Jesse

The highlight at Whitman for me has been the sense of community. Staff and faculty all work together to create an incredible sense of belonging and community that provides a phenomenal springboard for students who have the passion and intitiative (as so many Whitman students do) to take on their own individual projects. The resources (such as the Associated Students of Whitman College and the Res Life staff, to name only two of many) are there to make anything happen-- if someone else hasn't already initiated it, of course :). Most activities and programs at Whitman are included in tuition, and there are a ton of different clubs and organizations to get involved with. The toughest part is usually picking which of your favorite 15 clubs you're going to prioritize so that you can really give your all to something. There's never *not* something to do. I'll always remember my freshman year when I first met with some upperclassmen who wanted to start a quarterly literary magazine. We met downstairs in the campus center and brainstormed and a month later, we had published our first issue. Now, we've become an official Whitman publication and have enjoyed three years of increasing success thanks to the support here at Whitman and to the engagement of the student body. It's the community and the support that make Whitman students Whitties for life. Though it's certainly stronger in some than in others, I'd say that yes, there's a lot of Whitman pride. Watching alumni gatherings and meeting Whitman alumns on trips to Portland is always enlightening-- they always have fond memories of their alma mater and donate quite a lot of things, from buildings to sculptures to time helping new graduates find a job or a social network when they leave Whitman.

Professors are incredibly accessible. Just this past semester, three of my professors invited students to their homes for a culminating class period with snacks and talks. I hang out with my professors in their offices as well as out on the town in coffee shops and restraunts, and they have been so receptive to giving one on one attention and advice. Another hugely positive aspect of our academic life here at Whitman is that students really collaborate with each other. I've heard horror stories about other schools where, say, law students will rip pages out of library books so that only they can access certain materials. Here, it's the opposite-- my friends and I swap library books and printed resources all the time, and people collaborate to make sure that each person's work is the best work possible. I think we learn a lot more that way, and it makes for better, more well-rounded, and kinder human beings, to boot.

I've worked a lot with the feminist club on campus (FACE), and I've laregly found the campus very receptive. There are so many different people here, and while EVERY different (racial, sexual orientation, ethnic, religious, etc) minority group may not be represented in spades, there are people from just about every subgroup I can think of. This feels like an odd question because at Whitman the studwents are really the clincher of the college experience. We all learn from each others' different and exciting experiences, and limiting my thoughts to different representative "groups" on campus seems to betray my experience, which has just been full of a lot of different and really great people. While here at Whitman we talk a lot about needing to become more diverse, we are, I think, more diverse than many of the other campuses I've ever seen and I think that we also have a far more comprehensive view of diversity that enriches everyone here. Could we be more diverse? Yes, but then, I think every institution could benefit from increased diversity.

As I mentioned earlier there is a lot of environmental activism on campus. There are also a lot of media organizations (including multiple literary magazines, a newspaper, and a radio station). There are tons of events at Whitman, and they're almost all included in tuition so all you need's an ID card. Sometimes it's hard to pick between events because there is usually a lot going on that's worth checking out. Two particular events from last semester that come to mind are the Coffeehouse open mic, which allowed a wide array of students to showcase their music, and Marjane Satrapi's incredible speech.

There's a stereotype that Whitman students are all VERY environmentally conscious and that everyone's liberal.

The campus is left-leaning, but the Campus Conservatives club is also active. While it's not the most nurturing environment for a budding conservative, it's certainly not the entire campus that's voting liberally each voting season. As for environmentalism, I'd say that everyone is environmentally conscious in some ways. Some students choose not to recycle once they move off campus, but during the 2 years required on-campus living, students tend to pick up on the environmental ethos behind, say, weekly recycling pick up in the dorms and the special faucets that we have that regulate water output. Students are at the very least informed on environmental issues, so it's no surprise that a majority (though certainly not all) choose to do little things like recylcing their cans, getting a re-useable water bottle, and printing double-sided.

You'll learn the most about Whitman by asking students here questions; we all love to talk about Whitman, so contact someone! We really do love talking about Whitman, and it's very different reading broad opinions and hearing specific answers to your specific questions. Visit if you can, particularly during the year-- as I said, it's the students that make the Whitman experience, and you can only get a small sense of the community by reading about it online.