Hurricane Stagthena

A freshman at Scripps in one of my classes recently told a harrowing story regarding CMCers’ poor attitude towards cleaning up. After attending an event on CMC’s campus, she tried to be courteous, straightening up the disaster left behind. To this, a CMC student responded arrogantly, “This is CMC; we don’t clean up.”

The general attitude on campus seems to be of ill responsibility when it comes to cleaning up.  I’ve heard students brag about their ability to simply drop their trash wherever they are standing. Though we have a phenomenal grounds crew, this does not give CMCers the license to completely disrespect our campus.  We parade around campus, smugly behaving like children fed by a silver spoon.   Instead of taking the initiative to keep our campus clean, we simply place the burden of our hard-partying lifestyles on the backs of the hard-working dorm maids.  In the midst of the Thursday Night Club fiasco, Dean of Students took note of our nonchalant attitude towards cleaning up. On March 24, students received an email from ASCMC stating that DOS would like to see students “taking the initiative to clean up after events.”  I believe the general consensus is that we should do everything we can to prevent TNC from being canceled.  So if DOS wants us to clean, I say we clean.

There may be some preconceived notion that because students are under the influence of alcohol, they do not have to take responsibility for their actions.  Next time you are in that situation, I must ask, are you so incapacitated that you cannot place your trash in a proper receptacle?  And if you are, why on earth are you out walking around on campus?

Have we already so long forgotten those values which were once taught to us by a giant singing purple dinosaur?  I think Barney really hit the nail on the head when he uttered those immortal words – “Clean up, Clean up. Everybody do your share.” (Even this girl knows what’s up.)

Supposedly, we are a bunch of kids that are really good at economics and accounting.  Dorm damages have already amounted to over $20,000 this year. Call me crazy, but this may not be the best allocation of our financial resources. Cleaning up better won’t make all of those penalties go away, but it will help cut down on those mysterious dorm damages for lounge cleanup that get passed along to the entire residence hall.

So, CMCers, take the two seconds to throw away your cup to preserve TNC – even in its now limited capacity. At the least, cleaning up is worth several more nights  of raging.

We have noted current RA and retained rooms. We have also indicated where future RAs may live. Be aware that residents of those rooms may be asked to move next spring.

For your convenience, up to date room draw numbers are posted here.

Disclaimer: This is an informal map for informal planning purposes only. Visit Heggblade to view Housing’s official map. We do not guarantee the accuracy, timeliness, scale, or orientation of the dorm representations below. Please be aware that the North/East/South/West orientations differ by dorm.

]]> http://cmcforum.com/life/04202010-room-draw-drama/feed 10 http://cmcforum.com/opinion/04192010-dear-a-mitch-memphis-and-me http://cmcforum.com/opinion/04192010-dear-a-mitch-memphis-and-me#comments Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:00:37 +0000 Alex Mitchell http://cmcforum.com/?p=14421 On a plane back from Memphis, Tennessee, I am thinking how to formulate an answer to a rather general Dear A Mitch question: a boy did this, a girl said that, mayhem ensues. It feels trivial. In fact, it is. After a three-day check up at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, school seems inconsequential, and the twenty-five pages of screenplay I have due on Monday leaves the forefront of my mind. This article feels more important. More substantive. More emotionally satisfying. Please forgive my selfishness.

You probably already know I had brain cancer. If not, I had brain cancer. Every three months I return to St. Jude, the place I called home for nearly a year. These are, undoubtedly, the most humbling moments in my life.

Life in this part of Memphis is a hard slap in the face. One ride on a rickety hospital shuttle is telling. Rich brick estates quickly melt to the broken streets and dilapidated housing of South Memphis, a perfect resting spot for America’s best children’s cancer hospital. Two blocks from St. Jude sits the popular Shelby County Jail, and subsequently, roughly thirteen jail bond businesses. Not to forget the liquor stores, pawn shops, blood donation centers, crack heads, and a surplus of loiterers living bleakly on a malt liquor and Wendy’s Dollar Menu diet. Southern Memphis is a poverty-ridden-hellhole of crime and anguish, a dead end for aspirations. Needless to say, there is an eight-foot wrought iron fence surrounding all St. Jude properties.

