour guide Alex Paloglou said he learned the names of each building and the purpose it serves so he can educate prospective students and families as they tour campus.

“At the beginning of the last semester, I had to learn all the building names here on campus as a part of the tour guide job,” Paloglou said.

Paloglou said it was when he was learning all the names and backstories that he became aware of the amount of students who were unaware of the proper names of buildings despite the places and signs on the outsides.

“I began to notice that a lot of students don’t really know all the names or the pronunciation of a lot of the dif-

Mary Elisabeth, Staff Photographer | Geneva Sovinec smiles outside her firstyear dorm in March 2022. Despite the name of the building being the “Audene Merrill Connor House,” students typically just call the house “Connor.” ferent buildings on campus,” Paloglou said.

Many students refer to buildings such as the “Keck Science Center” and the “Cultural Arts Center” as the “KEC” and “CAC.” This trend could stem from the fact that Pepperdine references the classrooms found in the buildings as simply the first letter from each word followed by the room number on students schedules and campus maps.

First-year Joseph Macdaniel said he rarely ever uses the official names attached to the buildings.

“I don’t think I say a single full name for any building on campus on any given day,” Macdaniel said.

The building names vary between two and five words, which for many students think is too long, thus leading to the shorthand versions. These names are typically donor names like the Charles B. Thornton Administra-

tive Center or the “TAC” which houses the administrative offices.

After his death in 1981 Flora Thornton, a member of the Pepperdine board of Regents and Charles Thornton’s wife, made a large donation to the university in his name.

Macdaniel said the short names are easier and more time efficient when just trying to identify the buildings in conversation.

“I shorten them for convenience,” Macdaniel said. “I also shorten others because I just don’t know what they officially are.”

First-year Geneva Sovinec said if a student were to use the official names in a conversation it would most likely catch her off-guard.

“If somebody were to come up to me and tell me the full name of a building, I would probably look at them and be very confused,” Sovinec said.

This trend extends past just classroom buildings, Sovinec said many students also shorten the names of first-year housing.

“It’s not just Connor, Crocker or E. Pen; those are shortened versions,” Sovinec said. “When in reality, they’re four words on the front of the building, but nobody refers to them as those official names.”

audrey.geib@pepperdine.edu

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April 8, 2022 | LIFE AND ARTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Students dissect choice to study Biology Timothy Gay Staff Writer Pursuing a degree in Biology gives students a greater understanding of the natures of life, students and faculty said.

To receive a Bachelor of Science, students complete four lower-division biology and chemistry courses, one physics and Calculus I, along with nine upper-division courses, according to Seaver Academic Catalog. First-year Biology major David Harutunyan said he chose to become a Biology major because he wanted a deeper understanding of life’s origins.

“The major has a heavy course load with a lot of information to memorize,” Harutunyan said. “The thing that interests me the most in biology is the evolution of life — how humans and animals evolved and how life as we know it came to be.”

Haruntunyan’s goal is to attend medical school after graduating college. He said he wants a stronger background of the information to do well on the Medical College Admission Test.

From Haruntunyan’s experience, biology involves studying how living organisms are structured, their functions, growth, where they originated from and how they evolved.

“We can use biology to classify and describe various organisms and how they function,” Harutunyan said. “We can also examine how organisms inter-

act with one another in their environment.”

Haruntunyan admits the amount of information he has to memorize in the field is challenging, but he said it’s fascinating for him to acquire.

Biology Professor Krista Lucas said the number of labs Biology majors have to perform in can be the most challenging aspect to the degree.

“It is usually tricky for students to arrange their schedules, but it can be done,” Lucas said.

Lucas has specifically been helpful for Harutunyan. He said Lucas is always there when you need help understanding something you are having trouble with.

“Dr. Lucas has helped me understand Hardy Weinberg problems better,” Harutunyan said. “She has also made zoology even more interesting than I already thought it was, because of all the exciting activities we get to do in lab.”

Biology is beneficial because it’s a field in which students can seek answers to questions in the natural world, Lucas said. She believes it is a place for those who are curious to learn more about how the world works and the relationships between living things and their environment, and who are fascinated by the microscopic workings of life.

“There are so many options with a Biology degree,” Lucas said. “Even if someone decides to change fields for graduate school or their profession,

Timothy Gay, Staff Writer | David Harutunyan sits in his dorm room and does Biology homework. A pig appeared on the screen as Harutunyan did a dissection module. the critical thinking skills gained with a biology degree are priceless.”

A Biology degree can earn you jobs such as a biology instructor, a biological technician, a biochemist, a genetic counselor, a health communication specialist, a pharmaceutical or medical product sales representative, a physician assistant, a veterinarian or a physician, Harutunyan said.

“If you plan on going into the field of medicine, becoming a Biology major means that you will already be taking most of the required courses for medical school as a part of your major,” Harutunyan said.

There’s many Pepperdine students

who go on to professional schools including medical, veterinary, dental, physical therapy, and those who progress and get master’s degrees or Ph.D.s in biology, Lucas said.

“Biology grads can also work for organizations like the Nature Conservancy, go into teaching, become bench scientists for a variety of companies or go into science communication,” Lucas said. “There are so many options.”

timothy.gay@pepperdine.edu

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April 8, 2022 | LIFE AND ARTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Raica Kwizera advocates for representation Sawa Yamakawa Staff Writer After receiving early action decisions from 13 schools in the U.S., senior Psychology major Raica Kwizera was unsure of where to commit.

“Nothing was striking to me,” Kwizera said.

Revisiting with her school counselor and re-evaluating her priorities, Kwizera said she ultimately sought two factors: A small school community aspect and warm weather.

Kwizera said she was not aware of Pepperdine but several Google searches later, she thought to herself, “There’s no way this is real.”

And so, Kwizera applied and Pepperdine accepted her application.

Despite not being able to physically visit the campus because of scheduling conflicts, Kwizera said her positive experiences with the student interns at the Office of Admissions was one of her deciding factors.

“Their personal life experiences, I think, really made it come to life for me,” Kwizera said. “What I did want was very much present.”

Applying to Pepperdine as an international student from Rwanda, Kwizera also sought a school with a strong international community presence

and support system.

Reflecting on her time at Pepperdine as a senior, Kwizera said what drew her to Pepperdine — the community of people — was also what kept her at the University for all four years. That is why she serves on many organizations and departments on campus.

Kwizera said all her involvement on campus encompasses connecting students with each other. From being a Student Tour Guide for the Office of Admissions to serving the George Page residence halls as a resident advisor, Kwizera said she emphasizes the importance of representation.

Being a Black international student from Rwanda, Kwizera said some of her core identities can sometimes make her stand out at Pepperdine. She said, however, that these identities have helped many potential new students feel connected to the community.

“As a tour guide, if there’s a Black student there, you can tell they’ll come up to you and they’ll engage more,” Kwizera said.

Even in classrooms, Kwizera said representation matters. She said she noticed there were fewer female students in her Computer Science classes than in her Psychology classes.

“You don’t think it’s going to be a huge issue,” Kwizera said. “But really,

unconsciously, in your mind, you can tell the difference.”

Ultimately for Kwizera, representation is not just about diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives but more of a way to set a precedent for future students.

“The importance of representation is being able to set the stage for someone else,” Kwizera said. “It makes a world of a difference.”

When Kwizera first started at Pepperdine in fall 2018, she said Soni Rusagara (‘20) was her role model.

Rusagara, an international student from Kenya and PGM’s advertising director in 2019-20, was Kwizera’s regional international student mentor.

Following in her footsteps, Kwizera served as an international student ambassador for two years, from 2019-21.

Kwizera said she initially hesitated to become an ambassador herself.

“Considering the differences she made for me encouraged me to apply,” Kwizera said. “If she had this effect on me, I can have an effect on someone else.”

Kwizera said she took up different kinds of leadership opportunities to bridge communities together.

“The experience you’re going to have here is based on the people around you,” Kwizera said. “If I can make even

Photo courtesy of Raica Kwizera | Kwizera, center, poses with her co-workers at the Office of Admissions. Kwizera said serving as a student tour guide is one of her favorite things at Pepperdine. a little bit of a difference by being in that position, then I feel like I’ve accomplished why I’m in that position.”

