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.

There were around thirty students total, three of whom went to CMC.

Claremont McKenna isn’t exactly known for art, unless you count some particularly creative beer pong tables. It doesn’t have an art major, any art classes, or any artistic facilities outside of a few auditoriums and the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum. Sometimes, it’s easy to assume that CMC just doesn’t do art.

But that’s not exactly true. Every year, CMC’s Under the Lights presents their one-acts performance and the Athenaeum puts on a Dinner Theatre production. CMC students participate in Acapella groups, the 5C orchestra, and a number of other consortium-wide arts groups. Plus, it’s important not to forget the countless musicians, photographers, and craftsmen that decorate their dorm walls with their work, or play a little ukulele during a homework break.

With those individuals in mind, one student asked CMC President Pamela Gann about the lack of arts facilities on campus when she came to visit ASCMC Senate on March 27th. In response, Gann emphasized the availability of such spaces at other schools, explaining, “The arts are definitely in the Claremont Colleges, so we in the consortium subspecialize.” Seems fair. As long as other campuses meet the students’ need for studios and easels, CMC is free to subspecializes in gigantic, cubical study spaces.

Perhaps that’s not exactly fair to CMC, which, cube aside, has clearly focused its energy on developing world-class programs in economics, finance, and government, among other things. But Gann’s comment isn’t exactly fair either.

Mercedes Teixido, representing the Pomona College Art Department, explained that Pomona College does indeed provide access to its arts facilities, but only to those students currently enrolled in art classes. She added, “We do not have open access even for Pomona students. Because we provide all of the materials for our classes, it would be impossible to just have materials for anyone available.”  She noted this policy was ”a matter of safety and space.”

Teixido went on to point out that Pomona does offer opportunities for students outside of classes, though they are limited.  For example, Pomona has “a Friday afternoon figure drawing session which anyone can come do.”

In short, opportunities do exist, but are significantly restricted. Teixido emphasizes that, “I do have to say that we allow very few allotments from CMC as we have extensive waiting lists for all our intro classes, therefore, CMC students barely benefit from our facilities.”

Christian Neumeister CMC ’15 is well aware of the difficulties of being an artist at CMC. As a member of a band composed of CMC students, he complains that, “there are practice facilities around the 5C’s, but they’ve been extremely difficult to access. Scripps has practice rooms, but they’re tiny. We’ve been told we need to be taking lessons at Pomona to access theirs. At Harvey Mudd, you must be a student to access them.” He explains, “No one is asking for an art department or a music department, just a room or two where we can do what we love without bothering anyone.” Neumeister is working on starting a Jam Society to help give CMC students the opportunity to practice their art, but still needs to secure some facilities to make it happen.

As CMC’s campus continues to grow, limited arts facilities ought to be on the wish list. Gann did point out at the senate session on March 26th that, “We do have a campus center in the Master Plan where we will have gallery space and performance space, but that is not a formal department. I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”

This hardly seems to cover the current gap, especially compared to facilities offered to students of other schools. Compare these meager features to Pitzer college’s Media Studies Production Center which, according to their website, offers Pitzer students “24–hour access” to “professional-quality video and film cameras,” “a full complement of lighting and sound equipment,” “student-run and student requested workshops,” and even a dark room.

It can sometimes be hard to see at first glance, but CMC has a wealth of artistic talent, more than can be fairly represented by a few pictures on the wall of Ryal Lab and a handful of performances in Pickford and McKenna Auditorium. In my wildest dreams, I see a full featured dark room with enough chemicals to repeat the Cuyahoga River fire, but that’s certainly not fair to ask the school to support financially. But, as the campus expands and more buildings are added, a one-room studio with some lights, a few easels and music stands, and a couple sound proofed music studios doesn’t seem like too much to ask.

Lifson summarized the proposal as follows: “For already mixed gender floors, the college isn’t going to place arbitrary restrictions on the gender of roommates.” In other words, the proposal would allow students of different gender identities to live in multi-occupant rooms on mix-gender floors. Under the new policy, returning students would have the option to live with a roommate of whatever gender they wish, and freshmen would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Examples of dorms that would be affected include Marks Hall, Claremont Hall, and Stark Hall.

None of this, Lifson assured, will change any bathroom designations or the room draw process as a whole. He emphasized that the process would be  ”entirely self-selected, nobody will be put into this against their will.”

The second part of the proposal is specifically designed to address the needs of transgender students and recommends the college take steps to include single-occupant bathrooms in future residential buildings and renovations where possible. One option the Residential Life Committee has proposed is the re-designation of a floor in Claremont Hall by gender and wing. The bathroom at the end of each wing that does not correspond with the sex of that wing would be made gender neutral.

