It is an oft-heard gripe that perhaps it is the sameness of the parties that makes them feel lackluster. While it is true that most parties are similar, they are similar in that they cater to the students. ASCMC has a budget, and between 6:01, the Pirate Party, Monte Carlo, and the Wedding Party, (not to mention those hosted by the other colleges) they make good use of it. It is not as if they don’t attempt to inject variation into our nightlife – rather it is the fact that the same student body will move towards creating the same atmosphere.

The problem lies not within the parties themselves, but rather in our failing to remember that there are certain tradeoffs you make when you decide to go to a school with 1200 students. Undoubtedly, one of the most noticeable of these tradeoffs is giving up any sense of anonymity. It is near impossible to even walk through a TNC without seeing at least ten people you know. While some see this as monotonous, I think that it is precisely this quality that allows CMC’s parties to seem so sociable.

While a large school naturally offers a more varied array of nightlife options, CMC’s party atmosphere allows you the comfort of going to any given party and running into someone – especially that someone you’ve had an eye on – without having to search high and low. With this reliability comes a level of security hard to find anywhere else – at a CMC party you can rest assured that you are taken care of. The level of community that comes with a student body so small creates an environment in which students truly care about each other’s safety. It is only because of this that we can feel comfortable even when we have had a little too much ‘dancing juice’ and lose our friends in a sea of togas.

Despite the pervasive sense of familiarity at parties, it is not as though there is no new-ness. While it may be easy to find those you know, there are always new people to meet. For those willing to put in the effort, there are always people to get to know and people to get to know better–whether they are students from the other four colleges, transfer students, freshmen, or CMCers you’ve never spoken to before. It is this quality that helps us forge a deeper sense of unity. We create connections with fellow students that we would be unlikely to create at any other type of school. In this way, it is the smallness of CMC that allows us to befriend more people rather than fewer.

So rather than wonder why you see the same people all the time, remember what it was you signed up for, and relish in the fact that every weekend you can go out, see all of your friends in a safe environment, and create those memories that you’ll never forget (or never remember).

 Note: Forum staff did not edit or revise these statements in any way. They are directly from the candidates in their own words. Their views do not necessarily represent those of the Forum.

Alexandra Cooke

Although I am the only candidate for the Student Life Council Chair (SLC Chair), I still take this election very seriously. As your prospective SLC Chair, I promise complete dedication to the job.

I have several goals to bring our already-close CMC community even closer through established traditions and new, diverse events.

CMC social life tends to be polarized: wet and dry events. Each of these has different qualities that attract separate crowds.  I see my job as the possibility to create new events that bring diverse groups together, forgetting the notion of wet and dry and fostering a more inclusive atmosphere.

If elected, first and foremost, I want to immediately establish a Council to help with throwing two or three events per week. This council should be composed of students with diverse ideas to ensure that the SLC events will appeal to a wide array of students.

Even though this will be a new position for me, there will be no lag time with putting on events; I already have a great working relationship with the ASCMC Exec Board, because I have served as the Executive Secretary since Spring Break.  Through my work with ASCMC so far, I also have experience working with DOS and following through with executing successful events.

Some of my ideas for SLC events are:

• ESPN College Gameday parties with FOOD
• Themed TV and movie nights (i.e. Dress up like the characters from Mad Men during a reception and a screening)
• Board game tournaments
• Music Events (i.e. Open Mic Night, Karaoke, live bands)
• Off-Campus events
• Continue the past traditions (i.e. Pumpkin Carving, Dodgers Games, TV showings, Ginger Bread Houses, Ski-Beach Day, etc.)

Most importantly, if elected, I want feedback from all of you. E-mail me if you have ideas or comments or just want to get to know me at acooke14@cmc.edu.

Remember to vote outside of Collins or at the Senior Apartments on Thursday! I hope to have your vote and have a great rest of the year with all of you as your SLC Chair.

ASCMC election rules prohibit candidates from campaigning online.  Since the Forum allows anonymous commenting, the editorial staff disabled commenting on articles to prevent any rule violations. If you have any questions about this policy, please email forum@ascmc.org.

Winning a landslide victory last semester with 71.8% of the vote, Zanft took ASCMC office in March 2011. Zanft ran on a platform of inclusion, stating his number one priority was “making everyone feel welcome at SLC events.”