St. Jude attempts to be the happiest place on earth. They are largely successful, from the doctors, to the nurses and the janitors, these are among the most genuinely nice people I have ever met. The walls are painted into playground scenes, the ceilings glittering with stars, a contrasting environment to the white washed walls of most other hospitals. To be quite literal, St. Jude is hands down the best place you could ever take a kid with cancer. Its treatment is revolutionary (my doctor designed my protocol, SJMB03). Though in all its glory, it is nonetheless, full of cancer-laden children.

When you’ve been in the cancer world a while you start to get a sense of who has a high survival rate, and unfortunately, who doesn’t. In any given waiting room there are two Southern folks comparing their kids’ diagnoses, and no matter how sweet the drawl, fourth stage neuroblastoma cuts deep. Glioblastoma steals all the air from your lungs. Thanks for trying, life, better luck with your next religion. The kids never really grasp the concept their parents fear. If they can walk, they will run, zipping by you screaming enthusiastically. At St. Jude, ignorance is a child’s bliss, and knowledge, a parent’s nightmare. Say the prayers, keep the hope, I am sure miracles happen every day, but sometimes they take breaks in Memphis.

I don’t want you to cry. I don’t want you to hold the hurt I feel looking into the empty eyes of a helpless family. I want you to take a deep breath and reflect on the life you live here in sunny Southern California. Think about all the privileges and freedoms you have to lead a healthy life. Think about your family and friends and how much they mean to you. Take a step back from the drama that is thesis, your final papers, your summer internship – whatever is consuming your every thought. Let the stress roll out of your fingertips as you imagine how good your life truly is. Collins is repetitive, DOS is infringing, a boy did this, a girl said that. Smile, you’re alive, people love you. You will be successful. Call your family, they miss you.

At some point in your life someone told you not to sweat the small stuff. Not everything is small, but most of it is not worth worrying about. Eventually everything will work out, I promise.

If you are feeling like your pockets have a little too much cash in them. If your momma doubled that fat allowance and you need to drop some of those dollars before the summer, send a little St. Jude’s way, they’ll appreciate it.

NOTE: The set of numbers posted earlier was incorrect. You may download the NEW room draw number list here.

Stay tuned to the Forum for all your room draw drama. Live, up-to-date floor plans are coming. Below is an earlier email from Dean Castro concerning room draw logistics:

PLEASE NOTE:

Exchange of priority numbers, falsifying documents, tampering with dorm charts, harassing, threatening or coercing another student into either leaving his or her chosen room or altering his or her room selection will result in judiciary action, loss of right to a room, and/or loss of the privilege to participate in the room selection process.

DOUBLE ROOMS:

If you would like to draw into a double room without a roommate, you must first seek written permission from Fid Castro in Heggblade Center.  No one will be allowed to draw into a double room by themselves without written permission. Anyone granted permission to draw into a double room without a roommate will be placed in the housing pool with all new (freshmen and transfers) and readmitted students, and will be assigned a roommate over the summer.

CLASS QUOTAS:

Approximately 10% of each residence hall is reserved for new students.

LOTTERY NUMBER GENERATION:

On or before April 16, lottery numbers will be randomly assigned by computer.  Lists of the lottery numbers sorted alphabetically and numerically will be posted at Story House.  Individual lottery numbers will be placed in student mailboxes on or before April 16.   Do not discard your lottery number. You must bring it with you to room Draw on your assigned draw night.

All students who are issued numbers must participate in Room Draw.  Students who fail to pay dorm damage amounts of $5.00 or more by Friday, April 9 before 5pm will not receive a lottery number.  Students who pay damages after the April 9 deadline, but prior to Room Draw, can still participate, but will be given a lottery number at the end of their class.

MEAL PLAN:

Students who will be living in the residence halls should be prepared to select a meal plan at Room Draw.  Your options are:  16 meals per week ($160 board plus), 12 meals per week ($120 board plus), or 8 meals per week ($80 board plus).  Students who live in the residence halls must choose a meal plan.  Those students who have received permission to be off the meal plan for medical reasons must submit a new letter from their physician stating why they should remain off the meal plan for the 2010-2011 academic year.

