News

By Allison Nasson Though college campuses may be idealized by some as places where important dialogues take place and marginalized voices are elevated, at Puget Sound there remain undercurrents of frustrations that such conversations aren’t occurring. Student Body President Nakisha Renee Jones plans to combat this issue through an initiative called Town Hall Tuesdays. Student Body President Nakisha Renée Jones plans to create an initiative called Town Hall Tuesdays to combat a growing frustration among students that important dialogue and marginalized voices are being neglected. Town Hall Tuesdays are monthly...

Stewardship and the environment are two core values listed in the University’s Strategic Plan, and these are emblematized in the tireless work of administration members searching for new ideas and projects to increase sustainability on campus. These projects address issues ranging from transportation to waste management and reducing energy consumption. Over this past summer, the University renegotiated its contract with Zipcar in order to permanently station three cars on campus. This will provide greater access to shared cars, which reduces the need for more cars on campus. Furthermore, Zipcar is...

Students across campus are keen to make sure their voices are heard in the pursuit of the new University President as the Presidential search committee continues to seek candidates ahead of the application deadline in November. The committee is comprised of eight Board of Trustees members, two faculty and a single student—ASUPS president Nakisha Renée Jones. The committee will be working with a third party consultant, AGB consulting, through several rounds of candidate narrowing before sending their suggestions to the board of Trustees, who will be making the final choice...

“Contrary to popular belief, we are not trying to overthrow ASUPS,” sophomore Layth Sabbagh said. Sabbagh, along with a number of other students, is spearheading an effort to bring a new student union to campus amid concerns that the Associated Students of Puget Sound (ASUPS) is ineffective at responding to student concerns. The Puget Sound Student Union (PSSU) is emerging as an outlet for students to voice their concerns about ASUPS and the Board of Trustees. The PSSU thinks ASUPS does a great job, but notes the role of their...

On Oct. 7, Wetlands Magazine posted an editorial online highlighting the failures of the Finance Committee and the Associated Students of Puget Sound (ASUPS) to properly allocate money to programs that attempt to prevent violence and assault on our campus. This program is specifically, but not limited to, Sexuality Issues, Relationships and Gender Education (SIRGE). ASUPS Senate addressed the issue at their Senate meeting on Oct. 8 by engaging in discourse around the funding issue, ultimately providing SIRGE and Deconstructing Masculinity (De-Masc) with a $700 allocation, but questions surrounding the...

Associated Students of the University of Puget Sound (ASUPS) Senate fall elections concluded on Friday, Oct. 16  and hopes are high among senators that the elections will help give ASUPS a larger presence on the University’s campus. “Senate meets every Tuesday and Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Murray Boardroom to approve legislation, distribute your student government fee, and represent your voice in campus matters,” ASUPS President Nakisha Renee Jones said in an email about the elections. Half of the Senate positions were up for election, including two Senator at-Large...

In his first state visit to the United States, Chinese President Xi Jinping stopped in Tacoma on Wednesday, Sept. 23, to exchange gifts and speak with students at Lincoln High School. This is President Xi’s second visit to the city of Tacoma; his first was in 1993, when he was a local government official in Fuzhou, Tacoma’s sister city. President Xi’s decision to visit Washington State before traveling to Washington D.C. and New York to meet with President Obama and the United Nations, respectively, highlights the significance of Washington State’s...

In my three years working for The Trail, I have had the privilege of watching this newspaper in its struggle to grow into a platform for critical change and conversations. I acknowledge that The Trail has struggled with misrepresentation in past issues and plan to implement a variety of solutions to this problem. With the creation of the managing content editor position, consultation of a professional adviser, thorough copy editing and fact checking, we hope to eliminate incidents of misrepresentation in future articles. Looking forward, I encourage the community to...

The Center for Intercultural and Civic Engagement, pictured here, is seeking to hire a new Director of Intercultural Engagement.   In the coming year, the University will not only be looking for a new President, but also a new Director for Intercultural Engagement. Czarina Ramsay, the now former Director for Intercultural Engagement, has left her position at the University. The school posted a position description and vacancy announcement on the website Higher Ed Jobs along with other outlets on Sept. 22. The last official day of Ramsay’s service as the...

Whether it’s The Big Siblings Program, Habitat for Humanity, Food Salvage or tutoring, the University of Puget Sound’s Center for Intercultural and Civic Engagement (CICE) provides many options to volunteer in our Tacoma community. The Pathways Program aims to provide direction with all of these opportunities, as well as in-depth personal advising and programming to help students develop their own unique niche within the world of Civic Engagement and social justice. Skylar Bihl, coordinator of the CICE, and student Mark Gilbert developed the program after the two attended a conference in Washington DC, along with several other students on staff at the...