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No Cars for Freshmen
This year’s freshmen class will not be allowed to have cars on campus, according to a mailer sent out to the class of 2013. The Claremont Conservative had reported about the change in policy, and now we have visual confirmation of the notice.
As seen in the image above (larger size here), freshmen were informed earlier this year that they would no longer be allowed to bring cars on campus. Interestingly, it seems that the policy change was announced after the application deadline, which means that early decision applicants applied with the understanding that they could bring cars. New student response remains to be seen.
Such a restriction is increasingly common at undergraduate institutions, usually citing logistical, environmental, or safety concerns. But the mailer sent to CMC freshmen offered no explanation. An obvious reason for CMC’s policy change would be parking limitations. With a growing student body and a fixed number of parking spots (for now), the administration would have to take some action to ease the strain on facilities. That said, the upcoming Kravis Center promises expanded parking spaces, which may solve this problem and undermine the rationale for the restriction. Yet completion of construction is years away.
Meanwhile, this change in policy may, unexpectedly, boost car sharing on campus. The number (and so the availability) of ZipCars–the hourly car rental service–has grown over the past few years, and students can check out cars from both Pomona’s and Pitzer’s campuses. Unlike most rental services, Zipcar does not have a 25-year-old age requirement, so as long as you’re over 18, freshmen–and others, of course–you are eligible for membership. Rates are $7 per hour or $48 per day, and users are required to register a few days before first use (i.e. don’t decide to get a Zipcar the day you need it).
At the moment, the only other independent options seem to be SuperShuttle or a taxi, unless you’re able to charter the busy iPlace vans (see DoS) or the pay-per-hour Sagehen Shuttles. So it seems that next year some freshmen looking to get off-campus will have to pay for this change in CMC policy.
UPDATE – We’ve tracked down some more information on the new policy in the freshmen orientation materials online:
Are there parking fees? Is a bike a good option? Freshmen are not permitted to bring cars to campus. We believe that new students should spend more time on-campus, developing their friendships and settling in at the College. Although about half of returning sophomores, juniors, and seniors do bring cars to campus, it is not a necessary part of the CMC experience. Plenty of students ride bicycles or skateboards to get food or run small errands nearby, or even to get to class, but none of these things are necessary. All classes are within easy walking distance, except in rare instances when two classes on different campuses are scheduled too closely together.
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Abhi Nemani
Abhi Nemani has a problem. He doesn't sleep -- nor does he plan to. He plans on not sleeping in fact, so he procrastinates during daylight hours -- usually watching Mad Men or perusing lolz -- and then schedules productivity for 3am. So expect late, misspelled, and rambling emails (and bios) from this editor emeritus.
Recent
27 Comments
2009-07-05
23:04:17
Best way to get you and your friends around: Rent a Uhaul truck and have a party in the back while you drive to in n out.
2009-07-05
23:07:43
Had this policy been in place when I was a freshman, I don't know if I would've come to CMC. I relied on my car to work various jobs to help finance my education, and I also think that some of the appeal of CMC is also based on being in Southern California. That appeal is lost when it's impossible to get around.
2009-07-05
23:11:33
Not a big deal. I didn't get a car until junior year because I had no need to. The only reason I needed one was to drive to companies' events and interviews in LA second semester and to buy frivolous things at goodwill and walmart. Otherwise it's pretty easy to do without, especially considering 50% of students will have one (maybe more like 40% now).
2009-07-06
09:10:07
This also may not be a permanent policy, but a response to the overcrowding we saw last year due to the construction of the Kravis Center. Once that building is complete, it will have garage in addition to re-opened street parking which will allow the bauer lot to revert to being a students only lot.
2009-07-06
09:53:49
As I made clear in the blog post, I'm a junior and won't have a car. You can register under my name, freshmen, so long as you promise to drive me occasionally to wal-Mart.
This had better not be the work of the Environmental Crusaders.
2009-07-06
10:08:29
Register under Charles' name, then rack up the inevitable $$$ in parking ticket fines without telling him. Hilarity will ensue. (Only an idiot would take on the liability of someone else's registration.)
2009-07-06
11:46:34
@Tip,
Did you honestly think I wouldn't write a contract to take care of that eventuality? Please.
