The event was run by ASCMC Student Life Chair Mohammad Abdul-Rahim ’15.

ASCMC’s Chief Financial Officer, Kevin Sullivan ’12 noted that the original target, set in September, was a $4000 expense.  A few weeks before the party, in late February, party planners realized it was going to cost more than expected and adjusted target expenses to around $8000.

To account for the unexpected extra $12,000 in expenses, Sullivan explained that the lighting for AN21’s set cost $6000 more than anticipated and that the artist fees to bring AN21 were $2,000 more than originally expected. Additionally, ticket revenues were $6000 lower than expected, with about 400 fewer tickets sold than initially intended.

Overall, the White Party resulted in a $20,000 net expense: roughly $36,200 in total expenses while the total revenue was $16,200.

Last year’s ASCMC sponsored concert featuring LMFAO resulted in a $25,000 expenditure, and the year before that Lupe Fiasco’s performance ended in a $50,000 expense. Though each year marks a decrease in expense, the high annual cost raises the question of whether or not this type of event should continue on or, at the very least, be scaled back.  “The White Party was a very expensive success,” said ASCMC President Aditya Pai ’13.  ”It provided great benefit to students, but at great cost. The question going forward for everyone to consider is whether the benefit justifies the cost – or whether we should pursue other options.”

ASCMC conducted a poll to gauge student body’s response that indicated that over 60% of all respondents considered White Party among their top two favorite parties of the year.

“Undoubtedly the White Party was a success,” said Steven Limandibhratha ’14, Social Affairs Chair (SAC), “According to the responses on the survey, over 30% placed the White Party as their favorite party of the year, and over 60% placed the party in their top two parties.

A Breakdown of the White Party Expenses, Totaling Around $36,2000, Provided to the Forum by ASCMC

“Regarding the significant expense of the party, I believe working with the new board, we will be able to reduce these expenses in the future,” Limandibhratha commented,

When asked if the party was worth the money, freshman Liza Farr responded, that depends on what one’s priorities are. “White Party was really fun, a bunch of people went out for it and danced like crazy in a cool location with awesome lights and a fantastic DJ,” she said. “However, it did cost [ASCMC] a lot of money while it didn’t seem all that different from any of other, much cheaper parties.  I don’t think it was worth the immense amount of money spent on it.”

“Glitter” has been open for five weeks now, and the owners say that the biggest challenge is still just getting the word out.  Because of their location, not as many people are able to just stumble casually across their trendy, Athropology-esque clothing.  Glitter was a dream come true for these two women, who have been friends for years.  Originally, one owned a mobile boutique, and the other was a jewelry designer and fashion blogger.  This store is their “blog come to life,” and they have combined their talents to create a unique, fun, and fashionable boutique.  Not only do they sell clothing and the jewelry that one of the owners designs, but they also carry cute notebooks, hats, shoes, purses, and novelties like a designer cosy for your Starbucks cup, a cute cover for your camera strap… and other little gems perfect for gift ideas.  And all of these come at the most reasonable prices I’ve seen almost anywhere, usually between $10 and $30.

The quality and prices are both comparable to Nectar, but the style is even trendier, and the little accessories and quaint atmosphere make it well worth a visit even if you’ve already done some shopping at the larger store at the bottom of the Village.  Plus, the $10 rack outside the main door is a huge draw; I, not being able to resist a bargain, had to leave with a cute shirt from it.

Although it feels like you have to hunt for it, Glitter is well worth the quest.  The owners are friendly and helpful without being overbearing salespeople, the clothing is trendy, yet classic, and the prices are prime.  Next time you’re in the Village, take a few minutes to go upstairs and explore.

With the emergence of the sun on campus this week, the summer countdown is most definitely in effect. I thought it would be nice to share some songs that I will be listening to a lot this summer. Some are old ones that I’ve been listening to since middle school summers and others are new tracks that just have that summer feel to them. These are songs to bump while your relaxing by the pool, walking to your favorite taco joint or just anticipating the summer. Hip-hop tends to dominate my summer soundtrack, and that is definitely reflected in this playlist. If you’re not a huge hip-hop fan, there is some reggae, soul, and alternative mixed in there. Anyways, give all the songs a listen and keep an open mind! Enjoy the sun and make sure to get your SPF on. 

