According to her email, Gann will be taking a year’s leave during the 2013-2014 academic year before returning to CMC for the 2014-2015 academic year as a Professor of Legal Studies. During her final year as President, Gann says she intend to focus on “completing The Campaign for Claremont McKenna and be involved with moving forward several building projects, as well as the recruitment of our exceptional faculty and students.”

The email was sent to the student body on May 15, 2012. It was accompanied by a letter by Harry McMahon, President of the Board of Trustees, thanking President Gann for her service. Gann’s email is reproduced below.

May 15, 2012

Dear Members of the CMC Community,

About a year ago, I discussed with Harry McMahon, the Chair of the CMC Board of Trustees, my intention to step down as your President upon the completion of The Campaign for Claremont McKenna, as well as my interest in returning to teaching. It has recently become clear that our highly successful Campaign will wrap-up next year, so it feels like the time is right for the College and for me, personally, to move forward with a leadership transition. I therefore officially notified the Trustees at their meeting last Saturday of my plan to step down as your President on June 30, 2013, following 14 years of service. I write now to inform you of this decision, and to thank you for the privilege and honor of serving as the President of this splendid institution.

Leadership changes are healthy for all organizations, and they provide an opportunity for the community to come together to reflect seriously and intelligently upon its future. This leadership change will also come at a time when the College is well positioned to attract an exceptional new President.

I am very proud of the advances made in all aspects of the College over the past several years. The faculty has never been stronger in teaching and research, and it has grown substantially in overall size. It is a faculty that cares very deeply about the central role that it plays in the aims of all outstanding institutions of higher education. Along with our exceptional academic programs, our expanded financial aid policies help us recruit a talented student body nationally and internationally. Our students benefit from an ever larger set of co-curricular, internship, and off-campus study opportunities. Our physical surroundings are being transformed by a set of Master Plan principles that not only take advantage of our exceptional geography and climate, but also reflect, architecturally, the quality and significance of the educational work that takes place here. As a result of this progress, the College continues to contribute to and strengthen The Claremont Colleges. These advances are made possible through the leadership of our Board of Trustees, hard-working staff, faculty and students who care about our College, as well as through the generosity in service and philanthropy of our alumni, parents, and friends.

On a personal level, I will have had the special opportunity to serve in leadership roles at two fine institutions: first, as Dean of the Duke University School of Law for 11 years, and then, as President of CMC for 14 years. It has been a personally rewarding career to be involved as a professor and administrator for more than 37 years in the higher education of so many fine young people. I very much look forward to returning to the activities that drew me to academic life in the first place, particularly teaching and research. After a year’s leave, I will continue to be a part of the CMC community as a College Professor of Legal Studies, which presents a fantastic opportunity to teach our outstanding students.

During the coming year, I will focus on completing The Campaign for Claremont McKenna and be involved with moving forward several building projects, as well as the recruitment of our exceptional faculty and students. I also will work with the Board of Trustees to ensure a successful transition to the next President.

It is a rare opportunity to be asked to serve such a fine liberal arts college, and I will forever be grateful to be a part of this special place of higher education.

With personal appreciation,

Pamela B. Gann
President

 

1) I have to add Claremont Cash to pay for that extra cup of coffee my Flex can no longer cover.

2) The occasional “study break” for Collins snack becomes a 5-C snack challenge.

3) I take the time to read the self-promoting posters around campus.

Upon allowing my eager eyes to wander, I came across one poster that caught my attention:

If the site itself was as provocative as the poster, I thought, I should see what this proposed solution to sex hair is all about. It would be, at least, a source for further procrastination. What I found on the website, located at HerCampus.com/CMC, was even more disturbing than the posters. I was appalled to find not only an inaccurate representation, but, more importantly, a superficial portrayal of CMC women.

“Don’t make yourself too available, but throw out hints like ‘I really enjoy hanging with you’ so you can boost his confidence,” the dating tip reads.

“Build up his confidence a little, stroke his ego (and maybe a little more),” a sex column advises.

Statements such as these ask women to succumb to a behavior just “get the guy.” Not only do the sex and dating articles suggest that a woman’s self-confidence is dependent on male approval and physical appearance, but it also assumes a solely heterosexual student body. Placing such a heavy emphasis on dating, exercise, partying, and senior crushes simply reinforces the superficiality from which the women’s movement continuously works to distance itself.

It would be one thing if the alcohol-induced girls running after the boys in bro tanks were an accurate depiction of the women here. But it’s not. My time here has presented me with women that are not only remarkably intelligent, but also independent thinkers and leaders. As a woman at CMC, I can confirm that we spend our time discussing issues of greater substance than those the Her Campus website would imply. Like most college girls, we still talk about our weekend hookups and our Pilates workout schedules, but that just barely skims the surface of what I have come to know in the women around me. Contrary to what the site may demonstrate, we are more than a group of diet-frenzied, boy-crazy, party-hopping women, grasping onto our days as love-struck tweens who watched Degrassi.