Lifson pointed to some of the key advantages of supporting the gender neutral housing proposal. Specifically, he noted that “we’re turning away qualified applicants” who consider gender neutral housing to be a priority. He also called the current arrangement an “affront to student choice.” At a school where the students are given so much freedom to make their own decisions and exercise their own judgment, he argued that it was silly that the school currently has restrictions on this practice.

If this policy were adopted, CMC would be far from the first school to implement a gender neutral housing option. The Los Angeles Times points out that around 50 American colleges currently use this model, including schools such as UC Riverside and Dartmouth College. Most notably, CMC’s consortium neighbors have taken action to promote gender neutral housing. Nearly two years ago, Pomona College voted to incorporate gender neutral housing policies into their room draw process and  has made efforts to increase the availability of gender neutral bathrooms in residence halls. Harvey Mudd College and Pitzer College both have gender neutral housing policies in place. Scripps College has also taken steps toward gender neutral housing and actively supports the model.

Some will undoubtedly have worries about students engaging in gender neutral housing responsibly, especially when romance enters the mix. Lifson dismissed these concerns, stating “CMC students are responsible, they’re pragmatic, they realize that’d be a bad idea.” He added, “Changing relationship statuses aren’t considered grounds for [room] reassignment.”

For any interested in hearing more about the gender neutral housing proposal and participating in a discussion on the topic, Lifson will present it to ASCMC Senate at their meeting on Monday the 27th at 9:30 PM. “Next week we will have a formal draft of the proposal,” said Lifson. “We will have a statement of support for Senate to pass as a resolution. We’ll be taking that same statement of support to [ASCMC] Exec Board, to RAs, [and] to clubs that want [us] to.”

Additional student feedback sessions will be held in the Claremont Hall Conference Room at 7:00 PM tonight, 4:30 PM on Wednesday, and 11:00 PM on Friday. These sessions are open to the student body and allow students a chance to better understand the proposed policy.

To summarize, Lifson finished his explanation by adding, “DOS supports this, the [ASCMC] administration supports this, the [ASCMC Executive] Board unofficially supports this… This is just updating regulations to reflect contemporary understandings and the diverse student body we have now.”

Rachel Brody ’12 contributed reporting.

This article was updated to clarify Miles Lifson’s statement at the conclusion of the article. Both the “administration” and “Board” refer to those of ASCMC, the student body government, not of CMC generally. This article was updated again to reflect new vote totals.

Update on February 29 at 3:35pm: The ASCMC Executive Board and the ASCMC Senate voted to support the gender neutral housing resolution presented by the Residential Life Committee. The Executive Board voted unanimously for the proposal and 33 Senators supported the measure. A 34th vote is being challenged on the grounds that it was counted incorrectly. This will be dealt with at the next Senate meeting.

When asked to explain his decision to run for Senate, Leppert jokingly responded with, “Because I’ve lost all sanity.” All jokes aside, his desire to make a difference at the national level and his dedication to his campaign were made very clear.

“I’m not a lawyer or a career politician, I’m a businessman,” asserted Leppert. “Honestly, I am skeptical and cynical of politicians in Washington. They only made careers for themselves.” Leppert believes his strong experience as a businessman sets him apart from the rest. During his long and illustrious career, Leppert has run five different businesses with operations on five different continents. To learn more about Leppert and his campaign, you can visit his website here.

Photo Credit: Texas Tribune

During the luncheon, Leppert mentioned the importance of commitment, public service, and taking risks. “People that succeed don’t work harder; they work much, much harder,” Leppert explained. He believes that success evolves from fundamental work ethics. In fact, he was audacious enough to state, “Average doesn’t count for much. Exceptional counts for everything.” He underscored his point with a Winston Churchill quote, stating “You make a living by what you get; you make a life by what you give.”

Above all, he shared how his education at CMC has significantly shaped his worldview and provided him with many opportunities he would not have otherwise had. “If you look back in your life, you realize how important little events are,” Leppert said with great candor, leaving his audience of young alumni to contemplate their own personal experiences at CMC.

Following the luncheon, Leppert attended a student panel discussion with a group of current CMC undergraduates. The discussion was left open to any topic and each student was given the opportunity to ask Leppert their questions. One student asked the former mayor to name a person who he looks up to or admires. While he does seek to embody positive traits he sees in others, Leppert said he did not look up to anyone in particular and sees himself as a unique political candidate. “I am me,” said Leppert.

