Elections for the rest of America may be months away, but here at CMC, the results are in for the 2012-2013 ASCMC Executive Board!

Bolded names indicate winners.

ASCMC President

Aditya Pai: 68.7%

Connor Barclay: 30.2%

Write-In: 1.1%

Total Votes: 466

ASCMC Vice President

Miles Bird: 93.6%

Write-In: 6.4%

Total Votes: 466

ASCMC Social Affairs Council Chair

Steven Limandibratha: 95.0%

Write-In: 5.0%

Total Votes: 466

ASCMC Dorm Affairs Council Chair

Alexandra Cooke: 75.3%

Riley Thomlinson: 23.3%

Write-In: 1.4%

Total Votes: 466

ASCMC Student Life Chair

Stephanie Haft: 43.1%

Mohammad Abdul-Rahim: 56.0%

Write-In: 0.9%

Total Votes: 466

Class of 2013 President

Clare Riva: 74.6%

Jessica Dang: 25.4%

Write-In: 0.0%

Total Votes: 130

Class of 2014 President

Maddie Hall: 55.7%

Merriel Foster: 44.3%

Write-In: 0.0%

Total Votes: 115

Class of 2015 President

Demetrius Lalanne: 61.5%

Isabel Lane: 22.3%

Charlie Montgomery: 13.8%

Write-In: 2.3%

Total Votes: 127

Not Pictured: Demetrius Lalanne. Editors Note: Cara Daley and Burk Zanft are no longer members of the Executive Board

Dear CMC, the Greatest College Ever:

A belated welcome-back and happy almost-fall break to you all! If you don’t know me, my name is Jessica Mao a.k.a. JMAO, MaoMao, Jay-Meow, and whatever other nickname you’d like to give me. I am writing to you today about the current state of the student body, which includes my role as this year’s President, goals that the Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College trying to meet, and a huge wad of other things you should look forward to this year. This letter serves as a preview into what is happening, so you can be in-the-know. I’ll leave it up to some of my fellow Executive Board members to elaborate on their incredible work in future Forum articles!

“So, MAO — What do you do as Chairman? Oops, I mean President….”

Despite the rumors, I am not like my great-great-great-uncle, Chairman Mao. I oversee the Board of Directors and run our weekly Sunday night meetings where we give our updates and have discussions about anything and everything CMC-related. With your input, I work closely with the Dean of Students Office to continually bring forward your concerns. In addition to that, I make sure the usual things like elections and budgeting happen in a timely manner. Most of the work I do is behind a computer, hence all the important emails you get from me!

ASCMC Phase II: Making the Transition

A lot has changed since we came into office in March: Kravis Center, the Ath 2.0, and the super-cool new Dean Eric. Those were expected changes, but a special election was not. ASCMC is still in transition mode with a new Webmaster, a new SLC Chair, and a new Executive Secretary on the way. Thankfully, PaiPai (yes I call him that) has done incredible work with Senate and your Social Chairs have planned amazing events in the meantime, but I’m telling you right now: ASCMC is just getting started. We’re aiming to be more than awesome parties and events. In the following sections, I’ll talk about our current and future projects to maintain traditions, throw great events, but also take CMC to new depths of leadership.

Quality Events
As promised in our ASCMC Letter to the Students, we have already began discussion and planning of events for this semester and the spring. After a nice, long ASCMC brainstorming session, you can expect the usual favorites: an epic Monte Carlo, White Party, and Wedding Party. Throw in a new winter party, a focus on bringing small live music acts, with a few more surprises and you get an AMAZING YEAR. Event-planning is what we’re best known for, so we’re going to bring it BIGGER and BETTER this year. To execute certain events well will take some synergy, but I’m getting ahead of myself here!