NORTH QUAD HALF-SUITES:

In North Quad suites, groups of four students will be able to draw into either both rooms facing north, or both rooms facing south.  In the pod suites, the option will be to draw into either both eastern rooms, or both western rooms.  There will be no option to draw into one northern and one southern room in traditional suites, nor one eastern and one western in the pods.

To exercise this housing option, all four students in the group must arrive together, and will draw based on the best lottery number of the four.  If there are no half-suites available when your four-person group enters Room Draw you will need to split up and follow the instructions for roommates (see “ROOMMATES” below). This may include one of the pairs leaving to draw at a later time if their lottery numbers are scheduled for a later time. Also, if any member of the four-person group withdraws from their selected room after Room Draw, the remaining roommates will be reassigned to a new location at the discretion of the Director of Residential Life.

OFF-CAMPUS LIVING OPTION:

If you wish to live off campus in 2010-2011, come to the Heggblade Center to pay your dorm damage (if $5.00 or more) and to sign up for the off-campus option.  Those who complete this by April 9 will be removed from the lottery and do not need to show up at Room Draw.  After April 9, those who wish to live off campus will get a lottery number and select off campus at Room Draw.  There will be a maximum of 50 students allowed to live off campus for the 2010-2011 academic year.  Married students and students with dependent children are automatically granted off-campus status and they need not come to Room Draw.

Students who decide during Room Draw to live on campus will only be allowed to move off campus at a later date under the following conditions: 1) a student on the off-campus list wishes to move into the space to be vacated on campus, and/or 2) the move is approved by the Director of Residential Life.  There will be a $100 late decision fee charged to any student who chooses to move off campus, with permission, after April 22, 2010.  Students who move off campus without permission, or who remain off campus without choosing that option at Room Draw, will also be subject to the $100 late decision fee and possible judicial action.

PROXIES:

If you will not be able to attend the room selection in person, you may assign a proxy to make the decision for you.  After you receive your lottery number (but prior to Room Draw) see Lyn Hughes in the Dean of Students Office in Heggblade Center to register your proxy.  If you are unable to find a proxy, you may ask Lyn to have a member of the Housing Committee serve as your proxy.

CONSTRUCTION:

Kravis Center construction and the Pomona College residence hall construction will continue through the 2010-2011 academic year.  The construction may continue to disrupt traffic and parking along Columbia, Eighth Street, and Ninth Street. There may continue to be noise associated with these projects.

RESIDENT TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANTS:

RTAs will be selected prior to Room Draw, and are guaranteed a space in the hall in which they will be serving.

ROOMMATES:

Those who choose to be roommates for the 2010-2011 academic year must go through Room Draw together, using the better of their two lottery numbers (or higher Room Draw ranking).  If only one of the two is able to attend the selection, a proxy must attend for the student who is unable to attend.  One roommate may serve as a proxy for another.  Proxies must be registered ahead of time with Lyn in the Dean of Students Office.

During the room selection process you will be choosing a room or a roommate for the entire 2010-2011 academic year.  You will be expected to take responsibility for the choices you make during the Room Draw process, and you will need to work out any conflicts that may arise between you and your roommate.  Once you have selected your room and roommate through the Room Draw process your decision will be binding for the full academic year and no additional changes will be made.

ROOM RATES:

Room rates for the 2010-2011 academic year will be determined in June.

ROOM GENDER DESIGNATIONS:

Beckett and Marks halls will continue to have coed floors with single sex bathrooms.  Stark Hall will also continue to have two coed floors (second and third floors) with single sex bathrooms. Rooms and floors in Claremont Hall will have no predetermined gender designation. Instead, the gender ratio will be fixed in advance and male and female students may select any room in the building during Room Draw until gender limits are met. Bathrooms for each gender will be present on each floor.

No other Mid or South Quad residence halls will have coed floors for the 2010-2011 academic year.

In Beckett, Marks, and Stark the gender split is essentially down the center of the hall, with men living on one side and women on the other.

Maps showing the gender of specific rooms will be posted in Armour Conference Room in Heggblade by Monday, April 19.

ROOM RETENTION:

Those roommates living in double rooms who wish to retain their current rooms for the 2010-2011 academic year must do so before 5pm on Friday, April 9.  This option is only open to those in double rooms, and both roommates must agree to retain.  Students who are the sole occupants of double rooms are not eligible for room retention.