His advice to students who are considering running for office one day is to specialize in something specific. Whether that something is in business, law, or non-profits, it is important to provide a solid base of experience before running for office, advised Leppert. In addition, he encourages current CMC students to get as much experience as possible while they can. “Get a breadth of experience, work with people who you may not be interested in working with, get exposure to different subjects,” explained Leppert with a big smile on his face. “It will all pay back dividends.”

Let’s start with the Princeton Review. Each year, they rank the top schools in the nation on criteria ranging from the highly anticipated to the rather silly (Reefer Madness?). Without further ado, here are the numbers we’ve all been waiting for:

Claremont McKenna College

Once again, CMC performed admirably in the Princeton Review in numerous areas. Take a look:

• Best Career Services – 6th
• Happiest Students – 12th
• Lots of Beer – 3rd
• Most Politically Active Students – 14th
• Most Accessible Professors – 13th
• School Runs Like Butter – 6th
• Great Financial Aid – 16th
• Best Quality of Life – 6th
• Most Popular Study Abroad Program – 20th

This list represents some good news and some bad news. While CMC has lost ground in some categories, it has also pushed forward in others. Notably, it has risen in the “Lots of Beer” category once again, from 5th last year, 12th the year before, and 20th the year before that, despite the efforts of the administration to soften our beer drinking reputation. This may provoke worry from school officials, who have been working hard to push CMC down on this list, but I would caution them not to overreact. While it is certainly true that Mr. Natty has more than a few friends (perhaps “Enemies with Benefits” is a better term) on campus, the ranking is based almost entirely on the perception of the student body, rather than on any hard evidence. Sadly, officials from the Princeton Review have not been digging through our trash cans and tallying up all of the empty cans they can find. As a result of this particular ranking method, a bizarre situation has arisen in which schools like Penn State and UC Santa Barbara rank lower on the beer drinking list than CMC. This seems dubious at best.

Rather than focus on this one ranking, however, the CMC administration should notice the many other honors on the Princeton Review list. In short, focus on the positive and take everything else with a grain of salt.

5C Roundup

Claremont Mckenna wasn’t the only school that performed strongly in the Princeton Review rankings. Among the highlights:

Harvey Mudd College was ranked among the top three schools in the country, although in some less-than-flattering categories, including “Least Beautiful Campus” However, they also proudly demonstrated their academic dedication, and were first in the entuire country in the “Students Study the Most” category. Your buildings may not be beautiful, Harvey Mudd, but I’d like to see Yale students try to turn one of their dorm quads into a pool with a waterfall. Shine on, beloved Mudders.

Pomona College performed well, scoring 9th in the “Happiest Students” category and “Best Classroom Experience Category.” In addition, they’ve moved up to 16th in the “Dorms Like Palaces” category (*cough Sontag Hall *cough *cough).

Even without a brand new resort-like residence hall (Seriously Sontag Hall? King sized beds? Can I transfer just for one of those?), Scripps scored highest among the 5C’s on the “Dorms Like Palaces” category at 8th nationwide. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has been fortunate enough to stroll through the winding maze of climbing Ivy, citrus trees, and dorms capable of putting many French Villas to shame. Only at Scripps College can one stumble across a new secret garden just about every time they try to walk to their dining hall for dinner (which, by the way, earned them the 16th spot for “Best Campus Food).

Pitzer College as well earned a series of rankings which I’m sure will particularly please its student body. My personal favorite: 17th in the “Birkenstock-Wearing, Tree-Hugging, Clove Smoking Vegetarians” category (their words, not mine). They also earned 9th in “Most Liberal Students” as well as “Lots of Race/Class Interaction,” and I would be remiss if I didn’t add their 16th rank in the “Reefer Madness” category.

This is just a small sample of the rankings earned by our fave four neighbors (can we start calling them this, please?). To see the rest of them, check out the Princeton Review website.

In addition to the above rankings, all five Claremont Colleges were included in the “Best Western Colleges” and, with the exception of Pitzer College, the list of the “Top 50 Best Value Colleges of 2011.”

One again, the Princeton Review has brought forth its judgement from on high, providing us with rankings which we use to measure our own level of success as well as that of others. Or maybe not. When examining these numbers, it’s important to remember that the Princeton Review bases its rankings almost entirely on student interviews. They explain it this way:

“The Princeton Review’s 62 college rankings are “top 20” lists entirely based on the company’s survey of students attending the 376 colleges in its book, The Best 376 Colleges. For the rankings lists in the 2012 edition, published August 2012, The Princeton Review surveyed just over 122,000 students at the 376 schools in the book (not at all schools nationwide). On the 80-question survey, students were asked to rate their own schools on various topics and report on their campus experiences at them.”