Burk Zanft

In his campaign, Zanft suggested using ASCMC funds for providing non-alcoholic drinks at Thursday Night Club (TNC), hosting karaoke and “open mic” events, and creating opportunities for live student bands.

As Student Life Chair, Zanft held two “Hangover Hangouts,” a free offering of assorted food and drinks for the morning after TNC. The “hangouts” were met with some opposition, and some argued SLC events like these catered to a wet campus rather than dry events. Through the “hangouts,” Zanft aimed to “unite the parties” at CMC and create a more integrated student life culture. Burk also continued the Hub Quiz tradition on Friday nights.

ASCMC is scrambling to put together a special election for the vacant SLC seat. If you are interested in running for the position, ASCMC will hold an information session on Tuesday, September 27 at 9:30 PM at the Hub. Candidate speeches will be held the following Wednesday, October 5 at 10:45 PM in Collins Dining Hall during snack. The special election for SLC Chair will begin on Thursday, October 6, and results will be tallied that evening.

The SLC Chair heads the Student Life Council, which is primarily responsible for coordinating and promoting non-alcoholic extracurricular activities that benefit the general student body of CMC

Check in with the Forum next Wednesday, October 5, for live blogging of the candidate speeches and be sure to check out the election results exclusively on the Forum on Thursday, October 6.

I apologize if I’m stating the blatantly obvious about summertime at CMC, but let me describe my experience so far. Butterflies float on the breeze. The only sound comes from the wind in the trees tops (and large trucks on the expressway). The only interaction I’ve had today on campus was with the feral cats that have exploded in population since most students departed. It is like an alternate reality, a sort of post-apocalyptic calm that’s oddly wonderful.

The pace of life is also completely different. While I do live off campus, I spend most of my days working on a chemistry research project at the Joint Science Department. There are no papers to write, no problem sets to complete and no events to which I can wear my faux facial hair and  pleather pants. With no rigid structure to rule my life, I feel myself lapsing into a habitual cycle of showing up a bit late for work, making myself turkey sandwiches, and watching old reruns of the “Twilght Zone” for most of the night. CMC’s Type A persona becomes a chill, maxed-and-relaxed Type B during the summer months.

Choosing to live off campus has put even more distance between my current daily existence and the CMC life I became accustomed to during my freshman year. I read for pleasure, not for exams. Gourmet meals of Kraft’s Easy Mac (with a side of peanut butter toast) replaces fine dining of Collins. I’ll admit: at times, it’s a lonely lifestyle.  I stroll solo, lone-wolf style, through campus with the hope that I might come across another stray summer school student. Maybe it’s the overwhelming body odor that’s driven all the others away… just kidding.

Yet the slower pace of summer is having a healing effect on my psyche. In much the same way that your brain needs sleep the night before a big exam to digest all of the material you studied, summer is a time to reflect on all you’ve learned and apply knowledge to real world situations. I constantly find myself better understanding various laws of chemistry (how long does it take for turkey cold cuts to denature?) and applying the IR theory I learned last semester (winning competitive tournaments of Risk).

Traces of CMC student life from the academic year still exist, albeit in a very much reduced form. The summer student population inhabiting the senior apartments preserves the academic year customs and traditions in the same way that a lone space colony survives on a distant planet light years from their home galaxy. Parties still go on until the wee hours of the morning, beer pong is still as competitive as ever, and Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” is still blasted from open windows.

You even come across some students completing  assignments for summer school. Those resilient scholars who can’t seem to get their academic fix during the school year are still seen at their desks until well past midnight. Walking through North Quad in the late afternoon on a week day among those just getting out of class, I almost seem to forget that summer vacation has even begun.

There are still two months of summer until convocation. With CMCers infiltrating nearly every corner of the world, it’s important keep in mind that there is a little campus in southern California that you can always call home and misses you just as much as you miss it.

Want more summer Forum reads? Check out Erica Bellman’s Non Required Summer Reading List, Anna Pan’s suggested summer activities and Adam Griffith’s  CMC Summer School Program.

