The Scripps Voice

Jessica Ng
Guest Contributor

Disclaimer: Many a tearable pun was made in the making of this campaign.

The students of the Scripps Recycling Committee are thrilled to introduce Captain Tearable! She’s a Scripps superhero who separates her “tearable” recycling (cardboard and paper) from the rest of her “comingled” recycling. This way, Maintenance can bale the tearable recycling, reducing its volume, the number of times it has to be picked up, and subsequently transportation energy and emissions. Scripps also gets to spend the proceeds on sustainability programs, such as composting, sustainable building, and making tearable recycling even better!

Photo courtesy of Lucia Nunez

The four of us in the Committee have been involved in various sustainability initiatives during our time at Scripps, including Environmental Club, the Sustainability Committee, SAS Sustainability Chair, and LEED advocacy. We were eager to help Niel Erickson, director of the Maintenance Department, implement a campus-wide tearable recycling program when he approached the Sustainability Committee looking for student volunteers. In February, 2013, we did a photoshoot with the new tearable recycling bins and publicized the informational picture that appears at the bottom of the Captain Tearable poster.

But two months after our first campaign, we realized a tearable truth: students weren’t putting their cardboard in the proper bins. Some were, of course, but a lot of cardboard–the biggest component of recycling by volume–was still ending up in the bright blue comingled bins instead of the dark blue tearable bins. The cardboard couldn’t be compacted, so the comingled recycling still had to be picked up nearly as much as before. What’s an environmentalist to do?

Photo courtesy of Lucia Nunez

Captain Tearable to the rescue! Combining our love of fun, photography, and sustainability, we came up with this Scripps superhero to put a fun face and a tearable pun to paper and cardboard recycling.Then we sent Captain Tearable’s photos to Communications and Marketing, who put together an eyecatching poster to highlight the subtle benefits of tearable recycling.

We’ve had a fantastic time creating Captain Tearable, and we hope she’ll make tearable recycling an exciting and integral part of life at Scripps. Happy recycling!

Lots of love from Lauren Mitten, Jessica Ng, Lucia Nunez, and Mieke Ruina, your favorite Scripps Recycling Committee.

For more information, contact the SAS Sustainability Chair at SAS.SustainabilityChair@gmail.com.

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By Dagny Xinyue Lu ’15
Staff Writer

The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women’s lacrosse team beat Pomona-Pitzer 7-6 for their Senior Night game on April 17.

The game honors the two captains of the team, Madi Shove (’13) and Rachel Darby (’13), both of who will be graduating Scripps College this fall. Darby will be graduating with a dual major in Psychology and Legal Studies, and Shove is graduating with a major in Media Studies and a minor in Psychology.

Madi Shove (#11) plays her last game on the CMS women’s lacrosse team. She and Rachel Darby established outstanding records during their four years playing for CMS.
Photo by Tianna Sheih ’16

Coach of the CMS women’s lacrosse team, Heather Semelmacher, said that she is proud of the team’s performance in the two seniors’ last home game. “They worked together as a team and held one another accountable. They took care of the ball and finished strong,” said Semelmacher.

Members of the Scripps community went to support the team on this special night. “To turn around and see so many Scripps sweatshirts was so empowering to the team,” said Semelmacher.

Both Shove and Darby have been members of the CMS women’s lacrosse team since their first year at Scripps. Darby is an outstanding attacker with 101 goals in hand. Shove is a midfielder with 232 goals and was the 2012 Scripps Athlete of the year.

“Madi and Rachel are going to be a huge loss for us, both on and off the field,” said Semelmacher. “Their minds are focused on wining and they are the fight scene of the team. As captains, they create that sense of family that bonds the team together.

“We want to go out and win it all and make Madi and Rachel’s senior year an amazing one,” Semelmacher said.

By Marta Bean ’14, Francesca Simmons ’14, and Alex Frumkin ’15
SAS President-Elect, Student Activities Chair-Elect, and Vice President-Elect

Hello Scripps! We are next year’s SAS President, Vice President, and Student Activities Chair. We are really excited about SAS next year, and want to share some of our ideas, goals, and plans with the student body. Although we aren’t quite sure of everything that will be going on at Scripps next year, as we often approach issues as they arise, there are several things that we know will spark important conversations on campus in the 2013-2014 year.

The first of these is the conversation surrounding what function the LASPA Center will serve, and how it will stand out from other leadership programs at the Claremont Colleges. We hope to increase awareness about the center, and want Scripps students to become involved with choosing the inaugural director, who is expected to begin working in January 2014. We know that this center has the potential to be an amazing resource for Scripps students, and we want it to properly reflect the needs and wants of the student body.