And we don’t want to go back to those days either. While we may occasionally fall victim to Leonardo DiCaprio’s love sonnets in Titanic 3-D, we are in no way trying to become the desperate-to-find-Prince-Charming Bridget Jones, despite what this statement from the Her Campus website may imply:

“All that is left are girls hopelessly waiting for guys to sweep them off their feet and take them to their fairytale love story.”

This summer, in the absence of TNR and Wednesday afternoon party informs, CMC students could easily take the time to sit back and relax. Instead, women at this campus have found interesting opportunities outside the world of Pilates and dating. Lauren Callahan ’14, for example, will be working for the Institute for Science and International Security, researching nuclear weaponry and diplomacy in the Middle East while attending meetings with other related think tanks. Across the globe in Mysore, India, Amy Hershberger ’14 will be interning at the Public Health Research Institute of India, researching antibiotic resistance of UTI’s and traveling to various hospitals in India to compile data for the research. And freshmen Elise Hansell ’15 will be working for the Human Rights Initiative in Dallas to help refugees seek asylum by organizing cases with pro bono attorneys.

These are only a few of the responses I received from asking just 30 girls about their summer plans. So perhaps for the next “CMC Celebrity,” the Her Campus writers will, for example, choose to highlight a student’s ambitious summer plans instead of glorifying the popularity of a so-called iconic male student.

Her Campus has the potential to be a great resource for students. It serves as a way to individualize CMC women from those of other colleges across the country, and if you couldn’t tell from this article, I am all in favor of more spaces for women on this campus. The problem is that, even with one recently posted article about CMC women, Her Campus is still a poor representation of the student body.

Right now, the site undermines the character and achievements of the women on campus while exacerbating stereotypes that uphold sexism. Interestingly, I looked at other Her Campus college branches only to find myself engaged and impressed with the information presented. This is not a criticism of the brand, but rather a criticism of the majority of the content on the CMC portion of the site.

All this being said, I write this article understanding that this is a fairly new undertaking. For this reason, I urge whoever decides to write, or continues to write, for Her Campus to take a step back and really take a few minutes to think about the women at Claremont McKenna. Think about your friends, your girlfriend, and your classmates; think about the people they are because I can bet my cup of coffee that they are more than what this says about them. This is not simply a message to Her Campus, but rather a message to the student body to remember that, when utilizing our voice, we have the power to collectively construct an image of CMC that is truly representative of who we are.

“I mean, I feel like I should be. I’ve followed the prescribed CMC regimen pretty closely, and from what I know about CMC alumni, it seems reasonable to think that things are going to be OK. I did fairly well in my classes at CMC. I got involved on campus. I’ve made an incredible group of friends here. I had some cool internships during the summer. I went to TNC. I’ve been ponded. I’ve been to Baldy. I’ve been to the Ath so many times I can pretty much generate the taste of the salmon in my mouth at will.

“And it looks like I’ve got a lot to look forward to. There’s a great job and great friends waiting for me in San Francisco.

“All these things make it pretty easy to project an outward appearance to my parents and others that I’m ready. And to laugh and tell all my classmates and fellow CMCers that ‘I’m not ready! I could never leave. I LOVE CMC!’ But the reality is somewhere in between, and it involves a lot of introspection.”

I guess that’s a lot for Google to squeeze into one button. The beauty of college is that I don’t get to waffle in real life. Senior week flew by, and tomorrow, May 12, Dean Hess is going to call my name, and that’ll be it. The rest of my life is real life, whether I like it or not.

My favorite quote of all time is from Robert Louis Stevenson’s first book, An Inland Voyage. To close the book, he writes,

The most beautiful adventures are not those we go to seek.

One last piece of advice. I have loved writing about technology for the Forum for the past year, and I hope that I’ve shared at least one thing you’ve found helpful. I love my computer, my phone, and my iPad. But I love my time away from them even more. Leaving my phone at home when I go to my girlfriend’s, leaving it in the car when I go to the gym, not getting reception up on Baldy—those are the peaceful moments with which no amount of Netflix or Reddit can compete. Don’t become a Luddite, but make sure you spend some time unplugged.

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

Vocabulary of the Week: Bro Portmanteaus

portmanbro

Update your brocabulary with the most popular and latest portmanbros. For the Econ majors, a portmanteau is a combination of two (or more) words into one new word.

Music Discovery Tool of the Week: Band of the Day (iPhone/iPad)

Band of the Day

A free app that brings you a new band each day in a digital magazine form, along with reviews of the band’s music and full streams of its top songs and videos. It’s a great app for keeping in the know of which bands are currently cool to know.

