Vol. CXXX, No. 9

Life & Style

Opinions

SCAMFest’s 22nd year is this weekend – get a preview of what’s in store.

Sydney Osterweil-Artson PZ ‘18 dissects the privilege that comes with choosing to thrift.

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THE

STUDENT

LIFE

The Student Newspaper of the Claremont Colleges Since 1889

CLAREMONT, CA

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017

Stags Water Polo Secures SCIAC Spot with 11-8 Victory

VOL. CXXX NO. 9

Four SC First-Years Relocated to Campus From CGU Housing Meghan Bobrowsky

Meghan Joyce • The Student Life

Zack Rossman CM ’20 prepares to pass to a Claremont-Mudd-Scripps teammate in their game against University of Redlands on Nov. 8, which they won 11-8. See page 10

PZ Senate Holds Listening Session for Israel/Palestine Working Group Elinor Aspegren & Liam Brooks Editor’s note: To prevent contributing to the doxxing of community members that has resulted in death threats and blacklisting, TSL has honored requests from students who wish to remain anonymous when speaking only to the Pitzer College community. Pitzer College’s Israel/Palespublic appearance last Friday when all but two members were joined by 5C community members for a “listening session” to guide their work. The working group, comprised of two faculty members, two stumember, was formed in response to the Pitzer College Board of Trustees’ June decision to nullify a Senate amendment that barred the use of student activities fees to buy products from certain organizations associated with Israel. According to anthropology professor Claudia Strauss, the chair of the working group, the purpose of the group is “to model cult dialogues, whether between proponents of divergent views about Israel-Palestine or among shared governance.” The working group will not because it is a subgroup of the Faculty Executive Committee, but it will “study the issues, solicit input, and propose policies to be brought to the college for discussion and votes,” Strauss wrote in an email to TSL. Friday’s session was originally scheduled to be a town hall forum about the June decision and its implications for Pitzer ’s shared governance system, which some members of Senate felt was under threat when the Board of Trustees sion. But when the working group was announced, the Senate executive board decided to “reframe” the town hall to serve as a listening session. Much of what students spoke

about focused on shared governance and the context of the working group, not necessarily its potential goals. “What good are town halls like these when at the end of the day we’re told we don’t have any power?” asked Shivani Senate. “At the end of the day, student autonomy is kind of a myth, and that’s not a message Pitzer College of all colleges should be putting out.” Noah Knowlton-Latkin PZ ‘17, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine, had a similar take. “The problem isn’t the decision, it’s the Board of Trustees intervention,” he said. While “clearly the Student Senate and the student body are miles ahead of the trustees” in terms of progressive politics, Latkin continued, he said student autonomy was still the larger issue. Another student pointed out that the Senate amendment was just a boycott, and not violent. “If I can’t boycott, then what can I do [to protest] that won’t be portrayed as dangerous?” they asked. After the talk, the student said the town hall was a bare minimum attempt at having a conversation about “a topic that we have been having conversations and dialogues about for the past semester.” They said that they expected the working group to have a tangible timeline and action points. In a notable departure from general support for the group by faculty at the meeting, Albert Wachtel, a professor at Pitzer tence” of the working group is “an anti-Semitic statement.” Wachtel painted Israel as a country surrounded by states beings for having stolen a piece of bread.” After the meeting, Knowlton-

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During the first week of the semester, Alex Branscom SC ’21 had bronchitis and a sinus infection. A few weeks later, Branscom, who was one of 38 first-years living at the Claremont Graduate University apartments because Scripps over-enrolled, still hadn’t gotten better. After several trips to the Student Health Center to figure out what was causing her sickness to linger, her doctor suggested she change her living situation. Branscom now lives in a single room in Clark Hall on Scripps College’s main campus and says her new lifestyle is “healthier and more productive.” She sleeps more now that she doesn’t have to take the shuttle all the way back to CGU for a nap, she said, and exercises more because the gym is two minutes away, instead of 20. “Being [at CGU], you have to think about daily tasks a lot more,” Branscom said. “And when you don’t have to think about that stuff, you’re able to focus on what’s actually more important, which is school and

your well-being.” Her daily routine at CGU consisted of waking up, brushing her teeth, getting ready, and putting anything she could possibly need for the day in her backpack. “My back hurt a lot from that,” Branscom said, adding that her backpack usually contained school supplies, running shoes, and a bathing suit in case she decided to go to the pool. She moved out around the time the first-years living at CGU received bicycles and lockers in the student union. Shortly after she left CGU, two of her suitemates also moved to singles on Scripps’ campus for personal reasons. There are typically between five and seven designated “emergency singles” – rooms that aren’t designed to be lived in permanently but are available temporarily for extreme circumstances – in a given year at Scripps, according to Director of Campus Life Brenda Ice. Branscom doesn’t know if her room on campus is a designated

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ASPC Collective Memory Project Honors Campus Activism Leah Kelly Throughout November, ASPC will be posting excerpts online from “Revisiting A Call to Action,” a 56-page document published in 2004 by Pomona College students aiming to “shed marginalized students at Pomona and reveal how such problems are continuously reproduced within the campus community.” So far, ASPC has posted quotes from “Revisiting A Call to Action” that descibe racially insensitive actions of a fauxfraternity in 2004, issues with professors consistently mistaking students of color for one another, the need for support in the Latinx community, results from a survey that show numerous faculty of color feeling pressured by a Pomona men’s a capella group, and a student’s concerns about the lack of respect for diversity. Each post is accompanied by a caption beginning with the phrase “THIS IS A CALL TO ACTION.” ASPC also posted a video on its Twitter page about Pomona firing Latino workers in the midst of a 2012 union-organizing

drive. Teofanny Saragi PO ‘18, founder of the Collective Memory Project, created the program this semester as part of their duties as ASPC’s current commissioner of community relations. The Collective Memory Project draws from ideas established in the “Call to Action” document, ‘revisited’ in 2004. “Call to Action was one of the of color [as well as LGBTQIA+, other ‘marginalized’ students] came together to advocate for institutional change, and so the Collective Memory Project is kind of a revisiting of the revisiting,” Saragi said. Saragi said they were inspired to create the project because they by the different marginalized communities at the Claremont Colleges. They want to remember and continue the work that has been done to help these communities. “The point of the Collective Memory Project is getting people to realize that our experiences are built on the shoulders of others, and that the work we do now is for future generations of students,”

Fourth HMC Alum Wins National Physics Award Kristine Chang Calvin Leung HM ‘17, a mathematics and physics double-major, recently became the fourth Harvey Mudd College student to win the American Physical Society’s LeRoy Apker Award, which recognizes undergraduate achievement Physics departments across the nation are each allowed to nominate one student for the award. Six present their research for the Apker Award Selection Committee. Out of the six, two win the award and $10,000, split evenly between the recipient and their school’s

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physics departments. “Calvin was spectacularly successful at achieving the goals set by [physics professor Jason] Gallicchio and their collaborators, but he also defined some quite original directions for the research, based on things he had learned in HMC coursework and in his own independent reading,” Theresa Lynn, chair of the Harvey Mudd Department of Physics, wrote in an email to TSL. Previous recipients of the award from include Stephanie Moyerman HM ’06, Nathaniel Stern HM ’03,

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Saragi said. Saragi is working with several of their peers, including sophomore class president Lemuel Lan PO ‘18, on this multi-step project. The project began with the social media posts throughout the month of November, though it has broader goals. “The other part to this project is that we are also hoping to release a document by the end of this spring that follows up the 2004 document, and 2017 to 2018,” Saragi said. “[I also] wanted to do community listening podcasts, so essentially sitting down with alums and current students who are leaders and activists and just talking and having those conversations as podcasts.” While Saragi wants to continue the project in the future, they said it could be difficult to keep it running. They hope that future commissioners of community relations can help keep memories alive when others are too busy. “People don’t often take the I think this hopefully is a move toward having the ASPC commissioner of community relations position be that person, to have the capacity to remember,” they said.

Sherwin Shabdar PO ‘18, president of the Students of Color Alliance, is excited about the Collective Memory Project. “We think that this project is wonderful both as a look to the not-too-distant past and as a place wrote in an email to TSL. Saragi hopes the Collective Memory Project will help members of the 5Cs remember the history of activism on the campuses and recognize the importance of the student voice. “One of the hopes is to have people collectively remember the history that underlies our institutions,” Saragi said, “and to know that mentor programs and resource centers don’t just exist in isolation, and don’t just exist because the administration gave them to us. It’s the exact opposite. Saragi invites people at the Claremont Colleges to submit feedback about what types of memories or histories they want to know more about, or any other ideas they might have to contribute to the Collective Memory Project. Suggestions can be submitted at bit.ly/ASPCCMP or emailed to community@aspc.pomona.edu.

CMC Launches Web Page Dedicated to Free Speech, Holds Student Forum Charlie Kolbrener Claremont McKenna College held a free speech forum on Nov. 3 and recently established a section of the CMC website dedicated to free speech issues. The forum was organized by Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College and Free Food for Thought, and included a discussion of standards for bringing speakers to the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum. Many students agreed that they want

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to CMC to continue inviting a variety of speakers, because they chose to attend CMC to experience a variety of political viewpoints and take part in discourse, The online free speech page, titled “Freedom of Expression at CMC,” was created “in the face of controversial local and national threats to freedom of expression and assembly,” CMC President Hiram Chodosh wrote in an email

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SPEECH: Students Divided on Purpose, Necessity of Free Expression Initiative Continued from Page 1 to students. The page addresses constitutional protections for freedom of expression, academic freedom, practicing freedom of expression, CMC’s demonstration policy, further resources, and archived statements about freedom of expression. “Protecting the right to free expression is absolutely vital, yet insufficient, to accomplish our full academic mission,” Chodosh wrote in a campus-wide email. learn from one another in the practice and purpose of open, engaged, respectful debate and dialogue.” The section on constitutional protections chronicles the constitutional basis for freedom of expression and includes summaries of the principles of free speech and the potential exceptions to it. Additionally, it makes clear that the First Amendment does not prohibit hate speech. “The First Amendment does not have an exception for ‘hate speech,’ as the First Amendment sive, rude, or even vile speech,” the site reads. The section of the site addressing academic freedom is modeled after University of Chicago’s Statement on Academic Freedom. The page reads, “CMC is committed to academic freedom in

PO Dean of Students to Spend Sabbatical in D.C. Advocating for Immigration Reform

its paramount importance to higher education.” Student responses to the site were mixed. “I think the microsite fails to mention how speakers are chosen for campus, and where the line is drawn when bringing a speaker to campus,” Dina Rosin CM ‘20 wrote in a message to TSL. “The site explains that the First Amendment protects hate speech. Does this mean the administration thinks it is okay to have hateful speech on our campus?” On the other hand, some students saw the page as a positive step. “After the Heather Mac Donald protest, a lot of news outlets questioned whether CMC encourages their students to grapple with viewpoints they don’t agree with,” Mitchell Black CM ‘20 said. “This microsite shows that CMC welcomes such streams of thought so that students can contend with them, agree or disagree with them, and explain why they agree or disagree.” Benson Bleier CM ‘18 agreed. “I agree with CMC’s statement. I think this is important for discourse on campus and to protect freedom of speech and backgrounds,” he said. Courtesy of Pomona College

Pomona Dean of Students Miriam Feldblum will spend her upcoming sabbatical working at a think tank in Washington, D.C.