Dear CMC Freshmen:

For most of you, choosing a college represented the biggest decision of your life. Take heart – you chose very well! Now the challenge is to make the most of your time at CMC. Here’s my advice:

Stay humble. You got into CMC, so you’re pretty great. Congratulations! Now get over yourself. If you don’t want getting into CMC to be the highlight of your life, you’ve got work to do. Speaking of humility: Everyone is wrong about something. What’s tricky is that you don’t yet know what you’re wrong about. When you find yourself in a heated argument, have fun with it and state your case, but remember that you might just learn something from the other person.

Four years is a long time…that will go by very quickly. In the words of the great John Wooden, “Be quick, but don’t hurry.” The ambitious side of you wants to start accomplishing things today. But before you worry about résumé-building, give yourself some time to settle in and figure out what you really want out of college. At the same time, remember that you have a finite amount of time at CMC, so use it well. Set goals every semester so you can stay focused on your priorities. Invest your time in people who inspire you and whom you admire – they are CMC’s greatest, and longest-lasting, resource. Most of all, be thankful for this opportunity and remember how fortunate you are to be here.

Work hard, play hard. More importantly, define those terms yourself. Working hard doesn’t have to mean four years of sleep-deprivation. Playing hard doesn’t have to involve massive quantities of cheap beer. And don’t worry, however you choose to work and play at CMC, you won’t be alone.

Don’t be intimidated by professors. CMC professors want to interact with students – that’s why they teach at CMC. Find opportunities to interact with them. It’s really not hard to find those opportunities at CMC and, honestly, I’m not sure CMC is worth the cost if you don’t take advantage of the access you have to professors.

Ask for help. CMC’s faculty, staff, and administration care about you and want you to succeed. CMCers are the happiest college students in the country, but even the happiest of us go through tough times. Don’t isolate yourself when you need help. Related: As great as CMC is, all CMCers can think of something they would change about our college. You are fortunate to be at a school that is remarkably responsive to student concerns, so if you think something at CMC could be better, make your voice heard.

Go to the Ath. As much as you can.

Appreciate CMC’s amazing staff. Your character has a lot to do with how you treat those who serve you. Learn the names of your building attendants. Smile when you get your food in Collins. Pick up after parties – nobody should have to clean up your mess. If you can’t be decent to the people you interact with every day, you just might fail at life.

Don’t sell your soul for anything… …especially not a keg and an internship. (Though it does make for a catchy t-shirt). Seriously, though. College is perhaps the best time to wrestle with questions about identity, purpose, and value, about who you are, who you want to be, and what you believe. Your answers to those questions won’t do much for your résumé, but they can nurture your soul, provide peace of mind, and give you a sense of direction in life.

You were admitted for a reason. No matter how confident CMCers are, most of us at some point wonder whether we have what it takes to succeed at CMC. You will experience failure here. You will feel overwhelmed. You will look at the successes of your peers and feel like you are falling behind. And you may start to question whether you really deserved to be admitted when so many outstanding applicants got a thin envelope from CMC. Well, on behalf of the Admission Office, let me say this: We admitted you for a reason. You belong at CMC. Don’t ever forget that.

Dearest Freshmen,

I was asked by the kind people at the Forum to provide you with some sage advice. Uncertain of my sagely-ness, I decided to create a “To-Do List,” predominantly because CMC students are “Doers” at their core. As a disclaimer, I have completed most of the items on this list at one point in my CMC career. I also have to admit that some of these items elicit a “really Kathryn, really?” response, but will be shared anyway.

Alright here we go:

• Do… spend at least two to three hours in your dorm room with your roommate and/or friend learning a dance that is popularized by an entertainer questionably identified as a “hip-hop artist” (see “Crank That Dance” by Soulja Boy). When you whip it out during a party, other people will be mildly impressed, yet secretly embarrassed for you at the same time.
• Do….only buy brownie bites from Trader Joe’s so that when you find yourself hungry at night you are able to eat the entire thing in one sitting. Make sure you are alone. And you will feel ill.
• Do…take a trip to Harvey Mudd at approximately 11 o’clock on a Tuesday night and find a group of Mudders huddling silently around a bonfire. Make sure you join them, because they’ll start chanting soon!
• Do…accidentally break a plate in Collins and have people clap for you.
• Do….“accidentally” drop your plastic cup in Frary Dining Hall. You’ll enjoy the outcome.
• Do…take a date to Pomona’s Frank Dining Hall (on South Campus) because you won’t see anyone you know and who doesn’t love décor of the Marie Callendar’s sort?
• Do….become close friends with someone from another 5C college because everyone needs the personal experience of being made fun of for going to CMC. At the same time, you will need to practice with your verbal retorts. So, get to hurling.
• Do…understand that you will own approximately five or more man-tanks.
• Do…give into the fact that half of your wardrobe will either come from American Apparel or looks like it comes from American Apparel.
• Do… memorize the lyrics to CMC’s song so Professor Ward Elliott and Elizabeth Morgan aren’t the only people actually singing the song at Convocation and Graduation.

