Sign up on facebook here, and be sure to RSVP with the Ath, as well.

There will be three 20-minute debates, with each relying on two student debaters and one moderator from the faculty or administration. The student debaters will go head to head while moderators provide insight into the issue and give legitimacy to the discussion. It’ll be serious but entertaining debate.

The first debate will cover the expansion of the College to 1400 students. With the addition of Claremont Hall and other building projects in the works, the Board of Trustees is considering plans to make the student body bigger, possibly part of a larger effort to raise the visibility of CMC within the national rankings. But is this the best choice for CMC? Will the fundamental nature of the college change with a population increase? What elements of CMC’s character would be lost? Or improved? What’s the best way to proceed with the expansion?

The second debate will switch focus to current campus life: Should CMC change its alcohol policy? The role of alcohol in campus culture has been a long time issue for the college, since CMC remains a wet-campus. This policy, however, has come under fire in light of recent alcohol-related incidents, and the Dean of Students office has stated that “things have to change.” Do they? If so, how?

And for the final debate we will turn to a question that often goes overlooked, but seems to merit consideration: Is CMC male-dominated? The college abandoned its single sex admissions decades ago, and the name Claremont Men’s College only a few years later. But the college continues to be majority male, while outside CMC, women make up 57 percent of college students. Does this mean that CMC has a bias towards males? Do women have a different role on campus? Even if they do, does it even matter?

A full roster of debaters and moderators will be announced shortly. Stay tuned for updates, previews, and more.

Sign up here: http://bit.ly/athdebate2

Bike shop employee Melissa Irvine takes a look at a student's bike. Photo credit: Katie Walker '10

In addition to fixing bikes, the shop also offers rental bikes.  Nestled in the basement of Wohlford Hall, it remains largely unused by the student body despite the remarkable fact that repairs and rentals are provided free of charge.  Mike Carroll (‘12), an employee at the shop, says that while rentals have been steady since the shop’s opening in late September, traffic is still lagging.

“[There are] four or five people during the afternoons.  Less on the mornings or weekends,” says Carroll, one of several student bike technicians employed by the shop.  The student employees are working through Federal Work Study, which likely accounts for the long hours of the shop.

In an article detailing the release of the shop on the CMC homepage, Dean of Students Jeff Huang hailed the shop as being a breakthrough both in terms of sustainability as well as an alternative for freshmen disallowed from bringing their own cars to campus.  Huang cited the service the shop would provide the school, saying that “Many students bring a bike to campus, but most don’t have an air compressor, or even a hand pump, nor do they have a way to put the bike in a car and take it to a bike shop.”

Many students do a poor job at taking care of their rides, and the bike techs at the shop have worked on numerous bikes with mechanical issues placing the rider at risk.   ”I am consistently surprised to see the condition of some of the bikes that are brought in.  Amazing that they are still able to be ridden,” said Carroll, who rides both competitively and recreationally.

From the language of the article, it would seem the opening of the bike shop was going to hail the advent of a bicycle revolution on campus.  Perhaps part of the shop’s relative lack of patrons is a lack of publicity.  The shop opened in mid-September with little fanfare.  With training provided by Paul Miller, owner of Cycle Werks bike shops in Orange County and father of assistant dean of admissions Adam Miller (‘03), the staff at the CMC bike shop are qualified to handle a variety of repairs.  ”Even if we can’t fix it for you, it’s still good to identify any problem so it can be taken care of sooner rather than later,” says Carroll.  ”There is a bike shop just a short walk down to the Village, with an incredibly friendly and helpful staff.”

Pitzer's Green Bike Program

Nonetheless, the shop is under-utilized.  It’s disappointing to see something that could be a legitimate bonus for the CMCcommunity sit empty for the majority of the day. And those are long days, mind you, with hours from 9 AM- 10 PM on weekdays and 11 AM- 6 PM on weekends.  Why the shop needs to be open well after dark is a bit of a mystery.  Emergency tune-ups perhaps? Maybe its tucked away location and lack of signage are to blame– in contrast, Pitzer’s Green Bike Program is housed next to their student center and has an eye-catching facade.