With graduation fast approaching, Kwizera said her Pepperdine experience was full of challenging opportunities. As a member of the minority, Kwizera said she always tries to be the first person to make a difference.

“In this space, I could be the first voice,” Kwizera said. “One voice is better than none.”

sawa.yamakawa@pepperdine.edu

Dua Lipa gives spectacular show at The Forum Timothy Gay Staff Writer English singer-songwriter Dua Lipa’s 2022 Future Nostalgia Tour showed the artist’s work ethic and creativity to put on a spectacular concert.

Lipa had her second show of two back-to-back nights at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on March 23. This was the 24th concert of the singer’s world tour to support her sophomore dance-pop and disco inspired album, “Future Nostalgia.”

“It’s been such an honor being here two nights in a row,” Lipa told the audience.

“Thank you for being such an amazing crowd!”

At the beginning of Act I, Lipa entered up from under the stage in a yellow neon bodysuit to perform “Physical” — a perfect opener that hyped up the crowd. She then transitioned to singing her breakout hit “New Rules” while doing an umbrella routine with her backup dancers, who wore blue to contrast Lipa’s look.

The first act included performances of songs “Love Again,” “Pretty Please” and “Break My Heart,” which showed strong rehearsed choreography between Lipa and her dancers. She also invited two roller-skaters on stage to perform a circular routine around her as she stood with the mic stand to sing “Cool.”

Before performing the final song of Act I, Lipa expressed her appreciation to the audience.

“LA has always been a home to me,” Lipa told the

crowd. “To get to be here tonight, performing these songs for you means a lot.”

Lipa closed the first part of the show with “Be the One,” a song from her self-titled debut album. This performance had the most interaction between Lipa and the crowd of the night. Her bodysuit glowed in the dark as she told the crowd to chant, “I could be the one!”

As Lipa was backstage making a quick costume change to prepare for Act II, the roller-skaters came back out to do a restaurant-themed routine to “IDGAF,” another song from her first album.

Lipa began the second act in a sparkling silver onesleeved top singing “We’re Good,” a song from the deluxe edition of “Future Nostalgia.” She sat in front of a large inflatable lobster for the duration of the performance to recapture the restaurant theme from the music video.

She then got up and walked down to the stage’s runway to perform “Good in Bed.” Her dancers came back out dressed in all white to perform with her.

Lipa put on the biggest spectacle of the night with “Fever.” She first started the performance at the top of the stage, while her dancers were in the middle stage pit surrounded by smoke. Lipa then came down to the smoke to join in on the choreography.

To close Act II, Lipa came up to the top of the stage from pit with a long white skirt attached to her top. She stood and sang her ballad “Boys Will Be Boys” as her

Timothy Gay, Staff Writer | A large billboard of Dua Lipa’s album cover hangs on the walls of The Forum in Inglewood to promote her March 23 concert. It emphasized that two nights were sold out. skirt flew in the wind. This performance allowed the audience to focus more on Lipa’s vocal capability.

Before the final chorus of “Boys Will Be Boys,” the track switched to the Zack Witness remix of the song as Lipa escalated down underneath the stage. Her dancers came back out in different costumes to perform a set of routines to songs from the “Club Future Nostalgia” remix album while Lipa was backstage changing for Act III. The third act began with Lipa entering at the far front of the stage, closer to the audience, joining her dancers in a black jacket with pink stockings. Lipa performed her 2018 hits “One Kiss” and “Electricity” and created a dance club vibe with green lights and balloons.

Lipa and her dancers walked back up to center stage to perform a chair routine of “Hallucinate.” She had a moment at the beginning of the final chorus where she

showcases the pipes in her vocals. Lipa closed Act III singing her Elton John collaboration “Cold Heart,” and everyone in The Forum put their phone flashlights up to join in on the performance.

Lipa performs “Hallucinate” in the third act. She did a chair routine with her backup dancers in front of the audience.

In the final act of the night, Lipa appeared in a sparkling black suit for her last costume. She performed her hit song “Levitating” on a moving platform above the crowd, and captured the essence of the song with large space props. She then came down to the main stage to do the choreography with her dancers before exiting.

Then the show was over, or was it?

The crowd chanted loudly for an encore from Lipa, so she came back out with flashing lights to perform two last songs. She first performed the album’s title track, which

highlighted how much stage presence Lipa has without her backup dancers. Finally, she performed the song that started the album era, “Don’t Start Now.” She began “Don’t Start Now” with her and her dancers referencing the “One Kiss” choreography from 2018 she got criticized for.

Lipa then proved that she did a full 180 by showcasing the most choreography of the night in the performance. In the end, she brought the confetti out, thanked LA, walked up to the top of the stage and exited underneath.

With four costume changes, 20 hit songs, rehearsed choreography, stage props and live vocals and instruments, Lipa put on a captivating and creative presentation. Audience members who go and see her live can appreciate the hard work she put in to make it all happen.

timothy.gay@pepperdine.edu

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APRIL 8, 2022 | LIFE AND ARTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Students try alternative fashion trends Hope Lockwood Staff Writer The walk across Mullin Town Square or to class can evolve into a catwalk, inspired by a multitude of subcultures ranging from Y2K to goth and everything in between.

Many students said they believe college allows them the chance to experiment away from the expectations of parents and the environments they grew up in. One of the many ways Pepperdine students experiment is with uniquely curated outfits, precise colorful eyeliner and bright hair colors.

“The environment I grew up in was very conservative,” sophomore Hannah Petersen said. “Both at school and at home, they allowed self expression as long as it agreed with what they thought. So after exiting high school and entering college, it was like, ‘Wow, there’s so much freedom.’ I don’t have to answer questions about why I choose certain colors, patterns or levels of midriff showing.”

Petersen, who has always experimented with her makeup and style of dress, said college finally gave her the excuse to dress and look how she wanted. While she doesn’t identify with any particular subculture, she said she is very inspired by TikTok and makeup influencers.

Her style uses a lot of bright

Photo courtesy of Hannah Petersen | Sophomore Hannah Petersen takes a selfie in a car mirror. She wore neon pink eyeliner both on her eyes and eyebrows, with matching neon green accents on her nails. colors, patterns and fun eyeliner that matches the colors of her clothes.

Petersen said it can sometimes be hard to dress non-traditionally. Despite the support she receives from her roommates and friends, Petersen said many people treat her differently because of her style of dress.

“There is a very popular demographic within Pepperdine, if you don’t necessarily fall into it, it can be really hard to find acceptance,” Petersen said. “If I do my makeup darker and heavier I tend to get less receptive responses. But if I do something more colorful, experimental or feminine I get a lot of compliments, but it really does depend who I talk

and interact with.”

As a feminine person studying Sports Medicine and planning to attend medical school, Petersen said a lot of people are surprised by the way she dresses. A big struggle from this year has been learning how to express herself and feel good about herself, while also presenting as professional and being accepted by her department.

Junior Anna Skupin identifies as goth and also plans on going to medical school after undergrad.

She also agreed with Petersen’s struggle with femininity and professionalism.

“Dressing feminine in STEM is just this whole big thing,” Skupin said. “You’re

expected to keep your head down, focus on your work and if you have any personal style you’re out the window, you and your work aren’t valid.”

Skupin’s experience in alternative fashion has been very different than Petersen’s.

She said she always gravitated toward darker aesthetics.

It wasn’t until she was doing classes remotely and seeing the rise of alternative styles like E-Girl and gothic-inspired outfits on both TikTok and her friends that she decided to embrace the style fully.

Skupin said she has felt accepted with her fashion choices at Pepperdine, but she also cites that her decision to study Psychology as being the main reason for that.

“Nobody’s gonna make fun of you in the field of psychology,” Skupin said. “When you dress differently, you do stand out here because so many people wear just jeans and a T-shirt. But I think people appreciate the variety.”

Both students offered similar advice to others interested in experimenting with their fashion. They suggested starting small with one piece of clothing and seeing how it makes them feel and how the people around them react. If the reactions and feelings are positive, continue to add pieces that nurture those feelings.

Additionally, both Petersen and Skupin encouraged people to be themselves and dress however they want.