Perhaps their numbers aren’t the most scientifically precise in the field, but at least now we have an answer to the question “Which school thinks it drinks the most beer?”

Forbes

Forbes Magazine also recently released this year’s college rankings, although their system is far less categorical. Rather, they list what their calculations identify as the top 650 schools in the nation in order. Under this ranking system, the 5C’s received the following placements:

• Claremont McKenna College – 12th
• Pomona College – 23rd
• Scripps College – 41st
• Harvey Mudd College – 44th
• Pitzer College – 130th

It is important to note that the Forbes ranking system is still in its infancy, at a mere three years old, and calculates rankings differently from many other institutions. For example, Forbes places a far greater emphasis on RateMyProfessor.com rankings than do other systems.

So there you have it: another year and another set of rankings. In this glut of statistics and numbers, it is easy to forget that the best college in the country for you will always be the one that satisfies your collegiate needs most. To both newcomers and familiar faces at the Claremont Consortium this year, focus on best fit, rather than best school.

Forum Editor-in-Chief Michael Wilner '11 moderated the discussion with the Council of Presidents for the Claremont Colleges.

The presidents of the five undergraduate institutions of the Claremont Consortium, as well as the CEO of the Consortium, met for the first time in fifty years on February 28. Pitzer College’s president Laura Trombley was unable to attend, but sent a substitute member of Pitzer’s administrative staff in her place. The six school leaders came together to form a discussion panel which discussed a number of current policy issues at the 5C’s, as well as the future of the consortium as a whole.

(Watch a video of the event here.)

Organized by the Forum and the Pomona Student Union, the event took place in the Little Bridges Auditorium on Pomona’s campus, and was moderated by CMC’s Michael Wilner, editor-in-chief of the Forum.

The event was organized into two sections. First, Wilner asked each of the presidents to respond to three preplanned questions, then students in the audience were allowed to ask questions of the panel.

In the first portion, Wilner first asked the Presidents to comment on the nature of competition between the schools, specifically whether or not it limits the schools capabilities to publish research papers as separate entities rather than as one institution. Robert Walton, CEO of the consortium, pointed out that “There are times when [the five schools] are very competitive with each other, … but they are equally as strong in their collaboration. I do think that the competition actually adds a lot of value.”

Presidents Oxtoby (Pomona), Bettison-Varga (Scripps) and Gann (Claremont McKenna) answer questions on social interaction and substance policy.

In response to another question, this time regarding the different alcohol policies of the different schools and how they play off against each other, Claremont McKenna’s President, Pamela Gann, discussed the school’s alcohol policy, which can be described as one of the most liberal of the colleges. She stated, “I do think one of the inevitable roles of college is socialization of students to appropriate uses of alcohol.” Harvey Mudd College’s President Maria Klawe added that “We have really upped the alcohol education” as a means of keeping students safe.”

The candor of the event was exceptional, and each of the Presidents was professional, while at the same time demonstrating some of the same good-natured competitiveness that the students of the 5C’s know and love so well. Mr. Walton summed up the shared attitude of the Presidents best when he offered his closing remark, saying “I’m sure in thirty years, all these great colleges will be better but, right now, this is the number one consortium in the United States, hands down.”

Alumni tell me CMC has prepared me well for the journey, but have I really learned much since the 5th grade?  I have some plans, but I’ve never been more unsure of where I’ll be in five years.

Despite my personal confusion, I think I have a pretty good idea of where Claremont McKenna will be in five years. There are a lot of good “Decade in Review” articles and posts around the web lately, but I say those are written by people like Kevin Burke who can’t see into the future. Here’s what’s going to happen at CMC in the next decade.

2010:

• CMC amends the science GE requirements to allow computer science courses as an alternative option.
• The music video “That’s So North Quad” drops and takes the school by storm (just wait).
• I graduate.

2011:

• The Kravis Center opens.
• In his final act of bravery before graduation, the ASCMC Social Activities Chair will throw the largest CMC party ever in the middle of North Quad. There will be strippers, midgets, fifths, handcuffs, clowns on stilts, clowns on goats, Kanye West, and a 40-foot crane hanging a roasting pig over a spit. Epic. The next morning, a townie tied to a chair, gagged and missing his two front teeth, will wake up in the Appleby laundry room. Nobody will know how he got there. A Claremont McKenna water polo player will find the missing teeth days later at the bottom of the CMS pool. The townie will sue CMC for a few milli. In response and retaliation, the administration will cancel all ASCMC parties for the following three weeks.

