Condoleezza Rice

A woman who needs no introduction, though I’m going to give her one anyway, Condoleezza Rice will be speaking at the Athenaeum on November 30. Ms. Rice, the 66th United States Secretary of State under President George W. Bush, currently works as a professor at Stanford University and as the director of Stanford’s Global Center for Business and the economy. Her work in government is well known, but here are a few things you may not know about her: she has guest starred on an episode of 30 Rock, she is an accomplished concert pianist who has played alongside famous individuals like Yo-Yo Ma, and recently broke an 86 year losing-streak after winning the World Series in 2004 (Note: One of these facts may actually apply to the Boston Red Sox).

Fran Lebowitz

Renowned author, humorist, and smoking advocate Fran Lebowitz will be speaking at Claremont McKenna College this spring. She’s made appearances on Law & Order, twice on The Late Show with David Letterman, and in an HBO documentary, directed by Martin Scorsese, entitled Public Speaking, which chronicles her famous talent for snappy repartee and humorous world-view. Lebowitz will also be speaking as a part of the speaker series “The New Normal: Abandoning Narrow Definitions,” a project conceived by the 2011-12 Resident Assistants with the co-sponsorship of ASCMC and the support of several key faculty and staff. The series aims to create a more inclusive definition of leadership on campus and celebrate those that have successfully challenged a hyper-masculine cultural norm.

Dan Savage

The speaker list just keeps getting better! At least that’s what Dan Savage, founder of the “It Gets Better Project” told me. Savage will also be speaking this upcoming spring about his efforts to fight depression and suicide among LGBT youth in America. Savage initiated his project, which encourages well-known celebrities and organizations to post videos affirming that life does get better, in September of 2010. Since then, thousands have posted videos on his website itgetsbetter.org in support of Savage’s message, including Stephen Colbert, Lady Gaga, Hillary Clinton, Woody, and the San Francisco Giants. Savage is currently the editorial director  of the Stranger, a weekly newspaper in Seattle. Savage will also be speaking as a part of the “New Normal” speaker series. He will speak on February 29.

Rick Welts

Welts currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Phoenix Suns basketball team (Not to be confused with Charlie Sheen’s upcoming Norwegian black metal album “Phoenix Sons”), and formerly served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of the National Basketball Association, after rising from the position of ball boy. Just a few months ago, he came out and became the first openly gay American sports executive. Welts has explained that he wants to inspire more open dialogue about homosexuality in professional sports. He will be speaking this fall, on October 14th, about his experiences in the NBA, and the challenges he faced as a gay man in the NBA. Welts, along with Dan Savage and Fran Lebowitz, will speak as a part of the “New Normal” speaker series with additional support from the CMS Athletic Department.

Melissa Harris-Perry

A critically acclaimed author and Professor at Tulane University, Melissa Harris-Perry will also be speaking at the Athenaeum on October 5. Perry authored the comprehensive examination of the development of black political perspectives Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought, a winner of the W.E.B DuBois Best Book Award in the Race and Ethnic Politics category, and the upcoming Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America. Harris-Perry is part of a speaker series put together by Professor and Faculty Director of the Center for Writing and Public Discourse Audrey Bilger.  The speaker series is called Writing and Public Discourse.

For more updates from the Athenaeum and information about signing up for these talks, check out their website here. Also,  the Forum will release the full speaker list in mid August so be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter and be among the first to know.

*Note: An older version of this article was published on Monday, July 25 and misnamed an Athenaeum speaker series. The series is entitled “The New Normal: Abandoning Narrow Definitions,” not the “Social Inclusion Series.” The article also referred imprecisely to those involved in creating the series. The series was created not only with RA Greg Zahner (’12) but also with the support of the 2011-2012 Residential Assistants and additional faculty and staff.

Dear CMC,

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

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

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

What does DOS want?

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

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

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

What can we do as a school?

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

And now?

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

ASCMC

• Dr. Kathleen Purvis-Roberts, professor of chemistry, provided us with an overview of the scientific issues surrounding global warming. She affirmed that the vast majority of the scientific community agrees that humans are contributing tremendously to climate change. The threats presented include the melting of polar ice caps, sea level rise, severe droughts and more extreme weather patterns, all of which are likely to lead to daunting consequences. She went on to stress the responsibility of developed nations toward the developing world, who do not have the adequate means to protect themselves without severely stifling the rise in their already weak standards of living, and more importantly have emitted far fewer greenhouse gases since the dawn of the industrial revolution.

• Dr. Alex Rajczi, professor of philosophy, surveyed the issue from a normative moral standpoint. The prominent questions he raised were a) should we believe that climate change is anthropogenic and poses a serious threat, and b) does the U.S. have an obligation to do something about it? “We are certainly accountable,” declares Rajczi, because “we are the ones pouring these chemicals into the air.” From an ethical perspective, he advised that the best we can do – as predominantly nonscientists – is trust the conclusions of the majority of experts, unless we have a good reason not to. And although the window for specific policy debates is limitless, the majority of experts are unequivocal in their conviction that global warming is an anthropogenic activity, hence we have the responsibility to curtail the damage we are causing.

• Dr. William Christian, professor of government, addressed the political realities surrounding global warming. The United States is responsible for roughly ¼ of worldwide greenhouse gases and is as of today, the only country in the world not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. “No doubt it is our responsibility,” says Christian, but it is “a very difficult matter to deal with.” He mentioned the various solutions being proposed in Congress, including the instatement of a carbon taxes to discourage emissions, and a ‘cap and trade’ system whereby the government can set a ceiling on pollution and private organizations can trade their quotas between each other. Although these solutions would be effective, political intricacies such as special interest lobbies are influential in preventing such legislation from being passed. He ended by invoking journalist Thomas Friedman’s outlooks, that we need an economic transformation more than economic regulation, which will occur when the government spends money to build the currently meager green industry.

• Dr. S. Brock Blomberg, perhaps the most inimitable speaker of the night, offered us the economic realities of regulating the energy industry. He opened with a disclaimer of humility and hubris, declaring that he “doesn’t know much about environmental issues, but he’s still going to talk about it.” The best part about professor Blomberg was his modesty, as he claimed that economists are only assessing the stats and figures involved with regulation emissions, and “not even trying to deal with the human loss or the things that actually matter,” in his own words. He invoked a cost-benefit analysis to assess the harm that would be dealt to the economy in comparison to the benefits, if the government were to regulate the energy industry. The brazen conclusion of a number of economists is that the ‘economic’ harm done would outweigh the ‘economic’ benefits of regulation.

While it is important to appreciate an economist’s opinion on policy matters, this perspective is severely limited by the sheer lack of deliberation on the multiple other dimensions of the phenomenon. Naturally, there are disadvantages to dealing with any potential threat, but an economic cost-benefit analysis does not take into account the mounting health risks (such as asthma), the millions of people likely to be displaced from their homes due to rising sea levels, the water shortages presented by droughts, and the catastrophes looming in the worsening weather patterns, all of which is currently set to transpire at an exponential rate. Furthermore, non-regulation today will severely strain the resources available to future generations. Factoring in these consequences, even the most extreme free market economist’s conviction would face an enormous burden.

It is imperative to consider the humanitarian concerns – and not merely short term economic prospects – when weighing the relevance of environmental policy. Nobody that is willing to objectively examine the threat of global warming from all angles would have a leg to stand on in refuting the importance of actions designed to ameliorate the human loss it is expected to cause.