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!

ASCMC hosted this year’s first formal event, The Boardwalk Empire party. Students bought their wristbands for $5, which covered the live band, refreshments, and dancing lessons.  So was the fee worth it?

Here’s what the freshmen had to say about keeping it classy:

“I liked how everyone was dressed up and everyone looked really good. I liked the change of pace from the normal parties from the sweaty mosh pits. It was nice to be classy. CMC is a very classy school. I feel like we should embrace that more,” said Charlie Montgomery ’15.

“It was a real classy way to end the week,” Stephanie Braziel ‘15

“It was one of the very first parties we made a profit out of. It was successful and a nice way to slow down the pace. If we could change one thing we would get two more bars for next year,” said ASCMC Executive Secretary Stephanie Haft ’15.

“The Boardwalk Empire was a nice change to CMC’s normal ragers. It gave the student body a chance to dress up and dance to swing music,” said Braden Crockett ’15.

“CMC cleans up real nice,” said Gracie Coburn ’15.

Photos by Karan Malik

Fair to Midland, a quintet originating from Sulpher Springs, Texas, have outlived each and every one of these trends.  Initially formed in 1998, the band self-released two albums before being signed by a record label operated by System of a Down’s Serj Tankein, Serjical Strike Records.  The signing, which netted widespread distribution of Fables From a Mayfly, the band’s 2007 major label debut, granted them appearances with alt-rock titans such as Queens of the Stoneage, Smashing Pumpkins, and Muse.  Despite critical acclaim for the album (Sputnik Music even listing it as one of the top 100 albums of the 2000s), the band found themselves eventually displaced from the label and suddenly in creative and financial limbo.  With constant tour appearances, the band’s future seemed in question: Even for titans of alternative music, four years stood as a monumental waiting game for anxious fans, even as demo-recordings of a handful of tracks leaked to the internet.

The wait, as it turns out, was worth every second.  On July 12th, Fair to Midland released their fourth studio album, the triumphant Arrows and Anchors on E1 Records.  Boasting 15 tracks, including several of the group’s iconic interludes, the album is, without a doubt, the best release of 2011.  Fair to Midland’s sound has always been difficult to classify; it’s a combination of hard rock, ambient electronics, and shoegaze aesthetics.  On the album opener (spare for a brief organ introduction), the towering “Whisky and Ritalin,” the group turns a discordant intro into a danceable punk groove before launching to the stratosphere by showing off one of their signature melodic choruses.  Those unacquainted with modern hard rock should look no further for an introduction to the genre: no other band can write a hook that utilizes the elements of the genre with such refined skill.

Track-by-track, Arrows and Anchors holds its own quality-wise against any album of the last five years.  On lead single “Musical Chairs,” bassist Jon Dicken takes the band through a groove-oriented verse that offers just a small sample of his remarkable contributions to the band’s identity.  ”Amarillo Sleeps on my Pillow” (which can be downloaded for free from the band’s website) has guitarist Cliff Campbell wielding instruments typically reserved for country music, including a resonator and banjo, before launching into an unparalleled chorus of down-tuned syncopated guitars.  Drummer Brett Stowers’s off-beat rhythms on “Short-Haired Tornado” power into a chorus that would make Icelandic post-rock titans Sigur Ros jealous, and on the penultimate track, keyboardist Matt Langley powers a groovy synth line resting above some of the heaviest guitar work on the album.  Throughout, vocalist Darroh Sudderth makes a compelling argument for being the best vocalist in modern music, demonstrating tremendous range and dynamic ability, with stream-of-consciousness lyrics incorporating folksy sayings alongside vivid imagery.  But, just like in sports, it’s not the individual performances that matter, but those of the entire team, and Fair to Midland is peerless in this regard.  Never has the whole been this much greater than the sum of its parts.

The resulting record is immediately gripping and endlessly listenable, yet even in the face of such a record, Fair to Midland suffers from the ironic fate of being a band that can’t seem to break through to mainstream success purely because of how unique they are.  Attempts to describe the band in terms of other artists are futile: Fair to Midland simply ARE Fair to Midland.  It is here, however, that one of the band’s other remarkable strengths comes into play (no pun intended).

