Vol. CXXXIII No. 16

Page 1

VOL. CXXXIII NO. 16

FRIDAY, MARch 11, 2022

CLAREMONT, CA

Pitzer Student Senate scraps ongoing student body election JENNA MCMURTRY In an unprecedented decision, Pitzer College’s Student Senate announced Wednesday evening that it would scrap the votes already cast in its ongoing student body election, planning to start anew following spring break. The senate’s election committee made the choice in light of allegations surrounding two of the three candidates for senate president. Voting had begun Saturday for the roles of president, vice president of internal affairs and vice president of finance, scheduled to close Friday at 11:59 p.m. No candidates had yet been approved for the vice president of student engagement nor the vice president of external affairs positions, the elections committee said Saturday. In a statement Wednesday, the committee said concerns about candidates had been raised both privately and publicly, leading to its decision to restart the vote. Candidates for all positions will have to resubmit an application to get on the ballot. Emphasizing the senate’s lack of experience to address allegations to this extent, the elections committee added that it would pass concerns to administrators to direct how to proceed with the concerns raised by students. “We are taking the concerns very seriously and are disheartened by the alleged actions of our community leaders and some executive board candidates,” the committee said. “We do not condone their alleged behavior and are in contact with the Pitzer College administration to conduct further investigations.” On Pitzer’s student talk listserv Monday, one presidential candidate

acknowledged “discomfort and distrust in myself that it seems I have created amongst some of our BIPOC students,” both for what another student called microaggressions during a firstyear class and “claim[ing] credit for the work of my fellow BIPOC senators.” On Wednesday, a student sent an anonymous statement to the listserv detailing accusations that another presidential candidate had made an underclassman uncomfortable through repeated text messages. Although an election in progress has not been thrown out and restarted in recent memory, current Pitzer Senate President Kaila Teague PZ ’22 believed it was the best response to make. “This is not something that any of us have ever dealt with before, so we didn’t really know exactly how to proceed,” Teague told TSL. Seeking advice from the senate’s advisor, a position currently held by Pitzer’s Dean of Campus Life Alayna Session-Goins, the committee worked to consider how it could progress within the confines of the senate’s constitution. Current bylaws allow for the election committee to determine the timeline of elections, as long as they are held at least two weeks after the schedule is determined. Still, holding a new election entirely is not currently covered under the senate constitution. “As Student Senators, we have the ability to amend the Elections

See ELECTION on page 2

GABRIELA cAMAchO • ThE STUDENT LIFE

Sophomores who weren’t able to take E80 during the 2020-2021 academic year were required to take the class this year as juniors, increasing enrollment from 64 students in 2019 to 118 this year.

With enrollment up and staffing down, Mudd engineering students face a challenging year MARCELLA TODD & UMER LAKHANI While the pandemic has presented challenges for students across the board, engineering students at Harvey Mudd College are having a particularly difficult time this year. The inability to take in-person classes during the pandemic translated to a surge in enrollment this year for required classes like E80, Experimental Engineering. Coupled with a faculty shortage in the department caused by a hiring freeze amid the pandemic, students say the surge is making a notoriously demanding program even more difficult. The last four years have seen the engineering department at Mudd shrink considerably. Out of the previously 21-person faculty, four have

With 5C dining back, both excitement and concern on the menu

hUXLEYANN hUEFNER • ThE STUDENT LIFE

Students denounced the behavior of cross-campus diners on social media after a photo circulated showing large stacks of dishes piled outside the door of Scripps college’s dining hall.

retired, two are currently on a leave of absence and two are on sabbatical, Nancy Lape, the chair of the engineering department, told TSL via email. While four of the eight unfilled positions were long planned-for retirements, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented Mudd from conducting candidate searches and hiring replacements, according to David Harris, the department’s associate chair. Sophomores who weren’t able to take E80 during the 2020-2021 academic year were required to take the class this year as juniors, increasing enrollment from 64 students in 2019 to 118 this year, Lape said. And due to the staffing pres-

sures, some students reported receiving less support than they were expecting. E80 is “being run by professors who are doing their best,” Sean Wu HM ’23 said, but “they have to handle two years of students when normally there’s only one year of students.” Due to COVID-19 guidelines on classroom density, professors are working much more than usual. A new late evening lab section from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. has been opened, Wu said. “It’s been a real struggle trying to figure out the logistics with the staffing shortage. A lot of current engineering professors are stepping up,” he said. “These professors are working overtime and honestly, I

