Carmen Lundell (Boswell) If you couldn’t guess by her use of the phrase “uff da” or pronunciation of the word “bagel,” Carmen was born and raised in Wayzata, Minnesota. Because she can’t get enough of the Ducey weight room, Carmen fills her athletic appetite by diving for the CMS Swim and Dive team and teaching aerobics for the Claremont Colleges (P.E. 007 if you’re interested in enrolling).  Carmen studies Government with a Leadership Sequence in hopes of becoming the next Sophia Grace. When you see Carmen at a party, don’t be alarmed that you missed the “theme party” memo. Carmen just likes to showcase her extensive costume collection.

 Lannie Rosenfield (Green) As a native Chicago resident, Betty aka “Lannie” Rosenfield is an avid Bulls fan with both season tickets and a mild to moderate understanding of who is on the team. Contrary to popular belief, Ms. Rosenfield’s tan is not a result of her Indian heritage, but instead due to her dedication to the Wohlford bench. Hey! Let’s play two truths and a lie: Lannie has failed: a) jogging PE, b) spinning PE or C) inline skating PE. TRICK QUESTION! She’s failed all three. Despite all these failures, she’s remains optimistic that Taylor Swift will one day write a song about a love-affair they will inevitably have.

Connor O’ Boyle (Wohlford) I am from Seattle, Washington and I actually do like the rain. I fly fish like its my job; the waders are my favorite part, as I look like a 90 year old man. I’m a Biology/Pre-med major and on the football team. I am an avid outdoorsman, climbing trees and making fires all over the pacific northwest. If you catch me wearing flannel don’t worry, I’m not the brawny man.

Kelsey Brown (Beckett) Kelsey, also known as “KBrown” or “KBro,” comes from the capital of America’s Dairy State. Contrary to stereotypes about Wisconsin, she’s not nice. She is notoriously bad with numbers but can write a sentence more eloquently than any other RA. Thus, she is a lit major. Kelsey can be further characterized by her constant fidgeting, her love for writing and her obsession with pesto pasta. Although she is only two months older than some of her WOA babies, most of them still call her “Mama Kels.” She hopes her residents in Beckett will love her even half as much.

Katie Lorish (Berger) Katie Lorish is an Econ-Accounting and Government major from Portland, Oregon. Aside from long walks on the beach and colorful sunsets, she enjoys grubbing on pizookies, collecting cats for her dorm room collection, showing Connor O’Boyle how to build v-type and turboprop aircraft engines (he is such a rook), and posting inappropriate Craigslist ads. As a haiku-writing prodigy since age 2, she kindly provided one of her most heart-felt pieces with the Forum readers: Berger is the most glamorous dorm on campus, Boom boom pow Berger.

Ari Davis (Claremont) Ari is an International Relations major addicted to traveling and will often be found pacing back and forth in Claremont Hall planning future trips. Ari spent the summer walking across Spain and a semester studying abroad in Jordan. He is from Boulder, Colorado, one of the best places on earth, and could probably tell you all about staring at the sky, doing outdoorsy things and why the Pitzer kids are actually cool. Ari spend lots of his time working out for track but if he’s not working out, he’s probably on some crazy adventure, lost on Mt. Baldy, wearing plaid, or skiing. He also let Priscilla, his fellow C-hall RA, write his bio for him.

Priscilla Hsu (Claremont) Priscilla is a junior majoring in International Relations and an Asian American Studies Sequence. She returns to CMC this spring after spending a year off-campus, including a semester in D.C. and 8 months in Asia, mostly wandering around but also looking for lost relatives. She hails from East Los Angeles but spent her teeny bopper years at various malls all over the city, so feel free to ask for suggestions about the Greater Los Angeles area. When she’s not busy coordinating outfits with Ari, she enjoys lounging in her mega-bed, pretending she can play the ukelele, and luring residents into her room with candy.

Kelsey Gross (Phillips) Kelsey hails from the small town of Medford, Oregon, though she proudly reps her true state, the glorious State of Jefferson.  When not scrambling up mountains, star gazing, or flying to the moon, she can be found squawking along to country music in Poppa Lab or prancing around campus with the Ballroom Dance team.  She regularly utilizes her economics major to evaluate the utility of yet another Yogurtland visit (note: it’s always very high).

Hannah Whittemore (Auen) Hannah Whittemore ghost rides it to Claremont every semester from the beautiful, quaint town of Mill Valley (#90 billboard hit in 1970) in the northern Bay Area. Her favorite activities include testing hot sauces, scrambling eggs, and drinking oolong tea. She may or may not be easily seduced by food. Though settling on a Government major, you may find her doing research in a chemistry lab at Keck Science where Erlenmeyer flasks and TLC plates give her a sense of peace in this frenzied world.  She is well-renowned in the snowboard community for having recently received the award for “most graceful fall coming off a chair lift” at Mt. Baldy ski resort. Her life philosophy is to “keep it sexy.” Obviously.