@ I think its a good idea,
I know of at least one student who was working another job off campus in order to pay tuition. CMC costs a lot and its not fair to force someone to take an on campus job. Zipcar isn't really a realistic alternative because it costs 7 dollars an hour to use one to get to your job.
@Josh,
That might be well and good that there are colleges in the Northeast that don't allow their students to have cars, but we're CMC and we're somewhat exceptional. I didn't want to go to Wililams or Amherst or Grinnell and I don't think I'm alone. It might explain why a lot of people choose to come to campus in the first place. It's nice to be treated as adults.
@DUIs,
This kind of therefore-because of logic is really silly. Whenever you have a privilege, you'll have some smaller group that violates it. Should we ban alcohol from campus? Wouldn't that be better? As for DUIs, maybe if the school punished these violators even harder, they would deter further misbehavior.
2009-07-06
10:12:16
I think this is a good idea. CMC is a campus where the social life is mostly on campus. I think this plan may allow for more CMC bonding by making it harder for freshman to leave campus and socially isolate themselves. I can think of a lot of freshmen (mostly starkies and south quadders) who went home every weekend or so and I feel bad that they never truly got to experience CMC like I have. I understand homesickness sucks and that we are all old enough to make decisions for ourselves, but the easiest way to get used to a new surrounding is to throw yourself in, and a lot of local freshmen don't do that. Hopefully this helps integrate all the freshmen better. I think maybe a first semester ban is better than a full year ban, but this'll do I guess.
Also, protip, don't ever register your car at CMC. They never tow or ticket you you if you aren't registered, but if you do register, you can get tickets and they send it to your parents house if you don't pay quick enough. For shame camp sec. Send the invoice to my campus mailbox, not my parent's house. We're all adults here.
2009-07-06
16:52:24
If you don't register, they will eventually tow you. I have the remnants of the giant "we're towing your car in six hours if you don't register" sticker on my window to prove it. If you're parking on the Colleges regularly, you need to register it. If you're an irregular visitor, it doesn't matter.
2009-07-06
10:15:27
also, this policy is the norm at many of our peer schools in the northeast; even some that are in the middle of nowhere
2009-07-06
10:19:20
This is also good for other reasons. This year there were some DUIs involving freshmen on campus, which presumably would not have been a problem had those students not had cars.
2009-07-06
12:29:47
Bringing a car to CMC was a huge selling point for me in selecting a college. I figured if I was going to be going to a school so close to home, it would be nice to have a car to go back and forth. Of course, once I got on campus I never really went home, but my mother probably appreciated the fact that I could show up at family events now and then.
Having a car (I was the only one of my friends with transportation means that first) was great for beach trips, LA trips, Mount Baldy trips, late-night food runs... I think I would have gone nuts being stuck on campus that whole time. CMC advertises itself as being so close to LA but LA is 40 minutes away... you need a car for that. Yeah, CMC may have social life on campus, but it does get old.
Besides the parking crisis I see no real reason why CMC should ban this. I wonder what other issues were factored into this decision.
2009-07-06
17:38:34
I would definitely go with the not registering option. You have to have not registered for years for them to get so pissed that they will actually tow your car. I have never heard of anyone actually getting towed, and I am not sure it has ever happened.
A plus to not registering your car is that you can park in the faculty lots and stuff, because they will never trace the tickets back to you anyway.
2009-07-06
17:53:39
This is still CMC, people. If you are a freshman who really needs to work 80 hours a week at Montclair Mall to pay your tuition bills a weepy visit to DOS will probably get you a parking permit. For the 97% who can find jobs ON CAMPUS this won't matter. As a recent grad who went four years without my car, a lack of parking permits for freshman will really not be traumatic. And if you're a concerned freshman from the OC who can't see your mom every other weekend, well then you're probably not that cool anyway.
2009-07-06
20:59:46
Some schools get riled up about war, labor issues or taxes. We get up in arms about cars for freshmen and take-out containers. When I wanted to go to a politically-balanced school, this is not what I had in mind.
I lived local and didn't have a car when I first came to CMC. Trust me, it was hardly an inconvenience. There are upperclassmen who will take you along to Target and Costco runs. And the Metrorail can get you into LA faster than your Toyota Prius for any daytrips.