Serving YOU – Engagement and Communication

If you missed the ASCMC Sunday Sundae Snack, don’t worry, we’ll be bringing you at least a couple more Sunday Snacks before our term ends in March. Serving and representing CMC students is the reason we exist! Have ideas for an affordable snack other than sundaes? Come to my Mao Pow Wow every Friday from 11AM-1PM at the Appleby Picnic Tables and voice your ideas and other thoughts! While I can’t guarantee the fruition of every idea, we can always talk it out and figure out what can be done. I want you to be heard and assured that your input matters. My ongoing project is to address the concerns brought to me at Mao Pow Wow. One of my goals for ASCMC is to be more accessible to students. In addition to more engaging events like Sunday Snack, the following are projects we’ve undertaken to improve student body communication:

- A newsletter is in the works, which will also incorporate a list of weekly club events.

- We are uploading our minutes regularly, so you can stay informed about our meetings.

- Improvements to our websites and social networking are of high priority.

- Any other suggestions? Please share them below in the anonymous suggestion box! (Be nice…)

SYNERGY
After reading too much Case in Point, I can tell you that synergy is the beauty of combined forces working towards one mission. ASCMC is one of several groups on campus working towards improving student life and planning events. Without teamwork and cooperation with the Dean of Students Office, College Programming Board, RAs, and the brand-new Center for Civic Engagement (CCE), certain ideas and initiatives may not reach their full potential. Assisting the RAs in promoting the incredible Ath Speaker Series, “Shifting Perceptions: Celebrating the Spectrum of Leadership”, is an example of partnerships that ASCMC has already taken. The new College Programming Board also gets a shout-out as we are discussing collaboration on upcoming events. So much CMC community love!

Social and Fiscal Responsibility
ASCMC, along with the groups previously mentioned, is taking a new direction this year in promoting leadership at CMC. Key areas like social inclusion, community service, sustainability, and party-rocking responsibility (I’ll explain), are all aspects of CMC life that need more attention. While ASCMC’s job isn’t to focus solely on these areas, we are making efforts to be part of these conversations in order to enrich the student body. Whether it be helping the RAs with the speaker series or giving input into events held by the Center for Civic Engagement, the goal is for the student body to lead in as many ways as possible.

On the topic of sustainability and party-rocking responsibility, SPEAR, CCE, and the RAs are among those taking the initiative to promote the use of new Red Cup Recycling Bins. ASCMC is right on board with this movement for sustainable partying. Cups aside, did you know that ASCMC accrued over $12,000 worth of damages this past school year? This is a sad bill to pay when we know that money could fund another Senate, 3 White Parties, 15 clubs, or 40 Hub quizzes. More importantly, it is extra non-overtime work that building attendants have to complete. Will Brown, in a Forum article to appear later this week, will elaborate more on this devastating cost, but the point is for you to all be aware that a little cleaning up goes a long way. Let’s work together this year on minimizing our physical damage to CMC and maximizing our dollar! ASCMC doesn’t have nearly as big of a budget in comparison to ASPC or other colleges across the nation, so it’s our challenge to do more with every penny.

Whew, thanks for taking the time to read this! Despite the 1000+ words I’ve used up, everything I’ve said is only a brief synopsis of what ASCMC is doing this year. I know my job is to oversee every facet of ASCMC and its responsibilities, but you can play a bigger role in making things happen. If you’re interested in campus life, please find ways to get involved, stay informed through the Forum, and insist on being heard. ASCMC cannot make decisions without a clear idea of what you, the student body, want. Send us emails, write in the box below, and dare to make a difference.

P.S. Mao Zedong isn’t actually my great-great-great-uncle. Gotcha!

The results are in, the votes are tallied and the people have spoken. Ninety-five Claremont McKenna College Students cast their ballots in the special election for the Student Life Council Chair.

Below are the results of the ASCMC special election. Congratulations to the new Student Life Council Chair, Alexandra Cooke!

First Ballot:

*Alexandra Cooke: 72.63% with 69 votes

Write-in: 27.37% with 26 votes

Click here for more information on the special election. Click here for candidate bios.