Harmony Palmer (Benson) Harmony Palmer (gangster name Harm-$$) hails from Oceanside, CA. She recently downgraded to a bike after spending her first two years riding around campus on a scooter in Crocs. When she isn’t causing a scene with her Forrest Gump impersonations, you can find Harmony huffing and puffing on the softball field or with her boyfriends Honnold and Poppa studying accounting. She is proud to say she is one of the few warriors who has lived in Benson 3 out of her 4 college years.

Ethan Gilbert (Fawcett) Ethan Gilbert is a Claremont legend.  He began his time at CMC right – by chugging syrup on his freshman WOA trip.  An International Relations major, Ethan comes to Claremont from Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is a firm advocate of socks with ‘stocks (Burkenstock sandels and bright colored socks) and plays lacrosse with for the Cougs. UGHUGHUGH.

Will Knowles (Marks) William Edward Knowles II is a Los Angeles native hailing from the wonderfully average town of Chatsworth.  When he was not busy acting during his youth (you may know him as a child star), he played baseball and spent quality time with his imaginary friends since he did not have any real ones (he was homeschooled).  Now that he is in beautiful Claremont, he studies Economics and is getting a Masters in Finance.  Most of his free time is spent on the baseball field, in the weight room, or courageously trying – but usually failing – to fix the printers in Poppa Lab as an LTA.  He is also a huge Dodger fan and is anxiously awaiting MLB’s decision on his bid to purchase the bankrupt franchise.

Olivia Graham (Stark) Olivia Graham calls Mercer Island, WA home, and she relishes the opportunity to jump in rare SoCal rain puddles. Even though she loves the 350 days of sunshine, she gets horrendous cap and goggle tan lines from her many hours spent at the pool. When she isn’t practicing with the CMS swim and water polo teams, Olivia can be found feeding the birds, rodents, albino soft-shell turtle, and other animals at JSD, since she is a biology (with a leadership sequence) major, after all. Olivia also enjoys eating/making/thinking about food, especially Coopcakes (cupcakes from the Coop), and jamming out to Akon.

Elise Yoshida (Stark) Elise comes from Rolling Hills, CA, one of the few places where you can reasonably fear a swarm of peacocks attacking you. To escape said peacocks, she fled to CMC where she could continue to bask in her beloved SoCal sun. After over-analyzing many situations during her time at CMC, she realized that the logical solution to end her career as an Undecided major was to major in Psychology. Elise generally spends her time running way too much for way too long or maintaining a near-constant stream of TV and movies. If you want the route to her heart, she has never been known to deny something tasty or something delicious. Both items tasty and delicious will win you brownie points. (Brownies are encouraged.)

Skyler Grossman (Apartments) Skyler Grossman is a Northwest native from Lake Oswego, Oregon. A career procrastinator, he is just now discovering how much he enjoys the study of economics and hopes this will add an element of practicality to his government major (aside: he loves studying government, especially after it took him to DC these past six months). He enjoys working at his camp in the Rocky Mountains, listening to country music, and very, very short walks on the beach. He also tries to keep up with his ex-chef parents, and is convinced he will one day host Iron Chef.

Brooke Nayden (Apartments) Brooke A. Nayden hails from the great state of Idaho.  When not admiring the state bird and flower, she is recitingall 44 counties in reverse alphabetical order.  Here at CMC she can be found eating couscous while watching endless YouTube videos of baby hedgehogs and teacup pomeranians.  B-Nasty doesn’t always go to school, but when she does it’s as a History and Lit dual major.  (She’s been called a bit bookish).

India Wade (Apartments) India Wade is from Bainbridge Island, Washington. Her parents are wonderful. Their names are Yuko and John. She has three half brothers and two half sisters, all from John’s side. True playa for real. She has a cat name Simba with whom she has a volatile relationship. She loves Shakira more than most people she actually knows. Please refer all further questions about India to her sidekick/confidant/roommate Brooke Alexandra Nayden.

Savage, a nationally syndicated sex advice columnist and author, leads much of the public discourse surrounding LGBT civil rights and reproductive rights. He spoke at the Athenaeum on Wednesday as part of the Shifting Perceptions speaker series, which promotes inclusivity and dialogue on campus by bringing in prominent female, gay, and lesbian leaders.

Savage Love, the column that Savage is best known for in Seattle’s alternative newspaper The Stranger, began as a joke about 20 years ago.

“I was going to be a gay advice columnist that treated straight people and straight sex with the contempt that straight advice columnists had always treated gay people and gay sex,” said Savage, “I was abusive and nasty to straight people…and straight people loved it. They started sending me real questions…I started having to really answer them and look things up,” he said in an interview with the Forum.

Dan Savage (Photo Credit: advocate.com)

The focus of his speech at the Athenaeum last week was a more recent project called the It Gets Better Project. Eighteen months ago, Savage reacted to the reports of LGBT youth suicides by creating a YouTube video with his husband Terry Miller that addressed LGBT teens. The video aimed to tell those teens that while bullying from peers, parents and churches may seem bad now, it can and will get better once they get through high school.

In his lecture, Savage cited that ninety percent of LGBT kids face bullying for their sexual orientation and are four times more likely to attempt suicide than straight kids.