With this new addition to CMC’s sustainability agenda, perhaps some of the car-less freshmen should consider investing in a two-wheeled form of transportation. In the meantime, at least the CMC student body will have the security of knowing you can get your gears oiled any time of day.

The email goes on to imply that  the RA’s have stalled any drastic action by DOS, but it also states that “things have to change” if CMCers are going to be able to enjoy the alcohol-related privileges they currently have.   The rest of the email is a reiteration of basic tenets of CMC alcohol policy:

1.     Put it in a red cup. If it’s not in a red cup, it will be confiscated.

2.     No glass. If you break glass at a party there is a $200 fine.

3.     If you’re in trouble, don’t be afraid to call the RA on duty.

4.     Drink within your limits.

5.     If it’s a CMC only party, all other students (and townies) will be asked to leave.

CMC Public Alcohol Policy: Alcoholic beverages may be served and consumed only at private events limited to members of the College community and their invited guests. Alcoholic beverages may not be served or consumed at events open to the public, such as intercollegiate athletic contests, or outside the confines of a registered and fenced party area. (Guide to Student Life page 32)

The email singles out “one particular event”, which for “privacy” reasons it does not disclose,  but which sources say was the transportation of a student suffering from acute alcohol poisoning.

But what does all this really mean?  At the beginning of each Fall semester people are excited to return to school and freshman are still adjusting.  There are a few problematic alcohol-related incidents.  These incidents in turn prompt a response from DOS, who, with our safety and the image of the institution in mind, make a serious attempt to “remind” students to follow the common sense rules that most of us have no trouble following. The past few years, actual policy changes have been a part of this cycle.  These changes have included a prohibition of outside drinking games (last year), and stricter accountability standards for TNC (two years past).  Despite these measures, CMC’s drinking culture has remained largely the same.

Tuesday’s meeting between DOS and the RAs involved a more serious conversation than usual about the evolution of the school’s drinking culture, and is apparently only the first in a series of meetings that may very well result in concrete measures to moderate a party atmosphere that DOS feels has gone from fun to dangerous.

Resident Assistant Caroline Taylor (Apartments, ’10), was kind enough to talk to the Forum about what is going on.  According to Taylor, the crux of the problem is that too much of the focus is now not on “partying” but solely on drinking.

“The culture needs to be where it was five years ago,” she says.  “We are on your [the students’] side.  We want people to be able to drink.  Drink in your rooms, take shots, but then go out to the party and socialize!  It’s just not about drinking everywhere.”

Apparently a big part of the issue being discussed is the prevalence of actual alcohol bottles, particularly handles of hard alcohol, being brought to parties like TNC.  When this happens, the focus shifts from a friendly conversation with a trusty red cup in hand to putting down as much booze as possible.  This is why the “no broken glass” and “red cup” policies are receiving extra attention.

The take away is this:  yes, there have been warnings like this in the past that have had no serious consequences.  This time around it looks like the real deal.

I spoke with a producer on Wednesday morning who does not work for MTV, but was working on a project for MTV. He wanted a bright and airy facility where a fundraiser concert with a surprise musical act would take place. Everyone attending would have to pay to enter.

Not exactly the wild (and free) MTV party spring break makes you think of?  And that “bright and airy facility?” McKenna Auditorium.  What about the surprise musical act?

I later found out the name of the musical act that this producer is working with, and although I promised him not to reveal the name, I’m even more convinced that I made the right call. If we made a list of the 100 most popular artists that CMC students, as a whole, would desire on campus, this wouldn’t be on that list. Probably not the next 100 either.

Unsubstantiated rumors overheard by our extensive network of sources suggest this mystery artist was to be Naughty By Nature, the corniest rap group of the last decade.

Given less than a week’s notice to set up an event for a mystery D-list guest, the administration could hardly live up the hype inspired by the magic words “MTV party.”

