In prior years, the administration has imposed a “dry” campus, commencing at the beginning of freshman orientation and ending on the Friday of the first week of classes at 6:00 pm.  Students have traditionally celebrated the end of the week with a countodown to 6:01 and a huge party celebrated with a keg drop, debauchery, and in one year the release of live doves.

There will, however, most likely still be a dry week for the freshman orientation period.  The campus will  be “wet” again when classes start, presumably at 8:10am on Tuesday, August 31st.

The administration has long sought to diminish attention to dry week and the alcohol binge celebration at the end of the week . They have experimented with policy changes over the last few years, with little success.   6:01 was officially celebrated last in 2008.  In 2007, the administration tried to gradually move the party by ending dry week at 5:00 pm.  The students accommodated the changes and hosted a 5:01 bash instead.  In 2009, the administration moved the end of dry week to 6:00 am on Friday, leading students to encourage their friends to “wait the 12 hours” to start drinking at the symbolic 6:01 pm start time.

Castro would not comment on the email or this tentative decision, claiming that Dean of Students and RAs still had to work out the details of exactly when the week would begin and end and how the other schools would be involved.  Mudd and Scripps also may tentatively change their policies to align with those of CMC, making the new beginning of the year celebrations 3C in nature.  The two campuses currently have dry weeks that end Friday.

On its surface, the decision seems to satisfy all parties.  The Dean of Students will no longer have to deal with J-Boarding scores of students written up for petty alcohol violations.  RAs will no longer have to troll the campus, acting as police instead of peers.

Some students see this as a responsible decision on the part of DOS; others may see another tradition, 6:01, indirectly but intentionally canceled.  DOS angered students last spring after threats were made to cancel the senior thesis fountain party, a longstanding tradition at the college.

Social Affairs Chair Seth Winterroth ’12 told the Forum there will not be a party on that day named “6:01,”  but ASCMC will host a similar large-scale event on the first Saturday of the school year.

“It’s great that Dean of Students realized that Dry Week often hurt CMC students more than it helped us,” said Winterroth, “Freshman and returning students will have the freedom we’ve been asking for and it’s exciting to think about all the possibilities we now have to celebrate the beginning of another year at CMC.”

Why write this now? Because very few people understand how ASCMC actually operates. Even though the organization serves over 1,100 people on a daily basis, the number of people who actually know “how things work” is only a couple dozen at most. So in the interest of a fair and transparent election, here’s “what I’ve learned.”

ASCMC, Inc.

Heggblade Conference Room: Where the Magic Happens

The Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College (ASCMC) is a 501(c)3 organization. In legal terms, that means we file our own tax returns, write our own checks, keep our own books, and are legally independent from the school.

What does “legally independent” mean? It means that ASCMC is responsible and liable for any events we put on, anything in the Forum (ASCMC’s official “newspaper”), and any internal controversies that arise. In the past, this has meant that students who take complaints about ASCMC’s actions to CMC’s administration have no recourse except with ASCMC itself. ASCMC is governed by its own constitution and bylaws, which also helps shield us from overzealous administrators (a future possibility; not a present reality).

Of course, the Dean of Students can still cancel our parties, the Dean of Faculty still chooses our graduation speakers (Kravis 2010!), and if ASCMC really screws up, the school could probably withhold student fees (but that would never happen).

Finances

Student fees are tacked onto tuition at $235 per year for every full-time student. 100 percent of that goes to ASCMC. Technically, it goes to CMC then to the ASCMC CFO in the form of a check for the full amount each semester. The CFO then takes that check down to the Wells Fargo branch in the Village and deposits it into our business account there. The CFO, President, and Vice President are signatories on that account so can deposit or withdraw money when necessary. Right now there is $177,740.54 in the checking account, but a lot of that is earmarked toward something or otherwise unreconciled. Like most corporations, money comes in and out so frequently that it’s hard to know exactly how much is available, but it’s always easy to get a general idea.

