The Scripps Voice

By Alexandra Vallas ’15
Copy Editor

Many Scripps students are familiar with the sight of a man and his dogs sitting in Vita Nova courtyard. Fewer have stopped to play with the dogs, and an even smaller number have stopped to have a chat with “Dave the Dog Man.” However, beyond the friendly canines and the red truck, with its sticker imploring any future rescuers to save the whippet first, is a man with a fascinating story and a generous heart. The Scripps Voice recently spoke to Dave over email to get his side of the story.

Photo by Caroline Novit ’14

“[A]lthough it looks as though I do nothing but sit at the Motley with the dogs, you’ll note that I’m only ever there in the late afternoon. I actually do other things,” Dave informed us from the beginning.

Dave, officially David Null, certainly leads an active life. Those “other things” so humbly noted include serving as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Civil Air Patrol (an offshoot of the Air Force), as an epidemiologist in the Medical Reserve Corps, and as a Field Investigator and Disaster Worker for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

An alumnus of SUNY New Paltz, the University of Manchester, and University College London, among other schools, with a PhD, a JD, an LLM, and a MScPH, Dave also has an ever-expanding list of continuing education certifications, from Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins, and Tulane.

Dave was a professor at Cal Poly Pomona until 1997, when he took early retirement to care for his dying father. In the wake of Sept. 11, he joined the Civil Air Patrol, which functions like the National Guard without weapons and flies missions such as search and rescue, surveillance, and disaster aid for the Air Force.

But he has adopted the moniker “Dog Man” for a reason—Dave is one of the leaders of the St. Roch Dog Rescue out of Claremont, specializing in whippet and retriever breeds.

He adopted his first dog, Robyn, in 1979. “When one has a dog, you immediately start to notice homeless dogs so I soon began taking in a dog or two at a time, rehabilitating them and put them up for adoption,” Dave wrote.

His friend, Nancy Bekavac, Scripps College President from 1990-2007, collaborated with him in dog rescue. “Several times we found dogs whose pregnancies were far along, so they had their puppies in luxury at the President’s House,” Dave said.

Scripps and the other Claremont Colleges have played an integral role in his fostering work for many years due to the bond between the students and Dave’s dogs. “Students miss dogs and cannot have them. Most of my dogs have been neglected or abused and need attention and affection so they can learn to trust people again if they are to be adoptable,” Dave explained.

This “symbiotic relationship,” as he calls it, works in favor of both the students and the dogs, giving both parties the affection they need. The relationship has also influenced Dave to make donations to Scripps beginning in 1990s, totaling about $45,000. Recently, he established an internship fund, donating $30,000 now and pledging another $50,000 over the next few years.

“This year I decided to give away 5 percent of my wealth a year. I expect to live another 20 years, so when I’m dead, I’ll also be dead broke,” Dave joked. Though his original intent was to give Scripps a women-only hot tub with a sliding roof, he changed his plans when Career Planing & Resources convinced him money was more needed for summer internships.

This is fitting given Dave’s own experiences. During college summers, he worked as a steelworker, which he called “one of the dirtiest, unpleasant and dangerous industrial jobs there is.”

“I’m pleased to be able to help Scripps students experience better summers during college than I did,” Dave said. “Me and the dogs are grateful for all the kindness shown to us by many years of Scripps students and staff.”

In his free time, he also enjoys sailing his 25-foot sailboat, the Event Horizon, in Marina del Rey and is always looking for 5C students to join his crew. So next time you are passing through Vita Nova, stop by and pet the dogs, have a chat, and maybe sign up to go sailing with your new friend Dave the Dog Man.

By Star Schneider ‘16
Copy Editor

Note: These are just a few common terms. There are many others that fit into these categories, and please keep in mind that their definitions and locations are fluid! The definitions offered here are just a rough guide. Please refer to the article to the left complicating labels as a whole.

Many people are unfamiliar with the terms used to describe different forms of sexual, gender, and romantic identification. Though these explanations are by no means definitive (different people may use these same words and mean very different things), nor is this meant to be a comprehensive list of all terms (anyone who tells you they have a definitive list of all terms is probably lying), this list is meant to serve as a very general guide for reference to explain these terms to the uninitiated. Think of it as a way to place you in the region of what people are talking about; if you’re unsure about the ways in which someone self-identifies, ask them.

