VOL. CXXXIII NO. 5
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2021
CLAREMONT, CA
Now in its second year, Nobody Fails at Scripps settles in for the long haul
Student groups condemn Ath speaker: ‘No place on our campus’
GABRIEL SHERMAN This piece is the first in a series on mutual aid groups at the 5Cs.
NANAKO NODA • THE STUDENT LIFE
Students attend a talk at the Ath. In the wake of Laura Kipnis’s visit last week, CMC Advocates and ASCMC reaffirmed their commitment to supporting survivors.
WALLY BARGERON CW: Mentions of sexual violence As Claremont McKenna College’s Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum prepared to host Northwestern University professor Laura Kipnis on Oct. 6, some 5C students were busy deciding whether or not they would attend. The Athenaeum, known by students as “the Ath,” showcases speaker events throughout the semester, designed to host speakers with a wide range of viewpoints — sometimes on topics that students find divisive. Kipnis’ talks are known for taking controversial angles on sensitive subjects ranging from Title IX to “sexual politics on campus,” and the CMC Advocates warned in an email to students that her talk could be triggering. CMC’s Advocates
provide support and resources for survivors of sexual assault, separate from the Title IX office. “Without minimizing the realities of sexual assault on and off campus … [Kipnis] argues for more transparency about the Title IX process, along with more oversight and review of those making the findings,” the Ath said in a description of the talk. “Laura Kipnis didn’t know much about Title IX until she found herself brought up on Title IX complaints … for writing an essay,” the description said — sparking a career in writing and debating sexual assault policies on campuses. The talk was co-sponsored by CMC’s Open Academy initiative, which was approved by the board of trustees in 2018 to provide funding for programs that reinforce the college’s commitment to freedom
Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny talk political thriller at Scripps Presents
COURTESY: SCRIPPS PRESENTS
Hillary Clinton’s own experiences as U.S. Secretary of State inspired her new novel, written with author Louise Penny.
ELLEN WANG Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and international award-winning author Louise Penny joined Scripps Presents on the day of the release of their new political thriller “State of Terror.” The discussion on Oct. 12 was moderated by National Book Award-winning writer Susan Choi. In addition to the insider look at the highest levels of politics from the first woman in US history to be the presidential nominee of a major political party, the fast-paced novel is packed with the layers of literary expertise that characterize Penny’s writing. Clinton said the book features “what goes on behind closed doors in high-stakes diplomacy, when a crisis is truly staring you in the face. Our
heroines don’t shoot, or open the door and throw grenades. They use their wits ― they use their experiences. They are heroic but they’re not extra-human. They are very, very human and at the heart of the story is their friendship, and these two very brave, tenacious women.” The central relationship in “State of Terror” is between the fictional Secretary of State, Ellen Adams, and her lifetime best friend and now counselor, Betsy Jameson. Clinton and Penny took much inspiration from mutual friend Betsy Johnson Ebeling, Clinton’s best friend from childhood who had passed away in 2019 and was the reason they met. “We kept coming back to our mutual love for and how much we missed Betsy,” Clinton said about their book brainstorming process. Clinton’s close friend and former Under Secretary of State, Ellen Tauscher, died the same year as Egeling and was also a strong influence in the book through the protagonist of the same name. Clinton and Penny bonded over their grief and over being women at similar stages of their lives. Clinton has written seven previous nonfiction books, and said her first foray into fiction “was quite liberating, to break through those bounds, and think about not what has happened but imagine what could happen.”
See HILLARY on page 6
of expression. “CMC’s Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum continues to be a nationally recognized sanctuary where speakers of many ideological stripes are welcomed,” the program’s announcement said. But the CMC Advocates said the harm Kipnis’ ideas brought to campus outweighed any benefit from ideological diversity. “We take great issue with the ways in which Kipnis discusses survivorship,” their email said. “A ‘victim blaming’ mentality has no place on our campus.” The group asserted that they stood firmly against Kipnis’ work and views. “[The] Advocates believes Kipnis’s work does in fact minimize the realities of sexual violence on college campuses and is
See ATH on page 3
T he l i ne at Bla z e Pi z za i n Cla remont w rapped a l l throughout the restaurant on a warm Thursday in late September. It’s not unusual for lines to be long there, especially at dinner time on a Thursday or Friday night. But on this night, the space was packed with Scripps students and others from across the 5Cs. Ma ny showed up t hat night because Nobody Fails at Scripps partnered with Blaze for their most recent round of mutual aid funding — the first round solicited since students returned to the 5Cs. A similar event was held the next evening at Pepo Melo. “They didn’t raise a ton of money,” NFAS organizer Uma Nagaraja n-Swenson SC ’22 admitted. But the in-person events did garner a lot of attention. “I think they gave us a lot of momentum and a lot more legitimacy,” she said. NFAS began in response to a specific crisis: students wanted a universal pass grading policy for the spring semester of 2020 as a result of the then-nascent pandemic. Then, as student need became apparent, the group did a round of mutual aid fundraising before the fall 2020 semester, followed by another before spring 2021. Last semester, some organizers were unsure if NFAS would continue to exist past their graduation last spring.
