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“I voted for Obama, because I felt like his plan was more clear than Romney’s.”

Zack Lewis

“I would vote for Romney because it’s (he’s) essentially the lesser of two evils.”

Jacob Westfall

“He (Romney) just gives me an uneasy feeling and I don’t trust it, so I’m gonna vote for Obama.”

Missy Paulson

Students sound off: election question and answer

State report shows inconsistencies in wilderness programMike MataThe Advocate

The State of Oregon has asked MHCC to dig further into possible misconduct in its Wilderness Leadership and Expe-riential Education (WLEE) program after state investigators found thousands of dollars of college funds had been mis-appropriated. That includes $13,000 in missing inventory initially unaccounted for.

MHCC, in tandem with the Audit Division of the Sec-retary of State’s offi ce, fi led a summary report on Monday.

Results of an initial investigation led by Sec-retary of State Kate Brown was outlined and the report, in the form of a letter to MHCC President Michael Hay, was published on the college web-site.

WLEE instructors Bryan and Kim Anaclerio and part-time WLEE instructor Lindsay Mont-gomery were placed on administrative leave April 16. They have not been allowed back on campus to teach since.

“Anything going on with the faculty, I really can’t address, for a variety of reasons, because

nothing is resolved,” said Hay in an interview with The Ad-vocate on Tuesday.

“Contractual language says while we have ongoing in-vestigations, we don’t discuss it. It’s an agreed-upon per-spective from both of us,” said Hay.

MHCC Director of Communications Maggie Huffman asked about the status of the Anaclerios and Montgomery, said, “That’s actually typical at every company or organiza-tion that you go to: Personnel issues aren’t discussed in a public forum.”

Hay said second-year students in the WLEE program

will be allowed to complete the program this year but no new students may enter the program this year. According to Hay, the program is suspended, but the college plans on bringing it back next year.

“Enrollments are good in it, it’s very Northwest-y, it’s very endemic to our area. It’s a good program,” said Hay.

According to Hay’s written response to the state, the in-vestigation showed problems with inventory, travel policies and Perkins Grant reimbursement in regards to WLEE, plus a complaint about the college’s internal investigation pro-cess.

“The genesis for the investigation was not the tip-off (from the formal Oregon state government waste hot-line),” Hay told The Advocate.

“Literally a year ago, in June-July of 2011, we were concerned about some of the things going on down there (WLEE), so we started investigating,” Hay said.

“It took a while to bring quite a bit of that to light, as we were progressing with it, then the secretary of state was notifi ed by (its) government waste hotline that some-

See “WLEE” on Page 3

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OpinionNov. 2, 20122

“Which candidate is better suited to pull us out of debt?”

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Co-Editors-in-ChiefJohn Tkebuchava & Mike Mata

Associate EditorKylie Rogers

Living Arts EditorShelby Schwartz

Assistant Living Arts EditorDorothy Ocacio

Opinion EditorJeff Hannig

News EditorMike Mata

Sports EditorJohn Tkebuchava

Copy EditorsKylie Rogers & Dorothy Ocacio

WebmasterLogan Scott

Advertising ManagerJen Ashenberner

Photo EditorJeff Hannig

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SubmissionsThe Advocate encourages readers to share their opinion by

letters to the editor and guest columns for publication. All submissions must be typed and include the writer’s name and contact information. Contact information will not be printed unless requested. Original copies will not be returned to the author. The Advocate will not print any unsigned submission.

Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and guest columns should not exceed 600. The decision to publish is at the discretion of the editorial board.

The Advocate reserves the right to edit for style, punctuation, grammar and length.

Please bring submissions to The Advocate in Room 1369, or e-mail them to advocatt@mhcc.edu. Submissions must be received by 5 p.m. Monday the week of publication to be considered for print.

Opinions expressed in columns, letters to the editor or advertisements are the views of the author and do not necessarily refl ect those of The Advocate or MHCC.

the advocateDaniele Caldwell

Katelyn Hilsenbeck

Brandon Kissir

Shaun Lutz

Aaron Marshall

Cameron Miller

Danny Perez-Crouse

Lisa Sorenson

Kayla Tatum

ReportersTyler Heyl

Jonathon Long

Photographers

Howard Buck

Dan Ernst

Bob Watkins

Advisers

In the past few weeks, The Advocate staff has had an interesting learning experience that has emphasized an important function that journalists provide. We would like to share this experience with our readers.

On Sunday, Oct. 21, the MHCC District board held a closed-door executive session at 9 a.m., followed by an open public meet-ing where it appointed Paul Capell to fill the board seat vacated by Ralph Yates, until the public board election comes next spring.

During the executive session, the details of which are usually not open to the public, the board discussed the qual-ifications of the five appli-cants vying for the board seat.

Though the open meet-ing held after the execu-tive session did follow legal procedure, The Advocate believes the executive session beforehand is a violation of Oregon law.

The Oregon Revised Stat-utes, under ORS 192.660(2), contains the outlines for holding an executive session. In that chapter, rules

state under 7(a) that an executive session cannot be held to discuss the filling of a va-cancy for an elective office. A board position, being a publicly elected position, meets this description.

Upon realizing this potential violation, Advocate editors met with members of the board to discuss concerns we had of the le-gality of the meeting. Both sides came to the agreement that the

b o a r d should not have held the

exectutive session to discuss the board ap-plicants, and the minutes from the meeting

have since been released.After speaking with board members, we

feel confident that these potential violations were not intentional. However, we would like to use this time to point out it’s situa-tions like this where an important purpose of journalism becomes clear.

Aside from giving public service to our readers by providing important news and other information essential to students and other readers, one of the main roles of a journalistic organization is to serve as a “watchdog” surveying those in positions of authority.

By keeping that watchful eye, and re-porting back to the public, journalists help keep government leaders and other public officials in check and make sure they don’t step outside legal boundaries (intentional or not). Journalists help compile informa-tion on the actions of the government and report back to the public.

In this particular case, The Advocate also would like to share our apprecia-tion to MHCC District board members for their cooperation in helping clear up

our concerns about legal process and their willingness to provide more transparency in their public roles.