Another important topic of conversation is the draft Diversity and Inclusivity Strategic Plan. We want to continue student conversation next year, since these new recommendations have an important place in making Scripps more diverse. We will oversee implementation of the document, focus on how it can further improve the campus, and seek recommendations for new ideas from the student body. An email containing the plan was sent out on March 25; we hope that if you haven’t had the chance to read it, you will all check it out!

Next year’s SAS wants to bring more meaningful speakers to Scripps. In order to do this, SAS will work to collaborate more between the programming and executive boards. While there are many incredible speakers that are brought to the 5Cs, we hope that bringing these speakers specifically to Garrison and Balch will help increase Scripps attendance and encourage participation in these important conversations. We also hope to get student input about speakers that Scripps students want to see here.

While the three of us know and love SAS, we also know that not everyone knows what SAS does. We really want all Scripps students to recognize SAS’s contributions to campus, and hope that increasing SAS visibility will help students feel more connected with the student government. We believe this to be critical, since we are representing each and every one of you in our actions. One of the main ways that we are planning on doing this is improving our current Senate. SAS introduced the Senate this year, and while we believe it was an improvement on the past hall council system, the executive board looks to increase accountability of the Senate members, as well as streamline senators’ ability to bring programming to the halls.

Along with increasing SAS presence on campus, we hope that we will see increased numbers of participants during elections, both as candidates and voters. This year was a huge improvement on previous turnouts, but we know we can do better next year. We hope that once the student body is more aware of the way that SAS contributes to the community, they will feel more invested in the people who represent them. This will create an even stronger SAS and fairer election process.

We’re really excited about leading SAS next year, and we’ve already gotten started brainstorming our plans for next year. If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please stop us while we’re walking on campus or email any of us!

By Leslie Sachs ‘14
Contributing Writer

Pomona Advocates for Survivors of Sexual Assault participating in Take Back the Night were heckled as they processed through Claremont McKenna College last week.

Beginning with a moment of silence and a candlelight vigil, the event was a peaceful demonstration to raise awareness about sexual assault and to remember victims. The demonstrators marched through all 5Cs, chanting a simple message “NO means NO and YES means YES.”

Photo courtesy of Take Back the Night

The march passed through North Quad and was about to clear the area, when a couple of individuals stepped out of the Boswell dorms and shouted, “That’s right, go back to Scripps where you belong.” One of the advocates later informed me that this was one of several negative comments made by individuals on CMC’s campus.

While this is not the first derisive comment I’ve heard directed at Scripps women, in this context it seems especially out of step with the values of the 5C community. Regardless of whether the intent of individuals making the comments was merely a mindless taunt or expressed their opposition to our position on sexual assault, it raises a question about the campus cultures.

I do not think that the actions by these individuals are representative of CMC students or students at any of the other colleges. I suspect the vast majority of 5C students and faculty find jokes about sexual assault an affront to human rights. I think most also agree that when one of our own perpetuates negative stereotypes about ANY of the 5Cs, it tarnishes us all.

Despite this, we must recognize that hateful statements of this sort on our campuses are too commonplace for comfort. It is time to stop treating such behavior as an ignorable nonevent. I believe we can promote the values of our academic community by taking the initiative to let those who express such contemptuous attitudes know that enmity for members of our community is not acceptable.

Sexual assault is a 5C issue, not that of one campus. There are students at each of the 5Cs that are working hard to change the culture around sexual assault and to make our environment safer for everyone. Sexual assault is not an easy issue to address. If we want to create a safer campus with more cohesive policies we need more communication between our student leaders and input from the study body. Regardless of what institution we each attend, we are all classmates, teammates and friends—let’s unite on this important issue.

Check out It Ends Here, Scripps’s sexual assault awareness club, or contact them at itendsherescripps@gmail.com to get involved. There will also be a Scripps chapter of Advocates starting in the fall—if you are interested in getting trained as a first responder contact Theresa Iker at TIker4240@Scrippscollege.edu.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted you can contact the Pomona Advocates at advocates@pomona.edu.

Pomona Advocates also has a great list of resources on their website: pomonacollegeadvocates.wordpress.com/contact-us/.

By Lauren Prince ‘14
Editor-in-Chief

Faculty of the Gender and Women’s Studies (GWS) department have proposed changing the name of the department to Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (FGS). This new name not only reflects the contemporary direction of the larger field of study, but also the subjects that the department engages in.

“To break the name down,” said Professor Chris Guzaitis, who, along with Professor Piya Chatterjee, proposed the name change, “‘feminist’ refers to how we theoretically and politically engage with the subjects of gender and sexuality as areas of study, so the name reflects both the subjects of study the department engages in and the theoretical approach to the study of these subjects.”