In the wake of their video, thousands of others added their own videos of encouragement to the It Gets Better YouTube channel. There are now 50,000 It Gets Better videos online, featuring testimonials from the “middle-aged gamer lesbian in the basement,” said Savage, to public figures like Tim Gunn and President Obama.

Savage described two main goals of the project. First, he wants to save lives. Savage said what saddened him most about these youth’s suicides was that they couldn’t “picture a future with enough joy in it to compensate for the pain they’re in now.” By projecting thousands of personal stories of triumph and joy in adulthood, the project tells LGBT kids that they can overcome the plight they may feel in school, at home or from religion.

In response, Savage has received hundreds of emails from LGBT youth expressing their gratitude. In his lecture, Savage told the story of a 15-year-old lesbian girl who tried to come out to her family but was met with threats from her parents to disown her and cut her off from their financial support. Forced back into the closet, the girl watched It Gets Better videos on her phone under her bed sheets in the middle of the night to find hope.

Second, the project aims to “force people to acknowledge LGBT kids and to reach out to them now when they’re living,” said Savage. He bemoaned the unsavory fact that the public generally takes notice of suffering LGBT kids only after one of them commits suicide.

Dan Savage With Some of the RAs. Photo Courtesy of Greg Zahner

It Gets Better helps to not only reveal supporters and role models for bullied kids but also send their messages to kids that have no support in sight. Acknowledging that he could never be allowed to visit high schools or middle schools to talk to kids about sexual orientation, this project allows him and others to speak to them “whether [parents and administrators] want [them] to or not,” he said.

The conversation also turned political on Wednesday night. When asked about the Republican primaries, Savage was uncompromising (lest we forget his neologism for Santorum; if you don’t know it, Google it).

“The Republicans have created a moronic base where only morons can now win elections…It’s a delight to watch as a Democrat, and I hope it continues,” he said in his interview, but later cautioned, “The American public re-elected George Bush—don’t put anything past us.”

Savage also discussed the recent debates over contraception and the transvaginal ultrasound bill. He told women in the crowd that ultra-conservatives “hate you and your NuvaRing as much as they hate me and my boyfriend, because we’re both having non-pope-approved sex.”

In a candid stroke of brilliance, he urged women to turn Virginia’s transvaginal ultrasound bill on its head by taking ownership and then photographs of their vaginas and projecting them on large congressional buildings in the state’s capitol, or even on Governor Bob McDonnell’s house itself. “They [supporters of the bill] want to have a good look at your vaginas,” he said, “but they’re also scared of them.”

Looking for more of Dan Savage’s work? Apart from his sex advice column and the Savage Love Podcast, Savage’s books include The Commitment and The Kid, among others. He will also have a television show on MTV this spring called Savage U. The show will follow him as he visits university campuses across the country to have open and honest discussion on sex, sexuality, and relationships. The premier airs on April 3.

While at the meeting, Huang wanted to get a basic understanding of student priorities for extra funding. Huang asked students if they were in favor of installing more Brita Hydration stations (Yes), changing the laundry system so students could see in real time which machines were in use for a small fee (No), adding Blue Light Emergency Phones (No), increasing the number of bulletin boards and kiosks (No), and creating more on-campus jobs (Mixed). He also asked about priorities for the post-renovation Hub, to which most students advocated increasing the emphasis on food and recreation. He concluded by asking about the elimination of the 8-meal dining hall plan (No), prohibiting indoor smoking in all dorms (No) and preferences for future big-name speakers at the college (political commentators such as Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart beat out presidential speakers). As Dean Huang noted, the results were in no way binding promises but merely intended as yardsticks to gauge student opinion for the Dean of Students Office.

Several Senators were excited by the potential support to freedom of expression that the clicker system might provide, especially when it comes to voting on contentious issues. Senate Campus Life Committee Chair Carly Lenderts ’14 expressed her support, saying, “I liked the clickers and am excited to try them for voting procedures in Senate. It’s sometimes awkward for a Senator who wants to vote against a popular budget proposal, for example, so it will be great to have a quick and anonymous way to vote.”

The clickers, said Dean Huang, not only ensure that every possible student voice be heard but also combine the benefits of a participatory process with the practicality of real-time results. Senate President pro tem Miles Lifson ’13 also reflected this view, saying he was “excited about the potential that they offer for ASCMC.” Lifson continued, “They seem to be a fast, accurate, and anonymous way for senate to vote.” Lifson also mentioned that he would be working with Aditya Pai ’13 and Adam Griffith ’14 to “look into the logistics concerning using [the clickers] for senate votes on a regular basis.”

Dean Huang had sourced the clickers free of cost that night from Honnold-Mudd Library. According to Sheree Fu, who works at the library, there are one hundred clickers in total, plus two base units and instructor units respectively. She indicated that they were purchased at the suggestion of Bob Walton, the CEO of the Claremont University Consortium, following his experience with them at a board meeting. She added that Harvey Mudd College and Pomona College had already been using their own clickers of the same make for instructional purposes.