Dear Members of the CMC Class of 2010,

I hope this email finds you doing some interesting things, and getting excited about returning for your senior year.

It won’t be long before we start the fall semester, which brings me to the point of this special email. Please take a moment to review this information, as it contains information and deadlines about your life after CMC.

My colleagues and I have noticed, over our years of work at CMC, that some students will come back to campus having done some thinking about their lives after college, and they may also have a plan for how they want to approach those interests. Others have not done much thinking or planning, and they suddenly find themselves falling behind their classmates.

Regardless of your level of preparation up until today, we’d like to make sure that you have everything you need to advance to the next level of your post-college planning. (Special information for international students is also at the bottom of this email.) Here are some important pieces of information.

For Those Who May Intend to Enter the Job Market: Employer information sessions begin the second week of the fall semester, so you really need to get going! Don’t be embarrassed if you don’t know how the process works. Instead, you need to spend some time reviewing the resources at the CMC Career Services website (http://cmc.edu/csc/). Register for CMConnect and check it regularly. Then, under the section entitled, “Who’s My Counselor?”, you will find the name of the staff member in Career Services who will help you. You can schedule a meeting with your career counselor by calling (909) 607-7038. Whether you are an advanced job seeker or someone who is just starting out, there’s always more to learn, which will help polish your candidacy so that you are completely prepared and ready.

For Those Who Intend to Enter Graduate School: Hopefully you are planning for the standardized test that you’ll need to take (if you haven’t already taken it), and assembling a list of universities you will apply to. No one is better at advising you about graduate study than your faculty members, as they will understand the strengths, weaknesses, and subtleties of the different universities that you are considering. The Career Services website has links to the pre-law guide, the Joint Science Center’s pre-med guide, Professor Pitney’s webpage, and a number of other terrific resources. (Go here: http://cmc.edu/csc/, and select “Links”, “Pre-Law”, or “Medical” on the right column.) Also, if you don’t know which faculty members to ask about your graduate school interests or need any other help, contact Career Services at (909) 607-7038.

For Those Who May Be Interested in a National Award or Fellowship: There are many opportunities for graduate study, travel overseas, or both. I can’t fully explain the 22 we have on our website, so I have chosen to describe one of them to get you excited here:

· The Fulbright program will pay you to have an international experience next year, as well as give you the impressive credential of having been a Fulbright Scholar. (See www.fulbrightonline.org.) The US State Department awards about 1,500 Fulbright awards each year to college students who are US citizens. The Fulbright deadlines are very early in the fall semester, and you need to have started thinking and planning by September so that you are ready by the time you return to campus. (For CMC’s Fulbright calendar, email Ms. Joke Johnson at: jjohnson@cmc.edu.)

Information on all 22 National Awards and Fellowships that CMC participates in can be found here: http://cmc.edu/academic/nationalawards/ . The CMC Liaison on National Awards and Fellowships is Ms. Joke (“Yo-kuh”) Johnson (jjohnson@cmc.edu, Center Court B-17).

For Students Who Are Seeking to Travel, Perform International Service or Missionary Work, or Work Overseas: There is a new website which contains information on thousands of overseas opportunities, updated daily, which can be sorted by country or field. It’s called GoinGlobal.com, and the CMC Career Services Center has a subscription. (To get a password, call or stop by Career Services, Heggblade Center 2^nd Floor, (909) 607-7038.) Be sure that you are fully aware of the travel and immigration issues surrounding your work overseas. Some countries will require immunizations, special visa applications, and have rules about the kind of work you are doing. You should also check the U.S. State Department’s website for travel advisories and safety precautions. (See http://www.state.gov/travel/.)

For Those Who Aren’t Sure What’s Next: You need to get going! You haven’t really missed anything yet, but you will soon if you procrastinate. We have lots of resources and diagnostics for students like you, and perhaps the “perfect” opportunity is waiting for you. Again, we strongly recommend that you review the Career Services website (http://cmc.edu/csc/) and then contact your Career Counselor (at (909) 607-7038) about next steps.

