Author: Lewis Figun Westbrook
Being transgender in higher education
Lewis Figun Westbrook, a transgender student and forum staff member, talks to Kathy Lenth, a transgender professor, about both of their shared and different experiences being transgender individuals in higher education. Kathy Lenth is a computer science professor at Westminster and began her transition in 2016. Lenth said that she hopes people will learn the importance of pronouns and that she is ...
Hate answering family member’s Thanksgiving questions? We’ve got you.
Note: These are sarcastic responses, use them at your own risk. Thanksgiving is a holiday filled with wonderful food, a needed break from school, football and questions you don’t want to answer from family members. Here is a guide to help you navigate all those questions. “So do you have you have that special boy/girl/person yet?” For women who are either straight or have homophobic families...
Climate change effects need to be addressed, say panelists
Climate change has many interwoven issues including climate justice, local and global effects, expert errors and what can be done about climate change, according to panelists who spoke Thursday in Gore Auditorium. The panel included one student and four professors who each gave a presentation from the perspective of their expertise. Climate justice Eliza Van Dyk, a junior with an environment...
How streaming services change the way you consume media
Streaming services changed how people consume media by introducing binge-watching, affecting if people go to the movie theaters and causing people to share passwords instead of purchasing their own account. While there are many well-established services such as Netflix and Hulu, there’s a new one being thrown into the mix. Disney+ is a streaming service that Disney is releasing on Nov. 12. I...
Confirmed ghost at Westminster with unlikely backstory
A confirmed ghost at Westminster College is now haunting the Bassis Student Center which could use some “‘Deadening’ it up a little,” said Julia Vorsteveld, a senior outdoor education and leadership major, after learning about the ghost. The new spirit, which is one of many that haunts Westminster, has a unique backstory. The ghost is part of a living sophomore college dropout who is ‘dead inside....
The hyper-visibility and invisibility of being a pregnant man
Being a pregnant man comes with its unique challenges, including what Jesse Fluetsch calls “being hyper-visible and invisible.” Fluetsch, who was the guest speaker at the pride week Taboo Talk Tuesday in Gore Auditorium, is a trans man who went off testosterone — a hormone often taken by transmasculine people to masculinize their appearance — to get pregnant. The Taboo Talk kicked off pride week a...
How conversations about diversity can change our theatre program
The Westminster College theatre program has made many attempts to be more inclusive and involve diversity, but it could be better, according to Nina Vought, an associate professor in the theatre program. The attempts that have been made have not been as well thought out or intentional as they need to be to actually create change, according to Melissa Salguero, a theatre performance major. “Specifi...
Dallin H. Oaks doesn’t understand biological sex at birth and the lie of ‘binary creation’
Dallin H. Oaks, apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, defined gender as “biological sex at birth” Oct. 2, emphasizing God created humans as either male or female. As a transgender, still technically Mormon and a college student living in Utah, I have some thoughts about this. An article in The Salt Lake Tribune quoted Oaks saying, “The intended meaning of ‘gender...
Westminster concierge desk: We get discounts for what?
The concierge desk at Westminster has a list of student discounts from local businesses, but unless you ask stores you could be missing out. Reece Rhodes, a junior physics major and student worker at the concierge desk, said that the most popular discounts at the concierge desk are the ski passes and the Utah Jazz tickets. Rhodes buys a ski pass using the discount himself. “Whenever we have the Ut...
Westminster student faces misconceptions surrounding service animals
Service animals are allowed to be anywhere the public is and are not required to wear identification, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act. This is not common knowledge to most, making it more difficult for those with service animals to get around when they are stopped to explain themselves. “She’s the reason that I can be here and that I can be successful in college becaus...
Last names have disappeared from Westminster campus
Check the syllabus, check the roll call, even check your saved contacts and ask yourself: ‘where are the last names?’ At Westminster College, a mystery unfolded as students and teachers alike realized no one knew anyone’s last names and mass confusion followed. This phenomenon started at the beginning of the semester with teachers introducing themselves with only their first name but it seem...