The Scripps Voice

By Liz Lyon (’12)
Staff Writer

PHOTO BY EMMA GAVIN. The Revelle House, currently the residence of President Lori Bettison-Varga and her family, may be replaced by a new dormitory to house the growing number of Scripps students

With a new semester and the return of students from study abroad, there was a huge housing crunch for returning and transfer students. With about 920 beds on campus, the College had to find additional space for 90 transfer and returning students, 30 of which are currently in Pomona dorms. The housing crunch has been a problem for the past several years, which Scripps’ administrative bodies are in the processes of addressing, spearheaded by President Bettison-Varga and Vice President James Manifold.

The Revelle House has been identified as a site for a future dormitory; however, there has been some controversy over the site. About a quarter of students and alumnae surveyed last fall think that having the president on-campus is important or very important. Although 75 percent of respondents said that it was not very important, Scripps’ Board members are keen to have the president and her family remain a very visible presence on campus. If the Revelle House is selected as a site, President Bettison-Varga and her family will relocate to a house chosen by the College on one of the nearby streets in Claremont. Of living in the Revelle House, Bettison-Varga says, “We have really enjoyed being on campus and opening the Revelle House and gardens on various occasions to students, faculty, staff, and members of the community. Living on campus is a wonderful way for me to feel more directly connected to the life of students, although it is very quiet in between semesters!”

As an alternative, the northeast corner of campus, just above the Tiernan soccer field where the service building currently stands, is also under consideration as a site for a dormitory. This second site has yet to come under review by the Board of Trustees; it is an irregular space that would not keep many of the structural elements which give Scripps buildings continuity, such as courtyards and hidden fountains. Because a site has not officially been chosen, and will not be chosen at least until March 2011, the project cannot move forward much further.

As Manifold explains, “It takes at least a year to design a building, and it takes another year and a half to construct a building. We’re looking at a project that will take between three and five years.”

The Buildings and Grounds Committee, which is spearheading the project, wishes to keep the composition of the dorms similar by including a mix of singles, doubles and suites. They aim to build a new dorm with enough space for 100 beds.

“Looking at how much we have fit onto the 30 acres of Scripps land, the College is very efficient at using space.” Manifold is confident that Scripps will move into the future with this new dorm, adapting the land to address Scripps’ current issues . However, for the next three graduating classes from Scripps, such news comes as a disappointment because some students will continue to be forced to live off-campus because there are not enough rooms available.

By Abby Volkmann ‘13

Photo Editor

This semester is one of significant change for the Motley. The managers turned a critical eye on the coffeehouse in order to assess and alter their business practices. Their goal is to further embody the ideologies of their mission statement, which focuses on social and environmental justice and responsibility.

The staff have altered their hiring practices by making the application more accessible, lowered prices of both foods and beverages and rewritten the corn mug policy sponsorship as a companion initiative to their “to-go cup” policy in order to reach the broader Scripps community.

Changes have also been made within the Motley community. Managers created a new Motley forum in which employees can readily voice their concerns and ideas.

A barista liaison position—an intermediary position between baristas and managers—was also created. These liaisons were elected by the baristas and serve as a resource for new baristas during on the job training.

The managers have also implemented a Resource Center on the east wall of the coffeehouse. The Resource Center is a collection of zines, books, online resources and health supplies for women that serve to educate, empower and support the people in our Scripps community.

Later this semester, a forum will be held to give community members the opportunity to voice ideas, questions or concerns. All are welcome.

By Asia Morris ’12
Staff Writer

MoMA Acquires 23 Digital Typefaces for its Architecture and Design Collection
The Museum of Modern Art in New York just added 23 typefaces to their permanent collection. I know you’re reading this and thinking, “What? Typefaces? What’s the point in collecting Typefaces?” According to Brent Gentile, “Typefaces have rich histories and are just as important to contemporary design as Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Falling Water” is to Architecture.”

The MoMA couldn’t agree more, “This first selection of 23 typefaces represent a new branch in our collection tree. They are all digital or designed with a foresight of the scope of the digital revolution, and they all significantly respond to the technological advancements occurring in the second half of the twentieth century.”