Photo by Caroline Novit ’14

Binary: Term used to describe a system in which there are only two options, such as the gender binary, which refers to the idea that there are only two genders (male/female, man/woman, masculine/feminine) and that all individuals must or do fit into one category.

Sexual identification: Sexuality, or sexual identification or orientation, usually refers to a person’s sexual interest as opposed to their romantic interest.

Queer: Queer is an all-encompassing term for gender and sexual minorities, used to describe multisexual identifications as well as to describe those who feel no other labels adequately describe them.

Asexual: Asexuality refers to experiencing little to no sexual drive; however, this does not necessarily mean there is no physical aspect to a relationship.

Pansexual: Pansexual refers to someone who experiences sexual attraction to people of all gender and sexual identities. Can be synonymous with omnisexual.

Romantic identification: This term usually refers to a person’s romantic identity, focusing on romantic relationships as distinct from sexual or platonic relationship.

Panromantic: Panromantic refers to someone who experiences romantic attraction to people of all gender identifications and identities. Can be synonymous with omniromantic.

Polyamory: Polyamory refers to honest relationships with multiple individuals, but does not necessarily suggest that all individuals are in relationships with each other (i.e. open relationships are polyamorous)

Aromantic: Aromantic describes a person who experiences little to no romantic attraction; converse to asexuality, this does not mean an aromantic individual experiences no sexual drive.

Gender identification: Different from gender, which is a social or legal status, and biological sex, which refers to physical gender traits. Gender identification is based on how a person feels about themselves regardless of these outside factors.

Intersex: Intersex is the condition in which a person is born with sexual anatomy that does not fit female or male definitions.

Trans*: Trans* usually describes a person who doesn’t identify with their biological sex at birth. Sometimes it is used as an umbrella-term.

Transgender: Transgender describes a person who does not identify with their birth gender but does still identify within the binary gender norm.

Transsexual: Transsexual, while historically similar in use to ‘transgender,’ is now typically used to describe a person who is transitioned to another gender.

MTF: Short for male-to-female, refers to a transgendered individual who identifies as female. Generally synonymous with trans female/woman.

FTM: Short for female-to-male, refers to a transgendered individual who identifies as male. Generally synonymous with trans male/man.

PGP: Short for “preferred gender pronouns,” PGPs are the pronouns someone prefers as a reference to themselves in the third person. For instance, someone whose PGPs are Zie/Zir/Zir’s, then someone might say, “Zie is meeting us at the library later.”

Genderqueer: Genderqueer is a term used to describe people who feel that they are neither male nor female, but instead may have traits of both.

Bigendered: Bigendered is a word used to describe someone who feels they are two-gendered, (i.e. both male and female or otherwise).

Genderneutral: Genderneutral is used to describe a person who feels they are neither male nor female (either neutral-gendered or non-gendered). Genderneutral pronouns include “they” or “them” as well as the lesser-known “Zie” and “Hir.”

As previously stated, this list is not at all definitive. This is merely to just provide a taste of the diversity of terms and vocabulary available. There many more terms out there, and we strongly encourage researching them yourself! Also, remember that terms don’t necessarily mean the same thing to everyone, so if you’re unsure about what someone means when they use a term, make sure to ask them!

Here are some helpful websites that provide more terms and phrases, alongside some useful resources:

www.nationalmecha.org/documents/GS_Terms.pdf

fuckyeahsexeducation.tumblr.com/Dictionary

www.pomona.edu/administration/qrc

By Katherine Goree ‘16
Staff Writer

Calliope Wong, a transgender high school senior who was born male but who has identified as female for several years, attempted to apply to Smith College, a prestigious women’s college in Northampton, Mass., last fall. Smith’s admissions policy is that the school will only consider admitting applicants if all components of their application and supporting documents describe them as female.

Photo by Tianna Sheih ’16

Smith, which is generally considered to be socially progressive, refused to consider Wong’s application because her Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form designated her as a male. Her home state, Connecticut, mandates that a transgender individual undergo sex-reassignment surgery in order to legally change legal status on a birth certificate.