2012:

• CMC announces a plan to tear down Ducey Gym and build a new gym in the “pit” across Claremont Boulevard. They have been doing this annually for years, but this time they “mean it.”

2013:

• The company that owns the College Park Apartments tries to found the sixth “Claremont” college, Upland College. The Consortium decides not to admit the school, so the company founds their own consortium — The Upland Colleges.  Holla.  The Upland Colleges will become renowned for their strict alcohol policies, degree in ergonomics, and loose women.

2014:

• An ambitious CMCer will hear about this thing called Claremont Confessions. “Sounds cool,” he says, so he brings it back. This time the site implements an anonymous video and hidden camera feature. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.
• Chipotle adds a store to the Claremont village. In-N-Out Burger takes over for Bon Appetit at the Hub.

2015:

• A few weeks ago I said to President Gann, “Tear down whatever buildings you want and rebuild them, but don’t try to tear down North Quad.”  She laughed.  ”That’s what everyone tells me!” she said.  In 2015, she draws up plans to tear down North Quad as part of what she dubs “Ganny-Gann’s Masta Plan.”

2016:

• Facebook groups remain a vehicle to achieving powerful institutional change.  President Gann mysteriously retires following the creation of the Facebook group, “WE LOVE YOU NORTH QUAD – DON’T LEAVE CMC!” The Board of Trustees hires an Economics Professor (finally!), Brock Blomberg, to take her place.  The plans to tear down North Quad are dropped.
• ASCMC gets audited by the Internal Revenue Service. Uh oh. As the ASCMC CFO shreds files associated with line items for “Tropical Lei Expense,” “Cigars for Meetings,” and “Income from Extraordinary Sources,” a CMC alumnus who was appointed head of the IRS in 2015 calls off the audit.

2017:

• Newly appointed Athenaeum Director Ward Elliot reinstates the Madrigals tradition as his first order of business. The wassail will flow once again.

2018:

• Moose Halpern (CMC ’10), running on a campaign of “What up, chief?” is elected the youngest US Senator in California history.
• Scripps goes coed and quickly becomes the most competitive 5C school to get into. Mudders will cry. The Motley will stop serving “feminista” coffee.

2019:

• Henry Kravis bequeaths a large amount of cash money to CMC under the condition that we buy, restructure, and annex Pitzer with it, renaming the school “Claremont McKravis College” (see image).
• CMC will have the largest liberal arts college endowment in the world.

________________

I can’t predict what will happen beyond 2019 — CMC might open a water park in Montclair, the senior class might take over the Children’s School playground, the consortium might kick out Pomona College — only time will tell.  Who knows what’s coming?

The Claremont Political Union was created as a confluence of the Claremont Democrats and Claremont Republicans clubs, and CMC’s two partisan newspapers, the Claremont Port Side, and the Claremont Independent. According to President of the Claremont Democrats, Elaine Maloney (SC ’08), “People might be involved in politics, but might not be allegiant to a party. But this is a good place to start for the same goal.” Mike Whatley (CMC ’11), Vice-President of Operations for the Claremont Republicans, echoed this goal: “It is a good thing to come together, and hold events together in a friendly environment.”

Yet, the debate over the choice of TV channel almost turned the event hostile. A half-dozen Republicans charged the party’s organizers with partisanship because they chose CNN over Fox News. To appease both sides, the CPU decided to switch between channels every 30 minutes. Yet, Mr. Whatley told me that “CNN was better anyway.”

By 6 PM, The Hub was full of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike, and voting in California was still open for another two hours. Sometime after 6 p.m., CNN made a projection—Barack Obama had won Delaware. The crowd of Obama supporters was glowing and cheering. On the other side, the response was more hushed during Republican projections—when John McCain won New York, the crowd remained mostly unmoved with a few scattered claps and boos.

None of the organizations in the CPU endorsed a candidate as a club, and are now focused on future events and funding. They are planning an “unconventional partisan debate” during Alumni Weekend, and are seeking funding as an organization (a consortium within a consortium?), instead of using funds from each member club. This time, club funds bought sets of red, white, and blue balloons and a handy delegate chart that was much easier to follow than that of the Situation Room at CNN.

Breaking from the usual CMC party scene, the clubs did not buy alcohol with their funds. “No one here is looking to get smashed on a Tuesday night,” said Ms. Maloney. Still, a few students improvised with Chardonnay (Obama supporters).

In CMC’s community of political involvement and partisanship, many students loved the bipartisan atmosphere. Molly Doyle (CMC ’09) said, “I’m just so excited to be here. This event would only happen at CMC.”