News

Starting June 1, 2012, the control of the sale of hard liquor will be transferred from the state of Washington to private businesses thanks to Initiative 1183, which passed in the Nov. 8 state election. Proponents of the initiative say that it will remove the state’s monopoly on liquor sales, allowing for competition in the liquor market, while increasing state and local government revenues by $200 million each. Brian Smith, Director of Communications of the Washington State Liquor Control Board, which approves licenses and enforces liquor laws for the state,...

On Wednesday, Nov. 9, RSA partnered with the offices of Spirituality, Service, & Justice (SSSJ) and Multicultural Student Services (MCSS) to host a forum for discussion regarding the most recent Trail article about the Underground Christian Fellowship (UCF). RSA Student Leader Hannah Smith felt inspired to create the event, entitled A Conversation about the Intersection of Faith and Sexuality at Puget Sound after reading the article in Oct. 30’s edition of The Trail. Students from both the LGTBQ and religious communities on campus, as well as faculty and staff, came...

The University of Puget Sound was presented with the Outstanding Project award by the Greater Metro Parks Foundation on Nov. 2 in recognition for its work with Project Zina Linnik, an ongoing effort to make Wright and McCarver parks safe for children. The project is named after Zina Linnik, a 12-year-old McCarver student who was murdered four years ago. According to Tacoma’s “Daily Index,” the project originally intended to create a playground in her honor, but it grew into an ambitious goal to fundraise enough money to make the two...

As the 2012 Spring Registration period came to a close on Nov. 11, the newest students at Puget Sound confirmed their schedules.  Unfortunately for them, the most popular classes at the university had already closed on Nov. 4. Using detailed records of the last five semesters from the Office of the Registrar, The Trail has found the most sought-after classes offered at Puget Sound. Based on a list of classes with all spots filled at the end of the first day of the week-long registration period, the Science, Technology and...

Puget Sound occupies a precarious position between copyright owners and students who use peer-to-peer file sharing for illegal downloading. The administration’s goal is to protect students from the consequences of copyright infringement while avoiding liability. Most students are aware of P2P file sharing. LimeWire, Kazaa, Ares Galaxy, Gnutella and BitTorrent are familiar names. The students who do not participate in illegal file sharing have friends who do. In January 2011, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation reported that 17.53 percent of U.S. Internet bandwidth is dedicated to illegal downloading. The...

The Pacific Rim/Asia Study Travel Program, known to most as PacRim, is a special study abroad program exclusive to Puget Sound. Quite possibly the only one of its kind, this program takes students across different parts of Asia once every three years. This year, a group of 25 students, along with some faculty members, are traveling through places such as South Korea, Mongolia, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and India. Though the program itself involves a year of traveling, it is actually a two-year commitment. Elizabeth Benard, the professor who leads...

Faculty, staff and other members of the campus community are searching for solutions in the wake of the collapse of the Northwest Independent Colleges (NIC) tuition exchange program. The exchange constitutes a significant portion of the employee benefits package, and its cancellation presents a serious obstacle for hundreds of students and their parents. Dependents of faculty and staff at the five participating schools (Puget Sound, Whitman, Willamette, Reed and Lewis & Clark) were able to get a tuition-free education at any of these colleges.  President Thomas announced in June that...

Saturday, Oct. 29, the University announced the public phase of a $125 million capital campaign, the most ambitious in Puget Sound’s 123-year history.  Additionally, President Ronald Thomas announced on the same day that Dr. Gwendolyn H. Lillis P’05 and Dr. Charles M. Lillis P’05 of Castle Rock, Colorado gave an $8 million gift to the campaign, placing the Lillis family among the lead donors and bringing the total amount raised so far to $74 million. This number includes three anonymously donated gifts of $5 million or more each. The $125...

On Wednesday, Oct. 27, from 4 to 7 p.m. Puget Sound held its biannual career fair in Marshall Hall.  At this semester’s Career Fair, 18 organizations were represented, with 12 Puget Sound alumni attending to represent their respective employers. Each semester, Career and Employment Services (CES) invites a wide range of organizations to participate—and as always alumni are encouraged to come to network with current students. This Career Fair had opportunities for students interested in marketing, graphic design and art, IT, writing, economics, environmental issues, working abroad, teaching, management, consulting,...

Facilities and Residence Life staff are currently in the planning phase of constructing a new residence hall on campus. In early October, the University awarded the architectural contract to Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, the same firm that designed Weyerhaeuser Hall. The proposed building will house 100 to 125 students and will be geared towards accommodating upperclassmen. The projected site for the residence hall sits in the South quad parking lot area, between Regester and the new health sciences center. Many aspects of the project are still provisional while Facilities waits for...

The University of Puget Sound is ranked eighth in top Peace Corps volunteer-producing schools among small universities. Many students have expressed interest in the program, and a representative visited the campus last month to give out more information. To shed further light on this demanding and rewarding post-graduate option, The Trail talked with two current volunteers. Shane Hanlon and Joshua Lamstein, both 23, are currently situated in Panama to teach English in schools. While teaching English is only one possible job available  in Peace Corps, both Hanlon and Lamstein agreed...

The Board of Trustees convened for meetings on Oct. 28 and 29 to analyze the University’s progress as it reaches the halfway point of the Board’s 10-year plan.  The Business Meeting of the Board of Trustees on Friday covered a range of topics, including the past year’s record-breaking contributions to the annual fund as well as the approval of $1.5 million towards design and construction plans for a new residence hall.  While the year-to-year funds of the University grow, the most pressing issue of the meeting was the kickoff of...