Pitch 4

Two-sentence explanation: With more and more women joining STEM programs across the country, the reasons for doing so get more various. This story intends to explore the reasons for why some women want careers in the sciences, as well as the challenges involved in dealing with societal expectations and stereotypes.

Evidence: While the percentage of women in STEM programs has increased marginally in the last ten years, men still account for a significant majority of all STEM majors, with about two out of every three STEM majors being male. This can lead to a hostile environment for women in STEM in some instances.

Why now: It is getting to the point of the year where high school students are receiving acceptance letters and some of these students may need more information about certain programs, as well as international Women's Day on March 8.

Interviews: Female members of STEM-based academic clubs, advisors in the STEM departments, professors.

Format: 500-600 written with photo.

Roger Harnack write-up

On Monday February 22, Roger Harnack attended our class to talk about his life in journalism. Harnack didn't start in journalism, starting his life with an interest in aerospace. Some of his first stories related to the space shuttle program, specifically the launches and landings that he covered from Florida. These made it to the Associated Press, and from there, he joined the newspaper industry. He has worked in Ellensburg and Port Angeles at smaller papers, and he started a weekly paper in Port Angeles during his second stint there. He worked for the military newspaper Stars and Stripes for a year in Tokyo. He began as a publisher in Iowa, and later continued the role in Omak and Sunnyside, where he currently operates the smallest daily news paper in the area.

Harnack said his passion for photography helped him in the newspaper industry. He once had an odd job as a wedding photographer in Costa Rica, and also took photos of the country's landscape. Domestically, he will occasionally work on an outdoors story. He said he always has a camera with him when he's out and about. Harnack said he never thought about being a journalist.

"The job just fell into my lap," Harnack said.

After working in journalism, Harnack said he had no desire to go back into aerospace engineering. He has worked as a photographer for the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars and has also done work with NASCAR for community newspapers early in his career. He said this is a good way to get into these events without paying to go.

Harnack said the best way to get to the journalism job you want is to build a reputation as a reliable source in your market, the type of name recognition people look for. A lot of journalism jobs are short-term, and this implies it is easy to advance to where you want to be individually.

Perceptions of promiscuity could put sorority women in danger

photo from WSU Center for Fraternity and Sorority Life
By Shawn Hutchinson

Many students know the ritual as the walk of shame, but Brooke Chapman said the phrase stride of pride should be used instead.

“If a woman wants to embrace her sexuality, more power to her. As long as she’s doing it safely,” Chapman said.

Over 20 percent of the student population at Washington State University is part of the Greek community, long stereotyped to be more promiscuous than other groups of students in a college setting. Chapman said that people within the community know what to expect of one another, but outsiders don’t always understand.

“There are definitely different perceptions on the outside, and it’s our own fault for how we portray ourselves on social media,” Chapman said.

Another student, Kaila Lafferty, also notices members of the Greek community participating in slut shaming.

“In freshman year, we had an attitude about shackers,” Lafferty said, in reference to what women who spend the night with a guy get called as they return home. “We should be supporting each other instead of piling on. It’s inappropriate.”

Chapman also mentioned shackers, but said it’s like an inside joke for the community rather than anything meant to degrade the women involved.

“Women aren’t as docile as they used to be,” Chapman said.

The expectation for women to protect their sexuality still exists. Andrea Walker, an instructor for a class about violence towards women, said society shames women when they are no longer viewed as pure.

“We have the idea that women are supposed to be sexually meek, that they’re not supposed to be promiscuous,” Walker said. “In many cultures, women are supposed to remain virgins until marriage. Slut shaming is one way to deter women from being sexually actively, at least openly.”

While it might seem like a joke at first, as Chapman said, Walker identifies a trend toward violence that can have origins in slut shaming.

“It makes other men and women view them as less than a person,” Walker said. “It’s easier to commit violence against them, and to look away when we see it happening to these people.”

Walker said people who are labeled sexually promiscuous could also be at a higher risk of being a victim of sexual assault. She compared this to how society historically accepted crimes against people of different races because they were viewed as lesser people.