Highlights of the List:

01 Airborne Aquarium by Curren$y

New Orleans native Curren$y is one of the smoothest rappers you will ever come across. Easily one of my favorite hip-hop tracks out right now, Airborne Aquarium demonstrates his impeccable, effortless delivery that just floats over tracks. This is one to bump first thing in the morning when the sunlight shines through your blinds or just while relaxing on a balcony engaging in summer activities. Curren$y will be in Pomona on May 1st if you want to see him perform!

03 Grown Up by Danny Brown

Danny Brown is one strange rapper, but it is hard to deny his talent as an emerging artist. This is just a feel good track that I know for a fact will be getting lots of rotations as long as the weather keeps up.

11 Since ’84 by Mac Dre

If you grew up on the Bay Area, you know it is pretty much impossible to have not heard a Mac Dre song. The late legend has been crowned as one of the founding fathers of the hyphy movement that took the country by storm a few years back. This track embodies the Mac’s style and is perfect for the summertime.

12 You Only Live Once by The Strokes

The Strokes will always be one of my favorite bands to listen to in general. This track specifically reminds me of driving to the beach. The melody on its own can bring you to a brighter place. Although Drake’s The Motto has essentially ruined the phrase YOLO, this song can reincarnate it upon pressing play.

17 Drift Away by Pretty Lights

The Denver-based producer Pretty Lights has shown a lot of versatility as an artist. His music would fit generally under the genre of electronic, but he distinguishes himself using soul samples similar to those often common in hip-hop. Drift Away is a song for the end of a long summer night.

Less than a month to go…

The 25-page report, which the Board of Trustees commissioned in late January, is available publicly on the College’s website and outlines in detail the findings of law firm O’Melveny & Myers LLP.

The independent report confirms speculations that it was Richard Vos, the former Vice President of Admissions and Financial Aid, who reported false SAT statistics to third party organizations. It also confirms the College’s earlier claims that the senior administrator acted alone and that no other College employees knew about the score modification.

In an interview with campus press on Tuesday afternoon, President Gann reiterated that she played only a minor role in the investigation process. “Because I was being investigated, I was definitely kept separate from this investigation except for the extent that I was interviewed or asked to provide documents,” she stated.

In total, the external investigation, which took just shy of three months, consisted of a review of over 14,990 documents and interviews with 24 different individuals. Former Vice President Richard Vos was interviewed five different times — for a total of over fifteen hours.

ACT SCORES AND OTHER STATISTICS ALSO MODIFIED

The report reveals that SAT scores were not the only modified metric.  Further investigation shows Vos also modified ACT, class rank, and application statistics as far back as 2004.

Vos told investigators “he believed reporting ACT statistics was unimportant and that he devoted little time and attention to this task.” Vos is also quoted in the report referring to the process of gathering class rank statistics as an ”art not a science.”

As for the infamous SAT score manipulation, the report describes how Vos worked backwards, setting a target median and then changing the data accordingly. The falsified statistics were created by hand — with nothing but “paper, a pencil, and a calculator.”

The report concludes that Vos began changing scores as early as 2004 and attributes his ability to do so undetected to two factors. First, Vos was highly respected within the College’s administration and, consequently, rarely questioned.  Second, the Claremont McKenna Admissions Office lacked an internal checks and balances process to confirm that the data was reported accurately.  It would have taken at least eight years before Vos’ falsified statistics would have been detected and officially reported.

Once concerns were raised in early 2012, however, the College moved quickly.  The report notes that an unidentified Admissions officer reported concerns to the College’s General Counsel on January 9, 2012.  An internal investigation immediately ensued.  Fifteen days later, Vice President Vos admitted to manipulating the scores and, on January 29, he resigned.  When asked whether or not the College requested his resignation, President Gann admitted, “It was discussed with him.””

““But he resigned,” she emphasized. ”I want to be clear that he resigned.””

ASPIRATIONAL GOALS AND THE MOTIVE

What could drive a senior administrator to unilaterally manipulate scores for the better part of a decade?

According to the report, Vos claimed CMC President Gann pressured him to “maintain or increase SAT scores for the College’s incoming classes.”

