News

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...

Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine lists Puget Sound among the top 100 liberal arts colleges for affordability and education in 2014. A rough economy has left thousands of students across the country in debt, and new students depend on this kind of information to determine the best value for their education. “Though none of these lists really ever captures the full story of what you get out of any particular college education, this is one attempt to identify colleges balancing a quality education with affordability,” media relations manager Shirley Skeel said....

Property crime in Tacoma saw an increase in reports from 12,113 in 2011 to 12,889 in 2012. The three areas of Tacoma with the most reported property theft are South Ninth Street and Tacoma Avenue South, Pine Street and South 45th Street, and 72nd Street East and East M Street. Despite the increase in property crime in the city of Tacoma from 2011 to 2012, the incidence of property theft on campus is lower this year than it was last year. Although Tacoma residents reported 153 car thefts in Tacoma...