“More variety in clothes and alternative fashion styles is good for everyone,” Skupin said. “You can be free to finally express yourself the way you want to and wear things that are flattering and make you feel comfortable and confident. Just go for it, don’t be afraid to buy alternative clothes you like because you might end up discovering something new to incorporate in your daily style.”

hope.lockwood@pepperdine.edu

Film Review: Batman becomes better Emma Ibarra Staff Writer The world has had its eyes on Batman for over 80 years, and with Matt Reeve’s 2022 film “The Batman,” the DC Franchise updated the superhero for a Gen Z audience.

Writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane created Batman for DC Comics in May 1939, and since creation, the hero has experienced his fair share of representation in Hollywood.

The superhero sulks on the streets of Gotham during the day as Bruce Wayne, and transforms into a brooding vigilante who fights crime by night. The hero has been at the center of 10 feature films, and is hailed as a fan favorite. In 2022, director Reeves has brought Batman back to Gotham in a new light.

The first film, “Batman: The Movie,” premiered in 1966 and hardly reflects the same dark and mysterious superhero that fans see on screen today. The original film had a far more lighthearted and campy feel to it and was intended for the whole family to enjoy.

In Reeve’s film, Robert Pattinson’s portrayal of Bat-

man is the exact opposite of the original 1966 film. Starring Twilight’s teen heartthrob Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/ Batman, and Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, “The Batman” breaks tradition and appeals to the likes of Gen Z. The Riddler, the film’s main villain, is a masked madman who runs rampant through Gotham and leaves ominous clues around town.

Batman — labeled “Vengeance” in the 2022 film — allies with Catwoman to solve the Riddler’s sinister puzzle that threatens the safety of Gotham.

The villain makes his crimes and riddles known by posting unsettling videos on social media to draw attention to his actions. Targeting politicians and wealthy leaders, the Riddler leaves cryptic messages for the police and Vengeance to uncover the corruption that lies beneath the city.

Reeves revealed the Riddler acts as an omnipresent ghost, using anonymity to his advantage and keeping a watchful eye out for the corrupt. In true 2022 fashion, the Riddler attempts to cancel Batman when he discovers the super-

Samantha Miller, Art Editor | A drawing of Batman shows the hero looking pensive in front of text that reads “No More Lies.” Batman’s audience grows as the franchise progresses through pop-culture. hero is actually Bruce Wayne, a billionaire and heir to Wayne Enterprises.

The Riddler, who once related to the Batman for his efforts as a vigilante, grows disgusted with his affluence and loses composure in his cell at the Arkham Asylum after the Riddler is caught.

Though Wayne’s inherited

wealth has been glossed over in most Batman movies, the modern-day adaptation acknowledges Wayne’s privilege and aims to shed light on the fact that even superheroes have imperfections.

Reeve’s film also tackles issues of corruption in government and abuse of

power through the Penguin, a villainous businessman who runs an illegal drug operation under the corrupt Gotham.

The Penguin in 2022 nods to the modern-day corruption and abuse of power seen in government both in Gotham and in the United States.

Zoë Kravitz reinvents Catwoman as the slick and savvy Selina. She proves she can fight her own battles, and oftentimes rebels against Batman when he tries to calm her storm. The film allows Catwoman ample screen time compared to earlier renditions and portrays Selina as a powerful and independent superhero on her own terms.

The superhero universe is far from perfect, but with Reeve’s “The Batman” in theaters, audiences are able to understand the superhero in a new context and for a new generation. “The Batman” is currently only playing in theaters.

emma.ibarra@pepperdine.edu

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April 8, 2022 | LIFE AND ARTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Students explore faith in Greek life — you could maybe encourage your fraternity brothers or sorority sisters to just get together and talk and have a conversation about faith,” Ryan Smith said.

With the support of his brothers, Ryan Smith said being a part of a fraternity strengthened his relationship with God. “I’ve had a big outlet of people to talk about my faith with rather than just my church group,” Ryan Smith said. “So it’s been able to be a broader group of people that I can open up these questions with.”

Lydia duPerier Life and Arts Editor Through Bible studies, community and prayer, students and Greek InterVarsity close the gap between faith and Fraternity and Sorority Life.

Sarah Foy, Pepperdine’s campus staff minister for Greek IV, graduated from Pepperdine in 2018 as a member of Pi Beta Phi and has worked for Greek IV since. Greek IV is a Christian fellowship that offers resources and guidance about how to live as a Christian in Fraternity and Sorority Life. Each Greek chapter at Pepperdine has a “community group” that leads Bible studies under the guidance of Greek IV. “Our whole mission is to bring Greek life and faith life together,” Foy said. “Our tagline or motto is ‘Every Greek; one friend away from knowing God.’” Before Greek IV came to Pepperdine in fall 2017, Foy said she felt a disconnect between faith and Greek life on campus. Once she found out about Greek IV, Foy said she immediately joined them as a student leader and then as a staff member the next year.

“Our hope is that we can create spaces for Greeks to discover God,” Foy said. “We hope to create a safe space for people to ask questions, to maybe read

Photo courtesy of Alex Ianni | Members of Delta Gamma smile for a photo after their Bible study in March. Sophomore Alex Ianni said the studies usually consist of saying each others’ highs and lows of the Faith Within Sisters week and then discussing a podcast or video together. the Bible for the first time, or to even just have vulnerable conversations with their fraternity brothers or sorority sisters.”

Since students in sororities and fraternities see each other weekly for chapters and already have formed connections, Foy said there is more opportunity for students to grow deeper in their faith.

Faith Within Brothers

Fraternity

Senior Ryan Smith is a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon and serves as their chapter minister through Greek IV. Smith said he hosts Bible studies at his house for chapter

members to attend.

For the Bible studies, Smith said Greek IV provides a Bible verse and an outline to follow.

He said the group reads and discusses what they find interesting about the provided verse.

“They [Bible studies] run about an hour to an hour and a half,” Ryan Smith said. “We’ll kind of just hang out a little bit and talk.”

While Greek IV is the main way Ryan Smith incorporates his faith into his fraternity, he said there are other opportunities for people to bring their faith and sorority or fraternity together.

“It doesn’t have to be necessarily through InterVarsity

Sorority

First-year Olivia Mastalerz and sophomore Madison Smith are members of Delta Delta Delta who lead a weekly Bible study for their sorority through Greek IV. “We start off our Bible study with this thing called ‘Up, in and out’ that Madison came up with — it’s how you are up with God, and how you’re doing ‘in’ or internally and then how you are socially and in the outer area of your life,” Mastalerz said. “So we’ll start with that and then we’ll go through Scripture and kind of break down each section of the Scripture.”

Madison Smith said her goal is to provide an accessible and stress-free environment for all

who want to come.

“We provide the actual scripture as part of our leader’s guide on paper so that you don’t need a Bible — you don’t need to bring anything with you other than yourself to come,” Madison Smith said. “And we just go through scripture, ask questions about it. And then we’ll do some sort of application to tie it back into our lives and then we close out in prayer.”

Sophomore Alex Ianni is a member of Delta Gamma and the sorority’s chaplain. Ianni said the previous DG chaplain inspired her to take the position.

“Since I was new to Pepperdine at the time,” Ianni said. “It [Bible studies] made me feel super welcomed and I just kind of wanted to continue that and if I can contribute something to DG and it can be something to spread the love of Jesus and include everyone, then why not take that opportunity?”

While Greek life is one way to grow in faith, Ianni said people can spread the word of God in any environment.

“Pepperdine is just set up so uniquely that we have the opportunity to verbally practice our faith,” Ianni said. “You can often hear the word Jesus wherever you are. It’s just so normal and I think that shouldn’t be taken advantage of.”

lydia.duperier@pepperdine.edu

LGBTQ+ students share their Greek life experiences Hope Lockwood Staff Writer When junior Ryan Bresingham came to Pepperdine, the thought of pledging a fraternity was not something he was interested in. Bresingham, like many out LGBTQ+ college students, thought a fraternity wasn’t for him.

Three years later, Bresingham now serves as the Pepperdine Interfraternity Council President, Vice President of Communications for Pepperdine’s chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon and former Graphic copy editor.