The proposed name change has been approved by the Academic Policy Sub-Committee of the Faculty Executive Committee (FEC) and the FEC as a whole. On Thursday, May 9, it will be voted on and approved by the full faculty. Guzaitis also contacted the faculty from the other four schools whose courses are cross-listed, and they support the proposed name change.

“There is only one other college in the country that uses this specific name, Cornell University, but there are a large number of Feminist Studies departments, Gender Studies departments, and Sexuality Studies departments,” said Guzaitis.

By changing the name of the department, the name of the major on students’ diplomas will also change. There will, however, be no new requirements. There will also continue to be a Queer Studies track within the major.

The proposed name change will most immediately impact the first year students who begin this fall. Students who began at Scripps when the department was still named GWS can follow that catalog and graduate with a degree in GWS or can choose to change to the new name.

Lauren Mitten (’15) will choose to change her major according to the proposed name change. “Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies better reflects what we do in the major. I also like the political implications of noting that we are explicitly feminist and moving farther away from gender binary/essenialism,” she said.

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By Lily Foss ’13
Feminism Columnist

I’m not sure how many of you have heard the term “SWUG,” so let me catch you up: it’s an acronym for “senior washed-up girl.” A self-identified SWUG at Yale coined it in a piece for the Yale Daily News in which she wrote that being a SWUG meant embracing “the slow, wine-filled decline of female sexual empowerment as we live out our college glory days.”

Photo by Caroline Novit ’14

Confession time, dear readers: I’m totally a SWUG. Last Saturday night I spent the entire evening watching the first season of “Gilmore Girls.” All 22 episodes. That was my night. And you know what? I LOVED IT. That was exactly how I wanted to spend my evening. And that’s the great part about being a senior, at least in my opinion. When I was a first-year, I felt a lot of pressure to go out and do young-people things every weekend. Sometimes it was fun to do the party circuit. But those parties get repetitive. And I’m really not much of a party person. They’re great once in a while, but every weekend? Not my jam. Now that I’m older, I don’t feel obligated to go out every weekend. I know that my worth doesn’t hinge upon how many social events I attend, so I can admit to myself that, to me, a night spent in my pajamas eating leftover pie and catching up on “The Daily Show” is a great night (tonight was a great night).

However, I had some issues with the original article. For one thing, I didn’t care for the implication that not wanting to pursue relationships indicates the “decline of female sexual empowerment.” I’m not single because I am disempowered. I’m single because I am done with playing dumb college dating games. I’m looking at you, guy in my physics class who told me that I should come over to his apartment to “listen to some country music.” If you’re inviting me over for sex, just come out and say it! And I will say no, because that was the last day of class and you hadn’t talked to me at all the whole semester. Should have laid the groundwork, dude. But seriously, enough with all this fake subtlety. I’m too old for this shit. And I’m too old for the guys who randomly want to make out at parties and never see me again, or the guys who ask for my number and never text, or any of that malarkey. Those things have their place, and that’s fine. But it’s not what I want.

But my biggest issue with the article? The “washed-up” part. I’m not washed-up. I’m 22 years old. My entire life is ahead of me. So maybe I’m bored with the whole college lifestyle thing. That’s good. I’m graduating in a month (provided this thesis gets done—that “Gilmore Girls” marathon probably wasn’t the best idea), so the sooner I get over college, the better. And my college years weren’t my glory days. I refuse to believe that. These weren’t the four years when I passed the bar. They weren’t the four years when I practiced law and championed for human rights. The four years when I argued a case in front of the Supreme Court. When I was appointed to the Supreme Court. As much as I’ve enjoyed my time at Scripps, if these were my “glory days,” that’d be pretty damn sad. And that’s why I’m totally embracing my SWUG-ness—because I know that there are way more great things to come for me in the future. If the best is yet to come, why waste time trying to fit myself into the “college student” mold when it isn’t what I want? No thanks. Parties and dating are fun sometimes, but right now all I want to do is hang out with my girls: Lorelai and Rory.

By Stephanie Steinbrecher ’16
Staff Writer

In early March, Claremont Graduate University announced the recipients of its prestigious Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards. The pair of awards are given annually to two exemplary poets.

The Kingsley Tufts Award bestows the winning mid-career poet with one of the largest monetary awards for a single collection of poetry worldwide; this year, the winner of this honor is Marianne Boruch for her collection “The Book of Hours.” The Kate Tufts Discovery Award is given to a poet who has just published their first book or collection. The Kate Tufts Discovery Award recipient for 2013 is Heidy Steidlmayer for “Fowling Piece.”