However, there is a catch when it comes to students borrowing the clickers for organizations and clubs. As Fu revealed, the facility to borrow them is currently, “only open to faculty and staff.” She added that even at the library, the clickers are right now in “beta (testing) stage”, until they “figure out how [exactly] to use them.” Still, she added that in the future there is a possibility for students to rent the clickers if they are in high demand.

So what do you think CMC, time for a voting revolution?

Few Claremont students, however, contemplate taking a chunk of time off from school.  Some may worry that it will disrupt their education or career track, or that they will miss out on time on campus. If well spent, however, time away from the college grind can be a valuable learning experience.  Some students use the time to work, some to think about the future, and some students take time to travel, learning outside the box.  These experiences can be invaluable in gaining the experiences and maturity necessary to be successful both at CMC and in the professional world.

Jessica Torres and I spoke with several students who took time off, or plan to take time off from classes at CMC.  One student plans to work on a political campaign, which will challenge her both personally and professionally.  Another student took a gap year to devote himself to serving the community, while another student took a full year off to travel.  One current senior took two full years off to work, as well as to combat stress and mental health issues before graduating.  All of these students felt their time off had been an improvement to their college experience, rather than a blemish.  What they learned while away from campus has contributed to their successes and helped to shape their future plans.

Laura Epstein (CMC ’14), for example, is taking a semester off next fall to work for President Obama’s presidential campaign.  Originally, she thought about going abroad. “But I kept thinking about how much I would miss being in the U.S. for such a huge election year,” said Laura of her decision.

With enough credits to graduate on time even after taking the semester away from classes, Laura plans to volunteer in central Pennsylvania, primarily organizing volunteers.  She’ll also be participating in grassroots politics by phone banking and knocking on doors to spread President Obama’s campaign messages.  Although she’ll be volunteering at first, she hopes to be able to land a paid internship with the campaign further down the line – a great opportunity to pursue her political ideals and to better understand the nuts and bolts of campaigning.

As Laura experiences different aspects of the campaign, she will no doubt face challenges to her political opinions.  Taking time off is a great way to test personal convictions and try out a future career path.  These experiences not only build character, they also help expand the scope of the average college experience.

Similarly, Evan Lind (CMC’12) took a gap year before coming to CMC to teach at an under served school in Boston through AmeriCorps.  He said the experience was transformative: he only made $3 an hour, and lived in the community where he taught.

Upon his return, Evan was surprised that he felt no real distance from his high school or college classmates.  In fact, he appreciated the privileges college experience even more, and worked hard to pursue his interests.  “I think I had a better understanding of myself as a person and what I was passionate about,” said Evan of his time off. “The cons are that I felt a little left out as all of my high school peers were having awesome freshman year experiences.  I felt like my gap year set me back a little as far as being in an academic groove.”

Miles Bird (CMC’12), on the other hand, took a year off between his sophomore and junior years so that he could travel.  He said it was like “pausing the real world” to evaluate where he’d been and where he wanted to go.  In retrospect, he feels it was a good experience because he had complete freedom with his time.  “Finding apartments, making friends, managing and balancing my time, rationing my money – successfully or unsuccessfully doing these things would have a very tangible impact on my life,” Miles said.

Olga Kofman (CMC’11) knew she had to take a break from CMC after her sophomore year when she didn’t feel at home.  She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she knew that something was preventing her from reaching her full potential.  In high school she had excelled in academics and in athletics, but as a freshman she didn’t make the field hockey team and realized that she was no longer the best student she could be.  It was hard for her to fit in and create a new identity for herself, so she went home to south Florida in the summer of 2009 and took a leadership position distributing FEMA aid money to families on the brink of homelessness.  Then she worked for another non-profit through AmeriCorps VISTA and took some classes at a state school.

In her effort to be truly healthy and fulfilled, Olga did an immense amount of soul searching.  In Olga’s case, it wasn’t just about her career or about travel, but about being happy with herself and with her choices, about finding her own equilibrium so that she could be happy – no matter where she decided to work or finish her degree.

Olga’s efforts paid off.  After two years away, Olga came back to CMC last fall and will be graduating with the class of 2012 this May.  She has worked closely with Dean of Students Mary Spellman to keep everything in check and to stay on track so that she will only graduate one year late.  Asked whether she felt the time off was worth it, she said, “Perhaps I could have done this at CMC, perhaps not, but during this time I learned to embrace myself and my experiences as unique and lovely […] I encourage everyone who is curious to follow their intuition.”

There are many reasons to take time off from college.  Some students want full time work experience or are offered a job that they can’t pass up, while some serve the community, take time to reflect, work on personal problems or holistic health goals, or even just travel to see what’s outside of Claremont.  The most important factor is to make the best individual decision possible.  Taking the time to contemplate each step is imperative to one’s success.

In the next few months as freshmen, sophomores, and juniors evaluate their plans for next fall, it’s important to consider all the options, even if it’s outside the norm.  Whether students stay or go, it’s up to every person to build the life they want to lead.

Unfortunately the answer is obvious, and cringe-worthy: U.S. News & World Report National Liberal Arts College Rankings.