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

Burk Zanft

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

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

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

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

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

When it comes down to it, very few of us, if any, are involved with politics. Think about it: no matter your major, politics will affect you. Science majors need government grants to fund research, Economics majors advise the Fed and influence budgetary decisions, English majors study how literature changed people’s behavior and thus their political concerns. And Government majors? Simply learning current events pales in comparison to the political work we could be doing. Why does involvement so often manifest itself as purely a summer internship?

The author (left) with Alyssa Roberts (CMC '13) and Danielle Butterfield (Chapman '11) at a Campus Progress Convention in Summer 2011

As college students, we will be directly affected by Pell grants, the age extension for health insurance coverage, and changes in voter registration laws. Later in life, tax rates, block grants, social security, and more will greatly influence both our work and personal lives.

So what is stopping us from getting involved? Politics is messy and confusing, not to mention it often feels like we can’t make a difference. It also focused around gamesmanship. Connor Barclay (CMC ’13) explains, “I definitely care about politics, I just don’t like them or ‘follow’ them.” But whether we like politics or not, politics changes how we live. Sam Stone (CMC ’14) chooses to be involved through his work at the Rose Institute. He sums up, “[Politics is] so irritating…but it matters.” Even though politics can be frustrating and exasperating, if we fail to get involved, we are giving up on ourselves and on what we care about. Barclay elaborates, “Sadly, I think many individuals in the business world, who would make excellent politicians, are turned off by the current state of political affairs.”

I challenge those who see politics as a hopeless game to try to change the system, not give up on it. And, for those enthralled with the political system, put yourself inside of it! This, of course, begs the question: can we actually make a difference?

The American government is massive. Politics involves so many players that even the smallest efforts can reach the right ears and make a difference. Stone believes, “if you put even a little time into [politics], you can have an impact.” Last week, in the special election for former Representative Weiner’s seat, a Republican won in a Democratic majority district, in part due to low voter turnout. If you are a Democrat, you could have made a difference by making calls to encourage stronger turnout within your party, simply by visiting a website. In addition to voting, representatives and senators care about what we have to say. This summer, my friend interned for a Congresswoman. She recounted to me how a constituent wrote in about a little-known law, so my friend researched the law and other staffers took a serious look at co-sponsoring the bill. Had the constituent not written in, the staffers wouldn’t have taken the time to research a potentially important bill.

Of course, not all petition-signing, phone-banking, and letter writing makes a difference. If we make an effort now, while we are in college, people will listen and we will get into the practice of staying engaged in politics and having a say. Young people are always applauded for any type of political action, no matter how small. If we grow accustomed to contacting our senators, lobbying when we visit Washington, DC (or our District office), or writing to our state congressperson, we will know what to do when we are in positions in or outside of the government where legislation directly affects us. By staying informed and getting involved, we set ourselves up to be more successful in the future.

Granted, there are many people on campus who are extremely involved. Andy Willis (CMC ’14) comments on the general political atmosphere on campus: “When we play Whittier in soccer, the cheers reference Nixon.” However, there is always more to be done. As Willis puts it, “political activism on campus isn’t as strong as one would assume it could be.” We have so many resources, so much potential to get involved, and great opportunities to lay the groundwork for life-long political involvement. Join the College Democrats or the College Republicans, both of which will be significantly stepping up their political involvement this year. Or if that’s not your thing, track legislation related to an issue discussed in your community service club or visit congressional district offices to see what’s happening. I challenge you to take your political involvement to the next level, whether it’s spearheading a piece of local legislation or simply reading a daily newspaper. Politics will play a significant role in our lives regardless of our careers. We cannot afford to wait to get involved until after college and let politics play out without us. We are the future – if we don’t improve the political situation in Washington, who will?

Couldn’t make the speeches? Want to hear what they had to say? The Forum is doing live blogging of the great one liners and inspiring messages delivered tonight, Monday September 19th, by the candidates for Freshman Class President (2015).

The speeches started at 11:00 pm

Abby Michaelson

Just to put it plain and simply, I love CMC. We are all extremely qualified…but I can offer something special.