Bresingham said some LGBTQ+ students already feel nervous when they arrive at Pepperdine due to Pepperdine’s religious affiliation and the statement on sex. He said he strives to make a more welcoming environment for Pepperdine’s Sigma Phi Epsilon and other fraternity chapters.

“However, when you add in the homophobic layer of Fraternity and Sorority Life,” Bresinham said. “I think it’s really important to make people feel comfortable and show that, despite Pepperdine’s statements and the nationwide image of Greek life, it can be different here and that there are a lot of members, like myself, who are a testament to that.”

Bresingham went to the Fraternity and Sorority Life orientation in fall 2019, his first year with a group of friends. While he had some apprehensions at first, he said he found himself having fun, which led to a more serious interest in joining recruitment. However, the potential reactions to his sexual orientation caused him anxiety.

“Upon going to the first Sig Ep recruitment event, I just told them [about

my sexuality] because I needed the reassurance for myself that things would be fine,” Bresingham said. “None of the members cared that I was gay, which was when I really started becoming comfortable and being myself, rather than pretending to be someone I’m not in order to fit in.”

Members’ nonchalant reactions gave Bresingham the encouragement he needed to join. Since then, FSL has become an integral part of his experience at Pepperdine. In addition to this encouragement, Sig Ep matched him with a big who is bisexual and who acted as both a personal and fraternity mentor.

Bresingham said he wanted to make a difference in fraternity culture on campus by highlighting all forms of diversity — whether that is sexual, racial or national. Bresingham said a big goal for IFC’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer Vinny Lopes is recruiting international students who Bresingham said have historically been underrepresented in Pepperdine’s fraternities.

“The media representation of Greek life makes it out to be this heterosexual, white, cisgender place, and I was never sure if it would be something that would be for me,” Bresingham said. “That was something I was and still am really upset about. I think me joining really opened people’s minds up to a different perspective on what a fraternity brother looks like — like not every member is straight, white or American.”

When senior Katie Thompson, who is a lesbian, came to Pepperdine in fall 2018, she said she knew she wanted to join a sorority. Thompson looked for an organization that she felt prioritized diversity and would make her feel

supported in her sexuality.

Thompson is a member of Pepperdine’s Gamma Phi Beta chapter and served on the executive board for as membership vice president for the 2020 calendar year.

The media representation of Greek life makes it out to be this heterosexual, white, cisgender place, and I was never sure if it would be something that would be for me.

Ryan Bresingham Interfraterity Council President “One thing I noticed while rushing was that none of the women of the chapter looked like one specific mold,” Thompson said. “Women of color were in the room, women of different body types were in the room and that showed me that they were accepting of people who didn’t fit the traditional stereotype of what a sorority girl looked like.”

Thompson was not out her first semester as a member, but after her second semester, she said she felt supported enough to come out.

“On a national and campus level, we are accepting and supportive of all LGBT members, which was really important to me,” Thompson said.

Despite the support Thompson felt

initially when she first joined the executive board, she decided to make a post on the Pepperdine Gamma Phi Beta Instagram celebrating Pride month in June 2020, which sparked some debate on what could be posted.

Thompson said Gamma Phi Beta has come a long way since then, especially in regard to LGBTQ+ members.

On campus, Thompson said there is the stereotype that many of Gamma Phi Beta’s members are LGBTQ+ which led to Thompson and her friends coming up with the slogan that the “G” in GPhi stands for gay.

“I do think that Greek life is exclusive,” Thompson said. “But mostly in regard to class. While there have been homophobic practices, especially historically, GPhi, I feel like has really tried to combat that.”

Within the past couple years, there has been a push across campus for diversity, equity and inclusion as seen through the addition of the Office of Community Belonging. Thompson said Greek life is no different.

“Seeing how many sororities have really prioritized diversity and inclusion has been really amazing,” Thompson said. “Just in my last four years getting to see how it has evolved from one sorority being queer affirming, to two, then three has been so special to me.”

Bresingham said it is his job as an openly gay student on campus to try his hardest to show other students that gay students can not only survive but also thrive in Pepperdine Fraternity and Sorority Life.

hope.lockwood@pepperdine.edu

April 8, 2022 | LIFE AND ARTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

B7

Album Review: Rex expresses his worries in ‘Who Cares?’

Tim Gay Staff Writer English singer-songwriter Alexander James O’Connor, or Rex Orange County, released his fourth studio album, “Who Cares?” on March 11.

The 11 track alternative funk project shows the artist finding the motivation to press on, despite the hurdles along the way.

County opens the album with the up-tempo jazz track “KEEP IT UP,” encouraging himself to push through life’s stressful and depressing moments.

“Keep it up and go on / Yeah, you’re only holding out for what you want,” County sings in the chorus.

“I know that it’s so frustrating / It’s enough, keep it up.”

County then slows it down with the second song, “OPEN A WINDOW” while still keeping the drums. The track features rapper Tyler, The Creator who elaborates on County’s lyrics of feeling like there’s no way of escape.

“Open door, but you can’t / Try to run, but you pant,” Creator raps in the bridge. “Out of breath, you can’t vent / ‘Cause the AC actin’ up.”

The tempo picks back up with the funk-inspired track “WORTH IT.” County sings about struggling to accept an unfortunate situation.

“It’s not worth it anymore, I feel insane / And I’m not sure why things change,” County expresses in the chorus. “What’s worth it anymore? / Am I not the same? / No, I’m not sure if I’m to blame, yeah.”

The key and rhythm of “AMAZING” is reminiscent of “Night Changes” by former band One Direction.

In this song, County sets the scene of falling in love.

“There’s no way to time it / And

Photo courtesy of RCA Records | Rex Orange County sits in his grass-floor bedroom.

Two Dalmatians circled around him as he called a third one to come closer to him. where you may find it / Is unknown / Until then, you’re a loner,” County begins in the first verse. “So you see her / She’s over / In the corner / And you can’t / Ignore her.”

County continues the theme of romance with the fifth track, “ONE IN A MILLION,” as he incorporates harmonies and violins.

“My heart keeps driving me crazy / There’s nothing much I can do, I’m aware,” County sings in the chorus.

“There’s no one quite like you / You’re one of one, one in a million, woah.”

In “IF YOU WANT IT,” County

takes a different approach sonically using bass synth. He repeatedly sings in the chorus about naturally following one’s will in a relationship.

“Girl, if you want it / There’s no good reason not to love if you want it,” County sings. “I said, girl, if you want it / Let’s just believe that we belong if you want it.”

County titles the next song “7AM” to symbolize the feeling of waking up in the morning questioning his identity.

“I know that I wanna be independent / I really wanna prove myself today,” County sings in the second

verse. “But what if I’m hopeless and dependent? / Once again, should I pack up or stay?”

The laid-back “THE SHADE” is the soundtrack to play during a coastal road trip. County expresses in this song how reliant he was in a past relationship.

“I would love just to be stuck to your side / Not with anybody else, anybody else,” County sings. “It’s enough just to keep us occupied / Please don’t go.”

County lets go of the hard drums, emphasizing electric guitar with “MAKING TIME.” The shortest track on the album has no chorus and only one verse.

“MAKING TIME” is followed by the longest and slowest song, “SHOOT ME DOWN.” County sings about attempting to keep himself sane after heartbreak.

“Slowly lost my mind / What if this heart breaks into something that I’m unable to heal,” County sings in verse one. “And what about the time? / I try my best to make it okay every day, but either way.”

He ends the album with the title track. County comes to the conclusion that the path to happiness involves having people who he can rely on.

“So you wanna be happy, too? / What are you supposed to do? / Now you care about who cares,” County sings.

Overall, the album shows County expressing his struggle to maintain a peaceful mindset from tough experiences. “Who Cares?” is available to stream on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music.

timothy.gay@pepperdine.edu

Closed Caption makes debut at Pacific Sounds Audrey Geib Staff Writer Pacific Sounds is an opportunity for students to showcase their artistic talents. Following a week of student performances and art showcases, the festival took place March 25. The Student Programming Board organized the annual event to provide student artists and student bands with the opportunity to display their talents.

Senior Keaton Woodburn is a member of the band “Closed Caption,” who performed live at Pacific Sounds Music and Arts Festival.