FMI: www.juxtapoz.com

More College Freshmen Feeling Overwhelmed, Survey Finds
The annual “American Freshmen” report, a national survey released Thursday, conducted by UCLA, reported college freshmen feeling higher levels of emotional and financial stress than the freshmen before them. Only 45.9 percent of women described themselves as emotionally strong, compared to 59.1 percent of the men. Just about two-thirds of this year’s freshmen, 62.1 percent, marked that the recession had affected their choice of college and 3.4 percent more than last year said they are depending on grants and scholarships to get them through. John H. Pryor, lead author of the report and managing director of UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute stated, “What this means is that going into college, students are already feeling more stress and feeling more overwhelmed and have lower emotional reserves to deal with that stress.”

FMI: www.latimes.com

Illness Sidetracks Ozzy’s ‘Crazy Train’
Ozzy Osbourne had to cancel his Jan. 30 show in Reno, Nevada because of a “sudden illness.” Chris Martinez with Live Nation failed to fill us in on what exactly ailed Osbourne. He said, “Based on advice from doctors, it is with great regret that Ozzy Osbourne is postponing his show … at the Reno Event Center. The multi-platinum Rock & Roll Hall of Famer cannot perform … due to a sudden illness.” Talk about postponed, the concert has been rescheduled for April!

FMI: www.cnn.com

By Neva Barker
Director of Off-Campus Study

For students who are unable to fit in a semester of off-campus study, or for students who want additional exposure to the the there are summer options that may be considered.  Opportunities include programs ranging from two weeks to two months.  Subject matter will vary by location with many programs offering classes around a specific theme rather than offering a wide range of course options.  Some programs offer academic credit while others are nice travel experiences with an informed guide and do not qualify for academic credit.  Students who hope to get credit for any study over the summer are wise to check out the requirements for transfer credit with the registrar before enrolling or paying any application fees or deposits.  It may be possible to fulfill general education requirements with a summer program but it is wise to check with your Scripps advisor or a faculty member in the appropriate department about the particular class.

Students do not need to work with the off-campus study office for summer programs but we are happy to provide feedback on what we do know about such programs.  We are starting to collect evaluations from previous students on their summer opportunities and if any students have experience with summer programs they would like to share we are eager to hear it.  The college does not offer any financial aid for summer programs but students may be eligible for some funding either through the program itself or from a limited number of scholarships for summer programs and are wise to ask the program sponsor.

As a caveat, we do recommend that students thoroughly research any program before enrolling.  It is always a good idea to ask for the names and contact information of two or three students who have recently completed the program.  I would be wary of any program that refuses to provide this type of information.

There are thousands of programs offered in the summer, for study, for volunteering and just for the experience of travel and most are well run but there are some that are quite expensive and it always a good idea to practice an attitude of “buyer beware” and carefully check out before you pay any fees.  If you decide to participate in a summer study abroad program, we wish you safe travels and an amazing experience!

By Ashli Duncan ’11
Opinions and Editorials Editor

PHOTO BY ASHLI DUNCAN. Film stll from Macdonald's stop-motion animation.

On Jan. 27 Pitzer College’s Nichols Gallery hosted an opening of Euan Macdonald’s work “KIMBALL 1901-.” The piece was tailor made for the Pitzer Art Gallery. It is comprised of a stop-motion video and an edition of silk-screen printed anagrams. Coffee, water, wine and other refreshments were available for the students, faculty and Claremont community that visited the gallery. Under the clamoring of voices from excited patrons, the sound of a piano and disjointed sounds of birds and dogs barking filled the gallery. The stop motion film played on a constant loop downstairs. Antique books—including a colorful variety of novels and encyclopedias— are placed on top of the wooden piano in sets of ones, twos and threes. Soon patrons can only see part of the piano and then finally the last book fills the space leaving nothing but stacks of books, all holding stories that have been read over time. The stop-motion video begins again, but this time by taking the books away—as if to reread them. The piano is revealed slowly.