Voter suppression efforts have Demo-crats across the nation biting their nails as a ticking clock draws closer to election time.

Recent state laws approved in Pennsyl-vania, Ohio, Florida, Arizona, Texas and South Carolina re-quire residents to provide a val-id identification card in order to register to vote. According to New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, these new rules will affect more than five million people.

That’s five million people who may not be able to vote in the November election because they do not have an I.D. card. This number consists primarily of minorities, young, elderly, poor and — here’s the kicker — Democrats. Can we spell “ploy”?

According to numerous articles in pa-pers across the nation, this ploy has been in the works since before President Barack Obama was elected in 2008. Who’s leading

the charge? Republican-dominated state leg-islatures.

There are three sides to this debate: Those who agree with Republicans and feel the

I.D. requirement is a fail-safe to deter voter fraud; those who feel this is just a tactic to reduce Demo-cratic voter turnout; and those who just don’t give a rat’s ass.

Personally, I’m one of those who thinks on the one hand, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but on the other hand, even though voter fraud hasn’t been a critical issue yet, it will be the next debacle

we face as a nation.Most courts that have been urged to pre-

vent or delay the new rules seem to agree with those who are afraid of voter fraud.

One state court, in Ohio, has determined it to be too close to the election to actually

implement such a law and has ruled it be postponed until after Jan. 1.

That’s a court thinking of the people, if you ask me. After talking with MHCC’s po-litical science guru, Janet Campbell, this rul-ing is the only one that makes any sense dur-ing such a tense election year. Then again, I’m a Democrat.

When I asked my friend, a Republican, if she thought the ruling was the only wise choice, she responded with a smirk and said, either way it won’t make a difference because the Republican legislatures have al-ready won and, of course, dissuaded voter turnout.

I listed six states where laws have been passed and only one of the six was blocked (temporarily). That means that the poor, el-derly, young and Democrats who cannot af-ford to purchase a copy of their birth certifi-cate or other legal document required to get an I.D. will not be able to vote in this year’s election. Now who’s trying to fraud the vot-ing system?

Republicans say these requirements

are not placing any burden on the people in question, because getting an I.D. is free, or else it would violate our constitutional rights. Republicans aren’t taking into con-sideration the cost and time it takes to get to-gether all of the legal documents necessary for getting a valid I.D.

All in all, I agree with those smart people who say “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” There are so many other things a legislature can fo-cus their “pre-emptive” sights on, such as, let’s say, the damn unemployment rates.

After a year in which Republican gover-nors and Republican-led state legislatures passed an unprecedented flurry of voter leg-islation, opponents of the laws have had a string of successes in court this fall. Courts have delayed rulings on strict photo ID laws in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Texas and South Carolina until after the election, or the laws have been blocked until further notice. Af-ter Ohio officials passed a law slashing the number of early voting days in Ohio, a judge restored the three voting days the weekend before they began.

Jenn AshenbernerThe Advocate

Voter I.D. laws are a ploy by Republicans to fraud the system

Editorial: We prefer the public to be served publicly

3

Katelyn HilsenbeckThe Advocate

MHCC has al-located more than $689,000 in tuition waivers for the 2012-13 school year through the grants-in-aid pro-

gram, current re-cords show.

The amount of spending fl uctuates based on the per-credit tuition costs, but the amount of waivers remains consistent.

The MHCC district board establishes grants-in-aid to include recognition award and talent grant tuition waivers, awarded to students “based on talent, academic excellence, leadership potential and personal or career development,” according to board policy stated in April 2011.

The waivers are split among instructional, co-curricular and athletic programs. Each section receives between 70 and 74 waivers of 12 credits for three terms.

Previously, the performing arts program directly re-ceived waivers. The MHCC board changed its policy and performing arts is now included in the instructional waiv-ers section.

Robert Cox, dean for student success and enrollment management, said “the board was very supportive of lead-ership opportunities” when it amended the waiver pro-gram.

Each term, the instructional program awards 16 waiv-ers per term to high schools and 48 waivers to the academic divisions on campus.

Students with disabilities receive 4.5 waivers per term.The deans of the academic divisions may distribute the

waivers as they wish. For instance, they may increase the waivers of a particular division next year if it received few-er waivers this year, said Cox.

“It was a really good discussion,” said Cox, about the deans’ yearly deliberation.

Each division may have an application process, but waiver decisions ultimately rest with the division’s dean. Waivers are allocated based on leadership potential, aca-demic ability or other variables.

Deans can decide the duration of a waiver and the num-

ber of credits a student receives. The only limit is that no section may exceed its assigned grants.

David Sussman, manager of college center services and grant sponsored programs, works with the advisers for the co-curricular program waivers. If any group has unas-signed waivers, Sussman may transfer them to other activi-ties.

“There are some things that come up” to force an activ-ity to request additional waivers, said Cox.

Within the co-curricular section is Rho Theta, the honor student organization for MHCC. Cox said the board has mandated three waivers for the group.

Usually, campus activities receive the same number of waivers each year. There also is an opportunity for new programs that are supported by ASG, to receive waivers, said Cox.

The athletic programs have 71 waivers per term to di-vide among the six team sports, men’s and women’s, as well as the rock wall. The waivers are usually allocated through a letter of intent.

For more information on seeking waivers and or the specifi c waiver breakdown, students may contact Cox at 503-491-7374 or robert.cox@mhcc.edu.

Daniele CaldwellThe Advocate

On Wednesday in the MHCC library, political science instructor Janet Campbell ex-plained the Electoral College and how it works. Campbell described how

the president is elected, how many electoral members are assigned to a state, how America has a “winner-take-all’ system for presidential elec-tions, and fi nally, how the system has to work that way otherwise the

House of Representatives would end up electing the president ev-ery four years. Campbell encouraged her audience to spread the

word about how the system works, because she said most Americans do not understand how it works.

Do you understand the Electoral College?

Janet Campbell, dressed in a wig for Halloween, speaks on the Electoral Col-lege, Wednesday.