President Gann acknowledged that there were “aspirational goals” that had been set between her and Vice President Vos. However, she argued that these aspirational goals were agreed upon between the two of them. ”This was a conversation,” she told campus reporters. ”These [goals] were mutually set.””

The report concludes that the pressure Vos felt was not extraordinary. Investigators found no evidence of any verbal abuse “or any form of intimidation that might reasonably lead us to view the pressure exerted as coercive or improper.”

“While we believe the VP sincerely felt pressure to achieve particular SAT goals, we do not believe that the pressure he described exceeded the norm for an executive-level employee,” the report states.

Importantly, the report mentions a divergence in the admissions “priorities” of President Gann and those of former Vice President Vos.  According to the report, Vos ”felt [Gann] had too many goals and that some must give way.” Vos also told investigators he believed he knew what was best for the College.

Although CMC had an applicant pool talented enough to reach the specific aspirational goals set between Vice President Vos and President Gann, admissions decisions failed to meet the target scores. Claiming he was afraid to tell Gann otherwise, Vos said he chose instead to falsify admissions statistics.

The report emphasizes that Vos’ salary and compensation were unaffected by the yearly SAT score reports and does not point to any financial motive.

Despite national media coverage suggesting otherwise, it appears that college rankings were not a motivating factor behind Vos’ actions. Vos explicitly told investigators that his motive was not to increase CMC’s position in rankings. ”We believe the VP’s assertion to be true,” the report states.

“Gann acknowledges that this incident fundamentally alters the manner in which CMC will talk about admissions data in the future. “Assume you have totally accurate data, there’’s then the question of how we use it in communications and marketing,” she said. “We have to be sure that, for those of us that make speeches or refer to data in fundraising materials or in admissions materials, that we are talking about the data in a clear and verified way.””

Gann also noted that the there have been no changes to the College’s ten-year Strategic Plan in light of the scandal.

MOVING FORWARD: “WE CAN AND WILL DO BETTER.”

Tuesday’s report release was accompanied by two letters addressed to the CMC Community: one from President Pamela B. Gann and one from Chair of the Board of Trustees Henry T. McMahon.

McMahon noted that the Claremont community has “learned a great deal from this unfortunate matter and will become ever stronger as a result.”

President Gann’s letter announced that, going forward, admissions, financial aid, and student affairs have been consolidated into one Vice President position.  Dr. Jefferson Huang, currently the Vice President of Student Affairs, will be taking on this role.

Also in her letter, President Gann made a promise to the CMC community: ”We can and will do better.”

Claremont, Calif., April 17, 2012 –– Claremont McKenna College publicly released today an external investigative report related to its January 2012 disclosure that a former senior administrator had inaccurately reported the College’s SAT statistics.

The investigation, which the Board of Trustees authorized and the law firm O’Melveny & Myers LLP conducted, confirmed that CMC’s former Vice President for Admission and Financial Aid was solely responsible for misreporting admission statistics, and that no one else participated in, encouraged, or had knowledge of the misconduct. The investigation also verified that no individual student’s scores or admission files were altered in the course of the misreporting.

Photo by Karan Malik

The report confirmed that the corrected SAT statistics the College first reported to outside organizations in late January were accurate. The investigation also found that the former Vice President was solely responsible for misreporting other admission statistics, including ACT, class rank (the percentage of entering students who were in the top 10% of their high school class), and application statistics. The degree of inaccuracy and the circumstances related to the misreporting varied. For example, the inaccurate ACT numbers were sometimes lower than the accurate numbers, but were usually higher. The widest differences in percentages between reported and accurate figures were in the class rank statistics.

The full report, which includes a complete summary of the inaccurate and corrected admission statistics, is available on the College’s website.

“We regret and are deeply disappointed by this episode,” said Harry McMahon, Chair of the Board of Trustees, in a message to members of the CMC community. “Throughout its history, the College has been defined by its core values of honesty and responsible leadership. While these events do not reflect our values, our response does. Our President and her staff have addressed this matter promptly, thoroughly and with complete integrity. We are confident that the process changes the President has proposed, and we have approved, will deter and prevent such actions from occurring again.”

“These events have been justifiably disappointing to members of our community and to the outside organizations to which we report our institutional statistics,” said President Pamela Gann. “I am very sorry and saddened that these events occurred, and I am committed to ensuring the College’s continuing response exemplifies our core values.”