The Budgeting Committee (see Constitution) decides where the money goes. There a few guidelines such as a minimum allocation for Senate, but which fund gets how much is otherwise entirely discretionary. The Budget Committee also creates funds, such as a “Wedding Party” fund for special events and causes.

When someone spends money on an ASCMC event or approved expenditure, they save the receipts, submit a reimbursement form, and Chris writes them a check within a week or two. In extraordinary cases we’ll do a wire transfer or advance payment (for Lupe Fiasco’s fee, for example), but the policy is generally reimbursement only.

Positions

Before explaining the positions on the Board of Directors, I should mention that the “Powers and Duties” of each board member are very clearly outlined in the ASCMC Constitution. I should also say that those and the descriptions listed below describe the bare minimum that each board member must do. Everyone usually goes above and beyond.

Everyone on Board gets a stipend of varying amounts, which are listed in the Constitution. The President gets free room and board because of the opportunity cost of being an RA (generally, DOS will not let an RA be in a significant ASCMC position because of conflict of interest and time commitment issues). All board members traditionally get certain perks like mass e-mailing privileges and best seating for concerts they help plan. Again, if you’re thinking about running or applying for one of these positions, you need to read the Constitution to know what you’re getting yourself into.

Elected Positions:

President (Isayas Theodros)

The ASCMC President is responsible for the health of the organization. He presides over the Board of Directors meetings every week and represents ASCMC in discussions with the administration.  The President has many more responsibilities not listed here, but this is the short version. The President is almost always (and maybe always) someone who has been on the Board of Directors before because of the level of experience the job requires.

Vice President (Me)

The Vice President’s main responsibilities are running weekly ASCMC Senate meetings, appointing students to and serving on trustee, faculty, and college committees, and working with the President to ensure the health of the organization. Like the President, the Vice President is responsible for more than this, but I’m keeping these descriptions brief. Also like the ASCMC President, the Vice President is usually someone who has been on the Board before.

Class Presidents (William Robelo-Lara ’10, Tammy Phan ’11, Will Kahn ’12, Aditya Pai ’13)

The Class Presidents are all given the same basic responsibilities: represent and organize activities for their class. Each president is given a discretionary fund (this year in the range of $2,000-17,000) from which to spend on class activities. This year the junior class went to The Price Is Right, the sophomores had some “SophoWars” thing (I still don’t know what that was all about), etc. Additional responsibilities include running Monte Carlo (Junior Class President) and speaking at graduation (Senior Class President).

Social Activities Chair (Andrew Cosentino)

The SAC is the party planner-in-chief of ASCMC. The SAC is more or less responsible for making sure there’s something to do on campus every Saturday night. He or she usually manages a budget around $10,000 – 25,000 for the year.

Social Life Chair (Kenley Turville)

The SLC is responsible for throwing dry events on and off campus. For example, the Dodgers games, Hub Quiz, and Gossip Girl showings. The SLC’s budget usually matches the SAC’s.

Dorm Affairs Chair (Ben Kraus)

The DAC runs Dorm President meetings and oversees TNCs and other dorm events. The DAC also receives a discretionary fund around $8,000. Traditionally the DAC also helps the SAC with bigger events.

Appointed Positions:

Clubs and Organizations Chair (Johnny Ko)

The CO Chair or “the clubs guy” is most recognized for delving out funding allocations to clubs during budget hearings in April and throughout the year on a discretionary basis (with a $5,000-10,000 discretionary fund). The CO Chair also serves on the Budgeting Committee. The CO chair is vital in keeping the organization together as clubs receive a huge portion of ASCMC funding so the CO Chair has to keep in constant communication with club leaders.

Chief Financial Officer (Chris Jones)

This is the guy who writes the checks, manages the books, files the tax and legal documents, and knows what’s really going on behind the scenes. An extremely important position because we do not have the resources to pay a full time accountant (but we do have one alumnus CPA who volunteers a few hours now and then).