I am energetic, creative and get things done!

Last year I created really fun Saturday parties and tailgates

The professors are here for the academics and I am hereto make sure you have the best freshman year ever

I want to bring in tailgating…with In N’ Out and beverages for tailgates

Jake Shimkus

If I were running for freshman class president of Pitzer I would probably say ‘duuude vote for peace man’

If I were running for freshman class president at Scripps…we would have a serious problem

But I am running for freshman class president at CMC

Best year ever!

Freshman class president is the voice of the class

I am going to create a Facebook group and bring you all together

I need your vote!

Garrett Wells

I have a Golden Retriever named “Brady”

I am a pretty friendly guy! I enjoy meeting new people

One of my favorite parts of Claremont is everyone has at least one redeeming quality that got them in here

Everyone is smart…interesting and has great ideas. I want to bring together like PowerRangers that come together at the right moment to create one badass machine

Claremont has lots and lots of idea. But getting from the ideas to them actually happening is where it usually falls apart

I have had a lot of experience as president of my high school, camp counselor and dorm bra

Aseem Chipalkatti

My name is Aseem and I want to be YOUR freshman class president.

If you make me your president I will make sure you will not get left behind.

I will make sure your freshman year is the most amazing year you have ever had

You can read about what I want to do on my statement on the Forum

Demetrius Lalanne:

I am extremely amiable…

The role of the freshman call president is to plan parties

Some ideas I have for the freshman class is a freshman-sophomore mixer… a 5C freshman mixer…

If I were elected Freshman Prez I would create a council to plan events. The council would have a President, Vice President and two members of every quad to execute freshman events

If you want big dreams and a big personality vote for Big D!
The candidates also submitted profiles to the Forum. Click here to view those profiles.

Don’t forget, voting takes place tomorrow outside of Collins. If you need an absentee ballot contact Jessica Mao.

The Forum will post the results as soon as they are available.

My Dearest CMC,

I write to you from Dharamsala, India, the seat of the Tibetan exile government where I’m studying this semester.  My routines include alternately eating Tibetan momos (steamed dumplings) and outrageously spicy Indian food, and rocking a hat to keep warm even though it’s April…not all of India is hot!

Before I introduce a topic that’s become incredibly important for my studies this semester, I’ll provide you with some background info.  Chinese People’s Liberation Army invaded Tibet in 1949. 10 March 1959, the Chinese government invited His Holiness the Dalai Lama to a performance without bodyguards. Tibetan laypeople surrounded his palace to make sure he didn’t attend, which erupted in protests against Chinese occupation. His Holiness the Dalai Lama fled to India soon after.

Tibetans now celebrate uprising day on March 10, although the Chinese don’t recognize this day. In India, His Holiness the Dalai Lama gives a political speech, which is followed by a freedom demonstration. On March 10, I went to the temple with Dawa (my host brother) but then left him outside to get a radio. This was a mistake: I didn’t even try to tune in to the English translation of the Tibetan speeches. I went into the temple a bit later and found seats on the cement floor with the rest of the students on my program.

All the dignitaries marched in to Tibetan music (did you know Tibetans played bagpipes?!).  After the Tibetan national anthem and a prayer, a representative from the Tibetan government spoke. Then His Holiness the Dalai Lama addressed the crowd; it was powerful to see him in person and hear his voice—surprisingly strong and clear, and always joyful—but of course he spoke in Tibetan. I followed along in my English packet.

His speech emphasized many issues, but perhaps the most important and interesting was His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s announcement that he will devolve all political power with the coming elections. That part of the speech made the BBC world news later that evening, which I didn’t expect. My amala (host mom) told me later that she cried at the news. Tibetans really feel attached to His Holiness and do not want him to cede any power, even though the Dalai Lama believes in free democratic elections.

After the speeches, a massive demonstration took place. People joined together to scream slogans, wave flags, and march down to the courthouse in lower Dharamsala. The place was crawling with cameras and film crews: if you are a Tibetan who wants to return to Tibet, it is not in your best interest to show your face at the rally.