Upstairs, five silkscreen anagrams are lit with subtle light.  The silkscreens are the size of old movie posters, with rich red lettering advertising movies that will never be seen. The posters are anagrams using all the letters of the title of Charles Bukowski’s book of poems, “Play The Piano Drunk Like A Percussion Instrument Until The Fingers Begin To Bleed A Bit.” The simple images will make your mind race while trying to comprehend the meaning in the texts.  Macdonald rearranged the letters into poems that call on images of city lights, love and even death. Although the two works seem vastly different, they are connected by the piano. The scrambled words on the silk screen create their own story separate from the original text it was derived from. The books on the piano begin to make their own story too. As an audience member, I tried to understand the relation the books had to the piano. What kind of person reads “The Thorn Birds” by Colleen McCullough, along with the hundreds of other books that consume the piano?

Overall, the exhibit left me thinking about the passage of time and how it changes due to perception. The video visually depicts the passage of time as it slips away, narrowing the present moment.  The time spent trying to crack the anagrams is completely different from the video.  The passage of time is slower with a feeling of no end in sight. The silkscreens are a nice balance to the constant motion of the video. The exhibit is a great way to spend a study break.

Visit the Nichols Gallery in the Broad Center at Pitzer College from noon to 5 p.m. on Tuesday through Friday.

The Price of Success: Your Health

By Kelly Burch ’11
Staff Writer

An alarming number of Scripps students seem to be forsaking their health to secure a good grade. At the end of last semester, a close friend and I were talking about our days when I noticed a gash on her knee. I asked how she got it and she said she had pulled an all-nighter to finish an essay, and the next morning, after no sleep, she walked to class. On the way, she fainted and cut her knee when she fell. After she woke up she went to class and continued with her days as usual. A few years ago, another friend fainted in class during an important presentation and hit her head when she fell. Of course, being a Scrippsie, she stayed for the remainder of the class and even finished her presentation before going to the health center.

I researched this topic for a class project and found that female students are more likely than male students to neglect their health to finish schoolwork. Women also tend to put more pressure on themselves and each other in an academic setting than men do, so it is easy to see why this problem would be particularly apparent at a women’s college.  Where is this pressure coming from that drives women to value academic success above health?

After taking a health psychology class (and from personal experience) I have learned how extremely important sleep and relaxation are to one’s health; they are not something to be tampered with. Sleep deprivation and stress can lead to a number of illnesses and it doesn’t take a health psychologist to understand how lack of sleep can detract from quality of life.

I don’t believe that this is normal in the “real world.” In the show “Lipstick Jungle,” one of the characters faints at work. She is seen as an overachiever and after she faints she wants to go back to work after she wakes up—just like my Scripps friends. However, her boss insists on calling 911 and after being carried out on a stretcher, the doctor makes her go home because she needs rest. I wish there had been a doctor to tell my friend to go home and rest the day that she fainted, because when I expressed my concern she merely shrugged it off. I have pulled my own fair share of all-nighters and I understand the need to be get good grades. But now my new year’s resolution is to schedule in more time to sleep and relax. Of course it is important to do well in school, and if you go to Scripps you already know this. However, I think there is something to be said for living a well-balanced life, and I for one am going to make it a top priority to get my beauty-rest.

By Juliet Carnoy ’13
Staff Writer

Jerry Brown, surrounded by supporters, speaks at a rally. 

Jerry Brown took a double take as I reached over the podium to shake his hand. It was his last public appearance before election-day and I had managed to finagle myself into the VIP section of the campaign rally. However, with a father who had gone to extremes of forging a journalist pass to walk the floor of the 1972 Democratic National Convention, some might consider my move to be rather uninspired. As different California government officials took the floor, the crowd became increasingly animating as they prepared for the arrival of their candidate.

Like most Californians, I knew Jerry Brown as our state’s 34^th governor, who had served two terms from 1975 to 1983 closely proceeding his father, Pat Brown, the 32^nd governor of California. However, as Jerry Brown arrived into the crowded restaurant that evening I also had the opportunity to learn more about the pragmatic policies he proposed to renew the affluence and efficiency of our state.