“We had a ton of fun with it,” Woodburn said. “I would say it’s probably one of my best experiences here at Pepperdine.”

Woodburn had been talking about forming a band for Pacific Sounds with one of his friends, senior and Board member Alexa Borstad. The band itself was officially formed just a few weeks before they performed in front of their peers, Woodburn said.

“We knew of each other, but we’ve only been around as a band for three or four weeks,” Woodburn said. “It was fun to throw it together last minute.”

Despite the newness of the

band, they managed to create two original songs to perform at Pacific Sounds, “Men’s Fashion” and “Day Off.” Woodburn said the band and their two originals would most likely fall into the indie rock genre.

The band consists of four senior members, Woodburn as the lead electric guitarist, Borstad on the guitar and vocals, Everett Erickson on the bass and vocals and finally Kohlton Dannenberg on the drums.

“I started playing the guitar when I was nine, but I hated it,” Woodburn said. “Then when I was 12, I finally came around to it. I’ve played electric guitar for 10 years at this point.”

He took his passion for guitar with him to Pepperdine by joining the classical guitar program. However, Woodburn said he kept playing the electric guitar as a side hobby.

“I’m excited to kind of bring it [electric guitar] back,” Woodburn said. “In getting ready for Pacific Sounds I’ve been spending a bit more time with it.”

Woodburn said the band experience has been really exciting — being able to work with other musicians and create something they all love.

“We’re all good friends

hanging out,” Woodburn said.

“We want to keep trying to do stuff. It’s been a fun writing opportunity, because we just throw around ideas for our practices.”

The band played in the Amphitheater on Pepperdine’s Malibu campus March 19.

They performed a handful of covers along with their two original songs.

Since their performance on March 19, the group has grown in popularity.

“We’ve been showing people our originals just through voice memos,” Woodburn said.

“People were really enthusiastic about it and told us to keep going with it.”

Because of the enthusiasm and encouragement from their peers, Woodburn and the band are looking forward to taking their music to the next level with more performances.

“We want to do more performances,” Woodburn said.

“We’ve been talking about performing with other bands in the area, possibly opening for some kind of upcoming people, which is super cool.”

audrey.geib@pepperdine.edu

Photos courtesy of Keaton Woodburn | The members of the band Closed Caption pose for a photo together in March. The four members worked together to create two original songs before they performed live at Pacific Sounds Music and Art festival.

Kohlton Dannenberg plays the drums during Closed Caption’s performance at the Pacific Sounds Music and Arts Festival in the Amptheater on March 19. Woodburn said he has known Dannenberg since the two were first-years.

B8

April 8, 2022 | SPORTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Faith plays minimal role in Athletics hiring Karl Winter Digital Editor Steve Potts is in his 12th year as athletic director at Pepperdine, and said the most important part of his job is hiring people.

When searching for a new coach or staff member in the athletic department, Potts focuses on three aspects of the Pepperdine Athletics mission: Christian values, the academic well-being of student athletes and competing for championships — in that order.

“It’s important to me that I hire people that fit that mission — and every person that I talk to, I start out with those three things,” Potts said. “I don’t say, ‘What faith are you? Tell me about your Christian commitment.’”

Potts grew up in the Churches of Christ in Nashville and attended Pepperdine’s Caruso School of Law, where he later taught for 17 years and served as an associate dean of Administration for a decade. He then spent 11 years as Athletic Director at Lipscomb University — another Church of Christ institution.

Despite his strong faith background, Potts does not require Athletics applicants to be members of a Church of Christ, or any Christian faith community.

Pepperdine Athletics does not require tangible proof of belonging to a faith community — such as a letter of recommendation from a pastor — in its hiring process, but Potts said he does call references to ask whether an applicant would fit Pepperdine’s mission.

The Hiring Process Head Coaches

for

Women’s Soccer Head Coach Tim Ward and Women’s Swim and Dive Head Coach Ellie Monobe arrived at Pepperdine two decades, two athletic directors and two university presidents apart, but they share a common denominator — both were not strong Christians when Athletics hired them.

Athletic Director Wayne Wright hired Ward in 1998, Wright’s final year in the position. Wright did not question Ward about his faith, but then-President David Davenport and then-Vice President Andrew K. Benton asked about it.

“When I got here, I would have called myself a Christian, but probably like a non-practicing one,” Ward said.

Ward was baptized as a non-denominational Christian three years after he began coaching the Waves.

Monobe, who got the job in 2020, is a baptized Catholic but said it had been a while since she belonged to a parish community.

Both Ward and Monobe earned the Athletic Department’s approval in interviews before meeting the University president.

When Potts and the senior administration of the Athletic department decide on their final candidate for a head coaching position, they bring the candidate to the president for a final interview. Both former president Andrew K. Benton and current president Jim Gash have preferred this method — vetting the final candidate — Potts said.

Though Potts does not require a demonstration of faith when candidates apply for a coaching position, he said he expects applicants to demonstrate a commitment to Christian values if they reach the interview stage of the process.

That includes finding purpose, serving others, leading by example, building a diverse community of fellowship and fostering a sense of belonging, according to the department’s mission.

“I ask those interviewing, ‘Tell me how you integrate your faith into your coaching,’” Potts said.

The least successful hire I ever made at Pepperdine — and it wasn’t in Athletics — was a person who was the most qualified for any position I’ve ever hired. They were a superstar in their field. But they didn’t fit Pepperdine.

Steve Potts Athletics Director There is no one correct answer to that question, Potts said — some coaches choose to pray with their student-athletes, while others may direct them to a different source in the department for spiritual guidance. For example, Ward prays with his team after every match and before some practices, while Monobe invites “spiritual leaders on the team” to lead prayers before team meetings.

Photo Courtesy of Morgan Davenport | Pepperdine Athletic Director Steve Potts smiles in Firestone Fieldhouse in fall 2011 as Men’s Volleyball Associate Head Coach Paul Carroll stands in the background.

Since his arrival in 2011, Potts said he has prioritized a three-pronged approach to make hires in the Athletic department — Christian values, academic excellence and competing for championships.

Monobe’s interview process took place via Zoom in 2020, and she said she was prepared to answer questions about faith. She said Potts made her aware of the faith aspect of the interview.

“I was so grounded in what my values were as a coach, and I knew that it didn’t steer very far from [Pepperdine’s] mission,” Monobe said.

Monobe said she was not worried about meeting Pepperdine’s mission, as she was a part of a powerhouse championship culture at UC Berkeley as a swimmer and at UC Santa Barbara as a coach. She believed her team values, including integrity, humility and respect, align with Christian values.

“I knew that [my faith] wasn’t going to be the end-all, be-all,” Monobe said.

In his time as athletic director, Potts said some hires “haven’t worked” despite their professed commitment to Christian values. He has also turned away candidates due to a lack of faith.

“The least successful hire I ever made at Pepperdine — and it wasn’t in Athletics — was a person who was the most qualified for any position I’ve ever hired,” Potts said. “They were a superstar in their field.

But they didn’t fit Pepperdine.”

While Ward said he is now confident and open in his faith after 23 years as a head coach, Monobe said she is at a different stage.

“I still don’t know what direction I entirely want to go, but I do welcome it and I feel like this has definitely reminded me how important [faith] can be, especially in trying times,” Monobe said.

Assistant Coaches and Recruiting The head coach has the responsibility to interview and choose assistant coaches for their staff, though the depart-

Photo Courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics | Head Coach Tim Ward speaks to senior Erin Sinai during a 2021 match. Ward said he incorporates faith in his coaching more than when he was hired in 1998. ment approves their selections, Ward said. The University does not vet candidates for assistant coaching and other non-senior administration staff positions, Potts said.

Monobe said she chose assistant coaches who aligned with her cultural values and coaching philosophies, not necessarily her faith.

“I picked people that were going to work with me well — that was the priority,” Monobe said. “I was picking people that I could mold into what I thought was going to be the best fit for our program.”

Ward said his approach is similar.

“I don’t necessarily think that a hire has to be a Christian, but I do believe they have to be someone that loves life and has Christ-like qualities,” Ward said.

Recruiting new student athletes is also a major part of a head coach’s job, Ward said, he speaks to at least one recruit daily and goes on recruiting visits at least ten weekends per year.