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Helena Ong Pomona College President G. Gabrielle Starr announced in a campus-wide email Wednesday that Dean of Students Miriam Feldblum will be taking a sabbatical in the spring. Feldblum will be spending her sabbatical working at New America, a Washington, D.C.based think tank focused on immigration policy issues. She will also be working with for-

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SESSION: Shared Governance Emerges as Key Issue at PZ Continued from Page 1 Latkin called Wachtel’s statement “nonsense.” Pitzer Student Senate secretary Kamyab Mashian PZ message that he was “surprised by the extent to which [Wachtel] appears to have misunderstood the intent and purpose of the working group.” While much of the meeting was spent on this meta-dialogue, community members had recommendations for the working group on how to carry out its investigation into the trustees’ decision. Micah Sallus PZ ‘20, a student board member for Claremont Hillel, wrote in a statement to TSL that he hopes the working group can partner with Hillel. “Our student board believes Hillel can be a partner in creating a space for dialogue and is committed to being in communication with the working group to further these common goals,” he said. Jonathan Chai-Chang Azterbaum PZ ‘20, a member of SJP, said SJP’s requests for the working group are twofold. First, they want to see the “spe-

the Board of Trustees to overturn the Senate decision. Second, they want letters that were apparently sent to the Board of Trustees by activist organizations like the Zionist Organization of America and the Academic Engagement Network to be released to the community. A through line of the discussion around the working groups’ role and eventual decisions was one of comfort. First, the campus implications of the Israel/Palestine conflict were described as uncomfortable by both pro-Israel and proPalestine students. Some students raised the issue of a “double standard” in the debate, and one said they felt “too intimidated” to take part in discussion. Sallus said he wants the group to “focus on making sure students at Pitzer are comfortable living here,” and not to focus on resolving a dispute over shared governance or “making sure the trustees and students are happy.” Knowlton-Latkin responded that “from a Palestinian viewpoint, it’s very discomforting to

know that the money that you’re paying to go to school is going towards companies that are literfamily and killing your people.” Another student said they “see a hostile and divisive community here especially around Israel/Palestine,” but noted that “inevitably, what comes out of the working group is going to make people uncomfortable.” “And I think that’s OK,” they continued, “as long as we as a school provide a space for silence … for the nuance and complexity of these very important issues.” Strauss wrote to TSL after the event that although the listening session tackled some difficult step and she was grateful Student Senate organized it. “I was concerned by the students’ reports of fear and non-acceptance they have felt and the intimidation they have received, whether originating on campus or from outside groups and regardless of what position they might have expressed,” she wrote.

mer Pomona College President David Oxtoby to launch a new initiative that will focus on connecting American colleges and universities on immigration and higher education issues. The initiative’s goal is to “bring about positive and lasting outcomes for immigrant and DACA students as well as for international students and scholars,” Starr wrote in the campus-wide message. “As president, I am proud that Dean

Feldblum, an immigration scholar and leading voice on the topic in higher education, will have the opportunity to provide her expertise on this timely issue, and I am excited to support her in this effort,” Feldblum is also a politics professor, and has focused her research and teaching on immigration, citizenship, and higher education. In spring 2016, she took a sabbatical to work as a visiting fellow at the Migration

Policy Institute in Washington D.C. Her work there focused on how colleges and universities can help to influence national immigration reform. Pomona has yet to name an acting Dean of Students in Feldblum’s place. “I will be working closely with executive staff and our Division of Student Affairs to ensure students have ongoing support during this time,” Starr wrote in an email to TSL.

PHYSICS: Alums Credit Unique HMC Environment for Success Continued from Page 1 Kent-Dobias HM ’14, Neal Pisenti HM ’11, Andrew Higginbotham and Joseph Checkelsky HM ’04. “Harvey Mudd has a very strong tradition of research done in close collaboration between students and faculty members, as part of the HMC and Claremontwide tradition of student-faculty interaction both in and out of the classroom,” Lynn wrote. Leung also noted the importance of HMC professors in his path through physics. “I was ready to do anything besides physics until second semester of my freshman year at Mudd,” he said. “Then I took a great class, professor Tom Donnelly’s Introduction to Mechanics, and that changed everything. I could imagine making a living in that.” “The Mudd environment really fosters good undergraduate research. I think the two most important facets about Mudd as a research environment is that there are no full-time grad students, and that professors are willing to spend time with you, even in the lab,”

lights years away that are extremely ing the universe itself is 14 billion years old,” Leung said. According to the Harvey Mudd College website, “the work was motivated by the goal of closing a potential loophole in Earth-based tests of quantum mechanics. These so-called ‘Bell tests,’ named after their discoverer, typically use terrestrially generated random bits to control the measuring devices that observe pairs of entangled particles.” However, using bits generated by quasars rather than local events on Earth increases the likelihood of accuracy when making predictions of quantum physics. According to Leung, HMC professors read over and commented on his thesis before he submitted it. He spent seven to eight hours a day working on the project, which was a addition, he worked with University of California, San Diego assistant research scientist Andy Friedman, scientist Hien Nguyen from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Dave Kaiser. Leung eventually tested his work by renting a telescope from Table Mountain Observatory, an

astronomical observation facility operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Using the telescope and his device in conjunction, he showed that he could indeed generate random bits using his device. Leung “took [the project] in some amazing new directions, including re-purposing our instrument to look at spinning neutron stars to also test Einstein’s theory of General Relativity,” said Gallicchio, who supervised Leung’s project. Currently, Leung is taking a gap year at the University of Vienna before pursuing his doctorate at MIT. In the future, he wants to teach. “Taking a class and being in an environment where teaching mattered to the professors really made said. “I want to be at the dispensing end of that at some point – it’s just a really natural way to respond to good fortune and to pay it forward.” Success is “not always a case of knowing how to do the hardest textbook problems or knowing the most advanced knowledge – you need to be in the right time and place, and you need to develop a sense of what questions are interesting and worth pursuing,” Leung said. “I was lucky enough to stumble upon that.”

to work on something tough and important with support if you need it, than for example, to work on a side project under the supervision of a grad student who’s working

Correction In the Nov. 3 article ”Underground Theatrical Institute 5C Improvisation Group Lightens Up Student Body”, a student was misgendered. Christine Covode PZ ’19 uses she/her/hers, pronouns, not he/his/him.

TSL regrets this error.

ent, said that she thinks Mudd is well-positioned to win because of its few major options and lack of graduate students. “All the research is done by undergrads, which is an amazing opportunity,” Porter said. Leung received the LeRoy Apker award for his thesis “Quantum Foundations with Astronomical Photons.” He was chosen by the selection committee “for development and experimental implementation of astronomical random number generators for loopholefree tests of Bell’s inequality and other applications in quantum fundamentals, astrophysics, and tests of general relativity.” Leung’s research involved the creation of an astronomical instrument that generates random bits – ones and zeros – from quasars, which are galaxies 10 to 12 billion

Courtesy of Harvey Mudd College

Calvin Leung is a graduate of Harvey Mudd College with a degree in Physics and Mathematics.

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THE STUDENT LIFE

CGU: Shuttle Driver is Contracted for Another Year Continued from Page 1 emergency single. To request a room change, students must complete a form with the reason for their request, Ice wrote in an email to TSL. Residential Life will then connect with the student to gather additional information about their living situation. Anna Wessels SC ’21, who also lived at CGU, said isolation was the main factor that led her to request a room change. “I wasn’t eating, and I felt sick every morning. I just wanted to go home so bad,” she said. “I thought that I was just really, really homesick and then I realized that it’s a really big change moving from your house to an apartment on the third floor.” Wessels moved into a triple in Clark Hall after a room opened up. Now, she says, she can be by herself without being totally alone. “You can walk the halls, and there’s people. You can hear other people’s voices, and that was a really big difference for me,” Wessels said. She admits, however, that moving on campus was yet another adjustment. “It was like starting over again – getting used to new things, moving into a room with new people. But gradually I got used to that too,” Wessels said. This hasn’t been the case for every student in the apartments, however. Though the Scripps administration couldn’t talk about specific students’ situations, the Dean of Students’ office confirmed there are still 34 students living at CGU. One of those students, Alexa Sanchez SC ’21, has given up hope of moving out of the apartments this year. She understands that some students have real medical reasons for being relocated on

campus, but also thinks there are some first-years whose parents advocated on their behalf for them to move onto campus. “That’s definitely been an unfair advantage that has allowed for some people to move, which is annoying because even if you advocate for yourself, it’s still not enough,” Sanchez said. One of her daily obstacles, in addition to minimizing her loneliness, is feeling safe; she lives in the same building as older graduate students. “To get into a dorm [on campus], you have to swipe your ID,” Sanchez said. “But to get

into CGU, yeah there are gates with codes but they’re open all the time, so you don’t necessarily feel the same safeness that you would feel on campus.” Her struggles that come with living at CGU will end at the close of this academic year, but housing students there might not. Coach Max, the transportation company from which Scripps is renting the CGU shuttle, said Scripps has reserved the shuttle until May and has not yet told the company if they will need it again next year. However, one of the shuttle drivers said his contract with Scripps lasts at least another

year. Scripps could not provide information about the shuttle driver’s contract. If Scripps continues to house students at CGU, Sanchez thinks a part of the building should be sectioned off for only Scripps students to create more community since the students are currently dispersed among different floors and buildings. Wessels agreed. “We knew each other from the shuttle. But the shuttle was a five-minute drive, so after that we all went to our separate rooms and everyone was spread out,” she said.

Serene Harb • The Student Life

University.

A Timeline of 5C Activism Following Trump’s Election

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SC Works to Close CS Gender Gap with Girls Who Code Camp Angela Tran This summer, Scripps College will host Girls Who Code, an all-female computer science summer program for middle and high school students. As one of 10 campuses across the nation chosen to host the program, Scripps will work to close “the gender gap in tech, one girl at a time,” according to Girls Who Code’s website. Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code, spoke at Scripps’ 87th commencement last spring. After witnessing the wide gender gap in computing classes at local schools during her unsucessful campaign for New York’s House of Representatives, she established Girls Who Code to bridge the gap. “I believe deeply that supporting young girls to be courageous and to learn to program are two important traits needed to move us as a society forward,” Saujani told Scripps in a press release announcing she’d be the commencement speaker. T h e s u m m e r p ro g r a m i s funded by accounting firm Deloitte, and provides scholarships for middle and high school students to develop an interest in computer science and techrelated careers. According to the Girls Who Code website, the program helps participants “get an edge for college” and develop a welcoming community of girls with similar interests during a two-week intensive schedule. Although Scripps does not have an established computer science department, many students from Scripps are pursuing

a computer science major at one of the other 5Cs. “I’m taking one [Harvey Mudd] computer science class right now, and all of my other computer science classes [were taken] at Pomona,” computer said. “I think Scripps, as a community, really encourages women to go into STEM.” But Zhang also thinks there’s room for improvement. “For one, we should have a Scripps faculty member who specializes in computer science … and knows the ins-and-outs of the Harvey Mudd and Pomona [computer science courses] to advise Scripps students interested in technology,” she said. “Another great way Scripps can support its CS students is by funding them to go to the Grace Hopper Conference, the biggest tech conference for women in tech in the nation. It’s an expedition and a career fair in one, and Mudd and Pomona fund their own students to go every year already.” Pomona College’s chair of the computer science department Yifrom closing the gender gap. “Diversity increases innovation, especially for inudstries that [are] mostly of one gender or of one ethnicity,” Wu said. “The gender gap issue is not new. You [haven’t] seen many females in leadership positions in tech-industries [over the past few decades]. With more news and publicity, the public is becoming more aware of the gender gap, for gender inclusivity.”

HMC to Spend $750,000 in Grants on Core, Diversity Programs

Liam Brooks • The Student Life

Harvey Mudd College President Maria Klawe watches students give speeches during a walkout and demonstration on March 30, 2017.

Seoyoon Choi & Daisy Ni

Information compiled by Marc Rod PO ‘20 and graphic by Dominic Frempong PO ‘18.

Harvey Mudd College President Maria Klawe has received two large grants this semester – $500,000 from the Carnegie Corporation of New York’s 2017 Academic Leadership Award and $250,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Presidential Leadership Program. The college announced on Oct. 31 that the Mellon Foundation grant will “accelerate efforts to increase racial and gender diversity among the faculty and to review and potentially revise the Core Curriculum” over the course of four years. Though Klawe told TSL in a previous interview that the Carnegie Corporation’s grant will be used to support diver-

sity and inclusivity initiatives on campus – as required by the award – no programs have been specified. “President Klawe is still consulting various campus constituencies, including faculty and student leadership, about the disposition of the Carnegie funds,” Dean of the Faculty Lisa Sullivan wrote in an email to TSL. “Her announcement indicated that she would direct those funds in the main to support diversity and inclusiveness initiatives on campus, but to my knowledge she has made no final decisions about specific allocations.” Sullivan thinks an announcement about where the Carnegie grant money will go is forthcoming, and she advised interested students to be on the lookout. She provided more details on the two initiatives the Mellon grant will

support. “A large component of the Core-facing part of the award will support a strategic planning exercise early in the spring term that will unite students, faculty staff, and alums around the external review and self-study to think about how best to move forward,” Sullivan wrote. This most likely alludes to the Core Review Planning Team, which consists of four faculty members, two ASHMC student representatives, a staff member, and the head of the Alumni Association Board of Governors. The team was established in the wake of leak of the Wabash report, which sparked student protests and class cancelations last spring. In addition to supporting the activities and research of the team, the grant will fund specific curricular initiatives that emerge

from their conclusions, Sullivan said. “The other component of the [Mellon] grant will allow us to increase our visibility and, we hope, our recruitment efforts among young scholars from populations underrepresented in STEM,” Sullivan wrote. Among the potential initiatives, Harvey Mudd students have demanded increased funding for diversity-related student groups. “The funding should cover costs that go into providing the necessary training and time/ money spent to create solid programs and events for organizations to maximize their potential influence on campus,” Jenny to TSL. Klawe herself was unavailable for comment.