Photo

by Ca

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Mille

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Newsthe advocate

Tuition waivers available for students in all departments

“It’s not a nati onwide vote, it’s a state-by-state vote.” Janet Campbell

Continued from Page 1

WLEE: Inquiries into missing gearthing was going on down there, which brought them into

the picture, so they came in and began investigating almost 11 months later,” he said.

“Once (state auditors) did their initial looks, we agreed to partner with them and research it further,” Hay said. The investigators were on campus from June through the middle of September, he said.

In his resignation letter in June, former board member Ralph Yates expressed his concern over possible miscon-duct by members of the college after speaking with several “whistleblowers.” After Yates received information of pos-sible misconduct, he contacted the Secretary of State’s offi ce, which launched an investigation.

The letter posted Monday said the auditors checked three different locations on the Gresham Campus for $25,500 worth of recorded inventory and found that $13,000 worth of equipment was missing. After scouring program emails, $1,500 of the missing equipment was determined to be purchased as personal equipment for WLEE students. The MHCC business offi ce found there were no deposits from

the students to pay for the equipment.The travel policies portion showed that there were no

documented policies or procedures in place for food or supply purchase reimbursement. The report found $8,500 in food expenses were charged for reimbursement. Included were restaurant receipts between $92 and $141, including a $121 meal receipt from a Gresham restaurant. Two reim-bursement requests totaled $177 for non-overnight travel. MHCC guidelines on overnight travel spending allow a maximum $25 per day for instructors. The report showed that on two occasions, that per diem was exceeded by $83.

The WLEE instructors also had access to school “pur-chase cards,” normally for authorized MHCC personnel to buy inexpensive goods or necessary services for prescribed needs. Purchases on the WLEE cards showed clothing — such as balaclavas, pants, jackets and sunglasses — greeting cards, candy, games and toiletries. The records also showed that some WLEE purchases were used in tandem with the instructors’ REI rewards program (which grants a 10 percent member cash or merchandise refund), resulting in refunds totaling $182 during the period under investigation.

In addition to purchase card issues, two receipts from

sporting goods stores showed seven items exceeding $225 each that were fi led under “climbing” and fi ve items that ranged from $85 to $140, each fi led under “shoes.”

The letter also cites complaints against MHCC about the internal investigation launched in 2011, as well as complaints that the college lacks a comprehensive list of complaints made and actions taken. It states that the investigation was delayed due to several changes in the administration. It said that in September, MHCC implemented a new protocol for the Human Resources Department and Affi rmative Action Offi cer to triage, monitor and coordinate all such complaints and concerns received.

The state letter lists recommendations for each area to address the oversight issues.

Those steps are “reasonable suggestions,” Hay said.“We’re appreciative of that input and are trying to incor-

porate (them) into our processes and policies, not only for WLEE but across the board, to ensure better stewardship of the money,” Hay said.

Hay’s Monday letter to the state outlined changes being made in the college administration. The changes follow the guidelines in the letter from the Secretary of State’s Offi ce.

Living Arts4

Comedian JB Smoove (featured on TV show “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “The Chris Rock Show”) will be doing stand-up comedy at the Helium Com-edy Club. JB Smoove will have shows tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30 & 10 p.m. Tickets are $17 (general seat-ing) or $22 (reserved seating). The club is located at 1510 SE 9th Ave, Portland.

The Portland Coffee Fair will be held this weekend at the World Forest-ry Center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. People will be able to smell, taste, and learn about specialty coffees from knowl-edgeable local roasters. All ages are welcome and tickets are $9 for adults. The World Forestry Center is located at 4033 SW Canyon Road, Portland.

The film “A Lonely Place for Dying” will be screening at 8 p.m. at the McMenamins Kennedy School Theater. The director of the film, Justin Eugene Evans, will attend the screen-ing. The movie involves a deep plot about a special agent and a man who holds explosive evidence against the CIA. It has been honored at many film festivals across the country and has great feedback from film critics and audiences. The film is for those 21 and over and costs $7. Kennedy School is at 5736 NE 33rd Ave. Portland.

Restaurant East Burn will be screen-ing the presidential election throughout the evening. People are encouraged to arrive early to get a seat. East Burn will have election results shown upstairs on a large projection screen and downstairs in the taproom. The Oregon and Port-land results are expected to come at 8 p.m. East Burn is located at 1800 E. Burnside St. Portland.

The Brick or Block Lego Tour-nament will be at 7 p.m. and held at the Cruzroom. Adults 21 and over can attend or compete in the tourna-ment. There is a limit of eight teams of two – six people per team. People are encouraged to come early because the slots fill up fast. The tournament will be hosted by ShanRock along with special guest judges. The event is free. The Cruzroom is located at 2338 NE Alberta St., Portland.

Nov. 2, 2012

Katelyn HilsenbeckThe Advocate

He thought football was for him, until he found his love for theater in high school. Second year student Drew Pierce began his acting career in grade school and plans to pursue acting as a career after MHCC.

He is playing the part of Boggis in MHCC’s Children’s Theatre produc-tion of “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”

Pierce is fueled by the sensation that comes when he first steps on stage: “It’s a gut-wrenching feeling of ‘Am I going to do okay?’ ” he said.

He acted in various productions in grade and middle school as well as eight productions during his time at Sandy High School.

“Theater has just been in my life by the luck of the draw,” said Pierce.

He began his freshman year of high school playing football, but quickly re-alized before school even started that it was not for him. His father, a sports fan, encouraged him to finish the sea-son.

“My heart was not in it,” Pierce said. He did not feel his personal-ity was fit for competitive

sports. “I’m always the dude who is joking around, even when I shouldn’t,” he said.

After the season ended, he began to pursue acting seriously and auditioned for plays. His junior and senior year he received lead parts. He played William Randolph Hearst in “The Cat’s Meow” and the father in “Leaving Iowa.”