The modern musician has at his/her disposal a literal arsenal of tools to keep in touch with their fans.  Facebook and Twitter enable even the prolific likes of Kanye West and Lady Gaga to network directly with fans, and while Fair to Midland makes use of Facebook, a band that’s been around since 1998 has a few other electronic tricks up their sleeves.  Back in the younger days of the Internet, bands frequently set up online forums to pass news to fans and to unite them under a single banner in the form of street teams.  While this tradition has, for the most part, gone by the wayside, Fair to Midland’s fan community remains vibrant and strong, with a street team spreading word of the group all over the United States, Europe, and rest of the world.  Fair to Midland’s forum is even moderated by a member of the band, Stowers, and frequently is used as a way to foster dialogue from performers to enthusiasts and vice versa.

For all that electronic presence, nothing can truly compare to face-to-face interaction, and no other band offers such care for their fans.  At a typical Fair to Midland concert, the band members can be found mingling outside the venue, taking photos and excitedly signing merchandise for those there to watch them play.  The personality comes across in live shows with exuberant theatrics and from, it should be said, being proper human beings in general.  Many artists (Kings of Leon notoriously come to mind) find their careers catapulted into the spotlight, only to lose touch with their suddenly massive fanbase.  For these fellows from Texas, the give-and-take with this fanbase has always been an elemental part of their identity and success.  It very well could be the old adage, don’t forget where you came from.  Fair to Midland has not forgotten.  As the band prepares for a European tour to close out a momentous year with future domestic tour dates around the corner, 2012 could be their time to shine, and shine they deserve.  If ever an act had paid their dues to the open road, it would be these boys, with a folksy sentiment not often seen in contemporary music.

Want more music from Dan Evans? Check out his 3 part series on can rap be saved? Here is part one, two and three.

The display at the east door of Malott Dining Commons

Two cardboard cutouts outside Malott Dining Commons at Scripps College sparked recent controversy on campus. The cutouts, which were set up by the Health Education Outreach (HEO), depicted two girls covered in vomit and bruises with ripped clothes and used condoms in their pockets. The cutouts were labeled “Eurotrashed 2011″ and were accompanied by a sign that read, “You wouldn’t start your night like this. So why end it this way?”

In a statement released later that day in response to student concerns, HEO explained that the display was based on a YouTube video from the ”Know Your Limits” campaign, which was used during Peer Mentor and Resident Assistant training this August. (To see the video, click here.)

Before putting up the display, HEO contacted the Scripps Dean of Students office on Monday and got conceptual approval for the cutouts. On Friday, October 7th, representatives from HEO installed two displays at Malott – one each at the North and East entrances. At first, they were removed because they had not been approved by the Scripps Activities and Residential Life Office, but after they added a contact email to the display, they were approved and put back up.

Emily Yau (SC ’13) saw the cutout right before eating lunch. “Initially, I did a triple take and was like, ew, what’s that?” Yau expected to find copies of the display at the other colleges, or at least a male version of the cutout. “When I found out that there were only cutouts of girls, that really bothered me.” She is also concerned by the inclusion of condoms on the cutout. “They’re not supposed to be commenting on morality here, and aren’t we supposed to be using condoms?” She thinks the posters got people talking but not about the right issues.

The display at the north door of Malott Dining Commons

Rachel Picher (SC ’12) also took issue with the display. In a public Facebook note, Picher analyzed the cutouts from a feminist perspective. “These images present alcohol consumption as the cause of several female-engendered experiences of shame and use this shame as a deterrent to excess alcohol consumption … The deployment of female gendered shame may be an effective tool to keep women from drinking, but it will not keep women well.”

After receiving complaints from two students who were upset by the display, Antoinette Meyers (SC ’12), the student body president, removed one of the cutouts and took it to the Dean of Students office to talk about how to address students’ concerns. Later, a representative from HEO removed the other cutout. Currently, both cutouts are on display in the HEO office.