Claremont McKenna College has been rising on this list—and other lists—for some time now. The yearly reports have been big news on campus: we glorify falling admissions rates and drool when Forbes ranks us higher than Yale. We post on our Facebook walls about how we fared relative to other competitive colleges. We put flashy banners on our homepage telling us where we stand. The 5^th and 6^th lines of President Gann’s biography on the college’s website list the school’s ratings and its admissions selectivity ranking.

The administration is obsessed with our placement on an arbitrary scoreboard, and many of us students have joined the self-congratulatory bandwagon. We find ourselves today in an environment so focused on rankings that a senior admissions officer decided that a one-percent fudge was worth his career.

Shame on Mr. Vos, but he does not deserve all the blame.

Monday’s announcement was a wake-up call. Yes, these types of rankings games must be watched more closely. Yes, everyone involved should see the door. But the administration must also address the fact that the incentive to cheat at these games in our community seems to be unusually high. Beyond firing those responsible for cheating, the administration must address both the larger system of college rankings and its attitude towards our own ratings.

The college continues to insist on measuring itself by metrics calculated by people who have never eaten in Collins dining hall. We have an unusual and unhealthy obsession with moving up that list. It must stop now. If the administration continues to see us only in numbers, we will continue to bleed integrity. CMC will win the game. But we will lose ourselves.

Why would President Gann care what U.S. News and World Report thinks about our professors? The answer is simple: high rankings lead to better students, better professors, more money for the school and better jobs waiting for us after graduation. High rankings are good—and we can measure them. How can the college possibly be asked to ignore them?

It can’t really. Somehow, we have to attempt to strike a balance between caring and obsessing about our reputation as an institution. Unfortunately, this is an issue that every college community and every admissions department in the country must confront.

Why? Because the college ranking system is broken.

We know this intuitively. Measuring Harvey Mudd College on paper with Claremont McKenna on paper is like asking a blind man to compare apples and oranges. If a high school senior were to ask you which of the two schools she should attend, telling her the square footage of Kravis or the SAT score statistics of Mudd’s freshmen would be silly. Yet these are the very numbers that colleges around the country let rule the decisions they make at the very highest levels. These statistics are not inherently important; the ranking system makes them important. That’s ridiculous.

Once a school has been named among the top 20 schools in the nation, it should not be ranked against its peers. The differences between schools at this level come from the different focuses and strengths of each school. Publishing rankings only encourages an obsession with prestige: a gaggle of kindergartners standing on tippy toes trying to see who is the tallest.

Undeniably, the actions of anyone involved with this scandal are irredeemable and absolutely inexcusable.

But the admissions department was acting on the pressures it felt by the rankings fixation of this administration. “I put pressure on myself to drive up the rankings because it is in my office’s best interest,” Dean Vos told the Claremont Port Side in an interview in 2008, a year in which scores were inflated. This administration has created an environment that passively encouraged cheating.
But the administration was acting on outside pressures too—pressures caused by a broken ratings system that we know has no baring on the quality of this education. A solution, then, to properly address what happened will be complex.

U.S. News and World Report should admit that what it publishes is based on funny math from essentially all participants. And at some point, this college should stop sending data to institutions that rank colleges. More realistically in the short term, however, this administration needs to address its ranking mania. The resignation of Mr. Vos should not be the end of this fiasco. From here, the first step is to admit we have a problem.

I didn’t come to Claremont McKenna College because it’s number nine. I came here for the people, the classes and the professors. This won’t affect those things. But we must understand that it is worth reflecting on this situation further. For those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

And we are better than this, CMC.

CMC plans on accepting fewer than 600 of these applicants in order to avoid housing shortages. According to their calculations, this would place CMC’s acceptance rate for next year at just 11.7%. The admission rate for the Class of 2015was 13.8%.  CMC could be the most, or one of the most, selective liberal arts colleges in the nation.

Photo by Karan Malik

Last year, Pomona College just barely beat out CMC’s 2015 acceptance rate with 13.6% admittance but, as early reports indicate, growth in Pomona’s number of applications has essentially remained flat. The Office of Admissions also pointed out that Amherst college, last year’s most selective liberal arts college in the nation, had an acceptance rate of 12.8%. Swarthmore College admitted just under 15% of its applicants to the Class of 2015.  Williams College, the top liberal arts college in the nation, announced a 17% admission rate in 2011.

Over the past few years, CMC’s acceptance rate has been plummeting, and this year is a good sign that we might see that trend continue. In 2010, the school accepted 17.2% of applicants, and last year, when 4,481 applied to be a part of the class of 2015, the acceptance rate fell to 13.8%.  If those were great years, the next one may be amazing.

CMC benefits from a dropping acceptance rate. Although the administration may have to say no to more potential Stags and Athenas, increased selectivity will hopefully produce a stronger freshman class, composed of great students and promising leaders. This is just one more sign pointing to a bright future for CMC.  As it continues to grow more selective and appears higher and higher in the rankings each year, it will draw more attention from all corners of the country.  That means more public interest, more renown, and, hopefully, the end of that “I swear it’s not a community college” conversation for non-Californians.