These are just a few of the things I suggest you complete while at CMC since before you know it, you’ll be known as the chick/dude who spends way too much time in Ryal Lab pondering life in the real world. So go on freshmen and start churning out those lasting memories!

BBQ Chicken Salad
First grab not one, but two plates.  From the salad bar, pile a few tongfuls of romaine lettuce on one plate, then add ½ a ladle of ranch dressing.  Put second plate on top and shake both plates until the dressing is well mixed. Still at the salad bar, throw on some corn-off-the-cob, bacon bits, red onions, and olives.  Now move onto the sandwich area and add roasted red and green bell peppers, cheddar cheese, and ½ ladle of BBQ sauce.  Then ask the man at the grill station for a nice plain breast of chicken.  Put that on the second plate that served as a top for shaking.  Spread some more BBQ sauce on the chicken and cut into thin slices.  Place on salad.  Then head to the “Farm to Fork” station for a handful of Fritos.  Finally, drizzle ½ ladle of ranch dressing on top to finish it off.  Scrumptious.

Brunch Quesadilla
Feeling last night a bit too much?  Try this for a comforting, stomach-coating fix.
Go to the omelet station and ask for a flour tortilla.  Spread some red pepper sauce (in the sandwich station) on top, and then cover half the tortilla with cheddar cheese.  Go back to omelet station and add tomatoes, onions, and any other vegetable that you might be particularly keen to.  If desired go to the salad station for some spinach leaves.  Then move on to “At Home” buffet for some eggs (tell them to just put eggs on the cheesy half of the tortilla).  Next, fold the tortilla over itself and cook on the sandwich press until cheese is melted and tortilla is golden.  Top with sour cream if available, cut into pieces, and enjoy.

Pineapple Thai Peanut Noodles
Grab a cereal bowl and a spoon. Put about a tablespoon of peanut butter in the bowl, 1 ½ tablespoon of soy sauce (from the dining area), and about ½ tablespoon of soymilk.  Stir to combine, then microwave for 30 seconds.  Take out and put bell peppers, spinach, and shredded carrots on top.  Microwave for another 45 seconds.  Get a plateful of pasta from the “At Home” section and add all ingredients from the bowl.  Mix it all up nice and well.  Top with pineapple slices, a bit more soy sauce, and Sriracha sauce.  Yum!

You might think people will look at you funny for scurrying around the dining hall with multiple plates and strange food combos, and you’re probably right.  But it’s worth it.  You’ll be proud of your little creation, and you’ll enjoy it that much more.  So go on and experiment with your own culinary masterpieces.

The main windows of Collins Dining Hall were painted over last night.

Late last night, “Fuck CMC” was painted on the main windows of Collins Dining Hall.

Pomona students are alleged to have committed the act, based on a continued graffiti trail back to the Sagehen campus. But Dean of Students Mary Spellman said there is no evidence to support this claim, and said that Campus Safety was continuing an investigation into the matter.

“I just received a report this morning,” Spellman said, adding she knew nothing else of the event.

The incident comes in light of a long history of similar episodes. CMC students infamously broke into Frary Dining Hall and defaced Prometheus years ago, and Pomona has damaged the Flamson Plaza fountain outside the Athenaeum in recent past.

The graffiti, which included phallic imagery along with the slur, was promptly cleaned up this morning. Today is one of two major on-campus days for prospective students.

While students from all the Claremont Colleges enjoyed the dishes of each of the visiting universities, the hits of the night were clearly the Beef Tenderloin served over Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Red Wine and Shitake Mushroom reduction and the pie station, both devised by Claremont McKenna’s executive chef, Alberto Gonzalez.  Both stations featured long lines of hungry students all night long. You can find highlights from last night below and the entire collection of photographs here.