News

Americans Elect, a group seeking to use the Internet to directly nominate a presidential candidate in 2012, is opening a chapter on the Puget Sound campus. With over 100 chapters in 35 states, the movement, which hopes to engage the youth vote at universities, grows with each passing day as the season of party primaries grows closer. “Our only goal is to put a directly nominated ticket on the ballot in 2012,” reads the website, AmericansElect.org, which also eschews affiliation with political parties, lobbies or special interests. As a dynamic,...

Thinking about walking down to 7-11 for a slice of pizza or a corndog later this evening? Director of Security Todd Badham wants you to think again before making your 2:30 a.m. snack pilgrimage off campus. This time of year has had some of the highest crime rates in the past, and Security Services would like to help change that trend. “This time of year can potentially be the biggest crime period because there are a bunch of new people that don’t know Tacoma or haven’t lived by themselves before....

Logger men’s soccer experienced mixed results last week, going 1-1 on a road trip that saw them take on the Whitworth Pirates and the Whitman Missionaries over the weekend of Sept. 24 to 25. The Loggers went into their game on Saturday, Sept. 24 with plenty of confidence, having won their last three games, including two against Williamette and Linfield to open conference play. Thus, the stage was set for a battle between two teams with undefeated conference records, as the Loggers travelled to Spokane to take on the Whitworth...

The Class of 2015, with a total of 686 students, represents 34 states and 473 high schools.  Its profile reflects national trends in only two major areas: non-Hispanic white students still make up the majority of the student body, and the women outnumber the men.  The number of UPS freshmen who belong to minority groups has increased by one percentage point since last year.  At the national level this number is growing slightly faster, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).  NCES also reports that female students took...

At the close of last semester, the ASUPS Budget Committee convened in an emergency meeting to reconsider allocating $14,000 to the Sailing Club for new racing boats.  The decision stirred controversy due to the sheer dollar amount of the investment, which is expected to benefit the 40-member club at a competitive level for the next eight years. The request passed both times it was presented to the Senate but was met with some opposition by both senators and students who joined the meeting to express their dissent. ASUPS Club Sports...

The Beta Theta Pi campus chapter was suspended during the summer due to charges of under-age drinking, marijuana use and hazing. The fraternity was put on probation years before the suspension, starting with a hazing violation a few years ago and continuing with under-age drinking cases and accusations of drug use. “It wasn’t any one thing, honestly. Ultimately what it came down to was lack of internal culpability,” Moe Stephens, Assistant Director of Student Activities for Greek Life and Leadership, said. “The actions of some members of Beta Theta Phi...

Thanks to a previously overlooked legal technicality, Wal-Mart may be coming to town after all. A California-based developer has submitted plans to build a 150,000 square-foot Wal-Mart supercenter on Union Ave. next door to Target, where the Tacoma Elks Lodge is currently located. Although the Tacoma City Council passed a 6-month moratorium on all big-box retailers on Aug. 30, it did not take effect until it was printed and publicized in accordance with Washington state law.  The developer submitted plans for the Wal-Mart on Aug. 31, the day before the...

In the first conference matchup of the season against Willamette, the Logger men proved they could control the ball well as they fended off the Bearcats with a 3-2 win on Saturday , September 17th. The Loggers maintained possession for the majority of the match and they especially looked strong in the center of the pitch. Sophomore Andrew White (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) was heating up during the first half with two consecutive goals within the first half hour of the game. He was assisted by senior Terence Blackburn (Tacoma, Wash.) and sophomore Landon...

After evaluating Puget Sound’s sustainability efforts in the past year, the Sustainability Advisory Committee (SAC) will be using the assessment to create short- and long-term priorities for university sustainability endeavors and goals, according to John Hickey, co-chair of the SAC. The SAC hopes to have the new Center for Health Sciences building be LEED certified. According to www.usgbc.org, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified means that a building has been internationally recognized as a “green” building. Puget Sound currently has two LEED gold certified buildings: the Facilities Services...

It’s finally here: the last Trail issue of the semester. Next week is reading period, the following week we are tested on what we learned during reading period and the week after that—who knows? Some of us will graduate. Some of us will watch our friends graduate. Some of us will watch The Graduate on Instant Netflix and ignore phone calls from our parents asking if we’ve found a job yet. In the beginning of the year, I wrote a short article—what I proudly called “The State of The Trail...