Pierce describes his face as “rub-ber” and “going all over.” He has often played more serious and sinister char-acters, so “When I’m not in control, no one believes me,” he said. In “Leaving Iowa,” Pierce felt he didn’t have to hold back: “I could just go crazy!” That role allowed him to let go, and quickly be-came his favorite.

Pierce enjoys telling stories, regard-less of the plot. He finds the silence of audience members during a drama as rewarding as their laughter during a comedy.

When actors have humor lines, “kids will laugh forever,” Pierce said. He was in the children’s play “Sleepy Hollow” last year and found that children “have no filter, they’ll do what they want” and blurt out their thoughts at various times

throughout the play, he said.

P i e r c e

doesn’t feel stress in the show, thanks to “all the good aspects of children.” He said he finds humor in the young audience’s extended laughter.

“Sleepy Hollow” was his lone per-formance last year, so that he could fo-cus on his studies.

He plans to audition for the upcom-ing production of “Rent,” “especially now that we have a solid director be-hind it all,” he said of newly appointed theater instructor Jesse Merz.

Pierce gets abundant support for his acting. He receives notes of encour-agement from his grandparents, and his parents express more support than he expected.

His mother participated in musi-cals during high school, as well. “I’m so glad I didn’t get my dad’s tone-deaf-ness,” Pierce said of his ability to hold a tune.

Pierce acts alongside friend and fel-low MHCC student Garrett Larreau, who inspires him with “incredible comedic timing,” he said. Pierce prac-ticed his comedic skills over the sum-mer by making videos of sitcom spin-

offs with Larreau. When he is not acting, he

takes on the persona of a minotaur for

his friend’s

band, “Ion Storm.” The minotaur danc-es with the audience and produces ex-citement, which Pierce said is a lot of fun.

He is looking forward to a wrestling match at an upcoming event, a battle for the right for his band to continue playing.

His everyday wardrobe consists of a T-shirt collection he has acquired from various concerts, totaling more than 50.

“If I did a price inventory, I would probably cry,” Pierce said about the amount of money he has spent on his hobby. “In terms of shirts, I never run out of something to wear.” Whenever a concert has shirts for sale, he almost always has to get one. “It’s still the memory of the show. Some shows have really funny memories attached to them,” he said.

To see Pierce’s talent and “rubber face,” look for him in the Children’s Theater show and in an upcoming MHCC production this year. “Fantastic Mr. Fox” will run Nov. 5-17. The pro-duction is primarily intended for el-ementary school children on field trips.

Only the Nov. 17 show will be open to the

public. Tickets will be $2.

Mike MataThe Advocate

Melody and metal collide with mixed results in All That Remains’ upcoming release, “A War You Cannot Win.”

Drawing upon equal parts death metal and punk-tinged metalcore, “A War You Cannot Win” switches seamlessly from the heavy to almost poppy from track to track.

In the album opener “Down Through the Ages,” a fade-in riff leads to vocalist Phil Labonte’s guttural screams that mirror drummer Jason Costa’s rapidly insistent double-bass kicks which transitions to a sur-prisingly melodic chorus that could’ve been on an Avenged Sevenfold album circa 2003.

From there, the album turns to “You Can’t Fill My Shadow,” a heavier yet somewhat slower song that is so full of angst it should be on the soundtrack rotation at a Hot Topic.

The third track, “Stand Up,” sounds a little more like a hard rock band trying to play metal than a metal band trying to blister its audience’s ears. While I’m not a rabid metal fan, even I think this is somewhat of a milquetoast excuse for a metal song. It sounds more like Disturbed had a musical baby with one of the Jo-nas brothers: all lame hook and no heavy.

Thankfully for the latent metal head, the follow-ing track, “A Call to All Non-Believers,” takes a much

harder edge, mixing lyrics about false gods and cults. The music itself is also slightly heavier but still lacks a truly head-banging power until the last minute or so.

“Asking Too Much” definitely fits in with the band’s metalcore image. However, it’s done almost perfectly: with the right amount of lovelorn angst, rage and bad-ass drumming. At first the song sounds like A Day To Remember B-side, poppy but not sappy and with an infectiously catchy chorus. Part of you wants to be annoyed by it, but the other part wants to slam dance for two of the three and a half minute song.

Sandwiched in after “Asking Too Much” is the 21-second palette cleanser of a acoustic audio clip “In-tro.” It’s wildly out of place on the album, however. It seems odd to have an acoustic guitar clip on a metal album.

Acoustic humor aside, the seventh track “Just Mo-ments in Time” gets back to hitting the listener in the gut with some alternately heavy and fiery guitar riffs and decidedly blistering drums from Costa. The lyrics seem to have somewhat “deep” overtones with lines like “…we come from nothing and we’re nothing when we die…” in the chorus.

Unfortunately again, following this track comes the big stinker on the album, “What If I Was Nothing.” It starts off like a Poison song and then gets worse from there, sounding like a Nickelback song. What in the hell is a staunch metalcore band that dabbles into death metal doing sounding like a bunch of hick-town

Canucks? Instead of pondering this brain buster, just hit “next.”

The next song, ”Sing or Liberty,” sounds like a metal version of Rise Against, which is a huge im-provement over sounding like Nickelback. It is equal parts punk and death metal and all hard and fast. It even has a furiously played, if somewhat brief, guitar solo that just begs one to bang one’s head.

The next track, “Not Fading,” sounds a tad lighter but still packs a punch, especially highlighting bassist Jeanne Sagan and another swirling guitar solo. All in all it sounds a bit like Coheed & Cambria without the inter-galactic warfare.

“Calculating Loneliness,” another acoustic track, could’ve been left off entirely or at least shortened to less than a minute instead of about two and half min-utes. Short acoustic clips are okay to give listeners a quick intermission, but no one needs to hear meander-ing acoustic guitars on a metal album.

The album finishes with the title track and is again in the vein of A Day To Remember albeit mixed with a heavy dose of Coheed & Cambria. That interesting blend results in a very worthy fist-pumping track that mixes a seriously powerful drum line with relentless riffing. On the whole, the album has some very bright spots but gets bogged down with too many unsavory tracks mixed in so that it never really hits its stride. The poor mixing leaves the listener digging it one track, and dry-heaving the next.

offs with Larreau. ementary school children on field trips.