My group found a shortcut and encountered some young Tibetans chanting in Tibetan, English, and Hindi. Walking with this group made me quite uncomfortable—especially because some of the slogans called on the U.S. and the U.N. to take action to aid Tibet.

Amidst the crowd of screaming people, I was forced to consider some particularly difficult issues. I don’t feel that I’ve learned enough about the “Tibet issue” to have a well-developed opinion about whether Tibet should be its own country. More than that, though, I found myself feeling personally attacked from the rising chants.  I realize that there are many more implications than just Tibetan freedom if the U.S. or U.N. chooses to get involved.

Global politics is complex: there’s a difference between what I think all people deserve (basic human rights) and how people can work towards attaining them. I wish I could say that in all situations you should always work towards securing for people basic human rights as soon as possible, but unfortunately global politics does not always function in favor of this ideal.

International politics has an established framework, and Tibetans here play their part by demonstrating and trying to draw attention to the cause.

A Tibetan monk even set himself on fire, which garnered an article in the New York Times. I don’t fault Tibetans for fighting for what they believe is right, but walking right in the thick of things forced me to think about my role in global society, and made me more uncomfortable, than reading in a classroom ever could.

Yours,

Michelle Brody

Like what you’ve read?  Read more about Michelle’s study abroad adventures on her blog.

After a furious campaign weekend, the candidates gave their speeches to an audience of about 150 onlookers at snack on Monday night, where the enticing smells of campaign promises matched the less than aromatic deep-fried zucchini. Five candidates gave speeches: Pieter Cornel, Caitlin Highland, Max Zipperman, Naureen Nanjee, and Eli Coon.

Most speeches touched on the basic responsibilities of freshman class president. Plans for printing class t-shirts, organizing 2014-only events, and incorporating the ideas of fellow classmates were present in the platforms of almost every candidate.

Eli Coon, the eventual winner, spoke last, explaining how he arrived at CMC after deciding against the other Claremont Colleges. Coon joked how he could not go to Scripps because he “didn’t want to hook up with CMC guys” or Pitzer because he “didn’t drive a Prius.” He reiterated his desire to include the ideas of all the freshmen, specifically the other freshmen candidates whom he believed could all contribute to a great year for the Class of 2014. In an inclusive spirit, Coon advocated for a Friday freshman snack, which he believed could allow for freshmen to get better acquainted with each other.

Asked what he thought helped him win, Coon responded “I think… picking up the same ideas that the freshman class already believes. In my speech and on the Forum I talked about inclusiveness, not only because I think it’s how a good place should be, but because that’s how we act [already] at CMC.”

Coon says his next step forward will involve mainly listening. He noted, “As much as I feel at home here, I’m just a freshman and I don’t know half as much as I think I do about being part of ASCMC. I’m going to listen to people who have done this before, hopefully try to learn from their mistakes, repeat their achievements, and move forward to have a phenomenal freshman year.”

On November 3^rd, 2010, Barack H. Obama will still reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but offices at the other end of that particular street might begin to move. Recently White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs let forth the earth shattering notion that Democrats might not control both chambers of Congress after the election. Not particularly surprising to anyone who has been paying attention…but rather poorly received by House Democrats. Indeed Speaker Pelosi (yikes!) lambasted Gibbs in a meeting with her Democratic colleagues.

No matter your current level of interest, I am here to tell you that the midterm elections should be of interest to you. What follows (hopefully) will be a persuasive argument as to why you should turn on (TV, internets, radio, twitters), how you should tune into House races, and why this all matters.

What about the Senate? For a variety of reasons (which I am happy, even eager, to discuss elsewhere) the Senate Majority Leader has no where near the control over his fellow members, legislative calendar, or policy, as the Speaker of the House does. Individual Senators and Committees, by practice and procedure, have much greater power in the upper chamber than in the lower. As a result, I would submit it is the Speaker of the House that is the second most powerful office in the land.

