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The following is the University of Puget Sound discriminatory harassment report from August, 2013 through December, 2013. This report is compiled by the Harassment Reporting Officers (listed below).  As part of an effort to cultivate a campus environment in which concerns, questions, and complaints are forwarded for resolution, the officers broadened the campus reporting practice in 2011 to include all inquiries or concerns raised in areas related to discriminatory harassment, not just those which resulted in official actions.  As a result, there is a significant increase in the number of...

Stephanie Anne Johnson, who starred on NBC’s “The Voice” last year, performed at Puget Sound on Wednesday, Feb. 12 to a small, intimate crowd. Her free concert was part of a series of cultural events to celebrate Black History Month. She was a season finalist last year on “The Voice,” bringing to the show her powerful voice in jazz, folk, soul, rock and blues. Before “The Voice,” she was a professional singer performing on cruise ships. When asked about the blind auditions with the judges, Johnson said, “It’s a lot...

Plans to renovate and expand the Memorial Fieldhouse & Pamplin Sports Center have been advanced thanks to a generous donation from the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation. This recent gift has accelerated the University closer to its goal of raising $17.5 million to remodel and enhance the athletic facilities on campus. Although construction is still a ways down the road, the Board of Trustees is scheduled to meet in a couple of weeks to determine the next step. “Right now we have our preliminary design work,” Athletic Director Amy Hackett...

The Black Student Union (BSU) holds a celebration for Kwanzaa every year. Kwanzaa, a week-long holiday observed from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1., means “first fruits.” The holiday was established in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, originating from African harvest celebrations. It has seven core principles that are represented by seven candles. One candle is lit each day until the New Year. Kwanzaa uses KiSwahili words to signify the seven principles, collectively called Nguzo Saba. The principles are Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics),...

  This year for the first time a green fee was included in the student government fee that is included in student’s tuition. This fee is part of the Puget Sound vision for sustainability and is an opportunity for students to turn ideas for sustainability into action. The phrase “Loggers live green” is found all across but students often complain that the campus is not as sustainable as they would like it to be. The green fee was designed to give students the chance to both get more involved with...

Several Puget Sound organizations have recently made an anti-vandalism poster targeted towards stopping hurtful and disrespectful messages on campus. The poster depicts a student writing on a desk covered in pejorative words and symbols, some of which could be considered explicit. “Starting last year, we spent some time trying to address concerns that had been brought to our attention, specifically from our facilities crew, of the markings on the desks in Wyatt Hall,” Director of Multicultural Student Services Czarina Ramsay said. One of the poster’s slogans, “Break the Cycle. Don’t...

The percentage of humanities majors has dropped nationally from 14 percent of college students in 1970 to seven percent today. This same phenomenon of declining interest in the humanities is not occurring at Puget Sound. Although there are different ways to look at the statistics on a national scale, the numbers for students majoring in the humanities at Puget Sound over the past 10 years do not show a decline. The percentage of students majoring in non-STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields has remained steady despite warnings that those...

Oracle PeopleSoft is a software upgrade meant to optimize the heavy traffic and growth of Puget Sound’s modern needs. The program, however, has had negative feedback from students, especially when registering for classes for the upcoming semester. “Conversion to PeopleSoft is an enormous undertaking, and it is definitely valid to ask why we are doing this,” said the Technology Services page that discussed the transfer. The page had been following the course of PeopleSoft’s integration since it became part of campus in the spring of 2013. Prior to this upgrade,...

Campus is closing from Dec. 21 to Jan. 18 for winter break. Every year the campus closes at the end of fall semester to prepare for the start of the new semester in the spring. During this time students get to take an extended break from studies, faculty and staff get time away from work and the campus can make necessary improvements before re-opening. There are many reasons that the campus closes for Winter Break outside of the transition from fall to spring semester. For a few weeks the campus...

The Tacoma Entrepreneur Network (TEN) hosted a business plan competition on the Puget Sound campus on Thursday, Nov. 13. Eighteen teams competed for the chance to receive funding to move forward with business plans pitched at the event. Individuals and teams worked throughout the semester to put together proposals for the November competition. Some of the businesses proposed were DIY cake kits, handmade masks, healthy meal delivery and an indoor skiing terrain park. The business competition was one of many events hosted by TEN: College this year. TEN: College was...

The Diversity Advisory Council (DAC) has been presenting the findings of the 2012 Campus Climate Survey to Puget Sound faculty, staff and students since last year, sparking campus wide conversations about the topics related to the survey. The Campus Climate Survey was distributed to members of Puget Sound in 2006 and 2012. It collected statistical data and written responses from members of Puget Sound who participated, which later generated information for the DAC to begin deconstructing. The survey was organized on the subject of social diversity, defined as “characteristics that...