Actor is ready to work his ‘rubber face’ for kids

CD leaves listeners with mixed feelings

Drew Pierce is pictured making sev-eral of what he describes his “rub-ber faces” on Wednesday afternoon in the Student Union.

Review:

Living Arts 5the advocate

Dorothy OcacioThe Advocate

Bright colors, tantalizing features, warm earthy tones, and mixed materi-als, such as water or cloth, draw a visitor from one piece to the next at the “Art of the Potter” exhibit in the Visual Arts Gallery.

The exhibit, which opened Oct. 22, is a collection of works by 23 artists. Many are from the Portland metro area, others from the Eugene area.

Made of porcelain or clay, the pieces range “from very functional art pieces to much more cultural, non-utilitarian objects,” said Miles Browne, the Visual Arts Gallery coordinator. “It’s a good range to see the possibilities of what can be done with clay.”

All of the participants have a master’s degree in arts or fine arts. Some are instructors, including three from MHCC– Joe Davis, Stephen Mickey and Nata-lie Warrens – who all teach ceramics.

Davis brought the idea for the exhibition to Browne, who made the ex-hibit come together.

The idea quickly ex-panded beyond pots. Davis said the focus of the exhibit is the interpretation of the vessel in its many forms.

He decided to invite only those artists with mas-ter’s degrees to narrow the list of great potters he knows. “In the end, I really wanted a highly developed bunch of work in the show,” he said.

A reception held Tuesday night gave people a chance to look over the pieces and talk with the artists, some of whom discussed their work with the audience.

Several Davis pieces are on exhibit. The “Hengja Pair” were done for his thesis in 2007, while “Phalicus Spoonil” were completed the next year. Both are representative of the vessel.

“The whole idea behind the thesis work (and the later work)… was really kind of a play on the sexual references that are inherent in a lot of pots, pouring vessels and spouts,” he said.

Davis was not interested in ceramics until college.“I actually entered art school thinking I would do metalsmithing,” he said.

His parents, already worried about his decision, helped steer Davis into ce-ramics instead.

Having come from a practical-minded family, “I wanted something practi-cal,” said Davis. “To go into art school was already a stretch.”

Ceramics, with its ability to make usable objects as well as art, gave him what he was seeking.

Davis was told by his graduate school instructors to stop looking at peri-odicals centered on contemporary ceramics, and go beyond the traditional.

“I’ve had talented hands for a long time but I didn’t really have any ideas about how to develop my work,” he said. One idea struck home, however.

“I was also interested in the idea of specimens,” Davis said. He credits pho-tographer Karl Blossfeldt, who photographed dried plant specimens in the 1930s. Blossfeldt’s influence can be seen in the “Phalicus Spoonil” piece.

Jillian Croy, who attends a life drawing class at MHCC, came to view the pottery. She liked the “Phalicus Spoonil” piece, a lot. “There are many interpre-tations as to what it could be,” she said.

“The idea behind pots is really interesting to me,” Davis said. “I’ve made my life of it.

“In all the work I’ve done, even the sculptural work like this, there’s always been a reference to the ves-sel,” he explained. “Inside, outside, form, texture, some with color, (on) some of them I decided to complete-ly remove color.”

Whether his work is functional or not, Davis said, “I’m a potter. I can’t get away from it.”

Ted Vogel and Careen Stoll, whose work is displayed, describe a tight-knit community of potters. “We end up knowing each other and a lot of what we do becomes a group process,” Stoll said.

“We share studios, share food,” Vogel added.

Potters are “typically pretty gregarious people,” Stoll said. “It comes with the territory.”

Vogel said his pieces are about the formal relationships between color and other materials. This is evident in his side-by-side pieces, “Orange Float” and “Turquoise Float.”

“Oval Vessels” and “Oblong Vessels” are a different direction for potter Amanda Salov, who has molded clay since childhood.

Salov said it’s not realistic for artists to “wait for an idea” for new pottery and sculptures. She prefers to experiment. “Working through ideas, then you come up with more. That’s how it works for me, anyway.”

She told the gallery audience her pieces are meant to be touched, the intent being to draw on the senses.

Katheryn Finnerty, a potter for 15 years, spoke about her recent work “The Fragment Series,” which reflects the fragments of her life.

After Finnerty was laid up by surgery, she found “time to question healing and growth, recovery, and what is new, what is old,” she said.

She used broken pieces of pottery she had saved, fabrics and prints to cre-ate the series. “Nuclear Cherry Blossom” is another of her works on display.

Not all the potters were able to attend the exhibit forum. Those who were kept busy engaging guests, students and fellow artists.

For more information on the gallery, contact Miles Browne in the Visual Arts Gallery, 503-491-7309.

band, “Ion Storm.” The minotaur danc-es with the audience and produces ex-citement, which Pierce said is a lot of fun.

He is looking forward to a wrestling match at an upcoming event, a battle for the right for his band to continue playing.

His everyday wardrobe consists of a T-shirt collection he has acquired from various concerts, totaling more than 50.

“If I did a price inventory, I would probably cry,” Pierce said about the amount of money he has spent on his hobby. “In terms of shirts, I never run out of something to wear.” Whenever a concert has shirts for sale, he almost always has to get one. “It’s still the memory of the show. Some shows have really funny memories attached to them,” he said.

To see Pierce’s talent and “rubber face,” look for him in the Children’s Theater show and in an upcoming MHCC production this year. “Fantastic Mr. Fox” will run Nov. 5-17. The pro-duction is primarily intended for el-ementary school children on field trips.

Only the Nov. 17 show will be open to the

public. Tickets will be $2.

Canucks? Instead of pondering this brain buster, just hit “next.”

The next song, ”Sing or Liberty,” sounds like a metal version of Rise Against, which is a huge im-provement over sounding like Nickelback. It is equal parts punk and death metal and all hard and fast. It even has a furiously played, if somewhat brief, guitar solo that just begs one to bang one’s head.