Those students who want to retain their rooms need to complete the Room Retention Form (see Lyn in the Dean of Students Office) before 5pm on Friday, April 9.  Students who have not paid their dorm damage will be unable to retain their rooms.

ROOM SELECTION PRIORITY:

The room selection priority system will be based on your class standing (Senior, Junior, Sophomore, or Freshman), as determined by the Registrar.  Class groups will draw in numerical order on specified nights, based on lottery numbers.

Room selection will take place in the Curb Conference room in Heggblade Center beginning at 6pm each night.

A detailed time schedule for room selection by lottery numbers will be on the back of your lottery memo.

If neither you nor your proxy is present at the Heggblade Center for Room Draw at the time your number is called, you will be called again after 20-30 minutes.  If at that time you (or your proxy) have not arrived, Room Draw will proceed, and the next group of students will begin to select rooms.

SINGLE-ROOM WAITING LIST:

If no single rooms remain available at the time your number is called during Room Draw, you may elect to be placed on the Single-Room Waiting List.  At the discretion of the Director of Residential Life, students on the waiting list will be contacted if singles become available.  The list will be valid until October 1^st.

SMOKING:

CMC has a “courtesy policy” for smoking in student rooms.  See the Guide to Student Life, page 9 (http://www.cmc.edu/dos/cmcguide/CMC_Guide_2009-2010.pdf).

Claremont Hall is a non-smoking hall, in accordance with the environmental guidelines that determine its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Rating.

APARTMENTS:

Students who have been accepted to live in the CMC Student Apartments or College Park for the 2010-2011 academic year will not participate in any part of the Room Draw process.

SUBSTANCE-FREE RESIDENCE HALL:

Those who wish to live in a community free from tobacco products, alcohol, and other drugs may select Stark Hall during Room Draw.

Your signed license agreement includes an agreement not to bring these substances into the building, and to not allow your guests to do so.  You may review the actual license agreement by seeing Lyn in the Heggblade Center.

Dear CMC Students,

Last night, I sent an email clarifying that the Senior Thesis Fountain Party was NOT canceled, but that we were reviewing ways to make it less intrusive to the rest of the College. Later in this email, I am going to announce that the Senior Thesis Party can continue. However, here are some important points.

First let me say that I was the one who asked Dean Nauls to speak with the Senior Class President about ways to mitigate the intrusive aspects of the party. It was not Dean Spellman, nor Dean Nauls, nor anyone else. It was me, and I take full responsibility for it. Some of the vitriol that has been aimed at others was misdirected.

The reason I asked Dean Nauls to address this is because this event has not been without significant harm to a few individuals, and this has escalated in the last few semesters. In particular, students carrying laptops have been completely soaked, and they have lost everything on their laptop. Think about that for a moment; how would you explain to a student that the College condones this? And although it is less severe in nature, some faculty members have also said that it is difficult to continue teaching classes because of loud music. As an educational institution, we have to be concerned about this.

So I wanted Dean Nauls to speak with William Robelo-Lara about the event. It seemed appropriate for the Assistant Dean & Director of Student Activities to discuss this with the Senior Class President. Then a lot of misinformation about what happened began circulating in social networking sites.

This morning I met with William, Senior Class Gift Chair Kyle Block, and some members of the Dean of Students Office. We have agreed to let the Senior Thesis Fountain Party continue, in its old location, but simply want those participating to be respectful of others and noise issues. My concerns about this ought to be clear, and I am calling upon those who will be celebrating the end of Senior Thesis to be mindful of this. Have fun, celebrate, and please be respectful of others. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

Now with regard to issue of student traditions, I hear you. Although the TNC’s were never “canceled”, it feels like we have tinkered with many social traditions lately. The issue of TNC’s had to do with the safety of the events, and we now have a plan for those concerns. As a show of good faith that I am not against traditions, I personally will toast the Class of 2010 outside of the Registrar’s Office at noon on April 26th. I will also invite a few surprise guests to join me in toasting you.