NEWS THE STUDENT LIFE

Pomona Begins Construction on New Museum of Art

Senate Briefs Scripps Associated Students Scripps Associated Students Vice President of Student Activities Kaya Mark SC ‘18 discussed planning for Eurobash, an annual party thrown by Scripps. Mark also mentioned a committee meeting about a sustainability fair for this semester. The Resident Advisor representative gave a summary of the Claremont Colleges’ Sex Week and Community Care Week. Abby Clark SC ‘20, the diversity and inclusivity chair, updated the Senate about her meeting with the judicial council about events for next semester, which might include hiking with a professor and a movie excursion. She also based housing for next year. The senior class co-president Helen Thomason SC ‘18 is planning a thesis party. Sustainability chair Leta Ames SC ‘18 is working on a resource-mapping project. – Jojo Sanders SC ‘20 Pitzer College Student Senate Pitzer College Student Senate met on Sunday to vote on several pieces of legislation, including three amendments to its constitution. During executive board reports, acting-vice president Simone Bishara PZ ‘18 said she would be taking over some of the presidential duties. Former President Hajar Hammado PZ ‘18, who has stepped ily to recover from a concussion, about the events of her injury. “It’s a pretty shitty story,” she said. “I walked into a door.” When asked how she was doing, she replied “broken, but here.” Treasurer Jacquelyn Aguilera

Will Gottsegen• The Student Life

Jojo Sanders Last Thursday, Pomona College began construction on its new art museum. The museum will be located on College Avenue next to Pomona’s South Campus, across the street from the current art museum. The Renwick House,

was moved across the street in order to clear the site. Construction is expected to last 18-20 months, according to the Claremont Courier. Onethird of the new building will be underground to keep the building’s height appropriate for the streetscape. Kathleen Howe, the current museum’s director, said she is

looking forward to the new building. “The new facility allows us larger and more ambitious exhibitions and loan shows, multiple exhibitions simultaneously, and more opportunity for faculty members and students to curate exhibitions from the museum’s permanent collection,” she said. Howe and her associates have

already begun planning for when 13,000 works of art will be transported to the new site. “From the start, the emphasis has been on creating a beautiful building that complements its neighbors in scale and maintains the rhythm of the green spaces of the street and campus,” she said.

committee finance report. This semester, half of expenditures have gone to conference funding, 32.7 percent has gone to Pitzer clubs, and the remaining dollars have gone to 5C clubs and capital expenses, she said. After debate over last year’s executive board expenditures, including the purchase of 600 stress balls, the Senate voted to amend bill 54B-05, which will appropriate several thousand dollars from the Reserve Fund for delayed reimbursements from the 2015-16 academic year, to remove reimbursements for the executive board. Senator Shivani Kavuluru PZ board’s purchases “illegitimate” because the legislature was not

spending problem.” – Liam Brooks PZ ‘18 Associated Students of Pomona College The Associated Students of Pomona College meeting opened with announcements, including the 5C Junior Pub Trivia Night at Scripps Rivalry Tailgate taking place on Nov. 11, and the Latino alliance’s event Cafe con Profe. Next, Chloe An PO ‘18 presented the logistical issue of Walker Wall tenance after groups rented and returned the paint. The senators are still working on a suitable plan that will allow for ASPC to maintain the quality and rental of the paint while the Hive continues to store it for student use. The majority of the meeting consisted of project presentations by North Campus rep Zemia Edmonson ‘20, Vice President Carlos Hernandez ‘18, and President Maria Vides ‘18. – Karen Song PO ‘21 Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College discussed a constitutional amendment regarding transparency and a proposal to build a hammock lounge in Mid Quad. President Pro Tempore Thomas Shalke CM ‘18 announced a constitutional amendment, which includes a provision that would require all electronic communications pertaining to votes be made public. (The full log of potential constitutional changes can be found on the CMC forum website.) The proposal to build a hammock lounge, led by executive vice Campus Improvements Committee chair Biniyam Asnake CM ’20, with the help of Ken Eppinger at Story House, has been an ongoing movement and aims to create a freestanding structure for students to use with personal or rented hammocks. ASCMC senators were hesitant about approving the proposal due to budget implications. If the plan goes through, Elliot and Asnake would be requesting roughly $1,500 from Senate and about $3,500 from the Executive Board. In addition to this initial cost, ASCMC would be held responsible for any costs for damages or theft that take place in the hammock lounge. The plan is still under consideration. – Karen Song PO ‘21

Tavi Gevinson Speaks to Students About Finding Her Identity Shirley Zhong Scripps College invited magazine editor Tavi Gevinson and novelist Jenny Zhang to the Garrison Theatre Tuesday for an eveoneself as a young adult. Gevinson is the editor-in-chief of Rookie, an online magazine for teenagers that she launched at the age of 15. Zhang just released her newest novel, Sour Heart in August, and has written for Rookie. The theatre was filled with eager students, many of whom had been avid followers of Rookie and Gevinson’s fashion blog Style Rookie since middle school. Zhang and Gevinson began the struggles they and the world as a whole have faced in 2017. Gevinson talked about how students should not be afraid to make mistakes. “It’s so much worse to live in fear and be afraid of failure that you actually can’t reach the more interesting depths of your consciousness,” she said. Gevinson added students should not shy away from situations that make them uncomfortable, as discomfort can help them develop and grow as writers and as people. She also advised students to recognize their own transgressions and flaws and acknowledge that they cannot be perfect. Gevinson, who achieved acclaim at age 11, said that her parents helped her remain true to her identity and resist outside intime, the values that her parents instilled in her have strengthened into a strong sense of self-worth and independence, and Gevinson does not let others’ opinions and expectations of her determine her self-worth. “Now, I block it out because, no matter how well-meaning these expectations people have for me are, I know that I wouldn’t be able to meet them all and I would also have less time and energy for people in life who love me for things other than my work,” Gevinson said in an interview with TSL. “I have been aware of

Serene Harb • The Student Life

Tavi Gevinson and Jenny Zhang talk life, inspirations, and their books at Scripps College’s Garrison Theater on Nov. 7.

those voices for nearly half my life and I feel that I have a responsibility to myself, the people who love me, and to the people who just want to read good work, and to block those projections out so that I can actually do my job and make things that are honest.” Rookie has evolved and grown as Gevinson herself has grown up, and is now an outlet to address issues Gevinson sees in the world

and to provide a platform for other writers. “I love writing but it’s more about providing a space for other said. Zhang also asked Gevinson about political engagement on the internet and how 5C students can engage politically, especially online. Gevinson responded that political debate is an inherent part

of the internet. “Nothing can be apolitical, and nothing on the internet isn’t tied to capital and cultural capital,” Gevinson said. During a Q&A section of the presentation, Shanaya Stephenson asked Gevinson how she had the courage be an outspoken feminist. Stephenson added that Gevinson

to femininsm. “I felt so frustrated with going to school and being made fun of with how I looked, I hated the magazines and the creepy teachers, so by channeling rage into creativity, it felt natural to express that on Rookie,” Gevinson responded. After the presentation, another longtime Gevinson reader, Elle Biesemeyer SC ‘21, who attended

a small student discussion with Gevinson prior to the talk, rehas had on her life. “I began reading and viewing [Gevinson’s] work when I was in sixth grade after my mom shared an article from The New York Times,” Biesemeyer said. “Rookie growing up for me and grounded me in times of hardship.”

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LIFE & STYLE NOVEMBER 10, 2017

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A Night of A Cappella: Your Guide to The 22nd Annual SCAMFest Jamie Ding The love for a capella is infectious across college campuses. Every year, newcomers get their first taste of Claremont Colleges a capella on the steps of the Frary dining hall. And this Saturday, Nov. 11, at 7 p.m., Pomona College’s Bridges Auditorium will be packed with some of the best collegiate a capella groups in Southern California. The Southern California Acapella Music Festival (SCAMFest) is the biggest performance of the year for many of the a cappella groups on campus. As the annual hosts of SCAMFest, the Claremont Shades – a 5C a cappella group distinguished by their ox blood attire – traditionally open and close the show. This year, however, the After School Specials – known for their green and white signature hats emblazoned with the letters “ASS” – will finish with a rendition of Labrinth’s “Jealous”. The Claremont Shades has been organizing SCAMFest since its inception in 1995. The same a capella groups are invited every year, including all eight groups from the Claremont Colleges and the SoCal VoCals, four-time winners of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, from University of Southern California. The show will also feature returning performances from The Spokes of University of California, Davis, and two groups from University of California, Los Angeles: Bruin Harmony and The Scattertones. At SCAMFest, the a capella groups put on audiovisual performances with professional stage lighting and sounds. All groups have a two-song set, and most have prepared their songs especially for this show. “It’s only this time of year we get to bust out our moves,” said Saif Saigol CM ‘19, president of the Claremont Shades. With such a big stage, dance choreography livens up the show, making SCAMFest one of the most popular events of the entire year. For many a capella group members, singing comes easy, but dancing proves to be more difficult. The main concern for many of the groups performing is memorizing their dance choreography before SCAMFest. When asked about preparing for this year’s SCAMFest, After School Specials’ music director Perrin York SC ‘19 explained that the group performed at the USC-hosted SweeTARTS Acapellooza on Oct. 10, which delayed their arrangements for SCAMFest. However, York said that the group has added extra rehearsals to make sure they are ready for the big event. “This year was interesting because we took seven new members, which is probably one of the biggest amounts of new members in our group’s history,” York said. Members of the Claremont Shades and One Night Stanza, another 5C a capella group, echoed this sentiment, as both groups have grown to becoming the biggest collectives they have ever been. Many of these 5C a capella

Meghan Joyce • The Student Life Sitoë Thiam HM ’19 belts out her solo during SCAMFest rehearsal on Thursday night.

Adela Pfaff• The Student Life

Meghan Joyce• The Student Life The Claremont Shades gather around newcomer Anabel Kubabom PO ’21 during her solo.

groups have a tight-knit friendship beyond singing. With a base time commitment of around five hours a week with additional time for special gigs and leadership roles, the members of these groups spend a lot of time together. “It’s been a nice community to be able to join,” said Eliana Kaplan PO ‘19, who is in her first year on the Claremont Shades. Amberlee Baugus HM ‘18, president of One Night Stanza, is nervous about her solo this year. “Of course, the normal fear,” Baugus said, explaining that this will be her last SCAMFest as a senior. The group will be performing “Little Talks” by Of Monsters and Men and “Omen” by Sam Smith. SCAMFest is an exciting event

for off-campus groups as well. “It was cool to connect with people who do a capella and sing and love music just as passionately as everybody else,” said Anusha Suresh ‘18, co-president of the all-female a capella group The Spokes. They will be performing “Radar” by Audio Jam! which is – according to Suresh – a “funky, electronic, techno” tune, and will also be premiering a brand new song. The Spokes was founded in 2004 by country star Cameron Ochs and has grown to 16 members. Although all-female groups sometimes struggle with reaching lowrange sounds, the Spokes is proud of their strong bass and rhythmic sections.

Members of the 5C a capella group Women’s Blue and White practice their steps in the Gold Student Center yoga studio.

As the oldest of nine a capella groups at USC, the SoCal VoCals have released many albums that can be heard on Spotify. Notable alumni from the group include singer Scott Hoying of Pentatonix. The SoCal VoCals group has performed all over the world, but SCAMFest is still one of their favorite events of the year. “SCAMFest is a good opportunity to … get to know new people that are outside of USC and build those intercollege acapella relationships,” said Aaron Jung ‘18, business manager of the group, who said they will be singing the popular song “Attention” by Charlie Puth. A capella groups performing at SCAMFest have been working hard

over the past week. In past years, almost 2,000 people have packed the auditorium, including friends coming for support and community members enjoying the exciting celebration of a capella. What should audience members take away from these performances? “We hope they enjoy themselves as much as we’re enjoying ourselves onstage,” said Felipe Sant’Anna CM ‘19, vice president of Claremont Shades. SCAMFest also attracts many students to audition for the a capella groups they had seen perform the previous year. All of the 5C a capella groups hold auditions in the fall, and some groups hold spring auditions as well.

SCAMFest has consistently sold out in the past few years. Prices are $9 for students and $15 for everyone else. Tickets can be purchased at Pomona’s Big Bridges box office or outside dining halls during lunch and dinner until Nov. 10. The groups that will be performing include: Claremont Shades After School Specials One Night Stanza Mood Swing Ninth Street Hooligans Midnight Echo Women’s Blue & White The Scattertones (UCLA) Bruin Harmony (UCLA) SoCal Vocals (USC) The Spokes (UC Davis)

MUSIC COLUMN

The Music of Y La Bamba Invites Listeners Down Life’s River Juanita Graham

Photo courtesy of Patrick Sweeny on Flickr.