Monobe said she explains to prospective student athletes that Pepperdine allows them an opportunity to pursue truth, but it does not force religion

upon its students. She uses “community” as a cornerstone of her recruiting pitch.

“It’s not going to take away from anything — it’s going to enhance your experience,” Monobe said. “You can be as involved as you want, or you can just have it there as a presence.”

Ward is also open about the faith aspect of the school and how he makes it a part of his coaching.

“Soccer is simply the vehicle we use — but really, it’s a ministry,” Ward said. “I love to win.

Winning is obviously the point, but it is no longer my purpose.”

Though only 57% of Seaver College students identify as Christian, according to fall 2021 Office of Institutional Effectiveness figures, Potts said he is proud of Pepperdine Athletics and Pepperdine University for maintaining their Christian identity.

“I love the fact that we’ve always been so intentional about it,” Potts said. “And I think hiring is one way that we can maintain that intentionality about it.”

karl.winter@pepperdine.edu

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April 8, 2022 | SPORTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

W. Lacrosse wraps up another season of growth Alec Matulka Staff Writer

Waves Fight Through a Tough ’22 Conference Schedule

When thinking of college athletics, lacrosse may not be the first sport that comes to mind. It might not be the second, either.

But several players on the Pepperdine Women’s Lacrosse team said the sport has become a vital part of their college experiences.

“All of us have a shared love for lacrosse,” junior Cassie Hewett said. “Some of the new girls say, ‘I just want to be a part of something. I want to be a part of a team of good women.’ It’s important, especially in college, stepping away from home, to have a group of people you know you can call on.”

Pepperdine’s game against USCB on Jan. 22 was its first in nearly two years.

Zoom learning during COVID-19 heavily impacted Women’s Lacrosse, Cohen said. The team planned weekly workouts together over Zoom to maintain their stick skills and fitness, but it was no substitute for being together in Malibu.

The team missed a year of recruiting new players, which Lee said has made this season much harder.

Coaches and league officials draw up each year’s schedule, Cohen said, with a combination of both conference and out-of-conference opponents.

Cohen said Pepperdine attracts a range of opponents from across the country, such as St. Benedict’s from Minnesota, who the Waves beat 9-6, Jan. 28.

“They want to play us; they want to come to Pepperdine.

Why not, right?” Cohen said.

The Waves spent the next five games on the road, starting with a trip up to San Luis Obispo to play Cal Poly on Feb. 12.

Next, the Waves traveled to USC on Feb. 20, Cal State Fullerton on March 13 and Fullerton College on March 19.

The Waves traveled to Irvine, Calif., to face Concordia for their last away game of the season March 27. The Waves came out with a 13-8 win, which Cohen, Hewett and Lee all said was a highlight of the season.

Freshman goalie Kamryn Kamps made 13 saves, a career high, in the win against Concordia. Kamps had never played the position before this season, Cohen said, but stepped up when the team’s only other goalie got injured

Pepperdine Athletes Find New Passion in Lacrosse Women’s Lacrosse is one of the six club sports at Pepperdine. The team holds weekly practices throughout the fall and spring semesters, and generally competes from January until April, Hewett said.

Head Coach Scott Cohen has been with the team for the past five years and said some of the players have little-tono prior lacrosse experience, while others have played in high school for many years.

Senior Peyton Lee falls into the former category. Before college, Lee said she was an avid soccer player. She’d never considered playing lacrosse, let alone playing competitively. Now, she’s team captain.

“I just fell in love with the sport,” Lee said. “I wasn’t super good my freshman year because I was still building my stick skills, but it definitely is a sport where, if you’re athletic, you can pick it up pretty quickly.”

Samantha Torre, Sports Editor | Molly Skorobohaty (blue jersey) closes in on a Biola player (red jersey) in their game in Malibu on April 3. The Waves finished the season with a 4-7 record. near the start of the year.

Lee has been a big part of the team’s success this season as well, Cohen said.

“She’s someone we’re definitely going to miss,” Cohen said. “She is one of the best midfielders I’ve ever coached, because of everything she does across the field.”

Other standout performers, Cohen said, include freshman midfielder Lily Preis and freshman attacker Molly Skorobohaty. Preis is the team’s top scorer, and Cohen said she is a potential All-American.

“I’m so proud of them, because not only have they played so well in the games, but they’re also working with youth athletes, they’re also doing other stuff, managing their schedules and having extra jobs,” Cohen said.

The Waves wrapped up their competitive season April 3 at home against Biola. Lee said she was excited to celebrate the growth of the team this year, as well as her personal growth over the four years.

“I’m very saddened by the fact that this is my last lacrosse game ever. I wish I had more

time with it,” Lee said.

Pepperdine ended the season with a record of 4-7, and finished fifth in the Western Women’s Lacrosse League Division II Central Conference.

Waves Stay Competitive Despite Obstacles The team has faced a number of challenges, Cohen and others said, that has made competing in their division a more difficult task than usual.

Chief among the challenges facing Women’s Lacrosse, Cohen said, is the program’s size in comparison to their conference opponents. Pepperdine mostly had a roster of 9-10 healthy players. Schools like UCLA, USCB and Cal Poly had 30 players or more.

“You can’t complain about losing when you have five girls on the field,” Hewett said. “There were some games where we thought we would lose by a landslide, and we lost by three points. I’m not going to count it as something to be upset about.”

Additionally, while the team played on Alumni Park in sea-

sons past, Cohen said the field required maintenance this year because the University repeatedly used it for events. In the meantime, the team has moved up to Marie Canyon Field.

Some team members said the field conditions have been less than ideal.

“It’s perfectly fine, except that tumbleweeds will pass through,” Hewett said. “And they’re like the size of us, and we’re like, ‘Sure, no, super cool.

That’s fine.’”

Cohen also said the team has suffered more injuries than usual in the past two seasons, which he attributes to an increased competitiveness within lacrosse, the demanding schedules of athletes outside the sport and the team’s lack of an athletic trainer.

To address some of these challenges, Cohen, Hewett and Lee all said they hope to see the program grow at Pepperdine.

More players, more coaching staff and equipment for the team, Cohen said, would be valuable assets going forward.

“Having a consistent coach to build the program has been really important,” Lee said. “[Cohen] is a wonderful coach for this program, he’s really good with new players and being able to revolve practices around different skill levels.”

Along with more resources, team members said they hope acknowledgment of the program will spread more widely on campus.

“Having more awareness on campus would help us have more players, and it would help us have more fans, which would be more fun,” Lee said. “I’d like people to know how much fun it is. If they’re willing to give [lacrosse] a shot, I’d encourage them to do so.”

alec.matulka@pepperdine.edu

Hot Shots: Lillard’s loyalty holds back the Blazers Jerry Jiang Assistant Sports Editor You know that meme where it shows a funny face with the caption “Stop giving me your toughest battles,” and the other picture saying, “You are my best solider.”

There’s a hilarious alteration where Portland Trailblazers guard Damian Lillard says, “Thank you for giving me your toughest battles. I love the grind!” and the other picture saying, “Just leave.”

That’s how the Trailblazers fanbase feels about their superstar right now, who is infamously “not running from the grind.”

The Blazers are stuck in basketball purgatory.

In a March 9 game that garnered national attention, the Blazers were down 51 to the Utah Jazz. As a result of the team’s performance, many wondered if Lillard’s loyalty is actually hurting the Blazers.

Since drafting Lillard, the Blazers have not been good enough to make a deep playoff push, but also was never

bad enough to scrap the whole season and tank for the next big superstar.

Yes, Lillard’s resume with the Blazers is impressive.

After getting drafted in 2012, Lillard led a young, rebuilding Blazers squad to a second-round playoff exit in the 2013-14 season. In that playoff run, Lillard connected on a ridiculous game-winner against the Houston Rockets, ending the Rockets season and cementing himself in Blazers lore forever.

Since then, the Blazers have made the playoffs every year –– with their deepest playoff run in the 2018-19 season, when the Golden State Warriors swept them.

This season, the Blazers traded their second-best player –– guard CJ McCollum –– in hopes of having enough salary space to attract bigger free agents. But, with the addition of several head-scratching moves, one could wonder if Lillard will be the next player to leave.