Soon after Smith rejected her, Wong started a Tumblr blog, calliowong.tumblr.com, to share her experience and help other trans* high schoolers receive the consideration from Smith that she did not receive. Word of Smith’s refusal to consider Wong’s application has caused backlash from the Smith’s students and alums. They have shown their support for trans* applicants across social media sites.

This incident is also an example of financial discrimination against trans* applicants. Had she not needed financial aid, Smith would not have seen her FAFSA, and would thus not have known that Wong was born male. Furthermore, it is often necessary to hire an attorney to change the sex on the birth certificate, making the legal process an expensive and time-consuming one.

Trans* applicants should receive fair consideration for admission, regardless of what state they are from. Had Wong been from one of a handful of other states, she could have changed her birth certificate without surgery, and still applied for FAFSA without Smith knowing of her sex at birth. The fact that Smith would have considered Wong’s application without knowing about her identity as a trans* individual, had she been from another state, indicates that the college indirectly discriminates against applicants based on their geographic backgrounds.

Single-sex schools such as Smith have expressed concern that admitting trans* applicants would put them at a risk of losing federal funding under Title IX. However, the law is not applicable to private institutions. Since all single-sex colleges in the U.S. are private, concern about Title IX funding is an invalid excuse for not considering any applicant. If it were to admit someone who is legally of the opposite sex, a private single-sex college would not lose any federal funding.

So where does Scripps fit into this debate? Scripps’s admissions policy is to admit any qualified applicant who self-identifies as female on the Common App. This allows the applicants, not anyone else, to decide whether they identify as women.

It is comforting to know that, had Wong applied to Scripps, her application would have received the consideration it deserved. Admitting trans* students is consistent with Scripps’s values. Our school aims to break social barriers and refuse to let gender roles be an obstacle for opportunity. Denying a qualified trans* applicant the opportunity to study at Scripps would be hypocritical of our college.

By Star Schneider ‘16
Copy Editor

Many times in my life, I have felt the need to define myself. But the world doesn’t seem to want to make that easy. Just think about the last time you registered for a website, or filled out a form, or the last time you updated your Facebook info section. Facebook only gives you the option of choosing “Male” and “Female” for gender, and if you don’t identify as either of those: tough. You can choose to hide your gender on your profile, but the symbolism in hiding your gender is strong enough to make that option seem sketchy at best. Google has one more option in its drop-down menu: Other. While some people do identify with that term, the implication is that if you don’t identify as Male or Female, obviously you must identify yourself as Other.

But is the solution to just continuously add more terms, more terms for people to pick and choose from, hoping that there’s one that describes them? What’s the point of even including labels if inevitably they will exclude people who don’t identify with them?

Who are you? Think about it. Now try to answer that question without relying on signifiers of gender, class, culture, ethnicity, sexuality, etc. We tend to fall back on these terms. “I am Jewish.” “I’m Greek Orthodox.” “I am a woman.” “I’m pansexual.” “I’m aromantic.” “I’m Californian.” “I’m Hawaiian.” Though they might not come up at first (a friend of mine, when asked, first responded “I don’t see the forest for the trees,” which I thought was pretty keen), eventually we do fall back on these terms.

And there’s nothing necessarily wrong with identifying with them—not inherently. But when I—using a personal example here—identify as aromantic, what does that say about me? To be honest, it says very little. For one, it doesn’t tell people that, like my friend, I sometimes don’t “see the forest for the trees,” or that, despite my aromantism, one of my favorite books is “Pride and Prejudice”— I’m a sucker for Mr. Darcy. More importantly, it only places you in the ballpark of my romantic identity. My major gripe with labels—specifically labels of gender, gender identity, sexuality, and romantic identity—is that that’s all they really do: place us in a ballpark, but people tend to make them into so much more. Terms like “genderqueer,” “pansexual,” “gray-A” and “male” help us signify to others points about our identity, but we often forget that when a friend tells us they’re queer, their definition might be very different from ours.