Special Information for International Students: The process of entering graduate school in the United States is very similar to the application process for undergraduate education. But with regard to working in the United States after graduation, there are some limitations on the length of employment or practical training for visa students. (The length of employment varies depending on your visa status.) If you are unclear about your employment status, please considering contacting one of the staff members at International Place (http://iplace.claremont.edu/iplace/main/contact.php) for more information. Also, many of the awards and fellowships that you may hear about are only open to U.S. citizens. However, most nations have various relationships with other countries, and an Internet search may result in identifying awards and fellowships that you are eligible for.

What’s the next step for you? We want it to be one that you’re very happy with, and we’re here to help. You probably noticed that many of these resources encourage you to use Career Services; you really should make sure you’re using all of their resources.

You can do this; now go out and execute! Best wishes, and see you soon,

Jeff Huang

VP & Dean of Students

CMC is joining with Pitzer College and Pomona College in restricting freshmen from bringing cars to campus next year. It’s my understanding that HMC is also considering a similar decision for the future, but no decisions have been made for the coming year.

Each of the Claremont Colleges has a slightly different set of circumstances for their decisions, and I cannot speak for the others.

In CMC’s case, the construction of the Kravis Center and the re-routing of traffic around the College have caused us to become concerned about the supply and location of parking for students, faculty, staff, and visitors. There are also environmental and community reasons why we think a restriction on freshman (not transfer students) cars will be beneficial. But the supply and location of parking is a concern.

Of course, there may be a few new students who have exceptional situations that request a waiver to the parking restriction. A few already have. We’ll review them on a case-by-case basis.

To help mitigate the situation, we have a couple of things we’re working on this summer. First, we’re building a small bike shop in the basement of Wohlford Hall. Students will be able to sign out “loaner” bikes for free, as well as get tires inflated, minor repairs, and things like that. It will be staffed by students. Of course, bikes aren’t helpful for every situation, but you can take one to run an errand in the Village.

Second, the Claremont University Consortium is in discussions with a national bank to add an ATM machine and/or branch bank in the Honnold-Mudd Library. There will also be a new coffeeshop opening in the Honnold-Mudd Library this year. These services may cut down the number of off-campus trips students need to make.

Finally, all of these issues are going to be more comprehensively addressed through the master planning process, which will be completed in the next one to two years.

Jeff Huang

When asked to elaborate on the “exceptional situations” that may justify a waiver on the parking restriction, Dean Huang offer this:

If you’re wondering what an “exceptional circumstance” is for the sake of an exemption to the parking rule, I cannot possibly define all of them. As a general rule, I would think that family and medical matters would be two important categories. An example might be that a student lives in Southern California and has a family member with an ongoing illness. Of course, we would verify this and then approve it.

More information will be posted as it is made available.

On the first day of this semester, I went to Ethan Andyshak, the Director of Residential Life, and requested to be moved to a single. He informed me that for a variety of reasons some students were not going to be returning this semester and that there was a chance he’d be able to fill my request. He’d said he would get back to me with an answer in no longer than one week.

It has been a little over two months. I have yet to receive a response. I have had my countless emails outright ignored. I have had five pointless meetings. I have talked with Fid Castro, Ethan Andyshak’s direct superior. And I have yet to receive one freaking definitive word. Not a yes, not a no. I still have stuff piled in my car in preparation for a potential move that I have been told over and over again could occur any day now.

This is what I have been able to cobble together about the housing situation as I sifted through the maze of double speak that has been spewed my way. First, there still are open singles. Multiple singles. However, as much as it pains me to say this, I can kind of understand why I have not been put into one of these open rooms. I have been told they are keeping them open in order to create flexibility during the RA change over. This does make sense to me. They have strung me along by claiming I may still receive one of these rooms after spring break. I have a sneaking suspicion that this article might be the nail in my coffin that prevents this from happening.