Through a casual recruitment process on social media and then Zoom, the organization added new members and kept going this year. “I really love the way that we operate because, I mean, the way that we operate is there’s not a hierarchy, there’s just capacity,” Maddie Moore SC ’22 said. “And so for this round of mutual aid funding, it was a lot of Julia [Thomason SC ’22] and I leading our meetings because we were students that had experience and had the capacity to take on more things.” NFAS has become something beyond an informal fundraising group for Scripps students. Including the most recent round, they’ve raised about $150,000 in a little over a year for students. But the organization also has almost 1,600 followers on Instagram and has taken on issues beyond Scripps’ walls, becoming involved in the fight to reinstate Drew “Ziggy” Carter PO ’23 at Pomona at the beginning of this semester. Nagaraja n-Swenson u nderstands the power that the NFAS’ reach can have, and hopes to begin doing more work beyond fundraising. “There’s a lot of things that need to c ha nge,” she said, i n regard to the ways in which she feels Scripps is failing to meet student need, “and that’s definitely something we’ve been thinking about, like how do we continue doing this work without letting the institution of Scripps get away with this?” It’s a daunting question, and not one that NFAS has a clear answer to, at least right now. After
See NFAS on page 2
Claremont evaluates pilot program for mental health emergency response LUCIA STEIN As towns and cities across the country struggle with the goals of their public safety spending, some are working to address the need for mental health professionals to respond to non-criminal police calls. Claremont is in the process of doing just that. Even before calls for police reform gained traction and spread nationwide over the summer of 2020, Claremont Police Ch ief Shelly Va nder Veen was working to implement a Psychiatric Assessment Care Team (PACT) for the city, according to Mayor Jennifer Stark PZ ’98. The team started in April after the program was approved as a pilot in February, with PACT working from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. “ PAC T w a s d e v e l o p e d to respond to non-v iolent, non-criminal calls for assistance received through CPD’s dispatch center involving mental health related concerns,” Vander Veen explained at a Sept. 28 City Council meeting, where the council reviewed the program’s first six months in action. “The goal is to utilize police resources more effectively and efficiently in our response to mental health needs within Claremont.” PACT works through a part-
nership between the Claremont Police Department and the TriCity Mental Health Authority, which, along with the salaries for the PACT members, is funded by “an arrangement between the State and counties that dedicates portions of Vehicle Licensing Fees and Sales Tax revenues to county health, mental health, and social services programs,” accord i ng to t he si x mont h evaluation of the program. The funding needed to develop the partnership came from the police department’s budget. When dispatch receives a call that could be appropriate for PACT, “a watch commander will triage the situation and decide whether the call is best handled by the police, or an officer and the PACT team,” the Claremont
Courier reported last spring. An officer can additionally request PACT’s assistance after responding to a call if it appears mental health assistance may be necessary to address the issue at hand. PACT’s responsibilities include following up with those it interacts with on their calls, and with those responded to by officers during the time PACT does not work. Vander Veen, who will retire next month after nearly five years as chief, was surprised by how busy the team has been over the past six months. “I orig i nally quest ioned whether we would have enough activity to keep the team active,” Vander Veen told the council.
See POLICE on page 2
CECILIA RANSBURG • THE STUDENT LIFE
Claremont is evaluating a pilot mental health response team which aims to supplement the police in certain situations.
SAMSON ZHANG • THE STUDENT LIFE
ARTS & CULTURE From boxes of worms on a string to plates of grilled cheese, 5C students are branching out into unexpected forms of entrepeneurship. Worm your way to page 5.
The student newspaper of the Claremont Colleges since 1889
OPINIONS
SPORTS
The reactions to a hateful comment recently reported at Pitzer are a reminder that conversations about prejudice must start from a place of support for and centering of marginalized individuals’ voices, argues Kenny Le PZ ‘25. Read more on page 8.
After participating in renowned indoor climbing competitions and earning prestigious titles, Bella Jariel HM ‘24 has shifted her focus to conquering outdoor, natural climbing courses and gaining “first woman ascent” titles. Read more on page 9.
INDEX: News 1 | Arts & Culture 4 | Opinions 7 | Sports 9