AVENWiki, a Wiki resource for asexuality and the asexual community, defines an aromantic as “a person who experiences little or no romantic attraction to others.” To its credit—and it is a very good Wiki—it does go on to add qualifications, but oftentimes our shared understanding of labels ends there. The qualifications are something we have to add, and we shouldn’t take it at face value that two people identifying with the same term mean to identify with the same qualities that term refers to.

Once again, I’m not arguing against labels. They’re useful. I like them, but I can understand why some people don’t. I don’t think people who don’t want to use labels are worng. They can be homogenizing, even if a great diversity of labels mitigates it somewhat. But I personally use them because they DO tell people something. It might not be exactly what I’m trying to say, but it gives me a point of reference to bounce off of and work with.

Here’s an idea: Facebook allows you to fill in blank boxes with your religious views, political views, etc. Why can’t we do the same other things like gender? Instead of offering us a list of terms, often limited by a website or organization’s discretion, why can’t we have a blank box to write in?

But remember that giving me the option to identify as something can’t be the end of the conversation. Let me define who I am, but don’t assume that’s all there is to me.

By Lauren Prince ’14
Editor-in-Chief

Interview with Lesley Bonds
Career Counselor and Student Employment Coordinator

Why did you decide to bring this program to Scripps?

Colleges and universities throughout the country celebrate the importance of the student work experience during National Student Employment Week (NSEW) each year in line with the National Student Employment Association (NSEA).  This year’s celebration will take place from April 8-12. Scripps began participating in 2010, but I am hoping to infuse new elements into the program this year.  Most notably, we are participating for the first time in the National Student Employee of the Year competition through NSEA by selecting one outstanding student employee from Scripps.

What do you hope it to accomplish?

My number one hope is that student employees feel truly appreciated for their unique contributions to the Scripps community by their supervisors, their coworkers and those they serve on a day-to-day basis. We want student employees to know that we, as an institution, simply could not operate without them.

How are students involved?

While National Student Employment Week provides a unique opportunity for faculty and staff at Scripps to recognize student employees, it is also my hope that students will recognize their peers and coworkers for helping to shape their experience. I also encourage students to use this week as an opportunity to reflect on their own employment experience here on campus. Not only do their jobs help them earn the money necessary to fund their college experiences, but they’re also earning valuable skills that will most certainly be applicable to any future career they pursue.

How many student employees does Scripps have?

We have over 600 student employment positions on campus each year. Students serve in various capacities to support the work of departments across campus and throughout the consortium. The responsibilities of our student employees are vast and the departments diverse, with students serving in academic departments, Student Affairs, the Office of Admission, Communications and Marketing, IT and more. Whether students are whipping up the perfect latte in The Motley, mentoring high school students through the Scripps College Academy, or maintaining a safe and inclusive environment in the Tiernan Field House, we are equally thankful for the many hours our student employees contribute to building the best experience for all who step foot on campus.

What should student employees expect for this week?

Student employees will receive a note of appreciation from President Bettison-Varga and supervisors will have the opportunity to recognize their students in a number of ways throughout the week. Students should be sure to drop by Scripps Tea on Wednesday, April 10 to see a Thank You Quilt that supervisors will have compiled. Departments around campus will also be competing in an Office Decoration Contest and students can vote for their favorite to help them earn a pizza party for their entire staff through CP&R’s Facebook page. Last, I hope to see everyone at a reception for the Scripps Student Employee of the Year on Friday, April 12 at 4 p.m. in Margaret Fowler Garden.

The finalists for Scripps Student Employee of the Year are Anna-Marie Wood (Office of Admission), LaThelma Armstrong (Scripps College Academy) and SuAnne Lee (Residential Life).

By Nicole Rufus ‘16
Contributing Writer

Dear Bloomberg Businessweek,

By now, I know you have come under an enormous amount of heat for the cover your publication ran the week of Feb. 25, but the issue doesn’t end with your half-hearted apology. You may “regret” the cover, but the harm is already done, and the idea that Blacks and Latinos in this country are money hungry savages has already been placed, whether consciously or subconsciously, into minds of some of your readers.