Andrea Kablanian (SC ’12), a Peer Health Educator at HEO, was surprised that students responded so negatively to the display. She wants to assure students that Scripps College was not being singled out: “This was a campaign we were interested in using throughout the year before several parties, and Eurotrash happened to be the first.”

Kablanian explained that it might have been a coincidence that both cutouts were female. The cutouts were made by tracing the outlines of two Peer Health Educators, and two of the students on shift when the display was being made were female. “Our time limitations only allowed for two to be made, so we decided we’d have them at Scripps, seeing as the party was going to be [there].” Elizabeth Wilmott, Acting HEO Coordinator, confirmed that plans to display the cutouts on other campuses are still moving forward and that HEO intends to make a male display.

Scripps College Dean of Students Rebecca Lee acknowledged that the cutouts had upset some students, but she made it clear that overall she supports alcohol education initiatives. “Frankly, I am concerned there are some students who end up looking like the cutout and have been found displaying aspects of what was depicted.” She pointed out that the cutouts probably drew more attention than a simple poster. “With education, the element of controversy is sometimes a good thing. I hope this controversy is also raising awareness and results in students getting involved with assisting HEO and Scripps in identifying better approaches to this most important issue.” In an email addressing Scripps students about the event, Dean Lee encouraged students to “accept HEO’s offer to engage in dialogue” and directed students’ attention to a forum discussion about Scripps’ alcohol policy.

Between 2004 and 2010 the Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College accrued a bill of $28,508 in cleanup charges from Story House. That’s an average of $4,072 per year. To put that into perspective, last year’s White Party cost $3,933 after accounting for revenues from ticket sales. After skillful negotiation, the final bill paid by ASCMC to Story House for this time period amounted to $10,494; that’s still $1,500 per year that could have been better allocated to funding another Dodgers game trip, renting out the village theatre for a movie premiere, or simply increasing club budgets.

It might be justifiable if we were paying groundskeepers an increased wage, but we’re not. Story House is not liable to discuss individual wage rates, or even collective wage ranges, for house and grounds employees, but they informed me of the following party cleanup costs. For non-overtime clean ups, Story House charges $36.00 per hour of labor for grounds keepers and building attendants. For overtime cleanups, they charge $54.00 per hour of labor. The word “overtime” in this context is a bit of a misnomer, because Story House employees aren’t technically allowed to work more than 8 hours per day. Rather they are required to complete their normal duties in addition to party cleanup within their normally allotted work schedule without billing Story House for the extra work. Story House then imposes an additional rent (the difference between the worker wage rate and either $36 or $54) on this labor. Especially on weekends, such an arrangement places building attendants and groundskeepers under particular duress. They must commute to and from CMC again, thus increasing their travel costs and forcing them to shave the extra hours off of the following 40 hour work week, all without significant changes in their overall compensation. It would be hard to argue that the current arrangement fairly compensates CMC’s building attendants and grounds crew for cleaning up our parties. Thus, the current state of affairs is neither efficient nor equitable: ASCMC loses $1500 and Story House employees are not compensated for their extra time and effort.

Have you ever wondered why we have a great alcohol policy at CMC, one that allows us to socialize and interact without worrying about ‘big-brother’ looking over our shoulders? The Dean of Students Office affords us our drinking privileges for one main reason: they trust us to socialize and party responsibly. This trust is hard earned, and violations of it result in real consequences for our on-campus social life. The Dean of Students Office created an Alcohol Task Force after several incidents of alcohol poisoning at the beginning of the year in 2009. In addition, the Dean of Students Office canceled TNC for a month last year after the appearance of unregistered kegs at the year’s first TNC. When it comes to party cleanup, the Deans have no interest in explaining to the Admissions or Public Affairs offices why tour groups and campus visitors walked through North Quad on a Wednesday morning only to find several lounges completely unusable. Nor for that matter should they. The more we clean up after ourselves, the more we affirm DOS’ trust in our responsibility. This will help preserve our current drinking privileges and socially-open campus atmosphere.