Sincerely,

Jeff Huang

VP for Student Affairs

Dear Seniors,

I am truly apologetic to those of you who are about to turn in your thesis this semester. Unfortunately, the Dean of Students Office decided to end the Senior Thesis Champagne Fountain Party. The Dean of Students office received several complaints by professors due to the ruckus outside of their classrooms and by underclassmen who ended up getting wet when they passed by the fountain. I’ve talked to Jim about this several times, and the Dean of Students have made up their mind and are ending this tradition for good. For those of you who are submitting your thesis this semester, I will give you your champagne bottle at the Senior Apartments. There’s not much I can do to reinstate this tradition, but what I can do is make our Senior Thesis Party the best that it can be.

Robelo-Lara followed-up with another email reassuring seniors that he would take up the matter with the Alumni Association and encouraged students to contact the Dean of Students directly.

Seniors who completed their thesis last semester celebrate at the fountain.

Multiple parties share responsibility in the policy shift. Fundamentally, students – and uninvited visitors – have been making a mess of the college’s dorms and quads. Out of $20,000 in damages quoted by Story House over the past year, 65% has been the byproduct of TNCs. “It doesn’t make sense for us to continue this pattern,” Dean of Students Mary Spellman said. “We’re not opposed to the event, but things need to be managed differently.”

Spellman added: “There’s reasonable damage and there’s throwing a chair at a window.”

Jim Nauls, Assistant Dean of Students, expressed strong feelings that the event had grown out of control. “Unless we do something about this, something drastic could happen,” Nauls lamented. “This kid that got his face beat in last week… it could have been a lot worse. It was a product of people not paying attention.”

The problem is twofold. Though big parties are often apt to cause damage, TNCs are usually hosted in spaces unsuitable for big parties. The result is overcrowding, impossible enforcement, and spillage into a secondary party outside the dorm. “The people congregating outside are just going to have to stay at home,” Nauls said.

Thursday Night Club, or TNC, was established only four years ago, originally as a small party revolving around a keg.

After informing them of TNC’s immediate suspension, DOS approached the new ASCMC administration with broad demands. In order to continue, the parties must be more tightly controlled, guests must be more strictly monitored, and damages that persist must actually be paid for.

Indeed, one major issue for the Dean of Students has been the debt ASCMC has accrued. Each year for the past four years, the student government has built up a massive Story House bill, putting off receipts until the end of their term – and often dumping them onto the next government, which is forced to pay a bill they don’t fully understand. The new ASCMC administration cannot then appeal the damage receipts, as most of them are from parties months past. “There’s also the issue of whether there’s downward pressure to meet your damages when you’re not going to pay for it – you’re just going to dump it,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Jefferson Huang. “Hansell inherited a bill; Isayas inherited one; Tammy is now inheriting one. It’s everyone’s problem.”

Story House has grown frustrated with the system, and has pushed the Dean of Students Office to press ASCMC on payments on an immediate basis.

“The expectation has been changed, and we’ll meet them on their expectations,” ASCMC Vice President Chris Jones said. “In the very least, we’re meeting the level that’s been met by past administrations. And if they change expectations, they should expect some adjustment time.”

Currently, the new ASCMC administration has been given a bill of $13,000 in damages for TNC parties.

“It’s not just because there’s a large debt owed. That in and of itself wouldn’t be enough for us to cancel [TNC],” Spellman added. “It’s just that, every week, more and more, there’s damage. And there’s a building attitude of, when the party ends, people can just leave garbage sitting. It’s getting worse.”

Jones and ASCMC President Tammy Phan would not rule out contesting portions of the $13,000 bill. But they were more concerned with taking preventative measures throughout their term, which started this week.

“The real problem is not the fact that the bills haven’t been paid,” Phan noted. “It’s the fact that we, as students, have caused thousands of dollars in damage over the course of a year. It’s that they have to be paid in the first place.”

Phan said, “We’re leaning towards any effort that will allow us to have TNCs, period.”

Jones went on to push back against the method of charging from Story House. “We’ve been mis-assigned charges very frequently,” he said. “It’s checking your rental car before you take it out of the lot. A lot of this is not ours.

Alexander Reichert, Dorm Activities Chair, has drafted a proposal that DOS has accepted as adequate. In response, DOS has lifted the ban on the assumption that his plan will succeed. But the implication is that ASCMC now holds full responsibility of what happens, and that the future of Thursday parties rests on their ability to curtail assault and vandalism.