Based on the report’s findings, the President announced a series of actions that the College is taking, including promptly providing corrected admission statistics to outside organizations who received inaccurate information. In addition, the College is developing documented institutional guidelines –including segregation of duties and independent review procedures — that will regulate the compiling and reporting of all material institutional statistics and will be made available to the public.

The report marks the completion of a process that began in January 2012, when President Gann received information from within the College about potential discrepancies in the SAT statistics for the fall 2011 entering class. Based on this initial information, the President initiated an internal investigation, during which the former Vice President admitted that he had been solely responsible for falsely reporting SAT statistics. The administrator subsequently resigned on January 29. The Board of Trustees engaged O’Melveny & Myers to conduct an external investigation of the College’s admission-related statistics reporting processes.

The scope of the investigation covered SAT and other key admission-related statistics reported to outside organizations, including ACT, class rank, application, acceptance, and enrollment statistics. The investigation looked back to 2004, the year prior to which the former Vice President admitted to falsifying SAT statistics. The external investigation team conducted over 20 interviews, including the President, the former Vice President and other key members of the College’s senior administration. The investigative team also reviewed approximately 100,000 pages of documents and the complete admission files of every student admitted in the fall 2011 class.

The investigative report describes how a lack of internal verification procedures, the Vice President’s “long time and trusted” role as a senior executive, and his own efforts at concealment allowed him to avoid detection for a number of years. The investigation found no information indicating that anyone in the College’s leadership directed or encouraged the misreporting, or that anyone was aware of this activity or knew that erroneous admission-related statistics had been reported by the College.

“Claremont McKenna College remains an outstanding institution that is distinguished by its unique mission and the excellence of its students, faculty, alumni, and staff,” said Board Chair McMahon. “We have learned a great deal from this unfortunate matter and will become ever stronger as a result.”

Claremont McKenna College (CMC) is an independent, coeducational liberal arts college with a curricular emphasis on economics, government, and public affairs.  Established in 1946, CMC is a member of The Claremont Colleges, a consortium of seven independent institutions in Claremont, California.

The Forum will continue coverage as new details become available.

However, what scared me the most was how Americans would react to my being a Muslim.

After 9/11, the perception of Muslims around the world became severely distorted so I was afraid people here would judge me for my religious beliefs. As orientation approached, I became more and more fearful. I imagined my roommate requesting a change in rooms after meeting me simply because of my background. When my plane landed in LAX, I was sure I was going to have a very uncomfortable encounter with a TSA official.

I was wrong. I was completely wrong.  

CMC is the best thing that has ever happened to me. The perfect weather. The perfect people. The perfect school. I am now certain I made the correct choice and my fears about Islamophobia at CMC are no more. People don’t care what religion I practice. In fact, they are intrigued by my background. I often spend hours telling people about Jordan, where I grew up. I would have never guessed that people would be so accepting of me. I never would have dreamed that I, a freshman coming from overseas, would be accepted to the extent that I would be elected Student Life Chair.

And now, I feel terrible. I have always protested against the misconceptions about Islam and Muslims. Yet, I ended up unknowingly creating my own misconceptions about most Americans – for that I apologize.

However, despite the accepting and tolerant culture at CMC, Islamophobia is still prevalent in many areas of the US. What can be done do to help diminish its prevalence?

First and foremost, I believe Muslim Americans need to work on changing the manner in which they are perceived by other Americans in order to improve the perception of Muslims everywhere. To do so, they need to avoid isolating themselves and should demonstrate to other Americans that they share similar values and are equally patriotic. In doing so, American Muslims will make their true, loving and peaceful identity known. They can prove that “extremist Muslims” are not true Muslims, and that Islam does not support the killing and torturing of fellow human beings to serve political agendas. Instead, they will demonstrate that Islam promotes humanity, peace and equality between people of all races and religions. Once Muslim Americans are able to accomplish this task successfully, the foundations of Islamophobia will weaken, and this social disease will be on its way to recovery.

I came to the US with my mind set on repudiating any misconceptions anyone had of Muslims. Fortunately, the community I live within at CMC seems to be free of these misconceptions.