The next track, “Not Fading,” sounds a tad lighter but still packs a punch, especially highlighting bassist Jeanne Sagan and another swirling guitar solo. All in all it sounds a bit like Coheed & Cambria without the inter-galactic warfare.

“Calculating Loneliness,” another acoustic track, could’ve been left off entirely or at least shortened to less than a minute instead of about two and half min-utes. Short acoustic clips are okay to give listeners a quick intermission, but no one needs to hear meander-ing acoustic guitars on a metal album.

The album finishes with the title track and is again in the vein of A Day To Remember albeit mixed with a heavy dose of Coheed & Cambria. That interesting blend results in a very worthy fist-pumping track that mixes a seriously powerful drum line with relentless riffing. On the whole, the album has some very bright spots but gets bogged down with too many unsavory tracks mixed in so that it never really hits its stride. The poor mixing leaves the listener digging it one track, and dry-heaving the next.

ementary school children on field trips.

Actor is ready to work his ‘rubber face’ for kids

CD leaves listeners with mixed feelings

features many potters’ workCampus gallery show

Potters and guests at the reception for the Art of the Potter exhibit Tuesday night in the Visual Arts Gallery enjoying the art and company. Several of the pottersʼ work can be seen, including works by Amanda Salov, Ted Vogel and Careen Stoll.

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ʻHengja Pair ,̓ created by Joe Davis, facing tip to tip, is two pieces; ʻPhalicus Spoonil ,̓ another Davis piece on the wall behind, is three pieces.

Pierce will be acting in the Childrenʼs Theatre production of “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” A perfor-mance which will be open to the public will take place on Nov. 17 at 2 p.m. in the Studio Theater.

Nov. 2, 2012

News6

PreviewDay

Join us 5:30 p.m. Wed., November 14

Learn about Academic programs Application processPaying for college Campus life

Find Agenda, directions and RSVP at vancouver.wsu.edu/preview

Ask about the

Border Bill—it lets

Oregon residents

pay in-state tuition

for up to 8 credits.

Bridges take the test

Engineering students test their cardboard bridges on campus last Friday. The bridges were required to be able to hold two students and be 22 feet in length.

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Day of the Dead comes to campus

Kylie RogersThe Advocate

Discussions by the MHCC District board leading to appointment of a new board member at an Oct. 21 executive session appear to be a violation of the state open meetings law.

The closed-door executive session was meant to address consideration of “an individual agent” under ORS 192-660 2(a), according to the meeting announce-ment sent on Oct. 19. But discussion in executive ses-sion about filling a vacancy of an elective office is spe-cifically forbidden.

The meeting, held at 9:05 a.m. on a Sunday, fo-cused on discussing qualifications of applicants for the vacant board position. The vacancy occurred in September following the resignation of Ralph Yates.

The conversation primarily focused on Paul Ca-pell and Kathy Kralj. The board had concerns about Capell’s busy schedule and of Kralj’s lack of experi-ence with collective bargaining, in light of upcoming contract negotiations and the search for a new college president.

The board also discussed that the vote to appoint a new member should be unanimous, although no vote was taken in executive session. The unanimous vote to appoint Paul Capell was done legally in public ses-sion following the executive session.

The candidate qualifications were discussed in ex-ecutive session to avoid giving out information that shouldn’t be part of the public record, said board Chairman Dave Shields.

The board wanted to be sure it “wouldn’t violate any law or make the board liable for any statements seen as judgmental to any of the candidates,” Shields said.

But John Tkebuchava, an Advocate co-editor-in-chief, said that even though the board may have been acting in the best interest of the candidates, “It’s important for the board to remember that they work with the public and the public is affected by how they choose to conduct themselves.”

The relevant state law states under ORS 192-660 “(2) The governing body of a public body may hold an executive session: (a) To consider the employment

of a public officer, employee, staff member or individ-ual agent.” However, under the same law it specifies, “(7) The exception granted by subsection (2)(a) of this section does not apply to: (a) The filling of a vacancy in an elective office.”

Board member Brian Freeman, asked about the state law, said, “The section 2a respecting agents does not include or apply or protect the meetings where you’re considering filling the vacancy on the board. That was very specific and I don’t disagree with that.”

Asked why candidates were discussed in execu-tive session, Freeman said, “We probably were err-ing on the side of caution not to reveal any protected information of the candidates that shouldn’t be re-vealed inadvertently.

“A candidate’s privacy and his rights are chal-lenged by the public’s right to know and where there is really no conflict, there really shouldn’t have to be an executive session. But we didn’t know,” Freeman said.

Tim Gleason, dean of the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication with a spe-cialty in media law, said, “I think the logic is sound, but on the face of it, it would appear that this was an inappropriate topic for discussion in executive ses-sion.”

“Voters are going to make a decision based on the entirety of the record of the candidate,” Gleason said. “Your entire record is open to scrutiny, so why would you be able to go into executive session to discuss the records of people you’re going to appoint if, in fact, if they were running for election the public would have access to everything about them.”

Jack Orchard, The Advocate’s attorney on retainer with Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association, con-curred with Gleason that the discussions about can-didate qualifications should have taken place during public session.

Shields said in hindsight he would advise the board to restrict questions so there wouldn’t be a vio-lation of privileged information and the board might be given more direction.

The minutes from the executive session in ques-tion will be posted on The Advocate website at www.advocate-online.net.

Board discussions in executive session appear to be illegal

An example presentation of an altar was set up in the Student Union to aid in bringing the cultural holiday to campus.

the advocate Sports 7

John TkebuchavaThe Advocate

MHCC cross country runner Christa Colllmer is the 2012 South-ern Region champion after taking fi rst in the meet Saturday at Lane Community College.

At the meet, Collmer ran a new personal best of 19:21, putting her six seconds ahead of the second-place fi nisher.

The women’s team also had another top ten fi nisher in fresh-man Monica Amaro, who placed 9th with a time of 21:00, followed by freshman Molly Scoles in 22nd (22:58).