“The first step is to increase security,” said Reichert. “The second step is to be more stringent on who we allow into our parties.” Reichert noted that TNCs would be smaller, and strictly CMC-only, with a possibility of a guest list for friends of CMCers from the other four colleges. But one goal is to avoid “Pitzer students coming in, and drinking the alcohol they never paid for,” he said. “We are open to making these 5C parties, but the other colleges will have to contribute.”

All TNCs will now card at the door for CMC identification, and will be fenced off. “Fencing sets a precedent,” Reichert added. “These parties can’t just be open and sprawling.” ASCMC will also be hiring security other than Campus Security, which has proven ineffective.

While Nauls, Spellman and Huang were originally in disagreement over whether to truly cancel Thursday Night Club for good, they have agreed to work towards a revised version of the event – knowing that parties will occur every Thursday, anyway.

“We were ready to actually pull the plug on TNCs to say stop,” said Huang. “It really came to a boil for us shortly before the ASCMC elections. I told Jim I thought doing that now would enter us into the issue of candidates, so we waited until after the elections were over.”

Dear CMC,

Welcome back from Spring Break! We hope that you got some R & R during the vacation. Back to reality, though… Recently, administrators in the Dean of Students office have canceled Thursday Night Clubs indefinitely. Why did DOS cancel TNC? For a lot of reasons. As you read in the last Party Inform, “This isn’t because of one specific incident, but as DOS examines certain policy issues TNCs will unfortunately remain off the Calendar.” And here are the some of those reasons:

• We aren’t taking care of our campus: Story House charges caused over the course of the year have amounted to over $20,000 of damages. Story House charges are incurred when:
  • Party hosts and attendees don’t clean up after the event and cups, cans, bottles, and other trash are left everywhere
  • Things get crazy–broken window screens, furniture, and glass, bloody walls, hand prints, etc.
  • Story House housekeepers clean things up for professors, prospective students, and visitors, often charging overtime for their work.
• Fights: TNC is actually a CMC-only event. When non-CMCers attend TNC (other 5Cers or off-campus), things tend to become unruly (AKA: people fight).

• TNC isn’t what it used to be: Once upon a time, TNC was a magical event for CMCers. Dorm presidents were responsible for creating an intimate event that facilitated small-scale social interaction. It was an opportunity for students to talk, dance, and relax from the workweek. Recently, however, things have changed. After the party ends, students congregate outside and campus safety isn’t capable of keeping things safe with such a large, usually rowdy, group.

What does DOS want?

1. An elevated expectation of dorm presidents and their responsibilities when they throw an event
2. Better containment at events, so there isn’t a large mob of people outside the designated area, or non-CMCers sneaking into the party
3. Facilitation of more efficient security with higher expectations for maintaining the events as CMC-only
4. Students (innocent bystanders, party guests, event host) taking the initiative to clean up after events and prevent dorm damages and holding one another accountable
5. All events not in private residents’ rooms, like Beirut tournaments, with a large number of students (20-30+) to be registered with Jim Nauls in advance

What is ASCMC doing to try and save our Thursday nights? ASCMC members have met with DOS and the DAC and SAC have submitted a proposal to the Dean of Students office. The proposal includes such measures as increased security, ensuring TNCs are CMC-only by enforcing CMC IDs, a greater variety of event locations, a focus on the quality of TNCs rather than the quantity of them, and incentive-based clean-up crews.

DOS wants changes or TNCs aren’t going to happen anymore. We’re hoping that these initiatives, although new and different, will allow CMCers to have our TNC-type events again and even improve the social culture of Thursday nights. Much of the proposal has been well received and DOS may grant one Thursday night event next week as a “trial run.”  

What can we do as a school?

• Register events.
• Take responsibility and clean up after ourselves.
• Listen to the RAs. They want to save Thursdays, too.

And now?

Our Dean of Students office believes us to be responsible adults.  We all know we have a social life unique from any other school and it’s important to take the necessary steps to preserve CMC’s long-standing social traditions.  Step back, put things into context, and understand that there is not going to be any significant change for the worst if everyone shows up and does their part.    Feel free to reply to this e-mail with any questions. Be sure to check the Forum and tomorrow’s Party Inform, where more information will soon be available.
Sincerely,

ASCMC

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.