I would be remiss if I didn’t begin with your terribly offensive caricatures. Your depiction of bulge-eyed, big-lipped, greedy Blacks and Latinos sitting around in their house full of cash is almost comical. You’re quick to call it a mistake, something you would do differently, but the truth is that’s how you see Black and Latino people. It wasn’t some oversight. It was a reflection of your perspective. To you at Businessweek, Blacks and Latinos are the problem. We are people whose eyes bulge in delight at the thought of loans that we can’t afford, and who sit in our houses and fan ourselves with money that we didn’t really earn. In a weird way, I’m happy this happened. For once, you cannot hide behind subtle racism, the things written in a between the lines. This is clear as day, and I’m glad about that. Make no mistake, Businessweek, you sent a message loud and clear with that cover and your half-assed apology doesn’t somehow erase that.

Knowing what you at Businessweek truly think about the subprime crash gives me an opportunity to discuss how completely irresponsible that line of thought is. Your cover (which had nothing to do with the actual article) implies that Blacks and Latinos are somehow responsible for the subprime crash. This comes at a time when Blacks are denied home loans at almost twice the rate of whites in this country, a time when Blacks and Latinos—because they make up the majority of the impoverished in this country—are often victims of predatory loaning schemes. Your cover isn’t only inaccurate, it’s embarrassing to your work as “journalists” because journalism is supposed to help create an informed population, not manipulate them through inaccurate, offensive images. If you’re looking for someone to blame for the crash, blame Wall Street. Blame the banks that practice predatory loaning in order to trap people.

Just as I think you should hold Wall Street accountable for their bad practices, I’m going to hold you accountable, Businessweek. You have a responsibility to be responsible informers, and you failed at that job with that cover. You let preconceived, racist notions—that are false—inform your decision-making and that is inexcusable. Your “regret” means nothing to me. Here’s an idea: hire some Black and Latino people. Have people who are actually a part of the groups that your cover targeted involved in the decision making process. Crazy idea, right? Just promise you’ll think about it.

Sincerely,

Nicole Rufus

By Rosemary McClure ‘13
Editor-in-Chief

On Mar. 12, antiracist author and activist Tim Wise delivered a lecture titled, “I’m white. Where’s my resource center?” at Pomona College. Wise’s lecture focused on debunking common myths white people hold about race, such as the idea that affirmative action is reverse racism, or that it is unfair that white people “aren’t allowed” to say the N word.

Wise, a Nashville native and Tulane graduate, is the author of seven books and has spoken at over 600 colleges. He also facilitates workshops and training for teachers, nonprofits, law enforcement, and the like, often using humor to flip the status quo on its head. This is a pretty effective strategy, as evidenced by accusations that he is a “hard Left fanatic” who “roams the countryside in search of monsters to destroy,” delivered by the types of people who put the phrase white privilege in quotation marks.

Wise’s irreverence toward religious conservatives and Republicans sometimes gets him in hot water, which was the case recently over statements he made at Providence College, a Catholic institution, drawing attention to the Church’s role in Native American genocide.

Wise, like all antiracist activists, is asked idiotic questions frequently during Q&A sessions. Spoiler alert: these questions are usually asked by white college students hoping to thwart Wise’s premise. Such denial of oppression by the dominant group is common, “because to be white in 2013, you don’t have to know anything about people of color to succeed. People of color have to learn about our stuff”—white literature, white theory, white art, though of course we don’t call it that (we call it “literature, theory, and art”). As Wise noted at the start of his lecture at Pomona College, the ability to live oblivious to one’s political identities—if one is a nondisabled, cisgendered, white male with class privilege, for instance—is itself a privilege.

But if, as Wise says, “the white lens, in a white supremacist society, is the most inaccurate,” what does it mean for a white person to be a renowned antiracist speaker? Do we believe that Tim Wise is invited to hundreds of colleges every year because he is just the best antiracist speaker around? Or is the white antiracist lens prone to the same inaccuracies as the white supremacist lens?

