voice.scrippscollege.edu
March 7, 2013
The Scripps Voice Inside...
5C deans address sexual assault By Anissa Joonas ‘13 Staff Writer
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ARTS & ENT. A double-episode recap of “Boys” and “Videogames”
page 9
Op-Ed Pandora’s Box Is bestiality a form of animal cruelty?
page 5
n April 4, 2011, the U.S. Department of Education and its Office for Civil Rights issued the Dear Colleague Letter: Sexual Violence. The letter is a call to action and presents guidelines for addressing sexual violence in schools and colleges. The statistics on sexual violence are deeply troubling. A report prepared for the National Institute of Justice found that 1 in 5 women are victims of completed or attempted sexual assault while in college. Approximately 6.1 percent of males are victims. The Dear Colleague Letter is “a chance to wipe clean and look at our policies,” said Daren Mooko, Associate Dean of Students for Student Development and Leadership at Pomona College, at a live panel held at the Motley Coffeehouse on Friday afternoon (March 1, 2013). The Deans of Students of the five colleges, Maggie Browning (Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students at Harvey Mudd College), Moya Carter (Dean of Students and Director of Campus Life at Pitzer College), Rebecca Lee (Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at Scripps College), Daren Mooko (Associate Dean of Students for Student Development and Leadership at Pomona College), and Mary Spellman (Assistant Vice President and Dean of Students at Claremont McKenna College) openly discussed their proactive efforts to reimagine sexual assault policies. The challenge for the 5Cs is to retain each school’s individuality while collaborating with the rest of the consortium. Sexual violence occurs across boundaries and requires a collaborative effort. The schools’ administrators are focusing on implementing a set of shared definitions as well as joint investigations. When rewriting the policies, the emphasis is on clear, plain language instead of legalistic, weighted terms. “One of the questions that many students raise is, ‘Am I going to be treated fairly at another campus?’” said Mooko.
photo | Tianna Sheih ‘16
The deans tell us that yes, the system is fair. CMC is focusing on how to make sex ‘okay.’ Spellman wants the emphasis to be on the positive aspects of sex. “Consent is active.” “Silence is not consent,” the deans of the 5Cs tell us. One of the questions asked was, “Do the policies address issues of identity?” According to each school, gender and sexual identity play no role in how we define violence. At Pomona, the administration is focusing on men’s groups—fraternities, sports teams, and other organizations— to redefine masculinity and raise awareness of sexual violence. The five colleges are working hard on implementing policies and a system that is fair to all parties involved. The need for a higher degree of sexual respect is a chance for the schools to reexamine campus culture and not just the policy. For Mooko, “[the policy] is to be in compliance with the values of our institution.”
Scripps writing professors examine how we define key writing terms By Dagny Lu ‘15 Staff Writer
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Features The best of 5C comedy
pages 6-7
Student Life The upcoming 5C Hack-a-thon
page 8
he Scripps Writing Center is conducting a research project on the ways in which different members of the Scripps academic community define key terms in writing studies. The research is lead by Professors Kathryn Tucker and Glenn Simshaw and is currently in its preliminary stages. The research was prompted by observed discrepancies in interpretations of key writing terms such as ‘research’ and ‘argument.’ “We observed in our classes, in the Writing Center, and on campus more generally,” said Tucker, “that common vocabulary did not mean common understandings. When discussions got into processes, practices, and products associated with key terms, people often had surprisingly different definitions.” This discord is thought to be present between Scripps Writing Center tutors and their clients and also between Scripps faculty members and their students. “Our project seeks to answer the following questions: Do clients and tutors at the Scripps Writing Center understand key terms in writing studies in the same ways, and if not, how do they negotiate their different understandings during a session? How do Scripps Faculty understand these key
photo | Caroline Novit ‘14
terms, and how do they convey their understandings to their students when assigning writing?” said Tucker. By increasing understanding of how Writing Center clients, tutors, and faculty use key terms in writing studies, the research should help improve tutor training and tutor/ continued on page 8
1030 Columbia Avenue | Claremont, CA 91711 | Box 892 email: scrippsvoice@gmail.com | Volume XVI • Issue Nine