For students here at CMC, there isn’t any doubt that we are attending one of the best school’s in the country. With any luck, this unprecedented admittance rate will force others to take notice as well. For anybody interested in watching CMC take its proper place at the forefront of America’s elite colleges, the Office of Admissions’ announcement is great news.

That’s why it seems so silly that, during two days before classes start, probably the biggest arrival day for returning students, ID cards can only be reactivated for a few hours. Over winter and summer breaks, most ID cards are deactivated, and must be reactivated at Story House. One problem: Story House is only open from 10am-3pm on those days. I’ve spent more time than that on a Daily Show bender. Story House hours don’t seem like much of a problem until you arrive at 3:30pm and don’t have a place to sleep that night.

With a little rethinking, activating cards can be made far more idiot proof, and, as an idiot, I would love to see that happen. For those of us who drive to school or take a particularly long flight, a five hour window during the middle of the day can be a difficult target, and the options for those who miss it are limited.

During the day, it’s easy to get a hold of an RA or find a friend to let you in, but at night? Not so easy. I’ve faced a locked front door late at night and I bet I’m not the only one. At that point, you meet a pretty nasty dilemma: risk pissing off the sleeping Resident Assistant, calling Campus Safety or sleeping in a bush. And if nobody answers your phone call, that bush starts to look pretty cozy. If not for a couple of night owl friends, I would have faced a pretty interesting night.

By keeping Story House open for just a few more hours during the two days prior to classes restarting, we can make the whole process a lot easier. Students can afford to arrive a few hours later, and RA’s can rest easier.

Keeping Story House open isn’t free, but changing around the hours doesn’t have to come at a significant cost to the school. Currently, Story House is open for five hours in the middle of the day, when traffic is probably going to be the slowest. By shifting those hours to later in the evening, say 3pm to 8pm, Story House can ensure that more students will be able to reactivate their cards before it closes and nighttime arrives. Sure, arriving at 7am and not getting into your room until 3pm is inconvenient. But, arriving at 3:30pm and realizing you don’t have a place to sleep that night is much worse. The administration could also give Story House two days off during the middle of the semester in order to allow for extended hours when it really counts.  At the end of the day, even if keeping the card reactivation station operating for longer does cost a little extra, that’s price worth paying.

It seems that most students plan their return trips more effectively than I have, and we don’t see an epidemic of lockouts during the days before the semester officially starts.  For the most part, students are going to be able to find a way to get by without their cards for a night, but a simple change can remove a bit of the travel stress from move-in day. Every little bit helps.

It was a busy semester at CMC.

CMC moved up in the rankings to the 9^th best Liberal Arts College in the country.

The Kravis Center officially opened to students and faculty.  The Living Room (affectionately known as ‘the Kube’) attracted students’ attention  after some technical difficulties and the administration’s initial decision to limit access to students. This was all before the Kube became home to one Pomona student’s temporary interpretive dance studio.

The fall semester also celebrated and embodied student leadership at CMC.  Students started a movement to do a better job of cleaning up after parties and led an effort to change our campus conversation about sex and gender norms. Trying bridge the gap between our Building Attendants and their residents, the Forum got to know some of CMC’s friendliest staff members. CMCers led a campaign to be more environmentally friendly on campus and coordinated a day of reflection on 9/11. Others took the lead in social activity planning, expanding student involvement with Dean of Students and creating the College Programming Board (check out the big name they are bringing to campus). Student initiative also brought the popular TED talks to the Claremont Colleges, hosting a TEDx conference in September.

CMC also faced a number of challenges in the fall of 2011: an unexpected over-enrollment of students forced the conversion of two popular study spaces into four-person rooms and a large number of students returning to CMC in the spring from fall study abroad programs led to an on-campus housing crisis.  The story behind the “Marks Squatter” brought some humor to a rather-serious-but-now resolved issue of on-campus visitors.

The Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College was hard at work all semester, advocating for students on issues such as increased study spaces, building a better quality of life, and providing some much needed snack time.

The Occupy Movement swept the nation this semester and arrived at the doorstep of our Claremont Colleges. Students were active in the protests in Claremont, Los Angeles, and the rest of the nation. Indeed, two Pitzer students were arrested for their involvement in the Occupy LA protests.  Political dialogue was alive and well, especially towards the end of the semester, when CMC welcomed former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to our campus. Many 5C students, however, had a different plan in mind and formed an “unwelcoming” party for Rice’s visit. The planned protests forced a change in venue for Rice’s speech, which triggered an outcry from students. While the protests stirred up quite a controversy, the civility and political discourse throughout the evening exemplified students’ diversity of thought, without provoking violence or hostilities.

The Forum sat down with our very own college president Pamela Gann and discussed her current and future projects for the school, which included a revamp of the beloved North Quad and expanding the new Center for Civic Engagement.

But it wasn’t all business this semester at the Forum. Speaking with Paul Zak, a.k.a Dr. Love, the Forum got to hear the Doctor’s thoughts on love, life, and how giving 8 hugs a day will make the world a better place. Those student globe-trotters enjoying their study abroad experience took time to write home to CMC and share their experiences from far-off lands such as Washington D.C., South America, Italy and Oman. And for those bright-eyed freshmen, returning students and Dean Spellman gave them their two cents (sometimes musically) on how to navigate their first semester and discover how great this college really is.