The real reason I am angry goes as follows. At the beginning of the year there were students living in singles requesting to live in doubles anywhere. While I am left to wonder why these people were put in singles to begin with, I’ll ignore that question for the time being. It is important to keep in mind that this information has come straight from Mr. Andyshak himself. The truth could be even more ridiculous than what he has happened to let slip during our numerous conversations.

These were students who wanted to move to doubles, so switching rooms would have been a net benefit for both sides. However, because of the bureaucracy of the system I was not put into contact with any of the several people requesting to move into a double until last week. That would be 2 full months after I first made my request. Unsurprisingly, at this point in the year they were so settled into their rooms that they no longer wanted to move.

I want to make clear that I don’t want this article to be seen as a personal attack. For all I know Ethan Andyshak is merely following protocol. If this is the case, it’s not with him that I have a problem. It’s rather with the painfully inefficient bureaucracy of the system. I fully understand that not all requests can be honored. But I don’t feel like it is asking too much to say that requests should be dealt with in a timely and efficient manner. A yes when willing parties exist, and a no when they do not—that’s all I really want from my housing department.

Housing is an important part of our college experience. From what I have heard anecdotally, I am not the only one who experienced this sort of turmoil. This article was really just me being a whiner. Tell me your stories. If you plan to apply to be an RA in the future and are worried about retribution, post anonymously, but these wrongs must be aired. Maybe once and for all we can help destroy the bureaucratic red tape that defines CMC’s housing policies.

Yohei, last week CMC held no sponsored parties. We all understand that you need a break from throwing events and that there has been an increase in alcohol-related incidents at CMC. Is there anything else you can tell us in terms of what to expect in the future and what really happened?

Recently, the Dean of Students’ office told us there were a few issues we needed to deal with. We started discussing those issues and were unable to reach a solution in time, which is why last week’s parties were canceled. Fortunately, we had a meeting last Friday discussing each issue and changes that needed to happen. We came up with a few changes. We’re going to start implementing those and bringing back parties this weekend.

What are the changes?

Well, it’s a lot and not all of it is clear at this point. For one thing, we have to register our parties with the school differently. [Parties have to be registered at least two weeks in advance with details such as the number of attendees. The regulations for a registered party are correlated with the estimated attendance of the event.] We’ve always registered TNCs as a 100-person event because we used to get about 100-150 people at each one. The average TNC attracts about 300 people now, sometimes more. We’re going to start making changes reflecting that.

We will have more security to keep non-affiliates out. We’ve always had fenced off parties once in a while and they’ve been great—it’s just that they’re all going to be like that which will be different.

Additionally, there are a lot of parties, like the 24 Hour Party, that people expect to happen that are looking very iffy right now. The DOS is against having a 24 Hour Party at this point. We will continue to talk to them. We’re doing our best to keep the same fun continuing.

To what do you attribute the increase in attendance at CMC’s parties?

I think there is a misperception that people are more out of control than in the past—that is just not true. There have been more reported alcohol-related incidents this year than in the past, but we’ve also had many more attendees at each event. So proportionally, alcohol-related incidents are probably not more prevalent than in the past.

As for parties in general, there’s been a lot less intercampus partying over the last couple years. We try to pick up the slack at CMC, which causes problems. My freshman year I went to a lot of Pomona and Mudd 5C parties. I think people still go to Mudd but not Pomona.

Why is that?

I think our parties are just a lot better (laughs). Also, maybe people are used to our parties and don’t want to go other places. I think Mudd has some crazy parties and they put a lot more effort into them than even we do, but our parties have just as many people now.

Is there anything CMCers need to do to help the current party situation?

We want CMC students to keep doing the same thing, but watch out for non-CMCers more. For example, if a Scripps student comes here and has an alcohol-related problem, the parents call the Scripps administration who calls the CMC administration, and that’s hard to deal with. (If you have a friend visiting, whether it be from the other 4Cs or from further away, I want CMCers to realize that they have to be responsible for their friends actions.

Have you thought about charging other schools for parties like our TNC? Something like requiring non-CMCers to pay $3 at each party?