The awards were created in order to “enable a poet to work on his or her craft for a while without paying bills,” said Kate Tufts, according to CGU’s website. The awards seek to both honor poets and supply them with means to continue working.

The Tufts Poetry Awards are based at CGU and are two of the largest given to poets. The Kinglsey Tufts Award offers both praise and a $100,000 prize to an established poet. The Kate Tufts Discovery Award, on the other hand, recognizes a promising poet and offers the winner $10,000.

The final judges for 2013 were comprised of many notable individuals from around the country whose backgrounds are entrenched in poetry. Past Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award recipient and Professor at the University of Michigan Linda Gregerson, Poetry Editor of The Atlantic Monthly Dadvid Barber, managing editor of Red Hen Press Kate Gale, prize-winning poet and journalist Ted Genoways, and past Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award recipient, Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, and Professor at Washington University Carl Phillips made up the judges panel this year.

Hundreds of applications are submitted for the awards each year, with a panel of preliminary judges who choose 50 finalists for the Kingsley Tufts Award and 25 for the Kate Tufts Discovery Award.

The awards both recognize outstanding poets and bodies of poetry as well as encourage poets to continue with their outstanding work. The Awards are affirmations that hopefully encourage poets to continue with their work.

Boruch, Professor at Purdue University, has written collections, essays on poetry, and a memoir. Her poetry has appeared in several publications including the New Yorker and Paris Review. Steidlmayer, like Boruch, has had her work published in Poetry and other publications.

Kate Tufts decided to base the awards at CGU in 1993, establishing the award in her husband’s name and providing an endowment to help poets continue to excel in and perfect their art. Since then, the Awards have been offered annually and will hopefully continue well into the future, helping fuel the creativity of contemporary poets for years to come.

By Rosemary McClure ’13

Editor-in-Chief

The words “hip-hop musical” hit me like a ton of bricks—or perhaps I should say, like a slug to the chest. The concept makes so much sense, one wonders why such productions are not mainstream.

“Krunk Fu Battle Battle (KFBB),” the hip-hop musical written by Qui Nguyen which opened on Apr. 11 at Pomona College, did not disappoint. KFBB tells the story of Norman Lee (Cheuk Piu Lo, PZ ’14), a high school student who just emigrated to Brooklyn from Hong Kong, who foolishly challenges Sunset High’s reigning b-boy Three-Point (Ben Hong) to a dance battle for a date with slam poet Sweet Cindy Chang (Kayla Dalsfoist, SCR ’13). With the help of his new friend Wingnut (Bredan Gillett, PO ’14) and b-boy coach Lloyd, A.K.A. Sir Master Cert (Ken Saw), Norman accesses his inner b-boy, taking down Three Point’s crew and learning life lessons: “It’s not about getting it right. It’s about making it work when you get it wrong.”

Photo by Rosemary McClure ’13

KFBB is at its core a feel-good boy-meets-girl underdog story, which is nothing new. Like all musicals, it is over-the-top—every time a character says “Krunk Fu Battle Battle,” the audience hears thunder and the lights flash ominously. But the hip-hop element is fresh and innovative, preventing heavy-handedness as the narrative explores immigration, language, and burgeoning masculinity and femininity. KFBB is like a younger, hipper “West Side Story.” With breakdancing. Like if “You Got Served” had a soul.

Director Joyce Lu, Assistant Professor of Theatre at Pomona College, picked her cast well. Lo was perfect as Norman, conveying the character’s heart of gold without overdoing the naiveté. Saw, as the unexpectedly legit aging b-boy coach Sir Master Cert, was flawless, from the vintage Kangol to the shower sandals (complete with socks!). Dalsfoist as Sweet Cindy Chang left me wanting more: in similar storylines, the female lead is often portrayed as a passive object, her companionship is awarded to the victor like a trophy. But Chang is no damsel in distress. She is a talented poet and a feminist with big dreams and a take-life-by-the-horns attitude. Dalsfoist actually wrote the spoken word piece that introduces us to Chang’s character.

Dance performances were collaboratively choreographed by D. Sabela Grimes and King-Edqux Robinson (PO ’15), as well as breakdancers Ben Hong (as Three Points), Ronald Nemo (as Three Points’ crony L.A.), William Goodman, and Rocky Reyes. From flares to floor rocking, hand glides, back spins, backflips (yes, really), and one-handed handstands, these dancers’ incredible talent was a treat.

KFBB is breaking ground in terms of both its genre and its thematic concept. Apart from R. Kelly’s magnificent “Trapped in the Closet,” which I consider to be in a genre all its own (one reserved for masterpieces of Shakespearean genius with “Family Guy” randomness), rap musicals have languished at the margins. Pomona’s production was the first run of the show since its world premiere in May 2011.