Smart Move of the Week: Mac Rumors Buyers Guide

Apple Buyers Guide

This website provides an easy to understand product summary for the current product cycle of each Apple product and provides a summary of currently available rumors for each model. What this means is, you check this site before buying your next MacBook or iPad so that you aren’t the chump with the obsolete model one month later.

YouTube Channel of the Week:

Beardyman

It’s hard to determine whether this man is brilliant or crazy. Either way, the beatbox-based music he makes is entertaining, spontaneous, and complex. Watch this one to understand his process, and then go back to the link above to get your fix.

Student Photograph of the Week: Sean McQueen ’13

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.”

Last week, CMC formally released an external investigative report on the SAT scandal it first discovered in January. The 25-page report, which has been independently authored by the law firm O’Melveny & Myers LLP, is publicly available on the College’s website. The main findings of the report are that Richard Vos, the former Vice President of Admissions and Financial Aid, reported falsely modified SAT scores, ACT scores, class rank statistics, and application statistics since 2004.

On April 19, following the release of the report, U.S. News and World Report‘s Bob Morse wrote an article in which he said the College’s ranking would most likely have remained the same whether or not the test numbers were fudged. He interviewed Editor and Chief Content Officer Brian Kelly, who said that the publication is currently reviewing the report and that the “preliminary calculation shows that based on the correct data, Claremont McKenna College’s ranking would not have changed.” He added, “We will decide if further adjustments or explanations to our readers are necessary.”

CMC is currently ranked by the publication as the 9th best liberal arts college in the nation. At the time of the scandal, it was believed that pressure to improve rankings played a central role in motivating Vos to falsify the data. However, the independent report states that Vos did not face any extraordinary pressure “or any form of intimidation that might reasonably lead us to view the pressure exerted as coercive or improper.” The report highlighted that increasing CMC’s ranking was not Vos’s motivation for reporting false data and that it “believes the VP’s (Vos’) assertion to be true”.

I love this school. Coming here was probably the best decision I ever made. The great thing about Claremont McKenna is that it is not like anywhere else I could have spent these four years. It is fun and exciting, but it’s challenging me and pushing me towards my goals at the same time. In the end, I have learned, it’s the little things that count —  it’s the little things that make me look around several times a week, even nights before midterms, and think, “I love this place.”

It’s not just about the Athenaeum and the small classes, and the fantastic faculty. Here are 10 additional things that make me wish I could stay at CMC for a lot longer than four years:

1)   Snack and Tea

CMC loves feeding me; I love being fed. Every afternoon at 3:00, I have a platter of brownies, cookies, and rice krispies, and an array of tea facing me. And every night at 10:30, I am welcomed by the sweet, sweet smell of snacks like mozzarella sticks and pizza bagels. How do you say no to that?

2)   Subsidizing

Whether your friends want to go see Bon Iver or spend a day at Disneyland, get ready to pay half of what you would otherwise. Want to work for a non-profit this summer, but afraid you can’t because you need to make some money? CMC has you covered. What’s great about a small school is that we use our endowment to make sure that your four years here are about you doing what makes you happy.

3)   Pirate Party

Maybe it’s because it’s this weekend, but Pirate Party seems too quintessentially CMC to leave out. It’s an entire day of inflatable bounce houses, obstacle courses, burgers, and sunshine. It’s a day party to end day parties — and best of all, it’s during alumni weekend, so your fun never has to end.

6)   John Faranda

7)   Winston Churchill Society

Fine attire, fine drinks, and fine cigars — all enjoyed with the company of the finest professors and students. Winston Churchill Society is CMC epitomized. It’s a night of gallivanting in conversation with professors about their research, their classes, and their lives. Show up, mingle, and you might just learn a lot more from your professors than you can in just class time.

8)   Idea Night

They say it time and again on tours and brochures, but at CMC, your ideas matter. Here’s how I know: Every year, on the same stage as Condoleezza Rice, Robert Gates, and Dan Savage, CMC puts up its own students to talk about their own ideas. Whether it’s eating bugs, annexing Canada, or creating profitable philanthropic models, there’s a lot to be said about a school that will place you and your ideas on this pedestal.

9)    The Fountain

Everything about the fountain is a CMC hallmark. There is, of course, your freezing-middle-of-the-night birthday ponding and your run of the mill nice-day-dip-your-feet studying, but there’s no moment in a CMCer’s career (or so I hear) like Thesis Party. There is nothing quite like dancing in a fountain with your classmates, each of you clutching a school-sponsored bottle of champagne as you celebrate turning in your senior thesis, and with it, the most successful, happiest four years of your life.

10)    They send you a card on your 21^st birthday

Nothing screams “college” more. CMC cares, and on the momentous occasion of your full adulthood, they’re right there to celebrate with you.

You stand on the cusp of one of the most important decisions you have had to make yet. When you’re deciding where to be for the next four years don’t forget to think about what you want to remember from these four years, and what kind of people you want to be around. Then just trust me: Come to CMC.

“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.