Y La Bamba makes music that’s both grounded and airy, and have emerged as an indie folk band that perfects the genre while simultaneously expanding upon it. Luz Elena, the Portland group’s vocalist and primary lyricist, meanders through each song on their most recent album with a carefree confidence. You’ll find odes to personal growth, love ballads, and a strong sense of clarity and purpose in Y La Bamba’s lyrical landscape. The record kicks off with the titular track, sung in Spanish like many others previously released by Y La Bamba. One of the softest of the album’s eleven songs, Ojos Del Sol builds an image of intimacy: “En tus ojos me desvelo y tus labios me buscan en la obscuridad, como relaciones de la noche” (“In your eyes I stay awake and your lips find me in the dark, like relationships of the night”). But Y La Bamba never folds to stereotypical depictions of life, or love. Instead, their music feels consistently honest. Elena ends the track with a somewhat somber reflection on the nature of relationships and the ways they at times can overpower our own agency: “Eres como el viento, el viento que me lleva, volando por allí, volando por donde quiera” (“You are like the wind, the wind that carries me, flying over there,

flying wherever you want”). From there on out, the tempo picks up and the lyrics become increasingly perceptive. “Libre” whirls through earthy imagery, giving birth to a sense of wonder: “When the water meets the air and the grass, and the grass, and the grass starts to rot. And all the colors were mysterious.” Y La Bamba deserves recognition for their ability to build worlds within each song – some are mystical and imaginative, some are much closer to home. More importantly, they resist the tropes of their genre. Their music doesn’t just talk about feeling free like plenty of folk rock bands; it embodies the sensation, and plants it several feet deep. On “Ostrich,” Elena’s voice carries a message of empowerment: “Rest, stay awake, I’m fine. Gotta rejuvenate my mind, and I can taste fate in my mouth like a copper from the ground.” What’s special here is that Elena doesn’t claim that personal strength is easy to come by; this album is a testament to the winding, often exhausting, continuous process of development, of growing into oneself. So, no, Y La Bamba didn’t produce an album about having reached any of life’s summits, because the band seems to be saying they don’t exist at all. Instead of a mountain, they show us a river. And they give listeners the opportunity to travel down it with them.

The concept of fluidity runs through Ojos Del Sol. “Cara Cara” addresses it in an off-kilter love story. Elena sings of searching for “a love that comes and goes.” While it’s true there’s no single interpretation of this narrative, I have always understood the line to express a desire for a flexible relationship. Later on, Elena implores, “I can’t be the only one here to feel, feeling only, every world. What is a mystery, at least I fucked up spinning, singing.” If that isn’t a powerful statement, I don’t know what is. Y La Bamba allows for vulnerability; it’s alright to mess up as long as you’re still moving with the current, and still singing along. The record wraps up with defiance and purpose. “Kali” arrives to assert, “Whatever it is you want, we’re not here to give it you.” Y La Bamba’s music will be what the band decides, nothing less and nothing more: an assertion is refreshing in an era where musical artists are frequently forced to give up their originality for more appetizing, watereddown radio hits. At the same time, they aren’t here to exude any self-aggrandizing claims of uniqueness, which feels rampant in the indie genre. Y La Bamba is special on their own and don’t need to rely on quirkiness to define them. They’re doing something rare, and they won’t have to tell you for you to feel it.

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THE STUDENT LIFE

MOVIE COLUMN

A New Take On Homelessness in ‘The Florida Project’: One of the Year’s Best and Hardest to Watch Films to Date

“The Florida Project” is a momentous film about white poverty in the face of commercial America. A six-year-old girl living with her single mother in a motel in the shadows of Disney World discovers herself and the reality of her mother’s economic condition. The movie exposes the often disregarded, neglected side to homelessness in which someone has a roof over their head, but is in no way living in a ‘home.’ It depicts the unexpected community and inter-reliance among extended-stay motel guests. Moonee (breakout star Brooklynn Prince, who adorably just met Millie Bobby Brown of “Stranger Things”) lives with her young single mother in a purple castle with hundreds of rooms – a motel on the outskirts of Orlando named “The Magic Castle.” In the Florida’s summer heat, Moonee passes time making new friends, playfully combating Bobby, the motel’s manager (played by the gripping Willem Dafoe), and getting on with her destitute, yet fiercely protective mother. The story may remind you of the children’s book “Eloise”, while the set may remind you of a grungy “Moonrise Kingdom” or “Grand Budapest Hotel” (both Wes Anderson films; Dafoe stars in the latter). The film is entertaining in an unconventional way, given its repetitive nature and slow narrative development. A variety of still shots of the “Disney Strip” businesses that Moonee and her two friends, Scooty (adorable and defiant, played by Christopher Rivera) and Jancey (naive, tagalonger, Valeria Cotto), frequent provide both the visual and socio-economic landscape that the children live in. They are surrounded by Disney resort hotels and ice cream parlors – but also

strip clubs, social service offices, and a drug den of abandoned colorful row houses that serve as the kids’ amusement park. Theirs is not ‘where dreams come true,’ but rather where they daydream of having their own bed, a view of a lake, and a fireplace (in which they light an impromptu fire that causes the house to burn down accidentally). Moonee’s repetitive and leisurely actions, which pass the time and bring her joy, are a metaphor for slow, humid Florida summers and lives defined by circularity without much larger meaning. They also make it easier to watch the extent of her mother Halley’s desperation and provide stark contrast between the bright colors and innocent childhood silliness and the real-life despair of poverty and homelessness. One such repetitive action becomes more than just an analogy. We see Moonee take a bath, giving her toy horses a bath too, while listening to loud rap, time and time again. It becomes clear that this isn’t just another depiction of her daily routine: it’s her mother’s method of shielding her from what she really needs to do to pay rent – prostitution. I fell in and out of love with each character. Director Sean Baker was steadfast in meeting his characters and his audience, where they were at: he draws from us in equal parts judgement, suspension of belief, and empathetic compassion for all of the story’s players. This follows Baker’s 2015 film “Tangerine” in the same regard. Halley is masterfully played by the scary-good Bria Vinaite. The story lends itself to easily calling Halley an unfit, welfare-hogging mother, as society no doubt would. Vinaite definitely tempts you into this direction with her tattoo-saturated skin and blue hair, capricious impulsivity, and defiant glares in the face of authority (even the

legal authority of the Department of Children and Families). Her relationship with her daughter and Bobby is the film’s central narrative source. She is more of a sister than a mother figure, allowing Moonee to eat whatever she wants, wander miles away from the Motel, and get away with her pranks and stunts with nothing more than a sarcastic semi-reprimand. M o o n e e r e c o g n i z e s e ve r y single not-so-ok-for-a-6-yearold-to-see thing that occurs in her chaotic microcosm and asks her mom about them, to which Halley always responds, “Nothing, baby, don’t worry about it.” Bobby undertakes the tough balance of being the motel’s primary rule-keeper and rent-collector, while feeling the need to serve as a father to both Moonee and Halley. Despite the cursing, punishment, disdain, and overly subtle acts of love from the adults in Moonee’s life, she remains strong and resilient, if (age-appropriately) naive. She is at her breaking point at the very end of the film, marked by her singular deterioration into crying throughout the film. Ultimately, Baker pushes audiences to recognize the power in Halley’s societal defiance and unique maternal nature. Ultimately, all she wishes for is (relatively easily attained) financial stability and a home to call her and Moonee’s own. But if it weren’t for these dreams, which can in moments of complete desperation be the only source of comfort, would the pain be worth living through? The film’s overwhelming cinematic stylistic value and potent content make it easily one of the year’s best and hardest to watch films to date. It’s well worth the lingering uneasiness that could sit with you a couple hours after viewing.

Photo courtesy of A24 Films

The Inside Scoop on Claremont Crushes’ New Anonymous App Whitney Watchel A couple weeks ago, I gave you the scoop on Claremont Crushes – now I’m back with an update on their newest endeavor. Enter the new social media messaging app: Mirale. Described by the person behind Claremont Crushes “to make novel connections within your social network using symmetrical and asymmetrical communication,” Mirale enables people to interact in a direct two-way relationship. The Claremont Crushes’ Facebook page operates within a symmetrical framework, meaning people who submit confessions are only anonymous in the original post to the public page, but are unable to hide their identity if they decide to reach out to the person of interest. Mirale is an attempt to solve this issue. Users can reach out to others users directly without revealing who they are. The app’s development started in the summer of 2016, when the creators worked on the Mirale’s functionality and its relation to

both user interface and experience. The actual coding and integration into the signal protocol began in the beginning of 2017, culminating with its official release on Tuesday, Oct. 24. The new app is not designed to replace the Facebook page. The page’s facilitator assumed that the public page “will still be the place to be for wholesome content and posts that are meant to be publicly shared, while Mirale would be more ideal if you have a genuine crush and want to initiate a conversation, or if you just have something more personal to say.” Even though a main feature of the app is its anonymity, individuals must have at least five friends before they are able to unlock this component. Claremont Crushes explained that this stipulation is designed to “avoid revealing [one’s] identity through triangulation,” as people can only be contacted through their friends and friends of friends. With the exception of liked messages, all conversations are automatically supposed to disappear. Instead of opening a mes-

sage, and then going back to open a new one, all you need to do is tap the profile pic of the message you’d like to read. If you want to reply, simply tap the message to open message screen. Within the first three days of its release, approximately one percent of the 5C student population had downloaded Mirale, Claremont Crushes said. Because there was originally a 32-personanonymity requirement when the app first launched, users experienced difficulty unlocking the anonymity component. Without the app’s key feature to message other people anonymously, people could only send symmetrical messages, somewhat defeating the purpose. Through students’ feedback, the people behind the app changed the requirement from 32 to five people. Intrigued by this concept, I decided to download it and give it a try. After creating a username, uploading a photo, sending a request to connect with five friends, and getting used to the app, I was finally able to unlock the anonymity feature. While I experienced technological difficulties

throughout the messaging process, I found the “FAQ” portion of the website to be incredibly helpful with understanding the app’s unique symbols. Even though I found it novel to message people without revealing my identity, I found myself questioning one’s motivation to use the feature. When I asked the creators, they left it open for interpretation: “I don’t really have a preconceived notion as to how the app should be used or what it’s intended purpose should be – that’s up to you! For me, it’s about pushing the boundaries of human interaction and creating something that hasn’t been done before,” Claremont Crushes wrote in a message to TSL. While the creators continue to improve the app’s current functions, they also encouraged users to keep an eye out for new features. Though I may have experienced obstacles using Mirale, it is undeniably cool that a student has created this type of interaction app in hopes of human connection, especially as it evolves.

Katie Erickson• The Student Life

Poet Vievee Frances Honored with CGU’s Poetry Award Shringi Diva Vikram

“I am becoming as roots reclaim / this soil, as what is felled takes on / a form it could not have imagined, / whose seeds had always rested below ...” So ends the poem “Happy?” by this year’s recipient of the Kate and Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, Vievee Frances. This was one of the many poems that Frances read and discussed from her volume “Forest Primeval” last Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Claremont Public Library. The reading and Frances’ week-long residency in Claremont celebrated Frances’ new status as the winner of the 2017 Tufts Poetry Award, a gift of $100,000 that honors exceptional mid-career poets. In a small room at the library filled with village residents and students, Frances described her poetic process of confronting experiences of hurt that “felled” her and of bringing forth descriptions of battles she has fought. “Vievee Frances visited our creative writing class earlier that day and mentioned that a lot of her poet friends would talk about a fight in their work,” said Sean Clark PZ ’20. “And in time, she realized that they weren’t actually referring to literal fights. And she decided then that she wanted to see what would happen if she talked about a fight she had actually experienced.” Genevieve Kaplan, coordinator of the Tufts poetry awards, wrote in an email to TSL in the words of Kate Tufts that the award gives poets a “little breathing room and a little recognition” – the financial stability and encouragement to dedicate themselves to their art. Frances said her poems were personal expression of who she is and of what weathers in her life as an African-American woman. “She explicitly mentioned that she didn’t expect just everybody to be able to relate to her poems,” said Clark. “Her writing is specific to her intersectionality.” During the event, Frances first read her poem “Another AntiPastoral,” which she explained was a reflection of the time she spent in the mountains. She then shared her poem “A Flight of Swiftlets Made their Way In,” which portrays the thoughts of a speaker who at first wants to snap the necks of tiny birds, but later imagines them taking flight with their “many hearts within beating beating beating beating…”

Clark mentioned that he found Frances’ reading of the birds’ fluttering hearts particularly powerful. “She repeated ‘beating’ again and again,” Clarke said. “And I kept thinking that the person reading is the person in the poem; she’s watching her experience, digesting it, and sharing it. And given how vulnerable and scary it is to put oneself in writing, I thought she was so brave.”

“

I kept thinking that the person reading is the person in the poem; she’s watching her experience, digesting it, and sharing it.

“

Victoria Anders

Frances also presented “Taking It,” a poem rife with imagery of a speaker being physically and emotionally abused by a father and a boy who wants the speaker’s heart. “It’s my favorite from the repertoire [Frances] read out,” Clarke said. “[The poem] perhaps describes abuse most explicitly. She seems to play a lot with what was expected of her gender, stating again and again, that they are expected to behave in some way, but that she instead ‘punched’ and learned to love the ‘heavyweights’ … she’d enjambed her lines, and she just continues on with her story … For me, [the poem] talks about how people can both be weapons and healing.” Frances’ poem “Skinned” is perhaps the most explicit display of her experiences regarding her race. She called her skin “unsightly,” “dirty,” and “unseemly” and talked about wanting “to burn it off … to find the pink [that] … lay beneath.” Frances stressed the importance of showcasing what is both unpleasant and difficult to show in writing. “She never backs down from confronting the heart of her poems and her experience, even if that means addressing violence,” Kaplan said. “She uses her poetry to take readers somewhere [where they are] at least a little bit uncomfortable. Her poems are compellingly grounded in reality, but still, they’re beautifully musical and magical.”