2009-07-06
23:58:39
I guess I have to ask what kind of college did you have in mind? Were you looking for anti-war protests, workers' rights petitions, or moral and economic debates?
Maybe it's just silly to ask for all that and a concern for policies that, you know, affect our day to day lives. Just silly.
2009-07-07
01:15:27
I would be a big fan of people taking a concern for policies that affect students. Only instead of 25-cent containers, maybe people should worry about the several-thousand-dollar-per-student CalGrant Program or the Study Abroad changes that will make students take out larger loans. Yes, the outrage over eco-containers, trays and "temporary" one-year ban on cars is just silly. None of those issues really impact the quality of our education.
Now I'm a big fan of our CMC Forum and I know every CMCer gets into the same 2 A.M. policy debates, that isn't the same as action. The Pedro thing was started brought to the Claremont Democrats several months late by a Pomona student and he never got his job back. The only recent counterexample I can think of where the CMC student body and alumni got together successful over something reasonably important is the Kyle/David Banned From Pomona event.
But yeah, freshmen will have to go without cars on a self-contained campus. Let's make Facebook groups and write letters to administration.
2009-07-07
04:48:19
Amidst all the fervent talk of missing home and going to LA, aren't we missing the bigger issue here? Construction got rid of faculty parking spaces, therefore faculty had to take several student spaces, and the new parking lot isn't done yet. Meanwhile, we've increased the size of the campus. This exhibits poor planning, but the damage is already done. It's happened several times to me over the last semester that I had to park at Pomona or on the street (and get ticketed either way) because there were simply no CMC spots available- a complaint I've heard echoed several times. Is denying freshmen a parking space ideal? Of course not. I'll freely admit that I loved having a car as a freshman. Is it necessary? Yes, as long as Scripps won't let us use their nearly EMPTY parking garage. So I end with:
@Bri- Why isn't a shortage of parking spaces a legitimate reason in and of itself to limit access to parking permits?
2009-07-07
10:08:50
Hi guys. CMC has a lot relatively few people know is CMC's. It is the one right near the new tennis center, a block or two east of the regular 6th and mills lot. It is almost always empty and I've never seen it full. It a bit of a pain to walk back from if you aren't in the apartments or in Southquad but its better than a ticket. Katie, I'm not sure if you know of this one so I figured I'd mention it.
2009-07-08
06:46:58
If the 6th and Mills lot is full, chances are the Bizantz (sp?) lot is too. It's not very big, and a lot of faculty park there (so it's not helpful if you're trying to park during the day.)
2009-07-07
10:14:58
You got some respect from me. So many people bitch and complain but few do anything meaningful about it. Get on student senate! Stalk Heggblade! Do like the claremont dems did and go door to door (but not two months after the case and not before you know the real story... I still can't believe nobody has dug up the full Pedro story). Or just complain to yourself and on a forum and have nothing get fixed. Heck, Ethan Andyshak should have been gone years ago but it took a great depression to have him fired for budgetary reasons.
2009-07-07
11:19:51
We spotted some more information about the change in the freshmen orientation materials. See the update in the post.
2009-07-07
13:37:13
I didn't have my BMW freshman year and, yes, I cried myself to sleep for a month. How I missed looking at that beautiful blue and white propeller badge! The only reason I had friends at high school was because of that fine piece of German craftsmanship. Then it struck me--leaving my baby back home freshman year taught me how to make new friends who had their own black Lexus SUVs and BMWs. Love CMC!
Fresman: you'll soon learn that being in others' luxury cars is just as good, plus you don't have to pay for gas and court fees. If you cant make new friends, then try changing your personality until you can get a Bimmer from daddy.
2009-07-08
20:04:41
Charles has gotten himself in to a flamewar on his own Facebook group. Protest Organization FAIL.
2009-07-08
21:15:28
Charles has tried to shut me down and shut me out on Facebook. I hope his influence as CMC's newest censor-in-chief does not extend to The Forum.
lashawniquajenkins.blogspot.com
2009-07-09
08:14:41
I didn't do that, LaShawniQua.
It was another administrator. Thanks for the kind thoughts, though.
2009-07-08
22:52:51
Well, I think there are at least two movies deserving this title. These are Terminator 4 and Transformers 2. What do you think?
P.S. To moderators: sorry for possible writing to a wrong category but I didn't find any other category for general chat.