Now that we’ve grasped on the economic and strategic factors governing party cleanup, let’s examine the most important aspect: leadership. CMC’s focus on leadership is, in my opinion, the characteristic that fundamentally differentiates us from other schools. There’s something in the students here—an unrelenting drive for success and self-improvement, the conviction to articulate and defend our beliefs, the unpretentiousness to admit when we’re wrong and learn from our mistakes—that collectively defines us as CMCers. It is these same traits that allow for our post-graduation success, whether in business, finance, academia, medicine, government, or any field at all. But with great leadership comes great responsibility. Psychologists and management theorists have long known that within institutions and organizations, agents lower in the power hierarchy model their own behavior after those at the top. This observation is true outside the workplace. If your experience was similar to mine, as a freshman you respected and looked up to the upperclassmen to better know what it meant to be a CMCer in the social sense. The importance of leaders as behavioral models is among the reasons that the concept of ‘institutional memory’ is so important in both government and the private sector. Once a respected authoritative leader has established the status quo, his/her model becomes very difficult to change.

The status quo of our campus party culture is unacceptable. As good people and exemplary future leaders we should clean up after ourselves not only because it saves us money, benefits our incredible building attendants and grounds crew, and affords us a certain autonomy in our relations with DOS, but also because taking full responsibility for one’s actions is a fundamental pillar of good leadership. CMC, please, let’s pick up after ourselves.

Thanks to the actions of other student leaders such as SPEAR Presidents Ben Feldman and Hillary Haskell, this task will not be particularly difficult. Going forward, there will be red trashcans at all ASCMC parties, specifically for recycling the infamous red cups. If you don’t want to throw away that Solo cup immediately (I’ll admit there is some celebratory utility derived from slamming a cup on the ground after a good game of flip cup) then please, take two minutes at the end of the night to pick up and throw away 5-10 pieces of trash. In the near future, these red Solo cup recycling bins will be available to check out from Story House for any social event, so we can keep our lounges clean even after private events, thus reducing dorm damages for all. On Thursdays and Saturdays, I will be sticking around to clean up after the party. I sincerely hope you’ll do the same.

I encourage everyone to criticize, discuss, and contemplate this article in the comments section below. However if you would like to be involved in rotating six-person student cleanup crews—this obligation will involve approximately 1-1.5 hours of cleaning one Sunday afternoon per month—then please send me an email (wbrown12@cmc.edu) or give me a call (443.690.5364) and we’ll get you on board.

For as long as any student can remember (and even many alumni!), Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Student Activities Jim Nauls has been in charge of putting together events for students on campus. During a recent Board of Trustees meeting, however, it was brought up that perhaps the beneficiaries of these events, the students, should have more of a say in the use of the Student Activities funds.

Thus the CMC College Programming Board (CPB) was born. According to their mission statement, the CPB is a group of elected representatives who plan to bring “concerts, special events, lectures, comedians, and more” to campus this year. The board consists of elected members from each dorm on campus and is chaired by Christina Khavarian (2012). As the year progresses, the board will divide into sub-committees to develop and run both on-campus activities and off-campus activities.

Photo Credit: CPB

This semester, as the students learn the ropes, the board will focus on hosting the events rather than planning them. “I already have a ton of events lined up for this Fall,” explained Dean Nauls, but he hopes that the student energy will help him to hold an event every night of the week this Fall – a goal which he has been working towards for years. “I’d love to have something every night of the week, but I just can’t be at all of the activities,” he explained.

Come spring semester, the tables will turn: Dean Nauls will be taking the backseat and the board will be taking the reins. Both planning and hosting activities will fall in the hands of students. And, while the ideas that the board comes up with will remain top-secret until then, as Khavarian explained, “we already have two whole pages of ideas just from the first meeting.”

The CPB is also separate from the Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College. While the Programming Board may coordinate some activities with ASCMC, the CPB is not taking the place of the Student Life Council, the Dorm Activities Committee or any other student run organization at CMC.

The College Programming Board will also help the Dean of Students office hear feedback from students about events. While Dean Nauls does get students dropping in from time to time saying how great an event was, he noted: “I don’t get many negative comments.” Hopefully, with the board hearing inputs from students all over campus, criticisms of activities will be better heard.