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Scripps’ Fourth-Annual Chest-Casting Event Celebrates Body Image Into Positivity Becky Hoving If you walked into Room 109 at the Scripps College Tiernan Field House on Friday, Nov. 3, you would have found yourself surrounded by more than ten topless Scripps students, all of whom were adhering plaster to their chests in participation of the fourth annual chest-casting event. “It’s a pretty shocking space to walk into,” Kate Finster SC ’21 said. Chest-casting, originally dubbed “breast-casting,” has become a token Scripps-only experience since Tiernan Field House Peer Health Educators first held the event in 2014. With 150 students registering per year, the event encourages participants to confront any existing body insecurities in order to memorialize their chests in a paper-mache cast. “You have to get over the shock in order to physically participate in the event,” Finster said. “You can’t cover yourself or hide that you’re topless.” Breast-casting originated in the early 2000s, according to the Keep A Breast Foundation. Since then, several colleges, including the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and Kent State University Stark, have adopted the event. While traditionally held in October in order to raise awareness for breast cancer, the focus at Scripps is more on body positivity. In 2015, the event was renamed “chest-casting” to be more inclusive, Peer Health Educator Helen Thomason SC ’18 told TSL. Thomason, whose role as a Peer Health Educator is to provide counseling resources for mental, physical, and emotional health, has been involved in chest-casting since the event’s founding. “There’s this sort of progression that happens,” Thomason said. “You walk in, and you’re not really sure how this works, what’s going on. Then once you see that other people in the room are doing it, and everyone’s okay with it, and everyone’s open and accepting, then it gets easier and easier and really fun.”

The casting process starts with a Vaseline application to the chest. Then, students assist each other in applying water-dipped strips of plaster. Each cast usually takes about 6-10 pieces of plaster, Thomason said. Peer Health Educators make themselves available to participants who need support during the process. Peer Health Educator Mattie Bono SC ’19 herself has never created a chest-cast, but she said that the experience has been extremely impactful for her. “Just watching everyone be half-naked in this room together was a life-changing experience for me,” Bono said. “It was a liberating moment in which I realized I could take control [of] how I feel about my body.” Bono said that society has hypersexualized the chest, and that participating in a chest-casting reinstates control not only over one’s own perception of their body, but in relation to the way others view one’s body. “I can’t ever change the fact that I am going to be hypersexualized, especially with the male gaze,” Bono said. “But [chestcasting] has helped me realize that there will be opportunities, spaces, and times in my life where that won’t be the case. There’s so much liberty in that realization.” After the physical casting, students were invited to decorate their chest-casts with paint, markers, and glitter. Annabel Walsh SC ’21 decorated her cast with watermelons. “Painting designs on my cast was such a fun experience,” Annabel Walsh SC ’21 said. “But, it also helped me further celebrate my body in a way that women don’t typically have the chance to do.” In addition to chest-casting being a community effort to desexualize and celebrate a traditionally hypersexualized part of the female body and other marginalized bodies, Bono said that the event is an experiment in challenging oneself. “It’s really obvious when someone comes in and is feeling very uncomfortable,” Bono said. “They’re covering themselves with their arms and hands, and

Audrey Connell • The Student Life

Sabrina Gunter SC’18 and Charlotte Hughes PZ’18

you physically can’t do that to participate in the casting.” Bono noted that societal expectations can often deter marginalized bodies from feeling comfortable. The casting pushes participants to forgo their insecurities in order to fully engage, an experience that Bono finds

Esteemed CMC Panel Sheds Light on NAFTA’s Endangerment

exciting due to its rarity. “So infrequently do I see marginalized voices and marginalized bodies getting to carve out a space in the room where they feel comfortable,” Bono said. Finster echoed Bono’s observation, saying that throughout the 10 to 15 minute process, she

found her confidence and mood completely transformed. “I left feeling very happy and excited,” Finster said. “It is really valuable to be in a room where there are girls around you who you don’t know topless. Being able to see different shapes and sizes and how they’re all accepted

is a freeing experience.” Looking ahead, Bono is interested in seeing the event expand, both in size and frequency. She hopes that one day, all Scripps students will be able to identify chest-casting as a positive and formative experience in their educational careers. ​

Ye Olde Student Life Opinion Orthodoxy at Pomona: ‘76 Elections Thursday November 4th, 1976 Vol 88, No. 6 In the last week, political discussion being rampant on campus, I was repeatedly asked who I was voting for. When I said I was for Ford, I was generally stared at with a look of amazement, and then was asked in an incredulous tone how I could do such a thing (with the clear implication: how could I be so stupid?). The mere thought of voting for a Republican seems to send shivers down the spine of most Pomona students, creating a sensation of horror equivalent only to that caused by failure to get into a graduate school, by not passing the language requirement test, or by Richard Nixon. There is something very strange about the peculiar emotion manifested by such students. When they announced their support for Carter, I may have felt disappointed or even disgusted, but certainly not amazed. I find it easy to comprehend why they voted for this man, even if I disagree with their choice. It seems to me that there is something seriously wrong with this response, if only because 48% of the voters of this country did in fact vote for Ford. Thus, why be surprised that there are Ford supporters (or, as in my case, Carter opponents) on this campus? Question: are these people similarly amazed by each of the millions of Ford votes? Or is it only that a reasonably well educated, Presumably intelligent individual who is surround by numerous sources of “enlightenment” at Pomona ought to know better than the average dolt who voted Republican? Perhaps these students could channel their amazement and wonder into an attempt to understand how such a phenomenon could take place. They might consider the fact that the social milieu in which they dwell represents a rather limited segment of the population. Further, they might reflect upon the fact that they represent a rather limited group in that they do not have to pay taxes (on the whole) for the social programs which they are so willing to support. How much easier, too, is it to minimize the importance of inflation as opposed to the evanescent concept of full employment. Certainly, they do not have to tighten their belts in the way that those individuals existing on a fixed income do. What offends and dismays me is not my disagreement with such individuals as to what policies our government should pursue, but rather the self-righteous and superior attitudes that students often take towards those they disagree with, combined with a complete disinterest in the reasons and motivations of this large section of the people of the U.S.

Adela Pfaff • The Student Life

Adela Pfaff In the wake of President Donald Trump’s potential U.S. withdrawal from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Claremont McKenna Athenaeum and Dreier Roundtable hosted three speakers to serve on a panel to discuss the creation, efficacy, and perhaps destruction, of the trade deal. Signed into effect in 1994 by then-President Bill Clinton, NAFTA, the intergovernmental agreement between Canada, Mexico, and the United States, established one of the world’s largest free trade

zones by eliminating barriers to trade and investment between the three countries. Consul General of Mexico in Los Angeles Carlos García de Alba, former congressional chairman of the Rules Committee David Dreier, and Claremont McKenna professor and recent Order of the Aztec Eagle recipient Roderic Camp met in the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum on Tuesday along with students, community members, and faculty during the Athenaeum’s lunch program. Former congressperson Dreier, who introduced the first NAFTA legislation in 1987, opened the panel with a speech about the first year of Trump’s

presidency, comparing President Trump’s statement that NAFTA was the “worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere, but certainly ever signed in this country” with 1992 presidential candidate Ross Perot’s equally inflammatory claim that NAFTA’s passage, and predicted loss of jobs to Mexico, will cause “a giant sucking sound going south.” The hour-long panel switched between conversations of the impacts and drawbacks of the trilateral trade bloc, domestic job crises, and the President’s use of social media.

An excellent example of this kind of narrow-minded attitude can be seen in discussions about abortion. While I personally in favor of abortion, I can easily understand why legal abortions have outraged so many people. There is a strong case that can be made against abortions, become of the precedent it sets for the extension of governmental power and for moral reasons. But many supporters of abortion are not inerested in comprehending the opposing posititon, and prefer to view its supporters as religious zealots of reactionairries. Above all, this attitude of amazement smacks of self-righteousness. It implies that the correct answers and approaches are so obvious and apparent that it is hard to believe that anyone can differ. Of course, the next step is to conclude that the people who fail to perceive these obvious truths must be in some way less intelligent, bigoted or selfish. Especially at Pomona College, we should be on guard against any such manifestations of elitism. - Paul Efron, Editor-in-Chief - Compiled by Jaimie Ding SC ‘21

LIFE & STYLE THE STUDENT LIFE

OPINIONS OCTOBER 24, 2014

THE STUDENT LIFE

PAGE 9

OPINIONS PAGE 8

THE STUDENT LIFE LIAM BROOKS Editor-in-Chief KATIE BAUGHMAN Managing Editor CHRISTOPHER ESKILSON Managing Editor GRACE OZONOFF-RICHEY Production Editor

ELINOR ASPEGREN, News Editor KELLEN BROWNING, News Editor MARC ROD, News Associate SEAN OGAMI, Life & Style Editor ARIEL SO, Life & Style Editor JOLO LABIO, Opinions Editor TIARA SHARMA, Opinions Editor HANK SNOWDON, Sports Editor SABRINA WILK, Sports Editor DONNIE DENOME, Copy Chief OLIVIA TRUESDALE, Copy Editor PRIYA KARETI, Copy Editor PEGGY CHOU, Copy Editor

DOMINIC FREMPONG, Graphics Editor MEGHAN JOYCE, Photo Manager ADELA PFAFF, Photo Editor

IRIS SHI, Distribution Manager ANNIE WAN, Business Manager LAUREN ISON, Editor-at-large

TSL welcomes Letters to the Editor, which can be submitted by mail, by email, or in person at the Fishbowl in Walker Hall. Letters must be under 400 words (although when an issue is particularly salient, we reserve the right to allow letters to run at a longer length) and submitted by 4 p.m. Wednesday of the The Editorial Board consists of the Editor-in-Chief and two week of publication. We reserve the right to decline publication Managing Editors. Aside from the editorial, the views exof submitted letters and will not accept anonymous letters, letpressed in the opinions section do not necessarily reflect the views of The Student Life. ters containing profanity, factually inaccurate letters or letters making personal attacks. TSL also reserves the right to edit for E-mail Letters, Questions and Concerns to editor@tsl.pomona. spelling, punctuation and grammar. Letters may be signed by edu. email tips to liaison@tsl.pomona.edu; email advertising a maximum of three persons. All letters become the property of inquiries to ads@tsl.pomona.edu. TSL and may not be reprinted without prior permission from the Editorial Board.

EDITORIAL BOARD

Looking Back at 2016, We Now Look Forward

“We are still in shock. Over the last 48 hours, in a multitude of different capacities, this country experienced a paradigm shift unlike any that we, as students, have lived through yet.” Looking back at our issue from the week of Trump’s election, it’s clear we were in panic. You can see it in the long, meandering edition of this column and in the five – five – separate articles covering the student protests and reactions. We’ve been seriously trying to reflect on the last year of a tumultuous and chaotic presidency. We all know that normalcy has, for many of us, been redefined in Trump-adjusted terms. No matter how you voted, it’s surreal to look back at a time when nuclear war was not a serious worry. Last November, though, the most many of us could do is be afraid. But how have the 5Cs changed in the last year? What have we as a community done in the wake of the election? As we touch on in our news section, the alarming actions in

D.C. have touched Claremont in the time since. Students helped push Claremont to sanctuary status, rallied at the Ontario and LAX airports after the initial travel ban, and came together as a community in support of DACA this semester. Our institutions showed up, too. Pitzer declared itself a sanctuary college, while the other colleges, notably Pomona, have reaffirmed protections for undocumented students. Even Keck Science Department faculty released a statement against the Trump administration’s efforts to censor science. In broad strokes, the actions of the last year have been reactionary. Many in our communities have felt pushed onto the defensive, which is natural in the last 12 months of panic. But now it is time those of us unnerved by the current administration – those worried for their safety and the safety and future of their loved ones – must begin to move forward to enact change. For many who were negatively impacted by the election,

this week marks the anniversary of a dreadful time, and yet it is a hopeful one. This week, the Trumpian candidate in Virginia’s Gubernatorial race, Ed Gillespie--who ran on MS 13-filled campaign ads and Confederate preservation--lost by a healthy margin to Democrat lieutenant governor Ralph Northam. Democratic candidates in the state also won 15 delegates--something thought unthinkable, a notable one being Danica Roem, the first openly trans woman to run for office in Virginia, and who beat incumbent homophobe Robert G. Marshall. Yes, some of those people only chose to run for office in reaction to Trump and his long-reaching political effect. But these people will now go to work every day to produce a new future, and help define our country not by what it shouldn’t be, but by what it can be. We are excited to see reactionary fear, though well-placed, begin to percolate both on and off our campus.