Executive Secretary (Cara Daley)

A great way to get involved in ASCMC, this job involves taking minutes at meetings and serving on a few internal committees. As with any position on Board, the Exec Sec can also step up and do other things within ASCMC, so don’t think it’s all taking notes and filing memos.

Other Positions

There are lots of other ways to get involved with ASCMC — Forum Editor and staff, Senators, Senate President Pro-Tempore, RA Liaison, Financial Advisor, Presidential Advisor — but I’m not going to detail all of them here. Of course, if you have questions, feel free to leave them in the comments.

Claremont Hall, the future of CMC

When Claremont Hall was designed, our administration supposedly put thought into the “social life potential” of the new dorm.  Dean of Students’ office told ASCMC the new dorm’s design would foster an environment conducive to parties.   As of yet, ASCMC hasn’t hosted a party in or around Claremont Hall.

Alas, Claremont Hall has gained a reputation as the “morgue” or the next Stark Hall (the second newest dorm), the only “substance-free” dorm on campus.  Some have said there’s a pattern emerging– the newer the dorm, the newer the student body, the quieter CMC gets.  Maybe it’s a good thing; I don’t know.

Stay tuned for the Party Inform.

History of the Tortugas

The “Tortugas of Prado Dam” were last active at CMC in 1970. The name “Tortugas of Prado Dam” stems from the legend that the original Tortugas would float from Prado Dam on a raft, all the while enjoying a special “Tortuga” drink. A hard copy of the recipe dates to 1952 and bears the name Mike Brown, one of the men believed to be a founder, written on it.

According to Jerry Cadagan, a Tortuga Alumni from the class of 1960, in the early ’60s “the school coerced the club to change it’s name to Mara Togas.”

The original Tortugas were an exclusive social club founded in 1953. Mr. Cadagan, who was vehement that I address him as Jerry, said they were “absolute hell-raisers.” Jerry is quick to note that “Tortugateers” were also commonly Dean’s List students and have maintained a strong bind since graduation, leading to several reunions, financial contributions to the school, and a scholarship fund established in 2005.

The Tortugas Return

The current Tortugas began as a barbeque club in the fall of 2006 but evolved into a social club entitled the Saturday Night Stags that adopted the name Tortugas after John Faranda mentioned the name to Kyle Ragins. “We contacted [the old Tortugas] and they were pumped to help us start it up again…so we renamed ourselves the Tortugas,” explained Caldwell. The alumni, led by Jerry Cadagan, provided a short history of the Tortugas and their traditions for the current Tortugateers so they could have an idea of what the group once was. Several current Tortugateers have also been invited to the upcoming reunion on April 26^th.

The original revitalization of the club was sparked when the DAC and SAC sent out an email last year to the student body about the party scene. Several students felt the party scene was lacking; the email addressed those issues and asked for help from the students who could throw their own parties, according to Caldwell.

Membership

Membership is by invitation only, and members go through an initiation. Currently the Tortugas have about 40 members, all male students at CMC. Brian Fuerst, a Vice President of the Tortugas, was recently elected Social Affairs Chair of the ASCMC. What some see as a conflict of interest, the Tortugas see as an advantage– the leadership of the Tortugas say they work with the SAC and school administration. The Tortugas also have all four north quad dorm presidents and Yohei Nakijima, former SAC, as members of the Tortugas.

Though their numbers are growing, the Tortugas have been low key and are trying to gather more money from members. Dues are $60 per semester, but not all members are paying. The money goes toward parties, says Caldwell, some of which are exclusive; some are open to all. According to Caldwell, Tortuga parties have been tame and sparse this year compared to where the organization hopes to go in the coming semesters.

While the Tortugas have been fairly quiet this year, hopes are big for next semester. After Caldwell concluded the interview, he immediately began to explain where he sees the Tortugas going next year. Caldwell turned to his roommate at the time, Skipp Stillwell, and said, “Just talking about it gets me so excited– next fall I want to do even bigger things.”

Congratulations to all!