Author Ewuare Osayande explored this idea in a post titled “Word to the Wise: Unpacking the White Privilege of Tim Wise” on the website People of Color Organize! Osayande wrote about the frustration expressed by student groups at several colleges and universities who wanted him to speak at their school but could not muster the administrative support (i.e. funds) necessary to host him. Meanwhile, at the very same institutions, Tim Wise “received the red carpet of administrative respect and welcome.” Asked one student in an email to Osayande: “Isn’t this what Tim Wise is supposed to be against?”

Wise admits, as he did during the Q&A session following his lecture at Pomona, that his specific repudiations of racist ideas are not new: they are the same arguments antiracist activists of color have been making since day one. Although Wise is undeniably a talented speaker and writer, he also concedes that his whiteness plainly plays a role in his success: that people living in a white supremacist society see white “experts” as more credible than people of color, even regarding the issue of race is one of the great contradictions of white supremacy.

This criticism of Wise and other white antiracists has been ongoing in the blogosphere. In a March 2011 post titled“The White Anti-Racist is an Oxymoron (An Open Letter to ‘White Anti-Racists’),” blogger Kil Ja Kim wrote that white anti-racism “still makes white people the most valued people,” forcing people of color “to feel dependent and grateful to white people who will actually interact with us.”

Kim takes a slightly harder stance on white antiracists than Osayande (and I encourage you to read both authors’ blogs). Kim writes, “don’t call us, we’ll call you. … don’t show up, flaunt your power in our faces and then get angry when we resent the fact that you have so many resources we don’t and that we are not grateful for this arrangement.” Osayande writes: “I do not have a problem with white people speaking out against racism … But when that acknowledgment precludes or is prioritized over and beyond our acknowledgment of ourselves, then we have a problem.”

If white people are more likely to listen to a white antiracist lecturer than a person of color, is that progress—because at least they’re hearing it—or is it reinforcing the racist idea that white people’s ideas are more legitimate?

Being a white person and self-professed Tim Wise groupie, my lens on this issue is foggy to say the least. I am, however, clear that if white people are going to engage in antiracist activism it needs to extend beyond Edmunds Ballroom.

During Q & A, one student asked Wise whether colleges should provide a resource dedicated to white consciousness-raising and challenging white supremacy. A “White Student Union” is out of the question, “Because power matters and inequality exists and the dominant group doesn’t need special resources to perpetuate its dominance. That’s called redundancy,” said Wise. In light of Towson Unversity’s scary KKK-esque student “patrols,” having any form of “white-designated” space (particularly a physical one, which starts getting really Jim Crowish) should be avoided. However, Wise said he has seen spaces designated for ally-building and raising critical race consciousness prove useful.

Do you think Scripps needs an antiracist club or more antiracist programming that is separate from existing resources for students of color?

If you are interested in exploring this issue, or are strongly opposed, I encourage you to reach out to the Scripps Communities of Resources and Empowerment (SCORE) office, which is currently in the process of planning next year’s Ally Week.

By Megan Petersen ’15
Copy Editor

You’d have to have been comatose to have missed it. The Human Rights Campaign’s red equal signs all over Facebook. The headlines quoting every sarcastic quip that rolled off of Antonin Scalia’s tongue. The photographs of the clever (and not so clever) picketers’ signs in Washington, D.C. The myriad interviews and pictures of Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi absolutely everywhere…

Even with “GAYpril,” a pride month at many college campuses, just around the corner, those who love and support GLBTQQI rights were hardly celebratory—at least not yet. Any celebrations, if they come at all, will have to wait until early this summer. That’s when the Supreme Court is expected to hand down its decisions on what are expected to be two landmark cases regarding marriage rights for non-heterosexual couples: Hollingsworth v. Perry, otherwise known as the Proposition 8 case, and United States v. Windsor, which deals with the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

How the court will rule on these issues is essentially anyone’s guess. Generally speaking, the court could overturn or uphold a lower court’s ruling, remand and send the case back down to a lower court for more proceedings, or the court could rule that the plaintiffs don’t have standing to sue—that is, that they haven’t been harmed in such a way that a favorable ruling would bring sufficient recourse—and will refuse to go further.