Danica Roem

SCAMFesting It’s as close to Pitch Perfect as we’ll get!

Mid-term Elections You gotta keep it up, Democrats.

Scamming That’s illegal, folks!

Knocking chief homophobes out of office.

The Exploitative Politics of Thrifting

DAPHNE YANG, Senior Design Editor MADELINE MCCLUSKEY, News Designer SARAH TRAN, Life & Style Designer NOOR DHINGRA, Opinions Designer CASSIE WANG, Sports Designer CAROLINE ALBRO, Design Associate

The Student Life, the oldest college newspaper in Southern California, is produced and managed by students of the Claremont Colleges and published weekly.

TSL SAYS

NOVEMBER 10, 2017

THE STUDENT LIFE

Sydney Osterweil-Artson Columnist My hands swiftly part white hangers and I waltz down a row of pre-loved tees. Pale yellow after stark white, graphic after graphic, I pause at the garments that catch my eye. I glimpse a red t-shirt with Minecraft characters illustrated on the front, pull the shirt from the rack and toss it into the bare shopping-cart beside me. Thrifting is a game I mastered at a young age, since my home-city of San Francisco offers an abundance of secondhand stores. I write this with the knowledge that shopping second-hand as a choice is a privilege. And while I do not habitually frequent thrift stores, thrifting remains economically, creatively, and environmentally advantageous. Put simply, thrifting makes economic sense on an individual level. At one point, low-income individuals were the primary consumers at second-hand stores. As a component of the culture of poverty, thrifting was stig-

matized as “dirty” and socially transgressive. As thrifting became trendy, its frugality extended to shoppers of higher socioeconomic statuses. Thrift stores cater to both my monetary and creative requisites: second-hand stores economize clothing which is a form of creative expression for me. The individuality of pre-loved clothes fosters a self-confidence unparalleled by new, mass-owned clothing. At retail stores, posters of models and gangly mannequins impose harmful beauty standards throughout the shopping experience. In the absence of these images, thrift stores honor the diversity of people’s bodies and subvert toxic beauty standards. In addition, thrift stores offer immense environmental advantages. The plague of consumerism - wherein individuals feel they need new clothing for lasting contentment - perpetuates massproduction and mass-waste. The industrial production of material, in conjunction with people’s tendency to seasonally dispose of clothes, is environmentally detrimental. In recycling clothes, second-hand stores encourage environmentally-sustainable living. However, while thrift stores’ benefits are impressive, the cooption of thrifting by privileged shoppers exacerbates socioeconomic disparities. The Claremont Colleges host socially and educationally privileged students near San Bernardino County, where the majority of community members do not receive higher education. As Cla-

remont College students continue to shop at local thrift stores, they displace low-income consumers, depriving them of items that they previously depended on. The mass influx of socio-economically privileged students encourages the expansion of upscale businesses - a transition that displaces locals and perpetuates gentrification. While a single thrifted purchase may not affect the majority of local shoppers, it is part of a movement that co-opts discount shopping and poaches the items of those who thrift for survival. In thrifting to “dress poor” (read: wearing hipster distressed jeans, vintage Iron Maiden tees, and Birkenstocks), students avoid confronting their socioeconomic privilege and ironically buy into an expensive performance of counterculture. After reading, conversing with friends, and finally drafting this article, I wonder: should an individual thrift if they can afford not to? What does accountability mean for the college student moving to a lower-income area to pursue higher education? How do I contextualize the environmental benefits of thrifting with its socioeconomic repercussions? Left with more questions than answers, I cannot offer a universal conclusion. Everyone chooses how to balance personal desires, local impact, and ecological footprint. Yet, while these choices, in and of themselves, are isolated, their repercussions certainly are not. Sydney Osterweil-Artson is a senior at Pitzer College.

Elodie Arbogast • The Student Life

Weekly Comic

Sophie Reingold • The Student Life

OPINIONS NOVEMBER 10, 2017

PAGE 9

THE STUDENT LIFE

Insiders and Outsiders in the Outdoors The 2016 Election: The Nightmare That Never Ended Malcom McCann Columnist

Everyday, you move from space to space. You begin your day in your bed, and move to various locations – classrooms, dining halls, and dorm rooms – wherever your day takes you. People feel comfortable in the spaces they can claim ownership over, and uncomfortable in spaces where they cannot. People often feel comfortable in spaces they spend a significant amount of time in and are familiar with. Comfort in a space is a privilege. Like many forms of privilege, it is left unobserved and overlooked by those who have it. Those comfortable in a space often remain ignorant of their privilege because, paradoxically, those who are uncomfortable in the space will rarely enter it.

The 5Cs are known for their prominent outdoor programs, such as Pitzer Outdoor Adventure (POA) and On the Loose (OTL), which are some of the most funded extracurricular activities on the Claremont Colleges. However, POA and OTL trips are predominantly white spaces. Both clubs claim to be accessible: while trips are open to any student wanting to go, not everyone feels the same ease in entering the outdoors. This discomfort is unfortunately caused by existing racial boundaries. Historically, white people, in imperialist conquests, have appropriated land as their own. North America rightfully belongs to indigenous communities, yet it has been taken away from them by force. Consequently, a false sense of ownership of nature

permeates white America. Similarly, the image of a modern outdoor enthusiasts is white, as is the historical image of a naturalist. The great icons of nature – John Muir, Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau – are all white men. At present, most famous rock climbers are also disproportionately white. This whiteness manifests in the term “outdoorsy” – a descriptor for those who spend a significant time in the outdoors, who are equipped with the necessary gear, and who feel connected to nature. The image of the “outdoorsy individual” is an exclusive classification that gives white people the authority to venture into the outdoors freely, leaving people of color behind. In addition to racial barriers, financial barriers also prevent access to the outdoors. Many

Elodie Arbogast • The Student Life

National Parks are hundreds of miles from large cities. Consequently, only those with access to a vehicle and money for gas will be able to enjoy them. Similarly, only students of economic privilege have the resources to attend summer programs that teach wilderness skills. Thus, the emphasis on acquiring requisite skills and specific knowledge in order to access the outdoors excludes low-income individuals. The exclusion is further perpetuated by the use of obscure outdoor lingo in descriptions of trips. No one who has never climbed before knows what a tri-cam, a grigri, or an ATC is. These terms are useful for ease of discussion among those who rock climb, yet remain obscure to those who have not. Due to the predominance of whiteness in the outdoors, people of color have been denied access to the outdoors. The solutions, however, are numerous. First, OTL and POA should continually affirm that nature exists as a collective space owned by all by virtue of being human, not by virtue of being white. POA should continue to hold discussions about race and inclusivity in their weekly meetings. Second, the image of the outdoor enthusiast should not belong to white people. Conversely, people of color should feel comfortable identifying themselves as “outdoorsy”, and white individuals should exert caution as to not dominate ownership of the word. Third, instead of declaring prerequisites, trips should proclaim their accessibility - their ability to accommodate everyone regardless of experience. POA and OTL should organize more accessible, entry-level workshops and trips - one that do not require advanced technical skills. Trips should advertise the skills you will learn, not the skills you will need. Finally, OTL and POA should work with affinity groups to increase accessibility in the outdoors. These outdoor clubs should challenge their members to personally encourage those with no outdoors experience, and those who have been systematically excluded, to join a trip with them or attend a weekly meeting. Friendship can act as a portal to the wilderness for those who have historically been denied the privilege of comfort. Malcolm McCann PZ ‘21 has not played a formal sport since the eighth grade and enjoys reading Modernist literature in his free time.

When Yes Means No

This article contains mentions of sexual assault. Yes, the title of this article disputes nearly all sexual assault training you’ve received here at the 5Cs. And, yes, that’s a good thing. A few years ago, institutions of higher education across the country, like ours, began switching out “No Means No” for a “Yes Means Yes” paradigm. This was a strategic move to shift the emphasis of campus policies towards affirmative consent, in which the absence of a “no” during a sexual act does not indicate a “yes.” Some student activists and feminist scholars have praised this campaign for its supposed progressivism. The 5Cs have unflinchingly endorsed it. In fact, the Empower Center’s educational brochures and workshops at new student orientations are all predicated on affirmative and, more importantly, enthusiastic consent. I do not deny that this is an improvement to what was, undoubtedly, a regressive policy. But what continues to disturb me is how “Yes Means Yes” fails to account for the dangerous sexual interactions in which both enthusiasm and consent are expected and, subsequently, performed.

Sexual assault consequently becomes an anomaly: what happens when sex goes terribly wrong. But what we overlook here, as a result, is the sheer violence inflicted upon us through “ordinary” sex, the sex we consent to - and, yes, even the sex we might find pleasurable. “Yes Means Yes” obscures the ways in which consensual sex, too, can be initiated and performed through intimidation and pressure. It renders irrelevant the important, underlying questions behind every sexual interaction: what pressures underpin a “yes?” How do both partners’ levels of sexual experience, genders, sexualities, ages, racial identities, and class factor into who initiates – or, rather, who can initiate – sex? Whose pleasure is prioritized and whose complicity is accepted? Cis-heteropatriarchy can, and actually does, thrive within consensual sex - in fact, the latter can be a vehicle for the former. Even the “most” consensual of sexual interactions, whether straight or queer, can perpetuate their own gendered power structures of dominance and submission. This is not to say that all sex is rape, nor to take agency from those who find sex empowering. This is also not to encourage all who engage in sex to claim the experience of survivorship, nor to banish consent entirely from our discourse surrounding sex. My focus is, instead, on dismantling the glorification of consent as the benchmark that our college communities endorse for healthy sexual interactions. What I suggest, here, is a radical departure from campaigns, such as “Yes Means Yes,” that reduce complex discourse surrounding the power dynamics of consent to simple phrases that colleges can tack onto banners and informational brochures. I propose a complete reconfiguration of the current paradigm that allows Claremont students to identify as self-congratulatory al-

lies of survivors so long as they include “Consent is absolutely mandatory!” in their event descriptions. We must be held accountable for envisioning and generating discourse surrounding sex that transcends the language of consent and delves into the language of power and implicit coercion. We must name the ways in which sex can be both consensual and traumatic. We must encourage honest conversation about the violence that even the most enthusiastic “Yes’s” can conceal.

“

It was early. I was tired. At five in the morning, here I was, trekking from Pomona’s South Campus up to Scripps. The phone bank awaited. The energy in the air was exhilarating and tense. Many, many years of waiting, working, praying, and fretting were about to conclude. One way or another, it would be over. Looking back, I pity myself; I was eager - longing, even - for the election to come to its end. Now, I would give anything to have that hope back. The election-viewing party began at around 4 P.M. that day. I ran straight from class to start setting up on Kravis lawn. The polls are closing. I need CNN. I opened my laptop and put it on the grass in front of the Cube. It soothed me to watch Wolf Blitzer and Gloria Borger banter, John King’s 3D maps of the U.S. - the sights and sounds of an election. I don’t remember when I started to panic. When my face started getting hot. When my hands started to jitter. I remember North Carolina being close. The very state I had been calling all week - all morning. Why did I leave the phone bank to go to class? Didn’t I know how important this was? All hell broke loose. Florida was gone, and the sprinkles on the lawn went off. Chaos. The feelings inside my body leapt up to exit their cage. We ran, screaming. Staring at the soaked food, I recalled a conversation from the previous night. I had begged a friend to come with me to phone bank today. “Why won’t you come? Is our democracy not important to you?” I hissed. “There’s no point. He’s not going to win. There’s no point.” Of course, he hadn’t canvassed. He hadn’t seen the fury in their eyes. The passion with which they spoke of deportations, “locking her up,” guns. The lawn sprinklers kept whirling, uncaring and uninterested in the inhabitants that had been, not more than 20 seconds ago, crying atop the lawn. I walked, dazed, eastward. To where? Who knows? I wound up in the Hub. Hordes of students buzzed about recounts in Wisconsin. Or was it Pennsylvania? Nearly in tears, I left the café and dialed my dad only to have him remind me: “It’s such a shame about Merrick Garland.” Oh God, the Court. The presidency was doomed, and with it the Supreme Court. The liberal judiciary within reach was suddenly wrenched from my grasp; my thoughts turned to back-alley abortions, gay couples being ripped apart, rampant, unchecked gun violence. The air left my lungs. My body felt weak. I could go no further. I turned my phone on airplane

Ken-Ken

Cis-heteropatriarchy

can, and actually does, thrive within consensual

“

Tiara Sharma Columnist

Policies of affirmative consent ignore the frequency with which individuals consent out of fear, coercion, and past trauma. In situations wherein a “no” manifests as a “yes,” our discourse surrounding consent reduces the complexities of sexual power dynamics to one harmful binary. Those of us who have never been sexually assaulted think we know what it means - what it’s supposed to look like - to trespass lines of consent: we’ve watched scenes of sexual violence on television and in film, read graphic scenes of violation in the classroom, and even theorized for hours on end about sexual assault’s gendered politics. Even if educational workshops on consent and Teal Dot trainings emphasize the variability of how assault can manifest, their scripted scenes of abusive behavior further solidify definitions of what rape typically looks like. In turn, those who aren’t survivors can compartmentalize and theorize what it’s supposed to feel like to be assaulted - and abstract it from their own sexual experiences. According to a whole anthology of visual and textual images, they have internalized about what sexual violence means - thus placing survivors in a separate category altogether. It becomes easier, therefore, to configure rape as violence that’s supposed to take a particular and recognizable, yet completely atypical form - one that non-survivors can easily distance themselves from experiencing or even perpetrating. Indeed, as dominance feminist Catherine Mackinnon writes in Feminism Unmodified: “We continue to stigmatize the women who claim rape as having experienced a deviant violation and allow the rest of us to go through life feeling violated but thinking we’ve never been raped, when there were a great many times when we, too, have had sex and didn’t want it.”