Photo by Rosemary McClure ’13

Asian and Asian American actors are exceptionally underrepresented in film and on the stage. The roles they do receive are often restricted to one-dimensional characters that perpetuate offensive stereotypes. Asian men are cast as Kung Fu masters, evil villains, or the token foreigner whose plotline centers on his assimilation into white culture. Asian women are pigeonholed into hypersexual, dangerous roles: secret agents, geishas, and sexy assassins whom the male lead must “conquer.”

KFBB pokes fun at these tropes. Meghan Gallagher (SCR ’15) plays Chang’s best friend Moe Moko, whose neon wig and Sailor Moon-esque costume caricature our obsession with anime. To explain his curious bruises and late nights, Norman tells his mother Lloyd is teaching him Kung Fu—“Ancient Chinese wisdom.” But Lloyd does not know the first thing about Kung Fu—he is a KRUNK Fu master! The play also satirized the homogenization of Asian cultures that too often occurs in pop culture. Norman joked that because he was Chinese, he could easily pick up Tagalog to impress Chang, which is a bit like saying, “I speak Spanish, so Swahili should be no problem.”

The Bechdel Test, a heuristic shortcut to expose gender bias in movies, asks three questions: does the film have at least two named female characters? Do they talk to each other? About something other than a man? Anti-racist media critics have adapted this rule of thumb to test for racism: Are there at least two Asian characters? Do they talk to each other? About something other than their ethnicity? Most films, TV shows, and books fail both tests miserably. Thus, KFBB’s majority-minority cast serves as a much-needed counter-narrative to the Othering norms of mainstream American pop culture.

“This was the first time I’ve been cast in a role that’s explicitly Filipino,” said Dalsfoist. “I’ve always been cast as ‘ambiguous’ or whitewashed. I’m Filipino. And Swedish. It’s weird being able to act onstage as yourself.” While KFBB is male-centric, Dalsfoist thinks Cindy Chang has “more depth than the usual leading lady. I also appreciate that they didn’t make Cindy oversexualized.”

While KFBB’s lead characters’ ethnicity is in no way ignored—Chang flows about being Filipina, Norman struggles to adjust to Brooklyn, and we discover Lloyd is faking his accent to spend time with Norman’s mother—it is one of many defining characteristics in a narrative that re-centers Asians and Pacific Islanders without tokenizing them. In doing this within the context of the little-utilized hip-hop musical genre, KFBB presents a counternarrative that is well-placed in the college musical theatre context.

By Nikki Broderick ‘14
Staff Writer

On Tuesday, April 9, the former and first female president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, visited Scripps College as a guest of the California European Union Center. Robinson spoke in Balch Auditorium about the beginning of her career and her passion for climate justice.

Photo by Caroline Novit ’14

During the first half of her talk, Robinson told stories about her law work and participation in Ireland’s entrance into the European Union. After her undergraduate career at Trinity College Dublin, Robinson studied at Harvard Law School. At Harvard, Robinson learned about European Community law, or as it was to be later known as, European Union law. Although Ireland had not yet joined the European Union, Robinson took an interest and even became the first professor to teach community law in Ireland after she won a professorship upon her return.

In her talk, Robinson described her support for Ireland’s entry into the European Union and “felt in particular that it would be good for women.” As an attorney, she often represented women in cases brought to the Court of Justice of the European Union, and provided anecdotes of cases that struck her as especially helpful for women’s equality in Ireland.

After her election to the senate, Robinson remained influential, particularly in controversial areas such as legal availability of contraception and family planning services. Robinson won the Labour Party’s nomination, and served as president from 1990-1997. During her tenure as president, Robinson was the first head of state to visit Rwanda and Somalia after their intense conflicts. Two months before the official end of her presidency, Robinsontook the post of United Nations Human High Commissioner for Human Rights, where she worked for five years.

Robinson’s interest in climate justice stems from this experience, and she explained that she believes “acute poverty is a deprivation of human rights.” Describing weather shocks that hit underdeveloped countries much more heavily as a result of climate change, Robinson stated, “The lives we have enjoyed have affected other nations more than it has affected Western nations.”

She describes climate change as an injustice because we are “hurting people who are not responsible for the problem.” Robinson also commented that it was an intergenerational injustice, and cited her grandchildren as part of her inspiration to work towards a solution to climate injustice. Robinson started an organization, the Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice, to work with local groups to combat climate injustice. When asked the most effective method for change, Robinson mentioned, “Aid is still necessary, but it is not the solution,” citing a more bottom-up approach that empowers local communities as a more effective method.