Lillard, on the other hand, refuses to depart from the team that drafted him for several reasons.

Because the Blazers are a relatively small-market team, Lillard may be concerned that if he leaves the Blazers, the media will ostracize him. There’s a trend of big-name stars leaving small-market teams –– a trend LeBron James started and Kevin Durant made notorious.

When Durant left the Oklahoma City Thunder in the summer of 2016, the media grabbed its pitchforks and framed him as the villain of the century.

How dare Durant leave the team that drafted him? Where’s his loyalty?

What happened to toughing out the struggles with the team that believed in you?

The media scrutiny Durant faced was unlike any other, and as such, Lillard may fear the same repercussions from the media should he leave the Blazers.

But, as the franchise player, the Blazers would benefit from Lillard leaving via trade. Lillard can be the first superstar since Anthony Davis to request a trade and help the rebuilding process once he leaves.

For context, when the Lakers traded

for Davis in 2019, the Lakers gave up guard Lonzo Ball, forward Brandon Ingram, guard Josh Hart and three-first round picks.

Though the New Orleans Pelicans rebuild has been a struggle, Ingram has turned himself into a star, and the Pelicans grabbed the No. 1 overall pick in Zion Williamson in 2019.

A similar package for Lillard would help the Blazers tremendously, who are still vying for a spot in the play-in tournament –– which would not give them a lottery pick.

Additionally, Lillard doesn’t have to feel terrible about leaving the Blazers in shambles. Guard Anfernee Simons has been a nice development as of late and was one of the reasons the Blazers traded McCollum.

In short, Lillard needs to start running from the grind.

As a fan of the NBA, people will appreciate the fact that Lillard stayed with the Blazers as long as he has, but at some point, Lillard must realize his loyalty is hurting the team.

jerry.jiang@pepperdine.edu

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April 8, 2022 | SPORTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

Running Club sets members on track to stay active Liza Esquibias Pixel Editor Pepperdine Running Club saw its membership triple from 20 when school was virtual to 60 when campus reopened for in-person activities in fall 2021.

With three events a week and teams participating in the Pacific Crest Trail Challenge, members have the opportunity to immerse fitness, passion and community into their daily lives, Running Club Co-President and senior Grace McPhaill said.

When McPhaill became co-president alongside senior Jacob Erbes in summer 2021, she said she wanted Running Club to be an outlet for new and returning students to come together. Since 2020, Running Club has become a fundamental part of many Pepperdine students’ lives, McPhaill said.

“It’s the people that are making this club, and that’s what makes us the best that we are,” McPhaill said. “We can help you reach your goals in whatever way, but we are equally celebrating what everybody is able to do — whether you’re looking to be more active or you’re like, ‘I want to run a half [marathon].’”

Building Community Through Running While school was remote, the Running Club thought of creative ways to keep people on their feet, McPhaill said. The club created a challenge for

members to run three times a week, which McPhaill said carried into the 2021-22 academic year.

McPhaill said she quickly realized students were eager to get involved when new members began rapidly — and consistently — showing up to events.

“Running Club is cool because we really all have diverse running backgrounds,” McPhaill said. “We have people you would never meet anywhere else because you’re from different majors. It’s fun seeing people come together, which I think is the goal of any club — people uniting around common interests that aren’t major-focused at all.”

The club puts no pressure on people to run a certain distance or for a specific amount of time, McPhaill said, and that contributes to her intention to reframe some of the negative mindsets people have about running.

“Anybody can love running, it’s just that a lot of people haven’t done it correctly in terms of their frame of mind,” McPhaill said. “It’s always been like, ‘Oh, I did something wrong, let’s go run,’ or, ‘Let’s just go burn a lot of calories right now.’ So, there’s also intention behind running, and I think it’s about shifting the perspective for that too.”

As someone who ran cross country and track in high school, senior Rogan Rongley

said he stopped running after coming to Pepperdine. When he decided to attend a Thursday night run at the start of his senior year, Rongley said he got into the habit of going every week.

“I saw testimonies for it [Running Club] on my Instagram, so I started to show up to see what it was like,” Rongley said. “[It] turns out I already knew a couple of the members, and I really enjoyed the community. Then, I heard they were training for a half-marathon, and I decided to join them in that.”

Rongley successfully completed the half-marathon in November 2021, and said Running Club not only offered physical help but also emotional support.

Many Running Club members have a history in athletics, McPhaill said, and she hopes to encourage them to hold onto their passion despite not running competitively.

First-year Cassidy Blaha said she participated in cross country and track throughout high school. Before starting college in the fall, Blaha said she looked into the opportunities Pepperdine offered to run for fun, which is how she found Running Club.

“Runners are such like-minded people,” Blaha said. “It’s the same people and we’re always there running together, and you’re with each other for a long time. It’s just

Gabrielle Salgado, Staff Photographer | Members of Running Club have a pep talk before running on the Stotsenberg Track on March 17. Senior Rogan Rongley said he appreciated the way Running Club supported him in getting back into running after taking a long break. really nice and it has really helped me meet people.”

Pacific Crest Trail Challenge Blaha and McPhaill both participated in Campus Recreation’s PCT challenge with the Pepperdine Running Club’s team this semester. The challenge consists of weekly mileage tracking until one team runs 2485 miles — a distance equivalent to that of the Pacific Crest Trail in the Sierra Nevadas, according to the PCT website.

In spring 2021, McPhaill said the team competed apart from one another and won, but competing together was an entirely different experience.

McPhaill said Running Club’s team won the PCT in March

by covering the most mileage out of all participants.

As someone who enjoyed the bonding aspect of running with her friends, Blaha said the PCT only brought them closer and gave her more motivation to run.

“It was fun because every week we’d go do it running together and be like, ‘All right, make sure we’re recording for the PCT miles,’” Blaha said.

“It was a fun thing to do as a team.”

liza.esquibias@pepperdine.edu

Students push for expanded fitness at Pepperdine Samantha Torre Sports Editor Pepperdine’s new Temporary Fitness Center is projected for completion in summer 2022. This fitness center is not the only new change, a new Wellness Fee will be added to student accounts in August.

Students who utilize Pepperdine’s facilities weigh in on these changes, along with sharing why working out is so important to them.

“If I get to have a better gym and feel safer working out, then I think that it’s worth it,” junior Cassandra Hewett said.

“Because the law school gym doesn’t have the Smith Machine and as someone who can’t by themselves, I’ll get scared to lift heavy or squat heavy because there’s nothing there to save me if I can’t lift the amount of weight that I put on.”

The New Fitness Center Sophomore Abraham Wilson lives in Seaside for the 2021-22 academic year, and uses both the Seaside and Firestone Fieldhouse fitness centers. Wilson said he uses the Firestone Fitness center because although Seaside is closer, Firestone offers more equipment.

Next year, Wilson said he will live in Lovernich, which does not have its own fitness center. Wilson said he plans to work out in the new Temporary Fitness Center, between Seaside and Eden House.

“I’m excited because the new gym will

have even more equipment and more room and it will speak closer to me or to Lovernich apartments,” Wilson said.

Construction of the new fitness center has not affected his daily life, Wilson said, and construction of the larger fitness center will make working out more accessible to students.

“Pepperdine promised that the building would be done by the end of the 2021 year, which is just kind of a bummer because when the Seaside gym was closed because of COVID, we all had to go to Firestone Fieldhouse and that would make it pretty crowded,” Wilson said.

First-year Marla Steele lives in Eden for the 2021-22 academic year. While she is next to the construction, Steele said the noise does not bother her much because she is an early riser, but some of her roommates have been woken up.

Weekly Workouts Steele said, while she tries to work out at least five times a week, she does not like Firestone and only goes there two times a week. Other days, she works out off-campus or goes on long walks.

“I feel like being outside just walking in God’s creation is kind of just like something that’s really soothing,” Steele said.

“I’m a huge advocate for like, the way you feel on the inside kind of reflects like the way you look on the outside.”

Wilson usually gets in his workouts in the morning alongside friends, and plans to take Pepperdine’s Intro To Weightlifting course in the fall 2022 semester.