The men’s team kept it in a tight pack at the meet, with all fi ve runners placing within 14 posi-tions of one another.

Freshman Alex Seymour led the group, placing 20th, 27:54,

with freshmen Nathan Geiter and Vlad Ishenin fi nishing shorly after in 22nd, 28:02, and 24th, 28:11, ac-cordingly.

Next came sophomore Brian Hoglund in 30th, 29:34, topped off by freshman Lt Avants who fi nished in 34th, 30:30.

Once again, the women’s team did not score as a team at the meet, com-peting with only three runners.

Head cross country coach Matt Hart said that though Pris-ma Flores did arrive to run at the meet, she was feeling sore in her Achilles tendon and for reasons Hart is not sure about, Katy Bashir did not arrive at all to run at the

meet.Hart said since the team

wouldn’t able to run as a full team anyway, being without Bashir, he let Flores take the meet off.

“It’s unfortunate because we could have done decently (at the

meet),” he said.Nonetheless, the team was by

no means short on quality.“I thought Christa executed the

game plan perfectly. For her sec-

ond year of running cross country, she has matured tremendously,” said Hart of Collmer’s fi rst place fi nish.

“The thing about Christa is that she has worked extremely hard all summer and fall to get where she

is at,” said Hart.Looking ahead to

NWAACCs on Nov. 10, Hart says all the hard work the team has put into until this point should help carry them to some great perfor-mances.

In regard to Col-lmer, the new South-

ern Region champion, Hart said he thinks she will be able to hang with the best.

“I think the effort that our whole team has been putting into

training will give them all the strength and courage to improve and win personal battles within the race. No holding back any-more,” he said.

Before the team takes on NWAACCs, the Saints will be hav-ing their second bye week of the season.

According to Hart, the team will be taking this time to focus on the mental aspects of the meet, rather than physical, and said the team will be easing off at practice as well.

“Most of our fi tness has al-ready been accumulated so we are working on mental toughness and increasing everyone’s speed,” he said.

“Now it is time to allow the body to adapt and start working on race strategy, a competition mentality and fi ne tuning speed.”

“Now it is ti me to allow the body to adapt and start working on race strategy, a competi ti on mentality and fi ne tuning speed.”

Cross country coach Matt Hart

Sophomore Christa Collmer ran 19:21 at the Southern Region Championship meet, breaking her own personal record and good enough to place fi rst overall.

Saints’ Collmer lays claim to Southern Region title

Men’s Basketball

The men’s basketball team will be dif-ferent this year in a good way, according to

Head Coach Geoff Gibor.Gibor said this year’s team is stacked

with talent, though the players are young.“We have a high ceiling this year, as far

as talent. We have a young team, only two returning players from last season. But the new guys have picked up things quickly, they work hard and have a high basketball I.Q.,” said Gibor.

Last season the team fi nished fi fth in the NWWACC playoffs, and fi rst in the South Region with a record of 12-2 and an overall record of 24-8.

Asked how far he thinks this year’s team can go, Gibor said, “I think we can get pretty far this season and have a good year.

“These guys already have good chemis-try and as the year goes on it will only get better,” he said.

Gibor expects Colby Mitchell, Mac John-son and Landon Rushton to have a big im-pact this season and to be leaders. Mitchell is one of two returning players.

“Colby is athletic, tough, hard, and has good leadership skills,” said Gibor.

The team had its fi rst scrimmage Oct. 24

against Warner Pacifi c.“We played well, I thought. We still have

a lot to learn, but we are a young team and it will take time but I have confi dence in them,” said Gibor.

The team plans on running an up-tempo offense this season.

“Our players are athletic and have tough-ness and great discipline,” said Gibor. “Our team is young and developing but they do have a lot of sense on the court. We plan on creating excitement for everyone who comes to the games this year.”

The team has 16 players on the roster this season. Two will be redshirting and will sit out the season.

“We don’t have as much depth as we did last season with our post players, but we make it up with our deep backcourt,” said Gibor.

Coming up Saturday, the team heads to Oregon City for a jamboree tournament from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. On Wednesday at 4 p.m., the team has a scrimmage against Port-land Bible at MHCC.

The team will attend its fi nal tourna-ment before the regular season Nov. 23-25 in Longview, Wash., for the Red Devil Classic.

The team opens its regular season Nov. 30 against Walla Walla Community College in Washington.

Women’s Basketball

The women’s basketball team has a new look and increased athleticism, and is ready to take on the new season.

An aggressive approach will be the key to a successful year, said head women’s bas-ketball coach Jocelyn McIntire.

“We will defi nitely be looking to push the ball offensively as well as increasing the pressure we apply defensively,” she said.

“I have always been a believer in having a balanced attack. I want to push the ball ev-ery time down the court, but if we can’t get a quick, easy, high percentage shot, then we need to be able to run a half court offense and be patient for a good shot.”

This season the team has 15 players, with only four returning from last year.

“We have a young, athletic team. I think players Hannah Mocaby, Kelsey Barnes, Sydney Mendanoza, Chanel Celis, and Whitney Warren will play a big role this year and be leaders for our team,” McIntire said.

According to McIntire, having more depth this year will help the team signifi -cantly.

“We struggled last year with both num-bers and experience. We only started with 10 players, a few got hurt, and that forced many of our players to play in positions that

they were not experienced at. With 15 play-ers on the roster, I feel we have much more depth than we did last year so that should help us get some more wins,” she said.

“So far, I think the girls have been getting along very well. Chemistry has been grow-ing bit by bit each week. We are starting to establish whom our starters potentially might be, getting groups to play together and see what they can do. We have some very high-energy players on our team. We just need to make sure we get that energy channeled in the right direction.”

Today, the team has a scrimmage at Lew-is and Clark College. They also will scrim-mage at home against Lower Columbia Community College at 6 p.m. Thursday, and again at 7 p.m. Nov. 16 at Reed College.

Men’s and women’s young basketball teams prepare for new season

Anyone looking to help support the women’s basketball team can make a purchase Wednesday at the Burgerville at 2975 N.E. Hogan Drive in Gresham. From 5 to 8 p.m., the restaurant will do-nate a portion of sales proceeds to the team.