CPB has already hosted a number of events including a Dodgers game, a trip to the Getty Museum, Glee showings, laser tag in McKenna Auditorium, weekly movie screenings in Pickford Auditorium and many others.  They are also hosting the “all-you-can-eat” Kogi Truck on Thursday, October 6 at 10:00PM. Other, previously unannounced, events include a bus and subsidized tickets to Knotts Scary Farm, another bus and subsidized tickets for Wicked playing at the Pantages Theatre, a buffalo wing-eating contest, Hangar 18 rock climbing and other activities.

Some concerns have been raised about how Khavarian was chosen as the Chair of the CPB; indeed, there was no election process this year. Dean Nauls explained that she has worked in his office, helping him run events for several years now. When it came time to put together a student group like this, it made sense to turn to her. “I’ve been working with Jim Nauls for ages,” assured Khavarian. As Jim explained, she will not have any more say in the events than other students on the board–rather, the Chair is in charge of coordinating the sub-committees and day-to-day communication with him and his office.

Dean Nauls weighed in about the drawbacks of a system with so many moving parts: “It was easy when I could just say yes, let’s do it” to an event. Now, with the new CPB, ideas will have to go through many more people to become a reality. Even so, Dean Nauls chuckled as he said that “my job is about to get way easier…maybe I won’t have to be here every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night!”

If you have any comments, ideas or suggestions for the College Programming Board staff, email them at cpb@claremontmckenna.edu or leave comments below.

It is an oft-heard gripe that perhaps it is the sameness of the parties that makes them feel lackluster. While it is true that most parties are similar, they are similar in that they cater to the students. ASCMC has a budget, and between 6:01, the Pirate Party, Monte Carlo, and the Wedding Party, (not to mention those hosted by the other colleges) they make good use of it. It is not as if they don’t attempt to inject variation into our nightlife – rather it is the fact that the same student body will move towards creating the same atmosphere.

The problem lies not within the parties themselves, but rather in our failing to remember that there are certain tradeoffs you make when you decide to go to a school with 1200 students. Undoubtedly, one of the most noticeable of these tradeoffs is giving up any sense of anonymity. It is near impossible to even walk through a TNC without seeing at least ten people you know. While some see this as monotonous, I think that it is precisely this quality that allows CMC’s parties to seem so sociable.

While a large school naturally offers a more varied array of nightlife options, CMC’s party atmosphere allows you the comfort of going to any given party and running into someone – especially that someone you’ve had an eye on – without having to search high and low. With this reliability comes a level of security hard to find anywhere else – at a CMC party you can rest assured that you are taken care of. The level of community that comes with a student body so small creates an environment in which students truly care about each other’s safety. It is only because of this that we can feel comfortable even when we have had a little too much ‘dancing juice’ and lose our friends in a sea of togas.

Despite the pervasive sense of familiarity at parties, it is not as though there is no new-ness. While it may be easy to find those you know, there are always new people to meet. For those willing to put in the effort, there are always people to get to know and people to get to know better–whether they are students from the other four colleges, transfer students, freshmen, or CMCers you’ve never spoken to before. It is this quality that helps us forge a deeper sense of unity. We create connections with fellow students that we would be unlikely to create at any other type of school. In this way, it is the smallness of CMC that allows us to befriend more people rather than fewer.

So rather than wonder why you see the same people all the time, remember what it was you signed up for, and relish in the fact that every weekend you can go out, see all of your friends in a safe environment, and create those memories that you’ll never forget (or never remember).

 Note: Forum staff did not edit or revise these statements in any way. They are directly from the candidates in their own words. Their views do not necessarily represent those of the Forum.

Alexandra Cooke

Although I am the only candidate for the Student Life Council Chair (SLC Chair), I still take this election very seriously. As your prospective SLC Chair, I promise complete dedication to the job.

I have several goals to bring our already-close CMC community even closer through established traditions and new, diverse events.

CMC social life tends to be polarized: wet and dry events. Each of these has different qualities that attract separate crowds.  I see my job as the possibility to create new events that bring diverse groups together, forgetting the notion of wet and dry and fostering a more inclusive atmosphere.