See MUDD on page 2

Ontario city council approves warehouses on farmland

AMARA MIR

MARIANA DURAN

Amid the excitement of a return to cross-campus dining, an influx of students across 5C dining halls has left already-understaffed dining hall workers to deal with mask discrepancies, larger messes and longer lines. Students denounced the behavior of cross-campus diners after a photo circulated on social media showing stacks of plates piled outside the door of Scripps College’s dining hall, Malott Commons. “Seeing new people was refreshing … until I stepped outside and saw piles of plates, bowls, cups and utensils stacked up on the floor only 10 feet away from where they should’ve been put,” Paola Ojeda SC ’25 told TSL.

On March 1, Ontario’s city council voted to allow the repurposing of some of the farmland in south Ontario to build some of the city’s largest warehouse complexes. The decision — which is not the first of its kind — was met with backlash by some Ontarians and environmental groups, including Pitzer College’s Robert Redford Conservancy for Southern California Sustainability. The vote approved the creation of the South Ontario Logistics Center, a 219-acre business park that would feature several large warehouses and manufacturing facilities. The center would be developed by REDA in Ontario

Ranch, an area that has been historically used for dairy or cattle farming and that was part of the former San Bernardino Agricultural preserve. The 8,200 acres that make up Ontario Ranch have been recently sought by other prominent developing groups. Last December, Dermody Properties purchased 54.4 acres of land, which previously served as dairy farms. It intends to build a 1 million square-foot logistics center, to be called Logisticenter. The council’s decision to approve the South Ontario Logistics Center was a divisive topic among Ontario’s community. According to the Daily Bulletin, its public hearing was one of the largest in the cham-

See ONTARIO on page 3

See DINING on page 3

Students push for Vietnamese table’s return JORLEN GARCIA & AVA FRANCIS-HALL After the Vietnamese language table left the Oldenborg Center for Modern Languages and International Relations last semester due to a dispute with administrators over English usage, former mentors and the Vietnamese Student Association are demanding that Oldenborg support it again without compromises on inclusivity. Language tables, located in the dining hall of Oldenborg Center at

Pomona College, provide 5C foreign language students with tables where they can converse with other students and student mentors in those languages. Since there are no Vietnamese language classes at the Claremont Colleges, the Vietnamese language table was the only organized opportunity to learn and practice Vietnamese at the 5Cs. On Oct. 1, Oldenborg Director Carolina De la Rosa Bustamante approached the Vietnamese table requesting the members in atten-

dance to speak only in Vietnamese, according to a Feb. 23 petition published by Kendra Nguyen PO ’24, a language table mentor and former Vietnamese Student Association public relations officer. The request was in line with Oldenborg’s traditional “no-English” policy, meant to provide an “immersive space” for students to practice a foreign language without the use of English, according to Oldenborg’s website.

See VSA on page 3

MARIANA DURAN • ThE STUDENT LIFE

Pitzer college’s Robert Redford conservancy has been actively opposing warehouse development in Ontario.

SAMSON ZhANG • ThE STUDENT LIFE

ARTS & CULTURE Pomona’s March 7 HenTalks explored the ideas behind and connections between dustprotecting particles, polygamy and the US’ poor track record as an ally. Read more on page 4.

The student newspaper of the Claremont Colleges since 1889

OPINIONS

SPORTS

Online class, as a supplement to in-person learning, has more potential to enrich students’ education than we may realize, writes Alexander Chao PO ‘25. Read more on page 8.

As a career 11.2 points and 3.1 assists per game scorer while averaging 39 percent from the floor, Madison Quan PZ ‘22 reminisces on her journey through collegiate basketball. Read more on page 10.

INDEX: News 1 | Arts & Culture 4 | Opinions 7 | Sports 9


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