Emily Rutkowski

Index Alumni Returns to the Old Stomping Grounds – The Pacific Index

After working as an Editorial Page Editor and Managing Editor at the Lewiston Morning Tribune, Mindy Cameron—an alumna of Pacific University and a former staff member of Index—carried her journalism career to new heights, joining the Seattle Times. Now a retired journalist, Cameron has published an memoir, Leaving the Boys, in which she discusses her career, family life, and experiences as a woman in her chosen profession.

After a high school English instructor pushed Cameron’s interest in jour

Street-level Education – The Pacific Index

Professor Boykoff’s Politics of Homelessness Course immerses students in the pressing realities of homelessness in Portland through both travel and classroom materials.

The distance between Forest Grove and Portland is approximately 25 miles. Students attending colleges and universities have heard over the years that Portland is not the same as it was in the past. If you ask a college student why they do not spend much time in the downtown area to take in the sights and sounds of the city, you

Benching the Bench – The Pacific Index

After controversial graffiti, the university struggles with unregulated free speech

On the morning of November 15, Pacific University students awoke to the Spirit Bench sprayed in Palestine’s red, green and white colors, circled by sliced watermelon, with “Free Palestine” written in the center. It is unclear when, but soon after the bench faced yet another act: Swastikas were said to be covering the messaging on the bench. And then, no more than two hours later, the bench was dumped in white pa

Grand Ghost Stories – The Pacific Index

A century-plus old, and plenty of ghost rattling around

The 101-year-old Grand Lodge is well known for being haunted; it is one of the hotel’s main draws. Built more than a century ago as a retirement home for the poor, aged, and ill, the main building—where guests stay—was converted into a McMenamins in 2000; the tall, red-brick structure appears to have been lifted straight out of a horror film—and next door is the Children’s Cottage, formerly a children’s orphanage, now a private event space

Fumbling Student Athletes! – The Pacific Index

Higher roster numbers are associated with declining retention rates for male athletes at Pacific

Student-athletes are a major source of enrollment—and pride—for Pacific University. Nearly 60 percent of incoming male students play sports—a statistic that Pacific boasts about in speeches and promotional materials, and uses as a marker about the soul of the school. But that number also creates an unyielding problem, and casts a dark shadow across student retention: When these recruited athletes do

Maui Wildfires Hit Close to Home for Pacific Students – The Pacific Index

On August 8th, a historic wildfire struck the island of Maui. With Pacific

University having a strong connection to the islands of Hawai’i, the aftermath could be felt

hundreds of miles away.

Wildfires flared on Maui, Hawaii, more than three weeks ago, and the heavy winds from the

hurricane made them challenging to control. Pacific University has approximately 60

undergraduate and graduate students from Maui. Between 2018 and 2021, 17-20% of first-year

students from the state of Hawaii enr

Malynda Wenzl Elected as Mayor of Forest Grove – The Pacific Index

If you want to see the change, you must be willing to participate in the solution. A middle school teacher, Malynda Wenzl has spent years listening to her students’ suggestions for improvements to their small town of Forest Grove. She recognized the importance of a larger platform for change, but could not run for school board, being a paid employee of the Forest Grove school district.

Wenzl’s roots are deep in this community: She graduated from Forest Grove High School and only left town to at

Adjunct Professors Deserve a Raise in Pay – The Pacific Index

Part-time adjunct faculty pay has not increased in a decade

The last time that adjunct professors at Pacific University received a pay raise, Barack Obama had just begun his second term as president—which is to say, it has been a full decade. More keenly, at the time, minimum wages in Oregon were 65% what they are today; yet over those past ten years, wages for adjunct professors—those instructors who teach one or two classes essentially as a freelancer—haven’t budged a single penny at Pacific

Will The Real Vera Stand Up? – The Pacific Index

Pacific University is haunted. Many ways over. But perhaps the most famous ghost of all is Vera, who, if we are to believe the stories, has been living rent-free in Knight Hall (also known as the admissions office) for nearly a century.

The story that current admissions staff share is that Vera, a young student, was looking out the window from the third story of Knight Hall when she spotted her boyfriend fancying another girl; distraught, Vera stormed down the stairs, tripped, broke her neck, a

The Sleepover in Knight Hall – The Pacific Index

“I had friends in college when this was music,” explains Uncle Jeff, referring to Knight Hall. “I had buddies who stayed here overnight, and they wrote for the Index and went running out of here early in the morning because Vera had spooked them.”

According to the tale, Vera spoke to the boys and told them to stop playing music and talking loudly. The tale inspired me: Being on the Pacific Index staff, I was intrigued to spend an entire night in Knight Hall—and to succeed staying a full night w

Brick By Brick – The Pacific Index

PRESIDENT JENNY COYLE HAS BIG PLANS TO BUILD UP PACIFIC UNIVERSITY

In some ways, Jenny Coyle is a new face on campus this year, joining the hundreds of new students and faculty.

But then again, the university’s new president has been all along: She is an alumna, not to mention a parent of two Boxer students, a professor, and the dean for the College of Optometry, and on July 1, she became the 18th President of Pacific University—and her presence has been immediate and seemingly everywhere.

In