Zachary Frieman Columnist

mode, shutting myself off from the world, and walked back to Pomona. I returned to my dormitory, which I had left only 20 hours prior, so hopeful, so excited. As I hastened to my room, I passed my friends laughing, trying to lighten the mood. One looked at me, and I felt it instantly: the heat back in my face. My vision start to blur. “I’m fine! I’m fine,” I exclaimed. He wrapped me in a bear hug so deep and warm that I burst, pouring tears all down his comfy sweatshirt. Ashamed, I ran to my room, shut the door, and sat in silence. Later that evening, I hopped into bed, numb. In the heavy darkness of my room, I just stared at my phone, then threw it at my desk, as far away as possible. I got back up, crossed the room, and set my 9 a.m. Wednesday alarm. No matter what, I go to class tomorrow, I thought. Keep your head down. Study. Focus. The next morning I woke, this time with the sun. I reached for my phone and unchecked airplane mode. I prayed. I really, really prayed. It was a mistake. They miscounted. The networks were wrong. It was never true. NIGHTMARE, my neon green HuffPost alert read, DONALD TRUMP ELECTED 45TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. I rolled back onto my side and wept. Then, I picked up my phone, tuned into CNN, and watched Hillary Clinton concede. With her, the America in which I had believed was gone. In its place stood fear and hate and hopelessness. Logic didn’t matter. Facts didn’t matter. All that mattered was noise and flash. This year has shown me the very worst of American politics. A Congressional majority that absolutely refuses to check an unstable president. An administration willing to lie to the American people without hesitation or remorse. A government that targets the vulnerable and functions on behalf of the wealthy and powerful. Yet, I’ve also seen the best of America. Hundreds of thousands of people marching through the streets. The judicial system at work, nullifying illegal actions by the administration and uninhibitedly probing criminal conduct by both the Trump campaign and the Russian government. During the election campaign, I swore to myself that I would leave if America elected Donald Trump to be president. And I may yet do so. What on Earth would compel me to live in a country that elects as its leader a man who physically sickens me with his antipathy toward democratic principles and truth? But as much as I wish to renounce any ties to a nation led by such depravity, I shall not abandon it without trying my very hardest to set it right. The country that loves and protects immigrants, that welcomes outsiders and scorns bigotry, that celebrates differences and encourages discourse is buried within the very heart and soul of the United States. As a patriotic American, it is my duty to help revive that country and make it a reality. In doing so, I shall follow the lead of Hillary Clinton and continue onward. Zachary Freiman PO ‘20 is a prospective Music and Public Policy Analysis double major from Sleepy Hollow, NY. He dreams of one day meeting Oprah Winfrey.

sex - in fact, the latter

can be a vehicle for the former.

Consent is not the be-all, endall to our conversations about sexual assault. Our college communities - college administrators included - are just as responsible for interrogating what underpins consent as they are for mandating consent itself. Without a radical transformation of sex itself, and the violent power dynamics inherent in it, conversations limited to affirmative consent will continue to ignore deeper questions of who, after all, is allowed to claim sexual agency and pleasure. Tiara Sharma. SC ‘20, is from Malden, MA, and intends on being an English and History major.

Complete the KenKen puzzle so that (1) every row and column contains the numbers 1 through 6 exactly once and (2) the numbers in each bolded shape equal the target number in the top left of the cage when the math function next to the target number is applied to them.

SPORTS PAGE 10

Sports Calendar

November 10 - November 16

Pomona-Pitzer

NOVEMBER 10, 2017

THE STUDENT LIFE CMS WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Athenas Rout Regals, Clinch SCIAC Crown

Men’s Water Polo Chapman At P-P 11:00 a.m.

Saturday, November 11th Men’s and Women’s Cross Country NCAA D3 West Region Championship ED IT At P-P PICOKR’S 9:00 a.m. Swimming and Diving At Occidental 10:30 a.m.

Football At CMS 1:00 p.m. Men’s Wate Polo CalTech At P-P 1:00 p.m.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Friday, November 10th Women’s Volleyball NCAA Regional Texas-Dallas At Georgetown, TX 3:30 p.m.

Swimming and Diving Whittier/La Verne At CMS 10:00 a.m. Men’s Water Polo At Cal Lutheran 11:00 a.m. Football EDIT P-P OR’S At CMS PICK 1:00 p.m.

Saturday, November 11th Men’s and Women’s Cross Country NCAA D3 West Region Championship At P-P 9:00 a.m.

Men’s Water Polo P-P 9 Redlands 4 P-P 14 Occidental 4 P-P 13 La Verne 11 Women’s Soccer Whittier 1 P-P 0 Football P-P 28 La Verne 21

COMMENTARY

The Athenas women’s volleyball team squared off against the Cal. Lutheran Regals last Saturday during the SCIAC Tournament Finals in Roberts Pavilion.

Blaise Malley

Scores Pomona-Pitzer

Lusajo Mwakibete • The Student Life

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Women’s Volleyball CMS 3 Cal Lutheran 0 Men’s Water Polo CMS 12 La Verne 7 CMS 11 Redlands 8 Football Chapman 48 CMS 38

For the fifth consecutive season, the Claremont-MuddScripps Athenas (25-5, 15-1 SCIAC) faced off against the California Lutheran (Cal Lu) Regals (16-12, 10-6 SCIAC) with the SCIAC postseason title on the line. After losing three of the past four years’ matches, the Athenas won their second SCIAC tournament championship in three years, and second overall, on Saturday, Nov. 5th. The Athenas’ win marked the continuation of a dominant season-long run, as it marked their 16th straight win overall. The Athenas swept 12 matches during the streak. Heading into the first round of the NCAA Regionals, the team has won 23 consecutive sets, dating back to a 3-2 win over La Verne on Oct. 17. “We were really beat up at the beginning of the season, but

the girls did an amazing job of taking it one day at a time, one match at a time,” said head coach Kurt Vlasich. “I think people predicted us to be the favorites to win the conference, but you still have to win those matches, and so it’s important that you approach it with a day-to-day, match-to-match mentality.” When the 23-set win streak was brought up, Vlasich added that “[he] hadn’t thought about that run. When we get involved in a set, we focus on just that set. I don’t think we go into any match looking to sweep an opponent.” That’s exactly what the Athenas did in Saturday’s final, when they collected 62 digs and six aces, compared to their opponents’ 42 and zero, respectively. The Athenas also hit for a percentage of .339, with 50 kills and only 12 errors en route to a

25-19, 25-14, 25-16 win. Shelbi Stein CM ‘19, the tournament’s MVP, led the team with 12 kills and a .385 hitting percentage. Vlasich said that what really stood out to him this season is that “it’s been somebody different every single match. When the conference asks you to choose an MVP, and you have four hitters hitting over .300 and a setter who registered a double double in assists and digs, it’s difficult. I guess you can say that it’s nice that everybody has stepped up at some point”. The win seemed fairly easy for the Athenas, who never trailed at any point in time during the three sets. An 8-1 run at 13-10 put the Athenas just four points away from the first set, and left their opponents almost out of reach. That run was critical, considering the rest of the set was closely contested, before CMS took it 25-19. The key streak in the second

set came at 15-10, when Sarah Tritschler CM ’20 served six straight winning points for the Athenas, and the set was clinched shortly thereafter on a Cal Lutheran service error. CMS got off to an equally strong start in the third set, putting a dent in any hopes of a Regals comeback. Regan Dinovitz had three kills in the early going as the Athenas built a 9-2 lead. At match point, Amanda Walker SC recorded a kill to clinch the title for her team. In the first round of the NCAA regionals, CMS will face University of Texas at Dallas (24-10), a team they swept 3-0 on September 2nd at the Pacific Coast Classic. The next game will take place on Friday, Nov. 10 in Georgetown, Texas. “They’ve got great personnel and a really good coach, so I anticipate that they’re going to be better than they were at the beginning of the season,” said Vlasich.

My October Love Affair with the Houston Astros

Kendrick Morris I found my baseball purgatory in the form of a never-ending Uber line against the callous blue backdrop of Dodger Stadium. Personally, game six of the 2017 World Series was a disaster in every imaginable way. From the beginning, I nearly missed my Union Station-bound train and later watched my buddy’s Astros jersey being used by Dodger fans as target practice for mustardsplattered hot dogs. The game itself was a frustratingly dull outlier of the previously bizarre, yet exhilarating series. There was no hint of extra-innings or a “juiced ball.” I had spent my savings on a ticket to a game which the Dodgers quickly routed my beloved ‘Stros 3-1, taking the lead with a gasping dinker down the right field line. The game sucked. As I walked out of the stadium, I could hear the Dodgers’ newlyfound momentum echoing from the crowd’s cheers. With no more Verlander and Game 7 in L.A., the journey seemed over. But it wasn’t until the the two-hour wait in the Uber line that I really began to internalize the loss. This was our year, I thought. It was in large part nostalgia that made it hurt. Standing outside Dodger stadium, I replayed memories tied to the Astros. I remembered playing catch with my dad in the backyard, pretending like I was Roger Clemens pitching for the Astros in the bottom of the ninth of the World Series. I was reminded of riding to school every morning with my mom and brother and hearing about the previous night’s game on the radio. I thought about reading the Sunday morning box scores with my grandparents, asking them the question I was now asking myself: “Do you think the Astros will ever win a World Series?” It still feels weird that I cared so much. Over the years, I had somehow lost my passion for baseball. I could blame it on boarding school, my newfound interest in basketball, or possibly the fact that the Astros were just historically miserable

and not fun to watch. However, this year’s World Series somehow rekindled my love of baseball. The epic games had everything I originally enjoyed about the sport: the intense strategy, jaw-dropping plays, and the mental game within the game. I was also surreally watching my childhood team, a team with no World Series championships in my lifetime, play in late October with a chance to win it all. But it was the pride for my city and the love for my family that made the game mean everything to me. About two months before the World Series, I flew home from school to an apocalyptic scene of floating furniture, totaled cars and infinite piles of sheetrock in my grandparents’ Houston neighborhood. Hurricane Harvey had unleashed unfathomable destruction on the entire city with piercing winds and endless flooding. So many Houstonians had nowhere to live as the inside of their homes had been sitting in four feet of water. But despite the devastation, I noticed a special quality, a’ can-do’ spirit among everyone I interacted with during recovery efforts. Strangers offered to help move furniture and take a load of trash. Neighbors were cooking meals or buying a warm Whataburger for their friends who were stressed. Brave young people spent their mornings in fishing boats rescuing elderly people trapped in their underwater homes. Amidst tragedy, I felt a sense of hope that the city would rebuild. For a few days in October, the Houston Astros embodied that sense of hope. They gave the entire city something to finally cheer about. They helped us make celebratory, long-distance phone calls to our college-aged siblings and 80-year-old grandparents. They ignored late-inning deficits, height disadvantages and baseball lore, reminding us that anything is possible. Twenty-four hours after game six, the Astros won the first World Series in franchise history. The final play was a feeling of pure euphoria as my childhood came full-circle at a time when my city needed it the most.

Courtesy of Keith Allison on Flickr

Houston Astros Jose Altuve and Yuli Gurriel share a high five during their game against the Baltimore Orioles earlier this year.

SPORTS NOVEMBER 10, 2017

PAGE 11

THE STUDENT LIFE

COMMENTARY

NBA Breakdown: What Outcomes from the First Three Weeks Tell Us About This Season’s Potential Playoff Contenders Danny Klain

We’re only three weeks into the NBA season, but a number of intriguing surprises have emerged. With defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland’s abysmal start to the year and the Orlando Magic’s hot start, many are questioning their preseason predictions across the league. But there is no need to worry my 5C basketball fans: I’ve got you covered with an in-depth breakdown of the league’s most surprising teams. Let’s take a look at six teams that are either floundering or exceeding expectations, and see if we can make any sense of them.

fans were hopeful that the mix of exciting young talent brought by Buddy Hield and De’Aaron Fox and veteran leaders such as Vince Carter and George Hill could make an exciting team. However, this has not been the case. Part of the reason their offense has done so poorly is their slow pace: they currently average 95 possessions a game, the lowest mark in the NBA. Additionally, they are last in the NBA in three point field goal attempts per game and are only shooting 35% from threepoint range. If the Kings want to be the fun team we had hoped for, then they have major problems to fix on both ends of the court.