Even more important than the official decision will be the written opinions of the court. These documents detail the court’s logic behind its decision, and often determine whether a decision will be limited to its specific context or will have far-reaching effects. For example, if the Court upholds the California Supreme Court’s ruling that Prop 8 is unconstitutional, whichever justice writes the opinion of the court could argue that the ruling applies to any state with a ban on gay marriage, only to states that have already approved gay marriage within their borders, or only to California.

However, many analysts are more concerned about standing, particularly in the Prop 8 case, than about any other rulings the court might dole out. If the court rules that those suing can’t achieve legal resource under the law, the court would dismiss the case without any further ruling.

What would a non-ruling look like on Prop 8? Potentially not much different than it does now, which, arguably, would look like a loss for many same sex marriage proponents.

However, there are those who don’t see “marriage equality” as progress. Given the inherently patriarchal and oppressive history of marriage, particularly in the Judeo-Christian cultural norms that shape mainstream American society, is confining same sex relations to such a mold necessarily a good thing?

Some critics of same sex marriage argue that state-sanctioned marriage itself is discriminatory, since so many rights are given to couples that are not afforded single people or those in other kinds of relationships. Arguably, it would be more progressive to abolish state-sanctioned marriage altogether.

These, of course, are not the questions that the Supreme Court is grappling with, and any thoughts on rulings are merely speculative. It’s doubtful that the excitement will die down, though, so stay tuned.

Happy pride month, all!

By Lauren Prince ‘14
Editor-In-Chief

Imagine a bunch of nerds chugging Red Bull at three in the morning, staring at computer screens. No, this is not a typical night at Harvey Mudd that I’m talking about, it’s the Hackathon.

On April 6, Claremont College students will gather in the Pomona Computer Science building. The event is organized annually by the Hacker League with the goal of innovation through internal Hackathons.

The theme for this year’s Hackathon is “build something a 5C student would love to use.” Teams of four will work 12 hours straight. Some already have plans to work on a course recommendation engine, easier ways to quickly share files, and a better aggregation site of 5C building hours.

In preparation for this week, there will be three, two-hour tutorials on Java Web Development, Git, BitBucket, and Iron.io APIs.

After the Hackathon ends, each group will have two minutes to present their projects before judges who are leaders in their field. Winners will receive prizes such as headphones, and stereos, among other things.

The Hackathon will take place from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. on April 6, with tutorials in the hours before the event. If you’d like to participate but do not have a team, the organizers will find one for you.

For more information about the Hackathon, visit www.hackerleague.org/Hackathons/claremont-colleges-Hackathon or  e-mail kmerrill27@gmail.com or jesse.pollak@pomona.edu.

Compiled by: Elizabeth Lee and Kehau Jai ‘16
Staff Writers

Q: How long have you been around?

A: There is no past and future, only the eternal present in which Without A Box exists.

Q: How many members do you have?

A: 12.

Q: How can people become a part of your group, and what made you join?

Photo by Caroline Novit ’14

A: We hold auditions at the beginning of every fall semester. Many of us did improv in high school and some of us just thought it would be fun.

Q: When/how often and where do you perform/publish?

A: We perform about once a month in different venues around the 5Cs.

Q: What makes your group so especially funny and unique? What comedy niche do you fill at CUC?

A: We’re the only improv troupe that frequently and regularly performs at all the Claremont Colleges.

Q: What is one word you could use to describe your group?

A: Ragamuffin.

Q: What kind of humor do you find provokes the most successful response from college students? What does this say about us, or why do you think that is?

A: According to focus groups, the following is the most successful joke for college audiences: “Knock knock who’s there? Dwayne. Dwayne who? Dwayne the tub I’m dwounding!”

Q: What is off limits?

A: We know what kind of jokes we are comfortable making as a group. In general: don’t punch down.

Q: What is the greatest struggle that comedians, in general, often face?

A: Walking upright.

Q: Is laughter truly the “best medicine”, or is there another, perhaps darker, side to humor?

A: The best medicine is leeches, always and forever.

Q: What is the ultimate secret to making something funny?

A: Pinch of cumin.

Q: What’s the best joke you’ve got in your back pocket?

A: Knock knock who’s there? Dwayne. Dwayne who? Dwayne the tub I’m dwounding! God, that’s a good joke.