News

By Mercer Stauch University of Puget Sound’s review committee tasked with considering the renaming of the Slater Natural History Museum met for the first time on January 25 to begin their process. Guided by the University’s renaming policy put into effect February 25, 2022, the committee’s meeting comes three and a half years after Grace Eberhardt ‘20 and a few faculty members petitioned President Isiaah Crawford to have the museum’s name changed to no longer honor James Slater, a former Puget Sound professor who taught courses in eugenics at the...

By Emma Loenicker “A Sound Future” left few possibilities unexplored in the proposal to recover from the University’s ten-million-dollar budget deficit, which has been the source of campus-wide tension for months now. While strategizing to construct a sustainable and profitable financial plan for the University, the question of professors and programs has loomed large. The prospect of losing beloved professors and programs is overwhelmingly unpopular. This was apparent in the concerns and frustrations voiced during the last campus-wide town hall, on November 16 and during a student, faculty, and staff...

By Emma Loenicker After the campus-wide town hall held on Nov. 16, many students, faculty, and staff were left with more confusion and frustration than they had felt beforehand. There was a general expectation that this meeting would provide clarity about the Sound Future proposal, and open the door for more transparency from the administration, but instead, the meeting fueled more tension. Many are disheartened by the strategies being used to recover from a looming ten-million-dollar budget deficit. The buyouts being offered to beloved professors and the possibility of program...

By Hannah Lee During this year’s midterm elections, many predicted a “red wave” in which many Republicans would be elected to positions of political power. Historically, the president’s party has generally lost elections at the state and national levels in midterms. This year, however, many Democrats won over states and positions and kept their control over the Senate. There were also many historical firsts for those elected to these positions. Many attribute these results to a higher Gen Z voting turnout. According to the Center for Information and Research on...

By Hannah Lee On Nov. 14, 2022, the Children’s Hospital Organization (CHO) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) asked President Joe Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to declare Respiratory Syncytial Virus (or RSV) a national and public health emergency. This was in response to the growing levels of hospitalizations for children with respiratory viruses. Pediatric units across the United States are completely overwhelmed with babies and toddlers with RSV or the flu, and some parts of the country, such as Rhode Island have run out...

By Henry Smalley On Nov. 15, 2022, the University of Puget Sound’s Multi-Identity Based Union (MIBU) held their ‘22-’23 introductory presentation in Upper Marshall Hall. The presentation was hosted by Kellen Hagans, MIBU facilitative chair and BSU president, and Chloe Pargmann, ASUPS Director of Inclusion and Justice, with the goals of updating the student body on progress made on the 2021 MIBU demands as well as sharing changes and plans for improvement moving forward. MIBU is a coalition of identity-based clubs on campus. It acts as a way for students...

By Ainsley Feeney Last Wednesday, Nov. 30 the Politics and Government Department, along with the Gender, Queer, and Sexuality Studies Department hosted an informational session titled “What’s Happening in Iran?” The session was used to address and inform students about the “protest movements and the severe government crackdown in Iran following the killing of Mahsa Amini,” as stated in the promotional information for the event. The lecture was proposed by Professor Greta Austin and was hosted by Professors Sam Kigar of the Religion Department and Patrick O’Neil of Politics and...

By Emma Loenicker Since May 2022, a council of Tacoma Art Museum employees has been making efforts to unionize. They are organizing for livable wages and benefits, no further staff reduction, accessible grievance procedures to create accountability, transparency from leadership, standardized hiring and training procedures and influence in decision-making processes to improve their work conditions. This effort would make the TAM Washington’s first major art institution with unionized workers. On Oct. 17, TAM’s board of trustees received the workers’ letter requesting union representation. In the letter that TAM Workers United...