We uncovered the top 5 companies that hire CMC students, brought Words with Friends lovers the 10 most useful Scrabble words, and suggested 8 classes to students that might have overlooked some academic treasures. Students contributed to the ongoing discussion on topics such as art, film, pop culture, public radio, music and concerts. And despite the delicious unveiling of a new Ath menu, the Forum offered some tips on how to stay healthy, even in the face of all those Rice Krispie treats.

A-Mitch even appeared for an encore.

ASCMC hosted a number of events this semester, improving on past traditions—Monte Carlo—and even starting some new ones—The Boardwalk Empire party and No Shave November. We know you can’t wait for the Wedding Party next spring—and neither can we. Expect even bigger surprises next semester.

Our tech guru offered some awesome tips on his #CMCTech blog, including advice on how to make your work faster and more effective, thoughts on the Semester in Silicon Valley Program and even a holiday gift guide (it’s never too late to get that perfect present).

The Forum also better incorporated sports into our publication. The Forum now offers live broadcasts of all home CMS athletic games, complete with video and audio from student broadcasters.  We celebrated triumph, defeat and the utter domination at SCIACs.  The publication also took and in-depth look at sports at CMC and uncovered how SCIAC rules hurt CMS recruiting high school athletes and what many are doing to save the Intramural program.

Outside of the CMC bubble, the Forum checked in with our beloved Claremont village, celebrating the once-in-a-century Zipcode Day (9/17/11=91711) and partaking in the delicious festivities at the California Beer Festival.

It was a busy semester and time for reflecting has just begun. First, we would like to thank you, our readers, for your support, comments, advice, kindness, crudeness, humor and thoughtful discussion. But, we have one more request. The Forum has grown considerably in the last semester but we want to know how we can continue to improve. Below is a short survey that we hope you will fill out so we can make this publication stronger. We look forward to hearing your constructive thoughts, suggestions and comments.

The Forum wishes you a wonderful break and a restful holiday. We promise to bring you the best in news, opinions, and insights from Claremont College students as we enter our spring semester. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading with us this fall, and we’ll see you in 2012!

The jokes, however, turned bitter when former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited CMC’s campus on November 30th.  Campus news articles and blog posts became online battlegrounds of political rhetoric, pitting “conservative” CMC students against “liberal” Pitzer students.  On the campuses themselves, there was a prescient sense of animosity; in class, I could truly sense a distance among Pitzer students during some of the more heated days of the online controversies.

Most people, Pitzer and CMC students alike, went to Ducey Gymnasium on Wednesday expecting to be involved in a tense shouting match.  In some small ways, the expected malice was there. When I introduced myself as a CMC student to Marcus, a demonstrating Pitzer student, his response was “you’re from CMC?  Baby-killer!” Marcus, however, certainly was not representative of the entire student population at the protests on Wednesday.  In general, the protests were incredibly constructive and peaceful, with little in the way of altercations beyond a few students who seemed intent on provoking a fight where there was none to be found.

Indeed, the aggressors in the crowd seemed to be more the exception than the rule.  Protestors and CMC students alike were generally incredibly respectful of one another.

Christian Neumeister, a CMC freshman who attended the talk, was understanding of the protests. “I certainly think [the protestors] have the right to voice their opinions.  I don’t necessarily agree with their opinions, but it’s their fundamental American right to voice them,” Neumeister said.

An unnamed Pitzer demonstrator agreed: “CMC brought Dr. Rice because it hopes to foster a discussion as part of its Athenaeum program.  That is all well and good – the reason we’re here is not to stop that discussion, but rather to promote our own outside.”

The protests themselves were very different from the disorganized mess that some predicted they would be. During the talk, professors and students lectured bystanders and demonstrators on different topics, which ranged from the use of torture to the impetus behind the Iraq War.  Near the Northeast corner of the parking lot, a group of students held a waterboarding demonstration in order to provoke student dialogue around the moral and ethical issues involved with the practice.  These lectures – while certainly biased to present an anti-Condoleezza Rice perspective – created an environment more conducive to learning than to accusation, and were a welcome presence on a college campus.

Feel free to chalk it up to my freshman naiveté and optimism, but this made me happy to be a student at the 5Cs.  To me, the 5Cs are built on a certain morale and community camaraderie that governs our campus-to-campus interactions, including a certain sports rivalry (in which CMS is most certainly superior).  It is certainly true that the anonymity and immediacy of the Internet allowed the controversy of Dr. Rice’s visit to become more malicious than intended.  Yet, once CMC and Pitzer students were face to face, the conversation took on a human face, one that represented our students in a much more flattering light.

“I have heard a lot of frustration from several students who find the spaces available to be too crowded or limited in hours,” said Mao. “The spaces in the proposal are ones where students should have increased access. Several other institutions allow 24-hour access to classrooms and a 24-hour library space. We’re a top academic institution, but lack these qualities of our peers.”