“It’s easier to harm people we don’t perceive to be a proper human,” Walker said.

Psychologically, this can take a heavy toll on women perceived to be promiscuous.

“Unfortunately, some women start to believe it,” Walker said. “It can wreak havoc with self-esteem, their ability to relate to people, and their ability to have relationships with men. They start to view themselves as sexual objects.”

Walker said potential perpetrators may also start to view these women as easier to victimize, which makes sexual assault a more likely outcome.

Lafferty said sexualizing sororities, through the media in particular, can overshadow the positives within the Greek community.

“The Greek community GPA is higher than the average student’s, and philanthropy gets ignored,” Lafferty said.

Chapman said it can be difficult for men to conceptualize the impact of their words when they are putting women down, but they should think about one thing before they speak.

“Everyone has a mom, and the next time you say something about a woman, think of your mom and if you would say that to her face,” Chapman said. “Would you want someone to say that about her?”

Pitch 3

Explanation: Slut shaming is part of a larger tendency of society to view women in an unequal manner to men. On college campuses, sororities are a major population that can be victimized in this manner.

Evidence: Stereotypes about promiscuity in the Greek system held by other students, and the fact that non-Greeks out-number Greeks at WSU can lead to slut shaming and other negative behaviors toward women.

Why Now: Upcoming Women's History Month, in March.

Interviews: Brooke Chapman of Alpha Chi Omega, Andrea Walker, instructor for Violence Towards Women (CRMJ/WS 403), proponent of gender equality or another sorority member.

Format: 500-600 words w/ photo. 

Charlie Powell Write-up

On January 29, we had Charlie Powell in class. Powell is the public information officer for the Veterinary Medicine program at Washington State University. Powell first talked about how he came to be in his position after working previously as an EMT/paramedic and paraprofessional in medicine. He also did writing for newspapers and magazines on a freelance basis. Powell said he worked under four different deans since joining the Veterinary Medicine college. His current job entails making efforts to prevent problems from occurring. Powell said tries to make the best of media relations, and he has a lot of respect for journalism. He talked about needing the media to get the message out, but also that the media need people like himself to produce newsworthy things for them to publicize.

Powell moved along to give examples of the things he has seen become publicized, with the most emphasis on canine influenza. He explained how different strands of the disease mutate rapidly, and how at times the need to vaccinate dogs is very low, whereas it can be higher at other times depending on which strain of the disease is more prevalent. The lesson from this is that he wants to provide the media, and by extension the public, with rational information in the most timely fashion. He then transitioned to talking about foot and mouth disease, and how the United States and Canada keep their economies stable by making sure the disease does not enter their countries by restricting trade with countries that have outbreaks of the disease. This example explained how critical having accurate information in the media is.

Powell closed the talk by explaining the growing movement for rounding up stray animals in one location and transporting them to other locations. For example, small dogs in the country are sent to the city, and larger dogs in the city are sent back to rural locations, because the appeal of each type of dog varies by location. He also mentioned that shelters are doing more to keep their cages full so that it looks like there is a need to adopt, which can spur people to action. This effort has been promoted by celebrities, and is currently the best alternative to euthanizing dogs.

Pitch 2

Explanation: Sports fans whose hometown or favored teams are not performing well often attach their allegiance to a team that is having or has had more success in the recent past. One such example is the growing number of Seahawks "fans" since the Pete Carroll era began.

Evidence: The Seahawks have 1.2 million followers on Twitter, a number greatly aided by appearances in consecutive Super Bowl games. While some of that can be attributed to the overall growth in active users for Twitter, the rest is likely a selection of new, casual fans.

Why Now: This is big type of story in the lead up to the Super Bowl, as most football fans are either on the Broncos or Panthers bandwagon for the game, and it's probable that some will stay on those bandwagons in future seasons, potentially finding their new favorite team.

Interviews: New Seahawks fan, older Seahawks fan, professor Jedlicka (sport sociologist), professor Lebens (sport law/Seahawk fan with expert understanding).

Format: 500-600 words with photo.