And it’s up for grabs. As Gibbs noted (despite his rather unsurprising ‘walking back’) the House is up for grabs. “Speaker Boehner” is a phrase which sends chills up the spines of Democrats everywhere, much as the mere utterance of the words “Speaker Pelosi” cause the average Republican to fret and avoid eating for some time.

So what should you pay attention to? There are, broadly speaking, two schools of thought. The first, and easier to track, is national indicators. The state of the economy, the unemployment rate, the ‘national mood,’ and other metrics are all fair rough metrics of what is likely to happen. The alternative is to predict on a race by race basis how elections are likely to turn out and tally those predictions. (For those of you reading this to waste time and are really looking for an excuse not to get stuff done, you can read this piece or this one on forecasting).

So where to tune? The Cook Political Report is an invaluable source as a guide to which races are competitive and how they compare. His House Race charts can be found here. For those of you looking for a bit more content, and World Cup references, The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza is a must read. For those of your truly addicted, there are many more resources but a new one that I am quite fond of is a twitter feed @FECTweets run by Reid Wilson at National Journal’s Hotline. The feed just broadcasts the quarterly fundraising results (2Q were due July 15) so less useful now, but good to have in the future.

There’s also the option to drop out. I’m not necessarily advocating you leave CMC for a semester to work on a campaign, though you could do worse things. You can phone bank from anywhere with Skype or a cell phone, and you can always write a check. If you do plan to go the cash route, I will not use this space to tell you who to send money to, but I will say this: go small or go home. Money you send to a House race in Idaho (Democrat/Republican) will go a lot further than dollars you spend to Illinois (Democrat/Republican).

Why does it matter that Nancy and Robert couldn’t play nice? It matters a great deal because the Speaker of the House is the second most powerful person in the nation and the White House Press Secretary is the public voice of the President.

Now you might retort ‘No, Jesse. I learned in Govt. 20 that it goes President, Vice President, Speaker of the House….’ Well, simply put, that’s just not true. The Vice Presidency of the United States of America, august title and all, is just not that important. Vice President Garner once said the Vice Presidency was “not worth a bucket of warm piss,” hardly the description of an all powerful office.

There are two principle reasons why this is true: a) the Vice President has no natural area of responsibility, except for those given to him by the President, and b) the Vice President has no vote (except in rare Senate ties) and has no natural power base or constituency to call upon.

Given our age, I am sure the comments section would fill with comments about Dick Cheney, was he not powerful? First it is worth noting that Cheney is the exception far more than the rule. Second, and more substantively, Cheney’s power within the Bush administration derived from his close, almost Chief of Staff-like relationship with the President. All politicians have close aids and allies who have their ear, and whose judgment the principal trusts. Vice President Cheney filled that role for President Bush, but unlike most advisors, his name was also on the ballot.

What is the point of this tangent? If we accept that the Vice President is not all that important, there is a vacancy in the number two slot…meet the Speaker of the House. The Speaker consolidates the powers of the House of Representatives in large measure in the Speaker’s office, has direct (if not de facto) control over what bills come to the floor, and just as importantly which bills do not. The Speaker can exercise an effective veto over legislation, and has a greater power, more than any other single member of Congress, to effect policy and political changes. This power is amplified when the Speaker is of a different party than the President as the Speaker also becomes in effect the voice of the ‘out’ party (see Gingrich, Newt).

Bottom line: November’s election matters a great deal. Control of a very powerful position is up for grabs, and this will have significant implications for the rest of President Obama’s term, for the course of the nation, and for national politics for the next few years. If that is something that interests you, there are a number of ways to get information. If you want to do more than read passively, you can get involved in a meaningful way.

Decisions are made by those who show up, will you?

OBVIOUS BIAS ALERT: The author of this post worked in the Fall of 20o9 and this summer for House Republican Leader John Boehner. Notwithstanding this fact, this article contains useful advice ensconced in a whimsical and yet powerful writing style.