If elected, first and foremost, I want to immediately establish a Council to help with throwing two or three events per week. This council should be composed of students with diverse ideas to ensure that the SLC events will appeal to a wide array of students.

Even though this will be a new position for me, there will be no lag time with putting on events; I already have a great working relationship with the ASCMC Exec Board, because I have served as the Executive Secretary since Spring Break.  Through my work with ASCMC so far, I also have experience working with DOS and following through with executing successful events.

Some of my ideas for SLC events are:

• ESPN College Gameday parties with FOOD
• Themed TV and movie nights (i.e. Dress up like the characters from Mad Men during a reception and a screening)
• Board game tournaments
• Music Events (i.e. Open Mic Night, Karaoke, live bands)
• Off-Campus events
• Continue the past traditions (i.e. Pumpkin Carving, Dodgers Games, TV showings, Ginger Bread Houses, Ski-Beach Day, etc.)

Most importantly, if elected, I want feedback from all of you. E-mail me if you have ideas or comments or just want to get to know me at acooke14@cmc.edu.

Remember to vote outside of Collins or at the Senior Apartments on Thursday! I hope to have your vote and have a great rest of the year with all of you as your SLC Chair.

ASCMC election rules prohibit candidates from campaigning online.  Since the Forum allows anonymous commenting, the editorial staff disabled commenting on articles to prevent any rule violations. If you have any questions about this policy, please email forum@ascmc.org.

This weekend the Claremont Mudd Scripps Cross Country team competed in the Stanford Invitational and finished well considering the invitational was swarming with D-1 competition. The Athenas finished 13th of 32 while the Stags finished in the middle of the pack at 14th out of 28 teams. Rafer Dannenhauer and Brian Sutter dominated the Division III competition and were the first D-3 runners to finish in the 8000 meter. Saturday was a good test for cross country given the ability to compete head to head with larger programs. All in all, it turned out to be a good day. The Stags went on to finish higher than six Division I teams as well as finishing just behind rival, Pomona-Pitzer who is currently ranked #26 in Division III. The Athenas were equally impressive beating eleven D-1 teams and placing first out of all the Division III teams.
Men’s soccer won back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday beating Hendrix College and Whittier. On Friday night, September 23, CMS found themselves down 2-1 until junior forward, Harrison Doyle, came in off the bench and scored the equalizer. One minute later, riding the momentum freshman, Jake Bishop scored the game winner putting in his second goal of the season. The Stags rolled through Saturday, September 24, shutting out Whittier College 4-0.
Women’s soccer also played Whittier College and recorded their third shutout of the season in a 5-0 win. Shaundra Ullman scored her first and second goal of the season and helped CMS finish out a landslide victory. Sophomore goalkeeper Hannah Dunham put in another solid effort in goal recording three saves and dropping her goals allowed per game average below one (0.96). On Wednesday, September 28, the Athenas also took on the La Verne Leopards and defeated the Leopards in a nail-biting overtime game.

Women’s volleyball suffered two conference losses Friday and Saturday losing to California Lutheran 3-2 on Friday and 3-0 to La Verne on Saturday. Against Cal Lutheran, the Athenas battled back and forced a fifth match that they ended up losing by two (17-15).

Upcoming:

After a bye week last week, CMS football begins conference play at La Verne College on Saturday at 1:00.

Cross country will be competing in the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational, first race starts at 7:45 am.

Both men and women’s soccer will be taking on Redlands this weekend. The Athenas will be kicking off at home at 11:00 am on Saturday. Watch this game live on the Forum.

Women’s volleyball have the chance to improve their conference record this weekend taking on Redlands Friday night at 7:30 and Occidental Saturday night at 6:00. Watch the Redlands game live on the Forum.

Stags’ Water Polo (3-6) will complete in Lancer Invite at Cal Baptist this weekend, playing Vanguard in their first match.

As always, watch all of the CMS Stags and Athenas games live on the Forum. Keep checking here for the live braodcasts.

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.