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Molly Scoles crosses the fi nish line in 22nd place Saturday Oct. 27 at the NWAACC Southern Region Championships held at Lane Community College.

Freshman runner Nathan Geiter and Vlad Ishenin in the NWAACC Southern Region Championships at Lane Community College on Oct. 27. Geiter took 22nd place and Ishenin took 24th in individual standings.

- Basketball Fundraising -

-Both stories by Aaron Marshall

SportsNov. 2, 2012

8

World Series ends in sweep for Giants

Sport�����entral- Upcoming Games -

SC

Oregon State Beavers vs. Arizona State Sun Devils,

7:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Network) on Saturday

Oregon State Beavers vs. Oregon State Beavers vs. Arizona State Sun Devils, Arizona State Sun Devils,

7:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Network) 7:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Network)

Portland Trail Blazers at Oklahoma City Thunder, 5 p.m.

(Comcast Sports Network) tonight

- Game of the Week -

- Blazers -

- Beavers -

The San Francisco Giants swept the Detroit Ti-gers, taking Game 4 on Sunday night by a score of 4-3 to win the World Series for the second time in three years.

After they fought through the league cham-pionship series and won the last three games against St. Louis to advance to the World Series, it was hard to believe the Giants could sweep the Tigers. But that’s what they did.

The first game defined just how the Series would unfold: One of the most dominant pitchers in the game, Justin Verlander, was hit hard and the Giants scored five runs against Detroit before he was pulled from the game.

The hitting was consistent throughout the Series for the Giants, and when it was most im-portant, the Tigers bats went cold. The Giants av-eraged four runs per game, while the Tigers aver-aged less than two.

The pitching also came alive for the Giants while the starting rotation of the Tigers simply couldn’t do enough.

“You have to have a little bit of good fortune and you have to be good enough to take advan-tage of that good fortune,” said Terry Francona, baseball analyst on ESPN’s SportsCenter.

It’s hard to say that certain teams or players deserve a win or a championship, but it’s easy to say that the Giants fought hard for this one.

-Cameron Miller

#4 Oregon Ducks at #17 USC Trojans, 4 p.m. (Fox Network) on Saturday

#4 Oregon Ducks at #17 #4 Oregon Ducks at #17 USC Trojans, 4 p.m. (Fox USC Trojans, 4 p.m. (Fox Network) on SaturdayNetwork) on Saturday

#4 Oregon Ducks at #17 #4 Oregon Ducks at #17 USC Trojans, 4 p.m. (Fox USC Trojans, 4 p.m. (Fox Network) on SaturdayNetwork) on Saturday

Tomorrow night the Oregon Ducks (8-0) come into Los Angeles to face the USC Trojans (6-2) for prob-ably their biggest game of the season. Last year USC came into Eugene and

upset the Ducks 38-35.This year, the Ducks are look-

ing for vengeance with their national title hopes on the line. Score Prediction: Oregon 45 USC 31

Saints ‘pirate’ Halloween bashThe volleyball team took a break to host the Dorian Harris Classic, where the Saints played in comstume

Shaun LutzThe Advocate

With a commanding lead in the Southern Region, the MHCC volleyball team took a break from league play last weekend to host its annual Dorian Harris Classic.

With tough competition such as Highline, Olympic, and Walla Walla (all second place or better in their respective re-gions) it offered a good test for the Saints as their season comes to a close.

They opened up the week-end facing the Whatcom Orcas (2-8 in the North; 8-21 over-all), a team MHCC beat earlier in the season at the Edmonds Crossover tournament (25-18;

25-17). The Saints proved to be the better squad yet again, making quick work in a three-set sweep (25-15; 25-19; 25-22) of the Orcas.

Next up were the Pierce Raiders (7-4 in the West; 20-14 overall). It was the first meeting of the year for the two clubs, and the Saints held court, dom-inating through three sets (25-12; 25-15; 25-14) to improve to 2-0 on the weekend. Saturday would bring the Saints’ tough-est test of the tournament, matching up with the Highline Thunderbirds.

After a surprising loss for Highline against Clackamas a night earlier, the Thunderbirds beat Columbia Basin to move to 2-1 on the weekend, facing

MHCC in a win-or-go home scenario. The Saints, while pressed and pushed past three sets for the first time all week-end, sent the Western region leaders (9-1 in the West; 28-10 overall) back home (27-25; 22-25; 25-19; 25-22) and advanced in the Tournament.

Matched up with South-ern Region foe Umpqua, the Saints would play for a spot in the championship game against a Riverhawk team (4-3 in the South; 26-16 overall) they hadn’t dropped a set to all year. Though the trend didn’t continue, MHCC took control after splitting the first two sets, and eventually came out on top (25-23; 22-25; 25-18;

22-25; 15-10), sending Umpqua home empty-handed. In the title game, the Saints faced off against the Olympic Rangers (9-1 in the North; 29-9 overall) a team they hadn’t seen all year.

That didn’t stifle the MHCC attack, as the Saints swept the Rangers out of the gym (25-13; 25-20; 25-21), maintaining home court advantage all weekend and winning the tournament.

MHCC will host the NWAACC championship tournament this year, and hopes to continue its home court dominance. But first, the Saints hit the road for their fi-nal two league games , includ-ing tonight’s matchup with the

Southern Region’s fourth-place Clackamas Cougars.

The MHCC Saintʼs volleyball team hosted their annual Dorian Harris Classic, where many of the players played in costume. The Saints went on to sweep the Olympic Rangers in the fi nals to win the tour-nament.

Oregon State Beavers vs. Oregon State Beavers vs. Arizona State Sun Devils, Arizona State Sun Devils,

7:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Network) 7:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Network)

Portland Trail Blazers at Portland Trail Blazers at Oklahoma City Thunder, 5 p.m. Oklahoma City Thunder, 5 p.m.

(Comcast Sports Network) (Comcast Sports Network)

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