“I think working out is important be-

cause it shows that you care for your body and that you’re healthy,” Wilson said. “I think it’s also a great de-stressor, especially in college when you’ve got a lot of academic stressors.”

Hewett said she lives off campus, but uses the Caruso School of Law gym to work out, because of the overcrowded nature of Firestone Fieldhouse.

“Firestone’s a little too dungeon-like for me,” Hewett said. “I don’t like being down there, it’s too congested and there’s not natural light or anything. It’s also too small for the amount of people that need to use it.”

Hewett said while she has tried a cycling class at Pepperdine, she goes off-campus for yoga classes.

“If I had $80 a month to spend, I would go to Malibu Fitness, but I don’t,” Hewett said. “So I go on campus to weight lift and I go off campus for yoga, because yoga is just cheaper to do off-campus.”

Steele said the diverse opportunities Pepperdine offer for workouts helps students find what works best for them.

“Having the variety allows people not to get super bored and feel stagnant in the exercise that they are doing,” Steele said. “So it provides a wonderful outlet for people who want to stay fit at Pepperdine.”

Making Working Out More Accessible To make working out more accessible, Hewett said fitness classes were a great way to start, but using equipment can be hard for students beginning.

“My friends know me as someone who likes to work out, so they’ll like text me and be like, ‘Can you take a video of yourself doing it?’” Hewett said. “‘I don’t know how to use this machine.’

And there’s no one there to tell them.”

When the new fitness center is finalized, Hewett said she will likely transition to doing a majority of her workouts there. While Hewett does not know how Pepperdine will implement the new Wellness` Fee, she said she hopes it contributes to better equipment in fitness centers.

While she is on the waitlist for housing, Steele said she will most likely live in Lovernich next year, and said the new Wellness Fee offers an incentive to try Pepperdine’s fitness classes.

“I actually think that’s like kind of cool for people who don’t normally like exercise or workout because it might be like more of a push to like, ‘Oh, I’m spending this money like I should like maybe try it out,’” Steele said.

In addition to fitness classes, Steele said students would also benefit from classes on how to use the gym equipment.

“I know a lot of people are scared to walk into the gym and try out the weights or like, use a barbell, and it can be intimidating,” Steele said. “It’s like you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing and everybody else around you does, but really, everyone feels like that.”

sam.torre@pepperdine.edu

April 8, 2022 | SPORTS | Pepperdine Graphic Media

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Club sports athletes find community Jerry Jiang Assistant Sports Editor

Comparing Intramural Sports and Club Sports

As Pepperdine students adjust to the various stresses of college life, students find community through the club sports program.

Club sports differs from intramural sports because club sports teams travel and compete against other universities.

Students can find flyers for club sports throughout campus and contact the Coordinator of Recreational Sports Julian Baker, the head coaches or team captains if they’re interested.

“We like to tell our athletes, ‘We understand that you’re not going to try most likely to become a professional in your sport,’” Baker said. “But at the same time, it’s not just a random hobby. You do have a passion or a love for whatever sport [you’re] are involved with.”

In the spring semester, the club sports in season include the surf team, club tennis, Women’s Lacrosse, Men’s Rugby and Esports, Baker said.

Both senior Women’s Lacrosse captain Peyton Lee and senior Men’s Rugby captain Aaron Barnhouse said they picked up their respective sports when they came to Pepperdine and found that club sports offer a good competitive balance.

Though students can bond over club sports, intramural sports are also offered throughout the year and the two are sometimes confused with each other.

“In both club and intramural sports, students create the team and run the leagues, which run throughout the semester,” Baker said. “Intramural sports are open to staff and faculty, whereas club sports are restricted to student involvement.”

Baker said one of the biggest differences between club sports and intramural sports is the level of competition.

“If someone was an athlete in high school and want to get back at it –– it’s a great level of commitment,” Lee said. “It’s a great way to meet people and stay active. This is a level of competitiveness I wish I played in college.”

For intramural sports, Pepperdine offers flag football and volleyball in the fall semester. The basketball and soccer league run throughout the spring.

How to Get Started Baker said the Campus Rec staff spread the word at the beginning of the fall and spring

semesters to encourage students to try out. Spots are always open for athletes because some students will be graduating and going abroad, Baker said.

Baker said students can find more information and his contact information on the website.

In terms of funding, Baker said players pay a certain amount at the start of the season –– which will continue to be separate from the wellness fee.

For example, those interested in playing rugby have to pay $250 before the season starts.

Baker said these fees cover various costs such as coaching and registration fees.

“If teams are ready to travel, [the fees] covers the uniforms, equipment — kind of just basics,” Baker said.

Though Pepperdine offers these activities, Barnhouse said the school doesn’t allocate much money toward club sports. “[Pepperdine] kind of leaves it up to the students to deal with it,” Barnhouse said. “There are people in charge of helping and [Campus Rec] does a great job.

They put in the effort, and they tried to help where they can.

It’s just it’s difficult when [Pepperdine is] not giving them support.”

In terms of resources, Barnhouse said that a big trouble

with club sports is the condition of the fields they compete on.

“It’s difficult when we’re looking around [and] there’s a soccer field that we’ve asked play on and we’re not allowed to do that because only soccer can do that,” Barnhouse said.

“And there’s always like other fields that are just not kept up to shape.”

Lee said one area Pepperdine can improve their support is to be willing to listen to their concerns.

“We were told that [Pepperdine] would try and fix Alumni [Park] in time for our season and [Pepperdine] didn’t –– and so that’s been kind of a challenge too,” Lee said. “We’re really in the back of their minds.”

Finding Community Despite the challenges, Barnhouse said club sports are a good way of relieving stress and improving mental health.

“It’s a way of making connections and you make new friends,” Barnhouse said.

“With rugby, there’s 15 people who are on the field at a time, so you instantly have like 20 other friends that you have a connection with. There’s instantly 20 guys that you’re like, ‘OK, there’s someone there.

These are people that I can like turn to.’”

Lee said balancing the friend and teammate role is challenging at times.

“If you hear people on the team saying they don’t like to go to practice and stuff like that, it’s hard to balance it out because, I need to encourage people to go to practice,” Lee said. “So, I need to find the balance of friend and captain.”

Barnhouse said with rugby –– playing time is determined through effort and easily distributed to those who demonstrate effort and passion.

“Chemistry is a lot easier to form because you’re putting your body on the line,” Barnhouse said. “You’re literally throwing yourself at someone to help the rest of the team and you’re getting hit by other guys, hoping the rest of the team tried to stop them.”

Barnhouse said there’s a benefit of trying to find something that you love at Pepperdine.

“There’s not a full-on commitment,” Barnhouse said.

“There’s everything to gain but nothing to lose. You can make a good group of friends, find a new sport that you may love.

And even if you feel like you’re not athletic, if you’re just interested in it 100%, try it because you may find a really good fit for you.”

jerry.jiang@pepperdine.edu

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The Graphic

SPORTS 2021-22 Athletic Season: A pril 8, 2022

pepperdin e-gr ap h ic .c om

Bouncing Back

Design by Kaitlyn Davis, Design Assistant

Sports Staff

The Pepperdine community exchanged their blue light glasses for spirit wear as the return to in-person classes brought about the return of athletic events — complete with spectators.

While the 2021-22 year has not been wholly smooth sailing — with canceled events at the beginning of the spring semester and several heart-wrenching losses — the Waves showed their skill, drive and connection with one another game after game, practice after practice.

To commemorate these moments, the Pepperdine Graphic’s photo and sports teams created a collection of the best sports photos of the year, so join the Graphic in its walk down memory lane, one game at a time.

peppgraphicmedia@gmail.com

Photos Courtesy of Ryan Bough (Assistant Photo Editor), Ella Coates (Staff Photographer), Audrey Hartono (Staff Photographer), Lucian Himes (Photo Editor), Denver Patterson (Staff Photographer), Sammie Wuensche (Assistant Photo Editor) | The Graphic’s sports and photo teams capture and display photos of Women’s Swim, Men’s Volleyball, Women’s Tennis, Women’s Basketball, Men’s Basketball, Soccer and Baseball teams along with Climbing Club. These photos showcase some of the best sport moments of the 2021-22 academic year.