I hope that one day America as a whole will be more like CMC: a place where we are judged not by what race or religion we are, but by who we are as people.

Professor Jack Pitney oversees the 2011 Simulation

For the past week, Claremont McKenna College students enrolled in Professor Jack Pitney’s class on “The United States Congress” (GOVT 101), have been embroiled in a simulation of the United States Congress. The annual simulation is a quasi-competition between CMC students in Professor Pitney’s congress class, and their equivalents at Pomona College. The week of simulation was preceded by two months of intensive coursework, covering everything from congressional procedure to history.

As the school with the most students enrolled in the class, CMC students are playing the role of Senate Democrats, the current majority party in the actual United States Senate. Roles range from Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), who is played by Dave Meyer ’12, to Kirsten Gillebrand (D-NY), who is played by Lauren Kenney ’15.

As dull as actual proceedings of the United States Senate may seem, the congressional simulation is anything but. Earlier this week, Chief Justice John Roberts was assassinated, leaving members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to approve a potential replacement nominated by President Barack Obama (Aditya Pai ‘14).  Indeed, some bills even took a more lighthearted tone, with Senator Dick Durbin, (Dave Meyer) proposing “DAVES Act”, a bill aimed at “Designating Alternate Visa Enhancements for Startups”.

A mock assassination aside, Professor Pitney’s Congress class continues its long streak of popularity this year, with students generally expressing their appreciation for the course unilaterally. Dave Meyer, for instance, called the simulation “fantastic”, and spoke to “having learned more in four days of participating in Professor Pitney’s Congress class than I ever could have in years of watching C-SPAN”. Jordan Santo ’12, who played Harry Reid (D-NV), felt that “though I was frustrated by the pace of the simulation at first, I feel that Congress prepared me for a potential career in politics”.

In the end, the CMC Senate Democrats were able to pass the majority of their bills, as well as confirm their pick for the Supreme Court, despite threats of a Republican fillibuster. That being said, perhaps a lot more would get done in America if a group of intrepid CMC students took over Congress.

Correction: A previous version of this article labeled “DAVES Act” a BILL TO DO SOMETHING, rather than “Designating Alternate Visa Enhancements for Startups”.

What brought about the decision to open-up TNC to the other colleges, as TNC has traditionally always been a CMC-only event?

Cooke: Over the past year, there has been a decrease in attendance at TNC’s, as Campus Security would not allow non-CMC students to attend the parties without a guest pass. The process was such that CMC students would have to register their friends in time for the party. TNC has always been a CMC only event; however, this rule was never strictly enforced until about the past year. Clare Riva ’13, the last DAC, had been working with the Dean of Students to make it easier for other 5C students to attend TNC’s and they were in the process of formulating a new system which allowed for greater attendance at TNC’s. In the past, such decisions have been mainly under the jurisdiction of the social chairs and have been supported by the rest of the ASCMC Executive Board. While we want to preserve the tradition of TNC being a mostly CMC party, we recognize that CMC students all have friends at other colleges that we want to be able to come and enjoy the party with us.

What is the new system of the guest list policy?

Cooke: One TNC a month will be opened up to the 5C’s, where any Claremont College student will get in with their school ID. At the CMC only TNC’s, a guest list policy will be implemented.  A Google form will open up every Monday to Thursday (noon) where CMC students can register guests from another 5C by submitting their name and student ID number. This will add the Claremont student to the guest list and the student will be able to check in with Campus Security at TNC to gain admittance.

What are the main concerns of the administration regarding this change?

Cooke: The Dean of Students Office is unwilling to make TNC a 5C event every week. The main reason is that we do not have large enough spaces to hold 500+ events every Thursday night. Dean Spellman is allowing one 5C TNC per month with 2 kegs, which is an increase from the single keg allowed at CMC only TNC’s.

In your new role as the DAC Chair, what other changes would you like to see for the forthcoming year?

Cooke: This year one of my main goals in terms of party planning will be to revive TNC. Alumni and upperclassmen always talk about how TNC was well attended, had great music or bands, was held at diverse locations, and rivaled the Saturday night party. I will be talking to past social chairs and looking into how they structured their events to figure out how to make TNC more epic, so to speak. I want to make sure that the CMC party and social culture from the past is preserved and not lost.