The SSTF submitted a proposal on Tuesday, December 6, to Dean Jefferson Huang, Vice President for Student Affairs, and Dean Gregory Hess, Vice President for Academic Affairs, which suggests how study spaces on campus can serve to satisfy what they identify as six primary student needs: a 24-hour (1) individual study space, (2) group meeting space, (3) group study space, (4) computer lab space, (5) outdoor space and (6) an informal gathering space.

Photo Credit: David Leathers

Identifying and detailing the proposed use of six spaces–the Hub, Frazee, the Living Room, the Kravis Center terraces, classrooms and the Crocker Reading Room–the proposal seeks to ameliorate the difficulties CMC students have recently encountered with procuring appropriate study spaces. The SSTF also suggests measures to increase the efficiency of printing in computer labs and ways to increase the availability of information to the CMC student body regarding hours of the study spaces.

The proposal recognizes the advancements made in the Hub over the past year, but points out that it is not being fully utilized by the student body. The Hub is most often used during the weekdays, when students can get meal replacements, snacks or socialize with friends. But, as the Hub grill only serves food after 8pm on weekends, the space is nearly empty for much of the day, excluding mealtimes. Thus, in the short-term, the proposal suggests that an expansion in the hours of operation would lead to students making better use of the Hub over the weekends as an informal hangout space. In the long term, the proposal suggests that the Hub should be accessible to students 24-hours a day through key-card access. Furthermore, as the Hub lags significantly in terms of food and aesthetics in comparison to its counterparts across the five colleges, the proposal suggests renovating the Hub as part of next summer’s North Mall Renovation Project.

In its proposal, the SSTF questions the effectiveness of Frazee, the newly created study space on campus, in creating a comfortable and suitable study environment for CMC students. In particular, the proposal sites the ‘chair room’–the room adjacent to the Hub Store–as an inconvenient answer to increased study space. In the short-term, the proposal suggests the conversion of the ‘chair-room’ into a 24-hour conference room for students by removing all the chairs and adding a table. The SSTF suggests that with this change, the room would be more useful as a group meeting space or a group study space. The long-term proposal suggests the elimination of the walls between Frazee’s two rooms to create a much bigger study space.

The Living Room does not currently serve as an appropriate study or a lounge space as the tables are too short for studying to take place and limited access to the building itself prevents students from taking full advantage of its resources. The proposal suggests that it is necessary to increase the accessibility of the room to 24-hours a day.

The SSTF also cites limited access to the Kravis Center terraces as seriously inconveniencing students and preventing use of the space for group meetings, group studying, or more social student interactions. The proposal suggests that day-time access to the second and the third floors should be granted to students every day of the week. ID card readers and security cameras will ensure that students are safe and treat the building respectfully.

According to their proposal, the SSTF assert that there is no group study space on campus where group collaboration can take place. The library and the reading room have restrictive noise rules, making them excellent places for peaceful studying but less great for rowdy meetings. Meanwhile the dorm lounges and the Hub are too noisy. The proposal suggests that classrooms in Kravis Center, Roberts, and Bauer be available for students to work in a group after-class hours. Currently, the Dean of Students Mary Spellman and Registrar Elizabeth Morgan are looking into this while Assistant Dean of Students Eric Vos and Dean Huang are also looking into the matter.

The Crocker Reading Room does a good job of providing a quiet, individual study space to students. The proposal suggests that the Presidential Collection on the second floor be moved elsewhere in order to allow for an extension of hours and access to the reading room. By moving the collection, students would be able to appreciate the collection at a more secure place and there would be no need for student monitors outside the room. The monitors could be reallocated to supervise the Ducey weight room, which would ensure that the student monitors are still employed. The proposal highlights this particular recommendation as it has a few costs for the college, with many benefits for the students.

To the SSTF, printing remains the main problem in the computer labs. Many students rely on the availability of computers at labs like Poppa in order to quickly print reading and study materials; more often than not, however, students arrive at a lab only to find that no computers are available for a simple print job. The proposal notes that these circumstances lead to one of two things: students leave unsuccessfully or interrupt students already at work. To remedy the problem, the proposal suggests the creation of 1-2 ‘printing stations’ in Poppa lab – computers designated for students who come in solely to print. This would solve the problem by allowing students to get in and out quickly, while preventing any additional equipment from being added to the lab.

Perhaps most important in the SSTF’s recent proposal is what they cite as the underlying reason for why the Kravis Technology Classroom or Frazee are underutilized: a general lack of communication. The proposal seeks to address the communication gap between students and the administration and suggests that the “Student Gateway” page of the CMC website include a detailed list of study spaces with availability and hours of operation.  Rather than sending out school-wide emails regarding the hours for a particular study space, the information could be consolidated in an easily accessible and readily available format on the school’s website.

SSTF hopes that with their proposal comes a marked change in how the CMC administration will assess and evaluate the existing–and potential–study spaces on campus. It is clear that procuring appropriate study space for college students is a high priority issue, and the SSTF hopes that their initiative will draw the attention of both administration officials and the CMC student body to this reality.

The full text of the proposal is here.