Haha, that’d be awesome. We can’t do that though, it has to do with our rules.

Every CMCer knows your name—the Party Inform is the one weekly digest e-mail students anticipate all week and hold dearly when they receive it. Some people even print it out and hang it on their wall. Who writes the Party Inform? How early in the week do you know what will be in it? What is the process involved each week?

(Laughs) People actually put it on their walls? Well, TNCs are thrown by dorm presidents. Sam Stecker, the Dorm Affairs Committee Chair, is in charge of rotating which dorm throws that week’s TNC. Sometimes multiple dorms help out. Fridays are often uneventful, but CMC usually has non-alcoholic events like movie night. I often feel like Saturdays are my responsibility, so unless another school is throwing a party I throw one at CMC or find someone to throw one with me.

I meet with the Social Affairs Committee Chair from the other colleges every Sunday and discuss the upcoming weekend. In general, we try to plan as far ahead as possible. If there is an open Saturday, CMC always ends up picking it up and hosting a party. The other schools don’t make sure they have a party every Saturday. That’s another reason we have had a hard time—we always make sure there’s something going on.

As for the other events, anybody who wants an event to be in the Party Inform sends me an email by midnight on Wednesday.

How much planning goes into each event?

The bigger the event, the earlier you’d like to plan ahead. We have to register smaller parties two days in advance and larger parties two weeks in advance. The hardest part is the brainstorming. We—a group of people consisting of dorm presidents and other involved parties—sit around and talk about what we want to do. In the days leading up to the party, we spend a few hours shopping every day to go buy the decorations, beverages, and whatever else we need (cups, etc.). The day of a party, the people involved in throwing the party usually end up spending the entire day on that event.

How much does all this cost?

The cheaper parties float around $300, most of it for decorations, beverages and cups. Bigger parties on Saturdays like the Toga Party can go up to $1,000 or more. A lot of that is security and fencing. Security is especially expensive, as you can imagine. The new rules we are discussing with the DOS will make TNCs cost twice as much.

Where does the money come from?

All of it comes from the ASCMC from SAC, DAC, Senate, dorm funds, etc. It’s all money allocated from the ASCMC from student membership fees and fundraisers like yearbook sales. Everything is on the books and done through reimbursement as the ASCMC is a 501(c)(3) organization. We also go to different CMC and 5C organizations to get money depending on what the event is. For major 5C parties we get funding from all 5Cs.

Last weekend’s White Party, for example, was primarily funded by CMC, but we asked for the maximum from the other schools. Of course, not all 5C schools have as much money as CMC does.

What role does the Dean of Students play in all this?

The Dean of Students’ office deals with the issues when things go wrong, and then they talk to us. This year we’ve had a lot of communication between the DOS and ASCMC. They keep us updated on issues we have and talk to us and discuss possible solutions with us. It sucks that the rules are getting tougher, but they haven’t dropped a single rule on us without talking about it, which is great. Overall, there’s a lot of communication.

What drew you to the position of Social Affairs Committee Chair?

I wanted to be SACC within the first month of my arrival at CMC. Basically, I realized that we had a large budget we could throw parties with and all we had to do was throw parties with it. I was dorm president last year and saw how things worked via that job. I threw a lot of parties without an official title in my suite, and I guess it just went from there.

Who will be the next SACC?

I haven’t heard of anyone who has wanted to step up. Hopefully someone will. I don’t want to do it next year because there are a lot of other positions I’d be more interested in. If I were going to run for an ASCMC position I’d want to run for class president. The senior class president gets to throw the 100 and 200 days left parties, as well as frequent Las Vegas trips.

Can you talk about the White Party controversy from last week and what your role in it was?

Fortunately I wasn’t the one who had to deal with it. Isayas Theodros, the Sophomore Class President, hosted the party and had to deal with it the most. Still, the ASCMC sat down as soon as we heard about it and discussed what we should do. I think we did exactly what we should have done—nothing.