Firstly, much like Obama in his State of the Union Address, Brown championed the importance of a strong state education system. He started with a single statistic; Informing the crowd that in 1972, California was in the top 20 for per pupil spending; by 2009, we had dropped to the bottom 10.  Brown mentioned the potential of online learning and how these new expansions could significantly increase educational productivity and provide access to higher leaning at a reduced cost. In the classroom, Brown suggests that instead of focusing on rewarding “good” teachers or sifting through public school districts for “bad” teachers, we need to radically improve the quality of the “average teacher.” He plans on doing so by working with teacher training institutions and state agencies to enlist more teachers from the top third of our high school graduates, along with improving high school graduation rates in general.

Secondly, Brown advocated for the green sector and stimulating clean energy jobs for the future. He supports the Green Chemistry Initiative to reduce chemical hazards in consumer products and would like to maximize job creation in areas such as transportation, construction of education facilities, water infrastructure and clean energy. Environmentally, Brown’s goal is that by 2020, California should produce 20,000 new megawatts (MW) of renewable electricity, and also accelerate the development of energy storage capacity. Additionally, he asked that by 2015, California should have a cumulative 250,000 full or partial plug-in electric vehicles.

In terms of California’s large and growing deficit, Brown ensures that he will veto any legislation that proposes new spending programs without adequate revenue sources. Furthermore, he would eventually like to bring that to the national level by proposing a constitutional amendment that will require any ballot initiative to provide an adequate revenue source for any new spending mandated by the law. Brown also supports the idea of a “Rainy day fund,” in order to have additional funding available for the chance of an economic downturn.

Already Brown has collected half of the approximately 96,000 state-issued cell phones used by public employees, claiming that this will save California at least $20 million a year; as well as reducing the number of vehicles maintained by the state, as he has required each vehicle’s purpose and necessity to be re-justified. Brown also plans on reducing California’s deficit by improving timeliness and reducing overlapping responsibilities within the state government.

It is clear that Californians should prepare for a year of dramatic decreases in funding as Brown attempts to control California’s unruly state deficit. In his State of the State address released Jan. 30, he supported reducing state spending by $12.5 billion. Although dramatic, the Governor’s budget cuts begin what will be an ongoing effort to render California’s state government more effective and efficient in its recovery from the recession.

By Alexandra Talleur ‘12
Staff Writer

PHOTO BY ALEXANDRA TALLEUR. Director of CMS Recreational Sports Adam Pruett

As a recent transfer student from the University of Oregon, I am still coming down off the sports induced high of my two years with the Ducks. Never the biggest sports fan in high school, I learned to love the freezing football games and much too steamy basketball games, all in the name of school spirit. If any of you are unfamiliar with Puddles, the U of O’s official mascot, I knew him uncomfortably well after being crushed by him several times as he crowd-surfed over me and a sea of wild students. It was there I learned the feeling of being drunk, not just on the usual substances, but the idea – no, feeling – that we were in a collective effort to prevail.

Of course, none of us in the stands could claim the blood, sweat and tears the players gave to their game, but the feeling of unity existed nonetheless. Sometimes in sports it becomes more about the fans than the team, creating disharmony between the closest of friends over rivalries that seem to some mere trivialities – the greatest evidence of this being the current fight for the Superbowl. While I am all for a healthy sense of team pride and competition, the same emotions can be evoked in all of us on the field in intramural sports.

There is no reason other than laziness, which we may all happily claim, why we must sit in the stands and lament our lack of natural ability or physical prowess, all while cheering on our star players. Intramural sports provide each of us our own opportunity to get involved. Such action with our own bodies as well as that with a team of peers will no doubt foster a sense of unity more concrete than the camaraderie of fellow fans cheering on athletes they will most likely never meet.

The fact that the Claremont Colleges are both individually and collectively small schools should not exclude us from creating our own definition of a sporty atmosphere. True, we have our CMS versus Pomona-Pitzer rivalry, but perhaps our time would equally well-spent forming small-scale teams to ignite our campuses with more inclusive rivalries. We are no doubt on top of our academic game, but across the board, heading for the fields instead of the classroom is a healthy way to relieve stress and meet people.

“Intramurals are for the students. It’s whatever they want to make of it, I’m always open to hearing what the students want to do,” says Adam Pruett, Director of Recreational Sports at CMS.