Memphis Grizzlies The Grizzlies have had success in previous years thanks to their ‘Grit n’ Grind’ methods, but many expected them to experience a downfall this year. In fact, Las Vegas gambling bookmakers set their expected win total for the season at 38, which would have them finish three games under .500. With veterans Zach Randolph and Tony Allen departing the team and marquee signing Chandler Parsons still struggling from injuries, many expected it to be pretty lonely for all-star duo Mike Conley and Marc Gasol. However, after a 7-4 start with wins against the Golden State Warriors, the Houston Rockets, and Los Angeles Clippers, the ‘Grit n’ Grind’ mentality appears to still be paying dividends for Memphis. The Grizzlies have held teams to only 98 points a game and have the fifth highest defensive rating in the NBA. Parsons has returned nicely, shooting the ball particularly well, and free agent signing Tyreke Evans has been a solid player off the bench. If their defense continues and their star players stay healthy, don’t be surprised if Memphis can secure a solid playoff spot in a tough Western Conference.

Indiana Pacers The early success of this team feels therapeutic for all parts of Pacer Nation. The fans and organization needed to move on from the exhausting Paul George saga, and newly acquired Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis needed relief after an exhausting season playing beside reigning MVP Russell Westbrook. Many experts doubted the skills of Oladipo and Sabonis and expected young star Myles Turner to fend for himself as the Pacers finished as one of the worst teams in a weak Eastern Conference. What many overlooked were the detrimental effects that playing with Westbrook, possibly the most ball-controlling player of all time, had on Oladipo and Sabonis’s play. It turns out, when they can touch the ball, Oladipo and Sabonis are pretty good players: Oladipo currently averages over 24 points a game and Sabonis is putting up double-double figures. The weight off their shoulders allows the Pacers to play with no pressure to succeed. If Oladipo and Sabonis continue this start, along with Turner’s growth and the good supporting play we’ve seen from the rest of the starting lineup, then the Pacers could certainly be in the playoffs in April.

Sacramento Kings Unfortunately, the Kings seem like the same old Kings. With a 3-10 record, things have not looked good; they currently average only 94 points a game (second-lowest in the NBA) and have the second worst defensive rating in the NBA. While nobody really had high expectations for the Kings this season, avid NBA

Orlando Magic If the Magic can continue to play their game, we may just see them secure a playoff spot at the season’s end. Orlando has been the biggest positive surprise of the NBA season, as they sit at 7-4 with the third-best record in the Eastern Conference. This start is no fluke either; the Magic have notched impressive wins

over both the Cleveland Cavaliers and the San Antonio Spurs. Last year, the Magic finished at an abysmal 29-53, and all they added to their team were shooting guard Jonathon Simmons and first round draft pick Jonathan Isaac. So, what changed? For starters, former fourth overall pick Aaron Gordon has seemed to make the much anticipated ‘leap’ to be nearly all-star caliber, averaging significant career highs in points per game and rebounds per game. Last year, Orlando was completely overstocked with power forwards, so Gordon was forced to play a majority of his time on the court at small forward instead of his natural position at power forward. This year, Gordon has played most of his minutes at the power forward position where his athleticism is above average for his position, allowing him to spread the floor and have an advantage over his defender. Gordon’s numbers, combined with Evan Fournier’s best season start in his career, have made the Magic a high-powered offense. While this has been a great start, there will likely be regression as it will be difficult for the Magic to maintain some of their ridiculous stats, like Fournier’s 48% three-point field goal percentage and Jonathon Simmons shooting 52% overall. However, even with regression, expect them to make a strong postseason push. Oklahoma City Thunder With Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony continuing to harmonize, don’t be surprised if the Thunder end up in the top half of the Western Conference as they begin to win more close games. After the team acquired Anthony and George in the offseason, many gave the Thunder the official ‘superteam’ seal. However, though the duo seems to be meshing into the lineup well, with both of them averaging over 21 points a game, and reigning MVP Russell Westbrook is still averaging a triple-double and the team is sporting one of the best defenses in the NBA, the Thunder somehow have stumbled to a 4-7 record. However, by looking at their schedule, you’ll find that three of these losses were to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Portland Trailblazers, two other competitive Western Conference teams with playoff aspirations, by

Courtesy of Keith Allison on Flickr

Aaron Gordon of the Orlando Magic in action against the Washington Wizards during a game on November 15, 2014 at Verizon Center in Washington, DC.

a total margin of nine points. Losing a number of close games early can be tough, but OKC’s scoring margin is +12.5, which is usually a good sign, and there seems to be no glaring trouble besides the lack of depth. OKC’s success appears to be close on the horizon. Cleveland Cavaliers Last but not least, we must address the disaster that is the Cleveland Cavaliers, the threetime reigning conference champs, who currently sit in the bottom half of the East. The Cavs are 5-7, with losses coming from mediocre teams including the Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks. In reality, there have not been many positives so far this season. The team has the worst defense in the league, as players such as JR Smith and Kevin Love have con-

tinued to be defensive liabilities, and newly acquired forward Jae Crowder can only help so much. With star point guard Isaiah Thomas out and Kyrie Irving gone, the team has a void at the point guard position that has not been filled. Lebron James, while still putting up phenomenal numbers, can only carry the load so much. However, it’s not like we haven’t seen this before. A staple of a Lebron James team is a period during the season where the team struggles (especially on defense) and everyone begins to question both Lebron and his team’s ability to return to the NBA Finals. While the quality of the Eastern Conference is better than we expected, I still think the Cavaliers are the favorite to repeat as conference champs, because they still have the best basketball player in the

world on their team and will be gaining an incredible talent in Thomas midway through the season. Don’t be surprised if by Christmas we are laughing at ourselves for doubting the King and if we see the Cavaliers on the path to the NBA Finals once again. The start of the season has been entertaining for sure. Many teams in the Eastern Conference that were expected to be mediocre have come out hot, making the established Cavaliers reevaluate their strategy to hold on the throne. It seems that an overwhelming number of teams will be fighting for those eight playoff positions in the Western Conference, especially for spots in the lower half. If everything continues at this trajectory, then we are in for another thrilling NBA Finals.

P-P WOMEN’S SOCCER

Sagehens Suffer 1-0 Loss to Whittier in SCIAC Final

Noah Shapiro The Pomona-Pitzer women’s soccer season came to a close on Saturday with a 1-0 loss to the Whittier Poets (12-8-0) in the SCIAC Championship. The Sagehens, who would’ve clinched a trip

to the NCAA tournament with a win, finished the season with an overall record of 10-8-3. The Sagehens reached the championship game by beating Redlands 2-1 in the semifinals. Whittier was the fourth seed entering the tournament, and pulled off

a surprising upset of top-seeded California Lutheran University (15-3-2) in overtime before facing Pomona-Pitzer. The game was tight the whole way through – both teams knew how much was on the line. At halftime the score was still 0-0. Each

team got their fair share of shots, but neither was able to capitalize. Midway through the second half, the Sagehens had their best chance to grab the lead. Unfortunately, a shot by Abby Onderwyzer Gold PO ‘18 soared just too high, bouncing off the crossbar.

Immediately after the near-miss, the Poets were on the attack. Just two minutes after Onderwyzer Gold’s shot, Whittier found the back of the net. Playing from behind, the Sagehens were aggressive for the final 20 minutes, getting multiple shots

Akshaya Amarnath • The Student Life

Vanessa Blaylock (PZ ‘19) races against a Whittier soccer player for the ball during the final game of the SCIAC Women’s Soccer Championship on November 5th.

on the goal. However, none found their mark, and Whittier was able to hold on for the victory. While the Sagehens were unable to achieve their goal of another SCIAC Championship, they still had a very successful season. Their second place finish in the conference marked the sixth straight year they’d finished in the top four. Molly Mosher PO ‘18 spoke of the adversity the team has faced this season. “Our preseason schedule included the number one and number two teams in Division-III, we had several player suffer from season-ending injuries, and we had a rocky second half of SCIAC.” The Sagehens opened up conference play with a strong 6-2-1 start. But following two ties and three losses, P-P was left with a must-win game against Occidental (7-7-2) in the regular season finale to reach the tournament. The team was able to regain its early-season success, beating Occidental and Redlands by a combined score of 5-1 before falling to Whittier. “What makes this team special is how we’ve responded as a team together by staying positive, picking each other up, and continuing to fight,” said Mosher. Saturday was the final game for the Sagehens’ five seniors. Although they didn’t win, they have all done an excellent job representing the colleges over the past four years. The future looks bright for the returning members of the team. “I think our team is going to be really strong next year,” says Raye Gleekel PO ‘21. “We have a lot of strong and dedicated players coming back and everyone on our team is super excited and committed to working in the offseason on getting better and making next year another winning season.”

SPORTS PAGE 12

NOVEMBER 10, 2017

THE STUDENT LIFE

CMS WATER POLO

In Must-Win Game, Stags Clinch SCIAC Spot with 11-8 Victory over Redlands

P-P Athlete of the Week Football David Berkinsky PO ‘19 Mendham, New Jersey

Wide receiver David Berkinsky PO ‘19 has been a leader in Pomona-Pitzer football this season, running for 592 yards with an average of 10.2 yards per catch. He has also scored two touchdowns, one of them key in a pre-season victory against Rhodes College (3-6, 2-5 Conf.). In the Sagehens’ most recent game against La Verne on Nov. 4, Berkinsky ran for 98 yards on nine grabs, helping the team attain their third victory of the season. The Hens next play ClaremontMudd-Scripps (4-4, 2-3 SCIAC) on Nov. 11.

CMS Athlete of the Week Women’s Volleyball Isabelle Taylor

Meghan Joyce • The Student Life

The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps water polo team faced off against the University of Redlands last Wednesday, ultimately defeating them by five goals.

Bryan Williams With an 11-8 victory over Redlands on Wednesday, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men’s water polo team (13-14, 8-5 SCIAC) clinched a spot in the SCIAC postseason tournament. “Energy is what won us that game,” CMS Coach Lonzo said. “The guys had a lot of enthusiasm from the very beginning of the game. Our bench was outstanding in positivity by keeping the guys in the water really hyped and really focused.” Going into the game, the Stags were tied with the Bulldogs for the last spot in the SCIAC conference tournament with both teams sitting at 7-5. By defeating Redlands, the Stags were able to break the tie

and clinch a spot in the postseason tournament. The Bulldogs started the first period with a cheeky lobbed shot arced over the keeper’s head into the top right of the goal at 6:26. Despite this worrisome start, the Stags quickly stifled any concerns racking up three goals in a row. At 6:01, Koss Klobucher CM ‘21 sneaked the ball in from a tight angle on the right side into the bottom left. At 2:50, Robert Driscoll CM ‘21 ricocheted one off the top right crossbar and into the goal. And at 0:49, Barron Banta CM ‘21 zoned in on the bottom left of the frame and then met his mark. On top of a strong save by keeper Evan Pauletich CM ‘19 from a penalty shot, the Stags established a lead that would

only continue to grow and never be surmounted, ending the first period 3-1. Despite Redlands tying it up with two goals at the beginning of the second quarter, CMS promptly recovered. The second period showed the Stags’ defensive and offensive superiority. CMS headed into the third with a 6-4 lead, thanks to goals from Robert Driscoll CM ‘21 at 3:29, Zack Rossman CM ‘20 at 2:12, and CJ Box CM ‘21 at 0:29. “Second half, the game kinda just went away,” Peter Tilton CM ‘18 noted. “We were dominating – up by 5 goals – they’re not coming back from that.” Just as Tilton said, the Stags ran away with the game in the third period, scoring five goals and

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allowing only two goals from the Bulldogs. The Stags finished the third period with a massive 11-6 lead. Even though the Bulldogs worked hard in the fourth period, the Stag’s played impressive defense and finished the game 11-8. Having secured their position in the SCIAC tournament with this victory, CMS has its sights set on the championship. “It’s gonna be a very exciting tournament,” Lonzo indicated. “I think all four teams that are in this year are really going to be hard to contend with and it’s going to be two really good semi-final games leading into that final and I think anyone has a chance to take the victory.”

CM ‘20 Darien, CT

The CMS women’s volleyball team managed another acheivement in their incredible season Saturday Nov. 4, defeating Cal Lutheran 3-0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-16). The Athenas were led by outside hitter Isabelle Taylor CM ‘20, who scored 14 kills in the convincing win. The 14 kills were a career high for the sophomore, whose impressive performance came at the right time for CMS. The Athenas season will continue at NCAA Regionals, where they are seeded sixth and are scheduled to play their first game Fri. Nov. 9 vs University of Texas-Dallas.