Here at the 5Cs we have the opportunity through intramurals to create our own teams, our own rivalries, and our own school pride – for something other than smarts. For more information see http://www.cmsathletics.org, or find the CMS Athletics page on Facebook to set up a personal athlete profile – it’s an easy way to find and sign up for any sports that may interest you!

Upcoming Season Intramural Teams

Badminton:
Mixed Doubles (one team)
Men’s Doubles (three teams)
Women’s Doubles (zero teams)

Basketball:
Co-Rec Competitive (two teams)
Co-Rec Recreational (seven teams)
Men’s Competitive (12 teams)

Floor Hockey:
Co-Rec Recreational (five teams)
Men’s Recreational (zero teams)

To register a team or individual player visit www.claremont.athleague.com

By Liz Lyon ’12
Staff Writer

Fridays from noon to 2 p.m, Karin Weston (’12) will now be broadcasting her classical music show, “Variations on a Theme” on KSPC 88.7. Majoring in Molecular Biology and Music with an emphasis on voice and performance, Weston recently joined KSPC’s team and disc jockeyed her first show on Jan. 28. Her choices included several selections from German composer Morike-Leider, Mozart and Vaughan Williams. Said Weston, “The show went pretty well for my first time. I played one track twice, but I don’t think anyone noticed.”

As a Musical Director, Weston is responsible for choosing tracks to play during her two hour show. “It’s pretty simple,” she said. “There are two stereos, so you just slide in the next CD you want to play while the other stereo is one. You don’t have to change CDs while talking or deal with the computer.”

A choir singer, Weston was familiar with the major pieces, composers and movements, but she wanted to know more about contemporary music and broaden her tastes. “It was pretty daunting at first,” she said, “being in the studio. The people there know so much. But they’re so friendly, and that’s how it all starts. You listen to some music and start learning about it. Nobody comes in knowing a whole lot.”

Weston plans to expand the classical section of KSPC’s library one CD at a time. Instead of playing the traditional, easily-recognizable composers—such as Beethoven, Hadyn and List—and the symphonies and piano concertos which are the mainstay of most other classical radio stations, she wants to explore other composers and other forms of music. True to her background as a choral performer, Weston plans to mix in a few madrigals into her shows, and she wants to make classical more retro by bringing in more medieval and renaissance music as well. She’s considered doing more modern composers, such as Shoenberg. “He does this 12-tone method with notes and inversions. It sounds disorganized and random, but it is very mathematical,” Weston said. “I don’t think people will have much patience for it because it’s so strange.”

KSPC’s eclectic mix was what attracted Weston to the radio station in the first place. She felt that the other radio stations play the same gamut of songs and she wanted to listen to and be a part of something different. KSPC plays many independent and local bands who have not signed with big labels, music which a lot of students haven’t heard. As part of disseminating good music, KSPC also brings a lot of bands to the Colleges, typically at Art after Hours, Thursday nights at 9 p.m. Weston joins fellow Scripps students Lilly Estenson (’12) and Nora Bright (’11) as members of KSPC.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SCRIPPSCOLLEGE.EDU

By Abby Volkmann ’13
Photo Editor

At the end of the 2010-2011 academic year, Scripps will say goodbye to longtime professor Roswitha Burwick. This year marks Professor Burwick’s 40th year at Scripps. Students and faculty alike will miss her presence in both the German department and Core Curriculum. Among her many accomplishments, Professor Burwick holds the Distinguished Chair of Modern Foreign Languages and has also recently served as the Director of the Core Program.

Her retirement from Scripps certainly does not mark the end of her work in German Studies, however. Her future plans include finishing a 40-volume collection of the works of German writer Achim von Arnim.

As part of an editor’s team, Professor Burwick has helped write and edit many volumes of Arnim’s work, which covers topics such as poetry and scientific theory. She will continue to conduct research for future volumes, mentor young contributing scholars and edit works in order to advance the project. She will also continue her work toward getting two volumes of collected essays published.

Additionally, she plans to spend more time with her six grandchildren.

Professor Burwick will undoubtedly miss her everyday interactions with students, and her students will undoubtedly miss her. In the meantime, she’s teaching four classes this semester and is enjoying every single one of her last moments here at Scripps.